B. PREMANAND
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Science versus Miracles: Planchette / Ouija Board
B. Premanand Effect: Working of the planchette board. Four persons, one among them is the spirit medium, touch the planchette (ouija board) lightly on four sides and concentrate on the spirit to come and give an answer to the question. Suddenly the planchette starts moving and it gives an answer. Planchette / Ouja Board Props: Planchette…
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Science versus Miracles: Ideomotor Response and Pendulum Dowsing
B. Premanand Whatever action we perform is controlled by the brain. If we have any thought or idea in the subconscious mind, when we concentrate on the same, it manifests as a physical activity without any conscious attempt by the person. This is called idiomotor response. The minute electrical charges in the brain transmit to…
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Science versus Miracles: Curing Jaundice by Psychic Power
B. Premanand The jaundice patient goes to the tantrik or godman for a cure. After an incantation over the medicine, the patient is administered the medicine. He asks the patient to gargle for a few minutes and then spit it out. When he spits out a yellow liquid, which looks like a bile, the tantrik…
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Science versus Miracles: Shakuntala Devi, the Human Computer.
B. Premanand Shakuntala Devi (Image courtesy: Wikipedia) Sakuntala Devi claimed to be a human computer. In a television interview where she demonstrated her feats, a simple mathematical problem was asked by a professor which she brushed aside as very simple and agreed to give the answer at the end. But she did not give the…
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Science versus Miracles: Psychic Surgery
B. Premanand In the Philippines, psychic surgeons conduct surgery without any instruments and claim to cure patients. One such psychic surgeon came to India in the 1980s and the first surgery was conducted on a minister of Maharashtra State. The surgeon thus acquired much publicity in the news media. When he was confronted by skeptics,…
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Science versus Miracle: Licking a red-hot poker
B. Premanand The oracle licks a red-hot poker or iron rod until it is cold. While talking to the District Education Officers in Delhi, one of them from Gharwal district told me he had seen an oracle, possessed by the deity, licking a red-hot poker until it was cold. He wondered how a person could…
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Science versus Miracles: Sleeping on Thorns and Amulets that produce ‘Holy Ash’
B. Premanand You can see mendicants sleeping on thorns to prove that they are above body pain. Experiment: 137 Effect: Sleeping on thorns Props: Thorny plants Method: Make a fire, take the thorn bushes above the fire and with a thick sack press the thorns to the top. Make a bed of thorns keeping the…
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Science versus Miracles: Leaping on Broken Glass.
B Premanand The Hata Yogi leaps barefoot from a table onto broken glass. Experiment: 136 Effect: Leaping on broken glass. Props: 50 to 100 kg of the bottom of soda water bottles or beer bottles. Roll them in a big sack to grind down the sharp edges and make the pieces smooth. A table. Method:…
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Science versus Miracles: Curing Blister through Yogic Power
A Yogi claims to have overcome pain through meditation. He takes a lit cigarette and bums his fingertip and shows the blister. He is smiling and in meditation. After a short time the blister vanishes. Experiment: 135 Effect: Overcoming Pain while burning your finger. Props: A car key and a lighted cigarette. Method: With your…
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Science versus Miracles: Reading a message in a sealed cover
B Premanand Experiment: 133 Effect: Telling the number a person thinks. The tantrik asks a person to tell a number. When ash is rubbed on the surface of a blank card the number appears. Props: Soap, ash, blank card. Method: Write the numbers 1 to 9 on the board with soap. Ask a person to…
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Science versus Miracles: Tantriks and their Tricks
B. Premanand When the tantrik spits on sawdust, it bursts into flame. Experiment: 131 Effect: When the tantrik spits on sawdust, it bursts into flame. Props: A metal-bowl, well dried sawdust, sodium peroxide (powdered), water. Method: Keep in metal bowl dry sawdust mixed with equal parts of powdered sodium peroxide. Ask some one to bring…
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Science versus Miracles: Holding Hot Electric Soldering Iron on the Hand.
B Premanand The psychic places the hot electric soldering iron across his hand without getting burnt. Experiment: 130 Effect: Hot electric soldering iron on the hand. Props: Electric soldering iron, petroleum jelly. Method: Smear petroleum jelly on your hand. Take the soldering Iron and lightly place it on your hand over the jelly. It…
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Science versus Miracles: Cutting the Body with a Knife.
B Premanand This ‘miracle’ is performed both by Muslims and Hindu oracles. They cut their body with a knife. Blood flows from the gashes. Later, the body is wiped with a towel and water and the cuts are healed. Experiment: 128 Effect: Cutting the body with a knife. Props: Ferric Chloride, Sodium Sulphocyanide, a…
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Science versus Miracles: Catching a Thief by Sorcery
Normal 0 B Premanand When a theft has occurred, the tantrik is called. He starts a havan by preparing a homa kunda with mud and firewood and lights the fire, chanting mantras for some time. After the prayer, he fixes a four-foot long stick in the ground and asks the assembled people go into the…
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“I Would Be Happy To See a Real Miracle Before I Die”:
Basava Premanand We are now moving to the end of the first volume of the series under “Science Versus Miracles”. All the experiments explained here are found in books on Magic and in scientific literature. Using these methods. unscrupulous godmen and psychics have been exploiting the gullible. Even scientists like Dr. Bhagavantam. P. K. Banerjee.…
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Science versus Miracle: Assorted Miracles in Temples
B Premanand At Tirupurakundram in Tamilnadu, two eagles come to the temple exactly at 12 noon to partake in the prasad offering of the god in the temple. Garuda is believed to be the vahana (vehicle) of Vishnu whose idol is installed in the temple. Experiment: 124 Courtesy: Wikipedia Effect: Eagle appearing at 12 noon…
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Science versus Miracle: God’s Spirit on a Wick and Spirit within a Coconut!
B Premanand God’s spirit leaves the oracle and enters a wick which dances when it is lit. This phenomenon occurs in a village temple in South Kanara. The Oracle gets possessed by the god and after the ceremony, it leaves his body and he falls down unconscious. The spirit then enters a wick which when…
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Science versus Miracle: Telling a Number or the Name of any Flower a Person Thinks of.
B Premanand When people come to the Tantrik to get their problems solved, he asks the person to write a number between 1 to 20 or the name of a flower. The Tantrik, after concentrating on the person, writes something on a piece of paper and puts it in his pocket. Then he asks about…
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Science versus Miracle: God’s Name Appears on the Body when Ash is Rubbed On
B Premanand To prove that he is a true devotee of god, a man takes a bath, makes a fire in front of him, chants mantras and then smears the ash from the Yajna Kunda on his body. The name of the god appears all over his body Experiment: 119 Effect: God’s name appears on…
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Science versus Miracles: Burning Water with Psychic Power
B Premanand The psychic takes a bowl of water. He moves hishand over the water and it explodes with fire. Experiment: 117 Effect: Burning water with psychic power Props: A bowl, hot water, Sodium metal and a thimble. Method: Hide me sodium metal in the thimble. Show the bowl of water and pass your hand…
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Science versus Miracles: Piercing a Balloon without it Bursting
A psychic inflates some balloons. He requests the volunteers to come to the stage and gives them the balloons along with needles. He asks them to prick the balloons with the needles and they all burst. Then he takes a balloon and pierces it with a needle. Nothing happens. Thee balloon retains its shape. Experiment:…
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Science versus Miracles: Eating Hot Chillies
B Premanand A holy man goes on eating hot chillies like sweets to prove that he is above sensation. He also offers some of the chillies to the audience and when they eat they find them very hot. Experiment: 115 Effect: Eating hot chilies. Props: Pure Olive Oil, hot Chillies Method: Unless food gets dissolved…
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Science versus Miracles: Moving Objects by Mental Power.
Many psychics claim to move things by psychic power. They keep a pencil balancing on the edge of a table and through the psychic power, make the pencil turn and drop. Experiment: 113 Effect: Moving objects by mental power. Props: One round pencil, a table and a chair. Method: Sit on the chair with table…
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Science versus Miracles: Lifting a Rice Pot with a Knife
B Pemanand Whenever I try to explain and educate the people about the falsity of miracles, supernatural and psychic powers, the news media confuse them with stories of supernatural powers. While I was in Andhra Pradesh conducting a Vijnan Yatra, the news media came up with the story of a temple. When a married couple…