Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis II 1921 3-4.djvu/73

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THE ANAL-EROTIC FACTOR IN HINDU RELIGION 327

their culinary and prandial operations from the gaze of even high- caste Brahmans of tribes and sects different from their own. i I' ^gain a close parallel between the thought processes in the


 * obsessional neurotic and the Hindu is discernible in that partic-

ular type of belief which has been termed 'the omnipotence ol thoughts'. Ferenczi^ has divided up the course of development in the infant as regards its sense of reality into four stages. Ot these, the third stage Ferenczi calls 'the period of omnipotence by the help of magic gestures'. Among these 'gestures' the sound produced by the passage of flatus play an important part so that, as Ernest Jones' observes, 'they constitute one of the chief means' p through which the infant retains its belief in its omnipotence, a

consideration that throws some light on the above mentioned association between the belief and anal erotism in the obsessional neurosis'. Examples indicating the relation between certain pract- ices of the Hindus and Ferenczi's 'third stage' were given on page 323. I will now give a still more extravagant example from the chapter by Monier Williams * which deals with Saktism, in which the idea of the omnipotence of words and thoughts, (Ferenczi's 'fourth stage') is very admirably illustrated. The follow- ing is a description of the rite of Bhuta-suddhi, 'removal ot 1 demons': 'Holding a scented flower, anointed with sandals, on

the left temple, repeat Om to the Gurus, Om to Ganesh, Om to Durga. Then with Om phat rub the palms with flowers, and clasp the hands thrice over the head and by snapping the fingers towards ten diff"erent directions, secure immunity from the evil spirits. Next utter the Mantra Ram, sprinkle water all around, and imagine this water as a wall of fire. Let the priest identify himself with the living spirit Qivatman) abiding in man's breast, in the form of the tapering flame of a lamp, and conduct it by means of the Sushumna nerve through the six spheres within the body upwards to the Divine Spirit. Then meditate on the twenty- four essences in nature; viz. the Producer, Intellect, Egoism, the five subtle and five gross elements, the five external organs of sense, the five organs of action, with mind. Conceive in the left nostril the Mantra Yam, declared to be the Bija or root of wind;

« Monier Williams: op. cit. ' •

» S. Ferenczi: op. cit. ■.

' Ernest Jones: op. cit., p. 546.


 * Monier Williams: op. cit. . . '