Namaste, i read in Yogananda’s book, The Divine Romance that we should not leave our mind empty, otherwise evil souls will possess us and we are not safe. This has instilled so much fear in my mind, even while meditating. Before, i used to just loosen my mind to create a blank space, sort of, where no thoughts or emotions arise, and i loved it. Now i constantly imagine the light of God coming, otherwise I feel that some soul would harm me. Please help. This information is causing discomfort for me.
—Petals, India
Dear Petals,
Thank you for writing. This is a misunderstanding. Here is what Yogananda says in that book:
“You must never be negative—that is, never sit quietly and make your mind blank in order to become “open” to messages from the other world. This practice makes one receptive to tramp souls [astral beings who remain earth-bound] that are roaming in the ether, seeking human vehicles for expression and experience in the physical world.”
Yogananda here refers to practices where one blanks the mind with the purpose of consciously opening up to astral entities, to get messages, to channel entities, or inviting them in some way. Such practices are dangerous. These beings do come and can enter.
This doesn’t mean, however, that we shouldn’t create silence inside, that you always have to visualise something. The mind should be stilled.
However, the goal is never “blankness”. The mind in meditation is not passive, but highly active, concentrated. It concentrates on the technique, or on the spiritual eye, or on inner experiences. It seems to me that you, in meditation, by “loosening my mind to create a blank space” might have been a little too passive, with a too low energy level. Good meditation requires high energy, it needs intensity. Low energy can feel good, but is never superconscious.
So maybe this experience happened to you for a good reason: it is telling you to turn up the energy in your meditations, to make them a bit more intense. Short with quality is better than long without it.
If you still fear these tramp souls anyway, know that, as long as you call the Masters, Christ, Krishna, Yogananda, and the others, nothing can ever happen to you. You are completely safe and fully protected. If you attune to these great ones, praying to them before meditation, only beneficial changes will begin to take place within you, through their blessings.
In divine friendship,
Jayadev
