Faced with the uncertainty and finite span of human life, many people yearn for some form of immortality. Some hope to gain an indirect continuity of their existence through children. Others aim to remain alive using their achievements in their chosen field through fame in the memories of future generations. Religions offer the possibility of an afterlife and the continuation of consciousness in some form after death. Christianity promises the resurrection of the faithful. Most spiritual traditions believe in the immortality of the soul.

Physical Immortality

Legends about even physical immortality have existed in all human cultures. There have been stories of alchemists trying to attain Eternal Life with the help of the Philosopher’s Stone or the Elixir of Life. Folklore from different parts of the world mentions mysterious immortal beings who periodically appear in human history, then vanish and again reappear. In the West, anecdotes about an immortal German alchemist Comte de St. Germain are popular. He is supposed to have faked his death several times and reappeared with a different identity each time. Some tribal cultures have stories of shamans who can enter the other world and come back to attain a sort of immortality.

In the Eastern cultures, there is a rich storehouse of myths and stories about immortal beings and methods to manifest immortality. Hindu mythology mentions eight Chiranjeevis, beings who have achieved indefinite prolongation of life. They are the sage Markandeya, the saintly demon King Mahabali, Vibhishana (the saintly brother of evil demon King Ravana), Vyasa (the sage who composed the Indian epic Mahabharata), the monkey God Hanuman, Parashurama (an avatar of God Vishnu), Kripacharya (the first teacher of Pandava and Kaurava princes) and Ashwatthama (the son of Drona, the warrior Guru). The saint Mahavatara Babaji is believed to be an immortal who exists in a state of perpetual youth. There are people who claim to have met Babaji even in the 21st century. The Tamil Siddha Saint Vallalar is also famous for having manifested immortality.

A mysterious place called Gyanganj, also known as Siddhashram, is supposed to be hidden somewhere in the Himalayan mountain ranges. Tibetan Buddhist tradition talks of an intriguing land called Shambhala where no one grows old. Shambhala is considered an abode of many immortals and a centre of the spiritual adepts who guide our evolution.

On one side, there are spiritual and religious attempts at immortality that focus on the manifestation of the Lightbody and separation from the Earth realm and the material Universe. The conventional Christian evangelist version of Resurrection after the Second Coming of Christ speaks of leaving Earth behind. Currently, New Agist ascensionist groups also emphasize leaving the Earth to enter into non-physical dimensions. For this purpose, the followers of such ideologies endeavour to leave the physical body after manifesting the Lightbody or transform the physical body itself into a non-physical body made of light. Transcendental illusionism is a notable feature of such traditions. The underlying belief is that the Earth and the material Universe are not Divine and are mere illusions.

On the other side, there are the materialist and rationalist initiatives like that of the transhumanists who try to achieve immortality through technological enhancement of human beings to turn humanity into a post-biological immortal species. They plan to use purely technological methods like the idea of uploading the contents of the mind to a supercomputer and replacing the biological body with a robotic body. Such mechanical immortality does not evolve the consciousness, but hopes for the continuous existence of the narrow rational, ego and intellectual aspects of the personality. The transhumanists believe that the Earth and the Universe are lifeless matter and intelligence has to be implanted into the Cosmos using advanced artificial intelligence and nanotechnology.

Both these spiritualist and materialist extremes of immortality are not at all integral and offer only partial, incomplete and unidimensional versions of immortality. For example, the Lightbody that separates from the material Universe can participate fully only in non-physical dimensions and won’t be able to integrally experience the Divine consciousness immanent in matter and all the infinite dimensions. Meanwhile the rational and technological immortals will have no access to the superconscious aspects of the material and spiritual dimensions of reality. These philosophies dismiss Earthly reality and Nature as irrelevant. They also are anthropocentric and assert the superiority of humanity.

Sri Aurobindo, who pioneered Integral Yoga, and his spiritual companion, the Mother of Pondicherry, worked for the evolution of an immortal post-human species and the transformation of the Earth consciousness and matter itself through manifesting Supramental consciousness. Their approach was more balanced than that of the extreme illusionist and the materialist schools. Unlike the illusionists, they considered the material Universe as a very real manifested expression of the Divine. They also saw the Universe as made of consciousness rather than as lifeless and unconscious matter like the transhumanists think. Aurobindo’s masterpiece Life Divine discusses his vision in detail. Thirteen volumes of Mother’s Agenda present the conversations of the Mother with her disciple Satprem. In these conversations, she describes her fascinating adventure in experimenting with the body consciousness on the path to become the immortal Supramental being.

However, even the approach of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have an anthropocentric streak since they assert that humanity is superior and aim for manifesting a Surpamental being who will be even more superior to the current humanity. Also Aurobindo’s terminology is somewhat gender biased and leans towards superiority of the masculine aspect of the Divine. They have ignored the existence of the Earth as a living sentient superorganism with physical, psychic and spiritual dimensions. In that sense, the Aurobindonian path to immortality cannot be considered completely integral, though it has served a valuable role in bridging the chasm between extreme material and spiritualist versions of immortality. By harping on the dominant status of humanity over the other species, the illusionists, transhumanists and even the Aurobindonians are vulnerable to racist and anti-ecological misuse by vested interests.

Integral Immortality in Communion with Gaia

Before the male God Shiva was introduced into Tantra as the primary deity and consequently the Goddess got relegated to the status of a secondary power, the ancient Tantric traditions of India were truly integral and multidimensional. According to this integral Tantric understanding, Spirit and the material Universe are equally real expressions of the Divine Ultimate Reality with infinite dimensions. The integral Tantra saw Earth as a superconscious Goddess.

The modern Gaia theory formulated by the scientist James Lovelock that conceptualizes Earth as a superorganism, is actually a scientific and rationalized version of the ancient understanding of the Earth as a living being and a Goddess. However the Gaia theory, due to its adherence to the scientific dogma, is incomplete as it does not see Earth as a sentient being like the ancient integral traditions.

I’d like to briefly discuss here the vision of immortality in Integral Gaia Yoga, which I am developing. Integral Gaia Yoga finds inspiration from the spiritual practice of my great-grandmother and the ancient integral Tantric traditions. Over the years, Integral Gaia Yoga has evolved drawing on my exploration of various spiritual and scientific disciplines and my experiments in the integral evolution of consciousness, which continue. Integral Gaia Yoga aims to integrate all that has evolved on Earth so far and also create new aspects of individual and collective evolution for an integral planetary Enlightenment.

The core purpose of Integral Gaia Yoga is the manifestation of an integral planetary Gaia consciousness that unites humanity, all the species that share our biosphere and the planet itself with the Solar Spirit, the Cosmic Consciousness, the Transcendental Being and the all-pervading Integral Divine in Integral Communion. Integral Gaia Yoga does not see humanity as a superior species with special privileges to ride roughshod over the other species in the web of life. Like Deep Ecology, Integral Gaia Yoga recognizes the equal rights and value of all Earthly species. Our planet’s web of life is an interconnected and interdependent multidimensional whole in which each species is equally significant for the integrity of the whole. Brutal domination by any one species like humanity, will lead to serious imbalance and disrupt the harmony of the physical and spiritual evolution producing deadly side effects like global warming that threatens the existence of humanity too.

Since we are inseparable parts of the interdependent Gaian web of life, any immortality that cuts us away from the Divinity of Earth consciousness is incomplete and inadequate. Integral Gaia Yoga, in fact, considers the Gaia consciousness as the portal through which we can connect and enter into Communion with the Cosmic consciousness, the infinite dimensions of reality and the Transcendental Being simultaneously. When humanity consciously integrates itself with the planetary web of life in a full-fledged Gaia consciousness, collective immortality is possible for humanity without separating from the Earth or dominating and destroying the other species.

According to the ancient integral Tantric understanding, Earth has a network of major and minor planetary chakras, and a solar and lunar channel on both sides of the planetary spinal channel. The human chakric system highlighted by yoga is actually a smaller version of this planetary energy body through which the Spirit of the Earth shapes the collective evolution. The planetary Kundalini energy circulates in the planetary chakras like the individual Kundalini in the human chakras.

Those who aim to attain immortality by ascending with the Lightbody usually focus on the upper chakras because they consider those chakras as superior and ignore the chakras that are located in the lower half of the body. This leads to an incomplete Kundalini awakening in the individual, which separates the Lightbody from the Earth consciousness. Those who attain immortality this way will not experience an integral immortality because their Lightbody won’t be able to experience all the infinite dimensions of the Divine consciousness at the same time. Such immortal beings will have complete participatory access only to the non-physical dimensions. Though they can travel in the physical dimensions also, they won’t be able to enter into deep and inseparable communion with the dynamic aspect of Divine consciousness present as the immanent Spirit in matter.

In Integral Gaia Yoga, all the chakras are equally important for enabling an integral evolution. According to the Integral Gaia Yoga approach, the long term practice of integral meditative and intuitive methods enables the planetary Kundalini to enter the human body through the root chakra, which activates the individual Kundalini. This triggers an integration of all the chakras in alignment with the planetary chakric system. This alignment accelerates the integral transformation of the individual’s body resulting eventually in an Integral Communion with the Gaia consciousness and the omnipresent Divine consciousness.

Such a transformation ensures the manifestation of many levels of the multidimensional Body including the Lightbody in tune with the planetary Body of Gaia and the Cosmic Divine Body. Since this transformation is integral, the immortality that evolves as a result is also integral when the immortal being experiences all levels of the individual Body, the planetary Body, the Cosmic Body and all the infinite dimensions of reality including the material and non-physical dimensions simultaneously. Such an integrally immortal being could experience even other species of Earth and beings from other planets and dimensions also as aspects of One vast multidimensional and Integral Divine Communion consciousness that encompasses the Transcendental Void and all the Universes in the Multiverse. When the number of individuals who attain this realization reaches a critical mass, it could cause a collective Kundalini awakening on a planetary scale. This planetary Kundalini intensification can pave the way for the manifestation of an integral Gaia consciousness and the planet as a whole could become a completely integrated superconsciousness, creating a collective immortality for humanity and all the beings of the Earth.