Be it haunted houses and creepy noises or spirits and ghosts, the eerie has been the theme of many tomes, scripts and shows. Several people have reported seeing apparitions and shadows or hearing their near-and-dear ones who died long back. I am sure you, the reader, would have also seen TV programmes or read such stories... and some of you would have experienced such happenings in your own homes. All this is not just in the mind or your mind playing tricks...it is real. Our scriptures talk in detail about after-life and ghosts and spirits and also explain the reason for their existence.

On leaving the body, the spirit hovers around the physical remains for a period of 13 days. This period can become longer or unending depending upon the spirit’s attachment to its body, house, property or near-and-dear ones. The spirit may also stay on because of your thought...if your thought is very strongly attached to the departed soul and you are not releasing it then that can also tie the soul to the place of its physical existence or to you. 

The spirit has no relations, no friends and no home. It is free and needs to take birth as per its karmas and desires. That is why there are ceremonies across cultures to release it from the bondages of its latest life and existence. If it is unable to take birth due to lack of releasing ceremonies, its own desire or your thoughts then it remains suspended body-less and becomes a ghost. How many of you wish your near-and-dear ones looming in the house as troubled body-less souls?