Life After Death-Part VII

Continued From The Sixth Part

Contacting The Dead

Spiritualism in common parlance means contacting the dead man, meaning not the dead body but the subtle body (mind and intellect) which we call the spirit of the dead man.

In our Sastras it is said that one can contact the dead man. One man sits apart, keeps his hands on the table and by chanting some mantras asks the other man to think of the dead man whom the other man wants to contact. The table shakes and it is said that at that time the spirit of the dead man has come. By putting him some questions we get the reply in written words through the system of a small wheel table running on an alphabetical card. We get the information only which the dead man had the knowledge of when he was alive in his last birth.

Generally, we find information gathered is not hundred per cent correct. We get more accurate and intelligent reply from the spirit of the dead man if the said man was very intelligent when he alive.

Our Sastras forbid our calling the spirits of the dead ones, because" by calling them here, perhaps we ask them to come down into a lower world. At the time if the spirits are at higher realms of experience, by calling them here down we stop their pilgrimage.

Instead of sending their blessings, they curse us!

.In this world also we find that no one wants to come down from a higher state to a lower one. But if one is forced to come down from a higher state he curses those responsible for his fall.

Then why should they respond to our call when they are in a higher realm of experience. It is because when we call them they are overpowered by their love and attachment for the dear ones. It has been found often that some spirits refuse to come down because, they are not overpowered by the attachment of their dear ones, and thus they do not like to come down from the higher state to this lower state and they continue their pilgrimage to a Higher Reality.

Here don't we see similar things, in certain parents sacrificing their principles and happiness to make their younger dear ones more happy? A young man has great love for a particular girl and wants to many her. But his father does not like the said match.

They want to get their Son married to one from a higher cultured family. After a lot of persuasions if the son still wants to many that particular girl, the parents, though not happy, sacrifice their happiness in preference to that of their son. It is because of his attachment to his son. Therefore by calling the spirit of the dead man, we are not going to do any good for our dear one. If we are not able to do something good for our dear ones, at least we should not do something bad to them.

Again there are two schools on the same subject. One says that we should never call the spirit of the dead man under any circumstances. The second says that of course we should not call the spirit of the dead one for personal benefits, but if the motive is selfless we can call it.

Suppose the king of the country is lying on his death bed. The family doctor who knew the disease of the king and the medicine by which the king was cured from the same disease in the past, is dead. In this case the spirit of the dead doctor can be called and asked for the cure. If the good king survives. it is a gain for the whole nation.

Their theory is built on this ground that in every action there is goodness and badness. We should not do those actions wherein there is greater percentage of badness than goodness. But we can certainly do actions in which there is a better percentage of goodness than badness. Therefore, we should call the spirit of the dead doctor for the survival of the good king by which action even though we cause sorrow to one spirit, the whole nation is benefited.

Now. it is left to each individual to think these ideas independently and act intelligently.

About the author

Swami Chinmayananda

Swami Chinmayananda the great master's lectures were an outpour of wisdom. He introduced the Geetha Gnana Yagna. He wrote a lot of books on spirituality, commentaries to Vedantic texts, children books etc. He then started spreading His teachings globally.....