Understanding The Causal Body — Save Yourself Years of Confused Meditations
Some teachings suggest there are no levels or stages in Enlightenment, and ultimately, this is true (at least in some regards). However, for the majority of people, when they begin to practice meditation, tend to become disillusioned with their progress because they don’t know about the causal body, which is known as the bliss body, or the Anandamaya Kosha, in Vedantic philosophy. Experientially understanding the causal body can save the seeker years of confusion in meditation, which was Bentinho’s main purpose in Session 4 of his Online Global Enlightenment Retreat.
The Four Bodies or Veils
Conceptually, a body is a vehicle, but it can also be viewed as a veil. Just as the physical body has the functionality to interact with the physical plane, the mind (or subtle body) has the functionality to interact with the subtle planes—the world of thoughts, reasoning, imagination, feelings, dreams at night, subconscious projections, impressions, preference, and so on. Since each body also includes the previous body, the subtle body includes or encompasses the physical body, the causal body encompasses the subtle body, and the great-causal body encompasses the causal body. Each body, as we move from right to left on the diagram below, is subtler, or less coarse, than the previous body, and each body is permeated by, and its existence is dependent upon, the body to its left.
Self-Realization is the art of using your own attention to investigate and deconstruct the different layers of yourself in search of the true “I” or Self. It is about asking the questions, “Who am I?” and “What am I not, that I’ve falsely identified with?” When we are children, we tend to identify almost exclusively with the physical body and the physical world. As we grow older, our association of “I” with the physical body becomes subtler, and typically, we begin identifying more with the mind (subtle body), in addition to being identified with the physical body. We become intellectuals, we mature, we value character and morals over physique, we take things personally, based on thoughts and speech, etc. In short, we become more identified with the mind and personality, rather than with just the physical body.
The Causal Body
There is a body beyond the subtle body that most people don’t have a concept about, which makes sense, because it’s a non-conceptual state.
The subtle body supports and encompasses the physical body, but what supports and encompasses the subtle body? This is the causal body, also known as the body of ignorance, nothingness, space or bliss (ignorance = bliss). If you look at the diagram, you will see that the causal body has a crucial position—it is between Enlightenment (the great-causal body, or the God state) and the subtle body (the mind).
The causal body is like a canyon or a dark gap or space in between two continents that most people don’t know what to do with. When you take your attention off the subtle body (but remain awake), you automatically enter into the causal body. If we include the causal body in our conscious understanding, if we learn to recognize it, it becomes easier to stabilize in it (and go beyond it). It becomes like a trampoline from which we can jump into the next body, the great-causal body—or the God state, the pure universal I-Am essence.
The great-causal body is the subtlest body of all, and for the mind-based consciousness, which is used to focusing on the physical body and the subtle body, it is quite a leap to jump straight to the great-causal or God body. If the leap is made, it is typically difficult to maintain that recognition because the subtle body (mind, senses, impressions, memory, dreams, desires, etc.) is still very active and identified with. Therefore, becoming aware of the causal body and anchoring more into that “body of no knowledge,” can help unwind the mind; create stability, stillness and focus in consciousness; and increase one’s ability to focus on that which is subtler, rather than be distracted by that which is more gross or coarse or tangible.
As a result of “unknowing the mind” by focusing more into the causal body of space, the peace and stability that results is a much more stable platform from which to recognize the body of knowledge (great-causal body or God state) and stabilize in that from a place of being used to the state of nothingness or “deliberate ignorance.”
The causal body is also known as the body of ignorance, or no-knowledge. It is the unknown. This stillness or emptiness is the first thing most meditators step into when they go beyond the mind after stopping thought for a few seconds. Often, this state is mistaken for the God state, or even for the Absolute beyond God, because it has certain similarities, from the mind’s point of view. Stepping into the Causal Body is like stepping into a place that has no light and no objects. It is not dark in a negative way; in fact, it’s very peaceful, typically. That’s why it’s also called the bliss body (Anandamaya Kosha). There is a sense of peaceful, restful, natural nothingness; you’re not conscious in the way you’re used to being conscious. The tense sense-perception of being a subject looking at objects outside of yourself relaxes here. The ego unwinds and loses some momentum. It is unknown territory to the subtle body. The subtle body can’t go there. But you can.
There is a sense of restful bliss in the causal body because peace and not-knowing (ignorance) are blissful compared to the raging activities of the thoughts, emotions, desires, and strategies of the subtle body (the mind). There is a blissful restfulness, but it is not the true bliss of the true Self. It’s more like a “reset space” or “ground zero” into which the world disappears, and from where it once again arises when the subtle body is again focused upon.
It appears to be empty of form, knowledge and information; it has the quality of space. Many spiritual aspirants stop at this stage because they don’t comprehend it and it doesn’t seem interesting enough, or they don’t know that there is a step (two steps actually) beyond this body. Some aspirants mistake the causal body for God or Enlightenment, and don’t go further because they think this space of no objects and no knowledge is Absolute. It is not. It is itself still an object, a body, a veil. There are two more steps beyond it. One is the God state, or the body of knowledge, and beyond that is the original One Infinite Absolute, which is not a body or a veil, but the One Infinite Reality.
The Causal Body: Stepping Stone to the God State
Once you are told by your teacher about the causal body and you begin to recognize its qualities and understand its place in the greater scheme of your journey inwards toward the Source, you can deliberately use it as a stepping stone. You are back in control of your own meditation and progress. Confusion has lifted. You can proceed with excitement, mainly for two reasons:
Once you recognize the causal body, you realize it’s not God. Your goal is not the nothingness of the causal body; your goal is the God state, or Enlightenment. So you don’t stop there! The causal body is easier to hold onto with your attention because it’s not as subtle as the God state. Holding your attention on the causal body and becoming more stable in it can help you stabilize your consequent Self-Realization of the God state. It will save you a lot of time going back and forth from short glimpses of the God state, and then back into your turbulent subtle body (mind).
Stabilizing in the direct experience of the causal body is a great way to begin to relax all the momentum, tendencies and latent impressions that fuel the subtle body’s chaotic and unreliable ways. Contacting the causal body relieves the subtle body of its erratic energy and misguided and distracting mixed frequencies, while enhancing its capabilities (intelligence) at the same time.
A calm mind is not a “calm mind,” it is actually a “non-mind.” The causal body is what provides the subtle body with calmness, clarity, stability, purity (like space) and honesty. A child cannot raise itself effectively; only a parent can raise a child. Similarly, the mind cannot direct, stabilize, clarify and enhance itself; only the causal body can influence the subtle body in such virtuous ways. This stability is greatly helpful in maintaining and deepening one’s recognition of the God Self.
More and more, learn to stabilize yourself in the peaceful nothingness of the causal body during meditation (and even when you’re not in meditation). Eventually, you will become aware that you are aware of this nothingness, and your attention will begin to turn back even further. You will start to realize, “If I’m aware of this nothingness, then I am not found in the causal body (the body of nothingness), just as I am not found to exist in the physical and subtle bodies. I must be beyond even the space of ignorance, because whatever I see, I cannot be.”
That which is aware of the body of ignorance, or the causal body, is the body of knowledge, or awareness (the great-causal body).
At this point, you can go back through the window of the witness feeling (the witness feeling is really just an aspect of the God state shining through a window of the causal body). As soon as you go through this window, you realize there is just the non-dual Love, Light and Awareness of God, radiant and self-luminous in all directions equally. This is the great-causal body, the body of knowledge (Self-Awareness), or the God state. Contacting this body in your direct experience is Enlightenment.
Another Analogy
Here is another analogy that will help you recognize this.
In this drawing, the Earth represents the physical body, or the gross plane. Around the Earth is the atmosphere, which is subtler than the physical nature of the Earth. The atmosphere represents the subtle body (the body of the mind—thoughts, imagination, dreams, etc.). There is still gravity towards the world of form and objects here, but it’s subtler. If you penetrate through the atmosphere altogether, you enter into pure space. (Imagine this space without light or stars.) The pure dark space surrounding the Earth and atmosphere represents the causal body.
If you are brave enough to traverse this nothingness, you will become stable in it and familiar with it. In fact, you will soon realize there is nothing to fear about this body, as it has always been with you as the supporting space for both your subtle and physical world and body experiences. After a little while, you will become very comfortable in the peaceful state of “no knowledge.”
At this point, it’s like a single ray of the Sun hits the back of your space shuttle and illuminates you from behind (a light enters the causal body) and whispers: “I am witnessing this nothingness, therefore I must be beyond it, or prior to it.” As you turn around towards this ray of light (the witness), it reveals the Sun (God or Awareness-Love-Light) as its source, and you move towards this Sun ( the great-causal body or the God state).
Once the God state has been realized, the experience of the causal body changes. The element of ignorance is removed, because now it is permeated with the light of the Sun, or the body of knowledge and Self-Awareness (the great-causal body). However, it still retains the quality of space and it continues to support the subtle and physical bodies and their respective planes or worlds.
