Jivan-mukta, the Sanskrit name for the liberated human, can now be cultivated as a deeply felt reality with the aid of profound spiritual technologies. A renaissance in consciousness is slowly cresting through the social web, as cross-cultural paths cross-pollinate to accelerate human evolution and growth. Whether for healing or spiritual illumination, we now have self-development tools that can help us open to the deepest of human potentials: the full awakening to who we really are.

Throughout the ages, humanity has been deeply captivated by the mystery of Being. Exploring a plethora of technologies that aide the human mind in opening to its deeper potentials, maps and practices have been left behind for those of us on the path home. Refined for thousands of years, we now have pathways that can allow almost anyone to become free. A freedom discovered to dwell in the heart of all beings.

One such path is the eight-limbed Raya “royal” Yoga system as outlined in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. In particular, we are interest in the systematic and integral approach to the development of the human; working with physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual dimensions of who we are to optimize the system. The eight -limbs are systematically crafted to evolve consciousness to its ultimate flowering, where the individual returns home to Source Consciousness in what is known as nirvakalpa samadhi; Union with the Divine within. 

Patanjali was clear, however, that the first seven limbs were merely preparatory, designed to train the body-mind to become still. Yana cultivates the inner qualities of a spiritual life, such as compassion, humility, and honesty, as the inner set that can sustain positive states of being. Niyama goes deeper, as one begins to devote more effort and energy to the cleansing and purifying of the mind-body system. Asanas engage the physical and subtle bodies, opening and releasing stuck energy. Pranayama works with breath control to master and navigate the energy. After these four limbs one is finally ready for deep meditation, the supreme yogic technology for God-realization and transcendence.

In Pratyahara we turn awareness inward, in dharana we focus on an object of meditation, dhyana flowers as a mindful meditative state, to finally merge in the full samadhi. As well laid out as this yogic and meditation path is, I hear from countless devotees and practitioners how they have never actually reached this fabled state. Frustrated that after years of meditation and yoga practice not once have they accessed the deepest states of meditation; formless absorption in the Clear Light of pure Awareness. In fact the mere clinging and craving of such mystical states keeps folks stuck, actually turning attention away from the subtle, ever-present radiance that quietly awaits recognition.

Enter entheogen, another ancient spiritual technology that uses sacraments to “reveal the Divine within.” With the right set and setting a person can engender and catalyze a mystical state, union with Source, but this is rare and unpredictable. A multitude of inner and outer conditions need to align for the smooth ascendance to pure Consciousness. Old traumas, patterns, and preoccupation may surface, providing a therapeutic encounter that can lead to psycho-emotional healing. Unless these patterns are released, purified, and resolved they will continually block the pure light that beckons from beyond the ego mind.

The eight limbs of yoga, with its deep meditative practice, has the potential to be the ultimate preparatory practice, tuning, opening, and cleansing the system so that it can receive these expanded, transpersonal energies that hold the capacity to rewire the whole brain. With the right techniques, we can entrain the neuroplastic nature of the branching brain toward the center within; in effect teaching mind to merge into the pure awareness that lies at its core. 

5-MeO-DMT, known as the God molecule, has been shown to be the pinnacle of the human experience when applied in the right context. It reliably dissolves the ego-mind and its projected space-time matrix. In so doing, the individual mind returns to its essential nature as pure, formless Awareness. For most, this is not an easy experience as the initiate inevitably confronts the imprints and patterns, known as samkaras, that accumulate throughout a lifetime. As therapeutic as this encounter may be, the true potential of this molecule lies in its ability to facilitate the highest mystical state of yoga, nivakalpa samadhi.

After years of experimentation, it has become clear that the integration of the two paths practically guarantees reliable access to this exalted state. Not only do the first seven limbs prepare the individual body-mind to maximally receive Source Consciousness, through meditation one can literally reorganize neural networks to permanently sustain such mystical states.

Altered states can now be rewired to become permanent traits, so that the organism’s default mode is samadhi.

This means a life lived from a place of peace, freedom, and joy where all action is in-formed by the Divine Light that is Awareness.

Entheogens provide the neural lubricant and neurogenesis that create the opportunity for the conscious, self-directed neuroplasticity facilitated by the techniques of yoga. When combined, these two modalities create the optimal conditions to rewire and reprogram the brain toward deeper states of being; ultimately entraining the restless “monkey” mind to return to the peace of pure Awareness that lies as its essence. 

One of the limits of nirvakalpa samadhi is that  it can be enjoyed only while the individual remains still, absorbed in deep meditation. The final step in Raja Yoga is to extend the deep stillness of samadhi into all other realms of the individual’s life (waking, dreaming, and deep sleep). If one is able to abide in this deep inner stillness throughout life’s everyday challenges, and remain conscious at every level of Being, then one is called a jivan-mukti, a liberated human. In this enlightened state of non-dual Being, the Supreme formless Void is integrated into the lower matrices of creation as a constant Witnessing.

The Witness itself being one with that pure formless Awareness at the core of all experience.

This is true Wholeness.