Sri Ramakrishna had the power to awaken spiritual power in man. By a touch He could bestow the state of samadhi on devotees. The scales would drop from their eyes and they would look into Eternity; they would be hold Truth face to face. Sometimes it has been said that this is simply hypnotism. No. Hypnotism means replacing one set of ideas by another present in the mind of the person who hypnotizes. But that is not what happens here. In this case, while quite conscious of what takes place in him, the devotee sees the darkness of ignorance, which ruled in his mind, dispelled by the light of Wisdom. As the mist clears when the sun rises, so layer after layer of darkness disappears and Truth begins to shine from within. The cataract is lifted. True and full vision, man’s in born sight, is established. Then, and not until then, does man come to his own. He sees clearly and is free from delusion. He is himself. He is de-hypnotized. He is freed from the hypnotic influence the world had thrown over him. That can be brought about only by the divine Teacher.
But how do we know that the guru does not simply hypnotize the disciple? It was proved in Sri Ramakrishna’s case. Once it happened that Sri Ramakrishna was coming out of the state of samadhi and in his ecstatic joy touched some of the devotees around him. Immediately, they all had divine visions. In their joy they called others, and Sri Ramakrishna touched everyone who came to him. There was a large number of them, for people came from different directions to witness the miracle and to be themselves blessed with the divine touch. They all became illumined at that moment, but the vision was different with each one of them. Each had a different experience and realization. Some saw their ishta devata: they saw Bhagavan in the form in which they worshipped Him. One saw Krishna, another Buddha, and another Divine Mother. Others saw the universe as a dream: the gross manifestation vanished and only the universe of ideas remained. Each one realized his own ideal. Had it been a case of hypnotizing people in a room (as some yogis do) all would have had the same experience, the same vision. But that was not the case. Neither did Sri Ramakrishna imprint the vision on their minds, for then they would have seen what was foreign to them. But these persons, every one of them, realized that for which they had been striving. It was the fulfillment of their prayers in a most unexpected manner. It was the fulfillment of their inner most and highest aspirations. What they saw before this through a dark glass, they saw now in a clear vision, as if the glass had been re moved. What they had been struggling for, what they had been groping after, stood revealed before them.