The Harms of an Artificial Expansion of Consciousness

Supernatural experiences induced by drugs or other artificial means are symptoms of insanity and very dangerous. They can drive a person mad for millennia, life after life.

In the world of mind there is nothing but chaos. No matter how much harmony you create in your mind, soon new problems arise. The only solution to the problems of mind and life on earth lies in the experience of immortality, of our true being, which is divine light.

But such an experience has to arise naturally, not by force. Even if it comes to you as a gift, it is artificial and cannot last because you have not really worked for it and it is not the result of a natural evolution. The world of the Divine within us is causeless, uncreated. We may build an artificial sun through technical progress, but we can never create the light that is our soul. It is unborn and eternal. An all-independent light. Dipeshvara. The experience of this Dipeshvara is the goal of our life. All our mantras lead to this fantastic Light of lights. From there a current of wisdom, peace, joy and harmony flows into our mind and intelligence.

Mantras purify the inner being and mind and prepare it for the experience of this inner world of light. They describe the nature of the Divinity enshrined in our own true Self which is the source of all knowledge and perception, all intuition and revelation, all realisation and wisdom.

No mental function deserves the name intelligence or reason. Intelligence lies in the pursuit of timeless values, ideals and principles, that spring from the inner Light in us. Everywhere in this house butter-lamps are burning, reminding us of this Light. This Light is the content of all our mantras. We are impelled to contemplate and meditate on this Light each time we repeat a mantra and reflect on its meaning. And once we grow perceptive to this inner Light we are visited by beings from higher worlds. Immortal saints and sages appear before us.

Outer circumstances keep changing. This is the nature of life in this world. But once one is inwardly rooted in the divine Light in one's soul, one is saved and becomes a centre of boundless inner satisfaction, perfection, bliss, sanctity, divinity and light.

- Swami Omkarananda