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Volume 8: Number 3: Article 4
Report of an Indian Swami Claiming to Materialize Objects: The Value and Limitations of Field Observations
Erlendur Haraldsson and Joop M. Houtkooper, Institut fur Grenzgebiete
der Psychologie und Psychohygiene, Eichhalde 12, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
In India there are frequent and widely accepted claims of materializations
of objects or substances which are usually associated with the activities
of religious persons, such as Hindu swamis, and are sometimes reported
to occur during religious ceremonies. Such claims, if substantiated,
could have a major influence on the development of the studies of anomalous
phenomena. This report describes an attempt to investigate the claims
concerning a little known swami, Gyatri Swami. The difficulties involved
in working in a religious setting are described in order to demonstrate
the limitations to which this sort of research is subject. Conclusions
are left as much as possible to the reader, because these claims frequently
warrant no clear-cut verdict. However, in the case of Gyatri Swami we
reached a negative conclusion regarding his claims.
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