Microvita and Spiritual Attainment

Teachings from Tantra

Khamúrtti.  (1 )  Kha + múrtti = khamúrtti.  Khamúrtti literally means “image in space”.  Since ancient times rśis, sages, yogis, and spiritual aspirants have sometimes seen a kind of luminous body or disembodied soul, by the divine grace of Parama Puruśa.  These luminous bodies assist spiritual aspirants in all possible ways.  

Only spiritual aspirants are able to see these luminous bodies through the grace of Parama Puruśa.  Though they are visible to the naked eye, they cannot be photographed.  Spiritual aspirants can speak to these luminous bodies and get answers to their questions.  While the words of a spiritual aspirant may be recorded on a tape recorder, the answers given by the luminous bodies cannot be recorded.  If a spiritual aspirant asks them for any mundane object, they may or may not grant the request.  If they do grant the request, they do so only once, and after that they will never come within that person’s sight again.  

If a spiritual aspirant asks for something spiritual, one may get it either directly or through the siddhas.  Siddhas are a category of microvita (2 )  which are very helpful to spiritual aspirants.  Yogis and spiritual aspirants say that sometimes during their sádhaná they see siddhas and receive direct help from them.  

People see khamúrttis due to the grace of Parama Puruśa.  But the guru cautions them that they should never ask for any object of enjoyment or any mundane object from a khamúrtti.  If people want objects of enjoyment, they will find themselves caught in the insidious snare of enjoyment.  

It is worth mentioning here that one should not confuse khamúrtti with cháyá puruśa.  Cháyá Puruśa is a mere game of light and shade.  If someone gazes intently on a dazzling white object and then looks at a dimly-lit object, one will only see a shadow.  This shadow is called cháyá puruśa.  If you look towards the sun for a while and then look at another part of the sky, you will see a kind of shadow.  Similarly, if you look at the flame of a burning lamp for some time and then look at a source of dim light, you are sure to see a kind of shadow.  

In ancient times, people who practised hypnotism (3 )  would see cháyá puruśa at night with the help of the moon, or with the help of a burning lamp (fueled by ghee) on new-moon nights.  With their vision fixed on the cháyá puruśa, they would gradually become conversant with the science of hypnotism.  Since olden times, the practice of Avidyá Tantra and the science of hypnotism have been well known in India and China.  In modern times, the science of hypnotism was used to cure disease by Dr.  Mesmer, a [European] physician.  Since then, curing diseases by the science of hypnotism has been called “mesmerism”, after him.  So now you understand that cháyá puruśa as used in hypnotism or mesmerism is only a game of light and shade.  

A khamúrtti, however, is a thoroughly spiritual vision.  Cháyá puruśa is a mere image of a shadow, whereas khamúrtti is an image of bright effulgence.  If any of you have had a chance to see such a khamúrtti or are still seeing one on any occasion due to the grace of the guru, you should not pray for any mundane object or for any finite object of enjoyment from these khamúrttis.  

There is yet another kind of shadowy appearance unrelated to khamúrtti.  In Tantra this is known as yakśińii darshana.  As a result of practising a special type of Tantra, people attain the yakśińii siddhi.  (Such people are known as yakśińii siddhas – sádhakas who have attained a type of occult power.) These yakśińiis (4 )  work under the instructions of the siddhas, and provided that some rules and regulations are not violated, they abide by their instructions.  Usually the yakśińiis cannot be induced to perform any evil deed.  They have no influence in the supernatural and spiritual spheres – their influence is primarily exerted in the physical sphere and to some extent in the psychic sphere.  They follow the yakśińii siddhas like a shadowy image, and very often can be found moving on walls or inside rooms like black shadows.  I have never heard of anyone being harmed by a yakśińii, but it may have happened.  

I know a certain person who was a professor of physics in a college in Bihar.  Let us suppose his name was Swapneshwar Chattopadhyaya.  I heard that he had attained yakśińii siddhi.  He did not have a son, but a daughter who lived far away from him, in the house of her father-in-law.  She had a daughter who used to live with her grandparents (Swapneshwar Chattopadhyaya and his wife).  The granddaughter was very young – about two or three years old.  

Once Mr.  Chattopadhyaya had to go to Calcutta for quite a long time in connection with his academic pursuits.  His wife – say her name was Kanika – was a very good but a timid woman.  The thought that she would have to live alone for a long time made her feel half-dead.  After all, how far could she rely on her tiny granddaughter?  Mr.  Chattopadhyaya consoled his wife, saying, “Don’t worry.  My yakśińii will take care of you.  She will help you in all ways.”  On the eve of his departure for Calcutta, he showed his wife a black shadowy image reflected on the wall of their meditation room.  Though the figure was very small, it looked like a human figure.  Mr.  Chattopadhyaya said to his wife, “This yakśińii will protect you from all troubles and dangers.”  

He set out on his journey and was expected to return after forty-five days.  Immediately after his departure, many strange things began to happen.  Wherever Kanika went, the image of the yakśińii followed her like a shadow.  For the first few days Kanika was a bit nervous, seeing the shadowy image, but later on, as she was obliged to spend time in its company, she overcame her fear.  Rather, she grew more courageous than before.  

At noon one day, while Kanika was washing the dishes in the kitchen, she suddenly noticed that the image of the yakśińii was shaking abnormally.  At first she was puzzled, but then she saw the yakśińii move quickly out of the room.  She followed the image and also left the room.  The yakśińii came to the door of the living room beside the main gate.  Kanika discovered that a thief dressed like a gentleman was about to escape with a suitcase that was kept in the room.  The thief caught sight of Kanika and took to his heels, leaving the suitcase behind.  The main gate had been left open by mistake.  

On another day, Kanika was sitting in the kitchen kneading flour.  Suddenly she noticed that the yakśińii was shaking violently again.  Kanika looked at the figure in utter amazement.  Immediately it went out of the kitchen, and Kanika followed it closely.  The yakśińii rushed towards the well across the courtyard of the house.  As soon as Kanika looked towards the well she became alarmed… horrified.  She noticed that her three-year-old granddaughter was sitting precariously on the edge of the well, looking down into it.  If she moved slightly this way or that, or if she moved only a little to look at her own reflection in the water, she would immediately fall into the well.  No one could prevent her certain death.  Kanika moved stealthily forward from behind, picked the child up, and placed her on her lap.  

Barely a month had passed since Swapneshwar had left for Calcutta.  One day Kanika was cutting okra (“ladies’ finger”) in the kitchen.  Suddenly she looked at the image of the yakśińii on the wall, and she noticed that it was gradually disappearing.  She looked all over the wall but could not see the image anywhere.  Meanwhile, she heard the sound of someone knocking at the front door.  Kanika went to the door and opened it, only to see Swapneshwar standing on the doorstep.  Seeing Kanika, Swapneshwar said, “I was supposed to stay in Calcutta for one and a half months, but as the job was finished in one month, I came home without delay.”  

I am narrating what little information I have about yakśińiis.  Formerly, some people used to perform yakśińii sádhaná according to the prescribed Tantric rituals.  I do not know if people still do the same thing today.  In the past there were no caste or communal barriers as far as these Tantric practices were concerned, nor are there any today.  

The system of performing sádhaná on various deities is not exactly the same as this, but somewhat similar.  Deities like shadowy figures also become visible through this practice.  Although this sádhaná is different to some extent from the sádhaná of yakśińii siddhi, the psychology in both is the same.  All the systems of Kálii siddhi, Durgá siddhi, d́ákinii siddhi, yakśińii siddhi, etc., are different in practice, yet they are similar theoretically.  In case one wants to achieve the siddhi of various deities, one should acquire more mental purity than in the case of yakśińii siddhi, dákinii siddhi, yoginii siddhi, etc., because this subject concerns the psychic stratum.  It is of elevated nature, but it has no relation whatsoever to the realm of genuine spirituality.  

Once when I visited Allahabad, a certain gentleman came in contact with me.  He told me that he had attained Kálii siddhi.  I said to him, “Well, can you try to tell me something about your experiences?  For instance, what do you see, what do you understand, etc.?”  
He said, “I perform sádhaná according to such and such system.  One day after sádhaná I saw a shadowy image of Kálii on the wall.  Since then, whenever my mind gets concentrated, that image of Kálii produces some kind of vibration in my mind which enables me to understand what it wants to convey to me.  Last night that image conveyed to me that you were coming to Allahabad today from Bihar and that you would stay here for a few days.”  

I asked him, “Can you see the red mark on Kálii’s feet, her ankle bells, her iron bangles, the garland of skulls around her neck, the garland of fingers, etc.?”  

He replied, “No, I do not see anything like that.  All those things are mixed up in the shadow.  The shadow itself is the combination of all those things.”  

Then I asked him about yakśińii siddhi, and I also asked if he knew the difference between yakśińii siddhi and Kálii siddhi.  

In the case of sádhaná for yakśińii siddhi, there is less devotional intensity due to lack of deep ideation.  But during Kálii sádhaná there is a fair degree of devotion, and at the same time the psychic state is somewhat peaceful.  Usually, people do not utilize Kálii shakti for destructive purposes, but of course there may be some Avidyá Tantrics who use their acquired power for malevolent deeds.  

This type of siddhi of various deities is a kind of psychic achievement of a higher order, yet this has nothing to do with the spiritual world.  

Uttamo Brahmasadbhávo madhyamá dhyánadhárańá;
Japastutih syádhadhamá múrtipújádhamádhamá.  
[Ideation on Brahma is the best, dhyána and dhárańá are second best, repetitious incantation and eulogistic prayer are the worst, and idol worship is the worst of the worst.] 

You may have heard that some people attain bhúta siddhi or preta siddhi (the ability to communicate with ghosts).  This ability is greatly inferior to yakśińii siddhi.  In olden days, some people would follow the practice of bhúta siddhi, usually to extend their influence or to do harm to others, and would perform many misdeeds.  Today no one follows this practice; if some people do, they are very few.  

Instances of people being possessed by ghosts, gods and goddesses, d́ákiniis, yoginiis, etc., are somewhat similar to this from the psychological perspective.  You may have noticed that sometimes people look for those who are “possessed” by Manasá [snake goddess], Satii-Má [Mother Satii], etc., when they feel an immense desire to find answers to their questions.  Others visit special places or localities to attain the exact answers to their problems.  

Although these things are similar psychologically, they are somewhat different in practice.  To treat various diseases by performing a special type of dhárańá [deep concentration] on various gods and goddesses, is nothing but the play of the conscious, subconscious and unconscious levels of the mind.  
If, due to the grace of Parama Puruśa, someone gets the chance to see a khamúrtti and asks that entity for success on the path of self-abnegation, then one may get such inspiration from that siddha devayoni (positive microvitum).  One will merge one’s individual existence and spiritual flow into the Macrocosmic stance of Parama Puruśa and attain savisheśa or savikalpa samadhi, the state of partial absorption of mind; or, by merging in the supreme stance of Parama Puruśa, attain nirvisheśa or nirvikalpa samádhi, the state of complete absorption of mind.  This is the summit of spiritual attainment.  In the final stages of one’s spiritual journey, the entitative existence of the sádhaka is merged into Parama Puruśa.  

Translated from a dharshan by Mahasambhuti

Footnotes  

(1) The contents of this chapter consists of elaboration on the words khamúrtti and khamúrttimán.  The author’s discourse on that day entailed linguistic discussion of a number of Sanskrit terms; the discussion of each term became an entry in the author’s linguistic encyclopedia Shabda Cayaniká (“Collection of Words”).  –Eds.  

(2) Microvita are entities which come within the realms both of physicality and of psychic expression.  They are smaller and subtler than physical atoms and sub-atomic particles, and in the psychic realm they may be subtler than ectoplasm (citta, or mind-stuff).  –Eds. 

(3) In those days hypnotism or sammohana vidyá was considered a part of Avidyá Tantra.  The six “actions” considered part of Avidyá Tantra are márańa, vashiikarańa, uccát́ana, sammohana, shántikarma and stambhana.  

(4) A yakśińii is not the same as a yakśa, which is one of the seven devayonis.  –Eds.  

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Out of Body Experiences at Will: University Researchers Explore Woman's Brain

Guest article

Mind, Brain, Neurology, and Yoga

Woman who can project from body at will is studied by University of Ottawa research team, providing evidence of extraordinary brain activity during astral projections.

By Sarah Griffiths

Researchers at the University of Ottawa, Canada, studied the brain activity of a student who can drift outside her own body at will

Scientists believe the left side of several areas of the brain associated with kinaesthetic imagery are responsible for extra-corporeal experiences

They think the experiences could be more common than thought or that people only retain the ability to have them if they practice from childhood

People have long been fascinated by out-of-body experiences - are they just tricks of the mind or do they have some sort of spiritual significance?  

Now new research has shed light on what it terms as 'extra-corporeal experiences' by studying the brain activity of a Canadian woman who claims she can drift outside her own body at will.  

Scientists believe the left side of several areas of the brain associated with kinaesthetic imagery (the perception of the sensation of moving) are responsible for the sensation of being able to leave your body and float above it – and that more people might have similar experiences than thought.  

Scientists believe the left side of several areas of the brain associated with kinaesthetic imagery are responsible for the sensation of being able to leave your body and float above it. Increased activity was seen in the middle and superior orbitofrontal gyri (A,B,D) the supramarginal gyrus (B) and inferior temporal gyrus (D)

Researchers at the University of Ottawa came across a psychology graduate who admitted she could have voluntary out-of-body experiences before she fell asleep.

The 24-year-old revealed she is able to see herself floating and rotating horizontally in the air above her body and can sometimes watch herself from above while remaining aware of her real body.  

However, as she said she feels no emotions when she has the experiences, the scientists decided to classify her experiences as extra-corporeal experiences (ECE) as strong emotions such as shock, often accompany out-of-body experiences, Popular Science reported.  

Researchers came across a psychology graduate who admitted she could have voluntary out-of-body experiences before she fell asleep. The 24-year-old revealed she is able to see herself floating horizontally in the air above her body, rotating and can sometimes watch herself from above (illustrated)

THE STUDENT’S DESCRIPTION OF HER EXTRA CORPOREAL EXPERIENCE

‘I feel myself moving, or, more accurately, can make myself feel as if I am moving,’ the student told the researchers, who documented her report in their study.  

‘I know perfectly well that I am not actually moving.  There is no duality of body and mind when this happens, not really.  

'In fact, I am hyper-sensitive to my body at that point, because I am concentrating so hard on the sensation of moving.  

‘I am the one moving – me – my body.  For example, if I “spin” for long enough, I get dizzy.  

‘I do not see myself above my body.  Rather, my whole body has moved up.  I feel it as being above where I know it actually is.  

‘I usually also picture myself as moving up in my mind’s eye, but the mind is not substantive.  It does not move unless the body does,’ she said.

Andra Smith and Claude Messier used a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner to examine the student’s brain and believe she is the first person studied to have an ECE on demand without any brain abnormalities.  

They discovered that the ECE involved a ‘strong deactivation of the visual cortex’.  

But it also ‘activated the left side of several areas associated with kinesthetic imagery’ in the brain, which the scientists think is what cause mental representations of bodily movement.  

While the researchers have acknowledged the rarity of finding someone to study who can have ECEs on demand, they believe that outer-body-experiences could be more common than thought.  

This idea is based on the fact that the student thought that being able to float outside her body was not unusual.

According to the study: ‘The participant described her experience as one she began performing as a child when bored with “sleep time” at preschool.   

She discovered she could elicit the experience of moving above her body and used this as a distraction during the time kids were asked to nap. She continued to perform this experience as she grew up assuming, as mentioned, that “everyone could do it.”’  

The scientists discovered that the extra-corporeal experiences (ECE) involved a 'strong deactivation of the visual cortex' (pictured). A shows the right side and B the left)

‘She appeared surprised that not everyone could experience this,’ the researchers wrote in the study, which was published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.  

The scientists think there is a ‘possibility that this phenomenon may have a significant incidence but [is] unreported because people do not think this is exceptional.’  

They also theorised that ‘the ability might be present in infancy but is lost without regular practice.’  

The scientists think there is a 'possibility that this phenomenon may have a significant incidence but [is] unreported because people do not think this is exceptional.' They also theorised that 'the ability might be present in infancy (illustrated with a stock image) but is lost without regular practice'

This article originally appeared here

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What Are The Occult Powers?

Tantra Psychology Series

If you had a Super-Power, what Super-Power would you want to have?  What propels you, what propels us all to consider greater limitlessness, whether for ourselves or humanity, and beyond, at large? 

Longing for infinity is at the core of every living being, constant from their, from our inception into life, into the Universe, to our greatest fulfillment, constant right along with our pursuit of happiness.  Going beyond what we have become, reaching from where we are towards greater subtleties is innate with all beings, and having attained human form, we have extraordinarily greater potentiality, and capabilities to actualize, magnificent thresholds of being, both physically and especially internally, psychically. 

Super powers or occult powers are imaginable because, for the most part, they are achievable.  We imagine them because the capability for achieving them, the architecture of their potentiality is awake within our being, our pursuit of infinity awakening us to such capabilities.  Living in an extremely materialistic era, more often than not we invent machines to do what we can also do psychically, such as TV and radio for telepathy and remote viewing.  When we are deeply and constantly in love with someone, we also remote view their wellbeing when we are physically away or perceive foreshadowings of possible events regarding ourselves or our loved ones. 

Why would you want it?

What would you do with it?

How would your life improve?

How would community or society benefit from your having it?

The key factor for these skills is that love, for love is not one of several emotions, it is the optimization of our homeostasis.  When the object of our attention is the Universe itself, and our disposition is of love, then most everything the Universe is capable of doing is within our capabilities for we -- as manifestations of that same Universe -- are also its instruments, its fulfillment of being, with humans, perhaps, at the zenith of that evolutionary excellence. 

In that spirit of love, anchored in the steadiness of moral excellence we all are bounding for, I present to you the core Super Powers, the eight Occult Powers which are characteristics of the Universe, characteristic of skills innate to those anchored in love, and instrumental in performing greater service to the wellbeing of living beings throughout the Universe. 


What are the Occult Powers?
 

1)       An'ima' -- ability to become very little, to reduce the vibration of the mind to penetrate an atom and know the secrets of subatomic struc ture.


An'ima' means reducing one's psychic existence into a small point and then transforming it into a minimum entity.  One may understand anything and everything by entering into each and every physical particle and becoming one with the different waves of expressions and emanations, by dancing with the waves of objects and ideas.  This occult power acquired through positive microvita is called an'ima'.  The only way to understand these subtle entities is to increase one's powers of perception through spiritual practices.  

2)       Mahima' -- ability to become very great, more immense than anything in this expressed uni verse, including the universe itself.

Mahima' means vastness.  With the help of positive microvita, the mind can expand to become vast, superlatively vast.  Its radius may encompass the entire universe and so we acquire ideas about many different subjects without reading books.  In this way, too, we may feel our oneness with the varied entities of this universe -- unity in variety, unity in diversity.  By associating our benevolent thoughts with each and every entity, we will contribute to universal progress and prosperity.

 

3)       Laghima' -- ability to become very light, to walk on water, to think oneself anywhere in the universe.  Achieved by controlling the psychic centre between the man'ipu'ra and ana'hata cakras, controlling the combination of fire and air.

Laghima' makes the mind light, free from the bondage of so many liabilities.  This carefree mind, freed from so many fetters and bondages, can understand and think clearly.  So by dint of this occult power, one may understand any idea, subtle or crude, abstract or concrete.  Unless you understand how much pain and sorrow is accumulated in other's minds, how many tears well up in their eyes, and anguish in their hearts, you cannot completely alleviate their sorrows and sufferings.  Through laghima, your own mind becomes unburdened so you can clearly appreciate and respect others' lives.

 

4)       Pra'pti -- ability to get or create whatever is desired; whatever is thought is immedi ately materialized.

Pra'pti means helping oneself and helping the souls of so many people to acquire and be benefited by the grace of the Supreme Consciousness.

 

5)      Iishitva -- ruling capacity, ability to understand all the entities of the universe, to direct and witness their actions.  Achieved by controlling the upper portion of vishuddha cakra.

Iishitva – Iish means to guide and administer.  Iishitva enables the spiritual aspirant to guide other people who suffer from different causes. So many people in this world are crying in pain and agony.  So many miseries and afflictions paralyse both physically and mentally.  lishitva enables one to correctly lead afflicted humanity to their physical progress and psychic well-being.

 

6)       Vashitva -- ability to bring under control, to unify forces, to create new life, to make the dead rise.  Achieved by controlling the upper portion of a'jina' cakra.

Vashitva means to keep everything under control and properly regulated for the welfare of all beings.  In order to bring people goaded by defective ideas to the path of optimal greatness, vashitva is necessary.  If people work haphazardly and  do not follow conscientious path, they cannot be expected to establish a state of welfare for all.  So if you really want to help people, you will have to inspire and influence them in a positive way, and then direct them along the right path to their goal.

 

7)       Praka'myam -- ability to take the form of anything.  Achieved by controlling the psychic center just below a'jina' cakra.

Praka'mya means the ability to accomplish whatever one desires, to translate wish into reality disposed to promote universal welfare, to bring light to the entire universe.  Through this occult power, spiritual aspirants acquire the capacity to serve the entire world.
 

8)       Antaraya'mitva -- ability to see into the inner nature of any entity; penetrating vision.

Antarya'mitva is to enter the ectoplasmic or endoplasmic structure of others and thereby to know their pain and pleasures, their hopes, aspirations and longings and to guide them properly.  It is somewhat like transmigration of the soul.  Regarding this occult power, spiritual cult alone will not suffice -- it requires the special grace of Parama Purusa.  He usually does not give this power to sadhakas because if they do not possess universal love, it can be abused for personal gains.  Baba explained that this power makes the mind so subtle that it can enter the intra- and inter-ectoplasmic mind stuff of every individual as well as the collective human society.

You will notice that all of these occult powers, all of these siddhis are anchored in, originate from empathy.  

Some subordinate siddhis, many of which are within one or more of the above characteristics, include: 

Anooram, the power to be immune from hunger and thirst

Door Sharavan, remote audience, to hear from afar

Door Darshan, remote viewing, to see from afar   

Manoveg, travel fast as thought

Kaamroop, assume any desired form

Parkaayi Parvesh, to enter into another's body 

Sai Maritayaa, to live at one's own will 

Surkareeraa, to enjoy meeting with gods (devayonis) 

Sankalap Siddhi, the fulfillment of desires 

Apratihat Gat, to go anywhere unobstructed 

~~~~~

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