Theos-Talk Archives (December 1995 Message tl00559)

<snip>
> What Purucker describes as "sleep" -- the
>forcing of the mind into an altered state by one-pointed concentration upon
>a physical point -- is sometimes referenced in the literature as "sitting
>for development" and it is a serious and potentially dangerous mistake for
>the practitioner of meditation. The goal of meditation in the earlier
>stages is to integrate our physical consciousness with the higher Self not
>to isolate the brain in a mechanistic sensory deprivation. As modern
>psychology has demonstrated the brain has defense mechanisms against such
>abuse and deprivation is most definitely *not* a means of transcending the
>lesser ego.

NOTE: As many on theos-l know by now I take issue with the theosophical
view in several areas such as magic and occult techniques. Most tend toward
fear and shun techniques altogether preferring the longer road of service.
This is fine and everyone must walk their own Path. However every now and
again I like to point out that another alternative view is available on these
topics. The topics of meditation and and hypnotism are now being
discussed and I feel compelled to present an opposing view here for
what it is worth. I speak here from my own experiences and lessons learned
from studying theosophy and not so much from the Core Teachings of
Theosophy:

Until one obtains a solid one-pointed concentration and begins
to see the Higher Self directly it will remain but a mental concept. I
am always amazed by the fears generated by theosophists over these
things. "Sitting for development" is a time-honored tradition in the
East and surely was practiced by KH M and many others to help
them get where they were. It is only dangerous as far as I know
if used improperly like everything else in this life. Yes the goal is
indeed sensory deprivation at least in so far as the 05 physical senses
are concerned. Raja Yoga is a technique to subdue the brain and
its goal is to transcend the brain and the human mind manas.
You can't keep the brain functioning away nicely and expect to
transcend it at the same time. The whole point to Raja Yoga meditation
is to reach the direct awareness that after all thinking processes
have ceased consciousness yet remains but on a higher level.
Without a direct awareness of this profound fact all remains a
mental mind game of words and thoughts. What we are really
talking about here folks is crossing the Abyss and going beyond
the human mind into a state of samadhi. Our physical "defense
mechanisms" notwithstanding the human mind of which the
brain is but a physical manifestation must be forced to grind
to a halt in order for the light of truth to be glimpsed directly
over its ashes as it were. As HPB says the mortal and finite
can never ever know the immortal and infinite. The human
thinking mind must be left behind because it cannot ever cross
the Abyss and to think otherwise is wishful illusion.

With the above in mind your contention that "... deprivation is
most definitely *not* a means of transcending the lesser ego."
is simply not true. It is in fact a time-honored means of doing
just exactly that. If you wanted to add the word "safely" to
suggest that it is not a 100% safe means to transcend the ego
then I could agree. But to say that deprivation of the physical
senses is not a valid means to transcend the human ego or
manas is like the ostrich who sticks his head into the sand
to avoid seeing things it doesn't like. Virtually every Adept or
Master in the East and West for that matter whom I can think
of has used this technique to temporarily squelch their monkey-mind
and gain some control over it. I believe that even HPB practiced
Raja Yoga.

Sitting in a lotus posture is a device that is used
to gain control over the body by depriving it of any movement.
One-pointed concentration is a device that is used to gain control
over the thinking processes of the human mind by depriving
it of any movement. They are devices. If you can still your body
and mind any other way then that is fine because any device
that works is acceptable. I personally have never been able to
sit in a lotus or even a half-lotus. I have found that I can
accomplish the deprivation sufficiently while seated or even
lying down. In time the need for such deprivation may lessen
but to some extent it will always be there HPB calls it being in
"a brown study". Ramakrishna and other great Masters were
known to be so deprived both physically and mentally that their
disciples had to feed them while they remained in deep
meditation. We are all different and we all meditate in slightly
different ways with slightly different results. But the body and
brain must be deprived of consciousness to some degree
because consciousness can only be fully focused in one place
at a time. So long as our consciousness is focused on the
human condition we will never gain anthing above that condition.

I am deeply sorry if my maverick views on this subject oppose
anyone's theosophical sensibilities. I am speaking here of
theosophy with a small t. Theosophy with a cap T seems to be
scared to death of such views and rails against them. But I
feel the need to make my say in any case.

>. At some point a sincere beginning student of
>Theosophy will ask "All of this sounds *so right* but what's next? Having
>read the books what should I do now?"

Having read the books the next step is to go beyond them.
Books and the thoughts that they contain are all part of manas and
must be transcended. The student's head-doctrine must now be
converted into a heart-doctrine.

Jerry S.
Member TI
All opinions are my own humble ones
No flames please