I was once asked this question when I wrote my first book on Yoga. Well, let me remind that by Yoga I meant some meditative practice, and not the physical discipline that the word represents these days 😉
I was a bit irritated by that question. I was a purist who believed that Yoga is beyond experiencing, beyond mystifying. It is a journey beyond the mind. Hankering for some experience was demeaning the potential of Yoga, that is what I thought.
Now-a-days more and more Gurus emphasize on ‘experiencing’. “If you practice my ‘technique’ you are guaranteed to experience such and such a thing” – they hold out a promise. “There could be a surge of ‘energy’ that gushes towards the head, or you will undergo some beyond worldly experiences”, and so on. People are often drawn to Yoga or any meditative practice as part of their ‘mystery shopping expedition’ 😉
I came across an Indian Yogi who believes that he had ‘realization’ a few years ago on exactly a specific date! He talks hours at length about how one can attain self-realization. He quotes from many Indian scriptures – of course, unrelated to self-realization. But he never explains what that ‘self-realization’ actually means! He even claims that the realization he has attained is permanent, no matter how he lived after that. In fact, he admits that he drinks alcohol, takes drugs, the same way he used to, before he attained realization. But none of that effect him or his realization!
I remember that long back, Bhagawan Rajneesh or Osho, as he was popularly known, also made a similar statement. He had said that “once someone attains realization, he remains realized, no matter how he lives after that”! Probably this Indian Yogi must have read a bit too much about Osho 😉 I wonder what this realization actually is!
If you go back a bit, you come across at least a couple Yogis who talk about their realization experiences. They describe realization as a ‘death like horrible experience’. In most cases, these experiences were totally unexpected and not a result of any specific meditative practice. I wonder why on earth someone wants to undergo such ‘realization’ experience no matter why it happens!?
Writing autobiographies, listing their mystic or mysterious experiences seems to have become a fad these days for many modern-day Gurus. Many of them seem to have been inspired by the well-known ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by Paramahamsa Yogananda. No doubt it was a well written book with an excellent narrative style. All the same, when I first read that book long ago, I remember how I found it artificially pepped up, though I did not suspect the author’s integrity.
But the Gurus of today seem to have entered into a race to make their autobiographies more mystical and mysterious than the one by Yogananda 😉 They put in a right mix of spice, making it quite juicy and engrossing. You wouldn’t dare to put the book down even for a moment😉
At the core of these biographies, often there is a mention about a deathless Yogi who still lives in the Himalayas. Yogananda called him Mahaavataar Baabaabji. This Yogi, believed to be at least 2000 years old, keeps appearing in totally unexpected situations. He either blesses these Gurus, or initiates them in ‘age old’ Yoga practices, the mention of which is never found in any ancient Indian scriptures. He also assigns them the mission of their life!
I am not sure whether there was any mention, in ancient Indian scriptures, of such a deathless Yogi roaming around in the Himalayas. Of course, Indian scriptures do talk about Chiranjeevis, some of whom reside in the Himalayas. A Chiranjeevi is a deathless person. But these are well known quasi ‘historical’ figures like sage Vyasa and so on. But they rarely preached any specific Yogic technique or assigned any role to anyone.
The other common feature that you find in these autobiographies is narratives about the past births of these Gurus. Even those who had no exposure to any kind of spiritual practice before their so called sudden ‘enlightenment’, attribute their ‘past birth experiences’ to such feats!
Some of these autobiographies read almost like mystery thrillers 😉 They talk about mysterious places deep inside the Himalayas, where alien visits, mysterious beings, deathless Yogis, and so on, are common place. What is interesting is that all these Gurus return to worldly life even after visiting such places! They get married, have children and keep themselves busy gathering a large following 😉 Afterall, each one has an assigned mission to fulfill!
Though many of these Gurus use ‘mystery mongering’ to attract followers, some may have genuinely had such experiences. But the catch is, having an experience does not necessarily imply reality of what was perceived. Even the most honest person may have an experience which may not be really based on reality. Subjective experiences are often difficult to analyze or verify. Not definitely by the person who has undergone such experiences.
Take for example, someone who is on a drug induced pleasure trip. He really believes in what he experiences. He sees heavenly beings, strange places and so on. He is definitely not faking it up. But do those experiences correspond to any physical reality? Most of the times they do not. How about the hallucinations of a mentally ill person? He does experience what he says he does. But he is in no position to distinguish it from reality.
That does not necessarily mean that all mystical experiences are false. There could be some genuine experiences. The best attitude is to analyze the experiences objectively to the extent possible. That would rule out any misperception either intentional or accidental. Only when all analysis fails, one can tentatively assume that the cause is mystical. But one should be open to corrections as and when more insight emerges on the experience.
I myself had written about some of my own mystical experiences in one of my books namely “Mysterious experiences – A peek beyond the confines of the Mind”. My intention in putting down these experiences in words was to show how it is possible for a person to undergo such experiences and what should be the attitude one should have towards such experiences. Analysis often saves us from the pitfalls and traps laid by our own minds.
Yes, it is possible that not everything is explainable. But by trying to explain logically to the extent possible, we avoid building castles that have weak foundations. Failure to adopt such an approach not only misleads us but also ends up in proliferation of falsehood that can do little good to the society as a whole, besides setting a wrong precedent.
While saying this, I am not completely ruling out the possibility of mystic or mysterious experiences. They could still be genuine. But they should be assumed to be genuine as a last resort when all analysis fails. Even when we tentatively accept them as genuine, we should always have an open mind for later correction.
So, next time when you think that you had a mystical or mysterious experience, just pause and relook at it.
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