Cosmic Consciousness

the Occident, lies in the fact that the Oriental systems, methods, and practices, emphasi

h to liberate the Self, the atman, from the enchantment or delusion, the maya, of the external world. Indeed, the Oriental de

elf, change the condition of maya, in which the disciple is bound until such a time, as he ha

heritage but it must be clai

of the gods. But since all souls possess a spark of the divine essence of Brahman (The

es and chelas, such for instance as glimpsing the Brahmic splendor

ent of this state, and these have been described as "cosmic consciousness;" "illumination;" "

is a symbol of this esoteric truth, namely the necessity for Illumination in orde

perhaps, although the term liberation is more literal, since the influx of this state of being, is

ugh they are not at all general. Particularly is this true in the Orient, where the chief conce

religious devotee, is one of penance; of propitiation of Deity. This truth applies essentially to the initiate, the aspirant for priesthood, or guru-ship. No qualified priest or guru of the Ori

n as a place of abode; nor is it the ultimate satisfying of a God of ex

ife's troublous sea. That goal is the attainment of that beatific state in which is revealed to the soul an

emplation; renunciation; prayers; fasting; penance; devotion; service; adoration; absteminousness; or isolation, insure the attainment of this state of bliss. There is n

t rules, or laws of equation by virtue of which the goal shall be reached. Nor yet may any

ty, and yet not have found the key of perfect l

that they catch fleeting glimpses of the longed-for freedom, but the full import of its m

ation which brought him consciousness of godhood-deliverance from the sense of sin

found liberation; who has been born again in his individual consciousness into the inner areas of

hat this state of consciousness, is possible to

devotee the realization of this grace, nor yet

ich the supra-conscious man may be measured. The obscure and unlearned have been known to possess

much cultivation of the intellectual qualities, unless accompanied by an humble and r

Kwang-Tse, one of th

as cultivated himself to this point, thenceforth he remains constant in himself. When he is thus constant in himself, what is merely the human element will leave

that which men call learning guarantees no power regarding that area of conscio

tomes of manuscript, it is asserted authoritatively, that he "possesse

of Brother Lawrence, the C

reach God through the heart

" is a phrase ascribed to a Mohammedan saint, and do not modern the

very many, are the years of isolation and preparation which such an earnest one accepts in order that he may attain

an extent, that no event of cosmic import may occur in any part of the world, without these illumined ones instantly becoming aware of its happening, and indeed, this knowledge is poss

at Occidental Psychism knows as "cla

suspension of consciousness as is what is known as mediumship, this power partakes of the quality of omniscience. It harmonizes with a

ulse throbbed in his tense and immovable form. He was allowed to remain undisturbed as long as he wished. When at length he stood up, his f

s in the woods; I have felt the horror of fear; I have borne the lashes and the stripes of the convict; I have entered the heart of the outcast and the shame-stricken; I have been old and unloved a

iest and he said, "It is well, my son. Soon

i, and although his compassion was not less, after he had entered into that blissful realization, yet so filled did he beco

attainment of liberation, and has been testified to by all who have recorded their emotions in reaching this state

ion of the transitory character of the external world,

es this. The Caliph Harun-al-Rashid, learning of the extreme simplicity and a

wonderment. "Nay, not so, great Caliph," replied the saint. "I do but make abnegation of th

ed, while, as a matter of truth, there arises in the consciousness of the Illumined One, a natural contempt for the "bau

mil saints of Southern India, addre

nd sweet honey is available?" By which he questioned why they sought with such eagerness th

he Hindu conception of mukti, or cosmic consciousness, differs in many respects from that rep

e Illumined one lived. This may be accounted for in the fact that an experience so e

very poor and obscure, making her frugal living by braiding mats. So intense was her consciousness of unity with all that is, that on seeing a flower gr

around her as Sho-Nin, meaning lit

oor, and she talked to them, as though they were humans. An injured hare

ned the door of her dwelling with words of

d "loved" it back to wholeness, so that when

swered by, the birds and the flowers, and

which may be classed as highly developed Occultists), entering

tly said: "My good man, with some of the money you have in your purse please buy your faithful h

as fed on straw. They will believe, perhaps, that the priest expressed his observations in the manner described to more fully impress the driver, but this concl

isting in the atoms composing even what has been termed inanimate objects. How much more comprehensible to our unde

tery built high on the cl

is called a "life-

ness over many miles of sea, and on a vibration attuned to a pitch above the sound of wi

ated, as a wonderfully "trained ear," which by cultivation and

n describe them, and "converse" with them, although the fis

ed almost wholly in that exalted state of consciousness which would appear to be more essentially spiritual, than cosmic in the strict sense of the latter word

d that the most learned pundits honored and respected him as one who had attained unto the goal of all effort-liberation, mukti, wh

concentration upon the one thought, to such an extent that had it not been for devoted attendants, who actually put food into his mouth, the sage would have starved to death. He had so completely lost all thought of himself and his s

or argument dissuade

d to Swami

m and obtain possession of that gold. Do you think, then, that a man firmly persuaded that there is a reality behind all these appearances, that there is a God, that there is One who never dies,

purpose Sri Ramakrishna was rewarded with what has been described as

attained glimpses of the cosmic conscious state, but he also retained the Illumination, and the p

overpowering sense of being immersed in light, Sri Ramakrishna described it thus: "The living light to which the earnest devotee is dra

there are instances of undoubted cosmic consciousness in which the realization has been a more gr

ood of white light which broke upon him, after many days of constant praye

given by the Persian mystics, although it is evident that the Sufis re

ion with the beloved" is the longed-for

t one, as exemplified in the present-day search for the soul mate, or whether it be considered

of spiritual ecstacy are words which might re

lically, and the "beloved one" is impartially referred to as masculine or

lusion that there is no one way in which t

he sacrifice of self to the end that the heart may be filled with the passion to stand within the Holy of Holies, in which alone the myster

ll find a surprising unity of sentiment, and even of expression, in

men of other races, and times, lies in the fact that Jesus, more than his predecessors, emph

l gazing o

EING HER

no more,

d Being

is not On

the wound

ver in L

nds but ro

n Oneness

n of the realization of that much-to-be-desired consciousness which is fittingly described in Occidental phraseology as "cosmic consciousness." Whether this realization is the result of union with the soul's "other half,"

ut the "signs and portents" which precede the solutio

e exception to statements like the above, and

owing symbolism, but unquestionabl

t the chamber

e the dwelling-pla

art out, he

ur_self_, will he

d to that state of samadhi which accompanies certain experiences of cosmic c

had only partial glimpses of the supra-conscious state, and that, in other words, he frequently "backslid" fro

ond his contemporaries, and to a degree incompatible with his years. It is said that he built and consecrated a "tem

ed many centuries before the birth of Jesus, it seems hardly fitting to ascribe the raptu

man, and he rose to the quality of spiritual realization, expressing itself in a love and longing for that soul communion which

masculine pronoun may be due entirely to the translators and commentators (of whom there have been many), and that, in their zeal to reconcile the song with the ecclesiastical ideas of spiritua

sin

e with the kiss

e is better

he c

love, behold thou art fai

n to transcend the physical, is thus expressed by Sol

my love my fair one, and come away. For lo, t

me of singing of birds has come, and the vo

the vine with the tender grapes gives a goodly sm

the things of the outer life, and fixing it in contemplation upon the larger life, the supra-conscious life, but th

ade to remain fixed upon the petty details of everyday business life. The awakening of the earth from the lon

vity, and the mind soars up to the higher vibrations and awakes to the rea

consciousness, that this state of consciousness is attained in the early sum

soul," so there is no specific time, nor age, in wh

life, as in nature's springtime, or whether it be expressed as love of the lover for his bride; the dove for his mate; the mother for her child, or as the religious devotee for the Lord, the key that unlocks the door to illumination of body, soul and spirit, is Love, "the maker, the monarch a

evidence that Balzac had glimpses of that perfect union, wh

sness, the person experiencing this state, finds it practically

pect to find the description colored very materially by

synonymous, or at least to walk hand in hand. Balzac's early training and his environment, as well as the thought of the times in which he

and seems to suggest that this renunciation led to the subsequent rea

tion of the lower must inevitably lead to the higher, and

believed to be the result of a perfect and complete "mating," between the sexes, on the spiritual plane, regardless of physic

tter is impersonal, and may, or may not, in

sed in his writings, and will now take up the question of man's relation to th