Sandalwood - Sacred to the Gods

There is a verse of the ancient Buddhist scripture, the Dhammapada, which states that the perfume of virtue blows against the wind and wafts amongst the gods. It is interesting and perhaps indicative of the importance of sandalwood that it is listed, along with tagara and lotus, as one of the worldly scents which are second only to moral perfection.

On the list of most ancient incense elements, Sandalwood has been in use for at least 4,000 years. Sandalwood is an extremely important ingredient in Japanese incense, in both traditional and modern formulas. Currently, the Mysore forests are almost depleted and the left over trees too immature to provide high quality Sandalwood or Sandalwood oil. It is my belief that the best Sandalwood is originating out of Tamil Nadu where more mature trees can be found.

The sandal tree, botanically often called Santalum Album is One of the family Santalaceae. The sandal tree develops almost exclusively in the forests of Karnataka, followed by Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, Timor Islands of Indonesia etc. The tree is mid-sized 12-15 meters tall. The tree reaches its full maturity in 60 to 80 years, which is when the core thin trunk has achieved its greatest oil content. As the tree develops, the essential oil develops inside the plant's roots and heartwood, which requires at the least 15 to 20 years. Full maturity is reached after 60 to 80 years. The center of dark heartwood little by little develops, which is covered by outer sapwood. The sandalwood tree is never felled, but uprooted in the rainy season, when the roots are richer in the precious essential oil. Vietnam and New Caledonia have well controlled plantations of genuine Sandalwood. The best quality oil originates from the Indian province of Mysore and Tamil Nadu the place that the harvest of Sandalwood trees are safe from the state government.

These days virtually all exports of Sandalwood are very closely checked and regulated by the Indian authorities and restricted products of high quality sandalwood oil are coming out of Tamil Nadu. However, the Mysore forests are still being plundered by bandits and poachers who rape the forests of immature trees.

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Aromas - A Link between the Sublime and the Mundane

Perhaps since the beginning of time itself humans have been enamored by the olfactory sense realm. In fact, our sense of smell is probably the most important and simultaneously underrated of our senses. Whether we are consciously aware of it, aromas and odors have a profound impact upon our moods, behaviors and are the sense most closely tied to memory and recall. 

You may ask, what's the big stink over smells (pardon the pun)? Well, in my own practice, incense and essential oils have played a huge role in "setting the mood" for meditation or simply serving as a reminder of the sublime. In the next several installments I would like to spend sme time discussing how I, personally, have used essential oils (some of my favorites are sandalwood, cedar, and rose), waters, incenses and wod chips (such as the palo santo I discovered on a trip to Ecuador) as well as their traditional and New Age uses. Please join me in this exploration and I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Every good blessinng!

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Demons

Demons en vogue

Demons. They seem to be en vogue of late with many paranormal shows high-lighting their appearance in hauntings as signaling a truly horrible turn of events for those who are being visited by the unseen. Furthermore, many sects of Protestant Christianity view any and all ghostly phenomena as a result of demonic influences but is this truly the case?

Origin of the Species

The spiritual beings we refer to as demons haven't always gotten such a bad rap. In Ancient Greece, the eudaimonae were thought of as being like one's personal Jiminy Cricket or muse. According to Wikipedia demons in Greek thought were:

good or benevolent nature spirits, beings of the same nature as both mortals and gods, similar to ghosts, chthonic heroes, spirit guides, forces of nature or the gods themselves...Walter Burkert suggests that unlike the Judeo-Christian use of demon in a strictly malignant sense, “[a] general belief in spirits is not expressed by the term daimon until the 5th century when a doctor asserts that neurotic women and girls can be driven to suicide by imaginary apparitions, ‘evil daimones’.” 

 In Vedic and later Buddhist thought demons were not the purely evil beings they would come to be described as in Christianity  Islam and Judaism. Rather, they could be likened to asuras, devas, yakkhas or pretas depending on the circumstance.

Demons in Abrahamic Religions

So, how did demons come to get such a bad wrap? Well, in our next post, we'll take a deeper look at how demons came to be regarded as foul and contemptible beings rather than the nature spirits they were originally conceived of by the Greeks and Indians.

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Psychometry and Psychoscopy

Psychometry and Psychoscopy

After our recent post on Kirlian photography I got to thinking about the disciplined known as psychometry--although for the longest time I kept looking up the word "psychotelemetry" and didn't find anything. SO, known that I've got the right word let's take a look at what is meant by it?

Origins of Psychometry

The word "psychometry" comes from the combination of the Greek psukhē, "spirit, soul" with the word metron meaning "measure". It is also known as token object reading and is a way of extra-sensory understanding recognized by the capacity to make accurate associations from an item of unidentified provenancce by making physical contact with that item. Followers claim that an item may have an energy area that exchanges information regarding that object's record.

Psychometry in the Literature

There have been many cases recorded in para-scientific literature in the past century. The following excerpts are take from The Secret Science Behind Miracles, by Max Freedom Long, [1948], at sacred-texts.com:

Psychometry, Crystal Gazing and Related Phenomena
The Cases:
(A) A piece of lava was psychometrized by Mrs. Cridge, and the impression she received of the volcano was so vivid and frightening that she was seized with a feeling of terror that lasted for over an hour.
(B) Mrs. Denton psychometrized a fragment of mastodon tooth and described the sensations which resulted: "I feel like a perfect monster, with heavy legs, unwieldy head, and very large body. I go down to a shallow stream to drink. I can hardly speak, my jaws are so heavy. I feel like getting down on all fours. What a noise comes through the wood. I have an impulse to answer it. My ears are very large and leathery, and I can almost fancy they flap my face as I move my head. There are some older ones than I.… They are dark brown, as if they had been completely tanned. There is one old fellow, with large tusks, that looks very tough. I see several younger ones; in fact, there is a whole herd."
Note: Ossowiecki, one of the foremost psychometrists of our time, gives an excellent description of his sensations during the practice of this form of magic:
"I begin by stopping all reasoning, and I throw all my inner power into perception of spiritual sensation. I affirm that this condition is brought about by my unshakable faith in the spiritual unity of all humanity.
p. 133

More to the Story

My interest in psychometry has been piqued by my own repeated and diligent use of malas (Buddhist rosaries) in my meditation practices and the idea of imparting spiritual energy into objects. I hope to return to this theme in more detail with especial regard to the energy fields of religious artifacts. Until then, every good blessing!

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Kirlian Photography - Capturing Auras on Camera?

History 

Kirlian photography (also known as electrophotography) has been around in one form or another since the 1800's. It seems to have been a primarily Slavic invention with Czechs pioneering work in the field until Seymon Kirlian and his wife erfected the techniue in 1939.

What is Kirlian Photography?

Although there is no widespread agreement about what Kirlian phenomena actually are the process for producing the photos is as follows:

Kirlian photography is a process for developing contact prints using high energy. The process requires putting a sheet photo film on top of a metallic release dish. The item to be taken is then placed directly on top of the pellicle. Great current is briefly applied to the steel dish, thus developing an exposure. The corona release between the item and the plate is taken by the film. The developed photo results in a Kirlian picture of the item.

Claims

Despite being described as primarily an effect of surface moisture by main stream scientists, there are many who believe (including the Kirlians themselves) that Kirlian photography is proof of aura or energy felds created by living organisms. Another claim is that the Kirlian effect can be used to understand Qi (the life-force energy in Chinese medicine) which is responsible for the efficacy of acupressure, acupuncture and a host of other energy work related disciplines.

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A Theravada Buddhst View of Hell

In the Devaduta Sutta, the Buddha describes how a being can fall into hell by not heeding the divine messengers (the facts of birth, aging, sickness and death). I find it extremely interesting that many of the punishments that the Lord Buddha mentions as being included in Hell can be found in accounts of other people two thousand years after the fact and with no knowledge of the Teachings of the Buddha. 

Here is a short excerpt from that very sutta: 

"Then the hell-wardens torture [the evil-doer] with what's called a five-fold imprisonment. They drive a red-hot iron stake through one hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the other hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through one foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the other foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the middle of his chest. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Then the hell-wardens lay him down and slice him with axes. Then they hold him feet up & head down and slice him with adzes. Then they harness him to a chariot and drive him back & forth over ground that is burning, blazing, & glowing. Then they make him climb up & down a vast mountain of embers that is burning, blazing, & glowing. Then they hold him feet up & head down and plunge him into a red-hot copper cauldron that is burning, blazing, & glowing. There he boils with bubbles foaming. And as he is boiling there with bubbles foaming, he goes now up, he goes now down, he goes now around. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted. [4]

"Then the hell-wardens throw him into the Great Hell. And as to the Great Hell, monks:

It's four-cornered & has four gates set in the middle of each side. It's surrounded by an iron fortress wall and roofed with iron. Its floor is made of red-hot iron, heated, fully blazing. It stands always, spreading 100 leagues all around.

"The flame that leaps from the eastern wall of the Great Hell strikes the western wall. The flame that leaps from the western wall strikes the eastern wall. The flame that leaps from the northern wall strikes the southern wall. The flame that leaps from the southern wall strikes the northern wall. The flame that leaps from the bottom strikes the top. The flame that leaps from the top strikes the bottom. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"There comes a time when, ultimately, with the passing of a long stretch of time, the eastern gate of the Great Hell opens. He runs there, rushing quickly. As he runs there, rushing quickly, his outer skin burns, his inner skin burns, his flesh burns, his tendons burn, even his bones turn to smoke. When [his foot] is lifted, he is the just same. [5] But when he finally arrives, the door slams shut. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"There comes a time when, ultimately, with the passing of a long stretch of time, the western gate of the Great Hell opens... the northern gate... the southern gate of the Great Hell opens. He runs there, rushing quickly. As he runs there, rushing quickly, his outer skin burns, his inner skin burns, his flesh burns, his tendons burn, even his bones turn to smoke. When [his foot] is lifted, he is the just same. But when he finally arrives, the door slams shut. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"There comes a time when, ultimately, with the passing of a long stretch of time, the eastern gate of the Great Hell opens. He runs there, rushing quickly. As he runs there, rushing quickly, his outer skin burns, his inner skin burns, his flesh burns, his tendons burn, even his bones turn to smoke. When [his foot] is lifted, he is the just same. He gets out through the gate. But right next to the Great Hell is a vast Excrement Hell. He falls into that. And in that Excrement Hell needle-mouth beings bore into his outer skin. Having bored into his outer skin, they bore into his inner skin... his flesh... his tendons... the bone. Having bored into the bone, they feed on the marrow. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Right next to the Excrement Hell is the vast Hot Ashes Hell. He falls into that. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Right next to the Hot Ashes Hell is the vast Simbali Forest, [with trees] reaching up a league, covered with thorns sixteen fingerbreadths long — burning, blazing, & glowing. He enters that and is made to climb up & down them. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Right next to the Simbali Forest is the vast Sword-leaf Forest. He enters that. There the leaves, stirred by the wind, cut off his hand, cut off his foot, cut off his hand & foot, cut off his ear, cut off his nose, cut off his ear & nose. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Right next to the Sword-leaf Forest is the vast Lye-water River. He falls into that. There he is swept downstream, he is swept upstream, he is swept downstream & upstream. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Then the hell-wardens pull him out with a hook and, placing him on the ground, say to him, 'Well, good man, what do you want?' He replies, 'I'm hungry, venerable sirs.' So the hell-wardens pry open his mouth with red-hot iron tongs — burning, blazing, & glowing — and throw into it a copper ball, burning, blazing, & glowing. It burns his lips, it burns his mouth, it burns his stomach and comes out the lower side, carrying along his bowels & intestines. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Then the hell-wardens say to him, 'Well, good man, what do you want?' He replies, 'I'm thirsty, venerable sirs.' So the hell-wardens pry open his mouth with red-hot iron tongs — burning, blazing, & glowing — and pour into it molten copper, burning, blazing, & glowing. It burns his lips, it burns his mouth, it burns his stomach and comes out the lower side, carrying along his bowels & intestines. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Then the hell-wardens throw him back into the Great Hell once more. [6]

"Once, monks, the thought occurred to King Yama: 'Those who did evil actions in the world are tortured in these many ways. O that I might gain the human state! And that a Tathāgata — worthy & rightly self-awakened — might arise in the world! And that I might attend to that Tathāgata! And that he might teach me the Dhamma! And that I might understand his Dhamma!'

"I tell you this, monks, not from having heard it from another contemplative or brahman. On the contrary, I tell you this just as I have known for myself, seen for myself, understood for myself."

That is what the Blessed One said. Having said that, the One Well-gone, the Teacher, said further:

Warned by the deva messengers, those youths who are heedless grieve for a long, long time — people entering a lower state. But those here who are good, people of integrity, when warned by the deva messengers aren't heedless of the noble Dhamma — ever. Seeing danger in clinging, in the coming-into-play of birth & death, they are released from lack of clinging, in the ending of birth & death. They, happy, arriving at safety, fully unbound in the here-&-now, having gone beyond all animosity & danger have escaped all suffering & stress.

And, for those you who tire of reading, are two quick videos:

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Dr. Ian Stevenson and Hindu NDEs

In researching Hindu NDEs I stumbled across this post on http://www.spiritualforums.com. I had completely forgotten that Dr. Ian Stevenson's works had chapter after chapter of Hindu accounts of rebirth and NDEs.

Vasudev Pandey

Vasudev Pandey was interviewed in 1975 and again in 1976. He was born in 1921 and had nearly died in his home of what he described as "paratyphoid disease" when he was about 10 years old. Vasudev had been considered dead and his body had actually been taken to the cremation ground. However, some indications of life aroused attention, and Vasudev was removed to the hospital where doctors tried to revive him, using "injections," with eventual success. He remained unconscious for 3 days and then became able to describe the following experience (as narrated to us in 1975):

"Two persons caught me and took me with them. I felt tired after walking some distance; they started to drag me. My feet became useless. There was a man sitting up. He looked dreadful and was all black. He was not wearing any clothes. He said in a rage [to the attendants who had brought Vasudev] "I had asked you to bring Vasudev the gardener. Our garden is drying up. You have brought Vasudev the student." When I regained consciousness, Vasudev the gardener was standing in front of me [apparently in the crowd of family and servants who had gathered around the bed of the ostensibly dead Vasudev]. He was hale and hearty. People started teasing him saying, "Now it is your turn." He seemed to sleep well in the night, but the next morning he was dead."

In reply to questions about details, Vasudev said that the "black man" had a club and used foul language. Vasudev identified him as Yamraj, the Hindu god of the dead. He said that he was "brought back" by the same two men who had taken him to Yamraj in the first place. Vasudev's mother (who had died before the time of the interview) had been a pious woman who read scriptures that included descriptions of Yamraj. Vasudev, even as a boy before his near-death experience, was quite familiar with Yamraj.

Durga Jatav

Durga Jatav, a man approximately 50 years old, was interviewed in November, 1979, and again 3 months later. About 30 years before, he had been ill for several weeks, suffering from what had been diagnosed as typhoid. When his body "became cold" for a couple of hours, his family thought he had died. He revived, however, and on the third day following this he told his family he had been taken to another place by 10 people. He had tried to escape, but they had then cut off his legs at the knees to prevent his escape. He was taken to a place where there were tables and chairs and 40 or 50 people sitting. He recognized no one. They looked at his "papers," saw that his name was not on their list, and said, "Why have you brought him here? Take him back." To this Durga had replied, "How can I go back? I don't have feet." He was then shown several pairs of legs, he recognized his own, and they were somehow reattached. He was then sent back with the instructions not to "stretch" (bend?) his knees so that they could mend. (Durga's older sister, who was also interviewed, corroborated his account of his apparent death and revival.)

Durga's sister and a neighbor noticed a few days after he revived that marks had appeared on his knees; there had previously been no such marks there. These folds, or deep fissures, in the skin on the front of Durga's knees were still visible in 1979. There was no bleeding or pain in the knees other than the discomfort engendered by Durga's following the "instructions" to keep his knees in a fixed position. X-ray photographs that we had taken in 1981 showed no abnormality below the surface of the skin. Durga had not heard of such experiences before his own near-death experience. He did not see his physical body from some other position in space. He said that afterward the experience seemed like a dream; nevertheless, he claimed that it had strengthened his faith in God.

One informant for this case (the headman of the village where Durga lived) said that at the time of Durga's experience another person by the same name had died in Agra (about 30 km away); however, neither Durga nor his older sister were able to confirm this statement.

Chhajju Bania

Chhajju Bania was interviewed in 1981, at which time he was about 40 years old. His near-death experience had occurred some 6 years earlier. He became ill with fever and his condition deteriorated until he was thought to have died, at which time his relatives began preparing his body for cremation. However, he revived, and he gave the following account of his experience as he remembered it afterward:

"Four black messengers came and held me. I asked, "Where are you taking me?" They took me and seated me near the god. My body had become small. There was an old lady sitting there. She had a pen in her hand, and the clerks had a heap of books in front of them. I was summoned ... One of the clerks said, "We don't need Chhajju Bania (trader). We had asked for Chhajju Kumhar (potter). Push him back and bring the other man. He (meaning Chhajju Bania) has some life remaining." I asked the clerks to give me some work to do, but not to send me back. Yamraj was there sitting on a high chair with a white beard and wearing yellow clothes. He asked me, "What do you want?" I told him that I wanted to stay there. He asked me to extend my hand. I don't remember whether he gave me something or not. Then I was pushed down [and revived]."

Chhajju mentioned that he later learned that a person called Chhajju Kumhar had died at about the same time that he (Chhajju Bania) revived. He said that his behavior had changed following his near-death experience, particularly in the direction of his becoming more honest.

Chhajju's wife, Saroj, remembered her husband's experience, but her account of what he told her about the near-death experience differed in some details from his statement. For example, she said he had told her (about reviving) that at the place to which the four men had taken him there "was a man with a beard with lots of papers in front of him" (not an old lady). The bearded man said, "It is not his turn. Bring Chhajju Kori (a weaver)" (Not Chhajju Kumhar). Other discrepancies between the two accounts concerned unimportant details. Saroj remembered her husband telling her that he had not wanted to leave "there" and that he had been "pushed down" before he revived.

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