Punishment for a divine cause

"I have often inwardly used occult power. All spiritual Masters use occult power. One does not need to be a Master; if one is only a highly advanced seeker he can get occult powers. In my last incarnation, although I used these powers hundreds and thousands of times, I used them for punishing people only three or four times."

"Master," said a disciple, "you are so kind and compassionate. It's hard for us to believe that you punished people with your occult power."

"In those cases," explained the Master, "it was the Will of the Supreme. It was not just for the sake of punishing or out of malicious pleasure. It was absolutely for their own good."

"Do you feel like telling us a few of these stories from your past incarnation?"

The Master began, "Once someone was bothering me mercilessly. I used my occult power and frightened and threatened him. It was all fire, fire, fire."

"Master," asked one young man, "do you mean you were on fire or you just made fire around him?"

The Master explained, "He experienced fire and torture, unbearable torture. Occultists can create hell the way it is usually described. They can actually create hell. One can die there a hundred times in one minute, with the kind of torture they create. Worse, they can take your life-breath away for a minute or two or three. They can easily do it."

"Did you ever do that in your last life, Master?" asked a disciple.

"Not I personally. But I knew of one spiritual Master who had to take the life-force of somebody away. Why? There was a military man who had been boasting that he had killed so many people, hundreds and thousands of people. So the Master dropped a pencil on the floor and said, 'Just lift up this pencil.' The military man tried, but he could not lift it. Why? The Master had taken his life-energy away.

"But this is a most dangerous thing. If that particular Master had kept this up for five minutes — or not even five minutes, it can be a matter of one minute sometimes — then it could have been fatal. "You know, children, once I used my occult power this way and lost my best friend, Ishwar. He was by far the strongest wrestler in our village. Nobody could come near him in strength. One day he insulted a few Indian sadhus. I said, 'Don't insult them.' "He said, 'They are all fakes! They have no occult powers.' "I said to him, 'One does not have to become a sadhu to have occult power.'

"He said, 'They are all fakes. Nobody has any occult power or spiritual power.'

"The following day I invited him to come to the village post office where I used to work. He came and was standing face-to-face with me. Then I said, 'Please stand against the wall. I will show you some occult power.' He was standing there laughing, but I knew what would happen. You won't believe it, but I was fully prepared. It took not more than twenty-five seconds. I used my strongest occult power from my third eye, and he fainted for perhaps ten minutes. When he came to he called me a rogue.

"Then he told his friends that I wanted to kill him. They wouldn't believe him. They said, "How could Rakhal kill you? He is so nice. You are his best friend.'

"Ishwar protested, 'Oh no, no! That rascal Rakhal really wanted to kill me.'

"From that day on, if he saw me coming toward him on the sidewalk, he would cross to the other side of the street. He used to curse me all the time because he thought I had wanted to kill him. So that is how I lost my best friend Ishwar. Show occult power and lose friends. It's absolutely true."

"Another time I wanted to punish my cousin. I came in late for dinner and she insulted me mercilessly. I was at least twenty metres away from her, but I said, 'Let me see you take one more step. Take a step.' She tried, but she could not do it. Her own mother was the witness. My cousin's anger and pride most helplessly surrendered.

"A few minutes later my four sisters and two brothers came home. I was still furious. I said to them, 'Come, this time I will really show you what occult power I have. I will turn human beings into sheep. You have read in our ancient scriptures that this is possible. Now your brother will show you. Let us go to the paddy field where there are a lot of people and I will show you my occult power. Khana has insulted me badly just because I came to eat late. I have already punished her. But I want to show you people the height of my occult power.'

"My brothers got mad at me. They said, 'Is this why God gave you this power?'

" 'Haven't you done enough to me already to prove it?' asked my cousin.

"I said, 'I could have continued if I had wanted, but you are so dear to me. When it is a matter of your love and affection, I know how much I owe you. Your anger was human. Mine was animal. I need your forgiveness.' Immediately she gave me her forgiving smile, which I most gratefully accepted."