In fact I feel like writing in detail about this subject, but the difference in an article and a book will always exist. The heading given to the article is not a matter of attraction but worthy of research. The matter of the ‘being possessed’ is either by experience, by close observation or by hearsay; hence there is a lot of curiosity and mix of truth and falsehood, but the proportion varies. To beat the rope by assuming it to be a snake is certainly not correct. In the sea of thinking & philoso-phy it has been proved that it is only a rope. It is true that it may not be a snake possibly, but if we start saying what is seen is not a rope then we are committing some mistake, I think.
If you want to think deeply about these two matters pervasion and being possessed by Ghost, we will have to carefully consider a number of matters. In Tratak, Hypnotism, Mesmerism, the pervasion of the village deity, being possessed by ghost, the awakening of Santatva (principle of Saintliness) in some body, incar-nation, acquisition of power of yoga etc. in all these there is some particular kind of energy. It is impossible to consider all these matters here. The experience of evil in the material world whether it is, gross or minute, high or low, the original base of it is in the spiritual principles. By assuming the answer given there only as true, this subject can be solved.
In the line of thinking of ancient Vedas and such Shastras, while explaining the creation of the universe, the Nirakar(shapeless) and Nirgun(attribute less) form of Self i.e. Ishwar or the God has been presumed as the cause. By awakening of the Asmita(ego, identity) of Aham in the vibration form of Pranava (Om), the universe got created. It means that for the creation of any energy, entity, being in existence, the awakening of Ego /Aham /Asmita is essential. In the centre of the nucleus of atom also some scientists have got the trace of the eternal constant movement of vibrations. And there also the centrifugal force is present.
The Shastra says that, “an infinitesimally small part of the Self (a drop of water in the sea), appears in duality by way of ‘me’ and stays in the body made of the Panch Mahabhutas as the Jeev(soul), and presumes that ‘I am the body’ and in this way it is transformed in a material body”. In whole arrangement of living crea-tures i.e. from the microscopic germs to the huge bodied dinosaurs; this same Jeeva exists in any living beings. That jeeva, by way of association of the Pancha Mahabhutas, treats the body only as ‘Me’, and lives the routine life of a cycle of eating, sleeping, fear and copulation only. But by being separated from the original Atma Swaroop the deficiency of separation is created. The efforts being taken to lessen that deficiency and to seek the same original “Sukh”(happiness) of Oneness, the life happens, and this is the world of the living creatures.
How large is the universe, or the world, as created by God? To tell it in short, a research has been conducted by the help of the Hubble telescope, sent in the space, to study distant stars and galaxies. In the huge expanse of the cosmos, the scientists have chosen a region, of the size of tiny grain of rice, for observation. By
setting this telescope, to magnify only that selected tiny part of space, what did they find? In the light rays coming through that small place, they sighted about fifteen hundred galaxies roughly! The speed of light is 3 lakh kilometer per second, but compared to the vastness of universe, it is too slow like that of a snail! What we see of these galaxies now, as seen in the expanse created by God, is their condition of lakhs of years back. The propriety of telling this is for understanding the expanse of the existence of Ishwar i.e. the Self. During the day to day work, how much false pride we hold! But in this expanse how much and where is our location should be realized. In the cosmos of God, even our galaxy has found to be unworthy of mentioning, not to speak about us!
From this subject if nothing else, we can take the following points.
1. The existence of the Aham or Self of God is present in the living world. 2. In the creation of this world the memory of the past lives or births can’t be taken for granted. 3. To have intelligence and memory, there is the lack of the Self with the support of body. 4. Intellect, cleverness, and power principle can be presumed.
Let us now see the idea of the derivation of the power principle of the self. A particular type of power that is possible to be created through mesmerism, hypno-tism, Tratak, Yoga, Chintan and continuous worry, and its effects are there to more or less extent. (It is said that in the Second World War the use of power of hypno-tism was made.) The over all summary of the principles behind this as stated by Shastras is as follows. “If you do in a particular condition continuous Chintan(thinking), Manan(pondering over in mind), concentration of a subject, this type of power is created”. In the temples, with relation to faith, Chintan is done in relation to one subject only i.e. the Devta(Deity). Due to this continuous Chintan a power is given constantly to the Deity. That means the man-presumed deity be-comes powerful in this way. Later this power acquires the ‘Self’ and shows its effects.
The ancient high goddess does never pervade the body of any person. But this village Devata, by the above principle becomes a part of the social arrange-ment. Thus by a continuous Chintan done by that society the power is created in that deity. This particular power remains as the Kuldevata(main deity of the family, family goddess) of that Kul (family) in that society. Protection of the concerned family can happen only by this Devata from the evil effects of similar type of other powers. In the religious branches the mention of these Kuldevatas is made for this reason. This goddess can manifest by way of the effect of ‘Self’. The Chintan by the people is relatively more; hence there is some grossness in this kind of power. It is displayed through the body of some other person. This is what is meant by
‘pervasion’.
The next part is about the Bhoot Yoni(ghost) which we will discuss now.
‘Bhoot’ is a Sanskrit word and its meaning in this context is ‘that which existed in the past’. Nowadays the horror stories are shown abundantly in movies, on the T.V. serials etc. Instead if looking ‘how much of fact is there’, it should be viewed from the angle of the ‘rope and snake’ principle. At least rope part is definitely there. If basically the ghost trouble had not been there at all, from where the capital
for these horror stories would have come? In this the basic capital is steady but style of the imaginary story is of different and big, so possibly it becomes the part of disbelief. Though these stories are disagreed with, still we continue to listen and watch. If seen minutely, disbelief is not about the ghost but about story. The stories of and the word ‘ghost’ have been there all over the world from ancient times. Had there not been a truth in the concept of ghost, it would have vanished long back in the vast period of time, like the news ‘Ganapati drinks milk’, isn’t it? The meaning-ful use of the word ghost is found not only in India, but it is found in all the countries of the world. It is known as ghost or evil or devil. The ghosts and devil are quite famous in the world out side of India.
The human life passes through innumerable expectations, hurdles, and pains.
Here also the Chintan of a particular subject takes place. Hence according to above principle, a power is bound to be created here also. In this state of mind if the person dies before fulfilling his very strong desires and expectations, by the sup-port of this power he enters the Bhoot yoni, says the Shastra. In the principle of
‘birth with consciousness’ probably this is what is meant. The Bhoot(ghost) having such power, is able to adopt any borrowed form with the help of this power. Just as constant Chaintan is required for acquiring God, same is true for the ghost.
There is a main difference between the presence of Godly power and the ghost that difference is of memory. He was acquainted to his last ended life but he is entangled in the Bhoot(ghost) yoni, so his memory of last life is not yet wiped off and the present life also has not come to an end. In the Bhoot yoni, the memory of the past life remains due to the power created by continuous Chintan. But in the case of Devata, it is not so. All this happens with the support of power in the ego part of the Jeeva. In the worlds of dreams, the Bhoot yoni, and the highest Yoga Siddhi etc. the broad and minute shadowforms like the common life are possible to be experienced.
Let us now think about the pervasion and being possessed by ghost.
When Jeeva in body is living in this world, the Asmita(ego, identity) is his only capital. In the exchange of bodies from birth to birth, that only accompanies him. For getting the pleasure when in body, he possesses a tendency to do Karma.
By this way he takes the whole burden of the Bhogas by becoming the performer of all Karmas. From this point of view in the world created by Ishwar with the aim of maintaining continuity in the world, the Jeeva tends to live the worldly life of food, sleep, fear and sex. Here due to some reason or the other, if the capability of the Asmita(ego) falls short, then some good of bad effects of it with reference to Srushti(world) are possible.
The example of good effects can be taken of a Sadhak progressing on a spiritual path. Because such a Sadhak has developed a liking for life with the state of high level thoughts , so he has no interest in the material life of this world. But due to the continuous Chintan of God and Satguru, a power is created in him.
There being a high level idealism; the Asmita(ego, identity) of the Sadhak with the support of the acquired power; tries to merge in to the identity of the Sadguru. This only is said to be Samarpan (a complete surrender). Actually the Sadhak himself
does not merge in the form of Satguru, but the power of Satguru being more effective, he himself accepts the ‘self’ of the Sadhaka. Therefore, the solace that exists at the Satguru is experienced in the ego of the Sadhaka. In the preliminary condition there is no continuity hence the Sadhaka goes on receiving such pleasure repeatedly from the Satguru. In short the more powerful Asmita(ego) only can control the less powerful Asmita. Secondly, instead of doing anything else under the influence of religiousness; to do the continuous Chintan of divine and principled Satguru, or God; and to be engrossed in that form of Satguru’s solace, principally becomes the true way of Mukti (emancipation, liberation).
In the case of a common person, the condition is quite opposite to above.
While living the life of sustenance of destiny, basically there is a binding. Further if in the case of somebody, due to sustaining destiny a weakness has arisen in the Asmita(ego), then the proportion of emotional and mental weakness is found to be more in this individual. In the case of such persons only the effect of the pervasion of deity or possession by ghost happens. Seen overall, the inference from Shastras is that in both the conditions the process is same, but I have taken both these subjects independently.
In pervasion the God or the Godess has no past life; therefore there is no question of the past memory. Many times due to the faith of the devotees and through poetry it is falsely publicized that these deities have past life or a life history, but there is no uniformity in it. How these deities gain the power that we have seen above. The pervasion occurs, in a certain person with weak Asmita due to the encroachment of that deity or just to respond to their faith. These deities have no memory of the past life; therefore it can happen that deity accepts their worshiper’s intellect and emotional memories. This is the fault here. Hence due to this defect, the answers to their questions are received only through the intellect and memory of the devotee. Therefore if wise persons feel it to be a humbug then I think there is nothing wrong in it. But when we find the person-specific wisdom and talent of deity in the state of pervasion; we are forced to think about it. From this process the works of people are completed to some extent, the attraction of the believers keeps on increasing. It is essential that the difference between these two lines of thinking is brought to our attention.
There is some difference regarding the Ghost Yoni. While going to the Ghost Yoni, the jeeva enters through the medium of unfulfilled expectations and wishes of bodily life. Due to this reason only, in his Asmita the qualities such as unrest, cruelty, vindictive attitude; irrelevance due to the deviated aims etc. are observed.
By observing the mental weakness and weak Asmita (ego/ identity) of a certain person, this devilish tendency or power accepts the ego of that person. Because there is no relevance between the talk or the behavior and the incidents in the current life of one who is possessed, so the relatives are surprised. In fact in the possessed condition, the utterances have a great relevance to the incidents of the personal life of that Ghost and thus take place the ‘possession by Ghost’. (In the four attributes of Antahkaran (heart) viz. mind, intellect, Chitta, and ego; the mind and Asmita are in a unifying relationship, therefore the weakness of Asmita turns into mental
weakness). Further ahead of this, in this condition if there are some incidents or thoughts known as a proof, then it becomes a matter of greater surprise. In today’s horror stories on the channels, this is found included.
In this manner we have discussed the spiritual Sadhak, pervasion and pos-session by a Ghost. Now according to my little ability, I will state about the rem-edies and precaution about these.
1. The ghost of Satguru possessing the Sadhak is a very illuminating art of life. And nobody should try to remove it and it is not possible also. Satguru is not a personality, it is an unaffected principle. Therefore if you are surprised by him being called as a Ghost, remember what is said by Ramdas Swani, “Whichever Bhoot you meet; consider him as Bhagwant (God)”.
2. Possession by Ghost— To have an un-scattered, undevided ability for Chintan with relation to a suitable subject, is an effective remedy to prevent being possessed by a Ghost. But due to non happening of this, weakness comes and the Bhoot Badha (the possession by ghost) happens. It is not at all that this possession happens for all the weak persons. To make that person’s mental condition strong and capable is the sure shot and best remedy. The medicines making the mind firm, or making the ego strong, are not found at least till today. Even then instead of worshiping any deity or going to Devrushi, it is better to consult a psychiatrist or an expert doctor. Next to that religious rituals, Sadhana can be useful. Some wise persons do use some Devarushi remedies as secondary remedy. There must not be of any harm in this also because they think that, “after priority is given to the appropriate system, what harm is there to use the other remedies also?”
3. Pervasion: — The system of remedies on this is of different nature. Perva-sion is such a thing, that in which basically the part of acceptance by person who has pervasion is much higher. Therefore, there is no need of thinking that such a state should not appear.
The common individuals should decide themselves, whether to enter such a province where such things happen, but the opinions of the knowledgeable persons are as below:—
The effect of the Karmas, done by a Jeev, should be sustained by that Jeev only by taking another birth life is said to be the Natural justice. The innate justice of Ishwar is steady in the Natural system only. He has not kept with himself also the authority of removing the Bhogas of any Jeeva, so there is no question to speak of any body else. Even Ram has not violated this authority. According to this base of Shastra, devata or any body else, who needs the strength to enduring these Bhogas, gets it from the Goddess, but the faithfuls need to understand limitations of this from, other wise, he will, by ignorance, wait for the Goddess to come and end his Bhogas. If he so waits then he will be disappointed. The second part is that, if he wants the strength to sustain the Bhogas, then for acquiring it to do the services of the higher God like Ram, Krishna, Hanuman and Datta etc., instead of the village goddess will be beneficial. This will be in your favor, isn’t it? To conclude, it is just that the family conventions and traditions, as well as the family Devata should be maintained as told by the Shastra.
As per survey made by the knowledgeable persons, and also as censured by Sant Tukaram in his Abhangas about ‘begetting children by the help of Angara (holy ash) and Dhupara, to be cautions and alert is important. The people go to these Devatas, on the suggestions of friends or by listening the praise done by their agents. It must be kept in mind that we don’t know the following
things:-1) How much is the power of the deity pervading the particular person’s body can’t be known to the common people. The strength of the deity depends on
things:-1) How much is the power of the deity pervading the particular person’s body can’t be known to the common people. The strength of the deity depends on