Question: Are hostile forces and occult things real or illusory?

Sri Chinmoy: In your case it is all mental hallucination. Hostile forces do not actually attack you although you feel that they do. You feel that they attack you because on the one hand you are fighting them on the outer plane, and on the other hand you are cherishing them unconsciously. You make yourself feel that you are really something and that is why the hostile forces are attacking you. You think, “I must be strong in some way or good in some way. That is why the hostile forces are paying so much attention to me and not paying attention to somebody else.” Our human mind is so tricky. When you are attacked by someone or when someone comes to rob you, on the one hand you are sad and miserable that you have been robbed and everything has been taken away, but on the other hand you are proud. You say, “Look. I am rich. That is why they have come to steal my wealth and not others’ wealth.” If your property and wealth are stolen, then you should feel miserable and that is all. But no, you feel miserable for five minutes and then some silly idea enters into your mind and you are bloated with pride. Similarly, very often when hostile forces attack you, on the one hand you get irritated, angry and upset, but on the other hand you get a kind of subtle satisfaction. You think, “Oh, perhaps I am really spiritual and divine; that is why the hostile forces have attacked me and not others.” We have to be very careful. We must not cherish the idea that we are spiritually rich and that is why the hostile forces are attacking us. Hostile forces attack everyone very naturally. You may think that hostile forces are attacking only you. But go and ask the person sitting beside you, and he will say, “Oh yes, yesterday I had the same experience.” Then ask somebody else, “Did hostile forces attack you?” Everybody will tell you the same story. The thing is that you like to feel that you are the only sufferer. That is why consciously or unconsciously you cherish in a negative way the idea that you are spiritual and divine. Here you are making a mistake. You are spiritual and divine, true. But you are spiritual and divine because you have entered into the spiritual life. It is not because you are a special person that hostile forces have attacked you and not others. The very nature of the hostile forces is to attack everyone. Then sooner or later there will come a time when you and others are totally freed from these hostile forces.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Transcendence of the past, Agni Press, 1977
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/trp