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Theosophy House
Five Years Of
Theosophy,
by
Various Theosophical
Authors
Mystical, Philosophical,
Theosophical, Historical
and
Scientific Essays Selected from "The Theosophist"
Edited by
George Robert Stow Mead
The Secret Doctrine by H P Blavatsky
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FIVE YEARS OF THEOSOPHY
Mystical, Philosophical,
Theosophical, Historical and Scientific Essays
Selected from "The
Theosophist"
Edited by George Robert Stow Mead
CONTENTS
Mystical
The "Elixir of Life"
Is the Desire to "Live"
Selfish?
Contemplation
Chelas and Lay Chelas
Ancient Opinions upon Psychic Bodies
The Nilgiri Sannyasis
Witchcraft on the Nilgiris
Shamanism and Witchcraft Amongst the
Kolarian Tribes
Mahatmas and Chelas
The Brahmanical Thread
Reading in a Sealed Envelope
The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac
The Sishal and Bhukailas Yogis
Philosophical
True and False Personality
Chastity
Zorastrianism on the Septenary
Constitution of Man
Brahmanism on the Sevenfold Principle
in Man
The Septenary Principle in
Esotericism
Personal and Impersonal God
Prakriti and Parusha
Morality and Pantheism
Occult Study
Some Inquiries Suggested by Mr.
Sinnett's "Esoteric Buddhism"
Sakya Muni's Place in History
Inscriptions Discovered by General A.
Cunningham
Discrimination of Spirit and
Not-Spirit
Was Writing Known Before Panini?
Theosophical
What is Theosophy?
How a "Chela" Found His
"Guru"
The Sages of the Himavat
The Himalayan Brothers--Do They
Exist?
Interview With a Mahatma
The Secret Doctrine
Historical
The Puranas on the Dynasty of the
Moryas and on Koothoomi
The Theory of Cycles
Scientific
Odorigen and Jiva
Introversion of Mental Vision
"Precipitation"
"How Shall We Sleep?"
Transmigration of the Life Atoms
"OM" and its Practical
Significance
FIVE YEARS OF THEOSOPHY
Mystical
The "Elixir of Life"
From a Chela's* Diary. By
G---M---, F.T.S.
"And Enoch walked with the
Elohim, and the Elohim took him."
--Genesis
Introduction
[The curious information-for
whatsoever else the world may think of it,
it will doubtless be acknowledged to
be that--contained in the article
that follows, merits a few words of
introduction. The details given in
it on the subject of what has always
been considered as one of the
darkest and most strictly guarded of
the mysteries of the initiation
into occultism--from the days of the
Rishis until those of the
Theosophical Society--came to the
knowledge of the author in a way that
would seem to the ordinary run of
Europeans strange and supernatural.
He himself, however, we may assure
the reader, is a most thorough
disbeliever in the Supernatural, though
he has learned too much to limit
the capabilities of the natural as
some do. Further, he has to make the
following confession of his own
belief. It will be apparent, from a
careful perusal of the facts, that if
the matter be really as stated
therein, the author cannot himself be
an adept of high grade, as the
article in such a case would never
have been written. Nor does he
pretend to be one. He is, or rather was, for a few years an
humble
Chela. Hence, the converse must
consequently be also true, that as
regards the higher stages of the
mystery he can have no personal
experience, but speaks of it only as
a close observer left to his own
surmises--and no more. He may, therefore, boldly state that during,
and
notwithstanding, his unfortunately
rather too short stay with some
adepts, he has by actual experiment
and observation verified some of the
less transcendental or incipient
parts of the "Course." And,
though it
will be impossible for him to give
positive testimony as to what lies
beyond, he may yet mention that all
his own course of study, training
and experience, long, severe and
dangerous as it has often been, leads
him to the conviction that everything
is really as stated, save some
details purposely veiled. For causes which cannot be explained to the
public, he himself may he unable or
unwilling to use the secret he has
gained access to. Still he is permitted by one to whom all his
reverential affection and gratitude
are due--his last guru--to divulge
for the benefit of Science and Man, and
specially for the good of those
who are courageous enough to
personally make the experiment, the
following astounding particulars of
the occult methods for prolonging
life to a period far beyond the
common.--G.M.]
---------
* A. Chela is the pupil and disciple
of an initiated Guru or
Master.--Ed.
---------
Probably one of the first
considerations which move the worldly-minded
at present to solicit initiation into
Theosophy is the belief, or hope,
that, immediately on joining, some extraordinary
advantage over the rest
of mankind will be conferred upon the
candidate. Some even think that
the ultimate result of their
initiation will perhaps be exemption from
that dissolution which is called the
common lot of mankind. The
traditions of the "Elixir of
Life," said to be in the possession of
Kabalists and Alchemists, are still
cherished by students of Medieval
Occultism--in Europe. The allegory of the Ab-e Hyat or Water of
Life,
is still credited as a fact by the
degraded remnants of the Asiatic
esoteric sects ignorant of the real
GREAT SECRET. The "pungent and fiery
Essence," by which Zanoni
renewed his existence, still fires the
imagination of modern visionaries as
a possible scientific discovery of
the future.
Theosophically, though the fact is
distinctly declared to be true, the
above-named conceptions of the mode
of procedure leading to the
realization of the fact, are known to
be false. The reader may or may
not believe it; but as a matter of fact, Theosophical
Occultists claim
to have communication with (living)
Intelligences possessing an
infinitely wider range of observation
than is contemplated even by the
loftiest aspirations of modern
science, all the present "Adepts" of
Europe and America--dabblers in the
Kabala--notwithstanding. But far
even as those superior Intelligences
have investigated (or, if
preferred, are alleged to have
investigated), and remotely as they may
have searched by the help of
inference and analogy, even They have
failed to discover in the Infinity anything
permanent but--SPACE. ALL
IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Reflection, therefore, will easily suggest to
the
reader the further logical inference
that in a Universe which is
essentially impermanent in its
conditions, nothing can confer
permanency. Therefore, no possible substance, even if
drawn from the
depths of Infinity; no imaginable combination of drugs, whether
of our
earth or any other, though compounded
by even the Highest Intelligence;
no system of life or discipline
though directed by the sternest
determination and skill, could
possibly produce Immutability. For in
the universe of solar systems,
wherever and however investigated,
Immutability necessitates
"Non-Being" in the physical sense given it by
the Theists-Non-Being which is
nothing in the narrow conceptions of
Western Religionists--a reductio ad
absurdum. This is a gratuitous
insult even when applied to the
pseudo-Christian or ecclesiastical
Jehovite idea of God.
Consequently, it will be seen that
the common ideal conception of
"Immortality" is not only
essentially wrong, but a physical and
metaphysical impossibility. The idea,
whether cherished by Theosophists
or non-Theosophists, by Christians or
Spiritualists, by Materialists or
Idealists, is a chimerical
illusion. But the actual prolongation of
human life is possible for a time so
long as to appear miraculous and
incredible to those who regard our
span of existence as necessarily
limited to at most a couple of
hundred years. We may break, as it were,
the shock of Death, and instead of
dying, change a sudden plunge into
darkness to a transition into a
brighter light. And this may be made so
gradual that the passage from one
state of existence to another shall
have its friction minimized, so as to
be practically imperceptible.
This is a very different matter, and
quite within the reach of Occult
Science. In this, as in all other cases, means
properly directed will
gain their ends, and causes produce
effects. Of course, the only
question is, what are these causes,
and how, in their turn, are they to
be produced. To lift, as far as may be allowed, the veil
from this
aspect of Occultism, is the object of
the present paper.
We must premise by reminding the
reader of two Theosophic doctrines,
constantly inculcated in
"Isis" and in other mystic works--namely, (a)
that ultimately the Kosmos is
One--one under infinite variations and
manifestations, and (b) that the
so-called man is a "compound being"--
composite not only in the exoteric
scientific sense of being a congeries
of living so-called material Units,
but also in the esoteric sense of
being a succession of seven forms or
parts of itself, interblended with
each other. To put it more clearly we might say that the
more ethereal
forms are but duplicates of the same
aspect,--each finer one lying
within the inter-atomic spaces of the
next grosser. We would have the
reader understand that these are no
subtleties, no "spiritualities" at
all in the Christo-Spiritualistic
sense. In the actual man reflected in
your mirror are really several men,
or several parts of one composite
man;
each the exact counterpart of the other, but the "atomic
conditions" (for want of a
better word) of each of which are so arranged
that its atoms interpenetrate those
of the next "grosser" form. It
does
not, for our present purpose, matter
how the Theosophists,
Spiritualists, Buddhists, Kabalists,
or Vedantists, count, separate,
classify, arrange or name these, as
that war of terms may be postponed
to another occasion. Neither does it matter what relation each of
these
men has to the various
"elements" of the Kosmos of which he forms a
part. This knowledge, though of vital
importance in other respects, need
not be explained or discussed
now. Nor does it much more concern us
that the Scientists deny the existence
of such an arrangement, because
their instruments are inadequate to
make their senses perceive it. We
will simply reply--"get better
instruments and keener senses, and
eventually you will."
All we have to say is that if you are
anxious to drink of the "Elixir of
Life," and live a thousand years
or so, you must take our word for the
matter at present, and proceed on the
assumption. For esoteric science
does not give the faintest possible
hope that the desired end will ever
be attained by any other way; while modern, or so-called exact
science--laughs at it.
So, then, we have arrived at the
point where we have determined--
literally, not metaphorically--to
crack the outer shell known as the
mortal coil or body, and hatch out of
it, clothed in our next. This
"next" is not spiritual,
but only a more ethereal form. Having by
a
long training and preparation adapted
it for a life in this atmosphere,
during which time we have gradually
made the outward shell to die off
through a certain process (hints of
which will be found further on) we
have to prepare for this
physiological transformation.
How are we to do it? In the first place we have the actual,
visible,
material body--Man, so called; though, in fact, but his outer shell--to
deal with. Let us bear in mind that
science teaches us that in about
every seven years we change skin as
effectually as any serpent; and
this so gradually and imperceptibly
that, had not science after years of
unremitting study and observation
assured us of it, no one would have
had the slightest suspicion of the
fact.
We see, moreover, that in process of
time any cut or lesion upon the
body, however deep, has a tendency to
repair the loss and reunite; a
piece of lost skin is very soon replaced
by another. Hence, if a man,
partially flayed alive, may sometimes
survive and be covered with a new
skin, so our astral, vital body--the
fourth of the seven (having
attracted and assimilated to itself
the second) and which is so much
more ethereal than the physical
one--may be made to harden its particles
to the atmospheric changes. The whole secret is to succeed in evolving
it out, and separating it from the
visible; and while its generally
invisible atoms proceed to concrete
themselves into a compact mass, to
gradually get rid of the old
particles of our visible frame so as to
make them die and disappear before
the new set has had time to evolve
and replace them. We can say no more. The Magdalene is not the only
one who could be accused of having
"seven spirits" in her, though men
who have a lesser number of spirits
(what a misnomer that word!) in
them, are not few or
exceptional; they are the frequent
failures of
nature--the incomplete men and
women.*
-----------
* This is not to be taken as meaning
that such persons are thoroughly
destitute of some one or several of
the seven principles--a man born
without an arm has still its ethereal
counterpart; but that they are so
latent that they cannot be developed,
and consequently are to be
considered as non-existing.--Ed.
Theos.
----------
Each of these has in turn to survive
the preceding and more dense one,
and then die. The exception is the sixth when absorbed into
and blended
with the seventh. The "Phatu" * of the old Hindu physiologist
had a
dual meaning, the esoteric side of
which corresponds with the Tibetan
"Zung" (seven principles of
the body).
We Asiatics, have a proverb, probably
handed down to us, and by the
Hindus repeated ignorantly as to its
esoteric meaning. It has been
known ever since the old Rishis
mingled familiarly with the simple and
noble people they taught and led
on. The Devas had whispered into every
man's ear--Thou only--if thou
wilt--art "immortal." Combine
with this
the saying of a Western author that
if any man could just realize for an
instant, that he had to die some day,
he would die that instant. The
Illuminated will perceive that
between these two sayings, rightly
understood, stands revealed the whole
secret of Longevity. We only die
when our will ceases to be strong
enough to make us live. In the
majority of cases, death comes when
the torture and vital exhaustion
accompanying a rapid change in our
physical conditions becomes so
intense as to weaken, for one single
instant, our "clutch on life," or
the tenacity of the will to
exist. Till then, however severe may be
the
disease, however sharp the pang, we
are only sick or wounded, as the
case may be.
-----------
* Dhatu--the seven principal
substances of the human body--chyle, flesh,
blood, fat, bones, marrow, semen.
-----------
This explains the cases of sudden
deaths from joy, fright, pain, grief
or such other causes. The sense of a life-task consummated, of the
worthlessness of one's existence, if
strongly realized, produced death
as surely as poison or a
rifle-bullet. On the other hand, a stern
determination to continue to live,
has, in fact, carried many through
the crises of the most severe
diseases, in perfect safety.
First, then, must be the
determination--the Will--the conviction of
certainty, to survive and
continue.* Without that, all else is
useless.
And to be efficient for the purpose,
it must be, not only a passing
resolution of the moment, a single
fierce desire of short duration, but
a settled and continued strain, as nearly
as can be continued and
concentrated without one single
moment's relaxation. In a word, the
would-be "Immortal" must be
on his watch night and day, guarding self
against-himself. To live--to live--to live--must be his
unswerving
resolve. He must as little as possible allow himself
to be turned aside
from it. It may be said that this is the most
concentrated form of
selfishness,--that it is utterly
opposed to our Theosophic professions
of benevolence, and
disinterestedness, and regard for the good of
humanity. Well, viewed in a short-sighted way, it is
so. But to do
good, as in everything else, a man
must have time and materials to work
with, and this is a necessary means
to the acquirement of powers by
which infinitely more good can be
done than without them.
----------
* Col. Olcott has epigrammatically
explained the creative or rather the
re-creative power of the Will, in his
"Buddhist Catechism." He there
shows--of course, speaking on behalf
of the Southern Buddhists--that
this Will to live, if not
extinguished in the present life, leaps over
the chasm of bodily death, and
recombines the Skandhas, or groups of
qualities that made up the individual
into a new personality. Man is,
therefore, reborn as the result of
his own unsatisfied yearning for
objective existence. Col. Olcott puts it in this way:
Q.
123. What is that, in man, which
gives him the impression of
having a permanent individuality?
A.
Tanha, or the unsatisfied desire for existence. The being having
done that for which he must be
rewarded or punished in future, and
having Tanha, will have a rebirth
through the influence of Karma.
Q.
124. ....What is it that is
reborn?
A.
A new aggregation of Skandhas, or individuality, caused by the last
yearning of the dying person.
Q.
128. To what cause must we attribute the differences in the
combination of the Five Skandhas has
which makes every individual
different from every other
individual?
A.
To the Karma of the individual in the next preceding birth.
Q.
129. What is the force or energy
that is at work, under the
guidance of Karma, to produce the new
being?
A.
Tanha--the "Will to Live."
----------
When these are once mastered, the
opportunities to use them will arrive,
for there comes a moment when further
watch and exertion are no longer
needed:--the moment when the
turning-point is safely passed. For the
present as we deal with aspirants and
not with advanced chelas, in the
first stage a determined, dogged
resolution, and an enlightened
concentration of self on self, are
all that is absolutely necessary. It
must not, however, be considered that
the candidate is required to be
unhuman or brutal in his negligence
of others. Such a recklessly
selfish course would be as injurious
to him as the contrary one of
expending his vital energy on the
gratification of his physical desires.
All that is required from him is a
purely negative attitude. Until the
turning-point is reached, he must not
"lay out" his energy in lavish or
fiery devotion to any cause, however
noble, however "good," however
elevated.* Such, we can solemnly assure the reader,
would bring its
reward in many ways--perhaps in
another life, perhaps in this world, but
it would tend to shorten the
existence it is desired to preserve, as
surely as self-indulgence and
profligacy. That is why very few of the
truly great men of the world (of
course, the unprincipled adventurers
who have applied great powers to bad
uses are out of the question)--the
martyrs, the heroes, the founders of
religions, the liberators of
nations, the leaders of reforms--ever
became members of the long-lived
"Brotherhood of Adepts" who
were by some and for long years accused of
selfishness. (And that is also why the Yogis, and the
Fakirs of modern
India--most of whom are acting now
but on the dead-letter tradition, are
required if they would be considered
living up to the principles of
their profession--to appear entirely
dead to every inward feeling or
emotion.) Notwithstanding the purity
of their hearts, the greatness of
their aspirations, the
disinterestedness of their self-sacrifice, they
could not live for they had missed
the hour.
--------
* On page 151 of Mr. Sinnett's
"Occult World," the author's much abused,
and still more doubted correspondent assures
him that none yet of his
"degree are like the stern hero
of Bulwer's" Zanoni.... "the heartless
morally dried up mummies some would
fancy us to be" and adds that few of
them "would care to play the
part in life of a desiccated pansy between
the leaves of a volume of solemn
poetry." But our adept omits saying
that one or two degrees higher, and
he will have to submit for a period
of years to such a mummifying process
unless, indeed, he would
voluntarily give up a life-long
labour and--Die.--Ed.
----------
They may at times have exercised
powers which the world called
miraculous; they may have electrified man and subdued
Nature by fiery
and self-devoted Will; they may have been possessed of a so-called
superhuman intelligence; they may have even had knowledge of, and
communion with, members of our own
occult Brotherhood; but, having
deliberately resolved to devote their
vital energy to the welfare of
others, rather than to themselves,
they have surrendered life; and,
when perishing on the cross or the
scaffold, or falling, sword in hand,
upon the battle-field, or sinking
exhausted after a successful
consummation of the life-object, on
death-beds in their chambers, they
have all alike had to cry out at
last: "Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthani!"
So far so good. But, given the will to live, however
powerful, we have
seen that, in the ordinary course of
mundane life, the throes of
dissolution cannot be checked. The desperate, and again and again
renewed struggle of the Kosmic
elements to proceed with a career of
change despite the will that is
checking them, like a pair of runaway
horses struggling against the
determined driver holding them in, are so
cumulatively powerful, that the
utmost efforts of the untrained human
will acting within an unprepared body
become ultimately useless. The
highest intrepidity of the bravest
soldier; the interest desire of the
yearning lover; the hungry greed of the unsatisfied
miser; the most
undoubting faith of the sternest
fanatic; the practiced insensibility
to pain of the hardiest red Indian
brave or half-trained Hindu Yogi;
the most deliberate philosophy of the
calmest thinker--all alike fail at
last.
Indeed, sceptics will allege in opposition to the verities of
this article that, as a matter of
experience, it is often observed that
the mildest and most irresolute of
minds and the weakest of physical
frames are often seen to resist
"Death" longer than the powerful will of
the high-spirited and
obstinately-egotistic man, and the iron frame of
the labourer, the warrior and the
athlete. In reality, however, the key
to the secret of these apparently
contradictory phenomena is the true
conception of the very thing we have
already said. If the physical
development of the gross "outer
shell" proceeds on parallel lines and at
an equal rate with that of the will,
it stands to reason that no
advantage for the purpose of
overcoming it, is attained by the latter.
The acquisition of improved
breechloaders by one modern army confers no
absolute superiority if the enemy
also becomes possessed of them.
Consequently it will be at once
apparent, to those who think on the
subject, that much of the training by
which what is known as "a powerful
and determined nature," perfects
itself for its own purpose on the stage
of the visible world, necessitating
and being useless without a parallel
development of the "gross"
and so-called animal frame, is, in short,
neutralized, for the purpose at
present treated of, by the fact that its
own action has armed the enemy with
weapons equal to its own. The force
of the impulse to dissolution is
rendered equal to the will to oppose
it;
and being cumulative, subdues the will-power and triumphs at last.
On the other hand, it may happen that
an apparently weak and vacillating
will-power residing in a weak and
undeveloped physical frame, may be so
reinforced by some unsatisfied
desire--the Ichcha (wish)--as it is
called by the Indian Occultists (for
instance, a mother's heart-yearning
to remain and support her fatherless
children)--as to keep down and
vanquish, for a short time, the
physical throes of a body to which it
has become temporarily superior.
The whole rationale then, of the
first condition of continued existence
in this world, is (a) the development
of a Will so powerful as to
overcome the hereditary (in a
Darwinian sense) tendencies of the atoms
composing the "gross" and
palpable animal frame, to hurry on at a
particular period in a certain course
of Kosmic change; and (b) to so
weaken the concrete action of that
animal frame as to make it more
amenable to the power of the
Will. To defeat an army, you must
demoralize and throw it into
disorder.
To do this then, is the real object
of all the rites, ceremonies, fasts,
"prayers," meditations,
initiations and procedures of self-discipline
enjoined by various esoteric Eastern
sects, from that course of pure and
elevated aspiration which leads to
the higher phases of Adeptism Real,
down to the fearful and disgusting
ordeals which the adherent of the
"Left-hand-Road" has to
pass through, all the time maintaining his
equilibrium. The procedures have their merits and their
demerits, their
separate uses and abuses, their
essential and non-essential parts, their
various veils, mummeries, and labyrinths. But in all, the result aimed
at is reached, if by different
processes. The Will is strengthened,
encouraged and directed, and the
elements opposing its action are
demoralized. Now, to any one who has thought out and
connected the
various evolution theories, as taken,
not from any occult source, but
from the ordinary scientific manual
accessible to all--from the
hypothesis of the latest variation in
the habits of species--say, the
acquisition of carnivorous habits by
the New Zealand parrot, for
instance--to the farthest glimpses
backwards into Space and Eternity
afforded by the "Fire Mist"
doctrine, it will be apparent that they all
rest on one basis. That basis is,
that the impulse once given to a
hypothetical Unit has a tendency to
continue; and consequently, that
anything "done" by
something at a certain time and certain place tends
to repeat itself at other times and
places.
Such is the admitted rationale of
heredity and atavism. That the same
things apply to our ordinary conduct
is apparent from the notorious ease
with which "habits,"--bad
or good, as the case may be--are acquired, and
it will not be questioned that this
applies, as a rule, as much to the
moral and intellectual, as to the
physical world.
Furthermore, History and Science
teach us plainly that certain physical
habits conduce to certain moral and
intellectual results. There never
yet was a conquering nation of
vegetarians. Even in the old Aryan times,
we do not learn that the very Rishis,
from whose lore and practice we
gain the knowledge of Occultism, ever
interdicted the Kshetriya
(military) caste from hunting or a
carnivorous diet. Filling, as they
did, a certain place in the body
politic in the actual condition of the
world, the Rishis as little thought
of interfering with them, as of
restraining the tigers of the jungle
from their habits. That did not
affect what the Rishis did
themselves.
The aspirant to longevity then must
be on his guard against two dangers.
He must beware especially of impure and
animal* thoughts. For Science
shows that thought is dynamic, and
the thought-force evolved by nervous
action expanding outwardly, must
affect the molecular relations of the
physical man. The inner men,** however sublimated their
organism may
be, are still composed of actual, not
hypothetical, particles, and are
still subject to the law that an
"action" has a tendency to repeat
itself; a tendency to set up analogous action in the
grosser "shell"
they are in contact with, and
concealed within.
----------
* In other words, the thought tends
to provoke the deed.--G.M.
** We use the word in the plural,
reminding the reader that, according
to our doctrine, man is
septenary.--G.M.
----------
And, on the other hand, certain
actions have a tendency to produce
actual physical conditions
unfavourable to pure thoughts, hence to the
state required for developing the
supremacy of the inner man.
To return to the practical
process. A normally healthy mind, in a
normally healthy body, is a good
starting-point. Though exceptionally
powerful and self-devoted natures may
sometimes recover the ground lost
by mental degradation or physical
misuse, by employing proper means,
under the direction of unswerving
resolution, yet often things may have
gone so far that there is no longer
stamina enough to sustain the
conflict sufficiently long to
perpetuate this life; though what in
Eastern parlance is called the
"merit" of the effort will help to
ameliorate conditions and improve
matters in another.
However this may be, the prescribed
course of self-discipline commences
here.
It may be stated briefly that its essence is a course of moral,
mental, and physical development,
carried on in parallel lines--one
being useless without the other. The physical man must be rendered more
ethereal and sensitive; the mental man more penetrating and profound;
the moral man more self-denying and
philosophical. And it may be
mentioned that all sense of
restraint--even if self-imposed--is useless.
Not only is all "goodness"
that results from the compulsion of physical
force, threats, or bribes (whether of
a physical or so-called
"spiritual" nature)
absolutely useless to the person who exhibits it,
its hypocrisy tending to poison the
moral atmosphere of the world, but
the desire to be "good" or
"pure," to be efficacious must be
spontaneous. It must be a self-impulse from within, a real
preference
for something higher, not an
abstention from vice because of fear of the
law:
not a chastity enforced by the dread of Public Opinion; not a
benevolence exercised through love of
praise or dread of consequences in
a hypothetical Future Life.*
----------
* Col. Olcott clearly and succinctly
explains the Buddhist doctrine of
Merit or Karma, in his "Buddhist
Catechism."
(Question 83).--G.M.
----------
It will be seen now in connection
with the doctrine of the tendency
to the renewal of action, before
discussed, that the course of
self-discipline recommended as the
only road to Longevity by Occultism
is not a "visionary" theory
dealing with vague "ideas," but actually a
scientifically devised system of
drill. It is a system by which each
particle of the several men composing
the septenary individual receives
an impulse, and a habit of doing what
is necessary for certain purposes
of its own free-will and with
"pleasure." Every one must be
practiced
and perfect in a thing to do it with
pleasure. This rule especially
applies to the case of the
development of Man. "Virtue"
may be very
good in its way--it may lead to the
grandest results. But to become
efficacious it has to be practiced
cheerfully not with reluctance or
pain.
As a consequence of the above consideration the candidate for
Longevity at the commencement of his
career must begin to eschew his
physical desires, not from any
sentimental theory of right or wrong, but
for the following good reason. As, according to a well-known and now
established scientific theory, his
visible material frame is always
renewing its particles; he will, while abstaining from the
gratification of his desires, reach
the end of a certain period during
which those particles which composed
the man of vice, and which were
given a bad predisposition, will have
departed. At the same time, the
disuse of such functions will tend to
obstruct the entry, in place of
the old particles, of new particles
having a tendency to repeat the said
acts.
And while this is the particular result as regards certain
"vices," the general result
of an abstention from "gross" acts will be
(by a modification of the well-known
Darwinian law of atrophy by
non-usage) to diminish what we may
call the "relative" density and
coherence of the outer shell (as a
result of its less-used molecules);
while the diminution in the quantity
of its actual constituents will he
"made up" (if tried by
scales and weights) by the increased admission of
more ethereal particles.
What physical desires are to be
abandoned and in what order? First and
foremost, he must give up alcohol in
all forms; for while it supplies
no nourishment, nor any direct
pleasure (beyond such sweetness or
fragrance as may be gained in the
taste of wine, &c., to which alcohol,
in itself, is non-essential) to even
the grossest elements of the
"physical" frame, it
induces a violence of action, a rush so to speak,
of life, the stress of which can only
be sustained by very dull, gross,
and dense elements, and which, by the
operation of the well-known law of
Re-action (in commercial phrase,
"supply and demand") tends to summon
them from the surrounding universe,
and therefore directly counteracts
the object we have in view.
Next comes meat-eating, and for the
very same reason, in a minor degree.
It increases the rapidity of life,
the energy of action, the violence of
passions. It may be good for a hero who has to fight
and die, but not
for a would-be sage who has to exist
and....
Next in order come the sexual
desires; for these, in addition to the
great diversion of energy (vital
force) into other channels, in many
different ways, beyond the primary
one (as, for instance, the waste of
energy in expectation, jealousy,
&c.), are direct attractions to a
certain gross quality of the original
matter of the Universe, simply
because the most pleasurable physical
sensations are only possible at
that stage of density. Alongside with and extending beyond all these
and other gratifications of the
senses (which include not only those
things usually known as
"vicious," but all those which, though
ordinarily regarded as
"innocent," have yet the disqualification of
ministering to the pleasures of the
body--the most harmless to others
and the least "gross" being
the criterion for those to be last abandoned
in each case)--must be carried on the
moral purification.
Nor must it be imagined that
"austerities" as commonly understood can,
in the majority of cases, avail much
to hasten the "etherealizing"
process. That is the rock on which many of the Eastern
esoteric sects
have foundered, and the reason why
they have degenerated into degrading
superstitions. The Western monks and the Eastern Yogees, who
think they
will reach the apex of powers by
concentrating their thought on their
navel, or by standing on one leg, are
practicing exercises which serve
no other purpose than to strengthen
the willpower, which is sometimes
applied to the basest purposes. These are examples of this one-sided
and dwarf development. It is no use to fast as long as you require
food.
The ceasing of desire for food without impairment of health is
the sign which indicates that it
should be taken in lesser and ever
decreasing quantities until the
extreme limit compatible with life is
reached. A stage will be finally attained where only
water will be
required.
Nor is it of any use for this
particular purpose of longevity to abstain
from immorality so long as you are
craving for it in your heart; and so
on with all other unsatisfied inward
cravings. To get rid of the inward
desire is the essential thing, and to
mimic the real thing without it is
barefaced hypocrisy and useless
slavery.
So it must be with the moral
purification of the heart. The
"basest"
inclinations must go first--then the
others. First avarice, then fear,
then envy, worldly pride,
uncharitableness, hatred; last of all
ambition and curiosity must be
abandoned successively. The
strengthening of the more ethereal
and so-called "spiritual" parts of
the man must go on at the same time.
Reasoning from the known to the
unknown, meditation must be practiced
and encouraged. Meditation is the
inexpressible yearning of the inner
Man to "go out towards the
infinite," which in the olden
time was the real meaning of adoration,
but which has now no synonym in the
European languages, because the
thing no longer exists in the West,
and its name has been vulgarized to
the make-believe shams known as
prayer, glorification, and repentance.
Through all stages of training the
equilibrium of the consciousness--the
assurance that all must be right in
the Kosmos, and therefore with you a
portion of it--must be retained. The
process of life must not be hurried
but retarded, if possible; to do otherwise may do good to others--
perhaps even to yourself in other
spheres, but it will hasten your
dissolution in this.
Nor must the externals be neglected
in this first stage. Remember that
an adept, though "existing"
so as to convey to ordinary minds the idea
of his being immortal, is not also
invulnerable to agencies from
without. The training to prolong life does not, in
itself, secure one
from accidents. As far as any physical preparation goes, the
sword may
still cut, the disease enter, the
poison disarrange. This case is very
clearly and beautifully put in
"Zanoni," and it is correctly put and
must be so, unless all
"adeptism" is a baseless lie.
The adept may be
more secure from ordinary dangers
than the common mortal, but he is so
by virtue of the superior knowledge,
calmness, coolness and penetration
which his lengthened existence and
its necessary concomitants have
enabled him to acquire; not by virtue of any preservative power in
the
process itself. He is secure as a man armed with a rifle is
more secure
than a naked baboon; not secure in the sense in which the deva
(god)
was supposed to be securer than a
man.
If this is so in the case of the high
adept, how much more necessary is
it that the neophyte should be not
only protected but that he himself
should use all possible means to
ensure for himself the necessary
duration of life to complete the
process of mastering the phenomena we
call death! It may be said, why do not the higher adepts
protect him?
Perhaps they do to some extent, but
the child must learn to walk alone;
to make him independent of his own
efforts in respect to safety, would
be destroying one element necessary
to his development--the sense of
responsibility. What courage or conduct would be called for
in a man
sent to fight when armed with
irresistible weapons and clothed in
impenetrable armour? Hence the neophyte should endeavour, as far
as
possible, to fulfill every true canon
of sanitary law as laid down by
modern scientists. Pure air, pure water, pure food, gentle
exercise,
regular hours, pleasant occupations
and surroundings, are all, if not
indispensable, at least serviceable
to his progress. It is to secure
these, at least as much as silence
and solitude, that the Gods, Sages,
Occultists of all ages have retired
as much as possible to the quiet of
the country, the cool cave, the
depths of the forest, the expanse of the
desert, or the heights of the
mountains. Is it not suggestive that the
Gods have always loved the "high
places"; and that in the present
day
the highest section of the Occult
Brotherhood on earth inhabits the
highest mountain plateaux of the
earth?*
---------
* The stern prohibition to the Jews
to serve "their gods upon the high
mountains and upon the hills" is
traced back to the unwillingness of
their ancient elders to allow people
in most cases unfit for adeptship
to choose a life of celibacy and
asceticism, or in other words, to
pursue adeptship. This prohibition had an esoteric meaning
before it
became the prohibition,
incomprehensible in its dead-letter sense:
for
it is not India alone whose sons
accorded divine honours to the Wise
Ones, but all nations regarded their
adepts and initiates as divine.--
G.M.
---------
Nor must the beginner disdain the
assistance of medicine and good
medical regimen. He is still an ordinary mortal, and he
requires the
aid of an ordinary mortal.
"Suppose, however, all the
conditions required, or which will be
understood as required (for the
details and varieties of treatment
requisite, are too numerous to be
detailed here), are fulfilled, what is
the next step?" the reader will
ask. Well if there have been no
backslidings or remissness in the
procedure indicated, the following
physical results will follow:--
First the neophyte will take more
pleasure in things spiritual and pure.
Gradually gross and material
occupations will become not only uncraved
for or forbidden, but simply and
literally repulsive to him. He will
take more pleasure in the simple
sensations of Nature--the sort of
feeling one can remember to have
experienced as a child. He will feel
more light-hearted, confident,
happy. Let him take care the sensation
of renewed youth does not mislead, or
he will yet risk a fall into his
old baser life and even lower
depths. "Action and Re-action are
equal."
Now the desire for food will begin to
cease. Let it be left off
gradually--no fasting is
required. Take what you feel you
require. The
food craved for will be the most
innocent and simple. Fruit and milk
will usually be the best. Then as till now, you have been simplifying
the quality of your food,
gradually--very gradually--as you feel capable
of it diminish the quantity. You will ask:
"Can a man exist without
food?" No, but before you mock, consider the
character of the process
alluded to. It is a notorious fact that many of the
lowest and simplest
organisms have no excretions. The common guinea-worm is a very good
instance. It has rather a complicated organism, but it
has no
ejaculatory duct. All it consumes--the poorest essences of the
human
body--is applied to its growth and
propagation. Living as it does in
human tissue, it passes no digested
food away. The human neophyte, at a
certain stage of his development, is
in a somewhat analogous condition,
with this difference or differences,
that he does excrete, but it is
through the pores of his skin, and by
those too enter other etherealized
particles of matter to contribute towards
his support.* Otherwise, all
the food and drink is sufficient only
to keep in equilibrium those
"gross" parts of his
physical body which still remain to repair their
cuticle-waste through the medium of
the blood. Later on, the process of
cell-development in his frame will
undergo a change; a change for the
better, the opposite of that in
disease for the worse--he will become
all living and sensitive, and will
derive nourishment from the Ether
(Akas). But that epoch for our neophyte is yet far
distant.
---------
* He is in a state similar to the
physical state of a fetus
before birth into the world.--G.M.
---------
Probably, long before that period has
arrived, other results, no less
surprising than incredible to the uninitiated
will have ensued to give
our neophyte courage and consolation
in his difficult task. It would be
but a truism to repeat what has been
again alleged (in ignorance of its
real rationale) by hundreds and
hundreds of writers as to the happiness
and content conferred by a life of
innocence and purity. But often at
the very commencement of the process
some real physical result,
unexpected and unthought of by the
neophyte, occurs. Some lingering
disease, hitherto deemed hopeless,
may take a favourable turn; or he may
develop healing mesmeric powers
himself; or some hitherto unknown
sharpening of his senses may delight
him. The rationale of these things
is, as we have said, neither
miraculous nor difficult of comprehension.
In the first place, the sudden change
in the direction of the vital
energy (which, whatever view we take
of it and its origin, is
acknowledged by all schools of
philosophy as most recondite, and as the
motive power) must produce results of
some kind. In the second,
Theosophy shows, as we said before,
that a man consists of several men
pervading each other, and on this
view (although it is very difficult to
express the idea in language) it is
but natural that the progressive
etherealization of the densest and
most gross of all should leave the
others literally more at
liberty. A troop of horses may be
blocked by a
mob and have much difficulty in
fighting its way through; but if every
one of the mob could be changed
suddenly into a ghost, there would be
little to retard it. And as each interior entity is more rare,
active,
and volatile than the outer and as
each has relation with different
elements, spaces, and properties of
the Kosmos which are treated of in
other articles on Occultism, the mind
of the reader may conceive--though
the pen of the writer could not
express it in a dozen volumes--the
magnificent possibilities gradually
unfolded to the neophyte.
Many of the opportunities thus
suggested may be taken advantage of by
the neophyte for his own safety, amusement,
and the good of those around
him;
but the way in which he does this is one adapted to his fitness--a
part of the ordeal he has to pass
through, and misuse of these powers
will certainly entail the loss of
them as a natural result. The Itchcha
(or desire) evoked anew by the vistas
they open up will retard or throw
back his progress.
But there is another portion of the
Great Secret to which we must
allude, and which is now, for the
first, in a long series of ages,
allowed to be given out to the world,
as the hour for it is come.
The educated reader need not be
reminded again that one of the great
discoveries which has immortalized
the name of Darwin is the law that an
organism has always a tendency to
repeat, at an analogous period in its
life, the action of its progenitors,
the more surely and completely in
proportion to their proximity in the
scale of life. One result of this
is, that, in general, organized
beings usually die at a period (on an
average) the same as that of their
progenitors. It is true that there
is a great difference between the
actual ages at which individuals of
any species die. Disease, accidents and famine are the main
agents in
causing this. But there is, in each species, a well-known
limit within
which the Race-life lies, and none
are known to survive beyond it. This
applies to the human species as well
as any other. Now, supposing that
every possible sanitary condition had
been complied with, and every
accident and disease avoided by a man
of ordinary frame, in some
particular case there would still, as
is known to medical men, come a
time when the particles of the body
would feel the hereditary tendency
to do that which leads inevitably to
dissolution, and would obey it. It
must be obvious to any reflecting man
that, if by any procedure this
critical climacteric could be once
thoroughly passed over, the
subsequent danger of
"Death" would be proportionally less as the years
progressed. Now this, which no ordinary and unprepared
mind and body
can do, is possible sometimes for the
will and the frame of one who has
been specially prepared. There are fewer of the grosser particles
present to feel the hereditary
bias--there is the assistance of the
reinforced "interior men"
(whose normal duration is always greater even
in natural death) to the visible
outer shell, and there is the drilled
and indomitable Will to direct and
wield the whole.*
-----------
* In this connection we may as well
show what modern science, and
especially physiology has to say as
to the power of the human will.
"The force of will is a potent
element in determining longevity. This
single point must be granted without
argument, that of two men every way
alike and similarly circumstanced,
the one who has the greater courage
and grit will be longer-lived. One
does not need to practice medicine
long to learn that men die who might
just as well live if they resolved
to live, and that myriads who are
invalids could become strong if they
had the native or acquired will to
vow they would do so. Those who have
no other quality favourable to life,
whose bodily organs are nearly
all diseased, to whom each day is a
day of pain, who are beset by
life-shortening influences, yet do
live by will alone."
--Dr. George M. Beard.
-------------
From that time forward the course of
the aspirant is clearer. He has
conquered "the Dweller of the
Threshold"--the hereditary enemy of his
race, and, though still exposed to
ever-new dangers in his progress
towards Nirvana, he is flushed with
victory, and with new confidence and
new powers to second it, can press
onwards to perfection.
For, it must be remembered, that
nature everywhere acts by Law, and that
the process of purification we have
been describing in the visible
material body, also takes place in
those which are interior, and not
visible to the scientist by
modifications of the same process. All
is
on the change, and the metamorphoses
of the more ethereal bodies
imitate, though in successively
multiplied duration, the career of the
grosser, gaining an increasing wider
range of relations with the
surrounding kosmos, till in Nirvana
the most rarefied Individuality is
merged at last into the INFINITE
TOTALITY.
From the above description of the
process, it will be inferred why it is
that "Adepts" are so seldom
seen in ordinary life; for, pari passu, with
the etherealization of their bodies
and the development of their power,
grows an increasing distaste, and a
so-to-speak, "contempt" for the
things of our ordinary mundane
existence. Like the fugitive who
successively casts away in his flight
those articles which incommode his
progress, beginning with the
heaviest, so the aspirant eluding "Death"
abandons all on which the latter can
take hold. In the progress of
Negation everything got rid of is a help. As we said before, the adept
does not become "immortal"
as the word is ordinarily understood. By or
about the time when the Death-limit
of his race is passed he is actually
dead, in the ordinary sense, that is
to say, he has relieved himself of
all or nearly all such material
particles as would have necessitated in
disruption the agony of dying. He has been dying gradually during the
whole period of his Initiation. The catastrophe cannot happen twice
over.
He has only spread over a number of years the mild process of
dissolution which others endure from
a brief moment to a few hours. The
highest Adept is, in fact, dead to,
and absolutely unconscious of, the
world; he is oblivious of its pleasures, careless of
its miseries, in
so far as sentimentalism goes, for
the stern sense of DUTY never leaves
him blind to its very existence. For the new ethereal senses opening to
wider spheres are to ours much in the
relation of ours to the Infinitely
Little. New desires and enjoyments, new dangers and
new hindrances
arise, with new sensations and new
perceptions; and far away down in
the mist--both literally and
metaphorically--is our dirty little earth
left below by those who have
virtually "gone to join the gods."
And from this account too, it will be
perceptible how foolish it is for
people to ask the Theosophist to
"procure for them communication with
the highest Adepts." It is with the utmost difficulty that one or
two
can be induced, even by the throes of
a world, to injure their own
progress by meddling with mundane
affairs. The ordinary reader will
say:
"This is not god-like. This is the acme of selfishness." ....
But
let him realize that a very high
Adept, undertaking to reform the world,
would necessarily have to once more
submit to Incarnation. And is the
result of all that have gone before
in that line sufficiently
encouraging to prompt a renewal of
the attempt?
A deep consideration of all that we
have written, will also give the
Theosophists an idea of what they
demand when they ask to be put in the
way of gaining practically
"higher powers." Well, there,
as plainly as
words can put it, is the PATH ....
can they tread it?
Nor must it be disguised that what to
the ordinary mortal are unexpected
dangers, temptations and enemies also
beset the way of the neophyte.
And that for no fanciful cause, but
the simple reason that he is, in
fact, acquiring new senses, has yet
no practice in their use, and has
never before seen the things he
sees. A man born blind suddenly endowed
with vision would not at once master
the meaning of perspective, but
would, like a baby, imagine in one
case, the moon to be within his
reach, and, in the other, grasp a
live coal with the most reckless
confidence.
And what, it may be asked, is to
recompense this abnegation of all the
pleasures of life, this cold
surrender of all mundane interests, this
stretching forward to an unknown goal
which seems ever more
unattainable? For, unlike some of the anthropomorphic
creeds, Occultism
offers to its votaries no eternally
permanent heaven of material
pleasure, to be gained at once by one
quick dash through the grave. As
has, in fact, often been the case
many would be prepared willingly to
die now for the sake of the paradise
hereafter. But Occultism gives no
such prospect of cheaply and
immediately gained infinitude of pleasure,
wisdom and existence. It only promises extensions of these,
stretching
in successive arches obscured by
successive veils, in an unbroken series
up the long vista which leads to
NIRVANA. And this too, qualified by
the necessity that new powers entail
new responsibilities, and that the
capacity of increased pleasure
entails the capacity of increased
sensibility to pain. To this, the only answer that can be given is
two-fold: (1st) the consciousness of Power is itself
the most exquisite
of pleasures, and is unceasingly
gratified in the progress onwards with
new means for its exercise and
(2ndly) as has been already said--THIS is
the only road by which there is the
faintest scientific likelihood that
"Death" can be avoided,
perpetual memory secured, infinite wisdom
attained, and hence an immense
helping of mankind made possible, once
that the adept has safely crossed the
turning-point. Physical as well
as metaphysical logic requires and
endorses the fact that only by
gradual absorption into infinity can
the Part become acquainted with the
Whole, and that that which is now
something can only feel, know, and
enjoy EVERYTHING when lost in
Absolute Totality in the vortex of that
Unalterable Circle wherein our
Knowledge becomes Ignorance, and the
Everything itself is identified with
the NOTHING.
Is the Desire to "Live"
Selfish?
The passage "to live, to live,
to live must be the unswerving resolve,"
occurring in the article on the
Elixir of Life, is often quoted by
superficial and unsympathetic readers
as an argument that the teachings
of occultism are the most
concentrated form of selfishness. In
order to
determine whether the critics are
right or wrong, the meaning of the
word "selfishness" must
first be ascertained.
According to an established
authority, selfishness is that "exclusive
regard to one's own interest or
happiness; that supreme self-love or
self-preference which leads a person
to direct his purposes to the
advancement of his own interest,
power, or happiness, without regarding
those of others."
In short, an absolutely selfish
individual is one who cares for himself
and none else, or, in other words, one
who is so strongly imbued with a
sense of the importance of his own
personality that to him it is the
crown of all thoughts, desires, and
aspirations, and beyond which lies
the perfect blank. Now, can an occultist be then said to be
"selfish"
when he desires to live in the sense
in which that word is used by the
writer of the article on the Elixir
of Life? It has been said over and
over again that the ultimate end of
every aspirant after occult
knowledge is Nirvana or Mukti, when
the individual, freed from all
Mayavic Upadhi, becomes one with
Paramatma, or the Son identifies
himself with the Father in Christian
phraseology. For that purpose,
every veil of illusion which creates
a sense of personal isolation, a
feeling of separateness from THE ALL,
must be torn asunder, or, in other
words, the aspirant must gradually
discard all sense of selfishness with
which we are all more or less
affected. A study of the Law of Kosmic
Evolution teaches us that the higher
the evolution, the more does it
tend towards Unity. In fact, Unity is the ultimate possibility of
Nature, and those who through vanity
and selfishness go against her
purposes, cannot but incur the
punishment of annihilation. The
occultist thus recognizes that
unselfishness and a feeling of universal
philanthropy are the inherent laws of
our being, and all he does is to
attempt to destroy the chains of
selfishness forged upon us all by Maya.
The struggle then between Good and
Evil, God and Satan, Suras and
Asuras, Devas and Daityas, which is
mentioned in the sacred books of all
the nations and races, symbolizes the
battle between unselfish and
selfish impulses, which takes place
in a man, who tries to follow the
higher purposes of Nature, until the
lower animal tendencies, created by
selfishness, are completely
conquered, and the enemy thoroughly routed
and annihilated. It has also been often put forth in various
Theosophical and other occult
writings that the only difference between
an ordinary man who works along with
Nature during the course of Kosmic
evolution and an occultist, is that
the latter, by his superior
knowledge, adopts such methods of
training and discipline as will hurry
on that process of evolution, and he
thus reaches in a comparatively
short time the apex which the ordinary
individual will take perhaps
billions of years to reach. In short, in a few thousand years he
approaches that type of evolution
which ordinary humanity attains in the
sixth or seventh Round of the
Manvantara, i.e., cyclic progression. It
is evident that an average man cannot
become a MAHATMA in one life, or
rather in one incarnation. Now those, who have studied the occult
teachings concerning Devachan and our
after-states, will remember that
between two incarnations there is a
considerable period of subjective
existence. The greater the number of such Devachanic
periods, the
greater is the number of years over
which this evolution is extended.
The chief aim of the occultist is
therefore to so control himself as to
be able to regulate his future states,
and thereby gradually shorten the
duration of his Devachanic existence
between two incarnations. In the
course of his progress, there comes a
time when, between one physical
death and his next rebirth, there is
no Devachan but a kind of spiritual
sleep, the shock of death, having, so
to say, stunned him into a state
of unconsciousness from which he
gradually recovers to find himself
reborn, to continue his purpose. The period of this sleep may vary from
twenty-five to two hundred years,
depending upon the degree of his
advancement. But even this period may be said to be a
waste of time,
and hence all his exertions are
directed to shorten its duration so as
to gradually come to a point when the
passage from one state of
existence into another is almost
imperceptible. This is his last
incarnation, as it were, for the
shock of death no more stuns him. This
is the idea the writer of the article
on the Elixir of Life means to
convey when he says:
By or about the time when the
Death-limit of his race is passed he is
actually dead, in the ordinary sense,
that is to say, he has relieved
himself of all or nearly all such
material particles as would have
necessitated in disruption the agony
of dying. He has been dying
gradually during the whole period of
his Initiation. The catastrophe
cannot happen twice over, he has only
spread over a number of years the
mild process of dissolution which
others endure from a brief moment to a
few hours. The highest Adept is, in fact, dead to, and
absolutely
unconscious of, the World; he is oblivious of its pleasures, careless
of its miseries, in so far as
sentimentalism goes, for the stern sense
of Duty never leaves him blind to its
very existence....
The process of the emission and
attraction of atoms, which the occultist
controls, has been discussed at
length in that article and in other
writings. It is by these means that he gets rid
gradually of all the
old gross particles of his body,
substituting for them finer and more
ethereal ones, till at last the
former sthula sarira is completely dead
and disintegrated, and he lives in a
body entirely of his own creation,
suited to his work. That body is essential to his purposes; as the
Elixir of Life says:--
To do good, as in every thing else, a
man most have time and materials
to Work with, and this is a necessary
means to the acquirement of powers
by which infinitely more good can be
done than without them. When these
are once mastered, the opportunities
to use them will arrive....
Giving the practical instructions for
that purpose, the same paper
continues:--
The physical man must be rendered
more ethereal and sensitive; the
mental man more penetrating and
profound; the moral man more
self-denying and philosophical.
Losing sight of the above important
considerations, the following
passage is entirely misunderstood:--
And from this account too, it will be
perceptible how foolish it is for
people to ask the Theosophist
"to procure for them communication with
the highest Adepts." It is with the utmost difficulty that one or
two
can be induced, even by the throes of
a world, to injure their own
progress by meddling with mundane
affairs. The ordinary reader will
say:
"This is not god-like. This is the acme of selfishness."
....But
let him realize that a very high
Adept, undertaking to reform the world,
would necessarily have to once more
submit to Incarnation. And is the
result of all that have gone before
in that line sufficiently
encouraging to prompt a renewal of
the attempt?
Now, in condemning the above passage
as inculcating selfishness,
superficial critics neglect many
profound truths. In the first place,
they forget the other extracts
already quoted which impose self-denial
as a necessary condition of success,
and which say that, with progress,
new senses and new powers are
acquired with which infinitely more good
can be done than without them. The more spiritual the Adept becomes the
less can he meddle with mundane gross
affairs and the more he has to
confine himself to spiritual
work. It has been repeated, times out of
number, that the work on the
spiritual plane is as superior to the work
on the intellectual plane as the
latter is superior to that on the
physical plane. The very high Adepts, therefore, do help
humanity, but
only spiritually: they are constitutionally incapable of
meddling with
worldly affairs. But this applies only to very high
Adepts. There are
various degrees of Adept-ship, and
those of each degree work for
humanity on the planes to which they
may have risen. It is only the
chelas that can live in the world,
until they rise to a certain degree.
And it is because the Adepts do care
for the world that they make their
chelas live in and work for it, as
many of those who study the subject
are aware. Each cycle produces its own occultists
capable of working
for the humanity of the time on all
the different planes; but when the
Adepts foresee that at a particular
period humanity will he incapable of
producing occultists for work on particular
planes, for such occasions
they do provide by either voluntarily
giving up their further progress
and waiting until humanity reaches
that period, or by refusing to enter
into Nirvana and submitting to
re-incarnation so as to be ready for work
when the time comes. And although the world may not be aware of
the
fact, yet there are even now certain
Adepts who have preferred to remain
in statu quo and refuse to take the
higher degrees, for the benefit of
the future generations of
humanity. In short, as the Adepts work
harmoniously, since unity is the
fundamental law of their being, they
have, as it were, made a division of
labour, according to which each
works on the plane appropriate to
himself for the spiritual elevation of
us all--and the process of longevity
mentioned in the Elixir of Life is
only the means to the end which, far
from being selfish, is the most
unselfish purpose for which a human
being can labour.
(--H.P. Blavatsky)
Contemplation
A general misconception on this subject
seems to prevail. One confines
oneself for some time in a room, and
passively gazes at one's nose, a
spot on the wall, or, perhaps, a
crystal, under the impression that such
is the true form of contemplation
enjoined by Raj Yoga. Many fail to
realize that true occultism requires
a physical, mental, moral and
spiritual development to run on
parallel lines, and injure themselves,
physically and spiritually, by
practice of what they falsely believe to
be Dhyan. A few instances may be mentioned here with
advantage, as a
warning to over-zealous students.
At Bareilly the writer met a member
of the Theosophical Society from
Farrukhabad, who narrated his
experiences and shed bitter tears of
repentance for his past follies--as
he termed them. It appears from his
account that fifteen or twenty years
ago having read about contemplation
in the Bhagavad Gita, he undertook
the practice of it, without a proper
comprehension of its esoteric meaning
and carried it on for several
years. At first he experienced a sense of pleasure,
but simultaneously
he found he was gradually losing
self-control; until after a few years
he discovered, to his great
bewilderment and sorrow, that he was no
longer his own master. He felt his heart actually growing heavy, as
though a load had been placed on
it. He had no control over his
sensations the communication between
the brain and the heart had become
as though interrupted. As matters grew worse, in disgust he
discontinued his
"contemplation." This happened
as long as seven years
ago;
and, although since then he has not felt worse, yet he could never
regain his original healthy state of
mind and body.
Another case came under the writer's
observation at Jubbulpore. The
gentleman concerned, after reading
Patanjali and such other works, began
to sit for
"contemplation." After a short
time he commenced seeing
abnormal sights and hearing musical
bells, but neither over these
phenomena nor over his own sensations
could he exercise any control. He
could not produce these results at
will, nor could he stop them when
they were occurring. Numerous such examples may be cited. While
penning these lines, the writer has
on his table two letters upon this
subject, one from Moradabad and the
other from Trichinopoly. In short,
all this mischief is due to a
misunderstanding of the significance of
contemplation as enjoined upon
students by all the schools of Occult
Philosophy. With a view to afford a glimpse of the
Reality through the
dense veil that enshrouds the
mysteries of this Science of Sciences, an
article, the Elixir of Life, was
written. Unfortunately, in too many
instances, the seed seems to have
fallen upon barren ground. Some of
its readers pin their faith to the
following clause in that paper:--
Reasoning from the known to the
unknown meditation must be practiced and
encouraged.
But, alas! their preconceptions have
prevented them from comprehending
what is meant by meditation. They forget that the meditation spoken of
"is the inexpressible yearning of
the inner Man to 'go out towards the
infinite,' which in the olden time
was the real meaning of adoration"--
as the next sentence shows. A good deal of light would be thrown upon
this subject if the reader were to
turn to an earlier part of the same
paper, and peruse attentively the
following paragraphs:--
So, then, we have arrived at the
point where we have determined--
literally, not metaphorically--to
crack the outer shell known as the
mortal coil or body, and hatch out of
it, clothed in our next. This
'next' is not a spiritual, but only a
more ethereal form. Having by a
long training and preparation adapted
it for a life in the atmosphere,
during which time we have gradually
made the outward shell to die off
through a certain process .... we
have to prepare for this physiological
transformation.
How are we to do it? In the first place we have the actual,
visible,
material body--Man, so called,
though, in fact, but his outer shell--to
deal with. Let us bear in mind that Science teaches us
that in about
every seven years we change skin as
effectually as any serpent; and
this so gradually and imperceptibly
that, had not science after years of
unremitting study and observation
assured us of it, no one would have
had the slightest suspicion of the fact....
Hence, if a man, partially
flayed alive, may sometimes survive
and be covered with a new skin, so
our astral, vital body .... may be
made to harden its particles to the
atmospheric changes. The whole secret is to succeed in evolving it
out,
and separating it from the visible;
and while its generally invisible
atoms proceed to concrete themselves
into a compact mass, to gradually
get rid of the old particles of our
visible frame so as to make them die
and disappear before the new set has
had time to evolve and replace
them.... We can say no more.
A correct comprehension of the above
scientific process will give a clue
to the esoteric meaning of meditation
or contemplation. Science teaches
us that man changes his physical body
continually, and this change is so
gradual that it is almost
imperceptible. Why then should the case
be
otherwise with the inner man? The latter too is developing and changing
atoms at every moment. And the attraction of these new sets of atoms
depends upon the Law of Affinity--the
desires of the man drawing to his
bodily tenement only such particles
as are necessary to give them
expression.
For Science shows that thought is
dynamic, and the thought-force evolved
by nervous action expanding itself
outwardly, must affect the molecular
relations of the physical man. The inner men, however sublimated their
organism may be, are still composed
of actual, not hypothetical,
particles, and are still subject to
the law that an "action" has a
tendency to repeat itself; a tendency to set up analogous action in the
grosser "shell" they are in
contact with, and concealed within.--"The
Elixir of Life"
What is it the aspirant of Yog Vidya
strives after if not to gain Mukti
by transferring himself gradually
from the grosser to the next less
gross body, until all the veils of
Maya being successively removed his
Atma becomes one with Paramatma? Does he suppose that this grand result
can be achieved by a two or four
hours' contemplation? For the
remaining twenty or twenty-two hours
that the devotee does not shut
himself up in his room for meditation
is the process of the emission of
atoms and their replacement by others
stopped? If not, then how does he
mean to attract all this time only those
suited to his end? From the
above remarks it is evident that just
as the physical body requires
incessant attention to prevent the
entrance of a disease, so also the
inner man requires an unremitting
watch, so that no conscious or
unconscious thought may attract atoms
unsuited to its progress. This is
the real meaning of
contemplation. The prime factor in the
guidance of
the thought is Will.
Without that, all else is
useless. And, to be efficient for the
purpose, it must be, not only a
passing resolution of the moment, a
single fierce desire of short
duration, but a settled and continued
strain, as nearly as can be continued
and concentrated without one
single moment's remission.
The student would do well to take
note of the italicized clause in the
above quotation. He should also have it indelibly impressed
upon his
mind that:
It is no use to fast as long as one
requires food.... To get rid of the
inward desire is the essential thing,
and to mimic the real thing
without it is barefaced hypocrisy and
useless slavery.
Without realizing the significance of
this most important fact, any one
who for a moment finds cause of
disagreement with any one of his family,
or has his vanity wounded, or for a
sentimental flash of the moment, or
for a selfish desire to utilize the Divine power for gross purposes--at
once rushes into contemplation and
dashes himself to pieces on the rock
dividing the known from the
unknown. Wallowing in the mire of
exotericism, he knows not what it is to
live in the world and yet be not
of the world; in other words, to guard self against self is
an almost
incomprehensible axiom for the
profane. The Hindu ought to know better
from the life of Janaka, who,
although a reigning monarch, was yet
styled Rajarshi and is said to have
attained Nirvana. Hearing of his
widespread fame, a few sectarian
bigots went to his court to test his
Yoga-power. As soon as they entered the court-room, the
king having
read their thoughts--a power which
every chela attains at a certain
stage--gave secret instructions to
his officials to have a particular
street in the city lined on both
sides by dancing girls singing the must
voluptuous songs. He then had some gharas (pots) filled with
water up
to the brim so that the least shake
would be likely to spill their
contents. The wiseacres, each with a full ghara (pot)
on his head, were
ordered to pass along the street,
surrounded by soldiers with drawn
swords to be used against them if
even so much as a drop of water were
allowed to run over. The poor fellows having returned to the
palace
after successfully passing the test,
were asked by the King-Adept what
they had met with in the street they
were made to go through. With
great indignation they replied that
the threat of being cut to pieces
had so much worked upon their minds
that they thought of nothing but the
water on their heads, and the
intensity of their attention did not
permit them to take cognizance of
what was going on around them. Then
Janaka told them that on the same
principle they could easily understand
that, although being outwardly
engaged in managing the affairs of his
State, he could, at the same time, be
an Occultist. He too, while in
the world, was not of the world. In other words, his inward aspirations
had been leading him on continually
to the goal in which his whole inner
self was concentrated.
Raj Yoga encourages no sham, requires
no physical postures. It has to
deal with the inner man whose sphere
lies in the world of thought. To
have the highest ideal placed before
oneself and strive incessantly to
rise up to it, is the only true
concentration recognized by Esoteric
Philosophy which deals with the inner
world of noumena, not the outer
shell of phenomena.
The first requisite for it is
thorough purity of heart. Well might the
student of Occultism say with
Zoroaster, that purity of thought, purity
of word, and purity of deed,--these
are the essentials of one who would
rise above the ordinary level and
join the "gods." A cultivation
of the
feeling of unselfish philanthropy is
the path which has to be traversed
for that purpose. For it is that alone which will lead to
Universal
Love, the realization of which
constitutes the progress towards
deliverance from the chains forged by
Maya (illusion) around the Ego.
No student will attain this at once,
but as our Venerated Mahatma says
in the "Occult World":--
The greater the progress towards
deliverance, the less this will be the
case, until, to crown all, human and
purely individual personal
feelings, blood-ties and friendship,
patriotism and race predilection,
will all give way to become blended
into one universal feeling, the only
true and holy, the only unselfish and
eternal one, Love, an Immense Love
for Humanity as a whole.
In short, the individual is blended
with the ALL.
Of course, contemplation, as usually
understood, is not without its
minor advantages. It develops one set of physical faculties as
gymnastics does the muscles. For the purposes of physical mesmerism it
is good enough; but it can in no way help the development of
the
psychological faculties, as the
thoughtful reader will perceive. At the
same time, even for ordinary
purposes, the practice can never be too
well guarded. If, as some suppose, they have to be entirely
passive and
lose themselves in the object before
them, they should remember that, by
thus encouraging passivity, they, in
fact, allow the development of
mediumistic faculties in
themselves. As was repeatedly
stated--the
Adept and the Medium are the two
Poles: while the former is intensely
active and thus able to control the
elemental forces, the latter is
intensely passive and thus incurs the
risk of falling a prey to the
caprice and malice of mischievous
embryos of human beings, and the
elementaries.
It will be evident from the above
that true meditation consists in the
"reasoning from the known to the
unknown." The "known" is
the
phenomenal world, cognizable by our
five senses. And all that we see in
this manifested world are the
effects, the causes of which are to be
sought after in the noumenal, the
unmanifested, the "unknown world:"
this is to be accomplished by
meditation, i.e., continued attention to
the subject. Occultism does not depend upon one method,
but employs
both the deductive and the
inductive. The student must first learn
the
general axioms, which have
sufficiently been laid down in the Elixir of
Life and other occult writings. What the student has first to do is to
comprehend these axioms and, by
employing the deductive method, to
proceed from universals to
particulars. He has then to reason from
the
"known to the unknown," and
see if the inductive method of proceeding
from particulars to universals
supports those axioms. This process
forms the primary stage of true contemplation. The student must first
grasp the subject intellectually
before he can hope to realize his
aspirations. When this is
accomplished, then comes the next stage of
meditation, which is "the
inexpressible yearning of the inner man to 'go
out towards the infinite.'" Before any such yearning can be properly
directed, the goal must first be
determined. The higher stage, in fact,
consists in practically realizing
what the first steps have placed
within one's comprehension. In short, contemplation, in its true sense,
is to recognize the truth of Eliphas
Levi's saying:--
To believe without knowing is
weakness; to believe, because one knows,
is power.
The Elixir of Life not only gives the
preliminary steps in the ladder of
contemplation but also tells the
reader how to realize the higher
stages. It traces, by the process of contemplation as
it were, the
relation of man, "the
known," the manifested, the phenomenon, to "the
unknown," the unmanifested, the
noumenon. It shows the student what
ideal to contemplate and how to rise
up to it. It places before him the
nature of the inner capacities of man
and how to develop them. To a
superficial reader, this may,
perhaps, appear as the acme of
selfishness. Reflection will, however, show the contrary
to be the
case.
For it teaches the student that to comprehend the noumenal, he
must identify himself with
Nature. Instead of looking upon himself
as
an isolated being, he must learn to
look upon himself as a part of the
Integral Whole. For, in the unmanifested world, it can be
clearly
perceived that all is controlled by
the "Law of Affinity," the
attraction of the one for the
other. There, all is Infinite Love,
understood in its true sense.
It may now not be out of place to
recapitulate what has already been
said.
The first thing to be done is to study the axioms of Occultism
and work upon them by the deductive
and the inductive methods, which is
real contemplation. To turn this to a useful purpose, what is
theoretically comprehended must be
practically realized.
--Damodar K. Mavalaukar
Chelas and Lay Chelas
A "chela" is a person who
has offered himself to a master as a pupil to
learn practically the "hidden
mysteries of Nature and the psychical
powers latent in man." The master who accepts him is called in India
a
Guru;
and the real Guru is always an adept in the Occult Science. A
man of profound knowledge, exoteric
and esoteric, especially the latter;
and one who has brought his carnal
nature under the subjection of the
WILL;
who has developed in himself both the power (Siddhi) to control
the forces of Nature, and the
capacity to probe her secrets by the help
of the formerly latent but now active
powers of his being--this is the
real Guru. To offer oneself as a candidate for Chelaship
is easy
enough, to develop into an adept the
most difficult task any man could
possibly undertake. There are scores of "natural-born"
poets,
mathematicians, mechanics, statesmen,
&c. But a natural-born adept is
something practically
impossible. For, though we do hear at
very rare
intervals of one who has an
extraordinary innate capacity for the
acquisition of occult knowledge and
power, yet even he has to pass the
self-same tests and probations, and
go through the self-same training as
any less endowed fellow
aspirant. In this matter it is most true
that
there is no royal road by which
favourites may travel.
For centuries the selection of
Chelas--outside the hereditary group
within the gon-pa (temple)--has been
made by the Himalayan Mahatmas
themselves from among the class--in
Tibet, a considerable one as to
number--of natural mystics. The only exceptions have been in the cases
of Western men like Fludd, Thomas
Vaughan, Paracelsus, Pico di
Mirandolo, Count St. Germain,
&c., whose temperament affinity to this
celestial science, more or less
forced the distant Adepts to come into
personal relations with them, and
enabled them to get such small (or
large) proportion of the whole truth
as was possible under their social
surroundings. From Book IV. of Kui-te, Chapter on "The
Laws of
Upasanas," we learn that the
qualifications expected in a Chela were:--
1. Perfect physical health;
2. Absolute mental and physical
purity;
3. Unselfishness of purpose; universal charity; pity for all
animate beings;
4. Truthfulness and unswerving faith
in the law of Karma, independent of
the intervention of any power in
Nature: a law whose course is not to
be obstructed by any agency, not to
be caused to deviate by prayer or
propitiatory exoteric ceremonies;
5. A courage undaunted in every
emergency, even by peril to life;
6. An intuitional perception of one's
being the vehicle of the
manifested Avalokiteswara or Divine
Atma (Spirit);
7. Calm indifference for, but a just
appreciation of, everything that
constitutes the objective and
transitory world, in its relation with,
and to, the invisible regions.
Such, at the least, must have been
the recommendations of one aspiring
to perfect Chelaship. With the sole exception of the first, which
in
rare and exceptional cases might have
been modified, each one of these
points has been invariably insisted
upon, and all must have been more or
less developed in the inner nature by
the Chela's unhelped exertions,
before he could be actually "put
to the test."
When the self-evolving
ascetic--whether in, or outside the active
world--has placed himself, according
to his natural capacity, above,
hence made himself master of his (1)
Sarira--body; (2) Indriya--senses;
(3) Dosha--faults; (4) Dukkha--pain; and is ready to become one with
his Manas--mind; Buddhi--intellection, or spiritual
intelligence; and
Atma--highest soul, i.e., spirit;
when he is ready for this, and,
further, to recognize in Atma the
highest ruler in the world of
perceptions, and in the will, the
highest executive energy (power), then
may he, under the time-honoured
rules, be taken in hand by one of the
Initiates. He may then be shown the mysterious path at
whose farther
end is obtained the unerring
discernment of Phala, or the fruits of
causes produced, and given the means
of reaching Apavarga--emancipation
from the misery of repeated births,
pretya-bhava, in whose determination
the ignorant has no hand.
But since the advent of the
Theosophical Society, one of whose arduous
tasks it is to re-awaken in the Aryan
mind the dormant memory of the
existence of this science and of
those transcendent human capabilities,
the rules of Chela selection have
become slightly relaxed in one
respect. Many members of the Society who would not
have been otherwise
called to Chelaship became convinced
by practical proof of the above
points, and rightly enough thinking
that if other men had hitherto
reached the goal, they too, if
inherently fitted, might reach it by
following the same path,
importunately pressed to be taken as
candidates. And as it would be an interference with Karma
to deny them
the chance of at least beginning,
they were given it. The results have
been far from encouraging so far, and
it is to show them the cause of
their failure as much as to warn
others against rushing heedlessly upon
a similar fate, that the writing of
the present article has been
ordered. The candidates in question, though plainly
warned against it
in advance, began wrong by selfishly
looking to the future and losing
sight of the past. They forgot that they had done nothing to
deserve
the rare honour of selection, nothing
which warranted their expecting
such a privilege; that they could boast of none of the above
enumerated
merits. As men of the selfish, sensual world, whether
married or
single, merchants, civilian or
military employees, or members of the
learned professions, they had been to
a school most calculated to
assimilate them to the animal nature,
least so to develop their
spiritual potentialities. Yet each and all had vanity enough to suppose
that their case would be made an
exception to the law of countless
centuries, as though, indeed, in
their person had been born to the world
a new Avatar! All expected to have hidden things taught,
extraordinary
powers given them, because--well,
because they had joined the
Theosophical Society. Some had sincerely resolved to amend their
lives,
and give up their evil courses: we must do them that justice, at all
events.
All were refused at first, Col.
Olcott the President himself, to begin
with:
and he was not formally accepted as a Chela until he had proved
by more than a year's devoted labours
and by a determination which
brooked no denial, that he might
safely be tested. Then from all sides
came complaints--from Hindus, who
ought to have known better, as well as
from Europeans who, of course, were
not in a condition to know anything
at all about the rules. The cry was that unless at least a few
Theosophists were given the chance to
try, the Society could not endure.
Every other noble and unselfish
feature of our programme was ignored--a
man's duty to his neighbour, to his
country, his duty to help,
enlighten, encourage and elevate
those weaker and less favoured than he;
all were trampled out of sight in the
insane rush for adeptship. The
call for phenomena, phenomena,
phenomena, resounded in every quarter,
and the Founders were impeded in
their real work and teased
importunately to intercede with the
Mahatmas, against whom the real
grievance lay, though their poor
agents had to take all the buffets. At
last, the word came from the higher
authorities that a few of the most
urgent candidates should be taken at
their word. The result of the
experiment would perhaps show better
than any amount of preaching what
Chelaship meant, and what are the
consequences of selfishness and
temerity. Each candidate was warned that be must wait
for year in any
event, before his fitness could be
established, and that he must pass
through a series of tests that would bring
out all there was in him,
whether bad or good. They were nearly all married men, and hence
were
designated "Lay Chelas"--a
term new in English, but having long had its
equivalent in Asiatic tongues. A Lay Chela is but a man of the world
who affirms his desire to become wise
in spiritual things. Virtually,
every member of the Theosophical
Society who subscribes to the second of
our three "Declared
Objects" is such; for though not of
the number of
true Chelas, he has yet the
possibility of becoming one, for he has
stepped across the boundary-line
which separated him from the Mahatmas,
and has brought himself, as it were,
under their notice. In joining the
Society and binding himself to help
along its work, he has pledged
himself to act in some degree in
concert with those Mahatmas, at whose
behest the Society was organized, and
under whose conditional protection
it remains. The joining is then, the
introduction; all the rest depends
entirely upon the member himself, and
he need never expect the most
distant approach to the
"favour" of one of our Mahatmas or any other
Mahatmas in the world--should the
latter consent to become known--that
has not been fully earned by personal
merit. The Mahatmas are the
servants, not the arbiters of the Law
of Karma.
Lay-Chelaship confers no privilege
upon any one except that of working
for merit under the observation of a
Master. And whether that Master be
or be not seen by the Chela makes no
difference whatever as to the
result: his good thought, words and deeds will bear
their fruits, his
evil ones, theirs. To boast of Lay Chelaship or make a parade of
it, is
the surest way to reduce the
relationship with the Guru to a mere empty
name, for it would be prima facie
evidence of vanity and unfitness for
farther progress. And for years we have been teaching
everywhere the
maxim "First deserve, then
desire" intimacy with the Mahatmas.
Now there is a terrible law operative
in Nature, one which cannot be
altered, and whose operation clears
up the apparent mystery of the
selection of certain
"Chelas" who have turned out sorry specimens of
morality, these few years past. Does the reader recall the old proverb,
"Let sleeping dogs
lie?" There is a world of occult
meaning in it. No
man or woman knows his or her moral
strength until it is tried.
Thousands go through life very
respectably, because they were never put
to the test. This is a truism doubtless, but it is most
pertinent to
the present case. One who undertakes
to try for Chelaship by that very
act rouses and lashes to desperation
every sleeping passion of his
animal nature. For this is the commencement of a struggle
for mastery
in which quarter is neither to be
given nor taken. It is, once for all,
"To be, or Not to be;" to conquer, means Adept-ship: to fail, an
ignoble Martyrdom; for to fall victim to lust, pride, avarice,
vanity,
selfishness, cowardice, or any other
of the lower propensities, is
indeed ignoble, if measured by the
standard of true manhood. The Chela
is not only called to face all the
latent evil propensities of his
nature, but, in addition, the
momentum of maleficent forces accumulated
by the community and nation to which
he belongs. For he is an integral
part of those aggregates, and what
affects either the individual man or
the group (town or nation), reacts
the one upon the other. And in this
instance his struggle for goodness
jars upon the whole body of badness
in his environment, and draws its
fury upon him. If he is content to go
along with his neighbours and be
almost as they are--perhaps a little
better or somewhat worse than the
average--no one may give him a
thought. But let it be known that he has been able to
detect the hollow
mockery of social life, its
hypocrisy, selfishness, sensuality, cupidity
and other bad features, and has
determined to lift himself up to a
higher level, at once he is hated,
and every bad, bigotted, or malicious
nature sends at him a current of
opposing will-power. If he is innately
strong he shakes it off, as the
powerful swimmer dashes through the
current that would bear a weaker one
away. But in this moral battle, if
the Chela has one single hidden
blemish--do what he may, it shall and
will be brought to light. The varnish of conventionalities which
"civilization" overlays us
all with must come off to the last coat, and
the inner self, naked and without the
slightest veil to conceal its
reality, is exposed. The habits of
society which hold men to a certain
degree under moral restraint, and
compel them to pay tribute to virtue
by seeming to be good whether they
are so or not--these habits are apt
to be all forgotten, these restraints
to be all broken through under the
strain of Chelaship. He is now in an atmosphere of
illusions--Maya.
Vice puts on its most alluring face,
and the tempting passions attract
the inexperienced aspirant to the
depths of psychic debasement. This is
not a case like that depicted by a
great artist, where Satan is seen
playing a game of chess with a man
upon the stake of his soul, while the
latter's good angel stands beside him
to counsel and assist. For the
strife is in this instance between
the Chela's will and his carnal
nature, and Karma forbids that any
angel or Guru should interfere until
the result is known. With the vividness of poetic fancy Bulwer
Lytton
has idealized it for us in his
"Zanoni," a work which will ever be
prized by the occultist while in his
"Strange Story" he has with equal
power shown the black side of occult
research and its deadly perils.
Chelaship was defined, the other day,
by a Mahatma as a "psychic
resolvent, which eats away all dross
and leaves only the pure gold
behind." If the candidate has
the latent lust for money, or political
chicanery, or materialistic
scepticism, or vain display, or false
speaking, or cruelty, or sensual
gratification of any kind the germ is
almost sure to sprout; and so, on the other hand, as regards the
noble
qualities of human nature. The real man comes out. Is it not the
height of folly, then, for any one to
leave the smooth path of
commonplace life to scale the crags
of Chelaship without some reasonable
feeling of certainty that he has the
right stuff in him? Well says the
Bible: "Let him that standeth take heed lest he
fall"--a text that
would-be Chelas should consider well
before they rush headlong into the
fray!
It would have been well for some of our Lay Chelas if they had
thought twice before defying the
tests. We call to mind several sad
failures within a twelve-month. One went wrong in the head, recanted
noble sentiments uttered but a few
weeks previously, and became a member
of a religion he had just scornfully
and unanswerably proven false. A
second became a defaulter and
absconded with his employer's money--the
latter also a Theosophist. A third gave himself up to gross debauchery,
and confessed it, with ineffectual
sobs and tears, to his chosen Guru.
A fourth got entangled with a person
of the other sex and fell out with
his dearest and truest friends. A fifth showed signs of mental
aberration and was brought into Court
upon charges of discreditable
conduct. A sixth shot himself to escape the
consequences of
criminality, on the verge of
detection! And so we might go on and on.
All these were apparently sincere
searchers after truth, and passed in
the world for respectable
persons. Externally, they were fairly
eligible as candidates for Chelaship,
as appearances go; but "within
all was rottenness and dead men's
bones." The world's varnish was so
thick as to hide the absence of the
true gold underneath; and the
"resolvent" doing its work,
the candidate proved in each instance but a
gilded figure of moral dross, from
circumference to core.
In what precedes we have, of course,
dealt but with the failures among
Lay Chelas; there have been partial successes too, and
these are
passing gradually through the first
stages of their probation. Some are
making themselves useful to the
Society and to the world in general by
good example and precept. If they persist, well for them, well for us
all:
the odds are fearfully against them, but still "there is no
impossibility to him who
Wills." The difficulties in
Chelaship will
never be less until human nature
changes and a new order is evolved.
St. Paul (Rom. vii. 18,19) might have
had a Chela in mind when he said
"to will is present with
me; but how to perform that which is
good I
find not. For the good I would I do not; but the evil which I would
not, that I do." And in the wise Kiratarjuniyam of Bharavi it
is
written:--
The enemies which rise within the body,
Hard to be overcome--the evil passions--
Should manfully be fought; who conquers these
Is equal to the conqueror of worlds. (XI. 32.)
(--H.P. Blavatsky)
Ancient Opinions Upon Psychic Bodies
It must be confessed that modern
Spiritualism falls very short of the
ideas formerly suggested by the
sublime designation which it has
assumed. Chiefly intent upon recognizing and putting
forward the
phenomenal proofs of a future existence,
it concerns itself little with
speculations on the distinction
between matter and spirit, and rather
prides itself on having demolished
Materialism without the aid of
metaphysics. Perhaps a Platonist might say that the
recognition of a
future existence is consistent with a
very practical and even dogmatic
materialism, but it is rather to be
feared that such a materialism as
this would not greatly disturb the
spiritual or intellectual repose of
our modern phenomenalists.* Given the consciousness with its
sensibilities safely housed in the
psychic body which demonstrably
survives the physical carcase, and we
are like men saved from shipwreck,
who are for the moment thankful and
content, not giving thought whether
they are landed on a hospitable shore,
or on a barren rock, or on an
island of cannibals. It is not of course intended that this
"hand to
mouth" immortality is sufficient
for the many thoughtful minds whose
activity gives life and progress to
the movement, but that it affords
the relief which most people feel
when in an age of doubt they make the
discovery that they are undoubtedly
to live again. To the question "how
are the dead raised up, and with what
body do they come?" modern
Spiritualism, with its empirical
methods, is not adequate to reply. Yet
long before Paul suggested it, it had
the attention of the most
celebrated schools of philosophy,
whose speculations on the subject,
however little they may seem to be
verified, ought not to be without
interest to us, who, after all, are
still in the infancy of a
spiritualist revival.
---------
* "I am afraid," says
Thomas Taylor in his Introduction to the Phaedo,
"there are scarcely any at the
present day who know that it is one thing
for the soul to be separated from the
body, and another for the body to
be separated from the soul, and that
the former is by no means a
necessary consequence of the
latter."
-----------
It would not be necessary to premise,
but for the frequency with which
the phrase occurs, that the
"spiritual body" is a contradiction in
terms. The office of body is to relate spirit to an
objective world.
By Platonic writers it is usually
termed okhema--"vehicle." It
is the
medium of action, and also of
sensibility. In this philosophy the
conception of Soul was not simply, as
with us, the immaterial subject of
consciousness. How warily the interpreter has to tread here,
every one
knows who has dipped, even
superficially, into the controversies among
Platonists themselves. All admit the distinction between the
rational
and the irrational part or principle,
the latter including, first, the
sensibility, and secondly, the
Plastic, or that lower which in obedience
to its sympathies enables the soul to
attach itself to, and to organize
into a suitable body those substances
of the universe to which it is
most congruous. It is more difficult to determine whether
Plato or his
principal followers, recognized in
the rational soul or nous a distinct
and separable entity, that which is
sometimes discriminated as "the
Spirit." Dr. Henry More, no mean authority, repudiates
this
interpretation. "There can be nothing more
monstrous," he says, "than
to make two souls in man, the one
sensitive, the other rational, really
distinct from one another, and to
give the name of Astral spirit to the
former, when there is in man no
Astral spirit beside the Plastic of the
soul itself, which is always
inseparable from that which is rational.
Nor upon any other account can it be
called Astral, but as it is liable
to that corporeal temperament which
proceeds from the stars, or rather
from any material causes in general,
as not being yet sufficiently
united with the divine body--that
vehicle of divine virtue or power."
So he maintains that the Kabalistic
three souls--Nephesh, Ruach,
Neschamah--originate in a
misunderstanding of the true Platonic
doctrine, which is that of a
threefold "vital congruity."
These
correspond to the three degrees of
bodily existence, or to the three
"vehicles," the
terrestrial, the aerial, and the ethereal.
The latter
is the augoeides--the luciform
vehicle of the purified soul whose
irrational part has been brought
under complete subjection to the
rational. The aerial is that in which the great
majority of mankind
find themselves at the dissolution of
the terrestrial body, and in which
the incomplete process of
purification has to be undergone during long
ages of preparation for the soul's
return to its primitive, ethereal
state. For it must be remembered that the
preexistence of souls is a
distinguishing tenet of this
philosophy as of the Kabala. The soul
has
"sunk into matter." From
its highest original state the revolt of its
irrational nature has awakened and
developed successively its "vital
congruities" with the regions
below, passing, by means of its "Plastic,"
first into the aerial and afterwards
into the terrestrial condition.
Each of these regions teems also with
an appropriate population which
never passes, like the human soul,
from one to the other--"gods,"
"demons," and animals.* As to duration, "the shortest of all is
that of
the terrestrial vehicle. In the aerial, the soul may inhabit, as they
define, many ages, and in the
ethereal, for ever."
---------
* The allusion here is to those
beings of the several kingdoms of the
elements which we Theosophists,
following after the Kabalists, have
called the
"Elementals." They never
become men.
--Ed. Theos.
---------
Speaking of the second body, Henry
More says "the soul's astral vehicle
is of that tenuity that itself can as
easily pass the smallest pores of
the body as the light does glass, or
the lightning the scabbard of a
sword without tearing or scorching of
it." And again, "I shall make
bold to assert that the soul may live
in an aerial vehicle as well as in
the ethereal, and that there are very
few that arrive to that high
happiness as to acquire a celestial
vehicle immediately upon their
quitting the terrestrial one; that heavenly chariot necessarily
carrying us in triumph to the
greatest happiness the soul of man is
capable of, which would arrive to all
men indifferently, good or bad, if
the parting with this earthly body
would suddenly mount us into the
heavenly. When by a just Nemesis the souls of men that
are not
heroically virtuous will find
themselves restrained within the compass
of this caliginous air, as both
Reason itself suggests, and the
Platonists have unanimously
determined." Thus also the most
thorough-going, and probably the most
deeply versed in the doctrines of
the master among modern Platonists,
Thomas Taylor (Introduction.
Phaedo):--"After this our divine
philosopher informs that the pure soul
will after death return to pure and
eternal natures; but that the
impure soul, in consequence of being
imbued with terrene affections,
will be drawn down to a kindred
nature, and be invested with a gross
vehicle capable of being seen by the
corporeal eye.* For while a
propensity to body remains in the
soul, it causes her to attract a
certain vehicle to herself; either of an aerial nature, or composed
from the spirit and vapours of her
terrestrial body, or which is
recently collected from surrounding
air; for according to the arcana of
the Platonic philosophy, between an
ethereal body, which is simple and
immaterial and is the eternal connate
vehicle of the soul, and a terrene
body, which is material and
composite, and of short duration, there is
an aerial body, which is material
indeed, but simple and of a more
extended duration; and in this body
the unpurified soul dwells for a
long time after its exit from hence,
till this pneumatic vehicle being
dissolved, it is again invested with
a composite body; while on the
contrary the purified soul
immediately ascends into the celestial
regions with its ethereal vehicle
alone."
----------
* This is the Hindu theory of nearly
every one of the Aryan
philosophies.--Ed. Theos.
----------
Always it is the disposition of the
soul that determines the quality of
its body. "However the soul be in itself
affected," says Porphyry
(translated by Cudworth), "so
does it always find a body suitable and
agreeable to its present disposition,
and therefore to the purged soul
does naturally accrue a body that
comes next to immateriality, that is,
an ethereal one." And the same author, "The soul is never
quite naked
of all body, but hath always some
body or other joined with it, suitable
and agreeable to its present
disposition (either a purer or impurer
one).
But that at its first quitting this gross earthly body, the
spirituous body which accompanieth it
(as its vehicle) must needs go
away fouled and incrassated with the
vapours and steams thereof, till
the soul afterwards by degrees
purging itself, this becometh at length a
dry splendour, which hath no misty
obscurity nor casteth any shadow."
Here it will be seen, we lose sight
of the specific difference of the
two future vehicles--the ethereal is
regarded as a sublimation of the
aerial. This, however, is opposed to the general
consensus of Plato's
commentators. Sometimes the ethereal
body, or augoeides, is appropriated
to the rational soul, or spirit,
which must then be considered as a
distinct entity, separable from the
lower soul. Philoponus, a Christian
writer, says, "that the Rational
Soul, as to its energie, is separable
from all body, but the irrational
part or life thereof is separable only
from this gross body, and not from
all body whatsoever, but hath after
death a spirituous or airy body, in
which it acteth--this I say is a
true opinion which shall afterwards
be proved by us.... The irrational
life of the soul hath not all its
being in this gross earthly body, but
remaineth after the soul's departure
out of it, having for its vehicle
and subject the spirituous body,
which itself is also compounded out of
the four elements, but receiveth its
denomination from the predominant
part, to wit, Air, as this gross body
of ours is called earthy from what
is most predominant
therein."--Cudworth, "Intell. Syst." From the same
source we extract the following: "Wherefore these ancients say that
impure souls after their departure
out of this body wander here up and
down for a certain space in their
spirituous vaporous and airy body,
appearing about sepulchres and
haunting their former habitation. For
which cause there is great reason
that we should take care of living
well, as also of abstaining from a
fouler and grosser diet; these
Ancients telling us likewise that
this spirituous body of ours being
fouled and incrassated by evil diet,
is apt to render the soul in this
life also more obnoxious to the
disturbances of passions. They further
add that there is something of the
Plantal or Plastic life, also
exercised by the soul, in those
spirituous or airy bodies after death;
they being nourished too, though not
after the same manner, as those
gross earthy bodies of ours are here,
but by vapours, and that not by
parts or organs, but throughout the
whole of them (as sponges), they
imbibing everywhere those vapours.
For which cause they who are wise
will in this life also take care of
using a thinner and dryer diet, that
so that spirituous body (which we
have also at this present time within
our proper body) may not be clogged
and incrassed, but attenuated. Over
and above which, those Ancients made
use of catharms, or purgations to
the same end and purpose also. For as this earthy body is washed by
water so is that spirituous body
cleansed by cathartic vapours--some of
these vapours being nutritive, others
purgative. Moreover, these
Ancients further declared concerning
this spirituous body that it was
not organized, but did the whole of
it in every part throughout exercise
all functions of sense, the soul
hearing, seeing and perceiving all
sensibles by it everywhere. For which cause Aristotle himself affirmeth
in his Metaphysics that there is properly
but one sense and one Sensory.
He by this one sensory meaneth the
spirit, or subtle airy body, in which
the sensitive power doth all of it
through the whole immediately
apprehend all variety of
sensibles. And if it be demanded to how
it
comes to pass that this spirit
becomes organized in sepulchres, and most
commonly of human form, but sometimes
in the forms of other animals, to
this those Ancients replied that
their appearing so frequently in human
form proceeded from their being
incrassated with evil diet, and then, as
it were, stamped upon with the form
of this exterior ambient body in
which they are, as crystal is formed
and coloured like to those things
which it is fastened in, or reflects
the image of them. And that their
having sometimes other different
forms proceedeth from the phantastic
power of the soul itself, which can
at pleasure transform the spirituous
body into any shape. For being airy, when it is condensed and
fixed, it
becometh visible, and again invisible
and vanishing out of sight when it
is expanded and rarified." Proem in Arist. de Anima. And Cudworth
says, "Though spirits or ghosts
had certain supple bodies which they
could so far condense as to make them
sometimes visible to men, yet is
it reasonable enough to think that
they could not constipate or fix them
into such a firmness, grossness and
solidity, as that of flesh and bone
is to continue therein, or at least
not without such difficulty and pain
as would hinder them from attempting
the same. Notwithstanding which it
is not denied that they may possibly
sometimes make use of other solid
bodies, moving and acting them, as in
that famous story of Phlegons when
the body vanished not as other ghosts
use to do, but was left a dead
carcase behind."
In all these speculations the Anima
Mundi plays a conspicuous part. It
is the source and principle of all
animal souls, including the
irrational soul of man. But in man, who would otherwise be merely
analogous to other terrestrial
animals--this soul participates in a
higher principle, which tends to
raise and convert it to itself. To
comprehend the nature of this union
or hypostasis it would be necessary
to have mastered the whole of Plato's
philosophy as comprised in the
Parmenides and the Timaeus; and he would dogmatize rashly who without
this arduous preparation should claim
Plato as the champion of an
unconditional immortality. Certainly in the Phaedo the dialogue
popularly supposed to contain all
Plato's teaching on the subject--the
immortality allotted to the impure
soul is of a very questionable
character, and we should rather infer
from the account there given that
the human personality, at all events,
is lost by successive immersions
into "matter." The following passage from Plutarch (quoted
by Madame
Blavatsky, "Isis Unveiled,"
vol. ii. p. 284) will at least demonstrate
the antiquity of notions which have
recently been mistaken for fanciful
novelties. "Every soul hath some portion of nous,
reason, a man cannot
be a man without it; but as much of each soul as is mixed with
flesh
and appetite is changed, and through
pain and pleasure becomes
irrational. Every soul doth not mix herself after one
sort; some
plunge themselves into the body, and
so in this life their whole frame
is corrupted by appetite and
passion; others are mixed as to some
part,
but the purer part still remains
without the body. It is not drawn down
into the body, but it swims above,
and touches the extremest part of the
man's head; it is like a cord to hold up and direct the
subsiding part
of the soul, as long as it proves
obedient and is not overcome by the
appetites of the flesh. The part that is plunged into the body is
called soul. But the incorruptible part is called the
nous, and the
vulgar think it is within them, as
they likewise imagine the image
reflected from a glass to be in that
glass. But the more intelligent,
who know it to be without, call it a
Daemon." And in the same learned
work ("Isis Unveiled ") we
have two Christian authorities, Irenaeus and
Origen, cited for like distinction
between spirit and soul in such a
manner as to show that the former
must necessarily be regarded as
separable from the latter. In the distinction itself there is of course
no novelty for the most moderately
well-informed. It is insisted upon
in many modern works, among which may
be mentioned Heard's "Trichotomy
of Man" and Green's
"Spiritual Philosophy"; the
latter being an
exposition of Coleridge's opinion on
this and cognate subjects. But the
difficulty of regarding the two
principles as separable in fact as well
as in logic arises from the senses,
if it is not the illusion of
personal identity. That we are particle, and that one part only
is
immortal, the non-metaphysical mind
rejects with the indignation which
is always encountered by a
proposition that is at once distasteful and
unintelligible. Yet perhaps it is not a greater difficulty
(if, indeed,
it is not the very same) than that
hard saying which troubled Nicodemus,
and which has been the key-note of
the mystical religious consciousness
ever since. This, however, is too extensive and deep a
question to be
treated in this paper, which has for
its object chiefly to call
attention to the distinctions
introduced by ancient thought into the
conception of body as the instrument
or "vehicle" of soul. That
there
is a correspondence between the
spiritual condition of man and the
medium of his objective activity
every spiritualist will admit to be
probable, and it may well be that
some light is thrown on future states
by the possibility or the manner of
spirit communication with this one.
--C. C. Massey
The Nilgiri Sannyasis
I was told that Sannyasis were
sometimes met with on a mountain called
Velly Mallai Hills, in the Coimbatore
District, and trying to meet with
one, I determined to ascend this
mountain. I traveled up its steep
sides and arrived at an opening,
narrow and low, into which I crept on
all fours. Going up some twenty yards I reached a cave,
into the
opening of which I thrust my head and
shoulders. I could see into it
clearly, but felt a cold wind on my
face, as if there was some opening
or crevice--so I looked carefully,
but could see nothing. The room was
about twelve feet square. I did not go into it. I saw arranged round
its sides stones one cubit long, all
placed upright. I was much
disappointed at there being no
Sannyasi, and came back as I went,
pushing myself backwards as there was
no room to turn. I was then told
Sannyasis had been met with in the
dense sholas (thickets), and as my
work lay often in such places, I
determined to prosecute my search, and
did so diligently, without, however,
any success.
One day I contemplated a journey to
Coimbatore on my own affairs, and
was walking up the road trying to
make a bargain with a handy man whom I
desired to engage to carry me
there; but as we could not come to
terms,
I parted with him and turned into the
Lovedale Road at 6 P.M. I had not
gone far when I met a man dressed
like a Sannyasi, who stopped and spoke
to me. He observed a ring on my finger and asked me
to give it to him.
I said he was welcome to it, but
inquired what he would give me in
return, he said, "I don't care
particularly about it; I would rather
have that flour and sugar in the
bundle on your back." "I will
give you
that with pleasure," I said, and
took down my bundle and gave it to him.
"Half is enough for me," he
said; but subsequently changing his mind
added, "now let me see what is
in your bundle," pointing to my other
parcel. "I can't give you that." He said, "Why cannot you give me your
swami (family idol)?" I said, "It is my swami, I will not part
with it;
rather take my life." On this he pressed me no more, but said,
"Now you
had better go home." I said, "I will not leave
you." "Oh you must," he
said, "you will die here of
hunger." "Never mind," I
said, "I can but
die once." "You have no clothes to protect you from
the wind and rain;
you may meet with tigers," he
said. "I don't care," I
replied. "It is
given to man once to die. What does it signify how he dies?" When I
said this he took my hand and
embraced me, and immediately I became
unconscious. When I returned to consciousness, I found
myself with the
Sannyasi in a place new to me on a
hill, near a large rock and with a
big shola near. I saw in the shola right in front of us, that
there was
a pillar of fire, like a tree
almost. I asked the Sannyasi what was
that like a high fire. "Oh," he said, "most likely a
tree ignited by
some careless wood-cutters."
"No," I said, "it is
not like any common fire--there is no smoke, nor
are there flames--and it's not lurid
and red. I want to go and see it."
"No, you must not do so, you
cannot go near that fire and escape alive."
"Come with me then," I
begged. "No--I cannot," he
said, "if you wish to
approach it, you must go alone and at
your own risk; that tree is the
tree of knowledge and from it flows
the milk of life: whoever drinks
this never hungers again." Thereupon I regarded the tree with awe.
I next observed five Sannyasis
approaching. They came up and joined the
one with me, entered into talk, and
finally pulled out a hookah and
began to smoke. They asked me if I could smoke. I said no.
One of
them said to me, let us see the swami
in your bundle (here gives a
description of the same). I said, "I cannot, I am not clean enough
to
do so." "Why not perform your ablutions in
yonder stream?" they said.
"If you sprinkle water on your
forehead that will suffice." I went
to
wash my hands and feet, and laved my
head, and showed it to them. Next
they disappeared. "As it is very late, it is time you
returned home,"
said my first friend. "No," I said, "now I have
found you I will not
leave you." "No, no," he said, "you must
go home. You cannot leave the
world yet; you are a father and a husband, and you must
not neglect
your worldly duties. Follow the footsteps of your late respected
uncle;
he did not neglect his worldly
affairs, though he cared for the
interests of his soul; you must go, but I will meet you again when
you
get your fortnightly
holiday." On this he embraced me,
and I again
became unconscious. When I returned
to myself, I found myself at the
bottom of Col. Jones' Coffee
Plantation above Coonor on a path. Here
the Sannyasi wished me farewell, and
pointing to the high road below, he
said, "Now you will know your
way home;" but I would not part
from him.
I said, "All this will appear a
dream to me unless you will fix a day
and promise to meet me here
again." "I promise," he
said. "No, promise
me by an oath on the head of my
idol." Again he promised, and
touched
the head of my idol. "Be here," he said, "this day
fortnight." When
the day came I anxiously kept my
engagement and went and sat on the
stone on the path. I waited a long time in vain. At last I said to
myself, "I am deceived, he is
not coming, he has broken his oath"--and
with grief I made a poojah. Hardly had these thoughts passed my mind,
than lo! he stood beside me. "Ah, you doubt me," he said; "why this
grief." I fell at his feet and confessed I had
doubted him and begged
his forgiveness. He forgave and comforted me, and told me to
keep in my
good ways and he would always help
me; and he told me and advised me
about all my private affairs without
my telling him one word, and he
also gave me some medicines for a
sick friend which I had promised to
ask for but had forgotten. This medicine was given to my friend and he
is perfectly well now.
A verbatim translation of a
Settlement Officer's statement to
--E.H. Morgan
Witchcraft on the Nilgiris
Having lived many years (30) on the
Nilgiris, employing the various
tribes of the Hills on my estates,
and speaking their languages, I have
had many opportunities of observing
their manners and customs and the
frequent practice of Demonology and
Witchcraft among them. On the
slopes of the Nilgiris live several
semi-wild people: 1st, the
"Curumbers," who frequently
hire themselves out to neighbouring estates,
and are first-rate fellers of
forest; 2nd, the "Tain"
("Honey
Curumbers"), who collect and
live largely on honey and roots, and who do
not come into civilized parts; 3rd, the "Mulu" Curumbers, who are
rare
on the slopes of the hills, but
common in Wynaad lower down the plateau.
These use bows and arrows, are fond
of hunting, and have frequently been
known to kill tigers, rushing in a
body on their game and discharging
their arrows at a short
distance. In their eagerness they
frequently
fall victims to this animal; but they are supposed to possess a
controlling power over all wild
animals, especially elephants and
tigers; and the natives declare they have the power
of assuming the
forms of various beasts. Their aid is constantly invoked both by the
Curumbers first named, and by the
natives generally, when wishing to be
revenged on an enemy.
Besides these varieties of Curumbers
there are various other wild tribes
I do not now mention, as they are not
concerned in what I have to
relate.
I had on my estate near Ootacamund a
gang of young Badagas, some 30
young men, whom I had had in my
service since they were children, and
who had become most useful handy
fellows. From week to week I missed
one or another of them, and on
inquiry was told they had been sick and
were dead!
One market-day I met the Moneghar of
the village to which my gang
belonged and some of his men,
returning home laden with their purchases.
The moment he saw me he stopped, and
coming up to me, said, "Mother, I
am in great sorrow and trouble, tell
me what I can do!" "Why, what
is
wrong?" I asked. "All my young men are dying, and I
cannot help them,
nor prevent it; they are under a spell of the wicked
Curumbers who are
killing them, and I am
powerless." "Pray
explain," I said; "why do the
Curumbers behave in this way, and
what do they do to your people?"
"Oh,
Madam, they are vile extortioners,
always asking for money; we have
given and given till we have no more
to give. I told them we had no
more money and then they said,--All
right--as you please; we shall see.
Surely as they say this, we know what
will follow--at night when we are
all asleep, we wake up suddenly and
see a Curumber standing in our
midst, in the middle of the room
occupied by the young men."
"Why do
you not close and bolt your doors
securely?" I interrupted.
"What is
the use of bolts and bars to them?
they come through stone walls.... Our
doors were secure, but nothing can
keep out a Curumber. He points his
finger at Mada, at Kurira, at
Jogie--he utters no word, and as we look
at him he vanishes! In a few days these three young men sicken, a
low
fever consumes them, their stomachs
swell, they die. Eighteen young
men, the flower of my village, have
died thus this year. These effects
always follow the visit of a Curumber
at night." "Why not complain
to
the Government?" I said. "Ah, no use, who will catch
them?" "Then give
them the 200 rupees they ask this
once on a solemn promise that they
exact no more" "I suppose we must find the money
somewhere," he said,
turning sorrowfully away.
A Mr. K---is the owner of a coffee
estate near this, and like many
other planters employs Burghers. On one occasion he went down the
slopes of the hills after bison and
other large game, taking some seven
or eight Burghers with him as gun
carriers (besides other things
necessary in jungle-walking--axes to
clear the way, knives and ropes,
&c.). He found and severely wounded a fine elephant
with tusks.
Wishing to secure these, he proposed
following up his quarry, but could
not induce his Burghers to go deeper
and further into the forests; they
feared to meet the "Mula
Curumbers" who lived thereabouts.
For long he
argued in vain, at last by dint of
threats and promises he induced them
to proceed, and as they met no one,
their fears were allayed and they
grew bolder, when suddenly coming on
the elephant lying dead (oh, horror
to them!), the beast was surrounded
by a party of Mulu Curumbers busily
engaged in cutting out the tusks, one
of which they had already
disengaged! The affrighted Burghers fell back, and
nothing Mr. K---
could do or say would induce them to
approach the elephant, which the
Curumbers stoutly declared was
theirs. They had killed him they said.
They had very likely met him
staggering under his wound and had finished
him off. Mr. K---was not likely to give up his game in
this fashion.
So walking threateningly to the
Curumbers he compelled them to retire,
and called to his Burghers at the
same time. The Curumbers only said,
"Just you DARE to touch that
elephant," and retired. Mr.
K---thereupon
cut out the remaining tusk himself,
and slinging both on a pole with no
little trouble, made his men carry
them. He took all the blame on
himself, showed them that they did
not touch them, and finally declared
he would stay there all night rather
than lose the tusks. The idea of a
night near the Mulu Curumbers was too
much for the fears of the
Burghers, and they finally took up
the pole and tusks and walked home.
From that day those men, all but one
who probably carried the gun,
sickened, walked about like spectres,
doomed, pale and ghastly, and
before the month was out all were
dead men, with the one exception!
A few months ago, at the village of
Ebanaud, a few miles from this, a
fearful tragedy was enacted. The Moneghar or headman's child was sick
unto death. This, following on several recent deaths, was
attributed to
the evil influences of a village of
Curumbers hard by. The Burghers
determined on the destruction of
every soul of them. They procured the
assistance of a Toda, as they
invariably do on such occasions, as
without one the Curumbers are
supposed to be invulnerable. They
proceeded to the Curumber village at
night and set their huts on fire,
and as the miserable inmates
attempted to escape, flung them back into
the flames or knocked them down with
clubs. In the confusion one old
woman escaped unobserved into the
adjacent bushes. Next morning she
gave notice to the authorities, and
identified seven Burghers, among
whom was the Moneghar or headman, and
one Toda. As the murderers of her
people they were all brought to trial
in the Courts here,--except the
headman, who died before he could be
brought in--and were all sentenced
and duly executed, that is, three
Burghers and the Toda, who were proved
principals in the murders.
Two years ago an almost identical
occurrence took place at Kotaghery,
with exactly similar results, but
without the punishment entailed having
any deterrent effect. They pleaded "justification," as
witchcraft had
been practiced on them. But our Government ignores all occult
dealings
and will not believe in the dread
power in the land. They deal very
differently with these matters in
Russia, where, in a recent trial of a
similar nature, the witchcraft was
admitted as an extenuating
circumstance and the culprits who had
burnt a witch were all acquitted.
All natives of whatever caste are
well aware of these terrible powers
and too often do they avail
themselves of them--much oftener than any
one has an idea of. One day as I was riding along I came upon a
strange
and ghastly object--a basket
containing the bloody head of a black
sheep, a cocoanut, 10 rupees in
money, some rice and flowers. These
smaller items I did not see, not
caring to examine any closer; but I
was told by some natives that those
articles were to be found in the
basket. The basket was placed at the
apex of a triangle formed by three
fine threads tied to three small
sticks, so placed that any one
approaching from the roads on either
side had to stumble over the
threads and receive the full effects
of the deadly "Soonium" as the
natives call it. On inquiry I learnt that it was usual to
prepare such
a "Soonium" when one lay
sick unto death; as throwing it on
another was
the only means of rescuing the sick
one, and woe to the unfortunate who
broke a thread by stumbling over it!
--E.H. Morgan
Shamanism and Witchcraft Amongst the
Kolarian Tribes
Having resided for some years amongst
the Mimdas and Hos of Singbhoom,
and Chutia Nagpur, my attention was drawn
at times to customs differing
a good deal in some ways, but having
an evident affinity to those
related of the Nilghiri
"Curumbers" in Mrs. Morgan's article.
I do not
mean to say that the practices I am
about to mention are confined simply
to the Kolarian tribes, as I am aware
both Oraons (a Dravidian tribe),
and the different Hindu castes living
side by side with the Kols, count
many noted wizards among their
number; but what little I have come to
know of these curious customs, I have
learnt among the Mimdas and Hos,
some of the most celebrated
practitioners among them being Christian
converts. The people themselves say, that these
practices are peculiar
to their race, and not learnt from
the Hindu invaders of their plateau;
but I am inclined to think that some,
at least, of the operations have a
strong savour of the Tantric black
magic about them, though practiced by
people who are often entirely
ignorant of any Hindu language.
These remarks must he supplemented by
a short sketch of Kol ideas of
worship. They have nothing that I have either seen or
heard of in the
shape of an image, but their
periodical offerings are made to a number
of elemental spirits, and they assign
a genie to every rock or tree in
the country, whom they do not
consider altogether malignant, but who, if
not duly "fed" or
propitiated, may become so.
The Singbonga (lit., sun or light
spirit) is the chief; Buru Bonga
(spirit of the hills), and the Ikhir
Bonga (spirit of the deep), come
next.
After these come the Darha, of which each family has its own, and
they may be considered in the same
light as Lares and Penates. But
every threshing, flour and oil mill,
has its spirit, who must be duly
fed, else evil result may be
expected. Their great festival (the
Karam)
is in honour of Singbonga and his
assistants; the opening words of the
priests' speech on that occasion,
sufficiently indicate that they
consider Singbonga, the creator of
men and things. Munure Singbonga
manokoa luekidkoa (In the beginning
Singbonga made men).
Each village has its Sarna or sacred
grove, where the hereditary priest
from time to time performs
sacrifices, to keep things prosperous;
but
this only relates to spirits actually
connected with the village, the
three greater spirits mentioned, being
considered general, are only fed
at intervals of three or more years,
and always on a public road or
other public place, and once every
ten years a human being was (and as
some will tell you is sacrificed to
keep the whole community of spirits
in good train.) The Pahans, or village priests, are regular
servants of
the spirits, and the najo, deona and
bhagats are people who in some way
are supposed to obtain an influence
or command over them. The first and
lowest grade of these adepts, called
najos (which may be translated as
practitioners of witchcraft pure and
simple), are frequently women.
They are accused, like the "Mula
Curumbers," of demanding quantities of
grain or loans of money, &c.,
from people, and when these demands are
refused, they go away with a remark
to the effect, "that you have lots
of cattle and grain just now, but
we'll see what they are like after a
month or two." Then probably the cattle of the bewitched
person will
get some disease, and several of them
die, or some person of his family
will become ill or get hurt in some
unaccountable way. Till at last,
thoroughly frightened, the afflicted
person takes a little uncooked rice
and goes to a deona or mati (as he is
called in the different
vernaculars of the province)--the
grade immediately above najo in
knowledge--and promising him a reward
if he will assist him, requests
his aid; if the deona accedes to the request, the
proceedings are as
follows. The deona taking the oil brought, lights a
small lamp and
seats himself beside it with the rice
in a surpa (winnower) in his
hands. After looking intently at the lamp flame for
a few minutes, he
begins to sing a sort of chant of
invocation in which all the spirits
are named, and at the name of each
spirit a few grains of rice are
thrown into the lamp. When the flame at any particular name gives a
jump and flares up high, the spirit
concerned in the mischief is
indicated. Then the deona takes a small portion of the
rice wrapped up
in a sal (Shorea robusta) leaf and
proceeds to the nearest new white-ant
nest from which he cuts the top off
and lays the little bundle, half in
and half out of the cavity. Having
retired, he returns in about an hour
to see if the rice is consumed, and
according to the rapidity with which
it is eaten he predicts the sacrifice
which will appease the spirit.
This ranges from a fowl to a buffalo,
but whatever it may include, the
pouring out of blood is an
essential. It must be noted, however,
that
the mati never tells who the najo is
who has excited the malignity of
the spirit.
But the most important and lucrative
part of a deona's business is the
casting out of evil spirits, which
operation is known variously as ashab
and langhan. The sign of obsession is generally some
mental alienation
accompanied (in bad cases) by a
combined trembling and restlessness of
limbs, or an unaccountable swelling
up of the body. Whatever the
symptoms may be the mode of cure
appears to be much the same. On such
symptoms declaring themselves, the
deona is brought to the house and is
in the presence of the sick man and
his friends provided with some rice
in a surpa, some oil, a little
vermilion, and the deona produces from
his own person a little powdered
sulphur and an iron tube about four
inches long and two tikli.* Before the proceedings begin all the things
mentioned are touched with vermilion,
a small quantity of which is also
mixed with the rice. Three or four grains of rice and one of the
tikli
being put into the tube, a lamp is
then lighted beside the sick man and
the deona begins his chant, throwing
grains of rice at each name, and
when the flame flares up, a little of
the powdered sulphur is thrown
into the lamp and a little on the
sick man, who thereupon becomes
convulsed, is shaken all over and
talks deliriously, the deona's chant
growing louder all the while. Suddenly the convulsions and the chant
cease, and the deona carefully takes
up a little of the sulphur off the
man's body and puts into the tube,
which he then seals with the second
tikli. The deona and one of the man's friends then
leave the hut,
taking the iron tube and rice with
them, the spirit being now supposed
out of the man and bottled up in the
iron tube. They hurry across
country until they leave the hut some
miles behind. Then they go to the
edge of some tank or river, to some
place they know to be frequented by
people for the purposes of bathing,
&c., where, after some further
ceremony, the iron is stuck into the
ground and left there. This is
done with the benevolent intention
that the spirit may transfer its
attentions to the unfortunate person
who may happen to touch it while
bathing. I am told the spirit in this case usually
chooses a young and
healthy person. Should the deona think the spirit has not been
able to
suit itself with a new receptacle, he
repairs to where a bazaar is
taking place and there (after some
ceremony) he mixes with the crowd,
and taking a grain of the reddened
rice jerks it with his forefinger and
thumb in such a way that without attracting
attention it falls on the
person or clothes of some. This is done several times to make certain.
Then the deona declares he has done
his work, and is usually treated to
the best dinner the sick man's
friends can afford. It is said that the
person to whom the spirit by either
of these methods is transferred may
not be affected for weeks or even
months. But some fine day while he is
at his work, he will suddenly stop,
wheel round two or three times on
his heels and fall down more or less
convulsed, from that time forward
he will begin to be troubled in the
same way as his dis-obsessed
predecessor was.
--------
* Tikli is a circular piece of gilt
paper which is stuck on between the
eyebrows of the women of the Province
as ornament.
--------
Having thus given some account of the
deona, we now come to the bhagat,
called by the Hindus sokha and
sivnath. This is the highest grade of
all, and, as I ought to have
mentioned before, the 'ilm (knowledge) of
both the deona and bhagat grades is
only to be learned by becoming a
regular chela of a practitioner; but I am given to understand that the
final initiation is much hastened by
a seasonable liberality on the part
of the chela. During the initiation
of the sokha certain ceremonies are
performed at night by aid of a human
corpse, this is one of the things
which has led me to think that this
part at least of these practices is
connected with Tantric black magic.
The bhagat performs two distinct
functions: (1st), a kind of divination
called bhao (the same in Hindi), and
(2nd), a kind of Shamanism called
darasta in Hindi, and bharotan in
Horokaji, which, however, is resorted
to only on very grave occasions--as,
for instance, when several families
think they are bewitched at one time and
by the same najo.
The bhao is performed as
follows:--The person having some query to
propound, makes a small dish out of a
sal leaf and puts in it a little
uncooked rice and a few pice; he then proceeds to the bhagat and lays
before him the leaf and its contents,
propounding at the same time his
query. The bhagat then directs him to go out and
gather two golaichi
(varieties of Posinia) flowers (such
practitioners usually having a
golaichi tree close to their
abodes); after the flowers are brought
the
bhagat seats himself with the rice
close to the inquirer, and after some
consideration selects one of the
flowers, and holding it by the stalk at
about a foot from his eyes in his
left hand twirls it between his thumb
and fingers, occasionally with his right
hand dropping on it a grain or
two of rice.* In a few minutes his eyes close and he begins
to talk--
usually about things having nothing
to do with the question in hand, but
after a few minutes of this, he
suddenly yells out an answer to the
question, and without another word
retires. The inquirer takes his
meaning as he can from the answer,
which, I believe, is always
ambiguous.
---------
* This is the process by which the
bhagat mesmerizes himself.
---------
The bharotan as I have above remarked
is only resorted to when a matter
of grave import has to be inquired
about; the bhagat makes a high
charge for a seance of this
description. We will fancy that three or
four families in a village consider
themselves bewitched by a najo, and
they resolve to have recourse to a
bhagat to find out who the witch is;
with this view a day is fixed on, and
two delegates are procured from
each of five neighbouring villages,
who accompany the afflicted people
to the house of the bhagat, taking with
them a dali or offering,
consisting of vegetables, which on
arrival is formally presented to him.
Two delegates are posted at each of
the four points of the compass, and
the other two sent themselves with
the afflicted parties to the right of
the bhagat, who occupies the centre
of the apartment with four or five
chelas, a clear space being reserved
on the left. One chela then brings
a small earthenware-pot full of
lighted charcoal, which is set before
the bhagat with a pile of mango wood
chips and a ball composed of dhunia
(resin of Shorea robusta), gur
(treacle), and ghee (clarified butter),
and possibly other ingredients. The bhagat's sole attire consists of a
scanty lenguti (waist-cloth), a
necklace of the large wooden beads such
as are usually worn by fakeers, and
several garlands of golaichi flowers
round his neck, his hair being
unusually long and matted. Beside him
stuck in the ground is his
staff. One chela stands over the firepot
with a bamboo-mat fan in his hand,
another takes charge of the pile of
chips, and a third of the ball of
composition, and one or two others
seat themselves behind the bhagat,
with drums and other musical
instruments in their hands. All being in readiness, the afflicted ones
are requested to state their
grievance. This they do, and pray the
bhagat to call before him the najo,
who has stirred up the spirits to
afflict them, in order that he may be
punished. The bhagat then gives a
sign to his chelas, those behind him
raise a furious din with their
instruments, the fire is fed with
chips, and a bit of the composition is
put on it from time to time,
producing a volume of thick greyish-blue
smoke; this is carefully fanned over,
and towards the bhagat, who, when
well wrapped in smoke, closes his
eyes and quietly swaying his body
begins a low chant. The chant gradually becomes louder and the
sway of
his body more pronounced, until he
works himself into a state of
complete frenzy. Then with his body actually quivering, and
his head
rapidly working about from side to side,
he sings in a loud voice how a
certain najo (whom he names) had
asked money of those people and was
refused, and how he stirred up
certain spirits (whom he also names) to
hurt them, how they killed so and
so's bullocks, some one else's sheep,
and caused another's child to fall
ill. Then he begins to call on the
najo to come and answer for his
doings, and in doing so rises to his
feet--still commanding the najo to
appear; meanwhile he reels about;
then falls on the ground and is quite
still except for an occasional
whine, and a muttered, "I see
him!" "He is coming!"
This state may last
for an hour or more till at last the
bhagat sits up and announces the
najo has come; as he says so, a man, apparently mad with
drink, rushes
in and falls with his head towards
the bhagat moaning and making a sort
of snorting as if half stifled. In this person the bewitched parties
often recognize a neighbour and
sometimes even a relation, but whoever
he may be they have bound themselves
to punish him. The bhagat then
speaks to him and tells him to
confess, at the same time threatening
him, in case of refusal, with his
staff. He then confesses in a
half-stupefied manner, and his
confession tallies with what the bhagat
has told in his frenzy. The najo is then dismissed and runs out of
the
house in the same hurry as he came
in. The delegates then hold a
council at which the najo usually is
sentenced to a fine--often heavy
enough to ruin him--and expelled from
his village. Before the British
rule the convicted najo seldom
escaped with his life, and during the
mutiny time, when no Englishmen were
about, the Singbhoom Hos paid off a
large number of old scores of this
sort. For record of which, see
"Statistical Account of
Bengal," vol. xvii. p. 52.
In conclusion I have merely to add
that I have derived this information
from people who have been actually
concerned in these occurrences, and
among others a man belonging to a
village of my own, who was convicted
and expelled from the village with
the loss of all his movable property,
and one of his victims, a relation of
his, sat by me when the above was
being written.
--E.D. Ewen
Mahatmas and Chelas
A Mahatma is an individual who, by
special training and education, has
evolved those higher faculties, and
has attained that spiritual
knowledge, which ordinary humanity
will acquire after passing through
numberless series of re-incarnations
during the process of cosmic
evolution, provided, of course, that
they do not go, in the meanwhile,
against the purposes of Nature and
thus bring on their own annihilation.
This process of the self-evolution of
the MAHATMA extends over a number
of "incarnations,"
although, comparatively speaking, they are very few.
Now, what is it that incarnates? The occult doctrine, so far as it is
given out, shows that the first three
principles die more or less with
what is called the physical
death. The fourth principle, together
with
the lower portions of the fifth, in
which reside the animal
propensities, has Kama Loka for its
abode, where it suffers the throes
of disintegration in proportion to
the intensity of those lower desires;
while it is the higher Manas, the
pure man, which is associated with the
sixth and seventh principles, that
goes into Devachan to enjoy there the
effects of its good Karma, and then
to be reincarnated as a higher
personality. Now an entity that is passing through the
occult training
in its successive births, gradually
has less and less (in each
incarnation) of that lower Manas
until there arrives a time when its
whole Manas, being of an entirely
elevated character, is centred in the
individuality, when such a person may
be said to have become a MAHATMA.
At the time of his physical death,
all the lower four principles perish
without any suffering, for these are,
in fact, to him like a piece of
wearing apparel which he puts on and
off at will. The real MAHATMA is
then not his physical body but that
higher Manas which is inseparably
linked to the Atma and its vehicle
(the sixth principle)--a union
effected by him in a comparatively
very short period by passing through
the process of self-evolution laid
down by Occult Philosophy. When
therefore, people express a desire to
"see a MAHATMA," they really do
not seem to understand what it is
they ask for. How can they, with
their physical eyes, hope to see that
which transcends that sight? Is
it the body--a mere shell or
mask--they crave or hunt after? And
supposing they see the body of a
MAHATMA, how can they know that behind
that mask is concealed an exalted
entity? By what standard are they to
judge whether the Maya before them
reflects the image of a true MAHATMA
or not? And who will say that the physical is not a
Maya? Higher things
can be perceived only by a sense
pertaining to those higher things;
whoever therefore wants to see the
real MAHATMA, must use his
intellectual sight. He must so elevate his Manas that its
perception
will be clear and all mists created
by Maya be dispelled. His vision
will then be bright and he will see
the MAHATMA wherever he may be, for,
being merged into the sixth and the
seventh principles, which know no
distance, the MAHATMA may be said to
be everywhere. But, at the same
time, just as we may be standing on a
mountain top and have within our
sight the whole plain, and yet not be
cognizant of any particular tree
or spot, because from that elevated
position all below is nearly
identical, and as our attention may
be drawn to something which may be
dissimilar to its surroundings--in
the same manner, although the whole
of humanity is within the mental
vision of the MAHATMA, he cannot be
expected to take special note of
every human being, unless that being by
his special acts draws particular
attention to himself. The highest
interest of humanity, as a whole, is
the MAHATMA's special concern, for
he has identified himself with that
Universal Soul which runs through
Humanity; and to draw his attention one must do so
through that Soul.
This perception of the Manas may be
called "faith" which should not be
confounded with blind belief. "Blind faith" is an expression
sometimes
used to indicate belief without
perception or understanding; while the
true perception of the Manas is that
enlightened belief which is the
real meaning of the word
"faith." This belief should at
the same time
be accompanied by knowledge, i.e.,
experience, for "true knowledge
brings with it faith." Faith is the perception of the Manas (the
fifth
principle), while knowledge, in the
true sense of the term, is the
capacity of the Intellect, i.e., it
is spiritual perception. In short,
the individuality of man, composed of
his higher Manas, the sixth and
the seventh principle, should work as
a unity, and then only can it
obtain "divine wisdom," for
divine things can be sensed only by divine
faculties. Thus a chela should be actuated solely by a
desire to
understand the operations of the Law
of Cosmic Evolution, so as to be
able to work in conscious and
harmonious accord with Nature.
--Anon.
The Brahmanical Thread
I.
The general term for the investiture of this thread is Upanayana;
and the invested is called Upanita,
which signifies brought or drawn
near (to one's Guru), i.e., the
thread is the symbol of the wearer's
condition.
II.
One of the names of this thread is Yajna-Sutra. Yajna means
Brahma, or the Supreme Spirit, and
Sutra the thread, or tie.
Collectively, the compound word
signifies that which ties a man to his
spirit or god. It consists of three yarns twisted into one
thread, and
three of such threads formed and
knotted into a circle. Every
Theosophist knows what a circle
signifies and it need not be repeated
here.
He will easily understand the rest and the relation they have to
mystic initiation. The yarns signify the great principle of
"three in
one, and one in three,"
thus:--The first trinity consists of Atma which
comprises the three attributes of
Manas, Buddhi, and Ahankara (the mind,
the intelligence, and the
egotism). The Manas again, has the three
qualities of Satva, Raja, and Tama
(goodness, foulness, and darkness).
Buddhi has the three attributes of
Pratyaksha, Upamiti and Anumiti
(perception, analogy, and inference).
Ahankara also has three
attributes, viz., Jnata, Jneya, and
Jnan (the knower, the known, and the
knowledge).
III.
Another name of the sacred thread is Tri-dandi. Tri means three,
and Danda, chastisement, correction,
or conquest. This reminds the
holder of the three great
"corrections" or conquests he has to
accomplish. These are:--(1) the Vakya Sanyama;* (2) the Manas Sanyama;
and (3) the Indriya (or Deha)
Sanyama. Vakya is speech, Manas, mind, and
Deha (literally, body) or Indriya, is
the senses. The three conquests
therefore mean the control over one's
speech, thought, and action.
--------
* Danda and Sanyama are synonymous
terms.--A.S.
---------
This thread is also the reminder to
the man of his secular duties,
and its material varies, in
consequence, according to the occupation
of the wearer. Thus, while the thread of the Brahmans is
made of
pure cotton, that of the Kshatriyas
(the warriors) is composed of
flax--the bow-string material; and that of Vaishyas (the traders and
cattle-breeders), of wool. From this it is not to be inferred that caste
was originally meant to be
hereditary. In the ancient times, it depended
on the qualities of the man.
Irrespective of the caste of his parents, a
man could, according to his merit or
otherwise, raise or lower himself
from one caste to another; and instances are not wanting in which a man
has elevated himself to the position
of the highest Brahman (such as
Vishvamitra Rishi, Parasara, Vyasa,
Satyakam, and others) from the very
lowest of the four castes. The sayings of Yudhishthira on this subject,
in reply to the questions of the
great serpent, in the Arannya Parva of
the Maha-Bharata, and of Manu, on the
same point, are well known and
need nothing more than bare
reference. Both Manu and
Maha-Bharata--the
fulcrums of Hinduism--distinctly
affirm that a man can translate
himself from one caste to another by his
merit, irrespective of his
parentage.
The day is fast approaching when the
so-called Brahmans will have to
show cause, before the tribunal of
the Aryan Rishis, why they should not
be divested of the thread which they
do not at all deserve, but are
degrading by misuse. Then alone will the people appreciate the
privilege of wearing it.
There are many examples of the
highest distinctive insignia being worn
by the unworthy. The aristocracies of Europe and Asia teem
with such.
--A. Sarman
Reading in a Sealed Envelope
Some years ago, a Brahman astrologer
named Vencata Narasimla Josi, a
native of the village of
Periasamudram in the Mysore Provinces, came to
the little town in the Bellary
District where I was then employed. He
was a good Sanskrit, Telugu and
Canarese poet, and an excellent master
of Vedic rituals; knew the Hindu system of astronomy, and
professed to
be an astrologer. Besides all this, he possessed the power of
reading
what was contained in any sealed
envelope. The process adopted for this
purpose was simply this:--We wrote
whatever we chose on a piece of
paper; enclosed it in one, two or
three envelopes, each properly gummed
and sealed, and handed the cover to
the astrologer. He asked us to name
a figure between 1 and 9, and on its
being named, he retired with the
envelope to some secluded place for
some time; and then he returned with
a paper full of figures, and another
paper containing a copy of what was
on the sealed paper--exactly, letter
for letter and word for word. I
tried him often and many others did
the same; and we were all satisfied
that he was invariably accurate, and
that there was no deception
whatsoever in the matter.
About this time, one Mr. Theyagaraja
Mudalyar, a supervisor in the
Public Works Department, an English
scholar and a good Sanskrit and
Telugu poet, arrived at our place on
his periodical tour of inspection.
Having heard about the aforesaid
astrologer, he wanted to test him in a
manner, most satisfactory to himself.
One morning handing to the
astrologer a very indifferently
gummed envelope, he said, "Here, Sir,
take this letter home with you and
come back to me with your copy in the
afternoon." This loose way of closing the envelope, and
the permission
given to the astrologer to take it
home for several hours, surprised the
Brahman, who said, "I don't want
to go home. Seal the cover better, and
give me the use of some room
here. I shall be ready with my copy very
soon." "No," said the Mudalyar, "take
it as it is, and come back
whenever you like. I have the means of finding out the
deception, if
any be practiced."
So then the astrologer went with the
envelope; and returned to the
Mudalyar's place in the
afternoon. Myself and about twenty
others were
present there by appointment. The astrologer then carefully handed the
cover to the Mudalyar, desiring him
to see if it was all right. "Don't
mind that," the Mudalyar
answered; "I can find out the trick, if there
be any. Produce your copy." The astrologer
thereupon presented to the
Mudalyar a paper on which four lines
were written and stated that this
was a copy of the paper enclosed in
the Mudalyar's envelope. Those four
lines formed a portion of an
antiquated poem.
The Mudalyar read the paper once,
then read it over again. Extreme
satisfaction beamed over his
countenance, and he sat mute for some
seconds seemingly in utter
astonishment. But soon after, the
expression
of his face changing, he opened the
envelope and threw the enclosure
down, jocularly saying to the
astrologer, "Here, Sir, is the original of
which you have produced the
copy."
The paper lay upon the carpet, and
was quite blank! not a word, nor a
letter on its clean surface.
This was a sad disappointment to all
his admirers; but to the
astrologer himself, it was a real
thunderbolt. He picked up the paper
pensively, examined it on both sides,
then dashed it on the ground in a
fury;
and suddenly arising, exclaimed, "My Vidya* is a delusion, and I
am a liar!"
---------
* Secret knowledge, magic.
---------
The subsequent behaviour of the poor
man made us fear lest this great
disappointment should drive him to
commit some desperate act. In fact
he seemed determined to drown himself
in the well, saying that he was
dishonoured. While we were trying to console him, the
Mudalyar came
forward, caught hold of his hands,
and besought him to sit down and
calmly listen to his explanation,
assuring him that he was not a liar,
and that his copy was perfectly
accurate. But the astrologer would not
be satisfied; he supposed that all
this was said simply to console him;
and cursed himself and his fate most
horribly. However, in a few
minutes he became calmer and listened
to the Mudalyar's explanation,
which was in substance as follows The
only way for the sceptic to
account for this phenomenon, is to
suppose that the astrologer opened
the covers dexterously and read their
contents. "So," he said,
"I wrote
four lines of old poetry on the paper
with nitrate of silver, which
would be invisible until exposed to
the light; and this would have
disclosed the astrologer's fraud, if
he had tried to find out the
contents of the enclosed paper, by
opening the cover, however
ingeniously. For, if he opened it and
looked at the paper, he would have
seen that it was blank, resealed the
cover, and declared that the paper
enveloped therein bore no writing
whatever; or if he had, by design or
accident, exposed the paper to light,
the writing would have become
black; and he would have produced a copy of it as if
it were the result
of his own Vidya; but in either case and the writing remaining,
his
deception would have been clear, and
it would have been patent to all
that he did open the envelope. But in the present case, the result
proved conclusively that the cover
was not opened at all."
--P. Sreeneevas Row
The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac
The division of the Zodiac into
different signs dates from immemorial
antiquity. It has acquired a world-wide celebrity and is
to be found in
the astrological systems of several nations.
The invention of the Zodiac
and its signs has been assigned to
different nations by different
antiquarians. It is stated by some that, at first, there
were only ten
signs, that one of these signs was
subsequently split up into two
separate signs, and that a new sign
was added to the number to render
the esoteric significance of the
division more profound, and at the same
time to conceal it more perfectly
from the uninitiated public. It is
very probable that the real
philosophical conception of the division
owes its origin to some particular
nation, and the names given to the
various signs might have been
translated into the languages of other
nations. The principal object of this article,
however, is not to
decide which nation had the honour of
inventing the signs in question,
but to indicate to some extent the
real philosophical meaning involved
therein, and the way to discover the
rest of the meaning which yet
remains undisclosed. But from what is
herein stated, an inference may
fairly be drawn that, like so many
other philosophical myths and
allegories, the invention of the
Zodiac and its signs owes its origin to
ancient India.
What then is its real origin, what is
the philosophical conception which
the Zodiac and its signs are intended
to represent? Do the various
signs merely indicate the shape or
configuration of the different
constellations included in the
divisions, or, are they simply masks
designed to veil some hidden
meaning? The former supposition is
altogether untenable for two reasons,
viz.:--
I.
The Hindus were acquainted with the precession of the equinoxes, as
may he easily seen from their work on
Astronomy, and from the almanacs
published by Hindu astronomers. Consequently they were fully aware of
the fact that the constellations in
the various Zodiacal divisions were
not fixed. They could not, therefore, have assigned
particular shapes
to these shifting groups of fixed
stars with reference to the divisions
of the Zodiac. But the names indicating the Zodiacal signs
have all
along remained unaltered. It is to be inferred, therefore, that the
names given to the various signs have
no connection whatever with the
configurations of the constellations
included in them.
II. The names assigned to these signs
by the ancient Sanskrit writers
and their exoteric or literal
meanings are as follows:--
The Names of the Signs ....... Their
Exoteric or Literal Meanings
1. Mesha ...........................
Ram, or Aries.
2. Rishabha .......................Bull,
or Taurus.
3. Mithunam ...................
Twins, or Gemini (male and female).
4. Karkataka ......................
Crab, or Cancer.
5. Simha
.............................. Lion, or Leo.
6. Kanya
............................. Virgin or Virgo.*
7. Tula ..........................
Balance, or Libra.
8. Vrischika .....................
Scorpion, or Scorpio.
9. Dhanus .......................
Archer, or Sagittarius.
10. Makara ........... The Goat, or
Capricornus (Crocodile, in Sanskrit).
11. Kumbha ..................
Water-bearer, or Aquarius.
12. Meenam ................. Fishes,
or Pisces.
The figures of the constellations
included in the signs at the time the
division was first made do not at all
resemble the shapes of the
animals, reptiles and other objects
denoted by the names given them.
The truth of this assertion can be
ascertained by examining the
configurations of the various
constellations. Unless the shape of the
crocodile** or the crab is called up
by the observer's imagination,
there is very little chance of the
stars themselves suggesting to his
idea that figure, upon the blue
canopy of the starry firmament.
--------
* Virgo-Scorpio, when none but the
initiates knew there were twelve
signs. Virgo-Scorpio was then followed for the
profane by Sagittarius.
At the middle or junction-point where
now stands Libra and at the sign
now called Virgo, two mystical signs
were inserted which remained
unintelligible to the profane.--Ed.
Theos.
** This constellation was never
called Crocodile by the ancient Western
astronomers, who described it as a
horned goat and called it so--
Capricornus.--Ed. Theos.
--------
If, then, the constellations have
nothing to do with the origin of the
names by which the Zodiacal divisions
are indicated, we have to seek for
some other source which might have
given rise to these appellations. It
becomes my object to unravel a
portion of the mystery connected with
these Zodiacal signs, as also to
disclose a portion of the sublime
conception of the ancient Hindu
philosophy which gave rise to them. The
signs of the Zodiac have more than
one meaning. From one point of view
they represent the different stages
of evolution up to the time the
present material universe with the
five elements came into phenomenal
existence. As the author of
"Isis Unveiled" has stated in the second
volume of her admirable work,
"The key should be turned seven times" to
understand the whole philosophy
underlying these signs. But I shall
wind it only once and give the
contents of the first chapter of the
History of Evolution. It is very fortunate that the Sanskrit names
assigned to the various divisions by
Aryan philosophers contain within
themselves the key to the solution of
the problem. Those of my readers
who have studied to some extent the
ancient "Mantra" and the "Tantra
Sastras" * of India, would have
seen that very often Sanskrit words are
made to convey a certain hidden
meaning by means of well-known
pre-arranged methods and a tacit
convention, while their literal
significance is something quite
different from the implied meaning.
---------
* Works on Incantation and Magic.
---------
The following are some of the rules
which may help an inquirer in
ferreting out the deep significance
of ancient Sanskrit nomenclature to
be found in the old Aryan myths and
allegories:
1. Find out the synonyms of the word
used which have other meanings.
2. Find out the numerical value of
the letters composing the word
according to the methods given in
ancient Tantrika works.
3. Examine the ancient myths or
allegories, if there are any, which have
any special connection with the word
in question.
4. Permute the different syllables
composing the word and examine the
new combinations that will thus be
formed and their meanings, &c. &c.
I shall now apply some of the above
given rules to the names of the
twelve signs of the Zodiac.
I. Mesha.--One of the synonyms of
this word is Aja. Now, Aja literally
means that which has no birth, and is
applied to the Eternal Brahma in
certain portions of the Upanishads.
So, the first sign is intended to
represent Parabrahma, the
self-existent, eternal, self-sufficient cause
of all.
II. Rishabham.--This word is used in
several places in the Upanishads
and the Veda to mean Pranava
(Aum). Sankaracharya has so interpreted
it
in several portions of his
commentary.*
--------
* Example,
"Rishabhasya--Chandasam Rishabhasya Pradhanasya
Pranavasya."
--------
III. Mithuna.--As the word plainly
indicates, this sign is intended to
represent the first androgyne, the
Ardhanareeswara, the bisexual
Sephira--Adam Kadmon.
IV. Karkataka.--When the syllables
are converted into the corresponding
numbers, according to the general
mode of transmutation so often alluded
to in Mantra Shastra, the word in
question will be represented by ////.
This sign then is evidently intended
to represent the sacred Tetragram;
the Parabrahmadharaka; the Pranava resolved into four separate
entities
corresponding to its four
Matras; the four Avasthas indicated by
Jagrata (waking) Avastha, Swapna
(dreaming) Avastha, Sushupti (deep
sleep) Avastha, and Turiya (the last
stage, i.e., Nirvana) Avastha (as
yet in potentiality); the four states of Brahma called Vaiswanara,
Taijasa (or Hiranyagarbha), Pragna,
and Iswara, and represented by
Brahma, Vishna, Maheswara, and
Sadasiva; the four aspects of
Parabrahma, as Sthula (gross),
Sukshma (subtle), Vija (seed), and Sakshi
(witness); the four stages or conditions of the Sacred
Word, named
Para, Pasyanti, Madhyama and
Vaikhari; Nadam, Bindu, Sakti and Kala.
This sign completes the first
quaternary.
V. Simha.--This word contains a world
of occult meaning within itself;
and it may not be prudent on my part
to disclose the whole of its
meaning now. It will be sufficient for the present purpose
to give a
general indication of its
significance.
Two of its synonymous terms are
Panchasyam and Hari, and its number in
the order of the Zodiacal divisions
(being the fifth sign) points
clearly to the former synonym. This synonym--Panchasyam--shows that
the sign is intended to represent the
five Brahmas--viz., Isanam,
Aghoram, Tatpurusham, Vamadevam, and
Sadyojatam:--the five Buddhas. The
second synonym shows it to be
Narayana, the Jivatma or Pratyagatma.
The
Sukarahasy Upanishad will show that
the ancient Aryan philosophers
looked upon Narayana as the Jivatma.*
The Vaishnavites may not admit it.
But as an Advaiti, I look upon
Jivatma as identical with Paramatma in
its real essence when stripped of its
illusory attributes created by
Agnanam or Avidya--ignorance.
---------
* In its lowest or most material
state, as the life-principle which
animates the material bodies of the
animal and vegetable worlds, &c.
--Ed. Theos.
---------
The Jivatma is correctly placed in
the fifth sign counting from Mesham,
as the fifth sign is the putrasthanam
or the son's house according to
the rules of Hindu Astrology. The sign in question represents Jivatma--
the son of Paramatma as it were. (I may also add that it represents the
real Christ, the anointed pure
spirit, though many Christians may frown
at this interpretation.)* I will only add here that unless the nature
of this sign is fully comprehended it
will be impossible to understand
the real order of the next three
signs and their full significance. The
elements or entities that have merely
a potential existence in this sign
become distinct separate entities in
the next three signs. Their union
into a single entity leads to the
destruction of the phenomenal
universe, and the recognition of the pure
Spirit and their separation
has the contrary effect. It leads to material earth-bound existence
and
brings into view the picture gallery
of Avidya (Ignorance) or Maya
(Illusion). If the real orthography of the name by which
the sign in
question is indicated is properly
understood, it will readily be seen
that the next three signs are not
what they ought to be.
--------
* Nevertheless it is a true one. The Jiv-atma in the Microcosm (man) is
the same spiritual essence which animates
the Macrocosm (universe), the
differentiation, or specific
difference between the two Jivatmas
presenting itself but in the two
states or conditions of the same and
one Force. Hence, "this son of Paramatma" is
an eternal correlation of
the Father-Cause. Purusha manifesting
himself as Brahma of the "golden
egg" and becoming Viradja--the
universe. We are "all born of Aditi
from
the water" (Hymns of the Maruts,
X. 63, 2), and "Being was born from
not-being" (Rig-Veda, Mandala I,
Sukta 166).--Ed. Theos.
-----------
Kanya or Virgo and Vrischika or
Scorpio should form one single sign, and
Thula must follow the said sign if it
is at all necessary to have a
separate sign of that name. But a separation between Kanya and
Vrischika was effected by interposing
the sign Tula between the two.
The object of this separation will be
understood on examining the
meaning of the three signs.
VI. Kanya.--Means a virgin and
represents Sakti or Mahamaya. The sign
in question is the sixth Rasi or
division, and indicates that there are
six primary forces in Nature. These forces have different sets of names
in Sanskrit philosophy. According to one system of nomenclature, they
are called by the following
names*:--(1) Parasakty; (2) Gnanasakti;
(3) Itchasakti (will-power); (4)
Kriytisakti; (5) Kundalinisakti; and
(6) Matrikasakti. The six forces are in their unity represented
by the
Astral Light.**
---------
* Parasakti:--Literally the great or
supreme force or power. It means
and includes the powers of light and heat.
Gnanasakti:--Literally the power of
intellect or the power of real
wisdom or knowledge. It has two aspects.
I. The following are some of its
manifestations when placed under the
influence or control of material
conditions.
(a) The power of the mind in
interpreting our sensations; (b) Its
power
in recalling past ideas (memory) and
raising future expectation; (c)
Its power as exhibited in what are
called by modern psychologists "the
laws of association," which
enables it to form persisting connections
between various groups of sensations
and possibilities of sensations,
and thus generate the notion or idea
of an external object; (d) Its
power in connecting our ideas
together by the mysterious link of memory,
and thus generating the notion of
self or individuality.
II. The following are some of its
manifestations when liberated from the
bonds of matter:--
(a) Clairvoyance. (b) Pyschometry.
Itchasakti:--Literally the power of
the will. Its most ordinary
manifestation is the generation of
certain nerve currents which set in
motion such muscles as are required
for the accomplishment of the
desired object.
Kriyasakti:--The mysterious power of
thought which enables it to produce
external, perceptible, phenomenal
results by its own inherent energy.
The ancients held that any idea will
manifest itself externally if one's
attention is deeply concentrated upon
it. Similarly an intense volition
will be followed by the desired
result.
A Yogi generally performs his wonders
by means of Itchasakti and
Kriyasakti.
Kundalinisakti:--Literally the power
or force which moves in a
serpentine or curved path. It is the universal life-principle which
everywhere manifests itself in
Nature. This force includes in itself
the two great forces of attraction
and repulsion. Electricity and
magnetism are but manifestations of
it. This is the power or force
which brings about that
"continuous adjustment of internal relations to
external relations" which is the
essence of life according to Herbert
Spencer, and that "continuous
adjustment of external relations to
internal relations" which is the
basis of transmigration of souls or
punarjanmam (re-birth) according to
the doctrines of the ancient Hindu
philosophers.
A Yogi must thoroughly subjugate this
power or force before he can
attain moksham. This force is, in fact, the great serpent of
the Bible.
Matrikasakti:--Literally the force or
power of letters or speech or
music. The whole of the ancient Mantra Shastra has
this force or power
in all its manifestations for its subject-matter. The power of The Word
which Jesus Christ speaks of is a
manifestation of this Sakti. The
influence of its music is one of its
ordinary manifestations. The power
of the mirific ineffable name is the
crown of this Sakti.
Modern science has but partly
investigated the first, second and fifth
of the forces or powers above named,
but it is altogether in the dark as
regards the remaining powers.
** Even the very name of Kanya
(Virgin) shows how all the ancient
esoteric systems agreed in all their
fundamental doctrines. The
Kabalists and the Hermetic
philosophers call the Astral Light the
"heavenly or celestial
Virgin." The Astral Light in its
unity is the
7th.
Hence the seven principles diffused in every unity or the 6 and
one--two triangles and a crown.--Ed.
Theos.
-----------
VII. Tula.--When represented by
numbers according to the method above
alluded to, this word will be
converted into 36. This sign, therefore,
is evidently intended to represent
the 36 Tatwams. (The number of
Tatwams is different according to the
views of different philosophers
but by Sakteyas generally and by
several of the ancient Rishis, such as
Agastya, Dvrasa and Parasurama,
&c., the number of Tatwams has been
stated to be 36). Jivatma differs from
Paramatma, or to state the same
thing in other words,
"Baddha" differs from "Mukta" * in being encased
as it were within these 36 Tatwams,
while the other is free. This sign
prepares the way to earthly Adam to
Nara. As the emblem of Nara it is
properly placed as the seventh sign.
---------
* As the Infinite differs from the
Finite and the Unconditioned
from the Conditioned.--Ed. Theos.
---------
VIII. Vrischika.--It is stated by
ancient philosophers that the sun when
located in this Rasi or sign is
called by the name of Vishnu (see the
12th Skandha of Bhagavata). This sign is intended to represent Vishnu.
Vishnu literally means that which is
expanded--expanded as Viswam or
Universe. Properly speaking, Viswam itself is Vishnu
(see
Sankaracharya's commentary on
Vishnusahasranamam). I have already
intimated that Vishnu represents the
Swapnavastha or the Dreaming State.
The sign in question properly
signifies the universe in thought or the
universe in the divine conception.
It is properly placed as the sign
opposite to Rishabham or Pranava.
Analysis from Pranava downwards leads
to the Universe of Thought, and
synthesis from the latter upwards
leads to Pranava (Aum). We have now
arrived at the ideal state of the
universe previous to its coming into
material existence. The expansion of the Vija or primitive germ
into
the universe is only possible when
the 36 "Tatwams" * are interposed
between the Maya and Jivatma. The dreaming state is induced through the
instrumentality of these
"Tatwams." It is the existence
of these
Tatwams that brings Hamsa into
existence. The elimination of these
Tatwams marks the beginning of the
synthesis towards Pranava and Brahmam
and converts Hamsa into Soham. As it is intended to represent the
different stages of evolution from
Brahmam downwards to the material
universe, the three signs Kanya,
Tula, and Vrischika are placed in the
order in which they now stand as
three separate signs.
IX. Dhanus (Sagittarius).--When
represented in numbers the name is
equivalent to 9, and the division in
question is the 9th division
counting from Mesha. The sign, therefore, clearly indicates the 9
Brahmas--the 9 Parajapatis who
assisted the Demiurgus in constructing
the material universe.
X. Makara.--There is some difficulty
in interpreting this word;
nevertheless it contains within
itself the clue to its correct
interpretation. The letter Ma is equivalent to number 5, and
Kara means
hand.
Now in Sanskrit Thribhujam means a triangle, bhujam or karam
(both are synonymous) being
understood to mean a side. So, Makaram
or
Panchakaram means a Pentagon.**
----------
* 36 is three times 12, or 9
Tetraktis, or 12 Triads, the most sacred
number in the Kabalistic and
Pythagorean numerals.--Ed. Theos.
** The five-pointed star or pentagram
represented the five limbs of
man.--Ed. Theos.
----------
Now, Makaram is the tenth sign, and
the term "Dasadisa" is generally
used by Sanskrit writers to denote
the faces or sides of the universe.
The sign in question is intended to
represent the faces of the universe,
and indicates that the figure of the
universe is bounded by Pentagons.
If we take the pentagons as regular
pentagons (on the presumption or
supposition that the universe is
symmetrically constructed) the figure
of the material universe will, of
course, be a Dodecahedron, the
geometrical model imitated by the
Demiurgus in constructing the material
universe. If Tula was subsequently invented, and if
instead of the
three signs "Kanya,"
"Tula," and "Vrischikam," there had existed
formerly only one sign combining in
itself Kanya and Vrischika, the sign
now under consideration was the
eighth sign under the old system, and it
is a significant fact that Sanskrit
writers generally speak also of
"Ashtadisa" or eight faces
bounding space. It is quite possible
that
the number of disa might have been
altered from 8 to 10 when the
formerly existing Virgo-Scorpio was
split up into three separate signs.
Again, Kara may be taken to represent
the projecting triangles of the
five-pointed star. This figure may also be called a kind of
regular
pentagon (see Todhunter's
"Spherical Trigonometry," p. 143).
If this
interpretation is accepted, the Rasi
or sign in question represents the
"microcosm." But the "microcosm" or the world of
thought is really
represented by Vrischika. From an objective point of view the
"microcosm" is represented
by the human body. Makaram may be taken to
represent simultaneously both the
microcosm and the macrocosm, as
external objects of perception.
In connection with this sign I shall
state a few important facts which I
beg to submit for the consideration
of those who are interested in
examining the ancient occult sciences
of India. It is generally held by
the ancient philosophers that the macrocosm
is similar to the microcosm
in having a Sthula Sariram and a
Suksma Sariram. The visible universe
is the Sthula Sariram of Viswam; the ancient philosophers held that as
a substratum for this visible
universe, there is another universe--
perhaps we may call it the universe
of Astral Light--the real universe
of Noumena, the soul as it were of
this visible universe. It is darkly
hinted in certain passages of the
Veda and the Upanishads that this
hidden universe of Astral Light is to
be represented by an Icosahedron.
The connection between an Icosahedron
and a Dodecahedron is something
very peculiar and interesting, though
the figures seem to be so very
dissimilar to each other. The connection may be understood by the
under-mentioned geometrical
construction. Describe a Sphere about an
Icosahedron; let perpendiculars be drawn from the centre
of the Sphere
on its faces and produced to meet the
surface of the Sphere. Now, if
the points of intersection be joined,
a Dodecahedron is formed within
the Sphere. By a similar process an Icosahedron may be
constructed from
a Dodecahedron. (See Todhunter's "Spherical
Trigonometry," p. 141, art.
193).
The figure constructed as above described will represent the
universe of matter and the universe
of Astral Light as they actually
exist. I shall not now, however, proceed to show how
the universe of
Astral Light may be considered under
the symbol of an Icosahedron. I
shall only state that this conception
of the Aryan philosophers is not
to be looked upon as mere
"theological twaddle" or as the outcome of
wild fancy. The real significance of the conception in
question can, I
believe, be explained by reference to
the psychology and the physical
science of the ancients. But I must stop here and proceed to consider
the meaning of the remaining two
signs.
XI. Kumbha (or Aquarius).--When
represented by numbers, the word is
equivalent to 14. It can be easily perceived then that the
division in
question is intended to represent the
"Chaturdasa Bhuvanam," or the 14
lokas spoken of in Sanskrit writings.
XII. Mina (or Pisces).--This word
again is represented by 5 when written
in numbers, and is evidently intended
to convey the idea of
Panchamahabhutams or the 5
elements. The sign also suggests that
water
(not the ordinary water, but the
universal solvent of the ancient
alchemists) is the most important
amongst the said elements.
I have now finished the task which I
have set to myself in this article.
My purpose is not to explain the ancient
theory of evolution itself, but
to show the connection between that
theory and the Zodiacal divisions.
I have herein brought to light but a
very small portion of the
philosophy imbedded in these signs.
The veil that was dexterously thrown
over certain portions of the mystery
connected with these signs by the
ancient philosophers will never be
lifted up for the amusement or
edification of the uninitiated
public.
Now to summarize the facts stated in
this article, the contents of the
first chapter of the history of this
universe are as follows:
1.
The self-existent, eternal Brahmam.
2.
Pranava (Aum).
3.
The androgyne Brahma, or the bisexual Sephira-Adam Kadmon.
4.
The Sacred Tetragram--the four matras of Pranava--the four
avasthas--the four states of Brahma--the Sacred Dharaka.
5.
The five Brahmas--the five Buddhas representing in their totality
the Jivatma.
6.
The Astral Light--the holy Virgin--the six forces in Nature.
7.
The thirty-six Tatwams born of Avidya.
8.
The universe in thought--the Swapna Avastha--the microcosm looked at
from a subjective point of view.
9.
The nine Prajapatis--the assistants of the Demiurgus.*
10.
The shape of the material universe in the mind of the Demiurgus--
the DODECAHEDRON.
11.
The fourteen lokas.
12.
The five elements.
--------
* The nine Kabalistic Sephiroths
emanated from Sephira the 10th and the
head Sephiroth are identical. Three trinities or triads with their
emanative principle form the
Pythagorean mystic Decad, the sum of all
which represents the whole
Kosmos.--Ed. Theos.
--------
The history of creation and of this
world from its beginning up to the
present time is composed of seven
chapters. The seventh chapter is not
yet completed.
--T. Subba Row
Triplicane, Madras, September 14,
1881
The Sishal and Bhukailas Yogis
We are indebted to the kindness of
the learned President of the Adi
Brahmo Samaji for the following
accounts of two Yogis, of whom one
performed the extraordinary feats of raising
his body by will power, and
keeping it suspended in the air
without visible support. The Yoga
posture for meditation or
concentration of the mind upon spiritual
things is called Asana. There are various of these modes of sitting,
such as Padmasan, &c.
&c. Babu Rajnarain Bose translated
this narrative
from a very old number of the
Tatwabodhini Patrika, the Calcutta organ
of the Brahmo Samaj. The writer was
Babu Akkhaya Kumar Dalta, then
editor of the Patrika, of whom Babu
Rajnarain speaks in the following
high terms--"A very truth-loving
and painstaking man; very fond of
observing strict accuracy in the
details of a description."
Sishal Yogi
A few years ago, a Deccan Yogi, named
Sishal, was seen at Madras, by
many Hindus and Englishmen, to raise
his Asana, or seat, up into the
air.
The picture of the Yogi, showing his mode of seating, and other
particulars connected with him, may
be found in the Saturday Magazine on
page 28.
His whole body seated in air, only
his right hand lightly touched a deer
skin, rolled up in the form of a
tube, and attached to a brazen rod
which was firmly stuck into a wooden
board resting on four legs. In
this position the Yogi used to
perform his japa (mystical meditation),
with his eyes half shut. At the time of his ascending to his aerial
seat, and also when he descended from
it, his disciples used to cover
him with a blanket. The Tatwabodhini Patrika, Chaitra, 1768
Sakabda,
corresponding to March 1847.
The Bhukailas Yogi
The extraordinary character of the holy
man who was brought to
Bhukailas, in Kidderpore, about 14
years ago, may still be remembered by
many.
In the month of Asar, 1754 Sakabda (1834 A.C.), he was brought to
Bhukailas from Shirpur, where he was
under the charge of Hari Singh, the
durwan (porter) of Mr. Jones. He kept
his eyes closed, and went without
food and drink, for three consecutive
days, after which a small quantity
of milk was forcibly poured down his
throat. He never took any food
that was not forced upon him. He seemed always without external
consciousness. To remove this condition Dr. Graham applied
ammonia to
his nostrils; but it only produced tremblings in the body,
and did not
break his Yoga state. Three days passed before he could be made to
speak. He said that his name was Dulla Nabab, and
when annoyed, he
uttered a single word, from which it
was inferred that he was a Punjabi.
When he was laid up with gout Dr.
Graham attended him, but he refused to
take medicine, either in the form of
powder or mixture. He was cured of
the disease only by the application
of ointments and liniments
prescribed by the doctor. He died in the month of Chaitra 1755 Sakabda,
of a choleric affection.*--The
Tatwabodhini Patrika, Chaitra, 1768
Sakabda, corresponding to March, 1847
A.C.
--------
* The above particulars of this holy
man have been obtained on
unexceptionable testimony.--Ed.
T.B.P.
--------------------
PHILOSOPHICAL
True and False Personality
The title prefixed to the following
observations may well have suggested
a more metaphysical treatment of the
subject than can be attempted on
the present occasion. The doctrine of the trinity, or trichotomy of
man, which distinguishes soul from
spirit, comes to us with such
weighty, venerable, and even sacred
authority, that we may well be
content, for the moment, with
confirmations that should be intelligible
to all, forbearing the abstruser
questions which have divided minds of
the highest philosophical
capacity. We will not now inquire
whether the
difference is one of states or of
entities; whether the phenomenal or
mind consciousness is merely the
external condition of one indivisible
Ego, or has its origin and nature in
an altogether different principle;
the Spirit, or immortal part of us,
being of Divine birth, while the
senses and understanding, with the
consciousness--Ahankara--thereto
appertaining, are from an Anima
Mundi, or what in the Sankhya philosophy
is called Prakriti. My utmost expectations will have been
exceeded if
it should happen that any
considerations here offered should throw even
a faint suggestive light upon the
bearings of this great problem. It
may be that the mere
irreconcilability of all that is characteristic of
the temporal Ego with the conditions
of the superior life--if that can
be made apparent--will incline you to
regard the latter rather as the
Redeemer, that has indeed to be born
within us for our salvation and our
immortality, than as the inmost,
central, and inseparable principle of
our phenomenal life. It may be that by the light of such
reflections
the sense of identity will present no
insuperable difficulty to the
conception of its contingency, or to
the recognition that the mere
consciousness which fails to attach
itself to a higher principle is no
guarantee of an eternal
individuality.
It is only by a survey of
individuality, regarded as the source of all
our affections, thoughts, and
actions, that we can realize its intrinsic
worthlessness; and only when we have brought ourselves to a
real and
felt acknowledgment of that fact, can
we accept with full understanding
those "hard sayings" of
sacred authority which bid us "die to
ourselves," and which proclaim
the necessity of a veritable new birth.
This mystic death and birth is the
key-note of all profound religious
teaching; and that which distinguishes the ordinary
religious mind from
spiritual insight is just the
tendency to interpret these expressions as
merely figurative, or, indeed, to
overlook them altogether.
Of all the reproaches which modern
Spiritualism, with the prospect it is
thought to hold out of an individual
temporal immortality, has had to
encounter, there is none that we can
less afford to neglect than that
which represents it as an ideal
essentially egotistical and borne. True
it is that our critics do us
injustice through ignorance of the enlarged
views as to the progress of the soul
in which the speculations of
individual Spiritualists coincide
with many remarkable spirit teachings.
These are, undoubtedly, a great
advance upon popular theological
opinions, while some of them go far
to satisfy the claim of Spiritualism
to be regarded as a religion. Nevertheless, that slight estimate of
individuality, as we know it, which
in one view too easily allies itself
to materialism, is also the attitude
of spiritual idealism, and is
seemingly at variance with the
excessive value placed by Spiritualists
on the discovery of our mere psychic
survival. The idealist may
recognise this survival; but, whether he does so or not, he occupies a
post of vantage when he tells us that
it is of no ultimate importance.
For he, like the Spiritualist who
proclaims his "proof palpable of
immortality," is thinking of the
mere temporal, self-regarding
consciousness--its sensibilities, desires,
gratifications, and
affections--which are unimportant
absolutely, that is to say, their
importance is relative solely to the
individual. There is, indeed, no
more characteristic outbirth of
materialism than that which makes a
teleological centre of the
individual. Ideas have become mere
abstractions; the only reality is the infinitely
little. Thus
utilitarianism can see in the State
only a collection of individuals
whose "greatest happiness,"
mutually limited by nice adjustment to the
requirements of "the greatest
numbers," becomes the supreme end of
government and law. And it cannot, I think, be pretended that
Spiritualists in general have
advanced beyond this substitution of a
relative for an absolute
standard. Their "glad tidings of
great joy"
are not truly religious. They have regard to the perpetuation in time
of that lower consciousness whose
manifestations, delights, and activity
are in time, and of time alone. Their glorious message is not
essentially different from that which
we can conceive as brought to us
by some great alchemist, who had
discovered the secret of conferring
upon us and upon our friends a
mundane perpetuity of youth and health.
Its highest religious claim is that
it enlarges the horizon of our
opportunities. As such, then, let us hail it with gratitude
and relief;
but, on peril of our salvation, if I
may not say of our immortality, let
us not repose upon a prospect which
is, at best, one of renewed labours,
and trials, and efforts to be free even
of that very life whose only
value is opportunity.
To estimate the value of
individuality, we cannot do better than regard
man in his several mundane relations,
supposing that either of these
might become the central, actuating
focus of his being--his "ruling
love," as Swedenborg would call
it--displacing his mere egoism, or
self-love, thrusting that more to the
circumference, and identifying
him, so to speak, with that circle of
interests to which all his
energies and affections relate.
Outside this substituted Ego we are to
suppose that he has no conscience, no
desire, no will. Just as the
entirely selfish man views the whole
of life, so far as it can really
interest him solely in relation to
his individual well-being, so our
supposed man of a family, of a
society, of a Church, or a State, has no
eye for any truth or any interest
more abstract or more individual than
that of which he may be rightly
termed the incarnation. History shows
approximations to this ideal man.
Such a one, for instance, I conceive
to have been Loyola; such another, possibly, is Bismarck. Now these
men have ceased to be individuals in
their own eyes, so far as concerns
any value attaching to their own
special individualities. They are
devotees. A certain "conversion" has been
effected, by which from mere
individuals they have become
"representative" men. And
we--the
individuals--esteem them precisely in
proportion to the remoteness from
individualism of the spirit that
actuates them. As the circle of
interests to which they are
"devoted" enlarges--that is to say, as the
dross of individualism is purged
away--we accord them indulgence,
respect, admiration and love. From
self to the family, from the family
to the sect or society, from the sect
or society to the Church (in no
denominational sense) and State,
there is the ascending scale and
widening circle, the successive
transitions which make the worth of an
individual depend on the more or less
complete subversion of his
individuality by a more comprehensive
soul or spirit. The very modesty
which suppresses, as far as possible,
the personal pronoun in our
addresses to others, testifies to our
sense that we are hiding away some
utterly insignificant and unworthy
thing; a thing that has no business
even to be, except in that utter
privacy which is rather a sleep and a
rest than living. Well, but in the above instances, even those
most
remote from sordid individuality, we
have fallen far short of that ideal
in which the very conception of the
partial, the atomic, is lost in the
abstraction of universal being,
transfigured in the glory of a Divine
personality. You are familiar with Swedenborg's
distinction between
discrete and continuous degrees.
Hitherto we have seen how man--the
individual--may rise continuously by
throwing himself heart and soul
into the living interests of the
world, and lose his own limitations by
adoption of a larger mundane spirit.
But still he has but ascended
nearer to his own mundane source,
that soul of the world, or Prakriti,
to which, if I must not too literally
insist on it, I may still resort
as a convenient figure. To transcend it, he must advance by the
discrete degree. No simple "bettering" of the
ordinary self, which
leaves it alive, as the focus--the
French word "foyer" is the more
expressive--of his thoughts and
actions; not even that identification
with higher interests in the world's
plane just spoken of, is, or can
progressively become, in the least
adequate to the realization of his
Divine ideal. This "bettering" of our present
nature, it alone being
recognized as essential, albeit
capable of "improvement," is a
commonplace, and to use a now
familiar term a "Philistine," conception.
It is the substitution of the
continuous for the discrete degree. It
is
a compromise with our dear old
familiar selves. "And Saul and the
people spared Agag, and the best of
the sheep, and of the oxen, and of
the fatlings, and the lambs, and all
that was good, and would not
utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that
they destroyed utterly." We know how little acceptable that compromise
was to the God of Israel; and no illustration can be more apt than this
narrative, which we may well, as we
would fain, believe to be rather
typical than historical. Typical of that indiscriminate and radical
sacrifice, or "vastation,"
of our lower nature, which is insisted upon
as the one thing needful by all, or
nearly all,* the great religions of
the world. No language could seem more purposely chosen
to indicate
that it is the individual nature
itself, and not merely its accidental
evils, that has to be abandoned and
annihilated. It is not denied that
what was spared was good; there is no suggestion of a universal
infection of physical or moral
evil; it is simply that what is good and
useful relatively to a lower state of
being must perish with it if the
latter is to make way for something
better. And the illustration is the
more suitable in that the purpose of
this paper is not ethical, but
points to a metaphysical conclusion,
though without any attempt at
metaphysical exposition. There is no question here of moral
distinctions; they are neither denied
nor affirmed. According to the
highest moral standard, 'A' may be a
most virtuous and estimable person.
According to the lowest, 'B' may be
exactly the reverse. The moral
interval between the two is within
what I have called, following
Swedenborg, the "continuous
degree." And perhaps the
distinction can be
still better expressed by another
reference to that Book which we
theosophical students do not less
regard, because we are disposed to
protest against all exclusive
pretensions of religious systems.
--------
* Of the higher religious teachings
of Mohammedanism I know next to
nothing, and therefore cannot say if
it should be excepted from the
statement.
--------
The good man who has, however, not
yet attained his "son-ship of God" is
"under the law"--that moral
law which is educational and preparatory,
"the schoolmaster to bring us
unto Christ," our own Divine spirit, or
higher personality. To conceive the difference between these two
states
is to apprehend exactly what is here
meant by the false, temporal, and
the true, eternal personality, and
the sense in which the word
personality is here intended to be
understood. We do not know whether,
when that great change has come over
us, when that great work* of our
lives has been accomplished--here or
hereafter--we shall or shall not
retain a sense of identity with our
past, and forever discarded selves.
In philosophical parlance, the
"matter" will have gone, and the very
"form" will have been
changed. Our transcendental identity
with the 'A'
or 'B' that now is** must depend on
that question, already disclaimed in
this paper, whether the Divine spirit
is our originally central
essential being, or is an hypostasis.
Now, being "under the law" implies
that we do not act directly from our
own will, but indirectly, that is,
in willing obedience to another will.
--------
* The "great work," so
often mentioned by the hermetic philosophers, and
which is exactly typified by the
operation of alchemy, the conversion of
the base metals to gold, is now well
understood to refer to the
analogous spiritual conversion. There is also good reason to believe
that the material process was a real
one.
** "A person may have won his
immortal life, and remained the same inner
self he was on earth, through
eternity; but this does not imply
necessarily that he must either remain
the Mr. Smith or Brown he was on
earth, or lose his
individuality."--Isis Unveiled, vol. 1. p. 316.
----------
The will from which we should
naturally act--our own will--is of course
to be understood not as mere
volition, but as our nature--our "ruling
love," which makes such and such
things agreeable to us, and others the
reverse. As "under the law," this nature is
kept in suspension, and
because it is suspended only as to
its activity and manifestation, and
by no means abrogated, is the
law--the substitution of a foreign will--
necessary for us. Our own will or nature is still central; that which
we obey by effort and resistance to
ourselves is more circumferential or
hypostatic. Constancy in this obedience and resistance
tends to draw
the circumferential will more and
more to the centre, till there ensues
that "explosion," as St.
Martin called it, by which our natural will is
for ever dispersed and annihilated by
contact with the divine, and the
latter henceforth becomes our very
own. Thus has "the schoolmaster"
brought us unto "Christ,"
and if by "Christ" we understand no
historically divine individual, but
the logos, word, or manifestation of
God in us--then we have, I believe,
the essential truth that was taught
in the Vedanta, by Kapila, by Buddha,
by Confucius, by Plato, and by
Jesus. There is another presentation of possibly the
same truth, for a
reference to which I am indebted to
our brother J.W. Farquhar. It is
from Swedenborg, in the
"Apocalypse Explained," No. 57:--"Every man has
an inferior or exterior mind, and a
mind superior or interior. These
two minds are altogether
distinct. By the inferior mind man is in
the
natural world together with men
there; but by the superior mind he is
in the spiritual world with the
angels there. These two minds are so
distinct that man so long as he lives
in the world does not know what is
performing within himself in his
superior mind; but when he becomes a
spirit, which is immediately after
death, he does not know what is
performing in his mind." The consciousness of the "superior
mind," as
the result of mere separation from
the earthly body, certainly does not
suggest that sublime condition which
implies separation from so much
more than the outer garment of flesh,
but otherwise the distinction
between the two lives, or minds,
seems to correspond with that now under
consideration.
What is it that strikes us especially
about this substitution of the
divine-human for the human-natural
personality? Is it not the loss of
individualism? (Individualism, pray observe, not
individuality.) There
are certain sayings of Jesus which
have probably offended many in their
hearts, though they may not have
dared to acknowledge such a feeling to
themselves: "Woman, what have I to do with
thee?" and those other
disclaimers of special ties and
relationships which mar the perfect
sympathy of our reverence. There is something awful and
incomprehensible to us in this
repudiation of individualism, even in its
most amiable relations. But it is in the Aryan philosophies that we
see
this negation of all that we
associate with individual life most
emphatically and explicitly insisted
on. It is, indeed, the
impossibility of otherwise than thus
negatively characterizing the soul
that has attained Moksha (deliverance
from bonds) which has caused the
Hindu consummation to be regarded as
the loss of individuality and
conscious existence. It is just because we cannot easily
dissociate
individuality from individualism that
we turn from the sublime
conception of primitive philosophy as
from what concerns us as little as
the ceaseless activity and
germination in other brains of thought once
thrown off and severed from the
thinking source, which is the
immortality promised by Mr. Frederick
Harrison to the select specimens
of humanity whose thoughts have any
reproductive power. It is not a
mere preference of nothingness, or
unconscious absorption, to limitation
that inspires the intense yearning of
the Hindu mind for Nirvana. Even
in the Upanishads there are many
evidences of a contrary belief, while
in the Sankhya the aphorisms of
Kapila unmistakably vindicate the
individuality of soul (spirit).
Individual consciousness is maintained,
perhaps infinitely intensified, but
its "matter" is no longer personal.
Only try to realize what
"freedom from desire," the favourite phrase in
which individualism is negated in
these systems, implies. Even in that
form of devotion which consists in
action, the soul is warned in the
Bhagavad-Gita that it must be
indifferent to results.
Modern Spiritualism itself testifies
to something of the same sort.
Thus we are told by one of its most
gifted and experienced champions,
"Sometimes the evidence will
come from an impersonal source, from some
instructor who has passed through the
plane on which individuality is
demonstrable." (M.A. (Oxon.),
"Spirit Identity," p. 7.)
Again, "And if
he" (the investigator)
"penetrates far enough, he will find himself in a
region for which his present embodied
state unfits him: a region in
which the very individuality is
merged, and the highest and subtlest
truths are not locked within one
breast, but emanate from representative
companies whose spheres of life are
interblended." (Id., p. 15.) By
this "interblending" is of
course meant only a perfect sympathy and
community of thought; and I should doubtless misrepresent the
author
quoted were I to claim an entire
identity of the idea he wishes to
convey, and that now under
consideration. Yet what, after all, is
sympathy but the loosening of that
hard "astringent" quality (to use
Bohme's phrase) wherein individualism
consists? And just as in true
sympathy, the partial suppression of
individualism and of what is
distinctive, we experience a superior
delight and intensity of being, so
it may be that in parting with all
that shuts us up in the spiritual
penthouse of an Ego--all, without
exception or reserve--we may for the
first time know what true life is,
and what are its ineffable
privileges. Yet it is not on this ground that acceptance
can be hoped
for the conception of immortality
here crudely and vaguely presented ill
contrast to that bourgeois eternity
of individualism and the family
affections, which is probably the
great charm of Spiritualism to the
majority of its proselytes. It is doubtful whether the things that
"eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard,"
have ever taken stronghold of the
imagination, or reconciled it to the
loss of all that is definitely
associated with the Joy and movement
of living. Not as consummate bliss
can the dweller on the lower plane
presume to command that transcendent
life.
At the utmost he can but echo the revelation that came to the
troubled mind in "Sartor
Resartus," "A man may do without happiness, and
instead thereof find blessedness." It is no sublimation of hope, but
the necessities of thought that
compel us to seek the condition of true
being and immortality elsewhere than
in the satisfactions of
individualism. True personality can only subsist in
consciousness by
participation of that of which we can
only say that it is the very
negation of individuality in any
sense in which individuality can be
conceived by us. What is the content or "matter" of
consciousness we
cannot define, save by vaguely
calling it ideal. But we can say that in
that region individual interests and
concerns will find no place. Nay,
more, we can affirm that only then
has the influx of the new life a free
channel when the obstructions of
individualism are already removed.
Hence the necessity of the mystic
death, which is as truly a death as
that which restores our physical body
to the elements. "Neither I am,
nor is aught mine, nor do I
exist," a passage which has been well
explained by a Hindu Theosophist
(Peary Chand Mittra), as meaning "that
when the spiritual state is arrived
at, I and mine, which belong to the
finite mind, cease, and the soul,
living in the universum and
participating in infinity with God,
manifests its infinite state." I
cannot refrain from quoting the
following passage from the same
instructive writer:--
Every human being has a soul which,
while not separable from the brain
or nerves, is mind or jivatma, or
sentient soul, but when regenerated or
spiritualized by yoga, it is free
from bondage and manifests the divine
essence. It rises above all phenomenal states--joy,
sorrow, grief,
fear, hope, and in fact all states
resulting in pain or pleasure, and
becomes blissful, realizing
immortality, infinitude and felicity of
wisdom within itself. The sentient
soul is nervous, sensational,
emotional, phenomenal, and
impressional. It constitutes the natural
life and is finite. The soul and the
non-soul are thus the two
landmarks. What is non-soul is prakriti, or
created. It is not the lot
of every one to know what soul is,
and therefore millions live and die
possessing minds cultivated in
intellect and feeling, but not raised to
the soul state. In proportion as one's soul is emancipated
from
prakriti or sensuous bondage, in that
proportion his approximation to
the soul state is attained; and it is this that constitutes disparities
in the intellectual, moral, and
religious culture of human beings and
their consequent approximation to
God.--Spiritual Stray Leaves,
Calcutta, 1879.
He also cites some words of Fichte,
which prove that the like conclusion
is reached in the philosophy of
Western idealism: "The real spirit which
comes to itself in human
consciousness is to be regarded as an
impersonal pneuma--universal reason,
nay, as the spirit of God Himself;
and the good of man's whole
development, therefore, can be no other than
to substitute the universal for the
individual consciousness."
That there may be, and are affirmed
to be, intermediate stages, states,
or discrete degrees, will, of course,
be understood. The aim of this
paper has been to call attention to
the abstract condition of the
immortalized consciousness; negatively it is true, but it is on this
very account more suggestive of
practical applications. The connection
of the Theosophical Society with the
Spiritualist movement is so
intimately sympathetic, that I hope
one of these may he pointed out
without offence. It is that immortality cannot be phenomenally
demonstrated. What I have called psychic survival can be, and
probably
is.
But immortality is the attainment of a state, and that state the
very negation of phenomenal
existence. Another consequence refers to
the direction our culture should
take. We have to compose ourselves to
death. Nothing less.
We are each of us a complex of desires, passions,
interests, modes of thinking and
feeling, opinions, prejudices, judgment
of others, likings and dislikings,
affections, aims public and private.
These things, and whatever else
constitutes, the recognizable content of
our present temporal individuality,
are all in derogation of our ideal
of impersonal being--saving
consciousness, the manifestation of being.
In some minute, imperfect, relative,
and almost worthless sense we may
do right in many of our judgments,
and be amiable in many of our
sympathies and affections. We cannot be sure even of this. Only people
unhabituated to introspection and
self-analysis are quite sure of it.
These are ever those who are loudest
in their censures, and most
dogmatic in their opinionative
utterances. In some coarse, rude fashion
they are useful, it may be
indispensable, to the world's work, which is
not ours, save in a transcendental
sense and operation. We have to
strip ourselves of all that, and to
seek perfect passionless
tranquillity. Then we may hope to die. Meditation, if it be deep, and
long, and frequent enough, will teach
even our practical Western mind to
understand the Hindu mind in its
yearning for Nirvana. One
infinitesimal atom of the great conglomerate
of humanity, who enjoys the
temporal, sensual life, with its
gratifications and excitements, as much
as most, will testify with unaffected
sincerity that he would rather be
annihilated altogether than remain
for ever what he knows himself to be,
or even recognizably like it. And he is a very average moral specimen.
I have heard it said, "The
world's life and business would come to an
end, there would be an end to all its
healthy activity, an end of
commerce, arts, manufactures, social
intercourse, government, law, and
science, if we were all to devote
ourselves to the practice of Yoga,
which is pretty much what your ideal
comes to." And the criticism is
perfectly just and true. Only I believe it does not go quite far
enough. Not only the activities of the world, but the
phenomenal world
itself, which is upheld in
consciousness, would disappear or take new,
more interior, more living, and more
significant forms, at least for
humanity, if the consciousness of
humanity was itself raised to a
superior state. Readers of St. Martin, and of that impressive
book of
the late James Hinton, "Man and
his Dwelling-place," especially if they
have also by chance been students of
the idealistic philosophies, will
not think this suggestion
extravagant. If all the world were
Yogis, the
world would have no need of those
special activities, the ultimate end
and purpose of which, by-the-by, our
critic would find it not easy to
define. And if only a few withdraw,
the world can spare them. Enough of
that.
Only let us not talk of this ideal of
impersonal, universal being in
individual consciousness as an
unverified dream. Our sense and
impatience of limitations are the
guarantees that they are not final and
insuperable. Whence is this power of standing outside
myself, of
recognizing the worthlessness of the
pseudo--judgments, of the
prejudices with their lurid colouring
of passion, of the temporal
interests, of the ephemeral
appetites, of all the sensibilities of
egoism, to which I nevertheless
surrender myself so that they indeed
seem myself? Through and above this troubled atmosphere I
see a being,
pure, passionless, rightly measuring
the proportions and relations of
things, for whom there is, properly
speaking, no present, with its
phantasms, falsities, and
half-truths; who has nothing personal in
the
sense of being opposed to the whole
of related personalities: who sees
the truth rather than struggles
logically towards it, and truth of which
I can at present form no
conception; whose activities are unimpeded
by
intellectual doubt, un-perverted by
moral depravity, and who is
indifferent to results, because he
has not to guide his conduct by
calculation of them, or by any
estimate of their value. I look up to
him with awe, because in being
passionless he sometimes seems to me to
be without love. Yet I know that this
is not so; only that his love is
diffused by its range, and elevated
in abstraction beyond my gaze and
comprehension. And I see in this
being my ideal, my higher, my only
true, in a word, my immortal self.
--C.C. Massey
Chastity
Ideal woman is the most beautiful
work of the evolution of forms (in our
days she is very often only a
beautiful work of art). A beautiful
woman
is the most attractive, charming, and
lovely being that a man can
imagine. I never saw a male being who could lay any
claims to manly
vigour, strength or courage, who was
not an admirer of woman. Only a
profligate, a coward or a sneak would
hate women; a hero and a man
admires woman, and is admired by her.
Women's love belongs to a complete
man. Then she smiles on him his
human nature becomes aroused, his
animal desires like little children
begin to clamour for bread, they do
not want to be starved, they want to
satisfy their hunger. His whole soul flies towards the lovely
being,
which attracts him with almost
irresistible force, and if his higher
principles, his divine spirit, is not
powerful enough to restrain him,
his soul follows the temptations of
his physical body. Once again the
animal nature has subdued the
divine. Woman rejoices in her victory,
and man is ashamed of his
weakness; and instead of being a
representation of strength, he
becomes an object of pity.
To be truly powerful a man must
retain his power and never for a moment
lose it. To lose it is to surrender his divine nature
to his animal
nature; to restrain his desires and retain his power,
is to assert his
divine right, and to become more than
a man--a god.
Eliphas Levi says: "To be an object of attraction for all
women, you
must desire none;" and every one who has had a little experience
of his
own must know that he is right. Woman wants what she cannot get, and
what she can get she does not want.
Perhaps it is to the man endowed
with spiritual power, that the Bible
refers, when it says: "To him who
has much, more shall be given, and
from him who has little, that little
shall be taken away."
To become perfect it is not required
that we should be born without any
animal desires. Such a person would not be much above an idiot; he
would be rightly despised and laughed
at by every true man and woman;
but we must obtain the power to
control our desires, instead of being
controlled by them; and here lies the true philosophy of
temptation.
If a man has no higher aim in life than
to eat and drink and propagate
his species; if all his aspirations and desires are
centred in a wish
of living a happy life in the bosom
of his family; there can be no
wrong if he follows the dictates of
his nature and is satisfied with his
lot.
When he dies, his family will mourn, his friends will say he was a
good fellow; they will give him a first-class funeral, and
they will
perhaps write on his tombstone
something like what I once saw in a
certain churchyard:
Here is the grave of John McBride,
He lived, got married, and died.
And that will be the end of Mr. John
McBride, until in another
incarnation he will wake up again
perhaps as Mr. John Smith, or
Ramchandra Row, or Patrick
O'Flannegan, to find himself on much the same
level as he was before.
But if a man has higher aims and
objects in life, if he wants to avoid
an endless cycle of re-incarnations,
if he wants to become a master of
his destiny, then must he first
become a master of himself. How can he
expect to be able to control the
external forces of Nature, if he cannot
control the few little natural forces
that reside within his own
insignificant body?
To do this, it is not necessary that
a man should run away from his wife
and family, and leave them uncared
for. Such a man would commence his
spiritual career with an act of
injustice,--an act that like Banquo's
ghost would always haunt him and
hinder him in his further progress. If
a man has taken upon himself
responsibilities, he is bound to fulfill
them, and an act of cowardice would
be a bad beginning for a work that
requires courage.
A celibate, who has no temptation and
who has no one to care for but
himself, has undoubtedly superior
advantages for meditation and study.
Being away from all irritating
influences, he can lead what may be
called a selfish life; because he looks out only for his own
spiritual
interest; but he has little opportunity to develop his
will-power by
resisting temptations of every
kind. But the man who is surrounded by
the latter, and is every day and
every hour under the necessity of
exercising his will-power to resist
their surging violence, will, if he
rightly uses these powers, become
strong; he may not have as much
opportunity for study as the celibate,
being more engrossed in material
cares; but when he rises up to a higher state in his
next incarnation,
his will-power will be more
developed, and he will be in the possession
of the password, which is CONTINENCE.
A slave cannot become a commander,
until after he becomes free. A man
who is subject to his own animal
desires, cannot command the animal
nature of others. A muscle becomes developed by its use, an
instinct or
habit is strengthened in proportion
as it is permitted to rule, a mental
power becomes developed by practice,
and the principle of will grows
strong by exercise; and this is the use of temptations. To have strong
passions and to overcome them, makes
man a hero. The sexual instinct is
the strongest of all, and he who
vanquishes it, becomes a god.
The human soul admires a beautiful
form, and is therefore an idolater.
The human spirit adores a principle,
and is the true worshiper.
Marriage is the union of the male
spirit with the female soul for the
purpose of propagating the species; but if in its place there is only a
union of a male and a female body,
then marriage becomes merely a brutal
act, which lowers man and woman, not
to the level of animals but below
them;
because animals are restricted to certain seasons for the
exercise of their procreative
powers; while man, being a reasonable
being, has it in his power to use or
abuse them at all times.
But how many marriages do we find
that are really spiritual and not
based on beauty of form or other
considerations? How soon after the
wedding-day do they become disgusted
with each other? What is the cause
of this? A man and a woman may marry and their
characters may differ
widely. They may have different tastes, different
opinions and
different inclinations. All those differences may disappear, and will
probably disappear; because by living together they become
accustomed
to each other, and become equalized
in time. Each influences the other,
and as a man may grow fond of a pet
snake, whose presence at first
horrified him, so a man may put up
with a disagreeable partner and
become fond of her in course of time.
But if the man allows full liberty to
his animal passions, and exercises
his "legal rights" without
restraint, these animal cravings which first
called so piteously for
gratification, will soon be gorged, and flying
away laugh at the poor fool who
nursed them in his breast. The wife
will come to know that her husband is
a coward, because she sees him
squirm under the lash of his animal
passions; and as woman loves
strength and power, so in proportion
as he loses his love, will she lose
her confidence. He will look upon her
as a burden, and she will look
upon him in disgust as a brute. Conjugal happiness will have departed,
and misery, divorce or death will be
the end.
The remedy for all these evils is
continence, and it has been our object
to show its necessity, for it was the
object of this article.
--F. Hartmann
Zoroastrianism on the Septenary
Constitution of Man
Many of the esoteric doctrines given
out through the Theosophical
Society reveal a spirit akin to that
of the older religions of the East,
especially the Vedic and the
Zendic. Leaving aside the former, I
propose to point out by a few
instances the close resemblance which the
doctrines of the old Zendic
Scriptures, as far as they are now
preserved, bear to these recent
teachings.
Any ordinary Parsi, while reciting
his daily Niyashes, Gehs and Yashts,
provided he yields to the curiosity
of looking into the meanings of what
he recites, will, with a little
exertion, perceive how the same ideas,
only clothed in a more intelligible
and comprehensive garb, are
reflected in these teachings. The description of the septenary
constitution of man found in the 54th
chapter of the Yasna, one of the
most authoritative books of the
Mazdiasnian religion, shows the identity
of the doctrines of Avesta and the
esoteric philosophy. Indeed, as a
Mazdiasnian, I felt quite ashamed
that, having such undeniable and
unmistakable evidence before their
eyes, the Zoroastrians of the present
day should not avail themselves of
the opportunity offered of throwing
light upon their now entirely
misunderstood and misinterpreted
Scriptures by the assistance and
under the guidance of the Theosophical
Society. If Zend scholars and students of Avesta would
only care to
study and search for themselves, they
would, perhaps, find to assist
them, men who are in possession of
the right and only key to the true
esoteric wisdom; men, who would be willing to guide and help
them to
reach the true and hidden meaning,
and to supply them with the missing
links that have resulted in such
painful gaps as to leave the meaning
meaningless, and to create in the
mind of the perplexed student doubts
that finally culminate in a thorough
unbelief in his own religion. Who
knows but they may find some of their
own co-religionists, who, aloof
from the world, have to this day
preserved the glorious truths of their
once mighty religion, and who, hidden
in the recesses of solitary
mountains and unknown silent caves,
are still in possession of; and
exercising, mighty powers, the
heirloom of the ancient Magi. Our
Scriptures say that ancient Mobeds
were Yogis, who had the power of
making themselves simultaneously
visible at different places, even
though hundreds of miles apart, and
also that they could heal the sick
and work that which would now appear
to us miraculous. All this was
considered facts but two or three
centuries back, as no reader of old
books (mostly Persian) is
unacquainted with, or will disbelieve a priori
unless his mind is irretrievably
biassed by modern secular education.
The story about the Mobed and Emperor
Akbar and of the latter's
conversion, is a well-known
historical fact, requiring no proof.
I will first of all quote side by
side the two passages referring to the
septenary nature of man as I find
them in our Scriptures and the
THEOSOPHIST--
Sub-divisions of septenary Sub-divisions of septenary
man according to the man according to Yasna
Occultists. (chap.54, para. I).
1. The Physical body, com- 1. Tanwas-i.e., body(the
posed wholly of matter in its self ) that consists of bones
grossest and most tangible -grossest form of matter.
form.
2. The Vital principle-(or
Jiva)- 2. Ushtanas-Vital heat
a form of force indestructible, (or force).
and when disconnected with
one set of atoms, becoming
attracted immediately by others.
3. The Astral body (Linga- 3. Keherpas Aerial form,
sharira) composed of highly the airy mould, (Per. Kaleb).
etherealized matter; in its
habitual passive state, the
perfect but very shadowy
duplicate of the body; its
activity, consolidation and
form depending entirely on
the Kama-rupa.
4. The Astral shape (Kama- 4. Tevishis-Will, or where
rupa or body of desire, a sentient consciousness is
principle defining the con- formed, also fore-knowledge.
figuration of--
5. The animal or Physical 5. Baodhas (in Sanskrit,
intelligence or Conscious- Buddhi)-Body of physical
ness or Ego, analogous to, consciousness, perception by
though proportionally higher the senses or animal soul.
in the senses or the animal
degree than the reason,
instinct, memory, imagination
&c., existing in the higher
animals.
6. The Higher or Spiritual 6. Urawanem (Per. Rawan)
intelligence or consciousness, -Soul, that which gets its
spiritual Ego, in which or reward or punishment
mainly resides the sense of after death.
consciousness in the perfect
man, though the lower dimmer
animal consciousness co-exists
in No. 5.
7. The Spirit-an emanation from 7. Frawashem or Farohar-
the ABSOLUTE uncreated; eternal; Spirit (the guiding energy
a state rather than a being. which is with every man,
is
absolutely independent,
and,
without mixing with
any worldly object, leads
man to
good. The spark
of
divinity in every being).
The above is given in the Avesta as
follows:--
"We declare and positively make
known this (that) we offer (our) entire
property (which is) the body (the
self consisting of) bones (tanwas),
vital heat (ushtanas), aerial form
(keherpas), knowledge (tevishis),
consciousness (baodhas), soul
(urwanem), and spirit (frawashem), to the
prosperous, truth-coherent (and) pure
Gathas (prayers)."
The ordinary Gujarathi translation
differs from Spiegel's, and this
latter differs very slightly from
what is here given. Yet in the
present translation there has been
made no addition to, or omission
from, the original wording of the
Zend text. The grammatical
construction also has been preserved
intact. The only difference,
therefore, between the current
translations and the one here given is
that ours is in accordance with the
modern corrections of philological
research which make it more
intelligible, and the idea perfectly clear
to the reader.
The word translated "aerial
form" has come down to us without undergoing
any change in the meaning. It is the modern Persian word kaleb, which
means a mould, a shape into which a
thing is cast, to take a certain
form and features. The next word is one about which there is a
great
difference of opinion. It is by some called strength, durability,
i.e.,
that power which gives tenacity to
and sustains the nerves. Others
explain it as that quality in a man
of rank and position which makes him
perceive the result of certain events
(causes), and thus helps him in
being prepared to meet them. This meaning is suggestive, though we
translate it as knowledge, or foreknowledge
rather, with the greatest
diffidence. The eighth word is quite clear. That inward feeling which
tells a man that he knows this or
that, that he has or can do certain
things--is perception and
consciousness. It is the inner conviction,
knowledge and its possession. The ninth word is again one which has
retained its meaning and has been in
use up to the present day. The
reader will at once recognize that it
is the origin of the modern word
Rawan. It is (metaphorically) the king, the
conscious motor or agent in
man. It is that something which
depends upon and is benefited or injured
by the foregoing attributes. We say depends upon, because its progress
entirely consists in the development
of those attributes. If they are
neglected, it becomes weak and
degenerated, and disappears. If they
ascend on the moral and spiritual
scale, it gains strength and vigour
and becomes more blended than ever to
the Divine essence--the seventh
principle. But how does it become
attracted toward its monad? The tenth
word answers the question. This is the Divine essence in man. But this
is only the irresponsible minister
(this completes the metaphor). The
real master is the king, the
spiritual soul. It must have the
willingness and power to see and
follow the course pointed out by the
pure spirit. The vizir's business is only to represent a
point of
attraction, towards which the king
should turn. It is for the king to
see and act accordingly for the glory
of his own self. The minister or
spirit can neither compel nor
constrain. It inspires and electrifies
into action; but to benefit by the inspiration, to take
advantage of
it, is left to the option of the
spiritual soul.
If, then, the Avesta contains such a
passage, it must fairly be admitted
that its writers knew the whole
doctrine concerning spiritual man. We
cannot suppose that the ancient
Mazdiasnians, the Magi, wrote this short
passage, without inferring from it,
at the same time, that they were
thoroughly conversant with the whole
of the occult theory about man.
And it looks very strange indeed,
that modern Theosophists should now
preach to us the very same doctrines
that must have been known and
taught thousands of years ago by the
Mazdiasnians,--the passage is
quoted from one of their oldest
writings. And since they propound the
very same ideas, the meaning of which
has well-nigh been lost even to
our most learned Mobeds, they ought
to be credited at least with some
possession of a knowledge, the key to
which has been revealed to them,
and lost to us, and which opens the
door to the meaning of those
hitherto inexplicable sentences and
doctrines in our old writings, about
which we are still, and will go on,
groping in the dark, unless we
listen to what they have to tell us about
them.
To show that the above is not a
solitary instance, but that the Avesta
contains this idea in many other
places, I will give another paragraph
which contains the same doctrine,
though in a more condensed form than
the one just given. Let the Parsi reader turn to Yasna, chapter
26, and
read the sixth paragraph, which runs
as follows:--
We praise the life (ahum), knowledge
(daenam), consciousness (baodhas),
soul (urwanem), and spirit
(frawashem) of the first in religion, the
first teachers and hearers
(learners), the holy men and holy women who
were the protectors of purity here
(in this world).
Here the whole man is spoken of as
composed of five parts, as under:--
1. The
Physical Body.
1. Ahum-Existence, Life. 2. The Vital Principle.
It includes: 3. The Astral Body.
2. Daenam-Knowledge. 4. The Astral shape or
body
of desire.
3. Baodhas-Consciousness. 5. The Animal or physical
intelligence or
consciousness or Ego.
4. Urwanem-Soul. 6. The Higher or
Spiritual
intelligence
or
consciousness, or
Spiritual Ego.
5. Frawashem-Spirit. 7. The Spirit.
In this description the first triple
group--viz., the bones (or the
gross matter), the vital force which
keeps them together, and the
ethereal body, are included in one
and called Existence, Life. The
second part stands for the fourth
principle of the septenary man, as
denoting the configuration of his
knowledge or desires.* Then the
three, consciousness (or animal
soul), (spiritual) soul, and the pure
Spirit are the same as in the first
quoted passage. Why are these four
mentioned as distinct from each other
and not consolidated like the
first part? The sacred writings explain this by saying
that on death
the first of these five parts
disappears and perishes sooner or later in
the earth's atmosphere. The gross elementary matter (the shell) has
to
run within the earth's
attraction; so the ahum separates from
the
higher portions and is lost.
---------
* Modern science also teaches that
certain characteristics of features
indicate the possession of certain
qualities in a man. The whole science
of physiognomy is founded on it. One can predict the disposition of a
man from his features,--i.e., the
features develop in accordance with
the idiosyncrasies, qualities and
vices, knowledge or the ignorance of
man.
---------
The second (i.e., the fourth of the
septenary group) remains, but not
with the spiritual soul. It continues to hold its place in the vast
storehouse of the universe. And it is this second daenam which stands
before the (spiritual) soul in the
form of a beautiful maiden or an ugly
hag.
That which brings this daenam within the sight of the (spiritual)
soul is the third part (i.e., the
fifth of the septenary group), the
baodhas. Or in other words, the (spiritual) soul has
with it, or in it,
the true consciousness by which it
can view the experiences of its
physical career. So this consciousness, this power or faculty
which
brings the recollection, is always
with, in other words, is a part and
parcel of, the soul itself; hence, its not mixing with any other part,
and hence its existence after the
physical death of man.*
--A Parsi F.T.S.
---------
* Our Brother has but to look into
the oldest sacred hooks of China--
namely, the YI KING. or Book of
Changes (translated by James Legge)
written 1,200 B.C., to find that same
Septenary division of man
mentioned in that system of
Divination. Zhing, which is translated
correctly enough "essence,"
is the more subtle and pure part of matter--
the grosser form of the elementary
ether; Khi, or "spirit," is
the
breath, still material but purer than
the zhing, and is made of the
finer and more active form of ether. In the hwun, or soul (animus) the
Khi predominates and the zhing (or
zing) in the pho or animal soul. At
death the hwun (Or spiritual soul)
wanders away, ascending, and the pho
(the root of the Tibetan word
Pho-hat) descends and is changed into a
ghostly shade (the shell). Dr. Medhurst thinks that "the Kwei
Shans"
(see "Theology of the
Chinese," pp. 10-12) are "the expanding and
contracting principles of human
life!" "The Kwei Shans" are brought
about by the dissolution of the human
frame--and consist of the
expanding and ascending Shan which
rambles about in space, and of the
contracted and shrivelled Kwei, which
reverts to earth and nonentity.
Therefore, the Kwei is the physical
body; the Shan is the vital
principle the Kwei Shan the linga-sariram, or the vital soul; Zhing
the fourth principle or Kama Rupa,
the essence of will; pho, the animal
soul;
Khi, the spiritual soul; and Hwun
the pure spirit--the seven
principles of our occult
doctrine!--Ed. Theos.
---------
Brahmanism on the Sevenfold Principle
in Man
It is now very difficult to say what
was the real ancient Aryan
doctrine. If an inquirer were to attempt to answer it
by an analysis
and comparison of all the various
systems of esotericism prevailing in
India, he will soon be lost in a maze
of obscurity and uncertainty. No
comparison between our real
Brahmanical and the Tibetan esoteric
doctrines will be possible unless one
ascertains the teachings of that
so-called "Aryan doctrine,"
and fully comprehends the whole range of the
ancient Aryan philosophy. Kapila's "Sankhya," Patanjali's
"Yog
philosophy," the different
systems of "Saktaya" philosophy, the various
Agamas and Tantras are but branches
of it. There is a doctrine, though,
which is their real foundation, and
which is sufficient to explain the
secrets of these various systems of
philosophy and harmonize their
teachings. It probably existed long before the Vedas
were compiled, and
it was studied by our ancient Rishis
in connection with the Hindu
scriptures. It is attributed to one mysterious personage
called
Maha.*.....
----------
* The very title of the present chief
of the esoteric Himalayan
Brotherhood.--Ed. Theos.
----------
The Upanishads and such portions of
the Vedas as are not chiefly devoted
to the public ceremonials of the
ancient Aryans are hardly intelligible
without some knowledge of that
doctrine. Even the real significance of
the grand ceremonials referred to in
the Vedas will not be perfectly
apprehended without its light being
throw upon them. The Vedas were
perhaps compiled mainly for the use
of the priests assisting at public
ceremonies, but the grandest
conclusions of our real secret doctrine are
therein mentioned. I am informed by persons competent to judge
of the
matter, that the Vedas have a
distinct dual meaning--one expressed by
the literal sense of the words, the
other indicated by the metre and the
swara (intonation), which are, as it
were the life of the Vedas.
Learned Pundits and philologists of
course deny that swara has anything
to do with philosophy or ancient
esoteric doctrines; but the mysterious
connection between swara and light is
one of its most profound secrets.
Now, it is extremely difficult to
show whether the Tibetans derived
their doctrine from the ancient
Rishis of India, or the ancient
Brahrnans learned their occult
science from the adepts of Tibet; or,
again, whether the adepts of both
countries professed originally the
same doctrine and derived it from a
common source.* If you were to go
to the Sramana Balagula, and question
some of the Jain Pundits there
about the authorship of the Vedas and
the origin of the Brahmanical
esoteric doctrine, they would
probably tell you that the Vedas were
composed by Rakshasas** or Daityas,
and that the Brahmans had derived
their secret knowledge from them.***
---------
* See Appendix, Note I.
** A kind of demons-devil.
*** And so would the Christian
padris. But they would never admit that
their "fallen angels" were
borrowed from the Rakshasas; that their
"devil" is the illegitimate
son of Dewel, the Sinhalese female demon;
or that the "war in heaven"
of the Apocalypse--the foundation of the
Christian dogma of the "Fallen
Angels" was copied from the Hindu story
about Siva hurling the Tarakasura who
rebelled against the gods into
Andhahkara, the abode of Darkness,
according to Brahmanical Shastras.
---------
Do these assertions mean that the
Vedas and the Brahmanical esoteric
teachings had their origin in the
lost Atlantis--the continent that once
occupied a considerable portion of
the expanse of the Southern and the
Pacific oceans? The assertion in "Isis Unveiled,"
that Sanskrit was the
language of the inhabitants of the
said continent, may induce one to
suppose that the Vedas had probably
their origin there, wherever else
might be the birthplace of the Aryan
esotericism.* But the real
esoteric doctrine, as well as the
mystic allegorical philosophy of the
Vedas, were derived from another
source again, whatever that may be--
perchance from the divine inhabitants
(gods) of the sacred island which
once existed in the sea that covered
in days of old the sandy tract now
called Gobi Desert. However that may be, the knowledge of the
occult
powers of Nature possessed by the
inhabitants of the lost Atlantis was
learnt by the ancient adepts of
India, and was appended by them to the
esoteric doctrine taught by the
residents of the sacred island.** The
Tibetan adepts, however, have not
accepted this addition to their
esoteric doctrine; and it is in this respect that one should
expect to
find a difference between the two
doctrines.***
----------
* Not necessarily. (See Appendix,
Note II.) It is generally held by
Occultists that Sanskrit has been
spoken in Java and adjacent islands
from remote antiquity.--Ed. Theos.
** A locality which is spoken of to
this day by the Tibetans, and called
by them "Scham-bha-la," the
Happy Land. (See Appendix, Note III.)
*** To comprehend this passage fully,
the reader must turn to vol. I.
pp. 589-594 of "Isis Unveiled."
--------
The Brahmanical occult doctrine
probably contains everything that was
taught about the powers of Nature and
their laws, either in the
mysterious island of the North or in
the equally mysterious continent of
the South. And if you mean to compare the Aryan and the
Tibetan
doctrines as regards their teachings
about the occult powers of Nature,
you must beforehand examine all the
classifications of these powers,
their laws and manifestations, and
the real connotations of the various
names assigned to them in the Aryan
doctrine. Here are some of the
classifications contained in the
Brahmanical system:
I. As appertaining to Parabrahmam and existing in the MACROCOSM.
II. As appertaining to man and existing in the MICROCOSM.
III. For the purposes of d Taraka Yog or
Pranava Yog.
IV. For the purposes of Sankhya Yog (where they are, as it were,
the inherent attributes of Prakriti).
V. For the purposes of Hata Yog.
VI. For the purposes of Koula Agama.
VII. For the purposes of Sakta Agama.
VIII. For the purposes of Siva Aqama.
IX. For the purposes of Sreechakram (the Sreechakram referred
to in "Isis Unveiled" is not the real esoteric Sreechakram
of the ancient adepts of Aryavarta).*
--------
* Very true. But who would be allowed
to give out the "real" esoteric
one?--Ed. Theos.
--------
X. In Atharvena Veda, &c.
In all these classifications
subdivisions have been multiplied
indefinitely by conceiving new
combinations of the Primary Powers in
different proportions. But I must now drop this subject, and proceed
to
consider the "Fragments of
Occult Truth" (since embodied in "Esoteric
Buddhism").
I have carefully examined it, and
find that the results arrived at (in
the Buddhist doctrine) do not differ
much from the conclusions of our
Aryan philosophy, though our mode of
stating the arguments may differ in
form.
I shall now discuss the question from my own standpoint, though,
following, for facility of comparison
and convenience of discussion, the
sequence of classification of the
sevenfold entities or principles
constituting man which is adopted in
the "Fragments." The questions
raised for discussion are (1) whether
the disembodied spirits of human
beings (as they are called by
Spiritualists) appear in the seance-rooms
and elsewhere; and (2) whether the manifestations taking
place are
produced wholly or partly through
their agency.
It is hardly possible to answer these
two questions satisfactorily
unless the meaning intended to be
conveyed by the expression
"disembodied spirits of human
beings" be accurately defined. The words
spiritualism and spirit are very
misleading. Unless English writers in
general, and Spiritualists in
particular, first ascertain clearly the
connotation they mean to assign to
the word spirit, there will be no end
of confusion, and the real nature of
these so-called spiritualistic
phenomena and their modus occurrendi
can never be clearly defined.
Christian writers generally speak of
only two entities in man--the body,
and the soul or spirit (both seeming
to mean the same thing to them).
European philosophers generally speak
of body and mind, and argue that
soul or spirit cannot be anything
else than mind. They are of opinion
that any belief in lingasariram* is
entirely unphilosophical. These
views are certainly incorrect, and
are based on unwarranted assumptions
as to the possibilities of Nature,
and on an imperfect understanding of
its laws. I shall now examine (from the standpoint of
the Brahmanical
esoteric doctrine) the spiritual
constitution of man, the various
entities or principles existing in
him, and ascertain whether either of
those entities entering into his
composition can appear on earth after
his death, and if so, what it is that
so appears.
--------
* The astral body, so called.
--------
Professor Tyndall in his excellent
papers on what he calls the "Germ
Theory," comes to the following
conclusions as the result of a series of
well-planned experiments:--Even in a
very small volume of space there
are myriads of protoplasmic germs
floating in ether. If, for instance,
say water (clear water) is exposed to
them, and if they fall into it,
some form of life or other will be
evolved out of them. Now, what are
the agencies for the bringing of this
life into existence? Evidently--
I. The water, which is the field, so
to say, for the growth
of life.
II. The protoplasmic germ, out of
which life or a living organism
is to be evolved or developed. And
lastly--
III. The power, energy, force, or tendency
which springs into activity
at the touch or combination of the
protoplasmic germ and the water, and
which evolves or develops life and
its natural attributes.
Similarly, there are three primary
causes which bring the human being
into existence. I shall call them, for the purpose of
discussion, by
the following names
(1) Parabrahmam, the Universal
Spirit.
(2) Sakti, the crown of the astral
light, combining in itself all the
powers of Nature.
(3) Prakriti, which in its original
or primary shape is represented by
Akasa. (Really every form of matter is finally
reducible to Akasa.)*
It is ordinarily stated that Prakriti
or Akasa is the Kshetram, or the
basis which corresponds to water in
the example we have taken Brahmam
the germ, and Sakti, the power or
energy that comes into existence at
their union or contact.**
--------
* The Tibetan esoteric Buddhist
doctrine teaches that Prakriti is cosmic
matter, out of which all visible
forms are produced; and Akasa, that
same cosmic matter, but still more
subjective--its spirit, as it were.
Prakriti being the body or substance,
and Akasa Sakti its soul or
energy.
** Or, in other words,
"Prakriti, Swabhavat, or Akasa, is SPACE, as the
Tibetans have it; Space filled with whatsoever substance or no
substance at all--i.e., with
substance so imperceptible as to be only
metaphysically conceivable. Brahman, then, would be the germ thrown
into the soil of that field, and
Sakti, that mysterious energy or force
which develops it, and which is
called by the Buddhist Arahat of Tibet,
FOHAT. That which we call form (rupa) is not
different from that which
we call space (sunyata).... Space is not different from form. Form is
the same as space; space is the same as form. And so with the other
skandhas, whether vedana, or sanjna,
or sanskara, or vijnana, they are
each the same as their
opposite." .... (Book of Sin-king, or the "Heart
Sutra." Chinese translation of
the "Maha-Prajna-Paramita-Hridaya-Sutra,"
chapter on the
"Avalokiteshwara," or the manifested Buddha.) So that
the Aryan and Tibetan or Arhat
doctrines agree perfectly in substance,
differing but in names given and the
way of putting it.
---------
But this is not the view which the
Upanishads take of the question.
According to them, Brahamam* is the
Kshetram or basis, Akasa or
Prakriti, the germ or seed, and
Sakti, the power evolved by their union
or contact. And this is the real scientific,
philosophical mode of
stating the case.
--------
* See Appendix, Note IV.
--------
Now, according to the adepts of
ancient Aryavarta, seven principles are
evolved out of these three primary
entities. Algebra teaches us that the
number of combinations of n things,
taken one at a time, two at a time,
three at a time, and so forth =
2(n)-1.
Applying this formula to the present
case, the number of entities
evolved from different combinations
of these three primary causes
amounts to 2(3)-1 = 8-1 = 7.
As a general rule, whenever seven
entities are mentioned in the ancient
occult science of India, in any
connection whatsoever, you must suppose
that those seven entities came into
existence from three primary
entities; and that these three entities, again, are
evolved out of a
single entity or MONAD. To take a familiar example, the seven coloured
rays in the solar ray are evolved out
of three primary coloured rays;
and the three primary colours coexist
with the four secondary colours in
the solar rays. Similarly, the three primary entities which
brought man
into existence co-exist in him with the
four secondary entities which
arose from different combinations of
the three primary entities.
Now these seven entities, which in
their totality constitute man, are as
follows. I shall enumerate them in the order adopted
in the
"Fragments," as far as the
two orders (the Brahmanical and the Tibetan)
coincide:--
Corresponding
names in
Esoteric
Buddhism.
I. Prakriti. Sthulasariram
(Physical Body).
II. The entity evolved
out of the combination Sukshmasariram or Lingasariram
of Prakriti and Sakti. (Astral Body).
III. Sakti. Kamarupa (the
Perispirit).
IV. The entity evolved out
of the combination of Jiva (Life-Soul).
Brahmam, Sakti and
Prakriti.
V. The entity evolved out
of the combination of Physical Intelligence (or
Brahmam and Prakriti. animal soul).
VI. The entity evolved
out of the combination of Spiritual Intelligence (or Soul).
Brahmam and Sakti.
VII. Brahmam. The emanation from the
ABSOLUTE,
&c. (or
pure spirit.)
Before proceeding to examine these
nature of these seven entities, a few
general explanations are
indispensably necessary.
I. The secondary principles arising
out of the combination of primary
principles are quite different in
their nature from the entities out of
whose combination they came into
existence. The combinations in
question are not of the nature of
mere mechanical juxtapositions, as it
were.
They do not even correspond to chemical combinations.
Consequently no valid inferences as
regards the nature of the
combinations in question can be drawn
by analogy from the nature
[variety?] of these combinations.
II. The general proposition, that
when once a cause is removed its
effect vanishes, is not universally
applicable. Take, for instance, the
following example:--If you once
communicate a certain amount of momentum
to a ball, velocity of a particular
degree in a particular direction is
the result. Now, the cause of this motion ceases to exist
when the
instantaneous sudden impact or blow
which conveyed the momentum is
completed; but according to Newton's first law of motion,
the ball will
continue to move on for ever and
ever, with undiminished velocity in the
same direction, unless the said
motion is altered, diminished,
neutralized, or counteracted by
extraneous causes. Thus, if the ball
stop, it will not be on account of
the absence of the cause of its
motion, but in consequence of the
existence of extraneous causes which
produce the said result.
Again, take the instance of
subjective phenomena.
Now the presence of this ink-bottle
before me is producing in me, or in
my mind, a mental representation of
its form, volume, colour and so
forth.
The bottle in question may be
removed, but still its mental picture may
continue to exist. Here, again, you see, the effect survives the
cause.
Moreover, the effect may at any subsequent
time be called into conscious
existence, whether the original cause
be present or not.
Now, in the ease of the filth
principle above mentioned-the entity that
came into existence by the
combination of Brahmam and Prakriti--if the
general proposition (in the
"Fragments of Occult Truth") is correct,
this principle, which corresponds to
the physical intelligence, must
cease to exist whenever the Brahmam
or the seventh Principle should
cease to exist for the particular
individual; but the fact is certainly
otherwise. The general proposition under consideration
is adduced in
the "Fragments" in support
of the assertion that whenever the seventh
principle ceases to exist for any
particular individual, the sixth
principle also ceases to exist for
him. The assertion is undoubtedly
true, though the mode of stating it
and the reasons assigned for it, are
to my mind objectionable.
It is said that in cases where
tendencies of a man's mind are entirely
material, and all spiritual
aspirations and thoughts were altogether
absent from his mind, the seventh
principle leaves him either before or
at the time of death, and the sixth
principle disappears with it. Here,
the very proposition that the
tendencies of the particular individual's
mind are entirely material, involves
the assertion that there is no
spiritual intelligence or spiritual
Ego in him, it should then have been
said that, whenever spiritual
intelligence ceases to exist in any
particular individual, the seventh
principle ceases to exist for that
particular individual for all
purposes. Of course, it does not fly off
anywhere. There can never be any thing like a change of
position in the
case of Brahmam.* The assertion merely means that when there is
no
recognition whatever of Brahmam, or spirit,
or spiritual life, or
spiritual consciousness, the seventh
principle has ceased to exercise
any influence or control over the
individual's destinies.
--------
* True--from the standpoint of Aryan
Exotericism and the Upanishads, not
quite so in the case of the Arahat or
Tibetan esoteric doctrine; and it
is only on this one solitary point
that the two teachings disagree, as
far as we know. The difference is very trifling, though,
resting as it
does solely upon the two various
methods of viewing the one and the same
thing from two different
aspects. (See Appendix, Note IV.)
--------
I shall now state what is meant (in
the Aryan doctrine) by the seven
principles above enumerated.
I. Prakriti. This is the basis of Sthulasariram, and
represents it in
the above-mentioned classification.
II. Prakriti and Sakti. This is the Lingasariram, or astral body.
III. Sukti. This principle corresponds to your Kamarupa.
This power or
force is placed by ancient occultists
in the Nabhichakram. This power
can gather akasa or prakriti, and
mould it into any desired shape. It
has very great sympathy with the
fifth principle, and can be made to act
by its influence or control.
IV. Brahmam and Sakti, and
Prakriti. This again corresponds to your
second principle, Jiva.
This power represents the universal
life-principle which exists in
Nature. Its seat is the Anahatachakram (heart). It is a force or power
which constitutes what is called
Jiva, or life. It is, as you say,
indestructible, and its activity is
merely transferred at the time of
death to another set of atoms, to
form another organism.
V. Brahma and Prakriti. This, in our Aryan philosophy, corresponds to
your fifth principle, called the
physical intelligence. According to
our philosophers, this is the entity
in which what is called mind has
its seat or basis. This is the most difficult principle of all
to
explain, and the present discussion
entirely turns upon the view we take
of it.
Now, what is mind? It is a mysterious something, which is
considered to
be the seat of consciousness--of
sensations, emotions, volitions, and
thoughts. Psychological analysis shows it to be
apparently a congeries
of mental states, and possibilities
of mental states, connected by what
is called memory, and considered to
have a distinct existence apart from
any of its particular states or
ideas. Now in what entity has this
mysterious something its potential or
actual existence? Memory and
expectation, which form, as it were,
the real foundation of what is
called individuality, or Ahankaram,
must have their seat of existence
somewhere. Modern psychologists of Europe generally say
that the
material substance of brain is the
seat of mind; and that past
subjective experiences, which can he
recalled by memory, and which in
their totality constitute what is
called individuality, exist therein in
the shape of certain unintelligible
mysterious impressions and changes
in the nerves and nerve-centres of
the cerebral hemispheres.
Consequently, they say, the mind--the
individual mind--is destroyed when
the body is destroyed; so there is no possible existence after
death.
But there are a few facts among those
admitted by these philosophers
which are sufficient for us to
demolish their theory. In every portion
of the human body a constant change
goes on without intermission. Every
tissue, every muscular fibre and
nerve-tube, and every ganglionic centre
in the brain, is undergoing an
incessant change. In the course of a
man's lifetime there may be a series
of complete tranformations of the
substance of his brain. Nevertheless, the memory of his past mental
states remains unaltered. There may be additions of new subjective
experiences and some mental states
may be altogether forgotten, but no
individual mental state is
altered. The person's sense of personal
identity remains the same throughout
these constant alterations in the
brain substance.* It is able to survive all these changes, and
it can
survive also the complete destruction
of the material substance of the
brain.
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* This is also sound Buddhist
philosophy, the transformation in
question being known as the change of
the skandhas.--Ed. Theos.
--------
This individuality arising from
mental consciousness has its seat of
existence, according to our
philosophers, in an occult power or force,
which keeps a registry, as it were,
of all our mental impressions. The
power itself is indestructible,
though by the operation of certain
antagonistic causes its impressions may
in course of time be effaced, in
part or wholly.
I may mention in this connection that
our philosophers have
associated seven occult powers with
the seven principles or entities
above-mentioned. These seven occult powers in the microcosm
correspond
with, or are the counterparts of, the
occult powers in the macrocosm.
The mental and spiritual
consciousness of the individual becomes the
general consciousness of Brahmam,
when the barrier of individuality is
wholly removed, and when the seven
powers in the microcosm are placed
en rapport with the seven powers in
the macrocosm.
There is nothing very strange in a
power, or force, or sakti, carrying
with it impressions of sensations,
ideas, thoughts, or other subjective
experiences. It is now a well-known fact, that an electric
or magnetic
current can convey in some mysterious
manner impressions of sound or
speech, with all their individual
peculiarities; similarly, I can
convey my thoughts to you by a
transmission of energy or power.
Now, this fifth principle represents
in our philosophy the mind, or, to
speak more correctly, the power or
force above described, the
impressions of the mental states
therein, and the notion of
self-identity or Ahankaram generated
by their collective operation.
This principle is called merely
physical intelligence in the
"Fragments." I do not know what is really meant by this
expression. It
may be taken to mean that
intelligence which exists in a very low state
of development in the lower animals.
Mind may exist in different stages
of development, from the very lowest
forms of organic life, where the
signs of its existence or operation
can hardly be distinctly realized,
up to man, in whom it reaches its
highest state of development.
In fact, from the first appearance of
life* up to Tureeya Avastha, or
the state of Nirvana, the progress
is, as it were, continuous.
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* In the Aryan doctrine, which blends
Brahmam, Sakti, and Prakriti in
one, it is the fourth principle then,
in the Buddhist esotericisms the
second in combination with the first.
--------
We ascend from that principle up to
the seventh by almost imperceptible
gradations. But four stages are recognized in the
progress where the
change is of a peculiar kind, and is
such as to arrest an observer's
attention. These four stages are as follows:--
(1) Where life (fourth principle)
makes its appearance.
(2) Where the existence of mind
becomes perceptible in conjunction with
life.
(3) Where the highest state of mental
abstraction ends, and spiritual
consciousness commences.
(4) Where spiritual consciousness
disappears, leaving the seventh
principle in a complete state of
Nirvana, or nakedness.
According to our philosophers, the
fifth principle under consideration
is intended to represent the mind in every
possible state of
development, from the second stage up
to the third stage.
IV. Brahmam and Sakti. This principle corresponds to your
"spiritual
intelligence." It is, in fact, Buddhi (I use the word Buddhi
not in the
ordinary sense, but in the sense in
which it is used by our ancient
philosophers); in other words, it is