The Clear White Light

Today we pay homage to Gurudeva's classical inspired writing on the mystical experience which he called The Clear White Light. It is a story worth telling, and we quote now from The Guru Chronicles, taking up the story in August of 1967.

"In Ascona, Switzerland, he spent two weeks at Casa Eranos, Carl Jung's charming summer chalet on the shore of Lago Maggiore, a massive mountain lake shared by Italy and Switzerland. Meditating, giving upadesh and browsing through Jung's personal library, Master discovered the famed psychologist's penchant for Indian philosophy and his deep engagement with kundalini.

"One morning a young monk asked the guru to describe the inner light. A few words of response came, but suddenly Master grew pensive, excused himself and retired to his room. After some hours, the monks knocked tentatively on the locked door to invite him to lunch, but he told them he was busy. Hours passed, and again they knocked, with no response. Though they were loath to disturb him, this was so unusual the group began to worry aloud whether they should intervene.

"While those deliberations were underway, Master unlocked and opened his door, calling them all to join him on the open stone patio that overlooks the lake. It was late afternoon. With them seated around, he brought out a yellow pad of paper, the kind lawyers write on. Beaming and clearly happy about something, he repeated the morning's question about the light, then revealed that he had 'brought through' a small book during those solitary hours. He announced the title The Clear White Light, then proceeded to read the manuscript, a profound explication of the mystical experience. Aside from Cognizantability, it was to be the only major work he ever wrote in his own hand, all others having his inspired talks and dictations as their source." Here is an excerpt (the slideshow has two pages of the original hand-written manuscript).

'It is a great new world of the mind that is entered into when first the clear white light dawns, birthing a new actinic race, immediately causing him to become the parent to his parents and forefathers. When living in an expanded inner state of mind, he must not expect those living in materialistic consciousness to understand him. On this new path of "the lonely one," wisdom must be invoked to cause him to be able to look through the eyes of those who believe the world is real, and see and relate to that limited world in playing the game as if it were real, thus maintaining the harmony so necessary for future unfoldments. To try to convince those imbedded in materialism of the inner realities only causes a breach in relationship, as it represents a positive threat to the security they have worked so hard to attain.

"First we had the instinctive age, of valuing physical strength and manly prowess, followed by the intellectual age, facts for the sake of facts, resulting in the progress of science. Now we are in an age of new values, new governing laws, an actinic age, with new understanding of the world, the mind, but most of all, the Self. Understanding is preparation for travel, for it is an age of the mind, and in the mind, much more intense than the speed of light, exist spheres which seers are only willing to speak of to those who have the inner ear with which to listen.'"

For those wanting more, you can listen to Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami read the talk and make comments to guide our understanding of these advanced states of mind. Here is the link:

https://www.himalayanacademy.com/view/bd_2007-06-02_clear-w-light

Here Gurudeva is with his shishyas in Ascona, Switzerland, during the Innersearch Travel-Study Program on which he wrote The Clear White Light.

This is page one of the mystical text, dated August 13, 1967

Here we have page two.

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