inner light and sound meditation
How to meditate on the Inner Light and Sound
There are religious cults who will teach you how to meditate on the Inner Light and Sound. You don't need any of them. You can do it without them and you can get better results. They will tell you that you need to obey them if you want to do this sort of meditation.
They will tell you that you need their initiation. The Inner Light and Sound is supposed to be a spiritual energy that is divine in origin. You can tap into it when you are meditating and it will allow you to get to higher states of consciousness.
The Inner Light and Sound is not a spiritual energy. You don't need initiation to become aware of it. The idea behind initiation is that someone has this energy flowing through them and it can be directed into you.
Usually they squeeze your eyeballs quite hard. Even so, you will not become aware of the Inner Light and Sound straight away. If you meditate you may become aware of it, no initiation needed.
When you meditate you are trying to ignore physical sensations. If you are meditating in a dark room with your eyes closed there will be no visual sensations. After a while your brain will compensate for that creating the illusion of light.
The brain creates a model of the body and its environment. This model is updated with sensory information. When you have little sensory information the model drifts because it is not being updated. You begin to see light that it is not there.
Often you will become aware of a disc of light. The disc will usually be white but it can be gold or blue. When you try to focus your attention on it it disappears. When that happens return to focussing on the object of meditation, the mantra or the breath. Let the disc of light return and grow.
In time you will be able to focus your attention on the light without it disappearing. You will need to focus on it in a different way from normal. When you turn your attention to the disc your brain is asking itself the question "Does this fit in with what my eyes are telling me?". The answer is no and the brain edits it out. It is a creation of the brain.
In time you will find a new way of perceiving the light. It will grow until you are surrounded by an all-pervading white light. There can be a sound there too, and even an aroma. You can find your way into the first of the altered states of consciousness.
As soon as you enter the first of these states you come out of it. It takes time for you to learn how to stay in the state for increasing periods of time. Nothing can be achieved through will power. It just needs practice.
This is what some people call the first jhana, or the first absorption. There are supposed to be three more of these, although it can be difficult to tell which one you are in. To begin with you experience bliss but in time the bliss is replaced with serenity.
You may say that you didn't begin meditation to experience bliss, but it is much easier to focus attention on something that is pleasurable. You can develop your ability to focus your attention without distraction.
There is a second set of four jhanas. It is possible that it is not necessary to have experienced the first four jhanas before you experience the second four. I have not heard anyone in Lifewave talk about something which could be identified as the first jhana. Although they have mentioned bliss.
The fifth jhana is a different matter. The fifth jhana is what people in Lifewave called Second Initiation or going beyond form*. If you enter the first jhana you can be certain you have done so. It's more difficult to know if you have entered the second, third or fourth jhanas. Although each has its own characteristics.
When you enter the fifth jhana you can be certain something profound has happened. It seems that you have suddenly entered a vast empty void. It feels that you are in a different level of reality. I don't believe in different levels of reality anymore. It's just what happens when you lose contact with your body.
If you keep at it you may enter the sixth, seventh and eighth jhanas. The eighth jhana isn't enlightenment though. There are higher jhanas but they will be unavailable to you with this form of meditation. Apart from one.
The one higher state you may get to is a state where everything seems to be part of you. This state can persist after you come out of meditation for a while but not indefinitely. It can also return when your mind is relaxed or when you are performing a task that does not require mental effort.
You can call this enlightenment if you want to. It is a form of nonduality. People think that when they have a glimpse of nonduality they have achieved everything because there is nothing beyond nonduality. Nonduality can be made permanent though if you know how. That is the true Enlightenment.
*The fifth jhana is also known as the Sphere (or Realm) of Infinite Space. In Pali, it is termed ākāsānañcāyatana. It marks the first of the four immaterial or "formless" (arūpajjhāna) meditative states, where the meditator moves past physical boundaries to perceive a boundless, limitless expanse. In Sanskrit it is termed ākāśānantyāyatana (आकाशानन्त्यायतन).
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