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    The basic question is of SukSHmikaraña (transformation into astral state) of the physical human sheath. SukSHma is more extensive, comprehensive and multifarious. It can simultaneously work at various places and discharge various responsibilities. Physical body has the limitations of space, time, language etc. By entering into the astral (sukSHma) plane, all these limitations disappear and exchange of thoughts becomes easier. Thoughts can be directly communicated in the astral plane and language does not act as a barrier. This is the greatest convenience.


Ours are momentous times of a revolutionary change of an era. I have been divinely directed to act as a dynamic agent, over the next twenty years, to ensure a smooth transition to the Golden Era that is beckoning humanity. The work which has been done during the past eight years since 1980 is much more than what was done during the preceding thirty years. Due alertness and wisdom have been exercised, so that the needed energy (resources) was available to carry out the tasks in hand. One can hardly describe the vigilance, concentration, resoluteness and industriousness with which these eight years have been spent. The establishment of 2,400 Prajóapithas. 12,000 Prajóa sansthans and writing of one folder daily are the directly visible manifestations of this work but all the rest is invisible, indirect, which cannot be accounted for in visible terms.

There are still twelve years left of this transitional period of Yug-sandhi. The wheel of change will move with far greater and baffling speed during this period. It will be necessary to minimize destruction and promote refinement and growth. At present the speed of both these phenomena is slow and with such a speed it will not be possible to attain the goal by 2000 A.D. The speed will, therefore, have to be accelerated. In this, I have to play the necessary role of a vulture and a squirrel. In times of war the responsibilities of a commander and a cook are equally important. Nobody can ignore or disregard his duties in days of emergency.

It will be necessary to simultaneously fight on several fronts during this time. Reaping of harvest, feeding the cattle, treating the sick son, attending the court on the date of hearing, welcoming a guest visiting the house and such other chores are sometimes required to be attended to by a householder at the same time. During war, the responsibility of the commander becomes all the more grave. He has to decide on the number of soldiers to be deployed on a particular front, make arrangements for regular supply of arms, ammunition, and rations; ensure that the hospital is kept well-equipped, well-stocked with medicines, well-manned to attend to the wounded; make speedy arrangements for disposal of the dead; and also prepare trenches for the next encounter. Attention has to be paid simultaneously to all these aspects. If there is any weak or missing link in the chain, the whole battle strategy will collapse.

I have been asked to enormously expand and diversify my activities and the physical frame is becoming more and more a limitation and a hurdle in the execution of the new tasks. It is limited and can work only in a limited sphere when the actual work which has to be done extends over a vast infinite sphere. How can this be done? One of the ways is that the physical body be abandoned and whatever has to be done be accomplished with the help of one or more astral bodies. If my director will consider it expedient to do so, no time will be lost in actualizing it. There is one drawback of the physical body, that the law of karma-phal (result of one's own deeds) always pursues it. If there is any balance of give-and-take, it is carried forward to the next birth and has to be settled there.

Ramakrishna Paramhansa had granted boons and blessings in abundance, far in excess of the accumulated capital, and so he had to invoke cancer to settle the account. Mahatma Narayan Swami had also to suffer such a disease. Guru Golvalkar died of cancer. There are several such instances in which pious, holy persons had to spend their last days in physical agony. This is not the result of their sins. Such great persons take the miseries of others on themselves. If they are unable to repay, they settle the account in their last days, thus leaving no balance of karma-phal for future.

The basic question is of SukSHmikaraña (transformation into astral state) of the physical human sheath. SukSHma is more extensive, comprehensive and multifarious. It can simultaneously work at various places and discharge various responsibilities. Physical body has the limitations of space, time, language etc. By entering into the astral (SukSHma) plane, all these limitations disappear and exchange of thoughts becomes easier. Thoughts can be directly communicated in the astral plane and language does not act as a barrier. This is the greatest convenience. It is only the physical body that has the necessity of migration and movement from place to place. A man can hardly walk about three miles in an hour. A person has only one tongue with which he can speak and express himself. But there is no limitation in respect of the organs of the astral body. Its powers of vision, hearing and speaking are several times more in comparison to those of the physical body. An astral body can transform itself or appear in several bodies. At the time of Ras, Shri Krishna appeared to be dancing simultaneously with several Gopis. At the time of death of Kans and svayamvar of Seeta people saw Krishna and Ram in different figures. What Arjun and Yashoda had seen was nothing but a glimpse of the astral, causal, celestial forms of Lord Krishna.

It is not possible for every one to attain this state after leaving his physical body. Evil spirits, ghosts do remain in astral form but they remain in a crude natural state. They can simply indicate their needs to persons who are related to them. The souls of the level of pitars (deceased ancestors) are more capable as compared to the ghosts; and their behaviour and wisdom are loftier on account of maturity. Special efforts of the standard of tapashya are needed to make the astral body highly refined and elevated. The next step on the path to upgrade an ordinary human being to the level of siddha puruSHa is SukSHmikaraña. Such persons, while living within the confines of a physical body, acquire divine powers and with them they serve and help others. But there are also persons who acquire siddhis which are described as añima, mahima, laghima etc. in the Yoga- shastra. So long as physical body is there it cannot become lighter or heavier, visible or invisible nor can a man fly in the air or walk on water due to the in-built limitations of the body cells. If somebody narrates such siddhis on the basis of rumour or hearsay it should be regarded as hyperbolic.

The question is of sadhana which I am doing at present. It is a special sadhana which can be done while living in the physical body also and has to be continued even after abandoning it. This stage cannot be attained without heightened, concentrated self-effort, tapashcarya and sadhana. This can be regarded as the next phase of yogabhyasa tapashcarya.

What has to be done for this depends upon the present stage of growth of the aspirant and the level of guidance available to him. There cannot be one uniform curriculum for all. But one must restrain himself from misuse of the powers gifted to him by divine grace for egoistic purposes. An egg remains in the shell so long as it does not get matured. But as soon as it gets matured it breaks the outer shell, comes out and starts running and flying. The practice of SukSHmikaraña is almost similar. In ancient times people lived in caves and practiced samadhi for this very purpose.

Detailed description is found in ancient scriptures about souls living in astral bodies. There is such a description in Mahabharat in a question-answer dialogue between Yudhishthir and Yaksha. YakSHa, Gandharva, BrahmarakSHa were all different categories of souls living in astral bodies. Five Veers used to live with Vikramaditya. The attendants (gañas) of Lord Shiva are known as Virbhadras. Ghosts (bhut, pret, masan) are of different category .Those who have read “The Lamp of Allaudin” can get information about these types of people. In chayapuruSHa sadhana, separate entity is created from one's own person who works as a powerful invisible companion of the sadhak.

An optimist sees opportunity in every obstacle and a pessimist finds obstacles in every opportunity.

Most of the souls living in astral bodies have been described as malevolent or of a lower order of creation. It is likely that in those days warriors with unfulfilled desires at the time of their violent death became such low-level astral souls. But, side by side, ancient scriptures are full of descriptions about DevarSHis living in astral bodies. RajarSHis and BrahmarSHis were those who lived in physical body; but those amongst them who had the capacity to work in astral bodies also were known as DevarSHis. They could assume ethereal forms and roam in space and other lokas (subtle cosmic worlds). They could suddenly appear at any place to give guidance to the devotees and seekers. References are available about several —SHis who were not restricted to walk on the ground only. Even at present several travellers in the Himalayan region narrate that on losing their way someone guided them to their destination. Several persons have seen invisible yogis appearing and disappearing in the caves and on the hilltops. Such stories are prevalent about the lamas of Tibet also. The Theosophical Society is of the view that even at present there is a group of DevarSHis in the central parts of the Himalayas who are engaged in the task of achieving universal peace. They have termed them as ‘Invisible Helpers’.

It has to be borne in mind that this community of DevarSHis consists of extraordinarily evolved type of beings. Like yogis and siddha puruSHas, they are far more-capable, as compared to human beings, in rendering service and help. But it is wrong to assume that they are omnipotent and are capable of instantly fulfilling the desires of or conferring boons on any person. The rule of karma-phal (result of one's own actions) is paramount which can be reduced or negated by God alone. It is beyond the power of man. Just as a physician rushes to help a patient, a rich man helps a poor and needy person, in the same way DevarSHis living in astral bodies rush, from time to time, whether they are called upon or not, for promoting righteous attitudes and deeds. Still, none should take it for granted that personal effort or industriousness is not necessary.

Here, the best example is of my Gurudev who lives in the Himalayas. As he lives in his astral form he can live in environments where there are no adequate means for maintaining physical life. He guides and helps me from time to time. This does not mean that I was not required to do anything or did not face any difficulty or was never unsuccessful. But it is certain that I would not have been able to achieve all this with my own limited human capacities. With his divine help and guidance my enthusiasm and morale have been far higher and I have overcome the trials and difficulties of the path with unflinching faith and infinite patience and courage. This is not insignificant. Only this much should be expected from others. It should not be expected even from God that He would come and even do the self-effort on our behalf. Whenever one refers to divine help, people think that it is a magic stick which does all the work simply by waving it. This is an illusion. Such credulous people lose their faith easily. We should expect timely help from divine powers, from astral souls but should also be prepared to discharge our responsibilities. Failures and difficulties should be regarded as lessons to be learnt and the next step should be taken with greater caution and courage.

Astral bodies are more powerful than the physical ones. They can see and hear things from a great distance. They can visualize future events and they possess the power of conveying their thoughts to others. They have helped several persons in overcoming adversities. Just like our visible world, there is an invisible world linked with it which is inhabited by beings with astral bodies. Some of them are quite ordinary; some are mischievous, while some are of highly elevated level. These elevated souls take interest in the affairs of mankind. They extend help in reforming evil persons and in making good persons still better.

This is all about beings with astral bodies and the astral world in general. The primary aim is of spiritual refinement, elevation and upliftment. Ours are extremely critical times. Elevated souls living in the material world are doing all that is within their power to do but it appears that this will not be enough. Powerful beings on astral planes will have to use all their powers in not allowing those who are possessed by evil tendencies to slip further down the abyss. The process which is going on, on the physical plane, to reform these perverted souls is not adequate. Invisible help is needed to make it easier and more successful. This will be necessary for the solution of collective problems, as also for making persons who are engaged in righteous pursuits, shine out with still greater  glory and strength.

Ever since I have been entrusted with such a work, there has never been any dilly-dallying or let-up. I have been working for quite a long time now on the guidelines given by my divine guide and this will continue till I am alive. It is necessary to make Herculean efforts to free the visible and the invisible spheres from the strangle-hold of the poisonous grip of the evil forces. For this something drastic has to be done, as was done by Hanuman, in the ancient times, by uprooting a mountain and procuring the plant possessing the potency to revive life. I was required to get immediately engaged in awakening and activating the dormant divine energies involved in the physical body; and in the pursuit of this aim, I have done severe tapashcarya (sadhana in seclusion).

Rest assured that the debt that I owe to my parijans will be repaid. I do not desire either Heaven or liberation. I ardently pray to God that I may be again put through the whole cycle of 84-lakh life-forms as a blade of grass, a blooming flower, a tree, a sheep, a cow etc., so that I am able to amply discharge the debts I owe to my parijans, who have showered on me their gifts of love, affection, reverence, faith, goodwill and understanding. Sometimes, I wish I become a heavy-laden cloud and could repay each drop of these gifts with showerful of rain. I do not know whether, and if so how far, these ardent aspirations of mine will be fulfilled. I can only assure my parijans that their love will never be forgotten.

     - Gurudev Pt. Sriram Sharma Acharya

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