Avatars of The Astral Worlds

Summary

The video "Avatars of The Astral Worlds" explores the intriguing concept of the astral world, a mystical plane of existence beyond our physical reality. The narrator guides us through the origins and philosophical underpinnings of the astral body, an intermediary between the soul and mental body, rooted in various religious and esoteric traditions. The video delves into the astral plane, famous for out-of-body experiences and astral projections. Discussions incorporate belief systems from Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and the intriguing concept of avatars in Hinduism. The video presents a tapestry of spiritual insights, historical accounts, and a touch of skepticism from science, leaving viewers pondering the mysteries of astral realms.

Highlights

• The video unveils the astral world's enchanting presence as a mystical reality. 🌠
• Platonic and Theosophical ideas regarding astral bodies highlight their role in connecting soul and mind. 💫
• The exploration of OBEs offers a glimpse into how individuals perceive journeys beyond the physical self. 👽
• Avatar concepts in Hinduism exemplify the divine's interaction with the mundane world. 🙏
• Skeptical perspectives add depth to the narrative, emphasizing the astral world's enigmatic nature. 🧐

Key Takeaways

• The astral world is a mystical plane that coexists with our physical reality. 🌌
• Astral bodies serve as a bridge between the soul and mental body, featured prominently in philosophical and esoteric traditions. 🧘‍♂️
• Out-of-body experiences and astral projections are key elements of the astral plane, intriguing both spirituality enthusiasts and scientists. 🚀
• Avatars, as divine embodiments, highlight the intersection between mythology and spiritual belief systems. 👼
• Despite scientific skepticism, the allure of the astral world remains strong, prompting ongoing exploration of its wonders. 🤔

Overview

The video "Avatars of The Astral Worlds" takes us on an intriguing journey into the mystical astral plane, a realm coexisting with our physical world. Narratives steeped in ancient philosophies, like those of Plato and Theosophists, expand our understanding of the astral body, a subtle entity bridging the mind and the soul. 🌟

Explorations into out-of-body experiences (OBEs) provide compelling narratives of spiritual journeys. Whether perceived during deep meditation or near-death experiences, these narratives fuel the quest to unravel our consciousness's potential reaches beyond the physical realm. 🌀

The video also delves into avatar depictions in Hinduism, where divine entities incarnate on earth, adding layers of myth and spirituality to the astral story. Despite evident skepticism from the scientific community regarding astral phenomena, the allure and mystery of these realms captivate and inspire ongoing exploration. 🤔

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to the Astral Worlds The chapter begins with a gentle and awe-inspiring introduction to the beauty and wonders of the world around us. It sets the stage for exploring the concept of astral worlds, inviting readers to imagine what lies beyond the visible realm. Through evocative imagery and serene music, the narrator guides the audience to reflect on the mysteries and magnificence of the universe, prompting curiosity and anticipation for the topics to be discussed in the following sections.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Understanding the Astral Body The chapter explores the concept of the astral body, emphasizing the existence of a different plane of reality known as the astral plane or astral world, which coexists with the physical reality perceived through our bodily senses.
• 01:30 - 02:30: Exploration of the Astral Plane This chapter delves into the concept of the astral plane and astral body, which are described as intermediaries between the soul and mental body, made of subtle matter. This idea has roots in Platonic philosophy and is linked to astrology's celestial heavens. The chapter also touches on the 19th-century adaptation of these concepts.
• 02:30 - 04:30: History and Philosophy of the Astral Body The chapter discusses the history and philosophy of the astral body, drawing connections between various religious and spiritual traditions. It highlights the beliefs of Theosophists and Neo-Rosicrucians, emphasizing the concept of out-of-body experiences. These experiences are often described in religious accounts as journeys or ascents of the soul, where the spiritual traveler departs from the physical body and travels in a subtle form described as the dream or astral body.
• 04:30 - 05:30: Astral Projection and Exploration The chapter 'Astral Projection and Exploration' delves into the concept of astral phenomena, exploring the idea that various religious beliefs about heavens, hells, and purgatorial existences can be explained through astral experiences. It describes the astral body as an observable aura of swirling colors and connects it to out-of-body experiences, commonly known as astral projection.
• 05:30 - 08:30: Prominent Figures and Theories The chapter titled 'Prominent Figures and Theories' discusses the concept of the astral plane, which is associated with astrology and celestial spheres. It explains that the astral plane consists of both the astral portion of Earth and other physical and purely astral planets in the solar system, all contributing to the astral body of the Solar Logos. Additionally, there are identified to be seven types of astral matter.
• 08:30 - 11:00: Contemporary Views on Astral Projection This chapter discusses the historical and contemporary perspectives on astral projection, beginning with its influence on medieval religious thought through to the Renaissance period's medical practices by figures such as Paracelsus and Servetus. It explores how developments in the Romantic era, such as the discovery of electromagnetism and the understanding of the nervous system, spurred renewed interest in the spirit world, exemplified by Franz Anton Mesmer's work on Mesmerism.
• 11:00 - 13:30: Avatars and Their Relation to the Astral The chapter discusses the historical context of hypnotism, mentioning the influence of astral, animal magnetism, and magnetic fluids. It references the English occultist Francis Barrett, who in 1801, highlighted herbs with supposed astral and magnetic powers and their associations with the seven planetary influences.
• 13:30 - 15:00: Conclusion and Reflection on the Astral Worlds The conclusion and reflection chapter discusses the concept of astral light, as elaborated by 19th-century French occultist Eliphas Levi. He regarded it as a crucial element in magic, alongside willpower and correspondence doctrine. Levi described astral light as the medium facilitating all light, energy, and motion, drawing parallels to Mesmer's work and the concept of luminiferous ether.

Avatars of The Astral Worlds Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 (gentle twinkling music) - [Narrator] Just by looking around us, we can see all of the wonders and beauty that our world has to offer.
• 00:30 - 01:00 Some have experienced much more than that, though. A different plane of reality that coexists with the one we experience through our bodily senses of sight, sound, taste, and feeling. A mystical place known as the astral plane or astral world. Before we get started, we need to understand what an astral body is.
• 01:00 - 01:30 Let's take a deeper look, shall we? An astral body is a subtle body posited by many philosophers, intermediate between the intelligent soul and the mental body, composed of a subtle material. The concept was described in the philosophy of Plato. It is related to an astral plane which consists of the planetary heavens of astrology. The term was also adopted by 19th century
• 01:30 - 02:00 Theosophists and Neo-Rosicrucians. The idea is rooted in common, worldwide religious accounts of the afterlife in which the soul's journey, or ascent, is described in such terms as an ecstatic, mystical, or out of body experience, wherein the spiritual traveler leaves the physical body and travels in his/her subtle body, also known as the dream body, or astral body,
• 02:00 - 02:30 into higher realms. Hence, the many kinds of heavens, hells, and purgatorial existences believed in by followers of innumerable religions may also be understood as astral phenomena. The astral body is sometimes said to be visible as an aura of swirling colors. It is widely linked today with out-of-body experiences or astral projection.
• 02:30 - 03:00 The word astral means of the stars. Thus, the astral plane, consisting of the celestial spheres, is held to be an astrological phenomenon. The whole of the astral portion of our Earth and of the physical planets together with the purely astral planets of our system make up collectively the astral body of the Solar Logos. There are seven types of astral matter
• 03:00 - 03:30 by means of which psychic changes occur periodically. Such ideas greatly influenced medieval religious thought and are visible in the Renaissance medicine of Paracelsus and Servetus. In the Romantic era, alongside the discovery of electromagnetism and the nervous system, there came a new interest in the spirit world. Franz Anton Mesmer, German physician, whose system of therapeutics, known as Mesmerism,
• 03:30 - 04:00 was the forerunner of the modern practice of hypnotism, spoke of the stars, animal magnetism, and magnetic fluids. In 1801, the English occultist Francis Barret wrote of a herb's excellent astral and magnetic powers for herbalists had categorized herbs according to their supposed correspondence with the seven planetary influences.
• 04:00 - 04:30 In the mid-19th century, the French occultist, Eliphas Levi, wrote much of the astral light; a factor he considered of key importance to magic alongside the power of will and the doctrine of correspondences. He considered the astral light the medium of all light, energy, and movement, describing it in terms that recall both Mesmer and the luminiferous ether.
• 04:30 - 05:00 Levi's idea of the astral was to have much influence in the English-speaking world, through the teachings of the Golden Dawn. But it was also taken up by Helena Blavatsky and discussed in the key work of Theosophy, "The Secret Doctrine." Levi seems to have been regarded by later Theosophists as the immediate source from which the term was adopted into their seven-fold schema of planes and bodies,
• 05:00 - 05:30 though there was slight confusion as to the term's proper use. Blavatsky frequently used the term astral body in connection with the Indian Linga Sharira, which is one of the seven principles of human life. However, she said that there are various astral bodies. For example, she talked of one as being constituted by the lower manners and volition, karma.
• 05:30 - 06:00 According to the Theosophical founder, William Q. Judge, there are many names for the astral body. Here are a few. Linga Sharira, Sanskrit meaning design body, and the best one of all, ethereal double, phantom, wraith, apparition, doppelganger, personal man, perispirit, irrational soul, animal soul, Bhuta, elementary, spook, devil, demon.
• 06:00 - 06:30 Some of these apply only to the astral body when devoid of the corpus after death. According to Max Heindel's Rosicrusion writings, the desire body is made of desire stuff from which human beings form feelings and emotions. It is said to appear to spiritual sight as an ovoid cloud, extending from sixteen
• 06:30 - 07:00 to twenty inches beyond the physical body. It has a number of whirling vortices or chakras and from the main vortex, in the region of the liver, there is a constant flow which radiates and returns. The desire body exhibits colors that vary in every person according to his or her temperament and mood. However, the astral body, or soul body, must be evolved by means of the work
• 07:00 - 07:30 of transmutation, and will eventually be evolved by humanity as a whole. According to Heindel, the term astral body, was employed by the medieval alchemists because of the ability it conferred to transverse the starry regions. The astral body is regarded as the philosophers stone or living stone of the alchemist, the wedding garment of the Gospel of Matthew
• 07:30 - 08:00 and the soul body that Paul mentions in the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Many other popular accounts of post Theosophical ideas appeared in the late twentieth century. Barbara Brennan's "Hands of Light" distinguishes between the emotional body and the astral body. She sees these as two distinct layers in the seven-layered human energy field.
• 08:00 - 08:30 The emotional body pertains to the physical universe the astral body, to the astral world. The Mother, sometimes referred to the astral body and experiences on the astral plane. The Indian Master Osho, occasionally made use of a modified Theosophical terminology. According to Samael Aun Weor, who popularized Theosophical thought in Latin America,
• 08:30 - 09:00 the astral body is the part of human soul related to emotions, represented by the sephira Hod in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. However, the common person only has a Kamarupa. Body of desire, or lunar astral body. A body related to animal emotions, passions and desires, while the true human emotional vehicle is the solar astral body which can be crystallized through tantric sex.
• 09:00 - 09:30 The solar astral body is the first mediator between the Cosmic Christ, Chokmah, and the individual, human soul. Many scientists claim there is no scientific evidence that an astral body exists. Psychologists, Donovan Rawcliffe, who assumes the existence of the astral body to be a myth, has written that delusions and hallucinations
• 09:30 - 10:00 due to anesthesia or hysteria have undoubtedly helped to perpetrate the myth of the astral body. Despite there not being any scientific evidence of the astral worlds there is an amazing amount of spiritual evidence, especially surrounding the paranormal concept of astral projection. Astral projection, also known as astral travel, is a term used in esotericism
• 10:00 - 10:30 to describe an intentional out-of-body experience or OBE for short, that assumes the existence of a soul or consciousness called an astral body that is separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside it, throughout the universe. The idea of astral travel is ancient and occurs in multiple cultures. The modern terminology of astral projection
• 10:30 - 11:00 was coined and promoted by nineteenth century Theosophists. It is sometimes reported in association with dreams and forms of meditation. Some individuals have reported perceptions similar to descriptions of astral projection that were induced through various hallucinogenic and hypnotic means including self-hypnosis. There is no scientific evidence that there is a consciousness or soul
• 11:00 - 11:30 which is separate from normal neural activity or one that can consciously leave the body and make observations. An astral projection has been characterized as a pseudoscience. On the other hand, there is some evidence that spontaneous out-of-body experiences are useful for psychotherapy. According to Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance, Hermeticism, Neoplatonism, and later,
• 11:30 - 12:00 Theosophists and Rosicrucian thought, the astral body is an intermediate body of light linking the rational soul to the physical body, while the astral plane is an intermediate world of light between heaven and earth, composed of the spheres of the planets and stars. These astral spheres were held to be populated by angels, demons, and spirits. The subtle bodies and their associated planes
• 12:00 - 12:30 of existence form an essential part of the esoteric systems that deal with astral phenomena. In the Neoplatonism of Plotinus, for example, the individual is a microcosm of the universe. The rational soul is akin to the great soul of the world while the material universe, like the body, is made as faded image of the intelligible.
• 12:30 - 13:00 Each succeeding plane of manifestation is causal to the next, a world view know as Emanationism. From The One perceives intellect, from intellect soul, and from soul, in its lower phase or that of nature, the material universe. Often, these bodies and their planes of existence are depicted as a series of concentric circles or nested spheres
• 13:00 - 13:30 with a separate body traversing each realm. The idea of the astral figured prominently in the work of the nineteenth century French occultist Eliphas Levi once it was adopted and developed further by theosophy and used afterwards by other esoteric movements. Authors and experts, Hereward Carrington, Sylvan Muldoon, Robert Peterson, and Jane Williams claim that the subtle body
• 13:30 - 14:00 is attached to the physical body by means of a psychic silver chord. The final chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes is often cited in this respect, "Before the silver chord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be shattered at the fountain, or the wheel be broken at the cistern." Sherman, however, contends that the context points to this being nearly a metaphor, comparing the body to a machine
• 14:00 - 14:30 with the silver chord referring to the spine. Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians is more generally agreed to refer to the astral planes, "I know a man in Christ, who fourteen years ago was called up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows." This statement gave rise to the Visio Pauli,
• 14:30 - 15:00 a tract that offers a vision of heaven and hell. A forerunner of visions attributed to (mumbles), Tnugdali's, as well as of Dante's divine comedy. Emanuel Swedenborg was one of the first practitioners to write extensively about the out-of-body experience in his spiritual diary. French philosopher and novelist, Honore de Balzac's fictional work "Louis Lambert" suggests he may have had some astral
• 15:00 - 15:30 or out-of-body experience. Robert Monroe's account of journeys to other realms popularized the term OBE, and were translated into a large number of languages. Though his books themselves only placed secondary importance on descriptions of method, Monroe also founded an institute dedicated to research, exploration, and non-profit dissemination of auditory technology for assisting others
• 15:30 - 16:00 in achieving projection and related altered states of consciousness. Also known as Bob Monroe, he was a radio broadcasting executive who became known for his research into altered consciousness and founding The Monroe Institute. His 1971 book, "Journeys Out of the Body" is credited with popularizing the term "out-of-body experience". Monroe achieved worldwide recognition
• 16:00 - 16:30 as an explorer of human consciousness and out-of-body experiences. His research, beginning in the 1950s, produced evidence that specific sound patterns have identifiable beneficial affects on our capabilities. For example, certain combinations of frequencies appeared to enhance alertness, others to induce sleep and still others to evoke expanded states of consciousness.
• 16:30 - 17:00 According to his third book, "Ultimate Journey", he dropped out of Ohio State University in his sophomore year due to a hospital stay for a facial burn that caused him to fall behind in his studies. During almost a year away from college, a desire to find work led him to become a hobo who rode freight trains. He returned to Ohio State to graduate after having studied pre-med, English, engineering, and journalism.
• 17:00 - 17:30 According to his own account, while experimenting with sleep learning in 1958 Monroe experienced an unusual phenomenon which he described as sensations of paralysis and vibration accompanied by a bright light that appeared to be shining on him from a shallow angle. Monroe went on to say that this occurred another nine times over the next six weeks culminating in his first out-of-body experience.
• 17:30 - 18:00 Monroe recorded his account in his 1971 book, "Journeys Out of the Body" and went on to become a prominent researcher in the field of human consciousness. Monroe later authored two more books on his experiments with OBE; 1985's, "Far Journeys" and the 1994's, "Ultimate Journey." In 1962, the company moved to Virginia and a few years later changed
• 18:00 - 18:30 the corporate name to Monroe Industries. In this location, it became active in radio station ownership, cable television, and later in the production and sale of audio cassettes. These cassettes were practical expressions of the discoveries made in the earlier and ongoing corporate research program. In 1985, the company officially changed its name once again to Interstate Industries Incorporated.
• 18:30 - 19:00 This reflected Monroe's analogy of how the use Hemi-Sync served as a ramp from the local road to the interstate in allowing people to go full steam ahead in the exploration of consciousness avoiding all of the stops and starts. Robert Monroe's leadership of the entire program of development was supported for more than fifty years by many specialists who continue their participation to this day.
• 19:00 - 19:30 His daughter, Laurie Monroe, continued her father's research into consciousness and the mind's potential until her death in 2006. Under the current direction of another of Monroe's daughters, Maria Monroe Whitehead, Monroe's stepson, A.J. Honeycutt, and Teresa West, President of Monroe Products, the company's objective is to continue to expand the Hemi-Sync line of products and their benefits into markets worldwide.
• 19:30 - 20:00 Controlled studies of the institute's technology suggests that is effective as an analgesic supplement and can reduce hospital discharge times. The Institute has an affiliated professional membership and also publishes scientific papers on a subset of its own studies of altered states of consciousness. In its in-house laboratory, these states or focus levels, are typically induced by delivering Hemi-Sync signals to subjects
• 20:00 - 20:30 performing relaxation procedures inside a shielded, sense-depriving, isolation tank. Progression through states is detected and monitored by measurement of peripheral skin temperature, galvanic skin response, and DC skin potential voltage. In 1994, a front page article in the Wall Street Journal reported confirmation from the former Director of the Intelligence and Security Command
• 20:30 - 21:00 of the U.S. Army sending personnel to the Institute. It also stated the opinion of the head of the Zen Buddhist temple in Vancouver, British Columbia, that "Gateway students can reach meditation states in a week that took thirty years of sitting." A reporter for The Hook, weekly newspaper for Charlottesville, Virginia, who visited the Monroe Institute said, "With a few exceptions, the only normal people with whom I could fully identify were the trainers,
• 21:00 - 21:30 who seemed remarkably well-grounded for people whose day-to-day experiences "included astral projection and disembodied spirits." The reporter also concluded that, "There is something significant being developed at the Institute, whether it's just a brilliant, guided meditation, complete with trance-inducing stereoscopic sound or a doorway to a world of spirit entities,
• 21:30 - 22:00 "I cannot say." Experts, Robert Bruce, William Bellman, Marilyn Hughes, and Albert Taylor, have discussed their theories and findings on the syndicated show Coast to Coast AM several times. Michael Crichton gave lengthy and detailed explanations and experience of astral projection in his non-fiction book, "Travels". In her book, "My Religion", Helen Keller tells of her beliefs in Swedenborgianism
• 22:00 - 22:30 and how she once traveled to Athens. "I have been far away all this time and I haven't left the room. It was clear to me that it was because I was a spirit that I had so vividly seen and felt a place a thousand miles away. "Space was nothing to spirit." The soul's ability to leave the body at will or while sleeping and visit the various planes of heaven is also known as soul travel.
• 22:30 - 23:00 The practice is taught in Surat Shabd Yoga where the experience is achieved mostly by meditation techniques and mantra repetition. All Sant Mat gurus widely spoke about this kind of out-of-body experience such as Kirpal Singh. In occult traditions, practices range from inducing trance states to the mental construction of a second body called "The Body of Light"
• 23:00 - 23:30 in Aleister Crowley's writings through visualization and controlled breathing followed by the transfer of consciousness to the secondary body by mental act of will. There is no known scientific evidence that astral projection as an objective phenomenon exists. There are cases of patients having experiences suggestive of astral projection from brain stimulation treatments and hallucinogenic drugs such as ketamine, phencyclidine, and DMT.
• 23:30 - 24:00 Which brings us to another interesting aspect of the astral world, avatars. An avatar is a concept in Hinduism that means descent. It's the material appearance or incarnation of a deity on earth. The relative verb to a light to make one's appearance is sometimes used to refer to any guru or revered human being.
• 24:00 - 24:30 The word avatar does not appear in the Vedic literature but appears in verb forms in post Vedic literature and as a noun particularly in the Puranic literature after the sixth century CE. Despite that, the concept of an avatar is compatible with the content of the Vedic literature like the Upanishads as it is symbolic imagery of the Saguna Brahman concept in the philosophy of Hinduism.
• 24:30 - 25:00 The Rigveda describes Indra as endowed with a mysterious power of assuming any form at will. The Bhagavad Gita expands the doctrine of Avatara but with terms other than avatar. Theologically, the term is most often associated with the Hindu god, Vishnu, though the idea has been applied to other deities. Varying lists of avatars of Vishnu appear in Hindu scriptures including
• 25:00 - 25:30 the ten Dashavatara of the Garuda Purana and the twenty two avatars in the Bhagavata Purana. Though the latter adds that the incarnations of Vishnu are innumerable. The avatars of Vishnu are important in Vaishnavism theology. In the goddess based Shaktism tradition of Hinduism avatars of the Devi in different appearances such as Tripura, Sundari, Durga and Kali are commonly found,
• 25:30 - 26:00 while avatars of other deities such as Ganesha and Shiva are also mentioned in medieval Hindu texts, this is minor and occasional. The incarnation doctrine is one of the important differences between Vaishnavism and Shaivism traditions of Hinduism. Incarnation concepts similar to avatar are also found in Buddhism, Christianity and other religions.
• 26:00 - 26:30 The scriptures of Sikhism include the names of numerous Hindu gods and goddesses but it rejected the doctrine of savior incarnation and endorsed the view of Hindu Bhakti movement saints such as Namdev that formless eternal god is within the human heart and man is his own savior. Avatar literally means "descent, alight", "to make ones appearance" and refers to the embodiment of the essence
• 26:30 - 27:00 of a superhuman being or a deity in another form. The word also implies "to overcome, to remove, to bring down, to cross something." "In Hindu traditions, the crossing or coming down is symbolism", states Daniel Bassuk, "of the divine descent from eternity into the temporal realm, from unconditioned to the conditioned, from infinitude to finitude."
• 27:00 - 27:30 An avatar, states Justin Edwards Abbott, is a saguna embodiment of the nirguna Brahman or Atman. Neither the Vedas nor the Principal Upanishards ever mention the word avatar as a noun. The verb roots and form, such as avatarana, do appear in ancient post Vedic Hindu texts but as action of descending
• 27:30 - 28:00 but not as an incarnated person. The related verb avatarana is, states Paul Hacker, used with double meaning, one as action of the divine descending, another as laying down the burden of man suffering from the forces of evil. Mahesh is an avatar of Lord Vishnu. The term is most commonly found in the context of the Hindu god Vishnu. The earliest mention of Vishnu manifested
• 28:00 - 28:30 in a human form to establish Dharma on earth uses other terms such as the word sambhavami in verse 4.6 and the word tanu in verse 9.11 of the Bhagavad Gita as well as other words such as akriti and rupa elsewhere. It is in medieval era texts, those composed after the sixth century CE, that the noun version of avatar appears
• 28:30 - 29:00 where it means embodiment of a deity. The idea proliferates thereafter in the Puranic stories for many deities and with ideas such as ansha-avatar or partial embodiments. The term avatar, in colloquial use, is also an epithet or a word of reference for any extraordinary human being who is revered for his or her ideas. In some contexts, the term avatara,
• 29:00 - 29:30 just means a landing place, site of secret pilgrimage, or just achieve one's goals after effort or re-translation of a text in another language. The term avatar is not unique to Hinduism. It is found in the Trikaya doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism in descriptions for the Dalai Lama in Tibetan Buddhism and many ancient cultures. The manifest embodiment is sometimes
• 29:30 - 30:00 referred to as an incarnation. The translation of avatar as incarnation has been questioned by Christian theologists who state that an incarnation is in flesh and imperfect while avatar is mythical and perfect. The theological concept of Christ as an incarnation as found in Christology presents the Christian concept of incarnation. According to Oduyoye and Vroom,
• 30:00 - 30:30 this is different from the Hindu concept of avatar because avatars in Hinduism are unreal and is similar to Docetism. Sheth disagrees and states that this claim is an incorrect understanding of the Hindu concept of avatar. Avatars are true embodiments of spiritual perfection one driven by noble goals, in Hindu traditions such as Vaishnavism.
• 30:30 - 31:00 The concept of avatars within Hinduism is most often associated with Vishnu the preserver or sustainer aspect of God within the Hindu Trinity or Trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Vishnu's avatars descend to empower the good and fight evil, thereby restoring Dharma. Traditional Hindus see themselves not as Hindu but as Vaishnava, the worshippers of Vishnu,
• 31:00 - 31:30 Shaiva, the worshippers of Shiva, or Shakta, the worshipper of the Shakti. Each of the deities has its own iconography and mythology but common to all is the fact that the divine reality has an explicit form, a form that the worshipper can behold. The Vishnu avatars appear in Hindu mythology whenever the cosmos is in crisis typically because the evil has grown stronger
• 31:30 - 32:00 and has thrown the cosmos out of its balance. The avatar then appears in a material form to destroy evil and its sources and restore the cosmic balance between the ever-present forces of good and evil. The most known and celebrated avatars of Vishnu within the Vaishnavism traditions of Hinduism are Krishna, Rama, Narayana, and Vasudeva.
• 32:00 - 32:30 These names have extensive literature associated with them. Each has its own characteristics, legends, and associated arts. The Mahahbarata, for example, includes Krishna, while the Ramayana includes Rama. The ten best known avatars of Vishnu are collectively known as the Dashavatara, a sanskrit compound meaning ten avatars. Five different lists are included
• 32:30 - 33:00 in the Bhagavata Purana where the difference is in the sequence of the names. Freda Matchett states that this re-sequencing by the composers may be intentional so as to avoid implying priority or placing something definitive and limited to the abstract. Linga Sharira is a sanskrit term for the invisible double of the human body the ethereal body or etheric double
• 33:00 - 33:30 or astral body in some Theosophical concepts. It is one of the seven principles of the human being according to Theosophical philosophy. Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy, often referred to the etheric body, Atherleib or life body, in association with the etheric formation forces and the evolution of man and the cosmos. According to him it can be perceived by a person gifted with clairvoyance
• 33:30 - 34:00 as being of peach-blossom color. Steiner considered the etheric reality or life principle as quite distinct from the physical, material reality, being intermediate between the physical world and the astral or soul world. The etheric body can be characterized as the life force also present in the plant kingdom. It maintains the physical body's form until death. At that time it separates from the physical body
• 34:00 - 34:30 and the physical reverts to natural disintegration. According to Max Heindel's Rosicrucian writings the etheric body composed of four ethers is called the vital body since the ether is the way of ingress for vital force from the sun and the field of agencies in nature which promote such vital activities as assimilation, growth, and propagation. It is an exact counterpart of our physical body
• 34:30 - 35:00 molecule for molecule and organ for organ, but it is of the opposite polarity. It is slightly larger, extending about one and one half inches beyond the periphery of the physical body. Samael Aun Weor teaches that the vital body is the tetra dimensional part of the physical body and the foundation of organic life. He states that in the second initiation of fire the Kundalini rises in the vital body.
• 35:00 - 35:30 Then the initiate learns how to separate the two superior ethers from each other in order for them to serve as a vehicle to travel out of the physical body. (gentle chiming) In the teachings of Theosophy, Devas are regarded as living either in the atmospheres of the planets of the solar system known as planetary angels or inside the sun known as solar angels. Presumably, other planetary systems
• 35:30 - 36:00 and stars have their own angels. And they help to guide the operation of the processes of nature such as the process of evolution and the growth of plants. Their appearance is reputedly like colored flames about the size of a human being. It is believed by Theosophists that Devas can be observed when the third eye is activated. Some, but not most, Devas originally incarnated
• 36:00 - 36:30 as human beings. It is believed by Theosophists that nature's spirits, elementals like gnomes, undines, sylphs, and salamanders and fairies can also be observed when the third eye is activated. It is maintained by theosophists that these less evolutionary developed beings have never been previously incarnated as human beings. They are regarded as on a separate line
• 36:30 - 37:00 of spiritual evolution called The Deva Evolution. Eventually, as their souls advance as they reincarnate it is believed they will incarnate as Devas. It is asserted by Theosophists that all of the above above mentioned beings posses etheric bodies but no physical bodies that are composed of etheric matter. A type of matter finer and more pure that is composed of smaller particles than ordinary physical plane matter.
• 37:00 - 37:30 An out-of-body experience is a form of Autoscopy meaning literally "seeing one's self" although the term autoscopy most commonly refers to the pathological condition of seeing a second self, or doppleganger. A form of spontaneous OBE is the near-death experience, or NDE for short. Some subjects report having had an OBE
• 37:30 - 38:00 at times of severe physical trauma such as near-drownings or major surgery. Near-death experiences may include subjective impressions of being outside the physical body. Sometimes visions of deceased relatives and religious figures and transcendence of ego and spatiotemporal boundaries. Typically, the experience includes such factors as a sense of being dead, a feeling of peace and painlessness,
• 38:00 - 38:30 hearing of various non-physical sounds, an out-of-body experience, a tunnel experience, the sense of moving up or through a narrow passageway, encountering beings of light, and a god-like figure or similar entities, being given a life review, and a reluctance to return to life. Along the same lines as an NDE, extreme physical effort during activities
• 38:30 - 39:00 such as high-altitude climbing and marathon running can induce OBEs. A sense of bilocation may be experienced with both ground and air-based perspectives being experienced simultaneously. Falling asleep physically without losing awareness, the mind-awake-body-asleep state, is widely suggested as a cause for OBEs voluntarily and otherwise.
• 39:00 - 39:30 Thomas Edison used this state to tackle problems while working on his inventions. He would rest a silver dollar on his head while sitting with a metal bucket in a chair. As he drifted off, the coin would noisily fall into the bucket, restoring some of his alertness. OBE pioneer, Sylvan Muldoon, more simply used a forearm held perpendicular in bed as the falling object. Salvador Dali was said to use a similar,
• 39:30 - 40:00 paranoic, critical method to gain odd visions which inspired his paintings. Deliberately teetering between awake and asleep state is known to cause spontaneous trance episodes at the onset of sleep which are ultimately helpful, when attempting to induce an OBE. By moving deeper and deeper into relaxation one eventually encounters a slipping feeling if the mind is still alert.
• 40:00 - 40:30 This slipping is reported to feel like leaving the physical body. Some consider progressive muscle relaxation a passive form of sensory deprivation. Deep trance, meditation, and visualization, the types of visualizations vary. Some common analogies include climbing a rope to pull out of one's body, floating out of one's body, getting shot out of a cannon
• 40:30 - 41:00 and other similar approaches. This technique is considered hard to use for people who cannot properly relax. One example of such a technique is the popular Golden Dawn Body of Light technique, brainwave synchronization via audio visual stimulation. Binaural beats can be used to induce specific brainwave frequencies, notably those prominent in various
• 41:00 - 41:30 mind-awake-body-asleep states. Binaural induction of a body asleep four hertz brainwave frequency was observed as effective by the Monroe Institute and some authors consider binaural feats to be significantly supportive of OBE initiation when used in conjunction with other techniques. Simultaneous introduction of mind-awake beater frequencies detectable in the brains
• 41:30 - 42:00 of normal, relaxed awaked individuals was also observed as constructive. Another popular technique uses sinus audial wave pulses to achieve similar results. And the drumming accompanying Native American religious ceremonies is also believed to have heightened receptivity to other worlds through brainwave entrainment mechanisms. Sensory deprivation, this approach
• 42:00 - 42:30 aims to induce intense disorientation by removal of space and time references. Flotation tanks or pink-noise played through headphones are often employed for this purpose. Sensory overload, the opposite of sensory deprivation, the subject can for instance be rocked for a long time in a specifically designed cradle or submitted to light forms of torture to cause the brain to shut itself off
• 42:30 - 43:00 from all sensory input. Both conditions tend to confusion and this disorientation often permits the subject to experience vivid etherial out-of-body experiences. Strong G forces that cause blood to drain from parts of the brain as experienced for example in high- performance aircraft or high G training for pilots and astronauts. An apparatus that uses head mounted display and a touch that confuses the sense
• 43:00 - 43:30 of proprioception and which can also create the sensation of additional limbs. In the fields of cognitive science and psychology OBEs are considered dissociative experiences, arising from different psychological and neurological factors. Scientists consider the OBE to be an experience from a mental state like a dream or an altered state of consciousness without recourse to the paranormal.
• 43:30 - 44:00 In case studies, fantasy proneness has been shown to be higher among OBE-ers than those who have not had an OBE. The data has shown a link between the OBE experience in some cases to fantasy prone personality. In a case study involving 167 participants the findings revealed that those who claimed to have experienced the OBE were more fantasy prone, higher in
• 44:00 - 44:30 their belief in the paranormal, and displayed greater somatoform dissociation. Research from studies has also suggested that OBEs are related to cognitive perceptual schizotypy. In 2003, Professor of Neurology, Terence Hines, wrote that "spontaneous out-of-body experiences" can be generated by artificial stimulation of the brain and this strongly suggests
• 44:30 - 45:00 that the OBE experience is caused from temporary minor brain malfunctions, not by the person's spirit, "or whatever, actually leaving the body." In the study review of neurological and neurocognitive data it was written that OBEs are due to functional disintegration of lower-level multisensory processing and abnormal higher-level self processing
• 45:00 - 45:30 at the temporoparietal junction. Some scientists suspect that OBEs are the result of a mismatch between visual and tactile signals. Writers within the fields of parapsychology and occultism have written that OBEs are not psychological and that a soul, spirit, or subtle body can detach itself out-of-the-body and visit distant locations. Out-of-the-body experiences were known
• 45:30 - 46:00 during the Victorian period in Spiritualist literature as traveling clairvoyance. The Psychical researcher, Frederic Myers, referred to the OBE as a "psychical excursion". An early study, which described alleged cases of OBEs was the two volume "Phantasms of the Living" published in 1886 by the psychical researchers Edmund Gurney, Myers, and Frank Podmore.
• 46:00 - 46:30 The book was largely criticized by the scientific community as the anecdotal reports lacked evidential substantiation in nearly every case. The paranormal interpretation of OBEs has not been supported by all researchers within the study of parapsychology. In 1961, psychologist and parapsychologist, Gardner Murphy wrote that OBEs are "not very far from the known terrain
• 46:30 - 47:00 of general psychology which we are beginning to understand more and more without recourse to the paranormal." In the 1970's, Latvian psychologist, Karlis Osis conducted many OBE experiments with the psychic Alex Tanous. For a series of these experiments, he was asked while in an OBE state to try to identify colored targets that were placed in remote locations.
• 47:00 - 47:30 Osis reported that in 197 trials, there were 114 hits. However, the controls to the experiments have been criticized and according to Susan Blackmore the final result was not particularly significant as 108 hits would be expected by chance. Blackmore noted that the results provide "no evidence for accurate perception in the OBE".
• 47:30 - 48:00 In April 1977, a patient from the Harborview Medical Center known as Maria claimed to have experienced an out-of-body experience. During her OBE, she claimed to have floated outside her body and outside of the hospital. Maria would later tell her social worker, Kimberly Clark, that during the OBE she had observed a tennis shoe on the third floor window-ledge to the north side of the building. Clark would go to the north wing of the building
• 48:00 - 48:30 and by looking out of the window could see a tennis shoe on one of the ledges. Clark published the account in 1985. The story has since been used in many paranormal books as evidence a spirit can leave the body. In 1996, investigators Hayden Ebbern, Sean Mulligan, and Barry Beyerstein, visited the medical center to investigate the story. They placed a tennis shoe on the same ledge
• 48:30 - 49:00 and discovered that the shoe was visible from within the building and could have easily been observed by a patient lying in bed. They also discovered the shoe was easily observable from outside the building and suggested that Maria may have overheard a comment about it during her three days in the hospital and incorporated it into her OBE. They concluded "Maria's story merely reveals the naivety and the power of wishful thinking from OBE researchers
• 49:00 - 49:30 seeking a paranormal explanation." Clark did not publish the description of the case until seven years after it happened casting doubt on the story. Richard Wiseman has said that "although the story is not evidence for anything paranormal it has been endlessly repeated by writers who either couldn't be bothered to check the facts or were unwilling to present their readers with
• 49:30 - 50:00 "the more skeptical side of the story." Early collections of OBE cases have been made by Italy's Ernesto Bozzano and the UK's Robert Crookall. Crookall approached the subject from a Spiritualistic position and collected his cases predominantly from Spiritualist newspapers such as the Psychic News, which appears to have biased his results in various ways. For example, the majority of his subjects
• 50:00 - 50:30 reported seeing a chord connecting the physical body and its observing counterpart, whereas Green found that less than 4% of her subjects noticed anything of this sort and some 80% reported feeling they were a "disembodied consciousness" with no external body at all. The first extensive scientific study of OBEs was made by Celia Green back in 1968.
• 50:30 - 51:00 She collected written, first-hand accounts from a total of 400 subjects recruited by means of appeals in the mainstream media and followed up by questionnaires. Her purpose was to provide a taxonomy of the different types of OBE viewed simply as an anomalous perceptual experience or hallucination while leaving open the question of whether some of the cases might incorporate information derived by extrasensory perception.
• 51:00 - 51:30 In 1999, at the first International Forum of Consciousness Research in Barcelona, research practitioners Wagner Alegretti and Nanci Trivellato presented preliminary findings of an online study on the out-of-body experience answered by internet users interested in the subject; therefore, not a sample representative of the general population. "1,007, 85%, of the first 1,185 respondents"
• 51:30 - 52:00 reported having had an OBE. 37% claimed to have had between two and ten OBEs. 5.5% claimed more than 100 such experiences. 45% of those who reported an OBE said they successfully induced at least one OBE by using a specific technique.
• 52:00 - 52:30 62% of participants claiming to have had an OBE also reported having enjoyed non-physical flight. 40% reported experiencing the phenomenon of self-bilocation, I.e., seeing one's own physical body whilst outside the body. And 38% claimed having experienced self-permeability, passing through physical objects such as walls. The most commonly reported sensations experienced
• 52:30 - 53:00 in connection with the OBE were falling, floating, repercussions e.g. myoclonia, the jerking of limbs jerking awake, sinking, torpidity, numbness, intercranial sounds, tingling, "clairvoyance, oscillation and serenity." Another reported common sensation related to OBE was temporary or projective catalepsy,
• 53:00 - 53:30 a more common feature of sleep paralysis. The sleep paralysis and OBE correlation was later corroborated by the Out-of-Body Experience and Arousal study published in Neurology by Kevin Nelson and his colleagues from the University of Kentucky in 2007. The study discovered that people who have out-of-body experiences are more likely to suffer from sleep paralysis.
• 53:30 - 54:00 Astral projection is a paranormal interpretation of out-of-body experiences that assumes the existence of one or more non-physical planes of existence and an associated body beyond the physical. Commonly, such planes are called astral, etheric, or spiritual. Astral projection is often experienced as the spirit or astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the spirit world or astral plane.
• 54:00 - 54:30 All of these experiences and mysteries make the astral worlds so incredibly compelling to explore. Regardless of what you believe, or what scientific or spiritual roots you decide to follow one thing is incredibly clear humanity still has a lot to learn from both our physical and spiritual selves. (vocalizing music)