For those who have not heard of this before, an Out of Body Experience (OBE) is just that – an experience of going out of one’s body. This is not as uncommon as it may seem. It is said that one in ten people have this experience at some point in their lives. The phenomenon is often experienced in conjunction with Lucid Dreaming or Near Death Experiences (NDE).
I had an OBE when I was about 14. I am going to try & recollect it and describe it as correctly as I can. My intention is not to explain it – that is beyond my competence! I have read about such experiences but am nowhere close to explaining them. I shall just narrate what happened. I remember it quite clearly although it was very brief.
Our family of four used to live in a small room then. It was like a living room, bedroom, kitchen, dressing room, bathroom and a loft – all packed into a space of about 150 sq. ft. No kidding. On this particular day, I was sleeping on the bed. I think it was an exceptionally good sleep that I had. Towards the end of the sleep, I slipped into a Lucid Dream. Simply put, a lucid dream is one in which you are aware that you are dreaming. I read that some people are even able to control the content of the dream. I cannot put a number to it, but I have experienced some lucid dreams. There was one whose content I don’t remember, but in that particular lucid dream I was dreaming another lucid dream within that lucid dream. That is, after I slipped into a dream and became aware that I was dreaming, I slipped into another dream within that dream and became aware of that too as a dream. Unfortunately, I do not remember the content of any of these dreams. There is something very special and unexplained about sleep and dreams as anybody who has pondered about these would know. Also, is it not peculiar that although we dream everyday, we are not able to remember the content of these dreams? We remember the content of just a handful of exceptional dreams we may have had, or the ‘themes’ of some dreams, such as flying which is a fairly recurring occurrence in some of my dreams.
Anyways, let me get back. So, I was in a lucid dream. I don’t remember whether it was a very pleasant dream, but it was certainly an interesting one, perhaps because it might have been my first lucid dream. I cannot be sure of that though since one generally has a poor recollection of one’s dreams. It was early morning. My mother was busy cooking lunch – all of us used to carry a tiffin to school/office. Just a while after the lucid dream had started, I heard my mother’s voice saying, “Apurva, wake up! Do you know what time it is?” I was disturbed by this. Here I was, quite aware, conscious and experiencing an interesting dream, and my mother not only wanted me to wake up but was also asking me what the time was. There was a kind of insistence in her voice – she was obviously not going to have her as well as the others schedules thrown out of order because of my oversleeping. I thought, maybe if I told her what the time was then she would not bother me. So, I went out of my body to have a look at the clock. It was not a ‘choice’ that I made to go out of my body – it just happened. I am sure it was not a dream or a hallucination – I would not have been able to look at the clock while I was dreaming. My eyelids were shut. Also, the position in which I was sleeping was such that my head was close to the wall on which the clock hung. The bed was located below the loft, and my head was close to the wall and approximately below the entrance to the loft above. The clock hung on the section of the wall close to the entrance of the loft. Even if my eyes were open, there was no way I could have had a look at the clock without sitting upright in bed and turning my head upwards towards the wall.
I went out of my body and had a look at the clock. Then, I had a quick look at my mother who was busy cooking. Then, I saw my own body below, about 4-5 feet away, on the bed. My purpose of getting out of my body was complete; I had seen what the time was. I went back into my body again. I said to my mother, with my eyes still shut and still dreaming lucidly, “It is 6.05.” My mom said, “How do you know what the time is?” I did not answer that. I continued dreaming – still quite aware of the fact that I was dreaming. I do not exactly remember what happened after that; particularly, whether I completed the dream or whether I was woken up by my mother pushing me by the knee. What I do remember is that that after I woke and sat upright on the bed, I looked at the clock and it was just a few minutes past 6.05 AM. Slowly, I got a recollection that I had been dreaming and had gone out of my body to look at the clock and answer my mom’s question.
Although I may have felt it to be longer, I don’t think I must have been out of my body for more than 1.5 - 2 seconds. 3 at the most. Also, as I stated earlier, it was not a volitional act. It was just something that happened. I think I recollect being a bit surprised at seeing my own body from outside. However, I was eager to resume the dream that had been interrupted by this, so I had quickly re-entered. I do not recall feeling scared while being out of my body.
A valid question that may be asked is, how could I see the clock when my eyes, the organs of sight, were in my body, and my eyelids were shut too? Frankly, I do not know. It is beyond my capacity to explain this unusual phenomenon.
Also, who was this ‘I’ that went out of my body? Again, I do not know for sure. I can only guess based on limited knowledge and what I have read about such phenomena. It is impossible that it was just my physical body that was lying below without a consciousness. I would not generalize and say that it was my ‘mind’ or ‘soul’ that went out of the body. Those terms are too vague! One’s entire being is very complex and is composed of a multiplicity of beings and sub-beings, each with a life of its own, and interactions/relationships between these beings. This is what I am gradually realizing after reading the works of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. They are a bit difficult to read and understand and cannot be approached easily, especially because of the unique language and vocabulary that they used. I read that The Mother said it is the Vital Being that is usually the one which goes out of the body. I am yet to come to a fuller understanding of what the vital being means, and so will not comment further.
It was the reading of a very brief introduction to the parts of our being that made me recollect this experience. Such an experience, I presume, would fall into the realm of occult experiences. However, considering how widely it is reported by people, it has become the subject of scientific studies as well along with other phenomena such as NDE, Lucid Dreaming et cetera. Personally, I think that unless a person is able to volitionally go out of his/her body, such a phenomenon would not have an occult significance in that person’s life. Besides, I don’t see any spiritual significance in such occult phenomena at all. Some people may have occult abilities such as being able to read another person’s thoughts, see auras, recollect past lives (if reincarnation is not just a theory), move objects remotely, et cetera. However, I can’t see how any of these would aid in inner progress. On the contrary, they would become hindrances to and distractions from inner progress for most people. I think it is fortunate that ordinary persons like me don’t have any occult abilities. Any occult experiences that do occur in one’s life however can be taken as interesting episodes and their origin pondered upon to whatever extent possible. It is the inner spiritual progress and evolution to a higher plane of being that one must not lose sight of.
