Letters To Gail
July 4, 1963
Dear Gail:
“ How does one die daily and yet live?” This is the seventh spiritual question which one must confront once he steps out on the pathway to the Absolute. The answer is simple if you know Shabda Yoga – that is, you must learn to leave the body at will and dwell on the other planes, and return to the body when possible, and at your own command!
In his letters, St. Paul used this phrase, “ I die daily.” This meant that he had control of himself, that he could leave the body at will and come back to it. Therefore he was dying daily and yet he lived! This is the crux and the truth of the whole life? How then can one bring himself to this point?
He brings himself to this point by finding the Master as I’ve pointed out in previous letters concerning spiritual problems. Then he is initiated and learns how to meet the Master outside the body, and travel the universes of the other worlds. His body is left intact, breathing with all its apparent looks of a live flesh and blood body, but it is only a shell because the spirit has left it and has gone elsewhere! You ask how can the body stay alive when the essentials of its own being have left it; that it has died yet it will return. Suspended animation is one name for it when it has suspended all life and can stay in that position until the spirit returns.
Stories are told in India about criminals in the old days who hid themselves in graves while the law searched the countryside in hopes of finding them. They went into suspended animation and left their bodies buried within graves where no one would suspect they were hiding. I heard a large number of these stories while I was in India , though never saw one. I know an Egyptian who does a professional job of getting buried alive and staying underground for at least five days. He has learned the trick of the trance state in which the yogis are adepts at doing, and using it for money – making devices or to sail up to God.
When one wants to go into suspended animation ( the trance state ) he puts his concentration on the Tisra Til or what is called the Third Eye, and waits for the Master’s appearance. If he doesn’t have a Master, then wait anyways for one will put in his appearance. If you are not certain whether this is a Master or not there is a certain way to use to determine if it is an imposter or an authentic Master. The way is to challenge it thus: “ In the name of the Sugmad, I order you to give me your true identity!” A true Master will never worry about it and simply provide his identity to you. If the entity turns out to be questionable, one may repeatedly say: “ In the name of the Sugmad I wish you to be surrounded in ITS Divine Love!” This will cause an imposter entity to fade away into oblivion however, do not be fooled if it appears to be unaffected, continue the challenge several times to be certain, a true Master understands why and will never mind your doing this.
The Master then takes you out of the body. It is left as though a suit of clothes and you are shown the wonders of the universe. There are other ways of getting out of the body but this way is the soundest, and the one in which you are certain of no harm. The way of the sacred mushroom in Mexico, used by certain cults, is under the guidance of a priest. But there is peyote, which contains mescaline, and a number of other drugs which can take you out of the body. The latter are usually done at the expense of the individual and you can never tell what is going to happen if you are not trained in leaving the body, and allowing it to stay intact until your return.
Many are able to leave the body , but do so unknowingly. Some do it during sleep, and yet it is recorded and remembered during their awakening hours. Peter spoke of his Self as the Glorious Body, and throughout the Bible there were references to Self as being used by those who knew how. There is a reference to Jesus about to be seized by those in a mob, and he disappeared from their sight. There is another reference to him on the mount, and there appeared to him a couple of prophets and he became transfigured. There is the story of his rising from the tomb and appearing to the apostles in the upper chamber. Now Christianity makes something great out of Jesus’ ability to use his other bodies and seem to think that nobody but he could do this. However, the apostles had the same ability, and many in ancient times in the land of Judea could make their appearances in two places at the same time. Yet he told an audience, according to St. John’s scripture, that any man could do what he could and better!
One of the first things a Master teaches his disciples is the ability to get out of the body at will. This was the first thing I showed you – but this isn’t a subtle reference that I’m a Master. My knowledge of those things which a Master teaches are great, that is because I have always wanted to learn and took time and effort to do so. Since anyone who has the knowledge cannot store it no more than a man can take money out of circulation, he must impart that knowledge openly to someone else or a wide group. I therefore must give you what knowledge I know and to others through my writings. To give knowledge without discrimination is in the words of Jesus , “ to cast pearls before the swine.” In other words one must be careful to whom he gives his knowledge and what he gives them, otherwise two things can happen to him: First, the very knowledge of life which he gives out to a person can be used on him, by a receiver and secondly, the receiver of the knowledge can take it lightly and throw it away. Thereby the giver has wasted his time and effort upon someone who was not of mental, moral and spiritual strength to receive the message. So you must be careful what you tell anyone of the occult teachings.
One of the earliest groups who used the out of the body experiences were the Magi. The Magi were a group of Magicians who studied the spiritual problems of their day sometime around 1800 B.C. to 600 B.C. until around maybe 500 A.D. when Alexander conquered Persia. There are still some remnants of this cult existing today. They were the descendants of Zoroastrianism, and of a very high order. It is said that the three wise men who visited Christ at his time of birth were magi members sent by their master in Persia to greet the savior as he came into this world. They knew by signs and prophecies that a world teacher was coming, and where exactly he would be born, and the conditions of his life. He was found by a Magi, out of his body, and reported to the Magi master, who sent three Magi to greet Christ with their gifts. The other part of the legend goes like this – they went in their spiritual bodies, manifesting at the gates of the city riding camels, so that their physical bodies could be seen by those incapable of having second sight and their visit recorded.
I have pointed out that this out of the body experience is most important, and that the seventh spiritual problem is leaving the body daily, and seeing that it dies and is renewed, or what was meant by “resurrection” when the spirit returns. St. Paul’s letters have constant references to this: “ The man who was caught up in heaven for three days, etc.” The Acts of the Apostles also makes many references as do the Apocryphal writings the Apocalypse of Paul, Marsanes, and the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth. This is the keystone of the spiritual life. Learn it!
More Later, Paul
From the book, Letters to Gail Vol. 2 © 1990 Eckankar – Sri Paul Twitchell
