“”As a rule, the Brahmans”, says Jacolliot, “rarely go beyond the class of grihesta, (priests of the vulgar castes), and purahita, (exorcisers, divines, prophets, and evocators of spirits). And yet, we shall see…once that we have touched the question and study of manifestations and phenomena, that these initiates of the first degree, (the lowest), attribute to themselves, and in appearance possess faculties developed to a degree which has never been equaled in Europe. As to the initiates of the second and especially of the third category, they pretend to be enabled to ignore time, space, and to command life and death.”
Such initiates as these, M. Jacolliot did not meet; for, as he says himself, they only appear on the most solemn occasions, and when the faith of the multitudes has to be strengthened by phenomena of a superior order.
“They are never seen, either in the neighborhood of, or even inside the temples, except at the grand quinquennial festival of the fire. On that occasion, they appear about the middle of the night, on a platform erected in the centre of the sacred lake, like so many phantoms, and by their conjurations they illumine the space. A fiery column of light ascends from around them, rushing from earth to heaven. Unfamiliar sounds vibrate through the air, and five or six hundred thousand Hindus, gathered from every part of India to contemplate these demi-gods, throw themselves with their faces buried in the dust, invoking the souls of their ancestors.”
Let any impartial person read the Spiritisme dans le Monde, and he cannot believe that this “implacable rationalist”, as Jacolliot takes pride in terming himself, said one word more than is warranted by what he had seen. His statements support and are corroborated by those of other skeptics.”
H. P. Blavatsky
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 