No trace of trance on Hindu soil

 One of the most important terms, recently in use is ‘trance,’ the Hindu philosophy has no trace of this word in different philosophies. The meditation, prayer and dhyana are the common words used in spiritual sense. Yoga used the Dhyana as one of the tributary of eight fold part. The Yoga used Samadhi as the last resort of this practical philosophy in which it explained the consciousness as transcended and generated some power. Even the Buddhist philosophy talked about transcendental of consciousness but do not used the term trance.

 Trance a stage in which stupor or stage of coma or stoppage of consciousness is felt even when the individual is conscious. The condition is like feeling the consciousness away from the body and then realizing something. Sometimes it is realized as sub-consciousness state. The word trance is usually used by Western writers in explaining the mass ritual or the spirit of dancing in which the dancer of participant in the mass ritual realized that his consciousness is different from the present situation and his concentration moved away from the practical situation.

 The trance was also many times associated with the stage of Bhakti practice when the devotee felt himself away from his body and found himself dissolved in the unseen power of almighty. The Sufi practice is the example where the devotee put all his devotion in the almighty and surrendered his consciousness totally to unknown power. Studies show that music and songs and also dances are the medium of trance that capture the consciousness that took away the concentration away from the present situation.

 In Hindus, this term was used at certain stages by different cults of Sadhus and that generally a stage where realization of a peak appeared where there is no realization of sorrow, pain, zealous, greed or any other negative feeling appear in the mind of in the heart. The stage where there is stillness of the consciousness, no wandering anywhere, no feeling of sadness only a feeling that the individual is conscious. The feeling of stability should come and witness in a conscious state.

But the trance which is used in Hindus is a stage realized in intoxication mainly opium or other drugs used to relax the muscles of brain where blood pressure went normal and many times low and the heart beat decreased. The tension in the mind on different delicate nerves relieved and thus the individual feel something different.

 There are incidents and also stories that mostly the priests at different abodes used Bhangs- a drug, made of the leaves and which need crushing to extract the juice of those leaves, and consumed. These leaves were used by Aruveda in treating the mental illness and there are examples in Aruveda- Hindu medicine system that this powerful drug used many times to control the fits and pains of the patient.

 The bhang has an effect that the subject remained cool and concentrated on the religious work. There are still the practices of consuming bhang at Many places and even foreign tourist coming to India likes to consume this bhang to realize the status of trance. Crudely speaking, Hindu philosophy never appreciated and taught escaping from the situation and from the real world but it stressed on knowledge and to understand the real nature of the soul and the world.

The reality cannot be realized in semi consciousness or in dream or as a stupor or as a dream but realized by the consciousness full awake and fully understanding. The trance concept was used by some Sadhu cults to control the power of consciousness to overpower the natural laws and was secretly practiced since hundreds of years.

Through my reporting in the rural villages of Rajasthan, I also witnessed something like trance but mainly in women and this trance is practised and worshiped. Almost in every village of Rajasthan, where tradition and culture is the root of society and even at present in the age of technology, people maintain their customs and rituals with great care, without using reasoning and science. One of the most important customs of this colourful and courageous land is “Bhav” a trance or a transporting of soul of a dead in a living body, suppressing the original soul in the body for some time and talk to people and also suggest something good and also warn them for consequences.

 The Bhav or trance comes when mostly the dead souls wanted to communicated to their people about their deeds. Generally these souls are angry while sitting somewhere, either in hell on in paradise or just roaming all around the world, that no one knows and nor these souls uttered anything about their dwelling places. They incarnate in a living body and then give advises to the community or to the family.

Interestingly these souls only transmit in woman and woman start rotating their head from left to right, which is common in every women who have this bhav, their voice also change from female to male and they show their anger that they have to come in this world just because of these fools who are doing wrong things. When bhav came to a woman, people start gathering and offers things to her. She, the soul transmitted, asked for certain man of the village and he summoned immediately and the soul shout on that man to improve his deeds, whatever the wrong he had done or is doing.

After the scolding, people gather on the spot and start asking questions about their future and about the family member, the soul transmitted in the body of woman knows everyone in the village and call them by their names and also what wrong they had done. The soul also states its identity that it is a soul of certain person died on certain date.

People are curious to know about their future and then soul answers some of them and then leaves the body. The transformation process made the subject tired, the woman in which it came and therefore the woman fainted for some hours. When she arose from the deep sleep she remembers nothing and feels fainted and weak. The woman who becomes subject for the dead people’s soul is honored in the society and people respect her in village as the ‘mata’ mother came in her body.

People who witnessed such transmission states that the features of the woman changed drastically and her eyes went big and she shout in the men’s voice. The soul knew each and everything which people asked even secrets which people wanted to bury in their hearts. There is no research yet made on this phenomena of transmission of souls of dead people but experts said that it is a psychological disease or personality split in which woman can lost its individuality and sub conscious play important part and scold the person to whom on she is angry or wanted to take revenge. The sub consciousness repeats all those deeds which she was thinking continuously and cannot speak in normal life.

The Ojhas and tantriks or magicians are responsible to deal with such situations. This transformation of soul from one body to another is so common phenomena that it is called “Mata ana” coming of goddess in a woman.