Now what is this power due to? How to develop it within yourself?
Is it possible for everyone to acquire it? Has it or can it be put to any
higher and nobler use than merely to enslave others' minds in order to
make them subservient to your selfish purposes on the relative plane
of existence? If so, what is that higher use? I know of a Christian
gentleman, Mr. K. by name, who had been smitten with the young
governess of a Magistrate in Benares. This grown-up man sought out
a young College student who was a born leader of men and who was
adored, admired and universally respected by all students, teachers and
professors. "I wish you would teach me Mesmerism so that I may
_fascinate_ that girl"--this was the application of Mr. K. Well, the
upshot of it all was that Mr. K. got a severe and stern rebuke from the
young mesmerist, who in all truth was a born Yogi and cared not for the
petty ways and small thoughts and attainments of men of this world. I
find that nearly all modern Western writers on and teachers of this
subject are much, in fact solely, taken up with the idea of
sensationalism through Occultism, so much so that when a really
thoughtful man investigates their writings he feels utterly disgusted,
repelled and horrified at the very name of Occultism. "_It is sin to
manifest power_," said Vivekananda. The man who studies Yoga and
Occultism simply with a view to develop, display and demonstrate Psychic
and Super-normal Powers and _Siddhies_ always ends in _Lust_ and is
caught up in a psychic machinery of law and destructive thought forces
that effectually grind him to pieces. His spiritual progress is thrown
back over ages and he is made to retrace his steps slowly and painfully.
I cannot too strongly condemn the modern tendency to "impress" others, to
"strike terror" into others, to "psychologize" others towards the
accomplishment of our personal motives. If you are one such, do, for
heaven's sake, open your eyes to your gross ignorance and low