Om lingalingalinalinga, kilikili: Atheist Pwns Black Magic Guru

Black magic is taken very seriously in many parts of the world. In India, for example, people believe in "tantriks" (or black magic practitioners).
So, when Sanal Edamaruku, the president of Rationalist International, challenged a tantrik to kill him with black magic, it makes for an excellent television:
During the discussion, the tantrik showed a small human shape of wheat flour dough, laid a thread around it like a noose and tightened it. He claimed that he was able to kill any person he wanted within three minutes by using black magic. Sanal challenged him to try and kill him.
The tantrik tried. He chanted his mantras (magic words): “Om lingalingalinalinga, kilikili….” But his efforts did not show any impact on Sanal – not after three minutes, and not after five. The time was extended and extended again. The original discussion
program should have ended here, but the “breaking news” of the ongoing great tantra challenge was overrunning all program schedules. [...]After nearly two hours, the anchor declared the tantrik’s failure. The tantrik, unwilling to admit defeat, tried the excuse that a very strong god whom Sanal might be worshipping obviously protected him. “No, I am an atheist,” said Sanal Edamaruku. Finally, the disgraced tantrik tried to save his face by claiming that there was a never-failing special black magic for ultimate destruction, which could, however, only been done at night. Bad luck again, he did not get away with this, but was challenged to prove his claim this very night in another “breaking news” live program.
Read the rest of the story: Link - via Pharyngula












