Tuesday, June 15, 2010

There Are Five Kinds of Sight or Vision (Dristi)

There Are Five Kinds of Sight or Vision (Dristi)
By Swami Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj,
from the new book, The Holy River

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The Art of Seeing

In the Katha Upanishad it is said that the Divine has created these senses to go outward and away from our true identity. Some patient and persevering practitioner desires the nectar of the inner world and brings the outward senses to the inward journey. If, after hearing about the possibilities of the inner journey, how do we behold and experience this? Seeing in this way is called Dristi -- that is, the art of seeing.

There are five kinds of Dristi [sight or vision]:

1. The sight of the waking state, that is, seeing things in the everyday world.

2. The sight of the dream state, in which we see dreams.

3. Manasi Dristi, which is seeing with the minds eye. This is the realm of the imagination, seeing while imagining.

4. Divya Dristi is divine sight, through which the vision of the celestial worlds is seen.

5. Atman Dristi is the state of seeing the Absolute Self.

In considering these five types of seeing, everyone in this mundane world experiences the first three. The last two are only developed through meditation.