A Prospectus

SANSKRIT STUDIES

With Special Reference to

A Theory and Practice of

VEDA

EDITED BY

PIERRE
ARNOLD~BERNARD
(1Shastri)

SUPPLEMENTARY ANNOUNCEMENT

American Import

Book Company, New York City

The solemn, brief simplicity,

The insight, fancy, mystery
of Sanskrit writings.

HARVARD AND YALE TO

FARTHER INDIA

The celebrated Indologist, Bernard, is rich in all the

honors which the learned societies on both sides of the Atlantic
can bestow. We see in him a happy medium between the dry
and cold-blooded scholar and the enthusiastic sciolist. H e
works in the Brahman-Guru way and the spirit of truth is
surely with him. H e talks as one to whom justice is an ethical reality capable not only of definition, but of precise application to the problems of life. The language of eulogy from
Harvard and Yale to Farther India is almost exhausted in
praising his incomparable treatise, "Vira Sadhana". It is an
educative presentation of the entire subject of Vedic Yoga.
Read it and reread it, then answer it, if you can.
-Robert
H. Hutchinson, B. A. (Harvard University) ;
Instructor, Berkshire School ; Director, Stony Ford Experimental School ;- Field Investigator, Bureau of Educatioqal'
??
Experiments ; Special ~$dllaborator, Bureau of ~ducatidn;
U. S. Department of t h i j s e r i o r .

ELB&, Sc. (London)

CLINIC OF P I E R R E BERNARD
A flashlight photograph of a n East-India .experiment, "Kali Mudra" (the
simulation of death), a s demonstrated for the last time (November, 1900) by
Pierre Bernard (Shastri), before forty physicians and surgeons, twenty-six
of whom were professors from the Cooper Medical College, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Hahnemann Medical College, the Medical Department
of the University of California, etc. An examination of this Yoga experiment
will show the entire organism sunk into the deepest lethargy t h a t actually
precedes death.
-DR. P. BANERJEE (Shastri), Licentiate, Royal Faculty of Physicians and
Surgeons (Glasgow). and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons
(Edinburgh).

CLINIC OF CLAUDE BERNARD (Paris)

CLINIC OF CHARCOT (Paris)

In contrast with self-induced hypnotism (Bernard's Technique), we
have here an illustration of hypnosis induced in a patient by methods
in which the assistance of a second person is indispensable.

CLINIC O F PINEL
Practical application of hypnotism (psychological medicine) in
pathological conditions of brain and nervous system.

PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD
The public now demands more knowledge of the life and work
of a writer than is indicated by, or that can be read into, a college
degree. The lay reader, differing from the professional, is unable
to gauge an authority or determine just what constitutes adequate
preparation for ably handling such monumental undertakings as
that of the Veda. The Editor of "Vira Sadhana" (Vedic practice),
Pierre Bernard (Shastri), has practically lived, worked out and
demonstrated that which constitutes the very heart of his subject;
a life Vedic by precept no less than by example. On completion of
his pupilage he immediately began exemplifying the work of all
branches of Vedic study, not by hypnotizing his audiences (popular
explanation of the phenomena of East-India Brahmans), but by
actual performance before scientific bodies; and he has shown us
that all the wonderful results achieved by the Hindu (the miraclemonger of the East), and heretofore believed to be his exclusive
property, can be equaled, shall we not say excelled, by Western
peoples. From among a vast number of published comments and
reviews, a few are here presented to throw light on various phases
of the work of the Editor during different periods of his life. These
endorsements evidence a remarkable state of preparedness for treating the subject of Veda in both its theoretical and practical aspects.
The Orient and Occident are of one voice in granting certificates
of Vedic orthodoxy and vouching for the just claim to the Editor's
pre-eminence in Sanskrit Literature. His entire time, apart from
teaching and lecturing, has been for many years past, and will be
for some time to come, exclusively devoted to editing a series of
works under the general title of "Sanskrit Studies," of which "Vira
Sadhana" (a theory and practice of Veda) forms a part. A perusal
of the testimony which follows forbids us speaking further.
'Tis said that environment, or the company one keeps, is characteristic of the man; especially is this true en route to the "Vedic
consciousness." Therefore: Pierre Bernard, M. R. A. S. (Gt. Br.
and Ir.), F. A. G.S., F. R. E. S., F. R. A. I., F. R. M.S. (London),
etc. ; Shastri* (Nad.ia, India) ; Shastri honoris causa (Shsntipur,
Bhatta Palli, and Benares, Ihdia) ; Tantra-Bhushant (Nadia,
-.

"Doctor of the Shastrae-An exclusive Sanskrit title and degree, equivalent t o

Litt. D.. D. D. and Ph. D.. in Europe.
t Highest science-title and degree of India's Brahman Sanskrit Colleges, D. Sc.
in Europe.

India, School founded in 16th Century) ; Tantra-Bhushan honoris

causa (Benares, India) ; Fellow of Vivudha Janani Sabha (Sanskrit College, Nadia, India) ; Fellow of Brahma-Parishad (Council
of Pandits, Nadia, Bengal, India) ; Fellow, Shiva Sanskrit College
(Nadia, India) ; Fellow of Shankaracharya Sanskrit College (Shri
Shankaracharya Holy Matha, Monastic Institution, established I ~ t h
Century, Kolhapur, India) ; Member of the Varendra Anusandhana
Samiti (Brahmanical Research Society, Bengal, India) ; Member of
Arya-Samaj (Vedic Association of United Provinces and Punjab) ;
Member of the National Indian Association (London and Punjab,
India, Sections) ; Member of New York Zoological Society; Member of Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences (Yale University) ; Member of New York Academy of Sciences ; Member, New
York Latin Club; Member of American Academy of Political and
Social Science (Philadelphia) ; Member, American Political Science
Association ; Member of American Historical Association (Washington, D. C.) ; Member of American Pharmaceutical Association
(Chicago) ; Member of American Chemical Society (Washington,
D. C.) ; Member, American Library Association ; Member of American Bibliographic Society (Chicago) ; Member of National Geographic Society (Washington, D. C.) ; Fellow of the American
Geographical Society (New York) ; Member of American Philological Society (Columbia University) ; Member of American
Oriental Society (Harvard University) ; Member of American
Archaeological Institute (Washington D. C.) ; Member, American
Anthropological Society (Yale University Museum) ; Member,
American Ethnological Society (New York) ; Member, American
Association for the Advancement of Science (Washington, D. C.) ;
Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society (London) ; Member,
Royal Asiatic Society, Great Britain and Ireland (London) ; Fellow,
Royal Economic Society (London) ; Fellow, Royal Archaeological
Institute of Great Britain and Ireland ; Member, Seventeenth International Congress of Orientalists, Indian Institute, Oxford ; Member, British Association for the Advancement of Science (London) ;
Member, British School at Rome (Faculty of Archaeology, History
and Letters) ;Fellow and member of more than twenty other important learned societies, academies and learned bodies in Europe, Asia
and America.

VEDIC VALUES

N o w see in this nzost wholesome lore

The Vedas' deep esoteric core.
O n no tradition old it rests:
Its truth at once itself attests.
Whatever preciozcs gews you find
I n sacred tales, are here contbi~zed
Extracted here, yozt taste distilled
T h e nectar thousand verses yield.
-THE

MAHABHARATA.

Despite the grandeur of some of our late literature, yet back

to the old and well-thumbed ancient texts we invariably go for
our final consolation. This fact is none the less recognized by
scholars, who have come to know that there exists no other work
in the literature of mankind ranking in importance with the Veda, as
apart from it no understanding can possibly be had of the mind and
heart of our ancient forefathers. Pure Aryan thought is not to be
found in Hebraic or Semitic texts, but only in the Veda, the output
of our own blood; and I am confident that a knowledge of the great
ideals and the lofty philosophy of the Eastern branch of the Aryan
family will right royally redeem its pledge to every reader.
-P. B E R N A R D (Shastri), Royal Asiatic Society ( L o n d . ).

I firmly believe that the one great hope for classical learning and
education lies in the interest which the unlearned public may be
brought to feel in Ancient life and thought.
-?V. W A R D E F O W L E R , in "Art and Archaeology," Washington, D . C .
Sanskrit works contain the secrets of that Brahmanism which preceded all our religions and philosophies by so many thousand years.
I n these unfathomable books the old thinkers, those sages who, with
clearer vision than any men of our age, have inscribed the sum of all
human knowledge. Their long-forgotten works now pass our degenerate understanding; and so to-day years of initiation are required
merely to see the unfathomable depths beyond. I have never heard
such words on life and death as from the masters at Benares who
study these writings.
-PIERRE L O T I , ill his book "India," P . 255, tr. by G. A. F.
Innzan.

The more we go back, the more we examine into the germs of

any religion, the purer, I believe, we shall find the conceptions of the
Deity.
-MAX
M U L L E R , Prof. o f . Sanskrit, Oxford University;
Member, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
"Brahmanism of the Veda," is a religion, tolerant, philosophical
and non-militant.
-SIR A. C. L Y A L L , K. C. B., G. C. I. E., Council (Member) of
the Sec'y of State for India. "Great Religions of the World,"
P. 96. (I?. Y . and Lond. 1901.)
The study of the Vedas becomes merely a matter of intellectual exercise when not accompanied by practical application
(Yoga), and this latter constitutes a perfectly well recognized system of physical, mental, and psychic training, out of which the
states of consciousness referred to throughout Vedic literature can
be realized by the devotee.
-PANDIT S. E . GOPALACHARLU.
The Vedic philosophy is a system which is not only transcendental, but which is also never in antagonism to science or any
reasonable theories that are or may be propounded. I t is most
tolerant and comprehensive.
-DR. THEODORE GOLDSTUCKER, Doc. University of
Konigsberg, Prussia; Hon. Professor of Sanskrit, University
College, Lond.; Pres. Philological Society, Lond.; Vice-Pres.
East India Assoc., Lond.; Editor of Sanskrit Dictionary, etc.
The Sama Veda has been called the "Incantarnenta" of ancient
Tndia, as "the best preserved record of a phase of belief of which we
find traces in the histories of the civilization of all nations."
-K. S. McDONALD, M. A., D. D., Author of "Veda Religion,"
the "Brakmanas of the Vedas" and Editor of the Indian
Evangelical Review, etc.
The study of the Veda is an alluring recreation. To climb the
heights of those great altitudes, a wonderful means of enriching
and widening the spiritual horizon, gives a sense of exhilaration
as one rises to a higher atmosphere.
-PAUL D E U S S E N , M. R. A. S.,Professor at the University
of Kiel, Germany; Author of "Philosophy of the Upanishads," "Elements of Metaphysics," ' ' S y s t e m of Vedanta,"
stc.

"The early Aryans (vedic) were a life-loving and sturdy race";

"The Upanishadic portion of the Veda has a great intrinsic interest
for the student of one of the most important phases of evolution,
inasmuch as it is the reflex of a most wonderful period in the history
of India." "Vigorous, great and noble thoughts pervade the Veda;
it teaches a nature-religion, and its hymns constitute the oldest
recorded document of our (Aryan) branch of the human race."

-Pp.

7, 8, g, 17, Address (printed) delivered at twenty-second

annual meeting of the American Philological Society by its
president, Ch. Lanman, Professor of Sanskrit in Harvard
University.

No one can read the Veda (all those sacred Sanskrit writings
constituting the collective inalienable property of our forefathers,
Bernard) and its commentaries without
the ancient Aryans.-P.
feeling a richer and wiser man.

-PROFESSOR MAX MULLER, M. A., Ph. D., Hon. Doc.

Berlin, Bologna, Budapest, Ca?tzbridge, Dublin, Edinburgh,
Princeton, etc.
(School of Oriental Studies, London.)-The trade imports and
exports of England alone, with her Oriental possessions, amount to
something more than $1,05o,ooo,ooo, yearly. (Figures furnished by
the Board of Trade, Lond.) Total imports and exports of these Oriental possessions amount to over $4,700,000,000 and their population
to over 800,000,000 souls. These are the facts in mind back of the
establishment of the school for the teaching of Oriental languages in
London. Germany at the present moment spends $50,000 yearly
upon its Oriental School at Berlin ; France spends $40,000 per year
upon a similar institution; Russia $40,000 per year upon its School
at Petrograd ;Italy spends $20,000 per year for similar purposes, and
with interests far more circumscribed. According to the present
plans London contemplates an expenditure of $70,000 per year for
its School of Oriental Languages. How about you, Young America ?
-P. BERNARD (Shastri), Royal Asiatic Society (Lond.).

"I beseech thee, adored Sun-God, that this, my zoological tribute,

may find favor in thine eyes ! Guide me, safe and sound, to India,
that I may labor in thy light, and return home under thy protection
in the spring."
-Haeckel's

"Visit to Ceylon," p.

20.

I t is impossible to read the Vedas, or the many fine compositions

in illustration of them, without believing that Pythagoras and Plato

derived their sublime theories from the same foundation as the

sages of India.

-SIR W I L L I A M JONES, K. C. I. E., Lingztist and Oriental

Scholar, Jztdge of the Supreme Court of Jztdicatztre, Fort
William, Bengal; Founder, Asiatic Soc. of Bengal; Author
of "Asiatic Researches," "Comnzentaries on Asiatic Poetry,"
"Mztsical Modes of the Hindzts,I' "The Second Classic Book
of the Chinese"; Translator of "Speeches of Isaeus," "NadirShah." (Persic), "Gitagovinda" (Skt.), "Institzttes of Manzt"
(Skt.), "Shakzcntala" ( S k t . ) , etc.
The greatest merit of the Apostles, in my eyes, is that they had
the wisdom to revert to Krishna and the Vedas for the foundation
of the drama and to boldly propound those pure and sublime doctrines from the sacred books of other and previous times.
-P. 298, Jacolliot's "Bible in India."
There is no doctrine of Christianity but what has been anticipated
by the Vedas.

-HORACE
GREELEY (one of America's
editors).

no st eminent

I t is a sin to name the two books, the Bible and "Laws of Manu"
(Sanskrit work) in the same breath. The sun lies on the whole
book, "Manu." All those things on which Christianity vents its
bottomless vulgarity-procreation,
for example, woman, marriage,
are here handled earnestly and reverently, with love and trust. I
know no book in which so many tender and gracious things are said
about women as in the "Laws of Manu" (Indo-Aryan Code of
Law).

-NIETZSCHE.
From every sentence deep, original and sublime thoughts arise, and
the whoIe is pervaded by a high, holy and earnest spirit. In the
whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that
of the Veda. I t has been the solace of my life; it will be the solace
of my death.

--ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, Ph. D.,University of Jena;

Aztthor of "Wisdom of Life," "Cozinsels and Maxims," "Art
of Literatztre," "Stzrdies in Pessimism," "Art of Controversy," "The World as Will and Idea," "Essays on Hunzan
Nature," "Religion-A
Dialogzie and Other Essays,"
"Parerga and Paralipomena," etc.
The sturdy Aryans of the Vedic times recognized no restrictions
against the use of beef and they refer with pride to their merchants

going to sea. The Rishis of the Vedic period did not form a separate and exclusive class and did not pass their lives away from the
world in penance and contemplation. On the contrary, they were
practical men (Rishis) of the world, fathers of families and possessed large herds of cattle, cultivated fields, fought against the
aboriginal enemies in times of war, etc., etc. These great cornposers -these great Rishis of the Rig Veda, did not form an
exclusive caste of their own; they were worldly men, mixed and
married with the people, shared property with the people, fought
with the people in wars and were of the people.

-Pp. 63, 64, V o l . I , "History of Civilization i n Ancient India," by

R o ~ n e s hChzcnder Dzttt, C. I . E., Menzber of Asiatic Society
of Bengal and of Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and
Iretastd. Lotzdon, 1893.
,

The study of Sanskrit or the knowledge of Sanskrit, so to speak,

has been my daily bread for twenty years. I have spent the best
energies of a number of years in entering into the spirit of the
Upanishadic portion of the Veda.

-DR.

P A U L D E U S S E N (Azcthor of "Elc~tze~ztsof Metaplzysics," "Philosophy of Uparzishads," etc., Professor at

University of K i e l ) , irt Introdzcctiorz to C C M Iyftdian Remittiscences."

Adaptability is the essence of the universe (Black Yajur Veda,

Taitt. 2, 7), and no word in any language will so well define the
nature of the whole Vedic philosophy as that "adaptability or accommodation"; it is taught on every page. I n fact, in the very handling
of the root word "Brahman," with change of gender and accent, and
upon which the whole religion and philosophy is based we see the
conscious and intelligent application of the accommodation theory.
Again taking the very words from the lips of Deussen as found in
his "Philosophy of the Upanishads" that " 'iva' should, strictly
speaking, be supplied to every page and every line in which the
Upanishads are concerned with something other than the atman,"
we see this scholar demands the whole scripture be rewritten to
appease that very empirical consciousness which he is found criticising ever and anon, and that a virtual apology in red type be
uppermost on every page that every common boor may grasp the
true intent and meaning of the sacred text. This is in direct violation of the intent of all-wise nature that the truths which concern
the eternal world should not be in the hands of those whose every
moment is obsessed with what constitutes me, my, mine, and the
temporary and transient world.
-PIERRE B E R N A R D ( S h a s t r i ) , Royal Asiatic Society; Arneuican Ethtzological atzd A~ttltropologicalSocieties, etc.

The Upanishadic portion of the Veda teaches us that the man

possessing knowledge is as little moved by pain in his own body as
by that of another; and he who still feels pain has not yet attained
to perfect knowledge.
-P. 43 in "Ozttline of Vedanta S y s t e , ~
of Philosophy," by Pazcl
Deussen, Professor in University of Kiel.
W e must turn to the ancients," and among them the disciples of
Buddha and believers in Brahma, if we would fortify our isolated
life with the virtue and dignity of experience.
-P. 19, Introduction to "A Century of Indian Epigra~ns," translated by Paul Elnzer Moore.
The Veda is the most sublime of all philosophies and the most
comforting of all religions.
-The Rt. Hon. M A X M U L L E R , Late Professor of Sattskrit
and Comparative Philology, Oxford University.
The Vedas were for many centuries preserved by oral tradition
and were not committed to writing until at a very late date. But at
the same time we must say that the wonderful progress made by
Indian literature in the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries before Christ
presupposes the existence of the art of writing in that country. I n
my opinion, the art of writing was known in India in the 8th century before Christ.
-P. 38, Introdzcction to Kaccayana's Pali Granz~jtar by Satis
Chandra Acharya, Vidyabhusana, M. A., Professor, Sanskrit
College, Calcrctta, and Melnber of the Royal Asiatic Society,
London.
The Ancient Brahmans of India had always t o learn the Veda
by heart and from the mouth of a properly qualified teacher. The
later law-books laid down severe punishment for persons who
copy the Veda or learn it from MSS. The Vedic peoples were not
the only Aryans of antiquity who discovered the means of preserving a large literature by oral tradition. We can trace the
existence of the Veda as handed down by oral tradition from our
days to the 5th Century B. C. The education of the children of the
Brahmans consists in their passing at least eight years in the house
of a Guru (Preceptor) and learning the ancient Vedic hymns by
heart. I endorse the word of I-tsing when he says, "Vedas are not
written on paper, but handed down from mouth to mouth." The
Rig Veda alone contains about 153,826 words. The poems of the

Veda composed in perfect metre were handed down from at least

1500 B. C. to 1500 A. D. (the time to which most of our Skt. MSS.
belong) entirely by memory. This may sound startling, but what
will sound still more startling, and yet is a fact that can be easily
ascertained by anybody who doubts it, at the present moment, if
every MS. of the Rig Veda were lost, we should be able to recover
the whole of it from the memory of the Brahman Srotriyas in
India. The native students learn the Veda by heart and they learn
from the mouth of their Guru, never from MSS., still less from
my printed edition; and after a time they teach it again to
their pupils. I have had such students in my room at Oxford who
not only could repeat these hymns but who repeated them with
the proper accent (for the Vedic Sanskrit has accents like Greek),
nay, who, when looking through my printed edition of the Rig
Veda, could point out a mistake without the slightest hesitation. I
can tell you more. There are hardly any various readings in our
MSS. of the Rig Veda, but various schools in India have their
own readings of certain passages, and they hand down those readings
with great care. So, instead of collating MSS. as we do in

Greek and Latin, I have asked some friends of mine to collate those

Vedic students who carry their own Rig Veda in their memory, and

to let me have the various readings from these living authorities.

Here then we are not dealing with theories but with facts, which

anybody may verify. The whole of the Rig Veda, and a great deal

more, still exists at the present moment in the oral tradition of a

number of scholars who, if they liked, could write down every letter,

and every accent exactly as we find them in our old MSS.

- M A X M U L L E R , Aztthor of "Co~ttribzttionto tlze Scieltce of

Mythology," "Three Lectures o n the Vedanta Philosophy,"
" T h e Science of Lagtgttage," "Clzips from a German W o r k shop," Three Lectztres oft the "Science of La?tgztage, and its
Place 2.12 Gefzeral Edz~cation," "Hibbert Lectures ott the Orighz
and Growth of Religiotz," "Introdztction to tlte Science of Religiorz," "Natltral Religio~zYJ'"Physical Religion," "Antlzropological Religion," "Psychological Religion," " T h e Scie~zceof
Thouglzt," "Tlzree Ifttrodztctory Lectures-on the Science of
Thoztght," "Biographies of W o r d s , atld the H o m e of the
Aryas," "India, W h a t Can I t Teach Us? ' A Sanskrit Grattzntar for Beginners"; Editor itt Chief of Fifty-five Volzt~tzes,
Oxford Edition, Sacred Books of the East.
The Brahmans did transmit the Vedic hymns with verbal accuracy
for many hundreds of years.
--Note by F . E . P A R G I T E R , M . A., Late Jztdge, H i g h Court,
Calczttta. Tra~zslatorof Pzrva~zaT e x t of Dynasties of Kali
Age, O x f o r d .

The Veda (Ayur-Veda of Charaka) cannot fail to be of great

interest to the medical profession.
-AUSTIN FLINT, M. D., Prof. of Obstetrics and Clinical
Gynecology, Bellevzce Hospital Medical College; Consulting
Obstetrician, N . Y . Maternity Hospital; Attending Sztrgeon,
Woman's Hospital; Member Awz. rued. Assoc., N . Y .
Obstetrical Soc., N. Y . .Co. Med. Soc., N . Y . State Med.
r
Soc., and Fellow N. Y . Academy of Medicine.
'

L1.l

The (later) Veda abounds in psychological observations in which.

the parts and functions of the human body (the little cosmos), are
correlated with the phenomena of the outer world (the big cosmos).
Schopenhauer used to have the Vedas (Upanishads) lie open upon
his table, and was in the habit, before going to bed, of performing
his devotions from its pages. The Upanishads (one half of the
Vedas) are in his eyes the fruit of the profoundest insight that the
the authors of which can scarcely
world has ever seen, . .
be imagined to have been mere men. Professor Deussen, one of
the profoundest living students of Brahmanical philosophy, himself
a trained philosopher, says.that the thought of the Vedas (Upanishadic portion) has not its equal perhaps anywhere else in the
world; that to these thinkers came . . . the most intimate
and immediate insight into the ultimate Mystery of Being.
-MAURICE BLOOMFIELD, Ph. D., LL. D.,Member of the
American Philological Society, the American Oriental
Society, etc.; Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative
Philology, John Hop kins University, Baltimore.

The Vedic texts should be interpreted in the Yogic aspect first

before anything else. The terrible mistake of European scholars
is in interpreting the Veda in its Adibhautika aspect; for on this
principle all effort at understanding the Veda is absolutely useless.
-S. RAMASWAMI AI Y A R (Pundit), i l z "The Arya," Madras,
India.
The Veda has three aspects: Adhyatmika (physio-psychic phenomena of our body, the Yoga), Adibhautika (related to phenomena
of external cosmos), Adidaivika (as related to affairs of the Devas,
o r the theological aspect).
-PIERRE BERNARD (Shastri).
The highest and purest morality is the immediate consequence
of the Vedic philosophy. I't is also the greatest consolation in the
sufferings of life and death ; keep to it !
-"Elements of Metaphysics" ( P . 337), by Dr. Paul Deussen,
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kiel, Germany.

The texts of the Vedas will maintain a place in the literature of

the world, among the most astonishing productions of the human
mind in any age and in any country.
-The Rt. Hott. M A X MULLER, Honorary Doctor, Berlin,
Cambridge, etc.; Formerly Professor of Sanskrit and Cowparative Philology, Oxford University; Ex-President,
International Congress of Orientalists, London; Member,
American Philosophical Society, Royal Berlht Academy,
Royal Society of Gottingen, German Oriental Society, Royal
Asiatic Society (Gt. Br. and Ir.), etc.
The study of the Veda will produce as great a revolution in the
West as the Renaissance did during the Middle Ages.
SCHOPENHAUER.
The Vedic religion was the only one the development of which
took place without any extraneous influences.
-MAX MULLER, '(India lectures," vol. 4, page 124.
If the physicians of the present day would drop from the Pharmacopceia all the modern drugs, chemicals, etc., and treat their patients
according to the methods of Veda (Charaka in Ayur-Veda), there
would be less work for the undertakers, and fewer chronic invalids
in the world.
-GEORGE H . CLARK, M. A., M. D., Philadelphia.
The system of medicine of the ancient Aryans is far superior to
that of the Egyptians, Babylonians and Hebrews.
-1. H. B A A S , p. 49, ccOutlinesof the History of Medicine and
the Medical Profession," N . Y., 1889.
Shankaracharya divided the whole of the Vedic philosophy into
two distinct systems, the exoteric and the esoteric.
-DR. P A U L DE USSEN, Professor of Philosophy at University
of Kiel, Germany.
I n regard to treatment of leprosy the modern physician would
have but little to suggest to his ancient Indio-Aryan colleague.
-p. 472, 1. A . M. A., Vol. L X V , No. 6, "Dermatology of the
Ancients," by Howard Fox, M. D.,New York.
If one were to compare, for instance, the mortality from cholera
and similar diseases under the ancient and under modern treatment
I am sure one would find much to blush for in the statistics. The

world, so far as the treatment of disease is concerned, needs enlightenment, and I would rather trust the ancient Vedic (Ayur-Vedic
Yoga) system than the allopathic practice of what we are wont t o
term the enlightened age.
- G E O R G E H . C L A R K , M . A., M . D., Philadelphia.
The influence, which has been already glanced at, of Indo-Aryan
medicine upon the Arabs in the first centuries of the Hegira was one
of the very highest significance; and the Khalifs of Bagdad caused
a considerable number of works upon the subject to be translated..
Now, a s Arabian medicine constituted the chief authority and guiding
principle of European physicians down to the seventeenth century,.
it directly follows just as in the case of astronomy, that the Indians,
must have been held in high esteem by the latter ; and indeed Charaka
is repeatedly mentioned in the Latin translations of Avicenna
(Ibn Sina), Rhazes (A1 Rasi) and Serapion (Ibn Serabi).

-Pp. 270 and 271, ''Tlze History of Indian Literatzwe," by W e b e r ,

4 t h Edition, Londolt. ( S e e Royal o n the Antiquity o f
Hindzi Medicine, 1838; also~Wilson'sW o r k s , 3d Vol., p. 380 ;
"Essays o n Sanskrit Literatrtre"; " T h e Medicine and S z ~ r g e r y .
of the Hindzcs," etc.).
The number of medical works and authors is extraordinarily
large. The former are either systems embracing the whole domain
of the science, or highly special investigations of single topics, or,
lastly, vast compilations prepared in modern times under the patronage of kings and princes. The sum of knowledge embodied in their.
contents appears really to be most respectable. Many of the statements on dietetics and on the origin and diagnosis of diseases
bespeak a very keen observation. In surgery, too, the Indians seem
to have attained a special proficiency, and in this department European surgeons might perhaps even at the present day still learn
something from them, as indeed they have already borrowed from
the operation of rhinoplasty. The information, again, regarding the
medicinal properties of minerals (especially precious stones and
metals), of plants, and animal substances, and the chemical analysis.
and decomposition of these, covers certainly much that is valuable.
Indeed, the branch of Materia Medica generally appears to be
handled with great predilection, and this makes up to us in some
measure, at least for the absence of investigations in the field of
natural science. On the diseases, etc., of horses and elephants also
there exist very special monographs.
-An e.rceEEent general sketclz of Indiafz medical science i s given
i n Dr. Wise's w o r k , "Cot~znzerztaryo n the Hiftdzt S y s t e ~ ~of'
z
Medicine," whiclz appeared at Calczttta in 1845.

"There is no knowledge equal to the Sankhya of Kapila (the

father of Brahmanical philosophy) and no power equal to Yoga."
Yoga is the science taught in the Tantras which treats of the acquisition, retention, correct interpretation and practical application
of the Veda.
-P. B E R N A R D (Shastri) .
H e who sedulously devotes himself to Yoga will undoubtedly
become acquainted with the real nature of the Deity.
-KURMA P U R A N A .
I f you want to study language, religion or philosophy, you have
to go to India; and whether you like it or not, because some of the
most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man
are treasured up in India, and in India only.

-The

Rt. Hon. Professor M A X FREDER<ICK M U L L E R ,

Czcrator of Bodleian Library, Oxford; Member of tlze Royal
Academy of Mz~niclz,and of tlzc Royal Snrdinian, Bavarian,
Hzlngariatt and Irish Acade~ttics,of the I?~zperialAcademy
of Viegzna, etc.

The path of the Tantras (unabridged Veda) or practical occultism

leads to the acquisition of Yoga power. The first Yoga of the
Tantra is concentration.
-KALI P R A S A N N 1 4 M U K H E R J I (Paftdit), Barakar, India.
The Tantras constitute the Fifth-Veda. (They mark.the completion of the Veda.)
-"Miscella~teoz~s Essays" (P. IO), read before Royal Asiatic
Society of Great Britain and Ireland by the late W . D.
Wltitney, Professor of Salzskrit and Comparative Plzilology,
Yale University.
The Tantras are all Yoga Shastras containing directions and
formulas for the attainment of Yoga Siddhi (perfected Yoga
powers).
-I?ztrodz~ction to "Yoga Vasistlza" (P.17), vol. I., Pt. I.), Translated by Vilzari La1 Mitra, Pundit.
Yoga (the basis of which is "preventive medicine") is the power
which makes a man capable of appreciating the life around him, and
the power of making that life worth appreciating.
-MALLOCI<.

The Tantras supply the ritual to all sects of India, each sect
having its own Tantra. The Tantras represent the Vedic rituals
in a modified form and before any one jumps into the most absurd
conclusions concerning them, I advise him to read the Tantras in
conjunction with the Brahmana portion of the Veda.
-"The
Collective Writings of Vivekananda" (p. go), Madras,
India.
The paragon of all monistic systems of philosophy is the Vedanta
(of the Vedas), and the paragon of all Vedic missionaries was the
late Swami Vivekananda.
-"PragmatiswJJ) (p. I ~ I ) ,by W M . JAMES, M. D., Ph. et
Litt. D.,LL. D.,Formerly Professor of Philosophy and
Psychology, Harvard University.
Aye, you may be astonished to hear, but as practical Vaidiks
(practicians of the Veda) the Europeans are better than we are.
-SWAMI
VIVEKANANDA, in "Lectures, Colombo to
Almora" (p. 245).
God has not left Himself without a witness during all the centuries
that have elapsed and it is not true that he revealed Himself to one
race only, the Jews of Palestine. The Veda alone of all works I
know treats of the genesis of God-consciousness.

-MAX MULLER, Editor-in-Chief of the Sacred Books of the

East (Oxford Edition, fif ty-five volumes) ;Member, Royal
Asiatic Society.
The Tantras (the three recensions comprise nearly three hundred
volumes), the main foundation of the popular creed of the
Brahmanical Hindus, were compiled by Vyasa, the original arranger
of the Vedas.
-"Cyclopedia
of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literatzcre" (p. 791, vol. VIII.), New York, 1894.
The Tantras inculcate a teaching as old as the world.
-MANILAL N. DVJVEDI, B. A., Nadia, India. (See p. 327,
vol. I., "World's Parliament of Religions," Chicago, 1893).
The devotees of the Tantras consider them a Fifth-Veda and
attribute to them equal antiquity and superior authority.
-Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1902.
14

To a man possessed of a key to extract the esoteric significance

of the Tantras, they lay bare the most precious gems ever obtainable; they are the essence of the Vedas.
-R. A N A N T H A K R I S H N A S A S T R I (Pandit).
"The older we grow the more we value the wisdom of the
Brahmans," and "the ancient Aryans of India were in many respects
the most wonderful race that ever lived on earth."
-The R t . Hon. M A X M U L L E R (Hibbert Lectztres, O x f o r d ) .
The Vedas constitute a treasury of science and morals. Their
textual portions are self-evident truths, admitting of no doubt and
depending on the authority of no other book, being represented in
nature.
- B E H A R I LAL, B . A., Shastri (Lahore, I ~ t d i a ;) Metptber of
the Royal Asiatic Society, etc.
Revelation is two-fold, Vedic and Tantrik.
-"Kztllztkablzatta's Cownentary on Laws of Afa~tzt" (II.I.) .
Even two thousand years ago the chief mental facts (of psychology) were well known, while the most fundamental questions
of brain philosophy are still today under lively discussion;
-"Psychology and Life," ( p . 37)) by H U G O M U N S T E R B E R G ,
Professor of Psychology in Harvard University.
Psychological phenomena (to which one half of the Veda is
devoted) is the most important subject of study in the world.
-WILLIAM
E . G L A D S T O N E , M. P.; Double-first Class
Honors, Oxford University; Author of rhymed translation of
"Odes of Horace," and annotated edition, "Bzctler's A~zalogy,"
etc.; Four times Prime Minister of England.
All methods other than Yoga (the Vedic science of human
culture) a r e like beating about a hole to kill a snake.
-Varaha-Upanishad of Krislzna Yajttr-Veda.
The Yogis are cognizant of a fourth state known as "turiya"
which far surpasses the deep dreamless sleep, it being a continued
and perfect consciousness ever and always present in the emancipated one.
- P I E R R E B E R N A R D , Slzastri, ( V i d e M a ~ t d ,7, Sarvopanishatsara, 5-8; and Maitr. 6, 19,7. 11, Black Yajtrr V e d a ) .

What would require hundreds of years to accomplish by metllods

ltnown to the world at large is done in a remarkably short space of
time by the Tantra Shakta Yoga.
-KUM'AR K R I S H N A V A R M A , it2 lecture olz "Tantra," N . Y .
City, (1911).
W e need all the training for mind and all the training for body
that can be given.
-THEODORE R O O S E V E L T .
Professor Jacobi has proved the existence of a philosophical Yoga
system, resting upon logical inferences and not upon intuitive processes, as early as 300 B. C. (SB der konigl. preuss, Alt. der Wiss.,
13. Juli, 191I ) quoted by James H. Woods, Professor of Philosophy
in Harvard University, in his translation of the Yoga System of
Patanjali, Harvard University Press, 1914, Vol. 17 of the Harvard
Oriental Series, (P. XVIII, Introduction).
Our Western philosophy is but the crude thought of the average
man whose reality is entirely the external world. Of internal
nature which the East has always regarded as the reality he knows
little or nothing. Yoga philosophy is the garnered wisdom of ages
of physio-psychological development; it is a successful combination
of theory and practice; in other words, trained common sense. '
-PIERRE B E R N A R D (Slzastri), of the Royal Asiatic Society
of Great Britain and Ireland. [Vide Laltman (Professor of
Sanskrit, etc., in Harvard University) Edition, Harvard
Orierltal Series, Vol. 17, "Pata?tjali's Yoga Apkorisrns."].
Yoga or self-control is essential for every one to attain happiness
in all regions of the world and to realize the state of Ultimate Being
or Samadhi or Brahma.
-SHRI S H A N K A R A C H A R Y A ' M A T H A , Kollzapur (Sanskrit College), Irtdia.
Some Yogis have been interred for nearly thirty days while in
state of Samadhi and taken out alive afterwards.
D R . S A N A T K U M A R (quoted on f . 120, in "Hajtdbook of
Vedanta," by Dr. R. V . Khedkar, L. R . C. S., etc.).

If the physical powers be cultivated exclusively, the result will be

an athlete or a savage ;the moral only, and we will have an enthusiast
or a maniac; the intellectual only, and we have an eccentricity in
individualism amounting almost to an abnormality or freak. The
ancient Greeks laid great stress on physical training, and a sound

mind in a sound body was the end which they professed to aim at
in their highest schools of culture.
-PIERRE B E R N A R D (Shastri), Conn. Acad., Arts and Sciences; American Philological Society; N . Y . Acad. of
Science; American Assoc. Advancement of Science; British
Assoc. Advancement of Science, etc.

I have seen remarkable demonstrations of the power of Yoga

practitioners to control visceral innervation. One man could apparently cause his heart to cease to beat for almost two minutes,
Several physicians of undoubted veracity have assured me that Yoga
practitioners can so stimulate peristalsis that water can be traced
running through the entire intestinal tract, and be recovered fronn
the terminal end of the alimentary canal within a few minutes after
being taken by the mouth. ~ < ~ e r of
t s this form of Yoga are
reputed to be able to control not only the cerebro-spinal nervous
system but also the sympathetic ganglia. Yogis never give
exhibitions for mere curiosity or gain.
In Baba Bharati's "Krishna" I find: "Yoga prescribes certain
physical exercises and comprises a knowledge of anatomy and
physiology, which is utilized in the treatment of disease. F a r from
advocating a deadening of the senses, it advocates a higher development whereby greater and more refined enjoyment may be derived.
It teaches how to control desires, furnishes a practical knowledge
of the human mind and its psychology, and demonstrates the
wisdom of the survival of the fittest. Yoga recognizes matter as
eternal and all pervading, mind and consciousness being merely
peculiar manifestations of matter. This coincides with the old
Vedic philosophic conception of life."
-FREDERICK S. M A S O N , M . D., ( N e w York City), MedicoChirurgical College, Plziladelphia; Member American Medical Association; Urological Society; Society of Medical
Jztrisprudence; Madiattan Medical Society, N e w Y o r k
Cozcnty and State Medical Societies.
I t is such masters (Jnani Yogis), who have attained fullness in
love and godly knowledge, that demonstrate to seekers in India
that God can be known by man, while on earth and in the body.
-P. 92, "Czdtzcre of the Soul Among wester^ Nations," by
P. Ramanathan, K. C., C. M. G., Solicitor-General of Ceylon,
The Agamas (Tantras) are a graduated elaboration of the four
Vedas, and are known as the Fifth Veda. The final o r eternal
truths relating to God, having been revealed to the Jnani Yogis, the
way of attaining God has been worked out in the Agamas (Tantras)
under four principal stages known as Charya (good conduct), Kriya
(symbolic worship), Yoga (subjective union through sense control,

breath control, and thought control), and Jnana (hearing and understanding the principles of eternal life).
-P. 125, "Cultzrre of the Soztl Among Western Nations," by
Ranzanathatz.
Men of marvelous mental powers and intense heroism in India
were always the outcome of the religion of Yoga.
- G O V A R D A N A D A S , i n Brahtjzavadin, Jan., 1913, (writifzg on
the Religion of Yoga.)
The best proof of the practical nature of Yoga is that every system
of religion in India, every school of philosophy recognized Yoga as
the most scientific means of realizing religious truths.
- G O V A R D A N A D A S , in Brahmavadin, Jan., 1903.
The following qualities are found in the body of every Yogi
(accomplished practician of Yoga) : strong appetite, good digestion,
handsome figure, great courage, mighty enthusiasm, great strength,
and happiness.
-Shiva Sanhitn (ch. III. v. X X I . ) , one of the Sanskrit Tantras.
Tantra:-The
Shivagama Tantra is in fact the key to all Brahmanical philosophy.
-Philosophy
of the Tattvas" ( p . 1 7 7 ) ~by Rawza Prasad,
M . A., Pandit.
All kinds of knowledge, whether as it existed among the Ancients,
or as in the course of its improvement in modern times, forms the
subject of Yoga philosophy (Vedic teachings), which embraces and
comprehends in itself a knowledge of all practical arts and sciences.
- V I H A R I LALA M I T R A , i n introdztction to his English translation of "Yoga-Vasishtha." (Five volu,mes, Calczttta, 1893.)
The materialistic side of Yoga, which sets up a primeval matter
as the basis of the Universe and the Purusha, or animal soul, as
evolved out of it, and subsisting in matter, is taken up in the Tantras.
-U/'eber's "Indian Literature," P. 235.
The point to be reached by both Ghatastha and Raja Yoga is the
same, restraint over the mind and its creations and attainment of
the condition of eternal Samadhi. Ghatastha Yoga holds that the
mind will be naturally and easily controlled by shutting up all the
avenues of its communication with external world, viz., (the breath
etc.) .
- M A N I L A L N A B U B H A U D V I V E D I , Pandit.
The processes of Yoga (practice of Veda) are no more and no
less methods of education, using the word in its true significance of

strengthening, developing, e-ducing or forth-leading of faculties

already existent, but weak or latent, than the processes followed in
the million schools and colleges of modern life, for developing the
physical and mental powers. Every act of attention, of concentration, of regulation and balancing, of deliberately "joining" and
directing the self to an object or to itself, of conjugating or engaging
it to or in anything, is an act of Yoga in the strict sense of the word,
and every such act is a help to the development and expansion of
the individual consciousness.
-BHAGAVAN DAS, M. A. (Calczctta, I~ldia),itz "The Science
of Peace" ( p . 305).
India, the land of Ancient civilization, the original home of medicine, still retains secrets which baffle the wisdom of learned
physicians.
-"Man's
Missio~t01% Earth" ( p . 64), by Drs. Kahn and Jordan,
Authors of "The Skin and Its Diseases," etc. (N. Y., 1904.)
Hippocrates, called the "Father of Medicine" because he first cultivated the subject as a science in Europe, is shown to have borrowed
his Materia Medica from the Indo-Aryan (India). Vide "Dr. Royle's
Essays," Kings College (London), Theophrastus (3d Cen. B. C. ) ,
Ctesios (5th Cen. B. C.), and Dr. Wise of Bengal Medical Service
in "Review of History of Medicine" (London) who says: I t is to
the Indo-Aryans, we owe the first system of medicine. Charaka was
our oldest medical writer, while Susruta wrote mainly on surgery,
dividing his work into six divisions. Charaka?~work is in eight
divisions. (This was 25 centuries ago.)
Many surgical operations, which we consider triumphs of modem
surgery, were invented by the Brahmans. They were skilled in performing amputations, lithotomy, abdominal and uterine operations :
they operated for hernia, fistula, piles; they set broken bones and
had specialists in rhinoplasty or operations which modern surgeons
have borrowed from them.
-A. P. SCHULTZ, Licentiate, Royal College of Pltysicians, '08,
(Lond.).
For the resemblance of Yoga to medicine, vide Umesachandra
Gupta's (Medical Dictionary) Vaid~akasabdasindhu,Bhava Misra's
Bhava-prakasa, Madhava's Rugvinischaya o r Madhava-Nidana
(system of pathology), Sarngadhara-sanhita (compendium of therapeutics), Dhanvantarinighantu (Materia Medica) , Madanpala's
Madanavinoda (Materia Medica) , Rajanighantu by Narahari
(Materia Medics)-then read Charaka and Susruta and you will
have been convinced of the identity of Brahamanical School of
Medicine and Yoga.
-PIERRE BERNARD (Shastri).

This imperishable Yoga* I have declared to the Solar Lord, the

Solar Lord imparted it to Manu, and Manu told it to Ikshvaku.
Thus the Sages and Seers knew it, handing it down from Master
to disciple.
-Kri.shna, 4th Book of Bhagavad Gita.
The physician when he pushes his knowledge to its limits finds
it melting away into metaphysics.
-CLAUDE B E R N A R D , M . D., Professor General Physiology,
Faczclty of Sciences; Member French Academy; Prof. of Experiflzental Physiology, College de France; Author of Recherche~ sur les Usages dzt Pancreas; La Fonction
Glucogenique d u Foie; Lecons de Physiologie Experinzentale
Appliquees a la Medicine, 2 vols.; De la Physiologie Generale.
The Vedic philosophy deserves to be widely studied.
P A U L D E U S S E N , M. R. A. S., Professor of Philosophy
in University o f ' Kiel, Germany.

-DR.

T o practice the Tantras, it is necessary to be a professed adept in

ethics and philosophy.
-LOUIS D E L A V A L L E E P O U S S I N , M. R. A. S., Professor
of Sanskrit Language and Literature, University of Ghent,
Belgium.
Observances borrowed from the Tantras have in a great measure
antiquated the institutions of the Vedas.
-P. 32 "Manual of Hindu Pantheism," by Major G. A. Jacob,
Bombay Stafl Corps, and Inspector of A r m y Schools.
The Tantras will tell how more marvelous powers than those
possessed by Christ and described in the Bible, may be acquired.
- P A R A M A H A M S A , S W A M I of Almora, "Collected Writings
of T. Subba Rao" ( p . I&), Bombay, 1895.
The works known as Tantras are Sanskrit creations under a
foreign rule, and give elaborate accounts of practices for the acquisition of supernatural powers.
-P. 213, Vol. II, Dutt (Civilization i n Ancietrt India).
The Upanishads (over two hundred of these Sanskrit treatises
belong to the Gnana-Kanda portion of the Veda, and are recoverable to-day) can never be very intelligible without this comprehensive science, Tantra.
-"Philosophy of the TattvasJ' (P. 177), by Rama Prasad, M. A ,
Pundit.

*Vide Sabhapate Yoga Gnyan Anubhuti for fur the^ knowledge of Yoga.

Wise sages have declared the Smritis (the whole body of sacred
tradition or codes of law, the Vendangas, Srauta and Grihya Sutras,
Manu, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, Niti Shastras, etc.) as
treatises for knowing Brahma.
-Vicharsagara (p. 77), Calcutta.
The Smritis (traditional teachings) are the work of eminent men.
I t must be remembered that the knowledge of men like Kapila was
perfect, and that, therefore, their teachings cannot be wrong. Hence
the Vedic texts must be explained in conformity with the Smritis.
-Extract from Lecture on "Shankara's Refutation of the Sunkhya" before Central India Braltt~zo-Somaj, by Shantaram
Anant Desai, M . A., L L . B., Professor of Philosophy, Holkar
College, Indore, India.
The authorship of the Smritis is attributed to old (Vedic) Rishis,
such as Atri, Kanva, Vyasa, Sandilya, Vharadvaja, etc.
-Encyclopedia Britantzica (p. 288, vol. X X I , 9th Edition).
The Vedic doctrine must be so interpreted as to make it consistent
with the teachings of the Smritis of Kapila.
- - " A Study of the Indian Philosophy" ( p . 343), by Desai,
Bombay, 1906.
According to the Shastras, no knowledge stands higher in importance than the Yoga Shastra, and the Vedas call it the Vidya.
-SRIS C H A N D R A BASU, B. A., Vakil, High Court, N . W . P.,
India.
This Tantrik science is the essence of the Vedas.
-Trifuratapini-Upanishad.
The East Indian Tantras, which are numerous, constitute the
scripture (Shastra) of the Kali Yuga (Iron Age). The Tantra
Shastra is in fact, whatever be its historical origin, the development
of the Vedic Karmakanda. To the Tantra we must therefore look
if we would understand aright, both ritual, Yoga, and Sadhana of
all kinds, as also the general principles of which these practices are
but the objective expression. Yet of all the forms of Brahmanical
Shastra, the Tantra is that which is least known and understood,
a circumstance part due to the difficulties of its subject matter and
to the fact that the key to much of its terminology and method rest
with the initiate alone.
-The Hon. JUSTICE SIR JOHN GEORGE WOODROFFE,
Kt., B. C. L., M. A. (Oxford University); Pz~isilteJztdge,
High Coztrt, Calcz~tta,India; Translator o f the Mahanirvanu
Tantra (Calczttta, 1913); Author of "Principles of Tantra,"
etc.

The Tantras were originally cultivated and developed by the Atlanteans. In the course of time their doctrines and ritual gradually
crept into the Brahmanical doctrine.
-T. S U B B A R A O , (Pandit, B. A., LL. B., etc., Madras University) in "Collected Writings," P. 292.

If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully
developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on
the greatest problems of life and has found solution of some of
them which will deserve the attention even of those who have
studied Plato and Kant, I should point to India. And if I were to
ask myself from what literature we here in Europe-we who have
been nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of the Greeks and
the Romans and the Semitic races, may draw that corrective which
is most wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more
comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human, a life not
for this life only, but a transfigured and eternal life, again I should
point to India.

-The

R t . Hon. M A X M U L L E R , Fellow of the Royal Aca,de~ny,

Mztnich; Cztrator of Bodleian Library, Oxford; First President of the English Goethe Society; President of International Congress of Orientalists, London; Foreign Associate
of the Institztte of France, Reale Academia dei Lincei
( R o m e ) ;Foreign Associate of tlze Royal Berlin, Sardiniatz,
Bavarian, Hztnga~ianand Irish Academies; Foreign Associate
Member o f the Inzperial Academy of Vienna, of the Royal
Society of Upsala, etc.; Member of the Royal Academy of
Lisbon, and the Royal Sociedy of Gdttingen; Honorary
Member of tlze Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and
Ireland, of the German Oriental Society, etc.

Let us adore the supremacy of that Divine Sun, the Godhead,

who illuminates all, from whom all proceed, who recreates all, to
whom all must return, whom we invoke to direct our understanding
aright in our progress toward his holy seat. The Gayatri (repeated
three times daily by forty millions of Brahamans), composed by the
Rishi Viswamitra, and to be found in Rig Veda 111, 62, 10.

"Unveil, 0 Thou who giveth sustenance to the Universe, from

whom all proceed and to whom all must return, that face of the true
Sun, now hidden by a vase of golden light, that we may see the
Truth, and do our whole duty, on our journey to Thy Sacred Seat."
-THE G A Y A T R I fro^ the Riga Veda ( a popztlar English ren-

dering).

"Vira Sadhana," by Pierre Bernard (Shastri), is the only universally acknowledged authoritative text in the English language on
the subject of East Indian Yoga. Yoga is best defined as bodily
culture and mind control. The book presents not merely one aspect,
but the whole system of Yoga.

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL YOGA OF THE VEDA

Authentic cases of human hibernation in India of late have been
accomplished at Ludhiana, Jesselmere, Lahore, Calcutta, etc., and
are to be found described in London (Medical) "Lancet" by Dr.
Law, Dr. McGregor, Dr. Sanatkurnar, Dr. N. C. Paul, Dr. (Col.)
Townsend of British India Medical Service, R. Walsh, LL. D., Capt.
Wade, Lieut. A. H. Boi-leau, General Ventura, the Maharaja of
Lahore, and others. "Some Yogis have been interred for nearly
thirty days while in a state of Moksha and taken out alive afterwards," says Dr. R. V. Khedkar of the Royal College of Surgeons
(London), Chief Surgeon, Kolhapur Hospital, etc. Medical
literature of to-day abounds in the description of cases of suspended
animation in varying degrees ; and it is innecessary to remind the
naturalist of the fact that many species of animals, the tortoise,
guana, land turtle, Himalayan marmot, etc., invariably pass the winter in a hibernal sleep, awakening in the spring with renewed and
unimpaired energies. Human hibernation, one of the peculiar
accomplishments of Yoga, has an analogy in sleep, and there are
thousands of instances on record of individuals sleeping for weeks,
months, and even for years.

-JOHN

M I L T O N D E X T E R , B. A., M . D., (N. Y. City).

"The word Yoga means union, and the word Yogi means one
who practices Yoga. This union when accomplished by the individual, must enhance one's susceptibilities and powers, and so Yogis
claim a far-reaching knowledge of the secrets of nature and extensive sway over men and natural phenomena.
The most usual
manifestation of this power is a state of ecstasy, of the nature of
self-hypnotism." P. 921, vol. X X V I I I , E~tcyclopedia Britannicn
"The Yoga is made up of practices with the view
( I ~ t Edition).
h
of attaining to complete concentration . . . and the acquisition
of miraculous powers." P. 179, vol. X X I V (Ibid). "Perhaps the
most marvelous achievement among well-attested cases of hypnosis
is that of certain Yogis of India; by training and practice they
seem to acquire the power of arresting almost completely all their
vital functions." P. 201, vol. X I V (Ibid).

"'oga
(physiological) seeks to obtain phenomenal control over
the physical functions by means of the science of breathing, and
finally it emerges in the display of a number of phenomenal powers,
such as reversing the polarity of the body so as to produce levitation,
suspending animation by controlling the breath, etc. ; in fact having
complete mastery of the physical functions."
- W A L T E R GORN OLD, Member of tlze Royal Asiatic Society
of Great Britain and Ireland.
"Regulate the breath, so steady the mind and enjoy peace" is the
command of the great Indo-Aryan Sage, Patanjali, said to be the
founder of the system of psycho-physical culture (Yoga) by which
one may retain their bodily and mental powers for an indefinitely
long time.
I n India the true Yogis are recruited from the higher educated
Brahmans, many having university educations, speaking the best of
English, etc., I have met with those who have studied medicine and
were familiar with all our modern ideas on hypnotism, psychiatry,
hallucinations, etc.
-F. S Y L V E S T E R M A S O N , M . D., Medico-Chirztrgical College,
Philadelphia; Member of American Medical Association,
Urological Society, Society of Medical Jurisprztdence, Manhattan Medical Society, N e w York Coztnty and State Medical
Societies, etc.
From this view of Yoga it will appear that all kinds of knowledge,
whether as it existed among the Ancients or as in the course of its
improvement in modern times, forms the subject of the Yoga philosophy, which embraces and comprehends in itself a knowledge of all
practical arts and sciences. Hence it is evident that a large fund of
learning forms the greatest Yoga and the most learned among men
were the great thinkers or Yogis in all ages. No rational being
therefore can either refrain from thinking, or employing his mind
in the acquisition of knowledge, both of which are termed Yoga in
Indian philosophy.
-MITRA, comtn.ents in his translation of Yoga Vasishtha.
In my essays I have referred to the fact that vast stores of knowledge touching the human body are hidden away from our Western
culture in those wonderful but obscure Sanskrit writings known as
the Vedas, thousands of volumes that contain the wisdom of the ages.
-P. 22, McCt~~re's,
NOV. I, 1916, Cleveland Moflett, M. A.
In the East it is positively known that all the brgans under the
control of the sympathetic system can be brought under the control
of the Will. In the West we are taught the opposite.
-M. LE DOCTEUR P. E. B E R N A R D , Sztrgeon, Paris.

Yoga (Raja) is the arrest of thought, turning thought inward in

one concentrated stream into the innermost depths of the being by
control of respiration, and has for its object, Moksha (divine beatitude).
Through breathing *exercises the practiser secures a
temporary suspended animation, while concentrating on some
selected object.
-PANDIT BABA PREMANAND BHARATI, Calcutta, India.
I t is conceivable that those who practice breathing exercises long,
acquire this control. This (Kali Mudra) probably means a partial
syncope resulting from control of respiratory center in medulla
oblongata so that the retained carbon dioxid in the blood ceases to
stimulate the phrenic nerve to activity, and the movements of the
diaphragm are not induced as they would be under similar conditions
in ordinary individuals.
-FREDERICK
SYLVESTER MASON, M. D., Editor,
"Monthly Cyclopedia and Medical Bzclletin," New York City.

PITTSBURGH
DESPATCHsays : Dr. Bernard's self-induced condition of hypnosis enables him to make demonstrations that have
excited the wonder and admiration of mankind and secured the most
laudatory notices from the press of the country.
THE BUFFALOTIMES says: The demonstrations of scientific
psychological medicine given by Dr. Bernard are something wonderful.
PHILADELPHIA
PRESS
says : This young man outclasses anyone we
have ever seen.
WASHINGTON
( D. C.) POSTsays : H e defies the surgeons, through
auto-hypnosis, he simulates death so closely as to defy detection
even by the severest tests, but awakens a t the appointed time.
SAN FRANCISCO
EXAMINER
says: Here is a man who actually
hypnotizes himself.
LOUISVILLE
DESPATCHsays: Dr. Bernard's auto-hypnosis is designed to replace anaesthetics. H e gives remarkable tests.
Pierre Bernard (Shastri) is a gently bred, reputable man. His
publications are classical and highly instructive. Since childhood
he has made a study of Oriental philosophy. In Sanskrit and on
the subject of physiology he is considered to be the greatest authority
in this country.
-CLARK
r

L. JORDAN, Atty., Member N. Y. Bar, etc., etc. ( I n

Y O ~T ~v ~~ o T z ~ . ~ )

THECALL'San Francisco), in reporting a Clinic, says : Dr. Bernard clearly demonstrated to the mind of every person present last
evening that the administration of an anaesthetic for the performance of a surgical operation is totally unnecessary. H e did this by
throwing himself into a self-induced state of hypnosis, thus producing anaesthesia, and submitting to such surgical tests as completely removed all doubt of his utter lack of any feeling while in
that state. Dr. Bernard is teaching psychology as it applies to medicine and surgery, self-control, and development. His work is really
an exemplification of East India adeptship. This was the first
demonstration of its kind ever given in San Francisco. At the beginning of the work he stated that he was willing to submit to any
tests that were within the bounds of human reason or that were to
be found in standard works on psychological medicine. All present
examined tests most closely. Next followed wonderful demonstrations of psycho-therapy on patients.
The phenomena of such well known men as Paul Alexander Johnstone and Washington Irving Bishop fade into obscurity when compared with that of Dr. Bernard.
-GEO. W . MJLES, B. S., M . A., Professor of Astrotzottzy,
Geology and Physics, N . M . Territorial College of Ag. and
Mech. Arts.

JUDGMENT OF SCHOLARS

"Vira Sadhana," by Pierre Bernard (Shastri), should not be

confounded with Rabindranath Tagore's "Sadhana." The latter as
compared with the former is as a child's primer to a standard textbook on higher mathematics. The author's chief business has been
to collect, scrutinize, arrange and appraise facts. This he has done
with his usual masterly thoroughness. The work of Pierre Bernard
is the very best remedy thus far offered for the weaknesses which
attach themselves to the learned parrots now filling collegiate chairs.

-M. ERWIN, M . A., Colzcmbia University (Nezo York C i t y ) .

In a sense these lectures (T. 0. in Am. Series) can be said to be
the last word on Vedic interpretation. The scholarship of Bernard,
his accuracy, his insight into the subject, and his grasp of the language are so undisputed that no other treatment can quite equal his.
His power of visualization is great and his style of exact speaking
makes the perusal of his work a delight. He has a wide range of
experience and treats his subject by a happy combination of the historical and the practical ; a concentrated style, significant and
weighty at every point.
-CLEVELAND AIOFFETT, M. A. (Yale University, '83) ;
Ezcropean S t a f N . Y . Herald, '87 to '91 ; N . Y . S t a f , Herald,
'92; Sunday Editor, Herald, '08-9; Foreign Editor, N. Y .
Recorder, '93-4; Translator of "Cosmopolis," a~zdauthor of
" A King i ~ Rags,"
t
"The Battle," "The Bishop's Pzcrse," "The
Conquest o f America," "Careers of Danger and Daring,"
Greater Than Law," "Playing the Game," "Throzcgh the
Wall," "The Mysteriozcs Cord," "The Land of Mystery,"
etc., etc.
Philologists are agreed in that Sanskrit evaporates in translation
more than any other language ; and for this reason it is to a man like
Bernard, with his reputation for superior scholarship, that we must
look for entr6 into the soul of Sanskrit literature. He gives one
the very pith and marrow of these writings and resurrects the Veda
from the intellectual chaos in which it exists in Europe and among
us of the West. Having listened to thirty of his lectures, I feel safe
in saying that no other English speaking man surveys the whole of
Sanskrit literature so comprehensively, so satisfactorily. Dr. Bernard has carried on his studies with scrupulous fidelity to science
and truth, and has already chipped the pedestals of many scholars.
-CH. AVERY COLLIN, M . A. (Yale University) ; Four years
Professor of Greek and Latin, and of Mental and \Moral
Philosophy, N o m i c h (Coftn.) Acade~ny;Lecturer on Soci-

ology at Cornell University; Eight years Professor of Law,

Cornell University School of Law; Member New York
State Board of Statutory. Consolidation (1912 to 1914, inclusive); Three years Director of American Social Science
Association; Fifteen years Member, National Prison Association; Legal Adviser to Governors Hill and Flower ( N . Y .
State); Commissioner of Statutory Revision, State of New
York; Editor of Ninth Edition, Revbed Statutes, State of
New York ( S i x Volz~mes)
;Member, New York Bar, etc.
Bernard is a scholar of' considerable eminence and a writer of
marked ability. Through and by reason of exceptional educational
advantages he is finely qualified for his task. His Vedic lectures
and essays alike I consider an asset of incomparable value as they
contain the finest thought the human mind can cherish. His language is clear and expressive to the highest degree.
-SAMUEL H . W A T T S , B. A. (Harvard University).

I have listened to fifty or more lectures of two hours duration

each given by Pierre Bernard (Shastri) before the Biophile Club
of this city. I was impressed with the idea that the lecturer had
actually lived more philosophy than most of us will ever know.
Classical Fabulae is to Bernard like a first reader. The only authority to him is truth, the only word of God, fact, and the only real
text-book is the universe. This intellectual descendant of Kapila,
an educational product of the Indian clime, was just made for
critical thinkers, mature minds. I believe him to be the most able
and brilliant exponent of the theory and practice of Veda in the
English-speaking world.
-DR. EDMUND TROWBRIDGE DANA, Fellow of Harvard
. University, B. A., M. A,, Ph. D. (Harvard); Formerly Professor of Philosophy in the University of Maryland and Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Minnesota.
My dear (Shastri) Pierre Bernard,
Three years in Sanskrit Studies under you have led me to the
highest possible appreciation of your sound scholarship, your noble
character, philosophic teaching, wide culture, and many labors devoted with example and fidelity to the interpretation of nature and
the service of man. The time spent with you I cherish as the most
valuable of my existence.
-COUNT ARTHUR Y O N STRASSBURG, Strassbzcrg, Germany.
The lectures and writings of this literary monk Pierre ArnoldBernard are worthy of all praise. This Shastri, while thorough in
all his'teaching, covers his subject from epidermis to the bone, o r

from Yama and Niyama to Samadhi; and yet his work does not
smell of the lamp. George Eliot's word "meliorist" exactly applies
here. Bernard has a marvelously broad perspective, making harmony out of those over-tones which Americans hear in the word
Oriental. I believe he is the best qualified of all scholars in the
field to give us a classical exposition of the entire Veda.
-M. ALLAN-WOODS, A l . A. (Baltimore).
Bernard's "Vira Sadhana" (Theory and Practice of Veda) is a
task for which none of his English-speaking contemporaries could
have qualified, for it demands an expert knowledge of the Sanskrit
tongue and the highest degree of accuracy, intuition and culture.
-R. BARTHOLOMEW, B. A. (Smith College).
This man (Pierre Bernard, Shastri) brings the jungles of India
to one's easy chair. We were given (in lectures before the Biophile
Club, N. Y. City) a scholastic survey of all the celebrated and
revered works of Brahmanical theology. The lecturer amazed us
all with his marvelous command of the Sanskrit Classics. The
world stands to greatly benefit by this added fund of knowledge
dealt with by such a master hand. He certainly awakens in one
the spirit of the Ancient Vedic Sages.
-M. I. CAMPBELL, B. Sc., 25 East 65th St., N. Y. City.

I cannot resist the conviction that a compilation of (Shastri)

Bernard's lectures consisting of his scientific recension of the Veda
as a whole would be the most valuable treatise of its kind in existence. His Yoga doctrine, to me, furnishes a key that unlocks the
wisdom of the ages. Bernard has forced me to unlearn most of
what I thought I knew of Sanskrit studies at the hands of both
Occidental and native Brahman teachers, and it is my prophecy that
before long he will have caused many a revered and timeworn
Vedic Commentary to be "laid to rest." H e lays great stress upon
a thorough training of the senses and this must be done without
suffering any loss of quick sympathy or human devotion. 0 Pedagogians, you could sit at the feet of this educator for years and
with both pleasure and profit. His work, indeed, seems impossible
except for the man who has done it.
-H. FOSTER-ANDERSON, Sc., London, England (Alzcmnus,
1905, Arch. Dept. University of Liverpool).
A marvelous "arnitie amoureuse" for the Veda, the scientific
quality of precision, serious study and determination to find the
truth, whether palatable or unpalatable to this or that school of
thought, constitute the ruling characteristics in the lectures and
writings of P. Bernard (Shastri). Possessed of the senses and
mental habits of the naturalist, he sees and hears straight. He

offers us quick, clean-cut, unexpected glimpses of things otherwise

hopelessly hidden from us. Among Orientalists and living Sanskrit
writers perhaps no one approaches the Yogic ideal in the treatment
of Vedic literature closer than Bernard. His style is vigorous and
telling.

-MARIO,N E R W I N , C. E., University of ~ e o r ~ i Member,

a,
N . Y . Bar; Formerly U . S. fist.-Attorney, Soztthent District
of Georgia, also Special Assistant U . S. District Attorney;
Author of "The Universe and the Atom," "Ether Constitzttion," "Creation and Structure of Atoms," "Gr&tatio+z and
Electricity Kinetically Explained," etc.
To interpret the Veda, to lay bare and render knowable its very
heart and essence is a difficult and stupendous task. Pierre Arnold
Bernard (Shastri) is the only English speaking scholar qualified
therefor. This opinion is based upon a close perusal of his writings under the general title of "Sanskrit Studies," supplemented
by attendance at more than forty of his lectures on "Principles and
Practice of the Veda." His discourses scintillate with the brilliancy
of an exceptionally keen and penetrating intellect-and, far different
from the rest, he knows his Brahman.
-E. A. M U R R A Y , A. B. ( P h i Beta Kappa), N. Y . City, May

5, 1916.
Vira Sadhana .is the Sanskrit title of a luminous, structural and
systematic work covering the entire field of East Indian Yoga (the
Veda in practice, o r the conception, culture, control and development of body and mind as taught and practiced by the ancient
Brahmans). I t constitutes an initiation into the mass of the most
sacred literature of the Brahmans, the profoundest and most
abstruse the world has ever known. Those who are not versed in
the Sanskrit language nor possessed of a fortune to invest in costly
manuscripts, and have not time or courage to read the thousands of
volumes of this literature for light on the many branches of the
subject, may profitably consult this most excellent encyclopedia of
Yoga.
Original texts speak for themselves and the Editor has systematized the most marvellous collection of extracts, all translated with
the greatest care and connected by such analyses and r6sum6s as
to give the reader the essentials, omitting the superfluous.
Vira Sadhana is an exhaustive up-to-date text book accepted as
absolutely authoritative throughout the entire Vedic world. It
appeals to those engaged in "comparative studies," scholars, pandits,
and all patrons of learning in India, Europe and America. I t may
be best defined as a concrete expression of an effort to epitomize
in a condensed and usable or reference form, all that the Shastras
(Vedas, Tantras, Upanishads, Puranas, etc., the entire body of
standard Sanskrit writings, some of which constitute the oldest

human literary records) have to say concerning life, birth, death,

and the mysteries of self-control and development.
It is quite beyond the range of possibility for the Publishers to
do justice to the work of Dr. Bernard in so short a treatise as this ;
and yet, were it not that they seek a larger public for these comparative studies in ethics, psychology, philosophy, and religion, they
would confine their efforts to a simple announcement on a single
page; to Vedic scholars that would suffice, so well is the Editor
known among them. But with the general lay reader, unacquainted
with Orientalists, the primary and in fact the most vital question is
the intrinsic value of the subject treated and the qualifications of the
author whose work is to be read and followed. In other words
ccwho's who" and "why" in true scholarship, has to-day a closer
application than ever before.
The Publishers have no hesitancy in declaring Dr. Bernard to be
the dean of Sanskrit writers, and by way of confirmation offer
expert evidence from those who by virtue of their position and training, over and above all others, should know.
Although in possession of hundreds of Occidental commendatory
reviews, etc., the PuMishers believe, as a result of their experience,
that in the future the critical reader of Sanskrit literature, before
selecting his text, will ever demand of the author the endorsement
of native Brahmans, the direct inheritors of traditional teaching,
who for forty centuries or more have had locked in their breasts
the Vedic lore. These men are better qualified, because of their
remarkable conversancy with the Sanskrit language and philosophical enquiries, to judge the correctness and appreciate the faithfulness with which the Veda is here presented in its English dress.
The Editor of Vira Sadhana (Veda in theory and practice) has
chosen for his life work the most difficult task known to Sanskrit
scholars; and the degree of his success therein is shown by the
recognition of native pandits, and the honors, titles, and degrees
conferred upon him by the highest and most ancient of the seats
of sanctity and learning among the accredited schools of India.
-SISIR K U M A R GHOSAL, M. A. (Philosophy), LL. B., Uni-

versity of Calcutta, Jztdicial Service, Bengal, India.

ENDORSED BY PANDITS
"To know the thing measured, yozt
must first know the ftzeasztre."*
I t is with the greatest of pleasure that I have conversed with
Dr. Pierre A. Bernard, and this for a period of many weeks. Our
subject was invariably Hindu spiritual lore, and I must confess that
I was more than astonished at his deep study and research into its
details. I was not at all prepared to meet an American scholar pervaded by such a passionate desire to have so dug into the treasures
of the parent religions and philosophies of the world. This Shastri
( ~ r Bernard)
.
has grasped the true intent and meaning with all the
intelligence of a Savant or the most competent Hindu Pandit. The
interest shown by him in presenting to the public the truths of the
Veda and the scientific philosophies based thereon, together with
the benefit to be derived therefrom, is beyond belief. A man of
such enthusiasm as to place ancient wisdom within the easy reach
of modem minds is an honor to any country. The efforts of this
deep and profound Sanskrit scholar will supply the need of the
American mind; and that need is scientific spiritual wisdom which
the Sanskrit literature alone contains; this will leaven the truths of
material science with which it is filled at present. I have made a
thorough examination of the works edited by Dr. Bernard and I
find them a treasure trove of the best gems of Sanskrit literature,
gems whose sparkle makes me proud that I am a Hindu. For these
gems he has searched deep into the bowels of our Scriptures. All
of this betrays his remarkable devotion to the language and a mastery of the intricate details, the subtle thoughts of the profound
spiritual concepts contained in Sanskrit literature.
-BABA P R E M A N A N D BHARATJ (Cztlcutta, India), VicePres. and Indian Delegate to Interational Peace Congress;
Author of "'Krishna the Lord o f Love," "Analysis of Civilization; "JimJJ (parallel to Kipling's "KimJJ),"Light of
India," "East and West," etc.
T~hePandits of India exact far severer proof of one's knowledge
and acquirements when claim is made to superior scholarship than i s
ever demanded of the Sanskritists of Europe.
-"Sanskrit-English Dictionary" (p IX.. preface) Oxford by Prof SIR MoNIER
WILLIAMS, M.A., K. C. I. E , ' H o ~ . D. C.
(oxfoid),
LL. D. (Calcutta), Hon. Ph. D. (Gottingen), Hon. Fellow of University College; Sometime
Fellow of Balliol College (Oxford), and Boden Professor of Sanskrit in 05;
ford Univerait?; Author of "Practical Grammar of the Sanskrit Language
"Brahmani8qt, "Buddhism." "Indian Wisdom"; Editor and Translator bf
"Shakuntda.
"Nalopakhyanam," etc.

i.

on:

[The late Professor Sir Monier Williams speaks with authority, having devoted
much time to practical reaemches carried on among the Pandits, and in their OWID
country, India;.]

The American Sanskritist, Pierre Bernard (Shastri), is a fully

qualified and masterful teacher of all contained in the Shastras of
the Brahmans. Myself and other leading Pandits have for a long
time been aware of this fact, knowing as we do of his great study
and thorough preparation.
-PANDIT A J I T A N A T H N Y A Y A R A T N A , Highest Aatthority
in India on Nyaya Shastra (Logic); Principal of Nava
Dwypa Sanskrit College, Nadia; CIza~zcellorof the College
of Pundits ( B . J. S . ) ; Ex-Court Pundit (Suva Pundit) to the
Royal Coztrt of Nadin; Aztthor of lnany standard works on
Nyaya, etc., etc.
Bernard's ideal to reach has been the Yoga in all its fullness, and

I have little doubt, knowing of his serious study and determination

to find the truth, that every Yoga text recoverable in the world today, and every authoritative Tantra has been searched to its depths.
Pierre Bernard (Shastri) fulfills every requirement known to me of
the Brahmin Guru. H e .is a product of the good old orthodox
curriculum made up of the Angas and Upangas which he digested
in the form of Shiksha, Vyakarana, Kalpa, Nirukta, Chhandas,
Jyotisha, etc., keeping Yaskacharya, Pingala and Laghada ever in
mind. I have discussed with him, and at great length, the problems
of Purva Mimansa and Uttara Mimansa of Jaimini and Vyasa, The
Sankhya of Kapila, Yoga of Patanjali, Nyaya of Gautama, and the
Vaisheshika of Kanada, together with the great comments of Sayana,
Uwwata, and Mahidhara, and never before have I encountered such
an encyclopedic, all-around Vedic scholar. H e possesses a mind
incomparably superior to any I have ever known.
-DEBENDRA N A T H B H A T T A C H A R Y A , of University of
London, (Sam,a Vaidik; Shakta-Fawzily), eight years,
Shantipztr Mztnicipal Chatatspatti; two years, Krishnagorc
Govenzwzent College; one year, Bangaboshi College; three
years, University of Calczttta (eight years of Sa.nskrit study
in all); Mevtber, National Indian Association; Member,
Royal Sanitary Institute, Lond., etc., etc. (Calczttta, India).
My friend Pierre Bernard (Shastri), the American Kapila, has
a logical habitat a t Benares. H e has attained the highest office of
Vedic learning and is the recipient of the greatest honors a Sanskritist can achieve. H e perfectly understands our doctrine both in
principle and in practice.
S W A M I R A M ( T I R T H ) , M . A., For~zerlyProfessor of Science and Mathenzatics, Lahore University, Pzr~ljab,Iadia.
A s a result of East Indian Yoga practice, Dr. Bernard suspends
his breath for the period of forty-five minutes.
-KUMAR K R I S H N A V A R M A (of Bonzbay, India), in pztblic
lectztre 011 "Tlze Tantra," Nezv York City, 191I .

There is no greater whirlpool than the mind of man, and he is

indeed an artist who can hold in hand its twists, its turns, its gambols. Such an one (Shastri) Bernard has proven himself to be.
-SWAMI VIVEKANANDA (Narendra Nath Dutt) of Madras, India; delegate to the World's Parliament of Religions,
Chicago.
Of all Indianists, Dr. Bernard stands supreme. H e is one of our
greatest Sanskrit scholars and shows the highest development of
any living Tantrik in India or elsewhere. No one could be better
qualified for teaching Tantra (the unabridged Veda) than he.
-KUMAR KRISHNA VARMA (of Bombay, Jndia), in pzrblic
lectzrre on "The Tatztra," New York City, 1911.
Pierre Arnold Bernard (Shastri) is a brilliant Sanskritist and a
master of Smriti, Philosophy and Tantra. He is thoroughly qualified in all the Shastras and we recommend him as a safe and reliable
guide through the vast ocean of them.
-PAANDIT K A L l PRASANNA SHARMAN (Vidyaratna)
Professor of Smriti and Dean of Shantipztr Sanskrit College,
Dt. Nadia, India.
I n India and among Pandits so familiar with the work of Pierre

A. Bernard (Shastri) he enjoys a reputation which attaches itself

but t o a few of our great teachers. His mastery of the immense
literatures of Aryan tradition and growth stamps him as a Vedic
theologian of the first order.
-SATYENDRA N A T H MUKERJI (Benares), late Accozlzltant-General of Jaipztr State, India.
India knows no greater scholar in the Occident than Pierre A.
Bernard (Shastri), and to popularize Sanskrit classics and learned
researches no man is better prepared than he.
-PANDIT
SATYANANDA BRAHMACHARI, M. A.
(Phil.), Calczttta University. (Vide C. K. Chakravarti,
Gazette of h d i a . )
Pierre Arnold Bernard (Shastri) is unquestionably the Panini of
Occidental Sanskritists. His interpretation of Veda is accepted as
authoritative by the entire Tantrik world. I n his writings and teachings you accompany a guide who is familiar with the way that leads
to Moksha.
-PANDIT PRAMATHA N A T H DEY, B. A., author of
"Brahmacharya of the Vedic Period," etc. (Sylhet, Assat~z,
I ~ d i a.)

The standing of my confrere Pierre Arnold Bernard (Shastri)

among Sanskritists is of the highest; in fact we know of no greater
authority than he on Smriti, Tantra and Philosophy.
-PANDIT
JNANANDRA NATH RAI (Kavyatirtha and
Kavibhz4sana),Professor of Sankhya Philosophy and Dean
of the Brahnra-Parishad, Shantipur, India.
Dr. Pierre A. Bernard is the most thorough Oriental scholar
America has ever produced. Such is the opinion of myself and
confreres.
-KHALIL KHOURI, Efertdi, seven years Professor of Arabic
Lattgztage and Literature, Alliance Israelite Universelle, and
Lazarists' College, Danzascus, Syria.
Pierre Arnold Bernard (Shastri) is one of the most accomplished
practitioners of Tantra in the world to-day. H e is a thorough and
able Sanskrit scholar and has a correct knowledge of all our
Shastras.
-PANDIT JADUNATH BHATTACHARYA (Tantra Bhusun*), Professor of Philosophy in the Brahma-Parishad, Dt.
Nadia, Bercgal, India; Thirty-five years Chief Pundit Shantipztr Municipal (Godt.) School [Sanskrit Langztage and
Literature.]

"A Sanskritist of the highest order and one of the most profound
Vedic scholars of modern times," and "A true Paramahamsa is Dr.
Pierre A. Bernard."
-PANDIT. PRAMOD KUMAR BANDYOPADHYAYA,
M. A. (Skt. Phil.) LL. B., University of Calczdtta.
A man of more learning, of such real spirituality and long-headedness and such resourcefulness I have never known.
-PANDIT S. N. MUKERJI, Editor, Lahore Tribune (Lahore,
India).
Dr. Pierre Arnold Bernard is an American by birth, but an Indian
Tantrik of the highest order by education and belief. Sanskrit is
his glyph; he is an encyclopedist with insight profound and penetrating into both Vedic or scriptural and the classical or literary
Sanskrit. Through his efforts many a scholar has been made to
reverse himself. H e has not broken with tradition, but instead
added his name to the list of our famous Smriti law-givers. That
it was never intended for the pen of our Kapilas, Shankaras, Vyasas,
The highest 'science-title' and degree of attainment conferred in the Sanskrit
Colleges Of all India, and indicates a mastery of the theory and practice of the Tantras (D. Sc in Europe).

35

etc., to lie where they fell is plainly shown by the work of Bernard,
for apart from him the West has no access to the true Veda.
Throughout one year of teaching at his side I found him to be a
veritable ectype of Yoga, and one who clings closely to the motto
of Kaushika-Vishwamitra Rishi ; "Satyat nasti par0 dharma."* On
the very face of his every word and act is evidenced the fact of a
most severe intellectual discipline given by his Guru, Hamati. I n
foreign language instruction it is notorious that in the department
of Sanskrit both European and American colleges alike, are criminally deficient; again in dealing with our literature the professors
present a shifting play of light and shadow; sometimes the light
seems to grow brighter, but the day never comes. In reading Bernard your prayer for light is answered if you but consent to open
your eyes. H e illuminates the texts and tries all at the bar of intelligence; in fact his is the last word in the canon of Vedic interpretation.
- P A N D I T T A R A K C H A R A N M A Z O O M D A R , B . A., Univ.
of S. C., formerly of Qzceens College (Bewares, India).
The author of "Vira Sadhana" and "International Journal, Tantrik Order," Pierre Bernard (Shastri), is a remarkably learned man.
H e is a master of Tantra-Shastras.
-AGAMYA
G U R U Y O G I N D R A , late Chief Judge, H i g h
Cozcrt, T h e Pztnjab, India (Jztly 5, 1908).
[Aga,nzya Gztrzc Yogi?zdra i s a genztine Y o g i w h o has
nzastered all to be gained by the ascetic practices and discipline of the East. H i s position i n India as a Teacher i s a
very high one. H e showed u s that he could entirely slrsfend the nocmal circzelatiott of the blood, and his pz.ilse
ccased to beat as zwe laid oztr fi~lgerszcpon it. All this w a s
afterward verified bey the late W . F. Myers and Dr. Hodgson of Cambridge, w i t h proper medical aid. -P. 438, Vol. 2 .
" L i f e and Letters of M a x Mztller" ( O x f o r d ) . ]
I t is no exaggeration to say that Pierre Arnold Bernard (Shastri)
i s without doubt not only one of our finest Sanskritists, but a Vedic
theologian surpassed by none. The difference between him and
other American or Continental-European Sanskrit scholars is in
exact proportion to the latter's inferiority.
- P A N D I T P A N N A LAL B O S E , M . A., LL. B., Professor of
Philosophy, Bangabashi College, Calcutta, India.

* T r u t h is the highest religion.-Rig

Veda (3d Book).

36

Dr. Pierre Bernard compares most admirably with the Brahmanical Tantrik High Priests of India; he is most earnest and sincere,
is more energetic and has knowledge just as extensive. In my opinion he is one of the most profoundly learned men on earth to-day.
-RAM T I R T H (Swa~rzi),M. A. (University of Lahore, India),
formerly Prof. of Sanskrit Lattguage and Literature, and
later of Science and Matkctnatics, Utliversity of the Punjab
(India).
Pierre Arnold Bernard (Shastri) is a member of the Tantrik
Primacy and one of the most illustrious Tantriks living. Dr. Bernard has especially distinguished himself as a commentator. His
writings are exact and compendious, and constitute a scientific constructive discussion of the religions and philosophies of the world.
-PANDIT SURENDRA N. MOOKERJEE, formerly Editor
of Lahore Tribune (Lahore, India).
Of all books on India's philosophy I particularly recommend Vira
Sadhana by P. Bernard (Shastri), in which the Indian systems of
mental and physical culture have been clearly and effectively explained.
-PROMATHA N A T H DEY, B. A. (Ohio University) ;Residence, Sylhet, India.
,

A man of such learning, such resourcefulness, such real spirituality as is possessed by Pierre Bernard (Shastri) is an honor to any
country. The memory of him will ever sparkle in my consciousness.
-BABA PREMANAND BHARATI (Calcutta, India), YicePresident and Indian Delegate to I~tternationalPeace Congress.
Dr. P. A. Bernard (Shastri) is an eminent Sanskritist and one
of the world's greatest authorities on all matters Tantrik. H e is
not surpassed by the highest I'ndian sages.
-PANDIT P. COOMAR SASTRI (Shafztipz~rSanskrit College), forjlzerly of Batzgabaslzi College, Calczttta.
Pierre Bernard (Shastri) will be remembered as the most talented
Sanskritist that either America or Europe has ever produced.
-DR.
CHANDRA KANTA CHAKRAVARTI (Barisal,
Iadia), 1I.1.A., Ph. D. (Colztj~rbiaU~ziv.,New York).

We the undersigned Brahmans and Pandits of the Nadia Vivudha Janani Sabha, with great pleasure, certify to the high qualifications of Pierre Arnold Bernard (Shastri), resident in America. Dr.
Bernard is a master not only of the Tantras but of all the other
Shastras. His teachings have the unqualified endorsement of the
members of our faculty.
,
-PANDIT BACHASPATI, SHITJKANTHA (Acting President), Professor of Hindu Law.
-PANDIT S H Y A M A C H A R A N A SMRITI T I R T H A (Secretary), Professor of Swriti (Shastras).
-PANDIT
AJITANATH N Y A Y A R A T N A (Senior VicePresident), Professor of Logic.*
-PANDIT NILAMANI K A Y Y A Y Y A K A R A N A TIRTHA
( Vice-President), Professor of Sanskrit Language and Literature.

EXPERT EVIDENCE FROM AUTHORITIES IN

MEDICINE
Dr. P. A. Bernard (Shastri) is a moving Veda, and you can with
safety look to him for a correct interpretation of our Shastras. His
"Vira Sadhana" is a remarkable performance.
-T. C. RAJAN IYENGAR, M. D. (Poona, India), author of
"Science of Raja Yoga," "Ifido-Aryan Theory of Involution and Evolution," etc., (July 26, 1907.)
Dr. Pierre A. Bernard (Shastri) is the Loyola of Tantra in the
province over which he presides, and of its highest living authorities,
he is one: The works edited by Dr. Bernard are attention-compelling from the first word to the very last. They constitute a dignified
presentation of the Tantrik doctrine; I may say the most intelligent
construction of Tantra (the key to the Veda) I have ever read.
D R . K. AHOBALA RAO (Madras, India), M. B., Ch. B.,
University of EdinburghJ D. T . M., Post-Graduate Faculty
of Medicine, University of Liverpool.

My acquaintanceship with Pierre Arnold Bernard (Shastri) confirms the belief that he can hold his own in the most select company

Highest authority i n Bengal on N Y ~ Y

Shastra
~
(Logic) ; Principal of Nava
Dwypa Sanskrit College Nadla' Chancellor of the College of Pandits (B. J. S.); exCourt Pandit (Sava p a h i t ) , ~ b y aCourt
~
of Nadia, and author of standard works
on logic.

of critics. H e stands for the soundest Sanskrit scholarship, is an

authority on Vedic interpretation, and is acknowledged to be one of
the world's' greatest Tantrik pedagogians.
-PANDIT
R A G H U N A T H V I T H A L K H E D K A R , L. M.,
Rotunda Hospital (Dublin); Licentiate Royal Faculty of
Physicians and Surgeons (Glasgow); Licentiate Royal College of Physicd,anq and Royal College of Surgeons (Edin-t
burgh); Fellow Royal College of Surgeons (London); D.
P . H . (London); M . D. (London); Member London MedicoChirztrgical Society; Member Royal Sanitary Institute (London); Fellow, Society of Tropical Medicine, London; PostGraduate Doctor of Tropical Medicine (Liverpool); Durbar Surgeon and Chief Medical Oficer (Kolhapur
State, India) ; Vedanta-B husan (Shankaracharya Sanskrit
College); Chief Surgeon, Prince Edward Hospital, Kolhapur;
Author of "Vedanta Philosophy and Universal Religion;
"Advaitism," ccPhilosophical Discztssions," etc.; Editor of
"Sanskrit-English Dictionary"; Editor of "The Vedantin;
and Editor-in-Chief of Shankaracharya Vedanta Matha
Texts; Councillor to the Holy Matha S r i Shmkaracharya,
Kolhapur City, Central India.
L

I have made a critical analysis of both the teachings and writings

in the educational system of Pierre Bernard (Shastri) and for over
one year in New York City collaborated with him in work connected with the English recension of the most difficult Tantras.
There and elsewhere-ample opportunity was had for close personal
observation of his work, and while it is much to say of anyone that
he is the cleverest in the world in his particular line, yet this statement goes unchallenged when applied to a genius like the celebrated
Sanskritist, Dr. Bernard. I do not believe there lives a man who
more thoroughly understands or who has carried further the practical, logical, and scientific side of the Veda. H e is a living personification, or rather, I would say, an actual embodiment of the
organized Yoga philosophy for which Tantrik preceptors are famous.
-DR. P. B A N E R J E E , Shastri* (Brahma-Parishad, Dt. Nadia
(India); Licentiate Royal Faczclty of Physicians, and Licentiate Royal Faculty of Sztrgeons (Glasgow); Licentiate Royal
College of Physicians, and Licentiate Royal College of Surgeons (Edinbztrgh) .
The phenomena produced by this man have mystified and baffled
many of the cleverest minds in the world.
-OTTO C. J O S L E N , M . D., Medical Department, University of
Michigan; Member of S u n Francisco Coztnty and California
State Medical Societies.
+ "Doctor
of the Shastras," an exclusive title and degree rarely conferred.
"Shastri" is the Sanskrit equivalent of Litt. D., D. D., and Ph. D., in Europe.

Dr. Pierre Bernard far surpasses me in everything (in public

lecture on Indo-Aryan Philosophy, New York City, May g, 191I ) .
-U. L. D E S A I , I ! . D., Victoria Bachelor of Sztrgery (1Manclzester); Licentiate Royal College Physicians, and Licentiate
Royal College of S~crgeons (EdinbztrgCz); Licentiate, Midwifery (Edinbzirglz); I,. R. F. P. and S . (Glasgow); Associate, College of Preceptors (London); lnte Chief Medical'
Oficer, Ravzzpz~rState (India).
The self-induced state of hypnosis performed by Dr. P. A,
Bernard is the best counterfeit of death I have ever witnessed in
my thirty-eight years of experience in the active practice of medicine.
- D A N I E L D. AlcMJLLAN, M . D., Formerly De~zotzstrator of
Anatomy, Medical Department, U n i v ~ r s i t yof Michigan.
On the scientific side Bernard is not to be surpassed; there, he is
unassailable.
- 0 R h l A N C. J E N K I N S , M . A., M . D., D. D. S., Medical Department, University of Michigan.

"A veritable torch of philosophic knowledge,". and "in Dr. Bernard

you will find a perfect gentleman and a man of mental equipment
rarely ever developed."
-F.
T H O M A S , M . D., California Medical College (Saw
Francisco).
An acquaintanceship with Dr. Bernard, extending over some years,
has afforded me ample opportunity to critically examine his 'workThis done, I do not hesitate to say that he is master of the mast
intricate problems that arise in the practice of the manifold phases
of psychological medicine.
- C H d R L E S C L A R K , M . D., Bennett College of Medicine and
Szcrgery (Chicago) ;Physician and Sztrgeon to Cook Coztrrty
Hospital, Chicago; Vice-President of both San Francisco
Cozcnty and California State Medical Societies; Vice-President of the Board of Trztstees, California Medical College,
and Professor o f Microscopy, Histology and Bacteriology a t
the same institution.
Pierre Bernard (Shastri) is regarded as an expert in his particular line of work. He knows more about the human body than any
other man in this city. He is truly remarkable.
-WM. T. J E N K I N S , B. A., M . D.; T w o Years Lecturer on
Intenzational Qzcarantine, Medical Departq~zent,Corjrell Ugriversity; Member Asrericnn Medical Association, etc. ( I n
N e w York World.)

If the work of Dr. Bernard required an endorsement, I should

gladly give it. As the result of my own experience during a long
life devoted to the study and practice of medicine, I have yet to see
his equal.
-JOSEPH
D , C R A W F O R D , M. D., Examining Surgeon,
United States Government.

It is enough to say that I consider Pierre Bernard (Shastri) a

past grand-master in physiology, psychology, and philosophy.
- A N I B A L Z E L A Y A , B. A., B. Sc., (University of Guatemala),
M. D., Colzcmbia University, Medical Dept. (College of Physicians and Surgeons); Interne, Hospital Frangaise; Clinical
Assistant, Vaftderbilt Clinic ( N . Y . );Assistant Attending
Physician, French Hospital ( N . Y.); Assistant Surgeon,
Gynecology, Harlem Hospital (Bellevzte and Allied Hospitals), N . Y .
I attended a clinic held by Dr. Bernard upon his first visit to San
Francisco in 1904. A careful investigation of his experiments convinced me then and there of two things; the possession of extraordinary talent in practically demonstrating all that is claimed for
psychological medicine, and such excellence of mind as enables him
to successfully impart it to others. Personal knowledge of later
years has led me to a further appreciation of Dr. Bernard and his
work.
- W I L L I A M A. H A R V E Y , M . D., California Medical College
(Sun Francisco); ~ o l l e ~ofe ~ h ~ s i c i a nand
s Surgeons, s t .
Louis; President Eclectic Medical Society of California;
Member of Sun Francisco Board of Healtlt; Professor of
Gynecology, California Medical College.

There is probably no man living so well qualified to speak with

authority on the subject of Yoga (the Veda in practice, or the conception, culture, control, and development of body and mind as
taught and practiced by the Ancient Brahmans of India) and Ayur
Veda (Brahrnanical School of Medicine) as Pierre Bernard
(Shastri). I n his recension of the Pancha (five) Vedas he seems
to empty one of all that is not science. For more than four years I
attended his lectures. H e expresses himself in pithy, appropriate
and compelling language, giving shrewd, didactic and eminently
practical expositions of the divine pilgrimages which the Ancient
Aryans made into the "universe of the body." Bernard is a literary surgeon. H e has full mastery of the principles of medicine
and has uncovered the many fallacious views which the West holds

on Sanskrit Studies, successfully placing them on a scientific basis.

Such painstaking industry has earned for him the universal gratitude
of research scholars.
- W I L L I A M T. J E N K I N S , B . A. (University of Mississippi) ;
M. D. (University of Virginia) ;Post-Gradztate, Medical Department, University of N e w Y o r k ; Clinical W o r k , Bellevue
and Roosevelt Hospitals; Member, N e w Y o r k Coztnty and
State Medical Societies, Greater N e w York Mzdical Association, A9nerican Pztblic Health Associatio.iz, etc.; Eleven Years
Coroners' Physician, N e w Y o r k City; Conszlltant to Board
of Coroners' Physicians; Chief Qztamntine Oficer (Health
Oficer), Port of N e w Y o r k , and Comlnissioner of Health,
City and State of N e w Y o r k ; Member, N e w York State
Board of Health; Instituted Qztarantine Regztlations placing
Quarantine, Port of Embarkation (Subsequently Adopted by
United States Marine Hospital Service) ;Appointed by Govertzor's Commi~sioners, perfornzing autopsy and dictating
protocol regarding electrocution of the hztwan body (ztpon
changing method of capital pztnishment) ;Director, Foreign
Merchant Marine Hospital Service; Hospital Physician, W i l lard-Parker, Reception and St. Vincent Hospitals.
Bernard's "Amour Intellectualis" is the same as that of all the
great East-Indian Yogis. He is conspicuous for avoiding the beaten
path, and for those afflicted with "misocainia" he has no place or
time. I n his addresses, thirty-five or more of which I have attended,
he shows sound pedagogical skill in elucidating Vedic literature as
worked out by divergent minds of the higher order. W e are here
given the results of thirty-five centuries of laborious investigation
of the problems of human evolution and enabled to see, through this
mist of years, a Vedic picture which stands all tests of analysis.
His style is remarkable for its wealth of simile and suggestion. I
recommend this work to any one able to do consecutive thinking on
profound matters.
-DR. E D W A R D W Y M A N H O W E L L S (Baltimore College),
19 W e s t 44th St., N . Y . City. Member of both County and
State Societies.
The lectures of Pierre Bernard (Shastri) before the T. 0. in
Am. (Sessions of 1915-16) have untied for me many a knot; and
his writings under the general title of "Sanskrit Studies" with special reference to the theory and practice of the Veda constitute one
of the most brilliant achievements in scholarship of the nineteenth
century, a permanent contribution toward the solution of the greatest problems of thought and life. Bernard is a good example of
the "Kinetic Drive" and a serious apostle of practice in opposition to
theory, whether in the great clinic of life or the restricted clinic of

medicine. His style is. characteristic and extremely effective, direct,

forcible and clear. His meaning is unmistakable but is driven home
with an added blow.
-DR. R O B E R T GOOD (Chicago College and Valpariso Utziversity, Metnber State Societies, etc.), 22 West 59th Street,
N . Y . City.
Twenty-five years of my life have been devoted to Indo-Aryan
(Brahmanical) research. In that time I have closely examined the
works of Ward, Sir William Jones, Sir Monier Williams, Colebrooke, Wilkins, Fausboll, Goldstucker, Leumann, Gough, Weber,
Muir, Buhler, Deussen, Muller, and in fact of all our eminent Sanskrit scholars. Since then I have taken up Sanskrit Studies under
(Shastri) Bernard, attending seventy-five or more of his lectures,
and I do not hesitate to say that his teachings stand forth in bold
relief, far transcending the best efforts of his colleagues. What
particularly impresses me is the practical Yoga system with its
Vedic background, the root principles of which are to be found in
the innumerable functions of our bodily structure. To my mind
this man is a master physiologist, and most deeply grounded in the
collateral sciences relating thereto. In checking up, I have ever
found him familiar with the very last word on natural science and
philosophy. For a full length portrait of the Vedas, I should say,
make a pilgrimage to Bernard. (New York City, February 6,
1910.)
-THOMAS W . T O P H A M , M. D., College of Physicians a~ld
Sztrgeons, Indianapolis ( 1880);Fornzerly De nzottstrator of
Aftatonty i f t Long Island Hospital Medical College; Member
of Kings Cozcnty Medical Society, Brooklyn, etc. Azithor of
several works on general medicine, and many treatises 092
Electro-Chemistry, Electro-Tkerapezltics, Physical T~ainhzg,
Preventive Medicine, etc.
"In Dr. Bernard I made acquaintance with the most profound
man I have ever known," and "from a scientific point of view this
celebrated Vaidik (Vedic scholar) is best equipped among living
thinkers to give us the proper analysis and practical training so
indispensable in ferreting out the mysteries of Sanskrit lore." "He
is the first man to make plain and drive home the claims of the
Veda upon Aryans."
-AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, M . D. [Paris]. Azitltor of
"A Sketch of Ancient Inhabitants of Perzt and Their Civilization," "Vestiges of the Mayas," "The Monuments o f
Mayax and Their Historical Teachings," "Qzteen Moo and
the Egyptian Sp hillx," "Sa.cred Mysteries Avzong the Mayas
and Qziiclzes," etc.

Pierre Bernard (Shastri) is a born unavoidable psychologist. In

this realm of medicine I know not his equal in the world to-day.
His pia mater is certainly made of good stuff, and for an alias I
suggest "pure intelligence." In his thirty or more lectures before
the Biophile Club he gave us among other things a faithful reflex
of Ayur-Vedic (medical) thought, the Brahma-Yoga philosophy
which primarily and essentially is "preventive medicine." I n its
truest and most ancient form it implies the practice of methods to
alleviate mental and physical pain. I n this and in collateral subjects we were given a mine of information indispensable to every
practician mindful of the welfare of his patient. I, for one, revel
in the Brahmasophy of his "Theory and Practice of the Veda"
which he has Englished so well. The work shows sublimity of
thought and lucidity of explanation.
-GUY OTIS BRE W S T E R , M. D., Jefferson Medical College,
Philadelphia; Licentiate, New Jersey and New York States;
Member, Morris County Medical Society, New Jersey State
Medical Society, New Jersey Academy of Medicine, N . J.
State Sanitary Association, American Physical Education
Assoc., American Medical Association; Director, Dover General Hospital; Clinician, Orange Memorial Hospital; PostGradzbate of N . Y . Post-Graduate Hospital; Clinical Assistant,
Genito-U. Department, Presbyteriart Hospital; Clinical Assistant, N. Y . School of Clinical Medicine; Clinical Assistallt,
Northwestern Clinic, New York; Resident Physician, Kings
County Hospital, Brooklyn, N . Y.; Member, National Research Cozcncil (U. S. A.).
Socrates tells us, "He only teaches who communicates himself ."
and from Sanskrit sources, the Guru-Gita, we have "The only true
teacher is he who can transform himself into many different persons
in a moment of time." Bernard meets both these requirements to a
superlative degree. I have been unable to tolerate the "Superman"
of actual life; only the part he plays in romantic literature,
Hunecker's concept for example, has been possible to me. Bernard
has made me accept both. For twenty years or more I had listened
to well educated native Brahmans, whom I knew well, tell their
stories (as they were to me) of the miracles in understanding, culture and control of both body and mind as displayed by certain
members of their race in far-off India. Bernard, I have known for
ten years. He has given me an exhibition of all the amazing abnormal physiological powers for which the Yoga doctrine. makes claim,
and demonstrated the fact of its consistency not only with medicine
but with the sciences collateral to it. Bernard has no bow-wow
theories and his teachings do not savour of the "Other World."
In this age of so much mental quackery it is refreshing to find one
who does not ignore history but instead makes of it the basis of his

philosophy. Dr. Bernard is a great believer in the "Art of Life"

and the most profound thinker I have ever known. I t would be
impossible I believe to find a more luminous discussion of the problems involving life than those contained in his lectures.
-JOHN M. DEXTER, B. A,, M . D. (Medical Dept. Columbia
University, 18g4), College of Physicians and Surgeons,
N . Y . ; Member, N . Y . County Medical Society and American
Medical Association; Post-graduate work, London, Paris and
Berlin.
In Ghatastha Yoga (Culture or practice of Vedic physiology; in
its subjective aspect partaking of the nature of "preventive medicine") the studies featured seem to be those of Pneumatology, Cardiology, Enterology, and Neurology. I have had numberless opportunities to personally witness most remarkable practical demonstrations of visceral innervation given by the author of "Vira Sadhana," (Vedic Practice), Pierre Bernard (Shastri), and I fully confirm the marvelous achievements in the reports of such eminent
physicians as Dr. N. C. Paul, Dr. (Col.) Townsend, Dr. Walsh,
Dr. Wade, Dr. R. V. Khedkar, Dr. F. Mason, Dr. 0. T. Joslen, Dr.
Chas. Clark, Dr. Wm. A. Harvey, Dr. D. McMillan, Dr. F. Thomas,
Dr. Jos. G. Crawford, Dr. K. A. Rao, Dr. U. L. Desai, Dr. T. W.
Topham, Dr. J. M. Dexter, Dr. Guy Otis Brewster, Drs. Kahn
and Jordan, Dr. P. C. Banerjee, Dr. T. C. R. Iyengar, Dr. A. Le
Plongeon, etc. . Among other experiments exhibited were absolute
control of cardloaccelerator and cardioinhibitory nerves, the results
of which I carefully examined by the aid of the cardiosphygmograph. In one instance, during a breath suspension of over twenty
minutes ("Kevala Khumbhaka" in the Sanskrit Yoga texts), I
found absolutely no pneumatype but most interesting dermal phenomena indicating a cutaneous respiration such as I had never
before seen. Lavation ("Vamana Dhouti" in Skt.), the Coloclyster
("Bahiskrita Dhouti" in Skt.), and auto lavage of the entire Enteron
without any apparatus ("Varisara Dhouti" in Skt.), and full and
complete, were carried to a point where the Alvine material, two
ballons in quantity, consisted of nothing but clean, clear water. NO
possible nosotoxicosis here ! The stomach was completely emptied
of its water content via the pyloric end in just nine minutes ("VariSara Dhouti" in Skt.). And atmospheric air swallowed in large
quantities, aerophagia ("Vyut and S'it Krama" in Skt.), was passed
through the entire alimentary canal in the same period of time
("Vatasara Dhouti" in Skt.). Nasopharyngeal washing was done
by reversing the direction of the water, attention being given to
position of the head and use of expired air from the lung. Posture
and interesting abdominogenital movements ("Aswini Mudra and
Loukiki Yoga") were the feature in the irrigation of the small
intestine. Time required for the latter, eighteen minutes. For
those who seek serviceable grounding in the minuti2 of any depart-

ment of Yoga practice I unhesitatingly recommend Bernard. His

scholarship is worthy of Vedic philosophy and of the great school
in which he is a teacher.
W I L L I A M T. J E N K I N S , B . A. (University of Mississippi) ;
M . D. (University of Virginia); Post-gradztate, Clinical
Diagnosis, Pathology and Bacteriology, Medical ~eparZmetzt
University of N e w York, Bellevue Hospital Medical College,
N e w York, Roosevelt, Woman's, Blackwell's Island and
Bellevzce Hospitals; Hospital Physician, Willard-Parker, Reception, and Vincent Hospitals; Coroner's Physician of City
of N e w York eleven years (1881-91);Health Oficer of the
Port of N e w Y o r k , Commissioner of Health of the City and
State of N e w Y o r k (1892-3-4); appointed by Governor
Flower. Instituted the regulations which successfully conzbatted typhzcs fever and cholera dzcring the years 1892-93.
Established first Conszclar Quara~tti?zePort of Embarkation
(Hambztrg), 1892, adopted by the United States Hospital
Conference, Washington, D. C., April, 1893, to which he was
a delegate. General Manager of Foreign Marine Hospital
Service for the treatnzent of foreign sailors; appointed Costsztltant to Coroner's Physicians of the City of N e w York,
1896; Commissioner of Health of Greater N e w York for six
years, appointed by Mayor V a n W y c k ; Chairman of Sanitary
Committee of said Board (18g8-1901); Contmissioner of
by
Health of the State of N e w Y o r k ( 1 8 9 9 - I ~ O Iappointed
),
Theodore Roosevelt. Delegate to the Yellow Fever Conference, Memphis, Tenn., 1898, represe?ztnzg N e w York State
and N e w Y o r k City Boards of Health. Appointed Lectztrer
on International Qztarantine in Medical Depart~lzentCornell
University, City of N e w Y o r k , sessions ( I 898-'99- I goo-'01 ) ;
delegated by N e w Y o r k State Board of Health i n Jzcne, 1899,
to investigate the report on sanitary regzrlations abroad; delegated by the State of N e w Y o r k and City Boards of Health
to investigate Bztbonic Plague i n Glasgow, Scotland goo),
and second lninor ozctbreak i n Fall of 1901; Sanitary Engineer
of N e w Y o r k Board of Health (1904-1909) ; N e w Y o r k
Herald Sanitary Commission to Czcba and Porto Rico itz,
1905, reporting to them sanitary conditions i n a series of
articles, a?td as Chairman o f the Commission made the final
report. W a s appointed by Governor Sztlzer Medical Representative at the Conference of the Anzerican Medical Association, held at Chicago, Ill., in Febrzcary, 1912. Dr. Jenkins i s
or has been a member of the followi?zg societies: Phi S i g f ~ t a
Society and Alztnzni University o f MississiPpi, Kappa Sigma
Fraternity, Zeta Chapter university of Virginia; Alzdmni
Chapter Kappa Sigma of N e w Y o r k City, Alzimni Chapters
56 and University and College Chapters 100; N e w Y o r k
Alumni Association of the University of Virginia; Anlerican

Medical Association; N e w Y o r k Cozttzty and State Medical

Societies; Anzerican Public Health Associa.tion; Greater N e w
Y o r k Medical Association; as a mervlber of variozts Health
Commissions, Health Oficer of the Port of N e w Y o r k , established Division Bacteriological diagttosis at quarantine, Azlgust, 1892, Pathology, bacteriology and disinfection, September, 1892; Bacteriological diagnosis of diphtheria, Board of
Health, April, I 893 ;Bacteriological diagnosis of tuberculosis,
and resolz.ttion of Board of Health, making i t a corvlmunicable
disease, to be reported and treated a.s other communicable diseases; also hydrophobia (rabies), Pasteur method. Secured
appropriation for the constrztction of Reception Hospital,
1892; Appropriation to bztild Plagzte ( V a n W y c k ) Laboratory, which w a s the first wzztnicipal and the parent of research
labgratories of National and Mzttzicipal Boards of Health,
I 898-99.

VIRA SADHANA
A Theory and Practice of Veda
By PIERRE
BERNARD(Shastri)
F.R.M.S., M.R.A.S. (Lond.)
I n this age one unfamiliar with modern researches, analytical studies, "the higher criticism," etc., must step aside and
make room for his more intelligent brother.
I n VIRA SADHANA, the Vedic science of human culture,
you have serious reading of the highest quality, a wealth of
transcendental lore with a truth concealed in every sentence.
This work, in tune with the times, is abreast of the latest commentaries, and to-day no scholar's library is complete without
the Editor's annotations. Greek, Roman and Hebraic parallels
are given in the notes, thereby practically exhausting all that
the learned tongue of man has to say upon Tantra (the unabridged Veda).
The Editor tells us that the war of words, their true intent
and meaning, in the fight against superstition, is the greatest
battle for freedom of religious thought that mankind has ever
waged; and we, as publishers, take pride in offering to the
public a text, every page of which bears the hall-mark of
the highest scholarship, and which has received the highest
enldorsement ever bestowed upon a work of Its kind.
This textual analysis of the innermost principles of the
Veda, VIRA SADHANA, is in furtherance of a great educational enterprise; and to advance the sales we have issued an
unusually large edition so as to bring the price of the work
within the easy reach of all.
Large Quarto (4to), printed (in Int. Jour. T. 0. form) on
80-pound heavy calendered book paper, large readable type,
marginal noted throughout, and highly illustrated with halftones and copper plate engravings of subjects treated. I t
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KRISHNA

T h e Lord of Love

By

BABA BHARATI

Calcutta, India.

12mo. 550 pages.

Price, cloth binding,

T h e greatest book of the century.-Oriental

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Review.

"Krishna, The Lord of Love" is forceful; an extraordinary

Y. Daily News.
book.-N.
Certainly its ethics are of the most exalted type.-Chicago
Examiner.

I thank you with all

my heart for your book. It realizes

a dream of my teacher, Stephen Mallarme, the poet,
for it has three super-imposed texts. One is for the
passer-by, one for the intellectual, another is for the
artist and all are excellent. And each one is to be read
twice; once for the ideas that are expressed, the other
for the beauty of the ~hrases.-Henri Pene Du Bois.
in "New York American."

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