Expanding Nonduality to the Astral Body and Astral Plane

Dr. Neil explores several ways to access the astral plane. He describes a recent experience in which his astral body became transparent and infinite, like his physical body, containing everything in the universe. This opened a deeper emotional connection to people on the astral plane and a more profound identification with deathlessness.

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SPEAKER_00 0:45

Greetings. Welcome back to the podcast. We're excited to be with you today. Dr. Neil has had a new experience and we're going to explore it. We're going to discuss how non-duality for him is expanding beyond the physical plane, beyond the physical body into the astral body, and several ways of accessing the astral plane and what this experience is like of a non-dual astral body. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

So let me give you a little bit of background. Most spiritual practices are about moving away from the physical, emotional, mental, uh, and buddhings, going to the oneness and the emptiness of the universe, the cosmos, and uh and experiencing that as the essential nature reality. However, there are many experiences after that, non-dual experiences of love, this of joy or freedom of knowing, and eventually one begins to move into the back into the physical realm, and consciousness becomes embodied in the physical body. In other words, the physical body contains all manifestation. So my physical body, I can find the planets in it, I can find the universe in it, I can find the subtle planes in it. I don't need to go anywhere to actually connect with it or connect with beings on those levels, they're already available because they're here now in the body. I've spoken about this in previous uh podcasts. So now onto the astral plane. So the physical plane. Let me share my experience. Um I was meditating and uh I became aware that my physical body was transparent, and then I left my physical body and astral projected, which means took the uh astral body uh and traveled to go visit people and connect with them. And I felt very solid in it and very emotional and very uh connected, just far more connected than I usually feel. Experiencing the astral plane is not a new experience. I have different ways of experiencing it, but this opened up the doorway to experiencing it more intimately.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

And let's backtrack for a moment to the other ways to access the astral plane.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Well, there's astral projecting, which means you you separate yourself from the physical body and you take the astral body, which is the body that one goes to and operates in when one first dies, most people, and also embodies you embody the astral body when you come into the it's the last one before you you come into the physical body, you are conceived physically. So um astral projecting is leaving the physical body behind and operating in emotional realms. So that's the first one, and the second one is psychic ability, which is operates through the third eye, which is the ability to perceive the subtle realm psychically, and you know, I can see the astral plane and beings and subjects, it's a very complicated system of existence. The astral plane, it's not simple, and then there are non-dual ways of experiencing the astral plane. First is probably the knowing. Knowing is the nature of the universe, the nature of the divinity. I mean, we would say in religious terms, it was God knows everything, or the universe has consciousness of all, so that's a way of the astral plane being available through knowing, and it's non-dual because one is both in the astral plane and separate from it, and then there's also um the cosmic way of knowing, which is being all the consciousness being the astral plane, in other words, there's nothing separate there, it's all it's all oneness, it's all part of the same consciousness.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

And so you've experienced those other, you've experienced um being everything and knowing in terms of putting your attention on the astral and psychic in terms of following people through the Bardos and connecting with them in the astral plane. And so what's happened now is um through this experience of astral projection, something opened up for you that seems more expanded and at the same time more intimate in your connection with that plane of reality.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yes, it's a progression from the physical being immortal. So the physical body is not just the separate sense of identity of being an ego, being a separate being. The physical body is cosmic, it's everywhere, and everything is inside of it, and you it is inside of everything. So that awareness was there before this, and this opened the door to experiencing the astral body or the astral realm as being inside of myself. So um, so for example, when the average person dies when they leave their physical body, most people start go to the astral plane initially, some for a short period, some for a longer period. So I've watched that and seen that, and uh, and it's an emotional realm that includes a very vast amount of existence. If there are trees and flowers and animals and structures, um, there are houses, there are rivers, and then these are all not the same form as the physical form, they're all emotional, they all have an emotional quality to them, sense of um feeling. And if one wants to connect with a person on the astral plane, one has to feel them away so if I want to connect with my mother who passed away a year ago, just a little over, I have to feel her. So she's telling me what I want now. So she's connected with me because I actually put my attention on the feeling of my mother, and she says, Atta boy, go for it. So the uh, you know, the uh astral plane is experienced through the emotional qualities, what we usually call the emotional qualities.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

So, what was new here? What was the breakthrough?

SPEAKER_01 8:29

What was new was that the the physical awareness that my body is infinite, it's the same as the soul, has no beginning, no end, it's evolving, and there is no death for the physical body, there's only a shift of consciousness. Um, and that expanded to include the astral body, so it's a movement upwards into the astral realm. So I am everywhere in the physical universe, but I'm everywhere in the astral universe, and it all is inside of me, and it's all available and accessible.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

So, what is your experience now in this moment of your astral body?

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Well, in the physical realm, the astral body um is reflected in the emotional world, so in the physical world, it's about anger, hurt, uh, love, joy, happiness.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Uh, I mean in this moment, as you connect with your own astral body, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

As I connect with my own astral body, I've been to experience people that I love and I know on the astral plane. So my father, my mother, my grandparents, my ancestors, they're all talking to me right now. The places that I've built, like right now, we experience a devastation in Los Angeles of fires destroying homes. But homes, one lives in it is not just a physical home, becomes an emotional home, becomes an astral home. So those are all present in my consciousness, and and I'm one with them.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

So you had this very clear experience of the cosmos, the planets in your physical body. Now, is the cosmos in your astral body?

SPEAKER_01 10:35

The planets are not what they appear to be, they're not just physical. There are some planets that are invisible to the physical eye, they're astrally located, and even the planets that are physical have astral bodies to them, so they're you know, you can experience those planets astrally rather than physically, so they they're um exist in an emotional reality, so to speak. Um, and some people just live on those levels, some people incarnate only to the astral plane, they don't incarnate to the physical plane, uh, and they exist on that level and evolve on that level. Um, a good example would be Swamiji, uh one of our teachers, who after he passed on, went to some subtle levels and then um had some work to do on the emotional level. So he's now existing with an emotional body on an astral planet that's not physical, it's not in the physical universe, it's in the astral universe, and he's developing his emotional world, which he was not particularly involved in, and he's teaching and giving to beings on that plane.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Okay, but what I'm not clear about is your experience expanded, your experience of non-duality expanded into your astral body from your physical body, which you experienced as everything, to your astral body. Are you now experiencing that as everything?

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Well, the physical body's experience of everything was physical, was the physical of your cosmos. So um, you know, it I had awareness of subtle planes also being inside of me, but not details. Now I have details on the uh astral plane, and the non-duality of it is that um it's all inside of me, and I'm inside of it. The duality is that I can perceive objects and people and beings, because there are all kinds of beings on those realms, and uh and communicate and connect with them.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

So that's what I'm hearing in your language as you're going back and forth between the non-dual and the dualistic experience of this.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Yes, well, once one reaches a sense of non-duality, the next level sometimes is um is having duality and non-duality at the same time. So, you know, so that non-duality is as valid and real, it's not an illusion, it's as valid and real as non-duality.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

And so if we go back to the four ways of experiencing the astral plane, astral projection, psychic perception, um knowing, knowing, being being there, and being it. How are these now changed? It sounds like you're experiencing some of those at the same time, all of them at the same time, uh, how so?

SPEAKER_01 14:25

All of them are accessible depending on my orientation, my perceptual framework. So astral projecting is like an astral project, and it's it's very solid and real, and very emotional, like connecting with my mother, for example, now is feels like I'm connecting with a real person, not intellectual, not cognitive. It's an emotional connection as well. And so uh so there's that astral projecting, which is uh doorway, and the psychic projection, the psychic ability remains that I can actually see objects on this realm, uh, and the knowing, um, the non-dual awareness of knowing. The knower is that part of the cosmos that knows everything, that is aware of everything, so that can guide awareness, and it's separate, but not separate, it's it's non-dual because the subject and object are connected, of the same, you know, and being the universe, of course, all is known.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

So, this is an example, in a way, of all of these subtle ways of knowing and experiencing that have kind of become available in this example of your experience of the astral body/slash plane.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Yes, what's what's interesting about it is this sort of capacity to fill in the gaps. So, for example, watching a person who's physically dying, um, I could see their body, and I could see them leaving their body, and I could see them going to the astral plane, usually the upper ones if they good people, uh, and the lower ones if they've got a lot to work on. Uh, and I can watch them and see them move to the mental plane and the Buddhic plane and the atomic plane if they're there. My mother's fairly involved, so I can watch her there and connect with them those planes and connect with people on the celestial planes, like the become much more aware of the so-called white brotherhood who are blessing the planet, sending love to all beings in the planet, and both from the center of the planet and from the objective outside of the planet.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

But they're not working hard enough.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Well, they have their realm and their message, so it's a dark forces involved too. But the the expanded sense of uh awareness is really what's key. In other words, I can now watch people go all the way through the celestial plains through even pure being with pure consciousness. So we have evolved to have pure consciousness, I can feel them inside me and outside of me, and and experience them more emotionally.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

And so, do you think that this expansion will continue from the physical to the astral and next to the mental plane?

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Seems to be. That's the orientation of it is this constant development. So the path that I'm on seems to be not one of staying stuck in one place and exploring it deeply. It's more about moving through a level of consciousness, spending a short amount of time or a fair amount of time on it, and then moving on to the next level. So I'm mapping the cosmos, I'm mapping the creation, mapping the universe, mapping the planes. Uh, and I'm aware of myself as being there and being here, and that's the joy of it. It's uh it's an adventurous journey.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

And maybe endless.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Seems like it's endless, seems like there's no end to it, and and when I listen to other people, I can identify the level that they're talking about, if they're there, and some sometimes there are things that I are new and it's come to me because they're I'm ready for the next awareness.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Okay, so let's come back to this moment. And what's your experience here now?

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Uh I'm in the physical body, I'm aware of the screen in front of me, and I'm aware of Connie, I'm aware of my connection with Connie through five lifetimes. So, you know, there's a uh astral mental connections that's new.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

So, you know, so that there's an expanded sense of awareness of the soul and its incarnations and uh and my connection with it.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

What's new? The awareness that we've had five lives together. Yeah, it's new because we've only talked about two of them. Okay, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Thank you, everybody. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Thank you. See you again.