Shri Ramakrishna was realized, and his many followers accepted and believed him as such—as God personified, even though these followers of his had no real idea, no verification or proof of his being such a one. Theirs was mere blind faith, blind belief without any proof or satisfaction for either heart or head. For truths and realities beyond the reach of intellect obviously cannot be explained to the limited intellects of ordinary human beings.
Shri Ramakrishna was given the experience of realization by Totapuri*. He was brought back down to creation-consciousness by a lady saint, just as Shri was by Maharaj. And what trouble he had to pass through during the descent—just as Shri did—during the course of thirteen years!
Then, reverting to the subject of yogis, Shri repeated last night’s explanations. In particular, he related the analogy of two different persons who paid visits to Nagar, one on foot, and the other by motor car. The former accomplished the trip only after a long period of time and with great difficulty, whereas the latter did so quickly and with ease and pleasure. The one could be compared to an ordinary person who resorts to ordinary methods of travel. While the other is like a yogi, advanced in power, who takes the benefit of this. But to gain the experience, both had to make the trip to Nagar just the same. By contrast, a Sadguru, when he wants to experience things at a distance from himself, need not go there. For he is everywhere already. When he wants something, he simply becomes that place or thing or experience. In other words, a Sadguru need not see a thing or place at a remove from himself, as yogis do, since he actually is the very thing itself that is to be seen. He has not to exert himself or use powers in the manner of yogis.
Baba continued:
Electricity permeates the air around us. The air contains layers of electricity one inside the other, and when they exercise their powers, the yogis avail themselves of the unlimited source of electricity in the third layer inside. That is, they combine the unlimited source of electricity in the third layer of the air with the limited source of electricity in the third layer of their own body by means of breath; and the uniting of these two powers enables the yogi to bring about a result such as he desires. He has only to think, after combining the two sources—the unlimited and the limited—through the yogic process, and the result follows. Through such means he can raise the dead, read the minds of others, see things at a distance (as one who sees America from India), and so forth. That is, if the yogi wishes, let us say, to raise or revive a dead body or to see scenes and places in America while sitting in India, he has only to bring together the sources of electricity within himself with the source without (in the air) through the yogic process, think of the particular desire he has in mind, and the end is achieved.
– “Meher Baba’s Tiffin lectures”, p331
28-November-1926; Lonavala
* Totapuri was a sanyasi from the Punjab who met Ramakrishna at Dakshineshwar in 1864 and stayed with him there for eleven months. A proponent of Advaita (Non-dualism). Totapuri is said to have given to Ramakrishna the experience of Nirvikalpa Samildhi (i.e., the Realization of God).