Before moving ahead, let me clarify some points.
1. This is not an effort to prove or disprove the existence of ghosts and spirits. The purpose is to throw light on some rarely revealed aspects of Hindu Dharma.
2. I Don't practice exorcism.
3. In 999 out of 1000 cases, these are just creations of the mind and in these days mostly arising out of watching horror movies and listening to horror stories.
4.Whatever is happening in the name of exorcism is mostly cheating of the gullible by con men and women.Exorcising the exorcist from your life subsequently will be far more difficult than exorcising the spirit itself.
5. It is always advisable to go to a psychiatrist in the event of such ailments.
6. Exorcism, when performed genuinely is very risky, both for the exorcist as well as the patient and should be done in the rarest of the rare cases.
Why do people fall sick ?
rogotpatteh hetuh sveeyapapma - one's own bad karma.
Diseases are of three kinds. 1. One caused by bhootavesha (possession). 2. those caused by planetary influences. 3. those caused by tridoshakopa - vata, ptta, kapha.
Even when the reasons are the first two, it is one's own papa which is responsible. The trouble from the grahas or the badhagrahas causes tridoshakopa leading to various diseases physical and mental.
According to Ayurvedic principles diseases are either tridoshajanya or badhajanya ( badha means possession by evil energies). Grahabadha is a well recognized concept in ayurvedic psychiatry. Psychosis arising out of tridoshakopa are generally called unmada and the other cause is grahabadha.
Demons, spirits and ghosts are accepted concepts in Hindu Dharma Shastra. To know how they originated one may refer to the process of creation in Brahmandapuranam.
Pretas are human energies and an intermediary stage between death and the next world. Anyone who dies instantly becomes a preta. Preta means nothing but "gone from here". They, in the usual course of time should attain the next world. Due to a heavy load of bad karma some don't. They remain as pretas for more time. In this period of suffering, frustration and restlessness they tend to trouble others. The treatment of pretabadha is not exorcism. Standard religious rituals such as Narayanabali, Tilahoma at Rameshvaram are performed for this.
The badhagrahas are quite different from pretas. They are 'creatures' juat like birds are, dogs are or human beings are. It is very important to differentiate between pretas and badhagrahas. Most of the badhagrahas fall under categories shaiva, vaishnava and shakteya. They are escorts of these devatas. They affect when the respective deities are insulted or their authority violated. There are also many other properly classified and documented. The particular type of badha is ascertained from the symptoms. For example, in the case of a pralapagraha badha the "patient" will beat himself, will lose weight, dance around sometimes, sit silently some other times, laugh by himself, eat a lot and talk a lot.
There are many systems of exorcism starting from the chatanagana prayoga of Atharva veda.
What I am going to describe here is a procedure from mantrika prayoga. This is only an outlay of the procedure. There are many technical terms involved which are very difficult explain in brief to the layman.
1. This is done by adepts in mantra shastra who are ardent sadhakas. Purashcharana and mantrasiddhi are essential before one even thinks about performing exorcism
2. Invariably, exorcism is performed in the presence and with the aid of a powerful deity.
3. Mantra shastra treats grahabadha as a kind of infection which affects the body and the mind of the patient. The procedure is to pull out this infection and release it. This is called akarshanam.
4. An ashtadala padma is made at the centre and 12 svastika padmas around it. A golden pratima of Maha Vishnu is placed at the centre and lamps in all the 12 svastika padmas.
5.The patient is called as bhasma snana is performed with specific mantras in order to shake up the badha graha.
6. Akarshana of the badha graha is done from the patient onto the pratima and Sudarshana murthy is invoked and worshipped on the Hridaya padma of the patient.
7. The pratima is placed in the centre padma and Maha Vishnu is invoked and worshipped in it. The 12 lamps symbolize the 12 forms of Maha Vishnu starting from Keshava.
8.Havan is performed with by the acharya and 12 brahmins with 13 different dravyas totalling to 1008 X 13 ahutis using the the mantras "om namo narayanaya" and the dvadasha nama mantras of Lord Vishnu.
9.Pancha gavya is made and placed in Agni in a special wooden vessel meant for it. Havan continues with mantras meant for mixing of pancha gavya and sudarshana mantra.
9. This is the morning session. At the end of this the sampathas from the are mixed with the mantra "yoge yoge" from and given to the patient with panchagavya to consume. At noon 12 brahmins are fed each one representing the 12 forms such as Keshava.
10. In the evening, a dvaashakhanda is made and a Mahasudarshana mandalam to the east of it. Lord Laksmi narayana is worshiped in the dvadashakhanda, Lord Sudarshana in the Mahasudarshana padma. Havan is also started.
11. The most important part is called Dhatvakarshana. The badhagraha's presence is pulled out from 13 areas of the patient's body ie:- bones, blood, marrow, skin, muscles, nerves, shukla ( the sapta dhatus ) and also from prana, mooladhara, hrudaya, bhroomadhya, a combination of any of these and also from everywhere else. There are specific mantras for this and it is done with the aid of an ignited torch. These energies are transferred to a pratima made of cooked rice called the pratikrit. Pranaprtishta of Lord Lakshminarayana is performed on the pratikrit. It is important to note here that the badhagraha is treated with respect and sometimes even called the grasta devata. The way they are treated is like a tight rope walk. They need to be got rid of, at the same time they can not be offended,
12. The havan is completed and the patient sent away with bhasma from the havan.
13.Bali in the form of cooked rice is offered to Ashtasiddhis, Ashtabhairavas and the eight groups of grahas such as devagrahas.
14. The invoked sudarshana murthy on the padma is transferred to the dvadashakhanda, worshipped and tarpana performed with a mix of water, turmeric powder and lemon juice , red in color representing blood. Rakta Chamundi is also propitiated with tarpana.
15. The saptamatrus such as Brahmi are also worshiped.
16. At the end the badhagraha in the pratikrit is released together with sudarshana murthy into the oepn sky.
17. Protection to the patient is prayed for.
Similar procedures are available with Lod Shiva, Kali, Durga, Lord Ganesha, Sarasvathy and many other devatas as the presiding deity.
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