Extraordinary
Evidence > Other
Entities and Realms > Ghosts, Goddesses, & Gratitude
It
Is All the Same Distraction:
Ghosts, Goddesses, and Gratitude
L.
H.
L. H. is a University counselor. She offered this
story of her encounters with other entities for the website, but asked that we
not use her name. She felt like her professional collegues may not understand
her experience or the straightforwardness with which she speaks about it.
Editor's
note: L. H. speaks in a very matter of fact manner about her experiences. She
does not try to interpret, categorize or qualify them. Neither do we feel the
necessity to do so. Avatar Adi Da once said about dreams that it is not so much
any interpretation one can make of a dream, rather, the significance is in the
having of it. We feel that her story is a particularly excellent example of bringing
Adi Da’s instruction to bear in this area of her life.
It has been my great
fortune and privilege to be a devotee of Avatar Adi Da Samraj for over thirty
years. In that time I have encountered many discarnate beings, both human and
non-human; we would commonly refer to such beings as ghosts. I have countless
stories of interactions with these beings; many have been entirely horrific and
many have been benign and very helpful. I have also encountered other beings that
have great powers. It is not my intention in this writing to fascinate the reader
in any way. What I have learned from these encounters is simple: All such experiences
(and indeed experiences of any kind whatsoever) are, without exception, the same
distraction and play upon limitation of vision. If I can use these experiences
to strengthen my turning to the Divine Reality, that is the primary use of them.
However, they are not necessary.
Whatever life patterns and fascinations
I may have brought into this lifetime to warrant my sensitivity to discarnate
beings, the lesson to me is clear. All apparently separate egoic selves are suffering
and are seeking relief from suffering. This suffering is based on the activity
of separation. Therefore, the only relief from this suffering and seeking is the
mutually responsive relationship with a Being Who is free of all such illusions
of separation. For myself, and, I believe, for those beings who associate with
me, this One is Avatar Adi Da.
The first time I clearly knew that I was
in contact with ghosts was when I had an experience of being fully and bodily
possessed by a very demonic entity. This was straight out of the movie "The Exorcist".
As my conscious self, I was pushed to the back of my head and whenever I tried
to speak all that would emerge from my mouth were animal noises. I had no control
over the body and could not move. This being was crazed with anger and I could
feel his intense suffering. I was terrified and I began to call on Adi Da by saying
His Name and repeating it over and over in my mind. After a time, the entity left
my body. From that time, I have been sensitive to subtle visitors, both negative
and positive.
After this experience I was very afraid and sought Avatar
Adi Da's Wisdom about ghosts. A close friend and devotee had recently been having
similar experiences and Adi Da had given instructions to him about this subject.
Avatar Adi Da said that people usually attract that by which they are fascinated.
He said that people who are weak bodily, who do not associated strongly with the
physical body, are susceptible to subtle interference. He also said that some
people had past life associations with negative entities and these people had
waited many lifetimes until Adi Da appeared in this world to deal with those associations.
These unseen forces can have great power; both fascination and fear give them
even more power. It is my experience that only through the help of One who is
entirely free of both fascination and fear is there a resolution to these matters.
I am very grateful for my Spiritual Master's Instruction and Divine help with
these matters. I regard my encounters with discarnate entities as a purifying
practice of self-transcendence and self-submission to Him.
Avatar Adi Da
has also given Instructions about what to do when one encounters a discarnate
entity. These instructions are meant to help the entity move on, since most do
not know they are dead and feel confused and trapped in a reality made of their
own emotional and subtle carryover from the past life. There are also other forms
of beings who are not ghosts but who do not usually visibly hang around on this
plane of existence. I have had some experiences with these beings. They have more
power in one hair than we do in our whole being. They are to be respected and
not called upon casually or for personal gain. They serve the Divine Heart of
the World. Here is one story.
I was living on our Sanctuary in Hawaii at
the time of this story. It was then called "Tumomama" a name given to it by Adi
Da. [This Sanctuary is now called Da
Love-Ananda Mahal.] The force that seemed to naturally pervade the property
was said to be that of the Goddess known in the Hindu Tradition as Kali. Kali
is generally known as the fierce destroyer — in fact, the name “Tumomama” means
“fierce woman”.[1] But Kali also represents sustenance
and birth, like her counterpart Shiva. Generally, it was the fierce aspect of
her that people were aware of in this place, and many devotees when they first
move to the Sanctuary experience exaggerated purification and difficulty. However,
I did not experience this. My experiences were full of nurturing and healing force.
Late one afternoon I was attending an outdoor occasion at one of the Sanctuary's
Holy sites. It was a site I was responsible for serving daily. Soon after the
ceremony began I became aware of a figure approaching the site. It was a blue
woman who was obviously endowed with great power. I felt this woman was Kali,
and I became afraid. She then began to show me her power: the sun changed position
in the sky and changes were happening everywhere in nature. She was rearranging
the universe. This is actually what I saw. I felt how I could be snuffed out by
the power of nature, her power, at any moment.
Then, she smiled, walked
over to the sacred photograph of Avatar Adi Da Samraj, and bowed low and fully
to Him. In an instant I saw that with all her power, she, the energy and force
of nature itself, was submitted to Supreme Consciousness Itself, and that she
was there to serve the Divine Purposes of Avatar Adi Da at His holy Sanctuary,
and indeed in the world altogether. My fear dissolved in love and devotion to
my Spiritual Master. I felt again how life in itself was about change and endings
and not about fascination, but that if submitted to the Divine, it can be lived
by a different principle — that of spiritual practice and inherently Prior
Happiness — which masters life itself.
After that incident, I felt Kali
visit me a few more times. She would come and stand beside me in our daily sacred
celebrations of our Spiritual Master. She would not appear as a destroyer, but
as a sister, celebrating with me our love of the Divine Consciousness in the form
of Avatar Adi Da. I continue to encounter and somehow attract entities. I take
practical steps to try to prevent or minimize this. However, it still does happen.
I always point these beings to my Spiritual Master and His Liberating Way. I would
prefer that I did not have these visitors, but that is not for me to decide. I
continually turn my attention to Avatar Adi Da and apply His Instructions. I feel
deeply blessed to be His devotee and to have the opportunity to turn to Him in
each moment and experience of my life, to contemplate Him, and to not worry about
or solve anything. He is my answer.
