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Life, 1912-09-05 · page 30 of 44

Life — September 5, 1912 — page 30: what you’re looking at

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Life — September 5, 1912 — page 30: Life, 1912-09-05

What you’re looking at

This is a full-page advertisement parody mocking the "New Thought" spiritual movement and yoga fads popular in 1920s-30s America. The satirical "Swami Baa Baa" promises miraculous "vibrations" that allegedly allow followers to indulge in excess—smoking 40 cigars daily, overeating, staying up late—while experiencing spiritual development and moral improvement. Life's target is twofold: charlatans peddling fake Eastern mysticism to gullible wealthy Americans, and the contradictory promise that one can abandon self-discipline yet achieve enlightenment. The fake testimonials (gaining 50 pounds while "floating" spiritually; gaining moral strength while abandoning restraint) ridicule how believers rationalize hedonism as spirituality. The satirical charge of fifty dollars per session reflects real exploitation of affluent seekers during this era's wellness and occult crazes.

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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

TRAE Greatest Discovery of Age! Swami Baa Baa's Vibrations Enable You to Smoke Forty Cigars a Day With EKase—Spiritual Harmonies W are able at last to announce the greatest psychic discovery of modern times. This is due to the marvelous power developed by Swami Baa Baa, the one and only yogi now in America—su- perior among all yogis, having been re- incarnated fourteen times during the last two thousand years. Up to the present period, those who desired to go into the higher tattvic plane have been obliged to discard all materialistic thoughts and to become, as it were, one with the great Brahma. All this is now past. We are able in our Vibration Par- lors to place you at once with the great powers of the universe, for a nominal charge of fifty dollars; but aside from this you have to give up nothing. On the contrary, you do twice as much as you ever did before. Here is a letter just received Honorep Swami: Great is your name, and mighty is your power! Up to the time of taking on the higher tattvic har- monies, which appeared two weeks ago, I could only smoke ten cigars a day. I am now smoking forty and doing it with the keenest rel- ish. Not only this, but I eat four times as much as I ever did be- fore, sit up all hours of the night, play poker constantly, and, in fact, am having the greatest time that you could imagine. Side by side with this perfectly developed physical existence, I find that my moral powers are expand- ing at the rate of four hundred vibrations a day. T can go into the silence now without having my cigar go out. I have trained my subliminal self to go any where I want it to; and, in fact, 1 am ruler of the uni- verse. I enclose one hundred dollars merely as an evidence of good fellowship. May your auric en- velope never grow less. Yours, in the faith, Bitty This explains perfectly the great idea that Swami Baa Baa is now de- veloping. It has always been thought that the psychic development could not go on side by side with physical pleasures Swami Baa Baa is now proof to the contrary. There is nothing that you cannot be. In fact, since the new idea has been developed, every man leads a double life—and there is no “come back.” You can stuff yourself with the ric est kind of food for years and years, and, owing to the vibratory har- nies being just right, no bad effects are felt. Here is another letter: Aporep Baa Baa: How can I thank you for what you have done for me? Since taking the lessons in your silence classes I have become a new woman. Up to the time that I first met you, I was constantly annoyed by the fact that I weighed over four hundred pounds, and could not seem to get any thinner. Since becoming a member of your classes I have actualy gained fif- ty pounds; but it does not matter; I do not care; I am not conscious of it. Owing to the new treat ment that you have given me I appear to float about in the air with a sinuous ecstatic movement that is simply grand. No more dieting for me. And, better than all, I feel my moral nature con- stantly growing stronger and stronger. I have sympathy for everyone. Gratefully and eternally yours, Madam This idea—something entirely 1 ide by Side With Physical—Don't Wait ! in the realm of thought—promises 1» revolutionize all methods. Hitherto, disciples of New Thought and other poor imitations of Swami Baa Baa have gone on the plan that we must give up the pleasures of the senses, Swami Baa Baa, however, has de- veloped a new set of vibrations which ure ten thousand times more powerful than anything known before. The consequence is, that no ‘matter how great your physical pleasures become, the vibrations are strong enough to keep them under control. An old customer writes us: “When I first began taking les- sons of you I gave up everything —smoking, drinking, gambling and cating—and began to develop an ethereal aspect that would have done credit to an Egyptian der- vish. This summer, however, my wife went away to the country, and at the same time I was told of your new idea. I took some additional treatment, and I give you my word that for nearly a month now I have not slept more than an hour a night. Life has been one con- tinual joy ride. And yet, strange as it may seem, I am really more spiritual than ever, owing to the wonderful power of your vibrations. ightly nervous after smoking eight or ten cigars I con- centrate on a brass finger bowl for five minutes, and my equilibrium is fully restored. No more time to write, as I am off for a four-hundred-mile ride with a couple of old coilege chums. Yours, ete., Our new temple, devoted to Swami Baa Baa’s great theory, is now in progress. No matter who you are, we invite your presence. Life's Vibration Parlors. comicbook $.co & eS Fe bo wi