Himalayas have always inspired the spiritual seekers of the Indian subcontinent. The mighty, majestic mountains fill you with a feeling of mysticism. This was true in the 19th century as well, when Swami Vivekananda, the famous Indian monk, pursued his spiritual yearnings. In his biography Swami Vivekananda on Himself, the monk recounted one such experience.
Below are the excerpts from the book:
Once when travelling in the Himalayas I had to take up my abode for a night in a village of the hill-people. Hearing the beating of drums in the village some time after nightfall, I came to know upon inquiring of my host that one of the villagers had been possessed by a god spirit. To meet his importunate wishes and to satisfy my own curiosity, I went out to see what the matter really was.
Reaching the spot, I found a great concourse of people.
A tall man with long, bushy hair was pointed out to me, and I was told that person had got the spirit on him. I noticed an axe being heated in fire close by the man; and after a while, I found the red-hot thing being seized and applied to parts of his body and also to his hair!
But… wonder of wonders, no part of his body or hair thus branded with the red-hot axe was found to be burnt, and there was no expression of any pain in his face.
I stood mute with surprise.
The headman of the village, meanwhile, came up to me and said, ‘Maharaj, please exorcise this man out of your mercy.’
I felt myself in a nice fix, but moved to do something; I had to go near the possessed man.
Once there, I felt a strong impulse to examine the axe rather closely, but the instant I touched it, I burnt my fingers, although the thing had been cooled down to blackness. The smarting made me restless and all my theories about the axe phenomenon were spirited away from my mind!
However, smarting with the burn, I placed my hand on the head of the man and repeated [Japa] for a short while…
It was a matter of suprise to find that the man came round in ten or twelve minutes. Then oh, the gushing reverence the villagers showed to me! I was taken to be some wonderful man. But, all the same, I couldn’t make any head or tail of the whole business.
Kalampedia 