Question: I'm wondering what it is that makes the years of being a disciple seem sort of like a dream, and the time before that seem more real? Some of the experiences just seem too fantastic to be real; they seem like a dream. And life before being a disciple seems tangible, real.

Sri Chinmoy: To be a sincere spiritual seeker means that you are dealing with infinite possibilities. The hope-world of the past, the expectation-world of the past, has been transformed into reality, and now you are living in the vision-world of the present. The vision of Divinity, the vision of Infinity, the vision of Immortality are all around. Inside each thought you are dealing with infinite possibilities and potentialities. These ideas and ideals are overwhelming to your mind because they are the message of universal Reality. You need the physical body — arms, legs, head — to exist in the physical world. But when you deal with the spiritual worlds, if your arms and legs are not there, you don't even know. You enter into realities where physical attributes do not exist. There you are dealing with intuition, inner vision and consciousness. When you are in the aspiration-world, this vision will take you far beyond your necessity, far beyond the familiar everyday world. So you are entering into another plane of existence which has not yet become familiar to you.