Friend wrote:Yoga with God is different and 100% encouraged as you all know. But it is supposed to be a subtler experience. I think there are many different experiences in the BK world.
God, or god spirit, or group spirit (collective conscious)?
The difficult thing with all this is it is entirely unpredictable and then, afterwards, there is abosulately no way to assess subjective experiences.
We used to have PBKs on here who refer to the original unedited Murlis, instead of the revised BK ones. Their take on it was most of the "experience" BKs had were "fruits of Bhakti" and they appeared to have no expectations or values of having any experiences at all.
What you're talking about in internally responses, Pink, but is there anything external out there hanging about in the "ether" to respond too.
How is science doing on that front?
I tend to think there is although it's still beyond orthodox science, however, one has to be careful. Elsewhere on the forum we linked to Derren Brown doing a hypnosis experience where he took atheists and led then to have a "religious" experience -
where many broke down and cried, had their breath taken away, and turned "believer" - but it had all been done consciously pre-programming them to do so.
So, we've got both things going on and if I had one criticism of BKism, going back to your "not a Spiritual University" comment, Pink, it would be they apply no scientific discipline and discernment to spiritual or quasi-spiritual experiences.
It's all just about expedience ... whatever works to encourage the individual along or to commit deeper.
Friend, I differential myself from Pink is that I leave a door of possibility open to there being such things as "spirit" or psychic influences, whatever they might be and, within that, that we are initiated into a relationship with a spirit or spirits who channel their energy or being through us. Therefore, I don't draw a line as it being purely subjective or hypnotic but rather just admit what I don't and cannot know.
I rather look at where it all takes us ... "by their fruit, you shall know them" and all that.
There no point having wonderful experiences if all it does it end you up doing BK service 24/7 and handing your life over them ... which is basically what I did off the back of having a few weird and wonderful inexplicable experiences. I ended up encouraging myself into stupidty.