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 the muscles through the nerves. The persons who create motivating force through idiomotor response do not have any idea that they are the cause. It is these involuntary...

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The Jayarāśi Question [A History of Materialism From Ajita to Udbhaṭa - Part IV]

Ramkrishna Bhattacharya    The Jayarāśi Question The Lion Assailing the Verities (Tattvopaplavasiṃha), written by Jayarāśi probably in the ninth century, has been claimed by some scholars to be the only surviving Cārvāka work. Others have challenged this view[i]. Since there is no external evidence to settle the question, the debate continues solely on the basis of internal evidence and intrinsic probability. No near-unanimous conclusion has been reached to date. Instead...

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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 says he has been cured. Experiment: 143 Effect: Curing jaundice by psychic power. Props: Mustard Oil. Method: If you pour some mustard oil in your mouth and gargle for a few...

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Cārvāka: The Base Text and Its Commentators from the Eighth Century [A History of Materialism From Ajita to Udbhaṭa - Part III]

Ramkrishna Bhattacharya    Cārvāka: The Base Text and Its Commentators from the Eighth Century We now come to the formation of the philosophical systems, each having a set of aphorisms or sūtras with commentaries and sub-commentaries. Broadly speaking, the brahmanical position was unsparing in denouncing all the three of its non-Vedic adversaries, while the materialists had to put up a lone battle against all philosophical systems, Vedic and non-Vedic, but mostly against Buddhism,...

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