Luminous Bodies and Microvita

Published in:

Microvitum in a Nutshell [a compilation]

Notes:

official source: Microvitum in a Nutshell

this version: is the printed Microvitum in a Nutshell, 4th edition, version (obvious spelling, punctuation and typographical mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition.

Gandhapisháca.(1) The word pisháca means “a kind of pretayoni”. Whether or not human beings become devayonis after their demise depends upon their nature or mentality. Only those human beings who were elevated during their lifetimes become devayonis [luminous bodies] after they die. On the other hand, disembodied souls attain the status of pretayonis until they are reborn in other forms. That is, when people with many demerits die, they become pretayonis according to their defective mentality. These pretayonis are divided into several categories – durmukha, kabandha, madhyakapála, mahákapála, brahmadaetya or brahmapisháca, ákáshiipreta, and pisháca.

Durmukha pretayonis. There are people who give mental clash to others due to their lack of education or for some other reason. After death they want to continue giving mental clash to others as durmukha pretayonis. These pretayonis are reborn as human beings after undergoing the consequences of their actions for a long, long time.

Kabandha. People who commit suicide due to humiliation, psychic distortion, frustration or the overpowering influence of excessive attachment, anger, greed, vanity, jealousy, etc. get the status of kabandhayoni after death. Wherever these entities happen to see other human beings under the spell of psychic derangement, they incite them to commit suicide.

Madhyakapála. People who are mentally restless or who have an unstable nature say one thing in the morning, something else at midday and something different again in the evening. Due to their restlessness, they not only cause trouble for themselves, they also cause trouble for others. They get the status of madhyakapála after their demise.

Mahákapála. Those who harm others while trying to fulfil their own selfish ends, those who practise Avidyá Tantra in the name of Vidyá Tantra, and those with a sinister, sadistic nature who mercilessly kill millions of innocent people by manufacturing lethal weapons get the status of mahákapála after their demise. They always keep trying to destroy the living world.

Brahmadaetya or Brahmapisháca. Those intellectuals who do not utilize their intellect for constructive purposes, but rather misuse their intellect to suppress others or create inferiority complexes in others get this status after their demise.

Ákáshiipreta. Those who always engage in destructive activities goaded by their ambition, regardless of their ability, and those who are not averse to committing any heinous crime to fulfil their ambition get this status after their demise. They are reborn as human beings after reaping the consequences of their actions for a long period of time.

Pisháca. Those who look upon everything as their object of enjoyment without considering whether or not they are edible, get this status after their demise. They are a kind of negative microvita.

It has already been stated that microvita move through tanmátras, that is, the inferences of sound, touch, form, taste and smell. These five inferences are the carriers of these microvita. The movement from sound to smell represents movement towards crudity, and the movement from smell to sound represents movement towards subtlety. Negative microvita prefer the smell tanmátra more than the sound tanmátra, and in the same way positive microvita prefer the sound tanmátra more than the smell tanmátra. In other words, negative microvita do not like the sound tanmátra as much as they like the smell tanmátra, and similarly positive microvita do not like the smell tanmátra as much as negative microvita do.

Previously, in another context, I said that various kinds of negative microvita which have, up to now, been called a “virus”, damage human beings. Different diseases take the help of different kinds of tanmátras. From country to country, from planet to planet, and from the far distant frontiers of the universe, these negative microvita carry the seeds of destructive diseases. These varieties of negative microvita also spread mean-mindedness and negative psychic complexes. Similarly, from various planets and distant nebulae, varieties of positive microvita bring pious, sentient thoughts and elevating sentiments. Likewise, the pious aspirations and sentiments of a mighty personality and those of many individuals penetrate into the cosmic wave and spread throughout the universe with the help of these positive microvita. Positive microvita convert milk into curd and thereby serve humanity. They also guide human sentiments and ideas along the path of synthesis so that these sentiments and ideas are eventually transmuted into pinnacled intellect. You may say that these positive microvita are the emanations of Parama Puruśa – the effulgence of Parama Puruśa.

There are some diseases – and their number is not negligible – which are carried by the inference of smell. Most of the skin diseases and boils which have a bad smell are carried by the smell inference. The disease of the laryngitis (in which the voice becomes hoarse and ulcers in the throat emit a foul smell) is invariably carried by the inference of smell. Those who sing for long periods of time or deliver lengthy speeches are likely to be attacked by laryngitis which is carried by negative microvita. This disease can be avoided or cured if sarvauṋgásana [shoulder stand] and matsyamudrá [fish pose] are practised regularly in ascending and descending order, then cloves and betel leaves are boiled together and the warm water is drunk through the nose, and the portion of the tongue near the uvula is then cleaned with the middle finger of the hand while the water is still in the throat. Finally, the water should be ejected from the mouth.

Negative microvita also attack the human mind through the smell inference. If a person sits in a wine bar or pub and the smell of different alcoholic beverages enters oneʼs nose, the smell will influence oneʼs mind. One may also order a drink from the bar! The scriptures say:

Satsauṋgena bhavenmuktirasatsauṋgeśu bandhanam

[Good company leads to emancipation. Conversely, evil company leads to bondages.]

Although the human mind and body are attacked via all the five inferences, virulent attacks come from the smell inference, and then next from the form inference. If even a decent man visits an area which is not usually frequented by decent gentlemen, his mind is bound to degenerate. When referring to “evil company”, good people include bad places. Negative microvita carried by the smell inference cannot easily influence the minds of those who are engaged in elevating their minds through sádhaná, those whose minds mostly roam in the upper plexi, or those who are keen to roam in the upper plexi. Even if negative microvita do influence the minds of such people, they cannot influence the mind as easily as the body.

Negative microvita cannot influence a personʼs mind at all when oneʼs mind is moving in the higher cakras. They cannot even fully control the body, although they can have a negative influence to some extent. If a person in a state of meditation keeps his or her mind concentrated at a higher cakra for a long time, and immediately after that negative microvita carried by the smell inference enter the body, these negative microvita cannot overpower the person, but they can do so partially. But if the mind moves towards crude objects, at that time the negative microvita do not spare the person – they will attack the person severely. This sort of negative microvita about which we are talking is called gandhapisháca.

Ghosts or elves are not really ghosts and elves – they are gandhapishácas. With the dawning of reason and intellect on the dogma infected minds of the people of the past, the clouds of ignorance began to disappear from the human mind. So-called ghosts, elves, goblins, demons, etc. are disappearing into nothingness. The disembodied minds of diseased persons who have certain merits or demerits were sometimes wrongly called pretayonis. In fact, they are the entities which are the carriers of so-called merits or demerits. Of all the varieties of negative microvita, those which are carried by the senses and are harmful are known as gandhapisháca. These gandhapishácas have their different categories.(2)

18 September 1988, Kolkata

from Discourse 141

Shabda Cayanikaʼ Part 18

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Gandhayakśińii. It is said that so-called pretayonis are of seven types, but in fact they are the seven varieties of negative microvita. Not all the seven varieties of pretayonis are carried by the smell inference. Gandhayakśińii refers to the pisháca variety of pretayoni which are carried by the smell inference. Although there are seven varieties of pretayonis – that is, negative microvita – there may be some other pretayonis besides these. Similarly, there are seven varieties of devayonis – that is, positive microvita – and besides these there may also be other varieties of positive microvita. The seven varieties of devayoni are yakśa, kinnara, gandharva, vidyádhara, prakrtiliina, videhaliina and siddha.

Those who were decent human beings and deeply spiritual, and used to collect money for a noble cause, but in the process of fund-raising forgot Parama Puruśa and attached greater importance to their fund-raising at the cost of Parama Puruśa – that is, they remembered Parama Puruśa as part of dharma sádhaná and collected money for a great cause, and although Parama Puruśa was the goal collecting money became the dominant desire – attain the state of yakśa devayoni after their demise. In feminine gender, yakśa becomes yakśińii. Although yakśińii sádhaná is a part of Avidyá Tantra, the yakśińii itself is an entity between vidyá and avidyá because the personʼs mind in whom yakśińii tendencies or positive microvita come was not a bad person. So gandhayakśińii refers to that type of microvita which does not come within the scope of positive or negative microvita. As there was a predominant sentiment for dharma in such entities, they are positive microvita, and later as the dominant spiritual sentiment became secondary, they are negative microvita.

This sort of positive microvita exerts greater influence on the mind than on the body. They cannot exert their influence when the human mind remains spiritually elevated, but as soon as the mind descends, their influence starts. These microvita do not divert the mind from the path of dharma, but they do not allow the human mind to accept dharma as the dominant propensity. They advise human beings, “Practise dharma sádhaná as and where you are. Continue it in perfect adjustment with everything.” That is, they advise a kind of selfish adjustment.

This sort of negative microvita have both a positive and negative influence on the body, but not a destructive influence. For easy understanding, we may use the term “intermediate microvita” instead of the terms positive microvita or negative microvita. Of these intermediary microvita, which are of the nature of yakśas – that is, who did not forget Parama Puruśa, but who wrongly attached greater importance to amassing wealth and accept the smell inferences as their media in the disembodied state – are called gandha-yakśińii. By careful research it will be found that they travel through many special types of smell.

Suppose Shyam Babu was about to set out for Kolkata from Burdwan on urgent business, and the purpose of his trip was good. But when he was about to depart from his house, he suddenly developed an acute pain in the abdomen, so he could not leave at the appointed time. After a while, he arrived at the station to catch the next train. At the station, he learnt that the train he was supposed to have taken had met with an accident at Mogra station. As his journey was delayed his work was no doubt inconvenienced, but his life was saved. This was the work of gandhayakśińii.

It may also have happened that Shyam Babu arrived late at Burdwan. He naturally thought that his work would be delayed because as the next train would come much later, he would be late in reaching Kolkata. Meanwhile, the scheduled train arrived. As there was no departure signal at Khana Junction, it was late in reaching Burdwan. This was also the work of gandhayakśińii.

In fact, yakśińii is not a goddess or any particular entity, but an intermediary microvita which is partly positive and partly negative.

Gandharukmińii. Let us discuss Rukmińii. Rukmińii was Krśńaʼs wife. She was the daughter of the King of Arunacala. In the British period, Arunacala was known as N.E.F.A. – North Eastern Frontier Agency. During the rule of the Ahom Dynasty, it was part of Assam and Kamrup state and its old name was Baliapara. Even in the early part of British rule, the old name was retained. Now, Rukmińii had an irresistible spiritual urge. She took an unusual interest in propagating spirituality and helping unfold the spiritual potential of human beings. When ordinary people came in her contact, they felt a tremendous change in themselves, and automatically became more spiritual than before.

The positive microvita which are carried through the smell inference try to forcibly take the human mind from ordinary mundane consciousness to the spiritual world, and as a result people notice a sudden change in themselves. They develop a feeling of non-attachment to worldly enjoyments. Their minds rush rtambhará tatra prajiṋá or the underlying omniscient faculty, and they develop a tremendous inner urge for spirituality. Nimai Pandit (later known as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu), who was full of intellectual pride and would debate with the greatest scholars of the age just to defeat them, was suddenly attacked by an invisible power and was completely transformed. He gave up all his worldly bondages and set out in quest of the truth. The force, the positive microvita, which finally brought him from Navadwip to Katowa, the confluence of the Bhagirathi and the Ajay rivers, was nothing but gandharukmińii.

Gandharva. Positive microvita are divided into seven main categories, but there are positive microvita beyond these seven categories. These seven categories are as follows – kinnara, vidyádhara, yakśa, prakrtiliina, videhaliina, siddha and gandharva. Just as pretayonis are divided into seven categories, devayonis are also divided into seven categories, as just mentioned. Similarly, just as there are seven lokas in the ascending order – Bhú, Bhuvah, Svah, Maha, Jana, Tapah and Satya – there are seven lokas in descending order – Bhú, Tala, Atala, Talátala, Pátála, Atipátála and Rasátala.

Kinnara. How handsome, how beautiful, how sweet! Is it a human being or some other entity? Kinnara is equal to kiḿ narah. In North India, in the present state of Himalchal, there is a region called Kinnara. There is some Mongolian influence amongst the people, and the inhabitants of that region are very handsome. In the past, they were called Kinnara and the region was called Kinnaradesha. The ancient name of Tibet was Kiḿpuruśavarśa. One meaning of varśa is “land” or “country”. For instance, Bháratavarśa means “the land of Bhárata”. The inhabitants of Tibet have very little hair on their bodies, so it is often difficult to distinguish between males and females, just as it is difficult to distinguish between males and females in Bhutan. Hence, in ancient Tibet, people would wonder if a person was a male. In Sanskrit the land was called Kiḿpuruśavarśa [“who, a male?”].

The word devayoni means “an entity which has a number of divine qualities”. That is to say, devayonis are positive microvita. Though siddhas are elevated human beings, those who have some aesthetic attraction for physical objects like money, ornaments, etc., become kinnaras after their demise. As spiritual aspirants they are elevated to some extent, and as human beings they are decent, but they prayed to Parama Puruśa for beauty instead of for Parama Puruśa Himself. Such people, after their demise, attain the status of kinnara devayonis. They will not hurt anyone; they are completely devoid of the instinct of harming others. Ancient people used to pray to kinnaras for guidance in the art of beautification and decoration. The science of cosmetics was once known as kinnaravidyá. In olden times, very handsome men were called “kinnaras” and very beautiful dancers were honoured as kinnaris. So, this type of positive microvita represent the psychology of beautification. All theatrical knowledge regarding cosmetics and aesthetics, and the art of beautification or aesthetic taste, came within the scope of kinnaravidyá.

Vidyádhara. The disembodied souls of those who were good people and elevated spiritualists, but who gave more importance to intellectual attainment instead of trying to realize Parama Puruśa, attain the status of vidyádhara. Maybe vidyádhara are slightly more developed then kinnaras, but they also will not attain Parama Puruśa. After their accumulated reactive momenta are exhausted, they will have to reincarnate as living entities. Vidyádhara may or may not have external physical beauty, but they certainly possess mental beauty.

Incidentally, let me tell you that devayonis are composed of three fundamental factors – ethereal, aerial and luminous. The solid and liquid factors are left on the earth after the death of the physical body. Perhaps you know that mental beauty exercises some degree of influence on the human body. A woman who is unattractive but is mentally elevated or has a loving nature will look beautiful to others. You must have heard that to a child, the most beautiful woman in the world is his or her mother. Vidyádhara also have a kind of beauty due to their inherent intellectual faculty. Vidyádhara microvita assist those who seek intellectual attainment. As vidyádhara are devayonis, they do not harm anybody. They are a type of positive microvita.

In one of my short stories I narrated the following experience. When I was a boy, the day before one of my examinations commenced, I was studying alone past midnight in my room on the third floor of our house. There were two rooms on the floor, covered by a roof. The staircase from the second floor to the third floor was closed with a gate so that thieves could not climb up to the fourth floor, so I was separated from the other members of the household. Suddenly, a peculiar sound came simultaneously from all the four corners of the room, “Learn such and such lines from such and such poem by heart.” I did accordingly. When I sat for the examination, I discovered to my utter amazement that a question concerned with the same lines of the poem appeared in the examination paper. But, however good these vidyádhara might be, they do not attain Parama Puruśa.

Yakśa. Yakśa refers to a type of devayoni which, in its previous life, asked for material wealth from Parama Puruśa, or gave more importance to accumulating wealth to perform noble deeds than to supreme spiritual attainment. It forgot Parama Puruśa, and amassing wealth became the purpose of its life. In olden times, people would worship yakśas in the hope of gathering wealth, particularly in the Buddhist and Jain periods. Usually a particular place under a fig tree or banyan tree outside a village was fixed for the worship of yakśas. Those places are called Brahmasthána today in Bihar and some areas of Ráŕh, and some people are afraid to visit these places late at night. Yakśas are not harmful entities. They help human beings, but they cannot attain Parama Puruśa. They will have to be reborn in the form of living beings after their reactive momenta have exhausted.

Prakrtiliina. Those who want Parama Puruśa but worship crude matter out of misguided devotion attain the state of prakrtiliina after they die. These disembodied minds are transformed into bricks, stone, wood, etc. Those who pray to the idols made of clay, metal or wood out of misguided devotion can never attain Parama Puruśa because one can never attain supreme knowledge through this type of worship. The state of prakrtiliina is very miserable indeed because human beings who are endowed with a developed consciousness get transformed into crude matter like stone, wood, etc. After their accumulated reactive momenta are exhausted, they attain a human body again, but as they wanted to realize Parama Puruśa, they were devayonis.

If one sits for meditation in that particular place where these devayonis exist in the form of stone or wood in ardent expectation of their emancipation, positive microvita will help a spiritual aspirant. As they are devayonis, they do not harm anyone – rather they assist spiritualists. You must have noticed that while meditating at some places the mind becomes concentrated very quickly. This usually happens due to the grace of the Guru. It also happens through the cooperation of those devayonis which have attained the state of prakrtiliina. If mental concentration comes with the help of devayonis, a spiritual aspirant will sense a light sweet smell in the nose, but if this happens due to the grace of the Guru, along with the sweet smell the spiritual aspirant will glimpse fragmented waves of effulgent light, like glittering poppy seeds, whether the eyes are opened or closed. Either by the cooperation of devayonis or by the grace of the Guru, both experiences are manifestations of divine grace. When spiritual aspirants experience the direct grace of Parama Puruśa during meditation, they perceive a kind of light smell which makes their minds intoxicated with joy. Simultaneously, they visualise fragments of effulgence and experience a state of intoxicated hilarity which makes them oblivious to all kinds of petty differences, and transports them into the realm of cosmic oneness. In that state of blissful communion, the Guru and Iishvara become one, producing a kind of sweet vibration in the spiritual aspirant who realizes:

Guru krpáhi kevalam

[The Guruʼs grace is everything.]

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Brahmaeva Gururekah náparah

[Brahma alone is the Guru.]

Videhaliina. Those who continue their spiritual practices and at the same time seek liberation from the bondages of the solid and liquid factors pray, “O God, I am fed up with all these mundane problems, please grant me liberation. So many problems come and distract my mind. Why do I experience so many misfortunes? My son failed his examinations; my daughter fell seriously ill; the bank where I kept my savings closed down. How many more misfortunes are waiting for me? Enough of all this. Please grant me emancipation.” People with this type of psychology attain the state of videhaliina after their demise – an unbearable condition. After their reactive momenta are exhausted, they are reborn again. These videhaliina devayonis help living beings. They do not harm anyone because they are positive microvita.

Siddha. The best and most useful of all the devayonis are the siddhas. Those who continue their spiritual practices, crossing the various stages due to cosmic grace, develop occult powers in the process of their forward movement. The collection of the six types of occult powers are called śad́a aeshvarya. The collection of the eight occult powers are called aśt́a aeshvarya. Some of these occult powers are not attainable by ordinary penance, but they may be attained due to unconditional Cosmic grace. Some of these occult powers – which are nothing but the unconditional grace of Parama Puruśa – are parakáya-pravesha or entering into the body of others; sarvajiṋatvá or omniscience; vák siddhi or the power to make whatever one says come true; etc. By dint of sádhaná, when sádhakas are established in the supreme truth, theoretically one can attain these states, but practically omniscient intellect is attained only by unconditional Cosmic grace. Some other occult powers – for instance to perform the work of one sense organ through another sense organ, or to express one indriya through another indriya – are not attainable through individual effort. Due to unconditional grace, Parama Puruśa does not distribute all these occult powers, and the reason why He does not is known only to Him. These powers are the exclusive powers of Parama Puruśa.

The powers which are confined to Parama Puruśa alone are known as vibhúti garimá, not garimá alone. Garimá means “one of the occult powers of aśt́a aeshvarya”. As Shiva was endowed with all sorts of occult powers, one of the names of Shiva is Vibhútinátha or Vibhútibhúśańa. To Shiva, these occult powers were mere trinkets, so the common people called Shiva “Vibhútinátha”. Vi – bhú + ktin = vibhúti. One of its meanings is “any occult power”. Vibhúti also means “the final state of something”. As you know, the final state of anything is ashes – everything in this universe becomes ashes in the end. Vibhúti also means “ashes”.

Hence, if spiritual aspirants start practising meditation and in the process acquire a few occult powers, and thereafter these occult powers become the focal point of their efforts and Parama Puruśa becomes the secondary objective, such aspirants attain the state of siddha after their physical demise. A siddha is the highest state of devayoni. They help spiritual aspirants in various ways; their roles are primarily those of aids or guardians.

There are some people in the world who are regarded as great personalities, and in the past there were also some great personalities, but no one knows about their Gurus. It is said that these great personalities were initiated by the siddhas. That is, these personalities used to follow spiritual practices according to the knowledge they had acquired. Suddenly the Iśt́a mantra of their previous life was conveyed to them by the siddhas, hence these types of people were called siddha-diikśita or “siddha-initiated”. These siddhas are highly evolved sádhakas, but they deviated from the path of spirituality to attain occult powers.

In the olden days, people used to describe occult powers as siddha in the Hindustani language. You should remember that these occult powers are a kind of test in which genuine sádhakas should not be trapped. If Parama Puruśa says, even through hints, “I am ready to give you occult powers, are you ready to accept them?“ You should say in reply, ”No my Lord, let Your occult powers remain with You alone and shine in resplendent glory. I do not want them. I want only You.”

In this connection I am reminded of an old story. I knew two people from Muzzaffapur who were good sádhakas. Once they decided to go to the other side of the Buŕiigańd́aka River and practise meditation there late at night. It was a dark night in the rainy season and the river was full to the brim. Though the river was not very wide, it was very deep. They wondered how they would cross over to the other side. Suddenly, they noticed a bright light a little distance in front of them. They decided to go and find out what it was, so they began walking towards it. The light moved on, and sometime later it came to a place where it began to move across the surface of the river. They followed the light very closely, and to their utter amazement they found that the river was quite narrow at that spot and the water was not even knee deep. They easily crossed the river, then did their meditation quite alone. Later, they wondered how they would return, because they were again faced with the problem of how to cross the river. Shortly, the same light reappeared, so they followed the light as before. At the same place in the river, the light crossed over to the other side and disappeared. This was positive microvita of the siddha group.

9 October 1988, Kolkata

from Discourse 144

Shabda Cayanikaʼ Part 18

Gandharvas. I have already told you that gandharva is the name of a particular type of devayoni, and I have also told you that this type of devayoni is a particular type of positive microvita. The positive microvita which create an absorbing interest in music that flows in the world of ideation from the point of beginninglessness to the point of endlessness are called gandharvas. These gandharvas invigorate and enliven the mind and life of human beings with an absorbing interest in music. The people of olden times used to call these invisible musicians gandharvas. Blissful realizations about the world of ideation produced by the musical flow are called gandharvaloka.

9 July 1989, Kolkata

from Discourse 179

Shabda Cayanikaʼ Part 22

Footnotes

[1] The first meaning of pisháca omitted here. –Trans.

From: Luminous Bodies and Microvita

Published in: Microvitum in a Nutshell [a compilation]

Source: Electronic edition version 9.0.13