Footyfan,

If I may. I also have personally experienced "Bir heraune" and I thought it was really mystifying at the time. But now I understand there's nothing magical or factual about it. It mostly depends upon people who believe in it. In my case, my sibling already had a pre-conceived notion about who stole the money (from our house), and it was not suprising (now) that she saw the same person in the hand. But when the pandit had me try it, it just didn't work. And he gave a vague explanation that I was not concentrating enough or I do not have the ability to see bla bla bla. It is purely a self fullfilling prophecy like any other con-artistry.

Our mind is a delicate and a beautiful thing. It has reasoning, quantitative, and qualititative powers, but it also often plays lot of tricks with us, especially if we have a weak psychology. I am not trying to reason what you believe in, but there are many simpler explanations of what you might have experienced.

James Randi is an absolute brilliant magician. To this point, noone has able to stake his 1 million dollar challenge. I think the person who should try is this con-artist in Kathmandu who claims to create miniature statues inside his mouth. But what can you do, people are all gaga over him. Sad!