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Deeksha and the Brain

(Selection from Fire from Heaven: Dawn of a Golden Age by Kiara Windrider)

September 2005

Enlightenment is the ability to see reality as it is, without the layers of interference and interpretation imposed by the mind. It is a simple neurobiological event, and can happen in an instant. Paradoxically, in the moment of your enlightenment, you also discover that you have always already been enlightened! It is our natural state!

The bio-circuitry of a human being was designed in such a way that after developing a self at around age 3 we would return naturally to a state of unified existence at around age 18.  Unfortunately, something went awry, and we experienced a Fall within our evolution as a biological species. 

Nature demanded that there always be a select few throughout our subsequent history who maintained this morphogenetic field of the natural enlightened state.  Historical figures such as the Buddha, Lao Tzu, Jesus, and many others exemplified this.  Now, however, we have come to a time when humanity is once again being prepared to return to our natural state as a collective species.  The time has come now for each of us to be restored to our natural enlightened state!

Enlightenment has nothing to do with how long you have been on a spiritual path, nor with what your religious beliefs are.  You do not even need to believe in God or have any concepts about the soul.  Enlightenment does not depend on knowing the right teachings or mantras.  It has nothing to do with how many lifetimes you have meditated, or even with how ‘good’ a person you are.

There is nothing you can ‘do’ to get enlightened.  Enlightenment cannot be achieved through your own efforts any more than a drowning person can yank himself out by his own hair.  We are in a prison of the mind, and the key is on the other side.  The mind cannot deactivate itself.  It can only happen by grace.

Humanity is ready now, says Bhagavan.  Each of us has spent lifetimes preparing for this.  We have all done our sadhana, or whatever we thought was required, and it is time now to enter the Golden Age together.  The question is not if we will get enlightened, but when.

“There is a simple way to know if you are enlightened,” my guide had told me once.  “If you are asking the question, you are not.”  The biggest obstacle to enlightenment is to pretend that you already are if you are not. 

If you know you are not enlightened, and you become aware of the cravings and aversions generated by the illusion of self, then you become open to grace.  When you see clearly the nature of the mind, and the extent of your conditioning, and when you become tired of the resulting suffering - all the incessant comparing, judging, efforting, and blaming - then grace can begin to flow in.  Understanding this as a mental concept isn’t enough.  It must be felt and experienced.

The means that Bhagavan has set up for this grace to act is known as the ‘deeksha’.  The deeksha is a transfer of power, and can be defined as ‘initiation’.  It usually consists of a ceremony in which one or more of the  ‘guides’ at Oneness University place their hands upon your head in a state of divine union, and become channels for cosmic energies directed by Bhagavan to reorganize your neuro-circuitry. 

Bhagavan refers to this process as ‘divine surgery’.  A golden ball of divine grace descends through the crown chakra, and the kundalini channels get activated.  Certain areas in the brain get shut down, other areas get energized, initiating a process in which the entire brain and nervous system is reorganized.

This golden ball is programmed by Bhagavan to reorganize the biological circuitry of the brain, leading to enlightenment.  It has a living intelligence, and operates differently within each person.  Once it has descended into the crown chakra, however, the process will move towards completion, programmed by the divine ‘sankalpa’, or intent, of Amma and Bhagavan.

The deeksha punches through the wall of concepts set up by the mind. The winds of heaven can then blow through. In the words of Carlos Castaneda, we open up to the world of the ‘nagual’, our ‘assemblage point’ shifts, and we are free.

In the current species of humanity, the brain is designed in such a way as to serve as a receptor station for a certain band of frequencies corresponding to the Ancient Mind.  The deeksha serves to loosen up the receptor sites within the brain from this band of frequencies, and simultaneously to dissolve the feedback loops of consciousness that create the sense of separate identity which we have referred to as the self.  The brain then becomes sensitive to a wide range of frequencies emanating within the Universal Mind.

To be enlightened is to access our souls directly, rather than through the interference of the mind.  Unfortunately, for many people on the spiritual path, even though we have had direct experience of our souls from time to time, our conception of the soul is not very different from our conception of self.  It is a ‘higher’ self, but it is still a separate fixed self.  This conception can be a limitation, which is why Bhagavan doesn’t speak much about the soul. 

The enlightened yogis of ancient India, when they spoke of their inner divinity as the ‘Atman’, understood that there was no such thing as a fixed individual soul.  The individual is holographically related to the whole.  The Atman is one in essence with ‘Brahman’, the universal field of consciousness that is constantly moving through each expression of creation.  “Tat twam asi,” say the yogis, “I am That!”

What happens when the deeksha is given?  Some may immediately go into a peak experience of bliss, deep silence, or cosmic consciousness.  This may or may not be permanent.  If it isn’t, this first peak experience is followed by other peak experiences over the following days and weeks, until a permanent enlightened state establishes itself. 

For others, there may not be an immediate felt response, and it may take hours, days, or weeks before they start noticing a change.  Regardless, once the deeksha is received, the seed of enlightenment has been planted, and Bhagavan will work with you in accordance with your own soul’s purpose and the readiness of your physical body to bring the seed into fruition.

The first thing that often comes up for people is an acute sensitivity to the nature of mind, and the patterns that have ruled our lives so long.  It can be a shocking and painful experience when we first begin to look at it, but necessary if we are to break free.  If more than one deeksha is given, often the first deeksha is programmed to pinpoint the self-centeredness of the mind.  If a person has done some self-examination and emotional clearing beforehand, or already ‘hit bottom’, that can help.  Grace only flows when you recognize your illusions.  As long as you think you can make it on your own, its flow will be impeded.

Once the deeksha is given, you neither have the power to stop the process in any way nor to help it along. The activity of the deeksha has nothing to do with how deserving you think yourself to be, or with any concepts of spirituality you may be holding, or with making any kinds of efforts towards it.

As Bhagavan puts it, once the train pulls out from the station, will you get to your destination any faster by constantly running around back and forth inside the train? Please realize that enlightenment has nothing to do with the mind or the contents of the mind. It has everything to do with the brain, and the deeksha is an intelligent force which is programmed to do whatever is necessary to create the neurobiological shift necessary to get there!

Many people, after they receive the deeksha, still feel that somehow they can help the process along by doing the right meditations, thinking the right thoughts, or somehow bringing the mind under control. Other people get obsessed with fears about blocking the process through their doubts, fears, or feelings of unworthiness.  It is important to realize that there is nothing you can do either to help or to obstruct the process, except simply to witness the process itself.

In other words, if a ‘blocked’ personality shows up, simply step back and watch the way it works.  There might be a fear that you will be the last person on Earth to become enlightened, that you have too many mental blocks, that your heart isn’t open enough, that you haven’t done enough emotional clearing, that there is something wrong with you physically, that you are too old, too unworthy, too traumatized, or whatever your own personal story might be.

Just watch this personality as if you were watching a movie. Notice how attached it is to he drama of its own suffering. Notice how it sustains itself through its traumas and dramas, even the drama of planning its own enlightenment.  Notice how it feeds itself by pretending to hate itself.  Notice how its idea of being blocked itself becomes the block. Notice how it wants to analyze itself to death before it is ready to surrender.  Notice how it hears only what it wants to hear so it can forever prove itself right.

You may want to make a list of these escape routes of the mind.  Give these ‘negative’ personalities a voice, and describe in detail all the fears, doubts, blocks, manipulations, denials, and dysfunctional habit patterns that you can think of.  Then let it all go.  Once it is down on paper you may find that they no longer have as much power over you.  Once you can see clearly, the seeing itself is the liberation. Once you realize that there is nothing you can do to change yourself, then surrender can happen, and grace can flow. 

For some people, even the act of surrender is associated with a great effort.  Well, then, surrender even your efforts to surrender.  Simply ask for grace and then be silent. Once this ‘you’ who is so intent on understanding, changing, or healing itself surrenders, enlightenment can happen easily.  The neurological shift takes place and you return to your natural state of oneness.  It is as simple as that.

It is important to understand what enlightenment is not.  It is not about losing your mind, or even changing the nature of your mind.  The same mind continues to exist, although you notice that you now have a different relationship with it.  Nor is enlightenment equated with cosmic bliss, instant clairvoyant abilities, or high spiritual states.  All these may accompany or follow enlightenment at some point, but it is not what enlightenment is about.  Enlightenment is simply ‘throwing a switch’ in the neurobiological structures of your brain, and thereby dissolving the sense of a separate self.  It is not about changing the contents of the mind, but seeing the mind for what it is.  In this very seeing, all conflict and suffering dissolves, and you experience freedom.

 he difference is primarily internal.  An enlightened person can still make mistakes, still experience disappointments, still have difficulty with relationships, still experience limitations, and still be bad tempered, except that he will no longer be identified with these characteristics.  It is not required that an enlightened person will always have a radiant aura or always be cheerful.

In fact, there will be times when an enlightened person will need to exhibit anger where she would normally be a doormat, or do something quite contrary to an established social or moral code because he is no longer bound by the conditioned identities and learned responses of the old order.  An enlightened person discovers joy in being true to himself.  He finds no need to pretend anymore, although to an unenlightened consciousness he or she might well be perceived as a rebel or a troublemaker!

Enlightenment is to peel off the layers of interpretation from a given event.  To the enlightened person, life becomes a very ordinary thing.  You walk, and you are walking.  You eat, and you are eating.  Enlightenment is not about having extraordinary experiences so much as recognizing that each ordinary moment is extraordinary in itself.  Before, there were a thousand interpretations in the mind for everything you experienced.  Now, there is only the experience.

It is also important to distinguish between enlightenment experiences and the state of enlightenment.  Enlightenment experiences are peak experiences or high energy experiences.  You may go into a peak experience after a deeksha.  You may already have had several peak experiences through the course of your life.  The kundalini energies within your body rise up to the top of the head, unite with the cosmic energies, and you experience bliss, unconditional love, or cosmic consciousness.  You may see celestial visions, even journey into higher ‘lokas’, or heavenly realms. 

Peak experiences cannot be sustained beyond a few hours or at most a few days.  The cosmic energies coursing through your nervous system would burn you out and short-circuit the human body, at least in our current level of human evolution.  An enlightened state, on the other hand, is permanent.  It is a shift in the neurobiological pathways of the brain, resulting in the sharpening of the senses, and the subsequent loss of a fixated self.  After a deeksha, there will often be a sequence of one or more peak experiences, which will eventually stabilize into enlightenment as a permanent state.

This can be illustrated in the form of a graph. Supposing the unenlightened person operates from a minus 2 or 3 or 4, depending on their level of suffering. When the deeksha is given, it will catapult them into a plus 3 or 4, where they may have all sorts of phenomenon associated with unity consciousness.  This peak experience will not last long, and after a few hours, the experiences will subside.  However, once they have experienced an enlightened state, they will not generally dip below the zero-point of suffering. They may stabilize at 1 or 2.  During the next deeksha, they may go up to 4 or 5, and then stabilize at 2 or 3.  The stabilizing point is higher with each successive peak experience.