By George A. Boyd ©2019
Q: When people talk about Satchitananda, they seem to refer to different experiences. It appears to me when a Yogi Preceptor speaks about Satchitananda as the experience of realizing Brahman, he is pointing to something else than what your second teacher, Sat Guru Balyogeshwar Paramahansa, was describing. Could you shed some light on this?
A: There appear to be seven major orders of experience that different sources have labeled Satchitananda. In these varying perspectives, Satchitananda is:
- The experience of the Soul (Atma) – Those who hold this view say that the Soul contains an atom of the Divine that is eternal existence, eternally conscious, and eternally joyous and blissful. New Age teachers embrace this viewpoint.
- The experience of the Monad (Paramatma) – When the Soul completes its spiritual evolution, it merges in the Nirvanic Flame, and is reborn as the Monad. The Monad is the fullness of conscious immortality, infinite knowledge and power, and bliss. Planetary Adepts and their disciples adopt this standpoint.
- The experience of cosmic consciousness in union with Brahman – When the cosmic consciousness nucleus of identity unfolds and ultimately opens the seventh chakra of the Cosmic Man or Woman, it enters the state of union with Brahman. The fifth Maha Vakya or Divine Realization Affirmation is Satchitananda Brahman. This is the state of conscious Godhood—you experience yourself as one with the Divine Self of the Universe. Jnana Yoga Preceptors, and teachers of Vedanta and Advaita disseminate this perspective.
- The experience of the Supracosmic Soul on any Supracosmic Path, when your Supracosmic Seed Atom fuses with it – At the culmination of spiritual development on any Supracosmic Path where your Supracosmic Soul dwells, you can experience Divine Realization. This occurs when your Supracosmic Seed Atom merges into your Supracosmic Soul. Supracosmic Gurus like Ramana Maharshi and Shirdi Sai Baba experienced and embodied this state.
- The experience of the Transcendental Ensouling Entity on its own Plane, above all coverings – On Transcendental Paths one through five, the spirit opens the channels of the Nada to a Plane where the ensouling entity gains realization of its own nature above the worlds of matter, energy, and mind. Sat Gurus of Transcendental Paths one through five point to this advanced state of Realization as conferring the highest knowledge and bliss.
- The experience of the Transcendental Ensouling Entity of the Seventh Transcendental Path – The Sat Guru of the Seventh Transcendental Path reveals Divine Knowledge or Brahma Vidya, when he unites your attention with this ensouling entity. This teacher and his disciples label this state of eternal existence, infinite consciousness, and unending bliss as Satchitananda.
- The experience of the Avatar on the Third Transcendental Path – This highest Initiate on the Third Transcendental Path experiences infinite love, infinite intelligence, and infinite bliss as he consciously incarnates God. The Initiates and disciples of the Third Transcendental Path identify the conscious experience of the Avatar as Satchitananda.
When we speak of Satchitananda in Mudrashram®, we point to this sixth order of experience. In the Mudrashram® Advanced Course in Meditation, we guide students up to experience Satchitananda as the ensouling entity of the Seventh Transcendental Path. Experiencing this spiritual essence is important because:
- Satchitananda is the source of the Alaya, the Divine energy that animates your ensouling entity at the cutting edge of spirituality. Upon liberation of any of your ensouling entities, this animating energy returns to Satchitananda. This energy then reanimates another ensouling entity on another level of the Great Continuum of Consciousness.
- Satchitananda is the highest state of conscious experience in you.
- Satchitananda transcends the dualities of the lower Planes—Subtle, Planetary, Transplanetary, Cosmic, Supracosmic, and Transcendental Paths one through five—and is experienced as the core essence from which all other states of conscious experience emanated.
- Satchitananda brings highest Realization. Realizing it beings Supreme Gnosis, Brahma Vidya, or Divine Knowledge. It is the ultimate synthesis of all varieties of spiritual experience.
We encourage you to become familiar with each of these varieties of spiritual essences that have been labeled Satchitananda up to the sixth order of experience. The seventh order is the unique experience of that Initiate chosen to embody the Avatar on the Third Transcendental Path, so accessing this state of consciousness may be challenging for most aspirants and disciples.
The other six orders are readily accessible to those who master the art of Raja Yoga. This confers the ability to travel to any level of the Great Continuum of Consciousness in full consciousness. [We teach you how to practice direct projection, the inmost practice of Raja Yoga, in our intermediate classes, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and on-line Accelerated Meditation Program.]
Those who complete one of our intermediate courses, and go on to take the Mudrashram® Advanced Course in Meditation, actually travel in the advanced course up through each of these six states of the experience of Satchitananda.