Using the name Dr. Pierre Arnold Bernard,
he created the New York Sanskrit College and
opened a physiological institute. Around 1918,
he married Blanche DeVries, a woman of some
means in New York society and a cousin of Mary
Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ,
Scientist. His wife provided an entrée for him into
society circles, and some wealthy socialites, Ann
Vanderbilt among them, became disciples.
In 1924, Bernard founded a center and an Ori-
ental-Occult Library on his estate in Nyack, New
York. His 70-acre property included a mansion
that served as his headquarters and an adjacent
Inner Circle Theatre, which contained a library
of thousands of books on Eastern religion and
the occult. Here he hosted gurus and other visit-
ing teachers of religious and occult subjects. He
became a prominent citizen, offering his estate
to refugees from Nazi Germany. His nephew,
Theos Bernard, lived at the Nyack estate and later
attended Columbia University, where in 1944 he
wrote a thesis on HATHA YOGA that has become a
classic text.
A colorful and intriguing character, Bernard
interpreted tantric practices in a manner uniquely
his own. His claims of having attained a teaching
degree in Hinduism in India are unsubstantiated.
His frequent name changes and questionable
credentials made him the object of ridicule in
journalistic reports of the day, but he did gain
an expertise in Hindu thought and practice that
made him an important figure in the growth of
interest in Hinduism in the United States, in part
through his connections with spiritual leaders and
occultists of his day.
Bernard died quietly after a brief illness on
September 27, 1955, in Nyack, New York.
Further reading: Pierre Bernard, “In Re Fifth Veda.”
International Journal of the Tantrik Order American
Edition (New York: Tantrik Press, 1990); Charles
Boswell, “The Great Fume and Fuss Over the Omnipo-
tent Oom,” True (January 1965): 31–33, 86–91; Leslie
Shepard, Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychol-
ogy, 2d ed., 3 vols. (Detroit: Gale Research, 1984–85).Besant, Annie Wood (1847–1933) English
socialist and president of the Theosophical Society
Annie Besant was an English socialist reformer
who converted to THEOSOPHY after reading the
works of H. P. BLAVATSKY. She became an influen-
tial figure in the growth of Theosophy as a world-
wide movement and helped spread appreciation of
Hinduism in the West.
Annie Wood was born in London to a middle-
class Irish couple on October 1, 1847. She was
raised after her father’s death by her mother in a
very religious environment. She followed conven-
tion by marrying a minister and schoolmaster,
Frank Besant, in 1867. They had two children, but
she left the marriage in 1893 and took the chil-
dren with her in order to realize the ideals of her
emerging progressivism. The couple was legally
separated five years later.
Besant had begun to write while still with her
husband; once separated she started to air her
skeptical views in essays. She joined the National
Secular Society and lectured on feminist issues.
She joined forces with Charles Bradlaugh, the
atheist freethinker, to found the Free-thought
Publishing Company. In 1877, with Bradlaugh,
she was arrested for selling birth control pam-
phlets in London’s slums. They were convicted,
but the verdict was overturned and the trial
helped to liberalize public attitudes. In 1888 she
coordinated a strike of unskilled young women
laborers at a match factory, which shed light on
cruel and unsafe labor practices. She soon estab-
lished a reputation as an orator, skeptic, and advo-
cate for women’s rights.
During the 1880s, Besant became a friend
of George Bernard Shaw, who considered her
Britain’s and perhaps Europe’s greatest orator;
developing an interest in socialism she joined the
Fabian Society.Besant, Annie Wood 71 J