What Happens to a Person Who Believes Himself Possessed?

Question 4
YOU HAVE SAID THAT THERE IS NO DEVIL BUT ONLY GOD. IN THE WEST THERE WAS A LOT OF TALK ABOUT DEVIL POSSESSION WHEN I WAS THERE, PARTICULARLY BECAUSE OF THE FILM 'THE EXORCIST'.
WHAT HAPPENS TO A PERSON WHO BELIEVES HIMSELF POSSESSED? IS
THIS SOME FORM OF OBSESSION OR IS IT REALLY A SPIRIT? IS THIS A DANGER OR ALL IN THE IMAGINATION?

The devil is like darkness. It is and yet it is not.

Darkness is the absence of light, the devil is the absence of god. You bring light in, darkness disappears; you bring god in, the devil disappears. There has never been a meeting between darkness and light, and there has never been an encounter between the devil and god.

There is an old Hindu story.
Once darkness went to god and appealed and said, 'I have not
done anything wrong, but your sun every morning goes on chasing me, for no reason at all, and I am tired of running away from here to there, and the sun goes on chasing me round the earth! This is unjust.'

God said, 'I will call the sun.' The sun was called, and god asked the sun, 'Why do you go on creating trouble for my darkness? She has not done anything wrong to you. This is unjust.'

The sun was surprised. He said, 'I have never come across her. What are you talking about? What do you mean by darkness? I have never come across anything like that.
Please call her in front of me.'

The case is still in the files. God has been trying but it is impossible to call darkness in front of the sun. It is not possible in the nature of things because darkness is not a reality. It exists and yet it does not exist. It is absence.

It is the same with the devil, and it is good that the devil is painted as dark, black. That is just to show that the nature of it is like darkness.

God is called 'light' in the Koran, in the Bible, in the Vedas. In all the scriptures of the world, god is synonymous with light. Meaningful, significant. It simply says that when god is there, the devil cannot be.

The questioner has asked: YOU HAVE SAID THERE IS NO DEVIL BUT ONLY GOD...

Yes, but god can be absent, god can be asleep -- then the devil is. God can be fast asleep - then the devil is very much. Don't fight with the devil because that will be fighting against darkness. If you really want to destroy darkness just bring light. Don't fight with darkness, that is foolish. Don't fight with the devil, just bring light, just bring god, just become a little more aware and make your god inside a little alert and the devil disappears by itself.

IN THE WEST THERE WAS A LOT OF TALK ABOUT DEVIL POSSESSION
WHEN I WAS THERE...

It has been always so. Down the centuries, all over the world, people have talked about the devil, because in fact the devil is more a reality in people's experiences than god. God has happened to only few people. Somewhere a Buddha, a Jesus, a Zarathustra, a Lao Tzu, a Mahavir -- it has happened very rarely.

The devil is everybody's experience, so there are people you can find, atheists, who don't believe in god -- but even atheists believe in the devil. There are people who don't believe in god, but even those people go on believing in the devil. Because the devil is a more solid experience of the masses, of the majority.

Maybe Buddha was deceived, hallucinating, hypnotized; watching his own navel he became crazy or something -- Who
knows? What is the proof? -- but millions of people have experienced the devil.

Yes, that is true. The devil is more real an experience than god, but still I would like to tell you, the devil is not. It is more an experience because you are asleep and unaware.

And you can go any moment berserk; you can be possessed by it. The difference between a possessed human being and a non-possessed human being is only of degrees. You just watch your mind. You can always feel that you are almost always on the verge.

Any moment you can move into the territory of the devil. He is just sitting on the fence watching for you, inviting you. You just sit down, close your doors and windows and
write down whatsoever comes into your mind for fifteen minutes, and you will see that it is as if it is a scripture written by the devil. Just be true, nobody is going to see it. You just be true and honest and just write whatsoever is going.

You will feel almost madness oozing out of you. This madness can any day become devilish.

... WHEN I WAS THERE PARTICULARLY BECAUSE OF THE FILM, 'THE
EXORCIST'....

Films, stories, incidents, create their own atmosphere. When Marilyn Monroe committed suicide in 1962, the suicide rate in many cities of America went very high for a few days.

It was five times more in New York and Chicago and San Francisco -- five times more than usual. Just one woman committed suicide. Many suicidal people are there; suddenly they got the message. Suddenly they were obsessed with it.

People live by imitation, and when Monroe, such a beautiful woman, can commit suicide, then why bother? You can also do
it.

People simply go on doing things by imitation. In Japan in 1950, one schoolgirl jumped in a volcano crater. Then within two months three hundred schoolgirls jumped in the
same crater. What happened? What madness? Things spread like infection. Man is so mad, just waiting for anything to trigger him.

And you are also prone. Remember that. Anything can become a trigger-point. That's why I insist -- never imitate, never become a carbon copy to anybody. Try to become
yourself, try to be yourself. Protect your individuality and don't get lost in a crowd, don't become part of the collective mind.

If you become an individual mind, one day there is a possibility you will become a member of the universal mind. But if you fall into the collective mind you are falling into the devil. The crowd is the devil, imitation is the path towards the devil. So if a film like 'The Exorcist' was there then many people will start talking about the devil and ghosts and possessions and many will become possessed, many will pass through many nightmares.

Mind is so greatly influenced so easily. That is the danger. That's how you have become a Christian, a Hindu, a Mohammedan, a Jew. It is just that you have been impressed by others. And anything that starts happening becomes a chain reaction. Beware, you have to protect your consciousness.

Never be a part of any sect, never be part of any organization, never be part of any country. I know there are practical difficulties -- you have to keep a passport.
I'm not saying throw it in the river. But remember that this is just a convenience.

Don't become a part of any country -- India or America or France. Never think in terms of boundaries. Don't think that you are a Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan. For practical convenience everything is okay, but remember that deep down you remain uncommitted, or, you remain committed to your own being.

This is a must, one of the most fundamental things to remember, otherwise humanity has suffered very much. Things spread like plague, things spread like infectious disease, and once they spread they spread like fire, and they become uncontrollable.

You are prone, your mind tends to imitate, so beware. Cultivate individuality, cultivate your own awareness and then you will be less and less in the grip of the devil.

The devil means the collective mind, the devil means the collective sleepiness, the collective drunkenness.
(The Discipline of Transcendence Vol.1 Discourse6 Q4)

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