Chapter IX: Part I: Texts (5)

The only effectual way to get out of family defects is to discharge all our duty to our family before leaving it, as ascetics, or before we die. Blessed is he[86] who, in each of his incarnations, _then and there_, gets rid of the defects of the family into which he is ushered, thereby converts those defects in his parents, brothers and sisters, into noble qualities, thus strengthening and developing the good qualities both of himself and of his family, then strives to be born in the same family again and again, until he himself becomes a Buddha and assists his family to become a family fit for a Buddha to be born into, while he becomes the cream of all the noble qualities of the family without being tainted with its idiosyncrasies. A Dugpa (Black Magician) is frequently born in the same family and becomes the cream of all its evil propensities. Here again is the operation of the sublime and divinely intelligent law of universal and natural economy asserting itself. This is beautifully allegorized in the story of a Jivanmukta churning out of the ocean, the elixir of life and leaving the _visha_ (the poison, all the evil propensities) for the Dugpas. This is one of the meanings of the allegory. Avoiding all personalities and questionable facts, I shall rely solely upon our Puranas and scriptures to prove that in every family where Adepts and Gnanis are (or choose to be) frequently born, often Dugpas are also born, as a matter of course. Krishna was the greatest of Gnanis and his uncle Kausa (for our present purpose) was a terrible Dugpa. The five Pandavas had a hundred wicked cousins, the Kauravas. Devas and the whole brood of wicked Asuras were born of the same parent. _Vibhishana_ had for his brother, _Ravana_ the prince of Dugpas; so had the good Sugriva a brother like Vali. Prahlada had a monster for his father.

Take the case of one who has not done all his duty to his family, before he dies, or before he takes the vows of renunciation and becomes an ascetic. Such ascetics find themselves attracted by the family defects and selfishness of themselves (which hitherto perhaps lay more or less dormant and now become kindled and awakened by the selfishness of the relatives) and are disturbed in the performance of the duties of their new order or _Ashrama_, however unselfish their relatives might have been “unconsciously” or unintentionally. In spite of themselves these relatives arrest the progress of the ascetics in whom the family defects become thus strengthened and developed. Such is the mysterious law of attraction. This man must be born again (1) either in the same family, with the family defects strengthened, both in himself and in his family; (2) or in another family. In the first case, the noble qualities of the family are not strengthened and therefore gradually disappear both from him and from the family. In the second case, he becomes an undutiful son, brother or husband, in his new family, firstly because of the natural law of repetition, which, with the terrible Karmic interest, strengthens the tendency in him to disregard duty; secondly because of the “counter family attractions” (or repulsions). Let not this unfortunate wanderer from the post of his family duty console himself with the foolish idea that this tendency would confine its havoc to family traits (good and evil) and to family duties alone. It would extend itself in all directions, wherever it can; it would make him disregard his duties to his nation and to himself (or in other words, to humanity). He would suddenly be surprised to find himself apathetic to his nation and to his highest nature, or to mankind. Such are the mazes and unknown ramifications of our evil or good propensities. Any evil or noble element of human nature converts itself, under “favorable” conditions into any other element however apparently remote. The conditions are there ready wherever the element is strong; where there is a will there is a way. Performance of family duties therefore develops patriotism and mercy.

I do not at all mean to say that the effects of Karma _always_ assert themselves in the same shape or form; but they often might and do. Nor do I mean that the affinities above stated, blossom and ripen in the incarnation immediately succeeding; they might develop ten or even one hundred incarnations after; but in such a case, the Karma only accumulates enormous interest. The affinities might not develop _at the same time_ in both him and her, who was once his wife; if they did at the same time, the account could be easily settled,—otherwise, woe to him and to her! Supposing that the attractions for him are developed in her, while the attachments for her are not developed in him at the same time; the result might be, that she pines and languishes for him, sends her poisonous darts consciously or “unconsciously” against him; if these arrows do not kindle the corresponding nature in him, for the time being they frustrate his achievements in other directions. Supposing by the time the affinities in him are developed, he becomes an initiate and she becomes, (let us suppose) his pupil (male or female). If at the time the pupil’s affinities have become converted into devotion for the initiate, the latter becomes blinded in his philanthropic work and noble duties of a sage, and commits, through the infatuation of a love for the pupil, serious blunders, which result in a catastrophe to both of them and to humanity: and both the pupil and initiate fall down and have to mount their rugged pathway again with increased difficulties in their way.

Once, in an age and in a country, when and where household life continues to be ideal, one single wretch commits the first act of transgression by impetuously rushing into the circle of ascetics, or by dying before wholly discharging his duty to his family, the natural result is that both himself, his family, and his nation, become thereby seriously affected. The Akasa[87] becomes affected by the impulse to transgress in this direction; this impulse forces itself gradually (with accumulated interest, redoubled force) upon others; the ignoble example becomes a precedent; other cases of a like nature follow in quick succession. In course of time, (just when a sad descending cycle begins, such is the divine intelligence of the law that economizes energies and makes things fit it) the leading of the ideal family life becomes almost impossible and very rare; the whole community is thus ruined. Learned and great adepts retire to other spheres (where there then is an ascending cycle) and leave the nation to be swallowed by a cataclysm after ages of degradation and vice.

Let us now reverse this case, and suppose that in the most degenerate nation, in the darkest of cycles, one philanthropist becomes unselfish and intelligent enough to set a noble and intelligent example by fulfilling all family duties; then, as naturally as in the preceding case, the precedent gradually gains acceptance; the way is paved for the advent of an ascending cycle; Gnanis bless the noble man and come down from other unfavorable spheres, where descending cycles begin to dawn.

Now it may be easy to understand why Chelas and lay Chelas (who have not yet thrown off their family defects and thus become the cream of their family’s good qualities) are told to be careful lest they become Dugpas (Black Magicians).

I will ask you to apply the same kinds of arguments to the necessity for performing (and the failure to perform) our duties to our nation and to mankind. You can see that the phenomena of heresy, downfall of religions, rise of new religions, the birth in Europe of a Max Müller, who expatiates upon the greatness of the Vedic philosophy, and of Bradlaughs and other infidel sons of Christian parents—all these are due to the fact (and also to other causes), that the individuals concerned had not in some one or other of their past incarnations, done their duty to the nations (or religions), to which they respectively belonged. A study of the times when and in the manner in which the traits of these men are brought into play should be profitable in several ways. Extending the analogy, it may be said that heartlessness, murder, cannibalism, etc., are due to failure to discharge, in past incarnations, one’s duty to humanity (that is to one’s self).

In conclusion it might be added that the most important element in the “Dweller of the Threshold,” and in the ordeals of Chelaship, is family defects, which ought to be _first_ “conquered;” then in order come national defects and the “diseases of the flesh” in general. Though all these three have to be got rid of simultaneously as far as possible, and all the three kinds of duties performed, still beginners should pay more attention to the first than to the second, and more to the second than to the third, and none of these neglected.

In those happy Aryan ages, when Dharma was known and performed fully, those men and women who did not marry, remained in the family for performing their family duties and led a strictly ascetical and Vedantic life as Brahmacharis and Kannikas (or virgins). Those alone married, who were in every way qualified for leading a grihasta (household) life. Marriage was in those days a sacred and religious contract, and not at all a means of gratifying selfish desires and animal passions. These marriages were of two kinds: (1) Those who married for the express purpose of assisting each other (husband and wife) in their determination to lead a higher life, in fulfilling their family duties, in enjoying all pleasures enjoined for such a life and thereby acquiring the means for attaining the qualifications for higher ashrama of renunciation (Sannyása), and, above all, for giving the world the benefit of children, who would become gnanis and work for humanity. Such a husband and wife might be regarded as not having in their previous incarnations been able enough to become ripe for Chelaship. (2) Those who had, in their past incarnations already fitted themselves completely for entering the sanctuary of Occultism and gnana marga (path of wisdom). One of them, the Pati (the master or “husband”) was the Guru who had advanced far higher than his Patni (co-worker or pupil or “wife”). As soon as the alliance between them was made, these retired into the forest to lead the life of celibacy and practical Occultism. But, before so retiring, they had invariably promised to their parents and other members of their family to assist and elevate them even from a distance and offered to periodically adjust[88] the inner life of all the relatives. I quote the language generally used in making such promises:—“Whenever mother, father, sister and brothers, any of you think of me in your hour of need, wherever or whatever I may be, I solemnly promise to lend you a helping hand.” MURDHNA JOTI. [_To be continued._]

STUDIES IN THE UPANISHADS.

[BY A STUDENT.]

[_Continued from May number._]

Longfellow, in the lines last quoted, symbolized the Universe by an immeasurable wheel forever turning in the stream of time. Allowing for the western habit of studying effects and not causes, this is a fair simile. Yet it is faulty in that it presupposes two co-existing eternities; the wheel of the Universe, and the stream in which it turns. There can be but one eternity.

Saunaka asks in this Upanishad a natural question, propounded by nearly every thinking man, especially by students of occultism who are continually seeking a royal road to the accomplishment of their objects. He wishes to be told what may be the great solvent of all knowledge. The reply of Angiras points out two great roads, which include all the others. The lower road is the one of hard work for countless births, during which we acquire knowledge slowly in all directions, and, of course, when that is possessed, one rises to the higher road.

This is the true initiation, nature, so to speak, acting as the initiator. In replying to Saunaka, Angiras did not mean to be understood, that a man could in one birth pass over the lower road, but that the progress of a human monad toward perfection proceeded in a certain fixed manner which included all experiences. Of course if we say that we appear on the earth once only, and then disappear from it, to the place called by the spiritualists of America, “the summer land,” and by the christian, “heaven,” there is no need for one to acquire the lower knowledge, for that might be obtained in the life after death. But we regard it as true that the spirit, in order to acquire complete knowledge, must inhabit a human form, and one term of tenancy in such a form will not be enough for the testing of the countless varieties of life, of temptation, of triumph, failure and success.

The sage Angiras in this Upanishad looks at man from the standpoint of one who can see the great stream of life which flows through the eternal plain, and therefore he could not have meant to apply his words to one incarnation, but to the whole series through which man has to pass until he reaches “immortal, blest nirvana.”

In the journey along this road we will encounter great differences in the powers of our fellow travellers. Some go haltingly and others quickly; some with eyes bent on the ground, a few with gaze fixed on the great goal. Those who halt or look down will not reach the end, because they refuse to take the assistance to be found in the constant aspiration to the light. But we are not to blame them: they have not yet been often enough initiated to understand their error. Nature is kind and will wait for them much longer than their human fellows would if they were permitted to be their judges. This ought to give us a lesson in charity, in universal brotherhood. Very often we meet those who show an utter inability to appreciate some spiritual ideas which we quite understand. It is because they have not, so far, been able to transmute into a part of themselves, that which we have been so fortunate as to become possessed of, and so they seem devoted to things that to us appear to be of small value.

The Bagavad-Gita says that there is no detriment or loss to one’s efforts in any direction, be it good or bad; that is, in going through these countless incarnations, all inquiry, every sort of investigation, no matter even if it seems at the close of any one life that the life was wasted, is so much energy and experience stored up. For although, in the course of one existence, physical energy is expended, there is, all the while, a storing up of spiritual energy which is again a power in the next succeeding life.

In consequence of the modern, western system of education, we are apt constantly to forget the existence of the great force and value belonging to our super-sensuous consciousness. That consciousness is the great register where we record the real results of our various earthly experiences; in it we store up the spiritual energy, and once stored there, it becomes immortal, our own eternal possession. The question then will be asked: “How is one to store up such spiritual energy: do we do it unconsciously, and how are we to know that any has been stored up?” It is to be done by trying to know and to act truth; by “living in the eternal,” as _Light on the Path_ directs. To live thus in the eternal, does not mean that we shall abandon the cares and struggles of life, for so surely as we do we must suffer, but that we should try to make the real self direct its aspirations ever to the eternal truth.

This series of births is absolutely necessary, so that the “lower knowledge” can be acquired; and just so long as we do not acquire that, we must be reborn. Here and there will occur exceptions to this rule, in those great souls who, with “an astonishing violence,” leap beyond and over all barriers, and by getting the higher knowledge, become at the same time, possessors of the lower knowledge also.

In the Chaldean Oracles such souls are thus described: “More robust souls perceive truth through themselves, and are of a more inventive nature,” and by Proklus in I Alkibiad: “such a soul being saved, according to the oracle, through its own strength.” But even this rapid progress must be regarded as comparative, for even these “robust souls,” had to go through certain incarnations in which they were accumulating to themselves that very strength and ability to outstrip their fellows which, later on, placed them in the front rank.

In consequence of our ignorance of what we really are, not knowing at the time we begin the struggle in this present life whether the real man inside has passed through incarnations full of this necessary experience or not, we must not, because of the fancied importance we give ourselves, neglect the _lower knowledge_. There are many pitfalls besetting the road. Perchance we feel a certain degree of illumination, or we are able to see or hear in the astral world, and at once the temptation presents itself to claim to ourselves a spiritual greatness not our own. The possession of such astral acuteness is not high spirituality _per se_, for one might be able, as Buddha declares in the Saddharma-Pundarika, to smell the extraordinary odors arising in ten points of space which are not perceived by ordinary people, or to hear the innumerable and strange voices, sounds, bells, discords and harmonies produced by the whole host of unknown and unseen spirits of the earth, air, water and fire, and still be altogether devoid of spirituality. If we let ourselves then, be carried away by this, it is only a form of pride that precedes a severe fall. Being carried away with it, is at once a proof that we are not master, but are mastered by what is merely a novel experience.

But if we wisely and carefully test all experience, being willing to descend low enough to learn and study so that the instrument may be tuned and perfected, we may avoid the pitfalls, or be able to cross them should they be inevitable, whereas if we are deluded by supposed self-illumination, and run after that to the exclusion of all study, we will perhaps, enjoy a period of excitement and of self-satisfaction, but it will end, and the end will be bitter. As Buddha says: “He who ignores the rotation of mundane existences, has no perception of blessed rest.”

The very fact that a man is in the world and has a continual fight with his passions and inclinations, proves that he is not yet in any condition to leave it. And of even the very far advanced, it was said by those who were near the time of the Upanishads:

“The disciple who by his discrimination has escaped from the triple world, thinks he has reached pure, blessed nirvana; but it is only by knowing all the laws of the lower world, and the universal laws as well, that the immortal, pure, blest nirvana is reached. There is no real nirvana without all-knowingness; try to reach this.”

CORRESPONDENCE.

LONDON, June 17, 1886.

As No. 5 of “The Biogen Series,” Professor Coues has reprinted Robert Dodsley’s “Œconomy of Human Life,” which he considers is based on Theosophical Ethics. The history of this little treatise is rather curious. It was originally published in 1750 and purported to be by a Brahmin, but the authorship was generally ascribed to Lord Chesterfield. The great celebrity which the book at one time attained, was mainly due to this mistaken opinion. Dodsley, however, did not long persist in his disguise. It went through numerous editions, found many imitators, and has been translated into French, Italian, German and Bengali. The moral maxims contained in this little volume are of a character to admit of their attribution to Lord Chesterfield. Their claim to an especial Eastern origin receives a striking comment from the way in which the law of retribution, the nature of the soul, the eternal paradise of God, and other similar topics are regarded. In the treatment of these subjects, the author follows the theology of the Christian church rather than Brahmanical philosophy. The association of the name Kuthumi with the book, so perplexing to understand, is not a biographical fact, as Prof. Coues explains in his “fore-word”(p. 10). It only remains to state clearly what is implied in the fore-word that the Theosophical Society has no special code of morals, ready made and rigorously defined, for the acceptance of its members on admission. Prof. Coues is deserving of praise for rescuing from oblivion a book, in many ways calculated to do good. Fraternally, MOHINI M. CHATTERJI.

REVIEWS AND NOTES.

THE BIOGEN SERIES (_Estes & Lauriat, Boston, Mass._). This series of publications is under the editorial management of Prof. Coues, the well known Scientist and Theosophist. The series has just reached its fifth number “_Kuthumi, or the Economy of Human Life_.” This is a reprint of a little volume, originally issued in 1770, but under the classical pen of Prof. Coues who has added an introduction, and the faultless typography of Estes & Lauriat, the little book is a very different affair from the earlier edition. Number four of the series which is also only just out of press, bears the significant title, “_Can Matter Think_,” and is reprint of an article which was written in India and published some years ago in _The Theosophist_. By no means the least important part of these publications are the notes and editorial comments of Prof Coues. Number four of the series has both an introduction and an appendix from the Professor’s pen. To give these publications such extended notice as they deserve would occupy more space and time than is at our command, while the exceedingly readable form and low price at which they are issued, renders such review unnecessary, as they are within reach of all.

These little books are in short, classics, and as such, substantial additions to the literature of the age, while their bearing on the great problems of Theosophy, can hardly be over estimated. Prof. Coues’ familiarity with the whole field of modern research, his exactness, which comes from scientific training, his remarkable command of first-class English, and his insight into the complex problems of psychology, place these books in the forefront of Theosophic literature, and we cordially commend them to our readers. J.D. BUCK.

THE SANSCRIT LANGUAGE.

Several letters have been written and inquiries propounded to the Editor regarding Sanscrit, and in one or two instances the assertion has been made that we were incorrect in saying that Sanscrit is not really a dead language. In reply to those asking about the language, we refer them to Perry’s _Sanscrit Primer_ (Ginn & Co., Boston), Lanman’s _Sanscrit Reader_ and Whitney’s _Sanscrit Grammar_.

To the others, we quote from Perry’s _Primer_, § 21, p. 7: “The Sanscrit is used in India to this day very much as Latin was used in Europe in the previous century; it is a common medium of communication between the learned, be their native tongues what they may, and it is not the vernacular of any district whatever.” And in India, the Editor was told by many Brahmins that it is in constant use in all religious convocations and assemblies convened among people of learning who come from widely separated parts of Hindustan.

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THOUGHTS.—By Ivan Panin, (_Cupples, Upham & Co., Boston._) The author says that he does not know why he writes, but the thoughts jotted down are put forth as his own. Many of them are good and worth remembering. The book is of size convenient for the pocket, and well bound; the thoughts are topically arranged and numbered consecutively from 1 to 435; the first is, that to be never unhappy is the greatest misfortune; and the last, that next to the pleasure of seeing beautiful things, is to describe them. The best one is No. 205, that nature preaches many a fine sermon on silence, as: the loud thunder hurts not, but the silent lightning; silent gravity binds all worlds together; silent snow covers the ground, but noisy rain makes puddles and then runs away. Another good one is No. 188: “Always indeed, tell the truth, but do not always speak it;” also No. 80: “Abhor his vice, but not the man; for he is like thee a son of God.”

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THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.—By a woman. (_Rockwell & Churchill, Boston, 1885._) We are informed that the author is a Theosophist and wrote this before joining the Society. It is divided into 3 parts. I, Relates to Jesus; II, The Warfare of the Truth; III, The Letters and Evidences. She adheres to the idea of the immaculate conception, while not advocating the theological dogma of the Divinity; this seems to us not to follow. We cannot help pointing out that Jesus, the subject of this book, apparently violated filial duty when he refused to recognize his mother at the time he was told that she waited without. Also on page 10, the author surmizes that “probably not more than a score of children perished” by the order of King Herod. There is no historical record of the “slaughter of the Innocents,” but it is important and ought not to be lightly passed over. A similar legend is told regarding Krishna, the Hindu incarnation, thousands of years before Jesus, for King Kausa his uncle, ordered the slaughter of all the male infants in his kingdom, but Krishna escaped to another city under the protection of the great God, (see the Mahabarata). Again Gaffarel and others say, that really it referred to the persecution of the Kabalists and wise men of Herod’s day, for they were called “innocents” and “babes.” Now this tale has an occult signification, in common with the incident of Jesus refusing to recognize his mother.

The book is an excellent one, and if christendom held the same views, the millenium would advance. The author thinks that the spirit of the work and words of Jesus, if lived up to by his followers, would raise the western world to a higher plane, and in that we agree with her. But we cannot agree that Jesus came to the whole world, or that St. John’s revelation is for humanity. Both of them were only speaking to the races they were born in, revealing again a part of the knowledge and doctrine which anciently prevailed among all peoples, and which, even in their own day, were fully known in the farther East. Each time and people has its own prophet and sacred book, but it does not follow, if the last be the best for the people to whom it is revealed, that therefore it is the best of all.

At the beginning of each Manvantara (the remanifestation of a world and man upon it), a planetary spirit appears among men, and implants the great ideas afterwards held intuitionally. They are projected with a spiritual force and power that carries them through all the ages of that manvantara, now appearing and again apparently lost to sight. The original impulse every now and then, receives additions, through beings of a lower illumination than those who started them, as: Jesus, Buddha, Confucius and others, who appear in intermediate periods.

Similarly, great events, such as the occurrences related as anterior to Krishna’s, Buddha’s and Jesus’ birth, as well as the slaughter of the innocents and the death of Osiris, have an inherent spiritual force, wherever they really took place, that carries them down the stream of time and causes them to reappear among all peoples as a part of the biographies of different sacred personages.

This author has our approval, though worth but little, for she shows a keen insight. Witness on p. 517: “Believe not those who exalt woman above man, for they are equal powers. The use of the feminine pronoun in describing the soul, the earth, the moon * * has no profound scientific or philosophical foundation.

“Believe not those who claim to give final wisdom to the world; for there must be many instruments of truth.”

And on p. 519: “Sufficient guides are in that development of seership which is the necessary and natural sequence of the ripening of the intellect and moral sense, and which must and will grow. To man’s own conscience] and judgment is left the supreme utilization of these first universal efforts at intercommunion between the material and spiritual planes of existence.”

We regret that our limited space prohibits a more extended notice.

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SINNETT.—Mr. A. P. Sinnett of London, author of Esoteric Buddhism, has just brought out a new novel of a theosophical cast. We have not received a copy as there has not been time, but hope to notice it in the August number. Its title is “_Union_”.

THEOSOPHICAL ACTIVITIES.

THE AMERICAN BOARD OF CONTROL—will meet in Rochester July 4th. This will be an important meeting, being the first one since the new era of American Theosophical Activity. It is hoped that each year hereafter will see conventions of the Society when each Branch will be represented by a delegate.

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JOSHEE.—Bro. Gopal Vinayak Joshee was in Boston May 28th, at the annual meeting of the Free Religion Association, and delivered an address before them upon “What is lacking in Christianity,” which was reported in _The Index_, of June 10th, ult. It deserves perusal, and must have seemed to its hearers like plain speaking.

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ALABAMA.—A new Branch of the society is being organized here, the provisional charter having been issued. We hope also soon to hear of another in Texas, where a good Theosophist has settled.

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MALDEN.—The theosophists here are in earnest and active. They have heartily adopted the suggestion of the New York Branch about discussions in condensed form being printed for circulation among members.

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CINCINNATI.—This Branch has been hard at work, and has had the benefit of several addresses and thorough explanations of hermetic doctrines from a well known and well versed theosophist.

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ABRIDGEMENTS OF DISCUSSIONS.—The discussions and study of every member of the Society and of each Branch should not be kept exclusively to themselves, except when they may relate to necessarily secret matter, but ought to be made known in some way to all other members. To that end, the N. Y. Branch has issued the first of a series of leaflets for private circulation, containing abstracts of these discussions. They contain the ideas of many different people upon the subjects of Karma, Reincarnation, and other doctrines of Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity.

All branches ought to contribute notes to this work, so that the leaflets may appeal to as many minds in the society as possible. If a central editor could be hit upon that would also be a good idea.

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THE ARYAN THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK.—Regular meetings have been held each week, since our last issue, two during this month being open ones, at which addresses were delivered and discussions had. On the 8th ult., the subject was that of evolution as laid down in theosophical literature, and at one meeting, the lecture was illustrated by reference to a famous carved temple roof in India, the blackboard being used for rough outlines of the design.

During the last month, the following books have been donated to the library of the Branch, by Bro. Edson D. Hammond: _Ancient Mysteries Described_ (Hone, 1823); _The Obelisk and Freemasonry_ (Weisse, 1880); _Psychological Review_ (London), _12 Nos. 1882; 2 of 1883_, when Review stopped. The library has now increased to over 125 vols. and has been considerably used by the members.

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That subtle self is to be known by thought alone; for every thought of men is interwoven with the senses, and when thought is purified, then the self arises.—_Mundaka Upanishad._

OM.

FOOTNOTES:

[68] In the ancient Aztec civilization in Mexico, the Sacerdotal order was very numerous. At the head of the whole establishment were two high priests, elected from the order, solely for their qualifications, as shown by their previous conduct in a subordinate station. They were equal in dignity and inferior only to the sovereign, who rarely acted without their advice in weighty matters of private concern. (Sahagun _Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 2; lib. 3 cap. 9_—_Torq. Mon. Ind. lib. 8 cap. 20; lib. 9, cap. 3, 56_; cited by Prescott in _vol. 1, Conq. Mex. p. 66_).—[ED.]

[69] King or Ruler.

[70] A low caste man, _e. g._, a sweeper. Such a building can now be seen at Bijapur, India.—[ED.]

[71] An obsessing astral shell. The Hindus consider them to be the reliquæ of deceased persons.—[ED.]

[72] Nature spirit or elemental.—[ED.]

[73] This sentence is of great importance. The Occidental mind delights much more in effects, personalities and authority, than in seeking for causes, just as many Theosophists have with persistency sought to know when and where Madame Blavatsky did some feat in magic, rather than in looking for causes or laws governing the production of phenomena. In this italicized sentence is the clue to many things, for those who can see.—[ED.]

[74] _Masonic Review_, July, 1885.

[75] The Cabbalah, its Doctrine, Development and Literature.

[76] _Farhad_ was the youthful lover of _Shirin_.

[77] _Her_ refers to the candle. The moth is the lover and the candle the beloved.

[78] See note above.

[79] Mulla is the Persian form of the Arabic Maulawi, “a learned man,” “a scholar.”

[80] Khudawand is a Persian word signifying “lord,” “prince,” “master.” A professor: a man of authority. It is used as a title of the Deity and by Christian missionaries in India it is generally employed as a translation of the Greek Kyrios, “Lord.” (Hughes’ Dic.)

[81] _Islam_ means _the resigning or devoting one’s self entirely to God_, and his service.

[82] Isis Unveiled, p. 507, vol I.

[83] Ibid.

[84] Physio-philosophy.

[85] I use this word “privilege” in its ethical sense; privileges are to the patriot what the “pleasures” are to the family life.

[86] This is the man to be in the family and not of the family like the water on the lotus leaf, making only the good traits of the family the seat of his higher self.

[87] The Ether, the Astral Light.—[ED.]

[88] I use the word in the peculiar sense which I have already attached to it.

AUM

In the beginning this was Self alone—undeveloped. It became developed by form and name. The Self entered thither to the very tips of the finger nails, as the fire in the fireplace. He cannot be seen: for, in part only, when breathing, he is breath by name; when seeing, eye by name; when hearing, ear; when thinking, mind, by name. All these are but the names of his acts. And he who regards him as the one or the other, does not know him, for he is apart from them. Let men worship him as the Self, for in the Self, all these are one. This Self is the footstep of everything, for through it one knows everything, and as one can find again by footsteps what was lost, thus he who knows this may find the Self.—_Brihadaranyaka-Upanishad, 1 Adh., 4 Brah., 7 v._

THE PATH.

VOL. I. AUGUST, 1886. NO. 5.

_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.

STAR COLORS AND ANIMAL MAGNETISM.

It is well known that yellow is the complementary of blue, and red of green, color, and it struck me that, relating to this subject, the remarks of Mr. Isaac Sharpless, who is an undoubted authority in astronomical matters, are of some importance. Writing from Haverford College Observatory, June 3d, instant, he says:

“The question of star colors has been receiving attention from the hand of an English gentleman, W. S. Franks. He has examined carefully the colors of a list of 1893 of the brightest stars, with especial reference to the distribution in the heavens of the different colors. He finds 962 white stars, 614 yellow, 168 orange, 10 red, 15 green, 59 blue, 58 purple and 7, for some reason, have no colors given. He finds that the constellations which contain a large percentage of white stars are in or near the Milky Way, and wherever stars are closely associated together; while the yellow and orange stars are most plentiful in large straggling constellations.

“It is well known that a certain kind of spectrum is connected with certain star colors. The yellow stars belong to the class of our sun and include such bright stars as Capella. The white stars, like Vega, have a spectrum of a great number of fine lines, and the red gives a banded spectrum. It has been a favorite theory that the colors indicate the age of the stars, if not in years, at least in development. That the white are the youngest: as they cool they become yellow, then red, and, finally invisible, just as a piece of iron would in cooling down from a white heat. There is much to commend this idea, though, of course, as to the relative ages of the stars we know very little, and some changes appear to be in the opposite direction. Perhaps there are people to whom the idea of different colors in stars is a novelty. They have a general idea that there are bright points of light overhead, at night, and probably they have observed, in a general way, that some are brighter than others. It will not require a very close watch, however, to add to the knowledge of the sky the additional fact that they are differently colored. Castor and Pollux which now shine in the west in the evening, are very evidently diverse, and a careful amateur can go over the heavens and notice among the brighter stars quite a variety.

“But a telescope increases the capacities for this work immensely. Nearly all the very red stars are too faint to be seen by the naked eye, and many which show the strongest contrasts of color are double stars, which require considerable magnifying power to separate them. Blue and green stars are never solitary, but associated with a red or a yellow star, which is nearly always brighter, so that color has something to do with association. There are also sometimes clusters of stars which show great variety of color. Sir John Herschel describes one in the Southern Hemisphere which resembled a mass of colored gems. There is probably a prolific field of discovery yet undeveloped in connection with star colors.”

The experiments of Reichenbach and others have shown that from crystals and human bodies emanate not only influences of a positive and negative character—which are also referred to in the PATH at p. 86—but also that certain colors are seen by sensitives to arise from the human head, eyes, and hands. Now, as animal magnetism is slowly forcing recognition from the scientific world, why are we not justified in giving some credence to the views held by the old Hermetic philosophers, that the human being derives its magnetism and vitality from the stars: that is, that these colors seen by sensitives, are to be directly traced to the sidereal influences and atmospheres. They gave to each color an appropriate star, and we find curiously enough, that although it is claimed against them that they were ignorant and had no appliances, they, without apparatus, knew that the stars had colors, while to the sun they ascribed life. Now in this century our astronomers tell us, as above, of star colors of great variety and peculiar combination. These are mere hints, however, which I would like more competent men to enlarge upon. ISAAC MYER.

[NOTE.—We are personally acquainted with several persons who can see these magnetic colors, and they all agree in the main as to the conditions of health or of temper which accompany them. Mere quick thoughts they see as bright sparks; sensuality seems pink or reddish; while life and wisdom, appear as blue. It is interesting to note also, that in the Hindu system, when Krishna is represented as the life giver, or as the principle of life, he is painted blue, which color Reichenbach found proceeded from the _positive_ pole; while the passive mendicant or ascetic of Hindustan, has to wear the yellow robe, which stands for the _negative_ pole that emits the yellow ray. It is also rather curious that the ancient Egyptians in their papyri painted wisdom, which is cold, of a yellow color, and the son of life appears in blue.—ED.]

A HINDU CHELA’S DIARY.[89]

(_Continued from July Number._)

“I have always felt and still feel strongly that I have already once studied this sacred philosophy with Kunâla, and that I must have been, in a previous life, his most obedient and humble disciple. This must have been a fact, or else how to account for the feelings created in me when I first met him, although no special or remarkable circumstances were connected with that event. All my hopes and plans are centred in him, and nothing in the world can shake my confidence in him especially when several of my Brahmin acquaintances tell me the same things without previous consultation. * * *

“I went to the great festival of Durga yesterday, and spent nearly the whole day looking in the vast crowd of men, women, children and mendicants for some of Kunâla’s friends, for he once told me to never be sure that they were not near me, but I found none who seemed to answer my ideas. As I stood by the ghaut at the river side thinking that perhaps I was left alone to try my patience, an old and apparently very decrepit Bairagee plucked my sleeve and said: ‘Never expect to see any one, but always be ready to answer if they speak to you; it is not wise to peer outside of yourself for the great followers of Vasudeva: look rather within.’

“This amazed me, as I was expecting him to beg or to ask me for information. Before my wits returned, he had with a few steps mingled with a group of people, and in vain searched I for him: he had disappeared. But the lesson is not lost.

“To-morrow I return to I——.

“Very wearying indeed in a bodily sense was the work of last week and especially of last evening, and upon laying down on my mat last night after continuing work far into the night I fell quickly sound asleep. I had been sleeping some hour or two when with a start I awoke to find myself in perfect solitude and only the horrid howling of the jackals in the jungle to disturb me. The moon was brightly shining and I walked over to the window of this European modeled house threw it open and looked out. Finding that sleep had departed, I began again on those palm leaves. Just after I had begun, a tap arrested my attention and I opened the door. Overjoyed was I then to see Kunâla standing there, once more unexpected.

“‘Put on your turban and come with me,’ he said and turned away.

“Thrusting my feet into my sandals, and catching up my turban, I hurried after him, afraid that the master would get beyond me, and I remain unfortunate at losing some golden opportunity.

“He walked out into the jungle and turned into an unfrequented path. The jackals seemed to recede into the distance; now and then in the mango trees overhead, the flying foxes rustled here and there, while I could distinctly hear the singular creeping noise made by a startled snake as it drew itself hurriedly away over the leaves. Fear was not in my breast for master was in front. He at last came to a spot that seemed bare of trees, and bending down, seemed to press his hand into the grass. I then saw that a trap door or entrance to a stairway very curiously contrived, was there. Stairs went down into the earth. He went down and I could but follow. The door closed behind me, yet it was not dark. Plenty of light was there, but where it came from I cared not then nor can I now, tell. It reminded me of our old weird tales told us in youth of pilgrims going down to the land of the Devas where, although no sun was seen, there was plenty of light.

“At the bottom of the stairs was a passage. Here I saw people but they did not speak to me and appeared not to even see me although their eyes were directed at me. Kunâla said nothing but walked on to the end, where there was a room in which were many men looking as grand as he does but two more awful, one of whom sat at the extreme end.”

* * * * * * * *

[Here there is a confused mass of symbols and ciphers which I confess I cannot decipher, and even if I had the ability to do so, I would check myself, because I surmise that it is his own way of jotting down for his own remembrance, what occurred in that room. Nor do I think that even a plain reading of it would give the sense to any one but the writer himself, for this reason, that it is quite evidently fragmentary. For instance, I find among the rest, a sort of notation of a division of states or planes: whether of consciousness, of animated, or of elemental life, I cannot tell; and in each division are hieroglyphs that might stand for animals, or denizens of the astral world, or for anything else—even for ideas only, so I will proceed at the place of his returning.]

“Once more I got out into the passage, but never to my knowledge went up those steps, and in a moment more was I again at my door. It was as I left it, and on the table I found the palm leaves as I dropped them, except that beside them was a note in Kunâla’s hand, which read:

“‘Nilakant—strive not yet to think too deeply on those things you have just seen. Let the lessons sink deep into your heart, and they will have their own fruition. To-morrow I will see you.’ * * * *

“What a very great blessing is mine to have had Kunâla’s company for so many days even as we went to——. Very rarely however he said a few words of encouragement and good advice as to how I should go on. He seems to leave me as to that to pick my own way. This is right, I think, because otherwise one would never get any individual strength or power of discrimination. Happy were those moments, when alone at midnight, we then had conversation. How true I then found the words of the Agroushada Parakshai to be:

“‘Listen while the Sudra sleeps like the dog under his hut, while the Vaysa dreams of the treasures that he is hoarding up, while the Rajah sleeps among his women. This is the moment when just men, who are not under the dominion of their flesh, commence the study of the sciences.’[90]

“The midnight hour must have powers of a peculiar nature. And I learned yesterday from glancing into an Englishman’s book, that even those semi barbarians speak of that time as ‘the witching hour,’ and it is told me that among them ‘witching’ means to have magic power. * * * *

“We stopped at the Rest House in B—— yesterday evening, but found it occupied and so we remained in the porch for the night. But once more I was to be blessed by another visit with Kunâla to some of his friends whom I revere and who will I hope bless me too.

“When every one had quieted down he told me to go with him to the sea which was not far away. We walked for about three quarters of an hour by the seashore, and then entered as if into the sea. At first a slight fear came into me, but I saw that a path seemed to be there, although water was all around us. He in front and I following, we went for about seven minutes, when we came to a small island; on it was a building and on top of that a triangular light. From the sea shore, the island would seem like an isolated spot covered all over by green bushes. There is only one entrance to go inside. And no one can find it out unless the occupant wishes the seeker to find the way. On the island we had to go round about for some space before we came in front of the actual building. There is a little garden in front and there was sitting another friend of Kunâla with the same expression of the eyes as he has. I also recognized him as one of those who was in the room underground. Kunâla seated himself and I stood before them. We stayed an hour and saw a portion of the place. How very pleasant it is! And inside he has a small room where he leaves his body when he himself moves about in other places. What a charming spot, and what a delightful smell of roses and various sorts of flowers! How I should wish to visit that place often. But I cannot indulge in such idle dreams, nor in that sort of covetousness. The master of the place put his blessing hand upon my head, and we went away back to the Rest House and to the morrow full of struggles and of encounters with men who do not see the light, nor hear the great voice of the future; who are bound up in sorrow because they are firmly attached to objects of sense. But all are my brothers and I must go on trying to do the master’s work which is only in fact the work of the Real Self which is All and in All.”

NOTES ON THE CABBALAH OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

BY PERMISSION OF BRO. J. RALSTON SKINNER (McMillan Lodge, No. 141).

II.

Ginsburg and others tell us that Raymond Lully and John Picus de Mirandola had acquired knowledge of the Hebrew and the Caballah. Mirandola studied Hebrew and Cabbalistic theology under Jochanan Aleman, who came to Italy from Constantinople, and—“found that there is more Christianity in the Cabbalah than Judaism; he discovered in it proof for the doctrine of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Divinity of Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem, the fall of the angels, the order of the angels,” and so on, and so on. “In 1486, when only 24 years old, he published 900 _theses_, which were placarded in Rome, and which he undertook to defend in the presence of all European scholars, whom he invited to the Eternal City, promising to defray their traveling expenses. Among the theses was the following: ‘No science yields greater proof of the Divinity of Christ than magic and the Cabbalah.’”

Through Picus de Mirandola, Reuchlin became aware of this phase of Hebrew philosophy or theosophy, as, by a school of the rabbins, a recognized appurtenant to the Hebrew Scriptures. He not only examined into the Cabbalah to satisfy his thirst for facts of literature, but, on investigation, became a convert to the system,—“within two years of beginning to learn the language, published (1494) his De Verbo Mirifico, and afterwards (1516) with more matured learning, his De Arte Cabbalistica.” And thus the joint efforts of Mirandola and Reuchlin established a field of literature, of the Cabbalah, which has always flourished, and will continue to flourish so long as our civilization shall last.

It is interesting and useful to place this great fact, but it is a matter of especially great weight and value that the knowledge of the Cabbalah was sprung upon the world of letters, with, and _as an essential part of_ the Reformation itself. Not that the philosophy of the Cabbalah became engrafted into the study and development of Hebrew (and consequently Christian) theosophy:—for, because of lack of knowledge of what the Cabbalah really was, such could not be the case,—but it was entitled so to be, and the assertion of its existence as a real element of Scripture was, even then, so strongly and enduringly made, that, though an unknown quantity except by name, it has ever since stood firmly, and ready to have such claim made good:—with a vitality that has outworn four hundred years of patient waiting.