By focusing our attention at a point between and behind the eyebrows, we come in contact with a current of light and sound, which leads us from physical to higher consciousness, says Sant Rajinder Singh

If we examine the ideas that occupy the impossible dreams of humanity today, we will gain insight into what may become possibilities of tomorrow. With technological and scientific know-how advancing at a dizzying rate, the future is closer than we think. Science, in its attempt to explore the farthest reaches of space, is looking for answers to the origin of creation. In their quest, they inevitably have had to cross the barriers of science and enter a realm previously reserved for only mystics, philosophers, and enlightened saints. Scientists have accepted the limitations of current scientific tools in helping them reach back in time to understand what happened before the theoretical Big Bang that set our universe in motion.

Many physicists have turned to the East to explore the possibilities of realms of existence beyond the physical universe. A look at New Age physics reveals a generation of scientists who are exploring the possibility that there really are universes existing concurrently with ours. While these ideas may seem farfetched to hardcore sceptics, an increasing number of people have opened their minds to the possibility that there is more going on in creation than what meets the physical eye.

History has proven that the visionary thinking of scientists and thinkers of the past, which was scoffed at by their contemporaries, has come to pass. Hundreds of years ago, when leonardo da Vinci sketched his ideas for a flying machine, people thought it was more a flight of his imagination than anything else. When the movie moguls of the first half of this century produced epics of spaceships travelling at supersonic speeds, it was labelled as science fiction. When early dreamers designed machine that could “think” for human beings, they were considered as visions of a future that might or might not be possible. Yet today we see that airplanes, spaceships, and computers are no longer science fiction, but science fact.

Modem humanity at large has learned the lesson that anything is possible. While science is delving into what happens after this life, there is another field of science being researched which is investigating whether higher regions of existence can be tapped during this current lifetime. Through the science of spirituality, people are actively engaged in exploring other realms of existence. Spiritual teachers, saints, and mystics have developed a technique by which one can transcend the physical limitations of this universe to discover higher realms of consciousness. When they refer to higher realms of consciousness, they are not referring to brain wave states of alpha, beta, or theta; they are not referring to altered states of consciousness which can be induced by mind-altering drugs; they are referring to actual places and regions to which we can travel by transcending this restricted physical plane through a process known as meditation on the inner light and sound. Through meditation, we can explore higher planes and verify the truth of existence for ourselves.

Meditation is the process by which we withdraw our attention from the world outside and our body and concentrate it at a point between and behind the eyebrows. By focusing our attention there, we come in contact with a current of light and sound, which will lead us from our physical consciousness into higher consciousness, into the beyond.

The light and sound is the creative power that brought the various regions into existence. It created the physical universe, earth, human beings, and all other forms of life. This power of God, which flows out from God, also returns to him. When the soul is withdrawn to a point known as the seat of the soul, it can then travel on the light and sound through the higher planes, back to its source, in the purely spiritual realm. The process by which the soul is brought into contact with the current of light and sound reverberating within us is called meditation.

The reason we are not aware of the light and sound within is due to our attention. The outer expression of the soul is known as the attention. Presently, our attention is scattered throughout our body and goes out of our body into this world through the five senses: Seeing, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. We have to withdraw our attention from the world outside and collect it at the seat of the soul, located between and behind the eyebrows. This point is referred to in different scriptures as the single eye, the third eye, the 10th door or daswan dwar, the divya chakshu, or the ajna chakra. Meditation, pure and simple, is the withdrawing of our attention from the outer world and the focusing of it at the third eye. This is the point at which we concentrate our attention in order to see the inner light and hear the celestial sound.

The sensory currents give us sensation in the body. It is the sensory currents which make us aware of the sense of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. It is through the senses that we enjoy seeing beautiful sights, hearing pleasing sounds, smelling sweet fragrances, tasting delicious foods, and having pleasurable sensations through the sense of touch. If we withdraw our sensory currents from the outside world, and collect them at the eye focus, we will be able to see and hear with the inner eye and ear, and travel to the realms within.

This is the same process that we undergo at the time of death. When someone dies, there is numbness first in their feet. Then, the numbness continues to their legs and trunk. Finally, their soul collects at the eye focus. At the time of their death, we find their eyeballs turn up, and then come down. So the soul is collecting and leaving the body. In meditation on the inner light and sound, the point of concentration used is the third eye as this is the highest chakra in the body. It is the point from where the soul leaves the body at the time of death. Meditation is in reality a process of concentration. It does not need any asana or difficult postures or any rigorous physical activity. It is so simple and natural that it can be practised by a child or an elderly person, or by someone who has some physical disability. Every human being can have access to the inner realms through the simple process of meditation.

The writer is a spiritual leader