The Sword of Song

NOTES 67 The prosidist w ill note the “false quantity” of this word. But this is as it should be, for Ganesha pertains to Shiva, and w ith Shiva all quantity is false, since, as Parameshvara, he is without quantity or quality. 485. Carroll.47—See “Alice in Wonderland,” Cap. Ult. 508. Kusha-grass.48—The sacred grass of the Hindus. 509. Mantra.49—A sacred verse, suitable for constant repitition, with a view to quieting the thought. Any one can see how simple and effective a means this is. 519. Gayatri.50—This is the translation of the most holy verse of the Hindus. The gender of Savitri has been the subject of much discussion and I believe grammatically it is masculine. B ut for mystical reasons I have made it otherwise. Fool ! 557. Prayer.51—This fish-story is literally true. The condition was that the Almighty should have the odds of an unusually long line,—the place was really a swift stream, just debouching into a lake—and of an unusual slowness of drawing in the cast. But what does any miracle prove ? If the Affaire Cana were proved to me, I should merely record the facts : Water may under certain unknown conditions become wine. It is a pity that the owner of the secret remains silent, and entirely lamentable that he should attempt to deduce from his scientific knowledge cosmic theories which have nothing whatever to do with it. Suppose Edison, having perfected the phono- graph, had said, “I alone can make dumb things speak ; argal, I am God.” What would the world have said if telegraphy had been ex- ploited for miracle-mongering purposes ? Are these miracles less or greater than those of the Gospels ? Before we accept Mrs. Piper,* we want to know most exactly the conditions of the ex- periment, and to have some guarantee of the reliability of the witnesses. At Cana of Galilee the conditions of the transformation are not stated—save that they give loopholes innumerable for chicanery—and the witnesses are all drunk ! (thou hast kept the good wine till now: i.e. till men have w ell drunk—Greek, mequstwsi, are well drunk). Am I to belive this, and a glaring non sequitur as to Christ’s deity, on the evidence, not even of the inebriated eye-witnesses, but of MSS. of doubtful authorship and date, bear- ing all the ear-marks of dishonesty. For we must not forget that the absurdities of to-day were most cunning proofs for the poor folk of seventeen centuries ago. Talking of fish-stories, read John xxi. 1-6 * A twentieth century medium. or Luke V. 1-7 (comparisons are odious). But once I met a man by a lake and told him that I had toiled all the morning and had caught nothing, and he advised me to try the other side of the lake ; and I caught many fish. But I knew not that it was the Lord. In Australia they w ere praying for rain in the churches. The Sydney Bulletin very sensibly pointed out how much more reverent and practical it would be, if, instead of con- stantly worrying the Almighty about trifles, they would pray once and for all for a big range of mountains in Central Australia, which would of course supply rain automatically. No new act of creation would be necessary ; faith, we are expressly told, can remove mountains, and there is ice and snow and especially moraine on and about the Baltoro Glacier to build a very fine range ; we could well have spared it this last summer. 579. So much for this absurd affair.52— “About Lieutenant-Colone l Flare.”—Gilbert, Bab Ballads. 636. Auto-hypnosis.53—The scientific adver- sary has more sense than to talk of auto- hypnosis. He bases his objection upon the general danger of the practice, considered as a habit of long standing. In fact, Lyre and Lancet. Recipe for Curried Eggs. The physiologist reproaches Poor Mr. Crowley. “This encroaches Upon your frail cerebral cortex, And turns its fairway to a vortex. Your cerebellum with cockroaches Is crammed ; your lobes that thought they caught “X” Are like mere eggs a person poaches. But soon from yoga, business worries, And (frankly I suspect the rubble Is riddled by specific trouble !) Will grow like eggs a person curries.” This line, no doubt, requires an answer. The last Ditch. First. “Here’s a johnny with a cancer ; An operation may be useless, May even harm his constitution, Or cause his instant dissolution : Let the worm die, ’tis but a goose less !” Not you ! You up and take by storm him. You tie him down and chloroform him. You do not pray to Thoth or Horus, But make one dash for his pylorus :— And if ten years elapse, and he Complains, “O doctor, pity me ! Your cruel ’ands, for goodness sakes Gave me such ‘orrid stomach-aches.