A lot to stomach in!! Can you handle this?

[luibliss]

Originally Posted by charly233

Maybe we can transcend death by understanding that the body is merely a thought form which cannot die. Death maybe appears to happen but maybe this is just an illusion.

I have heard stories of beings who have achieved physical immortality and who have lived on this earth for thousands of years.
.

Exactly, you haven't experienced death so you don't know its validity truly. All that we know of death is hearsay. And you also don't know if you have been born. kudos to you sir. All you know for sure is that you are here, present in this moment.

[Native spirit]

Please be aware of the quote rule NO MORE than two or three sentences.



Namaste

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by charly233

Maybe we can transcend death by understanding that the body is merely a thought form which cannot die. ...
I have heard stories of beings who have achieved physical immortality and who have lived on this earth for thousands of years.

Or maybe we can transcend death by realising that we are Consciousness which was never born and will never die. The physical body is just a temporary vehicle which allows us to engage with this physical world.

And this physical Earth is just a small part of manifest Creation. So why focus on living here for thousands of years when there is so much else to explore?

I have no doubt that there are those rare individuals who have mastered the physical body and the laws of nature, and they may inhabit the physical body for far longer than is generally believed possible.

But I suspect that this requires a certain discipline, dedication and knowledge which is far beyond the capacity of you and me.

So I am content to be present with my physical experience and to move on when the time comes to discard the physical body.

Peace

[charly233]

Originally Posted by iamthat

Or maybe we can transcend death by realising that we are Consciousness which was never born and will never die.

Yes. Very good. Maybe there are beings who live in other, non earthly, realms of the cosmos who can visit earth when they feel like it. I am thinking here of Jesus and other ascended masters, for example.

[Still_Waters]

EXCERPT POST 23:

Originally Posted by iamthat

I have no doubt that there are those rare individuals who have mastered the physical body and the laws of nature, and they may inhabit the physical body for far longer than is generally believed possible.

But I suspect that this requires a certain discipline, dedication and knowledge which is far beyond the capacity of you and me.

You raise an interesting point about the so-called "immortals" in the various wisdom traditions.

When I accompanied my spiritual mentor to the 1998 Khumba Mela in Haridwar, I met one such being who was considered an "immortal".

We first saw him sitting on the floor with the rest of us at a bandara (feast) held for the spiritual hierarchy of India and those who accompanied them. (My teacher was part of the spiritual hierarchy.)

There was something special about him and we wanted to take a picture, but he waved to signal that he didn't want his picture taken. (My colleague took a picture anyway but, when it was developed, there was only an image of light where this person sat though the rest of the photo was intact.)

When the acharya and the mahamandeleshwaras entered the venue, they all bowed and touched his feet when they passed him. This confirmed our suspicions that there was something special about him.

The very next day, my colleague and I had a direct experience with him. We were walking in an open field headed towards tent city on the Ganges River. There was no one in sight as my colleague and I were discussing a particular practice point. Suddenly, literally out of nowhere, this person appeared to us and answered my particular question with a life-transforming 6 word statement. I turned to my colleague to check whether he had seen and heard the same thing ... and he confirmed that. When I turned back, this being had vanished. We returned to the ashram questioning whether we had a joint hallucination.

When we returned to the ashram, our teacher was sitting on the dais with various revered sages from India. She saw our excited demeanor and signaled for us to approach. We described what had happened and also described the being to whom they had all bowed at the bandara the previous day. There was a long silence and the other sages turned to my teacher who finally spoke: "You've been blessed. He does this from time to time. Everybody knows this. Meditate on how such things are possible." She then dismissed us and told us to remain silent for the day and, to remain occupied, to meditate while simultaneously cleaning the hallways and the bathrooms.

At a later time, after meditating on how such things were possible, I was able to discuss the happening with my teacher. At that time, I discovered that no one knew exactly how old this being was as he often talked about things from the very distant past in the first person as if he had actually been there himself. He was considered by many to be one of the "immortal" rishis of India.

There is esoteric wisdom on how such beings, known as the "immortals", "may inhabit the physical body for far longer than is generally believed possible", as you duly noted.

As you also noted, " this requires a certain discipline, dedication and knowledge" which I discussed at length with my teacher and which is beyond what I would want to share in this forum. Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras, of which my teacher is an adept, gives a hint as to how this is possible.

These are good points that you have raised.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

At a later time, after meditating on how such things were possible, I was able to discuss the happening with my teacher. At that time, I discovered that no one knew exactly how old this being was as he often talked about things from the very distant past in the first person as if he had actually been there himself. He was considered by many to be one of the "immortal" rishis of India.

Thanks, Still_Waters. Very interesting. Such experiences illustrate why so many people are drawn to India and its glorious spiritual traditions.

Nowadays there are many biographies and autobiographies of Yogis which include accounts of such encounters, or they describe the life of those who have lived very long lives.

For example, Maharaj, A Biography of Shriman Tapasviji Maharaj, who lived from 1770-1955.

And it may have been in that book that I read of an encounter with a Yogi in the Himalayas who was so old that he spoke only Sanskrit.

Some of these Yogis maintained a youthful appearance. For others, the body gradually aged, but they still looked far younger than their years.

For example, Tat Wale Baba, who was probably in his 80s when this picture was taken:



Tat Wale Baba lived outside Rishikesh near the Maharishi's ashram. Rather oddly he was shot dead in 1974 at the age of 90, otherwise he might possibly still be alive.

And of course there is Mahavatar Babaji as described by Yogananda and others, but it can be difficult to differentiate between truth and myth.

All these accounts illustrate what is possible for human beings, but as I said earlier, few of us have the dedication and the knowledge to make this our reality.

Peace

[Still_Waters]

REFERENCING POST 26:

https://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/s...5&postcount=26

Originally Posted by iamthat

Such experiences illustrate why so many people are drawn to India and its glorious spiritual traditions.

For example, Maharaj, A Biography of Shriman Tapasviji Maharaj, who lived from 1770-1955.

All these accounts illustrate what is possible for human beings, but as I said earlier, few of us have the dedication and the knowledge to make this our reality.

After my NDE (near death experience) many years ago, what transpired was so alien to my understanding of the Reality based on my Roman Catholic upbringing that my attention shifted eastward where I got my answers. The vision of the cross-legged being of light during the NDE was also a major factor in turning eastward. You are so right that "Such experiences illustrate why so many people are drawn to India and its glorious spiritual traditions".

I am very familiar with Tapasviji Maharaj and Babaji and Sri Yukteswar, as you mentioned, as well as many others. It's good that you mentioned them.

My personal meeting at the Haridwar Khumba Mela with one who is considered an "immortal" was reinforcing and life-transforming even though he only spoke six (6) words. Meetings with other extraordinary beings at that Khumba Mela (as well as at other places throughout almost 50 countries) convinced me that virtually anything is possible for one who attunes to the expanded consciousness (God-Consciousness, Krishna-Consciousness, Christ-Consciousness, Buddha nature, or whatever one chooses to call it). As you pointed out, "these accounts illustrate what is possible for human beings".

During my own NDE, when I emerged completely SYMPTOM-FREE from a 3-day "irreversible coma" (where the family had actually been notified that I had passed away), it alerted me to the inherent power within to change the physical body. Though I didn't understand the body-mind-spirit connection at that time even with the "miraculous" healing (doctors had said that, in the unlikely event of survival, there would be severe brain/organ damage), meetings with remarkable beings such as the "immortal" have increased my insights throughout the years. These beings can indeed change the physical body (as clearly indicated in Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras, the Ramayana, etc.) to either appear youthful (like Babaji) or aged (as Sri Yukteswar did when he appeared to Yogananda after his physical death).

Ironically, the yoga name given to me by my teacher was that of one of these "immortals", Rishi Maarkandeya, and that alone sparked a significant interest in the "immortals". Need I say more about where that led?

Thank you for your excellent post.