1
The Awakening Flower
ASTRAL FLIGHTS
My dance with God officially began in my early twenties. The birth of my daughter heralded my true initiation into the life of a seeker of knowledge and the journey to God. Disillusioned with the hypocrisy of conventional Christianity, I had abandoned the church and its religious practices. I was like a boat without a rudder, drifting aimlessly in a sea of intellectual agnosticism. What happened in the delivery room was so life-changing and self-altering that I must attempt to describe the circumstances in detail.
I was forced to go into the hospital a week or so before term. It seemed my water had broken and I sat amid the wailing, blood curdling screams of women in labor; my immature 22-year-old mind shuddered in fear of what was in store for me. At some point, the physician administered an IV of oxytocin to induce labor. He made me promise that I would not shout or scream. As the medicine was quick working, my contractions started with a vengeance, very close together, indescribably painful. At one point I remember telling the doctor that I had to leave. He asked me where I thought I was going, my legs were strapped down and my arms too. But I just kept insisting that I had to go. I was wheeled into the delivery room; a few doctors surrounded me asking seemingly simple questions about my telephone number and address.
They seemed to be discussing the possibility of forceps delivery. Then quite unexpectedly, as if all the drama and noise of a television program going full blast was suddenly switched off, I found myself clearly out of my body standing across the hospital room watching my body give birth. I thought to myself, “What am I doing over here?”
The absolute serenity, tranquility and above all painlessness I felt in that surreal moment was incomparable. After a while, I felt myself whirling back into my body and all the lights, camera and action that goes with physical existence flooded my consciousness. I made a special note in my mind to remember this experience for it was a crucial turning point in my life. I realized that I was much more than this physical body. There was a dimension to my existence that transcended the boundaries of the five senses and the earthly material plane.
After the birth of my daughter, I found volumes on the fascinating phenomena of astral and etheric projection. The following online definitions of the experience sum it up, although there are other interpretations.
Astral projection (or astral travel) is a paranormal interpretation of an out-of-body experience achieved either awake or via lucid dreaming or deep meditation. The concept of astral projection assumes the existence of another body, separate from the physical body and capable of traveling to nonphysical planes of existence. Commonly such planes are called astral, etheric, or spiritual. Astral projection is often experienced as the spirit or astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the spirit world or astral plane. (Wikipedia contributors, 2001)
Popular term for the ability to travel outside the physical body during sleep or trance, also known as etheric projection or Out-of-the-Body Traveling. There is excellent evidence for the reality of this strange phenomenon and the British scientist Dr. Robert Crookall has collated hundreds of cases from individuals in all walks of life. (Spence, Lewis, 2003, 60)
On the other hand, the “Linga Sharira” is the Sanskrit term for the invisible double of the human body. It has been called by many other names such as etheric body, etheric double (or astral body in the original Theosophical concepts by Blavatsky). It is one of the seven principles of the human being, according to Theosophical philosophy. It serves as a model or matrix of the human body form, thus it is often called the “double” since it has the same shape and appearance as the body. The body conforms to the shape or condition of this double. It is a vehicle of prana or qi, thus its other name, pranamayakosa. Its effusion of energy can be observed through Kirlian photography or Kilner screens. Such glow around the body is called the human aura. (2009-2011, Cryer, AB)
Since I worked evenings, generally the graveyard shift, I slept during the days, juggling the care of my daughter with work and a return to college. It seems to me that the interrupted sleeping patterns made it easier for me to access what is known as a borderline state of consciousness. This is a period between waking and actual sleep that helps precipitate astral projections. Thus, the out-of-body experiences became a regular occurrence for me.
My body would become rigid, cataleptic. There was a loud, thundering, frightening vibrating sound like a thousand winds rushing at rocket speed through a tunnel. In the beginning, I had to calm myself down, mentally whispering, “Don't be afraid, don’t be afraid, God help me.” Then as the winds died down, I would urge my body to “Get up” slipping out of the physical coil. Sometimes this was easier than on other occasions; difficult projections would leave me wriggling around on the floor trying to free myself from some psychic mass.
What distinguished astral travel from ordinary dreaming was that there was an acute conscious awareness that my other body was lying inert on the bed and I was connected to it by what appeared to be an ethereal elastic filament or cord. Also, there was only a certain amount of time allowed in this psychic state. I could go through walls and windows and at a thought, travel to distant places instantly.
In addition, I found that it was important to maintain a positive attitude and aura. This ensured a more beautiful and elevating astral flight. Soaring high through the cobalt heavens, far beyond clouds, planets and stars repeating, “Higher, higher.” Deep into the celestial realms I rose, reaching an unknown peak, “I” shattered, a brilliant star into a trillion glittering fragments. After which, the familiar rubber band tug of the astral cord snapped me back into my body, as it lay reposing in its bed, totally oblivious to my astral adventures.
A SECOND BIRTH
Immersing myself in mystical exploration, I embraced Eastern philosophy, Yoga and other such disciplines, joining the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC. The following profound spiritual experience happened around this time. I was feeling upset over an incident that had occurred earlier in the day and retired to my room falling into a fitful sleep. As I drifted deeper, I found myself walking outside on a dusty, deserted road. A feeling of impending doom began to surround me. Something dark and sinister loomed. I took off running, yelling to God for help. Looking up at the sky, I beheld what appeared to be a white, dazzling whirlwind forming directly above me.
The whirlwind had millions of eyes, mouths, ears, legs, hands, voices revolving inside its wondrous vortex. Waves of protective energy emanating, I felt myself being lifted up, levitating in mid-air. Then a most peculiar sensation: all the air was being vacuumed out of my body, beginning with my toes and swirling out through the crown of my head. I surmised that I might be dying. Then just as rapidly, a fresh blast of air entered the top of my head and filled my whole body as I gradually floated back down onto the bed. When I woke up from this enigmatic incident, I thought immediately of the biblical description of God in Ezekiel’s Wheel, (Ezekiel 1:1-28).
I wondered about the significance of this remarkable event. Somehow, I intuitively felt it was some sort of rebirth, a renewal of Spirit. Little did I realize that something spiritually unique, awesome and life-changing was about to dawn just beyond the newborn, rosy pink eastern horizon.
Source: Sai Rapture: The Ecstatic Journey of a Modern Day Gopi, Sonya Ki Tomlinson
Sai Rapture is available in paperback for $21 and as an ebook for $2.99. Select the links below and pick up your copy of Sai Rapture, The Ecstatic Journey of a Modern Day Gopi.
The Awakening Flower
ASTRAL FLIGHTS
My dance with God officially began in my early twenties. The birth of my daughter heralded my true initiation into the life of a seeker of knowledge and the journey to God. Disillusioned with the hypocrisy of conventional Christianity, I had abandoned the church and its religious practices. I was like a boat without a rudder, drifting aimlessly in a sea of intellectual agnosticism. What happened in the delivery room was so life-changing and self-altering that I must attempt to describe the circumstances in detail.
I was forced to go into the hospital a week or so before term. It seemed my water had broken and I sat amid the wailing, blood curdling screams of women in labor; my immature 22-year-old mind shuddered in fear of what was in store for me. At some point, the physician administered an IV of oxytocin to induce labor. He made me promise that I would not shout or scream. As the medicine was quick working, my contractions started with a vengeance, very close together, indescribably painful. At one point I remember telling the doctor that I had to leave. He asked me where I thought I was going, my legs were strapped down and my arms too. But I just kept insisting that I had to go. I was wheeled into the delivery room; a few doctors surrounded me asking seemingly simple questions about my telephone number and address.
They seemed to be discussing the possibility of forceps delivery. Then quite unexpectedly, as if all the drama and noise of a television program going full blast was suddenly switched off, I found myself clearly out of my body standing across the hospital room watching my body give birth. I thought to myself, “What am I doing over here?”
The absolute serenity, tranquility and above all painlessness I felt in that surreal moment was incomparable. After a while, I felt myself whirling back into my body and all the lights, camera and action that goes with physical existence flooded my consciousness. I made a special note in my mind to remember this experience for it was a crucial turning point in my life. I realized that I was much more than this physical body. There was a dimension to my existence that transcended the boundaries of the five senses and the earthly material plane.
After the birth of my daughter, I found volumes on the fascinating phenomena of astral and etheric projection. The following online definitions of the experience sum it up, although there are other interpretations.
Astral projection (or astral travel) is a paranormal interpretation of an out-of-body experience achieved either awake or via lucid dreaming or deep meditation. The concept of astral projection assumes the existence of another body, separate from the physical body and capable of traveling to nonphysical planes of existence. Commonly such planes are called astral, etheric, or spiritual. Astral projection is often experienced as the spirit or astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the spirit world or astral plane. (Wikipedia contributors, 2001)
Popular term for the ability to travel outside the physical body during sleep or trance, also known as etheric projection or Out-of-the-Body Traveling. There is excellent evidence for the reality of this strange phenomenon and the British scientist Dr. Robert Crookall has collated hundreds of cases from individuals in all walks of life. (Spence, Lewis, 2003, 60)
On the other hand, the “Linga Sharira” is the Sanskrit term for the invisible double of the human body. It has been called by many other names such as etheric body, etheric double (or astral body in the original Theosophical concepts by Blavatsky). It is one of the seven principles of the human being, according to Theosophical philosophy. It serves as a model or matrix of the human body form, thus it is often called the “double” since it has the same shape and appearance as the body. The body conforms to the shape or condition of this double. It is a vehicle of prana or qi, thus its other name, pranamayakosa. Its effusion of energy can be observed through Kirlian photography or Kilner screens. Such glow around the body is called the human aura. (2009-2011, Cryer, AB)
Since I worked evenings, generally the graveyard shift, I slept during the days, juggling the care of my daughter with work and a return to college. It seems to me that the interrupted sleeping patterns made it easier for me to access what is known as a borderline state of consciousness. This is a period between waking and actual sleep that helps precipitate astral projections. Thus, the out-of-body experiences became a regular occurrence for me.
My body would become rigid, cataleptic. There was a loud, thundering, frightening vibrating sound like a thousand winds rushing at rocket speed through a tunnel. In the beginning, I had to calm myself down, mentally whispering, “Don't be afraid, don’t be afraid, God help me.” Then as the winds died down, I would urge my body to “Get up” slipping out of the physical coil. Sometimes this was easier than on other occasions; difficult projections would leave me wriggling around on the floor trying to free myself from some psychic mass.
What distinguished astral travel from ordinary dreaming was that there was an acute conscious awareness that my other body was lying inert on the bed and I was connected to it by what appeared to be an ethereal elastic filament or cord. Also, there was only a certain amount of time allowed in this psychic state. I could go through walls and windows and at a thought, travel to distant places instantly.
In addition, I found that it was important to maintain a positive attitude and aura. This ensured a more beautiful and elevating astral flight. Soaring high through the cobalt heavens, far beyond clouds, planets and stars repeating, “Higher, higher.” Deep into the celestial realms I rose, reaching an unknown peak, “I” shattered, a brilliant star into a trillion glittering fragments. After which, the familiar rubber band tug of the astral cord snapped me back into my body, as it lay reposing in its bed, totally oblivious to my astral adventures.
A SECOND BIRTH
Immersing myself in mystical exploration, I embraced Eastern philosophy, Yoga and other such disciplines, joining the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC. The following profound spiritual experience happened around this time. I was feeling upset over an incident that had occurred earlier in the day and retired to my room falling into a fitful sleep. As I drifted deeper, I found myself walking outside on a dusty, deserted road. A feeling of impending doom began to surround me. Something dark and sinister loomed. I took off running, yelling to God for help. Looking up at the sky, I beheld what appeared to be a white, dazzling whirlwind forming directly above me.
The whirlwind had millions of eyes, mouths, ears, legs, hands, voices revolving inside its wondrous vortex. Waves of protective energy emanating, I felt myself being lifted up, levitating in mid-air. Then a most peculiar sensation: all the air was being vacuumed out of my body, beginning with my toes and swirling out through the crown of my head. I surmised that I might be dying. Then just as rapidly, a fresh blast of air entered the top of my head and filled my whole body as I gradually floated back down onto the bed. When I woke up from this enigmatic incident, I thought immediately of the biblical description of God in Ezekiel’s Wheel, (Ezekiel 1:1-28).
I wondered about the significance of this remarkable event. Somehow, I intuitively felt it was some sort of rebirth, a renewal of Spirit. Little did I realize that something spiritually unique, awesome and life-changing was about to dawn just beyond the newborn, rosy pink eastern horizon.
Source: Sai Rapture: The Ecstatic Journey of a Modern Day Gopi, Sonya Ki Tomlinson
Sai Rapture is available in paperback for $21 and as an ebook for $2.99. Select the links below and pick up your copy of Sai Rapture, The Ecstatic Journey of a Modern Day Gopi.
