Meditation is the art of centering consciousness in the true self by quieting the mind. In self-realization one discovers the Light of truth in the soul itself. By transcending the consciousness of objects, feelings, and thoughts one may experience pure consciousness and the oneness of the soul with God.
This Soul (Atman) is obtainable by truth, by austerity,
By proper knowledge, by the student's life of chastity constantly (practiced).
Within the body, consisting of light, pure is He
Whom the ascetics, wit imperfections done away, behold.
Truth alone conquers, not falsehood.
By truth is laid out the path leading to the gods
By which the sages whose desire is satisfied ascend
To where is the highest repository of truth.
Vast, heavenly, of unthinkable form,
And more minute than the minute, It shines forth.
It is farther than the far, yet here near at hand,
Set down in the secret place (of the heart), even here among those who behold (It).
Not by sight is It grasped, not even by speech,
Not by any other sense-organs, austerity, or work
By the peace of knowledge, one's nature purified -
In that way, however, by meditating, one does behold Him who is without parts.
Mundaka Upanishad, 3.1.5-8
When through self, by the suppressing of the mind, one sees the brilliant Self which is more subtle than the subtle, then having seen the Self through one's self, one becomes selfless. because of being selfless, he is to be regarded as incalculable, without origin - the mark of liberation. This is the supreme secret doctrine. For thus has it been said:
For by tranquillity of thought
Deeds (karman), good and evil, one destroys!
With soul (atman) serene, stayed on the Soul (Atman),
Delight eternal one enjoys!
Maitri Upanishad, 6.20
One should worship with the thought that he is just one's self (atman), for therein all -these become one. That same thing, namely, this self, is the trace of this All, for by it one knows this All
Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.7
When all the mental consciousness is perfectly controlled and liberated from desire and remains still in the Self, then it is said, 'he is in Yoga.' Motionless like the light of a lamp in a windless place is the controlled consciousness (free from its restless action, shut in from its outward motion) of the Yogin who practices union with the Self. That in which the mind becomes silent and still by the practice of Yoga; that in which the Self is seen within in the Self by the Self (seen, not as it is mistranslated falsely or partially by the mind and represented to us through the ego, but self perceived by -the Self), and the soul is satisfied. That in which the soul knows its own true and exceeding bliss, which is perceived by the intelligence and is beyond the senses, wherein established, it can no longer fall away from the spiritual truth of its being. That is the greatest of all gains and the treasure beside which all lose their value, wherein established he is not disturbed by the fieriest assault of mental grief. It is putting away of the contact with pain, the divorce of the mind's marriage with grief. The firm winning of this inalienable spiritual bliss is Yoga; it is the divine union. this Yoga is to be resolutely practiced without yielding to any discouragement by difficulty or failure. Abandoning without any exception or residue all the desires born of the desire-will and holding the senses by the Mind so that they shall not run to all sides, one should slowly cease from mental action by a buddhi held in the grasp of fixity, and having fixed the mind in the higher Self one should not think of anything at all. Whenever the restless and unquiet mind goes forth, it should be controlled and brought into subjection in the Self. When the mind is thoroughly quieted, then there comes upon the Yogin stainless, passionless, the highest bliss of the soul that has become Brahman. Thus freed from stain of passion and putting himself constantly into Yoga, the Yogin easily and happily enjoys the touch of the Brahman which is an exceeding bliss. The man whose self is in Yoga, sees the self in all beings and all beings in the self, he is equal-visioned everywhere.
Bhagavad-Gita, VI:18-29
Verily, in whom ignorance is destroyed by self-knowledge, in them knowledge lights up like a sun the supreme Self (within them). Turning their discerning mind to That, directing their whole conscious being to That, making That their whole aim and the sole object of their devotion, they go whence there is no return, their sins washed by the waters of knowledge.
Bhagavad-Gita, V:16-17
When the seer perceives that the modes of nature are the whole agency and cause of works and knows and turns to That which is supreme above the gunas, he attains to madbhava (the movement and status of the Divine). When the soul thus rises above the three gunas born of the embodiment in Nature, he is freed from subjection to birth and death and their concomitants, decay, old age and suffering, and enjoys in the end the Immortality of its self-existence.
Bhagavad-Gita, XIV:19-20
The man of discrimination ceases to regard the mind as the Atman. When the mind is bent on the practice of discrimination, it moves toward liberation. Distractions due to past impressions may arise if the mind relaxes its discrimination, even a little. They may be overcome in the same manner as the obstacles to enlightenment. He who remains undistracted even when he is in possession of all the psychic powers, achieves, as the result of perfect discrimination, that samadhi which is called the 'cloud of virtue.' Thence come cessation of ignorance, the cause of suffering, and freedom from the power of karma. Then the whole universe, with all its objects of sense-knowledge, becomes as nothing in comparison to that infinite knowledge which is free from all obstructions and impurities. Then the sequence of mutations of the gunas comes to an end, for they have fulfilled their purpose. This is the sequence of the mutations which take place at every moment, but which are only perceived at the end of a series. Since the gunas no longer have any purpose to serve for the Atman, they resolve themselves into Prakriti. This is liberation. The Atman shines forth in its own pristine nature, as pure consciousness.
Patanjali, Yoga Aphorisms, IV:25-34
Attain complete vacuity,
Maintain steadfast quietude.
All things come into being,
And I see thereby their return.
All things flourish,
But each one returns to its root.
This return to its root means tranquillity.
It is called returning to its destiny.
To return to destiny is called the eternal (Tao).
To know the eternal is called enlightenment.
Lao-tzu, Tao Teh Ching, 16
Can you keep the spirit and embrace the One without departing from them?
Can you concentrate your vital force (ch'i) and achieve the highest degree of weakness like an infant?
Can you clean and purify your profound insight so it will be spotless?
Lao-tzu, Tao Teh Ching, 10
Joy and anger, sadness and pleasure, anticipation and regret, fickleness and fixedness, vehemence and indolence, eagerness and tardiness: these moods, like music from an empty tube or mushrooms from the warm moisture, day and night come before us, and we do not know silence they sprout! Let us stop! Let us stop! Can we expect to find out suddenly how they are produced?
If there were not the views of another, I should not have mine. If there were not I with my views, his would be uncalled for. This is nearly a true statement, but we do not know what makes it so. It might seem as if there would be a true Governor concerned with it, but we do not find any trace of his presence and acting. That such a one could act so I believe; but we do not see his form. He affects, but has no form.
Chuang-tzu, 2:2
When the mind of the sage is tranquil, it becomes the mirror of the universe and the reflection of all things.
Chuang-tzu, 13:5
He whose mind is thus grandly fixed emits a Heavenly light. In him who emits this Heavenly light, men see the true man. When a man has cultivated himself up to this point, thenceforth he remains constant in himself. When he is thus constant in himself, what is merely the human element will leave him, but Heaven will help him. Those whom their human element has left we call the people of Heaven. Those whom Heaven helps we call the Sons of Heaven. Those who would by learning attain to this, seek for what they cannot learn. Those who would by effort attain to this, attempt what effort can never effect. Those who aim by reasoning to reach it, reason where reasoning has no place. To know when to stop is the highest attainment.
Chuang-tzu, 23:7
What Heaven gives to man is called human nature. Following our nature is called the Way. Cultivating the Way is called education. The Way cannot be separated from us for a moment. What can be separated is not the Way. Therefore the superior man looks into his heart and watches the unseen and apprehends the unheard. Nothing is more visible than what is hidden, and nothing more manifest than what is subtle. Therefore the superior man looks into his heart when he is alone. Before the feelings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy are aroused, one is in what is called the center. When these feelings are aroused, and they each attain due measure and degree, it is called harmony. The center is the supreme foundation of the universe, and harmony is its universal expression. When the center and harmony are realized to the fullest extent then order and happiness prevail throughout heaven and earth, and all things are nourished and flourish.
(Chung-yung) The Center of Harmony, 1
Be still, and know that I am God.
Psalm 46:10
'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.' The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him.
Lamentations 3:24-28
I searched out myself.
Heraclitus, fr. 101
Socrates: The soul, then, as being immortal, and having been born again many times, and having seen all things that exist, whether in this world or in the world below, has knowledge of them all; and it is no wonder that she should be able to call to remembrance all that she ever knew about virtue, and about everything; for as all nature is akin, and the soul has learned all things, there is no difficulty in her eliciting or as men say learning, out of a single recollection all the rest, if a man is strenuous and does not faint; for all inquiry and all learning is but recollection.
Plato, Meno, 81
Socrates: Then he who bids a man know himself, would have him know his soul?
Plato, Alcibiades I, 130
Socrates: But how can we have a perfect knowledge of the things of the soul? - For if we know them, then I suppose we shall know ourselves.... And if the soul, my dear Alcibiades, is ever to know herself, must she not look at the soul; and especially at that part of the soul in which her virtue resides, and to any other which is like this?
Alcibiades: I agree, Socrates.
Socrates: And do we know of any part of our souls more divine than that which has to do with wisdom and knowledge?
Alcibiades: There is none.
Socrates: Then this is that part of the soul which resembles the divine; and he who looks at this and at the whole class of things divine, will be most likely to know himself?
Alcibiades: Clearly.
Plato, Alcibiades I, 132
Then when does the soul attain truth? - for in attempting to consider anything in company with the body she is obviously deceived.
True.
Then must not true existence be revealed to her in thought, if at all?
Yes.
And thought is best when the mind is gathered into herself and none of these things trouble her - neither sounds nor sights nor pain nor any pleasure, - when she takes leave of the body, and has as little as possible to do with it, when she has no bodily sense or desire, but is aspiring after true being?
Certainly.
And in this the philosopher dishonors the body; his soul runs away from his body and desires to be alone and by herself?
Plato, Phaedo, 65
And this separation and release of the soul from the body is termed death?... And the true philosophers, and they only, are ever seeking to release the soul.... And the true philosophers, Simmias, are always occupied in the practice of dying, wherefore also to them least of all men is death terrible.
Plato, Phaedo, 67
The truth rather is, that the soul which is pure at departing and draws after her no bodily taint, having never voluntarily during life had connection with the body, which she is ever avoiding, herself gathered into herself; and making such abstraction her perpetual study - which means that she has been a true disciple of philosophy; and therefore has in fact been always engaged in the practice of dying?... That soul, I say, herself invisible, departs to the invisible world - to the divine and immortal and rational; thither arriving, she is secure of bliss and is released from the error and folly of men, their fears and wild passions and all other human ills, and for ever dwells, as they say of the initiated, in company with the gods.
Plato, Phaedo, 80-81
But she will calm passion, and follow reason, and dwell in the contemplation of her, beholding the true and divine (which is not matter of opinion), and thence deriving nourishment. Thus she seeks to live while she lives, and after death she hopes to go to her own kindred and to that which is like her, and to be freed from human ills.
Plato, Phaedo, 84
But when returning into herself she reflects, then she passes into the other world, the region of purity, and eternity, and immortality, and unchangeableness, which are her kindred, and with them she ever lives, when she is by herself and is not let or hindered; then she ceases from her erring ways, and being in communion with the unchanging is unchanging. And this state of the soul is called wisdom?
Plato, Phaedo, 79
It has been proved to us by experience that if we would have pure knowledge of anything we must be quit of the body - the soul in herself must behold things in themselves: and then we shall attain the wisdom which we desire, and of which we say that we are lovers; not while we live, but after death; for if while in company with the body, the soul cannot have pure knowledge, one of two things follows - either knowledge is not to be attained at all, or, if at all, after death. For then, and not till then, the soul will be parted from the body and exist in herself alone. In this present life, I reckon that we make the nearest approach to knowledge when we have the least possible intercourse or communion with the body, and are not surfeited with the bodily nature, but keep ourselves pure until the hour when God himself is pleased to release us. And thus having got rid of the foolishness of the body we shall be pure and hold converse with the pure, and know of ourselves the clear light everywhere, which is no other than the light of truth.
Plato, Phaedo, 66-67
And the soul is like the eye: when resting upon that on which truth and being shines the soul perceives and understands and is radiant with intelligence; but when turned towards the twilight of becoming and perishing, then she has opinion only, and goes blinking about, and is first of one opinion and then of another, and seems to have no intelligence?
Plato, Republic, VI, 508
Whereas, our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already; and that just as the eye was unable to turn from darkness to light without the whole body, so too the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that of being, and learn by degrees to endure the sight of being, and of the brightest and best of being, or in other words, of the good.
Plato, Republic, VII, 518
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8
The kingdom of God is not coming with observation, nor will they say, 'Look, here,' or 'There;' for look, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke, 17:20-21
By your patience you will win your souls
Luke 21:19
Jesus said, 'Let him who seeks, not cease seeking until he finds, and when he finds, he will be troubled, and when he has been troubled, he will marvel and he will reign over the All.'
Gospel According to Thomas, 2
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2
Give thyself more diligently to reflection: know thyself: take counsel with the Godhead: without God put thine hand unto nothing!
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings, CXV
Think of God more often than thou breathest.
Epictetus, Fragment XIX
Retire into thyself. The rational principle which rules has this nature, that it is content with itself when it does what is just, and so secures tranquillity.
Wipe out the imagination. Stop the pulling of the strings. Confine thyself to the present.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, VII:28-29
Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, V:16
Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, VII:59
If the purification puts the human into knowledge of the highest, then too, the science latent within becomes manifest, the only authentic knowing. For it is not by running hither and thither outside of itself that the soul understands morality and right conduct: it learns them of its own nature, in its contact with itself, in its intellectual grasp of itself, seeing deeply impressed upon it the images of its primal state; what was one mass of rust from long neglect it has restored to purity.
Imagine living gold: it files away all that is earthy about it, all that kept it in self-ignorance preventing it from knowing itself as gold; seen now unalloyed it is at once filled with admiration of its worth and knows that it has no need of any other glory than its own, triumphant if only it be allowed to remain purely to itself.
What intelligent mind can doubt the immortality of such a value, one in which there is a life self-springing and therefore not to be destroyed?
Plotinus, Fourth Ennead, VII:10-11
In sum, we must withdraw from all the extern, pointed wholly inwards; no leaning to the outer; the total of things ignored, first in their relation to us and later in the very idea; the self put out of mind in the contemplation of the supreme.
Plotinus, Sixth Ennead, IX:7
Thus the supreme as containing no otherness is ever present with us; we with it when we put otherness away. It is not that the Supreme reaches out to us seeking our communion: we reach towards the Supreme; it is we that become present. We are always before it: but we do not always look: thus a choir, singing set in due order about the conductor, may turn away from that center to which all should attend: let it but face aright and it sings with beauty, present effectively. We are ever before the Supreme - cut off is utter dissolution; we can no longer be - but we do not always attend: when we look, our Term is attained; this is rest; this is the end of singing ill; effectively before Him, we lift a choral song full of God.
In this choiring, the soul looks upon the wellspring of life, wellspring also of Intellect, beginning of Being, fount of Good, root of soul.
Plotinus, Sixth Ennead, IX:8-9
Our being is the fuller for our turning Thither; this is our prosperity; to hold aloof is loneliness and lessening. Here is the soul's peace, outside of evil, refuge taken in the place clean of wrong; here it has its Act, its true knowing; here it is immune. Here is living, the true; that of today, all living apart from Him, is but a shadow, a mimicry. Life in the Supreme is the native activity of Intellect; in virtue of that converse it brings forth gods, brings forth beauty, brings forth righteousness, brings forth all moral good; for all these the soul is pregnant when it has been filled with God. This state is its first and its final, because from God it comes, its good lies There, and once turned to God again, it is what it was. Life here, with the things of earth, is a sinking, a defeat, a failing of the wing.
That our good is There is shown by the very love inborn with the soul; hence the constant linking of the Love-God with the Psyches in story and picture; the soul, other than God but sprung of Him, must needs love.
Plotinus, Sixth Ennead, IX:9
In our self-seeing There, the self is seen as belonging to that order or rather we are merged into that self in us which has the quality of that order. It is a knowing of the self restored to its purity. No doubt we should not speak of seeing; but we cannot help talking in dualities, seen and seer, instead of, boldly, the achievement of unity. In this seeing, we neither hold an object nor trace distinction; there is no two. The man is changed, no longer himself nor self-belonging; he is merged with the Supreme, sunken into it, one with it: center coincides with center, for on this higher plane things that touch at all are one; only in separation is there duality; by our holding away, the Supreme is set outside. This is why the vision baffles telling; we cannot detach the Supreme to state it; if we have seen something thus detached we have failed of the Supreme which is to be known only as one with ourselves.
Plotinus, Sixth Ennead, IX:10
Why then do you mortals look outside for happiness when it is really to be found within yourselves? Error and ignorance confuse you. Let me briefly show you on what the greatest happiness really turns. Is anything more precious to you than yourself? Nothing, you will agree. If therefore you are in possession of yourself, you will possess that which you will never wish to lose, and which fortune cannot take away from you.
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, II, iv
The fakirs of India and the monks of the Oriental church were alike persuaded that, in total abstraction of the faculties of the mind and body, the purer spirit may ascend to the enjoyment and vision of the Deity. The opinion and practice of the monasteries of Mount Athos will be best represented in the words of an abbot who flourished in the eleventh century. 'When thou art alone in thy cell,' says the ascetic teacher, 'shut the door, and seat thyself in a corner: raise thy mind above all things vain and transitory; recline thy beard and chin on thy breast; turn thy eyes and thy thought towards the middle of thy belly, the region of the naval; and search the place of the heart, the seat of the soul. At first all will be dark and comfortless; but if you persevere day and night, you will feel an ineffable joy; and no sooner has the soul discovered the place of the heart, than it is involved in a mystic and ethereal light.'
Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Ch. 63
Meister Eckhart spoke to a poor man.
God give you good morning, brother!
'The same to you, sir, but I have never yet had a bad one.'
How is that, brother?
'Because whatever God has sent me, I have borne gladly for his sake, considering self unworthy of him. That is why I have never been sad or troubled.'
Where did you first find God?
'When I left all creatures, then I found God.'
Where, then, did you leave him, brother?
'In any clear, pure heart.'
Who are you, brother?
'I am a king.'
Of what?
'Of my flesh: whatever my spirit wants from God, my flesh is more eager and ready to take than my spirit is.'
A king must have a kingdom. Where is yours, brother?
'In my soul.'
How so?
'When I have shut the doors of my five senses, earnestly desiring God, I find him in my soul as clearly and as joyful as he is in eternity.'
You could be holy! What made you so, brother?
Meditation, high thinking, and union with God have drawn me to heaven; for I never could be content with anything less than God. Now I have found him and I am eternally content and happy in him and that is worth more than any kingdom, as long as we continue in time. No pious practice is so perfect that it may not be an obstacle to spirituality.'
Meister Eckhart, p. 251-252
The soul has two eyes - one looking inwards and the other outwards. It is the inner eye of the soul that looks into essence and takes being directly from God. That is its true function. The soul's outward eye is directed toward creatures and perceives their external forms, but when a person turns inwards and knows God in terms of his own awareness of him, in the roots of his being, he is then freed from all creation and is secure in the castle of truth.
Meister Eckhart, p. 216
For, in order that the soul may be divinely prepared and tempered with its faculties for the Divine union of love, it would be well for it to be first of all absorbed, with all its faculties, in this Divine and dark spiritual light of contemplation, and thus to be withdrawn from all the affections and apprehensions of the creatures.
St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, II:viii, 2
The way in which they are to conduct themselves in this night of sense is to devote themselves not at all to reasoning and meditation, since this is not the time for it, but to allow the soul to remain in peace and quietness, although it may seem clear to them that they are doing nothing and are wasting their time, and although it may appear to them that it is because of their weakness that they have no desire in that state to think of anything. The truth is that they will be doing quite sufficient if they have patience and persevere in prayer without making any effort (lit. without doing anything themselves). What they must do is merely to leave the soul free and disencumbered and at rest from all knowledge and thought, troubling not themselves, in that state, about what they shall think or meditate upon, but contenting themselves with merely a peaceful and loving attentiveness toward God, and in being without anxiety, without the ability and without desire to have experience of Him or to perceive Him.
St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, I:x, 4
For contemplation is naught else than a secret, peaceful and loving infusion from God, which if it be permitted, enkindles the soul with the spirit of love.
St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, I:x, 6
Yet sometimes, nevertheless, there soon begins to make itself felt a certain yearning toward God; and the more this increases, the more is the soul affectioned and enkindled in love toward God, without knowing or understanding how and whence this love and affection come to it, but from time to time seeing this flame and this enkindling grow so greatly within it that it desires God with yearning of love; even as David, when he was in this dark night, said of himself in these words, namely: 'because my heart was enkindled (that is to say, in love of contemplation), my reins also were changed': that is, my desires for sensual affections were changed, namely from the way of sense to the way of the spirit.
St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, I:xi, 1
When a soul finds itself very near to God and sees what a difference there is between the good things of Heaven and those of earth, and what love the Lord is showing it, there is born of this love a confidence and security that there will be no falling away from what it is now enjoying. It seems to have a clear vision of the reward and believes that it cannot now possibly leave something which even in this life is so sweet and delectable for anything as base and soiled as earthly pleasure.
The Life of Teresa of Jesus, p.187-188
So the life of this soul continues - a troubled life, never without its crosses, but a life of great growth. Those with whom the soul has to do keep thinking it has reached its summit, but soon afterwards they find it higher still, for God is always giving it new favors. It is God who is the soul of that soul; and, as He has it in his keeping. He sheds His light upon it. He seems to be continually watching over it, lest it should offend Him, and assisting and awakening it to serve Him.
The Life of Teresa of Jesus, p. 207
It is strong souls that are chosen by the Lord to profit others, though their strength does not come from themselves. For, when the Lord brings a soul to this state, He gradually communicates to it very great secrets. In this state of ecstasy occur true revelations, great favors and visions, all of which are of service in humbling and strengthening the soul and helping it to despise the things of this life and to gain a clearer knowledge of the reward which the Lord has prepared for those who serve Him.
The Life of Teresa of Jesus, p. 208
It is the heart which experiences God, and not the reason.
Pascal, Pensées, 278
After what has been said, it is, I suppose, plain that our souls are not to be known in the same manner as senseless, inactive objects, or by way of idea.
Berkeley, Principles of Human Knowledge, 142
Let man then learn the revelation of all nature and all thought to his heart; this, namely; that the Highest dwells with him; that the sources of nature are in his own mind, if the sentiment of duty is there. But if he would know what the great God speaketh, he must 'go into his closet .and shut the door,' as Jesus said. God will not make himself manifest to cowards. He must greatly listen to himself, withdrawing himself from all the accents of other men's devotion.
Emerson "The Over-Soul"
Imagine a section of earth suffused with a faint light, encircling that a broad band of darkness, and beyond the darkness a brilliant, white light. Let the faint light represent the intellect, and the brilliant light the soul. No man leaves the light of the intellect or earthly, perishable mind, and comes to see by the light of the soul without crossing the band of darkness; and the ways across the darkness are as many as there are souls on earth.
Aber, Souls, p. 123
The study from the human standpoint, of subconscious, subliminal, psychical soul forces, is and should be the great study for the human family - for through self man will understand its Maker, when it understands its relation to its Maker. And it will only understand that through itself.
Edgar Cayce's Story of Jesus, p. 68
One must undertake the practice of this meditation in a hopeful, confident and optimistic mood, and never waver from that; yet withal one must never forget the paramount importance of being humble. Humility is the first step upon all paths that lead to the Infinite, no matter how different they are, and it is also the last. But one should begin by believing that the Truth is attainable that the mind can be conquered, that the opposition of hindering environments is opportunity to overcome them, and that constant effort to find the Soul-light will eventually call forth its Grace.
Brunton, Quest of the Overself, p. 194
The components of personality are subjected to rigid analysis during the period of meditation. The body and its parts, organs and senses, are carefully examined in thought with a view to trace out whether the self resides in it and, by various analyses, it is seen that the sense of selfhood is not to be found there. It is then eliminated from the analysis and the emotions are subjected to a like examination. Here again their transiency and the implications of the naturally-uttered phrase, 'I feel,' indicate the self to be something apart. The faculties of the mind - imagination, ratiocination and perception - are likewise observed and analyzed away; the self is found not to be inherent in any of these functions. The intellect itself is critically cut to pieces and ascertained to be nothing but a succession of thoughts. One watches the thoughts in the process and then endeavors to pin them down to the mystic stillness out of which they arise. Finally the conscious 'I' is traced to a single thought.
Out of the great stillness and blankness at the back of the mind, that thought 'I' is the first arising of the personal ego within consciousness. Out of it has sprung the whole accumulation of other thoughts, which have created the notion of a personal being existing independently by itself. The entire personality has sprung up around this single thought-root. Uprooting this primal thought, nothing but impersonal Life will be left.
Brunton, Quest of the Overself, p. 191
The importance of this principle of self-questioning can hardly be over-estimated. Instead of making positive but vain assertions such as 'I have a soul' or 'I am a soul,' it turns around and asks 'Have I a soul?' or 'Am I a soul?' and then leaves the soul-part of one's being to supply the answer. Whereas the former method is but intellectual dogmatizing, the latter humbles the intellect, silences its constant babbling and waits for the answer to come from the only part of our being truly competent to give it.
Brunton, Quest of the Overself, p. 195
Meditation is the way to self-discovery. By it we turn our mind homeward and establish contact with the creative center. To know the truth we have to deepen ourselves and not merely widen the surface. Silence and quiet are necessary for the profound alteration of our being and they are not easy in our age. Discipline and restraint will help us to put our consciousness into relation with the Supreme. What is called tapas is a persistent endeavor to dwell in the divine and develop a transfigured life. It is the gathering up of all dispersed energies, the intellectual powers, physical being itself, and concentrating them all on the supreme goal. Th rapidity of the process depends on the intensity of the aspiration, the zeal of the mind for God.
Radhakrishnan "Self-Recognition and the Way of It" An Idealist View of Life
It is the philosophical basis of that practice of introversion, the turning inward of the soul's faculties in contemplation, which has been the 'method' of the great practical mystics of all creeds. That God, since He is in all - in a sense, is all - may most easily be found within ourselves, is the doctrine of these adventurers; who, denying or ignoring the existence of those intervening 'worlds' or 'planes' between the material world and the Absolute, which are postulated by the theory of Emanations, claim with Ruysbroeck that 'by a simple introspection in fruitive love' they 'meet God without intermediary.' They hear the Father of Lights 'saying eternally, without intermediary or interruption, in the most secret part of the spirit, the one, unique, and abysmal Word.'
Underhill, Mysticism, p. 99-100
The rearrangement of the psychic self which occurs in ecstasy is not merely concerned with the normal elements of consciousness. It is rather a temporary unification of consciousness round that center of transcendental perception which mystics call the 'apex' or the 'spark of the soul.'
Underhill, Mysticism, p. 366
Hitherto the way of the mystic has been the way of the majority, and the way of the intellect has been for the few. But the race is now at the stage where, basing its hypothesis upon the mystical experiences of the many, it can go forward from feeling and adoration to knowledge, and from love of God into knowledge of God.
Bailey, The Soul and Its Mechanism, p. 134
For the bringing about of these conditions and the production of that great group of practical mystics who will eventually save the world, two things are needed: - trained minds with wide general knowledge as a foundation (and this our western system can give), plus a spiritual awareness of the indwelling divinity, the soul, to be achieved through the eastern system of scientific meditation. Our greatest need in the West lies in our failure to recognize the Soul and the faculty of the intuition which in its turn leads to illumination.
Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition, p. 45
Meditation is prolonged attention or concentration and gives the power to focus the mind upon the soul and its concerns. This produces radical changes in the organism and substantiates the truth of the statement that, 'as a man thinketh, so is he.'
Contemplation is the act of the soul in its own realm as it looks out over the forms and contacts the energies found in the fifth or spiritual kingdom in nature. This act is followed by the Pouring down into the brain (by way of the controlled mind) of soul knowledge and energy. This activity of the soul produces what has been called illumination: it brings about the energizing of the entire man and awakens the centers in proper rhythm and progression.
This consciously directed spiritual energy playing through the vital body and the centers should, it is claimed, bring physical man and the endocrine system eventually into such a condition that we should have perfect health and therefore a perfect apparatus for soul expression. In this way we are taught that man can arrive at a definite knowledge of the soul, and can know himself to be 'the deeper Being,' able to use his mechanism with definite purpose, and thus function as a soul.
Bailey, The Soul and Its Mechanism, p. 136
The point that every student of meditation should always bear in mind is that all knowledge and instructions are conveyed to the mind and brain by a man's own soul; it is the soul that illuminates his way. The Teachers and Masters of the race work through souls.
Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition, p. 247-248
Through the ordered stages of the meditation process, a relationship is gradually and steadily established between the soul and its instruments until the time comes when they are literally one. Then the sheaths serve simply to reveal the light of the indwelling Son of God; the physical body is under direct control of the soul, for the illuminated mind transmits soul knowledge to the physical brain; the emotional nature is purified and simply reflects the love nature of the soul, as the mind reflects the purposes of God. Thus, the hitherto disorganized and separative aspects of the human being are synthesized and unified and brought into harmonious relation with each other and with the soul, their creator, their source of energy, and their motivating power.
Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition, p.82
To find the true center of consciousness is the objective of meditation. To meditate, in fact, literally means to center oneself. The finding of this center is the finding of what religion calls God by different names in various languages, what philosophy and psychology call spirit, soul, atman, or the true man, and what science calls energy, or the cosmos, or the universe. This Theanthropokosmic Center (Theos + Anthropos + Kosmos) is the total reality. It is the only reality there is. It is the center where God (Theos), Man (Anthropos), and the Universe (Kosmos) are realized as one. It is the Theanthropokosmic Continuum. It is the Center of Wisdom, Love, Power, Peace, and Bliss.
Reyes, Cybernetics of Consciousness, p 12
Bring your thoughts constantly back to your soul nature, which is the substance of all that is in the objective world, the basic reality behind appearances.
Teachings of Sri Satya Sai Baba, p. 93
The sensory world is the cloud that hides the true nature of the soul, which is ever shining in the firmament of your heart. The same mind that gathers the clouds can also disperse them in an instant. Train your mind to disperse the clouds, not to gather them.
Teachings of Sri Satya Sai Baba, p. 94
No one need try to discover the soul nature (or try to build a soul nature through effort); when the cover of illusion is denied and destroyed, the soul will reveal itself in all its glory. What is needed is the removal of the fog, the cloud. The casting off of all clinging curtains that limit the soul in the body and its adjuncts (mind and feeling nature). How to clean the mirror so that the soul nature may be reflected clearly and without distortion? Through right use of the mind through which you accept the truth of scriptures and through right use of the faculty of intelligence which brings true understanding.
Teachings of Sri Satya Sai Baba, p. 93-94
Self-realization is simple
once we remove the blocks and illusionary garments
with which we have confined and clothed the soul.
Beck, Living In God's Holy Thoughts, p. 32
The soul is perfect
Physical, emotional, and mental things
never will be absolutely perfect.
To become perfect,
move your consciousness
into what is perfect.
Only the mind and the emotions
think and feel right and wrong.
The soul has no morality.
It just is,
and it is just.
Beck, Living In God's Holy Thoughts, p. 9
To be true to yourself,
you must know yourself.
To know yourself,
you must be honest with yourself
To be honest with yourself,
you must examine yourself without illusions.
To examine yourself without illusions,
you must have courage.
It takes great courage
to see the face of God.
Beck, Living In God's Holy Thoughts, p. 12
Light and sound are present in the air;
tune in to your television and radio,
and you'll see and hear them
The Light and Sound of the Holy Spirit
are present invisibly also;
tune in to your soul,
and you'll know it.
Beck, Living In God's Holy Thoughts, p. 43
Methods of actualizing one's own God essence include doing good works, increasing awareness, exercising one's faith by praying, and most important of all loving the good, truth, beauty, the pure essence of God, and loving others as spiritual beings who are all ultimately one. By doing God's will one exercises one's own divinity.
When a master soul connects one to the holy sound current, the voice of God within, then one can follow this audible life stream back into the heart of God and become totally God-realized.
There is stoppage of inflow of karmic matter into the soul. It is produced by observation, carefulness, observances, meditation, conquest of sufferings, and good conduct.
(Jainism) Tattvarthadhigma Sutra, IX:1-2
The Blessed Lord said: 'In this world twofold is the self-application of the soul (by which it enters into the Brahmic condition), as I before said, 0 sinless one: that of the Sankhyas by the Yoga of knowledge, that of the Yogins by the Yoga of works.'
Bhagavad-Gita, III:3
The Blessed Lord said: 'Renunciation and Yoga of works both bring about the soul's salvation, but of the two the Yoga of works is distinguished above the renunciation of works
Bhagavad-Gita, V:2
This supreme Self is the Seer, the Ancient of Days, subtler than the subtle and (in his eternal self-vision and wisdom) the Master and Ruler of all existence who sets in their place in his being all things that are; his form is unthinkable, he is refulgent as the sun beyond the darkness; he who thinketh upon this Purusha in the time of departure, with motionless mind, a soul armed with the strength of Yoga, a union with God in bhakti and the life-force entirely drawn up and set between the brows in the seat of mystic vision, he attains to this supreme divine Purusha. This supreme Soul is the immutable self-existent Brahman of whom the Veda knowers speak, and this is that into which the doers of askesis enter when they have passed beyond the affections of the mind of mortality and for the desire of which they practice the control of the bodily passions
Bhagavad-Gita, VIII:9-11
The concentration of the true spiritual aspirant is attained through faith, energy, recollectedness, absorption and illumination.
Patanjali, Yoga Aphorisms, I:20
Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked. The mind may also be calmed by expulsion and retention of the breath, Those forms of concentration which result in extraordinary perceptions encourage perseverance of the mind. Concentration may also be attained by fixing the mind upon the Inner Light, which is beyond sorrow. Or by meditating on the heart of an illumined soul, that is free from passion. Or by fixing the mind upon a dream experience, or the experience of deep sleep. Or by fixing the mind upon any divine form or symbol that appeals to one as good.
Patanjali, Yoga Aphorisms, I:33-39
Ignorance is destroyed by awakening to knowledge of the Atman, until no trace of illusion remains, The experiencer gains this knowledge in seven stages, advancing toward the highest. As soon as all impurities have been removed by the practice of spiritual disciplines - the 'limbs' of yoga - a man's spiritual vision opens to the light-giving knowledge of the Atman. The eight limbs of yoga are: the various forms of abstention from evil-doing (yama), the various observances (niyamas), posture (asana), control of the prana (pranayama), withdrawal of the mind from sense objects (pratyahara), concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and absorption in the Atman (samadhi).
Patanjali, Yoga Aphorisms, II:26-29
If in spite of this identity of kinship) between the soul and God the latter appears so far away, it is because the soul is immersed in what is alien to it, and finds it difficult to get at self-knowledge, having drunk of the waters of Lethe (forgetfulness), man has forgotten his heavenly origin. He is an exile from heaven, clothed in what seems an alien garment of flesh. We have to discover the spirit in us by stripping off all that is extraneous to it. The assertion of the self as something other than the true reality of God is the fall or the original sin (avidya). The obstacles to self-discovery are the stresses of the personal will and they can be overcome only by the replacement of the selfish will by an impersonal universalized will. The endeavor of religion is to get rid of the gulf between man and God and restore the lost sense of unity. It is a progressive attempt at self-realization, the lifting of the empirical ego into the transcendental plane, mind in its immediacy into mind in its ideal perfection. A strict ethical discipline is insisted on. The apprehension of spiritual truth depends on the quality of the soul of him who sees, and this quality can be raised only by the cultivation of the intellect, the emotions and the will through prayer and contemplation. No one can know the truth without being the truth. An absolute inward purity demanding self-mastery and self-renunciation is demanded.
Radhakrishnan, "Self-Recognition and the Way to It" An Idealist View of Life
The knowledge of all creatures (depends on their breathing. But if their breath is not abundant, it is not the fault of Heaven - which tries to penetrate them with it day and night without ceasing; men shut their pores against it, The womb encloses a larger and empty space; the heart has its spontaneous and enjoyable movements. If their apartment is not roomy, wife and mother-in-law will be bickering; if the heart has not its spontaneous and enjoyable movements, the six faculties of perception will be in mutual collision.
Chuang-tzu, 26:9
In the great beginning, there was non-being. It had neither being nor name. The One originates from it; it has oneness but not yet physical form. When things obtain it and come into existence, that is called virtue. That which is formless is divided (into yin and yang), and from the very beginning going on without interruption is called destiny. Through movement and rest it, produces all things. When things are produced in accordance with the principle of life, there is physical form. When the physical form embodies and preserves the spirit so that all activities follow their own specific principles, that is nature. By cultivating one's nature one will return to virtue. When virtue is perfect, one will be one with the beginning. Being one with the beginning, one becomes vacuous, and being vacuous, one becomes great. One will then be united with the sound and breath of things. When one is united with the sound and breath of things, one is then united with the universe. This unity is intimate and seems to be stupid and foolish. This is called profound and secret virtue, this is complete harmony,
Chuang-tzu, 12:5
The Pythagoreans, according to Aristoxenus, practiced the purification of the body by medicine, that of the soul by music.
Kirk and Raven, The Presocratic Philosophers, p. 229
Now, that which imparts truth to the known and the power of knowing to the knower is what I would have you term the idea of good, and this you will deem to be the cause of science, and of truth in so far as the latter becomes the subject of knowledge; beautiful too, as are both truth and knowledge, you will be right in esteeming this other nature as more beautiful than either; and, as in the previous instance, light and sight may be truly said to be like the sun, and yet not to be the sun, so in this other sphere, science and truth may be deemed to be like the good, but not the good; the good has a place of honor yet higher....
In like manner the good may be said to be not only the author of knowledge to all things known, but of their being and essence, and yet the good is not essence, but far exceeds essence in dignity and power.
Plato, Republic, VI, 508-509
The prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed - whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally either in public or private life must have his eye fixed.
Plato, Republic, VII, 517
"He who has been instructed thus far in the things of love, and who has learned to see the beautiful in due order and succession, when he comes toward the end will suddenly perceive a nature of wondrous beauty (and this, Socrates, is the final cause of all our former toils) - a nature which in the first place is everlasting, not growing and decaying, or waxing and waning; secondly, not fair in one point of view and foul in another, or at one time or in one relation or at one place fair, at another time or in another relation or at another place foul, as if fair to some and foul to others, or in the likeness of a face or hands or any other part of the bodily frame, or in any form of speech or knowledge, or existing in any other being, as for example, in an animal, or in heaven, or in earth, or in any other place; but beauty absolute, separate, simple, and everlasting, which without diminution and without increase, or any change, is imparted to the ever-growing and perishing beauties of all other things. He who from these ascending under the influence of true love, begins to perceive that beauty, is not far from the end. And the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these as steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair forms, and from fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is. This, my dear Socrates," said the stranger of Mantineia, "is that life above all others which man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute; a beauty which if you once beheld, you would see not to be after the measure of gold, and garments, and fair boys and youths, whose presence now entrances you; and you and many a one would be content to live seeing them only and conversing with them without meat or drink, if that were possible - you only want to look at them and to be with them. But what if man had eyes to see the true beauty - the divine beauty, I mean, pure and clear and unalloyed, not clogged with the pollutions of mortality and all the colors and vanities of human life - thither looking, and holding converse with the true beauty simple and divine? Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may."
Plato, Symposium, 210-212
The foremost is, 'Hear, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul and from your whole intelligence and from your whole strength.' Second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' There is no other commandment greater than these.
Mark 12:29-31
Therefore pray you thus: Our Father in heaven: holy be your name; may your kingdom come; may your will be done, as in heaven also on earth. Give us today our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgave also our debtors; and do not bring us into temptation, but rescue us from the evil. For if you forgive people their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Matthew 6:9-14
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone asking receives, and the one seeking finds, and to the one knocking it will be opened. Or what person is there among you, if his son asks him for bread, would give him a stone? or if he asks for a fish, would give him a snake? If, then, you who are bad know to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him. Therefore everything which you wish that people should do to you, you should do so to them also; for this is the law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad the road that leads away into destruction, and there are many entering through it; but narrow is the gate and hard the road that leads away into life, and there are few finding it.
Matthew 7:7-14
Not everyone saying to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one doing the will of my Father in heaven.
Matthew 7:21
Everything was given over to me by my Father, and no one recognizes the Son except the Father, nor does anyone recognize the Father except the Son and to whomever the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me all who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for my yoke is kind and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:27-30
Amen, I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you may not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:3
Amen, amen, I tell you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.... Amen, amen, I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. What has been born of flesh is flesh, and what has been born of the Spirit is Spirit. You should not wonder because I told you: 'You must be born from above.' The Spirit breathes where it wills, and you .hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes; so it is with everyone who has been born of the Spirit.
John 3:3, 5-8
The hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father seeks such worshipers of him; God is spirit, and those worshipping must worship in spirit and truth.
John 4:23-24
Amen, amen, I tell you that whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed over from death into life. Amen, amen, I tell you that the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and the ones hearing will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so also he granted the Son to have life in himself.
John 5:24-26
Jesus said to them, 'When you make the two one, and when you make the inner as the outer and the outer as the inner and the above as the below, and when you make the male and the female into a single one so that the male will not be male and the female (not) be female, when you make eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand, and a foot in the place of a foot, (and) an image in the place of an image, then shall you enter the kingdom.'
Gospel According to Thomas, 22
Jesus said, 'Love thy brother as thy soul, guard him as the apple of thine eye.'
Gospel According to Thomas, 25
God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
1 John 4:16
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. .When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.
1 Corinthians 13:4-12
When all the agents (of the soul) are withdrawn from action and ideation, then this word is spoken. Thus he said: 'Out of the silence, a secret word was spoken to me.' The more you can withdraw the agents of your soul and forget things and the ideas you have received hitherto, the nearer you are to (hearing this word) and the more sensitive to it you will be,
Meister Eckhart, p. 99
The soul is not blessed perfectly ,when God is born in it but rather when, with love and praise, it follows the revelation of God back to the source from whence it came, their common origin, letting go of its own things and cleaving to his, so that the soul is blessed by God's things and not its own.
Meister Eckhart, p. 237
Grace comes only with the Holy Spirit, It carries the Holy Spirit on its back. Grace is not a stationary thing; it is always found in a becoming. It can only flow out of God and then only immediately. The function of grace is to transform and reconvey (the soul) to God. Grace makes the soul godlike. God, the core of the soul, and grace belong together.
Meister Eckhart, p. 237
And beholding in many souls the traits of the divine beauty, and separating in each soul that which is divine from the taint which it has contracted in the world, the lover ascends to the highest beauty, to the love and knowledge of the Divinity, by steps on this ladder of created souls.
Emerson "Love"
I also understood that God's love shows itself just as well in the simplest soul which puts up no resistance to His grace as it does in the loftiest soul.
Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux, p. 20
To love one's neighbor in the immovable depths means to love in others that which is eternal; for one's neighbor, in the truest sense of the term, is that which approaches the nearest to God; in other words, all that is best and purest in man; and it is only by ever lingering near the gates (of the other world), that you can discover the divine in the soul.
Maeterlinck, The Treasure of the Humble, p. 207
Unconsciously, pious people who obey the precept of all great Teachers of religion to return good for evil are exhausting karma generated in the present that would otherwise work out in the future. No one can weave with them a bond of hatred if they refuse to contribute any strands of hatred to the weaving, and persistently neutralize every force of hatred with one of love. Let a soul radiate in every direction love and compassion, and thoughts of hatred can find nothing to which they can attach themselves.
Besant, The Ancient Wisdom, p. 272
Prayer is the very core of man's life, as it is the most vital part of religion. Prayer is either petitional or in its wider sense, is inward communion. In either case, the ultimate result is the same. Even when it is petitional, the petition should be for the cleansing and purification of the soul, for freeing it from the layers of ignorance and darkness that envelope it. He, therefore, who hungers for the awakening of the Divine in him, must fall back on prayer. But prayer is no mere exercise of words or of the ears, it is no mere repetition of empty formula. Any amount of repetition of Ramanama is futile, if it fails to stir the soul. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. It must be in clear response to the spirit which hungers for it. And even as a hungry man relishes a hearty meal, a hungry soul will relish a heartfelt prayer. And I am giving you a bit of my experience and that of my companions when I say that he, who has experienced the magic of prayer, may do without food for days together, but not a single moment without prayer. For, without prayer there is no inward peace.
Gandhi, Hindustan Times, 2-7-'46
Tapas is religious mortification or patience both in enjoyments and in sufferings. Swadhyaya is sravana, study, with manana, deep attention, and thereby nididhyasana, forming of an idea of the true faith about Self; that is, what I am, whence I came, where I shall go, what I have come for, and other such matters concerning Self. Brahmanidhana is the baptism or merging of Self in the stream of the Holy Sound (Pranava, Aum), which is the holy work performed to attain salvation and the only way by which man can return to his Divinity, the Eternal Father, whence he has fallen.
This Holy Sound Pranava Sabda manifests spontaneously through culture of Sraddha, the energetic tendency of the heart's natural love; Virya, moral courage; Smriti, true conception; and Samadhi, true concentration.
Yukteswar, The Holy Science, p. 33-34
By culture of regulation of the breath as directed by the Spiritual Preceptor (Sat-Guru), the holy Word (Pranava or Sabda) spontaneously appears and becomes audible. When this mantra (Word, Pranava) appears, the breath becomes regulated and checks the decay of the material body.
This Pranava appears in different forms at the different stages of advancement, according to the purification of the heart (Chitta).
Yukteswar, The Holy Science, p. 67
When man becomes fortunate in securing the favor of any divine personage (Sat-Guru, the Savior), and affectionately following his holy precepts is able to direct all his attention inward, he becomes capable of satisfying all the wants of his heart and can thereby gain contentment, Ananda, the Real Bliss.
With his heart thus contented, man becomes able to fix his attention upon anything he chooses and can comprehend all its aspects. So Chit, Consciousness of all the modifications of Nature up to its first and primal manifestation, the Word (Amen, Aum), and even of his own Real Self, gradually appears, And being absorbed in the stream thereof, man becomes baptized and begins to repent and return toward his Divinity, the Eternal Father, whence he had fallen.
Yukteswar, The Holy Science, p. 30-31
God, being cosmic vibration, is the Word. God as the Word is humming through all atoms. There is a music coming out of the universe that deeply meditating devotees can hear. Now, at this moment, I am hearing His voice. The Cosmic Sound that you hear in meditation is the voice of God. That sound forms itself into language intelligible to you. When I listen to Aum and occasionally ask God to tell me something, that sound of Aum changes into English or Bengali language and gives me precise instructions.
Yogananda, You Can Talk With God, p. 27
The more a Sufi listens to Saut-e Sarmad, the sound of the abstract, the more his consciousness becomes free from all the limitations of life. The soul floats above the physical and mental plane without any special effort on man's part, which shows its calm and peaceful state; a dreamy look comes into his eyes and his countenance becomes radiant, he experiences the unearthly joy and rapture of Wajad, or ecstasy. When ecstasy overwhelms him he is neither conscious of the physical existence nor of the mental. This is the heavenly wine, to which all Sufi poets refer, which is totally unlike the momentary intoxications of this mortal plane. A heavenly bliss then springs in the heart of a Sufi, his mind is purified from sin, his body from all impurities, and a pathway is opened for him towards the world unseen; he begins to receive inspirations, intuitions, impressions, and revelations without the least effort on his part. He is no longer dependent upon a book or a teacher, for divine wisdom, the light of his soul, the Holy Spirit, begins to shine upon him. As Sherif says, 'I by the light of soul realize that the beauty of the heavens and the grandeur of the earth are the echo of Thy magic flute.'
Inayat Khan, The Sufi Message, Vol. 2, p. 67
The first and foremost, and the primary duty of the Great Masters is to connect souls with the Audible Life Stream and then take them up and out of this world to their own original home.
Johnson, Path of the Masters, p. 236
Soul can make no development until the human self participates in the training of the audible life stream methods. The current of sound from the Godhead contains the total sum of all teaching emanating from God. It is His language to all, and includes all that God has said or done. It is God Himself in expression, and it is the method by which God makes Himself known to all His worlds. It is His word and His language.
Twitchell, The Tiger's Fang, p. 77
The importance of the study in question is evident from the fact that omniscience can be obtained mainly through the release of the soul from the bondage of flesh by anyone who is still living. The method of voluntarily withdrawing soul from body constitutes the highest technique and is the main occupation of the true seeker after truth.
Twitchell, Eckankar, p. 15
The repetition of the five Holy Names takes the mind and the soul to a point which leads to the upper portion. When this point has been gained, the Sound Current lifts the soul towards the top of the head, in order to establish connection with the higher planes.
Jagat Singh Ji, The Science of the Soul, p. 118
We pass through five vast planes in the course of this journey. The Sound Current is one and the same, but in passing through the different regions it assumes different aspects. The method of the Sound Current is complete while all other courses, such as Pranayam, Mudra, etc., are incomplete.
If, during our lifetime, we travel the path which we have to traverse after death, then death loses its terror for us. It is the object and goal of human life to take the soul to the region whence it originally descended. Thus the soul is liberated from the cycle of births and deaths.
Jagat Singh Ji, The Science of the Soul, p. 122
The aim or purpose of all yogas is to gradually disentangle the soul from these coverings one by one, until it is finally disengaged from all of them and is restored to its original and pristine glorious state of self luminosity (Swayam Jyoti), which is no less than that of several suns put together. This is the stage of Aham Brahm Asmi or 'I am Brahm,' and when attained, one not only feels himself to be at oneness with God, but actually hails God with the words - Ayam Athma Brahma - 'O God! I am of the same essence as thou art.'
Kirpal Singh, The Crown of Life, p. 15
There are two ways within: jyoti marg and sruti marg (the way of light and the way of sound), respectively. The holy Light keeps the soul anchored and absorbed and to a certain extent leads the soul as well, but the holy Word pulls it upward and carries it across from plane to plane in spite of various hurdles on the Way, like blinding or bewildering lights, densely pitch darkness, etc., until the soul reaches its destination.
Kirpal Singh, The Crown of Life, p. 160
The inner man, the soul in man, has to rise above body consciousness before it can traverse into higher consciousness or the consciousness of the cosmos and of the beyond. All this and more becomes possible through the Surat Shabd Yoga or the union of 'self' in man (Surat or consciousness) with the Shabd or Sound Principle, through the grace of some Master-soul.
Kirpal Singh, The Crown of Life, p. 3
Self-knowledge and actual self-realization is the culminating point in the process of self-analysis, without which one cannot proceed Godward and enter into the Kingdom of God. In this process of inversion and withdrawal of the spirit within by rising above body-consciousness and freeing the spirit from the tentacles of the body and mind, the easiest, quickest, and surest process is by communion with the Shabd or the Sound Current (the Holy Word), and this is the only means for God-realization,
Kirpal Singh, The Crown of Life, p. 15
This process of concentration, or the collection of surat, automatically draws the spirit-currents, normally dissipated all over the body, toward the spiritual center. This withdrawal is greatly assisted by simran or repetition of the charged mantra; and the perception of the inner light, leading to dhyan or one-pointed concentration, quickens the process still further. In turn, dhyan when fully developed, leads to bhajan or inner hearing. The inner light begins to become resonant.
'Within thee is Light and within the Light the Sound, and the same shall keep thee attached to the True One.'
Gurbani
Kirpal Singh, The Crown of Life, p. 156
The Master gives Simran or mental repetition of the charged words, which help in gathering together the wandering wits of the practitioner to the still point of the soul between and behind the two eyebrows, to which place the sensory currents now pervading from top to toe are withdrawn, and one becomes lost to the consciousness of the flesh. The successful completion of this process of itself leads to dhyan or concentration.... With the inner eye opened, the aspirant now sees shimmering streaks of heaven's light within him and this keeps his attention anchored. Gradually, the light grows steady in his sadhna, for it works as a sheet-anchor for the soul. Dhyan or concentration when perfected, leads one to Bhajan or attuning to the music which emerges from within the center of the holy light. This enchanting holy melody has a magnetic pull which is irresistible, and the soul cannot but follow it to the spiritual source from whence the music emerges. The soul is helped by this triple process to slide out of the shackles of the body and becomes anchored in the heavenly radiance of its Self (atman), and is led on to the heavenly home of the Father.
Kirpal Singh, The Crown of Life, p. 159-160
When the student of the Surat Shabd Yoga succeeds in rising above physical consciousness, he finds the Radiant Form of his Master waiting unsought to receive him.... Under the guidance of this Celestial Guide the soul learns to overcome the first shock of joy, and realizes that its goal lies still far ahead. Accompanied by the Radiant Form and drawn by the Audible Life Current, it traverses from region to region, from plane to plane, dropping off kosha (sheath) after kosha, until at last it stands wholly divested of all that is not of its nature. Thus disentangled and purified it can at last enter the realm where it sees that it is of the same essence as the Supreme Being, that the Master in His Radiant Form and the soul are not separate but One, and that there is naught but the Great Ocean of Consciousness, of Love, of bliss ineffable....
Having reached the journey's end, the seeker too merges with the Word and enters the company of the Free Ones. He may continue to live like other men in this world of human beings, but his spirit knows no limitations and is as infinite as God Himself. The wheel of transmigration can no longer affect him, and his consciousness knows no restrictions. Like his Master before him, he has become a Conscious Co-worker of the Divine Plan. He does nothing for himself but works in God's name. If there be indeed any Neh-Karmi (one free from the bonds of action), it is he, for there is no more potent means to freedom than the Power of the Word.
Kirpal Singh, The Crown of Life, p. 157-158
For one whom the world lures not and who is filled with a passionate love of God, nothing could be easier and quicker. He needs no other force than that of his own urge and, purified of earthly attachments by his sincere and strong longing, his soul shall wing homeward, borne on the stream of Shabd toward its point of origin, the haven of bliss and peace. Should the soul confront any obstacles on its homing flight, its Radiant Friend is always beside it to lead it past and protect it from all pitfalls.
Kirpal Singh, The Crown of Life, p. 166
The Guru in the Surat Shabd Yoga is not only a being who explains to us the real nature of existence, instructs us in the true values of life and tells us of the sadhnas to be practiced for inner attainment, he is all this and more. He is the inner guide as well, leading the soul from plane to plane to its ultimate destination, a guide without whose aid the soul would mistake the intermediate stages for the final goal and would encounter barriers which it would be unable to surmount.
Kirpal Singh, The Crown of Life, p. 167
Foster love, live in love, spread love - that is the spiritual exercise which will yield the maximum benefit. When you recite the name of God, remembering the while His majesty, His compassion, His glory, His splendor, His presence - love will grow within you, its roots will go deeper and deeper, its branches will spread wider and wider, giving cool shelter to friend and foe, to fellow national and foreigner.
Sathya Sai Baba, "The Message I Bring"
The Soul is an extremely dynamic, forceful, and creative unit of energy. It is ALIVE in the truest, most pure sense of the word. It is that part that never dies, always exists, always IS. It is an extension of God and a spark of the divine. It is your reality. The body, mind, and emotions are your illusions. Because the Soul is active and dynamically alive, you must become active and alive in order to know that essence of yourself. You must awaken yourself to that reality, that dynamic beingness that is the Soul. You cannot awaken to that which is active by being passive. You must become active to reach Soul consciousness. That is why I teach spiritual exercises as the key to Soul transcendence.
John-Roger, Inner Worlds of Meditation, p. 2-3
There are a few things to keep in mind if you are going to establish yourself within the soul realm in this lifetime. The first is that the One who has the keys is the One who can establish you there. The second thing is that the One who can establish you there functions through the Christ frequency. And the third thing is that within the psychic-material worlds, that One will usually come on a purple ray of Light.
John-Roger, Consciousness of Soul, p. 24-25
If you are going to traverse the high realms of Light - the outer realms of Light - and go into the ocean of love and mercy (which is reflected in the inner consciousness), you have to know the keys to get away from the body and into those outer realms. In MSIA, initiates into the Sound Current with whom the Mystical Traveler is working are shown how to release themselves into the Soul body first - to move directly into the Soul realm of the outer worlds, and then to come back and pick up the sheaths of the outer realms that are of such tremendous dimension, yet undefinable.
John-Roger, Inner Worlds of Meditation, p. 25
Soul transcendence
is the best way to travel.
You can be anywhere right now
in a perfect consciousness.
The home where we reside eternally is the soul.
Release yourself from the causality
of materiality, emotionality, and mentality,
and let your heart take wings
and your soul fly free in spirituality.
Then bring the gift of Light into actuality.
Live and die with every breath
and know you are immortal.
Reach up to the infinite
and breathe the air of the gods.
The harmony of all the universes
is within your soul.
Beck, Living In God's Holy Thoughts, p. 14
Living Love
from the center of your being
emanates the Light of the soul.
The soul is a divine river
from the infinite ocean of Love and Mercy.
Beck, Living In God's Holy Thoughts, p. 15
In soul consciousness one is the Light of God in manifestation. The liberated soul lives in heaven even while still on the earth and can travel in all the realms and be anywhere and know anything. In liberation one experiences being one with all things.
Now, the Soul (Atman) is the bridge, the separation for keeping these worlds apart. Over that bridge there cross neither day, nor night, nor old age, nor death, nor sorrow, nor well-doing, nor evil-doing.
All evils turn back therefrom, for that Brahma-world is freed from evil. Therefore, verily, upon crossing that bridge, if one is blind, he becomes no longer blind; if he is sick, he becomes no longer sick. Therefore, verily, upon crossing that bridge, the night appears even as the day, for that Brahma-world is ever illumined.
Chandogya Upanishad, 8.4.1-2
He who is all-knowing, all-wise,
Whose is this greatness on the earth -
He is in the divine Brahma city
And in the heaven established! The Soul (Atman)!
Consisting of mind, leader of the life-breaths and of the body,
He is established on food, controlling the heart.
By this knowledge the wise perceive
The blissful Immortal that gleams forth
The knot of the heart is loosened,
All doubts are cut off,
And one's deeds (karman) cease
When He is seen - both the higher and the lower.
In the highest golden sheath
Is Brahma, without stain, without parts.
Brilliant is It, the light of lights -
That which knowers of the Soul (Atman) do know!
The sun shines not there, nor the moon and stars;
These lightnings shine not, much less this fire!
After Him, as He shines, doth everything shine.
This whole world is illumined with His light.
Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.7-10
So, just as those who do not know the spot might go over a hid treasure of gold again and again, but not find it, even so all creatures here go day by day to that Brahma-world (in deep sleep), but do not find it; for truly they are carried astray by what is false.
Verily, this Soul (Atman) is in the heart. The etymological explanation thereof is this: This one is in the heart; therefore it is the heart. Day by day, verily, he who knows this goes to the heavenly world.
Now, that serene one who, rising up out of this body, reaches the highest light and appears with his own form - he is the Soul (Atman). That is the immortal, the fearless. That is Brahma.
Chandogya Upanishad, 8.3.2-4
The wise one is not born, nor dies.
This one has not come from anywhere, has not become anyone.
Unborn, constant, eternal, primeval, this one
Is not slain when the body is slain.
If the slayer think to slay,
If the slain think himself slain, both these understand not.
This one slays not, nor is slain.
More minute than the minute, greater than the great,
Is the Soul (Atman) that is set in the heart of a creature here.
One who is without the active will beholds Him, and becomes freed from sorrow -
When through the grace of the Creator he beholds the greatness of the Soul (Atman).
Sitting, he proceeds far;
Lying, he goes everywhere.
Who else than I is able to know
The god who rejoices and rejoices not?
Him who is the bodiless among bodies,
Stable among the unstable,
The great, all-pervading Soul (Atman) -
On recognizing Him, the wise man sorrows not.
Katha Upanishad, 2.18-22
Perfect knowledge is gained by destroying the deluding karmas and then by simultaneous destruction of knowledge and perception-obscuring karmas and of obstructive karmas. Liberation is the freedom from all karmic matter, owing to the non-existence of the cause of bondage and to the shedding of the karmas.
(Jainism) Tattvarthadhigama Sutra, X:1-2
Men of the highest spirit-like qualities mount up on the light; the limitations of the body vanish. This we call being bright and ethereal. They carry out to the utmost the powers with which they are endowed, and have not a single attribute unused. Their joy is that of heaven and earth; all embarrassments of affairs melt away and disappear; all things return to their proper nature. This is what is called the state of chaotic obscurity, when no human element had yet come in to mar the development of the Tao.
Chuang-tzu, 12:12
There has never been a person who has roamed over the transcendental world to the utmost and yet was not silently in harmony with the mundane world, nor has there been anyone who was silently in harmony with the mundane world and yet did not roam over the transcendental world. Therefore the sage always roams in the transcendental world in order to enlarge the mundane world. By having no deliberate mind of his own, he is in accord with things.
Kuo Ksiang, Commentary on the Chuang-tzu, 6:3:19
In ekstasis the soul is liberated from the cramping prison of the body; it communes with the god and develops powers of which, in the ordinary life of everyday, thwarted by the body, it knew nothing being now a spirit holding communion with spirits it is able to free itself from Time and see what only the spiritual eye beholds - things separated from it in time and space.
(Dionysian) Rohde, Psyche, p. 260
But at the end they come among men on earth as prophets, bards, doctors and princes; and thence they arise as gods mighty in honor, sharing with the other immortals their hearth and their table, without part in human sorrows or weariness.
Empedocles, fr. 146, 147
Friends who dwell throughout the great town of golden Acragas, up by the citadel, men mindful of good deeds, unversed in wickedness, havens of respect for strangers, all hail. I go about among you all an immortal god, mortal no more, honored as is my due and crowned with garlands and verdant wreaths. Whenever I enter the prosperous townships with these my followers, men and women both, I am revered; they follow me in countless numbers, asking where lies the path to gain, some seeking prophecies, while others, for many a day stabbed by grievous pains, beg to hear the word that heals all manner of illness.
Empedocles, fr. 112
He said that on descending into the oracular crypt his first experience was of profound darkness; next, after a prayer, he lay a long time not clearly aware whether he was awake or dreaming. It did seem to him, however, that at the same moment he heard a crash and was struck on the head, and that the sutures parted and released his soul. As it withdrew and mingled joyfully with air that was translucent and pure, it felt in the first place that now, after long being cramped, it had found relief, and was growing larger than before, spreading out like a sail; and next that it faintly caught the whir of something revolving overhead with a pleasant sound. When he lifted his eyes the earth was nowhere to be seen; but he saw islands illuminated by one another with soft fire, taking on now one color, now another, like a dye, as the light kept varying with their mutations. They appeared countless in number and huge in size, and though not all equal, yet all alike round; and he fancied that their circular movement made a musical whirring in the aether, for the gentleness of the sound resulting from the harmony of all the separate sounds corresponded to the evenness of their motion.
Plutarch, "On the Sign of Socrates" 590
'These souls indeed,' the voice pursued, 'are brought to their duty and made firm in it late and gradually; but from those other souls, which from their very beginning and birth are docile to the rein and obedient to their daemon (spirit), comes the race of diviners and of men inspired. Among such souls you have doubtless heard of that of Hermodorus of Clazomenae - how night and day it used to leave his body entirely and travel far and wide, returning after it had met with and witnessed many things said and done in remote places.
Plutarch, "On the Sign of Socrates" 592
When the voice ceased Timarchus desired to turn (he said) and see who the speaker was. But once more he felt a sharp pain in his head, as though it had been violently compressed, and he lost all recognition and awareness of what was going on about him; but he presently recovered and saw that he was lying in the crypt of Trophonius near the entrance, at the very spot where he had first laid himself down.
Plutarch, "On the Sign of Socrates" 592
Socrates: The wing is the corporeal element which is most akin to the divine, and which by nature tends to soar aloft and carry that which gravitates downwards into the upper region, which is the habitation of the gods. The divine is beauty, wisdom, goodness, and the like; and by these the wing of the soul is nourished, and grows apace; but when fed upon evil and foulness and the opposite of good, wastes and falls away.
Plato, Phaedrus, 246
Socrates: But of the heaven which is above the heavens, what earthly poet ever did or ever will sing worthily? It is such as I will describe; for I must dare to speak the truth, when truth is my theme There abides the very being with which true knowledge is concerned; the colorless, formless, intangible essence, visible only to mind, the pilot of the soul. The divine intelligence, being nurtured upon mind and pure knowledge, and the intelligence of every soul which is capable of receiving the food proper to it, rejoices at beholding reality, and once more gazing upon truth, is replenished and made glad, until the revolution of the worlds brings her round again to the same place. In the revolution she beholds justice, and temperance, and knowledge absolute, not in the form of generation or of relation, which men call existence, but knowledge absolute in existence absolute.
Plato, Phaedrus, 247
And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when is approaching near to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision - what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them - will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?
Plato, Republic, VII, 515
Those too who have been pre-eminent for holiness of life are released from this earthly prison, and go to their pure home which is above, and dwell in the purer earth; and of these, such as have duly purified themselves with philosophy live henceforth altogether without the body, in mansions fairer still, which may not be described, and of which the time would fail me to tell. Wherefore, Simmias, seeing all these things, what ought not we to do that we may obtain virtue and wisdom in this life? Fair is the prize, and the hope great!
Plato, Phaedo, 114
What is the kingdom of God like, and to what should I liken it? It is like a mustard seed, which a person took and threw into his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of heaven lived in its branches.
Luke 13:18-19
In my Father's house are many rooms; if not, I would have told you; because I am going to prepare a place for you; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and welcome you to myself, so that where I am you may be also. And where I am going you know the way.
John 14:2-4
I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6
I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but he will have the light of life.
John 8:12
Whoever has ears let him hear, within a man of light there is light and he lights the whole world.
Gospel According to Thomas, 24
Jesus said, 'The heavens will be rolled up and the earth in your presence, and he who lives on the Living (One) shall see neither death nor fear,' because Jesus says, 'Whoever finds himself, of him the world is not worthy.'
Gospel According to Thomas, 111
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water without price from the fountain of the water of life. He who conquers shall have his heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son.
Revelation 21:6-7
He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Revelation 3:21
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians, 3:17-18
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Romans 8:14
And further it (the rational soul) traverses the whole universe, and the surrounding vacuum, and surveys its form, and it extends itself into the infinity of time, and embraces and comprehends the periodical renovation of all things, and it comprehends that those who come after us will see nothing new, nor have those before us seen anything more.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, XI:l
Many times it has happened: Lifted out of the body into myself; becoming external to all other things and self-encentered; beholding a marvelous beauty; then, more than ever, assured of community with the loftiest order; enacting the noblest life, acquiring identity with the divine; stationing within It by having attained that activity; poised above whatsoever within the Intellectual is less than the Supreme: yet, there comes the moment of descent from intellection to reasoning, and after that sojourn in the divine, I ask myself how it happens that I can now be descending, and how did the soul ever enter into my body, the soul which, even within the body, is the high thing it has shown itself to be.
Plotinus, Fourth Ennead, VIII:l
It is God's nature to be without a nature. To think of his goodness, or wisdom, or power is to hide the essence of him, to obscure it with thoughts about him. Even one single thought or consideration will cover it up. Such is the divine order of things, and when God finds this order in a soul he begets his Son, and the soul bursts into light with all its energy and from that energy, that light, there leaps a flame. That is love; and the soul, with all its energy, has penetrated to the divine order.
Meister Eckhart, p. 243-244
Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of prophets. He saw with open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history he estimated the greatness of man. One man was true to what is in you and me. He saw that God incarnates himself in man, and evermore goes forth anew to take possession of his World. He said, in this jubilee of sublime emotion, 'I am divine. Through me, God acts; through me, speaks. Would you see God, see me; or see thee, when thou also thinkest as I now think.'
Emerson, "Divinity College Address"
But the soul that ascends to worship the great God is plain and true; has no rose-color, no fine friends, no chivalry, no adventures; does not want admiration; dwells in the hour that now is, in the earnest experience of the common day, - by reason of the present moment and the mere trifle having become porous to thought and bibulous of the sea of light.
Emerson, "The Over-Soul"
If he have not found his home in God, his manners, his forms of speech, the turn of his sentences, the build, shall I say, of all his opinions will involuntarily confess it, let him brave it out how he will. If he have found his center, the Deity will shine through him, through all the disguises of ignorance, of ungenial temperament, of unfavorable circumstance. The tone of seeking is one, and the tone of having is another.
Emerson, "The Over-Soul"
There can be no excess of love, none to knowledge, none to beauty, when these attributes are considered in the purest sense. The soul refuses limits, and always affirms an Optimism, never a Pessimism.
Emerson, "Compensation"
The soul gives itself, alone, original and pure, to the Lonely, Original and Pure, who, on that condition, gladly inhabits, leads and speaks through it. Then is it glad, young and nimble. It is not wise, but it sees through all things. It is not called religious, but it is innocent. It calls the light its own, and feels that the grass grows and the stone falls by a law inferior to, and dependent on, its nature. Behold, it saith, I am born into the great, the universal mind. I, the imperfect, adore my own Perfect. I am somehow receptive of the great soul, and thereby I do overlook the sun and the stars and feel them to be the fair accidents and effects which change and pass. More and more the surges of everlasting nature enter into me, and I become public and human in my regards and actions. So come I to live in thoughts and act with energies which are immortal. Thus revering the soul, and learning, as the ancient said, that 'its beauty is immense,' man will come to see that the world is the perennial miracle which the soul worketh, and be less astonished at particular wonders; he will learn that there is no profane history; that all history is sacred; that the universe is represented in an atom, in a moment of time.
Emerson, "The Over-Soul"
Each soul will feel and know itself to be immortal, will feel and know that the entire universe with all its good and with all its beauty is for it and belongs to it forever. The world peopled by men possessing cosmic consciousness will be as far removed from the world of today as this is from the world as it was before the advent of self consciousness.
Bucke, Cosmic Consciousness, p. 5
When man raises himself above the idea creation of this Darkness, Maya, and passes completely out of its influence, he becomes liberated from bondage and is placed in his real Self, the Eternal Spirit.
On attaining this liberation, man becomes saved from all his troubles, and all the desires of his heart are fulfilled, so the ultimate aim of his life is accomplished.
Yukteswar, The Holy Science, p. 25
Man, being conscious of his own real position and of the nature of this creation of Darkness, Maya, becomes possessed of absolute power over it, and gradually withdraws all the developments of Ignorance. In this way, freed from the control of this creation of Darkness, he comprehends his own Self as Indestructible and Ever-Existing Real Substance. So Sat, the Existence of Self, comes to light.
All the necessities of the heart - Sat, Existence; Chit, Consciousness; and Ananda, Bliss - having been attained, Ignorance, the mother of evils, becomes emaciated and consequently all troubles of this material world, which are the sources of all sorts of sufferings, cease forever. Thus the ultimate aim of the heart is effected.
In this state, all the necessities having been attained and the ultimate aim effected, the heart becomes perfectly purified and, instead of merely reflecting the spiritual light, actively manifests the same. Man, being thus consecrated or anointed by the Holy Spirit, becomes Christ, the anointed Savior. Entering the kingdom of Spiritual Light, he becomes the Son of God.
In this state man comprehends his Self as a fragment of the Universal Holy Spirit, and, abandoning the vain idea of his separate existence, unifies himself with the Eternal Spirit; that is, becomes one and the same with God the Father.
Yukteswar, The Holy Science, p. 31-32
Self-realization is the knowing in all parts of the body, mind, and soul that we are now in possession of the omnipresence of God; that we do not have to pray that it may come to us; that we are not merely near it at all times, but that God's omnipresence is our omnipresence; that He is just as much a part of us now as He ever will be; and that all we have to do is improve our knowing.
Yogananda, The Master Said, p. 111
When the soul reaches God it will be conscious that it is in God, and that it is seeking more of itself in being in God, and that God too is growing and seeking and crystallizing.
Gibran, Beloved Prophet, p 267
By entering into the stream of spirit we are liberated from the atrocious Wheel of the Eighty-four; that of the birthing and dying of the physical body into which soul must be born until it learns that its home is not in these lower worlds but in heaven. The connecting up with the cosmic stream of life is the assistance which any spiritual traveler will give to his chela. It ends his suffering here in the physical body and turns his attention toward the heavenly worlds.
Steiger, In My Soul I Am Free, p. 158
The basic principle of soul travel is that man is the spirit self, that he can take charge of the soul body and can move from the visible planes into the invisible worlds at will. When he becomes proficient at this, the beneficial results are freedom, charity and wisdom. These are the God-qualities lying latent in each soul, which must be brought to soul's attention in order to unfold the true self in all its glory.
Twitchell, Eckankar, p. 11
When the body drops, the emotions disperse, and the mind returns to universal mind, the consciousness can move into soul - into that which always exists. We call that enduring quality of consciousness the soul.... The soul is perfect; it is divine.
John-Roger, Consciousness of Soul, p. 6
We see the Light when we are working in the lower realms of Light - on the physical, astral, causal, mental and etheric realms - and it's very beautiful. When you reach the Soul Realm, you are impressed with the Light, and that is the Sound Current.
John-Roger, The Sound Current, p. 1
And when we enter into the majesty of the Soul Realm, you'll know where you are - because the Sound of God is .so fantastic. You'll know every level below you, and then you will only lift. Every thought, every word will be Light in action. Every movement will be lifting and the inner realms will be glorified by your presence. They're waiting. Your Home is prepared. The Keys are being given to you. The Path has been lit. All measures have been taken for Perfect Love and Protection. And now, My Beloveds, let us follow that which is The Inner Master and we find ourselves Home. We can be Home there, while we have our feet here. 'While we visit this material world, we'll draw the energies down from that higher realm and glorify God by our mere presence. Resolve yourself to Light and Love and worship the God that remains nameless.
John-Roger, The Spiritual Promise