D. SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES IN THE COURSE OF SMALL FACE YOGA
If you have a natural attraction for God-with-Name-and-Form,
and your natural inclination is for devotional yoga in relation to a Small
Face Chosen Ideal (e.g. the Lord YHVH), you will usually have a distinct
set of experiences in relation to this Central Column path. It is not
unusual for an aspirant to start noticing some subtle changes not long
after commencing their meditative discipline. Events in your life will
start feeling less accidental, less coincidental, and they will give you
more of a sense that God is teaching you through your lifestream and your
relationships with others.
It is also not unusual for aspirants to notice subtle differences in their
sleeping and dream life. It is a good practice to try to stimulate conscious
dreaming. By falling asleep on your back while repeating the mantra, or
holding on to some thought or image, you may start to experience consciously
leaving your body and being awake in your Geviyah (astral body)
in Yetzirah (World of Formation). This can be somewhat unsettling
in the early stages, until you get accustomed to the experience and more
familiar with the process. Try not to panic. At first, you will likely
try to move around in your Geviyah the same way that you move in
your physical body. You will try to move your legs and arms as if to walk,
and feel unable to do so. This is because moving around in your Geviyah
is mentally directed: that is, you “will” yourself to move,
whereby you float or “fly.” This is why many people report the
sensation of flying in their dreams.
Once you get accustomed to being awake in your Geviyah, it becomes
possible to travel (and see and hear at) considerable distances, move
through apparently solid objects, make contact with beings who dwell in
this plane, and even “read” the Earth’s Akashic record.
A variety of psychic abilities can awaken. This can be quite stimulating,
and is potentially an addictive distraction. If such abilities do arise
in the course of your spiritual awakening, it is generally recommended
that you renounce and ignore them in order to avoid the potential pitfalls.
When you awake in your Geviyah, it is best to commence the same
meditation practice of repetition of root mantra and visualization that
you do in your waking state. The Geviyah is a potent platform from
which to engage in zakhor. Here you do not have the distractions
of your physical body, such as an itchy nose or achy knees.
When consciously going through the Gate of the Gimel g into the World
of Yetzirah, the experience of the Watcher on the Threshold can
be unnerving. The Watcher is a mirror that reflects the imprint of the
mazal accumulated over many lives. Mazal (Sanskrt, karma)
is a process of cause and effect, described by the adage, “As ye
sow, so shall ye reap.” This implies that the circumstances into
which you have taken birth and the ensuing stream of life experience is,
in some significant way, effected by what you what you have done previously.
It is quite typical for people to run from this experience. Over time,
the process of mantric repetition clears this “encrustation,”
whereby you can see the reflection of your Higher Self as your Chosen
Ideal. The mirror may become clear. When you come to the experience of
the Watcher, keep chanting the Name. Fight the impulse to flee, and will
yourself to go directly through it.
In consciously going through the Watcher, you move into the qlifah
of the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaQodesh) in Sefirah Beauty/Last in the
World of B’riyah (Creation). This is normally experienced
as deep sleep. Here, you can have the experience of ananda samadhi—bliss
absorption in your Small Face Chosen Ideal. In this experience, as generally
filtered through the astral senses of the Geviyah, there is the
exclusive vision of yourself “at the feet of,” so to speak,
your beloved Small Face Chosen Ideal. For a Mystical Qabalist, this would
be the Lord YHVH. This experience is accompanied by great waves of bliss
that can get quite intense (and potentially addictive).
For one reason or another, you may find yourself unable or unwilling to
become active in your Geviyah. Most people will sporadically become
conscious in their dream state, and be blessed with more or less occasional
ecstatic visions originating from the dream state. The frequency of such
experiences is not a testimony to one’s spiritual advancement. Some
people have one profound experience that changes and effects them for
their entire life. Others have numerous experiences, but still seem to
regress to baser ego states and cling to a long shopping list of desires.
Your spiritual advancement will be reflected in the emergence of higher
qualities of character that results from the decreased identification
of the ego with your lower nature. The qualities include unconditional
love and devotion toward your Chosen Ideal, seeing the whole world and
all beings as one’s own, renunciation of the fruits of work, the
desire to engage in selfless service, etc.
The experience of ananda samadhi with the Small Face Chosen Ideal
is generally the goal of Small Face yoga. This experience will permanently
establish the fractal reprogramming of the cerebral cortex. The spiritually
awakened mind of the aspirant is firmly stationed in the awareness that
the manifest Creation is a unity in their Small Face Chosen Ideal, even
in the waking state of Sefirah Kingdom. Generally, one so established
will have a particular bhava, or devotional mood, toward Small
Face. It may be that of servant to the Lord as Divine Master or King/Queen,
child to the Lord as Divine Parent, parent to the Lord as Divine Child,
or lover to the Lord as the Divine Beloved. The play of the Holy Spirit
in the awakened soul is, indeed, a wondrous mystery. For the vast majority
of people in this “Dark Age of Kali,” samadhi
experiences will initiate in the dream state in Yetzirah. This
dream state samadhi is called shushupta samadhi in Sanskrit.
Individuals who have such experiences open in the waking state are rare
in these latter days. Hence, it is also quite rare to find individuals
who sustain bhava samadhis in their waking states.
Having become firmly established in Small Face, the aspirant is freed
from taking further birth in a human body, and no longer generates new
mazal that must be mitigated. He/she has become a "Tree of
Perfection after the Alef." They will pass through the rest of their
life absorbed in their love and devotion for their Small Face Chosen Ideal,
and engage in service to their Lord as embodied in all beings. When the
Nefesh falls away at the end of their life, they will make the
transition into a bliss-filled experience of their Small Face Ideal, which
will endure for the remainder of the Small Face universe. This experience
comes to an end when “Face turns to Face,” and the manifest
Creation on all planes is dissolved in the substratum of the Ayn.
As a Mystical Qabalist, your beloved Lord YHVH is the guide, the guru.
He/She will unfold your spiritual path and inspire you to do what is right
for you. It is most beneficial to spend time in the company of holy people.
While it is of course desirable to find extraordinary souls within the
same mystical tradition that naturally interests you, it is also valuable
to spend time in the presence of any genuine saint and master from any
tradition. It is also important to seek out and keep the company of other
people who, through divine grace, are actively involved in spiritual growth,
and with whom you can pray, meditate, sing, and discuss spiritual ideas.
