Hari Aum.
Telepathy is a very interesting subject. It is viewed by many as utter nonsense, while others declare that it exists based upon their own experiences.
Many of us experience minor examples of what the yogis would call telepathy. For example, we are thinking about a close relative and then they call us at that very moment. Often we greet them by saying "I was just thinking of you!" or "I was just about to call you!". This usually elicits a pleasant response from the other and both parties marvel at the happy coincidence that has occurred.
On other occasions, we may say something to somebody close to us, and they say, "I was just thinking the very same thing!" (or vice versa, we find that they say exactly what we were thinking!). This again may cause some amusement at the 'coincidence' and the matter is closed.
The yogis would remark that these are examples of telepathy or being in sync with another person's mind, of being able to unconsciously detect their thoughts and share thoughts with them (without using words or other means of communication).
(Note- in medicine, people with a condition called 'psychosis' may believe that they can share and transmit thoughts to others, but their experiences can be proven to be false. They are based upon delusions and not upon reality. In contrast, the experience of thought-sharing/telepathy by the yogis, and those who do not suffer from psychosis, can be demonstrated to be true-- as in the examples mentioned above).
According to the Gurus of the yoga tradition, the mind is capable of both receiving and sharing thoughts (there is increasing medical research that shows that both humans and even some animals have the ability to communicate via thoughts). They say that this is a natural law of the mind that applies to all human beings (this mostly occurs without us even realising).
Sivananda says:
"You are continually attracting towards you, from both the seen and the unseen sides of life-forces, thoughts, influences and conditions most akin to those of your own thoughts and lives."
"In the realm of thought, people of similar thoughts are attracted to one another. This universal law is continually operating whether we are conscious of it or not. We are all living, so to speak, in a vast ocean of thought; and the very atmosphere around us is continually filled with the thought-forces that are being continually sent or that are continually going out in the form of thought-waves."
On telepathy he says:
"If you send out a loving, helpful thought to another man, it leaves your brain, goes directly to that man, raises a similar thought of love in his mind and returns back to you with redoubled force. If you send out a thought of hatred to another man, it hurts that man and hurts you also by returning back to you with redoubled force. Therefore, understand the laws of thought, raise only thoughts of mercy, love and kindness from your mind and be happy always."
So, control of the mind becomes a very important aspect in yoga-- this is necessary both to live a harmonious life on this planet as well as to attain spiritual liberation.
How can we control our thoughts? The yogis would say the entire range of spiritual practices from jnana yoga, to bhakti yoga to karma yoga and hatha yoga are ultimately all about acquiring some degree of control over one's own mind.
For spiritual growth, the higher mind filled with sattvic thoughts is cultivated (while the lower mind filled with rajas and tamas is gradually transformed).
Mantra recitation (japa) and singing the names of God (kirtan) are said to be particularly powerful and effective ways of transforming the mind, of cultivating the higher mind and divine thoughts.
However, the lower mind is not to be crushed or ignored. Like a parent cares for a child, the lower mind is to be gently coaxed and encouraged to perform spiritual practices.
Ramakrishna Paramhamsa famously used to say to the Divine Mother:
"Mother, here is Your virtue, and here is Your vice, grant me only pure love for You".
As yogis, we must be completely honest with ourselves if we are to grow spiritually. Six main types of thoughts are said to exist within the realm of the lower mind-- namely, lust, anger, greed, jealousy, pride and delusional attachment.
Even spiritual greats have to deal with these right upto the moment of Self Realisation. There is no need therefore for us to hide these or pretend that these do not exist within our being.
What shall we do with these thoughts when they occur? Shall we feel guilty, ashamed, unspiritual, embarrassed, fearful or despairing? Sivananda says "Never despair!" and "Roar Om, Om, Om like a lion of Vedanta!".
Like Ramakrishna, we too can 'offer' our entire being, 'good' and 'bad' to the Divine, which is ultimately the origin of it all. 'Good' and 'bad' both exist within the Supreme Being, so when the lower mind expresses itself within us and we are trying to gain control over it, we can say to God-- "I give to You that which is Yours. All that is good in me, and all that is bad in me, comes from You alone. To You, therefore, I give it all".
This approach, according to the Gurus (and many of us will have experienced the same even though we are not yet Self Realised), draws the grace of the Divine upon us. As a result, at some stage, we begin to feel the lower mind has calmed down and the higher mind is in control again.
On the subject of telepathy, I want to say something about the twin soul connection (as this is one specific sort of spiritual experience). Twin souls have strong connections between their minds, between their energy centres (known as 'chakras' in Sanskrit). This leads to them being able to 'know' what the other is thinking and feeling -- without any external contact.
The less the lower mind interferes, the more the higher mind operates, the better they are at communicating with each other and expressing their reality.
The higher and lower mind are always in battle in all spiritual aspirants. Twin souls in particular face some unique challenges in their lives and experience this battle very intensely.
It can be difficult for the lower mind to be willing to hear the voice of the higher mind in these situations. It is easier to silence the higher mind and dismiss it as nonsense as this is often more convenient. Therefore, the higher mind begins to express its truths in the state of sleep, when the lower mind/ego is less able to consciously interfere and shut it down.
Since realising that I was likely on a twin soul journey in the past three years or so, I have noticed that both I and other twin souls on a similar path have had these experiences.
The Divine seems to go out of its way to persuade twin souls to recognise the connection. Let me provide some examples.
As I have explained previously, I walk a traditional spiritual path, the right-hand path, the path of yoga as described by my Guru, Swami Sivananda. Yama and Niyama, asana and pranayama, japa and kirtan, karma yoga, svadhyaya (spiritual study) and satsanga (group spiritual practice/meditation/japa) has been the mainstay of my spiritual life for nearly two decades.
Mantra purascharana became the centre of my spiritual life in 2012 and this continues to be the case.
I had never heard of twin souls in my spiritual circles and am, by nature, wary of any lower-mind type connections that masquerade as 'spiritual connections'. It is my nature to be suspicious of my lower mind, of its antics and ways; when I have to choose between the teaching of my Guru and the promptings of my lower mind, I trust and follow my Guru alone (as far as I am able to).
Therefore it was a dream of my Guru that occurred in early 2021, that led me to begin to accept that there was a spiritual dimension to the connection that my mind was experiencing. Without the dream of my Guru, this acceptance would have been virtually impossible.
In 2022, various other dreams took place that amazed (and scared) me as they were 'so real', so detailed, vivid and lifelike. The inner battle resisting this experience continued though as I found it hard to accept this due to my life circumstances.
In April 2023, a dream occurred on the night before Sita Navami where my higher Self expressed itself in such clear terms that there was no further true denial of the twin soul connection possible by the lower mind (though it periodically protests from time to time, it now has to accept that this is a reality).
Twin souls are eventually led to experience an 'unconditional love' for their counterpart. The lower ego-mind does not like this at all, and does not approve of it in the slightest. It protests and argues endlessly with the higher mind; eventually however, it seems that due to Divine will, the higher mind prevails.
The sentiments of many twin souls is: "I love you more than anyone or anything in the world, including myself". (The 'you' here is the soul). This, in fact, was the precise sentence that was spoken by my higher mind during a dream in April 2023 (on a night which I later realised was before Sita Navami, an extremely auspicious day associated with an exceedingly pure manifestation of the Divine Mother. I felt, therefore that this was a clear sign from the Divine that this was a divine connection).
I woke up that morning in a state of complete bewilderment. I thought to myself -- "I do not speak that way to anyone in the waking state, not even to my nearest and dearest. How can I say something like this in dream? From where has this come?"
When I came to realise that this dream had occurred on the night before Sita Navami, that was the end of all discussion with the lower mind.
The higher mind, supported by the Divine, had quietly made itself heard, and there is no further real doubt within my being that this is a divine connection.
To what purpose this exists, I honestly have no idea. I feel time alone can tell. (I do see that this is part of my spiritual journey but, like the majority of twin souls, do not fully understand it. I do trust the Divine to reveal this gradually though.)
In addition to telepathic dreams, twin souls can also dream about fragments of experiences that the other twin is going through in the waking state. This is another peculiar aspect of their telepathy. The subject of telepathy, therefore, is something that has gradually become a significant part of my daily life (in certain specific ways as in the examples outlined above).
I see this as a natural process that will be experienced at some stage in a unique way by the majority, if not all, spiritual seekers (there is nothing odd or unusual about this; it is not a spiritual goal, but simply a 'side-effect' of sadhana that has been performed for some time). It further shows that the mantra/Divine guides one both in the waking and dream states to accept one's own truth and reality, and that we are protected at all times by the Divine.
Om Namo Narayanaya.
Om Sri Durgayai Namah.
Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya.
Hari Aum Tat Sat.