Some other obstacle, just having the impression to feel the increased aggressiveness of other people, may block

the experience for months. Good readings may be helpful, as for example The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way about which I have already written. There are sentences in it that make us feel the perfume of a "clean" spiritual path. [Obviously, he who reads must use the common sense to interpret that wealth according to the registers of his sensibility, otherwise he could not be able to appreciate either the formula used by the pilgrim or his particular attitude.] Another inspiring book is also that of Swami Ramdas In quest of God [Anandashram]. 4. A strange event that leads a person to undertake a spiritual discipline is when, subsequently to a serious accident, one has a near death experience. For those who don't know the matter we remember that in the recent times that experience has become quite well known, especially with the development of the techniques of cardiac resuscitation. Raimond Moody
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turned on the popular interest in such experiences with his book Life beyond Life (1975). Some surveys following such a date pointed out that thousand of people in the U.S.A. affirmed to have had similar experiences. The descriptions - picked up not only by that author but from other searches also agree in the feeling to be dead, to float above ones own body and to see the surrounding area. The whole experience is lived within a sense of endless love and peace. Many add to have had the feeling they were moving upward, through a tunnel or a narrow corridor, while the synthesis of their life was passing in front of the mirror of their own consciousness. Some divergent accounts followed about the meeting with deceased relatives, with spiritual figures like a being of light. The feeling of having arrived at a border and to be re-sent back in ones own body often with deep reluctance to return - concluded the experience. This event is tied with a severe physical trauma, which causes the arrest of the heart. By no means we underestimate the tragic impact that it has upon ones life; however, objectively speaking, a similar episode is held dear as few others. It brings a man over the edge of the abyss, offers a unique occasion to give a look at the beyond, letting him almost touch the Eternal Light. For the majority of people it remains the most real experience and, paradoxically, more "alive" of their existence. While few tend to bury the event in the subconscious, others begin their spiritual search. In these examples the dimension of Spirit can literally exploded within ones own existence. It is looked upon without ideas of renouncement, mortification or expiation. The mystical path is regarded as a stable irradiation of sweetness, warmth and love.
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MEANING OF THESE LAST CHAPTERS We shall try to come close to the understanding that the path bringing to the attainment of the Mystical Goal is strongly hindered [and, unfortunately, sometimes totally stifled] by the puzzling weakness of the human mind. We know that almost every human being possesses manias of any type; the mystical procedures give a consistent help in going ahead notwithstanding this. In the field of Kriya, for example, the thought of having reached this or that level of evolution, the superiority complex originated by having been initiated by a certain Teacher whose lineage is held noble, the pleasure originated by the very idea that Kriya Yoga is superior to all other spiritual paths, contribute to thicken the armour of the ego and clouds the intelligence: ones practice is severely affected. Sometimes the fellow who believes he is an "evolved spiritual researcher", is only a not yet emotionally mature adult. Posing as one who is consecrated by a superior destiny, he tries to disguise his complexes - enormous as abysses - of intellectual inferiority. However the situation is not hopeless. The complete shipwreck of the spiritual journey happens either when a man stubbornly and on purpose grabs to his manias, distilling pleasure only from them, or when nourishes a dependence on anything which is extraneous to his own being. Briefly, the lethal factors are: [A] The betrayal of the purpose of the mystical path with the dedication to the sheer enjoinment of the path itself. This attitude beguiles a researcher into giving plenty of attention to what originates from the pure and simple following