Number 18

Photo-Lord Krishna and Arjuna surrounded by Akshauhini Sena during Gita Upadesham in Kurukshatra.

No. 18 is said to vibrate spiritual-material conflict according to celebrated author and spiritualist Linda Goodman. In her book Star Signs the author has stated that persons with name numerical adding to 18 faced bitter quarrels within family circle, along with wars, social upheaval, and revolution.

Those born on the 18th day of any month have chosen themselves (on the level of the Higher Self), between incarnations, this channel of birth as did Jesus (JESUS 15363 adding upto 18, CHRIST 352134 adding upto 18) whose name has double 18 vibration, as the greatest of all testings of the soul for worthiness.

If name vibration is 18, for example - GAYATHRI - 31114521 adding upto 18, it is recommended to add or delete alphabets to work up a total 6 vibration. Many years ago I had added an 'A' (Gaayathri) to my name. But pronology (sound vibration of name - applicable through multi-languages) made it "Gaaya" (Gaayam-wound, injury) and I became prone to sudden cuts, bruises and even a surgery! I realized on my own that the reason was the addition of "A" to my name. Alphabet addition or deletion is a tricky affair. One has to take into consideration lexigram as well as pronology.

I recently got hold of a 1962 Bhagavad Gita publication (authored by Pujya Sri Vidyaprakashanandagiri Swami) in which No. 18 has been hailed as a divine and most fortunate number!

The great author has cited following facts -

In Mahabharatha Kurukshetra war lasted for 18 days.

In the "Akshauhini Sena" (battle formation) there were 21, 870 (adding to 18) chariots, 21, 870 (adding to 18) elephants, 65, 610 (adding to 18) horses, 1, 530, 900 (adding to 18) Pandava warriors and 1,09,350 (adding to 18) foot soldiers. The Kaurava army had 2,405,700 (adding to 18) warriors.

Further the author Pujya Sri Vidyaprakashanandagiri Swami states that 18 practices are required to attain liberation (moksha). Namely

Anthah Karana Chathushtayam -the four-fold of mind which are manas, buddhi, ahamkara and chittha (1)

Pancha Pranas - Five vital energies prana, apana, samana, udana, vyana (5)

Pancha Gnaanendriyas - Five sensory organs which are ears, eyes, skin, tongue and nose (5)

Deham - physical body (1)

Drishyam - Insight, perception and clarity (1)

Total - 18

Age till when a person is a minor -18

Number of temple steps -18

Number of Ritviks in Yagna -18

Number of mantras in the foremost Upanishad known as "Ishavasya Upanishad" -18

Number of slokas in Bhagavad Gita's 2nd Chapter about "Atma Varanana" (description of soul) -18

Number of slokas in Bhagavad Gita's 2nd chapter describing qualities of "Sthithah Pragna" (person who has equanimity of mind) -18

Number of arms of Goddess Durga Devi -18

No.18 resonates "Aham Brahmasmi" and "Soham", which are the key words for liberation of soul.

Yet another cosmic message!

(Above is a photograph of the Mother of Pondicherry)Many times we come across people with familiar features or attitude (body language, features, articulation etc.)bearing strong resemblance to our friends, relatives, acquaintances or someone who has hurt/angered or pleased/made us happy in the past. I made the startling discovery that such people bearing similar features of our past contacts cross our paths generally after we have lost touch ( for any reason) with those 'past contacts'. It could be a cosmic reminder or a karmic chain of contact!I recall the period when I had lost touch with a person many years ago. Within just a year of the event, I ran into another person from a totally different field, yet bearing an overwhelming resemblance to the past friend. That is when I realized that another entity bearing a strong resemblance to the past contact bumped into me to remind me of unfinished karmic business. Even if we are convinced that there is nothing more to the past, unfinished karmic business points to lingering thoughts or an interest from the past contact to reestablish contact. The only means to break the chain of karma is through detachment to the past and the person.
I tried to analyse the cosmic message behind such an occurrence (of meeting somebody who resembles a past contact). I understood that the person with whom we have lost touch could be mentally following us through powerful thought waves emanating from his/her aura, automatically invoking an interaction between their "breed" of people ( similar "saamudrika lakshanam") and ourselves. While all this is about living people, evolved souls have explained about after death phenomena such as the following:-
In one of the books by Navajata Bhaiji, a close associate and devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother of Pondicherry, he states that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have described in very great detail what happens to the soul, the psychic being and the astral personality after death. The mind continues to exist, the vital continues to exist, even after death. People may say out of ignorance that so and so would be born as a snake or a cat or a bird. Bhaiji states that it is incorrect. He says that according to what he has learnt from Mother, only a part of the personality of a person, like the lower part, may join a snake, a cat or a bird. That doesn't mean that his entire personality, including his soul have joined with that animal! He quotes Mother's examples of this phenomenon. She said that a young man She knew, died in the First World War. She was living in Paris at that time. She was sitting in a room when suddenly a cat ran to Her and pulled at Her dress. She saw in the cat's eyes the eyes of that man and could feel his presence. She immediately knew that the young man had been killed. Later She found that he had indeed died on the battlefront exactly at the time the cat had come to the Mother. So the astral body hardly took any time to travel from a battlefield in Germany right upto Paris and get in touch with the Mother. That is the speed with which the astral body can travel, it can even go through a wall and keep its personality intact.
The book has another account of the Mother's narration of an incident regarding a musician (a pianist). He had trained his hands in piano-playing over years of pracitce. After his death, his subtle hands got concretised- they got the skill- and so even after the man died, his hands, only the hands, remained in the subtle-physical. This is truly amazing that not the total personality but the hands alone could combine with the hands of another person who was trying to become a good pianist. But this second musician must be in an attitude of invoking- and this is very important- invoking some force to help him and for that moment he may play very beautifully, which normally he may be incapable of doing.
This means it is quite possible to build a connection; to build a contact with subtle-physical forces, and combine with even a part of the personality of another person who has died and thus improve one's life!