Has anyone had any spiritual experiences?

[Guest guest]

That were definitely spiritual experiences and not simply a product of the brain????

 

Has anyone had any experience where they had to conclude that God helped them, and this was not precipitated by their karmic acts, nor by an internal experience which could easily be attributed to the brain?

 

And if not, then why believe in a God, or in the soul or the Self? What reason is there to keep believing in otherworldly entities or energies?

 

I've heard one develops siddhis when one undergoes spiritual disciplines, that the kundalini arises and gifts a person with siddhis, and is blessed by God. for instance, psychic powers. I've been meditating for a while now, and while I certainly see greater levels of insight by myself about what is about to happen and I often can tell what's on TV without turning the channel, or picking up on what's being shown just by hearing one snippet of dialogue even if I'm not actually in front of the TV, I think it's more a result of my meditation allowing my conscious mind to have more freedom to explore my subconscious which registers much more information than my conscious mind does. The conscious mind organizes that information into a coherent event in space and time, but the subconscious mind is accessed by my conscious mind much more. It's not that I became psychic, it's just that my conscious mind is able to integrate and access information from my subconscious much more easily due to my meditation.

 

I think it works this way with phone calls as well, and other little details. Even chance encounters that encourage our spirituality, which might seem like products of synchronicity MIGHT be just the result of our brains picking up and filtering information so that we are only cognizant of what we need. It certainly helps when we want to be successful in a large part, but it's not necessarily God that's doing this.

 

I'm not quite an atheist or agnostic, bythe way. I am a sincere spiritual seeker, and I'm just trying to understand what other people's thoughts are on what I've been thinking. I don't want to be deluded, while at the same time I hope to find out for sure that there is a God, spirit, soul, Self, and other such things. I'm looking for peace of mind in this chaotic spiritual quest, but in order to truly understand what is happening to me along with the thoughts I'm having, and whether to trust in my own experiences and thoughts, I have to understand the sources of those experiences and thoughts, whether they are authentically spiritual or just a result of brain chemistry.

 

Honestly, the more I ponder this, the less I become convinced in any God, Self, soul, spirit, etc. Which is all the more depressing and disheartening.

[Guruvani]

One needs intelligence and above all faith to understand the truth of God.

It's not something that could be or should be validated by so-called experiences.

If your intelligence does not create faith in your heart, then you will be hard pressed to understand God even if some miracle happens in your life.

 

You shouldn't look for miracles or signs.

You should try to understand God with your intelligence and your faith.

 

Faith is something that comes natural for many people.

Faith is something that is repulsive to many people.

 

Faith generally comes from pious works and good deeds.

People without strong faith are most likely lacking in pious deeds and good work.

 

Then with natural faith, when we meet spiritual masters we can recognise them and learn from them the higher truths and mysteries of life.

[Murali_Mohan_das]

 

That were definitely spiritual experiences and not simply a product of the brain????...

 

I have to understand the sources of those experiences and thoughts, whether they are authentically spiritual or just a result of brain chemistry.

 

In addition to Guruvani's excellent points, here's another thing to consider:

 

How can we say that spiritual experiences do not themselves effect brain-chemistry changes.

 

Srila Sridhar Maharaj spoke extensively on "Subjective Evolution". Material scientists are working on the presumption that consciousness is coming from matter. The spiritualist, however, says that matter is actually a precipitate of consciousness.

 

So, take anti-depressants, for instance. Psychiatrists claim that they can diagnose brain-chemistry imbalances by talking with somebody for 20 minutes or so. Then they can prescribe a drug that will hopefully remedy the situation.

 

I argue that depression and other so-called mental illnesses are actually caused by "spiritual starvation" which *lead* to brain chemistry imbalances.

 

Perhaps *some* benefit can be had from taking Prozac and other SRRI's, but I contend that this approach is backwards. Rather than treating the *effects* or *symptoms* of the disease, we need to locate and treat the cause.

[Murali_Mohan_das]

I've had many experiences I consider to be spiritual (body-surfing is one of them).

 

Most recently, I climbed a mountain in Lake County before sunrise and watched the day begin. I watched mist billowing off the tops of the mountains as the sun hit them. The mist formed clouds that were carried South by the breeze. I cried in wonder!!

 

Will I claim that these experiences were all transcendental and not merely mental? No!!! I would not be so audacious.

 

To me, it really doesn't matter. These experiences give me courage to endure the countless hours of drudgery that material life entails while seeking for something transcendental.

[Murali_Mohan_das]

Of course, each Sunday Feast up at the Seva Ashram is a spiritual experience, but I consider that part of basic nutrition

 

 

I've had many experiences I consider to be spiritual (body-surfing is one of them).

 

Most recently, I climbed a mountain in Lake County before sunrise and watched the day begin. I watched mist billowing off the tops of the mountains as the sun hit them. The mist formed clouds that were carried South by the breeze. I cried in wonder!!

 

Will I claim that these experiences were all transcendental and not merely mental? No!!! I would not be so audacious.

 

To me, it really doesn't matter. These experiences give me courage to endure the countless hours of drudgery that material life entails while seeking for something transcendental.

[shiva]

I have to respectfully disagree with guruvani when he wrote:

 

 

It's not something that could be or should be validated by so-called experiences.

 

Of course God can validate faith by giving someone an experience. The sastra is full of storiess where people have experiences of God revealed to them. The path of bhakti promises that Krishna will appear to you at an advanced stage.

 

 

From S.B. 4.28.41

 

In this way King Malayadhvaja attained perfect knowledge because in his pure state he was directly instructed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By means of such enlightening transcendental knowledge, he could understand everything from all angles of vision.

 

PURPORT

 

In this verse the words saksad bhagavatoktena guruna harina are very significant. The Supreme Personality of Godhead speaks directly to the individual soul when the devotee has completely purified himself by rendering devotional service to the Lord. Lord Krsna confirms this also in Bhagavad-gita (10.10):

 

tesam satata-yuktanam

bhajatam priti-purvakam

dadami buddhi-yogam tam

yena mam upayanti te

 

“To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.”

 

The Lord is the Supersoul seated in everyone’s heart, and He acts as the caitya-guru, the spiritual master within. However, He gives direct instructions only to the advanced, pure devotees. In the beginning, when a devotee is serious and sincere, the Lord gives him directions from within to approach a bona fide spiritual master. When one is trained by the spiritual master according to the regulative principles of devotional service and is situated on the platform of spontaneous attachment for the Lord (raga-bhakti), the Lord also gives instructions from within. Tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-purvakam [bg. 10.10]. This distinct advantage is obtained by a liberated soul. Having attained this stage, King Malayadhvaja was directly in touch with the Supreme Lord and was receiving instructions from Him directly.

 

 

And also

 

 

rom S.B. 4.29.50 purport

 

Everything is being directed by the Supersoul within the body; therefore the better part of valor is to take His direction and be happy. To take His directions, one needs to be a devotee, and this is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (10.10):

 

teṣāḿ satata-yuktānāḿbhajatāḿ prīti-pūrvakamdadāmi buddhi-yogaḿ taḿyena mām upayānti te

 

"To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me."

 

Although the Supersoul is in everyone's heart (īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāḿ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [bg. 18.61]), He talks only to the pure devotees who constantly engage in His service

 

As for me personally I was raised an atheist and did noy believe in god nor did I ever read any religious philosophy nor even hear any religious discourse before I gained faith in God. My faith in God came from some experiences I had where God revealed to me his control over everything and in a mystical fashion communicated with me. At that point I was transformed from an ignorant atheist to someone who knows God exists literally overnight. Then I had more mystical experiences when I began chanting and going to the local ISKCON temple for sunday feast kirtans where god revealed to me that he was in fact Krishna. This all happened within the span of a month. Since that time 30 years ago I have had countless experiences of God, every day in fact.

[Guruvani]

 

I have to respectfully disagree with guruvani when he wrote:

 

 

 

Of course God can validate faith by giving someone an experience. The sastra is full of storiess where people have experiences of God revealed to them. The path of bhakti promises that Krishna will appear to you at an advanced stage.

 

 

but, the examples in shastra are of faith leading the experience.

 

these people that want the experience first before they believe are the ones with the wrong idea.

 

God reveals to the faithfull.

He doesn't reveal to the atheist to convince the atheist to believe.

 

so, I think you are not understand the point I was trying to make.

 

I am saying that the faith must come first and then the experience.

 

Those who want the experience first before they believe are not the one's that God reveals himself to.

 

I get an experience every time I chant some rounds on beads.

I get proof everytime I chant.

 

If others don't then I am sorry about that.

[Guruvani]

 

 

 

As for me personally I was raised an atheist and did noy believe in god nor did I ever read any religious philosophy nor even hear any religious discourse before I gained faith in God. My faith in God came from some experiences I had where God revealed to me his control over everything and in a mystical fashion communicated with me. At that point I was transformed from an ignorant atheist to someone who knows God exists literally overnight. Then I had more mystical experiences when I began chanting and going to the local ISKCON temple for sunday feast kirtans where god revealed to me that he was in fact Krishna. This all happened within the span of a month. Since that time 30 years ago I have had countless experiences of God, every day in fact.

Personal experience can many times just be hallucination.

We must use the examples of shastra and the self-realized acharyas to establish proper evidence.

 

The experience of conditioned souls in illusion is not any sort of proper evidence to establish a conclusion in Vaishnava discussion.

 

Your personal experience may be real or it may be fantasy.

Guru, sadhu and shastra is the real authority, not personal stories.

[Guest guest]

The spiritual can be perceived in its various aspects from impersonal to the divine person. It just requires the vision. The existence of the spiritual is so obvious to me that I take it as self-evident as the rising of the sun each morning. But how do you prove the sun exists? You have to have vision, the proper eyes.

It is normal for human being, when they behave as human beings, to perceive the spiritual. Countless people have so perceived it for aeons. But they purified themselves of strictly animal behaviors, such as meat eating and intoxication which cloud our spiritual perception. You must rise to that human level before you can have any experience of spirit.

[Guruvani]

 

The spiritual can be perceived in its various aspects from impersonal to the divine person. It just requires the vision.

but, the vision only comes with qualification.

It's not just a matter of theoretical ideas.

 

the vision is not some intellectual adjustment or mental gymnastics.

 

the vision comes only when the price has been payed to purchase the vision.

 

it doesn't come cheap or by some physical adjustment.

 

we see God through the eyes of the soul, not through the eyes of the mortal coil.

[Guest guest]

 

but, the vision only comes with qualification.

It's not just a matter of theoretical ideas.

 

the vision is not some intellectual adjustment or mental gymnastics.

 

the vision comes only when the price has been payed to purchase the vision.

 

it doesn't come cheap or by some physical adjustment.

 

we see God through the eyes of the soul, not through the eyes of the mortal coil.

If you read the rest of my post, I pretty much said that there are qualifications to just reach the properly human consciousness.

[Guruvani]

 

If you read the rest of my post, I pretty much said that there are qualifications to just reach the properly human consciousness.

 

yes, but there are many humans who deny any such spiritual aspect of consciousness.

 

being human is no guarantee that the soul will realize anything about spiritual nature.

 

after being human the soul must begin to act like spirit, not just think about spirit.

 

if the human doesn't act on the spiritual platform, the he is no better than animal.

 

many humans are in fact just two-legged animals, so the shastra says.

 

dwipada pashu................. two-legged animal.

[shiva]

 

Personal experience can many times just be hallucination.

We must use the examples of shastra and the self-realized acharyas to establish proper evidence.

 

The experience of conditioned souls in illusion is not any sort of proper evidence to establish a conclusion in Vaishnava discussion.

 

Your personal experience may be real or it may be fantasy.

Guru, sadhu and shastra is the real authority, not personal stories.

 

 

Yes the materialist scientists tell us that mystical experience of God is nothing but hallucinations. If God reveals his existence to you that is not a hallucination. Imagining yourself to be something you are not is.

[Guest guest]

 

yes, but there are many humans who deny any such spiritual aspect of consciousness.

 

being human is no guarantee that the soul will realize anything about spiritual nature.

 

after being human the soul must begin to act like spirit, not just think about spirit.

 

if the human doesn't act on the spiritual platform, the he is no better than animal.

 

many humans are in fact just two-legged animals, so the shastra says.

 

dwipada pashu................. two-legged animal.

You may have a human body - but have the consciousness of an ass.

[shiva]

guruvani your point seems to be that one first has to have faith and then develop that faith through spiritual practice before God will give you any experience. Where do you find this philosophy written in any sastra? I believe that is nothing but your own concoction. God is free to reveal himself to whomever he likes whenever he likes in whatever he likes. It is described that according to the level of spiritual attainment one has made in this life that in the next life he will pick up where he left off. If one is advanced in spiritual understanding but did not become qualified for liberation upon his next birth he may be given direct revelation of God without any prior study or spiritual practice in order to quickly bring him to the level where he left off. It is up to God. No one has the authority to say that God will only reveal himself to people under certain circumstances.

[Guruvani]

 

guruvani your point seems to be that one first has to have faith and then develop that faith through spiritual practice before God will give you any experience. Where do you find this philosophy written in any sastra? I believe that is nothing but your own concoction. God is free to reveal himself to whomever he likes whenever he likes in whatever he likes. It is described that according to the level of spiritual attainment one has made in this life that in the next life he will pick up where he left off. If one is advanced in spiritual understanding but did not become qualified for liberation upon his next birth he may be given direct revelation of God without any prior study or spiritual practice in order to quickly bring him to the level where he left off. It is up to God. No one has the authority to say that God will only reveal himself to people under certain circumstances.

 

but, in Vaishnavism there is concern for the statements of the Mahajanas, acharyas and rishis.

 

personal accounts from the experience of conditioned souls are always defective.

 

what we can depend on is the accounts in shastra, the mahajanas, the acharyas and the rishsis.

 

story-telling by conditioned souls is not dependable.

 

hearing stories from conditioned souls is not accepted in Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

 

We accept the revelations experienced by the mahajanas, not stories of conditioned souls.

[shiva]

 

but, in Vaishnavism there is concern for the statements of the Mahajanas, acharyas and rishis.

 

personal accounts from the experience of conditioned souls are always defective.

 

what we can depend on is the accounts in shastra, the mahajanas, the acharyas and the rishsis.

 

story-telling by conditioned souls is not dependable.

 

hearing stories from conditioned souls is not accepted in Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

 

We accept the revelations experienced by the mahajanas, not stories of conditioned souls.

 

That is another point entirely. What you said is:

 

 

One needs intelligence and above all faith to understand the truth of God.

 

It's not something that could be or should be validated by so-called experiences.

 

That statement is what I object to. It is simply a concoction. You are saying that the "truth of God" cannot be "validated" through experience. That is a complete concoction. If not please show where this is taught. I know from experience that it is utterly false.

[Guruvani]

 

That is another point entirely. What you said is:

 

 

 

That statement is what I object to. It is simply a concoction. You are saying that the "truth of God" cannot be "validated" through experience. That is a complete concoction. If not please show where this is taught. I know from experience that it is utterly false.

Our senses can never validate God.

God is validated on the spiritual platform not with sense perception.

 

According to the Gaudiya siddhanta, God cannot be perceived through the senses.

He can only be validated on the spiritual platform (adhoksaja) above sense perception.

 

faith validates God..... not sense experience.

 

Experience in the material world is not any way to validate God.

 

we have to go up to the higher plane to validate God.

we can't demand that he comes down to us.

[shiva]

 

Our senses can never validate God.

God is validated on the spiritual platform not with sense perception.

 

According to the Gaudiya siddhanta, God cannot be perceived through the senses.

He can only be validated on the spiritual platform above sense perception.

 

faith validates God..... not sense experience.

 

Experience in the material world is not any way to validate God.

 

we have to go up to the higher plane to validate God.

we can't demand that he comes down to us.

 

You are avoiding the point. You said belief in God cannot be validated by experience. That is the point I disagree with. In fact there is nowhere in any vedic teaching which agrees with you. You can come up with all sorts of speculative arguments but you cannot come with anything else. Also saying "faith validates God" makes no sense. People constantly lose faith in God. They may have faith at the beginning and then take to a religious process with conviction and dedication but later lose faith in either the religion or God altogether. I know from online conversations that many devotees who were long time members of either ISKCON or other gaudiya parivars eventually lost faith not only in gaudiya vaishnavism but God altogether. Faith did not validate god for them nor for countless other people who lost faith. Only God validates the exsitence of God. If it is your karma to have faith in God and follow a religion only to later lose faith in God then that will happen by God's arrangement, if it is your karma to experience God without prior education in this life then God will arrange it. God is in control of how and when people develop faith or lose it.

[Guest guest]

There are spiritual senses

[krsna]

Srila Prabhupada:

 

"So he wanted this, and he is not... It is not that he is dead and gone. That is not spiritual understanding. Even ordinary living being, he does not die. Na hanyate hanyamane sarire. And what to speak of such exalted, authorized personality like Bhaktisiddhanta. He is seeing. I never feel that I am alone. Of course, when I came to your country without any friend, without any means... Practically, just like a vagabond I came. But I had full faith that "My Guru Maharaja is with me." I never lost this faith, and that is fact.

 

There are two words, vani and vapuh. Vani means words, and vapuh means this physical body. So vani is more important than the vapuh. Vapuh will be finished. This is material body. It will be finished. That is the nature. But if we keep to the vani, to the words of spiritual master, then we remain very fixed up. It doesn't matter.

 

Just like Bhagavad-gita. It was spoken five thousand years ago. But if you keep to the words of Krsna, then it is always fresh and guiding. Not that because Arjuna personally listened to Krsna about the instruction of Bhagavad-gita, therefore he knew it. That is not the fact. If you accept Bhagavad-gita as it is, then you should know that Krsna is present before you in His words in the Bhagavad-gita. This is called spiritual realization. It is not mundane historical incidences.

 

If we keep...

 

 

 

evam parampara-praptam

imam rajarsayo viduh

sa kaleneha (mahata)

yogo nastah parantapa

 

 

If you don't keep in touch with the original link, then it will be lost. And if you keep touch with the original link, then you are directly hearing Krsna. Similarly, Krsna and Krsna's representative, spiritual master, if you keep always intact, in link with the words and instruction of the superior authorities, then you are always fresh. This is spiritual understanding.

 

Na jayate na mriyate va kadacit nityah sasvato 'yam purano. Puranah means very old. Just like Krsna, the Supreme Being. He must be very old because He is the original person. But the Brahma-samhita says, advaita acyuta anadi ananta-rupam adyam purana-purusa nava-yauvanam ca. Purana-purusa, the oldest person, but you will find Him nava-yauvanam ca, always a fresh youth. That is God.

 

God is not a material, that it gets old. The body gets old.

 

So you are hearing this philosophy daily. Try to understand more and more. We have got so many books. And this is the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and, by disciplic succession, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, then my spiritual master. Then we are trying our level best. Similarly, you will also try your level best on the same principle. Then it will go on. Same principle. It doesn't matter whether one is born in India or outside India. No. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama, "As many towns and cities and villages are there," He did not say it to make a farce. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 

So sometimes I am very much criticized that I am making foreigners a brahmana. The caste brahmanas in India, they are very much against me. But this is not fact. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that all over the world His message will be broadcast, does it mean that it will be simply a cinema show? No. He wanted that everyone should become perfect Vaisnava. That is His purpose.

 

It is not to make a farce, some lecturing and..., or some mutual praising society. No. It is Krishna Society. Everyone who will join this Krishna Society movement, he is more than a brahmana. Brahmana, what is brahmana? Brahmana is also material. A devotee is more than brahmana. The brahminical culture is included already. Brahma janatiti brahmanah: "Brahmana means one who knows the Absolute Truth, Brahman." He is brahmana. But that is not very fixed up. Brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate. Brahman is impersonal effulgence, and then further progress, realization of the localized aspect, Paramatma, Antaryami, and finally, understanding the Supreme Person, Krsna, Supreme Person, that is the final understanding.

 

So people cannot understand that how the Supreme, the origin of everything, can be a person. That is their difficulty. Because they are thinking, "A person, God? How it is possible. God is great, and He is the creator of everything. How a person can do that?" Yes. That is the Vedic version.

 

 

 

 

isvarah paramah krsnah

sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah

sarva-karana-karanam

 

 

He is the cause of Brahman. He is the cause of Supersoul. So ordinary man cannot understand. Avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam. It requires Krsna's grace to understand Him.

 

So try to receive Krsna's grace through the disciplic succession, Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Then you will understand everything. Yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau. This is the process, Vedic process. One should have unflinching faith in God and spiritual master. Don't jump over God, crossing the spiritual master. Then it will be failure. You must go through.

 

We are observing Vyasa-puja ceremony, the birth anniversary of our Guru Maharaja. Why? We cannot understand Krsna without spiritual master. That is bogus. If anyone wants to understand Krsna, jumping over the spiritual master, then immediately he becomes a bogus. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, guru- krsna-krpaya paya bhakti-lata-bija. That is Vedic injunction. Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya. Nobody can understand Krsna without going through His most confidential servant. This is the meaning of this Vyasa-puja. You cannot surpass. If you think that you have become very learned and very advanced, now you can avoid the spiritual master and you understand Krsna, that is the bogus. That is the meaning of this Vyasa-puja ceremony.

 

We should always pray, yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah. Yasya prasadad, only by the grace of spiritual master we can achieve the grace or mercy of Krsna. This is the meaning of this Vyasa- puja, offering obeisances by parampara system.

 

So you have taken a very nice line of activities, spiritual activities. Of course, as far as possible, we have tried to give you instruction, books. But remain always faithful to the spiritual master and try to understand Krsna. And if you simply understand Krsna, then your life is successful. Janma karma ca divyam me yo janati tattvatah.

 

The human life is meant for understanding Krsna. That is the perfection of life. Any other so-called understanding, that is simply waste of time because we are under the grip of the material nature. You may be very learned scholar. You may be a fool. It doesn't matter. You are under the laws of material nature. So before finishing this small span of life... We have got this human form of life. It will be finished, as the cats' and dogs' life also finished. But if we try through the guru and Vaisnava, then, we can achieve in this life the full success, not failure like cats' and dogs' life. That is the opportunity. So as far as possible, we are trying to lead you in this line, and you kindly follow. Then your life will be successful. That is the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He wanted to deliver these fallen souls, the conditioned souls rotting in this material world.

 

So Krsna Himself... Krsna comes Himself, Krsna sends His devotees, Krsna comes as devotee--just to execute this mission to reclaim the fallen souls from the clutches of illusory energy, material world.

Thank you very much.

 

(end) Srila Prabhupada[750302BA.ATL]

[Murali_Mohan_das]

In one sense, *every* experience is a spiritual one.

 

Before somebody calls me kooky, consider this--for Srila Prabhupada (as nitya-siddha) every experience was spiritual. When he was walking down 2nd Avenue in NYC, it was a spiritual experience because his consciousness is sufused with Krishna.

 

We may not yet have that vision, but who can say it is not there waiting for us to see?

[Guest guest]

chant mahamantra, abstain from sex(as much as possible) and eat only sattvic food ... and when you chant .. do it with full concentration .. dont rush ..dont be too slow ..but concentrate on every nama of the mahamantra ....... " hare krishna hare krishna,krishna krishna hare hare,hare ram hare ram ram ram hare hare " just as srila prabhupada used to chant 'ram' and not 'rama' and please i dont want any controversies over the name of the lord just do as told and as srila prabhupada himself used to chant .....

 

and if possible keep some rounds to chant before sleeping ..chant will all your love and with full concentration .......

 

following all the above rules should be enough to get spiritual experiences but dont expect ... remember ..purity of food is very important so also restraint of senses to get quick results ..... though ideally you should not expect any results ..... those who are young in age will get success much more easily compared to those who joined the party late .........

 

the rules have been laid down... but the proof is in the pudding ......all i can say is that there is pudding to be had .. but those who dont follow the rules wont have it.....

 

hare krishna

[Guest guest]

and yes dont waste time and energy over arguments ... if you have free time then do extra rounds ....

 

hare krishna

[Xochitl]

You can say that I was imagining this, but the realisation I had can not be easily explained away..

I was reading Bhagavad Gita As It Is (I had read it twice already in its entirety) and chanting Hare Krishna nonchalantly but I honestly couldnt tell you definitively what I understood. In fact, I didn't understand anything really, I could grasp somethings here and there but only theoretically. I know that sounds weird, but that was my situation; I was in fact so daft or dull brained that I couldn't understand Gita after so much effort and intellectual study. After a while I had a strange hallucination or dream (I'm still not sure to this day what it was because it was so real) Basically, I witnessed Krishna speaking to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra; simply upon seeing this sight, what with Arjuna inquiring submissively from Krishna with folded palms and kneeling before Krishna upon seeing the visva-rupa, I understood Bhagavad-Gita. I saw the bewilderment in Arjunas eyes when he saw Krishna's many forms, I could even perceive what he was thinking. I saw thousands of men, chariots, horses, elephants etc all fully equipped with their weapons and armour, I saw Krishna explaining away to Arjuna, and simply by seeing Krishna in that form I had faith that yes, Krishna is in fact the Supreme Personality of Godhead and I must surrender unto His lotus feet and I had immediate full understanding of the Bhagavad-Gita. The end.

What do you guys think?