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XIV
SOME EXPLANATIONS
Q: Are not religious practices like doing japa, reading holy scriptures, doing puja, etc. signs of aspiration for the Divine life? Are they not a help for reaching the highest Truth? A: It depends on the spirit in which they are done. A man can do all these things and yet remain an unspiritual man or even an Asura.
Q: Is there any spiritual value in going for pilgrimage to holy places and worshipping many gods and goddesses? Does it help in realising the Divine Truth? A: It has nothing to do with the Truth; it is a religious exercise for the ordinary consciousness.
Q: What is the spiritual utility of ‘samkirtan‘ which is common amongst Vaishnavs? A: It has a power of raising devotion, especially in the vital parts.
Q: I have read in some religious books that if one member of a family has a spiritual realisation, all the other members get Mukti by his influence. How far is this true? A: It is not true. Each has his own destiny and his entering into a particular family in one life is only an incident.
Q: Ramakrishna used to say that if a person remembers God and utters His name before another per-son even for a while in any way, it will bear fruit one day and bring about a spiritual change in that person. Can it happen like this? A: It can no more be done in that way than you can change a mouse into a lion by saying to it "lion, lion".
Q: Is there any possibility of fully turning towards God for people who remain wholly engrossed in wordly life and remember God only in times of difficulty and calamity? A: There is a future possibility for every one, even for the atheist or the one who never thinks of God.
Q: If even the atheist or one who never thinks of God has a future possibility of fully turning to God, then why should anyone enter the spiritual life and face its difficulties? A: The future possibility may only realise after ten thousand years and even then it can only come by practising Yoga.
Q : Ordinary people call for the action of the Divine Grace in times of calamity but afterwards forget the Divine ? Does the Grace act in the life of people only in this way? A: It is only with the ordinary people that it is like that, not with those who seek after the Divine. The special Grace of the Divine is for the seekers of the Divine—for the others it is a Cosmic Will acting through their. Karma.
Q: Is there any difference between the Divine Witt and the Divine Grace? Are they not the same? A: The Divine Will works on all things—it may work out anything whatever. The Divine Grace comes in to help and save.
Q: Can it be said that a sadhak who in his present life could not fully open himself to the Divine, will in his next birth again take up the Yogic life and continue his sadhana? A: Yes, it is fairly certain that he will, unless he has to exhaust first the adverse elements that come in his way before he starts again.
Q: Can it be said that those who in their present life follow the worldly pursuits with only a partial turning to the Divine, will in their next life take wholly to spiritual life? A: There is no rigid rule for that—they will follow their evolution according to what they have been, are and are aspiring to be.
Q: There is a belief that if a person, who never thought of God during his whole life, were only to utter His name or to remember Him at the time of his last breath on his death-bed, he will get mukti in his next life. Is there any truth in this belief? A: No—that is all superstition. If mukti were so easy, everybody could do what he liked all his life and simply by the trick of remembering "God" at the end, reach the supreme state. It is an idiotic idea. Q: The Puranas speak of many higher worlds or ‘lokas’. Do people after death rise to these ‘lokas’ and live there? A: They only pass through certain, not through all.
Q: People believe that a person who leads a good life or a religious life goes to Heaven after death. Is this true? A: He has some happy state for a time after death, that is all.
Q: The Puranas also say that in the next world there are thousands of Hells and that people who do evil actions in this life have to go and live there after their death. Is this true? A: That is a superstition. People after death pass through certain vital and mental worlds or through certain psychological states which are the results of their nature and action in life; afterwards they go to the psychic world and return to earth at a later time.
Q: Sometimes in dream I meet and talk to my relatives who died long ago. Why does this happen ? A: They keep in the vital world the ideas and characteristics of the physical life. It is in the vital that you meet them.
Q : Is it possible for a dead relative of a sadhak to come in his way and disturb his sadhana? A: Only if the sadhak allows it.
Q: Has Astrology no place in Toga? A: Astrology is an occult science—it is not a part of the Yoga except as anything can be made a part of the Yoga—if done in the right spirit.
Q: Can one get any help for spiritual life from Astrology? A: No.
Q: What should be one’s attitude towards Astrology ? A: As any other art or science.
Q: What is the place of occult power in Toga? A: To know and use the subtle forces of the supraphysical planes is part of the Yoga.
Q: What is the meaning of occult endeavour and power ? A: It depends on the context. Usually it would mean power to use the secret forces of Nature and an endeavour by means of these forces. But ‘occult’ may mean something else in another context.
Q: Has every Yogi to pass through occult endeavour ? A: No, everyone has not the capacity. Those who do not have it, must wait till it is given to them.
Q: Is Divine Shakti the same as Yogic Shakti—the powers which Yogis develop by tapasya? A: That kind of Yogic Shakti is not the same as the Divine Shakti. Even the Asura and the Rakshasa have powers. The real Yoga Shakti is that which comes from contact or union with the Divine consciousness and its workings. Q: Do miracles happen in a Shadhak’s life? A: What do you mean by a miracle? What people call miracle is only something done in a striking way by a process unknown to them which their minds cannot follow.
Q: Does Yogic siddhi mean the power to do something miraculously ? Is there anything wrong in using such a power if a sadhak has realised it? A: I have explained that there is no such thing as a miracle. If a higher consciousness opens a higher power in him, the sadhak has to use it as part of the new consciousness but in the right way without egoism, selfishness, vanity or pride. |