116 Biography of a Yogiby pressing certain nerves on the head. These are very interesting physi-
ological phenomena showing that man can control the functions of the
heart and all other organs of involuntary action. This is known to Hindu
Yogis and Swamis who practice Yoga, as well as to mystics of other sects.
Of course, it must be remembered that without the love of God and with-
out wisdom, such control and feats are just physiological jugglery and a
detriment to spiritual realization... . I told Mr. Bey to produce trance
by love of God, rather than merely by glandular pressure, as results pro-
duced by devotion are safer and greater. Generally, it takes another person
to arouse Mr. Bey from his trance. But, in the conscious trance of devo-
tion, or Yoga, one never loses consciousness but transcends the material
consciousness and comes back to consciousness of matter at will again.
That is the conscious communion with God the Yogoda aspires to teach.^57It is unclear whether Bey ever managed to induce the trance state with no
aid from glandular manipulation, but Yogananda appears to have been satis-
fied enough with his progress to incorporate the performance into his lectures.
Bey delivered a number of presentations alongside Yogananda including some
of the very same burial demonstrations— though significantly truncated for the
sake of the audience’s patience. Chowdhury, who was at this time still affiliated
with Yogananda, also lectured together with Bey. Bey was made an Honorary
Vice- President of the SRF in 1933 and maintained some form of affiliation with
Yogananda until he returned to Eg ypt in 1936 and thereafter set off to found his
own organization in 1937 (figs. 3.3 and 3.4).
Another associate of Yogananda’s was Roman Ostoja. Ostoja first emerged
as a contact of Yogananda in 1934, when the two collaborated on at least one
series of lectures in Oakland. Billed as Yogi R. Ostoja for the purposes of these
presentations, he elsewhere went by Notredameus and represented himself as
a Polish count, though this claim to nobility is unsubstantiated. That he was at
least of Polish descent is almost certain. Sources indicate that he immigrated to
the United States from Poland in 1923 as Mieszko Roman Maszerski and sub-
sequently petitioned for naturalization in Southern California in 1934, around
the time that he would have made Yogananda’s acquaintance. As early as 1931,
however, Ostoja had been making a name for himself in the Los Angeles area as
a medium, a hypnotist— though he appears to have worked mostly with domes-
tic animals and birds— and a performer of typical attractions such as suspended
animation, lying on a bed of nails, and piercing his tongue and hands with metal
spikes. There he also befriended the famous author Upton Sinclair, who at the
time was exploring telepathy and Spiritualism, and he even attempted to perform
a séance that included Albert Einstein as part of the audience.