Sekala Niskala: The Seen and Unseen Worlds of Bali

In Brief

Sekala is the seen world, everything you can see, touch and hear. Niskala is the unseen world of the gods, the ancestors and the spirits, who in Balinese philosophy are always close by. In Bali the two belong together as sekala niskala, kept in balance through daily offerings, prayers and ceremonies.

This philosophy is also why Balinese Hindus honour their ancestors so deeply. In Balinese understanding they live on in niskala after death and stay close to the family. So the household shrine receives offerings for them each day.

In some Balinese healing traditions, an illness may be understood through both a seen cause, for a doctor, and an unseen one, for a traditional healer. When the balance is disturbed, ceremonies are held to restore it.

In some interpretations, even the order of the words matters. Sekala comes before niskala, so the visible side of life is looked after before the unseen.

Sekala and Niskala at a Glance

• Sekala: The seen, tangible world, perceived through the senses
• Niskala: The unseen world of gods, ancestors, spirits and forces, which in Balinese philosophy shape the seen
• The aim: Balance between the two, with neither side wiped out
• In daily life: Offerings on shrines and on the ground, each day
• In healing: In some Balinese traditional healing frameworks, illness may be understood in terms of both observable causes and spiritual explanations
• In ceremony: Rituals (yadnya) restore balance when it is disturbed
• Related ideas: Tri Hita Karana, the three harmonies, and Rwa Bhineda, the balance of opposites
• On screen: The Seen and Unseen (Sekala Niskala), Kamila Andini's 2017 film

Sekala Is What the Eye Sees, Niskala What Is Always Present

I Made Saryana of the Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Denpasar gives the working definitions in a paper on the concept.

Sekala is the world visible to the eye, the earth we stand on and everything in it. Balinese call this the buana agung, the great world. The human being, the buana alit or small world, belongs to sekala too.

Niskala is the world that cannot be seen yet is always present. It has great power to move people toward good or ill. Saryana's examples of niskala are the five tenets of Balinese Hinduism, the Panca Srada:

• God
• the soul (atman)
• the law of cause and effect (karmaphala)
• rebirth
• final liberation

Writing in the Balinese magazine tatkala.co, Sugi Lanus describes sekala-niskala as many-layered. It runs from the plain matter of what can and cannot be seen up to the nature of God. In his reading, Brahman is both sakala, with qualities (saguna), and niskala, without them (nirguna).

Klika honours the goddess Durga with a sembah, drawn by I Ketut Gedé of Singaraja for the scholar H.N. van der Tuuk in the late nineteenth century. Photo: I Ketut Gedé / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Not everything in niskala is kind. Saryana sets good and bad side by side through two figures of the Calonarang story, the Barong for good and Rangda for evil. In his reading, good and bad are always around us, and the task is to bring the two into harmony.

That is balance with neither side wiped out, the logic of Rwa Bhineda, the balance of opposites behind the Barong and Rangda dance.

In Some Interpretations, Sekala Comes Before Niskala

For Sugi Lanus, the order of the words is itself a teaching.

The phrase is "sekala and niskala", not "niskala and sekala". The visible comes first, so you deal fully with what is in front of your eyes and only then turn to the unseen.

He gives a Balinese household rule as an example: do not talk about your dreams first thing in the morning. First sweep, cook and see the house and the children fed. Dreams are talked over in the evening, after bathing.

The same order runs up to the temple. It makes no sense, he argues, to hold a holy ceremony in a temple heaped with rubbish. Gardens and roads are tended first, toilets cleaned and gates hung with flowers, and prayer comes after.

He concludes that keeping the Balinese sane starts from sekala.

Offerings Join the Two Worlds Each Day

The daily offering is the easiest place to see sekala and niskala together.

VIVA Bali describes the canang sari, the little palm-leaf tray of flowers, rice and incense set out each morning at house shrines and temples. To the eye it is fragrant and beautiful, which is sekala. Its inner meaning, thanks to the gods, is niskala.

A segehan, one of the many ground offerings, laid out on banana leaf. Photo: Puri Lumbung Cottages / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Offerings go both up and down. Some sit on raised shrines for the gods and ancestors. Others go on the ground, at gates and on the earth, for the lower forces.

Each kind is explained piece by piece in the guide to Balinese offerings.

Heirlooms receive the same care, as VIVA Bali shows in the pasopati ceremony for a family kris. The blade is cleansed of harmful influence with prayers and offerings to God and the ancestors. The rite honours the blade in the seen world and the ancestral presence in it.

Illness in Balinese Healing: Observable Causes and Spiritual Explanations

In Balinese thought, health is a balance between the two worlds.

In 2025 Nyoman Sukma Arida and colleagues, mostly from Udayana University, published a study of healing traditions in the Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality. They describe health as a balance between a causa sekala, a natural cause, and a causa niskala, a supernatural one. This balance is the ground of usada Bali, the island's own medicine.

A case report on mental illness by P.A. Grantika and colleagues shows it in practice. Many Balinese, the authors write in the Open Access Indonesia Journal of Social Sciences, see two possible causes for such an illness.

A sekala cause sends people to a doctor, a niskala cause to a balian, the traditional healer.

In the case they describe, a Balinese teenager with a mental disorder was treated with malukat, the purifying water ritual. The hope was for contamination and disease to leave, and for the body to return to balance.

Women of a banjar take holy water at a spring during a melukat. Photo: Made Sari / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The kinds of balian, and how to visit one respectfully, are covered in traditional healers in north Bali. The water ritual has its own page, melukat. The herbal side of usada, the loloh drinks written up in palm-leaf manuscripts, is in jamu, loloh and usada.

Ceremonies Restore the Balance Between the Worlds

Saryana ties sekala niskala to the wider Balinese picture of harmony.

That harmony runs between the great world and the small. It also runs between God, people and nature, the Tri Hita Karana.

Drawing on I Gusti Raka Panji Tisna, he describes a world of complementary pairs: hot and cold, good and bad, black and white. In that world, balance is created, or disorder repaired, through work and through ceremony, yadnya. Panca Yadnya refers to five categories of religious offerings or ritual obligations in Balinese Hindu tradition.

Some ceremonies make the unseen present in the seen. After melasti, the purification with water, VIVA Bali describes the nyejer. Sacred images and offering stands are set upright in the temple, so God is present, niskala, within the physical order.

During temple ceremonies, people may fall into kerauhan, as Buleleng's culture and tourism office explains. The word comes from rauh, "to come". In Balinese understanding, the energy of a god arrives in the person, a bridge between the two worlds.

The performing arts carry it too. Across Bali, Barong and Rangda performances are widely recognised as showing the tension between dharma and adharma, order and chaos, write I Gede Suwantana and colleagues in a 2026 study in the Jurnal Kajian Bali. The figures appear at temple festivals, purification rites and communal exorcisms, which the authors call niskala interventions. North Bali's own traditions are in the dance and music of north Bali.

How to Honour It as a Visitor

A few simple habits show respect for both worlds.

• Step around offerings on pavements, at gates and on dashboards. Never step on one.
• At a ceremony, wear a sarong and sash, keep to the side and follow the temple etiquette guide.
• If someone goes into trance, keep your distance and your camera down unless the family invites you closer.
• Watch the film. The Seen and Unseen (Sekala Niskala), written and directed by Kamila Andini, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017. It draws on Balinese arts to tell a story of childhood grief.
• Stay near the villages. Offerings and small ceremonies are part of daily life in north Bali's villages. Palm Living's villas are mostly around Lovina.

FAQ

What does sekala niskala mean? Sekala means the seen world, everything perceived through the senses, people included. Niskala means the unseen world of gods, ancestors, spirits and forces, which in Balinese philosophy shape the seen. Balinese Hinduism treats the two as inseparable and keeps them in balance through offerings, ceremony and right behaviour.

What is niskala in Balinese Hinduism? Niskala is the invisible realm. Scholars in Bali place within it the five tenets of the Panca Srada, from God and the soul to karma, rebirth and liberation. It also holds the ancestors, the deities and the forces of chaos, which must be acknowledged too. Since not everything in niskala is kind, ritual seeks balance between them.

Why is it sekala niskala and not niskala sekala? In some interpretations the order is a teaching, as the Balinese scholar Sugi Lanus explains. Put the visible in order first: the house, the food, the clean temple. Turn to the unseen after. A Balinese household rule against talking about dreams first thing in the morning follows the same order.

How do offerings relate to sekala and niskala? An offering joins the two. A canang sari is a visible, fragrant object, which is sekala. Its meaning, thanks to the gods, is niskala. Offerings on shrines address the gods and ancestors, and those on the ground address the lower forces.

How does sekala niskala affect healing in Bali? In some Balinese healing traditions, an illness may be understood through both a sekala cause, for a doctor, and a niskala explanation, for a balian, the traditional healer. Usada, Balinese medicine, is built on keeping both in balance. Purification rituals such as melukat are among its remedies.

What is the film Sekala Niskala about? Sekala Niskala, released in English as The Seen and Unseen, is a 2017 Indonesian drama written and directed by Kamila Andini. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. It has been praised as a portrait of childhood grief rooted in Balinese arts and culture.

Is sekala niskala the same as Tri Hita Karana? No, but they work together. Tri Hita Karana is harmony with God, people and nature. Sekala niskala is the balance between the seen and unseen worlds, where those relationships play out. The Balinese scholar I Made Saryana treats both as parts of the same idea of well-being.

Sources

• I Made Saryana, Institut Seni Indonesia Denpasar, "Sekala Niskala": the concept of life balance in Balinese Hindu society, conference paper (definitions, Panca Srada, balance through yadnya, citing I Gusti Raka Panji Tisna; good and evil through the Barong and Rangda, to be kept in harmony), read September and October 2026 (in Indonesian)
• Sugi Lanus, Bali sekala-niskala, not Bali niskala-sekala, tatkala.co, January 2026, read September 2026 (in Indonesian)
• Arida N.S., Nugroho S., Rusadi N.W.P., Saputra I.G.G., Typology of wellness tourism based on traditional healing in Bali, Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality 8(2), 2025 (causa sekala and causa niskala, usada Bali), read September 2026 (in English)
• Grantika P.A., Ardani I.G.A.I., Ardjana I.G.A.E., Healing methods of mental disorders with Malukat: the perspective of Balinese culture, Open Access Indonesia Journal of Social Sciences 3(2), 2020, abstract read September 2026 (in English)
• Suwantana I.G., Girinata I.M., Giri I.P.A.A., Chakravortti S., Symbolizing desire: Barong and Rangda performance in a Balinese Hindu newborn ritual, Jurnal Kajian Bali 16(2), 2026 (Barong and Rangda performances as the tension between dharma and adharma, order and chaos; their ritual settings), read October 2026 (in English)
• VIVA Bali, Sekala niskala, two worlds in Balinese life (canang sari, nyejer, pasopati), read September 2026 (in Indonesian)
• Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata Kabupaten Buleleng, Kerauhan, tradisi masyarakat Bali (the word from rauh, to come; trance at temple ceremonies as the arrival of a god's energy), read September 2026 (in Indonesian)
• Wikipedia, The Seen and Unseen and I Ketut Gedé, read September 2026 (in English)
• Leiden University Libraries, drawings by I Ketut Gedé from the Van der Tuuk collection, Or. 3390, via Wikimedia Commons, read September 2026

Read next: Tri Hita Karana, Rwa Bhineda and Balinese Hinduism explained.