Higher states of consciousness are naturally interesting to people because we all inherently know that things are simply easier to understand when we aren’t lost in our usual day to day problems that plague us from day to day.  There are rare experiences when we are able to see the higher meaning of our lives and these moments help us to achieve greater clarity and value in the things we do.

In addition to the higher value and clarity that we can all achieve in a higher state of consciousness, we can also alleviate the negative feelings that come from our normal day to day routine.  Higher states of consciousness transcend all of our negative emotions and leave us feeling as though we were “floating on air” in a perfect state of peace and contentedness.  With such great promise as this, it is a great wonder that these higher states are so rarely reached and that the secret to their achievement often seems so hard to discover.

The reason why the difficulties arise has to do with a fundamental difference between what is called “theory” and what is called “application”.  In “theory”, we know that higher states of consciousness exist and we can talk about them, read about them and think about them to no end. In “application”, however, we find that we must actually begin to do things that are more real and concrete.

Thinking and reading and talking are all very concrete things and yet they often aren’t concrete enough to bring about a higher state of consciousness.  Our thinking and our books can only take us so far until we find that we actually need to transcend ourselves and go even further.  This makes spiritual work seem extremely hard or even impossible for most people.  We often decide to just “give up” and later on we discover that our “giving up” was actually part of the spiritual process which was necessary in order that we approach our task from a new angle.

Having “given up” on spiritual efforts, we discover that there is still a part of us which seeks those same higher states of consciousness that we originally set out to achieve.  With a new strategy and a more open attitude, we reach a proverbial “second wind” which is mentioned in the classic spiritual book The Cloud of Unknowing.  In this book, the anonymous writer explains how an initial effort to reach a higher state of consciousness often fails but that a person who returns to the effort again after years of “giving up” is almost sure to reach those higher states which they first set out to attain.

The basic effort that is required to reach these states has to do with letting go of negative emotions and becoming more aware of ourselves in the present moment.  We can practice these things each day but often find that they are very hard to achieve for any extended period of time.  Letting go of our grief, anger, fear and guilt are all part of what spiritual effort is all about but actually doing these things turns out to be much harder than we first imagined.  Watching ourselves, observing our thoughts and coming to understand ourselves better are also important elements of spiritual effort but these things only come slowly over years of work and long hours of reading, writing and participating in spiritual groups.  The efforts sometimes seem to much for many people after one or two years and they eventually become distracted by something and fall away from their path.

Falling away from the path is a normal part of spiritual growth and can actually be viewed as a positive step forward after some initial effort has truly been expended.  If the person who falls away from their path doesn’t fall too far off course, they can often find a renewed hope in the idea that there is a “second wind”. This second wind is something that often indicates a true spiritual seeker and someone who has come to understand the true meaning of devotion and dedication to spiritual principles.

If you are intent on reaching a higher state of consciousness, it will be important for you not to forget your second wind.  Many people begin on a spiritual path and even reach certain higher states of consciousness in the beginning.  The true spiritual devotee, however, is that person who has come to a seeming end in their path and has actually fallen away for a time to wonder how a higher state of consciousness can truly be reached.  It is only after their second wind that they truly come to see what higher states of consciousness are really all about.  Good luck to you on your path and don’t forget your second wind!

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Waking, dreaming and sleeping states of consciousness are common to all of us. Higher states of consciousness are adored by every individual. Everyone hopes to delve deep into the realm of consciousness. With the help of scientific spiritual and yoga practices, in the deep state of contemplation, absorbed in meditation, the serious practitioners become familiar and enjoy the higher states of consciousness. Gradually those deeper nooks of our awareness become their normal states of mind.

The most extroverted state of our mind is when we perceive sense objects - when we are hearing, touching, viewing, tasting and smelling various things. This is sensation bound state of mind.
Second and deeper state of mind is related to mental and emotional faculties. Reason, logic, thought, analysis, memory, will power or volition are one part and feelings and emotions are second part of our mind.
The third type of condition of mind is dreaming and sleeping. Despite great scientific advancement, the later two states of mind are little understood.

The Five Progressive States Of Consciousness:

It is said that the spark of life in body and mind is provided by soul or pure consciousness. At the time of death, soul leaves the body with all its vital organs intact and we die. And we see this truth everyday. Death is one of the greatest enigmas for science and medicine.

The science of yoga mentions fives progressive states of awareness.
1.Bound State
2.Scattered or distracted mind
3.Sometimes scattered, sometime focused
4.Concentrated or focused or streamlined.
5.Centered in soul without any quiver in mental faculties.

Spiritually most of the persons remain in first three states of awareness. As we practice meditation and contemplation, we start to taste focused state of mind. Finally after a long and dedicated practice, the state of pure consciousness without any quiver of mind is realized. With this experience, we find that we have started to identify ourselves with pure consciousness. Previously, our identification with body and mind is so deep that we could not let go of it despite a lot of thinking of doing so. The experience of self or soul makes this identification very easy.

It will be easy to understand if we think of consciousness like a stream. In bound state of mind, our awareness is limited to gross world of sensations, and thoughts and emotions limit or condition the stream of awareness. It feels as if our mind is glued to them.

In scattered and distracted state of mind, our awareness only sometimes has glimpse of that state of pure awareness, and that glimpse is also indirect.

In third stage, as we practice being centered in self-awareness, we feel that our mind is sometimes scattered and sometimes collected.

Fourth state of consciousness is achieved only in deep meditation, when there is continuity of awareness on the object of contemplation. This is like uninterrupted flow of consciousness to the exclusion of everything else. Three entities remain - observer or pure consciousness, object of contemplation and the process of contemplation.

In fifth and the highest of all stages, even the single quiver of mind is absent; there is full absorption of all of our mental and emotional faculties in our own pure consciousness or soul. This stage is achieved usually after a long and dedicated practice of the science of meditation and yoga.
Eight Limbed Yoga and Higher States Of Consciousness:

The first two of the eight limbs of yoga are related with good behavior and personal discipline. The third step of posture makes us sit still with ease for prolonged time. The fourth step is breathing exercise that leads us to higher stages of meditation with absorption of mind.

The fifth step results from the above mentioned practices - the interiorization of mind - mind becomes absorbed and outer sensations of five senses are not able to disturb. It might be like conscious sleep. The rest of the three higher states of consciousness are concentration, continuity of concentration and merged state of mind.
Samadhi Or Yogic Trance And Higher States Of Consciousness:

Usually the three types of mind is recognized – conscious mind, subconscious mind and superconscious mind. Superconsciousness is used for the deep state of meditation or for trance like state.
There is one type of trance that is like suspended animation and it does not produce any good. The other types of trance that are experienced in deeper states of meditation are good as we remain aware in those higher states and enjoy greatly the deep and merged state of mind.

There are several sub-stages of superconscious state of mind and that would only complicate the topic. It is better to ponder over other topics now. Why do we need to experience these deeper states of consciousness? What are the benefits of experiencing them?

To become more aware, to use our full potential, to become more happier, to become healthier, to earn more money, to have better control on our self, to become successful in whatever we choose, to lead a more fulfilled and purposeful life, to connect ourselves with God or Universal Consciousness or our source. There could be thousand reasons.

Remember spiritual domain is not exclusive of material world, it includes all domains and life and other domains that are beyond our comprehension yet. There is a science and art behind this, much deeper and complex to be understood by mind, because mind simply doesn’t exist when we experience those higher states of consciousness. They belong to experiencing our true nature – our soul – the Spirit in us. Let us explore our true nature, our potentialities in Spirit! Let us become conscious of that we are made in His Image!
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How The Difference In Soul And God Can Motivate Us To Grow Spiritually

If there could be something most controversial as well most evident, it is GOD. And all of us are essentially soul or pure consciousness. Let us give a thought to the difference between these two forms of consciousness.

The Holy Trinity Of God, Son and Holy Ghost – Soul And God:

All major religions, mystics and spiritual movements maintain the truth of the Holy Trinity in one way or another. The difference is only in outward explanation.

When we analyze and feel deeply about ourselves, life and nature, we come to know that there are three basic ‘entities’ or principles – nature, soul, and God.

Nature has existence, souls have existence plus consciousness or awareness and God’s nature is ever new bliss along with the existence and consciousness. All the three qualities are present in God.

The existence of natural entities can be proved in many ways ranging from gross shapes to subatomic levels. When we see diverse forms of nature – the mountains, ground, rivers and sea – we know that they are present. Existence is self-evident in nature.

When we see the world of creatures – the plant and animal kingdom – we see that the principle of consciousness is gradually manifesting itself. Plants are very near to inanimate objects like stone but they are truly throbbing with awareness. The principle of individual consciousness or soul governs and sets the various processes of their life cycle.

The principle of consciousness is highly advanced in higher animals. They are able to perceive world through sense organs and they react to events and situations based on their reflexes and instincts.

When we come to ourselves – human beings – we see that many animals possess stronger power to perceive sensations of smell, vision, sounds and like. We are separated from them by developed mental faculties – thoughts, emotions and memory and imagination.

And the strongest feature of human beings is neither of these advanced mental faculties – it is the power of being aware to what is going on in our mind and heart. Yes, we are aware of our existence on earth like no other animal or plant could be. The principle of consciousness or awareness is highly manifest in men and women.

Now we come to Spirit or Universal Consciousness or Cosmic Consciousness or God or Divine Mother or Heavenly Father or Unified Field – whatever you like to name. He won’t feel bad at all! People have called Him ‘Great Vacuum’.

There are many qualities in God according to various scriptures and spiritual masters. Nothing is going to woo the soul – power, money, knowledge, sovereignty, and control over the world. None of these can attract the soul to God; rather some of them might create fear like we see in so many mythological stories.

The unique feature of God is His nature of Bliss, the ever new joy, the never stale joy. Yes God is all Joy and Bliss! That is why all souls are seeking.

Ask this question from yourself and people of all walks and ages. Why do people do anything? What is the ultimate reason for doing each and everything that we do? What is the motive behind all activities?

Yes, be a bit philosophical. The ultimate motive behind all our activities is seeking pleasure, getting joy from it. Check it.

We want to become pilot or model or scientist. Why? We want to make your dream come true. Why? We want be a successful parent and businessperson. Why? We want to serve and contribute for society. Why?

Simply it gives us joy. We are chasing for joy in our life.

If we decipher all the qualities of a good and successful person – money, business, work satisfaction, family, name and fame and all other things, we will find that there are many people in world who have all of them and are not satisfied even after possessing them.

Even with all the possessions and good things, we are empty, we are seeking something else, whatever gives us pleasure becomes stale and truly it could be anything. Everything and every person that gives us joy become stale!

The perpetual bliss, or ever new bliss is not a quality of soul. Yes, we have existence and are aware of it, we can experience pleasure and pain associated with our experiences. That is our nature. Bliss is the difference between soul and God.

The nature of God is Bliss. And souls who are aware of Him, who are making efforts to become aware of our union with Him will get it from their realized association with God.

The beginning of all religions and spiritual movement is directly traced to the efforts to evolve human consciousness and to realize its association with God.

We will like to share some of the sayings of Great Ones about soul and God, who have realized and helped others realize God. It is not felt necessary to give the references here.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all things will be added unto Thee”

“So God created man in His Own Image, in the image of God created He Him; male and female He created them.”

“But as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”

“When one realized one’s association with God, Everything becomes Bliss whether we are meditating or enjoying sense pleasures or sleeping or working. Bliss becomes our nature.”
 

Every one of us does have a soul purpose. It belongs to conditions where we are at present. It belongs to the challenges that we can meet the opportunities we need to act on, the talents we need to nurture. If we get in tune with it and realize it in our life, we will be enriched with the balance, synergy and congruity in a unique way that will make the journey of our lives purposeful, enjoying the little stops and hurdles and setbacks and then again moving ahead.
 
Realizing The ‘Me’ In Your Being:

When we look back in our life and try to decipher what that had been common in our life, which had not changed with changing roles, growth of body and mind. Definitely it is neither our emotions or feelings or dreams or body, it is the sense of ‘me’ or ‘Iness’ or ego.

We will find the ‘Iness’ as relating to all those phases and experiences of life. This sense of ‘me’ or ‘Iness’ is the deepest layer of our consciousness presently. It is the quality to become self-aware of our mind and body and their experiences.

The Four Basic Purposes That The Soul Needs To Align With:

Our activities need to be geared along one or more of the four broad categories to align with our spiritual nature. It is a great wonder to realize that this concept doesn’t limit us in ‘dos-and-don’ts’ morals. It frees us to explore our true soul purpose and to align our activities with our purpose. Our holistic or spiritual nature recognizes that we are a composite being of soul, mind, emotions, energy and body.

The first worthy pursuit for everyone is alignment with universal principles like fairness, equality etc. Second one is related to working and earning money – monetary pursuits. Third category is fulfilling sense desires and emotional desires – hearing, touching, tasting, smelling, seeing and of course sexual pleasure. Fourth category is doing activities that broaden and expand human perspective, evolve our consciousness.

Relax for few moments and try to analyze any of your activity. It will naturally fall under one or more of these categories. Now the question is how to put these ‘universal pursuits’ in context with our own personality and our own specific context. Then we can move ahead and create a balance of these basic purposes without conflict on individual or social or other levels.

How To Create Synergy Of Soul Purpose And Enrich Our Lives:

One of spiritual master best depicts the balance of the four avenues of our focus and energy.

“You are a bird whose body is made of universal principles and there are two wings - one for monetary pursuits and second for sensual and mental fulfilments. These two wings with the support of universal principles make the bird fly toward the goal of spiritual awakening and upliftment.”

Spiritual awakening or evolution is not a small goal that we can put on our planner and assign it short term or mid term or long term value. It is a continuous journey – 24X7X365 – throughout life. We are evolving as a whole. True spirituality doesn’t restrict us from enjoying sensual pleasures, but with it we enjoy them with a larger perspective in mind. Our lives become more streamlined and focused.

Feel the contrast between two passengers who are boarding a train. One is destined to a specific station. He buys a ticket and boards the train. He enjoys the journey, the stations and meals and all the good and bad incidences. The another fellow gets down on each station and wanders here and there, associates himself with various incidences and scenes and forgets about the journey. That is the difference between streamlined, focused and congruent life and it’s opposite.

Discovering Your Individual Soul Purpose And Aligning With It:

Whether we believe in reincarnation or not, we are born with a particular set of instincts, inclinations and we draw many other things in life based on these.

We need to be more silent and introverted and meditative to find out about our talents and passions. We can sense our natural inclinations or talents by our feelings – what we enjoy most, where our mind is transfixed, when we forget time doing something and like.

When we do what we like in alignment with universal principles and pursue other pleasures of mind, we are following our soul purpose. We are leading a spiritual life. We are evolving spiritually. Of course, we can emphasize a particular aspect during some period of day or week or month. And it is a dynamic balance.

John Gray, famous for ‘Men Are From Mars…’ series of books, has described this balance in a good way, “This balance is like when we ride a bicyle. We lose balance to either this side or another but we retain it again.”  We might fall sometimes but when we are conscious of the soul purpose, we become aligned again, we attune ourselves to it.

The one sign of purpose living is congruity among consciousness, thoughts, feelings, emotions, speech and behavior. This congruity makes us peaceful, satisfied, focused and able to draw the resources that support us lead a purposeful living.
 
Finally, get rid of the taboos and myths that we could pursue our soul purpose only by becoming a hermit or secluding us in a retreat or by abandoning sensual pleasures. The key lies in maintaining the balance. We can lead a spiritually balanced life, fully aligned with our soul purpose, right where we are now, enjoying our families, work, relationships and of course challenges. Enrich your life by maintaining the dynamic balance of soul purpose.

(Click here… for The Secret To Living From Your Higher Self – Part 1)

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of
human existence is to kindle a light of meaning
in the darkness of mere being.” – CARL JUNG

We all know that the really important things in life are not what we usually get caught up in – things like bills, arguments, worries…What really matters is that deep inner sense of peace and happiness. It is that inner part of you, your soul or your spirit which is your higher self; your inner self that really matters. It is ‘the’ Self which is much beyond all that you can perceive. On a deeper and higher level you know this.

The problem is that we tend to postpone our spiritual needs for self realization in favor of the demands of daily life. Carlos Castaneda once said that the problem with humanity is that we all know that we are going to die, yet we live as if we are not. When you realize that you come from somewhere and that you are eventually going back there, you can start to see past the trivialities of everyday life and live a more spiritual life.

It’s so easy to loose perspective and forget your higher self in the pursuits of everyday life. Living from your higher self means that you are consciously living a spiritual life. Underneath the veil of physicality there is an infiniteness to life and there is a bigger picture. Until and unless you slow down and look within you will not see the bigger picture and be blinded only by what you see right in front of you. The majority of people are consumed by their sensory perceptions of life; by facts and analytical thinking. Underneath it all there is an invisible force that is the real driving force behind life.

Living from your higher self starts with the spiritual realization that you are not your body or your mind or your personality, but that you are your spirit. Through conscious growth and raising your spiritual awareness you can start to strengthen your spiritual connection. As you consciously live with the awareness of your higher self you will be able to transcend many of the trivialities of life and become self reliant. Divine guidance is available to you at all time. You simply have to look deep within yourself. You will become more able in integrating your life and all the different aspects of the life experience when you realize that all of life is spiritual.

One of the most liberating aspects of living a more spiritual life is an increased awareness of that which is underneath the surface of events and outer appearances. Having a higher awareness starts with recognizing your own spirituality and then living from your higher self. But, what does it mean to live from your higher self? The idea of the higher self is an age old spiritual understanding. It is a universal belief and can be found in virtually every religion and tradition from the earliest times.

5000 years ago cavemen stared up at the night sky and, transfixed by the moon and stars, they realized that there is something bigger than themselves and that there is a universal intelligence behind all of life and creation. Even though primitive peoples had very little technical understanding of life and the universe (compared to what we know now), they still realized their intricate connection to this life force. Even the most primitive people were always seeking ways to connect to God and to strengthen their relationship to That which they felt an indescribable connection to.

Much has changed since then, yet our spiritual ideal remains very much the same. We still want to know what’s beyond ourselves and we want to know ‘what’ or ‘who’ is behind it all. Is there an architect of the universe and what does she look like? Where does life come from, where are we going and why are we here?

One of the great challenges we face in modern living is finding our own unique spiritual path amidst the complexities of life. It seems like we are drowning in possibilities and options and like a dog chasing it’s own tail, we are chasing ways to escape it all. More money, more success, more love, more happiness, greater influence…The irony is that we don’t need more, but less because piling on more and more will only remove us further from a sense of inner peace.

At the turn of the century, spiritual pioneers like Emerson lead a new school of thought know as The Transcendentalists. They believed that living an authentic life was to live close to your Source (God) and that simplicity was the path to connecting and knowing God on a personal level. In our modern life we tend to categorize everything. We have a work life, a love life, a personal life and worse of all a ‘spiritual life’. When we separate all the different aspects of ourselves what we do is to deny ourselves the synergy that comes from being a totally integrated person. Separating spirituality from your everyday life is to deny yourself the divine guidance that is available to you at all times. Divine guidance is available to you in everything you do.

When you separate your spiritual life from your everyday life, you automatically adopt the belief that you are primarily a ‘person’ with a soul or a spirit. The great insight however is that you are not a body with a soul, but that you are a soul with a body. Who you really are, is not your body or your mind, but your spirit – that invisible part deep down inside. Your body is nothing but a suit you have to wear in order to function in this dimension of life. (Continues >> Living From Your Higher Self – Part 2…)

A key is a really cool invention. Even today, with electronic keys these small and unique devices have the power to unlock and give access to something very valuable. We usually only lock something that’s of great value to us. Deep within each and every one of us we hold a key. With this key we can open the door to a higher awareness – an awareness that is beyond the mere perceptions of everyday consciousness.

Each and every person has an aspect of themselves that is invisible, yet very real. This aspect is not a personality trait or a hidden secret, but is a whole other dimension of life. This dimension of ourselves that is such an integral part of each and every one of us has been called many names. The higher self, the sacred self, the inner self - all falling short of sufficiently describing what this dimension really is. Along with discovering your highest and most sacred self comes an inner knowing that probably best describes this mysterious invisible aspect of ourselves. Discovering your highest self is at the heart of living a spiritual life and is the key to higher consciousness.

Since the beginning of time humankind where left in awe at the magnificence of creation. The sun, the moon, the seasons, wind, fire, a flower, the birth of a child…and the list goes on. But as astonishing as these things may seem, it’s the invisible world that has captured our attention even more than anything else. We arrive in this life not knowing why we are here, where we came from or where we are going.  We live our daily lives and go about life in a very permanent manner, yet deep down inside we know that we are not here to stay.

For many people the realization of their spiritual dimension never really dawns upon their consciousness. It seems like our fascination with the physical world has created within us a bias for that which we can see, touch, hear taste and smell. The common belief is that what we can perceive is real and that the invisible is unreal. In spite of this our scientific advances are revealing new truths about this ‘invisible world’ to us all the time. With recent discoveries in the field of quantum physics it is slowly dawning upon us that the invisible world is in fact the only ‘thing’ that is real.

One of the age old spiritual truths is that we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. What we really are is not the physical aspect of ourselves, but that non-physical part that is the very essence of our nature as human beings. As you reflect back on your life you can discover just how the ‘you’ never really changed even though your appearance, your personality and almost every physical aspect of yourself changed. With a little introspection you will soon discover that your body is nothing but a ‘garage’ for your soul.

So many people believe that spirituality is something that is to be found outside of themselves and that God is someone they have to go and find in a building, on a mountain retreat or in some organization. The higher self, that invisible part of yourself is nothing but the presence of God within you. Deep within each and every one of us is that Divine spark from where we came.

This invisible dimension of ourselves is connected to a higher reality - to God. When you get in touch with it you will discover that there is a wisdom that is far greater than what exists in the realm of the physical and material world that’s so dominated by rational thinking and analytical observation. When you reconnect with your higher self, you reconnect with your source – you reconnect with God. Higher consciousness is a consciousness and an awareness of your higher self and it is a spiritual consciousness that transcends the limitations of the physical simply because it is not limited to the physical world of perceptions. This infinite world is available to you only when you start to live from your highest self.

Your higher self is not just a part of you, but it is in fact you. The ‘real’ you at least. Everything about you that you can see, touch and feel is constantly changing, but your higher self never ages. It’s always been ‘in there’ looking out – quietly observing. You are a spiritual being. You simply have to quiet your mind and look deep within yourself to discover who you really are. In the New Testament Jesus underlined this great truth when he said: “…don’t you know that ye are all Gods”. More recently an Indian saint was asked whether he was God. He replied by saying, “yes I am…and so are you. The only difference between me and you is that I know it and you don’t.”

Your higher self is that infinite wisdom that resides within each and every one of us. Through your higher self you will soon learn that God is not somewhere ‘out there’ but deep within yourself. Living from your higher self means that you live from your spiritual essence – free from the bias of physical appearances.

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