Astral

[Guest guest]

I still have trouble when someone refers

to<br>going to the 'astral plane'...ie

SilentSoul's<br>helpful meditation exercise mentioned something about

reaching the astral......<br><br>The astral planes...1 to

33 in descending order..<br>are the realms of what

is known as 'Hell'...the 33rd being the worst. Why,

I ask, would someone<br>want to tarry in those

realms? When out of body at night, one should call for a

seraphim for protection when travelling through the astral

(hellish realms) on way to the etheric (heavenly

realms).<br><br>Or is 'astral' just a catch phrase for the upper

atmosphere ....cosmos.? 'Astral travelling'....'astral

projection'...I think are terms used by psychics.<br>(Psychic

dabbling ties one into the astral and leaves one's soul

vulnerable..)<br><br>Questioning, questioning...always

questioning....<br><br>blueray

[Guest guest]

Ah, semantics... Astral, here refers to the three

sheaths we all have: The gross (or physical) body, the

subtle body, and the causal (or astral) body. Chopra

goes into this stuff in great detail. Most of our work

as humans is concerned with the first two, which

impact the third, but because we have the third, the

astral body, which extends far beyond the physical we

can travel. At least that's what I've been

taught.<br><br>The upper atmosphere; do you mean

"akasha"?<br><br>And where does your reference to Hell come from?

[Guest guest]

Carl:<br><br>To your questions:<br><br>Re the

"sheaths we all have"......we have four<br>lower bodies:

the physical, mental, emotional and<br>etheric

(spiritual). The so-called 'astral' is the emotional body. The

causal body is not the astral. It is our spiritual , or

causal body, that leaves the physical at night and

travels to<br>other realms.<br><br>By upper atmosphere I

don't mean 'akasha' which is the sheath of all our

history recorded as a ring around the earth, as you

probably know.<br><br>My reference to hell comes from the

Teachings of the Ascended Masters...Maitreya, Rama,

etc....which Teachings are part of the

mystical<br>faith.<br><br>I'm not familiar with "Chopra"...<br><br>Blueray

[Guest guest]

Blueray,<br><br>We're not talking about the same

things here. That's okay, different lineages teach

things differently. My references are Vedic in origin,

and my belief system does not include Hell.<br><br>I

have always had trouble with the teachings of

Elizabeth Clear Profit and even more with Benjamin Creme,

so while I respect you and your beliefs, I won't

comment further.<br><br>"Chopra" refers to Deepak Chopra,

who has done much to bring Eastern teachings to

Western seekers.<br><br>Cary (not Carl)

[Guest guest]

Yes Cariesteiner is very right. Dear Blueraybird

this may be due to the different nomenclatures that u

took astral as lower regimes.<br><br> As we are aware

Soul, causal body, Astral body, Pranic body and

physical body are like a pack of russian dolls and during

meditation, astral travel and death, these bodies (except

physical ) take us to the next level of consciousness/next

birth.<br><br> We may discuss this further, if you

like<br><br>Hari aum

[Guest guest]

SilentSoul:<br><br>Right. Cariesteiner and I are

probably just coming at things from different

directions.<br><br> In my Teachings, there are different

interpretations for astral planes, etheric body and so on.

Much,however, is similar to<br>Hindu thought....eg karma,

reincarnation, etc.<br><br>East is East and West is West and the

twain are finally meeting!<br><br>Blueray

[Guest guest]

Dear Blueraybird, Tks for the post. In my

understanding Soul has 5 bodies which cover Soul as Russian

dolls. The last one i.e. the physical body is a

manifestation of the Manomaya Body (made of Mind and 10 subtle

organs). Physical body is attached to Manomaya body

through Pranic Body which is nothing but continuous flow

of prana exchanging information between these two

bodies. <br><br> the first stage of Astral separation is

thus separation of physical body from the other

bodies. Our consciousness remains in Manomaya body and

the Pranic body though not works as a binder but

continues exchange of information via the silver chord. The

feeling of thousands of strings breaking at the time of

astral travel is in fact the prana breaking the link

between these bodies.<br><br> Each one of us go to Astral

plane during sleep to get our prana recharged afresh.

Many of us might have felt sudden jerk while sleeping

or a feeling of falling down and waking or a feeling

of flying in the air. These sypmtoms signify the

separation of the two bodies. when one tries to sleep after

physical fatigue or one sleeps at a new place, this

separation of bodies can be felt more often.<br><br> Real

astral projection is in fact conscious projection, in

which we know that we are separating and see our

physical body separate from ourselves.<br><br> By Sadhna

(particularly with Vipasana and Raja Yoga), we can feel the

astral separation consciously.<br><br> It is in fact in

astral world during sadhna that we hear strange sounds

or see visions. some do it consciously some do it

without knowing the astral world. But if we understand

the astral plane and its mysteries, our sadhna can be

more fruitful and fast.<br><br>Hari aum

[Guest guest]

Dear Silentsoul,<br><br>I have always been

reading that the goal of meditation and spiritual

practice is to unite the soul with its source. That why I

have been doubting the significance of astral

traveling even though I am practicing it myself. But I was

left without any choice but to explore and understand

this phenomenon which occured initially without me

consciously inducing it. I feel obliged to understand it even

if it doesnt contribute to my spiritual growth,

because it really didnt make me better in any respect.

What is there so important in leaving the physical

body and wandering in the physical world with the

astral body? I had also experiences of inner sounds.

Perhaps by further practise my doubts will be solved for

example how to enter astral realm through astral

traveling. <br><br>What is even more strange is that I never

meditated regularly.<br><br>To my understanding out of body

experiences are a nice game which I like to play but of no

spiritual value. <br><br>Its pretty confusing and I d be

grateful for any opinions and views on my

post.<br><br>best wishes<br>de_spell_2000<br><br>PS: How harmless

is to practice without a guide?

[Guest guest]

It is NOT harmless to practice without a guide

(teacher)! There are bodiless beings looking for a host, and

you need training to protect

yourself.<br><br>Otherwise, while I agree that astral travel has no real

benefit in the direction of reaching the ultimate goal,

it's a siddhi and can help us to help others, if

practiced properly.

[Guest guest]

Yes it is true that Astral travelling is a siddhi

and is sometimes available to those who are not doing

meditation (but have done so in last birth)<br><br> Astral

travel without any spirituality in mind, will lead to

nowhere but a little confusion and some strange

experiences<br><br> But astral travel if consciously done to explore

the different faculties of the soul and different

planes of consciousness, it becomes a tool in

understanding the mysteries, ultimately taking one to higher

planes. Also if one sadhaka does not experience OOBE it

does not mean his sadhna is incomplete, it is just

another way to look at things.<br><br><br> btw, when one

is on the path of truth, each and everything becomes

a sadhna so in a sadhaka's life nothing is useless

or less important, provided these type of things are

taken as a route not as destination!<br><br> Last but

not least, I have been working on oobe, for about 8

years and i was never attacked by any demonic entity. I

was more attacked on physical level in clubs,

by demons, than in astral planes (lol)<br><br>Hari

Aum

[Guest guest]

In my own family, we have at least one person

whose experiments in astral travel has led to states of

psychosis (demonic attack?).<br><br>I'm glad nothing bad

has happened to you, silentsoul. That doesn't mean it

never happens.

[Guest guest]

As usual you are very right carie. I dont mean it

is safe. What i mean is that if we experiment with

this alongwith our sadhna, having strong positive

energies of our Sadhna with us, we may perhaps be safe

from these attacks.<br><br><br>Hari Aum

[Guest guest]

Astral projection is only a state of mind like sleep walking<br><br> What it has

to do with sadhna?

[Guest guest]

Astral projection has been researched by West but

that does not mean it has no place in Indian

religions.<br><br> Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, Yoga Vashistha etc. have

mention of Sukshma Sharira (astral body) Shankracharya

proved this by entering into the body of King sunddhawa.

Garud Purana explains in details the journey of the

Astral body after death.<br><br> Whether we believe in

or not we undergo astral projection on many of the

nights. We go into astral planes when we are in the deep

realms of concentration during sadhna, and we will be

forced to use our Astral body at the time of

death.<br><br> How & When the Astral Body separates the physical

one? When the Sushumna Nadi is opened and due to

concentration/meditation/last birth's samskaras Kundalini is awakened but does

not start its journey upwards. Kundalini starts

vibrating and emitting vermon colored energies which enter

the sushumna nadi. These energies turn to pure white

after entering sushumna. The passage of this pure

energy towards the crown chakra, causes the vibrations

felt by most of the projecting people. In some cases

it causes the feeling of inertia or paralyses in the

body. when this white energy reaches the back of the

head, bond of Prana is broken & it separates physical

body from the rest of the bodies.<br><br> The mind

vibrates at a higher and more subtle frequency and becomes

more powerful at this stage. It is in this stage that

most of the sadhaka see visions and hear strange

voices because the mind's receiving spectrum widens and

it grasps those lights/sounds which are not

available to physical organs...hence the word

strange.<br><br> During deep concentration, even if one is not

aware of Astral projection etc. a stage comes when one

feels light, floating and dragged up from the earth. It

is because of separation of astral body though it

remains with the physical but off tuned.<br><br> Astral

projection can knowingly be used to explore the exact

position, color and shape of Kundalini and various chakras.

In Astral plane, one can meet higher souls who

advice/guide further on the path of truth. One can see one's

own chakra and find the stale energies blocking

there. Many bad habits/complexes can be cured while in

Astral body. One can even go back to his last birth and

find out his Karma to know what is in store in

future.<br><br> And above all the the joy during the projection

is the spiritual ecstasy. It fills the heart with

happiness, relieves tension and makes the mind peaceful and

ready for jumping to next higher plane.<br><br> After

all it is for the joy to be felt by the soul (ego)

for which this universe has been created and we are

born. It is for the joy of the soul that we torment, we

love, we fight, and we do Sadhnaa !!<br><br>Hari Aum