Yoga Philosophy

Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi, Bhagu F Karbhari
Publisher: Devchand Lalbhai Pustakoddhar Fund

Page 82

HYPNOTISM
63
of sleep, and he is not willing to go to bed. There is no desire to do that; but on account of suggestion or a change in his condition which is made by some other person, he is put to sleep. That cannot be the natural sleep, which will come only, when the different organs of the body are not able to work, when they require rest, and then the natural result is sleep. So this hypnotic sleep is different from the natural sleep. It is not different so far as the actual manifestation is concerned ; we even see that it is of the same kind ; but the causes of the sleep are different, and if the cause is different, the result must also be different. In one case, there is necessity, in the other, no necessity; therefore an artificial condition is produced. The nerves are not ready to take rest; the blood is not ready. I do not mean to say that the blood is not ready to stop ; it is circulating over the human body during sleep, but stiil there is a difference in the circulation. With regard to the other organs of the senses, they are not ready to stop their functions, but this artificial condition stops their working. If all this is done, then what will be the condition of the body? It will be like a machine which has been overworked, without giving it the necessary food in the form of coal, or of gas, or whatever is required. We all see the state which is produced in hypnotism, even at the slightest suggestion of the operator. The subject follows him, and does not know what he is doing. The strength of a human being consists in his being able to maintain his individuality, to