In such adventures, it is possible to lose our way and get stuck and a similar thing happened to us. We had to then rely on external guides to help us till we were capable of guiding ourselves. At a stage of its exploration and evolution, the Soul wanted to experience multiple realities simultaneously, still being present in our Cosmos of duality and Maya. God consented and this gave rise to the concept of the Higher Self.
Generally when most people use the expression of ‘Higher Self’, they refer to an aspect of ourselves which is of a Higher Intelligence. It usually refers to contacting our astral self or in some cases even our Causal Self.
But the Higher Self is actually a different and independent reality. The Higher Self of a person is another physical body belonging to the same Soul, present in the Higher Lokas (Urdhva Lokas).
For example a person on our Earth which belongs to the Bhoo Loka can have 6 Higher Self’s, one in each of the Higher Lokas. The emphasis is on the aspect that all these physical beings are part of the same Soul. It is the astral body that divides and occupies different physical bodies.
In Sanskrit, the Higher Self is referred to as the Amulya Atman. Unlike the common perception that everyone has a Higher Self, only a small percentage of humanity on our Earth have their Higher Self.
Creation of the Higher Self’s
The Higher Self is a complex reality and its creation is not a part of every Souls journey. It is pursued only by some Souls to explore the diversity and the higher capacities of the Soul. Lifetimes of sincere Sadhana is required by the individuals to build up these capabilities. Also, to some extent the Soul should be willing to be of service in Creation and cannot pursue all these higher realities for their own experience.
There are special guides present in our Cosmos called the Atma Palakas. These special Beings permit the creation of Higher Self and monitor their conduct and functioning subsequently.
So how does the Higher Self get created?
To begin with, an individual should be pursuing their Sadhana seriously for a minimum of 7 lifetimes to be eligible to create their Higher Self. This amount of Sadhana is required as creating a Higher Self requires a lot of spiritual strength and maturity and also the individual should have the necessary energies in them to be able to do it.
The Higher Self’s are created usually after the death of the physical body. The Atma Palakas permit and also guide the individual in creating the Higher Self’s. The astral body gets divided and each of these entities is eligible to take birth separately. In the first step, the individual will be able to create only three Higher Self’s; corresponding to Bhuva Loka, Suva Loka and Maha Loka.
To become eligible to have a Higher Self in Jana Loka and above, further Sadhana is required by the Soul through all these three entities. Also, it is mandatory that the individual should be willing to be a part of God’s work and be of service to others, other than being spiritually evolved and serious in their Sadhana. Due to this condition many choose not to create their Higher Self’s in these Planes.
The Higher Self’s of these three higher Planes are created in two or three steps depending on the potential of the individual. Usually, only the Higher Self corresponding to Jana Loka gets created in the next phase. The Higher Self’s relating to Tapo Loka and Satya Loka are created in the third phase only.
During the whole journey of creating the Higher Self’s, the individuals trust in the Divine should be absolute. They should also develop the spiritual faculties like the proper functioning of their Third Eye and ability to travel astrally. The individual should also have a strong Intuition as this is the means through which an individual communicates with the Soul and the Higher Self’s.
Usually the Self belonging to a particular Loka will continue to take birth only in that Plane and they are subject to the respective spiritual and karmic laws of the particular Plane. The karmas gained by the respective Self’s, will not affect the others. And it will be the responsibility of that Self only, to clear them.
If too many rules and regulations are violated by any of the Higher Self, they are counselled and advised. If it continues further, the Atma Palakas have the right to even severe that Self from the remaining personality.
Exceptions
There are many Souls who have been created by the Divine for service and work. These Souls will be eligible to create all the 6 Higher Self’s just after one lifetime of experiencing life.
There are some rare cases where a Soul marries a special Soul like a Rishi or a Lightworker. Such souls will also be able to create Higher Self’s in the next birth itself if they progress well spiritually. The principle criterion behind this is that these Souls choose to assist and serve their partner in their Work, and the creation of their Higher Self’s will equip them better in doing so.
There are individuals who do intense Tapas or practice serious tantric techniques and advance spiritually quite rapidly. They too with the grace from God will be able to create a Higher Self by the time of their next birth itself.
In a few situations, the Soul would have been a part of the dark groups earlier and transform subsequently. For these Souls to be eligible to create the Higher Self’s, they will first be severely tested about their intentions for 7 lifetimes first. Then they will follow the natural course like the other Souls where they will have to do serious Sadhana for another 7 lifetimes before they become eligible for the creation of the Higher Self’s.
Amsha and Higher Self
A Higher Self is created when the astral body is split and each of them can live independently by taking a separate physical body. But they will all have the same Soul. This is different from an Amsha.
An Amsha occurs at the level of the Soul itself. It is a small part of Light from the larger field of Light and it assumes its own independent identity. Even the different Koshas the Amsha acquires will be from the parent Personality.
Usually the term Amsha is used to describe various Avataras and Personalities who have their origin from the Divine Plane of either Devi, Shiva, Vishnu or Brahma.
These Amshas take birth on the Earth mainly to help humanity and not to experience life. They are not allowed to have Higher Self’s.
Lower Self
The natural question which arises next is whether there a Lower Self and do we have them. Yes, there are Lower Self’s and they refer to the aspect of the individual which exists in the lower Planes (the Adholokas). Normally the Souls from ParaBrahma are not permitted to take birth in these Planes.
There are Souls created by Lord Brahma to exist in these Lower Worlds and these Souls through their ‘growth’ have the Lower Self’s. In Sanskrit these Lower Self’s are referred to as Naiychi Atman. A Lower Self can be defined as a part of individual which exists in the Lower Planes. Some of the dark Souls are created by Lord MahaVishnu too (for example Kali Purusha). These Souls are not permitted to have Lower or Higher Self’s.
There is a much advancement of materialism is these Worlds and many Souls pursue this knowledge. There is also an abundance of knowledge on occult sciences and powers and many individuals connect to these Worlds to gain such knowledge. We have met many tantrics and other aspirants wanting Siddhis (powers) who have 3 Higher and 3 Lower Self’s.
As adventurers, there are many Souls who have wanted to explore these worlds and experience the density and intense materialism in Creation other than the Spiritual heights. These advanced Beings have a Self in all the 14 Lokas. There are many advanced laws of the Cosmos that they will have to meet to be eligible for this advanced existence and therefore the number of such Souls is very less.
The individual Soul in such cases who have 14 Self’s have the right to choose whether to side with the Light or the dark. For example, Osama Bin Laden has a Self in all the 14 Planes but works for the dark forces whereas the present Dalai Lama, who also has a Self in all the 14 Planes, works for the Light.
Other Characteristics
All the Higher Self’s function under the guidance of the same Soul and they are interlinked with each other. Yet they function independently and the action of one of the Self does not affect the other.
The Soul will be monitoring the activity of all them in parallel. It is difficult to logically explain this concept that the individual through the different Self’s will be living in different physical bodies but will all have the same Soul.
More percentage of the Soul is active in the Higher Self of Satya Loka and it gradually reduces as we come down. Due to the Soul participating in so many spiritual activities simultaneously, it will contain a lot of Light. If any psychic can witness the Souls of different individuals, the Souls of those having their Higher Self will be much brighter than the individuals that do not.
Each of the Higher Self is subjected to the spiritual and karmic laws of its respective Loka. If any of these laws are violated, they have to go through the effects individually. Normally, as the individual and the Higher Self’s are spiritually advanced; not many problems or karmic imbalances occur. The Rishis and Atma Palakas also monitor and guide the Self’s at various junctures.
Each of the Self’s can communicate with the other for gaining additional knowledge and energies. But there are various laws and rules that will have to be followed. We shall explore these in detail in part 2 of the article.
It is normally understood that all the Self’s look alike. The Higher Self’s are not a replica of how we look like here. In most of the cases there is hardly any similarity in their appearance with each other.
The capabilities like multiplying the physical body is attained only when the individual has a Higher Self in Tapo Loka and above. Also, extensive training is required before the individual can successfully do this.
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In the next part of the article on Higher Self, we shall understand the laws applicable to connect with and communicate with the Higher Self and explore the principles behind the severing of one of the Self’s from the main personality.
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