Practical Hypnosis

Most Reverend Dr. Narayan Dutt Shrimali Human life and the universe are full of known and unknown mysteries. Man is alway s tempted to rediscover the known mysteries but when he tries to find out the fa cts about the unknown, many new things come into light. As the civilization is advancing rapidly, discovering things related to the unkn own have become a happy practice. In fact, human journey has taken a great stride starting with the invention of the wheel until the creation of the computer. As a consequence to the latest technological developments human life has become much easier and happier but at the same time it (life) is also exposed to insecu rity, fear, disappointments, sleeplessness and fear of another war. Can that be c onsidered a real development in civilization? Our old Rishis had rightly said: Let all be happy and prosperous. There should be no misery to anyone. Then where the above precept has disappeared? Why people are unhappy? Why man is n ot contented and he does not get satisfaction and fulfilment? Our Vedic culture w as always implicit with scientists like Sushrat, Arya Bhatt and Bhaskaracharya. B esides, the great rishis like Sankaracharya, Gautam, Vishwamitra, Vashishtha, At raya, Kanad & Ved Vyas have been great thinkers, who discovered the principles o f life. Their main contribution was to discover how a man can travel free of any ailment on the journey of life from birth until death. Their discourses gave birt h to Mantras as well as Tantras causing to discover the necessary devices that w ould help in completing the tantric activities. Yoga system was actually develope d to bring unity between the devine & the man. The Rishis believed that the unive rse possessed unlimited energy & man could get it unceasingly with the help of Y oga & redeem himself from ailments. That belief consequently originated the idea of gods and goddesses, hypnotism, sadhana, Science, mantra, yagya, and such acti vities. Dr. Narayan Dutt Shrimali who donned a new name after renunciation, resolved to spread the knowledge of hypnotism to all. To fulfil it he travelled throughout th e country. Though he led a life of a saint, he believed in thegrahasthatoo. The book s be wrote contain the ideas that can lead anyone away from sorrow to happiness and contentment. Thus, he wrote books on mantrasastra, tant-sastra,hypnotism, astro logy, palmistry andayurvedand gave them all a scientific temper. During his 65 years of life he contributed a lot towards knowledge because he be lieved that knowledge is permanent. He also started publishing. In 1981 he publish ed a monthly journal namedMantraTantra YantraVigyan, through which he clarified man y mystic ideas and beliefs. It has helped millions of people to uplift their live s and to live peacefully and happily. He left for heavenly abode on the 3rd July 1998 when most of his work to enlighten people was over. It is worth mentioning h ere that his monthly journals,Mantra-Tantra Yantra Vigyana and International Sidd ashramSadhak Pariwarare still widely circulated. It is a testimony that he always b elieved that ideal knowledge is permanent and that it can help people to attain emancipation. INTRODUCTION In India hypnotism or the art and science of hypnotism, to be precise, has been a priceless asset. It has been sanctified by timeless traditions. It was largely f

rom India that the rest of the world learnt and followed and imbibed this knowle dge. Evidently the outstanding achievements recorded in India in this discipline has remained unsurpassed by and large. India, at this stage, is passing through a strange crisis, beset as it is with a harrowing sense of uncertainty, a self-defeating apathy and a turbulence which has overtaken its teeming millions. A haunting sense of insecurity appears to hav e taken the people of India in it vicious grip. Look at anything whatsoever and y ou will feel terribly put off by the very brokenness or lack of integrity or she er incompleteness of things. The kind of society such as we have envisioned to ha ve, eludes us, the structures having gone awry and the fabric grievously missing . What, one fears, principally accounts for this frightening confusion is the West ern impact on India. For the Indian mode of life has always been contemplative an d inwardly, thesummum bonumof which was an intuitive grasp of the truth. As part of such contemplation the Indian endeavour has been to delve deep into the dark re cesses of the inner self and realise all potential existing in any form and to a ny degree whatsoever. No wonder the ancient seers of India chose to overlook the empirical dimensions of the material world and preferred as such to retreat into solitude. Through contemplation they always tried to envision, comprehend and id entify the human form gifted to mankind by the Almighty, and discover the potent ial of the powers that lay embedded in the human body. They contemplated the elem ents which brought off the human body in its form. They made a total submission t o the Almighty, and went deep into these profound mysteries and elements so that man derived a great measure of happiness and higher powers, and extended his en vironment to a yet wider canvas. Conversely the West remained riveted to the external world. Seldom didit try to se ek out answers to the complex questions of body and soul. The West hardly bothere d to know how body and soul came into being, and what all we could do to extend the frontiers of human environment. Instead it remained bogged down merely in the external trappings of customs, modes of living, eating habits and culture and c ivilization. The West was merely interested in exhibiting its deeds. It was more i nterested in showing off its superiority. The Western idea, unmistakably, was tha t man is what he himself wills to be. Understandably, man, as the argument runs, owes nothing whatsoever to the powers beyond, to the Creator theBrahmaand to the i mmanent power of soul. It was precisely for this understanding that the West tried to enrich only the e xternal trappings of the human body. Obsessed as it was with only physical comfor ts and leisurely life the West brought into existence a whole body of science as also a series of inventions. The exercise led only to the tilting of the sensual ness of the human flesh. Needless to say the outcome of the Western obsession led to a precipitate shrink ing of man's wider canvas. When he found himself reduced to narrower concerns, th e Western man set out to dominate others, approves the weaker sections and seek fulfilment in founding and extending imperialist empires. Soon, however, he had h ad good cause to realise that this entire exercise-the manner ,as well as the ob ject-ended up in utter futility. For he found that despite possession of empires and extension of materialistic claptrap spiritual peace continued to elude him. Extending the horizons of science did not ensure any spiritual peace, and withou t obtaining internal bliss it was futile to pursue any other object. The vast emp ire, the army of retainers, the comforts and the treasures-each one of these was an exercise in futility, for peace-the peace that passeth understanding withdre w to a yet distant goal. Indeed the more onechased the sciences, the more one foun d exposed to lack of inner solitude.

Eventually as West turned its attention to India, it found in this country, star tlingly. a society not rich by western standards and yet distinguished by an inn ate tranquility. Also a yet remarkable feature of this society as the Western que st found out was its achieved sense of self-fulfilment. When men from West advanc ed, into the dark, thick foliage of the Indian forests and saw there scantily cl ad Sadhus' who, surely, did not have any material Saffron-robed mendicants, a ch aracteristic feature of the Indian spiritual life. 10 possessions, not to speak of opulence and yet sparkled with a radiance of their own, they wondered what, after all, was that power which secured them such profo und self-fulfilment and such remarkable achievement. It was this discovery which made West turn its attention to East, particularly I ndia. Men from West arrived in this country and set themselves to go deeper into the factors and mysteries which ensured India its fulfilment. They also began to explore the reasons which gave India its inner strength and a pivotal position i n the comity of nations, although the people were not at all rich by any materia l standards. Now, for the first time,people from the rest of the world realised that peace an d tranquility do not stem from the showy outward trappings of civilization. Nor c an one have it from high concentration of brutal strength in any form whatsoever . Peace and tranquility do accrue, but only as part of the imperceptible process of contemplation which must, necessarily, involve an identity of the elements ac counting for the physical and spiritual dimensions of man. It was in contemplation of the Indian achievement that the west, for the first t ime, discovered that the human body has as its basic structure a crucial element which is mind transcending the frontiers of time and space. In other words, the fact that man is endowed with superior powers can only be attributed to the posi tion that he has in his mind which governs human physique. It is by virtue of thi s faculty that man laughs, cries, feels and expresses his joy and also gives a s hape to such speculations as are not at all rooted in the present. The West which basically believes in materialism sought to locate where and in which part of t he human body the element known as mind or the complex known as psyche was roote d. For this reason scholars of the West drew heavily upon anatomy and dissected t he human body to locate, in physical terms, the lodging place of the mind. The ob ject of such scholars was to get hold of the mind. Once they thought they would g et hold of it they could hasten its development and succeed in delving deep into the recesses of the soul. However, despite all dissections and investigations, t hey failed to come across the exact location of the mind. Now then failed to iden tify even a single complex which resembled the mind or psyche in any form or man ner. But in anycase the West felt bound to accept the view that the mind remained embe dded in the human body. For it was the mind or 1 1 psyche which governed the functioning of the human body. The entire human body wa s subordinate to the dictates of the mind. It was by and large the mind which mak es man laugh and cry, resent and rejoice and help develop these manifold faculti es. It was only after obtaining this realisation that men from West, for the first t ime, veered around to the view that the mind was second only to the Almighty. Bes ides, its peculiar importance stems from the fact that the mind paves the path t o reach Godhood, not to speak of the astounding mysteries which have remained un ravelled. Science might take centuries to reach the fountain source of all these

mysteries.On the contrary the Indian seers have already unravelled the knots of all the mysteries and have largely identified the factors which make our life as comfortable as it has come to be. Indeed the power inherent in the mind power is that it can make possible what lo oks like impossible. Its speed is unrivalled in that it transcends all dimensions of time and space. As the seers and godmen tried to explore the element known as mind or psyche, th ey were pleasantly surprised to discover that the mind consisted of two segments -the outer mind and the inner mind. Every minute the outer mind sees, and records our responses to, the physical wor ld and the physical phenomena. At times when it is rendered inactive, for instanc e when man falls asleep, the outer mind is left with no particular job.Needless to say while asleep with eyes closed the outer mind is not exposed to any physic al phenomenon outside. At a time when the outer mind is rendered inactive, the inner mind springs into brisk activity.Being active it reaches the higher planes of consciousness and se eks to see such phenomena which it had never seen before. More often than not, it sees even such incidents or phenomena as had never taken place. This state of be ing is called dream. In this manner, man sees through his inner self even future events. It does not e ntail any difficulty for the inner mind to retreat into the past or peep into th e future. At times he views - even such events as had never materialised before. W hen, however, at a future point he finds the same dream sequence materialisirig inreal life, his surprise knows no bounds. 1 2 Once in a dream Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. President, saw that he had been murder ed and that his deadbody was lying in the White House. The deadbody was covered w ith a piece of white cloth, and his wife and other members of his family were mo urning his death In the dream he had seen the assassin and noted that he emerge from a certain room of the White House. He stopped at a certain place, and then a dvanced to murder Lincoln who die instantaneously. The horrid dream woke him up. He found himself sweating all over the body. However , he took care to make a minute recording of th dream sequence in his personal d iary. He also took care to inform his wife the details of the hideous dream. He ga ve her the date and time of the dream-murder. It was indeed astounding that Lincoln was murdered in the same manner on the sam e date and at the same time as he had seen in the dream. That dreams come true at a future point has been the experience o many persons. T his, at any rate, is nothing but the activity of the inner self which actively e merges on the scene when the outer mind is rendered dormant, and looks beyond in to the future. The indication, unmistakably, is that the inner mind is capable of peeping into the future. However, since we do not have full control over the inn er self we do not always see in our dreams such incidents as we would like to see at a given time.When,for instance, we want to know the exact place, date and ma nner of somebody's death, we would foresee the event long before it actually tak es place after exercising full control over the inner mind. It was only when this insights was obtained that the Western psychologists mount ed deeper investigations into the inner mind. Hypnotism or Mesmerism codifies in vestigations and related facts of this nature.

 Accordingly, they found that the mind has two entities-the outer mind and the in ner mind. The outer mind is more active and it records whatever man does or sees. It is also called memory. It is by virtue of this faculty that one remembers thin gs long consigned to the past. For instance, he remembers when he married-and who he married and who all attend ed the marriage. At the time of marriage his outer mind remained active and it re corded the event. The record remains for many years, and whenever he sought to rec all 1 3 the past event, he remembers it. The scene of the event revivifies before him. In any case the outer mind records the moments of the present. It does not have a ny capability to go into the past or peep into the future. The inner self does ha ve the capability to do so. It is only by developing the inner self that one can have the success one longs to have. It is, therefore, essential that the inner mind is made stronger and hea lthier so that it works at a greater speed. In that case one can make it do any j ob one assigns it or show any scene one likes to see. The mind gives rise to a multiplicity of ideas. Since man basically is a slave to desires, he has various kinds of desires crowding about. He works hard to fulfil the desires. Suppose, he wants to build a house. He will need money for this purp ose. This will entail him in incessant efforts to earn money by means fair or fou l. A single desire leads to many subordinate desires. For instance, the single desir e is to want to raise a house. It will touch off many subordinate desires such as collecting and hoarding money and take measures of security and what not. The de sires involve man in all kinds of activities. Some of these desires get fulfilled , while others do not. The fulfilled desires make him happy, while the unfulfille d ones drive him mad. When the mind is cluttered with all kinds of desires, man desperately tries to a dvance each desire to its goal. Often the outcome is that his endeavour gets frag mented and his energy and capability fail. The inner mind loses its speed and man loses control over the inner mind. The scientists found a way out. They recommended a sharp decrease in the number o f desires. It would, they argued, bring about a corresponding lessening in the st ress accummulating in the mind. it would stem the charge on its energy. it would also ensure a more effective functioning of the mind. In that case the mind will not only peep into the future of the subject but also foretell the future of an y other person. To describe this state Indian seers have used the expression-the mind free from ideas. For instance, let us drive out all ideas and desires from our mind. A mind devoid of ideas and desires is an unalloyed mind. It is only a mind of such accom plishment that can secure us fulfilment of our desire. For there would be no othe r 14 contending desire to detract the attention of the mind. Should we, for instance, ask the unalloyed mind to tell us what is in store for us in the coming ten days , it will certainly foretell us giving a graphic description of the events likel

y to take place in the coming ten days. It does so, for the mind is not cluttered with ideas or desires. Nor has it lost its speed. Neither has its energy expended extravagantly. It will respond to what we suggest. To make the mind unalloyed is not that easy. It involves certain methods and cert ain techniques. It is only through this medium one can have a mind free from idea s or desires. First of all, we must have the bare minimum of desires. Besides, our mode of livi ng should be simple and unpretentious. Secondly, we should focus attention on our inner self. Calm and collected we shou ld sit at a quiet place, close our eyes and internalise our whole being. We shoul ddissociate ourselves from the external environment. As we do so we shall be desce nding into the innermost recesses of our inner self. It will give us an internal light and we will see the unlit corners of our inner personality. Initially it wi llbe a frustrating exercise but gradually we will overcome the difficulty. We will succeed in achieving concentration on one single object. Tratakis about the only simple method to achieve a total concentration in contemp lation. It ensures a one-point concentration, casting away all other ideas or des ires as we go deeper into meditation. In the process all mental activity gets con centrated at one-point in Tratak, giving us a mind free from ideas or desires. True I, was born and brought up in a foreign land, but I reckon myself basically as an Indian. Ever since birth I had a longing for India. I wanted to live in Ind ia and, above all, partake in India's profound knowledge and limitless spiritual heritage. One day I found myself employed as a varsity teacher. Honours came unsolicited t o me. Mywork earned for itself commendation all over. In sheer material terms I go t everything whatever I desired to have. A void, however, rankled in my mind. It m ade me feel restless, every minute of my life. Meanwhile I came across hypnotism. I read a lot of literature in this fascinating discipline in my native land. However,it continued to whet my curiousity. Soon I felt that the literature available to me 15 was less than complete, and as far as the Practical knowledge of this discipline was concerned, it was pretty limited indeed. Accordingly I plunged deeper into this knowledge and found that the science of h ypnotism, being very fruitful in the modern lifetorn world of ours, ensures peac e to our soul, besides contributing to help build healthy and balanced psyche an d mind. In fact I had begun right in my own country to organise some practical lessons i n this field. True I got a measure of success, too. But that was like a drop of wa ter in the bottomless ocean. One of those days I chanced to meet the celebrated British hypnotist Mr. Hedren. He was visiting my country on a special job. He demonstrated his knowledge of thi s science in the famous Prism Hall. I felt terribly fascinated by this demonstrat ion. Sitting in the hall even as I was responding to, and getting increasingly in volved into the subtleties of, the demonstration, I resolved, once for all, to g ive up the varsity job and devote the rest of my life as a student of hypnotism.

The following day when I called on Mr. Hedren, he told me alot about hypnotism a nd remarked that hypnotism easily surpassed the sciences in that the former coul d benefit the society in such areas of human endeavour as remained over ages bey ond the grasp of scientists. Hypnotism, argued Mr. Hedren, has resolved many intr actable problems all in a jiffy while science takes an inordinately long time to reach anywhere near a similar solution. He supported his contention by way of of fering certain practical examples, which left me dumbfounded, to say the least. A ll over Britain he is widely acknowledged as an ouststanding scientist of hypnot ism. As we parted, he invited me to visit the U.K. Soon I resigned and left for the U.K. I resided there for about three years and enrolled myself as an active member of the prestigious Hypnotism Academy. During my sojourn in that country I came across a member of hypnotists. I began to see t hat they touched only the fringe of the discipline. Evidently they could not lay their hands on the inner soul or form of the science of hypnotism. Unquestionably though the science made spectacular strides in the West, and increasingly lent itself to psychiatry and other diseases. Often the results scored were truly comm endatory and yet one could not but argue that the true orientation of this scien ce was still missing. It is essential to obtain what is beyond the mundane uses t o which this science is put in the West. 16 During my stay in the U.K. I met, besides Mr. Hedren, noted hypnotists such Mr. Pretakauon, Mr. Barhung and Miss Kleito who were acknowledged as dependable expe rts in this field of knowledge. True I learnt a lot from them, and yet I found th ey missed the essence of hypnotism. I was determined to know the real essence of this science. In about 3 years I came back home and founded Hypnotism and Occult Academy. The s ingular achievements of the Academy were widely known, for it had earned world-w ide recognition. The achievements of the Academy earned me the highest honour of my country. As director of the Academy I had to visit many countries such as the U.S., Canada, Japan, West Germany and the U.S.S.R., and I took this opportunity to study the scientific advances made in this field. No doubt the U.S. had achiev ed some worthwhile success in making use of hypnotism in almost every walk of li fe. However, I began to perceive that the American achievement was not ultimate i n this science. Even at this stage there was vast potential in this science, and unless we realised its full potential, it would remain a merely fragmented scien ce, without having much integrity to give a helping hand in respect of many pers istent questions. Once I visited Canada to deliver a series of lectures on hypnotism. The occasion provided me with an opportunity to speak on the various aspects of this science. It also gave me the excellent opportunity to meet a notable person called Father of Hypnotism in the Western World. He did not hold any high office. Nor was his n ame associated with any high honours, titles or awards. He was Mr. Okasa. I was Mr. Okasa's guest for about a week. Indeed the knowledge he possessed and t he practical aspect of the work he came to master was simply stupendous. From wha tever he told me inabout a week's stay I could see his deep insight into the vari ous aspects of hypnotism dwarfed the knowledge of persons like me who had long b een engaged in this field. Earlier Mr. Okasa was employed in the army and stationed in India in the first d ecade of the nineteenth century. In India he came in contact with a Yogi who taug ht him this science.Soon he built up pretty cordial relations with the Yogi who im parted to him certain crucial facts of hypnotism. Even after retirement from the armed forces Mr. Okasa kept himself in touch with the Indian Yogi and visited India five to six times.

 1 7 Unless as Mr. Okasa held we integrated the science of hypnotism with Indian phil osophy and unless we achieved a link-up of the practical aspect of Indian philos ophy with this science, we would not be achieving the integrity of this science. He further explained that the fundamental principle of this science was to achie ve a reflection-free psyche and an idea-free mind which admittedly was very hard and complex. Whatever guidance one hoped to have in this connection. it would, h e thought, emanate from India alone, for the Indian seers as none else had given to priority to the practical aspect of hypnotism It was only an idea-free mind which was destined to give this science its integrity, he argued. While the West was mostly interested in exploiting hypnotism in the field of psychiatry and oth er medical problems, the Indian seers developed this science for greater spiritu al concerns and for leading a healthy, harmonious and integral life. Whenever, in course of discussions, Mr. Okasa referred to India, he appeared to be terribly overwhelmed. On several occasions he drove home his love and devotion for India. He said there were extraordinary Yogis and Sadhus in India who might help me, should I ever visit that country. I asked him whether he had any person in view who could provide me an integrated knowledge of this science, Mr. Okasa without as much as batting an eyelid named Dr. Shrimali as the person in this field. He respected Dr. Shrimali as his guru, although he himself was much older. Mr. Okasa emphatically added that his own kn owledge of hypnotism did not make more than a drop when compared with the oceanlike knowledge of Dr. Shrimali. Even after an uninterrupted devotion of over twen ty-five life spans, he might not, he feared, fathom the bottomless pits of Dr. S hrimali's knowledge. It was as I began to see a radiant ray of new hope. Mr. Okasa, I had thought, was easily the tallest among all hypnotists of the world. When such an outstanding h ypnotist himself acknowledged the superiority of someone else, there could no mo re be any questioning of the proven greatness of the person thus acclaimed. At the airport as I was getting ready to emplane, Mr. Okasa visibly emotional, t ook my hands into his. He said that he had been in the armed forces and was certa inly a practical type devoid of all weaknesses for this or that person. And yet h e saluted Dr. Shrimali not so much because he looked upon him as his Guru, but, 18 objectively speaking, for the wholesome reason that his (Dr. Shrimali's) knowledg e in the field was unique by any standards. Our generation, Mr. Okasa continued t o say, was singularly fortunate in that he was still amidst us. It was not as he clarified out of sentimentality that he accepted him as his Guru. He had tested h im on several occasions the hard way. He had come across innumerable saints and Y ogis in his life time. He had had contacts with theYogisof the highest order. Not a single noted or famous hypnotist residing anywhere in the four corners of the wo rld ever escaped his personal attention. And yet he would unhesitatingly affirm t hat all others were mere pigmies when compared with Dr. Shrimali. One might not h ave a feel of such greatness when one met him for the first time. One must have p atience to evaluate his worth. The outward appearance of the sea did not indicate what precious pearls were hidden in its womb. One had to dive deep to get hold o f the pearls. Merely swimming in superficial waters might utmost get one mere she lls. Mr. Okasa concluded to say: Try to learn from him. If it were not possible, try, at least. to meet and have a talk with him.

I came back to my country. Mr. Okasa's words continued to ring in my ears. Often h ad I thought that all that glitters is not gold. Indeed a deep sense of anguish o vertook me in that I had so long looked upon false stories as true diamonds. Now I began to see, as though my eyes opened for the first time. what my goal was an d to which direction I should bend my efforts. I was no more haunted by any uncertainties. When a preceptor like Mr. Okasa accep ted a certain teacher as his Guru, he must be unquestionably without peer in his field. I wondered what would be the depth of the Guru's knowledge, particularly when he was theGuruof Mr. Okasa's widely acknowledged achievements. I longed to visit India. But the opportunity arrived in about a year. One day I ch anced to read in the newspaper that an International Hypnotism Conference was go ing to be held at Bhavsari (Gujarat,India) and the distinguished Dr. Shrimali wa s going to participate in it. Although I had grown pretty sceptical of similar conferences, I at once decided to participate in this conference. The one extraordinary reason which clinched th e decision was the likely participation of Dr. Shrimali whose name continued to ring in my ears ever since I heard of him.The same night I rang up a friend in 1 9 India, and within a week I got a formal invitation to participate in the confere nce. A volley of thoughts continued to torment me. Not that I was not convinced that D r. Shrimaii was easily the tallest scholar in this field. Mr. Okasa had explained to me all about the practical aspects of Dhyana-Yoga*. He had also told me that Dr. Shrimali was the greatest authority on Yoga. And yet I feared that Dr. Shrima li would be like. I wondered whether I would be able to convince him of my motiva tion to learn from him. Would he teach me? Surely, being a scholar of such worldwi de achievement, he must be a simple and pure person. For the last one year I came across a number of scholars in this field. Without exception each one of them af firmed the seminal contribution of Dr. Shrimali in this field. A week before the Conference I left for India. I had planned to spend a couple of days in New Delhi and obtain some more information about Dr. Shrimali from frie nds and Embassy officials. A day before the inauguration of the Conference I reached Bhavsari, the venue. Lo oking at the kindof arrangements being made for the Conference I was left in no d oubt that the deliberations would throw up more light on many dark spots in this discipline. Apart from several scholars from India, several internationally renowned scholar s such as Mr. Brooche, Mr. Kelhane Hurg, Mr. Pinto and Mr. Gelden had also arriv ed to participate in the Conference. In my individual capacity I invited a select group of participants to dinner tha t night. We discussed various issues having a bearing on hypnotism. It was a free exchange of experiences. It was rather intentionally that I referred to the contr ibutions of Dr. Shrimali. I found most of them were personally known to Dr. Shrim ali, and each one of them was itching to see him at the earliest. Mr. Brooche, I came to know, had been staying with Dr. Shrimali for about four months. I thought I could learn from him a lot about Dr. Shrimali. At the end of the dinner I requested Mr. Brooche to stay back for some more time . I told him rather plainly that I wanted to have a close view of Dr. Shrimali. I a lso referred to Mr. Okasa who looked upon Dr. Shrimali as hisGuru.

 *Meditation seeking to concentrate the mindon a single thought or aspect of the A lmighty. 20 Mr. Brooche explained that many persons had been working inthe field of hypnotism . Over the last two decades several important researches had been carried out all over the world. But the singlehanded contribution of Dr. Shriniali remained unsu rpassed. All research findings put together would not be able to beat the unique insights of this single preceptor,he added. Personally speaking Mr. Brooche acknowledged profound gratitude to Dr. Shrimali. From what he closely saw of Dr. Shritnali all those four months, he was convince d that his knowledge of hypnotism was limitless. What he, a simple and moderate p erson, achieved single-handedly was even beyond the reach of a whole institution al endeavour. Mr Brooche himself had never accepted anybody, however big, as hisGu ru.Nonetheless he looked upon Dr. Shrimali as his genuine Guru. He was unique in every sense of the word. Mr. Brooche further told me that Dr. Shrimali was a simple person, and not in th e least egotistical. He did not even look like a scholar. With this, I felt I was now fully equipped to meet him. The discussion gave me the common ground which I needed most. As scheduled the Conference began in due course. More than 60 scholar s from India turned up. Another 30 came from abroad. Initially as the Conference was about to commence, informal discussions followed seeking to obtain consensus as to who should preside over the deliberations. Mr. Gelden, one of the participants, drew the attention of the House to the august presence of Dr. Shrimali at the Conference and remarked that it should be a wast e of time to discuss any other name for this purpose. A thunderous acclamation gr eeted Mr. Gelden's proposal and Dr. Shrimali was elected chairman of the histori c conference. As he rose to be conducted to the chair, I had the first ever glimpse of Dr. Shr imali. He exuded a perfect blending of sobriety and sincerity. A tall and well-bui lt person he looked very simple and yet extraordinarily attractive. His radiant e yes gave a lustrous magnificence to his sage-like presence. As chairman Dr. Shrimali, at the outset, thanked the participants and outlined t he business rules as also objectives of the Conference. The conveners argued that hypnotism alone had the in-built capability to offer p eace to the troubled times of the day. Offering a comparative appraisal of the pr ogress registered in the field of hypnotism and in other walks of life, it was f elt that, not much 21 progress had been achieved in the field of hypnotism. The contributions of the sc holars devoted to hypnotism had been mostly lacking in depth. Time and again did the speakers emphasize the need to go deeper into the tremendous potential of th is discipline and also identify the methods to be followed so that in the long r un it played a more effective role in bringing about a harmonious physical and m ental development. Now spoke the Indian participants. They sought to appraise the Conference with th eir personal insights and research findings. I distinctly remember one Mr. Chakrad har, a scholar from Bihar, informed that he had invented certain new hypnotic me thods which were very beneficial for mankind. He demonstrated in the Conference a

special technique which brought about deep concentration. Mr. Gleden, a German participant, argued that the subconscious was an autonomous entity and that by way of applying certain distinct methods one could achieve a better blending of the conscious and the subconscious. The subconscious, Mr. Gle den continued to argue, accepted the impact of the conscious mind as it was, alt hough one was not normally made conscious of this fusion to any extent. About twenty participants spoke on the subjects being discussed. Many of the participants were, however, eager to listen to Dr. Shrimali. In my ca se the situation was slightly different, for I had travelled all the way not sim ply to listen to Dr. Shrimali and go back but seek a personal appointment with h im. It was, I could see, no easy job to obtain from him a personal audience, for he was heavily pre-occupied those days. I would, however, follow him like his shadow, and barring occasional formal gree tings I madenoworthwhile progress. The following day I reached his place of residence at 10 in the morning. I sent i n my card, although I calculated I could not hope to have more than 10 to 15 min utes looking at the several eager persons who had crowded about to have a person al audience with him. So, making a serious bid, I jotted down on my letter-head the particularly compe lling reasons of my arrival in India. I took good care to refer to Mr. Okasa and prayed Dr. Shrimali might grant me a longer appointment ranging from an hour to two. I sent in this note. 22 Pat came the ans,%ver that I better call on him at 10 the same evening. In the sessions of the Conference mostly foreign delegates spoke about their res earches and also about experiments made in the field of hypnotism. The whole day I attended the Conference. At 10 in the night I called on Dr. Shriiiiali in his room. He did not look tired in the least, although he had been busy the whole day. He looked happy and cheerf ul. Love flowed out of his luminous eyes which soon took me under his spell. I int roduced myself in a few strokes. Although I was meeting him for the first time, h e knew, he said, all about my contributions to the field of hypnotismandalso the w ay how I had furthered its cause. Itwas indeedamazingthathewasso keertlyinterested in havingan up-to-date knowledg e of the work done by persons not personally known to him. However, I told him th at I was not at all satisfied with what little I had achieved in the field. I wan ted to make a deeper study of the subject and so I wanted his guidance. His contr ibution to hypnotism was unparalleled and so I was penectly justified in placing reliance upon him. I told him I would feel fortunate if he condenscended to give me his guidance. For a moment Dr. Shrimali said nothing, except giving me a gaze. I felt as though his piercing look entered the innermost recesses of myinnerself. Perhaps as he fix ed his look at me, he was also evaluating me. In any case, he appreciated my sinc erity, perseverance and application and by virtue of these qualities I could, ce rtainly, reach the highest goal in my life, he said. His words came as blessing to me. If a person of the stature of Dr. Shrimali coul d appreciate the sincerity of my purpose, I certainly would, I thought, be able to achieve what was worthwhile. I thanked him and begged him to allow me to stay

with him for a few days at Jodhpur. He agreed. Thus the mission which brought me a ll the way to India was partly achieved. The following day marked the conclusion of the Conference. The Hall was packed to capacity overflowing with people eager to hear the valedictory speech of Dr. Sh rimali. Dr. Shrimali began by throwing light on the various efforts being made at variou s places to promote and further develop the science of hypnotism. He underlined h ow the entire world had come around to the view that man would certainly not ach ieve his 23 consummation it he merely dependedonexternal activities or scientific progress. It was only through an understanding of oneself could one hope to make the world h ighly developed and perfectly delightful. And this. he argued, involved a profoun d understanding of one's inner self. Today the world was fraught with the spect r e ot' an impending world war and of the frightening carnage likely to issue ther efrom. The greater the scientific progress, the more pitiable was the plight of m an who certainly had degenerated into a more frightened and anguished frame than ever before and who found himself perilously ciose to death. At a time like this when he was groping around for peace which expectedlv might give a measure of security to himself and his society, to his country and the wo rld at large, man with all !its scientific strides had no other option than to c ome to the sticcour of hypnotism, which certainly emerged as a creative science and bv no means destructive in any sense of the term. Hypnotism alone, he argued, would ensure peace and security to mankind. It was a science of creativity. It was attuned to offer peace to man. It was the science of the inner self which governed and guided man's actions. Understanding the inner self, said Dr. Shrimali, held the key to this science. An d this certainly was no easy job, for the inner self continued to remain mercuri al and keep changing rather abruptly. What to speak of others, even Indian Yogis had to work hard to gain control over the mind. One who gained control over one's mind became one with the Almighty. Gaining control over the mercurial mind remained as exasperat iiig in the presen t as it was in the past. Kriga Yoga had been found to have helped hypnotists gain control over their mind in a matter ot' few seconds. Through Kriya Yoga one coul d get hold of even such facets of human life as had been beyond human reach. Doub tless Kriya Yoga made a novel epistemology which gave man strength to gain contr ol over his inner self, although it involved some practice. The human mind was known to have two distinct entities-the outer mind and the in ner mind. As long as man remained active the outer mind functioned and recorded w hatever it saw. It was due to this faculty that man even after a long lapse of ti me recollected whatever he had seen or heard. Memory was nothingbut recording who se instrument was the outer mind. \Vhatever got recorded remained permanently em bedded in the mind and could be 24 recollected even after a long lapse of 20 to 25 years. One could recollect, say, amist-iap oranaccidentwliich6nehad metwithlong, long ago. Earlier it was held that the outer mind was independent in itself and it had no integral relations with the inner mind. When the outer mind was no longeractive,

saydtiririgsleep, the inner mindso ran the logic-begaii to function and record w hatever was experienced. In fact the inner mind transcending time was subtler tha n the outer mind. For it could peep into the past as well as the future with equa l alacrity. \Vhen one slept, one'soitter mind did not function. In this state one 's inner mind got more active and recorded all kinds of liappenings.'rhis was wh at we called dream. Generally we are exposed to past happenings through dreams. Of ten this niedit-im showed niaiiyhappeningswhich occurredlonf@, long ago. Not infr equently even such happenings as had in reality never taken place also got proje cted through dreams. At a later stage when one found the dream happenings becomin g a reality, one often felt terribly nonplussed. There was nothing particularly m iraculous about it, for the process spoke of the inner mind taking wings and get ting lodged in the womb of the future, besides marking out the moments of the fu ture. A pre-view of the sequence was ti-iade possible by the medium of dreams. It amounted to the position that the inner and outer minds, in substance and for m, were two separate entities. One functioned when the other did not. Dr. Shritnali, however, explained that the theory in its basics was totally erro neous. For the human mind was merelvdivided into two parts; the two minds-iniier and otiter-were aspects of the same projection. Certainly the two were riot,,epar ateeiitities: in fact both made an integral whole. Whatever was recorded by the o uter mind got transmitted to the inner mind, wlii(,Iionits part preserved the fact s thus transmitted. Muchinthe saniewaywlieii the innermindrecorded facts or events, t he outer mind, too, operatedinperfect inter-action with such facts or events. When somebody, for instance, saw a hideous dream, lie would be thrown out of bed . He would start sweating about all over his body. His pulse rate made a frightene d beat. It siniplvmeantthat whatever was being'receixed'by the inner mind was also getting 'transmitted' to the outermind.\Vlicn the Outer mind felt overstrained byt hetransniitted facts. it becameactiv(@.Aiid (liemoment 25 it got active, the person woke up. Not only this, whatever the inner mind recorde d was also found recorded on the outer mind, and precisely for this reason the p erson concerned could recollect the dream in its basic features. It was due to this limitation that hypnotists failed to control both the minds a t one go. It was, again, due to this failure that they failed to lay hands on the dimensions or facts which they had wanted to identify and interpret. To control the outer mind was possible, they held, through meditation, but to ga in control over the inner mind was a lot difficult, if not impossible. For the in ner mind was not at all active when the dreamer was awake, and so when it was no t active, it would not be possible to gain control over it. It was only throughKriga I'(@c4awe could, held Dr. Shrimali, integrate both the ou ter M"Iiid and the inner mind and thus demolish the division between the two. Our practice had been to reduce the outer mind to a state of sleepiness throu gli m editation. Following the Kriya Yoga method at id going a few tat horns deeper we could reduce the inner mind, too, to a similar sleepy state. Both, he argued, cou ld be controlled and made inactive all at the same time. The method which control led both the minds all at the same time was known as Dhyana Yoga'. In the Gila th e method was called Akhand Samadhi or Chetaiiya Sai7iodfti 2. Inthisstateot'beingthepersonthOLIglialix,elookedalmost lifeless. Uninfluenced by physical needsSLIC@llas hunger and thirst or physical xlilnerabilitv to natural ph enomena such as cold or heatmanwould continue to live transfixed in his suniaclhi state for years together without any loss Whatsoever.

In his address noted for its seminal contribution Dr. Shrimali otitlii-ie(I the magnificent dimensions of Indian knowledge in this field. The Indian sages were c alled 7'dkalagya."At a g;ven moment I .1)[iij(ttici: iil(,aiiiiig iiiedit,,,Atioti. SaTii(i(llii meansa sell-al3sort)ed spiritualmeditationdilring X%@hi(@h theiii(,dita toi, lost,s iiisortier eiititv and I)e(,c)iiies oti(@ xxitlithe Suprenie tieing. AKIIAN[),I:Iii((-gr@il ii(itdix,ide(iintoparts. ('IIAI'I'YliVVA: ('otis(,iotisness.,tiiiiiiitioti. 3.'I'rikalci@j!ict: One x@-Ito is@ic,(ILiated xkritli @ill thei'l It I I I-(,. 26 @Igt,s:past.present zlil(i they recalled the past as well as summoned the tuture of any person. The only bas is of this extraordinary wer was their capability to , Po plunge deep into the inner self of the person concerned after achieving a total identity of both the minds. The life-span which one reckoned as from birth to death was not the full life of the individual. It was but a part of the reality known as life. The life to come was as much a part as the life said to have terminated. In fact many lives-past, present and future-made the chain which alone could be identified as the individ ual life. By virtue of Kriya Yoga' the Indian seers could see not only the past o f the present life, but also the preceding 5 to 7 lives of the individual. They c ould also visualised the life to come in the coming 5 years. The outstanding achievement of the science of hypnotism, argued Dr. Shrimali, la y in our capacity to look back on the past as also on the several preceding live s of the individual. The word future implied not only the future of this life but also of the successive lives the individual was destined to live. It was only by virtue of this capability the hypnotists would be able to know the totality of the individual together with all positive andnegative aspects. The mind travelled at a speed unrivalled inits pace. It could, therefore, reveal t he future as well as the past in no time. It eluded us so far because we had fail ed to gain control over it. At times the mind indicated the future through the in edium of dreams not because it had been controlled. It did so, because of its inn ate tendency to flit about from one end to another, covering the entire sequence of which the present life was only a small part. A fully controlled mind reveale d all such facts as were summoned. It was by virtue of Kriya Yoga that one could, explained Dr. Shrimaii for the fi rst time, gain total control over the inner self of the individual. The person wh o sought to achieve this capability would stop externalising himself. He would ra ther internalise himself, and slowly he would enter the deepest recesses of his inner self. By this process he would achieve the peace of the- outer mind, which in its own turn would achieve the peace of the inner mind. Dr. Shrimali, however, added that one could gain control over his inner self onl y when one achieved an "idea-free" mind. Generally 1.Kriiia Yoya:AYogi(,perl'orriiiitit,eorot)ser@,aiicewiii(,helISLirestliediviiicl)ers oii a self-absorbiiig trail(,e. 27 the mind was not free from ideas. Every moment ideas took birth and disappeared a

s fast as these came. Whether one was reading a book at home or working in one's office, one's outermindcontinue to bristle with ideas. Besides, man was a slave to desires. He would constantly make efforts to satisfy his desires. True some of his desires got fulfilled-a good many, however, remained unfulfilled. The fulfilled desires obviously gave him happiness, while the unfulfilled desires caused him a nguish. Dr. Shrimali gave the instance of a person who craved to emerge as a mill ionaire. In order to realise this desire he worked a lot too much. Even at the ris k of pain he continued to accumulate money. After accumulating heaps of money he next thought of its security, for he was haunted by the threat of burglary. A sin gle desire set off a chain reaction leading to many more desires one after anoth er. The crowd of desires was bound to make the mind restless. And a restless mind could never be brought under control. It was, therefore, imperative that the mind was made free froi-n ideas or desire s. The desires of the outer mind impinged on the inner mind. The inner mind, too, was not wholly free from ideas or desires. When somebody was haunted by the desir e to become a millionaire, he would find himself as a king of dreams and that he was actually ruling over his subjects, he sat over a mound of gold or he sudder dy found a box full of currency notes. These dreams were a pointer to his unfulfi lled desires and that the inner self of the man concerned convulsed with a spate of desires. It was, therefore, essential that both the minds-outer and innerwere made free f rom desires. In no other circumstances could the mind, reiterated Dr. Shrimali, b e brought under control. It was Dr. Shrimali who found out his method which was called Kriya Yoga. Through this inedium alone we could achieve a mind free from desires and ideas. It would necessarily involve a measure of practice. It was only through this exercise we could en-tt,rge on tl-)c road leading to discoveries of the past as well as 'the future. Towards the end of his address Dr. Shriniali demonstrated the practical side ot Kriya Yoqa, and after achieving a total control over his inner self he revealed the past life as also the previous lives of several members of the audience. Dr. Shrimali's address was greeted with thunderous applause which continued for a l ong time. The acclamation he got and the 28 honour he was given was a matter of envy not only for me but for all scholars of hypnotism. in his thrce-houriong address Dr. Shriniali had dealt with all such aspects of h ypnotism as were unknown so long. The new technique of Kriya Yoga which he invent ed in the field of hypnotism was indeed astounding. It was widely acknowledged th at his new technique would blaze a new path and give usresults beyond our imagina tion. He had developed Kriya Yoya as a dependable instrument forknowingthe future aswellas thepast.Through this medium onecould visualise the impending dangers to oiie's life and take precautionary steps well on time. Kriya Yoya has already given astounding results in the field of medical science. As facts prove, mortality rate due to tension, sleeplessness and heart ailments had lately been frighteningly high. No doubt the troubles such as tension, sleepl essness and heart diseases are mainly psychological, being caused by the acute s tress of ideas in the delicate region of heart. Once we obtain adequate control o ver our desires, we would be able to alienate the stress and all resultant ailme nts. Man's life today is vitiated with tension. He is restless. He is worried due to th e non-fulfilmetit of his desires. Man today visits every temple, mosque and churc

h and gives vent to his woes and worries before everybody on earth who he thinks would help him fulfil his desires. Instances are not wanting when he flees the w orld and takes shelter in forests. At times he thinks of committing suicide. The more he tries to flee his desires, the more he is haunted by them. In the lon g run, be feels vanquished. He submits himself passively to his mounting desires. Failure in love affair or business leads him to commit suicide, for the shock pr oves to be overwhelming. Eventually he sacrifies his life at the altar of desires . In a critical Situation like this Dr. Shriniali's discovery has come as the only healthv touch. It is only through this medium man would be able to free his mind from desires and other related ideas. Once he does so, he is destined to live a happy and comfortable life. After the address and practical demonstrationof the newmethod,a wave of joy seem ed to have overtaken the audience. Each participant looked delighted as though he has found everything he wanted. The delegates mounted the rostrum and surrounded Dr. Shrimali on all sides. It was with considerable difficulty that he could be rescued from the stampeding admirers.The admirers included distinguished scholars of hypnotism and other delegates to the Conference. Towards the evening at a civic reception got up in his honour, Dr. Shrimali, onc e again, demonstrated the practical aspects of Kriya Yoga. In all modesty he accl aimed that he was not being honoured. In fact all Such scholars as had come to pa rticipate in the Conference were being honoured. The scholars had devoted their l ife-time to the science of hypnotism which was now fullyequipped to provide reli ef Lo the grief-stricken humanity. Man today was a prisoner in the rat hole of hi s own making. He was beset witfi threats to his security and the very existence o f his society. He was realising that almost every moment of his life he was advan cing towards the dark danger zone of nuclear weapons. Any number of commissions might be appointed. Any number of non-aggression pacts might be concluded. All these are exercises in fut,ility. For the real danger came from the inner self of the individual. So the inner self must be emancipated fro m fear and panic. Man was today scared. fie was panickv. He was seeing a positive threat to his own existence. No wonder he looked upon others suspiciously. The dread of war and death could never reallv got over unless the mind was freed from fear and panic. The science of hypnotism could casilv accomplish the task b ecause basically it was the science ot' mind. If the base could be controlled. al l other things would follow. Man freed from envy, desire and deceipt would lend h imself to self-control. A new age would dawn, when men would not be afflicted wit h fear, tension, envy and hatred. Dr. Shrimali concluded by observing that scholars of hypnotism had been trying, over the last several years, to gain control over the mind with a-,),iew to free ing it from ideas first and then allowing only such ideas to enter it as were es sential for the good of the society. Evidently through Karnia Yoga it was possibl e to attain the end. Now Mr. Justi(,e Pkelton took the floor. fie agreed that the modern man having l ost all peace was living in a state of panic. Over the last 50 years there had be en an enormous increase in the number of murders, burglaries, highway robberies, rapeand otheraiiti-social crimes. The root cause of this big spurtinthe crime rate had been due to his feeling of alienation. fie had come to find himself 30 increasingly insecure. Ironically he found securitv in violence. The outcome was h

e became a victim to escalating violence. Experience had it that as the strength of the judiciary got increased, there was a corresponding increase in the number of law suits, or, in other words, the sh eer number of law suits increased to such an extent that it was hardly possible to handle them properly in time. Delay injustice and a big spurt in the costs of litigation followed. Even the big increase in the strength of police and defence personnel failed to control the number of crimes. Mr. Justice Pkelton emphatically said Dr. Shrimali Aas quite right when he argue d that freeing man from fearwas more essential than anything else. A man free fro m fear ',@'OLI)d harbour only constructive ideas in his mind. He would shuii and even hate what was criminal and anti-social. He further said that Dr. Shrimali's latest findings regarding KriyaYogawere indeed very promising since what he showed by demonstration was likely to release mind from ideas. A mind devoid of criminal propensities would be the logical Outcome of this celebrated process. Not only was the present age grateful to him for devi sing ways and means to improve the quality of the human life but the posterity, too, would owe him a debt of gratitude for breaking such a new and yet sure path ot'happiness arid peace. Late in the evening Dr. Shrimaii addressed[ a press conference at which he expla ined in some length both theoretical and practical aspects of Kriya Yoga. Indeed the Hypnotism Conference was a roaring success in that it marked a revolu tionary beginning through Dr. Shrimali's Kriya Yoga. The detailed discussions whi ch followed Dr. Shrimali's address sorted out a good many ambiguities standing i n thewayof controlling one's mind. By any standards it was no mean achievement. The following day Dr. Shrimali, I learnt, was leaving for home. I wondered whethe r it would be worthwhile to go back to mycountry without learning from Dr. Shrim ali some of the hitherto unknown techniques of hypnotism. It would, I realised, i nvolve my stay with him for some time. Although I had received a message that I w as wanted urgently back in my country, I had decided otherwise. With somewhat trepidation I asked Dr. Shrimali if I could accompany and stay wit h him for some time. He reflected for a 31 moment. "e agreed. I was happy beyond words. I thought I had scored a big win. Now m y stay with him provided an opportunity to make the best use of my timeinIndia. I left Bhavsari along with Dr. Shrirnali. When I reached Jodhpur, I found it was a quiet and delightful place. I stayed with Dr. Shrimali at his residence for abo ut a month. His house niu,3t go down as a model for all other houses. The decor, t he tone and the atmosphere of the house was marked with happiness and peace. @li s was a family which moved in unison being earnestly attentive to one another's problems. Solution they found collectively. The only purpose of my stay with him was to make a close studv of his works in g eneral and his research findings in the field of hypnotism in particular. Often had I thought Dr. Shrimaii would be heavily pre-occupied only when he was out of town. No, I was wrong. fie was busier at his residence. Every hour a crowd of visitors pressed hard to seek a personal audience with him. His stamina was aw e-provoking. He was neither indolent nor short tempered. In no time did I ever fin d him looking exhausted. Always the same face-radiating smiles and resplendent wi th the same fascinating attraction.

 I had thought that Dr. Shrimali was only a hypnotist. Now I came to know that he was mainly an astrologer. His several books on astrology, numerology and palmistr y brought these recondite subjects within the easy reach of the common man. He wa s also famous as a Tantrik'. He had turned out many books on the science of Mantr a'. While he took every care to preserve in his studies the soul of the Indian cu ltural heritage, he also thought it essential to introduce in his books many inn ovations which riglitlyearned him unprecedented reputation. Looking at his day long pi-e-cLcctWtions I oftenwokidered as to how he could fin d tiine to write so many books on such a wide variety of subjects. His daily rout ine, I think, has a bearing oiN aspect of his. He would get up at 4 and medrtate till 7 in the morning. Soon after meditation he would receive ,risitors both Indian and foreign I.Taiitrik:Onewhoworshipsiiiaccot'dancewitlianesoteri(,and mn,sticill('tilt ot religious worship. 2. Matitra:Aniysticai)desotet-icworclorwordsi,ecitedinpravertoGo(loradeitv. 32 representing as they do a wide spectrum of social strata such as political leade rs, film actors, opulent industrialists, workmen and common folks. They wanted hi m to solve their pressing problems though tantra, mantra, hypnotism and other re lated disciplines. At 1 in the afternoon he would retire for lunch. After resting for a while he would enter into sessions with knowledgeable persons including sa ints who approached him to learn techniques of occult sciences. in the evening he would meet visitors only such of them as had been awaiting the ir turn to see him over the last 3 to 4 days. Treating certain patients he would, in certain cases, apply medicines. He would, however, keep the identity of the medicines a secret. Even incurable diseases he would treat with the help of precious gems and other stones. As a Sadhak'he had c ome across certain hermits, particularly when he himself roamed from place to pl ace. It was the hermits who instructed him in rare herbs with unsuspect potential to cure even chronic diseases. The patients who saw him in the evening included many who had given up all hopes . In a way they were the people who mentally prepared themselves to face death at one of the moments. in fact, they could not get any effective treatment anywher e. It was such patients who turn up to Dr. Shrimali, the last resort. Such patient s would invite his priority attention. He would give them medicines free. Even foo d he would offer free. He would not accept donations. What strikes one as very important is Dr. Shrimali's attitude towards work and p atients. He would not go about it boasting and trumpeting his own achievements. To him the service he rendered to the needy was nothing but a reallocation of the resources he had been entrusted with by sages and saints of the yore. The realloc ation as he would choose to put it was, often, the ultimate life-saving remedy t o the chronic patients who turned up at his door as their last saviour. ,@okingat the miraculous way of Dr. Shrimali's treatment, a conviction took root in me that he would restore the patient to health even if the latter visite(f hi m a couple of moments before his certain death. In the evening he worships along with the other members of his family. The entire family joins him in the worship observing

 1. Sadhak: One who is engaged in austere worship of God. 33 meticulously all rituals appropriate to this superbly spintuai occasion. After the evening worship he joins the intimate guests who are dearest to him or who stay with him at his residence. At 10 P.M. Dr. Shrimali eats his supper along with his family and personal guest s. In about an hour he would enter his meditation room. Daily at 4 sharp in the mo rning he is found doing his morning chores. It is indeed pretty baffling to ascer tain when in between he finds time to sleep and how long he sleeps. The closer I saw of Dr. Shrimali and his family members, the firmer grew my conv iction that one should give more credit to Dr. Shrimali's wife whom, out of reve rence, we called MataiL@l,.It was beyond doubt that she played a crucial role in shaping the personality of Dr. Shrimali. As always the Mataji is busy now meetin g visitors and now attending to the specific needs of the guests whose number on most days easily exceeds 15 to 20. She gets up -in the morning even earlier and until I 1 P.M. when she retired to bed, she would serve guests and cook for them , meditate and worship and, above all, meet the specific needs of Dr. Shrimali. S he was treated like mother by guests and others alike. I do not recall whether I spent at any time,a more delightful and satisfying tim e as at Dr. Shrimali's residence. I had gone to places all over the world. I had s tayed with the biggest persons at so many places. But the sheer delight which I g ot at Dr. Shrimali's house was unique by all standards. The total atmosphere at t he household was saturated with joy and peace, which I found nowhere else. How I wished I could spend my whole life in the ennobling company of Dr. Shrimal i. Even as it is, the period of a month I spent in his company was, surely, due t o my past good deeds which fructified in the present life. However my sights were trained on learning from Dr. Shrimali the techniques of h ypnotism particularly KriyaYoga,his own finding. But what always put me off was his busy schedule of engagements every day. During the first five days of my stay I could hardly talk with him, even for a bare fifteen minutes. Even for the Mataji he could not spare a mere 5 minutes. Once I said to theMataji:Mataji-I have marked vou get no chance to talk with Shrimaliji. How do you feel about it? 1. Mataji:Areverentialwayoladdressingmother.Matain!5anskritmeansmothcr, 34 She smiled and said: Now it is long since we married. I am hardly aware of that o bligation at the present stage. I thought I must have a word with Dr. Shrimali himself. I went up to him and said : No doubt it is my fortune that you allowed me to stay with you at your residen ce. But I see you are kept so busy that I do not see any possibility of talking w ith you, much less seeing you. The principal object of my arrival here has been t o learn from you Kriya Yoga. At the same time I shall consider myself highly fort unate if you could give me any other special knowledge in the field of hypnotism . Dr. Shrimali shared my concern and promised to give me a firm commitment the fol lowing day. V,7hen I called on him the next day he offered to sacrifice for my sa ke his afternoon rest. He said he had no other time left to spare, and that the a fternoon one hour wflich he used for rest would now be at my disposal.

 It was with a measure of diffidence that I said yes to the arrangement. I could s ee I was intruding upon his well deserved rest, and yet what I got from him was in my own interest. The next day I was summoned at the appointed time. Now I began to learn all about the unknown aspects of hypnotism. I was myself, reckoned as an outstanding exper t of hypnotism. In fact, by way of demonstration, I had established my capacity t o hypnotise any person in only three seconds. But soon, after a few sessions with Dr. Slirimali, I was left in no doubt that I had been in superficial waters and that Dr. Shrimali's knowledge was like the unfathomably deep ocean. Dr. Shrimali's main thrust was on the practical aspect of hypnotism. Controlling the mind, he said, was possible only through Sadhnal: He told me that trataka wa s an indispensable technique to control the mind. Nonetheless this technique, how ever useful, was lacking in completeness. For it gave power to just one limb, say , eyes or fingers. What was desirable is that we should have the power to hypnoti se people through any limb of ours. My experience was that only eyes and fingers (of hands) could exert. the hypnoti c influence. Dr. Shrimali, however, held that these two parts of the body were no t as effective as the other parts. 1. Sadharia: An austere or arduous practice in service of God. 35 As he explained it was througl@ Kriya Yoga and Dhyana Yoga that one could gain f ull control over one's body, go inwards and after obtaining a total identity of the two minds hypnotise the person. After obtaining this state we would be able t o make the outer mind free from ideas or desires. An idea-free outer mind, he arg ued, was likely to have a direct impactonthe inner mind, which would also go as id ea-free as the outer mind. As a result of the interaction between the two, the br ain itself would be idea-free. In yogic practice this state of being was identifi ed as Brahma Initially the exercise appeared to be rather baffling. However, following a conti nuous meditation of two days I could gain control over this form. Vvlhen, followi ng Kriya Yoga, I achieved an outer mind devoid of ideas for the first time, I fe lt myself rather lightweight and the brain got a tremendous placidity. It drove o ut all tension or imbalance from the brain. I felt I was going even beyond this s tate. I was getting deeper and deeper into the inner self. It was a bottomless dep th into which I was arriving. I derived a celestial delight, and a real pleasure which I had never experienced before. The region in which I found myself was celestial, resplendent light making it al l the more brilliant. The divine light revealed unto me all such scenes which I h ad seen long ago. When for the first time I felt the conglomerated mass cf light, my whole body felt a strange and yet delightful thrill and I began to experienc e a superior peace. Later Dr.Shrimali explained that the conglomerated mass of light was the inner m ind which I could touch. The light which this mass effused showed the hypnotist e verything-the seen and the- unseen and the known and the unknown. Gradually as I became one with this celestial mass of light I began to view the whole world. Sitting here I saw my home, saw wife and children at home, noticed I -ow they were frisking about at home and felt as though they we)re situated righ t in front of me. Then I looked at myself I saw I was flying high above in the bl

ue void of the sky. I began to see all such aspects of life as had been invisible to me. I was also marking that time was changing fast and my'life, too, was chan ging every moment. I saw my own son getting married. I clearly saw the bride. I saw I was being given highest awards in my country in recognition of my success in the field of hypnotism. Nay I also saxv me in ripe old age. Now I saw I reached th e dead-end of my life. The 1. Brahma: Tfie absolute being or one who has attained knowledge about God@ 36 last moment had arrived. I saw I was dying. I also saw it was not the end of the s tory. I could see I was being born in a certain family. I began to grow. I was gett ing married. I was getting busy in 'a particular field of interest. So I saw not o nly the end of the present lifeandalso beyond. With a suddenness the scenes came to an end. The series of scenes in my dhyana.'s tood terminated. I opened my eyes. I was sitting, I saw, in the same room and that my venerable teacher Dr. Shrimali was looking at me, with a benign smile on his face. Dr. Shrimaii asked: Vvhat did you see? I felt terribly overwhelmed. I could not ch eck tears overflowing my eyes. Literally I caught hold of Dr. Shrimali's feet and placed my head at his feet. He, too, was moved. Soon, however, he subdued his emotions. He said: you have seen not only this life to its dead-end but also the life to follow. You have been wh ere you are going to be born after your death in this life. As you have seen the life to come, so will you see the life you lived before. When you see your past l ife you will know the imperfections if any. Perhaps you will know how to o-vercom e the imperfections of the past life. Dr. Shrimali explained that the state of being I achieved was said to be the hig hest state in Sadhana. The only path which led to this state was Kriya Yoga and D hyana Yoga. A meditation of this sort did not discriminate between man and woman. I used to practise this yoga daily for an hour under the supervision of Dr. Shri mali. Indeed whatever I could accomplish through this practice and also through s ubsequent discussions with Dr Shrimali openedupnewer vistas to me. It had never occ urred to me that the science of hypnotism, was so profound. Until now we had touc hed only the su: iace. We had taken this superficial knowledge as the totality of this science. Now I began to realise that the real knowledge was beyond the supe rficial knowledge of our perception. I began to realise that the day the world would know the worth of hypnotism, we would not see any imperfections or inadequacies, left in its system. Hypnotism on the one side provides us a sharper insight into the human situation and on the other overcomes lack of resources and other difficulties of the human life. 'I'he success this science scored in medical field iswiaelyacknowledged. And yet it is not significant in terms of its potential. 1.Dhyaiia:Meditation orcoi-icentration. 37 The day medical science succeeds in fully exploring hypnotism we would certainly see radical changes and man would be free from many chronic diseases. As for psychopaths and other mentally deranged persons hypnotism has come as an extraordinary blessing. Because of collision between contrary thoughts or due to

sudden shocks the brain loses its balance and the person concerned goes lunatic. In this respect no other science is as effective as hypnotism which makes the mi nd free from thoughts and thus restores the brain to its normal balance. In thewest such patients are not administered any medicines.With the aid of psyc hotherapy the thoughts are identified which caused the patient his mental imbala nce. Such thoughts are taken off his mind and he is assured that he would not fee l disturbed for such thoughts in future. Thus he is cured. It is, again, thoughts which assault heart. The person who unexpectedly comes to know of a tragic incident may succumb to cardiac arrest, and to death if denied proper treatment in time. Hypnotism is particularly useful in such cases. The hypn otist prepares such a person well in advance. He is told he will not feel shocked if a similar tragic incident with the same suddenness is communicated to him. Some children having a poor memory lose their balance and lag behind in studies. The remedy, in their case too, lies in hypnotism. Certain children remain lonelyan dpessimistic right from birth. They are not given any medicines. Only hypnotic sugg estions are implanted on them. They recover soon. The hypnotic treatment is doubly blest, for it does not give rise to any adverse side effects. Neither is it expe nsive. Hypnotism is the most suitable treatment for women. They are basically emotional. A woman's heart is vulnerable to the slightest shock or disturbance. The hypnotic treatment has proved very effective in such cases. For women delivery is a blessing. At ,he same time it could be fatal, too. Accordi ng to the Indian lore a woman who successfully undergoes a delivery is said to h ave taken a second birth. Delivery is no more that painful ' A painless childbirth is possible provided th atthewoman delivers the child during hypnotic sleep. Even planning families with th e aid of hypnotism has been found to 38 be very effective. The thought that the woman would not have another child or ano ther child would not be in the interest of the family could be implanted on man or woman as the case may be. A hypnotic suggestion of this kind, besides being ve ry effective, will certainly check the numbers. Following this method governments can save for better uses the enormous funds which they are spending on not-so-e ffective family planning campaigns. There are, besides, hundreds of problems which cause man a deepening tension. No medical system has any remedy to overcome mental tension. In this case the only e ffective remedy is hypnotism. It alone can relieve man of his tension and restore his life to balance and happiness. With the aid of hypnotism man, above all, recognises himself. Being a slave to sc ores of desires he always remains sore and tense. The moment he fulfils his desir es, a new set of desires crops up. A desire satisfied leads to many more desires in the offing.'"Iith the result the individual is caught up in a vicious circle. Unless one lessens, and gains control over, the desires, one would not have peac e. A person denied peace can never feel happy. More importantly it is this science which reveals unto us the past and the futur e. From the present moment we can look back at our previous lives and ascertain t he limitations which hampered our progress in the present life. We can also peep into the future and visualise the problems or troubles we are likely to face. Onc e we have a feel of the future life, we could take remedial steps and free the f uture life from problems and troubles.

 Although palmistry and astrology can also reveal the past and the future, these sciences are not complete in themselves. There is yet much scope for research in these sciences. Unless these sciences emerge as complete in themselves we cannot hope to make an integral study in either case. But long before any of these scien ces hypnotism has already achieved the proven capacity to know the past and the future. By knowing the past and the future we are in.a better position to shape o ur present life. Indeed this achievement must go down as the highest watermark in the spiritual explorations of mankind. With much regularity I would take from Dr. Shrimali lessons on Kriya Yoga. Althou gh I also studied other aspects of this science in my spare time, Kriya Yoga, I began to see, claimed a big attention on 39 my time. The more I studied this mettiod, the deeper I realised it significa ' nc e. I personally felt every person should practise KriyYoga.It alone would ensure a t ension-free life,. Anybody can practise it, but one needs a teacher. It will not b e possible to effectively handle KHya Yoga without a teacher. Sex, age, colour-no thing stands in its way. The method is so simple that one can master it only afte r a few days' practice. Even the busiest person can be benefited if he practises it regularly in morning and night. He will feel cheerful and happy. True in the initial stages he might feel slightly put off, for despite his repea ted attempts he fails to bring about concentration of mind. When he sits for this exercise with his eyes closed, a crowd of dissimilar ideas disrupts his concent ration. The best and simplest way to achieve concentration is tratakwhich has bee n discussed in this volume in some detail. When the person succeeds in concentrat ing his meditation he has to internalise it with the aid of a special technique. It exercises a check on the wayward mind. The technique which brings about this c heck and helps internalise the meditation is known as Divya Sadhana". This Sadhan a is popular mostlyamongtheYogis.It lightens the bodyand helps gain control over self . To get through the austere practice of theDivyaSadhana one must take to regular pr actice of certain special yogas' and asanaS3 - There are eight asanas and one mu st practise these in a certain order. This helps achieve what is known asDivyasadha na. It is only bya sound mastery over Divya sadhana that one develops the strength t o go deeper into, and help identify, his inner self. Soon, with the aid ofDivyasadhana, he tries to obtain an idea-free outer mind. Grad ually he begins to feel quieter and also lighter. But one confronts difficulty wh en the outer mind has to link up with the inner mind. For both are separate entit ies and in no way reciprocally related. It is only by virtue of a special techniq ue that the outer mind establishes a link-up with the inner mind. Once the link is established it is imperative that the unity remains unimpaired. 1.Divya Sadhana: A sadhana having a supernal or transcendental vision. 2. Yoga: Hindu system ofphilosophic meditation and asceticism designed to effect t n of the devotee's soul with the universal spirit. 3. Asana: A posture of sitting. and the exercises prescribed. 40

When the link is established and' is also related to the special technique the p rocess of obtaining an idea-free mind begins. What is catalytic to this process i s the impact received from the outer mind. No doubt the process is somewhat diffi cult, but once we gain control over the outer mind, it would not be difficult to bring the inner mind under control. When the inner mind is made devoid of ideas, it begins to link up with the outer mind. The link-up process is known as Kriya yoga, which involves many other acti ons. It results in a rare experience of poise, happiness, desirelessness and diss ociation from negative. feelings such as attachment, greed, anger, hatred and th e like. A state of being such as this makes a person Satit'. When man reaches such a state of being he experiences a celestial light which em anates not from any external source but from his inner self. Until then the inner mind remains clouded in the thick fog of desires. Once the desires are removed, the light comes out on its own. It is only after achieving this celestial light must one treat his Kriya yoga as successful. Dhyana yoga begins from where Kriya yoga ends. Although Dhyana yoga i s not indispensable, one must remember that Kriya yoga in itself is not complete . Without Dhyana yoga one is not expected to get the desired outcome. When the Sadhak'plunges deep into his innerself, he sees initially a dot of ligh t. Gradually the circumference of the lights get bigger. One begins to see a bluis h reflection of light. As we reach the innermost recesses of his inner mind, we b egin to see a brilliant light and the circumference, too, gets widened. After some time the bluish reflections will vanish. The light which emanates from all sides of the rounded dot assumes many colours-all seven colours. Vvhen the p erson has seen this multicoloured light, he may presume that he has perfected hi s dhyana yoga. The person should continue this practice for some time. Soon he will stop seeing the multi-coloured vision. He would straightaway see only the brilliant celestial mass of light. He would see his inner self brilliantly lit with the help of this mass. This light would not be confined to any limits. 1. Sant: Saint. 2. Sadhak: One who is engaged in austere worship of God. 41 What the SadhaK cannot simply overlook is ttiat ne must remain sharply conscious of his being if he wants to reach this state. He must keep on asking himself. Who am I? Why do I do this Sadhana? Why do I sit for the Sadhana? What do I want to s ee through this Sadhana? What do I want to gain out of tnis Sadhana? Vv'hen he begins to see the infinite light, the Sadhak will find his third eye b eing opened up, which will bring to his view the past and the future. It should b e very easy for him to know when a particular incident took place in the past an d what is going to happen in the future, and when. In no case should this be treated as the dead-end of the dhyana yoga. A little mo re practice or following a distinct special practice will get the sadhak the fro ntiers of the light far more extended, and the obscure corners of the many prece ding lives will come out fully alive. In a perfectly chronological order the happ enings of the past lives such as place and time of birth, growth and decay, qual ity of life and other facts of similar import will reveal themselves to the full glare of the viewer. What is more important, the knowledge garnered therefrom wi ll also tell the sadhak as to why his own thinking, his own consciousness and hi

s own psychology in the present life is what it is. Much in the same way the life to come after the presentlifewill also come out al ive, should he choose to see beyond. He will come out with certain knowledge abou t the specific date of his death as also its cause and the circumstances obtaina ble then. He will also see where he is going to be born in the next life, how he is going to be brought up and what events would characterise his next life. Through Dhyana yoga not only the Sadhak's own past and future are revealed but t he past and future happenings of several lives, both preceding and succeeding, o f any other person can also be known provided that he meditates for some time to invoke such happenings in his daily Dhyaria yoga Sadhana. A regular and persistent practice will enable the sadhak to know all about the p ast and the present in less than one hundredth of the time one normally takes re ading, say, the printed line of 8 to 9 words. Significantly when he comes out of the inner self and returns to the consciousness of his outer mind he remembers a ll events and scenes, together with the time of occurrence. 42 I look upon myself as singularly fortunate for having got the practice of Kriya yoga and Dhyana yoga under the personal supervision of no less a celebrity than Dr. Shrimali, and incredibly I mastered the technique in only 16 days. Initially it appeared to be rather difficult, but the second or third day I did not encoun ter any great difficulty and I succeeded in this sadhana. In the foregoing lines I presented a detailed report on the practice of Kriya yo ga and Dhyana yoga with no other objective than to convince other sadhaks that t hey would also succeed in this sadhana, given a measure of persistence and devot ion. The prospective sadhak might find the exercise pretty baffling in the beginning. However, following some persistent practice, he might travel from Kriya yoga to Dhyana yoga in no more than 2 to 3 minutes. After viewing the past and the future he might come back to his own consciousness. The entire exercise will not take m ore than 3 minutes. I have seen Dr. Shrimali emerging to his state of consciousness taking not more than 30 seconds. Indeed the two Kriyas have been miracles in the field of hypnotism. They have pro vided a measure of completeness to hypnotism. During my stay with Dr. Shrimali I have had opportunities to exchange views with many visitors, and read many letters addressed to him. I should like to present here a brief report on the knowledge I gained from out of such exchanges in the field of hypnotism. Included among these persons are such as have resolved their problems with the aid of hypnotism. Through KT!ya yoga and Dhyana yoga sadhanas D r. Shrimali had benefited them. Although I got no more than 30 days to live with Dr. Shrimaii,icame across a broad spectrum of people including sadhaks, persons suffering from chronic diseases a nd many persons totally frustrated and on the brink of death. Some really inquisi tive persons also visited to know rilt5re about the Hypnotism Conference. Even th e saints lodged in the obscure caves of the Himalayas often visited him. What I have learnt from the talks and the correspondence throws much light on ho w Dr. Shrimali has effectively helped the down and out. It also testifies to the fact that Dr. Shrimali is universally recognised as a hypnotist without peer and has consistently used

 43 his knowledge of hypnotism for the good of mankind. Needless to say the assistanc e rendered by Dr. Shrimali to the needy persons did not involve any expenditure on their part, nor did it result in any adverse side-effects. Finally it also thr ows light on the extraordinary utility of hypnotism in human life. Dr. Hargolia, a famous neurologist, reported that he had tried to cure a rich wo man, aged 40, of her epileptic fits and of the insufferable pain which followed it. For full six months he treated her without success. The patient was childless. So this unfulfilment had badly disturbed her. As he had given up all hopes somebody suggested that he might refer the patient to Dr. Shrimali. Over phone he fixed up the appointment and brought the patient t o Jodhpur. Dr. Shrimali talked with the patient for about 5 to 7 minutes. Meanwhile the pati ent fell to a paroxysm of fainting. She convulsed violently. Normally in such conv ulsions of epilepsy I used to inject her a certain medicine so that she recovere d her consciousness. But Dr. Shrimali asked me not to do so. In about 6 to 7 minutes the patient got back her consciousness. Dr. Shrimali aske d her to sit in front of him and said: Look. I am sitting in front of you. Now you look into my eyes. What do you see in myeyes? The patient squatted as she was directed. Now Dr. Shrimali looked into her eyes f or some time and said: You have been hypnotised. Your anguish is due to the fact that you are childless. You will not have this problem in future and you will for get what you have been wanting. For two minutes Dr. Shrimali muttered a few incoherent words. Goodness alone know s whether he ineantated or said something. The session took hardly ten minutes. Dr. Shrimali stood up and said: Dr. Hargolia, your patici; -1 is okav. You can ta ke her back to her home. In future she will no longerhave fits. Astounding! She was cured! Here was a patient who had convulsions twice or thrice a day. The chronic disease had persisted for such a long time. Dr. Shrimali took n o more than ten minutes to cure her of this deep-seated ailment. The whole thing was incredible. 44 Dr. Hargolia decided to stay on at Jodhpur to verify the results. They stayed on for about a week. However, the patient did not complain of any trouble all these days. Three years have since passed. Now the patient is hale and hearty. Nor does she ha ve any mental malady. Meanwhile she has given birth to a baby. Here was a patient who had been treated all over the country for such a long tim e. There was not a single known or unknown expert who had not treated her. Now, in credibly, she got rid of her ailment so uneventfully within a mere ten minutes, thanks to the extraordinary insights of Dr. Shrimali. Vidyacharan from Meerut was a prosperous businessman, besides being highly devot ed to religion. The only child he had was Harish, his son. When he was hardly twoyear old, his mother died. Vidyacharan decided not to re-marry. He doted on his ch ild. As Harish grew into a young boy 14 years old, he was, one day, abducted by certa in anti-social elements and held to ransom. Vidyacharan reported the abduction to

the police. The law and order authorities took a keen interest in the case and y et could not trace the boy out. Meanwhile Vidyacharan took to all other means and spent over 3 lac rupees. He got it announced that any person who would trace and bring back the boy would be gi ven a reward of rupees one lac. But the boy remained untraced. In about 3 months time one day he received an anon ymous phone call. A ransom of three lac rupees was demanded for restoring the boy . A place was indicated in the message where the amount was to be deposited. On th is basis the police and the intelligence agencies tried hard ta locate the abduc tors, but the attempt proved abortive. Restless and frustrated Vidyacharan, now, showed little interest in business. Dee ply attached as he was to his only son, he could not reconcile himself to such a loss. He began to lose his health. It was feared he might not survive the loss fo r long. As he had lost every hope of his son'@ recovery, somebody suggested he should me et Dr. Shrimali. Vidyacharan came to Jodhpur. He narrated his anguish to 'Dr. Shrimali and said tha t he was his last hope. A crying self, he added if he (Dr. Shrimaii) failed him, h e would not be able to survive is tragedy. 45 Dr. Shrimali said a few words of consolation and desired to see the boys photogr aph. Vidyacharan gave him the photograph. Dr. Shrimali looked at the photograph fo r a couple of minutes. He remarked: You need not worry. Harish is alive at this mi nute. I will see that you get him back. Imagine the delightful consternation of the poor parent. Dr. Shrimali asked him t o see him the following day. He added he would tell him where the boy was being h eld up or if possible bring the boy to his residence. A terrible uncertainty took Vidyacharan in its grip. He was in no position to bel ieve or disbelieve Dr. Shrimali. And yet he got up and preferred to wait until th e next day. The next day, Dr. Shrimali hadcomeout of his morning meditation. Vidyacharan came. D r. Shrimali asked him to sit down. He placed the photograph in front and &Iosed h is eyes. He gazed at the photograph through tratak technique and soon lost consci ousness of his outer self. After about 5 minutes he opened his eyes and asked whether his son had a scar of injuryabove his righteye.Vidyacharansaidyes. In his early childhood he had had a fall and was injured. The scar remained. Dr. Shrimali disclosed: Your son has been kept at a place which is a den of anti -social elements. I shall te ' 11 you the exact place if you are prepared to go a nd reclaim him from that place. Vidyacharan said in reply: I don't think it will be possible. One can hope'to go there only with the help of the police. Once the police swings into action, the a bductors will get alerted. Dr. Shrimali said: Through sadhaiia I shall try to bring the boy to Jodhpur this week. Better you stay here for a week.

Dr. Shrimaii hypnotised the photograph and suggested to the boy that he shol)ld try to flee his place as soon as be got the right opportunity. He came to know th at he had already been brainwashed by his abductors. With great difficulty the suggestion could be implanted on the boy that he must leave the place under all-circumstaiices. It looked as though Dr. Shrimali and Ha rish were talking face to face. He also suggested to the boy that he should reach a partict-,Iar railway station , board a certain train and change over to another at 46 a certain place. The boy was directed to collect some cash from a certain place s o that he paid for his travel up to Jodhpur. Every day Dr. Shrimali conducted this experiment. On the fourth day he informed V idyacharan that the boy had got out of the den and he was more or less free. On the sixth day when [he boy arrived at the Jodhpur railway station, both Dr. S hrimali and Vidyacharan were present to receive him. Vidyacharan like a mad man r an up to get hold of the boy. Both father and son wept bitterly. Later Harish disclosed that he had been kept a captive in a den of criminals. The y made him do every kind of manual work. They kept a close vigil on him. Under no circumstances could he think of fleeing the den. First they planned to restore him to his father after obtaining ransom. But soon when they saw the brisk movements of the police they gave up the idea to have ra nsom. The boy had given up every hope of release. They began to talk with him in such a close manner that eventually he, too, began to aqiust himself to their life-sty le. A week ago he felt as if somebody was dinning into his ears that he was Harish, son ofvidyacharan, and that he was resident of such and such place. He must leave the place under all circumstances. The suggestions rang in his ears twenty four hours. At night he dreamt as though somebodywas conducting him out of the den. On the third dayhe saw the opportunity . A hundred rupees was lying in the room at that time. He pocketed the money. Follo wing the directions as given in the dream he got out of the den and reached the railway station. He reached Delhi and boarded this train. Often he thought he lived at Meerut. Why, he wondered, he was going to Jodhpur. Bu t every moment the echo rang in his ears that he must go to Jodhpur for his fath er would receive him there. While taking leave, of Dr. Shrimali Vidyacharan said: You have saved my family. Y ou have added a few more years to my life-span. In all certainty I should have co me to a tragic end, had the boy not been restored to me. With my death and my son 's abduction, my family line would have come to a dead-end. Vidyacharan signed a blank cheque and presented it to Dr. Shrimali:Please feel fr ee to fill in any amount whatsoever. 47 Dr. Shrimali gave the cheque back to himandsuggested he better spend the same amou nt for religion. Vidyacharan uttered not a single word. Only his eyes spoke how g

rateful he was to Dr. Shrimali. Mahesh Chandra Gupta, a resident of Aligarh, had two sons and a daughter. His dau ghter Asha was the eldest among his children. She was quite beautiful and smart. W hen she started going to college, she got pretty intimate with a boy who belonge d to a different community-the community of Gujjars. The intimacy turned into lov e. At times the boy used to visit Asha's house and meet her parents who little th ought that they would plan to marry. They were least prepared to face the explosi ve situation their decision to marry would trigger off. The intimacy between the two further deepened until, one day, Asha found that sh e was pregnant. So one of those davs,on the pretext of joining a college tour, sh e rushed to Delhi along with her paramour and managed to have abortion. She retur ned the same day. One day the news reached the ears of her parents that Asha was going to marry th e Gujjar youth on a certain day. Mahesh felt terribly disturbed. On enquiries he came to know that both had alread y applied for marriage in the court of the marriage registrar. The court had fixe d a date for their marriage. Mahesh was frightened. His society would not approve this marriage. With her daugh ter now determined to marry out of community Mahesh felt his position in society was at stake. Owing to the unusual decision of Asha, lie found himself unable to feel at home in the company of his friends. He tried to persuade Asha to give up her decision. He argued his entire community would feel defanied if she did not@ change her mind. He added that he would have no other alternative except to commit suicide if she insisted on marrying the G ujjarboy.Asha hit back saying she did not bother about the social stigma her mar riage would leave on the community. She was in no way accountable for his death i f he chose to carry out his threat to commit suicide. She hardly bothered about t he threat of excommunication. Come what may, she was determined to stick to her d ecision. 48 Having failed to persuade her, the family kept Asha confined to home for three d ays. On the third day she tried to commit suicide. For this purpose she tied a rop e to the ceiling fan and tried to hang herself till she was - dead. Mother happen ed to see the rope. She got the doors broken and rescued her daughter. Asha threat ened that she would commit suicide and would not be deterred by sheer force. On the other side the Guijar youth filed an application in the court that Asha w as being kept confined in a room very much against her own wishes. The problem had taken a critical dimension. If the court following her paramour's petition passed orders empowering the police to rescue Aslia from solitary conf inement and if she was removed to public custody, no one could prevent her marri age in the court oil the appointed ' date. Everything seemed to hinge on Asha's consent. But she was not all receptive to th e pleas and persuasions of the family. So many more family members tried to dissu ade her from the step. But she was grim in her determination. She stood rock-like. She said it was no use why anybody should ask her not to marry the youth of her choice. If any force was brought to bear on her, she would, she ,threatened, repo rt to the court, and if she was prevented from going out of the house, she would certainly commit suicide.

Mahesh Chandra saw no way out. Just then somebody suggested he might see Dr. Shri mali. Without losing a single moment he brought Asha alongwith other members of h is family to Dr. Shrimaii. Mahesh Chandra narrated the entire story to Dr. Shrimali. If no honourable soluti on was found out he threatened he would not go back alive to Aligarh. Dr. Shrimali talked with Asha. He found Asha determined to marry out of community . She told Dr. Shrimali that she could not be deterred from her resolve. She hardl y bothered about father's threat to commit suicide. Why father alone? Let the whol e family commit suicide. She hardly bothered. If undue force was brought to bear o n her, she would give the police her dying declaration and commit suicide. Indeed the knot was pretty complicated. It admitted of no easy solution. Nonethele ss Dr. Shrimali decided to find a solution. He 49 said to Asha: Okay. I will talk with you for no more than half an hour, Afterward s you will be free. Do whatever you want to. Asha simply ruled out the very idea to have any talks with fiet She went to the extent of saying that she would not like to hear a@hing in this respect. 'Right in front of the entire family Dr. Shrimali gave a steadfast look into Ash a's eyes and hypnotised her in a minute. He began to put her searching questions to ascertain what relations she had with the Gujjar youth. Under hypnotic spell Asha disclosed everything-how she got to know him, how the intimacy grew into love, when she conceived and how they got it aborted and when and how they planned to marry. Mahesh Chandra was stunned to know all these fac ts. Dr. Shrimali suggested to the hypnotised Asha that the GuiW youth was quite cunn ing. He simply wanted to achieve a vitiated object. After marriage he would desert her. She would be left in the lurch, being forced to live a stigmatised life. He further suggested that the marriage would spell disaster to the family. It wou ld bring down the social esteem of the family. Even the society would feel terrib ly shaken. Other children of her father would feel let down. The family in the lon g run would end up in ruin. He conceded that love marriage by itself was not undesirable. But the youth she w anted to marry was already involved in several similar affairs. He was totally de famed. He was a notorious character. He also told her a few things in privacy. When she would be de@ypnotised, he said she would develop utter contempt for the Gujjar youth. She would certainly give up the idea of marrying him. She would mov e a petition to this effect in the court. After Dr. Shn'mali dehypnotised -her, Asha opened her eyes and regained consciou sness. She realised that she had committed a mistake. In a firm tone she affirmed her determination not to marry the Gujjar youth. In future, too, she would have n o relations with him. The next day the Mahesh Chandras left for home. Later it was known that she filed an application in the court affirming her resolve not to marry the Gujjar youth . Soon she began to live a

50 normal life. Within six months she married a boy of her community. She has since b een living a decent married life. She has a son and the family is happy and prosp erous. How could Mahesh Chandra and his family ever forget the benedictions of Dr. Shri mali. In fact they look upon him as God himself. Prabhudayal Upadhaya of Gorakhpur has been a devoted disciple of Dr. Shrimali. He has been an ardent admirer of Dr. Shrimali, although he personally never tried to learn astrology and other sciences. After every two months he used to visit Dr . Shrimali and spend a few days with him. His son studied at Mussoorie. He was 12 years old and yet abnormally shy. The shyn ess assumed such dimensions that he would take to his feet, once he sighted girl s. He was a co-educational school where he felt miserably isolated. Mostly he woul d keep mum. Gradually he turned into a sour pessimist. He kept himself aloof. He counted none among his friends. He talked with none. These changes brought about a disastrous impact on his studies. His memory got pr ecipitately weakened. Naturally his parents felt greatly concerned. They tried the ir best to bring him to normal. But they failed. When all efforts to improve the m ental condition of the low-spirited son proved fruitless, Prabhudayal brought hi m to Dr. Shrimaii. When Prabhudayal reported all about his son Dr. Shrimali chose not to comment. Ra ther he watched the conduct of the boy. He, too, thought that the boy developed a n inferiority complex. Or, possibly. something must have taken place which brough t about such a decline in the boy. It was no doubt an undesirable tendency. Beset with such limitations he would not be able to progress in societv. On the third day Dr. Shrimali asked the boy to be seated in front of him. He hypn otised him and asked why he was keeping mum. But the boy offered no solidreasonfor this abnormal behax-.our. Dr. Shrimali, however, planted on the boy the suggestion that the tendency in an y case was most undesirable. He must overcome this depression as soon as possible . He would not fight shy of girls in the future. He would put things across in the firm and clear language. He would win friends and have many more friends. 51 At the same time-Dr. Shrimali impressed a suggestion on both his outer and inner minds that his memory was not at all weak. in future he would retain whatever he learnt. Miraculously the lad showed distinct improvement from that day. Three ye ars have since elapsed. I have heard from his father that he secured high rank in the class. It was certainly a case of inferiority complex which has since been totally elim inated. The boy is now socially useful. His parents do not have the same tension. Lakshman Prasad belonged to a rich and respected family of Allahabad. It was more than 15 years since he married and yet he had no children. He felt greatly depre ssed. Both husband and wife consulted a number of medical experts. According to th e experts there was no defect in either of them. And yet they remained childless.T heir life made a woeful tale.

 Meanwhile his wife went about seeing many tantriks and organiseu many puja@' at their bidding. While the exercise gave them no children. it brought about in them a measure of inferiority complex. As a last resort they called on Dr. Shrimali at Jodhpur. They narrated the whole story. Dr. Shrimali did not take long to realise that Lakshman Prasad's wife had presumed right from the beginning that she would not be able to conceive and giv e birth to a child. As this fear was ingrained too deeply in her mind she remaine d by and large indifferent to this responsibility. For some years when she did no t conceive, she concluded she was fated to live a barren life. The subsequent att empts at worshipping, fas tiiig and medical treatment were of no avail since the idea got rooted in her that she was born to remain barren. One of those days Dr. Shrimali hypnotised her in front of her husband. He asked h er several questions. She replied that she had once observed a woman giving birth to a child. She saw the woman screaming, writhing and passing through the tortur ous process of delivery. The process disturbed her a lot. It grew into an unalloye d disgust which got deeply imprinted on her inner'self. She got so much frightene d that she took resort to oral contraceptives to avoid conception. When, after some years, she did want to have a child, the ingrained fearaswell as the contraceptives had already caused her much 1.Pitia: Worship of God. 2. 52 damage. No doubt she tried her best to conceive, but she failed. For the inner sel f was firmly poised against any such move. Dr. Shrimali warned Lakshman Prasad not to tell her any of the facts she told hi m during hypnotic trance. Now he dehypnotised her. She hardly knew that she had be en @ypnotised. The next day he, once again, hypnotised her. He got the suggestion implanted in her that she was quite capable of child-bearing and that she must conceive within the next four months. She would not face any problem or difficult y in the process. Today the couple is doing very well. A son and a daughter have added lustre to their happiness. Many and diverse accounts can be obtained from visitors in this field. Even letters vouch for the truth of these accounts. I hav e taken the following narratives from letters of gratitude received by'%,Dr. Shri mali. The letters reinforce how effectively lie cured so many difficult patients ot- their rooted predicaments. A Delhi-based top officer's wife. She herself came from a IiighIV connected famil y. Being egoistical she d -veloped straiiied relations with her husband. She had n othing but titter contempt for her husband. Often she humiliated him in presence of'serx,aiits and guests. She took a dubious delight in firing servants oil littl e or no grounds. One day the Delhi Officer called on Dr. Shrimali. Fle subi-nitted that not a sing le day did he have the I-eeling that thevwere husband and wife. Like two opponent s they always stood poised against each other. Were it not for the certain social stigma and the resultant adverse impact on the high office he held, he should h ave come out of the wedlock long ago. Dr. Shrimaii had talks with his wife. She said that she disliked being his wife a s he never gave her the respect which the daughter of a rich father deserved. She was. Dr. Shriniali found. a queer blend Of Linreliexed egotism and arrogance. It resulted in the impression that she could dominate her husband through arrogance

and E-,gotism. Dr. Slirimaii hypiiotised the woman and planted the Suggestion ill her Outer and inner niinds that her husband loved her intensely. He respected her very much. Sh e must have a similar love for her husband. Egotism and arroganceWouldnot do. From i -ioxv on sl)e 53 would conduct herself like a well-behaved housewife and would try to please the husband in every manner. They have since settled down to a new peace and delight. Once excry six months th ey visit Jodhpur, now an important pilgrimage for t he two. They continue to seek Dr. Shrimali's blessings. From Munni La] Verma of Nainital we get similar evidence ot'Dr. Shrimali's extrao rdinary powers. His wife continued to suspect that he had fallen in love with ano ther woman. She always pouted ,on him anger and venom. The house was reduced to th e internal conditions of hell. They had grown-up sons, daughters-in-law and even grand children. And yet in pres ence of all she would accuse her husband of being infidel to her. Nobody could pr edict when and in whose presence she would start misbehaving with her usual impe rtinence. Her husband, aged 50, tried in so many ways to convince that it was rid iculous on her part to expect her husband at his age to run after girls. But his wife would not believe him. The .result was he had become a laughing stock in his own family. Even children eered at him, not to speakofdaughters-in-law. Hislife h ad become miserable. One day Dr. Shrimali went to Nainital. Munni La] called on him and narrated the s tory. As advised he along with his wife saw Dr. Shrimali the next day. Dr. Shrimaii hypnotised her and planted in her the suggestion that she continued to be pretty attractive. Mr. Verma felt terribly fascinated to her. He loved no o ther woman. He did not have relations with any other woman. Now he dehypnotised her. As Mr. Verma regularly informed, he saw a remarkable cha nge in his wife. They live a perfectly peaceful life,. Now she would not believe t hat once she used to accuse her husband of all kinds of things. Two years have since passed. Now his wife hardly remembers that there was any est rangement with him at any time We came across a study in reverse from Kanpur. In this case Kishan La] Main suspe cted the fidelity of his wife. The fact remained that she was perfectly innocent, having no relationswith anyother man. Often he would accuse her of illicit relat ions with somebody in her parent's place. He suspected that the man came to Kanpu r and saw her dur@ing his absence for work. 54 The woman tried her best to prove her innocence. She said that she won't mind bei ng confined to a locked house. She was prepared even for a day-long surveillance. But the man was not at all prepared to believe her Gradually the situation grew worse. They often resorted to physical violence. Ther e was no peace at home. They had two sons. The man used to beat his sons, too. Ofte n he would say somebody else begot these sons.

The woman seriously thought of ending her life by suicide. But the concern for th e two little lads prevented her from putting an end to her life. One of those days Kanpur hosted an Astrology Conference being presided over by D r. Shrimaii. The woman resolved to see him. She narrated her travail to Dr. Shrimali. She added she had no -other option than to commit suicide if the trauma persisted in thesame manner. Dr. Shrimali asked her to see him alongwith her husband. She wondered whether her husband would eve r agree to accompany her. For he might think she had tutored him (Dr. Shrimali). So Dr. @hrimali took note of her husband's name and address, and offered to send o ne of his disciples to fetch him the next day. He asked the disciple to merely co mmunicate his message. He would come on his own. Obviously Dr. Shrimali had alread y taken steps to ensure his arrival. The next morning both husband and wife came to see Dr. Shrimali. He reiterated th at his wife was of loose morals. She was attached to a childhood friend of hers. A ctually the two sons were by that friend of hers. Dr. Shrimali hypnotised him and suggested to him that his wife was truly and who lly devoted to him. She was devoted to him exclusively. No other man crossed her l ife. He was the real father ofthe two sons. Then he called off the hypnotic spell. It changed his life totally. Since the day he met Dr. Shrimali the family has never seen any quarrels. To hypnotists the attempt will not sound novel. It is true that they themselves m ust have attempted similar exercises. But the simple reason why they failed is th at they could not hypnotise the person In his entirety. Until and unless the inne r mind was hypnotised, no 55 suggestion could be implanted'n the inner self. Normally it was this limitation w hich accounted for their persistent failure. Only a fully ght wantit to controlled mind can work in anyway the hypnotistmiwork. Baba Pragyanand ran a famous ashrami at Hardwar. It was an immensely succe I ssfu l ashram. At the same time the huge funds at the disposal of the ashram made many disciples jealous of the Baba. There was a particularly cunning disciple who trained his sights on taking posse ssion of the entire ashram. Although he did not succeed in his evil designs, he m ade his position very strong in the ashram. Others cared little for the Baba. The Baba thought of taking effective steps against the cunning disciple well on tim e. Otherwise he thought the entire thing might boomerang on him. On a couple of oc casions the Baba asked the disciple to withdraw from the ashram. He, however, def ied and abused him. The Baba, a simple and religious soul, was not accustomed to such strategies. One of those days Dr. Shrimali came to Hardwar alongwith his family to have a holy dip in the sacred water of the Ganga. When the Baba came to know of Dr. Shrimali's arrival he felt that he (Dr. Shrimal i) alone would be able to solve the problem. There was no way out. One night at about 10 as Dr. Shrimali was readingabook, the Baba knocked at his door and narrated the story at some length. He feared that he -night be assassina ted if the problem was not solved by Dr. Shrimali. Dr. Shrimali r'ealised the gravity of the situation. He saw the Baba was true. If

there was much delay, possibly some untoward incident might take place. He decided to solve the problem. Next day in the morning he himself arrived at th e ashram. The Baba pointed to the disciple who was the root cause of all troubles . Dr. Shrirnali talked with the disciples. He paid particular attention to the mark ed disciple. On some pretext he took him out to a secluded place. Both sat on a ro ck. 1. Ashram:Ahermitage,especially an educationalandreligious one. As both continued to talk, Dr. Shrimali hypnotised the said disciple@ and took h is inner mind under control. He suggested to him 'that his behaviour violated the code of conduct in hermitages. His strategy calculated to knock off the Ashram f unds and eventually take possession of the ashram did not go well the ashram lif e,. He further suggested to him that he should quit the ashrani for good and must in no case harbour any greed. After leaving the Baba's ashram he should establis h an ashram on his own. Once he got out of the ashram, he would be free from all hatred towards the pres ent ashram. Dr. Shrimali stayed on at Hardwar for about a month. Later he came to know that the disciple had left the ashram the next day and put up an ashram on his own at Hardwar. The Baba is still alive. Often he declares that but for Dr. Shrimali, he should have died long ago. Payal, a girl of Jhansi, loved a boy. The y began to live together as husband and wife. Although the society did not approv e and the law did not sanction their living together, the two were found to be m ature enough to take their own decisions about themselves. After some time the boy lost all interest in Payal. He began to shun her company. He preferred to live all alone and would not respond to calls. It broke Payal's heart. She was full of anguish. It had a shattering impact on her heart and mind. T he outcome was that she failed in her college examinations. Her parents took her to physicians. They failed to diagnose her malady. One day th e parents brought her to Jodhpur. Payal, they had thought, fell a victim to evil spirits. But the situation was even more serious. For Payal had heard that the boy was about to marry some other girl. Often she wondered how she could ever think of another man. For the Indian womanhood accepted only one man in one's life. Dr. Shrimaii ascertained from Payal the entire story. Without the least inhibitio n Payal disclosed everything to him and added that she wont be able to marry any other man. For she accepted him, and none else, as her husband. This left her wit h no options. For the man was reported to have decided to marry another girl with in 4 months. The only way out for her was to commit suicide. Dr. Shrimali reflected for a few moments. He decided that the boy should be preve nted from being a philanderer. Payal gave Dr. Shrimaii photograph of the boy. He hypnotised the photograph throu gh the tratak technique and suggested to the boy that he tnust marry Payal under all circumstances. He must not marry any other woman. Rather he must hate the oth er woman. Vvlhen the parents alongwith Payal returned to Jhansi, they called on the boy's parents who rejected the proposal outright. The boy, however, insisted on marryin g none but Paval. In the long run, his parents yielded to the dogged determinatio n of the boy and consented to the marriage proposal.

Payal married the same boy and she is, today, mother of a sweet son. Harish Chawla of Delhi intensely loved a girl. After some time the girl'began to ignore him. He tried his best to convince her that he loved none else but her, bu t she lost all interest in him. It was a big setback for Harish. He was brcken, utterly frustrated and a picture of tragedy. He came down to Jodhpur and saw Dr. Shrimaii. He said that he was devo ted to her. If he did not have her love, he would certainly go mad. He showed Dr. Shrimali the girl's photograph and also letters which indicated that the bond be tween Harish and his beloved was based on genuine relations. Using the tratak technique Dr. Shrimali hypnotised the photograph. He suggested t o her not to'take any interest, in other boys. For her relations with Harish had grown very emotional. She must continue to love Harish and avoid keeping company of other boys. She must herself meet Harish and apologise to him for her earlier indifference. Harish went back home. After he had married his beloved, he, again, came to Jodhp ur to see Dr. Shrimali. He informed that the situation had developed much in the same Way as he indicated in his hypnotic suggestion. Three davs after he had reac hed Delhi his beloved, informed Harish, met him and craved for his pardon for he r earlier neglect. Both are now living happily. As I studied the correspondence files in Dr. Shrimali's office. I came to know of a number of men and women who were benefited in some way by the extraordinary p owers of Dr. Shrimali. 58 One of those days I met a very uncommon person Swami Ram Sharan Das who was an a uthority on the Ramayana. He went about reciting this scripture which was the onl y source of his livelihood. Ife aspired to rise very high in his life. But his voice was lacking in resonance . The result was that he failed to attract large audiences. He remained depressed. On the other hand his younger brother Siyaram Sharan Das attracted larger crowds . He was sought by greater numbers. Reciting the Rantayana narrative had been thei r family tradition. A terrible frustration overtook the elder brother-Swami Sharan Das. He had decide d to end his life by drowning himself irt the river Saryu near Ayodhya. In fact h e reached the banks of the river. He was determined to have a plunge into the riv er and as his last spiritual act wanted to recite the Sundar Ka,,Ct2 of the Rama yana in the famous Hanuman' temple over there. As he began reciting before the deity he felt as though the Lord was admonishing him for his decision to commit suicide. He also felt as though the Lord ordained him to go straight to Jodhpur and see Dr. Narayan Dutt Shrimali for this purpos e. I learnt from the Swami that he felt while reciting as though the Lord ordained him in this manner 6 to 7 times. He felt as though the Almighty Lord Rama was the main force behind this commandment. After recitation the Swami headed for Jodhpur and saw Dr. Shrimaii. The Swami told Dr. Shrimali the whole story. Ho told him that he did not want opu

lence. Neither did he want to live an unhonoured life. His forefathers over the la st seven generations had been holding spiritual discourses. Not that he wasjealou s of hisyounger brother. In fact his younger brother always tried to let him down by organising discourses at the same place where he had held discourses. Goodnes s alone knew how it was that he attracted the entire crowd. The Swami, too, attra cted similar crowds, but the audience would leave the venue midway. There was som ething 1.StitidarKarid: A canto of the epicRatiiatana. @2. Hanumart: Lord Hanuniaii-the fountain source of powerintheHindu pantheon of deities. 59 wrong with his voice or style. He was unable to attract crowds as his younger bro ther did. He also informed how he was ordained by Lord Hanuman to see him (Dr. Shrimali) in this connection. If he failed to find the path to fame and reputation he would h ave no other course left open to him than to commit suicide. No longer could he p ut up with such humiliation. Dr. Shrimali heard him with rapt attention. Indeed it was a true complaint. The Sw ami, besides, was fully determined. Dr. Shrimali taught him Mass Hypnotism. Through this medium the hypnotist first h ypnotises himself. It gives a sharpness to his eyes. Vvlhen his eyes start exuding the hypnotic suggestion, he feels as if a flame is shootinghighup. Preciselyat t histime the hypnotist sees in his own eyes the crowd. The crowd which comes in hi s view gets hypnotised. Now whatever he says goes down as sweet nectar. Spell bound the entire crowd list ens to him like one man. When fresh numbers join the crowd, they, too, get hypnotised in the same manner. Throughout the discourse they sit transfixed. This kind of hypnotism has proved to be highly influential. For the basic urge of the modern times is to win over larger sections of people and influence them. Ma sshypnotismhasbeenamiraculous remedy for this purpose. In only 15 days Dr. Shrima li taught the Swami all about Mass Hypnotism. The Swami tested this technique and was satisfied beyond his wildest imagination that the technique was most effective. Today he is a celebrated name throughout the world. Large crowds flock to him and they listen to him rapturously for hours together. The Swami feels wholly rewarded in his life. He did not know how to express his g ratitude to Dr. Shrimali. In any case, he was entirely devoted to him. Often would he declare he would not be able to pav back his debt to Dr. Shrimali even if he presented him shoes made out of the leather of his own body. Dr. Shrimali did not accept any gift or remuneration from the Swami. Acknowledgin g the extraordinary services of Dr. Shritnali the Swami visited Jodhpur once in every six months and held spiritual discourse for the devoted. I had never known that one could influence hundreds and thousands of people with the aid of Mass Hypnotism. One day,

60 opportunity, I approached Dr. Shrimali to learn all finding an about Mass Hypnot ism. Dr. Shrimali was too pleased to teach me this novel technique. Nothing in this age, I believe, is more useful than the technique of Mass Hypnot ism. It is not that this technique is useful only to influence crowds. One can inf luence the person seated opposite. Today I disclose for the first time that whenever I meet a superior officer or a secretary or a minister I first hypnotise him. It is only after this first step I begin to talk with him. Invariably the decision is what I want it to be. They li sten to me, as under a spell, totally oblivious of their own existence. Many a time I have spoken in conferences or large gatherings. Before I begin to s peak I take proper care to mass hypnotise the audience. This technique has proved to be highly effective in situations involving communi cation of ideas whether it be a dialogue or speech or radio talk or television d iscussions. When a broadcaster talks over the radio and the television, he has to hypnotise himself first, This gives rise to a strange power not only in the eyes but also in the voice of the broadcaster. Listening to this sort of voice the audience, to o, gets hypnotised. Thus the broadcaster makes an extraordinary job of broadcasti ng. indeed Mass Hypnotism is a revolutionary technique. Through this rnedium one coul d disseminate and sell ideas effectively. One can have a host of admirers. I staved with Dr. Shrimali over amonth.Whateverllearnt fromhim duri ng this peri od has proved to be the onlv asset of my life. I owe all my success to the benedi ctions of Dr. Shrimali. The Ganga which flows by Hardwar has been the purest river in the world. And yet the people who live on the river bank do not realise its importance as the India ns residing in the U.S. do. I have not seen any particular emotionality in the pe ople who live on its banks. But I have seen how the Indians in the U.S. react to the sacred drops of the river Ganga. Once an Indian sadhu visiting the U.S. offer ed a few drops of the Gangawaterwhich he had broughtwith him. Tears swelled in th e eyes of the emotional Indians living in the U.S. Following the same analogy we foreigners have appreciated the true worth of Dr. Shrimali. And, strangely, the Indians who stay so close to him have not yet benef ited by his extraordinary presence. They 61 do go to him with their problems, but they do not seek to obtain from him the kn owledge which he alone can give. He once told me that he had already written a hundred books on numerolo , palmis try, astrology, hypnotism, tantra, mantra and , other allied disciplines. He had thus tried to heighten the consciousness about these important areas of knowledg e. So many people were earning their livelihood from these books. But now he was m ore interested in turning out live books rather than dead books. By live books he implied such enthusiastic young persons as would acquire knowledge from him and hand it down to posterity. He was, however, said that the youth today was lackin g in perseverance and patience, and least inclined to work hard. Without hardwor k one cannot hope to achieve any spiritual knowledge.

Notwithstanding the massive disinclination in the ranks of youth today Dr. Shrim ali has been able to equip a few young men. He counts on them,and feelsquiteconfi dent theywill beable to seekall knowledge from him and hand it down to posterity . If I had had my way I should have lived at Dr. Shrimali's residence throug hout my life. Within the short period of one month whatever I gathered from Dr. Shrima li was incomparably greater than what I had gathered from my own resources. He di d not grudge to give me whatever I wanted. Nor did I fight shy in receiving from him whatever he wanted to give me. He appeared to be like the proverbial alr.-ion d-outwardly hard like its shell and inwardly soft and sweet like its kernel. Superficially viewed Dr. Shrimali does not appear to be such a versatile genius. Bascially he is an astrologer. In the field of astrology he is held to beanacknowl edged authority not only in India but all over the world. More importantly he is said tobeagreat authorityon latitra. In this field he rema ins unsurpassed. No less has been his contribution in areas such as gem-therapy a nd ayiirt)edu.1 In the field of hypnotism he is like the fat hornless ocean. He is easily the gre atest hypnotistinthe world. Manv of us, in the field of hypnotists, hake, begun to reckon ourselves as greatest. although we possess not morethana fraction of Dr. ShrimWi's knowledge othypnotism. 1. At ,]Llrl,(,da: TheHiiidLIs(,icilceol'iiiedi(-iiieas tallgill in tht- Alliari,(,c 62 Nonetheless performance of duty has been the greatest and highest achievement in the life of Dr. Shrimali. Self publicity and selfpraise, he says, have been seve rest obstacles to this signal achievement. The present generation, one fears, might not honolir him as much as he richly de serves. But one is quite certain posterity will not tag behind. Coming generations will ever owe him a debt for having enlightened many dark corners of the occult knowledge and also preserved the riches for the future. Basically I am a critic . Wherever I see any lapse or limitation I come out with the severest criticism. N onetheless the only criticism I could offer is that Dr. Shrimali is given to kee ping himself confined to his own work. He is busy doing his own job. He looks down upon all publicity and propaganda. One cannot imagine a person who looks so ord inary has nevertheless such greatness planted in him. He is not only great but th @ greatest as far as I see. My stay at his residence was like taking abode in a celestial place. The moment arrived when I had to leave India, rather unwillingly because I was wanted urgently at home. Indeed the parting moments were extremely painful. The extraordinary affection I got from him and particularly from his wife-I addressed her as mataji-has been s o overwhelming that I began to count myself as a member of this family. After thi s one month stay I visited India on as many as three occasions. That was only to reach my pilgrimage-the abode of Dr. Shrimali. Desperately, closely and critically did I try the whole month to spot in Dr. Shr imali a single bleriiish. In my own country and outside too I have earned a welldeserved notoriety of being a merciless critic. Dispassionately viewed I found no t a single spot in the lustrous career of Dr. Shrimali. Indeed Dr. Shrimali has not been merely an individual. He has come to mean a whol

e institution. We are certainly proud of the priceless achievement that he is amo ng our contemporaries. I am beholden to Dr. Shrimali for having permitted me to pen down this introduct ory chapter. It is, I consider, a rare fortune that I was allowed, to have my say in this epoch-making volume. W.B. HURSON 68 CHAPTER I "INITIATION" Hypnotism is the oldest knowledge of India. It is rooted into the dee@est traditi ons. A spiritual outlook has always characterised the Indian life. It was for this reason philosophy and spiritualism figured importantly in every walk of the Ind ian life. Hypnotism was also called Pran Vidyal or Trikala Vidya' in ancient Indi an literature. After its initial phase of glory this knowledge mostly remained buried on obscur ity. It was pushed into the realm of witchcraft, which always remained as the spe cial preserve of certain families. In the West, however, hypnotism was an object of curiosity and mystery. True the people of the West had a keeninclinationto investigation and research. Vvhen they l earnt all about the miracles of the Indian seers, they were simply amazed. They visited India, and saw for themselves that the yogis could achieve the impossibl e. By a mere touch of their fingers they would cure patients of their ailments, c ommunicate knowledge about persons located far away and see anything anywhere al l over the world as clearly as they saw the person sitting opposite. Not only this, they delved deep into the past and dug out facts long embedded in to the unknowable. Indeed the entire exercise stunned the people of the West, who , for the first time, found cause to realise that the knowledge beyond touch and sight was as real as the physical sciences,ifnot a lot more miraculous. The human physique is a complex of certain strange and inexplicable phenomena, w hich have always baffled scientists. They dissected the physique to locate its my stery. And yet they could not identify the physique in its entirety. Nonetheless t hey discovered in the human body such elements as might not be 1. Pran: Life, the first of the five vital airs or these five airs collectively. 2. Trikala:The past, the present and the future: tnese three ages collectively. Vidya: A system of knowledge. 64 visible and yet nobody could disprove their existence. The mind, for example, is such an element.--it might not be seen but nobody could disprove its existence. A natomists dissected the body and yet they could not locate any limb known as min (l. However they conceded that this part was the most crucial constituent of the body without which it would be reduced to mere bones and flesh devoid of emotion s and feelings. it should be essential to know the mind before one seeks to know all about the p hysique. The mind is said to be the most forceful constituent of the body. Often i t has been seen that a person by virtue of the force inherent in the mind can ac

hieve seemingly impossible things. By dint of sheer will power and perseverance t he individual succeeds in negotiating the most difficult turns ill his life. Take , for example, the case of a dying man whose son is posted far away. He is determ ined to see his son before death. By virtue of this staying power he continues to live long enough to see his son, although the physicians had given up all hopes . It was often seen that a determined person like him managed to live on for anot her 3 to 4 days. The moment the son arrives, the determination disappears and the man dies the next moment. It was only on the strength of the forceful mental pow er that he could linger on. No wonder Indian yogis spent most of their time to comprehend this elusive eleme nt-the mind. They looked within and went deeper into the inner self. The accomplis hments they came out with have been the object of envy throughout the world. The Western philosophers, on the other hand, concerned themselves only with mere ext ernals. The major thrust of their explorations was calculated to tilt the sensuou sness of the physical body. Doubtless they scored some significant achievements i n the realm of the physical world. As they went closer to certain accomplishments in the physical world, they found themselves, no less by the same process, far away from the essential element-tlie mind. It was only when they saw Indian accomplishments and comprehended Indian methodo logy that the West resiled from its unproductive methodology and trained its sig hts on the internal world of the being. Credit must go to the renowned Swiss scie ntist Dr. Enton Mesmer who was the first Western thinker to have initiated studi es in this methodology and brought off a scientific study of hypnotism. It was af ter him that this sciencemesmerism-derived its name. 65 Dr. Mesmer was born on 23 May, 1734. Following a close study ot' the achievements of the Indian yogis he began to realise that the entire creation both animate a nd inanimate was permeated with an invisible powed'..It was, he felt, imperative that this invisible power be identified and creatively used. For he began to see that this invisible power being ubiquitous was extraordinarily influential in r espect of the animate world, and more so, in relation to man. Every human organism, he also felt, was endowed with a magnetic power, whose pre sence one felt when two persons meet. The meeting draws the latent power out. He c alled it animal magnetism operating as it did in both negative and positive form s. In males the positive form and in females the negative form operate. Vvl,hen the two forms meet each other, the resultants form grows into a full cir cle which is an unmistakable indicator of its full force. Take, for instance, the sudden glow in the eyes of a certain man when he chances upon a certain woman. G enerally the reaction is due to a special electric current which heaves his body upanddown. The positive magnet longs to meet or touch the negative magnet. It is on ly through this process do we obtain a full circle. As Dr. Mesmer explained, bird s and animals, too, react in the same manner. Even when two positive or two negat ive currents meet, a particular type of magnetic power gets generated. As Dr. Mesmer explained, the entire organism is permeated with magnetic power. Vv hen we give a hand-shake to somebody, we feel either overc-)me or overbearing. Wh at accounts for this varying range of feeiings is that one may have more magneti c power than the other. In 1775 when Dr. Mesmer first -made public his findings, a great -commotion over took Europe. It was an age characterised by blind faith. While some persons commen ded Dr. Mesmer's findings others pronounced it to be anti-religion and contrary to natural phenomena. The Austrian Government took it as big crime and ordered hi m to leave the country within 48 hours.

 Exiled from Austria Dr. Mesmer settled down in Paris where he established a regu lar clinic. By then he had successfully carried out many experiments and also pro ved that many chronic diseases could be cured with the aid of the magnetic power . i. identifiedby theIndianyogis as PranShakii.it is also known as bio-energy. 66 He selected a room Of the clinic and magnetised its walls. The visible, and yet t he room ni nets affixed on the walls were I agexuded an attraction of its own. Al so he got a sweet-smelling scent sprayed all over the room. Barelv outside the ro om he arranged soft music which added to the pleasant atmosphere in the rooi'n. P atients Suffering from chronic diseases were made to sleep in this room. He plant ed a suggestion in the patients that they were recovering fast. The inter-action between the magnets planted on the walls and the magnetic power inherent in the bodies of the patients gave a lot of relief to the resting patients. Besides, in the she@r delight of the room patients often enough used to forget their ailment s. For medicines he gave them plain water, though hot tied in attracting phials. H e saw to it that all kinds of high-sounding labels were pasted on the phials so that tl-ie patients had the satisfaction of being attended to in a special manne r. The experiment Cured many patients and won him popularity all over France. Many h igh ranking officers, and ministers visited the clinic and went back fully recov ered. While conducting these exp riments Dr. Mesmer felt that the finger tips had in t hem a high concentrate of magnetic power which otherwise permeated the whole bod y. He also felt that his own finger-tips -,,cry often gave much relief to the pat ients through touch. lie used to notice that the patient got a kind of relief wh en he touched with his finger tips either the location of the wound or heart as the case might be- these findingsbrought about asea-change in his thinking. Now h e was convinced that the animal magnetism inherent in the human body could be ac tivated by a niere touch of the finger-tips of another body. lie began to see me rit in the way the Indian sages of ancient times showered blessings on the suffe ring persons. The practice was that the sages would touch the suffering person wi th their finger tips. it was as Dr. Mesmer now began to see calculated to activa te the animal magnetisn-I in another human body. The sages would also say: You ar e now cured. The very suggestion brollgl-it about better feelings leading to a qu icker recovery. Dr. Mesnier also found that if a magnet was placed on a sore, the germs got dest royed. If a magnet was placed in the xvater of a tumbler and allowed to remain as it was for some time it would. It csaxv, give a startling effect to the patient . 67 Soon Dr. Mesmer widened ttie scope of his medical activities. He would make his p atients squat in a circle and place at'the centi@e a magnetic tree. He would cove r the magnets under a loose shirt and himself stand close to the centre of the c ircle. As a result the magnetic power would activate and strengthen the relativel y week magnets functioning in the bodies of the patients. As soon as the patients felt a redoubled supply of magnetic power in their own bodies, they would start feeling hale and hearty. Dr. Mesmer's experiments, each one of them being resoundingly successful, soon m ade the physicians of France feel jealous of his success. They conspired against

him. He was forced to leave France. Dr. Mesmer's initial experiments were very successful. He cured innumerable patie nts of their ailments. The common man looked upon him as a magician. Gradually, th e intellectuals started taking his experiments rather seriously. Some of them, wh o became his disciples continued the experiments, taking it to yet greater heigh ts. Dr. Mesmer died on 5 March, 1815. By then his experiments had roused tremendous e nthusiasm all over Europe. Almost all top intellectuals and scientists like one m an acclaimed that Dr. Mesmer's experiments ensured cure for all diseases. The Fre nch Government appointed a committee of physicians and members of the French Aca demv of Science to submit a report on his experiments and results. The committee accepted that the principles underlying Dr. Mesnier's experiments had the potent ial to ensure cure, but the principles did not stand scientific tests. Accordingl y the Government did not recognise his experiments. Dr. Mesmer's disciples further developed his experiments. Oi'them Dr. Marquis Ap Piesager won wide recognition in this field. Literally he changed the very orient ation of Dr. Mesmer's experiments. Dr. Marquis developed Dr. Mesmer's hypotheses into a scientific theory. He proved that a patient could be induced to sleep through hypnotism and cured through hy pnotic suggestions. He sought to Achieve through hypnotic sleep what Dr. Mesmer a chieved through his magnet treatment. Physicians as well as scientists commended this theory as very objective and dep endable. With a touch of his finger-tips through which magnetic waves used to pass Dr. Ma rquis used to put his patients to a particular type of 68 experiments. The sleep. Now he would conduct on them a series of ex patients would not know of it. Chlorofon-n had not been@invented by then. So the surgeons faced lots of problems while working on their patients. Dr. Marquis7 method coming at a time like this proved a boon to surgeons. Now surgery did not give the patients the human torture it used to give. Meanwhile a lot of work was accomplished in this field. Professor John Eliptonson who was professor of medical science in the University of London and also presi dent of the Royal Medical Society applied this method on mentally deranged patie nts and established that, if such patients after being induced to sleep were ,gi ven a proper orientation, the chances were they would recover from their mental maladies sooner than expected. In 1841 Dr. James Braid further developed this method. He established that the pa tient could be cured sooner if he was induced to hypnotic sleep and the hypnotic suggestion was implanted on him that he was recovering very fast. Even incurable disease, he showed, could be cured through hypnotic power. Dr. Braid proved that hypnotic power was inherent in every individual. He could u se this power on himself. The eyes more than any other limb, he argued, storcd th e hypnotic power and magnet touch. In pitch darkness, too, the eyes of the tiger or the cat poured forth powerful light. It was nothing but magnetic,,vaves. The po wei was foundinthe eyes of all, though in varying degrees. If a person, argued Dr. Braid, had a somewhat limited magnetic powerinhis eyes, he could strengthen it by experiments. He further elucidated that a person could make his mind free from thoughts by fi

xing his gaze at a certain point or a certain flame. As he would slowly and stead ily strengthen the magnetic power of his eyes, he himself would soon fall to hyp notic sleep. No doubt he could (lerive for himself the benefits one normally deri ved from other persons under hypnotic spell. Dr. Braid used the Greekword- hipnoswhich meant sleep. Now the term hypnotism rep laced Mesmerism. Dr. Braid's achievement received wide recognition all over the w orld. Dr. Braid's work was followed up by a galaxy of scientists from various countrie s. Dr. El Wakeritz of the U.S., Dr. Liu Bault of France, Dr. Charcot. Dr. Nancy, D r. Sheimound Hood and many other distinguished scientists worked hard to further develop it 69 into a viable scient'fc theory. It made a tremendous impact on the treatment of t he patients suffering from hysteria and other mental maladies. Dr. Braid's findings were recognised in India, too. A surgeon of Calcutta, Dr. Ja mes Esdeler made certain experiments to which he added the well-deserved compone nt of yoga. He successfully conducted certain risky operations on the patients af ter inducting them to hypnotic sleep. He also perfected the technique of painless delivery as also painless tooth-extraction. Dr. Charcot used the scientific form of hypnotism for certain special experiment s in the field of medical treatment. He found that the female-patient experienced the same symptoms under hysterical spell as she came across during hypnotic ope ration. In respect of symptoms both were, therefore, identical. He also proved tha t hysteria was by no means a disease. It was the sequel of one's suppressed or no n-realised desires. Excessive suppression led to hysteria. If a woman, for instanc e, was not satisfied with her husband sexually, she was likely to contract hyste ria. In the same way a married woman suffering from childlessness might have hyst erical @its, the cause being her own non-fulfilment. The causal factor, argued Dr. Charcot, should be taken care of. The desire was th e causal factor. During hypnotic sleep the suggestion might be planted in her tha t she would derive full satisfaction from her husband or she would be giving bir th to a child in the near future. This by itself would be a contribution to her c ure. Dr. Charcot treated a number of patients by using the method of hypnotic sug gestions and hypnotic sleep. Later Sigmond Freud achieved a remarkable success in this area. He firmly establi shed hypnotism in the field of medical treatment. He established that the sexual desire lay dormant or suppressed in every individual whether he is a two-year ol d child or eighty-year old grandfather. He also said that what the child did when sucking at, or fondling, his mother's breasts was nothing but a form of sex ful filment. Once the sex desire of a certain individual was sublimated,-he would be cured of his malady. It was entirely a different matteras towhat sort ofscxdesire itwasandhowitcould be sublimated. In any case one could not ' argued Freud, think of life without some form of sexual desire. Exery moment of the individual was s pent in sublimation of his sexual desire. It might assume any form. Waiting for th e departed beloved or reflecting over the 70 endearing moments they spent together or playing with tnechildthese forms were no thing but manifestations of sexual desire. Mother was terribly attached to her so n while father was as much attached to daughter-these forms were also some sort of sublimation of the sexual desires. Sex must in any case get its expression. Otherwise it would lead to stress and al

l kinds of complexes. Hypnotism alone could provide relief against such maladies. In India too much workwas done in this field. The first to revive this science in modern form was Professor S.N. Bose who published a journal to spread its messa ge to the common people. He set up a school too, where an experiment form of this science was put across. Others who further developed this science in India include Professor Ahmed, Dr. Jagdev Mitra, Professor Rao and a few more. indeed the human form is simply amazing. God created this unique system in such a manner that once we comprehend the magnetic qualities and influences inherent i n the body, it should not at all be difficult to make the impossible possible th rough this medium. CHAPTER 2 Hypnotic Power In man aspecial kind of energyand magneticpowerareobtainable. For instance, pull a hair off your headland secure it a location so that the wind does not sway or effect it. Now advance one of the fingers of your right hand to the direction of the hair. You will see as you bring your finger closer, the hair will move toward s being drawn to your finger, much in the same manner as an iron filling does to the magnet. When theii-idividualcontemplates, or thinks of, his beloved. a particular kind of magnetic power passes through,andheaves, his body. Often he finds vibration in his fingers. Vvlhen all of a sudden the lover comes across the beloved, her face turn s red, her eyes shine with a red glow and at the same time a peculiar attraction gets generated with an extraordinary power to pull others to her. Itisby virtue of thi& magnetic power that woman attracts man. Man, too, does so with the same pow er. His body at that time goes particularly attractive. Let us take a commonplace situation. Vvhen you come across a healthy person, put your finger rather earnestly on his forehead or very close to his head. Ixt your finger go around his head. lfyou ask him in a couple of minutes, he will admit t o having a sort of pain in his head. The headache could be attributed to the magn etic power which shoots from your finger tips and impinges on the head or the fo rehead as the case may be. C6irtain human bodies contain vaster deposits of magnetic power. Resultingly such persons are more popular. It is now no more a question of debate that we are all endowed with magnetic power in varying degrees. It is by virtue of this power ca n one hypnotise the other person or persons. The need today is how to increase the magnetic power potential already provided in our physiques. One must seek to increase to an optimum degree one's own magnet ic power potential. One can not hope to hypnotise others without first attending to this basic task. 72 All objects of the universe whether animate or inanimate are governed in each ca se by a certain gravitational pull. The male is attracted to the female of his sp ecies. It is, again, gravitational pull which controls the movements of.the plane ts and the stars. What is known as astrology is a study in influences and counter -influences caused by planetary magnetic forces.

One comes across hypnotic power potential not only in men and women but also in birds and animals alike. The snake puts a check on the movements of its prey thro ugh a special kind of magnetic power shooting from its eyes. The python gives a p iercing look to the deer standing more than 10 feet away and the poor animal fin ds itself totally petrified. Hunters have often reported that the eyes of the animals which fear threat to th eir liv6s give out a particular kind of glow which is entirely different from th e usual. It is, therefore, not difficult for the experienced hunter to smell the presence of a lion or tiger near about, particularly after ascertaining the scar ed looks of the other animals in the neighbourhood. We have seen from experience that there are two kinds of magnetic power inherent in all living beings. The normal magnetic power varying in degree from individua l to individual with which he attracts others, and secondly the magnetic power w hich springs into life only in anticipation of danger, which also ensures him se curity. Magnetic power, I have already argued, is obtainable in each and every individua l. The one who has more developed magnetic power can easily attract others, while the other who does not have magnetic power to that degree attracts others super ficially. Abigger magnet, for instance, can easily and powerfully attract the sma ller iron piece. The plain and simple reason is that the magnet being bigger cont ains a greater volume of magnetic power. Its atoms separately and severally are e quipped with a higher density which in aggregate generate a particularly superio r kind of power. As a reaction the iron piece finds itself drawn to the magnet. It is only rarely that we come across all human beings equipped with such develo ped magnetic power. But if the atoms of the magnetic power are given a greater vo lume, the magnetic powerwill certainly increase. Equipped with such developed pow er one can always attract others. In other words the individual can increase the inherent magnetic power by a set of practices. 73 Through experimentation, testing and practice we could, Dr. Mesmer had explained , increase our magnetic power as much as we choose to have. Besides, magnetic pow er, he had also explained, could be transferred from place to place or it could be made to assume a different form, too. Thousands of years ago Indian seers had proved beyond doubt what came to be sugg ested by Dr. Mesmer. Then it was called PranShakti.This particular kind ofShaktior pow er can L)e developed through Pranayamal and a particular type of yogic practices . Through pranayama as we can draw into our bodies this pran or life power, so can we transfer it to other bodies and make them disease-free oreven restorelife to thcdead and also increasethelifespan of individuals. The ancient scri ptures of India testify that the yogis could resurrect the dead by a mere touch of their f ingers. The yogis used to condense in themselves such a lot of pran-shakti that t hey could transfuse life into the dead by a mere touch of their fingers. The yogis called it Ether Power. Vvhere there is void there the sky spreads itsel f. The entire universe is absorbed in the sky. It implies that etherpower and life power (Pran shakti)are basically the same. In other words the entire universe is permeated with Pran or life power. In a moment we reach all corners of the unive rse through the medium of this life power. The yogis called this power timeless. It means that the time which has gone past can also be known with the help of this power. Even the future time can also be s

een with the aid of this power. Endowed with this power the Indian yogis used to see the moments of the past as well as the future in the same manner as we see t he moments of the present. The magnetic power, we have already argued, could be further developed with the help of certain particular spiritual practices. The more we develop it, the bette r we see the unknown places, the unknown moments and the unknown mysteries. Dr. Jagadish Chandra Bose, the eminent Indian scientist, established that vegeta tion also contained this power. Through 1. Pranayama:Breathcontrolasprescribedintheyogasystem. Inbroadoutline the process of c ntrolling breath by inhaling through only one nostril and then stopping the b.re ath by controlling both nostrils and, finally exhaling the breath fromtheother nos tril. 74 experiments he proved that if a vine was planted near a sapling, its growth was considerably accelerated in comparison with the vine not supported by the compan y of saplings. While studying this energy Dr. Charcot felt that the energy would soon gain in v olume if it was given a suggestion to that effect. For instance a person, argued Dr. Charcot, walks briskly if he is going to meet a likeable friend. It was a cas e of reciprocity of emotional make-up. The person, surely, does not walk that fas t if he is going to see his enemy. Again, his face glows with radiance if he is t old that he would see his beloved. What it implies is that he had in his organism the same quantum of magnetic power, which, however, fluctuated depending on the emotion he felt at a certain moment. In other words, emotion plays a significant role in controlling the magnetic power inherent in the individual. One can see the role of feelings or emotions irom an interesting development rep orted to have taken place in a cinema house. Once a physician and his wife both s eated together were seeing a movie. After some time the wife felt an oppressive h eadache and lost all interest in the movie. She could not bear the pain any more and began to insist on leaving for home. The physician did not want to forego the pleasure of seeing the movie. He said to his wife: Nothing to feel worried about. This evening an agent gave me a sample pill of a perfect remedy for headache. I have the sample in my pocket and it will cure you of your headache. As he said so, he took out one of the buttons of his trouser in the dark hall of the theatre and gave it to his wife. He asked her to put it into her mouth and c ontinue to stick it. In a few minutes the wife felt a big relief. Her headache was gone. She saw the mo vie pretty happily. The headache was cured not because of any medicine. in fact the wife had an impl icit faith in her husband and in his capabilities. It was the implicit faith rath er than any medicine which cured her ofheadache. We come across a number of similar developments in life,. While playing soccer a certain player hurts his toe. The toe snaps into two and the blood gushes'out. And yet being lost in the high emotion of a well-contested match, he hardly feels a ny pain in his toe. The moment the game is over and he looks at his injured toe, he scream.-, 75

out of pain. He wonders how he has been playing for an Hour, despite the severe i njury in his toe. To take another instance, a person on his death-bed might long to eat a favourit e delicacy before death. The delicacy, warn the physicians, might hasten his deat h. And yet, this being his last wish, they give him his favourite delicacy. The pa tient knows that it might be fatal. Nonetheless his eyes reveal a glow. No more do es he bother about the ill-effects or othenvise of this or that delicacy. It is e vident that his emotions got centred around that favourite delicacy. To take yet another instance, suppose you accost a healthy and fast friend of yo urs by saying: What is the matter? You look so sad and pale today! Perhaps he may not believe you. Suppose a few more friends accost him with the sa me remark. In all certainty he will feel sick. When his so-called illness was repe atedly dinned into his ears by so many friends, he found no otherway than to kee p himself confined to bed. This was in spite of the fact that he was not ill. Fory ou had impinged on him the idea that he was ill, which alone accounts for the fa ct that he fell ill. To sum up: Magnetic power which the Indian yogis called Pran shakti is inherent in every individual. Following certain spiritual practices this energy can be dev eloped. Once developed to a legree the energy will do miracles. Emotion or sentime nt plays a crucial role in its development or non-development. It is emotion whic h gives a,4harp edge or bluntness to this energy. 76