Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson

41 The Bokharian Dervish Hadji-Asvatz-Troov

41.874

“His name was Hadji-Asvatz-Troov.

41.874

“After that, the dervish Hadji-Asvatz-Troov began to question me himself and I gave him corresponding answers, but of course in that form already habitual to me by which I could always hide my real nature.

41.874

“There on your planet I became in general so skillful in talking in this manner that your favorites always took me for one of their brother scientists.

41.874

“From subsequent conversation with him, I understood that this respected Hadji-Asvatz-Troov had already been long interested in the said knowledge and that during the last ten years he had been studying it exclusively only practically.

41.874

“I also understood that from this studying he had attained results such as it is no longer proper to terrestrial three-brained beings to attain.

41.875

“When I had made all this clear to myself, I was much astonished and became very interested to know how this had come about, because I already very well knew that this knowledge had already long before ceased to exist in the Reason of the three-brained beings of the Earth and that this venerable Hadji could scarcely have heard of it often and thus have had an interest, as happens among them, gradually formed in him.

41.875

“When the relations necessary in such a situation had been established between this sympathetic dervish Hadji-Asvatz-Troov and myself, that is to say, when he had already begun to talk with me more or less normally without the so to say ‘mask’ which it has already become fully proper to contemporary beings to wear in their relations with other beings like themselves, especially when they meet these others for the first time—then, when these necessary relations had been established between us, I asked him, of course in the corresponding approved manner, why and how he had become interested in this branch of true knowledge.

41.879

“The attitude taken towards me by this sympathetic terrestrial three-brained being Hadji-Asvatz-Troov was benevolent chiefly because I was the friend of a good friend of his.

41.879

“Among them, as it is general everywhere among three-brained beings, and just as it was in the first epochs on that planet also, not only is a friend himself a friend, but his near relatives and his friends are also regarded as friends and are treated just the same as the friend himself.

“Because I then passed for the friend of the dervish Hadji-Zephir-Bogga-Eddin, who was a very good friend of this Hadji-Asvatz-Troov, he then at once treated me in a very friendly manner.

41.879

“I wished to make the relationship still better, as I very much wanted to know how he had become interested in this knowledge and how he had attained to such scientific accomplishments as were unsurpassed on the Earth, and therefore throughout our conversation I liberally used those forms of verbal amenity which were customary in that locality.

41.879-80

“When during our conversation which dealt exclusively with the knowledge now called there Shat-Chai-Mernis, we came to speak of the nature and the significance of vibrations in general, and when we happened to talk about the octave of sound, Hadji-Asvatz-Troov then said that not only had the octave of sound seven aspects of relatively independent whole manifestations, but that the vibrations of any one of these relatively independent manifestations follow, in their arising as well as in their manifestation, the same conformity to law.

41.880-1

“‘“Hadji! In the monastery where I was still an ordinary dervish, whenever during certain mysteries our musician dervishes played the melodies of the sacred canticles, all of us dervishes always experienced from these melodies of the sacred canticles particular sensations corresponding to the text of the given sacred canticle.

41.881

“‘“Hadji, you, as a specialist in stringed instruments, try—perhaps you can manage to make a stringed musical instrument on which any dervish, without being a specialist, can produce the sounds of the necessary melody merely by a mechanical action, such as, for example, turning, striking, pressing, and so on.”

41.885

“Having said this, Hadji-Asvatz-Troov stood up and, making a gesture of prayer evidently for the repose of the soul of his friend, motioned with his head for us to follow him.

41.886

“This impulse of astonishment had arisen and progressively increased in me from the moment when I saw, in the passages of the cave, the gas and electric lighting.

“I had already then wondered whence and how all this was present here.

41.887

“And when I saw the aforementioned vibrometer for measuring the ‘degree of the vivifyingness of vibrations,’ the impulse of astonishment in me, as I have already said, increased to the highest degree.

41.887

“I was yet the more astonished because concerning this I also already knew very well that at that period there, nowhere did there exist such apparatuses by means of which it is possible to count any vibrations whatever, and therefore I again wondered—from where could this venerable old man dwelling in these wild mountains so far from the beings composing contemporary civilization, have obtained such apparatuses?

41.887

“Notwithstanding this interest of mine, I did not venture to ask the venerable Hadji-Asvatz-Troov for an explanation just then; I did not venture to ask him, because it was to be feared that such a digressive question might change the course of the conversation which had begun and from which I expected the elucidation of the chief question which interested me.

41.888

“When we were all seated on the floor in the said section of the cave, the venerable Hadji-Asvatz-Troov said among other things that during the period of his investigations he and his friend the dervish Kerbalai-Azis-Nuaran had also occasion to study very thoroughly all the theories existing on the Earth about vibrations made at any time by serious terrestrial scientists.

41.888

“He said: ‘We studied the Assyrian theory of the great Malmanash, and the Arabian theory of the famous Selneh-eh-Avaz, and the Greek—of the philosopher Pythagoras—and of course all the Chinese theories.

41.888

“‘With this apparatus Pythagoras made his experiments, and it was then called a “monochord,” but now that I have altered it, I call it a “vibrosho.”’

41.889

“The venerable Hadji-Asvatz-Troov was about to say something, but just then from another section of the cave a small boy of the type called Uzbek entered, carrying on a tray a tea service and some green tea.

41.889

“When the boy had set the tray before us and had left, the venerable Hadji began to pour out the tea into the cups and turning to us jokingly uttered the following sentence used on such occasions in that locality:

41.889

“‘Let us imbibe this gift of Nature in the devout hope that it may redound to her glory!’

41.889

“First of all I asked him the following. I said:

41.890

“‘Highly esteemed Hadji! Until now I have been fully convinced that nowhere on the Earth does there exist an apparatus for the exact measurement of vibrations. Yet here I see so many of these measuring apparatuses.

41.890

“To this the venerable Hadji-Asvatz-Troov replied as follows:

41.891

“Having said this, the venerable Hadji stood up and brought from another section of the cave a pot of flowers in bloom, placed it in the center of that section of the cave, and then seated himself at the former monochord of the famous Pythagoras.

41.892

“When Hadji had finished his monotonous music, the flowers in the pot were in the same state of bloom as before.

41.892

“Then Hadji moved from the former monochord to the sound-producing instrument grand piano, and having again directed our attention to the hands of the vibrometers, he began to strike successively the corresponding keys of the grand piano, which gave out the same monotonous melody of the same five tones of sound.

41.892

“Five minutes had barely passed when at a nod from Hadji, we looked at the pot of flowers and saw that the flowers in the pot had begun very definitely to fade, and when after ten minutes, the venerable Hadji again ceased his music, there were then in the pot only the quite faded and withered stalks of the former flowering plants.

41.892

“Hadji then again sat down by us and said:

41.893

“Hadji-Asvatz-Troov continued:

41.893

“‘When we had placed this grand piano here, we tuned its strings exactly according to those laws of vibrations indicated in the ancient Chinese science Shat-Chai-Mernis.

41.893

“‘For the correct tuning of the strings we then not only took the absolute sound of the ancient Chinese note “do,” but also, as that same science recommended, took into account the local geographical conditions, the pressure of the atmosphere, the form and dimensions of the interior, and the mean temperature of the surrounding space as well as of the interior itself and so on, and we even took into consideration from how many people human radiations might issue in this interior during our proposed experiments.

41.893

“‘And when we had thus exactly tuned this grand piano, then from that moment indeed, the vibrations issuing from it immediately acquired all those properties mentioned in the said great science.

41.894

“The venerable Hadji-Asvatz-Troov paid no attention to this and continued to strike the designated keys.

41.894

“I stood up, took the envelope, opened it and read as follows:

41.894

“‘On each of you, from the vibrations issuing from the grand piano, there must be formed on the left leg an inch below the knee and half an inch to the left of the middle of the leg what is called a “boil.”’

41.894

“When I had read this, the venerable Hadji requested us both to bare the indicated places on our left legs.

41.894-5

“When we had bared them, there was to be seen a real boil precisely on that place of the left leg of the dervish Bogga-Eddin; but to the extreme amazement of the venerable Hadji-Asvatz-Troov, there was nothing whatsoever to be seen on my leg.

41.895

“When Hadji-Asvatz-Troov ascertained this, he immediately leaped from his place like a young man and cried out very excitedly, ‘It cannot be!’ and began to stare fixedly at my left leg with the eyes of a madman.

41.896-7

“At this point of his narrative, when the glance of the venerable Hadji-Asvatz-Troov happened to light upon the dervish Bogga-Eddin, he again jumped up from his place and, addressing him, said:

41.897

“‘My dear friend! In the name of our friendship pardon me, an old man, that I have forgotten to put an end to the pain caused you from the evil-carrying vibrations of the grand piano.’

41.897

“And indeed five minutes had scarcely passed before the face of the dervish Bogga-Eddin again cleared up, and of the enormous horrible boil which until that time had continued to ornament his left leg, not a trace remained.

41.897

“Then the dervish Hadji-Asvatz-Troov again sat down beside us and, externally completely calm, continued to talk:

41.897

“‘On the fourth day after the death of my dear mother, I happened to be sitting in my room thinking in despair what was to become of me.

41.898

“‘“There is only one way out for you—devote yourself to religion.”

“‘Having said this, he walked away uttering some prayer and left my house forever.

41.898

“‘After his departure, I again became thoughtful.

41.898

“‘This time the result of my thinking was that I decided the same day irrevocably to enter some “brotherhood of dervishes,” but only not in my native country but somewhere further away.

41.902

“And that is why, my boy, I did not just then in front of the dervish Bogga-Eddin decide to explain to this worthy terrestrial sage Hadji-Asvatz-Troov the real reason of his failure.

41.902

“But as both dervishes were waiting for my reply, I had in any case to tell them something, and therefore, addressing Hadji-Asvatz-Troov, I then told him only as follows:

41.902

“‘Venerable Hadji-Asvatz-Troov! If you agree to have my answer not now but a little later, then I swear by the cause of my arising that I will give you an answer which will fully satisfy you. You will be convinced not only that your beloved science is the truest of all sciences, but also that since the great scientists, the saints Choon-Kil-Tez and Choon-Tro-Pel, you are the greatest scientist of the Earth.’

41.902

“At this reply of mine, that venerable dervish Hadji-Asvatz-Troov merely placed his right hand on the place where the heart is located in terrestrial beings—and in that locality this gesture means ‘I believe and hope without doubt.’

41.903

“‘Most estimable Hadji! What is all that material over there in that niche?’

41.904

“After this, the dervish Asvatz-Troov again sat down on the felt and told us as follows:

41.904

“‘Every form of “life” has its own “total” of vibrations proper to it, which represents the totality of all the vibrations engendered from the various definite organs of the given form of life; and this total varies at different times in each form of life and depends on how intensely these variously caused vibrations are transformed by the corresponding sources or organs.

41.904

“‘Now all these heterogenous and variously caused vibrations always blend within the limits of the whole life in the general subjective what is called “chord of vibrations” of the given life.

41.904

“‘It must be remarked that among men, especially men of recent times, very many are to be met with who have not even as great a number of vibrations in the subjective chord of vibrations of their common presence as the number shown by the presence of this dog.

41.904-5

“‘This has come about because in most of these people I have just mentioned, one function for instance, and, namely, the function of emotion, which actualizes the main quantity of subjective vibrations, is already almost completely atrophied, and therefore the sum total of vibrations in them proves to be less than in this dog.’

41.905

“Having said this, the venerable Hadji-Asvatz-Troov again stood up and went to the place where the materials of different colors lay.

41.905

“There the venerable dervish Hadji-Asvatz-Troov again went to one of the niches of that big underground space and, pointing to a big pile lying there of some material of a very strange color, said:

41.908

“And so, when I enquired about the methods of the gas and electric lighting in this underground kingdom of his, he related to me the following:

41.908

“‘The causes of the origin of these two kinds of lighting are entirely different, and each of these two kinds of lighting has its own independent story.