RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

What is the Place of the Occult?

Western religions have generally been opposed to the occult. They have been against divinatory methods like astrology and have oppressed or even executed occultists as witches. They often see occultism as the working of the Devil. The Pagan traditions that such religions originally supplanted used the occult, and discrediting the occult was part of the strategy for overcoming these older traditions.

Sanatana Dharma or the universal tradition accepts all valid forms of knowledge. It recognizes the occult as a subtler realm of Nature. Beyond the physical, the realm of gross form, it says that there exists the astral realm in which various spirits, gods and angels exist, and through which we can develop various extrasensory powers and experiences. Knowledge of this subtle realm is part of life and can be explored. It is nothing either to fear or to be in awe of.

The occult is one of the doors to the spiritual life as it takes us beyond the limitations of the senses and the materialistic idea of reality. Yet occult knowledge, though it can help direct us toward spiritual knowledge should not be confused with it. Spiritual knowledge is knowledge of the Self, who is the Supreme Divinity beyond all worlds.

Occult knowledge is subtler than the physical science but still limited to the manifest realm. The occult planes include subtle realms of illusion and magic. We must be careful in our examination of them just as we have to be careful in dealing with chemistry, nuclear physics or other subtle aspects of science. We should explore them with the help of devotion to the Divine and awareness of the higher Consciousness and not lose sight of the fact that they are only another aspect of who we really are. Such an examination of subtle realms was an integral part of the Raja Yoga system of Patanjali.

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