Report on an Indian Swami
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Journal of Scientijic Exploration, Vol. 8, N o. 3 , pp. 381 -397, 1994 0892-33 10194 O 1994 Society for Scientific Exploration Report on an Indian Swami Claiming to Materi alize Objects: The Value and Limitations of Field Observations Institutfur Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene Eichhalde 12 , 79104 Freiburg, Germany Abstract- In India there are freque nt and widely accepted claims of mat eri - alization s of objects or substances which are usual ly associated with the ac- tivities of religious persons, such as Hindu swamis, and are sometimes re- ported to occur during religious ceremonies. Such claims, if substantiated, could have a major influence on the developm ent of the studies o f anom alous phenomena. This report describes an attempt to investigate the claims con- cerning a little known swami, Gyatri Swami. The difficulties involved in working in a religious setting are described in order to demon strate the limi - tations t o which this sort of res ear ch is subject. Conclus ions are left as much as possible to th e reader, because these claims frequently warrant no clearcut verdict. However , in the case of Gyatri Swam i we rea ched a negative conclu- sion regarding his claims. Keywords: Materialization, macr o-PK, swamis, India. Introduction Materializa tion phenomena in India have been repor ted together with var ious other puzzling phenomena, such as miraculous religious conversions, unex- plainable hea lings, profound changes of habits and attit udes in people, precog- nition and clairvoyance, and so-called bilocation, or people appearing physi- cally at the same time at two widely distant locations (Babb, 1986; Chari, 1960; Haraldsson 1987; Haraldsson & Osis, 1977; Osis & Haraldsson, 1979; Yogananda, 1949) . Of all reported phenomena, some apparently of a paranormal nature and some not or doubtfully so, th e materialization ph enomena reported to occur in India are outstanding in several ways. First, if they are not done by trickery, they are paranormal indeed. Second, they are different from paranormal phe- nomena reported in Europe or North America. So me poltergeist cases sugges t the occurrence of materializations, bu t never as vol untary acts by an agent, as they appea r to be in India. Third, compared with the relatively well -established paranormal phenomena, these Indian materializat ion pheno mena are of such a gross nature th at the confirmation of the ir existence c ould considerab ly influ - ence the development of parapsychology. For example, it seems difficult to accommodate materialization phenomena with observational theory, one of
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