Extraordinary Worlds

Even after a 26-year association with spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy and these many years of first hand exposure to the extraordinary and the miraculous, I am still surprised at how much discipleship has unveiled whole new worlds of knowing and knowledge.

The practice of meditation in particular quietens the endlessly moving mind and creates the right inner conditions in which other faculties can blossom – these are not peripheral or secondary but equal and authentic aspects of mans intelligence. Here, other realms in the great mystery of our existence await discovery – wisdom and intuition, the occult and the telepathic, dormant capacities that will only awaken in future generations when we are ready to be gifted such secrets. In the vast sleeping vaults of the human brain the physiology is already there and unimagined talents await their hour.

This other dimension first became a little apparent to me when, at a very early age, my next door neighbour described an unusual experience of hers. In 1943 her husband's supply ship was torpedoed by a submarine and the sailor-husband spent eight cold hours in the ocean before being rescued. At the precise time this happened my neighbour awoke from sleep – 12,000 kilometres away! – and for hours endured exactly the same physical symptoms as her husband, shivering with cold and sharing the entire experience. Only a month later did she learn what had actually happened, confirming what she had already known and experienced as it was happening. Such events are very common and discussed a lot in the realm of quantum physics where everything in the universe is seen as belonging to one unified field of consciousness, everything interconnected, literally.

Glimpses into this other realm of knowledge are common for many practitioners of meditation, no matter what path they may follow. Sri Chinmoy talks a lot about the spiritual heart as the main player in this non-rational realm of consciousness. With its greatly expanded awareness and its concentrated 'psychic' capacities it is the main receiver, like a giant radio telescope listening to and feeling the unfolding of reality all around. This image though implies a separation between the receptor heart and what it receives – but in truth the spiritual heart seems to be one with all of reality, not separate, experiencing everything simultaneously, independently of space and time.

These powers are extraordinary and fascinating to us but commonplace and normal for yogis, adepts of meditation and spiritual Masters. True masters use these capacities only in their service to humanity and always in harmony with God's will. And usually discreetly – they do not want disciples who are enchanted by the kindergarten toys of occult and psychic powers but seekers who want enlightenment and realisation.

    – Jogyata.