06-24-2008, 09:17 AM
Apologies for grossing out those people who came looking for spirituality in the thread on sanAtana dharma and found a discussion on pishAcha-s and vetAla-s.
But these are part of the overall fabric of the dharma, and avoiding such low existences is possible by developing detachment (vairAgya), devotion (bhakti), discrimination (viveka) etc.
The easiest is the bhakti. A person of devotion can find immense help in the transition period after death. As Bodhiji's example of Tulasidas and the pishAcha showed, even after being trapped in a pishAcha yoni, a jIva can be set free by invoking divine help.
It is much easier to develop bhakti, vairAgya and viveka while living. Conditions become much more fluid once a person leaves the secure and secluded fort of the body. Then one is often resigned to move with the flow of the forces rather than develop new capabilities of the spirit.
So before one leaves this life, it is good to develop the spiritual side a bit, practice some vairAgya, develop some viveka, find an iShTa and practice the mantra of the iShTa, and also hopefully find a good guru, get blessings of some mahAtmas, visit some tIrthas etc. Seems like a tall order. But many hindus have been doing precisely this through the millenia.
People of jnAna bend may find viveka and vairAgya as sufficient and not deal with bhakti. But even sri shankarAcharya supposedly wrote great devotional hymns in later part of his life.
But these are part of the overall fabric of the dharma, and avoiding such low existences is possible by developing detachment (vairAgya), devotion (bhakti), discrimination (viveka) etc.
The easiest is the bhakti. A person of devotion can find immense help in the transition period after death. As Bodhiji's example of Tulasidas and the pishAcha showed, even after being trapped in a pishAcha yoni, a jIva can be set free by invoking divine help.
It is much easier to develop bhakti, vairAgya and viveka while living. Conditions become much more fluid once a person leaves the secure and secluded fort of the body. Then one is often resigned to move with the flow of the forces rather than develop new capabilities of the spirit.
So before one leaves this life, it is good to develop the spiritual side a bit, practice some vairAgya, develop some viveka, find an iShTa and practice the mantra of the iShTa, and also hopefully find a good guru, get blessings of some mahAtmas, visit some tIrthas etc. Seems like a tall order. But many hindus have been doing precisely this through the millenia.
People of jnAna bend may find viveka and vairAgya as sufficient and not deal with bhakti. But even sri shankarAcharya supposedly wrote great devotional hymns in later part of his life.