The Ascent to the Godhead - Part 9

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Dear All,

 

We concluded Part 8 with:

 

(P.198) " In the Hindu tradition there is a way of talking about this

transformation which is in terms of bodily sheaths, or 'koshas', in which the

human consciousness is involved, of which only the first is physical and the

rest are subtle. The first sphere is the 'annamayakosha', the food 'kosha',

which is the material body. Then there is the 'pranamayakosha', the level of the

breath or life energy. Inside this is the 'manomayakosha', the mental body, or

mind energy. In the West this is generally thought to be the final stage of

development, whereas in reality it is only an intermediate level. (P. 199)

Beyond the 'manomayakosha' is the 'vijnanamayakosha', and that is where one

comes to the 'buddhi' or intellect. Finally there is the 'anandamayakosha', the

supreme bliss consciousness. As one passes beyond all the limitations of the

lower levels of consciousness, one experiences the bliss of the 'sahasrara', the

highest level of consciousness, the 'anandamayakosha'. At that stage one is open

to the cosmic consciousness, the cosmic order, and that is where one becomes

aware of the gods and the angels. "

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith), Pg.198-199

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

 

Here now, is Part 9, the conclusion to " The Ascent to the Godhead " .

 

Enjoy!

 

violet

 

 

 

The Ascent to the Godhead - Part 9

 

(P.199) Very few people in the West have any experience of gods and angels, or

any other presences. They tend to think that talk of such entities is all a

matter of fairy stories; in fact they think that fairies are only stories. But

in fact all these entities correspond to experiences in the subtle or psychic

sphere. Beyond the physical there is a subtle psychic world and the subtle

senses perceive the psychic world within the physical. That is why there are

anecdotes of fairies, elves, spirits and elementals, of which people in the past

were aware. Then there are the higher levels of various spheres of spirits,

until one comes to a higher level still where there are the gods, the 'devas'.

This is the cosmic order, the level of cosmic consciousness, and it is what St.

Paul refers to as the cosmic powers. The writers of the New Testament were just

as aware as any other ancient people of this whole world of angels and demons.

It must be remembered that, as in the gross physical world, so here in this more

subtle world, the entities encountered are both positive and negative. One may

encounter not only the gods and angels, but also the 'asuras', the daemonic

powers and negative forces. So the subtle, psychic world is a dangerous world,

to be entered only with the guidance of one who has experience in it, a guru or

experienced spiritual director.

 

The subtle world can be divided into lower and higher levels. The lower level is

the psychic world in general. (P.200) Many people today are discovering latent

psychic powers and are experiencing, for instance, extra-sensory perception of

various sorts. These things are interesting in their way but they are always a

little ambiguous. Then there is a higher, or deeper, level of the subtle or

psychic where we come to the gods and the angels. Here one is encountering the

greater powers. We must remember that all the time we tend to think of this as

vague and unreal, presuming that the real world is the world we see around us,

when in fact the physical world is but the outer fringe of reality. It is real,

it has a reality, but it is a limited reality. The whole scientific world, the

world of stars and galaxies and electrons and protons and so on, all that is the

outer fringe of reality. When one comes into the psychic world one enters a

deeper level of reality. This is a matter not of speculation but of experience.

Just as the outer world, can be experienced, so one can experience the inner

world. One becomes aware of the world of the saints and the angels and the gods

as one enters into this deeper realm of reality.

 

As the exploration proceeds the whole of that psychic sphere is transcended as

one enters into the causal. The causal level of reality is where all the psychic

powers and entities find their centre in the One, the cosmic Person, the cosmic

Lord. Reality is not a chaos but an order and it centres in the One, and that is

why in meditation one focusses on the One who gathers all the sense world, all

the mental world and all the psychic world into unity. In meditation one is

trying to enter into that supreme unity. That Supreme is the cosmic Person, the

Krishna of the 'Bhagavad Gita', the cosmic Lord of creation. It is also the

'Tathagata' of the Buddhist tradition and the 'dharmakaya' of the Buddha. This

would correspond with the 'nous' of Plotinus, as that in which the whole cosmos

is unified and in which the gods are present, while the previous level would

correspond to Plato's world of ideas. So this structure is found in all the

different traditions.

 

(P.201) Finally it is necessary to go beyond the cosmic Person to the absolute

transcendence, the One beyond all. That, in the Hindu tradition, is 'nirguna

brahman', 'brahman' without attributes. As long as one conceives the absolute in

relation to this world then it is 'saguna brahman', the Lord, the Creator, the

Saviour, the good, the true, the beautiful and so on. But now one has to go

beyond that to the Ultimate from which everything comes. One goes beyond thought

altogether, beyond concepts, and that is what the Buddhists call 'sunyata', the

total emptiness beyond. So one has always to go to that beyond, which is

'nirguna brahman'. That, in the Christian tradition, is what we call the

Godhead, the Godhead which is beyond all, the divine darkness beyond all light.

And so finally one reaches the Supreme.

 

There is a very important point here and that is that as one makes this ascent

through all the levels of consciousness one always has to integrate each level

as it is transcended. The danger of the other view is that as one goes beyond

the senses, the mind, the intellect and the cosmos to the Supreme, one has the

impression that all these lower levels are left behind. But in the deeper

tradition, both Hindu and Buddhist as well as Christian, one assumes, or gathers

up, all these levels of consciousness. The real art of Tantra is the raising of

all these levels of consciousness, from the base level through the life level,

the emotional and imaginative, the intelligent, the psychic and the causal, the

whole is gathered into unity in the Supreme. The Supreme cannot be spoken of,

for it is the utter transcendence. The difficulty is that there are no words for

it at all; we can only use words to point to the Beyond.

 

The final stage of ascent to the Godhead can be summed up in a quotation from

Ken Wilber, who has worked deeply in this area. In a very impressive passage he

writes of this ultimate transcendence. Wilber is one of the few who have really

grasped what is involved here. (P.202) So many stop at an emptiness, at a void,

and leave out the world. Wilber uses the Buddhist term 'svabhavikakaya' for this

ultimate state of consciousness, while in the Hindu tradition it is called

'sahaja samadhi'. It is the state in which we have returned to our own nature.

Having found the Ultimate the person is totally at one with the whole world. One

gets the impression that one is going out of this world to the Supreme but now

comes the discovery that when one reaches the Supreme, it embraces every level

of reality. Every level of reality is included in it. This is how Wilber speaks

of it: " As unknowable, unobstructed, unqualified consciousness, it shines forth

in completion from moment to moment, like an infinite series of ever newly

perfected states, forever changing in its play, forever the same in its

fullness. " In other words this is perfect rest and perfect activity, the two

poles united in one. " It appears to be the end limit of evolution but is

actually the prior reality of every stage of evolution from first to last. This

was present from the beginning. " In other words, whereas one thought one was

rising from one level to another, on coming to the end one realises that one has

come back to the beginning. " In just this way it is always and perfectly

unattainable, simply because it is always already the case, timeless and

eternal. It is just that and all attempts to attain it, even in the causal

realm, are finally undone. It is understood to have been fully present from the

start. " Again and again it is said that one cannot reach liberation; one is free

and through all the stages one is trying to get to a state where one already is.

It is a matter of discovering who we are and what the universe is. " It is

understood to have been fully present from the start, never lost and never

regained, never forgotten and never remembered, always already the case prior to

any of that. As infinite, all-pervading, all-embracing consciousness, it is both

one and many, only and all, source and suchness, cause and condition, such that

all things are only a gesture of this one, and all forms a play upon it. "

(P.203) Wilber goes on to say that it demands wonder. Wonder is one of the signs

of the awakening to 'brahman'. The 'Kena Upanishad' says, " He is seen in nature

in the wonder of the flash of lightning; he is seen in the soul in the wonder of

the flash of vision. " [24] This is that wonder which goes beyond everything, the

sudden awakening. So, " As infinity it demands wonder, as God it demands worship,

as truth it demands wisdom ('jnana'), as one's true self it calls for identity. "

In other words, one finds one's self. " In its being it has not instructions and

this no-trace continues for ever. Bliss beyond bliss beyond bliss, it cannot be

felt. Light beyond light beyond light, it cannot be detected. Only obvious, it

is not even suspected. Only present, it shines even now. " That is the Ultimate.

One has returned to where one was at the beginning, but now in total

consciousness. So that is the evolution of consciousness leading to the ultimate

state, or ascent to the Godhead, as it has come down to us through the Hindu and

the oriental traditions.

 

[24] Kena Upanishad 29-30

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith), Pg.199-203

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0