In Search of the Miraculous

in this kind of disorder, the house is threatened with grave danger. The only chance of

salvation is for a group of the more sensible servants to meet together and elect a temporary steward, that is, a deputy steward. This deputy steward can then put the other servants in their places, and make each do his own work:

the cook in the kitchen, the coachman in the stables, the gardener in the garden, and

so on. In this way the 'house' can be got ready for the arrival of the real steward who

will, in his turn, prepare it for the arrival of the master.

"The comparison of a man to a house awaiting the arrival of the master is

frequently met with in Eastern teachings which have preserved traces of ancient

knowledge, and, as we know, the subject appears under various forms in many of the

parables in the Gospels.

"But even the clearest understanding of his possibilities will not bring man any

nearer to their realization. In order to realize these possibilities he must have a very

strong desire for liberation and be willing to sacrifice everything, to risk everything,

for the sake of this liberation."

To this period, that is, to the beginning of the St. Petersburg lectures, are related

two interesting talks.

On one occasion I showed G. a photograph I had taken in Benares of a "fakir on

nails."

This fakir was not merely a clever juggler like those I saw in Ceylon, although he

was undoubtedly a "professional." I had been told that, in the court of the Aurangzeb Mosque on the bank of the Ganges, there was a fakir lying on a bed studded with iron

nails. This sounded very mysterious and terrifying. But when I arrived the bed with

iron nails alone was there, without the fakir; the fakir, I was told, had gone to fetch the cow. The second time I went the fakir was there. He was not lying on his bed and, so

far as I could understand, he only got on it when spectators came. But for a rupee he

showed me all his skill. He really did lie almost entirely naked on the bed which was

covered with long rather sharp iron nails. And, although he evidently took care not to

make any quick movements, he turned round on the nails, lay upon them on his back,

his sides, his stomach, and obviously they neither pricked nor scratched him. I took

two photographs of him but I could give myself no explanation of the meaning of this

phenomenon. The fakir did not produce the impression of being either an intelligent

or a religious man. His face wore a dull, bored, and indifferent expression, and there

was nothing in him that spoke of aspirations toward self-sacrifice or self-torture.

I told all this to G., showing him the photograph, and I asked him what he thought

of it.

"It is difficult to explain in two words," answered G. "First of all the man is not, of course, a 'fakir' in the sense in which I have been using the word. At the same time

you are right in thinking it is not altogether a trick. But he does not know himself how he does it. If you bribed him and made him tell you what he knows he would probably tell you that he knows a certain word which he has to say to himself, after which he is able to lie down on the nails. He might even consent to tell you this word. But it

would not help you in the least, because it would be a perfectly ordinary word which

would have no effect whatever on you. This man has come from a school, only he was

not a disciple. He was an experiment. They simply experimented with him and on

him. He had

evidently been hypnotized many times and under hypnosis his skin had been rendered

first insensitive to pricks and afterwards able to resist them. In a small way this is

quite possible even for ordinary European hypnotism. Then afterwards both the

insensitiveness and impenetrability of the skin were made permanent in him by means

of post-hypnotic suggestion. You know what post-hypnotic suggestion is. A man is

put to sleep and told that five hours after he wakes up he must do a certain thing; or he is told to pronounce a certain word and that as soon as he does so he will feel thirsty,

or think himself dead, or something like that. Then he is awakened. When the time

comes he feels an irresistible desire to do what he was told to do; or, if he remembers

the word that was given to him, on pronouncing it he immediately falls into a trance.

This is just what was done to your 'fakir.' They accustomed him to lie on nails under

hypnosis; then they began to wake him and tell him that if he pronounced a certain

word he would again be able to lie down on the nails. This word puts him into a

hypnotic state. This is perhaps why he had such a sleepy, apathetic look. This often

happens in such cases. They worked on him, perhaps, for many years and then simply

let him go, to live as he could. So he put up that iron bed for himself and probably

earns a few rupees a week. There are many such men in India. Schools take them for