Anomalous spiritual experiences can be both true and false, requiring differentiation. True spiritual experiences involve experiencing eternal happiness or bliss and are verified through criteria like being repeatable and causing positive life changes. False experiences may be pathological and require treatment. Spiritual experiences have been studied scientifically through fields like neurotheology, which examines brain regions involved, and transpersonal psychology, which studies transcendent experiences. Vedanta philosophy defines spiritual experience as experiencing the eternal reality or bliss of Brahman and provides methods like yoga and association with holy men to enhance experiences of the supernatural. Both science and Vedanta point to a combination of approaches involving psychiatry, psychology and philosophy to understand the nature and occurrence of anomalous spiritual experiences.

1. Anomalous Spiritual Experiences
HOW TRUE ?
(Views of Science and Vedanta)
DR.SWANAND S. PATHAK
MBBS MD DACM IDCTR
Associate Professor
Department of Pharmacology
JNMC
drswanandp@yahoo.co.in

2. What is Anomalous experience ?
What are the various spiritual Anomalous experiences ?
Scientific views and explanation.
Anomalous Spiritual experience in the light of Vedanta
philosophy.
Answer to the question HOW TRUE ?

3. Anomalous :Common meanings
Anomalos – Latin – uneven – deviating from usual order
Unusual
Super natural
Paranormal

4. Examples
1.Ghosts and other spiritual entities
2.Extraterrestrial life and UFOs
3. Cryptids : creature or plant whose existence has been suggested
but is unrecognized by scientific consensus and often regarded as
highly unlikely. Yeti in the Himalayas.
4.Spiritual experiences

5. Scientific Definition
(Anomalous spiritual experiences)
Structured way in which a believer enters into a relationship
with, or gains an awareness of, the sacred within the context of a
particular religious tradition.

6. Types of Spiritual Experiences
Transient - the experience is temporary; the individual soon
returns to a "normal" frame of mind.
Ineffable - the experience cannot be adequately put into
words.

7. Noetic -- the individual feels that he or she has learned
something valuable from the experience.
Passive -- the experience happens to the individual, largely
without conscious control.
Mixed– combination

8. Mediated ( ritualistic)
Immediate ( non ritualistic )
Mediated -- In the mediated experience, the believer
experiences the sacred through mediators such as rituals, special
persons, religious groups, totemic ( tribes , American Indians)
objects or the natural world .

9. Immediate -- The immediate experience comes to the believer
without any intervening agency or mediator. The deity or divine
is experienced directly

10. Spiritual Experiences : Nature
1. Ecstasy
2. Enthusiasm
3. Mystical
4. Spiritual awakening

11. Ecstasy
In ecstasy the believer is understood to have a soul or spirit
which can leave the body. In ecstasy the focus is on the soul
leaving the body and to experience transcendental
(divine ) realities.

12. Enthusiasm or Possession
God is understood to be outside, other than or beyond the
believer. A sacred power, being or will enters the body or mind
of an individual and possesses it. A person capable of being
possessed is sometimes called a medium. The deity, spirit or
power uses such a person to communicate to the immanent
world.

14. Spiritual Awakening
A spiritual awakening is a Religious experience involving a
realization or opening to a sacred dimension of reality. Often a
spiritual awakening has lasting effects upon one's life.

15. ? Causes Spiritual Experience
Meditation
Praying
Music
Dance such as: Sufi whirling
Extended exercise, often running in a large communal circle,
which is used in various tribals.
Extreme pain

16. Profound sexual activity
Use of Entheogen (psychoactives)such as:
Opium
Cannabis
Mushrooms
Ethanol
Psychological or neurophysiological anomalies, such as:
Profound depression or schizophrenia
Temporal lobe epilepsy
Stroke
Near-death experience

17. Scientific Studies on Spiritual experiences
Transpersonal psychology
Psychology of religion
Neurotheology

18. Transpersonal psychology
School of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-
transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience. It is-
"the study of humanity’s highest potential, and with
the recognition, understanding, and realization of
unitive, spiritual, and transcendent states of
consciousness"

19. It distinguishes between institutional religion and personal
religion.
Institutional religion: refers to the religious group or
organization, and plays an important part in a society's culture.
Personal religion: in which the individual has mystical
experience, can be experienced regardless of the culture.

20. Psychology of religion
Psychology of religion is the psychological study of religious
experiences, beliefs, and activities.

21. Neurotheology
Neurotheology, also known as biotheology or spiritual neuroscience,
is the study of correlations of neural phenomena with subjective
experiences of spirituality and hypotheses to explain these
phenomena.
Proponents of neurotheology claim that there is a
neurological and evolutionary basis for subjective
experiences traditionally categorized as spiritual or
religious.

22. According to the neurotheologist Andrew B. Newberg,
neurological processes which are driven by the repetitive,
rhythmic stimulation which is typical of human ritual, and which
contribute to the delivery of transcendental feelings of
connection to a universal unity.
For this to occur they say there must be a blending of the
rhythmic stimulation with ideas.

23. Studies of the brain and religious experience
Early studies in the 1950s and 1960s attempted to use EEGs to
study brain wave patterns correlated with "spiritual" states.
During the 1980s Dr. Michael Persinger stimulated the temporal
lobes of human subjects with a weak magnetic field. His subjects
claimed to have a sensation of "an ethereal presence in the
room.".
Some current studies use neuroimaging to localize brain regions
active, or differentially active, during religious experiences.

24. What Science does?
Defines and classifies spiritual experience in a systematic manner
 Utilizes the existing knowledge in medicine and psychology to
explain the occurrence of spiritual experience
Tell us regarding the management

25. Conclusion
(nature/ existence)
Inconclusive !

26. Vedanta Philosophy and Spiritual
Experience
Why Vedanta philosophy ?
It is the last part of vedas which speak about knowledge
Not by a particular personality but group of scholars
One of the most scientific and bold religious views

27. DEFINITION AS PER VEDANTA
Anomalous …Supernatural …intense natural
Spiritual experience ----- experience of spirit
( Atman/ Brahman)
Theory is based on one common observation and one hypothesis

28. Observation
Ananda or bliss has no alternative

29. Hypothesis
Any substance break down further infinitely
BRAHMAN
ULTIMATE REALITY
BASIC NATURE

30. QUALITIES OF BRAHMAN ( reality)
SAT ----- TRUE
CHIT ----- PERMANAT
ANANDA ------ BLISS
This reality not perceived always as we are bound by our senses
--- the spell of Maya

31. Science
“We are human beings having spiritual experience”
Vedanta
“We are basically spiritual beings having human experience under
the spell of Maya”

33. Supernatural – perfectly natural phenomenon – a bit we all
experience in the form of ---
Happiness
Desire ------- complete------ for fraction of sec till another desire
arises in mind ----- BRAHMAN which is inside ---- Happiness

34. Professor
Associate
professor

35. True spiritual experience ---------- experience of eternal
happiness ----- samadhi --- Mystique , spiritual awakening
True spiritual --- same in all faiths ---- as bliss.
Various forms ------ psychological phenomenon ---- as they differ
according the faith and practices.

36. Journey towards supernatural can be enhanced by
Purity of mind --- control of desires
Association with holy men
Raj yoga
Karma yoga
Gyan yoga
Bhakti yoga

37. Verification of true spiritual experience
Should not be under the influence of intoxicants
Repeated again and again
Compare it with the experiences of the holy men
Compare with the true scriptures … Upanishads and
Brahmasutras

38. Make a drastic positive permanent change in person
The process of verification is long, tedious and based on rejecting
the null hypothesis.( Neti neti vichar)
Can be experienced by other person if he follows the same path.

39. What Vedanta does?
Defines what is spiritual experience and provides explanation for
its accourance.
Tells us how to differentiate between the true spiritual
experience and pathological state of mind --- but does not tell us
how to deal with this pathological state
Meeting point of orthodox religion and science towards the path
of truth

40. Student : Sir, does adrenaline increase the heart rate ?
Teacher : yes! I have seen it clearly and if you perform the
experiment exactly as I tell you I can assure that you will also
see the same.

41. Narendranath Dutta : Sir, have you seen God ?
Shri Ramkrishna : Yes , and more clearly than I see you now, if
you do exactly as I say I can assure you that you will also be able
to see God.

42. Anomalous spiritual experiences
HOW TRUE ?
 Spiritual experiences are both true and false ( anomaly )
 The entity of true anomalous spiritual experience exists and it should
be respected
 It should be differentiated from the other experiences with verification
criteria.
 The false spiritual experiences needs counseling and treatment.
 We must combine Psychiatry , Psychology and Vedanta

43. Acknowledgements
Respected Dr. P. Behere , Dr. Praveen Khairkar
Swami Brahmeshanandaji Maharaj – President RKM
Chandigarh
Google
Wikipedia

44. Thank you ….

45. CME ON SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY : JNMC
:SAWANGI