4 LEVELS OF EXPERIENCING

1. A particular subject (ego) experiencing particular objects,

events, entities and subjects of the world. (normal consciousness

level)

2. A particular subject (ego) trying to experience the boundless

Spirit, animating, sustaining, illuminating the world through

concepts, theorising, and practices. (religious consciousness

level)

3. The boundless Being experiencing the world of experience, the

objects, events and subjects of experience in the herenow.

(meditative consciousness level)

4. The boundless being experiencing Its own boundlessness and

being. (divine consciousness level)

1. A particular subject (ego) experiencing particular objects, events,

entities and subjects of the world. This type of experience occurs at our

normal consciousness level, when we move around the world doing our

activities of daily life. In this state, we feel ourselves as a crystallised

point of consciousness, located in a particular body-senses-brain-mind

complex. We are driven by our unconscious or semi-unconscious drives

and urges, our semi-conscious emotions and impulses, and our reflective

and projective capabilities. Our actions and thoughts are based on the

pursuit of personal pleasure, power, profit, progress, promotion, etc. They

are also concerned with the avoidance of sorrows, sufferings, setbacks,

separations, etc. Our basic motivation is self-survival, self-perpetuation

and self-enjoyment. We see ourselves distinct and different from

everything around us. We also identify or attach ourselves with certain

particular objects of the world. Even in our dreams, we tend to feel

ourselves along similar terms though not in the rigid and fixed waking

state mode.

2. A particular subject (ego) trying to experience the boundless Spirit,

animating, sustaining, illuminating the world through intellectual

concepts, theorising, and practices. This type of experience occurs at the

religious consciousness level, where we believe that beyond the ego there

is a dimension that is vaster, purer, more lasting, more harmonious, more

enlightened, more pleasant, etc. The religious beyond is held as the

source of everything in the universe, inclusive of the universe with all its

events, objects, entities and ego-forms. The religious mind usually

conceives of the higher state as divine or godly in the sense that it

generates, organises and destroys the universe and all its contents. Thus,

the genesis, unfolding and ultimate destiny of the universe and all its

contents are controlled by the will of the god. By establishing contact

with that other-than-the-self or non-ego or beyond ego dimension and by

worshipping and surrendering to that, the ego is transformed into a divine

entity and absorbs all the divine qualities of that holy or sacred state.

3. The boundless Being experiencing the world of experience, the objects,

events and subjects of experience in the here-now. This type of

experience usually occurs at the meditative consciousness level, when the

mind is attentive or without any form of tension. It may be either the

result of surrendering one’s ego to the higher religious power or the result

of being fully alert, sensitive and aware in the present moment without

the interference of the ego and all its movements, whether semi-

unconscious, semi-conscious or rational-conscious. In this state of

surrender or just being aware of the present, a new level of experiencing

comes into being. One sees oneself in a blurred manner as a crystallised

ego experiencing the universe and its available contents. But this is not all
to it. There is also an experiencing of a state of boundlessness underlying

that experiencing in the present moment. It is as if the attentive ego is

experiencing the immediate universe in an intense manner without itself

being the centre of that experience. It has a feeling, a sense of being in

touch with a wider dimension that is itself experiencing the ego and all

experiences tied to it in the present moment. With this new sense, the

mind undergoes an outside-in movement, which makes the boundless,

sexless, colourless, ageless, living Presence or Being more and more

vivid. In this state of experiencing, by the living Presence or Being, of the

immediate universe and its contents and movements through the attentive

mind, a sense of depth, peace, joy, immensity, everlastingness comes into

being. This reversal in consciousness may trigger off orgasmic thrills in

the body and brain complex. However, once the thinking and inner self-

talking process tries to capture the underlying Being or Presence or

attempts to explain or compare or conceive That, the ego becomes

predominant again and the immediate sense of boundless Being is lost.

4. The boundless being experiencing Its own boundlessness and being.

This usually occurs when the thinking and inner self-talking of the egoic

mind do not interfere with the sense of boundless Being or Presence.

There is then a sense of being complete in oneself, being whole, being

full in, to, for and by oneself. Mystics have called this as the level of
divine consciousness, where the egoic consciousness is enlightened or

gets soaked in an ocean of boundless fulfilment. The degree of soaking

may differ from ego to ego, from one moment of enlightenment to

another. However, the actual and immediate soaking is a blissful

experience to the mind. The actual and immediate soaking is different

from the memories of past soakings, from the mental creations or

intellectual conceptualisations of soaking. It is actual, real and happens

only in the herenow. In the actual and immediate soaking, depending on

the degree of soaking, there is no sense or a very blurred of duality or

separateness. The absence of duality or sense of being separate from the

universe, of being distinct from the experience of the universe, of being a

crystallised point of consciousness tied to a particular body-mind

complex yields a total sense of fulfilment in consciousness. As

consciousness establishes more and more frequently in that dimension,

one feels united with the Whole, as the Whole, in the Whole.