- Individual existence is the domain of Body and mind primarily
- Wake, sleep and dream states
- Entering the fourth state marks a shift but this is difficult because our life-force is constantly directed towards Karmas.
- How to access the fourth state to be Awakened
Individual existence (I, me and mine) resides within the intricate interplay of the body and mind, forming the epicenter of our limited self. We operate through states of waking, dreaming and sleeping. Our self-identification predominantly revolves around the physical body plus the thoughts and emotions of the mind, leading us to assert ownership over various aspects of our lives using the term "mine."
We experience everything through the wake state, in our sleep we are seldom aware of anything at all. Third is the dream state and in dreams we experience an extension of the body-mind complex.
A fourth state exists in which the true self gains a complete expansion and no longer identifies with the body-mind complex as the root of existence. Reaching this fourth state is a mark of true awakening.
For those who embark on a spiritual journey, the limited self becomes an expression of only the underlying causes of life. They know that consciously or unconsciously our body-mind complex has crystallised based on the causes, and our life force becomes directed towards executing actions that are driven by these underlying motivations. It is most natural for us to work out our KARMAS, that is precisely why the body and mind have manifested.
Consequently, we often find ourselves deeply engrossed in our daily experiences, the outcomes of our actions, thinking about how to react to a situation etc etc. By sticking our nose so close the karmas, we lose sight of the broader perspective and fail to engage in introspection or ponder the deeper mysteries of our existence.
In our preoccupation with the external world, we remain largely unaware of the intricate structure of our limited self. We fail to recognise that within this limited self, there exists a manifestation of the Source—the very cause of life itself.
Within the confines of our individual existence lies a reflection of the divine, a manifestation of the source which can be accessed in this fourth state of existence. In the fourth state we become totally aware that we are alive primarily because the source is still flowing through us. The epicenter of existence now shifts from body-mind complex to the Source.
But this fourth state is not an ordinary state because we do not remember it when we are engaged in the world. Just as we forget that we are continuously breathing during the course of an entire day, we also forget that we are in constant company of the source that is accompanying and guiding its course through our lives.
When we become aware of our breathing, for instance when it is brought to our attention then we suddenly gain the power to change it, we are able to manually override what was automatic so far. We are able to manipulate our breathing, elongate it, slow it down, etc.
This is because the act of consciously thinking about breathing transfers a certain control to another part of the brain which allows us to change our breathing pattern.
In a similar manner, we have the ability to shift our attention and fixate our awareness entirely on the inner-being. However in the case of breath we knew what is breathing and we have first hand experience of it. In this case we are left in dark because there is no idea of the inner being to be able to fixate our attention. This is the part where we need to rely on either of the two fundamental methods of remembering the inner-self -
Through Sound ( Mantra - is like the song of the soul)
Through Breath ( breath is directly connected to the source as a force of life, like a thread joining everything)
All the spiritual practices that is ever known will sooner or later merge with these two streams of gaining access to the inner being. In fact these two streams itself become one at the very entrance of the inner sanctum where the indweller resides.
Establishing this contact is called "Awakening", where the inner-being is no longer hidden and silent, but is visible and speaking.
