Refraction and Reflection

Excerpt from The Cosmic Kaleidoscope

The minds of highly evolved living beings are expanded because their subjectivity—the endoplasmic membrane—has been tremendously stretched out by a great mass of accumulated and further developed mind-stuff. That expanded membrane refracts and reflects higher consciousness. Shrii Sarkar commented:

In the end, as a result of proper spiritual practice, the ectoplasm is at the bursting point thick with intellect, intelligence, wisdom, and spiritual refulgence. When the overstretched endoplasmic coverage finally cannot hold out anymore and breaks, the individual I merges in cosmic consciousness.

What does “refract and reflect” mean in this regard?

When something breaks into something else, its waves refract into that receiving structure. Take the example of the arms of a swimmer in water. The moment an arm cleaves into the water, its movement is impacted by the waves of the water. The swimmer has to force the arms into the water, and with each stroke some energy is expended, making it harder and harder for the swimmer to repeat the movement. When sun rays enter water, they are bent a bit at the surface before they vanish into the deep because of the greater density of the water as compared to the air. This bending or breaking is what is called refraction.

This is also what happens to meditators when they practice, such as when applying a mantra with ideation to the mind. The mantra has some spiritual meaning, which when ideated upon allows spiritual consciousness to enter into the meditator’s mind. When higher consciousness enters the mind, it meets with elements of the mindstuff—feelings, instincts, thoughts, memories, etc.

Whatever is near the mind-stuff’s apperceptive plate gets affected by the powerful waves of that incoming spiritual consciousness. Reciprocally, the incoming consciousness refracts each time it encounters an element of the mind-stuff, and that bending or breaking will be proportional to the crudity of that element. Let’s say the meditator was contemplating a subtle idea, in which case the refraction would be mild, possibly hardly at one or two degrees, resulting in abiding inspiration. Whereas if he or she was absorbed in the thought of hating someone intensely, a most crude sentiment, the refraction of the inspiration would possibly be very angled.

When waves break at sharp angles, their dynamics dissipate. Perhaps you are walking along a road and somebody just stops you forcibly. This is somewhat what happens to spiritual waves when confronted by crude resistance in the mind. This is also why light in water wanes in stages as it encounters wave upon wave and possibly organic material in the water, resulting in repeated refraction of varying intensity. In very polluted water sunlight may only penetrate a short distance, whereas divers in crystal clear water may enjoy the scenery even at some depth without having to bring dive light with them.

By refraction, both the receiving element and the incoming waves change; the receiving elements of a mind-stuff are getting subtler and the incoming spiritual waves are waning correspondingly. This is why meditators are instructed to repeat their mantra with ideation in rhythm with their breathing continuously. In this way a single meditation sitting can effect great positive change in the mind-stuff.

Reflection is what happens when you look into a mirror and see yourself. Your waves are reflected by the mirror. Genuine spiritual practice results in the practitioner reflecting higher consciousness out into the world. It happens when the mind has been expanded so that its endoplasmic coverage attracts much higher consciousness, some of which is transformed into outer presence. The concept of selfless service translates this spirituo-psycho-physical idea into reality.

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