Creating the Soul Body

In this sense, the sleepless ones experience a very different type of consciousness from ordinary people, which has nothing to do with faith or belief and relates only to direct experience.

THE DEATH OF THE INDIVIDUAL EGO

The sleepless ones were also described as egoless. The Sanskrit term for ego is ahamkara, “I do” or “I am the doer.” This “doing” includes not only the action of the body, but also the action of the mind.

As long as the soul identifies with the activity of the human mind and body, it conceives itself as the thinker and doer. The thoughts of the mind are conceived as my thoughts and the actions of the body are conceived as my actions. According to the seers, all such notions of me and mine are manifestations of the individual ego, which binds the soul to the individual mind and body through a process of identification.

In order for the thoughtless state to become permanent, the soul’s identification must shift. Rather than being identified with the human body and mind, which perform the process of thinking and doing, the soul must become identified with the field of pure consciousness, which is devoid of all thinking and doing. The permanent realization of the thoughtless state results in the death of the individual ego. Such souls no longer conceive the thoughts of the mind as my thoughts or the actions of the body as my actions. The egoless soul remains an uninvolved witness to the thoughts of the mind and the actions of the body, as though all thoughts and actions were carried out by an unseen hand—without any involvement on the part of the soul.

In the Vedic tradition, this was described as the desireless state of renunciation. Because it is established in the actionless state of pure consciousness, the soul has no desire to participate in the world from which it has become alienated. Effectively, it has renounced the world. The mind and body continue to participate in the world, but they do so completely on their own.

The ancients held that to become spiritually enlightened, first the individual ego must die—we must die to this world before we can be reborn in the other world. This means not that the physical body must die, but that the individual ego, which binds the soul to this world by means of desire, must die. The death of the individual ego is accomplished by the repeated experience of the state of pure consciousness in which all thoughts and desires are transcended. By repeated experience, the soul realizes that state eventually as its own eternal self. This realization, which happens in an instant, results immediately in the death of the individual ego. From that point forward, the soul becomes devoid of individual ego and all the desires associated with it; it simultaneously becomes egoless and sleepless.

THE SEA OF DEATH

The soul that is sleepless and egoless is caught in a state of limbo: It has died to this world, but is not yet reborn in the other world. While this is not particularly upsetting, it results in a rather dry experience of reality in which nothing in this world holds much interest.

Such a soul was said to be drowned in the sea of death. In actuality, it is drowned in the sea of pure ignorance. Upon looking at the world around it, the soul sees that everything has a beginning and end in the field of pure ignorance—the sea of death. As a result, the joys and pleasures of the world, which others hold so dear, become like dry sawdust in the mouth.

The old saying “ignorance is bliss” may hold true for all those who do not know what true ignorance is—but the soul that knows the state of pure ignorance experiences it not as a state of bliss, but as an abstract nothing. It is experienced as a sea of death. To escape from this state and realize eternal bliss, the soul must first cross the sea of death.

Yet this is easier said than done. The soul that is drowned in the sea of death is incapable of doing anything that might help it to cross that sea. The thoughts of the mind and the actions of the body are not its own, but are carried out by something or someone else. As a result, the egoless soul can do nothing, think nothing, and feel nothing—so how can it possibly cross the sea of death?

KNOWLEDGE AND IGNORANCE

The Vedic seers were well aware of this problem, but they had a solution presented in the form of a mysterious aphorism concerning the relation between knowledge and ignorance: “Knowledge and ignorance—whoever knows these two together, crosses over death by means of ignorance (avidya), and attains eternal life by means of knowledge (vidya).” 2

What does this mean? The sea of death is crossed by means of pure ignorance—that is, by remaining awake in the state of pure ignorance without harboring any desire for the things in this world. Those who are capable of remaining awake in the state of silent darkness—whether waking, dreaming, or sleeping—will be delivered eventually to the other shore, the shore of eternal life, by the will of God, without any effort whatsoever on their part. Upon arriving at the other shore, they will attain eternal life by means of pure knowledge.

The solution is simple: The soul must wait in the state of pure ignorance, without any desire or sense of expectation, like a babe in the womb or a corpse in the tomb, until it is delivered from that state by the grace of God.

THE MYTH OF OSIRIS

Insight into these mechanics is provided by the Egyptian myth of Osiris. According to the Hellenistic version of the myth, the god-king Osiris was tricked by his brother Set and Set’s conspirators to try out a specially constructed coffin to see if it would fit. Once Osiris climbed inside, the conspirators sealed him in it alive. He was doomed to death in the silent darkness of the coffin.

The coffin was then set afloat on the Nile River, where the currents carried it out into the Mediterranean Sea. It then floated across the sea to the shores of Byblos, an ancient port city on the coast of Lebanon, where the body of Osiris was eventually found and then resurrected. Upon this resurrection, Osiris renounced his worldly kingdom, ascended the stairway to the sky, and attained eternal life among the gods, where he became known as the Lord of Immortality.

This provides an example of the type of childlike myth offered by the sages to educate the unenlightened in their mysterious ways. The story, however, has a deeper meaning. The body of Osiris represents the individual ego (which here ruled over the land of Egypt as its king). The coffin represents the state of pure ignorance, the tomb of the individual ego, where it is destined to die in total silence and darkness. The Mediterranean Sea represents the sea of death, which Osiris had to cross to reach the other shore, the shore of eternal life. The currents in the sea, represent, in the story, the will of God that carries Osiris to the other shore. The currents serve to deliver the soul to eternal life without any action on the part of the soul. The resurrection of the body of Osiris represents the resurrection of the ego not as the individual ego, but as the universal ego—which is possessed by all enlightened souls.

The myth of Osiris therefore presents a spiritual allegory concerning the mechanics by which the soul becomes enlightened and endowed with a universal rather than an individual ego. This qualifies it to ascend the stairway to the sky and realize full immortality in the bosom of the infinite.

THE DOCTRINE OF SPIRITUAL REBIRTH

In many ancient traditions, becoming spiritually enlightened was compared to a process of spiritual rebirth. For this reason, the Vedic seers (rishis) were often called twice-born seers (dvija-rishis): First, they were born as ordinary human beings in this physical world, and then they were reborn as enlightened seers in the metaphysical world—the world of pure knowledge.

This doctrine can also be found in the Hermetic texts in which an entire chapter (Libvells XIII) is devoted to the subject of spiritual rebirth. The doctrine is presented in the form of a discourse between the immortal sage Hermes and his mortal son Tat.

First, Tat declares that, as his father has advised him, he has become alienated from the world and is now fit to receive the doctrine. This means that he has become egoless, that he has died to this world. Yet when Tat asks his father to explain the mysterious doctrine of spiritual rebirth, Hermes replies:

What can I say, my son? This thing cannot be taught, and it is not possible for you to see it with your organs of sight, which are fashioned out of material elements. I can tell you nothing but this—I see that by God’s mercy there has come to be in me a form which is not fashioned out of matter, and I have passed forth out of myself, and entered into an immortal body. I am not now the man that I was; I have been born again in Mind (nous), and the bodily shape which was mine before has been put away from me . . . To such eyes as yours, my son, I am not now visible.3

In response, Tat cries out in astonishment, for he can see his father clearly standing before him in a physical body, the same as always. Hermes goes on to explain that the immortal body is not composed of matter and cannot be seen by the physical eyes. It is an imperishable body of Logos that can be apprehended by itself alone. To realize the body of Logos, the soul must first be reborn as an immortal soul.

The text then tells us that Tat undergoes the process of spiritual rebirth, after which he proclaims: “Father, God has made me a new being, and I perceive things now, not with bodily eyesight, but by the working of Mind (nous). . . . Now that I see in Mind, I see myself to be the All. I am in heaven and earth, in water and air; I am in beasts and plants; I am a babe in the womb, and one that has not yet been conceived, and one that has been born. I am present everywhere.”4

To this Hermes replies: “Now, my son, you know what the Rebirth is.” The Hermetic doctrine, as we have seen, suggests that spiritual rebirth has nothing to do with faith or belief. It represents a profound transformation in consciousness, wherein the soul ceases to be identified with the mortal physical body and instead becomes identified with the immortal body of Logos—the body of pure knowledge inherent within the field of pure consciousness.

Because the Logos represents the all-pervading source of everything that exists, the reborn soul sees itself as present everywhere, in everything. It is no longer limited by the physical organs of sense, for it has developed the ability to see in Mind.

ENLIGHTENED PERCEPTION

The ability to see in Mind characterizes the nature of enlightened perception. Upon becoming identified with the field of pure consciousness, and having the veil of ignorance removed, the soul experiences a profound change in the self: That which was previously experienced as an empty field of silent darkness is now experienced as filled with modes of transcendental light and sound, which are both seen and heard. In other words, the emptiness is transformed into fullness.

Yet the modes of transcendental light and sound are not seen or heard by the physical organs of sense. Instead, they are perceived by the divine mind—the field of pure consciousness. According to the Vedic texts, this field contains all the qualities of the senses, even though it operates independently from the physical organs of sense. It has the ability to see without eyes, hear without ears, and so forth.

On the other hand, because the field of pure consciousness serves as the one eternal self of all beings, it can be said to have eyes, ears, heads, feet, and so on. It literally experiences the world through the senses of all beings. Regarding this extraordinary form of enlightened perception, the Vedic texts state:

Its hands and feet are everywhere, its eyes and head are everywhere, its ears are everywhere, it stands encompassing all in the world. Separate from all the senses, yet reflecting the qualities of all the senses, it is the lord and ruler of all, it is the great refuge of all. . . . Grasping without hands, moving without feet, [the enlightened self] sees without eyes, hears without ears. He knows what can be known, but no one knows him.5

In order to know the enlightened self, the soul must become the enlightened self, for it can be known only by itself.

THE COSMIC WOMB

It can be said that the tomb of the individual ego also serves as a womb for the universal ego. The unbounded state of silent darkness serves not only as the death place for the individual ego, but also as the birthplace for the universal ego.

In the Vedic literature, this unbounded cosmic womb was personified as Aditi, the mother of all the gods and seers. The Sanskrit term aditi (a + diti) means “unbounded,” but it can also be derived from ad + iti, which means “thus eating.”

The unbounded state of pure ignorance was viewed as all-consuming, with the potential to consume the entire universe and everything in it, and reduce it to a mere nothingness, a mere emptiness. Yet from this emptiness is born the fullness of spiritual enlightenment. For this reason, the cosmic womb was viewed as the mother of all enlightened beings throughout the universe, whether they are conceived as universal gods or individual seers. It represents not only the end of all forms of individual life, but also the beginning of all forms of universal life—the type of life possessed by an enlightened soul. All such souls are deemed immortal. They may possess mortal bodies, which continue to operate in this world as before, but they also possess an immortal body of Logos.

THE DIAMOND THUNDERBOLT

The actual transition from mortality to immortality occurs in a single instant. It may take years or even lifetimes to prepare for this transition, but when it comes, it happens instantly—in a single flash of pure intuition.

The dawn of enlightenment requires the piercing of the veil of ignorance. The soul that is drowned in the sea of death, however, is incapable of piercing the veil on its own; it must rely on the will of God to deliver it from the cosmic womb at the appropriate time.

The Rig Veda presents an important myth—the story of the vajra, the diamond thunderbolt of Indra, the king of the gods—regarding this piercing of the veil. Indra represents the universal ego presiding over the visible universe and everything in it, and as such; he was viewed as the king of the gods, the one responsible for upholding the appearance of the visible universe.

The myth revolves around Indra’s battle with a cosmic demon called Vritra (from the root vrit, which means “to cover or enclose”). From a subjective point of view, Vritra represents the veil of pure ignorance—the field of silent darkness that serves as the basis of the thinking mind. Objectively, he represents the veil of the physical vacuum—the field of silent darkness that serves as the basis for all the stars and galaxies. In both cases, this veil serves to cover, hide, or enclose the self-luminous field of pure knowledge from which is cognized the metaphysical Logos.

According to the myth, the enclosing demon Vritra was so powerful that he could not be destroyed by any of the individual sages or gods. Indra, the king of the gods, was deemed the only one who could vanquish him—with a special weapon called the vajra (a Sanskrit term that means both “diamond” and “thunderbolt”). The diamond thunderbolt of Indra was the only weapon capable of piercing the veil of silent darkness and thereby releasing the light and sound of consciousness, which was otherwise pent up and hidden by the veil. This divine weapon represents the flash of pure intuition that removes from the field the cover of silent darkness and reveals the transcendental sound and light that were there all along.

In silent darkness, the dawn of enlightenment begins with a swirling motion in consciousness—like a cosmic whirlpool—which catches the soul. It then delivers the soul to a previously unseen, luminous point value of consciousness. Upon reaching the point value and entering into it, a miracle occurs. The awareness turns inside out and simultaneously and instantly expands to infinity. This is accompanied by the simultaneous eruption of transcendental light (param jyotih) and transcendental sound (param nada). As a result, the veil of ignorance is pierced, and the cover of silent darkness is removed in a single, instantaneous flash of pure intuition.

This flash was compared to a thunderbolt (vajra) because it pierces the silent darkness with an instantaneous eruption of light and sound that reveals the infinite landscape of the self. It may be compared to a thunderbolt in the night, the pairing of light and thunder, which reveals the landscape of the earth. The flash was compared to a diamond (vajra) because the landscape of the self displays a transparent crystalline geometry, which resembles the transparent structure of a flawless diamond, infinite in extent. For this reason, the Vedic seers sometimes referred to the body of Logos as the immortal “diamond body” (vajra-deha).

With this flash of pure intuition, the field of pure ignorance is transformed into a field of pure knowledge, the field of death is transformed into a field of eternal life, and the field of emptiness is transformed into a field of fullness. It is only at this point that the soul actually becomes enlightened and is reborn immortally. It is only at this point that we can become an immortal seer of the Logos or the Veda.

THE CRYSTALLINE BODY OF LOGOS

The landscape of the self, which is revealed by the diamond thunderbolt, rather than being a featureless continuum, is a quantized continuum, which contains its own ideal structure and dynamics. More specifically, it contains an ideal crystalline structure—literally, a structure of consciousness, a structure of pure knowledge.

This structure is ideal in the sense that it represents the most symmetrical pattern of periodic geometry that can be conceived intuitively in three dimensions, while allowing for these three dimensions to be complementary of each other. This follows from the notion that it is conceived by pure intelligence, which is the source of all order, symmetry, and coherence in nature. It is also conceived on the basis of pure subjectivity, which allows for complementary points of view on any subject.