Tag Archives: enlightenment

Enlightenment Revisited

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Enlightenment Revisited: What the Gurus Aren’t Telling You

By George A. Boyd © 2017

There are a number of spiritual teachers, who are showing their students how to unite with the Higher Self, and proclaiming this the state of Enlightenment. Some go as far to say this is “an evolutionary state of consciousness,” but fail to show methods to actually evolve this spiritual essence—e.g., to move it to progressive nodal points along the track of its development. Others proclaim this is “the highest state,” the Summum Bonum of spirituality.

While union of the attention with the Higher Self (Soul, or Atma) is a necessary achievement to advance to discipleship with a spiritual Master, it is not a state of consciousness to you have to continuously maintain, as some of these teachers advocate. In fact, those who keep their attention merged in this essence can develop feelings of grandiosity and omnipotence, delusional beliefs that they are possessed with super powers [that they are unable to demonstrate], and dissociation and detachment from their actual human feelings and experience—among other issues.

There are a number of techniques that people use to unite attention with this essence. These include [this is just a small sampling of the many methods that can be used to gain attentional union with the Higher Self]:

  1. Remembrance – Remembering the nature of the Higher Self and then focusing attention upon it.
  2. Attunement – Drawing down a beam of Light from the Higher Self and guiding the attentional principle with conjoined attention into union with it.
  3. Direct Projection – Using intention to move the attentional principle with conjoined attention along one of the Seven Ray tracks up into the presence of the Higher Self.
  4. Astral Projection – Placing attention into the astral body and directing the astral body through suggestion or “guided meditation” to unite the attention with the Higher Self. [This only works for those whose Soul dwells below the top of the Psychic Realm.]
  5. Breaking through the Shadow – Through monitoring present time experience at the level of the ego—after processing through the I AM statements, life narrative, mandala of defenses, and the issues embedded in the personal unconscious that make up the Shadow—attention breaks through the unconscious mind and unites with the Higher Self.
  6. Breathing into the Higher Self – Through breathing into the Higher Self, awareness opens and unites with this essence
  7. Awakening the Kundalini – Utilizing a mantra on the breath [or other methods that rouse this energy into activity], the Kundalini can be drawn upwards to unite with the Higher Self, awakening awareness as it rises. The upward current of this energy rising commonly absorbs the attention and lifts it into the state of union.
  8. Contemplation of the Soul’s Reflections – Contemplating any of the Soul’s reflected seed atoms in its vehicles of consciousness (Atma Dhyan) leads to remembrance and union with the Soul on its own Plane (Adi Atma Dhyan)
  9. Centering mantra – Repeating a mantra [keyed to the resonance of the Soul] with the attention can unite attention with the Higher Self.
  10. Resonance Homing – Being in the presence of a group of people whose attention is united with their Higher Self can bring remembrance of the Soul, and facilitate moving attention to the same state of consciousness. Resonance homing acts like a tuning fork: a number of people all attuned to the same frequency draws out that frequency in you.
  11. Chanting – Chanting selected mantras that are anchored in the Cosmic, Supracosmic, or Transcendental can sometimes lift attention into union with the Higher Self.
  12. Contemplating the Wave of the Present Time – Lifting attention into union with the wave of the present time on the Akashic Aether can connect attention with the thought stream of intuition, the stream of unconditional love, and the higher volitional stream that come from the Soul. Dropping into any of these streams will draw the attention into union with the Higher Self.
  13. Remembering the Atom of Divinity within the Soul – Through employing the mantra, “I am God,” attention becomes absorbed into union with the Divine Atom within the Soul. This brings about Gnosis.
  14. Divine Attunement – When an Initiate [Spiritual Master] sends a beam of Light to the Soul, this attunement can awaken awareness and lift attention into union with it.
  15. Evocative Ascent Metaphors – Through adopting analogies like riding in an elevator, moving to a particular step on a ladder, or climbing to the summit of a mountain, attention can be elevated to the level of the Soul.
  16. Dialog and union methods – Through approaching the Soul, and then asking questions to an archetype that represents the Soul, the attentional principle with conjoined attention can receive answers to questions and then rise up into union with the Higher Self. The Soul can appear in a variety of forms, such as an inner star or sun, a wise old man or woman, or a god or goddess.
  17. Spontaneous Awakening – This occurs when the Soul reveals itself to the personality and the attention. It commonly takes the form of a peak experience, where the Soul lifts the attention into union with its true nature, via guiding or awakening the Kundalini.
  18. Listening to the Vehicular Resonances – Through absorbing attention into current of inner sound, which reverberates through the inner vehicles of consciousness (Swarupa Shabda), it can be moved up into the presence of the Soul, which is hears as an unmistakable vibratory resonance.
  19. Watching the Radiant Light Stream – Through absorbing attention into current of inner light, which radiates through the inner vehicles of consciousness (Swarupa Jyoti), it can be raised into the presence of the Soul, which it beholds as an sun of fiery light.
  20. Bathing in the Water of Life – Through absorbing attention into current of nectar, which flows through the inner vehicles of consciousness (Swarupa Amrita), it can be raised into the presence of the Soul, which it experiences as an eternal wellspring of the Water of Life.

While your attention is completely absorbed in union with the Higher Self, it experiences the state of enlightened mind. This state is ecstatic, and makes you feel all-powerful and omnipresent, but this state does not evolve the Soul, nor does it magically solve the problems and issues that beset the personality.

A genuine transformational method does evolve the Soul; it actualizes the dormant potentials that are part of the Soul’s destiny. Merely keeping the attention fixed in the state of enlightenment does not achieve those ends—though you float in bliss, you do not move one millimeter closer to fulfillment of your intrinsic Soul Purpose.

While those that teach methods to enter the state of enlightened mind give their students a great boon, not showing them how to actually evolve and complete their Soul’s Aeonic mission is a disservice.

We teach several of these methods in our intermediate meditation courses, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the online and by-mail Accelerated Meditation Program. We describe and train you in many more of these methods in the Mudrashram® Advanced Course in Meditation and our intermediate and advanced webinars. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with several of these methods that can reliably move your attention into this state and master using them.

From Mindfulness to Depth Meditation

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By George A. Boyd ©2017

The current cultural fascination with mindfulness does not understand cultivating mindfulness as a preparation for the deeper work of depth meditation. This article will briefly explain the differences between the two, how mindfulness is achieved, the levels of preparing for mindfulness and the levels of depth meditation, and how enlightenment states of mind that some teachers highlight do not produce transformation of the spiritual evolutionary potentials that permit you to ascend to Mastery and Liberation.

Differences between Mindfulness and Depth Meditation

You achieve initial mindfulness when your attention collects into a sphere (e.g., concentrates), and you become conscious and present. This state is the precursor to depth meditation.

Depth meditation involves moving your collected attention along the thread of consciousness to contemplate focal points within the vehicles of consciousness that operate at different layers of your mind. Depth meditation enables you to focus your attention upon discrete objects of meditation and become aware of them. These objects of meditation include:

  • Personal identification centers – your ego, and your Self at the nucleus of your personality
  • Identification centers of the Superconscious mind – your nuclei of identity
  • The immortal essences of consciousness – your attentional principle, your spirit, and your Soul
  • The form of a spiritual Master you encounter in the Superconscious mind – the radiant Guide form
  • The Universal Consciousness – the Divine, God, or the Universal Self

Aspirants need to understand that achieving mindfulness is the necessary foundation for depth meditation, but does not produce the actual movement of attention that marks the process of depth meditation.

The present time monitoring that aspirants learn through mindfulness practice allows them to become aware of the content of the level of the mind where their attention is focused, but does not emphasize selecting an alternate focal point for attentional monitoring.

Depth meditation enables the identification of discrete focal points in different vehicles of consciousness, whereas mindfulness only notes content as it is arising, without any context or recognition of the level of the mind from which the content is arising.

Mindfulness has a special strength in that it allows you to process through mental content and transcend it, but it does not emphasize processing material from layers of the unconscious at other bands of the mind—so while you may process through the issue at the level of the waking state of awareness, you might not remove the impressions for this issue at deeper strata of the mind.

Seven Methods to Achieve Mindfulness

There are seven major ways to achieve mindfulness. We suggest there is not one way to achieve the state of initial mindfulness—based on observing the perceptual substratum of attention across the Seven Rays—but several different pathways.

Those aspirants who are having difficulties collecting their attention and becoming present should try each of these seven methods to discover which ones enable them to reach the initial state of mindfulness. These seven methods are shown below.

  1. Direct concentration of the attention using intention (Tratakam)
  2. Absorption in the breath using a full inhalation
  3. Discerning the centers (chakras) below the waking state of awareness, and shifting awareness until it is focused in the medulla center
  4. Using body scan, and processing through the issues held in the body to disengage attention from the issues and free it to rise into the state of mindfulness
  5. Using a mantra coordinated with a quick sniff breath to collect attention (the Hansa Breath)
  6. Absorbing attention in sensory currents through Laya techniques for the visual track (Jyoti Laya), the auditory track (Shabda Laya), and the combined gustatory and olfactory track (Amrita Laya)
  7. Absorption of attention through movement or postures, such as Hatha Yoga or martial arts poses

We teach methods one through six in our meditation classes. We encourage you to become familiar with all seven methods for achieving mindfulness.

The Spectrum – from Mindlessness to Full God Consciousness

The stages of achieving mindfulness and its subsequent progression into depth meditation are shown below.

Stage zero to eight marks the progression from mindlessness (also called ignorance or Avidya) to initial mindfulness.

Stage nine through sixteen comprises the journey of attention along the thread of consciousness in depth meditation.

  • Stage 0 – (Mindlessness) Here you act out unconscious passions of lust, rage, attachment, greed, ignorance, or arrogance without awareness that you are doing this.
  • Stage 1 – You become aware that you are acting out of unconscious patterns.
  • Stage 2 – You place your attention on the issue and make initial contact, and may recognize it (e.g., this is my anger), but you do not enter into its stream of impressions.
  • Stage 3 – You place your attention on the issue and you begin to become aware of its thought impressions arising in the present time.
  • Stage 4 – You place your attention on the issue and you begin to uncover its core beliefs and justifications.
  • Stage 5 – You place your attention on the issue and you begin to become aware of its core desire and craving.
  • Stage 6 – Your attention transcends the issue and becomes focused at the point between the eyebrows.
  • Stage 7 – (Concentration) Your attention collects into a sphere.
  • Stage 8 – (Initial mindfulness) You become conscious and present at the medulla center in the waking state of awareness.
  • Stage 9 – (Initial meditation) You move your collected attention along the thread of consciousness, contemplate selected focal points of the Conscious, Subconscious, and Metaconscious mind, and notice the content arising from that level.
  • Stage 10 – (Purusa Dhyan) Your attention focuses upon the attentional principle and activates it: you awaken as the attentional principle.
  • Stage 11 – (Surat Dhyan) Your attention focuses upon your spirit and activates it: you awaken as the spirit.
  • Stage 12 – (Manasa Dhyan) Your attention focuses upon the vehicles of consciousness in your Superconscious mind and the nuclei of identity embedded in them, and activates these centers: you awaken the abilities, knowledge, wisdom, and altruistic emotions anchored at these levels.
  • Stage 13 – (Enlightened mind) Your attention focuses upon the wave of the present time on the Akashic Aether; you become aware of your Soul’s thoughts and intention arising in the present time, generating a dynamic vortex of creation.
  • Stage 14 – (Adi Atma Dhyan) Your attention focuses upon the Soul and activates it: you awaken the Divine Atom within the Soul and experience Gnosis.
  • Stage 15 – (Guru Dhyan) Your attention focuses on the guide form of the Master that supervises your spiritual development and you receive guidance and instruction from him or her.
  • Stage 16 – (Bhagwan Dhyan) – Your guide leads your attention into the presence of the Divine and you gain conscious union (Samadhi) with the Universal Self.

In addition to training students in different methods to establish initial mindfulness (stage 8), we teach a methodical practice of contemplating each major focal point in the Conscious, Subconscious, and Metaconscious mind (stage 9, Initial Meditation) in our Introduction to Meditation class, which is designed for those who have never meditated before.

We reveal the methods for awakening the three immortal essences—the attentional principle (stage 10), the spirit (stage 11), and the Soul (stage 14)—in our intermediate classes, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.

We show you how to contemplate your Superconscious identity centers, called nuclei of identity (stage 12); to commune with the spiritual guide (stage 15); and to travel into the Presence of God (stage 16) in the Mudrashram® Advanced Course in Meditation.

Achieving mindfulness is like stepping into the ocean of the mind at the shore, but depth meditation shows you how to cross that ocean. We invite you to progress beyond the preparatory technique of collecting your attention and establishing conscious presence—mindfulness—to the mastery of the practice of depth meditation, which you can learn in Mudrashram®.

From Enlightenment to Initiation

There are several popular teachers who train aspirants to move from initial mindfulness to the two stages of “enlightened consciousness,” the wave of the present time (stage 13) and union with the Soul, with conscious awareness of the Divine Atom within you (stage 14). These practices activate the abilities of the Superconscious mind; tap the Soul’s intuitional stream; unites your attention with the Soul’s unconditional love and compassion; and absorbs your attention in the bliss of the Soul—but they do not move the Soul closer to the Source.

Enlightenment means that you unite with the Soul inside of you and gain access to its knowledge, compassion, and abilities. But you do not move the Soul; it remains where it is.

Initiation means you move the Soul along its track through each nodal point of the Way until it reaches Mastery and Liberation. This adds new abilities to the Soul’s repertoire; expands its sphere of intuitive knowledge, wisdom, and love; and deepens its bliss.

Initiation can be experienced actively or passively.

Active Initiation occurs when you use a transformational method to draw down the Light of Spirit to unfold the Soul. [We teach this method of a transformational mantra keyed to your Soul in our intermediate courses.]

Passive Initiation occurs when you receive attunement from an Initiate (e.g., a spiritual Master), who actively unfolds your spiritual potentials. [We give these attunements in our bi-monthly Light Sittings, which our intermediate and advanced students are eligible to attend.]

We acknowledge that many aspirants do not feel ready for the work of depth meditation, immersion in the enlightened states of mind, or core transformation. But when you do feel ready to move beyond the practice of mindfulness to these deeper levels of spiritual work, Mudrashram® is here to assist you.