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Publications:
- Lucifer, vol. 8, no. 47, July 1891, pp. 411-414
- Lucifer, vol. 8, no. 48, August 1891, pp. 500-506
- Lucifer, vol. 9, no. 51, November 1891, pp. 210-213
- no. 53, January 1892, pp. 417-422
- no. 54, February 1892, pp. 471-475
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DATA
Title for references: Mookerji K.P. - Fragments from an Indian Note Book
Short description:
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I have just returned from a visit to some very beautiful stone temples here, at Barakar, Bengal; the idols are all defaced, probably owing to Mohammedan vandalism. This place once belonged to the Rajah of Pancha Kote. The temples are four in number, built of sandstone, and the idols, though defaced, still show signs of exquisite workmanship. There is one thing very peculiar about them – Durga (save her four hands) looks just like the Greek Minerva. There is a difference between Durga with ten hands, and Durga or Jagat Dhatri, the mother of the Cosmos, with four hands; in the former she stands on her lion and kills the Asura with different kinds of weapons in each of her ten hands. This symbolizes the battle between the upper triad and the lower self. The ten hands contain ten Siddhis (occult powers) to conquer Avidya (ignorance). Singha, the lion, means Gnânam (knowledge). The Goddess then became Jagat Dhatri, the Divine Mother, the Lady of the Lotus. The Asura has disappeared. She is seen sometimes seated on the lion, sometimes standing without it. The four hands are the four Vargas, viz., Dharma (law), Artha (physical enjoyment), Kâma and Moksha. The Mother is the giver of Light, Life and Wisdom, she is yellow or orange, while the Asura is dark green with a red cloth on his loins. The Goddess is always represented as three-eyed.
What impresses us so much as the things which the senses take cognizance of? Here the senses themselves have been made to serve the higher purpose of life. Is there a Hindu so brutalized as not to be deeply moved when he contemplates all that the Divine Image means? Is he a Hindu and does not feel moved when with a still heart he pronounces the magic word Mother?
Let the West talk of its respect for women, its female liberty and the rest; it has no conception of our deep feeling for our mothers, feeling which is too deep for words.
Says the sage Chanakya: – “He only can be called learned who regards others’ wives as mothers, others’ wealth as mere pebbles, and all Jivas (lives) as Atmâ or his own Self”. Does not this far outshine the precept “Do to others,” &c.?
The temples are now deserted, the idols not worshipped, the descendants of the worshippers, the priests, now eke out a miserable living by serving generally, at Rs. 10 to Rs. 25 per month, with hard treatment and abuse from their hard-hearted superiors; the miseries of the Hindu race have certainly reached the highest limit.
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(1) That which is called Tat (the word can neither be pronounced nor translated in the English language) has three aspects; to the Jnanis (Wise) it appears as Brahma (neuter), to the Yogis as Atmâ, and to the Bhaktas as Bhagavan.[1]
(2) The Waves of Sristi (creation) and Pralaya (dissolution) are eternal and their duration equal.
(3) This Bhagavan is Eternal and is the Lord of all. He has a body composed of – not matter, or even its potential condition, but – of Suddha Sattva (literally Pure Be-ness). He can be sensed by those that are advanced enough.
(4) During Cosmic Pralaya he sleeps a particular kind of sleep called Yoga-nidra, and awakens at the dawn of creation.[2]
(5) Then from the left side of Bhagavan or Sri Krishna issues a female of transcendental beauty, his eternal consort, called Radha or Adya Sakti or Mula Prakriti.
(6) From Bhagavan issue three males called Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahmâ (male); from Radha four females, called Durga, Maha Lakshmi or Sri, Savitri, and Sarasvati or Vâch.[3]
(7) Then the original two embrace each other, during which drops of sweat fall from the Mother, which become an ocean, the ocean of undifferentiated cosmic matter.
(8) The result of the union is an Egg, which the Mother drops into the ocean; within the Egg is born Maha Vishnu, the Son.[4]
(9) Maha Vishnu floats on the surface of the ocean of matter, his body is divided into Seven Lokas – the highest, the head, is Satyaloka, the abode of Brahmâ; the lowest is Bhuh or the physical world.
(10) In every pore of his skin is a world, or rather an egg containing a system of worlds. This Maha Vishnu divides himself, or more properly, is reflected into the now differentiated matter, and becomes Jiva.
(11) The Jivas are divided into two kinds; those under the control of Mâya, called Baddha, and those that are not, called Mukta.
(12) The Lord has three chief Saktis or potentialities, viz., Chit, Jiva, and Mâya, or Para, Kshetrajna and Apara.[5]
(13) Every system of worlds has its own Brahmâ, the creator; Vishnu, 413the preserver; and Rudra, the destroyer; and the number of faces of Brahmâ, the creator, is determined by the number of the worlds he has control over (the slokams are somewhat obscure here), our Brahmâ has only four faces, and is rather low in dignity.
(14) The Supreme Lord resides in a Loka, which is above the Seven Lokas, the uppermost of which is Satya. This Loka is called Go-loka or the Abode of the Word. This is the tenth, the two lower are Vaikuntha and Kailasha. The three are all above the Seven Lokas, and are all eternal; but during Cosmic Pralaya Vaikuntha and Kailasha remain empty and Sri Krishna alone sleeps the dreamless sleep of Yoga-nidra in Go-loka.
And the Teacher said to his disciple: –
“I will illustrate my meaning by a parable: –
Once upon a time there lived a man who was very poor. His father had died in a strange land and could not tell him (his son) about his treasure. And the treasure lay hidden in the residence of the son. Then there came a Sarvagna (one who knows all about everything, an astrologer), who told the poor man, ‘Why are you so wretched, you have got treasure left by your father?’
Then the Sarvagna told the man how to get at the treasure; he said:
‘The treasure is in this spot,’ and pointed out the place to the poor man.
Then said the Sarvagna: – ‘Do not dig at the Southern side; the hornets and wasps will rise and you will not get at the treasure. Do not dig also at the Western side, there is a Yaksha (monster), who would prevent your getting at the treasure. Do not dig on the North side either, there is a large black serpent who would, if you disturb him, devour you, and you would not get at the treasure. Dig, therefore, on the East side, you will find the treasure after a few inches of earth.’”
That treasure is the treasure of Love of Sri Krishna, the Paramâtma. The instructions of the Sarvagna are the teachings of the Vedas and the Puranas, by following which one may get (or be one with) Sri Krishna, and the Jiva is the poor man who was (or imagined himself) poor because he knew not that he had treasure. The East side here represents our attachment to family, and the wasps and hornets – our children and relatives. It pictures the difficulties of a man of Karma to liberate himself. The Yaksha on the West is perhaps the bewildering metaphysics born of Ignorance which we mistake for Gnânam. The Path of Gnânam is very difficult, on account of continued obstructions from this Yaksha who guards the treasure on that side. On the North side lies that Black Serpent, our Lower Self, who is continually devouring those that try to enter Yoga Marga, the Path of Yoga. (Vide The Voice of the Silence, page 46.) 414The only easy path for the weak is the Path of Bhakti, the Path of Devotion and Love, which purifies our lower nature and concentrates all our energies towards the Supreme Soul or Paramâtma.
The following, from the Theosophist for August, 1886, may interest my readers in this connection: –
“A love for it (occult study) should be made to spring up like the love of an artist for his art. This kind of glowing affection for a higher spiritual life is the firmest basis on which a neophyte can take his stand.”
The parable is taken from one of the Shastras of the Vaishnâva Sect of Bengal, who are not favourably disposed towards caste rules, and who make Bhakti Yoga the greatest of all means for spiritual progress. They do not want Mukti, and hold it inferior to serving and loving Sri Krishna, whom they call Paramâtma, and Radha, the Light of the Logos, the Para of the Gita.[6]
The highest aim of these Vaishnâvas is to retain their full consciousness while remaining near Sri Krishna and Radha, loving and serving them, while loved by them in return. And the greatest sin which a Vaishnâva can commit is to injure in any way another Vaishnâva.
Berhampur, Bengal.
500
Death, it seems to me, has a close connexion with our sexual instinct. I will try to show how Kâma Deva, the god of Kâma, has many names, such as Mâra, Makâra Katu, Pancha Vâna, Madana, &c.
Now Mâra may also mean the Killer (from Mri, to die). Makâra Ketu means one having the sign of Makâra, the five-handed or the Pentagon. It is a curious fact that the Prânayâma Yogis use the Pentagon enclosed in a circle as their symbol. Pancha Vâna means one with the five arrows, the chief arrow being named Marana (causing death). Madana is from Mada. Mada is composed of two letters Ma and Da, and means that which intoxicates; it is the opposite of Dama (composed of Da and Ma); Dama is a Yoganga (limb of Yoga) and means restraining the senses, celibacy being its essential part.
In astrology the same house is assigned to the Planet of Love and the Planet that kills.
It is said in our Shastras that the Kumâras never die.[7]
All Tapas (self-sacrificing effort for spiritual progress, the principal object aimed at being liberation from birth, disease, decay and death), our Shastras say, is based on Brahmacharya or celibacy, as Dharma on Daya (doing good, or goodwill to all living creatures).
On the subject of “How to Escape Death”, our Shastras are clear and almost the same in all (at least those that I have read). Jiva means our Ego; Jivanam (Life) is derived from Jiva. Chit means Consciousness; Chatanâ means life. The meaning is clear; in order to escape from death we must transfer our consciousness from our life to our Ego, or in other words, we must learn and practise, while still in this life, to live as pure Egos, so that the Seer may exist in his own real Self as Patanjali says. If we can but withdraw at will our Ahankâram (feeling of “I”) from our body to our Inner Self, we will never feel the pangs of death.
The occult practices of Prânayâma Yogis are said to prolong Prâna, or life, much beyond its ordinary term, they taking advantage of this long time to proceed on the Path of spiritual progress.
The secret of conquering death was known to our Aryan Adepts long ago, who were initiated into such mysteries by Higher Beings, such as the Incarnations of Vishnu or Shiva.
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The first Incarnated Teacher, it is said, was Yagna (meaning Sacrifice), an Incarnation of Vishnu.
It was forbidden to reveal the teachings to any unless they were asked for directly, exceptions being only made in the case of sons and disciples. In other cases the teacher must appear as if he is completely ignorant of what he actually knows.
Of those that enquire, no hope of any change for the better is to be expected from (1) the proud, (2) the sorrowful, (3) the unreflecting, and (4) the ungrateful.
These proverbs are composed of sweet sounding words arranged in metre, the ends rhyming. Most of them have accents on every alternate syllable. They are sometimes sung to the tune of a one-stringed harp, called Ektârâ.
1. “Hari, like light in flint, is in every one; it is the steel of the Guru of Wisdom (Gnânam) which draws Him out.”
2. “How can Bhakti[8] be found in this world when three words make every one roll over, viz., Dumri (a small piece of copper coin, meaning money), Chamri (skin, meaning beauty), and Pat (belly, meaning food and drink.”
3. “There are five jewels – the best in this world – viz., the company of a pious man, Hari Kathâ[9], kindness, humility, and doing good to others.”
4. “When the Elephant goes out, a thousand dogs begin to bark; the devotees need not be anxious because the world speaks ill of them.”[10]
5. “If truth is told, one is struck, while lies charm the world. Milk is carried from door to door, while spirit is sold sitting in one place. The thief is liberated while the innocent is bound (kept in bondage) and poor travellers are hanged. These are thy glory, O Kali Yuga! I feel sorrow, but smile too at the same time.”
6. “The milk of the cow goes to feed the dog, while her own calf remains hungry. The wife’s brother is fed sumptuously, while the father remains hungry. His own wife does not get a man’s love, while the maidservant steals his heart. These are thy glory, O Kali Yuga! I feel sorrow, but smile too at the same time.”[11]
7. “Why art thou lying down? Rise and be devoted to Hari; the day is coming when thou shalt have to lie down at full length for a long time.”
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8. “My Father is nirguna, my Mother is saguna. Whom to praise, whom not to praise? The balance is heavy on both sides.”[12]
9. “Every one remembers while in affliction; none remember while in comfort; should a man remember while in comfort, affliction would never come.”[13]
There are several other similar to the above; the authors of many of these are Dadu, Tulsi Das and other devotees. The couplets are easily remembered, and have in many instances a deep significance. I have selected them at random, not knowing whether they would be appreciated by the West. Among us Hindus they are held in great esteem by the high as well as the low.
Every individual, as well as every nation, has a Mantra or root word peculiar to his or its life and growth; that word stamps the whole individual life and Karma with its distinguishing mark, and all manners and customs, all usages, all prevailing ideas, unless very transient or forced from outside, cannot be rightly understood and appreciated unless we come to know and understand the import of this Mantric word, this basic colour of the mosaic work, this key-note to the tune. The Mantra of Madame Blavatsky’s life may be said to be Yagna or Sacrifice, that of the writer Struggle, that of the English Mon Droit, that of the U.S. Americans Advance, and lastly, that of the ancient Hindu nation – Svadharma, meaning the Law or Religion peculiarly its own. If any one wishes to examine and judge of our ancient customs without taking into his consideration our Svadharma, he would surely fail, like many of his most fair-minded predecessors, to understand rightly and justly our present national life and that of bye-gone days.
Sutteeism is regarded, and rightly regarded, by every enlightened European as a barbarous and inhuman practice which every Hindu ought to be ashamed of. But the fact is that no Hindu, unless he is only so in name, while in fact he is a renegade, regards Sutteeism in the same light as do the foreigners. I do not speak of the abuse of the practice (what has not its abuse peculiar to it?), but of real Sutteeism prevalent in India, as still to be found in the Mahâbhâratam and the Purânas.
Only about half a century ago, Lieut.-Col. W. H. Sleeman, of the Bengal Army, was an eye-witness to a suttee; he thus describes the event. I quote his own words: –
“On Tuesday, 24th November, 1829, I had an application from the heads of the most respectable and most extensive family of Brahmans in the District, to suffer this old widow to burn herself with the remains of
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her husband, Omed Sing Oppuddea, who had that morning died upon the banks of the Nerbudda. I threatened to enforce my order, and punish severely any man who assisted; and placed a police-guard for the purpose of seeing that no one did so. She remained sitting by the edge of the water without eating or drinking. The next day the body of her husband was burnt to ashes in a small pit of about 8ft. square, and 3 or 4ft. deep, before several thousand spectators who had assembled to see the suttee. All strangers dispersed before evening, as there seemed to be no prospect of my yielding to the urgent solicitations of her family, who dared not touch food until she had burned herself, or declared herself willing to return to them. Her sons, grandsons, and some other relations, remained with her, while the rest surrounded my house, the one urging me to allow her to burn, and the other urging her to desist. She remained sitting upon a bare rock in the bed of the Nerbudda, refusing every kind of sustenance, and exposed to the intense heat of the sun by day, and the severe cold of the night, with only a thin sheet thrown over her shoulders. On Thursday, to cut off all hope of her being moved from her purpose, she put on the Dhujja, or coarse red turban, and broke her bracelets in pieces, by which she became dead in law, and for ever excluded from caste. Should she choose to live after this she could never return to her family. Her children and grandchildren were still with her, but all their entreaties were unavailing; and I became satisfied that she would starve herself to death if not allowed to burn, by which the family would be disgraced, her miseries prolonged, and I myself rendered liable to be charged with a wanton abuse of authority.
“On Saturday the 28th, in the morning, I rode out ten miles to the spot, and found the poor old widow sitting with the dhujja round her head, a brass plate before her with undressed rice and flowers, and a cocoa-nut in each hand. She talked very collectedly, telling me that ‘she had determined to mix her ashes with those of her departed husband, and should patiently wait my permission to do so, assured that God would enable her to sustain life till that was given, though she dared not eat or drink.’ Looking at the sun then rising before her over a long and beautiful reach of the Nerbudda river, she said calmly, ‘My soul has been for five days with my husband's near that sun – nothing but my earthly frame is left; and this I know you will in time suffer to be mixed with the ashes of his in yonder pit, because it is not in your nature or your usage to wantonly prolong the misery of a poor old woman.’ ‘Indeed it is not, my object and my duty is to save and preserve them; and I am come to dissuade you from this idle purpose, to urge you to live, and to keep your family from the disgrace of being thought your murderers.’ ‘I am not afraid of their ever being so thought; they have all, like good children, done everything in their power to induce me to live among them; and if I had done so, I know they would have loved and honoured me; but my duties to them have now ended; I commit them all to your care and I go to attend my husband, Omed Sing Oppuddea, with whose ashes on the funeral pile mine have been already three times mixed.’
“This was the first time in her long life that she had ever pronounced the name of her husband, for in India no woman, high or low, ever pronounces the name of her husband.
“When the old lady named her husband, as she did with strong emphasis, and in a very deliberate manner, every one present was satisfied that she had resolved to die. ‘I have’, she continued, ‘tasted largely of the bounty of Government, having been maintained by it with all my large family in ease and comfort upon our rent-free lands; and I feel assured that my children will not be suffered to want; but with them I have nothing more to do, our intercourse and communion here end. My soul is with Omed Sing Oppuddea and my ashes must here mix with his.’ Again
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looking to the sun, ‘I see them together’, said she, with a tone and countenance that affected me a good deal, ‘under the bridal canopy!’
“I tried to work upon her pride and her fears. I told her that it was probable that the rent-free lands by which her family had been so long supported might be resumed by the Government, as a mark of its displeasure against the children for not dissuading her from the sacrifice; that the temples over her ancestors upon the bank might be levelled with the ground, in order to prevent their operating to induce others to make similar sacrifices; and lastly, that not one single brick or stone would ever mark the place where she died, if she persisted in her resolution. But if she consented to live, a splendid habitation should be built for her among these temples, a handsome provision assigned for her support out of these rent-free lands, her children should come daily to visit her, and I should frequently do the same. She smiled, but held out her arm, and said, ‘My pulse has long ceased to beat – my spirit has departed – and I have nothing left but a little earth that I wish to mix with the ashes of my husband – I shall suffer nothing in burning; and if you wish proof, order some fire and you shall see this arm consumed without giving me any pain’. I did not attempt to feel her pulse, but some of my people did, and declared that it had ceased to be perceptible.
“Satisfied myself that it would be unavailing to save her life, I sent for all the principal members of the family, and consented that she should be suffered to burn herself, if they would enter into engagements that no other member of their family should ever do the same. This they all agreed to, and the papers having been drawn out in due form, about mid-day, I sent down notice to the old lady, who seemed extremely pleased and thankful. The ceremonies of bathing were gone through before three, while the wood and other combustible materials for a strong fire were collected, and put into a pit. After bathing she called for a pawn (betel leaf) and ate it, then rose up, and with one arm on the shoulder of her eldest son and the other on that of her nephew, approached the fire. I had sentries placed all round, and no other person was allowed to approach within five paces. As she rose up, fire was set to the pile, and it was instantly in a blaze. The distance was about 150 yards; she came on with calm and cheerful countenance, stopped once and casting her eyes upward said: ‘Why have they kept me five days from thee, my husband.’ On coming to the sentries her supporters stopped – she walked once round the pit, paused a moment, and while muttering a prayer threw some flowers into the fire. She then walked up deliberately and steadily to the brink, stepped into the centre of the flame, sat down, and leaning back in the midst as if reposing upon a couch, was consumed without uttering a shriek or betraying one sign of agony.”
Thus ended the life of one of the jewels of Hindu females about whom our poets love to sing. India, the cradle of spiritual love and devotion, has witnessed many such scenes of her heroic daughters, nor can anything that may be said and done by the civilized West weigh much with a true Hindu in lessening his high regard for the Hindu ladies and the custom of Suttee.
Say the Vedas – the spirit after being freed at death from its body, is taken first to the Adityas (the spirit of the sun) and then to the other planets in succession. The Pretadeha (Kama Rupa) is formed gradually and is complete on about the tenth day (perhaps this is the case with the ordinary death of a Brahmin).
The lady, says the author, lived without food or drink for the five days intervening; such facts, however, are still not uncommon in India.
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Our Shastras sanction the practice and absolve the Suttee from the sin of suicide, which is very great in other cases. No one, except a wife, is allowed to die an unnatural death for the sake of another dead, and the next best thing which a Hindu widow should do is to live the life of Brahmacharya i.e., celibacy (with some ascetic observances for subduing the flesh). Now a nation, everything about which hangs on mon droit, may think it monstrous and cruel not to re-marry our widows; not so, however, with a nation with Svadharma for its Mantra. It is very easy for a Hindu to forget his own national Mantra and adopt another far easier to him; but it is very difficult for one not a born Hindu to adopt the Svadharma in one birth; just as horses, as said the Hindu prime minister of Akbar to his illustrious master, may easily become like asses, but asses never horses.
I do not, however, speak this in disparagement of other nations; it would be presumptuous and ridiculous, in these degenerate days of ours, to boast of our fancied superiority over other nations; I am only comparing the different Mantric words to which each nation tries to live up.
The Hindu Trinity are named Brahmâ (male), Vishnu and Shiva; they all emanated from One, named differently in different books (the Shastras). Brahmâ represents Kriya Sakti; Vishnu, Ichha Sakti; and Shiva, Jnâna Sakti in Nature (Kriya = Motion; Ichha = Will; Jnâna = Divine Wisdom). They also correspond respectively to the three Margams or Paths, viz., Karma, Upâsana or Bhakti, and Jnânam, represented by the Limbs, the Heart, and the Head of man. These Margas are, however, like the legs of a stool and one cannot succeed by exclusively following one of the three.
Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnâna Yoga are more or less dependent on one another and cannot be entirely separated. Karma has two aspects, Pravritti and Nivritti, represented by the two sets of Saptarshis – both sons of Brahma. Vishnu incarnated as Nara Narâyana, being born of Dharma (Divine Law) and Murti (Figure or Image). Subsequently Nara separated from Narâyana and became our present Humanity. One of the names of Arjuna is Nara, as may be seen in Subba Row’s discourses on the Gîtâ, and Narâyana is but another name of Sri Krishna. The final union of Nara with Narâyana, after the wanderings and sufferings of the former, is mentioned in Srimat Bhagvatam in the allegory called the story of Puranjana (the producer of bodies).
The name of Durga, the consort of Shiva, means the Path of Suffering; she is the female aspect of Jnâna Sakti, the Power of Wisdom. She is Haimavati, golden coloured, while Kali, who issued from her body, is dark blue. As for the colours of the other deities, Brahmâ is blood red; Vishnu, indigo and golden; Shiva, pure white and very bright.
Brahmâ’s wife is named Savittri, and represents Mantra Sakti, or the Power residing in Mantras. Vishnu's wives are two: Sri (beauty and 506dignity and happiness), and Sarasvati (Vâch, the power of words and language).
The two principal killers of giants are Vishnu and Durga; that means that in order to overcome passions and temptations a man must follow either Bhakti Marga in its male aspect (without desire for beauty, dignity, or happiness), or Jnâna Marga in its female aspect. Durga lies in every man in deep sleep as a serpent with three-and-a-half coils, and is named Kundalini. In her progress upward when roused, she becomes Kama Kala, and last of all Chit Kala; the mysteries connected with this peculiar Sadhana are never revealed in full to any but the accepted chelas; outsiders only being supplied with symbolical substitutes often differing from one another.
Vishnu also holds this world in space as Ananta the Endless, and is represented in our Purânas as the Hydra with a thousand heads. The whole Kosmos floats like an egg in the waters of Kârana or Cause.
Both Shiva and Vishnu are eternal, merely merging themselves in the One during cosmic Pralaya, while a Brahmâ is born and dies during every cosmic manifestation. It is also said that a progressed entity of a previous creation can, if found worthy of it, become a Brahmâ, the creator of the following creation.
Rudra, the destroyer, must not be confounded with Shiva. Rudra was born from Brahmâ the creator, and is Nilalohita or violet in colour. The Rudras are Eleven and are named differently. Shiva or Shankara, however, presides over them, as Vishnu over the Âdityas or suns, and Brahmâ over the ten Prajâpatis or the Lords of Creation.
Berhampur.
210
The primary cosmic forces or Saktis are three, viz: – Ichhâ Sakti (coloured indigo), Kriyâ Sakti (coloured blood-red), and Jnâna Sakti (coloured yellow). The Indriyas are the manifestations, on the physical plane, of the Saktis. The Manas represents Ichhâ Sakti, and presides over two sets of five Saktis – Kriyâ and Jnânam – called the Karma-Indriyas and the Jnâna-Indriyas. The Indriyas are the medium between the Jnâta or the knower and the Jnaya or that which is to be known. It is for this reason that Manas is sometimes called the sixth, sometimes the eleventh, of the Indriyas. The Jnâna-Indriyas are five; they are the five powers – Saktis – of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling. The principal organs of these powers are the eyes, the ears, &c., called Golokas. The Karma-Indriyas are also five; they are the five powers of moving external objects, moving one’s own body, assimilating and consuming external things internally; expelling internal things, and generating life. They are represented by the hands, the feet, &c. Manas being the king of these Indriyas directs and controls them. Manas has four divisions, viz.: Manas proper, Chittam, Buddhi, and Ahamkâram. Thus the Indriyas are fourteen in all.
Each of these Indriyas has a certain presiding Deva; which means that they are each of them correlated to certain occult forces in nature; they are all named in our Shâstras, but to name them would be useless here.
Manas is called in our Shâstras – Chit-Jada-Granthi, the knot of spirit and matter, for it is through Manas that the Purusha is bound to Prakriti; and the way to liberation lies through purifying our Manas and then bringing it under our control. Here the first mistake, the first difficulty, is identifying ourselves with this Manas, which is but an Indriya after all.
The ten Indriyas can, and often do, act without the assistance or instrumentality of the Golokas and the organs, and our Shâstras say that a developed power even to generate life can do so by mere touch.
The ten Indriyas have Sukshma or subtle counterparts which act on that Sukshma plane; they are termed Divya to distinguish them from the Parthiva or gross Indriyas; the former are naturally developed in some, while in others this can only be done by training. Their forced development, without bettering our nature, is often followed by misfortune, insanity and death. Such cases are common in India.
Another mistake often made is to try to control the Manas while the lower Indriyas are powerful and the Manas still unpurified. A better and 211 far easier process would be to begin with the lower Indriyas and purify the Manas before what is called concentration or Dhyâna. “Self-purification”, says the Master, “is not the work of a moment, or a number of years, but a series of lives.”
Much misconception prevails among not only the Europeans and Americans, but among many educated Indians as well, about the origin of the Goddess Kali. The “Orientalists” – at least some of them – do not think the goddess of Hindu origin, while students of Occultism have always thought fit to associate her name with the Black Art. Now Kali, like every other occult force in nature, can be directed for selfish and unworthy ends, but that is no reason why her name should be associated with Black Magic. Black Magic does not consist in the worship of any particular deity but in the motive of such worship, and, in a minor degree, in the difference in the modes of such worship. Then again in many cases the Image or Idol only serves as a medium for attracting and concentrating some malefic force in nature, connected with the life current of the Upâsaka, for the time being, by an occult process called Bhuta Shuddhi. Of course for the purposes of Black Magic the Image is often that of Kali, but other images may be found, such as that of a black or ash-coloured Bala Gopâla, of a Hanumâna (the monkey god) or of a serpent.
Kali is the first of the ten rays of Durga (the Path of Woe), the three- eyed yellow-coloured goddess called also Haimavatî (the Golden), the consort of Shiva. Kali issued forth from the forehead (the exoteric locality of the sixth Chakram) of Shiva, coloured indigo on account of having had to pass through Garala, the Eternal Poison, situated within the thorax (? the space inside the neck) of her Lord. Once on a time, says a Purâna, the Devas being hard pressed by the Asuras, who could only be killed by a woman, went to Shiva for relief; then Durga, who was sitting with her Lord, on his left thigh, took compassion on them and immediately duplicated herself in the manner described. Now I hope Western students of Occultism will understand what the allegory means; for I cannot be plainer.
In Man, Kali is the symbol of the first Initiation when the now highly active Soul sees herself naked, her Lord lying prostrate before her, apparently passive, motionless. Her enemies strong, dreadful and innumerable, are all slain, but she still holds the weapons of offence and defence in two of her hands, while the other two (she has four hands) are directed to protect and help her votaries – those still struggling on.
As a Sakta I shall always pray to our benign Mother Kali, as I most sincerely and devoutly do now, to protect, assist and guide us, but I hope my kind readers will not suspect me of being a Black Magician.
“Within the occult circle all men are (to be considered as) the best of Brahmins”, says a Tantra, “but not outside it”.
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Barakar is a small station, the terminus of the Barakar Branch of the East Indian Railway. It abounds in coal fields and mines, almost all of which are owned and managed by “Bengali Babus”, so worthless in the eyes of their English rulers. About four miles from Barakar, in an uninhabited part, is the famous shrine of Kalyaneswari. It is built of stone and is situated on a rock by the side of a small rivulet that murmurs past in its stony bed.
About a week ago I paid a visit to the shrine. I found there a venerable looking Brahmâchari who is, as he told me, 145 years old. He has seen the great-grandfather of the present Maharaja of Jeypur. His hair is snowy white, but he is still strong, has not lost a single tooth, and can read without spectacles. His eyes are sunken and small but very piercing; they seem to read your soul when he looks at you. He was very kind to me, very glad to see me, and began to talk like an old acquaintance. He has got all the slokas of the Gîtâ with the Bhâshya of Sri Sankarâchârya by heart. He is a great Sakta and does not take fish, eggs or meat, or anything that intoxicates. I heard from him the following story during his short stay at the shrine, for he went away soon after my going there, though not without obliging me to partake of his hospitality, his frugal fare.
The legend of Kalyaneswari: – Raja Bullal Sen, the powerful Vaidya King of Bengal, once paid a visit to Kâmarupa and worshipped the Devi Kâmakhya. The Devi was pleased with his devotion, and became visible to him in her own Divya rûpa (heavenly body). The Devi asked the King what he wanted, and he replied that he wished for nothing but some token of her grace, her own image. Then from the heart of Kâmakhya Devi was produced a bright image enclosed in a golden Kouta (a covered cup). The Devi told the Raja never to allow the precious thing to pass from him and never to show the image to anybody else, as it would cause instant death to others presuming to see it. The Raja returned to his own kingdom, placed the Kouta in the inner apartment of his palace and there worshipped it daily. Gradually the secret of the image became known to the members of his family.
The Raja had a daughter born of his Krishna Paksha wife (a wife not married according to the prescribed religious ceremonies; such queens were frequently of low caste, sometimes of different religion). This daughter was very beautiful and young; the fame of her beauty spread far and wide, and came to the notice of the Prince of Panchkote, who came to Bullal and sued for the hand of the princess. The king was very glad to find such a good husband for his Krishna Paksha (literally – black-phase) daughter, and the marriage was celebrated with great pomp. The Raja was so pleased with his new son-in-law that he offered him two lacs of rupees as dowry.
213 The prince consulted with his bride and demanded something that could not be found in the two kingdoms. The Raja wanted to know what it was, and was told that it was no less than the Kouta with the image. The next day the princess returned to her father saying that her husband had driven her from his residence. At dead of night the princess took the Kouta from the place where it was kept, hid it in her bosom and came out of the palace. The guards knew her and allowed her to go out. She joined her husband, who was waiting for her, and the two mounted a powerful horse which the prince had brought with him, and abandoning everything else fled. On the third day the prince arrived at the confines of his own kingdom, which was then at Beerbhoun. He had a governor there with whose assistance he put to flight the body of cavalry sent to capture him. Bullal then collected a large army and marched to Beerbhoun. The prince also had his army brought from Panchkote. At a place still called Sen Pahari (the hill of the Sen) a battle was fought between Bullal Sen and his son-in-law, in which the latter was victorious. After the event the prince endeavoured to carry the Kouta towards Panchkote. The Devi, however, refused to enter the fort, and fixed her abode at Sobhampur, having a certain pious Brahmin of the place as her priest. The family of the priest became thenceforward known as Devgharia (having a god at hand); shortly after the goddess became disgusted with Sobhampur on account of the incessant noise of the husking machine, and was removed to the lonely place she is now in. The Kouta however is no longer to be seen, and the Devi has turned her back towards the temple door, on account, it is said, of the drunkenness of the descendants of her priest.
417
It was a little more than five thousand years ago, just before the great war of Kuru Kshetra, that the events I am trying to depict took place; the Pândavas, headed by their eldest, Yudhishthira, had completed their terms of exile and claimed their own share of the kingdom. The Kauravas, headed nominally by Dhritarâshtra but virtually by the eldest of his hundred sons, Duryodhana, were determined not to allow the Pândavas even the smallest quantity of land. The Pândavas and the Kauravas were cousins, and they both were the most powerful of the royal dynasties in India. Duryodhana then ruled the whole of India as the “Lord of Kings”. The weapons they knew the use of were (1) the common arrows, swords, mace, etc., (2) the arrows which would multiply by some occult process on their way, (3) the Agneyastras or weapons of fire, (4) the Mantra Astras or weapons made powerful by the Mantras, and (5) the Divya Astras or weapons received from higher beings. In addition to the above, some unscrupulous warriors, chiefly the Rakshasas and Daityas, the remnants of the Atlanteans, used Mâyâ or extended hallucination.
War had not yet been declared, and the Pândavas, though cruelly wronged and grossly insulted, tried their best to settle amicably: they would 418 be content, they said, to have only five villages as their own; but Duryodhana would never give his consent even to this. It was at this time that our Rishis came to Duryodhana one after another, to induce Duryodhana to avoid the war. Their instructions, their predictions, one after another, as they failed, form the most beautiful product of human spiritual insight and knowledge of the laws of nature. They have been mostly recorded in that most instructive book in the world, the Mahâbhârata. Five thousand years have passed and still India mourns the loss of her brave sons in that Grand War. India never could recover from the shock, the Masters retreated into holier regions, Kali Yuga set in with the death of Shrî Krishna, her sons degenerated, the Astras became gradually forgotten, black magic began to be practised on a large scale, and the sin had to be washed out by a process of purification, the intense agony and sufferings of which are known to India alone.
The incidents related in the Mahâbhârata have an allegorical meaning; Dhritarâshtra (the holder of the kingdom) is Manas; Duryodhana (difficult to fight with) is Kâma influencing and paralyzing Manas; Yudhisthira (firm in fight) is our spiritual devotion; Bhîma, the younger born of Vâyu, is our strength of purpose; Arjuna, born of Indra, the God of Âkâsha, should be recognised by a student of Occultism as –; Kuru Kshetra means the Plain of Action or Duty.
The “Preparation before the War”, as the fifth book is named, is our probationary period before we have completely roused our enemies; I would therefore recommend every probationer to read that Parvan (joint) of the Mahâbhârata, attentively.
The great sin of the war had fallen on India, the war was over, the Pândavas had won, the Kauravas were slain. The war was, however, ruinous to both parties; only three on the side of the Kauravas and seven of Pândavas survived; the hundred sons of Dhritarâshtra were all dead, and he himself shortly after went into exile and died.
The Pândavas reigned for some time, then they tried to cross the Himâlayas, in attempting which all of them, except their eldest, died.
The descendants of Shrî Krishna in the meantime had killed each other in a drunken brawl, and Shrî Krishna himself was killed by a hunter who mistook him for a deer.
Kali Yuga set in, the Rishis were more and more rarely seen, they had all retired to a particular spot, where Kali's influence could not be felt.
Darkness fell over India, the White Path (Shukla Mârga) became gradually forgotten and was replaced by the Black. The ancient civilization was gradually forgotten, the people sank into superstitious ignorance, the rulers were engaged in incessant civil wars, till they were swept away by the ruthless Mahomedans.
– –
419 I would not touch upon the reign of Vikramâditya or the rise and spread of Buddhism in India; my object is not to write a history, but to trace the causes which led to the Fall of India.
To me it appears that the national sin of the bloody war of Kuru Kshetra, and also the equally bloody war of extirpating the Bauddhas, have led to the present degraded condition of India; the only wonder is that she still lives.
As with a physical body, so with a nation, want of effort to sustain life, disunion among the members which all go their own way, the presence of vultures pouncing upon the body – all these are signs of approaching death.
On the other hand, India has suffered long and terribly – is still suffering; the Rishis have not wholly deserted her, there is still a spark of life left, and as long as there is life there is hope.
Is there any necessity why India should live? Yes; the necessity is in the fact that the wisdom and the teachings of the Great Adepts are still in the keeping of India, and the coming generations must be saved from crass materialism by such teachings, once again before the world.
Yudhisthira, the eldest of the Pândavas, was born of Dharma, Bhîma of Vâyu, and Arjuna (also named Nara or Ego, the friend of Nârâyana, the Logos) is born of Indra, the God of Âkâsha. The remaining two were twins. While remaining concealed in the kingdom of Virâta (meaning the manifested Cosmos), the twins served as the keepers of the cows and horses, Arjuna became sexless, Bhîma supplied food to all, and the eldest was the minister. The allegorical meaning is not now difficult to find. Their common wife was called Krishnâ, who, says a Purâna, became merged in the body of Shrî Krishna. There remains but another, the illegitimate child of their mother Kârna, the eternal enemy of Arjuna; he always sided with the Kauravas, who supported him.
“Yudhisthira is the great tree of Dharma,” says the Mahâbhârata, “while Duryodhana is the great tree of sin.”
(The five Pândavas are (1) Yudhisthira, (2) Bhîma, (3) Arjuna, (4) Nakula, and (5) Sahadeva.)
The life and Karma of a nation are somewhat similar to the life and Karma of a family of that nation; in Bengal hundreds of families have been ruined by disunion and disputes between brothers and cousins; the result is not only poverty but immorality, death of children, a degraded combination of narrow selfishness and want of intelligence; the descendants generally become lazy, ignorant, wanting in resources to support themselves, and at last die out.
Selfishness and wickedness may not be so ruinous to other nations, but they are ruinous to us Hindus. The cause is not far to seek; the civilization of the Hindus was based on Dharma, while the modern civilization of 420 Europe is based on Intellect. The European civilization has therefore to fear three things most of all: –
- The undue prevalence of materialistic views, resulting in the decay of Intellect.
- Increase of selfishness overpowering Intellect; the result would be an international war, in which all the nations would take part; some barbarian tribe would then overrun the exhausted countries, sweeping every vestige of civilization before it.
- Practice of black magic on an extensive scale, the germs of which have been planted by spiritualism and hypnotism. This is always too much for mother earth to bear, and she shakes off the biting insects from her body.
History repeats itself; the history of Râvana, the powerful King-Magician of the Fourth Race, of the Asuras “who built cities, palaces, iron roads, flying cows, impregnable forts, etc.”, and who could only be killed when they were persuaded to follow the materialistic doctrines of Brihaspati, and of the war of Kuru Kshetra, are to this day lessons for the West to learn and profit by. The imperishable records of our Wisdom Teachers may be disbelieved, rejected and scorned; not the less will they point out the danger, the treacherous bank where so many vessels have stranded and sunk to rise no more.
Were there no heroes on the soil of heroic Âryavarta when the foreigners conquered it? History distorted by foreigners, still answers no. It was want of power to organise, to make a combined effort, to present a bold united front; it was worse than all these, malice and treachery on India’s own soil, among India’s own sons, that resulted in her loss of political independence. The Devas show their displeasure by deranging our intellect, is the purport of a shloka once recited by a Pandit. The fall of India is not due to physical causes, as is erroneously supposed by many; nor is it due, as some wise men of the West say, to our having an abundance of food grains and edibles on account of the fertility of the soil. The innumerable stone temples of most beautiful workmanship, studded all over the country, the Caves of Ellora, the Causeway from India to Ceylon, the massive ancient stone buildings and Ghats, are not, cannot be, the sad remnants, after five thousand years, of the works of a nation which passed its time in idle thinking, and gradually fell into decay on account of very laziness. It could only be written by one who has never read, never heard, anything of our Shâstras.
Here is a short story. Not many miles from the place where I am now is a metalliferous mine; it was owned by an enterprising European; he could discover lumps of metal but no vein, sometimes he found the promise of a vein, but it ended abruptly; ornaments, long worn out by use, could be found on searching the huts of hill tribes in the vicinity, made of pure gold (the savages of course did not know that it was so valuable). The 421 proprietor at last brought some experts from Europe; they made a sifting enquiry and discovered that it was a rich gold mine, which must have been worked for hundreds of years. Was it the work of an ease-loving, slothful nation ?
In my boyhood, which was spent in the district of Hûgli, in Bengal, I was very fond of hearing stories, and my neighbours would often gladly oblige a sickly boy of shy retiring habits, who heard what they said “like one in Dhyâna”. The following is called “Yak Deva” (consecrating to a Yaksha, a class of elementals having affinity with metals). When a rich man wished to enjoy his treasure in his next incarnation or keep the same for a future descendant of his, he would fill a large vessel, usually of copper, but sometimes earthen, with coins, and then cover it up with a close-fitting lid. On the lid would be placed, among other things, a gold coin, red sandal-wood, burning incense, iron, and the blood of a newly-sacrificed animal with its corpse. Mantras would be chanted and the vessel silently laid in a deep hole at dead of night and covered with earth. Immediately after the ceremony the person should turn his back on the vessel and never again look at it. Thenceforth the treasure would be guarded by a Yaksha, whose visible form would be that of a huge poisonous snake, often that of a cobra. It is said that such snakes can never be charmed by Mantras. To a person discovering the treasure, if he were the right owner, the snake would be quite harmless and would simply glide out of sight, leaving him the possessor of the treasure. To another discovering the treasure by some magical ceremonies (for it cannot be discovered by another by any other means), the snake would hiss and show fight, and if killed and the treasure possessed, the wrongful owner would lose his children one by one and would at last die without a male descendant.
To the rightful owner, the Yaksha would appear in dream, give him the exact information as to the locality of the treasure, after which its duty ends; the Yaksha would then leave the treasure for ever.
When we find a man very wealthy but very avaricious, very fond of hoarding up his treasure, we say that he has been obsessed by a Yaksha and that his treasure belongs to the latter.
The following are called Yama, the first step of Yoga: –
- Ahimsa – Harmlessness. Def. – Regarding every being as one’s own self, and doing good to them.
- Satya – Truthfulness. Def. – Speaking out just as one has seen, heard, felt, and known – provided such would not injure others. No indelicate things should be given expression to, no bad things narrated of wise men or occultists, and no faults of others mentioned.
422
- Ashteya – Honesty. Def. – Nothing belonging to others should be taken without proper judgment, even in danger – either mentally, by mere word (such as in jest) or by act.
- Brahmachârya – Celibacy. Def. – Want of desire for sexual intercourse, mentally, by word or deed. The above is for vowed celibates only.
Definition of Kâma. – The pleasure which the senses, the heart and the mind (Lower Manas) derive when engaged in their own object.
The above are all taken from our Shâstras.
471
1. Nârâyana is beyond the Avyakta (the Unmanifested, or Potency of Matter);[14] the Egg is born of Avyakta; within the Egg are all these Lokas (that which can be sensed; Worlds) and the physical world composed of seven islands.
2. Then was born (or issued or came into existence) the Egg – golden and shining like lightning; in the Egg was born Brahmâ (male) the Grand Father (Generator of the Pitris) of all beings.
3. Mahesvara (the Supreme Lord) is beyond Avyakta; Avyakta gave birth to the egg, within the egg was born Purusha, resplendent as the Sun. In that egg are all these Lokas, the internal (occult or supersensuous) as well as external Cosmos.
4. He, Nârâyana, wishing (or contemplating) to create this Universe out of his body, first created Apah (the waters of Cause) and (then) let the seed fall in that water. Then was born the Great (Mahat) golden egg.
5. Vishnu has three Rûpas (aspects); the first evolves Mahat, the second is within the egg, the third is in every Bhûta (Being); one who knows this is liberated.
6. These Indriyas and Bhûtas were disunited and could not evolve any body; then they received Shakti (force) to do so and produced the Cosmic 472 Egg (Brahmanda). At first the egg was without Life (Consciousness) and floated on the waters; then That entering Kâla (Duration), Adrishta (Karma) and Svabhâva (Law), made it (the egg) living and issued forth from the egg as Paramâtmâ or Purusha with a thousand heads, thousand eyes, thousand arms, &c. These fourteen Bhuvanas have come out (have been formed out) of the limbs of the above Purusha (called elsewhere Virât or Mahâ Vishnu or Hiranyagarbha).
What Is Theosophy?
Theosophy is Brahmâ Jñânam', the Divine Knowledge, the Knowledge of the Macrocosm. Brahman (neuter) is from the Sanskrit root Brih, to expand, and means the Universe, Pervading Intelligence, the One Reality; every periodic manifestation being its veil or Mâyâ – the Great Illusion – which we in our ignorance, or avidyâ, mistake for the Reality. Brahmâ Jñânam' includes the knowledge of Brahmandam or Macrocosm, and Pindandam or Man. By man we mean corresponding beings of other worlds – corresponding in the manifestation of consciousness or Chaitanyam. Our Shâstras teach that there is a close connection between the Brahmandam (the Egg of Brahmâ) and Pindandam (the smaller Egg), so that by studying one we may know the other. We begin by studying the Universe, and come from universals to particulars.
Theosophy includes Brahmâ Vidyâ or White Magic. Black Magic is called Aparâ Vidyâ or Vâma Mârga (the Left Path) or – both Gupta Vidyâ or Rahasya, Occultism. Brahmâ Vidyâ means the knowledge of the Secret Laws governing the Universe and the âdhyâtmic or spiritual powers in man.
We hold that ordinary man must fit himself by a particular training in order to be able to understand what Theosophy is; but the broad outlines are for all. To appreciate even such outlines is often the result of previous good Karma. It is only Nishkâma Karma (good action without any selfish motive) that makes one lean towards Theosophy.
Man’s Avidyâ (Ignorance), an aspect of Mâyâ, can be dispelled in two ways: (1) by ages of sufferings, the result of experience, birth after birth, slowly as drops of water falling on a stone at last wear it out; or (2), by Jñânam (which includes true Bhakti) at once, as the light of the sun dispels darkness.
It is no wonder, therefore, that one cannot readily explain what Theosophy is; the seven Khandas of the Râmâyana, says a proverb, cannot be explained in one breath; nor can the elephant, says another proverb, be made to enter a thalee (a small earthen pot about four inches high); the Inquirer must study and think and live a pure life, communicate with those who are on the same path, and then the Grand Truth will begin to dawn upon his mind, gladden his whole heart, and though earthly calamities may darken his life, treachery and injustice sadden his soul, and his own failings 473 often stand in the way, he will bravely bear them all and bless the day when he first began to tread the Path in right earnest.
Often a spiritual seed thrown unheeded, without any expectation of good result, takes root and blossoms forth into a tree of Amrita; often a chance acquaintance for a few hours only gives us an opportunity to benefit others – this I know from my own experience as well as from that of some of my brother-workers; we are never discouraged by such “non-plussing”, we know our very efforts to purify the atmosphere make it easier for other thirsty souls to approach Theosophy; the darkness of Kâlî is dispelled for a moment from a certain place, and good results must follow.
The Eight Grahas.
In the Secret Doctrine, Vol. II., the Commentary on Sloka I. 2, runs thus: –
“The first (Race) is born under the Sun; the second under Brihaspati; the third under Lohitânga and Shukra; the fourth under Soma (the moon, as also our globe, the fourth sphere), and Shani, Saturn, the Krura-lochana (evil-eyed) and the Asita (the dark); the fifth under Budha.”
Now in our Hindu astrology there are eight Grahas or planets, the last having been cut into two by Vishnu, forms nine in total; they are –
1. Rabi or Sûrya, the Sun.
2. Soma, the Moon.
3. Mangala – Mars.
4. Budha – Mercury.
5. Brihaspati – Jupiter.
6. Shukra – Venus.
7. Shani – Saturn.
| 8 | 8. Râhu – the upper half. | |
| 9. Ketu – the lower half. |
A Sanskrit Shlokam thus describes Mangala or Mars: –
“Born from the womb of Dharanî, the earth, shining like clusters of electricity, a Kumâra (a virgin), with a Shakti (a kind of weapon) in hand, I bow down to Lohitânga.”
Lohitânga is from two words, “Lohita”, red (from Loha, the essence of iron), and “Anga”, body. The word means red-bodied.
Another Sanskrit Shlokam thus describes Venus or Shukra: –
“White as snow and Kantha (a kind of white flower), smooth as Momala the great Guru of the Daityas (Asuras), teacher and expounder of the Shâstras, I bow down to the Son of Bhrigu (one of the ten incarnating Rishis, some say of the seven).”
Then again, who is Asita the dark? In Hindu astrology it is Shani or Saturn, whose colour is described as dark blue; or it may mean Râhu, who is “Ghoram”, or dark and awful. 474 It may be noted here that Shani, Mangala and Râhu are the most evil planets of the lot, and a person born under the influence of any one of them is likely to suffer. The third and the fourth races suffered much in consequence.
Shani is called Krura-lochana, or evil-eyed, because he is said to possess the peculiar property of instantly causing the vanishing of what he sees. Even Ganesha, an incarnation of Vishnu and the son of Shiva, had to lose his head on account of a glance from Shani, who was unwisely requested by Pârvatî to see her newly-born child. Ganesha thenceforward had to content himself with an elephant’s head. This sounds like a fairy tale, but perhaps there is a deep occult truth lying hidden under such apparently absurd stories, and it is for those who want to know to discover such truths.
Students of Occultism.
The son of a Brâhman (so runs the story) was once sent by his father to his Guru to study Shrîmat Bhâgavata Purâna, soon after the ceremony of the sacred thread.[15] The boy was very intelligent, and returned to his father after a few years.
“Have you completed your study, my son?” asked the father.
“Yes,” replied the boy, with a satisfactory smile spreading over his face.
“No, you have not; go to your Guru again and request him to teach you again.”
The boy returned to his Guru, came back after a few more years.
“Have you completed your study of the Purana, my son?” again asked the father.
“Yes, father; this time I have studied the book with all the commentaries existing,” replied the son triumphantly.
“Not yet, my son; go to your Guru again and pray to be taught.”
The son again returned to his Guru and told him everything with a troubled face; the Guru smiled and began to unfold the Inner Meaning.
Long after the son, now a young man, returned to his father.
“Have you completed the book, my son?” asked the father for the third time.
The young man did not answer, but hung down his head in silence.
“I understand what you mean, my son,” said the father. with tears in his eyes, “you have now learnt completely the teachings contained in that book, and I am going to lose my son; I knew from the beginning it 475 would end thus, but I would not be a bar to your spiritual progress; choose your way.”
The son fell at his father’s feet and became a Sannyâsin.
The story has a deep meaning to every modern student of Occultism; the question is not want of instructions, as is often supposed, but our inability to profit by them. The first stage of study yields only superficial knowledge and vanity, the second deep learning and pride, the third the Occult meaning and melancholy, the fourth and last complete self-sacrifice and devotion to the pursuit.
Every one should examine himself critically (as he would examine others) and find out his own position; is he vain? then his knowledge must be superficial; is he proud? then it is only learning and not Occultism; for, says a Shloka: –
“As an ass burdened with the sandalwood can only feel the burden but not the fragrance, so, having read so many Shâstras, and not knowing the essence, he merely carries them like an ass.”
The real progress begins when we begin to profit by the teachings, and mould ourselves accordingly; the rest are only preparations for this.
Many fail by desiring to find out an easier path; a path suited to his taste, requiring less effort, less sacrifice, and so on: a Sâdhaka (Chelâ) sings thus: –
“The Path of Vikuntha (the Abode of Vishnu, meaning Bhakti Mârga, or the path of Love and Devotion) is very difficult to follow, while the path of Kailâsa (the Abode of Shiva, meaning Jñâna Mârga, or the path of Wisdom) has almost disappeared from view.”
Yes: and Mâra, with his downward attractions, leads many to its gaping mouth. My brothers, beware!
Footnotes
- ↑ Brahma (neuter) is from Brih, meaning greatness or expansion. Atmâ means Self as distinct from our personality. Bhagavan means the Supreme Lord with six transcendental qualities. Bhakti may be roughly translated as the Path of Devotion and Love. The Bhaktas are the followers of Bhakti.
- ↑ Compare this with the Secret Doctrine Vol. I, Sloka I. 8. – “Alone the one form of existence stretched boundless, infinite, ceaseless, in dreamless sleep.”
- ↑ The Seven are produced from both the Father and the Mother, for they are inseparable.
- ↑ Of course the Father energised the egg by a peculiar process called Viryadhanam. Compare this with the Secret Doctrine Vol. I, Sloka III. 3.
- ↑ Or Spirit, Soul and Body in the highest metaphysical sense.
- ↑ The philological meaning of Radha, from Ra and dha, is – The Way to Nirvâna.
- ↑ The Kumâras are entities who preserve absolute chastity. [Ed.]
- ↑ Bhakti has no equivalent word in English, the nearest approximate is Love in its higher and comprehensive signification.
- ↑ Hari is he who removes or takes away every kind of misery; the Logos or Paramâtma in one of its three aspects. Kathâ is word.
- ↑ The Elephant never minds the barking, and goes on unmoved in the same measured pace.
- ↑ The injustice and cruelty of feeding a dog at the expense of the calf would not be apparent, I think, to the Western reader. It is the first duty of a Hindu to feed his aged parents and respect them.
- ↑ The Father is Iswara, the Logos or Paramâtma. The Mother is Mahâmâyâ, the Light of the Logos, or Adyâ Sakti the Original Force, the transcendental origin of matter. The Gunas are three, viz., Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Nirguna – devoid of attributes; saguna – with attributes.
- ↑ Remember what? The name of Hari, the teachings of Guru, &c. For the word “remember” substitute “pray”, and the meaning would be of the orthodox Christian type.
- ↑ N.B. – Words within brackets are mine.
- ↑ This ceremony generally takes place between the tenth and the fourteenth year; it was our custom to send the boy soon after the ceremony to the house of a teacher, where he was fed, clothed, kept, taught and trained till he could complete his study; all this time the student had to observe certain ascetic rules, such as abstaining from sexual indulgence, avoiding animal food, taking meals in silence, &c. The young man had to return home after completing his study generally between the twenty-first and twenty-fourth years of his life; he had then the choice before him of either remaining a celibate for life or marrying.