August 2, 2026
sattvāvaṣṭaṁbhayantreṇamantreṇā ‘‘rādhitena vā
dṛśyante ‘pi ca gṛhyante kadācit kenacit kvacit (39)
VASIṢṬHA continued:
Some ghosts (piśāca) have an ethereal body though endowed with hands and feet and they see people like you. Others have fearful shadowy forms; they overwhelm the bodies of human beings and influence their minds. Some of them kill or harm people. Some are like fog or mist and others have dream-like bodies. Some of them have bodies made of air alone. Some have bodies which are no more than the delusion of the perceiver. They cannot be grasped; nor can they grasp others. They experience heat and cold, pleasure and pain. But they cannot eat, drink or take anything. They have desire, hate, fear, anger, greed and delusion. They are charmed and brought under control by mantras, drugs, penance, charity, courage and righteousness. They are seen and also grasped if one rests on satva. Also, this can happen by the use of magical symbols (maṇḍalas) and formulas (mantras) and by worship performed by someone at some time and somewhere.
Some ghosts are of a divine nature and appear to be gods. Some are like humans and others like serpents. Some are like dogs and jackals and live in villages and forests, or in blind wells, roadsides and other impure places. I shall now tell you about their origin.
In the one infinite consciousness there arises a notion which becomes the jīva and then by becoming more and more dense it becomes the egosense, mind (which is later called Brahmā the creator). All these and the whole world arise and exist in a notion: hence they are unreal. It is experienced as real, just as one feels that one’s notion is something real. In that sense all these gods and other creatures are real. In truth, however, there is neither a field here, nor a seed nor a farmer nor the tree (known as creation or the world). However, in that notion of the field of creation there exist all these beings. The resplendent ones among them are the gods; the half-baked ones are humans; they in whom there is a thick veil of impurity are the worms and such creatures; they who are devoid of any fruitfulness, who are empty and bodiless (aśarīra) are known as ghosts or piśācas. The differentiation is due not to the whim or fancy of the creator Brahmā but to their own choice. They became whatever they wished to become. However, in fact, they are all but consciousness appearing to be subtle (ātivāhika) bodies. It is on account of persistent self-deception that they seem to have physical or material forms.
The ghosts, too, exist in their own forms doing what they have to do according to their own nature and experiencing various experiences. They see and communicate with one another as if in a dream. Some of them do not communicate, like the dream-objects in a person’s dream. Like the ghosts, there are also the goblins and disembodied beings. The ghosts create their own circle of darkness of ignorance which even the sun’s rays cannot penetrate. They thrive in the darkness of ignorance, the light of knowledge is their enemy.