On 3 March 2008, Sanal Edamaruku, who is the president of an organization called Rationalist International, challenged India’s tantrik (a black magician). The tantrik is thought to be the most powerful in India. Sanal has challenged the tantrik to kill him using black magic during a live TV program. The tantrik, Pandit Surinder Sharma, agreed. Sharma claimed during an earlier TV discussion that he could kill any person within 3 minutes using black magic. This has started because one of India’s former politicians, Uma Bharati, accused her opponents of using tantrik magic to hurt her, following a series of negative events in her life.
During the challenged, the tantrik chanted his mantras for a lot more than 3 minutes but it had no ill effect on Sanal whatsoever. In fact, Sanal Edamaruku only laughed all the time. The tantrik moved onto more “powerful” techniques and started to wave a knife and touch Sanal with it.
Only after two hours of this show, which overrun all other programs at that time on the channel, did the anchor declare the failure of the tantrik. The latter tried to explain it away with the thought that a very powerful god was guarding Sanal, to which he replied being an atheist.
The tantrik then said that his most powerful magic works only at night. Sanal has challenged him again. Under an open might sky several hours later they gathered for the ritual. The tantrik warned that once it is started there’s no way back and Sanal would get crazy and then scram in pain and die. Sanal laughed and they started.
There is a lot of "black magic" out there however, coming in disguise of the reason. Doctors curse their patients in giving names to diseases and even telling them sometimes, that they are incurable. Politicians throw curses painting the devil on the wall... Al Gore throws curses without a single break... etc.
This is by far more dangerous because it is considered as "the truth" although a all of this are only moments which are fixed moment by moment by these curses and become beliefs - destructive beliefs. The world is full of them.
This is the real "black magic"!
David
You can hear the suppressed snickering in the voice of the fat man masquerading as a sadhu.