Healing depression with a spiritual remedy

SSRF advises continuation of conventional medical treatment along with spiritual healing remedies for the treatment of physical and psychiatric illnesses.

Readers are advised to take up any spiritual remedy for healing depression at their own discretion.

This is a case study of Derek in his own words. He was suffering from severe chronic depression.

1. When did it all begin?

My depressive states started manifesting since I was around the age of 17. It started at first as resentment towards my family and towards society. I continuously tried to separate myself from my family. I was arguing very often with them, trying to push them away to be left alone. A few times I tried leaving the home but would come back after some time. Once I left home on a cold day while it was raining and walked one mile in my socks.

2. How did it affect my school years?

In school I was doing okay but over time my interest in school too began to reduce. I saw no point in going to school anymore. I finished high school but in the last quarter of the year I did not study at all and finished the quarter with ‘F’ grades in almost all subjects. Luckily my previous grades were good so I got enrolled in college. However upon coming to college, I started feeling that there is no point in my life and that I should be dead. I finished the first quarter of college with all ‘F’ grades. During the time that I was in college, I started taking marijuana and tried a couple of other minor drugs. I was depressed in general.

3. How did it affect my work?

After college I started working full time and living on my own. I was getting more depressed and was feeling alienated from the society. I started feeling like ‘society owes me something and that they did not do their job’. I also had resentment towards authorities and wanted to have all the authorities destroyed so that anarchy could take place. I would daydream about this often. I would also daydream of society being destroyed and being on a secluded island living by myself. I was feeling that the cause for my unhappiness lies in society.

At work though I did well, I did not enjoy it and my depression continued. During this time I started taking the drug cocaine. After a few months, I stopped taking cocaine as on one occasion I almost overdosed. At that time the only thing that saved me was the fact that I knew some meditation. So I calmed down and my heart was able to take the overdose. Otherwise I was bleeding from the nose and my limbs were very cold (the cold was slowly spreading through my body until I started meditating and then it receded). I was also smoking about 2-3 packs a day until the age of 21.

I quit my first job after 7 months and found another one. Over the next 2-3 years, I could not seem to stay in any job. I resigned and started many other jobs. I worked in about 5-6 companies in different cities. However I kept being unhappy in every job even when I got promoted. I had no patience to wait for further promotion and even if I got it, I think that I would have left it eventually, as nothing would make me happy.

During this time, I also indulged in company of people who had a habit of lying, stealing and doing drugs.

4. How was my inner state?

Many times, maybe about 50 times, I thought of committing suicide. The only thing that saved me from doing it was that intellectually I understood that if I commit suicide, nothing will be resolved. I would just go to hell and then get reborn. So I did not attempt it. However, I indulged in material pleasures mainly to escape the depressive state. As mentioned, I would do drugs. I also played computer games to an extreme, sometimes even 20 hours straight. Because of this I would not eat much and on some days not at all. I could only sleep 2-5 hours a day. All this drained me of my energy and made me feel even worse. I also had intense sexual thoughts and I would entertain them 4-5 hours a day and act through masturbating (1-5 times a day) or sleeping with women. Guilt feelings were always there after committing all these acts and this guilt would eat at me continuously.

I had a very big ego as I felt I am too good for anything that society has to offer. I felt that I can do so much more and I am wasting my time with little things. I felt that I could change the society. I started writing a book but I quit that as well after 30-40 pages as I felt ‘what is the point?’. In fact the term ‘What is the point?’ was my general feeling in life.

5. How did I relate to other people?

After I got married I got some stability but because of my bouts of depression, I could not be happy in marriage too and my wife suffered because of it. I would not spend much time with her. I could not fully enjoy activities such as movies, going to parks, vacations etc. as I always felt guilty for doing it, which would lead me to want to stay at home. This also made my wife unhappy and she could not enjoy those activities as well. Many times we had intense arguments and would hold a grudge towards each other for days. Also many times we thought of having a divorce. Along with this I had opposed the notion of having children, as I did not want to be a father. I avoided housework and would sometimes not have a bath for 3 days. All this put a strain on my wife.

I had stopped relations with my whole family at 19 and even wrote them a letter telling them that I am dead for them and they should forget about me. Of course, this made them feel very sad. They tried sometimes to help me but I would never let them. I would be very rude to them and very angry. My whole family pondered how to help me, but realizing that they could not, made them very sad.

People in society generally perceived me as strange, unapproachable, conceited and selfish.

The reason for all this was that I kept feeling that having a family was beneath me and that all material relations were useless. This was also the feeling while being married to my wife as I felt marriage was a burden. Because of the depression, I also became more self-centered and selfish. Having to think about others or to have obligations made me unhappy. I only wanted to satisfy myself.

6. How did I try to made efforts for healing depression?

Over the years I sometimes made efforts for healing depression. However this did not happen very often as in general I had no hope of reaching happiness.

I tried reading some self-improvement books but stopped it soon. I also tried meditating as a remedy but it was not going too well for me, as my mind was too restless. Regarding sex, drugs and video games many times I tried stopping myself from doing it. This would work sometimes but only at the action level and only for a couple of days at most. Then I would give up and surrender to my desires.

I also tried doing various spiritual practices such as meditation, study of spiritual texts, going to churches or temples. But my interest was short lived and I could not find someone who could answer my queries about life and my predicament as well as help me.

7. What else could I have done for healing depression?

I could have gone to the psychiatrist and probably had medicines prescribed. However, I did not believe that these medicines were healthy. Also I had a lot of doubts about western medicines and western doctors as I felt they only do their job for money, not to help people.

I could have also gone to a priest of any religion to ask for guidance or a remedy for healing depression, but I felt dejected. I have met many and seen that they are either egoistical or hypocritical and that they know very little about Spirituality.

8. How did I overcome these states?

I was introduced to the Spiritual Science Research Foundation (SSRF) through my mother. After starting spiritual practice under the guidance of SSRF I started feeling a little better. The main thing was that a lot of my doubts were clarified and I received knowledge I could not find in other places. So because of that my hope increased. I started feeling that there is a purpose in life. My thoughts of committing suicide greatly reduced. I found a ray of light in my life.

After some time I found out about the existence of ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies, etc.). I did not believe it at first but after undertaking some spiritual remedies against negative energies my progress was even more rapid and my awareness of negative energies increased. After some time I actually started seeing them as they were angry with me and wanted to scare me. At first I was afraid and wanted to give up, but after some time my courage increased and I continued with the remedies or healing depression.

9. How is my state now?

After doing spiritual practice for healing depression under the guidance of SSRF for 4 years, I am now a very different person.

The bouts of depression happen very rarely and even if they do, they last for a relatively short while, from 2 days to a week. Previously the depressive states would last for many weeks. Also their intensity is much less and I don’t plummet to an extent where I feel suicidal. It is more close to a normal person’s state of unhappiness. During these years in spiritual practice, I have not touched drugs at all.

Now I am equipped with the knowledge required to fight these states and I am constantly aware of negative energies. They cannot influence me now as they could before, as I can recognize that the depressive or negative thoughts in my mind come from them.

Over these years in spiritual practice or healing depression, I have reconnected with my family and strengthened the bonds of love with them. I have taken responsibility of my duties towards the family and they have become happier as a result.

In my marriage, the situation has greatly improved. Except for small arguments, which happen in every marriage, we are very happy together and our bond of love has greatly increased. We are expecting a baby and I am very happy about it and ready to be a father. Also I spend much more time with my wife, take care of the housework, my duties and make efforts to do things for her.

People find me far more approachable and I feel much more love towards people in general. I keep acquiring more friends whereas I had only one or two friends at a time before.

I have also found stability at my job where I have been working for a few years now. I have been promoted a few times reaching an executive position.

The main aspect for me is the fact that within myself, I have become a more stable person. I experience joy many times and I make efforts to keep changing myself for the better.

The presence of God in my life has increased. I feel Him guiding me and taking care of me in all aspects of my life.

10. Spiritual Science perspective

The Diagnosis behind the depression

On 6 May 2002 Derek had come to SSRF in state of depression. This is a picture of him taken on that day.

He was taken to the subtle-perception Department. Here a seeker, Ms. Anuradha Wadekar with active sixth sense (subtle-perception ability), took a subtle-reading of how he appeared in the subtle-dimension. She drew a sketch of what she perceived. The drawing based on subtle-knowledge looked like this.

And this is the computer-assisted drawing based on subtle-knowledge of what she actually saw.

From the drawing based on subtle-knowledge, it was clear that a ghost had possessed Derek. It was trying to control him. It had engulfed him and had influenced his body as well as his mind. It was inserting doubts in his mind and was causing the depression. The gray tones meant minor body pains. There was general body aches because of the store of black energy in the body.

Why and how did the ghost possess Derek?

The ghost was tormenting Derek because it did not want Derek to progress spiritually and spread Spirituality in society. Ghosts find it easy to possess those with a weak mind and a high ego.

What was the actual reason behind excessive sexual thoughts?

When the negative energy of ghosts stored in the loins is predominantly related to the Absolute Earth (Pruthvītattva) and Absolute Water (Āpatattva) Principles, then the Raja attribute in the mental sheath increases. This results in an increase in sexual desires. These black frequencies of the ghosts affect the reproductive organs causing them to contract and expand, thus affecting the mental sheath and fanning sexual desire.

Spiritual remedy for healing depression

According to the science of Spirituality the spiritual root cause of any illness is twofold:

1. The increase in the Tama component with a concomitant decrease in the Sattva component .
2. The attack by a specific negative energy.

Hence, the spiritual remedy for healing depression is based on the alleviation of these two causative factors.

Derek was advised to chant the Name of God according to his religion. He put this into action immediately and with faith. As a result, he found an immediate relief in his distress.

Mechanism of action of spiritual remedy for healing depression

In Derek’s case, the spiritual remedy was chanting the Name of God. To explain how the chanting worked, we present what happened in a specific instance of chanting.

Click here to view the drawing based on subtle-knowledge

Derek chanted the name of God with faith that it would indeed provide him with relief from his distress. Consequently, its effect was apparent in just fifteen minutes. As we can see in the drawing based on subtle-knowledge, as Derek is chanting, there is 30% increase in Divine consciousness (Chaitanya) in him. The Sattva predominant frequencies are emanating from him with high speed. These frequencies attacked the tormenting ghost to the extent of 20% and created a protective sheath around Derek to the extent of 10%. Due to this, the ghost experienced a scorching sensation and had to leave the stronghold on Derek’s body and step aside. The ghost moved five inches behind Derek. Because of the gain in Divine consciousness, the black energy of the ghost started seeping out, and the body ache and other such symptoms reduced by 30%. Due to the Sattva predominant frequencies, the black covering on the mind was destroyed.

This explained the remarkable recovery of Derek.

By regularly chanting the Name of God, the ghost was forced to permanently leave the body of the seeker.

This happens because of the following factors:

1)  By chanting the Name of God continuously, the Sattva attribute in the seeker increases and the Raja-Tama attribute decreases. Due to the increase in the Sattva component, the ghost is tormented as it is unable to tolerate it. Due to a reduction in the Tama component, it no longer has a weak point in Derek to use as a foothold.

2)  As shown in the following drawing based on subtle-knowledge, a protective sheath is formed around Derek that resists the entry of the same or other ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies etc.).