Dr. Murdo MacDonald Bayne Bio
A Biographical Sketch of
the Life of Dr. Murdo MacDonald-Bayne
M.C., Ph.D., D.D.
Written in 1984 by Paul Troxler of Pretoria, S. Africa, a student of Dr. Bayne,
The student of Truth, having read some of Dr. MacDonald-Bayne’s books and heard his recordings, would naturally wish to know more about the man who gave to the world so much wisdom, and in such simple language showed us how to apply the Law of Creation, the Law of Life.
You must realize how difficult it is for one of his students and followers to describe what type of man he was for the simple reason that throughout his teachings and during the time he was with us in South Africa, he always urged us not to set him apart or put him on a pedestal.
“Dr. Mac” as we still call him, taught us not to look at the physical being but to see the reality within every human being, for this invisible, spiritual reality is our true identity. Hopefully this brief biographical article may help to give a glimpse of the man often referred to as “Master” by his pupils and students.
He was born the 21st day of June 1887, at Kenmore, Perthshire, Scotland, the second son of a landholder. He was named Murdo Bayne MacDonald, ‘Bayne’ being his mother’s maiden name which he 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 living features of the Christ face 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 that he learned more about when he grew up.
Yet it was also at that time when, going with his older 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. He was treated in hospital by his uncle who operated on him to remove the damaged eye, thereafter he always wore a glass eye.
As a young man he entered medical studies but found it too materialistic and preferred to deal with the health-giving processes of life in a more natural way. In later life he was bestowed the degrees of Doctorate of Divinity and Philosophy. He married in 1913 and eventually two sons were born of this union.
When the First World War was declared in 1914 he joined the Highland Light Infantry and, being a champion piper, he was made Pipe Major, serving throughout with distinction. He earned his first commission on the 16th of September 1917 as Second Lieutenant, and became 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 groans 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 the 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, but when the children grew older they returned to England to complete their education.
Dr. Mac started his Healing Campaign and toured some 23 countries giving lectures wherever he went as his mission was to teach and to heal. His teachings were more health based as well as psychologically oriented as for example, whatever you might want and steadily visualize you will draw to you even if not suitable for your development. This approach changed several years later after sojourns in India and Tibet where he studied and mastered yoga, also becoming proficient in the practice of telepathy, astral travel, tumo, and healing. There are limited directions given in some of his books regarding deep breathing, relaxation, and raising the energy through the chakras.
The College of Universal Science was founded in Manchester, England, during the early 1930s where he taught courses on health and metaphysics. Some of the original lectures he gave have come to light in recent years and are published under the original title, “The Supreme Power Course (A Course of 22 Lessons).” It is now available to the public through MacDonald-Bayne Publications in Canada.
One day when attending a séance in Edinburgh, he received the message “Go to Johannesburg” where he was required for further spiritual work. This he did and was accompanied by his sister, Mrs. Chisholm, who kept house and took care of him during the time his children remained in England to pursue their education.
When he came to Johannesburg and Cape Town it must have been somewhere in the late 1930s for he taught and started a Healing Centre 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 desire to learn deeper truths, to strengthen his abilities in life as a healer, all this had developed in him a deep spirituality. So when this message came he left immediately and journeyed through India to finally reach the Himalayas and Tibet.
As you read his books, “Beyond the Himalayas” and its sequel, “The Yoga of the Christ” you will find details of his experiences and travels in Tibet, of spending time in study and practice of the higher spiritual instructions he received from living Masters and which formed the foundation for his later teachings.
He travelled many miles through rugged Tibetan terrain, visiting lamaseries and was privileged to witness extraordinary feats and demonstrations of both a spiritual and physical nature unexplainable under ordinary circumstances. 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 his return to the so-called civilized world Dr. Mac resumed his travels, establishing centres in various Commonwealth countries, Canada, and USA. Even today there are people in many countries who still remember his talks and healing sessions although their numbers are becoming fewer and fewer as the original students are ageing.
Then once again Dr. MacDonald-Bayne was guided to return to South Africa where in 1944 one of his former students, Mr. Andrew Hutt, formally introduced the Doctor to a public gathering in Johannesburg and Pretoria. It was here he expanded his College of Universal Science and the Sanctuary of the Silent Healing Power, and soon he became very well-known by 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 (The Sanctuary of the Silent Healing Power) were mailed out worldwide, bringing much help and guidance to many. It was in the mid-1940s that his talks began to be preserved on wire recordings of which there are over one hundred still extant.
No one was ever refused help and many are they who can vouch for his powers of healing even at a distance as he could appear at the bedside of a person who had asked for help for he could leave his body at will, travel in the astral and appear at any place where needed. With the help of his spiritual teachers and the Masters of Tibet he did achieve some remarkable cures, some will say ‘miraculous healings’.
In many of his lectures Dr. Mac would break the tension by telling a joke or recounting some amusing anecdote from his experiences. One incident he related 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?” he asked.
“Yes, and now I cannot pray. . . . But how do you pray if you do not kneel?” inquired he.
“My life is a constant prayer,” replied Dr. Mac.
MacDonald-Bayne’s teachings are based on the words of the Christ and are simplicity itself: knowing the self, understanding the laws of creation, and freeing the mind from all conditioning and limitation. When we free the self we find Peace within and allow reality to manifest. Therefore, our understanding and relationship with others is the first step, next comes the realization that we can never be separated from Reality which is Life, God, the Creator.
He related cause to effect and then gave us the key to the solution of all our difficulties, which is to become consciously aware of our Real Self, the Christ within, at one with Infinite Reality. “I and my Father are One.”
He 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; What is Mine is Thine (How to Use Your Divine Power) Parts 1 and 2; How to Relax and Revitalize Yourself; Divine Healing of Mind and Body (The Master Speaks Again); Your Life Renewed Every Day; Beyond the Himalayas; and its sequel, The Yoga of the Christ.
To this list can be added (published posthumously) the book “Life Everlasting”
a) The Supreme Power Course (A Course of 22 Lessons);
b) Monthly Letters, Books 1, 2, and 3 (The Sanctuary of the Silent Healing Power);
c) The Commentary Notes to The Higher Power You Can Use;
d) Your Silent Partner – Cosmic Consciousness, Parts 1 & 2;
e) Recorded Lectures and Transcripts (16 small books, volumes 1 – 16) are as companion to the recordings;
f) 116 recorded lectures on cassettes; approx. 1-hour long.
The original wire recordings were transposed by Lora in 1979, when Paul Troxler sent them in batches to be transferred from wire to magnetic reel tapes and thence to master cassettes from which copies are made.
Dr. MacDonald-Bayne gave his lectures in Johannesburg at Escom House where an average of 250 people attended weekly. It was there that he presented the series of fourteen talks in 1948, published in his book “Divine Healing of Mind and Body” (The Master Speaks Again), during which he was visibly overshadowed by the Master.
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, at the corner of Andries and Pretorius streets. There were about ninety pupils then.
During his lectures in Pretoria he would stand and ask us to be still, and as we watched his whole appearance changed. He became taller and a light would surround him. His face 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 did change and the light was certainly not the normal lighting in the hall, for it was a light emanating from the body of the Doctor himself. It was really an amazing experience and quite new to most of us.
Only a handful of us here in Pretoria are still living and carry on with his teachings. A small group continues to meet regularly to read and study his lectures. Dr. Mac was 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 with a pencil-thin mustache, and even though he went through life with the use of only one blue-grey eye, you could feel the tremendous power of his piercing gaze. Always smiling, 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 and yet in fact he was nearing 70 years.
He was a gifted medium and was at all times in contact with the best mediums of his day in the world, most especially in England, South Africa, and the Commonwealth countries.
During his healing ministry the Doctor aided thousands by his wisdom and practical guidance, and his remarkable control of spiritual forces was such that enabled him to consciously make full use of his powers to fulfil 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 they immediately felt an improvement in their condition.
During his stay with us in South Africa, Dr. Mac once or twice spent a holiday in the United Kingdom 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. He was still devoting up to 19 hours of the day to spiritual duties, healing work and writing.
On the 26th of February 1955, while returning from a show with his sister, Mrs. Chisholm, Dr. Mac died of a heart attack in a taxi in London. Strangely enough he had written and sent out his usual Monthly Letter throughout the world 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 a clearer channel through which will flow the great spiritual forces of Life – the Love, Wisdom and Power of the Infinite God Our Father.
Go in peace my friends, enjoy your studies, and they will fill your heart with a love beyond human concept. It is the Christ-love of God and Man.
Blessings to all.
Paul Troxler
South Africa
Neville Goddard, Summa Theologica, Manly P Hall, A Course In Miracles
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