KAMLESH D. PATEL explores the various states of existence in the universe and in the make up of the human body. What is the role of consciousness in all this?
THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITUALITY
Evolution of Consciousness Series
MOVEMENT AND STILLNESS
It is worthwhile here to revisit our understanding of the three bodies:
The causal body is the centre of our being, around which we have the subtle body or mind. Within this subtle body the main canvas is our consciousness upon which the other three functions play out: the ego, then the intellect, and then the thinking mind, from the centre outwards to the surface level of conscious thinking.
Beyond the subtle body, the physical body is then outermost, the most solid, material aspect of the layers that make up our being. We can understand the physical body with reference to the senses: it is through our senses that our physical being relates to the world around us.
We can understand the mind with respect to its faculty of thinking, as thought is the energetic expression of the subtle body. As we go deeper into the levels of the mind, we discover feeling, intuition, inspiration, and eventually the pure identity associated with the most refined ego.
We can understand the soul, the causal body, through its quality of inactivity. This also means it resists movement, and yet the nature of the soul is movement. This appears to be a paradox: movement and inactivity both define the soul. What is the meaning of this paradox?
Let’s look at it from a few perspectives. First consider the movement of the earth on its axis. If you are sitting at the equator, the surface of the earth moves at a speed of roughly 1,000 miles per hour, so you are moving very fast as the earth spins. But if you are sitting at the North Pole, you will be very steady.
Another example is a spinning top – when it is moving fastest it appears to be standing still. The soul, though its nature is movement, behaves as if it is still. Like the top that is spinning very rapidly, consciousness can also move very rapidly. Or take another example: when you move from one room to another, if you go at a normal walking speed it appears as if you are moving, whereas if you go at the speed of light you appear to be in all the rooms at the same time.
Faster than the speed of light is thought.
It can take light years for light to reach another galaxy,
but the mind can reach there in no time at all.
And consciousness is different again:
consciousness is always there.
There is no effort involved.
Consciousness is not limited by space and time.
Faster than the speed of light is thought. It can take light years for light to reach another galaxy, but the mind can reach there in no time at all. And consciousness is different again: consciousness is always there. There is no effort involved. Consciousness is not limited by space and time. The stillness paradox can be understood in this way.
When we go from the physical body to the subtle body to the causal body, we go from physical to subtler to the subtlest, in layers. The physical is here and now, as the body cannot travel into the past or the future, but the mind and consciousness can. When we think about things from the past or imagine them in the future, consciousness and the mind experience time travel. The mind goes there and consciousness registers the whole thing.
Now, the nature of the soul is steadiness, the stillness of the Absolute, which we gradually expose through a spiritual practice. When we want to dive deep into that stillness in meditation, to expose the inner soul, and externalise it through the mind …
Read the complete article in Volume 2, Issue 4
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Article by KAMLESH D. PATEL
Daaji
Kamlesh Patel is known to many as Daaji. He is the Heartfulness Guide in a tradition of Yoga meditation that is over 100 years old, overseeing 14,000 certified Heartfulness trainers and many volunteers in over 160 countries. He is an inn... Read More
