the same time he himself had experiences in which the Mother interfered in a visible free material form and prevented him from doing what he intended to do1.Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume 1. 1933-34
Fragment ID: 16737
1933-34
He dissuaded all his disciples from visions and voices and said that such things have nothing to do with the true realisation of the Self or with one’s own goal. What is your opinion?
Maharshi is very much of a Vedantist. He does not believe in what we believe or in the descent etc. At the same time he himself had experiences in which the Mother interfered in a visible free material form and prevented him from doing what he intended to do1.
He discouraged his disciples because his aim was the realisation of the inner Self and intuition – in other words the fullness of the spiritual Mind – visions and voices belong to the inner occult sense, therefore he did not want them to lay stress on it. I also discourage some from having any dealing with visions and voices because I see that they are being misled or in danger of being misled by false visions and false voices. That does not mean that visions and voices have no value.
1 The incident referred to may be this: Once Sri Raman Maharshi was much displeased with the quarrels among his disciples. He left the Ashram and was passing through a narrow track. There he saw an old woman, sitting with her legs stretched in such a way that he could not pass across. He was so angry that he did not halt to understand her attempt to stop him. A few steps later after by-passing her, he understood the situation and stopped, became normal and looked back at the woman. She had disappeared. Immediately the whole thing became clear to him. The Divine Mother had come in a physical form to prevent his quitting the Ashram. He returned and never left the Ashram again.