Вадим Сычевский
Absolute freedom and happiness – our true essence
Lower Formless World (Lower Causal World)
The Lower Causal World is absolute darkness or Nonexistence. As it is said above, the Causal World is the world of information existing in the form of light. However, the absence of light or darkness of the Lower Causal World is also information. It is very low-level information or data of worldly desires. That is why it is seen as pitch darkness. The data of the Lower Causal World forms the Lower Astral World and our material World of Passion.
If by wrong practice one enters the Lower Astral World, as I described above, then when the experience of the Lower Astral World is completed, one will move into the Lower Causal World. In the Causal World, there is no body and sense organs, there is only consciousness and past experience. Therefore, even the Lower Causal World can be mistakenly perceived as a quite peaceful world, devoid of suffering originating from the body, sensations, and images. Depending on one's spiritual level, a person can enter either the utter darkness of Nonexistence or slightly brighter worlds in the Lower Causal, which are located on the levels of the World of Men, the World of Asuras, and the World of Gods.
In the latter case, it will seem to a person that he has realized Emancipation and reached Nirvana, as in this state only consciousness and information exist. However, if it is the Lower Causal, then the information forming it is the information of worldly desires, which creates images in the Lower Astral, and they, in their turn, are projected onto the material World of Passions in the form of phenomena. Furthermore, this information is active. Thus, there can be no Nirvana, or Emancipation, in this state. Moreover, when this clouded, relatively calm state gets bored, and anything can get bored, the consciousness of this «practitioner» will again come to chaotic movement, and he will again wander through the Lower Astral and the World of Passions.
Suppose this «practitioner» has plunged into Nonexistence, i.e. into the lowest part of the Causal World. In that case, he will experience nothing but suffering. Imagine that you have been locked in a light and soundproof room. Now imagine that you have no body, senses, and images – there is only consciousness filled with worldly desires and 360 degrees of darkness. That's what Nonexistence is, or Super Long Hell.
But if you read the original Buddhist or yogic sutras, you will not find in their descriptions of «entering the astral», «contact with astral entities» and further immersion into pitch-black darkness. Because the true spiritual practice based on the True Dharma, which was given to the world by the Gurus of the past, is completely opposite to the nonsense and lies that are aired by urban crazies who think they are meditation masters, who have mystical experiences under the influence of drugs, or who only do technical practices, ignoring the Practices of Goodness, Merit, Law and Tranquility. However, «it is very difficult to explain the taste of melon to a person who has spent his whole life chewing cobbler's shoelaces…»[12].
Middle Formless World (Middle Causal World)
The Middle Causal World is located behind the Higher Astral World. It is no longer Nonexistence: it is a state between the darkness of Nonexistence and the bright transparent light of the higher parts of the Causal World. Indeed, if in meditation one enters the Middle Causal World, it is perceived as an infinite space, which has no gross or subtle forms, filled with light. However, this light is not so bright, intense, and transparent as the light of the Higher Causal World. The space of the Middle Causal World resembles a haze, something similar to the morning fog in the mountains. In this state, you either are or are not, that is why immature practitioners confuse this formless fog with Nirvana. The mist of the Middle Causal World is the information that forms the Higher Astral World.
Higher Formless World (Higher Causal World)
The Higher Causal World, though usually when speaking about this world it is said: «Formless World», is the very ocean of crystal-transparent light, about which I told you earlier. Information in its pure (original) form is the Higher Formless World. From this information, the whole Universe and our Five Aggregates are formed. The Higher Formless World does not overlap with any other worlds and is not a projection of any worlds. It is the world of the essence of the soul.
The Higher Causal World, or the Higher Formless World, consists of four worlds, or levels, which we successively pass through during the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth meditative concentration. This initial state of Emptiness of consciousness and information, its experience is the most important spiritual experience – breaking through the transparent light of the Higher Formless World, we realize our true initial state of the independent existence of the True «Self» – Nirvana.
The Three Worlds and the Five Aggregates
The Five Aggregates bind us to the three worlds. We cannot realize our original state of Nirvana because of the workings of the Five Aggregates and the past experiences they contain. We mistakenly think of ourselves as the totality of the physical body, senses, images, experiences, and information, and their functions: physical activity, sensations, perceptions, will, and discernment. As a result, we are endlessly reincarnated in the three worlds of the Universe, and above all in the World of Passion, experiencing either suffering or illusory joy.
In the World of Passions (in the World of Phenomena), we are held by the physical body, the external senses, and the sensations that come through them.
In the World of Forms (the Astral World), we are held together by images and perceptions, as well as by will and discernment. The latter are the functions of Aggregates No. 4 and No. 5.
In the Formless World we have the past accumulated experience and information in pure form, i.e. the data of Aggregates No. 4 and No. 5.
Three worlds and three consciousnesses
Consciousness is the means by which we perceive and aware of objects and phenomena. In other words, consciousness is the instrument of perception. The perceiver is consciousness, and what causes consciousness to move is the True «Self». Our consciousness has a multi-layered structure, but none of the layers of our consciousness is ourselves. Our consciousness may be in motion, or it may be in its original state of Calm and Contemplation, but in neither of these states does consciousness become the True «Self». Of course, when consciousness is moving, we do not see, we do not realize ourselves. In this case, because of the working of consciousness, we identify with the Five Aggregates, in other words, mistakenly consider both the working consciousness and what it perceives, i.e., the false «self», to be ourselves:
«Ignorance is the mistaking of the eternal, impure, tormented, and not constituting True „Self” for the eternal, pure, happy, Atman [the existent self]. False self-consciousness is the identification of the beholder with the instrument of seeing. Egoism is the identification of the faculty of knowing with the instrument of knowing» (Yoga Sutras of Patanjali).
Conversely, when we, through proper spiritual practice, stop our consciousness, we realize self-awareness and self-realization, attain our authentic selves, and realize the Atman:
«During concentration, the Seer (Atman) rests in its own natural state» (Patanjali's Yoga Sutras).
Of course (here I am addressing first of all the adherents of the philosophy of «no-self», or Anatman), I am not saying that there is something called «Self» that can be held and realized, I am saying that all of us(we in the true original sense) are not our Five Aggregates[13] and three consciousnesses, but completely transcend them. And it is at the blessed moment of the complete cessation of our multi-layered consciousness that we first see this.
We have three consciousnesses: the actual consciousness operating in the World of Phenomena, the subconsciousness operating in the Astral World, and the superconsciousness operating in the Causal World.
Actual consciousness of the World of Phenomena and the subconsciousness of the Astral World
We conduct our daily activities in the Human World based on two factors: the actual consciousness, which we call «Self», and the subconscious mind, which actually drives us.
For example, we go out with friends, we talk, and we have fun. This is the work of the actual consciousness. And when we answer the question about «self» with: «This is me», we are talking about this consciousness. But among many acquaintances we like someone especially and dislike someone especially – this distinction is rooted not in the actual consciousness, but in the deeper consciousness, i.e. in the subconsciousness.
Or, for example, a person is experiencing intense suffering. People around him, trying to help him in some way, say: «Try to calm down, don't worry so much». To which the person, as a rule, replies: «I can't, it's stronger than I am». The «I» that the person is talking about is the actual consciousness. The «it» that is «stronger than me» is the subconscious mind, since it, as I mentioned above, controls the actual consciousness.
The subconscious mind is polar; in other words, it recognizes either «yes» or «no». For example, it either loves or it doesn't. There is no middle ground in the subconscious mind, there is no case where it loves a little bit, and there is no case where it experiences, for example, a little hunger. Therefore, any desire or no desire in the subconscious mind is very strong, and the subconscious mind itself cannot be analyzed: its work in meditation is stopped only by means of the highest concentration – Contemplation[14].
The subconscious mind works a hundred or even a thousand times more intensely than the actual consciousness. Moreover, the layer of the subconscious mind is incomparably greater than the layer of actual consciousness. You may have heard the phrase «Ocean of Sansara» – it is our subconsciousness, which is extremely difficult to overcome. And even more so, you should never rush «into this maelstrom with your head», using «secret techniques» that allow you to «quickly enter the subconscious mind and fulfil all your desires» – it is very dangerous – I repeat: any desire or no desire in the subconscious mind is very strong. In the worst case, you may even go insane and hear voices from the Lower Astral convincing you that you have «achieved enlightenment». These days, unfortunately, there are more and more such examples, as I told you earlier.
In normal conditions, the role of a kind of filter is played by the actual consciousness. Let's say that in our subconscious mind, there is a desire to eat. If we didn't have an actual consciousness, we would immediately run to eat, no matter what. The subconscious mind is polar: it either wants to eat or it doesn't. The role of a filter or a kind of buffer, like «I'm not that hungry, so I can be a little bit patient» is performed by the actual consciousness. That is, the actual consciousness can cover itself with generally accepted fixed ideas, common sense, upbringing, etc., but the subconscious can't. Thus, we can say that the actual consciousness hides the subconscious.
In addition, one more important point. When it is said about consciousness, for example: «Extraneous thoughts have arisen and the consciousness has become restless», or «Through mindfulness and concentration in daily life we learn to control our consciousness», we are talking about surface consciousness. Of course, when we enter deep meditation, we get to experience deeper layers of consciousness, but it all starts with the surface consciousness that we use in our daily lives.
The subconscious mind works by receiving data about our past experiences from the superconscious mind.
Superconsciousness of the Causal World and the work of information
The superconsciousness is the deepest layer of our multi-layered consciousness. In everyday life, we cannot see the workings of our superconsciousness as we see and understand the workings of our actual consciousness. Unlike the subconscious mind, we cannot have an experience of the superconscious mind in a dream or ordinary meditation. We only reach superconsciousness in the deepest Samadhi, the Samadhi of the Formless World.
This is the consciousness that exists in the simplest form; it is responsible for selecting information. When we experience the Formless World, we find that the superconscious mind has no fixed ideas or desires – it simply reads the raw causal data that exists as transparent light.
The causal data is primarily the data of Discernment (Aggregate No.5). This deepest component of our false self is pure light that exists eternally. In Taoism, this light is called the Tao. In esoteric Buddhism, it is the light of Dharmakaya, or Alaya-vijnana – consciousness and formed experience in original form. In the teachings of yoga, it is Bráhman. This transparent light is the original empty data of the entire universe and our Five Aggregates.
If you concentrate on this light, you can see that it is made up of individual moving multi-coloured particles. Each grain of light is a unit of our past Formed experience, which is the data of Aggregate No.4. These particles of light are also called Samskaras.
If we can stop the work of the superconsciousness through concentration, then at the same moment these original data also stop their work – we achieve Emancipation and get the experience of Nirvana.
If our superconsciousness is active, it starts reading these initial data, i.e. it perceives and selects particles of our past experience (particles of light, data of Aggregate No.4) and information (transparent light, data of Aggregate No.5).
Then the superconsciousness sends this information to the subconsciousness, where based on this information «sent down from above» there is a distinction of all objects of the external and internal world perceived by us. Distinction is the function of Aggregate No.5; it is activated by our subconsciousness based on the data received from the superconsciousness. The distinction is dual thinking, the division of everything perceived into two poles: «good/bad», «like/dislike», and «pleasant/unpleasant».
If an object is pleasant, there is a desire to get this object. If the object is unpleasant, there is a reluctance to receive the experience of that object, or dislike towards it, discontent. Desires and reluctances, or, in other words, wills, intentions, and tendencies, are a function of Aggregate No.4 (Formed Experience).
Then from these desires and no desires, images arise, i.e. we imagine something: «This is how it will be, and this is not how I would like it to be». These are our Perceptions, Aggregate No.3.
Hence, figuratively speaking, our data (past experience and accumulated information) «live» in the Causal World, and «go to work» in the Astral World. Their work in the Astral World is discernment, will (intentions, or desires/no desires) and imagery, i.e. the functions of Aggregates No.5, 4, and 3, respectively. What moves the data, «drives them to work», is our moving multi-layered consciousness.