Occultism

Occultism is something one-pointed, like the point of a spear. It can be dynamic or aggressive, divinely powerful or supremely arrogant. It can be black magic of the worst kind and, again, it can be the highest occultism which is called immediate achievement or immediate fulfilment. For a true spiritual seeker who may take quite a few incarnations or even sixty or eighty years to realise God, occultism is not only unnecessary but also dangerous. Occultism in the lowest vital plane, which is called black magic, is nothing but dreadful poison. So I want all of you to have nothing to do with black magic.

The occultism that is used sometimes side by side with spiritual power is also dangerous. Very often, the so-called occultists become victims of their own deeds. They are simply standing on a rope; at any moment they can fall and break their legs. Very often these so-called occultists use the astral tube, which is in the subtle body. But if the subtle tube gives way, at that time life also comes to an end. Many people have lost their lives while using the astral tube or have lost their mental balance for good. Then they act like mad elephants.

Then, there are occultists who work in the vital plane, using the spirits or ghosts of distant relatives. These spirits constantly want to, you can say, serve their lord, but if the lord has nothing further to give them, then they come and strangle and kill him. This is what happens very often in the lives of the so-called occultists.

There is a funny story I am sure most of you know. There was once an occultist who used to tell people about their future or the happenings in their past and many other juicy stories. But he used to take help from spirits. The condition was that he had to give work to the spirits constantly; if he could not give work to them for some time, then the spirits would come and strangle him.

Now a time came when the occultist had nothing to ask the spirits to do for him. The spirits got furious and wanted to kill the occultist in the vital world. So the occultist came and took the shelter of a Yogi. And the Yogi said, "Please keep a dog right in front of you and ask the spirits to keep the tail straight all the time. There the spirits were caught. As soon as the tail was straightened, it curved up again. The moral of the story is that our human nature is always prone to crookedness, wickedness and lower propensities.

There are some occult powers which are innocent, harmless, productive and really helpful. These occult powers you can get the moment your centres start opening — the six major centres and the crown centre. The moment one centre is fully open, you can rest assured that you will have a little bit of occult knowledge, occult power and intuitive capacity from the occult world. But again, you have to know how you are utilising these occult powers. If you utilise the occult power out of curiosity to know what is happening in somebody's life, what she is doing now, what he is doing now — then you are misusing it. If you use it when the divine in you, the Supreme in you, your soul, tells you or inspires you to help somebody in awakening his consciousness, only then are you doing the right thing.

If you follow the path of Kundalini Yoga, you can develop these occult powers. But for that you have to be extremely pure, pure, pure. Your name should be nothing else but purity. If your outer life and inner life are all purity within and without, then occult power is a blessing. Otherwise, occult power is a veritable curse. In the case of my disciples, I wish all of you to go deep within and offer your love, devotion and surrender to the Supreme. He is our eternal Father, Mother, Brother and Sister; all our relations we have with Him. So let Him pilot us. If he wants to give us occult power, He will give. If He wants to give us spiritual power, which is of infinitely more importance than occult power, that also He will give us. Let us not deal with occultism at this stage of our spiritual journey. Some of you are beginners, real beginners, some of you are a little advanced, but none of you are so advanced right now — I beg to be excused — that you can without difficulty enter into the occult world. If any of you actually are in a position to enter into the occult world, I will be the first person to teach you from the beginning to the end. But my business is right now only to take you to the Supreme. Then the Supreme will give everything to you.