Page 218 - Wisdom Unfurled

thirteen points corresponding to the anna maya, prana maya and manomaya is much more difficult to perform as these are the most potent layers exerting a lot of influence on the individual psyche which in addition is exposed to an environment severely polluted by lust, passion, violence, greed, pride and prejudice compounding the problem. They constitute a big drag on the sadhaka making him slip from the higher and subtler conditions created in him through fomentation by a capable trainer who is firmly established in the higher realms.
It is only through the determined and assiduous practice of the commandments, the meditations at A & B and prayer at bed time that the aspirant would be able to get rid of the dirt and grossness in the various knots of the Pind desh and thus complete the yatra through these points. The fourth and fifth set of points relate respectively to the Vijnana and the Ananda mayakosas and the journey through these is usually by passed by the grace of the Master according to the author of Path of Grace.
Progress viewed as transformations in consciousness
Looking at the whole process of movement from knot 1 to knot 13 and onwards into the Central Region as an evolution in consciousness we may state the following. The particularized consciousness restricted to the body ‘boundary’ and hitherto oriented towards oneself in the Pind Desh changes its dimension and develops into a concern for others which further turns to be all pervasive in the Brahmand Mandal- the realm of universal consciousness. This transformation into transpersonal realms is crucial and the real value of human existence is appreciated only through such a transformation. The average man who is constrained and contented to live and move in the realm of matter and self-aggrandizement has really no inkling of the infinite potential lying buried in him. The message in the real sense broadcast from the lives of prophets and divine descents is that they show through their lives and works the higher possibilities open to man.
But the fact remains that mankind finds it convenient to make Gods out of them and worship them rather than follow their examples in actual living. Again the dedicated aspirant supported by the wonderful power of Pranahuti from a capable guide actually enters into and imperiences the condition ‘Aham Brahmasmi’- the feeling of inseparateness which turns into the feeling of ‘All is Brahman’ conveying a sense of universal inseparateness culminating in the form of the feeling ‘All from Brahman’. The last condition conveys a sense of extinction of every view. It is to be noted that these are all the celebrated maha vakyas of Vedanta (Upanishads) which are now the subject of direct imperience for an aspirant under proper guidance from a capable Master. It is appropriate to consider what the Master says in this context,