Theosophical Society,
THE
SECRET DOCTRINE
H P Blavatsky
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SUMMING UP
"The
History of Creation and of this world from its beginning up to the present time
is composed of seven chapters. The seventh chapter is not yet written."
(T. Subba Row, Theosophist, 1881.)
THE
first of these Seven chapters has been attempted and
is now finished. However incomplete and feeble as an exposition, it is, at any
rate, an approximation -- using the word in a mathematical sense -- to that
which is the oldest basis for all the subsequent Cosmogonies. The attempt to
render in a European tongue the grand panorama of the ever periodically
recurring Law -- impressed upon the plastic minds of the first races endowed
with Consciousness by those who reflected the same from the Universal Mind --
is daring, for no human language, save the Sanskrit -- which is that of the
Gods -- can do so with any degree of adequacy. But the failures in this work
must be forgiven for the sake of the motive.
As
a whole, neither the foregoing nor what follows can be found in full anywhere.
It is not taught in any of the six Indian schools of philosophy, for it
pertains to their synthesis -- the seventh, which is the Occult doctrine. It is
not traced on any crumbling papyrus of
The
name, "Upanishads," is usually translated "esoteric
doctrine." These treatises form part of the Sruti or "revealed
knowledge," Revelation, in short, and are generally attached to the
Brahmana portion of the Vedas,* as their third division. There are over 150
Upanishads enumerated by, and known to, Orientalists, who credit the oldest
with being written probably about 600 years B.C.; but of genuine texts there
does not exist a fifth of the number. The Upanishads
are to the Vedas what the Kabala is to the Jewish Bible. They treat of and
expound the secret and mystic meaning of the Vedic texts. They speak of the
origin of the Universe, the nature of Deity, and of Spirit and Soul, as also of
the metaphysical connection of mind and matter. In a few words: They CONTAIN
the beginning and the end of all human knowledge, but they have now ceased to
REVEAL it, since the day of Buddha. If it were otherwise, the Upanishads could
not be called esoteric, since they are now openly attached to the Sacred
Brahmanical books, which have, in our present age, become accessible even to
the Mlechchhas (out-castes) and the European Orientalists. One thing in them --
and this in all the Upanishads -- invariably and constantly points to their
ancient origin, and proves (a) that they were written, in some of their
portions, before the caste system became the tyrannical institution which it
still is; and (b) that half of their contents have been eliminated, while some
of them were rewritten and abridged. "The great Teachers of the higher
Knowledge and the Brahmans are continually represented as going to Kshatriya
(military caste) kings to become their pupils." As Cowell pertinently
remarks, the Upanishads "breathe an entirely different spirit" (from
other Brahmanical writings), "a freedom of thought unknown in any earlier
work except in the Rig Veda hymns themselves." The second fact is
explained by a tradition recorded in one of the MSS. on Buddha's life. It says
that the Upanishads were originally attached to their Brahmanas after the
beginning of a reform, which led to the exclusiveness of the present caste
system among the Brahmins, a few centuries after the invasion of India by the
"twice-born." They were complete in those days, and were used for the
instruction of the chelas who were preparing for their initiation.
NOTE
* . . . "The Vedas
have a distinct dual meaning -- one expressed by the literal sense of the
words, the other indicated by the metre and the swara -- intonation -- which
are as the life of the Vedas. . . . Learned pundits and philologists of course
deny that swara has anything to do with philosophy or ancient esoteric doctrines;
but the mysterious connection between swara and light is one of its most
profound secrets." (T. Subba Row, Five Years of
Theosophy, p. 154.)
OCCULTISM IN THE
UPANISHADS.
This
lasted so long as the Vedas and the Brahmanas remained in the sole and
exclusive keeping of the temple-Brahmins -- while no one else had the right to
study or even read them outside of the sacred caste. Then came
Gautama, the Prince of Kapilavastu. After learning the whole of the Brahmanical
wisdom in the Rahasya or the Upanishads, and finding that the teachings
differed little, if at all, from those of the "Teachers of Life"
inhabiting the snowy ranges of the Himalaya,* the Disciple of the Brahmins,
feeling indignant because the sacred wisdom was thus withheld from all but the
Brahmins, determined to save the whole world by popularizing it. Then it was
that the Brahmins, seeing that their sacred knowledge and Occult wisdom was
falling into the hands of the "Mlechchhas," abridged the texts of the
Upanishads, originally containing thrice the matter of the Vedas and the
Brahmanas together, without altering, however, one word of the texts. They
simply detached from the MSS. the most important portions containing the last
word of the Mystery of Being. The key to the Brahmanical secret code remained
henceforth with the initiates alone, and the Brahmins were thus in a position
to publicly deny the correctness of Buddha's teaching by appealing to their
Upanishads, silenced for ever on the chief questions. Such is the esoteric
tradition beyond the
Sri
Sankaracharya, the greatest Initiate living in the historical ages, wrote many
a Bhashya on the Upanishads. But his original treatises, as there are reasons
to suppose, have not yet fallen into the hands of the Philistines, for they are
too jealously preserved in his maths (monasteries, mathams). And there are
still weightier reasons to believe that the priceless Bhashyas (Commentaries) on
the esoteric doctrine of the Brahmins, by their greatest expounder, will remain
for ages yet a dead letter to most of the Hindus, except the Smartava Brahmins.
This sect, founded by Sankaracharya, (which is still very powerful in Southern
India) is now almost the only one to produce students who have preserved
sufficient knowledge to comprehend the
NOTE
* Also called "the
Sons of Wisdom," and of the "Fire-Mist" and the "Brothers
of the Sun" in the Chinese records. Si-dzang (
dead letter of the Bhashyas. The reason of this is
that they alone, I am informed, have occasionally real Initiates at their head
in their mathams, as for instance, in the "Sringa-giri," in the
Western Ghats of Mysore. On the other hand, there is no sect in that desperately
exclusive caste of the Brahmins, more exclusive than is the Smartava; and the
reticence of its followers to say what they may know of the Occult sciences and
the esoteric doctrine, is only equalled by their pride and learning.
Therefore
the writer of the present statement must be prepared beforehand to meet with
great opposition and even the denial of such statements as are brought forward
in this work. Not that any claim to infallibility, or to perfect correctness in
every detail of all that which is herein said, was ever put forward. Facts are
there, and they can hardly be denied. But, owing to the intrinsic difficulties
of the subjects treated, and the almost insurmountable limitations of the
English tongue (as of all other European languages) to express certain ideas,
it is more than probable that the writer has failed to present the explanations
in the best and in the clearest form; yet all that could be done was done under
every adverse circumstance, and this is the utmost that can be expected of any
writer.
Let
us recapitulate and show, by the vastness of the subjects expounded, how
difficult, if not impossible, it is to do them full justice.
(1.)
The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages, and its cosmogony alone is the most stupendous and elaborate
system: e.g., even in the exotericism of the Puranas. But such is the
mysterious power of Occult symbolism, that the facts which have actually
occupied countless generations of initiated seers and prophets to marshal, to
set down and explain, in the bewildering series of evolutionary progress, are
all recorded on a few pages of geometrical signs and glyphs. The flashing gaze
of those seers has penetrated into the very kernel of matter, and recorded the
soul of things there, where an ordinary profane, however learned, would have
perceived but the external work of form. But modern science believes not in the
"soul of things," and hence will reject the whole system of ancient
cosmogony. It is useless to say that the system in question is no fancy of one
or several isolated individuals. That it is the uninterrupted record covering
thousands of generations of Seers whose respective experiences were made to
test and to verify the
THE PITH AND MARROW OF
OCCULTISM.
traditions passed orally by one early race to
another, of the teachings of higher and exalted beings, who watched over the
childhood of Humanity. That for long ages, the "Wise Men" of the
Fifth Race, of the stock saved and rescued from the last cataclysm and shifting
of continents, had passed their lives in learning, not teaching. How did they
do so? It is answered: by checking, testing, and verifying in every department
of nature the traditions of old by the independent visions of great adepts;
i.e., men who have developed and perfected their physical, mental, psychic, and
spiritual organisations to the utmost possible degree. No vision of one adept
was accepted till it was checked and confirmed by the visions -- so obtained as
to stand as independent evidence -- of other adepts, and by centuries of
experiences.
(2.)
The fundamental Law in that system, the central point from which all emerged,
around and toward which all gravitates, and upon which is hung the philosophy
of the rest, is the One homogeneous divine
SUBSTANCE-PRINCIPLE, the one radical cause.
.
. . "Some few, whose lamps shone brighter, have been led
From
cause to cause to nature's secret head,
And
found that one first Principle must be. . . ."
It
is called "Substance-Principle," for it becomes "substance"
on the plane of the manifested Universe, an illusion, while it remains a
"principle" in the beginningless and endless abstract, visible and
invisible SPACE. It is the omnipresent Reality: impersonal, because it contains
all and everything. Its impersonality is the fundamental conception of the
System. It is latent in every atom in the Universe, and is the Universe itself.
(See in chapters on Symbolism, "Primordial Substance, and Divine
Thought.")
(3.)
The Universe is the periodical manifestation of this unknown Absolute Essence.
To call it "essence," however, is to sin against the very spirit of
the philosophy. For though the noun may be derived in this case from the verb
esse, "to be," yet IT cannot be identified with a being of any kind,
that can be conceived by human intellect. IT is best described as neither
Spirit nor matter, but both. "Parabrahmam and Mulaprakriti" are One,
in reality, yet two in the Universal conception of the manifested, even in the
conception of the One Logos, its first manifestation, to which, as the able
lecturer in the "Notes on the Bhagavadgita" shows, IT appears from
the objective standpoint of the One Logos as Mulaprakriti and not as
Parabrahmam; as its veil and not the one REALITY hidden behind, which is
unconditioned and absolute.
(4.)
The Universe is called, with everything in it, MAYA, because all is temporary
therein, from the ephemeral life of a fire-fly to that of the Sun. Compared to
the eternal immutability of the ONE, and the changelessness of that Principle,
the Universe, with its evanescent ever-changing forms, must be necessarily, in
the mind of a philosopher, no better than a will-o'-the-wisp. Yet, the Universe
is real enough to the conscious beings in it, which are as unreal as it is
itself.
(5.)
Everything in the Universe, throughout all its kingdoms, is CONSCIOUS: i.e.,
endowed with a consciousness of its own kind and on its own plane of
perception. We men must remember that because we do not perceive any signs --
which we can recognise -- of consciousness, say, in stones, we have no right to
say that no consciousness exists there. There is no such thing as either
"dead" or "blind" matter, as there is no "Blind"
or "Unconscious" Law. These find no place among the conceptions of
Occult philosophy. The latter never stops at surface appearances, and for it
the noumenal essences have more reality than their objective counterparts; it
resembles therein the mediaeval Nominalists, for whom it was the Universals
that were the realities and the particulars which existed only in name and
human fancy.
(6.)
The Universe is worked and guided from within outwards. As above so it is
below, as in heaven so on earth; and man -- the microcosm and miniature copy of
the macrocosm -- is the living witness to this Universal Law, and to the mode
of its action. We see that every external motion, act, gesture, whether
voluntary or mechanical, organic or mental, is produced and preceded by
internal feeling or emotion, will or volition, and thought or mind. As no outward motion or change, when normal, in man's external body
can take place unless provoked by an inward impulse, given through one of the
three functions named, so with the external or manifested Universe. The
whole Kosmos is guided, controlled, and animated by almost endless series of
Hierarchies of sentient Beings, each having a mission to perform, and who --
whether we give to them one name or another, and call them Dhyan-Chohans or
Angels -- are "messengers" in the sense only that they are the agents
of Karmic and Cosmic Laws. They vary infinitely in their
THE NATURE OF THE
CELESTIAL MEN.
respective degrees of consciousness and
intelligence; and to call them all pure Spirits without any of the earthly
alloy "which time is wont to prey upon" is only to indulge in
poetical fancy. For each of these Beings either was, or prepares to become, a
man, if not in the present, then in a past or a coming cycle (Manvantara). They
are perfected, when not incipient, men; and differ morally from the terrestrial
human beings on their higher (less material) spheres, only in that they are
devoid of the feeling of personality and of the human emotional nature -- two
purely earthly characteristics. The former, or the "perfected," have
become free from those feelings, because (a) they have no longer fleshly bodies
-- an ever-numbing weight on the Soul; and (b) the pure spiritual element being
left untrammelled and more free, they are less influenced by maya than man can
ever be, unless he is an adept who keeps his two personalities -- the spiritual
and the physical -- entirely separated. The incipient monads, having never had
terrestrial bodies yet, can have no sense of personality or EGO-ism. That which
is meant by "personality," being a limitation and a relation, or, as
defined by Coleridge, "individuality existing in itself but with a nature
as a ground," the term cannot of course be applied to non-human entities;
but, as a fact insisted upon by generations of Seers, none of these Beings,
high or low, have either individuality or personality as separate Entities,
i.e., they have no individuality in the sense in which a man says, "I am
myself and no one else;" in other words, they are conscious of no such
distinct separateness as men and things have on earth. Individuality is the
characteristic of their respective hierarchies, not of their units; and these
characteristics vary only with the degree of the plane to which those
hierarchies belong: the nearer to the region of Homogeneity and the One Divine,
the purer and the less accentuated that individuality in the Hierarchy. They
are finite, in all respects, with the exception of their higher principles --
the immortal sparks reflecting the universal divine flame -- individualized and
separated only on the spheres of Illusion by a differentiation as illusive as
the rest. They are "Living Ones," because they are the streams
projected on the Kosmic screen of illusion from the ABSOLUTE LIFE; beings in whom life cannot become extinct, before the fire
of ignorance is extinct in those who sense these "Lives." Having
sprung into being under the quickening influence of the uncreated beam, the
reflection of the great Central Sun that radiates on the shores of the river of
Life, it is the inner principle in them which belongs to the waters of
immortality, while its differentiated clothing is as perishable as man's body.
Therefore Young was right in saying that
"Angels
are men of a superior kind"
and no more. They are neither
"ministering" nor "protecting" angels; nor are they
"Harbingers of the Most High" still less the "Messengers of
wrath" of any God such as man's fancy has created. To appeal to their
protection is as foolish as to believe that their sympathy may be secured by
any kind of propitiation; for they are, as much as man himself is, the slaves
and creatures of immutable Karmic and Kosmic law. The reason for it is evident.
Having no elements of personality in their essence they can have no personal
qualities, such as attributed by men, in their exoteric religions, to their
anthropomorphic God -- a jealous and exclusive God who rejoices and feels
wrathful, is pleased with sacrifice, and is more despotic in his vanity than
any finite foolish man. Man, as shown in Book II., being a compound of the
essences of all those celestial Hierarchies may succeed in making himself, as
such, superior, in one sense, to any hierarchy or class, or even combination of
them. "Man can neither propitiate nor command the Devas," it is said.
But, by paralyzing his lower personality, and arriving thereby at the full
knowledge of the non-separateness of his higher SELF from the One absolute SELF, man can, even during his terrestrial
life, become as "One of Us." Thus it is, by eating of the fruit of
knowledge which dispels ignorance, that man becomes
like one of the Elohim or the Dhyanis; and once on their plane the Spirit of
Solidarity and perfect Harmony, which reigns in every Hierarchy, must extend
over him and protect him in every particular.
The
chief difficulty which prevents men of science from believing in divine as well
as in nature Spirits is their materialism. The main impediment before the
Spiritualist which hinders him from believing in the same, while preserving a
blind belief in the "Spirits" of the Departed, is the general
ignorance of all, except some Occultists and Kabalists, about the true essence
and nature of matter. It is on the acceptance or rejection of the theory of the
Unity of all in Nature, in its ultimate Essence, that mainly rests the belief
or unbelief in the existence around us of other conscious beings besides the
Spirits of the Dead.
MANY BODIES BUT ONE
SOUL.
It
is on the right comprehension of the primeval Evolution of Spirit-Matter and
its real essence that the student has to depend for the further elucidation in
his mind of the Occult Cosmogony, and for the only sure clue which can guide
his subsequent studies.
In
sober truth, as just shown, every "Spirit" so-called is either a
disembodied or a future man. As from the highest
The
whole order of nature evinces a progressive march towards a higher life. There
is design in the action of the seemingly blindest forces. The whole process of
evolution with its endless adaptations is a proof of this. The immutable laws
that weed out the weak and feeble species, to make room for the strong, and
which ensure the "survival of the fittest," though so cruel in their
immediate action -- all are working toward the grand end. The very fact that
adaptations do occur, that the fittest do survive in the struggle for
existence, shows that what is called "unconscious Nature"* is in
reality an aggregate of forces mani-
NOTE
* Nature taken in its
abstract sense, cannot be "unconscious," as
it is the emanation from, and thus an aspect (on the manifested plane) of the
ABSOLUTE consciousness. Where is that daring man who would presume to deny to
vegetation and even to minerals a consciousness of their own.
All he can say is, that this consciousness is beyond
his comprehension.
pulated
by semi-intelligent beings (Elementals) guided by High Planetary Spirits,
(Dhyan Chohans), whose collective aggregate forms the manifested verbum of the
unmanifested LOGOS, and constitutes at one and the same time the MIND of the
Universe and its immutable LAW.
Three
distinct representations of the Universe in its three distinct aspects are
impressed upon our thought by the esoteric philosophy: the PRE-EXISTING
(evolved from) the EVER-EXISTING; and the PHENOMENAL -- the world of illusion,
the reflection, and shadow thereof. During the great mystery and drama of life
known as the Manvantara, real Kosmos is like the object placed behind the white
screen upon which are thrown the Chinese shadows, called forth by the magic
lantern. The actual figures and things remain invisible, while the wires of
evolution are pulled by the unseen hands; and men and things are thus but the
reflections, on the white field, of the realities behind the snares of
Mahamaya, or the great Illusion. This was taught in every philosophy, in every
religion, ante as well as post diluvian, in India and Chaldea, by the Chinese
as by the Grecian Sages. In the former countries these three Universes were
allegorized, in exoteric teachings, by the three trinities emanating from the
Central eternal germ and forming with it a Supreme Unity: the initial, the
manifested, and the Creative Triad, or the three in One. The last is but the
symbol, in its concrete expression, of the first ideal two. Hence Esoteric philosophy passes over the necessarianism of this
purely metaphysical conception, and calls the first one, only, the Ever
Existing. This is the view of every one of the six great schools of Indian
philosophy -- the six principles of that unit body of WISDOM of which the
"gnosis," the hidden knowledge, is the seventh.
The
writer hopes that, superficially handled as may be the comments on the Seven
Stanzas, enough has been given in this cosmogonic portion of the work to show
Archaic teachings to be more scientific (in the modern sense of the word) on
their very face, than any other ancient Scriptures left to be regarded and
judged on their exoteric aspect. Since, however, as confessed before, this work
withholds far more than it gives out, the student is
invited to use his own intuitions. Our chief care is to elucidate that which
has already been given out, and, to our regret, very incorrectly at times; to
supplement the knowledge hinted at -- whenever and wherever possible -- by
addi-
HERMES, OR ARISTOTLE?
tional
matter; and to bulwark our doctrines against the too strong attacks of modern
Sectarianism, and more especially against those of our latter-day Materialism,
very often miscalled Science, whereas, in reality, the words
"Scientists" and "Sciolists" ought alone to bear the
responsibility for the many illogical theories offered to the world. In its great ignorance, the public, while blindly accepting everything
that emanates from "authorities," and feeling it to be its duty to
regard every dictum coming from a man of Science as a proven fact -- the
public, we say, is taught to scoff at anything brought forward from
"heathen" sources. Therefore, as materialistic Scientists can
be fought solely with their own weapons -- those of controversy and argument --
an Addendum is added to every Book contrasting our respective views and showing
how even great authorities may often err. We believe that this can be done
effectually by showing the weak points of our opponents, and by proving their
too frequent sophisms -- made to pass for scientific dicta -- to be incorrect.
We hold to Hermes and his "Wisdom" -- in its universal character;
they -- to Aristotle as against intuition and the experience of the ages,
fancying that Truth is the exclusive property of the Western world. Hence the disagreement. As Hermes says, "Knowledge
differs much from sense; for sense is of things that surmount it, but Knowledge
(gyi) is the end of sense" -- i.e., of the illusion of our physical brain
and its intellect; thus emphasizing the contrast between the laboriously
acquired knowledge of the senses and mind (manas), and the intuitive
omniscience of the Spiritual divine Soul -- Buddhi.
Whatever
may be the destiny of these actual writings in a remote future, we hope to have
proven so far the following facts:
(1)
The Secret Doctrine teaches no Atheism, except in the Hindu sense of the word
nastika, or the rejection of idols, including every anthropomorphic god. In
this sense every Occultist is a Nastika.
(2)
It admits a Logos or a collective "Creator" of the Universe; a
Demi-urgos -- in the sense implied when one speaks of an "Architect"
as the "Creator" of an edifice, whereas that Architect has never
touched one stone of it, but, while furnishing the plan, left all the manual
labour to the masons; in our case the plan was furnished by the Ideation of the
Universe, and the constructive labour was left to the Hosts of intelligent Powers
and Forces. But that Demiurgos is no
personal deity, -- i.e., an imperfect
extra-cosmic god, -- but only the aggregate of the Dhyan-Chohans and the other
forces.
As
to the latter --
(3)
They are dual in their character; being composed of (a) the irrational brute
energy, inherent in matter, and (b) the intelligent soul or cosmic
consciousness which directs and guides that energy, and which is the
Dhyan-Chohanic thought reflecting the Ideation of the Universal mind. This
results in a perpetual series of physical manifestations and moral effects on
Earth, during manvantaric periods, the whole being subservient to Karma. As
that process is not always perfect; and since, however many proofs it may
exhibit of a guiding intelligence behind the veil, it still shows gaps and
flaws, and even results very often in evident failures -- therefore, neither
the collective Host (Demiurgos), nor any of the working powers individually,
are proper subjects for divine honours or worship. All are entitled to the
grateful reverence of Humanity, however, and man ought to be ever striving to
help the divine evolution of Ideas, by becoming to the best of his ability a
co-worker with nature in the cyclic task. The ever unknowable and incognizable
Karana alone, the Causeless Cause of all causes, should have its shrine and
altar on the holy and ever untrodden ground of our heart -- invisible,
intangible, unmentioned, save through "the still small voice" of our
spiritual consciousness. Those who worship before it, ought to do so in the
silence and the sanctified solitude of their Souls*; making their spirit the
sole mediator between them and the Universal Spirit, their good actions the
only priests, and their sinful intentions the only visible and objective
sacrificial victims to the Presence. (See Part II.,
"On the Hidden Deity.")
(4)
Matter is Eternal. It is the Upadhi (the physical basis) for the One infinite Universal Mind to build thereon its ideations.
Therefore, the Esotericists maintain that there is no inorganic or dead matter
in nature, the distinction between the two made by Science being as unfounded
as it is arbitrary and devoid of reason.
NOTE
* "When thou
prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are . . . but enter into thine
inner chamber and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in
secret." Matt. vi.). Our Father is within us
"in Secret," our 7th principle, in the "inner chamber" of
our Soul perception. "The Kingdom of Heaven" and of God "is
within us" says Jesus, not outside. Why are Christians so absolutely blind
to the self-evident meaning of the words of wisdom they delight in mechanically
repeating?
MATTER IS THE SHADOW OF
SPIRIT.
Whatever
Science may think, however -- and exact Science is a fickle dame, as we all
know by experience -- Occultism knows and teaches differently, from time
immemorial -- from Manu and Hermes down to Paracelsus and his successors.
Thus
Hermes, the thrice great Trismegistus, says: "Oh, my son, matter becomes;
formerly it was; for matter is the vehicle of becoming."* Becoming is the
mode of activity of the uncreate deity. Having been endowed with the germs of
becoming, matter (objective) is brought into birth, for the creative force
fashions it according to the ideal forms. Matter not yet engendered had no
form; it becomes when it is put into operation." (The
Definitions of Asclepios, p. 134, "Virgin of the World.")
"Everything
is the product of one universal creative effort. . . . There is nothing dead,
in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world
appears to be a living organism." (Paracelsus,
"Philosophia ad Athenienes," F. Hartmann's translations, p. 44.)
(5.)
The Universe was evolved out of its ideal plan, upheld through Eternity in the
unconsciousness of that which the Vedantins call Parabrahm. This is practically
identical with the conclusions of the highest Western Philosophy -- "the
innate, eternal, and self-existing Ideas" of Plato, now reflected by Von
Hartmann. The "unknowable" of Herbert Spencer bears only a faint
resemblance to that transcendental Reality believed in by Occultists, often
appearing merely a personification of a "force behind phenomena" --
an infinite and eternal Energy
NOTE
* To this the late Mrs.
(Dr.) Kingsford, the able translator and compiler of the Hermetic Fragments
(see "The Virgin of the World") remarks in a foot-note; "Dr.
Menard observes that in Greek the same word signifies to be born and to become.
The idea here is that the material of the world is in its essence eternal, but
that before creation or 'becoming' it is in a passive and motionless condition.
Thus it 'was' before being put into operation; now it 'becomes,' that is, it is
mobile and progressive." And she adds the purely Vedantic doctrine of the
Hermetic philosophy that "Creation is thus the period of activity
(Manvantara) of God, who, according to Hermetic thought (or which, according to
the Vedantin) has two modes -- Activity or Existence, God evolved (Deus
explicitus); and Passivity of Being (Pralaya) God involved (Deus implicitus).
Both modes are perfect and complete, as are the waking and sleeping states of
man. Fichte, the German philosopher, distinguished Being (Seyn) as One, which we
know only through existence (Dasein) as the Manifold. This view is thoroughly
Hermetic. The 'Ideal Forms' are the archetypal or formative ideas of the
Neo-Platonists; the eternal and subjective concepts of things subsisting in the
divine mind prior to 'becoming'" (p. 134).
from which all things proceed, while the author of
the "Philosophy of the Unconscious" has come (in this respect only)
as near to a solution of the great Mystery as mortal man can. Few were those,
whether in ancient or mediaeval philosophy, who have dared to approach the
subject or even hint at it. Paracelsus mentions it inferentially. His ideas are
admirably synthesized by Dr. F. Hartmann, F.T.S., in his "Life of
Paracelsus."
All
the Christian Kabalists understood well the Eastern root idea: The active
Power, the "Perpetual motion of the great Breath" only awakens Kosmos
at the dawn of every new Period, setting it into motion by means of the two
contrary Forces,* and thus causing it to become objective on the plane of
Illusion. In other words, that dual motion transfers Kosmos from the plane of
the Eternal Ideal into that of finite manifestation, or from the Noumenal to
the Phenomenal plane. Everything that is, was, and
will be, eternally IS, even the countless forms, which are finite and
perishable only in their objective, not in their ideal Form. They existed as
Ideas, in the Eternity,** and, when they pass away,
will exist as reflections. Neither the form of man, nor that of any animal,
plant or stone has ever been created, and it is only on this plane of ours that
it commenced "becoming," i.e., objectivising into its present
materiality, or expanding from within outwards, from the most sublimated and
supersensuous essence into its grossest appearance. Therefore our human forms
have existed in the Eternity as astral or ethereal prototypes; according to
which models, the Spiritual Beings (or Gods) whose duty it was to bring them
into objective being and terrestrial Life, evolved the protoplasmic forms of
the future Egos from their own essence. After which, when this human Upadhi, or
basic mould was ready, the natural terrestrial Forces began to work on those
supersensuous moulds which contained, besides their own, the elements of all
the past vegetable and future animal forms of this globe in them. Therefore,
man's outward shell passed through every vegetable and animal body before it
assumed the human shape. As this will be fully
NOTE
* The centripetal and
the centrifugal forces, which are male and female, positive and negative,
physical and spiritual, the two being the one Primordial Force.
** Occultism teaches
that no form can be given to anything, either by nature or by man, whose ideal
type does not already exist on the subjective plane. More than this; that no
such form or shape can possibly enter man's consciousness, or evolve in his
imagination, which does not exist in prototype, at least as an approximation.
PARACELSUS ANTICIPATED
TYNDALL.
described in Book II., with the Commentaries
thereupon, there is no need to say more of it here.
According
to the Hermetico-Kabalistic philosophy of Paracelsus, it is Yliaster -- the
ancestor of the just-born Protyle, introduced by Mr. Crookes in chemistry -- or
primordial Protomateria that evolved out of itself the Kosmos.
"When
Evolution took place the Yliaster divided itself. . . . melted
and dissolved, developing from within itself the Ideos or Chaos, called
respectively Mysterium magnum, Iliados, Limbus Major, or Primordial Matter.
This Primordial essence is of a monistic nature, and manifests itself not only
as vital activity, a spiritual force, an invisible, incomprehensible, and
indescribable power, but also as vital matter of which the substance of living
beings consists." In this Ideos of primordial matter, or the proto-ilos --
which is the matrix of all created things -- is contained the substance from
which everything is formed. It is the Chaos . . . out of which the Macrocosm,
and, later on, by evolution and division in Mysteria Specialia,* each separate
being, came into existence. "All things and all elementary substances were
contained in it in potentia but not in actu" -- which makes the
translator, Dr. F. Hartmann, justly observe that "it seems that Paracelsus
anticipated the modern discovery of the 'potency of matter' three hundred years
ago" (P. 42).
This
Magnus Limbus, then, or Yliaster of Paracelsus, is simply our old friend
"Father-Mother," within, before it appeared in Space, of the second
and other Stanzas. It is the universal matrix of Kosmos, personified in the
dual character of Macro- and Microcosm (or the Universe and our Globe)** by Aditi-Prakriti, the Spiritual and the physical
nature. For we find it explained in Paracelsus that "the Magnus Limbus is
the nursery out of which all creatures have grown, in the same sense as a tree
grows out of a small seed; with the difference, however, that the great Limbus
takes its origin from the Word, while the Limbus minor (the terrestrial seed or
sperm) takes it from the earth.
NOTE
* This word is explained
by Dr. Hartmann from the original texts of Paracelsus before him, as follows. According to this great Rosicrucian: "Mysterium is everything
out of which something may be developed, which is only germinally contained in
it. A seed is the 'Mysterium' of a plant, an egg that of a living bird,
etc."
** It is only the
mediaeval Kabalists who, following the Jewish and one or two Neo-Platonists,
applied the term Microcosm to man. Ancient philosophy called the Earth the
Microcosm of the Macrocosm, and man the outcome of the two.
The
great Limbus is the seed out of which all beings have come, and the little
Limbus is each ultimate being that reproduces its form, and that has itself
been produced by the 'great.' The latter possesses all the qualifications of
the great one, in the same sense as a son has an organization similar to that
of his father." (See Comment. Book II. para. iii.) . . . "As Yliaster dissolved, Ares, the
dividing, differentiating, and individualising power (Fohat, another old
friend,) . . . began to act. All production took place in consequence of separation.
There were produced out of the Ideos, the elements of Fire, Water, Air and
Earth, whose birth, however, did not take place in a material mode, or by
simple separation," but by spiritual and dynamical, not even complex,
combinations -- e.g., mechanical mixture as opposed to chemical combination --
just as fire may come out of a pebble, or a tree out of a seed, although there
is originally no fire in the pebble, nor a tree in the seed. Spirit is living,
and Life is Spirit, and Life and Spirit (Prakriti Purusha) (?) produce all
things, but they are essentially one and not two. . . . The elements too, have
each one its own Yliaster, because all the activity of matter in every form is
only an effluvium of the same fount. But as from the seed grow the roots with
their fibres, and after that the stalk with its branches and leaves, and lastly
the flowers and seeds; likewise all beings were born from the elements, and
consist of elementary substances out of which other forms may come into
existence, bearing the characteristics of their parents." ("This
doctrine, preached 300 years ago," remarks the translator, "is
identical with the one that has revolutionized modern thought, after having
been put into new shape and elaborated by Darwin. It was still more elaborated
by Kapila in the Sankhya philosophy") . . . . The elements as the mothers
of all creatures are of an invisible, spiritual nature, and have souls.* They all spring from the "Mysterium Magnum." (Philosophia ad Athenienses.)
Compare
this with Vishnu Purana.
"From
Pradhana (primordial substance) presided over by Kshetrajna (embodied Spirit?) proceeds the evolution of those qualities. . . . From the
great Principle Mahat (Universal Intellect, or mind) .
. . proceeds
NOTE
* The Eastern Occultist
says -- "are guided and informed by the Spiritual Beings" the Workmen
in the invisible worlds and behind the veil of Occult nature, or nature in
Abscondito.
HERMES CHRISTIANIZED
the origin of the subtle elements and from these
the organs of sense (
Thus
it may be shown that all the fundamental truths of nature were universal in
antiquity, and that the basic ideas upon spirit, matter, and the universe, or
upon God, Substance, and man, were identical. Taking the two most ancient
religious philosophies on the globe, Hinduism and Hermetism, from the
scriptures of
This
becomes apparent to one who reads the latest translation and rendering of the
"Hermetic Fragments" just mentioned, by our late lamented friend, Dr.
Anna Kingsford. Disfigured and tortured as these have been in their passage
through Sectarian Greek and Christian hands, the translator has most ably and
intuitionally seized the weak points and tried to remedy them by means of
explanations and foot-notes. And she says:..........
The creation of the visible world by the 'working gods' or Titans, as agents of
the Supreme God,* is a thoroughly Hermetic idea, recognisable in all religious
systems, and in accordance with modern scientific research (?), which shows us
everywhere the Divine power operating through natural Forces."
"That
Universal Being, that contains all, and which is all, put into motion the Soul
and the World, all that nature comprises, says Hermes. In the manifold unity of
universal life, the innumerable individualities distinguished by their
variations, are, nevertheless, united in such a manner that the whole is one,
and that everything proceeds from Unity." (Asclepios, Part I.)
"God
is not a mind, but the cause that the mind is; not a spirit, but the cause that
the Spirit is; not light, but the cause that the Light is." (Divine
Pymander, Book IX., v. 64.)
The
above shows plainly that "Divine Pyrnander," however much distorted
in some passages by Christian "smoothing," was nevertheless written
by a philosopher, while most of the so-called "hermetic Fragments"
are the production of sectarian pagans with a tendency towards an
anthropomorphic Supreme Being. Yet both are the echo of the Esoteric
philosophy and the Hindu Puranas.
Compare
two invocations, one to the Hermetic "Supreme All," the
NOTE
* A frequent expression
in the said Fragments, to which we take exception. The Universal Mind is not a
Being or "God."
other to the "Supreme All" of the later
Aryans. Says a Hermetic Fragment cited by Suidas (see Mrs. Kingsford's
"The Virgin of the World"): -
"I
adjure thee, Heaven, holy work of the great God; I adjure thee, Voice of the
Father, uttered in the beginning when the universal world was framed; I adjure
thee by the word, only Son of the Father who upholds all things; be favourable,
be favourable."
This
just preceded by the following: "Thus the Ideal
Light was before the Ideal Light, and the luminous Intelligence of Intelligence
was always, and its unity was nothing else than the Spirit enveloping the
Universe. Out of whom is neither God nor Angels, nor
any other essentials, for He (It?) is the Lord of all things and the power and
the Light; and all depends on Him (It) and is in Him (It), etc." (Fragments of the writings of Hermes to Ammon.)
This
is contradicted by the very same Trismegistos, who is made to say: "To
speak of God is impossible. For corporeal cannot express the
incorporeal. . . . . That which has not any body nor appearance, nor
form, nor matter, cannot be apprehended by sense. I understand, Tatios, I
understand, that which it is impossible to define -- that is God." (Physical Eclogues, Florilegium of Stobaeus.)
The
contradiction between the two passages is evident; and this shows (a) that
Hermes was a generic nom-de-plume used by a series of generations of mystics of
every shade, and (b) that a great discernment has to be used before accepting a
Fragment as esoteric teaching only because it is undeniably ancient. Let us now
compare the above with a like invocation in the Hindu Scriptures -- undoubtedly
as old, if not far older. Here it is Parasara, the Aryan "Hermes" who
instructs Maitreya, the Indian Asclepios, and calls upon Vishnu in his triple
hypostasis.
"Glory
to the unchangeable, holy, eternal Supreme Vishnu, of one universal nature, the
mighty over all; to him who is Hiranyagarbha, Hari, and Sankara (Brahma,
Vishnu, and Siva), the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer of the world;
to Vasudeva, the liberator (of his worshippers); to him whose essence is both
single and manifold; who is both subtile and corporeal, indiscreet and
discreet; to Vishnu the cause of final emancipation, the cause of the creation,
existence, the
ALONE THE ETERNAL IS
REST.
end of the world; who is the root of the world, and
who consists of the world." (Vish. Purana, Book
L.)
This
is a grand invocation, full of philosophical meaning underlying it; but, for
the profane masses, as suggestive as is the first of an anthropomorphic Being.
We must respect the feeling that dictated both; but we cannot help finding it
in full disharmony with its inner meaning, even with that which is found in the
same Hermetic treatise where it is said:
"Reality
is not upon the earth, my son, and it cannot be thereon. . . . Nothing on earth
is real, there are only appearances. . . He (man) is not real, my son, as man.
The real consists solely in itself and remains what it is. . . Man is
transient, therefore he is not real, he is but appearance, and appearance is
the supreme illusion.
Tatios:
Then the celestial bodies themselves are not real, my father, since they also
vary?
Trismegistos:
That which is subject to birth and to change is not real. . . . . There is in
them a certain falsity, seeing that they too are variable.......
Tatios:
And what then is the primordial Reality?
Trismeg.: That which is one and alone, 0 Tatios;
That which is not made of matter, nor in any body. Which has
neither colour nor form, which changes not nor is transmitted but which always
is."
This
is quite consistent with the Vedantic teaching. The leading thought is Occult;
and many are the passages in the Hermetic Fragments that belong bodily to
The
latter teaches that the whole universe is ruled by intelligent and
semi-intelligent Forces and Powers, as stated from the very beginning.
Christian Theology admits and even enforces belief in such, but makes an
arbitrary division and refers to them as "Angels" and
"Devils." Science denies the existence of such, and ridicules the
very idea. Spiritualists believe in the Spirits of the Dead, and, outside
these, deny entirely any other kind or class of invisible beings. The
Occultists and Kabalists are thus the only rational expounders of the ancient
traditions, which have now culminated in dogmatic faith on the one hand, and
dogmatic denials on the other. For, both belief and unbelief embrace but one
small corner each of the infinite horizons of spiritual and physical
manifestations; and thus both are right from their respective standpoints, and
both are wrong in believing that they can circumscribe the whole within their
own special and narrow barriers; for -- they can never do so. In this respect Science,
Theology, and even Spiritualism show little more wisdom than the ostrich does,
when it hides its head in the sand at its feet, feeling sure that there can be
thus nothing beyond its own point of observation and the limited area occupied
by its foolish head.
As
the only works now extant upon the subject under consideration within reach of
the profane of the Western "civilized" races are the above-mentioned
Hermetic Books, or rather Hermetic Fragments, we may contrast them in the
present case with the teachings of Esoteric philosophy. To quote for this
purpose from any other would be useless, since the public knows nothing of the
Chaldean works which are translated into Arabic and preserved by some Sufi
initiates. Therefore the "Definitions of Asclepios," as lately
compiled and glossed by Mrs. A. Kingsford, F.T.S., some of which sayings are in
remarkable agreement with the Esoteric Eastern doctrine, have to be resorted to
for comparison. Though not a few passages show a strong impression of some later
Christian hand, yet on the whole the characteristics of the genii* and gods are
those of eastern teachings, while concerning other things there are passages
which differ widely in our doctrines. The following are a few:--
NOTE
* The Hermetic
philosophers called Theoi, gods, Genii and Daimones (in the original texts),
those Entities whom we call Devas (gods), Dhyan Chohans, Chitkala (Kwan-yin,
the Buddhists call them), and by other names. The Daimones are -- in the
Socratic sense, and even in the Oriental and Latin theological sense -- the
guardian spirits of the human race; "those who dwell in the neighbourhood
of the immortals, and thence watch over human affairs," as Hermes has it.
In Esoteric parlance, they are called Chitkala, some of which are those who
have furnished man with his fourth and fifth Principles from their own essence;
and others the Pitris so-called. This will be explained when we come to the
production of the complete man. The root of the name is Chiti, "that by
which the effects and consequences of actions and kinds of knowledge are
selected for the use of the soul," or conscience the inner Voice in man.
With the Yogis, the Chiti is a synonym of Mahat, the first and divine
intellect; but in Esoteric philosophy Mahat is the root of Chiti, its germ; and
Chiti is a quality of Manas in conjunction with Buddhi, a quality that attracts
to itself by spiritual affinity a Chitkala when it develops sufficiently in
man. This is why it is said that Chiti is a voice acquiring mystic life and
becoming Kwan-Yin.
A FEW OCCULT APHORISMS.
EXTRACTS
FROM A PRIVATE COMMENTARY,* hitherto secret:--
(xvii.)
"The Initial Existence in the first twilight of the Maha-Manwantara (after
the MAHA-PRALAYA that follows every age of Brahma) is a CONSCIOUS SPIRITUAL
QUALITY. In the manifested WORLDS (solar systems) it is, in its OBJECTIVE
SUBJECTIVITY, like the film from a Divine Breath to the gaze of the entranced
seer. It spreads as it issues from LAYA** throughout infinity as a colourless
spiritual fluid. It is on the SEVENTH PLANE, and in its
(xviii.)
"It is Substance to OUR spiritual sight. It cannot be called so by men in
their WAKING STATE; therefore they have named it in their ignorance
'God-Spirit.'
(xix.)
"It exists everywhere and forms the first UPADHI (foundation) on which our
World (solar system) is built. Outside the latter it is to be found in its
pristine purity only between (the solar systems or) the Stars of the Universe,
the worlds already formed or forming; those in LAYA resting meanwhile in its
bosom. As its substance is of a different kind from that
known on earth, the inhabitants of the latter, seeing THROUGH IT, believe in
their illusion and ignorance that it is empty space. There is not one
finger's breath (ANGULA) of void Space in the whole Boundless
(Universe).........
(xx.)
"Matter or Substance is septenary within our World, as it is so beyond it.
Moreover, each of its states or principles is graduated into seven degrees of
density. SURYA (the Sun), in its visible reflection, exhibits the first, or
lowest state of the seventh, the highest state of the Universal PRESENCE, the
pure of the pure, the first manifested Breath of the ever Unmanifested SAT
(Be-ness). All the Central physical or objective Suns are in their substance
the lowest state of the first Principle of the BREATH. Nor are any of these any
more than the REFLECTIONS of their PRIMARIES which are concealed from the gaze
of all but the Dhyan Chohans, whose Corporeal substance belongs to the fifth
division of the seventh Principle of the Mother substance, and is,
NOTE
* This (teaching) does
not refer to Prakriti-Purusha beyond the boundaries of our small universe.
** The ultimate
quiescent state: the Nirvana condition of the seventh Principle.
*** The teaching is all
given from our plane of consciousness.
therefore, four degrees higher than the solar
reflected substance. As there are seven Dhatu (principal substances in the
human body) so there are seven Forces in Man and in all Nature.
(xxi.)
"The real substance of the concealed (Sun) is a nucleus of Mother substance.* It is the heart and the matrix of all the living
and existing Forces in our solar universe. It is the Kernel from which proceed
to spread on their cyclic journeys all the Powers that set in action the atoms
in their functional duties, and the focus within which they again meet in their
SEVENTH ESSENCE every eleventh year. He who tells thee he has seen the sun,
laugh at him** as if he had said that the sun moves really onward on his
diurnal path . . . .
(xxiii).
"It is on account of his septenary nature that the Sun is spoken of by the
ancients as one who is driven by seven horses equal to the metres of the Vedas;
or, again, that, though he is identified with the SEVEN "Gaina"
(classes of being) in his orb, he is distinct from them,***
as he is, indeed; as also that he has SEVEN RAYS, as indeed he has . . . .
(xxv.)
"The Seven Beings in the Sun are the Seven Holy Ones, Self-born from the
inherent power in the matrix of Mother substance. It
is they who send the Seven Principal Forces, called rays, which at the
beginning of Pralaya will centre into seven new Suns for the next Manvantara.
The energy from which they spring into conscious existence in every Sun, is
what some people call Vishnu (see foot-note below), which is the Breath of the
ABSOLUTENESS.
We
call it the One manifested life -- itself a reflection of the Absolute.........
(xxvi.)
"The latter must never be mentioned in words or speech LEST IT SHOULD TAKE
AWAY SOME OF OUR SPIRITUAL ENERGIES THAT ASPIRE towards ITS state, gravitating
ever onward unto IT spiritually, as the whole physical universe gravitates towards
ITS manifested centre -- cosmically.
(xxvii.)
"The former -- the Initial existence -- which may be called while in
NOTE
* Or the "dream of
Science," the primeval really homogeneous matter, which no mortal can make
objective in this Race or Round either.
** "Vishnu in the
form of the Solar active energy, neither ever rises nor sets, and is at once,
the sevenfold Sun and distinct from it," says Vishnu Purana (Book II.,
Chap. 11).
*** "In the same
manner as a man approaches a mirror placed upon a stand, beholds in it his own
image, so the energy or reflection of Vishnu (the Sun) is never disjoined but
remains in the Sun as in a mirror that is there stationed" ("Vishnu
Purana").
OCCULT APHORISMS.
this state of being the ONE LIFE, is, as explained,
a FILM for creative or formative Purposes. It manifests in seven states, which,
with their septenary sub-divisions, are the FORTY-NINE Fires* mentioned in
sacred books . . . . . .
(xxix.)
"The first is the . . . . 'Mother' (prima MATERIA).
Separating itself into its primary seven states, it proceeds down cyclically;
when** having consolidated itself in its LAST principle as GROSS MATTER, it
revolves around itself and informs, with the seventh emanation of the last, the
first and the lowest element (the Serpent biting its own tail). In a hierarchy,
or order of being, the seventh emanation of her last principle is:--
(a)
In the mineral, the spark that lies latent in it, and is called to its
evanescent being by the POSITIVE awakening the NEGATIVE (and so forth) . . . .
(b)
In the plant it is that vital and intelligent Force which informs the seed and
develops it into the blade of grass, or the root and sapling. It is the germ
which becomes the UPADHI of the seven principles of the thing it resides in,
shooting them out as the latter grows and develops.
(c)
In every animal it does the same. It is its life principle and vital power; its
instinct and qualities; its characteristics and special idiosyncrasies . . . .
(d) To man, it gives all that it bestows on all the rest of
the manifested units in nature; but develops, furthermore, the reflection of
all its FORTY-NINE FIRES in him. Each of his seven principles is an heir in
full to, and a partaker of, the seven principles of the "great
Mother." The breath of her first principle is his spirit (Atma). Her
second principle is BUDDHI (soul). We call it, erroneously, the seventh. The
third furnishes him with (a) the brain stuff on the physical plane, and (b)
with the MIND that moves it [which is the human soul. -- H.
P. B.] -- according to his organic capacities.
(e)
It is the guiding Force in the Cosmic and terrestrial elements. It resides in
the Fire provoked out of its latent into active being; for the whole of the
seven subdivisions of the * * * principle reside in the terrestrial Fire. It
whirls in the breeze, blows with the hurricane, and sets the air in motion,
which element participates in one of its principles also. Proceeding
cyclically, it regulates the motion
NOTE
* In "Vishnu"
and other Puranas.
** See the Hermetic
"Nature," "Going down cyclically into matter when she meets
'heavenly man.' "
of the water, attracts and repels the waves* according
to fixed laws of which its seventh principle is the informing soul.
(f)
Its four higher principles contain the germ that develops into the Cosmic Gods;
its three lower ones breed the lives of the Elements (Elementals).
(g)
In our Solar world, the One Existence is Heaven and
the Earth, the Root and the flower, the Action and the Thought. It is in the
Sun, and is as present in the glow-worm. Not an atom can escape it. Therefore,
the ancient Sages have wisely called it the manifested God in Nature. . .
."
It
may be interesting, in this connection, to remind the reader of what Mr. Subba
Row said of the Forces -- mystically defined. See "Five Years of
Theosophy" and "The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac." Thus he says:
"Kanya
(the sixth sign of the Zodiac, or Virgo) means a
Virgin, and represents Sakti or Mahamaya. The sign . . . is the 6th Rasi or
division, and indicates that there are six primary forces in Nature
(synthesized by the Seventh)" . . . These Sakti stand
as follows: -
(1.)
PARASAKTI. Literally the great or Supreme Force or power.
It means and includes the powers of light and heat.
(2.)
JNANASAKTI. . . . The power of intellect, of real Wisdom or
Knowledge. It has two aspects:
The
following are some of its manifestations when placed under the influence or
control of material conditions. (a) The power of the mind in interpreting our
sensations. (b) Its power in recalling past ideas (memory) and raising future
expectation. (c) Its power as exhibited in what are called by modern psychologists
"the laws of association," which enables it to form persisting
connections between various groups of sensations and possibilities of
sensations, and thus generate the notion or idea of an external object. (d) Its
power in connecting our ideas together by the mysterious link of memory, and
thus generating the notion of self or individuality; some of its manifestations
when liberated from the bonds of matter are -- (a) Clairvoyance, (b)
Psychometry.
(3.)
ITCHASAKTI -- the power of the Will. Its most ordinary manifesta-
NOTE
* The writers of the
above knew perfectly well the physical cause of the tides, of the waves, etc.
It is the informing Spirit of the whole Cosmic solar
body that is meant here, and which is referred to whenever such expressions are
used from the mystic point of view.
THE SEVEN POWERS.
tion is the generation of certain nerve currents
which set in motion such muscles as are required for the accomplishment of the
desired object.
(4.)
KRIYASAKTI. The mysterious power of thought which enables it
to produce external, perceptible, phenomenal results by its own inherent energy.
The ancients held that any idea will manifest itself externally if one's
attention is deeply concentrated upon it. Similarly an intense volition will be
followed by the desired result.
A
Yogi generally performs his wonders by means of Itchasakti and Kriyasakti.
(5.)
KUNDALINI SAKTI. The power or Force which moves in a curved path. It is the
Universal life-Principle manifesting everywhere in nature. This force includes
the two great forces of attraction and repulsion. Electricity and magnetism are
but manifestations of it. This is the power which brings about that
"continuous adjustment of internal relations to external relations"
which is the essence of life according to Herbert Spencer, and that
"continuous adjustment of external relations to internal relations"
which is the basis of transmigration of souls, punar janman (re-birth) in the
doctrines of the ancient Hindu philosophers. A Yogi must thoroughly subjugate
this power before he can attain Moksham. . . .
(6.)
MANTRIKA-SAKTI. The force or power of letters, speech or
music. The Mantra Shastra has for its subject-matter this force in all
its manifestations......... The influence of melody is one of its ordinary
manifestations. The power of the ineffable name is the crown of this Sakti.
Modern
Science has but partly investigated the first, second and fifth of the forces
above named, but is altogether in the dark as regards the remaining powers. The
six forces are in their unity represented by the "Daiviprakriti" (the
Seventh, the light of the LOGOS).
The
above is quoted to show the real Hindu ideas on the same. It is all esoteric,
though not covering the tenth part of what might be said. For one, the six
names of the Six Forces mentioned are those of the six Hierarchies of Dhyan
Chohans synthesized by their Primary, the seventh, who personify the Fifth
Principle of Cosmic Nature, or of the "Mother" in its Mystical Sense.
The enumeration alone of the yogi Powers would require ten volumes. Each of
these Forces has a living Conscious Entity at its head, of which entity it is
an emanation.
But
let us compare with the commentary just cited the words of Hermes, the
"thrice great":--
"The
creation of Life by the Sun is as continuous as his light; nothing arrests or
limits it. Around him, like an army of Satellites, are innumerable choirs of
genii. These dwell in the neighbourhood of the Immortals, and thence watch over
human things. They fulfil the will of the gods (Karma) by means of storms,
tempests, transitions of fire and earthquakes; likewise by famines and wars,
for the punishment of impiety.* . . . It is the sun who preserves and nourishes
all creatures; and even as the Ideal World which environs the sensible world
fills this last with the plenitude and universal variety of forms, so also the
Sun, enfolding all in his light, accomplishes everywhere the birth and
development of creatures." . . . "Under his orders is the choir of
Genii, or rather the choirs, for there are many and diverse, and their number
corresponds to that of the stars. Every star has its genii, good and evil by
nature, or rather by their operation, for operation is the essence of the
genii. . . . All these Genii preside over mundane affairs,**
they shake and overthrow the constitution of States and of individuals; they
imprint their likeness on our Souls, they are present in our nerves, our
marrow, our veins, our arteries, and our very brain-substance . . . at the
moment when each of us receives life and being, he is taken in charge by the
genii (Elementals) who preside over births,*** and who are classed beneath the
astral powers (Superhuman astral Spirits.) They change perpetually, not always
identically, but revolving in circles.**** They
permeate by the body two parts of the Soul, that it may receive from each the
impress of his own energy. But the reasonable part of the Soul is not subject
to the genii; it is designed
NOTE
* See Stanzas III. and IV. and the Commentaries
thereupon, especially the Comments on Stanza IV. "the
Lipika and the four Maharajas," the agents of Karma.
** And "Gods"
or Dhyanis, too, not only the genii or "guided Forces."
*** The meaning of this
is that as man is composed of all the Great Elements: Fire, Air, Water, Earth
and Ether -- the ELEMENTALS which belong respectively to these Elements feel
attracted to man by reason of their co-essence. That element which predominates
in a certain constitution will be the ruling element throughout life. For
instance, if man has a preponderance of the Earthly, gnomic element, the gnomes
will lead him towards assimilating metals -- money and wealth, and so on.
"Animal man is the son of the animal elements out of which his Soul (life)
was born, and animals are the mirrors of man," says Paracelsus (De
Fundamento Sapientiae). Paracelsus was cautious, and wanted the Bible to agree
with what he said, and therefore did not say all.
**** Cyclic progress in
development.
UNIVERSAL ILLUSION.
for the reception of (the) God,* who enlightens it
with a sunny ray. Those who are thus illumined are few in number, and from them
the genii abstain: for neither genii nor Gods have any power in the presence of
a single ray of God.** But all other men, both soul
and body, are directed by genii, to whom they cleave, and whose operations they
affect........... The genii have then the control of mundane things and our
bodies serve them as instruments...........
The
above, save a few sectarian points, represents that which was a universal
belief common to all nations till about a century or so back. It is still as
orthodox in its broad outlines and features among pagans and Christians alike,
if one excepts a handful of materialists and men of
Science.
For
whether one calls the genii of Hermes and his "Gods," "Powers of
Darkness" and "Angels," as in the Greek and Latin Churches; or
"Spirits of the Dead," as in Spiritualism or, again, Bhoots and
Devas, Shaitan or Djin, as they are still called in India and Mussulman
countries -- they are all one and the same thing -- ILLUSION. Let not this, however, be misunderstood in the sense into which the
great philosophical doctrine of the Vedantists has been lately perverted by
Western schools.
All
that which is, emanates from the ABSOLUTE, which, from this qualification
alone, stands as the one and only reality -- hence, everything extraneous to
this Absolute, the generative and causative Element, must be an illusion, most
undeniably. But this is only so from the purely metaphysical view. A man who
regards himself as mentally sane, and is so regarded by his neighbours, calls
the visions of an insane brother -- whose hallucinations make the victim either
happy or supremely wretched, as the case may be -- illusions and fancies
likewise. But, where is that madman for whom the hideous shadows in his
deranged mind, his illusions, are not, for the time being, as actual and as
real as the things which his physician or keeper may see? Everything is
relative in this Universe, everything is an illusion. But
NOTE
* The God in man and
often the incarnation of a God, a highly Spiritual Dhyan Chohan in him, besides
the presence of his own seventh Principle.
** Now, what
"god" is meant here? Not God "the Father," the
anthropomorphic fiction; for that god is the Elohim collectively, and has no
being apart from the Host. Besides, such a god is finite and imperfect. It is
the high Initiates and Adepts who are meant here by those men "few in
number." And it is precisely those men who believe in "gods" and
know no "God," but one Universal unrelated and unconditioned Deity.
the experience of any plane is an actuality for the
percipient being, whose consciousness is on that plane; though the said
experience, regarded from the purely metaphysical standpoint, may be conceived
to have no objective reality. But it is not against metaphysicians, but against
physicists and materialists that Esoteric teachings have to fight, and for
these Vital Force, Light, Sound, Electricity, even to the objectively pulling
force of magnetism, have no objective being, and are said to exist merely as
"modes of motion," "sensations and affections of matter."
Neither the Occultists generally, nor the
Theosophists, reject, as erroneously believed by some, the views and theories
of the modern scientists, only because these views are opposed to Theosophy. The first rule of our
Society is to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. The Theosophists, therefore,
are the first to recognize the intrinsic value of science. But when its high
priests resolve consciousness into a secretion from the grey matter of the
brain, and everything else in nature into a mode of motion, we protest against
the doctrine as being unphilosophical, self-contradictory, and simply absurd,
from a scientific point of view, as much and even more than from the occult
aspect of the esoteric knowledge.
For
truly the astral light of the derided Kabalists has strange and weird secrets
for him who can see in it; and the mysteries concealed within its incessantly
disturbed waves are there, the whole body of Materialists and scoffers
notwithstanding.* These secrets, along with
NOTE
* The astral light of
the Kabalists is very incorrectly translated by some "AEther;" the
latter is confused with the hypothetical Ether of Science, and both are
referred to by some theosophists as synonymous with Akasa. This is a great
mistake.
"A characteristic
of Akasa will serve to show how inadequately it is represented by Ether,"
writes the author of Rational Refutations, thus unconsciously helping
Occultism. "In dimension it is infinite; it is not made up of parts; and
colour, taste, smell, and tangibility do not appertain to it. So far forth it
corresponds exactly to time, space, Isvara, ("The Lord," but rather
creative potency and soul -- anima mundi). Its speciality, as compared
therewith, consists in its being the material cause of sound. Except for its
being so, one might take it to be one with vacuity" (p. 120.)
It is vacuity, no doubt,
especially for Rationalists. At any rate Akasa is sure to produce vacuity in
the brain of a materialist. Nevertheless, though Akasa is not that Ether of
Science, not even the Ether of the Occultist, who defines the latter as one of
the principles of Akasa only, it is as certainly, together with its primary,
the cause of sound, only a physical and spiritual, not a material cause by any
means. The relations of Ether to Akasa may be defined by applying to both Akasa
and Ether the words said of the god in the Vedas, "So himself was indeed
(his own) son," one being the progeny of the other and yet itself. This
may be a difficult riddle to the profane, but very easy to understand for any
Hindu -- though not even a mystic.
NOTHING NEW UNDER THE
SUN.
many other mysteries, will remain non-existent to
the materialists of our age, in the same way as
But
TRUTH, however distasteful to the generally blind majorities, has always had
her champions, ready to die for her, and it is not the Occultists who will
protest against its adoption by Science under whatever new name. But, until
absolutely forced on the notice and acceptance of Scientists, many an Occult
truth will be tabooed, as the phenomena of the Spiritualists and other psychic
manifestations were, to be finally appropriated by its ex-traducers without the
least acknowledgment or thanks. Nitrogen has added considerably to chemical
knowledge, but its discoverer, Paracelsus, is to this day called a
"quack."
NOTE
* National Reformer,
How
profoundly true are the words of H. T. Buckle, in his admirable "History
of Civilization" (Vol. I., p. 256), when he says:--
"Owing
to circumstances still unknown (Karmic provision, H.P.B.) there appear from
time to time great thinkers, who, devoting their lives to a single purpose, are
able to anticipate the progress of mankind, and to produce a religion or a
philosophy by which important effects are eventually brought about. But if we
look into history we shall clearly see that, although the origin of a new
opinion may be thus due to a single man, the result which the new opinion
produces will depend on the condition of the people among whom it is
propagated. If either a religion or a philosophy is too much in advance of a
nation it can do no present service but must bide its time* until the minds of
men are ripe for its reception. . . . Every science, every creed has had its
martyrs. According to the ordinary course of affairs, a few generations pass
away, and then there comes a period when these very truths are looked upon as
commonplace facts, and a little later there comes another period in which they
are declared to be necessary, and even the dullest intellect wonders how they
could ever have been denied."
It
is barely possible that the minds of the present generations are not quite ripe
for the reception of Occult truths. Such will be the retrospect furnished to
the advanced thinkers of the Sixth Root Race of the history of the acceptance
of Esoteric Philosophy -- fully and unconditionally. Meanwhile the generations
of our Fifth Race will continue to be led away by prejudice and preconceptions.
Occult Sciences will have the finger of scorn pointed at them from every street
corner, and everyone will seek to ridicule and crush them in the name, and for
the greater glory, of Materialism and its so-called Science. The Addendum which
completes the present Book shows, however, in an anticipatory answer to several
of the forthcoming Scientific objections, the true and
mutual positions of the defendant and plaintiff. The Theosophists and
Occultists stand arraigned by public opinion, which still holds high the banner
of the inductive Sciences. The latter have, then, to be examined; and it must
be shown how far their achievements and discoveries in the realm of natural
laws are opposed, not so much to our claims, as to the facts in nature. The
hour has now struck to ascertain whether the
NOTE
* This is Cyclic law, but this law itself is often defied by human
stubbornness.
MEN WELCOME ERROR, AND
CRUCIFY THE TRUTH.
walls of the modern
The
so-called Forces, with Light and Electricity heading them, and the constitution
of the Solar orb must be carefully examined; as also Gravitation and the
Nebular theories. The Natures of Ether and of other Elements must be discussed:
thus contrasting scientific with other Occult teachings, while revealing some
of the hitherto secret tenets of the latter. (Vide Addendum.)
Some
fifteen years ago, the writer was the first to repeat, after the Kabalists, the
wise Commandments in the Esoteric Catechism. "Close thy mouth, lest thou
shouldst speak of this (the mystery), and thy heart, lest thou shouldst think
aloud; and if thy heart has escaped thee, bring it back to its place, for such
is the object of our alliance." (Sepher Jezireh, Book of Creation.) And again:-- "This is a secret which gives death: close thy
mouth lest thou shouldst reveal it to the vulgar; compress thy brain lest
something should escape from it and fall outside." (Rules
of Initiation.)
A
few years later, a corner of the Veil of Isis had to be lifted; and now another
and a larger rent is made. . . .
But
old and time-honoured errors -- such as become with every day more glaring and
self-evident -- stand arrayed in battle-order now, as they did then. Marshalled
by blind conservatism, conceit and prejudice, they are constantly on the watch,
ready to strangle every truth, which, awakening from its age-long sleep,
happens to knock for admission. Such has been the case ever since man became an
animal. That this proves in every case moral death to the revealers, who bring
to light any of these old, old truths, is as certain as that it gives LIFE and
REGENERATION to those who are fit to profit even by the little that is now
revealed to them.
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