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The Clear White Light in the process of enlightenment

Master Subramuniya seems to have been a Western yogi, who was associated with the Himalayan Academy in the second half of the 1900's, and that he had founded the Saiva Siddhanta Church in Kaua, Hawaii. He is no more among the living.

In my early twenties I found a little book written by him, called The Clear White Light. In this booklet he explains the process of meditation and the manifestation of the inner light (what generally is called 'enlightenment'). Maybe because he was a Westerner, his explanation is, for us Westerners, simple, clear and understandable.

You can find the text below, as the book is no longer available. There is a glossary at the end for terms, some of which the author seems to have made up to express certain concepts.

 

The Clear White Light in the process of enlightenment

The Clear White Light

by Master Subramuniya

A Western Mystic's transcendental experiences


Introduction

The experience of the clear white light is a mystical vision seen with the mind's eye as vividly as one would see with the physical eyes. We are always seeing light with the third eye in some degree. Close your eyes and envision a large tree standing alone upon a hill covered with flowers bursting out of lush green grass in the field around. Imagine the scene taking place on a sunny day; the clear crisp air in the high altitude brings forth the images distinctly. Put a cloud in the sky for contrast.

The light you have been seeing, as you have been creating these suggested images, one at a time, with your thoughts inspired by what you have been reading, is the inner light flooding through the external mind. Remove the cloud from the picture - the flowers, the grass, and the tree. Inner light alone would remain. This inner light intensified one thousand times would be called "the clear white light".

 

The Clear White Light

Whenever man comes to a point in his evolution where he has sufficient mastery in the mind to produce "things", he suffers for the lack of peace. In his activities on the mental spheres in conceiving, planning, gathering the forces together, and finally viewing the outcome as a physical manifestation, he has exercised an intricate control over the nerve fibers of his awareness. Thus caught in this pattern, he must keep on producing to ensure his mental security, for, should he stop for a moment, the whiplash upon his senses as the generative functions of the third dimension cease to be active would cause paranoic depressions, sometimes almost beyond repair. The man looking into the where and when of the future, blending his energies with those who are also striving to evolve into a more ramified state of awareness can easily suffer if he keeps going, producing, acquiring, and believing that materiality is reality. Evolution of the species takes its toll, for as man's awareness expands, he is no longer content projecting into the where and when of the material consciousness.

As he seeks some reward of peace for his efforts, he begins to look into the past for solutions, the there and then of it all. He finds himself born into a cross section of awareness between past and future, having experienced both of these tendencies of the mind, and this causes him to reflect. Philosophy holds few answers for him. Its congested mass of "shoulds" and "don'ts", though profound if followed, he knows have proved more to the philosopher who clarified his own thinking about them on paper than to the reader who has yet to complement with inner knowing its indicated depths. Occultism is intriguing to him, for it shows that there are possibilities of expression beyond the senses he has become well accustomed to using. But again evolution, rounding his vision, causes him to discard the occult symbolism, laws, and practices as another look into the past or future of the mind's depths.

The idea of yoga, union through perceptive control of the flow of thought, and of the generative processes of a perceptive idea before thought is formed, is most satisfying. The cognition of the actinic processes, or his life currents, intrigues him, and he looks further into the practice of Advaita Yoga techniques and finds that peace is gained through a conscious government, first, of the life currents through the body, and second, of the realms of ideas as they flow into thought. And while remaining the observer of it all in the eternity of the here and now, he fully realizes that time, space, and causation are only indicated through holding an off-balanced consciousness of past and future.

The feeling and realization of the here and now intensity of consciousness becomes intriguing to him, and he works daily with Advaita Yoga techniques to strengthen psychic nerve fibers and perfect his artistry in maintaining this awareness. Many things fall away from him as he expands his consciousness through the classical practices of meditation. He loosens the odic bonds of family and former friends; magnetic ties to possessions and places fade out until he is alone - involved only in the refined realms of mind and in the actinic flow of energies. Even if, occasionally, his awareness is brought into a habit pattern or a concept of himself as he used to be, he views it with his new stability in his recently found inner security of being whole. But this, too, quickly fades.

Whenever darkness comes into the material world, it does not affect this centered, enlightened man. He sees light within his head and body as clearly as he does when in states of materialistic consciousness he looks at a glowing light bulb. While involved in inner searching some hidden laws of existence or unraveling the solution to a problem of the outer dimensions of the mind, he sits viewing the inner light, and the light shines through the knitted law of existence clearly, showing it in all its ramifications as well as shining out upon the snarled problem and burning it back into proportionate component parts.

Thus becoming adept in using his newly found faculties, be begins to study the findings of others and compares them to his own. This educational playback process elucidates to his still doubting intellect the "all rightness" of the happenings that occur within him. He finds that during the past eight thousand years men have from time to time walked the path of enlightenment, and he begins to see that he has yet far to go as his light often is dimmed by the pulling he experiences from the past, by the exuberance he shares with the future, and yet the fawn-like instability of the "here and now" eternity he has most recently experienced.

Now, in the Aquarian Age, when many men are being drawn within, it is eminently easier to attain and maintain clarity of perception through the actinic light within the body. Only a short time ago man looked at the external world through his physical eyes and registered it as real. Social and cultural structures were the controlling forces. Now a new race, the actinic race, looks through the veil of the outer mind and sees the game of it all, inevitably finding that when the rules are known the game may be entered into joyfully, resulting in winning applause. For through the Advaita Yoga techniques perfecting the conscious use of the will power, the energies can be drawn inward from the outer mind, and awareness can bask in the actinic light, coming into the outer mind only at will, and positively.

Occasionally young aspirants burst into experience indicating a balance of intense light at a still higher rate of vibration of here and now awareness than their almost daily experience of a moon-glow inner light. It is the dynamic vision of clairvoyantly seeing the head, and at times the body, filled with a brilliant clear light. When this intensity can be attained at will, more than often man will identify himself as the actinic force flowing through the odic externalities of the outer mind and understand it as a force of life more real and infinitely more permanent than the external mind itself. Occasionally, through his newly unfolded extrasensory perception, he may clairaudibly hear, within, the seven sounds he previously studied in occult lore. The sounds of the atomic structure of his nerve system and cells register as voices singing or as music of the vina, of the sita, or of the tambura. Instruments to duplicate these sounds for the outer ears were carefully tooled by the Himalayan rishis of Asvaita Yoga thousands of years ago, including the boom and jill of the tabla, and the flute.

As psychic centers in his cranium burst open, he will hear the shrill note, likened to a nightingale singing, and then an inner voice, indicating direction and elucidation to his external consciousness like a breath of air. This inner voice remains with him as a permanent yoga of the external consciousness, an ever-ready guide to the unraveling of complexities in daily life. Should he come out too far into materialistic consciousness, the inner voice may be falsely identified as an unseen master or a god talking into his right ear, but, when in the clarity of clairvoyantly seeing white light and at the same time clairaudibly hearing the inner sounds, he knows that it is his superconsciousness, his inner self. Occasionally, in a cross section of the sixth dimension of the inner mind, when light merges into transcendental form, the young aspirant may view the golden actinic face of a master peering into his, kindly and all-knowing. He is looking at his own great potential.

When eftya, the clear white light, becomes more of a friend to his external mind than merely an occasional vision or experience and can be basked in during the four contemplative tyaasem periods of the day, then the nourishment to the entire nervous system, as ambrosia, bursts forth from the crown chakra, kammakadeesareh kashumlinga. This is sometimes identified as "the peace that passeth understanding", but he who reaches this state can never explain it adequately. The highly trained Advaita Yoga adept, through techniques imparted to him from his guru, intensifies the clear white light to the brink of God-Realization, Emkael. His entire body is faded into a sea of blue-white light, where present, past, and future are recorded in the linear depths, or layers. He sometimes sees himself seated or standing on a lotus flower of shimmering light, in an actinodic clear transparent neon plastic-like body outline as his consciousness touches in the rhythm of a heart's beat into the Self, Emkaef.

Keeping this continuity alive and not allowing the external consciousness to reign, the young aspirant lives daily in the clear white light, eftya, having occasionally more intense experiences as just described, until he attains the maturity of the nerve fibers essential to burst his awareness beyond itself into the ultimate attainment of Self-Realization, Emkaef. This is only known and identified by him as an experience experienced. It is only recognized by others as he maintains his point of reference: the mind is only illusion, ever changing and perpetuating itself by mingling concepts of past and future into the present; the only reality is timeless, formless, causeless, spaceless, the Self beyond the mind. He knows that the mind is made from a consciousness of time, and that is creates, maintains, and defabricates form and exists in a relative concept of space. The Self is the only reality and is an intensity far greater than that of any phase of the mind.

The young aspirant just becoming acquainted with the path of enlightenment may wonder where he is and how much he has achieved so far. There are a few cardinal signposts with which he may identify to know he has touched into the inner realms of his mind. Should he ever have experienced a here and now consciousness so intensely that the reaction to the experience can cause states of depression, he can fully impart to himself an award of achievement. Then he must decide to strive even more diligently than before to maintain a conscious awareness of the here and now. The ability to see the external world as transparent, a game, a dream, encourages the aspirant to seek more deeply. When the moon-glow light within the center of his head appears during his tries at meditation, he may acquire the perceptive ability to cognize intimately the intricate workings of another's external and subconscious states of mind as well as his own. His ability to recognize his guru and identify himself in the actinic flow from whence the master infuses knowledge by causing inner doors to open is another signpost that the aspirant has become an experiencer and is touching in on the fringe or perimeter of transcendental states of mind.

Many on the path of enlightenment will be able to identify some of these signposts through their personal experience and recall many happenings that occurred during their awakenings. But remember, the recall and the experience are quite different. The experience is here and now; the recall is there and then. However, by identifying the experience and relating it to a solid intellectual knowledge, the ability will be awakened to utilize and live consciously in states of superconsciousness. After acquiring the ability to consciously live superconsciously, one is then able to work accurately and enthusiastically in the materially structured world, while holding the intensity of the inner light. When one gains perceptive awareness into the mechanical structures of the world, he is able to work out quickly in meditation experiences of the external mind or worldly happening through finding their innerversity aspects, rather than being drawn out into the swirl of them. In doing so, the cause and effect, simmereh, experiential patterns of the aspirant's life that tend to externalize awareness into congested areas of the mind will clear up, as more and more of the actinic flow of superconsciousness is maintained and as the bursts of eftya become frequent.

Those among the youth of today - and there are many - who have had some measure of attainment will be the leaders, businessmen, politicians, and educators of tomorrow as the Aquarian Age comes more into fulfillment. They will be able to work effectively in all states of the mind. They will consciously identify from the clarity of their vision with the overwhelming power of the white light within the body and through the mind. Still others will become the mendicant renunciates, sages, the catalyst teachers, the pundit philosophers, all working as individuals together to keep the perspective and teachings of the path of enlightenment alive and vibrant on the earth yet another eight thousand years.

Remember, when the seal of the kammakadeesareh kashumlinga is broken and eftya, clear white light, has flooded the awareness of the aspirant, there is no more a gap between the inner and the outer. After this experience, when awareness is entangled in uncomplimentary states of the external mind, it can refocus within through meditation and move into eftya, the clear white light. The aspirant can be aware that in having a newfound freedom internally and externally, there will be a strong tendency for the subconscious mind to reconstruct for itself a new congested program by reacting strongly to happenings during daily experiences. Even though one may think one is playing the games of external life, there is a tendency of the instinctive phases of nature to fall prey to the cumulative reactions caused by entering into them.

Therefore, an experience of inner light is not a solution; one or two bursts of eftya, clear white light, are only a door opener to transcendental possibilities. The young aspirant must become the experiencer, not the one who has experienced and basks in the memory patterns it caused. This is where discipline enters into the life and vocabulary of this blooming flower. This is why monasteries house disciples apart for a time. Under discipline, they become experiencers, fragmenting their entanglements before their vision daily while they do some mundane chore and complete each test and task that is set before them. The natya is taught to withdraw his reactionary habit patterns in eftya, the clear white light, four times each day - during the kanef tyaasem - at six in the morning, twelve noon, six in the evening, and twelve midnight. He clears the reactionary conditions that inevitably occur during the day with actinic love and understanding so that they do not congest of condense in his subconscious mind. Otherwise a new set of confused congested forces would build up and propel him into third dimensional outer states of consciousness, leaving his vision of eftya as an experience in memory patterns retreating into the past.

The young aspirant can use this elementary Advaita Yoga technique of going over the day at the end of the day in an internal concentration period, holding his awareness in the thought flow of just the current daily experience, not allowing it to waver into unrelated thought areas. When a reactionary condition appears that was not resolved with love and understanding during the day, it will melt away, usually, under the power of a perceptive flash of understanding, as the aspirant turns to the inner light.

Thousands of young aspirants who have had bursts of inner light have evolved quickly. Assuredly, this has been their natural, though sudden, flow of evolvement as it has occurred. This oversensitization of their entire consciousness so suddenly intensified into transcendental realms has caused the materialistic states to decentralize the attachments of their present life pattern, educational interests, and plans for the future. A springboard is needed, a new balance must be attained; that is, a new balance in relating to the materialistic world, for the physical body must still be cared for to unfold further into the human destiny of Emkaef, the realization of the self beyond all five states of mind. Enlightened seers are turning inward to find new ways of bringing forth knowledge from inner realms to meet creatively man's basic needs and to bring through to the external spheres the beauty and culture found only on inner planes. Thus are heralded the Golden Age of tomorrow and the illuminated beings of the future who, through the use of their disciplined third eye and other faculties, can remain "within", within eftya, the clear white light, while working accurately and enthusiastically on the material plane seeing it all the time as the obvious dream world.

When the aspirant realizes that he is the force that propels him onward, he will welcome discipline as an intricate part of his internal government so necessary to being eftya.

It is a great new world of the mind that is entered into when first eftya dawns, giving birth to a new actinic race and immediately causing the aspirant to become, in inner consciousness, the parent to his parents and his grandparents. When he lives in the fourth and fifth dimensions, in an expanded inner state of consciousness, he must not expect those living in dawmf and dawf, third dimensional materialistic consciousness, to understand him. On this new path of "the lonely one", wisdom must be invoked to be able to look through the eyes of those who believe the world is real, and see and relate to that limited world in working with them as if it were real, thus maintaining the harmony so necessary for future unfoldments. To try to convince those imbedded in materialism of the inner realities, only causes a breach in relationship, because it represents a positive threat to the subconscious security they have worked so hard to obtain.

First we had the instinctive age of valuing physical strength and manly prowess, followed by the intellectual age, facts for the sake of facts, resulting in the progress of science. Now we are in an age of new values, new governing laws, an actinic age, with a new understanding of the world, the mind, and most of all, the Self, beyond eftya. Understanding is preparation for travel, for it is an age of the mind, and in the mind, much more intense than the speed of light, exist spheres which rishis and seers are only willing to speak of to those who have the inner ear with which to listen.

The individual awareness of man tends either toward light or toward darkness, expanded awareness or materialistic values. Depending upon the self-created conditions of his consciousness, man lives either within eftya, the clear white light of the deep consciousness, or in the external mind structure which casts darkness upon his inner vision.

The uninitiated might ask: "What is it like to be in eftya?" The young aspirant may reply, "It is as simple as sitting in a darkened room, closing the eyes in deep concentration and finding the entire inside of the cranium turning into clear white light." At first it may be only a dim, moon-like glow, a pale flicker of several different colors, but then it becomes as bright and intense as the radiance of the noonday sun, then crystal clear and white. It depends upon the composition of the mind's states of reactionary patterns as to how the light in the cranium will first appear.

Of course, eftya is not absolute, for it is found in the fifth dimension of the mind. Light invariably implies the existence of shadow, the third dimension. The shadows that sometimes dim inner light are the instinctive functions that hold the physical body intact. These are represented as attributes in the external mind and character of man.

Attachment, for instance, holds our cells together; it is also the root of much suffering, because attachment to material objects or people keeps man's awareness externalized, incapable of expressing itself in full freedom. Man who is caught in the magnetic forces of the third dimension of the mind is prone to resentment. Not being able to cognize various fears as they occur, he stores them up into a conscious resentment of all threats to the false securities found in attachment. Resentment burrows deeply into the outer subconscious layers, undermining much of a person's creative endeavor. The reactionary conditions resentment is capable of agitating are subconscious and cast many shadows over clarity of perception for long periods of time.

Those who resent are often jealous, another shadow or character weakness which stems from feelings of inferiority, a limited view of one's inner self. After one burst of eftya has occurred, the force fields of attachment, resentment, and jealousy are shattered. As increased control of awareness is gained, an expanded consciousness is maintained which frees man little by little from ever again generating the magnetic holds consuming his consciousness in these shadows.

When man allows his external thinking and action to settle into uncreative static conditions, pressures build up, and the undisciplined subconscious releases itself to anger, an emotion which renders a man blind to the existence of inner light in any degree.

Fear is another shadow which causes man to be unable to face a critical moment, even in the intimacy of his deepest meditation. But fear is a protective process of the instinctive mind, which allows time to avoid temporarily what must later be faced. Fear, an intense force in the mind's structure, as well as the body's, must be handled positively, for when man thinks under the shadow of fear he causes his fears to be manifest. The flickering shadows of worry brought on by allowing awareness to jump irrationally in the external mind from one subject to another, never focusing on any one point long enough to complete it, must be handled through disciplining the flow of awareness in the external mind. Worry provokes the darker shadow - fear. Fear, when disturbed, causes anger, resentment, causes a jealous nature. Hence, the constant play of awareness between eftya, and the shadows.

By becoming conscious of the way in which the mind operates in even a small degree, the young aspirant to light finds it easy to fold back the shadows into shafts of clear white light.

Eftya Ookanashum

When we are in ideal surroundings in the rehnam, we can balance the passive and the active currents of the body - the physical energies of the body and the intellectual thought energies. First, do the simple pranayama of breathing easily in and out in an even rhythm, nine beats to the inhalation, hold one beat, and nine beats to the exhalation, hold the breath for one beat. This steady rhythm will soon begin to transmute the thought energies and forces and you move into the state of pure awareness aware only of itself.

As the thought energies become quieted and regulated, you will hear a ringing about an inch above the right ear. This is the sound of the nerve current of the thought energy. And as the body energy becomes quieted and regulated through sitting quietly, you will hear a ringing about an inch above the left ear. This is the nerve sound of the physical energies of the body, slightly different from the tone of the thought energy. The direction of the thought energy flow is up; whereas the body energy flows downward. When the energy in the two is balanced, a circle is formed, creating a force field in which the pure life force flowing through the spine and out into the nerve system is regulated.

Now, to bring the life force into power, listen to both tones simultaneously. It may take you about five minutes to hear both tones at the same time. Next, follow both tonal vibrations from the ears into the center of the cranium, where they will meet and blend into a slightly different sound, as two notes, say an "A" and an "E", blend into a chord. The energy of these two currents is then flowing in a circle, and you will enter the golden yellow light of the life force current. Play with this light and bask in its radiance, for in it is your bloom. The unfoldment progresses from a golden yellow to a clear white light. Should you see a blue light, know that you are in the thought current. If you see a pink light, that is the color of the body energy. Just disregard them and seek the white light, in the tone of the combined currents until finally you do not hear the tone anymore and you fully burst into the clear white light. Thus you enter intense experience of awareness aware only of itself, on brink of the Absolute. Samadhi with seed or consciousness, which is the culmination of this particular practice in contemplation.

After doing this for a period of time, you will find that the exterior world will seem transparent and unreal to you. When this happens you have to learn to bring your consciousness back through meditation deliberately into the processes of inner knowing and thought, and back into the exterior world through concentration, to make the exterior world seem real again.

Now is the time for students who have worked diligently in concentration and meditation and in clearing up personal problems to enjoy the contemplative life and be happy in their attainment of the bliss that is their heritage on earth.

Glossary

Actinic: Self-effulgent, having the quality of radiant energy, of subtle inner mind.

Actinic Love: Self-effulgent overflowing love for all humanity.

Actinodic: Having the property of both actinic and odic forces, or of actinic force piercing the odic force fields.

Advaita Yoga: Non-dualistic philosophy of the Hindu Vedas. Man is not man, man is God.

Adept: One who is practiced and has a certain amount of attainment.

Aquarian Age: Time period defined by planetary configuration, influencing the mind of man.

Awareness: Man's individual sense of perception.

Catalyst-Teacher: A teacher who inspires the student to practise and change.

Consciousness: That which pervades the mind-form.

Dawf: Confused subconscious state of mind. Awareness revolving within deep problem areas, unable to loosen itself, out of touch with the superconscious mind.

Dawmf: Experiencing the world, its values, and objects as real and permanent. Awareness being totally content in this state of consciousness.

Eekaef: Intense experience of awareness aware only of itself, on brink of the Absolute. Samadhi with seed or consciousness.

Eftya: Brilliant transparent clear white light as seen during deep contemplation.

Emkaef: Self-Realization. Awareness aware only of itself, dissolving. Only the Self remains.

Guru: An enlightened teacher of the Classical Yoga system of Self-Realization.

Initiate: One who has been accepted as a personal disciple of the guru.

Innerversity: Coined word implying the activity of meditation or learning from the inner world of consciousness.

Kaef: Pure awareness, aware only of itself.

Kalebasa: Breath; breathing exercise for meditation, pranayama. Breathing nine counts in, holding one, nine counts out, holding one, eyes crossed looking at the nose, counting on the heartbeat.

Kammakadeesareh: Crown chakra. There are seven chakras, or subtle force centers connected to the major nerve plexus of the central nervous system. Chakra in Sanskrit means wheel, as the motion of these force centers can be seen as rotating wheels of energy. The crown chakra, or saraswara, is situated at the top of the head and is said to have 1008 petals which symbolize the different powers or aspects of the mind.

Kanef: Contemplative life-style.

Karmic: Of karma, the cycle of action and reation which causes the experiences and encounters of one's lifetime.

Karehana: Physical energies of the body.

Kashumlinga: Chakra. A force center within the psychic body of man.

Mind: Mind is form ever creating form, preserving form, creating new forms, and destroying old forms.

Natya: Student, sishya, chela of a guru.

Nefmem: Private chapel for meditation in the home.

Odic: Having the property of magnetic, reflected energy of the gross mind.

Ookanashum: Assignment given by the guru to his natya, the working through and final accomplishment of which helps the natya arrive at full control over the flow of awareness.

Rishi: Profound mystic or sage.

Simmereh: Cause and effect principle of karma.

Simshumbese: Pure life force flowing through the spine and out into the nerve system.

Tyaasem: Four meditations periods of Kanef. Held daily at 6 a.m., 12 noon, 6 p.m., and 12 midnight, A time for contemplation and chanting shum.

Vumtyaoode: Intellectual thought energies.

Appendix

SEVEN DIMENSIONS OF THE MIND

SEVENTH DIMENSION: Awareness expanded into endless inner space.

SIXTH DIMENSION: The rarefied area of mind where forms are conceived of inner sounds and colors.

FIFTH DIMENSION: Awareness of forms in their totality in progressive states of manifestation.

FOURTH DIMENSION" Awareness cognizing the interrelated forces of the fifth, fourth and third dimension.

THIRD DIMENSION: The interrelated magnetic forces that exist between people and people and their things.

SECOND DIMENSION: All physical objects that you can see and touch.

FIRST DIMENSION: The inside that you can not see or touch of physical objects.