Psychic Virus

Rākshasa & Asura

Psychic Viruses

Inasmuch as Devas are depicted as the heroes in Yoga stories, the villain of the plot is the Rākshasa.

Fallen Angels

Occasionally though, our Devas fail to align with Dharma, because we have become an unsuitable host for them. Indeed there is no free ride, for we need to maintain our system as it were literally a temple. There is a particular Rishi called दुर्वास Durvāsa, literally meaning "bad residence", famed in the literature for "cursing" those who have not provided a proper environment for their Deva, and thus the Deva loses its powers.

Such psychic Beings, instead of providing us psychic intelligence, now have the potential to turn into a psychic virus, a key blockage in this evolutionary path that when we overcome turn out to have actually been a useful, albeit painful, marker in our progress.

Similar to how biological viruses require a living host from which they derive their life energy, these psychic viruses derive their sustenance from mental habitats in which they have found a receptive home.

Daemons of our Mind

The legendary Tales that we have come to love over the generations are filled with daemons that our heroes have to battle on their journey.

As we get deeper into Yoga we realize that these daemons are but embellishments of the Mind, and dramatized by our Rishi storytellers for the sake of entertainment.

But are they “merely” so?

When the entire Conscious Universe is itself a mental concept, “mere” seems bit tepid to characterize their import!

The Past

Essentially, these have been instilled in our Human Mind because of pernicious influences that linger from the past.

After all the ghosts from the past have programmed our mental condition, and it is small wonder therefore that the Sanskrit word for ghost is identical to the word for the Past! (Bhūt भूत ).

When we understand that these daemons are actually psychic viruses to whom we have given over mental space, then we drop this daemonization concept so that we can reduce our emotional baggage, otherwise we feed them with our Prāna and they could take over our entire Life, maybe even prompting us to justify violence - and mostly that’s not useful.

Thus instead of viewing these daemons as independently arising beasts we view them as Psychic Viruses.

That may sound dramatic, but it is only when we give them sustenance within us that viruses come to life, and when we do not give them energy they are mere bits & pieces of inert mental stuff that do not condition who we are.

Psychic viruses abound in Yoga story literature, and are typically of two kinds:

Organic

The most commonly encountered, and for a particular reason of being understood by awakening individuals is the

राक्षस Rākshasa

These are personal scale viruses representing our personal weaknesses, typically some kind of psychological addiction to harmful substances or negative relationships, and hence they are a direct counter force to the actual human Being.

- Rākshasa is similar to a Western model Vampire, because they suck life-blood
- They also stem internally, triggered by those who poke our weak spots - which we can neutralize, provided we have a strong code for living which, incidentally, Asuras do - and therein lies a tale.

Structural

When organic viruses fossilize deep into societal frameworks we get Asuras.

असुर Asura

These are civilizational scale viruses that spread through the societal mind, such as an aggressive ideology that seeks to mass control humanity through systematically manufactured fear or engineered scarcity, and because of their power they are considered a direct counter force to even the 'gods'.

- Asura is similar to a Western model Zombie, because they come in brainless hordes
- They come at us from Ideologies foisted on us through propaganda by those well-intentioned (in their own way) but forcing us into a particular dogma

Whereas Rākshasa should really be viewed as the unresolved facets of our own Self, the Asuras are actually the "Other" since they don't have any prāna life energy, and hence not psychic per se, unless we energize them so by engaging with them deeply, eg mobile phones.

Discussed further later.

The Rākshasa Virus

Mind Game Rākshasa

There are some, who misuse mindhacking techniques to play Mind Games on our weaknesses, to gain a competitive advantage in this game of Life.

This happens when we don't have a strong framework to guide us then we open ourselves to being sucked into everybody else's petty Mind Games in this web of Life.

Those who play Mind Games with us are in fact life energy sucking vampires, poking at our weaknesses, like blood suckers on a slow drip line, entangling us in their own web of Life, thus preventing us from spinning our own creation into existence.

These everyday behavioral patterns that plague us, are called the Rākshasa psychic virus in Yoga stories.

Who

Rākshasas are formed when we are in close contact with those who share a similar framework as we do to life, but bring in all their unresolved mental conditioning from family, friends, work, religion, culture, traditions, language, etc. and cause inner conflict in our Mind.

How

Rākshasas are unwittingly instilled in us by those emotionally adept at playing Mind Games, tugging at our heartstrings and lulling us into weakness (through an occasional show of compassion and humility), but every once in a while they may blurt or lash out in their own confusions or frustrations.

Although they may not mean to cause pain, but yet we internalize the hurt in our weak spots.

In that sense it’s useful because Rākshasas are clear indicators of our weak spots so we can work on releasing them.

Where

Rākshasas breed in cultures that encourage a very broad-mind approach to Thought of almost any kind, to the extent that everyone could explore their own personal code of living, or sva-Dharma.

Broad-mindedness is only possible when there is also an abundance of basic resources - like in a tropical forest, a sumptuous palace, closely-connected living communities like college dorms, extended family homes, thriving villages - anywhere Humans have the mental bandwidth to play with Mind Games rather than forage for basic resources.

That’s why we laud the Banyan tree with its vertical vine drops rooted in the earth for its ability to spread its core seed in a massive way, creating a vibrant ecosystem, without getting tangled up in its own growth - yet eventually the core trunk, the sense of Self, disappears in its spread!

Divergence of Thought

Rākshasas flourish because of the Mind’s desire to weave a net of Creative Thought forms, but without heeding integration or alignment, they become ever more divergent from any core inner principle.

Creative Thinkers, not wanting to be controlled by external frameworks, listen to their inner voice to chart their course - the Guru within.

But if the original source of that inner voice has been implanted deep within from an external source, then the inner voice is no longer authentic.

Confusion by Entanglement

Rākshasas that have taken control of our psychic frameworks suck the Life Energy of Prāna Shakti out of us when they get out of control, like an unintentional infinite code loop sucking CPU power.

It’s telling that depleting our “feminine” Prāna Shakthi leads to us losing our “manhood” - that’s why maybe eunuchs were the preferred guards for the harems of over-indulgent kings, and palace intrigues are fertile ground for unending Mind Games.

In Western cultures Vampires that suck our blood are similar creatures of the Mind.

Divergent Thinking, when unguided, tangles up our Mind and we become prone to Psychic Viruses, and our Mind looks like wildly twisted vines growing in a tropical forest, highly expressive, but disorderly and unmanageable.

When Rākshasas take over our psyche, our entire Thinking process gets tangled up in confusion, and our Thoughts continually stumble upon each other, leaving us open to being destabilized by alien Thought Systems.

Brhma-Rākshasa

When scaled up in social impact a Rākshasa becomes a ब्रह्मराक्षस Brhma-Rākshasa and can infect entire social networks.

The ब्रह्म राक्षस Brhma Rākshasa is the mother of all Rākshasa viruses, and we use the feminine term deliberately for they intentionally play Mind Games with their targets.

Characteristics

This formidable Brhma Rākshasa:

has a highly developed intelligence, as the Brhma- prefix indicates,
has an indomitable will,
employs Tantric practices to play mind games,
instead of poking at our obvious inadequacies like a simple-minded Rākshasa, it stirs the pot of our desires, so we stay hooked on to them, but actually we are being psychically cooked in a big dish of delicious ingredients we can nibble on to keep us distracted, while fattening us for its feast,
charms, dominates, or tricks its’ minions, to carry out its’ psychic manipulations, thus cleverly hiding its own tracks so we can never pin it down.

At some point, if the Brhma Rākshasa gets control of a big institution, watch out as there is but a thin line separating clever Mind Games from obvious Mind Control.

Impact

When our Mind is strong with no blockages and the Prāna flows freely then the Brhma Rākshasa merely hops on with its claws for a jolly good ride as it keeps prodding us to progress through our own Life.

But when our Mind is weakened by trauma of any kind like fears, abuse, suppression, then the Brhma Rākshasa claws away at the notion of our Self-hood, and leaves us unable to navigate & flow along the journey of Life.

Neutralize its Impact

The best way to not grow a Rākshasa into a Brhma Rākshasa is to not inflate its brilliant & powerful sense of Self.

But once it has an exaggerated sense of Self, the only way out is to neutralize its impact on our psyche.

Eliminating a Brhma Rākshasa infection is a significant feature of the Rāmāyana epic, where the protagonist first cuts off the ten heads of his antagonist - in other words deflating its exaggerated sense of Self - but that does not work! And then he has no choice left but to neutralize its impact by shooting it in the navel, in other words our umbilical connection to the infection has now been severed, and there is no more impact on our psyche.

Saving Grace

The only saving grace to a Brhma Rākshasa infection is that the process of getting rid of it results in a definite boost of deep knowledge in the practitioner. But it is not for the faint of heart, so be careful what you wish for!

“Prime-ordeal” Birth

This is a tale of how Rākshasas come into being, and then how they happen to descend into our lives, into what would have otherwise been a perfectly peaceful, but definitely boring, life on earth!

Brhma, part of the trinity of Cosmic Devas, first initiates a perfected Thought form to manifest the Cosmos, and after completing this tremendous job he goes back to sleep. But every time he exhales in his sleep, some negative, obfuscating energies come out of his very breath, and become part of the manifested Cosmos.

Even more tragic, they turn around and start to eat Brhma himself, becoming possessive of his energy, and sucking the Prāna out of the very source of their own manifestation. Brhma stirs awake to notice that something is very amiss in his world, and he yells out “Raksha Mām!” meaning “Protect Me!”

As they start sucking the Prāna out of the source of their own being, Brahma-deva notices that something is very amiss in his world, and he yells out रक्ष माम् “Raksha Mām!” meaning “Protect Me!”

Hence came the word राक्षस् Rākshasa - that from which we need to be protected.

Vishnu, the second of the Cosmic Devas, then rushes to the rescue to preserve harmony in the world of the Devas and banishes Rākshasas forever to the Earthly plane thus saving Brhma and the rest of the divine domain. Recall that Vishnu is the psychic energy that organizes, but does not generate, the presence of Thought forms throughout creation - recall the “o” in g.o.d.

Of course, these Rākshasas are now on Earth besetting the rest of us mortals, but thanks to Shiva, or Mahā-deva, he dissolves these energies totally.

Yoga implication

As a background to all this remember that the entire Conscious Universe is a Thought Form.

Brhma’s out-breath during sleep produces these Rākshasas means we are not paying attention to ensure that our originally integrated Thoughts stay that way, and are thus treating this Utilitarian Thought form without much care to its downstream impact.

Consequently there is an unwanted, negative trail like a backwash that emerges from the original malformed Thought.

Yes indeed, we ultimately are responsible for what we experience in our Universe.

Now, the Vishnu energy within us intends to keep all of our energies in harmony so we push these Rākshasas down into our physical bodies so they can no longer hide in the crevices of our mind.

These now show up as various aches & ailments, and often we seek external help before trusting our internal capabilities, but many times external intervention does not solve the issues.

But thanks to Shiva, the Mahā-Deva of Yoga, he helps us to dissolve these energies, and transform Rākshasas into Devas, much like composting organic waste matter turns into fertile soil.

Mahā literally translates to the Greek “mega”, and this prefix to any Deva indicates that the entire Cosmos is viewed as embodied in that particular deity’s form. When Mahā is prefixed to the generic word Deva, it specifically indicates Shiva and his power of Yoga. That is, the power to utterly transform, for the purpose of evolution.

The cycle repeats itself as we have different types of Rākshasas, or inner weaknesses, that pour out of our sleeping Brhma energy, our Vishnu energy solidifies them in the earthly plane, and our Shiva energy dissolves them so they get released.

The Avatār of Yoga has manifested itself, in the form of these energies, to help us manage these perverse afflictions to the human condition.

In other words, Humans have to do the inner work to get rid of Rākshasa infections!

Rākshasas are essentially daemons from our past, or psychic viruses, but through Yoga can be transformed into Devas, our aspirations for the future, our psychic intelligences. And vice-versa, when Devas become fallen angels, through lapses in behavior, they degrade to Rākshasas. Thus, they are two sides of the same coin.

As we get inspired by these now-formed Devas, our every moment progresses towards fulfillment of our aspirations, a feeling of gratitude thus arises spontaneously which is the onset of Bhakti, a complete devotion to the Deva of our choice. Bhakti gets easily confused for religion when we make this future/desired world fulfillment model simply a transactional wishing mechanism - drop some coins into a well, and pray that we are granted divine favors.

The way to make our aspirations manifested through Yoga is to first pin down the root causes of the Rākshasas that are besetting us. Then we need to understand them deeply, and transform our inner being such that the Rākshasa energy is set free, and the Deva is formed to guide us toward our future. Gratitude that arises from this heartfelt transformation is true Bhakti. Think of Rākshasas as lessons we have to learn, and how grateful we are to have great teachers.

Beyond the lessons of everyday simple Rākshasas, for the master class in life, we get the all-powerful Brhma-Rākshasa, sent to make true masters of us, the arch-villain of the piece, equivalent to the fallen arch-angel in other cultural lores.

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