ISIS study of 26th August 2012

 

Summary of the study of Isis Unveiled carried out on

Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012, at the Bangalore ULT

 Pages covered : vol. I, p.449. 1^st para to p. 454 top.

Vampirism

 From p. 449 onwards to the end of the chapter on p. 460 the psychological phenomena of vampirism is discussed. It is shown that it is a universal belief among the peoples of all old nations, and well attested by eminent and trustworthy witnesses.

Why study of vampirism is important

Why is this strange phenomenon discussed in Isis ? Because it is one of the psychological mysteries which is not understood by common people, and neglected by modern science to investigate, resulting in growth of much fear and superstition among populace. Spread of right knowledge of the laws governing the phenomena of vampirism would dissipate superstition, extend the horizon of modern medical and psychological sciences in understanding the vital principles for correctly determining the stage of clinical death; and more than all, establish the scientific principles involved in the imperative need for individuals to maintain their personal morality and magnetic purity in their day-to-day lives; and for the civic authorities to observe the vital laws governing correct ways of disposal of dead bodies.

 Explanation of the phenomenon of vampirism :

 Hindus firmly believe in vampires. So do Hungarians. Dr. Pierart, the famous French Spiritualist and Mesmerizer of the 19^th century, made a study of it and has expounded his doctrine on the phenomenon. (Ref. : Pierart : ‘Revue Spiritualiste,’ chapter on Vampirism, which may be searched in google)  He wrote that the vampirism is the spectre returning to suck human blood which can be explained by the law of bicorporeity or soul-duplication, which is well known to “spiritualists.” (By ‘spiritualists’ here is meant the mediums who practiced séance in the 19^th century with the belief that they could communicate with the so-called spirits of the dead people). Spiritualists know well how much is possible for the Astral spectres, whether of living or dead people, under favourable conditions, to manifest their powers. Living people who are mediums, or those who have developed the faculty, which is common to all people, to extend the limbs of their Astral Bodies, or exude the Astral Bodies from out of their outer physical corporeal body, know the powers of the Astral form.

Physical death is followed by separation of principles of which man is composed, and these principles are seven in number. Separation of the Astral from the physical body is the first stage in the series of transfiguration of the Inner Real Man from the outer body, from the state of objectivity, into a series of ascending states of subjective life. In the case of those who have been reasonably good people, the Astral body which they drop at death in the Astral realm, in the second stage of separation of principles, remain as a phantom form bereft of conscience to dissipate entirely over a time, if they are allowed to. These are harmless.

But in the case of very materialistic persons who lived to gratify their lusts and appetites, leave a strong astral spooks which cohere as a distinct entity in Kama Loka for a long time, full of thirst for gratification of their lower passions. If such people who have been wicked, who may be prematurely buried when dead, (ie., before complete separation of the Astral from the physical) become Vampires. These haunt places and are harmful to the living.

 Testimony of ancient authors

Maimonides (Mosheh ben Maimon), the famous Jewish philosopher of the middle ages (see in google), said that his countrymen maintained an intimate communication with the astral spectres by means of “the feast of the blood.” They dug a hole in the ground and filled it with blood to attract astral spooks in order to obtain from them answers to their questions. Wherever blood is spilt, there congregate astral spectres, as fresh blood gives them the vital energy to prolong their lives.

 Testimony of contemporary scholars

Pierart was critical of Roman Catholic clergy who believed in and practiced driving a stake in the chest of the exhumed bodies of those who are suspected to have become haunting vampires. He advocated a different theory and approach to the problem. His theory coincided with that of the Theurgists of the Neoplatonic school. It is as follows :

 Explanation why vampirism occur

So long as the astral body is not entirely liberated from the physical body when death occurs, it may re-enter the physical at any time by magnetic attraction. Sometime it is only half way out, when the corpse, which nevertheless presents the appearance of death, is buried. Then the terrified Astral Soul violently re-enters the physical body. In such a case one of the 2 things will happen :

i.The unfortunate victim writhes in pain in the grave trying to get out and finally dies of suffocation; Or

ii If he had been grossly material, full of lust and sensuality, he becomes a vampire.

Then his bicorporeal life begins. Their bodies remain in the grave but they roam the whole place outside the grave in their Astral Bodies robbing life-blood from living persons. The ethereal form goes wherever it pleases as long as the subtle magnetic cord linking it to the physical body in the grave is intact. Some times the roaming astral form is visible and sometimes invisible, and it feeds on the vital energy of living men and women.

The blood it sucks from its living victims is transfused into the body in the grave through a mysterious invisible cord of connection. This is a mystery which our psychological and medical science will have to solve one day.

Dead persons buried for several years have been found with corpse—instead of disintegrated and decayed—soft, flexible, eyes open, with rosy complexion, mouth and nostrils full of blood running in torrents under blows, from wounds, and when decapitated.

Bishop d’Avranches Huet (‘Huetiana,” p. 81—see in google) is cited as saying whether vampirism is true or not, one thing is certain, and that is, it has been testified to by many able, trustworthy authors, by many eye witnesses, and that the question should be decided upon by a good deal of caution.

The case of a haunting vampire warded off by burning the body after exhumation

 This is reported to have happened in Bavaria. The spectre of a village herdsman began appearing to several inhabitants of the place, and every one of them died during the following week either due to fright or some other causes. The peasants decided to disinter the corpse of the herdsman and pinned it to the ground with long stakes, as believed in  and advocated by the Roman Catholic Church. But the vampire appeared again the same night plunging several people into suffocation and fright. The village authorities carried the exhumed body to a neighbouring field and burnt it completely. Thereafter, the vampire ceased appearing.

Mysteries in connection with vampirism to be solved by science :

 These questions are raised by the sceptical Benedictine monk of the 19^th century, Dom Calmet (reference  The sworn testimony in official documents : “De l’Inspir. Des Camis,’ H. Blans, 1859. Plon. Paris) :

1. how do vampires quit their tombs, how do they re-enter them, without appearing to have disturbed the earth in the least ?

2. How is it that they are seen roaming about in their usual clothing ?

3. How can they go about, and walk, and eat ?

4. If this is all imagination of those who believe themselves to have been molested by such vampires, how happens it that such   accused ghosts are subsequently found in their graves ?

5. How is it physical body exhibit no sign of decay, full of blood, supple and fresh even after weeks and months of burial?

6. How to explain the fact that their feet have been found muddy and covered with dust on the day following the night they had appeared and frightened the neighbours, while nothing of the sort was ever found on other corpses buried in the same cemetery ?

7. How is it again that once the bodies of vampires are burned  they never reappear ?

8. The occurrences of this phenomenon is so often that it is impossible to eradicate belief in it from people’s minds, but instead, their own experiences fortifies the belief in vampires.

Destruction of belief in vampirism :

Dom Calmet says there are two ways of ending the belief in the phenomena. First : explain it by physical causes; the second : deny it altogether.

The first option is exercised by the Pierart school of mesmerism which the spiritualists may contest. The second option is the approach of scientists in general, as they are loath to investigate psychological mystery which are called by them as paranormal.

This is an age of unbelief.

Deny or accept the only possible explanation :

Therefore, we may either go on denying the phenomenon on the pious advice of Dom Calmet, or accept the only explanation possible :

There is a phenomenon in nature, not known till now to science, and, therefore, denied by it : The phenomena or the state of Half-death. Virtually the body is dead but the astral soul is not yet separated from the body. In such cases two things can happen :

i. If the person in whom matter does not predominate over the spirit, ie., ethics and morality rules and dominates over selfish and animal propensities, or wickedness is not so great as to destroy spirituality, if left alone, and, when the last link is broken naturally between the physical and astral body, it becomes separated from the earthly body. Equal magnetic polarity will violently repulse the ethereal man from the decaying organic mass. The ultimate moment of separation between the two is not ascertainable by science with its methods, as the process is on a subtler plane beyond the reach of physical senses. Or

 ii. If the person had been gross, sensual and wicked, and if buried before the separation, he will become a vampire.

Clinical death is the criterion for physical science to determine the moment of death. But its certainty of clinical death is questionable. The state of half-death is not known to it. From the moment of so-called clinical death to actual separation, or real death, there may elapse several hours, or days or weeks. Hence there are even today, as in the past, innumerable cases of burial of half-dead persons, with all its horrific and tragic consequences.

In this connection, it will be very instructive to recall the dialogue between HH the Dalai Lama and a group of western scientists on this subject of determination of actual moment of death. The dialogue took place in Dharmashala in 1990’s. The two view points – that of western medical science and that of the Mahayana Buddhist Mystic philosophy, were discussed and juxtaposed. Reference : “Sleeping, Dreaming, And Dying – An Exploration of Consciousness with The Dalai Lama,” Edited and narrated by Fransisco J. Verela, Ph.D., Wisdom Publications – Boston, 1997.

 The criteria of clinical death according to western medical science : Excerpts from the dialogue.

 Western medical view is that  death is like turning off a light switch, and it is the end. Medical science is more concerned with preventing death as something evil than with improving the quality of life. (p. 137)

Definition of death : When the brain is dead although the body may be alive for a while is considered as clinical death. This criteria is adopted for harvest of organs of cadaver for organ transplants (p. 138) The breathing centres are located in the brain stem. If the brain dies the breathing centres also die, though the body can be kept alive on a respirator for a long time.

The criteria of death according to Buddhist system :

 The Buddhist system has a different criteria of death, said the Dalai Lama. The definition of death has to be understood in contrast to the definition of life. Life is defined as the basis of consciousness. As soon as the body is no longer able to support consciousness, there is death. To go into further detail one has to look beyond human existence, and take into account the formless realm, the desire realm and the form realm. The definition  given works well in the form realm and the desire realm, but in the formless realm beings have no gross bodies.

Discussing the stages of death, Dr., Dr. Jerome Engel Jr. of Stanford University and UCLA Medical school, narrated an instance in which a Tibetan meditator, Lama Yeshe, died in California in a hospital. He was pronounced clinically dead by the doctors, but his Tibetan friends said he was not dead and asked that he be left alone. Three days elapsed and there were no signs of decay of the body, he being probably in the “clear light” of death.  After three days, they said that he was dead and the body could be removed. But western doctors found no evidence of any life activity during the interval. This is an example that modern medical criterion of clinical death is not the real death but the actual death may be still far off in time.

The Tibetan physicians gave an account of the dying process according to the Buddhist Vajrayana system : there is an energy centre in the heart, in which there is said to be a very subtle white element and a red element (Skt. Bindu). In the process of dying, the white element descends from the head, down through the central channel, and then stops at the heart centre. From below the heart arises a very subtle red element, or drop. As the white element descends to the heart one experiences a pale light. Following this, when the red element ascends to the heart ; when this is occurring there is an a subjective experience of a reddish sheen arising. When the two converge there is a period of blackout, when consciousness is lost. Following the blackout period commences the clear light experience. Clear light experience is gone through by everyone without exception, at the moment of death.

 How long does the clear light experience continue ? this is a very important point. It may last a few seconds or a few minutes, for some several days or even weeks. As long as the clear light of death experience is sustained, the connection between  the very subtle energy-mind and the gross physical body is not severed. It is in the process of being severed but has not yet been completely severed. At the very moment severance takes place, the body begins to decay, and at that point death is said to have occurred. The external sign of this taking place, the red and white elements emerge from the nostrils and genitals. (p. 163, 164)

The Clear light stage of death seems to be equivalent of post-mortem review in which the personal mortal Ego becomes one with the Divine Ego, and in the sublime light of the latter the ego sees all the life events in smallest detail. Till this process is complete actual physical death—ie., separation of the Astral Body from the physical body—would not have taken place. One external sign of the completion of the process is that if body decay has commenced, then it is a sure sign of actual death. Then the body may be disposed off. Otherwise, it becomes a case of premature burial, and in case of very gross and sensual persons, they may become vampires.