COMMUNICATION

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.