“माता आ गई” — असल में होता क्या है? Is God Possession Real? The Psychology Behind It — Transcript

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1. 0:00In India, you must have heard at some
2. 0:02point that a goddess has possessed
3. 0:04someone, or that our deity has entered
4. 0:06someone in a village. Then that person
5. 0:08suddenly starts shaking. Their voice
6. 0:11changes. Body movements change, and
7. 0:13people start asking them questions. But
8. 0:16the question is, what is actually
9. 0:18happening at that moment? Is a god or
10. 0:20goddess really entering that person? Or
11. 0:23can the human brain go into an altered
12. 0:26state where the person themselves feels
13. 0:29that it’s not me, but someone else
14. 0:31inside me? Two common examples. Example
15. 0:34one: Village deity. Suppose a village
16. 0:37worships a deity once a year. Drums are
17. 0:40playing, mantras are being chanted. The
18. 0:42entire environment is emotionally
19. 0:43charged. Then a person starts shaking.
20. 0:46Breathing becomes rapid. Voice and body
21. 0:49language change, and people say the
22. 0:51deity has arrived. Now people ask that
23. 0:53person questions: why are the crops
24. 0:56failing? Why are these problems
25. 0:57happening in the village? And their
26. 0:59answers are considered to be the
27. 1:00deity's message. Example two: Mata ka
28. 1:02Jagran (a night-long vigil for the
29. 1:04goddess). In a Jagran, hymns are
30. 1:06playing continuously. The person
31. 1:08already believes that the Mother
32. 1:09Goddess can possess someone. The people
33. 1:11around them also have this same
34. 1:13expectation. Then the person suddenly
35. 1:15starts moving. The voice changes and
36. 1:17they behave in a way that is completely
37. 1:18different from their normal behavior.
38. 1:20People immediately say the Goddess has
39. 1:22arrived. Now the important question is,
40. 1:25how did this change happen? How does
41. 1:27psychology understand this? Such
42. 1:29experiences have been studied in
43. 1:31psychology and psychiatry in the
44. 1:33context of trance and possession
45. 1:35experiences. In some situations, terms
46. 1:37like dissociative trance or
47. 1:39possession-like states are used. But
48. 1:41let's understand dissociation in simple
49. 1:43language. Normally, many things are
50. 1:46integrated together in our brain.
51. 1:49Identity, attention, memory, emotions,
52. 1:51perception, and behavior. You have a
53. 1:54continuous feeling. I am the same
54. 1:57person. But sometimes, in intense
55. 1:59circumstances, the integration of these
56. 2:01processes can temporarily change, and
57. 2:03then the person's experience can be
58. 2:05very different from their normal state.
59. 2:07This is broadly called a dissociative
60. 2:10experience. Research describes
61. 2:12dissociation as a spectrum of memory,
62. 2:15perception, identity, and awareness.
63. 2:18But why does the brain go into such a
64. 2:20state? There is an important point here
65. 2:22. It doesn't have a single switch.
66. 2:24Stress happened and the Goddess arrived
67. 2:25. It is not such a simple mechanism.
68. 2:27Usually, multiple factors can interact.
69. 2:30Such as intense emotional stress, fear
70. 2:32or grief, traumatic experiences,
71. 2:35religious excitement, repetitive rhythm
72. 2:37or chanting, social environment, and
73. 2:40most importantly, expectation and
74. 2:42belief. Research on dissociative
75. 2:45symptoms in India has reported
76. 2:47associations between psychological,
77. 2:49social, and cultural factors with
78. 2:50trauma, family stress, and cultural
79. 2:52beliefs. Why is expectation so
80. 2:55important? To understand this, remember
81. 2:57that village example. If a village has
82. 3:00held a belief for generations that
83. 3:02their deity manifests through a chosen
84. 3:03person, then that person's brain
85. 3:05already has a template. They have seen
86. 3:07how people behave when the deity
87. 3:09arrives. They have heard how the voice
88. 3:11changes. They have seen how people ask
89. 3:14questions. They have also seen how the
90. 3:16community treats that person. Meaning,
91. 3:19the brain already has a script
92. 3:20available. Now, if that person enters
93. 3:22an intense emotional state, the brain
94. 3:24doesn't have to create something from
95. 3:26scratch to express the experience. It
96. 3:28already has a culturally familiar model
97. 3:31. "The deity has entered me." This is
98. 3:33why research suggests that the form and
99. 3:35interpretation of dissociative trance
100. 3:37and possession can be influenced by
101. 3:38culture. Meaning, the brain doesn't
102. 3:40just experience things. The brain also
103. 3:42gives meaning to the experience. Take
104. 3:44an example. If a person is alone in a
105. 3:46forest and hears a sound from behind.
106. 3:48They might think it is an animal. But
107. 3:51if that same sound is heard in a
108. 3:52haunted place, their brain might
109. 3:54immediately think: There is something
110. 3:56supernatural here. The sound might be
111. 3:58the same. But context changes the
112. 4:00interpretation. In possession
113. 4:02experiences, similarly, culture and
114. 4:04beliefs can give meaning to the
115. 4:06experience. Now, why do the voice and
116. 4:08body change? It would be wrong to
117. 4:10consider the mind and body as separate
118. 4:11here. When the emotional state changes,
119. 4:13the body responds automatically.
120. 4:15Breathing changes. Heart rate can
121. 4:17change. Muscle tension changes.
122. 4:19Attention can narrow. Speech patterns
123. 4:22can change. Voice pitch and tone can
124. 4:24change. Posture and facial expressions
125. 4:27can also change. That is why a person's
126. 4:29voice can suddenly sound heavy or
127. 4:30completely different. And if their mind
128. 4:33is expressing a different identity or
129. 4:35entity, the body can also behave
130. 4:37according to that representation. This
131. 4:39does not mean the person is necessarily
132. 4:41acting consciously. The behavior can
133. 4:43also feel automatic. But why does the
134. 4:45person themselves feel that there is
135. 4:47someone else inside them? This is the
136. 4:49most important part. We normally
137. 4:50experience our actions with the sense
138. 4:53that "I am doing this." But in
139. 4:55dissociative states, the sense of
140. 4:57agency—meaning "I am performing this
141. 4:59action"—can temporarily change. If a
142. 5:03person's movements, thoughts, or speech
143. 5:05start to feel unusually automatic, the
144. 5:07brain may explain that experience by
145. 5:09saying, "I am not doing this." And if
146. 5:12the concept of possession is already
147. 5:14available in their culture, an
148. 5:16explanation can form. "An entity is
149. 5:18inside me." There is an important
150. 5:20scientific idea here. The experience
151. 5:22does not have to be imaginary. The
152. 5:24person can genuinely feel that control
153. 5:26is outside of them. But that feeling
154. 5:28does not automatically prove a
155. 5:30supernatural explanation. Then how does
156. 5:32the deity know so much information?
157. 5:34There are multiple possibilities for
158. 5:36this as well. Suppose someone comes to
159. 5:38a person with a family problem. Why is
160. 5:40there a problem at home? Now, in the
161. 5:42role of the deity, the person might
162. 5:44already pick up on clues. Family
163. 5:46conversations, facial expressions, body
164. 5:48language, previous knowledge, or
165. 5:50surrounding circumstances. The human
166. 5:52brain processes a lot of social
167. 5:54information even without conscious
168. 5:56analysis. That is why the answer can
169. 5:58sometimes be surprisingly accurate.
170. 6:00Sometimes a guess, sometimes an
171. 6:01unconscious inference, sometimes
172. 6:03pre-existing information, sometimes
173. 6:05coincidence, and sometimes the answer
174. 6:07seems completely impossible. Suppose a
175. 6:10person reveals specific information
176. 6:11that they supposedly had no normal
177. 6:13source of knowing beforehand, and later
178. 6:15, the information is proven correct by
179. 6:17independent evidence. Then science does
180. 6:20not need to call it a deity immediately
181. 6:22, nor does it need to label it fake
182. 6:24right away. The scientific approach
183. 6:26would be to investigate the case. What
184. 6:28exactly was said? When was it said? Who
185. 6:30already had that information? Was the
186. 6:33statement recorded? Did the story
187. 6:35change later? Was a normal information
188. 6:37source possible? If no explanation is
189. 6:39found even after an investigation, the
190. 6:41scientifically honest answer is "
191. 6:43unexplained.""Unexplained" does not
192. 6:45automatically mean supernatural. And
193. 6:47one very important difference. Don't
194. 6:50assume that anyone who experiences a
195. 6:52deity or divine presence entering them
196. 6:54is mentally ill. That is also not
197. 6:56scientifically correct. In some
198. 6:57cultures, trance is an accepted part of
199. 6:59religious ceremonies. If the experience
200. 7:01is culturally accepted and the person
201. 7:03is not experiencing distress or
202. 7:05significant problems with daily
203. 7:06functioning, it is not automatically
204. 7:08considered a psychiatric disorder. The
205. 7:10issue becomes different when the
206. 7:11episodes are unwanted. If the person is
207. 7:14in severe distress, memory or
208. 7:15functioning is affected, or safety
209. 7:17issues arise, then clinical assessment
210. 7:19may be needed. So, what is the answer
211. 7:21to the phenomenon of divine possession?
212. 7:23There is no single answer. Some cases
213. 7:25may be conscious performances. In some
214. 7:27cases, intense emotion and expectation
215. 7:29may play a role. In others, it could be
216. 7:31a dissociative, trance-like state. In
217. 7:32some cases, cultural beliefs and the
218. 7:34social environment can shape
219. 7:36experiences, and some individual
220. 7:37incidents may remain unexplained. That
221. 7:39is why modern research also considers
222. 7:41the simple choice of just brain versus
223. 7:43just culture to be inadequate. In human
224. 7:45experience, the brain, psychology, and
225. 7:48the socio-cultural environment can
226. 7:50interact simultaneously. And perhaps
227. 7:52the most important distinction is that
228. 7:54an experience feeling genuinely real to
229. 7:56a person and that experience's
230. 7:58supernatural explanation being
231. 7:59objectively proven are two different
232. 8:01things. Therefore, next time you hear
233. 8:04about someone being possessed by a
234. 8:06deity, don't just ask whether the deity
235. 8:08truly came or not. Ask another question
236. 8:10: what was happening in that person's
237. 8:12brain, emotions, expectations, and
238. 8:14surroundings at that time? Because
239. 8:17sometimes, what looks supernatural from
240. 8:19the outside can have a very complex
241. 8:21story of human psychology behind it.