Superstition, black magic and spirituality

Hari Aum.

I'd like to discuss superstitions and black magic today and how these differ from spirituality. There are a number of people in India and around the world who mistake superstition for spirituality.

For instance there are people who go to an astrologer who tells them that there is a problem in the marital aspect of their chart. They are advised to do ridiculous things such as marry a tree or a pot before they actually get married to their life partner. This is superstition and complete nonsense. (The famous Bollywood actress, Aishwarya Rai married a tree before she married her husband-- it appears that even the rich and famous can become victims of foolish superstition.)

A vedic astrology chart is a map of one's personal karma for this lifetime. It shows the results of past positive and negative karma that we will experience. So, if there is negative karma related to marriage, the chart will certainly show this.

However, the solution for negative karma related to marriage or anything else is not to marry a tree or perform any other absurd practice- as this will not make the negative karma go away. The solution for negative karma is to do something positive to offset it. For example, charitable actions, good deeds, and chanting the names or mantras of God.

Japa is regarded as a powerful way to destroy negative karma according to the yogis. So, the tamasic, ignorant and lazy option is to marry a tree or perform some other foolish act (which will not solve the problem anyway). The sattvic and sensible approach to a karmic problem is to recite a name or mantra of God daily, actively do good deeds and try to be a good person.

There is also the issue of black magic which seems to worry many people. There are numerous people and websites all over the world claiming to help people overcome the effects of this. What is black magic? According to my Guru, Sivananda, there are some negative mantras which can control negative energies in the universe and make them perform acts to harm others. There are also various other negative rituals and practices intended to harm others or control them in some way. This is known as black magic.

My Guru said that only very foolish people practice black magic. He strongly advised people to completely stay away from this, saying that those who do this will themselves be destroyed in the end in accordance with the law of karma.
Black magic is a waste of one's precious lifetime (which is meant to be spent on noble acts and attain God) and creates significant negative karma for which one will have to pay a heavy price later. There is no such thing as a free lunch in the universe. If we harm someone, it will come back to us-- with interest.

Those who feel, rightly or wrongly, that they are victims of black magic are often filled with fear and worry. They are tricked by various quack astrologers and priests into doing meaningless expensive religious rituals to ward off the effects of the black magic. This is quite sad to see.

There is also this concept called 'nazar' or 'evil eye' in India and around the world. In North India, some people believe that their health issues or other bad luck is due to the 'evil eye' of somebody else. In most cases, this is complete nonsense and simply a way to blame others for one's problems and avoid taking responsibility for these oneself.

Let us be clear on this. If something bad happens to us, including black magic or 'evil eye' or whatever, then we alone are ultimately responsible. Because it is happening to us as a result of our own past negative karma. Even if others want to harm us, they cannot do so unless we have created the negative karma for this in the first place. (People who harm us are merely instruments of the universe in giving us the results of our own negative karma).

Once we accept this, we can then do something about it. As I said above, if we have negative karma (which we all do along with positive karma), then we ourselves need to take steps to counter it. We cannot be lazy and leave it to someone else. We will need to do a regular daily spiritual practice for our own upliftment and welfare. It is fine to visit a place of worship such as a temple and ask a priest to perform a havan (sacred fire ritual) or puja on one's behalf if one wishes. But this is not absolutely necessary. One's own spiritual sadhana such as japa will be adequate. If one does go to a priest, one should beware of very expensive religious rituals as these are likely to be fake. Genuine spirituality is not expensive! It is readily available to all to maximise wellbeing and reduce suffering.

Certainly there are negative energies, both seen and unseen, in the universe. The one definite way to counter these is the name of God. And actively trying to be a good person. There is no use in being jealous, angry and proud and then expecting good results from prayers. We all have negative qualities but we need to recognise this and ask God to remove them from us. We also need to actively try and cultivate positive qualities.

When we think mean and low thoughts, we create bad karma for ourselves and reduce the impact of our prayers and mantras. When we think noble and good thoughts, wishing well for others, recognising God in others, we hugely magnify the effects of our mantra practice and other sadhana. This is true spirituality. This will lead us to realising our true nature as being one with God.

So, let us let go of all fear and take the name of God daily. Let us not worry about black magic, 'evil eye' and negative forces-- the name of God will take care of this. We need to remember Him, and He will take care of us. This is His promise (mentioned in sacred books such as the Gita).

Hari Aum Tat Sat

Note- some powerful mantras to ward off negative karma and black magic are those related to Narayana, Shiva and Durga. Examples are:

Om Namo Narayanaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Shri Durgayai Namah

The MahaMrityunjaya mantra of Lord Shiva is also a potent protector and particularly useful to solve health problems.

Those who feel that they are victims of black magic or bad luck should recite one of the above mantras for at least 10 minutes twice daily (morning and evening) and try to think positively.

If one feels one has a big problem with bad luck, one can consider doing a more intensive mantra practice to obtain the grace and protection of God. One can do an anushthana (125,000 mantra recitations) or purascharana (as many 100,000 recitations as there are syllables in the mantra).