Such experiences happen, and it can happen more easily in isolation. It happens to many people when they are alone in the mountains. It happens to many people when they are in a certain strange space in which they have never been before; the very strangeness of the space makes them aware of certain things to which they have remained always asleep.
It happens to runners. If you run for a few miles, a moment comes when suddenly the runner disappears and only running remains. At that moment you become aware of many things you have never been aware of: subtle fragrances in the air – your senses are very alert, very alive – certain presences around you, even certain presences so tangible that you can touch or you can be touched by them.
It happens to people in many situations, but those situations have to be something extraordinary – because we have become so accustomed to the ordinary situation that things go on happening around us and we remain unaware. The samadhi tank gives you a very special space: darkness, isolation, no sound, and you are floating in water. You are back in the mother’s womb; the samadhi tank is just a scientific way to have the experience of the mother’s womb again.
The fetus in the mother’s womb floats in liquid. In the samadhi tank you float in the same kind of liquid, with the same chemicals. Hence, you cannot drown in it. And the darkness of the womb, and it is so out of the ordinary – no sound, no light – you are thrown into such a new space that your sensitivity, your awareness, your intuitiveness, all start functioning. You become as intuitive as the small child in the womb, you become as innocent as the small child in the womb, and in that innocence something can happen which is not part of ordinary time and space.
Space and time, both can disappear. Yes it is possible you can feel my presence – in fact I am surrounding each of my sannyasins. You may feel it, you may not feel it. In a certain moment of attunement you will feel it. Then it doesn’t matter whether you are in England or in Japan – it does not matter: space, distance, make no difference.
By giving you sannyas I am making you entitled to feel me wherever you are. Now all depends on you. My presence will be with you, surrounding you; in life, in death, I will be with you just by your side. But you may see, you may not see. You may remain unconscious.
Something beautiful has happened. Remain available to strange experiences in life, and don’t try to deny the strange experience, because that’s how many people go on denying tremendous opportunities.
For example, one day in the night you are suddenly awake, alone in your room, all is silent and dark. And you become aware of a certain presence…maybe a dead friend, maybe one of your ancestors, maybe your dead mother. But you become so frightened – in that fear you lose that perceptivity, that perception. The presence remains there, but you are disconnected. You put the light on, you become occupied in doing something, you start reading a book, or you turn the radio on, just to disconnect yourself from the strange experience that was happening.