Subtle Body Detection
Meditationtime Forum Post
Date: Posted 5 years before Jun 04, 2017
unlimitedsun 5 years ago
Dear Divine Representative(s),
How is it that tracing minute tingling sensations throughout the body allows for developing awareness of the subtle?
Is the mind a bridge (one of others possibly) between the gross and subtle body?
MiBeloved 5 years ago
Mind or mental and emotional energy are the basis for the formation of the physical body, just as the mental idea in the mind of an architect is the basis for the construction of a physical building. The relationship is such that the mind is not just a bridge; it is the bridge between the spiritual self and the gross body. In this case the word mind is the equivalent of the words, subtle body.
Mind is a composite part of the subtle body such that the subtle body has within it the mind, the life force and the spiritual self. This subtle body is the basis for the formation of the physical form and so it is ever linked to that form so long as the form is living.
If we were to use the analogy of a light bulb, then the subtle body is the electricity which passes through the filament. The filament itself, so long as it is receptive and serviceable appears to be alive or lit, but only because of the electricity. In fact the filament by itself does not glow. The material body without the energy of the subtle body is considered to be dead like a filament which is no longer receptive to electricity.
While the filament glows it appears that it has merged with the electricity but in fact that is an illusion because as soon as the filament is not serviced or not connected to the electricity in a particular way, it will no longer glow and we will realize that it was a different material all along. So when the subtle body is vacated from the gross body, the gross body is understood to be different to the psychological energy which enlivened it, which collectively is called the subtle body.
The feelings in the filament which makes it light up are actually belonging to the electricity and not to the filament itself. Similarly, feelings which we feel in the gross body are from the subtle body in fact.
In yoga, if you are focused within the body and if you keep your attention within it, you will begin to realize the subtle parts of the energy.
Studying the subtle body is a two part process initially. The first part is to realize yourself objectively in dreams. The second part is to sort the subtle energy in the waking state while doing asana postures, pranayama practice and meditation.
Question is if electricity which flows through a filament realizes itself as the power which causes the filament to be lit. Can that happen? Or will the electricity be skeptical about its energy and continue thinking that it is the filament and that its power is merely the power of the filament.
Just as the electricity only glows when it is passing through a special material like tungsten, so the subtle body feels itself more when it is infused into a physical body. But this infusion also causes the self to be ignorant of its power as the force which causes the body to be living. It is definitely a task for the electricity to realize itself as the glowing power in the tungsten. Just so it is a task for the self to realize itself as being the force which is essential for there to be a living body.
unlimitedsun 5 years ago
Thank you, O Divine One,
MiBeloved wrote:
"Just as the electricity only glows when it is passing through a special material like tungsten, so the subtle body feels itself more when it is infused into a physical body."
unlimitedsun query:
So the quality of the brilliance is also dependent on the quality of such filament ever so material.
So how important is the fitness of the gross body in realizing the subtle?
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MiBeloved wrote:
"Studying the subtle body is a two part process initially. The first part is to realize yourself objectively in dreams. The second part is to sort the subtle energy in the waking state while doing asana postures, pranayama practice and meditation."
unlimitedsun query:
How to sort sensations that come as waves aside from doing asana postures, pranayama practice and meditation, or that one may become aware of simply by dint of being attentive?
MiBeloved 5 years ago
unlimitedsun query:
So how important is the fitness of the gross body in realizing the subtle?
MiBeloved's Response:
The energy of the subtle body is required for the operation of the physical one. If the subtle body withdraws totally from the physical one, that physical form is pronounced as being dead. If in giving energy to the physical body, the subtle one becomes drained or exhausted or fully utilized, then there will be no psychic awareness. This is handy if you are a materialistic person because then you do not want to be troubled with anything psychic. If however you desire psychic perception this is a handicap.
To operate the psychic part of the subtle body one has to reserve a certain percentage of energy for that subtle form. If all the energy is used up on the physical side of life, then there will be a shutdown of the psychic components of the subtle body. The result of this is:
- No dream recall
- No telepathic ability
- No clairvoyance
- No awareness of astral projection when it takes place
- Realization of aroused kundalini only as sexual climax
If the physical body is fit, that may be utilized for more materialistic activities which will not help with developing the psychic perception in the subtle body. The physical body’s fitness only helps if the person is trained to give the minimum energy to the healthy physical system.
There are many people who have a very healthy physical body and still we see that they have absolutely no faith in psychic perception and consider it to be pure mental fantasy.
The point is that you need efficient distribution of energy from the subtle body to the physical one. If you achieve that, then the conserved energy would boost your psychic perception, providing you with more objective awareness during dreaming, astral projection and meditation.
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unlimitedsun query:
How to sort sensations that come as waves aside from doing asana postures, pranayama practice and meditation, or that one may become aware of simply by dint of being attentive?
MiBeloved's Response:
The only way to sort sensation during the normal course of your life, when you are not doing postures, breath infusion or meditation, is to use the skill of doing this which you acquired from the same postures, breath infusion or meditation. The more you do the practice, the more you will develop the ability to sort this. There is no other method.
Hence if your practice is little, then you will have very little ability to sort this during the normal events of the day.
Remember that in the Bhagavad Gita, a similar situation arose, where Arjuna was baffled about how to act on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. In fact if you read the Bhagavad Gita casually, you would never know that Arjuna was a proficient and well trained yogi who mastered samadhi practice to such an extent that he used to keep his body motionless in samadhi for months in the Himalayas, while he toured about in his subtle body in astral dimensions. Do you know this?
Most people from India have no idea about this. In fact one famous authority in one of the Vaishnava succession, a person who translated and commented on the Gita, once said that there is no history of Arjuna doing any yoga austerities. Of course he made that statement because he was from a sampradaya lineage in which there is no reading of the Mahabharata which is itself the history of the life of Arjuna and his brothers who are collectively identified as the Pandavas or sons of King Pandu.
Bhagavad Gita is really about Krishna showing Arjuna how to apply yoga expertise to social living. That is so difficult as an accomplishment, that Krishna, a person who declared himself as the Supreme Person, said that only he could teach it. He said this is my system of yoga. I will teach it to you because no one else in the world understands perfectly how to do this but me.
So if you are asking for an easy way to apply the psychic perception you develop during the practice of yoga, to the regular day to day events of your life, then I cannot give you one, because Krishna said that it was something only he can teach perfectly to others. I can direct you to the Gita. In fact I wrote three commentaries in which I tried to just share with you what I found out, to show you from Krishna Himself the method of how to do this karma yoga, or application of yogic control of the psyche to day to day ordinary activities.
In summary, the way to do this is to practice more and more, read Gita and take hints directly for Krishna. Luckily in this case, you do not have to bow down to anybody to get this information, because Krishna graciously gave it out in the Bhagavad Gita. But you must devout yourself to study what He said. If you cannot find time to do that, then how can I help you because after all Krishna said that he was the only one to teach this special yoga which he termed as his system of psychic perception (mat yogam)
You may argue in return, that you observed that I have skillfully done this karma yoga throughout my life and therefore I should know it enough to teach it. However this line of reasoning is flawed. I might have an instinct for this but an instinct does not always carry within it the ability to teach others. That is not necessarily so.
I have a sixth sense which has piloted me though this life in such a way as to make short work of social obligations and to get on with my spiritual concerns but still that does not mean that I have the power to share this instinct. Each of us has developed instincts which we carry as innate expertise from previous births. Having such propensities does not mean having the authority or ability to impart such natures to others. This is why I took steps to explain the Gita in three commentaries and also to explain other aspects of spiritual cultivation in other books. I wanted to draw your attention to the fact that you can directly learn from Sri Krishna. But you have to put forth that effort.
In all respects if one does not know something, if something is not innate, if it is not an essential part of your nature, then you can acquire that aspect with exertion. That is the standard rule for each and every one of us.
When as a teenager I decided to really try to master the English language, I was confronted with the realization that many other students at school had a knack for the language and that I lacked it. Without training just like that some students could write two and three page essays, while I struggled to produce a mere paragraph which when read sounded like something from a remote jungle inhabitant.
So I had to battle down and seriously study the English language, read several hundred books and so on to develop some expertise. Now people sometimes say to me,” Your language is very good. It comes so easy to you.”
Little do they know that I struggled with it and spent hours learning how to use it. So for me too, instincts which I do not have, I can acquire only by exertion.
