251TheVedantaKesari

JULY2013

Swami Vivekananda and the Psychic Powers

SUDESH
A devotee from Ambala, Sudesh regularly contributes inspiring articles to The Vedanta Kesari.

Rejects Supernatural Powers Once Sri Ramakrishna told Narendra [future Swami Vivekananda] that through the practice of spiritual disciplines he had acquired supernatural powers. The Divine Mother had make known to him, he said, that Narendra would have to do much work for Her. Therefore, he was thinking of imparting those powers to him, so that he could use them when necessary. Narendra asked if they would help him to realize God. Sri Ramakrishna replied that they would not help him do that but they would be helpful when after realizing God he would be engaged in doing His work. Narendra, the young aspirant as he was, outright rejected the proposal saying that by accepting them he might forget the ideal and using them for some selfish purpose, come to grief. Delighted, Sri Ramakrishna embraced him, saying that the real purpose of life indeed was God-realization, what Naren aspired. And yet! What obnoxious and perverted means people employ to acquire those powers! During his itinerant days Narendra (now Swami Vivekananda) arrived at Limbdi in Gujarat and learnt of a place where sadhus lived. The sadhus welcomed him. Tired and hungry as he was, he accepted the invitation. But he was horrified to discover that the inmates belonged to a degenerate group of sex-worshippers. He thought of leaving the place but was bewildered to find that he was locked in. The high priest of the sect summoned him and said, You are a sadhu with a magnetic personality. Evidently you have practised Brahmacharya (celibacy) for years. We shall break your Brahmacharya in order to per-form a special type of spiritual practice, and thereby acquire for ourselves certain psychic powers.1 Swamiji, however, managed to escape with the help of Thakur Saheb, the prince of the state, to whom he sent a message through a boy devotee. This shows how spiritual life and purity was more important to Swamiji than pursuit of the weird and bizzare things in the name of religion. Manifestation of Psychic Powers In Swamiji We have seen that Swamiji had not accepted the powers which Sri Ramakrishna offered him. Yet, during the years 1893 and 1894, Swamiji felt extraordinary Yoga powers spontaneously manifest in him. He could change, if he so wished, the whole trend of thought and life of anyone by the power of his words or a simple touch. He could see clearly things happening at a great distance. This could be explained by the fact that as soon as he turned inwards into the chidakasha, the space eternal, whatever subject he concentrated upon yielded all its secrets to him. The whole range of ancient and modern literature, art, music stood revealed to his inner vision. Through his spiritual insight he could see into the future of world events and of nations progress. On many occasions his students found him answering, to their entire satisfaction, all sorts of unasked questions, literary or scientific, historical and metaphysical. Wheresoever he went, in the East or the West, crowds of people flocked to him consisting partly of curiosity seekers and partly of sincere seekers animated with the desire to pursue truth and to learn the all-embracing character of Indias religion and philosophy. Some also came intending to startle and confound him through their irrefutable logic and scientific theories and defeat him at every point. But Swamiji had a rare power of gauging the mental reach of a self-confident visitor, raise him above his habitual and fixed beliefs and enlarge his vision. Soon they found out that it would be wiser to draw gems on any subject from one who was the shoreless sea of radiant knowledge instead of trying to assess his mental and intellectual abilities.

The power to prophesize was clearly seen manifested in Swamiji. Once he startled his disciples by saying that the next great upheaval which was to bring about a new epoch would come from Russia or China. This he said when China was still under the autocratic rule of the Manchu Emperors and its internal condition was politically very wretched. But with his penetrating insight Swamiji saw that China would grow and become powerful in future. Of Indian freedom, he said that India would be free within fifty years and had a sacred mission to bring before humanity the teachings of Vedanta, conducive to bring about world peace and the integration of varied systems of world religions and cultures. Europe was on the edge of a volcano and unless the fires were extinguished by a flood of spirituality, it would blow up. It was not an expression of opinion with Swamiji, but an authoritative statement about something he knew. Like a crystal he reflected the consciousness of all who came to him to be taught. And he guided all along the lines which would accelerate their progress towards Realization. Sister Christine in her reminiscences of Swamiji wrote:
His method was different which each disciple. With some it was an incessant hammering. The severest asceticism was imposed with regard to diet, habits, even clothing and conversation. With others his method was not so easy to understand, for the habit of asceticism was not encouraged. Was it because in this case, there was spiritual vanity to be overcome and because good had become a bondage? With one the method was ridicule loving ridiculewith another it was sternness. We watched the transformation of those who put themselves into line with it. . . Our pet foibles were gently smiled out of existence. We were taught to reject the false and hold to the true fearlessly, no matter what the cost. Perhaps our purposes and aims had been small and scattered. In time we learnt to lift them into a higher region, and to unite all little aims into one great aim, the goal which is the real purpose of life. 2

A disciple from Madras said:

One had to live in his presence as in the vicinity of a dangerous explosive. The moment a bad thought entered ones mind, it would flash across his also.3
Though possessed of these powers, Swamiji did not consider them to be marks of spirituality. Very rarely did he deliberately exercise them. Whenever he did, it was al-ways for the benefit of others. Here is an instance: Swamiji was holding classes for a few earnest disciples at Thousand Island Park in the year 1895. He intended to initiate a few on Monday, July 8. Mrs. Funke and Miss Christine Greenstidel arrived there on Saturday, July 6. He wanted to assess if they were fit students ready to be initiated. He said to them, rather shyly, I have a power which I seldom use the power of reading the mind. If you will permit me, I should like to read your mind, as I wish to initiate you with others tomorrow.4 They assented joyfully. And Swamiji, with his power of reading the inner contents of a persons mind, saw that they would progress in spiritual life and that one of them would be indissolubly connected with India. One day, in England, Swami Sarada-nanda, who was suffering from malaria and was much reduced and weak, sat at the Swamis feet feeling like a child and in that calm spirit of surrender to his brother -disciplewho was to him no other than Sri Ramakrishna in another bodyasked for his blessings and the promise of knowledge and salvation. In a moment he was calm and by Swamijis will power, he became healthy and strong. Swami Saradananda testified to this psychic power of Swami Vivekananda, never revealed to him before. There may be many others, who had the occasion of seeing this phase of the Swami which revealed his great powers, the siddhis [psychic powers] that came to him but remained suppressed as he hated to demonstrate them.5 But Swamiji did not possess psychic powers as they are ordinarily understood. They were power of the Self manifested spontaneously. Often, Swamiji had to deliver extempore twelve to fourteen lectures a week. Sometimes he felt that he had exhausted himself intellec-tually and wondered what he would say in his lecture the following day. At such times he was aided in wonderful ways. At the dead of night he would hear a voice saying it all, which he repeated the

next day. To his close disciples he would explain that those experiences revealed the powers and potentialities of the Self; he would deny that there was anything miraculous about them. They were probably the expressions of his great spiritual and yogic powers. Psychic Powers: Impediments to Spiritual Progress Swamiji warned his students against the occult, pointing out that psychic powers were hindrances to real spiritual progress, lest they become entangled in pseudo-mysticism. Sometimes they come spontaneously to one when one practices spiritual disciplines, but one who pays attention to them strays away from the Path Divine. He becomes egoistic if he acquires such miraculous powers and gets entangled in a net of desires. He wants to control, dominate or impress others and thereby satisfy his baser passions, or get name and fame or extract money etc. So miracle-mongering has to be shunned, said he. Swamijis Life describes one such incident: During one of his long railway journeys the Swami had as fellow-passenger a learned occultist, who besieged him with all sorts of questions. Had he been in the Himalayas? Had he met any Mahatmas there, possessed of supernormal powers? And so forth. The Swami, wishing to disabuse the man, encouraged him to talk. Then he himself gave such a spell-binding description of the miracles of the Mahatmas that his listener gaped in amazement. Had they told him anything about the duration of the present cycle?the listener asked. Yes, the Swami said, he had had a long talk on that with the Mahatmas: they had spoken to him about the coming end of the cycle, and about the part that they would play in the regeneration of mankind and the re-establishment of the Satya-yuga [Golden Age]; and so on and so forth. The man credulously hung on every word that fell from the Swamis lips. Gratified by the acquisition of so much new knowledge, he invited the Swami to have some food, which he readily consented to do, since he had not eaten anything for a whole day. His admirers had bought him a second-class ticket, but they had not been able to persuade him to take either money or food with him, for he was then living by the ideal of taking no thought for the morrow. The Swami saw that the man had a good heart, but because of his credulous nature he had become entangled in pseudo-mysticism. When the meal was over, therefore, he spoke to him frankly and sternly : You who boast so much of your learning and enlightenment, how could you unhesitatingly swallow such wild, fantastic tales? The man hung his head at this reproof and said not a word. The Swami continued: My friend, you look intelligent. It befits a person of your type to exercise your own discrimination. Spirituality has nothing to do with the display of psychical powers, which, when analysed, show that the man who occupies himself with them is a slave of desire and a most egotistical person. Spirituality involves the acquisition of that true power which is character. It is the vanquishing of passion and the rooting out of desire. All this chasing after psychical illusions, which means nothing in the solution of the great problems of our life, is a terrible waste of energy, the most intense form of selfishness, and leads to degeneracy of mind. It is this nonsense which is demoralizing our nation. What we need now is strong common sense, a public spirit, and a philosophy and religion which will make us men. On hearing this, the man was overcome with shame, and understood the rightness of the Swamis attitude. He promised to follow his advice in future.6 In London, during the course of an interview with one of the correspondents of the Westminster Gazette, Swamiji told him why he had renounced the world and adopted the sannyasis life. I am the exponent of no occult societies, he said, nor do I believe that good can come of such bodies. . . I call upon men to make themselves conscious of this divinity within.7

Swamiji taught chastity and renunciation of the worlds vanities and its unsubstantial fleeting attachments as the means to liberation from this samsara of maya and attainment of the Goal Supreme. Some More Examples Here are a few examples of how those who get entangled in these powers, their mind strays far away from Existence-Know-ledge-Bliss. In Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master, the story is told of Chandra and Girija, who were helped by the Brahmani in their sadhana. Both were aspirants of a high order. But their desire for realizing God remained unfulfilled. They attained some powers of working miracles and were, on account of that, doomed to lose their way in the woods of occultism. Chandra attained success in working a miracle with a tiny ball. With that ball, sanctified by a Mantra on hisperson, he could vanish from the vision of ordinary eyes and could easily get in and get out unseen even from carefully protected and unapproachable places. Egoism grew in Chandra and soon the attachment to lust and gold grew in his mind. He became enamoured of the daughter of a respectable well-to-do man and began to frequent, his house by means of that miraculous power. On account of the increase of his egoism and selfishness, Chandra lost the power and met with various kinds of humiliation. Swamiji also had many yogic powers but how grand and sublime! When he began to speak, many a times his audience could not see his form and felt that it was just a voice ringing through the void. They themselves felt raised beyond bodily consciousness and entered into an inner sphere. Sister Christine wrote:
Once we had gathered in the class room, it seemed as if we had left the body and bodily consciousness outside. . . Vivekanandas flights carried us with him to supernal heights. We saw the promised land. 9

Mahendranath Dutta in his reminiscences of Swamiji (translated from Bengali into English by Swami Yogeshananda) gives a detailed description of how Vivekanandas body, mind and spirit soared during his public talks. Swamiji, taking up a subject, would begin in a soft manner. Gradually his mood would change and (voice) become louder . . . Then his body would become straight as a rod. His hips, spine, neck and head all seemed as if suspended by a common string. Slowly his meditative mood would deepen; his tone of voice would become altogether altered. His rhythmical sonorous voice would come from his throat in an unobstructed stream . . . It was as if in a boundless space a vibration had arisen, been converted into waves and that sound was penetrating everyones ear and bodyto the very marrow of the bones. Yet everyone at such times had this particular feeling that they had no body. Body-consciousness was totally removed. Place was absent: even the consciousness that one was sitting somewhere was gone. Time was nothing, and there was no awareness of one speaking and others listening. Speaker and audience were totally one. Neither had a gross body and from the vast firmament, the sound was becoming a single wave-current vibration. Then he would often say, I am a voice without a form.10 Another devotee by name Girija had acquired a strange power. Once Sri Ramakrishna went with him to the house of Shambhu Babu situated near the Dakshniswar temple. Absorbed in divine moods, he talked a long time on God. None of them was conscious when the first quarter of the night passed away. While returning to the Kali temple, Sri Ramakrishna was slipping at every step as it was pitch dark. Seeing his difficulty, Girija said, Wait a little, brother; I shall show you the light.11 Saying so, he stood turned about and illumined the road with a long stream of effulgent light emanating from his neck. The whole of the road till the gate of the Kali temple was clearly seen. This, however, was a material light and had nothing to do with spirituality. Such powers only make a man vain. The possessor desires to show them off and dominate others. Swamiji, on the other hand,

manifested the Light of the Self which transfigured his human personality in the revelation of Pure Divinity. He did not merely talk of religious verities; he gave spiritual light as though showering all those in his proximity with it. To them he seemed like a radiant being from that ineffable region whose glory neither sun, nor moon, nor stars that twinkle bright can describe. One who brought some of the glory, the power, the radiance of that supernal region to this sorrowful world and scattered the clouds of darkness and ignorance. Swamijis audience felt themselves lifted up into an atmosphere so rarefied, so vital that they went out to meet lifes vicissitudes with new courage, and new hope. It was not just the power of his words but there was something else; an influence, an atmosphere charged with the desire to escape from bondage. Basking in the radiance of that great soul they felt their inner powers and potentialities, their slumbering souls awak-ened to realize their true nature which was divine and self luminous. Conclusion M.J.Van Haagen in his reminiscences of Swamiji wrote:
When a man steps from darkness into a very bright light, his eyes are dazed for a while. And when we are asked to describe that joy which lights our very soul, our answer would be, as it were, mere groping in the darkness for words. . . As wholesome food satisfies the hungry and fresh water quenches the thirsty, so my longing for truth was satisfied through the teaching of this wonderful man [Swami Vivekananda]. . . [He once said] I could have thousands more at my lectures if I wanted them. It is the sinc ere student who will help to make this work a success and not merely the large audiences. If I succeed in my while life to help one man to reach freedom, I shall feel that my labours have not been in vain, but quite successful. This remark filled me with the desire to be one of his students. . . . His teaching bore to us the peace of mind of the Aryan rishis . . .12 References:
1. Life of Swami Vivekananda by Eastern and Western Disciples, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, 1: 288-289 2. Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, p.196 3. Life I : 371 4. Life II : 30-31 5. Reminiscences : 408 6. Life I : 350-351 7. Life II : 46 8. Sri Ramakrishna, The Great Master by Swami Saradananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, Vol I : 537-538 9. Life II : 33-34 10. Quoted in Prabuddha Bharata, July 2012 : 369-370 11. Great Master : 539-540 12. Reminiscences : 143-143
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Powers sometimes come of themselves to the spiritual aspirant, but the moment he cares for them, he is gone; his further progress is stopped. These powers, again, do not last. Not to speak of using them for selfish purposes, even using them for other ends means losing them. A man set out from home in search of the gems in the sea. When he came to the seashore he found variously coloured pebbles and shells scattered there and he set himself to fill his pockets with these; he forgot all about the gems in the sea. Swami Turiyananda