I believe that readers are well aware of the fact that all occult systems that help their adepts to master magical powers (in other words, to develop paranormal abilities, or, in other words, siddhis), just like Orthodox Christians, use both fasting and prayer to achieve their goals. The commonality of these methods (outwardly the same) is due to the fact that both occultists and Christians use them to prepare their bodies and souls for contact with the spiritual world. The difference lies in the fact that they reach the level of communication with different, one might even say, diametrically opposed, spheres of this subtle world. There are two of them: the higher, called Heaven (not to be confused with what we understand in ordinary life by this word), also called the Kingdom of Heaven, and the lower, infernal, called in Slavonic utter darkness (or in Russian, outer darkness, Matt. 25:30) or hell (from the Greek ????, which in Hebrew sounds like Scheol, literally, a place devoid of light).

From the experience of the holy ascetics of both the Old Testament and the New Testament Church, as well as from the experience of yogis, Buddhists, lamaists and others, it is known that lenten food or even fasting prepares the human body to receive certain spiritual powers, and prayer unites both body and soul with the source of this power. It is clear that in the cases I have indicated (firstly, Orthodox asceticism, and secondly, pagan spiritual systems) the sources of spiritual forces are very different. In the first case, prayer connects a person who has come to know the True God with the Creator of the entire universe. It is from Him that the praying person receives the grace-filled power of the Holy Spirit. In the second case, prayer and fasting open a person to the influence of those forces that dwell in the lower sphere of the spiritual world, that is, facilitate contact with the devil's world and demonic energies. Thus, as we see, the only question is in whom and how the person praying and fasting believes, as well as for the sake of which he undertakes these spiritual feats.

An Orthodox Christian, turning in prayer to the One True God, the Creator, One in three Hypostases, or to the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, prepares himself by fasting and prayer to receive the uncreated energies of the Holy Spirit, since the acquisition, that is, the accumulation (accumulation) of Divine grace is, according to the words of the Venerable Fathers Macarius of Egypt and Seraphim of Sarov, the main work of every Christian's life.

However, he needs the uncreated energy of the Holy Spirit (grace) not at all in order to assert himself in his own eyes or in public opinion, and not for various manipulations with the will and consciousness of other people, in order to feel himself a "superman" and almost a "god". No, he needs grace as food that really nourishes and strengthens the soul in the struggle against sin. Only the grace of God can, as it were, charge the paralyzed, exhausted will of man, which is unable to follow the Commandments of God on its own because of its weakness and susceptibility to evil.

These negative qualities manifested themselves in all people as a consequence of ancestral sin. Only the grace of the Holy Spirit returns to the human soul divine peace, gentleness, patience, fearlessness, modesty, sacrificial love for one's neighbor, courage and willpower. Only the grace of God can really change and transform the soul of man, as if refining and purifying it from sinful passions by Divine fire, in order to make it worthy of eternal life in the coming Kingdom of Glory. Only the grace-filled Divine energies enlighten our mind with the true Divine and uncreated light, opening it to the cognition of the Creator and Divine Providence about the world and people. And, finally, the grace of God, which can be felt not only by people who are near the person who possesses it, but also to an even greater extent by demons, is for its bearer the most effective protection (as it were, a screen) from their influence.

Most people perceive the grace present in a true Christian as a "radiation" of love, warmth and tranquility, which brings calm to their troubled souls. On the contrary, demons perceive this Divine energy as a scorching flame, which does not allow them to even approach the ascetic, and even more so to control his will, mind and spiritual feelings (emotions) with the help of mental transmission. In the same way, people who are possessed by evil spirits (and there are more and more of them in our time) perceive a grace-filled person with unconscious and, as it were, groundless hostility and even malice, which becomes quite understandable if we take into account the natural reaction to the Divine grace of those spiritual beings who dwell in possessed people.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "POWER" AND GRACE

But non-Christian ascetics have completely different goals and tasks than the Orthodox: they need power over the elements of this world and over people, as well as spiritual "enlightenment" for the sake of satisfying their pride, for self-assertion.

Послушаем теперь, что говорят о молитве сами оккультисты. Краткая молитва «Аум» «приводит организм произносящего в гармоническое звучание с вибрациями Высшего Мира (то есть мира духовного, но только с его низшими, демоническими сферами. — Авт.), что может способствовать притоку в него высокой (читай наоборот. — Авт.) психической энергии»36. Таким образом, главная цель получения «космических» энергий для оккультиста — приобретение магической силы (сиддхи в раджа-йоге), поднимающей его в ранг сверхчеловеков и даже богов, что, в конечном счете, является не чем иным, как тем же самым искушением, которым Сатана искушал первых людей — Адама и Еву: «Будете, как боги…» (Быт. 3, 5). Об этой молитве в священном индусском гимне говорится так: «Аум есть стрела, а Брахма есть цель для стрелы. В эту Цель старайся попасть ты»37.

Попытаемся теперь выяснить: что же это за бог — Брахма? В глубокой религиоведческой работе князя Н.С. Трубецкого, показывающей эволюцию религиозных взглядов индуизма, читаем: «В эпоху старого брахманизма идея Брахмы не отличалась большой отчетливостью. Во всяком случае, в эту эпоху Брахма есть, главным образом, отвлеченное понятие (“абсолютное бытие”, “субстанция”), а не антропоморфная или вообще разумная личность... При нравственном развенчании богов (самим же индуизмом в дальнейшем его развитии. — Авт.), поставленных на одну доску с людьми, Брахма явился суррогатом абсолютного Бога, но именно суррогатом, ибо никакой нравственной сущности идея Брахмы в себе не заключала и брахма есть “жизненное начало”, а не живая личность»38.

Итак, мы видим, что молитва оккультиста обращена к ложному богу. Ложная вера в ложного бога в сочетании с дьявольской гордыней, толкающей человека к приобретению сверхъестественных (магических) способностей, с помощью поста и молитвы действительно дает возможность индуистским аскетам, факирам, оккультистам — эзотерикам и магам высших категорий — эти способности приобрести.

Приведу еще один пример духовной подмены. Большинство современных людей, интересующихся духовными вопросами, слышали, конечно, о мантра-йоге. Но немногие обратили внимание на то, что мантра-йога использует тот же механизм, что и «умное монашеское делание», то есть Иисусова молитва; только вместо призывания имени истинного Творца и Бога, Иисуса Христа, в мантрах непрестанно призывается имя одного из падших ангелов, которое гуру (учитель) дает своему ученику. Ну, а «великая» мантра (или маха-мантра) — «Харе Кришна...» — служит обращением непосредственно к самому главе падших ангелов — Сатане, одно из имен которого — Кришна, что в переводе с санскрита означает «черный». Кстати, йоги произносят мантры, используя четки, похожие на четки православных монахов.