What Are Psychonauts & Altered States of Consciousness?

 What Are Psychonauts & Altered States of Consciousness?

Psychonauts and altered states of consciousness When I was reading Bob Thurman's translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, I was struck by the term that was used to describe Tibetan spiritual explorers: psychedelics. Rather than Western-style space travelers who adventure out of Planet Earth to investigate the actual universe to understand what lies past, psychonauts were "inward world globe-trotters of the greatest trying, who by and by journeyed to the uttermost wildernesses of that universe which their general public considered crucial to investigate - the internal boondocks of cognizance itself, in the entirety of its changes throughout everyday life and past death."

The term "psychonautics," which comes from the Greek word for "navigating the mind," is a beautiful way to say that we need to know more about ourselves than we need to know about the universe. Additionally, a compass, coordinates, and a vehicle that will take one there are necessary for navigation.

Spiritual teachers talk about the inner light that is waiting to be brought out so that we can clearly see the way. Switch on the light," Dada J P Vaswani would agree, on the grounds that when all outer lights like those of the sun, moon, and fire are smothered, the interior light of the Atman, the illumination of the soul, will shine brilliantly "and by which we should reside, work and stroll to get back to our timeless home."

A verse in Sanskrit says: Asato ma sadgamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, and Mrityor ma amritam gamaya – Through lies, I found the Truth; Lead me into the Light through the darkness; I entered the state of deathlessness through death.

Demise and the deathless express, may sound oxymoronic however, they are not. The Atman, being immortal, continues to exist even when the physical body shuts down and one is declared lifeless and dead. The idea that some enlightened souls can travel from death to deathlessness is also a central part of Tibetan spirituality. According to Thurman, the spiritual exploration of the inner universe, whose frontiers are in the realms of death, the between, rebirth, and contemplative ecstasies, is more important to Tibetans.

According to The Tibetan Book of the Dead, "Tibetan lamas" are "the Tibetans' ultimate heroes and heroines" because they "can consciously pass through the dissolution process, whose minds can detach from the gross physical body and use a magic body to travel to other universes." They are the several thousand reincarnated lamas known as tulkus, which means "Buddha Emanation." They are believed to have mastered the death, between-life, and rebirth processes and to have repeatedly chosen to return to Tibet, life after life, out of compassion to guide Tibetans in their spiritual national life and to benefit all sentient beings.

Interestingly, a video game was also called Psychonauts; the main character is a boy with psychic abilities who, after escaping a circus to enter a training camp for agents trained to defeat evildoers, can navigate the mental worlds of the people he spies on. The game had a complicated plot that included metaphors from the circus and the camp, tangled minds, brain harvesting, and insane plots. It wasn't popular because it was probably too much for just entertainment.

Life's game is frequently more bizarre than fiction or video games. That, along with the hope and light of the Atman encouraging us to make every effort to create happy situations, may make life interesting because of the surprises and unpredictability it brings.

D.G.Shastri

Note: Psychonaut meaning: Psychonaut is a term used to describe an individual who explores altered states of consciousness, whether through the use of psychoactive substances, meditation, or other techniques.