Welcome To
The Mystic's Vision!
The Mystic's Vision website is dedicated to the praise and glory of God and is created solely for your benefit. It is based, not on belief or religious doctrine, but on my own direct mystical experience.
Hello. My name is Swami Abhayananda. It has been my good fortune to experience God in mystical vision, and I wish to share with you that vision.
Some may think that mystical experience is a kind of delusion, but, though it is rare, it is very real. True mystical experience presents a clear and authentic window into the universal spiritual Reality.
By the Grace of God, Jesus of Nazareth famously experienced his mystical vision on the banks of the Jordan river during his baptism by a holy man named John, and when he told others of the experience, few believed him. Now, twenty centuries later, this mystical experience continues to happen periodically to devout young men, and yet the recipients of this divine Grace are still not believed, and are still rejected and ignored by the people.
Wake up, my friends. Spiritual or Mystical experience, the personal revelation of God, is a real thing. It doesn't happen every day. Nor does it happen to everyone. But it does happen to a select few.
Mystical experience, or “the mystic’s vision,” occurs as one’s individual consciousness is uplifted by Grace to union with the eternal Source of all consciousness and all being. That vision has been referred to as “enlightenment,” “the vision of God,” "samadhi," "nirvana," “Self-realization,” “the mystic marriage,” or “union with God;” but no matter what it is called, that unitive mystical experience reveals an eternal truth that is one and the same for all, regardless of one's religious affiliation.
In that revelatory mystical experience, an individual directly experiences the Source and substance of his being, and thereby realizes his own eternal identity. This is the experience by which Siddhartha, the Buddha, became enlightened; this is the experience by which the authors of the Upanishads realized their eternal Self; this is the experience by which Jesus came to know his oneness with God; and this is the experience by which al-Hallaj and Rumi and ibn-Arabi came to know ana'l Haqq, “I am The Eternal.” My friends, that rare God-given realization is the same for all who experience it.
“Ask of those who have attained God; all speak the same word. All the enlightened have left one message; ...it is only those in the midst of their journey who hold diverse opinions.”
—Dadu
The journey of the soul is a journey over numerous lifetimes to the ultimate realization that you are eternally one with God. It is a journey toward the purification of your heart, and as Jesus has taught us: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Indeed, God brings his children through their unique life-experiences to the eventual purification of their heart through love, and the reward of that purification is “the vision of God.”
Do not imagine that when you experience “the vision of God,” God will be seen as something or someone else standing before you; No, the vision of God is the divine revelation that you and all creatures, as well as all things that exist, are made of God, reside in God, and are ultimately nothing else but God; it reveals the knowledge that all this world is indeed 'the kingdom of God,' and that God truly lives within everything and everyone.
"The vision of God" is an opening of your own consciousness to the realization that you and all beings are contained in and consist of the one divine and all-pervasive Consciousness that is God. To experience that awakening is your sole goal and purpose in this journey of many lives. In reaching this goal, you will clearly know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.
Your soul will begin its journey when God mercifully awakens His love in your heart. That love is His own and has the power to draw your heart to Him, despite all other attractions. Give Him the one-pointed devotion of your heart and follow wherever He leads. O my friends, do not pass by such good fortune as this! He is in your heart, for He has fashioned you as His own image. Acknowledge His presence and follow His guidance, and He will lead you to your perfect joy in Him.
The unitive mystical vision experienced by the enlightened radically challenges the way one ordinarily sees the world, for in that vision all is seen as divine, all is seen to be the one eternal Consciousness appearing as the various objects of the world. One who has experienced that vision and has known his or her transcendent Identity as the one all-pervading Spirit is said to be a mystic. By that vision, he or she is enlightened, knowing with certainty that all beings are but waves on the ocean of God, immersed in God, united with God, and made entirely of God.
Believe it or not, my friends, there really is such a thing as enlightenment—a sudden revelation of your own divinity and the divinity of all reality. I know, because it happened to me. And that divine experience has overwhelmingly transformed my life. Now, I can't tell you how you can attain spiritual enlightenment; that is in the hands of God! I can only tell you how I did and what was revealed to me.
My mystical experience occurred in 1966, when I was twenty-eight years of age. I had been drawn to a remote cabin in the Santa Cruz mountains of California by my desire to know God. Prior to that time, I was an ordinary fellow who knew nothing of mysticism or mystical experience; but it was there in that remote cabin in the woods on one November night that God blessed me with His revealing vision and changed my life forever.
On that night, I prayed to our Father that He let me be one with Him—not that I might glory in His love—but that I might speak out in His praise and to His glory for the benefit of all His children. And, in that instant, He revealed to my inner eye that even I am in Him and belong to Him. The first words out of my mouth were, "O my God, even this body is Thine own!" He made me to see with His eye that everyone and everything exists in Him, is enveloped in Him, and consists of His own being. Since that time, I have endeavored to fulfill my promise to Him by speaking out in His praise and to His glory, solely for your benefit. By His Grace, I have seen the everlasting truth, and my only task in this life is to share that truth with you.
I shared that experience in my first book, THE SUPREME SELF, published in 1984. This book may be read in its entirety or downloaded free at the READ OR DOWNLOAD BOOKS page. However, if you would prefer to see a brief excerpt from that book, describing only the occurrence of my mystical experience, go to the Menu, the column on the left side of the page, and click on MY MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE."
My second book, HISTORY OF MYSTICISM, published in 1987, is an introduction to the Great Mystical Tradition and the brilliant mystics who have comprised its ranks from ancient times to the present. This book may also be read or downloaded free on the READ OR DOWNLOAD BOOKS page.
I highly recommend these two books, THE SUPREME SELF and HISTORY OF MYSTICISM, as fundamental to anyone wishing to familiarize themselves with the mystical experience and its perennial occurrence throughout history.
All of the Books and Articles on this website are in the Public Domain and may be downloaded free. All downloadable Files on this website are in PDF format. To open these Files, you will need to have a PDF Reader installed on your computer or device. The Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader may be downloaded free at this link: https://get.adobe.com/reader.
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THE MENU
The Menu of alternate selections appears in the narrow column on the left of this page. There, click on the page entitled ABOUT SWAMI ABHAYANANDA for a wealth of information about my history and my spiritual message.
Next in the Menu is the BOOK CATALOG, which describes each of my published books in order of publication.
That is followed by the READ OR DOWNLOAD BOOKS page, where all of my books are available for reading or free downloading.
Next is THE NONDUALITY PAGE, containing a collection of my writings on the Philosophy of Nonduality.
That is followed in the Menu by thirty-six numbered ESSENTIAL ARTICLES on various topics, each of which may be opened or downloaded individually. Each of these Articles contains a plethora of rare mystically inspired information on that specific topic.
For your convenience, these ESSENTIAL ARTICLES OF SWAMI ABHAYANANDA are collected in three volumes, containing twelve Articles each. You may download any or all of these three volumes from the Menu or from the READ OR DOWNLOAD BOOKS page and have access to all thirty-six Articles on your computer.
Also, I have recently added to the Menu a one-volume Collection of THE SUPPLEMENTAL ARTICLES OF SWAMI ABHAYANANDA, containing the following seven Articles:
1. REMEMBERING BABA MUKTANANDA
2. INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA
3. THOUGHTS OF A MYSTIC.
4. THE QUESTION OF DESTINY
5. THE NEO-COPERNICAN REVOLUTION
6. THE ASTROLOGER'S VISION
7. WHO WE ARE
Each of these seven Articles may be read or downloaded individually from the Menu page, or as the complete Collection of THE SUPPLEMENTAL ARTICLES from either the Menu or the READ OR DOWNLOAD page.
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I have also included on this website a Page for READER'S COMMENTS, to which you are invited to contribute your thoughts and comments about anything related to this website.
Finally, I've included some LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES that also focus on personal accounts of mystical experience.
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MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE AND THE POPULAR CULTURE
Mystical experience is the bedrock source of all religion. It is the source of the Upanishads; it is the source of Buddhism; it is the source of the teachings of Abraham and Moses; it is the source of the teachings of Jesus; and it is the source of the teachings of Muhammed in the Quran. Why is it then that there is so little public acknowledgement of the existence of mystical experience and its importance in the lives of the great representatives of human spirituality? Mystical experience has occurred throughout our history to a few extraordinary individuals, who having told of their divine revelations, have deeply affected the course of human religious tradition and the history of human development; and yet our popular societal culture is quite oblivious to the occurrence of mystical experience.
The “news media” may be relied upon to feature daily the latest rap star or movie queen, but when was the last time you heard or saw in the News any mention of mystical experience and its profound implications for an increase in understanding of our true nature and the true nature of our world? Is it possible that we are just in a cultural slump these days? No. It is not just the commentators of today; it has always been thus. Reporters of the secular culture have always been deaf and blind to accounts of anything beyond their sensory experience. It is only the mystics themselves who speak of mystical experience; the subject remains utterly closed to the ignorant majority of people in our popular societal culture. Frustrating as it is, the layered inequality of spiritual understanding among people seems to be an intended feature of the Creator’s universal scheme of things, and therefore the mystic’s vision will continue to remain an inconceivable mystery to all but those blessed few who are privileged to experience it. Only those who are known as “mystics” are able to speak authoritatively about mystical experience, its source, and its content. To all others, it is an unfathomable mystery whose existence is subject to belief or disbelief in accordance with each individual’s personal inclination.
On the positive side, however, the academic community is very much engaged recently in discussing ‘mystical experience’. We have seen a recent rash of learned academic articles regarding the validity or non-validity of mystical experience by academic professors whose only familiarity with such experience is from what they have read in books. But however beneficial this may be to the general awareness of mystical experience in our society, I would like to point out to these earnest scholars that one of the distinguishing hallmarks of mystical experience is that such an experience, being a divine revelation, occurs beyond the level of normal human consciousness, and is therefore quite beyond any kind of normal psychological evaluation or explication. For that reason, if an admittedly ineffable mystical experience is to be spoken of, it may be done effectively only by one who has actually experienced it. It is only fitting that what we learn of mystical experience we learn from those who claim to have experienced it. Those who are tempted to offer their learned opinion on mystical vision, without any direct experience of it, must be kindly advised to remain silent.
In one’s normal, everyday state of consciousness, it is possible to conceive some ideas about the nature of God and His creation, but it is not possible to actually see the spiritual nature of things; for that, you must enter into the divine consciousness. You must be drawn by the grace of God into an altered state of rapturous awareness, in which the divine glory is made visible and where all is clearly realized to live in the kingdom of God. I would not call it a trance, but it is definitely other than one’s ordinary state of consciousness; it is more concentrated, more focused, more awake, and only in that extraordinary realm of awareness will you be able to see your true nature as divine, as all-pervading. Unfortunately, however, there are no roads leading to this clarified state of consciousness and no directions for how to find it; it is a place to which only God can take you.
When I was a young man, Almighty God, who fills the universe and commands the elements, who is the Lord and Ruler of all that is, placed in my heart a prayer; and then He fulfilled that prayer by making me one with Himself, filling me with divine knowledge and grace. Is this not a moment to celebrate as one of the very greatest moments in all of human history? To me, of course it is. And, when the Lord casts His gaze upon you and enlightens your heart with His divine favor, the greatest moment in human history will occur for you. Until then, continue to seek Him with all your heart and soul.
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AN UNFAMILIAR TRUTH
For twenty-one centuries, we in the Western world have been fed a load of crap by the established religious institutions. The early Christian zealots claimed that Jesus was the unique progeny of God Almighty, that he was the very incarnation of God, and therefore an object of devotion. And it was these Christian zealots who originated the religious organization whose purpose was to establish and support widespread belief in that very doctrine—the doctrine of Jesus’ unique divinity.
But the truth of the matter is much more amazing and wonderful: As Jesus himself has told us, not only is he divine, but all of us are divine! Jesus was a normal young Jewish Palestinian who, due to his devotion to God and God’s merciful Grace, experienced a profound revelation during a spiritual baptism on the banks of the Jordan river. That revelation enabled Jesus to see into his own nature, to know that he was in fact the one universal Spirit, that he and all creatures are truly the projected manifestations of God, and he wanted everyone to experience that revelation as well.
But, during the lifetime of Jesus, such an enlightening experience was wholly unheard of among the public and was therefore misunderstood by many of those whom Jesus sought to teach. Because of this misunderstanding, an ignorant mob of outraged citizens had Jesus arrested and cruelly slain by the Roman government. But Jesus’ teachings also inspired a number of earnest followers, and for his followers, Jesus’ vision had only one explanation: they believed him to be a uniquely divine being who was to be exalted and worshipped as God Himself.
Today, that assumption has become a worldwide myth that many regard as sacrosanct truth, a myth that has become established in the minds of the people for over twenty-one centuries. However, over the centuries, other young men in other parts of the world have experienced the same divine revelation that Jesus experienced, and the myth of Jesus’ unique status has therefore been steadily eroding. Today, it is widely understood that a number of devout young men of differing nationalities, who have lived at various times throughout history, have also experienced such a spiritual or ‘mystical’ vision, and have unanimously testified to the content of that experience.
According to these many ‘mystics,’ it is a ‘unitive’ experience, given by God, in which the individualized soul no longer experiences its limited soul-identity, but experiences its greater Self, its Source and Origin, the Father of the universe, and knows its own eternal Identity. It knows that ‘I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. I and the Father are one.’1
To experience this Divine revelation, in which it is revealed to you inwardly in your soul that you are a manifestation of God and identical with Him is a very remarkable thing! To experience this is to experience what was revealed to Jesus, what was revealed to Meister Eckhart, what was revealed to Rumi and Ibn Arabi, what was revealed many long years ago to Lao Tze, Heraclitus and Socrates, and other favored souls throughout time.
Over the long history of the world, it is in fact only a relative few who have experienced this revelation, and today only the few have even heard of its occurrence, even though each of these aforementioned individuals attempted with all their heart and all their strength to tell of it to all those living at the time. I too have made a great effort to tell of this experience to all who would listen, but very few have the ability to even hear and comprehend information regarding the spiritual Reality.
If you haven’t known God, you cannot understand how wonderful, how extraordinarily wonderful, such an experience really is. And you are not to blame for this lack of understanding, for only those who have been graced by His revealed presence can know what it is. The question of why that experience is limited to so few, however, is a mystery that I cannot explain.
Just know that the story of Jesus is true, though it has been misinterpreted over the years. Some authors of the Upanishads have also known God, as has Plotinus, Philo Judaeus, Meister Eckhart, Ibn Arabi, Jalaluddin Rumi, and many others. I am happy to say that I also may be numbered among these fortunate souls.
I have been writing about my unitive mystical experience for many years now, and I have long known that the larger populace regards my testament of mystical experience as a fraudulent representation and considers me to be either a liar, a con artist or simply a pitiably deluded fool. I don’t think that this popular judgement is due to any fault or inability of my own, but it is rather because it’s just so difficult to know and trust what a person has to say when that person says that they have come to know God directly and intimately. To those unfamiliar with mystical experience, it sounds very much like the preaching of ordinary zealots whose only basis for their understanding is what they learned from a “holy” book.
Though I have long undertaken to tell you about my mystical experience, I have discovered that, in these current times, almost everyone believes that God and the experience of enlightenment is a myth. It seems that hardly anyone is aware of the fact that "enlightenment," the experience of union with God, is even something that is possible. And so, I am up against the opinion held by nearly the entire modern population that I am either insane or deluded or both.
It seems that it is also futile for me to bring up the similar experience of Jesus of Nazareth, since his experience is also believed by many to have been merely a myth. To speak of the other mystics who’ve existed throughout history and who have written of their experience of God is also a pointless exercise, since no one seems to be aware of their existence either. I fear for you, my brothers and sisters. I’m afraid that your deliberate ignorance and unwillingness to learn will bring calamity upon many.
According to the Gospel of Thomas, written over two thousand years ago, Jesus, near the end of his life, uttered these words:
“I took my place in the midst of the world, and I went among the people. I found all of them intoxicated [with pride and ignorance]; I found none of them thirsty [for Truth]. And my soul became sorrowful for the sons of men, because they are blind in their hearts and do not have vision.” 2
And now, in the year 2021, I too must say:
I took my place in the midst of the world, and I went among the people. I found all of them intoxicated [with pride and ignorance]; I found none of them thirsty [for Truth]. And my soul became sorrowful for the sons of men, because they are blind in their hearts and do not have vision.
I can only hope and pray that God blesses all of you with His revealing Grace as He has blessed me.
NOTES:
1. Those wishing to explore this subject further, will find more information in my article, “Enlightened Christianity,” and in my book, History of Mysticism. Both are available as downloadable PDF documents at this website.
2. Thomas, Gospel Of, Robinson, James M. (ed.), The Nag Hammadi Library; San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1977, number 28, p. 130.
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NOTE: The Mystic's Vision has been online since April 22, 2013, and as of January 24, 2022, interested viewers have registered more than 133,000 page views of this website. God has given great gifts to me, not the least of which is the opportunity to share with you His revelations, and He has granted me a most happy and satisfying life. I am now eighty-three years of age, and it is uncertain when this life will end, but regardless, this website will continue to appear online until September, 2026.
If you feel as I do that this spiritual message of mine is one that is much needed today, please feel free to pass along, copy, publicize, promote, and disseminate it to all. I am designating everyone as an active agent for the dissemination of these works. Therefore, anyone who wishes to do so may act as an agent for the distribution of any or all of my written works and may disseminate as printed documents or as downloadable Files any or all of my works that are available at this website. Be assured that anyone who has the faith and determination to carry on this work has my sincere blessing and gratitude.
God bless you every one.
* * *
My dear Father, You have given me such a wonderful life; You have revealed Yourself to me, You have allowed me to love You and to serve You and to sing of You for the benefit of all Your children. What happiness can compare to this? All praise and glory to You! All praise and glory to You!
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IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Dedication of Works To The Public Domain
Monday, March 12, 2018: On this date, I, Swami Abhayananda, born Stanley R. Trout, do hereby permanently dedicate all of my previously copyrighted written works and all of my future written works to the Public Domain. This means that I no longer maintain the exclusive rights to the publication of the books and articles written by me and listed on my website. Now these works may not only be downloaded freely but may be published and distributed in whole or in part in any language by anyone wishing to do so without any requirement of permission.
Included in the works dedicated to the Public Domain are the following books, all of which are authored by me:
The Supreme Self
History of Mysticism: The Unchanging Testament
The Wisdom of Vedanta
Jnaneshvar: The Life And Works
Dattatreya: Song of The Avadhut
Thomas á Kempis: On The Love of God
Plotinus: The Origin of Western Mysticism
Mysticism And Science: A Call for Reconciliation
The Divine Universe
Reflections On The Soul
Body And Soul
Mystical Theology
The Essential Articles of Swami Abhayananda, Vol. One
The Essential Articles of Swami Abhayananda, Vol. Two
The Essential Articles of Swami Abhayananda, Vol. Three
Thoughts of a Mystic
The (Complete) Astrologer's Vision
The Supplemental Articles of Swami Abhayananda
The copyright pages of the books on my website have been rescinded to indicate their Public Domain status, and I shall continue to maintain this website, “The Mystic’s Vision” (at www.themysticsvision.com) into the indefinite future in order to provide and maintain authentic texts of these Public Domain works to anyone who wishes to download or copy them. I ask only that, in reproducing or disseminating this material, proper attribution be given regarding the title of the work, author, publisher, and date of publication.
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If you have any questions or comments, you may email me at:
abhayananda @bellsouth.net Or at: abhayananda1@comcast.net
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www.themysticsvision.com.
Established 2013 by Swami Abhayananda
The sitemap is available at: http://www.themysticsvision.com/sitemap.xml
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The Mystic's Vision!
The Mystic's Vision website is dedicated to the praise and glory of God and is created solely for your benefit. It is based, not on belief or religious doctrine, but on my own direct mystical experience.
Hello. My name is Swami Abhayananda. It has been my good fortune to experience God in mystical vision, and I wish to share with you that vision.
Some may think that mystical experience is a kind of delusion, but, though it is rare, it is very real. True mystical experience presents a clear and authentic window into the universal spiritual Reality.
By the Grace of God, Jesus of Nazareth famously experienced his mystical vision on the banks of the Jordan river during his baptism by a holy man named John, and when he told others of the experience, few believed him. Now, twenty centuries later, this mystical experience continues to happen periodically to devout young men, and yet the recipients of this divine Grace are still not believed, and are still rejected and ignored by the people.
Wake up, my friends. Spiritual or Mystical experience, the personal revelation of God, is a real thing. It doesn't happen every day. Nor does it happen to everyone. But it does happen to a select few.
Mystical experience, or “the mystic’s vision,” occurs as one’s individual consciousness is uplifted by Grace to union with the eternal Source of all consciousness and all being. That vision has been referred to as “enlightenment,” “the vision of God,” "samadhi," "nirvana," “Self-realization,” “the mystic marriage,” or “union with God;” but no matter what it is called, that unitive mystical experience reveals an eternal truth that is one and the same for all, regardless of one's religious affiliation.
In that revelatory mystical experience, an individual directly experiences the Source and substance of his being, and thereby realizes his own eternal identity. This is the experience by which Siddhartha, the Buddha, became enlightened; this is the experience by which the authors of the Upanishads realized their eternal Self; this is the experience by which Jesus came to know his oneness with God; and this is the experience by which al-Hallaj and Rumi and ibn-Arabi came to know ana'l Haqq, “I am The Eternal.” My friends, that rare God-given realization is the same for all who experience it.
“Ask of those who have attained God; all speak the same word. All the enlightened have left one message; ...it is only those in the midst of their journey who hold diverse opinions.”
—Dadu
The journey of the soul is a journey over numerous lifetimes to the ultimate realization that you are eternally one with God. It is a journey toward the purification of your heart, and as Jesus has taught us: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Indeed, God brings his children through their unique life-experiences to the eventual purification of their heart through love, and the reward of that purification is “the vision of God.”
Do not imagine that when you experience “the vision of God,” God will be seen as something or someone else standing before you; No, the vision of God is the divine revelation that you and all creatures, as well as all things that exist, are made of God, reside in God, and are ultimately nothing else but God; it reveals the knowledge that all this world is indeed 'the kingdom of God,' and that God truly lives within everything and everyone.
"The vision of God" is an opening of your own consciousness to the realization that you and all beings are contained in and consist of the one divine and all-pervasive Consciousness that is God. To experience that awakening is your sole goal and purpose in this journey of many lives. In reaching this goal, you will clearly know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.
Your soul will begin its journey when God mercifully awakens His love in your heart. That love is His own and has the power to draw your heart to Him, despite all other attractions. Give Him the one-pointed devotion of your heart and follow wherever He leads. O my friends, do not pass by such good fortune as this! He is in your heart, for He has fashioned you as His own image. Acknowledge His presence and follow His guidance, and He will lead you to your perfect joy in Him.
The unitive mystical vision experienced by the enlightened radically challenges the way one ordinarily sees the world, for in that vision all is seen as divine, all is seen to be the one eternal Consciousness appearing as the various objects of the world. One who has experienced that vision and has known his or her transcendent Identity as the one all-pervading Spirit is said to be a mystic. By that vision, he or she is enlightened, knowing with certainty that all beings are but waves on the ocean of God, immersed in God, united with God, and made entirely of God.
Believe it or not, my friends, there really is such a thing as enlightenment—a sudden revelation of your own divinity and the divinity of all reality. I know, because it happened to me. And that divine experience has overwhelmingly transformed my life. Now, I can't tell you how you can attain spiritual enlightenment; that is in the hands of God! I can only tell you how I did and what was revealed to me.
My mystical experience occurred in 1966, when I was twenty-eight years of age. I had been drawn to a remote cabin in the Santa Cruz mountains of California by my desire to know God. Prior to that time, I was an ordinary fellow who knew nothing of mysticism or mystical experience; but it was there in that remote cabin in the woods on one November night that God blessed me with His revealing vision and changed my life forever.
On that night, I prayed to our Father that He let me be one with Him—not that I might glory in His love—but that I might speak out in His praise and to His glory for the benefit of all His children. And, in that instant, He revealed to my inner eye that even I am in Him and belong to Him. The first words out of my mouth were, "O my God, even this body is Thine own!" He made me to see with His eye that everyone and everything exists in Him, is enveloped in Him, and consists of His own being. Since that time, I have endeavored to fulfill my promise to Him by speaking out in His praise and to His glory, solely for your benefit. By His Grace, I have seen the everlasting truth, and my only task in this life is to share that truth with you.
I shared that experience in my first book, THE SUPREME SELF, published in 1984. This book may be read in its entirety or downloaded free at the READ OR DOWNLOAD BOOKS page. However, if you would prefer to see a brief excerpt from that book, describing only the occurrence of my mystical experience, go to the Menu, the column on the left side of the page, and click on MY MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE."
My second book, HISTORY OF MYSTICISM, published in 1987, is an introduction to the Great Mystical Tradition and the brilliant mystics who have comprised its ranks from ancient times to the present. This book may also be read or downloaded free on the READ OR DOWNLOAD BOOKS page.
I highly recommend these two books, THE SUPREME SELF and HISTORY OF MYSTICISM, as fundamental to anyone wishing to familiarize themselves with the mystical experience and its perennial occurrence throughout history.
All of the Books and Articles on this website are in the Public Domain and may be downloaded free. All downloadable Files on this website are in PDF format. To open these Files, you will need to have a PDF Reader installed on your computer or device. The Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader may be downloaded free at this link: https://get.adobe.com/reader.
* * *
THE MENU
The Menu of alternate selections appears in the narrow column on the left of this page. There, click on the page entitled ABOUT SWAMI ABHAYANANDA for a wealth of information about my history and my spiritual message.
Next in the Menu is the BOOK CATALOG, which describes each of my published books in order of publication.
That is followed by the READ OR DOWNLOAD BOOKS page, where all of my books are available for reading or free downloading.
Next is THE NONDUALITY PAGE, containing a collection of my writings on the Philosophy of Nonduality.
That is followed in the Menu by thirty-six numbered ESSENTIAL ARTICLES on various topics, each of which may be opened or downloaded individually. Each of these Articles contains a plethora of rare mystically inspired information on that specific topic.
For your convenience, these ESSENTIAL ARTICLES OF SWAMI ABHAYANANDA are collected in three volumes, containing twelve Articles each. You may download any or all of these three volumes from the Menu or from the READ OR DOWNLOAD BOOKS page and have access to all thirty-six Articles on your computer.
Also, I have recently added to the Menu a one-volume Collection of THE SUPPLEMENTAL ARTICLES OF SWAMI ABHAYANANDA, containing the following seven Articles:
1. REMEMBERING BABA MUKTANANDA
2. INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA
3. THOUGHTS OF A MYSTIC.
4. THE QUESTION OF DESTINY
5. THE NEO-COPERNICAN REVOLUTION
6. THE ASTROLOGER'S VISION
7. WHO WE ARE
Each of these seven Articles may be read or downloaded individually from the Menu page, or as the complete Collection of THE SUPPLEMENTAL ARTICLES from either the Menu or the READ OR DOWNLOAD page.
* * *
I have also included on this website a Page for READER'S COMMENTS, to which you are invited to contribute your thoughts and comments about anything related to this website.
Finally, I've included some LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES that also focus on personal accounts of mystical experience.
* * *
MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE AND THE POPULAR CULTURE
Mystical experience is the bedrock source of all religion. It is the source of the Upanishads; it is the source of Buddhism; it is the source of the teachings of Abraham and Moses; it is the source of the teachings of Jesus; and it is the source of the teachings of Muhammed in the Quran. Why is it then that there is so little public acknowledgement of the existence of mystical experience and its importance in the lives of the great representatives of human spirituality? Mystical experience has occurred throughout our history to a few extraordinary individuals, who having told of their divine revelations, have deeply affected the course of human religious tradition and the history of human development; and yet our popular societal culture is quite oblivious to the occurrence of mystical experience.
The “news media” may be relied upon to feature daily the latest rap star or movie queen, but when was the last time you heard or saw in the News any mention of mystical experience and its profound implications for an increase in understanding of our true nature and the true nature of our world? Is it possible that we are just in a cultural slump these days? No. It is not just the commentators of today; it has always been thus. Reporters of the secular culture have always been deaf and blind to accounts of anything beyond their sensory experience. It is only the mystics themselves who speak of mystical experience; the subject remains utterly closed to the ignorant majority of people in our popular societal culture. Frustrating as it is, the layered inequality of spiritual understanding among people seems to be an intended feature of the Creator’s universal scheme of things, and therefore the mystic’s vision will continue to remain an inconceivable mystery to all but those blessed few who are privileged to experience it. Only those who are known as “mystics” are able to speak authoritatively about mystical experience, its source, and its content. To all others, it is an unfathomable mystery whose existence is subject to belief or disbelief in accordance with each individual’s personal inclination.
On the positive side, however, the academic community is very much engaged recently in discussing ‘mystical experience’. We have seen a recent rash of learned academic articles regarding the validity or non-validity of mystical experience by academic professors whose only familiarity with such experience is from what they have read in books. But however beneficial this may be to the general awareness of mystical experience in our society, I would like to point out to these earnest scholars that one of the distinguishing hallmarks of mystical experience is that such an experience, being a divine revelation, occurs beyond the level of normal human consciousness, and is therefore quite beyond any kind of normal psychological evaluation or explication. For that reason, if an admittedly ineffable mystical experience is to be spoken of, it may be done effectively only by one who has actually experienced it. It is only fitting that what we learn of mystical experience we learn from those who claim to have experienced it. Those who are tempted to offer their learned opinion on mystical vision, without any direct experience of it, must be kindly advised to remain silent.
In one’s normal, everyday state of consciousness, it is possible to conceive some ideas about the nature of God and His creation, but it is not possible to actually see the spiritual nature of things; for that, you must enter into the divine consciousness. You must be drawn by the grace of God into an altered state of rapturous awareness, in which the divine glory is made visible and where all is clearly realized to live in the kingdom of God. I would not call it a trance, but it is definitely other than one’s ordinary state of consciousness; it is more concentrated, more focused, more awake, and only in that extraordinary realm of awareness will you be able to see your true nature as divine, as all-pervading. Unfortunately, however, there are no roads leading to this clarified state of consciousness and no directions for how to find it; it is a place to which only God can take you.
When I was a young man, Almighty God, who fills the universe and commands the elements, who is the Lord and Ruler of all that is, placed in my heart a prayer; and then He fulfilled that prayer by making me one with Himself, filling me with divine knowledge and grace. Is this not a moment to celebrate as one of the very greatest moments in all of human history? To me, of course it is. And, when the Lord casts His gaze upon you and enlightens your heart with His divine favor, the greatest moment in human history will occur for you. Until then, continue to seek Him with all your heart and soul.
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AN UNFAMILIAR TRUTH
For twenty-one centuries, we in the Western world have been fed a load of crap by the established religious institutions. The early Christian zealots claimed that Jesus was the unique progeny of God Almighty, that he was the very incarnation of God, and therefore an object of devotion. And it was these Christian zealots who originated the religious organization whose purpose was to establish and support widespread belief in that very doctrine—the doctrine of Jesus’ unique divinity.
But the truth of the matter is much more amazing and wonderful: As Jesus himself has told us, not only is he divine, but all of us are divine! Jesus was a normal young Jewish Palestinian who, due to his devotion to God and God’s merciful Grace, experienced a profound revelation during a spiritual baptism on the banks of the Jordan river. That revelation enabled Jesus to see into his own nature, to know that he was in fact the one universal Spirit, that he and all creatures are truly the projected manifestations of God, and he wanted everyone to experience that revelation as well.
But, during the lifetime of Jesus, such an enlightening experience was wholly unheard of among the public and was therefore misunderstood by many of those whom Jesus sought to teach. Because of this misunderstanding, an ignorant mob of outraged citizens had Jesus arrested and cruelly slain by the Roman government. But Jesus’ teachings also inspired a number of earnest followers, and for his followers, Jesus’ vision had only one explanation: they believed him to be a uniquely divine being who was to be exalted and worshipped as God Himself.
Today, that assumption has become a worldwide myth that many regard as sacrosanct truth, a myth that has become established in the minds of the people for over twenty-one centuries. However, over the centuries, other young men in other parts of the world have experienced the same divine revelation that Jesus experienced, and the myth of Jesus’ unique status has therefore been steadily eroding. Today, it is widely understood that a number of devout young men of differing nationalities, who have lived at various times throughout history, have also experienced such a spiritual or ‘mystical’ vision, and have unanimously testified to the content of that experience.
According to these many ‘mystics,’ it is a ‘unitive’ experience, given by God, in which the individualized soul no longer experiences its limited soul-identity, but experiences its greater Self, its Source and Origin, the Father of the universe, and knows its own eternal Identity. It knows that ‘I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. I and the Father are one.’1
To experience this Divine revelation, in which it is revealed to you inwardly in your soul that you are a manifestation of God and identical with Him is a very remarkable thing! To experience this is to experience what was revealed to Jesus, what was revealed to Meister Eckhart, what was revealed to Rumi and Ibn Arabi, what was revealed many long years ago to Lao Tze, Heraclitus and Socrates, and other favored souls throughout time.
Over the long history of the world, it is in fact only a relative few who have experienced this revelation, and today only the few have even heard of its occurrence, even though each of these aforementioned individuals attempted with all their heart and all their strength to tell of it to all those living at the time. I too have made a great effort to tell of this experience to all who would listen, but very few have the ability to even hear and comprehend information regarding the spiritual Reality.
If you haven’t known God, you cannot understand how wonderful, how extraordinarily wonderful, such an experience really is. And you are not to blame for this lack of understanding, for only those who have been graced by His revealed presence can know what it is. The question of why that experience is limited to so few, however, is a mystery that I cannot explain.
Just know that the story of Jesus is true, though it has been misinterpreted over the years. Some authors of the Upanishads have also known God, as has Plotinus, Philo Judaeus, Meister Eckhart, Ibn Arabi, Jalaluddin Rumi, and many others. I am happy to say that I also may be numbered among these fortunate souls.
I have been writing about my unitive mystical experience for many years now, and I have long known that the larger populace regards my testament of mystical experience as a fraudulent representation and considers me to be either a liar, a con artist or simply a pitiably deluded fool. I don’t think that this popular judgement is due to any fault or inability of my own, but it is rather because it’s just so difficult to know and trust what a person has to say when that person says that they have come to know God directly and intimately. To those unfamiliar with mystical experience, it sounds very much like the preaching of ordinary zealots whose only basis for their understanding is what they learned from a “holy” book.
Though I have long undertaken to tell you about my mystical experience, I have discovered that, in these current times, almost everyone believes that God and the experience of enlightenment is a myth. It seems that hardly anyone is aware of the fact that "enlightenment," the experience of union with God, is even something that is possible. And so, I am up against the opinion held by nearly the entire modern population that I am either insane or deluded or both.
It seems that it is also futile for me to bring up the similar experience of Jesus of Nazareth, since his experience is also believed by many to have been merely a myth. To speak of the other mystics who’ve existed throughout history and who have written of their experience of God is also a pointless exercise, since no one seems to be aware of their existence either. I fear for you, my brothers and sisters. I’m afraid that your deliberate ignorance and unwillingness to learn will bring calamity upon many.
According to the Gospel of Thomas, written over two thousand years ago, Jesus, near the end of his life, uttered these words:
“I took my place in the midst of the world, and I went among the people. I found all of them intoxicated [with pride and ignorance]; I found none of them thirsty [for Truth]. And my soul became sorrowful for the sons of men, because they are blind in their hearts and do not have vision.” 2
And now, in the year 2021, I too must say:
I took my place in the midst of the world, and I went among the people. I found all of them intoxicated [with pride and ignorance]; I found none of them thirsty [for Truth]. And my soul became sorrowful for the sons of men, because they are blind in their hearts and do not have vision.
I can only hope and pray that God blesses all of you with His revealing Grace as He has blessed me.
NOTES:
1. Those wishing to explore this subject further, will find more information in my article, “Enlightened Christianity,” and in my book, History of Mysticism. Both are available as downloadable PDF documents at this website.
2. Thomas, Gospel Of, Robinson, James M. (ed.), The Nag Hammadi Library; San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1977, number 28, p. 130.
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NOTE: The Mystic's Vision has been online since April 22, 2013, and as of January 24, 2022, interested viewers have registered more than 133,000 page views of this website. God has given great gifts to me, not the least of which is the opportunity to share with you His revelations, and He has granted me a most happy and satisfying life. I am now eighty-three years of age, and it is uncertain when this life will end, but regardless, this website will continue to appear online until September, 2026.
If you feel as I do that this spiritual message of mine is one that is much needed today, please feel free to pass along, copy, publicize, promote, and disseminate it to all. I am designating everyone as an active agent for the dissemination of these works. Therefore, anyone who wishes to do so may act as an agent for the distribution of any or all of my written works and may disseminate as printed documents or as downloadable Files any or all of my works that are available at this website. Be assured that anyone who has the faith and determination to carry on this work has my sincere blessing and gratitude.
God bless you every one.
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My dear Father, You have given me such a wonderful life; You have revealed Yourself to me, You have allowed me to love You and to serve You and to sing of You for the benefit of all Your children. What happiness can compare to this? All praise and glory to You! All praise and glory to You!
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IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Dedication of Works To The Public Domain
Monday, March 12, 2018: On this date, I, Swami Abhayananda, born Stanley R. Trout, do hereby permanently dedicate all of my previously copyrighted written works and all of my future written works to the Public Domain. This means that I no longer maintain the exclusive rights to the publication of the books and articles written by me and listed on my website. Now these works may not only be downloaded freely but may be published and distributed in whole or in part in any language by anyone wishing to do so without any requirement of permission.
Included in the works dedicated to the Public Domain are the following books, all of which are authored by me:
The Supreme Self
History of Mysticism: The Unchanging Testament
The Wisdom of Vedanta
Jnaneshvar: The Life And Works
Dattatreya: Song of The Avadhut
Thomas á Kempis: On The Love of God
Plotinus: The Origin of Western Mysticism
Mysticism And Science: A Call for Reconciliation
The Divine Universe
Reflections On The Soul
Body And Soul
Mystical Theology
The Essential Articles of Swami Abhayananda, Vol. One
The Essential Articles of Swami Abhayananda, Vol. Two
The Essential Articles of Swami Abhayananda, Vol. Three
Thoughts of a Mystic
The (Complete) Astrologer's Vision
The Supplemental Articles of Swami Abhayananda
The copyright pages of the books on my website have been rescinded to indicate their Public Domain status, and I shall continue to maintain this website, “The Mystic’s Vision” (at www.themysticsvision.com) into the indefinite future in order to provide and maintain authentic texts of these Public Domain works to anyone who wishes to download or copy them. I ask only that, in reproducing or disseminating this material, proper attribution be given regarding the title of the work, author, publisher, and date of publication.
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If you have any questions or comments, you may email me at:
abhayananda @bellsouth.net Or at: abhayananda1@comcast.net
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