Spiritual power, occult power and will power5

Spiritual power is vastness, occult power is swiftness, will power is readiness. Spiritual power says to the seeker, “Eternity is at your disposal.” Occult power says to the seeker, “Here, here and now.” Will power says to spiritual power and occult power, “We are friends. Both of you are perfectly right; therefore, I wish to help you, serve you, manifest you and fulfil you in your own way.”

Spiritual power is the sea, occult power is the river and will power is the current of the river and the tranquility of the sea. Spiritual power is self-awareness, occult power is self-confidence and will power is self-experience. Slowly, steadily and unerringly the spiritual power within us grows until eventually it reaches its destination. Occult power speedily, dynamically and amazingly reaches its destination. Occult power has the speed of a deer. It runs very fast and reaches its goal quickly, but that goal is not the ultimate Goal.

Will power has faithfulness and devotedness. It is devoted to occult power, and at the same time it is devoted to spiritual power. With its devotedness and faithfulness will power reaches its destination. We can safely say that will power acts like a faithful dog, constantly and devotedly the Master’s own.

The seeker who is far advanced in the spiritual life tells us that he uses his spiritual power in order to climb up high, higher, highest. The seeker who is far advanced in the spiritual life tells us that he uses his occult power quite often, in order to run fast, faster, fastest. The seeker who has tremendous will power, who is inundated with will power, energises the seeker who has spiritual power and the seeker who has occult power. The role of the seeker who is inundated with will power is to help the seeker who has spiritual power and the seeker who has occult power.

Spiritual power almost whisperingly tells us that right is might. If you have the divine right, inside that right you must feel the divine power. If you have the right, then use your power. Occult power bravely tells us that might is right. If you have the capacity, that is your right. Occultism is simple. But the seeker with tremendous will power will tell us that the cry of Mother-Earth is the might of Mother-Earth, and the Smile of Father-Heaven is the right of Father-Heaven. We need only one might, and that is the inner cry of Mother-Earth. We need only one right, and that is the Smile of Father-Heaven.

Now, how do we acquire spiritual power? We acquire spiritual power by self-giving, constant self-giving. And how do we acquire occult power? We acquire occult power by self-examining. How do we acquire will power? We acquire will power by self-affirming. Self-giving — what do we give? We give what we have and what we are. What we have is love of God, and what we are is concern for mankind. Self-examining — what do we examine? We examine sincerely our capacity and our incapacity. We examine our incapacity in order to transform it into capacity, and we examine our capacity in order to make it perfect, absolutely perfect. And what do we affirm? When we affirm ourselves, we have to know that this self-affirmation is not like the self-affirmation of Julius Caesar, who declared, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Our self-affirmation will be: “I came, I loved and I became.” This is our divine self-affirmation: “I came into the world. I loved all human beings. And I established my inseparable oneness with all human beings.”

If we properly use spiritual power, then we can live here on earth in Immortality’s Reality. If the seeker properly uses occult power, then universal Reality is always at his disposal. Nothing will be able to hide from an occultist’s vision. Anything that involves creation will be within the reach of the occultist sooner than at once.

If we misuse spiritual power, we shall be extremely, extremely poor in the spiritual life. Sometimes it has happened that advanced seekers, after misusing spiritual power, have become poorer in aspiration than they were right at the beginning of their spiritual journey. Similarly, if an occultist misuses his occult power, then he becomes totally blind in the spiritual life. This blindness is not physical blindness, it is a much more serious blindness. It is the loss of his inner vision. This seeker will not be able to see the truth anymore. And something worse, when occult power is misused, the power that is misused eventually comes and attacks the occultist. In the case of spiritual power, he who misuses it sometimes escapes the attack of the misused spiritual forces, but when occult power is misused, the person who has misused it will eventually be attacked and punished by the forces that were once upon a time his own, at his beck and call.

With will power what can we do? With will power we can identify ourselves with God’s Creation, we can identify ourselves with God’s Vision, we can identify ourselves with God’s Reality. Will power is conscious identification with the reality that exists, or with the reality that is going to blossom. Each individual here has a certain amount of will power. But will power can also be cultivated. As we develop our muscles, even so we can develop our will power. But while developing will power we have to know that we are going to use his will power only to build in us the temple of truth, the temple of light, the temple of peace, the temple of delight. If this is our goal, then will power will always be ready to help us, mould us, shape us into perfect Perfection. Otherwise, will power can also be a true obstacle in our spiritual path.

Spiritual power tells us in unmistakeable terms, “I am, I eternally am.” Occult power tells us unmistakably, “I can, I immediately can.” Will power unmistakably tells us, “I enjoy, I divinely enjoy, I supremely enjoy. I enjoy, not in a human way, but in a divine way, in a supreme way.”


AUM 1682. Marvin Hall, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 28 January 1976

From:Sri Chinmoy,AUM — Vol. 3, No. 1, 27 January 1976, Vishma Press, 1976
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