018. Subtle Vision

The Spirit is in the subtle plane, we are in the gross material physical plane. For the Spirit to act we have to move into the subtle plane, evoke it and the Spirit should leave its home, enter into our physical plane, act and disappear. As we have five senses, the Spirit too has subtle vision, subtle hearing, subtle smell, etc. 

Two people were sitting at home conversing. One of them was expecting a friend from Madurai. The bus on the road a mile away was heard. They heard it stopping. One man told the other that his friend from Madurai had alighted from the bus on the road. Being an engineer and a non-believer in subtle affairs, he laughed heartily and pardoned his friend for incurable superstition. In the next 15 minutes the Madurai friend arrived. To the intrigued engineer's question, "How did you ever say this?" the man answered that he SAW his friend alight from the bus. This is not unknown, especially in the village.

Having read all night for an exam, a student was exhausted. He feared he might fall asleep in the hall. He did not sleep but another phenomenon revealed to him. For every question he took up answering, he saw before his mind's eye the page of the book opening. He copied straight from the book. The subtle is invisible. It is a spiritual truth that the more subtle the plane, the more powerful it is. It is revealing for us to hear a Swiss metallurgist saying about stronger metals, "The subtler the metal is, the stronger it is." To him lightness is subtlety.

A lady was in deep prayer in her small prayer room. Though small, it was impeccably clean. She was too poor to buy agarbathis. A friend who visited her remarked about a strong smell of bathis. The purity of the divine presence issues subtle fragrances.

None of these occurrences are unheard of. They are interesting to hear. What is it to us, to our lives in work? Swami Vivekananda saw the children of Bharat Mata dark at her feet. His spiritual power made the dark beings become white and pure. Sometimes we open a book at the page we look for. This is an indication of the presence of subtle powers. If it is there, it can be developed. If it is not there, it can be developed. Mind works through trial and error. Subtle senses avoid the labour and error. To refer any work constantly to the inner divine, one of the many ways that response comes is through a subtle sense. It is possible to cultivate it, a fact  that artists, mechanics, musicians, cooks, and salesmen know. Subtlety is Spiritual. The finest subtle vision I have known is the vision of a Mother's devotee on Nov 17, 1973. He was coming out of his house at a place about 10 miles from Pondicherry. He saw in the sky a huge ball of Light. At once it broke into millions of pieces and each entered into the heart of a person. Next morning he heard on the radio that exactly at that hour the Divine Mother had attained Samadhi. Devotees as well as others saw a huge light in the sky travelling when Sri Ramana Maharishi attained siddhi. Even people in Andhra saw it. Subtle senses that are spiritual can be developed to make our lives richer. Of course all subtlety is not spiritual. Non-spiritual vital subtlety is a well known phenomenon.