The Atma Jyoti Blog

A question asked of Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, published in the book May I Answer That? from the Divine Life Society.

Q: If an individual is a Perfect Master, he is capable of functioning on all planes at the same time. He possesses to a remarkable degree the powers of clairvoyance and clairaudience. Can he not read the thoughts of the student before the student has time to utter them, before the student can bring out his questions, as Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa did? Can one who has such powers, even of thought-reading, be regarded as a Master?

Clairvoyance and clairaudience are not always automatic processes. Unless the Master directs his attention towards someone, he need not necessarily be aware of the seeker’s mentality and doubts. Imagine a seer or a Perfect Master who is ever aware of what everybody thinks! A siddha does see and hear everything in samadhi. This “everything” comes then to mean the Self or Atman or Supreme Consciousness where the individual thoughts and words cease to exist as such.

Powers like thought-reading do not necessarily connote perfection; and perfection cannot be vetoed by the absence of these powers. A Perfect Master can acquire these powers if he so wills; but you cannot force him to.

[A note by Swami Nirmalananda: In humility Swami Sivananda leaves himself completely out of this answer. Therefore I would like to tell you the experience of one of his closest disciples, Nirmala Singh, which she told to me.

Nirmala lived in Delhi and kept in contact with Sivanandaji through letters. She scrupulously followed all the spiritual practices he had taught her, and often annoyed the members of her large, joint family by refusing to ever skip meditation or shorten it by a minute. This meant that they often waited for her when they wanted to go somewhere or do something special at home. Being irreligious and cruel, they sometimes locked her up in a room and kept here there for many days without food or water. Still she would not alter her spiritual routine one bit.

After some years, one morning when she sat to meditate she immediately entered into a deep, inward state. This happened the next time she meditated, and the next and the next. So one morning at the end of meditation she thought: “Since I can now so easily enter into the deep inner state, perhaps I can relax some and not anger the family by being so unbending.”

That morning’s mail brought a letter from Sivananda written nearly a week before. It simply said: “Dear Nirmala: Never relax your spiritual discipline even for a single day–even though you may be able to go deep in mediation the moment you sit and close your eyes.”

Sivananda had known the situation before it actually happened and sent her advice. This was commonplace with him, because his consciousness was in eternity and not in time.

(I have been with holy people in India who did the same. One yogi I stayed with would know my thoughts twenty-four hours or more before they would arise in my mind–and would also follow my thoughts at that time, too!)

To call Sivananda a Master is too simple a thing. I well understand why his disciple, my dear friend Swami Sivananda Hridayananda, wrote a book entitled Sivananda My God. This would of course seem exaggeration to one who had not met him, but to thousands of us this was easily accepted, for he had entered our hearts and become “a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).]

More by Swami Sivananda:

• Making the Best Use of Time
• Benefits of the Practice of Dharma
• Swami Sivananda on Vegetarian Diet

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