Theos-Talk Archives (January 2002 Message tt00148)

Brigitte:

Consider this story from Isis:

"This way of obtaining oracles was practiced in the
highest antiquity. In India, this sublime lethargy is
called 'the sacred sleep of ***' It is an oblivion
into which the subject is thrown by certain magical
processes, supplemented by draughts of the juice of
the soma. The body of the sleeper remains for several
days in a condition resembling death, and by the power
of the adept is purified of its earthliness and made
fit to become the temporary receptacle of the
brightness of the immortal Augoeides. ... The sleeper
takes no note of the lapse of time, but upon
awakening, after four or five days of trance, imagines
he has slept but a few moments." (Isis 1.357-8)

I think it was Brigitte who pointed out this was one
of Randolph's ideas and comes from his books. Now
compare this with the following story from David
Pratt's essay:

"in October 1881 KH retired to a secret location for a
threemonth samadhi. In a letter to Mrs
HollisBilling, dated 2 October 1881, HPB
states that KH has "now gone to sleep for three months
to prepare during this Sumadhi or continuous trance
state for his initiation, the last but one, when he
will become one of the highest adepts" (The
Theosophical Forum, May 1936, p. 344). She adds that
his body lies in a stone tower in a beautiful location
near a monastery. Mahatma M took over KH's
correspondence with Sinnett and Hume during this
period. In one of his letters he wrote: "At a stone's
throw from the old Lamasery stands the old tower,
within whose bosom have gestated generations of
Bodhisatwas. It is there, where now rests your
lifeless friend  my brother, the light
of my soul, to whom I made a faithful promise to watch
during his absence over his work" (MLC 87 / ML 219)."

It is obvious this is a reference to the very same
practice and that the story is therefore credible. 
The three months seems a bit exaggerated. It would
seem extraordinarily dangerous for anyone to remain in
a drugged state for that length of time. However, it
is obvious they were describing the same experiment as
Randolph, which is not surprising since bein buried
alive was until not so long ago a common practice
among Indian fakirs. Some writers who have commented
on this surmised that Houdini could have been entombed
for a few hours by sheer physical courage, but that
for someone to endure this for days or longer would
require some sort of sedation or even anesthesia.

The practice of burying fakirs alive was outlawed by
the Indian government some years ago, but long after
the incidents described took place. It turned out the
bodies of the fakirs were exhumed in numerous cases
only to discover that they had been greedily consumed
by the white ants which infest parts of southern
India.

Steve


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