Visons , Miracles and Mystic experience

I was going through old Mountain path issues and one of the issues on Aradhana day had the following from Sri Ramakrishna on Visions.This caught my mind for a long time and sent me in to thinking and self reflection.

" Taking visions to be the whole of religion, many come to the wrong conclusion that any one who has not had such experiences is not at all spiritual. Spirituality and aimless miracle mongering seem to them the same thing. But this kind of hankering after miracles does not make man spiritual ; on the contrary it makes him weaker daily in all respects. That which does not lead to steadfastness and strength of character, that which does o tenable man to take his stand on the rock of purity and truth in defiance of the whole world , or that which entangles him more and more in various kinds of desires instead of setting him free from them , is outside the realm of spirituality. If extraordinary visions have not produced such results in your life and nevertheless you are having those visions , know that you are still outside the realm of spirituality , and that the visions are due to a diseased brain and so are of no value. IF , on the other had , instead of having wonderful visions and experiences , you find yourself acquiring strength , know for certain that you are on the right path and that you will also have those visions and experiences at the proper time."

Sri RamaKrishna , The Great Master.

Free Will and Effort

Bhagawan wrote the following as his reply to his mother Alagammal

"The Ordainer controls the fate of the souls in accordance with their prarabdhakarma ( destiny to be worked out in this life, resulting from the balance-sheet of actions in past lives). Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen , try as you may. Whatever destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it. this is certain. The best course , therefore is to remain silent "

Bhagawan was uncompromising in his teaching that whatever is to happen will happen, while at the same time he taught that whatever happens is due to prarabdha. He refused ever to be entangled in a discussion on free-will and predestination , for such , theories, although contradictory on the mental plane, may both reflect aspects of truth

He said explicitly "All the actions that the body is to perform are already decided upon at the time it comes into existence; the only freedom you have is whether or not to identify yourself with the body"

The apparently conflicting view that a man makes his own destiny is no less true,since everything happens by the law of cause and affect and every thought , word and actions brings about its repercussion.

Sri Ramana said " AS beings reap the fruit of their actions in accordance with God's laws, the responsibility is theirs, not His.

Bhagawan gave an example " The way to managed to come to Thiruvannamali, by physical effort , similarly make an effort to move forward on spiritual path.

Effort is needed. When a devotee complained that the peace he experienced whilst at the Ashramam diminished in time after reaching his home, Bhagawan advised him to strengthen his mind by effort to keep the flow of peace for longer time. The stronger the mind gets the longer the peace prevails , this can be achieved only by self effort, without focus on results.

SRI RAMANAYA NAMAH