EWS #109 Secrets of Occult Science - Part II + Q&A
March 12, 2022
Alina (0:00:36)
Namaste and good evening everyone. We welcome you to our continuing session, Evenings with Sraddhalu, which is being streamed online.
Last time, we took a very interesting theme and a whole exploration on the Secrets of Occult Science. This topic arose from a question that we received from Vani. Today we will continue on this topic and if you have any related questions, please do send your question in the YouTube chat box, or you can freely address questions by sending an email to integralstudies.in [at] gmail [dot] com. And we have some questions that we received prior. There's one name, BlueLotus, we don't know who is he. He asked this question related numbers. He says, numbers in synchronicity. Why does it happen. Another related question from Nishikant, what does a particular number mean when it appears again and again on many occasions like 28? And sometimes I myself watch the clock and I see it's 11.11 or so. It's a very good question and I invite our teacher Sraddalu. Namaste.
Sraddhalu (0:02:23):
Namaste and happy to be with all of you and a very interesting topic that we are continuing with part two on occult science. I would say generally occult sciences because there's a whole category of sciences which come under the theme of the occult, because they are unknown or unseen to our immediate perception of the universe which is very superficial. In time though as our physical science and our more penetrating explorations go deep we as if peel off layers. What was occult begins to become more and more visible and what is now seems to be occult will eventually become more overt, more visible, more accessible.
Just to push the analogy a little bit, to an animal the power of intellect and reason is occult, hidden, concealed behind the immediate process of the sense mind. As we evolve, those things come forward and become part of the normal human experience. In the same way, intuition is presently occult to us and comes forward. But by occult, generally we mean something much more rudimentary, even on the levels which are physical, vital and mental of what is currently organized in us, levels behind, which are still hidden and occult and those two have to come forward. In the discussion we had last time, we covered quite a wide spectrum of variations or insights starting with Sri Aurobindo's explanation of how the Satchitananda which is involved in inconscience using the screen of a physical energy tends naturally to express or give form to what are deeper principles of its working and so those automatically appear in what is a chaotic apparently chance working of universe; you find these rhythms, these forms, these focal points and relationships and so on which tend to reflect. And yet the infinite freedom of the Satchitananda also reflects around each of these focal points to make infinite variations of specific determinates. And it's a very philosophically formulated vocabulary because Sri Aurobindo is including a whole range of phenomena with just that word. But as you saw it is very precise, accurate description explaining all these phenomena in one go.
We looked particularly last time at the deeper sense of these three words design, quantity and number which Sri Aurobindo describes as the powers of existence-substance whereas quality and property are powers of consciousness and its force, which is residing in existence and from there can be made manifest and operative by a rhythm and process of substance. And this we saw was really at the root of all such occult magical phenomena. We touched upon number ratios, geometry, sacred numbers, magic squares, colours, symbolism generally. And so that was, I would say, a brief superficial exploration of what is otherwise a very vast field. And I would depend on your questions to widen the scope of what we explore further.
Sraddhalu (0:06:24):
And so the first two questions from Blue Lotus and Nishikant about number synchronicity. Just to give it a recapitulation, we saw that numbers represent in themselves something which is eternal. Spanning in their relationships across time, across space, 2 plus 2 always remains 4. So, to take Nishikant's number 28, what is 28? You can say it is, it can be decomposed into 7 multiplied by 4. 4 itself you can decompose into 2 x 2. And so, you may consider 28 as composed of 7,2,2 and you can play with it as a combination or you can play with 7,4 or you can see 28 as a thing in itself. Although it can decompose into 7 and 4, it is not made of 7 and 4. It is a thing in itself. So there are different ways of approaching. You can even merge 28,-- 2 plus 8 and make 10 out of it, then you can further merge into 1. So these are all different kinds of number play. Each number play suggests a different kind of meaning or symbolism to it.
Recently, there was a number play which has been much in circulation in view of the current Ukraine war, where if I just look at this, the first world war started on 28-07-1914. If you add all the numbers you get 68. Second world war started on 1st September 1939. You add all the numbers you get 68. And then the Ukraine, well we will say invasion war, started 24-02-2022 and the total again comes to 68. Now it's an interesting total for all three. It does not mean that this is a third world war because there have been far greater, more destructive wars which have taken place in Iraq, in the invasion from the US in Iraq and similarly their invasion in Afghanistan, far greater destructions, far greater numbers of people which died within a few days by the sheer bombing that took place before even foreign troops set foot on the soil. In comparison, what's happening in Ukraine is barely a hundred. It's not even of a category that one could suggest is a serious war. But the number pattern is interesting and so one sometimes one has to ask does that number mean something or is it just an interesting connection.
Sometimes you notice when you are obsessed with a particular number, let's say, you have a favourite number or a number that you have decided is going to be your lucky number you start looking for it and as a result your mind as if tilts, leans to looking for it. The habit remains at a subconscious level and then in your normal routine of life, maybe you're travelling you look out of the window of a vehicle and suddenly that number strikes you and say, oh that's interesting and then again the next day the same number strikes in a different place or you notice that same number in an email or a time or you look at the watch and the number is there. It's as if something in your subconscious has now learnt that this number is important and I need to look for it and each time it notices it, it pops out to your surface conscious mind, ah here's that number and draws your attention to it. And so now we find the number popping up everywhere. You can try this as an experiment. Decide that a certain number is going to be important to you and spend a few days looking for it, observing. And you'll find it's as if sets in motion a rhythm or a tendency subconsciously that makes it pop up more easily now. Similarly with certain names. All of us have perhaps have had that experience of a name that you are currently particularly obsessed with or focused on pops up somehow everywhere.
So the question really is, is it an important number therefore you notice it or is it because for you it was important and therefore the number came to you? And in a way both happen. Yes, you wanted to ask something, Alina?
Alina (0:11:16):
Yes, I want to ask something because you mentioned 68 and today I was reading in a passage in Mother's Agenda that in 1968, later on after she already initiated the Auroville Foundation and later on she declared very seriously that Auroville was created for this main reason to avoid any further destruction like all these terrifying wars or whatever happened till now in the world. So does it have any relevance? It is interesting.
Sraddhalu (0:11:54):
Are you talking about 1968? Yes, again in the number play you see Auroville was founded in 1968. Of course if you do the 1968 then the total becomes different. But if you just take 68, ah, interesting, that the number resonates as if. And perhaps it has a meaning in the resonance, perhaps it reflects in surface forms an inner resonance of ideas or forces. So, in the ancient science, let's say of numerology, the intention was more to observe these resonances and look for patterns that could suggest something. So for example, during a certain period, I just decided that if I look at the watch and the number was 555, so 555 or 444 or 333, if I find the same digit repeated then it will mean that I am aligned somehow. And that's the meaning I gave to that and then it became a way for me to fix my consciousness to align also. And then of course when it did pop up more frequently naturally, I said, ah now I am better aligned. But aligned to what? If you think about it you can give yourself a meaning that I am aligned to, let's say, the divine Will. Or the reality is you're aligned to the idea of seeing that number repeat more often. At the very least, isn't it?
So in a way, it can have a very superficial resonance or it could mean a deeper resonance. And just in itself, the number resonance need not mean anything deeper. Could mean, but equally it could mean something shallow. This is in fact the problem of all such symbols. You can be looking for omens, symbols, signs and people now in the current New Age vocabulary they'll say the universe is telling you, the universe is talking to you, but what is this universe thing? What level of consciousness does it represent? If I, for example, could read your mind, and I know that you're looking for a particular sign, and I had the means, I could pop up the sign and influence you, isn't it? Does that mean the universe is working through me? Or is it my desire and interest which is working through your gullibility, or using your gullibility. I'm raising this as an example especially because a lot of people tend to rely on these signs as a divine guidance. It need not be. As I said, any being of the lower vital world, especially the domains very close to the physical, can read your mind. Some of them can influence or nudge events or push ideas or suggestions into people nearby and therefore make happen a sign that you're looking for. Or the reverse, just the fact that you're looking for the sign just as when you're looking for a special number, creates as if a suction, pulls energies, pulls circumstances and intends to make that happen.
Similar to what happens if you, for example, fear. You fear something will happen. Oh, is it going to happen? Is it going to happen? You are fixating on that thought, giving it, feeding it energy and then the thought form with the energy that you have put into it goes out and tries to actualize itself. The more you fear, the more you think of what you fear, the more energy of distress and worry you put into the fear idea, the more likely you tend to make it happen because you attract or even create those circumstances which you have fixated on. So very often it can happen that the fact that you're looking for a sign will trigger for a sign to happen. So you have to be very careful.
Sraddhalu (0:16:03):
My recommendation, especially for those of us who have a conscious spiritual aspiration, do not rely upon omens, symbols and such indications. The only reliable indication you have is that which comes from the deepest psychic intimation in the part deep within you where you are aligned and feel close to the Divine Mother. And very often we tend to confuse that part with deeper sentimental emotions but it is not an emotion, it is a state of deep closeness and intimacy in the presence of the Mother that you feel, although you may have emotions but the thing itself is not emotion, and what is felt and known there is known without emotional content. If you feel an emotional associated with that knowing be sure there's a mixture. When it is purely known there is no emotional content and at that point there's a simple test- what happens if I refuse to follow it? I know I should do this or I feel this is the right thing. If I refuse to do, it just retires, recedes or just stays quiet. It's not bothered. Then you can, that's a test. Then you know, okay, this is likely to be a true guidance. When you feel in not following a certain distress, a disturbance, lack, missing, then you know there's an emotion mixed in and you must consciously dissolve that personal preference or attachment.
So it's part of a culturing to consciously turn to that deeper sensitivity or if you have trained your mind to become quiet to receive what comes as an intuition. And the character of intuition as well as this touch is it is self-evident. It does not need external justification. But the distinction between this inner feel and the intuition is that the inner feel may know this is the right thing, but I don't know why. I don't know what will happen. I just know this is the right step. Maybe you take that step and then further intimation suggests now this or not. But when the intuition comes, you see why, you know why. In intuition there is the knowledge of the thing, not necessarily complete, but there is the knowledge aspect and with it a smooth, if you allow the intuition to flow, a smooth turning into action of what is known, almost effortlessly. So observe these, both of these are capacities or skills or sensitivities that we must cultivate consciously and I'm dwelling on this as the most reliable means to know. Until then these numbers popping up or other symbols and omens are interesting. Notice them for interest, you can understand that they represent at best resonances between different let's say qualities or tendencies of energies but you cannot know if it is something superficial or deep.
As in the example I have given regarding the number for the wars, there are other dates also and other events where you might get 68. It does not mean it is a third world war. All it suggests is ah, here's an interesting alignment, a tendency, a push, something happening, that's it. So, this is as regards particular numbers. As I said, if you want to give a meaning to it, there are various ways you can decompose. I think I gave at least four, maybe five such ways. Each would give you a different meaning or symbolism. Number 28 in itself. Break it up into 7 and 4 you get a different symbol. Look at the meaning of 7, 4 and you can create a meaning or 7, 2, 2 or 2, 2, 7 or since it is 28 you can well, then you add 2 and 8 to get 10 and you have a different meaning or 1 and 0 and you have a different meaning. So straightaway you had four or five different ways which give different meanings altogether, each one of them. And you could pick the one that you like, isn't it? But at some point it makes you wonder whether it makes sense even to play with it. In those who follow a fixed system, they may always reduce to one particular type of decomposition. I deliberately showed many, to show you that there are many ways to understand this. But if they follow one system, they are stuck within that and nature of course is infinite freedom. So any one system occasionally will work, show interesting connections, but mostly it will tend to fail. And this is what happens with all systems. If the system has to become more useful, it has to become increasingly complex until it begins to come close to Nature's freedom and catches various lines of Nature. At which point again the system itself has to break up because any system is limiting.
Sraddhalu (0:21:25):
Eventually, and it is my experience and I can say this with some conviction of experience, because I've studied over many years all these different types of systems and occult knowledge etc. I don't know if I mentioned last time there was a book called Dictionary Encyclopedia of Occult Sciences and I think I would have gone through it a couple of times in my teenage years just to understand the science and this is what I discovered. All these were mentally formed systems and people gave to it an exaggerated place. Eventually though they work sometimes they fail most often or at best they give an indication, look in that direction. But when I look in that direction, there are 20 things I see which of these will I pick and it's your expectation, it's your subconscious or sometimes a deeper intuition which suggests for you to look at one particular thing and so that acquires a meaning and you'll say, the system showed me. No it was not, it was the intuition that used the system to highlight something to you.
Therefore as a conclusion I will say observe the numbers, don't give them too much importance or other omens. Work on the intuition and the inner guidance and looking at the omen, the intuition will say, ah this is what it is. That would be reliable and the omen would have been just a point of support for the intuition to bring your surface mind to attention. Pay attention, I'm showing you something. If the omen was not there, the intuition would still be there but you might not be listening to it. I'll give an example. I was in Orissa. We had gone to see one of these persons who has a palm leaf which is supposed to read your mind and answer your questions. So it was one of those very interesting experiences that I can share on another occasion. We were coming back from that. He was a priest in a temple. So it was an interesting experience in the temple. I was with a friend. We were coming out and as we were about to step out of the temple gates. Just above our head, there was a pigeon that flew rapidly right to left and we were surprised because it was a sudden movement and then from the surprise as we turn down we see a huge toad about this size, rarely seen and these things are scared of humans. In full daylight, for this toad to be sitting at the foot of the door of the temple sill and it goes plop, plop, slowly, plop just across us, crosses from right to left. It was so odd, so unusual that you had to give it a special meaning. First that bird, then the slow frog on the soil and of course my friend was into all kinds of things so I asked him, what is this, and he couldn't make out either. This is the point I'm making first.
By itself a symbol is just that, a symbol. It is in the interpretation that you gain the insight. If you do not interpret correctly, then the same symbol would be well, wrongly understood. At the end of the day, the symbol only draws attention to something happening. It is the intuition which will give you the true knowledge. So what happened in that case? We were to return by the highway, a journey which would have taken an hour and half at most. Instead, the driver took a detour. He took a mud road, he said its a short cut, it will save 20 kilometres, but the road was so horrible, full of stones, that we were bumping along for 20 kilometres less. We had to slow down by more than half and we were bumping along. So in practice, we ended up spending almost three hours in the journey within a very uncomfortable travel for trying to save 20 kilometres. And then suddenly the symbol became clear. The bird rapidly going was the highway, the toad going slowly in mud was this detour and so it's as if two paths were before us, two paths had opened and we had a choice. But at the end of the day, even after knowing this, what was the message? What was the guidance? There is no way you could have known unless the intuition showed you, oh, there's going to be a choice.
So coming back to the point of the numbers, yes, play with them, have fun, but don't give it too much importance. Work on the intuition and at that point you will find the omens or the deeper sense of omens would also be visible to you and perhaps you may not need the omens anymore. The intuition itself would be an indication revealing what you need. So this is as far as these two questions are concerned. I'm just going to go through the chat questions. Okay there's a question about money, we will come to it later.
Alina (0:26:42):
Can I ask one more question? So I was reminded now when you spoke about numbers. Once, many years ago, I went to see a priest in our Orthodox Church in Romania. And this man said he was known to have some clairvision and he would guide people. So when I was in front of him, he said to me, oh, you have a tilted number three, which is upside down. Let me correct that. It doesn't have to be like that. And when I was there, I didn't know what he means. But after I left, I said, Oh, he couldn't recognize the symbol OM, which was on my forehead. He recognized it as a tilted number three. I was wondering, yeah, what he could sense, what was that he could see because he couldn't say, oh it's OM on your forehead, he comes from a different tradition.
Sraddhalu (0:27:47):
Yes, so obviously he had some kind of an inner sight, he picked a symbol but the meaning of the symbol was not there. So he lacked intuition. Very simply, had he had an intuition then he would have perceived this as representing the vibration of whatever it represents. You would have caught the vibration, not stopped with the physical form of the symbol. This is the problem with all these types who get into, I will say, ritual magic. So in ritual magic, it's as if the occult knowledge is reduced to a very simple ritual formula. Take a pen made of this particular material of this wood or whatever and then you will draw this particular square, write these symbols, these numbers, repeat these words, put this light of fire, repeat this mantra, whatever form it takes. You've all seen such rituals, at least in cinema. So somebody does something and then there's a result. Ask him, why is that result? I don't know, that's how it works. You go to a chemist and he says, if you mix these in such and such proportion you will get this outcome. Why? The fellow says, I don't know, that's the formula I was given. It's basically on that level of ignorance. You have a formula, you use it without understanding. But on that level you are only playing with symbols and you don't really know what they are and you don't know what is happening. And a lot of people who have a, I will say, clairvoyant sight at a very rudimentary level, they catch these symbols. Even in the aura, they will see colours, forms. I recall reading one of these persons who had an opening of the subtle vision and he said, I would sometimes see black squares or rectangles in the aura of a person and he said, I don't know what to make of it. There's nobody to tell me what it means, but I could see it like that. And he said the only thing he could discover over time that he noticed that it had to do with illness. That's all he could make. But that was an observation, not an insight. Whereas somebody who comes from a more intuitivised consciousness, cuts through the form of the picture, let's say, and feels the vibrational quality, feels what that energy is about to do or is doing and can describe more accurately. And so again, coming to the general guideline, I will say work on these, on the intuition and what you will gain is far more valuable than if you focus on these techniques.
Alina (0:30:20):
So, it's interesting because in, in my country. I mean, I could say that our nation has a very great opening towards mathematics, they're very good at mathematics, informatics, as Indians, and they have a high opening towards this numerology. I remember myself being consulted with one who was doing numerology and I don't know why we we give more value than what it truly represents. Is it because we have this mathematic mind and then that is what giving more importance?
Sraddhalu (0:31:05):
That is one side you see, I will put it another way. The tendency to be comfortable in mathematics is the phenomenal result of a development of the abstract part of the mind. So when in a group of people, the abstract part of the mind is very developed, of course, mathematics becomes comfortable, interesting, fun, but also it means that that abstract part is ready to open to higher things, if you turn up. Otherwise, you turn to something intermediate. Mother's general observation about the East European countries was that she said that there was a great opening to the occult in those areas generally speaking, which compared to the Western European countries where the opening is not so occult, far more physically fixated and again there are variations, like you will find among certain cultures like the Irish, there is an opening to the subliminal. I won't use the word occult. See, East European region there is a lot of occult tendency. In the Irish there is a more kind of an intuitivization in the mind but focusing on what is just behind the veil, not necessarily going all the way to the core. So you will find in their culture, in their traditions, stories which are associated with things which are behind the veil. But if you stop with that, it is an occult but it has a different quality than in let's say East European spaces. There again, there are variations: In some areas, it goes into a kind of a dark occultism; other areas it has even an opening to higher, well, spiritual turn even and you find a lot of this mixture unfortunately. In certain spaces there is still even today remnants of traditions which go back to in the Middle Ages where they peaked in a lot of these occult practices including certain lineages of knowledge but all of them, all over the world, including in India, all these lineages tended to fall into very superficial or applied knowledge, losing their original links because of the general decline that took place in humanity. Even the knowledge of the transmutation of metals was very strong in some of these areas. I had this experience when I had gone to the heart in the Czech Republic. What is the capital?
[Alina] Prague. Prague.
[Sraddhalu] Prague, that's right.
[Alina] You saw the clock. The very famous clock.
Sraddhalu (0:33:56):
Yes. In Prague, you could feel in the atmosphere. You see, it was one of the cities which was not destroyed in this during the Second World War. You could feel in the atmosphere the continuity of that lineage or let's say, as if there was a whole weight of the past 1,500 years was the sense I had, of this knowledge of occult sciences as well as of alchemy particularly. And while I was there in the newspapers there was a big article about how just a few months before the river had flooded, it broke the banks of the river and cut into the side and when the flood receded, it had cut into a secret chamber which was still intact, full of the materials used for alchemy. Obviously the government stepped in and seized everything and it is possible that some of the material which involved a specific knowledge might have been taken away also. But then they made a museum out of it and people could go and see whatever remained. But you have to ask yourself- underground chamber with alchemy, materials, writings and special flasks, materials for experimentation, still intact, obviously has its own resonance and influences a people and even a culture.
So, one can look at cultures in this way, trying to feel what is behind, what is the burden of knowledge or experience that they carry, with it one feels the karmic tendencies. So if in a particular space and now I will point to a few perhaps as a suggestion in the Middle East where some of this magic turned to black magic. The result is a huge karmic negative accumulation which means a lot of suffering for the people today. Even if lineages of knowledge survive, which they find difficult to, where there is so much pile-up of the destructive karma, the suffering of the peoples tends to happen, tends to continue. And some of the problems which you see in the western part of the Middle East, in the Palestinian region, etc., a lot of this goes back to that period in the region of Babylon, Sumeria and all the way to what is currently Palestine. There's a lot of things which had sunk into a kind of a dark magic and there's a burden there.
Similarly in certain patches you will see, when I was in in Prague I had the sense in a certain part it was very clear that there was something which was not so comfortable. But it’s like that. So this is just to come back to our general discussion about symbolism and the knowledge which can come with it. Everything is useful, but superficially useful or profoundly useful depends on what is behind.
So looking at questions here, there's a question from Rupal, “looking at the Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s symbol, can it be used for meditation?”.
You can use any symbol. What matters is the meaning that it has for you or the meaning that is infused into it. So in again to bring it to our general topic of occult science, the traditions in occult science use symbols for a certain purpose. So for example in certain occult technology, I will use this word, the mastery of the five elements is essential for mastery of material processes. If you really want to change, influence matter, well, it is caused by five elements. So if you master the powers behind the five elements, the occult principle, the beings even, then you control them or you have a pact with them, then they do things or you can do things. So a lot of the knowledge really revolves around these five elements and the mastery of five elements. Again depending on systems it's done in different ways. They use symbols and each has a symbol. Now if you go into the Hebrew tradition particularly with the Kabbalah, they have specific symbols for the five elements. If you go to Sanskrit, it's a different symbol for the five elements or if you try to abstract from it what is the most essential, you will find you can as if transcend the formal symbol that is the form of it to the meaning of it and relate to it directly and then without using physical symbols invoke or evoke that particular action or vibration.
[Alina]
In China we have a whole system called acupuncture based on the five elements.
[Sraddhalu] Yes and you have symbols, physical symbols?
[Alina] Yes, yes, yes, we have symbols and all the symbols because if you go in the depths, that's, oh, it's almost going back to the roots of our...
Sraddhalu (0:39:18):
So I'm generalising from the questions and particularly because our theme is occult science. I had remembered one thing I had read during that time when I was studying these things that a lady who had gone out of her body, had approached somebody who was sleeping, in her subtle body. And when she approached too close it was as if she was repelled by some fiery symbols and then the person comments that, ‘oh, the person before sleeping had surrounded themselves with those symbols as a protection’. So when she came in her subtle body, it's as if those symbols became radiators of fire as if protecting and I said to myself, yes of course, the same principle should apply if you invoke the Mother's symbol around you or Sri Aurobindo's symbol around you. I remember that was pentagrams. I said Sri Aurobindo's symbol is far more powerful because of the meaning it has for me and the power infused into it by Sri Aurobindo himself. So yes, you could do things like that. You could concentrate on a symbol, invoke a symbol, imprint a symbol.
I just give another personal experience here. So because I was at that time interested in these things, I was, every evening I would lock the door and I was still in my teenage. So I would lock, I was given the charge of locking the door at night. I would lock the door and visualise Mother's symbol with the intention of protection and I did that every day. One night it so happened because as I was going to go to lock, maybe someone, my mother called me or something, I was distracted, I locked it while talking and I did not consciously invoke that symbol. Next morning our neighbour from across the street comes to us and informs us how in the middle of the night, past midnight, he was awake, he was on his terrace, he was looking. He saw a young boy on the road, climbed into our house, wandered around, and of course the doors were closed internally, and he couldn't find anything useful, he jumped across the wall and went away. And our neighbour said, I didn't do anything because he didn't have anything in his hands, so it was okay, otherwise I would have stopped him. And I said to myself, interesting, the one day that I do not remember, something like this happens.
And again the question comes, is it that in the balance of forces, it was about to happen, and I slipped in the symbolism? Or is it because I slipped that the gateway was left open and someone could get the idea to come in? Or maybe it would have happened anyway and I would have said, well it was the protection which prevented it from, prevented the person from stealing? It could be any of these three and the problem with most people is because they do not think rationally, they will give a meaning which suits. So if they had concentrated on a symbol as, ‘I see, the symbol protected’. Or they will say, ‘see I did not invoke the symbol therefore the protection failed’. Now these are completely contrary conclusions you may make from exactly the same event.
So end of the day, still the question is this. It's not so much the symbol, the intention you place, yes of course it has an effect. The symbol is a way for you to focus on the material level with an image with the form what is otherwise a truth of consciousness. But do not bind yourself, do not get into a whole obsession around it because you see once you get such an idea, you will start doing this everywhere, anywhere. There are people I know who will go out of the way to, you know, obsessively ask for protection at every detail as an expression of their fear and insecurity and you end up emphasising the fear and insecurity. So be careful. Yes, there is a principle behind. Yes, there is a power in use of symbols, but don't become a victim of your own insecurities in the process. Look at what is behind the symbol, that is the greater truth.
Sraddhalu (0:43:46):
So, Yadav asks, occultism is not recommended according to the Mother unless you have a hint. If you have even a little bit of fear, then it is not recommended. And the discipline is stricter than yogic discipline, execution more precise.
Yes, some of that. If you get into occultism as a ritual form, precision becomes extremely important. If you are in occultism, you are dealing with beings and forces of the subtle worlds. Yes, you have to be fearless. And so yes, those who are, let's say, born for occult technology or mastery have a certain type, a certain vital temperament of a very earthy, strong vital. They are the ones who are most capable of entering those spaces, fooling around with those beings and still being strong enough not to be overwhelmed. And that's as far as occultism is concerned. But what I'm concerned about here is not so much those practices, but the science, the understanding and to the extent applied in our life for those who have a spiritual aspiration. Because at the end of the day the occult is only the hidden which opens all the way to the spiritual. And if you're not going to enter with interactions with beings and the lower ranges of these powers, you don't need all that. You act directly in interaction with things of the inner and higher which is also occult, but much more opening to the spiritual.
Linda asks about the development of intuition, what can be done for that?
You will recall we have discussed this in great detail in some of the earlier sessions, I believe from number 62 onwards, is it? Or 67 onwards of the evening series, where we dwelt on the four… 65 onwards, on the four practices that Sri Aurobindo recommends. The first of these is the ability to silence your mind and to be able to make it silent at will and hold it for as long as you want. Then the second and third would be the opening inward and upward to be able to receive from within or from above. But if you work on this, the first one, the next two and three become easy and I'll link it to what we just discussed two sessions ago, I think in the session 107, where I said, develop this skill of thought without words and awareness without thought.
And you'll find it is great fun. And that's one of the best ways to develop your capacity to receive intuition because when intuition comes in its purity it is above thought and naturally above words. When it comes into your mind, if your mind is in activity of words or thought it gets distorted or it gets locked into the mix of your own forms. You are able to receive in the silence and then you allow it to take on forms of thought and then forms of words and it does it. You don't do it. It flows, takes on those things. The analogy would be very simple with those of you who have tried to write a poem. You can construct a poem with your thought. Or sometimes the poem forms itself using words whose meaning you're not very sure, but you know it's the right word. You write it and then you check in the dictionary, ah yes, it means exactly what is needed. And that's the sense of how the intuition works. So there are various practices and I would not repeat that. Do look at those sessions.
Sraddhalu (0:47:40):
Another question is from Anuradha: “How much practice is required for out-of-body experience and can one learn occultism in Pondicherry?”.
Well, anywhere in the world you can learn. The question is what are you looking for in occultism? And I would not recommend going into things which involve engaging with the lower ranges because it's a very dark, treacherous, even deceptive domain. What I would rather encourage is what we have,-- the general approach we have been taking here is to become conscious of the inner and higher ranges of your own consciousness. Out-of-body experience can be very interesting for those who have a natural inclination to it. Maybe I can share some of my own initial early experience with this, because I for a while I was obsessed with ‘I must be able to have this experience confirmed for myself’ and there was always this fear, I don't want to cross the threshold, because beyond that you open yourself to attack also. So I had a few experiences and the methods are very simple really. And I had the experience of awakening in the subtle body, becoming conscious, ah yes, now I am in my subtle body. And then immediately because of that, the first time it happened, immediately because of that, you get pulled. Just the excitement or the disturbance of that, the shock of it, you get pulled back to the physical. And what was interesting is there was continuity of consciousness from that state to the full waking state. And so what happened is in the subtle body one is conscious all around. It's as if you're aware in a 360 degree awareness. And you may use the word vision but it's not eyes seeing, it's consciousness seeing, aware. So there's a 360 degree awareness. You can of course zoom in on a certain area. The moment you zoom in, you tend to identify or move there. So from that state, where I was aware all around, floating obviously, it's as if the field of sight vision began to narrow rapidly, came to something very narrow, which aligns to the physical sight and then as if shut and transitioned into the physical body where the eyelids were closed and then the eyelids opened to the physical vision. Very interesting. The fact of continuity was very important and that was one of the gifts that I received.
So during that period when I was trying it out, doing some basic practices of becoming aware in the subtle body, finally that's all it comes to. But because I was interested, I asked my teacher MP Pandit further about this and then he said to me very simply, when you are ready the Mother herself will teach you. At that time I was not sure whether that would be possible in the sense that you know, I did not have that sufficiently living contact I will say to have that certainty; well, how would she teach, why would she teach, how will I even know and she is in her, how will I get in contact with her, you know it was all these questions would have been there as a doubt. Today I will confirm with the same conviction, I will say, ‘yes, when you need the knowledge, it will be given to you by the Divine Mother to the extent that you are ready, to the extent of your current capacity’.
Sraddhalu (0:51:20):
And again I will share an example here. This was somebody, an American, he had he was in the ashram at that time he was fascinated with occultism but in a I would say unhealthy fascination, more about powers. And so he asked him, it went through my teacher, he asked the Mother to be taught occultism. Now by then, it must have been already 1970-71. So my teacher took that message to the Mother. She took a blessing packet, concentrated upon it, and then said to my teacher, “give him this and tell him that I have sent the knowledge”. He received the blessing packet. I don't think he was able to receive the knowledge itself because many years later he told me this and he had no appreciation of what was given in the packet. And I will put this in context. What Mother gave was the concentrated, condensed knowledge, experience of what is required for the awakening of that capacity, whatever he was seeking or needed but as a bundle of consciousness, force, experience. If you are able to receive and the depth to which you are able to receive is the depth from which it would unpack or unfold or open out the knowledge, capacity.
I'm going to dwell on this a little bit because it really goes to the heart of this question of learning and I will now generalise it not just occultism, learning, including spiritual experience because for me that is more valuable than the occult and I will explain why towards the end. How do you learn something? How do you have an experience? You say, I listened to this person explaining, let's say a normal school classroom. The teacher explained this and I understood this. You never ask how did you understand? How was that explanation transmitted? No, it was obvious, I heard it and I... So, the normal thinking is I heard the words and I understood. Now think about what happens here and take a few other examples. A teacher who is very confused starts explaining and you say I came away more confused than before. So it's not the words. It was the clarity of ideas behind the words which may have used the vehicle of the words, right? First point we recognize. There was a transmission of clear idea to your mind using words.
Now, if I describe to you an experience, you know when you have this experience, it means this. You will understand the words or you will learn the words by heart. Definition of evolution, and I can give you a definition you will understand the word. If I ask you, have you experienced evolution in yourself, well from the words and understanding which is rational to experience which is more identified in consciousness so intuitive there's no link, right? But if I were to describe to you what it feels like in a way that resonates with you as I describe, you will say, ‘yes, as I heard it I could recognize that movement in me and I understood’. Now you have three different levels of understanding: An understanding which is superficial or non-understanding, learnt by heart by definition; a mental idea,which is an understanding also but very superficial; and then an experiential glimpse. Now this is extremely important. This is the intuitive knowing in experience which is when you know you are one with what you know.
Sraddhalu (0:55:32):
Now I'll share this a little more because it goes at the core of what I will call the spiritual access to occult knowledge. When there were people doing in the US military, they were training people to do, out-of-body projections or remote viewing would be the term, they would enter certain spaces or certain experiences or glimpse certain things that they had no vocabulary for. But if they had in their physical life experienced that thing, then they could recognize it. Now I'll give an example. If you're a doctor, if you're a psychiatrist and somebody comes to you with a description of a weird experience. If you have not had that experience, you are struggling to understand what is he talking about. You take a little child of 10 years old and you say, you know so and so, you saw a movie about somebody falling in love and then willing to lose or betray their deepest beliefs for love, a pre-teenage child will look at him and say how stupid. But when you have gone through that experience of how the passion or obsession of the human love can cloud you to that degree, you identify with that character in the cinema, you say, oh poor fellow, because you know what it is like. Okay. So why am I giving this example? Because there are certain types of knowledge which cannot be understood, cannot be transmitted by words alone. You have to have had an experience of some kind to be able to recognize it.
So when they were doing this work with remote viewers, they would glimpse things, they would sense things, but they had no word. But if physically they had been to that space or similar spaces, they would recognize, ah, this is what I am sensing here. So if you had to sense, and this is the nature of the intuitive knowledge, let's say you projected yourself to a location, you are a spy for remote viewing. You feel in that space, it feels like there are lots of little straight lines crossing little boxes. What is this? I don't know what to make of it, like pigeon holes. If you have been to a space like that, like a government office where you have lots of cubby holes, people sitting in criss cross partitioned space, you know what it feels like energetically to be in that space. When you are remote viewing you will say, ah that's what it is, but otherwise you wouldn't know what you're feeling. It felt like this and you will describe something not knowing and then if someone shows you a photograph, you'll say, ah yes, now I get it, that's what I was feeling. But till then you had no idea what it was.
Another example: You don't know what it's like to experience radiation physically because radiation passes right through but in a subtle body you will experience radiation and you'll feel its effect on you. So when you are remote viewing and because the perception is in the subtle body, ‘I went into that space and I felt as if all kinds of lines of light were passing through me and I couldn't make out, it was not uncomfortable but it was as if something passing through’; having experienced it you will say, ‘ah this is radiation’. So we are talking of a range of experience and this is what happens in any out-of-body experience. You experience things in a way which is not form-based. It translates into form in your consciousness.
I will give another example here. One of these early out of body viewers, I think it was Monroe, one of these authors, you'll find many books by him. He described something in the book and he says, “I'm so embarrassed to describe this, because it throws the whole experience into doubt, but I for purpose of documentation, I have to describe”. So you will see many people when they go out of the body, they will describe as if the physical body and their subtle body is linked by a kind of a continuity of thread. Sometimes you see it as a silver cord, that's the word used in theosophical literature, but a link which is felt or seen. This man comes out of his body, he's standing in the room seeing his physical body lying on the bed and what he experiences is from the back of his head or neck, a link which is made of paper which is folded. In those days, computers used to print on a printer with what was called fan fold paper. So you had a sheet folded, folded, folded, folded and the whole continuous. And it was as if a fan fold paper stream was there from his head to his body. And he says it is so embarrassing for me even to say this because obviously it is not fan-folded paper and yet he is seeing it as fan-folded paper. He doesn't know what to make of it. And this is the problem with all these experiences of that domain. Almost everything you see in form is a translation in your receptive mind of an experience which is not essentially bound to form. But it picks from your mind by association the sense of something stretching, unfolding and it popped up the image of fan-folded paper.
And you see the whole range of that inner and higher worlds are of this kind where form is not primary; the physical world, form is primary. That's why training yourself to be conscious without words or thought is your first step to be able to perceive in the intuitive consciousness what you are directly experiencing. Otherwise, if you do not have the intuition, you have reduced to a symbol and you are describing the symbol and you have lost the core of the experience because you have got the form of the symbol. Fan-fold paper bridging your mind. No, when you enter the same experience in the intuitive consciousness, you feel the link. Now if you went with a mental consciousness, you might see like a silver cord as they describe and the cord stretches or it continues to stretch wherever you go. But when you go in the intuitive consciousness, it's not a stretching cord. It is a link of your consciousness here with that consciousness in the body and the link is there, not like a physical stretching line. It is a link of consciousness which is one all the time. You see, the experience is very different. And if you are in this state, then you can describe your experiences of the out-of-body world, out-of-body experiences with accuracy for what they actually represent. Otherwise, you see symbols, you see images, you reduce it by translation of your understanding and you miss a lot of what was really conveyed.
Sraddhalu (1:02:35):
So I am coming back, I digressed a little bit, but coming back to this question of out-of-body experience; Mother emphasised this, to go out of the body, you may enter into interaction with all kinds of beings, you may not have the discrimination to make out what they are because they can change form. And so she said, you must be absolutely fearless. And that was the guideline she gave for this person to whom she gave the blessing packet. She said, you must be absolutely fearless. And then here's the content of knowledge that she wanted to imprint. So I come back to this. How would Mother teach you? By directly infusing into you the experience. That's why I was describing all this to come to this point. An experience had directly in consciousness, in identification, is now a skill acquired directly by identification. When you learn by reading, by understanding, you do not have the skill itself. When you experience it, the skill is given. And what the Mother does is imprints in you the experience and then suddenly you know it and spontaneously you do what is right. If you have worked to develop within you the intuitive sense, you will receive experience, you will receive knowledge, you will receive whatever is required directly and in a way that you are skilled now to deal with it without making mistakes or falling into traps.
So for those who are interested in out-of-body experience, yes, you can try. There are very simple practices for this. You'll find all kinds of literature on the Internet. The basic skill you have to develop is the skill of being aware and a kind of a witness poise in the midst of all your daily activity. So I'll just describe the process. You see what happens in your dream is you repeat in dream what you're doing during the day and most of your day you live like a somnambulist. You're lost in your thoughts living mechanically by habit. Only when something happens which is out of the ordinary, you are shocked into awareness and you stand back, Oh, what's happening, what should I do? And then you go back into a kind of a half-sleep state, you live mechanically. So your dream is also a similar state. What do you do now to become conscious in your subtle body in the dream state? Well, you practise while awake to become awake. So in the middle of some activity you pause, stand back, become intensely aware of yourself, of the world around you, of your circumstances, without fixating on anything in particular. Just becoming aware. And then intensify full awareness. Again, not focusing on the point, but all around you, if possible full 360 degrees around you or just whatever full span of your vision of awareness. Intensify awareness and hold as long as you can. You'll be surprised how quickly you slip into the same half-somnambulist state. But practise this repeatedly and at that point suggest to yourself, becoming conscious, am I dreaming or am I awake? Just this practice multiple times during the day with the intention that in sleep, in dream state you will have the same awakening to become conscious.
Do this for a few days and suddenly you'll find yourself in the middle of the night in a dream state you will do the same thing by habit and you'll become utterly aware and you'll say, ‘oh, am I dreaming’. And it's interesting, perhaps momentarily you will be aware I am conscious in my dream and you will tend to slip back. Why? Because you slipped into a mechanical habit of thought again. So the skill of holding awareness without thought will come into great use here. But once you have it, you can hold awareness, ah, I am dreaming, now let me play with the dream, and you can start intending things to happen and so on. So here's a very simple practice and one of the easiest ways to become aware in sleep state and then take charge of the dream itself and eventually come out of the dream but in the subtle body.
There are other kinds of practices where people try to project themselves out of the body. They are useful, some people find it useful, some people don't. A lot depends on the natural tendency and temperament of a person. Like any other skill, some people are gifted, some are not. But this would be a simple way to start. As I said, beyond this, you would need to have specialised knowledge and I would recommend not to get into that further. Brief glimpses of these experiences, useful.
Does it change your consciousness though? Work on the change of consciousness. As a consequence, awareness of the subtle and physical worlds on their deeper level in their occult dimension will naturally grow because you are living in a consciousness which is more deep. But if you by technical means awaken a certain skill, it's still an inferior consciousness which is using the skill. So what would you do if you could go out of the body? Well, I would want to go and spy on others, right? Look at things, experience or interfere with somebody's life. This is the normal tendency people want to have. Interestingly, when those who have that kind of ability try to do such things, they are prevented. By what? They don't know. They say we just can't go into someone's house and intrude on their privacy. Somehow this subtle body refuses to move. Why? Simply because your awareness is a tiny tip of a deeper awareness, larger awareness, where the real freedom exists. And there a choice is made; no, you have this experience but I will not allow you to misuse it. And it's done at an inner level. So in practice you can barely do anything of misuse but if you awaken to that deeper layer of your consciousness of a deeper subliminal and intuitive range then the access is present even without needing to project out of your body. So you can for example lean into a certain space into an experience or a memory and by identity recall, relive or draw knowledge. You don't need to project outside the body with your body asleep. You have an access what would be called remote viewing but of a different grade not seeing in images but feeling the quality of consciousness, accessing knowledge and so on. These are as far as I am concerned far more useful and relatively far more safe also, but a natural consequence of this development of the inner and higher consciousness.
Sraddhalu (1:09:50):
So I think that is in response to Anuradha. Similar with Navneet's question, these would be very simple ways of becoming conscious. Again, access to occult regions is dangerous. If you look at some of Huta's stories, because Mother made her experience those things before she had to paint them. So all of Huta's paintings of Savitri, Mother wanted them to come from an experience. Now if Huta had to draw, and at some point it was the god of Death, you can't be drawing just a picture with some cloudy, hazy, darkish, whatever or even light image. It has to be a living experience. So Mother said, now I will make you experience god of Death. So she told her, tonight the god of Death will come to you. So Huta says, she has gone to sleep and then suddenly she wakes up and she can feel this presence walking around her bed. She was terrified and whatever experience Mother had to give, she gave. And she said, now you will draw. So when you draw, the full vibration of that experience comes through and is imprinted in those images. That's how Mother did the work with Huta. So at some point, she had to go into the vital worlds. Mother took her there. She took her to the Supramental worlds also, had the glimpse of that. She said, ‘oh, it's so beautiful. I don't want to come back’, but she said, ‘I can't touch the ground’. Mother said, ‘you are not of this world. You're just being given a glimpse here’.
And in the vital worlds, there was one description Huta gave. She was taken into this room. They were little beings, almost like children, who were very happy to take her around. And she went into a room, and this very large room. And you know, there are hunters who put the head of the deer that they have killed, which is stuffed with all the horns on the wall. So the room was full of such heads except they were human heads. And these beings, they were like children. So you could trust them, they seemed to be having fun and they said, Oh, here, look, in this wall, there's a hole, put your head inside. And Huta said, “No, why should I?”. “No, no, just put, try it out, it's fun, just try it”. And for some reason, Huta had the inner discomfort. She said, no, I refuse to do anything without Mother's permission. And then Mother said, if you had put your head, you would have also got stuck into that.
Another time in one of these words of the vital, they said, will you accept to stay with us? Will you accept to come? Here's a boat. Let's cross this river. Let's come into the boat. And she said, no, I will not accept to stay unless I have Mother's sanction. That was a Grace, you see. I will not do unless Mother allows and Mother explained to her later, she said, “had you accepted to stay you would have been bound and unable to come back”, because you are in a symbolic world. It's not a world of form. It's a world where what you believe is what you become. What you feel, what you want is what happens. So when you say I accept, it's like a promise made that binds you. You can't break out of it. And this is the reason why promises made in the physical world have a binding character on the vital or mental world, but not in the physical. But when you're in the vital body, what you say is what you commit to and you can bind yourself into something. So there are dangerous domains, not so nice. If you want to have a glimpse of those worlds, read Sri Aurobindo's descriptions in Savitri where he goes world by world in great detail and depth, describing the beings, experiences, qualities of consciousness. And it's a fascinating journey in itself. And you will experience the thing itself of those worlds, but while in the relative safety of your physical body. Mother's description was that your body is your fortress. When any danger happens in the subtle worlds, instinctively you pull back into the physical body, you wake up and the dulling effect of the physical body is your protection.
So well, just as a conclusion to this question about occultism, I would not recommend getting into that kind of practice. All the practices I will recommend are those which help you grow in and deepen in consciousness. And to the extent that that opens you to deeper occult perceptions of Reality, you are in safe ground, because it is the result of your growth of consciousness.
Sraddhalu (1:14:28):
Yes, and Yadav says that when he connects or expands the physical, subtle physical body, he feels in the nerve cells a kind of a panic.
This can happen, but that in itself is not a dangerous thing. You see, becoming conscious of the wider expanse of your own subtle awareness can be done gradually, slowly and instead of forcing it to widen, which is not healthy, you can open to the sense of wideness and simply become aware of the wider circum-conscient of your awareness and thus become aware of the wider sense of the universe itself and even extend in perception or in awareness as if joining with the universe. And it's a beautiful experience, it's a liberating experience. And on some level your subtle body itself opens out to its own infinity, because already it connects to infinity. It's just our habit which limits us, habit of sense of I and boundaries of I. So thinning of the boundaries, opening up the boundaries in itself is not a dangerous thing. It is in fact a great relief. But if you try to extend on the denser layers, you might find yourself more vulnerable to influences around you. So it's always good to start in your higher parts from the mind and the higher ranges of the mind, which are freer and clearer and more plastic, to open out to the wideness, to perceive, to sense and then from there that wider freer consciousness gradually integrates into the lower ranges, liberating, widening and so on. The best ways in the practice of the descent, if you have worked on the descent of the peace or the wide presence of the peace, widening as it descends gradually freeing up your consciousness.
Sraddhalu (1:16:27):
So Cosmic Pilgrim asks, what about silver cord that can be cut?
Yes, it can be and this is one of the dangers mother has described in detail. If the link between your physical body and the subtle body is disconnected, then you will not be able to come back. That's one of the dangers of this kind of thing and there are beings in between who may try to interfere, to try to disconnect or to cut. That's why normally there is an automatic reflex with which one comes back when sensing danger which is what happens in sleep when you have a nightmare you just find yourself pulled back waking up and so a certain temperament of fortitude and fearlessness is necessary to enter into those domains. That's why I won't recommend that. But perception and widening of perception, yes, that is completely safe because you are not going out. You are only extending the range of your perception and that one can work on.
Sudhir asks about feeling and subtle objects and energies.
Like I said last time, all of us have this ability already. It's just paying attention and then becoming sensitive. Go into a space where there are trees and then try to feel the atmosphere, the shift in atmosphere. As you approach the trees, notice how there is a shift in quality of awareness around you. Notice how it affects you. If you have already a certain opening, you can feel as if around the trees, a certain quality of energy. You will sense when a tree is sad, there's a certain heaviness. And the trees which are fresh, glowing or happy, you can feel the quality. So it is by exposure that you're... and by paying attention that the sensitivity grows. I take a very physical example, if you you will see a person who sells cloth, can touch a piece of cloth and describe to you even the percentages of mix,- so much cotton, so much polyester, just by touching. You can't, but you have the capacity the way he has. He has refined it by touching and associating it with certain knowledge. Now I have learned to distinguish because over time I have touched so many types of cloth. Well, exactly the same thing with energies. You pay attention, you observe and bit by bit it's as if the sensitivity begins to grow. If you persist and especially in a state of quieted, silenced mind, then the perception comes into you because your inner ranges now are more active in the silence of mind. If your mind is agitated, the perception is mixed. You're too busy to receive.
Sraddhalu (1:19:30):
I'll share with you the first time I really had communication with a tree. See, till then I could say I felt energies, that's about it. But I never experienced direct communication. And it happened at a time when I was doing a kind of a two-day concentrated retreat. And I was in a garden, which was also kind of a sacred garden. It was the person who... it was someone's house and she had worked to make that space special. So I was meditating at various times. I was going through my own kind of a routine. And at some point I approached what was the oldest tree in that garden, as I found out later. And as I approached it, I felt the branches which were leaning towards me. I felt as if the tree was reaching out. And then suddenly, because already, because of two days of concentration, I was in a state of great stillness internally. Suddenly I could feel the stillness in the tree and compared to what was my stillness, the tree's stillness was as if a thousand times more still and just the perception of that it was such a shock. I said, ‘wow, even it's possible to be so still’, and being aware of that stillness in the tree I allowed myself to be drawn into that same level of stillness. And at a time when something of that came in it touched I felt the tree conveying something to me as a message and it was only when I could reach its level of stillness that I could receive the full sense of the message. It was an amazing experience. It was the first time I said wow they do communicate and but it is of such a different grade of consciousness. And unless you align yourself to something which is close enough to that, you cannot really receive. So some people have an instinctive feel, but it may stop at the energetic level of communication. But there's a deeper communication, which is, I may use the word here safely, the soul of the tree, which is utterly still. And for you to feel in yourself the same degree of stillness allows you then to feel that contact.
So yes it's a question of training. By paying attention, by observing and allowing yourself to be exposed. So spend time, go around, especially start with spaces where there is a purity or clarity of energy. Trees are good, grass, plants, flowers and if animals you have some contact. And then bit by bit, because you've worked on it, you will sense in human beings automatically similar energies. And in the beginning, just observe. Days, weeks, months, over years, you will develop kinds of precision of nuances. Like I said, until you have experienced that state, you cannot recognize what it is. And you'll find resonances because within you, you are aware, you will recognize that's the vibration now which I feel in so and so, that's what it is. But if you don't have it within you, you won't know what it is. You'll have a vibration but you don't know what it means. So it's a whole domain of skill and capacity. If into this the intuitive opening has formed, then sometimes even without you having a direct experience, you will know in identification that's what it is. And then you can confirm through interaction what it is. So yes, one can develop these skills. The time and energy you will put, be careful, is that your greatest priority? That same time and energy if you put in developing and becoming aware of your psychic being in becoming conscious of the divine Presence which permeates all things including the trees and yourself and all beings. The same effort would be required to develop awareness of the divine Presence and in-depth. Would you rather focus on the energetic quality of trees and people and diagnosing their emotions, thoughts or illnesses or would you rather spend that time to develop the awareness of the Divine consciousness in all things and the delight of relating to it and the Knowledge that it reveals to you in everything? For the same effort, for the same time given, which is more valuable? Well, you make a choice. Of course, if you develop consciousness of the divine Presence, the knowledge as well of the energies and other things will come naturally. So logically that makes more sense to do. But some people may have a natural proclivity or skill of that consciousness which you may also choose to develop.
Sraddhalu (1:24:16):
So yes, Cosmic Pilgrim comments that since Huta was capable and pure, mother was able to give her those experiences.
I will say mother made her capable. Think about it. It's a comment Mother made to her. She said, I have tried to work with so many artists in the ashram, but they were too formed and as a result too fixed in their training. And so she said, I'm taking you because you're raw. And from that raw base, she built the full capacity from how to mix paints, wash the brushes, how to do different kinds of strokes. She built the full capacity and the sensitivity she developed. And so for that she had to maintain a regimen of great purity. She was not allowed to look at even magazines of coarser and cruder images. And certainly not to copy from those. Mother would choose images and say copy from this. And just one time that Huta was tempted, she found a very beautiful picture from a magazine and she used some of that as an inspiration to copy and draw. And when she brought that to the Mother, the Mother was extremely upset. She said, where did you get this? She could catch the vibration immediately. “Where did you get this?”, she insisted. I told you not to look at anything else. Finally Huta confessed, “yes it was. I got the inspiration from the magazine”.
So you can see that Mother took raw material, unformed. All of us are good enough raw material, unformed and then there was a whole training of many years. So yes, Huta was made capable and pure but she did not come capable and pure. And I'm emphasising this because that is true for all of us. The Divine Mother can make you capable and pure if you are willing to well, work at it, isn't so?
I have also already shared, Vachaspati asked for an experience, I've shared a few.
Sraddhalu (1:26:35):
The priority finally is this. The time you will spend to develop an occult capacity, occult knowledge, occult mastery even of let's say some domain of the vital consciousness. For that same time and effort you can attain to the realisation of the Self and the immersion in the divine consciousness and the skill of that. Isn't it? So think about your priority.
When during that period when I was really desperate to have some experience of the out-of-body and those types and I had a few like I said some of these types, enough to give me the conviction and satisfaction. And then I knew if I have the capacity now I will misuse it. It was only much later that the need which the ego sense from which the misuse would have come was sufficiently thin that certain ranges of experiences began to open and they came as a result of the thinning of the consciousness, ego, narrowness, let's say limits of the ego. As a result of that, the experiences came, but also the experiences now could not be misused. There was no point in misusing because the impulse to misuse itself was dissolved in this. So I'm going to conclude with this very important idea. You can work to develop occult skills, you will always be bound in the form and the symbol and never know truly what you are dealing with because you will be stuck with appearances, not knowing the truth behind them. You develop instead the deepening and heightening of consciousness, including your own inner subliminal ranges, all the way to the spiritual. And as a result, there will be the deeper intuition which will awaken, which will cut through appearances, symbols and forms to the truth behind. And in intuition, what you know is what you are. The knowledge is the capacity. And so, when you know this, when you feel this, you can also wield it. You can use it, direct it, modify it. And the natural capacity to wield states of consciousness or experiences of consciousness is far greater than the occultism capacity to wield the symbols of that consciousness. You understand the difference? It's so big. But the energy you would have put to attain to this lower wielding of symbols is far more in a way because you have so much more to do still. Whereas here you have got to the essential deeper Spiritual access on an intuitive consciousness and with it potentially everything is available to you.
If you think in these terms, you recognize what is for you more urgent, more important, more worthwhile for the effort you put. The help also then is so much more direct and effective. The access gained to inner and higher ranges both of perception and even I will use the word influence is more real, more free and also free from your limitations of ego, misuse, power and things which would have taken you off track from the spiritual path. Had you gained a certain ability or power, let's say, however limited and narrow, the first thing that would have happened is your sense of I-importance would aggrandize and after that for you to thin out the ego to access higher and deeper ranges of experience would be almost impossible. Why? Because the groove here, wanting to let go of this which makes me feel so important, very difficult and it's better that you never slipped into that groove of self-importance and greatness of capacity or fame or skill at all so that you can open to something more true, more high, more free in which even the thinning of ego has taken place enough that it doesn't matter anymore and you can now access more freely everything else.
It's similar to what happens when we have discussed this in earlier on when we discussed drugs. If you open yourself to the vital worlds through use of certain plants or drugs, you have an experience of let's say some kind of a universality but from an ego which is still narrow, experiencing a wideness which is bigger than its narrowness and therefore overwhelming. But now that experience forms such a strong groove that if you try to go to something higher and deeper you will find yourself slipping into these grooves, unable to go beyond them because of the vividness of an intermediate experience, preventing you from going further even. Because to go there is to let go of this, but this was so dramatic you don't want to let go. It's something like that with occult capacities and powers.
So yes, safety or not is secondary now. Priority is more important here and the help from the divine is there for that work. For developing occult skills you don't have the divine help. It is built on the strength of your capacity or incapacity. So much more effort for a small result compared to so much more result for a small effort with active help of the Divine in the spiritual opening, the opening to the psychic Presence, the intuitivization of the mind and even the vital and through it the opening to the inner, subliminal and higher ranges of consciousness, as a result of which what is occult now becomes visible and natural to you easily and effortlessly with full safety. And that's why in this Yoga this is considered far more important.
Maybe we will continue on this topic next time. A few more questions and a few more areas of secrets of occult science that we will look at, including perhaps hypnosis and a few such things which might be fun to explore a little bit. So feel free to ask questions, send them to the email or even to post them in the chat box as we go on. I will try to not take all questions which would divert. I try to stay within the broad range of the topic so that we don't jump around too much. But there are some questions put up today which I will try to incorporate next time or later. Feel free to ask your questions.
And maybe we can take a moment to re-center ourselves in what is for us the single greatest priority of our life, our sense of purpose, particularly in this life where we are in the transition from one age to the next, where everything in Nature is concentrated for this great leap of consciousness from mind to Supermind, through the ranges of intuition. Everything is supporting and pushing you. What is the biggest priority you can have here? For a little effort, the breakthrough is possible. Let's centre ourselves in this, in a clear aspiration, invoking help from the Divine Mother in this effort.
Sraddhalu (1:34:15):
Thank you and Namaste.
[Alina] Thank you, Namaste. .