[continued from previous message]   
      
   What are these occult powers?[10]   
      
   1)       Anima means reducing one's psychic existence into a small point and   
   then transforming it into a minimum entity. One may understand anything and   
   everything by entering into each and every physical particle and becoming one   
   with the different    
   waves of expressions and emanations, by dancing with the waves of objects and   
   ideas. This occult power acquired through positive microvita is called anima.   
   The only way to understand these subtle entities is to increase one's powers   
   of perception through    
   spiritual practices.   
      
   2)       Mahima means vastness. With the help of positive microvita, the mind   
   can expand to become vast. Its radius may encompass the entire universe and so   
   we acquire ideas about many different subjects without reading books. In this   
   way, too, we may    
   feel our oneness with the varied entities of this universe - unity in variety,   
   unity in diversity. By associating our benevolent thoughts with each and every   
   entity, we will contribute to universal progress and prosperity.   
      
   3)       Laghima makes the mind light, free from the bondage of so many   
   liabilities. This carefree mind, freed from so many fetters and bondages, can   
   understand and think clearly. So by dint of this occult power, one may   
   understand any idea, subtle or    
   crude, abstract or concrete. Unless you understand how much pain and sorrow is   
   accumulated in other's minds, how many tears well up in their eyes, you cannot   
   completely alleviate their sorrows and sufferings. Through laghima, your own   
   mind becomes    
   unburdened so you can clearly appreciate the minds of others.   
      
   4)       Prapti means helping oneself and helping the souls of so many people   
   to acquire and be benefited by the grace of the Supreme.   
      
   5)       Iishitva – Iish means to guide and administer. Iishitva enables the   
   spiritual aspirant to guide other people who suffer from different causes. So   
   many people in this world are crying in pain and agony. So many miseries and   
   afflictions paralyse    
   both physically and mentally. lishitva enables one to correctly lead afflicted   
   humanity to their physical progress and psychic well-being.   
      
   6)       Vashitva means to keep everything under control and properly   
   regulated for welfare. In order to bring people goaded by defective ideas to   
   the path of Supreme greatness, vashitva is necessary. If people work   
   haphazardly and do not follow the    
   right path, they cannot be expected to establish a state of welfare for all.   
   So if you really want to help people, you will have to inspire and influence   
   them in a positive way, and then direct them along the right path to their   
   goal.   
      
   7)       Prakamya means the ability to accomplish whatever one desires, to   
   translate wish into reality with a view to promote universal welfare, to bring   
   light to the entire universe. Through this occult power, spiritual aspirants   
   acquire the capacity to    
   serve the entire world.   
      
   8)       Antaryamitva is to enter the ectoplasmic or endoplasmic structure of   
   others and thereby to know their pain and pleasures, their hopes, aspirations   
   and longings and to guide them properly. It is somewhat like transmigration of   
   the soul. Regarding    
   this occult power, spiritual cult alone will not suffice - it requires the   
   special grace of Parama Punts 'a. He usually does not give this power to   
   sadhakas because if they do not possess universal love, it can be abused for   
   personal gains. Baba    
   explained that this power makes the mind so subtle that it can enter the   
   intra- and inter-ectoplasmic mind stuff of every individual as well as the   
   collective human society.   
      
   Until that time, I had a big question in my mind about this. If these occult   
   powers are an impediment to spiritual progress, and no great saints ever used   
   them, then what is the purpose of their existence?   
      
   Baba advocated the maximum utilization of all mundane, supramundane and   
   spiritual potentialities. For the first time in the history of spirituality,   
   He explained that all eight of these occult powers can and should be used as a   
   special knowledge to do    
   greater service and help society progress. Then I realized that great saints   
   and preceptors also occasionally used these powers to elevate spiritual   
   seekers.   
      
   It is interesting that the ancient Indian spiritual traditions had mental   
   yardsticks to measure these psychic capacities. The critical mistake made by   
   today's psychologists is to apply physical yardsticks to measure mental health   
   and capacity. This is    
   absurd. Antaryamitva is not granted to one who has not attained universal   
   love, because it would harm both that individual and the society. A true   
   spiritualist must love all equally and hate no one.   
      
   This is easy to say but extremely difficult to achieve. Baba once gave a good   
   example of the human predilection for favouritism: if you happen to come   
   across a game of football and watch it for some time, though both teams are   
   unknown to you, still you    
   will discover your mind slowly starting to favour one team. This is a   
   limitation of the human mind.   
      
   He also said that every human mind obeys some special dynamics. Only the   
   Universal Entity can catch the chains of action and reaction and, without   
   disturbing the universal flow, do something to accelerate the collective or   
   individual human progress.    
   Within this universe, millions of things exist, yet we perceive only a minute   
   fraction of them; and of what we perceive, only a little can be explained.   
      
   Future biopsychologists might use these occult powers as yardsticks to measure   
   psychic progress and to some extent psycho-spiritual progress. The powers of   
   omniscience and Supreme Knowledge are above these eight occult powers, and   
   according to the    
   scriptures, only Taraka Brahma, the Supreme Entity in Its liberating aspect -   
   Baba - possesses them.   
      
   Before meeting Baba, I had studied most of the important literature published   
   by the Ramakrishna Mission. I had read that Paramahamsa Ramakrishna had the   
   power to rouse the kun'd'alinii (sleeping divinity) of his disciples. It   
   resides in the lowest    
   plexus of the vertebra called the kula. I often wondered what this   
   kun'd'alinii is like. Despite my skepticism. I believed the experiences of   
   Paramahamsa Ramakrishna, since he was a realized soul and had the innocence of   
   a child. He could not lie.   
      
   Six months after first meeting Baba, I had begun to recognize that He was an   
   extraordinary personality. I thought that if Baba could lift the kundalinii of   
   someone in my presence, I would accept Him as Sadguru. I never said it to Him   
   personally for fear    
   of being disrespectful, 'but He very clearly knew what was in my mind.   
      
   In those early days in Jamalpur, Baba came to the jagrti every morning at 7:00   
   a.m. After a little organizational work, He gave darshan (spiritual discourse)   
   to the workers and Margiis; then he returned home and walked to the Railway   
   Workshop to start    
   work. On Saturday, which was just half day at the office, he came to the   
   jagrti at 3:00 p.m. and gave darshan. Sundays he came at 9:30 a.m. and gave   
   darshan in both the morning and the evening.   
      
   On one Sunday morning in February 1966, Baba was in a very pleasant mood and   
   talked in English about kulakun'd'alinii, the fundamental negativity. Baba   
   explained that for each group of important physical glands there is a   
   corresponding psychic plexus    
   nearby. Photography of the psychic plexi is of course impossible.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)