A woman’s clothes can add or subtract from her spiritual positivity
If fashion houses and dress designers were to understand and abide by the spiritual principles that enhance clothing at the spiritual level, then they would become a vital positive influence on women’s fashion. And this would add to the spiritual beauty and gracefulness of women around the world. This was stated by H.H. (Mrs.) Uma Ravichandran of Maharshi Adhyatma Vishwavidyalay (Maharshi University of Spirituality). She was speaking on 27th September 2018 at the 3rd International Conference on Apparel Textiles and Fashion Design (ICATFD 2018) held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The conference was organised by Global Academic Research Institute (GARI), in collaboration with The Textile Institute Sri Lanka Section. H.H. Ravichandran was presenting the research paper titled ‘The Saree – A timeless fashion trend that emits positive subtle-vibrations’. This paper is written by H.H. Dr. Athavale, founder of Maharshi Adhyatma Vishwavidyalay. H.H. Ravichandran and Mr. Sean Clarke are the co-authors.
She went on to explain an experiment done as a part of a pilot study using an aura scanner developed by Dr. Mannem Murthy, a former nuclear scientist. In this experiment a subject residing at a Spiritual Research Centre was asked to wear different types of clothing, each for half an hour and her subtle energy and aura were measured before and after with the help of the UTS. The UTS measures the negative energy and positive energy in the person. When the subject wore the White Evening Gown, Black tube top dress, Black trouser and Tee-shirt there were significant increases in her subtle negative aura readings. With the white top and trousers there was some decrease in negativity. And there were progressive significant decreases in negativity when she wore the salwar kameez, the 6 and the 9-yard saree. With respect to the positive aura readings, the 6 and and the 9-yard saree simply stand out and all this increased positivity around the subject developed in just 30 minutes.
If we look at clothing from the viewpoint of Maslow’s extended hierarchy of needs pyramid, then at the most basic physiological needs level, it provides protection to us from the elements. It also meets our needs at the level of safety. Yet it is the psychological needs of belonging and esteem which are the real drivers for people to spend lots of money on clothing. The buying and wearing of clothes are never really seen as meeting the need to attain something as profound as self-transcendence which is the desire to reach the infinite spiritual state.
So how should clothes assist one’s spiritual journey to become more Divine like. Well firstly it should have the property to attract positive energy from the environment. It should also be able to emit that positive energy into the environment thus benefiting the onlooker. It should be able to protect against attacks by negative energies and also provide a spiritual healing effect.
The impact of clothing is actually quite significant for humanity. Tama clothing makes the mind fickle and aggressive. Raja type of clothing creates restlessness. Sattva clothing increases stability of mind and peace. Our research has shown that the 9-yard saree attracts and emits the most positive vibrations. Unfortunately, it is not usually worn in urban areas and is mostly restricted to just the villages in India.
