Our Individuality is Retained After Liberation (Ascension)
The rishis responsible for the writing of the Vedas had
obviously experienced samadhi, and display great wisdom
in their works. Yet we do not find at that time-period a
full knowledge of the wonderful individuality of every Atman,
each differing from another. (The fact that each Atman or
I AM Presence is so individual and distinct is evident from
their projected incarnations - ourselves! Among six billion
people alive on earth, not one is precisely the same.) Our
True Being, the Atman or God Presence that we are in Reality,
stepped forth from out of Brahman long ago to bestow its
individual gifts and graces upon the rest of life, and to
expand its own capacity to Create for the greater glory
and expansion of the Divine. In Ascending, man and woman
become one with this Higher Self, and are that individual
God Presence literally forevermore.
Unfortunately this retention of individuality after one's
overcoming of the rounds of rebirth is sometimes rather
vague within Indian systems of religious belief. Likewise
it is vague within the Western "New Age" movement
and not even really addressed by Christianity. In Vedanta
there is no clear concept or knowledge of precisely what
the Atman actually is. There is at times even a tendency
to believe that moksha (liberation) consists of some merging
back into the Oneness of Brahman - as though individuality
ceases to exist. Most Buddhists also believe that Nirvana
consists of a merging of individuality back into the Oneness.
(Nirvana is sometimes - incorrectly - conceived by Westerners
as meaning "nothingness".)
Confronted with such beliefs, if only subtly expressed,
one might almost feel reluctant to spiritually succeed!
Why achieve liberation if it actually leads to the loss
of self - even the loss of that which is pure and holy within
us, but is nevertheless self-aware and individual?
It is very frequently the case that when incarnate and
unascended human beings experience samadhi, there is a loss
of individual awareness in the normal sense, and there is
felt to be a merging into the Oneness of the Divinity. This
Oneness and constant communion does exist between all Ascended
Masters in the Ascended Master Spheres of existence, but
individuality is also experienced by Them simultaneously.
In merging with the glorious Mighty I AM Presence, individuality
as that individual Presence is the "I" aspect
of the beingness of the I AM. But frequently it is the case
that unascended humans in samadhi only know the "AM"
aspect of this I AM beingness - the communion with all of
the Universal Godhead. Thus, the ancient authors of the
Vedas were correct so far as they went in describing the
union with the Atman. Yet the retention of individuality
in that state may not have been experienced by them. Or
at least they did not clearly write of it. Yet in truth,
individuality is forever retained as we expand God-Consciousness
within ourselves as Beings ever-growing in spirituality
after our Ascension. This is one essential new fact the
Ascended Masters now seek to make quite clear to humanity.
Core Spiritual Beliefs Shape a People's Culture and Civilisation
Such beliefs as whether, once freed from the rounds of
rebirth, individuality as a God Being is retained or not,
may be subtle at times, but they are also extremely important.
Whatever a society believes to be the end-goal and ultimate
purpose of life undoubtedly plays itself out within that
society and civilisation, colouring and shaping its religious,
cultural and even political structures at their core. Any
fundamental religious faith held in common results in its
own variety of governance and of civilisation. For it shapes
what people actually strive to do and to become (or not
do and not become!) during the span of their lives. I would
humbly suggest that we do see in India and its history,
amid all the undoubted glory of its spiritual heritage that
is such a gift to the world, a lack, relative to other civilisations
and relative to India's own real potential, when it comes
to the organisation and putting into practice of mastery
over the physical world and environment.
Meantime, certain errors within Christian doctrine and
dogma such as the concept that we are "saved"
by Jesus and do not save ourselves, along with the lack
of knowledge within Christianity of karma and its need to
be balanced, also hold individuals back from the very concept
of pursuing a path of total self-mastery.
This is a complex issue, difficult to discuss with broad
brush-strokes. But I would suggest that part of India's
past history and nature, relative to the land's real and
limitless potential, is due to such factors as an overemphasis
upon going within, as in meditation and solitary asceticism.
This overemphasis was sometimes found among those who have
been India's most spiritually-advanced individuals, and
who might therefore often have provided the greatest leadership
through the centuries. Yet solitary wandering, asceticism
and austerities have sometimes been chosen over what might
have been national leadership unto a glorious renaissance.
Secondly, despite any amount of austerities, there has
also been, hanging over the land, the fact that karma was
in fact remaining unbalanced. The solitary path of individual
attainment, with the goal as samadhi, was overemphasised,
whereas group spiritual work combined with more focus upon
the tangible world we live in can bestow benefits, including
spiritual benefits and blessings, literally upon the millions.
There is even such a thing as conglomerate or group and
national karma, and so we have seen in India and other nations
the outpicturing, century after century, of terrible floods,
of earthquake and of famine despite the sincere attempts
of so many millions to become one with God. Such manifestations
are by definition group karma, indicating that karma is
retained, awaiting its transmutation or balancing. Nothing
could balance this karma more swiftly and completely in
India than the regular invoking of the Violet Flame, first
by the few and then by the many. The Violet Flame transmutes
by spiritual science not only personal but also group and
national karma.
The Ascension of Sri Yukteswar
A wonderful account of the Ascension of one comparatively
recent Indian sage is that of Sri Yukteswar, the guru of
Paramahansa Yogananda. One can hardly think of a more apt
example than this in order to demonstrate how the Ascension
is not only a very natural process as the end-result of
our spiritual progress upon earth, but also that we definitely
retain our total individuality - as much as we have it now,
and more so! - once we are fully liberated beings.
In his famous autobiography, Yogananda tells of his deep
sadness upon the passing of his guru in March 1936. Upon
hearing of his Master's illness, Yogananda did not reach
him at Puri before the end: "while the train roared
toward Puri, a vision of Sri Yukteswar appeared before me.
He was sitting, very grave of countenance, with a light
on each side.
" 'Is it all over?' I lifted my arms beseechingly.
"He nodded, then slowly vanished."
Yogananda later arrived at the scene of the ashram room
where the guru's body, unimaginably lifelike, was sitting
in the lotus posture - a picture of health and loveliness.
The day before his departure into the infinite, the guru
had in fact become completely well again. But he was gone,
and Yogananda conducted the burial rites on March 10. While
his days were filled with classes, lectures and interviews,
Yogananda writes of how he wore a hollow smile while inside
felt a dark brooding loss. Then:
"Sitting on my bed in the Bombay hotel at three o'clock
in the afternoon of June 19, 1936…. I was roused from
my meditation by a beatific light. Before my open and astonished
eyes, the whole room was transformed into a strange world,
the sunlight transmuted into supernal splendor.
"Waves of rapture engulfed me as I beheld the flesh
and blood form of Sri Yukteswar!
" 'My son!' Master spoke tenderly, on his face an
angel-bewitching smile.
"For the first time in my life I did not kneel at
his feet in greeting, but instantly advanced to gather him
hungrily in my arms. Moment of moments! The anguish of past
months was toll I counted weightless against the torrential
bliss now descending."
After some dialogue, Yogananda asked: "But is it you,
Master, the same Lion of God? Are you wearing a body like
the one I buried beneath the cruel Puri sands?"
" 'Yes, my child, I am the same. This is a flesh and
blood body. Though I see it as ethereal, to your sight it
is physical. From cosmic atoms I created an entirely new
body, exactly like that cosmic-dream physical body which
you laid beneath the dream-sands at Puri in your dream-world.
I am in truth resurrected - not on earth but on an astral
planet. Its inhabitants are better able than earthly humanity
to meet my lofty standards. There you and your exalted loved
ones shall someday come to be with me.'
" 'Deathless guru, tell me more!'
"Master gave a quick, mirthful chuckle. 'Please, dear
one,' he said, 'won't you relax your hold a little?'
" 'Only a little!' I had been embracing him with an
octopus grip. I could detect the same faint, fragrant, natural
odor which had been characteristic of his body before. The
thrilling touch of his divine flesh still persists around
the inner sides of my arms and in my palms whenever I recall
those glorious hours."
Sri Yukteswar remained with Yogananda in his Bombay hotel
room for two hours, during which he answered his every question.
Within Yogananda's autobiography, these words from the Ascended
state by Sri Yukteswar are a teaching in themselves, taking
up a whole chapter of some 23 pages. Hardly a vision or
an illusion - this! The Master went on to explain his own
continuing role in his Resurrected or Ascended state. His
own new and higher service was now to act as teacher and
saviour on an astral planet. This planet was beyond the
physical plane, and also much higher in vibration than the
vast majority of the astral plane. It was still a world
of subtle limitation, however. Those reincarnating upon
it, and whom the Master now taught, were free of earthly
and physical karma, but not yet free of astral (emotional)
karma and therefore still not wholly liberated.
Sri Yukteswar explained, "When a soul finally gets
out of the three jars of bodily delusions [the physical
body and its karma, the astral body and its karma, and what
the guru called the causal body - D. Tame], it becomes one
with the Infinite without any loss of individuality. Christ
had won this final freedom even before he was born as Jesus.
In three stages of his past, symbolized in his earth-life
as the three days of his experience of death and resurrection,
he had attained the power to fully arise in Spirit."
"Angelic Guru," Yogananda said, "your body
looks exactly as it did when last I wept over it in the
Puri ashram."
"O yes, my new body is a perfect copy of the old one.
I materialize or dematerialize this form any time at will,
much more frequently than I did while on earth. By quick
dematerialization, I now travel instantly by light express
from planet to planet or, indeed, from astral to causal
or to physical cosmos." The divine guru smiled. "Though
you move about so fast these days, I had no difficulty in
finding you at Bombay!"
"O Master, I was grieving so deeply about your death!"
"Ah, wherein did I die? Isn't there some contradiction?"
Sri Yukteswar's eyes were twinkling with amusement. (7)
Ascension and the Ascended State
The goal of life as taught by the Ascended Masters is,
then, the Ascension. This is not really the same thing as
moksha or mukti (liberation) as usually thought of, or jivenmukti
(liberation while alive). Closer to being synonyms for the
Ascension are Videka-mukti (disembodied release) or sudyomukti
(immediate release). These too are not precise synonyms,
however, since in practice, these concepts may not today
always rise in peoples' understanding to the fullness or
grandeur of their real, original meaning.
In Vedantic literature the terms siddha (perfected being)
and paramukta ("supremely free" - full power over
death) may be taken as meaning the same as Ascension or
Ascended. A paramukta has completely escaped from the mayic
thraldom and its reincarnational round. A paramukta therefore
seldom returns to a physical body. If he does, he is an
avatar. The "problem" is that while siddha and
paramukta may indeed technically mean the same basic state
of being as Ascended, the full understanding of what it
means to be truly completely liberated or Ascended has largely
been lost in India and in other parts of the world today.
It often happens that one who is simply an advanced yogi,
or is near to complete liberation, yet still in his final,
karmically necessary embodiment (or may even require one
or more further embodiments) is taken to be an avatar, when
such is not the case. To be Ascended means far more than
to be a great yogi or a wonderful teacher. Perhaps to illustrate
the true wonder of the Ascended state, another illustration
will help. Let us take for example just one portion of an
eyewitness description of an Ascension. This is the physical
Ascension of an American, Daniel Rayborn, accomplished in
the 1930s:
"Suddenly, like a flash of lightning, a Circle of
the most intense, dazzling, white Light surrounded us, drawing
steadily [inward] … until it was only about ten feet
across. The Light within Daniel Rayborn expanded, and met
the Circle of Light without. As they touched, he began to
rise slowly, to a distance of about his own height …
the Light within him continuing to increase.
"Nada, his own Twin Ray [already Ascended], rose also,
and drew toward him, passing within the smaller Circle of
Light. They met in divine embrace for a moment … Inclining
their heads toward us, and smiling radiantly, they looked
upward, as a Great Ray of Intense White Light descended
enveloping them Both in Its Protecting Radiance; blessing
their Glorious Union, and hiding them from sight, while
they passed beyond all care and limitation, into the Eternal
Perfection of Being; clothed in Bodies of Everlasting Light
- the Robe of Immortality that shines brighter than the
sun at noon-day." (8)
Once thus Ascended, such liberated Beings may choose to
move on from Earth into Cosmic Service, or may remain as
part of the inner, spiritual Hierarchy which guides, guards,
and wherever possible intercedes on behalf of humanity.
Moreover, life is not static in the Ascended state! The
spiritual Path continues, and yet other, further spiritual
heights beckon, one after another, so that to Ascend is
in some respects but the beginning of a greater and more
expansive spiritual Path of growth and of service.
At a certain point of attainment, such Masters become so
glorified, and possess such selfless Mastery over Mighty
Forces of Nature, that They are veritable Gods, and are
called "Cosmic Beings". Should such a Being decide
to manifest Himself or Herself to an unascended individual
upon Earth, in Hindu terms that One would appear to the
human to be indeed a god, a deva, or a deity, the human
often little suspecting that this God Being was once also
incarnated as man or woman, and once also knew all the woes,
tests and trials of physical existence.
Those Ascended Masters Who remain to serve the Earth and
its inhabitants may have Ascended a few years, or untold
millennia ago; they may be well-known historical figures
or may be quite unknown to humanity at large. Such men and
women, our Elder Brothers and Sisters on the Path Homeward,
have Ascended from both East and West, and from every major
religious tradition as well as from spiritual traditions
no longer known or recalled today. It is highly likely that
the ancient authors of the Vedas also Ascended at some time
past, after composing the Vedas, and are Ascended Masters
today.
It is considered to be this inner, spiritual Hierarchy
of the Earth Who plan and decide upon all new religions
that should come into the Earth, and Who prepare, train,
and send forth all avatars. The Ascended Ones are the Gurus
of the gurus of any visible, biologically born, and publicly
known genuine guru. That is, if we trace any authentic chain
of gurus and disciples "upward", were we able
to trace far enough we would inevitably discover an Ascended
Master at the "top" - though He or She too would
then have a Hierarch also, and so forth. This is not, then,
only a Western path in the least, nor only an Eastern path.
Every genuine Guru-disciple chain, in any nation, religion
or clime, stems from the Ascended Ones at the highest point,
in one way or another.
The real import, then, of Ascended Master Teachings, is
that these are not the teachings of unascended mortals,
including gurus, who, no matter how spiritually attained,
may yet be prone to some karma as well as their own erroneous
preconceptions. Rather, these Teachings are the word-for-word
releases of Those Who have already proven the Way fully
and completely. United with the Godhead as They are, this
means that in Their speaking to us, we are being taught
quite literally by Perfected God-Free Beings Who are pure
manifestations of Their I AM Presences or Atmans. Unshackled
by any worldly limitations, Ascended Masters are the very
embodiments of Omniscience. Given the opportunity, such
as now exists, to learn from such a glorious source, would
we accept anything less?
I find full confirmation of Ascended Master Teachings in
the wonderful heritage of Vedanta, and likewise find confirmation
- with intriguing further new elaboration and clarification
- of Vedanta in Ascended Master Teachings. The two are so
very similar at their cores, frequently approaching the
same Truths but simply with different terms and from different
angles. As the present century unfolds, these two traditions
and their followers are likely to discover much common ground
and a warm mutual respect. The more the followers of one
tradition learn about the other, the more the similarities
become clear.
Though the Vedas are ancient and are the foundation upon
which most of Hinduism is based, directly or indirectly,
there have been numerous additions and necessary spiritual
revolutions over time. For example, the organisation of
multifaceted strands of yoga into distinct systems by Patanjali
at around 1,000 BC, the emphasis upon discrimination and
jnana yoga (union through knowledge) by Sri Shankaracharya
in the 7th-8th centuries AD, Sri Chaitanya's sweeping away
of Vedic nihilism with bhakti yoga (union through devotion)
in the 14th century, and the many developments following
on from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo
and other sages, with their pluralism, their communities
and karma yoga.
Though the Vedas stand for all time, Vedanta itself has
never stood still. From this perspective, it might truly
be said that the Teachings of the Ascended Masters are not
a separate, alternative body of spiritual thought to Vedanta
at all. They are, rather, its very latest and most resplendent
form.
The Ascended Masters are the Ascended ones of both East
and West. Indeed many of Their most significant final embodiments
were in India, and many of Their present Retreats (hidden
sanctuaries and temples located even in the physical world)
are in India and elsewhere in the Orient. The land of India
has always been a glorious one in its spiritual heritage;
and as that glory rises and shines forth to the world once
again, the new Agni Yoga of these wonderful Ascended Masters,
through the use of the Violet Fire, is surely destined to
play a very major role.
Sources of Interest
Web site of interest regarding all the Ascended Master
Activities, with links to each: www.ascension-research.org.
Web site of The Temple of The Presence: www.TempleofThePresence.org.
Biographical Note
David Tame lives in England and is the author of The
Secret Power of Music (Destiny Books, USA, 1984), Beethoven
and The Spiritual Path (Quest, USA, 1994) and Real
Fairies (Capall Bann, UK, 1999). He first discovered
the stream of Ascended Master Teachings while in India in
1975, and in 1981 became co-founder of the English registered
charity, The Summit Lighthouse (UK). He is presently associated
with The Temple of The Presence.
Contact Information
David welcomes correspondence, which should be directed
to him through the webmaster of this site at schuller@alpheus.org.
Footnotes
7. Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography
of a Yogi, pp. 470-497.
8. Godfré Ray King, The Magic
Presence, pp. 293, 294.
Copyright ©
2003 - David Tame
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