Crystals, healing and a dream of Kali

 Hari Aum.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I am not really a fan of the passive wearing of stones, crystals and the like for healing or as remedial measures for karmic issues (seen in the Vedic astrology chart). The yogis say this is a lesser method than the recitation of mantras and heartfelt prayer and I would agree.

However, I recently discovered that crystals can be used with active involvement of the mind to amplify the effect of mantras, including those related to healing. 

It is not unusual to hear patients sometimes say that they were mostly well for a long time and then they experienced a run of bad luck. They describe going through an unpleasant period in life where a series of health issues occur one after the other. I would say my experience has been a bit like this lately. After years of mostly good health, I seem to be going through a not so pleasant phase. 

I have had a relatively healthy lifestyle for most of my adult life (normal weight, relatively good diet, regular exercise) but find myself facing one health issue after another these days. Some of them are pretty random and not that usual-- e.g. I found myself struggling to walk for a while due to developing 'tarsal tunnel syndrome' (much less common than its cousin 'carpal tunnel syndrome') completely randomly. I recovered from that only to develop a few bouts of infection (possibly pandemic related, possibly not). 

You know the saying, 'desperate times call for desperate measures'. I was feeling sick of being sick and thought I need to explore a new healing modality-- something targeting the 'energy body'. I did a course in basic pranic healing years ago and recalled a friend, who is an energy healer, telling me that crystals can be very helpful. 

I therefore looked up some online resources on this and purchased a book that had good reviews. I then bought a few crystals to start my experiment. The results were quite extraordinary-- good but not in the way that I had expected as I will explain ahead. Before I tell you about my experience with the crystals, I need to share a bit of information related to this.

I've already mentioned in previous posts that the Divine can communicate with us through our dreams. Before I go any further, I would like to state that each and every one of us, as children of the Divine, receives help and protection from our Divine Parents. Just as a mother loves her child, regardless of whether he or she is behaving well or badly, the yogis and saints of all religions tell us that we are loved by the Divine, very dearly in fact, much more than we know. This applies not only to us human beings, but also to all of Creation, including animals, birds and insects, and creatures in other realms of existence in the universe. The Divine therefore tries to help us, even when we are busy with our material lives.

Last year, in February, we were in the middle of the delta wave of the pandemic, perhaps the worst one in terms of mortality. Many countries were in lockdown and life was difficult for many of us. I too, like many people, was busy juggling childcare (my daughter was about a year and a half), household duties and professional work. My spiritual practice was continuing but with difficulty. I also had some mild health symptoms at the time that I dismissed as probably nothing serious (as I felt I did not have the time to look into this anyway).

I then randomly had a dream about the Goddess. In my dream, I had a dream in which I met the Goddess (no particular form, She was just the Divine Mother) along with a 'companion' goddess (In the Shakta tradition of Goddess worship, the Mother is said to have various 'shaktis' or companions who serve Her). 

In this dream within a dream, I had a fairly long chat with the Goddess. We discussed various things, none of which I could remember when I woke up. There was only one part of our conversation that I remembered-- She had told me to seek a specific type of medical advice. 

I was puzzled by the dream and Her medical recommendation. How peculiar I thought. Why would the Goddess come to me in a dream, and why on Earth would She ask me to get such specific medical advice, I wondered. Perhaps it is just my imagination, I thought. 

It is auspicious to dream of the Divine according to my Guru Sivananda so I was happy. But I did not take Her advice seriously, thinking it was probably just my imagination. I saw the dream merely as a sign that I should continue my spiritual practice. I wrote the dream down and did not think about it much afterwards. Until something specific happened some months later.

In October last year, the well-known nine day celebration of the Goddess known as 'Navaratri' took place. The final tenth day, known as Vijaya Dashami, is a day of great celebration, symbolising the victory of good over evil, of the Divine over the undivine. Like many other spiritual seekers, I too performed worship of the Goddess during Navaratri and had made plans for some worship on Vijaya Dashami. 

Sadly, it was not to be. I woke up on the morning of that day in mid-October in extraordinary pain, of a type I have never experienced before. I do not want to bore you with too much information about my medical issues, but suffice it to say, I ended up in hospital and was diagnosed with a condition that took months to recover from. I was told I was very unlucky to have this health issue (apparently can happen randomly to anyone in my age group), but also very lucky to get away without needing any surgery. 

I was completely stunned by this unlucky turn of events. It was then that I recalled the dream of the Goddess eight months previously. If I had sought the medical opinion that was advised in the dream, my condition would have been detected much sooner and I would not have had to face the significant health problem that I did along with the major disruption to my life.

I learned after that not to dismiss my dreams so lightly. Not to always doubt and question myself. I am often so concerned about not deluding myself in these matters that I end up going to the other extreme-- refusing to listen to the Divine. A bad idea as in this case.

Ok. So having shared that experience with you, let me now come to the present and back to the topic of cystals. 

The yogis say that crystals can amplify energy, both good and bad. They can be used for energy healing. Before using them, it is said that they need to be physically and energetically cleaned. Physical cleaning involves washing them with water (some say salt water). Energetic cleaning includes various methods such as exposing them to incense and also chanting mantras of God.

As you know, I am a fan of mantras. I trust nothing in the world so much as my mantra. I therefore held my little group of crystals in my left hand one day in the past week as I did my usual mantra recitation of the ashtakshara of Narayana (holding my Tulasi japa mala in my right hand at heart level). 

I visualised Narayana within me (in the anahata heart chakra) and prayed to Him for help and healing both for myself and for all. I asked for His blessing that the crystals would be cleansed and charged with His holy mantra that I was reciting. I prayed that these crystals would help to heal me and all those who needed healing in the world. I felt nothing special during this practice except a strong feeling that the crystals had been blessed.

Now, many people who use crystals for healing say that they can be held in the hand or even placed on the different chakra points on the body to enable healing. When I went to bed that day, I was exhausted. I thought I would try my luck with placing these crystals, that I had meditated with earlier, on the main chakra points on my body. I did so intending to combine this with some ashtakshara mantra japa but accidentally fell asleep.

I then went on to have some dreams of the Divine. In one dream, there was a battle between Rama (the avatar of Narayana) and Ravana (the demon-king) though weirdly, it was happening in a domestic setting (in a home including my extended family). Rama was slowly winning the battle. This dream was mildly disturbing (as it was a battle after all and all battles between good and evil have an element of stress associated with them) but not too scary. I woke up in the early hours of the morning after this, quickly wrote it down on my phone (as I tend to do with these sort of dreams) and then went back to sleep.

The next dream was much more dramatic and peculiar. Once again, I had a dream within a dream that involved meeting the Goddess. This time, She came as Kali, the fierce, evil-destroying, protecting form of the Divine Mother. 

(As I mentioned in recent posts, I have switched over to worshipping the Mother as in Her sweet and gentle form as Lakshmi (as advised by a spiritual mentor). I have never been a regular Kali worshipper though She is the ancestral deity on my father's side and has been worshipped by my family for generations (we have a small temple for Her on our land in Kerala, India). I always felt the Mother is One, and by worshipping one form, I worship all Her forms. I have not done any Kali worship for many months.)

Anyway. In the dream, I felt She manifested within me (in the dream within the dream, that is). I could not see Her entire form but could feel Her (a bit like you can feel your heartbeat but cannot see it). And She was very wrathful. She was angry with humanity as a whole. She spoke with a powerful voice with a lot of force (I had goosebumps later as I remembered Her voice as I wrote this dream down after I woke up) and there were two reasons for Her anger. 

Firstly, She was very angry about the killing of birds and animals by human beings. Two, She was greatly angered by our attempts to alter human DNA (in a way that was against Divine will). Although I could not see Her complete form, I was somehow aware that She had raised Her right hand in front of Her with Her index finger pointing (as if for emphasis). As She did this, She said that She could destroy the entire world in a second (if humanity did not improve that is). As She said this, in the dream I felt my upper arms were burning.

I felt very afraid seeing Her wrath. I feared that I might burn up myself due to Her anger. Though I was fearful and therefore struggling to think properly, I tried to calm Her by addressing Her by Her peaceful names-- I said "Lakshmi, Sita, Shanti". 

I had the thought in my mind that I should not call Her by Her name 'Sati' (which represents an avatar of Hers where She burned Her body in a yogic fire). After this, She calmed down and the experience ended.

I then woke up in the dream (was still dreaming). And found myself on a ship with other people. There was a lot of killing going on there-- I could see birds and animals being slaughtered in large numbers by people. I then told them of my experience with the Goddess. They did not take what I was saying seriously. 

I then felt Kali returning and found myself raising my own hand in the dream as I spoke with force. I said that She had said that She could end the world. I had asked Her for forgiveness on behalf of myself and the world. They then seemed to listen on some level. I then woke up from the dream into real life.

Needless to say, the dream of a wrathful form of the Goddess saying She was extremely angry with humanity and would end the world (if things did not improve) was very disturbing. I wrote it down feeling goosebumps all over myself. 

I then found myself asking various questions-- is this for real? Did She really come? Is She truly angry? Why did She come to me? (I am an ordinary doctor, I do not have any influence over animal slaughter and weird genetic experiments in the world!). What should I do now? 

I felt I needed advice from someone who knows more about these matters. By the way, although I have been vegetarian for nearly two decades and do not particularly like animal slaughter, I am not an animal activist in my normal life. Neither of the two topics raised by the Goddess in my dream are subjects that I think much about in my regular daily life (I was not even particularly aware that there is active experimentation going on into manipulating human DNA in a way that has never happened before).

I had previously already arranged for a priest from a local temple to come to my house on the morning, after the night during which this dream took place, in order to perform a MahaMrityunjaya mantra havan for my health (which is still bothering me). He is also a devout worshipper of the Divine Mother. 

When he came, I told him what had happened and asked him for his opinion and advice. He seemed to think the dream was real. He said that the only one who would know what this meant and what to do about it was the Divine Mother Herself. He advised me to pray to Her to give me some indication as to what She wanted me to do. I agreed to do so.

We then did the MahaMrityunjaya havan. At my request, the priest included offerings to the Divine Mother with the Navarna mantra as part of this. We prayed for health, for peace, for all. (I also wrote to my spiritual mentor for advice regarding this and am awaiting her reply).

In the meantime, I felt that I should probably share this with you. It is not rocket science to look around and see how disturbed the Earth is today, how unhealthy the environmental situation is. Nature or Prakriti is a form of the Divine Mother. When Nature is disturbed, the Mother is essentially unhappy. There are floods, fires, droughts and famines all over the Earth-- this year has been particularly bad from this perspective. In addition, we have various wars and the ongoing pandemic situation. 

Regardless of whether or not you or I take my dream seriously, the fact is, the world is going through some major disturbance currently. Scientists everywhere are warning us of the serious effects of climate change and that this can impact the future of the human race on this planet.

As children of the Divine, we have a responsibility to do our part to help resolve this. I do not wish to prescribe or recommend any rigid rules for living, but based on my recent experience, I would like to suggest the following:

1. Let us all consider the impact of our diet on the environment and on other living creatures. Let us avoid inflicting suffering upon living beings by careless choices regarding diet and lifestyle (this applies to food, clothing and so on). 

Let us consider, when we buy something, whether it is truly in accordance with the vitally important spiritual principle of 'Ahimsa', or non-violence or kindness to living creatures. This is the vital essence of spiritual life. 

Absolutely no spiritual progress whatsoever is possible for us unless we commit to and try our best to practice this in our daily lives. 

2. Science-- now this is a bit weirder. Based on my online research since this recent dream, it appears that some scientists are working on manipulating human DNA (it seems that one scientist in Asia has recently created twin girls with altered DNA including abnormal changes that he did not intend and could not control).

I am a big fan of science. As a doctor, I chose this as my main subject to study in life and I am in awe of the fascinating discoveries that continue to be made by our scientists. 

However, I would just like to say, that in general, it is wise not to meddle with things that we cannot fully control. We are very clever as human beings, but not always as clever as we think. We should educate ourselves on what is happening in our world, including in the world of science. And perhaps, we should not blindly support every single scientific venture as an automatically good thing.

Science has created many wonderful things in this world and many terrible things (including nuclear bombs that can destroy the entire Earth in moments). To those working in the field of science, in laboratories, all I would say is, please be cautious. 

Recognise that there is something higher than the human intellect, there is a Higher Intelligence that governs things. Let us not attempt to play God. That would be the worst manifestation of the lower self, the ego, and that leads only to destruction and sorrow in the end. 

Let us work with the Divine, in accordance with divine principles, and not against this Intelligence. That way, we can ensure that we benefit fully from science without creating suffering for ourselves and others.

3. Mantras and prayers-- I have said this before and I will say it again. Mantras are a very effective and powerful form of prayer. The name or mantra of God is one with God Him/Herself. Invoking the grace of God upon this Earth by daily mantra recitation is one of the best forms of service that we can offer to humanity and all beings. It is one of the best forms of prayer that we can do to please God and obtain His/Her blessings for ourselves and others. 

Please, let us recite mantras and prayers daily. No amount is too small with regard to this. A single recitation of a name or mantra of God has its own power, its own effect. Let us do some mantra chanting every day, even just for a few minutes.

Anyway. That sums up my main message for now.

Since this dream, I wondered if the crystals that I had charged with the Narayana mantra had something to do with the experience of Kali. Further reading on the subject suggests that it might have. It appears that crystals can activate the energy centres in the astral body known as 'chakras'. One needs to be very careful using them.

I have decided to back off a little bit with using crystals during my prayers. The only reason I would like to use them is to amplify the power of the ashtakshara mantra when praying for world peace and the general welfare of all beings. This, I feel, is a safe and appropriate use of these stones (however, I still feel I need to be quite cautious with them after my recent experience).

With that, I will conclude here.

The nine day period of worship of the Divine Mother is coming up soon. Please let us all do some worship of Her during this time for the general welfare of the world. 

Om Shri MahaKalikayai Namah.

Om Shri MahaLakshmyai Namah.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.