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The Eleventh Lesson: Hindu Wonder-Working.1351
which hastens the vital processes inherent in the germ of the seed or egg
itself, the work being performed along purely natural lines, merely being
hastened or stimulated to a marked degree by the action of and increased
and concentrated supply of Prana.
Another interesting manifestation of the same force is that which has been
related by the travelers in certain parts of India, whereby the temperature
of water is lowered to the extent of a number of degrees, not in the way
of an actual subtraction of the heat by the direct action of Prana, but in a
manner similar to that of artificial refrigeration by evaporation. The method
is as follows: The fakir takes into his hands, and at the same time rests upon
his lap one of the large water jars common to all tropical countries, which
is wrapped with cloths moistened with water, and which are usually placed
in the sun that the heat may cause the water on the cloths to evaporate, the
evaporation drawing the heat from the water within the jar and thereby
cooling it—the process being according to well-known physical laws. The
fakir, by directing a supply of Prana upon the moistened cloths (which are
re-moistened from time to time) manages to set up a process of evaporation
similar to that mentioned in the boiling-water feat, and this constant
evaporation drawing the heat from the water within the jar gradually reduces
it to a degree of coolness quite perceptible and agreeable to the taste. This
manifestation shows quite plainly that Prana is the force used, and gives us
an additional proof of the nature of this class of phenomena.
There are other cases, however, in which Prana is used in an entirely
different way, and in accordance to different laws of nature. We allude to
“the action at a distance,” in which bells are rung and objects moved as if
by an unseen hand. Laying aside for a moment the cases in which this class
of phenomena is produced by the projection of the Astral Body charged
with Prana, let us consider the cases in which the Prana is directed along
the lines of Thought-form projection, or “Vitalized Thought.” There are a
number of feats produced in this way by the Hindu fakirs, some of which
resemble some of the manifestations of the Western spiritualistic mediums.