Part IV: Mediums and the unseen world

Question: What is it that the spiritual mediums contact when they give messages? Whom or what are they speaking to?

Sri Chinmoy: They try to speak to the soul itself. If I want to see somebody’s brother or father or mother who has died, I can see, I can speak to the soul. When you become Self-realised, you also can speak to your parents in that way if they are not on earth. If they are still in Heaven or in some other higher world, it is very easy to speak to the soul. If they have taken a new human incarnation, it becomes a little difficult, but we can still do it.

The soul has its own language. Just as we speak directly to a human being, we can speak directly to the soul. An ordinary man who is not realised also can speak to a soul if he has some connection with or control of a spirit in the vital plane. Information received through spirits, however, is often incorrect or imperfect. If somebody’s father or mother has died and wants to take the trouble to help a son or daughter on earth, the spirit of the deceased, no matter where it is, can come and give messages. At any time, these spirits can concentrate on them, think of them and give the message. Even now there are most ordinary people who do not pray even for a second, but who nonetheless get messages from relatives in the soul’s world. This process is in no way sure or certain, however. People who receive messages in this way are always at the mercy of the whims of their departed dear ones.