DAVID C. LANE writes: After meeting personally with
Baba Faqir Chand, it became exceedingly apparent to myself and
Professor Mark Juergensmeyer (who visited Manavta Mandir in late August of
1978. See Juergensmeyer's book Radhasoami Reality (Princeton
University Press, 1991) that the old sage was something of an anomaly
amongst Indian gurus. For, although Faqir Chand had a rather large and
devoted following (numbering in the thousands), he absolutely disclaimed
himself of any miracles attributed to his spiritual work, saying quite
frankly that they were products of either the devotee's previous karma or
intense faith. Indeed, it was this very insight which led Faqir to his own
Enlightenment.
When Faqir Chand began to initiate disciples into
Surat Shabd Yoga, at the request of his master Shiv Brat Lal,
a most curious thing happened. His devotees began reporting that Faqir's
radiant form appeared inside their meditations. Others related miracles that
were caused by Faqir's prashad (blessed food), letters, or advice. However,
all during this time Faqir claims that he had absolutely no knowledge or
awareness of his form appearing to distant provinces or performing miracles
to the sick and dying. As Faqir himself wrote:
"People say that my Form manifests to them and helps them in solving
their worldly as well as mental problems, but I do not go anywhere , nor
do I know about such miraculous instances." (Faqir Chand, The Essence
Of The Truth, Hoshiarpur: Faqir Charitable Library Trust,
n.d./1976?).
It was at this point when Faqir asked himself:
"What about the visions that appear to me? Are they a creation of my
own mind, and does my guru also not know about his appearances to me?"
Only then, according to Faqir, did he realize the truth:
"All manifestations, visions, and forms that are seen within are
mental (illusory) creations." (Faqir Chand, The Secret of Secrets
Hoshiarpur: Faqir Charitable Library Trust, 1975).
After his realization, Faqir began preaching his belief that all saints,
from Buddha, Christ, to even his own master Shiv Brat Lal are ignorant about
the miracles or inner experiences attributed to them. In a paper given to
the American Academy of Religion in March 1981, I used the term "The
Unknowing Hierophany" to describe what Faqir Chand believes; that is, a
"Divine" vehicle within the temporal world that is unaware of its spiritual
manifestations. A revised form of this original paper was published under
the title "The Hierarchical Structure of Religious Visions," in The Journal
Of Transpersonal Psychology (Volume 15, Number 1).
Though Faqir is probably the most outspoken, other great religious
leaders, saints and mystics have expounded on this same unknowingness.
However, it is not seen by most (especially devotees) as an explanation of
their subservience to the Great Mystery, but rather as a statement designed
to exhibit the saint's humility, or as a tacit attempt for concealing his
real mission and purpose.
Jesus, for instance, is reported in the Gospel of Mark as asking the
crowd that was following him, "Who touched me?" After this, a woman who had
suffered from a flow of blood for twelve years came up to Jesus and told him
about her plan for a Divine cure. By a brief touch a miracle happened, as
she was cured from hemorrhaging. At this Jesus said, "Daughter, your faith
has made you well." (Saint Mark, translated and edited by D.E.
Nineham, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976).
The famed sage,
Sri
Ramana Maharshi, when asked about Jesus' power to perform
miracles, substantiates what Faqir Chand had taught for over forty years:
Was Jesus aware at the time that he was curing men of their diseases. He
could not have been conscious of his powers.
Such manifestations are as real as your own reality. In other words, when
you identify yourself with the body as in jagrat , you see gross objects;
when in subtle body or in mental plane as in svapna , you see objects
equally subtle; in absence of identification as in
Sushupti, you see nothing. The objects seen bear relation to the
state of the seer. The same applies to visions of God (Talks With Sri
Ramana Maharshi, Volume I, II, and III. Tiruvannamalai: Sri
Ramanasramam, 1972, pages 17 and 355).
Along with this "unknowingness" there is also the internal, ever-present
supreme knowledge which saints and sages have described as the hallmark of
Enlightenment. Jesus said, "The Father and I are one." The Sufi martyr,
Mansur al-Hallaj, shouted before his execution, "ana'l-Haqq" (I am the
Truth). Sarmad, the Jewish-Indian saint, exclaimed, "I am King of Kings."
And Meister Eckhart, in slightly different language wrote, "The eye with
which God sees me is the same eye which I perceive Him."
These quotations illustrate that mysticism is concerned with spiritual
knowledge: the relationship of the soul with God, and not with any secondary
psychic abilities which may arise as a result of intense spiritual
discipline.
However, this kind of knowledge (the internal, ever-present
supreme knowledge which saints and sages have described as the hallmark
of Enlightenment) CANNOT be equated with logical, objective
learning. The former is the realization of one's eternal nature, a
transcendental experience of oneness. The latter is concerned with
dualistic thinking, knowing about things--that which is based upon an
illusory division of the world into two separate components: the subject
and the object. Thus, when saints talk about the ultimate knowledge ,
they are referring to the Ground of Being, that which is the
condition for all subsequent conditions. Consequently, an Enlightened
master may not know anything about academic subjects such as quantum
mechanics, anthropology, or critical history.
As Ken Wilber astutely comments, "I have yet to see a guru run a
four-minute mile with his `perfect body' or explain Einstein's special
theory of relativity with his `perfect mind.' Perfection lies only in
conscious transcendence, not in concrete manifestation." (Spiritual
Choices, New York: Paragon House Publishers, 1987, page 258).
Even though Faqir Chand was not conscious of his miraculous powers or his
healing gifts (nor, evidently, are most other gurus), does it necessarily
hold that all masters are likewise ignorant about their visionary
manifestations? Moreover, is it true that all religious visions are
individual creations, determined by the faith and concentration of zealous
devotees? At first glance, the answer would appear to be "yes," because many
internal visions are not of factual and historical human entities, but of
amalgamated characters, mythic beings, and fictional heroines--some whose
life stories may be entirely based upon the writer's own creative mind.
For example, Paul Twitchell made up the literary figure, Rebazar Tarzs,
claiming that the Tibetan monk was over 500 hundred years old and resided in
a remote region in the Himalayan mountains. Although Rebazar Tarzs does not,
in fact, exist, devoted followers of Paul Twitchell's religious movement,
Eckankar, claim to have extraordinary visions of him. What is transpiring is
fairly obvious: when one ascends to a different level of awareness (like in
Out of Body Experiences -- OBE -- or
Near Death Experiences -- NDE --) they interpret the inner light
according to their own particular cultural background. Sikhs see Guru Nanak,
not Moses; Catholics see the Virgin Mary, not Buddha; and Eckists see
Rebazar Tarzs, not the store clerk at 7/11 (for more on this phenomenon, see
my chapter, "Gakko Came From Venus: The Invention Of A Religious Tradition,"
in Exposing Cults, New York & London: Garland Publishing, 1993).
However, on closer inspection it becomes apparent that some masters claim
to know about their subtle interactions with disciples and that certain
visions may not be merely due to extreme faith or concentration.
This psychic awareness, as it were though, apparently arises
spontaneously and is not the product of any sustained conscious
manipulation. A classic example of a fully conscious bilocation experience
comes surprisingly enough from Ramana Maharshi, a sage who did not show even
the slightest interest in psychic powers or abilities. Recounts Arthur
Osborne, Ramana's biographer:
About a year after his first meeting with Sri Bhagavan,
Ganapathi
Muni experienced a remarkable outflow of his Grace. While he
was sitting in meditation in the temple Tiruvottiyur he felt distracted
and longed intensely for the presence and guidance of the Bhagavan. At
that moment Sri Ramana entered the temple. Ganapati prostrated himself
before him and, as he was about to rise, he felt the Maharshi's hand
upon his head and a terrifically vital force coursing through his body
from the touch; so that he also received Grace by touch from the Master.
Speaking about this incident in later years, Sri Ramana Maharshi said:
"One day, some years ago, I was lying down and awake when I
distinctly felt my body rise higher and higher. I could see the
physical objects below growing smaller and smaller until they
disappeared and all around me was a limitless expanse of dazzling
light. After some time I felt the body slowly descend and the
physical objects below began to appear. I was so fully aware of this
incident that I finally concluded that it must be by such means that
Sages using the powers of
Siddhis travel over vast distances in a short time and
appear and disappear in such a mysterious manner. While the body
thus descended to the ground it occurred to me that I was at
Tiruvottiyur though I had never seen the place before. I found
myself on a highroad and walked along it. At some distance from the
roadside was a temple of Ganapati and I entered it."
This incident is very characteristic of Sri Bhagavan. It is
characteristic that the distress or devotion of one of his people should
call forth an involuntary response and intervention in a form that can
only be called miraculous (Arthur Osborne, Ramana Maharshi And The
Path of Self-Knowledge, Bombay: Jaico Publishing House, 1982, pages
93-94). See
THE
MEETING: An Untold Story of Sri Ramana
Ramana's experience of bilocation indicates that Faqir Chand's
categorical statement about all gurus not knowing about their visionary
manifestations may need qualifications. Simply put, some saints appear to
know about their miraculous appearances. The number of these "fully aware"
mystics, however, is so incredibly small that it is not an exaggeration to
say that Faqir Chand's "unknowing" hypothesis explains 99% of all the
so-called guru visions in the world. The overwhelming majority of inner
visions are projections of one's own mind which have no substantial "reality
check" with either the outer world or the higher inner regions. Furthermore,
the object of devotion in these transpersonal encounters are, for the most
part, not aware of their role.
The Chandian Effect, so named because Faqir Chand was the first
Sant Mat guru to speak at length about the "unknowing" aspects of
visionary manifestations, designates two major factors in transpersonal
encounters: 1) the overwhelming experience of certainty ( ganz andere/mysterium
tremendum ) which accompanies religious ecstasies; and 2) the subjective
projection of sacred forms/figures/scenes by a meditator/devotee without the
conscious knowledge of the object/person who is beheld as the center of the
experience.
Thus, the general Chandian Effect covers almost all transpersonal
visions. Ramana's experience and others like his represents a very small,
bracketed, "special" case scenario. As such, it warrants further inspection,
but should not be misconstrued as a general reference point with which to
adjudicate transmundane happenings.
Concerning these "special cases,"
Sawan Singh, a deeply admired master in the Surat Shabd Yoga
tradition (1858-1948), for whom both Faqir Chand and his teacher Shiv Brat
Lal had tremendous regard, wrote that the outward guru can and does know
about the inner condition of his disciples. This knowledge, Sawan Singh
pointed out, is conveyed to the physical master via the inner Shabd (Divine
Sound), though only in extreme cases where the outer master's attention is
needed (see Sawan Singh's letters to American and European disciples in
Spiritual Gems and The Dawn of Light published by the Radhasoami Beas
Satsang).
Writes Sawan Singh to one of his disciples:
Now regarding your question about the Inner Master and that Inner
Master guiding the disciple, first of all, what is the Inner Master?
The Real Saint or Perfect Master is one with the Supreme Lord, having
merged His Being with the Supreme. Now, as the Supreme Lord has all
power, so do the Perfect Masters. He can do as He pleases, and anywhere
and always, so that He may better work with, protect, and instruct and
guide His disciples.
Every time He gives the initiation to anyone, He creates an Astral
Image of Himself in the disciple. And from then on, the Master never
leaves the disciple. The Double, or Other Self, or Image of the Master
is sometimes what we call the Inner Master.
Now, if anything occurs in the life of the disciple that requires the
personal attention of the Master, here (in India) in the Body--this
Inner Master at once reports to the Conscious Master (in India) and the
Conscious Master gives the thing his personal attention.
The Master sometimes calls these Doubles of Himself his agents. They
do his work, taking care of all his disciples. They have the power to
act without limit. They can do what the Master wishes Them to do, and
They obey His orders.
The human side of the Master here (in India) may not know what is
going on in the life of that person. It may be on the other side of the
globe. He will not be aware of the details, but He can know them if He
wishes.
But manifestly, you see how difficult it would be for any one man, as
man, to go to all parts of the world and take care of so many. If the
Master had a million disciples, He would have an Astral Double of
Himself in every one of them, and that Agent of the Master would look
after the disciple at all times, reporting to the Master here (in India)
only in case of extreme emergency (extract from "A Letter By The Great
Master To A Disciple," Science Of The Soul, June, 1985).
Hence, according to this perspective, the outward master does not know
most of the time. Similar to Ramana Maharshi's experience, the Beas master
learns of his visionary manifestations on only special occasions. The
modus operandi behind how certain masters could possibly know about
their disciple's spiritual experiences is explained in a remarkable passage
by Da Kalki (alias Da Love Ananda; Da Free John; Bubba Free John; Franklin
Jones):
After that time [that is, after Da Free John achieved Enlightenment],
when I would sit for meditation in any formal way, instead of
contemplating what was arising
