How Do We Know That a Spiritual Force Is Working in Our Lives?

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How can we know that the
spiritual force is actually

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working in us?
An actual experience of a force,

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or what is called a spiritual
experience, is a specific,

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generally short lived event that
enormous numbers of people have

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had.
Yet the experience recedes and

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the daily life goes on,
seemingly in its old habitual

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patterns, with little noticeable
change and with the old routines

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seemingly firmly entrenched.
Spiritual literature and

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scriptural texts from virtually
every tradition in the world

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provide ample evidence of the
overwhelming experience and then

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the let down effect when it
withdraws.

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The dark night of the soul is a
recognized phenomenon.

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Devotees suffer when the object
to their love is withdrawn or

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hidden from them.
People struggle with challenges

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to their faith and the absence
of visible signs always in front

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of them.
There are several ways we can

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know the action of a spiritual
force within us, even when it is

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not overtly felt or
acknowledged.

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It is clear that the instruments
of body, life, and mind are

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severely limited in their ranges
of perception, so it is no

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wonder that much of the action
of spiritual forces is not seen

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or acknowledged.
One way, of course, is the

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actual event or experience that
one does get a glimpse or

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perception about, and
potentially a repetition of some

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similar event from time to time.
Another way is to look back at

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the arc of one's life to see how
major radical changes have

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occurred over time in the way
one sees, feels, responds.

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Most people do not experience
this kind of major alteration in

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their views, reactions, or
perceptions about things.

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So for someone to have such
changes take place, it becomes

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clear that another force is at
work.

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Charles Dickens, in his tale A
Christmas Carol, actually

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illustrates this principle quite
clearly.

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A modern materialistic
businessman who cares for no one

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and nothing other than amassing
his wealth, has an experience

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where he is visited by the ghost
of his former partner and then

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has visitation from ghosts who
show him successively past,

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present and future.
He is shaken by the experience

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and when he awakens from the
dream state he was in during the

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experience, he is a changed man
who takes care to help and care

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about others.
Who could have imagined a more

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radical transformation inhabit
an action than what we see here?

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The visitation by ghosts is a
frequent theme in Western

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literature about how forces have
changed outcomes.

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It also occurs frequently in the
works of William Shakespeare,

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for instance, what the actual
forces at work are.

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Whether ghosts or simply a
transcription of some spiritual

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force in imagery that is common
in a particular cultural

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background cannot obviously be
immediately determined without

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more detailed understanding of
specific cases.

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However, the changes are radical
and transformative and provide

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the signs of a new spiritual
energy and insight at work in

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the being.
Many who have such a

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transformative experience do not
have such a radical overnight

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change, but tend to grow into it
over a period of time.

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Looking back at one's feelings,
thoughts, responses and

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reactions of the past and what
they are now can usually provide

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clear evidence of a force at
work to bring about a change of

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consciousness and put that
change of consciousness into

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action, Srioro Bindu observes.
Quote.

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The fact that you don't feel a
force does not prove that it is

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not there.
The steam engine does not feel a

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force moving it, but the force
is there.

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A man is not a steam engine.
He is very little better, for he

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is conscious only of some
bubbling on the surface which he

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calls himself, and is absolutely
unconscious of all the

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subconscious, subliminal, super
conscient forces moving him.

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This is a fact which is being
more and more established by

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modern psychology, though it has
got hold only of the lower force

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and not the higher, so you must
not turn up your rational nose

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at it.
He twitters intellectually

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foolishly, about the surface
results and attributes them all

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to his noble self, ignoring the
fact that his noble self is

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hidden far away from his own
view, behind the veil of his

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dimly sparkling intellect and
the reeking fog of his vital

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feelings, emotions, impulses,
sensations and impressions.

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So your argument is utterly
absurd and futile.

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Our aim is to bring the secret
forces out and unwalled into the

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open, so that instead of getting
some shadows or lightnings of

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themselves out through the veil,
or being wholly obstructed, they

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may pour down and flow in
rivers.

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But to expect that all at once
is a presumptuous demand which

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shows an impatient ignorance and
inexperience.

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If they begin to trickle at
first, that is enough to justify

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the faith in a future downpour.
You admit that you once or twice

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felt a force coming down.
It proves that the force was and

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is there and at work, and it is
only your sweating herculean

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labor that prevents you feeling
it.

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Also, it is the trickle that
gives the assurance of the

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possibility of the downpour.
One has only to go on and by

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one's patience deserve the
downpour or else without

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deserving, slide on until 1 gets
it.

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In yoga, the experience itself
is a promise and foretaste.

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But get shut off till the nature
is ready for the fulfillment.

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This is a phenomenon familiar to
every Yogi when he looks back on

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his past experience.
Such were the brief visitations

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of Ananda you had sometimes
before.

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It does not matter if you have
not a Leech like tenacity.

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Leeches are not the only type of
yogi's.

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If you can stick anyhow or get
stuck, that is sufficient.

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End Quote.
Reference Trior, Bindu and the

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Mother.
The Hidden Forces of Life,

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Chapter 7, Spiritual Forces of
Help and Succor, pages 166 to

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167.