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Theosophy House
Commentary on
The Voice of the Silence
By
Annie Besant and
C
Talks on the Path of Occultism - Vol. II
The
Secret Doctrine by H P Blavatsky
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Theosophical Publishing House
Adyar,
Madras
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First
Edition 1
FOREWORD
THIS
book is merely a record of talks by Mr. C. W. Leadbeater and myself on
three
famous books—books small in size but great in contents. We both hope that
they
will prove useful to aspirants, and even to those above that stage, since
the
talkers were older than the listeners, and had more experience in the life
of
discipleship.
The
talks were not given at one place only; we chatted to our friends, at
different
times and places. chiefly at Adyar, London and Sydney. A vast quantity
of
notes were taken by the listeners. All that were available of these were
collected
and arranged. They were then condensed, and repetitions were
eliminated.
Unhappily
there were, found to be very few notes on The Voice of the Silence,
Fragment
I, so we have utilized notes made at a class held by our good
colleague,
Mr. Ernest Wood, in Sydney, and incorporated these into Bishop
Leadbeater's
talks in that section. No notes of my own talks on this book were
available;
though I have spoken much upon it, those talks are not recoverable.
None
of these talks have been published before, except some of Bishop
Leadbeater's
addresses to selected students on At the Feet of the Master. A book
entitled
Talks on "At the Feet of the Master" was published a few years ago,
containing
imperfect reports of some of these talks of his. That book will not
be
reprinted; the essential material in it finds its place here, carefully
condensed
and edited.
May
this book help some of our younger brothers to understand more of these
priceless
teachings. The more they are studied and lived, the more will be found
in
them.
ANNIE
BESANT
FRAGMENT I: THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE 1
1.The Preface
2.The Higher and the Lower Powers
3. The Slayer of the Real
4.
The Real and the Unreal
5.The Warning Voice
6.Self and All-Self
7. The Three Halls
8. The World's Mother
9.
The Seven Sounds
10. Become the Path
11.
The
12.
The Last Steps
13. The Goal
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FRAGMENT II: THE TWO PATHS1
1. The Open Gate.
2.
Head-Learning and Soul-Wisdom
3.
The Life of Action
4.
The Secret Path
5. The Wheel of Life
6.
The Way of the Arhat
FRAGMENT III: THE SEVEN PORTALS
1. The Paramita Heights
2.
Tuning the Heart
3.
The First Three Gates
4. The Fourth Gate
5.
The Fifth and Sixth Gates
6.
The Seventh Gate
7.
The Arya Path
8.
The Three Vestures
-------
FRAGMENT- I
THE PREFACE
C.W.L.—Even
from the superficial and wholly physical point of view, The Voice of
the
Silence is one of the most remarkable books in our Theosophical literature,
whether
we consider its contents, its style, or the manner of its production;
and
when we look a little deeper and call to our aid the power of clairvoyant
investigation,
our admiration is by no means diminished. Not that we should make
the
mistake of regarding it as a sacred-scripture, every word of which must be
accepted
without question. It is by no means that, for, as we shall presently
see,
various minor errors and misunderstandings have crept into it; but anyone
who
on that account regards it as unreliable or carelessly put together will be
making
an even less excusable mistake in the opposite direction.
Madame
Blavatsky was always very ready to admit, and even to emphasize, the fact
that
inaccuracies were to be found in all her works; and in the early days, when
we
came across some especially improbable statement of hers we not unnaturally
laid
it reverently aside as perhaps one of those inaccuracies. It was surprising
in
what a number of such cases further study showed us that Madame Blavatsky was
after
all correct, so that presently, taught by experience, we grew
much
more wary in this matter, and learnt to trust her extraordinarily
wide
and minute knowledge upon all sorts of out-of-the-way subjects.
Still
there is no reason to suspect a hidden meaning in an obvious misprint,
as
some too credulous students have done; and we need not hesitate to
admit
that our great Founder's profound knowledge in occult matters did not
prevent
her from sometimes misspelling a Tibetan word, or even misusing
an
English one.
She
gives us in her preface some information as to the origin of the
book—information
which at first seemed to involve some serious difficulties, but
in
the light of recent investigations becomes much more comprehensible. Much of
what
she wrote has been commonly understood in a wider sense than she intended
it,
and in that way it has been made to appear that she put forward extravagant
claims;
but when the facts of the case are stated it will be seen that there is
no
foundation for such a charge.
She
says: '' The following pages are derived from The Book of the Golden
Precepts,
one of the works put into the hands of mystic students in the East.
The
knowledge of them is obligatory in that school the teachings of which are
accepted
by many Theosophists. Therefore, as I know many of these Precepts by
heart,
the work of translating has been relatively an easy task for me." And,
further
on: " The work from which I here translate forms part of the same series
as
that from which the stanzas of The Book of Dzyan were taken, on which The
Secret
Doctrine is based." She also says: " The Book of the Golden Precepts
. . . contains about ninety distinct little treatises."
In
early days we read into this more than she meant, and we supposed that this
work
was put into the hands of .all mystic students in the East, and that "the
school
in which the knowledge of them is obligatory " meant the school of the
Great
White Brotherhood itself.1 Hence when we met with advanced occultists who
had
never heard of The Book of the Golden Precepts we were much surprised and a
little
inclined to look askance at them and doubt gravely whether they could
have
come altogether along the right lines, but since then we have learnt many
things,
and among them somewhat more of perspective than we had at first.
In
due course, too, we acquired further information about the Stanzas of Dzyan,
and
the more we learnt about them and their unique position the clearer it
became
to us that neither The Voice of the Silence nor any other book could
possibly
have in any real sense the same origin as they.
The
original of The Book of Dzyan is in the hands of the august Head of the
Occult
Hierarchy, and has been seen by none. None knows how old it is, but it is
rumoured
that the earlier part of it (consisting of the first six stanzas), has
an
origin altogether anterior to this world, and even that it is not a history,
but
a series of directions—rather a formula for creation than an account of it.
A
copy of it is kept in the museum of the Brotherhood,
1
This term is used to denote a great Brotherhood of Adepts, and is not related
to
color. and it is that copy (itself probably the oldest book produced on this
planet)
which
Madame Blavatsky and several of her pupils have seen—which she describes
so
graphically in The Secret Doctrine. The book has, however, several
peculiarities
which she does not there mention. It appears to be very highly
magnetized,
for as soon as a man takes a page into his hand he sees passing
before
his eyes a vision of the events which it is intended to portray, while at
the
same time he seems to hear a sort of rhythmic description of them in his own
language,
so far as that language will convey the ideas involved. Its pages
contain
no words whatever—-nothing but symbols.
When
we came to know this fully, it was somewhat startling to find another book
claiming
the same origin as the sacred Stanzas, and our first impulse was to
suppose
that some strange mistake must have arisen. Indeed, it was this
extraordinary
discrepancy that first led to our investigating the question of
the
real authorship of The Book of the Golden Precepts; and when this was done,
the
explanation proved to be exceedingly simple.
We
read in the various biographies of Madame Blavatsky that she once spent a
period
of some three years in
ah
unsuccessful attempt to penetrate into that forbidden land. On one or other
of
these visits she seems to have stayed for some considerable time at a certain
monastery
in the
Master
Morya. The place seems to me to be in
is
difficult to be sure of this. There she studied with great assiduity
and
also gained considerable psychic development; and it is at this period of
her
history that she learnt by heart the various treatises of which she makes
mention
in the Preface. The learning of them is obligatory upon the students of
that
particular monastery, and the book from which they are taken is regarded
there
as of exceeding value and holiness.
This
monastery is of great age. It was founded in the early centuries of the
Christian
era by the great preacher and reformer of Buddhism who is commonly
known
as Aryasanga. I think a claim is made that the building had already
existed
for two or three centuries before his time; but, however that may be,
its
history as far as we are concerned begins with his temporary occupancy of
it.
He was a man of great power and learning, already far advanced along the
Path
of Holiness; He had in a previous birth as Dharmajyoti been one of the
immediate
followers of the Lord Buddha, and after that, under the name of
Kleinias,
one of the leading disciples of our Master Kuthumi in his birth as
Pythagoras.
After the death of Pythagoras, Kleinias founded a school for the
study
of his philosophy at
Theosophical
members took advantage. Centuries later He took birth at
which
was then called Purushapura, under the name of Vasubandhu Kanushika. When
he
was admitted to the order of monks He took the name of Asanga—•" the man
without
hindrance "—and later in his life his admiring followers lengthened this
to-Aryasanga,
by which he is chiefly known as author and
preacher.
He is said to have lived to a very great age —nearly a hundred and
fifty
years, if tradition speaks truly—and to have died at Rajagriha.
He
was a voluminous writer: the principal work of his of which we hear is the
Yogacharya
Bhumishastra. He was the founder of the Yogacharya school of
Buddhism,
which seems to have begun with an attempt to fuse with Buddhism the
great
Yoga system of philosophy, or perhaps rather to adopt from the latter what
could
be used and interpreted Buddhistically. He travelled much and was a mighty
force
in the reform of Buddhism; in fact, his fame reached so high a level that
his
name is joined with those of Nagarjuna and Aryacleva, and these men have
been
called the three suns of Buddhism, because of their activity in pouring
forth
its light and glory upon the world. The date of Aryasanga is given vaguely
as
a thousand years after the Lord Buddha; European scholars seem uncertain as
to
when he lived, but none assign him a later date than the seventh century
after
Christ. To us in the Theosophical Society he is known in this life as a
specially
kind, patient and helpful teacher, the Master Djwal Kul—one who has
for
us an unique position, in that when some of us had the honour of knowing him
about
forty years ago, he had not yet taken the step which is the goal of human
evolution—
the Aseka Initiation. So that among our Masters he is the only one
whom
we knew in this present incarnation before he became an Adept, when he was
still
the head pupil of the Master Kuthumi. The fact that as Aryasanga he
carried
Buddhism into
9
reason
why in this life he has chosen to take a Tibetan body; there may have
been
karmic associations or links of which he wished to dispose before taking
the
final initiation as Adept.
In
the course of one of his great missionary journeys in his life as Aryasanga
he
came to this Himalayan monastery and took up his abode there. He stayed there
for
nearly a year, teaching the monks, organizing the religion generally over a
very
large section of the country, and making this monastery a kind of
headquarters
for the reformed faith, and he left upon the place an impression
and
a tradition which last until the present time. Among other relics of his is
preserved
a book, which is regarded with the greatest reverence; and this is the
scripture
to which Madame Blavatsky refers as The Book of the Golden Precepts.
Aryasanga
seems to have commenced it as a sort of common place book, or a book
of
extracts, in which he wrote down anything that he thought would be useful to
his
pupils, and he began with the Stanzas of Dzyan—not in symbol, as in the
original,
but in written words. Many other extracts he made—-some from the works
of
Nagarjuna, as Madame Blavatsky mentions. After his departure his pupils added
to
the book a number of reports (or perhaps rather abstracts) of his lectures or
sermons
to them, and these are the " little treatises" to which Madame
Blavatsky
refers.
It
was Alcyone, in his last life, who prepared and added to The Book of the
Golden
Precepts the reports of the discourses of Aryasanga, three of which form
Our
present subject of study. So we owe this priceless little volume to his care in
reporting,
just as in this life we owe to him our possession of the exquisite
companion
volume At the Feet of the Master. That life of Alcyone began in A.D.
624,
and was spent in
Buddhist
monks at an early age and became deeply attached to Aryasanga, who took
him
with him to the monastery in
the
studies of the community which he had re-organized—a service that Alcyone
performed
with distinguished success for about two years.1
It
is in this sense, and in this sense only, that The Voice of the Silence
claims
the same origin as the Stanzas of Dzyan—that the two are copied in the
same
book. We must not forget also that though we have undoubtedly much of
Aryasanga's
teaching in these treatises, it cannot but be coloured considerably
by
the prepossessions of those who reported it; and it is probable that at least
in
some passages they misunderstood him and failed to convey his real meaning.
As
we examine the work in detail we shall find verses here and there which
express
sentiments that Aryasanga could hardly have held, and show ignorance
which
for him would have been impossible.
It
will be noticed that Madame Blavatsky speaks of translating the precepts—a
remark
which raises some interesting questions, since we know that she was
unacquainted
with any Oriental tongue except Arabic. The book is written in a
script
with which I am 1 See The Lives of Alcyone.
11
unfamiliar,
nor do I know what language is used. The latter may be Sanskrit,
Pali,
or some Prakrit dialect, or possibly Nepalese or Tibetan; but the script
is
not any of those now commonly employed to write those languages. It is at any
rate
reasonably certain that on the physical plane neither script nor language
could
have been known to Madame Blavatsky.
For
one who can function freely in the mental body there are methods of getting
at
the meaning of a book, quite apart from the ordinary process of reading it.
The
simplest is to read from the mind of one who has studied it; but this is
open
to the objection that one gets not the real meaning of the work, but that
student's
conception of the meaning, which may be by no means the same thing. A
second
plan is to examine the aura of the book—a phrase which needs a little
explanation
for those not practically acquainted with the hidden side of things,
An
ancient manuscript stands in this respect in a somewhat different position
from
a modern book. If it is not the original work of the author himself, it has
at
any rate been copied word by word by some person of a certain education and
understanding,
who knew the subject of the book, and had his own opinions about
it.
It must be remembered that copying, done usually with a stylus, is almost as
slow
and emphatic as engraving; so that the writer inevitably impresses his
thought
strongly on his handiwork.
Any
manuscript, therefore, even a new one, has always some sort of thought-aura
about
it which conveys its general meaning, or rather, one man's idea of its
meaning
and his estimate of its value. Every time the book is read by any one an
addition
is made to that thought-aura, and if it be carefully studied the
addition
is naturally large and valuable. A book which has passed through many
hands
has an aura which is usually better balanced, rounded off and completed by
the
divergent views brought to it by its many readers; consequently the
psychometrization
of such a book generally yields a fairly full comprehension of
its
contents, though with a considerable fringe of opinions not expressed in the
book,
but held by its various readers.
With
a printed book the case is much the same, except that there is no original
copyist,
so that at the beginning of its career it usually carries nothing but
disjointed
fragments of the thoughts of the binder and the bookseller. Also few
readers
at the present day seem to study so thoughtfully and thoroughly as did
the
men of old, and for that reason the thought-forms connected with a modern
book
are rarely so precise and clear-cut as those which surround the manuscripts
of
the past.
A
third plan, requiring somewhat higher powers, is to go behind the book or
manuscript
altogether and get at the mind of the author. If the book is in some
foreign
language, its subject entirely unknown, and there is no aura round it to
give
any helpful suggestion, the only way is to follow back its history, to see
from
what it was copied (or set up in type, as the case may be) and so to trace
out
the line of its descent until one reaches its author. If the subject of the
work
is known, a less tedious method is to psychometrize that subject, get into
-------
the general current of thought about it, and so find the particular writer
required,
and see what he thinks. There is a sense in which all the ideas
connected
with a given subject may be said to be local—to be concentrated round
a
certain point in space, so that by mentally visiting that point one can come
into
touch with all the converging streams of thought about that subject, though
of
course these are linked by millions of lines with all sorts of other
subjects.
Supposing
her clairvoyant powers to have been at that time sufficient, Madame
Blavatsky
may have adopted any of these methods of getting at the meaning of the
treatises
from The Book of the Golden Precepts, though it would be a little
misleading
to describe any of them as translations without qualifying the
statement.
The only other possibilities are somewhat remote. There is at present
no
one in that Himalayan monastery who speaks any European language, but since
it
is probably at least forty years since Madame Blavatsky was there, there must
have
been many changes. It is recorded that Indian students have occasionally,
though
very rarely, come to drink from that fount of archaic learning, and if we
may
assume that the visit of some such student coincided with hers, it might
also
be that he happened to know both English and the language of the
manuscript,
or at least the language of other inmates of the monastery who could
read
the manuscript for themselves, and so could translate for her.
Strangely
enough, there is also just a possibility that she may have been taught
in
her own native tongue. In
-------
European
Russia, on the banks of the
of
Buddhist tribes, probably Tartar in their origin; and it appears that these
people,
though so far removed on the physical plane from
as
their holy land and occasionally undertake pilgrimages to it. Such pilgrims
sometimes
remain for years as pupils in Tibetan or Nepalese monasteries, and as
one
of them might very well know Russian as well as his own Mongolian dialect,
it
is obvious that we have here another possible method by which Madame
Blavatsky
may have communicated with her hosts.
In
any case it is obvious that we must not expect an exact verbal reproduction
of
what Aryasanga originally said to his disciples. Even in the archaic book
itself
we have not his words, but his pupils' recollection of them, and of that
recollection
we have now before us either a translation of a translation, or the
recording
of a general mental impression of the meaning. It would of course be
quite
easy for one of our Masters or for the author himself to make a direct and
accurate
translation into English; but as Madame Blavatsky distinctly claims the
work
of translation as her own, this evidently was not the plan adopted.
At
the same time, the account which we have from an eyewitness of the speed with
which
it was written down, does certainly seem to suggest the idea that some
assistance
was given to her, even though it may have been unconsciously to
herself.
Dr. Besant writes on this subject:
She wrote
it at
her,
and I sat in the room while she was writing
15
it.
I know that she did not write it referring to any books, but she wrote it
down
steadily, hour after hour, exactly as though she were writing either from
memory
or from reading it where no book was. She produced in the evening that
manuscript
that I saw her write as I sat with her, and asked me and others to
correct
it for English, for she said that she had written it so quickly that it
was
sure to be bad. We did not alter in that more than a few words, and it
remains
as a specimen of marvelously beautiful literary work.
Another
possibility is that she may have done the translation into English
beforehand
while at the monastery, and that at Fontaineblcau she may really have
been
reading it at a distance, just as Dr. Besant says she appeared to be. I
have
often seen her do that very thing on other occasions.
The
six schools of Hindu philosophy to which she refers on the first page of the
preface
are the Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta. She
states
that every Indian teacher has his own system of training, which he
usually
keeps very secret. It is natural that he should keep it secret, for he
does
not desire the responsibility of the results that would follow if it were
tried
(as, if known, it certainly would be), by all sorts of unsuitable,
ill-regulated
people. No real teacher in
unless
he can have him under his eye, so that when he prescribes for him a
certain
exercise, he can watch its effect and check the man instantly if he sees
that
anything is going wrong. That has been the immemorial custom in these
occult
matters, and unquestionably it is the only way in which real progress can
be
made with rapidity and safety. The first and most difficult task of the pupil
is
to reduce to order the chaos in himself—to eliminate the
16
host
of minor interests, and control the wandering thoughts, and this must be
achieved
by a steady pressure of the will exercised upon all his vehicles
through
a long period of years.
Our
author tells us that if the systems of instruction differ on
this side of
the
We must emphasize here the word esoteric,
for we know that in the exoteric
religion
the corruptions and evil magical practices are worse on the northern
side
of the mountains than on the southern.
We may perhaps even understand
the expression " beyond the
strictly
geographical sense, and many suppose that it is in the schools owing
allegiance
to our Masters that the teaching does not differ. This is very
true
in a certain sense—-the most important
of all senses; but capable of
misleading
the reader if not carefully explained.
The sense in which all are
the
same is that all recognize the virtuous life as the only path leading to
occult
development, and the conquest of desire as the only way of getting rid of
it.
There are schools of occult knowledge which hold that the virtuous life
imposes
unnecessary limitations. They teach
certain forms of psychic
development,
but they care nothing for the use which their pupils may afterwards
make
of the information given to them.
There are others who hold that desire
of
all sorts should be indulged to the utmost, in order that through satiety
indifference
may be attained. But no school holding
either of these doctrines
is
under the direction of the
17
Great
White Brotherhood; in every establishment even remotely connected with it,
purity
of life and nobleness of aim are indispensable prerequisites.
The
next paragraph in the Preface happens to contain two of the trifling
inaccuracies
to which I have referred. Our author mentions " the great mystic
work
called Paramartha, supposed to have been delivered to Nagarjuna by the
Nagas
". Nagarjuna's great book was not called Paramartha, but Prajna
Paramita—-the
wisdom which brings to the further shore; but it is very true that
the
subject treated in that book is the paramartha satya, that consciousness of
the
sage which vanquishes illusion. Nagarjuna, as already mentioned, was one of
the
three great Buddhist teachers of the earlier centuries of the Christian era;
he
is supposed to have died A.D). 1
-------
. He is now known to Theosophists under the
name
of the Master Kuthumi. Exoteric writers some-times describe Aryasanga as
his
rival, but, knowing as we do their intimate relation in an earlier birth in
been
so. It is quite possible that, after their death, their pupils may have
tried
to set up the teaching of one against that of the other, as pupils in
their
undiscriminating zeal so often do; but that they themselves were in
perfect
accord is shown by the fact that Aryasanga treasured much of Nagarjuna's
work
and copied it into his book of extracts for the use of his disciples.
It
is not, however, certain that the Prajna Paramita was the work of Nagarjuna,
for
the legend seems to be
18
to
the effect that the book was delivered to him by the Nagas or serpents.
Madame
Blavatsky interprets this as a name given to the ancient Initiates, and
that
may well be so, though there is another very interesting possibility. I
have
found that the name of Nagas or serpents was given by the Aryans to one of
the
great tribes or clans of the Toltec sub-race of the Atlanteans, because they
carried
before them as a standard when going into battle a golden snake coiled
round
a staff. This may well have been some totem or tribal symbol, or perhaps
merely
the crest of a great family. This tribe or family must have taken a
prominent
part in the original Atlantean colonization of
which
then existed to the south-east of it. We find the Nagas mentioned as among
the
original inhabitants of
there.
So a possible interpretation of this legend might be that Nagarjuna
received
this book from an earlier race— in other words, that it is an Atlantean
scripture.
And if, as has been suspected, certain of the Upanishads came from
the
same source, there would be little reason to wonder at the identity of
teaching
to which Madame Blavatsky refers on the same page.
The
Gnyaneshwari (transliterated Dhyaneshwari in the first edition) is not a
Sanskrit
work, but was written in Marathi in the thirteenth century of our era.
On
the next page we find a reference to the Yoga-charya (or more accurately
Yogachara)
school of the Mahayana. I have already mentioned the attempt made by
Aryasanga,
but a few words should perhaps be
-------
said as to the vexed question of the Yanas. The
to
us to-day in two great divisions, the Northern and the Southern. The former
includes
the
Southern Church the Hlnayana,1 but whether even this much may be safely said
depends
upon the shade of meaning which we attach to a much-disputed word.
means
vehicle, and it is agreed that it is to be applied to the Dhamma or Law as
the
vessel which conveys us across the sea of life to Nirvana, but there are at
least
five theories as to the exact sense in which it is to be taken:
1. That it refers simply to the language in
which the Law is written, the
Greater
Vehicle being by this hypothesis
Sanskrit, and the
Lesser Vehicle
Pali—-a
theory which seems to me untenable.
2. Hina may apparently be taken as signifying
mean or easy, as well as small.
One interpretation therefore considers the
Hinayana as the meaner or easier
road
to liberation—the irreducible minimum of knowledge and conduct required to
attain
it—while the Mahayana is the
fuller and more
philosophical
doctrine which includes much additional
knowledge about higher
realms of nature.
Needless to say, this interpretation comes from a Mahayana
source.
3. That Buddhism, in its unfailing courtesy
towards other religions, accepts
them
all as ways of liberation,
1
Usually known as Theravada. though it regards the method taught by its Founder
as offering the shortest and surest route. According to this view, Buddhism is
the Mahayana, and the Hinayana includes Brahmanism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism and
any other religions which were existing at the time when the definition was
formulated.
4. That the two doctrines are simply two
stages of one doctrine—the
Theravada for
the Shravakas or hearers, and
the Mahayana for more advanced
students.
5. That the word
"
vehicle," but rather in a secondary sense nearly equivalent to the English
word
" career ". According to
this interpretation the Mahayana puts before a
man
the "grand career" of becoming a Bodhisattva and devoting himself to
the
welfare
of the world, while the Theravada shows him only the "smaller career
"
of
so living as to attain Nirvana for himself.
The
Northern and Southern Buddhist Churches are related somewhat as are the
Catholics
and Protestants among the Christians. The Northern resembles the
Catholic
Church. It has added to the teachings of the Lord Buddha. For instance,
it
adopted much of the aboriginal worship which it found in the country—such
ceremonies
as those in honour of nature-spirits or deified forces of nature.
When
Christian missionaries went among the Northern Buddhists, they found
ceremonies
so similar to their own that they said it was plagiarism due to the
work
of the devil, and when it was conclusively proved that these ceremonies
antedated
the Christian era, they said it was " plagiarism by anticipation " !
21
In
the Buddhist, as in all other scriptures, there are contradictory statements;
so
the Southern Church has founded itself on certain texts; anxious to avoid
excrescences,
it ignores the others, or calls them interpolations. This has made
it
narrower in its scope than the
Buddha
preached constantly against the idea that was evidently prevalent in his
time,
of the continuation of the person-alky. That notion is common also among
Christians—-that
our personalities survive to all eternity. But while he taught
that
nothing of all that with which men generally identify themselves lasts for
ever,
he made most unequivocal statements about the successive lives of men. He
gave
examples of preceding lives; and when some King asked him what it was like
to
recover the memory of former lives, he. said it was like remembering what one
had
done yesterday and on preceding days when visiting this village or that. Yet
the
Southern Church now teaches that only karma persists, not an ego; as though
man
in one life made a certain amount of karma, and then died, and nothing was
left
of him, but another person was born, and had to bear the karma which he did
not
make.
Still,
while the Southern Buddhists teach that only the karma survives, they
speak
at the same time of the attainment of Nirvana; so that if you ask a monk
why
he wears the yellow robe, he will answer you: "To attain Nirvana,"
and if
you
say: " In this life? " he will reply at once: " Oh, no, it will
need many
lives."
So also, after every sermon that a monk preaches he blesses
22
his
congregation with the words: '' May you attain Nirvana "; and again, if
you
asked
him whether they could attain it in this life, he would say, " No, they
will
need many lives." So a practical belief in the continued existence of an
individual
persists, in spite of the formal teaching to the contrary.
Madame
Blavatsky devotes a couple of pages to the question of the various forms
of
writing adopted in the Himalayan monasteries. In
alphabet
is so widely spread, so almost universally employed, that it is perhaps
well,
for the sake of our Western readers, to explain that in the East a very
different
condition of affairs prevails. Each of the numerous Oriental
languages—Tamil,
Telugu, Sinhalese, Malayalam, Hindi, Gujarati, Canarese,
Bengali,
Burmese, Nepalese, Tibetan, Siamese, and many others —has its own
alphabet
and method of writing, and a writer in one of them, when quoting a
foreign
language, expresses that language in his own characters, just as an
English
writer, if he had to quote a German or Russian sentence would probably
write
it not in German or Russian type, but in Roman. So that in dealing with an
oriental
manuscript we have always two points to consider—the language and the
script,
and these two are by no means always the same.
If
I take up a palm-leaf book in
the
beautiful Sinhalese script, but it does not at all follow that it is in the
Sinhalese
language. It is quite as likely to be in Pali, Sanskrit or Elu. The
same
is true of any of the other scripts.
23
So
that when Madame Blavatsky says that the precepts are sometimes written in
Tibetan,
she may very likely mean only in Tibetan characters, and not
necessarily
in the Tibetan language. I have not seen any instances of the
curious
cryptographs which she describes, in which colours and animals are made
to
represent letters. She speaks in the same paragraph of the thirty simple
letters
of the Tibetan alphabet. These are universally recognized, but it is not
clear
what is meant by the reference a little later on to thirty-three simple
letters,
since if she takes them without the four vowels there are but thirty,
while
if the vowels are included we should of course have not thirty-three but
thirty-four.
As to the compound letters, their number may be variously stated; a
grammar
which is before me gives over a hundred, but probably Madame Blavatsky
refers
only to those in general use.
I
remember an interesting illustration of her statement as to one of the Chinese
modes
of writing. When I was in
Buddhist
monks from the interior of
which
any of us were acquainted. But fortunately we had some young Japanese
students
staying with us, in pursuance of Colonel Olcott's splendid scheme that
each
Church, the Northern and the Southern, should send some of its neophytes to
learn
the ways and the teaching of the other. These young men could not
understand
a word of what these Chinese monks said, but they were able to
exchange
ideas with them by means of writing. The written symbols meant the same
24
to
them, though they called them by quite different names, just as a Frenchman
and
an Englishman would each perfectly understand a line of figures, although
one
would call them " un, deux, trois," and the other " one, two,
three ". The
same
is true of notes of music. Sol had a very curious and interesting interview
with
these monks, at which every question which I put was first translated into
Sinhalese
by one of our members, so that the Japanese student might understand
it;
then the latter wrote it down with a paint-brush in the form of writing
common
to Chinese and Japanese; the Chinese monk read it and wrote his reply in
the
same characters, which the Japanese student then translated into Sinhalese,
and
our member into English. Under these circumstances conversation was slow and
a
little uncertain, but still it was an interesting experience.
CHAPTER
2 THE HIGHER AND THE LOWER POWERS
These
instructions are for those ignorant of the dangers of the lower Iddhi.
C.W.L.—To
this opening sentence of the First Fragment there is a note by Madame
Blavatsky
as follows:
The
Pali word Iddhi is the equivalent of the Sanskrit Siddhis, or psychic
faculties,
the abnormal powers in man. There are two kinds of Siddhis— one group
which
embraces the lower, coarse, psychic and mental energies, while the other
exacts
the highest training of spiritual powers. Says
Bhagavat.
"
He who is engaged in the performance of Yoga, who has subdued his senses and
who
has concentrated his mind in me [
ready
to serve.
There
is a vast amount of misunderstanding on this subject of psychic powers,
and
it will save the student a great deal of trouble if he will try to get a
reasonable
conception of it to begin with. First, let him not
26
attach
a wrong interpretation to the word " abnormal " These powers are
abnormal
only
in the sense that they are at present uncommon—not in the least in the
sense
that they are in any way unnatural. They are perfectly natural to every
man—-indeed
they are latent in every man here and now; a few people have
developed
them from latency into activity, but the majority have as yet made no
effort
in that direction, and so the powers still remain dormant.
The
simplest way to grasp the general idea is to remember that man is a soul,
and
that he manifests himself on various planes through bodies appropriate to
those
planes. If he wishes to act, to see or to hear in this physical world, he
can
do so only through a body made of physical matter. Similarly if he wishes to
manifest
in the astral world, he must have an astral vehicle, for the physical
body
is useless there and even invisible, just as the astral body is invisible
to
our physical sight. In the same way a man who wishes to live upon the mental
plane
must use his mental body.
To
develop psychic faculty means to learn to use the senses of these different
bodies.
If a man can use only his physical senses, he can see and hear only
things
of this physical world; if he learns to use the senses of his astral
body,
he can see and hear the things of the astral world as well. It is merely a
matter
of learning to respond to additional vibrations. If you will look at the
table
of vibrations in any book of physics, you will see that a large number of
them
evoke no response from us. A certain number appeal to our ears, and we hear
them
27
as
waves of sound; another set impress themselves upon our eyes, and we call
them
rays of light. But in between these two sets, and above and below them
both,
are thousands of other sets of oscillations that make no impression at all
upon
our physical senses. It is possible for a man so to develop himself as to
become
sensitive to all these undulations of the ether, and of matter even finer
than
the ether; we call a man who has done that clairvoyant or clairaudient,
because
he can see and hear more than the undeveloped man can.
The
advantages of such an unfolding of the inner sight are considerable. The man
who
possesses it finds himself free of another and far wider world; or to speak
more
accurately, he finds that the world in which he has always lived has
extensions
and possibilities of all kinds of which he has previously known
nothing.
His studies may already have informed him of the presence all round him
of
a vast and complicated non-physical life—of kingdoms of devas and
nature-spirits,
of the enormous army of his fellow-men who have laid aside their
dense
bodies in sleep or in death, of forces and influences of many sorts which
can
be evoked and used by those who understand them; but to see all these things
for
himself instead of merely believing in them, to be able to contact them at
firsthand
and experiment with them—all this makes life far fuller and more
interesting.
He who can thus follow on higher planes the results of his thought
and
action, becomes thereby a more efficient and more useful person. The gain of
such
an unfoldment of consciousness is obvious; but what of the other side
28
of
the story ? Madame Blavatsky writes of the dangers of this development, and
of
two kinds of it, a lower and a higher. Let us take this latter point first.
All
information which reaches man from without comes to him by means of
vibrations.
Vibrations of the air convey sounds to the ears, while those of
light
bring sights to his eyes. If he sees things and creatures of the astral
and
mental worlds, it can only be through the impingement of vibrations of
astral
and mental matter upon the bodies respectively capable of responding to
them.
For man can see the astral world only through the senses of his astral
body,
and the mental world through those of his mental body.
In
each of these worlds, as in this, there are coarser and finer types of
matter,
and, roughly speaking, the radiations of the finer types are desirable,
while
those of the coarser kinds are distinctly undesirable. A man has both
kinds
of matter in his astral body, and he is therefore capable of responding to
both
the higher and the lower vibrations; and it is for him to choose to which
of
them he will turn his attention. If he resolutely shuts out all the lower
influences,
and accepts only the higher, he may be greatly helped by them even
at
astral and mental levels. But Madame Blavatsky will have none of these—not
even
as temporary aids; she groups them all together as " lower, coarse,
psychic
and
mental energies " and urges us to sweep onward to far higher planes which
are
beyond the illusions of the personality. She evidently regards the dangers
of
ordinary psychic development as outweighing its advantages; but as a
29
certain
amount of this development is sure to come, in the course of the
evolution
of the disciple, she warns us of some points as to which extreme care
is
necessary.
In
our own experience during the forty years that have elapsed since Madame
Blavatsky
wrote this, we have seen something of these dangers in cases of
various
students. Pride is the first of them, and it bulks very largely. The
possession
of a faculty which, though it is the heritage of the whole human
race,
is as yet manifested only very occasionally, often causes the ignorant
clairvoyant
to feel himself (or still more frequently herself) exalted above his
fellows,
chosen by the Almighty for some mission of world-wide importance,
dowered
with a discernment that can never err, selected under angelic guidance
to
be the founder of a new dispensation, and so on. It should be remembered that
there
are always plenty of sportive and mischievous entities on the other side
of
the veil who are ready and even anxious to foster all such delusions, to
reflect
and embody all such thoughts, and to fill whatever role of archangel or
spirit-guide
may happen to be suggested to them. Unfortunately it is so fatally
easy
to persuade the average man that he really is a very fine fellow at bottom,
and
quite worthy to be the recipient of a special revelation, even though his
friends
have through blindness or prejudice somehow failed hitherto to
appreciate
him.
Another
danger, perhaps the greatest of all, because it is the mother of all
others,
is ignorance. If the clairvoyant knows anything of the history of his
subject,
if
30
he
at all understands the conditions of those other planes into which his vision
is
penetrating, he cannot of course suppose himself the only person who was ever
so
highly favoured, nor can he feel with self-complacent certainty that it is
impossible
for him to mistake. But when he is, as so many are, in the densest
ignorance
as to history, conditions and everything else, he is liable in the
first
place to make all kinds of mistakes as. to what he sees, and secondly to
be
the easy prey of all sorts of designing and deceptive entities from the
astral
plane. He has no criterion by which to judge what he sees, or thinks he
sees,
no test to apply to his visions or communications, and so he has no sense
of
relative proportion or the fitness of things, and he magnifies a copy-book
maxim
into a fragment of divine wisdom, a platitude of the most ordinary type
into
an angelic message. Then again, for want of common knowledge on scientific
subjects
he will often utterly misunderstand what his faculties enable him to
perceive,
and he will in consequence gravely promulgate the grossest
absurdities.
The
third danger is that of impurity. The man who is pure in thought and life,
pure
in intention and free from the taint of selfishness, is by that very fact
guarded
from the influence of undesirable entities from other planes. There is
in
him nothing upon which they can play; he is no fit medium for them. On the
other
hand all good influences naturally surround such a man, and hasten to use
him
as a channel through which they may act, and thus a still further barrier is
erected
about him against all which is mean and low and evil. The man
of"
impure life or motive, on the contrary, inevitably attracts to himself all
that
is worst in the invisible world which so closely surrounds us; he responds
readily
to it, while it will be hardly possible for the forces of good to make
any
impression upon him.
But
a clairvoyant who will bear in mind all these dangers, and strive to avoid
them,
who will take the trouble to study the history and the rationale of
clairvoyance,
who will see to it that his heart is humble and his motives are
pure—'Such
a man may assuredly learn very much from these powers of which he
finds
himself in possession, and may make them of the greatest use to him in the
work
which he has to do.
The
siddhis are enumerated at considerable length in the third chapter of the
Toga
Sutras of Patanjali. He speaks of them as being attained in five ways—by
birth,
by drugs, by mantras, by tapas, and by samadhi.
We
have come to birth in a particular kind of body as the result of our actions
in
previous incarnations, and if we find ourselves by nature in the possession
of
psychic powers we may take it for granted that we have worked for them in
some
way in previous lives. Many clairvoyants of the present day, in whom the
faculty
has been easily awakened, but perhaps reaches no great heights of
spirituality,
have been in such positions as those of the vestal virgins of
half-savage
tribes or the "wise women" of the middle ages; there has always been
a
very wide range in these matters.
What
will happen to such people, how their spiritual lives will be shaped,
depends
largely upon those with whom it is their karma to come into contact. If
that
karma is good enough to lead them to Theosophy, they will have the
opportunity
of learning something about these dawning faculties, and of being
trained
in its
purity
of physical and magnetic life that are prescribed by all true occultists,
so
that a little later on they may develop their psychic powers in safety, and
become
of great service to mankind.
If
on the other hand they come into touch with the spiritualistic school of
thought,
they are quite likely to find themselves following a line which
frequently
results in passive mediumship, the very opposite of what we are
trying
to attain.
There
are those who turn to pseudo-occultism for the attainment of magical
powers
in order to gratify personal ambition. That path is full of the most
serious
dangers. Sometimes such people sit in a passive condition and invite
unknown
entities of the astral world to work upon their auras and organisms and
to
adapt them to their purposes; sometimes they practise various forms of
Hatha-yoga,
consisting mainly of peculiar kinds of breathing, which have
unfortunately
been widely taught in the Western world in recent years. As a
result
of such proceedings mental and bodily disorders of a serious character
often
arise, while at best the contact which is gained with the inner worlds
seldom
extends beyond the lower astral
33
levels,
from which nothing can come that is uplifting to mankind.
As
to the second method—-the use of drugs—there is a note by Vyasa, in his
commentary
upon the Yoga Sutras, to the effect that these are used " in the
houses
of the asuras " for the purpose of awakening the siddhis. The asuras are
the
opposite of the suras, and the word may roughly be translated as " the
ungodly
"; the suras are the beings on God's side, those who work for His plan
of
upward-evolving life.
Patanjali
does not recommend this method; he is merely enumerating the ways in
which
the siddhis can be acquired. A study of the Sutras shows very clearly that
he
favours only the last of his list of five methods— that by means of samadhi
or
contemplation.
We
can understand to some extent the action of drugs on the body, when they are
used
as a means of awakening psychic powers, if we remember that in the fourth
root
race clairvoyance through the sympathetic nervous system was quite common.
Then
the astral sheath, not yet properly organized into a body or vehicle of
consciousness,
responded in a general way to the impressions made upon it by the
objects
of the astral plane. Those impressions were then reflected in the
sympathetic
centres in the physical body, so that consciousness in that body
received
astral and physical impressions together, and often scarcely
distinguished
between them. Indeed, in the earlier days of that race, and in the
Lemurian
race, the activity of the sympathetic system was far greater than that
of
the cerebro-spinal system, so that the astral experiences were more prominent
than the physical. But since then the
cerebro-spinal system has become the dominant mechanism of consciousness
in the physical body, and man in
consequence has paid more and more attention to the physical-plane experiences, as they have
grown stronger and more insistent.
Therefore
the sympathetic system as a purveyor of impressions has gradually
lapsed,
its business now being to carry on in an involuntary manner many bodily
functions
to which the man need not attend, because his life is mental,
emotional
and spiritual rather than physical.
The
objection to the use of drugs, therefore, is not only that they upset the
healthy
working of the body and bring the sympathetic system once more into a
prominence
which it ought not to have, but even from the point of view of the
psychic
powers attained they merely re-awaken that system and bring again into
the
physical consciousness indiscriminate impressions from the astral world.
These
come generally from the lower part of the plane, in which are aggregated
all
the astral matter and all the elemental essence concerned with exciting the
lower
passions and impulses. Sometimes they come from slightly higher regions of
sensuous
delight, such as are described in the visions of the Count of Monte
Cristo
in Dumas' famous novel, or in De Quincy's Confessions of an Opium Eater;
but
these are scarcely better than the others.
All
that is entirely contrary to the plan of evolution laid down for humanity.
We
are all intended to unfold clairvoyance and other cognate powers, but not in
That
\way. First there should be a development of the astral and mental bodies, so
that
they may be definite vehicles of consciousness on their own planes; then
may
come the awakening of the chakras in the etheric double by means of which
the
valuable knowledge gained through those higher bodies may be brought down to
the
physical plane consciousness. But all this should be done only when and as
the
Master advises; remember, in At the Feet of the Master the Teacher said:
"Have
no desire for psychic powers."
The
third method mentioned is by the use of mantras. The term mantra is applied
to
certain words of power which are used in meditation or in ceremonial rites,
and
are often repeated over and over again. These are to be found in Christian
rituals
as well as in the East, as has been explained in The Science of the
Sacraments.
In many religions sounds are thus used, and are associated with
pictures,
symbols, signs and gestures, and sometimes dances.
The
term tapas, used to describe the fourth method, is often associated with
ideas
of extreme austerity and even self-torture, such as the method of holding
the
arm extended until it withers, or lying on a bed of spikes. These practices
certainly
develop the will, but there are other and better ways of doing that.
These
Hatha Yoga schemes have the great demerit of making the physical body
useless
for that service of humanity which is above all other things important
for
the Master's work. The will may be just as effectively developed in dealing
with
the difficulties of life that come to us by nature
36
and through
karma; there is no necessity
to make trouble.
In
the Gita Shri Krishna speaks strongly against this superstition. He says,
"
The
men who perform severe austerities, which are not prescribed by the
Scriptures,
wedded to vanity and egoism, impelled by the force of their desires
and
passions., unintelligent, tormenting the aggregated elements forming the
body,
and Me also, seated in the inner body—know these as asuric in their
resolves." Such antics cannot be the real tapas. The
word means literally "
heat,"
and perhaps the nearest English equivalent to that when it is applied to
human
conduct is " effort ". The real meaning of the teaching with regard
to it
seems
to be: " Do for the body what you know to be good for it, disregarding
mere
comfort. Do not let laziness, selfishness, or indifference stand in the way
of
your doing what you can to make your personality healthy and efficient in the
work
that it ought to be doing in the world." 2 Shri Krishna says in the Gita'.
"
Reverence to the Gods, the elders, the teachers and the wise, purity,
straightforwardness,
continence and harmlessness are the tapas of the body;
speech
truthful, pleasant and beneficial, and study of the sacred words are the
tapas
of speech; cheerfulness, balance, silence, self-control, and being true to
oneself
are the tapas of mind." 3 These descriptions, given by one whom most of
the
Hindus regard as the greatest incarnation of
1
Op. cit., xvii, 5-6.
2
See Raja Yoga, by Ernest Wood.
8
-Op. cit., xvii, 14-16.
Deity,
certainly do not indicate any of the dreadful developments of which we
sometimes
see such sad examples.
It
is the fifth means, that of samadhi, that the Book of the Golden Precepts
advocates,
and, as in the Toga Sutras and other standard works of the kind, this
is
preceded by dharana and dhyana, which are commonly translated as
concentration
and meditation, while samadhi is interpreted as contemplation.
These
one-word translations from the Sanskrit are, however, often rather
unsatisfactory;
the Sanskrit words, coming down to us through the ages, have
acquired
a marvellous complexity, have added to themselves many fine shades of
meaning
which are not to be found in any modern English expression. The only way
really
to understand them is to study the terms in their context in the ancient
books.
The
siddhis may be divided into two classes, not only as higher and lower, but
also
as faculties and powers. The world acts upon us through the senses, through
our
faculties of sight, hearing and the rest; but we also act upon the world.
This
duality applies also with regard to super-physical accomplishments. We
receive
impressions through the newly unfolded powers of our astral and mental
vehicles;
but we can also act through them. It is usual in Hindu books to speak
of
eight siddhis: (1) anima, the power to put oneself in the position of an
atom,
to become so small as to be able to deal with that tiny thing; (2) mahima,
the
power to be as if of monstrous size, so as to deal with huge things at no
disadvantage;
(3) laghima, the power to become as light as cotton borne
on
the wind; (4) garima, the power to become as dense and heavy as
anything
can be; (5) prapti, the power of reaching out, even as far as the moon;
(6)
prakamya, the will power with which to realize all wishes and desires; (7)
ishatwa,
the power to control and create; and (8) vashitwa, the power of command
over
all objects. These are called " the great powers ", but others are
mentioned,
such as steadiness and effulgence in the body, control of the senses
and
appetites, beauty and gracefulness, and so on.
We
students of these later days approach all these problems from a point of view
so
totally different from that of the Hindu writers of thousands of years ago,
that
it is sometimes difficult for us to understand them. We are the product of
our
age, and the quasi-scientific training through which we all pass makes it a
mental
necessity for us to try to classify our knowledge. Each man endeavours to
build
for himself some kind of scheme of things, however crude it may be, and
when
any new fact is presented to him he tries to find a niche in his scheme for
it.
If it fits in comfortably he accepts the fact; if he cannot make it fit in,
he
is quite likely to reject it, even though it may come to him with the
weightiest
evidence. Though some people seem capable of holding, quite happily,
beliefs
which are mutually contradictory, there are others who cannot do this,
and
it is often a painful process for them to reconstruct their thought-edifice
to
admit a new fact—-so painful that they not infrequently avoid it by
conveniently
forgetting or denying the fact. Our ancient Indian brethren seem to
me
to have catalogued their observations and left them there —-to have made no
special
attempt to relate them to one another or to classify them by the planes
on
which they occurred or the kind of faculty which they required.
We
have no difficulty in recognizing the first and second powers on this list of
siddhis;
they are instances of the alteration of the focus of the consciousness;
we
sometimes call them powers of magnification and reduction. They mean the
adaptation
of the consciousness to the objects with which it has to deal—a feat
which
presents no difficulty to the trained occultist, though it is not easy on
the
physical plane to explain exactly how it is done. The third and fourth
mention
the possibility of becoming light or heavy at will; this is achieved by
the
comprehension and use of the repulsive force which is the opposite of
gravity.
I am not so sure about the fifth; it may refer merely to the power of
travelling
in the astral body, since the limit of astral migration is indicated
by
the mention of the moon; but I rather suspect that it means the power of
producing
a definite result at a distance by 'an effort of will. The sixth and
eighth
are only developments of will-power, though very remarkable developments;
the
seventh is the same, with the addition of the special knowledge required for
the
dematerialization and rematerialization of objects. In this list there seems
to
be no direct reference to clairvoyance at all, either in space or in time.
It
is to be noted that The Voice of the Silence does not say that the lower
iddhis,
those belonging to the astral and mental bodies, are to be neglected
altogether;
it merely points out that there are serious dangers connected with them. We
shall
have to deal with them a little further on, for he who would climb the
ladder
must step on every rung.
He
who would hear the voice of Nada, the " Sound-less sound," and
comprehend it,
he
has to learn the nature of Dharana.
To
this there are two footnotes, as follows:
The
" Soundless Voice," or the " Voice of the Silence."
Literally perhaps this
would
read " Voice in the Spiritual Sound,''' as Nada is the equivalent word in
Sanskrit
for the Senzar term.
Dharana
is the intense and perfect concentration of the mind upon some one
interior
object, accompanied by complete abstraction from everything pertaining
to
the external universe, or the world of the senses.
The
word that is here translated concentration comes from the root dhri, to
hold.
The word dharana, with a short final vowel, means holding or supporting in
general,
but here we have a special feminine substantive, with the long terminal
vowel,
as a technical term signifying concentration or holding of the mind.
It
is described in some places as a kind of pondering or dwelling upon a given
thought
or object, and it is said in the Hindu books that meditation and
contemplation
will not be successful unless this is practised first. It is
obvious
that while the mind is responding to
41
the
appeals of the physical, astral and lower mental planes, it is not likely to
hear
the message that the ego is trying to transmit to the personality from his
own
higher planes.
Concentration
is requisite, that attention may be given to the chosen object,
not
to the restless activity of the lower vehicles. It is usual to begin the
practice
of concentration with simple things. On a certain occasion some people
came
to Madame Blavatsky, and asked her upon what they should meditate; she
threw
a matchbox down on the table, and said: " Meditate on that! " It
startled
them
somewhat, because they had expected her to tell them to meditate upon
Parabrahman
or the Absolute. It is very important that this concentration should
be
done without strain to the body. Dr. Besant has told us that, when Madame
Blavatsky
first instructed her to try it, she began with great intensity; but
her
teacher interrupted her, saying: " My dear, you do not meditate with your
blood-vessels!
"
What
is required is to hold the mind quiet, so that one looks at the object of
thought
with perfect calmness, just as one would look at one's watch 'to see the
time,
except that one keeps on looking for the length of time prescribed or
decided
upon for the period of concentration. People often complain of headaches
and
other pains as a result of meditation; there should never be any such
result;
if they will take care to keep the physical body calm and free from
tension
of any kind, even in the eyes, they will probably find their
concentration
much easier and more successful, and free from
physical
trouble and danger. Various books have been written on this subject,
and
some of them offer exceedingly dangerous suggestions. Anyone wishing further
information
on this should read Professor Wood's book, Concentration—-a
Practical
Course, of which Dr. Besant wrote: '' There is nothing in it which,
when
practised, can do the striver after concentration the least physical,
mental
or moral harm."
In
her footnote, H.P.B. associates dharana with the higher mental plane, for she
says
the mind must be fixed upon an interior object and abstracted from the
world
of the senses; that is, from the physical, astral and lower mental worlds.
That
is a prescription for the candidate who is already on the Path, and is
aiming
at the samadhi of the nirvanic or atmic plane. But the three terms
concentration,
meditation and contemplation are also used in a general way. To
fix
one's thought on a verse of scripture—-that is concentration. To look at it
in
every possible light and try to penetrate its meaning, to reach a new and
deep
thought or receive some intuitional light upon it—that is meditation. To
fix
one's attention steadily for a time on the light received—• that is
contemplation.
Contemplation has been defined as concentration at the top end of
your
line of thought or meditation. It is usual for the Oriental student to
begin
his practice on some simple external object, and from that to carry his
thought
inward or upward to higher things.
CHAPTER
s THE SLAYER OF THE REAL
Having
become indifferent to objects of perception, the pupil must seek out the
Raja
of the senses, the Thought-Producer, he who awakes illusion.
The
Mind is the great Slayer of the Real. Let the Disciple slay the slayer.
This
refers to what has to be done during the practice of concentration. In the
Hindu
books on the subject it is explained that prior to the actual
concentration
the student who sits for the practice must withdraw his attention
from
the objects of sensation; he must learn to take no notice of any sights or
sounds
that may come within his range; he must not be attracted by anyone or
anything
that comes within his view, or affects his sense of touch. He will then
be
ready to observe what thoughts and feelings rise in the mind itself, and to
deal
with them.
As
I have already explained, in most persons the mental and astral bodies are in
a
constant state of activity, full of vortices, which must be removed before
real
progress can be made. It is these that create the mass of illusions
which
beset the average man, and render it exceedingly difficult
for
him to get a true view of anything at all. It is an axiom of Shri
Shankaracharya's
teaching that just as the physical eye can see things well when
it
is steady, but not when it is roaming about, so the mind can understand
things
clearly when it is still. But if it is full of vortices they are sure to
distort
the vision and so create illusion.
The
mind is called the raja or king of the senses. Sometimes it is spoken of as
one
of them, as in the Gild:
A
portion of Mine own Self transformed in the world of life into an immortal
Spirit,
draweth round itself the senses, of which the mind is the sixth, veiled
in
matter.
1
That the mind does act as a kind of sense is obvious, since it corrects the
evidence
of the five senses and also indicates the presence of objects beyond
their
reach; for example, when a shadow falls across your threshold, you may
infer
that somebody is there.
What
is the mind, that has to be dealt with so severely by the aspirant?
Patanjali
speaks of it when he defines yoga practice as chitta-vritti-nirodha,
which
means restraint (nirodha) of the whirlpools (vritti) of the mind (chitta).
Among
the Vedantins, or in Shri Shankaracharya's school, the term antahkarana is
not
used as we generally employ it, but indicates the mind in its fullest sense.
It
means with, them literally the entire internal organ or instrument between
the
innermost Self and the outer world, and is always described as of
1
Op. cit., v, 7.four parts: the "I-maker" (ahamkara); insight,
intuition or pure reason
(buddhi);
thought (manas); and discrimination of objects (chitta). It is these
last
two that the Western man usually calls his mind, with its powers of
abstract
and concrete thought; when he thinks of the other processes he imagines
them
to be something above the mind.
The
Theosophist ought to recognize in these four Vedantic divisions his own
familiar
atma, buddhi, manas and the lower mind. Madame Blavatsky called the
last
kama-manas, because it is the part of manas that works with desire and is
therefore
interested in material objects. Kama is to be taken not only as
relating
to low desires and passions, but also to any sort of desire or interest
in
the external world for its own sake. The whole of the triple higher self is
from
this point of view nothing but the antahkarana (or internal agency) between
the
monad and the lower self. It has become a tetrad, because manas is dual in
incarnation.
The
three parts of the higher self are considered as three aspects of a great
consciousness
or mind; they are all modes of cognition. Atma is not the Self,
but
is this consciousness knowing the Self; buddhi is this consciousness knowing
the
life in the forms by its own direct perception; manas is the same
consciousness
looking out upon the world of objects, and kama-manas is a portion
of
the last immersed in that world and affected by it. The true self is the
Monad,
whose life is something greater than consciousness, which is the life of
this
complete mind, the Higher Self. Therefore Patanjali and
Shankara
are quite in agreement; it is the chitta, the kama-manas,
the
lower mind, which is the slayer of the real, and has to be slain.
Much
that is now called the astral body by Theosophists must be included in the
Indian
idea of kama-manas or chitta. Madame Blavatsky also speaks of four
divisions
of the mind. First there is manas-taijasi, the resplendent or
illuminated
manas, which is really buddhi, or at least that state of man when
his
manas has become merged in buddhi, having no separate will of its own. Then
there
is manas proper, the higher manas, the abstract thinking mind. Then there
is
the antahkarana, a term used by Madame Blavatsky merely to indicate the link
or
channel or bridge between higher manas and kama-manas during incarnation.
Finally
there is kama-manas, which is on this theory the personality.
Sometimes
she calls manas the deva-ego, or the divine as distinguished from the
personal
self. Higher manas is divine because it has positive thought, which is
kriya-shakti,
the power of doing things. Really all our work is done by
thought-power;
the sculptor's hand does not do the work, but thought-power
directing
that hand does it. The higher manas is divine because it is a positive
thinker,
using the quality of its own life, which shines from within it; that is
what
is meant by the word divine, from div, to shine. But the lower mind is only
a
reflector; like all other material things, it has no light of its own; it is
something
through which the light comes, or through which the sound comes—merely
persona,
a mask.
THE SLAYER OF
THE REAL
The
antahkarana is usually considered in the Theosophical works as the link
between
the higher self or the divine ego, and the lower self or personal ego
The
chitta in that lower self puts it at the mercy of things, so that our life
down
here may be compared to the experience of a man struggling to swim in a
maelstrom.
But this will be followed sooner or later after death by a period in
the
heaven-world. The man has been whirled about; he has seen many things; he
has
not dwelt upon them, however, with a calm, steady mind, but with kama-manas;
therefore
he has not understood their significance for the soul. But in the
heaven-world
the ego can widen out the antahkarana, because all is now calm; no
new
experiences are to be gathered. The old ones can be quietly turned over and
dwelt
upon, and their essence taken up, as it were, into the deva ego, as being
of
interest to him. So, very often, the ego really begins his personal
life-cycle
with the entry into the heaven-world, and pays a minimum of attention
to
the personality during its period of collecting materials.
In
that case the aspect of mind that is antahkarana (in Madame Blavatsky's
classification)
functions but little before the period of the heaven-life. But
if
a man is to become expert on the astral and mental planes during the life of
the
physical body, he must bring the positive powers of the higher Self down
through
that channel, by the practice of dharana or concentration, and so make
himself
entire master of his personality. In other words he must clear out the
astral
and mental whirlpools. A man who is genius on some line may find
it
easy to apply tremendous concentration to his particular kind of work, but
when
he relaxes from that, his ordinary life may quite possibly be still full of
these
whirlpools. That is not what we want; we are aiming at nothing less than
the
complete destruction of the whirlpools, so as to comb out the lower mind and
make
it the calm and obedient servant of the higher Self at all times.
These
whirlpools may and do constantly crystallize into permanent prejudices,
and
make actual congestions of matter closely resembling warts upon the mental
body.
Then if the man tries to look out through that particular part of that
body
he cannot see clearly; everything is distorted, for at that point the
mental
matter is no longer living and flowing, but stagnant and rotten. The way
to
cure it is to acquire more knowledge, to get the matter into motion again,
and
then one by one the prejudices will be washed away and dissolved.
It
is in this way that the mind is the great slayer of the real, for through it
we
do not see any object as it really is. We see only the images which we are
able
to make of it, and everything is necessarily coloured for us by these
thought-forms
of our own creation. Notice how two persons with preconceived
ideas,
seeing the same set of circumstances, and agreeing as to the actual
happenings,
will yet make two totally different stories from them. Exactly this
sort
of thing is going on all the time with every ordinary man, and we do not
realize
how absurdly we distort things. The disciple must conquer this; he must
"
slay the slayer ". He must not of course destroy his mind,
for.
he cannot get along without it, but he must
dominate
it; it is his, but it is not he, though it tries to make him think so.
The
best way to overcome its wandering is to use the will; its efforts are just
like
those of the astral body, which is always trying to persuade you that its
desires
are yours; you must deal with them both in a precisely similar manner.
Even
when the whirlpools that fill the mind with prejudice and error are gone,
much
illusion still remains. The translation of the Sanskrit word avidya as
ignorance
is perhaps not very fortunate, though it is universally accepted. So
often
in Sanskrit there are delicate shades of meaning which it is difficult to
convey
in English. In this case perhaps what is intended is rot so much
ignorance
as unwisdom. A man may have vast stores of knowledge, and yet be
unwise,
for knowledge is concerned with objects and their relations in space and
time,
whereas wisdom is concerned with the soul or consciousness embodied in
those
things. The wise politician understands the people's minds; the wise
mother
understands her children's minds. However much one may know about
material
things, if one has only the matter-sight and not the life-sight, one
has
in reality only unwisdom or avidya. "It is at the expense of wisdom that
intellect
generally lives," said Madame Blavatsky. Then, out of that unwisdom or
ignorance
spring four other great obstacles to spiritual progress, making five
altogether,
which are called the kleshas. If avidya be the first
obstacle
the second is asmita, the notion that " I am
this
" or what a Master once called " self-personality". The
personality is
developed
through life into quite a definite thing, with decided physical,
astral
and mental form, occupation and habits; and there is no objection to that
if
it be a good specimen. But if the indwelling life can be persuaded to think
that
he is that personality, he will begin to serve its interests, instead of
using
it merely as -a tool for his spiritual purposes.
In
consequence of this second error men seek inordinate wealth and power and
fame.
When a man looks over his country houses and his town houses, his yachts
and
cars, his farms and factories, he swells with pride; thinking himself great
because
he is called the owner of these things; or he hears his name on
everybody's
lips, and feels that thousands of people are thinking of him with
praise
(or even with condemnation, for notoriety is often pleasing to men who
cannot
attain fame) and he thinks himself a very great person indeed. That is "
self-personality
", one of the greatest superstitions in the world, and a great
source
of trouble for one and all. The spiritual man, on the other hand, counts
himself
fortunate if he can be the master of his own hand and brain, and he
wishes
to hold the images of thousands of others in his own mind that he may
help
them, rather than to rejoice in the thought that his image is multiplied
and
magnified in their minds. Hence self-personality is the greatest obstacle to
the
use of the personality by the higher Self, and so to spiritual progress.
The
third and fourth obstacles may be taken together. They are raga. and dwesha,
liking
and disliking, or attraction and repulsion. These too spring from this
same
self-personality. That it should show its likes is inappropriate; it is as
though
a motor-car should have a voice of its own, and should raise it in great
discontent
when its master drives over a broken road, or in a purr of delight
when
he goes over a good road. The road may be a bad one for the car, but from
the
point of view of the driver it is a good thing that there is a road at all,
because
he wants to get somewhere, which would be a difficult matter without a
road.
It is nice to have our armchairs and fires and electric light and steam
heat,
but he who would make progress has to go over new country, sometimes
materially,
and always in thought and feeling. People like the things that
consort
with their settled conveniences and habits; anything that disturbs those
is
" bad "; anything that fits in with them and enhances them is "
good ". Such
an
outlook upon life does not harmonize with spiritual progress; we do not
refuse
comfort when it comes, but we must learn to be indifferent to it, and to
take
things as they come: this emphasis upon liking and disliking must go, and
the
calm judgment of the higher Self as to what is good and what is bad must
take
its place.
The
fifth obstacle is abhinivesha, the outcome of the last, the state of being
fixed,
settled in, attached to a form or mode of life, or to the personality.
From
this arises fear of old age and of death—events which can never exist for
the
man himself, but must come in due course to the personality.
A
veritable death in life may arise out this of fifth
trouble;
people -waste their youth in preparation for comfort and safety in
age,-
and then waste their age in seeking for their lost youth, or are afraid to
use
their bodies, lest they should wear out. They are like a man who buys a
beautiful
motor-car, and sits in his garage, enjoying his new possession, but
unable
to bring himself to run it out on the road, lest it should be spoiled.
Our
business is to do what the higher Self wants, and to be utterly willing to
die
in his service if need be.
All
the whirlpools arise from these five obstacles. Concentration and meditation
are
the means to dispel them completely. When the kama-manas no longer
gravitates
downwards, the manas can turn upwards, to become manas-taijasi.
Another
Sanskrit word connected with this self-personality is mana, sometimes
translated
pride, but perhaps better rendered by conceit. This root appears in
the
word nirmanakaya, which means a being who is beyond this illusion—nirmana.
Madame
Blavatsky said that there were three kinds or modes of incarnation:
first,
that of the avatar as, those who descend from higher spheres, having
reached
them in a cycle of evolution prior to ours; secondly, those of an
ordinary
kind, when a person passes through the astral and mental worlds and
then
takes up a new body; and thirdly, that of nirmanakayas, who incarnate again
without
interlude, sometimes perhaps after only a few days. In The Secret
Doctrine
she cites the Cardinal de Cusa as an instance of this,
he
having been born again quickly, as Copernicus; and she says
that
such rapid rebirth is not an uncommon thing. She speaks of such people as
adepts,
not using the word quite as we employ it now, but meaning that they are
adept
or expert on the astral and lower mental planes; she says that they
sometimes
act as spirits at seances, and that they are particularly opposed by
the
Brothers of the Shadow, presumably because of the progress that they are
making
for themselves and also for mankind in general.
She
explains that there are two kinds of nirmana-kayas: those who have renounced
the
heaven-world, as above explained, and those who at a later and higher stage
renounce
what she calls absolute Nirvana, in order to remain to help the
progress
of the world. Modern Theosophical literature confines the term to this
latter
class, but here we are concerned with the lower class. The man who has
slain
the slayer has largely destroyed the five obstacles, and has become the
servant
of the higher Self, with nothing in him but what is favourable to its
purposes.
He has his antahkarana widened out so that during his bodily life he
is
in full touch with the higher Self, and all the time that self is taking what
it
needs; the bee can visit the flower when he will, for there is no storm
raging:
and when the physical body is dead, the subtle part of the personality
can
be used again in the next incarnation, because it is not full of whirlpools
which
represent fixed desires and rigid opinions, and selfish habits of feeling
and
thought.
CHAPTER
4 THE REAL AND THE UNREAL
For
when to himself his form appears unreal, as do on waking all the forms he
sees
in dreams; when he has ceased to hear the many, he may discern the One—the
inner
sound which kills the outer.
C.W.L.—The
simile of dreaming and waking is frequently used in Oriental
philosophy.
It has its use, but we must take care that it does not lead us into
a
misapprehension. When we wake from an ordinary dream we realize that our
senses
have been deceived, that what we thought at the time to be a real
experience
was in truth nothing of the kind. But this is not exactly what
happens
when we wake to a perception of spiritual reality. We awaken to a higher
and
broader life; we perceive for the first time the crushing yet entirely
unsuspected
limitations under which we have hitherto been living. But that does
not
mean that our life before that time was nothing but a useless deception. The
awakening
to higher things causes our previous state of mind to appear
irrational,
but, after all, it was only relatively so. We were acting then
according
to our lights, upon such information as we had; now we have so much
more
that all our lines of thought and action are completely changed.
Even
the Vedantist does not deny that this physical plane dream of ours has its
value
for the production of enlightenment. A man may dream that a snake is
threatening
him, and be much alarmed thereby; at last in his dream the snake
strikes
him, and with that shock he wakes, and is much relieved to find that the
whole
experience was an illusion. Yet it was the blow of the illusory snake that
awoke
him to a more real life. Similarly, in the Gild, Shri Krishna tells His
pupil
that wisdom is better than worldly goods, because, He says, " All actions
in
their entirety culminate in wisdom." 1 That great Teacher did not
deprecate a
life
of activity, but encouraged it to the utmost; yet He said that one should
not
be attached to the activities and the things with which they deal, but
should
seek only the wisdom that can be obtained from them. It is in the wisdom
that
man has his own true being, as he is a part of the Logos. If he listens to
the
voice of wisdom he will become increasingly the master of himself and his
life;
the inner sound will thus put a stop to the outer clamour which directs
the
feverish activities of ordinary men.
It
is very true that a man should cease to give his attention to the many things
which
surround and play upon him, and should turn it inwards to the one witness
of
all these things; but he is not entirely free to do this until he has fully
performed
his dharma in the outer world. Any man at any time, whatever his
duties
may 1 Op. cit., iv, 33. be, may set his affection upon things above,
and
not upon things of the earth.
But
he may not be at liberty to devote his whole life to higher work until he
has
satisfied the demands of the karma which he has made in past lives, or in
the
earlier part of his present life. He may certainly feel vairagya, but while
any
physical duties Still remain to him, he must retain sufficient interest in
them
to do them as perfectly as they can be done.
If
his desire for liberation is strong enough, and unless his karma places some
insuperable
obstacle in his way, he will probably find that the path to freedom
will
soon open before him. I myself had an experience of that kind; I received
a,
message from my Master offering me certain opportunities which I most
thankfully
accepted. But if that gracious offer had been made a little earlier,
I
should have been unable to accept it, because I should not have been free;
there
lay upon me a clear duty which I could not possibly have neglected.
Vairagya
has two parts; there is the apara or lower vairagya, and the para or
higher
vairagya.
There
are three stages in the abandonment of attachment to external things.
First,
the man becomes tired of the things which used to give him pleasure, yet
he
is sorry that he is tired of them; he desires still to enjoy them, but he
cannot.
Then, because of that satiety, he seeks elsewhere for satisfaction.
Finally,
when he has caught a clear glimpse of the higher things his spiritual
desires
awaken, and they prove so attractive to him that he thinks of the others
no
more. Or else, having learnt of the existence of the higher things and
decided
to follow them, he in the second stage either sets
himself
to observe the defects of the lower things, so as to
create
a sort of artificial disgust for them, or he fixes
his
will in rigid determination to reject their attractiveness and starve out
desire
for them. Finally, as in the former case, perhaps only after many
fluctuations,
the man sees the higher; he hears the inner sound which kills the
outer.
Then he has the higher vairagya.
In
the middle stage of struggle, it often happens that the man conceives a
positive
repugnance for the things of his erst-while pleasure; that is usually a
sign
that he has only recently escaped from bondage to them and he still fears
their
attractiveness; he feels that he is liable to be tainted by their
proximity,
so he shudders and avoids them, or he attacks and tries to destroy
them
with unreasoning vehemence. All these different aspects of the second stage
are
forms of the lower vairagya.
Then
only, not till then, shall he forsake the region of Asat, the false, to
come
onto the realm of Sat, the true.
Let
us be careful here not to misunderstand. Many have supposed that this
passage
implies that the lower planes are mere illusion, but that is by no means
what
is intended. I have already written on the real and the unreal and have
explained
that each plane is real to the consciousness which functions upon it.1
What
is true is that until a man is able to hear the inner voice and to look
upon
life from the standpoint of the higher planes
1
" The Occult Path and the Interests of the World " in the first
Volume of
Talks
on the Path of Occultism. he has no real grasp of the
truth
which lies behind all this complexity of manifestation that surrounds us.
Before
the Soul can see, die harmony within must be attained, and fleshly eyes
be
rendered blind to all illusion.Before the Soul can hear,
the image (man) has to become as deaf to
roarings as
to
whispers, to cries of bellowing elephants as to the silvery
buzzing
of the golden fire-fly.
Before
the Soul can comprehend and may remember, she must onto the Silent
Speaker
be united, just as the form to which the clay is modelled is first
united
with the potter's mind.
The
harmony within is that between the ego and his vehicles, and also, of
course,
between those vehicles themselves. In the average man there is a
perpetual
strain going on between the astral body and the mental body, between
the
desires and the mind; and neither of these bodies is in the least in tune
with
the ego, or pre- : pared to act as his vehicle. The personality must be
purified,
and the channel between it and the ego must be opened and widened.-
Until
this is done the personality sees everything and everybody from its own
very
limited point of view. The ego cannot see what is really going on; he
perceives
only the distorted picture in the personality, which is like a camera
with
a defective lens that distorts the light rays, and a faulty plate or film
which
makes the result all blurred, indistinct and unequal.
That
is why in most people the ego cannot derive any satisfaction from the
personality
until it is in the heaven-world. The ego knows the true from the
false,
he recognizes the true when he sees it, and rejects the false; but
generally
when he casts an eye downwards into the personality he finds so crazy
a
confusion of inconsequent thought-forms that he can distinguish nothing
definite;
he turns away in despair, and decides to wait for the quietude of the
heaven-world
before attempting to pick the fragments of truth out of this
unseemly
chaos. Under those more peaceful conditions, as the emotions and
thoughts
of the recent physical life come up one by one and envisage themselves
in
the vivid light of that world, they are examined with clear vision, the dross
is
thrown away and the treasure is kept. The disciple must try to bring about
this
condition while still in the physical body, by purifying the personality
and
harmonizing it with the soul.
The
possibilities of personal error are almost infinite. Suppose that a worm, a
bird,
a monkey, and a traveller simultaneously look at a tree. The first will
think
of it as food, the second as a house, the third as a gymnasium, the fourth
as
a kind of umbrella; the pictures will all be different from one another, and
different
again from the tree's conception of himself.
While
seeing has reference to looking outward, hearing refers to what comes from
within.
The man must become quiet if he is to hear the still small voice.
Dharana
or concentration will produce this quietness. If the soul is to hear the
inner
voice with certainty and accuracy, the
outer man must
be
unshaken by all external things—by the clamour of the big breakers
of
life that dash against him, as well as by the delicate murmur
of
the softer ripples. He must learn to be very still, to have no desires and
aversions.
Intuition
can scarcely ever be invoked except when the man is utterly willing to
receive
its behests as the best and most acceptable guide, without intruding his
personal
desires. It would be of little use to ask from the intuition any
solution
of a problem of conduct, if at the same time the man wished that the
answer
should be this or that. Except on rare occasions when it is unusually
strong,
it is only when personal desires and aversions have ceased to exist when
the
voice of the outer world can no longer command him, that a man can hear the
inner
voice which should be his unfailing guide.
Before
the soul can fully comprehend the drift of all the tuition which comes to
him
from without, and the intuition that comes from within, another harmonizing
process
must take place, in which the manas gradually becomes attuned to the
will,
which gives direction to his life.
There
are three stages in the development of consciousness. On the probationary
path
the man's highest consciousness works upon the higher mental plane; after
the
First Initiation and until the Fourth, it is climbing steadily through the
buddhic
plane; at the end of that stage it enters on the atonic or spiritual
plane.
He has then become united with the will, the directing
agent,
controller of his destiny. While in the middle stage he might have said:
"Thy
Will, not mine, be done," but now he says: "Thy Will and mine are
one."
Just
as the design of the pot that is to be made is first in the potter's mind,
and
just as the model for a race of men is in the Manu's mind, He having
received
it from above, so is the goal of achievement for every one of us
already
marked out by the Monad, and then brought down into the evolving life of
the
conscious man by the spiritual principle within him.
There
is thus a reason for the use of the word soul in these three verses. It is
the
soul that treads the path of progress, not the personality. On the first
half
of the path it unites itself more and more completely with the buddhi,
forming
the spiritual soul, manas-taijasi. But all the work is done under the
direction,
of the atma, the voice of the silence.
CHAPTER
5 THE WARNING VOICE
For
then the Soul will hear, and will remember. And then to the inner ear will
speak.
THE
VOICE OF THE SILENCE, and say:
If
thy Soul smiles while bathing in the sunlight of thy life; if thy Soul sings
within
her chrysalis of flesh and matter; if thy Soul weeps inside her castle of
illusion;
if thy Soul struggles to break the silver thread that binds her to the
Master;
know, O disciple, thy Soul is of the earth.
C.W.L.—In
occult books we have frequent reference to the voice of the silence,
and
we often find that what is said in one place does not agree with what
appears
in others. In the early days of the Society we used to puzzle over its
exact
significance, trying to make it always mean the same thing. Only after
much
study did we discover that the term is general. The voice of the silence
for
anyone is that which comes from the part of him which
-------
is
higher than his consciousness can reach, and naturally that changes as his
evolution
progresses. For those working with the personality the voice of the
ego
is the voice of the silence, but when one has dominated the personality
entirely
and has made it one with the ego so that the ego may work perfectly
through
it, it is the voice of the atma—-the triple spirit on the nirvanic
plane.
When this is reached there will still be a voice of the silence—that of
the
Monad on the plane above. When the man identifies the ego and the Monad and
attains
Adeptship, he will still find a voice of the silence coming down to him
from
above, but then it will be the voice, perhaps, of one of the Ministers of
the
Deity, one of the Planetary Logoi, as They are called. Perhaps for Him in
turn
it will be the voice of the Solar Logos Himself; and if even for Him there
is
such a thing as that, it must be the voice of a higher Logos. But who can
say?
"
The sunlight of thy life " refers to those periods in our personal
existence
when
fortune smiles upon us, and everything seems bright and fair. The ego who
basks
in that pleasure, and mistakes it for the true happiness of the higher
Self,
has not yet the higher vairagya which kills the outer sounds. In The
Ancient
Wisdom Dr. Besant has explained how the man who feels that nothing on
earth
can satisfy him, not even those things that give the greatest delight to
ordinary
mortals, may through a strong but calm effort of the will rise to and
unite
himself with the higher consciousness and find himself free of the body;
but
that is only for those who
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obey
the first condition, who cannot be satisfied with anything less than that
union.
The
three bodies, physical, astral and mental, which with their habits
constitute
the personality, are in truth a chrysalis, in which a butterfly is
gradually
being formed. In our present caterpillar state the soul must be in the
body
and the world; yet it must not be of them; it must not accept that life as
its
own, but must realize that it is independent of its vehicles. Here again we
must
be careful not to misunderstand. It is indeed well, it is even necessary
that
the soul should rejoice on its upward path, that it should smile, that it
should
sing within its chrysalis; there is no harm in that—there is even much
good
in it. What it must not do is to sing because of the chrysalis, or of
anything
that happens to that outer shell. It would be wrong, terribly wrong,
that
the soul should weep within its castle of illusion, because depression and
sadness
are always wrong. But that, true as it is, is not what is meant here.
What
Aryasanga is trying to tell us in his graceful poetical language is that
the
soul must neither rejoice nor sorrow because of anything whatever that is
connected
with the chrysalis or the castle, or any outer form; it must be
indifferent
to that form, unaffected by what happens to it. If it is not
indifferent,
it is still of the earth, still entangled with this lower world,
and
so not yet ready for perfect freedom.
All
around us eternal change is taking place; but the soul must press forward on
its
way resistless, undeterred by change, for to be influenced by these outer
things
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shows
weakness. Remember how Shakespeare
writes in his Sonnets:
When
I have seen by Time's fell hand defaced The rich proud cost of outworn
buried
age When sometime lofty towers I see down-raze And brass eternal slave to
mortal
rage; When I have seen the hungry ocean gain Advantage on the kingdom of
the
shore, And the firm soil win of the watery main, Increasing store with loss
and
loss with store; When I have seen such interchange of state, Or state itself
confounded
to decay; Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate, That Time will come
and
take my love away,
This
thought is as a death, which cannot choose But weep to have that which it
fears
to lose.
Since
brass, nor stone nor earth, nor boundless sea, But sad mortality
o'er-sways
their power, How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, Whose
action
is no stronger than a flower? O, how shall summer's honey breath hold out
Against
the wreckful siege of battering days, When rocks impregnable are not so
stout,
Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays? 1
But
time is really the friend of the aspirant, for it is precisely the finer,
the
higher, the inner things which are least subject to its ravages. This truth
the
occultist learns as a matter of certain experience and knowledge, so the
changes
in outside things at last come to trouble him not at all.
Silver
is the thread—as befits an emblem of purity— that binds the soul to the
higher
Self; every traffic that the soul has with impurity of body, emotions or
thought,
is a struggle to break that silver thread, a temptation to ignore the
still,
small voice.
1
Sonnets, xliv, xlv.
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Madame
Blavatsky adds the following footnotes:
The
"great Master " is the term used by chelas to indicate the Higher
Self. It
is
the equivalent of Avalokiteshvara, and the same as Adi-Buddha with the
Buddhist
occultists, Atma with the Brahmanas, and Christos with the ancient
Gnostics.
Soul
is used here for the human Ego or Manas, that which is referred to in our
occult
septenary division as the human Soul in contradistinction to the
spiritual
and animal Souls.
Madame
Blavatsky here employs the word Master in an unusual sense, saying that
it
is so used by the chelas or pupils. In later Theosophical literature this
title
has been reserved for that limited number of members of the Great White
Brotherhood
who accept pupils from among those who are still living in the
world.
That number is small; it would seem that one Adept on each of the rays is
appointed
to attend to that work, and all those who are coming along his
particular
ray of evolution pass through his hands. No one below the rank of
Adept
is permitted to assume full responsibility for a pupil, though those who
have
held the position of pupil for a number of years are often employed as
deputies,
and receive the privilege of helping and advising promising young
aspirants.
These older pupils are gradually being trained for their future work
when
they in turn shall become Adepts, and they are learning to take more and
more
of the routine work off the hands of their Masters, so that the latter may
be
set free for higher labours which only
I
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they
can undertake. The preliminary selection of candidates for chelaship is now
left
to a large extent in the hands of these older pupils, and the candidates
are
temporarily linked with such pupils rather than directly with the great
Adepts.
But the pupils and the Master are so wonderfully one that perhaps this
is
almost " a distinction without a difference ".
The
terms which Madame Blavatsky uses in these footnotes will be better
understood
if we study a little the various trinities in the universe and in
man.
It is in the experience of everybody that there is a duality of the knower
and
the known, of the one who sees and the things that are seen, of the subject
and
the object. This is the old division of the world of experience into two
parts,
spirit and matter, using those words in a general or common sense. Spirit
or
consciousness and matter are a pair of opposites—-the spirit is an active
principle,
the matter a passive one; the spirit has a centre but no
circumference,
the matter has a circumference but no centre; the spirit is
self-moving,
the matter is moved from outside. In these two we have also the
division
of reality into the divine and the material; the free and the bound;
that
which shines with its own light and that which has only reflected light.
When
one looks closer still, one sees that those two are playing, as it were, on
the
stage in one's presence, that they are not No. 1 and No. 2 principles, as
many
people think, but they are No. 2 and No. 3; for the one that now witnesses
their
interplay is No. 1. No. 2 is the God who is seen, but No. 1 is the God who
is
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the
real Self, who is the cause of all the interplay between No. 2 and No. 3.
In
Christian terminology, Christ is the God who is seen. " No man hath seen
God
at
any time." 1 Yet said Christ: " I and my Father are One." 2
That
brings us to the term Avalokiteshvara. This word is a compound of avalokita
(seen),
and Ishvara (God, the Ruler). It thus means the Higher Self in the
duality
of spirit and matter in the universe. " There are three that bear record
in
heaven," said
Word,
the Logos, Avalokiteshvara, is the Second. He is the Christos, the God
that
is seen. This is the universal spirit, or purusha, as distinguished from
the
matter, or prakriti. Man is consciousness looking at matter, and this God is
glorified
or universal Man, the supreme subject. Analyze yourself, and you will
find
the reflection of this—the inner God in yourself. Still, that God that is
seen
only bears witness to the real God—in man to the Self, the " I "
which
embraces
both the subject and the object.
This
" I " is not a new subject, witnessing the old subject and object,
put
together
and now made into one new compound object. It is " I "—that is all
there
is to say. Every thinking man can look at his own body, and in some cases
his
astral and mental bodies as well, and call it "it", that is, he can
look
upon
it as an
11
John, 4, 12.
I
St. John, x, 30.
I1
John, 5, 7.
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object.
He can also have a conception of the consciousness or subject in his
neighbour,
and infer that it is of the same nature as that consciousness
(containing
will, feeling and thought) which he finds in himself. But on this
point
he now makes a great mistake, by giving two different names to one
thing—-he
calls the same thing " you " when he sees it in his neighbour, but
" I
"
when he looks at it in himself! Let him look upon the consciousness or subject
within
himself (all of it) as he does upon that in others, and call it " you
",
regarding
it as just one of the great sea of " yous " that make up the Logos,
as
drops
of water make up the ocean, and he will be ready to transcend
consciousness
and reach the real " I ", the Self or God that is not seen.1 The
consciousness,
the " you ", is a portion of Avalokiteshvara, the God that is
seen,
the Christ, the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,
just
as much as the bodies are parts of the ocean of cosmic matter; and both
equally
are not the Self. No one hath seen the supreme God at any time—not even
the
Son.
This
trinity has been considered in various ways: Avalokiteshvara has been
described
as follows by Swami T. Subba Rao: " Parabrahman by itself cannot be
seen
as it is. It is seen by the Logos with a veil thrown over it, and that veil
is
the mighty expanse of Cosmic Matter." And again: "Parabrahman, after
having
appeared
on the one hand as the Ego, and on
1
This argument is expounded in The Seven Rays, by Ernest Wood, Ch. xxi.
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the
other as Mulaprakriti, acts as the one energy through the Logos". The
danger
of
all such descriptions is immense; the use of the word " it " alone in
this
connection
can undo everything. In oneself deliverance, the truth, must be
sought—only
I being I can solve this mystery, which is so easy, but that people
will
not see. There is also the strongest objection even to the word God as
applied
to Parabrahman—for to think of God is to think of the seen, that is, of
Avalokiteshvara;
and that God is, after all, a " you ", or rather all " yous
".
The
conception of a subject or " you " involves a time limitation; that
of an
object
or " it" involves a space limitation. But motion in both time and
space
is
a mystery. Some ancients argued that nothing could really move, " because
it
cannot
move in the space where it is, and it certainly cannot move in the space
where
it is not." But subjects can move in time, and objects can move in space,
because
all move in Parabrahman. Both time and space are secondary to motion,
properly
conceived.1
"
And these three are one." 2 Mulaprakriti, the root of manifestation, basic
matter,
external being, is not something other than Parabrahman, but is the
same,
as seen through the time limitations of consciousness. Parabrahman is
beyond
that time limitation, and therefore seems to be still, and from that
arises
the appearance-of space, the characteristic of Mulaprakriti—which is in
reality
a space containing everything which ever existed
1
See The Seven Rays, Ch. viii. 2 I John,
4, 12.
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or
will exist in all of the three periods of time—past, present and future. Then
universal
consciousness, the great Man, also called Daiviprakriti (the divine
manifestation),
as against Mulaprakriti (the material manifestation), is
Avalokiteshvara,
the Ishvara or Ruler or God who is seen, in contradistinction
to
Parabrahman, the first member of the Trinity, who is not seen directly even
by
him.
Now,
in the higher triad in the consciousness of man we have a reflection of
this
great Trinity. Therefore Madame Blavatsky says that the Higher Self, by
which
she means buddhi or the intuitional love, is the equivalent of
Avalokiteshvara.
Any confusion in thought of the universal reality with atma,
buddhi
and manas— the three modes of consciousness in man—would result in
serious
error, but there is an analogy between the two. The great Trinity is
reflected
in man in various ways, and appears in one form in those three aspects
of
his consciousness. So atma, buddhi and manas reflect in their smaller sphere
the
characteristics of the universal trinity. Atma is the consciousness of Self,
and
also the will, which gives self-direction. Manas, at the other pole, is
consciousness
of the world, and its thought-power does all our work, even that
which
is effected through the hands. But buddhi, between the two, is the very
essence
of consciousness, of subjectivity. Thus the greater Trinity is
reproduced
in the consciousness of the ego.
Beyond
this middle member, triple in character, is the Monad in man,
representative
in him of Parabrahman,
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the
state of his true and absolute nirvana, beyond consciousness. The atma is
the
state of his false and relative nirvana of the nirvanic plane, his last
illusion,
that persists between the Fourth and Fifth Initiations. As the Monad
lies
above the trinity of consciousness, so the personal bodies lie outside or
beneath
it—they are known only in reflection in manas. On the first half of the
Path
(from the First to the Fourth Initiation) the man is busy shaking himself
free
from those personal limitations, from the illusion of " it ". On the
second
half
he is engaged in releasing himself from the illusion of "you".
There
are still a few more points to consider in Madame Blavatsky's notes. Her
reference
to Adi-Buddha and Atma requires some comment, though that to the
Christos
of the Gnostics will be abundantly clear from what has been said above.
The
" Atma of the Brahmanas " is rather what the Buddhists thought that
the
Brahmanas
meant by the term (and what perhaps many of the Brahmanas who missed
the
true point of their philosophy really did think); it is that spiritual soul
in
man which the Buddha declared to be not utterly permanent. Yes, even the
Christ
(the higher self) in man is at last mortal. Beautiful and wonderful, and
far
beyond the vision of ordinary men as it lies, it must at last give up its
life,
to be one with the Father. It is the " you " masquerading as the
" I " in
spiritual
men —just as, far earlier in evolution, the absurd personality, the "
it
" pretended to be " I ". But when he says that their belief in
atma is wrong,
the
orthodox Buddhist has
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not
understood the height of true Brahmana thought, and especially the teaching
on
this point of Shri Shankara-charya, who was really one with the Buddha in His
anatma
doctrine, because by atma He meant the Monad, the indescribable
Parabrahmic
aspect of man. The Buddha saw that people called " you " the atma,
the
Self, and tried to dislodge them from that error by saying that what they
called
" I " was perishable.
In
the footnote Madame Blavatsky says that Avalokiteshvara is the same as
Adi-Buddha.
She amplifies her statement on the subject in The Secret Doctrine,
as
follows:
In
the esoteric, and even exoteric Buddhism of the North, Adi-Buddha, . . . the
One
Unknown, without beginning or end, identical with Parabrahman, emits a
bright
Ray from its Darkness. This is the Logos, the First, or Vajradhara, the
Supreme
Buddha, also called Dorjechang. As the Lord of all Mysteries he cannot
manifest,
but sends into the world of manifestation his Heart—the " Diamond
Heart,"
Vajrasattva or Dorjesempa. This is the Second Logos of Creation.1
In
this extract she clearly shows that the First and Second Logos are
respectively
Adi-Buddha and Avalokiteshvara, for the latter is the same as
Vajrasattva.
Therefore when she speaks of them as one it can only be as the
Christians
speak of the Christ as one with the Father. I wrote as follows on
this
subject in The Inner Life, Section II:
There
has been much discussion as to the exact meaning of the terms Adi-Buddha
and
Avalokiteshvara. I have made no special study of these things from the
philosophical
standpoint, but so far as I have been able to gather ideas from
discussion
of the matter with the living exponents of the religion, Adi-Buddha
seems
to be the culmination of one of the great lines of superhuman
development—-what
might be called the abstract principle
1
Op. cit., Vol. I, p. 624.
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of
all the Buddhas. Avalokiteshvara is a term belonging to the Northern Church
and
seems to be the Buddhists' name for their conception of the Logos. European
scholars
have translated it: " The Lord who looks down from on high," but this
seems
to have in it a somewhat inaccurate implication, for it is clearly always
the
manifested Logos; sometimes the Logos of a solar system and sometimes higher
than
that, but always manifest. We must not forget that-while the founders of
the
great religions see and know the things which They name, Their followers
usually
do not see; they have only the names, and they juggle with them as
intellectual
counters, and build up much which is incorrect and inconsistent.1
We
have already seen that by the term Higher Self Madame Blavatsky means the
buddhi
in man, the central member of the trinity of his immortal consciousness.
That
is the wisdom in man. But it is a reflection of the universal wisdom,
without
which there could be no human wisdom. Similarly, without the
Dhyani-Buddha
Avalokiteshvara, the " centre of energy'' of the ultimate wisdom,
Adi-Buddha,
no human Buddha could become. The Illumination of the sage Gautama
was
therefore not essentially the flowering of a man into a god, but the union
of
a perfected human consciousness with the wisdom of the Logos.
The
second of the footnotes under consideration speaks not only of the manas as
the
human Soul, but refers also to the animal soul in man. This is the lower
manas,
the kama-manas. On its plane reside the group-souls of animals, while
those
of the vegetable kingdom are on the plane beneath it, and those of the
mineral
lower still. To these meanings of the terms Soul, Higher Self, etc.,
Madame
Blavatsky keeps with perfect consistency right through the book. 1 Op.
cit.,
Vol. 1, p. 1
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CHAPTER
6 SELF AND ALL-SELF
When
to the world's turmoil thy budding Soul lends ear; when to the roaring
voice
of the great illusion thy soul responds; when frightened at the sight of
the
hot tears of pain, when deafened by the cries of distress, thy Soul
withdraws
like the shy turtle within the carapace of selfhood, learn, O
disciple,
of her silent God thy Soul is an unworthy shrine.
When
waxing stronger, thy Soul glides forth from her secure retreat; and
breaking
loose from the protecting shrine, extends her silver thread and rushes
onward;
when beholding her image on the waves of space she whispers. " This is
I"—declare,
O disciple, that thy Soul is caught in the webs of delusion.
C.W.L.—At
the beginning of this passage, in the expression " budding Soul " we
have
a suggestion of the idea of evolution. For many centuries in Europe people
did
not think of evolution; they had the idea that the world and all the various
creatures
in it had been created quite suddenly, and they did not suppose that
the
more
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complex
forms had evolved out of inferior ones, and would evolve further into
something
more perfect. Then came the idea, within about the last century and a
half,
that the material forms of living creatures were undergoing evolution, an
unfoldment
which has been believed by some to be due to an impulse of the
indwelling
life, and by others merely to the selective agency of natural
environment.
But
long ago there existed a theory of evolution of the Soul, which has all
along
been a central doctrine of the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, and has been
spread
extensively in the Western world by Theosophists along with the doctrine
of
reincarnation. This is put forward as the most logical and ethical theory of
human
destiny, once it has been established, on scientific or religious grounds,
that
the Soul of a man survives the death of his body. The soul incarnates many
times
for the sake of experience, and each one will thereby become at last not
merely
a genius in some field of human thought or work, but a perfect man, ready
for
full conscious divinity.
There
are two great stages on the path of the soul's evolution—-the first is
called
the pravritti marga, the way of forth-going, and second the nivritti
marga,
the way of return. In the former the development of personality takes
place,
accompanied by the accumulation of much karma as the soul pursues its
restless
career of seeking the satisfaction of its multitudinous desires in the
external
world. In the latter the soul little by little turns its back upon the
world,
and with its face towards
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the
divine, its source and goal, proceeds with the task of perfecting itself so
as
to finish up the human stage of its evolution.
It
is this second stage, the nivritti marga, that is divided up into the
probationary
path and the Path of Initiation, which have been fully described in
The
Path of Discipleship, Initiation, The Perfecting of Man; and The Masters and
the
Path. This marga implies a course of voluntary evolution, in which the
candidate
is deliberately training himself in the higher qualities of character;
the
evolution of the lower creatures and of men on the pravritti marga is
involuntary,
they seek and respond to experience, and learn without clear
realization
of what is happening to them.
In
a footnote to the word illusion, Madame Blavatsky calls it Maha-Maya, the
great
illusion, the objective universe. The meaning of the term illusion, as
applied
to the external world, has already been discussed. It is not the same
idea
as that referred to in the text as " webs of delusion," which has
reference,
as another footnote says, to " Sakkayaditthi, the delusion of
personality
".
When
the Lord Buddha revealed to men the Noble Eightfold Path, the way to
liberty,
the practical means to bring sorrow to an end, He told them about the
ten
fetters which the candidate must cast off—one after another. The first of
these
was called Sakkayaditthi, the delusion of personality. Let us see how this
arises.
A child is born subject to karma—the result of its deeds in previous
lives.
It has a certain kind of body, and
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various
things happen to it. In course of time it hears what people say of it,
and
it finds out what it can and what it cannot do. It sees itself in these
things
as in a mirror—one of those distorting mirrors which are sometimes set up
in
exhibitions to amuse people with their grotesquely flattened or elongated
images.
It thus obtains ideas about itself—that it is clever or stupid,
beautiful
or ugly, weak or strong. As its education proceeds it acquires social
standing
or position or character, assumes the habits of body and mind of
doctor^
lawyer, house-wife—whatever it may be—and thus acquires a settled
personality.
When it thinks itself to be that personality, it has- what has been
called
" self-personality "—exactly the same delusion that obsesses the
unfortunate
people in the lunatic asylums, who imagine themselves to be
tea-pots,
ear-drums, north poles, Queen Elizabeths and Napoleons.
A
definite well-trained set of bodies and personality, with useful habits, is,
of
course, a good thing, just as is . a good set of tools, or a good motor-car.
We
do not want to have weak or nondescript personalities. But however good our
personality
may be we should not think it to be ourself, and we should be able
to
enjoy all our native will-power, love-power and thought-power while using it
for
our purposes, for our spiritual life in the material world. These
personalities
should not set themselves up as candidates for immortality, and
try
to intrench themselves against the ravages of use and time that beset all
material
things. A middle-aged gentleman once said to his son, who volunteered
to
relieve him of
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some
work: " No, no, my boy. Always use up the old ones first! " The
personalities
must be willing to be used, to be adapted to the spiritual
purposes
of the moment, to be worn out—and must be content with the sole reward
of
a long and glorious devachan, that will follow the death of the outer body in
the
case of all those who have thus served the divine indwelling self, except,
of
course, the servants of the Masters who renounce this reward and take speedy
rebirth
in order to work for the world.
This
earth, disciple, is the hall of sorrow, wherein are set along the path of
dire
probations, traps to ensnare thy Ego by the delusion called "great heresy
".
That
the physical plane is a place of sorrow is a widespread Buddhist and Hindu
thought.
Uncongenial and often disfiguring or debilitating labour, oppression,
disease,
indignity and dread fall to the lot of the majority of mankind. Those
whose
fortune has set them in places of ease may say that they find much
pleasure
in it; but Patanjali says: " To the enlightened all is misery." There
are
many things that give no trouble to the relatively unevolved—-such as the
smell
of alcohol, meat or onions, the noise of factory sirens or coarse music,
gross
manners, hideous clothes and buildings, and a thousand other things that
afflict
those who are more sensitive. In addition to these there is hunger to
gain
what we want, and fear to lose it when it is in hand, and suffering for
others
all round us, if not for ourselves. Surely men must be made to hug such
chains
as these. Surely this
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world
is indeed a hall of sorrow. Think how
poor is its best in the sight of
those
who know the higher planes.
But
it is so chiefly because man has made it so. Think of the vast sea of life
that
fills the mineral, the vegetable and the animal kingdoms of nature, and how
all
that is throbbing with pleasure. Even the dreadful picture of the poet, of
"
nature,
red in tooth and claw with ravin " loses most of its lurid colour when
we
realize that the animals do not " think before and after " as men do,
with
painful
longing and fear, and that while their battles are on, and the blood and
wounds
distress the human beholder, the excitement of the animal consciousness
is
at its greatest height and is often experiencing its greatest pleasure. Earth
is
a hall of sorrow only for man, who with his greed and anger, born of a strong
imagination
that feeds the flames of hot desire, has poisoned with innumerable
horrors
both his personal and his social life.
Yet
it only needs the conquest of selfishness to remove every one of these
horrors,
and open to all mankind the joys of this world—the thrill and deep
strong
peace of beauty, of discovery, of creative work; of social and bodily
well-being.
Madame
Blavatsky's footnote then speaks of:
Attavada,
the heresy of the belief in Soul, or rather in the separateness of
Soul
or Self from the one universal, infinite Self.
Attd
is the Pali equivalent of the Sanskrit atma, and vada means doctrine. The
doctrine
of atma, which we
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have
already considered, is the great source of cleavage between the Hindus and
Buddhists,
but as a matter of fact the distinction is merely one of words,
because
when the Hindu says that the Self or atma in man is one with the
universal
Self, he does not mean by the word what people usually mean when they
think
or speak of themselves, but something altogether deeper, which only the
advanced
yogi can even imagine. There is a passage in the Shri Vakya Sudha which
warns
the aspirant that when he repeats the great religious formula " I am
That",
he must take care what he means by " I " j it explains that the
separate
individual
should be understood as threefold, and that it is the union with
Brahman
only of the highest of these three that is proclaimed by " Thou art That
"
and such sayings. As already explained, the personality is not " I",
and even
the
" you " in me is not " I", but the " I ", is something
indistinguishable
from
the universal Self in which the many and the One are one. The Lord Buddha's
teaching
denies the permanency of the "you" that men call " I " It
is an
unfortunate
thing that two such great religions as Hinduism and Buddhism should
be
separated mainly by so small a misunderstanding, and also that because of it
the
modern Theosophical movement has spread very slowly among the Buddhists. We
have
developed a large Theosophical literature, in which the words atma and Self
figure
extensively, and this has alienated a good many Buddhists who have not
taken
the trouble to clear away this obstacle of words which we have
inadvertently
put in their path.
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This
earth, O ignorant disciple, is but the dismal entrance leading to the
twilight
that precedes the valley of true light—that light which no wind can
extinguish,
that light which burns without a wick or fuel.
In
this and some later verses we have poetical names for the planes of nature.
As
previously stated, it was common among oriental occultists to bunch together
the
astral and lower mental planes, and Madame Blavatsky often followed that
plan
in- her teaching. This combining of the two is indicated in this picture of
a
" twilight that precedes the valley of true light ". That description
of the
valley
of true light shows it to be the region of the Soul and the Higher Self,
the
planes where buddhi and higher manas have their habitat.
If
we divide the planes by a line separating the lower from the higher mental,
we
find that there is a radical difference between those which lie below the
line
and those which are above. In the former, matter is dominant; it is the
first
thing that strikes the eye; and consciousness shines with difficulty
through
the forms. But in the higher planes life is the prominent thing, and
forms
are there only for its purposes. The difficulty in the lower planes is to
give
the life expression in the forms, but in the higher it is quite the
reverse—to
hold and give form to the flood of life. It is only above the
dividing
line that the light of consciousness is subject to no wind, and shines
with
its own power. The symbol of a spiritual fire is very fitting for
consciousness
at
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those
levels, as distinguished from the lower planes, -where the symbol of
fire
burning fuel is more appropriate.
Saith
the great Law: "In order to become the knower of All-Self, thou hast first
of
Self to be the knower." To reach the knowledge of that Self, thou hast to
give
up self to non-self, being to non-being.
In
a foot-note Madame Blavatsky distinguishes between the Atmajnani who is
mentioned
here, and the Tattvajnani. In Hindu literature generally the
distinction
is slight and is usually ignored, but she says: " The Tattvajnani is
the
knower or discriminator of the principles in nature and in man; and
Atmajnani
is the knower of Atma, or the universal One Self." Jnani means a
knower
and tattva means the truth or the real nature of things.
It
has always been a teaching of Theosophy that to make progress we must apply
the
old Greek formula " Know thyself". In consequence, a very large part
of our
modern
Theosophical literature deals with the constitution, history and destiny
of
man. It is by the study of the various principles and bodies of man that we
are
able gradually to distinguish what he is, and to separate him in thought
from
the vehicles that he uses, until at last we arrive at the real Self. Then,
through
that real Self in us, we shall realize the universal Self; in fact, the
two
are one.
But
to know the real Self in oneself, the lower self must be set aside, must
become
as naught. As we have
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already
seen, the utter destruction of " self-personality " is the very first
task
of the Initiate on the Path proper, since sakkayaditthi, the delusion of
the
personal self, is the first fetter which must be cast off.
And
then thou can'st repose between the wings of the Great Bird. Aye, sweet is
rest
between the wings of that which is not born, nor dies, but is the Aum
throughout
eternal ages.
On
the Great Bird, which occupies a prominent place-in Oriental religious
symbolism,
Madame Blavatsky has the following foot-note:
Kala
Hamsa, the bird or swan. Says the Nada-vindupanishat (Rig Veda) translated
by
the Kumba-konam Theosophical Society—" The syllable A is considered to be
the
bird
Hamsa's right wing, U its left, M its tail, and the Ardhamatra (half metre)
is
said to be its head."
The
word Aum, generally pronounced
work
or thought, because it is a word of power, symbolizing divine creation.
Innumerable
Sanskrit books repeat the statement that hearing, touch, sight,
taste
and smell are correlated respectively with the orders of matter named
akasha.
(ether or sky), vayu (air), tejas or agni (fire), apas or jala (water),
and
prithivi (earth), which are our familiar five planes of human manifestation,
the
atmic, buddhic, mental, astral and physical. These planes were created in
this
order, beginning with the atmic, where sound was applied as the. creative
power.
Of course, that could
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not
be the same thing as our physical sound, which is a pulsation in the air or
some
other physical substance; It was of the nature of the voice of the silence,
the
will of atma. Yet even on our physical plane sound is a great builder of
forms,
as every student of elementary science knows, who has made Chladni's
figures
or performed similar experiments. There is a great deal of symbolism in
the
Hindu Scriptures connected with this idea that the world was created by
sound.
The
word Aum is said to have special value as a mantra because it is the most
complete
human word. It begins with the vowel A in the back of the mouth,
continues
with the vowel U sounded in the centre of the mouth, and closes with
the
co sonant M, with which the lips are sealed. It thus runs through the whole
gamut
of human speech and so represents in man the entire creative word. Its
three
parts are also taken as symbolical of the manifestation of the Trinity, in
a
variety of ways, to explain which one might fill a book. Thus we have
Parabrahman,
Daiviprakriti and Mula-prakriti; Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma; will,
wisdom
and activity; ananda, chit and sat, or happiness, consciousness and
being;
atma, buddhi and manas; tamas, rajas and sattva; and many another. Aum is
thus
a constant reminder of this triplicity running through all things; it is a
key
therefore to the solution of many mysteries, as well as a word of power. The
head
of the bird is then taken as the unmanifested origin of the triple word.
Kala,
a word which means " time " is one of the names of Vishnu or
Avalokiteshvara.
Kala-hamsa
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therefore
means the swan of time or in time, hamsa being a swan. This symbol of
a
bird contains the implication of time, since it is proceeding through space.
It
is a characteristic of consciousness that it progresses or evolves, and so
exists
in time. The consciousness of the Logos is time, it does not begin nor
end
in time, and is therefore without birth or death.
This
bird is thus a symbol of the Second Logos, which is also the great Wisdom.
There
is a well-known Hindu fable which connects the hamsa or swan with this
idea
of wisdom also, for it relates of that bird that when a mixture of water
and
milk is placed before it, it can separate the milk from the water. So does
wisdom
operate even in human life, selecting from our mixed experience the
essential
nutriment of the soul. Wisdom remains in the spiritual soul of man
when
experiences have died away, since, as the Bhagavad-Gita says: " All
actions
in
their entirety culminate in wisdom."1
A
man on the Path who has passed the Third Initiation is also called a Hamsa, or
swan.
He is busy getting rid of raga and dvesha the fourth and fifth fetters,
which
are liking and disliking and is therefore especially practising wisdom.
People
in the world are full of likes and dislikes, and they therefore suffer
greatly
from their own opinions about things. Throwing these two fetters off,
the
Hamsa becomes like the sage described in the Gita as one satisfied with
wisdom
and knowledge, to whom a lump of earth, a stone and gold are the same,
who
regards impartially friends and foes, the righteous 1 Op. cit., iv. 33.
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and
the unrighteous. It is not that this man does not value gold and friends; he
does,
but he values also clay and foes. The wise man can profit from every kind
of
experience; all are useful for the soul. Epictetus asserted this when he
declared:
"There is only one thing for which God has sent me into the world— to
perfect
my own character in virtue; and there is nothing in all the world that I
cannot
use for that purpose."
Again,
Hamsa is also a form of the saying " Aham Sah " or " I am
That," or, as
it
is frequently used, " Soham," which consists of the same words
reversed. So
when
the aspirant repeats this sentence he also remembers that the way to
bestride
the Hamsa or bird of life is to realize that he is the Self. It is said
that
the devout yogi utters this formula with every breath, of which there are
said
to be 21,
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0 in a day and night, for the air is considered to come in with
the
sound of" sah " and go out with that of" ha ".
As
long as the bird is flying, the creative word is sounding, time exists.
Although
this time has neither beginning nor ending it is nevertheless a
measurable
period—which is a great mystery. On this point Madame Blavatsky has
the
following note:
Eternity
with the Orientals has quite another signification than it has with us.
It
stands generally for the 100 years or age of Brahma, the duration of a
Maha-Kalpa
or a period of 311,040,000,000,000 years.
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This
part of the subject is concluded with the words:
Bestride
the Bird of Life, if thou would'st know. Give up thy Life, if thou
would'st
live.
To
these are appended the following notes:
Says
the same Nadavindu, " A Yogi who bestrides the Hamsa, (thus contemplates
on
Aum)
is not affected by karmic influences or crores of sins."
Give
up the life of the physical personality if you would live in Spirit.
A
crore is ten millions. It must not, however, be assumed that the yogi is
permitted
to perform these sins; if he did he would not be a yogi. This
expression
is only an Oriental way of indicating that he is utterly free from
taint
by the material world. The man who thinks and works without personal
desire,
with utter unselfishness, suffers no karmic consequences. The fruit of
all
his efforts goes into the great reservoir of spiritual force for the helping
of
the world, as has already been explained.
CHAPTER
7 THE THREE HALLS
Three
halls, O weary pilgrim, lead to the end of toils. Three halls, O
conqueror
of Mara, will bring thee through three states into the fourth, and
'
thence into the seven worlds, the worlds of rest eternal.
If
thou would'st learn their names, then hearken, and remember.
The
name of the first hall is Ignorance—Avidya.
It
is the hall in which thou saw'st the light, in which thou livest and shalt
die.
The
name of hall the second is the Hall of Learning. In it thy Soul will find
the
blossoms of life, but under every flower a serpent coiled.
The
name of the third hall is Wisdom, beyond which stretch the shoreless waters
of
Akshara, the indestructible fount of omniscience.
C.
W. L.—The three halls may be interpreted in two ways: as objective planes, or
as
the subjective condition of man.
90
In
the former case the hall of ignorance is the physical plane, and the hall of
learning,
described in a foot-note as " the hall of probationary learning " is
what
may perhaps be called the astro-mental plane (the astral and lower mental
planes
taken together). When I wrote The Inner Life it seemed to me probable
that
by the term hall of learning Madame Blavatsky meant the astral plane, and
by
the hall of wisdom the lower mental plane, but having thought the matter over
and
discussed it many times since then, I now lean to the opinion that we shall
more
accurately represent her thought if we take the hall of learning to include
not
only the astral but also the lower mental, and if we raise the hall of
wisdom
so as to include within it the planes of higher manas and buddhi.
That
Aryasanga was not thinking of the astral plane as the hall of learning and
the
lower mental world as the hall of wisdom is shown a little further on, when
he
speaks of the latter hall as one " wherein all shadows are unknown, and
where
the
light of truth shines with unfading glory". The lower mental world does
not
answer
to this description; far more glorious and delicate than the astral plane
as
it is, it is still a material world and the habitat of the personalities of
men.
Further, the Teacher also says that that which is un-create abides in the
hall
of wisdom, and it is the ego, not the personality, which is uncreate. And
in
the lower mental plane, as well as in the astral, there is a serpent coiled
under
every flower; for if passion and foolish desires infest the one, pride and
prejudices
inhabit the
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other.
In the higher mental plane, though there may be much that the ego does
not
know, what it does know it knows correctly; but the lower mental is a region
of
personality and error.
The
extent to which the lower planes are worlds of illusion is also seen in the
way
in which our senses and powers work in them. To take sight as an instance—we
see
because our sight is obstructed. If one could see perfectly through the wall
one
could not see the wall. It is the same with walking; we have some freedom to
move
about, because the earth resists the free motion of our feet. In the higher
planes
one lives in the light.
The
combination of the astral and mental planes is not uncommon in the Oriental
schools
of occult training. The Vedantins speak, of one body (called the
manomayakosha,
the body made of mind),1 where our Theosophical literature
usually
distinguishes the two (the astral and the mental), and to that body when
awakened
and functioning they ascribe the experiences proper to both planes. The
candidate
for the path of yoga in the Raja Yoga schools was always trained to
work
from the mental down to the astral. This very cautious procedure is also
shown
in the teaching of Patanjali, who makes his first two steps moral, and
requires
definite progress in these before the practices leading to the siddhis
or
yoga powers are taken. In Raja Toga: The Occult Training of the Hindus, Prof.
Wood
had called these first steps " The ten
1
See The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, p. 1
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.
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commandments
", and has translated them as the five restraints: " Thou shalt not
injure,
lie, steal, be incontinent, be greedy ", and the five observances:"
Thou
shalt
be clean, content, self-controlled, studious and devoted." These methods
were
in full force long before the time of Aryasanga; Pandit N. Bhashyacharya
and
some other Sanskrit scholars maintain that Patanjali, who in turn was not
the
originator of the system, gave his famous Sutras to the world as far back as
in
the ninth century B.C.
In
The Masters and the Path I have explained that; in the old Initiations it
often
happened that much time was taken in instructing the candidate in astral
work,
as the awakening of the pupil to work at that level was left to a
relatively
later stage than is customary among the modern Theosophists, who
often
have already done much astral work and have thus learnt the detail of the
astral
world long before Initiation.
If
we think of the three halls subjectively, as stages of progress in human
development,
we have the following familiar divisions: (1) The man who lives
ignorantly
in the world, attracted and repelled by the things around him,
impelled
to action by his own uncontrolled passions and desires—-this is the
ignorant
stage. (2) The man who is learning that nature has definite laws, and
is
realizing that by working with them he can gain much more power than he had
in
the days of his ignorance— this is the hall of learning. (3) The man who has
realized
that there are spiritual laws, and is learning to obey them. He knows
about
reincarnation and karma.
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and
the ethical and moral laws that govern the progress of his own soul and
those
of others. He is aware that outer things exist only for the purposes of
the
evolving soul, and lives according to this knowledge. He is in the hall of
wisdom.
Madame
Blavatsky describes the four stages of consciousness :
The
three states of consciousness, which are Jagrat, the waking; Svapna, the
dreaming;
and Sushupti, the deep-sleeping state. These three Yogi conditions
lead
to the fourth—the Turiya, that beyond the dreamless state, the one above
all,
a state of high spiritual consciousness.
These
states of consciousness are not fixed, but may be correlated to the sets
of
planes or objective halls above mentioned, in the case of the candidate who
is
being prepared for the Arhat Initiation. In this case the waking state may be
the
physical, the dreaming state the astro-mental, the sleeping state the higher
mental
and buddhic, and the turiya state, the atmic.
The
rather curious terms waking, dreaming and sleeping seem to have been
selected
from a physical plane point of view to name the heights of
consciousness
reached by the candidate at different times. When the man was
going
about his business in the physical plane, with all his faculties awake to
this
world, he was in the first state. To understand the second state we have to
remember
that there are two kinds of dreams—the often nonsensical productions of
the
brain (physical and
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etheric),
and the true experiences of the man away from his physical body,
working
and learning in the astro-mental regions.
It is to these latter that
this
term dreaming applies. The
candidate sleeping, or almost going to
sleep
in a day-dream, would afterwards remember some such experiences, and then
ascribe
them to the " consciousness of the dream state ". Suppose, however,
that
the aspirant out of the body should at any time go into what may be called
a
second sleep, and rise into the next set of planes, to be conscious for a time
at
that higher level. Probably on waking
physically he would remember nothing
of
what had been happening out of the body—his brain not being attuned to record
the
experiences coming from planes higher than his "dreaming state ". So
it
would
seem to him that he had had deep dreamless sleep, and usually his only
feeling
would be one of great satisfaction and well-being. The " sleeping
state"
is therefore consciousness in that still higher region. Now, the fourth
state
is sometimes called trance, for the following reason. It has often been
explained
that an aspirant when out of the body can rise a stage higher than
when
in it. It is possible also in deep
meditation for the disciple to rise
in
trance to the higher state and afterwards bring that experience down into the
waking
memory. Thus the Arhat can touch the
buddhic level while in the
physical
body, and the atmic or nirvanic plane when out if it, or in deep
meditation
or trance. The term akshara, which is here applied to this fourth
region,
means simply that which does not melt away; it is the undecaying.
THE THREE
HALLS
-------
The
same set of terms may be used as a relative series for less advanced occult
students.
One may have his waking consciousness on the physical plane, his
dreaming
state on the astral plane, his deep sleep on the mental; another, who
is
able to use his astral faculties in his physical waking consciousness, will
have
his dream consciousness on the lower mental, and his sleep state on the
higher
mental, and so on. The turiya is a higher state reached in every case by
a
special effort of will and meditation, which is a means to ultimately raising
the
whole set of three states to a higher level than before. While the
transition
is in progress, before the new level is established, there will
always
be this fourth stage.
This
is seen in meditation. The candidate will sit and fix his waking
consciousness
on some object—suppose it is a cat. Then he will rise to the "
dream
state ", and try to realize the astral aspect of the animal. Next he will
ascend
to the " sleep stage ", and give his attention to the mental being of
the
creature.
The fourth step would be samadhi—or contemplation—an attempt to
realize
its significance and reality for the ego, to go beyond the three forms
of
the cat into its subjective meaning. The fixing of the mind on the cat in the
first
case is concentration; the process of elevation of the consciousness is
meditation;
the final concentration in a higher field of vision, beyond what was
reached
before, is contemplation (or samadhi). The last effort may be like
piercing
a cloud or fog, out of which the new vision will gradually form itself,
or
from which it may come
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like
a flash of lightning. In either case the practitioner must hold himself
very
still in order to retain the impression as long as possible—one thought of
self,
of the old personal relativity, can dismiss the whole thing, so that there
remains
not even a memory of what it was like.
The
three halls, it is said, lead to the end of toils— not to the end of work,
it
must be observed. In these lower worlds we have a sense of work which is
certainly
quite different from that of higher levels. To us down here the word
is
almost synonymous with toil, and often with drudgery, but from a higher point
of
view work is really play. Drudgery is merely action; it does not create the
man
who does it. But the least bit of work done occultly, done heartily "as to
God
and not unto men ", done better than ever before, is good for the
evolution
of
him who does it. If, in writing a letter, for example, one is at pains to do
it
neatly, even beautifully and to express oneself briefly, clearly and
gracefully,
one has developed hand, eye and brain, thought-power, love-power and
will-power.
True work, such as that of an artist, is full of creative influence
and
of joy. We find some toil even in these things, however, because of the
obstructions
of the lower planes. Yet even down here there is no clear dividing
line
between toil and play. If one goes out, for example on a long ride, the
earlier
part of the journey will be full of delight for both man and horse, but
insensibly
that passes away as fatigue increases, until suddenly the man
realizes
that the ride which was play in the beginning has now become work, or
rather
drudgery. In other cases, there may be a task,
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not
prolonged, but a little beyond our strength; then there is a sense of toil.
But
all work in reality is play when there is willingness and no fatigue or
overstrain.
We
have much to learn from the animals, and even from the plants, in this
respect.
" Grow as the flower grows," says Light on the Path, " opening
your
heart
to the sun." Said the Christ: " Consider the lilies of the field, how
they
grow;
they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even
Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." 1 It is deadly fear
of
the morrow that makes men's work a toil, that makes them sweat in bitterness.
But
the Law says: " Do the wise and right thing today, and leave the result to
take
care of itself." This is not a doctrine of idleness, but of work that is
play
instead of toil.
An
illustration of this is also to be seen in the way in which different people
take
a long journey. One man will get into the train at
fever
of impatience for the time which the train takes to go to
his
destination. He has fixed his mind on something that he wants to do there;
in
the meantime his journey is a toil and a misery. Another finds a thousand
things
of interest on the way— the scenery, the people, the train itself; for
him
the journey is a happy holiday. And in the end he has accomplished much more
than
the other man. The Hindu villager lives very near to nature, and certainly
grows
as the flower grows. A man will set out from his village to get the mail
from
the Post Office or to post 1 St. Matthew, vi, 7.
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some
letters there, perhaps sixteen or twenty miles away. He does not tramp
along
stolidly and painfully, jarring his nerves with the graceless movements
that
spring from a discontented or impatient mind. The vision of his mail is not
a
mania that shuts out all other interests, and makes him curse the length of
the
track. No; there are insects, birds, flowers, trees, streams, clouds in the
sky,
fields, houses, people and animals, and lastly the blessed earth itself, to
lie
on which for awhile is to be on velvet in the divine arms. How little the
white
man knows of life, how much of toil!
The
Hindus have long held that God plays. The Lila or play of Shri Krishna, as
it
is called, is the great work of evolution, which looks so toilsome to us that
we
shudder at the long ages of work that lie in front, and cry out for rest.
Think
of the 311,040,000 million years of our mahakalpa. What an illusion! When
we
come to the end of toils life will be all play, all happiness.
The
end of toils, though not of work, comes with the entry of the candidate, on
the
fourth Path, into the nirvanic plane. He has finished the toil of casting
off
the first five fetters—self-personality, doubt, superstition, liking and
disliking—all
of which marked his bondage to material things, with which his
life
was one long struggle on an up-hill road. But now his remaining five
fetters
are internal; he has to conquer them, truly, but his weapon will be
serenity,
quietness, calmness— the use of the will, which is the quietest thing
in
the world. These fetters are: desire for life in form and formless life,
pride,
agitation and ignorance. Little
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profit
is to be derived from examining these in detail in this place; it is
enough
to notice their internal character, and to say that to destroy them the
man
must quieten himself and his vehicles above the line that divides the
personality
from the ego.
At
earlier stages, before the end of toils, the student will do well to organize
his
life wisely, so that his work for the Master may be as far as possible play.
It
should be pure delight, unmixed happiness—such a condition wou\d make for the
swiftest
progress. Toil is not meritorious, nor especially profitable, though
sometimes
it may be necessary. How often a student does meditation, feeling it
an
irksome thing, but regarding it as a duty to be done, though with travail and
suffering.
Do it happily and rejoicing, as play, or at least look forward to the
time
when you can do so. Some men sink luxuriously into the arms of the present,
and
say, " We will enjoy ourselves now, and let the future take care of
itself."
Others
stand aloof in proud strength and say, " We refuse to respond to that
which
can distress us." But the disciple must bare his back to the strokes of
time,
rejoicing in the long future, in the game in which every move can be a
dancing
poem of delight.
On
the subject of the seven worlds, Madame Blavat-sky says:
Some
Oriental mystics locate seven planes of being, the seven spiritual Lokas or
worlds
within the body of Kala Hamsa, the swan out of time and space,
convertible
into the swan in time, when it becomes Brahma instead of Brahman.
1OO
All
the manifestations of seven in Nature, such as the seven principles in man,
or
the seven planes in the world, come from a sevenfold division arising from
Parabrahman.
Three of the seven principles are manifest in the universal
consciousness,
and three more in mulaprakriti. One remains at its source and
includes
all the others, for the presence of many does not mar the unity of That
which
is truly One. So, at his lower level, the man who transcends his middle
set
or principles (atma-buddhi-manas), and rises into the first (the Monad),
though
he escapes from the worlds or planes, finds them all present in that new
state
of real nirvana, which is beyond the consciousness-state as much as that
is
beyond the mere matter-state. We speak thus of it, in the third person, only
as
a concession to ignorance, and must point out that what has been said should
be
translated into terms of " you " for consciousness and " I
" for the true
life
of super-conscious nirvana, if it is to be understood. These "
worlds",
however,
are not entered by the Arhat, but by the full Adept.
There
are several other ways in which the Arhat may be thought of as entering
the
seven worlds of rest eternal:
In
one way those worlds are the sub-planes of the atomic plane, through which
the
Arhat begins to climb. The characteristic of the man who dwells in them is a
changeless
serenity, for everything is seen as in the One Self, and where that
is
realized, fear and anxiety can have no place. As the Gita says: "For the
sage
101
enthroned
in yoga, serenity is called the means."1 It is not that there is any
lack
of activity in those regions —it is one vast wave of ever-moving life—-but
there
are no obstructions to the will of the One. On the buddhic plane we have
still
duality in a sense, since there one sees others, though the same Self is
seen
dwelling in them as in ourselves. But buddhi has to be transcended, for
love
implies a duality.
The
serenity that the Arhat increasingly acquires puts a new face on the common
planes
of our existence. He enjoys in them a liberty that others do not know; he
has
found that work is play. Having touched the vale of bliss, he has discovered
that
life not only there but on all planes is pure delight. He not only sees and
loves
the advancing life behind the perishing forms, but feels and rejoices in
the
Divine Will behind the changing life. The rest eternal that he enjoys is not
idleness,
but the utter internal peace of one who knows that all is well, that
the
Divine Will is present even in what may to others seem the obstructions to
progress,
as well as in the apparent progress itself. A philosopher once caught
a
glimpse of this idea when he said: "Be serene; for if you fail through no
fault
of your own, the failure is a success better than you knew, since the
Divine
Will is being done." The Arhat knows something of the peace that passes
understanding,
because he is beginning to dwell in the Eternal. This is, Madame
Blavatsky
says, " The region of the full
1
Op. cit., vi, 3.
102
spiritual
consciousness, beyond which there is no longer danger for him who has
reached
it."
If
thou would'st cross the first hall safely, let not thy mind mistake the fires
of
lust that burn therein for the sunlight of life.
If
thou would'st cross the second safely, stop not the fragrance of its
stupefying
blossoms to inhale. If freed thou would'st be from the karmic chains,
seek
not for thy Guru in those mayavic regions.
The
wise ones tarry not in pleasure-grounds of senses.
The
wise ones heed not the sweet-tongued voices-of illusion.
Seek
for him who is to give thee birth in the Halt of Wisdom, the hall which
lies
beyond, wherein all shadows are unknown, and where the light of truth
shines
with unfading glory.
The
Guru here spoken of is the Master, the Teacher. Madame Blavatsky puts it:
The
Initiate who leads the disciple, through the knowledge he imparts, to his
spiritual,
or second birth, is called the father, Guru or Master.
A
statement of the lives and work of the Gurus or Masters has been given in The
Masters
and the Path. A glimpse of the marvel of Their exalted powers is seen in
the
account there given of a meditation of the Master Kuthumi. As he sits in his
garden
or his room, He seems to be meditating, but is, in fact, giving
103
attention
to some millions of people, dealing with each one as individually as
an
ordinary man could if he were to give his full attention to that one.
Every
ego is being helped by one of the Masters, so the man who can vivify the
link
in himself between the lower self and the higher may receive that help in
his
personal life. The gurus who are to be met with on the physical plane are
generally
Initiates, advanced pupils of the full Adepts, as stated before.
That
which is uncreate abides in thee, disciple, as it abides in that hall. If
thou
would'st reach it and blend the two, thou must divest thyself of thy dark
garments
of illusion. Stifle the voice of flesh, allow no image of the senses to
get
between its light and thine, that thus the twain may blend in one. And
having
learnt thine own Ajnana flee from the Hall of Learning. This hall is
dangerous
in its perfidious beauty, is needed but for thy probation. Beware
Lanoo,
lest dazzled by illusive radiance thy Soul should linger and be caught in
its
deceptive light.
This
light shines from the jewel of the great ensnarer (Mara). The senses it
bewitches,
blinds the mind, and leaves the unwary an abandoned wreck.
That
which is uncreate refers to the higher triad, atma-buddhi-manas, as
distinguished
from the personality and its bodies. The statement that the hall
of
learning is needed but for probation applies to the hall of
104
ignorance
as well. The set of material planes, physical, astral and lower
mental,
are but the buildings and equipment of a school for man, in which he is
taught
by means of toys. There is no experience that does not modify the soul
and
give it some wisdom; but he who is alive to the educative purpose of it all,
and
is eager to learn and to extract from the experience of embodied life
lessons
of eternal value, will not find the toys attractive in themselves. He
will
be like the bee that takes the honey from the flower and goes away, not
intoxicated
by its scent and colour.
Mara
is a personification of the attractiveness of external things. Madame
Blavatsky
describes him as follows:
Mara
is in exoteric religions a demon, an Asura, but in esoteric philosophy it
is
personified temptation through men's vices, and translated literally means
"
that
which kills " the soul. It is represented as a king (of the Manas) with a
crown
in ; which shines a jewel of such lustre that it blinds those who look at
it,
this lustre referring of course to the fascination exercised by vice upon
certain
natures.
In
The Light of Asia1 Sir Edwin Arnold has given us a vivid picture of this
prince
of darkness, as he came forth leading the ten chief sins, his angels of
evil,
against the Lord Buddha, as He sat under the Bodhi Tree, when nearing His
Illumination.
1
Op. cit., Book vi.
105
The
moth attracted to the dazzling flame of thy night-lamp is doomed to perish
in
the viscid oil. The unwary Soul that fails to grapple with the mocking demon
of
illusion, will return to earth the slave of Mara.
Behold
the hosts of Souls. Watch how they hover o'er the stormy sea of human
life,
and how, exhausted, bleeding, broken-winged, they drop one after another
on
the swelling waves. Tossed by the fierce winds, chased by the gale, they
drift
into the eddies and disappear within the first great vortex.
The
subject of " lost souls " is very complex. Some are like the children
in a
class
at school who are not ready to pass on with the bulk of their
fellow-students
into the next grade at the end of the year, either because they
are
too young or because they have been lazy. Then, too, there are cases where
the
personality has become so inmeshed in matter during bodily life that it has
nothing
to give to the ego, and it may then be cut off. Thirdly, there are the
terrible
fruits of the practice of black magic. It would take too long to
discuss
the subject here; I have dealt with it at some length in the article on
Lost
Souls in Volume I of The Inner Life.
Some
of the expressions in these passages have all the strength of Oriental
imagination.
We must not think too literally of abandoned wrecks and broken
wings.
He who falls from the Path on account of material
106
desires
certainly does wreck his spiritual prospects for the time being, but
even
in that case he has learnt something which will be useful to the soul later
on.
In all cases it is best for a man to learn with wise thought; only when that
is
neglected will bitter experience be necessary to take its place.
It
is by no means requisite that any human being shall go through every kind of
experience.
The more advanced and the wiser a man becomes, the more he will see
in
everything, and he will learn much from trifles that others might pass by as
insignificant.
It is said that a fool cannot learn even from a wise man, but a
wise
man can always learn, even from a fool. To know that fire is hot it is not
necessary
to put one's hand into it; a fool may do so, but the wise man has
other
ways of learning the fact that fire burns. Yet it is a great blessing that
those
who will not think and thus learn willingly, should be taught in the stern
school
of experience, without which they would learn nothing at all and make no
progress.
The
law of karma, that brings to men the experiences that they have given to
others,
is thus a benefactor and ultimately a liberator, not an instrument of
vengeance
or punishment. Suppose, for example, that a foot-pad waylaid a
gentleman,
knocked him down, perhaps killed him, and took his money. Under the
law
he would have to meet with some such painful experience himself, sooner or
later.
The robber was capable of such an act because he himself was a coarse
being,
lacking sensitiveness and imagination; otherwise he would have thought
107
of
the feelings of his victim or of the latter's wife and family, and such
thought
would have stayed his hand. Because he is coarse, crass, unimaginative,
the
foot-pad needs the violent kind of experience that he gives to others;
nothing
less will stir him. Later, when through karmic retribution he has had
some
suffering, he will remember it when he is about to strike another, and will
say
to himself: " That is not a very nice thing for that poor man." He
will then
begin
to reform, thanks to the law, which is always educative, never punitive.
CHAPTER
8 THE WORLD'S MOTHER
If
through the Hall of Wisdom thou would'st reach the vale of bliss, disciple,
close
fast thy senses against the great dire heresy of separateness, that weans
thee
from the rest.
C.W.L.—Herbert
Spencer came very near to a revelation of the spiritual truth
about
evolution, when he described it as a progressive change from a state of
incoherent
homogeneity to one of coherent heterogeneity of structure and
function.
To him evolution meant that things which in the beginning were similar
and
separate, later become different but united. This specialization is seen in
the
human body, which has different organs which work for the whole; thus the
digestive
system digests food for the whole body, and the hands grasp, the feet
walk,
the eyes look, not for the sake of the hands, the feet and the eyes, but
for
the whole body. Similarly, society becomes more and more highly organized as
time
goes on. Men become more and more differentiated from one another, as the
professions
in life advance in knowledge and skill. The doctor cures all, the
teacher
teaches all, the bridge-builder builds bridges for all. One man works
for
the benefit of many, and the work of many flows back to benefit him.
109
When
men get the organic sense and feeling for their fellows they cease to be a
mob
of incoherent homogeneous human beings and become heterogeneous and
coherent.
A man with that spirit will do his best for his community, or nation,
or
humanity, leaving it to the law of unity to bring him what he needs from the
other
organs of the great body. The incoherent homogeneous elements of matter or
of
society cannot organize themselves; it is the inner principle that draws them
together
and makes swift progress possible for them through mutual help. The
unity
is love, the force behind evolution, the energy of life; it is buddhi, the
greatest
wisdom. There is a profound difference between co-operation and
brotherhood
—the former springs from an intelligent appreciation of the mutual
relations
of men, the latter from a realization in feeling that the same life is
dwelling
in all.
In
the evolution of an individual it is usually the spirit of co-operation that
develops
first; the business of the world brings people together, then by
contact
the divine fire of buddhi is struck. Two men, for example, go
prospecting
together, and support each other in the work. True friendship
supervenes.
But if it should chance, as it sometimes does, that brotherhood
comes
first, it will not develop into perfect and useful co-operation unless the
intelligence
is also awakened and applied to the business of life. An instance
in
point was the beautiful love between David Copperfield and his impractical
wife
Dora, whom the novelist was constrained to kill in order to make room for
the
110
more
practical Agnes, and so give the story a happier termination.
In
the occult life candidates who have developed the higher intelligence so that
they
have a keen appreciation of the principle of co-operation and of spiritual
laws,
often still find themselves dull and apparently incapable of rapid
progress.
They await the awakening in themselves of true love, buddhi. That is
the
burning energy of the inner man. Still, in this second of the stages of true
spiritual
unfoldment there will often be much agitation and trouble; the divine
energy
gushes forth irregularly and not always in the wisest way, causing much
sorrow
to its possessor—-until the third spiritual stage, the place of serenity,
has
been reached. As that serenity is the goal to which the voice of the silence
is
directing the candidate, he is told to pass through the Hall of Wisdom into
the
vale of bliss. Even in the buddhic plane there is a certain duality, or
separateness.
We cannot love ourselves; love needs an object, even though it be
not
a material object, but the divine life manifested in many spiritual souls.
Buddhi
is the first veil, the Avalokiteshvara of the Higher Self, not the
Parabrahman.
The " dire heresy of separateness " has to be disposed of on every
plane
in turn, the physical, the astral, the mental and even the buddhic.
Let
not thy " heaven-born," merged in the sea of Maya, break from the
universal
Parent
(Soul), but let the fiery power retire into the inmost chamber, the
chamber
of the heart, and the abode of the world's Mother.
111
Then
from the heart that power shall rise into the sixth, the middle region, the
place
between thine eyes, when it becomes the breath of the One-soul, the voice
which
filleth all, thy Master's voice.
The
" heaven-born " is chitta, the lower mind. It is born from the soul
above,
when
manas becomes dual in incarnation. The planes of atma-buddhi-manas are
typified
by heaven, while those of the personality are spoken of as earth. We
have
already observed the distinction of character which divides the five planes
of
human manifestation into two. The monadic and divine planes, beyond these
five,
taken together form a third division. So the seven worlds can also be
grouped
as three. The lowest division is in the region of sattva or law. Here we
find
everything regulated, but man has some freedom because the " heaven-born
"
is
in him—• so much of the energy of the Law-maker works through him. It is
because
man has this liberty and power to go his own way that his life is
usually
more disorderly, less regulated, than that of the lower kingdoms of
external
nature.
The
middle set of planes contains those of spiritual energy, the indwelling
life,
without which the rest would be dead and motionless. They are the planes
of
the divine, the shining, the Avalokita, or " seen", God—the life seen
by
wisdom,
not the form seen by knowledge.
The
highest group of planes is that of the Monad, the Self that is bliss and
freedom,
where are the realities behind every human ideal and the ecstasy beyond
consciousness
that is the extracted quintessence of beauty,
112
goodness,
truth, harmony, comprehension, union and freedom.
What
is here called the fiery power is the force named kundalini in Sanskrit.
This
may be described as a latent fire, coiled up like a sleeping serpent at the
base
of the spine in all men except those few in whom it has been specially
awakened,
and is actively working in the etheric body. It should not be
difficult
to realize the existence of such a fire, since it is well known that
the
breath in our lungs constantly feeds a slow fire, and that digestion also is
a
kind of fire. Kundalini is more like electrical fire—a force developing heat
where
there is resistance— than fire that burns fuel, but it is not of the same
order
of force as electricity.
I
have written on this subject in the articles on the Serpent-Fire and the
Force-Centres
in The Inner Life and that on Vitality in Chapter IV of The Hidden
Side
of Things, and I hope to publish shortly a somewhat fuller study,
illustrated
with coloured plates.1 There is also aft extensive, if somewhat
obscure,
literature on the subject in Sanskrit, including the
Shat-chakranirupana,
the Ananda Lahari, and many other works. There is an
excellent
translation of the first of these, with a commentary, by Arthur
Avalon,
called The Serpent Power, published by Ganesh & Co., Madras.
The
following is a very brief summary of the subject.
Kundalini
is the lower end of a stream of a certain
kind
of the force of the Logos, and it commonly lies
sleeping
in the chakra or force-centre at the base of the
1
Book on Chakras has been since issued by T.P.H., Adyar.
113
spine.
If it is awakened prematurely, that is, before the man has purified his
character
of every taint of sensual impurity and selfishness, it may rush
downwards
and vivify certain lower centres in the body (used only in some
objectionable
forms of black magic), and irresistibly carry the unfortunate man
into
a life of indescribable horror; at best, it will intensify all that the man
has
in him, including such qualities as ambition and pride. Kundalini should be
wakened
only under the personal direction of a Master, who will instruct the
student
in the use of the will to arouse it, in the manner in which it should be
moved
when aroused, and in the spiral course along which it must be carried
through
the chakras or force-centres, from that near the base of the spine, to
those
which lie on the surface of the etheric double at the spleen,1 the navel,
the
heart, the throat, between the eyebrows, and at the top of the head. This
course
differs with different types of people, and it is quite a definite
physical
thing, for the force has literally to burn a pathway for itself through
the
impurities of the etheric double.
There
are chakras in the astral body also, which are already aroused by
kundalini
working in that plane in all fairly evolved people. The process of
developing
those centres has rendered the astral body sensitive to the plane,
awakening
its feeling, its power to travel about, its sympathetic response to
other
entities
1
Hindu works usually mention the chakra at the root of the genital organs as
the
second. We recognize the existence of such a centre, but we follow the
ancient
Egyptians in thinking it eminently undesirable that it should be stirred
into
activity.
114
there;
its vision and hearing, and astral faculties generally. But the memory of
those
experiences or the use of the astral faculties while in the physical body
becomes
possible in a definite and well-controlled way only when kundalini in
the
etheric double has been carried through the corresponding centres.
The
special mention of the place between the eyes in our text has reference to
the
pineal gland and the pituitary body. The forces from both the sixth and
seventh
astral centres (which are between the eyebrows and on top of the head)
usually
converge on the pituitary body, when the etheric centre is aroused, and
then
vivify it and act through it. But there is a certain type of people (who
are
being addressed in our text) in whom the seventh astral chakra vivifies the
pineal
gland instead of the pituitary body, and it in that case forms a line of
communication
directly with the lower mental plane, without apparently passing
through
the astral plane in the ordinary way. Through that channel come for them
the
communications from within, while for the other type of people they come
through
the pituitary body.
When
kundalini awakens of itself, which it rarely does, or is accidentally
aroused,
it usually tries to pass up the interior of the spine, instead of
following
the spiral course in which the occultist is trained to guide it. In
this
case it will probably rush out through the head, and the man will suffer
from,
nothing worse than a temporary unconsciousness.
The
Hindu books hint at, rather than explain, what happens. They make no
references
to the chakras on
115
the
surface of the etheric double, but speak of their roots, which are in the
spine.
In the spine, running from its base to the top is what is called
Merudanda,
the rod of Meru, the central axis of creation. In that rod is the
channel
called sushumna, and in that again is the channel called chitrini, which
is
"as fine as a spider's thread ". Upon that are threaded the chakras,
like the
knots
on a bamboo rod. The lowest of the chakras, called muladhara, lies at the
base
of the spine, and in it kundalini sleeps, closing the mouth of the
merudanda.
The
aim of the aspirant is to raise kundalini through all the chakras till she
reaches
that which is between the eyebrows. Then the candidate will find that
he,
as it were, remains behind, while she leaps forward into the sahasrara, the
great
" thousand-petalled " lotus at the top of the head. If he goes with
her,
it
will take him out of the body and put a stop for the time being to his
practice
of meditation in the body. She rises up chitrini little by little as
the
candidate uses his will in meditation. In one practice he may not get very
far,
but in the next he will go a little further, and so on. When she comes to
one
of the chakras or lotuses she pierces it and the flower, which was turned
downwards,
now turns upwards. The candidate meditates upon her in some form, and
upon
her associates, seated in that lotus. An elaborate dhyana or meditation,
full
of rich symbology, is prescribed for each lotus. When the meditation is
over,
the candidate leads kundalini back again by the same path into the
muladhara;
but in some schools she is
116
brought
back only as far as the heart chakra, and there she enters what is
called
her chamber.
Kundalini
can be awakened by various methods, but it should be done only under
the
direction of a guru or competent teacher, the Master who is responsible to
the
Brotherhood for the training of the candidate. He is not likely to conduct
this
awakening until the first three fetters on the Path have been destroyed by
the
candidate's own power, so that he is no longer in serious danger of being
stirred
by sensuous or material things. Then his " heaven-born ", closely
united
or
harmonized with the higher manas, can remain master of the triple house of
personality,
and when the energy of kundalini" is set free in the body it will
be
likely to run in pure channels of service to the higher self. Hence the
awakening
of kundalini will take place usually somewhere near the Third
Initiation,
or, in the present kali yuga, or dark age, it is said, even later.
Even
then it is awakened in various layers, so that in the early stages it may
give
nothing more than a general sensitiveness to the higher planes.
Kundalini
is thought of as a goddess. She is what is called the shabdabrahman in
the
body. Shabda means sound. Sound is the creative force, as before described.
Speech
is considered to be the most outward form of it. It is an expression of
thought,
which in its true active form is kriyashakti. Certain letters of the
alphabet,
which are the foundation of human speech, are said to reside in each
of
the chakras, and the power of those letters (their portion of the creative
word)
is awakened
117
when
kundalini enters them after her union with Shiva in the highest centre,
causing
them to shine brilliantly with her light. The creative speech of Brahma,
the
Third Logos, has four forms or stages; hence He is called the four-faced
one.
When kundalini represents him in the body she also exhibits those four
forms,
as she rises through the chakras.
Kundalini
is called the world's mother because the •outward action of the powers
of
consciousness is always regarded as feminine. Thus will, wisdom and activity
are
feminine, being shaktis or powers, outward turned aspects of the divine. She
is
the representative of all these, as they were expressed in the creation of
the
world, in the activity of Brahma, the Third Logos. It has also been said
that
she is the world's mother because it is through her that the various planes
are
brought into conscious existence for the occultist.
The
following footnote by Madame Blavatsky will also throw light on the
foregoing
explanations.
The
inner chamber of the heart, called in Sanskrit, Brahma-pura. The " fiery
power
" is Kundalini.
The
"power" and the "world-mother" are names given to
Kundalini—-one of the
mystic
Yogi powers. It is Buddhi considered as an active instead of a passive
principle
(which it is generally, when regarded only as the vehicle, or casket,
of
the supreme spirit, Atma). It is an electro-spiritual force, a creative power
which
when aroused into action can as easily kill as it can create.
118
It
is by no means certain what Madame Blavatsky meant by saying that kundalini
is
active buddhi, but several speculations may be offered:
In
normal men buddhi is not positively active in the outer life, but when the
first
three fetters have been cast off, the personality is so purified that the
astral J body will no longer be active merely on its
own account, but will
faithfully
respond to buddhi, now active. At or
near this stage kundalini is
often
aroused, as we have seen, and when the faculties of the astral body are
then
laid open to the candidate while in his physical body it is an astral body
reflecting
buddhi, which now becomes a veritable fire of love in the man's life.
That clairvoyance and other
psychic powers need not
be awakened in the
physical
brain even at this advanced stage of human progress, is also indicated
by
Dr. Besant. in her Initiation, the Perfecting of Man. She there says that
before
a man can come to the Third Initiation he must
learn to bring the
spirit of intuition (buddhi) down to
his physical consciousness, so
that it may
abide on him and guide him. Then she
adds: " This process is
usually
called ' the development of psychic faculties,' and it is so, in the
true
meaning of the word ' psychic'. But it
does not mean the development of
clairvoyance and
clairaudience, which depend
on a different process."
The
entire higher triad (atma-buddhi-manas) is but the central member or the
buddhi
of the still more inclusive triad of Monad, ego and personality. That
119
larger
buddhi is triple (will, wisdom and activity), and now its third aspect
(activity,
kriyashakti) comes into operation in the body, to awaken its organs
and
liberate its latent powers.
'Tis
only then thou canst become a "walker of the sky," who treads the
winds
above
the waves, whose step touches not the waters.
On
this, Madame Blavatsky says:
Kechara,
" sky-walker " or " goer ". As explained in the 6th Adhyaya
of that
king
of mystic works, the Jnaneshvari—the body of the Yogi becomes as one formed
of
the wind; as "a cloud from which limbs have sprouted out," after
which—"he
[the
Yogi] beholds the things beyond the seas and stars; he hears the language
of
the Devas and comprehends it, and perceives what is passing in the mind of
the
ant."
The
term " walker of the sky " has various grades of meaning. In Indian
story it
is,
for example, applied to the great Rishi Narada, as an emissary of the Logos,
who
could travel through the pure akasha from globe to globe. On the lower
planes,
the astral body or the mayavi-rupa may be taken as an illustration, as
they
can be used to travel in what is the air or sky to ordinary people.
In
the astral world the ordinary man is a kind of cloud, a being full of kama,
that
is, desire and emotion, but not by any means a definite entity such as he
is
on the physical plane. But when he masters his kama,
120
and
gives it definiteness, the astral body is organized as a vehicle; it is no
longer
kama but kamarupa. Still further, about the time when the first three
fetters
are dispensed with, the mayavi-rupa is formed, and that enables the man
to
operate with his mental body in the astral as well as the lower mental plane.
This
may be taken as one interpretation of the statement that his step "
touches
not
the waters ", which are a symbol for the astral plane.
CHAPTER
9 THE SEVEN SOUNDS
Before
thou sett'st thy foot upon the ladder's upper rung, the ladder of the
mystic
sounds, thou hast to hear the voice of thy inner God in seven manners.
C.W.L.—It
has already been mentioned that The Voice of the Silence is intended
to
guide the candidate as far as the Fourth Initiation. At that point his
consciousness
is raised to the seventh principle and begins to function in the
atmic
or nirvanic plane. The man is then ready to commence treading what is here
called
the ladder's upper rung, to go through the course of training which
prepares
for the Fifth Initiation, that of the Asekha Adept. The Path has two
equal
divisions, which may be called the ladder's lower and upper rungs.
It
is said that the Initiate on the ladder's lower rung must hear the voice of
his
inner God in seven manners. That inner God at his present stage is the
higher
Self, the buddhi, the second principle. In his meditation the aspirant
may
or may not hear a series of seven sounds, marking his attainment of the
seven
sub-planes of the buddhic plane; that depends upon his psychic
122
temperament.
But what he must do, in all cases, is to bring the influence of
buddhi
down into his life on each of the lower planes, so that the activity of
all
his principles will be governed by it, and thus his inner God will be
ever-present
in his life.
The
latter stage is called the ladder of the mystic sounds; this is perhaps
because
they are the sounds of the voice of the silence, hidden in the atma or
Self.
One must not push too far the exact interpretation of any English word in
our
text, as it is only a translation; though every Sanskrit and Pali word in it
is
rich with technical significance. Still, the word mystic, coming from a root
that
means to close the eyes, indicates here certain sounds which do not mingle
in
the outward life at all, but give direction as from above, in the ex cathedra
manner
of pure conscience. It is implied that the sounds about to be mentioned
are
more accessible, are not " mystic " at all events to the candidate at
the
stage
under consideration. True conscience does not tell you what to do, as is
commonly
supposed, but it commands you to follow that which you already really
know
to be best, when your mind is trying to invent some excuse to do otherwise.
It
speaks with the authority of the spiritual will, determining our path in
life.
It is not the atma, but the buddhi, the second principle, that gives
intuitive
knowledge as to right and wrong. Manas gives inspiration, buddhi
intuition
as to right and wrong, atma the directing conscience.
The
first is like the nightingale's sweet voice,
chanting
a song of parting to its mate.
THE
SEVEN SOUNDS 123
The
second comes as the sound of a silver cymbal of the Dhyanis, awakening the
twinkling
stars.
The
next is as the plaint melodious of the ocean-sprite imprisoned in its shell.
And
this is followed by the chant of the vina.
The
fifth like the sound of bamboo-flute shrills in thine ear.
It
changes next into a trumpet-blast.
The
last vibrates like the dull rumbling of a. thunder-cloud.
The
seventh swallows all the other sounds."
They
die, and then are heard no more.
The
series of seven sounds mentioned here has caused much puzzlement among those
who
meditate upon this little book. We must notice first of all the character of
the
sounds; then we shall see that there are several interpretations of them.
They
are increasing in materiality and losing, in penetrating quality in the
order
here given. One may notice, for example, the difference between the vina
and
an Indian trumpet of the old-fashioned kind. It is nearly always a surprise
to
the European, when he first hears the wonderfully delicate music of the vina,
perhaps
in a large and crowded hall, how, without any exhibition of force, it
reaches
every corner, and how it gives the impression of sound half-removed from
our
material planes.
The
highest sound in the series is likened to a certain chant of the
nightingale. It is said that there are occasions when
the voice of this bird
rises
higher and higher
124
in
pitch until it is beyond the range of human hearing, although one may still
see
the throat of the warbler trembling with song. That such high sounds exist
is
well known to students of science. The note of a siren, for example, can be
raised
by increased pressure of air or steam, until one after another of those
who
are listening declare that they can no longer hear it. There is a certain
kind
of whistle with which German police dogs can be called. When one blows upon
this
instrument, which looks like an ordinary whistle, no man can hear the
slightest
sound, but the dog, in another room or some distance away, will
instantly
prick up its ears, and come leaping and bounding to the exact spot
where
what is presumably to it the sound originated.
The
interpretations of the sounds fall into two groups. The first mentioned in
the
list may represent the last heard by the candidate. The sounds are
enumerated
downwards in the order of their creation, after the Oriental manner,
so
that the first sound in creation is the seventh when the aspirant is
approaching
the Lord of that creation. So, first comes the dull rumbling of a
thunder-cloud,
a sound representing or correlated to the physical principle in
man,
in the middle is the vina, representing the antahkarana (according to
Madame
Blavatsky's classification), and lastly there is the nightingale's
melody,
associated with atma, the silence. That well typifies the seventh, the
soundless
sound, into which all the others have to be raised, until they die
away
and are heard no more. The candidate must learn to hear God in the dull
rumbling
sound of the physical plane,
125
then
in the trumpet-blast of the astral, then in the sound of the lower mental
that
is likened to the music of a bamboo-flute, and so on right up to the world
of
his highest principle.
The
same sounds may be taken in another way as typical of the intensity with
which
the aspirant hears the voice of the higher Self. It is one voice, but is
heard
in seven manners. At first it is delicate and sweet, like the
nightingale's
song, and it often disappears into silence; next it becomes
stronger,
like " the silver cymbal of the Dhyanis ". Louder and louder it
becomes,
until at last it is constantly heard, as filling all the air, like the
dull
rumbling of a thunder-cloud. In the early stages of our progress the voice
of
the higher Self may seem thin and faint, but later it will have for us all
the
reality of thunder.
Again,
in the text the description of these sounds follows upon the mention of
kundalini,
which is carried through the chakras. That force awakens in seven
layers,
or degrees, and so gives the psychic results already mentioned in
increasing
power. The voice that is heard when kundalini rises to the place
between
the eyes will therefore be heard with seven degrees of intensity,
typified
by the seven sounds here mentioned.
Once
more, it is natural that in the densest plane the candidate should hear the
inner
voice but faintly, like the nightingale's voice. When he rises to the next
plane,
where the covering of the inner Self is not so dense, its voice will be
more
easily heard; until finally, when he reaches the highest principle it will
be
like the rumbling
126
of
a thunder-cloud. It is only the illusion of the lower planes that causes us
to
ascribe delicacy to the higher things. Ultimately we shall find that they
have
the full body and reality of thunder.
These
interpretations are not mutually exclusive. All the experiences which they
suggest
are possible for the candidate at the same time.
I
remember that on one occasion a question about these sounds was asked in one
of
our talks on the roof at Adyar. The President and I respectively answered as
follows:
A.B.—In
meditation, one of the sounds that you begin to hear (for instance, one
thing
that I heard quite distinctly) was a sound which was like the beating of a
tom-tom
in a Indian village. I described that to H.P.B., who said: "That is very
good,
go on." Next I heard some strains of beautiful music, and then something
like
silver chimes. . Another sound was like the ringing of a temple bell, such
as
you hear in Benares. I never found out that these sounds meant anything more
than
that I was becoming able to hear in the astral world.
In
India there is a school formed by a man of whom the Master M. spoke highly.
The
people who belong to that, after a certain amount of practice, hear sounds
quite
clearly in the brain, but I have never found that any of them got further
on
that account. Many people come to me in the North, asking what the sounds
mean.
I reply: " I think it is nothing more than that you are becoming
clairaudient."
These
seven sounds mentioned by H.P.B. I have never been able to sort out. They
may
mean that you have to wake your consciousness in plane after plane, and that
each
is meant to symbolize the note of a particular plane, just as down here Fa
is
the combination of the countless sounds in the physical plane blended
together.
But that does not really explain matters.
C.W.L.—I
cannot make them exactly correspond with the planes; they may possibly
be
sub-planes. They may also be intended to symbolize the sounds which accompany
the
awakening of the seven centres by the Kundalini, for sound is one of the
expressions
that take place in that particular case. I have never felt at all
certain
of what she meant. One would be inclined to
127
say
that the silver cymbal in different tones would do for all The thunder
certainly
does not seem to fit in very well.
A.B.—-Of
course there are a certain number of sounds in the head which belong
entirely
to the vascular system. If a person hears such sounds very strongly it
means
that he is getting into a dangerous state of anaemia.
The
sounds are not progressive. H.P.B. put things very often in a circle; she
sometimes
begins with number four and then works round on the two sides. It may
also
be that she gives these sounds in no sort of order. You might possibly
begin
with the thunder, then the trumpet blast, and next the ocean sprite; then
you
might come to the cymbal for the fourth, the flute for the fifth and the
vina,
which is a more delicate sound, for the sixth, and then the nightingale
for
the seventh, the top.
C.W.L.—-If
we are allowed to turn them round like that, they will begin to mean
something
definite.
A.B.—H.P.B.,
when consulted astrally said: "What fools you all were to take them
in
that way: you might have arranged them before: thunder, trumpet, ocean-shell,
cymbal,
flute, vina, nightingale." She said that we were abominably literal.
C.W.L.—.Similar
lists of sounds are to be found in various Sanskrit works. We
have
taken the following example from the Shiva Samhita:
The
first sound is like the hum of the honey-intoxicated bee, next that of a
flute,
then of a harp; after this, by the gradual practice of Yoga, the
destroyer
of the darkness of the world, he hears the sounds of ringing bells;
then
sounds like the roar of thunder. When one fixes his full attention on this
sound,
being free from fear, he gets absorption, O my beloved! When the mind of
the
Yogi is exceedingly engaged in this sound, he forgets all external things,
and
is absorbed in this sound." 1
When
the six are slain and at the Master's feet are laid, then is the pupil
merged
into the One, becomes that One and lives therein.
Madame
Blavatsky speaks of the six as:
The
six principles; meaning when the lower personality is destroyed and the
inner
individuality is merged into and lost in the seventh or Spirit.
1
Op. cit., v, 27-8.
128
And
of the One here spoken of she says: The disciple is one with Brahman or
Atma.
When
the six principles are " slain", in other words, when they no longer
assert
their
independence, but have become entirely obedient to the will of the Self,
the
aspirant lives in that One. The seventh voice of buddhi will carry him up
into
Atma. Madame Blavatsky applies the term Brahman to the human atma by
analogy.
Brahman (neuter) is the One containing the Three; so does atma contain
buddhi
and manas within itself, when the man has become an Arhat, and learned to
live
in the triple spirit.
Before
that path is entered, thou must destroy thy lunar body, cleanse thy
mind-body,
and make clean thy heart.
To
the term " lunar body " Madame Blavatsky adds the note:
The
astral form produced by the kamic principle, the Kama Rupa, or body of
desire.
On
the term " mind-body " she comments:
Manasa
Rupa. The first refers to the astral or personal self; the second to the
individuality,
.or the reincarnating Ego, whose consciousness on our plane, or
the
lower Manas, has to be paralysed.
Madame
Blavatsky did not think in planes so completely as do most of the
Theosophists
of today. She had her eye more on the principles, and saw the
matter
of different levels taking form under their influence.
129
Here
she speaks of " our plane", meaning the region of personal
existence—physical,
astral and lower mental. The " astral form " is by no means
necessarily
the astral body, but rather the personal form built up in the
subjective
regions of our personal life (the astral and lower mental planes) on
account
of our bodily form and the personal feelings and thoughts connected with
it.
In my little book The Devachanic Plane and in Dr. Besant's Ancient Wisdom an
account
is given of the four types of life in the heaven-world: (1) personal
friendship,
(2) personal devotion, (3) the true missionary spirit, and (4) human
achievement.
They are all emotive—though unselfish, they are not impersonal, but
kamic.
They take their form from the character of the physical plane experience.
But
the pure lower manas would be the antahkarana—it would be the soul's mind,
not
the body's mind. It would have its activity stimulated only from above. It
must
now be cleansed from all the kama, to become a pure channel for the soul.
Think
of the condition of the astral body of an advanced person. It gives
practically
no direct response to impacts from outside. It is, by itself, dead
to
the world. It has no independent life of its own; it has been " slain
". If
some
one went up to the average man and struck him, probably his astral body
Would
burst instantly into flames of anger; that is its immediate response. Not
so
that of the advanced man. The impact in his case would go inwards through the
astral
to the buddhic vehicle. That would respond in its own way. Then its
impact
upon the astral would call
130
forth
the beautiful colours of the love emotions which are its correspondences
in
the astral body. Dr. Besant has often explained that the astral aura of an
advanced
man is colourless, or rather, slightly milky-white, when in repose, but
that
all the most lovely colours which the , plane can exhibit flood through it
in
response to the great man's buddhic response to the world.
Eternal
life's pure waters, clear and crystal, with
the monsoon tempest's
muddy torrents
cannot mingle.
Heaven's
dew-drop glittering in the morn's first sunbeam within the bosom of the
lotus,
when dropped on earth becomes a piece of clay; behold, the pearl is now a
speck
of mire.
Strive
with thy thoughts unclean before they overpower thee. Use them as they
will
thee, for if thou sparest them and they take root and grow, know well,
these
thoughts will overpower and kill thee. Beware, disciple, suffer not even
though
it be their shadow to approach. For it will grow, increase in size and
power,
and then this thing of darkness will absorb thy being before thou hast
well
realized the black foul monster's presence.
There
are some people in the world who imagine that It is possible to carry on
the
lower things and still make progress on the Path. Sometimes they actually
think
that by various forms of vicious excitement they can generate a great deal
of
energy which will help to carry them onward and upward. They are afraid of
becoming
131
colourless,
should they repress the lower activities entirely. It has been said,
of
course, that the colourless person, the feeble good man, cannot make
progress.
" I would thou wert cold or hot," says the Spirit in Revelation, and
"
Because
thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my
mouth."1
This
very well represents the facts. The most promising persons, in order of
preference,
are (1) the vigorous good man, (2) the vigorous bad man, (3) the
ordinary
good man. No man can be an effective criminal unless he has a strong
development
of some divine quality. His badness is the result of unbalance—-such
as
great will-power and courage, or great intelligence, without love for his
fellow-beings.
Or great love and willpower, without intelligence, can make an
equally
dangerous and harmful man, for he may become a fanatical leader of
forces
of discontent and disruption. The mere good man, weak in all qualities—in
will,
intelligence and love—makes little progress, though it may be steady.
Great
men have great faults, but they may get rid of them quickly; little men
have
little faults, which often seem to last for ever.
There
is in all this no recommendation to evil living. It indicates that mere
repression
of lower tendencies will not make for rapid progress, but that there
must
be positive and- vigorous exertion in the expression of what is high and
good.
While making that effort a person may possibly fall. The very will-power
or
knowledge or love that he has gained by his exertions will make the
1
Revelation 3, 15-16.
132
man's
fall deep and terrible, should he become unbalanced. Thus the magnitude of
a
man's sin may be a sign of possible rapid future progress for him; but that
progress
will begin only when the man through karmic suffering has realized his
error
and purged away the impurities incidental to his fall. Nothing much can be
done,
however, until that purification has taken place. Madame Blavatsky deals
vigorously
with this point in her First Steps in Occultism, as follows:
There
are those whose reasoning powers have been so distorted by foreign
influences
that they imagine that animal passions can be so sublimated and
elevated
that their- fury, force and fire can, so to speak, be turned inwards;
that
they can be stored and shut up in one's breast, until their energy is, not
expanded,
but turned towards higher and more holy purposes: namely, until, their
collective
and unexpanded strength enables their possessor to enter the true
Sanctuary
of the Soul and stand therein in the presence of the Master—the HIGHER
SELF.
For this purpose they will not struggle with their passions nor slay them.
They
will simply, by a strong effort of will, put down the fierce flames and
keep
them at bay within their natures allowing the fire to smoulder under a thin
layer
of ashes. They submit joyfully to the torture of the Spartan boy who
allowed
the fox to devour his entrails rather than part with it. Oh, poor, blind
visionaries!
As
well hope that a band of drunken chimney-sweeps, hot and greasy from their
work,
may be shut up in a Sanctuary hung with pure white linen, and that instead
of
soiling and turning it by their presence into a heap of dirty shreds, they
will
become masters in and of the sacred recess, and finally emerge from it as
immaculate
as that recess. Why not imagine that a dozen skunks imprisoned in the
pure
atmosphere of a Dgon-pa (a monastery), can issue out of it impregnated with
all
the perfumes of the incense used? Strange aberration of the human mind.
This
portion of our text concludes with the following uncompromising passages:
Before
the mystic power can make of thee a God, Lanoo, thou must have gained the
faculty
to slay thy lunar form at will.
133
The
Self of matter and the Self of Spirit can never meet. One of the twain must
disappear;
there is no place for both.
Ere
thy Soul's mind can understand, the bud of personality must be crushed out,
the
worm of sense destroyed past resurrection.
The
mystic power is once more kundalini, the representative in the body of"
the
great
pristine force which underlies all organic and inorganic matter ". Madame
Blavatsky's
note on the subject is as follows:
Kundalini,
the serpent power or mystic fire; it is called the serpentine or the
annular
power on account of its spiral-like working or progress in the body of
the
ascetic developing the power in himself. It is an electric fiery occult or
fohatic
power, the great pristine force which underlies all organic and
inorganic
matter.
CHAPTER
10 BECOME THE PATH
Thou
canst not travel on the Path before thou hast become that Path itself.
C.W.L.—To
this the following foot-note is appended:
This
Path is mentioned in all the mystic works. As Krishna says in the
Jnaneshvari;
" When this path is beheld . . . whether one sets out to the bloom
of
the east, or to the chambers of the west, without moving, O holder of the
bow,
is the travelling in this road. In this path, to whatever place one would
go,
that place one's own self becomes." " Thou art the path," is
said to the
Adept
Guru, and by the latter to the disciple, after Initiation. " I am the way
and
the path," says another Master.
It
has already been explained (in the commentary on At the Feet of the Master)
that
the thoughts and feelings which are at first difficult to grasp and
maintain
become quite easy in the course of time. When the aspirant has so
trained
and developed himself that the buddhic outlook and response to life
become
perfectly natural and spontaneous to him, we may say he has become the
Path
itself. Sometimes such a consequence
135
of
continued effort and practice is called " second nature ". That
expression,
however,
gives one something of a feeling that the new qualities have been put
on,
and afterwards become habitual. That is unfortunate. It is our original and
best
nature, our higher nature, that shows itself in the higher life; it seems
to
be something new to us only because it has heretofore been obscured by our
material
integuments and the pressure of circumstances in the worlds of our
personal
being.
An
interesting metaphysical truth is indicated in the foot-note. Our evolution
is
not a transit, nor even a growth. It is not a process of going somewhere, nor
an
increase of size. It is an unfoldment of the powers potential in our lives.
As
already stated, in the planes of the ego materiality takes second place, the
powers
of consciousness—-will, "wisdom and activity (or will, love and
thought)—-dominate
almost completely the matter of the planes. Therefore space
is
not the jailor which it is down here, and consciousness need not travel
through
it in order to appear in another place. The following conversation
between
a Guru and his pupil has been related to illustrate this point. The Guru
told
the pupil to walk across the room, and then asked:
"
What were you doing? Were you moving? "
After
meditating upon the matter, the disciple gave the following answer, which
was
declared to be correct:
"
No, I was not moving. I was watching
the body move. I was thinking,
feeling
and willing; the body alone was moving." 1 The Seven Rays.
136
This
fact is true for all of us; we know of the body's motion merely on account
of
observing it by means of the senses, just as we do that of any other object.
The
sensation of rushing along, in an open motor-car, for example, resolves
itself,
when one shuts one's eyes, into an actual feeling of air rushing by, and
a
sense of power which, acting through the imagination, exhilarates the body.
The
same experience could be reproduced by suitable apparatus, composed of wind
and
motion machines, without any transportation of the body. Again, most people
who
have travelled at night in Pullman berths have had the experience of waking
and
wondering whether they were going head first or feet first, or even whether
the
train was moving or not, and they have usually settled the question by
slipping
up the blind and inferring their direction from an observation of
passing
lights and shadows.
The
fact that, in order to go from one place to another, travelling is not
necessary
for the ego, is shown also in the way in which it can simultaneously
appear
in the devachanic images of a number of people in the lower mental plane
in
different parts of the world.
Though,
at the stage of development presupposed in this teaching, the candidate
is
working at the perfection of his personality, at the same time his inner work
is
particularly concerned with the development of buddhi, the spiritual soul. To
put
it in other words, he is climbing through the buddhic plane. Hence his
becoming
the Path is shown in a great development of
137
sympathy and
love for others,
as indicated in the
following verses:
Let
thy Soul lend its ear to every cry of pain like as the lotus bares its heart
to
drink the morning son.
Let
not the fierce sun dry one tear of pain before thyself hast wiped it from
the
sufferer's eye.
But
let each burning human tear drop on thy heart and there remain; nor ever
brush
it off until the pain that caused it is removed.
These
tears, O thou of heart most merciful, these are the streams that irrigate
the
fields of charity immortal. "Tis on such soil that grows the midnight
blossom
of Buddha, more difficult to find, more rare to view, than is the flower
of
the Vogay tree. It is the seed of freedom from rebirth. It isolates the Arhat
both
from strife and lust, it leads Mm through the fields of being unto the
peace
and bliss known only in the land of silence and non-being.
When
Christ said, " I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh
unto
the Father, but by me," He declared a mystic truth, for the Christ is one
with
the buddhic aspect of the world-consciousness. There is only one
consciousness;
on full recognition of this fact the Initiate can become an
Arhat—but
unless he goes through that Christ-principle he cannot reach the
Father,
the atma, above. That truth, explained with
S.
John, 14, 6
138
wonderful
inspiration and clarity in Dr. Annie Besant's Esoteric Christianity,
is,
however, only" one aspect of the matter, for the Christ incarnate embodied
the
same principle in his outward life in Palestine, which has moved millions of
men—-because
he did not shrink from pain. Most men try to escape pain as much as
possible,
but Christ accepted his own and added to it that of all other people
as
well. Men who follow the buddhic path instinctively say, when trouble comes
to
them: " Many are suffering; why should I desire to be exempt?" More
than
that,
in the fullness of their sympathy, they feel that other suffering to the
breaking
point, before they reach the serenity of Arhatship, the illumination
that
puts death under them, that makes them glow with the joy of liberty,
whatever
pain may betide. Such liberty would lead to careless rest, could men
have
it before experiencing the suffering of the Christ, in which the pain of
the
cross is as nothing beside that of his compassionate response to the cry of
a
world in pain. Then comes the point at which the man says: " What does it
matter
whether I suffer or not? " His mind is so busy with service that he can
scarcely
attend to himself.
Such
an expression as " the peace and bliss known only in the land of silence
and
non-being" can be understood only by those who are willing to think of
metaphysical
realities. Most of such Oriental expressions as this are based on
the
fundamental idea that the universal God expresses himself as sat, chit and
ananda,
that is, as being, consciousness and bliss.
139
Being
is well understood; people see it all around them; consciousness they also
know
by experience; but happiness they seek. All seek themselves. Happiness is
not
something that we shall gain, obtain and possess; it is our true state of
Self.
But beyond both matter and consciousness is the real inner life, which is
silence
and non-being from the standpoint of the external, and yet is the bliss
of
true being.
Kill
out desire; but if thou killest it, take heed lest from the dead it should
again
arise.
Kill
love of life; but if thou slayest Tanha, let this not be for thirst of life
eternal,
but to replace the fleeting by the everlasting.
Desire
nothing. Chafe not at Karma, nor at nature's changeless laws. But
struggle
only with the personal, the transitory, the evanescent and the
perishable.
Common
desire is the love of external things for the sake of astral or sensuous
enjoyment.
We have already seen that the disciple must not seek the satisfaction
of
such desires, but must give up all the energy of his personality—physical,
emotional,
and mental—to the work of spiritual evolution and the service of the
inner
life in himself and other men.
Tanha
is the root of these desires, because it is the thirst for sentient life.
The
ego on its own plane is far from being fully conscious, but what
consciousness
it has gives it a feeling of great pleasure, and arouses a kind of
hunger
for a fuller realization of life. It is that
340
which
is behind the world's great clamour for a fuller life. As before
explained,
the forces of the higher mental plane pass through the causal body
for
the most part without affecting it in the case of ordinary persons, as the
ego
is not yet developed and trained so as to respond to more than a few of the
vibrations
of its own level. There are no coarse vibrations on that plane, such
as
it can respond to in its younger days, so it descends to the lower planes for
the
sake of feeling more fully alive. For a long time therefore its
consciousness
is most vivid when things of the physical plane are presented to
it,
but later, when the astral nature is awakened, the pleasures of that plane
prove
to be still more intense.
It
is not possible in the physical body to realize how keen are the delights of
the
astral life. So much is that the case that they often turn aside and delay
persons
who have overcome the same sort of pleasure of the physical plane. Yet
that
danger is not great for those who in physical life are definitely seeking
the
things of the Path, if they are persons of advanced type, as they are in a
position
to realize still higher delights, which have a far greater attraction.
The
same thing is true of each plane in turn.
Still,
the disciple must be on guard not to give up the lower pleasures merely
for
the sake of relatively higher ones, but always to keep his eye upon his
ideal
goal, beyond all transitory pleasures. He must not thirst to enjoy the
age-long
pleasures of the heaven-world, but must give up all that is transitory
and
personal. While, on
141
the
one hand, he will not seek to obtain the objects of desire, on the other he
will
not shrink from the lessons that karma places before him; he will not wish
that
his field of experience should be other than it is. He knows that it is
because
nature's laws are unchanging that he can use experience for growth. Were
it
not for the orderly nature of the world, it would be impossible for the
intellect
to grow or for man to use his powers at all. So he has no resentment
against
karma, which is the embodiment of the Law.
Help
nature and work on with her; and nature will regard thee as one of her
creators
and make obeisance.
And
she will open wide before thee the portals of her secret chambers, lay bare
before
thy gaze the treasures hidden in the very depths of her pure virgin
bosom.
Unsullied by the hand of matter, she shows her treasures only to the eye
of
Spirit —the eye which never closes, the eye for which there is no veil in all
her
kingdoms.
Then
will she show thee the means and way, the first gate and the second, the
third,
up to the very seventh. And then, the goal; beyond which lie, bathed in
the
sunlight of the Spirit, glories untold, unseen by any save the eye of the
Soul.
All
students of the material sciences arc familiar with the fact that " nature
is
conquered by obedience ". All the forces that we employ in modern life,
such
as
the pressure of steam or electricity, are examples of our
142
working
with nature. It is perhaps rather unsympathetic to use the word
conquered,
when the fact is that all our power in the world is the result of
harmony
between man and nature. The man in a boat who sets his sail so that he
may
go against the wind is not overcoming the wind, but is harmonizing his
affairs
with its laws. By working with the laws man gains in power, not by
fighting
against them.
The
occultist knows that the same principle is true on every plane, and not only
with
regard to the matter of each world but also to the forms of life that dwell
there,
high or low in the scale of evolution. Therefore the knowledge of
nature's
mechanical laws, which has led to so much power and wealth for mankind,
represents
only one aspect of the harmony that should subsist between the two. A
feeling
of friendly sympathy towards the animal, the plants and even the
minerals,
and towards the nature spirits and the devas, is equally important, if
not
more so, for the progress of man. Nature is composed of life as well as
matter,
and it is through sympathetic feeling that that life becomes known, and
harmonized
with human life. To look upon the world as a place full of forbidding
entities
is the unfortunate custom of our age, but the man who faces life with a
feeling
of kindliness to all living things will not only see and learn more than
others,
but will have a smoother passage on life's sea. There is a tradition in
India
of the " lucky hand " of certain persons who have this sympathy, and
for
whom
plants will grow well when for others they ail. It has also been explained
143
many
times by authorities in occult science that because of his love for all
beings
the true yogi or sannyasi may wander among the mountains and in the
jungle
quite without danger from wild animals or reptiles.
In
ordinary human life this sympathy works in many-ways. The modern business man
knows
that the first requisite for his success is to establish friendliness with
those
with whom he wants to deal. The same quality is necessary for teaching
children,
who often regard grownup people as strange, arbitrary beings, not all
of
their own class, but somewhat foreign, as an earth man might regard one of
Mr.
Wells' fanciful men from Mars. But when sympathy is established, all that
strangeness
goes, and real education becomes possible.
The
nature spirits are in the same position as the children, except that they
are
not dependent upon us and can easily avoid our vicinity, as the more
pleasing
kinds of them usually do when modern civilized man arrives, with his
noisy,
clumsy and cruel ways, and his unclean, repellant aura and cloud of
thought-forms.
It is a fact that were men sympathetic with the other kingdoms,
did
they plant forests and not only destroy them, and did they feel kindly
towards
nature in general, we should enjoy more equable climate and more
successful
cultivation. It must, of course, be said that the modern movement in
favour
of gardens round houses, and trees and flowers even in the roads of our
cities,
all tends in the right direction, and that in special ways of
cultivation
of the earth and of particular flowers and fruits and grains and
trees,
and even animals, men have done much
144
to
help the work of the nature-spirits.
But with more sympathy still better
results
would have accrued.
This
sympathy has occasionally been shown, especially by the poets. Dr.
Rabindranath
Tagore's essays and poems exhibit it in a very high degree; in
fact,
the spread of this quality may be regarded almost as his special
contribution
to modern civilization. Another well known instance is that of the
philosopher
Emerson who, on returning from his winter lecture tours to his home
at
Concord, used to shake hands with the lower branches of his trees. He
declared
that he could feel that the trees were glad at his return, and no doubt
that
quality of sympathy was a great aid to his inspiration.
Men
who live in their gardens, like Luther Burbank of California, often say that
they
are distinctly conscious of the feeling that comes to them from certain
plants
bushes and trees. Men in Canada, whose duty calls them to live constantly
in
the forests—to inspect them, mark trees and do other work—have told me that
they
feel a life in the woods distinct from that elsewhere, that they know that
there
are some places and trees which like men, and others which do not.
Such
sympathy is perfectly natural. If you feel special love and admiration for
a
certain human being, there is a tendency on his part to become interested in
you
and to return the affection. A stage lower, if you are affectionate with an
animal
it becomes strongly attached to you. Still lower, in the vegetable and
mineral
kingdoms, the same rule obtains, though its effects are less obvious.
From
this arises the tradition that flowers and
145
plants
will grow better for some persons than for others, other things being
equal.
It is personal magnetism that calls it out; and that is what at a higher
level
we call affection.
There
is no need to say anything here about the seven gates mentioned in this
passage,
for the whole of the third Fragment of this book is taken up with the
seven
portals, and there we shall study them in detail.
CHAPTER
11 THE ONE ROAD
There
is but one road to the Path; at its very end alone the Voice of the
Silence
can be heard. The ladder by which the candidate ascends is formed of
rungs
of suffering and pain; these can be silenced, only by the voice of virtue.
Woe
then to thee, disciple, if there is one single vice thou hast not left
behind;
for then the ladder will give way and overthrow thee; its foot rests in
the
deep mire of thy sins and failings, and ere thou canst attempt to cross this
wide
abyss of matter thou hast to lave thy feet in waters of renunciation.
Beware
lest thou should'st set a foot still soiled upon the ladder's lowest
rung.
Woe unto him who dares pollute one rung with miry feet. The foul and
viscous
mud will dry, become tenacious, then glue his feet unto the spot; and
like
a bird caught in the wily fowler's lime, he will be stayed from further
progress.
His vices will take shape and drag him down. His sins will raise their
voices,
like as the jackal's laugh and sob after the sun goes down; his thoughts
become
an army, and bear him off a captive slave.
147
C.W.L.—We
have seen, in The Masters and The Path, that there are four ways of
coming
to the beginning of the probationary path: by contact with those •who are
already
on the Path; by deep thought; by hearing and reading the sacred word;
and
by the practice of virtue.1 Then, on the probationary path, there are four
qualifications
to be attained, of which the last is given in At the Feet of the
Master
as Love, and it is said that without this the other qualifications are in
vain.2
This,
then, is the one road to the path proper—the way of love, of unselfishness
in
thought, word and deed.
All
the old selfish habits of body and mind must be overcome, by positive
virtue.
The word virtue as used here cannot mean mere passive goodness or
absence
of wrongdoing; it must be taken in its old meaning of strength. Virtues
are
forms of strength of" the soul. When the soul dominates the personal life
it
will
be seen to be full of such virtue. In the mean time a great battle is
necessary.
In very many cases the candidate for the Path must bring forth all
his
determination to stamp out completely any fault of selfishness that he may
find
in himself in the course of his daily self-examination. This can best be
done
by picturing a scene in which the fault has been exhibited, and then
reconstructing
it in the imagination, so that in it the corresponding virtue is
shown;
then one may dwell on that for a little while, and resolve that
henceforth,
under such circumstances, the virtue, not the fault, will be
expressed.
1
Op. cit., Ch. vi.
2
Volume I, Ch. 24, Liberation, Nirvana and Moksha.
148
It
is sometimes very hard to overcome habitual faults; hence the frequent
mention
of suffering and pain. It gives great pain, for example, to the
drunkard,
to resist "just one more, one last drink ". But if he holds firm to
his
resolves never to take strong drink again, not even once, in time the
suffering
will disappear, and he will know a higher kind of pleasure than that
which
he obtained from the stimulus of drink. It is exactly the same with impure
or
selfish emotions and thoughts; many a man fails because he dwells upon an
unworthy
thought "just once more ". It is just that one that he must give up,
and
refuse to harbour in his mind. To give up their faults people have sometimes
to
suffer great wounds to their pride. In all these cases humility is a great
help,
because it makes men willing to change themselves.
Still,
there are many whose lives have already been considerably purified, who
feel
little or nothing of this pain. It has, indeed been suggested that in this
passage
Aryasanga has exaggerated the suffering. That is not so, but he has
expressed
it in extreme terms, so that no one will meet with suffering on the
Path,
expecting the reverse, and all will be ready to pay toll to the past, to
face
what suffering there is, and to bring it to an end for ever by the practice
of
virtue. We may remember here the encouraging words of the Gita: " Even if
thou
art the most sinful of all sinners, yet shalt thou cross over all sin by
the
raft of wisdom. As the burning fire reduces fuel to ashes, O Arjuna, so doth
the
fire of wisdom reduce all karmas to ashes."1 And again:
Op. cit., iv, 36-37.
149
"
Never doth any
who worketh righteousness, O beloved, tread the
path
of woe."1
The
necessity of getting rid of vices at the very beginning has been emphasized
in
all yoga systems, as mentioned before.2 Only when the virtues were firmly
established
in his character could the student be allowed to pass on to the
later
steps of the Path, including practices of posture, breathing, control of
the
senses and meditation. The reason for this demand is that as the pupil
advances
on the Path the forces of his will and thought become much more
powerful
than ever before, and there will come times when the ego pours his
energy
down into the body. If there be still remnants of any vice in the body
that
energy will give it new strength, so that the fall of the aspirant will be
far
greater than anything that is possible for one not so far advanced. Powers
are
powers, for good or ill, so the candidate should purify himself before
seeking
them, lest he injure others and himself. There is one place on the Path,
just
after the Second Initiation, where the danger is greatest of all,
especially
from the vice of pride, as has been explained at length in The
Masters
and The Path.
Kill
thy desires, Lanoo, make thy vices impotent, ere the first step is taken on
the
solemn journey.
Strangle
thy sins, and make them dumb for ever, before thou dost lift one foot
to
mount the ladder.
1
Ibid., vi, 40. 2 Ante, p.
-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales-------
206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24-1DL
.
150
Silence
thy thoughts and fix thy whole attention on thy Master, whom yet thou
dost
not see, but whom thou feelest.
Merge
into one sense thy senses, if thou would'st be secure against the foe.
'Tis
by that sense alone which lies concealed within the hollow of the brain,
that
the steep path which leadeth to thy Master may be disclosed before thy
soul's
dim eyes.
Aryasanga's
repetition of the injunction to get rid of desires and vices shows
the
importance which he attached to this part of the work. Not only are any such
defects
enormously intensified as the powers of the candidate develop, but also
his
responsibility increases, and he becomes capable of making far more karma
than
before.
The
sixth sense, the mind, has its physical organ in the brain. People do not
usually
employ this, when faced by the various objects and experiences of life.
They
live too much in their astral bodies. They "like" certain things, and
"dislike"
others, quite without reason, quite without considering what they are,
and
which are really good and bad, or useful and useless. That will not do, of
course,
for anyone who wants to tread the occult path. He must consider all
things
dispassionately, and revalue them according to their usefulness to the
soul.
In
the brain there are' also the organs by means of which direct perception of
things
beyond the reach of
151
the
physical senses may be had. The pituitary body is a link between the
physical
body and the astral body, and so on. In the same hollow in the brain,
but
a little further back, lies the pineal gland, which is connected directly
with
the mental body, and serves to bring impressions down from the mental
plane.
Some people develop the pituitary body first, some the pineal gland— each
must
follow the method prescribed by his own guru.
Long
and weary is the way before thee, O disciple. One single thought about the
past
that thou hast left behind will drag thee down, and thou wilt have to start
the
climb anew.
Kill
in thyself all memory of past experience. Look not behind or thou art lost.
Once
more we find Aryasanga emphasizing the worst aspect of the matter, so that
none
shall find the path harder than he may have thought it to be before
entering
upon it. Relatively, that path is not long, when one considers that it
is
only the last fourteen lives, out of a series of many hundreds or even
thousands,
which are usually spent between the First and Fifth Initiations.
Further,
in many cases the work of those fourteen lives is done in but few,
taken
consecutively, without devachanic interludes—which makes the time short
indeed.
It
is true that " the road winds uphill all the way", but it need not
necessarily
be weary. It is when one thinks only of the goal that the journey is
weary.
A student entering college will find his three or four yean there
intensely
weary if he is thinking only of getting
152
his
degree and going out into the world with it, and is not really interested in
his
studies. But if he has planned out his work, which will bring him naturally
to
his degree if properly carried out, and if he is really interested in the
subjects
of his study, he may then forget all about the years that lie ahead,
and
may have a fascinating time. So also on the Path the work is full of
interest
for heart and mind, and he who finds it so will make it shorter in fact
as
well as in appearance than he who cares only for reaching a certain
prescribed
goal.
It
is the same in meditation; some who practise it faithfully feel it to be a
tedious
thing, but do it all the same, for the sake of its results. Others find
it
full of interest, and therefore gain much more from it. Let the candidate not
think
of his own progress on the Path; as so often recommended, let him forget
himself
and work for the world, and his progress will take care of itself.
Self-examination
and self-training are necessary, but that is only like
preparing
and oiling machinery; it should not take much time, the work being the
important
thing.
It
is true that sometimes people find it necessary to force themselves at first
along
certain lines of work and thought, or meditation, which they feel that
they
ought to take up. Very well, go on with the dreary task, if such it appears
to
be, and if the motive is pure, you will soon find that the dreariness
departs,
a new interest arises, and the work becomes full of delight.
The
statement that one single thought about the past can drag the candidate
right
down to earth again should certainly give pause to anyone who proposes to
enter
153
the
Path, and yet is unwilling to give up some pet vice, however trifling. It is
not
the act so much as the thought of it that drags one down. Madame Blavatsky
says,
in The Secret Doctrine:
Purity
of mind is of greater importance than purity of body.
. . An act may be performed to which little
or no attention is
paid,
and it is of comparatively small importance.
But if thought
of, dwelt on in the mind, the effect is a thousand
times greater.
The
thoughts must be kept pure.1
I
recollect a story about Colonel Olcott which illustrates this point. A young
man
who much wanted to live the higher life came to him one day and asked him if
he
must give up smoking. The Colonel replied: " Well, if you can't you must,
but
if
you can you needn't." Certainly strength of will and purity of thought are
of
paramount
importance, and there is no progress without them, no matter how clean
the
body; and the Colonel emphasized the fact very successfully. But it might be
added
also that smoking is a dirty habit; it befouls the bodies, and often
causes
much annoyance and discomfort to others. The worst of its dirty
selfishness
physically is that the smoke is made damp with saliva and then sent
off
to enter other people's lungs. It is a horrible feature of modern life that
we
are often compelled to contact and breathe smoke which has been so treated.
As
to the effect of a thought of a quality belonging to the past, Madame
Blavatsky
also says:
The
student must guard his thoughts. Five minutes' thought may undo the work of
five
years; and though the five years' work will be run through more rapidly the
second
time, yet time is lost.*
1
Op. cit., Vol. III, 5
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.
154
A
distinction must be made here between a thought which is merely a floating
form
which has entered the mind, and thought proper, which is a deliberate act.
It
is the latter that can do so much harm. An unworthy thought may drift into
the
mind, but if it is not dwelt upon, encouraged and strengthened, little harm
is
done.
That
one who falls thus may quickly rise again is encouraging. That old Greek
allegory
in which every time that the hero falls to earth, worsted in the
conflict,
he gains new strength from it, applies to man. Better that he should
win
the battle once and for all without falling; but in any case he is destined
to
triumph ultimately. Much may be learned by the intelligent and willing pupil
without
bitter experience, just as one may learn that fire is hot without
putting
one's hand into it; but all that is necessary will be learnt sooner or
later
in one way or another.
Do
not believe that lust can ever be killed out if gratified or satiated, for
this
is an abomination inspired by Mara. It is by feeding vice that it expands
and
waxes strong, like to the worm that fattens on the blossom's heart.
The
rose must re-become the bud, born of its parent stem, before the parasite
has
eaten through its heart and drunk its life-sap.
The
golden tree puts forth its jewel-buds before its trunk is withered by the
storm.
The
pupil must regain the child-state he has lost ere the first sound can fall
upon
his ear.
155
Sir
Edwin Arnold speaks of Mara, as he is understood by the Buddhists, in
vigorous
and graphic terms, in connection with the temptation of Buddha just
before
His
illumination:
But
he who is the Prince Of Darkness, Mara—knowing this was Buddha Who should
deliver
men, and now the hour When he should find the Truth and save the worlds—
Gave
unto all his evil powers command. Wherefore there trooped from every
deepest
pit The fiends who war with Wisdom and the Light, Arati, Trishna, Raga,
and
their crew Of passions, horrors, ignorances, lusts, The brood of gloom and
dread;
all hating Buddh, Seeking to shake his mind.1
Still,
Madame Blavatsky says: " But Mara is also the unconscious quickener of
the
birth of the Spiritual." The resistance that Mara opposes to the aspirant
enables
him to develop his strength. An athlete might move his arms up and down
much
easier without dumbbells than with them, yet he would not develop the same
strength
so quickly, if at all. That even evil is made use of for good was once
illustrated
by the remark of a very spiritual man who took a high Initiation.
For
some time before it he had been terribly maligned, and the important work on
which
he had set his heart had been spoiled. One day someone offered him a word
of
sympathy, which was quite unnecessary, for he said: "The fact is, I owe a
debt
of gratitude to those people who tried to injure me, though I did not
realize
it at the time; for without their aid I should not yet have taken that
Initiation."
An ordinary man would have been full of anger or of depression, but
in
such a man as this 1 The Light of Asia, Book the Sixth.
1
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Mara
calls out an equal strength only of loving sorrow or compassion. Thus may
even
the greatest enemy become our friend while we are in the way with him.
It
is, of course, not the ignorance but the innocence of childhood that is
requisite
for real spiritual progress. Mere goodness is not progress; it is only
preparatory
purification. Progress is the development of the ego on its own
planes,
which, when shown in the personality, appears as strength of
character—in
will and love and thought. In the three stages of the relation of a
pupil
to his Master, it is the third and highest that contains the idea of
childhood,
for he is first a probationary pupil, then an accepted one, and
thirdly
a Son of the Master.
CHAPTER
12 THE LAST STEPS
The
light from the one Master, the one unfading golden light of Spirit, shoots
its
effulgent beams on the disciple from the very first.
Its
rays thread through the thick, dark clouds of matter.
Now
here, now there, these rays illumine it, like sun-sparks light the earth
through
the thick foliage of the jungle growth. But, O disciple, unless the
flesh
is passive, head cool, the Soul as firm and pure as flaming diamond, the
radiance
will not reach the chamber, its sunlight will not warm the heart, nor
will
the mystic sounds of the akashic heights reach the ear, however eager at
the
initial stage.
C.W.L.—As
the sun is always shining behind the clouds, so is the higher self
constantly
shedding its beams on the aspirant. The flashes of inspiration and
intuition
that come now and again into the darkness of our minds in what we call
our
best moments are derived from that
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high
source. It is a wise policy to try to capture those best moments, to hold
them
in imagination, and to dwell upon them in meditation, and thus to bring the
whole
life into that diamond-like condition that is mentioned in the text.
With
reference to the " mystic sounds of the akashic heights " Madame
Blavatsky
adds
the following footnote:
The
mystic sounds, or the melody, heard by the ascetic at the beginning of his
cycle
of meditation, called Anahatashabda by the Yogis. The Anahata is the
fourth
of the Chakras.
The
fourth centre or chakra is that at the heart. When the consciousness is
centred
in the heart during meditation it is most susceptible to the influence
of
the spiritual soul or higher Self. The heart is the centre in the body for
the
higher triad, atma-buddhi-manas. The head is the seat of the
psycho-intellectual
man; it has its various functions in seven cavities,
including
the pituitary body and the pineal gland. He who in concentration can
take
his consciousness from the brain to the heart should be able to unite
kama-manas
to the higher manas, through the lower manas, which, when pure and
free
from kama, is the antahkarana. He will then be in a position to catch some
of
the promptings of the higher triad. That higher consciousness tries to guide
him,
through the conscience; he cannot guide it until he is one with
buddhi-manas.
The foregoing explanation is condensed from notes on some oral
teachings
1
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of
Madame Blavatsky, appended to the third volume of The Secret Doctrine.1
Indian
tradition on the subject says that when kundalini rises she dissolves the
qualities
of the various chakras through which she passes and carries their
essence
upwards. When she reaches the fourth, the heart chakra, the yogi hears
the
sound from above, called anahata-shabda. Shabda is sound; an-ahata means*'
not
beaten "; so it is—that sound which is made without beating things
together.
The
term is therefore symbolical of that which is above the planes of
personality.
The practitioner's touch with the higher triad begins at this
point.
Those who want to increase the contact between the higher and lower manas
should
not dwell in meditation on anything below it. The following meditation,
translated
from the Gheranda Samhita, is one of those prescribed for the heart
centre.
It illustrates the way in which the yogi gradually withdraws his
attention
from his surroundings and concentrates it upon his Ideal.
Let
him find in his heart a broad ocean of nectar,
Within
it a beautiful island of gems, Where the sands are bright golden and
sprinkled
with jewels,
Fair
trees line its shores with a myriad of blooms, And within it rare bushes,
trees,
creepers and rushes,
On
all sides shed fragrance most sweet to the sense.
Who
would taste of the sweetness of divine completeness Should picture therein a
most
wonderful tree,
On
whose far-spreading branches grow fruit of all fancies— The four mighty
Teachings
that hold up the world,
There
the fruit and the flowers know no death and no sorrows, While to them the
bees
hum and soft cuckoos sing.
1
Op. cit., Vol. III, pp. 5
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-4.
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Now,
under the shadow of that peaceful arbour
A
temple of rubies most radiant is seen, And he who shall seek there will find
on
a seat rare,
His
dearly Beloved, enshrined therein, Let him dwell with his mind, as his
Teacher
defines,
On
that Divine Form, with His modes and His signs.1
Unless
thou hear'st thou canst not see. Unless thou seest, thou canst not hear.
To
hear and see, this is the second stage.
We
have already considered the significance of seeing and hearing.2 Unless the
candidate
is responsive to the inner voice, that is, unless he understands
spiritual
laws, he will never see the outer things as they are. He must learn to
look
at the things of matter with the eyes of the spirit, as a Master once
expressed
it. When he sees the material or outward things in that way, he will
more
and more understand the inner voice. This is like the alternation which is
necessary
between meditation and experience. To go through life in a busy way,
without
stopping to meditate upon it, is to miss much of the significance of its
events;
one should spare a little time each day to let the inner light play upon
them.
On the other hand, to shut oneself in one's study and give one's whole
time
to thought would yield little profit; in that wav a man would acquire
endless
misconceptions, for experience is required to correct and enlarge our
meditation.
It is the balanced interplay of the inner and the outer that the
pupil
must seek. He must aim to be
1
See Concentration, Ch. x. 2 Ante, p.
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161
harmonized—to
use the expression repeated again and again in the Gita.
The
inner and outer worlds correspond perfectly to one another, point for point
in
God's system. Says Madame Blavatsky in The Secret Doctrine:
In
the realm of hidden forces, an audible sound is but a subjective colour, and
a
perceptible colour, but an inaudible sound.1
Colour
is spoken of here, not form; it makes the statement more accurate, for we
really
see only colours, not forms.
It
is impossible to say with any certainty why this state of hearing and seeing
harmonized
together is called the second stage; We cannot tell what system of
stages
Aryasanga was expounding, for a veil is drawn over his instructions at
this
point. The line of stops marks a missing portion dealing with the third
stage.
When the teaching emerges again (after this hiatus) we find Aryasanga
dealing
with later stages exactly as the Toga Sutras give them, namely (5)
pratyahara,
entire control of the senses, (6) dharana, concentration, (7)
dhyana,
meditation, and (8) samadhi, contemplation.
When
the disciple sees and hears, and when he smells and tastes, eyes closed,
ears
shut, with mouth and nostrils stopped; when the four senses blend and ready
are
to pass into the fifth, that of the inner touch—then into stage the fourth
he
hath passed on.
1
Of. cit, Vol. III, p. 508.
162
There
are some yogis who do literally stop the mouth and nose when going into
meditation
or trance. The fingers are so placed as to keep the eyes, the
nostrils
and the mouth closed, and these men have also trained the tongue so
that
they can turn it upwards and backwards into the cavity above the mouth, and
thus
prevent the inlet of air. This is called khechari mudra, as practised by
certain
hatha yogis. It is not done by the raja yogis, and is not recommended
here.
There is a stage at which the pupil can close his eyes and reproduce
within
himself or experience in the astro-mental region the sensations of smell,
taste,
sight and touch. Now, in order to withdraw himself to a still higher
state
he must attend to the inner touch, which is hearing. By giving his
attention
to the sound within, and tracing it into its finer and finer recesses,
he
brings himself to the point where he may practise pratyahara, the restraint
of
all sensation, the inner as well as the outer, that of the hall of learning
as
well as that of the hall of ignorance. This practice is described in the next
verse:
And
in the fifth, O slayer of thy thoughts, all these again have to be killed
beyond
re-animation.
The
attention is quite commonly withdrawn to a large extent by most people when,
for
example, they are especially interested in a book; they do not then respond
to
the impressions made upon the senses by the various odours, sights and sounds
surrounding
them. To put oneself into that condition at will is pratyahara, and
it
is a preparation for really successful meditation. The
163
killing
beyond re-animation means nothing more than that the senses, like good
dogs,
will lie down when told to do so, and will not get up again until they are
called.
There is a foot-note at this point, as follows:
This
means that in the sixth stage of development which in the occult system, is
Dharana,
every sense as an individual faculty has to be " killed " (or
paralysed)
on this plane, passing into and merging with the seventh sense, the
most
spiritual.
Dharana
is the sixth step of yoga, as given in the Toga Sutras. It is that
concentration
of mind which we have already studied,1 and it follows upon
pratyahara.
Since mind or chitta is regarded as a sixth sense, when dharana is
complete
and that mind thereby ceases to function in relation to the things of
the
external world, intuition, here called the seventh sense, arises. Life
teaches
us in two ways, by tuition that the world gives us, and by intuition,
the
working of the inner self. As men proceed on their evolutionary pilgrimage,
their
intuition increases and they do not depend so much as before on the
instruction
that the world gives. This is only another way of saying that the
man
who uses his inner powers can learn much more from a little experience than
other
men can from a great deal. Because of the activity "of his innate
intelligence
the developed man is able to see the great significance of even
small
things; but the undeveloped mind is full of curiosity. It is constantly
eager
for novelty, because, not being
1
Ante, p. 40.
164
good
at thinking, it soon exhausts the obvious significance of common place
things.
This mind is the one that craves miracles in connection with its
religious
experiences as it is blind to the countless miracles that surround it
all
the time.
Withhold
thy mind from all external objects, all external sights. Withhold
internal
images, lest on thy Soul-light a dark shadow they should cast.
Thou
art now in Dharana, the sixth stage.
In
the practice of concentration it is always necessary to consider both the
external
and the internal sources of interruption. One must prevent the mind
from
taking an interest in any external thing, for if this is not done, the
slightest
sound will awaken its curiosity and spoil the concentration. Also one
must
stop the mind from bringing up within itself images relating to the past or
the
future; during the practice one must be completely uninterested in what
happened
yesterday or what is likely to happen to-morrow. When this
concentration
has been successfully achieved, the next and seventh stage of
practice
begins, which is called dhyana, that: is, meditation.
When
thou hast passed into the seventh, O happy one, thou shalt perceive no more
the
sacred Three, for thou shalt have become that Three thyself. Thyself and
mind,
like twins upon a line, the star which is thy goal burns overhead. The
Three
that dwell in glory and in bliss ineffable, now in the world of Maya have
lost
their names.
165
They
have become one star, the fire which is the Upadhi of the flame.
And
this, O Yogi of success, is what men call Dhyana, the right precursor of
Samadhi.
Passing
from dharana to dhyana, from concentration to meditation, the aspirant
on
this Path enters the buddhic consciousness. That is then " thyself".
The mind
here
spoken of is the higher manas, for the lower manas has been silenced. The
manasic
principle has been raised into that of buddhi, so the two are like "
twins
upon a line ", the two lower corners of a triangle, as is indicated by the
following
footnote:
Every
stage of development in Raja Yoga is symbolized by a geometrical figure.
This
one is the sacred triangle and precedes Dharana. The A is the sign of the
high
chelas, while another kind of triangle is that of high Initiates. It is the
symbol
" I " discoursed upon by Buddha and used by Him as a symbol of the
embodied
form of Tathagata when released from the three methods of the Prajna.
Once
the preliminary and lower stages passed, the disciple sees no more the A
but
the—, the abbreviation of the—, the full septenary. Its true form is not
given
here, as it is almost sure to be pounced upon by some charlatans and
desecrated
in its use for fraudulent purposes.
The
star that burns overhead is the atma. But it refers also, as Madame
Blavatsky
says in another footnote, to the star of Initiation, which shines over
the
head
166
of
the Initiate. As the object to be attained is the Fourth Initiation, that of
the
Arhat, it is the star of that Initiation, which leads to the atmic or
nirvanic
plane, that is his goal.
At
this stage, instead of looking upwards in thought, and regarding the higher
triad
(atma-buddhi-manas) as above oneself, as was the case heretofore, one
finds
oneself to be in the buddhic state, manas being united with buddhi as
manas-taijasi.
The " meditation" of the Initiate at this stage will ultimately
lead
on to a further union of buddhi and atma. Upon the attainment of that union
the
higher triad will have become one star, described in a foot-note as " the
basis,
Upadhi, of the ever unreachable flame, so long as the ascetic is still in
this
life ". The fuel is the personality; the fire is this triple spirit; the
flame
is the Monad. Even the Adept, while remaining in physical incarnation,
does
not enter fully into the state of the Monad. Says Madame Blavatsky:
Dhyana
is the last stage before the final on this earth unless one becomes a
full
Mahatma. As said already, in this state the Raja Yogi is yet spiritually
conscious
of self, and the working of his higher principles. One step more, and
he
will be on the plane beyond the seventh, the fourth according to some
schools.
These, after the practice of Pratyahara—a preliminary training, in
order
to control one's mind and thoughts—count Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, and
embrace
the three under the generic name of Sannyama. Samadhi is
1
-------
the
state in which the ascetic loses the consciousness of every individuality,
including
his own. He becomes the All.
It
is significant that the three should lose their names. They are not forms,
for
their region is that of consciousness. The lower planes of the personality
are
planes of form; then come the planes of name or " meaning ", but the
Monad
is
beyond name, beyond what men call consciousness.
The
text goes on to indicate that, having attained to the practice of samadhi,
the
aspirant has now become an Arhat, and has reached the goal of the endeavour
discussed
in this Fragment.
CHAPTER
13 THE GOAL
And
now thyself is lost in Self, thyself onto Thyself, merged in that Self from
which
thou first didst radiate.
Where
is thy individuality, Lanoo, where the Lanoo himself? It is the spark lost
in
the fire, the drop within the ocean, the ever-present ray become the All and
the
eternal radiance.
And
now, Lanoo, thou art the doer and the witness, the radiator and the
radiation,
light in the sound, and the sound in the light.
C.W.L.—As
a man rises in life to a realization that the personality is merely
"it",
and thus raises his centre of consciousness to the higher Self, so there
comes
the time when he discovers as a fact of experience that that consciousness
is
only "you", not "I".1 When that comes about, at or about
the Fourth
Initiation,
the lower self becomes lost in the true Self, and what the man has
thought
or felt to be his individuality goes. And just as he who has achieved
the
buddhic state recognizes and accepts the Consciousness of others as
1
See ante, pp.
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.
1
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his
own, and feels their joys and sorrows as his own; so now does this man find
only
one true " I " in all.
The
distinction between the realization obtained by the initiate of lower
degree,
and that of the Arhat, between the consciousness of the buddhic plane
and
that of the atmic, has been given in the Bhagavad-Gita. In the former state
the
man sees the same Self equally dwelling in all beings; in the latter he sees
that
all are in the one Self.
This,
according to Toga Sutras, is the state of kaivalya, of " oneness ",
of
freedom,
on the full attainment of which the distinction between seer and seen,
between
subject and object, is destroyed.
Thou
art acquainted with the five impediments, O blessed one. Thou art their
conqueror,
the master of the sixth, deliverer of the four modes of truth.
The
light that falls upon them shines from thyself, O thou who wast disciple,
but
art Teacher now.
And
of these modes of truth:
Hast
thou not passed through knowledge of all misery—truth the first?
Hast
thou not conquered the Maras' king at Tu, the portal of assembling—truth
the
second?
Hast
thou not sin at the third gate destroyed, and truth the third attained?
Hast
thou not entered Tau, the path that leads to knowledge—the fourth truth?
1
-------
Madame
Blavatsky adds:
The
four modes of truth are, in Northern Buddhism: Eu, suffering or misery; Tu,
the
assembling of temptations; Mu, their destructions; and Tau, the Path. The
"
five
impediments " are the knowledge of misery, truth about human frailty,
oppressive
restraints, and the absolute necessity of separation from all the
ties
of passion, and even of desires. The " Path of salvation " is the
last one.
There
are the Four Noble Truths taught to the world by the Lord Buddha. These
were
Sorrow, Sorrow's Cause, Sorrow's Ceasing and the Way. These have been put
before
the Western world with wonderful beauty and accuracy in Sir Edwin
quoted.
But all who seek inspiration on the Path should not fail to read the
whole
work.
Ye
that will tread the
Quiet
smoothes;
Ye
who will take the high Nirvana-way, List the Four Noble Truths.
The
First Truth is of Sorrow. Be not
mocked!
Life
which ye prize is long-drawn agony: Only its pains abide; its pleasures are
As
birds which light and fly.
Ache
of the birth, ache of the helpless days,
Ache
of hot youth and ache of manhood's prime:
Ache
of the chill grey years and choking death, These fill your piteous time.
Sweet
is fond Love, but funeral-flames must kiss
The
breasts which pillow and the lips which cling
Gallant
is warlike Might, but vultures pick The joints of chief and King.
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Beauteous
is Earth, but all its forest-broods Plot mutual slaughter, hungering
to
liv^;
Of
sapphire are the skies, but when men cry Famished, no drops they give.
Ask
of the sick, the mourners, ask of him
Who
tottereth on his staff, lone and forlorn,
"
Liketh thee life? "—these say the babe is wise That weepeth, being born.
The
Second Truth is Sorrow's Cause. What
grief Springs of itself and springs
not
of Desire?
Senses
and things perceived mingle and light Passion's quick spark of fire:
So
flameth Trishna, lust and thirst of things.
Eager
ye cleave to shadows, dote on dreams; A false Self in the midst ye plant,
and
make
A
world around which seems;
Blind
to the heights beyond, deaf of the sound
Of
sweet airs breathed from far past Indra's sky;
Dumb
to the summons of the true life kept For him who false puts by.
So
grow the strifes and lusts which make earth's war, So grieve poor cheated
hearts
and flow salt tears:
So
wax the passions, envies, angers, hates; So years chase blood-stained years
With
wild ted feet. So, where the grain
should grow
Spreads
the biran-weed with its evil root And poisonous blossoms; hardly good
seeds
find
Soil
where to fall and shoot;
And,
drugged with poisonous drink, the soul departs, And, fierce with thirst to
drink,
Karma returns;
Sense-struck
again the sodden Self begins, And new deceits it earns.
The
Third is Sorrow's Ceasing. This is
peace
To
conquer love of self and lust of life, To tear deep-rooted passion from the
breast,
To
still the inward strife;
For
love to clasp Eternal Beauty close;
For
glory to be Lord of self; for pleasure To live beyond the gods; for
countless
wealth
To
lay up lasting treasure
.
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Of
perfect service rendered, duties done
In
charity, soft speech, and stainless days: These riches shall not fade away in
life,
Nor any death dispraise.
Then
Sorrow ends, for Life and Death have ceased How should lamps flicker when
their
oil is spent?
The
old sad count is clear, the new is clean; Thus hath a man content.
The
Fourth Truth is The Way. It openeth
wide Plain for all feet to tread,
easy
and near,
The
Noble Eightfold Path; it goeth straight To peace and refuge. Hear!
Manifold
tracks lead to yon sister-peaks
Around
whose snows the gilded clouds are curled;
By
steep or gentle slopes the climber comes Where breaks that other world.
Strong
limbs may dare the rugged road which storms, Soaring and perilous, the
mountain's
breast;
The
weak must wind from slower ledge to ledge, With many a place of rest.
So
is the Eightfold Path which brings to peace;
By
lower or by upper heights it goes. The firm soul hastes, the feeble
tarries.
All
Will
reach the sunlit snows.1
The
five impediments in the way of the candidate for Arhatship may be taken in
various
forms. They are the five mentioned by Madame Blavatsky in the footnote
just
quoted, or they are the first five fetters, or they are the five kleshas
mentioned
in the Toga Sutras, and already discussed.2
And
now, rest 'neath the Bodhi tree, which is perfection of all knowledge, for,
know,
thou art the master of Samadhi—the state of faultless vision.
1
Op. cit., Book the Eighth. 2 Ante, pp. 49-52.
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Bebold!
thou hast become the light, thou hast become the sound, thou art thy
Master
and thy God. Thou art thyself the object of thy search: the voice
unbroken,
that resounds throughout eternities, exempt from change, the seven
sounds
in one, the Voice of the Silence.
Aura
Tat Sat.
The
termination Aum Tat Sat is one of the Maha-vakyams or " great
sayings" of
the
Hindus. The meaning of Aum we have already considered.1 Tat refers to the
Supreme.
Philosophically, the pronouns he and she are unsuitable to refer to the
Supreme,
so Tat, meaning "That", is employed. Beyond "it" and
"you" is That,
which
is "I". So the expression means that it is That which is the Red. All
good
works
begin and end with this thought.
1
Ante, pp.
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-5.
FRAGMENT
II THE TWO PATHS
CHAPTER
1 THE OPEN GATE
C.W.L.—We
come now to the second Fragment which Madame Blavatsky translated from
The
Book of the Golden Precepts—entitled The Two Paths. This is not necessarily
a
continuation of the first Fragment, called The Voice of the Silence, although
it
does begin by addressing one who has just reached the goal of Arhatship.
There
is nothing to show that the three Fragments stand in any special relation
to
one another. They are to all intents and purposes three separate books
dealing
in much the same manner with the same subject. It is, however, a great
advantage
to the aspirant to hear the teaching about the Path again and again in
slightly
different forms. It renews his enthusiasm, draws attention to points
which
he may have overlooked, and generally gives him breadth of vision.
The
present Fragment begins by addressing one who has just achieved the summit
of
the Path, and the question arises: Will he go onwards into nirvanic bliss,
heedless
of those who remain behind, or will he turn back at the threshold and
help
others who are climbing; will he take liberation for himself, or will he
stay
to help the world ?
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And
now, O Teacher of compassion, point Thou the way to other men. Behold all
those
who, knocking for admission, await in ignorance and darkness to see the
gate
of the sweet Law flung open!
The
voice of the candidates:
Shalt
not Thou, Master of Thine own mercy, reveal the doctrine of the heart?
Shalt
Thou refuse to lead Thy servants unto the Path of liberation?
The
opening paragraph of this Fragment may at first seem a little strange to us
in
these modern days. We are familiar with the thought that the Path is open to
anyone
anywhere, regardless of race, creed, sex, caste or colour, who lives the
life
that is prescribed for it. Why, then, should any people be waiting in
darkness
and ignorance for a gate to be flung open for them?
The
fact is that at the time when the Lord Buddha taught in India, the religion
of
the Brahmanas had become very rigid. Originally, that faith had been
intensely
joyous and free, but in course of time 'the caste system had been
extended
by the priests and rulers to all kinds of details. The plains of India
were
thickly populated with Atlanteans and Atlanto-Lemurians when the Aryans
descended
into the country about ten thousand years B.C. So the Manu found it
necessary
to forbid intermarriage, and about 8,000 B.C. he ordained the caste
system
in order that no further admixture might be made, and that those already
made
might be perpetuated He founded at first only three castes—
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Brahmana,
Rajan and Vish. The first were pure Aryans, the second Aryan and
Toltec,
the third Aryan and Mongolian.
The
castes were hence called the Varnas, or colours— the pure Aryans white, the
Aryan
and Toltec intermixture red, and the Aryan and Mongolian yellow. The
castes
were allowed to intermarry among themselves, but a feeling quickly grew
up
that marriages should be restricted within the caste. Later, those who were
not
Aryan at all were included under the general appellation of Shudras, but
even
here in many cases a certain small amount of Aryan blood may appear. Many
of
the hill tribes are partly Aryan—some few are wholly so, like the Siaposh
people
and the Gipsy tribes.
There
are passages in the Hindu scriptures to show that it was possible for
individuals
of exceptional character and ability to be raised in caste rank, but
it
must have been a very rare occurrence, and certainly for some time before the
advent
of the Lord Buddha it had been generally held that only a Brahmana could
hope
for liberation, and anyone who wished to reach that goal must first
contrive
to be born as a Brahmana. This was not a very hopeful doctrine for the
majority
of the people, since the Brahmanas were never numerous and they did not
allow
the lower caste people to study the sacred books.
But
the Buddha's teaching flung the gates wide open. He taught that equal
respect
should be shown to one of any caste who lived the life, and conversely
that
a Brahmana who does not live the life was not worthy
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of
respect, as in the following verse from
the Vasala-Sutta:
Not
by birth does one become low caste, Not by birth does one become a Brahmana;
By
actions alone one becomes low caste, By his actions alone one becomes a
Brahmana.
Many
Brahmanas have told me that they actually feel the truth of this in
practical
life; they find themselves more drawn to those of lower castes who
live
the ideals of the Brahmana life than to members of their own caste who
neglect
its ideals and live at a lower standard.
The
aim of the Lord Buddha was not to found a new religion, but to reform
Hinduism.
For a time almost all India called itself Buddhist. There were
Buddhist
Hindus just as at present in the north-west there are many who call
themselves
Sikh Hindus. Buddhism as a religion has long vanished from India. But
the
effect that the Lord Buddha desired to produce still remains to a large
extent
in the Hindu religion of the present day. As an instance of this one may
mention
the effect upon animal sacrifices, against which the Buddha spoke very
strongly;
they were very common before his time, but now they are quite rare.
Again,
in India to-day every holy man is regarded with reverence by all,
whatever
may have been his caste before he became a sannyasi. And people all
over
the country respect the Bhagavad-Gita as of the highest authority, yet it
is
a book of the most liberal character. In it the Lord says:
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The
same am I to all beings; there is none hateful to me nor dear. They verily
who
worship me with devotion, they are in me, and I also in them. Even if the
most
sinful worship me, with undivided heart, he too must be accounted
righteous,
for he hath rightly resolved; speedily he becometh dutiful and goeth
to
eternal peace, O Kaunteya; know thou for certain that my devotee perisheth
never.
They who take refuge with me, O Partha, though of the womb of sin, women,
Vaishyas,
even Shudras, they also tread the highest path.1
It
must not be assumed that Shri Krishna is here placing women and others on a
lower
level, but that he is refuting a number of popular superstitions, among
them
the idea that those who are in female bodies are necessarily inferior and
so
cannot succeed in high spiritual aims.
Madame
Blavatsky explains in a footnote that there are two Schools of the
Buddha's
doctrine, the esoteric and the exoteric, respectively called the "
heart"
and the " eye " doctrine, and that the former emanated from the
Buddha's
heart
while the latter was the work of his brain or head. Another interpretation
that
was given to me relates the terms to the eye and heart of the candidate:
the
scheme of things may be learnt by the eye, but the higher path can be
entered
only when the heart is in tune with the inner life.
The
whole passage is based upon an alleged hesitation on the part of the Buddha
as
to whether he should preach. It is said that as he sat under the Bodhi tree
on
the morning following his Illumination, he doubted whether the world would
understand
and follow him, until he heard a voice as of the earth in pain, which
1
Op. cit., ix, 29-32.
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cried:
" Surely I am lost; I and my creatures! " And then, again: "Oh,
Supreme,
let
Thy great Law be uttered!"1
Quoth
the Teacher:
The
paths are two; the great perfections three; six are the virtues that
transform
the body into the tree of knowledge.
To
this Madame Blavatsky adds the following footnote:
The
tree of knowledge is a title given by the followers of the Bodhidharma
(Wisdom
Religion) to those who have attained the height of mystic
knowledge—Adepts.
Nagarjuna, the founder of the Madhyamika School, was called
the
dragon-tree, the dragon standing as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. The
tree
is honoured because it is under the Bodhi (wisdom) tree that Buddha
received
His birth and enlightenment, preached His first sermon, and died.
Swami
T. Subba Row had a somewhat different interpretation of this symbol of a
tree.
He said that the body of the candidate had become a channel of knowledge
(and
we may add of force as well), so that it was one of the twigs on the Tree
which
is the total wisdom of the world. We may add, too, the idea that the
Initiate
is part of the great tree that is the Hierarchy, the Great White
Brotherhood,
that has its roots far up in the
1
The Light of Asia, Book the Seventh.
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higher
planes, and whose branches ramify into every part of human life, and even
down
to the lower kingdoms. Those who have read the later chapters of The
Masters
and The Path will appreciate this ancient symbol of a tree, for there it
is
shown how the Occult Hierarchy branches outward from one great Root.
In
this statement about the two paths, the three great perfections, and the six
virtues,
we have an instance of the methodical character of the Buddha's
teaching.
He always helped his followers to remember his teaching by giving it
to
them in a tabular form. There were, for example, the Four Noble Truths, each
represented
by a single word which would call to recollection a quite definite
set
of ideas. There were also the Noble Eightfold Path, the Ten Sins, classed as
three
of the body, four of speech and three of the mind, and the Twelve Nidanas,
or
successive causes of material life and sorrow for man.
The
transcendental virtues, or Paramitas, are sometimes reckoned as six,
sometimes
seven, but more commonly as ten. When in Ceylon.; I learned of them as
ten
from the High Priest Sumangala: the first six, he said, are perfect charity,
perfect
morality, perfect truth, perfect energy, perfect kindness, and perfect
wisdom;
the other four that are sometimes added especially for the priests are
perfect
patience, perfect resignation, perfect resolution, and perfect
abnegation.
In the Awakening of Faith of Ashvagosha, translated into English by
Teitaro
Suzuki, the Paramitas are thus enumerated: Charity (dana), morality
(sila),
patience (ksanti), energy (virya), meditation (dhyana), wisdom (prajna),
and
the four additional
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ones:
expediency (upaya), prayer or vow (pranidhana), strength (bala), knowledge
(jnana).
In the footnote to the Voice of the Silence, 1
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4 edition, a list taken
from
Eitel's Chinese Buddhism is given thus: charity, morality, patience,
energy,
contemplation and wisdom; and in addition for the priests: use of right
means,
science, pious vows, and force of purpose.
When
in Ceylon I compared the statements of Orientalists with the feelings and
thoughts
of the Buddhists themselves. There is a great difference between the
two,
for the former are generally very wooden, but the latter are full of life.
Yet
the learned monks have an accuracy of knowledge at least equal to that of
the
most erudite Orientalists. Sir Edwin Arnold, in his Light of Asia, has given
a
very remarkably accurate representation of the living side of Buddhism. Some
have
said that he read Christian ideas and feelings into Buddhism, but that was
not
so in the least; I can testify that the sentiments described in the poem
really
exist among the Buddhist people.
Who
shall approach them?
Who
shall first enter them?
Who
shall first hear the doctrine of two paths in one, the truth unveiled about
the
Secret Heart? The law which, shunning learning, teaches wisdom, reveals a
tale
of woe.
Alas,
alas, that all men should possess Alaya, be one with the great Soul, and
that,
possessing it, Alaya should so little avail them!
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Behold
how, like the moon reflected in the tranquil waves, Alaya is reflected by
the
small and the great, is mirrored in the tiniest atoms, yet fails to reach
the
heart of all. Alas, that so few men should profit by the gift, the priceless
boon
of learning truth, the right perception of existing things, the knowledge
of
the non-existent!
The
Secret Heart is the esoteric doctrine. It is a symbol that comes down to us
from
Atlantean days. In the innermost shrine of the great temple in the City of
the
Golden Gate there lay upon the altar a massive golden box in the shape of a
heart,
the secret opening of which was known only to the high priest. This was
called
" the Heart of the World", and signified to them the innermost
mysteries
that
they knew. In it they kept their most sacred objects, and much of their
symbolism
centred around it. They knew that every atom beats as a heart, and
they
considered that the sun had a similar movement, which they connected with
the
sun-spot period. Sometimes one comes across passages in their books which
give
the impression that they knew more than we do in matters of science, though
they
regarded it all from the poetic rather than from the scientific point of
view.
They thought, for example, that the earth breathes and moves, and it is
certainly
true that quite recently scientific men have discovered that there is
a
regular daily displacement of the earth's surface which may be thought of as
corresponding
in a certain way to breathing.
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When
Aryasanga uses the term " secret heart " he also means all the inner
mysteries.
Madame Blavatsky's footnote says:
The
Secret Heart is the esoteric doctrine.
Here
the Teacher by " shunning learning " certainly means that there are
times
when
we must turn our attention away from the mere gaining of knowledge from the
outside
through the senses, that we may give time to the development of the
inner
learning through intuition. We cannot be wise without having sufficient
learning
or knowledge with regard to the things that we have to deal with in the
world,
in our particular sphere of duty; but on the other hand we should be much
in
error if we thought that the greatest thing in life was to accumulate great
stores
of knowledge, or were even to imagine that such knowledge had intrinsic
value,
apart from the use that we can make of it in the service of mankind.
In
the West there is a tendency to approach things and study them from the
outside,
while the Eastern method is rather to consider them from within. Both
methods
are necessary at our present state of evolution. When the buddhic
vehicle
is developed, and intuition comes down into the physical brain from that
level,
it will give us true wisdom, perfect knowledge, but in very few people is
it
yet sufficiently developed.
Even
if we are able to keep our heads among the clouds, it is necessary that our
feet
should rest firmly on the earth, and we must treat impressions coming from
within
with balanced judgment, just as we apply
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common
sense to the experiences of everyday life. This is necessary, because it
is
quite easy to mistake impulses, coining from the astral body, for intuitions
which
come from the higher Self. Sometimes it happens, for example, that a dead
person
seeing that we are interested in some particular point, offers a
suggestion
on the astral plane, and this may come down into the brain and seem
like
intuition. Yet, as a matter of fact, that dead person may be a very
incompetent
observer on the astral plane, and may therefore be giving quite
wrong
information.
This
advice to shun learning is useful not only to those who are on the Path,
but
also to every one who is at all studious, if we take it to mean, as it does,
that
we should avoid mere learning. A great amount of study of the mere outside
of
things often leads to materialism. Because they see around them great
cataclysms,
sacrifice, oppression, sorrow and suffering, and a vast amount of
praying
to which no answer seems to be vouchsafed, many people come to think
that
conflict and struggle is the law of life, that nature is not compassionate.
But
to study the world as fully as possible, all the time regarding it as a
great
school for the life dwelling in its multifarious forms, leads to wisdom,
which
enables one to see that all things are moving together for good. When one
develops
astral and higher forms of vision this fact that all is well is no
longer
a matter to be understood by careful reasoning; it leaps to the eyes. No
one
with such vision could be a materialist.
The
word Alaya means simply a dwelling or house. Esoterically, Madame Blavatsky
says,
it has at least a
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double
meaning, as being both the universal soul, and the Self of an advanced
Adept.
It is the real dwelling or home of man, the universal aspect of that
which
is buddhi in the spiritual triad in man. It is the male or positive aspect
of
the universal soul, the Logos. It is the Over-soul of Emerson, the universal
Higher
Self of all beings. It is what Plato called Nous, a principle free from
matter
yet acting with design, the jivatma of the Hindus, the source of the
divine
creative thought. In other words it is in the Second Logos, the universal
spiritual
soul, of which the buddhi in each man is a ray. That one should have''
knowledge
of the non-existent'' must certainly look strange to those who do not
know
the exact philosophical meaning of the last word. To exist means to stand
outside
of, to have external or objective being. The kind of being that is
called
exist' ence belongs to all the world that is seen as outside ourselves,
but
the indwelling life or consciousness has its own state of being—call it "
istence
" if you like, but not " existence ". Nothing could be more real
than
the
reality of this conscious life, which we also possess because we are part of
the
same Logos—'and that is the " non-existent " of which the aspirant
must gain
knowledge.
Every man is essentially divine; but to realize it he must stand out
of
his own light—then there will be no shadow, no illusion.
CHAPTER
2 HEAD-LEARNING AND SOUL-WISDOM
Saith
the pupil:
O
Teacher, what shall I do to reach to wisdom?
0
wise one, what, to gain perfection?
Search
for the paths. But, O Lanoo, be of clean heart before thou startest on
thy
journey. Before thou takest thy first step, learn to discern the real from
the
false, the ever-fleeting from the everlasting. Learn above all to separate
head-learning
from Soul-wisdom, the " eye " from the " heart " doctrine.
C.W.L.—-There
is nothing that can be said here on the subject of the real and
the
unreal that has not already been dealt with at length in the comment on "
From
the unreal lead me to the real " in At the Feet of the Master.1
Yea,
ignorance is like unto a closed and airless vessel; the Soul a bird shut up
within.
It warbles not, nor can it stir a feather; but the songster mute and
torpid
sits, and of exhaustion dies.
1
Talks on Path of Occultism, Vol. I, Ch. IV.
190
But
even ignorance is better than head-learning with no Soul-wisdom to
illuminate
and guide it.
No
occult progress at all is possible for a man while he is extremely ignorant,
however
much he may be developed in other ways. Without some knowedge of the
Truth,
and of the Path, he will not move in a definite direction. Most people
have
very little knowledge of what it means to be really a man, what are the
qualities
and actions which make for progress and what for retrogression, and
they
have 110 conception of the great destiny to which all are slowly moving.
Therefore
their progress is very, very slow. We have investigated clairvoyantly
as
many as a hundred successive lives of some second class pitris, or men of the
second
grade, and find scarcely any perceptible growth at the end of that
series.
There
is, however, a steady though slow evolution of the whole mass of life
going
on all the time, and the man has shared in this general progress.
Absolutely
he has gone forward, but relatively he has done little. Mr. Sinnett
compared
this advance to that of a person going round and round a tower by a
winding
staircase; he comes to the same position and outlook again and again,
but
every time just a little bit higher than before. It would seem almost as
though
men were being treated a little better than they deserve, for we see that
even
the ignorant man, whose thoughts are selfish in nine cases out of ten, is
advancing
in this way. But the fact is that even a little force directed towards
the
higher things
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is
far more potent than a great deal of force turned towards the lower things.
If
one tenth of a man's thoughts are spiritual he is beyond the average; even in
such
a case the man is taking nine steps backward for one step .forward, but
fortunately
the nine steps backward are very short and the one step forward is
very
long. It takes a bad life to balance good and evil, and to fall back a man
must
be exceptionally bad. Then again, the effect of a little good is very far
reaching
on account of the close association that obtains among men, and he who
sets
it going receives much good karma.
But
if ignorance is a great obstacle to progress, knowledge that is not applied
is
little better; it also does not count for very much. Even if a man is
interested
in occult matters he may stay apparently at the same level life after
life;
for if it is not applied the knowledge does little good. To put knowledge
into
practice is an absolutely necessary condition for rapid progress.
The
seeds of wisdom cannot sprout and grow in airless space. To live and reap
experience,
the mind needs breadth and depth and points to draw it towards the
Diamond
Soul. Seek not those points in Maya's realm; but soar beyond illusion,
search
the eternal and the changeless Sat, mistrusting fancy's false
suggestions.
In
her footnote, Madame Blavatsky says that the Diamond Soul, Vajrasattva, is a
title
of the supreme Buddha, the Lord of all mysteries, called Vajradhara and
Adi-Buddha.
In The Secret Doctrine, however.
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she
points out the distinction between Vajrasattva and Vajradhara. Vajra is a
diamond;
sattva in such a connection as this means " by nature", that is, a
character
or soul, so Vajrasattva is one whose nature or character is like a
diamond.
Dhara means holding or bearing, so Vajradhara is one who holds a
diamond.
Avalokiteshvara, " the Lord who is seen", is Vajrasattva, the
Diamond-Soul
or Diamond-Heart, and is the synthetic reality of all the
Dhyani-Buddhas.
The First Logos is Vajradhara or Vajrapani, the Diamond-Holder,
or
the Diamond-Handed One, also called Dorjechang in Tibetan. He is the one
beyond
all conditioning or manifestation, but He sends into the world of
subjective
manifestation, the expression of His Heart—Vajrasattva or Dorjesempa,
the
Second Logos.1
That
there should be special points required to draw the candidate into full
touch
with That is analogous to what we have seen in the process of
individualization
of an animal. In this case, the points are the finer qualities
that
it develops, such as affection and devotion, by means of which it reaches
up
into the human condition of consciousness. The mind of man must also put out
special
points in order that it may unite with the Soul, and for the Initiate
those
points must rise up into buddhi, which is the principle in the
reincarnating
self corresponding to the Vajrasattva at a still higher level.
Swami T. Subba Row said that it referred to the
atma drawing the ego into the
Monad.
The same simile can thus be employed at many different levels. 1 See
Ante,
pp.
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-4.
HEAD-LEARNING AND
SOUL-WISDOM 1
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For
mind is like a mirror; it gathers dost while it reflects.
This,
says Madame Blavatsky, is from the doctrine of Shin-Sien, who taught that
the
human mind is like a mirror which attracts and reflects every atom of dust,
and
has to be, like that mirror, watched over and dusted every day. Shin-Sien
was
the sixth patriarch of North China, who taught the esoteric doctrine of
Bodhidharma.
In The Secret Doctrine she explains the position of Bodhidharma, as
follows:
When
the misuse of dogmatical orthodox Buddhist Scriptures had reached its
climax,
and the true spirit of the Buddha's philosophy was nearly lost, several
reformers
appeared from India, who established an oral teaching. Such were
Bodhidharma
and Nagarjuna, the authors of the most important works of the
Contemplative
School in China during the first centuries of our era.1
The
dust on the mirror typifies the prejudices, illusions and fancies which are
in
the astral and mental bodies; these are clearly visible to the sight of the
respective
planes as decided obstacles to better thought or feeling. The effects
of
these impediments and the means to get rid of them we have already considered
carefully
in the talks on At the Feet of the Master2
It
needs the gentle breezes of Soul-wisdom to brush away the dust of our
illusions.
Seek, O beginner, to blend thy mind and Soul.
Shun
ignorance and likewise shun illusion. Avert thy face from world deceptions;
mistrust
thy
1
Op. cit., Adyar Ed., Vol. v. p. 410.
2
Ante, Vol. I, Part 4, Chapter 1, Control of Mind.
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senses;
they are false. Bat within thy body—the shrine of thy sensations—seek in
the
impersonal for the Eternal Man; and having sought him out, look inward: thou
art
Buddha.
Common
experience tells us that the senses must be mistrusted. The impressions
of
sight, for example, must be corrected by careful study of the facts, and
judgment
about them, as in the matter of the apparent movement of the sun round
the
earth. Care must be taken, however, not to read into this statement the idea
that
the senses are not to be used. They must be employed on every plane for the
gaining
of knowledge, and for doing the work and duty without which there is no
progress.
The
eternal man is the reincarnating ego, whose life is age-long as compared
with
that of the personality, persisting as it does through our complete series
of
human births and deaths.
The
word Buddha is used in three distinct senses. Sometimes, as in this case, it
means
simply enlightened, illuminated, or wise. Sometimes it is used as a name
for
the Lord Gautama. In other cases it means the high office in the Occult
Hierarchy
of the Head of the Second Ray, the great department of teaching and
religion,
which has been described in The Masters and the Path. The Buddhists
have
a list of twenty-four Buddhas, of whom the present holder of the office is
the
Lord Gautama, who will be succeeded in the far future by the Lord Maitreya.
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Shun
praise, O devotee: praise leads to self-delusion. Thy body is not Self, thy
Self
is in itself without a body, and either praise or blame affects it not.
Self-gratulation,
O disciple, is like unto a lofty tower, up which a haughty
fool
has climbed. Thereon he sits in prideful solitude and unperceived by any
but
himself.
Very
many men have been spoiled by undue praise; it leads to pride in all who do
not
see clearly what lies ahead of them or above them. Those pupils who are
sufficiently
clairvoyant to see the Masters frequently are not so prone to this
danger
as many others are, because they cannot but compare their own littleness
with
the Master's greatness, their own farthing rushlight with His glorious
sunlight.
It is the man who is looking downward, and comparing himself with
those
who are beneath himself, who is most likely to fall through pride.
But
the best way of all is not to think of oneself, but to be constantly
occupied
with the work of the Master. There is for all of us every day far more
of
that to be done than we can possibly accomplish; and it is only taking energy
and
time away from that if we spend it in thinking about our little selves.
There
are no doubt several reasons why the Masters do not show themselves more
than
they do to those who are in the earlier stages of their service. One of
these
is that the pupil, seeing the Master so far above him, might be
overwhelmed
with his own, insignificance and lose confidence in his
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own
ability to work for the Master. So, while it is necessary to avoid pride on
the
one hand, one must equally avoid the under-estimation of one's powers on the
other.
Here, as ever, the middle path is the right one.
The
simile of a tower is indeed a good one, for pride does shut a man away from
his
fellows. If, for example, he is proud of his learning, he will he anxious to
keep
others more ignorant than himself, so as to enjoy his superior position,
and
even when he does give out his knowledge it will only be for the sake of
displaying
it. Such a man is engaged all the time in enlarging the gulf between
himself
and other people, so that he may look down on them from above.
False
learning is rejected by the wise, and scattered to the winds by the Good
Law.
Its wheel revolves for all, the humble and the proud. The doctrine of the
eye
is for the crowd; the doctrine of the heart for the elect. The first repeat
in
pride: " Behold, I know "; the last, they who in humbleness have
garnered
low,
confess: "Thus have I heard."
Every
religion in course of time gathers round itself many speculations and
other
accretions. For example, in Hinduism, in the Puranas one reads of dozens
of
things that people are told that they must do or must not do; many of those
have
been invented by the priests, either for • their own convenience and
advantage
or because of an excessive estimation of the value of many
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prayers
and ceremonies. Also particular interpretations of earlier sayings are
developed
into dogmas and attached to the original teaching, as, for instance,
the
horrible eternal hell teaching which still persists among many Christians.
The
esoteric teaching at once scatters these to the winds, as it brings the
attention
back to the essential and vital truths. Still, to act from the heart
is
the way only of a strong and advanced man. For the masses, wandering slowly
along
the broad road of evolution which winds gently up the hillside, the books
are
still the main guide. Those people are not yet in the position that is
described
as follows in the Garuda Purana: "Having practised the Vedas and the
Shastras,
and having known the Truth, the wise man can abandon all the
scriptures,
just as one rich in grains abandons the straw."
Every
Buddhist scripture begins with, " Thus says ------", or, " Thus
have I
heard."
It is a humble beginning. It does not say, " This is absolutely so, and
you
must believe it," but, " This is what has been said, and it would be
well to
try
to understand it, and so come to a knowledge of the real facts." It is the
attitude
of enquiry, not of dogmatism. Yet, strange to say, there have been
those
who have taken it in another, and quite a wrong sense. They say, " It is
no
use propounding anything different on this subject, for thus it has been said
with
authority "!
"
Great Sifter " is the name of the heart doctrine, O disciple.
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The
wheel of the Good Law moves swiftly on. It grinds by night and day. The
worthless
husks it drives out from the golden grain, the refuse from the floor.
The
hand of Karma guides the wheel; the revolutions mark the beatings of the
karmic
heart.
True
knowledge is the flour, false learning is the husk. If thou wonld'st eat
the
bread of wisdom, thy flour thou hast to knead with Amrita's clear waters.
But
if thou kneadest busks with Maya's dew, thou canst create but food for the
black
doves of death, the birds of birth, decay and sorrow.
The
heart doctrine is called the Great Sifter because as one works in the world
in
the manner which it directs, the mistakes one makes and the defects one has
are
gradually sifted out and removed. If one were doing work without the ideals
of
the inner doctrine, one might go on making the same kind of mistakes again
and
again, life after life. Madame Blavatsky somewhere wrote that it was one
thing
to desire to do good, and another to know what is good to do. Yet, with
our
imperfect knowledge, we must go forth and do the best we can. It is
something
like learning a language. It is a mistake to try to learn it quite
perfectly
from books before one makes any attempt to speak it; one must plunge
into
it, and make mistakes in it, and in the effort one will learn in due course
to
speak without mistakes. But that will come about, of course, only if one
converses
in it with others who already know the language correctly.
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Similarly
the Master, though he may be unseen, will guide the pupil who is
sincerely
trying to do his best, into the experiences that will sift out his
faults
and mistakes. Keep in mind the conviction that the final good will
inevitably
come, and let the heart be full of love; then you may work without
fear
of mistakes. They will become smaller and smaller, and fewer and fewer, and
will
eventually die away.
There
is a moral to be drawn from the analogy of flour and bread. The true
knowledge
that you gain does not give you bread, but merely the flour with which
the
bread of wisdom has to be made. The kneading is the action of the higher
Self,
which works upon experiences and converts them into real wisdom. In
ordinary
men most of this kneading is done during the devachanic period, but the
pupil
of the Master has so broadened the channel between the higher and the
lower
self that he is gaining wisdom all the time.
He
who takes only external knowledge, and studies it over with the lower mind,
in
the light of mere personal necessity and pleasures, is certainly kneading
husks
with maya's dew. He is not preparing for the triumph of the higher Self;
he
is not treading the Path, but is preparing the karma of future births and
deaths,
for the future vehicles and personalities that will decay and die.
CHAPTER
3 THE LIFE OF ACTION
If
thou art told that to become Arhan thou hast to cease to love all beings—tell
them
they lie.
If
thou art told that to gain liberation thou hast to hate thy mother and
disregard
thy son; to disavow thy father and call him householder; for man and
beast
all pity to renounce—tell them their tongue is false.
Thus
teach the Tirthikas, the unbelievers.
If
thou art taught that sin is born of action and bliss of absolute inaction,
then
tell them that they err. Non-permanence of human action, deliverance of
mind
from thraldom by the cessation of sin and faults, are not for Deva Egos.
Thus
saith the doctrine of the heart.
C.W.L.—-To
call a man a householder is to say that his interests are still
centred
in worldly things, but to do this with contempt, as is implied in the
text,
would certainly indicate the proud and austere qualities of the left-hand
path,
leading up to the heights of the black magicians, who regard the best of
human
love as nothing but mere sentimentality. Even though the candidate
201
may
have risen above personal desires, he cannot despise those who are still at
the
earlier stage of evolution, nor can he ignore them. Compassion and eagerness
to
help are the qualities of his nature.
That
the expression householder must be taken in a metaphorical sense is
indicated
in a footnote by Madame Blavatsky, as follows:
Rathapala,
the great Arhat, thus addresses his father in the legend called
Rathapala
Sutrasanne. But as all such legends are allegorical (e.g., Rathapala's
father
had a mansion With seven doors) hence the reproof to those who accept
them
literally.
Madame
Blavatsky describes the Tirthikas as " ascetic Brahmanas, visiting holy
shrines,
especially sacred bathing-places." A Tirtha is literally a "
crossing-place
". It is thus a landing or bathing place, or any shrine, which is
a
crossing place to the other worlds or the higher life. A shrine is thus a
place
where there is a special connection between the inner and the outer
worlds.
Probably the orthodox Brahmanas and Hindus in general who visit such
Tirthas
as, for example, Benares or Hardwar, were called unbelievers because
they
did not in most cases follow the Buddha in His assertion that " within
oneself
deliverance must be sought."
In
the talks on At the Feet of the Master we have considered at length the
necessity
for action, and how there may be intense activity of the body, and yet
the
202
man
within may be calm, steady, serene and strong. The Deva Egos means the
reincarnating
egos, according; to Madame Blavatsky, but Swami T. Subba Row
explained
the term as meaning those who aspire to work with the Devas and for
the
helping of the world.
The
teaching of the Book of the Golden Precepts is obviously intended for those
who
wish to follow that line of work. At present there are not very many egos in
incarnation
who are ready for special teaching and training—it would be of
little
use, for example, to seek among the dwellers in the east end of London
for
people who are ready to become pupils of the Masters. But as time goes on
the
numbers requiring attention will increase very rapidly, and within a few
hundred
years-there must be many Arhats prepared to teach them. Thus a large
number
of helpers will be needed, and it is to that work that many of us are
called.
The
Dharma of the eye is the embodiment of the external and the non-existing.
The
Dharma of the heart is the embodiment of Bodhi, the permanent and
everlasting.
The
word dharma may here be translated " form of religion " or "
belief", and
bodhi
is simply " wisdom".
The
lamp burns bright when wick and oil are clean. To make them clean a cleaner
is
required. The flame feels not the process of the cleaning. " The branches
of
a
tree are shaken by the wind; the trunk remains unmoved."
THE LIFE
OF ACTION
203
Both
action and inaction may find room in thee; thy body agitated, thy mind
tranquil,
thy Soul as limpid as a mountain lake.
Whatever
suffering there may be on the path of progress is experienced only by
the
lower self. The Self seated within knows the value even of the painful
experience
and is therefore quite satisfied. Many people do not understand that
suffering
is very largely a question of attitude; in Esoteric Christianity Dr.
Annie
Besant has explained how some of the great martyrs were filled with joy
while
undergoing what would be terrible pain to others, because they were
thinking
of the great honour that was theirs to suffer so for the sake of their
Lord.
So it is true that at last wrong ideas or ignorance are the basis of all
suffering.
Physical
suffering is the most difficult to deal with. We may be able sometimes
to
draw away from the physical body when it is in pain, but that does not mean
that
we have conquered the pain. If it is the result of a particular disease in
which
a microbe has to run its course, no amount of assertion will enable an
ordinary
person to drive it away; but in all cases a cheerful attitude makes a
big
difference. Most people can conquer astral pain, if they set themselves the
task;
they can refuse to permit their feelings to dwell upon the idea that gives
them
sorrow. Undesirable-emotions, such as jealousy, envy, pride and fear, may
be
described as astral diseases; they can always be eradicated by persistent
effort
to feel the opposite emotions. Mental suffering, chiefly worry, is even
easier
to control.
204
In
the causal body a man might have an uneasy sense of incompleteness or
insufficiency—but
nothing more than that. Though he may feel disappointment at
the
defects of his lower representative, he knows enough to be patient and to
persevere.
He is not ignorant; but it is ignorance that makes our suffering so
poignant
down here. In childhood, when we were still more ignorant, a trouble
lasting
one day seemed a terrible tragedy; if we failed to pass an examination
the
idea of waiting a whole year for the next opportunity seemed to us a
calamity,
though in later life a year does not seem a long period of time. To
the
personality a life's failure may .seem a tragedy, but to the ego, who has
known
hundreds or thousands of incarnations, it may not appear so vastly
important.
The
ego has put ;down a personality much as a fisherman makes a cast. He does
not
expect that every cast "will be successful, and he is not deeply troubled
if
one
proves a failure. To look after a personality is only one of his activities,
so
he may very well console himself with successes in other lines of activity.
In
any case, it is the loss of a day, and he may say, " Oh, well, we will
hope
to
do better tomorrow." Often the personality would like more attention from
the
ego
above him, and he may be sure that he will receive it as soon as he deserves
it,
as soon as the ego finds it worth while. Mr. Sinnett put forward this desire
of
the personality in a humorous way by saying that what was needed was a school
for
teaching egos to pay attention to their personalities.
205
One
stage further on, in the buddhic plane, the man begins to touch the
intensity
of bliss that is the life of the Logos. At the same time he comes
closer
into touch with other men; on the lower planes he begins to share their
suffering,
but on the higher side he knows them as sparks of the divine, and
that
gives indescribable bliss, which makes the suffering seem as naught. Thus
sorrow
and suffering are for the personality only, and they exist merely while
the
consciousness is fixed in the lower planes.
Would'st
thou become a Yogi of time's circle? Then, O Lanoo:
Believe
thou not that sitting in dark forests, in proud seclusion and apart from
men;
believe thou not that life on roots and plants, that thirst assuaged with
snow
from the great Range—believe thou not, O devotee, that this will lead thee
to
the goal of final liberation.
Think
not that breaking bone, that rending flesh and muscle unites thee to thy
silent
Self. Think not that when the sins of thy gross form are conquered, O
victim
of thy shadows, thy duty is accomplished by nature and by man.
Aryasanga
is here once more preaching against the seeking of liberation as mere
escape
from the wheel of births and deaths. The yogi of time's circle is the one
who
is willing to remain within the process of time, for the sake of helping
others.
When one considers the
206
vast
period of time for which the Lord Buddha and the Lord Maitreya had been
preparing
themselves for their great work, which has been explained in The
Masters
and the Path,1 one cannot but feel oppressed by the thought of such
enormous
periods of incarnate existence. Undoubtedly, however, time cannot be to
them
exactly what it is to us. Even if "a thousand ages in Thy sight are like
ah
evening
gone " does not apply to Them, Their sense of time must be vastly
different
from ours. Certainly They are also intensely happy in Their work, and
where
there is happiness, as everybody knows by experience, time is of no
account-—in
fact, under those circumstances we always wish that it could be
lengthened.
Very
wrong ideas have arisen in most of the religions on the subject of
asceticism.
In the original Greek the word asketes meant simply one who
exercises
himself as an athlete does. But ecclesiasticism impounded the word and
changed
its sense, applying it to the practice of self-denial in various ways
for
the purpose of spiritual progress, on the theory that the bodily nature with
its
passions and desires has been the stronghold of the evil inherent in man
since
the fall of Adam, and that it must therefore be suppressed by fasting and
penance.
In the Oriental religions we sometimes encounter a similar idea, based
on
the conception of matter as essentially evil, and following from that the
deduction
that an approach to ideal good or an escape from the miseries of
existence
can be effected only by subduing or torturing the body.
1
Op. cit., Ch. xiv.
207
In
both these theories there is dire confusion of thought. The body and its
desires
are not in themselves evil or good, but it is true that before real
progress
can be made they must be brought under the control of the higher Self
within.
To govern the body is necessary, but to torture it is foolish.
There
appears to be a widespread delusion that to be really good one must always
be
uncomfortable-—that discomfort in itself is directly pleasing to the Logos.
Nothing
can be more grotesque than this idea. In Europe this unfortunately
common
theory is one of the many horrible legacies left by the ghastly blasphemy
of
Calvinism. I myself have actually heard a child say: " I feel so happy
that I
am
sure I must be very wicked " —a truly awful result of criminally distorted
teaching.
Another
reason- for the gospel of the uncomfortable is a confusion of cause and
effect.
It is observed that the really advanced person is simple in his habits
and
often careless about a large number of minor luxuries that are considered
important
and really necessary by the ordinary man. But such carelessness about
luxury
is the effect, not the cause of his advancement. He does not trouble
himself
about these small matters because he has largely outgrown them and they
no
longer interest him—not in the least because he considers them as wrong; and
one
who, while still craving for them, imitates him in abstaining from them does
not
thereby become advanced.
It
is true that our duty to the world is not accomplished when we have purified
ourselves.
Then
208
indeed
does it become really possible for us to do our best work for our fellow
men,
and since in the higher life the maxim " From, each according to his
power,
to
each according to his need " prevails, our most serious duty begins at
this
point,
when the shadows, the lower bodies, have been mastered.
The
silent Self in this passage, refers, says Madame Blavatsky, to the seventh
principle,
which is atma. Our studies in the first Fragment have already shown
how
this idea of silence is attached to that part of the higher Self.
The
blessed ones have scorned to do so. The Lion of the Law, the Lord of Mercy,
perceiving
the true cause of human woe, immediately forsook the sweet but
selfish
rest of quiet wilds. From Aranyaka he became the Teacher of mankind.
After
Julai had entered the Nirvana, he preached on mount and plain, and held
discourses
in the cities, to Devas, men and Gods.
All
the Northern and Southern Buddhist traditions agree in the statement that
the
Buddha quitted His solitude as soon as He had reached inner enlightenment
and
had solved the problem of life, and that He at once began teaching publicly.
The
term Aranyaka means a forest dweller. The books relate that Gautama went
into
the forest in order to meditate, and there He seated Himself under the
bodhi
tree and resolved to attain illumination. When that was achieved, He
considered
whether He would give His
209
teaching
to the world; he knew that most of the people would not understand it,
and
that it might therefore do harm.- But then, as was remarked at the beginning
of
our study of this Fragment, the voice of the earth came to him, and begged
him
to teach. I do not know exactly what was meant by the voice of the earth,
but
it is said that that led him to decide to teach mankind on the physical
plane.
In
this passage there are several titles given to the Buddha. He is called
Julai.
That is the Chinese name for Tathagata, which is the title given to every
Buddha.
Tathagata means literally " he who has gone likewise", he has
followed
in
the steps of his predecessors.
It
is a fact that when the Buddha preached, others besides men gathered round to
listen
to his teaching and enjoy his aura.
Sow
kindly acts and thou shalt reap their fruit. Inaction in a deed of mercy is
action
in a deadly sin.
I
have already quoted this in commenting on At the Feet of the Master. Each man
has
the responsibility for exercising the powers of consciousness that he has so
far
developed. If he fails to exert himself and neglects to use them, he is
guilty
of sins of omission, which are just as serious as sins of commission. For
example,
it is our duty to interfere, when we can do so without doing more harm
than
good, in cases of wrong or cruelty, such as cruelty to animals or children.
The
wise man, seeing such things, will not let indignation master him.
210
He
must feel also for the man who is guilty of the cruelty. His state is. in
many
ways more pitiable than that of his victim, and he will have to suffer in
turn,
on account of karmic law. So, if we can induce him to see the error of his
ways
and stop his cruelty, we have done good to both. When it is our duty to
interfere,
and we fail to do so, we share the karma of the wrong doing. The same
is
true when we allow others to injure ourselves, without resistance. We are
making
it easy for them to do wrong; we are tempting them, and assisting them,
and
the karma is partly ours.
Thus
saith the Sage:
Shalt
thou abstain from action? Not so shall thy Soul gain her freedom. To reach
Nirvana
one mast reach Self-knowledge, and Self-knowledge is of loving deeds the
child.
It
is not until we begin to work for others that we can acquire real knowledge
of
life. In the attempt we learn where we stand, and what qualities must be
developed.
There was an old blind man living in the south of India, who said
that
his blindness had been indirectly a source of great happiness to him. He
was
also in the deepest poverty, and had spent his life in wandering from
village
to village, where he used to advise the people in their difficulties,
and
also assist them in some cases with his yoga powers. He used to tell how, by
meditation,
he had managed to awaken the memory of his past lives; and he
remembered
that, some hundreds of years before, he had been a very rich and
powerful
man, and had used
211
his
power to injure those who happened to do what he did not like. He recognized
that
his blindness and poverty were due to his wrong deeds in that former life.
He
said he was sure that if he had gone on being a rich man he might never have
learned
to love his fellows, as he had been quite set in a selfish path of life.
But
now he had had to mingle with others, most of whom knew suffering; they had
been
very kind to him, and he had learned to love them. The happiness of that
love,
he said, as compared with his previous condition, was something so great
and
incomparable that no suffering was in his opinion too great to purchase it.
This
man claimed to be a pupil of one of our Masters, and lie certainly was an
illustration
of the teaching that self-knowledge is of loving deeds the child.
Have
patience, candidate, as one who fears, no failure, courts no success. Fix
thy
Soul's gaze upon the star whose ray thou art, the flaming star that shines
within
the lightless depths of ever-being, the boundless fields of the unknown.
The
disciple fears no failure because he knows that the plan of the Logos will
be
carried out; no one's failure can make any difference to that. We may have
the
opportunity to do a piece of His work. If we should fail to do it, it will
be
done in some other way through someone else. It makes no difference to the
Logos,
though it may make a very great difference to ourselves. It happens
constantly
that people miss their opportunities, but the great plans are made in
view
of every
212
contingency.
Our Masters never appear to notice when we lose an opportunity, but
I
think that they are quite aware of it. Madame Blavatsky used sometimes to say
about
some person: " He has earned the right to have his chance." The
Masters
always
assume that we are going to take our opportunities.
The
student who has tried to do some good work and has found the opposing forces
too
great for him, will not be disappointed or lose patience if he understands
that
all efforts put forth for good must produce a proportionate result in some
way,
though the results may be unseen and though there may be for the
personality
none of the satisfaction which conies from seeing the good that has
been
done. It is the same in the case of astral work at night. That work is none
the
less good and effective when done by those who are not able to bring any
memory
of it back into the physical brain. The laws of nature do not cease to
operate
because we cannot see the result, or do not remember what we have done.
Usually
the people who have done the greatest work in the world do not see the
result
of it. Take, for instance, the example of the Christ's three years of
preaching.
He died as a malefactor, execrated by the populace, and at his death
the
number of his followers was only a hundred and twenty; now there are many
millions.
William Wilberforce, who worked steadily for over forty years against
the
greatest odds for the abolition of slavery in the British Colonies, heard
only
three days before his death that total abolition of slavery had at last
become
law. Impatience and depression would
213
have
lost his cause. We are all in the same position, in our lesser ways. There
is
none who cannot take up some good work, and push on with it with tireless and
endless
patience, regardless of immediate success or failure.
"
The star whose ray thou art " is always that which shines above us; for
one it
is
the Ego, for another, more advanced, the Monad, and so on to the Planetary
Logos,
and even the Logos of our system. To know our own star is also to know
the
ray to which we belong—which of the seven great rays is the one that
especially
connects us with the Logos. These seven rays are indicated in the
chapter
dealing with the Ghohans of the Rays in The Masters and the Path, and
also
in The Seven Rays, by Prof. Ernest Wood. When the higher self is the master
of
the personality, it becomes possible for the disciple to specialize in the
work
of the ray to which that higher self belongs, and then he can make very
rapid
progress in power and usefulness.
Have
perseverance as one who doth for evermore endure. Thy shadows live and
vanish;
that which in thee shall live for ever, that which in thee knows (for it
is
knowledge) is not of fleeting life: it is the Man that was, that is, and will
be,
for whom the hour shall never strike.
Besides
patience we need perseverance, and nothing can develop this quality in
us
better than a clear perception of the fact that we endure all through the
ages,
and that death is only a passing incident, with no power to deflect us
from
our path. Sometimes people say: " Why
214
should
I take up such and such work? I cannot possibly finish it in this life."
But
the fact is that there is only one real life-time—that of the ego, which
endures
for ever, for all practical purposes. It is wise to begin any work in
which
you are interested, or the great task of eliminating faults, even in old
age,
for all the good that is done is carried forward to the next body, and in
it
the impulse to continue the work will be felt while it is young. If one
postpones
the work to a future life, once more old age may arrive before one has
the
opportunity that will draw attention to it. If you are now ninety, and you
have
just heard of Theosophy, and you want to hear of it in your youth in your
next
life, throw yourself into it now with whatever vigour you may have. There
is
also the great benefit to be derived from the stay in devachan (unless you
happen
to be one of those who have the privilege of being able to renounce that
period)
for in that state whatever work you have done is dwelt upon and worked
up
into faculty which will be a great help in the next incarnation.
Perseverance
is necessary also because no great work can be completed in a short
time.
Think, for example, of the artist who is painting a great picture; he will
have
very little to show for it in the first few days, perhaps even weeks, and
it
is also quite possible that he may not be pleased with what he has been able
to
achieve at the end of a few weeks, so that he has to begin all over again.
A
very useful lesson in perseverance may be derived from a study of the history
of
the Theosophical Society
215
in
the early days. The two great founders, Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott,
could
not have succeeded in establishing the Society permanently, and giving it
the
material for future growth, had they not had a clear vision of the inner
side
of things, a realization that their work was part of a plan lasting
throughout
eternity, and was therefore sure to succeed. They founded the Society
in
New York in 18
-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales-------
206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24-1DL
, and worked prodigiously at Isis Unveiled, which was duly
published.
Still, some five years later they were almost alone in the work, and
they
found it necessary to go to India, to some friends there, to make a new
start.
Even then there were endlessly varied troubles, year after year, which
would
have crushed almost anybody else. Madame Blavatsky, with a body seldom
free
from pain, could still work tirelessly, could produce The Secret Doctrine
and
other great works, because of her knowledge of the Masters and the inner
side
of things.
CHAPTER
4 THE SECRET PATH
If
thou would'st reap sweet peace and rest, disciple, sow with the seeds of
merit
the fields of future harvests.
Accept
the woes of birth.
C.W.L.—Aryasanga
is all-the time endeavouring to persuade the disciple to follow
the
higher path of renunciation, and not to accept the peace of nirvana. Life in
the
atmic or nirvanic plane has been defined as rest in omniscience, but we must
understand
that it is rest only in the sense that there is no consciousness of
exertion
followed by fatigue. There is on that plane the most tremendous
activity;
that is the very essence of the nature of being on that plane, as I
have
already tried to explain.1
People
want rest because they feel fatigue, but when one is out of the body in
full
consciousness one finds that the fatigue is gone, and then one no longer
desires
rest. In such conditions we look upon rest rather as we do upon death
down
here; we do not want less but more of the power and energy that we enjoy.
The
Solar Logos 1 Ante, p.
-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales-------
206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24-1DL
.
217
does
not rest, even for a moment. If He did so, even for a second, we should all
cease
to be.
Many
of those who have reached nirvana have nothing further to do with the
world's
evolution; yet it does not seem possible for anyone to have reached that
level
and not to be pouring forth glory and splendour on those below. Even in
the
case of one so devoted that he continually turns all his thought upwards,
and
none downwards, one would think he could not help shedding devotion on those
below.
There
are seven paths open to the Adept, and most of them take the candidate
away
from the earth, yet they are all equally ways of serving the Logos.
Presumably
every Adept is willing to go where he is most needed and can be most
serviceable,
but at least it seems necessary to be perfectly willing to remain
and
accept " the woes of birth", if called upon. Any other attitude, and
especially
the idea of selfish escape from the world, liberation for one's
separate
self, could not carry the aspirant so high. To us it may seem that to
stay
with and help our humanity is the kindest thing to do, and that is very
natural,
for if we cannot thus love those who are already near and known to us,
how
shall we love others who are not known? Still, we must not forget that if
the
Lords of the Flame from Venus had not left their system and come down into
ours
to help us, we should be at least one round behind the position that we
have
so far achieved. It may be the duty of some of us in the future to go to
the
help of some other system less advanced than ours.
218
At
the same time, there is no question that more and more advanced pupils of the
Masters
will be needed to carry on their work on earth. It is open to the Arhat
to;
take no more physical births if he so chooses; but it is evident that our
Masters
wish us to continue taking birth for the sake of the work.
Step
out of sunlight into shade, to make more room for others. The tears that
water
the parched soil of pain and sorrow bring forth the blossoms and the
fruits
of karmic retribution. Out of the furnace of man's life and its black
smoke,
winged flames arise, flames purified, that soaring onward, 'neath the
karmic
eye, weave in the end the fabric glorified of the three vestures of the
Path.
The
opening portion of this passage seems to imply-that there is not enough
sunlight
for all; but that is surely not so. All can be happy. We make our own
shadow,
as the earth does. Sorrows and trouble are of our own making; they are
our
own karma, as is everything that comes to us. What Aryasanga means is that
one
should always be ready to help others, even at the cost of trouble or loss
to
oneself.
There
are few kinds of action that bring great karmic suffering. Cruelty does,
of
course, and there are some others. But most of people's actual suffering
comes
from the way in which they take the inconveniences of life that karma
brings
to them. The suffering is then very distinctly " ready-money karma ".
Such,
for example, is the selfish mourning for those who have passed
THE SECRET
PATH
219
on
to a happier state of existence, which causes suffering to everybody
concerned,
often including the dead, who feel the depression and sorrow very
greatly.
What karma brings to a man is never more than he can bear, and bear
easily;
but that is not the case with what he adds to it of foolish thought, and
feeling
and action.
These
vestures are: Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakaya and Dharmakaya, robe sublime.
The
three vestures will be discussed fully in our study of the third Fragment.
They
represent three possibilities which lie open to the man who has attained
Adeptship.
He can at once accept nirvana, or take it after having gone through
other
high spiritual experiences, or remain in touch with the earth as a
Nirmanakaya
in order to fill the spiritual reservoir, or he can take up work in
other
globes or systems. This last choice is by no means selfish, of course; it
is
an impossible supposition that and selfishness could be possible at such a
level.
There
was a reference in the first edition of this book to " selfish Buddhas
",
but
Madame Blavatsky, after her death, asked Dr. Besant to remove the passage
which
contained it, because it was causing so much dangerous misunderstanding.
It
referred to those who are called the Pratyeka Buddhas. These are great Adepts
at
the level of the Buddha, but on the first ray. Because " eka " means
"one",
some
Northern Buddhists have thought that a Pratyeka Buddha is one who works for
himself
alone, which appears a blasphemous idea to anyone who knows where they
stand.
The three Lords of the
220
Flame,
who are the pupils of the Lord of the World, are Pratyeka Buddhas. They
came
to the earth to serve it and hasten its evolution along the line of the
first
ray, while the Buddha works on the second. It is foolish to criticize them
for
not doing work which is not theirs. It would be as sensible to find fault
with
a magistrate for not being a schoolmaster, saying, " See how little he
cares
about the education of children! " Of these great Beings I have tried to
give
some slight account in The Masters and the Path.1
The
Shangna robe, 'tis true, can purchase light eternal. The Shangna robe alone
gives
the Nirvana of destruction; it stops rebirth, but O Lanoo, it also kills
compassion.
No longer can the perfect Buddhas, Who don the Dharmakaya glory,
help
man's salvation. Alas! shall selves be sacrificed to self; mankind, unto
the
weal of units?
Know,
O beginner, this is the open path, the way to selfish bliss, shunned by
the
Bodhisattvas of the Secret Heart, the Buddhas of compassion.
The
Shangna robe is something very far beneath any of the three vestures above
mentioned.
It means here the balancing of karma, and the destruction of the
personality
by quenching all desires, including that for life. It implies an
evolution
of the causal body far higher than most men have attained, but without
the
development of love and compassion and the desire to help the world. A man
who
has thus freed himself from the necessity of
1
Op. cit., Ch. XV,
221
rebirth
may live as an ego on the higher levels of the mental world for an
enormously
long time.
In
this passage, it is almost as though Aryasanga were complaining against those
who
take the Dharmakaya vesture, and retire to distant planes or systems. But it
would
be really impossible for Him to do that. He could not have thought that
there
were selfish Buddhas. The Pratyeka Buddhas certainly are at the same level
of
attainment as the Lord Buddha; They have the same quality of compassion that
he
has, but it is not their duty to fill the office. For thousands of years
before
their attainment of such heights these Great Ones must have been utterly
incapable
of anything like selfishness. We must remember that The Voice of the
Silence
was written down by a disciple of Aryasanga after the death of the
latter,
so he is not wholly responsible for it, and it appears that here the
disciple
must have allowed his own misconception to colour the ideas, of his
Teacher.
To
live to benefit mankind is the first step.
To
practise the six glorious virtues is the second.
To
don Nirmanakaya's humble robe is to forego eternal bliss for self, to help on
man's
salvation. To reach Nirvana's bliss but to renounce it, is the supreme,
the
final step—the highest on renunciation's path.
Know,
O disciple, this is the secret path, selected by the Buddhas of
perfection,
who sacrificed the Self to weaker selves.
222
The
six glorious virtues are the paramitas, already considered in Chapter I of
Fragment
II. They represent one of the systems of travelling on the path.
Another
is given in the set of qualifications expounded in At the Feet of the
Master,
followed by the four stages of the Path proper.
It
is not quite true that the Nirmanakaya gives up bliss, for Adeptship is
itself
the attainment of bliss. What is true is that the Adept could remain
always
on the stupendous levels which he has reached but instead he comes down
to
help. By doing that, however, he does not forego the eternal bliss which is
inherent
in him; He merely decides to work at lower levels.
Yet,
if the doctrine of the heart is too high-winged for thee, if thou needest
help
thyself and fearest to offer help to others—then, thou of timid heart, be
warned
in time: remain content with the eye doctrine of the Law. Hope still. For
if
the secret Path is unattainable this day, it is within thy reach to-morrow.
Learn
that no efforts, not the smallest—whether in right or wrong direction—can
vanish
from the world of causes. E'en wasted smoke remains not traceless. " A
harsh
word uttered in past lives is not destroyed, but ever comes again." The
pepper
plant will not give birth to roses, nor the sweet jessamine's silver star
to
thorn or thistle turn.
Thou
canst create this day thy chances for thy morrow. In the great journey,
causes
sown each hour bear each its harvest of effects, for rigid justice
223
rules
the world. With mighty sweep of
never-erring , action it brings to
mortals
lives of weal or woe,, the karmic progeny of all our former thoughts and
deeds.
Take
then as much as merit hath in store for thee, O thou of patient heart. Be
of
good cheer and rest content with fate. Such is thy Karma, the Karma of the
cycle
of thy births, the destiny of those who, in their pain and sorrow, are
born
along with thee, rejoice and weep from life to life, chained to thy
previous
actions.
If
one cannot rise immediately to the resolve to be utterly unselfish there is
no
need to despair. One must work on in the right direction until one reaches
the
position where that ideal will seem perfectly natural and comparatively easy
of
accomplishment. Sometimes people feel that because they cannot fulfil a great
ideal
that is put before them there is nothing that they can do which is worth
doing.
They collapse, and do nothing at all, in consequence. But that is a great
mistake.
The Lord Buddha was very wise in dealing with all kinds of people, and
he
took care to avoid this kind of discouragement, by speaking of the highest
path
to his monks alone. He preached the middle path to the general public, and
told
them to live the highest and noblest life of which they were capable, so
that
later on they would be in a position to enter his Order. He said that they
were
to-day creating their opportunities for to-morrow, that is for their next
incarnation.
There is
224
no
need to despair, for the man who takes one opportunity receives tenfold more
opportunities,
and he who uses what powers he has as fully as possible, without
overstraining
himself, certainly develops those powers at a surprising rate.
The
last paragraph makes reference to those who are born together. It is fact
that
people evolve in groups, the same people coming closely together in
different
relationships again and again. What happens to one in any such group
reacts
very much upon the others, for both good and ill. It should be an
additional
incentive to those who are aspiring to realize that whatever they are
able
to attain will be of great benefit to a number of people whose destinies
are
thus bound up closely with their own.
I
CHAPTER
5 THE WHEEL OF LIFE
Act
thou for them to-day, and they will act for thee to-morrow.
'Tis
from the bud of renunciation of the self, that springeth the sweet fruit of
final
liberation.
To
perish doomed is he who out of fear of Mara refrains from helping man, lest
he
should act for self. 'The pilgrim who would cool his weary limbs in running
waters,
yet dares not plunge for terror of the stream, risks to succumb from
heat.
Inaction based on selfish fear can bear but evil fruit.
The
selfish devotee lives to no purpose. The man who does not go through his
appointed
work in life has lived in vain.
Follow
the wheel of life; follow the wheel of duty to race and kin, to friend
and
foe, and close thy mind to pleasures as to pain. Exhaust the law of karmic
retribution.
Gain Siddhis for thy future birth.
C.W.L.—There
are people who feel that because they cannot do great things or
make
rapid advance no effort
226
is
worth making. That is a great mistake. At least they can live to help those
with
whom karma has brought them into contact. They will never find themselves
in
a better position until they make the most of their present environment. If
they
will do this, when the time comes for them to make the great effort
involved
in taking the First Initiation, loving friends will be there to help.
Real
friends are those who are the friends of the ego. These never bind one down
for
the satisfaction of their own very limited and human, and often really
selfish
emotions. They always give one the freedom that is required to follow
the
higher path.
Some
good people refrain from helping others, fearing that they themselves may
be
prompted by a selfish motive. Very often charity is bestowed upon the
unfortunate
not really with the desire to help them, but to relieve the giver of
the
unhappiness that he feels at the sight of suffering. Such a person would
never
go out of his way to find people in trouble, in order that they might be
helped.
Again, there are others who systematically give a portion of their large
incomes
to charitable organizations, so that they may enjoy the remainder with
no
qualms of conscience. Knowing this, a disciple sometimes questions himself as
to
whether his own motive is pure. But to refrain from helping because he doubts
his
own motive is surely a form of selfishness. Whatever our motive may be, we
must
help, though only that counts for real progress on the Path which is done
purely
to help the sufferer, without thought of self.
227
It
is necessary to use discrimination in helping. As the Hindus say, help should
be
given to the right person, at the right time, and in the right place. Yet the
necessity
for thought should not cause hesitation. We may not always be certain
which
is the wiser of two courses of action, but we must nevertheless decide
upon
one of them, so that the opportunity to do good may not be entirely
overlooked.
Sometimes it is only by thought that we can help, but that, as I
have
said before, is very important.1 The strength of many a man who is doing
vigorous
work in the world comes largely from others who are engaged in
radiating
spiritual force in meditation.
The
wheel of duty to race and kin, to friend and foe, does, as a matter of fact,
offer
the best of opportunities for progress. The Lords of Karma see to it that
each
person is given the conditions which are suited to his growth. They give a
man
the particular work that is likely to develop the qualities that he needs.
At
a low level of development there may be ten thousand places where a man can
have
the conditions needed for his progress. But when a man is more highly
evolved
his environment has to be chosen with the greatest care, for everyone
must
be put absolutely in the position where he can best advance. It is
therefore
quite inaccurate to say that a man succeeds in spite of his
circumstances;
difficulties are put in his way in order that he may transcend
them,
and that his character and powers may grow.
The
man who does his daily duties well, will soon be trusted with higher ones.
Every
one who can be trusted
l
Ante, Vol. I, Part II, Ch. 2, 5; Part IV, Ch. 1; Part V, Ch. 6.
228
to
do good and conscientious work is eagerly wanted by those who guide the
destiny
of mankind. Be faithful in small things, and you will be made ruler over
many
things, as the Bible says. To be ruler over many things is a responsible
position,
and in occultism it is given only to those who have proved themselves
faithful
in the small things. That is the test that the Master gives. Many
people
neglect plain everyday duty for some visionary work in the future,
perhaps
of doubtful utility, and not intended specially for them. Many also
regret
the ties that they formed before they knew of Theosophy, when they now
find
them hampering. But they do their duty. Unsuitable ties will drop away when
the
time comes, when that freedom will be most useful for the aspirant's
development,
and what is more important, for the world's work. But if they are
broken
prematurely they will only entangle the man again and much trouble and
pain
will be caused.
If
sun thou canst not be, then be the humble planet. Aye, if thou art debarred
from
flaming, like the noon-day sun upon the snow-capped mount of purity
eternal,
then choose, O neophyte, a humbler course.
Point
out the way—however dimly, and lost among the host—as does the evening
star
to those who tread their path in darkness.
Behold
Migmar, as in bis crimson veils his eye sweeps over slumbering Earth.
Behold
the fiery aura of the hand of Lhagpa extended in protecting
229
love
over the heads of his ascetics. Both are now servants to Nyima, left in his
absence
silent watchers in the night. Yet both in Kalpas past were bright
Nyimas,
and may in future days again become two suns. Such are the falls and
rises
of the karmic law in nature.
Be,
O Lanoo, like them. Give light and comfort to the toiling pilgrim, and seek
out
him who knows still less than thou; who in his wretched desolation sits
starving
for the bread of wisdom and the bread which feeds the shadow, without a
Teacher,
hope or consolation, and let him hear the Law.
In
a foot-note, H.P.B. says:
Nyima,
the sun in Tibetan astrology. Migmar or Mars is symbolised by an eye, and
Lhagpa,
or Mercury, by a hand.
There
are here several points of interesting analogy. The two planets mentioned
give
their light at night, when the sun is out of sight, and all is dark. It is
so
with us. We have to help those who are in greater darkness than ourselves;
there
is no one who cannot find someone more ignorant than himself whom he may
teach.
Even if those around us are not ready to enter the Path, we can lead them
in
the right direction towards it.
At
the time of the transference of life from the moon to the earth, the planets
glowed
and shone like small suns. But Mars is mainly a desert now, and that is
why
230
he
reflects the yellow or reddish light. From the standpoint of the poetic
author
of these verses, they are doing their best work in giving light to man
now.
The idea illustrates the fact that we are not necessarily doing our best
work
when we shine most. Also, when a building; has to be erected, the
foundations
must be put in first. They do not count for anything in the matter
of
appearance, being hidden out of sight, but on them the building will be
erected.
So in the common work of every day the candidate is performing useful
service
to society, and at the same time developing the higher siddhis which are
the
spiritual powers of the ego.
The
Teacher now tells the candidate what to say to those whom he is trying to
bring
to the Path.
Tell
him, O candidate, that he who makes of pride and self-regard bond-maidens
to
devotion; that he, who cleaving to existence, still lays his patience and
submission
to the Law as a sweet flower at the feet of Shakya-Thub-pa, becomes a
Srotapatti
in this birth. The Siddhis of perfection may loom far, far away; but
the
first step is taken, the stream is entered, and he may gain the eye-sight of
the
mountain eagle, the hearing of the timid dove.
Tell
him, O aspirant, that true devotion may bring him back the knowledge, that
knowledge
which was his in former births. The (Jew-sight and deva-hearing are
not
obtained hi one short birth.
231
Shakya-Thub-pa
is the Lord Buddha. The Srota-patti is,
as has been explained,
"
he who enters the stream ". An
analogy can be drawn between the outward act
of
laying one's service at the feet of the Teacher, and the inner change when
the
well-developed manas realizes the presence of buddhi, and bows down before
that
higher principle, resolving henceforth to use all its powers in obedience
to
its behests. In the ordinary life of
men it is generally the mental nature
that
is allowed to have the last word. For
example, in the matter
of
vivisection,1 many
people whose feelings shrink from
the practice with
loathing,
still decide that it must go on, because they think it is the only way
to
obtain certain knowledge which will help
humanity. But the
minority, who
are
in the right, say: "No, it is
impossible that vivisection can lead to
good. Our higher nature says with a clear voice
that it is utterly wrong."
If
these people were in the majority they would stop it, and then some other way
would
be found to secure human health; the mind would be set to work in
obedience
to the higher intuition to find a better way.
Every
one who feels enthusiasm on hearing about the Path is sure to have worked
for
it in a former birth, perhaps in many previous lives. It is encouraging to
know
this, for then one may expect to recover quickly the attainments of former
lives,
the deva-sight and deva-hearing which are the faculties of responding to
the
inner voice and of seeing life and the world with the eyes of the spirit. 1
See
ante, Vol. I, Part V, Chapter 4.
232
Be
humble, if thou would'st attain to wisdom: be humbler still, when wisdom thou
hast
mastered.
Be
like the ocean which receives all streams and rivers. The ocean's mighty calm
remains
unmoved; it feels them not.
Restrain
by thy divine thy lower self. Restrain by the eternal the divine.
Aye,
great is he who is the slayer of desire: still greater he in whom the Self
divine
has slain the very knowledge of desire.
Guard
thou the lower lest it soil the higher.
As
I have said before, he who stands in the presence of the Masters cannot but
be
humble, conscious as he is of the great gulf that exists between them and
himself.
Not that even the physical presence of the Master, however, causes any
uneasiness
or depression; on the contrary, in his presence we feel at our best
and
we realize that we can achieve because he has achieved. It is so also with
the
gaining of knowledge. The man who can grasp some big ideas can also see what
remains
to be learned that he does not yet know, and how much mystery there is
in
familiar things that others think to be quite simple and well understood. So
he
who has much knowledge is likely to be humble, and the aspirant is warned
that
when pride rises in him, it is a sign that he is unconsciously shutting in
front
of himself the door to further and higher knowledge.
The
candidate must also practise moving among the disturbances of the world,
which
play upon him all the
time—physically,
astrally and mentally—without permitting them to agitate him.
He
must so train the lower vehicles that they will respond not to these outer
calls,
but to the inner commands. The ego is divine; with its aid the lower self
must
be controlled; and when that is done even the ego will have to be
controlled
by the Monad, the eternal Self. That all this may be done, the pupil
must
constantly guard the vehicles attending to purity of food and drink and
magnetism,
of words and feelings and thoughts, as has been fully explained in
The
Masters and the Path.
The
way to final freedom is within thy Self. That way begins and ends outside of
self.
Unpraised
by men and humble is the mother of all rivers in Tirthika's proud
sight;
empty the human form, though filled with Amrita's sweet waters, in the
sight
of fools. Withal the birth-place of the sacred rivers is the sacred land,
and
he who wisdom hath is honoured by all men.
The
orthodox Christian usually considers that there are three stages in the
growth
of a soul. First, the man acts rightly for fear of hell. Secondly, he
does
so with the desire of reaching heaven. Thirdly, he does right for love of
Christ,
who sacrificed himself to bring men to that condition of feeling. There
is,
however, a fourth stage, when the way is found by realizing ourselves as one
with
the Self. Then the man does right because it is right, not even for the
sake
of making the Master happy or of expressing gratitude to him. Our
deliverance
234
is
thus from within. No external consideration can; determine our steps of
progress
on the Path. It is not a question of how long we have been at a certain
level;
we shall take the next step when we have developed the necessary
qualities
and powers within ourselves. No one need be anxious about this, for as
the
Tamil proverb says: " Ripe fruit does not remain upon the branch."
The
Tirthika, as we saw before, is the Brahmana ascetic who visits the sacred
shrines,
-and is evidently regarded here as feeling somewhat proud of having
done
so. Just so, some of the Hadjis—the Muhammadans who have made a pilgrimage
to
Mecca—are proud because they have done that. Such men are somewhat like the
society
people of our own day who are proud to say they have seen the latest
play
or have read the book of the day—though what they have learned in the
process
it may be difficult to say. Perhaps Aryasanga's scribe, being a
Buddhist,
was not above sectarian feeling, for he seems to regard all the
Tirthikas
as being of this type!
The
great attraction of Benares, Hardwar, Kumba-konam and other Tirthas is the
bathing
in the sacred rivers. At the place last named the pilgrims resort to a
huge
tank, but they believe that it is fed from underground by the Ganges. But
our
Buddhist scribe points out, with some apparent pride, that the source of the
principal
sacred rivers of India is the sacred land, that is, Tibet. It is a
remarkable
fact that the great rivers, the Ganges, the Indus and the Airavati Or
Irrawadi
do
235
rise
all very near together in the Himalayas, and, going in different direction,
east,
south and west, sweep round and enclose the upper part of India in their
giant
embrace of thousands of miles. Those proud ascetics do not recognize that
Tibet,
a country which they despise, is the mother of their sacred rivers, says
the
writer, and he draws an analogy between Tibet and India, making India the
body,
which contains the sweet waters of immortality only in the incorrect
vision
of fools, and Tibet the source of wisdom, to be honoured by all men, that
is
all those who are not fools!
CHAPTER
6 THE WAY OF THE ARHAT
Arhans
and Sages of the boundless vision are rare as is the blossom of the
Udambara
tree. Arhans are born at midnight hour, together with the sacred plant
of
nine and seven stalks, the holy flower that opens and blooms in darkness, out
of
the pure dew and on the frozen bed of snow-capped heights, heights that are
trodden
by no sinful foot.
C.W.L.—-At
the present stage of evolution men who have attained the Arhat level
are
very rare. That is quite natural, since humanity is expected to attain the
Asekha
initiation only at the end of the seventh round, and the Arhat stage
precedes
that usually by only seven lives. Still, Arhatship is quite within our
reach;
it is principally a matter of our understanding what to aim at, and then
using
our wills to achieve that goal. Under the influence of the Lord Buddha
thousands
became Arhats. All that was due to his tremendous magnetism.
The
symbolism of this passage is probably capable of several different
interpretations.
The midnight hour
237
may
very well be taken as that darkest moment before the dawn when the candidate
seems
to .be forsaken by everybody, even by his Master. It is at the fourth
Initiation
that the seventh principle comes into operation, as the candidate
advances
to the atmic plane. The sacred plant of seven stalks may symbolize
this,
and the number nine also, because that seventh principle is really three
in
one, which with the other six makes nine. The number nine is considered most
sacred
by the Hindus.
It
is only by going through the greatest trials, by descending into the very
depths
of darkness, that the qualities required in the candidate for this
initiation
may be attained. The holy flower opens and blooms in that darkness,
yet
it comes as a result of development on the buddhic plane.
No
Arhan, O Lanoo, becomes one in that birth when for the first time the Soul
begins
to long for final liberation. Yet, O thou anxious one, no warrior
volunteering
fight in the fierce strife between the living and the dead, not one
recruit
can ever be refused the right to enter on the path that leads toward the
field
of battle.
For
either he shall win or he shall fall.
Yea,
if he conquers, Nirvana shall be his. Before he casts his shadow off, his
mortal
coil, that pregnant cause of anguish and illimitable pain, in him will
men
a great and holy Buddha honour.
238
And
if he falls, e'en then he does not fall in vain; the enemies he slew in the
last
battle will not return to life in the next birth that will be his.
But
if thou would'st Nirvana reach, or cast the prize away, let not-the fruit of
action
and inaction be thy motive, O thou of dauntless heart.
Know
that the Bodhisattva who liberation changes for renunciation to don the
miseries
of secret life, is called thrice honoured, O thou candidate for woe
throughout
the cycles.
Swami
T. Subba Row interpreted the fight between the living and the dead as the
opposition
between those who know and those who do not know. It will be
remembered
that this distinction was also made by the Master Kuthumi when
teaching
Alcyone; he said that there were only two classes of people, those who
know
and those who do not know, those who have seen the way and those who have
not
yet seen it. He also said that those to be pitied most were not the bigoted
and
intolerant, but the millions who do not know that there is anything beyond
the
world worth striving for, and are happy in their ignorance. Madame Blavatsky
interpreted
the strife to be between the immortal higher ego and the lower
personal
ego, these being the living and the dead respectively.
The
door is never closed against those who really wish to draw nearer to the
occult
path. He who wants to do so must be given his opportunity to try. And
then,
even if he fails it will not be in vain, for some of his enemies,
239
his
vices and weaknesses, will have been destroyed, and will not trouble him
again.
It is rare for anyone to blunder so badly as to be put himself back into
a
distinctly lower grade in life; but if a man takes up black magic containing a
great
deal of powerful evil and exerts himself very much in that line, he may
wrench
away the personality altogether from the ego, and create such bad karma
as
to make it necessary for him to go back to primitive conditions. Such cases
are
very rare. A person who has been really unworthy of his class is usually
thrown
back into unpleasant surroundings in the same class or just below it. It
would,
however, be •great unwisdom not to try to rise because there may be
danger
of a fall from a higher and more responsible position.
On
the other hand, a man who attains, it is said in the text, will be honoured
as
a great and holy Buddha. Of course, the Arhat is not technically a Buddha.
But
he is Buddha, that is to say, wise or enlightened.
Madame
Blavatsky explained that " the secret life " is that of the
Nirmanakaya.
His
greatness is hidden from the sight of man, and yet he continues to live in
this
world. The term is here used in a general way not only for those who remain
on
the threshold of liberation in order to fill the reservoir of spiritual
force,
but for all who remain behind, thus including the official Members of the
Hierarchy,
such as our Masters. We generally reserve the term in these days,
however,
for those who follow one of the seven great lines after taking the
Fifth
Initiation—Those who fill the reservoir.
240
We
meet here once more the idea of the path of woe. The statement is somewhat
misleading,
and rather a. misuse of the term woe. It is true that a Master who
is
using the physical body does not obtain the enjoyment of working on the
nirvanic
plane, but He would smile at the suggestion that he was in woe. When a
man
gains the nirvanic consciousness, he does not lose it because he keeps a
physical
body, except when he is actively engaged on the lower planes. At any
moment,
between writing two letters or any two pieces of work on the physical
plane,
he can slip away at once into the higher consciousness, and carry on its
work,
which is infinitely more satisfying, and altogether more glorious and
blissful
than anyone can imagine down here.
It
is true that coming back from the higher planes to physical existence is like
going
down from the sunlight into a very dark dungeon; but you would not think
of
that if in that place there was someone whom you very much loved and wished
to
help. Physical life does involve the renunciation of the higher glory :but
the
definite object of helping fills the soul to such an extent that certainly
there
is no suffering. Indeed, at a much lower stage of evolution, a person who
knows
that someone else is suffering and needs real help that he can give, and
yet
neglects that call and goes away to enjoy himself somewhere else, would
afterwards
be deeply troubled by remorse, so that his suffering would ultimately
be
greater than if he had renounced his pleasure in the first place. Really, the
greatest
happiness for all of us comes from doing the best that we know.
241
There
is a large number of candidates who do not actually fall, but are riot
conscious
of making progress. Many of these are subject occasionally to
depression,
and have the feeling that their efforts have been in vain, since
there
is nothing to show for them. They should not allow themselves to be
depressed,
because that spoils the astral atmosphere for other people, and is
therefore
selfish. But quite apart from that, it is foolish, because they ought
to
know that all the time they are making real inner progress. Long before they
become
aware of it in the physical brain, the astral and perhaps the mental body
have
been organized by their meditation, and they may be doing very definite and
useful
work in the inner worlds in a variety of ways. The whole life may seem to
be
a failure, but nevertheless much has been done which will be carried forward
into
the next life, and will then make possible some conspicuous progress,
perhaps
even on the physical plane. In any given life a man develops both good
and
evil qualities. The latter show themselves in the four lower sub-planes of
the
astral world. As these reflect their influence in the mental plane only on
its
four lower sub-planes, they do not affect the ego at all. The only emotions
that
can appeal in the three higher astral sub-planes are those which are good,
such
as love, sympathy and devotion. These affect the ego in the causal body,
since
it resides on the corresponding sub-planes of the mental world. Therefore
every
feeling and thought of a higher kind can be seen, even in this mechanical
way,
to have, a permanent result in the higher Self. And since
242
it
is the ego that treads the Path, he is making quite definite steps of
progress
with every right effort. So there is no reason to despair, nor to put
off
until tomorrow what we can do today just because we cannot do everything at
once.
The
Path is one, disciple, yet in the end, twofold. Marked are its stages by
four
and seven portals. At one end bliss immediate, and at the other bliss
deferred.
Both are of merit the reward: the choice is thine.
The
one becomes the two, the open and the secret. The first one leadeth to the
goal,
the second to self-immolation.
When
to the permanent is sacrificed the mutable, the prize is thine; the drop
returneth
whence it came. The open Path leads to the changeless change—Nirvana,
the
glorious state of absoluteness, the bliss past human thought.
Thus,
the first Path is liberation.
Yes,
there is only one way, and that is by the unfolding of character. There is
no
limit to the possibilities of the ego in that respect; the noblest qualities
of
the greatest men exist in bud in all our fellow men and will unfold into
flower
sooner or later. And at the end, when one has done all that is possible
in
the human kingdom, with the limitations of the human brain and environment,
the
path becomes twofold, and one must choose between liberation and
renunciation.
Here the term liberation
243
means
the acceptance of nirvana, though sometimes it is used for mere escape
from
the wheel of births and deaths at a lower level, as we have already seen in
studying
At the Feet of the Master.
Those
who do not follow the White Lodge use other methods, which often develop
psychic
powers to a relatively high point. But as the path of grey magic Is not
hedged
round by restrictions, as is that taught by the Great White Lodge, sooner
or
later the man misuses his powers—for the temptation is too great. Sometimes,
"however,
the followers of other lines end by coming into touch with the true
teaching
and pledging themselves to the Lodge. In America especially there is a
great
amount of more or less public teaching of occultism of the grey variety.
But
the real path is one—the Path of Holiness, the building of character.
The
four portals mentioned here are the four initiations leading to Arhatship,
described
at length in The Masters and the Path. Another arrangement divides it
into
seven stages, as we shall see in the third Fragment of this book.
At
the highest levels of attainment on this path the aspirant will recover the
memory
of his past lives, though at the same time his consciousness will have
widened
enormously, so as to take in that of great hosts of beings, and he will
realize
that his power and love are not his own, but God's. Only separateness
will
have been lost, and looking back he will see that he has been living under
a
delusion of separateness. He will see, too, that his past lives were very
commonplace;
that the
244
turning
point in them were not usually the events that he considered to be the
most
striking and important while he was experiencing them, but that very often
the
little things of daily life were the events that really made for the
greatest
progress.
But
Path the second is renunciation, and therefore called the Path of woe.
The
secret path leads the Arhan to mental woe unspeakable; woe for the living
dead,
and helpless pity for the men of karmic sorrow; the fruit of Karma Sages
dare
not still.
For
it is written: " Teach to eschew all causes; the ripple of effect, as the
great
tidal wave, thou shalt let run its course."
By
the "mental woe unspeakable" of the Arhan,. which is another form of
the word
Arhat,
on the secret path is meant the suffering that comes through sympathy. He
sees
all the pain and sorrow of the world; but at the same time he sees all the
joy
as well. He feels the greatest compassion for the "living dead," that
is,
for
the great majority of mankind, who do not even know that there is something
to
strive for. Then, secondly, there is " helpless pity " that is
aroused by
seeing
the karmic suffering, the results of foolishness, which he cannot—we
should
say, rather, dare not—still. He can explain to people the principle of
karma,
so that they will take their painful experiences in the best way,, and
thus
mitigate the suffering to some extent, but he cannot do away with the
results
of past actions.
245
Even
in exoteric Christianity, the " forgiveness " of sins is not
explained as
meaning
that the results of sins will be abolished. In the Anglican Church, for
instance,
when a priest is ordained and the power is conferred on him to forgive
sins,
in accordance with the words which in the Christian scriptures are
attributed
to the Christ; " Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto
them,
and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained " it is explained to him
that
what he has power to do is to set the offender right again with God, when
by
his sin he has put himself in the wrong, or, in other words, he can turn the
man
once more into the current of evolution, after he has set himself athwart it
and
so blocked his own advance. Behind that Christian conception there is a
beautiful
idea, but more beautiful still is the Theosophical realization that
one
can never get away from the Divine, that even the man who falls into avichi
is
still part of the Deity.
It
has repeatedly happened that good and earnest students have refrained from
giving
help lest they should be interfering with a person's karma. No one can
interfere
with the law of karma, any more than with the law of gravitation. If
you
hold up a book in your hand, it contains the potential energy of
gravitation,
and the moment that the force you are employing to hold it up is
withdrawn
the book falls. The law of karma operates In the same way. Karma not
paid
off is similar to potential energy; it may be suspended for thousands of
years
or for hundreds of lives, but when the time comes it will manifest itself.
246
People
sometimes think of karma as merciless. But it is not so. It is just as
impersonal
as any other law of nature. On the physical plane laws work without
any
regard to good or bad intentions. If a child falls over a precipice the
amount
of injury it sustains depends upon the height of the fall, and whether
the
ground is hard or soft, and not at all on such moral considerations as
whether
it was trying to pull a companion out of danger, or wanted to pick a
flower
for its mother, or whether it threw itself over in a fit of passion.
Similarly,
if a man catches hold of a hot bar of iron, he may do it to prevent
its
falling on someone else, or with intent 1 to strike someone with it; the
injury
done to the hand will be the same in either case. That is the way in
which
karma works on the physical plane. But on the mental plane intentions
count
for a great deal, for we make our own character for the future by our
thinking.
So
one should never abstain from giving help when possible. If when you have
done
your best you fail, then you may say: "His karma did not allow of his
being
helped,"
or else: " My karma did not give me the privilege of helping him,"
but
that
is all. All that really matters is that we work for others. Work is
expansive
and cumulative; if you bring one person into Theosophy, he may bring
another
ten, and each of those, ten more.
Another
sense in which we can take this verse, " the fruit of karma sages dare
not
still," is that even if a great Adept were to do away with some apparent
evil—
with all poverty, for instance—he would effect no real
247
good,
but only go against the law of the Logos. I do not mean that the Logos
wills
such evil; it would be blasphemous to say that His scheme includes
necessary
suffering, that He causes it. Suffering comes only by doing what He
has
expressly told us not to do. It is true that all have suffered; no one, so
far
as we know, has always chosen the right thing and never made mistakes; but
the
suffering has always put us right when we have refused to learn in any other
way,
and thus the law has made certain for all of us the ultimate attainment of
the
indescribable bliss of nirvana.
The
open way, no sooner hast thou reached its goal, will lead thee to reject the
Bodhisattvic
body, and make thee enter the thrice glorious state of Dhannakaya,
which
is oblivion of the world and men for ever.
The
secret way leads also to Paranirvanic bliss —but at the close of Kalpas
without
number; Nirvanas gamed and lost from boundless pity and compassion for
the
world of deluded mortals.
But
it is said: " The last shall be the greatest." Samyak Sambuddha, the
Teacher
of
perfection, gave up his Self for the salvation of the world, by stopping at
the
threshold of Nirvana, the pure state.
We
have already considered the three vestures, and seen that no idea of
selfishness
can attach to one who takes any of them. The Nirmanakayas are like
the
contemplative orders, filling the reservoir of spiritual force
248
for
the use of the Adepts who are in touch with our world. There are some fifty
or
sixty posts which the latter may fill. The Nirmanakaya still retains his
permanent
atoms, and so could, I suppose, if he wanted, fill one of these posts
if
it became vacant. The post of Bodhisattva falls vacant once in each
root-race,
but there are already many appointed to fill the office far into the
future,
who are now being prepared. Many of those who became Arhats during the
incarnation
of the Lord Buddha remain as Nirmanakayas, because of his teaching.
All
these offices and positions must be filled, and those who renounce nirvana
are
only volunteering to do what we might call the dirty work. The Adept, if one
may
put it so, feels not so much the loss of pleasure, as the knowledge that
working
on the nirvanic level would be a million times more effective than down
below.
And yet someone must do that lower work. In the scheme of the Logos, the
smallest
bit of work is as necessary as the greatest, just as the oiling of a
great
locomotive is as necessary as the driving of it.
The
Bodhisattvic body here alluded to is that of all those who remain to help
the
world—not only that of the very limited number of those who will be Buddhas.
Stopping
at the threshold of nirvana means that one does not enter in and
entirely
leave the lower planes, as some do, and as the Buddha might have done
had
he so chosen. He who thus remains has the higher consciousness to the
fullest
extent, and also retains his consciousness even down to the physical
plane,
and so can work on any plane required. It is said that the Buddha
THE WAY
OF THE ARHAT 249
is,
at his level, free of the solar system, that he can move to any of the
planets
of the system, just as some of us can move to other planets of our
chain.
Yet even for him there must be a limit, because he has not yet entered
into
the consciousness of the Logos. I do not know whether his consciousness
includes
the sun; Swami T. Subba Row once spoke of the sun as a place of life so
intense
that even a Dhyan Chohan can hardly enter it.
The
buddhic plane appears to take us anywhere through our chain of worlds.
Nirvanic
consciousness would mean consciousness anywhere In the solar system. At
the
Fourth Initiation a touch of nirvana is given, but that does not mean the
full
consciousness of that plane.' It is entry into the lowest part of it, and
one
has still to rise, sub-plane by sub-plane, until full consciousness of the
plane
is acquired.
Of
the Buddha it is said that He attained Para-nirvana. Thus it is possible to
consider
different levels of nirvana—the different sub-planes of the atmic
plane,
then the two planes of our system beyond that, and on into the higher
cosmic
planes.
Thou
hast the knowledge now concerning the two ways. Thy time will come for
choice,
O thou of eager Soul, when thou hast reached the end and passed the
seven
portals. Thy mind is clear. No more art thou entangled in delusive
thoughts,
for thou hast learned all. Unveiled stands Truth and looks thee
sternly
in the face. She says:
250
"
Sweet are the fruits of rest and liberation for the sake of self; but sweeter
still
the fruits of long and bitter duty: aye, renunciation for the sake of
others,
of suffering fellow-men."
The
Bodhisattva who has won the battle, who holds the prize within his palm, yet
says
in his divine compassion:
"
For others' sake this great reward I yield "— accomplishes the greater
renunciation.
A
Saviour of the world is he.
• • •
* • •
Behold!
The goal of bliss and the long Path of woe are at the furthest end. Thou
canst
choose either, O aspirant to sorrow, throughout the coming cycles!
Aum
vajrapani hum.
The
greater renunciation is renouncing the higher work, after seeing it, in
order
to do the lesser work, which we have seen to be just as necessary. Such a
matter
as the renunciation of the desires of the personality is an altogether
lower
renunciation.
We
must not import into our thought here any tinge of the popular Christian idea
of
a Saviour who comes to save us from eternal torment. The idea is, of course,
nothing
but a horrible distortion of the earlier and truly Christian teaching,
as
for example that of Origen, who believed in the deification of man through
Christ.
Every one who has risen into true communion with the Master
251
has
become identified with him, and is safe or sure to complete the treading of
the
Path in the present cycle. The original meaning of the term " saved "
has
been
explained in The Masters and the Path.
When
we speak of the Nirmanakayas as the Guardian Wall, we do not for a moment
imagine
that they are protecting us against evil powers who are waiting for an
opportunity
to pounce upon mankind. They are engaged, as said before, in filling
the
reservoir with force used by the Great White Brotherhood, to give help and
guidance
intelligently wherever it is possible, and to save mankind from many
mistakes
which it might otherwise commit, and from the suffering which would
then
ensue.
This
Fragment ends not with " Om mani padme hum ", as did the first, but a
different
formula: " Aum vajrapani hum," Vajra means a thunder-bolt, as well as
a
diamond. The term reminds us of Jove with his thunderbolts and of the Norse
God
Thor. This thunderbolt is the dorje, the rod of power, of which I have given
a
sketch in The Masters and the Path.
FRAGMENT
III THE SEVEN PORTALS
CHAPTER
1 THE PARAMITA HEIGHTS
Acharya,
the choice is made, I thirst for wisdom. Now hast Thou rent the veil
before
the secret path, and taught the greatest Yana. Thy servant here is ready
for
Thy guidance.
C.W.L.—There
is a footnote to the word Acharya, which means a spiritual
preceptor
or guru. It explains that among the Northern Buddhists these are
chosen
from among the saintly men learned in gotrabhu-jnana. The gotrabhu is the
man
who is ready for any one of the Initiations, he who has all the qualities
and
only awaits permission to present himself. Gotrabhu-jnana is the knowledge
of
those qualifications. The Masters —Adepts who take pupils or apprentices—are
they
who have that knowledge.
The
term Yana has already been discussed in Chapter 1 of the first Fragment.
'Tis
well, Shravaka. Prepare thyself, for thou wilt have to travel on alone. Thy
teacher
can but point the way. The Path is one for all, the means to reach the
goal
must vary with the pilgrims.
2
-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales-------
206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24-1DL
The
word shravaka comes from the root shru which means to listen. The "
listener
"
is one who attends to the religious instructions, says a footnote, and when.
from
theory he passes into the practice or performance of asceticism, he becomes
a
Shramana, from shramay exertion. The two terms have much the same meaning as
the
akoustikoi and askitai among the Greeks.
All
who tread the Path must gain the same qualities or virtues, but the modes of
training
for this are very varied. There are seven great types of men, or seven
rays,
and along each of these aspirants are drawn to teachers of their own rays.
Even
within the same type the teaching is adapted to individual needs, so the
pupils
of one Master often receive quite different treatment. Thus a Master may
send
one of his pupils into seclusion and another out into the struggle of the
world.
He may give one the satisfaction of knowing that he is being taught, and
leave
another without that knowledge for a great length of time. Of this
training
and the different types some considerable account has been given in The
Masters
and the Path.
Which
will thou choose, O thou of dauntless heart? The Samtan of eye doctrine,
fourfold
Dhyana, or thread thy way through Paramitas, six in number, noble gates
of
virtue leading to Bodhi and to Prajna, seventh step of wisdom?
The
rugged path of fourfold Dhyana winds uphill Thrice great is he who climbs
the
lofty top.
2
-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales-------
206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24-1DL
The
Paramita heights are crossed by a still steeper path. Thou hast to fight thy
way
through portals seven, seven strongholds held by cruel, crafty powers
—passions
incarnate.
Little
is said in this Fragment about the fourfold dhyana, but much about the
paramitas.
The steps in meditation or dhyana are always spoken of as three, as
we
have seen in studying the first Fragment, and these taken together are called
sannyama.
These three are dharana, dhyana and samadhi, or concentration,
meditation
and contemplation, and there is the preliminary practice of
pratyahara,
making the fourth. We have also studied the paramitas in the second
Fragment.
Here the path for the attainment of those virtues is spoken of as
having
seven portals, at each of which the. candidate has to struggle with and
slay
a great fault or sin.
It
seems a little misleading to put meditation and the development of these
qualities
one against the other, for both are necessary. One cannot meditate
without
having these qualities, and one cannot develop the qualities to
perfection
without meditation. It may have been that even at his day Aryasanga
was
contrasting the path of retirement, of the man who avoided the difficulties
and
distractions of the world in order to go by himself to meditate apart from
men,
with the path of the spiritual life lived in the midst of the world of men,
which
requires the practice of ideals in all the affairs of daily life. He would
then
have been speaking of the former as a
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lofty
path, but of the latter as greater still, or father steeper still.
Instances
of men achieving perfection amidst the business of daily life are
quite
common in the Hindu books. The great gurus of the Mahabharata were active
in
the council chamber and on the battlefield, and a merchant is also mentioned,
in
the person of Tuladhara. In the Bhagavad-Gita the path of duty and action is
taught,
and Shri Krishna tells Arjuna, His pupil, that Janaka and others
attained
to perfection by action, and he should do the same, performing action
without
personal attachment to the fruit of it, but for the sake of mankind.1
A
glance at the opposites of the paramitas will show the nature of the cruel,
crafty
powers which must be fought. The man who is self-centred forgets that he
is
one unit in a whole, that, as Epictetus said, .without mankind around him he
would
not even be a man. Charity and general ethical development or morality in
its
full sense do away with this self-centredness, and open the man up so that
he
thinks more of others than of himself, and becomes a benefactor to those who
suffer,
a good companion to his peers, and a responsive pupil to his teacher.
People
often allow their patience to be ruffled by resentment. They "feel
hurt,"
and
are discontented complaining inwardly, if not outwardly. This means that
they
forget that just because there is a law of justice, which is all the time
engaged
in repaying past debts between man and man, there must be some 1 Op.
cit.,
III 20.
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apparent
injustice. Sometimes a man wants to see the result of his own work at
an
early stage, because he is thinking of himself, not of the work, and he wants
to
boast about it or at least to congratulate himself upon its achievement. At a
later
stage, he is sorry because his efforts made for a good purpose seem to
fail;
there is still something of discontent and impatience in that. Later he
will
see that it was the effort that was the important thing, not the results.
When
these feelings trouble him no more, he will have acquired patience.
Again,
the natural man is lazy. He likes to bask in the sun, and will not exert
himself
until hunger moves him, or there arises a vainglorious desire to hang
more
scalps to his belt, which urges him to rise while his fellow-savages are
sleeping.
Tireless, dauntless energy is not "natural". Observe Dr. Besant,
utilizing
every moment of the day, always working, never wasting time. Do you
suppose
it was natural to her in the past to be always at work? She does it
because
she has seen the beauty of the goal—to be a helper of mankind.
Meditation
also is not " natural". It calls for much trouble, a strong exertion
of
the mind, and the keeping of the body in subjection. The acquirement of
wisdom
also involves study and effort, and sometimes the courage to face
uncomfortable
and even dangerous experiences.
Be
of good cheer, disciple; bear in- mind the golden role. Once thou hast passed
the
gate Srotapatti, "he who die stream hath entered"; once thy foot hath
pressed
die bed of die nirvanic
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stream
in this or any future life; thou hast but seven other births before thee,
O
thou of adamantine will.
Seven
lives is the average period between the First Initiation and the Fourth,
but
if the will is sufficiently strong, a man can attain the goal in less. It is
analogous
to the preparation of a student for an examination; it is considered
that
a certain period of time spent in study should fit the average candidate to
pass,
but any given man may take a longer or a shorter time. Two lives have
often
brought a man from his First Initiation to Arhatship; some few people have
achieved
that goal in one life. The same rule then holds good for the attainment
of
Adeptship, for the Arhat is just half way.
Look
on. What seest thou before thine eye, O aspirant to God-like wisdom?
"
The cloak of darkness is upon the deep of matter; within its folds I struggle.
Beneath
my gaze it deepens, Lord; it is dispelled beneath the waving of Thy
hand.
A shadow moveth, creeping like the stretching serpent coils.... It grows,
swells
out, and disappears in darkness."
It
is the shadow of thyself outside the Path, cast on the darkness of thy sins.
Here
one would prefer to say faults and failings rather than sins. These become
much
more dangerous on the Path than ever they were before. Therefore an iron
261
determination
to eradicate them utterly and at once is required for treading the
way.
When one sees a fault in oneself, one should go and do exactly the
opposite,
unflinchingly and steadily, until it is completely gone. Few people
are
willing to do this. Sometimes they beg one to be open with them and tell
them
just what it is that keeps them back. If one does it, one risks losing
their
friendship. Generally they become indignant and say that they know that
they
have many faults but not the one to which you have drawn their attention
and
that they do not think much of your judgment or intuition. There are
exceptions,
but that is the general rule.
On
the Path a man has to live by his own rules, not simply to follow the rules
or
conventions of the social environment in which he find? himself. This
increases
his difficulties and dangers. He is trying his utmost— of that we may
be
sure, for if he were not, he would be throwing away the fruits of the efforts
of
many lives, and that would be madness. Others have no means of judging him.
He
holds in his hand a key which others do not possess, and for him therefore
all
things wear a new aspect. He needs the kind thoughts of others— not
criticism
of what they do not understand—for he is not insensitive, and they
will
aid him to rise rapidly and become a power to uplift the world.
"Yea,
Lord; I see the Path; its foot in mire, its summit lost in glorious light
nirvanic;
and now I see the ever-narrowing portals on the hard and thorny road
to
Jnana."
262
Thou
seest well, Lanoo. These portals lead
the aspirant across the waters on
to
the other shore.
"
The other shore " is a phrase that is constantly used. There are two
distinct
forms
of symbology which make use of this metaphor. In one, the whole of life is
likened
to the ocean, and men are ferried to the other shore, to the state
beyond
death and rebirth, by the Mahayana or the Hinayana. The second is a more
technical
meaning At the first great Initiation, a man steps out from the
general
evolution, which he has now completed, and begins the special one. As
much
as is permissible of the ceremony that then takes place has been printed in
The
Masters and the Path, including the words: "You have entered upon the
stream.
May you soon reach the further shore. "l That shore is, of course,
Adeptship.
Each
portal hath a golden key that openeth its gate; and these keys are: 1.
Dana,
the key of charity and love immortal.
This
is not mere charity in the sense of giving alms, nor what is commonly
called
a charitable attitude, though that is much more than the former. It means
utter
readiness to give oneself and all one has in service. There are not many
people
in the world who have reached that stage, who are ready to employ all
their
time, energy, money, feelings and thoughts to this end. And even for those
who
have reached that point there is a further stage, for there may still exist
the
fault of identifying the work with oneself instead of
1
Op. cit., Ch. VII.
263
oneself
with the work. There are many who are willing to take up great work, but
few
who will forget themselves to the point of doing any insignificant piece of
work
of which no notice will be taken and for which no thanks are given. The
disciple
of the Master has to look round and see what has to be done that he can
do
that is not being done. He must not look with disfavour upon the humblest
task,
thinking, " I am too good for this." In the Master's work no part is
more
important
than any other, though some portions are more difficult than others,
and
therefore require special training or unusual faculties or ability.
To
sacrifice yourself thoroughly, you must also sacrifice your feelings. If
these
are liable to be hurt, you will waste a lot of force in being offended
that
should have been put into the work. We must always do our best, and not
stop
to think: " What a fine fellow I am."
Then
we must also have " love immortal". Tennyson said of the dead:
They
watch like God the rolling hours With larger, other eyes than ours, To make
allowance
for us all.
God
knows all, and he does not lose patience. We are apt to lose patience with
one
another, and quickly get tired of making allowances, but he does not. It has
been
well said: Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner.1
2.
Shila, the key of harmony in word and act, the key that counterbalances the
causes
and the effect, and leaves no further room for karmic action.
1
"To understand all is to pardon all."
264
The
word sila is generally translated simply " con-duct," but here the
writer
emphasizes
the idea of harmony. He who practises shila will be ever attentive to
his
own dharma, studious of what he can do with the powers that he has in the
position
in which karma has placed him. This is the quality also which will
close
up his karmic account as quickly as possible, and enable him to enjoy
ever-increasing
freedom and opportunity to do good.
3. Kshanti,
patience, sweet, that
nought can ruffle.
While
the candidate at this stage of his journey must acquire a great measure of
this
quality, it still remains to be perfected later on. To be utterly unruffled
is
a very high condition. The Arhat is spoken of as the perfect—the
venerable—yet
he has five fetters to cast off before reaching Adeptship, and of
these
the last but one is the possibility of being ruffled by anything whatever.
4. Vairagya, indifference to pleasure and to
pain, illusion conquered, truth
alone
perceived.
The
whole of the third of our commentary on At the Feet of the Master is taken
up
with the quality of vairagya, which is there translated desirelessness. As
was
said before, it is usually translated indifference or dispassion.
This
quality is possessed by the man who is keenly alert about his work, but
never
allows personal considerations to stand in his way. He has got rid of
feelings
that can be hurt, but has not lost sympathy. He is
265
indifferent
to the things which commonly sway not disturbed by passions, but has
calm,
cool judgment. This so-called indifference does not mean that the man will
not
put enthusiasm into his work, but that he will do so when it is painful and
troublesome
just as much as when it is full of pleasure. When the quality is
well
developed, the man will see that most of our pleasures and pains are
illusions,
and are caused by a wrong way of taking things. He will see the truth
of
the saying of the ancient Stoic that it is our opinions about things that
trouble
us more than the things themselves.
5.
Virya, the dauntless energy that fights its way to the supernal truth, out of
the
mire of lies terrestrial.
Each
person who approaches the. Path has his own special qualities, on account
of
which he will find some of these portals especially easy to pass and others
difficult.
The quality of patience, for example, would generally be much easier
for
the Eastern disciple, and the quality of energy for the Western. When this
list
was first placed before us, some of us wondered why the more difficult
qualities
were placed at the beginning. Really it was not so. The Lord Buddha
was
an Indian and he drew it up for the Indian people, and probably he placed
first
on the list the steps which they were likely to find the easiest.
It
certainly is difficult, when one has first developed a great deal of energy,
or
Virya, to acquire the sweet patience, or kshanti, afterwards. A person who
has
this
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energy
and hears about the path wants immediately to tread it to the very
end-—but
without patience he will cause such a disturbance all along the way,
and
create such a quantity of troublesome karma that he will delay himself
considerably.
On the other hand the man who has the patience and not the energy
will
perhaps be content to go along very slowly—and his progress will then be
slow
indeed.
There
is a tendency of this kind at present in the East. I remember that in
Ceylon
I was once told that in ancient times people really attained nirvana, but
that
now times were evil—it was what was called a dark age, a kali yuga—and
these
achievements were no longer possible, though perhaps in some far distant,
golden
future they would again become so. But the great teachers are with us
still,
and though, as the Christian Scripture says, strait is the gate and
narrow
is the way, yet now as ever that gate can be found and that way can be
trodden.
In
these matters, no man can tell where he stands. To many Theosophy conies as a
recollection;
that means that they knew something about it in former lives. If
in
those lives a man has worked hard to reach the Path, in this life a little
more
work will bring him to it. But if he is only now beginning that effort he
has
a long way to go, and it would be an almost superhuman feat for him to enter
the
stream in this incarnation.
The
efforts that many Theosophists are making imply a great strain; that is why
there
is sometimes so much disturbance in the Theosophical Society, so much
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irritability
and quarrelling. I have heard people say that other Societies have
far
less trouble of this kind. That is naturally the case. If you join a
geographical
or geological other similar society, you are simply joining a set
of
people who are working together to acquire more knowledge, generally of a
particular
kind. But in the Theosophical Society many people are putting a great
strain
upon their astral and mental bodies and that reacts upon their physical
bodies.
I think, therefore, that as we shall continue to deal with a set of
sensitive
and not yet perfect people, who are pressing forward more rapidly than
nature
in its normal course intended, the history of the Society will probably
continue
to record many disturbances, though the time is bound to come for each
one
of its members when he will acquire the " patience sweet that naught can
ruffle
",
6.
Dhyana, whose golden gate once opened leads, the Narjol towards the realm of
Sat
eternal and its ceaseless contemplation.
In
earlier editions of this book, you will find that the word narjol is
mis-spelt
naljor. This was a mistake, corrected in the later editions. The
mis-spelling
was due to the fact that Madame Blavatsky read the word astrally,
and
reading a book astrally you see at the same time what is written on the
front
of the page, and also the reverse of the characters as from behind. Of
course,
you would not focus your attention on the reverse aspect of the print or
writing;
you would normally notice only the page spread out before you—those
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would
be quite distinct, and the reverse would then be out of focus. Still,
reading
in this way it is quite easy to make mistakes and get some things
reversed.
This is especially true of numbers; you can see at once if you are
looking
at 7 the wrong way about, but 18 can easily be mistaken for
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.
Madame
Blavatsky sometimes got numbers reversed in this way. She used often to
look
astrally at rare books, of which only one or two copies exist, and some of
us
would go to the British Museum to verify a quotation which she had stated as
being,
let us say, on page 139, and would find that it was on page
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1.
Generally
we found her quotations accurate, though sometimes there were small
inaccuracies;
once, I remember, she left out the word " not", which did make
quite
a difference to the sense! Seeing that Madame Blavatsky did not know
Sanskrit,
Pali or Tibetan, and had to depend entirely on her memory when using
words
in those languages, as she so frequently did, the wonder is not that she
made
some mistakes, but that she made so few.
The
word narjol, which has led us into this little digression, is a Tibetan word
which
means adept or saint, or, even better, yogi. Its derivation is from a word
meaning
" peace ". The narjol is therefore one who strives after the inner
peace.
It
is dhyana or meditation which opens the gates of the higher self. Most of our
Theosophical
information, and of what is written in the ancient Scriptures, has
come
to us by way of clairvoyance. There is a mass
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of
investigation waiting to be done by clairvoyance. In occult chemistry, for
example,
we have examined the elements and some compounds, but there is a vast
work
to be done in that field by someone who has the faculty of etheric vision
and
magnification, and the patience to observe and count the atoms over and over
again.
The
Stanzas of Dzyan must have been written by one who could read the minds of
the
directing Devas, and thus see what they were aiming at. What we say about
rings
and rounds may not be exact, but the information given about the astral
and
mental planes, being the result of thousands of observations, is reasonably
sure
to be so. There may still arise errors from premature generalization—that
happens
in every science—-from the mistaking of the abnormal for the normal, or
from
the oversight of some class of phenomena bearing on a general theory. Such,
for
example, was our former idea about the interval between lives, and the way
in
which egos incarnated regularly in successive sub-races, which was announced
as
the normal course of evolution until we discovered another type of egos who
kept
mostly to one sub-race and reincarnated twice as frequently as the others.
There
may be half a dozen more types for all we know; all we can say is that we
have
not yet come across them.
The
old Scriptures are especially valuable because they were largely written by
people
who could see clairvoyantly. Many are repelled from them because of the
way
in which they present their ideas, sometimes by their archaic flavour. Every
age
has had its own.
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methods
of expression. Our modern way is quite bald; we put things as plainly as
we
can. In ancient Egypt, to take a different example, everything was told in a
very
poetic garb. The Gnostic books also wrapped everything up in elaborate
symbology.
Therefore, if one wants to study the Book of the Dead, or Pistis
Sophia,
even supposing one gets an accurate translation, which is not always the
case,
one has still to try to put oneself back into the attitude of mind of the
times
when they were written, and that is very difficult. It also takes
time—more
than the modern man can usually give to it, if he is also engaged in
earning
his livelihood in some other way.
In
the old days in every part of the world life was much more leisurely. It was
the
custom to make things comfortable and easy for everybody, and generally to
put
off till to-morrow any business that could possibly be avoided to-day. In
looking
up a great number of past lives, I found the same thing everywhere.
There
were no trains to catch or newspapers or magazines to bring out by a
certain
time of day or on a certain date. The nearest approach that I have found
to
a regular serial publication was a series of letters, brought out at
intervals
which were very long and quite irregular-so that sometimes months
elapsed
between the issues.
In
spite of all this, men did attain Adeptship in those old days, but they must
have
found it hard to acquire virya, the dauntless energy required for the path.
Still,
the unresting activity, the ceaseless hurry of our modern Western world,
is
not exactly the same thing as virya.
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It
is often by outward compulsion that people show their energy. If they are not
punctual
and assiduous in business, the competition is such that other men will
pass
ahead of them and they will not be able to make a living. But the student
of
occultism is moved by his own inner compulsion, and is always working
steadily—but
without hurry or flurry, for he wants his work to be well done.
Probably
the principal danger in this matter is that of doing too little, of
letting
things go undone which ought to be done. Yet some people spoil their
work
by undertaking too much. Mrs. Besant is a magnificent example of the middle
course;
she is always at work, and plans all her time to the best advantage, but
she
does not attempt more than she can do. She will often say about a thing: "
This
is not my work, for I have, no time for it."
There
is truth in the saying that the busiest man always has the most time. It
is
so because he does not mismanage his time. But there are men who take upon
themselves
more work than they can really do, sometimes because they have the
feeling,
which may be well founded, that no one else among the people around
them
can do the work quite as well. This was once the case many years ago with a
certain
General Secretary of one of the Sections of the Theosophical Society. He
was
a splendid worker of great ability, and his opinion that he could do things
best
was probably justified. But he undertook so much that work left undone for
lack
of time accumulated until, when his successor came into office, things were
in
an almost hopeless muddle.
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It
is better to tread the middle path in this matter, to portion out your work
carefully,
and to spare some of the time to teach and to train other workers. It
is
often much more trouble to show someone else how to do a piece of work than
to
do it oneself, but one hopes that, when one has shown him once or twice, or
if
necessary ten times, he will be able to do it alone a hundred times, so that
in
the end there will be gain.
7.
Prajna, the key to which makes of a man a God, creating him a Bodhisattva,
son
of the Dhyanis.
Such
to the portals are the golden keys.
We
have now come to the last of these qualities. Prajna, which means, once more,
wisdom—more
in the sense of a faculty of consciousness than of knowledge that is
wisdom
because it penetrates to the life behind the form. Jnana, also translated
wisdom,
is not a faculty, but prajna is.
It
is said that this quality makes the Bodhisattva. This latter term is used
here
in a wide sense. Technically, a Bodhisattva is one who is destined to
become
a Buddha, who has given to a living Buddha the pledge that in a future
life
he will take up that office. But all men alike will pass through the level
of
the Bodhisattva, on their various lines. There are seven great planetary
lines,
and Masters taking pupils are at work along each of them. Every man,
going
along his own line, will ultimately be drawn into contact with a Master
standing
at the head of that line. There is, however, the possibility
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of
a man's changing from one line to another through devotion to a particular
Master,
but this requires a certain extra amount of study and effort; for a man
most
readily adapts himself to occult training on his own line.
He
who becomes a Buddha must thousands of years beforehand have made, his vow to
a
living Buddha, and it is said that from that time onward the influence of the
Buddha
overshadows him, and that when in due course he attains Buddhahood, the
great
influence of the spiritual Buddha hovers over the incarnate Buddha. The
Lord
Gautama is said to have taken his vow to Buddha Dipankara, and the latter
is
supposed to have been also present in the background during the years when
the
Buddha Gautama was preaching. One can only repeat what has been said on
these
high matters, but certainly it is a very beautiful idea. It is also a
natural
one, for we know that on a much lower level the Master is always
overshadowing
the disciple, who is part of his consciousness.
CHAPTER
2
TUNING
THE HEART
Before
thou canst approach the last, O weaver of thy freedom, thou hast to
master
these Paramitas of perfection—the virtues transcendental six and ten in
number—along
the weary path.
For,
O disciple! before thou wert made fit to meet thy Teacher face to face, thy
Master
light to light, what wert thou told?
Before
thou canst approach the foremost gate thou hast to learn to part thy body
from
thy mind, to dissipate the shadow, and to live in the eternal. For this,
thou
hast to live and breathe in all, as all that thou perceivest breathes in
thee;
to feel thyself abiding in all things, all things in Self.
C.W.L.—-To
meet thy Master light to light expresses a wonderful truth. When the
pupil
comes into touch with his Master's consciousness, and the latter enfolds
him
for the first time, his aura shines forth brilliantly with the Master's
light,
as I have explained in The Masters and the Path.1
1
Op. cit., Ch. V.
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These
verses go again over much of the ground traversed at the beginning of the
First
Fragment. To part the body from the mind means literally that one must
learn
to make the mayavi rupa, and metaphorically that one must discriminate
what
is reality and understand that one is not the body. The astral body is the
shadow
of the physical one; this must not be destroyed, but its influence over
the
pupil must be done away with. One must use it, but not allow it to dominate
one.
To live in the eternal is not to leave the world, but to judge things all
the
time from the standpoint of the eternal life. All these things we have
considered
in studying At the Feet of the Master.
He
who learns to live from the point of view of the eternal, of the
reincarnating
ego, ,soon learns that nothing that happens to one from the
outside
matters at all. When we read the Lives of Alcyone, we see that many of
the
characters in them went through much suffering. Some of those characters
were
ourselves, and we know that the suffering was temporary and does not affect
us
now. Looking back, we sometimes wonder how some of the characters endured
such
suffering. Well, they did, and came through it safely. It is not always so
easy
to feel that one will come through present suffering all right, because one
is
in the midst of it, instead of looking at it in perspective. One cannot
expect
to see clearly the whole of an experience or an event in which one is
actually
immersed. A soldier on the battlefield, for example, sees very little
of
what is going on, and does not usually know the importance of the particular
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movement
or- manoeuvre in which he is taking part; his share of the work may
seem
trivial, and yet it may be an important factor in deciding the battle, or
it
may be spectacular and prominent and yet not be really vital to the success
of
his side.
Nevertheless,
I do not think we can overrate the importance of the Theosophical
Society.
It is one of the most important movements that the world has ever seen.
To
the outer world, the rulers and statesmen, it looks like any other Society—a
mere
handful of people. Yet it was founded by the two Masters who will be the
Heads
of the sixth root-race, and they are choosing from among us the people who
are
fit to take part in that race in its early development. But we can very
easily
overrate our own personal share in the work of the Society. No one is
indispensable,
as we have had occasion to find out in the course of the
Society's
history. Even our great leaders, Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott,
have
departed, but the Society has survived their loss, and gone on spreading
its
ideals and permeating the world with them, because the Masters remain.
Disciples
of the Masters have to learn to identify their consciousness with that
of
their fellow men and therefore certain exercises are often set for the
purpose.
The results are often surprising when the pupil begins by trying to
enter
the consciousness of various animals. They have very limited lines of
thought,
and actions for which people will often credit them with motives drawn
from
human experience are often due to something different. On the other hand,
they
follow their few lines
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of
thought much further than is commonly realized; so that in some ways we
credit
them with very much more than is in them, but in others with very much
less.
Often
a pupil is put into the body of some one else, in order that he may
understand
that other's position, and also that he may realize himself in
different
forms. A rather drastic experience of the kind was related to me by
Mr.
Damodar K. Mavalankar many years ago. He was one day taken out of his body,
and
flung into that of a drunken sailor in some dock in a foreign country. He
was
a Brahmana, with all the Brahmana's hereditary shrinking, if it may be so
described,
from contact with what is low or unclean—a feeling stronger than
almost
any Western person can quite understand. Naturally, it was a terrible
shock.
He found himself immersed in what to him was unspeakable filth. Yet in
the
midst of this horror which had suddenly fallen upon him he was able to
continue
to realize himself, and to say to himself: " I am not this; I am
Damodar."
And he was able to remain calm, and to think: " This too is humanity;
I
have to sympathize also with this." So he came out of the test with
credit.
Many
people, if subjected to such a test, would have got into a great flurry,
would
have thought it a dreadful nightmare, and in struggling madly to get free
would
have injured themselves. To most, perhaps, the first feeling would have
been
one of disgust. But an Adept does not feel like that. He does not condone
any
wrong; he would realize that very much more than we could, but he is not
disgusted.
He recognizes all the
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stages
of human life. He remembers that he has been through something like this
himself
ages ago, perhaps on some other planet. His buddhic consciousness is
also
perfectly unfolded, and when that is the case one is able to enfold sinners
within
oneself. There is no repulsion for the man who is doing wrong; one feels
only
the desire to give whatever help is possible. Generally, however, only a
little
can be given to people in those stages, and that must be given
cautiously.
Not only-sympathy is necessary, but also wisdom to understand what
he
can respond to, and patience and tact to make him realize the excellence of a
life
a little superior to that which he has been leading.
It
is through this experience of identification that one learns wise sympathy,
and
I think that is the only way in which it can be done perfectly. One sees
then
why a man does certain things, and how they appear to him. Those who have
not
that experience must do their best to try to see things from the point of
view
of others.
Thou
shalt not let thy senses make a playground of thy mind.
Thou
shalt not separate thy being from Being, and the rest, but merge the ocean
in
the drop, the drop within the ocean.
So
shalt thou be in full accord with all that lives; bear love to men as though
they
were thy brother-pupils, disciples of one Teacher, the sons of one sweet
mother.
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The
first of these verses reminds one of the earlier portion of the first
Fragment,
where it says: " The mind is the great slayer of the real. Let the
disciple
slay the slayer." It is such a slayer because we have allowed
prejudices
to grow up in it. It is commonplace knowledge that we never see
another
person, Lut only our thought of him. To slay the slayer, however, does
not
mean that we are to try to get along without the intellect, and trust solely
to
our impulses, which are a stage lower. We must rise to the intuitional level,
which
is above the intellect, and allow that to determine to what objects our
thoughts
shall be directed.
If
people could see the effect of prejudice in the mental body, they would be
surprised.
The matter of that body is, or should be, in a constant rhythmical
flow,
and different parts of it, or rings, have to do with thought along
different
lines. If one has a prejudice along some one line of thinking, there
is
a congestion in the ring which has to do with that line; the matter in that
place
no longer flows freely. The appearance made on the mental body by this
congestion
is exactly like that of a great wart. We ought to be able to look out
through
any portion of the mental body, but the effect of that wart is to
interfere
with our vision. When we try to look out through this part of the
mental
body things will appear distorted, as has been explained before.1
It
is in this way that the mind is the slayer of the real. Even the best
people
have some prejudices. Some one, for
example, who prides himself on being
free
from l Ante, Vol. I, Part IV, Chapter 1, Control of Mind.
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them
in one direction—let us say about caste or colour— will have them in
another,
perhaps in regard to manners. He does not mind whether a man's skin be
brown,
or white, or red, or yellow; but if the man should happen to eat off his
knife,
or pronounce words in a provincial way, he is not at all indifferent.
The
worst of these prejudices are generally those of the existence of which we
are
quite unaware, with which perhaps we have grown up from childhood. They are
exceedingly
hard to eradicate. The only way to conquer them completely is by
love.
If the man's manners offend us, he will learn better ones in time—if not
in
this incarnation, then in the next—but the man is part of the Logos, just as
we
are. The love of God, like the peace of God, passeth understanding, and not
only
excuses all, but feels no need to excuse.
We
must learn to bear love to all men as though they were our brother pupils.
The
tie between pupils of the same Master is the strongest in the world, except
that
which exists between members of the Brotherhood. In time, the pupil will
learn
to extend the quality of love that he has acquired under these conditions
of
unity, until he feels it towards all whom he sees.
Of
teachers there are many: the Master-Soul is one, Alaya, the universal Soul.
Live
in that Master as its ray in thee. Live in thy fellows as they live in it.
This
is the same idea of unity, put even more beautifully.
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Before
thou standest on the threshold of the Path; before thou crossest the
foremost
gate, thou hast to merge the two into the one and sacrifice the
personal
to the Self impersonal, and thus destroy the path between the
two—Antahkarana.
The
general meaning of this verse is quite clear to us, but the use of the word
antahkarana
is a little unusual, especially as Madame Blavatsky has annotated
it.
She says: "Antahkarana is the lower Manas, the path of communication or
communion
between the personality and the higher Manas or human Soul. At death
it
is destroyed as a path or medium of communication, and its remains survive in
a
form as a Kamarupa—-the shell."
In
the latter part of the third volume of The Secret .Doctrine, Madame Blavatsky
sometimes
uses the word kama-manas for what we now call the lower mind, meaning
a
mind the character of which is built up during the personal life under the
influence
of kama. The antahkarana could then be regarded as the lower manas
pure
and undefiled, the ray of the higher manas. During life, it is possible for
a
man to get into touch with the higher manas through that channel, and as we
have
seen in The Masters and the Path,1 the pupil addresses himself to the task
of
so widening the channel that it is always fully open, and the active higher
manas
may express himself all the time in the personality. But after death the
average
man has not the freedom that he had before to initiate new activities or
to
try new
1
Op. cit., Ch. VIII,
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experiments;
he is now in the world of the effects of the causes he set going
during
earth life, and must first work, out his collected lower emotions on the
astral
plane, and then his collected higher emotions on the lower mental plane,
in
the devachanic condition. So, in a sense, his antahkarana has ceased to
function
as a downward channel. This does not apply, however, to the man who is
the
master of his own feelings and thoughts or to the pupil who ranges the
astral
and lower mental planes at will.
During
life the ego in the causal body has entrusted some of his own energy, as
it
were, to the search for useful experience to which his personality was
adapted,,
and in so far as the personality failed in its mission, that energy,
those
rays of the higher manas, have been lost, remaining but as a centre for
the
shell, or even for the production of a dweller on the threshold if they are
strong
enough to last over to the next incarnation.
In
current Theosophical terms, after death, the man remains in the astral plane
for
a period, longer or shorter, according to the quantity and virility of his
selfish
desires, be they gross or refined or mixed. Then he meets with his
second
death, the death of the astral body, and goes on into devachan, a special
condition
on the lower mental plane, in his lower mental body, in which he works
up
to perfection all his unselfish ambitions and desires. While he is in this
latter
state, some part of the discarded astral corpse may still be roaming
about
in a congenial environment, if that body was coarse. All this has been
very
fully explained in my little
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works
The Astral Plane and The Devachanic Plane Anything like a full description
of
these after-death states here would swell this book to unwieldy proportions.
When
writing the articles on Lost Souls, which has been incorporated in The
Inner
Life, I thought of a simple explanation of the connection between the
higher
and lower mind. By far the greater part of the ego belongs to the highest
sub-plane
of the mental; a lesser portion belongs to the second sub-plane, and
still
less to the third. We may therefore imagine a diagram representing the ego
on
those three sub-planes, as being shaped something like a conventional heart,
tapering
to a point at the bottom. In the ordinary person only that little point
comes
down into the personality—so that a very small portion of the ego is in
activity
in reference to it.
Probably
not more than a hundredth part of it is active in people who are
unevolved.
With occult students a little of the second sub-plane is generally in
activity
also. More advanced students have a great deal of-that sub-plane in
activity,
and in the stage below that of the Arhat, about one half the ego is
active.
The
hold that the ego has over his lower vehicles is only very partial, and the
antahkarana
may be regarded as the arm stretched out between the little piece of
the
ego that is awakened, and the part put down, the hand, which frequently
forgets
about the higher and often even works against it. When the two are
perfectly
joined this attenuated thread ceases to exist.
In
Sanskrit the word antahkarana means the inner organ or inner instrument, and
the
destruction of that
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would
imply that the ego would no longer need an instrument, but would work
directly
on the personality. The ego actually loses a part of himself when the
cohesion
of the ego as a whole is weaker than the forces of entanglement, but he
has
also gained something during the life, and generally (always excepting the
case
of a very wicked life) the gain is more than the loss sustained through the
entanglement
with the lower manas. A little of himself and a little of the lower
manas
is left in the kama-rupa at the second death. The antahkarana should
therefore
be thought of as the link which joins the higher and the lower self,
and
which disappears when one will operates the two.
Thou
hast to be prepared to answer Dharma, the stern law, whose voice will ask
thee
at thy first, at thy initial step:
'
Hast thou complied with all the rules, O thou of lofty hopes ?
"
Hast thou attuned thy heart and mind to the great mind and heart of all
mankind
? For as the sacred river's roaring voice whereby all nature-sounds are
echoed
back, so must the heart of him who in the stream would enter thrill in
response
to every sigh and thought of all that lives and breathes."
Madame
Blavatsky here gives us a long footnote, explaining that the Northern
Buddhists,
and indeed all Chinamen, find in the deep roar of some of the great
and
sacred rivers the keynote of nature. She points out
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is
a well known fact in physical science, as well as in occultism, that the
aggregate
sound of nature— such as is heard in the roar of great rivers, the
noise
produced by the waving tops of trees in large forests, or that of a city
heard
at a distance—is a definite single tone of quite an appreciable pitch. All
that
is true, and one who has learned to do so can always hear the underlying
tone
of nature. Every planet also has its own sound; it intones its own notes as
it
moves through space, and by this tone the Logos knows whether all is going
well
with His worlds, somewhat in the same way that a practised engineer can
tell
by the sound of his engine whether all is well with his machinery. So must
the
aspirant listen constantly to the life in all around him. This brings us
back
to that quality of sympathy which this book so strongly insists upon. Often
we
think we understand our nearest friends, but really we do not, as is often
quite
apparent to an outside observer.1 But a Master always understands; he
cannot
possibly misunderstand. He may say that he does not approve of something
that
he sees; yet he is always in perfect sympathy, and understands without our
needing
to say a single word. We must try to understand others by endeavouring
to
see things as they see them, by understanding what their thoughts are, not by
doing
what they do.
Disciples may
be likened to
the strings of the
soul-echoing vina;
mankind, unto its
1
Ante, Vol. I, Part II, Ch. 4, and Part V, Ch. 2.
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sounding-board;
the band that sweeps it to the tuneful breath of the great
World-Soul.
The string that fails to answer 'neath the Master's touch in dulcet
harmony
with all the others, breaks and is cast away. So die collective minds of
Lanoo
Shravakas. They have to be attuned to the Acharya's mind—one with the
Over-Soul—or
break away.
The
Occult Hierarchy makes use of disciples as the strings of a Vina, on which
it
may sound the splendid music of the march of evolution, that all that music
may
then resound among mankind. What would you do, were you a musician, with a
string
that did not wish to blend itself with the rest, but tried to force
itself
into more prominent notice? You would throw it away. Anyone who has an
axe
of his own to grind, who wants knowledge or liberation, or anything else for
himself,
is not fit to be a pupil of the Master. With this in view every pupil
will
be tested. He will be given pieces of work which, if he neglects them, will
be
left undone. If the work is important, the Master will always have an
understudy
ready, but when it is just on the fringe of things it may be left,
and
that string will be cast aside.
The
disciple must have not only harmony with the great purpose of the Master,
but
also with the rest of the workers. A man must do the work of his own
department
and not interfere with that of others; when their work touches his,
he
can only either help or hinder them, and it is his duty to help, to make
things
as easy
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as
possible for a brother. This mutual forbearance and help acts like oil in
machinery;
when oil is lacking it may still work, but not so smoothly or well,
and
more energy will be needed to make it go. If one puts all one's energy into
the
work, and yet wastes much of it in friction, that is almost the same as
giving
but a part of it. One must have in mind, not his own advancement, nor
even
the success of his own department, but the good of the whole.
Thus
do the brothers of the shadow—the murderers of their Souls, the dread
Dad-Dugpa
clan.
All
through her writings Madame Blavatsky applies the name Dugpa to the brothers
of
the shadow—black magicians, as we often call them. Perhaps it is rather an
unfortunate
name to have chosen, because the dugpas do not quite deserve all the
hard
things she has said about them.
In
Tibet, before Buddhism penetrated that land, there was much worship of
elementals
and nature spirits, and offerings of a propitiatory character were
regularly
made to them. The religion was on a low level, as all religions of a
propitiatory
nature must be. " The Bhons and Dugpas," says Madame Blavatsky,
"
and
the various sects of the ' Redcaps', are regarded as the most versed in
sorcery.
They inhabit Western and Little Tibet and Bhutan." The old religion
thus
still lives.
The
same thing has happened in other religions. In Christianity, for example, as
I
have before, pointed out,1
1
Ante, Vol. I, Part V, Ch. 5: Superstition.
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Jehovah
still lingers—a tribal deity, who was jealous of other gods. The Jews
knew
nothing of one supreme Deity until they were carried away into Assyrian
captivity;
then they tried to identify the Supreme God whom they then heard of
with
their own tribal god, and much confusion resulted. Unhappily Christianity
became
entangled in this, and it still appears in the English Communion Service.
In
the early part of that service the Jewish Ten Commandments are read, where a
jealous
god is spoken of, but later on in the same service we find that God is
called
" God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God ". The old idea of
propitiation
also passed on into Christianity, in the curious idea that God was
bought
off by the death of His own Son.
In
Tibet, though Buddhism sent no less than three missions to that country, and
the
people are mostly Buddhists of a sort, the old religion comes up again and
again,
for it had a great hold on the hearts of the people. The same phenomenon
may
be found in the Italian Appenines, where the old Etruscan religion, far
older
than the Roman, is still to be seen. The Catholic Church has set itself
against
this in vain. Another instance is evident in Ceylon. The people there
are
Buddhists, and there are some Christians, descendants of those who were
converted
by the Portuguese. Still, in moments of real necessity—or serious
illness
or calamity—Buddhists and Christians alike revert to the old "
devil-worship
". If you ask them why they do so, they will reply: " Of course we
are
Buddhists or Christians, and are civilized; but there may, after all, be
something
more in the
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old
faith, and there is no harm in making
things quite safe."
The
termination pa means simply " people ". Thus, the followers of the
Master
Kuthumi
are called in Tibet Kut-Hum-pa. The Bhon-pa are the followers of the
aboriginal
religion. The descendants of the converts made by the first mission
are
called Ninma-pa. That first incursion of Buddhism rapidly became corrupted
by
the old faith. The Kargyu sect represents the converts of the second mission,
which
was sent to Tibet some centuries later than the first. The Dug-pa, or
Red-caps,
belong to this sect, and so are two removes from the Bhon-pa. It also
became
impure, and allowed the old beliefs to creep in.
Then
came the third and last reform, by Tsong-ka-pa. The followers of this are
the
Gelug-pa, or Yellow-caps. To this sect belong the Dalai Lama and the Teshu
Lama,
and the present government of the country. To it also belong outwardly our
two
Masters. The people of this sect wear, on great occasions, yellow robes, and
curious
high-pointed helmet-like caps.
Aryasanga
belonged to the Yellow-caps; so, of course, did Alcyone, in his last
incarnation,
as the former's disciple. Perhaps Alcyone somewhat strengthened his
teacher's
expressions when speaking of the Red-caps. To call them " murderers of
their
souls " is hardly in keeping with the spirit of the Buddhist religion.
The
Dug-pa clan, then, is not quite so bad as it has been painted. They are
Buddhists,
with nature-worship super-imposed. This old worship, its enemies say,
290
included
animal sacrifices, and even human sacrifices at one time.
The
Yellow-caps are opposed to them, because they are striving to maintain a
purer
Buddhism. Their rules are stricter, and admit much less of nature worship,
though
even they have not been able to keep entirely free from it, so that some
day
a fresh reform may well be undertaken. From the Dug-pa clan some have joined
the
Yellow-caps, and have even attracted the attention of our Masters, so they
cannot
be altogether bad. The Bhon-pa are not a very advanced or dignified kind
of
black magicians, so to call them " brothers of the shadow" gives them
more
credit
than they deserve, even on their own line.
Hast
thou attuned thy being to humanity's great pain, O candidate for light?
Thou
hast? . . . Thou mayest enter. Yet, ere thou settest foot upon the dreary
path
of sorrow, 'tis well thou should'st first learn the pitfalls on thy way.
Once
more we have that idea of the path of woe. There is no sorrow on this Path;
strenuous
effort there is, but with it the greatest joy in the work. Of this joy
many
teachers have spoken, with the result sometimes that their pupils,
encountering
the early difficulties, have been disappointed. Aryasanga evidently
was
anxious not to mislead any pupil of his, so he laid stress on the
difficulties.
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There
is a difficult stage through which all have to pass—a stage between two
certainties.
Many in this position care nothing for the things of the world.
They
do not care, for example, whether they have money, fine houses and clothes,
or
not. If wealth should come to them, it would be a responsibility that they
would
meet like any other, but they would be equally content if they had just
sufficient.
The lower things have fallen away, and yet the higher ones are still
matters
of faith, not of knowledge and experience. In this condition the man
inevitably
has a monotonous and sometimes a miserable time, which may last for a
longer
or shorter period, and may possibly occur several times.
But
when the higher is clearly seen, all is changed, and the Path becomes
radiant
with happiness. Then the lower things have lost all attraction. Take the
case
of Dr. Besant. If she devoted her tune and talents to worldly ends, she
could
certainly win great fame and position along one or other of several lines;
but
if you were to ask her whether it would be a pleasure to give up what she
has
chosen and follow a line of worldly ambition, she would surely say: "
Certainly
not; why should I ? Nothing could possibly equal the delight of the
Master's
service."
There
is far greater joy in the life of the disciple than in any worldly life,
however
beautiful the surroundings may be. He renounces personal possessions of
every
sort, but what does he want with them? In India often a great man, who has
been
perhaps the Prime Minister of a State, and has had great influence, fame
and
wealth, one
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day
quietly drops the whole thing, puts on a yellow robe, and goes out owning
nothing
whatever. He does it knowing quite well both forms of life, and clearly
seeing
that the life that he has left is poor in real wealth and joy in
comparison
with that which he will lead as a hermit or a wandering sannyasi. It
is
often the case that one in a prominent position, such as the late Czar of
Russia,
can do very little to help the world. Such a position does not therefore
appeal
to the occultist. I remember the case of a highly advanced student who
was
given the choice between remaining an obscure person and rising to a leading
position
in one of the greatest countries of the world. He chose the latter
alternative,
and in due course became Prime Minister of Britain. In that
position
he found himself cramped by powerful and selfish interest, and opposed
by
the power of the Church. Feeling the weight of his responsibility he was
driven
into a policy of conciliation. Though his objects were to give greater
freedom
to the people and to consolidate the Empire, and he did achieve success
in
the latter aim, he always regretted his choice—perfectly unselfish as it had
been—and
he died a disappointed man.
CHAPTER
3 THE FIRST THREE GATES
Armed
with the key of charity, of love and tender mercy, thou art secure before
the
gate of Dana, the gate that standeth at the entrance of the Path.
C.W.L.—Aryasanga
now runs over once again the seven portals, taking them as
stages
on the path, and looking at them especially from the standpoint of the
pitfalls
that endanger the aspirant. The brighter side of the matter, the
encouragement
and strength that the candidate receives, are for the moment not
being
thought of; it is desirable to remember this, lest the Path should seem
too
sad.
Dana,
as already explained, means more than simple almsgiving, more even than
the
feeling of charity; it implies the complete giving of oneself to the service
of
humanity, holding nothing back.
Behold,
O happy pilgrim! The portal that faceth thee is high and wide, seems
easy
of access. The road that leads there through is straight and smooth and
green.
'Tis like a sunny glade in the dark
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forest
depths, a spot on earth mirrored from Amitabha's paradise. There,
nightingales
of hope and birds of radiant plumage sing, perched in green bowers,
chanting
success to fearless pilgrims. They sing of Bodhisattva's virtues fire,
the
five-fold source of Bodhi power, and of the seven steps in knowledge.
Pass
on! For thou hast brought the key; thou
art secure.
This
verse gives us a. beautiful and poetic description of the Path as its first
part
appears to the happy pilgrim. At first he thinks it is full of joy and very
pleasant
and easy to tread. It is easy, when one has seen the Holy Grail to give
up
all else and follow it. But after a while the vision may fade, the first
enthusiasm
wears itself out, and the man begins to grow weary. It is the way of
human
nature to want constant change. See how people rush after a novelty, and
how,
after a short time their interest slackens, the pursuit becomes monotonous,
and
they turn their attention to something else.
Studies
in the lives of Alcyone showed us that most people make very little
progress,
even in a series of twenty or thirty lives. One man wrote, after
hearing
what name he bore in the Lives, and learning that he was very much the
same
fifty thousand years ago as he is now: " If anyone had told me before that
twenty-five
thousand years ago I was anything but a savage in the woods, I could
not
have believed it." I answered him: " If twenty-five thousand years
ago you
had
been a
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savage
in the woods, the chances are that you would still be one to-day."
If,
however, a person does become enthusiastic for a spiritual object, he at
once
makes a rapid move forward; if he cannot continue his enthusiasm it is a
pity,
but probably in the rush he has accomplished as much as was intended for
him
in the present life. Now we have not only the motive to go forward, but we
have
also a great deal of knowledge to enable us to do so, and that helps to
prevent
us from falling back.
We
must try to keep our enthusiasm always, and not allow ourselves to be
affected
by moods so that it is at the mercy of what happens to influence us on
the
physical plane, or on the psychical planes. We had a great testing of our
enthusiasm
when Madame Blavatsky died. I remember how it tended to fade when she
left
us. She had the faculty of keeping us all going, and when she went we felt
limp,
though some of us had succeeded in getting into direct touch with the
Masters.
And
to the second gate the way is verdant too, but it is steep and winds uphill;
yea,
to its rocky top. Grey mists will overhang its rough and stony height, and
all
be dark beyond. As on he goes, the song of hope soundeth more feeble in the
pilgrim's
heart. The thrill of doubt is now upon him; his step less steady
grows.
Beware
of this, O candidate; beware of fear that spreadeth, like the black and
soundless
wings of midnight bat, between the moonlight of thy Soul
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and
thy great goal that loometh in the distance far away.
Fear,
O disciple, kills the will and stays all action. If lacking in the Shila
virtue,
the pilgrim trips, and karmic pebbles bruise his feet along the rocky
path.
The
pupil generally comes in with a splendid outburst, and then slackens down.
This
is because he expected, though he may not have confessed it even to
himself,
that his life was going to be all changed; perhaps he imagined that he
would
have a life full of phenomena or that he would always realize the presence
of
the Master, and so be able to keep constantly at his highest level. His life
is
changed, but not in the way he thought.
When
doubt appears it is for some students doubt of the entire body of
Theosophical
knowledge; they have not yet come into conscious touch with the
Masters,
and they begin to doubt their very existence, and to wonder whether
they
are following an ignis fatuus. I hope no such doubt will come to any of us,
but
if it does it is best to fall back on first principles. Go back to the
beginning;
inspect your motives; examine the evidence.
Then
there is doubt of oneself, which sometimes assails the beginner; one may
not
be showing out the divinity that one wishes. But one must go on trying,
without
doubting, because success is absolutely assured for every man, and doubt
is
a great obstacle to attainment. Let a person who is sure from the outset that
he
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will'
not be able to do it try to learn swimming. He will never learn. The doubt
sends
him under the water more than any real difficulty. Another, who has
confidence,
will learn almost at once.
The
trouble with many aspirants to the Path is that they have this doubt as to
whether
they can achieve. Well, they must go on working for it, and get rid of
their
prejudice against themselves, for that is what it is, by reasoning it
away.
They must say to themselves: " I am going to do it, whether I can or not!
"
Aryasanga's
similes are always beautiful. He speaks here of the moonlight of the
soul.
It shines with a reflected light from the Logos, the sun, and also from
the
spiritual soul, buddhi, and the spirit, atma. He must let nothing come
between,
or the soul will be left in darkness.
"
The soundless wings of the midnight bat " gives a vivid picture of the way
in
which
fear steals upon a man. Fear is one of the most deadly things, and it is
pressing
in upon us on every side, for the world is full of it in a multitude of
varieties
of form. The man in business, for example, is in a constant little
turmoil
of fear; the employee is afraid of what his superior will think of him,
or
of losing his place. Religious people are afraid of death, of hell, of the
fate
of their departed friends, and all sorts of absurd things. Many children
live
in constant fear of their elders, their fathers and schoolmasters, as I
have
explained in the earlier commentary.1
1
Ante, Vol. I, Part V, Ch. 4, Cruelty.
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Aryasanga
well says: " Beware of fear." It darkens the soul, and makes it a
dimmer
reflection of the Logos. The Logos is love, and, said St. John, " Perfect
love
casteth out fear."1
The
Shila virtue is harmony, good conduct. The occultist has a moral code
different
from that of the world—different in being far more strict. He is not
bound
by the rules and conventions of society, but by something far stronger—the
principles
of the spiritual life, which allow not the slightest deviation from
truth,
love and a life of service, with no room at all for personal
self-indulgence.
Be
of sure foot, O candidate. In Kshanti's essence bathe thy soul; for now thou
dost
approach the portal of that name, the gate of fortitude and patience.
We
have come to the third portal. Kshanti is patience and fortitude. Steady
enthusiasm
is required; not the nervous, anxious, spasmodic kind of enthusiasm
that
wears out its possessor before it has accomplished anything useful.
Close
not thine eyes, nor lose thy sight of Dorje;
Mara's
arrows ever smite the man who has not
reached
Vairagya.
Mara
is the king of desire, the personification of desire; so it is said that
his
arrows ever strike those who have not reached the condition of vairagya or
desirelessness.
1 I.
John, 4, 18.
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Madame
Blavatsky gives us a note about Dorje, or Vajra, the thunderbolt, the Rod
of
Power, which was also mentioned in the second Fragment. She says:
Dorje
is the Sanskrit Vajra, a weapon or instrument in the hands of some Gods
(the
Tibetan Dragshed, the Devas who protect men), and is regarded as having the
same
occult power of repelling evil influences by purifying the air as ozone in
chemistry.
It is also a Mudra, a gesture and posture used in sitting for
meditation.
It is, in short, a symbol of power over invisible evil influence,
whether
as a posture or a talisman. The Bhons and Dugpas, however, having
appropriated
the symbol, misuse it for purposes of black magic. With the
yellow-caps,
or Gelngpas, it is a symbol of power, as the cross is with the
Christians,
while it is in no way more superstitious. With the Bhons, it is,
like
the double triangle reversed, the sign of sorcery.
The
Rod of Power which is kept at Shamballa and used in Initiations and at other
times,
is probably the strongest talisman on this planet. At the same time it is
a
great symbol of that power which is resistless, which, felt in ourselves,
makes
fear impossible for us.
Talismans
are not mere relics of mediaeval superstition, as some people think.
If
anyone who is in the least degree -sensitive will go to the case in the
British
Museum that contains old Gnostic gems, he may easily convince himself of
that
fact, for the influence
300
emanating
from some of them is very plainly to be felt. A talisman is a small
object
loaded with magnetism, and its purpose is to repel all influences that do
not
harmonize with the magnetism with which it is charged. Its action may be
compared
to that of a gyroscope, which revolves in such a way that it will
sometimes
break to pieces rather than allow its motion to be changed in
direction.
A
jewel makes the best talisman, since it preserves magnetism best, being the
highest
type of mineral. In ordinary circumstances, fear begins faintly, and
only
gradually gathers strength. In all such cases, a talisman charged with the
right
kind of magnetism is a help, for it repels those first faint vibrations.
The
wearer thus has time to gather himself together, to call up his own strength
and
to set in motion in his astral body vibrations of the opposite kind.
Aryasanga
returns to the subject of fear:
Beware
of trembling. 'Neath the breath of fear the key of Kshanti rusty grows;
the
rusty key refused! to unlock.
The
more thou dost advance, the more thy feet pitfalls will meet. The path that
leadeth
on is lighted by one fire—the light of daring burning in the heart. The
more
one dares, the more he shall obtain. The more he fears, the more that light
shall
pale—and that alone can guide. For as the lingering sunbeam that on the
top
of some tall mountain shines is followed by black night when
301
out
it fades, so is heart-light. When out it goes, a dark and threatening shade
will
fall from thine own heart upon the Path, and root thy feet in terror to the
spot.
Beware,
disciple, of that lethal shade. No light that shines from Spirit can
dispel
the darkness of the nether Soul unless all selfish thought has fled
therefrom,
and that the pilgrim saith: "I have renounced this passing frame; I
have
destroyed the cause; the shadows cast can, as effects, no longer be." For
now
the last great fight, the final war between the higher and the lower self,
hath
taken place. Behold, the very battlefield is now engulfed in the great war,
and
is no more.
But
once thou hast passed the gate of Kshanti step the third is taken. Thy body
is
thy slave.
It
is clear from these verses that the candidate must learn to put the lower
self
aside utterly. Fear belongs to that, for the higher self can have nothing
to
fear in all the world—the only fear that a real man can have, said an old
Roman
philosopher, is that he himself should fail to use to the full all his
virtues
or powers for good.
Selfishness
also belongs to it, and in this matter the habit of hundreds of
incarnations
may have to be reversed; for some time one may find oneself
somewhat
selfish even when the heart is definitely turned against it; it is
comparable
to what happens when the engines of a steamboat are suddenly
reversed,
in order to stop it
302
—the
boat still goes forward, .against the engines. But presently the forward
momentum
will be entirely neutralized, and then the boat will obey the engines
perfectly.
Until
one gets rid of this selfishness the higher Self cannot shine fully into
the
personality. The ego or soul itself may have what looks like selfishness,
though
it is quite different from that of the personality. It may ignore others,
if
it remains just manas, and not manas-taijasi, manas strongly connected with
buddhi,
and so may be selfish in that way; but it could never make the mistake
of
thinking that it can gain through the loss of another, an error that is
common
enough down here. Men often do things in trade, for example, which they
know
to be wrong; they think they have gained, that they have over reached their
neighbours,
but they make a great mistake. Quite apart from the law of karma,
which
is bound to operate, the man has set his mind to plan how to cheat, and he
will
have to suffer the reaction of all the force of thought and desire that he
has
set going in that direction. He has set up a habit, and the next time that
an
opportunity occurs to do some underhand thing, it will be a little easier for
him
to yield to the temptation, and a little harder to check himself and do the
right.
If he could see' the whole of the transaction and not merely one little
corner
of it, he would realize that he has not gained, but has lost enormously.
An
ego could not be as blind as that. The man who cheats, because he sees only
the
immediate results on the physical plane, is like a general who should
neglect
all the rest of the battle field in order to take one small
303
position.
He might capture that position, but he would lose the battle.
If
you have reached the stage where you have destroyed selfishness, you can say:
"
I have destroyed the cause ";—the cause of all trouble and sorrow down
here.
The
battle field that is now engulfed and is no more is the antahkarana, which
disappears
when the higher has swallowed up the lower, and no longer exists.
It
appears that Aryasanga had in the background of his mind an idea of the
correspondence
between these seven portals and the seven principles in man. The
first
three are related in some way to the three lower principles in the
personality,
while the fourth is concerned with that pure lower mind which is
the
ray of higher manas, and is the antahkarana. At this point the temptations
begin
to be those of the higher principles, and thus belong to the inner man.
CHAPTER
4 THE FOURTH GATE
Now
for the fourth prepare, the portal of temptations which ensnare the inner
man.
Ere
thou canst near that goal, before thine hand is lifted to upraise the fourth
gate's
latch, thou must have mastered all the mental changes in thyself, and
slain
the army of the thought sensations that, subtle and insidious, creep
unasked
within the Soul's bright shrine.
C.W.L.—It
is within the experience of many aspirants to the Path that the common
faults
which have been met and conquered in ordinary life reappear later on in a
different
form. You may have killed pride, for example, in its ordinary worldly
forms,
but it will reappear again as spiritual pride. So also you may have got
rid
of desire for worldly gain, but it comes up again as desire for personal
progress
or knowledge for personal satisfaction, for the sake of feeling that
one
has knowledge. Then, even when sympathy has begun to make itself a power in
the
life, selfishness tries to capture it and make you desire only to get rid of
the
cause of your own discomfort and unhappiness, by putting the object of
suffering
out of
305
sight.
It is something like the case of a housewife—if there be one of this
kind—who
dislikes to see dust in the room, so sweeps it under the carpet,
instead
of keeping the place properly clean.
Even
hatred turns up again, incredible as it may seem that so coarse a vice
should
appear among those who are striving to live the higher life. Some of our
students
come perilously near it, if another differs from them on any subject,
let
us say that of the planetary chains, or the question as to whether Mars and
Mercury
belong to our earth chain or not! Of course, if one asks point-blank, "
Do
you hate So-and-so because his opinion on this point is different from yours
?
" he will deny it; but he will not go to visit the other mail, and if they
should
chance to meet he will feel, much disturbed and be disagreeable, or else
he
will cover that feeling up with an artificial ease, a smooth surface, like
oil
on water.
This
is a singularly persistent fault, and it has been responsible for some of
the
world's big troubles. Was not the whole Christian world convulsed and rent
asunder
in the fourth century because of one dot on one letter of a word? It
made
the difference in the word as to whether the Second Logos was of the same
substance
as the First or of like substance. This was the whole dispute which
raged
round Alexandria between the so-called Arians and the orthodox. And now,
are
not millions of Christians on the one side and millions of Christians on the
other
kept apart, all because of the question as to whether the Third Logos came
out
direct from the First, or from the First through the Second?
306
This
is the famous " filioque controversy" on what is called the
Procession of
the
Holy Ghost, which led to the disruption between the two great sections of
the
Christian Church. The Eastern, or Greek, Church holds that the Holy Ghost,
the
Third Logos, proceeded from the Father—single procession—but the Western, or
Roman,
Church holds that He proceeded from the Father and the Son—double
procession.
The quarrel is all about something of which no one can know
anything,
and is of no practical importance to anybody. From diagrams shown to
us,
we Theosophists can infer that both sides are right, but neither will
welcome
the suggestion.
In
Buddhism, to take another example, two large sections of co-religionists are
divided
by the question as to whether the platform erected on the water for the
performance
of certain ceremonies should be composed of three planks or of four.
They
have to perform their ceremonies separately on this account!
What
does it matter whether Mars and Mercury belong to our chain or not? We can
be
just as good men and women, just as good citizens, just as earnest
Theosophists,
just as good servants of the Masters, and one hopes just as good
friends,
whatever our opinions may be. Personally, I study and observe as
carefully
as I can, and then give out what I know, as it seems to me my duty to
do,
but I have never pretended to infallibility, and am learning more every day.
I
should never think of finding fault with anybody who disagrees with what I
say.
I have indeed more than once heard Dr. Besant
307
say
how deeply she hopes that no one will ever make a dogma of anything she has
said,
and put her up as an obstacle to future progress in The Theosophical
Society,
and as a cause of division. If she has any anxiety at all, it is in
regard
to this danger.
Theosophists
are supposed to have given up the idea of the infallibility of any
particular
source of knowledge. The question for us when a new idea is
promulgated
is, "Does it ring
true? Does it
inspire, elevate,
illuminate?
"—not, " Who said it? What book did you get that from?" There
are,
however,
some who, having given up blind faith in the Bible, have transferred it
to
The Secret Doctrine, which, though a mine of wonderful wisdom, is not
perfect,
as its author said. It is, she said,
but a selection of fragments of
the
fundamental tenets of the secret doctrine, paying special attention to some
facts
which have been seized upon by various writers, and distorted out of all
resemblance
to the truth. And she quoted the words
of Montaigne: "I have here
made
only a nosegay of culled flowers, and have brought nothing of my own but
the
string that ties them." The
Secret Doctrine will be a treasure house for
Theosophists
for hundreds of years; let us not attach to it the curse of
dogmatism. No one can say the last word in
occultism. The knowledge that
we
have acquired up to the present is only like the lifting of a little corner
of
a great veil; we have no idea of what may be revealed by the raising of
another
part.
Before
one can hope to pass this fourth portal, says Aryasanga, one must have
mastered
she mental changes
308
in
oneself. Moods come and go, and colour one's outlook very effectually. It is
difficult
for a man to realize that when he is in a cloud of depression the
world
outside is really no blacker than it was before. When a great, upsetting
sorrow
has fallen upon him, it is with something of a shock that he goes out and
sees
that the sun is still shining and people are smiling and even laughing.
A
man who is very miserable himself sometimes feels quite angry at seeing others
as
happy as usual. He thinks the world is very hard, and that it does not care
much
about him. He forgets that yesterday, when he was happy, some others were
distressed,
and he did not care about them, but went along quite comfortably. I
know
that depression is a very real thing, but it is always self-created or
self-permitted.
Sometimes it comes from ill health, over fatigue or nervous
strain.
At others it comes from the astral world, where there are many so-called
dead
people in a state of depression. It is therefore not always one's own fault
that
the depression should come, but it is one's own fault if one allows it to
stay.
Quite
a large number of people seem to imagine that their attitude towards
things
makes a difference. "Oh, no, you will never get me to believe that!"
such
a
person will say, imagining that his disbelief disposes of the matter in
question.
But if a thing is a fact, it remains a fact, whether he believes it or
not.
This is one of the queer little ways in which human conceit shows itself.
309
One
must also take care that casual thoughts do not interfere with one's being
of
service, nor be blind to a chance of doing a good service to a man because
one
does not like something about him—the way he cuts his hair, for example.
Such
a thing sounds trifling, but it shows the condition of one's mind and
character.
Often it is a thought about race, class or caste that stands in the
way.
The Brahmana in India frequently neglects his duty to others on account of
this.
Every one ought to have a fair opportunity to raise himself socially and
morally
as much as is possible for him. Of course, one cannot change the
condition
of millions of people very greatly in a short time, but one can always
show
the greatest kindness and consideration to these people, and help any one
of
them who can receive the help.
If
thou would'st not be slain by them, then must thou harmless make thy own
creations,
the children of thy thoughts, unseen, impalpable, that swarm round
humankind,
the progeny and heirs to man and Ms terrestrial spoils. Thou hast to
study
the void-ness of the seeming full, the fulness of the seeming void.
The
fulness of the seeming void is a phrase replete with meaning. It applies to
many
different conditions. First one thinks of the koilon, the aether of space.
Commonly
people think of space as something that is empty, but the fact is that
it
is filled with a density of substance that can scarcely be imagined. It is
the
apparently
310
solid
matter that is " empty ". The matter that we see consists of holes in
the
real
matter, of bubbles blown in koilon.
The
Hindus speak of root-matter or Mulaprakriti; of which koilon is a
densification,
1 think. They say that when the Logos realizes Himself, when He
differentiates
Himself from the Absolute and looks back, as it were, upon that
Absolute,
He does not see it, but a veil thrown over it—and that veil is
mulaprakriti.
In The Secret Doctrine, Madame Blavatsky quotes the words of Swarm
T.
Subba Row on this subject, as follows:
When
once it [i.e., the Logos, ". . . the first manifestation (or aspect) of
Parabrahman
"] starts into existence as a conscious being, . . . from its
objective
standpoint, Parabrahman appears to it as Mulaprakriti. Please bear
this
in mind, . . . for here is the root of the whole difficulty about Purusha
and
Prakriti felt by the various writers on Vedantic philosophy. . . . This
Mulaprakriti
is material to it (the Logos), as any material object is to us.
This
Mulaprakriti is no more Parabrahman than the bundle of attributes of a
pillar
is the pillar itself; Parabrahman is an unconditioned and absolute
reality,
and Mulaprakriti is a sort of veil thrown over it. Parabrahman by
itself
cannot be seen as it is. It is seen by the Logos with a veil thrown over
it,
and that veil is the mighty expanse of Cosmic Matter. . . -1
The
Logos here mentioned is the Logos of our Universe, in which are millions of
solar
systems—not the Logos of one solar system. It was He who blew His breath
into
the root-matter, who dug holes in space, so that the universe came into
being.
Fourteen thousand millions of these bubbles make a physical atom, and
eighteen
of these make an atom of hydrogen, which is the lightest of the
chemical
elements.
1
Op. cit., Vol. I, p. 462, See also ante, p.
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.
311
It
is therefore a fact that all that we know as matter is nothing else but holes
in
the real matter. The pressure of that root-matter is several million tons per
square
inch. When men learn to exclude this pressure, they will be able to use
that
tremendous force to run their machinery. They will be able to utilize the
force
of the Logos that is in the atom, which holds itself against that great
pressure.
But it will first be the force involved in the disintegration of the
physical
atom that will be tapped.
The
fulness of the seeming void and the voidness of the seeming full can be
studied
in a variety of familiar experiences. The atmosphere is full of the
thoughts
of other people and other beings. As it says in The Occult World:
Every
thought of man upon being evolved passes into the inner world, and becomes
an
active entity by associating itself, coalescing we might term it, with an
elemental—that
is to say, with one of the semi-intelligent forces of the
kingdoms.
It survives as an active intelligence—a creature of the mind's
begetting
—for a longer or shorter period proportionate with the original
intensity
of the cerebral action which generated it. Thus good thought is
perpetuated
as an active, beneficent power, an evil one as a maleficent demon.
And
so man is continually peopling his current in space with a world of his own,
crowded
with the offspring of his fancies, desires, impulses and passions; a
current
which re-acts upon any sensitive or nervous organization which comes in
contact
with it, in proportion to its dynamic intensity.1
Again,
one may be meditating in a room that is empty or full of other people. In
the
latter case, it may be empty for him, because those other people are not
10p.cit.,
p. 111.
312
greatly
affecting him. In the former case it may yet be full of powerful unseen
presences
and influences attracted there by the meditation, and engaged in
pouring
out their force upon him who seems to be alone.
Something
similar is to be seen in the varied circumstances of life. Many
seemingly
big events pass over us and leave us unaffected, while some tiny
occurrence
may affect the whole life. The death of a near relation, or the loss
of
one's fortune, looks so great when it happens that one thinks it will make a
permanent
landmark in one's life, and yet it may make scarcely any difference in
the
end. That has been my experience. As a young man I lost all the considerable
money
which I possessed, in the great financial-disaster of 1
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6. It seemed a
great
event at the time; yet it has made no difference to me. But my meeting
casually
with a person who told me about Madame Blavatsky has made all the
difference
to my life. The meeting seemed to be by chance, but it must have been
intended
and arranged in that seeming void that is 'really so full in every
possible
way.
In
the same way, a passing Deva looked in upon me one Sunday morning when I was
giving
a talk to some Theosophists at Adyar. He showed me some of the ways in
which
the Devas would influence men through religion in the beginnings of the
sixth
root-race. I then thought it but the kindly act of a friend passing by,
but
now I am sure it was much more than that, in view of what has resulted from
it.
It led to our knowledge of
313
very
much about the beginnings of the new race, to the investigation on which
the
second part of Man: Whence, How and Whither was based, and a little later to
joint
investigation by Dr. Besant and myself, which resulted in the first part
of
the same book. Looking forward into that community of the future, I saw that
she
would be remembered by that book when all that she has written before it
will
have been forgotten.
O
fearless aspirant, look deep within the well of thine own heart, and answer.
Knowest
thou of Self the powers, O thou perceiver of external shadows ?
Purity
is a great thing, but it is not enough. The little baby is pure, because
it
knows nothing of good or evil. Knowledge also is needed in order that we may
act,
and also the will to put that knowledge into action. The animals are purer
than
man, the vegetables purer still; they have not the imagination of man, that
causes
him to seek material pleasure in defiance or disregard of natural laws.
Yet
it is necessary that man should go through this experience with matter in
order
that he may have knowledge, and may then return to the Divine from which
he
descended, regaining his purity. We come out from the Logos a divine cloud,
but
return to Him a divine being with definite powers.
The
man on the Path has recognized the divine Self in himself, and is emerging
from
the influence of the world of shadows. Their reality is only relative, and
314
is
now no reality to him beside that of the indwelling life, which offers him a
far
richer field of conscious experience than the excitement produced by the
impacts
of external things. He has thought the shadows to be real, absolutely
real,
more real than anything else, throughout many incarnations, and it was all
necessary,
for without their attraction he would never have awakened, never have
paid
attention, never have learned anything at all.
If
thou dost not, then thou art lost.
For,
on path fourth, the lightest breeze of passion or desire will stir the
steady
light upon the pure white walls of the Soul. The smallest wave of longing
or
regret for Maya's gifts illusive, along Antahkarana—the path that lies
between
thy Spirit and thy self, the highway of sensations, the rude arousers of
Ahamkara—a
thought as fleeting as the lightning flash will make thee thy three
prizes
forfeit—the prizes thou hast won.
Aryasanga
is now talking about vairagya, and he says that when one is striving
to
perfect that, the least response to the attractiveness of things, or desire
for
them throws one back again into the ranks of those who are disturbed. This
recalls
the simile of the soul as limpid as a mountain lake in the second
Fragment.1
Here he takes the simile of a lamp to express the steadiness that
must
be attained in this stage. Even
1
Ante, p. 203.
315
casual
thought will throw one back; that is true, but we must remember the
qualification:
if it is one's own thought. As I have before explained, if it is
merely
a reflection of someone else's thought, merely a drifting thought-form
that
has attracted the attention, and that is not taken up and made one's own,
then
there is not the same disturbance to one's purity and tranquillity, to
one's
vairagya.
Sometimes
very good people are distressed by such passing thoughts, and they
feel
that they must be very wicked to have such ideas. But if they do not take
them
up and nourish them and send them out reinforced to do greater work of
destruction,
they have not really committed a fault. It is quite true that we
should
not be conscious of an evil or impure thought if it did not touch
something
akin to itself in us. But that is only saying that we are not yet
perfect.
If a thought of that nature floated through the mind of an Adept, he
would
not even notice it; but if there were many of them round him, he might
require
to brush them aside, as one brushes away flies and mosquitoes. Do not,
therefore,
be troubled unnecessarily about the instinctive stirrings of anger,
or
selfishness, or undesirable stray thoughts; they are a legacy from the past
or
they belong to your environment. But do not adopt them, for if you do you
will
not only fail to attain vairagya, but will forfeit the three prizes already
won,
and start climbing again from the very beginning of the Path.
Antahkarana
is here called the highway of sensations. It is the mysterious means
by
which material things can
316
affect
consciousness, the channel between object and subject, that which causes
an
impact upon a sense organ to appear in consciousness as a sensation. Such
sensation,
direct perception of things, is more vivid than any description in
words.
To have heard, seen or felt something gives one a greater sense of its
reality
than merely to have thought about it. That is why clairvoyant perception
of
the other planes is worth so much more than the descriptions that we can
give.
It is also the reason why the yoga books say that all the testimony of
others,
and all his judgments about things as yet unseen "by him, will at last
have
to be replaced by the aspirant with his own direct perception, which alone
can
give a clear vision of the truth.
Sensations
are here called the rude arousers of ahamkara. Aham means "I" and
kara
is "making"; therefore ahamkara means the " I-maker". The
very vividness of
that
direct experience calls out the vividness of our sense of our own existence
by
the contrast. And as this process occurs at all levels, it calls out the
vividness
of the false personality while the man is still in the world; but when
he
is well on the Path and the illusion of the personal self has been quite
destroyed,
it calls out the Self that is the Atma, the will, in the spiritual
man.
We have already studied this higher form of ahamkara, often mentioned in
Hindu
philosophy, in the first Fragment.1
For
know that the Eternal knows no change.
1
Ante, p.
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206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24-1DL
.
317
Briefly,
one must be willing to give up the lower for the sake of the higher;
one
cannot take worldly goods into the kingdom of heaven. The laws and
conditions
of the higher world will not change to suit the desire of any
aspirant.
"The
eight dire miseries forsake for evermore; if not, to wisdom sure thou canst
not
come, nor yet to liberation," saith the great Lord, the Tathagata of
perfection,
"he who has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors."
The
eight dire miseries are: malice, sloth, pride, doubt, desire, delusion,
ignorance
and future lives. The last one seems curious at first sight; but the
meaning
is quite clear—-that life in this world is misery in comparison with
what
the higher planes have to offer us.
The
title Tathagata is here translated " He who walks in the steps of his
predecessors".
In Ceylon we were told that it meant "He who has been rightly
sent".
That means one who has been sent by the Great White Brotherhood as its
Messenger
to the world; and one so sent would necessarily follow in the steps of
those
who came before him. That is why the story of Initiation appears with
little
variation in the traditions of different nations, especially in the form
of
what is called the solar myth.
Stern
and exacting is the virtue of Vairagya. If thou its path would'st master,
thou
must keep thy mind and thy perceptions far freer than before from killing
action.
318
Thou
hast to saturate thyself with pure Alaya, become as one with nature's
Soul-thought.
At one with it thou art invincible; in separation, thou becomest
the
playground of Samvritti, origin of all the world's delusions.
Then
there is a long footnote explaining Samvritti:
Samvritti
is that one of the two truths which demonstrates the illusive
character
or emptiness of all things. It is relative truth in this case. The
Mahayana
school teaches the difference between these two truths—Paramarthasatya
and
Samvritti-satya (Satya, truth). This is the bone of contention between the
Madhyamikas
and the Yogacharyas, the former denying and the latter affirming
that
every object exists owing to a previous cause or by a concatenation. The
Madhyamikas
are the great Nihilists and deniers, for whom everything is
Parikalpita,
an illusion and an error in the world of thought and the
subjective,
as much as in the objective universe. The Yogacharyas are the great
spiritualists.
Samvritti, therefore, as only relative truth, is the origin all
illusion.
It
is discrimination, the first of the four qualifications, that can enable one
always
to distinguish between the real and the relatively real which we
sometimes
call the unreal. Every time that one pierces the unreal and sees the
real
it becomes easier to do it again, because that by which we recognize the
real
is the God within us. The more that is awakened the easier will it be to
319
see
its purpose in
all things, and its life
in other people.
The
same pure Alaya, which is in us and also behind the Divine Mind in nature,
has
been realized by the seers of all religions. A learned Muhammadan once told
me
that the well-known sentence of Islam: "La ilaha ilia 'llah", means
not "
There
is no God but God," as it is generally translated, but " There is
nothing
but
God." He explained that the Arabic words could be literally taken to have
the
former meaning, but the latter was the esoteric meaning, imparted secretly
among
themselves. This is the true proclamation of monotheism; not simply that
there
are many Gods, but one only is worthy of the name, and of adoration. This
esoteric
interpretation, if accurate, constitutes a strong link with Hinduism,
which
speaks of " One only, without a second", the One in whom, they say,
is
both
being and non-being.
All
is impermanent in man except the pure bright essence of Alaya. Man is its
crystal
ray; a beam of light immaculate within, a form of clay material upon the
lower
surface. That beam is thy life-guide and thy true Self, the watcher and
the
silent thinker, the victim of thy lower self. Thy Soul cannot be hurt but
through
thy erring body; control and master both, and thou are safe when
crossing
to the nearing " gate of balance ".
Nothing
but the One is permanent. The personality of a man lasts a very short
time—till
the end of his
320
devachanic
period; the ego lasts through the whole series of human incarnations,
perhaps
to the extent of a chain-period; the monad no doubt lasts longer still,
but
even that is impermanent. Only the One remains. Not that we shall lose
ourselves.
We can truly say, with Emily Bronte:
Though
earth and man were gone, And sun? and universes ceased to be, And Thou
wert
left alone, Every existence would exist in Thee.
The
Monad in man is a spark of the one flame. As long as it is in time it will
appear
to be evolving. Speaking with the deepest reverence, even the Logos
appears
to be doing the same. He answers to all that is best and greatest in our
conception
of God, yet it is true that He will not be the same at the end of the
solar
system as He was at the beginning; for that to Him is an incarnation.
The
" form of clay material " is only useful to man in so far as it helps
the
development
of the divine spark in him. The material part cannot affect the
divine
spark in the sense of actually harming it, but it can advance or retard
its
unfolding, which for it are the equivalents of help or injury. Therefore it
is
called the victim of the lower self.
The
fourth portal is here called the gate of balance, as it concerns the middle
principle
in man. It is always a question as to whether the outer or the inner
will
now gain the ascendancy; the candidate having developed and purified his
lower
principles, physical, astral and mental, must now put his weight on the
side
of the
321
higher principles,
and make their
development his chief business.
Be
of good cheer, O daring pilgrim to the other shore. Heed not the whisperings
of
Mara's hosts; wave off the tempters, those ill-natured sprites, the jealous
Lhamayin
in endless space.
There
is a note to the word Lhamayin, which says they are elementals and evil
spirits
adverse to men, and their enemies. There are no creatures that do evil
for
evil's sake, but there are elementals who are harmful to man; they are
living
their own life, and we get in their way. The elementals are much like the
wild
creatures. They are riot man's enemies, but they dislike man's intrusion
into
their domain, and they feel resentment because men have treated them badly.
Nature
spirits are joyous creatures; the worst that can be said of them is that
they
play little mischievous tricks which are tiresome to the people concerned.
They
object to man because he does so many things which to them are odious and a
source
of trouble. They live a glad and contented life in the countryside, and
love
to frolic about with the young of the wild creatures, and they love them
and
the flowers and trees. They have no trouble in their innocent life; and they
feel
no pressure of necessity, for they need not toil for food and clothing as
man
has to do.
Into
this sylvan happiness comes man; he hunts and kills the animals who are
their
friends: he cuts down the trees they love, in order to plant crops or
build
322
houses:
he pollutes the air with the filthy emanations of alcohol and tobacco.
All
their beautiful country is made to them a horrible wilderness, and they are
forced
to flee away. They may feel somewhat as an artist .does when he sees some
beautiful
landscape spoilt and made hideous with factories, whose chimneys belch
forth
black smoke and fumes kill the grass and flowers and trees. We call it
progress;
it may be so for us, but the nature spirit feels it differently, for
his
home is ruined and his friends are killed.
So
it comes about that the nature spirits shun man, and when a man takes a walk
in
a wood or along a lane they slip away at his approach. He may be able to
overcome
this aversion of theirs, just as one can sometimes overcome the
timidity
of the wild creatures. A yogi can caress the wild animals that come
near
him as he sits in meditation. If one goes into the country and forces
oneself
to lie quiet and still for an hour or two, the little wild things, such
as
squirrels and birds, will come near. Similarly, if one lives for a long time
in
one place the nature spirits gradually find out that one is a harmless
specimen
of mankind, and in time will be quite willing to make friends, and at
last
they will sport round one, and be quite proud of having a human friend. In
the
astral plane these creatures regard men as intruders of a troublesome and
dangerous
character, much as we should regard an invading army. They therefore
make
it their business to try to frighten the newcomer. These are not, however;
tempters.
It is principally the evil thought-forms of man himself that play that
r61e.
323
There
are certain men, whom, we sometimes call the black magicians, who work to
oppose
the spiritual progress of humanity, believing quite honestly that our
high
emotions are not good things, but relics of animal desires and sentiments.
Such
magicians may see a person in some special situation, one who is making
swift
progress on the Path, and may at the time be in a condition to be affected
by
them. It may then seem worth their while to send against him an elemental
calculated
to upset him, and so cause a disturbance which will block the
Masters'
work. This is the nearest thing that exists to the tempting demon of
popular
Christian belief. Still, no aspirant should fear these, for the worst
black
magician can do nothing to or through a man who is one pointed, thinking
only
of the Master's work, not of himself.
Hold
firm! Thou nearest now the middle portal, the gate of woe, with its ten
thousand
snares.
Have
mastery o'er thy thoughts, O striver for perfection, if thou would'st cross
its
threshold.
Have
mastery o'er thy Soul, O seeker after truths undying, if thou would'st
reach
the goal.
Thy
Soul-gaze centre on the one pure light, the light that is free from
affection,
and use thy golden key.
Aryasanga
may well speak often thousand snares, for many times does the
candidate
imagine that he has achieved vairagya or desirelessness, only to find
that
in
324
some
subtle way he encounters the same snares over and over again. Even the
soul,
the higher manas, has to be under the control of the buddhic nature. As we
have
seen, at the first Initiation the buddhic life begins, if not before, and
the
candidate treads that plane sub-plane by sub-plane. This work can only be
carried
to perfection if the soul itself, the higher manas, co-operates,
becoming
a servant in turn to that higher principle. Then, when that work is
done,
and the candidate is ready for the next plane, he will take his Fourth
Initiation,
and step over another threshold.
To
be free from affection here means from being affected; as we have already
seen,
that is the significance of vairagya.
CHAPTER
5 THE FIFTH AND SIXTH GATES
The
dreary task is done, thy labour well-nigh o'er. The wide abyss that gaped to
swallow
thee is almost spanned.
Thou
hast now crossed the moat that circles round the gate of human passions.
Thou
hast now conquered Mara and his furious host.
Thou
hast removed pollution from thine heart and bled it from impure desire.
C.W.L.—We
must not misunderstand the statement that the candidate's labour is
well-nigh
over. The Nirmanakaya, at his far higher level, still labours, and the
same
may be said of the Logos Himself. But perhaps a distinction should be drawn
between
the drudgery of the labour of getting rid of the faults of the
personality,
and the glorious work that continues on the higher planes after the
personality
is conquered.
The
same thought applies to the question of strain. Incessant work is a great
strain
on the physical body, but in the planes of the ego work is pure joy;
there
is then no difference between work and play, such
326
as
exists on the lower planes.1 Once a man has seen the great sacrifice of the
Logos,
and the way in which the Masters throw themselves into His work, there
remains
no possibility for him. but to plunge into the stream of it, and do all
that
he can to help.
We
are still considering a man who is not quite pure, because he is still
capable
of a little selfishness. A thought is impure that has the slightest
tinge
of self in it, however good it may otherwise be. There may be a little
thought
of pride, such as: " People will think well of me for doing this."
That
would
be called impure, when we are considering this high level of the Path. Not
only
must we keep impurity away, but we must see that it never occurs to us at
all.
But,
O thou glorious combatant, thy task is not yet done. Build high, Lanoo, the
wall
that shall hedge in the holy isle, the dam that will protect thy mind from
pride
and satisfaction at thoughts of the great feat achieved.
A
sense of pride would mar the work. Aye, build it strong, lest the fierce rush
of
battling waves, that mount and beat its shore from out the great World Maya's
ocean,
swallow up the pilgrim and the isle—yea, even when the victory's
achieved.
Thine
' isle' is the deer, thy thoughts the hounds that weary and pursue his
progress
to the stream of life. Woe to the deer that is o'ertaken by the
1
Ante, p.
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206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24-1DL
.
327
barking
fiends before he reach the vale of refuge— " Jnana-marga," "
path of
pure
knowledge " named.
To
hold the position that he has now gained, against ' the strong pressure of
the
thoughts of millions of other people around him, of which we have so often
spoken,
the aspirant now needs strong concentration and positive power of
thought.
This strength is necessary before he can successfully carry out that
meditation
which will raise him to the highest levels of the buddhic plane.
The
" isle ", Madame Blavatsky tells us, is the higher ego or thinking
self.
From
it all lower thoughts must be wiped out, so that the higher may manifest.
Yet
one must become in no sense a medium. There is a vast difference between
making
a place empty, and letting someone from the outside enter into it and
take
possession; that is the difference between the yogi and the medium. Here
also
lies the difference between the Theosophist and the Spiritualist. Both
agree
that man is eternal and that his progress has no limit. But the latter
considers
that it is good for a man to be a medium for good spirits, while the
former
insists upon the preservation of his own positive consciousness under all
circumstances,
and maintains that there is nothing which passive mediumship can
give
which is not obtainable by conscious clairvoyance.
Aryasanga
says, " Woe to the deer that is overtaken." That means woe to the ego
that
falls into prejudice be cause he has been overcome by the pressure of
outside
thoughts. He cannot then reach the place of true
328
thought.
Madame Blavatsky says of the path of pure knowledge,- or Jnana-marga,
that
it" is literally the path of Jnana, or the path of pure knowledge, of
Paramartha
or (Sanskrit) Svasamvedana, the self-evident or self-analysing
reflection."
Jnana is, among the Hindus, the higher knowledge, wisdom, not the
lower
knowledge concerning the world, which is called vijnana.
Ere
thou canst settle in Jnana-marga and call it thine, thy Soul has to become
as
the ripe mango fruit: as soft and sweet as its bright golden pulp for others'
woes,
as hard as that fruit's stone for thine own throes and sorrows, O
conqueror
of weal and woe.
Make
hard thy Soul against the snares of self; deserve for it the name of
Diamond-Soul.
For
as the diamond buried deep within the throbbing heart of earth can never
mirror
back the earthly lights, so are thy mind and Soul; plunged in
Jnana-marga,
these must mirror nought of Maya's realm illusive.
Of
our personal sorrow Longfellow has sung:
But
now it has fallen from me.
It
has sunken into the sea, And only the sorrows of others
Throw
their shadows over me.
We
must go a step further than that and not let any sorrows cast shadows over
us.
When you merely feel the sorrow of another you are not helping him, but
adding
to his trouble; but when you feel real sympathy you are
329
pouring
out vibrations of love, and are giving real help to him. The Master
always
feels the sympathy, but never the sorrow. He cannot suffer, even though
he
be truly one with those who are suffering, because he is one with them and
knows
the joy of their existence on higher planes and the wonderful glory of
that
state towards which they are evolving with unerring certainty. The danger
for
most people is that when they cast out sorrow from their hearts, they tend
to
lose sympathy as well, and in such a case they may enter the left-hand path,
the
path of black magic. The brothers of the shadow become perfectly callous to
the
feelings of others, as well as to their own; they ruthlessly repress all
feelings
on the ground that they are a waste of force.
When
thou hast reached that state, the portals that thou hast to conquer on the
path
fling open wide their gates to let thee pass, and nature's strongest mights
possess
no power to stay thy course. Thou wilt be master of the sevenfold Path;
but
not till then, O candidate for trials passing speech.
It
seems probable that the trials passing speech are not dangers and
difficulties
so great as to be quite indescribable, but of a kind unknown to
ordinary
men, and known only to the ego. The path along which Aryasanga is
guiding
his people is an inner path for the ego. When the personality has been
conquered
in the outer worlds, the ego has to scale the heights of planes above
him,
and therefore has to do what cannot be described.
330
Another
possible interpretation is that the candidate finds himself now able to
do
what at first he was Unable to believe that he could. The ordinary man would
be
inclined to say, for example, that the purity and unselfishness of which we
have
constantly been speaking are beyond him, and quite impossible of
attainment,
that they are a counsel of perfection. But some day, if he tries to
acquire
them, if he keeps on desiring it and trying, he will awake to find that
it
is perfectly natural and easy for him to have these qualities.
The
ordinary man says that a thing is impossible, and so he does not try; but we
have
learned; like Napoleon, to erase that word from our dictionary. It is not
impossible
for the reader of this page to attain Adeptship within twenty-four
hours;
that would be possible if he had sufficient will—a will, however, which
no
one seems to have. But leaving time out of the question, it is possible for
him
to attain Adeptship; if he fixes his eye on the goal, and -goes straight
ahead
without thinking about the passage of time, he will comparatively soon
find
himself there.
Till
then, a task far harder still awaits thee; thou hast to feel thyself all
thought,
and yet exile all thoughts from out thy Soul.
Thou
hast to reach that fixity of mind in which no breeze, however strong, can
waft
an earthly thought within. Thus purified, the shrine must of all action,
sound,
or earthly light be void; e'en as the butterfly, o'ertaken by the frost,
falls
lifeless
331
at
the threshold—so must all earthly thoughts fall dead before the fane.
Behold
it written:
"
Ere the gold flame can burn with steady light, the lamp must stand well
guarded
in a spot free from all wind." Exposed to shifting breeze, the jet will
flicker
and the quivering flame cast shades deceptive, dark and everchanging, on
the
Soul's white shrine.
Here
is a poetical description of concentration—such fixity of the higher manas
that
even on that plane nothing can enter from the outside. This is the same
thing
as dharana, mentioned in the first Fragment,1 though in this Fragment it
is
called virya, which means strength —not physical strength, of course, but the
dauntless
and unshaken manhood of the ego.
Dharana
is called the sixth stage, in the first Fragment, but here virya is the
fifth
portal. There is no confusion of numbers in this, for the fifth portal
leads
to the sixth stage; in that stage the man is using the quality which he
acquired
in the fifth stage to admit him to the sixth through the fifth portal.
The
same quality is the passport to the buddhic plane; when the man has risen to
this
level he has silenced the higher mental activity for the time, and now,
instead
of his own thoughts he feels himself all thought —he is one with others,
and
their thoughts are his. At this stage he feels the quality of unity of the
Solar
1
Ante, p. 40.
332
Logos
; to him it is now a definite reality, a matter of direct experience, no
longer
a beautiful idea or an occasional thrilling inspiration. As to whether
all
this will come down to any extent into the physical brain-that is another
matter;
most of it cannot. And the concentration and meditation of these high
stages
are done for the most part out of the body during sleep
We
often talk of fighting earthly thoughts and feelings. That is a stage in
which
one is putting oneself on .an equality with them; but the stage of which
we
are now speaking is one in which they fall dead at the threshold of the aura.
The
rates of vibration of the respective bodies are so tremendous that the lower
thought-forms
are knocked aside and cannot penetrate. There are many
illustrations
of this in the physical plane. If a wheel is rotating slowly, one
can
throw a ball through the spokes, but riot if it is turning rapidly. If a jet
of
water is sufficiently strong, one cannot cut it with a sword; the weapon is
thrown
back as though the water were solid. One of the well-known children's
fairy
stories tells of a man who could stand out in the rain, and whirl his
sword
so rapidly above his head that not one drop could get through the circle
and
fall upon him!
The
quotation about the lamp is taken from the Bhagavad-Gita. It further says:
"To
such is likened the Yogi of subdued thought, absorbed in the yoga of the
Self,"
1 audioes on to explain that he then sees the Self by the Self, and in
the
Self is satisfied, that he thinks
1
Op. cit.. VI, 19
333
there
is no greater gain beyond it, and is not shaken any more, even by heavy
sorrow.1
This
experience of the yogi is a true intuition, because it comes from within,
from
a deeper part of the nature than even the causal levels. How such an
intuition
will come down into the personality, if it does so, depends upon the
type
of person who experiences it. There are two main modes for its
transmission—one
which comes through the higher to the lower mental plane, and
the
other direct from the buddhi to the astral body.
Which
of these lines one will more easily follow depends upon the manner in
which
one was individualized from the animal kingdom long ago. Some attained
that
level through deep understanding, others through a rush of high emotion,
probably
of devotion to a human master. In the former mode it will come into the
lower
mind as a conviction, requiring no reasoning to establish its truth at
present,
though it must have been understood in previous lives or out of the
body
in the lower mental plane. In the case of those who individualized by
emotion
the intuition is received through the feelings, not the mind.
In
neither case can these intuitions come through satisfactorily unless the
vehicles
are steady. It is like transmitting a musical note. If it has come not
only
through the air, but through a thick wall, it may be muffled, and the sound
may
become quite different from what it was. If it has to pass through some
disturbance
—a hurricane for example—it will be still less clear
1
Ibid., VI, 22.
334
The
latter simile very well indicates the case when the astral and mental bodies
are
full of disturbance.
And
then, O thou pursuer of the truth, thy mind-soul will become as a mad
elephant,
that rages in the jungle. Mistaking forest trees for living foes, he
perishes
in his attempts to kill the ever-shifting shadows dancing on the wall
of
sunlit rocks.
I
do not know whether such a thing as this really happens in the jungle; but the
idea
is that when an elephant goes mad, he either mistakes the trees for living
foes
or, what is even worse, charges against the rocks and perishes. In the same
way,
some have had the experience that when the mind feels the newly awakened
energy
of the higher Self coming from above, it rebels with a last burst of
ferocity
against its new master, unwilling in its pride and fear to give up its
independence,
which it has enjoyed so long. Then it rages, and the last reserves
of
the army of doubts and suspicions are routed Out from every depth and corner,
and
come forth to do battle against the light, mistaking its every movement for
a
hostile foe. The mind is a stronghold of pride, and what there is left of that
quality
rises up in hatred against its superior, just as the persecutors of
Jesus
rose and killed him, unable to bear the comparison of his purity and
greatness
with their own earthly mould.
Beware,
lest in the care of Self thy Soul should lose her foot-hold on the soil
of
Deva-knowledge.
335
Beware,
lest in forgetting Self thy Soul lose o'er its trembling mind control,
and
forfeit thus the due fruition of its conquests.
Deva-knowledge
here refers, as before, to the knowledge of the divine underlying
all
manifestation. There is » danger that the candidate, anxious to see that he
is
going the right way, should become, not selfish, but self-centred. There is a
real
distinction between these two. None of us would willingly take anything for
ourselves
knowing that it would injure another person. That (defect would be
indicated
in the aura by a dull brown-grey. But there is a danger of being
self-centred,
taking things too much from one's own point of view. That is
indicated
in the aura by a hardening of the outer surface, which prevents
impressions
from coming in.
The
other warning relates to the one Self, which must not be forgotten. The
aspirant
must ever remember that all are one, that the divine unity is in each.
This
is a practical instruction for every plane. Physically a man must be clean,
honest
and true, so as not to contaminate society; astrally and mentally his
feelings
and thoughts must be pure and lofty, not that he may have the pleasure
of
being so, but for the sake of all around.
Beware
of change, for change is thy great foe. This change will fight thee off,
and
throw thee back out of the path thou treadest, deep into viscous swamps of
doubt.
The
warning against change looks a little curious at first, especially when we
remember
that we are all the
336
time
changing and that in treading the Path we have become that Path, and are
thus
very busily engaged in changing ourselves. What is meant is that one must
take
care, during the period of change, not to change one's basis, or essential
attitude.
There is a trying time when one gives up the worldly things that one
used
to value, and has not yet a permanent hold on the new and higher things.
These
latter have been visible in special moments when we have been at our best,
but
we have fallen away from them again and again, into that condition of
spiritual
dryness mentioned by so many mystics. What is required is that one
shall
hold to the vision all through those fluctuations, not changing that
essential
position.
These
changes may be caused in several ways. Sometimes it is merely that the
physical
brain gets a little congested or anaemic; that affects the vehicles,
but
must not be allowed to affect the real man. When the fluctuations come, we
should
say: " I knew this would come. I know that I saw clearly before. Now the
vision
is dim and I begin to doubt; but I know I shall come out of this
depression,
that it is merely a fluctuation in my astral body."
Sometimes
it is a great shock and trial for people to give up the picturesque
faith
of their childhood, when they realize that it cannot fit the facts of
life,
and can no longer satisfy the needs of mind and heart. Then there often
comes
doubt of everything, and a rudderless condition which has in extreme cases
been
known to last for several lives. In that case one must listen and read
337
and
think, and hold on to the hypotheses that best explain the facts, until
doubt
has been laid to rest by the knowledge that sooner or later will surely
come.
It is, of course, not necessary to pass through a sceptical stage; it is
quite
possible to drop the accretions and widen out one's religion little by
little,
until one arrives at the Theosophical understanding of its message.
Prepare,
and be forewarned in time. If thou hast tried and failed, O dauntless
fighter,
yet lose not courage; fight on, and to the charge return again and yet
again.
The
fearless warrior, his precious life-blood oozing from his wide and gaping
wounds,
will still attack the foe, drive him from out his stronghold, vanquish
him,
ere he himself expires. Act then, all ye who fail and suffer, act like him;
and
from the stronghold of your Soul chase all your foes away—ambition, anger,
hatred,
e'en to the shadow of desire—when even you have failed. . . .
Remember,
thou that fightest for man's liberation, each failure is success, and
each
sincere attempt wins its reward in time. The holy germs that sprout and
grow
unseen in the disciple's Soul, their stalks wax strong at each new trial,
they
bend like reeds but never break, nor can they e'er be lost. But when the
hour
has struck, they blossom forth.
But
if thou cam'st prepared, then have no fear.
338
In
the course of a footnote to this, H.P.B. refers to the well known belief that
every
additional saint is a new soldier in the army of those who work for the
liberation
of mankind, and that in Northern Buddhist countries, where the
doctrine
of Nirmanakayas is taught, every new Bodhisattva is called a liberator
of
mankind. We must remember, of course, that she refers to all who have become
Arhats,
not only to the great being who rills the office of Bodhisattva. Every
one
who makes progress makes it for all.
The
candidate cannot have personal ambition on this path. The idea of glory for
oneself
is selfish, and long before this stage is reached the aspirant has set
his
will resolutely against such desires. The pupil of the Master thinks not "
What
do I want? ", but " What does the Master want?" When we realize
that we are
sparks
of the divine Fire, we can think only of what God wants. We are parts of
Him;
separately we can have no glory; so the idea of glory for oneself is quite
a
delusion.
No
man who goes on trying can possibly fail. He may not succeed in doing just
what
he wanted to do at a given tune; but if he has put force into his effort it
cannot
be wasted, and as action and reaction are equal and opposite, every time
he
tried it reacted upon himself to give him greater strength for the future.
Further,
every man who tries must succeed, because the whole trend of evolution
is
on his side. He does not know what may be the thickness of the karmic wall of
obstacles
through which he must break, nor at what moment he may come through to
light
on the other side.
339
Under
these circumstances it is simply foolish to despair, or to stop trying,
because
as yet one has no visible success. In Frederick Myers' grand poem, St.
Paul,
we find it said: " O man, why art thou despairing? God will forgive thee
all
but thy despair." To despair is the sin against the Holy Ghost; to despair
of
your own power is to despair of His power that is working through you, so
that
you shut yourself off from Him.
Aryasanga
tells the candidate to be like the warrior who fights, and wins the
battle
just as he himself expires. He must hold out to the very last, and never
give
in. The teacher knew that death is but a trivial thing, not to be taken
into
account in our work. It will come to each of us at its proper time; some
who
are old may still have many years to live, and others who are young will be
suddenly
taken away. We shall go on with our work just the same after it comes
as
we did before.
Henceforth
thy way is clear right through the Virya gate, the fifth one of the
seven
portals. Thou art now on the way that leadeth to the Dhyana haven, the
sixth,
the Bodhi portal.
The
Dhyana gate is like an alabaster vase, white and transparent; within there
burns
a steady golden fire, the flame of Prajna that radiates from Atma.
Thou
art that vase.
We
have here a wonderfully beautiful illustration—the alabaster vase, with a
steady
golden fire within. It well typifies the buddhic body or sheath, which is
utterly
340
transparent
and offers no obstruction to the unity of life at the level. Dhyana
is
the higher meditation in that body—in which one takes something and tries to
understand
its innermost meaning, or in which one fixes one's thought upon a
Great
One and tries to understand oneself as part of him. There is no longer any
outer
knowledge; no standing outside and thinking of the object as apart from
oneself;
one realizes its nature by becoming one with it, contemplating it from
within.
Thou
hast estranged thyself from objects of the senses, travelled on the path of
seeing,
on the path of hearing, and standest in the light of knowledge. Thou
hast
now reached Titiksha state.
O
Narjol, thou art safe.
The
same word titiksha has been applied, as we have seen, to one of the
qualifications,
one of the points of good conduct, meaning endurance. The term
is
now applied again at a higher stage. In a footnote Madame Blavatsky says it
means
"supreme indifference; submission, if necessary, to what is called '
pleasure
and pain for all', but deriving neither pleasure nor pain from such
submission—in
short, the becoming physically, mentally and morally indifferent
and
insensible to either pleasure or pain."
That
is not very clearly put. The candidate does not act from considerations of
pleasure
and pain; he simply does what he knows to be his duty. He still feels
pleasure
and pain in his vehicles, as other people do. Yet it may be said that
so
great is the joy of this level, so intently
341
are
the thoughts fixed upon the goal, that pleasure and pain have lost their
power.
Though the Christ might feel to the full and cry out, " My God, My God,
why
hast Thou forsaken me? " still there rings in his heart the cry, " My
God,
My
God, how Thou dost glorify me," as I have explained in describing the
Fourth
Initiation,
in The Masters and the Path.1
Op.
cit., Ch. X.
CHAPTER
6 THE SEVENTH GATE
Know,
conqueror of sins, once that a Sowani hath crossed the seventh path, all
nature
thrills with joyous awe and feels subdued. The silver star now twinkles
out
die news to the night-blossoms, the streamlet to the pebbles ripples out the
tale;
dark ocean waves will roar it to the rocks surf-bound, scent-laden breezes
sing
it to the vales, and stately pines mysteriously whisper: "A Master has
arisen,
a Master of the Day."
C.W.L.—The
Master of the Day means one who has become safe for the present
cycle;
therefore it refers to the candidate who has taken the first Initiation,
as
well as to him who has reached the further shore. That all nature rejoices at
such
an event is the simple fact, which is here so beautifully and poetically
expressed.
Many people at such a time find themselves unaccountably happy, and
sometimes
are conscious of a decided spiritual thrill. The majority of people
are
scarcely sufficiently sensitive to be conscious of these events, but
sensitive
individuals might very well feel: " I am curiously happy to-day. I
wonder
what
343
has
happened." It is felt in nature in that way:—as a general sense of well
being.
Most
people are busy developing the mind, and they have in consequence lost much
sensitiveness,
which arises much more with the development of feelings and
emotions
than with that of the mind. The higher types of primitive people are
far
more sensitive in many ways, but usually only in a vague and indefinite
manner
and without any control over their sensitiveness. They receive
impressions,
and are often able to foretell events in a general way. All this
comes
back to us, but in a clear and definite form on a higher turn of the
spiral,
with the development of the higher emotions. When that unfoldment comes
we
shall not only feel the sense of well being and happiness of these great
occasions,
but will also know why we feel, and from what centre comes the great
song
of joy. The rest of nature, although below our level, is not yet centred on
material
things as much as many men are. Unless he is busily occupied with a
desire
rising from hunger or some other need of the body, an animal will
generally
be somewhat responsive to the thrill.
The
great object of the Theosophical Society is not so much to provide the
mental
development, as to raise those who are ready into responsiveness to
buddhic
influences, to reawaken the sensitiveness of its people on a higher turn
of
the spiral, and prepare them for the new race. It does not deprecate mental
development—far
from it—but it prepares for the next stage, when intuitional
love
will produce harmony and brotherhood,
344
and
will employ the developed intellect to build a new civilization, based on
those
ideals. Our Society, being in close sympathy with the higher planes, is
very
sensitive to the forces liberated when another " Son of Man " comes
to
birth.
It receives the first touch of the great outrush, and this gives it new
impetus;
its work increases and spreads, and there is an advance in numbers and
in
brotherly feelings.
Sometimes,
however, this stimulation of life produces friction, due to a loss of
the
sense of proportion. Some great idea arises in the mind of a member; the
inrush
of force intensifies it—and that is very good if he is a well-balanced
man,
and can pursue his own ideas without depreciating those of other people.
But
where there is unbalance and narrowness, differences of opinion may be made
stronger.
We have our special lines of work in Theosophy. Some take up one form
of
activity and some another, but danger arises when a man begins to think that
his
line is the one which the whole Society ought to take up and emphasize. When
other
people try to follow out their ideas, he tends to think that they are not
doing
the best for the Society, because they do not come and help him. It is not
unnatural
that enthusiasm should sometimes cause friction in such cases, when
brotherly
love and real tolerance fall a little behind.
Dr.
Besant, has occasionally explained how she has often worked with others at a
"
second or third best idea " of theirs. She knew what was best, but would
quietly
yield for the sake of harmony, and that people might have the experience
of
carrying out their
345
ideas.
If a person comes to her with some plan of which he is very full, though
it
is often not the best thing, she does not discourage him, but says, " Go
ahead,
try it, and prosper." The man tries it, and perhaps after a year or two
he
finds that it was not the best, and he modifies it; but sometimes good
results
have been brought about in this way.
It
is nearly always wise to let people try their ideas, but always sad when they
urge
them too strongly upon others. Experience tells us ever more and more that
the
most important thing in the Society is harmony among the workers. Indeed, it
may
be said that harmony among the workers is more important than success in any
piece
of work. So, let each man follow the best inspiration that comes to him,
but
let him have the fullest possible sympathy for others also in their
individual
ideas. If without peril to the spirit of harmony which makes the
Society
a perfect channel for higher forces, an open door to the Great Ones, we
can
engage in vigorous activity, it is well indeed, but not otherwise.
The
silver star mentioned in the text may also be thought of as the star of
Initiation.
It is the sign of the thought and the presence of the King. In the
ceremony
of Initiation the one who acts for Him, the One Initiator, calls to Him
to
ratify that which has been done, and the answer is the flashing out of the
silver
star.
He
standeth now like a white pillar to the west, upon whose face the rising sun
of
thought eternal poureth forth its first most glorious waves. His
346
mind,
like a becalmed and boundless ocean, spreadeth out in shoreless space. He
holdeth
life and death in his strong hand.
Yea,
he is mighty. The living power made free in him, that power which is
Himself,
can raise the tabernacle of illusion high above the Gods, above great
Brahma
and Indra.
Through
the Great White Brotherhood comes to the world all the Light that
relieves
the darkness of human life, and accelerates enormously the evolution of
mankind.
Often the symbol of the East has been used to typify the position of
the
Brotherhood, and the member thereof who has his face turned to help the
outer
world may therefore be said to be turned to the West.
The
illusion referred to here is that of separateness. The aspirant has now won
his
freedom from that illusion, and on the Path he will raise himself step by
step,
plane by plane, until he has destroyed the illusion on each of them, and
is
master of himself on all the planes of human life. There seems to be no limit
to
the height to which a man can rise, so the reference to Brahma and Indra is
no
exaggeration, though it is no doubt intended in a general sense. It reminds
us
also of the line in The Light of Asia: " Higher than Indra's ye may lift
your
lot."
1
A
practical bearing of this illustration is to be found in the change of ray,
described
in The Masters and the Path. It is possible in the Hierarchy of our
earth
to advance further on the first ray than on the second, and
1
Op. cit., Book the Eighth.
347
further
on the second than on any of the remaining five; so, anyone who has
raised
himself to the Seventh Initiation on one of the last five rays must
change
to the second or the first ray, if he wants to go on to the Eighth
Initiation,
and on to the first ray only if he wishes to go still further. The
Secret
Doctrine compares Indra to the Second Logos, the Sun-God, and Brahma is
the
Third Logos, the Creator. In the Hierarchy these two are represented by (1)
the
Head of the second ray, the Buddha, and (2) the Mahachohan, who governs the
five
rays, three to seven. The Lord of the World is on the first ray, and He has
raised
His lot higher than that of the other two.
Now
he shall surely reach his great reward!
Shall
he not use the gifts which it confers for his own rest and bliss, his
well-earned
weal and glory —he, the subduer of the great delusion?
Nay,
O thou candidate for nature's hidden lore! If one would follow in the steps
of
holy Tathagata, those gifts and powers are not for self.
Would'st
thou thus dam the waters born on Sumeru? Shalt thou divert the stream
for
thine own sake, or send it back to its prime source along the crests of
cycles?
Once
more we come to the question of liberation from the wheel of births and
deaths,
with its attendant idea of rest. At
this stage there can be no feeling
of
fatigue
348
and
labour such as we have down here, but looking from below the lot of an Adept
who
remains embodied for millions of years does appear appallingly tedious.
Still,
the candidate to whom Aryasanga is speaking is looking from below, and
the
Teacher desires that he shall have no unwillingness to face that future,
though
he may at present be able to see only the darker side of the picture. It
is
perhaps impossible for him to describe the joys of that higher life; they
cannot
be expressed in terms of any worldly happiness that we know; it is
somewhat
dangerous therefore to hold out its joys as an attraction to the
candidate,
as it might cause him to fix his mind on some lower form of
happiness,
all unwitting, and that would delay his progress.
Mount
Meru or Sumeru, is the Mount of the Gods, corresponding in a general way
to
the Olympus of the Greeks. All good flows from that source; that stream flows
into
every member of the Brotherhood, and it should flow through him to the
world—otherwise
he is literally damming up the stream. But in that case, of
course,
he will become one of the failures.
If
thou would'st have that stream of hard-earned knowledge, of wisdom
heaven-born,
remain sweet running waters, thou shouldst not leave it to become a
stagnant
pond.
Know,
if of Amitabha, the Boundless Age, thou would'st become co-worker, then
must
thou shed the light acquired, like to the Bodhisattvas twain, upon the span
of
all three worlds.
349
On
this Madame Blavatsky has the following note:
In
the Northern Buddhist symbology, Amitabha or boundless space (Parabrahman) is
said
to have in his paradise two Bodhisattvas—Kwan-shi-yin and Tashishi—who ever
radiate
light over the three worlds where they lived, including our own, in
order
to help with this light (of knowledge) in the instruction of Yogis, who
will,
in their turn, save men. Their exalted position in Amitabha's realm is due
to
deeds of mercy performed by the two, as such Yogis, when on earth, says the
allegory.
This
is a little complicated, and requires some explanation. Madame Blavatsky
here
makes Amitabha the equivalent of Parabrahman, but it is difficult to see
how
that could be so, when the former is the Boundless Light, the Boundless
Wisdom,
the Essence of all the Buddhas. Parabrahman is the first member of the
great
Trinity, and Avalokiteshvara is the second, which is also Amitabha,
described
as the " middle principle " of the Buddha. With that second or middle
principle
it is possible for us to become co-workers, but not with Parabrahman.
However,
she often speaks of the two as one, as the Parabrahman is the concealed
wisdom,
and He manifests as Avalokiteshvara, the manifested Ishvara, the Logos.
Looking
upward from below, there is in us, and in all, a God who is seen (the
second
of the Three) and a God who is concealed (the first of the Three).1
1
Ante, p.
-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales-------
206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24-1DL
.
350
The
middle principle is also called the Bodhisattva and is described as dual,
male
and female, namely Kwan-shi-yin, the male aspect, and Kwan-yin the female
aspect
of Avalokiteshvara. The latter, it is said, " assumes any form at
pleasure
in order to save mankind."
All
the three worlds, says a footnote, refers to " the three planes of being,
the
terrestrial, astral and spiritual." Madame Blavatsky is here using the
term
"
astral " in an unusual way, as she has also done in The Secret Doctrine
when
touching
on the present topic. She takes the whole of man, from the Monad down
to
the material bodies, and divides him into three parts, first the spiritual,
which
is the Monad; secondly, the astral, which comprises our atma-buddhi-manas,
or
the rupa beyond sense; and thirdly the material or terrestrial, •comprising
our
lower mental, astral and physical bodies.
We
may take the reference to the two Bodhisattvas also in another sense, as
referring
to the two great Brothers, the Lord Gautama and the Lord Maitreya, who
represent
the middle principle in the Hierarchy, the former dealing with the
higher
worlds, and the latter_ turned downwards, as it were, to deal with the
personalities
of men in the lower planes. The story of the wonderful effort and
sacrifice
of these two Brothers has been told in The Masters and the Path.1
But
perhaps the most practical interpretation of the allegory from the human
point
of view is this. Gautama became one with Amitabha—that is, he became the
1
Op. cit., Ch. xiv.
351
Buddha.
He continues his work on the higher planes, but in the world of men he
works
through the dual Bodhisattva, whose male form is Kwan-shi-yin, the Lord
Maitreya,
and whose female form is Kwan-yin, the mysterious companion and shakti
of
the former in almost all religions.
Know
that the stream of superhuman knowledge and the Deva-wisdom thou hast won,
must,
from thyself, the channel of Alaya, be poured forth into another bed.
Know,
O Narjol, thou of the secret path, its pore fresh waters must be used to
sweeter
make the ocean's bitter wares—that mighty sea of sorrow formed of the
tears
of men.
The
superhuman knowledge refers probably to the key of knowledge which is given
to
the Initiate when he takes his first step. The man who has passed through
several
Initiations has certain blocks of knowledge which he is not allowed to
communicate
to others. He acts under that knowledge, and necessarily it makes
certain
differences in what he does and the way he lives. Others may observe
these
things, and follow them by imitation or through devotion. Those who are
natural
protestants object to this kind of imitation of great people. They draw
attention
to the fact that a person may be great in some directions but not at
all
so in many others, that one who follows may easily fall into superstition,
as
the people did in the story of the cat and the bedpost.1 They
1
Ante, Vol. I, Part IV, Ch. 3, Tolerance.
352
also
say that a life of self reliance develops power. All! that is true; but
there
is benefit to be gained and danger to be faced in both methods; so each
should
go the way that is natural to him, taking care at the same time to try to
understand
and respect the man who follows the other path. If we imitate the
action
of a person who knows a little more than we do, it is not unreasonable. A
child
imitates grown-up people because he is convinced that they know more than
he
does, and in most cases he is right. It
is just as well that the average
child
regards his father as the greatest man in the world, and one would not
think
of telling him that his idea is wrong.
The
Deva-wisdom is probably the Divine Wisdom, which we call Theosophy. It is
knowledge
of the worlds as the dwelling-place of God's life, not merely as
external
regions. Aryasanga always makes a distinction between what one really
knows
and what one only believes. If he were speaking at one of our Theosophical
meetings
he might say: "You ought to believe in the existence of the astral and
mental
planes, because it is a rational necessity. But you do not know it unless
you
have direct experience." Such knowledge is superhuman only in the sense
that
it
is beyond the reach of normal humanity at the present time, though it will be
within
the reach of the average person in due course.
Direct
experience makes a great difference to one's realization of these
verities.
I remember Mr. W. T. Stead once saying that he had made extensive
studies
and investigations into things psychic, but one day he had a clairvoyant
vision
which gave new colour and
353
reality
to it all. He was falling asleep when he saw before him a little picture
of
the sea shore, with the waves dashing against the rocks. It was a small
thing,
but it taught him much. " Now," he said, " I understand what a
clairvoyant
means when he says he sees this or that."
It
made an enormous difference to Dr. Besant and myself when we began to see the
inner
planes for ourselves. We were familiar from the outside with facts about
the
astral and mental worlds, but direct vision gave them life for us. Even with
regard
to physical plane matters, the man who learns only from books has a cut
and
dried type of knowledge, but the man who has lived his knowledge has it full
of
colour and light. I remember well this difference among the Buddhist monks
whom
I used to meet in Ceylon. One would be perfect master of the books, and
could
quote from them to illustrate every point about his religion; while
another,
who had had some experience in meditation, would quote less but say
.far
more.
Clairvoyance
does not spring suddenly into existence, in a form in which it can
be
relied upon. Much careful training is required to enable a person to see
accurately,
to realize the significance of what he sees, and to eliminate the
personal
equation. One may put a telescope into a man's hands and expect that he
will
then know all about the stars—but he will know very little until he- has
been
trained to use it properly, and has brought to bear upon what he sees a
great
deal of knowledge and intelligence. Astronomers have found that they must
354
also
make allowance for the personal equation in their -considerations.
In
clairvoyance this appears in many forms—'One may see things a little too
large,
a little too blue, or too red, and so forth. Personal bias also is
evident
in the form of prejudice—one lady clairvoyant, for example, who was also
an
ardent Christian, would persist in associating ideas of baptism with any
pouring
out of water that she might happen to see, and she was quite offended
when
others could not agree with her view. With all our efforts we cannot see
things
fully, as would be necessary for perfect accuracy. It may be that even at
their
level of Adeptship, the Masters make allowances for their " personal
equations
" when working in the lower planes
The
Initiate has, however, absolute certainty, from experience, of a number of
matters,
which enables him to be a channel for the higher forces. It alters the
polarity
of his mental and causal vehicles, so that he can be used as others
cannot,
however highly they may be developed along other lines.
Alas!
When once thou hast become like the fixed star in highest heaven, that
bright
celestial orb must shine from out the spatial depths for all, save for
itself;
give light to all, but take from none.
It
must not be assumed that the star is sorry to have to shine; it does so
because
it cannot help it. " Beings
follow their own nature,- what shall
restraint
avail?" -says The Bhagavad Gita.1
Restraint always produces 1
Op.
cit., III, 33.
355
sorrow;
he who loves the world wants to shine upon it for ever; the sorrow would
be
if he could not do so.
One
great example of this is given by the mighty entities who live in the forms
of
the rice grains or willow leaves of the sun, in order that through them
light,
heat and vitality may be shed upon the system. This is always spoken of
as
a sacrifice on their part. But it is spontaneous, their way of expressing
their
inner nature. Instead of living a life of splendid activity on some higher
plane
of which we have no idea, they keep physical bodies, and live there for
the
benefit of the worlds which float around our sun. They form a guardian wall
in
very truth, a channel through which Alaya may flow into another bed.
Alas!
When once thou hast become like die pure snow in mountain vales, cold and
unfeeling
to the touch, warm and protective to the seed that sleepeth deep
beneath
its bosom—'tis now that snow which must receive the biting frost, the
northern
blasts, thus shielding from their sharp and cruel tooth the earth that
holds
the promised harvest, the harvest that will feed the hungry.
The
simile of the snow is very beautiful, but must not be pushed too far. The
disciple
has to become like pure snow—white, stainless, spotless. No doubt when
Aryasanga
spoke of this to his disciples, he pointed to the snow-covered peaks
which
were always in. sight.
The
snow is unfeeling not in the sense of being harmful in any way, but as being
not
itself affected by the
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cold. No matter how much colder the temperature
of the air may become, the
snow
remains just the same. Because it is itself unaffected it is able to
protect
the earth from the more intense cold.
That is the position to which
the
aspirant must rise. He must be
unfeeling only in the sense that he does
not
mind if he himself is troubled or injured by any outward thing, whatever it
may
be, but he must remain protective to the seed that sleeps below.
The
seed is the deity in man. It is beginning to awaken in all those who are
turning
their attention to higher things and are striving to develop themselves.
It
is this seed that must be cherished in others. An Upanishad tells us that in
the
acorn exists the oak tree potentially; it has only to unfold itself, and
draw
in from the air, the earth and the sunlight that which will enable it to
manifest.
In the same way the divine spark within us, the Monad, has the whole
possibility
of the Logos that we shall be one day, but it has still to unfold
itself.
We
must provide for those divine seeds the conditions under which they can best
unfold
themselves in the lower worlds. We must therefore receive the biting
frost,
the northern blast, so as to shield the other people, who might be
affected
and kept back by it. There are some who are ready for spiritual
teaching,
and they must be fed with spiritual food. These are the hungry, and we
must
give them the food they need for growth. They do not quite know what they
want,
but as soon as it is put before them they grasp it. That has been the
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experience
of some of us with regard to Theosophy. The moment that it came
before
us we felt: "That is exactly what I have been waiting for," although
before
we heard of it we did not know what we wanted. There are many other
people
waiting in the same way to recognize it, and we must be like the snow,
whose
function is to protect while the cold lasts, and then, when the sun
shines,
to melt away and efface itself.
That
is exactly what we do for children in the home; when times are hard or
there
is trouble of any kind, we take, care that the children do not know of it.
If
there is a lack of food the children are fed first, and the father and mother
go
short. Mercifully there is so much of the divine instinct in us that 'we know
that
it is our duty to protect the young and helpless.
The
same spirit has to be carried into other branches of life. We are a little
ahead
of the people who know nothing. They are the people to be pitied most, not
those
who think they are in great mental trouble and difficulty, struggling
towards
the light, such as the people who are worried because their religion
does
not express to them all that they need; these are not the people who most
need
sympathy, because at least they are awake and struggling towards the light.
It
is the great orphan humanity, those who do not know there is anything to
struggle
for, who most need sympathy. We Cannot do much for them. The only thing
one
can do for a chick in a shell is to keep it comfortably warm. The warmth is
the
life that we can pour out. We must be kindly, brotherly and upright. When
they
need teaching, we
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can
give it to them; but we can always give them love and make beautiful
thoughts
for them, for though they will not receive the exact thought they will
feel
the warmth, as the chicken does in the egg.
It
has been said that it is very well to preach and teach, but the greatest of
all
sermons is a noble life. One reason for that is that such preaching affects
the
people who do not yet know what they want. The mass of people are engaged in
making
a living and looking after their families, and they do not trouble
themselves
about Theosophy or religion. la England, the accommodation provided
in
places of worship is insufficient for one-tenth of the population. The
churches
and chapels of various kinds are generally not even half-full, so we
may
say that not more than a twentieth of the population habitually attend any
sort
of religious service. Our beautiful Theosophical lectures make little or no
impression
on this mass of people; one might just as well whistle a tune or read
a
piece of poetry. But the man who leads a good, honest, pure, unselfish life is
actually
preaching all the time to all those people who cannot be affected by
anything
that is said.
An
objection to many missionary efforts is that they put preaching before
example.
A missionary settles, for example, in a bungalow in an Indian country
town.
Nearly all the Hindus round about are strict Vegetarians and teetotallers;
but
the missionary has meat killed for himself, and generally he keeps a
decanter
of whiskey or other strong drink at hand, even when he does not share
in
the shooting of
I
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birds
and small animals in which his European friends indulge. Then he preaches
the
purity and love of Christ, and sometimes dares to abuse the objects of
worship
of the people. Usually he produces no effect, except among some
hypocrites
who can obtain material benefits through connection with him. In
schools,
he often manages to undermine the children's religion without
implanting
his own. He rarely converts a good Hindu into a good Christian, which
in
any case would be no advantage, but occasionally he changes a good Hindu into
an
indifferent Christian. It would be better if he would set himself to live a
saintly
life such as the Hindus can understand, and then speak of Christ as his
divine
Guru, who has inspired him and made him what he is. Even for his own
purpose
this would be better propaganda, because the Hindus are broad-minded,
and
are generally willing to allow those whom others worship a place beside
their
own Divine Incarnations.
We
often hear people say that Eastern lands are being rapidly Christianized when
what
is meant is that they are taking up modern civilization—-such as electric
light
and sanitation, and are dropping certain social customs, such as the
seclusion
of the better-class women and early marriage, which were common enough
in
Christian Europe a century or two ago. Perhaps they forget how the orthodox
Christians
in Europe fought against science and social reform, and how these
improvements
had to win their way in the teeth of the kind of ''Christianity"
which
the missionaries are themselves for the most part still preaching. The
situation
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would be
comical, were it
not both hypocritical and cruel.
Self-doomed
to live through future Kalpas, unthanked and unperceived by men;
wedged
as a stone with countless other stones which form the Guardian Wall, such
is
thy future if the seventh gate thou passest. Built by the hands of many
Masters
of compassion, raised by their tortures, by their blood cemented, it
shields
mankind, since man is man, protecting it from further and far greater
misery
and sorrow.
Withal
man sees it not, will not perceive it, nor will he heed the word of
wisdom
... for he knows it not.
But
thou hast heard it, thou knowest all, O thou of eager, guileless Soul . . .
and
thou must choose. Then hearken yet again.
I
cannot help thinking that Aryasanga's pupils must have been rather inferior in
certain
ways, because again and again he seems to find it necessary to reiterate
that
they must not expect anything for themselves. That has been said to us too,
but
I venture to hope that we who are students of occultism, have reached a
stage
where we do not mind being unthanked and unperceived by men.
The
idea of wanting these recognitions seems to be significant of rather a lower
stage.
One is not looking for any thanks or pleasure in connection with the
results
of one's work, yet one acts carefully and with prevision.
361
It
is the duty of the occultist to see beforehand what will be the probable
consequence
of his action or speech, and not to do anything rash. It is our
business
to do our best, and to see that failure is not due to our lack of
effort,
but it is all the same to us whether we see results or not.
Suppose,
for example, that a member of our Society is sent out to start a Lodge
in
some new district. He gives all the devotion that he has, shows all the tact
at
his command, and does his best in every way. Then, whether many or few join
does
not trouble him. It would be foolish for him to say regretfully: ' If
somebody
else had been here they would have succeeded." The man was sent there
to
do his own best, not that of some other person. It is a mistake for a man to
compare
himself with others.
The
expression " Guardian Wall " has caused a great deal of
misunderstanding. It
is
a beautiful symbol, but, like other symbols, it must not be pressed too far.
There
is no evil of any sort menacing humanity which is not of its own
generating.
We ourselves are our only possible enemies. No one can hurt a man
save
himself, and no one can really help him save himself. Others can only put
him
in the way to learn how to help himself, or put him in a position where if
he
is not careful he may injure himself. The man in the outer world says that he
is
injured by another man who defames him; but the fact is that when he is angry
the
man in his anger injures himself. He need not feel angry. People say that it
is
natural to do so; that may be so for the
362
undeveloped
man, but it is not so for him who has learned a little more.
The
expression "since man is man " is capable of two meanings. It may be
taken
as
indicating that the Guardian Wall has existed ever since man became man, or
it
may mean that it was brought into existence because man is only man, and is
therefore
liable to injure himself very seriously, unless he receives help and
protection
and guidance from above. Probably both meanings are true. We know
that
the Lodge of Adepts is very ancient, that it existed long before our
humanity
reached the level when it could produce Adepts, and in those days they
belonged
to other and previous chains.
CHAPTER
7 THE ARYA PATH
On
Sowan's Path, O Srotapatti, thou art secure. Aye, on that Marga, where nought
but
darkness meets the weary pilgrim, where torn by thorns the hands drip blood,
the
feet are cut by sharp, unyielding flints, arid Mara wields his strongest
arms
—there lies a great reward immediately beyond.
Calm
and unmoved the pilgrim glideth up the stream that to Nirvana leads. He
knoweth
that the more Ms feet will bleed, the whiter will himself be washed. He
Chynoweth
well that after seven short and fleeting births Nirvana will be Ms ...
Such
is the Dhyana path, the haven of the Yogi, the blessed goal that
Srotapattis
crave.
C.W.L.—The
term Sowan is another Buddhist expression, which has the same meaning
as
Srotapatti—the man who has taken the First Initiation. At the end of what is
here
called the path of dhyana, the meditation by which he steadily works his
way
upward through the levels of the buddhic plane, he takes his Fourth
Initiation,
and immediately enters the nirvanic plane.
364
He
does not rest at that point, however, but then treads the Arhat path to the
gate
of Prajna. That term is no doubt connected with the casting off of the last
fetter,
which is ignorance or avidya. It has been suggested that the translation
ignorance,
which is so common, is somewhat unfortunate, and that unwisdom would
have
been better. The idea is that no matter how much knowledge about things as
seen
from the outside a man may have he is still ignorant; but when he realizes
those
things from within, when he has realized the same Self, the One dwelling
equally
in all, he can see the inner side of all these things, and then he has
wisdom.
Jnana is wisdom, and the jna in prajna has the same meaning, the pro
being
a prefix implying activity or moving forth. Therefore prajna is sometimes
translated
consciousness, and sometimes intelligence, discernment or simply
wisdom.
It
means in practice not that the Adept has all knowledge, but that he is in a
position
to obtain the result of any knowledge he wishes. For example, the
Master
Morya, when first I had the privilege of meeting him, spoke English very
imperfectly
and with a strong accent. Since then he has acquired far greater
fluency
in English, though something of the accent still remains. The Master
Kuthumi
has always, within our experience, spoken English with the greatest
fluency
and without any trace of accent, but at the same time with one or two
little
peculiarities such as any man might have, which enable -one to identify
his
style.
I
remember an early experience when one of the Masters wished to send a letter
in
the Tamil language.
THE
ARYA PATH
As
he did not know that tongue, he instructed a pupil of his, who did know it,
to
think what he wanted to say; then he watched in that man's mind how the
thoughts
would be expressed, and so precipitated a letter which was correct,
though
he did not in his body know the meaning of the written symbols used.
I
remember that my inner feelings of devotion and reverence received a little
shock
at the idea that a Master did not know Tamil; but I discovered very soon
that
it would not be worth while for an Adept to know everything from our point
of
view. I remembered a remark made by an exceedingly clever man with regard to
some
matter of astronomy or some other science. A friend of his had expressed
surprise
when he showed ignorance of the matter, and said: "What, do you mean to
say
you didn't know that? " He replied: " No, I did not know it, and even
now
that
you have told me, I shall put the thought aside and probably forget all
about
it. My brain will hold only a certain amount of information, and I am
going
to be a specialist on my own line."
Brain
capacity is limited, and to acquire a vast amount of information that has
scarcely
any bearing on our life and work is not wise. I once knew a young man
who
told me that he had been a very ardent reader of the books of a large
reference
library in the north of
as
to how long it would take him merely to read all the books that he wanted to
study
in that particular library alone. His computation showed that it would
take
him about five
-------
hundred
lifetimes if he spent eight hours a day in that occupation! He then
decided
to select his future reading very carefully.
It
is one of the big problems of life to decide just what knowledge one should
try
to acquire. Karma brings within our reach all that we need to know for our
immediate
progress. It is possible for us to go beyond that and spend our time
and
energy on study which is not useful in our lives, though it may be of
importance
to someone else. The more we learn the more we realize the paralyzing
immensity
of things; we are like small insects in a great room, looking at it
from
one corner.
We
realized something of this immensity when looking up a long series of lives.
For
the long time involved we had to use the precession of the equinoxes to mark
periods
of tune; the astronomers make that period about twenty-five thousand
years,
but higher vision showed it to be thirty-one thousand. The inexactitude
of
scientific information in these matters is due to the limited period of time
over
which the investigations could extend—a few hundred years, or a few
thousand
if the records of the Chaldeans are to be taken into account. The
observations
have thus been limited to a very small arc of a circle, from which
the
dimensions of the whole had to be calculated, so the least error in
approximation
becomes multiplied many times. But that is nothing beside an Age
of
Brahma, with its 311,040,000 million years. And the greatest distances we can
clearly
imagine are naught besides the light years which separate the stars.
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We
can Imagine two kinds or types of learned men. One might become learned by
acquiring
an immense amount of knowledge; another, by surrounding himself with a
well-chosen
set of books and having the knowledge how to turn to those books and
get
from them the information which he needed. The knowledge of the Adept is
somewhat
of the second type; he does not necessarily possess books, but he has
the
power to get at any knowledge that he wants almost in a moment. If the Adept
wants
knowledge on a particular subject, he can make himself one with it and get
at
the core of it instantly, and then observe the surrounding details as he may
require
them.
The
Adept approaches the subject from a higher plane, and therefore it might
appear
to us on lower levels that there were many things which he did not know.
It
seems to me possible that if an Adept moved among us now, we might find that
we
knew more than he along certain lines; but if we came to deal with realities,
with
the core of the matter, with the real grasp of its essentials, the Master
would
know more than any of us. Let us try to understand it by considering the
study
of geology. The student buys a number of manuals, and studies the subject
month
after month, and perhaps year after year. What would a Master do if he
wanted
to know geology? Somewhere on the buddhic or nirvanic plane, he would
grasp
the idea that lies at the back of the science and make himself one with
that;
then, from that point of view, he would reach down into any details he
might
require. Therefore,
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while
undoubtedly some of us may have detailed information of which a given
Master
is not possessed, he has powers of knowledge different from ours.
An
Adept, wishing to occupy his physical energies and time with the very
definite
purposes that he always has in view, may very well put aside many
things
and not bother abut them. But in addition to that, we must take into
account
the fact that his consciousness is not only definitely greater than
ours,
but also different in kind, and no doubt quite indescribable to us who
have
not yet reached that state.
The
Arhat has still seven lives before him as a general rule, before he attains
Adeptship,
but they need not be lived in a physical body. He must descend as far
as
the astral plane, but the taking of a physical vehicle for those seven lives
is
quite optional. While in the astral body he may at any moment that he chooses
enjoy
the nirvanic consciousness, but as in the physical body it is only
possible
for one to reach a plane below the highest that one can reach while in
the
astral body, the Arhat incarnated physically can have that nirvanic
experience
only when he leaves his body during sleep or in trance. The normal
home
of the Arhat's consciousness is the buddhic plane. If he were speaking -to
any
one on the physical plane, or doing a piece of work that required attention,
his
consciousness would be fixed in the physical brain, but when he turns aside
and
rests for a moment it slips back to its normal home. He has a number of
planes
open to him, and can focus his consciousness at any particular level, as
he
chooses, although
3
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there
will always be a background of the buddhic or the nirvanic consciousness.
One
must be careful not to misjudge people who habitually use the higher
consciousness.
There have been cases where such a person was misunderstood by
some
people who spoke to him and did not immediately get a comprehensible reply,
because
of the fact that his attention was abstracted at the time. Sometimes
people
have got an impression of coldness or aloofness under these
circumstances.
It is wiser to be on the alert to understand what is happening,
and
if we receive a preoccupied answer, to go away and try another time Many a
time
I have approached the Master in his home, and noticed by the appearance of
his
aura that he was preoccupied; in such a case one waits until the Master has
finished,
or one goes away to do some other work and then returns.
All
the symbolism, in this and similar passages, about the weary pilgrim being
torn
by thorns and washed with blood and so forth is rather unpleasant to me. It
is,
of course, a materialistic way of symbolizing difficulties which all
aspirants
feel to some extent, but I should prefer to employ more agreeable
illustrations.
People differ, naturally, and one recognizes that what seems
almost
repulsive to some is taken very much as a matter of course by others. I
have
never been able to bring myself to like the Sufi symbolism in which they
speak
of drinking wisdom as wine, or some parts of the Symbolism in the Puranas
typifying
quite materially the devotion of the Gopis to Shri Krishna. Of course
I,
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know
what the Sufi means—that just as the man is entirely filled with his wine
and
forgets everything else, so must he be filled with the divine wisdom until
it
is everything to him. I would rather say, with the Psalm, " As the hart
panteth
after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God."1
Nevertheless,
we do not wish to criticise those who use a symbolism different
from
our own.
Not
so when he hath crossed and won the Arhata Path.
There
Klesha is destroyed for ever, Tanha's roots torn out. But stay, disciple .
.
. yet one word. Canst thou destroy divine compassion? Compassion is no
attribute.
It is the law of laws— eternal harmony, Alaya's Self; a shoreless
universal
essence, the light of everlasting right, and fitness of all things,
the
law of love eternal.
The
more thou dost become at one with it, thy being melted in its being, the
more
thy Soul unites with that which is, the more thou wilt become compassion
absolute.
Such
is the Arya path, Path of the Buddhas of perfection.
In
footnotes to this passage Madame Blavatsky writes: " Klesha is the love of
pleasure
or of worldly enjoyment, evil or good," and " Tanha, the will to
live,
that
which causes rebirth." The kleshas are technically considered
1
Psalm, 42, 1.
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among
the Hindus as five forms of attachment to the world which are the great
troubles
and obstacles of the path. They have been dealt with in our comments on
the
first Fragment.1 Tanha, as explained before, is the thirst of the ego for
the
strong vibrations of material existence, which, in the early stages of his
evolution,
help to awaken him to a more vivid realization of his own existence.
There
is also a footnote on the subject of compassion, .as follows:
This
compassion must not be regarded in the same light as " God, the divine
Love"
of the Theists. Compassion stands here as an abstract, impersonal law,
whose
nature, being absolute harmony, is thrown into confusion by discord,
suffering
and sin.
I
have always felt that perhaps our great Founder did a little less than justice
to
the Theists there. She says that one must not think of the Absolute
Compassion
as God, the Divine Love. I believe myself that one should so think of
it,
only that one should make one's idea of God, the Divine Love, a higher, a
greater
and nobler thing than many have made it.
In
many devotional books it has been made very personal indeed. In some of the
Roman
Catholic books of devotion, and in books of the Quietists we find
expressions
such as " Christ, the Lover of his Church " which are more suited to
love
between people on the physical 1 Ante, pp. 49-52.
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plane.
In India also those who follow Chaitanya, and some others, employ similar
material
expressions; they:, speak of a love like human love, though glorified.
Probably
Madame Blavatsky was thinking of these things, and warning us not to
identify
absolute compassion with that idea of divine love. Divine love is.
stronger
than that, yet too abstract to be put into words; it is not a quality
of
God, but it is He; He is all love and there is nothing that is not love. So I
think
this compassion absolute is simply what we mean by God, not a personal
God,
but the utter Reality which lies behind all. And because that is absolute
love
we, being; one with all others in that, must feel the need to help others.
Whithal,
what mean the sacred scrolls which make thee say:
"
Aum! I believe it is not all the Arhats that get of the nirvanic path the
sweet
fruition."
"
Aum! I believe that the Nirvana-dharma is entered not by all the Buddhas."
Yea,
on the Arya path thou art no more Srotapatti, thou art a Bodhisattva. The
stream
is crossed.
When
it is said that the nirvana-dharma is not entered by all the Buddhas, the
term
buddha is used in a general way, meaning those who are illuminated or
enlightened
or wise. Madame Blavatsky said: "In the Northern Buddhist
phraseology
all the great Arhats, Adepts and
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saints
are called Buddhas." And when it says " Thou art a Bodhisattva "
it means
one
who is preparing to become a Buddha in that general sense, and may be taken
as
equivalent to the term Arhat. Here the text speaks of the arya path, where
before
it said " the arhata path." The word arya means noble, and it may
"be
that
the term arhat applied to the path has a tinge of its general meaning of
worthy
or venerable, so that it would be not simply the path of the Arhat, but
the
venerable or noble path, as distinguished from the other path, that of
accepting
nirvana, which, as we have seen before, Aryasanga or His reporter is
inclined
to slight.
It
has already been explained that the word bodhi-sattva has at least three
meanings,
of which one is that it names the office in the Hierarchy of the
future
Buddha who is the Teacher of Devas and men for a particular root-race. In
a
footnote here Madame Blavatsky says that popular feeling rightly places this
great
being even higher in its reverence than a perfect Buddha. The Buddha is,
of
course, a higher official, but inasmuch as the Bodhisattva who for our
root-race
is the Lord Maitreya, is the great Teacher in the lower worlds, He-may
"be
said to be more directly and closely in touch with them, and therefore may
take
a more vital and living place in their devotion, in much the same way as
affection
and loyalty for some Prince who is in charge of a province may be
greater
than that felt for the great Emperor far away, who is seldom or never
seen.
It
has often been asked " Do the Buddhists worship Buddha?" Colonel
Olcott, when
writing
his Buddhist
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Catechism
had to deal with the question: "Was the Buddha God?" To his answer,
"No",
the Burmese Buddhists raised objection, though the Sinhalese Buddhists
were
quite satisfied. The Lord Buddha is regarded in Ceylon as the Perfect Man,
a
Teacher towards whom the deepest gratitude is felt. But in Burma the religion
is
more coloured with devotion, and the Lord Buddha is practically worshipped.
In
a sense, both views are correct. All men are divine in essence; in imperfect
men
the divinity is veiled, but in the Lord Buddha God was shining forth.
These
local differences of philosophical and devotional outlook are due to the
temperament
of the people of the two countries; Buddhism contains both aspects.
Every
great religion has begun by providing for all types of men; but in each
case
as the centuries rolled on certain portions or aspects of the teaching were
allowed
to fade while others were brought into prominence. Christianity nowadays
provides
almost exclusively for the devotional type of people; of the knowledge
and
philosophy that it had in the form of the Gnostic teaching but little is
left.
The Islamic religion also appeals principally to the devotional element,
though
there is philosophy among the Sufis. The Jewish religion is in the same
plight;
in it, however, the Talmud offers a philosophical system. Of all
religions,
it is perhaps only Hinduism that at present shows out both the
philosophical
and devotional sides with equal brilliance and fervour.
CHAPTER
8 THE THREE VESTURES
Tis
tree thou hast a right to Dharmakaya vesture; but Sambhogakaya is greater
than
a Nirvani, and greater still is a Nirmanakaya—the Buddha of Compassion.
C.W.L.—We
come now to the three vestures, on which Madame Blavatsky has a very
long
note, which I will comment upon piecemeal. The vestures refer to the lines
of
activity open to him who has taken the Fifth Initiation. Very little has ever
been
said about the seven paths that lie beyond Adeptship, but we have
summarized
what information is available in the following passage:1
When
the Human Kingdom is traversed, and man stands on the threshold of His
superhuman
life, a liberated Spirit, seven paths open before Him for His
choosing:
He may enter into the blissful omniscience and omnipotence of Nirvana,
with
activities far beyond our knowing, to become, perchance, in some future
world
an Avatara, or divine Incarnation: this is sometimes called, ' taking the
Dharmakaya
vesture '. He may enter on ' the Spiritual Period'—a phrase covering
unknown
meanings, among them probably that of ' taking the Sambhogakaya
vesture'.
He may become part of that treasure-house of spiritual forces on which
the
Agents of the LOGOS draw for Their work, ' taking the Nirmanakaya vesture '.
He
may remain a member of the Occult Hierarchy which rules and guards the world
in
which He has reached perfection. He may pass on to the next Chain, to aid in
building
up its forms. He may enter the splendid Angel—Deva—Evolution.
1
From Man: Whence, How and Whither, pp. 14-15, 19
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edn.
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He
may give himself to the immediate service of the LOGOS, to be used by Him in
any
part of the Solar System, His Servant and Messenger, who lives but to carry
out
His will and do His work over the whole of the system which He rules. As a
General
has his Staff, the members of which carry his messages to any part of
the
field, so are These the Staff of Him who commands all, " Ministers of His
that-do
His pleasure."
In
earlier days, in the moon chain, these paths probably opened before the
Arhat,
because that was the level of attainment set for humanity in that chain.
The
line of those who remain in the Hierarchy on our earth leads, to the Sixth
Initiation,
that of the Chohan, and still further to a seventh, that of the
Mahachohan.
That is the last Initiation that is possible on rays three to seven,
but
on the second ray a further step may be taken, that of the Buddha, and on
the
first ray yet one more, that of the Lord of the World.
In
the division of the seven ways into three sections as given here, no doubt
the
path of work in the Hierarchy would be included among those described as
Nirmanakayas,
along with the other path of the Nirmanakaya proper. Our Masters,
who
keep their physical bodies for certain purposes connected with their work,
still
give most of their help to men on higher levels. They work habitually on
the
causal bodies of men, and sometimes on the buddhic and atmic sheaths.
The
Nirmanakaya usually retains his causal body, that is the Augoeides, the
glorified
form which he has been building up in the course of his evolution.
With
that he usually also retains the permanent atoms of the lower mental and
the
astral and physical bodies, so that he can whenever he chooses (which is a
very
rare thing)
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make
for himself a vehicle on any of those planes, and show himself in it.
Ordinarily,
he lives in his causal body, and spends his time in the generation
of
spiritual force, which is poured into the reservoir, and is then distributed
by
the members of the Hierarchy and their pupils. Both these classes, Madame
Blavatsky
said, " prefer to remain invisibly (in spirit, so to speak) in the
world,
and contribute towards men's salvation by influencing them to follow the
good
Law."
Further
on she speaks of the Nirmanakaya as " that ethereal form which one would
assume
when leaving his physical he would appear in his astral body—having in
addition
all the knowledge of an Adept. The Bodhisattva develops it in himself
as
he proceeds on the path. Having reached the goal and refused its fruition, he
remains
on earth, as an Adept; and when he dies, instead of going into Nirvana,
he
remains in that glorious body he has woven for himself, invisible to
uninitiated
mankind, to watch over and protect it."
Madame
Blavatsky is here using the term astral body in a quite a different sense
from
that in which she commonly employed it and in which it is now used, but she
used
it in this way also in her article on The Mystery of Buddha in the third
volume1
of The Secret Doctrine. She there explains that Shri Shankaracharya, who
appeared
in India shortly after the death of the Lord Buddha, was in a sense a
reincarnation
of the Buddha, inasmuch as He used the " astral" remains of
Gautama,
and she says, such "astral bodies" must be regarded in the 1 Vol. V,
6
volume
Adyar Edn.
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light
of separate or independent Powers or Gods rather than material objects.
She
concludes: " Hence the right way of representing the truth would be to say
that
the various principles, the Bodhisattva, of Gautama Buddha, which did not
go
to Nirvana, re-united to form the middle principle of Shankaracharya, the
earthly
Entity."1
In
order to understand this mystery of Buddha we must first realize the
constitution
of the physical atoms and then how these evolve by being used in
the
human body both in a general way to build up its particles and in a special
way
as permanent atoms. When you look at a physical ultimate atom with etheric
sight
you first of all see that it resembles a wire cage; then, looking more
closely,
you find that each wire is made up of a finer coil, and that in all
there
are seven sets of such spirillae. One of these spirillae is developed into
activity
in each round of evolution, so, as we are now in the fourth round of
our
earth chain incarnation, there are only four spirilla? in activity at
present
in the majority of atoms. In each round a new set will be developed, so
that
in the seventh round the entire seven spirillae will be active; the atoms
will
therefore be better atoms in the seventh round than they are now, and the
people
who will live in that round will therefore find it far easier than people
do
to-day to respond to inner things and to live the higher life.
This
awakening or evolution of the atoms is due to their being used in the
bodies
of living creatures, from the
1
The Secret Doctrine, Vol. III, p. 38). (p. 3
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, Vol. V, 6 Vol. Adyar Edition)
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mineral
to man. Everything is built of atoms, which are floating around us in
unthinkable
numbers. There must be some of them which have never been used at
all,
but others have frequently been taken into and thrown off from the bodies
of
living beings. Some few have experienced constant association with man,
having
been adopted as permanent atoms, to be carried from life to life through
the
man's cycle of reincarnations. The atoms thus live with us and form our
bodies.
It is said that once in seven years every particle in the physical body
is
changed; some scientists have stated the period as three years. It is
probable
that the bony structure changes much more slowly, but it seems to me
reasonable
to imagine that the fleshy material is renewed entirely in about
three
years. The constituents of the blood change more rapidly still; one would
not
be surprised to-learn that they are entirely replaced every few days.
All
atoms absorbed into living things are changed considerably. Those which form
part
of the earth are very little evolved by that, but those which compose
precious
stones are considerably developed. Vegetables and animals offer a still
better
opportunity, but the best possible evolution for atoms is to be drawn
into
the bodies of human beings. Among men, those who are living the occult life
offer
better conditions than men less advanced, since they have purer bodies
because
of what they eat and drink (or rather because of what the)' do not eat
nor
drink). As we evolve we also attract better atoms and our bodies more and
more
tend to reject those less evolved.
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When
a man reaches Adeptship he cannot express himself through the ordinary
atoms
that we find about us. They must be specially advanced and refined atoms,
because
his various vehicles are required to be so very much purer than ours,
and
capable of vibrating at rates which ours cannot maintain. When a person
reaches
the level of a Buddha, it is quite impossible for him to find atoms
useful
to him, except such as have been used as permanent atoms, and have
therefore
been in the human body all the time, except during the intervals
between
incarnations. Permanent atoms are very much more evolved than others.
They
are at the fullest development of seventh round atoms in men who are about
to
become Adepts. They are as highly developed as atoms can possibly be, and are
charged
with all the qualities which they have brought over from previous
births.
All
the permanent atoms of all who, in connection with this world or probably
even
this chain of worlds, have attained Adeptship and have cast them off, have
been
collected together by the Lord Gautama, or for him. He was the first Buddha
of
our human race. All those who had been Buddhas before him had come from some
other
evolution, and had no doubt brought whatever they needed in the way of
bodies
with them. But the Lord Gautama, who was the first really human Buddha,
had
to find his bodies from the material of this chain. Therefore he, or some
greater
Ones for him, made these bodies. His causal body was built up of the "
remains
", or permanent atoms of all the causal bodies which had
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been
used by such great Ones; his mental body was built of the mental units
gathered
from such people, and his astral body was made of their permanent
astral
atoms. There were not quite enough of these to make the entire vehicle,
so
some ordinary atoms, the best available, had also to be employed; but these
were
galvanized into activity, by the others, and they are replaced by permanent
atoms
obtained from every new Adept who takes the Sambhogakaya or the Dharmakaya
vesture.
Thus has been built up a set of bodies which is absolutely unique.
There
are no other such bodies in the world, and there is no material to make
another
such set. They were used by Gautama Buddha, and afterwards preserved. We
are
now in a position to understand Madame Blavatsky's statement that the
principles
of the Buddha were employed as the middle principles of Shri
Shankaracharya,
but the physical Shankaracharya was quite a different man, and
the
Atma of Shankaracharya was absolutely distinct from that of the Buddha.
These
three intermediary bodies were used by Shankaracharya, and are now being
used
by the Lord Maitreya. Madame Blavatsky employed a curious nomenclature in
her
article. St. Paul divided man into three parts—'Spirit, soul and body. By
the
spirit he meant what we call the Monad; by the soul the ego, and by the body
the
personality, no doubt. Madame Blavatsky is alluding to the same triple
division;
but she says that the Buddha is a person so exalted that you cannot
think
of his component principles in the same way as those of a man. So instead
of
speaking of the Monad of the Buddha, she
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speaks
of it as the Dhyani Buddha. Then she calls the intermediate principles
his
Bodhisattva. Thirdly, she calls the physical body of the Buddha the Manushya
Buddha.
And so we have these three things as the principles of the Buddha: the
Monad
of the Buddha, which, because he is one with it in a way which is not the
case
with us now, is called the Dhyani Buddha; the Bodhisattva; and then the
Manushya
Buddha, which is his manifestation on the physical plane. The astral
and
mental bodies, which have not been dissipated, are also included in the
Bodhisattva.
At
first many of us were much confused by Madame Blavatsky's terminology, but as
the
facts became more fully known to us we began to see what she means when she
says
that the Manushya Buddha dies and passes away, the Dhyani Buddha enters
Nirvana,
and the Bodhisattva remains on the earth to carry on the work of the
Buddha.
The Bodhisattva means the principles of the Buddha, which the present
Bodhisattva
uses. As the Lord Maitreya is using these, it is not these which we
see
on the Wesak day, for that is called the Shadow of the Buddha.1 It is but a
reflection
of him in the same way as the living image is a reflection of the
astral
and mental bodies of the pupil,2 but he functions through it and uses it.
I
have explained in The Masters and the Path that the work of the Lord Buddha
was,
in some way incomprehensible to us, not entirely successful. He and the
1
See The Masters and the Path, Ch. XIV.
2
Ibid., Ch. V.
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Lord
Maitreya were both far in advance of the rest of humanity, but at the time
when
the first human Buddha was needed, neither of them was quite sufficiently
advanced
to take that high position. When the time came, the Lord Gautama, in
his
great love for humanity, said that he would at any cost fit himself to fill
this
position, that he would make the great sacrifice necessary to push himself
on
very much more quickly.1
He
did this, and the whole of the Buddhist world venerates him for it to an
extent
which no one can understand unless he has lived there. He lived the life
of
the Buddha and did the work, and it would seem to us looking at it a
wonderful
life. It is impossible to find any defect in it, to discover anything
short
of perfection in his life and teaching and work, and yet it is said that
some
parts of it were not fully completed. In order to compensate for whatever
was
lacking, two arrangements were made. The first was that the Lord Buddha
himself
undertook to appear once a year and give his blessing—he appears on
Wesak
day, and gives an outpouring of spiritual force which helps the world very
much.
Then there was to be an incarnation almost immediately after his death,
and
that requirement was fulfilled by the birth of Shri Shankaracharya.
The
first we ever heard about the occult relation between the Lord Buddha and
Shri
Shankaracharya was from the teaching given in Esoteric Buddhism, by Mr.
Sinnett.
In that he said that the Buddha
1
See The Masters and the Path, Ch. XIV.
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reincarnated
as Shri Shankaracharya, that Shankaracharya was simply Gautama in a
new
body. Now very early we knew that that was not so, for the reason— besides
many
others—that Shankaracharya was a first ray man, and the Lord Buddha was the
head
of the second ray. Madame Blavatsky quotes that remark of Mr. Sinnett's,
and
says that it is true in a certain occult way, but that it was very
misleading
as it was put. She was asked if Shankaracharya was the Lord Gautama
under
a new form. Her answer was that there was the astral Gautama inside the
outward
Shankaracharya, whose Atma was nevertheless his own divine prototype,,
the
heavenly mind-born son of Light.
When
Madame Blavatsky says that Shri Shankaracharya was a Buddha, but not an
incarnation
of the Buddha, she means that he is a Pratyeka Buddha, that is a
Buddha
on the first ray. He still lives at Shamballa in the body which he
brought
from Venus. The bodies of the Lords of the Flame are not like ours at
all.
They do not change their particles, but have been compared to bodies of
glass;
they look like ours, but very much more glorified, and I suppose that
they
brought them entire from Venus, and that they are built of the physical
matter
of that evolution. Madame Blavatsky says that Shankaracharya was an
Avatara
in the full sense of the word, the abode of a flame of the highest of
manifested
spiritual beings. As an Avatara is literally one who " crosses over "
or
" descends ", not one of our humanity, the term is strictly applied
in this
case,
as he is one of the three Lords of the Flame from Venus who
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remain on
our earth as assistants and pupils of the Lord of the
World.
To
return to the general subject of the Nirmanakayas, Madame Blavatsky's
footnote
further says: " It is part of the exoteric Northern Buddhism to honour
all
such great characters as saints, and even to offer prayers to them, as the
Greeks
and Catholics do to their saints and patrons; on the other hand, the
esoteric
teachings countenance no such thing." By Greeks she means members of
the
Greek Church—the ancient Greek did not usually make it a custom to offer
prayers,
and certainly not to saints. When she says that the esoteric teachings
do
not countenance prayer to the Nirmanakayas, she means that no esoteric
student
would pray to a Nirmanakaya to give him help, because he knows that they
are
not connected with individuals at all, but are fully engaged in pouring out
their
splendid energies in their own line of work.
Still,
it is said that these Great Beings, the Buddhas of Compassion, are
reverenced
popularly more than those who have taken the other paths. Madame
Blavatsky
also says " This same popular reverence calls ' Buddhas of Compassion
'
those Bodhisattvas who, having reached the rank of an Arhat (i.e., having
completed
the fourth or seventh Path), refuse to pass into the nirvanic state or
'
don the Dharmakaya robe and cross to the other shore,' as it would then become
beyond
their power to assist men even so little as Karma permits."
The
main ideas here are perfectly clear, but the terminology is a little
confusing.
Every Adept has crossed
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to
the other shore; that is the termination of the path which he began to tread
when
he entered upon the stream. As is said in the text, " the stream is
crossed
"
before the choice of these three vestures is made; and it is the Adept, not
the
Arhat in the ordinary sense, who makes the choice. He who dons the
Dharmakaya
vesture crosses to the other shore, but in a fuller sense.
The
Sambhogakaya, Madame Blavatsky continues, " is the same but with the
additional
lustre of three perfections, one of which is entire obliteration of
all
earthly concerns," He enters a spiritual line of evolution, and takes
nirvana
at a later stage. He retains the nirvanic atom, the nirvanic body, but I
think
none of the lower atoms. He usually shows himself at that level as the
triple
spirit. Included in this class is probably that order of perfected men
who
have joined the Staff Corps of the Logos. They are no longer especially
attached
to our earth, but are in the service of the Logos, to be sent by Him
anywhere
within His system.
Then
comes the Dharmakaya robe, which is " That of a complete Buddha, i.e., no
body
at all, but an ideal breath; consciousness merged in the universal
consciousness,
or soul devoid of every attribute." This means that the man who
takes
the Dharmakaya vesture retires into the Monad. He drops his permanent
atoms
altogether, and works only on high planes, the lowest for him being the
nirvanic.
He burns his boats behind him, as it were, and starts out on cosmic
life,
but I believe that if he chooses he may yet show himself as
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the
triple spirit, but he does not retain, I think, even the nirvanic atom.
All
through our evolution we keep the same causal body until we are able to
raise
our consciousness to the buddhic plane, and then the mere act of focusing
oneself
in the buddhic body causes the causal vehicle to vanish. As soon,
however,
as one brings one's consciousness down again on to the higher mental
plane
the causal body reappears; it is not the same as it was before, because
the
particles have been dissipated, hut it seems ill every way exactly the same
body.
A similar process takes place in the case of the Dharmakaya vesture. The
man
has dropped his nirvanic atom, his manifestation on the nirvanic plane, but
I
believe if he puts himself down to that level for a moment he instantly draws
to
himself an atom exactly similar, a nirvanic vesture through which he may
manifest
as the triple spirit.
Comparing
the three, it may be said that the Dharmakaya keeps nothing below the
Monad,
though what the vesture of the Monad may be on its own plane we do not
know.
The Sambhogakaya retains his manifestation as a triple spirit, and I think
he
can reach down and show himself in a temporary Augoeides. The Nirmanakaya
appears
to preserve his Augoeides and keeps all his permanent atoms, and
therefore
has the power to show himself at whichever level he chooses. Yet the
three
are all equal in development; the difference is only that he who casts
aside
the permanent atoms is therefore unable to make himself visible on the
lower
levels, and
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he
throws them away because he no longer needs them for his kind of work. The
man
who retains them has the power to come down to those levels and work upon
them,
but it cannot rightly be said that those who choose to do the other work
are
in any way less important, lower in value or honour. We might think of him
who
is dealing at a higher level with great solar forces as the more important,
but
that would be a mistake, for the whole solar system is a manifestation of
the
Logos.
Madame
Blavatsky speaks of all these kayas as, buddhic bodies. In so doing, she
is
using the term buddhic as an adjective of buddha, and is using buddha as the
equivalent
of our term Asekha Adept, one who has passed the Fifth Initiation. We
have
restricted the term to those who have taken the Buddha Initiation; our
Masters
stand two steps lower than that, but they are spoken of as " living
Buddhas
" in Tibet.
The
closing passage in the note says: " The esoteric school teaches that
Gautama
Buddha,
with several of his Arhats, is such a Nirmanakaya higher than whom, on
account
of his great renunciation and sacrifice for mankind, there is none
known."
We must not take this to mean that Gautama Buddha and several of his
Arhats
make one Nirmanakaya, but that he is, such a Being, and several of his
followers
have also taken the same line. Then it is said that none higher is
known
to mankind. This statement is perfectly accurate if it means that of our
humanity
no other has yet reached so high a level as the Lord Gautama.
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Even
the Bodhisattva, the Lord Maitreya himself, •who long ago was equal with
him,
as I have explained in The Masters and the Path, has not yet taken the step
which
would make him a Buddha. Had he done so, he could not occupy his present
position
as Head of the teaching department of the world. He is often •called
Maitreya
Buddha by the Buddhists, but that is an honorific title.
There
is one level in. the Hierarchy, higher even than that of the Buddha—-the
level
of the great King who is the One Initiator, but as he is one of the Lords
of
the Flame who came from Venus, it remains true that Gautama Buddha is the
highest
of our humanity.
Now
bend thy head and listen well, O Bodhisattva—compassion speaks and saith:
"
Can
there be bliss when all that lives must suffer? Shalt thou be saved and hear
the
whole world cry? "
Now
thou hast heard that which was said:
Now
thou shalt attain the seventh step and cross the gate of final knowledge,
but
only to wed woe —if thou would'st be Tathagata, follow upon thy
predecessor's
steps, remain unselfish to the endless end.
Thou
art enlightened—choose thy way.
Once
more Aryasanga brings forward his prevailing idea, and urges his followers
to
take the path of compassion. He says one cannot desert one's brothers
390
when
they are suffering. We have already considered the question of suffering
quite
fully, and realized that though the Arhat may still work in the world that
is
full of suffering, his consciousness on the higher planes, knows the glory
that
is behind it all, knows the heights of happiness which all men will
infallibly
reach, so that it is impossible for him to suffer as ordinary men do
who
see so little of the glory of life. The Arhat, who is here addressed as a
Bodhisattva,
is in a position to share the triumphant song of the Lord Buddha,
so
well expressed in The Light of Asia:
Ye
are not bound! The Soul of things is sweet,
The
Heart of Being is celestial rest; Stronger than woe is will; that which was
Good
Doth
pass to Better—Best. I, Buddh, who wept with all my brothers' tears,
Whose
heart was broken by a whole world's woe, Laugh and am glad, for there is
Liberty!1
When
Aryasanga urges his followers to remain unselfish to the endless end, he
uses
an expression curiously similar to a phrase which in Christianity is
translated
"World without end"; the Latin form is in secula. seculorum, in the
ages
of the ages. It means until the end of our set of worlds, or perhaps until
the
end of our present chain. The suggestion is that we should remain in touch
with
humanity until the work of the present human cycle is complete, and
humanity
has reached its goal.
Our
own method of offering ourselves is a little different from that; we have
put
ourselves completely at the disposal of the Masters, not asking that they
should
1
Op. cit., Book the Eighth.
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send
us to this work or that, but leaving it absolutely to them, saying: "Here
am
I; send me." Aryasanga's desire was that his pupils should follow the line
that
he himself had chosen. Perhaps he felt that many more workers were urgently
needed
in that particular field. He was speaking at a certain period of Indian
history,
in the reign of King Harsha, when there seems to have been a decay of
religion,
when people were thinking more of outward forms than of the real life
behind,
when everything had become much specialized and somewhat artificial;
under
these circumstances perhaps he felt the necessity for more teachers, for
the
revival of the religious life and the ideal of service.
Finally
he urges the pupils to be Tathagata, to follow in the steps of the Lord
Buddha.
He tells them that they are now enlightened and should choose their way.
Next
comes a line of dots—while the person is choosing, apparently, and then he
breaks
out into a magnificent peroration:
Behold,
the mellow light that floods the eastern sky. In signs of praise both
heaven
and earth unite. And from the four-fold manifested powers a chant of love
ariseth,
both from the flaming fire and flowing water, and from sweet-smelling
earth
and rushing wind.
Hark!
. . . from the deep unfathomable vortex of that golden light in which the
Victor
bathes, all nature's wordless voice in thousand tones ariseth to
proclaim:
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Joy
unto you, O men of Myalba. A pilgrim hath returned back from the other
shore.
A new Arhan is born.
I
have already spoken of the way in which all nature rejoices when a new
Initiate
is born. In this, it is now said, both heaven and earth unite. The
spirit
of the earth gains an added sense of well being. That spirit is a great
entity,
not on our human line at all, for whom the whole earth acts as a
physical
body. It is difficult to grasp the nature of such a being. When we
think
of the earth as merely a huge globe, whirling through space, without
specialized
organs, we might wonder how it can serve any being as a body. But if
all
the creatures that live upon it contribute to the consciousness of the
spirit
of the earth it needs no other eyes than theirs. It lives in their life
and
so gains experience. Again, the earth moves on its way as one of a mighty
choir
of planets, each one sounding its own note in the music of the spheres,
possessing
within itself all the things which we have to reach out to get.
This
entity lives on a scale very different from. ours. Our bodies happen to
have
a certain size and to live for a certain time; that seems to us the correct
standard,
so a tiny creature with a small span of life seems despicable, and a
large
creature with a long life-period is respected. But size and length of life
are
no criteria of development or advancement. Some antediluvian animals were
enormously
bigger than the elephant, but they were much less intelligent, just
as
to-day the rhinoceros
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and
hippopotamus have less mind than the dog. We need not assume, therefore,
that
because the spirit of the earth has a globe eight thousand miles in
diameter
for a body, and because for him one incarnation is an entire world
period,
he is more intelligent than we are. Consciousness is a point in each of
us.
That of the spirit of the earth seems to be curiously multiplex, and,
notwithstanding
his great size, to be less advanced in some ways than that of
many
of the great Devas who move about his body.
If
we stand upon a hill and look over the surrounding country we find it
permeated
with something of the life of the spirit of the earth. That life seems
to
divide itself into parts, temporarily or permanently. A beautiful view, which
has
been admired by many people, is ensouled by a vague individuality which is
part
of that spirit. Such admiration, whether from human beings or great Devas,
seems
to excite the life in that portion, so that it answers to the feeling of
delight.
When we admire a fine view it is acting upon us, but we also are acting
upon
it. This response is in addition to what is felt by the life in the
mineral,
vegetable and animal kingdoms.
When
a man is initiated the influence to which he has tuned himself on higher
planes
rushes through every part of his being. Though there is little effect in
the
solids, liquids and gases of the physical plane, there is a great deal of
radiation
from the etheric double, and from his astral and mental bodies, and
this
is felt, as we have already seen by the kingdoms of nature, and by such men
as
are in a condition to respond.
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The
fourfold manifested powers are those of earth, water, fire and air—the four
Devarajas
or Maharajas, who are the administrators of karma for us down here,
the
under-servants, as it were, of the Lipika, the Great Lords of Karma.
Their
names among the Hindus are, it is said, Dhritarashtra, Virudhaka,
Virupaksha
and Vaishravana, and each of them is at the head of one line of
development. Dhritarashtra is said to be the head of the
Gandharvas, the
spirits
of the air, the great Devas who express themselves by music; to them is
always
assigned the east and they are always symbolized by the colour white, as
horsemen
arrayed in white, riding white horses, and carrying targets of pearl.
Under Virudhaka come the Kumbhandas. They are the Angels of the south, the
spirits
of water, so connected because the southern part of the world has far
more
water than earth. They are represented as blue, the colour of water, and
are
said to carry sapphire shields. Under
Virupaksha are the Nagas, Angels of
the
west, spirits of the fire, whose colour is red and who carry coral
shields.
These Ezekiel described as fiery creatures
full of eyes within, and also as
winged
wheels. Then come the Yakshas,, ruled
by Vaishravana. To them the
north
is consecrated; they are the earth Devas or Angels, and their colour is
always
gold—that of the gold hidden in the earth.1
Madame
Blavatsky explains Myalba as " our earth—-pertinently called hell, and
the
greatest of all hells, by the esoteric school. The esoteric doctrine knows
of
no hell or place of punishment other than a man-bearing
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planet
or earth. Avichi is a state, not a locality." Although some people suffer
after
death in the astral plane, it cannot quite be regarded as punishment. They
are
suffering from their own disordered imaginations or low desires, and
although
things may sometimes be had on that plane, the worst of it is not so
mean
and sordid as some of the things which happen down here; all who have had
experience
on higher planes will agree with Madame Blavatsky that there is
nothing
quite so bad as physical life anywhere else.
''
A pilgrim hath returned back from the other shore '! evidently means that
someone
has gained the higher level, but still chooses to remain and work among
men
in this world. Generally we think of the other shore as the Fifth
Initiation,
not as the Fourth, but here it is used in the more restricted sense.
Aryasanga
closes with the salutation:
PEACE
TO ALL BEINGS
Similar
blessings are to be found at the end of every Buddhist or Hindu
religious
book. Aryasanga closes his book with very great rejoicing. He has
sometimes
spoken of the path of woe, but he ends with a paean of wonderful joy
and
beautiful peace.
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