Prologue
This text is not fiction. It is not a metaphor, nor a poetic fantasy. These are experiences I have lived in the depth of yogic meditation, guided by Mantra, Tapasya, and the mercy of my Śrī Gurudev.
What I describe here is neither dream nor imagination, but vision. A descent into the lower realms of consciousness—Pātāla—and a journey toward purification, upliftment, and grace.
We all carry within us the entire map of the universe. What we see outside is only a reflection of what already exists inside. Through the chanting of divine names and the protective power of the Divine Mother, I was granted entry, awareness, and release from the realms of darkness.
May these words serve not to frighten but to awaken.
— Paramānanda Dāsānudas
Pilgrimage Through the Lower Worlds
In the Sanātan Dharma scriptures, we find detailed descriptions of what Hell is and where it exists. Unlike Christianity, Sanātanis know that there are numerous hells, each specifically designed for souls who have committed great wrongs in their previous lives. Since these souls are no longer capable of purifying or rectifying themselves, punishment becomes necessary to cleanse their karmas and demoniac nature. Beings from this Earth and from other planets end up in these realms according to their own desires and actions.
Hell by One’s Own Will
How can the actions of individuals, under the spell of Mahāmāyā (the great illusion), lead them to hellish realities? It is not difficult to witness this even with our material eyes in this earthly plane. People, by their own will, use their physical bodies for all kinds of degraded activities. Punishments, tortures, and violent acts abound.
There are professionals who have studied the art of torture—years spent learning how to make others suffer. Military specialists trained to extract information from enemies—this is, by definition, torture. But even in fields like medicine and dentistry, there is a darker undertone. Dentists, for example, cause pain to people on a daily basis across the world. Deep in the psyche, this act of inflicting pain
while claiming to “help” reflects a subtle layer of hellish existence—known in Sanskrit as Pātālas.
From an early age, children play video games in which they kill, murder, and torture others. The subconscious mind—which governs over 50% of our thoughts and emotions—absorbs all of this without filtering between what is real and what is fiction. It simply takes everything as “happening.” This is why meditation has the power to heal. Meditation largely involves visualizing events—many of which
are not real—yet the inner mind accepts them as reality. In this way, we can heal ourselves and even others.
In the same manner, these satanic games play with the minds of children. And as the years pass, the natural tendencies of human nature may lead them to wish to enact in real life what they practiced in games. This is how fantasies, fetishes, and killers are born.
When we accept, watch, and enjoy the suffering of others, we are accepting hellish conditions of life. Our minds and desires begin to taste the poison. Sooner or later, we must live it out for real. We attract realities by our daily routines and desires.
As the Buddha said: “We create our own reality.”
Revealing Meditation
Not long ago, my Shri Gurudev gave me a special Mantra that opened the door to other realities. With the proper sādhana and japa, I was able to perceive higher and lower dimensions. On Shrāvana Putrada Ekādaśī, I entered into a deep Dhyān Japa Mantra meditation with the aim of diving into the subconscious mind of the universe—and therefore, my own—and burning away all the negative emotions and thoughts that were making my Bhakti path difficult.
Feelings like anger, envy, and desires unrelated to Krishna (divine-God) are undoubtedly low-frequency vibrations that obstruct the evolution of the yogi. The esoteric path of yoga teaches that we must destroy the inner demons. Once purified by the fire of yoga, it becomes necessary to build a new reality based on sāttvic purity. Only then does the yogi receive the ultimate truth.
If we analyze this process, we discover it is the esoteric meaning of Navarātri and Śrī Durgā Pūjā. On the first day, Durgā Mā is worshipped; on the second, Lakṣmī Mā; and on the third, Sarasvatī Mā. This annual celebration symbolizes the destruction of darkness, illumination through purity, and the attainment of ultimate truth.
This was the path I walked in my post-midnight meditation. The Mantra began to penetrate more deeply into my being, and gradually I began to hear and see things.
beyond my immediate reality
Where I live now—this earthly Vrindavan—yes, we have monkeys and occasional strange sounds, mostly from the loudspeakers of rickshaws blaring music as if the whole world wants to hear it. But the sounds and visions I had the mercy to witness were entirely different.
Revelations
It was an obscure realm, filled with shadowy faces staring at me, as if they knew I was a foreigner in a land no one wishes to visit. One of the faces captured my attention due to its striking resemblance to an image from the film Nosferatu.
When the vision became crystal clear, I had the chance to see many faces. One in particular was especially interesting to me, as I recognized it from an actual movie in earthly pop culture. It is important to clarify that nothing in art or music is truly “created.” Everything already exists and is happening. We do not invent anything new—we discover things. That is, something was hidden from our reality until the moment it is “dis-covered.” The word itself makes it clear.
Movies that depict monsters—like Dracula, Nosferatu, zombies, and so on—are not entirely fictional. The actors, names, and specific plotlines are fabrications, yes, but the archetypal characters are real—very real. If someone focuses their mind (their self) on watching or reading about such beings, then, sooner or later, that mind—drawn by attraction or pleasure—will be led to the realms where those
beings exist.
Everything that surrounds us now was once a desire. We must be extremely careful with what we wish for, because sooner or later, it becomes our reality.
Indian Demons — But Not So Cartoonish After All
Another group of beings I saw in that deep realm of darkness were entities resembling vampires and werewolves. However, they looked nothing like the romanticized As Lestat from Interview with the Vampire (1994) versions, shown in movies. On the contrary, these creatures were hideous, beastly in appearance, and filled with fear—fear of everything. I saw them clearly, and once again, there was something eerily similar between them and the archetypes portrayed in films.
These creatures are similar representations of what we see in media, but not exactly as they appear. Mainly, the images cannot transmit the emotion that vibrated there. The closest I can describe is a sensation of panic and depression. A deep sub-bass sound could be felt in the distant background, constantly vibrating.
From time to time, screams or voices of deep lament could be heard.
What were they lamenting? Their own actions—and their current condition.
The Feeding Caverns
In this Pātāla, there was one creature I had never seen or even imagined before. It resembled a kind of snake or giant tentacle that lived inside caves. All these monsters were located in a massive cavern, and along the cave walls were smaller openings, door-like tunnels that seemed to lead to other regions. At the base of these smaller caves, I saw black-skinned, half-shining bodies that appeared to be part of a larger serpent or tentacle-like being. They were sucking in the bodies of other people.
These people did not appear like monsters—they looked like ordinary humans—but they were being slowly absorbed into the bodies of these serpentine entities.
They weren’t held by a mouth or grasped by claws, but rather by something like a suction grip, similar to the tentacles of an octopus.
This vision reminded me of drug addicts who die from heavy addictions. Just like them, these individuals were being drained, their life force slowly consumed by black snakes. Their energy, their being, was being absorbed.
There were many other types of creatures present, but I will not speak of them here.
Lords of Punishment
The entities in charge of torturing the souls that fall into that Hell were darkskinned—not dark like earthly humans, but the color of ash, yet darker. Their skin had no shine, no reflection, unlike human skin; it was entirely matte. In fact, everything in that realm had a matte quality—dark tones, muted hues, a shadowy spectrum.
These Lords of Punishment are called Yamadūtas in Sanātani (Hindu) texts. The Yamadūtas I witnessed were manipulating human-like beings trapped inside cagelike structures shaped like the human form—but positioned as animals, on all fours like a dog.
Even here on Earth, there are already people who use cages like these.
Being totally naked inside the cages, the Yamadūtas were pouring fire or lava onto the faces of those trapped within. Yet their faces did not melt from the intense heat—the pain, however, was fully present. These souls were condemned to endure this punishment for hundreds or even thousands of years. And the torment was not limited to burning alone.
As I said, they were naked, meaning their sexual organs, anus, and more were fully exposed to every kind of brutality. Around them, in one dark corner soaked in infinite suffering, I saw someone the whole world knows: ******* *******. He was there—not in a regular cage, but in a contraption shaped like a sadomasochistic prostitute. Hooks were pulling at the flesh of his chest. His face was larger than that of a normal man, distorted and horrifying. He was condemned to suffer all the disgrace those hellish creatures could inflict upon him—thrown into pits of snakes and scorpions, and worse. He was there for their pleasure, fully subjected to their rage.
Transmutation
While seated in meditation in that place, I had the power to observe everything—and, if I wished, to understand it: what it was, why it was, and what it meant. But I have learned that a yogi must not ask for information or instruction that they are not willing to face or follow. Therefore, I did not ask to understand everything— because to truly understand such things, one must feel them. The soul is not
fragmented. It is absolute. To see is to feel. To smell is to consume. All is one.
Because of the very root of this meditation, the Śakti power was with me, guiding and protecting me through this circus of darkness.
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious,” said Carl Jung—and I believe this deeply.
As the universe has different maṇḍalas, which Westerners call planets, the body of material life also has several maṇḍalas—centers of consciousness. Our seven chakras (eight, according to some) are reflections of this. The Sahasrāra chakra represents supreme consciousness; the Mūlādhāra chakra represents our primal
nature. In the same way, the universe has Brahmaloka at its crown and the Pātālas at its base.
From animalistic consciousness to divine light—as above, so below, says Hermes Trismegistus. Another great truth. Everything that exists in Pātāla must, in some way, also exist within us. And everything that exists in the spiritual sky must also exist within us. That is why the
Purāṇas say that Earth lies in the middle of the universe—because we human beings are a mix of Asuric and Devic nature: gods and demons in a single body.
The Ātman—the soul—must choose which side it will join: the path of Dharma or the path of Adharma. Or, beyond both, the soul may leave the game altogether and walk the path of Nirvāṇa–Mokṣa.
And it is good to remember: those who are not following the path of Dharma are, by default, following the path of Adharma. This is simple truth. If you are not light—whether you like it or not—you are darkness.
As my Śrī Gurudev says:
“Your choice.”
Burning Them All
In the midst of the meditation, the Divine Mother appeared in a ferocious form to annihilate and liberate those bestial creatures—beings who are also Ātman (souls) trapped there for what feels like eternity. The fire began to rise, the heat intensifying, and the vision of flames spreading across the realm. The creatures tried to flee, but not all of them could. Their bodies—heavy with countless sins—
screamed, ran, suffered.
I thought: You, creatures of darkness—do you remember your previous lives? The Divine Mother was fiercely protecting me, like a mother protects her child. I felt no fear, no pain—only full awareness. A state of perception not easy to describe to anyone who has not entered that dimension of consciousness.
After the flames subsided, I found myself alone in the same place. I knew that not all the beings had been cremated—some were still hiding in the small cave chambers, others had escaped through other portals—but immediately around me, there was no one. Still, from behind the rock walls, or from distant caves, the echoes of suffering and screams continued to rise.
This cleansing did not only happen in that Pātāla realm—it happened within me as well. Otherwise, what would be the purpose of witnessing these visions in my own meditation?
Uplifting the Light
Alone in that dark space, I felt free to choose: to remain there, in the land of black magic and forbidden pacts—or to uplift myself spiritually. For the benefit of my own soul, and for all the unseen ones silently watching and listening, I began to chant Hari Kīrtana—singing the names of God—the most powerful tool of
spiritual transformation. Loudly, with love and compassion, I chanted:
Bhaj Nitāi-Gaur Rādhe-Śyām
Japa Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Rām
The energy began to shift instantly. The space turned peaceful, radiant, filled with divine love—even there, in that forsaken place. I felt as though I was rising upward while still seated in my āsana. The inner sensation was unmistakable—I was flying upwards, ascending from the Pātālas toward a higher spiritual realm.
Suddenly, the radiant face of Śrī Śrī Rādhāramaṇ Charan Dās Dev appeared before me, smiling with pure love.
The Hari Kīrtana continued for ten more minutes. In that sacred chanting, the Holy Names of God are supreme. Bliss surrounded me completely. For those ten minutes, I was immersed in golden light. There were no people—just soft, luminous shapes made of golden light, everywhere.
Afterward, I offered my full praṇāms to Śrī Gurudev, for his boundless kṛpā (mercy) in showing me the true path. To the Divine Mother, for guiding me through darkness. And to Śrī Rādhāramaṇ Charan Dās Dev, who came to lift me from that realm and blessed me and the other souls with His infinite love.
Paramānanda Dāsānudas
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