On August 3d, 1896, there was held at Munich a Congress of Psychologists, at which were present about 350 medical men representing the different countries of Europe, and to them was introduced an Indian Yogi, whose name is Sen Bheema Pratapa, and who went into the Samadhi sleep for the purpose of exhibiting that state before these professors and scientists so as to attract their attention to the existence of a state of higher consciousness, during which the body is insensible to pains inflicted upon it. But before we proceed further it will be well to explain who Mr. Pratapa is and what was his object in coming to Europe.
Mr. Pratapa is a well-to-do young Kshattriya, (1) living on his own property in the Punjab. He is a healthy, good-looking and well educated man, a Pandit, speaking several languages. He is of a highly religious turn of mind, of a childlike and confiding nature, only too easily imposed on by people with whom he comes in contact. Being a Yogi himself, capable of entering at any time, at will, into the state of Samadhi, he believed it to be his mission to exhibit the phenomena accompanying that state before an European public, so as to call the attention of European scientists to the philosophy of the East, to induce them to study the Vedas and to make practical attempts at leading a higher life and entering into a higher region of thought. As to any personal benefit to be obtained thereby for himself, either financially or otherwise, Mr. Pratapa had no thought of that, he being himself in comfortable circumstances and desiring no more. All that he needed for carrying out his purpose was a business manager, one who was versed in the ways of travelling and exhibiting in Europe, for Mr. Pratapa himself being inexperienced in the ways of the world and of rather a timid disposition, would never have been able to attend to such things himself.
Thus it happened that he fell into the hands of a showman during the great world's exhibition at Budapest in Hungary. He was taken to Europe and for weeks at a time he slept in a glass coffin, exhibited to the eyes of the public and under the surveillance of physicians, who were at liberty to experiment with his body so as to see that it was fully unconscious and insensible to injuries inflicted upon it, while the soul of the Yogi during that time rested in the regions of eternal bliss and peace.
Doctors of medicine of all grades of intelligence, princes, archdukes, the nobility and the common people flocked there in crowds; the papers printed long articles about this wonderful phenomenon, which had never been heard of before, and for a few weeks everything went well, the business managers making plenty of money. But if you ask me as to whether anybody's attention was thereby attracted to the study of the Yoga philosophy, I must beg you to ask me an easier question, for I have never been informed of it. All that I found is that phenomena, if their causes are not understood, prove nothing, and that if the body of the whole world were to enter into an unconscious condition, this would be no indication that the soul of the world could exist in a higher state.
But the great success of the business manager (who never paid Mr. Pratapa anything except his board and travelling expenses) raised the envy of other showmen, and so they started a story that Mr. Pratapa's sleep was a farce; that he only pretended to sleep during the day and that during the night he would get up and regale himself with beefsteaks, wine and cigars and enjoy the rest of the luxuries of life — a story, which is the more absurd, as he being a Yogi, is a vegetarian, never drinks and is not accustomed to smoke tobacco. The public, however, is always as ready to believe a rumor reflecting upon somebody's character as the newspaper men are greedy to start a sensational story, and Mr. Pratapa being disgusted with the treatment he received at Budapest, left that place and upon my invitation sought refuge at my house at Hallein.
Just about that time the convention above named met at Munich, and as this was to be a Congress of Psychologists, which means, of people interested in the science of the soul, I thought this would be a good chance to exhibit Mr. Pratapa before this body of eminent scientists and thus to reestablish his reputation as a real Yogi. Therefore Mr. Pratapa was taken by myself and two of my friends to Munich, and we introduced him to the members of that Congress, allowing them full liberty to try whatever experiments they might choose with his body, provided they would inflict no permanent injury upon it.
They made use of that permission to the fullest extent. Mr. Pratapa went to sleep, and all who tried to awaken him failed. They fingered his eyeballs; they burned his skin with cigars; they stuck needles and knives into the soles of his feet; they made numerous other tests, but the sleeping Yogi exhibited no sign of sensation and could not be awakened until I applied to him the passes which he had taught me to apply for that purpose.
There were a few of the most prominent scientists who exhibited an understanding of this kind of phenomena, but they seemed to be afraid to speak out their views for fear of not being understood by their colleagues. All the rest did not know what to make of it, although we presented them with pamphlets giving explanations in regard to the Yoga philosophy. They all looked for some sign of disease, and as there was none, they could not attribute that state to any pathological cause, and it being thus inexplicable to them they grasped at the only explanation left for them, which was that of humbug and fraud. They were credulous enough to believe that Mr. Pratapa had come all the way from India and endured unflinchingly all sorts of torture without getting any remuneration for it, for the mere pleasure of leading these people, whom he did not even know, by the nose. Thus ended an attempt to bring spiritual truths into scientific quarters, and Mr. Pratapa returned to India, not a richer, but a wiser man, in so far as he had been taught by his experience, that an idea cannot grow where the soil is not prepared for it.
FOOTNOTE:
1. "Kshattriya," one of the warrior caste, as distinguished from the caste of the Brahmins, or priests. (return to text)