For about 20 years now I have been occasionally visited by a very bright small blue star somewhere between my eyebrows at an indefinite distance with eyes open or closed and almost always in response to something "spiritual" I was just contemplating as if it were an explanation point at the end of a sentence!  This is real light like getting a laser pointer directly on the retina except it's not painful.  It's not at all like a "mental image" or idea or something.  For what it's worth Muktananda's successor confirmed it was their (Siddha Yoga's) "blue pearl" which I suppose might be as I first saw it when looking at a photo of Muktananda years ago but I'm not sure I trust anything those guys say.  Do you have any idea?

The other notable light experience I had occured during a period of sleep/dream awareness training when I was aware of the juncture or tangency of sleep/dream/waking states and a flash of light like a whole sky full of suns happened - like liquid molten gold - veryvery bright but not painful and seemingly healing , invigorating.  I have never seen it again.  What was up with that one ?

p.s.
I had earlier asked about these in the Magick category but didn't get too many responses - sorry for cross-posting if that's frowned on!  :-)

I've heard of the blue pearl but can't say much of it.  Various lights will arise and fall, some are due to focal object, blood gives way to red lights, bones to white lights, etc.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like these lights are occuring in space, say as opposed to eminating from your body, which means different things(such as direction of attention, as well as a type of biofeedback in relation to how "laser-like" one's mind is).  Sometimes, the lights that arise if you focus into it, and use it to see through your eyelids, or see far off lands(or just your room).  Which can be fun to test.
Personally, I mainly use lights as guideposts, or feedback during practice.  Is is soft, diffuse, or sharp and crisp?  Is it accompanied by multiple senses or strictly vision/inner eye?(It does help in understanding to incorporate more than one sense).  Do you have just mainly the blue light or is it one of many?I've called that liquid light, but liquid molten gold is a very apt description.  Yes, it is healing, for me it has been.  I like to joke how with meditation, it nulls the idea of darkness or night.  You know, when you close your eyes to sleep at night, and as soon as you do, it's bright, like a flashlight in your eye.  But it's not, it's just your mind's light or whatever that light is that pours in from the top of your skull, and has an upward inner current, etc.  I noticed liquid light, and sky full of suns effect, occurs more frequently/readily with a steady practice, of a particular time frame.  If I cut back on meditation time, it doesn't occur so much so. So yeah.  Lots of lights going on.  Next time it happens to you though, if you switch from watching it to being it, it may be fun. Just my 2cs.

hi malcolm,
you say that this is a 'real light' but what does that 'real' mean?  i'm sure that its not in any way measurable or noticable to anyone else of any instrumentation that is currently available, right?

these things are all mental phenomena.  it can certainly be argued that mental phenomena are real but i don't think that is a helpful direction of investigation.

the other poster mentioned that he uses such light experiences as one would 'signposts'.  i find this VERY helpful.  in my case, certain percieved light phenomena arise like clockwork and others arise sporadically and unexpectedly.  holding something as 'real'  will promote the tendency to grasp or cling to the phenomena which is usually not helpful.  investigating the illusory nature, the arising and passing, the empty nature of everything that comes into focus IS very helpful. and again , as above, as an indicator of progress (signpost) it also has value.

otherwise its just a pretty star that you can hitch your wagon to.

tom

by "real" I only meant it (the blue light) looks exactly like what happens when a laser pointer beam hits the retina as opposed to the way things look when I am imagining or thinking them - I've never been particularly hung up on this blue one as it has no content that I know of - I'm more just curious because I don't typically hallucinate anything else.

I've only seen the "sky full of suns" thing once.  I get occasional flashes of white light when drifting off to sleep but it's the mild moonlight kind.

if I were going to "hitch my wagon" to something it would probably be the formless ecstasies brimming with noumenal significance and begging for philosophical speculation!  :-)  <--- some kind of routine jhana I think .