Protection from hostile forces¹⁸

About two weeks ago, a disciple gave me a note. In the note he said that he had had a very, very vivid dream of his mother’s passing, his father’s passing and his sister’s passing. All the members of his family had died, and the dream was extremely vivid. I did not have to do anything in the inner world, because I saw that the dream was not at all true; it was absurd. When you have dreams or frightening experiences that bother you, please write to me.

We all have dreams, almost every night. There are many reasons when you have bad dreams. The most common reason is that you do not sleep properly. You lie down on your chest, or either one palm or both palms you place on your heart chakra. That is not good at all. When you lie down to sleep, do not put pressure on your heart chakra. You may think that very lightly you have placed your palms on your chest, but it may not be true. Even unconsciously you may be pushing your chest. When you sleep, do not keep your arms on your chest. Just keep them relaxed.

Before you go to sleep, you can concentrate on only one chakra. That is the Manipura chakra, the navel centre. From there on down, lower forces, undivine forces, unaspiring forces, can attack the sleeper. In the spiritual life, when it is a matter of protection, the most important thing is always purity. Purity has to be given first and foremost importance in the spiritual life; otherwise we shall have serious difficulties. Purity is not something delicate or powerless. Purity’s strength is unimaginable, absolutely unimaginable. If you concentrate on the navel centre, it will help you considerably. At that time you do not have to concentrate on the heart, on the throat, on the forehead or on the top of your head, the crown centre.

Many spiritual Masters have suffered and even now are suffering, I am sure, because of the hostile forces. Some hostile forces have the capacity to take the forms of spiritual Masters or Indian gods and goddesses. When I was fourteen or fifteen years old, I meditated for about two hours at night. I used to get up at seven minutes past two. On one occasion I was resting a little, lying down on my bed, and my hands were not on my chest. All of a sudden I saw a most beautiful figure that had the appearance of Lord Vishnu, but it was not the real Lord Vishnu. A hostile force had such tremendous power that it was able to take the form of Lord Vishnu.

By that time I knew that when hostile forces attack us, we have to show them our purity. They can fight with everything that we have, but when we show them purity from the central being, from the heart, they will fail. I had read this, and also I knew it inwardly. When I brought forward the strength of purity from my heart, that figure of Lord Vishnu burst. It had no physical form, but against the wall it was standing. What a horrific sound it made! It was four-thirty or five o’clock in the morning.

Then what happened? From across the street, Nolini’s son Ranju and his friends came, and people from upstairs came down because the sound was so loud! From across the street they came at four-thirty in the morning, because this kind of sound we do not ordinarily hear. My brother was in the same room, in another bed, and I did not have the heart to say anything. I was pretending that I was fast asleep. My brother heard the sound, and he said to me, “Did you not hear the sound just now?" I said, “I will tell you tomorrow. Now I want to sleep.”

From upstairs a Gujarati man came with a big stick to beat the culprit! Where was the person for him to beat? How could he beat the force that had taken the form of Lord Vishnu?

The hostile forces have the capacity to give someone a heart attack, if he is not aware of them, and if he does not use the power from his own heart. Purity is a power! I know of at least four instances where that kind of heart attack took place. A hostile force took the form of somebody’s dearest beloved and the person thought, “My dearest beloved has come to me.” If you see this kind of form, never bow down — never! You may say, out of devotion, "O my God, Lord Vishnu has come! Then let me bow down.” Never, never bow down! As soon as you bend your head or bow down, you will be kicked. Your life-energy the hostile force can take away, or it can destroy one of your limbs. I have read and I have experienced it — not in my personal life, but in the lives of some of my close associates. Some of them were of a very high order, and some of them had even realised God.

Again I am telling you, hostile forces can take the forms of divine beings. But if the Master is in the physical, and if the disciple is quite devoted, the disciple can be saved. In my case, I have said that hostile forces will not be able to take my form. I said it, but some people did not believe me. One of my very close disciples, one of my dearest disciples, was attacked. He said that he had seen me in the inner world, and I told him that his vision was absolutely false. Outwardly I was telling him, “No, no, no!” but he did not believe me. He enjoyed the form he had seen inwardly. I said to him, “I have told you that nobody can take my form.” I scolded him so powerfully! I said, “Believe me — I am here in the physical!” From that morning on, he was completely all right.

Sri Aurobindo had a disciple from Chittagong who was on the verge of God-realisation. Once somebody wrote to Sri Aurobindo, “What can the hostile forces do against the divine forces?” Sri Aurobindo wrote to him, “Tell me what they cannot do! My disciple was on the verge of God-realisation.” He was a very devoted disciple of Sri Aurobindo, very, very devoted and very close. He said that at night Sri Aurobindo had come to him and told him something. Sri Aurobindo said, “Wrong, wrong! I am in the physical! How is it that you are not listening to me? You are listening to your dream and not to me!" How badly the mind can be distorted!

Hostile forces do exist. Nowadays quite often I give prayers on protection. What is today’s prayer?

[The disciples repeat the prayer:]

“My Lord Supreme,
Right from the day I was born,
My life has been
Your Compassion-Protection-Abundance-Indulgence.”¹⁹

You know perhaps seven or eight instances of protection in my life, including the boat experience, the scimitar experience, Mother Kali’s protection when I collapsed after running, and the experience of seeing my mother in the eyes of a tiger.