1. Introduction to PIP

Efforts to study the energy field (aura) around objects or people with the help of machines or specific techniques have been going on for the past many decades. In 1939 a Russian inventor, Semyon Kirlian and his wife Valentina developed Kirlian photography which was believed to capture the aura around objects. After many years of researching Kirlian photography, Harry Oldfield, a UK biologist turned energy-field researcher, developed an energy field imaging system, Polycontrast Interference Photography (PIP) in the 1980s.

Polycontrast Interference Photography (PIP) is an energy field video imaging process. This technology reveals patterns of light that are not visible to the naked eye. Oldfield thought that the human energy field might possibly interfere with photons which are energy packets of light. He reasoned that ambient (surrounding) light would be interfered with by the energy field both when the incident ray travelled towards the object and when the reflected ray bounced off the object. He devised a computer program that would analyse the different light intensities being reflected from the person or object being scanned. The PIP software can distinguish between many different grades or qualities of light.

PIP is strictly a non-invasive analysis tool that can be used to reveal patterns of non-visible light that are not visible to the naked eye. Harry Oldfield believed that the future of diagnosis of medical ailments lay in finding an effective scanner that can see imbalances in the energy field rather than disease in the physical body. He used various colours calibrated into the machine; each of these colours were given a particular meaning and are used to display positive vibrations and areas of disturbances in the bio-field. This information can then be used in various ways depending on the training and experience of the investigator or practitioner. The instrument has gained a lot of popularity with researchers trying to understand how a person’s bio-field are a tell-tale sign of their future health.

2. Adaptation of PIP technology for Spiritual Research

At the outset, please note that SSRF’s primary method for spiritual research into the spiritual dimension and subtle energies is through advanced sixth sense.

However, since 2007 taking advantage of the advancements in biofeedback instruments, the Maharshi University of Spirituality (MAV) and SSRF have been using such instruments to study the effects of various stimuli on living and non-living object’s aura and energy field. In the case of people, some biofeedback instruments can also measure their chakras. This has been of great benefit as it helps to physically endorse and prove the research we have already done through spiritual means.

At the Spiritual Research Centre, we have successfully used the PIP technology on people to understand how their biofield/energy field changes when exposed to various stimuli. We have also used the PIP technology to study spiritual purity of objects too.

The following are the various aspects where PIP has been used to provide a different view of subtle energies.

• Sāttvik living : This is the area of research which deals with the various choices we make on a daily basis, and how we can make each decision or choice more sāttvik (spiritual purity). The PIP shows how various objects one uses on a daily basis can affect one’s biofield. From a spiritual context, any stimulus has the potential to affect the proportion of the Sattva, Raja and Tama subtle components in a person which in turn affects the person’s biofield positively or negatively. Refer to the section on ‘Spirituality in Life’.
• Spiritual healing : The MAV and SSRF have devised various inexpensive self-healing methodologies. Experiments are conducted to study the efficacy of such self-healing tools on various individuals who may or may not be affected by spiritual distress.
• Spiritual phenomena : At the Spiritual Research Centre and Ashram, the research team comes across various spiritual phenomena which effect changes in living and non-living objects. The PIP technology helps to provide a different view to clarify whether the impact of such phenomena is positive or negative.
• Spiritual practice : The effect of various spiritual practices such as chanting the Name of God and Personality Defect Removal (PDR) are studied.

2.1 Infrastructure and set up of PIP at the Spiritual Research Centre, Goa, India

As suggested by the PIP manual, the spiritual research team has designed a room at the Spiritual Research Centre to be completely dedicated and compliant for the use of the PIP. The following are some of the features of the room and the care that has been taken to achieve a standardised environment.

• The room is dedicated only to experiments using the PIP and the room is not used for any other purpose.
• The entire room has been painted with a matt white finish to avoid the influence of other types of coloured light.
• All furniture in the area that is used for testing/examining objects with PIP has been painted white.
• No other light other than a full spectrum lighting (FSL) source is used in the room. Outside light is completely sealed off. The FSL is angled towards subject to be measured/analysed as mentioned in the PIP manual.
• Video camera used is a semi-professional fixed lens camera Panasonic P2 – HPX250.
• A dedicated computer compatible with the PIP software is maintained in the PIP room.

2.2 General methodology for using PIP in experiments

• The lighting during the experiment is standardised and care is taken to ensure that there are no lighting fluctuations. Standardized conditions ensure consistency of scans of an object. This allows one to make better comparisons between various scans of the same individual, for instance before and after treatment with a particular stimulus.
• The regulated environment as mentioned in para 2.1 also minimises any external influences in the experiment.
• Only one experienced operator (wearing a white coat) is in the room when a PIP scan is in progress.
• All camera settings (such as exposure and distance) once set in the beginning are not changed in any manner throughout the experiment. The camera is maintained at a horizontal level to the target area.
• A standard position is allocated for the object to be scanned.
• At first, a baseline reading is taken. This is a scan of the room without the object that will be scanned for the purposes of the experiment. Later, objects are introduced into the camera frame for subsequent readings. This helps to compare the effect of each object with the original baseline reading and hence the research team can study its impact on the surrounding area.
• Before each new reading/change of an object being scanned, the environment is allowed to revert back to the baseline reading. This helps to ensure that there is no overlap in readings/influence due to the previous object.
• Analysis of the results are conducted at a later stage after the experiment. This is the standard operating procedure that the spiritual research team follows for the use of the PIP technology at the Spiritual Research Centre and Ashram, Goa, India.

2.3 Guide to the PIP image colours

Each PIP scan generates a PIP image which has various colours in it. These colours are calibrated into the software and documented in the PIP manual (2007 edition) and each of them have been given a possible interpretation. In the table below, on the right-hand side, the interpretation of these colours as per the PIP manual have been provided. Specific colours are identified as either positive or negative. In some cases, a colour can have both negative and positive connotations and its interpretation is left to the person analysing the PIP image.

In relation to the colours of the PIP images, the spiritual research team at MAV and SSRF have gone into further detail and come up with explicit psycho-spiritual vibrational interpretation for each colour. These interpretations have been provided on the left-hand side in the table below. For example, 4 shades of green have been observed in PIP images. The PIP manual gives one type of interpretation for green in general and explains that it can be both positive and negative. The spiritual research team has identified a spiritual vibration that is associated with each shade of green along with explicitly mentioning whether it is positive or negative.

This further and more detailed calibration of PIP colours has been undertaken based on the team’s extensive experience with the instrument along advanced sixth sense and with help from expert users in PIP. All analysis undertaken now on PIP is standardised with the colour scheme on the left-hand side of the table.

2.4 Analysis of PIP images

When analysing a PIP image, the colours on the object and table are not taken into consideration as the PIP technology primarily measures the energy field around an object or a person. Shadows on the object can be misleading when examining the image. Coloured skin and contours of body also can give misleading results. Hence it was decided not to include the object and table in the analysis. As the area behind the object is a flat matt-white wall, the aura shows up clearly and can be easily analysed with minimal to no interference.

The spiritual research team has devised a method to measure the total amount of positive and negative vibrations in any given PIP image. A grid is set up to overlay the PIP image using an image editing software. This makes it easier to estimate the proportion of colours in each square of the grid. Using this method, the percentage by which each colour changes between PIP images can be quantified.

Charts are prepared to summarise and aggregate the changes in positive and negative colours in the PIP image with each change of stimulus/object from the baseline reading.