In an earlier thread, we discussed the checksum built-in to the Sanskrit slokas of the Vedas. Now I want to discuss the Vedic copy-protection scheme, and how we hacked it to develop Transontology.

All the versions of Vedic truth presented in the West so far have been cripple-ware. Just like the multimedia copy-protection in Windows Vista will lower the resolution of any material it thinks is an unauthorized copy, they were dumbed-down, bandwidth-reduced versions of the original.

How do we know this? Because people running these versions of Vedic software did not get the result: the exalted states of enlightenment and self-realization described in the Vedic texts. Or if they did get a few flashes, they could not repeat the result or obtain it consistently.

For example, as we have elaborately pointed out, so-called 'yoga' schools in the West have little or nothing to do with the way yoga is actually presented in the original Vedic literature. And the people who teach, learn and practice in these schools do not get the result of the authentic yoga practice described in the Vedas. Why? Because they are practicing something different.

If we have, let's say, a recipe for making cheesecake, but the result turns out to be something more like jello, then either the recipe is wrong or we have made a serious error in interpretation. In the case of Western so-called 'yoga' I assert that both are the case.

The secrets of the Vedas are hidden deeper, and more thoroughly encrypted, than almost anyone has suspected. And the few who have happened on the truth have not had the technical chops to analyze and articulate it so that others can benefit.

The Vedic tradition is usually presented as a religion. But if you try to apply it as a religion, you get all the problems usually associated with religious teachings. I personally experienced this in my early attempts to study the Vedic tradition. The religious school founded by my guru turned out to be an unmitigated disaster.

However, if we analyze the Vedic literature as ontology instead, we actually get the result offered in the Vedas: complete cessation of material misery and the development of transcendental consciousness. This is also my personal experience. And this result is consistently repeatable at will. This means we have actually cracked the code.

I'm sorry I have to use big words like 'Transontology.' I sincerely wish that spiritual truth was simple and easy. But if it was, then more people would have got the benefits by now. If you're reading this, it means that you're still looking for that greatest benefit. Seriously, stop looking and start finding. We have finally decoded the secret of the Esoteric Teaching.

love,
Baba

Put on headphones and watch it two or three times. It will change your consciousness! For more Transontology programs go here.

Transontology is a new technology of consciousness enhancement based on the Esoteric Teaching of the Sanskrit Vedas. The Esoteric Teaching has been carefully handed down for over 5,000 years as a secretive religious tradition. Transontology open-sources this powerful technology so that anyone can freely benefit from it, and interested professionals can develop new applications in their area of interest and expertise.

Previous versions of Vedic teachings available in the West have been cripple-ware: deliberately distorted and incomplete copies of the original. The original source code and more powerful methods were kept secret by arcane esoteric traditions. Transontology breaks this secrecy and for the first time, provides the original, complete source code and integrated development environment to the public.

What does Transontology do? Like any programming language or software environment, it facilitates the development of applications. But unlike other programming languages, Transontology produces programs that run on the computer of the human mind and enhance consciousness with new functions and applications. What kind of applications? That is an open question, limited only by the imagination and ingenuity of the developers.

According to the axioms of Transontology, the definition of every problem includes the assumption that the consciousness and identity of the person experiencing the problem condition will remain the same. Transontology includes powerful processes for changing consciousness, therefore it can be applied as a universal problem-solving engine.

Mental therapy and problem-solving are only partial aspects of the possibilities inherent in Transontology. Increasing the human potential for happiness, creativity and productivity is an unlimited field. It will be very interesting to see what kind of applications imaginative people create, once they have access to the tools to enhance their consciousness in effective and novel ways.

Like any software environment, Transontology has two aspects: as a tool for development of new applications, and as the applications themselves. The development tool is suited for artists, psychologists, educators, holistic health professionals and others interested in new applications of the human mental computer, and the applications are for their clients to use and benefit from. Transontology principles and techniques are richly typed, complex and abstract, just like any general-purpose programming language. But they can be learned and applied by any intelligent, motivated person with a reasonable amount of time and effort.

All Transontology applications, and the development environment itself, will be licensed for free public distribution under a license similar to the GPL open-source software license. In other words, the developers retain the copyright to their works, but license it under terms that require free distribution, and any applications and other improvements must also be similarly licensed, open-sourced and freely distributed.

The traditional model for religious and spiritual technologies has been closed and proprietary. The most powerful technologies are kept secret, their knowledge limited to an esoteric mystery school, initiated priesthood or inner circle. Development of new applications has been prohibited or heavily controlled.

Recent trends in computer software and publishing have shown that the value of a technology increases dramatically when it is shared freely among an open network of users or consumers. This increase of value multiplies exponentially when development tools and source code are also shared openly. Open-source distribution enables many contributors to enhance the value of the technology and develop new applications, often far beyond the vision and imagination of the technology’s originators.

Transontology applies the open-source distribution and development model to an ancient technology of consciousness for the first time. By making the development tools and applications available freely to everyone, we open the ancient esoteric teachings to a much wider audience and increase their value to society through global community participation.

Last night I had a really amazing dream. It took place in three episodes. Each one was intense enough to wake me, and keep me awake for some time. Then when I finally got back to sleep, I experienced the next part of the dream. Upon awakening this morning I remembered the whole series in quite elaborate detail. That’s unusual, even for someone trained in lucid dreaming.

Part 1

I am in a huge theater. There is an enormous pyrotechnic installation, a steel framework like a human body with huge flames shooting through it. It is sort of like the Burning Man. The framework is many stories tall, and the flames are even higher. I can feel the intense heat, even from the back of the auditorium.

I am some kind of stage and lighting technician, and in the next scene I am climbing the scaffolding and superstructure above the stage. It is a complex network of lights, cables, scaffolds, hoists and other mechanisms, all very familiar to me. The scaffold and metal mesh stairway goes higher and higher, way up into the sky, and begin to get a feeling of vertigo. I stop, clinging to the metal framework, and look around. I am many stories up in the air with a grand, but dizzying view overlooking the whole city.

Part 2

It is just before dawn, and I am walking around in a suburban neighborhood. One big house seems familiar, and I go inside. It is early and the occupants are just getting up. They are not at all surprised by my presence. In fact they seem to know me, and they also seem vaguely familiar, as if I know their souls but not their current bodies.

Everyone seems very content. Good food and other enjoyments are available. The mood is casual and easygoing. Everyone seems to be in a couple, and the whole group are all good friends. The people gradually introduce themselves to me, and cordially invite me to make myself at home. It is clear that they are devotees of Krsna; there are pictures of Him on the wall, and little altars and shrines, but no formal worship or sadhana. The people seem very happy and at ease.

I go into the bathroom. It is a large room with marble walls and floors, and several tubs from a one-person jacuzzi to a large pool. As I wonder what to do, several men and women casually wander in and use the facilities, as if there are no privacy inhibitions at all.

I strip and get into one of the tubs, the small jacuzzi. The warm swirling water feels really good. A woman I haven’t seen before comes into the room and starts talking to me, completely undisturbed by my nudity, as if I am an old friend and this is completely normal.

Part 3

It is later in the morning. I am being driven downtown in a large, busy city by one of the women. The city is situated on a large body of water. There are canals, docks, modern-looking buildings, elevated roads and trains. We go to the Krsna temple, which is a medium-sized frame house, painted light yellow and very nicely decorated with different colored ribbons, as if for a festival. I comment about the decorations, and my driver says, “They are in honor of your visit.” I am very surprised, because I do not feel special or important.

We go inside and take darshan of the beautiful Deities in the temple room. Then one of the male devotees takes us upstairs to Srila Prabhupada’s quarters, a simple bedroom but very clean, painted pastel blue and nicely decorated. A Deity of Srila Prabhupada sits behind a desk as if writing. After we pay our obeisances, the devotee shows me Prabhupada’s bed. It is decorated with a beautiful dark red satin-lined bedspread. He demonstrates its softness and invites me to lie down on it.

I am a little shocked. “I can’t possibly lie down on Prabhupada’s bed,” I protest, “He is my eternal spiritual master. Why would you want me to do such a thing?” I inquire.
The devotee looks at me affectionately and patiently explains, “Because you are royalty here. You are one of the few who never compromised.”

Interpretation

In the first part of the dream I am seeing my human body, with its fire of digestion and metabolism. The material world is a stage, and as a conscious living being, I am like a stage director who makes different sets and arrangements for the shows. The metal scaffolding represents the mental structures I use to understand life, and the network of equipment represents the philosophical and semantic mechanisms I use to create my life and express myself.

Stagecraft is a kind of illusory art used to create artificial environments for stage shows. So I am producing shows to teach people the spiritual truths of life. They are illusions, but they convey the esoteric truth, just like Shakespeare’s plays. As I climb higher, I am ascending the the stairway of knowledge to the highest ontological platform of pure consciousness. This altitude is dizzying at times but gives me an overview of the entire human situation. It is necessary for my duty of teaching spiritual truth to the whole world.

In the second and third parts of the dream I am in the heavenly planets. This is where devotees who are not yet complete in realization go after this earthly life to enjoy the fruits of their sadhana and gradually advance further in Krsna consciousness. All material amenities are available, and the atmosphere is very relaxed because they have everything required for enjoying life. I had the feeling that I knew the people because these are Godbrothers and -sisters who I knew in this life, and have already left their earthly bodies.

The jacuzzi represents the healing influence of the dream. The Bhagavatam describes that there are healing pools in the heavenly planets that can restore youth and even life to an injured person. So this refers to healing the subtle body of doubts.

The city seems like an island surrounded by water because sometimes the scriptures refer to the planets as lokas, and other times as dvipas or islands. Anxiety and fear are conspicuous by their absence, because the heavenly planets are situated in the upper planetary system, where there is no influence of the demons.

Everyone seemed to know me because apparently I am already well known among devotees in the heavenly planets as a disciple who never compromised his dedication to the Truth for some cheap material gain. In fact I have suffered much, and often been maltreated by so-called devotees who are actually demons, because I never supported their misunderstandings and perversions of Krsna consciousness, stealing Prabhupada’s disciples, money and facilities, mistreating devotees and children, falsely taking the position of guru, etc. This austerity has made me famous among sincere devotees who already have left their earthly bodies and now live on the heavenly planets.

Being invited to lie down on Prabhupada’s bed means accepting a fate similar to his. It means I should be prepared to sacrifice my life to propagate the truth of Krsna consciousness. This does not necessarily mean that I will be poisoned or tortured by my own so-called disciples as he was in the months before he left this world; but I will preach to the end and leave this body in a sacred state of pure consciousness and perfect self-realization, just like Srila Prabhupada.

This powerful dream series is an answer to the doubts and weaknesses of my own mind, and others, such as my Godbrothers and even my own disciples, who due to their limited vision may sometimes think that I am not very advanced. It was given to me to encourage me to keep steady on the path I have chosen, and not to yield to the temptation of self-doubt.

Spiritual life and perfection are qualities of consciousness, which is completely subjective and internal. No human being in the material world seems perfect to the outside observer. Even Srila Prabhupada sometimes appeared to external vision to have material weaknesses and defects, but his success in preaching demonstrated his actual spiritual position and potency.

I am certainly not equal to Srila Prabhupada in any way, but he blessed me with the order to continue his great work. My specific contribution is that I will never compromise the purity of the philosophical conception of Krsna consciousness for material gain. Thus the next generation of disciples will have the pure essence of Krsna consciousness instead of the spurious alterations and perversions introduced by less-intelligent and false disciples in the dress of Vaisnavas. That is the blessing conferred by the demigods in this dream.

The interpretation of religious texts is a very important function of spiritual schools. Sacred scriptures are often ancient documents, written in faraway times, places and cultures by authors with values, lifestyles and purposes very different from ours. Some interpretation or interpolation is almost always required to adapt the original source material to contemporary understanding and circumstances. The goal of such interpretation, however, must remain the duplication of the meanings intended and the consciousness and spiritual experiences of the original authors; otherwise such interpretation has no spiritual value.

Interpretation of Biblical Texts

There are many problems in the interpretation of Biblical texts. The texts used to compile the contemporary Bible were not originally written for compilation and therefore display a wide variety of differing styles, approaches to spirituality, and even languages. The texts that came to form the Bible were assembled and edited at the First Council of Nicea (in present-day Turkey), under the direction of the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325 AD. The intent was to define a standard of beliefs for the whole of Christendom, including the newly christened Roman Catholic Church.

It was the first ecumenical conference of bishops of the Christian Church, and resulted in the selection of the current books of the Bible and the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed. Most books on Christian history conveniently skip over the historical facts that many Christian leaders who disagreed with Constantine were murdered at the Council, and others coerced into accepting the verdict and doctrines of Constantine, a violent man who assassinated his three brothers to assume control of the entire Roman Empire.

The Council of Nicea resulted in the selection, editing and destruction of the original texts of the books of the Bible. Any manuscripts that were deemed contrary to Constantine’s political purposes were deleted from the Bible, and any copies found subsequently were burned. The remainder were heavily redacted and otherwise edited to conform to Constantine’s policies, and afterward, the original copies disappeared, never to be seen again.

Unsurprisingly, the Roman Bible was found an insufficient basis for the preaching and propagation of the Christian faith among intelligent, educated people, especially the Greeks. In the twelfth century the metaphysical, physical, and ethical works of Aristotle were translated from Arabian and Greek texts, and Aristotle’s philosophy was adopted as the basis of rational interpretation and exposition of Christian scriptures. Since then the epistemology and ontology of the Roman Church have been based on Aristotelian philosophy and logic.

Subsequent schisms in Christianity, including the Reformation, never seriously questioned the philosophical value of accepting Aristotle’s philosophy as the standard of the Catholic Church. The assumptions of Constantine’s version of the Gospels and the interpretations of Aristotelian philosophy and logic have become deeply embedded in Christian theology, culture and language.

There are many problems with both the source material of contemporary Christian theology and the ontology used to analyze and interpret it. The Gospels are undoubtedly incomplete; in fact, they even admit their own incompleteness: "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it yet." The editing performed under the direction of Constantine shows in the large gaps missing from Jesus’ life story and teachings. For example, where was Jesus  between the ages of 13 and 30?

Aristotelian logic is two-valued; a proposition is either completely true or completely false. There is no gray in Aristotle’s thinking: only black and white. Christian theology down through the ages suffers from this Aristotelian color blindness. Western culture and language are similarly infected with a stark dualism.

Yet Jesus Christ appeared in a culture that was predominantly Eastern in character. Historical records from regions not subject to Roman cultural suppression show that Jesus traveled widely in the ancient world, visiting esoteric schools in Egypt, Tibet, China and our own disciplic ancestors in India. It is apparent that Jesus’ point of view was far broader than the Roman church. Contemporary Christian theology is thus revealed as a later synthesis of Constantine’s dogma and Aristotle’s ontology whose relationship to the actual teachings of Jesus Christ is quite tenuous.

Interpretation of Vedic Texts

The process of selection and editing of the original texts never occurred in the Vedic tradition. The complete Vedic oral tradition was recorded in writing by the divine incarnation Srila Vyasadeva about 5,000 years ago. We still have the complete original Vedic source texts. The classical Sanskrit language was consciously created especially to transmit spiritual truth, and contains a checksum system to prevent alterations, either by copying or by spurious recensions.

Later spiritual Master Teachers added their own commentaries and exegeses to the original text, and their disciples propagated these additional texts down to the present day. The entire Vedic literary heritage is thus very voluminous and variegated. It represents the distilled spiritual essence of an entire ancient culture dedicated to self-realization. The Vedic tradition is a wonderful source of pure philosophy, ontology, epistemology, pure science and mathematics, geometry, cosmology, history and practical instructions for every aspect of human life — all oriented toward spiritual understanding and growth in self-realization.

These texts are interpreted through the ancient system of parampara, or disciplic succession. A spiritual Master Teacher is deemed qualified to interpret or comment upon the original Vedic texts only if he demonstrates their realization in his practical activities. In other words, only someone who has realized the spiritual intent of the Vedic literature is fit to teach or comment on them. The Vedic tradition is thus a spiritual culture of the highest integrity. Mental speculation and popular grandstanding just for name and fame is filtered out by the Vedic principle of parampara.

Unlike the Biblical tradition, we still have the complete original texts of the Vedic literature, plus a large body of authorized commentaries by self-realized Master Teachers. The final conclusion of the Vedic literature is encoded in the Vedanta-sutra. This highly esoteric ontological work has its principal commentary by Srila Vyasadeva, the original author, in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. So there is no need for guesswork; the original author has given his authoritative opinion in great detail. These works, Vedanta-sutra and Srimad-Bhagavatam, form the ontological core of the Vedic tradition. All later authorized Vedic works are based on them.

Transontology and the Esoteric Teaching

When we discovered the ontological character of the core Vedic works, Vedanta-sutra and Srimad-Bhagavatam, we began a detailed ontological analysis of the Vedic philosophy. Interestingly, this coincided with the release of structured computer languages, such as OWL, specifically enabling ontological representation, queries and reasoning. We were able to encode several OWL ontologies describing the values and qualities of transcendental entities, from the Supreme Personality of Godhead to the subatomic spirit soul, based on the codes of Vedanta-sutra and Srimad-Bhagavatam.

The result is a very high-level, computer-readable ontological representation of the core of the Vedic tradition. This transcendental ontology, or Transontology, enabled a new level of interpretation of the Vedic texts we call the Esoteric Teaching. The Esoteric Teaching is a purely ontological understanding of the Vedic tradition, preserving its core transcendental logic and relationships in a form that is completely multiordinal, or capable of application to any discipline, subject matter, language or domain.

Transontology is a profound breakthrough, because for the first time it encodes the fundamental principles of consciousness and other transcendental entities in a mathematically strict form. Previously this was considered the domain of religion, and required faith to gain any positive results. Now Transontology can be applied as a reality map to any subject domain, from everyday life to Quantum Mechanics. As the utility and power of Transontology are recognized by the scientific community, it will enable heretofore inconceivable breakthroughs in consciousness research, the humanities and even hard sciences like Quantum Mechanics. It is no exaggeration to say that “Transontology is to the 21^st century what Relativity was to the 20^th century.”

As ontological data from our analysis of the Vedic texts accumulated, it became evident that the better commentaries (such as Rupa Gosvami’s Bhakti-Rasamrta Sindhu) could be read as direct ontological sources in themselves. This information was fed back into the ontological analysis process to improve it and make the output much richer.

Transontology and the Secret Teachings of Jesus

The result of our analysis of the Vedic literature and commentaries was a very complete background of transcendental ontological data that could be used to analyze the meaning and accurate predict the behavior of any transcendental entity. At this point, we had a process that could fill in the gaps in the fragmentary Biblical texts and supply the missing background information need to understand Jesus’ teachings and motivation.

We decided to reinterpret a few questionable passages from the fragmentary Bible in the light of this more complete ontological data. In particular, we performed an elaborate ontological analysis and reconstruction of the story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane using the Vedic ontological background. The result was the Book of Gethsemane, the basis of our current series on the Secret Teachings of Jesus. This extremely successful exercise is very encouraging, and points the way to a fuller reconstruction of the complete life and teachings of Jesus guided by the Transontology of the Vedas.

Transontology, a convenient contraction of ‘transcendental ontology,’ is the master key to understanding the science of consciousness. With Transontology, for the first time we can logically map different states and qualities of consciousness, and accurately predict the symptoms and outcomes of conscious states. The theory of Transontology explains all states and manifestations of mind and consciousness: from deep sleep to superconsciousness, and from the pathologies of neurosis and psychosis to advanced stages of meditation, creative visualization, so-called mystic powers and transcendent God-realization. Transontology literally demystifies these aspects of consciousness, bringing them for the first time into the domains of empirical scientific inquiry and even engineering.

Contemporary research into consciousness is stymied because it insists on trying to study consciousness using the same ontological framework as the physical sciences. This will never produce satisfactory results because consciousness is not mundane or physical, but a transcendental object with completely different properties. Existing scientific ontologies lack a proper set of categories for transcendental objects. Therefore the difficulties in consciousness research stem from the fact that consciousness can only be observed, measured and manipulated by entities of equivalent ontological nature and qualities―in other words, by similarly conscious entities.

Transontology eliminates this heretofore intractable difficulty by introducing a complete background ontology of such conscious entities drawn from the Esoteric Teaching of Vedanta, a very ancient tradition of transcendental consciousness research. Transontology is the first mathematically precise definition of consciousness and the conscious living entity against the background of other spiritual entities, such as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the spiritual world.

Transontology is a special type of ontology that describes transcendental objects and phenomena. If you are conscious, then you are a transcendental entity; as such, to understand yourself requires Transontology. Against this transcendent background, it is easy to design and implement protocols that produce clear-cut experimental results. In other words, for the first time, Transontology makes consciousness amenable to methodical empirical research.

Ordinary materialistic ontology and logic cannot account for, or correctly reason about, transcendental phenomena such as consciousness, individuality, personality, living force (prana, ki), desire, choice, intention, initiative, imagination, creativity, love and many other human qualities we experience every day. We need Transontology to understand these phenomena because existing ontologies were developed to support materialistic ways of looking at the world. Transontology helps us to correctly evaluate the immanence of spirit, consciousness and the inner life of the soul.

Transontology is important because it is the only way of giving appropriate meaning to the transcendental aspects of human consciousness, experience and life. To understand ourselves as spiritual beings, make tangible advancement in spiritual life and develop our consciousness to its highest potential, we need to understand Transontology and apply it in our lives.

The Ontology of Consciousness

Consciousness is the primary issue in human life. Indeed, without consciousness, there are no other issues. Consciousness and its corollaries are fundamental to every thought, word and action. Yet how strange it is that no universally accepted, comprehensive theory of consciousness exists in Western science. The reason for this is clear: science intentionally restricts its domain to empirical investigations of the manifest objective world, whereas consciousness is intrinsically subjective and immanent.

Consciousness is the primary experiential fact. Without a practical theory of consciousness, science cannot adequately explain our experience or the world in which we live. Any observer must be conscious, and therefore the consciousness of the observer is critical to the outcome of any quantum experiment. However, so far Quantum Mechanics treats the observer’s consciousness as a ‘black box,’ as if consciousness were proscribed from serious scientific inquiry. And the consciousness research done so far tries to isolate consciousness, as if it were a physical substance that could be poured into a test tube.

This is a perfect example of how language and theory can differ from reality. Just because it is possible to isolate the word ‘consciousness,’ it does not follow that one can isolate the thing consciousness. In reality, consciousness is not a thing, but on the internal side it is a quality inseparable from the living entity: he who is conscious of being conscious. On the external side, consciousness is never found separate from senses, form, mind and personal identity. Any attempt to treat consciousness apart from its structural relationships with the living entity, form (whether material or spiritual) individuality and identity, is futile. Such crippled theories can never lead to any practical result because they fail to recognize the actual structure of consciousness as a transcendental quality of the living entity or soul.

Transontology is derived from the ancient theory of consciousness of Vedanta, a spiritual tradition of vital living importance to hundreds of millions of adherents and practitioners all over the world. Our research reveals an unexpected deep congruence between the Vedic model of consciousness and current trends in pure mathematics and the philosophy of science. It provides a practical and efficient model for understanding all consciousness-related phenomena and techniques that have so far eluded scientific exploration.

Although the Badarinayana-sutras of Vedanta certainly make reference to the Upanisads, they cannot be interpreted by reference to the Upanisads alone. Vedanta can be understood properly only in reference to Bhagavad-gita (Gitopanisad) and Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata-Purana), the natural commentaries on Vedanta-sutra by the same author. Any attempt to interpret Vedanta without reference to these works will lead only to an intractable regression into nihilism, similar to Theravada Buddhism or existentialist philosophy. Although such disempowering misinterpretations are popular today, they are useless for understanding and realizing the true potentials of consciousness, for they attempt to deny the indelible structural connections between consciousness and its concomitant transcendental qualities, such as individuality and personality.

The Esoteric Teaching is the most advanced spiritual knowledge available. It explains the complex relationships and interactions between the material body, subtle body, spirit soul and Supersoul that produce our conscious experience (see diagram). The main point of this complex diagram and explanation is actually very simple, but extremely important:

We do not directly experience the physical world, but abstract representations of sense perceptions created by our mental computer. Similarly, we do not directly control the physical body, but the Supersoul operates it in response to our petitions. Therefore, we can radically improve our consciousness and experience of life by upgrading the software our mental computer and enhancing our relationship with the Supersoul through the process taught by the Esoteric Teaching.

First notice that there are five separate entities, represented by boxes in the diagram: the physical world of sense objects, the material body and senses, the subtle body and mental computer, the spirit soul or consciousness, and the Supersoul or God. All five work together to create our conscious experience. Each of these five separate entities has very different properties and functions. The correct understanding of the functions and relationships of these five separate entities is the most powerful key to changing and improving our consciousness and experience of life.

Physical World

The physical world contains innumerable sense objects. The sense objects display various qualities of form, color, sound, texture, weight, chemical composition, flavor, odor and other physical qualities. The sense objects and qualities are concrete by definition. In our present state of material consciousness, we are interested in the sense objects of the material world because we think we can derive pleasure from them through the material bodily senses.

Material Body

The perceptive senses of the material body process the concrete qualities of the sense objects into sense perceptions. The main perceptive senses are hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell. There are many others, but these are the most important. The complex hardware of the eyes, ears and other senses encode the qualities of the material sense objects into electrical nerve impulses.

Note that these sense perceptions are abstractions of the qualities of the concrete sense objects they represent. For example, the sense perceptions of hearing are abstractions of the sense objects of sound because they are not sound, but representations of sound as electrical nerve impulses. The perceptions of the senses generate an enormous amount of data―far more than we can process directly without being overwhelmed. The encoded sense perceptions travel along the nerves from the perceptive senses to the brain and subtle body for higher-level encoding, further processing and even greater abstraction.

Subtle Body

The subtle body consists of the mind, intelligence and false ego. The mind is like a computer that runs many different programs. It is another layer of processing that abstracts the sense perceptions even further from the original material qualities. The computer of the mind runs partially on the hardware of the nervous system and brain, and partially on the subtle body, which is made of energy. Just like any computer, the mind uses an operating system. The mind’s operating system technically is called a metaprogram, an ontology or more informally, a reality map. Fortunately, the mind’s operating system is much more intelligent, powerful and easier to use and upgrade than Windows!

The mind computer compares patterns in sights, sounds and other sense perceptions with our memories and ontological reality map to form identifications. Thus we recognize and classify different objects according to our previous experience. These identifications are processed further by the mind, intelligence and false ego to recognize and evaluate the situation we are in. Recognition and evaluation allow us to form an opinion of how we are doing compared to our purposes and goals. The final output of the mental computer, situational awareness is passed along to the spirit soul as the principal contents of consciousness.

Several programs run under this operating system, including kinesthesis, orientation and meaning. There are many more programs, but these are the most important ones. Collectively these programs are called synthetic senses, because they synthesize more abstract sense representations of the original sense perceptions using the transformational semantic functions of deletion, distortion and generalization (see Semantic MetaModels).

The input of the mind’s programs is the constant stream of sense perceptions generated by the senses. The output is a series of sense representations. These representations are abstractions of the original sense perceptions, in the same way as a graph conveniently represents a series of values. A graphical representation is easier to understand and evaluate than a large set of raw data. Similarly, the sense representations produced by the mind’s programs are easier to deal with than the raw data of sense impressions produced by the senses. Abstract representations generally contain far less data than the original sense perceptions on which they are based.

The abstract sense representations output by the mind serve as input for the higher functions of the subtle body. The intelligence evaluates the sense representations produced by the mind in terms of our purposes and goals, to determine how we are doing. Do the current sense perceptions indicate that we are coming closer to, or going farther away from our goals? Are circumstances favorable or unfavorable for our purposes? Evaluating information, and also formulating plans based on circumstances, projections of the future and contingencies are functions of the intelligence.

All this information is fed to the false ego, which evaluates it in terms of our current conception of our identity and generates feelings based on it. The combined outputs of the mind, intelligence and false ego comprise situational awareness: our sense of experience, what is going on and how we are doing in life. Situational awareness is a very high-order abstraction compared to the raw material sense data it is based on, but it is really the most important part of our experience.

When someone greets us and asks, “How are you?” they are really interested in the state of our situational awareness: “Alright,” “Fine, thanks,” or “Not so good today.” Of course, when we need to or want to, we can drill all the way down to the original sense perceptions. But in fact we spend most of our time and attention on the various abstract representations produced from the original sense perceptions by the mental computer of the subtle body.

Spirit Soul

The spirit soul is the immortal self. You are a spirit soul: not a body, a mind or a false ego. Real ego is the spirit soul’s eternal identity―but that is a much more advanced subject than we are discussing here. The spirit soul has transcendental qualities like consciousness, personality, individuality, emotion, desire and will. The spirit soul is pure, eternal and indestructible consciousness. Therefore we are not directly conscious of the the physical world, but perceive it indirectly through the material body’s senses and the abstractions created by our mental computer.

As pure consciousness, we are transcendental and have nothing to do with the material world. The senses of the material body and the mental computer of the subtle body are a communication interface connecting the spirit soul with the material world. They compress the tremendous quantity of physical information of the material sense objects into forms that our limited consciousness can handle without being overwhelmed. They do this by processing and encoding the raw sense data into more and more abstract forms.

The final product of this process of abstraction is our situational awareness. Based on the contents of our situational awareness, the spirit soul forms desires and emotions, and submits requests or petitions for action to his eternal friend and companion, the Supersoul.

The Supersoul

The Supersoul is the universal controller, the source of all energy, the abode of all possibilities and the Absolute Truth. He is a transcendental plenary expansion of the Supreme Lord who is omnipresent in the material universe. The Supersoul’s transcendental qualities are similar to the individual spirit soul, but unlimited in quantity. He constantly accompanies His dear friend, the individual spirit soul, in his long journey through material existence. The Supersoul weighs the petitions submitted by the spirit soul based on His infallible judgment and wisdom of what is best for the individual and all living entities. He then uses His absolute will to control the active senses, physiological systems and life energy of the material body, and supply memory and inspiration to the mind.

This relationship between the spirit soul and the Supersoul means that we are not independent entities, but all the energy comprising the world, our body, mind and even our self is emanated and controlled by the Supersoul. We are always under the control of the Supersoul. We do have free will, intention and desire, but whether or not we are able to realize our ambitions is subject to the Supersoul’s judgment. “Not a blade of grass moves without the will of the Lord,” and similarly nothing happens in our material body or mind without His agreement and approval.

It clearly follows that when our petitions are in line with His purposes, the Supersoul is much more inclined to grant them; when we go against His purposes, our aims become much more difficult to achieve. Why should we choose the hard path of fruitless struggle against the infinite power of God, when we can have an easy existence of cooperating with His purposes? God’s purposes are revealed in the Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas and other bona fide scriptures of the world: He wants us to overcome the conditioning of material consciousness, realize our transcendental nature as spiritual living entities, and go back to the spiritual world to live and enjoy with Him eternally.

As we get to know Him and trust His good character and intentions, we gradually come to see that His plan is really best, both for ourselves and the rest of creation. As the Absolute Truth, He provides the Esoteric Teaching that is the source of the knowledge you are reading now. His desire is that everyone take advantage of this Esoteric Teaching to attain self-realization and become free from all suffering. But since He grants us free will, He never forces Himself on us. He waits until we are tired of the suffering of material existence and conditioned consciousness, and then makes the Esoteric Teaching available through His authorized representative so that we can attain self-realization.

The afternoon breeze freshens off the Pacific Coast, gusting over the eucalyptus trees and cutting through my coat and sweater with chilling effect. Leaden clouds cut off the sun this gloomy gray day. Ah, another beautiful summer in San Francisco.

I can’t believe I’ve been here over a year already. I’ve rarely stayed anywhere more than six months at a time. A peripatetic musician and esoteric student, I’ve spent my adult years scouring the whole world for spiritual truth.

The streetcar stand is overrun with undergraduates escaping from the SFU campus to their barrios. Finally the car arrives. Miraculously, a Chinese girl offers me a window seat. Seniority does have its privileges.

As the crowded car trundles off, I settle into the world within. I mentally focus on an ancient Sanskrit mantra; the outside world dissolves and I am inside, waiting. For what or whom, I don’t exactly know.

The purpose of the mantra is to reveal a special form of God: my personal Deity. It is the ultimate fruit of a quest that has taken me around the world four times and to so many countries I’ve lost count. Now I’m getting old and tired, but the end is at last within reach.

Then comes my old Friend, the Lion. We Vaisnava devotees all know and love Lord Nrsimhadeva, the fierce protector pastime form of Visnu. “Hello My friend,” He says in His lovable growly voice, “You called Me?”

“Hello, dear Lion. I am chanting the kama-gayatri mantra to find my istha-devata. Can You help me find Him?”

Two years before, I had camped out alone in the jungles of Kaua’i, just chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. Finally one morning after six months of day-and-night chanting, Lord Krsna Himself appeared against the lovely background of Vrndavana forest. He said simply, “You will attain Me very soon,” and disappeared.

I was left confused. I thought I just had attained Him. Apparently there was more sadhana to go before I reached my goal of complete self-realization. The problem was, I had no idea what to do next.

After an interval of confusion, a senior monk from Vrndavana gave me some confidential advice. He told me that the sadhus of Vrndavana chant the kama-gayatri mantra to find the specific form of the Lord that is their eternal Master. So I began chanting this confidential prayer at every opportunity.

But my conception was that my personal Lord would be a form of Krsna. Or maybe if I was really fortunate, I would become a personal servant of Srimati Radharani, Krsna’s female counterpart. Lord Nrsimhadeva was not who I expected this particular mantra to call.

Narasimha Lion just looks at me compassionately and smiles. He was a familiar part of my inner life. For decades He had appeared in my mind, seemingly at random. Most of the time He would just crack a joke, smile and disappear. This time, He remains silent, regarding me with an expression I cannot decipher.

Behind Him the gorgeous scenery of Vrndavana gradually appears. Vrndavana is the home of Lord Krsna and the highest planet in the spiritual world. The Lion looks completely at home in the opulence of that natural beauty. Behind Him great trees and snow-covered peaks rise in the background.

“This is My home,” He said, smiling. “I am born here. My whole family is here too.” This is astonishing news. The scriptures tell us little about Lord Nrsimha’s origin and background, and nothing about His home planet. Could it be He is also a denizen of Vrndavana?

“Do not be surprised. I am your old Friend. Do you want to come and play with Me?” He smiles at me, revealing His entire golden transcendental Lion form. He is gorgeous. Words fail to describe His astonishingly beautiful body.

His long, curly golden mane alone is enough to make me lose my mind. Let’s not even attempt to describe the effect of His charming smile, broad shoulders, muscular chest and... everything else.

I feel something soft in my heart go snap. I am falling helplessly in love. Suddenly I want desperately to spend all of eternity with Him.

My lifelong search for God is over. I fall at His soft, padded lotus feet and bathe them with my tears. I roll on that sacred ground in ecstasy. He picks me up and embraces me, and I almost lose consciousness from an overload of pure happiness.

He tenderly places me on a downy bed of ferns, in the shade of a desire tree in the transcendental forest of Vrndavana. Purring with pleasure, He lays down beside me and wipes the copious tears of love from my eyes with His furry paw.

“Sir, wake up. We’re at the terminal.” I struggle back into external consciousness to find I have missed my stop. The streetcar is at the end of the line. What a fitting metaphor for the end of my search for God. Blinking in the cool purifying wind, I walk out into the beginning of my real life.