The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1930, Page 124

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124

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

and cannot be moved into any other position.
Others will do a similar thing with a leg. Such
self-torture is regarded as being very meritorious
and is supposed to bring the body into subjection
to the soul. By such self-torture it is claimed that
all carnal desires and needs are restrained, until
a time comes when the body no longer expresses
any wants and ceases to disturb the spiritual life
of man. To attain this end, some fakirs lie on
beds of thorns, and others spend their days and
nights lying on beds of sharp spikes.

It is probable that most of these fakirs are honest
in their attempts to find merit in these self-inflicted
tortures; but among them are also hypocrites, who
shirk their penance while pretending to be enduring
it in all honesty. Thus fakirs who are supposed to
be reclining on beds of sharp thorns and who pre-
tend to be suffering agonies in consequence at times
only have the thorns packed around their bodies

and so I finally produced the equivalent of several
dollars. The beggar promptly snatched it from my
hand and, before I was aware of what he intended,
salaamed profusely, swung his heavy braids of hair
about my head, probably by way of blessing, and
said, ‘This will bring you much merit. I am taking
your money for the poor, not for myself.? He made
off, leaving us standing there, as much his duped
and deluded victims as any poor natives of the land.”

A Land of Fakirs.

In India any man may decide to give up work
and become a “holy” beggar, ostensibly that he may
find peace for his soul and release from earthly
troubles. A nagging wife, disobedient children,
these a man may leave without fear of reproach to
enter upon the life of a fakir. It is even considered
a meritorious thing to do so, to give up useful work,
forsake wife and children, and seek to attain Nir-
vana. A recent traveler relates that a man left his

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Hindu Caste Marks.

and are not lying on them at all. Of course, even
a thorn pack is by no means a pleasant thing, since
every movement means one or more scratches; still
the fakir in such a case is not suffering the agony
the people think he is undergoing.

Foretelling the Future.

When gifts are not forthcoming in a desirable
quantity, fakirs seek the wherewithal to satisfy their
bodily needs by offering to predict the future for
@ small recompense.

A recent traveler in India relates the following:
“A friend was having her palm read by a dirty, ash-
besmeared ruffian one morning, when I chanced
along. The fakir tried to inveigle me into the
_ séance that was taking place right there in the open
in a sunshine-soaked garden. ‘Just let me see how
much money you have,’ pleaded the man when I had
firmly refused his persistent offers to read my palm.

~ shall tell you much. I will not keep the money,

3 " only let me see it.’ My friend added her pleadings,

wife and six helpless children without warning,
claiming that he had received the call to seek peace
for his soul. It mattered not what hard fate awaited
his wife and children. Such a poor, forsaken wife
generally becomes the drudge of her neighbors, sup-
porting her children without help, hungry more
often than not, ill-clothed, shamefully treated by
almost all. Truly, the heathen have a queer idea
of what holiness really is!

The Chela of the Fakir.

Most fakirs have their chelas, or servants, one
for each fakir. This chela is a young lad who is
being trained in holiness. “He is his master’s for-
ager; he talks to the people when his master is
steeped in meditation and in other ways is helpful
to the fakir. In time he may become holy like his
master, and to this end he imitates him in many
things. Like his master he shaves his head, wears
the caste mark on his forehead, and dresses in
saffron robes.