Are Ghosts Real: Overcoming Fear of Ghosts and Ghostly Possession

Overcoming Fear of Ghosts

We have watched a horror movie at night or have heard a ghost story before going to bed. On top of that, we are alone in the house, everyone else has gone out. And then, we hear some noise from the kitchen, so what thought would come in our mind? “That must be some ghost there!” Without questioning ourselves are ghosts real, now, fear grips us all night then. Due to fear, we keep lying down, we do not even have the courage to get up. Then, upon waking up in the morning, when we go into the kitchen, we realize that a mouse has knocked off the glass. Then, the entire fear goes off straight away. Hence, all these fears are of our imagination; actually, there is no ghost.

Some people are afraid of darkness. What if some ghost shows up in the night? So, they cover their head and sleep. Hey, by covering your head, if a ghost is there, would it stop? Some say, I saw a witch on the road, so now I will never pass by that road. Many get scared while going out alone at night. What if some ghost comes from behind and strangles me? But if we actually think about it, has anyone come so far? This is just a knot of fear of ghosts that has been tied in the mind. They are all imaginations; it is not at all a truth. Even once, if something does not happen as per what we imagined, nothing happened at all, then we should forever believe that nothing is going to happen. Ghosts in real life do not exist. But once doubt arises, “Would there be something,” then one keeps feeling afraid. Break the imaginary fear with the actual reality, or else change the direction of our thoughts. Yet, if such imaginary fear feels overwhelming, then remember the God you have faith in and say to Him, ‘please, always stay with me.’

In fact, there are certain beings in the celestial world who are said to be ghosts. They never come to harass any human beings; rather, they are helpful to humans. They do not have any enmity, partiality or dissociation with anyone. Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan, while offering an understanding that’s totally different from the common beliefs, says, “Becoming a ghost is not easy. Ghost is a life form of the celestial world; that is not an easy thing. One becomes a ghost when one has performed severe austerities, has done penances (in the previous life).” Hence, every now and then, there is no need to have fear of ghosts thinking that they will come.

Is Ghostly Possession True?

In society, people often talk about ghosts-spirits, witches, ghouls, demons, black magic, black magicians, etc. But all these talks are without any understanding. Like we mentioned earlier, ghosts are said to be celestial beings (Vyantar Dev), they do not trouble anyone unnecessarily. Whereas spirits and ghouls are disembodied beings. A disembodied being is someone who, after death, does not immediately attain a new body and has to remain without a body for a certain number of years. The existence of spirits is not false, but due to an exaggerated talk about it in the society, fear of spirits has been widespread.

The rule is that, when a living being leaves the body, it is the death of the physical body, and the Soul leaves from the body. Just as a snake leaves from one hole and enters into another one, the Soul leaves from one body and immediately enters the womb at the time when the mother’s ovum and the father’s sperm combine. The lifespan of the cells in the sperm is very short. Sometimes, it so happens that at the time of death, the person’s chit has got held up somewhere; one has got attached to something, and hence the timing to get into the other body gets missed. But here, the death of the physical body has already happened, so the Soul cannot get back into it. Therefore, the Soul has to remain without body for some time. That is when it is called a disembodied being, a wandering Soul or a spirit. A spirit does not have a physical body, it cannot eat or drink, so with whom accounts have been bound, they enter into that person’s body and consume food, where some even eat fifty-fifty laddoos and puris, they eat all of it. But this happens only once in a million times. Moreover, a disembodied Soul cannot exist without a body for more than ten or twelve years. Being unaware of all these facts, people in the world assume the presence of spirits or wandering Souls everywhere and get scared. There is no reason to be scared of spirits attaching.

Here, Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan gives us an understanding of how to overcome the fear of spirits.

Questioner: After death a jiva (Self with a causal and electrical body) that has not found a body (sthool deha) enters someone’s body to satisfy its hunger; what is that?

Dadashri: It is like this; the bhootas (ghosts) do not bother people. Bhootas are really Devas (one type of celestial beings). If you have a good relation with them, then they will be beneficial to you and if the relation was bad, they will cause problems for you. A jiva that does not enter another body upon death has to wander around. Until it finds a body, it is called pretyoni. It cannot live without food and so it has to enter a physical body in order to eat.

Questioner: Some people do jaap, penance, rosary, etc.; can they still be possessed by a pretyoni?

Dadashri: There is no such rule. If you have some past account of karmas, if you have troubled someone and if that Soul becomes a pret, then it will not leave you alone without avenging.

Questioner: Can reciting the Hanuman Chalisa or the Gayatri Mantra have any effect on it?

Dadashri: Yes, there is some benefit from that. It (the pretyoni) will stay away. Even if this Navkar Mantra is done properly with awareness, it will go away.

One in a million becomes a spirit; otherwise, in majority of cases, more than spirit, it is a psychological effect, and many people, upon visiting a psychiatrist, recover too. Moreover, not all spirits are harmful. Like Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan said, where they have a significant (karmic) account of attachment, they give happiness and go, and where there is a substantial (karmic) account of hatred, they give misery and go. Only if we have an account (karmic) of attachment or aversion with them, can spirits in the ghostly state bring us happiness or misery. If we have done nothing wrong, they have no independent power to cause us any harm. Therefore; wherever we have troubled any being or had feelings of attachment or aversion towards someone, if we repent and seek forgiveness for all of that, then we can be free from their vengeance.

Is Goddess Possession True?

There is such belief in society that when a Goddess enters a person’s body, the person starts shaking in a particular manner. Then, even after spending thousands of rupees going to exorcists and tantric, the shaking does not stop. However, the fact is that Amba Mataji, Bahuchara Mataji, Durga Mata, Mahakali Mata are all high-stage pious Goddesses. They do not come into the bodies of such ordinary persons. Yes, in case it is some person’s past life sadhana, if with a unified mind, speech and body, one has made certain intentions, then the Goddess may come and deliver them some message. However, such messages contain very extraordinary spiritual talk, it does not have any worldly talk.

Logically, if we only examine that, does this woman, who claims that Goddess comes in her body, ever fight with her husband or child? Does she have fights and clashes at home with her mother-in-law, daughter-in-law or sister-in-law? Now, how can such an elevated Goddess, who is a Shaasan-Devi of the Vitarag Lord, enter into the body of such a person who quarrels? Goddesses never enter into someone’s body like this, and in case they come, they don’t shake. Goddesses possess the power to do away the obstacles in this world, if any, coming in the way of progress on the path of liberation. Can it happen that they would shake or mark people with vermillion? Based on these beliefs, whatever is going on in the society is not worth opposing, but there is certainly no need to maintain a fear of it.

Because of these fears then, people turn to astrology, exorcists, tantriks, mantra practitioners, and go for other remedies. Astrology is a true and precise science, but in the name of astrology, the way people have turned it into a business nowadays, is not precise. According to astrologers, Lord Ram was supposed to be crowned as a King in the morning, all the preparations were already made. But on Queen Kaikeyi’s demand, instead of the throne, Ram had to go for an exile of fourteen years. Both astrology and Muhurat (the auspicious moment) went wrong. If in Satyug, such things could happen to Lord Ram, then it is Kaliyug right now. Just think about it – has any astrologer ever said, “There are no problems with your planets, go home and enjoy life!” No, because, nowadays, in the name of astrology, a business of doing chants-penances, performing rituals and making rings has commenced. Now, some other person does lakhs of chants, and we would get its result, how can that be possible? Actually, it is our belief that yields results for us.

When humans face suffering, they are not able to endure it; therefore, to get solace, they are hunting for all these remedies. It is said, “Where there are greedy people, they will find cheaters there.” So, rather than relying on such support, the karma that has come forth for suffering, we keep courage there. We pray to the God we have faith in, and ask him for strength, “Please give me strength to be free from the karmas that have manifested.” For peace of mind, we visit temple, read religious scriptures. If nothing else, we seek a solution from saints or enlightened beings; that will bring peace. Because no planets or bad omens are affecting us; our blind faith only is obstructing us. No one can alter our karma.