Beyond Psychic Powers (Part 10)

The next thing I must know is my position in relation to the Supreme Spirit. I am spirit in quality, but if I identify myself with the Supreme Spirit, then again I am blind to reality—the reality that I am not the Supreme Spirit, I am not the Supreme All-Powerful Controller of all living beings, I am forced to undergo birth, disease, old age, and death. "Time and tide wait for no man." We are all under time's influence. But the Supreme Person is the creator of time and the Supreme Controller—above time's influence.

The second step in self-realization is to know that my position is subordinate. I am spirit soul, the dominated. The Supreme Spirit is the Dominator.

QUESTION: So to want to be God or master contradicts the reality of my position as a dominated part and parcel of the Lord?

JAGAD GURU: Right. To realize you are spirit is correct. But to think you are the Supreme Spirit is wrong. Many yogis go off the track right here. They are not purified from all enviousness of the Lord. Everyone in the material world seeks the throne of Lordship. We fight for the position of Number One. A man wants to be master and lord it over his wife. Now, the wife, in the name of liberation, wants the role of lord. "You've enjoyed long enough, now it's my turn to be on top."

Spiritual realization means the realization that I am spirit soul, the eternal servant of the Supreme Soul. He is the Supreme Owner, Controller, and Enjoyer. My happiness comes from satisfying His desires, doing His will.

QUESTION: So psychic powers could lead me further away from spiritual perfection. Can such powers cause me to fall further into being hardhearted and proud, and feeling that I am God?

JAGAD GURU: Yes. People with psychic powers think. "Look how powerful I am today. And I'll be even more powerful in the future." Such a person becomes puffed up, wanting to increase his power and control. But increasing your power has nothing to do with increasing your closeness to the all-powerful Supreme Person. The further away you are from the consciousness that you are the Lord's servant, the further away you are from Him.

Spiritual advancement means moving towards this realization that you are His servant. Everything and everyone is His property, existing for His enjoyment. If psychic power doesn't bring you to this realization, then where is the spiritual gain? The only gain is material. This material gain may mean that you increase your abilities to control material energy on the subtle material dimension. But this does not mean it is spiritual. That's why the Srimad Bhagavatam states:

When a perfect yogi's attention is no longer attracted to the by-products of psychic powers, which are manifestations of the external material energy, his progress towards Me, the Supreme, becomes unlimited, and thus the power of death does not overcome him.
-Srimad Bhagavatam 3:27:30