|
|
 |
|
| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Tibetan_Ice
Canada
758 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 09 2009 : 10:55:39 PM
|
Hi Everyone :)
From time to time, someone here posts a question about "seeing" visions during meditation.
I too had many questions about what I was seeing during meditation. These are my findings and comments.
First off, it is important to understand the concept of awareness or attention so that it is not confused with the physical act of seeing through the eyes.
Awareness or attention is like a very small video camera that has infinite speed. Whatever this video camera points to is what you are aware of. It can focus on a range from a very small point to a very large expansive area. It is extremely fast, faster than the speed of light, and in most people, it flits about pointing to whatever it is attracted to or is in the habit of pointing to. Awareness is attracted to the world of forms: thoughts, objects, body sensations, touch, taste, sounds, memories, movement etc. One of the main attractants of awareness is light. Another main attractant is anything that feels good like love, bliss, joy and pleasurable sensations.
Concentration is the ability to focus awareness on one thing (or a group of things), whether that thing is a thought, object, visual field, sensation or anything else in the world of forms. By "world of forms" I mean anything that has manifest itself from the formless deep vast ocean of deep silence. Imagine a Tibetan bell ringing. Before the bell sounds, the ringing does not exist. As the bell is ringing, the sound is perceivable. As the sound dies down and fades away, we have to listen more intently. Listening more intently is a way of focusing or turning up our awareness. Finally, when the ringing sound is gone and returned to the formless or deep silence from which it was born, we notice that our awareness has increased. But the effect does not last long.
Meditation is the practice of focusing and stabilizing the little video camera in your head. When your eyes are open that little video camera, although it is still flitting about pointing at thoughts, sensations, sounds and more, is pointing mostly outwards through the eyes. When you close your eyes during meditation, the visual stimulus is greatly reduced and that little video camera starts pointing more often at other things like sounds, sensations and thoughts. At night, when the sun goes down, that is when you see the stars.
If you keep looking through your physical eyes with your eyes closed while relaxing the body, paying attention to the visual field, eventually you will start to see pulsing colors that come in waves and disappear into the distance. These lights are often green and purple and are rounded (like the shape of the eye). These colored waves are a physical phenomenon related to the cranial sacral pulse (my opinion) and it's effect on the pressure in the eyes. There is no mystical or spiritual significance to these types of visions. Best to ignore them, or use them as an indicator as to how relaxed the body is because you only see these pulses of light when the body is very relaxed. A similar phenomenon is that you will see lights when you press your fingers lightly on closed eyes. The extra pressure stimulates the light-sensing cells at the back of the eye and this causes the light show.
So, during meditation, or not even during meditation but if you just sit in the dark with your eyes closed, you should try to let go of the physical intent of looking through your eyes. You do this naturally when you fall asleep. The eyes will also shut off by themselves from prolonged lack of stimulus. One way to manually shut off the eyes is to roll them upwards and pretend that you are going to fall asleep by focusing on the swirling eddy of energy about 1 inch behind your eyebrows inside your head. When you do this, you will notice that your awareness, that little video camera in your head, is still working away transmitting input and flitting about.
True visions arise when the little video camera is the recipient of the information. Perhaps most people think that if they close their eyes and see a vision, face, scene or what not, that they are seeing through their eyes. Not so. It may seem like you are seeing the vision through the eyes because it is very hard to get the eyes not to follow the little video camera. I've noticed this when practicing spinal breathing, sending your awareness or attention up and down the spine while performing sambhavi. There is a natural tendency for the eyes to follow awareness. In other words, the eyes want to follow the little video camera up and down and it takes some effort to break this habit. When you dream, even though your eyes are shut off they still want to follow the little video camera that is recording the dream. This is called REM sleep: Rapid Eye Movement.
So now that we are clear that it is the little video camera in your head (or heart) that perceives visions, and it is called awareness or attention, let's discuss the different visions that may occur during meditation (or other times) and their significance.
When I first started meditating regularly, sometimes I would see a face looking at me! Sometimes it was a male face, or a female face. Sometimes it was a young child. Sometimes there were many faces. At first I was very cautious and would "bind them in the name of Jesus Christ" and ask them to go away if they were not from the highest purest realms of being. After this pronouncement, some faces disappeared, but most remained. Occasionally I would ask the face a question or two and then wait to see if anything popped into my head. Most faces would answer my questions (their answers kind of pop into your head) but I quickly lost interest in communicating with them because I've always believed that "just because you are dead doesn't mean you are enlightened". :)
What are these faces that appear? There are many theories. Some say that they are beings from other planes. Some say that the faces are what you look like in your previous or future lives. I did find one reference to these faces in something written about Edgar Cayce and meditation. It stated this (link:http://www.near-death.com/experiences/cayce12.html .. no longer works):
"We may at this point be fascinated by the many faces appearing, or numerous pairs of eyes staring. We may even hear our names called; we may feel as if we were in the midst of a crowd, listening to chatter and laughter. We must not stop there, for we are not yet in real meditation. Of course, it is fascinating at first, for it is an entirely new experience. The sounds, the voices, the pictures, the eyes and faces may all belong to souls already in the beyond who, having seen the light pouring through the open door (the spiritual center), have been attracted. It is much akin to the sensation of looking through a strange keyhole, only to see another eye looking back. Intriguing, perhaps, but neither stands to gain much from such a restricted encounter. We must leave this entertainment behind and "press on to the mark of the high calling," his mark, the superconscious mind, the Christ Consciousness, the Holy Spirit, the "hill of the Lord."
"
Later on in my meditations, I experienced persistent visions. At the time I was practicing Kunlun as a supplement to my practices. (Kunlun is a practice of pranic breathing followed by reflexive shaking of the legs followed by storing the prana at the lower dan tien). These visions were persistent visions. I would see, for example, a sun over a blue ocean with a clay Buddha floating just above the calm water and that scene was easily visible for several weeks, any time of the day or night. I could tune into it and watch it with great clarity. At other times I've seen suns, moons, stars, planets that resembled earth and sometimes perfectly round discs of light.
The persistent visions are a different class of vision. Perhaps the brain, when filled to excess with pranic life force, manufactures these visions or perhaps they indicate a hole into another plane burned out by extreme concentration and improper practice. I have no idea. I did find a book about visions called "Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond" and learned about nimittas and jhanas. A nimitta is a mind object which is born from the natural state of mind. What this means is that if you let go and relax enough, to the point where your mind is just about to stop, that natural state will manifest mind objects relative to the degree of concentration and absorption of the meditative practice. They are not visions you see through your eyes, they are seen only by the little video camera in your head. But they 'look' like scenes, lights, discs. According to the book, Buddha said that you should meditate on the nimitta until you either merge with the nimitta or it explodes propelling you into a state of jhana. The states of jhanas are said to cause enlightenment.
I have not yet managed to get a clear enough nimitta on which to meditate and propel myself into the state of one of the jhanas. I still get too excited. Recently I have been distracted by pleasurable kundalini activity anytime I stop my mind even for a split second.
Dreams:
While meditating, a person will pass through the realm of dreams. If one pays attention to these dream visions, one will be dragged out into the dream and the meditation is lost. I used to use this technique to revisit landscapes or dreamscapes: While lying in bed I would remember the scene that I wished to enter and visualize it. Once I could 'see' it I would simply imagine myself flying into that scene on an exhalation of breath and before I knew it I would be in the dream. During meditation, to keep out of the dream state (I discovered this during one meditation which consisted of watching my thoughts) you have to control your breathing. If you let your breath go completely it is very easy to get sucked into a dream. If you take an active part in your breathing (you do the same thing whenever you are really concentrating) then it is easier to stay out of the dream. Sometimes thoughts will drag you into dreams. Another method of not getting dragged into the dream is to simply ignore and continue whatever you are doing, be it the mantra etc.
Chakra visions:
Some interesting visions have occurred for me concerning chakras. Again, these are not images you see through your eyes but through awareness or attention (that little video camera). After one "I AM" meditation I was sitting on the bathroom floor having a smoke and I noticed that I could see what I believe to be my root chakra. It resembles a golden square, somewhat pyramidal and it has four dark red petals } around the base. There is a fine white thread coming out from the centre top progressing upwards and I could also see two white droplets of liquid just sitting on the thread. Ever since that day the ability to see this chakra has not diminished. Sometimes the drops are red...
Another time, due to excess pressure in the lower abdomen causing natural root lock :), I saw a luminous 'straw' leading upwards from my root chakra inside the center of my body where the thin thread used to be. The straw shone with pastel colors of red, white and blue, like clouds over a sunset sky. the 'straw" was about 1/4 inch thick. I could only see it up to the heart chakra. However, a few minutes later I saw multiple planes of existence and myriad beings and this vision lasted for quite a while, even with my eyes open. This was kind of disconcerting for me. We really have no privacy (understatement here..)
One time during Samyama, I released the sutra "Love" and my heart exploded with white light, shooting out forwards and backwards. I could see the beams and I also saw other planes and universes inside my heart. I saw beings dressed in long robes in strange new lands.
A few times when I was practicing chakra meditation and a certain kundalini meditation, after activating the crown chakra, the crown became a wonderful luminous cap of white liquid light. It looked like I was wearing a bathing cap of leaf-like petals that were wrapping around the outside of my skull coming down to just above my ears. Also, the center of my head, inside more towards the back, has a triangular liquid light center. It kind of looks like a white-light strawberry. I believe this is the pineal gland.
Other Beings and Angels:
Once, in a church called The Victory Christian Center, I saw Jesus. It was at a Wednesday night prayer session. I made an effort to contact Jesus and raised my right hand in the air. A small light appeared that gradually became a face with long brown hair and a beard. The face smiled at me. The face kept descending and became the full image of Jesus, wearing a red and white robe. I heard him say "You are saved". After that I couldn't move for around 40 minutes. I sat on the bench and had tears streaming down my face. Waves of something were running through my body and I couldn't stand up or move my body. On another occasion I saw a bright round light with wings floating above the congregation. It was shooting beams of light at the top of peoples' heads. This produced small wings of light on the peoples' heads. That whole sermon was about the Holy Ghost. Again, these visions were not seen through the physical eyes, but with the little video camera in my head. It feels like you are dreaming while you can still see the surrounding outer environment.
One time, after a deep meditation, I was sitting on the bathroom floor having a smoke and a being of white light appeared. It resembled a translucent angel. It looked liked a being wearing a long white see-through gown. There were two large wings extending from the back. The outline was made of luminescent currents of moving light that bled out into the surrounding space. When I first saw it I knew that it was pure and divine. I could feel the love that it emanated towards me. It was a very profound emotional experience and I cried a long time. Several months later another angel visited me as I sat on the chair in my living room. It looked pretty much like the first angel that I have described here. I like to believe that it is true that as you progress along the spiritual path you attract higher and purer beings.
Kundalini visions:
At the time during my meditation history when I was experiencing flames up the spine at one point I started seeing visions of female anatomy. Full frontal displays of female genetalia were appearing before me with exquisite detail. Female torsos in various positions, each revealing their own erotic flavor. I would be meditating and suddenly the lower half of a female body would appear, with legs spread wide open. At other times a pair of buttocks would appear, bending over with legs spread. These images were amazing to me and very stimulating. Eventually though I had to make a real effort to ignore them because I did not think that that was the purpose of meditation. Every now and then I still see those kinds of visions. Perhaps their purpose is to stimulate certain energy flows that are needed to evolve one's meditations? Or perhaps they are beings from other planes trying to suck out my sexual energy? I don't know.
One time (again while smoking on the bathroom floor) I saw a "live" vision of a beautiful Indian woman dressed in blue silk harem-style dress. She had bells in her hands, and wore gold necklaces and an ornate gold head band. She was absolutely gorgeous. I asked her who she was and she said that she was Kundalini and that she had come to dance for me. She would twirl around and dance about, quite seductively I might add. Kundalini danced for me many times during a two month period. I am so lucky to have had Kundalini dance for me!
Looking with the Heart:
I once read that you can see with your heart. What you are supposed to do is try to feel your surroundings with your heart (instead of looking through your eyes). One day I decided to try that practice. As I sat on the grassy banks of the river on a beautiful sunlight summer day, I closed my eyes and felt the scene with my heart. I was enjoying it immensely when some sun bathers about 100 yards away made some noise that caught my attention. All of a sudden this round circle opened up in front of my face and I could see the sunbathers close up through this circle. It was like I was looking at them through a telescope! I could not believe it. It was like I was standing three feet above them looking right at them. Since that time, I've had two other experiences of seeing from the heart. The resolution of that type of vision is very clear and bright and it looks like you are really there in real life. The world is full of mysteries.
Too many visions:
After meditating consistently twice a day for about 1 1/2 years (and doing other practices), when I would meditate while putting the tongue on the roof of the mouth and focusing the eyes towards the third eye, I would see massive amounts of visions. I saw everything imaginable, scenes up scenes, faces, moving pictures, people, places, events and more all whizzing by with great speed. It was overwhelming. It was as though someone had turned on one thousand televisions in your head and was switching the channels. After a couple weeks of experiencing this phenomenon I had to quit focusing on the brow during meditation. Not only did it seem pointless, but it was extremely distracting and produced a lot of stress. I finally told myself that that was not meditation.
The Light:
About a month and a half ago I started practicing the "sensing the inner body" routine as explained by Eckhart Tolle. I sit in easy posture and relax. I put my hands on each leg, palms facing upwards. At the bottom of each breath I let go and try to relax deeper and deeper. I let go and feel my hands until they become clouds of magnetic fields. I then add on feeling my feet and legs. Gradually I expand the sensing of the presence or life force to encompass the whole body. I monitor my breath because the quieter the mind gets, the slower the breath becomes. And, the more relaxed I become, the longer the pause becomes at the end of the breath. It is also during this pause that my perineum starts orgasm-ing or releasing waves of ecstatic energy. This meditation is so blissful, relaxing, warm and tingly, secure, friendly and feels so great that I just love doing it. I'm not even that good at it yet. Once you have a consistent feel of the whole inner body you are supposed to listen to silence intently from the whole body.
What I've noticed is this. There is a set pattern to what occurs in the visual field as this meditation progresses. Even though I'm not focusing on the head (no tongue on palate or focusing the eyes on the third eye), my brow still becomes a huge magnetic hole that feels like it has a lot of pressure in it. Even though my eyes are pointing downwards, faces and visions still appear at the brow region. If I see a vision or a scene I use that as an indicator that I'm not focusing fully on sensing the presence in the body. Even with this behavior I have noticed that I still see faces, then scenes, then lights. A consistent vision that occurs near the end of each 50 minute 'sensing the body' meditation is "a bunch of little square flat dancing lights". I don't know what they are but it seems to be the result of a good session where I had become a solid cloud of magnetic bliss. I'm thinking that the square lights are crude nimittas. The other phenomenon that I've noticed is that when I'm very very relaxed, a brilliant white light appears at the center of my head (usually accompanied by kundalini in the root stirring and releasing some ecstatic conductivity... yum!)
Well, that's enough about visions. To me, visions are part of spiritual development. They serve as sign posts that say that you are progressing and doing something right (or wrong). When your consciousness and awareness expand you will perceive other dimensions of existence and realize new phenomenon. Some visions can be viewed as distractions and a waste of valuable time. But even then, like the stars that appear at night, they are signs that the sun has set or is going to rise. Other visions such as nimittas can be used to propel one's self into higher states of jhana. The visions of other beings from other planes are fascinating to me and I certainly do appreciate meeting every being that I have met so far. We are not alone. Hopefully this write-up has helped your understanding of visions and what kind of sign posts you may see as you progress on your path.
Oh, if you see Jesus in one of your meditations, say that I say "Hi". :)
OM SHANTI
TI
|
|
|
michaelangelo7
USA
89 Posts |
Posted - Oct 11 2009 : 4:41:34 PM
|
by samyama on the light at the crown of the head, one perceives siddhas (perfected beings)
-patanjali vibhuti pada
i see blue light and dazzling white light just about everyday pretty much and i have had plenty of visions of deities |
Edited by - michaelangelo7 on Oct 11 2009 4:53:01 PM |
 |
|
|
CarsonZi
Canada
3189 Posts |
Posted - Oct 11 2009 : 8:32:23 PM
|
Wow....detailed post TI...thanks!
Today in meditation I had an amazing vision of a "kaledioscopic mandala" that was constantly morphing....there were no colors though....it was all shades of gold.
It wasn't Jesus but I still told it you said "Hi" 
Love,
Carson |
|
|
|
Tibetan_Ice
Canada
758 Posts |
Posted - Oct 11 2009 : 9:03:42 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by michaelangelo7
by samyama on the light at the crown of the head, one perceives siddhas (perfected beings)
-patanjali vibhuti pada
i see blue light and dazzling white light just about everyday pretty much and i have had plenty of visions of deities
Hi MichaelAngelo,
Yes, the higher planes are interesting, aren't they? Thanks for sharing. Ever notice how the higher the being that you meet, the more charged you are after? It's like getting a free shaktipat. :)
Thought I should mention, for the AYP'ers that may not be familiar... Patanjali's samyama is not the same as AYP's samyama. Patanjali's method of samyama can be described as a process that gathers your attention and focuses it soley on the 'object' of contemplation until the meditator's awareness merges with the 'object'. It is like honing your awareness into a sharp focused single beam that fuses with the subject of contemplation. Samyama in AYP is a different method of "releasing sutras into deep silence", a powerful practice in it's own right. Not sure why it is called Samyama.
:)
TI |
|
|
|
Tibetan_Ice
Canada
758 Posts |
Posted - Oct 11 2009 : 9:25:08 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by CarsonZi
Wow....detailed post TI...thanks!
Today in meditation I had an amazing vision of a "kaledioscopic mandala" that was constantly morphing....there were no colors though....it was all shades of gold.
It wasn't Jesus but I still told it you said "Hi"
Love,
Carson
Hi Carson :)
You're welcome. Thanks for mentioning and sharing.. :)
If the vision looks almost like you are watching something with a black light shining on it, like someone took a spider web and then sprayed it with luminescent paint, I believe those are astral visions. If, on the other hand, the gold is the brightest most beautiful gold that you've ever seen and you fall in love with it, then it is a nimitta. I've seen poor quality nimittas that appear like a fine maze of splinters hidden in a sea of black clouds, but still the color is so beautiful you just can't believe it. So far I've seen one blue and one red like that. According the "Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond" book, it is a step in the right direction but one must ignore those and persist in letting go.
Oh, I asked Jesus if he had a message for you and he showed me a vision of a palm tree with the branches all pointing upwards. Perhaps this has some significance for you.. :)
:)
TI |
|
|
|
CarsonZi
Canada
3189 Posts |
Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 09:49:18 AM
|
Hey TI
quote:
Originally posted by Tibetan_Ice
If the vision looks almost like you are watching something with a black light shining on it, like someone took a spider web and then sprayed it with luminescent paint, I believe those are astral visions. If, on the other hand, the gold is the brightest most beautiful gold that you've ever seen and you fall in love with it, then it is a nimitta. I've seen poor quality nimittas that appear like a fine maze of splinters hidden in a sea of black clouds, but still the color is so beautiful you just can't believe it. So far I've seen one blue and one red like that. According the "Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond" book, it is a step in the right direction but one must ignore those and persist in letting go.
Oh, there is no attachment here to "visions"....to me they are more distracting then anything. Yesterday the vision was pure gold in color and looked like a mandala that was in a kalideoscope....you know those kids toys where you put your eye to the hole and turn the cylinder you are looking down and the scene of geometric patterns constantly shifts?....that's what yesterdays vision looked like. I don't really care to put a label/title on it though.....
quote:
Originally posted by Tibetan_Ice
Oh, I asked Jesus if he had a message for you and he showed me a vision of a palm tree with the branches all pointing upwards. Perhaps this has some significance for you.. :)
Probably means I should move to Florida.....Brrrrrrr it's chilly in Calgary today! Hahaha...
Love,
Carson
P.S> Happy Thanksgiving! (in Canada anyways  )
|
Edited by - CarsonZi on Oct 12 2009 09:50:31 AM |
|
|
|
Tibetan_Ice
Canada
758 Posts |
Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 1:57:52 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by CarsonZi
Probably means I should move to Florida.....Brrrrrrr it's chilly in Calgary today! Hahaha...
Love,
Carson
P.S> Happy Thanksgiving! (in Canada anyways )
Hi Carson,
Calgary and complaining! Red Deer is always a few degrees colder..
:)
TI |
|
|
|
CarsonZi
Canada
3189 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 10:44:28 AM
|
You live in Dead Rear? Poor you.... My whole immediate family lives there....perhaps one day we should meet! Would love to meditate together!
Love,
Carson |
|
|
|
alwayson2
USA
546 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 5:40:38 PM
|
Tibetan Ice,
What practice allowed you to first develop your clairvoyant abilities? Or were you always like this? |
Edited by - alwayson2 on Oct 13 2009 5:51:34 PM |
|
|
|
Tibetan_Ice
Canada
758 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 10:31:14 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by CarsonZi
You live in Dead Rear? Poor you.... My whole immediate family lives there....perhaps one day we should meet! Would love to meditate together!
Love,
Carson
Hi Carson,
Dead Rear? Yes, I noticed that there was a propensity towards naming locations in Calgary after body parts.. like KneeHill, or Elbow Creek, or NoseHill Drive. So are you living in EyeBrow Crescent or Nostril Flats? :)
Perhaps one day we will meet and have a few laughs :)
TI |
|
|
|
CarsonZi
Canada
3189 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 10:44:44 PM
|
I live on "Long-Limb Lane"
Love,
Carson |
|
|
|
Tibetan_Ice
Canada
758 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 11:31:18 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by alwayson2
Tibetan Ice,
What practice allowed you to first develop your clairvoyant abilities? Or were you always like this?
Hi Alwayson,
I'm not very comfortable talking about it.
I don't think I'm clairvoyant, I just have good powers of visualization and a lot of discipline.
In school, I got top marks in Mechanical Reasoning, Space Relations and Abstract Reasoning in aptitude tests (99 percentiles). I used to play chess blindfolded. It took me a long time before I could actually visualize a chess board in my head. I discovered that sometimes, I just think of someone and I can see what clothes they are wearing, except the colors are off sometimes. I also discovered that most of the time I'm wrong, especially if I try.
On the other side, I did a lot of gazing when I was young (Carlos Casteneda), candle gazing, face gazing and spent a long time practicing astral travel (Paul Twitchell and Robert Monroe). I also did a lot of yoga at that time (Yoga Youth and Reincarnation, Jess Stearn). I believe I was a yogi in one or more previous lifetimes, I have all these dreams of when I lived in India.. must have screwed up big time to be here again.. :)
One of my favorite practices was taught to me by a Native Canadian when I was a teenager. It is called face gazing. You look at a person's face, gaze into the left eye and eventually everything goes black and then you see other faces. These are 'supposed to be' what the person looked like in previous lives. I've seen many faces, pirates, gorillas, male and female.. etc..
I think anyone can develop clairvoyance. A good manual on developing the third eye is here, called "Awakening the Third Eye" by Samuel Sagan:
http://www.clairvision.org/ckb/ckbe...00_0003.html
Coincidence, but right now I'm listening to a buddhist lecture by Ajahn Brahm about "Clairvoyance". It is very interesting. If you want to listen to it you can find it at this link half way down the page:
http://www.bswa.org/modules/mydownl...tleA&show=20
Some of his main teachings are:
Buddhists do not predict the future, they do not rob people of their creativity. The future is uncertain.
Psychic powers come from the stillness of the mind. If you are trying to do something, your mind isn't still..
Word of caution: It is easy to get seduced by the pursuit of psychic powers. Desire is not something a spiritual seeker cultivates unless it is the desire for God/Truth/Enlightenment. Desire propagates Maya and creates many future lives. Developing your third eye so you can see more scenery could be a waste of time. You have to decide. It's not up to me to decide for you. I believe it is best to cultivate detachment.
Meditation on it's own will enhance your intuition greatly. It will take you deeper and deeper, where your light will shine with Duracell batteries.. :)
TI
|
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
| AYP Public Forum |
© Contributing Authors (opinions and advice belong to the respective authors) |
|
|
|
|
Visions
