Based on my spiritual practice, my understanding but not yet experience, of two possible ways of going beyond body consciousness

Last updated on 29 May 2025
This post follows up on a recent spiritual notes post of mine. See 10th May 2025 entry in post: Spiritual (Chanting & Meditation) Notes (Edited) from 26 Dec. 2024 to 10 May 2025, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2025/05/spiritual-meditation-notes-edited-from.html . In fact, some of the content of this post repeats what I have said in this earlier post. I decided to put this up as a separate post instead of adding to my earlier post, as I think the topic deserves a separate post.

At the outset, I would like to say that I have not been able to go beyond body consciousness despite having tried to do that over a few years now. But in the process, I think I have a clearer idea of the way that could possibly, I repeat, possibly be achieved.

Method 1: Raise core of my being to beyond top of my head

This method involves fair amount of mental effort, which is first identifying and then staying in what I sense as the core of my being, which is a little behind the eyes at the same horizontal level as the Bhrumadhya (भ्रूमध्य, center of eyebrows, Ref: https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/bhrumadhya).

This core of my being is the awareness-I withdrawn to what I sense as its core. After focusing on this core of my being, I have to raise it, try to raise it rather, from that point to roughly the center of the top of my head and then out from there. I think this roughly center of the top of my head may be the location of the Sahasrara chakra. Note that I try to raise the core of my being to a natural point upwards and that takes me to this roughly center of the top of my head. I do not specifically direct it to the center of the top of my head - I direct it only upwards.

At times, while doing this method, I chant: Go beyond this body. Om Sai Ram! Om Sai Ram!

This method is based on fair amount of spiritual reading, effort and contemplation that I have done. But then I have not yet achieved going beyond the top of my head. I repeat that this involves fair amount of mental effort. So there is some strain involved.

Method 2: Dissolve into awareness-I / Dissolve into God

This approach has less strain and is more relaxed and easy to do. This method is focusing the closed eyes on its natural focus area which is forward and a little below, so in the direction of the nose, sensing the awareness there and then trying to go deep and dissolve in that awareness.  The concentration is still within the face. While doing this, I tend to say, go deep into God, dissolve into God, visualizing the nothingness there as the formless aspect of divine power of God. But recent, past few days, understanding has been that even if I use my go deep into I, dissolve into I chant while doing this, that's also working well (I here is ever-present and unchanging awareness-I).

The dissolve into God or dissolve into I chant tends to become a single word - dissolve - chant as I get into the rhythm of the chanting and meditation session. At times, I also stop chanting completely and only meditate but that is less time as of now. With practice, I hope to increase the only meditation without chanting part in future.

Earlier there was some confusion in my mind. I had thought that the go deep into I, dissolve into I should be along with focusing on the core of my being (covered in earlier point). So there was that mental effort, mental strain involved in focusing on the core of my being. Whereas with this more relaxed looking forward and downward from the closed eyes, and still saying go deep into I, dissolve into I, that is easy and works out quite well. I still feel that the nothingness that I 'see' or rather sense in the direction of the nose but within the face, is still awareness-I. This awareness-I is a sort-of expanded awareness that is over the entire face and head area and which is the natural state of the awareness-I. In contrast, the core of my being is a withdrawal or compression of the awareness-I to its core area.

That the dissolve into I sadhana can be done even with closed eyes focusing on its natural focus area in the direction of the nose, is a very interesting finding, so to speak, from my recent days' spiritual sadhana. Note that this I i.e. ever-present and unchanging awareness-I, is a direct and easily accessible experience for me. Whereas God or divine power which is the creator, sustainer and destroyer of the entire universe, 'visualized' or sensed as nothingness in formless aspect, is a deep belief but not direct experience for me (as yet). It is deep belief for me that my ever-present and unchanging awareness-I is deathless/eternal and a part of God and that the essence of this ever-present and unchanging awareness-I is the same as the essence of God, much like the essence of a drop of ocean water is the same as the essence of the ocean. It is also a deep belief that going deep and dissolving in the awareness-I will lead to dissolving in God. However, as I have no direct experience of the vastness and great power of God, but have direct and easily accessible experience of the ever-present and unchanging awareness-I, focusing on this awareness-I is easy and seems very natural and very real whereas focusing on God involves an additional belief/faith component and associated imagination/thinking at times.

I can even do this focusing on awareness-I while I am walking with eyes open in a safe area (no vehicles or anything else that might bang into me) like in the corridor outside my flat on my floor of my building. While I am walking, I am still seeing what my eyes are showing me, it registers in the brain and I take the right action like turning around at the end of the corridor but the main attention is on the awareness-I.

While doing this method, I sometimes say to myself the following which I deeply believe is the truth: This alone (awareness-I / inner nothingness God) is the lasting truth. All else is passing show (but follow Sathya, Dharma, Shanti and Prema towards the passing show).

Is this second method only good for relaxation? Can it really lead me out of body consciousness? The intuitive feeling that I'm getting is that if I go really deep in the second method, that could lead me to a samadhi kind of state where I go beyond body consciousness. Therefore, I feel that even the second method, though more relaxed, could lead me beyond body consciousness. I should also mention that there seems to be some amount of similarity between what I feel in the second method and the feeling I have as I am getting into deep sleep mode, but before I have gone to deep sleep and lost consciousness in a way. Now I do not mean to say that in the second method I get into sort of a deep sleep state. No, I'm not saying that. I remain alert as I am getting deep into the awareness-I or God, but it has some parallels with what I feel when I am close to deep sleep, but not yet in deep sleep. 

I feel this 2nd method may suit me very well and that it could become a key part of my sadhana over coming months and years.

Method 2 Variation: Merge in Swami's Lotus Feet

In a variation of above method, related to worship of God in form state, I do Namasmarana of Om Sai Ram and imagine myself merging into Swami's Lotus Feet. This is a key part of my sadhana over many months now. The closed eyes focus on Swami's Lotus Feet usually imagined in front of my face but at the level of the lower part of my face. At times, I also imagine Swami's Lotus Feet on top of my head/face.

In these cases, at the beginning of the session, I tend to imagine Swami's Lotus Feet a little outside or touching my face or head. As I get deeper into the meditation session, usually, I imagine Swami's Lotus Feet and my face or head becoming one. Specifically, I imagine my face/head going inside Swami's Lotus Feet or Swami's Lotus Feet coming inside my face or head.

While I think that this method is also a way of going beyond this body, I view it more as coming under protection/sanctuary of Swami's Lotus Feet and surrendering to Swami. It gives lot of peace and relaxation as I essentially try to put all my worries and concerns on Swami and then accept whatever happens to me as His Will. Related additional chant: Merge into Swami's Lotus Feet. [Swami is Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.]

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I do a lot of prayer every day asking God/Bhagavan to take care of me. But in my specific sadhana to try to rise above body consciousness, I do not pray much. I am not sure if me getting the ability to rise above body consciousness is good for me. So I do not pray for getting that ability. However, I have this strong desire to try to acquire the ability to rise above body consciousness and so I engage in some sadhana for that. I leave it to God's will whether I will acquire that ability or perhaps that desire itself will go away.
...
I must add that in my daily prayers to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, I thank him repeatedly for all the wonderful 'things' he has done for me and continues to do for me. Gratitude to Bhagavan is an integral part of my daily prayers to Him.

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