by Marinus Jan Marijs
Perhaps, most central to the human existence is the endeavor to find a state of well being, to find happiness.
Most people see the factors which generate or give happiness mainly residing in the outside world. The psychological factors which are involved here are mostly ignored.
It is obvious that for a state of well-being some biological and physiological needs have to be fulfilled. One needs food, shelter, clothing and sleep to fulfill bodily needs. Other necessary needs are physical safety, financial security, health and to a certain degree friendship and support of other people.
Beyond this there are more secondary psychological needs such as to feel accepted and valued, to get a better understanding of the surrounding world and so on.
But even when the fulfillment of these needs is secured/accomplished, the quality and the duration of well-being seems to be limited and even with so called normal, psychologically healthy people, the mind is still occupied with mental conflicts, fears, anxiety, frustrations, tensions, emotional difficulties, confusion, discomfort, etc.
To find out why this is so, we have to take a look at the way the mind is functioning, how it processes information.
Central to human functioning is the way sensory information is processed by the brain/ central nervous system.
The information that comes in through the senses is processed by the brain and is compared with data are already stored within one’s memory.
This generates several mental processes:
- The new data about the environment or the outside world so to speak, be it objects, persons or social situation, are categorized in different groups. This categorization is based on the perception whether the elements in the outside world influence the different kinds of personal needs we have (for example Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).
- So groups are formed, consisting of elements that influence biological needs, elements that influence safety needs, elements that influence needs relating to self-actualization etc;
- This is followed by several different responses:
- The ‘negative’ elements within each group will be avoided;
- The ‘positive’ elements within each group have to be acquired;
- The level at which a person operates, determines whether an element in the outside world will be seen as ‘negative’. At a higher level a person has a broader ability to understand and appreciate elements in the surrounding world. The lower the level a person operates from, the more a person won’t be able to understand/comprehend the surrounding world, and the more elements will be experienced as ‘negative’.
This mental process by which the information is organized, stored, recalled and processed is in a technical way necessary. Without it, it would be impossible to function in the world.
However these processes, although extremely valuable, generate great psychological conflicts.
The tendency to avoid negative, unpleasant, threatening experiences which is technically correct, can lead to psychological fears that can cripple the mind.
The tendency to find/reach some material stability and to possess money, which is necessary on a practical level, can become too strong and lead to a situation in which the money possesses the person instead of the other way around. That which should give some material stability and peace of mind, now occupies a great part of the mind.
This all can remove the psychological space necessary to function in a mentally healthy way.
By focusing so much of one’s mental energy on the outside world, the mental processes in the inner world will be ignored and neglected.
By the constant reminiscence (‘process of recollection of past events and experiences’) of the past and anticipation on the future, this process creates its own momentum which occupies the whole psyche.
This creates an enormous pressure in the subconscious and generates constant thought processes, of which only a small part is really necessary (perhaps more than 90% is unnecessary).
It is very remarkable that humans who have the most superior mental capacities of all species are so full of psychological conflicts.
While focusing on the inner psychological processes instead of trying to change external factors, or forms of escapism (such as hedonism, trying to build a positive self-image, strive for material success far beyond what is really necessary) mystics tried to change the mental processes.
Not just some limited peace of mind but a total transformation, a mutation by which consciousness becomes free from all that is within it.
Not limited to stopping the thought processes by a form of active concentration, but by a form of passive awareness, shift into a meditative state were all thought processes are silent.
When this meditative state is permanent during the whole day, than one is in a state called nirvana.
There are three general categories in which one can divide nirvana:
- Nirvana: “The nirvana of the Arhat”;
- Parinirvana: “The perfect/complete nirvana of the Buddha”;
- Mahaparinirvana: “The great complete nirvana”.
(In addition to these three categories of nirvana, a fourth can be added called ‘cellular consciousness’).
In the “Mahaparinirvana sutra”, which is one of the major texts of Mahayana Buddhism, one can find the following categories:
- “A small-sized nirvana” (ordinary nirvana);
- “A middle-sized nirvana” (parinirvana);
- “Great nirvana” (mahaparinirvana).
This is the first level of nirvana. It is experienced at the low-causal level (sublevel A) and is the nirvana of the Arhat. This is level 11A.
This state of permanent deep meditation, which is called Nirvana, has been described by St. Paul in Philippians 4:7 as;
7 …”The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.”
“A quiet mind is one which nothing weighs on, nothing worries, which, free from ties and from all self-seeking, is wholly merged into the will of God and dead to its own.” Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 – 1328)
This is the second level of nirvana. It is experienced at the high-causal level (sublevel A). While parinirvana can be realized by a Buddha during the physical life, it can only be realized by an Arhat after death. This is level 12A.
This is the third level of nirvana. It is experienced at the high-causal level (sublevel B) and is called “the great nirvana of the Buddha”. It can only be reached by a Buddha late in his/her physical life. This is level 12B.
Mahaparinirvana is very different from parinirvana. The way in which the physical body itself feels, changes when one goes from parinirvana to mahaparinirvana. This is not a gradual change, but a sudden and abrupt, permanent, jump and it generates cellular consciousness. (Which is level 12C).
While nirvana is the ‘nirvana of the Arhat’(low causal mystic), parinirvana is the nirvana of the Buddha (high causal mystic). Parinirvana (complete or perfect nirvana) was reached by the Buddha at the age of 35. More recent, this stage can be reached (for example by Krishnamurti) at the ages 27-29.
Energetic processes of Mahaparinirvana
In bhava samadhi, strong fields of highly energetic subtle energies are generated. The bhava samadhi states at this time in history are temporarily states and not permanent stages (sublevel D). When these fields at the three highest mystical levels are temporarily generated at sublevel D, they leave a permanent three-dimensional transparent shaped sphere (‘field matrix’) behind at sublevel A which has the same spatial dimensions as the generated bhava samadhi field. Because the bhava samadhi-field at each of the highest mystical levels increases in diameter and volume with each successive level, the ‘field matrix’ left behind at the sublevel A of each of the three mystical levels increases in size as well.
The ‘field matrix’ left behind on sublevel A on low-subtle level is different from the ‘field matrices’ left behind at the sublevel A on a high-subtle, low-causal and high-causal level.
On the low-subtle level the ‘matrix’ is egg-shaped and the energies are vertically layered.
The ‘field matrices’ left behind at the three higher mystical level consist of five concentric, spheres.
On figure 2 you will find illustrations of the basic forms and structures of fully activated bhava Samadhi’s at each of the highest four mystical levels.
This are however temporarily generated at sublevel D as mentioned earlier.
The permanent ‘matrices’ left behind are mostly empty and look like crystal-like structures (or ‘soapbubbles’).
At mahaparinirvana (this is a permanent stage, not a temporarily state) the ‘matrix’ is now slowly filled with clouds of high energetic high-causal energies on sublevels B en C.
The Shaktipat (‘energy radiating outward’) at the stage of mahaparinirvana is now much stronger and felt by others in the room.
Phenomenology of mahaparinirvana
There is a permanent ‘massive’ energetic pressure on the physical body, which is several times stronger than at the parinirvana level.
It is accompanied with an almost absolute silence in the body.
Changes take place at a deep instinctual level.
In parinirvana emotional residues are eliminated.
In mahaparinirvana deep instinctual patterns are eliminated.
This process generates metabolical changes in the body, even on a cellular level.
If one shifts to sublevel C (Level 12) one sees light-energies that fill the room but stretches out far beyond that, with different colors, substructures and movement patterns clearly visible, an ocean of light.
