Swamiji speaks on possession by spirits, in trance states.
A devotee has asked about trance states. Swamiji speaks about states which are NOT transcendent. He says you are binding yourself – but you still call it a trance. Others, like departed souls, transcend their own barriers, and can enter you and limit you.
They can enter you and control you. And pretend to be a higher kind of evolved soul, and take you onto the wrong path. It controls your mind – it's the same as being hypnotised.
When you hypnotise someone, part of their brain is not working properly [numbed]. It's like taking drugs and seeing visions and the like – part of your brain is 'dwarfed'. A devotee [this one, in fact! 😉] asks if it affects brain, or mind? Swamiji says both are impacted. It blanks out part of the function.
Swamiji clarifies that with one glance, a spiritual or holy person will know that it's a departed soul working through a person, but pretending to be a god or goddess.
Like a doctor looks for symptoms from which to diagnose, so a spiritual person will do the same, but based on vibrations. Swamiji says even some laypeople will have a feeling of unease when witnessing such activity. It's God [their Ishta Devata] sounding a warning. Swamiji elaborates on what a yogi in India told him about householders – the yogi said, 'They're not fools – they pick up on such frauds.' Their Deity will somehow make them aware.
Swamiji says that the difference is, if it's a real trance, it will change the inner nature of the individual. Swamiji illustrates this point by talking about what would happen if Sri Hanumanji's grace touched a person. It would be transformative. In the same way, says Swamiji, if we're doing proper sadhana [spiritual practice] our minds will start leaving vices.
Swamiji elaborates, using a variety of examples, on how the innate nature of the person will determine the action of substances on them. He talks about the nature of desire in different people. How when one desire is fulfilled, another is immediately there to take its place.
Desire is good. Very good, says Swamiji – if we know how [and what?] to desire? Swamiji draws the threads of the homily together, by reminding us about what he calls, 'The 3 open doors to hell'. Lust, Anger and Greed. [I remembered them early on, by an acronym. LAG. So they cause us to 'lag' behind.] Swamiji elaborates with practical advice on managing them. We can all benefit from this crucially important 'refresher'.
To listen to these wise words, please click on the link below. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Another new development, with Sri Ramakrishna's grace: Below is a link to an AI (Artificial Intelligence) word-for-word audio transcript of this audio clip. No background noise! Instead of reading a typed transcript, you can now listen to one, if it's easier for you. Click below.
Duration: 08:26
Click here for the Flipbook version of: → Swamiji's biography
It's the free-to-read, draft 396 page, extended version of 'A Life Lived For Others. No need to install a PDF reader. It'll work in your present browser.
However, if you'd prefer a straight-up PDF version, please click HERE.
Dear Devotee, if we use the term 'He or he', when referring to Swamiji, it's not intended impolitely or disrespectfully. It's to minimise the repetitiveness of writing 'Swamiji' too many times.
The original audio recordings of these posts were made by close Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa and Swami Shivapadananda devotee, Mother Radha. The audio editing and noise reduction of the original 1970s-onwards tapes, has been lovingly engineered, over many years, by her son and our dear gurubhai, Brother Tim. May Sri Ramakrishna and Swamiji bless them both.
Admin tip: Underlined words are links. If you click on them, they'll take you to an explanation of the particular word or term. [In these overviews, Admin comments are typically in a smaller green font, and square bracketed, like this statement.]
Dear reader, if you spot typos or or other errors, please feel free to email the site admin on info@imbizo.com with your suggested correction/s.
Context: As always, care should be taken to remember that what Swamiji was saying, was often very specific to the needs of people with him at the time. Please bear this in mind.
Links to our Guru Parampara (spiritual lineage) organisations, which will broaden your knowledge base: Ramakrishna Math and Mission and our alma maters, the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa and the Sri Sarada Devi Ashram in Durban. The Ramakrishna Centre of Johannesburg is also active in Gauteng province in South Africa.
There are various publications [The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna etc.] which you can download at no charge, from the Ramakrishna Centre of SA website page, HERE.
The image in today's post was crafted from prompts to Microsoft Copilot Artificial Intelligence (AI).