Spirit From The Past
"I say, what's wrong in the police performing a planchet session to solve a one year old murder mystery?" Anil was in a full swing. I was the only victim left on the table to face his bombardment. All the others on the table had vanished one by one when they saw what was coming. I could not, as our table was located in a corner of the restaurant where our group had assembled for a weekly chitchat and my only exit route was blocked by the chair Anil had occupied. Unless he got up I had no escape. I had to listen to him.
"But it's not done. After all, the murder victim was a renowned social activist who for his whole life fought against superstition and black magic", I protested meekly.
"But the police did not get any clue for over a year as to who killed him. There were no eyewitnesses, no CCTV footage and no claimants for the crime. What else they could do? Moreover the CM was pressurizing them."
"Did the CM ask them to use planchet?" I was not ready to accept this.
"The CM told them to do everything possible to get to the root of the murder case. Planchet was the last resort. There was nothing wrong in making an attempt. Now, one of the the country's topmost computer expert who designed India's first supercomputer has also said the same thing." Anil was very happy about this support to his view from an unexpected corner.
"The expert later claimed that he was misquoted. But that apart, to invoke the spirit of the very rationalist who was murdered was bit too much. Did they get anything out of this?" I was also getting curious.
"No. The Police chief retired before completing the planchet sessions. In the mean time a sting operation on the 'medium' who was helping the police in the case brought this exercise in the public domain and there was a huge outcry in the media. Now no policewala will dare to do this. This case will remain unsolved." Anil concluded sadly.
We all know Anil for years. He has very strong convictions on almost everything that happens around him in the society. He expresses his views publicly without any inhibitions. Only problem with Anil is that he doesn't like a mute listener. You have to respond to him by saying something when he makes a point.
"And, now there is a talk of handing over the case to CBI. That's the end. Do you remember whether CBI has ever solved any case in it's history?" Anil looked very agitated when he said this.
I consoled him by saying that CBI always gets a case at a time when the police have already botched it up completely. The important evidence is already destroyed or stolen or tampered with. The key witnesses have turned hostile. Highly paid team of legal experts have taken the case on a totally different track and got the high profile accused out of jail on a bail on every possible ground they could argue.
Anil was so obsessed with the idea of planchet, he commented, "Yes, I never heard of CBI using Planchet sessions to solve cases. It's high time they do it. If, for example, they invoke the spirit of Ajmal kasab in a planchet session, he will reveal the entire plot of 26/11 just like that. CBI then could start making a chargesheet in this case."
This was becoming too much. I had to stop it. I said, "Look Ajmal kasab belonged to a religion that does not believe in the concept of spirit or soul. How could they invoke his spirit?"
"Come on! Anybody living in this subcontinent or any of his ancestors who also lived here has to be basically a Hindu and he has to have a soul. We are a 5000 year old culture. It cannot be wiped out just like that." Anil quipped with a triumphant look on his face.
"I don't buy your argument at all. But has it been proved beyond doubt that the departed souls invoked in a planchet session tell the truth and only truth? They could also play a mischief and tell lies. After all we cannot prosecute them for telling lies."
Anil did not like it. He asked me, "Why the spirits will speak a lie? When a dying declaration made by a person is taken as the truth why not his after death declaration? Moreover, even mortals start speaking the truth when they retire or leave the position of power they were holding. Don't you know about Natwar Singh's book published recently telling all the truths he knew?
"Forget Natwar Singh. Madam is also planning to write one to counter him. But, tell me, I heard that during a planchet session sometimes randomly wandering spirits floating nearby enter into it and impersonate (!) those spirits who were actually invoked during that session. These stray spirits start giving incoherent info to mislead the planchet operators. How do you ensure the veracity of such an information received from them?"
Anil gave me a pathetic look. He angrily quipped, "I am not talking of a planchet session using a makeshift planchet board and a glass or bowl we used to make during the vacation after our Board exams. There are specialists who could invoke the departed spirits and get possessed by them for a brief period. During the time you could communicate with the invoked spirit through this 'medium' and get valuable info from him. It's a very serious affair. We have this art of occult sciences and practices with us from the ancient times."
I showed a slightly apologetic face to comfort Anil. Encouraged, he continued, "This is not all we had in the past. Our ancestors had, in fact, perfected their knowledge and practices in a variety of fields. Apart from our civilization and gurukuls imparting vast amount of knowledge to the inmates, we had many other things say, yoga and meditation, health, Ayurveda and medicine, mathematics, weapons including nuclear, technology of TV, aeroplanes, rockets and missiles, architecture and vastushastra, astrology, agriculture and so many other things. Just name a branch of science and we had it with us."
"But where did it go then? Why do we now have to look at the West for all this?" I kept my face innocent deliberately to trigger him further.
"All of it was destroyed or had to be buried deep underground by our ancestors to protect it from the invaders. The thousand years of Mughal rule, hundred and fifty years of the British rule and the sixty years of Congress rule systematically destroyed our precious 5000 year old culture."
He sat silently for a while. I did not want to disturb him. After a while he continued,"But things are looking brighter now. Slowly but steadily we are reviving our old treasure and have started cleaning our institutions from the wrong that had gone into them all these years. We have started including these things in our education system right from the school level." Anil looked very confident about it.
So that was it. I knew it had to come from Anil at the end. I tried to trigger him further by saying, "So that was the hidden agenda. I have been reading and hearing about the spirited efforts by the new regime for saffronization of all the institutions in our country these days. But, so far, these announcements are coming only from the Pariwar spokes personnel. Your Saheb doesn't say this. He is neither approving nor disapproving these statements. Why is he silent?"
"Why? That only shows that he has become a matured politician and statesman. He knows when to speak and more importantly whether to speak when a controversy erupts. He will remain silent as long as the job is getting done!"
Before I could say anything, luckily for me, Anil received a phone call from his wife and he had to immediately go leaving me alone to pay the bill brought by the waiter! After making the payment I also left the restaurant and but decided to strategically select a chair nearest to the exit of the restaurant next time we met.
"But it's not done. After all, the murder victim was a renowned social activist who for his whole life fought against superstition and black magic", I protested meekly.
"But the police did not get any clue for over a year as to who killed him. There were no eyewitnesses, no CCTV footage and no claimants for the crime. What else they could do? Moreover the CM was pressurizing them."
"Did the CM ask them to use planchet?" I was not ready to accept this.
"The CM told them to do everything possible to get to the root of the murder case. Planchet was the last resort. There was nothing wrong in making an attempt. Now, one of the the country's topmost computer expert who designed India's first supercomputer has also said the same thing." Anil was very happy about this support to his view from an unexpected corner.
"The expert later claimed that he was misquoted. But that apart, to invoke the spirit of the very rationalist who was murdered was bit too much. Did they get anything out of this?" I was also getting curious.
"No. The Police chief retired before completing the planchet sessions. In the mean time a sting operation on the 'medium' who was helping the police in the case brought this exercise in the public domain and there was a huge outcry in the media. Now no policewala will dare to do this. This case will remain unsolved." Anil concluded sadly.
We all know Anil for years. He has very strong convictions on almost everything that happens around him in the society. He expresses his views publicly without any inhibitions. Only problem with Anil is that he doesn't like a mute listener. You have to respond to him by saying something when he makes a point.
"And, now there is a talk of handing over the case to CBI. That's the end. Do you remember whether CBI has ever solved any case in it's history?" Anil looked very agitated when he said this.
I consoled him by saying that CBI always gets a case at a time when the police have already botched it up completely. The important evidence is already destroyed or stolen or tampered with. The key witnesses have turned hostile. Highly paid team of legal experts have taken the case on a totally different track and got the high profile accused out of jail on a bail on every possible ground they could argue.
Anil was so obsessed with the idea of planchet, he commented, "Yes, I never heard of CBI using Planchet sessions to solve cases. It's high time they do it. If, for example, they invoke the spirit of Ajmal kasab in a planchet session, he will reveal the entire plot of 26/11 just like that. CBI then could start making a chargesheet in this case."
This was becoming too much. I had to stop it. I said, "Look Ajmal kasab belonged to a religion that does not believe in the concept of spirit or soul. How could they invoke his spirit?"
"Come on! Anybody living in this subcontinent or any of his ancestors who also lived here has to be basically a Hindu and he has to have a soul. We are a 5000 year old culture. It cannot be wiped out just like that." Anil quipped with a triumphant look on his face.
"I don't buy your argument at all. But has it been proved beyond doubt that the departed souls invoked in a planchet session tell the truth and only truth? They could also play a mischief and tell lies. After all we cannot prosecute them for telling lies."
Anil did not like it. He asked me, "Why the spirits will speak a lie? When a dying declaration made by a person is taken as the truth why not his after death declaration? Moreover, even mortals start speaking the truth when they retire or leave the position of power they were holding. Don't you know about Natwar Singh's book published recently telling all the truths he knew?
"Forget Natwar Singh. Madam is also planning to write one to counter him. But, tell me, I heard that during a planchet session sometimes randomly wandering spirits floating nearby enter into it and impersonate (!) those spirits who were actually invoked during that session. These stray spirits start giving incoherent info to mislead the planchet operators. How do you ensure the veracity of such an information received from them?"
Anil gave me a pathetic look. He angrily quipped, "I am not talking of a planchet session using a makeshift planchet board and a glass or bowl we used to make during the vacation after our Board exams. There are specialists who could invoke the departed spirits and get possessed by them for a brief period. During the time you could communicate with the invoked spirit through this 'medium' and get valuable info from him. It's a very serious affair. We have this art of occult sciences and practices with us from the ancient times."
I showed a slightly apologetic face to comfort Anil. Encouraged, he continued, "This is not all we had in the past. Our ancestors had, in fact, perfected their knowledge and practices in a variety of fields. Apart from our civilization and gurukuls imparting vast amount of knowledge to the inmates, we had many other things say, yoga and meditation, health, Ayurveda and medicine, mathematics, weapons including nuclear, technology of TV, aeroplanes, rockets and missiles, architecture and vastushastra, astrology, agriculture and so many other things. Just name a branch of science and we had it with us."
"But where did it go then? Why do we now have to look at the West for all this?" I kept my face innocent deliberately to trigger him further.
"All of it was destroyed or had to be buried deep underground by our ancestors to protect it from the invaders. The thousand years of Mughal rule, hundred and fifty years of the British rule and the sixty years of Congress rule systematically destroyed our precious 5000 year old culture."
He sat silently for a while. I did not want to disturb him. After a while he continued,"But things are looking brighter now. Slowly but steadily we are reviving our old treasure and have started cleaning our institutions from the wrong that had gone into them all these years. We have started including these things in our education system right from the school level." Anil looked very confident about it.
So that was it. I knew it had to come from Anil at the end. I tried to trigger him further by saying, "So that was the hidden agenda. I have been reading and hearing about the spirited efforts by the new regime for saffronization of all the institutions in our country these days. But, so far, these announcements are coming only from the Pariwar spokes personnel. Your Saheb doesn't say this. He is neither approving nor disapproving these statements. Why is he silent?"
"Why? That only shows that he has become a matured politician and statesman. He knows when to speak and more importantly whether to speak when a controversy erupts. He will remain silent as long as the job is getting done!"
Before I could say anything, luckily for me, Anil received a phone call from his wife and he had to immediately go leaving me alone to pay the bill brought by the waiter! After making the payment I also left the restaurant and but decided to strategically select a chair nearest to the exit of the restaurant next time we met.
posted by Dilip Subhedar @ 05:52
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