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By Jamuna Rangachari

February 2009

The significance of the aura is still largely unexplored. However, modern techniques are beginning to shed light on auras, taking a significant step in bringing science and spirituality a bit closer.

Seeing the energies before and after the healing process is really beneficial for a person to not just understand but also completely accept the efficacy of techniques such as reiki,’ says Dr N K Sharma, founder of Reiki Healing Foundation in Delhi who uses aura reading in his practice.

This was also the experience of Dr G P Shahi, a cardiologist with 25 years of experience and Director, Health System World Project, World Bank. Dr Shahi combines modern science and siddha yoga sadhana in his practice. Though he could always personally see the results of his siddha yoga, he knew an objective analysis of its efficacy could help patients greatly by giving more confidence and motivation to continue spiritual practices. Diivyaa Sharma, a Delhi-based auric practitioner who uses machines to help her identify auras, was the answer to his prayer. She did a ‘before healing’ and ‘after healing’ scan on a patient of his suffering from a knee pain, which revealed a phenomenal jump to higher vibrational frequency in the second report.

“There seemed to be no solution in sight for my husband, who had problems emptying his bladder and therefore, used to go for regular dialysis,” says Chandra Ramesh Muppidi from Mumbai. However, an aura scan miraculously pinpointed the blocked chakras that caused the blockage. By working on these, Chandra, with the help of Dr Uday Shah, a Mumbai-based auric practitioner, was able to heal him completely. “There is no way I could have healed myself without an aura report,” says Shreya Venkatesh (name changed) from Mumbai, who had severe fainting fits and weakness a few years back. After various tests, all of them inconclusive, she took some medication to improve the amount of oxygen supplied to her body (a suspected cause of her ailment). But that only made her condition worse. When she had reached the end of her tether, a friend suggested an aura scan. This revealed the real reason; blockages in her crown and third eye chakra region. Regular meditation on clearing these blockages followed, and Shreya is now totally fit and fine.

What is an aura?

Most of us have seen auras in many pictures; in the form of a shining halo circling the heads of sages and sometimes, ninjas and super heroes.

Essentially, the aura is a protective shield that keeps you healthy and joyful when in balance. Something like a ‘kavach’ (shield of protection). However, stress and illness can adversely affect your aura. Certain diseases can even cause gaps in it. When something blocks the energy flow within the aura, the shield weakens, making you unhappy, depressed or even seriously sick.

Although known traditionally, the modern Indian has been sceptical about auras. Good reason, therefore, to applaud the invention of machines that actually testify to the presence of auras. The technique of aura scanning senses the energy field of a thing or person, and shows us a vision of our invisible other self. The various machines available currently range from a basic model for Rs 40,000 to sophisticated models that cost over Rs 7 lakh. The cost of getting a scan ranges from Rs 500 to Rs 1000.

The pros of aura scans

A good aura scan interprets the energies at all levels of our being, while pathological lab tests show only that which can be seen in the body.

An understanding of two basic psychic entitities are necessary, here;that of the koshas or sheaths, and chakras or vortexes.

The first sheath is our physical body (known as annamaya kosha in traditional Indian terminology).

The second is the body of energy (pranamaya kosha). This is the energy field or aura that functions both within and surrounding the physical body. This body supplies energy to the physical body and the mind, emotions and senses.

The third relates to the mind, emotions and senses (manomaya kosha).It holds our thoughts, feelings and sensory input. This body is active even when the physical body is still.

Next, there is the subtle sheath of higher wisdom (vijnanamaya kosha).

Finally, there is the anandamaya kosha, or our true nature of bliss.

The human body also contains psychic energy centres or vortexes called chakras. The seven major chakras are:

• mooladhara: base or root chakra (last bone in spinal cord, the coccyx)
• swadhisthana: sacral chakra (ovaries/prostate)
• manipura: solar plexus chakra (navel area)
• anahata: heart chakra (heart area)
• vishuddha: throat chakra (throat and neck area)
• ajna: brow or third eye chakra (pituitary gland)
• sahasrara: crown chakra (pineal gland)

Different paradigms

Essentially, the basic difference between the approach followed by modern medicine and the energy systems are that while modern medicine gives importance to the physical body alone, the aura scan and systems which are interlinked with this approach, are focussed on energy at the cellular level [see box on pg 33]. The energy seen in this manner indicates hyper or hypo activity at each focal point of the chakras or at each layer of the kosha.

Being a nascent science, however, there is the possibility of incorrect diagnosis. We must remember that just as it requires a skilled radiologist to evaluate an MRI or X-ray, it requires a person with a good understanding of the energy field to make sense of an aura report. As Dr Sujata Vaidya, Co-ordinator, Institute of Integrative Health Care, points out, “When the annamaya kosha is scanned, the physical aspect of the ‘body’ is evaluated, the pranamaya kosha guides us to the ease of energy flow. Manomaya kosha helps understand the mindset.”

Each of the chakras or vortexes in our body too has a specific implication. For instance, abnormally high energy in manipura on manamaya kosha will give an improper state of digestion and weak liver functions whereas weakness on the same chakra at the manomaya kosha may lead to fear and anger.

The understanding of the linkages between the chakra and kosha system is an acquired skill that comes with a lot of practice and therefore, an aura report is not to be treated flippantly. In other words, any number of scans is of no use unless they are understood well.

Aura in use

“We have standardised tests for non-standard people,” says Dr Thornton Streeter of the Centre for Biofield Sciences, Mumbai, which deals with machines in this area. Dr Streeter is committed to promoting a synergy between all the sciences for the benefit of the patients.

Aura scanning machines bring a much-needed touch of objectivity to complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs), which are holistic in nature, and therefore, highly individualised.

Diivyaa says, “It makes the healer/subject know that they are in safe hands, their belief system and positivity increases upon witnessing the results of the healing even before going to a doctor or getting a medical test done.”

Meditation and aura

If anyone still has any doubt on whether meditation can help us battle our ailments and/or feel relaxed, an aura scan dispels all doubt.

“When I became more serious about doing reiki regularly, all the blockages seen in my aura, which caused a lot of fear, vanished,” says Chandra.

Martin Brofman, a well-known spiritual healer whose locus of healing is the chakra system, does not use these machines as he prefers to look at the chakras directly, but he recognises that “they are very helpful for those getting started with meditation as it provides an objective measure of what is happening in their consciousness.”

The background

Kirlian photography refers to a form of photography discovered in 1939 by Semyon Kirlian in Russia. Kirlian’s work, from 1939 onward, involved an independent rediscovery of a phenomenon and technique variously called ‘electrography,’ ‘electrophotography,’ and ‘corona discharge photography.’ The Kirlian technique is contact photography, in which the subject is in direct contact with a film placed upon a metal plate charge.

Current research continues by Dr Konstantin Korotkov in the Russian University, St. Petersburg State Technical University of Informational Technologies, Mechanics and Optics. The Korotkov methods are used in some hospitals and athletic training programmes in Russia and elsewhere as preventive measurements for detecting stress. The Russian Academy of Science has also approved the GDV techniques and equipment in 1999 for general clinical use within the parameters of general electrical safety.

Parallelly, Harry Oldfield from UK developed a scanner and software known as Polycontrast Interference Photography or PIP which could provide a real-time, moving image of the energy field. Dr Oldfield believes that the future of analysis lies in finding an effective scanner which can ‘see’ imbalances in the energy field rather than disease in the physical body,

In other areas too, there is growing recognition of energy sciences. ‘Even the forensic department of CBI in India and the CIA and FBI in the US have a para-psychological research wing for analyzing positive and negative energies in their investigations,’ points out Dr N K Sharma.

Clearly, the time is ripe for an objective approach to healing, which takes into consideration all the aspects of a person – physical, emotional, and spiritual – for analysis.