Steven D. Foster ~ Photographs : The Departing Landscape website: The Blue Pearl

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #1

"I meditated constantly and always saw the sweet,

radiant Blue Pearl in its infinite variations."

Swami Muktananda from his autobiography The Play of Consciousness

The Blue Pearl

The fulfillment of yoga lies in establishing contact with the Blue Pearl,

which is your innermost reality. After the Blue Pearl stands steady

for a while, it explodes. Then it's light spreads throughout

the universe and you can see it everywhere. Within that

light you see your own Guru . . . you realize

that his [her, the Guru's] real abode has

existed within you all the time.

Swami Muktananda

Darshan #77-78

Introduction : Inner Visions

In the Siddha Yoga literature, there is nothing more mysterious, and wondrous, than Swami Muktananda's account of his visionary meditation experiences of the Blue Pearl. The Blue Pearl, or bindu, is a sublime paradox: it is no larger than the size of a sesame seed and yet "it contains millions and millions of universes" and it's light is brighter than millions of suns. The Blue Pearl is the abode of God, and our hearts are the abode of the Blue Pearl. The goal of yoga is to become merged--inseparably united with--the "formless" Light of Consciousness, the "supreme unmanifest Being," the "extremely secret" Blue Person of the Blue Pearl. Swami Muktananda (Baba) wrote: "This is not something that can ever be expressed, in speech or writing, even at the end of time."

Whenever I read Baba Muktananda's words I have a palpable experience of his grace, his sacred presence. His words are truly alive with the divine energy of the Supreme Self, known as Chiti Shakti. He writes with such powerful, direct, unaffected authority because he writes with the true conviction of his own personal experience, his accomplished state, his Union with the divine Self, the Blue Pearl, and his total identification with his beloved Guru, Bhagawan Nityananda. Even though the mysteries he writes and speaks about cannot be grasped by the logical mind, his shakti-filled words somehow translate for me into a subtle, intuitive knowledge that I can feel in the depths of my being. Baba shares his experience with such great love, enthusiasm and generosity that my heart feels at times like it will burst with overflowing gratitude when I read his words.

This project is a visual meditation on Baba Muktananda's writings about his meditation experiences, his inner visions of the Blue Pearl. He describes his visions, with remarkable detail, in the latter parts of his autobiography, The Play of Consciousness. The entire book is an account of his spiritual journey, his "creative process" par excellence, from its very beginning to its completion. His visions of the Blue Pearl mark the endpoint of the process, when he merges into the Light of Consciousness, the light of the Self, the light of the Blue Pearl.

Baba wrote: "I meditated constantly and always saw the sweet, radiant Blue Pearl in its infinite variations." This statement is of particular and striking interest to me, for I think of my series of "Blue Pearl" symmetrical photographs as variations on the same one theme. Some of the photographs presented here are entirely new, while others are transformations--variations on images I have used in previous projects. I have also borrowed images from this project for use in other more recent projects.

Whatever you have in the outer world,

in the cosmos which appears so vast,

you have in the inner world too.

The outer and the inner

are one.

Swami Muktananda

I want pause here to make an important distinction about the four-fold symmetrical "Blue Pearl" photographs: I don't consider them mere illustrations of Baba Muktananda's meditation experiences. Just as his words do much more than merely describe his visionary experiences, because his words are so charged with the grace of his experiences, similarly, the photographs presented here function for me as visual equivalents of my experience of Baba's writings. In other words, the photographs function for me as True living symbols.

True Living Symbols

The ancient yogic teachings say that it is maya, the ego, which creates the appearance or illusion of a dual, phenomenal reality that separates us from the Truth of our own divine Self. The symbol could be defined as a sacred image which visualizes, or gives visual form to, the Unity or Oneness of Being. It conjoins (re-unites) outer-world forms with their corresponding inner-world Imaginal-essential archetypes. The True symbol simultaneously contains and radiates a palpable, potentially life-transforming sacred energy, what Baba calls Chiti Shakti, and which is also, often referred to as "grace."

After Baba achieved the fulfillment of his spiritual journey and consciously merged with the Light of Consciousness, he said he became "completely convinced that there is no such entity as the phenomenal world, that indeed there never was such an entity. What we call the universe is nothing other than the conscious play of Chiti Shakti."

The Center-Point

At the very center of each symmetrical photograph there is a bindu, an invisible point where the four mirroring images meet and become conjoined. In their state of four-fold unity the images become transformed into a new, revelatory visual whole, a symbolic image. The center-point, which corresponds to the Blue Pearl, is a subtle, ineffable space from which the image unfolds outwardly into manifestation from the interior Imaginal World.

The Contemplator and the Symbol

The mystery of the Blue Pearl--its origin, its meaning, its workings--is beyond comprehension. However, just as a True symbol is the product of the merging of two corresponding parts of an outward and inward dual reality, similarly, when a contemplator merges into the living grace-filled mystery of a symbol, a silent recognition does occur, a "hidden treasure" is unveiled, and sacred knowledge is transmitted, received, absorbed. Though the meaning of a contemplative experience of a symbol may be unknown, that is to say, unsayable--because sacred knowledge transcends the mind and the intellect--the contemplator becomes transformed by the experience: one's heart opens, a subtle inner joy is awakened, the soul becomes intoxicated . . .

* * *

Notes: Most of the text excerpts I have used in this project are from Baba Muktananda's The Play of Consciousness; I have also included a few passages from one of Baba's talks published in the #77-78 issue of Darshan magazine, a Siddha Yoga publication. ~ Though I consider this project complete in itself, I am also aware of how it serves as a sequel to my last project, The Center of Being and in particular the project's Epilogue which was an inspiration for the Blue Pearl project. Thus I have placed The Blue Pearl project after the Epilogue as an Addendum. ~ This project of course must also be included in the Photography and Yoga project, and I have placed it there as an Addendum. ~ Finally, a reminder: you may click on the images, once, twice, to get a more close-up, detailed, inside view. ~ Thank you for visiting The Blue Pearl project. SF

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The Blue Pearl

Photographs & Texts

The Blue Person that I had seen is also known as the sphere of unmanifest light.

Yogis see Him who contains the entire world within Himself, within the

Blue Pearl in meditation. ~ That supreme unmanifest Being

is extremely secret to seekers. He is the goal of

the Siddha path.

This is not something that can ever be expressed

in speech or writing, even at the end of time.

It is only through His grace that

divine realization

will come.

Swami Muktananda

from his autobiography

The Play of Consciousness

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #2

Whatever you have in the outer world, in the cosmos which appears so vast, you have in the inner world too. The inner and the outer are one. . . As the eyes gaze at the Blue Pearl they become cleansed; the ocular centers become purified. As a result of that you can pick up visual signals which you cannot pick up with normal vision; you can see even without light. The light in the eyes is much brighter than the light outside. Swami Muktananda, Darshan #77-78

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #3

"The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #4

The yoga texts say that the Blue Pearl is the heart seed. Just as a seed sprouts, explodes, and grows into a huge tree, likewise this Blue Pearl contains the entire cosmos within itself. The yoga texts urge us to see all this through meditation. This is the fruit of the inner yoga, activated through the awakening of the Shakti. Swami Muktananda, from a talk published in Darshan #77-78

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #5

As you meditate more and more, you pass into the supra causal body which is blue . . . In that body you experience the transcendental state of consciousness. This body [which we call the Blue Pearl] is extremely dynamic . . . sparkling and scintillating in the sahasrara,* the divine spiritual center in the [crown of the head]. This is the Self or soul. Swami Muktananda, Darshan #77-78

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #6

A passage from the Pratyabhijna-hirdayam [sutra 3] describes the viewpoint of Shiva the supreme Self . . . [which says] that for Lord Parashiva. . . there is no such thing as the universe. He is true, eternal, attributeless, formless, all-pervasive, and perfect. He sees the whole universe, from Shiva to the earth--the moving and the unmoving, the manifest and the unmanifest--as supremely blissful Light, undifferentiated from Himself. There is nothing other than He; distinctions of seer and seen, subject and object, individual and universal, and matter and consciousness are not real. It is the vibrations of the Lord Parashiva alone that produce the countless different forms of the universe. I see that the universe is the body of the Lord and that Paramashiva Himself appears as the universe within His own being. Swami Muktananda ~ The Play of Consciousness

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #7

Wherever my mind happens to turn, I see the world in the midst of this shining mass of Light. Whenever I see anyone, I first see the blue light and then the person. Whenever I see anything, I see first the beautiful, subtle rays of Consciousness and then the thing itself. The way I see things, whether large or small, demonstrates the truth of the versus of Tukaram: "My eyes have been bathed with the lotion of the blue light, and I have been granted divine vision." Swami Muktananda ~ The Play of Consciousness

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #8

My meditation became focused on the blue light. . . I began to experience that I was entering into the center of the sahasrara* and the Blue Pearl . . . As I passed inside the Blue Pearl, I once again saw the universe spreading out in all directions. I looked around everywhere and saw in all men and women--young and old, high and low, in each and every one--the same Blue Pearl that I had seen in myself. I saw that this was the inner Self within everyone's sahasrara . . . Swami Muktananda ~ The Play of Consciousness

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #9

As I gazed at the tiny Blue Pearl, I saw it expand, spreading its radiance in all directions, so that the whole sky and earth were illuminated by it. It was now no longer a Pearl, but had become shining, blazing, infinite Light--the Light that the writers of the scriptures and those who have realized the Truth have called the divine Light of Chiti. The Light pervaded everywhere in the form of the universe. I saw the earth being born and expanding from the Light of Consciousness, just as one can see smoke rising from a fire. I could actually see the world within this conscious Light and the Light within the world, like threads in a piece of cloth and cloth in the threads. Swami Muktananda ~ The Play of Consciousness

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #10
(click on the image to enlarge)

The wonderfully radiant Blue Pearl, with its countless
different rays shining from within, came closer and
closer to me and began to grow. It assumed the
shape of an egg and continued to grow into
a human being. I could see it growing
with my own eyes and was lost in
utmost amazement.
Swami Muktananda , The Play of Consciousness

The Blue Pearl - Photograph #11

Remember that there is a divine Person residing in the sahasrar* of everyone, and that divine Person is supremely effulgent. I am saying this on the authority of my own personal experience. That Person is supremely divine. Sometimes, that being shines as a Blue Pearl in meditation and sometime He reveals himself as a human being. . . After that vision you don't have to ponder the Vedantic truth, "I am Brahman." The truth reveals its meaning to you by itself.

The supreme truth dwells within everyone. Tukaram Maharaj said truly (and I turn his words over in my mind again and again), "The Lord of the universe dwells within a house which is as tiny as a sesame seed." This is the highest doctrine, this is the highest philosophy. The divine trinity, Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesha--in fact numerable gods and goddesses appears within the Blue Pearl and disappear. Tukaram says that though the Pearl appears to be so tiny it contains all the three worlds in it. Therefore, I keep asking you time and again to meditate on your own Self, and get a direct experience of Rama, the Lord, who dwells within you, as you. You must first experience the Lord within you. Don't worry about the Lord outside. The Lord who is supposed to dwell outside has manifested Himself in your heart. Volume Five, Satsang with Baba : Questions and answers with Swami Muktananda

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #12

Every day my conviction grew stronger: The Blue Person "is truly my inner Self, whose light is spread throughout the entire universe." . . . The Blue One was my own Self, the One who lives within all, pervades the entire universe, and set it in motion, who is One without a second, nondual, and undifferentiated, and yet who is always at play, becoming many from one and one from many. He is Shri Krishna, the eternal blue of Consciousness, the beloved life-breath . . . the Self. Swami Muktananda ~ The Play of Consciousness

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #13

I came to see that just as a painter might paint many pictures on one canvas with just one color, one brush, and one concept, in the same way, there is One in this universe, despite all the different forms and colors that may be seen. I came to see, in other words, that in all differences there is only one identity. Swami Muktananda ~ The Play of Consciousness

How beautiful it was! . . . There was now just a mass of shining radiant light with no name and no form. Then all the rays bursting forth from the blue light contracted and returned into the Blue Pearl. The Blue Pearl was once again the size of a tiny seed. Swami Muktananda ~ The Play of Consciousness

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #14

Even now, when I meditate, as soon as I am absorbed in meditation, I see the mass of the blue rays of the Light of Consciousness and, within that, the Blue Pearl. . . . Now I really know that my Self pervades everywhere as the universe. I am completely convinced that there is no such entity as the phenomenal world, that indeed there never was such an entity. What we call the universe is nothing other than the conscious play of Chiti Shakti. Swami Muktananda ~ The Play of Consciousness

The Blue Pearl ~ Symmetrical Photograph #15

God has granted me the vision by which I see everything with a slightly bluish tinge. In India there is a plant that grows wild in the field, and it produces small, light blue flowers. that is the color of my eyes. In the scriptures this is called the lotion of Consciousness. Tukaram Maharaj said that when this lotion of Consciousness was applied to his eyes, he could really see. First his vision was limited, then it expanded. When it expanded he could not see the world as world any longer. He could not see people as sinners or as wicked; he could see only God's light everywhere, and everyone appeared to him to be the light of God. Baba Muktananda, as quoted by Swami Shantananda in his book The Splendor of Recognition, end of chapter on Sutra 19.

~ Epilogue ~

The Blue Pearl / The Midnight Sun / The Rising Sun

The Blue Pearl / Midnight Sun ~ Symmetrical Photograph ~ Epilogue Image #16

12x12" Exploding Blue Pearl / Midnight Sun ~ Symmetrical Photograph ~ Epilogue Image #17

The Midnight Sun / The Rising Sun ~ Symmetrical Photograph ~ Epilogue Image #18

The three images in this Epilogue is from my April, 2024 12x12" Inkjet Print blog PROJECT :

The Rising Sun

The Total Solar Eclipse

The Midnight Sun &

The Blue Pearl

to visit the project

Click Here

The words of Gurumayi:

Meditate on the Guru in the form of the Blue Pearl. It sits in the center of

a vibrating triangle in the thousand-petaled lotus of the sahasrara*.

You do not necessarily see only one Blue Pearl at a time;

sometimes you see thousands and thousands

of blue dots. The vision of the Blue Pearl

is very intoxicating. In fact, it has

the ability to remove the deepest

sorrows in your heart. . .

You can almost feel

what God feels.

Gurumayi Chivilasananda
Darshan magazine, #41- 42

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This project was completed and posted

on my Welcome Page

March 14, 2016

Latest Revision : February 2023

*Note: definition: Sahasrara the "Crown chakra"

The seat of the individual soul, hamsah, is the heart chakra. The sahasrara, located in the crown of the head, is the seat of the Supreme Self. It is here that we realize the oneness of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul. This Supreme Hamsah is the all-powerful Great Light that devours the universe. It is also the Guru Principle. ~ In the sahasrara there is a triangle; in the very center of this triangle is the Blue Pearl. This scintillating blue dot is . . . the state of gathered-up power of Consciousness that is about to create the universe. ~ The Blue Pearl "sprouts" into three pearls, or bindus, and the lines connecting them form the a-ka-tha triangle. This triangle, composed of all the letters of the alphabet, is the source of all sound vibration; then these sounds or letters come down in sequence through the chakras. The entire universe of vibrating sound is evolved from the Blue Pearl. Swami Kripananda, a Siddha Yoga teacher, from her book: The Sacred Power

3/5/16

The Blue Pearl