Information about ghost
In the Vastu, traditional Indian
art/science of architecture analogous to Feng
Shui, there is much said about ghosts in
houses, their signs and how to build
a ghost-proof house.
----
An account of Anavadyangi Devi Dasi:
I have had some personal experience with
ghosts and know the power of the Holy
Name is dispersing them. I once had a very distressing encounter with
lots of
them.
One night I was pulling an all-nighter in the then New BBT warehouse
trying to get out a backlog of orders
for the mailorder department. About one
am I was getting quite beat and decided
to sack out for a few winks on the
sofa in the reception area. It seemed like about an hour, I woke up and
felt
myself totally surrounded by disembodied
spirits. It seemed like thousands of
them.
I felt such dread. I knew I
should just keep my eyes shut. It was
almost like someone was giving me the
imperative to not open them no matter
what and just go back to sleep. Needlessly to say, I didn't give it a second
thought and did just that. The next morning, I related the event to the
receptionist who was a new Bhaktin from
the local area. She then told me that
a crematorium used to exist on the site
where the new warehouse was built.
Just last year, some friends of ours
were telling me some of the goings on in
the place they were renting, items
disappearing or moving, unexplainable
noises in the middle of the night,
typical Poltergeist stuff. She also said
there looked like blood spots in one
corner of the bedroom on the wall which
she could not remove. She had
heard from neighbors that former tenants had
used the place as a brothel and one
woman had been killed. She was also a
very "sensitive" person (and a
native indian) and began to feel like someone
was trying to communicate with her. One
night we put together a little ritual.
I wore my sari, brought my Gita and
conch shell and incense. She brought out
her tribal, ceremonial drum and a
"dream weaver" and special salt.
We put a
wool blanket down and I made a small
altar in the center. We sat around the
altar while she made a circle of salt
encompassing all of us. Then she sat
down and we began chanting. I read some verses out of the 2nd chapter of
the
Gita, then lit the incense and did a
small offering followed by the blowing of
the conch. I blew two good strong times and was not able
to blow the third.
My friend then announced "she"
(the ghost) was gone. And even her
husband and
I could feel it. The air felt cleaning
and even smelled better. They never
experienced any more problems after
that.
--
I offered this comment, a quote from the
scripture called Skanda Purana:
NA DAHO NA KLAMO NARTIR NARAKA AGNI
BHAYAM NA HI
YASYA SANKHA UDAKAM MURDHNI KRSNA DRSTYA
AVALOKITAM
NA GRAHA NA CA KUSMANDAH PISACA
URAGA-RAKSASAH
DRSTVA SANKHODAKAM MURDHNI VIDRAVANI
DISO DASA
(HARI BHAKTI VILASA 9/5,6 from SKANDA
PURANA about the glories of the
conchshell)
The water within the conchshell, if it
is seen by the Supreme Lord Krsna, if
it is touched to one's head, he becomes
free the fear of punishment, distress,
degradation and fire, bad planets, black
magic, snakes, devils. They run away
in ten directions when they find that he
has a drop of water on his head from
the conchshell which is offered to Lord
Sri Krsna.
--
By Jahnu Das:
I have read in the Garuda Purana that
ghosts are very sinful people. One
becomes a ghost usually upon dying a
violent death, e.g. by falling from great
heights, by being burnt, by being beaten
to death, by accident, by drowning,
by poison, or by committing suicide. To
become a ghost is the result of a
sinful life, i.e. having broken the laws
of nature without caring for the
plights of other living entities.
Ghostly existence - existing in an
aerial body - is a very frustrating
experience, as you are still afflicted
by the urges of gross physical life
like hunger, thirst, envy, greed, sex
etc., but you have no means of
satisfying or getting rid of these
urges. Therefore they always try to make
trouble for others who have gross
bodies, especially the ones they were
attached to in their previous life.
The only way to avoid ghosts is to
perform pious activities, or even better to
become reinstated in spiritual life.
Especially Lord Nrsimhadeva protects us
from all kinds of ghosts and subtle
beings. There is a specific Nrsimha mantra
which is guaranteed to drive away all
ghosts:
om hring kshraum ugra viram mahavishnum
jvalantam sarvato mukham nrisingham
bishanam bhadram mrityum mrityu namamy
aham
You can also free a ghost from his
ghostly existence by making an offering of
food to Vishnu on his behalf, and
feeding this prasadam to a bona fide
brahmana. Your local temple could help
you in this regard.
--
This was spoken by Fuladi Maharaja, a
recently deceased practitioner of
Kundalini-yoga:
A person's personality is recorded on
the photographs or the clothes one
wears. So one should never exchange the
used clothes. Do not allow even your
sibling to wear your clothes. The used
clothes can be stolen and used for
black magic. Women should never go out
late at night during the menstrual
cycle. You are more susceptible to
intentional ghost attack during that time.
Never eat food at anybody's house unless
you know the host well. He may use
some mantras to get some ghosts on your
case. Never wear black clothes or
shoes. Ghosts really love black objects.
Never step out of house at the
evening (dusk) time. Rather burn the
ghee lamp in front of the deities and
have a arotik. Be careful on the
AmAvasya (new moon day). Drive vehicles
carefully on the new moon day. Never
stay near the cremation ground. Avoid
passing by the cremation ground in the
night time. Do not trample or kick any
tomb in the cremation ground. Walk
carefully when you go to the cremation
ground. Never urinate near a tomb or in
the cremation ground. Never urinate
under a pipal (aswattha), banyan, tulasi
or audumbara trees. Never sleep under
a tree in the night time. Never wear
somebody else's shoes or sandals. Keep
some vibhuti (ash) from the fire
sacrifice in a bottle. Apply a little bit of
ash on the forehead everyday. Sprinkle
the cow's urine little bit when during
the menstrual cycle a contaminated woman
touches some clothes in the house.
--
A
comment on the channeling file by the author:
I wrote the article entitled
*Channeling: Extrasensory Deception?* in 1991
after I read Joe Fisher's *Hungry
Ghosts--an Investigation into Channelling
and the Spirit World*, which was
published in 1990.
My article on channeling dispenses with
the argument, that the tangible proof
that the subtle guides are devas is that
they help devotees' health. Pretas
are very interested in the health of the
bodies that they haunt, because they
want to satisfy their desires through
those bodies.
The true follower of Vedic knowledge is
*above* the modes of nature, even the
mode of goodness. Worship of demigods is a deviation from Vedic
knowledge.
Comments that appear in brackets [like
this] are my own.
*yajante sattvika devan
yaksa-raksamsi rajasah
pretan bhuta-ganams
canye
yajante tamasajanah*
Men in the mode of goodness worship the demigods;
those in the mode of passion worship the demons; and those
in the mode of ignorance worship ghosts and spirits.
(*Bg* 17.4)
[In his *Gita Bhasya* commentary on the above verse, Srila Baladeva
Vidyabhusana writes,] *karyabhedena
sattvikadi bhedam prapancayati yajanta
iti*: "Thus Lord Krsna reveals the
distinction of one mode from another on the
basis of worship." [His commentary goes on to tell us that]
worshipers of
demigods lack proper spiritual
understanding. The faith of such
worshipers,
conditioned as it is by the mode of
goodness, obliges them to serve deities
like the Vasus and the Rudras. Then there are people who worship Yaksas and
Raksasas like Kuvera [the treasurer of
heaven] and Nirrti [a fierce,
inauspicious goddess of the southwest
with a black complexion and golden hair,
who holds an iron noose].
These worshipers are in the mode of
passion. And those who worship the
Pretas
[spirits of the departed] and Bhutaganas
[other kinds of subtle entities] are
in the mode of ignorance. Even twice-born *brahmanas* [who are supposed
to be
in the mode of goodness] and *ksatriyas*
[who are supposed to be in the mode
of passion] who leave aside their
*svadharma* or prescribed duties [fall into
the mode of ignorance]. Neglectful *brahmanas* receive the airy
bodies of a
type of firemouthed demon called
Ulkamukha, while neglectful *ksatriyas*
assume the forms of a type of demon
called Kataputana. [And so this verse
(*Bg* 17.4) depicts] those who, due to
laziness in their observance of real
*vidhi*, [remember: in *Gita* 9.23 Lord
Krsna says that to worship demigods is
*avidhi- purvaka* or a violation of the
real injunction of worship] are
situated by their materialistic nature
in one of the three modes. Of course,
by the potency of contact with genuine
Vedic knowledge, they can rise above
their materialistic nature and come to
the factual Vedic level.
The original Sanskrit of Baladeva's
commentary is as follows.
*karyabhedena sattvikadi bhedam prapancayati yajant iti
sastriya viveka samvit hina ye janah svabhavajaya sraddhaya devan
sattvikah vasurudradin yajante te
'anye sattvikah
ye yaksaraksamsi kuvera nirrtyadin rajasani yajante te 'anye rajasah
ye preta bhutaganamsca tamasa yajanti te 'anye tamasah
dvijah svabharmavibhrasta dehapatottara labhdavayaviya deha
ultkamukhata patanadisamjnah preta
manusah pisaca
visesa va iti vyakhyatarascat
sapatmatrkadaya
evam salasyat tyakta veda vihdinam svabhavat satvikatad
ya nirupitah ete ca balavad vaidika
satprasangat
svabhavan vijitya kadacit veda 'pyadhikrto bhavaniti bodhyam*
--
A comment on the channeling file by
Gauranga Dasa:
Undoubtedly in many cases these
channeled entities are ordinary pretas, souls
who are bereft of their physical bodies
because of grossly sinful activities.
So they try to gain possession of
others' bodies for gratifying their sinful
desires for intoxication, violence, and
carnal pleasure. I will give some
quotes from the Garuda Puranam regarding
the pretas in the near future to this
conference. Meanwhile I would like to
refer to a case from a few days ago. I
met a girl on sankirtana who looked like
a really haunted person. I began
talking with her. She had different
kinds of psychologic diseases like fears,
anxiety etc. She had attempted to commit
suicide several times. She showed me
her hand. It was cut in many places by a
razor's edge. She confessed me that
she liked seeing blood. Once she started
practicing so-called Transcendental
Meditation taught by Maharishi but all
she was seeing during meditation is how
she tortured killed other people and
children. She was 14 years old. I began
to explain her something about ghosts
and possession and she grasped the idea.
She related to me a recent event when
she was sitting in a class in the school
and suddenly she felt like someone took
over her personality and began
vibrating in her mind: "Kill
yourself! Kill yourself!" She started yelling in
the middle of the classroom and ran out,
trying to cut her arteries. Somehow
the others stopped her and the ghost let
her go. So this possession can be
very severe, especially in the case of
those who are very mental, subject to
the modes of passion and ignorance, and
full with negative feelings and
desires. The influence of the pretas can
be decreased by cleanliness inside
and out and around us, practicing the
habits of the mode of goodness, mental
strength, positivity and
Krsna-consciousness, especially chanting Hare Krsna.
My conclusions are however that not all
subtle beings are exclusively demoniac
and harmful. There are some who are more
sattvic than the pretas. I base this
on my talks with Bhanu Maharaja and
Bhakti Tirtha Swami's book entitled
Spiritual Warrior (Uncovering Spiritual
Truths in Psychic Phenomena),
especially chapters 3 (Angels and
Demigods) and 7 (Strangers in our Bodies).
I was talking to Bhanu Maharaja about
the healing with reiki energy and prana.
I mentioned to him that many healers
report the appearance of celestial beings
during the therapy who had radiant
bodies and made the healer and the patient
feel comfortable and safe. Many times
these beings personally assist in the
process of healing, entering the body of
the patient and cleansing the aura,
repairing cakras, removing poisoned and
diseased tissues, sometimes even
operating the organs in the body by
using even instruments like scalpels and
others, Of course all this is happening
with the subtle duplicate of the
body, and most often only the healer
notices their presence and help. I asked
Maharaja about who they were. He told me
that they are guardian spirits or
angels, who are lower than the demigods,
but still pious and who always
accompany the person and try to save him
from bad deeds and help him. Maharaja
said that everyone of us has at least
one or maybe three or four of them
always watching him. Although they are
pious, they don't have completely
realized spiritual knowledge, like the
Yamadutas, who are servants of
Yamaraja, but although he was a
mahabhagavata, they didn't know that they
couldn't snatch someone calling out the
name of God like Ajamila did. So
trying to establish the communication
with our guardian angel, or 'inner
guide" as popularly named, is not
in any way replacement for accepting and
surrendering to a Gaudiya Vaishnava
guru, who can take us back to Godhead and
give us Krsna-prema, because he is a
pure devotee. The guardian angels (called
amanava purusa in Sanskrit) are not pure
devotees, but they are pious, so they
can't answer all philosophical questions
but usually tell us to accept what
the devotees say. Both amanava purusas
and pretas or bhutas can have
superhuman abilities or a capacity to
heal etc. but if accepted from a pious
entity, you can eliminate your debt by
worshiping Krsna, if accepted from a
demoniac entity you will have to pay the
price of being exploited for sense
gratification and gaining very bad karma
resulting in utmost suffering.
--
From my correspondence:
Subject: How to contact Citeswarji
------------------------------------------------------------
Hari Bol, Jan. Thank you for promptly
replying to enet and your experience
with the ghosts. My daughter after
visiting Vrindavan and India, keeps on
repeating things to us, like She wants
to go to temple, Suzan is driving her
to Work, Miss K will take her out on
Saturday, Maharaj went to India. She
repeats all day, has hard time sleeping,
eating, has no interest in any other
thing. Before she used to watch devotional
videos, she was smiling, looked
forward to go to temple and paid
attention. She was mentally slow from
childhood but never showed such behavior
before. She repeats above things but
not mantra or prayers, although she
knows mantra and prayers.
I am helpless to decide what is causing
the problem. I am not in favor of
giving modern medicines which have long
term side effects and something other
can go wrong. So far she never took any
medication, she is 22, and used to be
very friendly.
Please let me know your experiences
about ghosts and Chiteswar and any other
comments.
Once again, thank you for prompt reply
to our requests,
Sincerely, ys, Antaryami Das
Hare Krsna Antaryami Prabhu,
_/\o_
Interesting - just yesterday I was
discussing this topic on two separate
occasions with devotees here...
From your description I'd say that from
99% your daughter unfortunately has
got some subtle companions. How did it
exactly happened? Regarding the
solution before inviting Citteswar I'd
first consult a _qualified_ Vedic
astrologer. (There are methods in prasna
marga, spec. branch of Vedic
astrology, for ascertaining the cause of
the problem, offering a solution and
testing its result before it's adopted.)
>She repeats above things but not
mantra or prayers, although she knows
>mantra and prayers.
That's what they bar her from. She
should by all means chant Krsna's and
Nrsimha's names. If she can't she should
hear them at least (best from Srila
Prabhupada's tape), as well as hear
Srimad Bhagavatam. Picture of Nrsimhadeva
in the room keeps them away. Further,
drinking caranamrita should be also
helpful. This will give them hard time
and they _may_ leave on their own. To
give her no modern medicines is
certainly right approach. They can't help in
this case. (Friend of mine used to work
in a lunatic asylum where many
obviously ghost-possessed people were
kept calm with the help of heavy
medicals. This is called torture.) And
pray for her recovery. This is a
powerful help.
>Please let me know your experiences
about ghosts and Chiteswar and any
>other comments.
I did it a bit. If you wish to know more
about the ghosts from the bona-fide
Vedic source, a sattvik Purana (Garuda
Mahapurana) read the following relevant
excerpts. (I compiled them initially for
myself but it seems they can serve
others in need.)
Hope this helps.
Your servant,
bh. Jan
Subject:
RE: How to contact Citeswarji
------------------------------------------------------------
Hari-Bol Bhakta Jan!
Neha did Vraja Mandal Parikrama for last
20 days, walking from Varsana
(Radharani's place) to Gokul and many
other Krishna's places of Pastimes. Then
she toured 20 days with Kirtan Party and
preaching in state of Maharastra with
H.H. Lokanath Maharaj. She was OK all
these times. Afterwards she stayed in
state of Gujarat with grandparents and
mom. During this time, one day on
morning walk she stepped over on burning
lamp in the street with some
paintings, looked like some folks had
done some tantra.
After this her behavior started
changing. She cam to USA and day by day
started getting worse. First she
repeated going to Vrindavan and afterwards
started repeating other irrelevant
things.
Doctor said she is depression due to
cultural change from India to USA and not
able to go back to school and see her
friends, since she graduated from her
school, being 22.
I thank you again for selfless service
to us and wish you blissful Krishna
Bhakti.
Ys, Antaryami das
Dear Antaryami Prabhu,
_/\o_
Thanks for your reply with info. Yes, it
sounds like a tantric stuff. Just
see, these materialistic doctors are not
very helpful. 8-)
One more thing about Citteswar. One
French devotee told me that while he was
working, still as Krishna friend, he was
cursed by some hateful person. He was
getting more and more sick and none
could help him or even tell him what's
wrong with him. Devotees told him to go
to India, to visit Citteswar. But it
took seven yajnas before the curse was
removed. So to deal with these things
can turn into a lengthy process
sometimes.
ys bh. Jan
PS: To inform you about Shyamasundar P.
and what can happen in this area I'm
including one text he wrote some time
ago:
Subject: From the astrologer's Prasna
note book.
------------------------------------------------------------
Hare Krsna!
One evening in January 1993 I received a
most unusual phone
call at my residence in Laguna Beach,
CA. The man was
calling from a remote town in Northern
Alberta, Canada; the
last place I expected to get a call
from. His problem which
we shall presently discuss, was so
bizarre, that he was
referred to me by his psychologist who
had some how heard
of me.
The man, lets call him John, was
studying to be a deacon in
the Catholic Church, the highest
position for lay people.
He was married and had children but his
family life was
undergoing difficulties over the last
few years. His
daughter had developed acute asthma.
Then his wife gave
birth again in July 1991 but the child
died in Oct of the
same year. They over came the tragedy
and conceived again
but after 20 weeks in the womb the child
died--it had no
brain! All manner of strange things were
happening to them;
they suspected that someone had sent
imprecations and black
magic against them. They obviously were
quite desperate to
come to this conclusion. Thus they were
referred to me.
I had dealt with Abhicara (black magic)
cases often in
India but since then only one or two
cases. I was doubtful
that such things could go on in N.
America especially in
Alberta. This part of the world is pretty
low tech when it
comes to this kind of stuff. But with
the 'New Age'
movement it is getting bigger. Anyway I
still had my
doubts.
In such Abhicara cases I use special
techniques that I
learned while studying Prasna Marga in
Kerala where this
kind of thing is normal. The following
report gave my
findings.
______________________________________
Dear John,
Hare Krsna!
You asked me the question "Am I and
my family the subject
of a curse or black magic?"
My investigation yielded very surprizing
results. The
answer is a resounding yes. I am
surprized because I didn't
think anyone in Alberta would have the
knowledge or
capacity to do such mayhem but
apparently I was wrong. I
was actually expecting the opposite
answer as these types
of black magic cases are quite rare.
My study reveals that your enemy is or
has been employing
incantations with the objective of
destroying you. It seems
that they are directing pisachas, a type
of witch on the
astral plane, and balagrahas, evil
spirits who especially
attack children, to harass you. You were
probably first
attacked while having sexual intimacy
with your wife. These
attacks have manifested in the form of
diseases with fatal
consequence.
I was very surprized to learn that your
enemy seems to be a
highly learned priest or intellectual
type, I think a
priest because there were several
indications to suggest
that the incantations were performed in
a temple of some
sort by a high priest who has
accomplices of a lower class
type. The enemy is an outsider from your
family, he may
have been an old friend at some time.
The enemy lives at a
distant place, not in your community.
There is strong indication that this
affliction can be
stopped before it kills more, in other
words you can be
cured. There are specific remedies
recommended but they are
in the context of the Vedic religion
which is different in
form from Christianity. Essentially I
would recommend
sincere prayers and worship of
Vamanadeva, a specific
incarnation of God, to eliminate this
evil force. You may
want to pursue methods of exorcism which
are utilized in
the Catholic Church. Since it is only
through the power of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead that
this evil can be
destroyed, you should avail yourself of
His mercy and
protection. I am not an exorcist, but I
do know some people
who are knowledgeable in these matters.
If you can't find
somebody who you can trust in your
church you can try
calling a friend of mine, their name is
_______, this
person is also a devotee of God, their#
is xxx-xxx-xxxx.
They may be able to advise you.
Please do not be fearful, these
creatures thrive on your
fear. Become fearless by placing
yourself humbly under the
protective shade of the lotus like feet
of the Lord.
I hope that I have been of assistance to
you in your quest
to serve the Lord of your heart.
Yours sincerely
Shyama Sundara Dasa
_______________________________
I got a call a few weeks later from the
psychologist's
secretary who left a message on my
answering machine saying
that John was quite happy with the information
I gave him.
Then last December I get another call
from John, this time
he wants me to do a full chart on him.
In the course of our
conversation I asked him what happened
regarding the
abhicara? He said that he had showed the
letter to the
Bishop of the area and in consultation
with other priests
it was decided that it was indeed a
serious matter and that
he should have an exorcism! It seems
that every diocese of
the Catholic Church has one priest
designated for doing
exorcisms. The Bishop told John to
contact this priest and
have the exorcism done. The exorcism
took place at the
beginning of May 1993. I asked what
results, if any, that
he had noticed. He said that by the end
of May, his
daughter who had serious asthma had been
cured of it for
all intents and purposes and that things
were much better
now than before. Strangely, however, he
said that his wife
and he were on the verge of divorce (she
was sexually
dysfunctional because of having been
serially raped from a
very young age) and that he had decided
not to become a
deacon. I was wondering how this could
be construed as
being an improvement in his family life
but he assured me
that it was. I can only imagine how bad
it must have been
before.
YS Shyamasundara Dasa