Life, 1913-05-22 · page 16 of 48
Life — May 22, 1913 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mocks fraudulent spiritualist movements gaining popularity in early 20th-century America. "Swami Baa Baa" is a fictional charlatan selling mystical "tattvic vibrations" and "astral body" treatments—pseudoscientific nonsense marketed as yogic wisdom. The satire targets multiple things: gullible wealthy women seeking spiritual enlightenment; the suffragette movement (dismissed as frivolous distraction); and men who benefit when women are pacified into mystical passivity rather than pursuing social reform. A testimonial describes a woman who abandoned suffragette interests after the Swami's "treatment," finding peace in submissive silence—implying the real goal is silencing women's activism. The humor lies in absurd claims (wireless devices for "pranic elevation," hysterical women fainting at the guru's presence) presented with deadpan seriousness. Life ridicules both the con artists exploiting women and the women themselves for their credulity, reflecting the period's dismissive attitudes toward female activism and spirituality.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
E take pleasure in announcing an en- tirely new method of treatment, just inaugurated by Swami Baa Baa, the greatest yogi in the world, dis- coverer of the inner tattvic vibrations, which enable any one to be a sublime ruler of the universe in six lessons. , however, is only the beginning. By special ar- rangement with Signor Marconi, and in connection with this scientist, the Swami has invented an individual wireless for the use of beginners who have not yet entered upon the higher pranic elevation. We also beg leave to announce that our ladies’ reception room, where the Swami has been in the habit of receiving the homage of society ladies from all over the country, has been removed to another building... So many ladies who have gazed upon the benign Swami for the first time were thrown into hysterics, that great confusion was caused. A special room for hysterical and emotional patients has now been provided, under the charge of a staff of trained nurses. This care, it should be stated at once, is only necessary in case of those American ladies who enter the presence of the Swami for the first time. The moment they acquire the power of going into the silence, they gradually mount higher and higher, until they achieve the seventh Auric ecstacy, which can only be understood by the initiated. A gentleman writes: “Dear Orv Swat: nything I have is yours. Before going to you my wife made a six-cylinder phonograph look like the echo of a baby’s lisp, in the next block. Besides, she was a lady with a temperament, and had a new fad every Monday morning, usually accompanied by hysterics. Since you have taught her to go into the silence, however, there is a continuous Sabbath calm in my house, only equaled by the annual meeting of the East Quogue Philosophical Society. Keep her im- mersed in this Pranic solitude, her astral eye rooted on a door knob, and I shall be yours forover and a day. This letter only shows what can be done in one lesson. Now about our allt, new treatment. This office has been placed under scientific management in or- der to save time. Up to recently it was necessary for our customers to enter into the silence on their own account. Under our present system you leave your astral body, your auric envelope or LANE 2 Swami Baa Baa’s Great Invention Vibrations Have Now Been Placed on a Scientific Basis—Leave Your Astral Body With Us and We Will Tune It Up—All Things Now Possible Only felt in the inmun ciecles your subliminal self with the Baa Baa, and go off about your affairs. Thus little by little, you are brought slowly up the seventh harmonic plane, and all without losing time from your regular business. Here is a letter from a lady explaining our wonderful system. “ Aporep Baa Baa: Two weeks ago I was a weak, silly woman, blindly interested in the suffragette movement, fondly imagin- ing that it was really important. Chance led me to you. At this time I was entirely unconscious that I had a double personality, an auric envelope and an astral body. You showed me this gently, but firmly, and I was induced to leave my auric envelope with you first, carefully placing upon it my name and address. When it was returned to me, I entered upon the first chromatic scale. Since then I have gone from one set of harmonic vibrations to another. The only reality is that which we cannot see. Ecstatically yours, Etta Any lady who wishes to have perfect peace, who ! wishes to have that feverish restlessness bathed in a limpid psychic atmosphere of pure thought (which only the Swami deals with), who wishes to enter the seventh cycle of Karma and revel in the tattvic vibrations, should communicate with us at once. Remember that a great movement is taking place all over the country. Woman suffrage will soon be a chimera of the past. Swami Baa Baa’s love is great enough for all. Any married woman who wishes to communicate with him has only to go into the silence and fix her mind on a yellow disk surrounded by light green. Inside of twenty- four hours her subliminal self will begin to get messages. Remember that the things we see are the only unrealities. Shut your eyes and think of Baa Baa and all joy will be yours. Our charges are moderate. Life’s Vibration Parlors. The Tottwe Smif Vocation LO, old chap; still doing newspaper H work?” “Yep; on the Daily Black-Mail.” “On the regular staff?” “Nope; on space yet—what call a penny-maligner, you know. you might comicbooks.com