Commentary on ‘Science of Soul’ of Swami Yogeshwaranand

 

By Adi Da Samraj

 

Science of Soul [A Practical Exposition of Ancient Method, of Visualisation of Soul] (Atma-Vijnana), by Brahmarshi Parmahans Shree 108 Swami Yogeshwaranand Saraswati Ji Maharaj (Formerly Rajayogacharya Bal-Brahmachari Shree Swami Vyas Dev Ji Maharaj)

The visionary experiences of Swami Yogeshwaranand clearly demonstrate that the heart region, and not the brain (or the regions above the brain), is the seat of the “causal body”10 (or the “sheath of bliss”), and that the heart region is, therefore, the ultimate “doorway” to Perfect Realization. However, because he generally confines himself to the visionary, or subtle, point of view in relation to the causal body, Swami Yogeshwaranand literally sees the causal body, and only in the general, and centralized, context of the heart region of the body. Those who practice direct transcendence of the causal body itself (without reference to the subtle body, or bodies) “feel” the causal body specifically in the right side of the heart, in the region of the sinoatrial node, or “pacemaker”.

In the conventional fifth stage manner, Swami Yogeshwaranand describes even “Liberation” as a State of a separate self, or “soul”, since the Yoga he contemplates does not immediately transcend subtle vision by direct intuitive Identification with the Transcendental “Self’ That Is Consciousness Itself. Therefore, even though Swami Yogeshwaranand makes philosophical references to the Ultimate transcendence (or discriminative relinquishment) of conditional states (or “bodies”), his Way of Realization generally corresponds to the fourth to fifth stage (subtle body) path of the “ascent” of the “soul”, or the Revelation of the separate being to itself.

Yogis and Saints of the internal (or subtle subjective) path of ascent (or of subtle perception in general) often retain the notion of a separate but “Liberated” self (or “soul”). They suggest that the “ego” is not the separate “soul”-self but the specific illusion generated by the false identification of the individual “soul” with the body, or the body-mind, and they also suggest that “Liberation” is the Free state of the “soul” that is Realized when that false identification is “unlearned”. However, this point of view (or description) is itself the product of psycho-physical illusion.

True Liberation Is Complete Freedom from all illusions (or all separateness). In fact, the “soul”, or any idea of an inherently separate Consciousness, is the ego, or the evidence of self-contraction. Therefore, the process of Realization must continue, beyond the fifth stage of life, and beyond even the sixth stage of life, until the seventh, or Divinely Perfect, stage of Realization Awakens Truly Perfect Freedom.

In the language of the Way of the Heart, “Yogis” are those who are truly, or really and rightly, practicing in the stages of Spiritual ascent, “Saints” are those who are already established in the “Highest” contemplative Realization, and “Sages” are those who have gone beyond the psycho-physical context of the first five stages of life, and who have Realized sixth stage, or even seventh stage, Awakening.

Swami Yogeshwaranand himself is basically a fifth stage Yogi-Saint, whose vision sometimes passes beyond the process of ascent, to subtle perception of the “causal”, or sixth stage, domain of the heart. The “Liberation” he proposes is meditation.  By virtue of its scope, it constitutes a general introduction to the basic varieties of meditative pratice.

See:

 

p. 186.

The Constituent of Bliss Sheath.