What are wandering souls? They are astral beings who are earthbound due to their attachments and strong material urges to return to a physical form and wander the ether to satisfy their need for sensual pleasures. The spiritual master tells us that these beings are mostly harmless ghosts and have zero power to affect the average person. Occasionally, wandering souls take possession of someone’s mind and body, but only people who frequently keep their mind in a thoughtless blank state for long periods of time. These people have weakened their minds and become vulnerable and mentally unstable due to karmic attraction and mental emptiness and unconsciously invite wandering spirits into their bodies. If one inadvertently leaves their car unlocked with the keys inside, any rude and rude individual could walk in and leave. Wandering souls who have lost their own physical forms lie in wait for those careless transports.
There are some wandering souls who on earth were criminals, thieves, murderers, drunkards, and particularly treacherous, vicious, and licentious beings. And those individuals who have left their bodies in a state of sin like those who foolishly and ruthlessly committed suicide are considered as polluted souls in the astral spheres. Imprisoned in their astral bodies, they lament the loss of their earthly life and find no rest, and therefore must wander the lower astral planes grieving the loss of their physical incarnation or hating to be reborn. These pitiful souls have to wander in the ether until they have worn off the karmic effects of their misdeeds. There are people possessed by evil who have created nothing but trouble in this world and as evil-obsessed spirits continue to do mischief on the astral plane and on the physical plane as astral wandering souls. These wandering souls look for people with karmic similarities and are attracted by their negative thoughts.
When an evil person sheds his mortal body and goes through the gate of death into the afterlife, he remains evil and does not become an angel. Only those who have been angelic on earth when crossing the abyss of death can enter the upper environment of Heaven. Just as birds live in the air, worms live on the earth, and fish live in the water, angels reside in the finest vibratory atmospheres in various regions of the astral universe according to the merits of their pre-astral life on earth. . In the same way, fish cannot continue to live outside their watery environment, unclean spirits or trampled souls have to remain on the denser astral planets. The superior spirits live on the superior luminous planets; if wandering souls dared to move into those higher regions, they would be instantly ‘astralized’ or shocked by a higher voltage of astral power.
Some people cry when they have a bad dream. In the same way, during the sleep of death, unclean spirits and wandering souls roam the ether howling in relief, often trying to find some submissive bodily carrier on which to communicate their pent-up malice and agony. People with strong willpower, spiritual vibrations, and brains busy with intelligent thoughts need never worry as their minds can never be infested. Devil souls can never enter the minds of spiritually advanced people. The teacher warns us that this is the reason why one should never leave the mind blank or be negative and never be deceived or open to the messages of the so-called mediums or Ouija boards coming from disembodied souls, since this could appear as an ideal opportunity. for the possession of the lowest type of wandering spirits who seek expression and experience in human transports. The idea of evil spirits or demons occupying weak-brained and thoughtless people is not to be regarded or dismissed as superstition; a powerful personality closes the invasion with a fully occupied mind.
Similarly, those who practice the scientific methods of yoga meditation and prayer should never fear such beings for if one’s thoughts are on God, no harm can come from evil spirits. Remember that when one is in meditation with God, one can be completely convinced that the body will be fully charged with the cosmic energy emanating from God’s high-voltage thoughts and that one will be protected from lower astral intruders. There is a clear distinction between the state of a person acting under the power of being possessed by a foul demon or wandering soul and that of someone acting on a subconscious obsession, idea, or auto-suggestion.
When you encounter the real thing, real possession consists of the presence in someone’s body of a spirit that has shed its own physical form and in its astral body totally or partially incapacitates the coherent faculties or the common sense of which it’s posessed. Only in the condition of a mother pregnant with a child can a human body accommodate an additional being besides itself. However, metaphysical experts are able to differentiate real cases of spiritual possession with metaphysical powers and are able to detect the invisible astral form of the visitor next to the astral body of the possessed. For the layman, it’s a different story. The only way to conclude a genuine case of spirit possession is by evaluating the many twitching states and outrageous behaviors to which a possessed person is subject. The true signs of a person possessed by an evil spirit are a lack of natural demeanor, bloodshot eyes, unusual physical strength, and strange expressions. In actual cases of spirit possession, bestial irrationality has been described and displayed in some exorcisms. With the attraction of his own sinful vibrations, like attracts like, a man can attract an evil spirit to himself. An evil and unclean spirit can keep the mind of a possessed person in a state of neutrality, subhypnosis and suspension so that the victim’s consciousness mechanism, senses, body and brain can be controlled without intervention. The possessed man may or may not be conscious within his controlled evil body as a person who is semi-conscious under the state of hypnosis may display the dream state. If possession by disembodied souls or filthy demons persists for too long, great damage is done to the possessed person’s sense organs and mind, creating a real threat of long-term insanity.
To dislodge and remove an unclean spirit from someone’s brain requires powerful divine willpower and concentration. If the healer has dynamic spiritual power, he can expel the entity by using silent willpower and continually looking into the eyes of the afflicted person internally commanding the foul intruder to leave. If the healer’s will is stronger than the evil spirits, the evil entity will leave. By repeating the sound of ‘Aum’ and whispering it into the injured person’s right ear, the unclean spirit will surely leave. These wandering souls who are from the dark lower astral regions cannot tolerate spiritual thoughts and higher vibrations from the utterance of sacred words, particularly Aum, Aum repeatedly whispered into the right ear. This usually elicits a quick and terrified response from the spirit “don’t say that holy word; I’ll be gone”, and this identifies spirit possession. However, there are some evil spirits who are not willing to leave and will not obey the order to come out and will fight against the sacred vibration. The master recounts a case in which the powerful vibration of Aum was used to shake and dislodge an intruding spirit, but this only sent the tormented man into convulsions when the impure entity finally burst out of the man’s body, leaving him shaken and limp but not harmed by divine intervention. Those people who witnessed the removal of the evil spirit were in awe of the supreme authority by which the demon spirit was forced to obey.
Healthy people of normal mind need not worry about being bothered by evil spirits, ghostly wandering souls, or demonic possessions, as they are immune to their evil. Spiritual teacher Paramahansa Yogananda speaks of a far greater danger to one’s well-being that exists around and within each person. Good and evil fight for divine supremacy. There is a force that tries to harm us and another that tries to save us. We are all caught in the middle of this cataclysmic battle between Satan and God. It is wise not to dismiss this complex warfare by rationalizing that Satan is nothing more than a hoax. Always remember that the environment is stronger than willpower. Be careful who you associate with at all times. Exact information about the astral world is explained in the book “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramanhansa Yogananda, a spiritual classic.