Parakaya Pravesham

Expansion of Consciousness into Another The exact translation of 'Parakaya Pravesham' is 'to be manifest in another body'. This is a siddhi or yogic power which has several practical applications, depending on the extent of presence possible into the other being. In the Vibhuti Pada of his Yoga Sutras, Patanjali describes this siddhi in the following way:

By the loosening of the causes of bondage (to one's own body) and the intuitive grasp of the passages of expansion, (happens) the entering into another body.

To understand Parakaya Pravesham, we must first understand the concept of the koshas.

Adi Shankaracharya, the great incarnation, describes in Vivekachudamani the koshas or energy bodies as below:

These sheaths are something like peels of onion growing one over the other.

Accordingly, the annamayakosha is permeated by four koshas: the

pranamaya and the rest. The pranamaya kosha is permeated by three koshas, the manomaya by two koshas and the vijnanamaya by one kosha. In this manner, each outer kosha is full of that which is within, i.e. the succeeding one being internal to the preceding.

By resolving each kosha into that which immediately succeeds it, we are led to the knowledge of the Brahman, which is beyond cause and effect, and realize our oneness with it.

Vedanta Prabodha explains how this happens, through the concept of sakshi.

When one wishes to read the mind of another, or cognize the physical experience of another, the technique applied would be to expand the koshas, such that the vijnanamaya kosha and the manomaya kosha are at the level of the recipient's own koshas.

Traditionally, the five koshas are:

• ♦ Annamaya kosha
• ♦ Pranamaya kosha
• ♦ Manomaya kosha
• ♦ Vijnanamaya kosha
• ♦ Anandamaya kosha

These are all subtle layers of energies overlapping each other, with the anandamaya kosha on the inside in a normal incomplete human being, and expanding outwards as completion happens, allowing

the anandamaya kosha to merge with the universal consciousness the brahmanda (macrocosm).

This can be easily experienced after the inititation into a fully awakened ajna chakra (Third Eye), wherein one can cognize and read not only written material blindfolded, but eventually, also 'read mind', or cognize and understand the perception and space of other consenting beings around us.

There are three known levels or techniques of Parakaya Pravesham,

depending on the objective to be achieved:

Meditation on vajradanda (a shaft of light along the spinal column and/or extending above the head) expands the cognition (vijnanamaya kosha). Expansion of cognition opens up the power of blindfolded reading and many other powers.

Prana or life-energy enters the body through the two channels called ida and pingala, to merge into the third channel called sushumna and travel up the spinal column.

The medulla oblongata (bhastaka granthi) above the vishuddhi chakra, is one of the sites where the three nadis are united. From here the sushumna enters into the skull, and the other two nadis, viz.

Ida and Pingala, pass along the right and left sides of the forehead and meet together and are joined with the Sushumna between the two eyebrows.

From there the Ida goes to the left nostril and the Pingala to the right. From the medulla, the Sushumna is bifurcated:

(1) One line passes below the brain and in a rather oblique course comes to the eyebrow whence with a slightly upward bend pierces the pericarp of the ajna chakra (third eye center) and unites with Ida and Pingala.

Then it comes out, and running straight up crosses a very subtle hole within the interior of the central region of the forehead and hanging down to some distance takes a curve and goes right up, penetrating the Sahasrara and entering the Brahmarandhra.

(2) Another line goes up direct from the medulla, and through the interior of the skull extends to the Shikhara. With a slight curve it enters the Brahmarandhra. The mouth of this line of the Susumna which is in the Brahmarandhra remains usually closed, while that of the first line is open. Consequently the hollows of the two lines are not in union.

A very good example of Parakaya Pravesham was demonstrated by Adi Shankaracharya, the great Avatar, when, as part of a debate, he was challenged to demonstrate his knowledge of Kamashastra (the science of sex), in spite of being a total celibate.

While a close disciple guarded his body in a cave, Shankaracharya entered the state of Samadhi and expanded his Consciousness to enter that of a king named Amaruka, who had just then died. After experiencing the life of a householder for a month through the body of the king, he re-entered his body and went on to win the debate.

Science has conclusively shown that matter and energy are interchangeable, depending on the conditions and the perception of the observer. At the subatomic level, all subatomic particles or elements are exactly the same and constantly appear and disappear in fractions of seconds.

An Avatar, being in oneness with Nature, the Manifested Consciousness, therefore, both with form and formless can easily convert matter into energy and back into matter again.

This allows the subtle aspect of the body to completely merge with another and experience the physical life through the merged body.

At the instance of the death of a person and subsequent loss of his conscious energy, it is possible for an Avatar to suffuse His own consciousness into the body, if it has been devoid of life energy for less than one hour.

In this technique, the Avatar or enlightened sage uses the siddhi to bring back to life the other being, without physically entering his cognition for any specific purpose.

The enlightened sage Tirumoolar is known to have entered into the body of a dead shepherd out of compassion for his flock.

In another famous incident concerns Adi Shankaracharya's disciple Hastamalakacharya. It is said that when the disciple was a baby, he drowned in a river, but out of compassion for his mother, an enlightened sage entered into the child's body using his siddhi of parakaya pravesham.

Adi Shankaracharya

Listen: a cyclone of different moods is constantly hitting your inner space. Each time you are hit by an emotion, be aware of how the evolution is happening in you, how each hitting is teaching you something, how it is raising you to a higher and higher space.

For example, when pain hits you, if you remain with awareness, you become a leader. When greed hits you, if you are aware, you will have the siddhi of expanding the body. When guilt hits you and you are aware, you will have the siddhi of shrinking your body. Same way, fear can give you the siddhi of making your body heavy, and courage can give you the siddhi of making your body light.

When you are being hit by the fears created by the past being projected on the future, if you remain aware, you will have the siddhi of ishatva, lordship. When you have the ability not to let the past into the future, but perform the same act differently each time, you will have the power of vashitva. The same act done again and again without the trace of the past expresses as extraordinary creativity and vashitva – a mesmerizing presence.

So do sammyama on how the evolution happens in you with each emotion, each moment of your life.

Parakaya Pravesham can be as simple a power as to get a glimpse into the mind of another by expanding one's space (koshas), to the very intricate technique of entering another's body, which THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM reserves for critical situations, or during the process of Samskara Dahana Kriya. During this kriya, with the permission of the participants, He enters the bodies in order to cleanse their patterns, incompletion and karmas at the level of biomemory (genetic and gene expression changes) in order to align the physiology of the disciple.

In the year 2012, Swamiji was conducting Inner Awakening in Kodaikanal in south Bharat. As part of the IA, one evening we were having Kalabhairava darshan and Akashic Readings from Swamiji.

I was sitting the closest to Swamiji; unlike other times, strangely I started feeling my body becoming numb, and I was smelling my body as some dead body, akin to my pre-monastic childhood memory.

Suddenly I noticed a buzz of activity from the brahmacharis who were down the stage. From the looks of it, I knew there was something important / urgent that they wanted to convey to Swamiji.

Swamiji was unmoved, but paused briefly and had a really deep look on His face. From where I was sitting, it looked like He was looking deep into a distant sky; then He made a hand gesture that looked to me like, "It has left"! Since I did not know what it was, I only prayed, "Swamiji, there are too many false media attacks already; let there not be one more thing to defend!"

Swamiji abruptly stopped the Akashic Readings and went and sat down on His seat on the stage. Soon after, there was a brief moment when one of the brahmacharis updated Swamiji; something to which Swamiji very patiently replied, "He has left the body already."

I thought to myself, "One of the ashramites died? Who? Why?" But all thoughts died down instantly. There was silence everywhere.

After what felt like quite a long time, Swamiji said, "He left the body, not able to bear the pain. I can bring him back, but he has to go through the same pain."

Aha! I felt, and said to myself, "Is that all Swamiji? I know how You can bring back people, and when you do it, they won't feel any pain!" The memory of my own experience of Swamiji's energy landing all around my body when I fell and fractured my hand filled me. I did not even care to listen to anything further, as I simply knew it was just another being that is going to have a strong, personal and physical experience of Swamiji's incomparable compassion.

It turned out that one of the brahmacharis had met with a road accident while driving a two wheeler without wearing a helmet, despite Swamiji making that a pre-condition for anyone riding any two wheeler. He was taken to the hospital and was just declared dead. It was 15 minutes and he could not be revived medically.

Then Swamiji said in His authority that He has brought the person back into his body. God, all of us were looking with eyes wide open! I said to myself, 'Yes, yes that is a big relief!' Precisely at that moment, I saw I am grounding back onto my own body; there was no more numbness or the smell of any dead body.

Then Swamiji reminded those who brought the news to tell the doctors to attempt a revival now. If I remember correctly, it turned out that the brahmachari had already opened his eyes when they wanted to convey this to the doctors.

The most shocking thing was, when I returned to the ashram just a few days later, I found the same brahmachari moving about and doing his work normally, with no sign that he had just gone through a death experience a few days earlier!

Later I heard from a senior ashramite that this brahmachari had requested and received a boon from Swamiji that he will not die before Swamiji leaves his physical body.

Wow! I thought - that is the power of a boon given by the siddha Avatar – it can bring you back even from the other side of death!