The 4 Levels of Consciousness (Part 4)

This is the final instalment of this mini-series on The 4 Levels of Consciousness. To quickly recap, the previous 3 levels were Level 1 Simple Consciousness (drifting, fear-driven, semi-automated, victim consciousness); Level 2 Self-awareness or Global Consciousness (a type of spiritual awakening, when we recognise we are the creators of our life and begin to transform it through self-awareness and awareness of our interconnection with others); Level 3 Superconsciousness (when we begin to use the creative mind to elevate our existence and embrace the identity of our higher self).

The fourth level of consciousness is God or Bliss Consciousness, depending on your preferred spiritual perspective. This is a level of awareness that you are one with the Divine and with powerful Cosmic forces. The ego and all its needs have been stripped away and hold no sway. This is the state of "being" that transcends all others and permits instantaneous manifestation because there is no separation between what you desire and who you are. Those who practise yoga, would call this a state of samadhi: there is oneness between you and everything and anything else (the object).

It is also a bliss consciousness - ananda - where all perceived suffering dissipates, because we realise that whilst we are in this world, we are not of this world. This paves the way to fullest understanding and clairvoyance - the ability to see all things clearly, past, present and future. We are no longer temporal beings, trapped in a physical body that is confined in space and time. We embrace our spiritual powers to transform and move energy (in all its forms) to manifest. Because we are God incarnate, there is no sense of separation from creation. There is pure transcendental calm, there is bliss.

The elements of bliss are unconditional love, inner peace, power, connectedness, sense of wholeness, awe and wisdom. All traces of fear are gone and there is no longer a sense of being a prisoner of a deluded state of never-ending needs. You lack for nothing, you ail for nothing and you strain for nothing, because everything you desire (whether wealth, health, love), is already created and is manifested by you. Your energy vibrates to its resonance and your field attracts it because you are it and it is you.

In the Autobiography of a Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda shares with us his encounters with numerous saints, mystics and sages (from East and West). We get a glimpse into how many of them have assumed this level of metaphysical consciousness to create and effect so-called miracles. We are told of how his guru Swami Yukteswar Giri chose to collapse time and space to change his physical location in an instant to convey important messages to him. He speaks of Yukteswar Giri's own guru Lahiri Mahasaya, who encountered Mahavatar Babaji, the deathless one who sometimes becomes incarnate to guard, guide and enlighten the evolutionary blueprint of humans. We read how Babaji creates or manifests a beautiful palace of gold and jewels seemingly out of thin air.

In terms of my own experience, I shall never forget the profound impact of seeing the remains of Kefalonia's patron saint Gerasimos whilst on holiday with my family on the Greek island in 2017. We were lucky to be there for the occasion of the exposition of his body, where you can see and touch him for the purpose of healing. Given that he died in 1579, I was stunned to see that the body, whilst looking a little mummified, had not at all decomposed, even though he was not in any special air-tight coffin and it was fully exposed to the air and human contact (along with any bacteria that may introduce). It struck me then, that there is much that science cannot explain and there is always a mystical, spiritual aspect to our consciousness or sense of being.

Coming back to explore the definition of bliss consciousness, Paramahansa Yogananda defines it as:

a transcendental state of superior calm including within itself the consciousness of a great expansion and that of all in One and One in all.

Eternal bliss is a concept that is not specific to any religion, but it is often wrongly described as a state that we seek. But in feeling that we need to aspire and attain it, we are actually perpetuating the illusion of separation. In reality, bliss simply is. It is the absence of all beliefs, notions, ideas and concepts and is simply "experience". You are illuminated with transcendental peace, love and joy from the inside out and nothing can touch or tarnish this truth.

Here is Paramahansa Yogananda's poem called Samadhi, capturing the essence of pure bliss:

Vanish the grosser lights into eternal rays

Of all-pervading bliss.

From joy I came, for joy I live, in sacred joy I melt.

Ocean of mind, I drink all creation’s waves.

Four veils of solid, liquid, vapor, light,

Lift aright.

Myself, in everything, enters the Great Myself.

Gone forever, fitful, flickering shadows of mortal memory.

Spotless is my mental sky, below, ahead, and high above.

Eternity and I, one united ray.

A tiny bubble of laughter, I

Am become the Sea of Mirth Itself.

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