From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan | Page 8

most
of them are do-nothings, mendicants by profession, and great frauds,
thanks to the insatiable longing of the natives for miracles. The real
Yogis avoid appearing in public, and spend their lives in secluded
retirement and studies, except when, as in Dayanand's case, they come
forth in time of need to aid their country. However, it is perfectly
certain that India never saw a more learned Sanskrit scholar, a deeper
metaphysician, a more wonderful orator, and a more fearless
denunciator of every evil, than Dayanand, since the time of
Sankharacharya, the celebrated founder of the Vedanta philosophy, the
most metaphysical of Indian systems, in fact, the crown of pantheistic
teaching. Then, Dayanand's personal appearance is striking. He is
immensely tall, his complexion is pale, rather European than Indian, his
eyes are large and bright, and his greyish hair is long. The Yogis and
Dikshatas (initiated) never cut either their hair or beard. His voice is
clear and loud, well calculated to give expression to every shade of
deep feeling, ranging from a sweet childish caressing whisper to
thundering wrath against the evil doings and falsehoods of the priests.
All this taken together produces an indescribable effect on the
impressionable Hindu. Wherever Dayanand appears crowds prostrate
themselves in the dust over his footprints; but, unlike Babu Keshub
Chunder Sen, he does not teach a new religion, does not invent new
dogmas. He only asks them to renew their half-forgotten Sanskrit
studies, and, having compared the doctrines of their forefathers with
what they have become in the hands of Brahmans, to return to the pure
conceptions of Deity taught by the primitive Rishis--Agni, Vayu,
Aditya, and Anghira--the patriarchs who first gave the Vedas to
humanity. He does not even claim that the Vedas are a heavenly
revelation, but simply teaches that "every word in these scriptures
belongs to the highest inspiration possible to the earthly man, an
inspiration that is repeated in the history of humanity, and, when
necessary, may happen to any nation....."

During his five years of work Swami Dayanand made about two
million proselytes, chiefly amongst the higher castes. Judging by
appearances, they are all ready to sacrifice to him their lives and souls
and even their earthly possessions, which are often more precious to
them than their lives. But Dayanand is a real Yogi, he never touches
money, and despises pecuniary affairs. He contents himself with a few
handfuls of rice per day. One is inclined to think that this wonderful
Hindu bears a charmed life, so careless is he of rousing the worst
human passions, which are so dangerous in India. A marble statue
could not be less moved by the raging wrath of the crowd. We saw him
once at work. He sent away all his faithful followers and forbade them
either to watch over him or to defend him, and stood alone before the
infuriated crowd, facing calmly the monster ready to spring upon him
and tear him to pieces. ----------
Here a short explanation is necessary. A few years ago a society of
well-informed, energetic people was formed in New York. A certain
sharp-witted savant surnamed them "La Societe des Malcontents du
Spiritisme." The founders of this club were people who, believing in
the phenomena of spiritualism as much as in the possibility of every
other phenomenon in Nature, still denied the theory of the "spirits."
They considered that the modern psychology was a science still in the
first stages of its development, in total ignorance of the nature of the
psychic man, and denying, as do many other sciences, all that cannot be
explained according to its own particular theories.
From the first days of its existence some of the most learned Americans
joined the Society, which became known as the Theosophical Society.
Its members differed on many points, much as do the members of any
other Society, Geographical or Archeological, which fights for years
over the sources of the Nile, or the Hieroglyphs of Egypt. But everyone
is unanimously agreed that, as long as there is water in the Nile, its
sources must exist somewhere. So much about the phenomena of
spiritualism and mesmerism. These phenomena were still waiting their
Champollion--but the Rosetta stone was to be searched for neither in
Europe nor in America, but in the far-away countries where they still
believe in magic, where wonders are performed daily by the native
priesthood, and where the cold materialism of science has never yet
reached--in one word, in the East.

The Council of the Society knew that the Lama-Buddhists, for instance,
though not believing in God, and denying the personal immortality of
the soul, are yet celebrated for their "phenomena," and that mesmerism
was known and daily practised in China from time immemorial under
the name of "gina." In India they fear and