Ghosts-2
Atheists accept only what they can register with their senses or the instruments created by their blunt materialistic senses. What they cannot see they do not accept.
Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on a Morning walk in Bombay, India, April 12th 1974 had the following conversation with one Indian man. Srila Prabhupada. "........And you have not seen so many things. Does it mean that does not exist? You are researching. You have not seen. As a scientist.........."
Indian man. "I have heard lots of ghost stories, but......."
Srila Prabhupada. "No, No it is not stories. We are hearing from Bhagavata, it is authority. We are not hearing the stories of third class man. We are hearing form Vyasadeva. Vyasadeva............"
Indian man. " But you see, up till now, in my long life of eighty years........."
Srila Prabhupada, "No, No you have not so many experiences. That does not mean these things do not exist. Your experience is not all in all. Don't think like that. So these are existing actually. That is the defect, that you do not accept the authorities. That is the defect. Here Vyasadeva is describing, who is called Vyasadeva, full of all knowledge, and the Bhagavata is a mature experience. We are hearing from him. Why do you not believe? I may not have experience. This ghost means the living entity is subtle life without any material body. That is ghost. When one is very sinful, he does not get the material body. He lives in the subtle body: mind, intelligence and ego. That is ghostly life. And they display. Because they have no body, one cannot see, but they display so many mischief's. That is ghostly life. Seeing or not seeing doesn't matter. Therefore it is enjoined in the Vedanta Sutra, shastra caksusa (see through the bona fide scriptures)."
Indian man. "But it should be proved."
Srila Prabhupada. "It is true because it is spoken by Vyasadeva. How you say it is false? You cannot say that. That is blasphemy."
Indian man. "In olden days there used to be the ghosts and all these things, but now that is gradually............"
Srila Prabhupada. "But gradually..........! That does not mean you have improved very much. Because you do not believe in ghost........................!"
We have seen that such mysteries are explained in the Vedic literatures if one takes time to research. For example there are many mentions of ghosts in the scriptures, i.e., in the Srimad Bhagavatam in connection with Daksha, as followers of Lord Shiva............. etc., in Sri Caitanya Caritamrta in connection with Chotta Hari das. The Bhagavad Gita states that those who worship ghosts go to them, Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta mentions in connection with Srila Prabhupada staying at John Lennon's house and the ghost that was removed by Srila Prabhupad. Sripad Ramanujacarya's former wife at one time was possessed by one, until Ramanuja relieved her of that burden. Sripad Madhwacarya parents and party were attacked by a Brahma Raksasa ghost as they carried the small baby boy Vasudev (Madhwacarya) returning from the Anantasana Temple a week after Madhwas' birth. The follower of Sripad Madhwacarya, Sripad Vadiraj Tirtha Swami had, as his servant, shishya, one very powerful ghost named Bhutaraj, who used to help him to defeat mayavadis, and other heretics who tried to attack him. In the life of Sri Raghavendra Tirtha Swami it mentions how his former wife became a ghost after terminating her own body out of separation, when he took sannyasam. He then liberated her from that situation with the water from his kumandalu, so do not worry for her. Sri Vayu Purana briefly mentions ghosts, as do other Puranas, but Garuda Purana dedicates four chapters to them, what is their cause, their description, problems arising from them, and their release. So I would like to say without fear of contradiction, that according to shastra, and in my humble opinion there is such a designation, as ghost (which is to be avoided by all sane persons).
So what is it that causes one to inhabit such a ghostly form, instead of a gross body like ours. The answer is untimely death. Untimely death means that it was either premature; such as an accident, disease, suicide, etc. Something that interfered with the normal expanse of a person's life. One may rightly argue that surely that interruptions would have been because of that soul's karma, so in one sense it is not untimely, it is their just deserves. That is true, but at the same time, when a suffering conditioned soul is unprepared for this kind of death, such lack of knowledge about what is going on is very untimely.
Such an untimely death causes for the individual who is attached to their body, family, situation around them great lamentation due to attachments. They're suddenly in a strange and unfamiliar situation, surrounded by other more established ghosts/spirits who have some idea, maybe not about self realisation, but about what is needed to get them out of their present bondage. Of course there are others who are so absorbed in their sufferings and plight that they are traumertised in the past.
Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on a Morning walk in Bombay, India, April 12th 1974 had the following conversation with one Indian man. Srila Prabhupada. "........And you have not seen so many things. Does it mean that does not exist? You are researching. You have not seen. As a scientist.........."
Indian man. "I have heard lots of ghost stories, but......."
Srila Prabhupada. "No, No it is not stories. We are hearing from Bhagavata, it is authority. We are not hearing the stories of third class man. We are hearing form Vyasadeva. Vyasadeva............"
Indian man. " But you see, up till now, in my long life of eighty years........."
Srila Prabhupada, "No, No you have not so many experiences. That does not mean these things do not exist. Your experience is not all in all. Don't think like that. So these are existing actually. That is the defect, that you do not accept the authorities. That is the defect. Here Vyasadeva is describing, who is called Vyasadeva, full of all knowledge, and the Bhagavata is a mature experience. We are hearing from him. Why do you not believe? I may not have experience. This ghost means the living entity is subtle life without any material body. That is ghost. When one is very sinful, he does not get the material body. He lives in the subtle body: mind, intelligence and ego. That is ghostly life. And they display. Because they have no body, one cannot see, but they display so many mischief's. That is ghostly life. Seeing or not seeing doesn't matter. Therefore it is enjoined in the Vedanta Sutra, shastra caksusa (see through the bona fide scriptures)."
Indian man. "But it should be proved."
Srila Prabhupada. "It is true because it is spoken by Vyasadeva. How you say it is false? You cannot say that. That is blasphemy."
Indian man. "In olden days there used to be the ghosts and all these things, but now that is gradually............"
Srila Prabhupada. "But gradually..........! That does not mean you have improved very much. Because you do not believe in ghost........................!"
We have seen that such mysteries are explained in the Vedic literatures if one takes time to research. For example there are many mentions of ghosts in the scriptures, i.e., in the Srimad Bhagavatam in connection with Daksha, as followers of Lord Shiva............. etc., in Sri Caitanya Caritamrta in connection with Chotta Hari das. The Bhagavad Gita states that those who worship ghosts go to them, Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta mentions in connection with Srila Prabhupada staying at John Lennon's house and the ghost that was removed by Srila Prabhupad. Sripad Ramanujacarya's former wife at one time was possessed by one, until Ramanuja relieved her of that burden. Sripad Madhwacarya parents and party were attacked by a Brahma Raksasa ghost as they carried the small baby boy Vasudev (Madhwacarya) returning from the Anantasana Temple a week after Madhwas' birth. The follower of Sripad Madhwacarya, Sripad Vadiraj Tirtha Swami had, as his servant, shishya, one very powerful ghost named Bhutaraj, who used to help him to defeat mayavadis, and other heretics who tried to attack him. In the life of Sri Raghavendra Tirtha Swami it mentions how his former wife became a ghost after terminating her own body out of separation, when he took sannyasam. He then liberated her from that situation with the water from his kumandalu, so do not worry for her. Sri Vayu Purana briefly mentions ghosts, as do other Puranas, but Garuda Purana dedicates four chapters to them, what is their cause, their description, problems arising from them, and their release. So I would like to say without fear of contradiction, that according to shastra, and in my humble opinion there is such a designation, as ghost (which is to be avoided by all sane persons).
So what is it that causes one to inhabit such a ghostly form, instead of a gross body like ours. The answer is untimely death. Untimely death means that it was either premature; such as an accident, disease, suicide, etc. Something that interfered with the normal expanse of a person's life. One may rightly argue that surely that interruptions would have been because of that soul's karma, so in one sense it is not untimely, it is their just deserves. That is true, but at the same time, when a suffering conditioned soul is unprepared for this kind of death, such lack of knowledge about what is going on is very untimely.
Such an untimely death causes for the individual who is attached to their body, family, situation around them great lamentation due to attachments. They're suddenly in a strange and unfamiliar situation, surrounded by other more established ghosts/spirits who have some idea, maybe not about self realisation, but about what is needed to get them out of their present bondage. Of course there are others who are so absorbed in their sufferings and plight that they are traumertised in the past.
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