Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-12-21

| We found man OF tall and power
Iful build seated in an armchair by the
fire. the features rugged, the head,
gold. was intellectual and massive.
|sIe wore simple, khaki colored Indian
Egarments of soft wool.
EEWith a steady questioning look at
each person ushered in he asked in a
modrlated deep voice, not unkind but
with a ring of authority in 1t, what we
wished to know of him. In answering
Nur questions he expounded his wis
4 one who would not willingly throw
Ethat which is holy unto dogs or pour
out pearls unavailingly to the trivial.
There Is something Of the judge in
him still as he sits In his armchair,
the great steady eyes either darkly dim
or burning with magnetic fire. He has
given up great social position and
riches In order to be q teacher Of men
and proclaim to them their true and
eternal selves" otherwise. "the king
1om Of God within"
He has millions Of followers in In
dia. and though high caste Brahmin,
belonging to an ancient and great
Punjab family. he holds himself sin
gularly free from prejudice and the
superstitions with which the Vedantic
teaching has through the ages become
entrusted. He is a reformer, or rather
a reviver cf what he considers the true
and mighty traditions Of his race.
He embodies the philosophy of the
Vedas. having passed through the
mary stages Of development to that
Of a perfect Yogan, and having ac-
quired on the way the well known
power to produce physical phenOme-
ma. so-called miracles, among which
is the power Of voluntary suspension
Of the body's life, and its deliberate
resumption after any predecided pc
riod of time.
That Paramahamsa possesses this
power has been fully authenticated
in the presence Of scientific men at
Oxford, among whom were Prof. Max
Muller Con the occasion of a former
visit in 1900 and Prof. J. Estlin Car
penter. and at Cambridge in the pres
ence of the late Frederick Myers and
DR.. Hodgson.
O ha
in my study on the day Of his first
visit, he showed me that he could en-
tirely suspend the normal circulation
of the blood and the pulse ceased to
beat as laid my finger on 1t"
The mahatma has no desire to be-
come famous as a wonder worker. He
thinks true faith is not melted by that
means. and says:
THE exhibitions of this control of
physical phenomena are only for
small people: they are not for the full
grown. The visible world Is small
thing in comparison with the mind.
"The mind controls all things and
creates all things. The control which
l exercise over my body is in no way
whatever miraculous. any one could
learn to do the same II he would take
the time and trouble required"
When he consented to show this
power his body was to all appearance
lifeless, though subjected to every
known medical test by the physicians
present He can remain in that state
for any length of time. retaking the
normal vital condition at will.
He says there is no danger connect
ed with the experiment. which de-
notes nothing but the exercise of a
power resident in every person.
When asked II the soul during that
time was out Of the physical frame
he said:
mo it is confined within a single
atom of the body and constitutes the
vital spark to be expanded to full life
flame at the appointed time.
I'VE do not send our spirits away
from our bodies; the spirit cannot
move in that independent way,
tnOuBn II may nave NlSiDie ItlleAioii"
AS to the movement Of the spirit after
death 1t cannot come back as spirit:
If perfected 1t returns to the Divine
Spirit from whence 1t issued. and to
the highest bliss. but If still unper-
fected it reenters some earthly body
at it's birth and so comes back into
this life"
In spite Of his assertion that he has
attained to a state Of divinity where
he is no longer of this world at all but
lives in the eternal plain, his person.
alty is natural, simple, hearty, prac-
tcal. essentially modern. There Is
certainly nothing of the ecstatic or
weird or crank about him. He is full
of fresh vigor. physically and men
tally. enlivening and electric, al
though 60 years of age.
He said. that having prior to this
present life attained the stage where
he had realized his divinity, he had
no use to return to an earthly body,
and that after this he will be no more