What is a spiritual experience?

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What is a Spiritual Experience?

Definition of an experience and a spiritual experience

The Spiritual Science Research Foundation (SSRF) defines that which is experienced through the medium of the five senses, mind and intellect as an ‘experience’. For example, the experience of eating one’s favourite dish, feeling love for one’s child, resolving a problem at work by using one’s intellect, etc., fall into the category of an ‘experience’. Experiencing something which is beyond the comprehension of the five senses, mind and intellect constitutes a ‘spiritual experience’. Even if one can perceive an event through the five senses, mind and intellect but the reason behind it is beyond the gross intellect of mankind, it still constitutes a spiritual experience.

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Experience versus a spiritual experience and how we perceive it

What is a spiritual experience? Spirit10

We experience the gross world through the five senses, mind and intellect. Corresponding to the five senses, mind and intellect that we are well aware of, we also have five subtle senses, a subtle mind and a subtle intellect, which when developed or activated, help us to experience the subtle world or subtle dimension. This experience of the subtle world is known as a ‘spiritual experience’.

In the above picture, we see a lady who smells a bunch of roses and experiences the fragrance of roses. This would constitute an experience as there is a definite source to the fragrance of roses i.e. the bunch of roses. In the other picture, we see a lady sipping her morning coffee, pondering over the start of her working day. All of a sudden and with no apparent cause, she gets a strong fragrance of sandalwood. She initially dismisses it, as she cannot see where it’s coming from and goes on to drink her coffee. However the fragrance follows her to her work place and lingers with her throughout the morning. She asks other people around if they can get the fragrance but no one does. This would constitute a spiritual experience. In this case, the lady actually perceived a fragrance emanating from the subtle dimension and experienced the fragrance through the medium of her subtle sense organ of smell.

Quite a number of us may have had an experience like this i.e. getting a fragrance without any apparent source, but dismissed it as we did not know better. A spiritual experience can also be perceived through the other four subtle sense organs of taste, touch, sound and vision and also the subtle mind and subtle intellect. This extra perception that we get, is known as our sixth sense. As mentioned earlier, even if one can perceive an event through the five senses, mind and intellect but the reason behind it is beyond the gross intellect of mankind, it still constitutes a spiritual experience.

An example of this would be when an object moves without any apparent external cause that can be viewed by anyone with their gross eyes (i.e. not their subtle vision). In common parlance these experiences are popularly known as paranormal. These experiences are called ‘perceptions from the subtle dimension’.
Let us take another example of a mother whose child lies in critical condition in ICU following a gruesome accident. The doctors have tried everything but the child is just not responding. They are not promising anything. At her wits end, she fervently and continuously prays to God for her unconscious child. Then miraculously and without any medical explanation, the next day there is a noticeable improvement in the child. In time, the child steadily improves and moves out of danger. Here the child’s condition and the mother’s prayer are both in the gross, but the cause of the medical science-defying-improvement is not explainable by the intellect. Experiences such as these too fall into the category of spiritual experiences.

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Spiritual experience related to the five subtle sense organs and five Absolute cosmic elements

The world is made from the five absolute Cosmic Principles. These Cosmic Principles cannot be seen but make up all of creation. As we progress in our spiritual practice our sixth sense gets activated, and we begin to get experience of these absolute Principles progressively, beginning from the most gross to the most subtle. Thus we are able to experience them in the order of the Absolute Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether elements through our subtle sense of smell, taste, vision, touch and sound respectively.

The following table provides examples of positive and negative spiritual experiences that we may perceive through our sixth sense, that is through the medium of the five subtle senses.

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When a person perceives something through a subtle sense organ, e.g. smell, the source could be from a positive energy like a deity or a negative energy like a ghost.

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Spiritual experience and spiritual level

As our spiritual level goes on increasing, we are able to get spiritual experience of a higher and more subtle-level. The table below shows the minimum spiritual level necessary to be able to experience each of the individual five subtle senses if one’s sixth sense was seen purely as a function of the spiritual level. For example, one can get spiritual experience of the subtle sense of smell at the 40% spiritual level.

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While this bar graph serves as a guide to explain the direct relationship between the spiritual level and types of experience through the various subtle senses, it is important to note the following:

When somebody acquires a spiritual experience of subtle smell, it does not necessarily mean that he has attained the spiritual level of 40%. More often than not, it is a case of momentary or transient rise in spiritual level or ability, either because of intense spiritual practice like chanting the Name of God, being in the company of Saints etc.
There could be other factors contributing to the experience. For example, if a Ghost, Demon,m Negative Entity wants a person to get the smell of urine around the house to frighten them, it could use its spiritual energy to make it happen. This is without the necessary rise in spiritual level of the targeted person.
It does not mean that all persons at the 40% spiritual level will necessarily perceive a subtle-smell. The spiritual level of a person is the net function of many attributes; sixth sense is just one of them.
It also does not mean that these persons can perceive up to 100% of all the varieties of subtle smells available or that they can perceive it all the time and at any time.
It also does not mean that a person at a spiritual level of 40% or above will necessarily perceive a subtle fragrance. One of the reasons for not getting such an experience could be that this person has already had these experiences in the past life and does not need them now. All, however have the sixth sense that pertains to the subtle mind and intellect.

You can also see from the graph that the subtle sense of touch and sound are only perceived at higher spiritual levels. The reason for this is that they are more subtle among the five subtle senses

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All said and done, spiritual experiences do not necessarily enhance or augment spiritual practice. Even if people were to witness a miracle it doesn’t necessarily mean that they would start spiritual practice. 30% of people despite having spiritual experiences either stop active spiritual practice or stagnate at the same spiritual level.

To actively pursue spiritual practice, one needs to develop the conviction that, ‘I must evolve spiritually in this very birth’. Spiritual experiences do not necessarily assist the intellect in this. For this attitude to develop, we require the study of Spiritual science to provide us with a framework for sustainable spiritual practice. Any study of spiritual science needs to be undertaken with an open mind that is not biased by pre-conceived opinions.

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