How do Negative Energies (Ghosts, Demons) Influence Our Thoughts?

In order to understand this article, we recommend you familiarise yourself with the following:

• The structure and functions of the mind
• Introduction to the various types of ghosts

1. Introduction

In our earlier articles, we have ascertained that the majority of the world’s population is affected by negative energies or will feel their effect in the years to come. We have also provided advice on how one can recognise and reduce the effect of negative energies on oneself through spiritual healing and spiritual practice.

One of the benefits of spiritual healing and spiritual practice is that we come to understand the difference between thoughts that arise from our subconscious mind and thoughts which are given by negative energies. A practical way to understand this difference is to study whether the thoughts disappear or whether their intensity or frequency reduces after spiritual healing.

However in the initial stages of spiritual practice it may be difficult to discern the difference. In addition to this, when the influence of the negative subtle-entity is very strong, it may sometimes take months or years of spiritual healing and spiritual practice to ascertain where the thoughts originate from.

In this article we list examples of different types of thoughts given by negative energies and how they influence people. We have also explained how their influence over people at large differs from their influence over seekers of God. Some responses and remedial actions are also suggested alongside each example.

2. How negative energies (ghosts, demons, devils etc.) increase thoughts about desires in people’s mind

When negative energies affect us by increasing desires in the mind, it mostly happens through the following mechanism.

The negative energy sends a direct command to the subconscious mind targeting the instinct and desire centre. For example: “Drink alcohol now”, “Eat chocolate now”, “Watch a movie now”, “Listen to music now”, “Do drugs now”, “Have sex now”. As a result the desire to act as instructed arises in the person and the person feels like doing these acts.

If the person resists this desire, or if there is Divine protection, or if the person is feeling some Divine consciousness (Chaitanya) or Bliss (Ānand), then the negative energies increase the intensity of the command. For example: “Eat kilos of food; eat all the food that exists in the house”, “Have sex with 30 women” etc. (The commands may not be exactly like those stated here, but the principle of the command and the feeling in the mind is.)

Another method used is to target the likes and dislikes centre by sending a thought in the form of an autosuggestion, such as: “I like chocolate”, “I love alcohol”, “I love meat”. Then the like centre sends an impression for the person to do the act.  A seeker may not have a centre of likes developed for these things, but he or she would still feel like this centre in the subconscious mind exists. Negative energies (ghosts, demons, devils etc.) make an extra effort in this case because a seeker’s mind has a centre for sāttvik desires which fights these desires.

3. How negative energies (ghosts, demons, devils etc.) increase negative thoughts about self, others and Spirituality

3.1 Negative thoughts about self

As in the earlier example, the negative energy (ghost, demon, devil etc.) affecting us through negative thoughts places such a thought in our mind. It is a similar principle, but the suggestion attacks the intellect and identification and interpretation centres.

The thoughts that they send about self are, for example: “You are a bad seeker. You deserve to suffer. You are so bad and there is no way out. The only solution for you is to kill yourself. In fact, you should stop spiritual practice because you are such a bad person”. Then the seeker gets the thought in his mind that: “I am a bad seeker. I deserve to suffer. There is no way out. The only solution is to kill myself. I should stop spiritual practice because I am a bad person”.

3.2 Negative thoughts about others

The type of thoughts that negative energies (ghosts, demons, devils etc.) place in our mind about others are, for example: “This person is very negative”, “He has a big ego”, “What he is saying right now is ego”, “This person is dishonest”, “He hates you and wants to harm you”. Usually this is completely untrue.  Things which don’t exist are pointed out, and we appear to see defects and ego that are not there. But the impression is put in the mind by the negative energy and the affected person starts thinking like this about others. In this way, the affected person’s mind becomes clouded.

3.3 Negative thoughts about Spirituality

The thoughts that negative energies (ghosts, demons, devils etc.) send against spiritual practice, including one’s service unto the Absolute Truth (satsēvā)  are, for example: “Spiritual practice is fake”, “There is no God”, “God hates you”, “Guru is fake and is cheating you”, “Guru/God likes others more than you”, “You are not treated fairly”, “The satseva that you are doing is not satseva”, “Spread of Spirituality cannot happen”. They can also send intellectual doubts to discount spiritual science, for example: “Meat is good because it has iron.  If you don’t eat meat you will get sick. Science has proven this and spiritual science is wrong”.

Negative energies (ghosts, demons, devils etc.) also send thoughts distorting spiritual science in order to bring about tāmasik behaviour, such as: “Nothing much will happen if you don’t take a shower or clean the house.  These are just gross level things.  Subtle is more important so you don’t have to do it”. Or it can be a thought to induce incorrect spiritual practice, such as: “You should just sit and chant and not do satseva because chanting is within and satseva is external and at the gross level. You don’t need to do satseva since you have gone beyond it.  You are already feeling Bliss”.

In more extreme cases of distorting spiritual science, negative energies (ghosts, demons, devils etc.) can send thoughts to make the person think that the negative act is a positive act, such as: “You should guide yourself.  By following others, you are not connected to God but to the person. Each person should be his own guide”, or “Drugs give spiritual experiences and drugs are a spiritual tool for growth”.  In regards to telling others about Spirituality, the negative energies can also send incorrect thoughts about how Spirituality should be spread or disseminated. They can give thoughts to do satseva and spread Spirituality at a psychological level that actually may lead to mistakes. They may also give thoughts of improper judgment about a curious person (for example, sending the message that a person is a seeker when he is not, or the reverse, that the person is not a seeker when he is).

4. How negative energies (ghosts, demons, devils etc.) increase thoughts of pride and ego in people

To increase our thoughts of pride and ego, negative energies (ghosts, demons, devils etc.) send thoughts, such as: “You have done this so well”, “Everyone will see it”, “You will be praised”, “Everyone is looking at you”, “You look good”, “You are so smart”.

These thoughts may be about many different things, even small unimportant acts. In the case of seekers, negative energies make stronger suggestions, for example: “You are the strongest of all”, “You are the smartest of all”, and “No one in the world can do this better than you”.

5. How negative energies (ghosts, demons, devils etc.) give very bad and aggressive thoughts to people (thoughts of breaking things, beating other people, murder, rape or similar)

To influence people to perform really aggressive acts, negative energies (ghosts, demons, devils etc.) send a visualisation of the act into the person’s mind. The person sees the act already happening within his mind and is then motivated to act out what is visualised.

In addition to the visualisation, negative energies can send a feeling of pleasure coming out of the act, meaning they let a person experience a fake sense of pleasure from visualising the committed act.

6. In summary – steps to reduce the influence of negative energies (ghosts, demons, devils etc.) on the mind

Unknown to most of mankind, a major battle of good versus evil has been taking place in the subtle-regions since 1993. From time to time throughout history, the subtle-forces of evil gain enough spiritual energy to attempt to establish a demonic kingdom in the Universe. One of the ways in which they trouble mankind through this subtle-battle is by sowing thoughts of unrighteous behaviour that takes people away from the pursuit of spiritual growth and increases the Raja and Tama components in the environment.

Since most people are unaware of this battle, they do not realise that the thoughts they experience may originate from negative entities in the spiritual realm. It is only through regular spiritual practice that one starts to recognise such occurrences, learns to overcome their effect and is protected from them.