Chapter 6 - Ecstasy

The scientific investigations of the Psychical Research have opened new vistas of our soul-life and have unveiled many of the mysteries regarding the powers and possibilities of the human soul. They have given wonderful demonstrations regarding the existence of the soul as an entity, distinct and separable from the physical organism, through which it manifests itself on the material plane. They have given scientific explanations of spirit communications and have confirmed our belief in the existence of a spiritual world. Some of these investigators, like Dr. Myers, the author of Human Personality, have gone so far as to admit that the embodied spirits, under certain conditions, do vacate the physical organism, either partially or completely, in order to allow another disembodied spirit to enter into and take possession of it, in the same manner as the primitive people of different countries believed in ancient times. The old idea of possession by disembodied spirits is no longer ridiculed by such great thinkers of modern times. Not only do they admit this, but they also maintain that it is possible for the embodied souls to leave the body and wander in spiritual space, while the physical organism remains senseless in a trance-like condition. In this state the soul’s perception is not confined to the sense plane or to the objects of the material world; but, transcending them, it perceives the visions of the spiritual world. The seer, then, enters into the realms higher than anything that is to be found on this plane. This excursion of the embodied spirit from the physical form to the spiritual world with its spiritual perception is called ecstasy.

It is a faculty distinct from any other that we ordinarily see or hear of. It is a peculiar faculty of the soul different from that of spirit communication or spirit control or possession by spirit or trance or hypnotic sleep. The outward condition of the physical organism in ecstasy may resemble, to a certain extent, the sound sleep or the trance-like state, but, subjectively,the soul reaches a consciousness which is higher than the senseconsciousness, a consciousness of the spiritual realm, while the sense-consciousness remains absolutely in abeyance. Of course, it is true that in the case of spirit control or possession the senseconsciousness of a man is also in abeyance; although, on this point, there is an outward resemblance between ecstasy and possession, still the latter is distinguished from ecstasy by the fact that another discarnate spirit or spirits invade the organism and utilize every part of the body of one who is possessed. In ecstasy, however, neither such invasion nor possession by another spirit takes place. The body and senses remain motionless and unconscious of the surroundings, while the soul, being freed, obtains glimpses of higher truths and has spiritual visions.

There have been innumerable instances of individual souls, who have reached this state of ecstasy, and have realized, on the spiritual plane, truths which are transcendental. The religious history of the world is filled with descriptions of the ecstatic visions and experiences of the prophets, seers, and saints of different countries. In the Old Testament we read how Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, and other Jewish prophets saw visions of the spiritual world in ecstasy. In the New Testament is described the ecstasy of Jesus the Christ, St. John, and St. Paul.

The Koran says that Mohammed was carried in ecstasy to the seventh heaven by the angel Gabriel, and in that state Mohammed saw the truths of the spiritual world, and afterwards described those experiences to his followers. Mohammed, although was an illiterate man, received all revelations in his ecstasy, and these revelations were afterwards embodied in the Koran, the scriptures of the Mohammedans.

Zoroaster (Zarathustra) became the founder of Zoroastrianism after receiving his revelations in ecstasy. These revelations formed the scriptures of the Zoroastrians, called the Zend Avesta. Ahura Mazda, the great God, spoke with Zoroaster in ecstasy, and the latter heard His voice and received His commands. If you read the Zend Avesta, you will find that Ahura Mazda was the speaker and Zoroaster the enquirer.

Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, went in his ecstasy to all the spiritual spheres or Iokas or heavens and experienced those wonderful truths, which he afterwards preached before the world. Many of his disciples and followers entered into that same state of ecstasy at different times.

In India, there have been countless prophets, saints and seers (rishis) from time immemorial. Each one of them reached the state of ecstasy and realized transcendental truths of the spiritual world. Emanuel Swedenborg is said to have discovered the Law of Correspondences in ecstasy. He saw in his spiritual visions the glimpses of heaven and hell; he heard the voices of angels and archangels associated with them, and experienced many things which he afterwards described in the pages of his voluminous works. Some of the great philosophers of ancient Greece, like Socrates, Plato, Plotinus, and others claimed to have seen spiritual truths in ecstasy. Great poets like Virgil Dante, Milton, Wordsworth, and Tennyson saw visions in ecstasy. It is said that Immanuel Kant, the great German philosopher, had an experience of it. The Persian poets Sadi, Hafiz, Jalaluddin, and other Sufi philosophers considered that ecstasy was the state where the soul reached divine communion. The Arab philosopher Al-Ghazzali attained to ecstasy and described it as a state higher than any other state of consciousness. St. Teresa and Jeanne d’Arc both enjoyed the bliss of ecstasy. Some of the Christian mystics of the middle ages like St. Bernard, Eckhart, and others attained to ecstasy and described their experiences.

Thus we can understand how universally accepted is this state of ecstasy. The evidence for it is stronger than that of any other religious state. It is the one spiritual experience of the soul which is common to all religions. All religions may vary in their dogmas and doctrines, in their ideals, but, in this state of ecstasy, they are one. No one can deny its existence, because it has been the foundation upon which the structures of all great and small religions have been built.

In this state have come all revelations of God, as well as the knowledge of celestial pleasures and happiness; otherwise, how could we know that there is such a thing as heaven, and that the heavenly pleasures are more desirable than the earthly ones, if this knowledge did not come to us in a certain state of consciousness? The aim of all religions is to lead the individual soul to the realization of the supreme Being through the gate of ecstasy. The particular experiences in individual cases may vary, and the moral and spiritual interpretations of ecstatic visions may be different in each case and may be governed by the preconceived ideas and superstitions of individuals; but, at the same time, no one can deny the fact that the embodied spirit, withdrawing its consciousness from the physical body and from the material world, perceives spiritual and transcendental truths.

Ecstasy is entirely a subjective phenomenon. There is no objective sign other than the trance-like condition of the physical body. It is true, however, that there are different kinds of ecstasy, and that there are various stages in it. In ecstasy every higher emotion is quickened to its climax, at the sight of the consummation of divine beauty and divine love. There is a kind of ecstasy in which tears of joy and blissfulness run down the cheeks of the seer, the face becomes radiant with divine lustre and a heavenly smile. The seer may talk in an unknown tongue, and after regaining sense-consciousness, may dance with extreme joy and blissfulness. This state of ecstasy is called in Sanskrit bhava. It comes to the soul of the devotee at the sight of his spiritual ideal whom he worships through love and extreme devotion, to whom he has offered his whole heart and soul, and beyond whom he thinks, there is nothing greater or higher. These outward signs are visible, when the spirit retains a partial connection with the physical organism; but when the connection is entirely cut off, the body remains senseless like a dead body.

St. Teresa, the Spanish saint of the sixteenth century, described the different stages of her ecstasy. She states: ‘In the sixth stage of ecstasy the body grows cold, speech and respiration are suspended; the eyes close; the slightest motion may cause the greatest efforts.’ Then she describes a state higher than this. She asks: ‘What is there beyond ecstasy?’ And she answers: ‘The union with God. This is accomplished suddenly and violently, but with such force that we should strive in vain to resist the impetuous onset. God has now descended into the substance of the soul and has become one with it.’ Thus she realized the union with God through ecstasy.

In India the bhaktas, or those who follow the path of love and devotion, attain to this state of union with God which they call mahabhava or the highest state of ecstasy. There have been many in India who have reached that state. Radha, the consort of Krishna, Chaitanya, the great saint and divine incarnation, who was a contemporary of Luther, and who preached the science of divine love, and Sri Ramakrishna attained to this state of ecstasy. Their spiritual experiences are the illustrations of mahabhava in the religious history of India.

In ecstasy, the eagle of the individual soul, being freed from the cage of the physical body, soars high in the spiritual firmament of the infinite Being. The freedom and happiness, which then come, are unbounded, the range of perception becomes infinitely expanded, and the soul realizes the transcendental environment in the place of the material. Then he says, as Eckhart said: ‘And if His nature and essence and substance are mine, I am the son of God.’ In the highest state of ecstasy the liberated soul rising above all limitations enters into the abode of the Infinite and eventually becomes one with it. Plotinus, the great Neo-Platonist, who lived nearly two centuries after Christ, attained to this state of ecstasy four times in his life. He says to his friend Flaccus: ‘You ask, how can we know the Infinite? I answer, not by reason. It is the office of reason to distinguish and define. The Infinite, therefore, cannot be ranked among its objects. You can only apprehend the Infinite by a faculty superior to reason, by entering into a state in which you are your finite self no longer, in which the divine essence is communicated to you. This is ecstasy. It is the liberation of your mind from its finite anxieties. Like only can apprehend like. When you thus cease to be finite, you become one with the Infinite. In the reduction of your soul to its simplest self, its divine essence, you realize this union, nay, this identity.^[1] This ecstasy was called by Dionysius, who flourished in the fifth century, the state of the mystic union when the soul is united with God. Describing the nature of this state of ecstasy the great German Christian mystic Meister Eckhart, who flourished in the fourteenth century, also said: ‘There must be perfect stillness in the soul before God can whisper His word into it, before the light of God can shine in the soul, and transform the soul into God. When all passions are stilled and all worldly desires silenced, then the word of God can be heard in the soul.’ It is not merely silence from external noise, but that tranquil state of mind which is undisturbed by desires and passions. How can we expect to commune with God, when our minds are all the time occupied with thousand other things of the world? The secret chamber of the soul of an ordinary man or woman is packed up from the ceiling to the floor with thoughts and ideas that are worldly, with desires and passions of the flesh; there is not an inch of space left vacant; and still we wonder why God does not come to us, why we have not attained God-consciousness. We do not think for a moment that we have left no room for God in the secret chamber of our soul. How can we invite God in that crowded room, when we know that it is not fit even for the visit of a mortal guest? Therefore, a seeker after God should, in the first place, clear the chamber of the soul and make room for the divine guest. He should purify its atmosphere by introducing the vibrations of holy thoughts and spiritual ideas. He should cleanse the floor with tears of repentance for the wrong committed during ignorance, employ the guard of right discrimination, and keep constant watch to prevent the impure and unholy thoughts from crossing the threshold of that sacred chamber. He should exercise dispassion and should not be attracted by the pleasures of senses, or objects of desires and earthly ambition. Then, with childlike simplicity of heart and extreme earnestness and sincerity, he should send prayers of invitation to the Lord eagerly longing to see Him, and with concentrated attention, he should look for His arrival expecting to receive Him every minute with the same feeling as a true lover has, when he expects to see his beloved who has been absent for a long time. As the tremendous longing of a true lover makes him impatient and forces this scattered energy of his mind to flow through one channel toward his beloved, so the mind of the true lover of God should be concentrated and one-pointed, and its current should constantly flow toward the divine ideal. At that time nothing of the world would satisfy the longing of his soul. Wherever there is such a strong longing, there the approach to the Divinity is at hand. The stronger the longing, the quicker is the realization. This ecstasy is very rare, but it is the only state, in which the infinite Being can be realized face to face. The old question whether we can realize the Infinite face to face and the answer to that question we find in the Old Testament. There it is said that no one can live after seeing God.^[2] It is true to a certain extent, because physically one must be dead in that state. The body will remain like a dead body, but the soul will realize the Infinite and afterwards will become one with it.

Here it may be asked, if ecstasy be the condition of the consciousness of the Infinite and of the realization of spiritual truths, and, if it be so universally accepted, how can it be attained? Is there any method by which one can acquire it? There are various methods by which it can be reached. These methods are fully described in Vedanta. Vedanta analyses all these methods by which the different souls of different countries have attained to it and have realized the infinite Being. It also classifies them according to their nature and each of these methods is called a Yoga or path in Vedanta.

Bhakti Yoga, or the path of love and devotion, is the easiest of all. Love and devotion are like the two wings by which the bird of the human soul flies out of the cage of the physical body and soars high in the spiritual atmosphere of the infinite Being and enjoys ecstatic happiness. This path has been followed by the majority of the great seers of different countries, who entered into ecstasy. If we examine the lives of all these great saints and prophets, their religious exercises and the methods by which they attained to ecstatic realization, we shall find that love and devotion were at the bottom of them all. The fire of true love and devotion for the Supreme bums all earthly ties and consumes everything which the devotee claims as his own. It is a tremendous fire. Few possibly have realized what that fire of true love is. It acts in the system like high fever. The tongue becomes fever-dry and the blood runs like fire, creating heat and a burning sensation in the body, which can be quenched by no earthly object. The all-consuming fire of love destroys sleep before ecstasy comes. Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna did not sleep for twelve years, when his whole soul was burning with the fire of love. At one time he suffered for several months from this unbearable burning sensation in his whole body. He used to plunge himself in the Ganges and remain there for hours; but, alas! the cold water of the Ganges failed to put out that fire of love, which was burning upon the altar of his heart within the body; nothing could quench that fire.

Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna, the latest divine manifestation of the present age, showed in his life all the stages of ecstasy as described in the passages of the religious history of the world. His whole life was like a continuous chain of the different states of ecstasy. It was natural with him, while with others ecstasy was a rare accomplishment coming through hard and long-standing practice. The first ecstasy that came to him was, when he was six or seven years old, after seeing the glorious colouring of a tropical cloud, in the background of which a flight of snow-white cranes flew, and that took him out of the body. His body fell motionless and that experience he never forgot during his lifetime. He always used to mention that state, and whenever anyone would ask him, what ecstasy was like, he would immediately go into that state; and we have seen in him the highest state of ecstasy, mahabhava, in which his body would remain like a dead body, his pulse and heart-beat would stop for the time being, and his spirit would leave the prison of the body and commune with the Infinite. Once he fell in a bowl of burning charcoal and a live coal struck him on the shoulder, and it burnt almost an inch deep into the flesh. He had no sensation then, and he did not feel it; and that shows how he could separate himself entirely from the body. Yet he was not possessed by any other spirit at that time; it was not an obsession, not a trance; it was a state of ecstasy.’ When he would remain in that state, his soul would leave his body and enter into the abode of the Infinite. Sometimes, he would speak in an unknown tongue, which no one could understand. Coming down from that height and regaining his sense-consciousness sometimes, he would dance with extreme joy and blissfulness and relate his experiences. He had the power of rousing ecstasy in his disciples by a single touch. He used to say that the joy and happiness in that state of ecstasy can be compared to the indescribable joy and happiness of a live fish which, after being taken out of water, finds itself back in water. Can you imagine the happy condition of such a fish? Sri Ramakrishna used to say that in ecstasy the soul finds its real home, where it enjoys absolute freedom from all bondage.

The state of ecstasy, described as samadhi or superconsciousness or God-consciousness, can also be reached through the path of Raja Yoga or concentration upon the supreme Spirit with higher breathing exercises. The higher breathing exercises, as practised by the Yogis in India, will lift the soul above the material plane and bring the highest revelations of ecstasy in the end. They are entirely different from any other breathing exercise, which produces merely physical results or cures diseases. Raja Yoga gives the scientific method, by which one can attain to ecstasy, and, therefore, it is safe for everybody. In Bhakti Yoga, there is a danger of becoming sentimental, erratic, and insane, because it is very difficult to control the emotions, when the whole heart and soul are flooded with exuberance of the stream of love. These emotions become so unruly and unmanageable that they unbalance the mind of the devotee. There have been many instances of persons, who failed to attain to ecstasy and became insane, because they could not control their passions and emotions. But there is no such danger in the path of Raja Yoga or concentration with breathing exercise.

Furthermore, the students of Raja Yoga can advance step by step towards ecstasy under the guidance of an experienced spiritual teacher, and they can thus avoid many of the side-tracks in the field of ecstasy which mislead the mind to psychic phenomena, visions, and hallucinations of the highest spiritual truth. Here we shall have to distinguish the experience of ecstasy from hallucinations and ordinary visions or any other psychic phenomena. How are we going to do that? I have seen a number of spiritualists and other occultists who have gone into a state similar to ecstasy, but have not found the spiritual truth. Because they could not distinguish the highest spiritual Truth from mental visions and psychic phenomena. First of all, we must learn the expressions of spiritual Truths, and in what way they come, and Vedanta will help us in understanding these different stages. Of course, an experienced spiritual teacher is necessary, as in studying either music or art we need an experienced teacher, who understands the defects and different side-tracks and different conditions which may come along the way. Similarly, we need an experienced teacher also in the practice of Raja Yoga. The science of Raja Yoga claims that this highest state of ecstasy, in which the divine Being is realized and the consciousness of the Infinite comes, can only be attained by a well-qualified man or woman, who has faithfully practised the teachings and has been favoured by direct personal instruction of such an experienced guru or spiritual master. In Raja Yoga there is no limitation of any kind. It is not confined to any age or clime nor is it limited by creed, doctrine or dogma of any special religion. But in Bhakti Yoga, there are such limitations.

In Bhakti Yoga, one must have absolute faith in a personal God with a particular name and form, and must worship that personal God through certain forms of worship until the true love and true devotion come. While in Raja Yoga, no such faith in a personal God is absolutely necessary. Even one who has no faith in the supreme Being can practise Raja Yoga and get the results. There is another peculiarity in Raja Yoga which is that it does not ask you to believe in anything until you have realized it; while in Bhakti Yoga, the path of love and devotion (as in Christianity, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, or any other dualistic religion), you will have to believe before you realize and must have faith in such a Being. But that may be very difficult for many persons. In Raja Yoga, on the contrary, if you have faith in yourself that you are a soul, a self-conscious spirit, that is enough. You know your own self first, and then, by proper practice, if you can separate your self from the physical organism, you will enter into the state of ecstasy. Raja Yoga can be practised by any follower of any religion, whether a Christian, Mohammedan, Buddhist, or Hindu; whosoever follows this path with earnestness and sincerity will surely attain wonderful results in due time. The practice of concentration will develop into meditation and eventually lead the soul through different stages of ecstasy to God-consciousness. In that state of God-consciousness, all doubts will cease; all questions regarding the nature of the soul and the spiritual world will be answered; and the soul will reach that freedom or liberation from the physical form, which is considered to be the highest, and will become conscious of its past and future. Omniscience will begin to dawn upon the horizon of the soul and illumine the whole inner nature. Then the individual soul, coming in direct contact with the Infinite, and realizing the Infinite face to face, as it were, will remain one with the Supreme forever and ever.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Plotinns’s Letters to Flaccus.

[2]:

And he said: ‘Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.’—Exodus, XXXIII. 20.