Teja loka / Plane of radiation

Teja means light, and teja-loka is the plane of light. In the Upanishads, self or consciousness is said to have four states:

1. The waking state, called jagrat, in which the self is known as vaishvanara.
2. The dream state, called swapna, in which consciousness is known as taijas or tejas — full of light, or made of light.
3. The stare of deep sleep, called sushupti, in which it is known as pragya.
4. The altered state of consciousness called turiya: the unconscious/conscious state in which it is known as Brahman, Cosmic Consciousness.

Teja is the light that was created in the beginning. The world that we experience in the waking state is the phenomenal world that comes in the stage of creation before this. The phenomenal world is in the teja — in the light from which it materializes. It appears to be similar to the world of the dream state, but it is not. That state is completely made of light. The images we see in photographs look exactly like the real person, but they are different patterns of light, which vary to create an illusion of reality. Taijas is related to the astral body sukshma, which is composed of light and in which the player dwells when he dreams.

To radiate is to emit light. Omkar is sound. After sound comes air, vayu-loka. And after air comes fire, teja, the subtle element responsible for all the forms of manifestation. Fire cannot exist without air, just as the player cannot land in teja-loka without first passing through the plane of air.

Every substance has a combustion point, a temperature at which it bursts into flame in the presence of oxygen. Heat is the excitation of molecules. The faster the molecules move, the greater the heat. Fire comes when this movement is too fast to be contained by the material. As the player rises higher and higher his own level of vibration increases. In the seventh chakra he reaches the essence of vibration. Then, his vibrations fully raised, he passes through air and bursts into radiant flame, giving light to all those around him.

When the player lands in teja-loka his light can be felt throughout the world. Though there are billions of stars in the sky, only a few are brilliant enough to be visible, and there is but one sun in each solar system. It is here that the player becomes light, illuminated. He becomes a sun, gathering around himself the astral bodies necessary to form a complete solar system.

The plane of radiation is not directly attainable by any arrow. The player must reach it slowly and gradually, unless he attains illumination through the practice of spiritual devotion.