When the disciple is ready, the Master catches
hold of the disciple and as per his mental attunement and requirement,
He bestows upon him the spiritual advancement. There is no particular
path which is determined. It is entirely dependent up on the disciple's
preparedness. Meher Baba said that Masters are absolutely impersonal and
universal in their consciousness and are ever ready to help the needy.
He says, "They foster and promote the advancement of all aspirants in
multifarious ways that are unfailingly effective, although they might
not be completely intelligible to others". The ordinary paths may be
intelligible but there are also paths which the 'neo-knowledgeable' term
it as unusual and unconventional. One such unusual and unconventional
path is 'Communication with the Souls'.
This path is not for everyone as it entirely is
dependent on the receptivity of the disciple. Can one say that such a
path is wrong which the Master Himself handpicks and chooses? One cannot
have a blue print of the edifice of the Spiritual Monument in advance.
Meher Baba said, "In the spiritual life it is not necessary to have a
complete map of the path in order to begin traveling. On the contrary,
insistence upon having such complete knowledge may actually hinder
rather than help the onward march. The deeper secrets of spiritual life
are unraveled to those who take risks and who make bold experiments with
it. They are not meant for the idler who seeks guarantees for every
step. Those who speculate from the shore shall know only its surface,
but those who would want to know the depths of the ocean must be willing
to plunge in it."
Communication with souls means establishing a
contact with the departed ones through means of writing. It is not to be
confused with planchette. Communicating with the souls is a very
sublime and divine experience. (The person who wants to communicate
firstly prepares himself. He cleans himself and wears fresh clothes and
the atmosphere has to be pure. The one who wants to communicate keeps a
good pen and places it on paper as if preparing to write. Then the name
of the soul person with whom communication is to be done is called with
onepointedness after offering prayers to Lord Vishnu or Meher Baba. If
Baba's permission is available the soul person will perch on the pen and
the pen will start moving. The language that the soul person will write
will always be the language the soul had known while it was on earth).
Aurobindo Ghosh and Yogananda Paramahansa have dwelt
on this subject very deeply. Sri Aurobindo said, (In his book, "The
Life Divine" page no 776) "As contact with the supraphysical is
possible, a contact can also take place subjective or objective, -or at
least objectivised- between our own consciousness and the consciousness
of other once embodied beings who have passed into a supraphysical
status in these other regions of existence. It is possible also to pass
beyond a subjective contact or a subtle-sense perception, and, in
certain subliminal states of consciousness, to enter actually into their
worlds and know something of their secrets. It is the more objective
order of other-worldly experience that seized most of the imagination of
mankind in the past, but it was put by popular belief into a gross
objective statement which unduly assimilated these phenomena to those of
the physical world with which we are familiar; for it is the normal
tendency of our mind to turn everything into forms or symbols proper to
its own kind and terms of experience. It is not possible for anyone who
has had these contacts with any intimacy and not only by scattered
abnormal accidents, to put them aside as mere superstition or
hallucinations; for they are too insistent, real, effective, organic in
their pressure, too constantly confirmed by their action and results to
be flung aside; an appreciation, an interpretation, a mental
organization of this side of our capacity of experience is
indispensable".
Yogananda Paramahansa in his book, "The Divine
Romance", says, "Communicating with souls in the astral world is not a
simple accomplishment. It is a science secretly guarded by nature. God
does not want us to limit our love to the members of our family, but to
learn to give that same love to the whole world. It is to teach us this
that the members of our family are taken away one by one; thus we learn
to turn our love to others. But if we love purely and unselfishly, and
develop spiritually, we can learn the secret science of maintaining a
link with our loved ones."
He further says, "Such communication is possible.
You can convert yourself into a broadcasting instrument or a receiving
set. If you seek a departed loved one very strongly and continuously
meditating on that soul, you will receive an answer. But if your desire
is not strong enough, restless thoughts will disturb your meditative
concentration. If your thoughts are running hither and thither when you
are broadcasting your heart's message to a soul, your broadcast will be
short circuited. You must have a tremendous desire and powerful
concentration in order to contact a soul who has gone to the other
world. And you must send your thoughts to that soul continuously. Also,
the one to whom you are broadcasting must be developed enough to receive
and be able to respond to your call. It is easiest to contact souls
that are on your level or plane of consciousness, and with whom you had a
deep affinity and close relationship. Communing with highly evolved
souls requires much more powerful concentration.
He further elaborates, "You cannot tune in with
great saints unless you are spiritually receptive. If the person who is
invoking the presence of a holy personage is not spiritually ready, that
saint cannot communicate with him. Suppose you are invoking the soul of
Krishna. Divine ones such as these won't come until your consciousness
has become so refined through meditation that you could receive them.
The vibratory power of their manifestation is so intense it could be
burn the brain and body of one not attuned. These divine souls are all
present in ether- no one ever has ever become nothing after leaving the
physical body. They respond to your prayers and bless you. They live in
the astral world unless they have reincarnated on earth or on other
higher planets where the evolution of man is further evolved."
Swami Yogananda explains, "You must never be
negative-that is, never sit quietly and make your mind blank in order to
become open to messages from the other world. This practice makes one
receptive to tramp souls that are roaming in the ether, seeking human
vehicles for expression and experience physical world."
It is for this reason that all are advised to stay
away from communication with souls. This in no way means that this
dimension does not exist. And it also does not construe that the one who
is doing it for the positive spiritual reasons and as per the will and
wish of Beloved Meher Baba is incorrect.
Beloved Meher Baba said, "Just as the Master may
isolate a close disciple from undesirable contacts and connections, he
may actually encourage and bring about new and fresh contacts that he
deems to be in the spiritual interest of the disciple. He has a
consummate understanding of the sanskaras and karmic ties and
complications." Meher Baba chose Mother Shobha for this particular
divine assignment for communicating with souls. He has brought about
this new kind of contact for the highest spiritual benefit of all
concerned.
