text: When faked psychic powers make room for real ones Mr. Rasool, a fifty-year-old father of a daughter, earned his living as a healer and a fortune teller. He convinced his clients that he owned true psychic powers that could bring them a lot of positive results. He realized them by his prayers and by the participation of his clients to whom he always asked to follow his advice. If his clients didn’t obtain the desired results, he laid the blame on the latter saying that his advice wasn’t well executed. With his fake powers, many of his clients regretted the fees they paid him. If through coincidence, a few of his clients got satisfaction, he made wide publicity of that achievement to nurture his debatable popularity. His wife Anita, an office secretary, was skeptical about his intuitive knowledge. She never discussed this issue with him. As his activity was a source of income for the family, she turned a deaf ear whenever she overheard bad reviews about him. Once a lady brought her fifteen -year -old son to Rasool’s place. The teenager’s sleep was significantly disturbed because of repeated daily nightmares. In the mornings, he looked so tired that he was unwilling to go to school. He was examined by a doctor who prescribed him some medicines. Three days had elapsed. The medicines weren’t effective. After noting all details about him, Mr. Rasool talked softly to him.” Don’t worry. I’ll help you my boy to chase away those nightmares. Sit down. I’ll recite some prayers.” He laid his right hand on the boy’s head. He then muttered:” My lord, relieve this innocent boy of his troubled thoughts and bad dreams.” He repeated this sentence ten times. He then took a pinch of ash from a small bottle and put it on a piece of paper. He then folded and handed it to him. He patted his shoulder and told him that he would surely get back his peaceful sleep. He assured him that if he still had nightmare that night, he should not worry. Gradually they would fade away. When he left Mr. Rasool’s place, he felt confident that he would get back his sleep. On reaching home, he recalled Mr. Rasool’s sentence and his encouraging attitude. At bedtime, he kept the ash under his pillow. He put his trust on it. With this mindset, he got a good, undisturbed sleep. He told his parents about his recovery. The next day, he got ready and went to school. Once two ladies came to his place. One of them had a mental problem. She thought that her neighbour, jealous of her, was resorting to evil spirits to torture her mentally and causing her to fall a prey to all kinds of diseases. The medicines prescribed to her by medical doctors couldn’t cure her. So, she turned to Rasool for a relief. After listening to her and to her neighbour, Rasool told her that he would try to do something for her. He let her know that her case was a bit difficult. He would need several sessions to drive away the spirits. In fact, the ladies were told that each session was worth sixty dollars. They agreed for the present one. He asked them to sit in front of him. He told them that he would first try to communicate with the spirits. He brought a few jars containing several spices. Every now and then, he picked up a pinch from each jar and flung it away. He muttered unintelligible words. When he had finished, he explained that he was dealing with the spirits. They were stubborn and they would leave her after two or three more sessions. The ladies paid him and went away. They never went back to him. Mr. Rasool tried his luck using the internet. He sent e-mails to people telling them that his intuitive knowledge could be of great help to them. He wrote to one guy telling him that he had picked his name at random. He told him that his name was linked to a certain star. That one was casting a good influence upon him. He was destined to receive a big sum of money. But another star was casting a negative spell and could nullify this fortune. The only way to divert the path of that ominous star was through his special prayers. He would offer his help for a meagre sum of forty dollars. He told him not to miss that opportunity. In this way Rasool lured the credulous people and thus earned a living. In most cases the people felt cheated and their dream was rarely realized. If he did, it was a mere coincidence. His reply to the losers was that the negative forces were too strong to curb the interference of the bad star. If the reply from the treated person was positive, he always told them that a reward from them would be welcome. He thus strove on the credibility and ignorance of the surfers. One Saturday a former client called to inform him that he had won a lottery. He gave credit to his prayers and services. This positive review triggered more e-mails reaching him from people willing either a cure for their diseases or to seize the influence of a good star to become rich. He started having more cases to deal with and his business seemed to expand. He kept intensifying his rituals and prayers and was reaping more positive results. One morning he got a call from a person who had previously informed him that he didn’t have sufficient funds to pay for his surgery. He remembered he had told the latter to wake up at five and to indulge in a two-hour prayer session. He assured the guy that he would maintain his prayer too. The client told Rasool that one of his former clients, a lottery winner, had agreed to handle all his medical expenses. He felt proud that he was no longer cheating people. Another client called and gave him good news about his son Rony. The latter didn’t want to go to school because he was bullied. During his visit two days ago, the boy explained that some older classmates used to pass on naughty comments on him after school. They said that he was a weakling and girlish in behavior. Mr. Rasool said: “I see you have a big strength and you are not using it. You can face them and show your mettle. Do it tomorrow. My powers will help you”. Rony reported:” When they started harassing me, I stopped and faced them furiously. This was the first time I did so. They looked confused. One of them came near and gave me a jerk. I punched him hard on the face and he fell headlong. He got up with a bleeding, swollen face. Another one came with his clenched fist. Before he could strike me, I gave him a strong kick. He too fell down. Scared, they took to their heels”. Rony’s father thanked Mr. Rasool saying that people should trust his powers because he made Rony a courageous and confident boy. Mr. Rasool felt energized by the positive results he got from his clients. He grew confident about himself. That very morning a lady who seemed to be possessed by evil spirits was brought by her husband. She had weird looks. Her husband said that she was displaying that behavior for two days. She had assumed a different voice. She uttered things that were almost unintelligible. He got both of them seated. He closed his eyes and through a series of silent prayers he was as if making a leap into the lady’s mental landscape. He then opened his eyes after about twenty minutes, he then laid his right hand on the lady’s head and prayed. All of a sudden, the lady’s weird looks vanished. Her husband noticed that she was no longer under any bad spell. She asked her husband: “Where are we? Why have we come here? What happened to me?” He explained to her that she wasn’t feeling well. He asked her to thank Mr. Rasool who prayed for her recovery. She did so. They paid his fees and left. Mr. Rasool was sure that something good had happened to him. He could trust his psychic powers and intuitive knowledge as they were nearing perfection. He was frank with surfers. If his intuition revealed to him that they were not going to win a lottery or to get a rich inheritance or a promotion in their jobs, he would tell the truth. In case he noticed that they would be having health problems in the coming months or years, he didn’t hesitate to tell them. Since his services were genuine, the demand for them went up and his earnings too rose consequently. He thought:” God has given me the gift of practicing real psychic powers. I take the resolve to offer my services free to the handicapped and the poor.”