====== The Inner Life ====== == THE HERALD OF THE NEW AGE | NOVEMBER 1935 == ---- are highly religious; but all of them unite in the struggle to wrest from Nature a mastery over forces hidden and intangible. You see, India has never been without her traditions of the mysterious, the occult, and many are the stories told of those adepts who could perform miraculous feats. Now these men, too, are called Yogis.” “Have you met such men? Do you believe these traditions?” I ask innocently. The other man is silent. He seems to be ruminating over the form in which he can couch his reply. My eyes turn to the shrine which stands upon the lacquered table. I fancy, in the soft light which fills our room, that the Buddha is smiling benignantly at me from its lotus throne of gilt wood. For half a minute I am ready to believe that there is something uncanny in its atmosphere; and then the Indian’s clear voice breaks into my thoughts and arrests my wandering fancies. “Look!” he says quietly, holding something out for my inspection. He has loosed it from under his collar. “I am a Brahmin. This is my sacred thread. Thousands of years of strict segregation have bred certain qualities of character instinctive in my caste. Western education and Western travelling can never remove them. Faith in a higher power, belief in the existence of supernatural forces, recognition of a spiritual evolution among men—these things were born in me as a Brahmin. I could not destroy them if I would, while reason is overpowered by them whenever the issue comes to battle. So, although I am quite in sympathy with the principles and methods of your modern sciences, what other answer can I give you, except this—I believe!” He looks intently at me for a few moments. Then he proceeds: “Yes, I have met such men. Once, twice, three times. They are difficult to come across. Once they were easier to find, I believe; but to-day they have almost disappeared.” “But they still exist, I presume?” “Most likely, my friend. To find them is another matter. It would require a protracted search.” “Your master—was he one of them?” {{ :3511-19.jpg |}} ---- //⥳ [[yogis_6|previous page]] // | // [[yogis_8|next page]] ⥴ //