Seperation from the Physical Body by Swami Sivananda Saraswati

Separation from the Physical Body

By Swami Sivananda

During the course of meditation, one day you will feel that you have separated yourself from the body. You will have immense joy mixed with fear; joy in the possession of a new light, astral body; and fear owing to the entry in a foreign, unknown plane. At the very outset, the new consciousness is very rudimentary in the new plane, just as in the case of a pup with newly opened eyes on the eighth or tenth day on the physical plane. You will feel that you have a light air body and perceive a rotating, vibratory, limited, astral atmosphere with illumination of golden lights, objects, beings, etc. You may feel that you are rotating or floating in the air and consequently there is fear of a fall.You will never drop down, but the new experience of subtlety generates novel feeling and sensations in the beginning. How you leave the body, remains unknown at the outset. You are suddenly startled, when you have completely separated, and when you enter into the new plane, some times with a blue- colored sphere around, sometimes with partial illumination mixed with darkness, while at other times with extremely brilliant, golden, yellow, defused illumination. The new joy is inexpressible and indescribable in words.

You will have to actually feel and experience it yourself (Anubhava). You are unaware of how you left the body, but you are fully conscious of your returning. You gently feel as if you enter smoothly, gently through a small hole or fine tube with an airy, ethereal feeling. Just as air enters through the crevices of a window, you enter with the new astral body back into the physical body.I think I have expressed the idea lucidly. When you have returned. You can clearly differentiate the life in the gross and subtle planes. There is an intense craving to regain the new consciousness and to remain in the state always. You are not able to stay for a period of longer than five to ten minutes in the new region. Further, you can, in the beginning, hardly leave the body at will, through simple willing. By chance , through efforts, you are able to separate from the body once in a month in the course of Sadhana. If you plod on with patience, perseverance and firmness, you will be able to leave the body at will and stay in the new plane for longer period with the new subtle body. You are quite safe from identification with the body.

You have made conquest of Deha-Adhyasa, only if you can leave the body at will and stay in the new region for a long time, say for two to three hours. Your position will be quite secure only then. The practice of mauna and steady regular meditation is absolutely necessary to achieve this end. After continuous hard practice, you will be able to separate yourself from the body very frequently. As soon as you silence the thoughts and calm the mind, the mental habit of sleeping from the physical body supervenes automatically. There will be no difficulty then.

Source : http://www.indiadivine.org/articles/113/1/Separation-from-the-Physical-Body