SYMPTOMS OF ENLIGHTENMENT- PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

TURYA THE FOURTH STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

        Meditation opens the mind to a fourth state of consciousness called Turya. The other three states are waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep.  The fourth state known by Yogis and adept meditators is given the name of TURYA in the Upanishads, a part of the scriptures of the east.  It is a concept shared by Vedanta and Kashmir Shavism.  It is an experience available to all.  I learned of it three decades ago.  It became my experience only a few years ago.
       Turya  unifies the other states and is also transcendental to them.  As in deep sleep, the mind is thoughtless, as in dream sleep, a panorama of light and form appears, as in the waking state, there is awareness.  It has been given other names.  It is a type of samadhi.  It is a natural state of being for the human being when the kundalini awakens.  It may be called enlightenment.  Gopi Krishna wrote an autobiography called, Kundalini.  He describes the changes that occurred in his perception due to the rise of the shakti energy in his being during his lifetime.  Interestingly he lived in Kashmir in the Himalaya Mountains. However majestic that setting is. when the Kundalini rose to the center above his head, it turned the earthly paradise into the mythical Shangralia or Shambhala.
      Similarly my personal experience of the opening of the soul chakra above my head changes the landscape.  When I first began experiencing it I would ask myself,  "What is this wonderful place?"  The curved rivers and meandering streams that I was riding past turned a blue which reminded me of the enchanting shade of Krishna.  In my perifial vision the bending rivers and streams were the limbs of Vishnu Himself.  The pavement underneath me teamed with beautiful intricate patterns and forms- all Divine! There were  patterns and latices that may be seen in beautiful carved stone temples of the east, yet all alive, changing every moment. I viewed what I considered to be the impersonal brahman interwoven with divine human forms which brought to mind the biblical references to the Overcomer because it seemed like the divine human forms were supporting the impersonal consciousness of the absolute brahman as if they were pillars.  "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out" Revelation 3:12 

     Turya is full of bliss. Those that experience it can only give clues to what it is like.   Read the Song of Solomon, the Siva Sutras, or Rumi.  It is the great state of being which allows yogis to endure severe austerities.Do not think that Turya is beyond you.It is closer than close.  Do not practice meditation for anything less than Turya.  Turya is the longing for the Supreme consummated.  It is the goal of meditation.

    Turya is the union of the aspirant and His Beloved. This is not a static experience it transcends itself.  It is above and below, within and without, larger than the largest, smaller than the smallest. It has form and is also formless.  

KALI MA'S DARSHAN -Personal Experiences of Bhava-Samadhi

¹In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

 ²And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 

       

Genesis 1:1-2    King James Version (KJV)   

      Between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 there were three prior ages of humankind. The entire cycle of creation, is spelled out in the Srimad Bhagavatam, Swami Prabhupada translated it. These ancient verses ("sutras") describe four ages ("yugas") of man. The yugas are called Satya Yuga, Tetra Yuga, Dwarka Yuga, and, Kali Yuga. The Vedas, Puranas, Vedanta, Mahabharata, and Ramamaya depict the earlier Yugas. The Supreme has manifested Himself in different ways through the yugas. Siva in Satya Yuga, Rama in Tetra Yuga, Krishna in Dwarka Yuga, and, in the Kali Yuga, this present age, He is represented as Mother Kali. Kali means the terrible. 

     The Satya Yuga was the Golden Age. The Gods walked with man. It was the time of Shiva. The life span of man was 100,000 years. There were air ships that flew by the will of the pilots. It is documented in the Srimad Bhagavatam. We have de-evolved. Daniel 's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream similarly describes the history of mankind, albeit of this present age, as a man de-evolving. The head was of Gold, breast and the arms were of silver, the abdomen and thighs, brass, the legs iron, and the feet clay. See Daniel Chapter 2.

The complete history of creation also follows that pattern from Gold, Silver, Brass, to the Iron ages. The spirituality of man, or man's ability to perceive the Divine progressively lessened through the ages. The Inner Light became dim, dimmer, and dimmest. Love one to another has also diminished. The Srimad Bhagavatam prophesied that the Age of Kali will begin with the first murder. This age of Kali-the terrible, began in Genesis with the first murder of Cain killing Abel.

     The Bible is of this age of Kali as it begins with the first murder-Cain's murder of his brother Abel. The bible tells that even in this age, man continued to de-evolve from walking with God in the Garden of Eden, to hiding from Him among the tress, to being ousted from the Garden of Eden and being prevented from returning. It also depicts a time when the gods were on the earth taking wives from among men, and, the life span of man decreasing from thousands of years to a limit of 120 years.

     Even as Kali the terrible, the Supreme is compassionate. A few years ago, I was talking with friends on a patio on a summer night. I noticed the crescent moon in the sky a midst the tropical blue clouds swollen with the moisture rising from the nearby ocean. The sight reminded me of the crescent moon that Shiva wears in His stack of dreadlocks on top of His Head. I swooned in love and devotion. 

I felt as if I haven't seen the moon in months. After some time in which I sat still as a statute, eyes closed in meditation, I excused myself. I wanted to get as close to the moon as I could. I rode west to the water's edge, sat in the sand, and, repeated a mantra intended to invoke Parvati, Shiva's consort, the goddess of beauty, as the moon set over the ocean. 

     I watched the moon over the ocean in the tropical night sky shedding its silver moonbeams across the surface of the water while I meditated desiring the vision of Parvati. As I gazed at the bright crescent moon, it became a nose ring in a dark blue face. Startled, I saw a blood red tongue jut out. My eyes were wide open in shock as was the eyes of the face I beheld. The full form of Mother Kali then appeared.

     She was alive with passionate joy and the innocence of an infant. I understood Her attitude. She destroyed as a child breaks toys in play. All was joyful play, malice is incomprehensible to Her. I loved her as I loved my own infant children as Her face was that of a laughing baby's, adorned with the silver moon, a midst the tropical blue clouds swollen with the ocean's love.