I have a friend, a devout Pentecost. She & her family is much into praying loudly, while kneeling down for extended time, extreme fasting & such. She claims that her sister after extended periods of praying & fasting, the Holy Spirit enters her & she starts speaking in ancient languages & she heals people. My friend is not one to lie. The yogic path tells that we can communion with God only through silence. So could this be true?
—Jaya, UAE
Dear Jaya, I grew up in the southern part of the USA, where I knew many people of the Pentecost faith, so I am familiar with what you are asking about.
It is best always to be very respectful of people’s chosen religion, even those which feel a bit strange to us, or when it seems very different from our own chosen pathway to God. God has no favorites and blesses everyone. Even when people say they don’t believe in God at all, you can be sure that God believes in them! Actually, God IS them. They, like all of us, will eventually find this out, in the present or some future lifetime. And then, they too, will merge back into oneness with God. It is not a matter of IF, but only a matter of WHEN.
There are many ways to commune with God. I agree that deep inner silence in meditation is the most efficient way, but it is not the only way! Prayer is a wonderful practice! (Prayers is talking with God and meditation is listening for the answers—they go perfectly with each other). Chanting is excellent. Devotional practices of many kinds, ceremonies, japa, and on and on, all are wonderful ways of communion with the Divine.
In any case, it is possible that your friend is correct that her sister moves into some sort of temporary superconscious state and is able to heal or “speak in tongues” (as that practice is sometimes called). God sometimes works in very mysterious ways and through all kinds of people and their religious practices.