Five Years of Theosophy
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Title: Five Years of Theosophy
Editor: G. R. S. Mead
Release date: December 18, 2004 [eBook #14378]
Most recently updated: October 28, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIVE YEARS OF THEOSOPHY ***
FIVE YEARS OF THEOSOPHY
Mystical, Philosophical, Theosophical, Historical and Scientific Essays
Selected from "The Theosophist"
Edited by George Robert Snow 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.
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* Of the higher religious teachings of Mohammedanism I know next to
nothing, and therefore cannot say if it should be excepted from the
statement.
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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.
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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
lo
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