THE ATTAINMENT OF SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By Geoffrey Hodson, from his book, Thus Have I Heard THE beginner in occult studies usually takes up the practice of meditation with great enthusiasm, but when he finds that the immediate results are small, his enthusiasm begins to wane and he tends to neglect the regular discipline and self-training which he undertook. It is of the utmost importance, however, that when that time comes he should steadily persevere lest the results of his first efforts should be lost. Meditation is really a process of boring through a disused passage in the brain, and through the different bodies, into the consciousness of the higher self. That passage can never be bored by sporadic efforts. A week of sustained, regular meditation shows very definite progress in the boring, but a few days of neglect is sufficient to close the passage again. In true meditation the ego pierces down from above while the personality reaches up from below. If the effort is maintained, flashes of light begin to pass between them. One day the passage will be entirely opened and the great illumination will occur. Even then meditation must still be practised regularly, so that the passage is kept open as a channel for the forces from above. There is no more intense suffering than that of one who has reached and known the great illumination and who, through negligence or for some karmic reason, falls away from the great light. We may protect ourselves against such a tragedy by regular meditation, which will maintain a permanent passage between the personal and the egoic consciousness, and keep those two aspects of our nature mutually attuned. The great lesson which we, of the western world particularly, must learn in the occult life is never to look for visible results. As the Bhagavad-Gita teaches, we must learn to work without ambition, and yet work as assiduously as the most ambitious. We must persevere for years before any marked change occurs, and we must be supported by a faith which is beyond knowledge and beyond belief. The inspiration, under which the task was first attempted, was indeed a profound intuition, resulting from an egoic vision of the goal of liberation. To the ego, that vision remains clear until the goal is reached. Temporary darkness inevitably descends upon the personality in the shadow world below. It is then that our determination and faith are tested, and our strength and courage grow. He who fights on steadily in the darkness will win through to a fairer vision, a more profound belief in his innate Divinity and in his power to win the prize. The problem, for most of us, is to find a way by which to rise above the personal, separated self into a. consciousness of the One Self, where unity abides and mighty power is stored. Down here in the physical body we often feel very small, limited and lacking in vision and in power. Yet we may take heart from the fact that we are very much greater people even out of the physical body, during sleep, than when we are awake. Those who know state that often it is a great surprise when they meet in the flesh those with whom they work in the invisible worlds, and notice how relatively ineffectual and lacking in confidence they are when compared with their potency and usefulness In the subtler world. If this be true when only the lowest vehicle is laid aside, how much greater must be the real self of every man, clothed only in the Shining Augoeides, -as the Greeks called the radiant vesture of the higher self of man. This being so, while recognising its importance, we need not be too solemnly serious about the great quest upon which we have embarked and the meditative exercises which it demands. We should rather treat meditation as a great adventure in the inner worlds. It does not matter very much if we fail at first. Real failure in this, or indeed in the spiritual life, as previously stated, is impossible unless we lay down our arms. We are bound to win in the end; no power in existence can hold us back, for we are partakers of the omnipotence of God. Remembering this and gaining joy and courage from it, let us attempt to follow the process of attaining spiritual consciousness step by step, from the darkness of physical life to the light of the higher self. We may begin by entirely relaxing the body and looking at it, as though from outside, to make sure that it is relaxed. We then rise in consciousness into the emotional body and regard this in the same detached way. It may be visualised as an ovoid of light and colour, and if one is sufficiently sensitive its pressure may be felt upon the hands and face. The emotional body should be perfectly calm and peaceful during meditation. The consciousness is next raised to the mental body, as though to a region just above the head, care being taken meanwhile that the mind is kept steady and serene. The plunge from the personal into the glorious radiance of the causal world may then be attempted, and by constant practice we may gradually establish ourselves there, may share for a time the glorious and refreshing life of the ego, and eventually make causal consciousness the starting point for still greater flights into the inner worlds. As an aid to the attainment of egoic realisation and detachment from the personality, as we rise plane by plane, we may mentally repeat the words This is my physical body which I wear; it is not I. I am master of all my actions; similarly, passing into the emotional body: This is my emotional body which I use: this is not I. I am master of my desires; and similarly, in the mental body. Ultimately, on reaching the causal level, we may affirm: This is my Spiritual Self. That Spiritual Self am I We may meditate upon That am I, and try to enter into a realisation of our own Divinity and experience the light and power of the higher worlds. After a period of profound meditation and illumination we may return through the mental and astral worlds, drawing down the higher powers and storing them in the heart, returning finally to normal physical consciousness, determined that the light of the higher worlds shall shine forth in our lives. Clairvoyant visions must not be taken for spiritual consciousness, nor should we expect the development of psychic powers. On the contrary, ordinary psychism is an astral cul-de-sac, down which many promising students have wandered and lost their way. We are taught to beware of the flowers of the astral world, for under each a serpent is coiled. [The Voice of the Silence, translated by H. P. Blavatsky] We shall not find the way into the higher consciousness or to the Masters feet by the aid of clairvoyance. Sometimes students think that the appearance of visions and beautiful scenes during meditation is a sign of spiritual progress, but alien thought, however beautiful, is not meditation; it is gather a sign that we have allowed our attention to wander to external things. We must transcend the lower mental plane where thought-forms are built, for our object is union with the higher self and not the enjoyment of clairvoyant visions. Meditation, if successful, produces a sense of actual union or of stepping into and becoming one with the glorious light of the higher consciousness and of being identified with that light rather than with the shadows cast upon the lower worlds. Eventually this realisation will become permanent, and we shall learn to live always in the light of the higher self, emancipated from the illusion of personal separateness and of identity with the bodies. We shall then be prepared to enter o deeper meditative states, for beyond this stage of meditation is one deeper still, in which all images, thoughts and mental conceptions fall away and only darkness and utter silence remain, The soul seems poised in the immensity of space, silent and alone. When this state of contemplation has been reached it can be maintained almost indefinitely It is in this utter stillness that the Void of the Silence is heard. At this stage the deeper qualities and more divine attributes of the God which is man begin to be revealed, and the powers, by which they find expression, to manifest themselves in and through the waking consciousness. The neophyte may then learn to draw, from the rock of his innermost self, the sword of will by means of which he may win his way through all the difficulties and barriers which oppose him on the Path. Atma, or will, is one of the last of the human powers to be fully developed. Will is far more than ordinary determination and persistence; it is an irresistible, burning energy before which all opposition melts away. If we can draw down a measure of this power into our personal consciousness, we shall find it an enormous help upon the Path.. Its action might be likened to that of a lightning flash which is relatively permanent. Any weaknesses, which we detect in ourselves, will quickly vanish if we are able to turn the burning power of the Atmic will upon them. If we release a measure of this fiery quality of will in sending out power and love into the world, we shall liberate an energy which will undoubtedly diminish the amount of evil in the world. In order to release this power in ourselves, we must learn to live by will rather than by emotion and to transmute desire into will. A Master has said: Do not wish for anything -- will it: The reason for the resistless power of the Masters will is that it is utterly one with the will of God. We, in our turn, shall become omnipotent when, having discovered the Atma which is our deepest self, we have surrendered ourselves to God and united our wills with His will. Before we may begin to prepare for this great consummation, we must decide what we mean by God and Gods will. Our thoughts on this subject must be very clear. Some may think of the hidden life which is present everywhere; some, of the God within themselves, while others may think of a triune Being somewhere in the high heavens who is ordering the great scheme of the universe, He, in His turn, sharing the labours of a mighty Cosmic Ruler who is the Creator, Sustainer and Transformer of all worlds. Although it is quite impossible to realise, with any degree of fulness, what God is, we may learn much if we approach our study of His nature by gradual stages. Knowledge of God must be reached by individual experience. No words of another can bestow that knowledge upon us. Let us, therefore, consider some methods of meditation by which spiritual consciousness may be attained and knowledge of God be won. The first step may be taken by means of deep meditation by the method already described. This will lead us into a state of profound contemplation in which some measure of the divine glory may be revealed. In order to bridge the almost immeasurable gulf that seems to yawn between that glory and ourselves and to pass from contemplation to union, we may turn for aid to one of the members of the Great White Brotherhood with whom we may have the privilege of association. Fellows of the Theosophical Society, for example, might choose one of the great initiate leaders of that movement. The Star member would naturally choose the Head of the Order, [ Since dissolved by the Head himself as of no value for spiritual purposes.] and would then dwell in thought upon him until he feels a measure of unity with him. Those occasions, when he is speaking at one or other of the great camps which he holds, provide exceptional opportunities for practising this method. With the utmost humility and reverence the aspirant may attempt to pass in thought into unity with the Great World-Teacher, with whom the Head of the Order is believed to be at one. Still plunged in meditation, he may pass from, and within the consciousness of the Christ, to that of the Lord Buddha; from that Mighty One he may seek to pass into the awe-inspiring presence of the Lord of the World Himself, the Spiritual King who is the Supreme Ruler of the evolution of this planet, and within whose all-embracing consciousness we live and move and have our being. Inconceivably lofty though the consciousness of the King of our world is, we may still travel on, in imagination which will one day become reality, and, leaving our world behind, pass out into the solar system and try to reach up into the consciousness of the Logos of our system and to lose ourselves in Him. At this level thought ceases, imagination fails and only silence remains. In this profound silence a measure of the Divine Omnipotence, Omnipresence and Omniscience may be revealed. Another way of approach to our heavenly Father is that of the interior link which binds us to Him throughout the whole long period of our evolutionary pilgrimage. Again to use this method we must first reach upwards to the consciousness of the ego in the causal body. When we have achieved some measure of success in this endeavour, we may try to realise that there is another state of consciousness deep within and beyond it, which is in a relationship to the ego similar to that of the ego to the personality. To that deepest self of man the name Monad has been given. When, therefore, the light of egoic consciousness has begun to dawn, we may plunge more deeply into our inmost being, beyond the level of the higher mind into that of the intuition, and so upwards towards the Monad itself. Regular practice having brought us at least a glimpse, or perhaps the flavour, as it were, of these exalted regions, we may take the mighty leap from any kind of separateness into the great all-embracing consciousness of the Logos of our system, may surrender all individual existence in flame-like aspiration towards union with Him. [Read C.W.Leadbeaters The Monad and Geo. Arundales Nirvana in this connection.] We may not actually reach any of the lofty planes of Nature in the early years of our efforts, but if we practise regularly we shall certainly begin to breathe in the aroma of these higher levels of consciousness. Time and steady persistence will ultimately enable us to gain an entrance into them, until one day we dwell therein for ever.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 14:31:05 +0000