That is the distinction between real methods and false methods. A real method is a growth method, it is not simply a vision. You grow in it; and the vision comes because you have grown to a new state of mind.

With a drugs technique, a false technique, you never grow. A vision simply comes to you, but you remain the same. Then when you are not using the drug or the technique the vision will disappear. It was produced, it was produced chemically; it was not your own growth.

So remember always to grow. Visions are of no use. Even if you “see God” it is meaningless. If you remain the same, then that God is nothing but a by-product of your own imagination. Visions are not meaningful. And drugs have become so prevalent in the West because Christianity has emphasized visions too much – because they can easily create visions. If you are after visions, then I will say: don’t go after meditation, that is a waste of time. Then drugs are better. They give you visions easily, but no growth – you remain the same. Or rather, you may even fall down from your ordinary state of mind; you may deteriorate.

With meditation, whatsoever is attained remains with you. Even if you stop the technique, you will not progress further but whatsoever is attained will remain with you. It cannot be lost; a real growth can never be lost. It is not something added to you that you can lose. It is you who has grown.

For example, if you have become a young man you cannot fall back to your childhood again. It is a growth. But if a child is simply dreaming that he has become a young man, he will fall back, he will fall back from his dream.

That is the criterion by which to judge.