Question: Back in the 1960's a number of intelligent people said that they had intense spiritual experiences through drugs, and a lot of people still make this claim. How do you see the relationship between drugs and the spiritual life?

Sri Chinmoy: Drugs and the spiritual life do not go together. They are like the North Pole and the South Pole. One is a real coin and one is a false, counterfeit coin. If you use the counterfeit coin, then one day you will be exposed; you will be caught. Just because you study history, you cannot say that you have learned mathematics well; it is absurd. History is history. If you have studied history for twenty years, then naturally you will know all about historical facts. But you won't know anything about mathematics, because you have not studied this subject. God-realisation is a matter of inner discipline, inner awakening. It is a different method, a different process, a different road. Here the destination is God. God has already told us how we can reach Him. He has told us that we can reach our destination through prayer and meditation. If we don't listen to Him and do something else, do you think He will be pleased with us? Some people who have taken drugs feel that they have got high experiences. I will tell you what kind of experiences they have got. Take someone to a swimming pool and become a naughty boy and press his head down in the water. Then, after two minutes, let him get up. He will tell you that everything became white. So, this kind of experience people get when they take drugs. But real inner experiences, real realisation, we can never get from drugs, because God does not want us to come to Him in that way. He has already told us to pray and meditate. He never said that if we take drugs, then we will realise Him.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Selfless service-light, Agni Press, 1977
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