sacred in human experience is the quality of light radiated by the individual.
According to a number of mystical systems, the subtle body is one of a series of progressively more refined human manifestations. Although the terminology varies and the cross-comparisons are sometimes confusing, the recurrence of these conceptions suggests a more universal model of spiritual development. In Mahayana Buddhism the Buddha is viewed as having three bodies: "Nirmanakaya " (body of transformation), "Sambhogakaya" (body of enjoyment) and "Dharmakaya" (body of reality). In Hinduism the gross, subtle, and causal bodies offer a partial correspondence. The crucial consideration in the present context is that in order to get to the higher bodies, and the level of awareness and function that they incorporate, you must activate and utilize the energy body. In this sense it constitutes a crucial intervening link in the inner development of the individual.
In many systems the importance of the energy body is underplayed. Others seem to totally ignore it. In religions and mystical paths emphasizing love, whether Christian, Moslem or Hindu, the approach seems completely focused on devotion accompanied by obedience. One can interpret this approach as cultivating the heart chakra, but if this is being done, it is certainly an indirect approach.
Other ways emphasize mind control. Examples of this orientation are found in the Kabbala, Raja Yoga, Zen Buddhism, and various tantric visualization practices. These systems focus on efforts to control, guide, or eliminate thoughts. Here again, these methods may relate indirectly to opening the chakras in the head, but little or no mention is made of them.
Often a little creative detective work reveals aspects of subtle body functioning in approaches that have nothing direct to say about them. Several modern examples can be given. The late Hindu teacher J. Krishnamurti went to great lengths to avoid most traditional approaches and rejected most familiar teachers and teachings. His major emphasis was on cultivating awareness outside the context of any tradition. He did not acknowledge the subtle body. Nevertheless, it is interesting to read in his own diary2 of a period of intense and painful energy flow in his head and spine going on intermittently for 40 years as the accompaniment of various spiritual experiences. This description is quite similar to accounts of the arousal of kundalini, which is certainly a vital aspect of subtle body practices.
Fig. 7. The nimbus in Christ
Fig. 8. The aura in a Buddhist diety
Another example is the Hindu saint Sri Ramana Maharishi, who focused on the question "Who am I?" as the most direct path to enlightenment. In explaining the values of his system a major disciple, Sri Sadhu Om3 has recently explained that the "I" on awakening in the morning shoots from the heart center to the brain, and from there through the various energy channels which distribute the sense of identity throughout the body. In this description the chakra system is being recognized, even though it is generally underplayed or ignored in the Maharishi's method in order to emphasize the importance of one's identity as the major point of concentration.
One way to interpret the preceding is to conclude that the individual is influenced by the tradition within which he has been nourished and will interpret his experiences in that light. If part of that background includes a system incorporating the subtle body concept, then his experiences will find ways to support it. If the emphasis is on sudden transformation and revelation, it may be minimized. But if the subtle body is real, and the experiences of the individual are also real, then the two must relate, even if one must search to find the connection.
In the succeeding chapters of Part I, various models of the subtle body are described, analyzed, and compared. Some of the material may strike the reader as strange or even dubious. But the crucial question is always whether it can be experienced. If it can, then its importance is potentially very great. If not, the most elaborate conceptions will evaporate like mist and need not concern us further.
CHAPTER TWO
THE HINDU TRADITION
The origins of the Hindu tradition are hard to trace, but the high points of its history are relatively easy to identify. Starting about 3,500 years ago when the Aryans invaded Northern India, a new wave of influence was imposed upon the indigenous Dravidian culture, which had previously worshipped the earth and the feminine as the embodiment of creative energy. The Aryan influence, in contrast, was masculine and deified the sun. The two cultures were directly contradictory. But Hindus have specialized over the years in absorbing almost any influence and, in the process, creating a unique cultural synthesis, particularly in relation to philosophical and spiritual matters.
The major literary achievements of early Indian society, such as the Vedas—including the Samhitas and Brahmanas (of which the Upanishads are the most famous), the Sutras, and such classical epics as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata—stand on their own merits even today. But however high their literary and philosophical content may be, they have little to say about the subtle body. There are, however, interesting exceptions. For example in the Chandogya Upanishad it is said:
One hundred & one are the channels of the heart.
Of these but one extend right up to the head;
Ascend thereby to immortality!
The rest, at thy departing,
Everywhere get lost.1
This account refers directly to the connection between the heart and crown chakras, both major centers in the subtle body. These centers are presented as if the reader was already quite aware of the context in which they were introduced. As with all Indian literature, dates and contexts are hard to establish because they arose from an oral tradition carried by folk singers and teachers earlier than any time that we can identify.
In any case, these complex strands did not come into a fully integrated expression until the Gupta period, about the seventh and eighth century A.D. This is reflected in the art of the time, and is expressed most completely in the Tantric tradition, which took as its central theme precisely the total integration of all cultural elements in one comprehensive transformative expression.
The tantric scriptures themselves are endlessly varied, covering such matters as medicine, magic, astrology, science, government, interpersonal relations and, finally, the subtle body. The latter topic was usually handled under the heading of "tantric yoga "
THE NATURE OF YOGA
Yoga is essentially a practical science of inner evolution based upon the cumulative experience of students and teachers who have devoted a major part of their lives to its practice. There are many forms of yoga, each created to suit a different type of individual. One means of classifying them employed by W. Y. Evans-Wentz2 is as follows:
1. Hatha-physical control
2. Laya-mind control
a. Bhakti-love
b. Shakti-creative energy
c. Mantra-sacred sounds
d. Yantra-sacred forms
3. Dhyana-thought
4. Raja-discrimination
a. Jnana-knowledge
b. Karma-activity
c. Kundalini-psychic nerve force
d. Samadhi-ecstatic self-knowledge
The various types of yogas can also be grouped as introductory, intermediate and advanced. In general, Hatha Yoga is viewed as preliminary to other forms of practice, while Raja and Kundalini Yoga are considered to be the highest forms.
Swami Rama, founder of the Himalayan International Institute, identifies Kundalini Yoga as the crown of yogic experience in the following terms: "Among all the approaches to studying the internal realm the science of kundalini yoga is the most advanced."3