Spiritual experience-Beautitud e of inner most self.

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Every individual experiences a constant flow of thoughts that arise spontaneously and operate in the intellect. The question that arises is: Who is awareof these thoughts? If there are thoughts there has to be a thinker (ego). Self-analysis leads one to the conclusion that the individuality of a personoperates as the perceiver of the presence of thoughts and their sequence. Another name for individuality is ego, which is also referred to as ‘i’ . Interestingly, the ‘i’ is conspicuous by its absence in the state of . The i-thought or ego manifests itself in the waking state through identification with the physical body. And since there is no sense of ‘i’ in a stateof deep sleep, the world and its objects cease to exist for the individual in deep sleep. It would, therefore, not be wrong to say that the reality ofthe world is brought about by the ego through its act of emergence from deep sleep. One could conclude, therefore, that the world and its objects have no meaning in the absence of a perceiver (ego). The beauty of the Himalayas is a sightto behold, there’s no denying that; but there has to be the seer (ego) to behold and appreciate their beauty. Similarly, melodious music has no meaningin the absence of the hearer (again, the ego); the concept of God, too, loses significance if there be no believer, the ego. So knowledge of one’s ownSelf is of utmost importance. In the absence of this knowledge all our worldly activities have no meaning. A seeker on the path seeks answers to the following questions: Wherefrom does the ego emanate? Does it really exist? How to attain knowledge of one’s Self ? Just as ascientist studies some aspect of the physical universe with the help of sophisticated equipment and formulates a theory, so also the spiritual seeker makesuse of yogic techniques like meditation and breath control to restrain the mind and to cleanse it of all sorts of impurities. Through intense meditation the seeker delves deep into the innermost recesses of his being and succeeds, over a period of time, in tracing the ego to itssource, namely the Self. In the process the seeker is sometimes blessed with a number of experiences like perception of radiance of consciousness that appears in four different colours: red, white, black and blue, corresponding to the fourstates of consciousness, namely waking, dream, deep sleep and transcendental (supra-causal ) respectively . Many advanced spiritual scientists have recordedexperiences of their perception of the Divine Effulgence the dazzling Blue Radiance — in deep meditation in different points of time and in different partsof the world. However, it is difficult to prove the authenticity of mystic experiences through scientific methods. The reason being that scientific research takes placein the waking state when the ego is in identification with the physical body, while spiritual experiences occur in deep meditation at higher levels ofconsciousness where the ‘i-thought’ of the waking state is conspicuous by its absence. is a matter of direct, personal experience and not of arguments at the intellectual level. In other words, empirical evidence is the only method throughwhich the authenticity of mystic experiences can be verified. Mystic experiences are signposts on the spiritual path. They precede the dawn of ultimatebeatitude — realisation of one’s innermost Self.

Best Regards,K.s.Vishwanathan.Tel No: 022-28738192