I have no idea how MMY got the idea of seven states of consciousness. I
guess we'll have to wait until Bill gets off work to find out. From what
I've read, MMY, from a very early age, got interested in spiritual paths
and yoga from his uncle Raj Varma, who apparently used to visit saints that
came to town.
So, I wouldn't be surprised if MMY had met and talked about this subject on
numerous occasions and may have read about this in a book by Vivekananda or
somebody. One thing that should be noted is that MMY seemed to have a
lock-down memory - he could sit down and lecture for hours and hours,
extemporaneously, on a wide variety of subjects. If you listen to his
recording on World Pacific records you can tell that he recorded this
studio talk in one single take. That's very impressive!
But, I'm going to go out on limb on this one. MMY probably got the idea
from the seven chakras in Kundalini Yoga. The number seven is very magical
to Indians, and to lots of other people too. There are seven chakras
according to the Tibetans, and each one corresponds to a different state of
consciousness.
According to Raja Raam, there is a corresponding physical attribute to
every mantra in the Vedas. For example, there are three gunas and
thirty-two constituent evolutes which correspond to the nadis, etc.
MMY on world Pacific Records:
[image: Inline image 1]
'Seven States of Consciousness'
By Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Vinyl Recording, 62 minutes
World Pacific, 1967
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - The Seven States Of Consciousness - Part 1 (1967)
Vinyl
http://youtu.be/ScwYJ7GHixw
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - The Seven States Of Consciousness Part 2 (1967)
Vinyl
http://youtu.be/YthYUKr8Uus
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - The Seven States Of Consciousness - Part 3 (1967)
Vinyl
http://youtu.be/O_aVtOOUaEM
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - The Seven States Of Consciousness - Part 4 (1967)
Vinyl
http://youtu.be/Ah5rdtZtioA
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - The Seven States Of Consciousness - Part 5 (1967)
Vinyl
http://youtu.be/ApkVpdGoOyE
On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 10:35 AM, Share Long wrote:
>
>
> Richard, Maharishi was a huge proponent of combining intellectual
> understanding with direct experience. So I still say what he wrote about 7
> states was based on his own experience and that of others he knew.
>
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, December 11, 2013 10:01 AM, Richard J. Williams <
> pundits...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> MMY probably either heard his teacher recite the Upanishads or he read
> about it the Hindu scriptures. All the Upanishad thinkers were
> transcendentalists. The various states of consciousness is a common
> typology known all over India. According to Swami Rama and Swami
> Bhaktivedanta, the various states of consciousness are enumerated in the
> Vedanta scriptures, such as the Mandukya - it's only twelve verses - you
> should read it sometime. There's no reason to "make stuff up" when it's
> already made up and written down for all to see. Go figure. It's not
> complicated.
>
> On 12/11/2013 9:28 AM, emptyb...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
>
> Where did MMY get his teaching about seven (7) states of consciousness?
> Did he just make it up?
>
> The professor just repeated a few descriptions without answering the
> question. Anyone else know?
>
>
>
>
>
>
