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THE POWER OF KARMA The rigorous and prolonged training to which the Oriental student submits himself is voluntarily undertaken by him in order to obtain control of the mind, of desires, and passions. He knows that a strong power of will is essential for the exercise of the faculties with which he explores the unseen. The difference between the astonishing feats performed in public by the fakir and the not less astonishing phenomena of the séance room is that the fakir produces them without loss of consciousness, while the spiritistic medium is semi-conscious and deprived of willpower. Knowledge is power, and the knowledge of the East has been acquired by centuries of effort and experiment. In the West, we are beginning to be aware of the existence of an astral body, and of its interpenetration of the physical body; we have also made some discoveries as to the aura and the etheric body, which are confirmed by clairvoyance. We may look forward to a general recognition soon of those facts with which Eastern teachers have been so long conversant.
Many instances can be cited of the unconscious projection of the astral body, while some students in this country have mastered the technique of conscious projection and control of their astral vehicle. The following story affords an interest