Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1884-08-21
BLACK GOD.
a 8IischievOus Deity who Frlfrted with
1000 AlIkmaids.

Kan Chanora Bose Is a native Of India.
/ As he assembled the pulpit stems at the
Central NJ. b. Church last evening he
i commanded the curious attention of each
member OF the large audience present to
i hear him speak about his native land.
They saw dark skinned, slender man.
slightly above the medium height, wear
ing over the ordinary habiliments of
! civilization a white robe that reached a
short distance below his knees His full
beard is Jet black and curly, his hair is
/ s1vered on top, and his eyes are black
/ keen and earnest. When he speaks he
/ reveals set of strong, cleaning teeth.
His forehead Is high, and the general ex-
| preston of his face energetic and refined.
Ram Chandra Bose is a highly-educated
man from the HindOo standpoint. In
India his mission consists in preaching
| to and converting the educated, intelli-
/ gent classes Of his COuntrymen. As a
! teacher and educator he is now making
a tour Of the principal American cities
for the purpose ofgaining an idea of the
/ civilized methods of this country to help
him in his work. When he arose to
speak last evening a pin could have been
| heard to drop. He began by saying that
! his WEAKNESS prevented him from max
/ ing a long address. He spoke with a
very. perceptible accent, but was easily
understood, and his command of the
! English language was remarkable. ''T
/ will tell YOU" he said, "abOut the gods
| and goddesses 1 formerly wOrshipped,
and will explain some of the principles
of the HindoO religion. I have come to
/ tell you that your missionaries have con-
Verted me. Converted me from what?
/ The most mOnstrous, and in some re-
| spects the most degrading superstitions
/ the world has ever seen. My name is
| unprOnOunceablei in the English tongue,
| but it is more hOnOred throughout the
| length and breadth of India than any
other. The first part Of it, Ram Chandra,
! is the name of the god most worshipped
and respected in India. All classes,
without exception, bow down and WOr-
ship the god Ram Chandra. The HindoOs
believe in a triad of gods the creator, the
preserver and the destroyer. With the
creator we have nothing to do. When
he made the world he gave it over into
the care of the preserVer, and is now
supposed to be asleep. The preserver,
Bishnu, is supposed to have appeared on
earth in three different forms; once as a
man with the name Ram Chandra. I
will tell you why he came to the earth.
A great monster with 100 heads and l 900
arms, who lived on the island of CeylOn,
began to oppose both man and the gods
and goddesses. The monster obtained
the power to do this by pracicing aus
bCIlJNs O1l0 VI JIlO 4uLOdL41CnLd4 BI4llCl-
pies of Hindoo theology is involved in
the practice Of austerity, which is kept
up to this day. One way Of doing this
is for the devOtee to sit crOss-legged on
the ground, with hot fire burning in a
circle about him. While in this hot
situation he practices austerity by turn
ing his mind from all earthly things and
meditating on things sacred. When the
deVOtee is able to do this the gods are
l. IF IL
honor to grant him whatever he most
desires. Other devotees practice austerity
by keeping themselves immersed to the
chin for days at a time in tanks of water
partly frozen. Others fix their eyes on
the sun until they are blind. India to-
day has hundreds of deluded men made
blind by this means. A short time ago,
a company of us saw a deVOtee practic-
ing austerity while suspended by his feet
from the tOpmost branch of lofty tree.
I believe his meditation was real, for be
did not appear to know we were near
him. have seen hundreds Of men with
their right arms paralyzed by keeping
them uplifted until the muscles had
Withered away. Some men have both
arms thus rendered useless 1 know of
one man who, when I saw him, had not
sat down for twelve years. At that time
he had remained standing so long that
ne WAS uudDl6 10 Jake ally OBllCI pO6lb1Oll.
Another man I saw who for thirty years
had lain on bed of stones and had not
spoken a word. While thus engaged,
these men constantly mediate on sacred
things. This is practicing austerity.
India is the most conservative OF the
nations; these customs are almost as
ancient as the race. By these practices,
continued for thousands of years, the
monster compelled the gods to especial
lv bless him. He demanded that power
be given him whereby he could not be
slain by the gods. He dreaded not
human VENGEANCE. Armed with this
power he made of himself a scOurge to !
the gods and goddesses by transforming
them into rats, mice, cats, dogs, snakes
and other creatures. Finally, with tears
in their eyes, they went to Bishnu and
implored his aid. Bishnu then became
a man, with the name of Ram Chandra,
and gathering an army Of monkeys, slew
the monster. In this story we see the
distorted form of the redemption by
Christ, which runs through the my
thologv or superstition of all races, show
ing their Unborn feeling that the coming
of the great Savior was needed. To-day
all the monkeys IN India are WOrshipped, |
and in fact there is scarcely anything,
from the ocean to vermin, that is not
bowed down to for some reason or other
by the HindoOs. 1 tried to worship
Bishnu, who was the best god, having
been a good brother, and affectionate
husband, and a loving son. I can't say
that of other gods, / was the especial
worshipper of the black gOd-black in
body and soul. This black god was the
eight incarnation. The seventh was
taken for the purpose of killing another
giant. Some monster on earth became
too powerful by practicing austerity, and
the god and goddesses complained to
Bishnu. The strongest principle in Hin
doc theology is that matter is the source /
of corruption. "The gods, therefore. are