748. Spiritual Experiences

The guru initiates the disciple into the discipline. The disciple, by his own spiritual endeavour acquires the spiritual experience his guru already realised. The guru gives him the mantra for that purpose and it is his grace that presides over the life of the sishya. By virtue of one coming to her, the Divine Mother gives him the spiritual experiences directly without the disciple even asking for them. Often he may not know it. Spiritual experiences lead to spiritual realisations. Silence is a great realisation. Shanti is another. Cosmic consciousness, Ananda, intuition, genius, vision, asariri, sayujya, sadarma, salokya are others. Infinity is an exalted experience. The rule is any of these realisations - siddhis - could come to the sadhaks and devotees as a one time experience. If he is aware of it and rises to the occasion, She never gives up her personal interest in him.

When Mother was giving Darsan from the balcony, She was doing a spiritual feat everyday. She took a look at each member assembled on the road, gathered their aspirations into Her and offered them all to the Lord. Then She turned Her face upwards. The origin of this Balcony Darsan was the obstinacy of Sri Aurobindo's cook. Sri Aurobindo's kitchen was across the road from the balcony. One day when there was some delay or difficulty about cooking, Mother appeared on the balcony and moved things with the cook. The next day the cook insisted on Mother appearing on the balcony for her to start cooking. Sadhaks gathered under the balcony to have a Darsan of the Mother. The Balcony Darsan came to stay. Sri Aurobindo called Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa a spiritual prodigy. He said by the time Mother came to Pondicherry, She had completed the yoga of the Gita. It is superior to Raja yoga. Mother had seen the Supramental Being before She met Him.

Sri Aurobindo said He entered the Supermind through the back door, while Mother came into it from the front door. She had abolished Her Mind and Her vital. Her body, She said, was spread all over the universe. She became the Supreme during Her last years. She said She has given spiritual experiences to us. But we, mortal men, forget what She has given. Some receive it in the dream and it passes away. She has given every exalted spiritual experience to one or the other of Her disciples. When a man writes a line as in Savitri, he does not see it is the poetic inspiration that She gave. Sri Aurobindo inspired one of His finest passages in an ordinary mind. On receiving it from the sadhak, He wrote it in His own hand. Now it is printed as His. Devotees receive exalted experiences but do not cultivate them. It turns into luck or health. Not one of Her disciples dies before they attain 90 or 95. What came as spiritual experience turns into an extended lifespan when it is neglected. Mother gives the final results in the beginning even in the field of the evolving Spirit. Do we know it is a spiritual privilege to know of Her?