Transcriptions
Dev Priyānanda Svāmī Bhagavān
Video Link: YouTube
Namaste. Welcome to another episode of the Esoteric Teaching. Today we’re going to talk about Holographic Meditation.
Now, what is Holographic Meditation? Glad you asked. Well, remember, some time ago we started a series called Devananda Samādhi Yoga. I’ll put a link to it up here. And that was based on the idea that one can attain samādhi based on any of the seven cakras. As soon as the energy of a cakra connects with the Self, the sahasrāra-cakra, at that time one experiences samādhi, ecstasy, and enlightenment.
However, the difficulty with samādhi as the object of yoga practice is that it’s temporary; you have to come out of it. For example, the natural samādhi that we experience in sex is over in just a few seconds. One comes out of it again so very quickly that one realizes, “Oh, this is really kind of a waste of time.”
I mean, the samādhi from sex can go very deep. One time I did a Tantric ritual, and had an orgasm where I was able to see the naked Brahman shining like a million suns. But it only lasted for a few seconds; then I came out of it. And it was still worthwhile to have that experience; but that’s not a basis for full Self-realization.
What is, then? Well, that’s what we’re going to talk about now. The idea of a hologram is that one can see the object from all sides, isn’t it? What is a hologram? It’s simply a photograph which retains not only the image data, but the phase of the light rays reflected from it. That allows you to turn it and view it from any side and see it from any angle, 360 degrees.
What that means is that it’s possible to see the Self, the non-dual consciousness, the object of enlightenment, from any angle or from any cakra, through any process of yoga.
Now, if we go back to the original diagram of the Esoteric Teaching, we see that, for example, the process of the Fall is a series of stages. And although they’re listed in sequential order, and actually one leads to the next, and one is the prerequisite for the next, in actual life they go on concurrently on different time scales.
In other words, there’s one process of the Fall, or the manifestation, that lasts for an entire lifetime. And there’s another one going on on a daily level. And then there’s yet another one going on with each breath, and right on down to the microscopic level.
So this process of becoming, or manifestation, is going on constantly. And it’s in different stages in different places, and so on and so forth. It’s very complex. You really need a holographic view to cognize it properly.
So in the same way, the process of Self-realization is another process of becoming with several stages, the different yogas beginning from Right View, initiation, and so on. And these also can execute in parallel, and actually they must, in order to reach full enlightenment.
One of the things we posted on Facebook and elsewhere a long time ago was our diagram of the seven cakras and their seven energy states. So to attain full enlightenment, all seven cakras must be in the highest energy state simultaneously.
Now let’s back up a little bit, if that sounds like too much. When you are alive, when you’re embodied, when your life energy is flowing through the cakras, all seven cakras are active simultaneously. When you go to sleep, they all go to sleep. When you wake up, they all wake up. Because the primal life energy is consciousness. So when your consciousness enters into the body, all seven cakras spring into being and action simultaneously.
So let’s use this simple example. So what if you take a walk? And as you’re on your walk, maybe you’re thinking about something. Well, who is walking? If you’re thinking, then the process of walking is going on automatically, isn’t it? You don’t have to think about it, except maybe to give high-level commands like “turn this way, walk that way, walk slower, faster,” whatever.
But you don’t really have to put much attention on it at all. It’s minimal. And more of your attention goes into maybe looking at the sunset or the birds or thinking about something. Or maybe you’re involved in some emotional feelings about something. And you’re aware of those much more than you are of walking.
Walking is a habit, something that you’ve cultivated and built up over many years. Now, when you were first learning to walk, you had to put all your attention on it, not to fall down. But as walking developed, it became almost second nature. So you don’t have to think about walking in order to walk.
In the same way, the different yoga processes can become so well-trained into their cakras that they can go on in the background while you’re doing higher things. For example, haṭha-yoga. Haṭha-yoga deals with movement and energy.
So if you are well-trained in haṭha-yoga or any other form of exercise, your body acquires a certain ease and grace. You don’t have to think about that. It’s trained. It’s a habit. So it goes on in the background without any attention.
And in the same way, this is a part of karma-yoga, haṭha-yoga and all that. Bhakti-yoga in the heart means to cleanse the heart of all negative emotions and develop love for the Absolute, the Self, in any form. So that love is not something that comes and goes if it’s authentic.
Maybe in the stage of practice, in the beginning, you have to think about it. You have to put attention on it to fabricate it. That’s okay. But once that love is developed, it becomes a part of who you are. It’s not something you turn on and turn off. It’s always there. It’s a state of being. It’s not a doing anymore. You have become the lover and the beloved.
Similarly with a mantra. Mantra is going on in the throat cakra. In the beginning, you’re speaking it out loud. Maybe you’re doing kīrtan. And then you can do japa, saying it very quietly, keeping it within the mouth, almost like whispering. And the third stage is it becomes silent. It’s going on your mind.
Now, in the beginning, yes, you have to put a lot of attention, how to pronounce the mantra properly, how to gain the proper rhythm, mātrā, and of course the meaning of the mantra, the significance. And then there’s how you feel about it. All of these require our attention in the beginning.
But once they’re trained into the centers, into the cakras, it becomes automatic. And it can go on in the background while other things are happening.
The same with meditation. In the beginning, meditation requires our full attention. But then as we meditate more and more, it becomes a habit. It becomes a way of being, a state of consciousness that you have with you all the time. You don’t have to consciously meditate. It just happens.
And finally, the sahasrāra-cakra’s function is ecstasy. So, in the beginning, to attain ecstasy requires a great effort. But after some time, it becomes a natural state, just like all the others.
So, what’s the problem with having these go on simultaneously? I mean, even without yoga, even in ordinary life, your stomach is always digesting food, your lungs are always breathing, your heart is always having feelings and pumping blood, you’re always vocalizing or sub-vocalizing some kind of conversation with yourself or with others. And you’re always thinking about something, isn’t it?
And deep down beneath all the mental coverings, there’s ecstasy of pure consciousness going on constantly. The only thing that prevents us from realizing it at all times is our upādhis, our coverings, the layers and layers of mind stuff that say, “Well, you’re an individual, you’re confined to this body, you’re not enlightened, you’re just an ordinary animal.” But that’s what we have to remove.
But the point here is that all of these things can go on simultaneously. What happens in ordinary life is that one has to concentrate very hard to do any one of these yogik processes. So one becomes specialized and thinks, “I am a haṭha-yogī, or I am a bhaktī-yogī, or I am a jñāna-yogī, or a rāja-yogī,” or this or that kind of yogī.
This sectarianism is really harmful because it keeps the multiple processes from going on simultaneously. And that, in turn, lowers the energy state of the corresponding cakras and prevents the energy flow that leads to full enlightenment.
So the point that I want to make here, and which I would like you to absorb very deeply, is that all the processes of yoga, learning the Right View from the Master, accepting the initiation that points you in the right direction and gives you a push, then performing karma-yoga and seva to the master and to the eight-fold forms of God that we discussed in Upadeṣa Undiyār, and then bhakti-yoga, doing service, developing love and affection, and chanting the name, the holy name, the mantra.
These can all go on simultaneously. Mantra. I mean, mantra, if you make it a habit, will replace the normal random chattering of the mind with something beautiful, something meaningful, something divine. And similarly, meditation, focusing the mind, turning off that random chatter and just allowing the mind to settle in one particular object.
The Buddha gave eight forms of meditation, the eight jhānas. And these automatically lead to all the wonderful symptoms like light, the Path realizations, and ultimately nirvāṇa. So in this way, we come to the point of being able to experience ecstasy more or less all the time. And that non-dual consciousness of realization, “I am That”: that is the ultimate realization.
And that is what’s possible through this form of meditation, this training, this holographic meditation of the Esoteric Teaching.
Om Tat Sat. Om Hari Om.