187. Jesus Christ in the eyes of a non-Christian. Part three

 

We were discussing the miracles performed by Jesus Christ                                                                                                                                                                      

1. One of the most spectacular events was his transfiguration. His appearance changed and his clothes became dazzling white. He talked with mighty prophets like Moses and Elijah, and a voice was heard from the cloud. All this happened in front of three witnesses, Peter, James and John. Here is the account:                                                                                                        “After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. ³ His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. ⁴ And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus” (9:2-4).                            Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

This event is described in all three synoptic Gospels and in a letter by Peter:                                ¹⁷ He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”^{[a] 18} We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.(2. Peter: 17-18 )

When a modern reader like yourself, reads all that which I have written above, if he or she is not an unquestioning devout Christian, one of following reactions arise in him/her:

1. It is not true. Such things don’t happen. Bible should not be taken literally. Why don’t these miracles happen now? Not one miracle has been recorded in recent times.
2. There may be some truth in these tales; rest is all exaggeration, carried out by an army of authors, over two thousand years.

You don’t want to appear gullible and superstitious, so you deny the miracles. In a discussion with your scientific-minded friends, you are apologetic about miracles recorded in Bible..     

There is no need to be apologetic. It is they who are close-minded.            They fail to appreciate that Divine power can cause miracles by using as yet undiscovered laws of nature. The known laws are not suspended but other undiscovered laws are brought into action which make it appear supernatural.

But what about the argument that why don’t miracles happen now?

The answer is that miracles happen now also. The same Source from which prophets derived their power still exists. Men of God (mystics) appear in all times and go to the same Source where prophets had gone and got powers, though not in the same order of magnitude as prophets possessed. We see glimpses of such powers. Here are some examples:

Jesus cured sicknesses. My brother suffered from incurable sickness. He went to the Great Mystic of Khyber Pass, who sealed his disease (see blog 104 ).

He suffered from a chronic illness for years, which affected his daily life. He had surgery, but that did not help. Soon he started vomiting blood. He fell down in streets couple of times and was taken to hospital. He was diagnosed with cancer (although that part is not documented). One day he met a dervish. The dervish said that in a far flung area a Qalander lives; only he has the ability to cure him. That man took that difficult journey, (considering his sickness). He met the Qalander the following day. The Qalander heard his story. He gave that man some goat milk to drink, and told him, “I have sealed your disease. It won’t progress. You won’t have vomiting any more. All your symptoms will gradually get better, and you will be alright in a month”. That is exactly what happened. Several years have since passed

St Augustine narrated the miracle of restoration of vision of a blind man (blog 163). Let me repeat it for the sake of continuity:

1. “While the bodies were being carried, on the way, several people who were tormented by evil spirits were cured. There was also a man who had been blind for many years, a well known figure in the city. He asked why the crowd was running wild with joy, and when they told him the reason, he leaped to his feet and begged his guide to lead him where the bodies lay. When he reached the place, he asked to be allowed to touch the bier with his handkerchief.  No sooner had he done this and put the handkerchief to his eyes, his eyesight was restored. The news spread”.
   St. Augustine was there in the city of Milan. He would not have recounted it unless it was authentic. He may even have witnessed it. Augustine was a highly rational man, as is clear from his struggle to understand time, astrology, and how prophets could see future. He was not likely to suffer from what Hume called ‘superstitious delusion’.
   St Teresa of Avilla narrates in her book, how she prayed for vision (blog 78). Here is the account from my blog:
                  “Once she was earnestly begging Jesus to restore vision to a totally blind man. The Lord appeared and talked to her. Then He said that He would always grant her anything she asked, because she won’t ask Him anything which did not tend to His glory. The vision was restored within a week.”

To be continued

 

88. Indra Devi. Part 2

She entered Sri Aurobindo and Mother’s ashram in 1949, at the age of 29. She had multiple smadhi experiences. Generally, they were two types:

1. She would feel being drawn inwards. She would feel complete absorption, but consciousness was not completely lost. She would experience ecstasy or yearning. Sometimes she felt viraha (pangs of separation).  She would, occasionally, dance in rapture. Such state is called bhava smadhi

2. She would experience an electric current, starting from the base of spine and shooting upwards to the crown of head. Then she would feel like head opening up, and setting her free, floating in the space. There would be peace, waves of ecstasy, thoughtlessness, and freedom from time and space. Yet she would remain conscious of her personality, her I-ness. Such state is called savikalpa smadhi.

3. Three times she was blessed with the experience of nirvikalpa smadhi ( the highest form of smadhi )                                   It started with waves traversing from the base of spine to the head, feeling of opening of the head, and  floating in space. But, additionally, she completely lost her identity. I-ness was gone. There was nobody to experience. No God, no devotee. She had lost all consciousness to become consciousness. There was just bliss and one vast Reality……………………………………………………………………………..

Miracles. She displaced many psychic feats. She could, at times, see events hundreds of mile away and predict future happenings. However she once showed this powerful miracle:

Her guru sang a song which put her in deep smadhi. As soon as she came out of smadhi, she asked the others whether she should get some prasad (consecrated candy). None was available. She walked down the steps and got some sandy earth. She took it in her folded hands and went into smadhi. It turned into granulated prasad. It was distributed to the three persons encircling her. Then she folded her empty hands and went again into smadhi. When she opened her hands there was some more prasad. Dilip put the remaining prasad in an envelope. He also stored the sandy soil, which was originally been given to Indra, in a separate envelope. They went for dinner. After dinner, Indra, told Dilip that the soil has also partially turned into prasad. Dilip rushed to his room. Envelope was opened. Part of the mud was still mud, the rest had turned into prasad.

Mirabai. Mirabai is one of the most famous saints of India. Her songs of love and yearning for Lord  Krishna have been sung by devotees for the last five centuries. Her spirit started communicating with Indra. Indra became a ward of Saint Mira. Mira sang her songs in original Hindi of that time to Indra, who would then dictate them to Dilip, who would then sing them back to Indra. She eventually dictated more than eight hundred of such songs. The songs were in a language that Indra did not even know!( her folks spoke Punjabi and Urdu, although Urdu is similar to Hindi ).

Some thoughts. 1.:  "If one has read all the scriptures in the world………………….learned all the postures, killed all desires, learned to sit still for hours…………..yet his bigotry is intact……………………he feels other religions, other prophets, other modes of worship are wrong and only his way is right, then one may be anything but he is not a yogi."

2. Her love for her Beloved is the reality of her life. It is like air to her. Whether or where she shall arrive is not very important because all she needs is to love Him and seek Him. There is no urge to become anything at journey’s end.

Her prayer is to give herself completely to Him. It is not her aim to help or better the world. Everything which comes from God is a blessing: joy or pain, love or rejection.  “Only reveal to me Your will and the way to do it……………………………………………………………………….good or bad, whatever I am, belongs to You………………………………………that You draw me closer to You is all I ask”

 

87. Indra Devi . Part one

Indra Devi was seven years old, when she picked up the fallen walking stick of a fakir ( a Muslim mystic ), and handed it back to him in Ziarat ( Baluchistan, Pakistan ). The fakir said that this was not their first meeting and it won’t be the last, and that he will come to her in her hour of need.

She was fifteen years old when she was bitten by a dog and developed rabies (a universally fatal disease at that time) and hydrophobia (fear of water). As she was near death, her brother happened to meet the same fakir, who came to her bedside at once, and cured her. His name was Rajib Sain, and Indra saw him later, a few times, in her inner vision.

In May 1935, at 3 am, a female voice woke her up from sleep and told her to get up and leave the house at once. Voice came repeatedly. She left the bed and ran outside, and told some relatives to do the same also. An earthquake came and house collapsed. Thirty people from that house died.

Soon she realized that she was different. She had a deep aversion to sex. In 1945, when her son was five years old, things began to happen rapidly. She realized that she could read other person’s thoughts, unconsciously. But she could not read any one’s thoughts, deliberately. Twice she saw a skeleton, instead of her face, in the mirror. Then a voice stated telling her; “Why have you come? Have you come for this?..........”

She had a vision of Jesus Christ:………………………………………..A few men with heavy clumsy clothes………..there was someone bent double, dragging on his back a roughly hewn tree shaped like a cross. It was too heavy for him……………….She pushed her way through the crowd, and drawing near the person, dragging, cried out: “Oh Lord, why do you allow them to do this to you?” she went down on her knees and wept. He who looked so frail and weary looked up at her, and she saw that His eyes were not sad……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….”

Her friend told her that she was psychic

She met her guru, Dilip Kumar Roy ( see blog 86) in 1946. When she first saw him an electric current shot up from the base of her spine to her neck. He refused to take her as his disciple and advised her to come and visit Sri Aurobindo’s (guru of Dilip) ashram and take him as her guru. She had no idea of an ashram, and dreaded ashram life. She was a rich, modern, , vivacious, cultured, educated woman who loved to dance.

In February 1949, when her second son was one year old, she finally went to visit Pondicherry and had the darshan( seeing a holy person or place ) of Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Her whole body went cool and numb.

Dada ( elder brother, Dilip Kumar Roy ) told her that she was ‘called’, but she had to choose to be chosen. She decided that she should go back to her home and see if the ‘call’ was real.

She went back to her family and was very happy to see everybody, but next day she felt desolate.

Next day she sat down for meditation, for the first time in her life. An electric current rose from the base of her spine to her head.  Peace like a block of ice descended on her. Her body became numb. There was no thought, no prayer, and no ecstasy. Next he felt somebody shaking her. Five and a half hour had passed. She soon became God-intoxicated. That state lasted for three months. She would also have period of intense sadness and despair.

One day, as she was meditating, an electric current shot up from the base of her spine and went up to her head. Her head opened, as it seemed to her, and she found herself floating in the air. She could see her body seated on the floor (compare with St Teressa of Avilla, blog 76). There was no thought, just peace and bliss. This was savikalpa smadhi

She started feeling the presence of God around her all the time.

She had the most amazing experience of black magic in August 1949. A sadhu (monk) of extremely beautiful features came to her and asked her to be her associate. He said that, jointly, they could achieve great things. Indra refused. He threatened her. His voice, blood -shot eyes would come in her vision. She became dangerously sick. It turned out that the magician, through her maid, was poisoning her. Dilip Kumar Roy and Sri Aurobindo were contacted. Sri Aurobindo wrote back that she should immediately come to his and Mother’s ashram for protection, and that she was in mortal danger and would otherwise die. She left her house on a stretcher. The magician did not leave her even in the ashram. He tried to choke her. She found bruises and fingerprints on her throat. The magician appeared in her bathroom in the form of Dada. She cried out loudly for her guru. Immediately the spell was broken and she saw that the form was of the magician. He shoved her into the bathtub.

Next day she was told during meditation that the magician’s hold on her will cease by the next full moon.

Within a month the magician had a paralytic stroke and died in great agony.

To be continued