Isis unveiled, Volume 1 (of 2), Science : $b A master-key to mysteries of ancient and modern science and theologyBlavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Religion
Isis unveiled, Volume 1 (of 2), Science : $b A master-key to mysteries of ancient and modern science and theology
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Theosophy
And now, perhaps, we might as well meet at once another impending
objection. Indian _jugglers_, they will tell us, do the same, and
as well as the fakir, if we can believe newspapers and travellers’
narratives. Undoubtedly so; and moreover these strolling jugglers are
neither pure in their modes of living nor considered holy by any one;
neither by foreigners nor their own people. _They are generally_ FEARED
_and despised by the natives_, for they are _sorcerers_; men practising
the _black art_. While such a holy man as Kavindasami requires but the
help of his own divine soul, closely united with the astral spirit, and
the help of a few familiar _pitris_—pure, ethereal beings, who rally
around their elect brother in flesh—the sorcerer can summon to his
help but that class of spirits which we know as the elementals. Like
attracts like; and greed for money, impure purposes, and selfish views,
cannot attract any other spirits than those that the Hebrew kabalists
know as the _klippoth_, dwellers of _Asiah_, the fourth world, and the
Eastern magicians as the _afrits_, or elementary spirits of error, or
the _devs_.
This is how an English paper describes the astounding _trick_ of
plant-growth, as performed by Indian _jugglers_:
“An empty flower-pot was now placed upon the floor by the juggler, who
requested that his comrades might be allowed to bring up some garden
mould from the little plot of ground below. Permission being accorded,
the man went, and in two minutes returned with a small quantity of
fresh earth tied up in a corner of his chudder, which was deposited
in the flower-pot and lightly pressed down. Taking from his basket a
dry mango-stone, and handing it round to the company that they might
examine it, and satisfy themselves that it was really what it seemed
to be, the juggler scooped out a little earth from the centre of the
flower-pot and placed the stone in the cavity. He then turned the earth
lightly over it, and, having poured a little water over the surface, {142}
shut the flower-pot out of view by means of a sheet thrown over a
small triangle. And now, amid a full chorus of voices and rat-tat-tat
accompaniment of the tabor, the stone germinated; presently a section
of the cloth was drawn aside, and gave to view the tender shoot,
characterized by two long leaves of a blackish-brown color. The cloth
was readjusted, and the incantation resumed. Not long was it, however,
before the cloth was a second time drawn aside, and it was then seen
that the two first leaves had given place to several green ones, and
that the plant now stood nine or ten inches high. A third time, and the
foliage was much thicker, the sapling being about thirteen to fourteen
inches in height. A fourth time, and the little miniature tree, now
about eighteen inches in height, had ten or twelve mangoes about the
size of walnuts hanging about its branches. Finally, after the lapse of
three of four minutes, the cloth was altogether removed, and the fruit,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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