CHAPTER IV --- EXPERIENCES DURING TRANSMISSION
As you are sitting in the Transmission Meditation group stepping down the
energy, do you experience physical sensations?
It depends on who you are. Most people have a strong physical experience of the
energy in the etheric body, which is of finer, more subtle matter than the
dense physical body. People may experience it as hot and cold vibrations in the
etheric. They may, if they are sensitive, experience the energy in a particular
chakra, the heart or the throat for example. Not everyone has this sensitivity
to vibration. Some people say they do not actually feel the energies. They know
they are there, they experience them in some way, but they do not feel them.
They say: "I don't know when it starts or when it stops, I rely on other people
to tell me." But by their reactions I can tell that they do know when they
start or cease.
One man in our group hears the energies. As I say which energy is coming, he
hears a different note. Another person sees constant changing waves of colour.
So there are different ways to experience them. It depends on your own
particular type of response to vibration - mental, visual, auditory or sensory.
I myself feel it so strongly that I find it difficult to understand why other
people do not, but I know-they do not. Some people have that kind of physical
body - they are simply not aware of energy changes or of the vibration of the
etheric centres.
Why is it that during Transmission Meditation sometimes the energies seem very
powerful indeed, and at other times you feel much less or nothing at all?
[A remarkable wisp of light can be seen in the left of the photograph. In this
case, spiritual energy, coming through the people and then transmitted through
the tetrahedron, has become visible.]
It may be that at the particular time when you are feeling nothing, the
energies which are being sent through the other members of the group are not
going through you because they are not your particular line. Groups are made up
of people of different ray lines or types of energies.
There are seven major rays which stem from seven stars in the Great Bear, and
each of us is on one of these rays. The ray of our soul, the Higher Self, will
be the same throughout our existence. The personality ray can change from life
to life.
The 1 st ray is the ray of Will, or Power, or Purpose; the 2nd is the ray of
Love-Wisdom; the 3rd, the ray of Active Intelligence, Higher Mind; the 4th is
the ray of Harmony through Conflict, or Beauty; the 5th, that of Lower Mind or
Concrete Science; the 6th is the ray of Abstract Idealism or Devotion; and the
7th, which is. the ray coming into force now in this new age, is the ray of
Ceremonial Order, or Magic, or Ritual, or Organization. We are all of us on one
of these rays, as souls and as personalities. Our mental bodies, our emotional
bodies and our physical bodies are also each on one of these rays. Nations have
souls and personalities just as human beings do and are also on these rays,
both as souls and as personalities.
The Masters are in control of all the rays. There are seven major ashrams or
groups in the Hierarchy, with a Master at the head of each, and there are 42
subsidiary ashrams stemming from these seven major ones - 49 ashrams
altogether. Each line of seven is governed by, and utilizes the energy of, one
of these seven rays. In Transmission groups people will tend to be of one of
two ray structures, the 2-4-6 line or the 1-3-5-7 line. If, for example, you
are a 2nd-ray soul with a 2nd-ray personality, then it is quite possible that
the 1st and 7th ray energies will be flowing at a particular time through some
members of the group, but you will not be receiving them. You will experience a
hiatus at that time. Then the energy will flow again but it will be your line
this time, the 2-4-6 line.
It may be that at the time you feel nothing you are unaligned or just so tired
that you do not respond to the vibration. There are also peaks and troughs in
the sending of the energies themselves. In addition, very high energies may be
beyond your range of feeling because they come no lower than the higher mental
planes. People respond very differently. But the fact that you do not feel
anything does not mean that you are not transmitting energy.
[Editor's note: For more information on the seven rays, see Maitreya's Mission,
Vols. I and II, by Benjamin Creme.]
Often, during Transmission Meditation, I see very bright, luminous colours,
usually blue or purple, sometimes gold. Could you please say what this
signifies?
They are visual manifestations of the during the Meditation.
Why do people have the experience that the Transmission energy is different on
different nights?
I think there are two factors here. One is that the energies themselves may be
different, have different qualities which have a different effect on you. The
other is that people vary from evening to evening because of work patterns or
pressure of the atmosphere; they are more or less tired, more or less
vitalized, and therefore probably absorb, when the vitality is low, less of the
energies than at other times. The energy potential is exactly in proportion to
the spiritual tension. Obviously, people who are more advanced in evolution
will absorb and transmit energy of higher potency than those who are less
evolved. They have greater spiritual tension.
Our own spiritual tension varies from day to day. So, in the same way, we will
receive a particular potency of the energy one day, and more or less on another
day. The group tension is made up of the sum total of the individual tensions.
In addition, the energies themselves are sent and are brought down by the
Masters to different' levels. The energy one night may not seem strong at all,
not because it is not being sent out powerfully, but because it is not being
received sensitively. It may be so high that the apparatus of the group members
cannot sense it. The 5.ame energy brought down onto a lower plane they feel
strongly because they are sensitive to it at the lower level. The lower the
plane the more we feel the energy. We only think of what we feel strongly as
being strong, but that is dependent on our instrument. It is not usually to do
with the strength or otherwise of the energy, although it may be.
Do some of the physical reactions during Transmission Meditation, like
coughing, mean there is a blockage in our physical body?
Yes, they usually do. During Transmission Meditation many individuals get a
strong tickle in the throat causing them to cough. It happens in all groups. It
is a stimulation of the throat centre caused by the incoming energies. There is
a block in the flow of the energy through the throat centre, and the best thing
is to have a little glass of water under your chair and take a drink.
Also check whether the throat is tense. If it is, visualize the centre and
eject the energy from it. Visualize a channel coming out from the centre and,
as it were, empty it. Draw the energy from behind the back of the neck through
the throat centre and out the front to clean the blockage out.
What causes a blockage in an energy centre?
The energy centres are in the etheric body, a counterpart of the physical body.
They are attached to the channel in the centre of the spine (the sushumna) and
go through to the front like two cones of energy meeting at the spine. The
energies come in one side and out the other, but it is a moving stream and not
fixed. If the energy is dammed up it will produce an inflammation, a stasis.
If, for example, the muscles of the throat are contracted by the non-use of the
energy flowing from the soul through the throat centre, then you can get a
blockage of the throat centre.
Those who meditate inevitably invoke energy from the soul. You build the
antahkarana, the channel to the soul, and through that channel the energy from
the soul flows into the various bodies - mental, astral, and physical - and if
it is not used by the disciple in service activity, it gets dammed up in the
centres. You might say: "Well, I'm serving, I'm serving 20 hours a day", but do
you serve along the right lines? Is it along your own line of least resistance?
Do you serve in such a way that you are using the energy, not just trying, but
actually using it? Are you, for instance, serving in a physical sense when you
should really be serving through the written or spoken word? There are
different types of service and you have to use every part of yourself. Some
people will be better at one aspect and some at another, but it is the use in a
balanced way of all the energies entering from the soul which prevents those
blockages.
When I'm concentrating on something in my daily life, I sometimes feel a
tingling in the top of my head or feel as if energy is entering me. Am I
transmitting?
People feel energy coming in spontaneously from time to time. That is usually
not a Transmission. What you are really experiencing 99 times out of 100 is the
energy from your own soul. The soul exists on its own plane. That is really who
we are - souls. Most of the time our soul is turned in meditation towards the
Monad, the Spirit aspect. From time to time it turns its attention towards the
man or woman in incarnation, its vehicle. When it does that, and especially
with a developed person who is engaged in meditation and service, and is an
aspirant, disciple, or initiate, it overshadows its reflection. It pours its
energy into the vehicle, whether on the mental, the astral, the etheric
physical plane, or a combination of all three. Then you get that feeling which
is something like a Transmission, but is not. It is the soul, and it really
feels quite different from a Transmission. It feels as if you have a cap on
your head, and it comes right down to above the eyebrows. It is like a heavy
band all around your head, but it is inside. When that happens, you know it is
your soul. You learn to feel the differences among vibrations. There are three
distinct vibrations - the Ashramic vibration, the Master's vibration, and your
soul vibration - and you have to differentiate among them. First you get to
know your own soul. It has a specific vibration and it does not feel at all
like the feeling in your head during Transmission Meditation.
In Transmission Meditation the energies are put through the chakras by the
Masters and you have no hand in it. You are like an instrument with holes in
it, and the energy comes through the holes and out into the world transformed,
stepped down. So Transmission is quite a different thing from the energy of the
soul. You may also feel the energy of the Christ, or the energies of the rays,
and they all feel different in your aura, in your etheric centres. As you
become more sophisticated in this process you learn to discern the different
energies.
I have been experiencing that sensation of the soul stimulus more and more
frequently, sometimes during my meditation (personal and Transmission), and
often just at random times, and I'm sometimes able to invoke it at will. What
exactly does it mean when this occurs, and is there an attitude of mind or
visualization to be used at these times?
The soul alternates its attention between the Monad (upward) and its own
reflection, the man or woman in incarnation. This occurs cyclically and these
cycles vary both individually and during any given life.
There are cycles of intense soul stimulus (in response to meditation and
spiritual aspiration and service) and cycles of relative quiet.
There is no special attitude of mind or visualization (except awareness of the
event) to be followed at these times.
When I feel very strong energies, for instance when I read the Messages from
Maitreya, how can I tell whether it is from the soul, a Master, or dare I hope,
Maitreya?
It is impossible to read the Messages from Maitreya, or say them aloud, without
invoking His energy. That is one reason why they were given. It is difficult to
say about strong energies in general - it is really a matter of experience and
discrimination. It is usually more correct-to accept that the energy is from
one's own soul.
When we do Transmission Meditation, does the thought process stop automatically?
No. The nature of the lower mind is to think; that monkey-mind jumps about all
the time. But there are various techniques for slowing the activity of the
mind, the best of which is the slowing of the breath. You will find that the
breath and the thought come from the same source. As you slow down the breath,
you slow down the thought. When you slow down the thought, you slow down-the
breath. The two processes work together. You do not have to stop thinking in
order to transmit energy. All you have to do is to establish an alignment
between the physical brain and the soul.
Do our thoughts obscure the channel of alignment during Transmission Meditation?
Yes, but that does not mean to say that if you are thinking you are not
transmitting the energies. It is a question of degree. As soon as the alignment
between the physical brain and the soul is made, the energy can be transmitted.
So all you have to do during Transmission Meditation is to hold the alignment.
If you can hold that alignment and talk at the same time, your thoughts have no
effect on the energy at all. The concentration needed is really the
concentration of holding the alignment, but if the alignment is there all the
time, normally, there is no concentration needed to hold it. What does
interfere is the direction of the thought. The astral thoughtforms really
discolour the energies. The lower mind thinks, but as long as you do not follow
or direct the thought, it does not have any great impact on the energy. If you
focus the thought on a particular person, or group, or country, you direct the
energy to that person, or group or country, which is exactly what is not
wanted. So the less you think the better, but it does not mean that lower mind
activity has any major impact on the energy flow. The point is that perfection
is best, but it is not absolutely essential.
What about negative thoughts that come up during Transmission Meditation - do
they discolour the transmission energies?
Yes, they certainly do. We discolour the spiritual energies by our astral
thoughtforms. Our fears, anxieties, dreams, fantasies - all that discolours the
energy. But if our attention is held high, this will not happen. We think such
thoughts because we are focused on the solar plexus. These are actually
emotional experiences which are reaching the lower levels of the brain as
thoughtforms. But if you hold the attention between the eyebrows, without any
kind of strain during the Transmission,-none of these things will come up onto
the brain level. They will remain emotional reactions and you will deal with
them sooner or later, but they will not actually surface during the
Transmission. That is why it is important to hold your attention up and not
become negative. It is a very positive, poised, mental activity.
The tetrahedron instrument is also invaluable because, among other things, it
automatically earths astral thoughtforms. [Editor's note: For an explanation of
the tetrahedron instrument, see pages 73-77.]
Master D.K. warns of the danger of meditating for too long. Transmission
Meditation goes on for long hours. Isn't it dangerous?
We have to differentiate between meditating for too long and transmitting for
too long. It is of course possible to meditate for too long, that is,
meditating in terms of alignment with the soul. There is just so much energy
you can take from the soul and then use. If you do not use it you get stasis
and inflammation somewhere, and neurosis starts. But you cannot transmit for
too long; it is not possible because the Masters control the sending of the
energies.
Never have such potencies been so available to the Christ as they are now, and
never has the need for the transmission of these energies into the world been
as urgent as now. The urgency has invoked the energies. Why limit yourself to
half an hour or an hour when you could just as easily go for two hours, three
hours or more? We in England go for four hours plus; recently on this tour we
have had Transmissions of seven and nine hours, and in Holland, 11 hours. That
is tiring, but not too long. There is no possibility of doing harm. The Masters
are in charge and determine the duration of the transmission of the energies.
In the Alice Bailey books, Master D.K. does not talk about Transmission work so
He is not warning against it. D.K. is warning against the negative state which
can develop in meditating too long, and also of the dangers of over-stimulation
by soul energy.
I'm concerned about the blank mind, the empty state people fall into when
transmitting. D.K says not to meditate with a blank mind.
I do not say you should make your mind a blank. You should be alert and open.
You should consciously hold your attention at the ajna centre. If you do this
you may not be thinking at all, but your mind is not blank. In meditation you
must learn the difference between the mind which is poised, absolutely alert,
totally aware, and the mind which is blank. You may be more poised and aware
with thoughts running through your mind than you are with a blank mind. A mind
which is not thinking is not the same as a mind which is blank.
If, during Transmission Meditation, one regularly experiences strong and
uncomfortable emotions, is it better to discontinue Transmission for a period
of time, until perhaps the feelings subside somewhat, or try to continue on as
best as possible in the midst of the emotions? Is the stimulation of strong
emotions common in Transmission Meditation?
Try to continue until emotional balance is regained. When properly conducted,
that is with the attention focused at the ajna centre (between the eyebrows),
the upsurge of strong emotion should be rare.
Why do people tend to fall asleep often during Transmission Meditation?
People fall asleep during Transmission for two reasons: because they are tired,
and because they do not find it easy to physically absorb these spiritual
energies. An incredible stimulus is given to the work of the groups and to the
evolution of the individuals in them. They are dealing with energies which,
initially, their physical bodies cannot easily accept and hold. There is a
timelag between the sending and reception of the energies and the actual
ability of the physical body to absorb them easily. In Transmission Meditation
the bodies of the individuals are gradually being tuned so that they can absorb
more and more. But while this process is going on they can easily fall asleep.
Can or should you put yourself under self-hypnosis while transmitting or does
this work against what is being accomplished?
Some people find it difficult enough to keep awake the whole time during a
Transmission without introducing self-hypnosis. What is required is a positive
mental focus which entails concentration on the ajna centre (between the
eyebrows).
Are the visions and messages people seem to get during Transmission Meditation
valid?
Many people have said to me: "We had a marvellous Transmission last Friday. All
the Masters were there, the energies were beautiful and they gave us wonderful
teachings." That is nonsense. It is pure glamour, illusion, and should be
eschewed at all costs. If you are doing that, stop. They do not give marvellous
teachings during Transmissions. They do not give any teachings at all during
Transmissions. They simply transmit the energies through the people in the
group. The "teachings" and the "Masters" around them are in the astral
imagination of the people. Because a lot of people come into this more esoteric
work from the spiritualist movement they think it is the same thing, but it is
not. It has nothing to do with the spirit world and nothing to do with the
teachers on the astral planes. It is a scientific process whereby the Masters,
working from the Buddhic level, can transform Their energies down onto the
physical plane.
Could people have contact with 'entities' during Transmission Meditation?
Yes, mediumistic types may allow themselves to hold a passive, negative focus
at the solar plexus and so open themselves to contact from astral entities. The
danger is inherent in all meditation work, hence the necessity of holding a
positive mental focus (at the ajna centre).
Does Transmission Meditation strengthen the intuition like 'regular' meditation?
Most certainly. Every activity (meditation and/or service) which invokes the
soul qualities into the personality life strengthens the intuition.
Transmission Meditation is a dynamic forcing process by which the nature of the
soul is powerfully invoked. During the Transmission, because all the centres
are activated and galvanized, your mind becomes incredibly clear and creative.
Through the alignment between the physical brain and the soul which is
necessary to do the Transmission, the antahkarana - the channel of light
between soul and brain - is kept open. Therefore it is easier for the soul to
enhance the intuitive ability of the individual.
Also, you do get inspirational activity. Ideas are dropped down from the soul
level into the mind of receptive individuals during Transmission. Many people
have very good ideas during the Transmission. But that is not the aim. The aim
is the act of service by stepping down the energy so that it becomes useful to
a broader section of humanity. The real aim, the true motive, is service.
Is it not dangerous to concentrate on the ajna centre? I have heard that
concentration on the chakras can be dangerous.
It certainly can be dangerous to concentrate, as many do, on a particular
centre, especially on those below the diaphragm. As you concentrate on a
centre, the energy follows your thought. This is a fundamental axiom of
occultism - that all in the world is energy, and that energy follows thought.
The activity of the centres has to be awakened in the correct sequence for each
ray type, and people do themselves much harm from too little knowledge. The aim
must always be the lifting of the energy from the centres below the diaphragm
to those above it, along with correct balance and alignment of the chakras.
,
The governing centre for the mental level is the ajna centre, between the
eyebrows. As you become focused on the mental level, emotions become governable
without repression. The ajna centre acts as the synthesizer of all the chakras
below it and it is perfectly safe to concentrate the attention on it. It is the
heart centre in the head. Some say: "I always transmit through the heart
centre." This is fine. You cannot transmit through the ajna centre without
transmitting through the heart centre. During a Transmission, you can fix your
attention on the ajna centre with full confidence.
I tend to keep my attention focused on the ajna centre continuously, even
during everyday activities. Is this not dangerous?
This is certainly not dangerous. If you are really holding the attention
focused on the ajna centre continuously, then you are well on the way to
achieving mental polarization. Check what happens to your attention, however,
when you find yourself in a situation which would normally stimulate a strong
emotional reaction. Does your attention remain at the ajna centre or has it
dropped to the solar plexus?
When I concentrate on the centre between the eyebrows, I feel like I have an
eye there. Is this the third eye?
The ajna centre is not the third eye. The third eye is actually inside, while
the ajna centre is in front of the head. The third eye is created by the
activity of the disciple himself.
The pituitary body which sits behind the bridge of the nose is related to the
ajna centre, while the pineal gland in the centre of the head is related to the
head centre. Gradually, meditation heightens the activity of both these glands.
When the radiance, the light, given off by the pituitary body and the pineal
gland expands sufficiently as a result of this heightened activity, a magnetic
contact is made between them, the two centres overlap and a field results. The
third eye is born there. It gives higher, clairvoyant vision. That is a
different thing from the ajna centre itself.
Thus, when you transmit, you are not holding your attention on the third eye at
all, but on the ajna centre between the eyebrows. The pressure you may feel is
the energy flowing through the centre. That is where you should have your
attention all the time. The attention of most people is down in the solar
plexus centre, or even lower, but it should actually be at the ajna centre.
This is the governing centre. While you are focused there you are in charge of
yourself and your thought activity. From there you also control the activity of
the solar plexus which is the centre of the emotions. You cannot make any real
advance in evolution until you control the activity of that centre.
For three years, 1 have been a member of a Transmission Meditation group. We
meet twice a week for one hour. After the meditation I feel so clear that I
don't fall asleep before 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. As I have to get tip
again at 5:00, I feel very tired after such a short sleep. This causes problems
at my work. Can you give any advice?
This is quite a common problem in Transmission groups. Personally, I cannot go
to sleep for some hours after a Transmission. The thing is to make the best use
of the time while awake. Take up some work or reading and you will soon relax
into sleep. I recommend that you should, if possible, lengthen the Transmission
gradually (say add 15 minutes every two or three weeks) until you are doing up
to three hours. Then you will probably want to sleep!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
===============================================
Watch your thoughts, they become your words
Watch your words, they become your actions
Watch your actions, they become your habits
Watch your habits, they become your character
Watch your character, it become your destiny !
** Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba **
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