REFLECTIONS OF LIGHT ON THE JOURNEY
Edward R. Close
In the early evening of September 17, 1960, I made my way up the steep winding switchbacks of Mount Washington Drive, just north of downtown Los Angeles, much as I had many times before. Approaching the summit of this outlier of the Hollywood Hills, I turned right onto San Rafael Avenue just below the southwest corner of the beautiful, well-tended grounds of the International Headquarters of Self-Realization Fellowship. I was on my way there that particular evening for my initiation into the practice of Kriya Yoga. I found a place to park, and as I walked through the entrance gate of the SRF grounds and along the driveway beside the print shop toward the main building, I breathed in the subtle aroma of gardenias that were blooming somewhere nearby. I stopped and took a deep breath of the sweet fragrance. When I exhaled and relaxed, I felt the deep peace that pervades these hallowed grounds where saints have trod, filling my soul.
Kriya Yoga is an ancient scientific method designed to speed up the natural expansion of individualized consciousness and help wandering lost souls to reunite with the eternal reality of the Infinite Source. The gradual reuniting of your soul with the Infinite is accelerated when you choose to consciously focus on the life-sustaining energies that operate involuntarily in the respiratory and circulatory systems of your body. The practice of Kriya synchronizes these energies with the opposing energies flowing in the spine, and the outward flow of energy is slowed to the point of suspension, allowing the spiritual Light of Primary Consciousness to become directly perceptible in the spiritual eye. Over the past 64 years, I’ve found that the daily practice of the Kriya techniques that I began to learn that evening so long ago, have proved to be very practical, producing positive results that have greatly improved the quality of my life.
The initiation was being conducted that autumn evening by Sri Dayamata, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, who was the last of a revered lineage of Spiritual teachers originating in India. At the time of my initiation, Daya-ma, as we affectionately called her, had been President of SRF for five years, and I was living in Topanga Canyon, northwest of LA. I had been allowed to attend evening meditations with the monks on Mount Washington while I was studying a series of lessons that were written by Yogananda just before he entered Maha Samadhi, his final conscious exit from the physical world in 1952. Because I had been allowed to meditate and study with some of the most advanced kriya yogis alive at that time, I was able to finish the one-year preparatory course in just four months. I had passed the final exam, and I was prepared to be initiated that evening.
At the time, I didn’t fully understand what an honor it was to be accepted and initiated into this advanced spiritual practice by Sri Dayamata, the way I was. It wasn’t until years later that I realized that I had been involved in the effort to bring the science of Kriya Yoga into the modern world for a long time, especially during one of my previous lives in India and Tibet. There were indications of the importance of this initiation for me, and some of the other events in my life, That were accompanied by phenomenal bursts of spiritual light. The light I am talking about is not just the electromagnetic vibrations that enable us to see with our physical eyes, it is the total brilliance of the fundamental essence of light that emanates from the spiritual domain.
At one point in the ceremony, very suddenly, a fiery three-dimensional ball of light appeared, spinning only a few inches in front of my forehead, and I could see it with my eyes open or closed! I had never seen anything like this before, and I have not seen anything quite like it since. I accepted it as validation that this was the right spiritual path for me, but I didn’t know what it actually was. About ten years later, I described the initiation light that I experienced to one of the monks who was a direct disciple of Yogananda, and asked him what he thought it was, and why had it appeared to me? He said he thought it was an unusual blessing given to me by God through Dayamata, and that because I was a scientist, she knew that even a glimpse of the light emanating from the crown chakra would encourage me to embark on a study the spiritual eye and the source of spiritual light. Of course, she was right!
As I look back on my life of nearly ninety years now, I realize that the unusual spiritual light phenomena that I saw during many of the most important events of my life, including the spinning ball of light that I saw during my Kriya initiation, were glimpses of a much greater reality, perceived through the functioning of the spiritual eye, a feature of human consciousness sometimes called the “third eye”. Details about what the “third eye” is and how it functions is beyond the scope of this discussion, and I am constrained from discussing the details of the kriya initiation and the techniques taught by the SRF lineage of spiritual masters by policies that I agreed to long ago. It is still necessary to keep these policies in place to safeguard against the ego-based misuse of the consciousness-altering techniques of kriya. But I want to touch upon the nature of the eternal light of spirit and attempt to explain how it relates to physical light, the expansion of consciousness, and the all-important evolution of the human soul.
Individual realization of the true nature of reality is called enlightenment for a reason: The fabric of reality is light. Ultimate enlightenment is the realization that we are eternal beings of light, capable of expanding and contracting our bubbles of consciousness from one quantum to infinity. But when we choose to identify ourselves with physical bodies to experience physical pleasure and pain, we limit our growth and awareness to the space-time domain existing where the finite, quantized reality of the physical universe and the infinitely continuous multi-dimensional domain of spirit meet. Individual consciousness, as we know it, is a direct result of this intimate contact of the finite with the infinite. It is as if we have our feet planted in two different boats, each moving on the waters of existence at different rates of speed, in different directions. Unless we realize that we are beings of light, capable of expanding beyond space and time, then, at critical junctures, we must endure great pain and suffering as we are forced to choose just one of one of the two boats.
That evening in the autumn of 1960, I saw the pure light emanating from the multi-dimensional domain of Spirit for the first time in this life, and it certainly encouraged me to get to work on expanding my consciousness. And I have since come to realize that the narrow band of electromagnetic energy that we perceive shining through the limited space and time of the physical world, is only a faint reflection of the awesomely beautiful spiritual light that illuminates the spiritual domain of the soul.
Every life in the physical world provides us with opportunities to learn and grow spiritually, i.e., to become more and more enlightened. So, in case someone might be interested, I will attempt to summarize what I have learned as a result of using the kriya consciousness expanding techniques for 64 years, starting with some astoundingly profound truths. But first, I must clarify what makes a truth profound, as opposed to a less important, trivial truth. Danish physicist Niels Bohr explained this distinction when he said: “The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false, while the opposite of a profound truth is also true.” You may find this statement somewhat confusing, but it provides a way to distinguish between a profound truth and a trivial truth. Here are some important examples:
1. There is no such thing as nothing. This is a profound truth arising from the fact that there is something real that does exist. The undeniable truth that ‘something exists’ implies that the exact opposite statement, i.e.: ‘nothing does not exist’ is also true.
2. A state of absolute nothingness never existed and will never exist. Profound truth #1 and its opposite, coupled with the law of conservation of mass and energy, verified by every scientific experiment ever performed, allows us to definitively answer the question that the German polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz called the first and most important question that science should ask: Why is there something rather than nothing? The profound truth that a state in which something presently exists, coupled with the universal law of the conservation of matter and energy implies that ‘a state of nothingness’ can never have existed, cannot exist now, and will never exist in the future. Thus, the popular big bang theory of the origin of the universe as an explosion of something from nothing, is pure science fiction. Something has always existed.
3. Reality is the sum total of everything that has ever existed, exists now, and will ever exist. This profound truth is implied by profound truth #2 with the realization that space-time has no existence of its own.
These three profound truths verify Planck’s breakthrough realization that he described with the following statements: “There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind, and this mind is the matrix of all matter.” As we shall see, Planck’s realization leads to a picture of reality very different from the materialistic belief of mainstream science.
It’s very important to note that Albert Einstein agreed with his good friend and colleague, Max Planck. Einstein said: “Concerning matter, we've been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. Matter is spirit reduced to a point of visibility; there is no matter.”
Einstein added to Planck’s enlightenment regarding the fundamental variables of physics by pointing out that proof of general relativity implies that the assumption that space is a uniformly existing background, in which all things exist, was also wrong. In June 1952, less than three years before his death in April 1855, in a special appendix to his popular book titled Relativity, the Special and the general Theory, a Clear Explanation that Anyone Can Understand, He made this point, stating that “Physical objects are not in space, but these objects are spatially extended. In this way, the concept of ‘empty space’ loses its meaning, and space can claim no existence of its own.”
From 1981 until 1986, while living and working in the Middle East, I had time between jobs to do some serious thinking about what these bombshell statements made by Planck and Einstein really meant. I reasoned that if the common assumptions about the most basic variables of our scientific model of physical reality, i.e., matter, energy, space, and time, that seemed so obvious were wrong, then our model of the nature of reality, being based on those assumptions was also wrong.
If Planck and Einstein were right, the concept of matter measured in units of mass mathematically equivalent to a huge number of units of energy determined by the equation E = mc2, with the concept of energy measured in units defined by the amount of force required to move the mass of an electron through a unit of space in a unit of time, and all four variables are dependent upon the “existence of a conscious and intelligent mind”, then a new calculus, a new mathematical logic that includes a unitary measure of consciousness was needed. So, I began working to adapt G. Spencer Brown’s primary calculus of mathematical logic, as defined in his book Laws of Form, for application to, and analysis of the interface of consciousness with relativistic, quantized physical reality. No small task.
I realized that to create an internally consistent quantum calculus designed to deal with the infinite continuity of mind interacting with the finite quantized nature of physical reality in a mathematically and logically consistent manner, I had to define a basic quantum equivalence unit for all of the fundamental units of measurement. To avoid the inconsistency of the basic unit of consciousness turning out to be mathematically incommensurable with the basic units of mass, energy, space, and time, the basic quantum equivalence unit had to be based on the mass or equivalent energy and the volume of the smallest sub-atomic entity, which happens to be the free electron. To emphasize the unit’s dimensionality, I called this basic unit of the calculus the triadic rotational unit of equivalence (TRUE).
At this point, an important question arises: What if mind and matter are intrinsically incommensurable? If so, consciousness can’t be quantized in any logically consistent way. The obvious way around this conundrum is: If physical reality reflects the logical structure of Primary Consciousness, it will be internally consistent only if the logic of Primary Consciousness is internally consistent. The fact that we exist in a complex, highly structured physical universe that appears to conform to a set of cause-and-effect laws that we are able to discover, and are in the process of discovering, suggests that the logical structure of Primary Consciousness is internally consistent. The bottom line is that the way forward is to assume that Primary Consciousness and its reflection in physical reality are logically consistent and proceed to define the most basic quantum equivalence unit by setting both the mass-energy equivalence and volume of the free electron to unity and see what happens. In other words, the proof is in the pudding!
When I applied the electron-based quantum calculus to the analysis of the logical structure of the most stable object in the universe, the proton, the quantized measure of organization linking the conscious intelligent mind with physical reality emerged as the third form of the essence of reality with no intrinsic mass or energy. We, Dr. Vernon Neppe and I, chose to represent this new variable with Gimel, the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Converting the total mass and energy of the proton to TRUE units of energy, we found that without the presence of a specific number of mass-less, energy-less units of Gimel contributing to the total volume and angular momentum of the proton, it would not be stable. Including the units of mass-less Gimel allowed us to calculate the exact mass and volume of the stable hydrogen atom in TRUE units. The addition of units of Gimel in subatomic structure also allowed us to calculate the exact mass and volume of the neutron and explain how and why neutrons are formed in the more complex atoms of the periodic table. The success of this preliminary application of the new calculus was encouraging.
We found that every stable atom contains the specific number of TRUE units of Gimel that are needed to make it geometrically symmetric and stable. We were not surprised to find that the elements and compounds that have the most Gimel are the elements that support intelligent forms of life. Happily, the existence of Gimel also explains many, if not all of the paradoxical puzzles and the “weirdness” of quantum physics that physicists like to talk about. With dozens of successful resolutions of the logical paradoxes of particle physics and some predictions verified experimentally, we consider the theory we called the Triadic Dimensional Vortical Paradigm (TDVP) no longer hypothetical, and the original assumption of a logically consistent electron-based quantum equivalence unit has been verified.
The presence of volumetric quantum equivalence units (TRUE) of Gimel in atomic structure turns out to be mathematically related to the wave lengths and frequencies of light released by radioactive decay. The exact volume of TRUE units of the orbital electrons and Gimel existing in each energy shell explains the complex electron energy-shell geometry of atom structure. I want to use the rest of this discussion to focus on the knowledge of this intimate relationship of Gimel to consciousness and light at the quantum level because I believe that a deeper understanding of this relationship can help us to understand how meditation techniques like Kriya can accelerate the growth of mental and spiritual virtue and affect positive results in the physical world that could very well save human civilization from self-destruction and extinction on this planet.
The discovery of Gimel and its role as the measurable organizer of subatomic structure, provides us with a new understanding that allows us to focus on ways that we can consciously connect with the infinite continuity of Primary Consciousness while occupying finite physical bodies. Visualizing the geometry of progressive unitary projection into hyperspace provides us with a way to project our individualized consciousness from the finite, quantized world of physical existence into the infinitely continuous domain of Spirit. This is possible only if the most basic phenomena that make up all aspects of reality, including mass, energy, gimel, and consciousness, is light.
The images of the reality that we are aware of through our senses, we conceptualize in our minds as objects interacting in space and time according to the logic and intent of Primary Consciousness, and we call our descriptions of the elements of that primary logic that we have been able to discover and formalize in the language of mathematics, the laws of nature. I am forever grateful for the realizations of the Spiritual Masters of all times and for the insights of Einstein, Planck, and Bohr, that led to the discovery of Gimel, the link between mind and matter, between the finite and the infinite, because otherwise, most of us alive on this planet today would only be able to imagine what it might be like to experience the perfection from which the divine light that forms all of reality radiates.
As conscious beings, we can never be satisfied with the forms that manifest at the low vibratory energy levels available to us as finite physical beings evolving toward the perfection of the infinite, timeless, all-pervasive expanding form of Primary Consciousness that we so imperfectly reflect. What we see and think of as solid matter and tangible energy in the form of objects and living beings in the dimensions of space and time, are really only incomplete images of perfect forms, vibrating and flickering like faint reflections of the divine light dancing in the multi-dimensional domain of Primary Consciousness.
Individual conscious beings in the physical universe are animated and motivated by an innate desire to live, feel, and experience progressively greater dimensional domains of reality. This innate desire for more awareness originates in the spiritual nature of the substrate of reality coming out of Primary Consciousness, and it drives the long-term physical, mental, and spiritual evolution of cosmological reality. Understanding this intellectually is the first, and unfortunately, the easiest step toward conscious positive expansion of individualized consciousness. The concrete visualization of a path from intellectual understanding to spiritual enlightenment is possible in one lifetime for any human being alive on this planet, but the road from imagination to actualization is very difficult. Thinking about enlightenment and actually achieving it are two very different things.
Fortunately, help is available from a few historical figures who have achieved ultimate enlightenment and in the teachings of others who have achieved high levels of enlightenment beyond that available to the average person. You will be able to find the enlightened souls, whether they are in physical form or not, when your urgent need to know the true nature of reality becomes greater than your desire for physical pleasure. If you seek them in earnest, and you develop the ability to see the divine light of the spiritual eye, then you will know them by the light that shines within them and by the fruits of their actions.
As we descended from the last highest age of mental and spiritual virtue into the dark age that reached the lowest point around 500 A.D., techniques for consciousness expansion were still being taught by a few individuals who reached the ultimate enlightenment as spiritual masters in previous lives. Small groups developed in the presence of these special beings to enjoy the loving fellowship they engendered, but when they were gone, the groups they established soon devolved into social organizations that we now call religions, as their teachings were subverted by political opportunists incapable of understanding the actual meaning and intent of the teachings, into ways and means to control people.
Fortunately, the essence of the knowledge and technologies developed during previous ages of enlightenment are stored in stone structures around the world both by technological means and natural processes. Such storage comprises the planet’s memory and preserves information that might have otherwise disappeared along with most of the evidence of the last post-materialist civilizations, destroyed by natural weathering, cataclysmic volcanic eruptions, and platonic subduction. We should also be thankful that practical methods of consciousness expansion like the kriya techniques mentioned here have been preserved by a few advanced souls reincarnated for the specific purpose of helping humanity survive. Thankfully, the knowledge and wisdom needed for spiritual evolution is never completely lost. But, because of the great disparity between the slow progress of cosmic time and the brief endurance of human life, the efforts of individual lives may seem tragically futile unless effective consciousness-expanding spiritual techniques like kriya are known and practiced diligently.
Research and application of the mathematical logic of the quantum calculus has proved that the structures of energy and mass that comprise physical reality are stable only because of the existence of Gimel, and total mass as energy and Gimel are conserved in every experiment and observable natural process. Therefore, Gimel and the consciousness its existence implies have always existed and will always continue to exist, even if human beings foolishly destroy themselves during the dark ages of mechanistic materialism.
Primary Consciousness is expanding into and back out of the infinity of itself in hyper-dimensional reality, but the individualized bubbles of consciousness that we possess as human beings in the four dimensions of space-time, are capable of expanding and contracting. This is what makes practices like the kriya techniques so useful. To understand how and why an energy focusing technique like kriya can be very practical and effective as a spiritual practice, it is helpful to think of reality, from electrons to atoms, from molecules to living cells, from plants and animals to human beings, and everything else that exists in the universe, as consisting of light.
By simply beginning to concentrate on the sensations of your breath flowing in and out of your lung as light, you can gradually increase your awareness of other deeper, more subtle movements of energy in your body that are associated with consciousness, and become aware of the movement of consciousness itself, as light.
There are some venerable traditions hidden within the major religions of this world, discounted by modern science as arcane and mysterious at best, that are remnants of the original teachings of fully realized spiritual masters from previous cycles of enlightenment. These venerable spiritual traditions include Sufism in Islam, Tibetan Yoga, Zen Buddhism, Jewish and Christian Mysticism, Sikhism, Jainism, various forms of Raja Yoga in Hinduism, and other cultural traditions now forgotten and/or hidden in the illusions of space-time and matter. All of these traditions contain some form of concentration on the spiritual light of the soul, similar to the kriya techniques. For example, Sufi Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan advises the advanced seeker to “fashion a body of light and become a being of light”.
Everything is ultimately made of some form of light, and every conscious entity has a radiant aura of light associated with its existence. Subtle spiritual bodies exist, whether you can see them or not. But, if you see no light within yourself, don’t be discouraged. With some determination and effort, you may be able to tap into the spiritual structures manifested by some of the various traditions mentioned above. Jesus, as a Rabbi teaching his followers how to pray and how to live, is quoted in the Book of Matthew saying, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” I can attest to the truth of this, having experienced it personally on occasion while focusing on the light of the spiritual eye.
Based on experiences with the higher-dimensional phenomena of spiritual light like the one I’ve discussed here, I conclude that physical vision is a dim reflection of spiritual vision, and I believe that “if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” was a metaphor that an enlightened man named Jesus used to direct spiritual seekers to turn their attention to the spiritual reality within. If we consciously withdraw the energy normally wasted on distractions and focus it on the spiritual eye and the light existing within, then we can allow the whole spectrum of the light of Primary Consciousness to fill our minds and bodies, and God’s healing Love will begin to manifest in our lives.
ERC 8/23/2024