Chapter VII: Part I: Texts (3)

(50-52) A Hair perhaps divides the False and True;
Yes; and a single Alif were the clue—
Could you but find it—to the Treasure-house,
And peradventure to _The Master_ too.
Whose secret Presence * * *
* * * * eludes your pains;
Taking all shapes * * *; and
They change and perish all—but He remains.
A moment guess’d—then back behind the Fold
Immerst of darkness * * *

(55-56) You know, my Friends, * * *
I made a Second Marriage in my house;
Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed,
And took the Daughter of the Vine to spouse.—
For “Is” and “Is-not” though with Rule and line,
And “Up-and-Down” by Logic I define,
Of all that one should care to fathom, I
Was never deep in anything but Wine.—

(66-67) I sent my Soul through the Invisible,
Some letter of that After-life to spell:
And by and by my Soul returned to me,
And answer’d: “I myself am Heav’n and Hell:”
Heav’n but the Vision of fulfill’d Desire
And Hell the shadow from a Soul on fire
Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves,
So late emerg’d from, shall so soon expire.

* * * * *

* * * the Banquet is ended!

FARIDU’D-DIN SHAKRGUNJ (about A. D. 1200).

Man, what thou art is hidden from thyself,
Know’st not that morning, mid-day, and the eve
Are all within Thee? The ninth heaven art Thou,
And from the sphere into the roar of time
Didst fall ere-while, Thou art the brush that painted
The hues of all the world—the light of life
That ranged its glory in the nothingness.
Joy! Joy! I triumph now; no more I know
Myself as simply me. I burn with love.
The centre is within me, and its wonder
Lies as a circle everywhere about me.
Joy! Joy! No mortal thought can fathom me.
I am the merchant and the pearl at once.
Lo! time and space lay crouching at my feet.
Joy! Joy! When I would revel in a rapture,
I plunge into myself, and all things know.

_Saadi_ (Shaikh-Muslah-ud-Din Saadi) was born at Shiraz, the capital of Persia, A.D. 1176.

He thus characterizes his life and his studies: “I have wandered to various regions of the world, and everywhere have I mixed freely with the inhabitants; I have gathered something in each corner; I have gleaned an ear from every harvest.” The divan of Saadi is by his countrymen reckoned to be the true Salt mine of poets. Jami calls him “the nightingale of the groves of Shiraz.”

We would call him the moral philosopher of Sufism. His writings do not contain much metaphysics.

SAADIS’ GULISTAN (or ROSE GARDEN):

MOTTO: The Rose may continue to bloom five or six days;
But my _Rose garden_ is fragrant for ever.

—Shame on the man * *

Who, when the drum soundeth for departure, hath not made up his burden

Who, on the morning of his journey, is still indulging in sweet sleep.

—They asked Lockman, the wise, from whence he learnt wisdom. He answered: “From the blind; for till they have tried the ground, they plant not the foot.”

—The world, O my brother, abideth with no one.

—Ask the inhabitants of Hell, they will tell you it is Paradise.

—The sons of Adam are limbs of one another, for in their creation they are formed of one substance.

When Fortune bringeth affliction to a single member, not one of the rest remaineth without disturbance.

—Know that from God is the difference of enemy and friend, for the hearts of both are alike in His keeping.

—So long as thou art able, crush not a single heart, for a sigh has power to overturn a world.

—Not a word can be said, even in child’s play, from which an intelligent person may not gather instruction; but if a hundred chapters of wisdom were read in the hearing of a fool, to his ears it would sound as nothing but child’s play.

—Yesternight, towards morning, a warbling bird stole away my reason, my patience, my strength, and my understanding. My exclamations, by chance, reached the ear of a most intimate friend. “Never,” he said “could I believe that the voice of a bird should have such a power to disturb thy intellect!”—“It is not,” I replied, “befitting the condition of man, that a bird should be reciting its hymn of praise, and that I should be silent.”

—One day the Prophet said to Abu Huraizah: “Do not come _every_ day, that our friendship may increase.”

A holy man has said: “With all the beauty which attends the sun, I have never heard that anyone has taken him for a friend, except in winter, when he is veiled, and _therefore_ is loved.”

—The treasure chosen by Lokman was patience: without patience there is no such thing as wisdom.

—Were every night a night of power, _the Night of Power_, would lose its worth. Were every pebble a ruby, the ruby and the pebble would be of equal value.

[Quran, Chap, xcvii: Verily we sent down the Quran in the night of al Kadr.—Therein do the angels descend, and the spirit of _Gabriel_ also, by the permission of their Lord _with his decrees_ concerning every matter. It is peace until morning. Comp. footnote to Lane’s transl. of the Quran and our Part II: Symbols].

—How should the multitude find its way to their secret chambers, for, like the waters of life, they are hidden in darkness?

They kindle themselves the flame, which, as a moth, consumeth them; not wrapping themselves up like the silk-worm in its own web.

Seeking for the Soul’s repose on the bosom which only can give repose, their lips are still dry with thirst on the very margin of the stream:

Not that they have no power to drink the water, but that their thirst could not be quenched, even on the banks of the Nile.

* * * * *

“The bird of the morning only knoweth the worth of the book of the rose; for not every one who readeth the page understandeth the meaning.” (_Hafiz._)

SAADIS’ BOOSTAN (FRUIT GARDEN OR GARDEN OF PLEASURE).

_His_ nature’s true state all are helpless to read.
The extent of _His_ glory, no mortal has found;
_His_ exquisite beauty, no vision can bound.

* * * * *

To the skirt of _His_ praise Reason’s hand comes not nigh.

* * * * *

The mind can’t _this_ world by reflection embrace.

* * * * *

But the Lord of the sky and the earth’s rugged skin,
On none shuts the door of subsistence for sin.
Like a drop in the ocean of knowledge are seen
Both His worlds, and the faults, He sees, kindly, He’ll screen.

* * * * *

The Creator is mercy-diffusing and kind,
For He helps all His creatures and knows ev’ry mind.
In Him, self-reliance and grandeur you see,
For His kingdom is old and His nature is free.—

* * * * *

He is tardy in seizing on those who rebel,
And does not excuse—bringers rudely repel.

* * * * *

When you’ve penitent turned “_It is past_,” He will write.

* * * * *

The extent of God’s mercies, no mortal can guess;
The need of His praises, what tongue can express?

* * * * *

Who knows that communion with God you don’t share,
When without an absolution you stand to say pray’r?

* * * * *

That pray’r is the key of the portal of hell,
Over which in men’s presence a long time you dwell.
If your path does not lead to the Maker alone,
Your carpet for pray’r into Hell will be thrown!
He ordered, and something from nothing arose;
Who something from nothing but He could disclose?
Again to nonentity’s hiding He flings us.—

* * * * *

And thence to the plain of the judgment He brings us.
Let the robes of deceit, name and fame be dispersed!
For a man becomes weak if in garments immersed.
Worldly love is a veil by which nothing is gained;
When you snap the attachments the Lord is obtained.

* * * * *

Know, that the people in ecstacy drown’d,
In the eyes of the Lord special favour have found!
He watches the “friend,” in the fierce burning pile?

* * * * *

You’ve no road in yourself while to self you are wed;
The enraptured alone are informed on this head.—
Some one said to a Moth “Oh, contemptible mite!
Go! love one who will your affection requite.”

* * * * *

Between you and the candle no friendship can be!

* * * * *

No one tells you your conduct is perfectly right
In destroying your life for the love of the light!
Observe what the moth, full of hot anguish, said:
“If I burn, oh astonishing! What is the dread?”

* * * * *

* * I fancy the flame is a beautiful rose!

* * * * *

Won’t you helplessly, one day, your life give away?
For the sake of space and death, better give it to day!

* * * * *

A wild beast is not likely to change into man;
Instruction is lost on it, strive as you can.

* * * * *

Effort makes not a rose from a willow to grow;
A warm bath will not whiten a negro like snow.
Since naught can the arrow of destiny brave.
_Resignation’s_ the shield that is left to God’s slave.

POLARITY OF THE HUMAN BODY.

Mr. H. Durville, Director of the “Journal du Magnétisme,” published in Paris, France, has made some very interesting experiments which have led him to fix the exact Polarity of the Human Body. To understand well what I am going to state, it is necessary to know first that the French call the South pole of the Earth, Austral, and the North pole, Boreal, and that they call the end of the compass needle or of a Magnet which is attracted to the North of the Earth, Austral, and the end which is attracted to the South, Boreal.

Mr. Durville has replaced the denominations Austral and Boreal by the terms positive and negative, based on the following Electro-Chemical law. If a Saline solution be submitted to the action of a Voltaic current, the acids go to the pole +, or positive and the alkalis to the pole-, or negative.

Also if we put in the water contained in two different glasses, the two electrodes of a pile, uniting the two glasses by a wet woolen or cotton thread, the water in the glass exposed to the electrode +, will take a fresh and acidulated taste, and the water in the other glass exposed to the electrode-, will take an alkaline, tepid and unsavoury taste. Now, if we submit two glasses filled with water to the poles of a Magnet, the water exposed to the Austral pole will take an acidulated taste, and the water exposed to the Boreal pole will take an alkaline taste.

There is, then, a concordance of nature between the positive or + pole of the pile, and the Austral or positive pole of the Magnet, both being fresh and acids; and between the negative or-pole of the pile, and the Boreal or negative pole of the Magnet, both being tepid, nauseous and alkaline. Consequently we can call +, or positive, the Austral pole of the Magnet and-, or negative, the Boreal pole. Furthermore, if we magnetize two glasses of water, one with the right hand, and the other with the left hand, the first will become acidulated and fresh, and the second, tepid, nauseous and alkaline.

Then, there is again concordance of nature between the positive or + pole of the pile, the positive or Austral pole of the Magnet, and the right hand, which are fresh and acidulated; and between the negative or-pole of the pile, the negative or Boreal pole of the Magnet, and the left hand which are tepids, nauseous and alkalines.

Consequently we can call positive or +, the right hand and the Austral pole of the Magnet, as well as the positive pole of the pile; and negative or -, the left hand and the Boreal pole of the Magnet, as well as the negative pole of the pile.

We know that the Earth is a Magnet and that it acts like one.

We also know that when Magnets act freely one upon another, the poles of the same name are repulsed and the poles of contrary names are attracted.

Now, Mr. Durville found by repeated experiments that all the right side of a sensitive subject is strongly influenced by the positive pole of the Magnet which produces contraction, repulsion and excitation; while, on the contrary, the other pole relaxes, attracts and calms the same side. The Austral pole of the Magnet presented within about 4-inches of the forehead of the subject, repulses him and puts him to sleep; while the left hand attracts and awakens him. It is evident, then, that the positive pole of the Magnet and the right hand are poles of the same name; and, if the Austral pole of the Magnet is positive, then the Boreal or Northern pole of the Earth must be negative. The physical laws of the Human Magnetism are consequently identical with those governing the actions of the Magnets.

The Human body represents three horse-shoe Magnets, two of them having the neutral point at the summit of the head and the third in an inverted position to that of the two first ones. The axis the most important divides us laterally from right to left, the other from the forepart to the back part of the body. The first horse-shoe Magnet has its neutral point at the summit of the head, and its extremities or poles at the right hand and the left hand, the right hand being the positive, and the left hand the negative pole.

The second horse-shoe Magnet has also its neutral point at the summit of the head, and the extremities or poles of its two branches are the right and the left foot, the right foot being positive and the left foot negative.

The third horse-shoe Magnet, the one in an inverted position, has its neutral point at the perineum and the extremities of its branches are the forehead and the occiput. The forehead being positive and the occiput negative.

From this it follows that in the human body, from the extremities of the feet to the summit of the head, all the right side is positive and the left side negative, and from the forehead to the perineum all the forepart of the body is positive, while the opposite or back part, from the occiput to the perineum is negative. The Human body possesses other polary axes of less importance.

Reichenbach has found, through experiments made with many sensitives, that the end of the Magnet which seeks the North pole of the Earth, the end we call positive, sends to the left hand of a sensitive a fresh breeze, while the other end emits a tepid one. He also found that the positive end emits in the dark a blue light, while the negative one emits a yellow red light. His sensitives found that in the dark, the right side of the human body emits a blue light, while the left side emits a yellow red one. Then the right side of the body has the same quality of Magnetism as the positive, or North seeking, or Austral pole of the Magnet, and the left side has the same quality of Magnetism as the negative, or South seeking, or Boreal pole of the Magnet. Those experiments of Reichenbach agree thus entirely with those made by Mr. Durville. His polarity of the Human body is also the same as given by Andrew Jackson Davis, page 91 of his work “The Harbinger of Health.” There are consequently very strong reasons for believing that the theory of Mr. Durville is the right one, since it has been confirmed by practical experiments made by himself, Reichenbach and Davis.

Mr. Durville concludes his article in the “Journal du Magnétisme,” January number of 1886, with some interesting points in Therapeutics. Diseases can be classed as of two kinds, those due to atony or paralysis of the organs, and those due to excitation or inflammation.

The object of Medicine is to excite the functions of the atonic organs and to calm or moderate those which are too active. Magnetizers knew that the ends of the fingers presented within a few inches of the diseased part, will produce excitation, while the palm of the hand applied on produces calm; but they could not always obtain the desired effect for want of the knowledge of the true polarity of the Human body.

The right hand will produce attraction, calm and easiness on the left and back side of the body; and repulsion, excitation and uneasiness on the right and forepart of the body; and the left hand will produce the same corresponding effects on the right and forepart of the body, and on the left and backpart. The right-hand, a positive pole, will act with more energy than the left-hand, a negative one.

He found by experiments that the most certain and active results are produced by presenting the palm of the hand within about two inches from the diseased part, the attractions and repulsions being in inverse ratio of the square of the distances. Every time we want to take off a pain, or calm an excitation, we will succeed by presenting the palm of the right hand to the diseased part, if that part is on the left side or the back of the body, or by presenting the palm of the left hand, if it is on the right side or the forepart of the body. For example, a heaviness in the head, a neuralgia and in general, all kinds of headaches, will cease more or less rapidly under the influence of the palm of the hand presented with the fingers upright at about two inches from the forehead. To calm the nervous system, place yourself on the left of the patient and apply the left hand on the epigastrium, and the right hand on the vertebral column, on the corresponding part. If we were to use the other hand on the same part, we should increase for a while the intensity of the pain. To obtain the desired result, the time necessarily varies according to the nature of the disease and sensibility of the patient.

With a knowledge of the laws regulating the human polarity, Magnetism becomes an exact science, a positive one. But the application of it is also an art which constant practice may improve considerably. CH. J. QUETIL, F. T. S.

THE HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY.

Fragments of the Ancient Wisdom Religion have come down to us from the remotest past, through many channels, and in various forms.

The study of philology alone will be inadequate to discover the true meaning of ancient sacred writings, though it may very greatly assist the labors of those who have already gained a clue to the Secret Doctrine. The Theosophist and the Antiquarian differ very widely, and though the former has sometimes been accused of searching out obsolete doctrines and magnifying the achievements of the past, but little observation will be required to reveal the fact, that that for which they search may be very old because it is valuable, but never valuable merely because it is old. In short that of which they are in search may truly be said to never fade, and ne’er grow old, though it is often lost sight of. Occultism is not a new craze as some suppose, it is not simply a line of the marvelous, it is rather the profoundest of all sciences, conforming in its methods of research and the character of its results to those of all sciences. The naturalist does not hesitate to construct from a single tooth or a few fragments of bone, the entire animal and assign to it its proper place, declare its habits, modes of life, size, &c., &c., even though he fixed its era centuries ago, and no one nowadays questions the general correctness of the result; the study of comparative anatomy and the science of biology testify all this. In like manner and by similar methods may one familiar with the science of occultism, which deals with the operation of uniform laws in the higher realms of nature, arrive at exact data from very small beginnings, and with this advantage, viz., that he has the means at hand to verify his conclusions, which the naturalist has not, for in this realm there are no extinct species, the elements of human nature, and the laws which underlie their unfoldment and manifestation are the same now, as thousands of years ago.

It is the custom of many who are entirely ignorant of this higher science, to deny its existence and ridicule its cultivators. Just as an uneducated and conceited boor would ridicule an Agassiz for attempting to reconstruct an animal from its thigh bone. When, therefore, one entirely ignorant not only of the principles but of the existence of such a thing as occult science, examines ancient records in which it is concealed, he will arise from his task possibly better satisfied with his own possessions as contrasted with the “ignorance” of past ages, but seldom wiser for his endeavor. Few persons nowadays are ignorant of the form of most ancient hierarchic writings, as consisting of, or containing a double meaning under the garb of allegory or parable. It is moreover becoming quite generally known that many of these ancient records are of vital importance to us of the present day, as containing the very knowledge of which we stand most in need, and the amount of attention they are receiving may be determined by observing the interest in, and almost unprecedented sales of, such works as Arnold’s Light of Asia, while the labors of men like Max Muller in rendering the ancient scriptures into English have made it possible for everyone to gain some familiarity with the religious casts of antiquity. Bearing in mind these general observations, let us briefly examine one of the most ancient, most famous, and yet least comprehended sources of ancient wisdom. As to the questions who was Hermes? which Hermes? when did he write? we have these points for the philologists and historians, quoting here the remark of Iamblichus in his treatise on the Mysteries: “Hermes, the God who presides over language, was formerly very properly considered as common to all priests; and the power who presides over the true science concerning the Gods is one and the same in the whole of things. Hence our ancestors dedicated the inventions of their wisdom to this deity, inscribing all their own writings with the name of Hermes,” and “the late learned Divine Doctor Everard” in the preface to his translation of the Divine Pymander 1650, contends that Hermes Trismegistus lived a long time before Moses, that he had “perfect and exact knowledge of all things contained in the world,” * * “that he was the first that invented the art of communicating knowledge to the world by writing, that he was King of Egypt, that he styled himself the son of Saturn, and that he was believed to have come from heaven, and not to have been born on earth.”[66]

The above writer goes on to say that Hermes did excel in the right understanding of, because he attained to, the knowledge of the quintessence of the whole universe, otherwise called the _Elixir_ of the philosophers, which secret many ignorantly deny, many have sought after, and some have found. A description of this great Treasure is said to have been found engraved upon a Smaragdine Tablet in the valley of Hebron after the flood.[67]

To the modern reader, all this sounds very queer, a bundle of contradictions and vagaries, taxing reason and even credulity. But suppose we are told, that it was designed for exactly that purpose, that only they who were _determined_ to find the truth, and who therefore had faith that it existed somewhere, were expected to walk around or dig under this stumbling-block. If we turn now to _Isis Unveiled_ p. 507, Vol. I, we shall find the inscription said to have been found on the tablet. B. [_To be continued._]

REVIEWS.

PANTANJALI’S RAJ YOGA PHILOSOPHY.—(Reprinted by the Bombay Branch of the Theosophical Society.) We will give in subsequent numbers of this magazine, remarks and explanations by a Hindu brother member. In this reprint are some things which do not improve the book. They are selections from such men as P. B. Randolph and others. We do not think Pantanjali needs confirmation from such a source as Randolph’s. No doubt many Theosophists will be disappointed in this great Hindu, in consequence of their own expectations of finding explicit directions as to developing and projecting the double and other like tricks, and because of erroneous suppositions as to what Raj Yoga is. It is the highest philosophy, but the work needs just the explanations which we propose to furnish, in part at least. Pantanjali is immensely interesting to ordinary Theosophists from an intellectual standpoint, and to those who are somewhat advanced its instruction is very great. At present all the Raj Yoga which the western body of Theosophists can assimilate, is found in _Light on the Path_ and _Bagavad-Gita_.

JOURNAL OF SPECULATIVE PHILOSOPHY.—We have received from Wm. T. Harris, (No. 3, Vol. XIX) for which we offer our thanks. Our small space will not permit extended notice. It is full of splendid matter.

IMMORTALITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL.—(W. T. Harris, D. Appleton & Co., New York.) On p. 5 is the basis of a great argument, that “the interaction between soul and body can never be explained, except by a combination of introspection with observation of physiologic facts.” The grossest scientist exercises both and yet denies the value of introspection.

PHILOSOPHY IN OUTLINE.—(Wm. T. Harris, D. Appleton & Co., New York.) A brief exposition of the method of Philosophy and its results in obtaining a view of nature, man and God.

NOTES AND QUERIES.—A monthly magazine full of curious information in art, science, mathematics, folk-lore, mysticism, etc., comes to The Path as an exchange and the back volumes have been received for our Theosophical library. It is published by S. C. & L. M. Gould, Manchester, N. H., at $1.00 a year. Among its articles are many on subjects allied with Eastern wisdom, ancient philosophy, masonry, bibliography, etc. Write to them for a sample copy.

LIGHT ON THE HIDDEN WAY.—_Anon._ (Boston.) This book has excited a great deal of comment in Boston.

The similarity of titles might lead one to expect something like “Light on the Path,” but the reader would soon find that the book, whose non-commital introduction by a distinguished Unitarian Minister has brought it considerable earnest consideration, has nothing in common with that priceless volume. It is the account of the experiences of the author, a sensitive and seer from childhood, and, in some respects, it reminds us strikingly of what Kerner tells us about the Seherin von Prevorst. While we cannot commend untrained seership, or its results, we can commend the earnestness and sincerity of the author and at least say for her work that it ought to do good in turning Spiritistic readers away from the materialistic aspects which their belief most commonly presents, and in teaching them that immortality is only to be obtained through “slaying the dragon Self.” For the rest, we will submit the following comments on the work from a source which we feel to be competent to judge:—

“I feel as if my father’s eyes were always upon me. p. 21. In this and following instances, the evidences are, that the writer is looking into the Astral world, or, in other words, is seeing the impressions that have been made upon her personal aura. Not having been effaced, they are readily mistaken for the personalities who made the impressions. Was it her father, the individual, he would be engaged in more important matters than watching for dust in unswept corners. So far, all is sentimental, or in the sphere of earthly impressions, beliefs and feelings—naturally to a great extent illusory and unsatisfactory. A chorus of heavenly voices swelling a hymn, may fulfill the requirements for some individuals, but we can hardly see or feel that any chorus, no matter how earthly, much more heavenly, can sing a song of rejoicing because a man has laid aside his robe, and in the doing it, causing a woman, perhaps, to pass through Gethsemane. The sorrows and demands of others are entirely lost to sight in the fancied importance of one being passing through the change of abode called _Death_. We do not think any man ever saw any being with wings in the spheres above the Astral. In the Astral they do exist, for they are creatures of the imagination. In truth, therefore, they are elementals, clothed in this form. Imagination, properly guided, does not create these beings, but unguided, or badly guided, it does, the result being that it is quite possible not only to see them with wings, but with a thousand of them, or, like a centipede, with a hundred legs.

“Similar visionaries, and this one also, have to a great extent unconsciously permitted their thoughts to be influenced by Biblical writers who express their visions in symbolical language. But the Prophets say: “And I saw one _like unto_ an angel having four wings,” etc. They do not claim to have seen this, but that which they did see could only be expressed in this manner. They could convey their meaning only in this form.

“The ineffable Light is not to be beheld so easily, or with so little effort as a prayer. And _earthly eyes do not behold it_. In prayer the will is at work in _desire_. This produces a more active condition, or rousing of the material, causing a greater amount of motion or vibration, thereby increasing the brilliancy of the Astral, or Aura, of the personality, and the seer being within it and producing it, mistakes it for the Ineffable. After all, the seer is only looking at her physical self and calling it God.

“In regard to the higher precepts that are brought forth, we do not find her father connected with them in any way. But we do find some of the higher principles endeavoring to assert themselves. The words are those of the Inner Consciousness. It is herself that is trying to teach. It is that which is the first to assert itself when one begins to desire wisdom, and occurs long before the advent of a teacher, or any other individual. The teachings are good, and come to all who find the unimportance of self. But our work is not for the spirits in the astral, but for those who are in reality earth-bound, those in the body. Our teachings are for man. Our workings are for him. It is quite all we can do to instruct ourselves and fellow men, without attempting to teach him when out of a body. We can violate no law. One law is, that if a spirit needs instruction then he must be in possession of a body, and striving for knowledge in that manner. We cannot, in or out of a body, attach ourselves to any other individual and expect him to save us from the results of our own ignorance, selfishness, or bad Karma in general.

“The most peculiar of all the ideas suggested, as one reads farther, is this: That these spirits, after making such sad mistakes as they said they did in life, should come back to be saved by the reading, in some cases, of one book. If they had discovered enough, through the mere fact of death, to find that they were all wrong, why did they seek at the source of all their errors for more? Why not seek at the source that taught them that they were wrong? The fact is, Death has not the mighty power ascribed to it. If I move from one house to another, the mere act of going out of one does not solve the _why_ that I lived in one, or _will_ in another. I may perceive that one is better adapted to my wants, but the moving into it does not tell me ‘why?’ I, as the tenant, know already the why, and perhaps if I open the windows of my house, the house itself may become pervaded with the knowledge. But it is ‘I’ who do the act, not Death. Death closes my windows and opens the door. I close my door to Death and open my window to Wisdom—perhaps in a new house, quite likely in one which has had another occupant.

“If the ‘evil-minded, malicious, and undeveloped souls’ would only unfold their pin-feathers and fly off into the ‘Beyond,’ they would be a source of little sorrow to earth. But they do not. Undeveloped, they cannot fly; malicious, they remain in their proper degree; evil-minded, they are not souls, but elementaries.

“The book is the property of Death.” “AMERICAN F. T. S.”

MEN, WOMEN AND GODS, AND OTHER LECTURES.—By Helen H. Gardener. Introduction by Robt. G. Ingersoll, (_Truth Seeker Co., 33 Clinton Place, N. Y._) pp. 174, with a portrait of Miss Gardener; Cloth $1.00, paper .50. This is a valuable contribution, being compact, fervid in its reasonings yet not at all heavy. Its statements are unanswerable. Evidently the author read widely, thought deeply, observed keenly, and added to all that, a native genius. On page 53 she has put 12 articles of positive belief, and as the famous Colonel says in the introduction, “there is no misunderstanding between her head and her heart. She says what she thinks and feels what she says.”

The design of the book is the emancipation of woman, but in carrying that out she does not abuse men for the position of women. She calls upon the women to dare to think and act for themselves and to gain the place which rightfully, in the author’s estimation, belongs to them.

THE ORDER OF CREATION.—(_Truth Seeker Co., New York._) This contains the controversy between Gladstone, Huxley, Muller, Reville and Linton, as to the order in which creation proceeded; p. p. 178, cloth .75 paper .50. Those who followed this interesting dispute will find this a valuable book, as it brings together the arguments of these masters of rhetoric, science and philosophy into one compact volume, and enables all who care for different kinds of authority upon vexed questions, to see what these modern lights each have to say as to the evident conflict which exists between Genesis and Geology.

CORRESPONDENCE.

AN UNWRITTEN MESSAGE BECOMES VISIBLE.

NEW YORK, May 16, 1886.
EDITOR OF THE PATH,

DEAR SIR:—Could you explain the following?

A friend of mine, a physician, who is a rational agnostic and scoffer at all so called supernatural things, relates the following curious mystery, which happened to him the other day.

He was sitting in his office holding in his hand a letter from one of his regular patients, which asked him to come as soon as he could. It being then towards 5 p. m., when his office hours are over, he was thinking whether he could go that day or not as he has an extensive practice. While thinking he found that the letter was gone. He searched for it on his table, but in vain. A strange feeling came over him as he could not even remember when he had received the letter, nor when he had opened it. A feeling that the letter had after all been a physical delusion he dismissed with scorn; he was sure it would by and by easily explain itself. However the servant was sure that no letter had since 2 p. m. been delivered, as she never leaves the door during that time.

The next morning he called on his patient, who was very glad to see him, though being a little astonished that her daughter had been very sick the preceding day for an hour or two. It had soon passed over. “I am glad to hear that it is nothing serious,” the doctor said, “I wanted to excuse myself for not coming yesterday. I received your letter only at 5 p. m.” “My letter?” the lady answered, “I never wrote to you; it is impossible, for about that time I was with my sick daughter, and thought very intensely to write, but as I had but one servant in the house I concluded to wait till my son came in. By the time he came, my daughter felt better, and so we concluded not to trouble you.”

My friend went home, perfectly sure that in spite of all appearance, though no letter could be found after repeated searching—— the lady had written but forgotten it. I can vouch for the truth of the story. Remain yours fraternally, H. P. L.

[The explanation by those who adhere to mediumship would be, that this was what they call, “a spirit letter.” But at this time we cannot accept that proposition; it seems rather a degradation of what we call “spirit,” and many alleged “controls” of mediums have deprecated the constant referring of everything to spirit agency, when in perhaps the majority of cases, “spirits” have nothing to do in the matter. Many so called extraordinary things occur every day which are attributed to spirits, or classed as hallucination, which really are due to the powers of the living man, their laws of operation being almost unknown to western people.

The true student of Raj Yoga knows that everything has its origin in the mind; that even this universe is the passing before the Divine Mind of the images he desires to appear.

Now in the case before us, the doctor must be a sensitive man who has the power, unknown to himself, of seeing very clearly the mental images passing in the minds of those with whom he is in sympathy. These impressions are quite common, but they are not usually seen as apparently visible things. Some receive them as images, others as thoughts and ideas. We are all constantly affecting each other in this way every day of our lives, but not everyone receives the impression in the same way. The variations of the operations of _manas_, which may be properly called “mind,” are infinite.

The lady whose daughter was sick, desired very intently to see the doctor, and the message was probably formulated in her mind at once. This is evident, for she awaited the arrival of the son to whom she would at once have given it. That message thus formed was impressed in the astral light, and because of the sympathy existing between patient and doctor it immediately rushed into the sphere of the doctor, registering itself in his mind. He then saw in his hand a letter, which apparently he could feel and read. This was either, (_a_) the reflection from his mind, or (_b_) an actual momentary appearance in his hand of the astral message. It was never found again because it had no corporeal existence.

It would be easy to cry “spirits,” but it would not be common sense. We might also say elementals did it, but that would infer that either the doctor or the patient has elementals devoted to them. Elementals do perform such things but the cases are not common, and therefore we are not justified in taking that explanation when neither party knows of elementals.

If the doctor had not been a sensitive man, he would merely have received the message and repeated it to himself as a sudden thought of that particular patient.

We know several persons of our acquaintance who habitually obey sudden impressions, causing them to write to absent friends, &c., always finding that they answer the other person’s thought or written letter then on the way and undelivered until after the reply had been sent.

Let us then pay attention to these things in this light and not allow ourselves, except in known cases, to fly into the arms of alleged spirits or elementals.—ED.]

* * * * *

DEAR PATH:—Is not it an error on p. 28 of April No. in review of _Apollonius of Tyana_, where it says:

“_Error_ courts investigation”; was not “truth” meant.
Yours, F. E. B.

[There was not a mistake. The author was trying to show how error preludes truth, but falsehood never does; that error courts investigation, falsehood never. Falsehood is altogether untrue and therefore without any knowledge; and being thus false it hides itself from investigation. But error is merely that which has not true knowledge, and does not imply falsity. Science is full of error, but constantly corrects itself. The process of acquiring true knowledge is in fact the cutting away of errors.—ED.]

* * * * *

PRONUNCIATION OF SANSCRIT.

DEAR BROTHER:—Is there any dictionary or book giving the correct pronunciation of the Oriental words so current in theosophical literature. Yours ——

[In Sanscrit dictionaries the true pronunciation is found. But if our correspondent will, in these words, always read _a_ as _ah_, _e_ as _eh_, _i_ as _ee_, _u_ as _oo_, and _o_ as _oh_, she will be right. _Arjuna_ is sounded as _Arjoona_, _Veda_ as _Vaydah_, _Brahma_ as _Brähmā_, _Prakriti_ as _Präkreetee_, _Mulaprakriti_ as _Moolahprakreetee_, and so on.—ED.]

THEOSOPHICAL ACTIVITIES.

IRELAND.—A charter for a Branch of the Society in Dublin, was issued in April. This is the first Irish charter, and it marks an era in the history of the Society as well as of Ireland. The month of April is an important one for the green Isle in several ways, and this charter must bear a date of some significance.

Furthermore, Ireland’s real name signifies, “the Isle of Destiny,” and, as if she really had some great destiny, she has long been a thorn in England’s side, and has furnished great men, poets, and warriors, to all western peoples.

Perhaps now some great exponent of Theosophy will arise in that island, and the new Branch become a power for good amongst us. The name selected is, _The Dublin Lodge of the Theosophical Society_.

* * * * *

NEW YORK: THE ARYAN THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.—Meetings are now held on the 2d and 4th Tuesdays in each month, attended by members and inquirers. At each meeting a paper is read or address delivered followed by discussion and questions.

The Branch does not yet devote itself to psychical experiments, but to an inquiry into all the doctrines which have been put forth in Theosophical literature, and to inquiring into Aryan philosophy.

Beside these open meetings, they also hold private meetings, where further and more familiar discussions and conversations are carried on.

A series of notes of all the discussions has been started in the form of a printed leaflet, to be distributed each month among all the members to be found in the United States, with the object of solidifying them in their struggle to find the truth, and if possible to procure an interchange of questions and replies in the whole body of American Theosophists. It is believed that this will do much toward helping all, for there is no better way of getting new ideas and of spreading knowledge, than by rubbing minds together, so to say, and thus eliciting the doubts, the questions, and the views of all.

As we are a universal Brotherhood, we are each bound to help the rest, and to do as much as we can toward communicating with each other upon the subject of our studies. This does not mean that any one is to give to the world any rare knowledge which ought to be hidden. It is supposed that up to this time the whole body of American Theosophists is upon one plane. At any rate, those who possess occult knowledge, or think they do, ought to know where and when to keep silent. Long before we are ready for occult knowledge, we have to study that which is the common property of all, but which hitherto has been neglected and allowed to lie hidden, not only in Eastern literature, but also in much that has been produced among Christian people.

The donations of books for the Library of the Branch, during the last month, have been as follows:

By S. C. & L. M. Gould: _Vol._ I. _and_ II. _Notes and Queries_; by Bro. R. Hart, 10 books: _Mary Jane (spiritist inquiry)_, _Suicide, 2 vols._, _Lights and Shades of Spiritualism_, _Psychography (Oxon)_, _Animal Magnetism_, _&c._, _England and Islam_, _Vocal Culture_, _Civil Polity of the U. S._; by Bro. W. H. Dannat, London Lodge, 20 books: _Modern Magic_, _Book of Mediums_, _Infinite and Finite_, _Idyll of White Lotos_, _Possibility of not Dying_, _Col. Olcott’s Lectures_, _Palmistry_, _Essence of Christianity_, _Mysteries of Astrology_, _Zoroaster_, _Rosicrucians (Jennings)_, _Chaldean Magic_, _Circle of Light_, _Gould’s Myths_, _Unseen Universe_, _Moore’s Epicurean_, _Oriental Interpreter_, _Theosophy and the Higher Life_, _Pagan and Christian Symbolism (Inman)_, _Man-Fragments_, _&c._, and _28 Miscellaneous Theosophical pamphlets_.

* * * * *

CINCINNATI.—The new Branch here has been organized since our last issue, with about twenty members. Some meetings have been held at which great interest was manifested. At the next meeting an essay upon some theosophical subject will be read. The members are all engaged in serious study of such subjects as: the laws of Karma, Reincarnation, &c.

“As the great universe has no boundary, and the eight quarters of heaven no gateway, so Supreme Reason has no limits.”—_Buddha._

“Look up at it; it is higher than you can see! Bore into it; it is deeper than you can penetrate! Look at it as it stands before you; suddenly it is behind you!”—_Confucius._

“Looking up, you cannot see the summit of its head; go behind it, you cannot see its back.”—_Lau-tze._

“A man who foolishly does me wrong, I will return to him the protection of my ungrudging love; the more evil comes from him, the more good shall go from me; the fragrance of these good actions always rebounding to me, the harm of the slanderer’s words returning to him. For as sound belongs to the drum, and shadow to the substance, so in the end, misery will certainly overtake the evil doer.”—_Buddha Sutra of 42 sections._

OM.

FOOTNOTES:

[50] The original MS. of this Diary as far as it goes is in our possession. The few introductory lines are by the friend who communicated the matter to us.—[ED.]

[51] I find it impossible to decipher this name.

[52] There is a peculiarity in this, that all accounts of Cagliostro, St. Germain and other Adepts, give the apparent age as forty only.—[ED.]

[53] The warrior caste of India.—[ED.]

[54] The soul soliloquizing.

[55] The Deity.

[56] Second century.

[57] The Deity.

[58] The Work entitled “_The Acts of the Adepts_,” by Shemsu-D-Din Ahmed, El EFlaki has been reserved for our second part: Symbols.

[59] _A Godhra_ is the counterpane of shreds the Fakirs use to lie down upon, and throw over their shoulders.

[60] Comp. the mediæval conception “Lady World.”

[61] Khizer, the “Green Old Man” is the guardian of “the fountain of life” and the type of the self sustaining power of Deity.

[62] Quran II. 216, Elias discovered the water of life.

[63] Saturn is lord of the seventh heaven.

[64] No more individual existence.

[65] The following is told, and attributed to Attar; A thirsty traveller dips his hand into a spring of water to drink from. Another comes likewise to drink and leaves his earthen bowl behind him. The first traveller takes it up for another draught and is surprised to find the same water bitter when drank from the earthen cup. But a voice from heaven tells him the clay from which the bowl is made was once _Man_; and into whatever shape renewed, _can never lose the bitter flavour of mortality_.

[66] See Introduction to The Divine Pymander p. VI-et. seq. edition 1650.

[67] Ibid.

AUM

This is the Truth. As from a blazing fire sparks, being like unto fire, fly forth a thousandfold, thus are various beings brought forth from the Imperishable, and return thither also.

That heavenly Person is without body; he is both without and within, not produced, without breath and without mind, pure, higher than the high Imperishable. The sky in his head, his eyes the sun and the moon, the quarters his ears, his speech the Vedas disclosed, the wind his breath, his heart the universe; from his feet came the earth; he is indeed the inner self of all things. _Mundaka Upanishad._ II, Mun., I. Kh.

THE PATH.

VOL. I. JULY, 1886. NO. 4.

_The Theosophical Society, as such, is not responsible for any opinion or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless contained in an official document._

Where any article, or statement, has the author’s name attached, he alone is responsible, and for those which are unsigned, the Editor will be accountable.

A HINDU CHELA’S DIARY.

(_Continued from June Number._)

“Yesterday I went with Kunâla to look at the vast and curious temples left here by our forefathers. Some are in ruins, and others only showing the waste of time. What a difference between my appreciation of these buildings now, with Kunâla to point out meanings I never saw, and that which I had when I saw them upon my first pilgrimage, made so many years ago with my father.” * * * * * * *

A large portion of the MS. here, although written in the same characters as the rest, has evidently been altered in some way by the writer, so as to furnish clues meant for himself. It might be deciphered by a little effort, but I must respect his desire to keep those parts of it which are thus changed, inviolate. It seems that some matters are here jotted down relating to secret things, or at least, to things that he desired should not be understood at a glance. So I will write out what small portion of it as might be easily told without breaking any confidences.

It is apparent that he had often been before to the holy city of Benares, and had merely seen it as a place of pilgrimage for the religious. Then, in his sight, those famous temples were only temples. But now he found, under the instruction of Kunâla, that every really ancient building in the whole collection had been constructed with the view to putting into imperishable stone, the symbols of a very ancient religion. Kunâla, he says, told him, that although the temples were made when no supposition of the ordinary people of those eras leaned toward the idea that nations could ever arise who would be ignorant of the truths then universally known, or that darkness would envelop the intellect of men, there were many Adepts then well known to the rulers and to the people. They were not yet driven by inexorable fate to places remote from civilization, but lived in the temples, and while not holding temporal power, they exercised a moral sway which was far greater than any sovereignty of earth.[68] And they knew that the time would come when the heavy influence of the dark age would make men to have long forgotten even that such beings had existed, or that any doctrines other than the doctrine based on the material rights of _mine_ and _thine_, had ever been held. If the teachings were left simply to either paper or papyrus or parchment, they would be easily lost, because of that decay which is natural to vegetable or animal membrane. But stone lasts, in an easy climate, for ages. So these Adepts, some of them here and there being really themselves Maha Rajahs,[69] caused the temples to be built in forms, and with such symbolic ornaments, that future races might decipher doctrines from them. In this, great wisdom, he says, is apparent, for to have carved them with sentences in the prevailing language would have defeated the object, since languages also change, and as great a muddle would have resulted as in the case of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, unless a key stone had also been prepared; but that itself might be lost, or in its own turn be unintelligible. The ideas underneath symbols do not alter, no matter what might be the language, and symbols are clear immortally, because they are founded in nature itself. In respect to this part of the matter, he writes down that Kunâla informed him that the language used then was not Sanscrit, but a far older one now altogether unknown in the world.