Mystical Experiences

[manjula]

Hare Krishna,

 

My name is Manjula. I have been involved with Krishna Consciousness since birth as my father is a devotee. However, I didn't actually take up the practice until I was 17. When I began to chant the Hare Krishna mantra I found that many strange things began to occur. For instance, I began to see lights, mostly white and electric blue in colour, I would see them alot in spiritual pictures and deities and also coming from peoples chakras. I have tried to find out what it means to see these lights but to no avail. Is there anyone who knows what these lights are and can explain what these particular colours represent?

 

Another experience I've had is being aware in dreams that I am being watched by female entities. I cannot see them but can hear them. Their voices are very high pitched and they are watching my every move and discussing with each other about me. I have thought that they could be faries of some sort but really don't know. Does anybody know what these entities could be and why they are so interested in me?

 

I hope you don't think I'm strange. I really am sane but have a great urge to understand these things greater. I would greatly apprecciate some help in this matter.

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

Dear Sri Manjula,

 

The lights you are experiencing while chanting are coming from the cid-akasha, or the mental ethereal space. Generally they occur when one is doing meditation, but in your case they are probably residual from mediation and sadhana performed in your previous life. Some times you may see a blue light, which I would describe as a plasma blue light. It starts small in the center of vision and "pulses" to expand over one's entire view. I call it plasma blue, because it is almost like molten lava, but blue in color. These visions vary for each individual, so they may not be exactly the same for you. Generally the first thing to happen is everything will become black, you will become blind despite your eyes being wide open. If your concentration is very fixed, it may happen quickly. If your concentration is not very focused, your view will first become misty, smoky, or grey color. Your vision will slowly go, as though a cloud is passing in front of you. Then the misty grey color turns dark, and becomes as black as night. Sometimes this black color also pulses. For a moment you will see grey, and then a pulse of black will block everything out, and then again grey, and then again black. Once everything is fully black. The blue light will begin to appear. Starting small in the center of vision, and slightly smokey, it will begin to pulse and get bigger and brighter each time. Then the smokiness stops and it becomes a bright plasma blue color. Maybe this word plasma is not the correct word to describe it. But I remember years ago seeing a screen saver on a computer with similar extremely bright colors and it was named plasma. These colors are not static, but they do something which I can't describe - almost like the color of lava flowing. And that screen saver had a similar effect. Probably they were rotating a single color gradient through the objects. Anyway, that is where I get this name from - plasma blue.

 

These are just signs that one's mind is beginning to tune to the subtle side of existence. There is a whole world there, not just colors. There are heavenly people, gandharvas, yakshas, bhutas, etc. They actually live there, just like we live here. As one meditates one's mind will become open to that realm.

 

About the dreams, please read the message I just posted on dreams. It will give you a hint about it. The point is they are not just dreams, they are the reality. Whether they are Yakshinis, Apsaras, or some other entity would require a more detailed description. If you want to discuss this more you can send an email to me at jndas@.

 

Swami Shivananda of Rishikesha has very nicely described the colored lights as follows:

 

[begin]

Various kinds of lights manifest during meditation owing to concentration. In the beginning, a bright, white light, the size of a pin's point will appear in the forehead in Trikuti which corresponds tentatively to the Ajna Chakra of the astral body. When the eyes are closed, you will notice different colored lights such as white, yellow, red, smoky, blue, green, mixed color, flashes like lightning, like fire, burning charcoal, fire-flies, the moon, the sun and stars. These lights appear in the mental space, Chidakasha. These are all Tanmatric lights. Each Tanmatra has its own specific color. Prithvi (earth) Tanmatra has a yellow light; Apas (water) Tanmatra has a white light; Agni (fire) Tanmatra has a red light; Vayu (air) Tanmatra has a smoky light; and Akasha (ether) Tanmatra has a blue light. Yellow and white lights are very commonly seen. Red and blue lights are rarely noticeable. Frequently there is a combination of white and yellow lights. In the beginning, small balls of white light float about before your eyes. When you first observe this, be assured that the mind is be coming more steady and that you are progressing in concentration. After some months the size of the light will increase and you will see a full blaze of white light, bigger than the sun. In the beginning these lights are not steady. They come and disappear immediately. They flash out from above the forehead and from the sides. They cause peculiar sensations of extreme joy and happiness and there is an intense desire for a vision of these lights. When you have steady and systematic practice for two or three hours of meditation at a stretch, these lights appear more frequently and remain steadily for a long time. The vision of the lights is a great encouragement in Sadhana. It impels you to stick steadily to meditation. It gives you strong faith in superphysical matters. The appearance of the light denotes that you are transcending the physical consciousness. You are in a semiconscious state when the light appears. You are between the two planes. You must not shake the body when these lights manifest. You must be perfectly steady in the Asana. You must breathe very, very slowly.

 

One whose food is moderate, whose anger has been controlled, who has given up all love for society, who has subdued his passions, who has overcome all pairs of opposites (Dvandvas) and who has given up his egoism, gets a vision of a triangular light during meditation.

 

Sometimes during meditation you will see a brilliant dazzling light. You will find it difficult to gaze at this light. You will be compelled to withdraw your mental vision of this light. This dazzling light is the light emanating from the Sushumna.

 

You will see forms in the lights - either the lustrous forms of demigods (Devatas) or physical forms. You will se your Ishta Devata or chosen deity in handsome dress with four hands and weapons. Siddhas, Rishis and other Devatas appear before you to encourage you. You will find a huge collection of Devatas and celestial ladies (Apsaras) with various musical instruments in their hands. You will also see beautiful flower gardens, fine palatial buildings, rivers, mountains, golden temples, sceneries so lovely and picturesque as cannot be adequately described.

 

The experiences vary with different individuals. What one man experiences, may not be experienced by another man. Many erroneously believe that they have realized the self when they get these experiences, stop their Sadhana and try to move in the society to preach a new cult and religion in the name of Loka-sangraha. This is a serious blunder. This is not realization at all. These are simple encouragements from your Ishta Devata to convince you of a higher spiritual life and push you on in your steady, systematic and incessant practice of meditation with zeal and enthusiasm. You will have to ignore these things and drive them away. You must not care a bit for the vision of lights. You must fix your attention on the Lakshya, the goal, viz., Brahman. These visions appear in some persons within a few days, while in others within six or nine months. It depends upon the state of the mind and degree of concentration.

 

[end]

[animesh]

Dear Sri jndas ji,

I was really curious to know the explanation of the blue lights Manjula ji has mentioned. In fact, everyday I used to open this site to see if somebody had replied to her. You have given an explanation for this. Just out of curiosity, are u aware of some other people having such experiences?

[Gauracandra]

Animesh,

 

I can tell you I've only had one similar experience. For many years had I given up any chanting. Then about 3 1/2 years ago I was at a real low point (just lost my job and such) and it was Gaur Purnima (the appearance day of Sri Caitanya). I decided that day, with real sincerity, to actually try His process. I fasted all day, and drank no water even. I sat in one room and started chanting. I decided to fix my mind on the image of Krsna, but my mind was so unfocused I couldn't do this. So instead I rotated my focus onto different pictures ie. for one split second I'd have one picture of Krsna, then another, then another etc.... This way even though my mind wasn't steady I kept it on Krsna. In addition to this, in my thoughts I started probing deeper and deeper into my spiritual life, asking Krsna for help, seeing my greed, vanity etc.... After about 2 hours my mind actually became fixed. I then held the same image in my mind for the rest of the day, but with a slight twist. I meditated upon Krsna's feet, then slowly moved up, and up as time kept passing. Eventually I reached the face. The image I had in my mind was a deity form of Krsna. As I was meditating on the face, a really bizarre thing happened which really scared me. The eyes of the deity image started to move, while the rest of the deity body remained as a deity body. The eyes became so clear to me and so real. At this point, everything turned black, and it was like a door was opening, and I could see a bright white light coming out. It was so bright that I wanted to close my eyes but couldn't as I was already in meditation. The light kept getting bigger, I can't remember how to describe this though. But I started getting a bit frightened, I couldn't feel my body and thought if I continued I may not be able to return. As soon as I had this thought, it was like I was shaken out of this zone, and I opened my eyes back in my room.

 

About 8 hours had passed of nonstop chanting. The reason I think this happened to me was for two reasons 1) This was the first time I actually had sincerity in my chanting because I was at a low point and 2) because of this low point, as Jndas said, as a form of encouragement to get back to chanting these may have been revealed to me.

 

I have never told anyone this story before, but thought it could ad to the discussion. Some people will say that this was a result of physical deprivation (no food, no water) and that this was just a biological reaction. Personally I don't think so. I have never had any experience like this before or since. Perhaps my sincerity hasn't been there. But the rest of the day even though I was physically weak, I felt great mentally.

 

Gauracandra

[animesh]

Manjula ji,

Kahan hain aap? No comments from your side. Does your experience match with any of the descriptions jndas ji has given? Please let us know.

 

Dear jndas ji,

Earlier I had not read your explanation thouroughly. Now I read it. It is really interesting. You have asked Manjula ji to discuss this via email to u. This is not fair :-(. How will others here know the details?

 

[manjula]

Hare Krishna,

 

I've just logged on and am very happy that there is interest in my posting.

 

Thankyou Jndas prabhu for your in-depth description about the lights. what you wrote was very interesting and I totally agree with your explanation. I did not fully understand your explanation about everything turning black and then misty. Is this the general experience of a meditator? I personally never had this experience and my mind certainly isn't fixed at all times when I have a vision of the lights. For example, I can be walking down the street and see a white light coming from another person. It did sometimes seem asthough the blue light was within a black circle however. I experience no emotion when I see these lights and rarely take notice of them anymore as they have become common-place. They are also not as bright and strong as they were in the beginning, but I feel I was more focused at that time and used to fast regularly without food or water. My own intuitive feeling when I see these lights is that they are living entities as you say.

 

Another experience which I have regulary is the ability to see energy around spiritual pictures or deities. This has no colour but is circles within circles. I can't see clearly if it is seperate circles or if it is like a spiral. I also see this in the dark sometimes. Have any idea what this could be?

 

I have been practising Krishna Consciousness for around 10 years now but these particular experiences don't seem to have progressed to anything else. I know that focusing on Bhakti is the main priority but I find myself being very drawn to the mystical side also and would like to develop in this area. Do you have any advice on what I could do to make these experiences go deeper, maybe even up to the point where I could perceive the form of these higher beings?

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

I am sorry for not making this very clear. I was actually describing a similar type of experience which one may have by performing a particular type of meditation known as Trataka. Trataka is a form of staring at a point or a flame without blinking for a period of time, and then closing one's eyes and seeing the same object internally. In this particular form of meditation one will experience a transition from normal vision, to misty vision (smokey), then everything will become black, and pulsing colored lights will appear as I described before.

 

Each form of meditation will produce slightly different effects, but the basic occurences are the same. In your case the experiences are not due to meditation, at least not in this life. They are the residual effects from previous sadhana. If one does not continue the same sadhana (or a similar sadhana), then these experiences will slowly fade away and then stop completely.

 

The sadhana that we perform as devotional service is the highest sadhana, and as such most of the time it shoots way over these "mystical" experiences. Basically what I mean is that bhakti will generally not bring one to experiences of the subtle realm. The subtle realm and its experiences are no more spiritual then a can of pepsi. One is gross matter, the other is subtle matter. Of course most people who do meditation and have a small glimpse of this realm think they have seen something divine and spiritual. This is just due to ignorance of what is the true self. They have managed to raise their identification from that of the body to that of the mind. They climbed out of one illusion just to fall into another. In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali warns us about the subtle realm and the "invisible beings" we will see in meditation. He says:

 

sthanyupanimantrane sangasmayakaranam punaranishta-prasangat

 

"When tempted by the invisible beings in high places, let the yogi feel neither allured nor flattered; for he is in danger of being caught once more by ignorance."

 

These invisible beings Patanjali is describing are the fallen yogis who previously gave in to the temptations of the subtle realm, siddhis, etc. Having themselves fallen from the path of yoga, they attempt to make other yogis also fail in their meditation. Sri Vyasa Muni has commented on this verse by describing the allurements offered by these "invisible beings" to the yogi.

 

They ask you, "Please sit here and take rest. Drink this heavenly nectar which will put an end to old age and death. Take this vimana which allows you to fly throughout the universe. Here we have desire-fulfilling trees which grant your every wish. Come enjoy with these attractive heavenly damsels. There are rishis here who know everything. Come take these siddhis by which your senses will become powerful. You are entitled to all of this, for you have succeeded in your endeavour for self-realization."

 

In this way they attempt to trick you into leaving your journey towards self realization. It is for this reason that Patanjali warns us against becoming attracted to the subtle realm of existence. It may appear amazing and heavenly, but it is still matter, attraction to which is the cause of our bondage.

 

The mechanical process of meditational yoga is a step by step process of elevation. It is a slow and difficult process, as Lord Krishna himself states:

 

kleso ’dhikataras tesam

avyaktasakta-cetasam

avyakta hi gatir duhkham

dehavadbhir avapyate

 

"For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied."

 

We start by meditating on the unmanifested feature of the Lord through various mechanical processes of sadhana. We meditate on candle flames, on our own shadow, on the moon, on the space between our sight and the object of sight... Simultaneously we reject the world as false and illusory... Then we learn to be detached from the objects of the senses, and to renounce the world... And after all of that we are revealed a world a thousand times more attractive than this! "Oh, you renounced those worldly pleasures? Very good. Now you deserve to enjoy in this heavenly realm."

 

te tam bhuktva svarga-lokam vishalam

 

This heavenly abode is described as vishalam, or vast, because the sensual experience or enjoyment there is thousands of times greater than it is here. When we smell a flower here, practically speaking we are not actually smelling the scent of the flower. Our senses are so limited here, that we hardly experience the environment around us. But on higher planes the senses can perceive an experience thousands of times more intensely. This is why it is described as vishalam, or vast. This is the "reward" for the yogi, that he is tempted with something even more attractive. He was able to renounce this realm of dry existence, but can he renounce the higher sensual experiences of the subtle plane?

 

And for those who, after all of this temptation, remain strong, they are given mystical perfections, siddhis, by which they can manipulate the laws of nature. And if they become attracted by their new powers over nature, they fall from their path of sadhana. "Here, take these supernatural powers by which you can go against the laws of nature... but don't use them."

 

Many people follow laws because they fear they will be caught. Imagine for a minute there is a situation where there is a bundle of money (big notes... no 1's and 5's...) and this money was somewhere in a city. For some reason you are the only person in this city, everyone else went off for vacation. And look! This money is sitting right there next to you! It almost looks like God wants you to take this money. You can live comfortably for the rest of your life. You can just dedicate yourself to self-realization and helping humanity (like all the lotto winners say they will do). Maybe it is actually your karma to have this money.

 

But wait just one minute... It's wrong to steal... Isn't it?

 

How many of us will take the money and how many will leave the money, knowing that it belongs to someone else? I would _definitely_ leave the money. (Pretty easy to say now, isn't it!) In reality I would probably grab the money and build an air conditioned cave in Rishikesh so that I could meditate in peace... and comfort.

 

All of this sounds too far fetched, so let's bring it down to reality. You go to the corner grocery store and buy some vegetables, a bottle of pepsi, and a can of beans. There is a really stupid looking guy at the counter who is probably around 17 years old. (You can tell he is really stupid because he has one of those "latest" hair styles that all the cool kids have.) He can't figure out how to get that scanning thing to work so he enters the prices by hand. You notice that he somehow entered the wrong price for your can of beans, and the bill is going to be less than it should be. Alright!

 

But just then he changes his mind and decides to call for a price check. Apparently he feels it is important that the entire store know what is the price of a 16 ounce can of Lady Lee Vegetarian Refried Beans, because he chooses to use the intercom to speak to the lady in the next counter. Anyway, he gets the right price, and you loose your discount.

 

But wait... this guy is really dumb. The bill is for $3.20 and you gave him a five. This guy gets confused while carrying the one, aligning the decimal points, and what ever else it is he did... and ends up giving you $2.80 change. (He must be _really_ dumb to carry a one while subtracting.)

 

Now you have an extra $1.00. Do you quickly walk out of the store thinking, "Yeah! I got me a free 16 ounce can of Lady Lee Vegetarian Refried Beans!"

 

Or do you return $1.00 and tell him that he accidentally gave you one dollar too much.

 

(Maybe it would be more proper if you told him he gave you $1 too many, not $1 too much... I wish I had one of those price check things for my spelling and grammar while I typed letters. "John, Can you give me a grammar check on '$1.00 too much'?")

 

Anyway, just think about this hypothetical situation. Do you take the money and leave, or do you return the money. No one will know that you took the money, and it is that stupid guy's fault for giving you the wrong change.

 

This has happened to me at least a dozen times (except without the part about the 16 ounce can of Lady Lee Vegetarian Refried Beans). To be honest, some times I returned the money, sometimes I kept the money. I guess it depended on the philosophical thoughts in my mind at the time - Did I take only that which was necessary for existence and leave the rest to others, knowing that to reap the results of karma would increase my bondage and conditioning within matter - or did I see these people as illusioned souls who would misuse the money for sense gratificatory purposes and thereby increase their own entanglement within maya. You can flip a coin.

 

I am sure all of us have had a similar experience, and some of us kept the extra money. All of this just for a single dollar. Now imagine if when you gave $5 to that stupid guy at the check out counter, he accidentally gave you 7 million dollars change. Then we are back to my air conditioned cave in Rishikesh scenario, with marble floors and special indoor slippers to keep my feet warn as I meditate.

 

Anyway, why am I talking about refried beans, pepsi bottles, and check out counters? Because I mentioned about the yogis who are given siddhis that they are not supposed to use... "Here, take these supernatural powers by which you can go against the laws of nature... but don't use them."

 

These yogis have attained mystical perfections that allow them to defy the laws of nature as we know them. In other words they can do anything they like, and they cannot be caught, stopped or held accountable by the common world. They can get away with any "crime" they want, either physical or subtle. This is the same temptation we face at the check out counter when that dumb guy gives us the wrong change. No one can stop us, know one even knows! These yogis have no one to be accountable to on the worldly level, and as such they are faced with the biggest tempations of all.

 

I could just imagine the situation. I have all of these mystic powers by which I can manipulate the laws of nature and do "spectacular" things. Some foolish people come up and ask me for blessings to get their son married. I get angry that these foolish people are disturbing my meditation to ask for some worldly result which is already destined according to their karma, so I look for a stone to throw at them. Not seeing any stone nearby, I mystically make some ash appear in my hand and throw it on them, hoping it will scare them off. Amazingly these people go off and bring more such people with similar problems. One person has lost his chicken, one person wants to pass a school exam, one person has a property dispute. I am sure they could solve these problems in a more practical manner, but they are lazy and hope some crazy swami guy will just bless all their bad karma away. Anyway, I start throwing this mystical ash on all of these people to shoo them away, but they start collecting the ash, rubbing it on their forhead, and swallowing it.

 

Then a big fat lady in the crowd comes forward and says I must be some sort of incarnation of God to be performing such miracles. Next thing you know these people are greeting each other with my name, building temples for me, and singing songs about me. At first I try to tell them that we are all actually God. But then I start to like the worship and fame, so I change my message. "Yes, we are all God, but I am the Supreme God. The really, really big God." Then I have my disciples make a plastic bed in the shape of a snake (since I can't get the real ananta-sesha snake bed of Vishnu). In the Srimad Bhagavatam we find the story of the demon Paundraka who taped two extra arms on his back so that he would look like four-armed Narayana... well he didn't actually look like him, but his envy made him try his best. Anyway, I could imagine that I would have my disciples build a plastic snake bed for me, so that I could claim I was Vishnu. All the while I would keep throwing the ash on the people, after all that's how I made it here in the first place.

 

The next thing you know I would have fallen from my sadhana, taken up sinful habits, and the newspapers would be publishng bad articles about me with allegations of abuse from sudents at my schools. (Did I forget to tell you that I would open a lot of schools and hospitals after becoming God?)

 

Gosh. After years and years (maybe lives) of meditation and renunciation this is where I end up? I guess that's why Krishna said this path was troublesome and difficult. I kind of feel like Vishvamitra, who performed meditation for thousands of years, only to waste all his accumulated power in burning a disturbing bird to ashes!

 

The yogis, after renouncing and moving forward on their path, are faced with new obstacles one after the other which they must cross on their own strength.

 

Why do they get mystical experiences, whereas bhaktas (devotees) generally don't? Because the yogis must gradually move up towards transcendence, from gross matter to subtle, and finally to pure consciousness.

 

The devotees on the other hand are not following a mechanical process of self realization. Bhakti goes directly to the soul. This is what makes bhakti yoga the simplest and quickest of all yogas. It establishes the link between the soul and the Supreme Lord in the most direct manner, jumping over all levels of matter.

 

The devotee's advancement is dependent on the Lord's mercy, not on his own mechanical excercises in matter. Whereas the yogi tries to seperate himself from the coverings of matter one layer at a time, from gross to subtle, the devotee uses everything in the service of the Lord, including the matter. Thus for the devotee there is no need to raise oneself to the subtle realm of existence. There are many species of living entities who are naturally born existing on these higher realms of material existence. They are no closer to liberation than the common trees and animals from our realm.

 

Advancement is only based on the focus of one's consciousness. The devotee has focused his consciousness on the supremely transcendental Lord. He has taken the most direct method to fix his consciousness on the spiritual platform. For the yogi it is a step by step process, moving through various subtler and sutler levels of matter, aiming ultimately towards the Lord's less personal features. And if he gets attracted to some aspect of subtle matter on the way, then his journey is over, at least for a long time.

 

Why I am saying all of this? Maybe because the discussion forums have been a little dull lately and need some more content. Maybe because I need something to use for our next newsletter and I didn't feel like doing the work of "writing" something. Or maybe because I wanted to show that the experiences of devotees and the experiences of yogis differ due to their differing paths of advancement. Probably all of these reasons are true.

 

Devotees generally will not have mystical experiences of the subtle realm because they do not need to go through that realm for perfection. The devotees aim straight at Lord Krishna and don't have to worry about merging the elements of their body with the universal elements, merging their mind with the universal mind, merging their intelligence with the universal intelligence, and merging their ahankara with the universal ahankara. Krishna says one who remembers Him at the time of death attains Him. That's enough for the devotees. Always think of Krishna and go back to Godhead. Who cares about merging elemental principles with their cosmic counter parts? It is so simple. Unfortunately it is too simple for the yogis. "Wait a minute... Chant Hare Krishna? What about the elemental principles of existence? What about the 10 pranas surrounding the soul? What about the chakras and nadis? What about the connection between the human body and the universal form? I got a lot of work to do! No time to chant Hare Krishna."

 

So basically this (some vague point up there) is why despite performing sadhana, your experiences have not increased, but have decreased in some manner. Devotional sadhana aims in a completely different direction. It is possible to have mystical experiences through devotional sadhana, but they are experiences of the spiritual realm, not the subtle material realm. As such they are much more difficult to attain and generally require one to be on the liberated stage.

 

There is nothing wrong with trying to cultivate experiences of the subtle realm. They can serve to increase one's faith in the spiritual existence by establishing a reality beyond common sensual perception. Also there are many practical things one can learn to utilize from the subtle existence. Great acharyas both in the vaishnava and advaita lines utilized mystic siddhis for the purpose of their sadhana. Ishvara Muni and Natha Muni, two great acharyas in the Sri Sampradaya, would travel from South India to Vrindavana every day by the power of their mystic siddhis. In those days it would take 6 months to cover the journey by ox cart. But in a moment they were able to travel there to do service at a particular temple.

 

Both the subtle realm and physical realm are planes of matter. Thus we need to deal with both of them in a practical manner. By going to the store and buying toothpaste I am not going to go back to the spiritual world, but still I do it for practical reasons. In the same way, sometimes we can interact with the subtle plane for practical purposes. It will not make us advance spiritually, but it may help us in some other more practical way.

 

I will send you more details of what you can do to increase your experiences. If there is some talent in a person, it should be utilized in Krishna's service. This was always Srila Prabhupada's instruction. If for some reason in your previous life you have performed sadhana, and still there are remnants of it, it is certainly a talent that must be utilized in Lord Krishna's service. It is up to you to learn how to utilize it.

 

[krsna]

Although devotees generally do not go out to look for these sort of mystical experiences,

still if Sri Krishna who is the Master of all Mystics and siddhis gives you a mystical experience in order to bring you closer to Him ...

[Guest guest]

quote by JNDas

Why I am saying all of this? Maybe because the discussion forums have been a little dull lately and need some more content. Maybe because I need something to use for our next newsletter and I didn't feel like doing the work of "writing" something. Or maybe because I wanted to show that the experiences of devotees and the experiences of yogis differ due to their differing paths of advancement. Probably all of these reasons are true.

 

Yoga siddhis are anarthas for devotees aspiring to serve the Lord, but at the same time I personally feel that when a devotee has a magical dream or mystical experience it can reinforce your determination to keep going in your devotional service efforts. Increasingly, I find myself turning towards the mantras I received from Sri Guru and tring to understand my own purpose in life, as I chant these mantras. Why was I born here and why am I living here, and not in some other world? I think if we understand who we are better, we can be stronger in our faith. And of course, when the moment of death comes, as it must, a deeper sense of conviction and deeper level of realization may help us focus on the feet of Bhagavan when these bodies are writhing in pain and the body is falling apart.

 

-murali

[Dervish]

Srila Prabhupada was once told by one of his disciples that while chanting he experienced a blue light surrounding him. Prabhupada replied, "Keep chanting and it will go away."

[Guest guest]

"When I began to chant the Hare Krishna mantra I found that many strange things began to occur. For instance, I began to see lights, mostly white and electric blue in colour, I would see them alot in spiritual pictures and deities and also coming from peoples chakras. I have tried to find out what it means to see these lights but to no avail. Is there anyone who knows what these lights are and can explain what these particular colours represent?"

 

 

I heard seeing lights, hearing sounds and such is an indication of Kundalini Shakti (Vishnu Maya?) being active in the chakras and nadis.

 

I believe Tukarama had these kind of experiences.

[Raguraman]

Hare Krishna,

 

Strange, I thought I was the only person seeing point objects glowing in space. I have seen golden, bright blue or plasma blue as JN Dasjee described and white point objects flying all around me whenever I finish my meditation.

 

Also I have seen flow of black-grey point objects flowing like a very dense river around me whenever I get sick or going to get reaaly sick.

[Guest guest]

The day I received Gayatri Diksa from Srila Sridhar Maharaj, I sat and said Gayatri for the first time, and all around me everything was glowing with bright white light. The light stayed for a few years, in fact I'm not sure if it is still glowing in my mind and that I am just used to it. But anyway, the experiece I felt is like opening your eyes in the morning and realizing it is daytime.

[Guest guest]

 

Maybe because the discussion forums have been a little dull lately and need some more content.

 

 

 

This was bound to happen eventually. In whichever forum you go, you see people mostly bogged down by "practical" day to day problems, plain stupid tasteless humour, mindless philosophical rhetoric or mud slinging. The soul is not satisfied with this. It needs HariKatha. What Krishna does, what He talks etc. The ancient people were not fools to write elaborate histories and stories in itihasa and puran.

 

 

Devotees generally will not have mystical experiences of the subtle realm because they do not need to go through that realm for perfection.

 

 

 

True devotees do not care..... The lotus feet of the Lord is far more blissful than all the mystical experiences of all the universes combined together....

[krsna]

At the 1975 San Francisco Ratha-yatra-

 

The next day we were having the parade and Srila Prabhupada got out of his car to ride on Subhadra's cart. As he was walking toward the cart, he did a 180 degree turnaround and looked directly into my eyes. There were hundreds of people there, but he seemed to look right into my eyes alone. It was as if he was saying, “Yes, I know you're here.” I've heard many stories like this from other devotees. We all had this similar experience with Srila Prabhupada, sort of like how Krishna was with all the gopis but each gopi thought He was with her alone. It is a mystical thing, and since other devotees have told me the same thing, I suppose I was not delirious to think that it actually happened to me.

 

by Visoka das

 

[krsna]

There was an altar in the living room of our apartment where my wife and I offered all our food. Devotees had taught us to make offerings and do a simple worship. The picture of Srila Prabhupada was most prominent. One day while in a less than Krsna Conscious state, I entered the living room . Immediately I was overwhelmed with the feeling that someone was watching me. But there was no one there. When I looked at the altar, I could see Srila Prabhupada's eyes gazing at me. It did not quite look like a picture, but rather the person was actually there. I ignored the observation and crossed to the other side of the room. Looking once again at the picture it appeared that Prabhupada was now looking in this direction. At this point I became a little uneasy moving about the room to get away from Prabhupada's gaze. Wherever I went, he seemed to be looking there. I concluded that Srila Prabhupada was aware of everything I did, paid my obeisances and ran out of the room.

 

On another night I had the first dream in which Srila Prabhupada appeared. It was long ago so I cannot remember much. Since then I have had many dreams of his Divine Grace many of which I have written down. the main portion of the dream was that Srila Prabhupada was standing at a distance and waving to me, calling me by name. He was walking forward and calling me to follow him. Srila Prabhupada wanted me to go with him. I woke up "where did he want me to go". The answers came from within; "to Krsna, out of maya, to ISKCON, to spread Krsna Consciousness".

 

It became obvious that Srila Prabhupada was making contact with me. On the basis of that contact he was establishing a relationship whether I was prepared for it or not. Srila Prabhupada was entering into my life and would not leave. I made my first conscious step at surrender and began to view Srila Prabhupada as my spiritual master.

 

by Sivarama Swami