Our Bodies

Our Bodies

Bodies by Toshiyuki IMAI
Bodies by Toshiyuki IMAI

Like so many things on a spiritual journey, we can experience our body in a vast range of ways.

Most people experience their physical body and have an internal experience of thoughts and emotions.

Some come to experience energy fields and auras, learning to see or feel them. Some notice their mind is like a field surrounding the entire body. And so forth.

This leads to descriptions of 5 koshas, sheaths, or “bodies”; the food (physical), emotional, mental, intellect, and causal.

In Brahman stage, you can come to see consciousness itself as a universal kosha. Add the field of creation or flows of consciousness and you have the 7 kosha model I use.

However, in Refined Unity stage prior to that, we may become aware of the cosmic body. The cosmic body is the body of all bodies, the cosmic template for our physiology.

Different traditions speak of the cosmic body in various ways. The son of God, for example. Or Narayana, the firstborn.

Perhaps at first we recognize there is a cosmic body, then that it is our cosmic body, then that I am that, then that there is only the cosmic body.

With Brahman stage, we come to recognize simultaneous realities where there are distinct perspectives that are simultaneously true. We are cosmic in body and physical too. These are not separate perspectives but part of one totality.

Still deeper, we can come to recognize there is a Divine body, a body made of Divinity. Then that we are that. Then that can rise right to the surface. It is Divine even to the sense of touch, for example.

From the perspective of being the cosmic body or being the Divine body, there are no koshas. The apparent physical body is just an appearance of the universal body, even right on the surface.

And yet this doesn’t exclude the experience of our physical senses and of having a physical body. Nor does it exclude the perspective of the koshas. It is all experienced to be only cosmic or only Divine.

One body known many, many ways.
Davidya

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11 Comments

  1. Michael Jaksch

    Hi David!

    Very nice!
    What are the effects of the divine body rising to the surface? Does that awaken the body (physical) devas? Does it change the physical body? etc.

    Much love
    Michael

    1. Hi Michael
      I imagine they vary some, depending on our makeup. But broadly, it starts with immersion in Divinity. Like being filled with liquid light. (This happens several times previously but is a deeper, more inclusive version.)
      .
      That is immersing the devas of the physiology (not just physical) in Divinity which can cause them to spiritually awaken. I wrote about that here:
      https://davidya.ca/2018/11/12/waking-the-body/
      .
      This causes a major wave of purification.
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      I don’t have enough data to know what it typically changes but it’s certainly affected it here. Several things including this lead to the weight loss here, for example.
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      There is also the experience of the body literally being only Divinity. This while also experiencing areas still with shadow. 🙂
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      I have noticed that the type of devas it awakens varies too. I’m not sure what influences that.

      1. Michael Jaksch

        Very interesting!! 🙂

        Do you think it will, over time make the physical body more divine itself in its expression? Like needing less food, water, sleep, oxygen etc.
        Longer life expectancy….de-aging….some physical siddhis like flying ….etc.

        1. Hi Michael
          Yes. But keep in mind this is a multi-layered process. Just as we’re usually still integrating Self Realization after the Unity shift, so too the refinement and purification that would allow further embodiment are ongoing. In golden ages, people refine for hundreds of years. We’re much slower on that front now so can only get so far.
          .
          It doesn’t require a Divine body for some of those things. For example, a purer physiology would allow tapping in to universal prana, reducing the need for that from breath and food. Nutrients would likely still be required though.
          .
          Sleep is largely about processing the day, repair, and purification. So addressing those factors other ways would reduce the need.
          .
          Aging is an effect of wear and tear – we tend to carry a Lot of unresolved stuff. Addressing that would help quality of life. However, most of us do come in with a calendar. It would take significant upgrades to edit that. 🙂
          .
          Siddhis expression is about active laws of nature and clear channels so is another on the resolution front.
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          All of these factors will change as the collective rises into a higher stage.
          .
          Embodying the Divine is ultimately more about being a lighthouse for the world. We’re a little limited by capacity in the current time but that will evolve.
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          It certainly seems to be accelerating some of that though… 🙂

  2. Guru

    Namaste. Brahman is not touched by consciousness. Divinity is awareness. does consciousness come and go, as in deep sleep? is it a state? consciousness is self luminous, am I right? you are the one who can guide me. At some point of time I thought only consciousness is real and whatever comes and goes is not real. It took years to understand these conceptual barriers to be cleared. In this journey you are authentic source. kindly respond.

    1. Hi Guru
      I don’t frame it quite this way. Self-aware consciousness is within Brahman and Brahman within Divinity. Brahman is both saguna and nirguna – with and without qualities.
      .
      Awareness is produced by qualities of Divinity but it’s underestimating Divinity to say it is awareness. From a Self Realization perspective, this may be true but it’s more.
      .
      Consciousness is universal, infinite and eternal. It doesn’t come and go but our appreciation of it does. Waking, dreaming, and sleeping are more accurately states of the physiology that affect how we appreciate consciousness. We could say they are changes in the means of experience, not consciousness itself.
      .
      This becomes obvious when we witness sleep. Consciousness is awake inside while the body sleeps. However, in deep sleep, even the senses are asleep (along with the mind) so there is no content of experience.
      .
      Consciousness is luminous, yes, although that may not be appreciated at first. It can be seen as self-luminous in earlier stages but later it turns out the luminosity is Divinity shining through consciousness.
      .
      Whatever comes and goes is not real in itself but it has a deeper reality. World as illusion is only one stage in the process.
      .
      To be clear, we’re talking about consciousness. It is consciousness that knows consciousness, not the mind. Mind may bring those experiences words but without the experience, it’s just beliefs. Those have limited use.

    1. It’s natural to collect some concepts, Guru. Spiritual study is part of most traditions. It’s good to have a working framework and to favour better concepts.
      .
      But it’s also good to remind ourselves that they are just concepts and should be considered subject to change as we learn.

    1. Hi Peter
      As I note in the article, Narayana means “first born” and is one of the names of the cosmic body. In the Shankaracharya tradition, Narayana, as the cosmic, is the source of the wisdom of life and is thus named as the first in the tradition of sages as in the guru puja. If you look at illustrations of the tradition, you’ll see the one at the top just has a body of light.

      The cosmic body is both profoundly subtle – more like a cosmic idea – and is right on the surface, guiding the forms of all humans.

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