^8 



gth February^ 1^97- 



Professor J. D. Everett, f.r.s., d.c.l., in the Chair. 



Mr. Hermann Walter, m.a., ph.d., read a Paper entitled- 

 "THE MYSTERY OF INDIAN FAKIRISM." 



The Chairman, in introducing him, said Mr. Hermann Walter, 

 who had recently come to Belfast, Was an acquisition to Belfast 

 literary society. He was a distinguished linguist, and had made 

 a close study of the subject of which he would speak to them 

 that evening. 



The lecturer prefaced his paper by stating that the Indian 

 Fakirs, or Yogins, were every now and then attracting un- 

 merited attention, chiefly owing to the efforts of theosophists, 

 who were the European relatives of the Indian Yogins. These 

 Yogins were Pantheists, believing in the doctrines of the 

 transmigration of souls and the law of Karma, and holding that 

 the only possibility of salvation lay in the identification with 

 Brahma, the only true existence. This Brahma was a purely 

 philosophical conception, and not in any way connected with 

 Brahma of the Hindu Triads. The identification with Brahma 

 could only be brought about by concentration of the mind on 

 the fundamental doctrine of their system — that there is only 

 one true existence, and that all individual existence is illusory. 

 To facilitate this concentration the Yogins have invented an 

 elaborate system offphysical training ; everything tending to 

 bring about a cataleptic'.state. Instances were given of the 

 postures in which the aspirant would have to remain motionless 

 for days and weeks. In connection with the practice of res- 



