Wednesday, April 26, 2017

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON AAVESA & BELIEF IN THE MYSTIC CURES OF HANUMAN



RANDOM THOUGHTS ON AAVESA & BELIEF IN THE MYSTIC  CURES  OF HANUMAN
(Compilation for a discourse at Sri Ganesha Temple, Nashville, TN, April 2017)

On Sunday, 23 April 2017,   I was   watching with curiosity the faith and devotion of a group of devotees chanting Hanuman Chalisa   in our Ganesha temple.   My own present spiritual inspiration often doubts such beliefs and parrot chanting without understanding the meaning of what we chant. I do not believe we can wipe out our karmas with such parrot chanting.  I have similar feeling on Ramayan Path and Gita Path celebrations in temples and therefore do not actively participate but watch them silently    and  go deep into the meaning of what is being chanted. But I do believe in its short time cure and psychological effects such faiths bring based on my childhood experiences.

In South India Hanuman Bhakti Marga, Religion has entered the Kitchen too. So Hanuman is also decorated with crispy and hot pepper Vada garland tempting all devotees to chant Chalisa or slokas very fast without time to think, even in USA, guided by the fresh Hindu migrants from India whose focus is on Vada prasadam!  In India Hanuman is seen with such food decorations, sprung out of over-flowing Bhakti for week long celebrations which scene sometimes Ganesha devotee rat stealthily visits and enjoys! Devotees do not mind Ganesha-bhakta Rat tasting the food and then  enjoy the Prasad when worship is over. Hanuman takes care of the microbial and insect attacks and sanctifies the food garland for the benefit of devotees! Our priests are god-men and anything touched by them will be free from infection when they chant “Praanaaya Swaahh”.  After all Lord Siva consumed all poisons for the sake of devotees and may be still doing so as Neelakantha, like Jesus consumed all sins of Christians!  Only you have to chant Hara Hara Mahadev!  So they did chant “Trayambakm Yajamahe” after Hanuman Chalisa! What surprises me is such Bhakti Thoughts have even over-powered highly intelligent American Hindu devotees! Hindu Americans are copy-cats and fully endorse Hindu Indian Way in our Temple Traditions  loaded with blind-faith! They look for guidance from   Kindergarten  religious educated  worshipers in India who still spend lot of time  on Modaka hastsa  Ganesha, Navaneetachora Krishna with his butter balls and Vadamala Hanuman  originally meant for children rather than focusing on "Rita(ga)m Sathyam Parabrhama!"

 Coming to the main subject my attention was drawn to the following slokas of Hanuman Chalisa:
Bhoot pisaach nikat nahim aavai  | mahabir jab naam sunaavai ||
Naasau rog harai sab peeraa | japat nirantar Hanumat veeraa ||
No evil spirits dare approach one who utters your name as Mahavir.  (The devil never enters the 
house where-in songs in praise of God always sung says Ramakrishna Parmahamsa).
All diseases are destroyed and pains vanish when your powerful name is repeated incessantly (with love and devotion)
[I still recall my childhood days when my parents rushed my siblings to Kote Hanumantha in Mysore (Fort Temple of Hanuman) whenever they were afflicted with fear or suffered from fever and other minor diseases. Priest dramatically and forcefully threw sacred water on the faces of afflicted children standing in a row chanting the name of Hanuman! I watched in silence with surprise and awe but   had no chance to be a participant! ]

In the present day context of advance psychiatry are we to believe in Brahmarakshasa, goblins and Pisaacha (evil possessions) and demi-god possessives mentioned in religious texts and appeal to divine power to cure them too?

Western Psychologists say such persons suffer from a disease called hysteria, caused by nervous debility. Women being constitutionally delicate, it is they who generally become hysteric. It is the nerves that constitute the manliness in man. A man is weak or strong according to his nerves are weak or strong. By accepting such   a contention one has to reach the conclusion that that the annihilation of the nerves means the annihilation of the man. The followers of Charwaka philosophy in India too came to the same conclusion long ago disagreeing with the Vedantic view.   

According to Vedanta thinking, the soul protects the body, not the body the soul. Only from the presence of the soul are derived the liveliness and the sanctity of the body. Through the body one experiences the pleasure and pain of the world. The desire-instinct in a person is ever eager to enjoy pleasure with the help of the body. This Self when endowed with a gross body appears as human, animal, bird, worm, insect etc. and when bereft of it , assumes the forms of Devas, demi-gods, Brahma-rakshasas, goblins and ghosts. The forms of the latter, being subtle, cannot be grasped   by the five senses.  What cannot be grasped by the five senses also exists. Isvarakrishna, the great author of Sankhyakarika, has settled the issue in a superb manner. He says:

“Atidooraat-sameepyad-indriya-ghaataan-anavasthaanaat | saukshmyaad-vyavadhaanaad-abhibhavaat-samaanaabhihaaraaccha | sauksmyaat tad-anupalbdhih naabhaavaat-kaaryatas-tad-upalabdheh ||(Samkhyakarika 7 and 8 first half)

Non-perception may be because of extreme distance, extreme proximity, injury to the organs, non-steadiness of the mind, subtlety, veiling, suppression and blending with what is similar.  The non-perception of the Prime Nature is due to its subtlety, not to its non-existence, since it is perceived in its effects.”

The subtle body when dominated by Sattva, becomes the body of a Deva (divine possessed), when by Rajas, the body of a demi-god, when by Tamas, the body of a Brahma-rakshasa, a goblin or ghost. That is why it is possible for a person of Sattvic temperament to go under the possession of devas, for men of Rajas to under the influence of demi-gods, and for persons of Tamas to go under the spell of Ghosts.  

We hear  not only of  Hanuman but also of many  saints  like Yadvaprakasa, Ramnuja etc. who could cure people possessed by ghosts and Brahmarakshasas. The New Testament mentions several episodes in which Jesus drove out demons from persons.
  
Reply by  a practicing  psychiatrist who is also a Spiritual thinker
Sexual and aggressive impulses and urges can build up in strong ways in unfulfilled women (or abused/molested), causing deviant arousal, extreme jealousy and mistrust. All these urges get acted out in demonic/spiritual possessions periodically, depending on the amount of stress, and need for suppression of the evil desires in you.
All of these individuals are hoping and praying that a power greater than the evil spirit inside them will relieve them of carrying these attributes that get associated with them.
Fame of the doctor/saint and his powerful teachings that have been retold, creates a set up for these influences be discarded with the power of the saint/ shrine/penance.
My father was haunted by memories of his first wife who suffered from hysteria and died. He went to the sea on every Amavasya for 16 months and took holy dip to get rid of the evil.
Charismatic saints and siddhas acquire power of healing by their practices that are well publicized, adding to their glory, and are able to persuade the willing to give up their ways. You do realize that the people and their families should have suffered long enough, and the time has to be ripe for them to give up the haunting spirits.
Please don't refer these saints as practicing occultism.
Rajasic qualities are manifest in Narcissistic men, and Tamasic qualities are manifest in histrionic women and antisocial men. These are the common conversion reactions in these people.
All of us have healing power according to our level of education, discipline, devotion and penance.
Possession syndrome has been described in our literature from ancient times, including Ayurvedic texts.  Human mind is capable of dissociating itself completely too to altered states during extreme stress, intense emotional states, and sometimes through ardent practice of identifying with object of worship.


RAMAYANA

Ramayana is not just an epic or a tale or history, but also an educational medium to demonstrate the importance of values such as loving and respecting our family, keeping our promises, protecting the weak, not accepting what is not rightly yours,  importance of  protecting Dharma, attachment can lead to suffering, never pay heed to evil advice,   kill the demon within you, pride always has a fall, the power of true   dedication, Love of God is beyond  caste  and creed, protecting a woman’s honor is a noble act,   The mighty power of true destruction, Overcoming our inhibitions  and  so on. By using the Magnum Opus of Hindu mythology, the Ramayana as a medium, we can   improve our life-style and living.  It is worth bringing out a book of stories for children highlighting these moral values.  Stories of Ramayana has psychological effect on believers and they believe in psychiatric or occult power of Hanuman to overcome fear and anxiety.  His achievements  to realize inner strength and overcome fear to achieve   the impossible through extreme devotion and dedication  is illustrated by his over-powering Simhika, Sarasa, Lankhini, Ravana etc. in his giant leap across the ocean mission to find out  Sita. My parents had more faith in Anjaneya than physicians and psychiatrists of those days to cure the diseases of my siblings and remove the element of fear which they thought is the root cause of all illness! This looked foolish to me   as I did not grow up with my parents in Mysore living in Chennai but visited them once in a year and so not influenced by their blind faith. But my grand-parents with whom I lived in Chennai also believed in such miracles. But later I came under the influence of Periyar of DK!

Swami Chidananda has chosen the subject of overcoming one’s inhibitions not in the sense my parents thought about it by blind faith but from the Ramayana in his advice to Bharata who called on him to plead for his return ignoring his father's promise to his mother for  his lecture which can be heard from You Tube. Rama convinced his brother to take care of the kingdom during his temporary absence overcoming inhibitions and not guided by the wrong counsel of the minister Jabali. You recently heard my discourse Who Am I? That thinking can help us to overcome our inhibitions. Listen to the wisdom thoughts from Swamiji! FOWAI forum is a Forum Of Who Am I.

Overcome Your Inhibitions
In his advice to his younger brother Bharata on leadership, Shri Rāma, touches upon three traits1 that are indeed very thought-provoking:
1)    Do consult right people on complex matters where you may not know enough,
2)    Do avoid wrong advisors who may speak sweetly but are incompetent and
3)    Do not shut your door and try to sort out every issue all by yourself.
   The above are free translations with liberal addition of phrases. In the actual verses of Vālmiki Rāmāyana2, the mention is of “pitfalls” of leadership.
a)   Not seeing wise people,
b)    Discussing with advisors lacking knowledge and
c)   Deliberating on matters by oneself.
   
The advice obviously applies to all of us, irrespective of whether we are CEOs or not. We may or may not be well-recognized leaders in any field but we have to handle various situations at home or at work, where the pieces of advice given by Shri Rāma are very relevant.
   
From a psychology point of view, we will have these pitfalls if there are certain inhibitions in our mind that are actually baseless. Because of some painful memories, which have perhaps gone deep into our unconscious, we avoid certain people and see the company of certain others. We sometimes just want to be holed up in our own rooms!
  
 It has been rightly said by countless spiritual masters that the essence of spirituality is “living in the present”. For this to happen, we need to root out our fears, anxieties, regrets and other memory-based negativities.
   “
Who am I?” – This query anchored in intense self-awareness can be a powerful tool to do this. With the flame of “who am I?” burning brightly, the shadows of the past, which are in the form of various residues following incidents that were hard to digest, leave us. No matter what our past was, we can emerge free.
  
We can thus see that self-enquiry (Who am I?) can help us overcome the inhibitions in our psyche, and emerge as good leaders.

 Notes:
1 adarshanam jnānavatām, eka-chintanam arthānām and anarthajnais-cha mantranam
2 Vālmiki Rāmāyana, 2.100.65 thru 67 {Ayodhyā Kānda}

It has become a religious routine to rush through Ramayana during Ramanavami and Navaratri allured by the long list of benefits enlisted by Valmiki at the conclusion of Ramayana and conduct Mahamangala aarati!  I have talked about Hanuman Chalisa chanting during Rama Navami above. At the time Valmiki wrote Ramayana Sanskrit was freely spoken and people understood what they read. Tulsidas Ramayan though written in DIHATI Hindi is  understood  only by a few but chanted by all in blind faith.  We give Valmiki Ramayana also a blind reading without understanding. That will not lead us to the Highway to Heaven. But we must at least go through periodically wisdom thoughts from Ramayana as Swami Chidananda advises, understand the long list of Manava Dharma and act wisely and piously in life. It is strange Hindu Americans drawn from highly intellectuals from India indulge in such blind beliefs also and conduct Puja and worship without understanding the great epic and following the moral values and wisdom contained in it! They conduct an elaborate Aarati to Ramayana without focus on the Supreme. Even Rama said “Aaraadhya Jagannatham” in Ramayana  as a human avatar and  did not  advise to worship Ramayan which he heard from his sons Lava and Kusa! I do read complete Valmiki Ramayana during Navaratri with understanding and at each reading found something new and revealing like “Aradhaya Jagannatham” the wise advice to Vibhishana that gave a meaning to the word Aaradhana and gave birth to Hindu religious practice of Temple and home worships.

My Childhood innocence and Experience with Hanuman

Shozhingzar in Vellore district near Chennai is famous for Two Temples Yoga Anjaneyar and Yoga   Narasimha. These two temples are situated close to each other. Hanuman hillock is half the height of Narasimha hillock. The main entrance of these Yoga Anjaneya is west-facing, facing Yoga Narasimha in the other hillock. Anjaneya here is Chaturbhuja Murti or four armed deity.  He adorns Shankha and Chakra in his fore hands believed to be given by Lord Yoga narasimha in the other hillock. The temple tank is called Anjaneya   Pushkarani or Hanumantha Teeerth.

The legend of the place goes like this: “While there are temples at other places for Yoga Narasimha, Solingar is the only place where Lord Anjaneya can be seen in Yoga posture. He is not only a Yoga Moorthi but also the Moorthi who established Ahimsa Dharma. Madurai was then ruled by King Indirathuman and he was fond of hunting. One day he chased a deer till the deer entered the forest in Sozhasingapuram. When the deer reached the hillock where presently Yoga Anjaneya’s temple is situated, it turned into a Jothiswaroop and vanished. On seeing this wonder the King prostrated before the Jyothi and then and there took the path of Ahimsa. With Ahimsa as his weapon he could bring down the evil force - Kumbotharan - and brought peace to the people of Sozhasingapuram. It is said that as per the wish of Lord Yoga Narasimha, Lord Anjaneya appeared in the form of Jothi with a view to taking King Indrathuman to the path of Ahimsa.”

Neither of the Lords - Yoga Narasimha or Yoga Anjaneya – have processional deities. All the   temple festivals are performed in Lord Bhaktavatsalam Temple located in the center of the down town Solingar - which is nearly two  km from the hillocks. This temple belongs to Nayak period.

Lord Yoga Anjaneya is believed to cure persons who are mentally ill, if they pray at this temple. All that the patient is required to do is to take bath in the sacred Hanumantha Thirtham and offer prayers to Lord Yoga Anjaneya.  I have a personal experience to believe this story. On a temple sanctum visit one can see   for himself the miraculous cure that the mentally ill gets at this shrine who sit before the deity and act in a strange manner. When I was 12 year old I accompanied my grand-father with  my  evil (Pisach) possessed mother and demi-god  (Bhooth)  possessed  grand-mother. We stayed there for a month for worshiping Anjaneya. We all took   a dip  in the sacred tank  daily which is believed to have medicinal values and then  prayed to Lord Anjaneya for almost an hour. This routine went on for a month. Miraculously both of them got cured and we returned to Chennai praising the glory of God. My grand-father read Sunderakanda of Valmiki Ramayana everyday placing a plank before the book-stand he used for Ramayana (Vyasapitha).    I was   curious to know why this empty plank?   He   tried to convince me that Lord Anjaneya always comes and sits on the plank to listen to Ramayana.  Whether I believed or not I was monkeying around waiting for the mouth-watering sweet pudding (Ravakesari) and crispy pepper Vada the offering of which made Lord Anjaneya    a permanent customer after the miraculous cure of my mother and grand-mother when doctors had given up hope!   Probably Psychiatry was not that well developed during my younger days! I too was cured of cerebral meningitis at the age of 14 by faith-cure of my aunt by praying to Lord Venkateshwara of Tirupati when doctors gave up hope of survival.



REFERENCES:
1)      Swami Ramakrishnanada, Life of Sri Ramnuja, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, India
2)      Swami Bhaskaranada, The Essentials of Hinduism, Ramakrishna math, Chennai, India
3)       Publisher,  Hanuman Chalisa, Sri Ramakrishna Math,   Chennai, India
4)      Various Internet sources and my personal visit to Shozhinger



  

APPENDIX

Rajarshi Nandy Indology—IndiaDivine.Org 

 

 Introduction 

In the perspective of Sanatana Dharma, possession in its true scope and origin is not only ad mental theological mechanism, but also an indicator of liberation and enlightenment.

Japanese scholar of Sanskrit and Buddhist literature, Minoru Hara, in his study of the Mahabharata lists nearly sixty semantic contexts in which ā*viś is found in the text. That the term āveśa was already a developed idea indicating an intense psychological state of being possessed becomes clear from reading its applications. Sometimes this term or a derivative is also used to denote such spaces which cause anxiety or bring out a sense of the supernatural. In the Adiparva, there is a description of a mole hole in the ground near a tree, and the text says “enter it quickly (avisadhvam tvarita); there you will have no fear of fire”. As early as the vedic brahmana texts, scholars believe, mole holes, termite mounds, and other such sites of non-human activity in the ground were regarded as places of power. Thus, ā*viś captured not merely an entering, but also accompanied an emotional sense of anxiety in the context.

Mahabharata

Of the various instances of possession found in the Mahabharata, there is none as graphic and remarkable as the case of Aśvatthāmā. Of course, this is not the only instance of possession inthe Mahabharata, nor of the particular format where a warrior is possessed by a great god and then unleashes terrifying violence. Aśvatthāmā’s nocturnal raid on the Pandavas caught them off guard. As he was going towards the Pandava camp, he saw an owl in full ferocity (ulukam ghoradarśanam), preying on innumerable crows sleeping on a banyan tree. This was clearly an omen indicating great misfortune and destruction. The avian carnage is described in great details: beheadings, wings sliced, etc., which seemed to inspire Aśvatthāmā for the great slaughter he was about to precipitate. Kripa tried to dissuade him from his actions, but Aśvatthāmā would not listen and noted that while being a Brahmin he has immense self-control as is appropriate for his caste, the situation now has forced him to give-up his restrain and avenge his fallen comrades. Standing at the gate of the Pandava camp, Aśvatthāmā saw a great-bodied spirit (bhutam mahakayam), as the very embodiment of Śiva in all his destructive splendor. Aśvatthāmā, however, was unable to recognize this spirit and tried in vain to destroy it with all his weapons. Finally, and suddenly, it dawned on him that his adversary is no ordinary bhuta, but the indestructible, skull-garlanded (kapālamālinam) Rudra and decided to surrender completely and thoroughly to the great god. He offered himself as a sacrifice to Śiva, with the result that his self-identify merged so seamlessly with the deity – he was already a partial incarnation of Śiva – that it became a complete possession. The text reads:

  .

Having thus spoken to the great archer, the Lord possessed his body and gave him the best stainless sword. Then, possessed by the Lord, he again blazed up with splendor, With that splendor fashioned by the deity, he assumed a body for battle.” Thus possessed by the ferocious Rudra, Aśvatthāmā “split the feet of one, the hips of another; he broke the ribs of others like the Terminator (antaka) set loose by Time”.

Without being swayed by sentimentalism or morality, here we must understand that Rudra is by itself the force of tremendous destruction and the right deity for the purpose Aśvatthāmā had in mind. But not all possessions are by deities, they could be by ethereal spirits of various natures, capability and competency, and sometimes, it may be even by the invoking of a particularly great and powerful spirit for a specific action. Consider the following excerpt from the Aryanyakaparva of the Mahabharata:

The Dānavas inform Duryodhana of his divinity [that he is a gift from Śiva]. They tell him that other asuras will take possession [praveksyanti] of Bhisma, Drona, Krpa, and the others; and possessed [āvistāh] by them they will fight his enemies ruthlessly… Pitiless, possessed by the Dānavas, their inner souls overwhelmed they battle with their relations and cast all love far off… moreover, groups of Dānavas and Rākshasas will take on lives in the wombs of the baronage [ksatrayonisu] and fight mightily with enemies…They also tell Duryodhana that whenever fear arises in him from Arjuna, for that too they have devised a means: the soul of the slain Naraka will take the body of Karna in order to slay Arjuna.. These Kaurava heroes possessed were overcome by passion and darkness and sought the death of Phalguna (Arjuna). Thus, Bhima, Drona, Krpa and the others were no longer friendly towards the sons of Pandu, now that their minds were taken over by Dānavas [danavakrantacetasah].” [Mahabharata by Johannes Adrianus Bernardus van Buitenen]

In other words, it was not merely Kauravas, who were fighting the war, but also asuras and rakshashas who had taken control over the army, an aspect clearly missed in popular readings of the Mahabharata.

Apart from these we also have the story of Nala and Damayanti, where the former gets possessed by Kali (the personification of Kali Yuga), who perverts his mind; we also read about Vipula Bhargava, who is instructed to protect the wife of his Guru, Devasarman, from the sexual advances of Indra. The text says Vipula knew that Indra could not be kept at bay using any physical barriers. So, he decides to enter her mind and body, through her eyes, in what can be called a kind of hypnosis maybe, like wind enters an empty space, and then using his subtle body enters Ruci’s limbs using the power of Yoga, yogenanupravisya, in which he was clearly an adept. When Indra arrives stealthily, he is taken off guard when he heard Ruci responding in eloquent Sanskrit. He immediately suspects something and using his own divine sight, divyena caksusa, finds Vipula in possession of Ruci’s mind and body. Scared that the ascetic may utter a curse, Indra trembles and returns back to his own realm. The important aspect and lesson we gather from this story is that not only is possession an aspect of interaction between a deity and an individual, or an ethereal being and a human, but can also be employed by yogis to enter and control someone else’s mind and body. We shall see more of this later.

The Beginning

Possession was a prevalent idea even in the Vedas, and a careful study of the Vedic verses help us to understand how this unique and important idea was employed to describe matters of theophany. Consider the following verses from the Rig Veda:

Vastospate prati janihy asman svaveso anamivo bhava nah [RV 7:54.1]

Respond to us, O Lord of the house; may you be easy of entry [sv-avesah]. Do not bring us disease.
Somarudra vi vrhatam visucim visucim amiva ya no gayam a vivesa [RV 6.74.2]

Soma and Rudra, drive away in all directions the illness that has possessed our dwelling.
So apam napad anabhimlatavarno ‘nyasyeveha tanva vivesa [RV 2.35.13]

Apam Napat, Agni as son of the waters, of unfading color, *entered* this world as it (entering) another’s body

munayo vatarasanah drse kesidram jyotir ucyate | vatasyanu dhrajim yanti yad devaso aviksata || [RV 10..136.2]

The munis, reined by the wind, wear yellow garments. They glide with the wind when the gods have possessed [them].

In the Upanishads, which were a distillation of the vedic philosophy, we find the idea used to explain the mechanics of creation. The īśopaniṣad describes how the inert world was entered, permeated, possessed and animated by the Lord (isa):

isavasyam idam sarvam yatkinca jagatyam jagat.

The śvetāśvataropaniṣat states that the world is filled with the purusha, implying that it was empty before being possessed by the Divine:

naniyo na jyayo ‘sti kimc it | vrkseva stabdho
divi tisthaty ekas tenedam purnam purusena sarvam ||

There is a strong textual evidence that one of the earliest and most prevalent ways of describing the Universe and world was an act of possession, first by the Supreme, and then by deities. The Aitareya Upanishad tells of a man possessed by deities, but governed centrally by a greater and original deity.
It says: “In the beginning this world was the Self, one alone, and there was no other being at all that blinked an eye. He thought, let me create the world.” [atman va idam ek evagra asin nanyat kimcana misat | sa iksata lokan nu srija iti] Eventually, the deities were created, who then became hungry, and wanted a place where they could establish themselves and “eat”. First a cow was brought, then a horse, but both proved inadequate, so a man was created. “Then he, the atman told them to enter into their respective dwelling [ta abravid yathayatanam pravisata]. So, fire became speech and entered the mouth; the wind became breath and entered the nostrils; the sun became sight and entered the eyes; the quarters became hearing and entered the ears; moon became mind and entered the heart; death became the in-breath and entered the navel..” etc. Then, the atman thought these deities cannot function without it, so it pondered from which place should it enter man and then decided to “split open the head at the point where the hairs part and entered through that gate” [sa etam va simanam vidaryaitaya dwara prapadyata].


The Rishis, who composed our Upanishads were clear that the world and the human being is animated by a great act of original possession, where the Divine enters into and controls the activities of this world, albeit from behind a veil, rendering of which is the key to adhyatmic realizations. While some may look at this as mere doctrinal position, it however has undeniable application in the ritualistic heart of Sanatana Dharma. Consider for example the popular practice of nyāsa for a deity, whether Vedic or Tantric. The intent of nyāsa is to correctly place, by using the power of mantra, the appropriate form or forms of a deity or deities in various parts of the body or even an object or image. It is only after a nyāsa, successful one it is assumed, that the sādhaka enters into a state of being possessed, or a communion, when he is suited for further ritual engagement. Consider this excerpt from the nyāsa to be performed before Rudradhyāya:

prajanane brahma tisthatu | padayor visnus tisthatu | hastayor haras tisthatu | bahvor indras tisthatu | jathara ‘gnis tisthatu | hrdaye Śivas tisthatu | kanthe vasavas tisthantu | etc.
May Brahma be established in my organ of generation! May Vishnu be established in my feet. May Hara be established in my hand! May Indra be established in my arms! May Agni be established in my belly.   May Śiva be established in my heart, etc.

Clearly, executed by the right kind of sādhaka, the above is nothing, but an invocation for possession, which results in divination of the body. In Tantra, too nyāsa constitutes an integral part of ritual purification of the five elements that are supposed to compose human beings. Same applies even for mudrā. The great Tantrika masters from Kashmir, Abhinavagupta and Kshemaraja considered mudrā as a “way of accessing higher layers of the cosmos, meaning individual consciousness is absorbed into or possessed (āvesa) by mudrā…one’s own body becomes possessed by the mudrā and mantra, which can be read as becoming a channel for higher cosmic powers, which erode the sense of individuality and distinction.” [Gavin Flood, 1993.]. Abhinavagupta, further, says that all actions of an awakened one are in fact mudrā! Not only mudrā, but even asana was considered by Kshemaraja as something more than mere posture, as a manifest power (bala) of the supreme Shakti.

Possession in Yoga

We hear of possession also in the Yogic context where an individual is able to enter into another, and take control of the latter’s mind or body. We have already seen the example of Vipula Bhargava and Ruci. In the medieval era, we hear of Adi Shankara possessing the body of a dead king during a celebrated debate. Similarly, even the popular Vetālapañcaviṃśati is replete with stories of possessions of one living individual by another, or by spirits of different kinds.
Specifically in the 3rd adhyaya of Patanjali’s Yogasūtras, we find the chapter dealing with supernormal powers – vibhuti, siddhi – gained as a result of Yoga, describe in one telling verse how entering (āvesa) of ones chitta into another’s body becomes possible. It is the dilution of the karmic-web in a Siddha or a Yogic adept, that occurs due to frequent and long experience of samadhi, which gives him the ability, or power, according to Vyasa, to make his chitta (mind-stuff, for lack of better word) enter into the body or mind of another, irrespective of physical distance, and govern the possessed individual, physically, if the power is that strong, or mentally, by introducing thoughts into the mind. Different commentators have given more detailed descriptions of the process, but essentially are in unison when accepting the validity of this.

Narayana Tirtha, author of Yogasiddhantachandrika, says that after a thread that connects the chitta to the body of the yogi is severed, the experience of entering another body, whether dead or alive, is like entering a new country. Moreover, there is a term used in the Yogasūtras – samyama – while describing various siddhis. This can be broadly understood, from an experiential point of view, to include and combine three central limbs of yoga: dharana, dhyana and samadhi. For example, the text says, when a Yogi practices samyama on different kinds of strengths, he may acquire the strength of an elephant. Samyama follows the same psychological mechanism of possession, of the essence of an object or attribute, entering into and pervading the consciousness of the yogi, who by dint of his superior and immobile concentration is able to actualize the attribute inside his being. It is also important to note, and this is another vital differentiation between casual pop-ideas of possession and that which comes to us from śāstras, is that the act can be initiated either by the possessor or the possessed. In case of Yogic possession of another mind-body, it is mostly the possessor who acts, while in the case of samyama or non-individualized, attributive possession, the Yogi calls into his being those attributes, which he wants to manifest inside him.

Similarly, in the previous instances of possession by deities, of which evidences are plenty, practically, it is more often an invocation by the possessed, which results in the altered state. Even the final section of the Brahmasūtra describes a liberated being as having the ability to enter another body, as a flame can enter another wick.

In the YogaVāsiṣṭha, we find a brilliant passage where Vāsiṣṭha tells a child Rama about King Sikhidhvaya and his devoted wife Cudala, while illuminating how Kundalini Shakti is used to enter into different states, beings or even other forms of matter.

“Like a smoke rising from fire, the kundalini shakti, freed through the nadis, rising from the muladhara, merges into the cosmic void (vyom). This citizen (nagari, that is Kundalini), like a puff of smoke is a spectacle vibrating internally, enveloped by an ego-sense (ahamkara), which comprises the living being embraced by manas and buddhi. She is capable of moving about at will, entering into (niryati) a lotus stalk, a mountain, grass, a wall, a rock, the sky, or the surface of the earth. She alone becomes consciousness, establishing itself step by step, filed from beginning to the end with its fluid essence (rasa). Immersed in this essence, it becomes like a leather bag in water, O Rama, this quickly assumed any desired shape, as she places in the mind of an artist lines of certain shape. Due to influence of a resolute intention (drdhabhava) she develops an internal skeleton. Like a fetus growing inside a mother, this extremely subtle energy becomes established in its own germinated sprout. O Raghava, know this truth which has been formulated by the learned, that the energy of a living being (jivashakti) can turn itself into anything, from the Mt. Meru to a patch of grass.”
In another part of the text, Vāsiṣṭha describes that when prana is led into a state of stability by engaging in the practice of breath retention after exhalation at a distance of 12 fingers from the mouth, one can enter (pravisati) into the body of another person.
This is how a Yogi is able to transform his shakti and enter into or possess another being or object and bring the same under his control.

Some Vaishnava literature describe possession-like states generated by intense emotion – bhāvāvesa. Even today there can be seen examples of bhāvāvesa during rural performances of Krishna or Rama lila, where the actor gets possessed, or completely absorbed in the essence of the deity due to his extreme emotional engagement. However, while true āvesa is full-fledged entering of a deity or force into another individual, thus altering his individuality completely, bhāvāvesa is a more specific experience, where the self-identity of the subject is not necessarily threatened.
Apart from bhāvaseva we also have a proximal phenomenon of extreme rasāvesa, where possession is induced onto a practitioner using, inter alia, one of the nine fundamental rasas of existence. More details of this can be found in mudrākosa of Jayadrathayamala.

Possession in Tantra

In Tantric literature possession acquires a more central status, which ranges from the exalted references of samāveśa, to the more mundane, but rampant instances of oracular possession. Alexis Sanderson, in his seminal work on rare Tantric and Hatha Yogic texts, describe tantric initiates venturing into settings where “the uninitiated were in the greatest danger of possession: on mountains, in caves, by rivers, in forests, at the feet of isolated trees, in deserted houses, at crossroads, in the jungle temples of the Mother Goddesses, but above all in the cremation grounds… [These ritualists] moved away from the domain of autonomy and responsibility idealized by the Mīmāṃsākas into a visionary world of permeable consciousness dominated by the female and the theomorphic.”

 The kāpālika text Saivaparibhasa states succinctly, “kāpālikas attain samayam, (equipoise) through samāveśa. Just as spirits possess people in ordinary life, in the same way Śiva, possesses those who are liberated.” Of course, the siddhāntika saivaism differed from this position, considering it a dangerous statement, and categorized and moderated different types possession by applying suitable doses of spiritual discipline.  But, scholars are certain that according to Kashmiri Saivism, liberation was a product of samāveśa and not samadhi, the latter being a static and temporary equipoise. Especially, in the non-siddhāntika variety, moksa was definitely considered as a special kind of samāveśa or possession by the Supreme. There are evidences that disembodied masters could enter into the body and mind of a disciple during initiation ritual – shaktipatha, and this would be visible to others by symptoms such as convulsions (ghurni, kampan), and/or loss of normal consciousness, while the degree of possession revealed by the tivrata – intensity – of these signs. Entering into the fourth stature of consciousness, Turiya or Turiyata, was possible, according to the Tantric tradition, only when uninterrupted ontological condition of samāveśa has been perfected over a long time. In short, by general agreement practitioners thought it was unlike for a sādhaka to enter into the highest states of liberation without being absorbed or possessed by a higher deity, or the Supreme, in this case, Śiva.

Professor Fredrick Smith mentions a text named Brhaddevata, probably from 1st millennium C.E., dealing with the deities of the Rig Veda, which states that the highest performance of the sacrifice entails “fully introducing the deity into the mind” (manasi samnyasya devatam); in other words being possessed completely by the deity to whom the sacrifice is being offered. This is essentially non-different from the later Tantric idea that only perfection of samāveśa would allow the deity to inhabit, instruct, guide and direct the sādhaka on how exactly the worship is to be executed to its complete satisfaction. Therefore, the colloquial dictum, only Śiva knows how to worship Śiva, or becoming (the deity) is better and higher than normal worship.
There is, of course, plenty more literature and angles through which possession can be viewed, examined, and understood; those interested may take up the study on their own. In the perspective of Sanatana Dharma, unlike in Judeo-Christian tradition, possession in its true scope and origin is not only a fundamental theological mechanism, but also an indicator of liberation and enlightenment – at least of some kind, because these two English words are nothing more than loose, modern day approximations covering a wide range of complex and differing spiritual states described in the śāstras.
References:
Deity and Spirit Possession in South Asia, Frederick M. Smith
The identity and significance of the valmikikavapa in the Vedic sacrificial ritual, Frederick Smith and S.J.Carri.
The Sauptikaparvan of the Mahabharata: The Massacre at Night, W. J. Johnson.
Pleasure and the emotions in Tantric Saiva Soteriology, Alexis Anderson.
Disclaimer: The facts and opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. India Facts does not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article.

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