Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1894-12-12
Hindoo Juggiery

| have seen many more wonderful
things The three great miracles per-
formed by the anepts-the rope, the bas-
ket and the mango-tree exhibitioDs-I
have seen many times. They are all per-
formed in broad daylight and thousands
of persons are usually crowded around on
all sides. remember once,in particular,
when saw the mango-tree miracle. A
rishi appeared about two o'clock in the
afternoon in the streets of town. I'm
mediately hundreds of persons surrounded
him. He took a mango and scratching
a small hole in the ground planted it
A few minutes later great tree more
than sixty feet high took form before me.
Ii was complete in leaf, branch and
fruit, the only peculiar thing noticeable
about it was that when the wind blew its
leaves did not STIR. In spirit of investi-
] CATION | walked up to it and touched 1t
and took hold of some of the leaves. 1t
was apparently real tree. To prove it
further l climbed up the trunk seven or
eight feet. Then returned to my place
in the crowd. The adept sat down and
preached one of the most beautiful ser
mons | ever heard. 1t was a narrative
of the birth tales of Buddha. When he
had finished | looked up and the great
tree was gone. On going forward | saw
the rishi dig up the mango fruit and in
spite Of all efforts to detain bin he press
ed through the crowd aud was gone.
The rope miracle is still more wonder
ful. A rishi appears in the center OF the
crowd in broad daylight with a rope il
his hand. He throws it into the air and
it remains standing upright as if it were
a pole Then hand over hand he climbs
to the top cf it. 1t has no visible means
of support at either end. When he reach
es the top the rope seems to lengthen up
ward into the clear sky, and the rishi con-
tinues to climb until he disappears wholly
from view, not to reappear. Many of the
adopts take this method of leaving a
crowd when they have finished their SER
mons.
The apparent suspensions Of the laws
of gravity is a common exhibition among
the fakirs. l have seen one Of them take
his hand away from a cocoanut she'll aud
leave it suspended in mid-air. \ num-
Der Of times have taken hold Of it and
tried to move it, but all in vain. When
the fakir gets ready he sometimes gives
the word suddenly, the shell yields and
the man who is tugging away on it goes
tumbling upon the ground.
1t is my belief that the higher adopts
are missionaries and prophets to their
races. Some Of their teachings are both
beautiful and equal to or beyond our
standard Of morals.
Now, have told all these wonderful
things without saying what really
thought of them. l believe that the
Hindoos have come to a better and truer
conclusion concerning liie's mysteries than
we have with all our science. Our ad-
vancement has only added to our material
comforts-food, clothing and houses to
/ live in-but the Hindoo has something
better. He believes both in the past and
in the future. He has no fear Of death,
because he believes that it will only change
his form. His life is spent in the work
of getting more and more behind the cur
tain and deeper into life's mysteries. He
Is satisfied, and that IS more than can be
said of any man in Europe or America
Many of the wonderful miracles performed
by the adopts l believe can be explained
in the terms Of what We call hypnotism-
the power Of mind over mind.
What we know Of hypnotism is yet
limited, but in the case Of the Hindoos
the power is developed to remarkable
degree. Now don't believe that rishi
made mango tree grow in three minutes
but DO believe that his power over the
minds Of he spectators was so great that
they all thought the tree was real. In
fact, 20 further. | believe with Seho-
penhauer, that what we know Of the ma
terial world is only the creation Of the
brain. Mind is all and in all.-Dr. Ha-
soldt, ia Chicago.
The WGy 10 Get There
a.