State of Immaterial Domain through Sleep Meditation

[Naman]

Im experiencing that the amount of bliss or rapture, if i can call it that.. Which i was feeling the first time in 4th jhana in my long meditation sitting... It has decreased since then... But the feeling of sitting as long as i want is still there. I mean a mind without anxiety .
What should i make of it ? Is it just that first time it feels like alot of bliss and overtime as we dwell in it again n again it settles in and solidifies  as peace ? Or Is it that im not able to achieve that depth again ?

[Jhanananda]

It could be a number of factors, but getting comfortable with deep states of meditation also involves getting used to them.  On the other hand, in over forty years of deep meditation practice I never got used to a full kundalini blast.  I found I just have to let go, and let it sweep me away.  The more I let go, the deeper and more powerful it gets.

[Naman]

Im officially doing sitting in meditation for 5-6hrs. Something like this is happening, other than those sitting sessions.. Whenever i sit still/unmoving for few minutes either for work or anything else, my body starts becoming numb within couple of minutes and breath slows, mind becomes placid.. Like it feels in 4th jhana and then i wud want to not even blink or move my eyeballs... And feels like i can sit there for long ,, it keeps on getting deep....
But i m still not able to get to the next level where senses efface.
Funny thing is when i offically sit for meditation those sensations come late than when im sitting without purpose of meditation.

Ps: My neck is hurting cause i don't even want to move it even when walking or talking :| Whats happening ? Shud i allow it ?

[Jhanananda]

What works for me is allowing the body to move as it wishes, while I maintain a still mind, which is inclined to depth.  What I observe is a gentle oscillation of my torso and head, which I have spent many hours observing, and noticed that this oscillation is a product of the pumping of blood in my major veins and arteries. 

This gentle, natural oscillation of my body during deep meditation led to a rather humorous episode at a meditation retreat that was under the auspices of a guru who had no understanding of deep meditation.  I was accused of having a weak mind, and booted out on the 6th or 7th day.  This is what one who meditates deeply is likely to encounter in a world that is controlled by frauds.

As for going into the Immaterial Domains.  It happens when you are ready.  For most people it takes a great deal of preparation, because there are both demons and angels to be encountered there.  Thus, one must develop deep equanimity before stepping into the spirit domain.

In between time one can work upon developing lucidity in the sleep space by journaling one's dreams.  It worked for me.  So, perhaps it will work for others.

[Naman]

How idiotic of that guru, i have felt those oscillations.. They even grow in intensity sometimes. Okay i will follow ur advice and let it play out the natural way.

[Naman]

As for going into the Immaterial Domains.  It happens when you are ready.  For most people it takes a great deal of preparation, because there are both demons and angels to be encountered there.  Thus, one must develop deep equanimity before stepping into the spirit domain.

In between time one can work upon developing lucidity in the sleep space by journaling one's dreams.  It worked for me.  So, perhaps it will work for others.

Today i was almost there ! Cause i have had reached that transition phase some years back when i was meditating, so i cud sense it coming.. That traditional heart thumping and sudden intensified buzzing sound in ear, which is way louder than what i casually hear in 4th jhana or thru the day..

One thing i wanted to ask, when u first experienced oobe was it through sleep or in meditation ? Was it as lucid as it gets ?
I mean i experience obe and lucid dream every now n then in sleep but not those hyper real ones which u get thru those transition phase. I have actually found that thru sleep the lucidity varies but not in meditation , if i consider all the experiences i had. Is it true ?

[Jhanananda]

Today i was almost there ! Cause i have had reached that transition phase some years back when i was meditating, so i cud sense it coming.. That traditional heart thumping and sudden intensified buzzing sound in ear, which is way louder than what i casually hear in 4th jhana or thru the day..

It sounds like you are making progress.

One thing i wanted to ask, when u first experienced oobe was it through sleep or in meditation ? Was it as lucid as it gets ?
I mean i experience obe and lucid dream every now n then in sleep but not those hyper real ones which u get thru those transition phase. I have actually found that thru sleep the lucidity varies but not in meditation , if i consider all the experiences i had. Is it true ?

My first OOBEs began when I was a child.  I had so many OOBEs then that I was not sure which domain I belonged in, or which one was "real."  I also had OOBEs as a teenager, but fewer.  Then they were all during the sleep domain.  I regained my facility with the OOBE from practicing meditation that leads to depth starting when I was 20.

For me sleep is just another opportunity to meditate, so my sleep is fully lucid, and mostly OOBE.

[Naman]

Nowadays when i sit in meditation within 5, 10 mins i reach a state where there is stillness and breath stops effortlessly for 10 seconds or so then 2,3 breaths n cessation again.. It continues like that till the end. Bliss has almost subsided. I dont feel like ecstatic or anything but there is this deep contentment. It feels like im getting saturated in 4th jhana. What will u make of it? I just sit there n wait for my senses to efface, abiding in that stillness which seems to touch a  peak in those moments of cessation of breath.
And yeah shud i something different than what im doing to progress further, which now is just dwelling into the nothingness of cessation of breath. I do sometimes switch to lights i can see in third eye area.

[Sam Lim]

http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/jhana.html

Please see the charts on jhanas.

[Jhanananda]

Nowadays when i sit in meditation within 5, 10 mins i reach a state where there is stillness and breath stops effortlessly for 10 seconds or so then 2,3 breaths n cessation again.. It continues like that till the end. Bliss has almost subsided. I dont feel like ecstatic or anything but there is this deep contentment. It feels like im getting saturated in 4th jhana. What will u make of it? I just sit there n wait for my senses to efface, abiding in that stillness which seems to touch a  peak in those moments of cessation of breath.
And yeah shud i something different than what im doing to progress further, which now is just dwelling into the nothingness of cessation of breath. I do sometimes switch to lights i can see in third eye area.

You would want to confirm that your mind is still, the sense of self is greatly effaced, and the arising of intense non-physical sensations prior to movement into the 4th jhana

[Naman]

Thanx Sam for the link. I guess i shud brushup my basics again.

And thankyou Jhananada for the reply, yesterday evening i tried switching to numbness in the body and then i laid down to continue meditation as i was sitting already for over an hour. Then obe happened, but it was hard to come out of body only my legs and hands were floating in the air. I cud see the roof top and everything around. I need more meditation of course cause there was some unconsciousness prevailing n it was getting hard to keep my "astral eyes" open. I have had many such experiences in past but unfortunately i cudnt continue with my practice. Also i used to see obe in sleep and samadhi in meditation as two different aspects so i never gave much credit to such experiences. I had experienced nirvikalpa samadhi in meditation before but again i cudnt continue. But three things have been ever increasing they are dispassion, detachment and desirelessness owing to the path of knwldge which i have been following more or less consistently all these years.

 Lets see what comes in next few days, this time im keeping up with my meditation practice.

[Jhanananda]

yesterday evening i tried switching to numbness in the body and then i laid down to continue meditation as i was sitting already for over an hour. Then obe happened, but it was hard to come out of body only my legs and hands were floating in the air. I cud see the roof top and everything around. I need more meditation of course cause there was some unconsciousness prevailing n it was getting hard to keep my "astral eyes" open. I have had many such experiences in past but unfortunately i cudnt continue with my practice.

My early OOBEs were much like this, so I expect that if you continue your meditation practice, then you are likely to develop skill with the OOBE.

[Naman]

It gives me good assurance to knw that u had similar beginning. Thank you. I will keep updating.

[Naman]

yesterday evening i tried switching to numbness in the body and then i laid down to continue meditation as i was sitting already for over an hour. Then obe happened, but it was hard to come out of body only my legs and hands were floating in the air. I cud see the roof top and everything around. I need more meditation of course cause there was some unconsciousness prevailing n it was getting hard to keep my "astral eyes" open. I have had many such experiences in past but unfortunately i cudnt continue with my practice.

My early OOBEs were much like this, so I expect that if you continue your meditation practice, then you are likely to develop skill with the OOBE.

I just had the longest and lucid obe ever ! Funny thing was i kept trying to get out of my body but as soon as i will start it my rest of the body wud come off but it will be stuck at in my head area... And i wud lose consciousness fall bck again in body.. Surprisingly this time it didn end after one try.. I didn wake up in physical again,, so i re tried... Again n again.. I was able to "wake up" to the degree i wasnt able to in past.. Uk bring in more conscious.. That fight is exactly like how u r trying to remain awake in meditation when u r feeling sleepy haha.. So for few times i wud just make my hands go thru nearby wall and my legs n head.. But i was not able to cross cause this time i felt this extreme blissfull sensation which i have felt earlier, while crossing concrete or matter in general,, but this time it was intense., to the point it felt like jolt of electric bliss.. So i cudnt make it go thru all the way.. And then at the last it was getting ugly though.. In the last try, i kindof got stuck midway,, ( now only its occuring to.me that it was paralysis state: my mind tried to.panic there and even imagine horrible entities around me but i didn let those thots overcome cause it also occured that its not wise. Cause i have had bad expriences in past for thinking negative? ) it felt like i got stuck in some sheet or layer of water which was not allowing me get out of my body,,, and then i tried to wake up in physical by remembering everything i cud think of hahaha omg it literally felt like i m stuck forever. I even started thinking my people wud make take me.to hospital where my physical body will be lying in coma for idk how long time... And i wud try to recall the sensation of breath, sensation of boundary of physical body.. I was even breathing fast to make physical breath more noticeable.. But i didn realize that time that it wasnt my phsyical breath, but just a lucid sensation... Anyways so after few seconds of extreme efforts.. I kind of accepted it ( my equanimity helped alot,.which have improved alot over past few months, otherwise ik how intense a negative thot can become) so then after a second or so.. I woke up in physical again... But im just curious to knw that does sleep paralysis always ends on its own ? If u happen to get "locked" in it andim even recalling one more such incidence of past, where i felt im.inside my body and somehow my eyeballs r rolled back( that cud be cause i was not able to open my astral eyes) and i wud try again n again.. And it felt like forever and i tried for few mintues and when i stopped trying, i woke up on my own in physical.

[Alexander]

What exactly causes the OOBE? Is it the body being motionless for long periods of time, or the still mind? As when I meditate I move up and down the first 3 jhanas the whole time and nothing happens. :(