`AMALIYYAT

PSYCHOLOGY

To Develop Psychic Power

Concentration is the first necessary thing in developing psychic power, because it is exercise for the mind, as for the body there are gymnastics. No psychic has ever developed his power, nor has been able to make use of it, without the development of concentration. There are two great blessings in man's life: power and inspiration. Concentration brings power; meditation, inspiration . . . the former being constructive while the latter is toward the ideal of annihilation, which in other words may be called absorption within. 


Psychic power is developed by making use of a thought at will, creating in the mind the object of concentration and retaining it -- which takes a great deal of willpower. It is like lifting the chair on the tip of a finger under one of its feet, and keeping at the same time the balance, that it may not fall. Concentration is still more difficult. It is like making a pin stand on the tip of a finger, which has always a tendency to fall. The nature of the mind is such that it creates a thought and throws it over for another thought to take its place. This being the nature of the mind, it makes it difficult for one to concentrate upon one object steadily. 


The mind of an average person may be pictured as an unruly horse that jumps and kicks and throws anyone that tries to ride it. Masters of the world are those who have mastered themselves, and mastery lies in the control of the mind. If the mind became your obedient servant, the whole world is at your service. The king of mind is greater than the king of a nation, and in order to get the mind into control, one ought to train the mind as one would train a horse, that afterwards can be used for the purpose for which it is.


People make concentration as a part of their everyday work, but mystics make their everyday's work their concentration. When the concentration is developed, one may do one thing or two things, or ten or a hundred things at a time and at the same time.


The one who concentrates well, his thought becomes living. When there is less power, it is as a vegetable; When more, it is as an animal; when more it is as man, and if still more it becomes superman. His thought becomes his friend, his ship in the sea and his airship in the air. If still more deeply we think on this subject, we shall find that the secret of all creation, natural and artificial, is mind, which has created this all by thought.


Stilling of the Mind and Body

Activity weakens and repose strengthens the mind and the body. By the word "strengthens" is meant that they get life from within, not necessarily from their own element. One may ask, "Would sitting idle help a person to become muscular, and would lack of thinking make one wise?" The answer is, no; activity would help a person to be muscular rather than stillness, and thinking would make man wise rather than the silence of thought; but activity in both the mind and the body would bring them to their own element. In other words, the body by activity would become muscular, and the mind would become thoughtful. But it is stillness alone which can give them the life from within and the light from within. Therefore, the body and the mind of a master Sufi may not seem to be stronger than those of another person, and yet they have a life peculiar to them, which everybody does not possess.


The Use of Psychic Power

Psychic power must be used after having been collected. Therefore, the desire of healing and of magnetizing should be kept aside until the power is developed so that it will overflow, and that it the time to make use of it. Otherwise, instead of helping others, the psychic ruins himself.


The best vehicle that gives expression to this power are the eyes. The psychic first drills the eyes and makes them accustomed to operate in one direction in which he may desire them to work. The glance of the psychic must become, when required, as the sharp knife of the surgeon, and when required, it should work as gently as a powderpuff. Until this control is gained, the psychic may help some and harm some, not knowing what helped and what harmed.


The tips of the fingers of the psychic and the palm also must become the means of directing the power. The whole being of the psychic becomes a magnet. The great psychics have a healing effect even in the soles of their feet. It is therefore that an Eastern disciple prides himself on being even as dust under the feet of his master.


What Nourishes Psychic Power

Psychic power is a power of mind, and it repose of mind that develops it; in other words, stillness of mind. Activity of mind lessens the power. A person who thinks more, who is always absorbed in imaginations, who worries more, fears, doubts or becomes anxious about anything loses this power. Of course, the mind should not always be still, for lack of activity also destroys power, but one must be able to exercise the mind by thought and to still the mind by the will. This gives health to the mind, and thereby, psychic power is developed.


The breath is the principle thing in life which absorbs the real nourishment for both body and mind. It is therefore that those who cannot breathe rightly can never be healthy; no food can nourish their body. And it is always the disorder of the breath which is the hidden cause of unsoundness of mind. The breath absorbs from the sphere nourishing properties for both mind and body. Therefore, there is no psychic who has developed his power without the development of the breath.


A person is not equally gifted with power and inspiration. These two are like two eyes, two hands, or two wings which are not equal in strength. Therefore, one finds that most inspirational people lack power, and most powerful people lack inspiration; and it is the constant striving of the Sufi to balance the two. The reason of this is that power is grosser. It produces a mist, so that the intelligence is confused. If the mist is cleared, the power is cleared away too, and then inspiration comes.


What Should Be Practiced in Everyday Life to Develop Psychic Power

Psychic power, in plain words, may be called power of mind, and power of mind in reality is power of feeling. Feeling is the spirit of thought as speech is the spirit of action. Therefore, concentration is the first essential thing for the development of psychic power. Besides that, strong feeling, void of all bitterness, worries and sorrows, fears and anxieties, is necessary.

In order to express psychic power, one must have strength of body. Regular breathing, with rhythm and good circulation of the blood, is necessary. If not, while sending power outside for healing, one gets the disease of the person whom he heals; or when wishing to master something in life, he himself becomes mastered; when wanting to catch someone, he becomes captive.


Sometimes, in people psychically weak, one finds great psychic power, but it is neither useful for them nor for another, because it makes a person weaker when he is already weak in constitution. In the Hindu religion, where harmlessness is the ideal and flesh-eating is prohibited among them, Shiva, Lord of Yogis, has allowed meat for the psychics, for the very reason that psychic power is power of mind and the body must be so strong as to sustain it. Another thing that is necessary for a psychic is steadiness in his habits and tranquility of mind.


The Development of Power in the Fingertips

The hand is the most active organ that man has; and at every inclination of doing any sort of work, man puts his hand forward to accomplish it. This shows that man's power of action is expressed through his hand, so psychic power can also be better expressed by the hand than by any other organ. The fingertips are as rays of this light which is called psychic power. Fine rays of power manifest through man's fingertips. This is the secret of shaking hands, which in reality is a psychic help to each other. 


As by working with a machine, a person makes his hands capable of mastering the machine, and as by playing the `cello a person makes his fingers capable not only to play the right notes but even to express his feeling, his emotion through them. So it is with psychic power. Every person has more or less of this power, but he can develop it by certain exercises which the initiate learns from the Murshid. When the power is developed, then the fingertips throw out the psychic power that attracts and heals. Its development also depends upon the health and strength of body and mind. By the power so developed, man can work wonder.

The Development of Power Through the Eyes


The finest means of reflecting power is the eyes in the body, for they are radiant and the radiance of psychic power can easily pass through them. Therefore, the power of the eyes can help more in healing than anything else. As weakness is seen in the body by its unsteadiness, and by the lack of control in one's movements (which we term nervousness), that is most seen in the eyes. The eyes are strained more than the other organs of the body, for every moment they are busy. That takes away the steadiness of the sight and the control of the glance from every man, and it is never considered a lack, it being a general disease. 


A child in his infancy shows in the steadiness of his eyes what nature has given to man, but as he grows older, he is curious and attracted by every object that invites his attention, and so activity in time takes away the steadiness of the glance. It is for this reason that many people complain about their eyes.


The mystic, therefore, takes great care of the eyes. In ancient times, the mystics, kings, and commanders used to wear a thin veil over their eyes to protect them against being much strained, thereby preserving the psychic power of the eyesight. What difference is there when one speaks on the telephone and when one speaks in presence? What is absent? The voice is not absent, it is the eyes. Words can never convey that which the eyes can. 


Humor, fear, strength, weakness, pleasure, displeasure, willingness, unwillingness, the eyes can express most. The steadier they are, the deeper the man is; and as much control of the glance he has, so much power he possesses. No doubt, the power is of the mind, not of the eyes, and yet the eyes are the only means through which the psychic power can work satisfactorily. There are three necessary things, therefore: to keep the eyes clean, to keep them from straining, and to control the glance by concentration.


Development of Power Through the Breath

The breath is the only power which works directly or indirectly. It works indirectly when it works through channels. It works directly when one is inhaling and exhaling. Its channels are not only the physical organs of the body, but all organs of the body radiate the power of the breath. One who knows how to direct its power can even turn water into tonic and food into medicine; he can send with a flower the healing power; he can charge any object with the electricity of his breath. The finer the substance the more power it absorbs. For instance, bread or wine can be more charged with psychic power than stone or wood, although powerful breath can affect anything, however fine or gross it be.


The presence of a spiritual person has a soothing and healing effect, and cures a patient. The secret is that the breath which is purified and developed becomes a stream of nectar. In the first place, breath is life, and when its current is attached to the inner life, the life eternal, it becomes more radiant life and it gives life to all mortals. It cures illness, because illness is caused by lack of life. It takes away depression, for it is light; when it is arisen, it takes away the clouds of depression. In the East, people seek the presence of a spiritual person, and often among them are such who never speak or teach or argue or discuss. 


There are some who do not even utter a word of blessing, and yet their contact gives life to the lifeless, takes away depression and sorrows, clears away confusion and heals all maladies, for it is life that they radiate, and those in contact with them are benefited. It is an evident phenomenon which needs no proof. The atmosphere that a spiritual person charges with his magnetism is the testimony of his power. People call it psychic power, and yet psychic power without spirituality is a lame power and a blind power. When the psychic becomes spiritual, or when the spiritual person develops in him psychic power, he becomes the fountain of life, continually flowing in this mortal world. 


Development of Power by Blowing

One sees healers among the Sufis who magnetize water, a flower or fruit, as a remedy for any disease. The secret of it lies in the power of the breath. When a person repeats a word over a thing, then the vibrations caused by that word magnetize the thing accordingly. Even by blowing on the affected part, a person can heal another from pain. But this power is developed by the development of the breath. In the East, the poison of the snakebite and of the scorpion and of the mad dog and of the bee is always cured by blowing. 


The Hindus call magnetized food or drink or a flower prasad, and the Sufis call it tabarruk. They repeat words over it. Really speaking, it is the breath which charges the food or drink with life. After all, every illness is caused by lack of life, and its cure lies in life. All curatives, besides nourishing food and fresh air, help to develop life in a person. But if one person gives from his life, life to another, it is more than food, drink, or even fresh air.


When the breath is developed, only then may one make use of it for every purpose. But so long as it is not developed, it is advisable not to make use of it, for one may, instead of curing another, partake pains, diseases and depressions from another. When a person's breath is not sufficiently developed, he, instead of curing, would do harm to himself as well as to the other. Therefore, development is necessary before its use.


Development of the Power of Presence

There are different ways through which the psychic uses his power, but the power of presence is most powerful and best of all. By a keen study of life, we shall notice, especially with people who are sensitive or ill, that one person, when he comes into the room, brings with him an atmosphere of ease; and there is another person who, when he comes, adds to the pain or restlessness of the patient; and also, one experiences that the presence of a person may be so that it may bring illness to the one who is well. This proves that there is a certain power in the presence of man that heals or that brings ease, sometimes without an effort. The mystics develop this power.


The whole secret of this power is life. A person with life in the body, in the mind, in the soul gives life to those with whom he comes in contact; a person without that, instead of giving life, takes it. The mystic, therefore, by the development of power means the development of life, that he absorbs life from within and without, since the space is full of life, if one only knew how to get from it. Mystical practices, especially those with the breath, are meant to help man to absorb life which is so ample around and about him. But when man does not know this, he is thirsty on the bank of a river. Water is there and he does not see it. More than drugs or herbs or any kind of tonic, the absorption of energy from the space is beneficial.


Then, use is made of this energy for the purpose of healing, and the person who has developed this power of presence does no other way of healing. His presence itself is energy. He can change the atmosphere of a room in which he may be sitting or of a hall in which he may be walking. He can spread the atmosphere round and about him which can give ease to anybody in contact with him. This is the secret of the great healing power of sages.