DISCOURSES & TALKS BY MEHER BABA

YOGIC  POWERS

29th November, 1926

Baba gave many explanations that day. At one point, Baba asked the men to imagine that the room in which they were seated represented the seventh plane and the six steps at the front of the bungalow represented the six planes. Asking everyone to stand up, Baba then led the mandali outside. He sat down at the bottom of the steps. With his back to the steps and facing the opposite direction, he said:

Ordinary people always look towards the neighboring bungalow, the scenery all around, not knowing what store of eternal Knowledge, Bliss, and Power lay at their back. Such worldly people are so enraptured and entangled in the clutches of maya that they do not even think about what is at their back [the room], much less care to make any sincere endeavors to know or realize it. Hence they are always groping in the dark, grasping the shadow, and losing the substance.

Yogis, to a certain limited extent, come to know of the false existence of this universe, and, because of their past sanskaras, they renounce the world and do not care to look in the direction that ordinary people look. The yogis turn their eyes away from maya with an extreme longing to see what lies in this other direction. This turning towards the real Truth, and the combination of their longing with their sincere efforts and exertions, enable them to make some progress — which takes the form of the acquisition of some knowledge and experience of the planes through which they rise step by step, just as we do here.

With these words Baba turned and began to climb, step by step.

Eventually, after tremendous trials and untold difficulties, they succeed in rising, at the most, to the sixth plane, from which point they see the real Truth, the Fountain of Light Eternal — just as we from the sixth step can now see into the room, which, as you recall, represents the Satchitanand [seventh plane] state. The sixth step, or the sixth plane, is the limit for such yogis. They must be satisfied with only the seeing of the Truth. From this point, they can't proceed further through their own efforts, as they did up until now. They can proceed only by the grace of the Sadguru who has experienced and realized that Truth, who has not only seen but become one with the Truth, and who has again been able to come down from that exalted state for the sake of the duty of making others experienced as he himself is and for the sake of enabling them to become one with that Light and Truth.

Such, then, is the limit of what the yogi can achieve.

Lord Meher O/N p.749 - 750

6th February, 1927

On Sunday, 6 February 1927, Baba ate after having fasted for six days. That evening, mentioning what real yogis could do with their yogic powers, Baba explained their source of power as electricity:

There is electricity [-like cosmic energy] in the air and it has seven layers — one inside the other. The power that the yogis make use of comes from this unlimited source of electricity [-like cosmic energy] in the air — from the third layer inside. They combine the limited source of energy in their own body with this unlimited cosmic source by means of breath. The combination of these two powers enables the yogis to bring about whatever result they desire. The yogis have only to think after combining these two forces — limited and unlimited — and by certain yogic practices they achieve results such as raising the dead, reading other's minds, reading of the past or future, seeing things at a vast distance, and so forth.

For example, if a yogi wishes to raise a dead body or see certain places in America while sitting here in India, by yogic practices he has only to combine the sources of energy within himself with that cosmic energy which is in the air. That done, the yogi has only to think of the particular desire he wishes to fulfill.

These powers that the yogi wields are very, very great powers indeed, compared with those of ordinary human beings, but they have absolutely nothing to do with Truth. For Truth is far, far beyond all of this. Powers of this type are like spectacles of colored glass that do no more than seemingly to transform things that are really colorless or white into different colors.

A Sadguru does not have to exert himself in breathing or by exercises as do the yogis, but has only to think as he wishes and he achieves the result. What does it matter to the Sadguru if someone is dead or alive? To him both are equally false as both are mere dreams — illusion. The world is as he wishes, which is not the case with yogis. To them, the conditions that exist are real and have therefore to change from one thing to another as they desire. And it is for these changes that yogis exert themselves in performing different sadhanas, meditations, and exercises. Although the powers they attain are tremendous, they are after all only "rays" of the Sun and not the Sun itself, as is the Sadguru.

Lord Meher O/N p.771 - 772

20th June, 1928

One day, while explaining certain spiritual matters, Baba related this tale to the women mandali:

There once was a yogi who had the power to remove his intestines and wash them. One day he did this and kept them in the sun to dry. A dog saw the organs and ran away with them. Terribly upset, the yogi ran after the dog.

You may think I am exaggerating, but it is a common feat among yogis. Such powers do not count along the Path. I am going to give you something quite different; my gift is something special. I am not going to give you such powers — otherwise, you might have to chase after dogs!

Lord Meher On-line page 940

Lord Meher Vol.3 p.1061