Caring for your Prai or Guman Thong

People often ask Sadhu Dah how to care for spirit statues they buy from him or other masters, this is a comprehensive guide for anyone interested in learning about the care and routines for owning spirit statues.

This guide was written in order to inform the public of the care that goes into taking care of a spirit statue. Before ordering one from Sadhu Dah these considerations should be taken into account because it is very much like taking care of a pet and has real responsibility.

Inviting Into Home

You only need to perform this ritual one time to welcome the spirit into your home. Upon receiving the spirit statue, set up your altar and place the statue on the altar then say the following katha 3 times and light an incense.

(Nah - Mo - Taht - Sah - Bah - Gah - Wah- Toe - R - Ah - Hah -Toe - Sahm - Ah - Sahm - Buddha - Sah)

After performing katha, state these words out loud and then say the other activation katha:

"I welcome this spirit into my home, I name this spirit (give the spirit a name of your choosing), may the local land God allow it safe passage into my home, may the Buddha approve, may the Sangha give safe passage, and may the Dhamma teach this spirit. We will make merit together and my good deeds will be shared with this spirit."

(Na - Ma - Pa - Tah) 3x's

Give the spirit a candy or treat as an offering and introduce yourself. If other people live in the house then introduce them to your spirit. Show the spirit around the house and let it become familiar with its new home. When friends or guest come over, introduce them to your spirit as a friend. If you have other spirit statues then introduce them to each other. Invite them to get along and work together.

Rules

1: Place a glass of water on the table or altar space where you will keep the statue. Fill it as it evaporates and never allow it to empty. Water should be added once a week. You can also place a water bottle with the cap closed and change the water bottle out once every couple weeks.

2: Statue should be set on a red cloth if only spirit statues are on the altar, if Buddha or Bodhisattva statues and images are on the altar then the cloth needs to be yellow. Any Buddha image or statue should be placed above the spirit statue and not below it or equal level.

3: Feed the spirit some candy or a treat on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Every week the food should be replaced and thrown away. It is highly suggested you also offered canned foods, or some fruit and vegetables every 3 days. Buy a small toy and place it on the altar for the spirit if it is a Guman Thong, if Prai Spirit then you will give an offering of flowers or alcohol, the toy can remain on the altar for the Guman Thong, but for a Prai spirit you will take the alcohol and flowers off after 2 weeks. Do not drink the alcohol, pour it out. These things should be given as thanks when the spirit accomplishes a task. If you cant give an offering then do good deeds or something helpful and think of your spirit, this is called making Tamboon. You need only think of the spirit when you do good and it will share your merit.

4: Make merit often and share it with your spirit. This means to be helpful and kind to other people, and animals, and think of your spirit when you do these kind acts. Making Tamboon is more important than regular offerings and should always be done as this increases the power of the spirit and keeps it working for you in a benign state. It also helps the spirit to evolve and eventually reach a higher incarnation.

5: Do not ask your spirit to curse people, it will rebound on you. Sadhu Dah has intimately formed a bond with every spirit statue he makes and as such has given the spirits rules and codes of conduct to abide by. These spirit laws as he calls them are for your protection and protection of the spirit as well.

6: Never give your spirit raw meat or blood, this makes spirits fierce and unpredictable. You put yourself in a position of real danger and can get possessed, be murdered in your sleep, lose your sanity, or bring harm to others and haunt your home. Following the rules and not feeding spirit raw meat or blood will keep you safe, very well protected, and blessed with no need to worry about being attacked.

7: Every time you have a meal, set a small amount aside on a separate plate and invite your spirit to come eat food with you, if you can't do this every meal then at least put a serving of cooked food for your spirit on its altar once or twice a week, preferably on Tuesdays and Saturdays as these are the days of the dead and they receive more power on these days and offerings have more power on these days which increases the potency of what they receive.

8: You can eat offerings given to your spirit statue, but there's benefits and negative points to doing this and should be done at your own risk.

Benefits- Eating a used offering gives you great power and can add strength to a ritual if consuming before performing magical workings. It can give you increased charm and luck, and can increase psychic abilities.

Negatives- Long-term consumption of spirit offerings will consume your life essence, it will diminish your physical life. Once in awhile is ok, but it shouldn't be a habit as it carries risks even with benevolent spirits. It is akin to giving something and then taking it back, spirits don't like this, but will tolerate it to a point. Keep this rule in mind, it's very important.

9: Have your spirit altar facing in the cardinal direction of true West. Do not let the spirit altar directly face an open window, if it faces a window then have the curtain closed during day time, at night it is ok to let moon light in.

10: Burn an incense stick and give thanks to your spirit once a day, or at least when giving offering to your spirit and inviting it to receive the offering.

11: Once a week burn 2 red candles,1 white candle, 1 black candle and an incense while you say the following katha below. You can also just leave candles on altar and light them during the times you give offerings. This is to increase the power of your statue.

(Na - Cha - Lee - Tee - Tah - Nee - Sah - Low - Na - Ma - Phra - Pa - Tah - Nah - Mo - Nah - Mo) *3X's*

12: Regularly talk to your spirit, tell it about your day, give it praise for helping, or just say hi. Build a meaningful relationship with your spirit. Care for it as you would a loved one or best friend.

Activation and Commands

Perform either of these activating kathas 3 times when using a command to ask statue to perform a task. Say them while holding the statue or thinking of it and picturing the spirit in your mind. Say the name of the spirit at the end of each command. These are shortened command prayers, the lengthy ones take a bit of practice to pronounce and perform, these will do just fine though.

1. So - A - Ni - So (Call to come to you wherever you are) ***Use this chant to summon spirit to you. 2. So - Sa - A - Ni (Awaken and empower to send on missions) ***Use this chant to give power to spirit and send it to do things for you, think of the thing you want it to do and light a single incense and say this chant 3 times. 3. Ni - So - Sa - A (Use to ward away spirits and ghosts) ***Use this chant to have your spirit enter sentry mode and protect you before sleeping or if in a graveyard or place of the dead. 4. A - Ni - So - Sa (Use to make the Guman or Prai stay in one place) ***Use this chant to have your spirit stay at a place for whatever reason you want it to be there. It will remain in that place till you call it back.

Closing Thoughts

If you find you can no longer care for your spirit statue, do not throw it away, it will come back to you and won't be very happy upon its return, it will follow you to the ends of the earth. Instead, you will want to return the statue to Sadhu Dah, so that he may care for it, or bring it to any Buddhist temple and give it to the monks, they will know how to care for it.

Due to Guman Thong being child spirits, we don't give children alcohol, they receive toys and treats, where as Prai are adult human or inhuman spirits, they receive treats, alcohol, cigarettes, and flowers. It takes longer for spirits to consume canned foods, alcohol, and cigarettes, or whole coconuts. It is because of this fact that we can leave such items for a couple weeks instead of 3 days like treats and candies, because the substance in those items is consumed faster in regards to treats, they need to be replaced sooner. Think of it in terms as candy won't fill you up or if you eat enough to fill you up then it won't sustain you like a real meal. We also typically don't drink a whole bottle of anything in just a couple sips, or smoke a whole pack of cigarettes right away.

You can give a baby bottle full of milk to your Guman Thong, but replace the milk daily so it doesn't spoil. This is a really good treat for the Guman Thong! They love fresh milk, just as most babies do.

The type of incense you use isn't important, so just offer an incense that you enjoy and won't mind having to smell on a regular basis.

Most female spirits really enjoy music and you can regularly play music for them, or if you are not in the home you can leave the radio on for them. They sing and dance along to their favorite songs. With a female Prai, a good gift to give is perfume or hang dresses around the altar. Spray the perfume on the statue once a week and give praise.

A lot of male spirits will enjoy good sake or whiskey, giving a nice cigar every once and awhile is a good gift for the male Prai. Fun fact for you, if a spirit doesn't like a nice gift that you give them, often times before flat out rejecting it they will take the essence of that gift and trade it to another spirit for something more suitable that they will enjoy. Yes, spirits barter on the planes. If an offering is flat out rejected, you will know, it will likely be thrown on the floor.

If you don't often have time to give regular food offerings or find yourself travelling, you can invite your spirit to help itself to the food in your pantry, tell it that it may take sustenance from the food in your home at its leisure.

Have something to catch the ashes from incense or wax from candles, you don't want the altar cloth to get dirty, it is seen as disrespect. You can also store the ashes and mix with water to make powerful holy water, or save the candle wax to melt down and mix with other ingredients to make powerful spell candles. The discarded flowers can also be dried out and ground to a power or stored in a jar for later use. This items have been spirit infused and touched by the other side, they hold great power. You could also just throw them away if you'd like..

Do not store trash next to your altar, it clutters the energies and doesn't allow them to flow properly, same goes for storing junk underneath an altar.