|
Hamid
Bey, The Miracle Man
By Paramhansa Yogananda
(East West Sept. – Oct 1927)
I met Hamid Bey, with his good friend, Dr. Hereward Carrington,
in Buffalo recently. I was quite impressed with the beautiful spiritual
gleam in Mr. Bey's eyes. I sang the song, "O God Beautiful!"
for him. Ever since then he has been singing it.
Hamid Bey is an Egyptian from the Sudan, famous land of sheiks.
He was reared under an austere mystical training, and the feats
he performs are a part of the religious rites of his sect.
Mr. Bey showed me that by touching anyone's wrist he could divine
his thoughts. Each thought has a certain vibration and by contact
with the pulse of the person thinking the thought. Mr. Bey receives
the same vibration and consequently thinks the same thought. Later,
he demonstrated to me his method of physical trance, in which he
fell into my hands, breathless and almost lifeless. The stethoscope
revealed that his heart-beat, at first fast, slowed down to an intermittent
beat, and then got very slow.
Mr. Bey can remain underground, buried for twenty-four hours, sealed
in an air-tight casket, and can hold a thousand pounds on his chest.
He controls his pulse at will–its beats appeared and completely
disappeared at his will. He also pierces his body with long needles
without bloodshed. The marks, almost instantaneously disappeared
after the needles were withdrawn. He thrusts these needles into
his throat, cheeks, and tongue without pain. He can produce blood
from one puncture and withhold blood from another.
Most of these things he performed right in front of me. In the various
cities where he visits he often gives demonstrations before gatherings
of eminent physicians and surgeons. In New York City he submitted
to burial for three hours. On this occasion his body was sealed
in a casket and placed six feet underground. The doctors who were
present admitted that they could not explain the feat other than
by Hamid Bey's declaration that by self-imposed catalepsy, he renders
his body almost lifeless.
Passing needles thru his cheeks and certain other of Mr. Bey's feats
are performed, after long practice, by manipulating glands of the
throat and by pressing certain nerves on the head. These are very
interesting physiological phenomena showing that man can control
the functions of the heart and all other organs of involuntary action.
This is known to Hindu Yogis and Swamis who practice Yoga as well
as to mystics of other sects.
Of course, it must be remembered that without love of God and without
wisdom, such control and feats are just physiological jugglery and
a detriment to spiritual realization. But Hamid Bey loves God, and
he tells me he loves Him more and more since he heard the song,
"O God Beautiful."
He has a good wife. "I often wake up in the night, sit upright,
rebuke sleep away, and talk to Him," he told me. "At first
my wife did not understand to whom I talked. But now she does, and
we both love 'God Beautiful.'" O, how I love to hear him say
that! I told him to tell everyone wherever he goes, that prayer
without love of God is meaningless, and that people should talk
to God every night when no one is watching or listening That is
a sure way to know God easily Otherwise, a thousand shows of prayer
will fail to accomplish any spiritual result.
I told Mr. Bey to produce trance by love of God, rather than merely
by glandular pressure, as results produced by devotion are safer
and greater. Generally, it takes another person to arouse Mr. Bey
from his trance. But, in the conscious trance of devotion, or Yoga,
one never loses consciousness but transcends the material consciousness
and comes back to consciousness of matter at will again. That is
the conscious communion with God that Yogoda aspires to teach.
Mr. Bey can put small animals and sometimes certain types of men
into the cataleptic state. Medical science as well as metaphysical
science should investigate the results and possibilities for usefulness
of such phenomena.
Contact
us:
Please feel free to contact us with your comments or suggestions regarding this
website: rsmith108@netzero.net
|
