Hindu Article-Spiritual experience

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Spiritual experience

 

CHENNAI: Mysterious are the ways of God. The working of divine grace

cannot be fathomed by the human mind because it tends to rationalise

all its experiences. Spiritual experience is beyond the ken of the

senses and the intellect, and it is for this reason that faith in God

becomes the basis of spiritual life. The Almighty is beyond all laws

of nature, which bind man; but it is possible to surmount them with

God's grace. This becomes all the more necessary in spiritual life

because it is not possible to realise God through human agency alone.

In his discourse, Swami Gautamananda said a devotee once asked Sri

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa how to obtain divine grace. To drive home

that it is not possible to say when and how He will grace a devotee,

the saint gave the example of a child, which refuses to part with an

object when one desperately asks it, but gives it voluntarily when it

feels like to a complete stranger the moment he asks. Similarly, it

is not possible to rationalise the operation of divine will, which is

beyond all laws. But, it must be borne in mind that the Lord is

always benevolent towards everyone.

There are times in life when circumstances are such that a person

will think that it is impossible to achieve what we wishes. But

divine grace can make even the impossible possible, especially in the

case of those who repose faith in God. From the human standpoint when

a person achieves what he wants despite a hopeless situation by God's

grace it may seem like a miracle. During such moments in life one

will realise that all the laws in the universe are subject to the

divine will and so He can make even what seems unattainable by human

standards fructify. So, all will have to accept the omnipotence of

God when driven to situations beyond their control.

One has to progress step by step in spiritual life and must not yearn

for experiences beyond one's level of evolution. When a devotee

requested Sri Ramakrishna that he should be also able to attain the

mystic states that the saint often experienced, he replied that he

would not be able to withstand them. Spiritual practices (Sadhana)

refine the human personality (body-mind-intellect) for experiencing

God and spiritual experience being very subtle it requires a lot of

preparation to attain the mystic states.

 

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