John's Vision of the Spiritual Centers

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

Appended, are some passages from the Bible relating to spiritual vision.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

 

Some Passages from the Bible relating to spiritual vision:

 

 

a./ The Arameans Plot to Capture Elisha

 

Now the king of Aram was warring against Israel; and he counseled with his

servants saying, " In such and such a place shall be my camp. "

 

And the man of God [Elisha] sent word to the king of Israel saying, " Beware that

you do not pass this place, for the Arameans are coming down there. "

 

And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God had told

him; thus he warned him, so that he guarded himself there, more than once or

twice.

 

Now the heart of the king of Aram was enraged over this thing; and he called his

servants and said to them, " Will you tell me which of us is for the king of

Israel? "

 

And one of his servants said, " No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who

is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your

bedroom. "

 

So he said, " Go and see where he [Elisha] is, that I may send and take him. " And

it was told him, saying, " Behold, he is in Dothan. "

 

And he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night

and surrounded the city.

 

Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold,

an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to

him, " Alas, my master! What shall we do? "

 

So he [Elisha] answered, " Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than

those who are with them. "

 

Then Elisha prayed and said, " O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. "

And the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was

full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 8-17)

 

 

 

 

b./ The All-seeing Eyes of God

 

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa's [Asherah's] reign Baasha king of Israel came

up against Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out

or coming in to Asa king of Judah.

 

Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the

Lord and the king's house, and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who lived in

Damascus, saying,

 

" Let there be a treaty between you and me, as between my father and your father.

Behold, I have sent you silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king

of Israel so that he will withdraw from me. "

 

So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against

the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store

cities of Naphtali.

 

And it came about when Baasha heard of it that he ceased fortifying Ramah and

stopped his work.

 

Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and

its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with them he fortified Geba

and Mizpah.

 

At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, " Because

you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God,

therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand.

 

Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots

and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your

hand.

 

For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may

strongly support those whose heart is completely His. (2 Chronicles 16:1-9a)

 

 

 

 

c./ The Lamp of One's Body is the Eye

 

The lamp of your body is your eye; when your eye is clear, your whole body also

is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Then

watch out that the light in you may not be darkness. If therefore your whole

body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it shall be wholly illumined, as

when the lamp illumines you with its rays. (Luke 11:34-36)

 

 

 

 

d./ John's Vision

 

Paramahansa Yogananda writes of John's Vision, that:

 

" Man's body, unique among all creatures, possesses spiritual cerebrospinal

centers of divine consciousness in which the descended Spirit is templed. These

are known to the yogis, and to Saint John--who described them in Revelation as

the seven seals, and as seven stars and seven churches, with their seven angels

and seven golden candlesticks. "

 

Paramahansa Yogananda - The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the

Christ Within You) Volume 1, Discourse 6, pg. 109.

 

 

I [John] was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice

like the sound of a trumpet, saying, " Write in a book what you see, and send it

to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira

and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. "

 

And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw

seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands one like a son of

man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across his breast with a

golden girdle. And his head and his hair were white like white wool, like snow;

and his eyes were like a flame of fire; and his feet were like burnished bronze,

when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound

of many waters.

 

And in his right hand he held seven stars; and out of his mouth came a sharp

two-edged sword; and his face was like the sun shining in its strength.

 

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as a dead man. And he laid his right hand

upon me, saying, " Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living

one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of

death and of Hades. Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the

things which are, and the things which shall take place after these things.

 

As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the

seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches

and the seven lampstands are the seven churches (Revelation 1:10-20)

 

 

[Here is the Spirit's Message to the seven (7) respective spiritual centers of

Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea]:

 

 

1./ To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

 

The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the

seven golden lampstands, says this:

 

'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure

evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they

are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have

endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.

 

But I have 'this' against you, that you have left your first love.

 

Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you

did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of

its place--unless you repent.

 

Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also

hate.

 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who

overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of

God.'

 

(Revelation 2:1-7)

 

 

 

 

2./ And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

 

The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:

 

'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy

by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

 

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast

some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation

ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who

overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.'

 

(Revelation 2:8-11)

 

 

 

 

3./ And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

 

The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this:

 

'I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is; and you hold fast My name, and

did not deny My faith, even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one,

who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against

you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept

teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things

sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality.

 

Thus you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the

Nicolaitans.

 

Repent therefore; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war

against them with the sword of My mouth.

 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who

overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a

white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who

receives it.'

 

(Revelation 2:12-17)

 

 

 

 

4./ And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

 

The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like

burnished bronze, says this:

 

'I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and

that your deeds of late are greater than at first.

 

But I have 'this' against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls

herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray, so that

they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

 

And I gave her time to repent; and she does not want to repent of her

immorality.

 

Behold, I will cast her upon a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery

with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.

 

And I will kill her children with pestilence; and all the churches will know

that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of

you according to your deeds.

 

But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching,

who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them--I place no other

burden on you.

 

Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.

 

And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will

give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as

the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received

authority from My Father;

 

and I will give him the morning star.

 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

 

(Revelation 2:18-29)

 

 

 

 

5./ And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:

 

He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars, says this:

 

'I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

 

Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I

have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.

 

Remember therefore what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. If

therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know

at what hour I will come upon you.

 

But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they

will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.

 

He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase

his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father,

and before His angels.

 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

 

(Revelations 3:1-6)

 

 

 

 

6./ And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

 

He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will

shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:

 

'I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can

shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not

denied My name.

 

Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are

Jews, and are not, but lie--behold, I will make them to come and bow down at

your feet, and to know that I have loved you.

 

Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the

hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test

those who dwell upon the earth.

 

I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, in order that no one take your

crown.

 

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will

not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and

the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of

heaven from My God, and My new name.

 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

 

(Revelations 3:7-13)

 

 

 

 

7./ And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

 

The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God,

says this:

 

'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were

cold or hot.

 

So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My

mouth. Because you say, " I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of

nothing, " and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and

blind and naked,

 

I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and

white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your

nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may

see.

 

Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore, and repent.

 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the

door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.

 

He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I

also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

 

(Revelations 3:14-22)

 

 

 

 

 

>

> The Baptism of Jesus - Part 6

>

> (p.108) The way of ascension was made manifest in the baptism of Jesus. As

told in the Gospel According to St. Matthew:

>

> And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and,

lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending

like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, " This is

My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " (Matthew 3:16-17). [1]

>

> Meaning of " the Spirit

> of God descending

> like a dove "

>

> " Spirit " signifies the Unmanifested Absolute. As soon as Spirit descends into

manifestation, It becomes three, the Trinity: God the Father, Son, and Holy

Ghost. (p.109) In the cosmic sense, if one sees the whole universe, it would be

as a tremendous mass of radiant light, like a mist of aurora. That is the great

'Aum' vibration of the Holy Ghost. God's superimposed intelligence omnipresent

in all manifestation--the Son or Christ Consciousness--is reflected as a

wondrous light of opal blue; it overlays and permeates every particle of

creation, yet remains always untouched and unchanged by its ever-mutating

environment. Beyond creative manifestation, through a radiating white light, is

God the Father in the vibrationless heaven of ever-existing, ever-conscious,

ever-new Bliss. That triune manifestation is the cosmic aspect of Spirit

descending in these three forms: as Cosmic Vibration, Christ Consciousness, and

God the Father. This Trinity is manifested in the microcosm of man as the triune

light of the spiritual eye.

>

> Man's body, unique among all creatures, possesses spiritual cerebrospinal

centers of divine consciousness in which the descended Spirit is templed. These

are known to the yogis, and to Saint John--who described them in Revelation as

the seven seals, and as seven stars and seven churches, with their seven angels

and seven golden candlesticks. [2] When one is baptized by immersion in the

light of Spirit, the microcosmic spiritual eye in the body may be seen in its

relation to the light of descending Spirit as the Cosmic Trinity.

>

> (p.110) In the baptism of Jesus, this is described metaphorically as " Spirit

descending like a dove, and lighting upon him. " The dove symbolizes the

spiritual eye, seen by deeply meditating devotees at the Christ Consciousness

center in the forehead between the two physical eyes. This eye of light and

consciousness appears as a golden aura (the Holy Ghost Vibration) surrounding an

opal-blue sphere (Christ Conciousness) in the center of which is a five-pointed

star of brilliant white light (doorway to the Cosmic Consciousness of Spirit).

The threefold light of God in the spiritual eye is symbolized by a dove because

it brings perennial peace. Also, looking in the spiritual eye produces in man's

consciousness the purity signified by the dove.

>

> The mouth of the symbolic dove represents the star in the spiritual eye, the

secret passage to Cosmic Consciousness. The two wings of the dove represent the

two spheres of consciousness emanating from Cosmic Consciousness: The blue light

of the spiritual eye is the microcosm of the subjective Christ Intelligence in

all creation; and the golden ring of light in the spiritual eye is the

microcosmic objective cosmic energy, Cosmic Vibration, or Holy Ghost. [3]

>

> All manifestation is a product of vibration, which is of the Holy Ghost, and

is sustained by the inherence of God's consciousness. Thus the light of the

spiritual eye is composed of vibratory lifetrons, the finest ultimate unit of

intelligent energy emanating from the Holy Ghost (the subtlety of lifetrons is

superseded only by the vibrations of pure consciousness). Lifetrons are the

underlying support of the grosser electrons and structural atoms of which all

matter is composed. Each microscopic lifetron contains in miniature the essence

of all macroscopic creation. [4]

>

> The triune Spirit

> manifested through

> man's spiritual eye

>

> The consciousness present microcosmically in the spiritual eye in man is

composed of the elements of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost--transcendental

Cosmic Consciousness, immanent Christ Consciousness, and Cosmic Energy. Jesus

saw the Spirit descending from the abode of Heavenly Bliss in the form of a

microcosmic spiritual eye and settle upon his consciousness. (p.111) The

spiritual eye of Jesus was opened, and through this immersion in Spirit, he

perceived the mergence of his individualized consciousness with the macrocosmic

manifestations of Cosmic Consciousness, Christ Consciousness, and Cosmic Energy.

>

> The holy Cosmic Vibration, the primal manifestation of transcendental God the

Father, emits not only the property of light--the magnificent effulgence of

God's divine light and its structural lifetrons and microcosmic spiritual eye of

supernal consciousness--but also the wondrous sound of 'Aum', the Word, the

great Amen, which is the witness or proof of the Holy Presence. During baptism

by Spirit in the form of the Holy Ghost as experienced by Jesus, he saw the

light of the spiritual eye as descended from the macrocosmic Divine Light; and

from this came the voice of 'Aum', the intelligent, all-creative heavenly sound,

vibrating as an intelligible voice: " Thou art My Son, having lifted thy

consciousness from the limitation of the body and all matter to realize thyself

as one with My perfect reflection, My only begotten image, immanent in all

manifestation. I am Bliss, and My joy I express in thy rejoicing in attunement

with My Omnipresence. " Jesus felt his consciousness attuned to the Christ

Consciousness, the " only begotten " reflection of God the Father's Intelligence

in the Holy Vibration: he first felt his body as the entire vibratory creation

in which his little body was included; then within his cosmic body of all

creation, he experienced his oneness with God's innate Presence as the Infinite

Christ or Universal Intelligence, a magnetic aura of blissful Divine Love in

which God's presence holds all beings.

>

> The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

> You) Volume 1, Discourse 6, pg. 108-111

> Paramahansa Yogananda

> Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

> ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

> ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

>

> Notes:

>

> [1] Cf. parallel references in Mark 1:9-11 and Luke 3:21-22.

>

> [2] " Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the

things which shall be hereafter; the mystery of the seven stars which thou

sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are

the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest

are the seven churches " (Revelation 1:19-20). " And I saw in the right hand of

him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed

with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who

is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?' " (Revelation

5:1-2). Yoga treatises identify these centers (in ascending order) as:

'muladhara' (the coccygeal, at the base of the spine); 'svadhisthana' (the

sacral, two inches above 'muladhara'); 'manipura' (the lumbar, opposite the

navel); 'anahata' (the dorsal, opposite the heart); 'vishuddha' (the cervical,

at the base of the neck); 'ajna' (seat of the spiritual eye, traditionally

located between the eyebrows; in actuality, directly connected by polarity with

the medulla oblongata); and 'sahasrara' ( " thousand-petaled lotus " in the

uppermost part of the cerebrum). The seven centers are divinely planned exits or

" trap doors " through which the soul has descended into the body and through

which it must reascend by a process of meditation. By seven successive steps,

the soul escapes into Cosmic Consciousness. Yoga treatises generally refer to

the six lower centers as 'chakras' ( " wheels, " because the concentrated energy in

each one is like a hub from which radiate rays of life-giving light and energy),

with 'sahasrara' referred to separately as a seventh center. All seven centers,

however, are often referred to as lotuses, whose petals open, or turn upward, in

spiritual awakening as the life and consciousness travel up the spine.

>

> [3] The identifying emblem of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga

Society of India depicts the spiritual eye, showing the white star and

surrounding rings of blue and golden light at the point between the two

eyebrows, situated within a golden lotus flower. It signifies the meditating

devotee's goal of opening the eye of divine perception, just as the open lotus

is an ancient symbol of awakened spiritual consciousness.

>

> [4] As in the macrocosm of the universe, so in the microcosm of man there are

three interdependent bodies. Man's soul dons these three coverings that serve as

instrumentalities through which the incarnate spirit can perceive, comprehend,

and interact with God's creation. The very tenuous first covering of the soul,

which individualizes it from Spirit, is one of pure consciousness; it is

composed of God's thoughts or ideas that cause the other two sheaths. Thus it is

referred to as the causal body. These causal ideas emit a magnetic force of

light and intelligent energy, which I have called 'lifetrons', that form the

astral body of man. The astral body of lifetrons is itself the life energy that

empowers all the senses and functions of the physical body. The physical body is

merely a gross materialization of the causal ideas activated by the life and

energy of the astral body, and endowed with consciousness, self-awareness, and

intelligence from the causal body. All of these vibratory manifestations of the

macrocosm and microcosm derive from the Holy Ghost Vibration and the

transcendent consciousness of God. (See Volume I, Discourse 1, pg. 14)

>