In the process of the inner journey, everything is interconnected in a magical way. As the soul exerts her effort and sincerity and develops her love of truth, she awakens and invites more help from true nature, in the form of new manifestations of essence that then help her progress further. The soul’s turn toward truth must be heartfelt, genuine, and deep. When she finally reaches this station, she begins to hear the sweet and merry music of the chariot. By turning toward truth, even at the cost of pleasure, she discovers the true and timeless source of all pleasure and bliss. This vehicle manifests first as a merriment, a festive music, a colorful carousel of brilliant lights, as if the inner space of the soul has become a place where a carnival is taking place. There is an inner hearing of light and festive music, a sense of happy and lighthearted singing and dancing. First, as the vehicle is descending, it seems the carnival is at a distance; but it keeps getting closer until it is inside us, and we are participating in the festivities. Then we see colored lights, twirling and dancing like a carousel, with an inner state of happiness, merriment, and joy. As the Markabah descends, we feel a sense of celebration for our attainment, a celebration for having made the difficult turn. The presence of the Markabah appears first as a state of true and joyful celebration: celebration of our victory, celebration of the truth, and celebration of our true nature. It is as if the Markabah itself celebrates its own arrival. For this arrival is the victory of truth, the victory of nonduality; this turn inward to the inner truth of Being is inevitably the movement toward realizing the nonduality of true nature.  

Then there is subtle or inner hearing. Inner states have sounds and vibrations, just as they have shapes and colors. We can hear rushing winds, flowing water, crashing and crackling, and so on. Essential states have their own characteristic sounds, such as the gentle sound of streaming water, the delicate tinkling of jewelry, the ringing of bells, flute sounds, and the hum of bees, to mention just a few. We can hear inner music and uplifting sounds. Our experience becomes magnified, attaining new levels of vividness. The deepest subtle capacity is the capacity of direct knowing, which is a function of the Diamond Guidance itself. You don’t go through a process, you don’t even perceive anything—you just know with certainty. All of us experience that sometimes, but this capacity can be expanded and developed. We are beginning to appreciate how far the capacity of inquiry can go. An individual with these capacities can inquire into medicine, philosophy, physics, or human relationships—any field—and have at their disposal a tremendous capacity for investigation. Unless one does the inner work that is needed to clarify these subtle senses, however, they will not be available or trustworthy for any purpose. This does not mean, though, that we all have to develop every one of them in order to inquire deeply. We are fortunate if even one is developed. To develop all of them is rare; most people will develop one fairly well, and a second one partially. But the more subtle capacities we develop, the better, because they will make our discrimination deeper, more precise, and more complete. And our field of experience will then be more available to our soul and to inquiry.  

When you wake up to the preciousness of what exists, the feeling is that of celebration and uplift. You feel amazingly uplifted. You feel celebration in a joyous way—celebration of Being, Essence, Truth. You can even hear the celebration, the preciousness, as it expands the head. The brilliant champagne drink has a music of its own, similar to the music we just heard; but it sounds more like the tinkling of diamonds together. Ever hear that sound, how diamonds tinkle? A very delicate and subtle sound. But the inner sound has a musical tone as well. As it twinkles it tinkles. [Chuckles] And the tinkling has an effect on the brain: It relaxes it, expands it, and opens it up from within, as if the cells themselves open up. The more there’s the tinkling and the relaxation, the more there’s brilliance and intelligence; and the more there is an awakening, the more there is an awareness of the preciousness that lies within us. It’s our Being.