The human body is not all that delicate or weak as it might appear in general.
However, the bodily movements and activities of a person would be naturally restrained if a heavy burden is kept on his head… Similar is true of the case of the human mind in normal conditions too. The burden of mental attachments and evil instincts assimilated in it tend to block the natural expression of consciousness in it… As the external and internal domains of mind are refined, the subtle body inside the gross also gets stimulated and expresses its unlimited potentials in the higher stages of the sublime transmutation of the inner force…
Sometimes the extrasensory power of the body gets aroused momentarily by sudden flash of Inner Light in the unconscious mind. Such instances – as cited in the live examples below, of experiencing the subtle world make one wonder ––
“If the mind could be so wonderful even in the usual burdened state of untoward assimilation, how would be its culminated expression after ultimate enlightenment?”.
The British Naval Ship named “Rock” started its voyage from Liverpool. It was going westward to Nova Skotiya. It had been sailing in the Atlantic since several weeks… One day, a staff member, named Robert Bruce saw a stranger writing something on the black board in the Captain’s cabin. He was surprised! He immediately brought this to the notice of the Captain. The latter didn’t believe him initially but he too was stunned when he saw the message written on his board; it said – “Please move towards the North-West”. There was nobody in the cabin nor could they locate any stranger anywhere on the ship! Everything else inside was as the captain had left before going on the decks. Who entered his cabin? And what is the reason for this strange message? He discussed with all colleagues. Even cross-checked against the handwriting of every one present on board. But none matched with that of the ‘mysterious note”. Any way, out of sheer curiosity the crew decided to proceed in the Northwest direction. After about a day’s journey, they saw another ship trapped between huge icebergs.
Rock’s staff rescued the passengers and the crew of the ill-fated ship. Bruce was almost shocked to see one passenger on that ship. Yes! He was the ‘stranger’, whom Bruce had seen writing something on the Captain’s blackboard! He was asked to write the same note. Indeed it was ditto of the ‘mysterious man’s handwriting’! Amazing!! How did this man reach Rock’s deck (and the Captain’s cabin) travelling such a long distance across the Atlantic without even a boat?
More startling was the revelation that this man did not know anything about that incident. According to the Captain and security men of his ship, he was sleeping in his room around the time when Bruce claimed to have ‘seen’ him. However, after getting up that morning, this man was unusually confident and consoled
161 others saying – “there is nothing to worry; we all will be rescued soon”. Robert Howell has reported this incident in detail in his masterpiece book entitled
“Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World”.
Another incident expressing the power of the subtle body was discussed by Herald Oven in “The Journey from Obscurity”. It was few days after the end of the Second World War. Captain Herald Oven was then an officer on the warship named “H.M.S. Austria”. The ship was anchored in the Bay of Taboul. The captain had organized a party to celebrate the cease-fire… all officers were enjoying the gathering except Herald Oven. He was down with an unprecedented gloom. He was worried about the wellbeing of his brother Wilfred, who was in the Army.
“Could he survive the war?” – the question kept echoing in his mind…
Soon the ship sailed for Cameroon. Herald fell ill after reaching there. Though he was not relieved of the weakness, he felt like writing some letters. When he turned towards his table in the room, he saw Wilfred sitting on a chair in the corner. The latter was clad in the military uniform. It was a pleasant surprise for Herald. But, the next moment he shivered of some unknown fear – his brother’s face looked expressionless! Herald asked him how could he reach there all of a sudden? There was no reply. Herald went near him, asked about his well being and repeated the question again. There was a cold smile on his face. The host thought his brother has survived some severe danger and has reached here after a long run, crossing enemy’s camp or so. Wilfred was his younger brother and he used to love this brother a lot. Wilfred’s presence itself was so soothing for him.
He looked around to get something to make his younger brother more comfortable. But, the next moment, he again turned towards Wilfred to find our how he was feeling. Shocking! There was no body on the chair! Herald felt as though he has fallen down from some (imaginary) mountain. He was feeling utterly exhausted – something was lost from his within. He could not stand it.
He fell down on the bed. He felt asleep in that fatigued state. When he got up after about an hour, he somehow was sure that Wilfred is no more in this world.
Few weeks later, the condolence message from the Army Head Quarter also confirmed his suspicion.
As we had also discussed in the earlier sections, the experiences of the above kind give us a glimpse of the presence of the subtle body. The instances of this kind indicate that the subtle body gets activated and shows its existence in the events of extreme inner pains or at the time of physical death, etc. Otherwise, it mostly remains dormant or latent, and neglected because of our extrovert attitude and false impressions of recognizing ourselves as the physical (gross) body alone.
162 We take care of nourishing our physical body well and also try our level best to protect it from all changes and harmful effects. Hardly a few of us might realize that if we pay little attention to arouse and strengthen the subtle body – the source of the energy-body, then the physical body and the mind could also be endowed with absolute health by its supernatural vital energy. Spiritual disciplines of s³dhan³s enable maintaining the vigor and activity of the subtle body.
The higher level endeavors of yoga s³dhan³s – focused at the arousal, enlightenment and supernormal manifestation of the subtle body, include the
“Ch³y³ Pur¿Ìa Siddhi S³dhan³ “and the “Sukïmºkaraña S³dhan³ “. Attainment of success in these spiritual experiments bestows one with the magical powers of making use of the subtle body as easily as that of the physical body and independent of the latter. This is like polymerizing or cloning oneself into two at will. The subtle body – also called the ch³y³ pur¿Ìa (shadow body) though manifested as a ditto of the gross (physical) body, is not bound by the laws of Nature pertaining to the perceivable world. It can travel anywhere in the cosmos in no time as per the determination of the siddha yogi of this s³dhan³.
The Tibetan mysticism describes two levels of generation of the shadow body.
An expert mystic who lives in the subtle body is called “tulp³ “in their scriptures.
These people can also generate the tulp³s from other living beings too. Many a times, as per these scriptures, a tulp³ could be so powerful that it could produce (by its own sublimation or by influencing the consciousness of some other living being) tulp³s for itself. The first generation of these ‘clones’ or ‘slaves’ is called
“Yang Tula”. With further refinement and empowering it sublimates its power and generates “Naing Tula”. Thus a tulp³ could produce a family of its own
‘clones’. All the members of this family are also supernaturally endowed like the original tulp³ (of a human being or of an animal), which is ‘created’ by a master of this occult science. The tulp³s generated by such a master are shadow bodies, which could make themselves visible but cannot be perceived otherwise. These extrasensory energy bodies are enslaved by the master, who ‘generates’ them.
The master could perform astonishing things with the help of these ageless subtle beings.
Alexandra David Neil, renowned French expert of ‘Tantra’, who had spent long time in the Himalayas, has compiled here supernormal experiences in the volume entitled “Magic and Mystery in Tibet”. She writes that during fourteen years of her stay in Tibet, she had encountered or seen many such shadow bodies flying in the Himalayan range. But she could not believe their ‘reality’ or the possibility of such ‘creations’. She wanted to have a firsthand experience. For this
163 she dedicatedly learnt the mystic tantras from the Lamas. Later on she succeeded in transmuting a young, simple and short Tibetan sany³si into a tulp³.
Several months later, Alexandra planned to visit other parts of the Himalayas.
She was travelling with one of her assistants. She was surprised to see that the tulp³ created by her was also following her. She writes that although it was a subtle body, at times she used to feel its presence as though she is able to touch it. She has had many experiences of getting supernormal help from this tulp³.
This tulp³ could do things that were simply impossible for a human being mentions the French t³ntrik³. She had also attained success in the counter s³dhan³ of diffusing a tulp³. She experienced this on this tulp³ and dissolved it in the empty space forever, before returning back to France.
The above kinds of t³ntrika s³dhan³s are dreaded experiments of forcefully separating the subtle from the physical and bringing it into control by arousal of will power supernormal conscious faculties. These are risky like experiments of explosion of energy in the physical world… Deeper understanding of the mystic knowledge, spiritual elevation, long-term practice with unperturbed devotion, and adept guidance are essential of such s³dhan³s. What is easy, safe and important for most of us is that, we should at least be aware of the fact that the almighty has bestowed enormous power in the subliminal core of our mind.
We should realize the importance of our hidden powers and take care of nurturing and refining our mind – including our thoughts and sentiments.
Gradual arousal of our pure intellect and enlightenment of the inner mind would activate our subliminal self and endow us with such extraordinary talents and strength that could bestow the boon of absolute health, virtuous progress, and divine exaltation on our life as a normal human being.
164