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(April 1887)
Publications:
- The Path, vol. II, no. 1, April 1887, pp. 7-9
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DATA
Title for references: Wachtmeister C - A Perplexed Inquirer
Short description:
Signed "Countess Constance Wachtmeister, F. T. S." A letter to the editor questioning the consistency of T. Subba Row's treatment of the sevenfold and fourfold classifications of principles in man, citing his Five Years of Theosophy and his "Notes on the Bhagavad Gita."
7 To the Editor of The Path:
Having read an article in the February number of the Theosophist by our learned and esteemed brother, Mr. Subba Row, which puzzles me very much, I would fain try and draw the attention of that gentleman to my perplexed state of mind: begging him to explain what seems to many like inconsistencies and contradictions. This is the more important, as we now have Hindus in the West who are teaching the Vedanta and other Indian philosophies, giving them out as the true esoteric teachings, and the disciples of these gentlemen are hailing with delight and triumph an article coinciding with the (exoteric) philosophy of the Vedanta, which they are learning, though as shown in "Five Years of Theosophy, by Mr. Subba Row himself, the Vedantins teach five Koshas synthesized by Atma. (See "Vedantin Classification," p. 185, Septenary Principle in Hindu Systems.)
Mr. Subba Row in his "Notes on the Bhagavad Gita," p. 301, says: "Now as regards the number of principles and their relation between themselves, this sevenfold classification, which I do not mean to adopt, seems to me to be a very unscientific and misleading one." In "Five Years of Theosophy" I find an article by Mr. Subba Row in which he upholds the septenary division of principles in man in this wise (see p. 161): "Now these seven entities, which in their totality constitute man, are as follows. I shall enumerate them in the order adopted in the 'Fragments' as far as the two orders (the Brahmanical and the Tibetan) coincide." Again, he tells us that "the knowledge of the occult powers of Nature possessed by the inhabitants of the lost Atlantis was learned by the ancient adepts of India and was appended by them to the esoteric doctrine taught by the residents of the sacred island." Again, p.160, "Now according to the adepts of ancient Aryavarta, seven principles are evolved out of three primary entities. Algebra teaches us that the number of combinations of n things taken one at a time, two at a time, three at a time, and so forth, =2ⁿ−1. Applying this formula to the present case, the number of entities evolved from different combinations of these three primary causes amounts to 2³−1=8−1=7." Will Mr. Subba Row kindly explain what there is in these, his former statements, which is so "very unscientific and misleading?"
Particularly in the following passage he shows the important part which the number seven plays not only in the Microcosm, but in the Macrocosm, viz.: "I may mention in this connection that our philosophers have associated seven occult powers with the seven principles or entities
8 above mentioned. The seven occult powers in the microcosm correspond with, or are the counterparts of, the occult powers in the macrocosm. The mental and spiritual consciousness of the individual becomes the general consciousness of Brahman when the barrier of individuality is wholly removed, and when the seven powers in the microcosm are placed en rapport with the seven powers in the macrocosm."
In pondering over these apparent contradictions the only rational conclusion that I can arrive at is that though Mr. Subba Row accepts the septenary classification as being the esoteric and true one, relating as it does to Nature in all its different phases, he finds that for purposes of practical teaching it is preferable for untutored minds to give the condensed fourfold classification as specified in page 161, "Five Years of Theosophy," reserving the septenary division for the more advanced students? This is the only way in which I can account for the discrepancies in the teachings, and I find also that he himself says on page 301 (Febrary Theosophist) "and so, for all practical purposes—for the purpose of explaining the doctrines of religious philosophy—I have found it far more convenient to adhere to the fourfold classification than to adopt the septenary one and multiply principles in a manner more likely to introduce confusion than to throw light upon the subject."
Mr. Subba Row in his article on a Personal and Impersonal God in "Five Years of Theosophy" gives us again proof of the number seven being the leading factor in all principles of cosmogony. Thus on page 200 we read: "To the liberated spiritual monad of man or the Dhyan Chohans, every thing that is material in any condition of matter is an object of perception in seven different aspects. Further Pragna or the capacity of perception exists in seven different aspects corresponding to the seven conditions of matter." Again he says "the Arhat doctrine postulates the existence of cosmic matter in an undifferentiated condition throughout the infinite expanse of space. Space and time are but its aspects, and Purusha the seventh principle of the universe, has its latent life in this ocean of cosmic matter."
In the article entitled "The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac" by Mr. Subba Row (again in "Five Years of Theosophy") he tells us that there are six primary forces in nature and that these six forces are in their unity represented by the "Astral Light" which unifies them as the seventh as explained, in foot note, "the Astral Light in its unity is the 7th. Hence the seven principles diffused in every unity or the 6 and one—two triangles and a crown" (p. 111).
The esoteric teachings of the Theosophical Society have it seems to me been based on this septenary division from the first, and the various writings of Mme. Blavatsky were teeming with it, and one might easily fill a whole book with all the quotations on this subject as given in Theosophical litera-
9 ture. Apart from this we have only to look ourselves into nature and see the correspondences which can be derived therefrom:—our planetary system with the number seven, the seven colors of the rainbow, the seven days of the week or periods of creation even to the snow which falling on the ground shows invariably a 6 and a 7 pointed star.
As we have been taught to attach so much importance to this septenary division both in the Macrocosm as well as in the Microcosm, Mr. Subba Row's plain statement that he does not mean to adopt in future the seven-fold classification in man, compels me to ask him in all humility to explain why he intends making so radical a change, upsetting all his former teachings and theories. Is it as I suggest, that he divides his teachings into two classes, one for the outside world, and one for the students of occultism?
Countess Constance Wachtmeister, F. T. S.
Footnotes