The Dimensions of Consciousness

Natural Intelligence has been present in the universe indicating presence of dimension of consciousness. While the space, time and energy form the other dimensions, consciousness is a complete realm inn itself. It is so vast that visible material realm will look like a child’s play in front of it. To explore more about this dimension about this dimension, we will take a top down approach. The methodology used is inference driven from various observations, experiences and reference of ancient texts. There are various levels of consciousness and at each level there is a different realm within the dimension. Consciousness has created the entire material world with the dimensions of space, matter and time; therefore, it is the prime dimension and all other dimensions are dependent on its plan. The Consciousness is absolute and transcends the three dimensions manifesting the entire universe.

Supreme Consciousness is realized in the following aspects for understanding, namely;

1.                The first aspect as the Supreme Consciousness (Also described as Nirguna or Avyakta-indescribable), the impersonal all-pervasive Absolute Consciousness. Nirguna mean beyond the comparable parameters of material universe. Absolutely pure, truth of the matter, reason behind the entire spectacle of creation, preservation and destruction in cycles. The supreme consciousness may also be termed as Param-Atma (Parmatama). This Self (Paramatan) is the ruler of all beings, and the king of all beings, Just as all the spokes are fixed in the nave and the felloe of a chariot-wheel, so are all beings, all gods, all worlds, all organs and all these (individual) selves fixed in this Self. Therefore it is the collective consciousness as well as the universe (creation of the supreme consciousness).

 2.                The second aspect as the Saguna Supreme Consciousness or the personal but Absolute Consciousness. These are the faces of consciousness which are personally identifiable and perform specific functions. They are part of same supreme consciousness and are integral to it. The creation and destruction function is of Shiva who creates the primal base vibration. Vishnu sequences the entire part as dimension of time and also creates Brahma through his process who formats the entire space with Akasha or ether or Prana (Dark Matter/ energy). The Shiva linga is the place where the primal vibration is being generated. Since it is the creation and humans understood the creation being associated with linga and referred it to Shivling. In Shiva Puran, a story about the time of Shiva's wedding with Parvati, at the point of the solemnising of the marriage by a holy Havan, the priest asked Shiva “Who is your father?" Shiva looked at Brahma and said "He". "And who is Brahma's father?" asked the priest Shiva looked at Vishnu and said "He is" But the priest persisted, "And who, may I ask, is Vishnu's father?" "I am" Said Shiva. The Shiva is the initial creator of vibration, Vishnu is born as time sequencer during the creation and from Vishu, Brahma is created expanding the universe. The form of Shiva which was on the earth at that time of marriage was obviously as creation of Brahma. Brahma further created Visvadevas to assist in further cause of creation. Sculpture of Brahma have four heads, seeing in all directions at once and symbolising the four Vedas. Brahma’s four arms carry symbols of power – a goblet, a bow, a scepter and the Vedas. Brahma menifests the universe. Sculpture of Vishnu express splendour and power. His four arms carry symbols of power – a Chakra, a lotus flower, a conch shell and a mace. Vishnu has appeared on Earth through avataras. Sculpture of Shiva is often pictured dancing and with four arms. He holds a drum and a flame, and he points to his dancing feet with one hand and holds in the other hand a pen, meaning ‘fear not’. His necklace of cobra snakes is another sign of power.

3.                The third aspect is the localized aspect of the Supreme Consciousness with various other functions and responsibilities. These are more identifiable Devatas or Gods. These have been personalized when various religions and civilizations interacted with them. For example Shakti or energy has many forms and dimension of conscious helps control the various form to follow its designed parameters. Visvadevas are universal gods of heavenly sphere. Etymologically ‘Visva’ means the entire universe and ‘Deva’ means god. Visvadevas means universal gods or gods of the universe. In the Vedic hymns they are usually addressed collectively and never individually. The hymns invoke them as Indra, Agni, Vayu, Brihaspati, Mitra, Pusan, Bhaga, Varuna, Angirasas, Surya, Soma, Adityas, Maruts, and Rudra. They also extol them as the righteous guardians of the celestial sphere with auspicious powers. Most of them were identified later as dikpalas or guardians of the directions. In Bhagavadgita, the Visvadevas are addressed as a group of divinities in themselves along with Rudras, Adityas, Vasus, Sadhyas, Asvins, Maruts, Usampahs, Gandharvas, Yaksas and Asura Siddhas.

4.                The fourth aspects is that of consciousness which is given to other universal lives, Gods with definite forms, Surs and Asurs and Yakshas. These entities were created before the life on earth. These Gods were also tasked to bring life on earth and probably on some other planets in various galaxies too. The Gods in this aspect are aware of consciousness world and have simultaneous presence in material and conscious world.

              In Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 391, Vidagdha, the son of Sakala, asked him. 'How many gods are there, Yagavalkya ?' Yagavalkya decided it through this (group of Mantras known as) Nivid (saying), 'as many as are indicated in the Nivid of the Visvadevas three hundred and three and three thousand and three.' 'Very well.' said Siikalya, 'how many gods are there, Yagavalkya?' 'Thirty-three.' 'Very well,' said the other, 'how many gods are there, Yagavalkya?' 'Six.' 'Very well' said Siikalya, 'how many gods are there, Yagavalkya?' 'Three.' 'Very well,' said the other, 'how many gods are there, Yagavalkya?' 'Two.' 'Very well,' said Sakalya, 'how many gods are there, Yiijfiavalkya ?' 'One and a half.' 'Very well,' said the other. 'How many gods are there, Yagavalkya ?' 'One.' 'Very well’ said Sakalya, 'which are those three hundred and three and three thousand and three?' These are but the manifestations of them, but there are only thirty three gods.' 'Which are those thirty-three?' 'The eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras and the twelve Adityas’, these are thirty-one, and Indra and Prajapati make up the thirty-three.

5.                From Devtas or Gods to Atma, there are 2-3 different aspects of consciousness which are lower in consciousness than Devtas but in various other higher and transition states of Atma. The consciousness of learned Atmas may be assigned the functional responsibilities of various heavenly bodies and to further the aspect of learning and welfare in the world.

6.                The basic unit in dimension of consciousness is Atma. The Atma starts its journey as a fragment of supreme conscious. The Atma gets in the worlds and learns various identifiable parameters such as love, devotion, peace along a pre planned route of learning. Its start the journey in lower life forms and then keeps getting upgraded in more complex and intelligent beings and finally as the driving force in humans.

The description of various levels of consciousness or ‘Lokas’ is also given in scriptures [1].

The dimension of consciousness contains a total of 14 Lokas, 7 upper and 7 lower planes of existence. In the Puranas and in the Atharvaveda, there are 14 worlds, seven in higher consciousness or Vyahrtis and seven in lower consciousness as Pātālas, These are Bhu or Earth, Bhuvas, Svar, Mahas, Janas, Tapas, and satya above and Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Rasātala, Talātala, Mahātala, Pātāla below. Hence, inherent in the 'loka' concept in the earliest literature there was the aspect of consciousness.  

1.                Satya-loka. This is the highest plane in the dimension of consciousness. The thoughts are primary actions.

2.                Tapa-loka. The abode of higher causal beings.

3.                Jana-loka (Gyan loka). Causal world which is more subtle than Maharloka. At twice that distance is situated Janaloka, where Sanandana and other pure-minded sons of Brahmá, reside.

4.                Mahar-loka (Maharloka). All of the 27 Nakshatras known to the ancient Indians too belongs to the Mahar Loka. Above Dhruva, lies the sphere of saints, or Mahar-loka, the inhabitants of which dwell in it throughout a Kalpa, or day of Brahmá. Maharloka is described as the place of saintly souls (as per Vishnu Purana) and is considered as greater than the Suvarloka (Heaven or Jannat where ordinary people's souls go after death). As per some other Purana, it is said that the souls of the Saptarshis (the Seven Sages of Ancient India) reside here with a watchful eye upon the activities of humanity on Earth.

5.                Svar-loka. Dhruva Mandala is the region related to the pole star (now Polaris). 'Dhruva' is the Indian name for the Pole star. It is the region surrounding the Nakshatra Mandala (star group) and the outermost Mandala of Swar Loka. It is a plane of consciousness which iss higher than astral. In this plane the famous heaven is located.

6.                Bhuvar-loka. Aetheric plane. One of the planes of higher astral realm.

7.                Bhu-loka. Physical realm with space, energy and matter.

There are some additional Lokas are present in the above planes in the dimension of consciousness. The names of these Lokas are described as Brahm Loka, Vekuntha loka, Saket Dham, Rudra Loka, MahaVishnu Loka etc.  The following Lokas are in the lower consciousness planes.

8.                Atala-loka

9.                Vitala-loka

10.             Sutala-loka

11.             Talatala-loka

12.             Mahatala-loka

13.             Rasatala-loka

14.             Patala-loka

The human body contains seven layers of various compositions. These are as follows.

1.                Sthula Sharir: Physical Body, The composition of Physical body by the material available on earth.

2.                Suksham Sharir: Sukshma mean small or Subtle. This body contains electrical or Prana Sharir which contains all the Chakras (Pran complexes) and intellect.

3.                Karan Sharir: Causal Body. This is in the plane of consciousness and contains the body of though which is abstract reason.

4.                Mahakaran Sharir. Root Causal Body. This body is even more abstract.

5.                Hansa (Ham Sa) Sharir. A level of Consciousness of soul which more refined than the Mahakaran Sharir.

6.                Param-Hansa (Ham Sa)  Sharir. A level of Consciousness of soul which more refined than the Hansa Sharir.

7.                Kaivalya Sharir. The highest level of refinement ready for merging in super consciousness.

The above levels can also be correlated with the higher Lokas. To progress from one Loka to another, a layer of the consciousness would need to be evolved to next higher level. Therefore, as a soul acquires self control, devotion, love and peace and evolves to higher level, it moves from lower Loka to higher one.

Since the dimension of consciousness cannot be explored using material instruments and laboratories for it being an entirely different dimension, the option for exploration of this dimension would be through the account of scientists of this dimension.

In Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda, in Chapter 43: The Resurrection of Sri Yukteshwar. Paramhansa Yogananda describes the firsthand account of Sri Yukteshwar higher planes in the dimension of consciousness. The event took place in the Regent Hotel in Bombay hotel at three o’clock in the afternoon of June 19, 1936. He describes the higher Lokas in the following paragraphs.

“The prophets are sent on earth to help men work out their physical karma, so I have been directed by God to serve on an astral planet as a savior," Sri Yukteswar explained. "It is called Hiranyaloka or 'Illumined Astral Planet.' There I am aiding advanced beings to rid themselves of astral karma and thus attain liberation from astral rebirths. The dwellers on Hiranyaloka are spiritually highly developed; all of them had acquired, in their last earth- incarnation, the meditation-given power of consciously leaving their physical bodies at death. No one can enter Hiranyaloka unless he has passed on earth beyond the state of Savikalpa samadhi into the higher state of Nirvikalpa samadhi.

The Hiranyaloka inhabitants have already passed through the ordinary astral spheres, where nearly all beings from earth must go at death; there they worked out many seeds of their past actions in the astral worlds. None but advanced beings can perform such redemptive work effectually in the astral worlds. Then, in order to free their souls more fully from the cocoon of karmic traces lodged in their astral bodies, these higher beings were drawn by cosmic law to be reborn with new astral bodies on Hiranyaloka, the astral sun or heaven, where I have resurrected to help them. There are also highly advanced beings on Hiranyaloka who have come from the superior, subtler, causal world.

There are many astral planets, teeming with astral beings," Master began. "The inhabitants use astral planes, or masses of light, to travel from one planet to another, faster than the known energies.

The astral universe, made of various subtle vibrations of light and color, is hundreds of times larger than the material cosmos. The entire physical creation hangs like a little solid basket under the huge luminous balloon of the astral sphere. Just as many physical suns and stars roam in space, so there are also countless astral solar and stellar systems. Their planets have astral suns and moons, more beautiful than the physical ones. The astral luminaries resemble the aurora.

The astral body is not subject to cold or heat or other natural conditions. The anatomy includes an astral brain, or the thousand- petaled lotus of light, and six awakened centers in the sushumna, or astral cerebro-spinal axis. The heart draws cosmic energy as well as light from the astral brain, and pumps it to the astral nerves and body cells. Astral beings can affect their bodies by mantric vibrations.

"The astral body is an exact counterpart of the last physical form. Astral beings retain the same appearance which they possessed in youth in their previous earthly sojourn. Unlike the spacial, three-dimensional physical world cognized only by the five senses, the astral spheres are visible to the all-inclusive sixth sense-intuition. By sheer intuitional feeling, all astral beings see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. They possess three eyes, two of which are partly closed. The third and chief astral eye, vertically placed on the forehead, is open. Astral beings have all the outer sensory organs-ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and skin-but they employ the intuitional sense to experience sensations through any part of the body; they can see through the ear, or nose, or skin. They are able to hear through the eyes or tongue, and can taste through the ears or skin, and so forth.

Astral desires find enjoyment in terms of vibrations. Astral beings enjoy the ethereal music of the spheres and are entranced by the sight of all creation as exhaustless expressions of changing light. The astral beings also smell, taste, and touch light. Astral desires are thus connected with an astral being's power to precipitate all objects and experiences as forms of light or as condensed thoughts or dreams.

Causal desires are fulfilled by perception only. The nearly-free beings those are encased only in the causal body see the whole universe as realizations of the dream-ideas of God, they can materialize anything and everything in sheer thought. Causal beings therefore consider the enjoyment of physical sensations or astral delights as gross and suffocating to the soul's fine sensibilities. Causal beings work out their desires by materializing them instantly. Those who find themselves covered only by the delicate veil of the causal body can bring universes into manifestation even as the Creator. Because all creation is made of the cosmic dream-texture, the soul thinly clothed in the causal has vast realizations of power.

Man's physical body is exposed to countless dangers, and is easily hurt or maimed; the ethereal astral body may occasionally be cut or bruised but is healed at once by mere willing. Beauty in the astral world is known to be a spiritual quality. Astral beings attach little importance to facial features. They have the privilege, however, of costuming themselves at will with new, colorful, astral materialized bodies. Just as worldly men don new array for gala events, so astral beings find occasions to bedeck themselves in specially designed forms. Joyous astral festivities on the higher astral planets like Hiranyaloka take place.

When a being is liberated from the astral world through spiritual advancement, and is therefore ready to enter the heaven of the causal world. On such occasions the Invisible Heavenly Father, and the saints who are merged in Him, materialize themselves into bodies of their own choice and join the astral celebration. In order to please His beloved devotee, the Lord takes any desired form. If the devotee worshiped through devotion, he sees God as the Divine Mother. To Jesus, the Father-aspect of the Infinite One was appealing beyond other conceptions. The individuality with which the Creator has endowed each of His creatures makes every conceivable and inconceivable demand on the Lord's versatility.

Friends of other lives easily recognize one another in the astral world. Rejoicing at the immortality of friendship, they realize the indestructibility of love, often doubted at the time of the sad, delusive partings of earthly life.

The intuition of astral beings pierces through the veil and observes human activities on earth, but man cannot view the astral world unless his sixth sense is somewhat developed. Thousands of earth-dwellers have momentarily glimpsed an astral being or an astral world. The advanced beings on Hiranyaloka remain mostly awake in ecstasy during the long astral day and night, helping to work out intricate problems of cosmic government and the redemption of prodigal sons, earthbound souls. When the Hiranyaloka beings sleep, they have occasional dreamlike astral visions. Their minds are usually engrossed in the conscious state of highest Nirvikalpa bliss. Inhabitants in all parts of the astral worlds are still subject to mental agonies. The sensitive minds of the higher beings on planets like Hiranyaloka feel keen pain if any mistake is made in conduct or perception of truth. These advanced beings endeavor to attune their every act and thought with the perfection of spiritual law.

Communication among the astral inhabitants is held entirely by astral telepathy and television; there is none of the confusion and misunderstanding of the written and spoken word which earth-dwellers must endure. Just as persons on the cinema screen appear to move and act through a series of light pictures, and do not actually breathe, so the astral beings walk and work as intelligently guided and coordinated images of light, without the necessity of drawing power from oxygen. Man depends upon solids, liquids, gases, and energy for sustenance; astral beings sustain themselves principally by cosmic light. Luminous ray like vegetables abound in the astral soils. The astral beings consume vegetables, and drink nectar flowing from glorious fountains of light and from astral brooks and rivers. Just as invisible images of persons on the earth can be dug out of the ether and made visible by a television apparatus, later being dismissed again into space, so the God-created, unseen astral blueprints of vegetables and plants floating in the ether are precipitated on an astral planet by the will of its inhabitants. In the same way, from the wildest fancy of these beings, whole gardens of fragrant flowers are materialized, returning later to the etheric invisibility. Although dwellers on the heavenly planets like Hiranyaloka are almost freed from any necessity of eating, still higher is the unconditioned existence of almost completely liberated souls in the causal world, who eat nothing save the manna of bliss.

The earth-liberated astral being meets a multitude of relatives, fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, and friends, acquired during different incarnations on earth, as they appear from time to time in various parts of the astral realms. One is therefore at a loss to understand whom to love. One learns in this way to give a divine and equal love to all, as children and individualized expressions of God. Though the outward appearance of loved ones may have changed, more or less according to the development of new qualities in the latest life of any particular soul, the astral being employs his unerring intuition to recognize all those once dear to him in other planes of existence, and to welcome them to their new astral home. Because every atom in creation is inextinguishably dowered with individuality, an astral friend will be recognized no matter what costume he may don, even as on earth an actor's identity is discoverable by close observation despite any disguise.

The span of life in the astral world is much longer than on earth. A normal advanced astral being's average life period is from five hundred to one thousand years, measured in accordance with earthly standards of time. As certain redwood trees outlive most trees by millenniums, or as some yogis live several hundred years though most men die before the age of sixty, so some astral beings live much longer than the usual span of astral existence. Visitors to the astral world dwell there for a longer or shorter period in accordance with the weight of their physical karma, which draws them back to earth within a specified time.

The astral being does not have to contend painfully with death at the time of shedding his luminous body. Many of these beings nevertheless feel slightly nervous at the thought of dropping their astral form for the subtler causal one. The astral world is free from unwilling death, disease, and old age. These three dreads are the curse of earth, where man has allowed his consciousness to identify itself almost wholly with a frail physical body requiring constant aid from air, food, and sleep in order to exist at all.

Physical death is indicated by the disappearance of breath and the disintegration of fleshly cells. Astral death consists of the dispersal of energy which constitutes the life of astral beings. At physical death a being loses his consciousness of flesh and becomes aware of his subtle body in the astral world. Experiencing astral death in due time, a being thus passes from the consciousness of astral birth and death to that of physical birth and death. These recurrent cycles of astral and physical encasement are the ineluctable destiny of all unenlightened beings. Scriptural definitions of heaven and hell sometimes stir man's deeper-than-subconscious memories of his long series of experiences in the blithesome astral and disappointing terrestrial worlds.

Man as an individualized soul is essentially causal-bodied. That body is a matrix of the thirty-five ideas required by God as the basic or causal thought forces from which He later formed the subtle astral body of nineteen elements and the gross physical body of sixteen elements.

The nineteen elements of the astral body are mental, emotional, and lifetronic. The nineteen components are intelligence; ego; feeling; mind (sense-consciousness); five instruments of knowledge, the subtle counterparts of the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch; five instruments of action, the mental correspondence for the executive abilities to procreate, excrete, talk, walk, and exercise manual skill; and five instruments of life force, those empowered to perform the crystallizing, assimilating, eliminating, metabolizing, and circulating functions of the body. This subtle astral encasement of nineteen elements survives the death of the physical body, which is made of sixteen gross metallic and nonmetallic elements. God thought out different ideas within Himself and projected them into dreams. Lady Cosmic Dream thus sprang out decorated in all her colossal endless ornaments of relativity.

In thirty-five thought categories of the causal body, God elaborated all the complexities of man's nineteen astral and sixteen physical counterparts. By condensation of vibratory forces, first subtle, then gross, He produced man's astral body and finally his physical form. According to the law of relativity, by which the Prime Simplicity has become the bewildering manifold, the causal cosmos and causal body are different from the astral cosmos and astral body; the physical cosmos and physical body are likewise characteristically at variance with the other forms of creation.

The fleshly body is made of the fixed, objectified dreams of the Creator. The dualities are ever-present on earth: disease and health, pain and pleasure, loss and gain. Human beings find limitation and resistance in three-dimensional matter. When man's desire to live is severely shaken by disease or other causes, death arrives; the heavy overcoat of the flesh is temporarily shed. The soul, however, remains encased in the astral and causal bodies. The adhesive force by which all three bodies are held together is desire. Unfulfilled desires are the root of all man's bonding to this world. Physical desires are rooted in egotism and sense pleasures. The compulsion or temptation of sensory experience is more powerful than the desire-force connected with astral attachments or causal perceptions.

A soul, being invisible by nature, can be distinguished only by the presence of its body or bodies. The mere presence of a body signifies that its existence is made possible by unfulfilled desires. "So long as the soul of man is encased in one, two, or three body- containers, sealed tightly with the corks of ignorance and desires, he cannot merge with the sea of Spirit. When the gross physical receptacle is destroyed by the hammer of death, the other two coverings-astral and causal-still remain to prevent the soul from consciously joining the Omnipresent Life. When desirelessness (lack of desires) is attained through wisdom, its power disintegrates the two remaining vessels. The tiny human soul emerges, free at last; it is one with the Measureless Amplitude."

Causal World. The causal world is indescribably subtle. In order to understand it, one would have to possess such tremendous powers of concentration that he could close his eyes and visualize the astral cosmos and the physical cosmos in all their vastness-the luminous balloon with the solid basket-as existing in ideas only. If by this superhuman concentration one succeeded in converting or resolving the two cosmoses with all their complexities into sheer ideas, he would then reach the causal world and stand on the borderline of fusion between mind and matter. There one perceives all created things- solids, liquids, gases, electricity, energy, all beings, gods, men, animals, plants, bacteria-as forms of consciousness, just as a man can close his eyes and realize that he exists, even though his body is invisible to his physical eyes and is present only as an idea.

Whatever a human being can do in fancy, a causal being can do in reality. The most colossal imaginative human intelligence is able, in mind only, to range from one extreme of thought to another, to skip mentally from planet to planet, or tumble endlessly down a pit of eternity, or soar rocketlike into the galaxies, or scintillate like a searchlight over milky way’s and the starry spaces. But beings in the causal world have a much greater freedom, and can effortlessly manifest their thoughts into instant objectivity, without any material or astral obstruction or karmic limitation.

Causal beings realize that the physical cosmos is not primarily constructed of electrons, nor is the astral cosmos basically composed of lifetrons-both in reality are created from the minutest particles of God’s will shaped by laws of Maya and dimension of time. Souls in the causal world recognize one another as individualized points of joyous Spirit; their thought-things are the only objects which surround them. Causal beings see the difference between their bodies and thoughts to be merely ideas. As a man, closing his eyes, can visualize a dazzling white light or a faint blue haze, so causal beings by thought alone are able to see, hear, feel, taste, and touch; they create anything, or dissolve it, by the power of cosmic mind.

Both death and rebirth in the causal world are in thought. Causal- bodied beings feast only on the ambrosia of eternally new knowledge. They drink from the springs of peace, roam on the trackless soil of perceptions, swim in the ocean-endlessness of bliss. Lo! See their bright thought-bodies zoom past trillions of Spirit-created planets, fresh bubbles of universes, wisdom-stars, spectral dreams of golden nebulae, all over the sky blue bosom of Infinity!

Many beings remain for thousands of years in the causal cosmos. By deeper ecstasies the freed soul then withdraws itself from the little causal body and puts on the vastness of the causal cosmos. All the separate eddies of ideas, particularized waves of power, love, will, joy, peace, intuition, calmness, self-control, and concentration melt into the ever-joyous Sea of Bliss. No longer does the soul has to experience its joy as an individualized wave of consciousness, but is merged in the One Cosmic Ocean, with all its waves-eternal laughter, thrills and throbs.

When a soul is out of the cocoon of the three bodies it escapes forever from the law of relativity and becomes the ineffable ever- existent. Behold the butterfly of Omnipresence, its wings etched with stars and moons and suns! The soul expanded into Spirit remains alone in the region of lightless light, darkless dark, thoughtless thought, intoxicated with its ecstasy of joy in God's dream of cosmic creation. When a soul finally gets out of the three jars of bodily delusions it becomes one with the Infinite without any loss of individuality. Christ had won this final freedom even before he was born as Jesus. In three stages of his past, symbolized in his earth- life as the three days of his experience of death and resurrection, he had attained the power to fully arise in Spirit.

The undeveloped man must undergo countless earthly and astral and causal incarnations in order to emerge from his three bodies. A master who achieves this final freedom may elect to return to earth as a prophet to bring other human beings back to God, or like myself he may choose to reside in the astral cosmos. There a savior assumes some of the burden of the inhabitants' karma and thus helps them to terminate their cycle of reincarnation in the astral cosmos and go on permanently to the causal spheres. A free soul also enters the causal world to aid its beings to shorten their span in the causal body and thus attain the Absolute Freedom.

The physical karma and desires of man must be completely worked out before his permanent stay in astral worlds becomes possible. Two kinds of beings live in the astral spheres. One kind is of those who still have earthly karma to dispose of and who must therefore don a gross physical body in order to pay their karmic debts. They could be classified as temporary visitors to the astral world rather than as permanent residents. The other kind is of who have completed the karmic cycle and are on to further progress.

Beings with unredeemed earthly karma are not permitted after astral death to go to the high causal sphere of cosmic ideas, but must shuttle to and fro from the physical and astral worlds only, conscious successively of their physical body of sixteen gross elements, and of their astral body of nineteen subtle elements. After each loss of his physical body, however, an undeveloped being from the earth remains for the most part in the deep stupor of the death-sleep and is hardly conscious of the beautiful astral sphere. After the astral rest, such a man returns to the material plane for further lessons, gradually accustoming himself, through repeated journeys, to the worlds of subtle astral texture.

Normal or long-established residents of the astral universe, on the other hand, are those who, freed forever from all material longings, need return no more to the gross vibrations of earth. Such beings have only astral and causal karma to work out. At astral death these beings pass to the infinitely finer and more delicate causal world. Shedding the thought-form of the causal body at the end of a certain span, determined by cosmic law, these advanced beings then return to Hiranyaloka or a similar high astral planet, reborn in a new astral body to work out their unredeemed astral karma.

My son, you may now comprehend more fully that I am resurrected by divine decree," Sri Yukteswar continued, "as a savior of astrally reincarnating souls coming back from the causal sphere, in particular, rather than of those astral beings who are coming up from the earth. Those from the earth, if they still retain vestiges of material karma, do not rise to the very high astral planes like Hiranyaloka.

Just as most people on earth have not learned through meditation- acquired vision to appreciate the superior joys and advantages of astral life and thus, after death, desire to return to the limited, imperfect pleasures of earth, so many astral beings, during the normal disintegration of their astral bodies, fail to picture the advanced state of spiritual joy in the causal world and, dwelling on thoughts of the more gross and gaudy astral happiness, yearn to revisit the astral paradise. Heavy astral karma must be redeemed by such beings before they can achieve after astral death a permanent stay in the causal thought-world, so thinly partitioned from the Creator.

Only when a being has no further desires for experiences in the pleasing-to-the-eye astral cosmos and does not tempt to go back in the astral world, he remain in the causal world. He completes the work of redeeming all causal karma or seeds of past desires. The confined soul (In various conscious layers) thrusts out the last of the three corks of ignorance and emerging from the final jar of the causal body commingles with the Eternal.

The interpenetration of man's three bodies is expressed in many ways through his threefold nature," my great guru went on. "In the wakeful state on earth a human being is conscious more or less of his three vehicles. When he is sensuously intent on tasting, smelling, touching, listening, or seeing, he is working principally through his physical body. Visualizing or willing, he is working mainly through his astral body. His causal medium finds expression when man is thinking or diving deep in introspection or meditation; the cosmic thoughts of genius come to the man who habitually contacts his causal body. In this sense an individual may be classified broadly as 'a material man,' 'an energetic man,' or 'an intellectual man. A man identifies himself about sixteen hours daily with his physical vehicle. Then he sleeps; if he dreams, he remains in his astral body, effortlessly creating any object even as do the astral beings. If man's sleep be deep and dreamless, for several hours he is able to transfer his consciousness, or sense of I-ness, to the causal body; such sleep is revivifying. A dreamer is contacting his astral and not his causal body; his sleep is not fully refreshing."

Cycles of learning of the Soul – as referred in the Garuda Puranam

Approximately 4-5 hours before death, the chakras situated below the feet gets detached from earth... symbolizing disconnection from the earth plane. A few hours before an individual dies, their feet turn cold. When the actual time to depart arrives, it is said that Yama the God of death / his messengers/ angels appears to guide the soul.

The connection of the soul to the body, an astral cord is severed and the soul becomes free of the body and moves up and out of the body. If the soul is attached to the physical body it occupied for this lifetime, it refuses to leave and tries to get into the body and move it and stay in it. At first, the soul is unable to accept that the body is dead.

There is a pull from above ... a magnetic pull to go up. At this stage the soul hears many voices, all at the same time. These are the thoughts of all the individuals present nearby. The soul on its part talks to his loved ones like he always did and shouts out "I am not dead" (Still identifying itself with the body). But alas, nobody can listen. Slowly and steadily the soul realizes that the body is dead and there is no way to go back. At this stage, the soul floats at approx 12 feet or at the height of the ceiling, seeing and hearing everything happening around. The soul floats around the body till it is cremated. This is the reason why a body should be offered to fire so that the soul can quickly detach and proceed on its further journey.

Once the cremation is complete, the soul is convinced that the main essence of its survival on earth is lost and the body it occupied for so many years has merged back into the five elements. The soul experiences complete freedom, the boundaries it had while being in the body are gone and it can travel anywhere by mere thought.

For 7 days the soul, moves about its places of interest like its favorite joint, morning walk garden, office, etc. If the soul is possessive of his money, it will just stay near his cupboard, or if he is possessive of his children, it will just be in their room, clinging on to them. It the reason why all people gather to see off a dying person so that one can meet and fulfill his desires of saying the last words.

By the end of the 7th day, the soul says bye to his family and moves further upwards to the periphery of the earth plane to cross over to the other side. Thereafter, it travels through a tunnel of light. May people who reported near death experiences describe crossing the tunnel immediately after the death. First 12 days after death are extremely crucial. The tunnel may also signify the space time wormhole through which the soul is enables to travel large distances and transcend in to the dimension of consciousness.

Gillian Wolski [5] writes in Yahoo lifestyle, “Mum scrawls eerie note after she 'died' and saw heaven: 'It's real'.” The story goes as, Tina Hines is lucky to be alive. The mum-of-four from Arizona, US, was technically ‘dead’ for 27 minutes following a cardiac arrest last year (2018). Immediately after regaining consciousness, Tina - who was unable to speak - stunned her family by scribbling down an eerie note. “It’s real,” she wrote after motioning for a pen and paper. When her loved ones asked her what she meant, Tina - a devout Christian - simply nodded upwards. Once she regained her voice, Tina claimed that she saw heaven - and Jesus. "It was so real, the colours were so vibrant," Tina told AZ Family. She says she saw Jesus - haloed in a bright yellow glow - standing in front of a set of black gates. Healthy and active, Tina shocked her husband Brian when she went into cardiac arrest as they were preparing to head out on a hike in early 2018. Quick-thinking Brian was able to bring his “purple” wife back to life using CPR - but Tina’s heart stopped again soon after. Paramedics arrived and brought her back again only to have her heart stop not once or twice but three times. Tina was resuscitated a total of five times - during which she claims she crossed over to the ‘other side’. Today, Tina is reportedly doing well and her family prays that her new pacemaker and defibrillator will keep her safe.

We have to carry out the rituals correctly and pray and ask forgiveness from the soul, so that it does not carry negative emotions like hurt, hatred, anger, etc at least from the near and dear ones. All the rituals, prayers and positive energy act like food for the soul which will help it in its onward journey. At the end of the tunnel is a huge bright light signifying the entry into the astral world.

On the 11th & 12th day, Hindus conduct homas and prayers and rituals through which the soul is united with its ancestors, close friends, relatives and the guides. All the passed away ancestors welcome the soul to the upper plane and they greet and hug them exactly like we do here on seeing our family members after a long time.

The soul then along with its guides is taken for a thorough life review of the life just completed on earth in the presence of the Great Karmic Board. It is here in the pure light that the whole past life is viewed!! Life Review takes place and there is no judge. The soul judges itself, the way he judged others in his lifetime. He asks for revenge for people who troubled him in that life, he experiences guilt for all wrongdoings he did to people and asks for self punishment to learn that lesson. Since the soul is not bound by the body and the ego, the final judgment becomes the basis of the next lifetime.

Based on this, a complete life structure is created by the soul himself. All the incidents to be faced, all problems to be faced, all challenges to be overcome are part of this agreement. In fact the soul chooses all the minute details like age, person and circumstances for all incidents to be experienced. An individual had severe headache in his present birth; he could not be cured. In a session of past life regression, he saw himself killing his neighbor in a previous birth by smashing his head with a huge stone.

In the life review, when he saw this he became very guilty and asked for the same pain to be experienced by him by way of a never ending headache in this life. This is the way we judge ourselves and in guilt ask for punishment. The amount of guilt in the soul, decides the severity of the punishment n level of suffering. Hence forgiveness is very vital. Clear your thoughts and emotions, as we carry them forward to the other side too. Once this review is done and our blue print for the next life is formed, then there is a cooling period. We are born depending on what we have asked for in the agreement. The cooling off period also depends on our urgency to evolve. We choose our parents and enter the mother’s womb either at the time of egg formation or during the 4-5th month or sometimes even at the last moment just before birth.

The universe is so perfect, so beautifully designed that the time and place of birth constitutes our horoscope, which actually is a blue print of this life. Most of us think that our stars are bad and we are unlucky but in actuality, they just mirror your agreement. Once we are reborn, for around 40 days the baby remembers its past life and laughs and cries by itself without anyone forcing it to. The memory of the past life is completely cut after this and we experience life as though we did not exist in the past. The dead always need serious healing and prayers for a variety of reasons, the most important one being ... To be free and not earthbound!! ... That is stuck in the earth plane and unable to leave.

There are many reasons for the soul to be earthbound like unfinished business, excessive grief, trauma on death, sudden death, fear of moving on to the astral plane, guilt, one of the most important being improper finishing of last rites and rituals. The soul feels it needs a little more time to wait and finish before moving on. This keeps them hovering on the earth plane. But the time is limited and it is very important that they cross over within 12 days to their astral plane of existence, as the entry to the astral world closes a few days after this. Earthbound spirits lead a very miserable existence as they are neither in their actual plane nor in a body to lead an earthly life.

They may not be negative or harmful but they are stuck and miserable. Hence healing and prayers are of utmost importance during this period so that the departed soul crosses over to the designated astral plane peacefully. Prayers by the whole family are very vital to help the dead cross over. The protection of the soul to help it reach its destination in the astral world is achieved through prayers. Now more than ever most souls are stuck on the earth plane due to lack of belief and family neglect. Finally, for someone who has lost a near and dear one, don’t feel sad, we never die, we live on, death does not end anything, it is just a little break before we meet again.

Dr Brian Weiss [6] was astonished and skeptical when one of his patients began recalling past-life traumas that seemed to hold the key to her recurring nightmares and anxiety attacks. His skepticism was eroded, however, when she began to channel messages from “the space between lives,” which contained remarkable revelations about Dr. Weiss’s family and his dead son. Using past-life therapy, he was able to cure the patient and embark on a new, more meaningful phase of his own career. A graduate of Columbia University and Yale Medical School, Brian L. Weiss M.D. is Chairman Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. He has authored many books. The famous ones are Many Lives Many Masters, Only Love Is Real, same Soul Many Bodies and Message of the Masters. These provide enlightening insights in the dimension of consciousness.  

Consciousness in Stars and Stellar Systems

The energy and matter created by the Vibration ‘Prana’ has three attributes Satav, Rajas and Tamas. There are many interpretations of these attributes. These attributes matter in the dimension of consciousness and through these a connection with the other dimension is established. The amount of matter in a heavenly body decided its influence through gravity, mass and energy radiation. The stars, stellar systems, black holes etc behave in a responsible manner.

Here's how NASA [7] puts it: It turns out that roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest — everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter — adds up to less than 5% of the universe. "Motions of the stars tell you how much matter there is," notes Pieter van Dokkum, a researcher at Yale University. "They don't care what form the matter is, they just tell you that it's there." Secondly, we know … not much. But NASA describes a few things dark matter is not. For one thing, it isn't light — "meaning that it is not in the form of stars and planets that we see." But while we can say that dark matter is a thing, dark energy is much more elusive — and as its name suggests, more dynamic. Think of it as a happening, rather than a thing.

Hubble telescope found evidence that the universe is expanding faster than anyone ever predicted. It's growing at such a torrid clip, scientists say we may need to overhaul the rules of physics to understand why. Einstein’s theory suggests an unvarying density of energy causing the universe to buck against gravity and push outward. That energy saturates even the blankest expanses of space. Therefore, dark energy, the only sign of its existence is the fact that something is pushing this ever-accelerating cosmic expansion. Is it, as some theories suggest, a fluid or field that fills space and has a counteractive effect on matter and energy as we know it?

The Pole star has the consciousness of Dhurva (Grandson of Manu) and Ursa Major (Sapta Rishis) [8]. The seven stars represent seven rishis, namely "Vashistha", "Marichi", "Pulastya", "Pulaha", "Atri", "Angiras" and "Kratu". There is another star slightly visible within it, known as "Arundhati". Arundhati is the wife of Vashistha. Vashishtha and Arundhati together form the Mizar double.

Saptarishis are the hierarchy working under the guidance of the highest consciousness, Paramatma. They bring down to the earth the required knowledge and energies to strengthen the processes of transition (pralaya). They are naturally the most evolved 'light beings' in the creation and the guardians of the divine laws.

The dhruva nakshatra is the pole star, personified as son of Uttanapada and grandson of Manu. The complete story is mentioned in the Vishnu Puran. The entire description of these events goes on to say that heavenly bodies which affect the cause of consciousness are there to make sure the scheme of things work as planned by Paramatma. The divinity of Sun, Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Naptune and Urenus all help sustain the grand design on earth.

The laws of universe are invariable for one and all. The laws do not change and any designer would like to lay such unchangeable laws. We understand the universe from the dimension of space time energy and matter. Unless we also understand the dimension of Consciousness the picture would not be complete. The dimension of consciousness has wherewithal of moving faster than light, travelling great distances and power to control energy/ matter. This the prime reason that without learning devotion, peace, love, self control/discipline, divine knowledge and without evolving past ego one does not progress in the dimension of consciousness.

References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loka

[2] https://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/there-are-14-worlds-in-the-universe-where-are-you/61556

[3] https://www.hinduwebsite.com/heavenhell.asp

[4] https://www.crystalclarity.com/yogananda/chapter-43/ Autobiography of a Yogi, By Paramhansa Yogananda  Chapter 43The Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar

[5] https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/arizona-mums-eerie-note-about-heaven-after-she-died-27-minutes-its-real-230615616.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLmdvb2dsZS5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMAyiGcZEtO9ESnjKC3QUTOV8G9kO0bcaSjTyhdwePCzr_e9SfQvDzq5KQexF7LOgmVWJzqDJH_JY6p_0ku4GV8Lh3iDriF1m0J5x8q1NhVLolcuyCMIjTdAkOit2zPSsqj2oQNeaMoLol4Q7Yy4pJZIumXY9oVHUJ8pePhiq3TD

[6] https://www.brianweiss.com/

[7] https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/space/stories/dark-matter-dark-energy-difference

[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saptarishi