Ask a Traditional Catholic

[Jenny A]

And what would the criteria be, for you to decide whether it was real or not?

It's called discernment. I would consider:

1. What I know of God from scripture
2. What I know of God from tradition
3. What I know of God from personal experience
4. What I know of God from the experiences of others (canonized saints, biographies and autobiographies of other Christians, and personal friends)
5. What I may hear from the Holy Spirit regarding the experience that is related to me.

Finally, I may decide to withhold any judgment until I see some evident fruit.

The interesting thing is that most religions do something just like this to determine if experiences from god are real or of the devil etc.  The thing is that they use different scripture, traditions, personal experiences, and their own visions.  And they would dismiss your experiences just as you would dismiss theirs.  

Some of these people's scripture overlaps with yours such as the Jews, Muslims, JWs, and Mormons.  Some of them don't share any scripture with you at all, though they have tons of scripture, like the Hindus.  Others have an entirely oral tradition such as the Navajos, Zuni, and Hopi.  Not surprisingly Navajos tend to have experiences of gods that match the Navajo faith, Mormons have experiences that match the Mormon faith, and Hindus have experiences that match the Hindu faith.  

Interestingly, it is on this very basis that the Jews rejected both Jesus and Paul.  The messages of Jesus and Paul did not match Jewish traditions and experiences, or scripture. And it's on this basis that Paul first rejected Jesus.  

The fact that whole traditions of people can follow your system and come to completely different results is because it is a faith confirming rather than truth seeking system.  What you are discerning is whether it feels like good Catholic doctrine or not.  And all the Hindi is doing is determining whether it is good Hindi doctrine.  Rationally, there's nothing to choose between you and no reason not to think both of you are deluded.