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orlando
19 September 2006, 08:54 AM
Namaste all.
A christian asked me if in Hinduism there are exorcists.
What is the answer?
Regards,
Orlando.

Sudarshan
19 September 2006, 11:35 AM
I dont know what you mean by Hinduism -- there are people who are exorcists, who do black magic, spells, tricks and other things. These are usually evil spirits, which are souls that have neither been liberated, nor able to reach svarga or piteloka and yet to be reborn.

Some of them are pure exorcists who do not worship any higher dieties or devas. Some of them do exocism in addition to their usual diety worship. Some of these exorcists worship Hanuman too, to protect themselves from the spirits which can sometimes hit back.

I doubt if spirit worshipper could be classified as a conventional Hindu, because such subjugation of spirits and forcing them to obey your commands is a sin. It is not proper Hinduism, and most conventional teachers have vehemently been against this practice. Gita says that those who deal with ghosts become ghosts themselves.

I have witnessed these black magic in live, and these people can perform wonderful miracles in the streets, like becoming invisible, or levitation and the like. No optical illusions these, unlike the stage magicians, because they do it in the middle of the street sorrounded by crowd on all sides. There was a famous such magician named Pitambara Iyer in Tamil Nadu, in the late 19th century, and I have seen magic shown by the followers of his school. These people are still there but I have not come across them for a long time.

saidevo
19 September 2006, 12:15 PM
I doubt if spirit worshipper could be classified as a conventional Hindu, because such subjugation of spirits and forcing them to obey your commands is a sin. It is not proper Hinduism, and most conventional teachers have vehemently been against this practice. Gita says that those who deal with ghosts become ghosts themselves.


I think Atharva Veda deals with black magic, which is termed Abhichara, so it is part of Sanatana Dharma. Just like there are good and bad people, there are good and bad spirits. Hinduism being a complete religion, has ways and means to control and employ spirits of all kinds. Using them for harmful and selfish purposes is another issue, but that is entirely due to man's greed for wealth and power.

Here is a partial glance at a black magic ritual in Kerala:



In that little town under the foothills of the western ghat in Kerala, there was just one real building which was a small temple with a tile roofing. The temple was surrounded by huts and shanties. When I arrived, there was a competition going on in the market place between two tantrics who had selected an onlooker from the crowd to be their medium. They had him standing stiff as a bamboo in trance. One tantric pointed a stick at him and said “lay down” he fell flat! The other pointed and said “get up” he rose up straight without bending a limb! A thing about six inches long made from flour which had loose hay for hands and feet with half an egg each for it’s eyes and a knot of real hair stuck on the top was lying on the ground nearby. One of the tantrics recited an incantation and the thing rose up and started moving towards him, rocking back and forth on its own, moving its hay legs sideward.


The rest of this spine-chilling story can be read at:
http://www.indiadivine.org/hinduism/articles/124/1/Exposure-to-the-Tantric-Path/

Arjuna
20 September 2006, 04:07 AM
Namaste all.
A christian asked me if in Hinduism there are exorcists.
What is the answer?
Regards,
Orlando.

Definitely there are. Hinduism accepts a fact of possession being possible, so there are procedures to remove spirits as well. They are of three kinds: Vaidika (based on Atharvana-angirasa), Tantrika (based on Agamas: Shaiva, Shakta & Vaishnava) and Shabara (folk traditions).

orlando
20 September 2006, 09:07 AM
Namaste all.
Folks,please don't take offense.I believe that here Arjuna is the only person who did understand my question.
An exorcist is not a spirit worshipper.
Regards,
Orlando.

saidevo
20 September 2006, 09:50 AM
Namaste Orlando,

Here is a link that has photos of Hindu exorcism rituals:
http://www.cbmphoto.co.uk/Hexorcism.html
Hinduism: Exorcism And Possession in Tamil Nadu
Temple with Exorcism in: Kalavai. Possessed woman making predictions: in Madurai

This link also has photos of the various facets of Hindu Life:
http://www.cbmphoto.co.uk/India/index.html

Arjuna
20 September 2006, 12:46 PM
Moreover, a kind of exorcism is a part of normal ritual worship (pUjA, archana). There is a special verse recited for that, something like "apasarpantu te bhUtA ye bhUtA bhUmipAlakA..." — don't remember exactly.

clito
09 August 2009, 09:12 AM
Namaste all.
A christian asked me if in Hinduism there are exorcists.
What is the answer?
Regards,
Orlando.
hi namaste,even in the yoga sutras of patanjali is stated that doing satyam on the physichal characteristic of a person one can get inside his body this is a natural procedure between shadakas and gurus most of the times focused for protection and the benefit for the shadakas.but you can imagine what a ruin can create a bad cruel guru.namaste

rcscwc
11 August 2009, 05:01 AM
In strict sense, Hinduism has no excocism in the xian sense. At most some unsatiated souls, who are in search of their liberation from worldly bonds are sometimes mentioned. In such cases, simple liberation ceremony like a shradha is enough.

In xianity, Aquinas dwells quite a lot on demons and diseases etc caused by them. They have quite elaborate procedures for exociam, sanctioned by the church.

In none of the school of Hindu philosophy have I come across mention of demons [a la xian] and exorcism. Period.

But then there are enough gullibles to be had and enough smart charaltans to have them.

Shinwa
18 March 2010, 09:42 AM
Namaste to all.
Im very interested in the topic of exorcism in this religion. I have come across very little information (if none) in books and online. I'm helping a friend write a book and I was asked to help with the part of Hinduism. From what I read, there is a lot of involvement of the Mantras. If someone is possessed by an evil spirit, how do they drive it out of the body? (how does the evil spirit exits the body)? Can anyone perform an exorcism i Hinduism? I appreciate any help I can get. Thank you.

sankar
15 July 2010, 12:12 AM
doing meditation is one among the best way to get rid of spirits. But it is not good to categorize entire spirits under evils, some of them are friendly and would be helpful at some occasions.

Adhvagat
15 March 2011, 09:41 PM
I dont know what you mean by Hinduism -- there are people who are exorcists, who do black magic, spells, tricks and other things. These are usually evil spirits, which are souls that have neither been liberated, nor able to reach svarga or piteloka and yet to be reborn.

Some of them are pure exorcists who do not worship any higher dieties or devas. Some of them do exocism in addition to their usual diety worship. Some of these exorcists worship Hanuman too, to protect themselves from the spirits which can sometimes hit back.

I doubt if spirit worshipper could be classified as a conventional Hindu, because such subjugation of spirits and forcing them to obey your commands is a sin. It is not proper Hinduism, and most conventional teachers have vehemently been against this practice. Gita says that those who deal with ghosts become ghosts themselves.

I have witnessed these black magic in live, and these people can perform wonderful miracles in the streets, like becoming invisible, or levitation and the like. No optical illusions these, unlike the stage magicians, because they do it in the middle of the street sorrounded by crowd on all sides. There was a famous such magician named Pitambara Iyer in Tamil Nadu, in the late 19th century, and I have seen magic shown by the followers of his school. These people are still there but I have not come across them for a long time.

I've heard about such powers before. A person once told me witnessing events like this in a Kumba mela.

Nice information, I'll research more about it.