Types of Spiritual Experience
109
When at the end of the night, dawn makes its first stir, its flush
appears like the weaving of an ornament. In
remote corners of the sky,
embracing the clouds here and there, colour breaks out in varied shades;
the tops of the trees begin to glisten, the dew-drops on the grass
start glittering – the whole incident has primarily the quality of
decorativeness. . . . One realizes also that the deep, solitude-abiding
tranquillity of the sleeping night has now come to an end and all the
ache of awakening, striking a chord on the gamut of notes, will any
moment burst forth with the vibration of a restless tune. Similarly the
unfolding of the first religious-consciousness
in me took rather a deco-
rative form in my literary compositions. It broke out in various shades,
colouring the peaks of my mental images and tinting the clouds of my
fancy.
. . .
Day and night, life is renewed by death, the evil is outshone by good,
the commonplace is being enriched by the unexpected. Whenever we
are aware of it, we see the supernatural being manifested through
forms, freedom being unfolded through bondage.
. . .
To realize the relationship of perfect love between the Supreme soul
and the soul of all created beings is indeed true religious-sense – this
love that holds duality on one side and non-duality on the other, union
as
well as separation, and bondage along with freedom. . .. It is the love
that by acknowledging this world, truly transcends the world, and by
acknowledging what is beyond the universe, accepts the universe in its
true form.
97
The following account by the disgraced government minister Jonathan
Aitken, was recorded in his
Pride and Perjury.
It happened on an early autumn walk along the beach at Sandwich Bay
. . . there was not a cloud in the sky or a breath of wind on the sea . . .
The beach was totally deserted and I was a good two miles from the
nearest house, so I was able to drink in this
beautiful moment of mari-
time solitude with deep contentment.
Suddenly, yet quietly, I became aware of someone else’s presence on
the beach. For a moment I thought I heard the crunch of footsteps on
the shingle behind me, but when I turned round no one was there. But
someone was – I sensed them, strongly at first, and then overwhelm-
ingly. Again I looked around, particularly on my right, for the presence
Religious
and Spiritual Experience
110
felt as though it had drawn alongside me, but all I could see was the
sun, whose rays seemed to be blazing even more intensely.
‘Slow down’, said a gentle voice somewhere inside my head. It was
not an audible or even human voice, but I knew it was speaking to me.
So I obeyed and slowed my pace.
The next extraordinary happening was that tears started to trickle
down my cheeks for no reason at all except that I was feeling blissfully
happy. Once again I felt overwhelmed by the invisible presence that
was so close to me – in the sun, perhaps, or beside me, or inside me, but
undoubtedly right there with me. And then
amidst swelling feelings of
joy, that gentle voice spoke again, saying words which were very close
to this: ‘Slow down. The road ahead of you is longer and harder than
you think. But keep on it. Keep praying. Keep trying to find the way.
Trust, believe, and you will discover the path. Do not worry about
your problems. They will test you but I will guide you. I have work for
you to do. I will show you the way. I love you.’
Then I shed a few more happy tears, feeling utterly insignificant
yet totally protected and loved as this amazing presence gently
faded away and I floated back to reality, wondering
what on earth was
going on.
98
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