169. Jesus Christ seen/heard over centuries. Part one

 

Anything which is quoted from a mystic/yogi/saint/prophet in these blogs must fulfill one of these two requirements:

 1. It should be taken from an autobiography of that mystic. It will be an authentic account because such persons don’t lie. They may, though, misinterpret the event.

2. It should be written by a person of high integrity who heard it himself from the mystic’s mouth.

3. It should not be taken from a religious scripture, except as a brief quotation, such as Bible, Gita, or Koran

 

 All the incidents that I have ever quoted in all of my blogs fulfill one of these conditions, except the first encounter of the holy prophet Muhammad^pbuh with an entity (blog 147). I have included it because the holy prophet^pbuh told it himself to others. Most of the incidents are taken from the following books:

• A search in secret Egypt by Paul Brunton
• .A search in secret India by Paul Brunton
• .Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
• .In Quest of God by Swami Ramdas
• .Living with kundalini by Gopi Krishna
• .Pilgrim of stars by Dilip Kumar Roy and Indra Devi
• .Shahab Nama by Shahab
• .The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Nikhilananda
• .The Hunger of the Soul by Nancy Mayorga
• .The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection. Translated by Salvatore Scurba
• .The life of Teresa of Jesus by Teresa of Avila. Translated by Allison Peers
• Confessions By St Augustine
• Kashaf-ul Mahjoob by Data Gunj Bakhash
• The dark night of the soul, by St John of the cross. Translated by Allison Peers

•  The autobiography of St Therese of Lisieux. Translated by John Beevers
  There are some incidents taken from other books but they pass the same standards. However, in some places, either I or my brother RQ is the witness of the events.
  I have stated these conditions, but I still want to tell you the vision of Jesus by St. Paul, mentioned in the Bible. Why is that? Because it is authentic. St Paul himself mentioned it, or Luke, a disciple and companion of Paul, narrated it, so he must have heard it from Paul himself. Many persons saw Jesus after his death, as mentioned in the Bible, but those persons did not write their account.
  1. I quote from New Testament:
  “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul (see footnote), Saul, why do you persecute me?”
  “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
  "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
  The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
  —Acts 9:3–9
   
  Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
  —Acts 9:17–19
  Paul, himself, gave the same account with some differences in Acts 22; 6-13, and in Acts 26:12-18
   
  2. Paul received instructions from Jesus some other times too. Here is an incident:
   
  “It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance, and I saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.' "And I said, 'Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You.’ And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.'"And He said to me, 'Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles (non-Jews).'"
  ___Acts 22:17-21
   
  3. Here is an account of the conversation between Jesus and a man named Ananias:
   
  Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lays his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight." “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
  But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”__Acts (9:10-15)
  To be continued
  _______________________________________________________________________________
  ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Footnote. ST Paul’s original name was Saul

160. Saint Augustine. Part two; Conversion

 

St Augustine carried on his pursuit for worldly gains and passions till he was 32 years old. He taught the art of public speaking to pupils. He was studying for the law. He was at the top of the school for rhetoric. He was pleased with his superior status and swollen with conceit. He was vain and ambitious and wanted to cut a fine figure in the world. He was eager for fame, wealth and marriage. He consulted imposters, the astrologers (although he refused to consult sorcerers because they sacrificed animals and prayed to spirits). He went to the theatre and watched the spectators enjoy their sadness, by witnessing the tragedy and suffering on the stage (although to his credit, he never liked the gladiatorial shows because of the cruelty).

He described himself: ‘But why do I talk of these things? I lived in misery, like every man whose soul is tethered by the love of things that cannot last and then is agonized to lose them’

 

 He was a slave of lust. He had a mistress and together they had a son. After she left him and went back to Africa, he found another mistress. He describes those days:

 

 “I had prayed to You for chastity and said ‘Give me chastity and continence, but not yet’. For I was afraid that You would answer my prayer at once and cure me too soon for the disease of lust, which I wanted satisfied, not quelled”

 

His dear friend died. He mourned for him. He narrates his grief in eight pages ‘What madness, to love a man as something more than human! What folly to grumble at the lot man has to bear! I lived in a fever, convulsed with tears and sighs that allowed me neither rest nor peace of mind’

 

He wondered about the powers the astronomers possessed; they could foretell eclipses of sun and moon many years before they happened, and whether the eclipse would be total or partial.

 

But he still searched for truth. He read many books, including Aristotle’s ‘Ten Categories’. He talked to many learned men but none could satisfy him. He writes:

 

‘Truth! Truth! How the marrow of my soul within me yearned for it’

 

And finally, he met a man of God; Bishop Ambrose, in Milan (now called St. Ambrose), who was known throughout the world for his goodness. He writes: ‘Unknown to me, it was You who led me to him, so that I might knowingly be led by him to You. This man of God received me like a father…….My heart warmed to him’.

 

Although he could not talk to Ambrose face to face, because the Bishop was always busy, but at least, over a period of time, after listening to the sermons of Ambrose he turned towards Catholic teaching. He writes:

 

‘I was glad too that at last I had been shown how to interpret the Holy Scripture of the law and the prophets in a different light from that which I had previously made them seem absurd’.

 

He narrates a strange incident. It is not clear whether it was day or night, and whether he was asleep or awake.

 

‘I entered the depth of my soul…….I saw the Light……….. What I saw was quite different from any light we know on earth…... It shown above my mind……... It was above me because it was the Light itself that made me, and I was below because I was made by it. All who know that Light, and all who know this Light know eternity’.

‘I heard your voice calling from on high, saying “I am the food of full-grown men. Grow and you shall feed on Me. But you shall not change Me into Your own substance, as you do with the food of your body. Instead you shall be changed into Me’”

 

He now started loving God! But he was amazed that he did not persist in enjoying Him. He began to search the means to gain strength in enjoying God. He found the strength through the mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ.

He derived great joy and comfort in writing of Apostle Paul.

 

This mote has learnt that if one adopts the path of religion to reach God (which unfortunately I could not) then due to certitude the task becomes easier. St Augustine makes this point:

 

‘It is one thing to catch sight of the land of peace……and unable to find the way to it, struggle on through trackless wastes where traitors and runaways, captained by their prince,……lie in wait to attack. It is another thing to follow the high road to that land of peace, the way that is defended by the care of the Commander’.

 

Two mystics (Shahab and the mystic from Bhaun, Pakistan, blogs 65-6,103) have written in their books, that they were never assailed by doubts.

 

Now, the chain of events which led to the most important event of his life; the episode of the garden.

 

To be continued.
mkadk2012@gmail.com

Why does God do miracles?

 

148.  System of the World. Part Six

 

This leads us to a paradox: On one hand mankind is supposed to develop on their own, without outside interference, on the other hand glaring examples of divine intervention. No doubt is left in the mind of the participants (like prophet Muhammad^pbuh, Giri Bala, and Therese Neumann) and the people around them, that this is the finger of God doing it, because the two women lived on air for years, for everybody to see. God is supposed to be hidden. Why manifest Himself by miracles? 

I do not know the answer, but I can try. 

God intervenes in a major and a minor way due to His three eminent qualities. I have picked these three, in a litany of others, with some consideration. These are Goodness, Mercy, and His desire that people should appreciate Him, and if possible love Him.

 

Goodness. The proof of His goodness is that when He intervenes in a major way through prophets like Moses, Jesus, Muhammad^pbuh, Buddha, Krishna, the ensuing teaching is to love the fellow man. To create a good society. All the preaching of prophets and mystics, inspired by God, is to do good and make the society better.

Mercy. Although He appears indifferent, but He is merciful. If a society becomes selfish, a major reformer, like Jesus, is sent. Here is a thoughtful verse in Gita, the Hindu scripture: Lord Krishna (human incarnation of God, according to Hindu religion) said;

 

“Whenever dharma (Divine way) declines and the purpose of life is forgotten, I manifest myself on earth. I am born in every age to protect the good, to destroy evil, and to re-establish dharma.”                                                                                                                                  The Bhagvad Gita. 4:7-8
 

Why would God take the trouble of helping if not from mercy? 
 

Consider the two prayers of Mufti Sahib (blog 112). He begged God to help him in feeding his guests. Prayer was immediately answered. Money was provided. His other request was for helping him to spend Eid with his family. Again his request was granted, and money came through the hands of a stranger. The person who wept so much that skin under his eyes broke down.  He importuned God for a huge debt relief (blog 112). His request was granted. All these three episodes denote mercy. Out of all the qualities of God, this mote, appreciates His mercy the most.

 

To be appreciated if not loved: When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was, he replied; to love God.

There is something in God which is attracted towards the people who love Him. The person, who loves Him without any reward, and without any answer (from Him), is indeed rare. Because it is very difficult to love somebody which is just an idea in the mind in the form of infinite expanse of empty space; Dionysius the Areopagite gave it the name of Divine Darkness. It is difficult to love a concept. To love Goodness, Justice and Beauty. It is much easier if there was a human form to love, such as Jesus, Muhammad^pbuh, Buddha, Krishna, and Ram, or an object such as Kaaba ( the holiest site of Islam ).

 

2. What is the purpose of life? I don’t know.

 

3. Is God personal or impersonal? By personal God is meant that He is approachable. He has human qualities such as joy, sadness, love, and justice. Requests can be sent to Him as supplications. He takes interests in the affairs of the world. And finally, he interferes in the world. 

By impersonal God it is meant that He is somewhere, far, alone, absorbed in Himself. Nobody can reach Him. He is not aware of the affairs of this world. 

He is neither happy nor unhappy

He is neither angry nor jealous

He is neither just nor unjust

He is neither merciful nor cruel

He does not love or hate

He is neither good nor bad

 

From my own personal experience and from centuries of mystical thought, I am certain, as certain can be, that God is personal. To experience Him, one has to invite Him in one’s life. As I have said earlier, this is a cardinal principal. I have narrated so many incidents of His (or His deputies) interventions in blogs 102-112, that there is no doubt left of a personal God. 

But part of God is impersonal. Unapproachable.

 

The only fact which is still unclear is that what if all these instances of miracles, answering of prayers, prophecies, spirits of dead connoting life after death, are perpetrated by His deputies and not by Him? He may be remote and unattached to this world. It is an unanswerable question, but it does not bother me at all, because the system under which these deputies operate has been created by God, and all the prophets and thousands of mystics have said the same thing ( except Buddha ), on rooftops, at peril of life. These systems, such as spirits of bygone human beings, (trillions of them, over millions of years) and life after death, are huge systems. They cannot be created by humans, since they predate them. The spirits could not have developed spontaneously, because brain, like the rest of body, disintegrates.

 

Therefore, God is both personal and impersonal. The great saint Sri Ramakrishna said that impersonal and personal God cannot be separated; they are the same, like milk and its whiteness.

This mote thinks that the Holy Spirit in Christianity is based on the same principle; it is the kinetic energy of God.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_____________________________________________________________________________________

(1) Dionysius the Areopagite, ‘De Mystica Theologia’. Taken from the book, ‘Mysticism’ by Evelyn Underhill

146.  System of the World. Part four 

 

We were discussing that you have to invite God in your life.

 

How do you invite God in your life? By praying to Him. You have to beg God again and again. He may or may not grant your prayer. But if you are earnest in your desire to reach God (and God will look in your heart), this mote is certain, as certain can be, that He will grant you your prayer. He will transform you. Some people are lucky (because they are ready) and get transformed quickly; otherwise, most often it is a gradual process and may take decades (two or three decades in the case of this mote)

God enters your life, often, in an unobtrusive way. Law of cause and effect is not violated, although there are exceptions. For instance, in the case of Shahab, a letter came from Germany, which was a supernatural event, because the spirit of Fatima (daughter of holy prophet) could not have known the prayer of Shahab (blog 65). There are other examples.

 

The principal that is never violated is that the sanctity of the overall experiment is preserved. The rules of the game are not changed. One is not allowed to interfere in God’s system. Let me give you some examples to illustrate this important point.

               Giri Bala did not eat or drink for fifty six years (blogs 79- 80). Therese Neumann did not eat and drink for twelve years (except for a wafer each day). When Sri Yogananda asked Giri Bala that why didn’t she let the public know her secret of living on air, it would eliminate hunger in the world, she was shocked. Her answer was most revealing. She said it would be against God’s plan.

               A seer learnt the seven winning lottery numbers, one day in advance of drawing, by a spiritual technique (blog 135). He was strongly warned by higher powers, never to do it again. God’s laws, such as hiding the future, are for important reasons. To look into future, without God’s permission, is against God’s plans

               Jesus Christ performed miracles left and right. Why didn’t he (or other powerful mystics like Sri Yukteshwar, Data Sahib) disclose the secrets of making electricity, or a fusion nuclear reactor, or disclose the existence of American Continent, etc. Because, that would have interfered with God’s plans. It would violate the sanctity of the experiment.

               I used to wonder in the past (I don’t anymore) that why don’t Data Sahib, the highest saint of Pakistan, help the inhabitants of Lahore in a major way (Blog 62-63). He helps in the form of daily free food for hundreds. Perhaps few dozen are helped, monetarily, each day. In a city of 6-7 million, and in a country of 190 million, these efforts seem to be very insufficient. I used to wonder, why doesn’t he eradicate the basic problem of poverty, and thus help millions. Perhaps he could do that. He could provide the secret of cheap solar energy, or to produce rain on demand, or reveal a cheap way to convert sea water into fresh water. I don’t wonder anymore, because he is not allowed to do so. It would interfere with the basic premise of the experiment, that human beings should progress ( or regress, as in the case of 16 centuries of stagnation in human thought from Greek period to Renaissance ) on their own.

 

Before we proceed any further we must address what is meant by supernatural. Miracles are supernatural events, because they apparently do not obey the existing laws of nature. They may yet obey some other undiscovered laws of nature.

 

 It is clear that there are souls. I have provided ample evidence (107-110). Now how do we explain souls scientifically? We simply cannot. A dead body is no different from an inanimate object like a lump of coal or a cup. Brain disintegrates after death. I suppose if we were to ask this question to Mr Einstein who reportedly did not believe in God, after showing him a soul and convincing him that there is life after death in the form of souls, he might have answered in the following way. “There must be physical laws governing the existence of soul forms, just as there are laws which govern the visible universe. It is just that we have not yet discovered those laws. After those laws are discovered the explanation will be very simple. Think, how our ability to predict solar eclipse to a second, might appear to a man living thousands of years before Christ. Or what would he think of a man walking on the street talking in a few inches long cellular telephone to another person who may be thousands of miles away, and only the recipient, out of 7 billion inhabitants of earth, can hear him. Think of a bird pecking at his own reflection in a mirror, a reflection that looks and moves like real.  Soul may be like a reflection in a mirror, both real and unreal, but obeying the laws of nature.”

 

To be continued

 

 

131. Some Updates/Additions.

 

                                 Locutionist in Medjugorje, Totapuri’s lesson, Drama at Mr. Shevani’s grave,

                                 Reading thoughts, seeing from afar, beyond religion,. How to control

                                 Wandering thoughts. Pawhari Baba. great Qalandar

 

 

Here are some updates/ additions to the episodes narrated in earlier blogs:

 

In blog 68, I mentioned that the spiritual sites serve as broadcasting stations to God or His assistants. They are also the receivers through which God’s grace descends.

Holy Mary appeared to six children in 1981 in Medjugorje, Bosnia. The village has become a spiritual site. In order for a site to succeed in attracting pilgrims, there has to be a spiritual presence there, just as the spirit of Data Gunj Bakhash is present at Data Durbar in Lahore Pakistan.

Do I have any proof of it being the case at Medjugorje?

Yes, as the following episode proves it. It has been taken from a book by Eric Weiner (1). The author interviewed the in-charge of a homeless shelter in South Bronx, New York. His name was Father Louis and he was a Franciscan monk. The monk told him the story of his conversion:

Father Louis, when young, led a life devoted to body building and womanizing. One day his mother asked him to go to a holy site in Bosnia. Louis loved his mother. To please her, he agreed to go on this pilgrimage, although he had no interest in religion.

Louis was bored by the second day in Medjugorje. He started idly thinking, that if Holy Mary was his and Jesus Christ’s mother and God the father of both of them, then he and Jesus should be brothers. He spent about 6 seconds on this thought.

Later, the same day, as he was climbing up a hill with other pilgrims, he heard that in their group there was a locutionist. This locutionist, a young girl, supposedly, received messages telepathically. At precisely 5.40 pm, they all kneeled and meditated for few minutes.

Afterwards, the girl told him that while meditating, she received a message from Jesus for him.

Louis thought that this must be a generic message, such as, go to church, be holy, etc. You cannot go wrong with such messages.

The girl said, “Jesus told her, that, yes, He was your brother and He wanted to anoint your hands”

I cannot improve on Weiner’s words; therefore, I am going to quote verbatim:

Louis was floored. She had given him the answer to the question she couldn’t possibly have known.

“And in that moment, I was infused with such love for Christ, knowing that He was in my head, He was in my brain, He was in my heart. I knew He was real. I knew this was the man I needed to follow the rest of my life.”

What was the spirit of such mighty and exalted prophet doing at Medjugorje?

 

2.  In blog 22, I mentioned that the guru of Sri Ramakrishna, Totapuri, was taught a profound lesson by God. At that time, for fear of digression, I did not narrate the new truth that he had found. Here is the incident:

 

Totapuri developed dysentery. It was so severe that he could not concentrate during meditation. He was used to mastery over his body, but now he had become a slave of his body. Body meant nothing to him; he decided to drown his body in river Ganges. He walked in the water of the river on one bank. To his surprise, he ended up on the other bank! (In another version, he ended on a sand-bank in the middle of the river).  In his amazement he looked at the other bank. In one dazzling moment he saw Divine Mother on all sides. She was in everything. She was in the water, She was in the land, She was in the body……She was everything that one sees, hears, or imagines.

She was the Transcendental Absolute. She was the Brahman, which Totapuri had worshipped all his life.

In the morning, he went with Ramakrishna, to the Kali temple, and for the first time prostrated himself before the image of the Mother.

Ramakrishna, later, told his disciples, the meaning of the vision of Totapuri

“When I think of the Supreme^____ as inactive; neither creating, nor maintaining, nor destroying^___ I call him Brahman or Purusha, the impersonal God. When I think of Him as active^___ I call Him as Sakti, or Maya, or Prakriti, the Personal God. The Personal and the Impersonal are the same thing, like milk and its whiteness…The Divine Mother and Brahman is one”

According to Hindu mysticism, God can be with Form, or without Form. To realize God with Form is much easier than to realize God without Form, because one can make a mental image of God with Form (such as Christ on Cross, idol of Divine Mother as Kali).

In this mote’s opinion, it is much easier to attract the attention of lesser gods and prophets than the Supreme God

 

 

3. There is a recent update on Mr. Shevani. (Blog67-8). The area where Mr Shevani is buried is surrounded by Wahabi Muslim villagers. They are a fundamentalist, extremist sect. These people had opposed the building of a tomb on his grave, and had injured a disciple of the great Qalandar. Three or four person plotted a scheme. They went to Mr. Shevani’s grave  in the middle of a dark night. They were equipped with an electric lamp and digging tools. There scheme was to steal Mr. Shevani’s dead body.

 

As the first shovel struck the ground there was a loud, blood chilling roar which came from somewhere. It did not sound human to them. It was blood curdling and terrifying. These men lost their senses, and ran helter-skelter, leaving the digging tools behind.

 

Two of the miscreants, including their leader, became delirious, talking nonsense, and had to be admitted to a hospital. Both died, one within a week, the other after several weeks.

 

Sometimes, God or His assistants interfere in human affairs.

 

4. Many persons attain the ability to read thoughts. A sufi person I know told me that he could not actually read one’s thoughts ( and is prohibited to do so by his order ) unless somebody came to him as a supplicant( for help). When such a person comes to him he comes to know why that person has come to him before the needy say a word.

The magician, Mahmoud, in blog122, whom Brunton met in India told Brunton that he was a thought reader.

Sri Daya Mata wrote in her book that her guru swami Yogananda had the power to read the mind of others, but he never intruded on anyone’s mental privacy unless invited (blog12)

The best description is that of Indra Devi: she could sometime read the thoughts of others. She was almost ashamed of it. However if she deliberately tried to read the thoughts of somebody, she could not (2).

5. Yogaparem told Dilip, “ It sometime happens that as soon as you are initiated into Yoga you begin to see things far away.”

I have narrated the story of the blind Russian beggar who saw the church fire and belfry falling when they were many versts away from the city (blog 52)

Swami Ramdas also wrote in one of his books that he could see people coming towards him while they were still far away.

Data Gang Bakhash wrote in his book (blog 104) that he went to meet a sage in Salang. The sage said, “My son you are in my notice from such and such date.” He also wrote that his murshed could read thoughts (blog62)

 

6. Problem of wandering thoughts. “As soon as I sit down to meditate my mind begins to wander. I can neither relax nor concentrate on the Lord”(2). That is the complaint Indra so often hears from people. How can it be otherwise, she tells them, when they make no attempt to keep up their contact with Him during the rest of the day? One should think of God as often as possible. In this way the mind eventually becomes accustomed to the heights and meditation is made possible. Think of God for one minute every half-hour…….

 

7. Miracle of Pawhari Baba. Yashoda Mai, the guru of Krishnaparem, once met the great saint Pawhari Baba when she was a fifteen year old girl (3). He lived in a cave. Once, it was announced that he was going to give bhandara (feeding, distribution of a vessel of foodstuff, and clothes to the sadhus ) ,the next day.  An intrigued Mai, disguised herself as a boy, and stood in the line of sadhus. Everybody was getting a vessel of food and a dhoti ( garment covering the lower half of the body). When her turn came, she just plunged head-on in the cave.

“ Believe it or not, Baba,” she said, “ I saw something absolutely incredible: It was just a tiny cave with no other exit. And there were neither vessels nor any dhotis^___not a vestige! The narrow space inside the cave was quite empty!”    

Pawhari Baba and Sri Ramakrishna were contemporaries, and knew each other. Pawhari Baba kept a picture of Ramakrishna in his cave and thought highly of him

 

8. I have mentioned in the Foreword of this book what the great Qalandar said about my book “ …..Such person is beyond religion”

The Yogi who always wore dark glasses ( blog 64) said the same thing. When asked by the saintly person that what was his religion? .  He laughed and said that he was beyond religion and anybody who reaches God is beyond religion. However, one still follows the religion through which one has reached God, and since he reached God through Hinduism, he calls himself a Hindu.

 

Since I just mentioned the great Qalandar, let me record some more of his sayings. He said “ This path has no end ( similar to what Shahab’s guide told him). There are rest areas and milestones. At first rest area one gets something. In the second rest area one gets sweets (reward).  People start eating the candy. Many more years pass. Then you get a ceremonial robe or a hat of honor. Such people become very proud of their gifts and accomplishment. They walk proudly, full of self-importance. God asks them to serve humanity. In other words, they are diverted from their original aim (path). But I did not deviate, and others do not, either.”

“Allah plays games. First he gave you the sickness, then sent you to me to cure. Who am I to cure? It is He Himself who cures.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(1). Man seeks God  by Eric Weiner

(2). Pilgrims of stars By Dilip Kumar Roy and Indra Devi

(3) Yogi Krishnaparem by Dilip Kumar Roy

 

 

114. God  part eighteen 
 

 Please read blog 113 for continuity

Science has no explanation for prophecies, miracles, spirits, and granting of prayers.

               How can anybody tell the future which has not been made yet? To have my grandfather buried in the same grave with his son, required a colossal event to happen, in which millions suffered. For Swami Vivekananda to see the event of the silver cup 43 years in advance, only a Divine power had to be involved. How did Swami Yukteswar know that the veterinarian will fall ill soon, recover, and die 6 months later? How did he know that Yogananda will be fed strawberries in America? And Kasha did die, as predicted.

               How can one explain the vision of the teacher putting a garland of flowers on the president’s neck and receiving a check; Baroda Babu’s telling Dilip Kumar Roy, 12 years in advance, that he will have to wait for Indra Devi to join him as his disciple for his real progress,, and also telling him about what Sri Aurobindo advised him regarding his hernia.

               One does not have any explanation of Indra Devi’s vision of the pilot dying in crash one year in advance and then his spirit coming to Indra.

               As for as miracles are concerned, Indra Devi transformed sandy earth into sweets, Sri Yukteswar appeared in flesh and blood, twice, to Yukteswar, once when he was waiting for him to come by train from Calcutta, and once when he was resurrected from dead. I have narrated Data Gunj Bakhash’s miracles: protection from rain and mud, appearance of dates and out of season grapes, talking to a pillar in the mosque and getting the answer, and the mystic knowing what the three dueveshes had in mind.

               The episode of ‘Ninety’ and appearance of letters from thin air, are miracles. Beyond scientific explanation.

               Finally, Dilip Kumar Roy gets his wish, and the lamp lights up, and then is extinguished.

               Levitation of St Teresa of Avila was a miracle, and so was Christ restoring vision to the blind and taking away the severe pain of the sick man.

               The Yogi created the perfumes out of thin air, both for Paul Brunton and the young Yogananda.

               What powerful miracles of Therese Neumann not eating and drinking for twelve years and Giri Bala for fifty-six years! Do you need any other proof, it shows the power of God

               The great yogi Pranabananda assumed another replicate body and thus had two bodies at the same time, when young Yogananda visited him (I think it was for Yogananda’s education).

               The raising from dead of Rama, by Lahiri Mahasaya, was a powerful miracle (I think it was for Sri Yukteswar’s education)

               The proof of spirits of people who once inhabited earth, is, in the end, a proof of a Divine system, and God. We were made aware of the restless spirit of Bimla Kumari in the haunted house. In blog 108, Prophets Jesus, Muhammad^pbuh Krishna, visited the devotees. Data Gunj Bakhash, an eleventh

Century mystic, cured 3 brothers suffering from plague, in twentieth century.

               The resurrected Sri Yukteswar talked not only to Yogananda but also to his disciple, Ma

               The spirit of Yogananda came out of his picture and helped Sri Daya Mata.

               St Teresa of Avila saw the spirit of Jesus and Fray Peter of Alcantara many times.

               The spirit of St Mira came hundreds of times to Indra Devi, and dictated her songs, sometimes in a language which Indra did not know.

               Paul Brunton, became his own spirit, and saw his own motionless body lying on the stone slab in the Great Pyramid of Egypt. 

As I have said before, nothing convinces me more about the existence of God, than His granting the prayers. I have narrated seven examples. Three prayers were unique, and the other four had the quality of last appeal. Shahab’s prayer to God, to allow the spirit of Fatima^pbuh to talk to her father, and getting his permission for Shahab to travel in search of God, through a particular path, was unique. And what a way of confirmation; a letter from Germany! Mr. Shevani’s prayer to meet the greatest Qalndar of this era, and his spending his life with him was also unique. Who would ask for such a thing? Giri Bala’s prayer, wanting not to eat anything, was so unique, that even the guru remarked that God was touched by its extraordinary nature.

               God listened to Mufti Sahib (even Mufti Sahib himself told it to a friend, that God listens to him) and came to his help, twice. This is the same Mufti Sahib (I have mentioned it in Foreword to book two) who did not have the courage to enter Kaaba for several days, and sat outside. He prayed to Allah “make me Yours”

               The prayer of the man for debt relief shows that God has compassion. Not Spinoza’s passionless, inaccessible, remote God. 

At the end, let me answer the question: is God personal or impersonal? Let me explain, by personal God, it is meant that God is approachable. He listens to you, and helps you, if He deems it fit. A friend once said, “I tell God, even if my shoe lace breaks, and ask Him to give me one”. On the other hand,  impersonal God is not approachable. He does not have human feelings like joy, anger, compassion.

               The answer, according to this mote’s understanding, is, Both.     Part of God is remote and inaccessible and part of it is personal and approachable

 

The End.     

www.afnta-questforallah.blogspot.com

Collection of chants at: mkadk.afnta

 “On a dark night…………without light or guide, save that which burned    in my heart”

                                                                          St. John of the Cross 

Email address; mkadk2012@gmail.com