Lanka's Kovoor - theory:

Nobody has supernatural powers. Period

He was one of the first and the only scientist among psychical researchers in the world at that time. I was told by a teacher in Sri Lanka how Dr Kovoor used to distribute the so-called "Holy Ash" in the same manner some self-appointed Hindu gurus do. His assertion was that all those who claim to possess psychic, para-psychic and spiritual powers were either hoaxers or mentally deranged persons suffering from cryptesthesia. He said, "nobody has and nobody ever had supernatural powers. They exist only in the pages of scriptures and sensation-mongering newspapers."

Dr. Kovoor's main aim was to enlighten people and teach them to go by reason and scientific verification. He was born at Tiruvalla in Kerala, (South India) on April, 10, 1898 in a Christian family. Dr Kovoor was very much attached to the rational teaching of Buddha, because Buddha was a great social and religious reformer of India, rebelled against Hindu dogmatism and taught a more rational and tolerant philosophy than any others.

He disregarded his Christian faith and tradition as he couldn't accept the Bible as the word of an omniscient god. As he gradually matured he became a free thinker and adopted rationalism as his philosophy. He passed away on September 18, 1978 in Colombo, Sri Lanka at the age of 80.

This is an excerpt from Dr Kovoor's writing

Sincere and honest persons earn their living by sincere honest work. Dishonest persons do so by cheating those who work and earn. To the category of dishonest parasites who thrive by cheating the credulous among honest workers belong the teachers, preachers and priests of dubious religions and cults, mystics, saints, arahants, sidhas who claim that they have acquired enlightenment through meditation or penance; gurus, babas, anandas, rishis, swamijis and ete etc..

In recent years a new type of hoaxers have cropped up in India in the form of incarnations of one or other of numerous gods of the Hindu pantheon. Intelligent crooks of that country have found a new method of amassing wealth with the least effort.

They get hold of a person who is clever at sleight-of-hand tricks, and brand him as an "avathar". A lot of cock-and-bull stories about the miraculous genesis and divine powers of the godmen are published in books and newspapers. Whenever this imitation of god appears in public, his agents offer him flowers and prostrate before him.

Asmost gullibles have the habit of doing exactly as others do, the thousands of credulous spectators too prostrate before the miracle performing charlatan. Money pours in lakhs(one hundred thousands) to be shared by the juggler and his agents. It is indeed a tragedy that among these crafty god-makers are some of the highly qualified scientists of that country.

Although the acts of these hoaxers are as criminal as those of robbers, cheats, smugglers, blackmarketers, pickpockets and thieves, governments are reluctant to prosecute them because their practice is sanctioned by most religions.

In a democracy where the majority of people are blind believers in religions, these hoaxers can carry on their trade of cheating with impunity. It was to convince the ignorant masses that there is absolutely no truth in the claims of these hoaxers that I have been challenging them staking all I have to demonstrate their powers under fraud-proof conditions.

I am aware that my various challenges, staking large sums of money, are liable to create a false impression in the minds of the public that I am a fabulously rich man with plenty of money to throw about for cheap publicity. I am also aware of the dire consequences of these challenges.

If there is one person in the world with supernatural or paranormal powers, I will eventually have to end up in a" Home for Destitutes", but I was, and still am, fully confident that I will not be losing a single cent by these challenges, because nobody has, and nobody ever had, miraculous powers although we read in scriptures and sensation-mongering newspapers numerous stories about people possessing miraculous powers.

That is why I am keeping these challenges open till my death or till I find the first winner. None of the hoaxers who claim supernatural powers will dare to take up my challenge for fear of their fraud getting exposed under scientific tests. The only person who was foolhardy to deposit Rs. 1000 as proof of his earnestness to face my challenge, was, strangely enough, not one of the charlatans, but a highly religious person who blindly believed in the supernatural and the miraculous.

Dr. G. Venkata Rao, a medical doctor of Bangalore, who was credulous enough to believe that his Guru Raghavendra Swamiji of Mantralaya, Andhra Pradesh, has divine powers, paid Rs. 1000 as earnest deposit, and finally lost it! Dr. Rao foolishly believed that a person could obtain divine powers by chanting the mantra "Om Raghavendra Sharanam" daily 100 times.

Being an extremely gullible person he also belied the cock and bull story the sacred ash, honey and flowers come out like fountain from the eye of a 6 year-old child in a village in Mysore district. Later, getting wiser-probably after testing the claim of the miracle Child himself at my request-he wanted his deposit returned. Much against my wish, I had to decline his request as it-was against the conditions of my challenge.

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Another wonderful book by Dr Abraham Kovoor is "Gods, Demons and Spirits"

Shri V.A. Menon from Bombay ,who had known Dr Kovoor well and brought out his writings as a book ,wrote "Dr Kovoor had been a terror to those who cheat innocent and gullible masses in the garb of holy men or miracle performers.

His fervour to wipe out superstition from the face of earth , and establish a humanitarian tradition makes Dr Kovoor one of the noblest personalities of the twentieth century." He wrote with great skill and a wonderful sense of humour.

The variety of material gives a real insight into the intensive research and thoughts of this outstanding rationalist. He was able to prove many things that people believe were wrong. His earnest hope was that his efforts would be helpful in getting rid of many of these charlatans that have been spreading darkness , false and superstitious belief among people.

I personally cannot remember any other person in this century other than Mr E.V.Ramasami (Periyar), (a social reformer and uncompromising fighter against the primitive caste system in South India) and Mr J Krishnamurti, (whose simple message was that truth is a pathless land, and one cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect! one has to seek the truth himself.) who has done so much to enlighten the people in Indian Subcontinent where superstitious beliefs are very common among people including in my family.

I feel privileged having read some of the writings of this extraordinary man and regret that many people in India are not familiar with his writings. I really appreciate his philosophy of rationalism and am grateful for his service to the mankind.

Prakash Arumugam - -gressen.