HPB-SD(ed.1) v.1 p.3 sec.8: Difference between revisions

{{Style P-No indent|science which postulates that we cannot see and hear otherwise. The Occultists and mystics know better. The Vedic Aryans were as familiar with the mysteries of sound and colour as our physiologists are on the physical plane, but they had mastered the secrets of both on planes inaccessible to the materialist. They knew of a double set of senses ; spiritual and material. In a man who is deprived of one or more senses, the remaining become the more developed : ''e.g''., the blind man will recover his sight through the senses of touch, of hearing, etc., and he who is deaf will be able to hear through sight, by ''seeing audibly ''the words uttered by the lips and mouth of the speaker. But these are cases that belong to the world of matter still. The spiritual senses, those that act on a higher plane of consciousness are rejected ''a priori ''by physiology because the latter is ignorant of the sacred science. It limits the action of ether to vibrations, and, dividing it from air — though air is simply ''differentiated ''and compound ether — makes it assume functions to fit in with the special theories of the physiologist. But there is more real science in the teachings of the Upanishads when these are correctly understood, than the Orientalists, who do not understand them at all, are ready to admit. ''Mental as well as physical correlations of the seven senses ''(seven on the physical and seven on the mental planes) are clearly explained and defined in the Vedas, and especially in the Upanishad called Anugîtâ : “ The indestructible and the destructible, such is the double manifestation of the Self. Of these the indestructible is the existent (the true essence or nature of Self, the underlying principles). The manifestation as an individual (or entity) is called the destructible.” Thus speaks the Ascetic in Anugîtâ ; and also : “ Every one who is twice-born (initiated) knows such is the teaching of the ancients. . . . . Space is the first entity. Now Space (''Akâsa'', or the noumenon of Ether) has one quality . . . and that is sound only . . . and the qualities of sound are Shadga, Rishabha, Gândhâra, Madhyama, Panchama, and beyond these five Nishâda and Dhaivata ” ; (the Hindu gamut). These seven notes of the scale are the principles of sound. (''Vide ''ch. xxxvi. of ''Anugîtâ.'') The qualities of every Element, as of every sense, are septenary, and to judge and dogmatize on them from their manifestation (likewise sevenfold in itself) on the material or objective plane above is quite arbitrary. For it is only by the Self emancipating itself from these (seven) causes of illusion that one acquires the knowledge (secret wisdom) of the qualities of objects of sense on their dual plane of manifestation — the visible and the invisible. Thus it is said : —}}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> The division of the physical senses into five, comes to us from great antiquity. But while adopting the number, no modern philosopher has asked himself how these senses could exist, ''i.e.'', be perceived and used in a self-conscious way, unless there was the ''sixth ''sense, mental perception to register and record them&nbsp;; and (this for the Metaphysicians and Occultists) the Seventh to preserve the spiritual fruition and remembrance thereof, as in a Book of Life which belongs to Karma. The ancients divided the senses into five, simply because their teachers (the Initiates) stopped at the ''hearing'', as being that sense which developed in the ''physical plane ''(got dwarfed rather, limited to this plane) only at the beginning of the Fifth Race. (The Fourth Race already had begun to lose the ''spiritual ''condition, so pre-eminently developed in the Third Race.)

† The modern commentators, failing to comprehend the subtle meaning of the ancient Scholiasts, take this sentence, “&nbsp;causes of the agents,” to mean “&nbsp;that the powers of smelling, etc., when attributed to the Self, make him appear as an agent, as an active principle&nbsp;” (!), which is entirely fanciful. These “&nbsp;seven&nbsp;” are understood to be the causes of the Agents, because “&nbsp;the objects are causes, as their enjoyment causes an impression.” It means esoterically that they, these seven senses, ''are caused by the ''Agents, which are the “&nbsp;deities,” for what does, or can, the sentence which follows this one mean&nbsp;? “&nbsp;Thus,” it is said, “&nbsp;these seven (senses) are the causes of emancipation&nbsp;” (''i.e.'', when these causes are made ineffectual). “&nbsp;And among the learned (the wise Initiates) who understand the qualities ''which are in the position ''(in the nature, rather) ''of the deities'', each in its place,” means simply that the “&nbsp;learned&nbsp;” understand the nature of the ''noumenoi ''of the various phenomena&nbsp;; and that “&nbsp;qualities,” in this instance, mean the qualities of the high planetary or Elementary gods or Intelligences, which rule the elements and their ''products'', and not at all “&nbsp;the senses,” as the modern commentator thinks. For the “&nbsp;learned do not suppose their senses to have aught to do with them, any more than with their {{Style S-Small capitals|Self}}.” (''Vide ''pp. 278 and 279 of the VIII. Vol. of “&nbsp;The Sacred Books of the East.” ''Anugîtâ.'')

This is called nervous excitation, but no one, except Occultists, knows the reason of such nervous perturbation or explains the ''primary ''causes of it. The “&nbsp;principle of Life&nbsp;” may kill ''when too exuberant'', as also when there is too little of it. But this principle on the manifested (or our) plane is but the effect and the result of the ''intelligent action ''of the “&nbsp;Host&nbsp;”&nbsp;—&nbsp;collectively, Principle&nbsp;—&nbsp;the manifesting Life and Light. It is itself subordinate to, and emanates from the ever-invisible, eternal and Absolute One Life in a descending and a re-ascending scale of hierarchic degrees&nbsp;—&nbsp;a true septenary ladder, with Sound (or the Logos) at the upper end and the Vidyadharas&nbsp;* (the inferior Pitris) at the lower.