The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-08-12
THE BLACK GOD.
A Deity Who Maintained q Flirta,
ton With 1900 Milk.
maids.

Episcopal church last evening he com
manded the curious attention of eacl
member of the large audience present
to hear him speak about his naive
land. Il will tell you" he said
"about the gods and goddesses
formerly worshiped, and will explain
some of the principles of the Hindoc
religion. | have come to tell YOU
that missionaries have converted me.
Converted me from what? The most
INDUSTRIOUS, and in some respects the
most degrading, superstitions the
world has ever seen. My name is
unprOnounceable in the English
tongue, but it is more honored
throughout the lsngth aud breadth of
India than any other. The first of
it. Ram Chandra. is the name of the
god most worShiped and respected in
India. All elias es, without execeD-
ton, bow down and worship 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 il
over into the care of the presever,
and is now supposed to be asleep. The
preserver, Vishmu, is supposed to
Eave appeared on earth in three diff
ferent forms; once as man
with the name Ram Chandra.
L will tell you why he came to
the earth. A great monster with one
hundred heads and one thcnsand arms,
who lived on the island of Ceylon,
began to Cypress both man and the
gods and goddesses. This monster
obtained the power to do this by
practicing austerity. One of the
fundamental principles 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 n a
circle about him. While in this hot
situation he practices austerity by
turning his mind from all earthly
things and meditating on things
sacred. When the devotee is able to
do this the gods are bound by every
principle of heavenly 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 company OF us saw
a devotee practicing austerity while
suspended by his feet frolo the top
most branch of lofty tree. believe
his meditation was real, for he did not
appear to know we were near him. I
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. know of one
man who, when | saw him, had, not
sat down for twelve years. At that
time he had remained standing so
long that he was unable to take any
other position. Another man | saw
who for thirty years had lain on bed |
OF stones and had not spoken a word.
While thus engaged these men con-
stantly mediate on sacred things.
This is practiciug austerity. India is
the most conservative of the ma.
t1ons; these customs are almos;
as ancient as the race BY these prac-
tees, continued for thousands of wears
the monster compelled the gods to es-
pecialiy 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
himself scourge TO the gods and god
desses by transforming them into
rats. cats, dogs, snakes and other
creatures. Finally, with tears in
their eyes, they went to Vishnu and
his aid. Vishnu then be-
came man, with the name Of Ram
Chandra, and gathering an army of
monkeys, slew the monster. In this
story we see the distorted form the
redemption of Christ, which runs
through the mythology or supersti-
ton of all races, showing their Unborn
feeling that the coming of the great
Savior was needed. To-day all the
monkeys in India are worshiped, 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. / used to
worship Vishnu, who was the best
god having been good brother, an
affectionate husband, and a loving
son. | can't saw that of other ernds