Page 35 - Introduction to Prananhuti Aided Meditation

spirituality in fact starts from beyond the range of the senses and, frankly speaking, I may say that a guru who has not transcended the limits of the senses is not at all a guru in the true sense. He can impart nothing but torpidity which, as a spiritual state, is horrible even to imagine.
At lower stages in Natural Path one often does feel a sort of absorption, similar in a way to that of slight intoxication, but it is definitely different from the state of torpidity mentioned above. This condition may more appropriately be expressed as a blissful state of calmness, unstrained by the weighty effect of the senses which the abhyasi feels himself completely dissociated from. This may, however, be denoted as the soul dance which is a high type of dance. When a dancer gets completely absorbed in the dance, it comes at par with the dance of Lord Krishna, which possessed the merit of driving the onlookers into a state of ecstasy. But this type of dance is now quite unknown and obsolete. The ancient books also do not make any reference to it in clear terms. The Tandava dance of Siva, though not exactly the same, was much akin to it, but it was of a grosser type.
Sadhana has two aspects, one the abhyas and the other the Master's help. Abhyas is meant only for creating inner conditions which will be helpful to the abhyasi in attracting the flow of the Divine grace, and this involves one's self-effort. But self-effort alone is not sufficient. It must be supplemented by the Master's support. As a matter of fact what we really stand in need of for our ultimate purpose is only Divine grace. But owing to one's inner complexities, it is almost beyond the capacity of a sadhaka to have it by himself. For that reason Master's help is indispensable. In earlier stages Divine grace flows into theabhyasi only through the medium of the Master. As such it is often interpreted as Master's grace. Whether it comes through the Master's medium or direct it is the same Divine grace in both the cases. So long as the abhyasi is incapable of having it direct, it rests on the Master to bless him with it. When he has developed the capacity to draw it direct, the Master's job is practically over, though even then he has to keep a watchful eye on him for the sake of safeguard. This is in fact the real function of a true Master.
Now the Master's support being an essential feature of sadhana, it becomes incumbent upon the abhyasito seek a worthy guide to lead him on, helping him by his power transmitted through the yogic process of Pranahuti. This is the only effective means for bringing about the desired result. Under Natural Path the Divine grace is directed towards the abhyasi through the process of Pranahuti.