Unsent Letter #11: Laya Yoga and the Four Bodies

December, 2006

Dear Friend,

From a practical point of view, there are three aspects to this teaching: churning the ideas, singing the bhajans, and mantra meditation. The three practices listed above correspond to the intellectual, emotional, and moving-instinctive aspects of our nature, and so each of them plays their part in creating a fully-rounded understanding. However, because each of us is by nature skewed or biased towards the intellectual, the emotional, or the moving-instinctive aspect, we tend to gravitate to the practice that is easiest for us and let the others go. Few devotees are able to embrace all three aspects. Of course, many people nowadays simply say "oh, practice is useless, because I am already the reality," and, because of this mental block, they get stuck in the mind and cannot make any efforts. Other people receive the mantra from the Master but regard it as simply a symbol of the guru-disciple relationship and so do not use it as a tool. Others feel that because this is a way of "understanding," thinking about the ideas is enough. All of this goes to prove that in spiritual life there are many ways of doing something wrong, but only one way of doing it right. The conditions for success remain, as always, extremely elusive.

One little-known aspect of this teaching is that it is can be taken as a system of laya yoga. "Laya" means merging. The teaching shows how to merge the illusory, individual self in the real, universal Self. Merely knowing that I am He, the absolute reality, does not make you merge in it. To accomplish the merging, many things are required, including a practical method of meditation. This does not mean that this is a system of meditation, only that meditation is a means of gaining knowledge that you cannot get in any other way. Maharaj used to say that meditation is useful in the beginning to make the mind subtle. This is of course true. However, when the mind becomes subtle, it goes beyond thought and into the thoughtless state of the causal (third) body. Beyond the causal body is the supracausal (fourth) body. So meditation serves as a vehicle to begin the inner journey across the four bodies. The characteristics of all of the bodies are described in detail in "The Master Key to Self Realization" by Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, which is really a book of instructions for those who want to arrive at that point of final absorption or laya.

I was recently in Bombay. One morning, when I was thinking about this subject, I happened to notice that there was a map of the four bodies conveniently laid out in the blanket covering the bed I was sitting on (see the photo above). The gross body is characterized by an endless array of apparently separate objects. The subtle body forms a continuous circle of concepts, separating the inner from the outer, and interpreting the current experience in terms of the knowledge that it already has. The causal body is a space, a gap, in which there is nothing but "not-knowing." Finally, the supracausal body is the true identity that is at the center of everything. The supracausal body is yourself--it is knowledge that knows itself by being itself but it does not know any object.

Laya occurs when the sense of identity resolves itself into its true center. Then there is no doubt and no ignorance remains.

Best wishes as always,

A.