Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming

I just mean that personally I have yet to find a use for it.

If you can use it for whatever reason suites you, then by all means, use it.

 

Ok, Im going to go a bit out there, so if anyone doest not believe in God or does not feel like reading a bunch of descriptions for that which is nearly unnamable and only able to be proven to oneself, please skip this post! :tongue:

I believe what is happening during sleep paralysis, is that we our immersed within our Manomaya Kosha, the third of five sheaths which cover the soul. They are as follows ;
1. Annamaya Kosha (Sheath of matter)
2. Pranamaya Kosha (Sheath of Prana, or chi; life energy)
3. Manomaya Kosha (Sheath of Manas, or mind)
4. Vijnanamaya Kosha (Sheath of Chit, or intelligence)
5. Anandamaya Kosha (Sheath of Ananda, or perfect bliss)
This is our direct link with the mind as it is, within the guiding intelligence which leads to attraction to higher truth, or God. Sat Chit Ananda, which means perfect existence, perfect awareness, perfect bliss, is the state one attains to when they become one with That which is, a perfect state of non duality, and the bliss is experienced by the harmony of God's love as the fabric of reality.
Now, prakriti is realized within the Vijnanamaya Kosha, as it is the intelligence with which we energize the Kundalini Devi to return back to Lord Shiva, the Destroyer of ignorance. By cultivating a life of open heart to love, higher truth, and by striving towards Sat Chit Ananda (or the perfected state of selfless liberation into Spirit), we entice that which is manifesting our reality to stir and to open our hearts and minds to the direct will of God. But first, we must transcend the 3 subtle bodies;
1. Physical (gross material body)
2. Astral (subtle electric energy, powered by thought)
3. Causal (the 35 thoughts which compose and are reflected by the 35 elements of the other 2 bodies)
In order to transcend the physical body, we realize the astral body and it's dimensions within ourselves. In order to transcend the astral body, we realize the causal body which is manifesting both lower bodies. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, or Creation, Sustainment, Destruction.
These realms of thought we are playing with, are pale reflections of the spiritual side. In fact, though we come into contact with souls within the astral plane, this plane is being manifested by the energy from the thoughts of the causal plane, and the Spiritual is yet higher for us to attain. When we enter the astral plane, we are only in control there so long as our karma is negated. Otherwise we are only there to learn from our mistakes; it is thought that the astral plane is where the concept of Hell in the West come from. Because we are purified there, and when we visit the plane while still inhabiting a gross physical body, we are held back from exploring deeply. We are thought to explore deeply while awaiting our next incarnation, and we compose our own reality while we do so, yearning to advance into the Spiritual plane but stuck by our own karmic debt which needs to be dissolved first.
I believe, that during sleep paralysis, we are touching the 3rd sheath, becoming immersed within it temporarily, and we are catching a glimpse of how our ethereal body, the double body which we can manipulate across timespace and will to manifest in other situations within the fabric. Basically this means that we have a second body composed of thought which we can project elsewhere while still inhabiting our own, and some saints have appeared to devotees and have been in two places at the same time. I believe, that the reason we can only catch a glimpse of this ehtereal body during sleep paralysis, besides our karmic debt and spiritual state which needs to blossom yet, is because we are operating within the realm of mind, and not in the realm of intelligence, much less in the realm of Ananda or bliss. Anandamaya Kosha is the last covering of Atma, or our soul, and is only truly touched in two ways, during deep meditative effort, or in deep senseless sleep. When we are sleeping like babies, we have all but severed our connection with our sense organs and with our minds, and exist in a sort of suspended state, without desire and without contact with either the external stimuli or the internal thought generative, creative realm. We are truly touching Ananda, perfect bliss, as our consciousness is absorbed right back into the causal realm, the highest body and the last to dissolve before returning to God Realization.
Sleep paralysis and astral projection are indeed wonderous experiences of God's diverse and beautiful creation, but it is very easy to get lost within them and to have our awareness grasped by maya, the cosmic delusion. When we strive for Sat Chit Ananda, make it our total effort and purpose in life to return to God as One, our little trips along the way become much more pleasant and unravel life's joyful experiences at pace which only benefits us, rather than harms us, either mentally or physically.
God Bless +

 

I took this from Yogananda's book, in which he first experience's the state of Cosmic Consciousness by the blessing of his guru, Sri Sri Yukteswar. I feel that it explains the state poetically, as well as stands as it's own testament as to why we should cultivate love and self discipline before we attempt to explore the higher planes of awareness.

"Sri Yukteswar struck gently on my chest above the heart.
My body became immovably rooted; breath was drawn out of my lungs as if by some huge magnet. Soul and mind instantly lost their physical bondage and streamed out like a fluid piercing light from my every pore. The flesh was as though dead; yet in my intense awareness I knew that never before had I been fully alive. My sense of identity was no longer narrowly confined to a body but embraced the circumambient atoms. People on distant streets seemed to be moving gently over my own remote periphery. The roots of plants and trees appeared through a dim transparency of the soil; I discerned the inward flow of their sap.
The whole vicinity lay bare before me. My ordinary frontal vision was now changed to a vast spherical sight, simultaneously all-perceptive. Through the back of my head I saw men strolling far down Rai Ghat Lane, and noticed also a white cow that was leisurely approaching...I observed her as with my two physical eyes...
All objects within my panoramic gaze trembled and vibrated like quick motion pictures. My body, Master's, the pillared courtyard, the furniture and floor, the trees and sunshine, occasionally became violently agitated, until all melted into a luminescent sea; even as sugar crystals, thrown into a glass of water, dissolve after being shaken. The unifying light alternated with materializations of form, the metamorphoses revealing the law of cause and effect in creation.
An oceanic joy broke upon calm endless shores of my soul. The Spirit of God, I realized is exhaustless Bliss; His body is countless tissues of light. A swelling glory within began to envelop towns, continents, the earth, solar and stellar systems, tenuous nebulae, and floating universes. The entire cosmos, gently luminous, like a city seen afar at night, glimmered within the infinitude of my being...
I cognized the center of the empyrean as a point of intuitive perception in my heart. Irradiating splendor issued from my nucleus to every part of the universal structure. Blissful amrita, nectar of immortality, pulsated through me with a quicksilverlike fluidity. The creative voice of God I heard resounding as Aum, the vibration of the Cosmic Motor.
Suddenly the breath returned to my lungs. With a disappointment almost unbearable, I realized that my infinite immensity was lost...
A master bestows the divine experience of cosmic consciousness when his disciple, by meditation, has strengthened his mind to a degree where the vast vistas would not overwhelm him. Mere intellectual willingness or open-mindedness is not enough. Only adequate enlargement of consciousness by yoga practice and devotional bhakti can prepare one to absorb the liberating shock of omnipresence...
Sri Yukteswar taught me how to summon the blessed experience at will, and also how to transmit it to others when their intuitive channels are developed."
- Autobiography Of A Yogi, pp. 161-166
by Paramahansa Yogananda

 

isn't it obvious what you should do? try some visualization, and you'll be flying solo in no time. next time it happens just imagine, in your minds eye, you looking back at yourself.

if you're scared, just know that Love always prevails. if any outside negative entity was tormenting you, know that there is always a bit of the source that bonds us in every being. just love it.
thats advice I should follow myself though.

 

It's not so much that it is useful, but rather that it is an experienc which will eventually take you deeper into a love for God, the true goal. I reiterate, it's easy to get lost in the realms of mind because they can be so attractive, and it's also just as easy to repel them when they are unsatisfactory. But these experiences are just stepping stones to the Mind of God, something we always have the power to will ourselves into, yet something we have to constantly rediscover due to our individual deluisonal mind. We dont need psychedelic drugs or sleep paralysis to attain higher states of awareness, in fact in many cases, these serve no purpose but to cause more spiritual blindness by distracting our true spiritual path. Psychedelics and sleep paralysis go hand in hand, one is not anymore meaningful than the other and both lead to dead ends if we come to rely on them for anything at all. They should be treated as medicine, as they are meant to heal us by forcing us to confront the source of our ever outward flowing fountain of contradictions, and we are face to face with doubting that which has always been comforting to our peace of mind. But if we abuse they tools of healing by becoming thrill seekers, while we dont inherently destroy ourselves, we bind ourselves longer to the karmic programme. I am very guily of this myself, I feel that I do not have it in me to either refuse to explore astral dimensions of consciousness when presented with sleep paralysis, nor do I have the will power to turn down an oppuritunity to take a psychedelic drug. I surely have abused the medicine to an ugly extent, but such is life
Someday I believe I will break free from all sorts of attempts at 'enlightenment' and rather open my heart entirely to God as is. Until then Im only delaying myself lol.
God Bless +

 

it sounds like you are talking about astral travel. Dont you think this is what dreaming is?

 

try it and get back to me with the answer

 

I feel that we are referring to different things when we say "sleep paralysis; either that, or I dont have an adequate understanding of exactly what you are doing when you enter sleep paralysis.

You say you explore astral dimensions when presented with sleep paralysis, but for me that's never even been an option. Sometimes my dreams will be interrupted by a conscious acknowledgement of sleep paralysis. This used to terrify me, and I would struggle so hard just to try and move a single muscle in my body, willing it to wake up. Now, for me at least, when I'm presented with sleep paralysis, there is a conscious aknowledgement on my part that there is nothing to be gained in this state, that it's a brief interruption, and that I should just go back to sleep to my dreams.

I think that maybe I'm missing something.

But as I've displayed during my stay here, my understanding on a lot of these subjects is elementary, and any understanding that I do possess is usually poorly articulated by me.

What is the difference between dreaming and projecting youself astrally from a origin of sleep paralysis?

 

They are similar, but not quite the same. Astral travel is a state that your bring on to yourself by deep meditative effort. It is exploring the playful or painful realms of thought and their relation to your physical body. Dreaming is the acting out 'Man created in the image of God'. If this is true, which I believe it is, then everything man creates is a reflection of the spiritual equivilant. Pain and pleasure are both one in the same, just difference in intesnity. If we inflict pain on others, we will experience pain of our own, either through physical karma or mental karma in the astral plane. When we go to sleep and dream, we create. We create a copy of our physical body within our minds, we create individuals to interact with, we create the enviorment in which the dream takes place, in fact we create an entire universe composed of our very own thought, all entirely within the vibrating activity encased in our minds. Astral travel is exploring those realms, while dreaming is creating them. We can create in the astral travel, but we are experiencing dimension of mind which is already created, though it is constantly changing due its complex thought powered generation which is shared by other souls. But when we dream, that is entirely brought into existence by ourselves.

 

Well I tried my best to answer your last sentence in this post in the post I just made before this. But concerning your lack of depth with your sleep paralysis experience, and abundance of depth in your dream experience, I can only say to give it more time and oppuritunity. I was saying earlier in this thread how I've had it my whole life, but for the first 20 years which I recall, it was nothing more than waking up and realizing that I cant move. Id hear my family talking if they were awake, could see what was on television, smell food that was cooking etc. but I would be paralyized, and Id either try to move my body or to scream to break the spell and then it would be over. But in the last 3+ years, my sleep paralysis has taken on entirely new dimensions which are far beyond words, very deep exploration of reality and thought cosmos. Very different than when I was younger. And you are just about to turn the age that I was when this experience began to take on very new level of depth!
God Bless +

 

Well, do you think all dreams necessarily have to follow what you just said?

I think I probably misread you, but I kind of got the sense of you almost taking a western approach to dreams; you know, the whole "everything you dream is just a recap of your experiences, or your mind on autopilot."

Before I continue though, I have to ask, do you consider mind to be synonymous with ego?

 

ego is a subdivision of mind
it is simply
self-awareness.

the mind extends to the furthest corners of the universe
coming back again.
consciousness is universal.
smoke 100mg of n, n-dmt and you will understand this.

dreams are mostly random brain stem impulses sent to the frontal lobe, mashed together....

yet, I've dreamt things that have happened in the future.

mysterious, isn't it?

IMO, that's because time is not a straight line, and I think everything has already happened, so of course the future is going to leak in...

Yes, there are other realms,
and yes, it's all in your head.

At the same time.

 

yeah, this is why I think there are more to dreams than people give credit for. I've had past life recalls/death-rebirth experiences with them, the midst of which included to (I'm pretty sure) a lower plane of heaven.

I'm not really sure what all astral travel has to offer, but right now, I've got my hands full with my dreams alone.

 

You'll notice their characteristics after a while...

read over relayer's information. Lots of beautiful sutra on that last page.

 

I have experienced something similar to "explosions" during meditative states and in that state where one is almost asleep, but of course doesn't realize it.
I have referred to it as electrical shock, but not painful. Definitely physical, sometimes.
Once, after being really Woken Up, I looked to make sure it wasn't an electrical storm.
To reach what you describe would I have to force myself to remain still, quiet, etc.? For that would take some Will.

Dreams are many things. Lately mine have been especially Vivid and puzzling, which I believe many people are enduring. The aspects in the skies cause many things -
As above so below.
That is old, is it not?

 

I thought the non-electrical shocks could be kundalini.

What do you thinK?

 

old as the night.

I got used to the intensity after a while, and actually enjoy the feeling of my soul being ripped from the body...kind of like a fetish.

Yeah I just lay there and don't move and once I feel it coming, I look up and out of my head with my eyes closed (that's my trigger, focusing on the third eye) and then BOOM

I am physicless, and free.


P.s. Kundalini definitely plays a role...
it's a vital energy that latches onto the soul, somehow . .
have not figured that one out yet.

 

Well, dreams do include abstracy fragments of what has recently been on the mind, but I believe this is just a way of our karma working itself out, left for us to interpret and reflect on when we wake up.
But dreaming is the act of creation, only inverted because they go within instead of without. What I mean, is that if God is 'dreaming' us, then our dreams are a reflection of that creative ability.
And yea, I consider mind to be synonymous with ego, because mind is not intelligence, it's awareness and it involved with reaction to our enviorment. Ego is the part of awareness which is parasitic, because it feeds off emotion and impulses. Ego is, the way I see it, the illusion of duality, it is that which prevents us from expanding awareness into the realm of higher intelligence because it is not concerned with realizing God, it is rather concerned with preservation of itself. If you move into higher intelligence, the ego is threatened because it perceives that it is about to be dissolved. So, it comes up with as many ways as you can imagine in which to convince you that you need the ego in order to survive. Which, is partly true, but there is a balance between ego and intelligence which needs to be mastered through self discipline so long as we are not fully immersed in God realization.
Remember, when Jesus said something along the lines of "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word from the mouth of God."
Well, I believe what he means by food, symbolizes material attachment and preservation. We are typically initially concerned with preservation of the physical body and the lower mind alone, and because of this, we can not advance into higher intelligence. We are to believe that by not gathering material means with which to sustain the body, we will die. But I believe Jesus was saying 'words from the mouth of God' in refference to our true source of sustainment, the life energy God created us with. By words, I think he is symbolizing Om, that primordial sound from which existence was created. When we advance spiritually, it seems that we can evolve to the point of not having to eat literal food. There are many examples of saints who live off of Sun light alone as a direct source of nourishment, several of them are included in Yogananda's autobiography.
When we look at the bigger picture, our Sun is the source for all life on Earth. When we eat plants, we are in essence using the plants as a medium for altered sunlight energy, as the plants trap the light through photosynthesis and transform it into a substance we metabolize and distribute in our physical bodies. When we burn fossil fuel to power our mechanical machines, the fossils also are sunlight energy, trapped and contained within the fossil, then buried under the surface away from the sunlight for a long, long time, during the course of which it is compressed into oil for us to burn and get energy from. All of this energy comes from the Sun, it just goes through a massive system of distribution and get's used in many different ways. The same with our minds, when we are restricted from Sunlight, we start to get depressed and feel a lack of physical and mental energy. And when we are exposed to Sunlight, we feel happy and energized to be more productive and positive, loving people.
And I believe it is the Sun, using it's light and energy, which is a reflection of the Spiritual light and energy of the astral realms, which are in essence emanated from the causal realms, which are in essence emanated from God. By evolving our receptive capacity, I believe we can learn to live intially off of our Sun's energy, and then we can learn to live directly by attuning our consciousness with God's divine will. This is when the ego finally is dissolved, and the delusion of requiring it to surive while we still inhabit a physical body finally come to fruition. There is the physical sheath, the prana sheath (life energy), the mind sheath, the intelligence sheath, and the ananda (perfect bliss) sheath, as five layers covering the soul which when transcended reveal the true power of Atma, our souls.
Then concerning our existence, there are the Seven Lokas, or planes of reality;
1. The gross physical plane, that which we all perceive with our sense organs, the Universe as we know it.
2. The sphere of subtle electric activity, the the elemental particles which give mass to matter. (This is the realm that particle physicists are concerned with using the LHC which we were talking about earlier.)
3. The sphere of the magnetic aura, this is the plane of reality where there is the absence of creation, the Great Vaccuum.
4. The sphere that connects the material reality with the spiritual reality. This plane is the link between man and Spirit, and is the point at which once we metaphorically step into the other side of creation, going to the end of the universe by going into the innermost heart.
5. The sphere of Christ Consciousness, the plane of reality that duality comes to and end. It is the point where God's creation splits into the many from the One, and by attaining this we come to liberation, as the Son of God that Jesus Christ and the other masters attained to while inhabiting human bodies.
6. The sphere of Brahma, the Creator. Also known as the Holy Spirit. This is where the comprehensive capability is completley transcended, the highest and first stage of God's creation, acting out and powering all of reality itself, all the dream matter which composes everything is born and dies here.
7. The sphere Sat, highest truth. Aum Tat Sat, in most basic words, "God Is Truth". This is the Spirit that is beyond name, beyond knowing, beyond all because it is the impersonal and the personal as they are. No way to explain God lol.
Anyway the Lokas are the collective planes of reality, and the Koshas are the collective manner in which are individual existence is composed, covering the soul and for us to unravel in order to expose ourselves to God.
The ego is simply a step along the way, and I believe can be entirely transcended as we move into higher planes of awareness. Awareness is key, it is the most misunderstood and least comprehended aspect of all of our creation. We all have it, we all know we have it, but we collectively do not know how we have it, nor why we have it. I believe it is a collective, universal source, that comes into fragmentation as an aftermath of it's descent upon reality, hosting itself in individual bodies, waiting for us to dissolve ourselves back into it. I dont know why this happens, or why I believe it, but thats how I see it and I think the beauty is that God wants us to question everything, God made this whole dream-drama for us to take a part in and the joy of discovery will never be exhausted.
God Bless +

 

Are we trying to be readied for 2012?

 

I hate those nights where I wake up, and I just KNOW I subconsiously Astral Traveled. I can usually see the outlines of things through my eyelids.