CHAPTER 5: VIGNANAMAYA KOSHA🔗

Alright, let us now see the vignanamaya kosha, the fourth layer. This is the visualization layer.

We need to understand the boundaries of all the koshas, the layers:

A large firm which was doing scientific research, decided that it would experiment its medicines on lawyers, instead of rats. They gave three reasons for it. One: there are more number of lawyers than rats. Second: reducing the number of lawyers does more good to the country than reducing the number of rats. Third: there are some things that rats won't do for the sake of money!

Anyhow, artists, painters and poets, even though they live with less money, live with deep satisfaction, because their boundary is much bigger. For example, in a day, if you spend most of the time in the visualization layer, or the next layer that is the bliss layer, you will feel fulfilled. The time that you spend in the deepest layer, is what is going to give you the real fulfillment. Your fulfillment depends on that, not on the money which you make, or the car which you drive, or the house that you live in. All those things are not going to give you fulfillment.

For example, if you spend 10 hours in annamaya kosha and 10 hours in pranamaya, then you will have only two to three hours, in manomaya, and no time at all in vignanamaya! Then automatically, you feel that your life is dull and dead. That is why, if you have too much of entertainment in the annamaya kosha, you may feel good on and off, but depression will be the basic thread of civilization for you. Look at all the civilizations which have too much entertainment in the annamaya kosha. Depression will be the basic thread of that civilization. I am not condemning anyone. I am only telling you some simple truths.

The average time per day that a person spends sitting in front of the television, has gone up to seven hours now, in India. This is shocking. Actually, I didn't believe it when I read this report. I think in America, the average time is three and a half to four hours. One good thing is that, the majority of the population still does not have access to television in India. The crowd which does not have access to television is safe. But that number is also reducing drastically, because now the government is giving free television sets!

In the vedic tradition, even entertainment was designed in such a way that you would be again and again pushed to the second or the third layer. What will such entertainment be? For example, one such tradition is that you should go to the holy town of Tirupati, tonsure your head and pray to the Lord. But you also have people who go to the casino, give away everything, and come back!

Enjoying the probability is one of the important qualities of human beings. For example, if you play the slot machine, you may or may not win. Similarly, if you pray to Lord Venkateshwara in Tirupati, he may or may not give. That is the theory of probability. Our vedic masters knew that there are some basic instincts, which you can't kill in human beings. Enjoying probability is one such instinct. So, they diverted those energies in a proper way, and used them.

Enjoying probability is a basic instinct of human beings. Those few moments of anxiety, a certain kind of adrenaline release happens in the system. You enjoy that. Sometimes, you may feel frightened, but you enjoy it subconsciously. That is why you sit in all those terrific rides and roller coasters. During those sudden drops and wild rides, the adrenaline release happens in your system and it gives you a sort of a kick. So when you are in the anxiety that something may happen, or may not happen, that probability gives you a sort of a subtle kick. That is why you are sitting in front of a slot machine continuously. The same probability has been used by the enlightened masters to put you into the third layer, the manomaya kosha. In the case of the slot machine, the same probability is used to retain you in the first layer, that is, the physical layer. But there, in Tirupati, you are just dropped into the third and deeper layer. At the end of the day, in Tirupati, the money collected goes back for social service. In the casinos around the world, the money goes back into the same business. And who is it who is controlling such a huge business? Who is getting empowered in the end? Just think! That is why I say, the right visualization can change the whole civilization. Just a few enlightened masters changed the history of mankind. If you have to write the entire planet's history, all you have to write is the lives of ten enlightened persons. Their biography is the gist of the entire history of the planet earth.

The more time you spend in the visualization layer, the deeper and more fulfilled your life will be. I am just throwing a few points, for you people to ponder over. Let me give an introduction to Tirupati for those of you who don't know. Tirupati is the richest spiritual center of the world. Per day, a hundred thousand people worship at the altar there. There is no city to support the entire infrastructure. People go to the top of the hill where the temple is located, and come down. Only very few people can be accommodated there. It is an amazing source of inspiration! Can you imagine a hundred thousand people gathering? During festivals, the gathering is around two million. Nobody prints invitations. Nobody is invited. Similarly, in the recent Kumbha Mela, another sacred Indian festival, about 91 million people assembled! There are no restaurants, no one sells food; all the 91 million are given free food! Selling food is a crime in that area. A hundred thousand tents are erected. Each spiritual organization takes up one tent and distributes free food. Their kitchens are open to all!

Spending more time and energy in the deeper layers will give you fulfillment. That is why artists, musicians, painters and poets feel so much more deeply fulfilled than the logicians, or the mathematicians. With logic, you stay in manomaya; with visualization, you come to vignanamaya. All your fantasies call you again and again back to yourself, back to the samskaras, just because of the joy you experienced in visualization. This is closest to the bliss layer. Because it is closest to the bliss layer, the smell of bliss will be there. Just to experience the smell, you again and again go back to the visualization layer. The fantasy itself does not have juice. I don't have to tell you this. You know for yourself that after cherishing the fantasy, for a few minutes what happens? You are bored. For example, if the joy comes from the sweet that you eat, then the joy should increase with the number of sweets, is it not? But that is not the way it is. After ten sweets, what happens? You feel repulsed by the sweet. It means that the joy is not from the sweet. There is some other source. The source, or the joy, is from the bliss layer, the fifth layer. Because the visualization layer is the nearest to the bliss layer, you tend to think that the source is there, and try to enter into the fantasies again and again.

Now, we are supposed to go beyond this visualization also. How to go beyond the visualization? Because anything you do will be under your visualization. It's like going beyond your imagination. How can we? We can.

As I was telling you, anything which you can logically assimilate, is the boundary of your manomaya kosha. Anything which you can visualize, is your vignanamaya kosha boundary. For example, if you can visualize this room, it means that this has become your boundary. If you can visualize the entire hotel, it means that the hotel has become your boundary. If you can visualize the whole of Seattle, then the whole of Seattle has come inside your boundary. If you can visualize this whole country, the whole country has come inside your vignanamaya kosha boundary. If you can visualize this whole planet earth, then the whole planet has come inside your boundary. If you can visualize the whole cosmos, the whole cosmos or the solar family comes into your visualization, or vignanamaya kosha. If you start expanding, and visualizing the whole cosmos, what will happen? At some point, your visualization has to break. It has to give way. Sometimes, it will give way even when you try to visualize this whole country. Sometimes, it will give way the moment you try to comprehend the entire planet. At one point, it has to give way.

I will guide you step by step. You will see that your visualization gives way. At least for a few moments, you will relax without visualization happening in your inner space. Let us see how it feels. Don't have the urge. If you have the urge, the very urge will stop the process. Just come along with me in a very relaxed way. When I say visualize Seattle, whatever you know about Seattle, visualize and feel it inside your skin. The traffic moving inside your skin. The whole thing is happening inside what you think as your boundary. Just expand your visualization step by step. Suddenly you will see that your visualization gives way to Existence itself!

Please close your eyes. Tie your eye bands. Sit in a very comfortable way. Do not lie down. Do not sleep.

Sit in a relaxed way. There should not be anything tight gripping your body. First, feel your boundary of the annamaya kosha, the physical layer. Feel yourself completely inside your skin. Feel yourself alive from head to toe. Go to your feet. Feel from inside that you are alive. You are alive inside your feet.

Feel yourself completely alive inside your skin: your head, your toes, your hands, your fingers; feel yourself alive everywhere.

Now, expand up to your pranic layer - about ten feet around you. Two or three people who are sitting around you are all inside you. Expand ten feet all around you. Feel that you are expanding up to your pranic layer, up to the space where you can feel the smell. Feel that the people who are sitting around you are all sitting inside you.

Now, just expand and fill this whole room. Feel that you are filling all the corners of this room. This whole room is inside you; including me, all of us are inside you. Everybody is sitting inside you. Just expand. These chairs, sofas, all the meditators, everyone sitting here, is inside you. Fill all four corners of this room. Fill this whole room. Expand.

Now, expand and fill this whole building. See very clearly: this whole building is inside your being. Expand and feel this whole building inside your body. What you think as your boundary, is now around the entire building.

Next, fill this whole street. See that the whole street is inside you. The traffic, the movements, everything is happening inside your body, inside your boundary. Fill it. Feel every inch of the street, feel every corner of the street to be inside of you.

Expand now, and fill this entire city. Whatever you know in the city, all the places that you know in the city, just bring all of them back to your memory, and see that everything is inside you. You are filling it. Every bit is filled by you. Every street, every road, every home, river, hill, everything… you are filling everything. Everything is inside you.

Now, expand further and fill all the corners of this country. Whatever you know about this country, bring it back to your visualization and see that you are filling all those spaces.

Everything is inside you. All four corners of this country are inside your boundary. Feel that everything is inside you. All the movements, everything is inside you. You are filling everything.

Now, expand and just feel that this whole globe, the entire planet earth is inside you. Whatever you know about this planet earth, all the places that you have heard about or seen, wherever your memory can penetrate, expand to cover it. Let the whole thing be inside your inner space. Experience all the places inside your boundary, inside your skin, inside you. Expand. Let everything be inside you. Feel the oceans, mountains, rivers, cities, everything to be inside you. The whole globe is moving inside your inner space.

Expand further so that the whole solar family is inside you. The sun, moon, planet earth, all the planets are moving inside you. Feel everything moving inside your head. Let everything be inside your head. See that you have expanded and the whole solar family is moving inside your head.

Now... expand further. Let the whole cosmos be inside you. The whole empty space, light covered by light, darkness covered by darkness, big bangs and black holes that are happening...whatever you know as the cosmos, expand and allow it to be inside you. Continue to expand. Feel the bliss in you. Feel the immense lightness in you. Feel the expanse of bliss in you.

You will start moving towards experiencing the anandamaya kosha. It is at the level of the anandamaya kosha that true yoga happens, where the union of mind, body and spirit takes place, where you are one with the cosmic energy; where the Self is alive and you have identified yourself with it!

Thank you.