By Paul Troxler, Pretoria, South Africa, 1985 (an original student of Dr. MacDonald-Bayne’s lectures)
Murdo MacDonald-Bayne was born the 21st day of June 1887, at Kenmore, Perthshire, Scotland, the second son of a farmer. He was named Murdo Bayne MacDonald, Bayne being his mother's maiden name, which he later used as nom de plume.
His early childhood was spent in the strict, religious environment of a typical Scottish family, and when only six or seven years old, he had a very moving spiritual experience. He saw the features of the Christ on the closed window of his room. Frightened by this, he fainted. After the experience he found he could see and hear things of which other people were unaware. He found, too, that he could jump from a height and stop himself in mid-air, and slow down to land gently. This was a yoga feat of which he learned more later on.
Yet it was also at that time when, going with his elder brother into the fields and jumping over a brook, he landed on a loose piece of barbed wire and one of the barbs penetrated his left eye. In hospital, his uncle, who removed the eye, operated on him and thereafter he always wore a glass eye.
As a young man he started studying to become a doctor but after a few years he found his medical studies too materialistically oriented and dropped them. Later in life he was bestowed with the degrees of Doctorate of Divinity and Philosophy.
In 1913, he married, and two sons eventually were born of this union.
In 1914, when war was declared, he joined the Highland Light Infantry and, being a very good piper, he was made "Pipe Major," serving throughout with distinction and earning his first Commission on the 16th of September, 1917, as Second Lieutenant, to become Lieutenant on the 16th of March, 1919. He was honoured with the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the Military Cross.
It was in France, at the battle of Somme that Dr. Mac was badly wounded and left for dead on the field for four days. This is his own description of what happened:
" During that period of time spent 'on the other side' I was instructed to return to my physical body, for my work was to tell the Truth to the world. When they came to remove the corpses for burial in a mass grave, one of the ambulance men heard my groan and said, 'There's a live one here!' I was brought to the medical field station and immediately operated on. I heard distinctly the doctor mentioning that there was a possibility of losing the other eye and I decided in myself that was not going to happen. During the whole operation I was aware of what was taking place, although unable to speak, for one of the wounds was in the throat. So, out of the body I assisted at this operation. After recovery and convalescence, I rejoined the Forces and went through the Near East Campaign."
He was demobilized in 1920 with a Victory Medal, then took his family to New Zealand and Australia. As the children grew older, Mrs. MacDonald-Bayne returned to England for their education.
Dr. Mac (as he was affectionately known to his students) started his Healing Campaign and toured some 23 countries, giving lectures wherever he went as his mission was to teach and heal. At this early stage, his teaching was more psychologically oriented, based on the theory that what you want and visualize, you will get, even if it is not suitable for your evolution. This attitude changed later, after sojourns in India where he studied and mastered yoga, becoming proficient in the practice of deep breathing. Some of these exercises are given in his books and recordings.
The College Of Universal Science was started in Manchester, England, in the 1930's, where he taught Metaphysics. Some of the original lectures he gave there have come to light in recent years and have been published under the title, The Supreme Power Course ( A Course of 22 Lessons), and is now available.
One day, when in Edinburgh, he received a message to, "Go to Johannesburg," where he was to do much spiritual work. He was then accompanied by his sister, Mrs. Chisholm, who kept house for him and took care of him, as his wife and children remained in England. When he came to Johannesburg and Cape Town, it must have been somewhere in the mid 1930's, for he taught and started a Healing Center in Cape Town around that time.
It was at this stage that Dr. Mac was given another spiritual message, urging him to "Come to Tibet". His devotion, his relentless desire to know and find the Truth, the purpose of his being here on earth, developed in him a deep spirituality. So when the message came, he left immediately, journeyed through India and reached the Himalayas.
If you are fortunate enough to acquire his books, Beyond the Himalayas and The Yoga of the Christ, you will find details of his experiences and travels in Tibet, of spending time and study and practice of the higher spiritual instructions which he received from the living Masters and formed the foundation for his later teachings.
He travelled many miles through rugged Tibetan terrain, visiting lamaseries where he witnessed extraordinary feats and demonstrations of both a spiritual and physical nature. He developed his talents of telepathy and learned to leave his body at will, mastered pranayama, and acquired a profound knowledge of the Eternal and Everlasting Life through meditations of several days' duration.
Upon returning to the so-called civilized world, Dr. Mac resumed his travels, establishing further centers in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Even today, there are people in various countries who still remember his talks and healing sessions.
He was guided once again to go back to South Africa and one of his former pupils, Mr. Andrew Hutt, formally introduced Dr. Mac to the public gatherings in Johannesburg and Pretoria around 1944. It was here he expanded his College of Universal Science and the Sanctuary of The Silent Healing Power, and in no time he became very well known, lecturing twice a week, in Johannesburg on a Thursday and in Pretoria on Tuesdays, continuing in his healing work daily as well as constantly writing. His Monthly Letters were sent out worldwide bringing much help and guidance to many. It was in the mid 1940's that his talks began to be preserved on wire recordings.
No one was ever refused help and many are they that can vouch for his power of healing, even at a distance. He would appear at the bedside of a person who had asked for help, for he was able, as said before, to leave his body at will and appear at any place where needed. With the help of his spiritual teachers and the Masters Of Tibet he did achieve some remarkable feats, some will say 'miraculous healings'. Let me relate some of these happenings.
Mr. A. was at the time a young well-known racing driver on the South African circuit. He lived with his parents in Cape Town. One day, working on a racing car in his garage with a mechanic friend, he noticed that a jack supporting the side of the car was slipping while his friend was still busy underneath. Realizing the danger to his friend, Mr. A. without hesitation grabbed the bumper of the car, held it up and shouted to the mechanic to get out, which he did.
The family's doctor was contacted and he wanted the young man brought in to hospital for X-rays. The results showed crushed vertebrae and from that spot on down he could not move, which meant paralysis of the lower limbs. He could be kept in hospital for a long time with prospects of a very big operation. It was suggested, but they were not sure of it at all.
His mother, who was a very dear friend of Dr. Mac, phoned him, explained the predicament and asked, "What must I do?" He said, "I'll treat him in the meantime but you must bring him up."
This was done with considerable difficulty by ambulance and by train, as young Mr. A. could not move. Within one treatment he was able to move again. After the second treatment he was touching his toes. He was returned to his family, whole and hearty, and able to walk. The mother took him back to the hospital in Cape Town, where further X-rays were taken revealing no disorder and the physician commented, " Well, all I can say is, it's a bloody wonder!"
Many are the cases reported where, on seeing the patient for the first time, while still in the consulting room Dr. Mac would tell the patient: "You come to me for 'this or that' trouble and your doctor cannot help you. Now come here and just follow my advice and we will fix this up for you."
He would have the patient lie on a table and relax them thoroughly … relax, relax, relax … and leave them to rest, some even falling into a light sleep. After the patient had relaxed Dr. Mac would come in and speak to their mind, to communicate on a subconscious level, "Health," and through his power give direction of how one must live. He would give them that message to live by. One of his favoured thought-seeds was, "Father, you do not suffer from this, neither can your child." He left the patient resting quietly until they came out of the relaxed state. The results were 90 per cent successful healings.
There was the case of a four-year-old girl with a stye on her left eyelid, which the family doctor wanted to remove surgically. Instead, the mother brought her to Dr. Mac and he said, "Come on now, I'm going to take that lump away."
When he went to apply his hands on her eye, she cried, "No! You have a big light in your hands," and went on about this big light in his hands she didn't like.
So, Dr. Mac thought for a moment and said to her, " All right then, will you let me treat it with just this one finger?"
She replied, "Yes," she liked it. "Ooh, there were lots of little lights in his one little finger!" He told her: "In the middle of the night you will wake up and call your mummy, because you will not be able to open your eye as this stye will have melted away. You will ask your mummy to wash your eye and your sight will be restored, the stye gone forever." In the middle of the night mother was awakened, and as Dr. Mac said, had to wash the eye and remove the discharge, and her little girl was able to see again.
Another case was of our friends whose son, in his early teens, was promised a bicycle for his birthday. Owing to financial difficulties at the time, the parents could not afford to spend so much for a present. They explained the position to the child, and he appeared to understand. A few days later, at breakfast time, the mother noticed that the boy's face was contorted, so she told him to stop pulling faces and eat his food, to no avail. The crick stayed, his mouth pulled to one side. Try as they would, the face remained distorted. So they went to the family doctor who diagnosed it as 'epilepsy' for he could not find anything else. The parents refused to believe him and, from Potchefstroom, came to Johannesburg to see Dr. Mac. As they came through the door of the consulting room, Dr. Mac was singing, "You will have to buy a bicycle!" Dr. Mac then manipulated the young man's head and neck and brought the face to normal! The parents had to find a way to buy a bicycle, but how Dr. Mac knew about it remains a mystery!
Once, a friend of mine, Mr. J. Percy, asked Dr. Mac if he could help him to stop smoking, for he was a heavy smoker. Dr. Mac said to him, "You see through the window that iron gate there? As you go out of it, stop and light a cigarette and you will see what happens." Percy did just that. He took one puff, threw the stump in the street and never smoked again! He is today over eighty years old.
Percy was also afflicted at the time with a very painful bladder complaint. As he was lying in agony, he decided to phone Dr. Mac in Johannesburg, who told him to hold out for a few minutes and he would phone back. By the time, Dr. Mac called back shortly after, the pain was gone and he was completely healed.
In almost all of his lectures Dr. Mac would break the tension by telling a joke or some amusing anecdote about his life. One incident was of a man one day who came to see him and complained about the pains in his knees:
"Can you bend your knees?" asked Dr. Mac.
"No," said the patient, "and I cannot pray anymore."
"Why? Do you kneel to pray?" asked Dr. Mac.
"Yes, and now I cannot pray. But how do you pray if you do not kneel?" asked the patient.
"My life is a constant prayer," answered Dr. Mac.
To me, however the most amazing healing done through Dr. Mac was on his own son, Donald. It was in England in 1953 when Donald MacDonald was taken to the hospital where he was in observation for a few days. Then came the blow! Cancer was detected and an operation became necessary, with the wife's approval. The doctor said it was a 50-50 chance. A few days before Christmas, Don was sent home with a 'one week' limit to live. But before the operation, Mrs. MacDonald had contacted her father-in-law Dr. MacDonald-Bayne, in South Africa, who said to her that he would be with his son during the operation and after. This is what Don revealed to me:
"My father was sitting on the side of my bed and helped me through this painful experience. And then, at night, he would take me to the Himalayas, to Tibet. This went on and on, until I was well again. Now, after 31 years, the doctors, when they see me, still call me 'the miracle cure'."
Dr Macdonald-Bayne’s teaching, based on the words of the Christ, is simplicity itself … the knowing of the self, the knowing of the laws of creation, and the freeing of the mind from all conditioning and limitation.
When we free the self, we find Peace within, and then reality manifests. So our understanding and relationship with others is the first step, then comes the realization that we can never be separated from Reality, Life, God, the Creator, or when facing problems…become consciously aware of your Real Self, One with Infinite Reality, my Father, and I are One.
Dr. Mac told us that after his death and a period of inactivity, his teachings, books and recorded lectures would spread throughout the world. This appears to be what is happening now … a revival!
Dr. MacDonald-Bayne was the author of several books based on his lectures: "The Higher Power You Can Use;" "I Am The Life;" "Heal Yourself;" "Spiritual and Mental Healing;" "How To Use Your Divine Power" (formerly “What Is Mine Is Thine,” Parts 1&2); "How To Relax and Revitalize Yourself"; "Divine Healing of Mind and Body" (The Master Speaks Again); and "Your Life Renewed Every Day."
[To this list we can now add his latest books, "Life Everlasting," which was published in 1983, and "Your Silent Partner," soon to be in print also.]
Other titles published in Canada, are: "The Supreme Power Course" (a Course of 22 lessons); "Monthly Letters, Books 1,2 & 3; "The Commentary Notes on The Higher Power You Can Use." Further material is to be compiled from his Pretoria series of lectures and other books are in a preparatory stage and will be published at a later date.
Dr. Mac gave his lectures in Johannesburg, at Escom House, where an average of 250 people attended weekly. It was there that he gave the series of talks "The Master Speaks Again," during which he was overshadowed by The Christ (1948).
In Pretoria, he started lecturing at the Jewish Memorial Hall, on Beatrix Street, and moved later to the Hall at the Women's Club, where the new Sanlam Centre is today, corner of Andries and Pretorius Streets. We were about 90 pupils.
It was also in Pretoria, in 1948, that Dr. Mac gave the series of lectures when he was overshadowed. He would stand and ask us to be still. As we watched, his whole appearance changed as well. Some of the pupils said afterwards that it was the face of Jesus which appeared. It seemed that each one of us, according to his sensibility, saw someone take over; definitely his stature and face changed and the light certainly not the normal lighting in the hall, for it was light emanating from the body of Dr. Mac. It was really an amazing experience, quite new to most of us.
Only a handful of us here in Pretoria are still alive and carry on with his teaching. A small group continues to read and study his lectures.
Through the wonderful work of Lora K. Mendell (formerly, Lorraine Y. Smith, of Toronto, Canada) that the recorded lectures of Dr. Mac are now available on cassettes, transposed directly from the original wire recordings we managed to save for posterity.
Dr. MacDonald-Bayne was really a wonderful man, a great teacher and a very humble healer, using the tremendous healing powers vested in him for the good of all, applying spiritual, mental and sometimes physical means to achieve the best results. He was a pioneer of homeopathic treatment in South Africa.
For us, his pupils, he remains our "Master." Often, he said to us, "I have chosen you, you have not chosen me."
A brief physical description of him is as follows: he was of medium height, about 5 ft. 7 inches, well built, with broad shoulders, a rather round face, clean shaven, and although with only one blue-gray eye, you could feel the tremendous power of his piercing gaze. Always smiling, and ready to crack a good joke, he was easy to approach and full of life; relaxed, yet forceful in his talks. He never looked more than 45 years of age, yet in fact he was nearly 70 years old.
He was a gifted medium and was at all times in contact with the best mediums in the world, especially in England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
During his healing ministry, Dr. Mac assisted thousands by his wisdom, practical guidance and his remarkable control of spiritual forces demonstrated in his earthly mission.
Many patients reporting from New Zealand, Australia and a host of other countries, stated that Dr. Mac would appear at their side or at the foot of their bed and immediately they felt an improvement in their condition.
During his stay with us in South Africa, Dr. Mac once or twice spent a holiday in the U.K., and it was therefore no surprise for his students when, in 1954, he announced his intention to go to England for six months to visit his family. The intention was to return in the early part of 1955.
So it was that in London he gave two wonderful lectures, which were his last, on the 21st and 22nd of February, 1955, at Caxton Hall, at which time he was still busy with healing work, writing and devoting up to 19 hours a day to spiritual duties.
On the 26th of February, 1955, while returning from a show with his sister, Dr. Mac died of a heart attack in a taxi, in London. Strangely enough, he had written and sent throughout the world his usual Monthly letter to all students, followers and patients.
His legacy to the world was his dynamic teachings of Truth. Read his books, his lectures, listen to his recordings, and you will learn much of the secrets of the Masters. In his straightforward and enlightened manner, he demonstrated profound Knowledge of humanity's imperfect struggles to gain more understanding of themselves and of life. He gave of himself unstintingly to all. Through him the Love and Wisdom, as had been left to us by Jesus, the Christ, was adapted now to the thinking of new generations, the New Age.
With sincere study and application of his teachings, we shall be able, each one of us, to reach the goal set for all, the "Kingdom" within. By consciously changing one's life inwardly, one can learn to become the channel through which will flow the great spiritual forces of Life-Love, Wisdom and Power of the Infinite God, Our Father.
Go in peace, my brothers, enjoy your studies, and they will fill your heart with a love beyond human concept. It is the Christ-love of God and man.
Read online: BEYOND THE HIMALAYAS
SATYA SAI BABA -- MAN OF MIRACLES
AVATAR MEHER BABA
THE AMAZING LIFE and WORK of MURDO MACDONALD-BAYNE
