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| volume = 3
| volume = 3
| page =166
| page = 166
| image = SB-03-166.jpg
| image = SB-03-166.jpg
| notes =
| notes =
| volume = 3
| volume = 3
| page = 166
| page = 166
| item =1
| item = 1
| type = article
| type = article
| status = wanted
| status = wanted
| continues =
| continues =
| author =Perty, Maximilian
| author = Perty, Maximilian
| title =Thoughts of the Mediumship of Indian Fakirs
| title = Thoughts of the Mediumship of Indian Fakirs
| subtitle =
| subtitle =
| untitled =
| untitled =
| source title = Spiritualist, The
| source title = London Spiritualist
| source details =
| source details = No. 178, January 21, 1876, pp. 26-7
| publication date = 1876-01-21
| publication date = 1876-01-21
| original date =
| original date =
}}
}}
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<center>{{Style S-Small capitals|By Dr. Maximilian Perty, Professor of Natural Philosophy, Berne.}}</center>
{{Style S-Small capitals|Jacolliot’s}} assertions on this subject must appear to outsiders as incredible, fantastic, and impossible as anything that has been said and written about ancient and modern magicians, Christian ascetics and mystics, from the earliest centuries down to the present time. The readers of ''Psychic'' ''Studies ''are, I assume, already somewhat conversant with psychological phenomena, partly from historical sources, and partly from a certain amount of what may be called empirical knowledge; I have therefore felt no hesitation in placing before them Jacolliot’s account of his Indian experiences. † It may be—is, indeed—highly probable that he has painted with somewhat lively colours, and that he has artificially grouped his facts in such a manner as to force conviction; that is to say, he may have arranged them in a certain progressive order, and not exactly as they occurred. But on examining the facts separately, we find them to agree in essential points with other mystic phenomena of various times and nations (allowance being made for the character of the people, their natural surroundings, and the scene of enactment), and I think they cannot be considered as more or less wonderful than those, especially than the latest experiences of Spiritualists. This agreement in the essential nature of things puts Jacolliot’s facts on as credible a footing as many of the others named, and we find ourselves with regard to them face to face with the vexed question as to whether they are produced by magical forces in living men, or by unseen beings called spirits, who make use of the organisms of particular persons, called mediums, to produce certain effects. The contents of the foregoing pages prove that the Indians have held the latter opinion from the earliest ages, and that they consider their ''pitris, ''or spirits of their ancestors, to be the motive power. If they are right, we must conclude that these spirits have powers which do not come under the ordinary physical laws of nature, and that for the demonstration of the same they attach themselves to living persons, not so much for any benefit that will accrue to them, as to give proof of their own existence, and to bring their capabilities to some extent under the cognisance of men. But so far as the fakirs, sanyassis, nirvanys, and others are concerned, it is scarcely to be doubted that many who desire it cannot succeed in developing the magical power in themselves, therefore yield to the temptation to simulate, and to produce deceptive appearances, whereby they sink from magicians to conjurors. This would naturally increase, as in the case of Egyptian, Zend, and other worship, as Brahmanism degenerated, and of which very little now remains. Just so in the latter days of the Roman Republic, the augurs smiled on meeting one another, and when the Romans came to Egypt, the priests were only useful as masters of the ancient ceremonies.
The experience of all ages goes to prove that the practice of these things is attended with danger to the living, and can only occur at the cost of their fitness for their present stage of existence. In my ''Mystic Phenomena, ''vol. i., p. 92, it is mentioned, for instance, how dangerous it is to induce visionary or clairvoyant power by means of incense-burning, cases of which were cited, and the influence of which Jacolliot has himself witnessed. How much more deleterious are those continuous ascetic practices which lead in some to stigmatisations and general exhaustion of the system! If there is any comfort in such sacrifice, it can only consist in the fact that by this means revelations of the inner nature of man are obtained which cannot be procured in any other way; and if the opinion be correct that they are due to the operation or co-operation of those no longer in this earthly life, an empirical proof of personal continuity is gained, which is incalculably more valuable than any speculation. And from this point of view the mystics of all ages, though they may have failed to attain earthly success and even earthly happiness, have yet not lived and denied themselves in vain, but have performed, indirectly, a great service to mankind. This seems to me to be the point of view from which they should be honoured, and not from the supposed satisfaction rendered to the Deity by those who devote {{Style S-HPB SB. Continues on |3-167}}
{{Footnotes start}}
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Translated from ''Psychic Studies.''
† Published in the last Vol, of ''The Spiritualist.''
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<gallery widths=300px heights=300px>
london_spiritualist_n.178_1876-01-21.pdf|page=4|London Spiritualist, No. 178, January 21, 1876, pp. 26-7
</gallery>