At this
point I wish to call your attention to a feature
of the subject that has received but scant
attention at the hands of western writers. I
allude to the wonderful manifestations of
induced imagination displayed by some of the
magicians of the orient, particularly of India
and Persia.
These
feats are being performed today in those lands
and are equal to any of the wonderful instances
related of the ancient Persian or Egyptian
magicians.
Without
going into an extended consideration of the
subject in question I will mention a few of the
recorded instances of induced imagination among
the oriental people, in order to give you an
idea of the degree of power possible to an adept
in the practice. One writer describes an
exhibition of this kind in India, witnessed by
himself.
The
writer was a profound skeptic, who believed that
it was all "hanky-panky" along the lines of
sleight-of-hand or similar methods--that is, he
so believed until he actually witnessed the
demonstration. He goes on to relate that the
magician was a native Hindu, of dignified and
imposing appearance, surrounded by a number of
assistants of his own race.
The
magician seated himself on the ground, with
several jars, boxes, implements, and other
paraphernalia before him. He opened the séance
by the production of a number of tiny snakes,
which he lifted from one of the boxes, and
placed on the ground before him, in full sight
of the audience, after allowing the latter to
examine the serpents and thereby satisfy
themselves regarding their reality.
An
English naturalist present identified the snakes
as belonging to a well known native variety. The
magician then began a slow, mournful, droning,
monotonous song, the predominant sound of which
was "um-m-m-m-m-m-m-m," like the droning of a
bumble bee or a distant saw mill.
The
snakes reared themselves up and moved their
heads from side to side at the sound of the
chant, the magician touching them softly with
his wand from time to time. To the eyes of the
audience the snakes seemed to gradually grow
from their original tiny proportions until
finally they appeared as immense boa
constrictors, which caused great alarm among the
audience, both Englishmen and native.
The
magician bade the audience remain quiet and
assured them that there was no danger--then he
reversed the process, and the snakes were seen
to gradually decrease in size until they
vanished from sight altogether.
The next
act was equally as wonderful. The magician
placed one of his assistants in the center of a
circle described on the sand, and with
appropriate gestures and ceremony went through
some magical incantation. The boy was then seen
to spin around, faster and faster, like a large
top, and then began to gradually ascend in the
air, still spinning around, until he vanished
from sight.
Then the
magician reversed the process and brought him
down from the aerial heights, the boy appearing
like a small speck at first, gradually growing
larger as he neared the earth, until he stood
before the audience, bowing and smiling.
The next
act was the placing of some mango seeds in the
sand, building a tiny hillock around them. The
magician then began his chant and waved his
hands over the hillock. In a moment a tiny shoot
was seen to appear, and then a little bush which
gradually grew up until a mature mango tree was
seen, bearing leaves.
Then
blossoms were seen, and the ripe fruit appeared,
which was passed among the audience. Then,
reversing the process, the tree disappeared
gradually, and at the end the magician dug up
the original seeds and showed them to his
audience. And, wonderful to relate, the fruit
that had been distributed among the people also
disappeared.
The
concluding act was as startling as those
preceding it. The magician produced a coil of
real rope, which was passed around for
examination. Then he knotted one end of it and
then tossed the knot into the air.
The rope
rapidly uncoiled itself, and the knot was seen
away up in the air, and still ascending. "When
the rope was completely uncoiled, and the end
left dangling on the ground as if supported by
some hook holding the knotted end hundreds of
feet up in the, air, one of the assistants
approached the rope and took hold of it. At a
shout from the magician he began climbing
rapidly up the rope, and in a short time
disappeared from view, after appearing as a tiny
speck in the air.
Then at
another word from the magician the rope itself
flew up in the air and vanished from sight
This
concluded the performance. But here is a
remarkable sequel.
An
Englishman present took a snap-shot with a
pocket camera, just as the boy began to climb
the rope. When the negative was developed
there was no trace of rope, boy or anything
else appertaining to the manifestation. Even
the magician was absent from the center of the
scene and was shown on the plate as sitting down
on one side, with an amused smile on his face.
This
fact demonstrated that which similar tests have
also proven; i.e., that the feats were not
really performed at all, but were simply
illusions produced by impressions upon the
minds of the audience. In fact, they were
examples of induced imagination. I shall give
you another proof of this in a moment or two,
after I have related a few more instances of
this wonderful manifestation.
Another
writer, a correspondent of an American paper,
relates that he was once on a steamer plying up
one of the rivers in India, when, at a stopping
place, there scrambled up the side as nimbly as
a monkey a native Hindu, clad only in a loin
cloth and having a tight-rolled red bundle
fastened at the back of his neck to keep it safe
from the water while swimming from shore. There
was nothing about the man to distinguish him
from the ordinary fakirs, but he soon showed his
quality.
Passing
along the deck he picked up a ball of thin rope
which was lying there, and, unwinding an end, he
knotted it and tossed the knot up in the air,
where it ascended, rapidly unwinding the ball,
until the whole of the rope disappeared in the
air, just as in the instance previously related.
Then
passing a sailor who was holding in his hand a
broken cocoanut shell containing the liquid or
"water" of the nut, he lifted the shell from his
hand and holding it high up over a ship's bucket
standing nearby he emptied the liquid until it
filled the bucket, and repeated the process upon
another bucket, and so on until twelve buckets
had been filled from the half coconut shell.
Then he
picked up one of the buckets filled with the
liquid and, holding it in his hand, he caused it
to gradually shrink until it completely
disappeared. Then a moment later he exhibited a
tiny speck in his hand, which gradually grew
until it was again the bucket of water filled to
the brim with the liquid, which he then poured
out on the deck.
Witnessing
the strange performance was a young mother with
her babe beside her and a young nurse girl
several feet away. To her horror the mother then
beheld the nurse girl rising a few feet in the
air and moving rapidly toward the babe, reaching
down for the infant as she glided over it, and
then rising high into the air with the child
clasped in her arms, until both were lost in the
clouds.
The
mother burst into frantic cries and shrieks and
gazed upward; and as she gazed she saw a fleecy
cloud appear, which gradually took the shape of
the nurse girl, who grew larger and larger as
she descended, until she finally reached the
deck again and handed the babe to the rejoiced
mother. The mother, after clasping her babe
close to her bosom, cried out, "How dare you
take my child away I" when to her surprise the
girl answered, "Why, ma'am, the baby has been
asleep all the time and I have not touched him."
And then the fakir smiled and said, "Mem Sahib
has only been dreaming strange things." It was
merely an instance of induced imagination of a
remarkable degree of power, produced by the
Mental Imagery of the fakir; and his previous
feats were also so performed.
But this
was only the beginning. The fakir then untied
his red bundle, and, extracting therefrom a
cocoanut he exhibited it to the passengers,
passing it around for inspection. Then, placing
the nut on the end of a bamboo stick, and,
balancing it there, he commanded it in Hindi
to spout as a fountain, and immediately a
great jet of water sprang from it, falling over
the deck in great showers.
He then
caused it to stop flowing, and it obeyed; then
he restarted it. This is repeated several times.
Then he materialized a cobra from the air and
caused it to disappear at his command, after he
had terrified the passengers with it. Then he
materialized several human forms in broad
sunlight in full view of the passengers, and
afterwards caused them to melt away gradually
until they disappeared like a cloud of steam.
Then taking up a collection, which was quite
liberal, he jumped over the side and swam
rapidly to shore.
The
natives among the ship's passengers smiled at
the wonder of the Europeans present and laughed
at the latter's talk of jugglery or magic power,
informing them that it was merely an instance of
Hindu Telepathy, or Mental Influence, and that
those among them who resisted the spell saw
nothing except the fakir with glistening eyes
showing every evidence of a powerful and
concentrated exercise of his Imagination.
These
feats are quite common in some parts of India,
but they are known to be but mental illusions,
for all attempts to catch the exhibition on
photographic plates have failed, the plate
showing nothing but the magician in a state of
mental concentration. The magicians have
developed the power of causing many persons at
the same time to have the illusion of seeing,
hearing, tasting and smelling things that have
no material existence. It is induced imagination
in a developed degree, but differs only in
degree from the phenomena more familiar to the
Western World.
In this
connection I would like to add the testimony and
explanation given to me personally by a greatly
esteemed friend of mine--a Hindu sage traveling
in this country, who in addition to his Oriental
learning has received the highest English
education and who is "a highly educated man" in
both the eastern and western meanings of the
term.
This
gentleman told me that when a youth he had
witnessed exhibitions of the kind just related
in his native land. At first he was puzzled and
mystified by them, but his naturally scientific
turn of mind caused him to seek for the
solution. He began experimenting, and soon at
least was able to classify the phenomena as pure
mental illusion.
He found
that the crowd would gather close around the
magician in order to see what was going on,
although all were required to keep a certain
number of yards away from the wonder-worker by
the latter's instructions and requirements. My
friend found that if he retreated a few yards
beyond the outer edge of the crowd he could
see nothing but the magician, all the
"magical doings" disappearing.
When he
would join the crowd the mystic appearances were
again plainly seen. He tried the experiment in
several ways, with the same result. Then he
tried a riskier one and pushed nearer to the
magician than was allowable--and with the same
result. In short, the influence was confined to
a certain area and the mental influence was
doubtless increased by the "contagion" of the
different minds in the crowd.
My
friend tested the well-known "Mango feat" and
the "Rope-disappearing feat" (as related in
these pages) in this way and determined that
they came well under the rule of mental
illusion, instead of being an occurrence defying
the established laws of Nature. The testimony of
this gentleman corroborated the opinion that I
had already formed to that effect, which opinion
agrees with that of the best authorities.
In
closing this chapter I wish to point out to the
Students of the work an erroneous idea that has
crept into some of the Western works along the
lines of hypnotism, etc., and which I shall now
mention and explain.
The
Hindu magicians, or mesmerists, frequently sit
in a squatting position during their
''enchantments," droning a monotonous, soothing
chant, as has been described, and at the same
time moving the body from the waist upward, in a
circling, twisting motion, from the hips, at the
same time fixing their gaze firmly upon their
audience. This motion and twisting is merely an
accompaniment to the droning chant akin to the
motions of the Oriental dancers who twist their
bodies in a similar manner in rhythm to the
music.
The
motion is merely a custom among these people and
has nothing to do with the production of the
phenomena, as all Hindu occultists now and will
tell you. In fact, the higher magicians among
the Hindus do nothing of the sort, but maintain
a dignified, calm, standing position, or the
firm "yogi" seat," in which the body is evenly
and firmly poised in a position of dignified
rest, the hands resting on the lap, the back of
one hand in the palm of the other.
All
native Hindus understand the above matter, but
western visitors jump at the conclusion that
this gyrating circling of the body from the hips
has something to do with the "power" manifested.
And, as I have said, some of the western works
on the subject have gone into considerable
detail regarding this wonderful "Oriental
Magic," which they assert is accomplished
because of this twisting of the body.
They
might just as well point out some physical trick
of motion of each leading western hypnotist and
assert that the motion was the ''secret of his
power."
I do not
think that further comment is necessary in this
case. The motions and attitudes, etc., are
merely part of the setting of the piece, or
possibly bits of "stage business," designed to
heighten the impression of mystery. That's all.
I have
been informed by an authority whose word is
entitled to the greatest respect, and who has
spent many years in India and other oriental
countries, that the following method is used by
these oriental magicians in developing within
themselves the power to induce these strong
mental images in the minds of those witnessing
their performances: The magician starts when a
youth and practices mental imagery in his own
mind.
This
process is akin to Visualization, as mentioned
by me in other chapters of this work. The
magician at first uses his will in an endeavor
to form a clear and distinct mental image of
some familiar object, a rose, for instance.
He
practices until he is able to actually see
the thing before him "in his mind's eye," just
as certain eminent painters have acquired the
faculty of "visualizing" the faces of persons
they meet, so that they can reproduce them on
canvas without further sittings. Then he
experiments upon larger objects, and then upon
groups of objects, and so on to more complex
pictures.
After
years of constant experimentation and practice a
few of those undertaking the work find
themselves able to picture any of the scenes
described in this chapter as "feats"--that is,
they are able to clearly picture them in their
own minds. And this being accomplished, the
magician is able by his highly-developed
concentrated will to project the mental image
into the mind of those around him. It is induced
imagination raised to a high degree of
manifestation.
The
people of the west will not devote the time and
attention to the cultivation of such faculties,
while the oriental will willingly give up half
of his life for the attainment.
But, on
the other hand, the western man will devote his
time to the acquirement of Will-Power and
concentration in the direction of becoming a
ruler of men and a general of finance. Each to
his taste and temperament--and neither would
"trade" places nor power with the other. They
are both dealing with the same force, however,
as little as they realize it.
