The Oriental mind is more easily freed from the shackles of the body than is the Western organism. Just as the hold of the average native upon life is inferior to a European’s, so is the native’s mastery of conscious will far less. The faculties of clairvoyance can be created by almost every dominant European in any young native, and they are both physically and psychically an inferior race. It is because of their greater racial familiarity and acquaintance with the occult that the myth of their spiritual supremacy has been born. The unheeding deem every Easterner a potential mage, unknowing that he only develops his psychic gifts, which are in point of fact mental weaknesses, when in contact with a far more powerfully organized Western will. The organized powers of occult India have loathed and hated British rule since pre-Mutiny days. In a very few rare cases, black magic--often allied with native poisons--has killed a white man, but on the whole the result has been a pitiful demonstration compared to what these magi should have been capable of. Occultism in India is built to serve but one end, the domination of lesser castes by those who master its secrets and have aptitude to impose their powers on others. In the past it stood for an amazing tyranny, and for this reason--its lost criminal powers--it is opposed to British rule. It is noteworthy that the English Society of Theosophists, whose jig-saw religion is largely compounded of Oriental elements, is now prominently identified with schemes for the political emancipation of India, which will reinforce the tyrannous power of the Brahmin. The whole scheme of Oriental occultism is quite incomprehensible without a sound basic knowledge of the religious systems of which it is part and parcel. These enjoy a difficult and complex nomenclature, and their words have been borrowed indiscriminately without due respect to their precise meaning. Yoga conveys a certain popular meaning, but it must be remembered that there are numberless Yogas, subdivided again into endless subvariants. The initiate undergoes a prolonged course of mental and physical training designed to stimulate concentration of the will and subdue the body. Little by little the faculties of surrender to ecstatic forms of self-hypnosis are induced, Ananda or “bliss,” either material or spiritual ecstasy, according to the Yoga practised, being the end of the process. The full development of the powers of a Yogi is beset with all kinds of dangers and difficulties. The physical strain is a severe one and the psychic dangers encountered considerable. The evil spirits of the West find their Oriental counterparts in Pisachas, Shahinis, Bhirtas, Pretas, and Rakshashas, all malignant and terrible manifestations of the demon world.