Lesson 3
IN THIS LESSON
In “Prana, So Ham, and the Four Bodies,” Mark Griffin continually returned to the topic of the four bodies and their four states of awareness as fundamental aspects of the human architecture and our experience of it. In another of his seminal texts, 108 Discourses on Awakening, Mark explains:
“The human form has four bodies of increasing subtlety: the physical body, which is the organizational point of matter; the subtle physical body, which is the organizational point of energy; the causal body, which is the organizational point of the mind; and the supra-causal body, which is the organizational point of infinite consciousness. All four bodies are inside the frame of the physical body, subtle sheath within sheath within sheath.”
He goes on to iterate:
“The first three states of consciousness–waking, sleep with dreams, and dreamless sleep are relative to the four bodies. The waking state relates primarily to the physical body wherein the operations of the senses, the mind, and the prana are present.
However, as we enter the sleep-with-dreams state, the awareness of the body and the senses falls away. All we have left is the awareness of the mind and the prana. In this state, we operate inside a condition of pure thought that is culled from the memory of the mind.
Then as we shift into deep sleep, the physical body and the senses shut down and only the life force, the prana, is present. The mind is gone. The senses are gone. The body is gone. Spiritually speaking, this state of consciousness is one membrane away from Atman.”
That leaves the Fourth State. Mark says:
“The sages tell us, “The mind, the body, and the senses make up the dynamics of the psychic apparatus. If the mind is gone, the senses are gone, and the body is gone, another center of consciousness must exist.” And thus it is. The Atman–the fourth state.”
Below, you’ll find two tables by which to view the organization of the four bodies and their attending four states of awareness…
The Four Bodies
Physical, Subtle-Physical, Causal, and Supra-Causal
Body: Includes: Also Known As:
Physical Body
Flesh, blood, nerves, muscles, bone, etc. The self, who and what we think we are
Prana as physical life force (Libido).
Subtle-Physical Body
Chakras, Nadis (72,000 in number), Subtle body, Pranic body, Astral body
Three Major Channels: Sushumna (central channel),
Ida (left channel, lunar), Pingala (right channel, solar),
Bindus, Drops, Seats of the Five Pranas (Prana, Apana,
Samana, Vyana, Udana)
Prana as electric life force
Causal Body
Mind (manas), Ego (ahamkara), Intellect (buddhi), The Mind, Mental Body
list-making capacity, memory…
Prana as mental life-force
Supra-Causal Body
The Blue Pearl, The Rupa The Self, Atman, God
Prana as Infinite Consciousness
The Four States of Awareness
Waking, Sleep-with-dreams, Dreamless Sleep, The Fourth State
States of Awareness: The experience of… Also Known As…
Waking the appearance, the shared dream, conventional reality the world, the universe
Sleep-with-Dreams the individual dream dreaming
Dreamless Sleep the mind thinking of “no thing” deep sleep, delta/theta states
Fourth State Infinite Pure Consciousness, Reality Turiya