I had recently undergone intensive Āyurvēdic treatment. During the treatment I had not been able to speak to other seekers from the Spiritual Science Research Foundation (SSRF) and missed being in their company of the Truth (satsang). When I was feeling slightly better, I switched on the computer and began to read a few articles on the SSRF website. Reading the articles on the website gave me the opportunity to keep my mind on Spirituality and was a kind of satsang. While reading the article on the reason for difficulties in life I had an immense feeling of gratitude surface within me for the Teaching Principle of God i.e. the Guru. I thought that due to the Guru, we had access to this spiritual knowledge, which equipped us to understand and deal with difficult situations in life.
As I was feeling this immense gratitude, I began to get the fragrance of sandalwood and also could subtly taste it. There was neither any incense burning at the time nor any other cause for the fragrance. Almost immediately tears of spiritual emotion welled up in my eyes and I experienced a superlative form of happiness in me that lasted for almost half an hour.
– Ms. Maya Jairam, Colorado, USA
The Spiritual science behind this experience
We get spiritual experiences in our lives due to the grace of God. It is God’s way of assuring us that we are on the right path. It encourages us to persevere in our spiritual practice. Spiritual experiences come in many forms and can be instigated by our devotion to God or when we need his assurance.
In the case of Maya when she felt an immense feeling of gratitude for God she consciously acknowledged His presence in her life. At that very moment Maya experienced a subtle fragrance and taste of sandalwood. Maya experienced this subtle fragrance and taste through her subtle sense organs of smell and taste. Generally a subtle experience of taste is quite rare. It happens when we perceive the Absolute Water element through our sixth sense (through the medium of the subtle sense organ of taste).
All this increased her feeling of gratitude which in turn awakened spiritual emotion within her. One of the ways spiritual emotion manifests is in the form of cold tears accompanied with a feeling of devotion and peace.
For detailed information of how we experience subtle smell or taste please refer to the article on sixth sense perception through the five subtle sense organs.
