THE SEVEN STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

1967

So today we'll be dealing with the state of consciousness, and then we will see how much we are living in our daily life, how much we are living, and how much great possibility is there for us to live as human beings.

Commonly we live waking state of consciousness, dreaming state of consciousness, sleep state of consciousness. These are three relative states of consciousness.

Those who meditate, they retire from the outside, they take our awareness from the outside, and gradually go deep into the thinking process, and eventually go beyond the thought—transcend thought—and then the thinking mind, the conscious mind becomes consciousNESS. When it goes beyond thought, then it transcends thought and become consciousNESS.

This consciousness is pure consciousness. The nature of this pure consciousness is bliss. It is [the] nonchanging sphere of life, because we have transcended all the variable section of relative life and gone to the Absolute. This is called Being, inner Being, Absolute bliss-consciousness. This Absolute bliss-consciousness is eternal. Eternal it is because it is nonchanging.

Everything in the relative field is changing, changing, changing. When I talk of the relative field, I mean all the gross and subtle aspects of creation. Finest level of creation, and then the grosser and grossest level of creation, the entire cosmos. And deep within everything in creation is that field of Being which is transcendental Being—transcendent, Absolute.

Transcendental Meditation is that process which has made the realization of the Absolute a scientific phenomenon. Scientific phenomenon means it can be explored in a very systematic manner, and it is open to experience by everyone.

It only needs taking our attention from the gross field of activity in the relative life to the subtle fields of activity in the relative life, eventually to the subtlest field of activity in the relative life. And transcending the subtlest of the relative, we get to the transcendental Absolute. In this way, bringing our attention in a systematic manner from gross to the subtle, we come to directly experience the Absolute. And this systematic procedure of taking our attention from the outside to the inside has provided a systematic, scientific process of exploration into the nature of the Absolute, and the nature has been found to be pure consciousness or bliss consciousness.

Absolute? The word Absolute so far was shrouded in the garb of mysticism.

In these days I hear some word "transcendentalism." It is the transcendental field of life that is free from "isms." All "isms" belong to the changing sphere of relative life. Every "ism" has some corresponding branch of learning—this "ism" or this "ism" or this "ism." "Transcendentalism" is a word from the mouth of the ignorant. There is nothing like transcendentalism. The transcendental field of Absolute is free from "isms." It is pure intelligence, pure Being, pure existence. This pure consciousness is the basis of all these waking, dreaming, and sleeping states of consciousness.

How do we know it? We know it for the simple reason that pure existence is the basis of all that exists. Very obvious! All that exists, exists on the basis of existence. The entire relative field of phenomenal existence is based on pure existence.

Waking, dreaming, and sleeping, these are the three relative states of consciousness. Belonging to the relative field, they are based on the Absolute Being. Therefore, these three states of consciousness are based on pure consciousness absolutely.

We have seen that the state of the nervous system is responsible for the state of consciousness. Somehow the nervous system gets so tired and becomes so fatigued and stressed that instead of reflecting a waking state of consciousness, it starts reflecting deep-sleep state of consciousness—nothing, no awareness, deep sleep. Or in between waking and sleeping, some dreaming state of consciousness. It is the resetting of the physical structure of [the] nervous system that produces different states of consciousness.

When through meditation pure consciousness begins to be reflected by [the] nervous system, then [the] nervous system has a state which we call restful alertness. The entire metabolic rate becomes nil. The physical nervous system gets completely rested, and yet it is alert. Inside one is awake. [The] mind is not functioning—it is not active— but the awareness is clear. This clarity of awareness is pure consciousness or pure awareness.

As long as the thinking mind is experiencing a thought, so long the mind is a thinker. And the thought becomes finer and finer, and then the thinker becomes more and more alert in order to experience the finer thought, and then the thought becomes finer and finer, it becomes finest. And when the thought drops off, [the] thinker remains all by himself, and this is Self-realization.

This state of pure consciousness is realization of the Self. It is also called Self-awareness. Here the Self is not aware of anything else. It was aware of the thought, and now the thought has dropped off. The Self remains all by itself. It is aware of itself. This is Self-awareness or Self-consciousness. This is Self-realization.

What [do] I have to do to realize my Self? I have only to stop realizing things from within and see that I don't go to sleep. Otherwise, the very experience is that, when I am closed to all that experience, then I go to sleep. This is a daily experience. If I go out of all this experience and don't fall into the inner sphere of sleep, then I'll be awake in my Self. And when I'm awake in my Self, this is Self-realization, or Self-consciousness, or the state of Being. This is how to be.

When we are active, we are active; we are active. How to be? Stop being active, but don't become passive. This is how to be. The technique to be is, stop acting, but don't go to sleep. Just be. Pure awareness, and this is Self-realization.

For thousands of years, maybe hundreds, Self-realization has been declared to be a difficult thing. It is surprising to a rational mind. How can I be difficult to myself? A rational mind finds it difficult to believe that Self-realization can be difficult. If I can be difficult to myself, then only Self-realization can be difficult. But I can't be difficult to myself, because I AM my Self.

The whole story of Self-realization has been built up without foundation. Self-realization is the simplest thing that one could accomplish in life. I am not responsible for the fury of those writers who have been writing that it is difficult and difficult, and if I say it is easy, they must [be] furious [with] me. But I don't mind.

Self-realization! Now think for a moment. I see a flower, and I am this here. The object of sight is here. These are the two points of reference. But THIS point of reference is only with reference to THIS point of reference. The experiencer has to be established first before the object of experience could be established.

I have to know my Self first, before I can know a flower. If I say I see the flower, then the question comes, Who sees the flower? Who is the seer? Who is the eyes? I don't know. [Laughter] The whole activity of seeing and the phenomenal perception is completely invalid and baseless without the knowledge of the Self. So the Self has to be realized first, and then only anything else can possibly be realized.

A student of physics, he says, "I am studying physics." Fine. Who is studying physics? The answer is, nil. The whole field of knowledge is baseless. The basis of all the field of knowledge is language, the means of communication—language. The basis of language is the knowledge of the alphabet.

Now, alphabet – A, B, C, D. Fine. What is the basis of the alphabet? The answer is, nil. This shows us clearly that the present system of education, not indicating the source of the alphabet, and not providing the knowledge of the source of the alphabet, is completely baseless, because we pick up the alphabet when it comes on a vocal level. A, B, C, D and all the combinations of it, the words and the language and the whole thing built up to develop all branches of learning.

But the alphabet is picked up only on the vocal level. From where thought starts, the source of thought is the source of [the] alphabet, and unless the knowledge of the source of thought is provided, the whole field of education is baseless. And this is the reason why baseless education fails to provide fulfillment to life. No educated man today can stand up and say, "I feel fulfilled."

This is one angle of baseless education. Another drawback of education is—now, this is true of education in all parts of the world—it is not for one country or one country or one country. True, all, all over the world, the same ignorance, basic ignorance about the fundamentals of education prevailing. And that is why in no part of the world any educated man can say with confidence, "I feel fulfillment in life because I am an educated man from that university."

No man knows how to bring fulfillment to his desires, not even desires of any type, but even in the field of learning. The situation is that [the] more he knows, that a greater field of the unknown lies ahead. This shows only the ignorance of the subject increases more than the knowledge. It is terrible to say like that, but that is the situation. Present education has only the ability of increasing the thirst for knowledge, but has not the ability to satisfy this thirst. Such a paralyzed system of education can only produce stress and strain, and can only be inefficient to make a man stand on his feet, fulfilled in life.

Now, I am making another point about the baselessness of education, that the knowledge of the Self is not provided. And without the knowledge of the Self, the whole knowledge of any branch of learning is just hanging in the air. The student of physics says, "I am a student of physics. I am a student of chemistry." Fine. Who is the student of physics? This body, this mind? What? Who is the knower of knowledge?

Without the nature of the Self, the whole field of knowledge is completely baseless, bogus. It has no meaning.

"I see the flower." Is there any truth in this sentence, "I see the flower"? Who is the "I"? If I am in ignorance, then the whole process of seeing and the flower, the whole thing is based on ignorance. It is on the intellectual level that we decide the principles, not on what we see.

Many times, the perception is deceptive. But what we decide intellectually, we hold that to be true. And if we decide intellectually that "I" am not found, then we decide intellectually that the whole process of seeing is just useless. It has no basis. It has no truth in it.

We see the sun rising from the east and going to [the] west every day. The sun is traveling and traveling and traveling. But we know it is not traveling. We base our principle on what we understand intellectually, not on what we see. We don't base our knowledge about the sun on what we see: It is rising in the east and traveling to the west. The sun never goes from east to west.

When we know that without the knowledge of the Self the entire field of perception and action is just baseless, this is what makes the whole field of relative life completely hanging in the air, and a life hanging in the air without a basis must necessarily be in a state of nonfulfillment, must necessarily be in a state of suffering, chaos, confusion—no settlement anywhere.

Therefore, the knowledge of the Self, Self-consciousness, is the basis of all that we live in the relative field of life. All the states of consciousness, waking, dreaming, sleeping, are based on that Self-consciousness.

When we gain Self-consciousness, then the three relative states of consciousness, waking, dreaming, sleeping, get a foundation to themselves. Otherwise, the whole field of life is without a foundation, like a wall without a foundation, ready to collapse at any time, always at the mercy of the wind.

So this relative field of life—waking, dreaming states of consciousness—is not supported and supplemented by the knowledge of the pure consciousness. The whole structure of life is baseless.

And therefore, it is wise for everyone to know one's Self first, and now through this Transcendental Meditation, it has become easy for everyone to know the Self.

"Know thyself." From ages in the past, this has been heard, "know thyself" and "know thyself" and "know thyself."

But in the practical field of life today, "know thyself" has only remained some fanciful ideological abstract thinking, because the modern man doesn't think in terms of himself. And when he does not think in terms of himself, he doesn't find his feet on the ground. Always in the air, always in the air. Too much of air.

I am experiencing that ever since I am here, always I am in the air. I am in so much of radio and television. But it is necessary to have our feet on the ground. Having our feet on the ground means we must be established in ourselves, and having been established in ourselves, everything is fine, because everything else is terms of ourselves.

Otherwise we become in terms of everything else. And when I am in terms of everything else, then I am just like a leaf going around in the wind any direction, here and there and there. One has to establish one's Self, and if one has to established one's Self, better find that Being, find that Self. And then by the time we find one's Self, what we find is our existence is enormous, unbounded, eternal, bliss, infinite happiness, infinite energy, infinite intelligence.

Look at the great possibility. We have that great reservoir of intelligence, energy, happiness, eternity of life, absolute stability of being. And then we are not living that great inner treasury in our day-to-day life. What a loss to life and living!

There is no greater damage, and there is no greater loss to life, than not finding that infinite reservoir within, and not bringing it out to be lived in our sphere of activity. We can only repent for all the past hundreds of years when everything has been said to be difficult and difficult and difficult. All that has been wrong and completely obsolete for the present time.

This pure consciousness is the fourth state of consciousness—waking, dreaming, sleeping, and this pure consciousness which we gain in Transcendental Meditation.

In the beginning, the mind goes and comes out quickly, as we dive in and in the same stroke we come out. Go in and come out, go in and come out, and go in…A few divings in and out, and in and out, in and out. What happens? The gold of the bottom begins to be lived even when you come out onto the surface. And this is the [reason] for [which] we dive in and out.

The bliss of the pure consciousness which the mind gains when the mind reaches the source of thought, which is the Being, that comes out as the urge to the nature of the mind, as the mind goes and comes out and goes and comes out.

Like a white cloth dipped in yellow color, and once it is dipped, it comes out. Every dipping brings the color a little more, and a little more, and a little more.

What do we do? If we know the art of coloring, then having dipped it last, we put it to the sun and allow it to fade away as much as it can fade away, and then put it back and put to the sun. That means we subject it to two contradictory processes, one of absorbing the color, and the other of fading it out. Dip it and it absorbs the color, put it to the sun and the color fades away. These two contrary processes together go to make the color fast.

And one time, it never fades away—it becomes fast. Like that, the mind goes deep within. It becomes pure consciousness. Just as the wave, it begins to sink on the water, and sink on the water, and sink on the water, and comes on the flat, motionless surface of the ocean. The wave becomes the ocean: absolute silence, no trace of the wave. It becomes the ocean. Another wave comes up. The ocean rises up in a wave. The wave gains an individuality, then it sinks. It gains that unboundedness of the ocean.

Like that, the individual mind gets into the transcendent state of pure consciousness or Being. It becomes Being, unbounded, eternal. It becomes pure consciousness, it becomes bliss consciousness, it becomes...That nature of that field, bliss consciousness, is stability, nonchanging eternal Being. All these qualities adhere to the nature of the mind, some of it.

The mind engages in the field of activity, and then quite a lot of that quality is gone; it evaporates, and then comes back again and gets saturated again, and coming out into the same activity, it loses itself again. This back and forth, putting the mind to activity, putting the mind to meditation, to that state of pure consciousness, bringing it to activity again. Five minutes in the bank and full day in the market, and again five minutes in the bank and full day in the market… [Laughter] Just this proportion.

We don't meditate all [the] time, no! We come out of meditation and put ourselves full-fledged in activity. Tremendous activity we undertake. And then in the evening we go back again, a few dives in the evening. And then in ten to twelve hours of the night it is gone again.

This is culturing the nervous system, subjecting the nervous system to retire from activity to get some complete rest in that restful alertness which produces pure Being or pure consciousness, exposing the nervous system back to activity. Within these swings from activity to least activity, the nervous system gains that habit of quickly transferring itself to this waking state, quickly transferring itself to this pure consciousness.

This quick transference of the physical structure gives the nervous system an ability where it continues to reflect pure consciousness at the time when it is reflecting waking state of consciousness. So both states of consciousness begin to be reflected simultaneously.

One lives bliss-consciousness permanently, whether one is waking or dreaming or sleeping. In a deep sleep, one is wide awake inside the body and mind. Everything takes complete rest, deep rest. Body complete deep rest. Inside, completely awake. During activity, one is engaged in vigorous activity, but has an unshakable stand of bliss consciousness.

One begins to live these two states of consciousness simultaneously, waking and pure consciousness, and this is called cosmic consciousness.

This state of cosmic consciousness has a corresponding state of [the] nervous system in which the nervous system does not lose pure consciousness, does not lose that restful alertness in bliss-consciousness. [The] nervous system never loses that state of restful alertness which reflects bliss-consciousness, even though it is engaged in the field of activity in the waking state, even though it is engaged in the activity of the illusory experiences during [the] dreaming state, even though it is engaged in the passivity of the deep sleep. In whatever state of relative consciousness the nervous system is exposed, it retains that Absolute bliss-consciousness, this state of life where the nervous system is permanently established in restful alertness, reflecting bliss-consciousness no matter whether one engages in waking, dreaming, or sleeping states of relative consciousness.

Such a state of life is called cosmic consciousness. "Cosmic" means all-inclusive. All-inclusive in this connection is, relative states of consciousness and Absolute state of consciousness—all the three relative and one Absolute taken together. This is cosmic consciousness.

Now, permanent state of cosmic consciousness is only possible when the nervous system is cultured to reflect both Absolute and relative. Therefore, we must bear in mind that cosmic consciousness cannot be gained by psychological thinking. One may begin to think that I am experiencing this and experiencing this. It will be mental hallucination.

It's not by thinking about cosmic consciousness that the nervous system can be cultured. No! Not thinking, not mood-making, not apprehension about cosmic consciousness, not imagination about cosmic consciousness—but subjecting the nervous system to gain pure consciousness, and subjecting it back to gain waking state of consciousness. This way, the real culture of the physical structure of the personality is responsible to bring about cosmic consciousness. It's a state which is as realistic to life as waking state of consciousness.

So now we have these five states of consciousness: Waking, dreaming, sleeping, pure consciousness, and cosmic consciousness.

Now, cosmic consciousness is nothing other than the Absolute consciousness which we call fourth, plus waking state of consciousness; the two together is cosmic consciousness. The advantage of such a life is that one lives permanently in bliss-consciousness. One is stabilized in the attunement of infinite energy and intelligence.

This gives a status to one's life. Firstly, one never loses one's Self in the field of relative life. Secondly, plunging into all fields of thought and action, one finds a way to fulfillment of his desires, because [one is] in tune with infinite energy and intelligence. This feature of being established in the infinite energy and intelligence and bliss-consciousness brings fulfillment to life. This is brought about in a systematic way, in a scientific way of bringing the attention from the waking state of consciousness to the inner Being—bringing the mind back and forth, back and forth.

Now, this state of cosmic consciousness, though [it] establishes a man on a very high pedestal of development, yet there is some more chance of development. And it won't be difficult for us, even on the level of rational thinking, to find out that there would be a state of consciousness more glorified than what we have been talking so far in the name of cosmic consciousness.

Now, so far we have seen the realization of cosmic consciousness is not a matter of faith or belief. No one need believe in his Self in order to live to live his Self, in order to live bliss-consciousness, in order to realize the bliss of the Self. We don't have to believe in our selves.

I may not believe that I have a Self. But if I start exploring the finer regions of thinking, I'll find what my Self is. It is not a matter of belief. Quite similarly, we don't have to believe on cosmic consciousness. No! This is a state of consciousness which develops all by itself if we keep on exposing ourselves outside and inside and outside and inside.

It is not a matter of belief at all. That is why I was emphasizing that for ages this whole field of integration of personality has been shrouded in the garb of mysticism, where nothing could be explained properly and systematically. It is this Transcendental Meditation, the teaching of my master, that has brought out the reality of life from the shrouded field of mysticism to the clear daylight of modern science.

We are talking of the field of consciousness, but we are talking in terms of our daily experience. We are talking ourselves in gaining different states of consciousness on the basis of experience, experience which will culture the mind and maintain that state of life, which—whatever name we give it doesn't matter. Whether we give it a state of integration of life, integrated state of consciousness, or we call it cosmic consciousness, or we call it XYZ consciousness, any consciousness—the name doesn't matter! What matters is that state of life where one doesn't lose one's Self.

I'll make clear this point. When I say one doesn't lose one's Self, what I mean is, see, if I don't know what I am, then what happens? I see the flower. And the image of the flower goes through the retina and falls on the screen of the mind. This falling of the image on the screen of the mind gives me the perception of the flower. What has happened in this case? The mind, the pure nature of the mind is, as we have seen through the discussion so far, is pure consciousness, because we have seen that when subtlest state of thought drops off, then the mind remains all by itself, and that is the pure nature of the mind, which is pure consciousness.

Conscious mind which was conscious of the thought, in the absence of the thought remains consciousNESS. Conscious mind becomes consciousNESS. So this consciousness, which is bliss in its nature, is the real nature of the mind.

When the nature of the flower falls on the screen of the mind, the screen of the mind is bliss-consciousness, then bliss-consciousness becomes overshadowed by the image of the flower. And this is how every experience loses the real nature of the mind, which is bliss-consciousness.

We enjoy the flower at the cost of bliss-consciousness. That means we register on our record a hundred dollars gained, and what we find is [a] million dollars lost. Bliss consciousness is overshadowed by the joy of this little flower.

This is what we mean, that we lose our selves in the object of perception. Whatever we see, that scene imprints in our mind, and what we lose is real nature of the mind, bliss-consciousness of the mind. Just like [a] cinema screen, white. The screen is white, but all the pictures that fall on it overshadow that white color. What we see is the colored pictures. What we don't see is the real nature of the screen. Like that, if I am not able to retain my Self when I am experiencing something, then that something gets imprinted on my own real nature, which is bliss-consciousness, and the result is that I lose bliss consciousness and then gain the joy of this experience.

This is what I meant when I said we lose our Self in the experience. This, in the philosophical language, is called identification. When you see a flower, when you see something, you get yourself so identified that you lose your Self. Lots of philosophers in the past for many, many hundreds of centuries, almost all philosophers who have dealt with this term "identification," they have recommended their readers to maintain the Self and not lose the Self when they are experiencing here and there and there.

Lots of groups in different parts of the world, they have said that if you are looking at the mike [microphone], and feel that you are looking at the mike, maintain your awareness. Now this maintenance of awareness is on the level of thinking. You are looking at the mike, and yet you are thinking about your Self so that you don't get lost in it. It is such a peculiar position. And lots of people have lost their practicalities of life in this. Only the matter remains, and the value of the inner spirit gets lost.

The pure consciousness is called the Spirit, or Being. Now when I say Spirit, I don't mean these spirits which become mediums and all that; not the spirits of the spirit world, spiritism, but the Spirit, the inner Being. So only the matter remains—the flower remains—and what gets lost is pure consciousness or the inner Spirit, or Being. So when the matter only dominates, and the value of the Spirit is overshadowed by the value of the matter, then it is called material life.

A man lives material life when he is not able to secure, he is not able to hold onto his inner spirituality of Being. When he has to sacrifice Being for the sake of material experience, this is a material life.

Spiritual life will be that one is wide awake in his own nature, in the nature of the Self, or in the nature of inner spirituality. In the nature of inner Being, one is wide awake, and one is closed to all the impressions of the outside material life. That is transcendental pure consciousness. This is pure spiritual life. This is pure spirituality. Pure spirituality is transcendental Being, pure consciousness.

Pure material life is the mind subjected to outside experience, where the Self is not able to maintain its pure being. Inner spirituality, outer material life—in between the two is spiritual life.

Integrated life is that state where we enjoy the outside world and experience everything of relative life, and yet we are able to hold onto our bliss-consciousness. This is integration of life. We are experiencing, yet not lost in the experience. And this is the state that is created by the regular practice of Transcendental Meditation, which exposes our nervous system alternately to pure consciousness and waking state of consciousness—pure consciousness; waking state of consciousness.

That means we do not eradicate the value of outer life. What we do is, we allow the spirituality to zoom forth. We drag the inner spirituality to come out. And this is the technique of living a spiritual life in the midst of all material life. And this is what International Meditation Society offers—two hundred percent value of life: hundred percent outer material, and hundred percent inner spiritual. And that, by looking in and looking out and looking in and looking out…

One day we begin to look out. Sometimes we are out in the garden, sometimes inside, sometimes outside, sometime in. And when we get bored of getting in and out, in and out, we remove the wall and make it glass. An intelligent architect makes the glass wall from the beginning so we don't have to repent in the end. We live in the inner warmth of the living room and enjoy the outside garden, both together at the same time. This is skill of modern housing. We must live in the warmth of the living room and must enjoy the glory of the garden outside. This is modern living.

The first step to God-realization is Self-realization.

By the time one realizes the Self, one realizes the relationship of the outer world with the inner Self. It has always been a scientific matter of exploration that we go from the known to the unknown, and in our attempt to find the identity of God, or in order to find that who has created the whole big cosmos, we can start only from the knowledge of creation. And when we have gone on to some knowledge of the unbounded creation, then our aspiration to find the Creator would be valid. Until we have found the whole creation, the search for the Creator is just a fanciful idea of some abstract nature which will not conform to any practicality of our life. And if we want to know the whole of Nature, then the wisdom demands that we must know what we are. Otherwise who is going to find out on it?

First, Self-realization is the first step to any knowledge whatsoever. What to say of the knowledge of God, even our knowledge of this and this and this and this? First, Self-realization is the basis of it, because it is the Self which projects the consciousness outside, and one realizes the knowledge of the source of alphabet, the source of thought, is the Self. So the first step of higher attainment is Self-realization.

And when one realizes the Self, what one realizes is that I am that unbounded, eternal, absolute nonchanging Being, bliss-consciousness. I AM. And then in comparison with the inner nature of my Self, the entire world is changing, it is phenomenal. It has variety of choice, but the Being is eternal bliss-consciousness. This is bound in time and space; everything is bound in time and space. But Being is unbounded beyond space; it is transcendental nature. It lies in the field of eternity of time. It is time, space, causation-bound relative life; and that is timeless, spaceless, unbounded eternity.

This is the realization one gets when one knows what one's Self is. So, realization of the Self first, and then realization of the creation. The two realizations give the relationship between the inner Self and outer world. And the relationship of the inner Self and the outer world is, this is relative, this is Absolute.

When one has established the Self, knows the outer world, and established the relationship with the creation, with the unbounded creation, then one rises to find the Creator. Having realized the Creator, one rises to establish the relationship of the Creator with the Self within. And that relationship of the Creator establishes God-consciousness, where one lives the Absolute and supreme relative at the same time.

Having lived that for some time, one begins to realize the mechanics that lie between the highest relative and the Absolute. And this makes clear to him what is that in Nature which separates the two, and with this knowledge one finds that they are essentially the same.

So this unity of life is not only a fanciful thought on the level of metaphysical understanding, or on the fanciful level of imagination. It is a living reality to which the nervous system is as thoroughly exposed as the psychology. On both levels of consciousness and corresponding level of the physical nervous system, on both of these, God-consciousness and Supreme Knowledge is lived, and everyone must live it.

This is the finding of the modern science. Thousands of books on philosophy and on all kinds of things that amount to be a waste of time even for the authors and the readers. In this age, with this finding, and this is a solid method of the International Meditation Society.

For about four years in the beginning of my movement, I was only devoted to establishing the value of the Absolute into the relative life, value of the Absolute into the relative. It is only from about the fifth or sixth year that I started to speak about the light of the Celestial, and it is only since last year that I have started to explain about God-consciousness in a systematic manner, and it is only from about this year that I have started to speak about that state of Supreme Knowledge. These things cannot be understood clearly enough to bring satisfaction on the intellectual level...without the experience.

A few days of experiencing Transcendental Meditation when the mind begins to retire in a very systematic manner from the gross thinking to the subtle thought, to the source of thought, a few times one has known this march of the mind from out to inwards, and a few flashes of inner pure bliss-consciousness, then one is able to understand this whole philosophy of development of realization of the Self and development of Self-consciousness to become all-time reality. And then from there, glorification of cosmic consciousness into God-consciousness, and from there, arising to Supreme Knowledge.

This Supreme Knowledge is the knowledge of Vedanta. The whole field of Yoga is from waking state of consciousness to the Self-consciousness, and making the Self-consciousness permanent into cosmic consciousness. This is the field of yoga.

Having gained cosmic consciousness, Yoga, or union, is complete. This union, state of union, becomes glorified through devotion. And devotion plays a great part. The heart has to be cultured, for the direct realization of that celestial nature of life is the fully cultured heart that brings the light of that celestial experience, and from there, one glorifies cosmic consciousness into God-consciousness.

So the field of Yoga is glorified through devotion in order to give rise to God-consciousness, and from that God-consciousness, devotion finds its fulfillment in the Supreme Knowledge when God-consciousness is lived for some time.

All these centuries past, God and God and God and God, God. If the word "God" has persisted all these centuries, there was a reason for the validity of this word. And the reason was this: that every man can, if he likes, rise to that state of Supreme Knowledge by realizing the Self and realizing cosmic consciousness. And realizing God-consciousness, one could rise to that Supreme Knowledge beyond which there is no possibility of any more expansion of consciousness, beyond which there is no possibility of any development of life.

And having risen to that most developed state of human life, so that one lives that high state of life where everything is easy and one's life is fully supported by Nature, every thought will be materialized, just we don't do anything and enjoy everything. One should live life and enjoy life on that level.