Illuminated Way Letters
July 1967
Dear Friends:
Several questions have come up during this month by chelas who are concerned in their spiritual unfoldment to have knowledge of the physical disciplines while traveling the path of Eckankar.
These are generally breathing exercises, the vegetarian diet, fasting, the motivations of Soul Travel and the lack of ability to get into the Soul Body Itself. These will be discussed in their order in this letter.
First, I want to point out that breathing exercises as given by most Yoga systems are questionable. The regulation of breathing is inclined to lead one into an unbalanced state and has little to do with whether he can do Soul Travel. It can stir up strong emotions of anxiety, guilt, anger, and cause mental conflicts. This is true of most who practice the extremely heavy control of breathing exercises. Of course there are arguments both pro and con for this but we must always come back to the individual's own particular state of consciousness. It depends entirely upon him whether he is able to handle the regulated breathing exercises and not be harmed by them.
Secondly, the vegetarian diet is more dependent upon the personal aspects than any other type of physical discipline. The stomach of man was made to digest meats, vegetables, fruits and nuts. But in turning to the vegetarian diet one must remember that he is dealing with a principle that concerns the taking of life that belongs to animals. This is what bothers many persons who are on the true path of God. I do not ask anyone to give up their habits to follow ECK, but request that they be patient for sooner or later they will become more spiritually abundant. I do say that moderation is the best way to stay on the path.
Third, fasting is another relative aspect of the spiritual life. My suggestion here is to fast no less than one day a week. For example, every Friday give the physical body a rest. Eat nothing, but drink grape juice or eat a few grapes. The long fasts depend only on the individual and his conditions — there are many people who cannot stand fasts. It is not necessary to fast for Soul Travel, for many get into the heavenly worlds without any austerities. It is a question that most of us must answer for ourselves, but when we need to fast, I am of the opinion that Spirit will lead us into it.
The motivation for getting out of the lower state of consciousness, via ECK, is one of greatest importance to us. The true motivation is to reach the Kingdom of God, and hardly anything else, to become a clear channel for the Divine Spirit, and to receive anything else, to become a clear channel for the Divine Spirit, and to receive complete freedom of Soul. If we do not have any of these motivations for our goal the opportunity for Soul Travel is not as great. Many say they wish to learn Soul Travel, in order to visit with their relatives who have passed to the other side, and other worthy, deserving incentives, but this would happen anyway, regardless. All lower psychic ambitions are fulfilled anyway, so why should we be bothered about them, if they are a part of the whole? When I explained this once during a workshop on ECK one person said that he was completely without any motivation, that he had no ambition to reach the heavenly kingdom, didn't care about his seeing anyone, including his relatives on the other side, so it didn't matter to him. Of course he lost interest in Soul Travel.
The lack of ability to transfer from the physical consciousness to the spiritual is so often that which keeps the individual from Soul Traveling. This is the real key to getting out-of-the-body state of consciousness. In a way it is a lack of discipline on one's part about managing the thought processes. Actually, the only thing we are concerned with here is consciousness and attention, the need to place our attention and interest somewhere else. For example, if we are asked to put our attention on the ceiling and see from this position, all we are doing is taking a viewpoint from up here. We are just looking at whatever is desired by seeing through the position of our consciousness there. We are no longer looking through the physical eyes, but the inner eyes at whatever is desired. This means we are like a pair of camera eyes, looking and seeing whatever is within our orbit. It is actually using the subtle eyes, or the invisible eyes, to look at whatever we desire.
Often this experience comes as viewing from a position above everything as if we are looking down into space, as one looks down into a well. Often there is no clearly situated and environmental self; there are the stars around us, not close but with something of the isolation that a telescope gives, not one of a pattern of stars, but itself floating in the dark breath of space in kind of a void. Then suddenly beside one stands the Traveler, like a star, in a white light, in retrospect a related sense that we are the same, suspended in a dark void, watching the Traveler and the Traveler watching us. We are poised, exactly the same in position, if one can think of awareness as being a position, held level in a balance. This can endure, two entities equally suspended in space, time and eternity, equally opposite, devoid of any meaning and feeling. There is no beauty, divinity or physical sensation, just simply the impression of being here and looking into the space below. So many things to record, to bring back when one returns to physical senses, so normally the spiritual senses will start transmitting at once to the lower mind what is taking place.
However, at this point we feel something more intensifying, a sense of progress begins to take place, we are like a fountain, and eddy in the water through which blows a light. What we realize is this is pure awareness through which we know all things, moving in on this Spirit body from all directions. Although it seems physical, it is too much for words. No language based on concrete symbols or objects, or feeling, can describe this awareness. Words, like chains, hold us back. But we experience reality endlessly, of no good, no evil, no beauty, ugliness, sympathy and no repulsion. We are floating in suspension above time, space and concepts of the mind.
I am always with you.
Affectionately,
Paul Twitchell
From the book, Eckankar: Illuminated Way Letters 1966-1971
