There are various methods for transcending the body

The truth of the matter is, no matter how much you think of God, you will also have to constantly think of yourself as being beyond the body and mind. You will have to forcibly withdraw your mind for ten or fifteen minutes a day.

There are various methods for transcending the body:

1) If one can cherish intense love for a “person” for a long time, his body consciousness will disappear. By “person” we are to understand “guru”, “Ishta” etc.

2) Through knowledge and reasoning, the idea of the body disappears. Since the cause itself appears as the effect, cause and effect are non-different. I, the Atman, am the cause of the universe, therefore all is I. To see body, mind, intellect, happiness, and misery in it is nothing but a mental projection. In reality, I alone exist. This is what is meant by knowledge and reasoning.

3) Body-consciousness disappears through the practice of yoga. When the mind becomes fully concentrated on light or some other imagined object, awareness of the body ceases to exist.

4) The most natural method of all and one which is effective for everyone and can be practiced under all conditions is karma yoga. To perform an action without any desire in the mind, acting as a mere instrument of the Lord, is called karma yoga. By performing actions, as others also

SRI RAMAKRISHNA

o do in society, the mind becomes desireless. The desireless state is extremely effortless and painless. To perform all actions effortlessly and painlessly, making the desireless state the goal, is the highest ideal of karma yoga.

Wherever you go, this body will follow you and cause you pain. By knowing the unattached Atman, all suffering ceases.

Love is the only medicine which can remove the delusion of identification with the body and enable us to break through the limitations of narrowness. Real spirituality manifests as love alone.