Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis II 1921 3-4.djvu/74

 328 OWEN BERKELEY-HILL

repeat it sixteen times while drawing air by the same nostra; then close the nose and hold the breath, and repeat the Mantra sixty-four times.

' Then meditate on the Matrika, and say, "Help me, goddess ot speech": Am to the forehead. Am to the mouth, Im to the right eye, Im to the left eye, Um to the right ear, Urn to the left ear, Im to the right cheek, Im to the left cheek, Rim to the right nostril. Rim to the left nostril, Lrim to the right cheek, Lrim to the left cheek, Em to the upper lip, Aim to the lower hp, Om to the upper teeth, Aum to the lower teeth, Tarn, Tham, Dam, Dham, and Nam to the several parts of the left leg, Pam to the right side, Pham to the left, Bam to the back, Mam to the stomach, Yam to the heart. Ram to the right shoulder, Lam to the neck-bone, Vam to the left shoulder, Sam from the heart to the right leg, Ham from the heart to the left leg, Ksham from the heart to the mouth.'

Monier Williams i observes: 'To us it may seem extra- ordinary that intelligent persons can give credence to such ab- surdities, or lend themselves to the practice of superstitions so senseless; but we must bear in mind that with many Hindu thinkers the notion of the eternity of sound — as propounded in Patanjali's Mahabhashya (I. i. 1) and in the Purva-mimansa of Jaimini — is by no means an irrational doctrine. According to tlie well-known Mimansa aphorisms (I. i. 18-23), sound is held to have existed from the beginning, hence the letters of the alphabet, being the ultimate instruments by which sounds are uttered and thoughts expressed, are considered to possess super- natural qualities and attributes and to contain within themselves an occult magical efficacy. Let a man only acquaint himselt with the proper pronounciation and application both of the Mantras and of their Bijas or radical letters, and he may thereby propitiate the Saktis so as to acquire through them superhuman power (siddhi) —nay, he becomes, through their aid, competent to accomplish every conceivable object.

Following Ernest Jones' scheme ^ of dividing up the reactions against anal erotism into four groups, of which two are derived from the ' keeping back ' or possessing instinct, while the remain- ing two are characterised by the desire to create and produce,

' Monier Williams: op. cit.

= Ernest Jones: op. cit. ; ' ■