Heavens & Hells of the Mind
by Imre Vallyon
The Law of Death
You live in a dying world. Everything in this world of matter (the Physical Plane) is continually dying, changing, undergoing transformation. Everything in the Astral World is undergoing continual death, change and transformation. All things in the Mental World (thoughts and ideas) change, perish and are renewed. On the formless mental subplanes (the Causal World) the archetypes last for a very long time indeed, but in the end even they have only a limited existence. The Cosmic Law of Death, Change, Transformation, is embodied in the symbolism of Tarot Key 13, Death. It is the reaping skeleton continually doing his work of destruction and liberation. Every death leads to a birth, every change is a transformation, every giving-up is a chance for renewal.
The Natural Death Process
There is a process called “Natural Death” and there is a slightly different process for victims of killings, war or sudden accidents, suicides, and those who die through prolonged illness.
The Natural Death Process begins when the Soul sounds the Note-of-Withdrawal, a mantram which comes down through the mental, astral and etheric-physical bodies. You begin to lose interest in this world; things that previously mattered so much no longer seem of interest. You feel that you are on the way out. When the Soul-Note-of-Withdrawal sounds strongly, you know that you are going to die. How you live in this Physical World determines where you go in the after-death state (known also as the afterlife).
The Four Deaths
Death is actually fourfold; that is, you die four times during the Natural Death Process.
1. First you die in your physical body.
2. The Second Death occurs when you leave behind your vital body, the etheric-physical body. Then you are completely free of the Physical Plane and begin to live in the Astral World properly.
3. The Third Death occurs when you die in your astral body. You then leave the Astral World and go to the Mental Plane (the “Seven Heavens”).
4. The Fourth Death occurs when you leave behind your mental body on the lower Mental Plane and transfer your consciousness to the causal body (the microcosm), and you live as the Living Soul, J?va, in the Kingdom of Souls (the formless part of Deva-Sthåna).
This is the process when everything goes according to the Natural Plan. But the exceptions nowadays are large in number, and very few go through with this plan.
The Death Experience
Death is a beautiful experience. It is birth that is painful. There is no pain or suffering in the process of death. In fact, no matter how much you were suffering before death, at the moment of death you are released from suffering and anguish. Death is a change, a transition, not an end or termination. It is like going out of one room, through a door into another room. This “going through the door” is death. If you are an ordinary person dying a natural death, you may experience any of the following sensations:
• Going through a door, a passageway, a tunnel, a vacuum, a hole or a funnel.
• Falling into a cave, a pit or a well.
• Rushing through or falling headlong at an incredible speed, from
darkness into Light. This is almost like a time-warp or going through a black hole.
• Going rapidly down a path in darkness, at the end of which you see a point of light which increases to a brilliance as you emerge.
If you are dying a natural death you may also hear sounds. The tunnel experience is visionary (from darkness to Light), while this death experience is auditory (from sounds to Silence). You may hear any number of sounds: loud popping in your head, ringing in your ears, roaring, drums, banging noises, the opening and shutting of doors, whistles, shouts, cymbals, bells, flutes, harps, the “swirling of many waters”, tides, musical instruments, thunder, and so on. Colours may also be seen. All of this you can experience also in astral projection and yogic meditation.
Many people do not experience the above sensations. Rather, they have a moment of “unconsciousness” and then suddenly find themselves outside the body, looking down upon it.
The situation is altogether different for a Yogi or a Mystic, for a person who is attuned to Higher Consciousness, Mystical Experience or Cosmic Consciousness. These people do not experience death as ordinary people do, but leave the body without a break in consciousness.
There is no need to fear death, as it holds no pain or terror. The actual death experience is painless and pleasant. You merely step outside your physical body. That is all.
The Final Astral Projection
Note that both the “tunnel effect” and the “unconscious effect” are experienced also in astral projection. For death and astral projection are basically identical; the only difference is that death is the final astral projection. In astral projection the Silver Cord is stretched like elastic, while at death the Silver Cord is snapped, broken. The Silver Cord is the lifeline of the body, a stream of life-energy emanating from the back of the head of the astral body and attached to the solar plexus region of the etheric-physical body and hence to the physical body. So long as this Silver Cord is unbroken, the physical body remains alive. When it is broken, irreversible death ensues and the body starts decomposing.
Exit-Points from the Physical Body
• Crown Cakra for Råja Yog?÷, Gnostics (Knowers, J?åni÷) and highly intellectual people.
• Heart Cakra for Mystics, Devotees and extremely religious people.
• Solar Plexus Cakra for highly emotional people.
In the process of Natural Death, the Soul collects the attention at one of these points before the death process begins. Suicides and victims of killings, war, sudden accidents or natural disasters leave the physical body not according to the Natural Plan and can exit through any centre, suddenly. Their emotional state determines their immediate fate. Sometimes they may be immediately thrown into the Astral World. They arrive there in a state of shock.
The After-Death Life
The after-death life is not a new life, but is already coexisting, simultaneously, with this bodily life. In fact, it may be viewed as the other side of this life. Therefore, while the actual death experiences are essentially identical for the majority of people, the after-death experiences vary according to many factors.
Sudden Death
If you are an average person experiencing a sudden death, such as from a heart attack or a stroke, it may take some time for you to realize that you have “died”. You might carry on doing what you were doing or try to communicate with those around you, but they cannot hear you. You think to yourself, “This is the weirdest dream I’ve had in my whole life!”
Eventually it will dawn upon you that you are dead. It emerges in your mind something like this: “I must be dead. So this is what people call death.”
Then your emotions begin to work overtime. “What am I to do now? How can I convince them that I am okay?” The next few days are hectic. You watch your own funeral, you see your body buried, and you see people standing around your grave and hear all the conversations. You discover exactly what people think of you.
Most people remain earthbound in their etheric-physical bodies for a short while after death. In other words, you become a ghost. You haunt the places where you used to live and work. Be not concerned though; people can neither see you nor hear you. If they do manage to see you, that is a different phenomenon.
This particular condition is an intermediate state: you are neither in Hell nor in Heaven, but on the etheric subplanes of the Physical Plane. You might hang around your house for weeks, and the places you frequented while still in your physical body. You are quite happy, painless and free; only your thoughts are making you earthbound.
Death by Lingering Disease
The initial stages of the death process are somewhat different if you die a protracted death, such as from cancer or tuberculosis. If you happen to linger on the brink of death for some time (which is often against your wishes), you will have glimpses of the after-death life as you slip in and out of your body. These experiences are often called death-bed visions. You will learn of the after-death conditions before you finally quit your physical tabernacle. You will see and meet your dead relatives and friends, or one of the “invisible helpers”, or meet the Being of Light. Of course, the doctors will think that you are suffering from delirium, hallucinations or degeneration of the brain cells; nevertheless, you will be confident that what you experience is real.
You might be lying on your bed, wherever you happen to be “dying”, and suddenly you might see an apparition of a departed loved one, such as your mother or father or a close friend. He or she will be bathed in light, and at first you might mistake your loved one for an angel or a Being of Light. He or she will call you and tell you that they know you are coming, that they are ready to receive you. You will probably leave your body (astral-project) and go with this person to a place in the Astral World. The experience will be so beautiful, so breathtaking, so enchanting, that you won’t want to come back. You will feel exhilarated, exalted, more alive than you were even in the full vigour of youth. You will be annoyed at the doctors and nurses who try to revive you and bring you back into your body by artificial means. You might even try not to come back, and will cry and be angry upon awakening in the body.
After you have gone through the “Gateway of Death” or walked through the “Valley of the Shadow of Death”, you might not immediately be aware of other presences around you. This depends on your state of mind before you died. Everything depends on your state of mind before you died. After a while, you will begin to notice another person, often called an “invisible helper” or “guide”, who has been sent to help you understand your new condition. Usually it is someone known to you, such as a relative who passed on before you, or a long-dead friend. This person talks to you, explains to you your new condition and takes you to a place to live.
In the higher Astral World everything is so much more beautiful, peaceful and loving than down here. People have greater love and concern for each other and for people still in the body of flesh. So, just as you are welcomed when you are born into this world (by your parents and doctors and the people around you), when you are born into the Astral World you also have people waiting for you, to look after you and take care of you. When you become aware of the presence of others around you, then you have “made it”.
The Suicide and the Murdered
The condition of the suicide and the violently murdered is very different from the case of a person who dies of old age or disease. The problem is that the natural life span of the physical body is cut short while the life-force is still manifesting outward and downward. The case of the suicide and the violently murdered may be likened to a sudden tearing away of the body. There ensues a shock syndrome in one’s consciousness and one is thrown into the hell worlds on the seventh level of the Astral Plane.
Sudden death by violence or suicide embeds horrible and loathsome emotions and thoughtforms into the astral body of the victim, such as depression, fear, hate, anger, malice or an atavistic self-destruction complex. Since you do not change a bit when you cast off the body, these awful clouds of negative energies surround you on all sides and you live in a veritable hell. Suicides precipitate themselves onto the Astral through a distorted act of the mind, the penalty for which is terrible indeed.
A distinction has to be made here between the murderer and the murdered. The murderer and the suicide can find themselves in the hell condition for a long time, but the victim of a violent act will stay in that condition only briefly—it could be a few moments or hours, or at most a few days—because that person has, in reality, no affinity with the hell worlds. The average man or woman has no affinity with those realms and will rise quickly to the appropriate astral region.
The Hell Condition
Hell is a condition in the Astral World. You experience Hell in the Astral World, on the level of your subconscious mind, because of trauma or prolonged evil-doing. The thoroughly evil-minded people, violent men and women, suicides, and victims of violence, all experience Hell in the Astral World.
It seems unjust that a victim of a violent death should suffer horribly in the after-death states, and not just a person who commits violence and cruelty. But if you understand the Law of the Mind you will see why it is so.
Any experience impressed upon your subconscious mind will manifest itself fully after you cast off your body at what is called “death”. Whatever stresses, neuroses or psychoses you have accumulated in your astral body (your dream-body or subconscious mind) become, after death, your full experience. When you are permanently in the Astral World you will re-enact the experience over and over again in the Astral World by the force of your own subconscious mind. This is similar to the habit patterns you enact while in the physical body, except that everything on the Astral is a hundred times more intense.
Fear, terror, anger, violence, hate or depression create a deep stress in your astral body which will produce either physical illness, nervous breakdown and psychosis if you are in your physical body, or the hell condition after you lose your physical body. If you have done a very evil deed, or were a victim of violent crime or murder, or committed suicide, or died in deep depression, that experience becomes deeply impressed in your subconscious mind, and after death those impressions become the sole reality for you. You will repeat the experience in the Astral World exactly as it happened, over and over again, until the force of that crisis, trauma or impression exhausts itself. You will do this in a dream-like state which will be very real for you, although a person looking at you in the Astral World would say that you were hallucinating. A person who dies insane will perpetuate his or her insanity in the Astral and the hallucinations will be even more vivid and terrible.
This is a hell condition. You can redeem yourself only by an act of will, or an act of intelligence or consciousness (the recognition that you are hallucinating), or by an act of Grace (Higher Consciousness). Due to their ignorance, however, most people just suffer through the experience.
The spirit of a bad man, after the death of his physical body, is obliged to re-enact his crimes, with a view to his possible remorse and repentance, and his eventual redemption [release]. Perhaps he may have done his evil deeds blindly, ignorantly in this life, but in the after-death condition, when his spirit recommits the crimes, it is with his spiritual eyes open, and he is able to feel and comprehend their enormity. And this he must do repeatedly.
E.F. Benson
This is simply the spiritual law of the subtle worlds, of the after-death conditions on the lower astral subplanes. From this the religions got their ideas of “hells”. These hells are not the punishments of an angry God, but a burning away of imperfections of the Soul.
Hallucinations in the Afterlife
Astral matter reacts to your thoughts and emotions. It takes forms or shapes according to what you think and feel. Thus, while alive in your physical body, you are continually creating all kinds of shapes and forms out of the astral substance, called thoughtforms or desire-forms. These subtle forms are invisible to you while you have your physical body because the body screens your vision of them, so you assume they don’t exist.
But the fact is that they do exist and they appear to you as soon as you cast off your physical body. Thus, shortly after physical death you undergo an experience of the Astral World which is not at a specific location on the Astral, but in your own consciousness. In this experience of the Astral World you will feel, see and experience all the thoughtforms you have created while in the physical body, and they will appear to be very real indeed! Furthermore, every passing emotion you feel at that time will instantaneously produce all kinds of shapes and forms which you will see and feel and experience.
This after-death state (called Bardo in Tibetan) we call the stage of hallucination. You have your own hallucinations and, if a group of people have similar feelings or thoughts about a matter, they can have group hallucinations.
In the Astral World (Kåma-Loka, the realm of desires) we are dealing with emotional results, which are desires mixed with thoughts (Kåma-Manas, desire-thought). People experience “heaven” or “hell” according to what they felt and thought in their lives before death. These desire-thoughts can take on shapes which are beautiful and awe-inspiring or terrible and frightening. If people have lots of anger, hatred and violence in their emotional natures, or cruelty, depression, suicidal feelings and fear, all of this will manifest to them in visible forms which will envelope them. They will see all sorts of horrible monsters, devils and demons which will attack them and torture them. Yet, although these experiences appear very real at the time, they are but hallucinations of their own making.
People usually go through these stages of hallucination shortly after death. Then there is the stage of reckoning, the “Day of Judgment”, a period of self-examination, introspection, looking over what you have done in your life, and so forth.
At a higher level, there is also a stage of hallucination in Devåchan (the Mental Plane) where you see and vividly experience all of your thoughts. On that plane there are no feelings involved, for the Mental Plane is simply a world of thought. Remember, on the Mental Plane you have no physical body and no astral body; thus you cannot “feel”, only think.
The Awakening Guides
When people are hallucinating, whether as individuals or as a group, they live in “their own little world” and do not see the larger world surrounding them. Consequently there are certain types of astral guides whose job it is to awaken people from their hallucinations so that they can experience the Astral World as it really is, as a vast dimension filled with all kinds of possibilities. These astral guides awaken people from their private or collective “dreams” so that they can live properly in the Astral World and take advantage of its possibilities.
The awakening of the newly-arrived “dead” from their hallucinations, dreams and illusions (Maya) is only one task of these spirit-guides. The Astral World is much larger and more complex than the physical dimension, so human beings arriving there need to be taught many things according to their knowledge and degree of development. Thus, all kinds of guides in the Astral World are giving many teachings and instructions which are relevant to the people who are receptive to them at the time. For one has to learn to function in the Astral World, just as one has to learn to function in the physical.
The Law of the Afterlife
Following are the essential principles governing your experience of life after death. You should remember these facts:
Rule 1
During earthly life the physical body conceals from sight the true state of a man or woman. Neither you, nor those around you, see the thoughtforms and desire-forms that your thoughts and feelings create. After death, however, you will behold them all!
Rule 2
At death your gross physical body dies and you find yourself in the etheric-physical body (the body of Prå˜a). Soon afterwards, your etheric-physical body dies as well and you are cast into the Astral World. Your experience of the Astral World is determined by the Law of Karma—the just “rewards or punishments” which you inflict upon yourself for your thoughts and actions in the physical body. There is no angry God on the other side to greet you with a whip, but there is an unbending Law of Mind which will make you experience what you have created.
The Law of Thought is a fundamental Law of the Cosmos:
For as a man thinkest in his or her heart, so he or she is.
Proverbs
This means that your thinking, your thought-world, will determine your experiences after death.
Rule 3
Upon entering the Astral World, you have not changed; you are thinking, feeling and desiring exactly as you were before death. And here is the problem: you do not suddenly turn into a perfect angel (unless you led an angelic life), just as you are not born as a perfect angel. You carry your past with you. Death takes your physical and etheric bodies, but you remain as you were before death.
Rule 4
Since astral matter shapes itself into forms according to the Kåma-Manas (desire-mind) which created them, the shape you assume on the Astral corresponds to the nature of your feelings. On the Astral Plane, your character determines how you appear to yourself and others. Moreover, you will be surrounded by other people with similar qualities. So it is that evil people appear to themselves and others as horrible and distorted humans, ugly monsters, semi-human and semi-animal shapes, or as animal or demonic forms. On the lowest part of the Astral World all shapes are horrible to behold. Looking at the scenery alone would make one sick (if we could use such an inappropriate term).
Rule 5
While you have an etheric-physical body your astral body is arranged in such a way that the seven grades of particles in it are mixed. So you experience pleasure and pain, anger and joy, irritation and happiness, love and hate, and so on—all of which are emotional states corresponding to the different grades of astral matter in your astral body. After death, however, a peculiar rearrangement of your astral body takes place: the matter composing your astral body rearranges itself into a series of concentric shells, with each shell consisting of matter from one of the astral subplanes. Your astral body becomes like an onion, with up to seven superimposed skins or layers, in which you become imprisoned. The grossest astral matter, composed of any dense vibrations such as hate, destructiveness, violence, intense anger and so forth, occupies the outermost layer of your astral body, while the finer substances, corresponding with your purest, most loving feelings, occupy the innermost concentric shell.
Rule 6
You can perceive only that region of the Astral World which corresponds with the outermost shell of your astral body, that which contains the grossest vibrations of your feelings. Here, you see, is Divine Justice at work—the Law of Karma. The astral body of an evil person will contain, in its outermost layers, matter of the lowest grades of the Astral Plane, and he or she will experience only that and live in a truly hellish environment. He or she will not be able to “see” in any other way. So an evil-minded person may have escaped justice in this world, but it is impossible for him or her to escape Justice in the next world. You will experience heavens, hells or purgatories after you cast off your physical and etheric bodies, according to the state of your mind.
Remembering the Dead
The dead are all around us. This is a spiritual fact. Some (the earthbound) are in the etheric-physical realms; others are in the astral realms; a few are in Devåchan, the “Heavens”. No matter where they are, our thoughts will reach them, even as their thoughts reach us. Thoughts do not know barriers such as Time and Space.
This is why it is so important, every so often, to remember our “dead”—those who have gone on to the other side. We must remember those we knew, our relatives and friends, and send them thoughts of Love, Joy and Happiness. We must send them Grace and Light and invoke blessings for them, that they may be happy and progress, each in his or her own condition.
This is why the church, and all religious priestcraft, taught the
faithful to pray for their dead. “Prayers for the dead” were instituted
in all ancient religions.
Remember those who went before you to “the other side” and they will remember you when you need it most.
This is the origin of the spirit-worship which is so common to all shamanistic religions and “primitive” cultures. Even today the primitive tribes “speak” with their dead. While originally a positive idea, in many cultures this “remembrance of the dead” degenerated into very unpleasant and often evil rituals and prayers, which do more damage than good to both the “living” and the “dead”.
Abortion and the Incarnation Process
Nowadays, the question of abortion is wholly political and even economic. We are not going to enter into political arguments for or against abortion. We are simply interested in the real issue: what happens to the aborted person?
To understand the issue of abortion you first must realize that you did not become an entity at the moment of birth. You existed before birth. The child in the mother’s womb is more than just a few “unwanted tissues”.
The Incarnation Process
The truth is that you existed before you were born. When you missed your opportunity in your last life (when you came face-to-face with the Clear Light of Reality and could not grasp It) you were processed through the various levels of the Astral Plane, finally reaching Devåchan, the Heaven Worlds. There you had a rest, the duration of which varies according to several factors. When you were ready to reincarnate, the reverse of the death process began for you. You began to build for yourself a new mental body, then later you built a new astral body and descended to the Astral Plane. Once on the Astral Plane you began to look for parents and had visions of people having sex. You chose your parents.
Your physical body commenced when the sperm of your father and the ovum of your mother united and formed a single cell. That was already your physical body. As your body grew inside your mother’s womb there was a dual process going on: your karma÷ were imprinted on your growing body, while the life-force and physical substances were provided by your mother. The life-force (Prå˜a) was provided for you by your mother’s aura, through her etheric and astral bodies, while your own etheric-physical body was the mould, or image, into the likeness of which your physical body was built.
The Angelic Builders
The Human Incarnation Process is the work of the angels and elemental entities as well. Your mother was helped by certain types of angels and elementals who help with the incarnatory processes on the astral and etheric levels. The activity of these angels (Deva÷) and nature-spirits can clearly be seen in the auras of all pregnant women.
While in your mother’s womb you were dreamily aware in your physical body and you could hear the music or sound-vibrations as your physical body was being built. This music and colour composition reflects your karma÷. Then, at the time of your birth, you became disconnected from all of your natural support system—the womb and the angelic builders.
Although your Self, the Reincarnating Ego, remained on the Mental Plane during this process, a line of communication existed between you (the Self) and your body in the form of the Silver Cord, which appears as a silvery, bluish light connecting the physical to the etheric, the etheric to the astral, and the astral to the mental body. This is known as the Svtråtma or “thread of the Self”, whereby the Imperishable You is attached to your bodies.
Aborting the Incarnation Process
If this incarnation process is cut short (such as by abortion), only your physical body is destroyed. You become a disembodied Soul, but in a most terrible state. This should be understood in detail. Imagine yourself in this situation: you are growing your body (with the help of your mother, the angelic builders and the nature-spirits) and then suddenly you are aborted. The shock and pain is real in your consciousness because all of your life-energies are turned downward towards the experience of the Physical Plane. Now you are suddenly cut off from the possibility of that experience, but the downward pressure remains, so you are thrown into a “limbo” state (actually an area of the fifth and sixth subplanes of the Astral World). It is a terrible state to be in. It is like being thirsty while not being able to drink.
The cycle of incarnation is not complete so long as a person has not passed through terrestrial life in the physical body. Therefore, if the cycle of incarnation is broken, you cannot ascend to the higher spheres; you must live out your physical life in the limbo state. You have to grow up, mature and “die” in limbo before the normal after-death life can be resumed.
This is so for all babies who die before birth and for small children who die shortly after birth; they must grow up in limbo before they can enter the full after-death conditions. The only difference is that, if the child dies because of “natural causes” (that is, if it is his or her Karma), there is no karmic repercussion on the parents. However, if a mother wilfully aborts her child, for whatever reason, the full force of Karma descends upon her and upon all those who assisted in the process.
Another possibility (this happens often) is that the aborted child seeks to form another physical body and incarnate again through the same mother. In this case, the child hovers in the aura of the mother until a new physical body can be formed.
The Being of Light
For normal men and women the after-death states are a continuation of the present life in a gradually modified form. The supreme death experience, however, is the experiencing of the Inner Light, the White Brilliance of the Supreme Crown, or the Being of Light. The Mystic or Adept attaches himself or herself to this Inner Light—what the Tibetans call the Clear Light. This Light shines from Nirvå˜a and hence takes one beyond the Astral and Mental Planes of Being. Thus the boundaries of Death are transcended.
Many dying persons, and those who have “died” and come back, report their encounter with this “Being of Light”. There is a certain stage in your meditational process also when you will encounter this wonderful Being of Light. The experience is so overwhelming that it is impossible to describe in words. A feeling of such total Love, warmth, peace, security and well-being cannot be experienced in the physical body. It comes to you when you are out of your body, either during meditation or during the afterlife.
Every “dead” person is taken into the presence of this Being of Light. The Being of Light will show you the events of your life, everything you have done from the time you were born until the time you died, in “picture” form, as if you were watching a movie about yourself. This movie will be an extremely vivid, three-dimensional show in which you see yourself as the chief actor, but the real you is watching from the outside. During this experience your whole life will pass before your eyes and you will see its significance.
You may also hear the Voice—the Voice of the Silence, the Voice of the Light, the Supreme Judge, who will judge you with extreme Love and Compassion. There is no condemnation in it; it is more a feeling for you than against you. This Being will speak to you not by words— although you will experience it as such—but by direct impression on your consciousness. It will assess your life, make comments on what you have done, and make recommendations to you.
The Being of Light will teach you that the only real value to be striven for is Love, that the greatest joy in existence is to be Loving, that the noblest deed is to forgive, that the greatest virtue is Compassion.
The magnetic pull of this Being of Light is irresistible. It is so full of Compassion and Love that you will be overcome by the most intense emotions of joy. You will cry when this Being looks at you, because you will realize how far short you have fallen from the ideal of the Heart of the Universe—Love. You will realize that the Essence of the Universe is Love, that Love is a substance, a radiation, a splendour, most beautiful and radiant, most kind, pure and clear, selfless and forgiving, immanent and all-pervading. You will know that God is Love. All of your wrong concepts about God will fall away—that He is cruel, uncaring, punishing, vengeful, that He allows evil to rule the Universe—washed away by your experience of a totally overwhelming Love and Compassion, warmth and security, caring and feeling. The power of It is unimaginable to a person in the normal, everyday consciousness. You will be “Judged” and that is your “Judgment Day”, but you will be “forgiven” and offered certain things to do to expiate your wrongdoings. The Voice of the Light will teach you all things.
This is where ordinary people miss their sublime opportunity. If at this moment you merge into the Light, then you attain Nirvå˜a, Beatitude, Paradise, Glory, Perfection, Union with God, Enlightenment, the state of Yoga. You are transformed, transfigured, transfixed into the Light, and ascend into the Imperishable Kingdom of Light, the Original Universe, Reality, far above the Astral Worlds, far above the seven Heaven Worlds of Devåchan. You enter the Divine Worlds of Reality. You are born into the Worlds of Light.
Ordinarily people miss this stupendous opportunity, however, and cannot merge into the Light. The Light proves too strong for them, so they fall back and remain on the Astral Plane, in the astral conditions demanded by their karma÷.
The Being of Light in Meditation
You do not have to “die” to encounter this Being of Light, the Christ which is the Love of God. The whole purpose of Yoga, Mysticism, Sufism, Buddhism, Taoism and Kabbalah is to learn the Truth in the here and now, while still possessing the physical body. One of the major objectives of meditation is to raise yourself out of the body and meet the Being of Light, for then your Salvation is assured. This Being will help you to “work out your Salvation” so that when you “die” you can go straight to the highest Light Worlds and avoid the hells, purgatories and limbo states that most people are destined to occupy for a period after death.
The ancient Kabbalists strove for “the knowledge of and conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel”. It is a boon of great price to be taught by this Being of Light. When you have contacted this Being of Light during meditation, it will teach you all things of birth, life and death, and of all the after-death states.
As you persevere in your meditational practice, first you might have glimpses of super-physical scenes, then Light and Radiance. The seeing of the Inner Worlds and the Light is possible when the Third-Eye Cakra becomes active and the inner vision is awakened. It is because we are continually seeing this physical world that we are attached to it and bound by it.
Whatever we see, we become.
This inner “seeing” is called Contemplation by the Christian Mystics. The Eastern Yogic Schools call it Dhyåna.
The wise Yog?÷ of India said that you should undertake such a Dhyåna that would end your transmigration in this world. The Christian Mystics taught that if you see Christ as the Light, you will be brought out of this world into a higher and more spiritual state of existence. They described Christ as “a Being shining like a Spiritual Sun” or “like a bright star”. The contemplation of this Being produces in the Mystic an exhilaration and ecstasy beyond all words.
Yielding to this Light, one becomes the Light.
The Kabbalists of the ancient Jewish religion said:
Man’s purpose is to become Light.
And the Sikh Guru÷ taught:
The One we have to contemplate is beyond this world.
So long as we do not meet this Being of Light, we cannot be happy. When the Being of Light appears within the disciple during meditation, he should completely merge himself into the Radiant Being.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8
This purity of Heart can be attained only by the contemplation of the Radiant Form of the Master, the Christ-Being. For, as K®ß˜a has said:
Those who Love me, merge into me.
You merge into the Light-Being by seeing. The Chinese Mystics of the Chån School taught:
The original, pure and glistening Universe is neither big nor small, nor has it any distinctions whatever. You cannot understand this Ultimate in your natural state, only when you leap into the Buddha’s Realm by Vision’s Transcendental Gate.
Once you have seen the Vision of the Beloved, the Being of Light, you will lose interest in your physical body and physical life and wonder why it is that people cling so vehemently to a coffin and why they like so much to live in a jail. For after this Vision and “the knowledge of and conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel” your body will appear to be a tomb, a coffin, and life in this world a prison. You will no longer fear death, but look forward to it with great anticipation and joy, with expectation and excitement. For death becomes your victory and your release, your Freedom, Liberation and Nirvanaa, your Mokßa, the happiest moment of your life.
Once you have beheld the Radiant Form of the Master, the Being of Light, you will never want to take your gaze off Him. In the contemplation of this Wonder of Love, you are transmuted, translated, transfigured into the Heart of God.
Learn to Die before you Die
The purpose of being born is not to be born again.
The purpose of dying is not to die again.
Wisdom of the East
Learn to die before you die.
Mysteries of Greece and Rome
This is the most important knowledge you can have: How to become immortal. The purpose of life is to become a Buddha, a Christ. True Liberation (Mukti, Mokßa), which is true Conscious Immortality, exists on the Buddhic Plane and above. To die so as not to be born again is to attain to Buddhi, which is Pure Consciousness. In Buddhi you are free from a physical body, free from an astral body (emotions), free from a mental body (mind), and free even from a causal body (Kåra˜a-°ar?ra).
This can be attained as follows:
• At the moment of death of the physical body.
• At the moment of the Second Death, when the etheric-physical body dies and you begin to live fully in Kåmaloka, the Astral World.
• At the moment of the Third Death, when the astral body dies and you begin to function in Devåchan, the Heaven Worlds.
• At the moment of the Fourth Death, when your mental body dies and you experience yourself on the higher mental subplanes as an Ego, an Individualized Soul (J?va).
• Between two breaths.
• Between two thoughts.
• Between two forms of feeling or desire-energy.
• Between two states of consciousness.
At the moment of death you can experience Pure Consciousness (Buddhi) and know yourself to be Consciously Immortal. Or you can experience the Bright Light of Reality (Nirvå˜a) and thus be Liberated (J?vanmukti). In the true Christian sense, this is Salvation. You also can attain this moment of Pure Consciousness between two breaths, between two thoughts in your mind, between two energies of feeling or desire, and between two states of consciousness, such as sleeping and waking. Hence there have arisen the many forms of meditation which aim to control the breath, thoughts, the desire-nature and Consciousness.
At the moment of birth and the moment of death, people could experience Liberation or formless Eternal Consciousness, but they are not prepared for it, so it passes them by. You will remain shackled to the Wheel of Birth and Death forever unless you learn to experience Pure Consciousness—the Transcendental State which is beyond the body-experience, beyond the psychism of the Astral Plane, and beyond the mind and thoughts.
This experience of Pure Consciousness is knowing yourself to be an Immortal Light Being—conscious, eternal, absolute, undivided, unique, whole, complete, without division or parts, without birth, death or sorrows. This state is Karma-less (action-less). This state is Sat-Cit-Ånanda (Being, Consciousness, Bliss).
If you miss it at the moment of birth or at the moment of death, or in your physical life, you will fall back into the compulsive and automatic karmic consequences of the Astral Plane (defined in modern esoteric psychology as “the uncontrolled postmortem state of energy transformations” or “astral karmic hallucinations”), and then you will be forced to be reborn into this plane of Karma. Therefore, while still in the physical body, one should make an all-out effort to “learn to die before you die”, to experience Pure Consciousness, Buddhi.
Clarify your Objective
Before we begin a journey, we have to know where we are going and we have to know how to get there, for the Law of Karma (cause and effect) operates throughout the Three Worlds.
It is important to understand that true Sufism, true Zen, true Christian and Jewish Mysticism, true Buddhism, true Yoga, true Taoism and true Sikhism aim to go beyond the after-death conditions, beyond the ordinary hells, purgatories and heavens, even beyond Devåchan, the “abode of the gods”. No matter how beautiful and inspiring the Heaven Worlds may be, the Path leads beyond these realms into Buddhi and Nirvana. Unless you understand this, you will become confused along the way and become lost in other realms.
The cycle of Reincarnation is broken only when you reach the Buddhic Plane. That is why the ancients called these realms Salvation and Beatitude. The true Spiritual Path leads to °amballa, the Divine Kingdom, the Original Kingdom, the Imperishable Realm. This was the aim of the Gnostics and the great Mystery Schools of ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece and Babylonia.
This is the ultimate objective in life: the Divinization of the human being. When Union with God is achieved, the full potentiality of Man is seen and Man becomes a co-worker with God in Cosmic Consciousness, enjoying the fullness of Conscious Immortality and Eternal Life. Then Man is totally fulfilled. Then the Kingdom of God is brought down to Earth, and the Light that eternally shines becomes the Guiding Light for Man.
True Death
The control of the psychic activities (Kåma-Manas) comes through the right use of the will-power, and through ceasing from self-indulgence (desire). The consummation of this is freedom from the thirst (Tanhå) for any psychic activity, through the transference to the Spiritual Man.
Patañjali’s Yoga Sutra
In Yogic philosophy, the psychic nature includes Kåma (the feeling or desire nature, the astral body) and Manas (the lower mind, the rational principle or mental body). While you exist in a physical body, Kåma and Manas cooperate so closely that they become almost indistinguishable. This cooperation between Kåma (desire) and Manas (thought) forms the basis of the personality complex.
The activities of Kåma-Manas, the psychic nature, are controlled by “the right use of the will” and “ceasing from self-indulgence”. When this control is achieved, then comes Freedom (Mokßa) and Liberation (Mukti) from the thirst for personal existence in the Three Worlds (Tanhå). This is the “true death”, the death of the personality and the birth of the Spiritual Man—the Soul, the Spirit. Patañjali describes this process as a transference from the personal level of existence to the spiritual.
An objective is attained through the cessation of desire towards it. When you no longer desire an object, you are free from it. When you do not desire a particular existential condition, you become liberated from it. Thus:
True death is the death of the “lower self”, your personality, and the Awakening to your own Divinity. w
Excerpted from Heavens & Hells of the Mind by Imre Vallyon. Copyright Ó 2007 by I.G. Vallyon. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission from the publisher.
Permission to post this excerpt online is granted to Wisdom Magazine by the publisher, Sounding-Light Publishing Ltd.
Born in 1940 in Budapest, Hungary, Imre emigrated to New Zealand as a refugee at the age of sixteen. Since 1980 he has dedicated his life to teaching the Wisdom Science through his extensive writings and through workshops and retreats conducted around the world. In 1982 he established the Foundation for Higher Learning, an international Spiritual School designed to provide people with the opportunity to practise spiritual awakening in a group environment, with the ultimate goal of self-realization and planetary transformation.
Imre’s extraordinary knowledge of human spirituality is derived not from scholastic research, but issues forth from his own Interior Realization. He spans the full spectrum of human experience: reaching through time, illuminating the great Spiritual Teachings and Sacred Languages of our planetary history while pointing the way to the future.
Heavens & Hells of the Mind can be purchased from the Sounding-Light Publishing Web site, www.soundinglight.com, and from major online retailers including Amazon, Tower Records, Barnes & Noble and Buy.com, or through your local bookstore.
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