Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Rationalist demystifies miracles

By Our Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA JULY 26. Twenty five-year old Ramu was rather bewildered, when he could light a lamp from a two feet distance without a matchstick. How did he do it?

Well, he merely stared at the lamp for a few minutes and the lamp started burning on its own. Ramu isn't a sadhu with any supernatural power, but an ordinary mortal who was invited to the dais from among a packed audience by prominent rationalist leader, Narendra Nayak, to witness the so-called miracles performed by self-styled swamijis and faith healers.

The occasion was a demonstrative lecture on "Superstitions and miracle minds hinder progress'' by Dr. Nayak, leader of the Miracle Exposure Campaign and Assistant Professor of Bio-Chemistry, Mangalore Medical College, organised by the Atheist Centre, Vijayawada, here on Saturday.

What Ramu did was no miracle. All that it required was a mixing of potassium permanganate and glycerine on any combustible material like paper and within minutes it would start burning on its own, Dr. Nayak explained to the gathering.

Similarly, a girl and boy from the audience were invited to the dais and Dr. Nayak inserted a flaming rod into their mouths, but the duo remained unscathed.

How did they, survive the ordeal? "It is simple, fire burns obliquely as the rod was inserted deliberately in an inverted position without hurting the mouth or the tongue.

But to an onlooker it appeared some sort of miracle.

He demonstrated, how camphor could be lighted in one's palm without burning it. Any layman could do the trick as the surface portion of the camphor takes a longer time to burn, giving a person sufficient time to hold it in the hand.

And when some sadhu or tantric produces ash or a chain from thin air, he is just a fraud out to hoodwink the people, Dr. Nayak stated even as he demonstrated an endless stream of "vibhuthi'' from his hand in front of the audience.

There was no miracle in it. All that is required was a small ball of vibhuthi, placed between the fingers and with the sleight of the hand one can pretend giving a pinch of the substances to a number of people.

Such gimmicks, he challenged, the fake godmen, could not perform without waving their hands in the air as the entire trick lay in using the sleight of the hand. Dr. Nayak performed before the gathering about 25-30 such gimmicks.

``Let them kill me with their black magic and take away all my property,'' was his challenge to those who claimed to perform black magic.

The former MP, Chennupati Vidya, veteran freedom fighter Parakala Pattabhirama Rao and Dr. Samaram appealed to the people not to be carried away by false miracle claims, black magic, "Banamathi'', "chetabadi'' etc.

They wanted the people to develop a scientific temper and rational approach in their day-to-day problems.

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