158. Does a full-fledged Yogi not feel tempted to test his Yogic powers? Is such testing justified?

A full-fledged Yogi can never have the idea either to test himself or his powers. If such be the case, he should in no way be considered full-fledged or well-baked. It is only the raw, the ill-expanded and half-baked Sadhaks or Yogins that will have the inclination to test their own selves, i.e., their progress, by virtue of the powers they might have acquired.

Yogic powers cannot but manifest in proportion to the amount of progress one makes in Yoga as per the injunctions laid down in the Yoga Sastras; and they are surely a detriment to one's further progress if even the slightest attention is paid towards them either to advertise oneself or to test oneself. Every day, every minute, nay, every second, will see some blissful experience or the other even without the wish of the Yogic aspirant. As these experiences manifest of their own accord, the aspirant is to remain indifferent and unconcerned and wonder at the glory of glorious God; and he should not care to have even a knowledge of the experiences. Only then, and then alone, can he be expected to have onward progress. A full-fledged Yogi is he who has attained Self-realization through the medium of Yoga and so there can never be any temptation in him to know who he is or how far he has progressed by dint of the powers acquired.

159. How does a person feel when he severs, all of a sudden, all relationships with this mundane world for embracing Sannyas?

When there is a true spirit of Tyaga in any, there can never be any idea of the old impressions of the world or of past relations with mundane existence. Even if the person embraces Sannyas without the indispensable Vairagya, he need not necessarily feel for the loss that he sustains, though the latent Vasanas, Vrittis and Samskaras still lie embedded in his mental consciousness. A true Sannyasi enjoys the utmost bliss when he cuts asunder all connections with the world.

160. I read your writings in "My Magazine": "Woman is only a rotten leather bag containing urine, pus, wool, blood, etc." How can we condemn and deprecate womankind? I think that there is nothing unholy in this universe.

Too much study and a little practice bring bewilderment. To induce Vairagya in the passionate people, I place such a negative mental picture of women. Really, women are manifestations of Sakti. Yes, all is holy. All is sacred. All is beautiful. This can be realized and felt only by people advanced in the spiritual line. Beginners can merely repeat these formulas like a parrot. Their experience, Drishti and mode of Sadhana are entirely different from the expressions of realized persons. Beginners should be very careful, as they will be easily duped by Maya.

161. Politics has become the God of the day and is more so in India. Religion has come to be regarded as a superfluous thing. How then is it possible to make everyone believe in God and religion?

It is wrong to regard that politics has got some of those very people had fashioned those precedence over religion. In personal life, the majority of mankind does believe in God; and in India, there is undercurrent of religion throughout the land. Politics is only a surface activity thrust upon most people due to socio-economic forces.

When one gets knocks and blows, when he gets disgusted with the sensual objects on account of their impermanency, when he gets experience and discrimination and dispassion, his mind will be turned towards God. Now he becomes susceptible to religious influence; and the company of good men and spiritual books make him religious. Till then there is no use forcing religion on this man.