Theosophical Society, The Voice of the Silence by H.P. Blavatsky First Published 1889 |
Fragment 1 The Voice of the
silence THESE instructions are for those ignorant of the dangers of the lower IDDHI.1 He who would hear the voice of
Nada,2 "the Soundless Sound," and comprehend it, he has
to learn the nature of Dharana.3 Having become indifferent to objects
of perception, the pupil must seek out the Rajah 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. 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. Then only, not till then, shall
he forsake the region of Asat, the false, to come unto the realm of Sat, the
true. Before the Soul can see, the
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 unto the Silent Speaker be united, just as the
form to which the clay is modelled is first united with the potter's mind. 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;4
know, O Disciple, thy Soul is of the earth. When to the World's turmoil thy
budding Soul5 lends ear; when to the roaring voice of the Great
Iillusion thy Soul responds;6 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.7 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".8 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. Saith the Great Law: "In
order to become the KNOWER of ALL SELF,9 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, and then thou canst 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 AUM10 throughout
eternal ages.11 Bestride the Bird of Life, if
thou would'st know.12 Give up thy life, if thou
would'st live.13 Three Halls, O weary pilgrim,
lead to the end of toils. Three Halls, O conqueror of Mara, will bring thee
through three states14 into the fourth,15 and thence
into the seven Worlds,16 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.17 The name of Hall the second is
the Hall of LEARNING.18 In it thy Soul will find the blossoms of
life, but under every flower a serpent coiled.19 The name of the third Hall is
WISDOM, beyond which stretch the shoreless waters of AKSHARA, the
indestructible Fount of Omniscience.20 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,21 in the Hall of Wisdom, the Hall which lies beyond,
wherein all shadows are unknown, and where the light of truth shines with
unfading glory. 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 Ajnyana,22 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).23 The senses it bewitches,
blinds the mind, and leaves the unwary an abandoned wreck. 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 other 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. 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. 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,24 and the abode of the World's Mother.25 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. 'Tis only then thou canst
become a "Walker of the Sky,"26 who treads the winds
above the waves, whose step touches not the waters. Before thou set'st thy foot
upon the ladder's upper rung, the ladder of the mystic sounds, thou hast to
hear the voice of thy inner GOD27 in seven manners. The first is like the
nightingale's sweet voice chanting a song of parting to its mate. 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 Vina.28 The fifth like 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. When the six29 are
slain and at the Master's feet are laid, then is the pupil merged into the
ONE,3 0 becomes that ONE and lives therein. Before that path is entered,
thou must destroy thy lunar body,31 cleanse thy mind-body,32 and
make clean thy heart. 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, e'en 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. Before the "mystic
Power"33 can make of thee a God, Lanoo, thou must have gained
the faculty to slay thy lunar form at will. 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. Thou canst not travel on the
Path before thou hast become that Path itself.34 Let thy Soul lend its ear to
every cry of pain like as the lotus bares its heart to drink the morning sun.
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,35
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 him through the fields of Being unto the peace and
bliss known only in the land of Silence and Non-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,36 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. 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 Soul. 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. 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. 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 thy brain, that the steep path
which leadeth to thy Master may be disclosed before thy Soul's dim eyes. 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 experiences. Look not behind or thou art lost. 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. 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 akasic heights37 reach the ear, however eager, at the initial
stage. Unless thou hear'st, thou canst
not see. Unless thou see'st, thou canst
not hear. To hear and see, this is the second stage.
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. And in the fifth, O slayer of
thy thoughts, all these again have to be killed beyond reanimation.38
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,39
the sixth stage. When thou hast passed into the
seventh, O happy one, thou shalt perceive no more the sacred Three,40 for
thou shalt have become that Three thyself. Thyself and mind, like twins upon
a line, the star which is thy goal burns overhead.41 The Three
that dwell in glory and in bliss ineffable, now in the World of Maya have
lost their names. They have become one star, the fire that burns but scorches
not, that fire which is the Upadhi42 of the Flame. And this, O Yogi of success, is
what men call Dhyana,43 the right precursor of Samadhi.44 And now thy Self is lost in
SELF, Thyself unto 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. 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.45 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 Tsi, the portal of assembling truth the second?46 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?47 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. Behold! 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, from sin exempt, the Seven Sounds
in one, The Voice of the Silence. OM TAT SAT. ____________________________________________________ Footnotes 1 The Pali word Iddhi is the synonym 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; the
other is one which exacts the highest training of Spiritual powers. Says
Krishna in Shrimad Bhagavat [Bhagavad Gita]: "He who is engaged in the
performance of Yoga, who has subdued his senses and who has concentrated his
mind in me (Krishna), such Yogis all the Siddhis stand ready to serve." 2 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. 3 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. 4 The "great Master"
is the term used by Lanoos or Chelas to indicate the HIGHER SELF. It is the
equivalent of Avalokiteswara, and the same as Adi-Budha with the Buddhist
Occultists, ATMA the "Self" (the Higher Self) with the Brahmans,
and CHRISTOS with the ancient Gnostics. 5 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. 6 Maha-Maya, "Great
Illusion," the objective Universe. 7 Sakkayaditthi,
"delusion" of personality. 8 Attavada, the heresy of the
belief in Soul, or rather in the separateness of Soul or Self from the One
Universal, Infinite SELF. 9 The Tattvajnyani is the
"knower" or discriminator of the principles in nature and in man;
and Atmajnyani is the knower of ATMA, or the Universal ONE SELF. 10 Kala Hansa, the
"Bird" or Swan. Says the Nadavindu Upanishad (Rig Veda) translated
by the Kumbakonam Theosophical Society "The syllable A is considered
to be its (the bird Hansa's) right wing, U, its left, M, its tail, and the
Ardha-matra (half metre) is said to be its head." 11 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. 12 Says the same Nadavindu,
"A Yogi who bestrides the Hansa (thus contemplates on AUM) is not
affected by Karmic influences or crores of sins." 13 Give up the life of physical
personality if you would live in spirit. 14 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, or 15 The Turiya, that beyond the
dreamless state, the one above all, a state of high spiritual consciousness. 16 Some Oriental Mystics locate
seven planes of being, the seven spiritual lokas or worlds within the body of
Kala Hansa, the Swan out of Time and Space, convertible into the Swan in
Time, when it becomes Brahma instead of Brahman. 17 The phenomenal world of
senses and of terrestrial consciousness only. 18 The Hall of Probationary
Learning. 19 The astral region, the
psychic world of supersensuous perceptions and of deceptive sights the
world of mediums. It is the great "Astral Serpent" of Eliphas Lιvi.
No blossom plucked in those regions has ever yet been brought down on earth
without its serpent coiled round the stem. It is the world of the Great
Illusion. 20 The region of the full
Spiritual Consciousness, beyond which there is no longer danger for him who
has reached it. 21 The Initiate, who leads the
disciple, through the Knowledge given to him to his spiritual, or second
birth, is called the Father, Guru or Master. 22 Ajnyana is ignorance or
non-wisdom, the opposite of "Knowledge", Jnyana. 23 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 Maras) 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. 24 The inner chamber of the
Heart, called in Sanskrit Brahma-pura. The "fiery power" is
Kundalini. 25 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. 26 Keshara or "sky-walker"
or "goer." As explained in the sixth Adhyaya of that king of mystic
works the Dhyaneswari 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." 27 The Higher SELF. 28 Vina is an Indian stringed
instrument like a lute. 29 The six principles; meaning
when the lower personality is destroyed and the inner individuality is merged
into and lost in the Seventh or Spirit. 30 The disciple is one with
Brahma or the ATMAN. 31 The astral form produced by
the Kamic principle, the Kama-rupa, or body of desire. 32 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 paralyzed. 33 Kundalini, the "Serpent
Power" or mystic fire. Kundalini is called the "Serpentine" or
the annular power on account on 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. 34 This "Path" is
mentioned in all the Mystic Works. As Krishna says in the Dhyaneswari:
"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. 35 Adeptship the
"blossom of Bodhisattva." 36 Tanha "The will to
live," the fear of death and love for life, that force or energy which
causes rebirth. 37 The mystic sounds, or the melody,
heard by the ascetic at the beginning of his cycle of meditation, called
Anahad-shabd by the Yogis. 38 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 paralyzed) on this
plane, passing into and merging with the Seventh sense, the most spiritual. 39 See 3. 40 Every stage of development
in Raja Yoga is symbolised by a geometrical figure. This one is the sacred
Triangle and precedes Dharana. The TRIANGLE 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
TRIANGLE 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. 41 The star that burns overhead
is the "the star of initiation." The caste-mark of Shaivas, or
devotees of the sect of Shiva, the great patron of all Yogis, is a black
round spot, the symbol of the Sun now, perhaps, but that of the star of
initiation, in Occultism, in days of old. 42 The basis, upadhi,of the
ever unreachable FLAME, so long as the ascetic is still in this life. 43 Dhyana is the last stage
before the final on this Earth, unless one becomes a full MAHATMA. As said
already, in this state the Raj 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 Pratyehara a preliminary training, in order to control
one's mind and thoughts count Dhasena, Dhyana and Samadhi and embrace the
three under the generic name of SANNYAMA. 44 Samadhi is the state in
which the ascetic loses the consciousness of every individuality including
his own. He becomes the ALL. 45 The "four modes of
truth" are, in Northern Buddhism; Ku, "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. 46 At the portal of the
"assembling," the King of the Maras, the Maha Mara, stands trying
to blind the candidate by the radiance of his "Jewel". 47 This is the fourth
"Path" out of the five paths of rebirth which lead and toss all
human beings into perpetual states of sorrow and joy. These "Paths"
are but sub-divisions of the One, the Path followed by Karma. Cardiff Blavatsky Archive Theosophical Society, Cardiff Lodge, 206 Newport Road,
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