Referring to energy we have actinic, pure energy, shuddha; odic, magnetic gross energy, ashuddha; in combination, actinodic, shuddhashudda, spiritual magnetic energy. Gurudeva imparts experiments to achieve control over your pranic sheath, healing physical distress and to trace the source of prana. "Where awareness goes, energy flows." In Shum 'amkasi' vibrating odic energy through the 36 parts of the body. "

Master Course Trilogy, Merging with Siva," Lessons 216-217. Shum Mambashum amkasi series.

Unedited Transcript:

Good morning everyone. It's only been two years [laughing]. Good to have everyone back after a two year break .

This is our "Merging with Siva" series. We're going through the lessons in chronological order, the order in which the talks were given and we're back in 1960. Finishing up Chapter 31 "The Physical and Pranic Bodies." So we're starting with some definitions that aren't in the text but are helpful.

Have the words actinic, odic and actinodic to look at referring to energy. Starting with actinic, the Sanskrit word 'shuddha':

Pure spiritual energy. Spiritual, creating light. From the Greek aktis, meaning 'ray.' Of or pertaining to consciousness in its pure unadulterated state. Describes the extremely rarified superconscious realm of pure bindu, of quantum strings, the substratum of consciousness, shuddha maya, from which light first originates. Actinic is the adjective form of actinism, defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as: "1) the radiation of heat or light, or that branch of philosophy that treats of it; 2) that property or force in the sun's rays by which chemical changes are produced, as in photography."

Then we get odic; Sanskrit term ashuddha:

Magnetic gross energy of or pertaining to consciousness within ashuddha maya, the realm of the physical and lower astral planes. Odic force in its rarified state is prakriti, the primary gross energy of nature, manifesting in the three gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas. It is the force of attraction and repulsion between people, people and their things, and manifests as masculine (aggressive) and feminine (passive), arising from the pingala and ida currents. These two currents (nadi) are found within the spine of the subtle body. Odic force is a magnetic, sticky, binding substance that people seek to develop when they want to bind themselves together, such as in partnerships, marriage, guru-shishya relationships and friendships. Odic energy is the combined emanation of the pranamaya and annamaya koshas. The term odic is the adjective form of od (pronounced like mode), defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "a hypothetical force held by Baron von Reichenbach, to pervade all nature, manifesting itself in certain persons of sensitive temperament (streaming from their fingertips), and exhibited especially by magnets, crystals, heat, light and chemical action; it has been held to explain the phenomena of mesmerism and animal magnetism."

Then we get the two together, actinic plus odic equals actinodic. And the two Sanskrit words can do the same. We have shuddha and ashuddha. So you can put them together as one word with a long 'a' in the middle so that's shuddhashuddha.

Actinodic: Spiritual/magnetic energy. Spiritual-magnetic; a mixture of odic and actinic force. Actinic refers to consciousness in its pure, unadulterated state. Odic energy, the force of attraction and repulsion between people, and between people and their things, manifests as masculine and feminine, arising from the pingala and ida currents. So that's our vocabulary.

And to the text:

"Experience Odic Prana.

"Fill six glasses with water. Place them on a table before you. Take one of these glasses of water and hold it in one hand while with the other hand you shake the fingertips into the glass but without touching the water. (Read that sentence again.) Take one of these glasses of water and hold it in one hand while with the other hand you shake the fingertips into the glass but without touching the water. Feel the odic prana falling from the hand and fingers into the water, being absorbed into the water and held there. Thus we have mixed two forms of odic power, that of the physical-health odic prana and the odic manifestation of water. This creates magnetism when these two forces come together in the external, odic water. Mark the glass of water that you have magnetized so that only you will later be able to identify it, then place it with the other five glasses. Switch the glasses around so that it is not apparent which glass was magnetized. If you are doing this exercise by yourself, you may close your eyes when you switch the glasses so that you do not identify the glass that has been magnetized. Now, the test. Close your eyes and drink from each glass. You close your eyes so that your taste will be most keen, and will not be distracted by anything you see, having your entire mind on your taste buds. As you taste each glass of water, you will notice a distinct difference in the taste of the water in the glass you magnetized with odic prana.

"You will achieve a great control over your pranic sheath by learning to breathe diaphragmatically. The following experiments, coupled with diaphragmatic breathing, will help you awaken your own knowledge of the controls over odic prana and your own odic pranic sheath. Take a deep breath through the nostrils, at the same time holding a mental picture of taking odic prana into the body from within the air. You may visualize it in the form of a vapor, like the odic prana you perhaps saw around your hand. Visualize the odic prana going all the way down to your solar plexus, while the air is only held in your lungs. The odic prana stays in your solar plexus while you exhale air from the lungs. (Important point, odic prana stays and the air goes out.) From the solar plexus area, the odic prana will automatically flow through the muscle tissue to the blood and begin to store up in various nerve centers in reserve for future use. In mastering this exercise, you will build up the vital body energies and calm the nerves. It is not necessary to do this often, only when you feel the need of storing up odic prana.

"Odic prana is often used unknowingly for healing various physical distresses, emotional upsets and mental strains. A child runs to his mother; the odic prana coming from the mother, freely flowing toward the child, comforts any distress the child may be going through. The child runs off vigorously, taking a good supply of odic prana from his mother through absorption. You can supply odic prana to any part of your body that may be ailing, and gain some relief. For emotional distress, store odic prana in the solar plexus, and to relieve mental strain store it in the upper back and chest area.

"As you inhale odic prana, draw a mental picture of the process. When you make a mental picture, you are also employing odic force to form the picture, for all mental pictures are made out of odic force. After the mental picture of the physical area in your body that is in distress is well formed, visualize the odic prana being sent to that particular organ or part of the body. Inhale, then hold your breath a few seconds as you visualize the odic prana flowing from the solar plexus to that area of your physical body. When you manage to flow enough odic prana into the distressed area of your physical body and the health body becomes more vibrant, you will notice the distress ease. Do this for short periods of time. Remember, inhale, hold a few seconds while sending the energy to the distressed area, then exhale the air, holding the odic prana in the part of the body that needs extra energy most. 'Where awareness goes energy flows.' (In quotes.) All breathing should be through the nostrils, not the mouth, deep and slow, natural and rhythmic."

Then we get the next lesson [MWS 217]:

"Trace the Source of Prana.

"Prana is not air, of course, yet it is contained in the air in a certain manifestation. Much prana is found in the air among the trees or near the ocean..."

So interesting comment, our Ayurvedic consultant Dr. Sodhi, one of his recommendations for maintaining health is: "Walking outside in nature for one hour boosts the immune system for seven days." Interesting statement. So when Dr. Sodhi says that he uses the word jungle, cause of where he grew up I guess. Walking outside in the jungle he says. So I think by that he means lots of trees. You know, you don't want to walk in the city surrounded by concrete if you can avoid it whereas choose a place that's surrounded by trees or near the ocean. So, boost the immune system for seven days.

Back to the text:

" All of nature and the forces of nature are various manifestations of odic prana that have taken visual shape. Plants feed on the odic prana in the air. You can absorb prana simply by walking through a grove of trees. The air is filled with it. Take a walk today, out into the odic force field of nature and absorb the prana in the air through your breath and through the pores of your skin. You will feel the prana entering into your pranic sheath, or vital health body, and remaining there while you exhale.

"Sit quietly and use the internal method of concentration when you think on this. Each time your mind wanders, pull it firmly back to the subject of concentration. Remember, in concentration, that the process of making the mind return to the object or subject of concentration forces a flow of odic as well as actinic prana through the most subtle nerve currents, causing them to grow strong, so that soon your concentration will be effortless as your subconscious responds to your conscious-mind concentration efforts, causing a new process called meditation to occur in the wonderful world of the mind.

"Concentrate on the pranic health body flowing through and just within your physical body. Mentally go over the exercises we have done this week in proving the flow and existence of odic prana to the subconscious habit mind, so that by establishing a new habit pattern, the subconscious will aid instead of barricade your natural unfoldment on the path to enlightenment. Your subconscious needs certain proofs of these inner laws to solicit full cooperation.

"Mentally trace odic prana to its source and cause. Does it come to an end? If so, where? Where does actinic prana begin? You will soon find that odic prana does come to an end, for it merges in the subconscious area of the mind into the subsuperconscious. You will find that odic prana depends on the existence of actinic prana for its existence. As you concentrate on the interrelated flow of odic prana and ascertain the area of the inner mind where actinic prana begins, you should conceptually see how you have been controlling odic prana during this entire week through the use of your subsuperconscious state of mind.

"You are maturing through the knowledge of the within of your Being, which you have been studying these last few months. Remember, in the wonderful world of the mind, understanding, gaining mental perspectives, finding proof, no matter how small, within ourselves--these form important controls over the mind. The art of concentration, though the basic and most fundamental control of all, is not the only control over the mind on the classical yoga path to enlightenment. Harmony is control of even deeper aspects of the mind, as are understanding and actinic love. As we expand our consciousness on the yoga path to enlightenment, we hear more, see more, feel more, and know more within ourselves. This is intense. We must not fear intensity, for intensity is actinic. Your actinic Being is intensity itself, actively alive and always shining out. Man can be thought of as seven aspects of form, but the Self is beyond the mind or beyond form, for mind is form. Mind is consciousness; consciousness is form. The Self is formless. Therefore, you can contemplatively say, 'I am That, I am.'"

There is an interesting Shum word, Shum series actually. Starts with kasi, amkasi, liamkasi, simliamkasi, insimliamkasi, iinsimliamkasi. That's the series. So we're just going to do the easy one 'amkasi'. And it takes the idea of energy, odic energy and relates it to the thirty-six parts of the body. That's the idea. So that's the new part of this practice because we didn't have the 36 parts of the body in the material we just read.

[amkasi]:

1) Vibrate at a medium rate odic enery by slightly tensing the muscles of each of the 36 parts of the body; 2) do this by following these steps; A) send energy from the third chakra, bivumbika, to the left foot on the outbreath; B) on the inbreath bring the same energy back to the third chakra; C) on the next outbreath, send energy to the right foot and then back to the third chakra, and so on until you have done this with each of the 36 parts of the body; 3) when the energy gets into each part of the body, move that physical part just a little so that the energy can be felt; 4) after completing the steps for all 36 parts of the body, vibrate the entire body at a medium rate by slightly tensing the muscles, sending the odic energy into the physical body.

So that is a great series its coming up, think its in Mambashum Seven in the amkasi series.

Thank you very much. Have a wonderful day.