how do I know anyone has ever had true Darshan of a diety instead of thoughtforms or trickster spirits?

Question

Reading stories of how great mahatmas had darshans of gods and goddesses gives me hope that my sadhana is not in vain.but how do I know they aren't thoughtforms or trickster spirits?for example,just to use a example,my Ishta is kali-tripurasundari in the form of aanandamayi maa,and I believe for example,that ramakrishna and his wife had intimate encounters with this devi.but how do I know these weren't tulpas-thoughtforms?or even trickster spirits?how did they know this most importantly?

I come from a tibetan buddhist backround,and people have darshan of buddhas and Gurus(thru their baindava-shakti deha body from a hindu pov) all the time.I heard from atleast 3 lamas(Tibetan Guru) including the great mahasiddha kongtrul rinpoche that these Yidams are actually just thoughtforms.that was dissappointing for me at the time.

how do I know that when someone has a Darshan of a God/Goddess that these arent also thoughtforms created unintetionally thru devotion of millions of worshippers?or worse,spirits playing a role?in NDEs this is a huge problem actually,trickster spirits playing roles as whatever the recipient wants to have a vision of basically.

how did the recipient saint know this?how do we know that kali,tripura sundari,bhairava for example truly exists in the way we hindus think they do?

Thanks for any help

I hate having such doubts,but it comes with the territory.

no offence intended.I'm just trying to learn.all the Gurus I email questions to,ignore me for some reason so Im stuck asking people that probably wont know.

Edit:the saint/sage question asks how to identify a saint or sage,i am asking how to know a vision of a diety is really a diety or not...these are seperate questions.

Answer 1

I'll tell you the difference (afaik)

Spirits often communicate personally. So a spirit could take on the form of a guru who passed away two hundred years back and tell you to continue sadhana. Spirits don't have to be bad all the time. There are good spirits but ultimately they are spirits. That's why the way they appear is mostly how we conceive a particular deity. My Rama will be brown and yours black. But who knows how he looked really thousands of years back?

Now Tulpas appear like imagination. Suppose I ask you to imagine an apple. You'll see an apple in your mind. Where is this apple Exactly? Some mysterious space inside our head. Right? Tulpas appear from our subconscious and that doesn't mean they're not real. They are just as real as we are. Ultimately we are all inside a simulation called Maya.

Now comes the part you were waiting for.

A real vision of a particular God will be genuine and your soul will know it. Not your mind. The experience will be exhilarating. Also the deity will be nothing like you imagine. None of the stuff we usually see around. They are realer than real and once you see even a single deity, you'll be given a glimpse to cherish for the rest of your life. The surroundings will also be very weird, foreign and full of dazzling lights and mandalas, chakras. Deities won't come to you. You go to them. Your body might be here but the real YOU will be there. Unimaginable experience and you'll never be the same again.

Anyway, this is my personal view.

Thank you.