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The other world: Different aspects of the supernatural

opinionThe other world: Different aspects of the supernatural

Can a spirit be “imprisoned” by a living being in a stone or in some other way? Yes, it can. The usual practice is either to imprison the spirit in a stone or imprison it in an earthen “handi” or “matki” and bury it. There is an area adjoining a dargah just off Malcha Marg in Delhi where many spirits, after having been “captured” from people they had “possessed”, have been imprisoned in “handis” for different periods of time. The time duration for the imprisonment depends upon the malevolence of a spirit. On dark, moonless nights, one can often hear wailing and screaming coming from this area and sometimes one can hear dukhi — unhappy spirit voices crying out plaintively, chhor do, chhor do, dobarra nahin ayeengey — “release us, release us, we won’t come, i.e. haunt again”.

A few years ago, when doing a “shoot” for a TV series on the paranormal, the team set up sophisticated ghost detecting equipment at this spot, called the “spirit jail” by the dargah caretaker, and left it overnight. They were thrilled to find that the special recorders had picked up snatches of what sounded like agitated ghost voices speaking in a strange, archaic sort of language. Later, a language expert confirmed that the words recorded were in ancient Pharsee, but alas, finding an ancient Pharsee expert who could decipher the words turned out to be a daunting task and under pressure of deadlines, the search had to be shelved.

However, I have found that modern day ghost detection equipment cannot always handle the vast range of supernatural activity that occurs in different settings and circumstances, especially “compound cases”. In paranormal terms, “compound cases” or “multiple cases” known as sanghachari cases, are encountered quite frequently, though they are not as common as ordinary supernatural phenomena. What are supernatural sanghachari or compound cases? They are cases where several paranormal or supernatural elements are at work. These can involve several spirits or atmas, as in cases of multiple possessions. They can involve a group of spirits or atmas which haunt a particular place, as in the Gwalior Fort. They can involve two or more spirits who have carried over feuds from their lifetime and continued their fight to overpower each other even in their spirit form. They can involve dead people who are at odds with each other in a fight involving living people.

In all such cases, it is either a desire for revenge or unfulfilled desires that cause a supernatural phenomena to form. Violent or unnatural deaths are almost invariably the main reasons that compel a spirit to seek revenge. Usually, this revenge means killing the living human considered responsible by the dead person for his or her death. Sometimes, vengeful spirits destroy the entire family of such a person, one by one or together, as in an accident. At other times, vengeful spirits destroy a living person or a family by bringing financial ruin to them or afflicting them with terminal illnesses.

But how can this happen, people often ask. After death, don’t all earthly links end for all atmas? They should end, but they don’t always end, especially in unnatural cases. This is why it is so important to give them moksha or release from earthly bonds. Is it possible for a dead person to protect a living person from coming to any sort of harm? Yes, it is. It has been seen very often that the spirit of a mother, for example, has stepped in and taken physical action, while remaining invisible, to protect a loved one. Is it possible for a good spirit to try and stop an evil spirit from harming living people? Here again, the answer is Yes. There have been many instances of this and there have also been difficult to handle cases where paranormal experts have to invoke and take the help of good spirits or spirits who are willing to help against an evil spirit. I myself have three spirit guides who help me in different ways to deal with troublesome spirits or to give moksha to trapped spirits.

It is partly because spirits are so powerful and can cause so much damage when not at peace that almost every community in the world believes in regularly praying for peace for the souls of those who have died, especially those who have died unfortunate deaths. When a spirit intent on gaining revenge begins creating major problems for a living person, a paranormal expert, or a guruji, priest or someone with supernatural knowledge is brought into the picture. Often, the spirit then attacks such a person and tries to prevent the guruji or whoever from acting. Sometimes, the spirit is stronger than the paranormal expert or guruji. There was a case in Bareilly which I’ve mentioned earlier too where the spirit in a possessed man simply picked up the paranormal expert who was chanting mantras and threw him out of the house as if he was just a piece of paper and then killed the man it had possessed.

It is therefore important, when dealing with an angry or powerful spirit, to ensure that the powers of the paranormal expert or guruji or whoever is brought in are stronger than those of the spirit. It is also very important that the expert or guruji knows about the background and reasons for a supernatural happening. That is why our first questions usually are: Boliye, kaun ho aur kya chahte ho? — Speak, who are you and what do you want?

Usually, the spirit or spirits answer and are all too willing to share their life-death experiences or histories. In most cases, relating what happened to them is a kind of release for their angst, an unburdening of sorts. But in some cases, recalling the past angers them to the point of blind rage in which they try and kill whoever is in the vicinity at that moment. This is what is happening right now in the case of Sugriv, a tea vendor who died recently due to a brain tumour and is aggrieved that his family didn’t do enough to get him treated in time and is terrorising his wife and two sons.

They have had narrow escapes from being killed by Sugriv’s angry spirit and at the moment, while we’re trying out various ways to try and placate and bring peace to Sugriv’s troubled soul, they are being protected by the spirit of a dead chacha (uncle). But he too is not sure for how long he can continue to protect them and us from a very determined Sugriv and has given us a deadline till the next amavasya or no moon night — less than fifteen days away.

 

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