Autobiography of a Yogi eBook

{FN7-3} French professors were the first in the West to be willing to scientifically investigate the possibilities of the superconscious mind.  Professor Jules-Bois, member of the L’Ecole de Psychologie of the Sorbonne, lectured in America in 1928; he told his audiences that French scientists have accorded recognition to the superconsciousness, “which is the exact opposite of Freud’s subconscious mind and is the faculty which makes man really man and not just a super-animal.”  M. Jules-Bois explained that the awakening of the higher consciousness “was not to be confused with Coueism or hypnotism.  The existence of a superconscious mind has long been recognized philosophically, being in reality the Oversoul spoken of by Emerson, but only recently has it been recognized scientifically.”  The French scientist pointed out that from the superconsciousness come inspiration, genius, moral values.  “Belief in this is not mysticism though it recognized and valued the qualities which mystics preached.”

{FN7-4} St. Theresa of Avila and other Christian saints were often observed in a state of levitation.

{FN7-5} “Great sage.”

{FN7-6} Actual perception of God.

{FN7-7} The saint’s full name was Nagendranath Bhaduri.  Math means hermitage or ashram.

CHAPTER:  8

INDIA’S GREAT SCIENTIST, J.C.  BOSE

“Jagadis Chandra Bose’s wireless inventions antedated those of Marconi.”

Overhearing this provocative remark, I walked closer to a sidewalk group of professors engaged in scientific discussion.  If my motive in joining them was racial pride, I regret it.  I cannot deny my keen interest in evidence that India can play a leading part in physics, and not metaphysics alone.

“What do you mean, sir?”

The professor obligingly explained.  “Bose was the first one to invent a wireless coherer and an instrument for indicating the refraction of electric waves.  But the Indian scientist did not exploit his inventions commercially.  He soon turned his attention from the inorganic to the organic world.  His revolutionary discoveries as a plant physiologist are outpacing even his radical achievements as a physicist.”

I politely thanked my mentor.  He added, “The great scientist is one of my brother professors at Presidency College.”

I paid a visit the next day to the sage at his home, which was close to mine on Gurpar Road.  I had long admired him from a respectful distance.  The grave and retiring botanist greeted me graciously.  He was a handsome, robust man in his fifties, with thick hair, broad forehead, and the abstracted eyes of a dreamer.  The precision in his tones revealed the lifelong scientific habit.

“I have recently returned from an expedition to scientific societies of the West.  Their members exhibited intense interest in delicate instruments of my invention which demonstrate the indivisible unity of all life. {FN8-1} The Bose crescograph has the enormity of ten million magnifications.  The microscope enlarges only a few thousand times; yet it brought vital impetus to biological science.  The crescograph opens incalculable vistas.”