Path/Vol3/Text

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The Path

contents:	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
electronic edition:	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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!!! This text was extracted from an image and needs proofreading !!! Electronic journal edition: articles by authors with dictionary entries are linked to their separate pages; other materials are reproduced here in journal order. The texts in this draft are prepared directly from the 1888 scan, checked page by page against the page images — not taken from Project Gutenberg or any other electronic edition. No. 1 – April 1888 "Whatever one, worshipping with faith, desires to reverence any personage, I make that faith of his constant. Gifted with such faith, he seeks the propitiation of that personage, and from him receiveth the pleasant object of his desire, which in verity were directed by me alone. But the reward of these little-minded men is finite. They who sacrifice to the gods go to the gods. They who worship me come to me." Bhagavad-Gita, ch. 7 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. The Third Year W. Q. Judge, p. 1 The Tide of Life Charles Johnston (signed "Charles Johnston, F. T. S., Dublin, Ireland"), pp. 2-8 (Part I; annotated by H. P. Blavatsky) A Servant of the Masters W. Q. Judge, pp. 8-12 Partisanship in Theosophy Alexander Fullerton, pp. 12-16 Conversations on Occultism W. Q. Judge (unsigned), pp. 17-21 ("The Kali Yuga—The Present Age") Answers to Questioners W. Q. Judge (signed "Zadok" and "Hadji"), pp. 21-23 23 Literary Notes. REINCARNATION.—By E. D. Walker. A monograph upon one of the two basic truths of Theosophy is of incomputable value in the present era. And this is not an ephemeral essay, but a learned and carefully-analyzed treatise, opulent with facts, arguments, citations, and examples, delicate as to sentiment and glowing as to diction. Its chapters on Western Evidences, Objections, Authors, and Poets, on Reincarnation among the Ancients, in the Bible, in Early Christendom, in the East to-day, on Eastern Poetry, Transmigration through Animals, Death, Heaven and Hell, and Karma, show the range of its study. In an admirable explication of seven conclusive arguments for the doctrine, the author says, "Now that we know the evolution of the body, it is time that we learned the evolution of the soul," and "The fact of an intellectual and moral evolution proceeding hand-in-hand with the physical can only be explained under the economy of nature by a series of reincarnations." These sentences give the motif and this the outcome:— "We conclude, therefore, that reincarnation is necessitated by immortality, that analogy teaches it, that science upholds it, that the nature of the soul needs it, that many strange sensations support it, and that it alone grandly solves the problem of life." Profuse quotations prove that the Occult teaching is ancient, far-spread, philosophic, scientific, and not inconsonant with "orthodoxy." Indeed, the argument of Dr. Edward Beecher is shown anticipated in the dictum of Hierocles, "Without the doctrine of metempsychosis it is not possible to justify the ways of God." 24 The treatment of heredity (p. 58-59) is peculiarly excellent, as well as illustrative of Mr. Walker's extraordinary skill in compacting ideas into the fewest and best-chosen words. The whole book is rich thought, flowing melodiously along in the rhythmical beauty which no author attains who is not a musician in soul. Chapter XI, Esoteric Oriental Reincarnation, is a marvel of condensation and lucidity. The Introduction is so admirable that we should rejoice to see it adopted and circulated by Theosophists as a Tract. Upon this book we make two emphatic remarks. First, each Theosophical Society should at once add it to its Library, and each member read and absorb it. Second, we urge upon Mr. Walker the preparation of a twin volume upon Karma. This is sorely needed, and the man fit to furnish it has appeared. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., $1.50). THE GOLDEN RULES OF BUDDHISM.—Compiled from the Bana books by Col. Henry S. Olcott, P. T. S. Col. Olcott's compilation is intended for the moral instruction of Buddhist youth, and is so endorsed by Sumangala, the High Priest. It is a series of maxims under eight heads, "The true Buddhist Priest" having the largest number. These precepts are admirable, high-toned, healthy, and vigorous, with an occasional pithiness of illustration 25which fastens them to the memory as with a nail driven by the Masters of Assemblies. These are excellent: He who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real driver; other people are but holders of the reins. Hatred is never quenched by hatred; hatred ceases by showing love: this is an old rule. Kinsfolk, friends, and lovers salute a man who has been long away and returns from afar. In like manner his good works receive him who has done good and has gone from this world to the other;—as kinsmen receive a friend on his return. The Western mind may perhaps demur to some of the statements, but any mind, Western or Eastern, may find real gold in these Rules. They illustrate anew the fundamental unity of Religions. THE SECRET SYMBOLS OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.—By Dr. Franz Hartmann, F. T. S. (Boston, 1888, Occult Publishing Co., $6.00). This is a large and well gotten up book printed on fine paper. It would be impossible to fitly review it in our small magazine, as to do that would be to republish it. There is an introduction by Dr. Hartmann covering 16 pages, followed by 54 pages of the matter translated, consisting of numerous full page plates with the descriptions and inscriptions upon them, all colored by hand. There is also included a "Vocabulary of Occult Terms," and a "Treatise on the Philosopher's Stone, by a philosopher still living, but who does not desire to be known." PROTEUS is the name of a brochure of 33 pages published anonymously, read at a recent meeting of the Cincinnati Theosophical Society. Its intention is to emphasize the doctrine that "the Son of man is evolution." Our space is so limited that we cannot print the many excellent extracts kindly sent us from Cincinnati. 26 LES LYS NOIRS.—By Albert Jhouney, received from M. Georges Carré, who edits this collection of poems. It contains several poems upon some of the mysteries of the Cabala. We must postpone further notice till next month. A VISISHTADWAITA CATECHISM.—By N. Bhashyacharya, F. T. S., Pandit of the Adyar T. S. Library. This is No. 3 of the series of Catechisms of the oriental religions promised from the Adyar Library, and gives in a condensed and lucid form the life and teachings of the Founder of the Visishtadwaita Philosophy. It seems, so far as an Occidental can judge, to follow the main lines of orthodox Hindu thought. This valuable and neatly-printed little book exhibits, among other truths, the certainty of sects as the outcome of speculation on the unseen. 27 Theosophical Activities. IN AMERICA. Interest in Theosophic studies not only continues all over the United States, but grows with such rapidity as to surprise those who are not in the secret of the great strength and wide effect of the influence that is behind the movement. The policy always inculcated by the Masters is to accept all seekers unless they are known to be thoroughly bad. ARYAN T. S., N. Y.—The Abridgement of Discussions No. 5 is ready, and has gone to many inquirers and members. THE ANNUAL CONVENTION.—The assembling of the Convention of the American Section is now definitely fixed to begin April 22d, 1888, at the rooms of the Ramayana T. S. at 629 Fulton Street, Chicago. NEW BRANCHES.—In Omaha, Nebraska, the Vedanta T. S. has just been organized. In Grand Island, Nebraska, the Nirvana T. S. was organized March 13th. In San Diego, California, the Point Loma Lodge, T. S. will organize this month under charter just issued. In St. Louis, Mo., a new branch has just been asked for, to be called Ed-Maoun T. S. 28 From Michigan letters are at hand pointing to the early establishment of a Branch there. HARTMANN.—Dr. Franz Hartmann, F. T. S., the author of Black and White Magic, Secret Symbols of Rosicrucians, etc., is visiting in New York, and will return next month to Austria. IN INDIA. CEYLON.—A Buddhist Fancy Bazaar was held this year at the Theosophical Headquarters in Colombo, Ceylon, and was very successful. THE THEOSOPHIST offers a first prize of 50 rupees or a gold medal of that value for the best article, essay, or story, and a second of 20 rupees or a silver medal costing the same. HEADQUARTERS' LIBRARY.—The funds for paying the Pandits are coming in, several Indian Theosophists having pledged monthly contributions. 29 THE MAHA RAJAH OF DURBHANGA, who gave 25,000 rupees to the Library Fund, is well known for benefactions. He is now in the Indian Legislative Council, and a member of the Theosophical Society's General Council. Tea Table Talk Julia Keightley (signed "Julius"), pp. 29-32 The Singing Silences Nizida, p. 32 The Self is hidden in all beings and does not shine forth, but it is seen by subtle seers through their sharp and subtle intellect. OM. No. 2 – May 1888 "The Universe is the combination of a thousand elements, and yet the expression of a single spirit—a chaos to the senses, a cosmos to the reason." Isis Unveiled, vol. I "Be, being one, runs over everything, so that the universal germ ripens its nature, diversifies all natures that can be ripened, and determines all qualities." Brihadaranyaka-Upanishad The Bhagavad-Gita W. Q. Judge (signed "William Brehon"), pp. 33-36 (Part VII) 36 He who in any way reviles, impugns, or abuses the person or fountain from which comes his knowledge, or the impulse that leads him to the acquirement of truth, is unworthy of the name of disciple. It is one thing to have that knowledge which disciples have, but it is quite another thing to be a disciple. The possession of the first does not infer the second. Theosophy in Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" F. S. Collins, pp. 37-41 (Part I) The Tide of Life Charles Johnston, pp. 42-48 (Part II, concluded) The Theosophical Field Julia Keightley (signed "Jasper Niemand, F. T. S."), pp. 48-54 Conversations on Occultism W. Q. Judge (unsigned), pp. 54-58 ("Elementals and Elementaries") 58 Literary Notes. THE DESIRABILITY OF THE REVIVAL OF THE SANSCRIT LITERATURE, an Essay by R. Jagannathiah, F. T. S. This little tractate of 11 pages gives most compactly a large number of facts in science, the letters, and arts, proving the advanced position of the early Hindus and its cordial recognition by the greatest authorities in the West. Upon the tongue used, the famous Sir William Jones says this,—"The Sanscrit language is a wonderful structure, more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either." Less for these reasons than because it may resuscitate the old Aryan morality and thus re-establish the Aryan greatness and grandeur, Bro. Jagannathiah urges its revival. We warmly favor Sanscrit learning, and sincerely hope that there may be a continued and glorious revivification of the study of that noble literature. THE SANKHYA KARIKA, from the Sanscrit of Iswara Krishna. The translation is accompanied with a commentary, but the matter is too dry and too technical for service in this longitude. Very different are the mental aptitudes of India, and the Theosophical Society there has no doubt done wisely in providing students with this work. (Tookeram Tatya, Bombay.) 59 A GUIDE TO THEOSOPHY.—This is one of the many valuable books which our ever-to-be-esteemed Brother, Tookeram Tatya of Bombay, has secured to us through his "Theosophical Publication Fund." It is not a new treatise, but a compilation of letters, articles, facts, from journals, magazines, books, giving in a progressive way an idea of Theosophy, the foundation and Founders of the Theosophical Society, of its aims and prospects and teachings, of the means and steps to self-culture, of what men are and may become. We especially hail the republication of various documents certifying to the character and standing of Madame Blavatsky and Col. Olcott, our honored Chiefs, not that these are needed for those who know, but that they be on hand for the confuting of those who do not know and will not believe. So very much ground is covered by this "Guide," and there is given so much information on many points arising in study but not at the moment capable of answer, that we very warmly counsel the various Branches in America to secure it for their libraries. A note states that, through a blunder of the binder, the Table of Contents has been omitted, and this is most unfortunate. The Preface gives hope that the extended commentary upon "Light on the Path" in The Theosophist by Judge Sreenevasa Row of Madras will be brought out before long. Both the Preface and the Introduction are excellently well written, though the former twice speaks of the "basal germ" of truth, a sad mixing of metaphors which will no doubt be corrected in a later edition. The "Guide" can be ordered from M. Tookeram Tatya, 17 Tamarind Lane, Bombay, India, for 2 rupees plus postage. The March issue of The Theosophist is unusually interesting and instructive. The enlivening effect of Col. Olcott's presence in the Editorial office is abundantly shown, and must doubtless assuage his own regret at the postponement of the visit to Japan. A short, but very important, article on "Initiation" is earnestly commended to every practical Theosophist. We have ourselves read it three times, and find each paragraph pregnant with instruction. Col. Olcott's own contributions to this number fill it with life, and we especially thank him for the space given to facts about the American Branches, not for patriotic reasons, but because the late very remarkable out-cropping of Theosophic interest in distant parts of the States justifies the belief that Higher Powers are encouraging the movement they at first instigated. It is certainly note-worthy that four new Charters have been issued in little over a month, and that half as many applications were received in the year past as in the eleven previous years of the Society's life. Through the kind offices of a valued F. T. S. in Wilkesbarre, Pa., the Editor of the Sunday Morning Leader of that city opened his columns to a series of letters expository of Theosophy by a member of the Aryan T. S. of New York. These letters, nine in number, were written with special reference to the difficulties and objections felt by readers to whom the topic is new, and also to the need for a compact sketch of the general scheme, free from technical or unusual terms. They have now been reprinted in pamphlet form under the title, "The Wilkesbarre Letters on Theosophy," 60and a copy will be mailed to any address upon the remission of 10 cts. in stamps to the PATH office. "Les Lys Noirs," by Albert Jhouney, is a collection of ornate mystical poems whose name, "Black Lillies," is a symbol of the Kabbala. A tone of profound melancholy pervades the whole book, which is very French in tone; some of the descriptions are beautiful. (Paris, G. Carré.) A DREAM OF THE GIRONDE, and other poems by Evelyn Pyne has just reached us, as also, by the same author, THE POET IN MAY. We will notice them next month. March Magazines. LE LOTUS.—"Fragment of a book in preparation" is an article by S. de Guaita, which heralds his forthcoming book, "The Serpent of Genesis." Starting with the statement that the supernatural does not exist, the author gives some scientific hints on the "Creative Force," even while looking upon God from the anthropomorphic standpoint. Miss Arundale's excellent paper, "What is the Theosophical Society," loses none of its clearness in a clever French translation. Du Prel, in his paper on "The Scientific View of our State after Death," considers the Buddhist conception as purely exoteric, without appearing to remark, as the editor of the Lotus justly observes, that esoteric Buddhism solves all the problems offered by Du Prel, without his appearing to know it. A mystical and charming poem on Wisdom by Jean Rameau, and selected sentences from St. Martin, together with remarks on topics of the day, close this interesting number of the Lotus, which is doing forceful theosophic work in all directions. THE LOTUS (Paris) for March is at hand and is full of interest. With much deference we venture to invite the attention of Lucifer to the grave etymological objections to its definition of pentacle as a six-pointed star. Tea Table Talk Julia Keightley (signed "Julius"), pp. 60-65 Answers to Questioners W. Q. Judge (unsigned notice), p. 65 65 Theosophical Activities. IN AMERICA. ST. LOUIS.—A charter was issued, March 17th, 1888, to the Esh Maoun T. S. of St. Louis, Mo. Its organization is for the present private. MICHIGAN.—On April 3d, 1888, a charter was issued to the Lotus T. S., located in Michigan. It is a private society. DR. FRANZ HARTMANN, F. T. S., has been making a visit to Philadelphia, where he was hospitably entertained by the President of the Krishna Branch. On April 7th he addressed a meeting of the Krishna Brethren, giving an account of his intimacy and his travels with our honored chief, Madame Blavatsky, and responding to the questions of members upon Theosophic doctrine. A similar privilege had been given to the Aryan T. S. of New York on March 27th. PHILADELPHIA.—Bro. Carl F. Redwitz has resigned the Presidency of the Krishna T. S., Philadelphia, because of his removal to New York, and Bro. Henry B. Foulke has been elected his successor. In the second city of 66the Union there should be material for a strong organization, and the PATH, which has copious experience of the liberality of the existing membership, will welcome every item showing its growth and vigor. CLEVELAND, OHIO.—From here we have intimations that a new Branch will very soon be asked for. We have some earnest members there. IN WILKESBARRE, PA., a Sunday paper has of late opened its columns to theosophical doctrine, and a New York theosophist has contributed nine articles expounding Re-incarnation, Karma, and other interesting subjects. These are now being collected and will soon be reprinted. Theosophical Convention in Chicago, Ills. According to notice the Presidents, Delegates, and Councillors of the American Section, Theosophical Society, met in convention at the Sherman House, Chicago, Ills., on April 22d, 1888. We subjoin an excellent report made by the Chicago Inter-Ocean. The proceedings in full are being printed, and will make a large pamphlet which will be sent to all theosophists in the U. S. free, and will be sold to all desiring to purchase. It will contain, among other things, an excellent paper by Dr. J. D. Buck of Cincinnati, Ohio. Theosophical Theories. Meeting of the First National Convention of American Theosophists. Addresses by Several Prominent Believers in Occultism.—A Letter from Mme. Blavatsky.—Dr. Elliott Coues Elected Chairman.—Lengthy and Learned Elucidations of the Esoteric Faith. A Meeting of the Mystics. Nearly seventy-five disciples of the doctrine of theosophy assembled in the club-room of the Sherman House yesterday to listen to the deliberations and papers read at the first National convention the body has ever held. A delegate from England—from Mme. Blavatsky—was present in the person of Dr. A. Keightley of London, and representatives from many of the States were likewise present. 67 The morning session was of a purely executive character, and admittance to any save the regular accredited theosophists was denied. A long autograph letter from Mme. Blavatsky was presented by her emissary, Dr. Keightley, wherein the lady spoke with much tenderness of her watchfulness and abiding faith in the aim to do good to the assembly then gathered, and of her inability to be there "in esse," concluding with an ardent expression of hope that the result would be of lasting good. During the reading of this personal missive—for each one present deemed it a personal letter—there was what one of the ladies afterward expressed as "a wave of unity of love and brotherhood" in the room, and it was plain to be seen that the responsiveness of their inner natures had been touched. A note of congratulation was also read from Mr. Charles Johnston of Dublin, Ireland, a prominent theosophist in the far-away land, in which he spoke of the advance of the movement of universal brotherhood and unity. Dr. Elliott Coues was made chairman of the convention at this preliminary meeting, and almost without exception the officers of the preceding year were re-elected. At the Afternoon Session, which was somewhat delayed, the believers were present in good numbers, together with a few of the uninitiated, who, however, did not come to scoff and be hypocritical, but who were interested "intellectually" in the esoteric science. The majority of those present were in the prime of life, and were profound scholars in the mystic lore and subtleties that pertain to theosophy and its scientific attachments. Some few, on the contrary, as yet untutored in the mysteries of the occult, were inclined to be skittish, but were speedily brought to a sense of decorum by their more advanced fellows. About one hundred and fifty were present in all. In the absence of Dr. Elliott Coues, Dr. Buck was called to the chair by a unanimous vote. The auditing committee's report was read by the assistant secretary, and was immediately followed by the report of the committees to nominate members of the general council. The general council members are: Edward W. Parker, Mrs. M. M. Phelon, Mrs. E. C. Cushman, F. S. Collins, E. D. Hammond, Judge O'Rourke, James Taylor, Louise A. Off, Mrs. H. E. Morey, Mrs. A. N. Savery, Mrs. M. Bangle, S. C. Gould, Alexander Fullerton, W. H. Cornell, Dr. Borglum, W. W. Allen, J. M. Wheeler, Mrs. M. L. Brainard, George M. Sweet, Mrs. K. Westendorf, A. O. Robinson, and others. Miscellaneous business was then entered upon, and a place of meeting for the next convention fixed. It was decided that the next convention was to be held in Cincinnati, in April, on the Sunday corresponding to that of yesterday, subject, however, to the revision of the executive committee. The Secretary was authorized to print the proceedings in full. Mr. G. M. Stearns, of Boston, read a very creditable paper upon the subject of "Our Work." Said he: 68 "The path of wisdom is the path of duty. The disciple performs the action, and in doing so finds wisdom. Whoever sees in action action, he among men is possessed of spiritual illumination. He is the man of right action, and the doer of all action." Our work, whether as a theosophical society or as a branch, or as individual members of a branch, is in reality one. The beginning of all work is in the soul. However dark the path may be, light is promised; however complex the problem, the solution was at hand. The great life-work of man was to learn to unselfishly strive to help others. Growth and real knowledge lead instinctively to practical effort for others. We learn that we may teach, and teach that we may learn; and such a practical union, wherever formed, is a true theosophical society and doing true theosophical work. The question which faces every theosophical society is: "How may we realize these highest aspirations?" Theosophy can never be learned through matter. There are several ways to prosper in its study. First, hold public meetings and invite conservative talkers there. Colonel Olcott, in India, is holding such meetings and doing such work. In America it does not seem to succeed so well. Why, India has more than five times as many branches as America, and because the work is conducted systematically and wisely, because the movement in India is a National movement, Supported by National Thought. Secondly, publish books and pamphlets, circulate leaflets, for they do more to unify men by making friends than mutual study can do. Thirdly, establish a system of correspondence by various methods. Fourthly, let there be some regular plan of conducting meetings. Fifthly, giving and receiving help and suggestions, for it was Emerson who said: "He who speaks to himself speaks to eternity." During the reading of the address Dr. Coues entered the room and assumed possession of the chair vacated by Dr. Buck. Dr. Buck's Paper. Then Dr. Buck was called on to read a paper. He prefaced his remarks by saying that it was a paper he had read some time ago to a mixed assembly of skeptics and followers. In substance he said: Every revelation of truth is a divine revelation in man, and to separate these revelations into groups, to call this a science and that a religion, while it may be very convenient, is not strictly correct. The reality of nature is hardly yet comprehended by anyone. The worst of "isms," present or prospective, is that of materialism. The deification of matter is the degradation of man. To materialize is to brutalize, and to brutalize is to destroy. The great bulk of those who formed the advance guard of truth were women; but in this triumphal 69march toward liberty the weak, the poor, and the degraded have equal share, for the woman, clad with the sun, is a divine mother of all souls, rather than of those alone whose lines have fallen in pleasant places. The Origin of Man is a profound mystery, his nature a mystery, and the country to which he inevitably tends the profoundest mystery of all. We only know this says materialism: To-morrow we die; let us eat, drink, and be merry. We need only look around and be honest in our glance to assure ourselves of the truth of this statement. What is the key to the labyrinth? Man; for he is the epitome of all. Both nature and man will tell the story of their being if man will but listen to the wondrous story. But he who prefers to hold fast to ideas already preconceived—what he thinks ought to be—will but retard the general movement of the race. Who built the palaces of Yucatan or the pyramids of Egypt? Who built that other city on which Troy was founded? Why do we refer to those ancient ruins? Simply because we of to-day have imagined in our ignorance that our predecessors were barbarous, and we alone possessed of wisdom. Before people smile at us let them tell us whence the origin of the signs and knowledge of the zodiac. We hear a good deal about man's environment, the survival of the fittest, etc. Consider all the varying conditions of life—food, occupation, the difference in religious and social life—from a material stand-point, and tell us, if you can, how it happens that a semblance of the human still remains. Theosophy interrogates nature, and interrogates one's own soul. Suppose we say that Theosophy is of all philosophies the philosophy, of all religions the religion, of all sciences the science. What is Religion "Per Se"? Actually, it is the method by which man discovers his relation to God. It does not have to do with formulated results, but is ever changing. We are, therefore, admonished to get knowledge and wisdom, but withal to get it understandingly. Wisdom consists of knowing nature. Let man but interrogate nature, and she will fill his soul with anthems and symphonies of knowledge. Yet this is but the nature side of man. There is yet the spiritual; for the consciousness of man ever fluctuates between the natural and spiritual. We 70thus find man a conditioned soul, to know and understand the natural and the spiritual. Suppose we accept the doctrine of reincarnation—tentatively if you choose. We are here preparing incarnations for the next generation. If this be true, what prevents man from climbing up to God? What, but his lust and ambition and earthly vanities. And thus it is seen that theosophy unfolds a study of evolution, but more advanced than that evolution which ordinary science treats of. But why talk of evolution, and say nothing about involution—polarity, the inward movement from the circumference of the circle. The whole of life is a process of gestation by which man is being created. Just One Last Phase of the subject. Many persons stolidly regard death. Well, we have so misconceived life, what wonder that we misconceive death. In nature nothing dies. The change called death is but the rest in Paradise, and when working conscientiously man may climb up to the Mount of Transfiguration and the unfolding of the Divine. He may read his destiny in the living light. The ageing of the body is but the blossoming of the soul. The speaker summed up the ultimate of theosophy in the following poem: All love must first be cast aside— All things that men esteem their own— And truth be taken as a bride Who reigns supreme, and reigns alone. She will not come for lower price; Her sweetness man can never know, Who seeks this virgin to entice, To share his love with things below. She does not ask for written creeds, The faith her lover need profess, But she demands unselfish deeds, Nor will be satisfied with less. Ah! she will gladly give her hand, And fondly cling to his embrace, Whose love is passionate and grand For all the stricken human race. But lest he should profess a love Of sentiments that only seem Sincere intention, he must prove By making sacrifice supreme. Then she will slowly lead him on, By suffering and sharp ordeal, Until a victory is won, And he begins to sense the real. Mainly by suffering he grows Where his real faculties commence; Then he by effort of his own The painful pilgrimage has trod. At last he finds himself alone With nature and with nature's God. He feels that sanity is won; He knows to him God is revealed. He basks in the creative sun, By clouds of darkness long concealed; He finds he lives, and breathes, and moves With instinct never known before, As to his frame his mighty loves Its long lost faculties restore. Secretary Judge then delivered a veritable sermon on the words "Beware of the Illusions of Matter." He was followed by Dr. Coues, who said: "Just so far as a man comes to seeing that which is true, just so far back is the source of what he sees. There is no new thing under the sun. A little younger, a little less developed, and therefore a little less true; for all untruth is but the imperfection of that which in the end is the process of nature come to be perfected in it. Every human being does in his own self epitomize the nature of God, and it is only a question of time until it can reach that temple necessary to reach the height of our existence." This ended the Convention, so far as the public was concerned, the remainder of the time being taken up in a semi-official way. The delegates were: Professor Elliott Coues, Washington; Stanley B. Sexton, Chicago; Dr. W. P. Phelon, Chicago; Elliott B. Page, St. Louis; William Q. Judge, New York; Dr. J. H. Ohmann-Dumesniel, St. Louis; Dr. J. D. Buck, Cincinnati; George M. Stearns, Boston; F. A. Nims, Muskegon; Dr. M. J. Gahan, Grand Island, Neb; W. S. Wing, Omaha, Nebraska; Dr. J. B. W. La Pierre, Minneapolis; Dr. A. Keightley, London, 71 England, and others. Proxies were held by delegates for branches in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Malden, Mass., Philadelphia, and other places. Another meeting was held at the home of Stanley B. Sexton on the 23d. On the evening of 22d William Q. Judge delivered an address to the Spiritualists at Martine's Hall. Dr. Coues delivered an address on the 26th before the Western Society for Psychical Research. The whole affair was full of encouragement. Loyalty to the cause, to the Masters, and to Mme. H. P. Blavatsky was felt and declared by all. "The Gates of Gold." W. Q. Judge (signed "Moulvie"), pp. 71-72 72 Special Notice. Since complaints have reached us about the non-delivery of the PATH in foreign countries, we wish to state that we are not responsible for its delivery except to those ordering from us either directly or through our agent, the Theosophical Publication Society, 78 Clarendon Road, Notting Hill, London, England. The price for England, post-free, is 8 shillings. The living soul is not woman, nor man, nor neuter; whatever body it takes, with that it is joined only. OM. No. 3 – June 1888 "Nay! but once more take my last word, my utmost meaning have! Precious thou art to Me; right well beloved! Listen! I tell thee for thy comfort this. Give Me thy heart! adore Me! serve Me! cling in faith and love and reverence to Me! So shalt thou come to Me! I promise true. For thou art dear to Me! And let go those rites and sacred duties! Fly to me alone! Make Me thy single refuge! I will free thy soul from all its sins! Be of good cheer!" Bhagavad-Gita, ch. 18 The Bhagavad-Gita W. Q. Judge (signed "William Brehon"), pp. 73-78 (Part VIII) Theosophy in Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" F. S. Collins, pp. 79-86 (Part II, concluded) Thinking versus Reading Julia Keightley (signed "Jasper Niemand, F. T. S."), pp. 87-92 92 Contemporary Literature and Theosophy. There is growing every day among contemporary writers a strong disposition to take up theosophic doctrine, and especially in those light stories that always flow from ideas that are "in the air." This will grow as time goes on, for everyone with any means of judging knows that the doctrines of Karma and Reincarnation are gaining a hold, slowly perhaps, but surely, on the public mind. Both of these offer a wide field for novelists and magazine writers. In a recent number of the Century, Mr. Stevenson, who writes such charming stories, and also weird ones like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, gave an account—in some sense a confession—of how his best stories and plots came to him. He said that all his life, in dreams and waking visions, his 93 "little Brownies" showed him scenes, incidents, and plots that he wove into his writings, and that the main situations in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were obtained in that manner. The field is extended enough. None of the possibilities of black or white Magic have been touched on except by such writers as Mabel Collins, one of the Editors of Lucifer, but as that comes to be better understood—or misunderstood, which is the same thing for those who write for their daily bread—we shall be flooded with a series of tales and sketches based on these ideas. This suggestion is not copyrighted, so that aspiring authors can use it as they will, to their hearts' content. The rising tide is shown when such a staid, and anciently somewhat bigoted, magazine as Harper's Monthly treats of these matters. In Harper's for May last, Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, in the "Editor's Drawer," takes up the subject of Heredity so as to use it for the bringing in of Karma and Reincarnation, together with some light remarks about the theosophists of India, Boston, and Ohio. He considers Heredity to be a puzzle, mourning a little that the progress made in questions of the effect of breeding and descent was to some extent impeded by these notions. But he also gives a fair resume of Karma, clearly showing that responsibility for deeds done in the body must rest upon the individual, and cannot be shifted to his ancestors. We have to thank him for his words, since he reaches clearly the gist of the matter in saying: "The notion is that all human beings in this world undergo successive incarnations, preserving unconsciously the personal identity in all the changes of condition. Therefore, every human being is the result of all the influences in all his previous conditions. * * * The form in which he shall reappear in the world is not determined by his visible ancestors, but by his conduct in his former lives. * * * But whatever he was, now in this present incarnation he suffers the penalty of all his misdeeds in all former states of being, or he enjoys the reward of good conduct in any of them. And it behooves him now to live the higher life—perhaps of expiation—in order that he may rise into a still higher life in the next unknown incarnation, and not sink into a lower. Therefore no effort is thrown away, and no act is without its infinite personal consequences. The law of Karma, it is explained, is the law of the conservation of energy on the moral and spiritual planes of nature. * * * The Drawer, of course, has nothing to do with an investigation of this theory of life; it simply notes it in reference to the prevalent study of the doctrine of heredity." This is just the doctrine the people need, and it can easily be understood. When they come to believe that there is no way of escape, either through priest or mere lip-acceptance of a dogma, they will begin so to live, 94if only for selfish reasons, as that the "next unknown incarnation" will not find them in suffering and misery. While the motive at first may not be of the highest character, it will lead to a wide belief in the doctrines, so that, as the spirit of the age is changed, those who are sincere and unselfish will not have such a hard fight to wage against subtle and dangerous influences. In fine, it will prepare the conditions for the dawn of the day when human brotherhood shall be admitted and lived. Men will then see that legislation and strikes and outward temporary reforms can cure no evil. The evil lies within, in other lives, in this one. In a sense, we are our own ancestors; we are building now the houses we are to live in during our coming lives. For our ignorance of this, nature reeks not; she holds us fast in an iron grasp, and will compel us at last through pain to believe in the true doctrine, and to live our lives and think our thoughts in submission to the Higher Law that no human assemblies can revoke. Conversations on Occultism W. Q. Judge (unsigned), pp. 94-96 ("Elementals—Karma") Answers to Questioners W. Q. Judge (signed "Moulvie"), pp. 97-98 97 Correspondence. "The Secret Doctrine." TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PATH": Dear Sir and Brother:—In the February number of The Path you have published a letter written by several American Theosophists to our respected Founder, Madame Blavatsky, asking her to hasten the publication of "The Secret Doctrine," which, it is alleged, has not come out yet because some Indian Pundits are against it. It seems to us that the letter has been based upon information which is not correct. Had Madame Blavatsky been in India, the book would long ago have seen the light. Owing, however, to her stay in Europe, it has not 98been found so very easy to have the great work revised, as had been originally proposed. Parts of the work were sent to this country, when some good suggestions were made with a view to enhance the value of the book by making it more exact in its allusions to Hindu literature. These suggestions were misunderstood by some who communicated their own views on the matter to Europe, and we fear Madame Blavatsky herself has not been properly informed in what way the revision was proposed to be effected. Had she herself been here, she would, with her usual candor and good sense, have at once understood the situation and cheerfully taken up the well-meant suggestions. Occult ideas and doctrines ought to be made to stand on their own intrinsic merits, and not on the authority of any person or persons; and as there is a possibility of making this truly marvellous work more acceptable to the public, more useful and instructive, we hope and trust that the suggestions that have been made will be carried out. There is no opposition here against the publication of the mysteries of occultism. A few sympathetic friends can easily arrange to have the work revised, if the false impressions produced by unfounded reports were forgotten and the work placed in the hands of those who are capable of revising it. Yours fraternally, N. D. Khandalavala; Rustomji Ardeshir Master; Tookaram Tatya; Shamarao Vithal; C. J. Dorabji; Manchersha Kavasji; K. M. Shroff; Hamra Rustomji; J. N. Isaac; Pherozshaw Rustomji Mehta; Rustomji K. Modi; Pestonje Noursji Pavdi, G. G. M. College; Ardeshir Sorabji, Engineer; Cowasji Dossabhoy Davar; N. F. Bilimoria; Framjee B. Billimoria. Bombay, India, April, 1888. To the Editor of PATH: In the May number of your valuable journal, on page 60, we read: "With much deference we venture to invite the attention of Lucifer to the grave etymological objections to its definition of pentacle as a six-pointed star." The attention of our benevolent corrector is invited to "Webster's Complete Dictionary of the English Language," thoroughly revised and improved by Chauncey A. Goodrich and Noah Porter, assisted by Dr. C. A. F. Mahn of Berlin and others, new edition of 1880, London. At the word "Pentacle," we read as follows:— "Pentacle—a figure composed of two equilateral triangles, intersecting so 99as to form a six-pointed star, used in ornamental art, and also with superstitious import by the astrologers, etc." This (Fairholt's) definition is preceded by saying that pentacle is a word from Greek pente, five,—which every school-boy knows. But pente or five has nothing to do with the word pentacle, which Eliphas Lévi, as all Frenchmen and Kabalists, spells pantacle (with an a and not with an e), and which is more correct than the English and less puzzling. For, with as much "deference" as shown by Path to Lucifer, Lucifer ventures to point out to Path that, according to old Kabalistic phraseology, a pantacle is "any magic figure intended to produce results." Therefore if anyone is to be taken to task for overlooking "the grave etymological objections to the definition of pentacle as a six-pointed star," it is the great Professors who have just revised Webster's Dictionary, and not Lucifer. Our corrector has evidently confused Pentagon with pentacle. Errare humanum est. Meanwhile, as Lucifer was already laughed at for this supposed error by some readers of the Path, the latter will not, it is hoped, refuse to insert these few words at its earliest convenience, and thus justify its colleague from such an uncalled-for charge of blunder and ignorance. Let us correct each other's mistakes and errors, by all means; but let us also be fair to each other. Fraternally, The Editors of "Lucifer". London, May 21, 1888. Tea Table Talk Julia Keightley (signed "Julius"), pp. 99-104 104 Theosophical Activities. AMERICA. Varuna Theosophical Society.—This is a new Branch just formed at Bridgeport, Conn. The application came in and the charter was granted since the April Convention at Chicago. The President is Dr. Emil Kirchgessner, and the Secretary Mrs. Ida M. Wilkins. The Wilkesbarre Letters on Theosophy are being circulated freely, and, as they present the subject in a very clear manner, they will do good. The Aryan T. S. of New York has its meetings each week always well attended. The average attendance is over 30. The Library grows steadily, yet donations of good books are always welcomed. The new Connecticut Branch is an offshoot of this one. A member of the Los Angeles T. S., Miss Off, has a short paper giving an outline of Theosophy, in The Golden Era, a magazine of San Diego, Cal. The interest in the Society's work is shown by the fact, reported by the General Secretary, that persons from almost all parts of the United States are entering it almost every day. Report of the Convention of the American Section, printed by order of the Convention, has been sent to each member of the Society in this country and to many in foreign countries. The expense of this pamphlet covering 55 pages was met by private subscription. FRANCE. The Epitome of Theosophy, issued by Aryan T. S. members, has been translated in French by the Editor of Le Lotus, and separately printed, presumably for distribution. The Societe Magnetique de France has just been constituted, at Paris—5 Boulevard du Temple. Among its members are many theosophists, including H. P. Blavatsky and Prof. Crookes. INDIA. Bellary.—In addition to the Sanscrit Free School and Moral Class, a new department called Bhagavad Branch has been opened, at which on Sundays readings and explanations of the Bhagavad-Gita are had. Ceylon.—In January a party of theosophists visited the famous town of Panadure by invitation of the inhabitants. Mr. Leadbeater, the leading theosophist, advised the establishment of a Sunday School, which was effected. The Buddhist Catechism by Col. Olcott has just been published in Burmese. Col. Olcott's health has improved greatly since his return to Madras from his long tour. Additional Secretary.—The Countess Wachtmeister of Lands-Krona, Sweden, has been appointed an additional Secretary of the T. S., by the General Council, on request from the London Lodge T. S. He who wishes to be established in Buddhahood and aspires to the knowledge of the self-born, must honor those who keep this doctrine. —Saddharma-Pundarika. OM. No. 4 – July 1888 "And thus it hath been said: through the serenity of thought he brings to an end the effects of all actions, good or bad; himself serene, abiding in the Supreme, he obtains imperishable bliss. The word is Om. Using that word, and meditating upon it, he arrives at that which is beyond, and which cannot by means of the intellect be grasped or expressed. This is Brahman, and this is bliss." Katha Upanishad 105 To Aspirants for Chelaship. Sincere interest in Theosophic truth is often followed by sincere aspiration after Theosophic life, and the question continually recurs, What are the conditions and the steps to chelaship? to whom should application be made; how is the aspirant to know that it has been granted? As to the conditions and the discipline of chelaship, not a little has been disclosed in The Theosophist, Man, Esoteric Buddhism, and other works upon Theosophy; and some of the qualifications, difficulties, and dangers have been very explicitly set forth by Madame Blavatsky in her article upon "Theosophical Mahatmas" in the Path of Dec., 1886. To every one cherishing even a vague desire for closer relations to the system of development through which Masters are produced, the thoughtful study of this article is earnestly commended. It will clear the ground of several misconceptions, deepen the sense of the seriousness of such an effort,106 and excite a healthy self-distrust which is better before than after the gate has been passed. It is entirely possible, however, that the searching of desire and strength incited by that article may only convince more strongly of sincerity, and that not a few readers may emerge from it with a richer purpose and a deeper resolve. Even where there is not a distinct intention to reach chelaship, there may be an eager yearning for greater nearness to the Masters, for some definite assurance of guidance and of help. In either of these cases the question at once arises before the aspirant, Who is to receive the application, and how is its acceptance to be signified? The very natural, indeed the instinctive, step of such an aspirant is to write to an officer of the Theosophical Society. None the less is this a mistake. For the Theosophical Society is an exoteric body, the Lodge of Masters wholly esoteric. The former is a voluntary group of inquirers and philanthropists, with avowed aims, a printed Constitution, and published officers, and, moreover, expressly disavowing any power, as a Society, to communicate with Masters; the latter is an Occult Lodge, of whose address, members, processes, functions, nothing is known. It follows, therefore, that there is no person, no place, no address, to which an aspirant may appeal. Let it be supposed, however, that such an inquiry is preferred to a person advanced in Occult study, versed in its methods and tests and qualifications. Assuredly his reply would be directly to this effect:— "If you were now fitted to be an accepted chela, you would of yourself know how, where, and to whom to apply. For the becoming a chela in reality consists in the evolution or development of certain spiritual principles latent in every man, and in great measure unknown to your present consciousness. Until these principles are to some degree consciously evolved by you, you are not in practical possession of the means of acquiring the first rudiments of that knowledge which now seems to you so desirable. Whether it is desired by your mind or by your heart is still another important question, not to be solved by any one who has not yet the clew to Self. "It is true that these qualities can be developed (or forced) by the aid of an Adept. And most applicants for chelaship are actuated by a desire to receive instructions directly from the Masters. They do not ask themselves what they have done to merit a privilege so rare. Nor do they consider that, all Adepts being servants of the Law of Karma, it must follow that, did the applicant now merit their visible aid, he would already possess it and could not be in search of it. The indications of the fulfilment of the Law are, in fact, the partial unfolding of those faculties above referred to. "You must, then, reach a point other than that where you now stand,107 before you can even ask to be taken as a chela on probation. All candidates enter the unseen Lodge in this manner, and it is governed by Laws containing within themselves their own fulfilment and not requiring any officers whatever. Nor must you imagine that such a probationer is one who works under constant and known direction of either an Adept or another chela. On the contrary, he is tried and tested for at least 7 years, and perhaps many more, before the point is reached when he is either accepted (and prepared for the first of a series of initiations often covering several incarnations), or rejected. And this rejection is not by any body of men just as they incline, but is the natural rejection by Nature. The probationer may or may not hear from his Teacher during this preliminary period; more often he does not hear. He may be finally rejected and not know it, just as some men have been on probation and have not known it until they suddenly found themselves accepted. Such men are those self-developed persons who have reached that point in the natural order after many incarnations, where their expanded faculties have entitled them to an entrance into the Hall of Learning or the spiritual Lodge beyond. And all I say of men applies equally to women. "When any one is regularly accepted as a chela on probation, the first and only order he receives (for the present) is to work unselfishly for humanity—sometimes aiding and aided by some older chela—while striving to get rid of the strength of the personal idea. The ways of doing this are left to his own intuition entirely, inasmuch as the object is to develop that intuition and to bring him to self-knowledge. It is his having these powers in some degree that leads to his acceptance as a probationer, so that it is more than probable that you have them not yet save as latent possibilities. In order to have in his turn any title to help, he must work for others, but that must not be his motive for working. He who does not feel irresistibly impelled to serve the Race, whether he himself fails or not, is bound fast by his own personality and cannot progress until he has learned that the race is himself and not that body which he now occupies. The ground of this necessity for a pure motive was recently stated in Lucifer to be that unless the intention is entirely unalloyed, the spiritual will transform itself into the psychic, act on the astral plane, and dire results may be produced by it. The powers and forces of animal nature can be equally used by the selfish and revengeful as by the unselfish and all-forgiving; the powers and forces of spirit lend themselves only to the perfectly pure in heart. "It may be stated, however, that even those natural forces cannot be discovered by any man who has not obtained the power of getting rid of his personality in some degree. That an emotional desire to help others does not imply this freedom from personality may be seen by the fact that, if you were now perfected in unselfishness in the real sense, you would108 have a conscious existence separate from that of the body and would be able to quit the body at will: in other words, to be free from all sense of self is to be an Adept, for the limitations of self inhibit progress. "Hear also the words of the Master, taken from Sinnett's The Occult World. 'Perhaps you will better appreciate our meaning when told that in our view the highest aspirations for the welfare of humanity become tainted with selfishness if, in the mind of the philanthropist, there lurks the shadow of a desire for self-benefit or a tendency to do injustice, even when these exist unconsciously to himself.' "While setting forth these facts, as well as the dangers and difficulties—both those set ones appointed by the laws of the Lodge and the more innumerable ones adjudged by Karma and hastened by the efforts of the neophyte—it should also be stated that the Masters desire to deter no man from entering the path. They are well aware, however, from the repeated trials and records of centuries, and from their knowledge of our racial difficulties, how few are the persons who have any clue to their own real nature, which is the foe they attempt to conquer the moment they become pupils of the occult. Hence They endeavor, so far as Karma permits, to hold unfit individuals back from rash ventures the results of which would recoil upon their unbalanced lives and drive them to despair. The powers of evil, inadequately defied by the ignorant man, revenge themselves upon him as well as upon his friends, and not upon those who are above their reach. Although these powers are not hideous objective shapes coming in tangible ways, they are none the less real and dangerous. Their descent in such instances cannot be prevented; it is Karma. "To lose all sense of self, then, implies the loss of all that ordinary men most value in themselves. It therefore behooves you to seriously consider these points:— "1st. What is your motive in desiring to be a chela? You think that motive is well known to you, whereas it is hidden deep within you, and by that hidden motive you will be judged. It has flared up from unseen regions upon men sure of themselves, has belched out in some lurid thought or deed of which they esteemed themselves incapable, and has overthrown their life or reason. Therefore test yourself ere Karma tests you. "2d. What the place and duties of a true neophyte are. "When you have seriously considered both for 21 days, you may, if your desire remains firm, take a certain course open to you. It is this. "Although you do not now know where you can offer yourself to Masters themselves as a chela on probation, yet, in forming that desire in your heart and in re-affirming it (if you do) after due consideration of these points, you have then to some extent called upon the Law, and it is within your power to constitute yourself a disciple, so far as in you lies, through109 the purity of your motive and effort if you are sufficiently sustained. No one can fix a period when this effort will bear fruit, and, if your patience and faith are not strong enough to bear you through an unlimited (so far as you know) period of unselfish work for humanity, you had better resign your present fancy, for it is then no more than that. But if otherwise, you are to work for the spiritual enlightenment of Humanity in and through the Theosophical Society (which much needs such laborers), and in all other modes and planes as you best can, remembering the word of Masters: 'He who does what he can and all that he can, and all that he knows how to do, does enough for us.' This task includes that of divesting yourself of all personality through interior effort, because that work, if done in the right spirit, is even more important to the race than any outward work we can do. Living as you now are, on the outward plane chiefly, your work is due there and is to be done there until your growth shall fit you to pass away from it altogether. "In following this course you work towards a fixed point under observation,—as is, indeed, the whole Theosophic body, which is now, as a body, a chela of Masters,—but specialized from other members in the sense that your definite aim and trust are understood and taken into consideration by the unseen Founders and the Law. The Theosophical Society then stands to you, for the time being, as any older chela might who was appointed for you to aid and to work under. You are not, understand, a chela on probation, since no one without authority can confer or announce such a privilege. But if you succeed in lifting yourself and others spiritually, it will be known, no matter what the external silence may seem to be, and you will receive your full dues from Those who are honest debtors and ministers of the Just and Perfect Law. You must be ready to work, to wait, and to aspire in silence, just as all do who have fixed their eyes on this goal. Remember that your truest adviser is to be found, and constantly sought, within yourself. Only by experience can you learn to know its voice from that of natural instinct or mere logic, and strengthen this power, by virtue of which the Masters have become what They are. "Your choice or rejection of this course is the first test of yourself. Others will follow, whether you are aware of them or not, for the first and only right of the neophyte is—to be tried. Hence silence and sorrow follow his acceptance instead of the offer of prompt aid for which he looks. Yet even that shall not be wanting; those trials and reverses will come only from the Law to which you have appealed." "Mankind usually receive a thousand impressions through the senses, to one through the spiritual nature. Adeptship means reversing the proportion."—H. S. Olcott. Some Teachings of a German Mystic Johann Baptist Kerning (signed "B."), pp. 110-115 (Part V, "From Sensitive to Initiate") Culture of Concentration W. Q. Judge (signed "Ramatirtha"), pp. 116-123 Answers to Questioners W. Q. Judge (signed "William Q. Judge, Gen. Sec'y T.S." and "Moulvie"), pp. 123-125 Conversations on Occultism W. Q. Judge (unsigned), pp. 125-129 Tea Table Talk Julia Keightley (signed "Julius"), pp. 129-131 131 Literary Notes. Le Lotus opens with a memorial notice of the late Louis Dramard, President of the Isis Theosophical Society, Paris. M. Dramard was always a disinterested worker for Humanity. A touching incident of his last days, while in Algeria for his health, was his cultivation of a vineyard in order to send more funds to the Isis Society; also his protection of persecuted Arabs. Madame Blavatsky contributes a powerful article—"Did Jesus Christ ever exist,"—a reply to the Abbé Roca, in which she offers historical evidence for her belief that the Founder of Christianity was simply the 7th Principle anthropomorphized in legend and adopted by the Church. M. Amaravella gives a sketch of the Macrocosm and a fine review of Prudhomme's "Happiness;" Theosophical Résumé and Theosophical work in India, a well attested vision of Charles XI, and M. Gaboriau's airy, delicate verses close this number, together with notes and reviews. 132 Theosophical Activities. INDIA. The Adyar Library report for the quarter ending March, 1888, shows additions by purchase and donation. Pandit N. Bhashyacharya, the learned director, and others presented printed books and MSS., and valuable rare MSS. were given by K. Seshiah Chetty, Garu. Valuable books on medical and occult sciences and Vedic literature have also been added. Donations were received of 100 rupees from the ex-Rajah of Venkatagiri and of $100 from E. W. Parker, F. T. S., of Little Rock, Ark. Ceylon.—Another attempt to throw a slur on the T. S. by pretending that the venerable High Priest of Ceylon, H. Sumangala, had condemned the Buddhism taught by Theosophists on the island, has been frustrated by the High Priest himself, who writes to the Ceylon Examiner under date 23d March, denying the report and stating that he did not believe the statements made against the teachings of the Theosophists. JAPAN. Col. Olcott's Golden Rules of Buddhism have been translated into Japanese. Buddhists there are preparing to contribute to a fancy bazaar held by Colombo Theosophists. HAYTI. The Bishop of Hayti writes to headquarters encouragingly about the speedy formation of a Branch T. S. in that Island, to be composed entirely of educated negro gentlemen. AMERICA. The Wilkesbarre Letters on Theosophy have been distributed more widely since June. Aryan T. S., N. Y.—A valuable and eloquent paper on The Relation of Mental Science to Theosophy, by Miss Lydia Bell, F. T. S., was read before the Branch recently. Meetings continue to be well attended. Boston T. S. has had a change of officers, Bro. Whitaker having taken the place of Bro. Bridge. One earnest member who moved to Springfield will be missed. In Chicago activity continues, and there may be another Branch there ere long. No. 8 of T. P. S. Reprints. This number is an extension of the Epitome of Theosophy, which was issued by New York Theosophists. On page 13 is a grievous error, where it is stated that the student must obey the Spirits. This should have read Spirit,—a very different statement. Michigan.—At a recent meeting of the Lotus T. S., a paper was read entitled "The June time of the Occultist; between the Blossom and the Fruit," which provoked a great deal of discussion. It was apropos of the editorial on Occultism in the May number of Lucifer. Meetings of this Lodge are on Tuesdays, and are well attended. Purana T. S., Santa Cruz, Cal., is increasing in membership. The President holds Sunday Classes which are public, and on Saturday afternoons the Secretary has private gatherings for systematic study. Theosophical activity is manifesting itself on the Pacific Slope very encouragingly. 133 The Secret Doctrine. [In the Press.] To be published on or about October 27th, 1888, in Two Volumes, Royal Octavo, of nearly 650 pp. each. The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy, by H. P. Blavatsky, with a copious index and a glossary of terms. In all ages, and in all lands, the belief has existed that a Divine degree of knowledge is possible to human beings under certain conditions; and, as a corollary to this, the conviction has dwelt in the hearts of the people that living men exist who possess this knowledge—whether they be called sages, philosophers, adepts, or by any other name. In ancient times this knowledge was taught and communicated in the "Mysteries," of which traces have been found among all the nations of the earth, from Japan through China and India to America, and from the frozen north to the islands of the South Pacific. In modern times the existence of this knowledge has been divined by different scholars and students, who have called it by various names, of which "The Secret Wisdom" is one. The author of this work has devoted more than forty years of her life to the study and acquisition of this knowledge; she has gained admittance as a student to some of the Secret Schools of this Wisdom, and has learned to know and appreciate its extent and value. The purpose of the present work, then, is to lay before the thinking world so much of this "Hidden Wisdom" as it is thought expedient to make known at present to men in general. In her earlier work, Isis Unveiled, the author dwelt with Science and Theology from a critical standpoint. But little of the positive Esoteric teaching of the Secret Wisdom was there brought forward, though many134 hints and suggestions were thrown out. These will find a fuller explanation in the present volumes. The publication of Mr. Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism was a first attempt to supplement the negative and purely critical attitude of Isis Unveiled by a positive and systematic scheme. The way has thus been prepared for this work; and the reader of the books just referred to will find those outlines, which were only sketched in the earlier presentations of the subject, filled in and elaborated in the two volumes now offered for his consideration. The first of these volumes contains Book I. of the Secret Doctrine, and is concerned mainly with the evolution of Kosmos. It is divided into three parts. Part I. commences with an introduction explaining the philosophical basis of the system. The skeleton of this book is formed by seven stanzas, translated from the Secret Book of Dzyan, with commentary and explanations by the translator. This work is among the oldest MSS. in the world; it is written in the Sacred Language of the Initiates, and constitutes the text-book which was the basis of the oral instruction imparted during the Mysteries. A section of the work devoted to the consideration of the bearings of some of the views advanced upon modern science follows the stanzas. Some probable objections from this point of view are met by anticipation, and the scientific doctrines at present in vogue on these questions are considered and compared with those put forward in this work. Part II. is devoted to the elucidation of the fundamental symbols contained in the great religions of the world, particularly the Christian, the Hebrew, and the Brahmanical. Part III. forms the connecting link between Book I., which deals with the Genesis of Kosmos, and Book II. (forming the second volume), which treats of the Evolution of Man. The arrangement of Vol. 2 is similar to that of Vol. I. Part I. contains a series of Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan, which describe the Evolution of Humanity in our cycle. This is followed by a discussion of the scientific issues raised, with special reference to the modern hypothesis that man and the ape are descended from a common ancestor. Part II. embraces a series of chapters explaining the symbols typifying the evolutionary history of mankind in various religions, particularly the Biblical account of the Creation and Fall of Man given in Genesis. Part III. contains matter supplementary to Books I. and II., dealing with questions which could not be previously discussed at adequate length without breaking the sequence of the narrative. 135 Contents of Volume I. Book I.—Cosmogenesis. Part I. Introduction.—The Seven Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan, with Commentary and Explanations: The Night of the Universe—The Awakening of Kosmos—The Beginnings of Differentiation—The Septenary Hierarchy of Divine Powers—Our World: Its Growth and Development—The Dawn of Humanity—Summary and Conclusion. Addendum.—Reasons for this Addendum—Modern Physics are Playing at Blind Man's Buff—An Lumen Sit Corpus Nec Non?—Is Gravitation a Law?—The Theories of Rotation in Science—The Nature of Force and the Atom—The Scientific Theory of Force attacked by a Man of Science—Life-force or Gravity?—An Analysis of the so-called "Elements" of Science—On the Elements and Atoms—Scientific and Esoteric Evidence for, and objections to, the Nebular Theory—Forces, Modes of Motion, or Intelligences—which?—Summary of the respective Positions. Part II. Explanatory Sections on Symbolism and the Eastern Presentation of the Secret Cosmography.—Symbolism and Ideographs—The Mystery Language—The Symbolism of the Cross and Circle—Primordial Substance and Divine Thought—Chaos, Theos, Kosmos—The Mundane Egg—The Hidden Deity: Its Symbols and Glyphs—The Lotus as a Universal Symbol—Deus Lunus—Theogony of the Creators—The Seven Creations—The Monad and its Origin—Gods, Monads, and Atoms. Part III. Narada and Asura Maya—The Chronology of the Brahmins—Exoteric and Esoteric Chronology—The Primeval Manus of Humanity—The Approximate Duration of Ages and Races—Calculations illustrating the Divisions—The Racial Divisions—The Seventh Manu and our Mankind. Volume II. Book II.—Anthropogenesis. Part I. Introduction.—1. On the Archaic Stanzas, and the Four Prehistoric Continents. 2. Anthropogenesis in the Secret Volume. Section I.—General Evolution under the guidance of the Seven Creators—Primeval Creations and Failures—Creation of Divine Beings in the Exoteric Accounts—Nature unaided fails—The various Fabricators of Man—Various primeval modes of Procreation—The three primeval Races—Evolution of Animals from the atoms of the three primeval Races. 136 Section II.—From the Divine down to the first Human Races—The Evolution and Involution of Man—The "Fall"—Upon the nature of the Sons of "Dark Wisdom"—The "Secret of Satan"—On the Identity and Difference of the Incarnating Powers—Ancient and Modern Views of Satan, and of the Astral Light: His abode, etc. Section III.—A Panoramic View of the Early Races—On the Third Race after its Fall—etc., etc., etc. Section IV.—On Ancient Submerged Continents—On the Original Lemuria and the Wisdom thereof—The Ancient Zodiacs, and what their Records teach us—The Religion of the Prehistoric Races—The Divine Dynasties—The Giants of Atlantis—etc., etc. Section V.—Giants, Civilizations, and Submerged Continents traced in History—Statements about the Sacred Islands and Continents in the Classics explained esoterically—Western Speculations founded on Greek and Puranic Accounts—Witnesses in Stone—Other Cyclopean Ruins and Colossal Stones as Witnesses to Giants—Concerning Edens, Serpents, and Nagas—etc., etc., etc. Addendum.—Human evolution according to modern science contrasted and compared with the teachings of Esoteric Science, etc., etc., etc. Part II. Chapters on Symbolism. The Holy of Holies—The "Sons of God" and the Sacred Island—"Adam-adami" and other names—Nebo of Birs-Nimroud—etc., etc., etc. Index and Glossary. The subscription price will be $7.50 for the 2 volumes, provided it is forwarded before publication. The price, after publication, will be $10.50. Postage additional, in each case, 50 cts. Names and addresses of subscribers, accompanied by the amount of the subscription, should be sent to William Q. Judge, P. O. Box 2659, New York City, in postal orders, banker's drafts, or cheques. American orders will be filled directly upon publication, from the office of the Path, P. O. Box 2659, New York. Notice. Four additional pages will be added to the Path, August issue, to make up for those used by preceding circular. And as the spider moving upward by his thread gains free space, thus also he who meditates, moving upward by the known word Om, gains independence. —Upanishad. OM. No. 5 – August 1888 "The Universe is a combination of a thousand elements; a marvel it seems to the reason." Hitopadesa "I am the Self; I am the production and dissolution of the whole of nature." Bhagavad-Gita The Bhagavad-Gita W. Q. Judge (signed "William Brehon, F. T. S."), pp. 137-142 (Part IX) The Theosophical Society and Madame Blavatsky Julia Keightley (signed "Jasper Niemand, F. T. S."), pp. 143-147 The Three Planes of Human Life W. Q. Judge (signed "Eusebio Urban"), pp. 147-150 150 Escape or Achievement. "They change their skies, but not their natures, who cross the seas,"—so runs the proverb; and doubtless many of us can bear witness that it is as true to-day as when it fell from the lips of the wise Roman of old. "What must I do to be saved?" was the cry, when tossed on the stormy and uncharted ocean of orthodoxy: "Where shall I find a pilot?" signals the vessel, hove-to off the entrance to the fair-haven of Theosophy. One who, while serving his country gallantly on many a hard-fought field, yet strove according to his lights to be loyal to Him whom he regarded as his Heavenly Master, was wont to say that if he "could just squeeze inside of the Golden Gate," he would be entirely content. Before indulging in the smile of superiority at this honest, if lowly, confession, it might be well to examine whether this is not our own real, though possibly unconscious, attitude; whether, when we say "Must I give up this?", or, "Is it necessary to do that?", we do not really mean, "How much of this world's pleasures may I venture to indulge in? how close can I point to windward without being taken aback?" in other words, "Can I do this, or enjoy that, and yet 'just squeeze inside?'" Assuming, however, that the inquiry is made in sincerity and good faith, it is evident that the answer must depend upon the reply that the seeker makes to the question addressed to him in turn, "What is your object in life—to avoid an imaginary punishment, to obtain in the future a definite and limited reward? or to enter, now and here, upon a path of ever-increasing wisdom, knowledge, and peace, of inconceivable splendour and limitless extent? is your aim negative or positive? in a word, is it Escape or Achievement?" Now from the standpoint of official Christianity, the attitude of the simple-hearted soldier is not only entirely logical, but thoroughly satisfactory: and if we also are of this way of thinking—if, as the Bhagavad Gita says, we prefer "a transient enjoyment of heaven to eternal absorption"—doubtless in Devachan we shall find fulness of joy: "Those who worship the Devatas go unto the Devatas." But to those strong souls whose passionate longing is to find "the small, old path;" who disdain the gentler slopes which the feeble must needs follow; whose eyes seek the snowy pinnacle rather than the smiling valley, though it were the Land of Beulah itself; who, far from desiring the enjoyment of Devachan, regard it rather as a halt in their progress, a loss of time, so to speak, and would gladly forego its delights in order to re-incarnate at once and continue without interruption in their work for151 the good of the race;—what answer shall be returned them? Obviously none; since, for them, such questions never arise. They ask not, What shall I give up? but, What can I give?; not, What indulgence must I deny myself? but, What encumbrance can I cast aside, that I may the more swiftly and easily mount? It was said by One of old time, "Ye cannot serve two masters." God and Mammon were the instances cited by the Teacher, but the saying holds true of any given opposite or conflicting aims. And the great trouble is that, although we may be unwilling to admit it even to ourselves, very few of us are really single-hearted: whether from physical infirmity, so-called hereditary tendency, or Karmic environment matters not so far as regards the fact and the inevitable consequences resulting therefrom. Possibly all that many of us can accomplish in this incarnation will be in the nature of a species of compromise, or perhaps, more correctly, a net result,—a sort of moral diagonal of forces, so to speak, the resultant of the opposing tendencies of our earthly attractions and spiritual aspirations. But he whose aim is single, whose eye never loses sight of the end, acts on his plane as the successful man of business on his: do we ever hear the latter ask, "Must I stay in my office eight hours a day? is it absolutely necessary to miss this race, or forego that dinner, in order to close this contract or elaborate that plan?" Does he not rather work fourteen, or sixteen, hours, give up recreation, literary, artistic, social, even to a great extent the joys of the home circle, tax his ingenuity to the uttermost to devise new openings, find fresh fields for enterprise? and this day after day, year in and year out, until either fortune is won, or health and, perhaps, life itself are sacrificed in the determined effort? Perhaps it might be laid down broadly that any question prefaced by "must" should be answered in the negative; for the fact of its being put in that form proclaims, louder than any words, that not yet is the seeker able to free himself from attachment; and until he can do this—until, as is said in Through the Gates of Gold, he can place the object before him, and clearly, coolly, and dispassionately examine it from all points of view, fully admitting its attractions as well as recognizing its drawbacks, and then calmly, deliberately, without a trace of regret or a sigh of longing, dismiss the very idea from his heart—until he can do all this, forcible repression by mere strength of will avails nothing; the desire, coerced at one point, returns with accumulated strength at another; if not on the physical plane, then on the mental; if not in this incarnation, then in another. This is the teaching of all the ages, from the Upanishads to Light on the Path, of the Bhagavad Gita and the Bible, of Buddha and Jesus alike. Nothing that is done as a penance, as a so-called "mortification of152 the flesh," or merely out of deference to the feelings, or opinions, or prejudices of others, can be of any real value to the man himself. One who makes a virtue of refusing to play cards in the social circle, while still having the desire in his heart, may yet lose money and reputation in Wall street; he who, against his own judgment, is persuaded to deprive himself of the comfort resulting from the rational use of tobacco, may wreck his nerves by inordinate indulgence in strong tea,—and this without incurring the censure of clergymen, reformers, or old women of either sex. In this, as in all things, we may learn from the working of Nature. The tree yields fruit not only after its kind, but in its own due time. There is neither haste nor delay in her evolutionary methods,—first the blossom and then the fruit, is her unvarying rule: and, knowing this, we do not expect to pluck the matured ear of July from the tender shoot of April: we rejoice in the budding sweetness of the vineyard in the joyous Springtide, untroubled by any anxiety lest the golden glory of September should fail to ripen the purple clusters. So in our daily round and occupation, everything comes in its appointed time and refuses to be hurried: sculptured granite is not more immovable than the Express, a second before its flying wheels begin to turn; as the hand on the dial points to the hour, the ingenious mechanism of the time-lock swings back the massive doors of the vault which, a moment before, would have defied the strength of a hundred men to open. "And what shall I do with my sword?" asked the brilliant young courtier of George Fox, by whose teachings he had become converted to Quakerism. "Friend," replied the wise and courteous man of Peace, "wear it,—as long as thou canst": but full soon William Penn counted it all joy to exchange jewelled sword and velvet coat for the simple garb of the people with whom he had cast in his lot. And when the day comes—as come it must, in the fulness of times—when we are ready, in this spirit, to lay everything on the altar—whether choice possessions or valued opinions, favorite habits or cherished beliefs, our so-called virtues not less than what are termed our vices; when we can do all this, not as a sacrifice, but with joy and gladness, when our songs of deliverance are borne upon the upwreathing incense; then we, likewise, shall be no longer perplexed by the "must" or the "shall," for we shall then be treading the King's Highway of Achievement, and not scuffling along the back alleys of Escape. Let us then be ever on guard lest aught tempt us from that "Middle Road" which the Lord Buddha pointed out to us, and in which we know our feet to be set; and by following it in all patience and loyalty, with dauntless will and unswerving devotion, we shall in His own time—which153 is always the best time—come to realize the portion which He has assured us shall be that of all who truly love and serve Him. "Who wins To such commencement hath the First Stage touched; He knows the Noble Truths, the Eight-fold Road; By few or many steps such shall attain Nirvana's blest abode." B. N. Acle, F. T. S. Some Teachings of a German Mystic Johann Baptist Kerning (signed "B."), pp. 153-160 (Part V, concluded "From Sensitive to Initiate") Conversations on Occultism W. Q. Judge (unsigned), pp. 160-163 ("Mantrams") 163 Respecting Reincarnation. Objections frequently raised against "Reincarnation," and that appear to those who make them to be strong, are some growing out of the emotional part of our nature. They say, "We do not wish to be some one else in another life; how can we recognize our friends and loved ones if they and we thus change our personality? The absorbing attachments we form here are such that happiness would seem impossible without those we love." It is useless to say in reply that, if Reincarnation be the law, it can and will make no difference what we would like or dislike. So long as one is governed by his likes and dislikes, logical arguments will not dissipate objections, and, if it is coldly asserted that the beloved objects of our affection pass at death forever beyond us, no relief is afforded to the mind nor is a strictly accurate statement made. In fact, one of the miseries of conditioned existence is the apparent liability of forever losing those upon whom we place our hearts. So to meet this difficulty raised by ever present death, the christian churches have invented their heaven in which reunion is possible under a condition, the acceptance of the164 dogma of the Redeemer. None of their believers seem to consider that, inasmuch as constantly many of those most closely bound to us by every tie do not and never will meet the prerequisite condition, happiness in that heaven cannot be possible when we constantly are aware that those unbelievers are suffering in hell, for, enough memory being left to permit us to recognize believing friends, we cannot forget the others. Greater than ever, then, that difficulty becomes. What are these loves? must be asked. They are either (a) a love for the mere physical body, or (b) one for the soul within. Of course in the first case, the body being disintegrated at death, it is not possible for us, nor need we wish—unless we are grossly materialistic—to see that in the other life. And personality belongs only to the body. Hence, if the soul that we do love inhabits another physical frame, it is the law—a part of the law of Reincarnation not often stated or dwelt on—that we will again, when incarnated, meet that same soul in the new tenement. We cannot, however, always recognize it. But that, the recognition or memory of those whom we knew before, is one of the very objects of our study and practice. Not only is this the law as found in ancient books, but it has been positively stated, in the history of the Theosophical Society, in a letter from an Adept addressed not many years ago to some London theosophists. In it he asked them if they imagined that they were together as incarnated beings for the first time, stated that they were not, and laid down the rule that the real affinities of soul life drew them together on earth. To be associated against our will with those who lay upon us the claim of mother, father, brother, son, or wife from a previous life would neither be just nor necessary. Those relations, as such, grew out of physical ties alone, and souls that are alike, who really love each other, as well as those who harbor hate, are brought together in mortal bodies as now father and now son, or otherwise. So, then, with the doctrine of Devachan we have the answer. In that state we have with us, for all practical purposes and to suit our desire, every one whom we loved on earth: upon being reincarnated we are again with those whose souls we are naturally attracted to. By living up to the highest and best of our convictions, for humanity and not for self, we make it possible that we shall at last recognize in some earth-life those persons whom we love, and to lose whom forever seems such a dreary and uninviting prospect. "The tense string breaks; the loosened one emits indifferent sound; the well-tuned string alone gives pleasing harmonious tone." 165 Literary Notes. A Dream of the Gironde, by Evelyn Pyne, is a strong drama, written in smoothly-flowing blank verse. This noble form is a minor merit, enshrining, as it does, the true poetic spirit,—that spirit at once intuitional and prophetic which looks directly upon the Ideal. In Madame Roland we have a figure of rare excellence; her soliloquies each disclose some universal truth read by the light of a woman's heart, and each is a complete gem in itself. Of the other poems in this volume The Star God is a fine example; an almost passionate purity pervades them all, and we regret that want of space forbids quotations which alone can do them justice. More than any poet of our decade, Mr. Pyne thinks on broad theosophic lines, notably so in his descriptions of the evolutionary chain, and he merits our especial thanks for his presentations of the sweetness and solace of Truth, rather than that stern aspect upon which many writers mistakenly insist. A Poet in May, by Evelyn Pyne, is to his former volume what the soul is to the spirit; it does not carry us beyond the realm of the emotional nature. The style is graceful, but at times fantastic when the author's originality overpowers him; the metre frequently halts. A love of Nature so unusual as to humanize it has not heretofore been expressed in such sweet sensuousness of sound, reminding us in this respect only of Swinburne's verse. A fine example of this is the Sunflower Legend. The Nature and Destiny of Man as Unfolded by Theosophy, by Dr. J. D. Buck, F. T. S., is the title of the paper read by him at the Theosophical Convention at Chicago, April 22d, ult. It has been printed in full in the report of the proceedings, and has also been made up separately. It is an excellent paper. Christian Science: A Statement of It, by Ursula N. Gestefeld. (Chicago, Central Music Hall, 1888, in 12 Nos., complete $3.00; single Nos. 25 cents.) We have received these 12 lectures from the author. The name "Christian Science" for this cult seems a misnomer to us. A stranger to it who knew the English language and Christianity would naturally conclude that it meant the "Science of Christianity," just as we have Ethics of Christianity. But it is quite usual here to give such titles. We endorse some of the ideas expressed, as, for instance, the old one found in the Isavasya Upanishad, "that all spiritual beings are the same in kind, and that man is a spiritual Being," but this was promulgated ages before the Bible was compiled, and as it is the basis of this "Christian Science" to us there seems to be some audacity in so entitling it. The argument in these lectures does not appear to proceed with scientific accuracy; we may not be so made as to grasp it; yet there are to be found some painful peculiarities that ought not to occur in the sober and "scientific" discussion of the subjects of Being, Consciousness, and Intelligence, especially after men like Aristotle, Plato, Kant, Schlegel, and Schopenhauer have exhaustively treated them. 166 The Relations of Alimentation and Disease, by J. H. Salisbury, M. D. This remarkable outcome of over forty years' research into the basic causes of disease has an interest for the true humanitarian quite apart from its physiological value. After a series of original experiments undertaken in the pure spirit of research, and without the trammels of a preconceived theory, Dr. Salisbury discovered in the fermentation of foods the initiatory cause of almost all disease, and it is upon this fact that his widely successful system is based. To maintain health we should eat healthily, and our author considers that this condition is fulfilled by a diet two-thirds meat to one-third vegetable, while in cases of disease the treatment consists in cleansing the system and purifying the blood by means of a diet of beef pulp and hot water, until fermentation is checked and the patient can advance to a more extensive dietary. It is impossible to enter into the scientific rationale of this system of cure,—whose details are so succinctly set forth by Dr. Salisbury,—in a review necessarily brief. The book is for the people primarily, and any man may understand it. Throughout it is marked by a pure humanitarian spirit, by a thorough recognition of the dual nature of man. Theosophical thought abounds the moment we leave the field of physiological detail; this colossal labor has been done by an intuitive, modest, and generous mind, by an original thinker of immense industry. Some theosophists will ask how this theory of diet affects that other belief that vegetarianism is necessary for the student of occultism. We may remind these that such a diet is said to be required only after a certain stage of development is reached, when the astral or inner man has a certain coherence and power. At this stage the psychic processes may assume control of and modify the physiological functions, and our author has given us a hint as to how this may be done by the paralysing of the pyloric valve, which, remaining then permanently open, permits the immediate passage of vegetable matter into the bowel where it is normally digested, without its detention in the stomach to ferment. What holds good for the average man is transitional like himself; inner growth develops and transforms outer activities, and meantime Adepts advise us to obey our physicians in all questions of physical health. (J. H. Vail & Co., New York, $5.00.) Epitome of Theosophy, as extended and reprinted in No. 8 of the Theosophical Publication Society's reprints, has a vital misprint. On the 13th page it reads "All lower, material interests being deliberately subordinated to the behests of the spirits": this should read spirit, and not be plural. The writers never meant to follow the lead of the spiritualists or recommend dealing in any way with so-called "spirits"; the only spirit they wish to follow is the immortal and unchangeable Spirit in the man himself. Some Buddhist students of Kioto, Japan, have established a monthly journal called The Bijou of Asia, its first number having appeared in July. The editor is Mr. Matsuyama, a valued correspondent of The Path. 167 The Lotus for June is at hand from Paris. It contains a response to H. P. Blavatsky's paper against Esoteric Christianity; Parabrahm by Amaravella; Ancient Egyptian Psychology by Franz Lambert; A 17th Century Association of Adepts, and other papers. The Theosophist for June is more interesting than it has been in other months. "Travestied Teachings" opens the number. There is a valuable paper by B. Jaya Raji Rau on the Uttaragita, which is a part of the great Epic, the Mahabharata. N. C. has an article on the Philosophy of Yogam. Mabel Collins furnishes an all too short instalment of "The Angel Peacock." For deep and wide thinking students the best article is that on "Nature's Finer Forces," one of a series; many will no doubt pass it by, but it has suggestions of enormous value to him who is ready to see. There is yet much unsaid by Hindu students; we call on them to throw aside reserve and give American readers at least a little more than is usual to find in The Theosophist. The Literary Album (Bombay S. E., India), is at hand. It contains a portrait of the present Viceroy of India and several selections from European and American Journals. Tea Table Talk Julia Keightley (signed "Julius"), pp. 167-171 171 Theosophical Activities. AMERICA. Theosophical Headquarters.—Some members of the Aryan T. S. of New York have made arrangements for a theosophical headquarters in the business part of the city, which is to be open in the day time. It will contain theosophical magazines, pictures from the East, and an album for photographs of theosophists and of famous occultists. The room is small, as it is intended only for a beginning, but it is hoped that it will induce others to do the same thing in other cities. It will be practically open all day in the business hours of the day, and visiting theosophists will be welcomed. The address can be obtained from The Path. As it is thought that the album will be after a time a very interesting thing, and as the room is not for the Aryan T. S. alone but for the whole Society, it is suggested by the projectors that members of the different Branches might send their photographs under cover to The Path to be put in the album. In the headquarters at Madras, India, there are albums of this sort, containing not only photographs of members but also those of famous students and of such Yogees and fakirs as have been photographed. Lotus T. S., Michigan.—For more than a year this Branch has met on each Tuesday. Study of theosophical doctrine and experiments in psychometry have been pursued with results both interesting and profitable. In the psychometric experiments it has been found that better delineations of character have been obtained from photographs than from letters. We would like to hear from other investigators on this point; and we know that there are many good psychometers in the Society. Chicago T. S.—This Branch, presided over by Brother Sexton, has moved its quarters from the rooms so kindly offered by one of its members, to a place entirely the Branch's own. Abstracts of what is done at the meetings are sent to absent members. 172 Judging by the constant appearance in the public prints of small paragraphs touching on theosophy and the Society, some serious but most flippant, it is evident that the influence of theosophical ideas is being more widely felt than the number of our affiliated members would suggest. This influence has reached spiritualists and caused some of them to print tirades and warnings, the latter on the fearful danger for spiritualism that is said to lurk in theosophy. If this shall cause spiritualists to classify their phenomena and deduce some theories therefrom, great good instead of danger will accrue. INDIA. One thousand copies of the Epitome of Theosophy have been reprinted in Bombay by Mr. Tookaram Tatya, F. T. S., for free distribution among Indian Branches. Bro. Tookaram has been always working actively for the Society. He established a fund for printing Theosophical books and translations of valuable Sanscrit works which he sells at low prices, the profits being devoted to the fund. A free dispensary for the poor in Bombay has for a long time been carried on by him and his friends after he had started it, and many patients are treated daily. We were present there once, in 1884, and saw about 80 persons in attendance on one morning. Among the books gotten out by this Brother is a tiny Sanscrit copy of the Bhagavad-Gita. At Moradabad the journal called Jamaiul-uloom, which was founded by the T. S. there, is reported to be flourishing and widening its influence. The Buddhist Catechism, by Col. Olcott, has been translated and published in the Burmese language at Rangoon, by Mr. Moung Tun Aung, B. B., S. C. S., and in Mysore, India, into Canarese by the Editor of the Karantika Prakasika. It seems probable that this work will, ere long, have gone the rounds of all the vernaculars of the world. The Library at T. S. Headquarters bids fair to contain most valuable and extraordinary books. The Director has gone to the capital of the great Indian State of Mysore to search for valuable MSS. and books, under the auspices of the Dewan of Mysore. India is known to be full of rare and interesting palm-leaf and other manuscripts. At Ootacamund Col. Olcott lectured in May upon "Ghosts" to a large audience. Several Indian princes and functionaries were present. "The wheel of sacrifice has Love for its nave, Action for its tire, and Brotherhood for its spokes." OM! No. 6 – September 1888 "As all rivers find their goal in the ocean, so Thou art the ultimate goal of different paths, straight or crooked, which men follow according to their various tastes and inclinations." Mahabharata "God is not to be obtained by Vedic rites, or by remembrance of what is learned about Him. He only whom He accepteth can obtain Him; to his soul doth He reveal His nature." Katha Upanishad The Bhagavad-Gita W. Q. Judge (signed "William Brehon, F. T. S."), pp. 173-177 (Part X) Some Teachings of a German Mystic Johann Baptist Kerning (signed "B."), pp. 177-183 (Part V, concluded) A Buddhist Doctrine W. Q. Judge (signed "Eusebio Urban"), pp. 183-187 Conversations on Occultism W. Q. Judge (unsigned), pp. 187-192 Who are Theosophists? J. D. Buck, pp. 192-195 195 Theosophical Aspects of Contemporary Literature and Thought. "The Regeneration of the Body," by Annie Payson Call, in the New Jerusalem Magazine for February, 1887, embodies true occult principles, and it is remarkable to see how Miss Call has discovered, in her studies of the Delsarte system, that that system has for its basis the same facts of physical training that underlie the Yoga philosophy. She finds that spiritual training and physical training each interact, and that the one can be made to accompany the other. "As the gaining of spiritual strength comes through the full realization that from no selfish effort can we progress196 in regeneration, that the first necessity for spiritual growth is the dropping of self and selfish desires, so in this physical work the first object is an absolute letting go of all unnecessary tension,—all tension that has been impressed upon the muscles through an excess of effort in our daily lives, through a feeling of responsibility which is officious and presuming in us, although many times it is purely unconscious; tension that comes through hereditary habit, through needless anxiety, and through causes innumerable, but, hard as it is to say so and harder still to acknowledge, all selfish in one form or another." The following is a felicitous practical example: "How many trusting, patient souls do we see with the muscles of the forehead strained so that their eyebrows never fall to a normal height? They believe themselves to be trustful, perhaps even at rest. Help them to become conscious of these strained muscles, to become sensitive to the unnecessary physical tension, and, as they learn to drop it, they are invariably led to consider the selfish spiritual tension which is the cause, and new light is perceived and new rest found. The Divine in us meets external truth, and leads them to an internal light from which our lives are renewed. So the external evidences of the misapplication and misuse of our own wonderful machine, as we see them clearly and overcome them, lead us into new acknowledgments of the spiritual causes and new sense of the absoluteness of the Divine power." Here is the process of physical regeneration as it begins: "First all force must be dropped, the tension must be taken from our bodies entirely, which brings us as nearly to the state of a new-born baby as is possible. This cannot be done all at once; it cannot be done with every part of the body at once. It must be taken piece by piece. First there are motions to free the muscles connected with the head; and it is surprising to find how much force we use to hold our own heads on, proved by our inability to let them go. Nature will hold them on much better than we can, and we only hinder her by endeavoring to assist. The personal endeavor hitherto has been unconscious. As soon as we become conscious of it, how can we cease trying until we have dropped our personal officiousness to that extent?" Here is something about the result, showing the economy of energy attained, and the consequent ability to employ upon higher planes of action the reserve of energy thus effected in other processes. For it must be borne in mind as a profound occult truth, that only through the power generated in the physical state is spiritual progress possible. When the practice has had its effect, "every articulation is trained to use in its fullest natural extent, and with only the force needed to move it. And the force needed decreases to a degree that seems wonderful in itself and wonderful in the realization it gives us of the way in which we have been thumping (I use the expression advisedly) upon an exquisite instrument that will respond to a lighter touch197 than we are able to give. It would of course be impossible to take muscle by muscle and rearrange them, and if it were possible we would not wish to do so. We have simply to shun the evils that we see, to make ourselves physically nothing; then nature comes and rearranges us, and in the movements, which are of course most general, the muscles work in perfect harmony because they are left to nature and we only do what we see clearly. So we learn how to allow the body to be perfectly passive in order to react to the activity of the mind; as the mind itself should be passive, reacting to the Divine mind." A gentleman interested in occult researches, and who has spent much time in the Orient, on meeting Miss Call and witnessing illustrations of the system which she exemplifies, declared that the motions were identical with those of Buddhist temple girls in Japan. Miss Call's ideas agree not only with the Eastern Philosophy, but correspond with the teachings of Through the Gates of Gold and of Kernning, the German adept. The former tell us that we must act with Nature, and use the animal in the service of the Divine part of our being, when a profound peace will fall upon the palace; and the latter says that we seem to use the mind, but the mind in reality uses us. There has gone up a great and earnest cry among seekers for enlightenment here in the West for something practical; Miss Call is one of those who offer it to us in the shape of the beginnings, at least, of a method of "Yoga practice" simple and effective, without the strains and dangers involved in the Hatha-Yoga, but quite adapted to our Western nature. We trust that enough disciples may be gained for this admirable adaptation of the Delsarte system to apply and introduce it so generally as to meet the demands of Western students of Occultism. In "Miser Farrell's Bequest," in the Atlantic Monthly for June and July, 1888, J. P. Quincy carries to its conclusion the theme of the two former stories in the same periodical, "The Peckster Professorship" and "A Crucial Test." The appearance of these stories in the leading literary magazine of America, written by a man of one of the most eminent New England families, is a fact most suggestive of the tendency of the times. Mr. Quincy makes these stories from beginning to end a plea for the reality of the basis for modern psychical and occult theories, and he loses no opportunity to present the strongest possible arguments in behalf of those ideas. In the present story Mr. Quincy cites considerably from recent theosophical literature, including the appearance of the Master to Col. Olcott in New York, and the leaving by the former of the piece of Thibetan embroidery that he wore, as evidence. By the way, one of the most incredible phenomena related in the first of these three stories, the com198plete piece of thought-transference from the principal of an academy to one of the pupils, who thus robbed the former unconsciously of the main feature of the anniversary address he was about to deliver, is completely matched by the testimony of one of the editorial staff of the Boston Transcript, as narrated a few months ago, concerning a lady of unimpeachable veracity who, in the company of a learned scientist, conversed with such evident thorough information about his specialty, osteology, as to excite his wonder and admiration. It turned out that she in reality had not the slightest knowledge of the subject, but was talking to the scientist with the thoughts she unconsciously received from his own mind. In the Century for July, 1888, the Rev. Dr. J. M. Buckley has another of his papers on psychical subjects, called "Dreams, Nightmares, and Somnambulism." Dr. Buckley has accumulated a large array of facts, but he shows his unfitness for scientific observation by making a distinction in this, as in previous papers, between scriptural phenomena and those based on profane evidence; of the former he asserts, "These, being attributed to supernatural influence, can reflect no light upon ordinary phenomena." Dr. Buckley is apparently a fair collector of facts, but a defective generalizer; he leans towards the piddling methods of the average psychical researcher;—Such and such phenomena might possibly be accounted for in some other way; ergo, they could not have occurred in the way that witnesses testify, and probably the other way in which perhaps they happened must have been the true way! Dr. Buckley is evidently a Methodist agnostic, and men like him go further in their influence towards making materialists than all the Huxleys, Tyndalls, or even Bob Ingersolls, could ever accomplish. Is not the motive of many religionists, in their evident anxiety to have nothing proven concerning the reality of psychical phenomena, the desire of permitting nothing to interfere with their own assumed prerogative as custodians of "revealed religion," which they would have the sole basis for belief in the "supernatural"? In Scribner's Magazine for April is a story called "The Last of the Ghosts," by Barrett Wendell, the author of that interesting story of reincarnation, "The Duchess Emilia." It is a well told story, and true to psychic principles in its narration; it might serve as a good model in this respect to Mr. Besant, Rider Haggard, and other dabblers in the occult for the sake of fiction material. Students of theosophy will find the writings of Robert Louis Stevenson full of mysticism. That author has some fine and deep intuitions on the great problems of life, and these are manifest here and there in nearly all his works. In the series of short essays which he has been writing for199 Scribner's the past year, his "Chapter on Dreams" shows how beautifully and usefully the dreaming faculty may be developed, and in "The Lantern-Bearers" he employs the peculiar boy-sport of carrying a lantern buttoned beneath the coat, invisible to the passer, but giving delight to the bearer by the mere consciousness that it is there, as a powerful simile in showing how, locked within the breast of every person, there is that central flame "that burns wherever it is lit." Stevenson, with his large-mindedness, makes it a noble and forceful piece of imagery. A remarkable narrative, in which students of occultism will find instruction, is "The Great Amherst Mystery," by Walter Hubbell. It is a narrative sworn to as true by the author, and indeed it bears the impress of truth in every line. Its naive manner gives assurance of thorough sincerity; it would require the highest art to impart such a semblance of truth to a fictitious story. The Psychical Research Society, were it in earnest about finding out anything, might easily collect a mass of evidence about these remarkable phenomena, to which a whole village in Nova Scotia was witness. Mr. Hubbell is a well known actor, and when playing in Nova Scotia one summer he heard of these occurrences; having exposed various spiritistic mediums he thought he would have the satisfaction of exposing this case, but he received such convincing evidence of the reality of the phenomena that he stayed some weeks to investigate, which he did very thoroughly. Esther Cox, a young girl, it seems, was obsessed by an elemental of the most powerful kind and diabolical nature, and astounding physical phenomena resulted. She was a girl of strong emotional nature, and while out driving with a young man her nervous system received such a shock from an attempt on the part of her lover to commit an outrage, that six days afterwards the phenomena began to take place, the derangement of her nervous system evidently affording the means for accomplishing the manifestations. The obsessing elemental, who had the guise of a repulsive old man, played the most fiendish pranks. He called himself "Bob Nickle," a name remarkably like that of the young man, Bob McNeal. It is related that the latter, who was a handsome young fellow, but known to have a cruel disposition, became little more than a nonentity after this occurrence. He was a shoemaker, and the elemental, "Bob Nickle," also called himself a shoemaker and would imitate exactly the noises of making shoes. Probably the most rational explanation is that the elemental was generated by the young man in his evil passion, and, when the system of the girl became so deranged, it flew directly to its object and proceeded to feed upon her vitality, fastening itself upon her and detaching itself from the young man. Perhaps the fact that his nature became so changed after this is to be accounted for by the elemental's taking all the energy from his organism and using it to combine with the200 vitality of the girl in working the phenomena, which, being of a varied and powerful physical character, must have required great strength. The form of the elemental, that of the horrible, tramp-like old man, might have been the elementary of some person of brutal passions who would be attracted by the existence of such tendencies in the young man, the same elemental force animating the elementaries of other beings in the lowest grade of Kama Loca who constituted the other members of the mischievous group that assisted in the pranks, which included the hurling of knives and other missiles through the air, the bringing of objects from other rooms through closed doors, the tormenting of the sensitive in various horrible ways, and the setting of fires in all parts of the house. It is notable that, after the marriage of Esther Cox and the birth of a child, the obsession ceased. S. B. Tea Table Talk Julia Keightley (signed "Julius"), pp. 200-202 203 Theosophical Activities. AMERICA. A new Branch called the Dharma T. S. has been formed under dates of July 25th and 27th at Cleveland, Ohio. The President is Bro. Wm. C. Rogers; the Secretary, Bro. Wm. E. Gates, 168 Public Square, Cleveland. In it we find inspiration towards duty and true religion, as that is its plain meaning in Sanscrit. It has also started the nucleus of a library. The new Theosophical Headquarters, of which notice was given in the August Path, are now open at Room 45, 115 Nassau St., New York. Various friends have contributed the needed furniture, but any appropriate articles of adornment or of Theosophic interest will still be welcomed. Members of the Society, near or far, can certainly contribute their photographs to the album, and it would be well if each reader of these lines would realize that it is his (or her) photograph that is particularly desired. Visitors are requested to inscribe their names in the Register. Around the walls, as at Adyar, are shields bearing the names of the several Branches, the motto of the Society surmounts the window, and the light comes from the east. The room adjoins that of the General Secretary, who will have sincere pleasure in greeting Theosophists and in making the Headquarters to them a home. Aryan T. S.—Late discussions have been upon Avatars, Saviors, etc. There will be no further regular meetings until September. The General Secretary reports evidence of spreading interest and of increasing membership. INDIA. The prospects for obtaining manuscripts of value for the Adyar Library are, as we said last month, very encouraging. The Director reports from Mysore that he has inspected the Royal Manuscript Library there, and has selected a number of rare works to be copied for the Library at the cost of the State. He will remain in Mysore until he has finished inspecting all the great libraries of ancient books in that State. At Udamalpet a new Branch T. S. was formed in June. The President is Kandasami Mudaliar; the Secretary, T. N. Subbia. Another Branch was also formed in June at Pollachi. President, L. Ramachendra Aiyar; Secretary, T. R. Venkatarama Aiyar. A new Hindu College is proposed at Madras. This is the outcome of the alleged great expose of Theosophy by the directors of the Christian College, and of the interest excited among their students by the Theosophical Society in 1884. The Buddhist Catechism has been translated, since our last report, into Urdu. This is the tenth language into which it has been translated. 204 Babu Devi Prasad of Dumraon has paid his subscription in advance for thirty years from 1883. He expects our Society to last at least until 1912. At Gooty an interesting meeting of the local Branch was held in July, when Mr. A. L. Narasimhan, whom we met there in 1884, delivered a lecture on Theosophy. Col. Olcott got back to Madras June 12, and resumed work there after his short vacation at Ootacamund. He is restored in health. On the way down he visited several places. At Palghat, although heavy monsoon rains were falling, for two evenings the largest hall in the place was crowded to hear him. The Theosophical Publication Society's work should be noticed as one of our important lines of action. It was projected by Bro. R. Harte, who for a long time was an active member of the Aryan T. S., and also its President. He is now Secretary of the T. P. Society. They have issued nine reprints up to date, as follows: No. 1—"Theosophy and the Churches." No. 2—"Psychic Bodies" and "Soul Survival." No. 3—"Philosophie der Mystik." No. 4—"The Theosophical Movement," etc. No. 5—"What is Matter and What is Force?" etc. No. 6—"Re-incarnation," etc. No. 7—"Practical Occultism," etc. No. 8—"Epitome of Theosophic Teachings." No. 9—"Keely's Secrets." No. 10—"Elementals and Elementaries." Col. H. S. Olcott, President-Founder of the Theosophical Society, is now daily looked for in London. He goes there to summon a European Convention and arrange a Council and other details for a European Section of the T. S., the general plan being like that now in full working order in America. We hope to present further facts in the October Path. He will return to India in time for the December Convention at Adyar. In France the Revue des Deux Mondes gives an important article by Emile Burnouf on Buddhism in the West, wherein he classes The Theosophical Movement as one of three great ones—Buddhism, Christianity, and The Theosophical Society. Have hope, Theosophists! "I only hand on, I cannot create, new things; I believe in the ancients, and therefore I love them." —Confucius. OM! No. 7 – October 1888 "That Self is indeed Brahman, consisting of knowledge, mind, life, sight, hearing, earth, water, wind, ether, fire and no fire, desire and no desire, anger and no anger, right and wrong, and all things." Brihadaranyaka Upanishad The Bhagavad-Gita W. Q. Judge (signed "William Brehon, F. T. S."), pp. 205-209 (Part XI) Tales of the Ancient Rajputs Charles Johnston, pp. 209-215 Karma and Providence Alexander Fullerton, pp. 215-219 Conversations on Occultism W. Q. Judge (unsigned), pp. 219-222 A Plea for the Children Julia Keightley (signed "August Waldersee, F. T. S."), pp. 222-224 224 A German Mystic's Teachings. In the last three numbers of the Path we have given a story by the German Mystic Kernning of the experiences of a sensitive. The story is called advisedly "From Sensitive to Initiate." We did not think that it was intended to show what the final initiation is, but only one of the many initiations we have to undergo in our passage through matter. The trials of Catherine illustrate those we all have, whether we know them as such or not. She had a presence to annoy her; we, although not sensitive as she was, have within us influences and potential presences that affect us just as much; they cause us to have bias this way or that, to be at times clouded in our estimate of what is the true course or the true view to take, and, like her, so long as we do not recognise the cause of the clouds, we will be unable to dissipate them. But Kernning was a theosophist, and one of those men who knew the truth in theory and at the same time were able to make225 a practical application of what they knew. There are many cases to-day in which sensitive people do just what Caroline did and have "presences" to annoy them; but how many of our theosophists or spiritualists would be able to cast the supposed obsesser out, as Mohrland did in the story? They can be counted on one hand. The simplicity with which Kernning wrote should not blind us to the value of his work. In the preceding articles by him which we have from time to time given, there is much to be learned by those who look below the surface. We therefore add the following as a note to the last story in order to try to show its theosophic meaning. The conversation about "Mantrams" between the Sage and the Student in the Path for August involves an occult truth so important that it is worth while to recall that the power of mantrams is recognized by the school of German occultists represented by Kernning. Readers of the Path who have attentively read "Some Teachings of a German Mystic" have observed that in nearly all instances the pupils achieve an awakening of their inner self, or the "spiritual rebirth," by means of a particular word, a sentence, or perhaps even a letter of the alphabet, and that, in cases where persons are involuntarily awakened, it is by continued thinking upon some object or person, as in the case of the young sailor whose mind was continually dwelling on his absent sweetheart and was thereby released from the limitations of his own personality. Caroline Ruppert was aroused by a morbid dwelling on her disappointment in love and by remorse for her conduct towards her invalid mother, until these thoughts gained a mantric power over her, and it required intelligent exercise with other mantrams, given her by the Adept Mohrland, to restore her self-control and give her a symmetrical development. Out of a medium, or mere sensitive, she thus became an initiate, able to control the psychic forces by her own will. Every hapless "medium" who is obsessed by elementals and elementaries that make life a torment, and who is compelled to do the bidding of these forces generated by personal vitality, and whose conflict obscures the true self—like a spring whose waters, finding no adequate channel, rise to the level of their source and thus drown it—, has it in his or her power, by intelligent exercise of the will, to obtain command over what they are now obliged to obey. But, in doing this, "right motive" must be kept constantly in view; care must be exercised to keep absolutely free from all mercenary or other selfish considerations, else one will become a black magician. The condition known as "mediumship" has been the subject of too much indiscriminate condemnation; it can be made a blessing as well as a curse, and the aim should be, not to suppress it, but to develop it in the right direction. The psychic powers, like all other natural forces, can be made either a good servant or a terrible master, and, in proportion to their subtlety as compared with other forces, so much greater is their power for good or for evil. 226 In psychic work the power of united endeavor has often been emphasized, and it is easy to see that the power is developed whether consciously or unconsciously exercised. Thus, with thousands thinking unitedly in one direction, as in the present Theosophical awakening, they all help each other, lending strength to each other's will, whether they are aware of it or not. According to this principle it would seem that a word used commonly for mantric purposes has a greater potency over the forces of the spirit, owing to the impression it has made upon the akasa, than a word not commonly used, for in the case of the former the user has the aid of the wills of all others who have used it. In one of his works, "The Freemason," Kernning gives a good explanation of the power of mantrams, in replying to the strictures of a rationalistic critic, who says that such a use of words is made by the bonzes (yogis) of India, and therefore must be wholly nonsensical! Says Kernning: "Whoever has a great love for an art or science not only finds delight in the results, but their very names have a sort of magic power with him. Whoever feels a love for another person is moved whenever he thinks of that person or repeats the name of that person. The gambler, in spite of all the arguments against his infatuation made by others, and often, indeed, by himself, always beholds dice and cards before his eyes. The drunkard only needs, in order to be made thirsty, to hear the name of wine. The miser lives in the vision of his ducats and dollars, the ambitious man upon the insignia of fame and the plaudits of the multitude, the courtier upon his orders and titles, and in all these cases, not only are the things themselves concerned, but the names have become idolized. Now suppose that one should, instead of swimming in the depths, fill spirit and soul with exalted and divine ideas and names, can other than most beneficent results follow? Indeed, could a person be a genuine Christian without the life of Christ, and even his name, becoming animate in spirit and soul? Therefore there is no nonsensical or unreasonable practice in this; on the contrary, every one should be made aware of this simple method, which is founded upon human nature and is confirmed by experience, that he may attain the means of ennobling his nature, of directing his energies towards the highest end of his life, and reaching this end with certainty." Tea Table Talk Julia Keightley (signed "Julius"), pp. 227-230 230 Literary Notes. Theosophist for July shows the hand of Col. Olcott. The first article is upon "Precipitated Pictures." In view of the account given of Mme. Diss Debar's alleged precipitation of pictures in oil and crayon, Col. Olcott refers to his own experiences in New York with precipitations. He also gives a good explanation of how by strong biologizing a canvas might be removed from the room, the sitter made to see a duplicate in its place, the picture be painted by hand in the next room, and then put in place of the illusion in such231 a way that the sitter would think it had been precipitated on the spot. Next follows an article on "Suggestion" in hypnotic experiments. In "The Revival of Hinduism" it is justly claimed that the theosophical Sun has risen, and in the words, "When some of the apparently unmeaning ceremonies and observances of Hinduism were scientifically expounded by the Society * * * the Hindu mind * * * reawoke to appreciate the glories of Hinduism, throwing off the lethargy that oppressed it," we find an expression of the effect on the Hindus of our work there. Another short installment of The Angel Peacock follows. There is a long account of the last American Theosophical Convention, and other articles are continued. An interesting account is given of the celebration of Buddha's Birthday in Ceylon, which, among other things, shows what an influence the Theosophical Society has had in the revival of Buddhism, as testified to by the High Priest at Colombo. It is important to know that through Col. Olcott's efforts in England in 1884 this day has been made a governmental holiday in Ceylon. The Lotus (Paris) for July is at hand. Among other interesting articles it contains one upon the "Psychology of Ancient Egypt" by H. P. Blavatsky, and a continuation of Amaravella's strong discourse upon Parabrahm. The troubles in the Isis Society appear to be quietly settling down in favor of the new President, Monsieur Gaboriau. The Society has been favored by a special visit of Mr. Archibald Keightley of London, as delegate from H. P. Blavatsky. The August No. contains a translation of Massey's "Opinions of the ancients on psychic bodies," "Theosophy," by Hartmann, the conclusion of Du Prel's "Scientific standpoint of the post-mortem state," Subba Row's admirable "Notes on occult philosophy," "Astrology" by Barlet, "Dreams" by Guymiot, "The destruction of life" by Meroyn, and a charming bit of verse on Labor, by Rameau. Among the "divers facts" with which this magazine always concludes, is the following interesting experiment, which the writer says "may be traced to magnetism or spiritism; I rather incline to magnetism." He had read in Jacolliot's "Travels to the country of the fakir-charmers" an account of a fakir who was able to make water boil by means of the magnetic fluid emitted from his hands, without touching the water. The writer resolved to try this experiment, and did so by placing three persons of different degrees of sensitiveness around a porcelain basin full of water, over which their hands were held at a height of from 2 to 3 inches, the little fingers touching to make a chain. In ten minutes the water began to boil, at first imperceptibly, then "as if little fishes were playing about in it." The magnetic fluid seemed to come in gushes, and the boiling decreased or increased as the hands were raised or lowered, although they never touched the water, which had a slightly acid taste with a flavor of sulphur. The séance lasted half an hour, and seems well authenticated. Justice a Healing Power, (Carter & Karrick, Boston, 1888. 25 cents,) is a brochure by M. J. Barnett, intended to enforce the necessity of justice, not only in its own peculiar field, but also as a means of getting health and keeping it. 232 Hestia is a new magazine started in New Zealand, and is devoted to the teachings of the ancient sages, philosophy, and science. A theosophist is the founder, and later on it is intended to boldly proclaim its theosophical character. For ourselves, we believe in telling people of theosophy, whether it seems they are ready for it or not. This journal is well printed on good paper, and its first two numbers promise well. At present it is free. Address Edwards & Co., Brandon St., Wellington, New Zealand. The Life of Jehoshua the Prophet of Nazareth. This new book by Dr. F. Hartmann is just at hand. It is "An occult study and a key to the Bible." The author says in the preface: "The only object of the following pages is to aid in dispelling the mists which for many centuries have been gathering around the person of the supposed founder of Christianity, and which have prevented mankind from obtaining a clear view of the true Redeemer * * * but who can only be found within the interior temple of the soul by him in whom his presence becomes incarnate"; and yet we are sorry to find the book marred by a great deal that seems to us nonsensical, as in the repetition of a quantity of matter about supposed "initiations," which is given in all seriousness and which is taken from the French of Christian and other unreliable sources. Then the old story, from the Talmud, that Jesus was stoned to death, will hardly do at this time. It is not true, either, for he was not stoned nor was he initiated in the manner given. We do not think that the true history of this great Initiate has yet been given: it will have to be written by one of his contemporaries, and that true historian will at the same time be able to explain about the Karma of Jesus, now very heavy and of a sort which an Initiate even could not wipe out nor divert. (Occult Pub. Co., Boston, 1888. $1.50.) The Kalevala.—Translated into English by Prof. J. M. Crawford, (1888, J. B. Alden, New York.) It is a matter of congratulation that the first complete English translation of the great Finnish Epic has been made by a Cincinnati man. Though the books are hardly yet dry from the hands of the binder, scarcely two weeks having passed since the advance copies appeared, the Eastern papers have found time to give most elaborate reviews, ranking the work of Dr. Crawford very high for its literary merit, poetic imagery, and faithful rendering of the great Epic into English. The N. Y. Times recently devoted a whole column editorially to the poem and the mythology of the Finns, and its literary editor, Mr. Chas. DeKay, has written a most elaborate and classical paper on the subject which is soon to appear. It is everywhere admitted that the appearance of the poem is a very important event in English literature. The first feeling on taking up these two beautifully printed volumes is one of profound surprise that a poem of such magnitude and beauty could so long have remained unknown to English readers, and this feeling is only deepened as, with unflagging interest, the reader pursues his way through the poem itself. The magic of nature and the most intense poetic feeling give voice and character to a people but little known and by many supposed to be rude and uncultured. To the Finn the epic is a sacred inheritance, and to alter a word from the original form is considered sacrilege. While, therefore, the recital of the poem by old gray-beards served to impress it deeply on the memory of the young; and while its recital served as a solace to while away the long, dark, dreary winter-days; it also served to preserve the poem itself and at last to transmit it to other generations and other climes. It is admitted by competent critics like Prof. Sayce, Canon Taylor, and Mr. Chas. DeKay, to be purely pagan in origin and of great antiquity, having been orally transmitted from father to son, generation after generation, for at least three thousand years, never having appeared in print233 in any language until within the last half century. This fact gives a romantic interest to the great epic unequaled in modern times. It is doubtful if any other great epic is so distinctly national in character. It shows at once the legendary lore, the peculiar beliefs, and the daily life of a people who have been but little changed by outward influences. The deeds of fabled heroes, the magical incantations, and the commonest things of daily life, are so woven together as to give one in a single picture the genius of the Finnish race. It is by no means strange that a people who patterned their lives after such high ideals, where simple truth, justice and simplicity of life were held as the supreme good, should be found possessed of these very qualities. The first article of faith with every Finn is that he owes it to himself to be absolutely truthful, just, and kind. This to-day is their characteristic. To give any detailed analysis of the poem itself would require more space and time than we can at present spare. We have read the poem because it is full of Occultism and Magic, and shows the ancient Finns to have been believers in Reincarnation and such theosophical doctrines. There is much in it drawn from ancient magic that will not be understood except by those who really know what true occultism is. Part of it is obscure for the every day scientist and archæologist, because it really deals with periods of evolution long anterior to the appearance on earth of the present human race; with a time, in fact, when the coming human beings were in constant intercourse with the Deva world, the same period spoken of in the Old Testament when the sons of God married the daughters of men. The trials of the neophyte are well shown in the story of Lemminkainen and the advice of the Guru in the mother's advice "to give half away, to take but half a stride, and occupy only half of a seat." Similar things can be found in the Indian books. There is also an "Isle of Forgetfulness" where one is safe and enjoys great pleasure for a period, after which he returns home (to rebirth). This is Devachan. In Kullervo's story, Reincarnation is plainly told about. These two volumes are full of interest and profit for the student of occultism who draws from the study of ancient beliefs and religions much that in his long flight through rebirth since that old time he had forgotten. Spirit Communion is a beautifully printed and bound volume of 260 pages, containing the inspirational utterances of the late H. B. Champion who died in August, 1887. It is compiled by M. C. C. Church. Only one hundred copies were printed, and we desire to return thanks for No. 84. There are many inspiring thoughts in the book. Notice: The Secret Doctrine.—It is fully expected that the first, and probably the second, volume of The Secret Doctrine will be ready for mailing about October 26th. We do not usually recommend to Branch libraries the purchase of any particular book, but the great importance of having this extraordinary revelation of Theosophic doctrine within the reach of every member justifies the suggestion that the members of each Branch should contribute funds for its purchase as a permanent possession of the Branch. And we refer to the subject at this time because, under the arrangements made by the London publishers, the privilege of securing it at the reduced rate ceases upon its issue. 233 Correspondence. Ahmedabad, India, 12th August, 1888. To the Editor of the Path: Dear Sir and Brother:—In the June number of your valuable journal there has been published a letter, signed by myself and other Indian Theosophists, to the effect that, if Madame Blavatsky consented, her forthcoming great work would be revised by competent Hindu students in India who would be able to throw a great deal of light on Indian Philosophy. When that letter was written we were under the impression that a learned gentleman here, who had expressed his willingness to revise the "Secret Doctrine" under certain conditions, would really do so. Myself and another friend represented all the facts to Madame Blavatsky, who at once agreed to place234 her volumes into the hands of the said Indian scholar and to abide by his conditions. For reasons, however, best known to himself, the said student of Indian Esoterism refused to undertake the task of revising the book or even parts of it. Madame Blavatsky, therefore, can no longer be blamed for not taking the assistance of Indian scholars. Perhaps it is after all for the best that her marvellous and unique work should come out as originally written by herself. I have thought fit to write these few lines lest our former letter might create some misunderstanding. Yours fraternally, N. D. Khandalavala, F. T. S. Ceylon, Colombo, 14th August, 1888. Mr. W. Q. Judge, Gen'l Secretary, Theos. Society, New York. Esteemed Brother:—We are thankful to you for the occasional announcements that you make in the Path about the work of our Society in Ceylon. No other Society of Western origin in Ceylon has ever been so popular as that of ours, and no other Society has done so much good within these few years as ours. This ought to make you glad, for you were one of the founders of the Parent T. S. The Society has been a beacon light to shipwrecked souls. It has led them to think of the incalculable importance of unselfish work. The few devoted souls who are working in its interest have received much encouragement from unseen quarters. The progress of the Society has been gradual, and at the same time steady. The work that we have in view is of enormous magnitude; little has been done and much remains to be done. The most important work that we have commenced is the establishment of schools for the education of our boys. Hundreds of addresses have been delivered in almost every town and village in stirring up the Buddhists by our beloved President, and the nucleus of a National Fund was created by him. About £1,000 have been collected and deposited in the Bank. For the accomplishment of this great work a sum of £25,000 is required. How shall we be able to realize this grand object? Our little island cannot raise this amount, and we have to appeal to our Buddhist Potentates and sympathising co-religionists of all countries for help. Christian Missionaries are trying their best to undermine our religion, and they succeed in making converts of our people. Christianity has been the bane of Ceylon. It is responsible for the crimes that are being committed in Ceylon by our people. Vice and drink were unknown in Buddhist Ceylon, and the historical records testify to this assertion. With the advancement of European civilization crime of course increases. Our beloved colleague, Mr. Leadbeater, permanently resides in Ceylon, and his presence is of the greatest use to us. We want two or three more European Buddhists to keep up with the increasing work. I have sent a copy of the specimen of the "Buddhist" which we hope to bring out next November. The "Sarasavisandaresa" is the organ of our Society, and the Buddhist will be published as a supplement to the above Paper. There is plenty of work to be done in Ceylon, and we would gladly welcome willing workers. I ask your sympathy and your co-operation to the good work that235 we are doing for the dissemination of the life-giving and soul-consoling Dharma of the Tathagato. Invoking the blessings of the Lord, the Law, and the Order, I am ever yours, Sincerely, Dharmapal Hevavitarana, Asst. Secretary T. S. Theosophical Activities. AMERICA. The New York Morning Journal, under date of Sept. 5th, devotes three-quarters of a column to a minute description of our new Theosophical Headquarters. The account is especially interesting because of its fulness, and will doubtless draw increased public attention to the fact that Theosophy is not a visitor to, but a resident of, the West. We cannot engage to procure copies of this article, but presume that they may be ordered from the editor. Theosophical activity is shown in the purchases of Indian books since July. During the last three months the entire consignment of Patanjali's Yoga Philosophy and a large number of the Wilkins Edition of Bhagavad-Gita sent here by Bro. T. Tatya of Bombay have been taken up by theosophical students. California.—This coast will one day be a powerful Theosophical centre. The Branches there are active. Some theosophists in Los Angeles last month held public meetings at which theosophy and mysticism were boldly proclaimed, much to the amusement of the press, but to the profit of those who seek. Bros. J. M. and Jno. Pryse were the prime movers. The programs contained many quotations from the Upanishads, the Buddhist Suttas, and the many books due to the T. S. In Boston the project of starting a Theosophical Sunday School has been mooted. It ought to be carried forward. Members should not allow their children to go on imbibing error in sectarian schools, leaving them to the terrible task in later life of combatting the delusions now promulgated every seven days all over the land. Wake up, Theosophists! Why cannot one member with a home devote his parlor Sunday morning or afternoon, and other members bring their children and teach them Reincarnation and Karma, making the hour agreeable with music and with amusing and instructive conversation removed from the ridiculous incubus of Old Testament views and dogmatic christianity? Santa Cruz.—The Branch here is doing well, and several new members are expected to enter this month. The Dharma T. S., the lately formed Branch at Cleveland, Ohio, has decided upon semi-monthly meetings, which have now been begun. The Cincinnati and Boston Branches have resumed regular work. Mrs. J. Campbell Verplanck, of Wayne, Delaware Co., Penn., has started on their way a number of circulars to various theosophists for the purpose of raising a fund for theosophical objects, such as printing and the like. Each person is asked to send ten cents and to make two copies of the circular for friends, who are in their turn to give ten cents and send the paper to other friends. This scheme has been undertaken by this lady with the approbation of the Theosophical Publication Soc. of London and the Path. Although there has been given in the daily papers a so-called explanation of similar schemes, wherein it is asserted that the Post Office gets most of the236 money, it appears that in practice the thing works well. It is yet to be seen what it will do in the ranks of the T. S. The only seemingly tenable objection to it is found in the laziness of those who would rather do anything than make the necessary copies. If the appeal shall, however, have the effect of causing some of those in the T. S. who have plenty of money to give a part of it to help the work of others who, with but little money to spare, have hitherto given it and their time freely, then the effort will not have been in vain. Iowa.—A new Branch has been formed at Decorah, Iowa, owing to the efforts of Mrs. M. L. Brainard of the Chicago T. S., and organizes with ten members. A library for the Branch has been started, and they also have a small fund for books. We hope the T. S. Sunday School idea will take root there. The name adopted for the Society is Isis Lodge of Decorah. The President is Mr. W. B. Hill. We hail it with joy and wish it success. The Arjuna T. S., St. Louis, has elected as President Mr. Albert J. Stiles, (P. O. Box 518), and as Secretary Mr. Elliott B. Page, (P. O. Box 659). Aryan T. S., N. Y.—Bro. S. Govinda Row Sattay, of Sholapore, India, addressed this Branch in Sept., and it is his intention to aid in the work during the coming winter by visiting any other Branches who may be willing to transport him thither. The subject of his talk to the Aryan was "Jesus as a Theosophist." Any one interested in the subject of visits by Bro. Sattay may address the General Secretary, Box 2659, N. Y. P. O. ENGLAND. A general convention was called to meet at London on the 27th of Sept. for the purpose of confederating the European Branches into one Council. Col. Olcott came from India for that purpose, and the Executive Committee of the U. S. Council delegated Bro. Richard Harte of the Aryan T. S., who has been in London for some time, to represent America in a friendly way but with no power to vote on anything affecting our Council; in fact he acts more in a brotherly visiting capacity than any other. After the convention Bro. Harte will leave for India on the 20th of October for the purpose of helping Col. Olcott at the Headquarters there. Chas. Johnston, F. T. S., who has contributed valuable articles to the Path, has entered the government service in India, and goes out on the same steamer with R. Harte. INDIA. The Bombay Theosophists have circulated 1,500 copies of the Epitome of Theosophy in and about Bombay, and 500 copies have been sent to the Hyderabad Society. Bro. Tookeram Tatya has engaged Mr. Nirbhayanand Swami as a traveling Theosophical Missionary. Surat T. S. has been visited by Mr. Nirbhayanand, who lectured on spiritual development and vindicated the superiority of the Wisdom Religion of the Indian Rishees. The Branch is in excellent condition. A Sanscrit School has been started at Andutapur by the Vice-Pres. of the T. S. there, and is already in good condition. And here they say that a person consists of desires. And as is his desire so is his will; and as is his will so is his deed; and whatever deed he does, that he will reap. —Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. OM! No. 8 – November 1888 "The Brahman which has been thus described as Immortal and as the Gayatri is the same as the ether which is around us; and the ether which is around us is the same as the ether which is within us, that is, the ether within the heart. That ether in the heart (i.e. Brahman) is omnipresent and unchangeable. He who knows this obtains omnipresent and unchangeable happiness." Chandogya Upanishad Analogies Alexander Fullerton, pp. 237-243 244 A Joint Note. H. P. Blavatsky and H. S. Olcott To dispel a misconception that has been engendered by mischief-makers, we the undersigned, Founders of the Theosophical Society, declare that there is no enmity, rivalry, strife, or even coldness between us, nor ever was: nor any weakening of our joint devotion to the Masters, or to our work, with the execution of which They have honored us. Widely dissimilar in temperament and mental characteristics, and differing sometimes in views as to methods of propagandism, we are yet of absolutely one mind as to that work. As we have been from the first, so are we now united in purpose and zeal, and ready to sacrifice all, even life, for the promotion of theosophical knowledge, to the saving of mankind from the miseries which spring from ignorance. H. P. Blavatsky. H. S. Olcott. London, October, 1888. [Editor's Note.] The foregoing is not uncalled for, even here in America. We have received some letters from members here, asking us if we were not aware of the rumor of disagreement refuted in the above note, some inquiring and others insinuating that it was true. To these we have uniformly replied that the rumor was as ridiculous as it was unfounded. We trust that the foregoing from the parties involved will dispel all doubts and avoid the necessity of our further replying by letter to inquirers. 245 The Practical Side of Theosophy. It may seem to those who have closely followed the progress of the Theosophical Society that enough has already been written, and that the ground has been so thoroughly covered that further exposition is unnecessary. We have had practical occultism, and theoretical occultism, and, under the name of theosophy, commentaries without number. Indeed, the ground has been very thoroughly gone over, so that one familiar with the publications already issued need have no difficulty in finding his way. Under the head of theosophy is comprised a philosophy of the origin, the nature, and the destiny of all things. All things cannot be defined in a sentence, or adequately discussed in a magazine article. The discussion of one principle brings out many others bearing more or less directly on the one under consideration, and so complexity leads often to confusion and bewilderment, and especially is this the case with beginners, while older students are not always exempt. Now it is exceedingly desirable to get rid of confusion and bewilderment, for these are very discouraging and spoil the efficiency of the life and work of the student. The removal of confusion does not depend on profound and extensive reading, or on great learning in occult or theosophic subjects, but on a certain condition of the soul. Some have gone over the greater part of the literature of occultism, and talk learnedly about innumerable philosophies, only to become hopelessly involved as in the meshes of a net, having no "master's word," no power to command, no light with which to see. They have brought no cosmos out of chaos. The music of their souls has no rhythm or harmony, is built upon no theme, but is a confusion of sounds, a chorus of incoordinate occult tom-toms. And why? Because their knowledge (?) is superficial, merely of the intellect; it has never entered into or been drawn from their lives. It is the very surface of things, the foam on the crest of the billows broken off from the great throbbing sea beneath. There have been theosophists who have caught hold of the essence, driven to the very centre almost at a bound; intense, earnest natures, hungering and thirsting for something they could not find, till at last it was found. "Ah yes, I see!"; they have exclaimed, "in order to get it, I must re-form my life. Well, I will do it!" And such transformations as have occurred! With a seal upon their lips and a monitor in their hearts, they have steadily worked their way into a new world. They lost at once the relish for "sin" and the lusts of life; and how? because they loved something else more than these. And yet they were patient with the very things they had come almost to loathe, working through them instead of running away from them. Yet knowing that their progress depended on their attaining true freedom,246 they could even forego progress and the greater good for the sake of duty and obligations ignorantly and thoughtlessly assumed. The great renunciation is made up of little self-denials. At the very moment the soul lets go of self, it finds the All. The truths of theosophy are solely for those who want them, and for none others; and, be he rich or poor, ignorant or learned, desire determines all and motive colors all. He who is drunk with the wine of the world has no palate for the ambrosia of the gods, which to him is like milk for babes. Very well; he is joined to his idols, let him alone. A friend, a straightforward, honest man, once said to the writer, "I would give anything for the assurance you seem to possess of the future, and that all is well." It was replied, "You do not want it." "Yes I do, indeed I do." "Well, I will convince you that you do not want it in the sense meant to be conveyed." Now the friend was engaged to a beautiful girl, so this proposition was presented him:—"Suppose an angel were to appear at this moment and say to you, 'Choose one gift, and no more, and it shall instantly be yours,' would you choose the wisdom you say you desire, or would you choose to have a certain young lady put into your arms as your wife?" "Why of course," he replied, "I'd take the woman. I did not mean it in that way." Not only the dearest thing we have, but the dearest thing we covet, or that creation holds, must be the Truth. Now no one will be able to reach the point of so desiring the truth till he has learned the worthlessness of all else. It is worse than folly to drag him away from his idols; he will cherish them still in secret, and offer them incense in the inner sanctuary of his soul. It is said of the occult hierarchy that no one who knocks in the right way can ever be denied. Who, indeed, can deny the master admission to his own house; and who can enter the house of the strong man and spoil his goods unless the strong man be first bound hand and foot; and, again, who can bind him but his lawful vassals who dwell in his house; and who can restrain these but the master of the house? On the surface of things there would seem to be a contradiction in the theosophic teaching. Self-denial, renunciation, and brotherhood on the one side; and instruction for personal progress in practical occultism on the other. If there seems to be a discrepancy here, it is only on the surface, and it disappears the moment one begins to work in earnest. There are, indeed, mysteries to be unfolded in the progress of the individual, but they are in no sense revelations from without. They are unfoldings from within, just as the seed unfolds into the more perfect plant, just as the bud unfolds into the more perfect flower. Very many members of the theosophical society are anxious only about their own progress; they hang like barnacles on the theosophic ship. "How will the T. S. benefit me? What shall I gain? What have I gained247 by joining the T. S.?" You have gained an opportunity to pull an oar or unfurl a sail; and if you have worked with a will, you may be surprised one of these days to learn how much you have actually acquired of the art of navigation. What would be thought of the merchant who, as often as he sold a shilling's worth of goods, closed his store, leaving his customers outside, while he took account of stock? By the time he had ascertained that half of his shilling was pure profit, he would also realize that his customers had departed, his opportunities had vanished, and his rent and expenses had devoured his shilling and led him toward bankruptcy. O ye of little faith! Must ye have cent per cent in search of truth, or else hide your Lord's money in a napkin and bury it in the earth? Either we desire the truth, or we do not, and there is no deception about it. No man can deceive his own soul. If we desire the world, there is no reason why we should not seek in that direction, for in such seeking lies our only cure. Theosophy offers absolutely nothing to him who still would buy and sell and get gain. Has any one ever seen Madame Blavatsky or Col. Olcott sitting in a corner gazing at the tips of their noses, or studying a spot on the wall? Has any one heard them express anxiety about their personal progress? Has any one known them to do anything but work, work, work, sick or well, night and day, spending their last dollar for the cause, and begging, if not with rice-bowl from door to door, yet with pen and heart and tongue and brain for poor benighted, deluded humanity. How many thousands of miles has Col. Olcott travelled over India? Here is Theosophy as practiced by the founders of the T. S. Witness the picture of a poor sick woman, swollen with dropsy, sitting sixteen hours a day coining her life into brave and noble plans for the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden; working with pen for her daily bread, and taking as her reward contempt, misrepresentation, slander, and scorn! Here is practical theosophy; and where is progress for these two servants of servants? They ought to be able to ride to the moon on a broom-stick by this time, if they rate their services as we who have nibbled at the edges and held out hands for "backsheesh;" and what would we not give to be able to produce a really occult phenomenon and disappear in a cloud of glory! He who works for self is but digging in the mud, though he may imagine that he is in search of the light. He who forgets self and works for all is journeying toward the light, though he may seem to make no progress. The light will glow within him, and not only illumine his own soul, but shed a radiance on all his surroundings. Harij. "Where there is doubt, the flower of faith will not open." —Nagarjuna. The Bhagavad-Gita W. Q. Judge (signed "William Brehon, F. T. S."), pp. 248-250 (Part XII, concluding Chapter IV) Answers to Questioners W. Q. Judge (signed "Narayan Nilakant" and "Jasper Niemand, F. T. S."), pp. 250-254 254 Two Systems—Of Lust and Sorrow. The great Buddha referred to two systems of the government of life which he said were each ignoble, and one both ignoble and evil. One is the System of Lust, which is devotion to the enervating pleasures of sense; it was said by him to be vile, vulgar, unsound, ignominious, and productive of evil. Yet it is that which governs the lives of most people in these days. 255 The other extreme is the System of Sorrow. It consists of mortification of the flesh and of self torture in order to acquire knowledge and powers. This was extensively practised by Hindu ascetics in Buddha's time, and is to-day pursued to some extent. The Indian books are full of stories of the great powers over nature acquired by saints through the practise of austerities. Not ten years ago there died in India a certain Swami—or holy man—who was known as the Swami of Akalkot. He did many wonderful things, and nearly all of them known to young and old in India to-day. His powers were obtained through the use of the System of Sorrow. In the Bhagavad-Gita this practise is spoken of by Krishna, who declares that it is not the best method, although productive of great results. Both of these systems were known practically to Gautama. As the Prince Siddhartha, he was surrounded by his father's order with every luxury to tempt the senses. There were gardens, flowers, jewels, music, animals, servants, and the most beautiful women. There are so many stories told of the magnificent things collected about him that we must infer for his youth a complete realisation of the System of Lust, or sensation, even if it was of the finer and more noble quality. This at last, pleased him not, and he entered on the practice of the System of Sorrow, which he declared, after he had obtained Nirvana, to be ignoble and unworthy of a true man. This he continued in until he had tried all the varieties. It was then that he decided on the middle path from which comes attainment to truth and Nirvana. It is a well-known doctrine in the occult lodges of India that the same result can be obtained in two ways, by one extreme or the other. But in order to reach the end in those ways, great power is required,—more power than men in general possess. The reason is that, from the action of a law which may be roughly called The Law of Tendency, the extreme practice warps the being in such a manner that success is prevented. So, when one follows the System of Sorrow, he will indeed acquire great powers, such as those possessed by Viswamitra, Vasishta, and others, but with the greater number of cases it will all end at last in confusion. The System of Lust has the same end and with no exception. For its tendency being downward, an impulse is set up that sends the man lower and lower with no hope of salvation. In pursuing the middle course—that of moderation—Buddha did not ignore any department of his nature, for he says, "By five means have I seen these truths,—by the mental eye, by understanding, by wisdom, by science, and by intuition." Herein he agrees with the teaching of the Bhagavad-Gita, which tells us not to eat too much nor too little, not to oversleep nor to refuse proper sleep. Krishna says further, "Do necessary acts, ever remembering me. Fix your mind on me. Treat every creature256 as my tabernacle. This is the best devotion. In this path there is no ruggedness, no defeat." The System of Moderation, then, is the best, for it clears the inner eye and strengthens every part of the nature. Theosophists, whether they are Buddhists or not, should remember this. Some are inclined to pursue an extreme course in one direction or another. Some say that the mental powers only are to be developed: others ignore those and claim that the spiritual alone should have attention. The latter err as well as the former. It is true that the spirit is the greater. But it is also true that the mental plane and powers cannot be obliterated unless we obliterate the Universe in the Night of Brahma. If we do not use the mental eye as Buddha directs, some day we will meet on the mental plane a new experience for which we are unprepared, and defeat shall be our portion. The true practice would prevent this. There are numerous instances of such disasters being thus caused. Ascetics of extraordinary powers have been brought into sin and contempt through experiences which were new to them because they lived forever on a plane where others of a different sort had place. It is only when salvation has been obtained that we can hope to be above the influence of all Karma. "Such is the Law * * * The heart of it is love; the end of it is peace and consummation sweet. Obey!" A Buddhist. 256 Is Heredity a Puzzle? A well known writer in Harper's Magazine said lately "Heredity is a Puzzle." He then proceeded, "The race is linked together in a curious tangle, so that it is almost impossible to fix the responsibility. * * We try to study this problem in our asylums and prisons, and we get a great many interesting facts, but they are too conflicting to guide legislation. The difficulty is to relieve a person of responsibility for the sins of his ancestors, without relieving him of responsibility for his own sins." This is the general view. Heredity is a puzzle, and will always remain one so long as the laws of Karma and Reincarnation are not admitted and taken into account in all these investigations. Nearly all of these writers admit—excepting those who say they do not know—the theological view that each human being is a new creation, a new soul projected into life on this earth. This is quite logical, inasmuch as they assert that we are only mortal and are not spirits. The religious investigators admit we are spirits, but go257 no further, except to assume the same special creation. Hence, when they come to the question of "Heredity," it is a very serious matter. It becomes a puzzle, especially to those who investigate heredity and who are trying to decide on whom responsibility ought to rest, while they know nothing of Karma or Reincarnation. And it is hinted at that there is necessity for legislation on the subject. That is to say, if we have a case of a murderer to consider, and we find that he has come of a race or family of murderers, the result of which is to make him a being who cannot prevent himself from committing murder, we have to conclude that, if this is due to "heredity," he cannot in any sane sense be responsible. Take the case of the tribes, or family, or sect of Thugs in India, whose aim in life was to put people out of the world. Their children would of necessity inherit this tendency. It is something like a cat and a bird. It is the nature of the cat to eat the bird, and you cannot blame it. Thus we should be driven to pass a law making an exception in the case of such unfortunate persons. Then we should be met by the possibility of false testimony being adduced upon the trial of the criminal, going to show that he came under the law. This possibility is so great that it is not likely such a law will ever be passed. So that, even if the legal and scientific world were able to come to any conclusion establishing the great force of heredity, it would be barren of results unless the truth of Karma and Reincarnation were admitted. For in the absence of these, no law, and hence no remedy for the supposed injustice to be done to irresponsible criminals, could be applied. I am stating, not what I think ought to be done, but what will be the inevitable end of investigation into heredity without the aid of the other two great laws. If these two doctrines should be accepted by the supposed legislators, it would follow that no such law as I have adverted to would ever be put on the books; for the reason that, once Karma and Reincarnation are admitted, the responsibility of each individual is made greater than before. Not only is he responsible even under his hereditary tendency, but in a wider sense he is also responsible for the great injury he does the State through the future effect of his life,—that effect acting on those who are born as his descendants. There is no very great puzzle in "Heredity" as a law, from the standpoint of Karma and Reincarnation, although of course the details of the working of it will be complicated and numerous. I know that some theosophists have declared that it puzzles them, but that is because it is a new idea, very different from those instilled into us during our education as youths and our association with our fellows as adults. None of the observed and admitted facts in respect to heredity should258 be ignored, nor need they be left out of sight by a Theosophist. We are bound to admit that leanings and peculiarities are transmitted from father to son, and to all along down the line of descent. In one case we may find a mental trait, in another a physical peculiarity; and in a great-grandson we shall see often the bodily habits of his remote ancestor reproduced. The question is then asked, "How am I to be held responsible for such strange inclinations when I never knew this man from whom I inherit them?" As theories go at this day, it would be impossible to answer this question. For if I have come from the bosom of God as a new soul; or if what is called soul or intelligence is the product of this body I inhabit and which I had no hand in producing; or if I have come from far distant spheres unconnected with this earth, to take up this body with whose generation I was not concerned; it would be the grossest injustice for me to be held responsible for what it may do. It seems to me that from the premises laid down there can be no escape from this conclusion, and unless our sociologists and political economists and legislators admit the doctrines of Karma and Reincarnation, they will have to pass laws to which I have referred. We shall then have a code which may be called, "Of limitations of responsibility of criminals in cases of murder and other crimes." But the whole difficulty arises from the deeply transmitted habit in the Western mind of looking at effects and mistaking them for causes, and of considering the instruments or means, through and by means of which laws of nature work, as causes. Heredity has been looked at, or is beginning to be, as the cause of crime and of virtue. It is not a cause, but only the means or instrument for the production of the effect, the cause being hidden deeper. It seems just as erroneous to call heredity a cause of either good or bad acts as it is to call the merely mortal brain or body the cause of mind or soul. Ages ago the Hindu sages admitted that the body did not produce the mind, but that there was what they called "the mind of the mind," or, as we might put it, "the intelligence operating above and behind the mere brain matter." And they enforced their argument by numerous illustrations; as, for instance, that the eye could not see even when in itself a perfect instrument, unless the mind behind it was acting. We can easily prove this from cases of sleep walkers. They walk with their eyes wide open, so that the retina must, as usual, receive the impinging images, yet although you stand before their eyes they do not see you. It is because the intelligence is disjoined from the otherwise perfect optical instrument. Hence we admit that the body is not the cause of mind; the eyes are not the cause of sight; but that the body and the eye are instruments by means of which the cause operates. 259 Karma and Reincarnation include the premise that the man is a spiritual entity who is using the body for some purpose. From remote times the sages state that he (this spiritual being) is using the body which he has acquired by Karma. Hence the responsibility cannot be placed upon the body, nor primarily upon those who brought forth the body, but upon the man himself. This works perfect justice, for, while the man in any one body is suffering his just deserts, the other men (or souls) who produced such bodies are also compelled to make compensation in other bodies. As the compensation is not made at any human and imperfect tribunal, but to nature itself, which includes every part of it, it consists in the restoration of the harmony or equilibrium which has been disturbed. The necessity for recognizing the law from the standpoint of ethics arises from the fact that, until we are aware that such is the law, we will never begin to perform such acts and think such thoughts as will tend to bring about the required alterations in the astral light needed to start a new order of thoughts and influences. These new influences will not, of course, come to have full effect and sway on those who initiate them, but will operate on their descendants, and will also prepare a new future age in which those very persons who set up the new current shall participate. Hence it is not in any sense a barren, unrewarded thing, for we ourselves come back again in some other age to reap the fruit of the seed we had sown. The impulse must be set up, and we must be willing to wait for the result. The potter's wheel continues to revolve when the potter has withdrawn his foot, and so the present revolving wheel will turn for a while until the impulse is spent. 259 Theosophical Activities. AMERICA. The Pacific Coast is showing activity. Visits between Branches are proposed. The Mystic Society of Los Angeles is creating a stir there. It is not a Branch of the T. S., but is in the hands of Theosophists. Recently some articles on Theosophical doctrines were printed in papers of the day at San Francisco. The four Branches on this Coast—Golden Gate Lodge, Point Loma Lodge, Purana T. S., and Los Angeles T. S.—are in good condition. Krishna T. S. of Philadelphia is in probably the most difficult town, theosophically considered, in the United States, yet it is doing good work and waking Philadelphians up to the fact that such a cult as ours exists. The other day a prominent paper there published a column on the subject in the260 gravest manner, as if the whole thing were new to America. Among other things it said that Mme. Blavatsky herself had come over here in 1885 to establish the Branch. These little misconceptions do not amount to much, but the bringing of the matter before the people is a great deal. The Branch has a small room on Walnut Street, where the Secretary receives enquirers every day, and where quite a number of people visit and get Theosophical books. This is a good work. The Isis T. S. of Decorah, Iowa, whose formation we noticed last month, is doing well. It has already begun to take in new members, and has the nucleus of a library. An Eastern Theosophist donated to it a subscription to Mme. Blavatsky's new book, and it will purchase others soon. Dharma T. S. of Cleveland, Ohio, reports some progress. Its members are in earnest, and we hope that from this centre great influence will radiate. Groups of Theosophists ought to be started in every Branch. Work is done in this way in many. They could interchange ideas, and, instead of interfering with the regular meetings of the Branch, it would increase the interest felt and do much good. Bros. Bridge and Stearns, of the Boston T. S., have two articles in the Religio-Philosophical Journal of Chicago in reply to those in which W. E. Coleman attacked Mme. Blavatsky. The two Boston writers argue that the life and work of H. P. Blavatsky outweigh all the alleged charges of smoking, swearing, and profanity. In this we fully agree, and as we personally know that Mr. Coleman knows nothing about his subject, although he pretends to a great deal, we are glad to have the life and work of H. P. Blavatsky, so intimately connected as they are with the Society, written about in the Spiritualistic papers. Such writers as Coleman do no good to the cause they espouse, and no harm to those they attack. But we forgive his bitterness, as we know the dreary life he leads in the government military Post in San Francisco,—although we do not know whether his diatribes are written at the Post or in a room at home after the day's work is done. Theosophists can gauge the power of his attacks when they know that he began his vile articles as long ago as 1881. The Aryan T. S. of New York has not ceased its activity. Weekly meetings are held, and the library continues to grow. It still meets in Mott Memorial Hall, where the Inaugural address was delivered by Col. Olcott in 1875, when the Theosophical Society was founded. The Hall holds about 200 people. A curious antithesis is found in the fact that the Microscopical Society meets there also, so that two great ideas, exact opposites, are investigated there,—the microcosm and the macrocosm. The New York T. S. Headquarters at 117 Nassau St. are getting more known every day. The room is small because, proverbially, Theosophists have not much wealth. Nearly all the furnishings were donated.261 There is an album now almost full of photographs of American, European, and Asiatic Theosophists. It is hoped that members throughout the country who have not yet sent their pictures will soon do so. The register of visitors shows an average of nearly two visits per day since the room was opened in August. Some of the pictures on the walls are not easily found elsewhere. There are many Indian ones representing Krishna and others, and two pictures from Poona are quite curious. They are cut out of white paper by hand, and, by placing colored paper underneath, the design is seen. In a niche is an old Burmese image of Buddha with a Ceylonese grass mat fastened underneath as a dado. At the end over the one window are the seal and the motto of the T. S.,—"There is no religion higher than truth." It is intended to have something to represent all the great religions, but so far only Brahmanism and Buddhism are there, unless we count a small silver medal of the Virgin, blessed by the Pope, hanging upon the wall. It is so minute, however, that few see it. The Ishwara T. S. of Minneapolis reports that it enjoys visits from Bro. Kelso, formerly Secretary of the Arjuna T. S. of St. Louis. Milwaukee, Wis.—That energetic Brother, Dr. Wm. P. Phelon, President of the Ramayana T. S., Chicago, has just made a missionary visit to Milwaukee, where he initiated no fewer than 13 applicants and laid the foundations of a new Branch. Its name has not yet been selected, but the Charter will be issued shortly, and we hope to announce organization in the December Path. Brother Bryan J. Butts will probably be the first President. Two Theosophists have subscribed for a copy of The Secret Doctrine as a nucleus of the projected Library, and any other two who would find satisfaction in presenting Isis Unveiled as a companion work may do so through us. The scheme started by Mrs. Ver Planck for raising a T. S. publishing fund has had success. She wishes to thank the Branch Presidents and others for their kind co-operation. All but 4 Branches have been heard from, and of these all but one have concurred. It will be interesting to Theosophists to know that Mme. Blavatsky has requested the Countess Wachtmeister to start a similar scheme in London. A report of receipts will be given at a later date. The argument adduced against such methods, that the post-office gets much postage, has no weight, inasmuch as the contributors not only give the ten cents asked, but also pay the postage themselves. The Path fully endorses the work. Again the number 7. Col. Olcott left India on his mission to Europe on the 7th. The steamer was the Shannon, having seven letters; he arrived in London on the 27th of August. We regret to say that he will not be able to come to the U. S. this season. INDIA. The Buddhist Catechism has been translated into Hindi and Guzerati by Indian Theosophists. 262 In Bombay the T. S. Headquarters are still kept up by the members, and Bro. Tookaram Tatya continues to bring out his valuable publications. The cheap edition of Patanjali's Yoga Philosophy is in demand, and many copies were purchased in the United States. Col. Olcott's absence in Europe prevents our getting more news, as he generally furnishes items to The Theosophist. EUROPE. In Vienna some of the members propose certain amendments to the general Laws of T. S. The only change we would concur in would be the restoring to Col. Olcott of complete power in India, free from all committees, which always hamper him unnecessarily. We regard the T. S. as sui generis, and see no necessity for providing for his or any other person's death. If he should die, the Masters can find others to take his place. In this respect we look at the T. S. in a different way from any other body in the world. In the latter cases certain rules must be made to limit and govern all succedent officials, but with us we know that both Col. Olcott and Mme. Blavatsky work for the Society they founded, and hence the making up of supervisory and annoying committees, except for certain specific subordinate matters, is distinctly against the views of this journal at least. In France there has been the slight yearly commotion inseparable from the French character. But all has been happily settled by Col. Olcott and Bro. R. Harte, who went over to Paris for that purpose. In Great Britain there are prospects of several new Branches being soon formed. This should be done. Theosophy should not be confined to the "cultured classes." It is meant for all, and as the "unlearned Americans" can understand it, certainly all Englishmen may be benefitted by it. With such a large population as English soil supports, there ought to be great activity and many good branches, more indeed than here, where such enormous spaces between cities interfere with communication. The British theosophists have begun the printing of a new edition of Col. Olcott's Buddhist Catechism. The Theosophical Publication Society of London is about to issue a lately-taken photograph of Madame Blavatsky, cabinet size, the proceeds to be devoted to its publication fund. To each of these, before being mailed, Madame Blavatsky will append her autograph. Copies may be ordered through the Path, the price being $1.50. British Section of the T. S. This section has now been formed, with Dr. A. Keightley as General Secretary. The section consists of all chartered Branches of the society in the kingdom of Great Britain. The Council is to consist of the presidents of the Branches ex-officio, one delegate from each branch for every 25 members, and the General Secretary. The Council is to meet in London in April and November of each year, and it will also have power to issue charters or diplomas pending an appeal to the President-Founder. 263 The only observable difference between this and the American Section is that we declared ourselves autonomous, and at the same time announced our adherence and fidelity to the Indian Council, reserving to ourselves the right to manage our own affairs in accordance with the general rules. However, the English and the American mind differ in method, but the general idea under the new arrangement is the same as ours. It is all one great Society, with one aim and with the same real Directors behind. Any one who imagines it different, or tries to make it so, imagines a vain thing and will fail. A general European Section was mooted, but the various natural difficulties in the way prevented it. The Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society. Owing to the fact that a large number of fellows of the society have felt the necessity for the formation of a body of Esoteric students, to be organized on the original lines devised by the real founders of the T. S., the following order has been issued by the President Founder: I. To promote the esoteric interests of the Theosophical Society by the deeper study of esoteric philosophy, there is organized a body, to be known as the "Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society." II. The constitution and sole direction of the same is vested in Madame H. P. Blavatsky as its head; she is solely responsible to the members for results; and the section has no official or corporate connection with the Exoteric Society save in the person of the President Founder. III. Persons wishing to join the section, and willing to abide by its rules, should communicate directly with Mme. H. P. Blavatsky, 17 Landsdowne Road, Holland Park, London W, England. Signed, Attest:—H. P. Blavatsky. H. S. Olcott, President in Council. Obituary Notice. Bro. S. Govinda Row Sattay, of Sholapore, India, died in Brooklyn, N. Y., October 27th, 1888, in the 40th year of his age. He was expecting to work for the T. S. this winter but has been thus soon taken away. In his last hours he said that when he recovered he would work for humanity. Peace to his ashes! 264 To all Branches and Members of the T. S. in the United States. Col. Henry S. Olcott, President-Founder, purposes a visit to Japan upon Theosophical business in January next, and is willing, if enabled so to do, to return to India via California, New York, and England. This would make practicable a visit and address to each of the Branches on the Pacific Coast, as well as those in the East, as also public lectures upon Theosophy in the large cities and the organization therein of new Branches. It is hardly possible to over-state the enormous value to the Society of such a tour, especially in the now-awakened attitude of the public mind. The great distances to be traversed make, however, this journey very costly, and it cannot be undertaken unless Col. Olcott's expenses are guaranteed. The several Branches, and all individual members of the Theosophical Society, are invited to communicate with the General Secretary, Wm. Q. Judge, P. O. Box 2659, New York, as to the amount they would be willing to contribute to such a fund, and as to what arrangements would be made for Col. Olcott's entertainment in the different towns. The matter is brought up and pressed upon the attention of Theosophists at this early date because so much time must elapse before the General Secretary can hear from remote points, and also because a letter to India and its reply require two months more. Hence it is important to learn at once what sums will be guaranteed to the projected fund, and, in considering the question for himself, each Fellow of the Society may ask himself whether any possible outlay of money could be so fruitful of results to the Cause as that hereby proposed. Notice—The Path. We have received some complaints of non-receipt of The Path. It is mailed with great care each month, the addressed wrappers being closely compared with the subscription-book, and, when finally committed to the Post office, our responsibility for it ceases. We cannot, therefore, make good any losses due to the fault of others, for we only guarantee right delivery to the Post office, not right delivery by the Post office. This, however obvious, is once more stated and emphasized. The supporters of the Path are chiefly non-theosophists. This is a singular statement, yet strictly true. It should not be the case, for the magazine is published in the interest of Theosophy, and has never been a paying paper, but a loss to the publisher. The circular sent by Mrs. Ver Planck, asking for aid in publishing theosophical literature is, however, not to help the Path, as some members think, but is an effort to arouse interest in the work and to lighten the load carried by a few earnest members. Tea Table Talk Julia Keightley (signed "Julius"), pp. 265-268 268 The Secret Doctrine. This work, the last and most wonderful production of Madame H. P. Blavatsky, has been finished, and will be issued from this office November 1st. Subscribers are invited to remember the fact that the Path staff is very small and has much other work to do, so that the simultaneous issue of every copy ordered is impossible. Some delay will be inevitable, but the Path hopes to fill every order within a few days. According to positive instructions the right to receive The Secret Doctrine for $7.50 ends with October 31st. All subscriptions not then paid up lapse. Subscriptions then unpaid, and all future orders, are at the rate of $10.50. Postage 50 cents extra. The 2d volume will be issued about the close of November. William Q. Judge. What I, the worshipper, am, that is he, the sun; what he is, that am I. —Aruneya-Aranyaka Upanishad. OM No. 9 – December 1888 "Move forward the wheel, O thou whose sight is infinite! Rarely art thou met in the course of many thousands of Eons. Display the benevolence thou hast observed in so many former generations; open the path of immortality." Saddharma-Pundarika The Bhagavad-Gita W. Q. Judge (signed "William Brehon, F. T. S."), pp. 269-273 (Part XIII, opening Chapter V) Letters That Have Helped Me W. Q. Judge (signed "Z.", introduced by Julia Keightley as "Jasper Niemand, F. T. S."), pp. 273-278 (Part I) Among the Dead James H. Connelly, pp. 278-281 The Dweller of the Threshold W. Q. Judge (signed "Eusebio Urban"), pp. 281-284 A Curious Tale W. Q. Judge (signed "Bryan Kinnavan"), pp. 284-287 The Planes of Consciousness J. D. Buck, pp. 287-290 Theosophic Diet W. Q. Judge (signed "Rodriguez Undiano"), pp. 290-293 Tea Table Talk Julia Keightley (signed "Julius"), pp. 293-297 297 Literary Notes. The Possibility of not Dying, by H. C. Kirk, is a book that vindicates the famous Elixir of Life, an article which originally appeared in The Theosophist and was much ridiculed by many. Mr. Kirk goes even farther than the author of that article, for he considers physical immortality possible, whereas the Hindus say a body can be made to last only three hundred or so years. Remarkable to state, the Press and many learned men who scoff at Theosophy and its scientific teachings have received Mr. Kirk's book with praise, and find it impossible not to be struck with its vivid ingenuity. The Theosophist.—The September number contains Col. Olcott's article upon "The Barisal Gun," given also in Lucifer, and worthy of the widest publicity because, in a very striking instance, once more upholding the truth that phenomena which shall not have been resolved by natural laws shall frankly be remitted to a frankly-recognized region with which Science does not deal and with which Occultism does,—the Astral Plane. Mr. Charles Johnston, whose name is savory to readers of the Path, contributes an instructive article upon "Karma and Ancient Law," though we doubt whether the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is traceable so much to Latin civil law as to Greek metaphysics. The October number, in "Two Curious Experiences," gives not merely an instance of the tests which may very well occur to a candidate for the Mysteries, but a graphic description of certain types of Elementals, and, still more, a visible proof that an adventure among them of the astral body may take place and leave its marks. There is an excellent article on "Atmagnyan," another, less excellent because condoning injustice and breach of contract, on "Hindu Marriage," and a generous notice of the Path. In the Supplement is given in full Dr. Elliott Coues's able address before the Western Society for Psychical Research in Chicago last April. Apart from its literary quality and its exposition of fact, this address has the merit of a singularly fair and judicial discrimination, and we are the more glad to see it spread before Oriental readers because it may show to them that a man in this country may be a competent writer and a student of science, yet also a believer in the unseen and a member of the Theosophical Society. There are some most interesting facts about the present surroundings of our honored Madame Blavatsky, but not more than we hope ourselves to present in a later number of the Path. Announcement is made of Bro. Tookeram Tatya's republication in pamphlet form of Mr. Subba Row's Discourses on the Bhagavad Gita. We some time ago ordered copies, and hope to announce them as on sale before long. Sanscrit schools seem to be multiplying in India, thanks to the T. S. 298 Mr. A. P. Sinnett has prepared a pamphlet giving A Course of Theosophical Reading, a most excellent and well executed idea. Instead of stumbling about among a number of books at random, the inquirer is led on from the more to the less elementary, and always with the graceful touch of that most accomplished writer. We have some copies of this, but are a little chary of parting with them, having an eye to new Branches and to the needs of the future. The Secret Doctrine. The 1st Volume was sent out November 3d; the 2d will probably reach subscribers at about the same time as the December Path. It will be noticed that the postage charged, even allowing for the contract price of wrapping each volume for the mail, is slightly in excess of that needed. This charge was twice estimated, first upon a book of similar size, afterwards upon the book itself when received; but certain changes in the binding process reduced the weight materially. The time for subscription at the lower rate ($7.50) expired with the issue of the first volume. The price has now been definitely fixed at $10.00, not $10.50. Orders not adding postage should indicate the Express Company or other mode of forwarding desired. Any attempt at critical review of this marvellous book would properly seem—to those who notice that Madame Blavatsky refers to herself as "the Author—the writer, rather"—presumptuous. But, if time now allowed, it would be permissible to give some outline of its character, and especially to invite attention to some most important statements in the Preface and the Introduction. This may be attempted hereafter. To say that The Secret Doctrine is the most extraordinary, the most unique, book in literature; that its exposition of cosmogony is absolutely unprecedented since the age of print began; that the attention now given it is as nothing compared to that assured a century hence; is a very temperate assertion. If not technically a "revelation," it is virtually such to the Western world; and one may well exclaim—as was once before done when strange truth from Adept sources was disclosed, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Special Notice. Owing to the absence of the Editor upon business in Europe, Correspondence and Answers to Inquirers must temporarily lie over. Theosophical Activities. AMERICA. The Brahmana T. S. of Milwaukee, Wis., has been duly chartered, and has organized with Bro. Bryan J. Butts as President, and Mrs. Alice M. Wyman, 421 Milwaukee street, as Secretary. There are thirteen Charter-members, and we are informed that other applications for membership have299 since been made. Milwaukee is a very important city, and certainly should become a Theosophical centre. Krishna T. S. of Philadelphia has again changed its President, Bro. Henry B. Foulke having only consented to take the office as locum tenens, and now retiring in favor of Bro. Edward H. Sanborn, once more a resident of that city. If President Sanborn's time permits, much hopeful work might seem possible in a population of 900,000 (Philadelphians say a million). Still another application for Charter comes from the far West. Of this we shall have more to say in the Path for January. The Aryan T. S. of New York has established a Committee, whose duty it is to receive and collate suggestions for topics of discussion, and to submit at each meeting a subject for the ensuing. System is just as essential in Theosophy as in any other science, and helter-skelter talks on matters casually arising cannot give the richness and symmetry of growth which are conditioned on prepared, nutritious pabulum. If the mechanical aid is offered, there is a possibility that notice of the following meeting and subject may weekly be sent to each member. "Gurus" have lately been discussed, and why none of us need them yet; also Animal Magnetism. With great satisfaction we record a most welcome offering for use in the Headquarters at 117 Nassau street, New York. A generous Theosophist has presented two life-size portraits in crayon, the one of Madame Blavatsky, the other of Col. Olcott. That of Col. Olcott is now finished and adorns the room. It is an excellent likeness, vigorous and accurate. Of this and of its companion, when finished, we shall speak further next month. A significant indication of Theosophic interest through the States is this. The better to answer inquiries, the General Secretary last winter printed 500 copies of a circular "How to join the T. S.," giving full instructions, and appending a list of the then Branches. That edition is so nearly exhausted that a new one is soon to be issued. The new will not only add the steps needful to form a Branch, but will show an increase of nine (possibly ten) Branches during the eleven months since its predecessor. There are now in the U. S. 23 Branches, some sleepy, but none dead. EUROPE. The Dublin Lodge, Ireland, is in excellent condition. It has now a nicely furnished room, with a Library and various magazines, enriched with a Theosophical Shield and with photographs of Madame Blavatsky and Mohini M. Chatterji. Photographs of American Brethren will receive fraternal welcome. It is from this Lodge that Bro. Charles Johnston lately went to India, whence he promises the Path a series of articles upon Indian topics, ancient and modern. The new photograph of Madame Blavatsky, mentioned in our last, has not yet arrived, the reasons for delay having been sent us. An ample supply has been ordered, so that all Branches or individuals desiring her most lately taken portrait, as well as her autograph, may procure them from this office. The price ($1.50) seems high, but it is really a contribution to the publishing fund, as hitherto explained. INDIA. Bro. Richard Harte, of blessed memory in the Aryan T. S., was to reach India, in company with Col. Olcott, at the close of November. In300 addition to other notable services at Headquarters, he will edit The Theosophist during the President-Founder's journey to Japan and to (possibly) the United States. Bro. Harte's pen is endowed with peculiar acumen and potency,—more so, indeed, now than ever. We are informed, moreover, that a new department will be established, somewhat lighter in touch and not wholly destitute of facetiae. If all the nonsense reaching an editor (or even a General Secretary) was put in type, not a few Theosophists would grin—or weep. The Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society. Owing to the fact that a large number of fellows of the society have felt the necessity for the formation of a body of Esoteric students, to be organized on the original lines devised by the real founders of the T. S., the following order has been issued by the President Founder: I. To promote the esoteric interests of the Theosophical Society by the deeper study of esoteric philosophy, there is organized a body, to be known as the "Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society." II. The constitution and sole direction of the same is vested in Madame H. P. Blavatsky as its head; she is solely responsible to the members for results; and the section has no official or corporate connection with the Exoteric Society save in the person of the President Founder. III. Persons wishing to join the section, and willing to abide by its rules, should communicate directly with Mme. H. P. Blavatsky, 17 Landsdowne Road, Holland Park, London W, England. Signed, Attest:—H. P. Blavatsky. H. S. Olcott, President in Council. So many letters reach us in relation to the above that we need to make distinct the fact that this office has no information thereon other than what has appeared in Lucifer and the Path, and absolutely no authority or interpreting function. Inquirers should address themselves directly to Madame Blavatsky. Col. Olcott's Tour. We have to thank no small number of Branches and Brethren for their generous pledges in response to the November circular. Some of them disclose that test of all Theosophic advance, self-sacrifice. The measureless importance to Theosophy and to the Society of an American Tour by the President-Founder is so clear that we cannot hesitate to again ask the Brethren whether each has done all that he can to effectuate it. About two-thirds the necessary sum are now pledged. Should we be assured of the remainder, and should the projected lectures and visits really become a fact, the consciousness of having thus assisted may well be envied any one. We again commend this matter to the generous instincts and heartiest efforts of every true Theosophist, and shall rejoice if hereafter able to announce that the fund is complete and the tour assured. The General Secretary has received from Mrs. Ver Planck to date $44 for the T. P. S. Scheme. Half of the proceeds go to the T. P. S. of London; the other is to be used for Theosophical publication purposes in the T. S. here at home. A stone becomes a plant; a plant, a beast; the beast, a man; a man, a spirit; and the spirit, a god. —The Kabala. OM! No. 10 – January 1889 "O man, thou think'st that thou art alone, and act'st as thou list. Thou dost not perceive the Eternal Love that dwells within thy heart. Whatsoever is done by thee, HE sees and knows it all. The Soul is its own witness and is its own refuge. It is the supreme, eternal witness of man. Do not offend it." Mahabharata How the Christ-Child was Born Julia Keightley (signed "J. Campbell Ver Planck"), pp. 301-307 Letters That Have Helped Me W. Q. Judge (signed "Z."), pp. 307-310 (Part II, letters II-III) 310 Be it Done Unto Thee According to Thy Desire. Those whose attention has been but recently attracted to Theosophical studies often have considerable difficulty in taking their bearings. These are attracted by the mystery that attaches to Theosophy, and have equal difficulty in estimating their own motives and in understanding the new doctrines. There are, indeed, a few who do not come under this head, those who realise that they have at last found that for which they waited and sought; but these need little assistance, for the momentum gained by long and weary waiting will carry them a long way on the path. The great majority of students belong to the former class, and these are now for the first time brought face to face with themselves. If they mean only to have an amusing and interesting flirtation with occultism, get the reputation of being "a little fast" in the new fad, yet preserve through it all their reputation for virtuous intelligence, they ought to be made aware that they are trifling with very serious matters. It would not be difficult to imagine a man who had been out with boon companions engaged in drunken orgies, and who at midnight had come reeling home, leering and besotted, to find that home in flames, and all he had held most dear and that he had imagined safe being devoured by the cruel flames. Such a one would be sobered in a moment, and in that awful awakening self-reproach and horror would take possession of his soul. He would in that awful moment stand face to face with himself. His own conscience would be his Nemesis, though he might have had nothing directly to do with bringing on the calamity that had overtaken him. Suppose he had returned from a mission of mercy to find the same calamity awaiting him, the difference in the two cases can easily be imagined. He would now311be face to face with his calamity, and in either case he would doubtless do his best to rescue his treasures. What makes the difference in these cases? Is it not all in the man's own soul? Every student of Theosophy will find the subject full of mystery, but that mystery will be but the reflection of his own nature. If one were to inquire, What is Theosophy anyhow?, and what shall I find in it of interest or value?, it might be answered, What are you? and what do you seek in Theosophy? Are you satisfied with your present life and your past achievement? Does it give you zest and satisfaction? If it does; and if you are quite satisfied with things as they are, you had better let Theosophy alone, for it will break your repose and make you the most wretched of mortals; it will place you face to face with yourself, and you will not be pleased with the reflection in the mirror; nor will you ever again find that self-complacent satisfaction you have heretofore enjoyed when thinking of yourself. If you are involved in a round of pleasure, and are rushing from one sensual delight to another, discontented when left to yourself, yet still imagining you are happy if only you can keep up the dizzy dance of life, you will find nothing in Theosophy to compensate you for the lost pleasure; it will break the charm and destroy the illusion. Let it alone. The baby has first to learn that fire will burn its little fingers, before it will learn to avoid the fire. So also with the votary of pleasure; until he has learned the cheat, and how utterly inadequate are all sensuous enjoyments to satisfy a living soul, he will seek these enjoyments as a child cries for the light or vainly reaches out its frail arms for the moon. You will find in Theosophy just what you desire and just what you find in yourself. It will not satisfy you if you still long for selfish enjoyment; it will repel you, and send you back from its cold embrace to the dizzy whirl of the maddening dance of life, glad that there is warmth somewhere. If, on the other hand, your soul is already filled with a great unrest; if you have already discovered the cheat and lost the old zest of childhood, and yet been unable to find anything to take its place; and if you are almost ready to despair, and count life as a failure and hardly worth the living, then, my friend, my brother, Theosophy has a message for you. It will again show you yourself, and more, it will show you the meaning of life, and place you face to face with your priceless opportunities, and just in proportion to your present hopelessness and discouragement will it inspire you with zeal and with courage. It will show you the cause of failure, the cause of disease, and the cause of unhappiness, and it will give you the panacea for all these ills of life. It will banish that bane of life, ennui, forever. It will enable you to find within yourself the disease and its remedy, and it will put you in possession of a never-failing source of inspiration and of joy. If you desire all this, be it done unto you312according to your desire. But do you really desire it? Remember the issues are with your own soul. You are both priest and penitent, and absolution can come only to a clean conscience. There can be no deception practiced. You will be alone with your own soul, and will realize how utterly hopeless, how absurd, it would be to attempt any deception. There can be none. Are you afraid to stand face to face thus with yourself? and do you prefer to wait for the midnight hour and the great awakening? Then wait! no human being can say you Nay. Follow the cheat called pleasure! Raise high the orgies of self! Silence the voice within, and wait till all is ready or till death come and the account is closed. The true Theosophists are not a legion, the ranks are by no means crowded. These are not measured by their occult lore, or by their mysterious power, nor yet by any worldly standard, but solely by their convictions. They are one and all dead in earnest, dead to all things else. They may not outwardly yet renounce, but they have inwardly relinquished, and will rejoice at the coming of the time when incidentals shall vanish and only essentials remain. These have lived in all ages, giving meaning and dignity to life, invincible and immortal. Think of Epictetus, when tortured for a trifle, saying to his tormentor, his "master!", "If you twist my limb much farther, you will break it, and so deprive yourself of a servant," and, when the bone broke, replying only, "There, I told you you would break it." A poor crippled slave, yet all the masters among besotted kings could not touch his soul, more than a drop of water could reach the heart of volcanic fires. But this was so long ago, and the world is so much wiser and better now! and Epictetus was not only a slave but a heathen! Well, courts of law, masquerading in the name of Justice, at the command of Mammon can still imprison the greatest discoverer of the age, and when they have persecuted Mr. Keely to death they will doubtless ascertain the commercial value of his "secret." Whether power wears a crown, a mitre, a golden helmet, or a cap and bells, 'tis all the same. Power in the throne, in the holy Inquisition, in the seat of Justice, or in the service of mammon, will never comprehend and never master the silent power and invincible courage of one noble soul that knows and loves the simple truth. Though we persecute truth daily, Though we plant with thorns her brow, Scourge her, spit upon, revile her, And crown error here and now: Through the cycles of the ages Truth comes uppermost at last, And the heroes of the present Were the martyrs of the past. Harij. The Serpent's Blood W. Q. Judge (signed "Bryan Kinnavan"), pp. 313-316 316 The Test of Theosophic Interest. The test of Theosophic interest is precisely the test of every other kind of interest,—What one will do to promote it. And here, obviously, two considerations arise. The first is that no act which is superficial, or perfunctory, or for personal benefit, can at all guage devotion to a cause which is both impersonal and deep-reaching. It is easy to descant on the glory of a system so elevated as the Wisdom-Religion. It is as easy to proclaim one's own appreciation of its tenets. It is not difficult to attend punctiliously the meetings of a Theosophical Society, and to absorb with readiness, perhaps with profit, whatever of truth may be there disclosed. It may not be easy, but it is entirely possible, to read every Theosophical work of repute, to extract its main thought, and to digest well the learning acquired. And yet, very evidently, the first two are exercises only of the voice, the last two only of the mind. If Theosophy was a matter of the breath or the brains, this participation in it would not only be salutary but ample. In truth, however, Theosophy gives but a light benediction to either the mere talker or the mere student. It by no means undervalues sincere homage or zealous inquiry, but it is so intent on the work of transferring interest from the lower to the higher levels of being, so eager to excite the unselfish enthusiasm for others' good which, subordinating its own advancement, shall be most thrilled at the chance to advance Humanity, that its ideal is the man who is exerting himself to help others, rather than the man who is exerting himself to get ahead. And, as it believes that the present most efficacious agency for extending truth, vivifying motive, and elevating the race is the Theosophical Society, Theosophy regards as its best expositors those who are working most for the Society it has founded. Some man with more impetuosity than perception will at once cry, "But this is only the Church and its motive over again!" Not at all. There is no question of doctrinal triumphs, of sect growth, of rival temples, of missionary comparisons. The elements of social distinction, of clerical rank, of legislative influence are all absent. There is not even the ambition to push the Society into the area of recognized religious organizations, for it not only disclaims competition with Churches, but is disqualified for such competition by its lack of creed, its slight coherency of organism, and its vigorous assertion of individualism in opinion and in training. Moreover, before assuming the danger of possible ecclesiasticism, one must remember that the standard applied to the Theosophical Society is exactly the same as that applied to a Theosophist,—self-forgetfulness in work for others. If the individual member is held to the doctrine that he best realizes Theosophical aims through the obliteration of ambition and the substitution therefor of an altruistic life, similarly as to the Society. Self-aggrandizement, as a pursuit, might evolve a Black Magician; it might even evolve a Church; but it never could evolve a Theosophical Society. Of the three objects contemplated in the establishment of the T. S., the first and greatest is the promotion of Universal Brotherhood. But this does not mean merely a sentimental recognition of a general human fraternity; it means an active beneficence towards the rest of the family. And if correct views, loftier ideals, richer motives, finer principles, healthier aspirations are more attainable through the Theosophic system than through other systems of faith or morals, the Theosophist is best serving the interests of his brother-men by giving that system all the publicity he can. And if, still further, he accepts the fact that the Masters have adopted the Society as their channel for conveying and distributing Truth to the human family, he reaches the conclusion that in laboring for the Society he is conforming most closely to their desires, benefiting most efficiently the race of which he is a part, using most hopefully the best agency for spiritual good. Practically, therefore, the truest Theosophist at the present day is he who is most interested in the Theosophical Society. And now has been reached the point where the test of Theosophic interest may be applied to a Theosophist. What is he doing to sustain the Society? Not how many times does he place F. T. S. after his surname; not how loud his voice in benediction on the Founders; not how warm in praise his letters to active members; not how many meetings he attends, or books he reads, or intricate problems in Occultism he explores; not what food he eats, or clothes he wears, or opinions he proclaims; but what is he doing to help? He may be copious in phrases and efflorescent in gracious speech, or, as are some, mysteriously mournful over the faults of others which so impede their own progression; he may fold hands before the needs of the Cause, and piously avow trust in the interposition of Mahatmas, or he may point out that the time is unpropitious, or that a318spiritual system has no claim for cash, or that it degrades Theosophy to make a collection; he may suggest that in giving his name he does better than give funds, or that there seems as yet no opening for the expression of his zeal, or that his sympathies are with us and his one aspiration is to be upon the path. And yet the inexorable test, inexorable because in the nature of things and therefore not amenable to cajolery or humbug, stands before him,—What is he doing to help? The second consideration referred to at the outset is that the test of Theosophic interest is not the absolute amount of help given, but that amount as related to the capacity of the giver. Five cents, five hours, constitute a far larger proportion of one man's available means or time, than five thousand dollars or five months do of another's. Hence it is not the figures, but their fractional value, which determines the extent of the interest. Just so is it in every other human interest. How much one cares for a relation, for a friend, for a philanthropic cause, for a public object, is unerringly shown by the proportion of outlay he devotes thereto. And this does not mean a careless profusion with superfluous goods, but the cutting-off of personal indulgences, cherished but dispensable, for the better sustentation of a cause,—in other words, self-sacrifice. Nor does self-sacrifice mean the sacrifice of other people, as some think; the bearing with great fortitude privations one does not share, the consecration of money or time or effort which really belongs to one's family or entourage. It means the sacrifice of yourself, of your own habits and enjoyments and expenses, in order to build up a cause you profess to love. And the extent to which this is done guages the proportion of your love for that cause to your love for yourself. Now Theosophy is not unreasonable or captious. It does not advise any man to starve himself, or to wear rags, or to scout at the conditions of life in the civilization wherein he was born and which express the laws of sociology. It does not enjoin monasticism, or seclusion, or parsimony, or want of public spirit, or abnegation of social amenities, or one-sidedness, or bigotry, or folly under any name. We are to be men, rational men, civilized men, cultivated men, and we promote no noble cause, least of all the noblest, if we are unsocial, unpractical, or fantastic. But while all this is true, it is equally true that in one's own private affairs, in that sphere of personal belongings outside the claims of others and wherein absolute freedom is unquestioned, the test of Theosophic interest is directly applicable. It is, as has been shown, the proportion of time, money, literary or other effort, one is willing to give up for the Theosophical Society. Not a few sincere readers may honestly ask, What is there for me to do? The answer to this is the showing what there is to be done, and319then each may inquire within himself how and to what extent he can aid. First, there is the support of the Theosophical Society itself, its organic action and work. Hardly anyone is too poor to become a member-at-large and aid to the extent of $1.00 a year. If able to contribute more, he can do so with the certainty that its growing needs in printing, postage, circulation of documents, advertising, the occasional schemes for Theosophic advance for which direct help is asked, constitute an ample channel for any donation. Then there is Theosophic Literature. Its periodicals need to be sustained, sustained by the subscriptions of those who believe them useful, sustained by those who both take them for their own reading and order them sent to points where they may do good. Pamphlets, tracts, documents may be bought by the zealous and sent to individuals where budding interest is suspected, thus aiding to make possible new ones and giving circulation to those now printed. Theosophical books may be presented to Public Libraries, and, as current facts show, with the certainty that they will be read. In private conversations a Theosophical idea or phrase may be dropped, enough to provoke inquiry, possibly investigation. Openings for the impartation of truth may be judiciously used. Then there is the establishment of a Branch. Every member of the Society in a town without a Branch may well judge its foundation his special mission. In many ways and in many hearts the seed may be sown, confident that time, possibly short time, will bring that harvest. If a member of a Branch, he has before him work in strengthening it, enlarging its Library, enlivening its meetings, helping to feed and not merely feeding, thinking out schemes by which its existence may be known through the community and it be recognized as a distributing centre of light. If having access to the press, he can secure the insertion of brief items or clippings which will keep the topic before the public. If competent to write, he can present some truth he finds potent or correct some mistake he sees popular. What is there for me to do? Everything that you can do. A word, a hint, a tract, a volume, a subscription. If it costs you nothing, your interest is nothing. If it costs you little, your interest is little. If it costs till you feel it, then it is that you feel your interest. And when you yourself, body, soul, and spirit, are devoted to the doing, when you thrill with that topic as with no other topic, when your pleasure is in self-sacrificing efforts for its promotion, when you forget yourself, have lost yourself, in it, then will you have become in measure what are the Founders,—may one not even say, what are the Masters Themselves. Harris P. Theo-Sophia. A Letter to a Truth Seeker Julia Keightley (signed "J. Campbell Ver Planck, F. T. S."), pp. 320-325 Tea Table Talk Julia Keightley (signed "Julius"), pp. 325-328 328 Literary Notes. The Theosophist for November gives a chapter from The Secret Doctrine as a sip to Indian readers, and publishes the Constitution, Rules, and Regulations of the "Lay Convent" in Switzerland, whereof Drs. Pioda, Thurman, and Hartmann are the promoters. The Theosophist points out some, not all, of the impediments to its success. Others are given in Dr. Hartmann's Adventure among the Rosicrucians, and we may name, among the remainder, that of long keeping the location secret. The November Lucifer is peculiarly rich. The editorial "Is Theosophy a Religion?" has such manifold truths and such multiform bearings that it needs repeated re-readings. The poetry may perhaps not reach a very high level of intelligibility, and "The Nature of Man" shows rather that Princes sometimes think than that they always think to much purpose; but the deliciously-written "Was he mad?", the clear and cogent "Letters on329without the remark that "there can be no other but a three-dimensional space"), and the article on "Attention" are most profitable for instruction. A letter from Mr. Sinnett, whose pen is ever the envy and the despair of other writers, states the points whereon he believes The Secret Doctrine to have ill-treated him, and these are answered by editorial foot-notes. The foolish charge of materialistic teaching in Esoteric Buddhism is demolished with a logic which loses no grace because of its thoroughness, and the brilliant paragraph ending the letter is followed by an editorial "Closing Remarks", greeting the letter itself, exulting over the collapse of the materialistic bogy, and, with hearty good will, re-affirming the old cordiality towards the illustrious co-laborer. This sentence from the letter should be engraved on every writing-table and reading-desk: "The disposition to regard vagueness of exposition as equivalent to spirituality of thought is very widely spread; and multitudes of people are unaccustomed to respect any phraseology that they find themselves enabled to understand." In a foot note on page 250, Madame Blavatsky uses a sentence which we should like to impress on the brain of every Theosophist who has one: "Why should any of us—aye, even the most learned in occult lore among Theosophists—pose for infallibility." This is a distinct warning to all Theosophists who believe clear-headed discrimination irreverent, and that they must accept metaphysics because they accept spiritual philosophy, that they are off the track. We yield to no one in devoted loyalty to our Honored Head, and for that very reason re-emphasize her constant insistance that Theosophists are to think for themselves and not merely pocket the thinking of others. Not to do so was unwise even for Damodar (p. 253, note). Let no one pick flaws in this perfectly lucid statement, or write us foolish letters which will not be printed. Lucifer announces that Dr. Hartmann's "Speaking Image of Ooroor" is to appear therein as a serial, beginning in December. If this has not been lately modified, it will have much the same personal quality as Karma, and much the same teaching value as Magic, White and Black. The number closes with full details of the organization of the British Section of the T. S., as sanctioned by the President-Founder. The article on "The Regeneration of the Body," by Miss Annie Payson Call, an account of which in the September Path attracted much attention as describing a simple form of "yoga practice" adapted by its natural method to the requirements of our western races, has been issued in the shape of a handsome pamphlet by the Massachusetts New Church Union, Boston, and may be obtained either from the Union, or from the author at 3 Somerset street, Boston. A Treatise on the Yoga Philosophy, by Dr. N. C. Paul. This title is quite misleading, Physiology being really what is meant. The book is a series of prescriptions for the physical side of Yoga practice, dealing with diet, respiration, posture, bodily exercises of the strangest kind. The attainment of hybernating power is the desideratum, and the tortoise seems to be the model, both as to methods and success. Pure air, salt, mustard, onions, etc. are prejudicial, it seems, to a religious, moral, intellectual, or hybernal life. The habitual use of asses' milk enables one to acquire the power of expiring and reviving at pleasure. Among the orthodox Hindus, the counting of the sacred beads leads to indigestion and costiveness. A state of perfect hybernation (Samadhi) requires a previous stay for long time in a cave, during which the tongue is developed in size and its muscle receives 24 incisions. The mystic syllable Om is then repeated 20,736,000 times, after330which the practitioner does not breathe for twelve days. Great stress is laid on the repetition of words, not necessarily those of deep significance, a Christian boy having attained sleep by pronouncing cup 450 times. The book is written in all seriousness, and for those to whom the tortoise is an object of emulation, must have unspeakable value. A Compendium of the Raja Yoga Philosophy. This is a collection of 6 papers, 4 of them by the celebrated Sankaracharya, and gives in 160 pages what is probably both an accurate and an ample view of the Vedantic system. It is subject to the drawback that many Sanscrit words are used in the text, in Sanscrit characters and without translation. Probably the popularizing of any foreign system of abstruse philosophy is difficult, and, without imitating Dr. Johnson's phrase and wishing it was impossible, we may repeat the obvious fact that language, ideas, and modes of thought are rarely transplanted with much success. To flourish elsewhere they must be so little local, so informed with a universal quality, that they take root in any soil and are hardy under any clime. If these universal elements could be extracted, judiciously remoulded, and then presented clearly and practically, a great boon would be secured to those students who welcome Truth from any quarter, but do not like a too pronounced local color. The Secret Doctrine. Before the January Path reaches our readers, it is probable that Vol. II of The Secret Doctrine will be in the hands of every subscriber. Various delays, notably that from the difficulty of a perfect Index, have put off its appearance much beyond the time announced. But a book which will require months to comprehend and years to digest may very well exact a little patience before, no less than after, its issue. For our preparation of even the hastiest description of it, much more for any just delineation of its contents, there has evidently been no adequate time. All that is possible at this date is to congratulate the Theosophical Society, the Theosophical world, and, indeed, the world beyond Theosophy, on the publication of this amazing exposition of hitherto-occult doctrine. Apart from any personal prepossessions or beliefs, we do not see how this work can be regarded as other than an epoch in scientific literature. To a Theosophist, the living at the time of its appearance is a privilege. The writer of "Lonely Musings," which came out in the Path, has put his papers into a book by Redway (price hereafter) entitled Problems of the Inner Life, which the Path will have on sale. The Possibility of Not Dying, by H. C. Kirk, noticed in December Path, and When Age Grows Young, a novel by the same author and founded on the preceding, are for sale by C. T. Dillingham, 720 Broadway, New York. Prices, respectively, 60 and 50 cents. As an indication of drift, we note that the Christmas number (December 16th) of the New York Morning Journal prints as one of its stories "All's Dross but Love, The Strange Record of Two Reincarnated Souls," by the poet-journalist, A. E. Lancaster. Its vivid painting of Pompeian scenes and life, its exquisite English and its thrilling emotionalism, make it a literary gem polished by a master hand, but its great interest Theosophically is in the fact that a metropolitan paper prints it and a metropolitan editor commends it. 331 Theosophical Activities. AMERICA. The admissions to the Theosophical Society, as recorded in the General Secretary's books, have been, since March last, as follows: April, 27; May, 14; June, 22; July, 6; August, 3; September, 19; October, 27; November, 23. The convenience of the General Secretary and the accuracy of his records would both be promoted if the Branch Secretaries would kindly forward the application and fee immediately upon the admission of a new member. Much improvement in this matter has been manifest of late. As each Branch President and Secretary has been furnished with the circular explaining points in the filling-out of applications, etc., an occasional reference to it will easily ensure entire regularity and system. It may not be known to all that every application is transmitted to the Headquarters in India and there permanently preserved. The building is not strictly fireproof, but as no fire is ever made within it, the climate requiring none and the cooking being done in an outhouse at some distance, it is perfectly secure. This is one reason why the Library, the manuscripts, the two oil portraits of Mahatmas, the collection of precipitated letters, and the various objects phenomenally produced by Madame Blavatsky are so much safer there than they could be in this country. In the month of November, the Varuna T. S., Bridgeport, Conn., admitted 2 new members; the Golden Gate Lodge, East Oakland, Cal., 3; the Brahmana T. S., Milwaukee, Wis., 1; the Cincinnati T. S., 3. The Aryan T. S. of New York has just re-elected as President Mr. Wm. Q. Judge, now absent in Europe upon family business, and conferred the Vice-Presidency upon a lady-member who always adorns the meeting-room and sometimes the reading-stand,—Miss Lydia Bell. The gracious faculty of educing all that is best and brightest in a circle of students is very rare, but when it is found, every Society delights to honor it. Another new offering has reached the Headquarters in Nassau st. This time it is a lantern of iron in the quaint old style lately revived. It comes from Hartford, Conn., a city which no General Secretary can contemplate without longings for the day when it shall have a Branch. And, indeed, there is not a little significance in this formerly Puritan stronghold's contributing a light-bearer—a little "Lucifer", as one may say—to the spot where light is so truly honored and so frankly sought. The General Secretary is expected to bring with him from Europe the photographs of a number of eminent Theosophists in the London, Blavatsky, and other Lodges, so that more than the few remaining spaces in the one Album already presented will be needed. This sounds like a hint,—and it is. Krishna T. S. in Philadelphia has held no regular meeting for a year, but arrangements have been made for a series of fortnightly gatherings to be held throughout this winter and as much longer as may be deemed advisable. The first of these meetings was held on Sunday afternoon, December 16th, and was largely attended. These gatherings are not limited to members of the Branch or Society, but are open to any interested persons who may be invited by the members. Without any attempt at proselyting, these meetings are held mainly for the purpose of answering the many inquiries for information that have been received at the room of the Krishna Branch, and the nature and purposes of Theosophy are discussed in an eminently practical332manner. Interest in Theosophy is being very widely developed in this conservative city. The Malden Branch has resumed its meetings, and has taken up the discussion of the works of C. H. Hinton, known to many Theosophists through his "Scientific Romances" as a thinker of remarkable character and originality. His latest work, A New Era of Thought, published by Swan Sonnenschein & Co., London, points out a practical way, for those who will carefully study upon the lines indicated, actually to realize in the mind certain attributes of a plane of existence higher than the physical. It is a philosophical work of striking power and ideality. The General Secretary has re-issued the circular, "How to join the T. S.," and a copy has gone to the President and Secretary of each Branch. As this has been found so useful and labor-saving in answering inquiries, it is at the disposition of the Branches, and a moderate order from any Branch official will be filled by the General Secretary without charge. EUROPE. It is yet too soon for the practical working of the new British Section of the T. S., as established by the delegates from British Branches under the supervision of the President-Founder, to be tested, but there can hardly be a question that this organization, prompted, as we know it to have been, by an Authority whom Theosophists only name with the deepest reverence, will greatly stimulate the vigor and the missionary zeal of the Society in Britain. We hope in time to present some details of both work and growth. The Theosophical movement cannot progress in England so well as in America, as less interest is felt by the people in philosophical and religious reforms. But a few days ago, Piccadilly, a magazine in London, devoted considerable space to H. P. Blavatsky, and the writer contrived to bring in something of the Theosophical doctrine. Madame H. P. Blavatsky is still living and working in London. She writes all day, and sometimes part of the night. In the evening she receives visitors. Her health, we rejoice to say, is greatly improved, so that she begins again to look like her old self. Her many years of hard work have not in the least lessened her energy in spreading Theosophy. The departure from Dublin for India of Bro. Chas. Johnston, while a loss to the local T. S., has not disheartened its members. They are active and sincere. The General Secretary of the American Section, accompanied by that delightful Brother, Dr. A. Keightley, the General Secretary of the British Section, visited the Lodge in November and addressed a full meeting. This is one of the points especially hopeful for good work. The Buddhist Catechism. This well-known little book, by Col. Olcott, has just been translated into Swedish and issued in Sweden, thus adding another language to the list of those wherein it is now being circulated. INDIA. Bro. C. W. Leadbeater, in charge of the Theosophical schools in Colombo, Ceylon, was summoned to Adyar to conduct The Theosophist during the President-Founder's visit to Europe, but now returns to his own field. He desires us to announce the establishment of a new monthly magazine, The Buddhist, devoted rather to exoteric than to esoteric Buddhism, and the price whereof will be $1.75 a year. Mrs. Ver Planck has received to date $88.69 for the T. P. S. Fund. "The first duty taught in Occultism is to do one's duty unflinchingly by every duty." —H. P. Blavatsky. OM. Let every Brahman with fixed attention consider all nature, both visible and invisible, as existing in the Divine Spirit; for when he contemplates the boundless universe in the Divine Spirit, he cannot give his heart to iniquity. —Manu. No. 11 – February 1889 The Signing of a Pledge Julia Keightley (signed "Jasper Niemand, F. T. S."), pp. 333-338 338 The Press and Occultism. When The Path first appeared on the scene, the World and the Sun, two prominent daily newspapers of New York, devoted a large space to a criticism of this journal anent a prophecy concerning the Theosophical Society based on certain books in India called Nadigrandhams, and took pains to say that we were all only superficial dreamers and dabblers, but at the same time the Sun itself displayed ignorance of the subject. We then went on to record, among others, a prophecy as follows: "The Sanscrit language will one day be again the language used by man upon this earth, first in science and metaphysics, and then in common life. Even in the lifetime of the SUN'S witty writer, he will see the terms now preserved in the holiest of languages creeping into the literature and press of the day." 339 Already our words are coming true, and even in the paper that abused while it advertised us. In that paper of January 2d, appears this editorial paragraph: "For the space of 111 years from to-day we are to have the figure 9 in our years, and the occultists, who put much stress upon numbers, predict that the condition of mankind will be greatly improved over all past times during this period. It is the age of Kal Yuga." In this is a reference, in seriousness, to "the Occultists," together with more superficial statements of what those persons say, nearly all of it wrong, chiefly that the Occultists "predict that the condition of mankind will be greatly improved over all past time during this period." What they do say is, that things will grow worse in reality instead of better. But at the end of the paragraph we find the paper referring to the present age as the age of "Kal Yuga,"—which ought to be Kali Yuga. The same "witty writer" who criticised our superficial oriental knowledge probably wrote the lines above and forgot to inform himself that Kali Yuga means Dark Age, and hence he grew tautological. Still, we can forgive him, inasmuch as probably several hundred thousand readers of the Sun read the statement, and will remember "Kali Yuga," two words from the Sanscrit, after the journalist who wrote them has ceased airing his superficial attainments. In other journals we can find numerous references to such Sanscrit terms as Nirvana, Satwa, Devachan, Ishwara, and a host of others, all taken from Sanscrit metaphysics and philosophy. On the whole, therefore, we begin to see a beginning of the fulfilment of the prophecy made so long ago. Spiritual Gifts and Their Attainment. One of the questions which a Theosophist is apt to ask, and to ask with some earnestness and intensity, is, How can I make progress in the higher life? How can I attain spiritual gifts? For the phrase "spiritual gifts," which is a rather loose-jointed expression, we are indebted to Paul, the Apostle and Adept, who thus wrote to the Corinthian Church: "Concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant." Among the "gifts" which he goes on to enumerate are these,—wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, the speaking of divers tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. And while the Apostle urges the Corinthians to "covet earnestly the best gifts," he yet proceeds to show them a more excellent way, namely the supreme law of love. "Now abideth," he says, "faith, hope, charity (or love), these three; but the greatest of these is charity." Spiritual gifts, then, however desirable their possession may be, are plainly not, in the opinion of this340good Adept, on the highest plane, not the supreme object of human attainment, or the most excellent way of reaching human perfection. They may doubtless properly be regarded as evidences of advancement on the higher planes of thought and spiritual life, and may be coveted and used for the benefit of others; but they are not in themselves the chief object of human desire. For man's supreme aim should be to become God, and "God is love." But let us look at the matter a little more closely. In the first place, what is a "gift"? What is the common acceptation of the word? Clearly something given to or bestowed upon a recipient, not something which a man already possesses, or which he may obtain by a process of growth or development. The latter, strictly speaking, would be a "fruit," not a gift. A tree which has been producing nothing but leaves and branches for many years finally breaks out into blossom and fruit. No new "gift" has been conferred upon it; it has simply reached a stage of development in its natural growth where certain powers, inherent in the tree from the beginning, have an opportunity to assert themselves. In the same way the transcendental powers possessed by the Adepts are not gifts; but the natural result of growth in certain directions, and the necessary efflorescence, so to speak, of the profound development in their cases of those spiritual potentialities which are the birthright of all men. Taking this view of the meaning of the word, I think most Theosophists will be ready to admit that the phrase "spiritual gifts" is a misnomer. There are and can be no gifts for man to receive. Whatever the student of the higher life is, he is as the result of his past labors. Whatever he may become in the future will be due to his own efforts. He may develope his latent faculties and in time become an Adept, or he may drift along the currents of life without aim or effort, till he finally sinks into oblivion. His destiny is in his own hands, and is in no way dependent upon "gifts." Bearing in mind, however, the manifold nature of man, the subject may be looked at from another point of view. For all practical purposes man may be said to consist of body, soul, and spirit, the soul being the true ego, and the spirit one with the Supreme. And regarding these for the time as separate entities, it is perfectly true, as James, another apostle, puts it, that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above." Every aspiration of the soul for spiritual things, every resolve of the man to lead a purer life, every helping outstretched hand to a weaker brother, every desire for the truth, all hungering and thirsting after righteousness:—these and like yearnings and strivings of the soul have first of all come from above, from the Divine within. In this sense they may be called "gifts,"—gifts from the higher nature to the lower, from the spiritual to the human. And341this action of the above upon the below is seen in those humane attributes, or qualities, or virtues—whatever one may be pleased to call them—which Paul in another place enumerates as the "fruits of the spirit,—love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Looked at from either of these points of view, how can we attain spiritual gifts? The answer would seem to depend upon what we are really striving for. If the extraordinary powers of the Adepts have captivated our fancy and fired our ambition, then we must possess our souls in patience. Few, if any, of us are at all fitted for a "forcing" process. We must be content to wait and work; to grow and develope; line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, till, ages hence perhaps, we come to the full stature of the perfect man. If, however, wisely recognizing our limitations, we strive instead after what may be termed the ordinary manifestations of the spirit, two obvious lines of conduct suggest themselves. Every impulse from above, every prompting of the Divine within, should meet at once with a hearty welcome and response. If you feel as if something urged you to visit some sick or afflicted neighbor or friend, obey the suggestion without delay. If the wish to turn over a new leaf comes into the lower consciousness, don't wait till next New Year's before actually turning it over; turn it now. If some pathetic story of suffering has moved you, act on the emotion while your cheeks are still wet with tears. In short, put yourself at once in line with the Divine ways, in harmony with the Divine laws. More light, more wisdom, more spirituality must necessarily come to one thus prepared, thus expectant. How can a bar of iron be permeated with the earth's magnetism if it is placed across instead of in line with the magnetic meridian? How can a man expect spiritual gifts or powers if he persists in ignoring spiritual conditions, in violating spiritual laws? To obtain the good, we must think good thoughts; we must be filled with good desires; in short, we must be good. And this practical suggestion is to fulfil faithfully and conscientiously every known duty. It is in and through the incidents of daily life, in work well done, in duties thoroughly performed, that we to-day can most readily make progress in the higher life,—slow progress, it may be, but at any rate sure. These are stepping stones to better things. We advance most rapidly when we stop to help other wayfarers. We receive most when we sacrifice most. We attain to the largest measure of Divine love when we most unselfishly love the brethren. We become one with the Supreme most surely when we lose ourselves in work for Humanity. Dies Non. Of Occult Powers and Their Acquirement W. Q. Judge (signed "Rodriguez Undiano"), pp. 342-343 343 Meditation and Action. It is the fashion now-a-days, with those who write about ideas which lie beyond the world of sense, to express opinion in very guarded terms. In contradistinction to the old priestly dogmatism, it has of late years been considered "good form" to handle these subjects in so tentative a manner as almost to imply agnosticism. It is a frame of mind that has eminently suited the time, and was a worthy set-off to the old superstitious intolerance. But when a new revelation is bursting on the souls of men, when the error and the ignorance, alike begotten of the ancient superstition and the modern incredulity, are so powerful as to defy all but the best aimed shafts of the most cogent Reason, the tentative hesitation of the groper after Truth is no longer an appropriate attitude. We have no desire to soar into the lofty region of metaphysics, where we are sure to be met with the assertion that truth about these ultimate realities never has been and never can be formulated or uttered by man. Let us content ourselves with the humbler elevation of practical ethics, and acknowledge that Truth is a relative term. To quote from a remarkable letter lately addressed to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, "A religion is true in proportion as it supplies the spiritual, moral, and intellectual needs of the time, and helps the development of mankind in these respects. It is false in proportion as it hinders that development, and offends the spiritual, moral, and intellectual portion of man's nature. And the transcendentally spiritual ideas of the ruling powers of the Universe entertained by an Ori344ental sage would be as false a religion for the African savage as the grovelling fetishism of the latter would be for the sage, although both views must necessarily be true in degree, for both represent the highest ideas attainable by the respective individuals of the same cosmico-spiritual facts, which can never be known in their reality by man while he remains but man." With this prelude let us attempt to form some just estimate of a remarkable and interesting book which has recently been published, Scientific Religion, by Laurence Oliphant. It is certainly in marked contrast to the style of writing commented on in the opening paragraph,—indeed it is refreshing to listen to such earnest utterances on subjects of the deepest interest. While expressing his sincerest attachment to the true Christian faith, no writer attacking the anti-Christian creeds of the churches could demolish the orthodox conceptions with more powerful or crushing arguments. The 2nd chapter, which deals with the interpretation of part of the Book of Revelation, is one which the orthodox would do well to "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest." His remarks throughout the volume about the orthodox science of the day (for there is now an orthodoxy in this also!) are equally admirable. The following is a specimen. "But a blind belief in the superficial senses is as unsafe a guide to truth as a blind belief in a book. Science is as mole-eyed as theology, and yet to one or the other the whole civilized world trusts for enlightenment. No wonder that these two sets of blind guides, leading their blind followers, should stumble against each other in the dark and fight furiously." The new vital impulses descending on man are then dealt with. They are supposed to emanate from those inhabiting the Unseen Universe. Whatever opinions may be held on this subject—and opinion is to-day in a state of flux—the following may certainly be called an ingenious explanation. "Where there is scepticism in the human pneuma or inmost thought of the man, antipathetic atomic combinations are formed in his two external dielectrics, and interpose a hostile atomic element which encompasses the medium, and forms a barrier that the psychic force of the spiritual agent cannot penetrate. It is for this reason that physical manifestations are successful just in proportion as there is a strong faith-sentiment in the spectators, whose external dielectrics are then co-operating with the spiritual agent." The remarks on the discoveries claimed by Mr. Keely too are so interesting as to deserve reproduction. "Mr. Keely has discovered that such a change can be effected by vibration, in the atoms of which the atmosphere is composed, that what he terms 'atmospheric disintegration' can be produced, which has the effect of liberating a subtle essence, the nature of which has still to be determined, and which he believes to be 'inter-atomic.' The energy it possesses is so great that it exercises a pressure of 25,000 lbs. to the345square inch, and, in the engine which he has just constructed for traction purposes, develops a force of 250 horse-power. All this is achieved without the introduction of any extraneous motive power, the whole apparatus being so constructed that the liberation of this tremendous agency from its atmospheric prison-house can be effected by the vibrations produced by a tuning-fork. Those who are sufficiently unprejudiced to connect the bearings of this discovery, of what must be dynaspheric force, with phenomena which have hitherto been regarded as supernatural by the ignorant, will perceive how rapidly we are bridging over the chasm which has always divided the seen from the unseen, and obliterating the distinction between what has erroneously been called matter, and what has no less erroneously been called spirit." Further on in the book it is significantly pointed out that this dynaspheric force with which Mr. Keely can operate on external substance is synonymous with the inter-atomic energy that produces the phenomena of hypnotism, telepathy, mediumship, and all such abnormal manifestations. While differing in some points to a marked degree from the recognized theosophic teachings, the author nevertheless demonstrates that the source from which he has drawn his inspiration is conscious of many of the occult facts,—for instance, the androgynous or bisexual nature of primeval man; the highly attenuated character of matter which composed his frame, compared with the fleshly covering we now wear; the esoteric meaning hidden from the vulgar gaze in the Bible as well as in the Scriptures of all religions, and the consequent necessity of initiation in the mysteries; the mistaken notion of the popular mind as to the fundamental difference between spirit and matter: but it is needless to enumerate them further. We now come to the great subject of which the whole book is a gospel,—the sympneumatic impulse, the descent of the Divine Feminine. Taken in the widest sense, the author's inspiration appeals to our highest reason, and we cannot but give approval to the general proposition that the far-off regeneration of the race will lie (amongst other things) in the reversion to the bisexual type of our prehistoric spiritual ancestors,—in other words, in the absolute quenching of the principle of lust, the double-faced goddess to-day worshiped, though in varying degrees, by all Humanity—by the votaries alike of marriage and of free-love. This will be an unpalatable way of stating the truth to many, for it is a view from a light which naturally seems to dwarf the difference between the virtuous world and those whom the virtuous world avoids touching with the hem of its garment. But while assenting to the general proposition, there are details in the working out of the idea which do not appeal to our sense of truth. Writing in chapter 20 of one who is pursuing the upward path, he says, "She will know—not because it is to be found in the Bible—not because her reason suggests its truth, but because her physical organism forces the fact346upon her, that she is the feminine half of a two-fold being, and that her completion consists in union with her masculine complement." And again in chapter 21, interpreting extracts from the Kabbalah, he refers to the sympneumatic descent, "for it will result in the union on earth of the halves hitherto divided, whereby man will regain his lost condition." This is no new idea either. Without going back to Plato (and we should probably err in ascribing to his deeply-veiled utterance the meaning that the words might naturally seem to imply), we find it unmistakeably expressed in "Jocelyn," that touching story of Lamartine's, in the stanza which begins— Mon cœur me l'avait dit: toute âme est sœur d'une âme; Dieu les crea par couples et les fit homme ou femme; Le monde peut en vain un temps les séparer, Leur destin tôt ou tard est de se rencontrer. The completion of the at-present incomplete nature of man or woman by an ideal union must to many be a very fascinating thought, but instead of its being as it here purports to be, the explanation of the mystery of the differentiation of sex, is it not rather a perversion of the truth, the truth being that both man and woman have within each one the potency of both sexes, and in this consists their true equality,—in other words, that the Soul is bisexual, and is therefore capable of assuming and wearing either the male or the female form, and that its true apotheosis consists in its assertion of and its reversion to its real nature and Divine source. Much that is written in this section of the book on the subject of woman's mission is admirable. Though the author is severe on the colleges for the higher education of women, which, he says, are "attractive to a certain class of the sex, but which are nurseries of hybrids which turn out an inferior species of man-woman," yet, as he truly points out, the degree in which they (women) compete, with more or less success, with men in the intellectual and executive battles of life is the degree to which they stunt and destroy their own higher faculties. Of the truth of his inspiration generally, what shall we say? Each man must judge according to his own light which opinion and belief are our guides, and before we have risen to the heights necessary for directly cognising these facts of the Unseen Universe. While leaving those who are able to do so to deal critically with the detailed statements, and to discriminate between the interpretations of symbols and passages, many of which appear to be far-fetched, it seems to us generally that, while the learned and able author has received shreds and fragments of transcendental truth from the Astral World, the knowledge of the primary fact is wanting which would have been capable of discriminating between the teachings and of welding them all into one homogeneous whole,—we mean the doctrine of re-incarnation and the law of Karma, facts which are recognised as the basis of all the347great Oriental religions, and which it is the shame and loss alike of Christendom and of Islam, to have generally ignored, though traces of the truth are still to be found in the scriptures of the former, and though it is secretly acknowledged by the mystical followers of the latter. The author also suggests that the attainment of a perfect human state by man while still he bears the body is a realizable possibility. A whole chapter is devoted to the subject of the formation of households which are gradually to realize this perfect state. But let the author speak for himself, though of course no short extract in this or in any other case can do full justice to the gradually elaborated idea of the author in his own work. "For as he labours thus side by side with his fellow-men, tilling, perhaps, the land, and ploughing deep furrows into his own soul, which are destined in good time to bring forth an abundant crop, he perceives that he is indeed laying the foundations of a reconstructed society; and a vista opens out to his charmed gaze of co-operative industries, harmonious communities, and a political system in which liberty, equality, and fraternity shall develop under the aegis of absolute authority, and in association with a hierarchy composed of such different degrees of rank as correspond to their fitness to enjoy it." It must necessarily be with regret that criticism is allowed finally to replace approval of a book which contains so much that is excellent, and the lessons in which are so sadly needed by this self-satisfied and self-vaunting age of ignorance and error. But the unwarranted optimism implied in the above calls for comment; and, besides, there is an apparently wilful misunderstanding throughout the volume of some of the deepest and most occult truths, which recalls a similar though much less flagrant example of misunderstanding, viz: the exaltation of woman as the crown of the universe by the late Mrs. A. Kingsford in her and Mr. Maitland's work, The348Perfect Way, or the Finding of Christ. If it is fair thus to cite a single blemish in a book of such exalted inspiration and remarkable value as the one just named, it may still stand as an example of the error which all psychics are specially liable to, who trust to "spirit-guides" apart from the true intuition of the well balanced nature, as well as from the ancient traditions of revealed authority. Pilgrim. (Concluded in March.) If the severity of my virtue incites another to sin, I am most to blame. He is carried away by the law of polarity; I set it in motion. A rigid virtue destroys; a loose virtue wastes: seek the mean. In equilibrium all things find perfection. Letters That Have Helped Me W. Q. Judge (signed "Z."), pp. 348-350 (Part III, letters IV-V) Stray Memoranda W. Q. Judge (signed "Urban"), pp. 350-352 352 General Theosophical Centres. Some theosophists think there is no need for a headquarters of the Society in India or in the United States, and that the money spent for maintenance of such centres ought to be devoted to some other object. With this view we cannot agree. The buildings and grounds belonging to the Society in India are our only headquarters, strictly speaking, and are desirable, while centres of theosophical work elsewhere have fully demonstrated their usefulness. The "centre" in India has done the greatest good to the Society. It has been a visible evidence of our work and influence, and, as such, a point not only of interest for theosophists, but of serviceable impression upon others. While we are working in the world we must use the things of the world, and not attempt to drag everyone, whether or not, to the high planes of thought where there no longer is any necessity for tangible evidences. Nothing353encourages people so much as results of work, and in our struggles with the scoffers we often find assistance in that we are able to point to where outward signs can be found for that which we have tried to do. The headquarters are in one sense the embodiment of an idea—that of Universal Brotherhood,—for they have been created and are supported by the efforts of members holding to every known shade of religious belief and of every race, caste, and color. The need for a similar locus standi in the United States has been felt for some time by many of us, and to meet it the room in New York, at 117 Nassau Street, which has been referred to in these pages and in the daily press, was fitted up by the efforts of members residing in different parts of the country and devoted to the general good. Every theosophist is welcome there, and every inquirer. The register of visitors shows callers from every point in America, from New Zealand, Asia, and Europe. The room is not the property of the Aryan T. S. That Branch has its own hall and library in another part of the City. At present this theosophical centre is in a small room, because the expense of rent for larger quarters cannot be met until a greater number of members become interested in its welfare. It ought to be in a larger room, so that a library of theosophical works might be accumulated for the use of every visitor. The fact that it is in New York should make no difference, for this city is the metropolis of this country, and one which members from distant points are constantly visiting. And there is no reason why Branches in the other large cities should not establish similar centres. But at present this is the only one of the sort, and there ought to be enough money raised by members throughout the United States to permit of a larger room being hired, so that it may become a real theosophical club of universal use and interest. Answers to Questioners W. Q. Judge (signed "Jasper Niemand," "A Student," and jointly "Jasper Niemand, Wm. Brehon, Eusebio Urban"), pp. 353-355 355 Reflections. When I am annoyed by an ungovernable animal, I am reminded that the brutes would not oppose man if man understood and entered into his true relations with all things. The brutes are unconsciously aware of the general human opposition, which they see focalized in each human being. When I am in harmony with all things, men cannot and brutes will not oppose me. In underrating instinct, the brute is more true than is the man, to the unwritten Law. The "idle word" condemned by Jesus is inactivity of Being. It is the cessation of the homogeneous resonance, the Logos or Word. The Word in its highest activity is pure spirit; in stagnation it is hell. To each man it is given in trust for all men; if he misinterprets it he is tortured. If he sequestrates it, he is condemned to eternal death that it may be free; for it is eternally free. Through misuse, he may learn its use. If he denies it, he is lost; for by it alone he lives. It is better for a man to sin deliberately against the Law than to chafe under the mandates of conscience. The first is a renegade who chooses another King; the second is coward and slave who rebels but dares not disobey. The energy of direct sin may, by reaction, compel return, but the lethargy of fear bears no fruit. If you wish to receive, give. If you wish to ascend, descend. If you wish to live, die. If you wish to understand these words, read them by the lamp of the spirit, and reject that of the understanding. Apparent evil is a necessary result of manifestation or duality. The good alone is in Time inactive. Evil is the balance of good: the Equilibrating power reigns above and is alone eternal. When the silent Eternal gives birth to the activity of Spirit in Space the worlds are evolved, and, seeking equilibrium, return again to the eternal Silence. So with the soul of man. More saving grace may be found in the society of thieves than in that of fine persons who never reverberate to a true thought. In the first there is rebound; the latter is the negation of life. Expiation is the kernel of sin. "Evil" containing its own punishment continually defeats itself, and sows the seed of "good" in its own regeneration. He who would see Perfection must become It. How? By beginning the attempt. Its first step is the full realization of imperfection in himself. Tea Table Talk Julia Keightley (signed "Julius"), pp. 356-360 360 Literary Notes. Special Notice. We particularly wish to again notify all friends that copies of Lucifer and The Theosophist are NOT kept on sale in this office. Subscriptions to either are gladly received and forwarded by us; but changes of address and complaints of non-delivery must be sent to the respective offices at London and Adyar, whence these magazines are issued. Single copies of recent numbers may usually be had from Brentano Bros., 5 Union Square, New York, or from the Occult Publishing Co., 120 Tremont St., Boston. By noting the above, time and patience may be saved to both correspondents and Path. Moreover, we have no information as to when the 3d and 4th volumes of The Secret Doctrine are to be published, nor what is to be their price. Here again, letters to us are useless. As in March last, so in next month we shall print a full table of all Theosophical Societies now in the U. S., with date of organization and name and address of President or Secretary. The Signs of the Times, by Prof. Elliott Coues, has been reprinted in Chicago. It is a lecture which Prof. Coues delivered April 26, 1886, in Washington.—Religio Phil. Jr'nl., Chicago. 15 cents. The story noticed by us in the January Path, "All's Dross but Gold, the Strange Record of two Reincarnated Souls," by A. E. Lancaster, has been361republished as a 10 ct. novellette, we understand, by the John W. Lovell Co., 14 Vesey St., New York, the same house which published the 20 ct. edition of Mr. Sinnett's famous Karma. Occultism is being noticed every month in current literature. In the Cosmopolitan magazine of January, 1889, Mr. Edward Dwight has an article on Psychometry. This is the first instance, we believe, in which a popular magazine has seriously noticed any branch of occult science. The Dream of Love and Fire. We have received this brochure of 42 pp. from the publishers, Estes and Lauriat, Boston. It is by "a dreamer," and is dedicated to the re-incarnation of Cleopatra. As we thoroughly believe the latter lady was re-incarnated, and have seen several modern women either of whom might be she, but do not know who the dreamer thinks is the Queen of Egypt, we cannot point the moral. Many of the things in the brochure are distinctly erotic, and it savors more of ideas of black magic than aught else. Correspondence. Editor Path. After the issue of the January Path, I received a reply from The Esoteric, in which my letter in re "Nemo" is declined for reasons of business policy and because "it would advertise the Path." The editors are quite within their right in declining contributions, yet I earnestly deprecate editorial furtherance, without opportunity of rejoinder, of a bitter and anonymous attack upon those whom we consider the Great Ideals of men. The usual abstinence of The Esoteric made the present case all the more marked, and I thought a defense a clear dictate of duty. Yours fraternally, J. Campbell Ver Planck. Wayne, Jan. 10th, 1889. Theosophical Activities. INDIA. Bro. Richard Harte, who has gone with Col. Olcott to India to assist in editing the Theosophist, writes that the headquarters seems like a paradise after the rush of New York and London. Our own opinion is the same. His presence there will relieve Col. Olcott, who has been obliged to take the entire responsibility of the magazine in consequence of Mme. Blavatsky's being compelled to remain in London. The Library at Adyar requires a set of the Encyclopædia Britannica. A second-hand edition will do, and any kind friend having one can send it either direct to Headquarters or in care of the Countess C. Wachtmeister, 7362Duke St. Adelphi, London, W. C. Naini Tal T. S. At this place a new Branch has been started, called Kurmanchal T. S. It was opened by Thakur Ganesh Singh, President of Baran T. S. The Convention. The general convention which met at Adyar at the close of 1888 has not yet been fully reported to us. The only facts we have are that it was well attended, the rules were revised, and new officers elected. Col. H. S. Olcott of course remains President; Mr. William Q. Judge, of New York, has been selected as Vice President. The revision of the rules mainly consists in restoring to the President some powers which he had in other years delegated to Committees and Boards. We expect next month to give a full report. NEW ZEALAND. Bro. E. T. Sturdy has gotten together a Branch T. S. in far off New Zealand, to be called The New. ENGLAND. The Theosophical movement begins to make sensible progress in England, owing without doubt to the presence of H. P. Blavatsky there. And yet her great book, the Secret Doctrine, has not made as much stir there as in the U. S. But new Branches are being talked of, and with the great mass of gossipers and curiosity-hunters who run after strange human beings like H. P. Blavatsky, some earnest workers always appear. IRELAND. Dublin Lodge T. S. This Lodge has planned out considerable work for the new year. The secretary reports that, acting upon a suggestion made by Mr. Judge during a recent visit, they have brought the scheme of Research Sections into more definite shape, and the members of the various sections will in future devote themselves largely to the preparation of clear and comprehensive reports of the subjects selected; each of these reports being wound up within three or four weeks, and being read and discussed at open monthly meetings to be held for that purpose. A monthly manuscript journal has also been started by the Lodge to further the exchange of views amongst the members, and to keep the Corresponding members of the Lodge more closely in connection with their Dublin brethren. A visiting committee and other plans for spreading theosophical views in Dublin have been made. Though the lodge has a fairly good library, the number of inquirers is so large that there are seldom sufficient works on hand. The Council appeal to their American friends to send them any little works of an explanatory nature they may have to spare. Secretary, Dublin Lodge. Note.—The Path hopes that American Theosophists will send now and then any odd books they may have read and no longer need to the Dublin Lodge, the address of which is care Fred. J. Dick, Esq., 14 Warrington Place, Dublin, Ireland. 363 AMERICA. The Krishna Branch, Philadelphia, is now holding meetings regularly every two weeks on Sunday afternoons. These gatherings are perfectly informal, and are not limited to members of the society. Consequently there has been a considerable attendance of interested inquirers who have joined freely in the informal discussions, and several of them have been sufficiently impressed with the truths of Theosophy to ally themselves with the Society. Proselyting is studiously avoided, and nobody is asked to join the Society, but those who manifest an interest of their own accord are given such assistance as it may be possible to extend to them. A regular course of study in the Bhagavad Gita is to be begun at once. The increase of members in the U. S. is of such an extent as to justify the statement lately made by one of the high disciples of the Adepts writing to a London Theosophist, that the agents of the Adepts had been working here unperceived by us all, and would continue so to do as long as members labored in earnest for the cause. When we recollect also that it is said on the same authority that the new race following ours is to appear in America, the matter takes on a new importance, and we should remember that even a few devoted and earnest members may have power to save the cause we work for, even in the face of the greatest opposition. Bro. Henry B. Foulke, late President of the Krishna T. S., Philadelphia, has joined the group of workers around, and in attendance upon, Mme. Blavatsky in London. A late member of the Aryan T. S. has also taken the same step, and thus increases the ties binding us all to H. P. B. and the Cause. New York Headquarters. These rooms, although very small, owing to the lack of sufficient funds, are very pleasant, and have become a real centre of interest. Many people ask why the example is not followed in our other great cities, and we think it would be wise to do the same thing elsewhere. Since last month's issue a new album has been donated to hold the increasing number of photographs, and by a member who we know is less able to do so than many others. Several new photographs of European theosophists have been added. The register shows visitors nearly every day, and on one day ten altogether. A fine life-size crayon portrait of Col. Olcott has also been hung since last month. It is felt by New York Theosophists that, if interest continues on the increase, a larger and better room will be an absolute necessity. Cincinnati T. S. This Branch is active and prosperous. It recently had its anniversary at the house of Dr. J. D. Buck, at which about 40 were present. Dr. Buck is getting out a new book called "A Study of Man, or the Way to Health." 364 Members at Large. There are a great many persons joining the Society in various parts of the country where no Branches exist. Any of them who wish to know whether there are other members unknown to them in their several localities can write to the General Secretary, who will gladly reply. Notices of theosophy are continually appearing in the newspapers. One of the latest and best is in the Troy Daily Press of January 9, 1889, which gives many interesting details and a fair statement of the cause of theosophy and the efforts of theosophists. The attention of Branch Presidents and Secretaries is particularly requested to the following resolution, reported by the Auditing Committee and adopted by the 2d Annual Convention in April, 1888. "We further report that we are in favor of making each branch responsible for the annual dues of its members in good standing, such dues to be paid on or before March 15th of each year. The General Secretary shall notify each branch when said dues are payable." Subscribers to the T. P. S. are reminded that the first year thereof expires March 1st, and are invited to renew their subscriptions through this office. The Theosophical Publishing Fund started by Mrs. Ver Planck has reached $105. Col. Olcott's Tour. The item promised for the January Path, giving further facts and the amount pledged to the Fund (then $1,222), was actually in type when instructions were received from the Editor for its suppression, and there was no time for even an explanatory notice. Being then in Europe, the Editor received information that business exigencies, of specially important nature, would make imperative the President-Founder's return to India after his visit to Japan, and that the Tour in America would be impracticable this year. Hence it was essential to stop further invitation to pledges at this time, and to take the earliest possible steps to inform the Brethren who have so generously responded to the appeal that, though the Tour has unfortunately become hopeless for 1889, it has been but postponed and not abandoned. The list of pledges is to be carefully kept, and as soon as Col. Olcott finds himself able to carry out this most important and, indeed, invaluable project, the contributors will be appealed to for a renewal of their subscriptions and the Society for a renewal of its anticipations. The Wise guard the home of nature's order; they assume excellent form in secret. —Rig Veda. OM. No. 12 – March 1889 "The Lord dwelleth through himself, out of whom and through whom all things were, and are, and will be." Hindu Shastra, 600 B.C. "O Spirit, only ever-visible judge, light of the world, son of Prajapati, spread thy rays and gather them! The light which is thy fairest form, I see. I am that immortal person. Om!" Upanishads End of Our Third Year. With this number the third year of The Path's existence comes to an end. The only definite rule we made in the conduct of the Magazine has been to treat all with fairness and calmness. We have not indulged in flattery of any person, and have endeavored as much as possible to keep personalities, whether adverse or otherwise, out of our columns; and with the result of the past year's work we now have no concern, because, that work having been done, it remains in the hands of the great law of Karma and not in ours. It is with a trace of sorrow that we record the fact that the Path has not been supported by subscribing theosophists, but mainly by those who are not members of the Society. This is strange but true, and resembles another curious fact, which is that the Theosophical Publication Society of London, organized by theosophists, draws its subscribers and helpers from America. We have no hope of changing human nature now! and, knowing its tendency366to materiality, we would never have brought out this Magazine did we not have supreme faith in those Beings and forces controlling the destiny of nations and individuals, well knowing that They will see that these efforts, made for the cause of humanity, shall not be devoid of fruit. That desired fruit is not money or any material profit, but solely a change in the thoughts and ethics of the people. And we would have all sincere theosophists of the same mind, to the end that they may work unceasingly for the cause of theosophy in the channel at present fixed by Masters—the Theosophical Society, without hope of profit or material reward, and, if possible, even without hope of any profit whatever. To those who have helped us with thoughts, with means, and with pen, we extend our thanks; we may have enemies, but as yet they have not made their appearance: to them, if in existence, we tender our sympathy, for fear is not a quality we possess, and enmity we hold for none. Some of our readers have wondered what is the end and what should be the watchwords; the end is truth and brotherhood; the watchwords, faith, courage, and constancy. Get Your Luggage Ready Julia Keightley (signed "J. Campbell Ver Planck"), pp. 366-370 370 Why the Theosophical Society is Poor. A very great difference is to be observed between the condition of the treasury of our society, especially of the East Indian section, and that of almost any religious sect in either Europe or America. Enormous salaries are paid to celebrated ministers of the Methodist, Unitarian, Presbyterian, and Congregational Churches; millions of dollars are donated for keeping up the expensive missionary establishments that convert nobody in India, while their home secretaries accumulate property out of the savings from the compensation paid for doing the Lord's work at home, while the work of the Theosophical Society is carried on by a few who have but small means. And that the churches have funds is no proof that they are in the right, nor are we shown to be wrong because we have little wealth, or because those in the world who have it do not offer means to us. If we argue strictly on the lines laid down by Jesus, the founder of Christianity, then the conclusion is inevitable that the churches are not doing his work, for, poor himself, he commanded his disciples and apostles to go with no money in their purses and to take no thought for the morrow. 371 The reason for our poverty is not far to seek. It lies in this, that we offer no dogmatic creed, and, instead of leading men by definite statements of what exactly they must believe, we try to make them stand upon their feet and exercise their reason unawed by superstitious theories. Long ago the leaders of the society could have filled its coffers to overflowing, had they chosen to pander to weak and wealthy persons who will pay for the privilege of being led by the nose. Even in the United States, if we had set up a new Buddhist Church, many members would have come into its folds and plenty of money filled the Treasury. But such a policy should never find lodgment in the minds of our members. There is a curse attendant upon money. Very few are born with the ability to accumulate wealth who at the same time have not a love for it or a large estimate of its power, for the Karma that gives them the ability carries with it the other qualities generally found in wealthy men, impelling them to require something in return for expenditure; in the churches, the return they receive is a measurable assurance of happiness after death. So it is found that the Theosophical Society is poor in money, but rich in effort, and we can safely say that no movement of the past few centuries has ever made without money such strides in fourteen years as ours. And from this date it is likely that the society will be poorer than ever in India, for at the Convention held there last December, the Indian section resolved to abolish all fees in India, depending upon donations of money for its support there. It remains to be seen whether hereafter the Indian Section will be helped by members and sympathizers in the same way that other missionary bodies are assisted. Meditation and Action. (Concluded from February.) It is the Utopia of every dreaming Socialist to found a Kingdom of Heaven upon earth, though his means of attaining it may be somewhat different from the peaceful formation of groups of individuals bent on realizing a higher life; but surely more appreciation of existing facts and possibilities is shown even by the religionists who declare that their kingdom is not of this world! That our race may and will evolve the perfect state is an occult fact, but that evolution will take countless aeons of time, during which the race will inhabit other and more ethereal planets than the present material world, to correspond with the more ethereal bodies which the race will gradually372assume, and it will only be after countless weedings-out, during which the great majority will be left behind to carry on such lives as they are fitted for, that the remnant of elect souls will realize the perfect state of terrestrial being (between which and the perfect state of transcorporeal being there will then be but the thinnest vail), the general conditions of which state render it perfectly impossible for us to make any comparison with the present, for, amongst other changes, the sexual passion will then be non-existent, for the Humanity of the sixth and great seventh round will have reverted to the androgynous type of their far-off ancestors of the first round, which to-day is buried in the depths of prehistoric time, while we of the fourth round, who are wallowing in the very nadir of materiality, are naturally removed by the whole diameter of the circle alike from the first and the seventh. But we now approach the kernel of the whole question. What is bred in the bone comes out in the flesh. Like the sportsman who by the most curious perversion of logic (perhaps not altogether to be wondered at in a bucolic intellect), and glorying in his very shame, defends the brutality of slaughter, or the cruelty of hunting an animal to death, on the ground, forsooth, that the courage of the human animal is thereby fed and increased (as if true courage could not be kept up without brutality!), so the man who has been brought up to Western wars of thinking not only fails to realize the very first axiom of true thought, but, with the perverted idea of his race, glories in his very shame, for he exalts action above meditation. This373is the idea strongly dwelt on in many passages of the book before us. This is the rift in the lute that spoils all the music. The Western nations having reached what heights they have through action chiefly, it is no great wonder that their representative sons should bow down before the goddess who has ennobled them, but that one who, like the author of Scientific Religion, has received so much true inspiration, should not in this also have been rightly guided, is a problem for psychologists to explain. The right understanding of meditation and action is the great subject with which the Bhagavad-Gita—that holy book—begins and ends. Two quotations on the subject of action will demonstrate its scope and object. The first is from chapter VI. "By works the votary doth rise to Saint, And Saintship is the ceasing from all works." The second is from chapter XVIII. "Better thine own work is, though done with fault, Than doing others' work, ev'n excellently. He shall not fail in sin who fronts the task Set him by Nature's hand! Let no man leave His natural duty, Prince! though it bear blame! For every work hath blame, as every flame Is wrapped in smoke! Only that man attains374Perfect surcease of work whose work was wrought With mind unfettered, soul wholly subdued, Desires forever dead, results renounced." No ordinary man can escape from action, for, while desire of action remains, action is being done,—if not on the material, still on the mental plane. And again it is written in chapter III, verse 4, "A man does not attain to freedom from action by not engaging in action merely, nor is the perfect state gained by simple abandonment of action." But it is one thing to perform all actions that duty enjoins, looking forward to the time when all earthly actions will have been performed, and when duty will no longer call; it is another and very different thing to glory in the action, to blindly imagine that any action we can possibly perform is the "worthy and laudable service" which is required of us. The sympathetic relief of physical suffering is well; the teaching by which man's mental horizon is widened and man's moral nature is elevated is better. They both form worthy preludes to the higher goal. But best of all is to become part of the spiritual pabulum by which Humanity lives, and the very first step on the path that leads to this stupendous result is meditation; in other words, the detachment from all the ephemeral interests of life,—which detachment displays itself by perfect equanimity in good and evil fortune, the centering of all thought on the Supreme, until thought itself drops off and the soul is face to face with Deity. It will be apparent in the above that the "service of man" is the key note throughout, but the "service of man" and what is more or less accurately described as the "Worship of God" must go hand in hand, until they finally become one and identical. It is this final unity which we desire to bring into prominence. Service on the physical plane is good; service on the mental or psychic plane is better; the altruistic effort involved in both requires the impulse of the higher worship as a goal. But with the culmination of worship comes the culmination of service, for they are merged in one. When the self as we understand it is annihilated, when the soul has been able to endure the transcendent vision of Itself as Deity, when difference no longer exists and the one is merged in the All, the store-house of spiritual energy is thereby replenished, and all Humanity receives an impulse that raises them a step nearer the Divine Union also,—nay further, the Divine impulse after passing through man descends to vivify the lower creation. The whole Universe is thrilled by it! All are capable of the lower service; many are capable of the higher; few are yet fit for the highest. Each one is bound to serve according to his powers, and, following this law, the service which seems worthiest for375the writer, who can certainly lay claim to nothing beyond the singlemindedness of an ardent and aspiring but deeply passion-stained man, is to convince if possible an unbelieving world of the existence of that at once highest service and highest worship, which the religious have materialized and degraded, and which the agnostics ignore. When it is realized that, for the attainment of true meditation, the whole nature requires to be transformed, the Will begins to make the attempt. Though as Matthew Arnold pithily puts it, "Tasks in hours of insight will'd Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled," it yet seems too much of a miracle to permanently change the nature, to induce altruism in the selfish man, or purity in the lustful, let alone humility in the proud, for this last (pride) being an attribute of spirit is necessarily far deeper seated than the surface blemishes of the physical nature. The Poet truly wrote, "Pride is the last infirmity of noble minds"; and, indeed, it can be, and often is, used as a means of ennobling the nature, and purging it of the grosser taints of the body. This permanent change of nature will not likely be effected in an ordinary man in one life time,—rather will it require the concentrated energy of many life times on the "Great Quest," but the first step toward it must be the recognition of the truth, the realization of the supreme desirability of the state to which true meditation leads, and the knowledge that action impelled by desire in one life can only eventuate in similar action in the next, and that the only wise action to perform is that which looks for no reward, that which is dissociated from all idea of self,—in fact, such action as is preached from beginning to end of the Bhagavad-Gita. We often hear it stated that a man is better than his creed, and it is a376blessed thing for Humanity that the moral nature is sometimes able to withstand the debasing effect of the dire creeds of the churches, but the aimlessness of even the best moral nature which acts without knowledge must be replaced by the distinct realization of the goal to be aimed at. "The first good level is Right Doctrine;" and till the perverted notion of the worthiness in itself of any earthly act disappears from the mind, and some faint conception of the sublime state we aim at takes its place, no further advance seems possible. He must indeed be a devotee of a very blind optimism who can contemplate the hideous results of action in this vaunted civilization, and can still expect that, without a cataclysm in which the whole vile thing shall be swept away, any gradual evolution can bring a reformed state. For he sees around him a fair country blackened and marred by belching furnace-fires and the never-ending grind of machinery, the still more awful tumult of the fevered rush of the competing multitudes, and, worse than all, the continually increasing degradation of the lives of the toilers, with every sign that all these evils are steadily on the increase. The story of Martha and Mary is a standing protest against our deification of action. "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful!"; and many other similar sayings of the great Teacher might be quoted, but the churches called after his name, and whose representatives have become as a rule "mere echoes of the world's self-seeking," have been reduced to accept the world's apologetic theory that the teachings of Christ are incapable of practical application,—indeed, as the author of Scientific Religion points out, the present state of things in Europe has absolutely made them so. But though the literal application of Christ's teaching has become an impossibility in the West, there are still spots on the earth's surface where the fever of the modern life has not yet reached, where the lust of wealth and luxury—the Gods or Demons whom the West worships—has no power to quicken the pulses in many a quiet household, whose inmates have at least inherited from their nobler ancestors a juster appreciation than is met with in the West, of the ephemeral character of life, and a worshiping reverence for those who are capable of true meditation. If the so-called Christian Churches, instead of steeping their hands in the blood of tortured victims and rivaling Princes in the lust of conquest, had taught the Brotherhood of man that Christ believed in, it would not to-day have become in practice an unthinkable proposition, and we should not now be looking forward to the possibility of a social catastrophe which is too awful to contemplate. But surely the outcome of our present civilization, the steadily increasing accentuation of both poverty and wealth—which indeed constitutes the source of danger—, makes it apparent that the cup of iniquity is rapidly filling to the brim! Nay, rather let us avoid adding more than is absolutely enjoined by duty to this fevered rush of existence. Let us remember always that in our true self we are the spectator only and that all action is but the result of the "Qualities"; so let us gradually transcend the "Qualities." And realizing that the Divine inner Self—the goal of our great endeavor—ever abides in the true heaven, "let us in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell." "Only by Soul itself Is soul perceived—when the Soul wills it so! There shines no light save its own light to show Itself unto itself!" "None compasseth Its joy who is not wholly ceased from sin, Who dwells not self-controlled, self-centred—calm Lord of himself! It is not gotten else! Brahm hath it not to give!" * * * * * "Meditate! There shines no light, save the Soul's light, to show! Save the Soul's light!" Pilgrim. "Nationalism"—A Sign of the Times. The query often arises among Theosophists, What can we do in the way of "practical" work? How can we best advance the principles we follow? A notable movement has recently begun to take shape, and to many it will afford an answer to this question, for it is a movement that in its working goes a long way in the direction of the broad, basic principle of Theosophy—the Universal Brotherhood of Man: the first needed step for disciples of our faith, and without which all occult leanings but take the wanderer swiftly along the left-hand path. This movement is in the shape of Nationalist Clubs which it is proposed to organize throughout this country, "to promote the nationalization of industry and thereby the brotherhood of humanity," in the words of their declared objects. "The principles that govern the civilized world to-377day are those of competition, by which each man's hand is lifted against his neighbor, each striving for advantage at the cost of the other, so that it is impossible to make the noble, ethical standards which our so-called Christian society professes to follow, anything more than hypocritical pretensions. Strive as we may, we cannot take active part in the world's life to-day, and carry our precepts into practice." Now the Nationalists come forward and say: "Not only is the present order based upon bad morals, and therefore responsible for nearly all the crime and misery that surround us, but, like all that follows bad morals, it is bad policy. The essential friction of competition is inexpressibly wasteful, and if men would turn around and work together, instead of working against each other; if they would mutually 'lend a hand,' instead of striving to pull and push each other down; there would be abundance where there is now destitution, happiness and enlightenment where there is now woe and darkness. Every sign of the times indicates that this is the road which mankind must take, and the question only is whether we shall enter upon the way intelligently, or roam blindly and with much suffering until we stumble upon it. The way to accomplish this end is naturally through the instrumentality of the Nation, the great entity of the people—the Nation, that only exists at all through the working together, to some degree, of the people composing it. The purpose of Nationalism is, as the word indicates, the development of the present imperfect, embryotic Nation into the complete organism whose potentiality is indicated by the existing rudiments. In the latter consummation the national organization will be the instrumentality for the accomplishment of everything that men can do better by working independently in unison than independently as individuals. The possible objection of some Theosophists that may be raised—"Why should I confine my activities to a Nation? My country is the world—therefore, why not 'Internationalism?'"—can be answered that the practical application must necessarily begin with the Nation, and then, with individuals acting harmoniously together as a Nation, we shall have the Nations also acting in harmony as larger individuals in the great Nation—the world. Harmony in the parts produces harmony in the whole. The keynote to this movement was struck by Edward Bellamy's remarkable book, "Looking Backward," the most important novel of the century since "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The book has made a profound impression in all directions. It goes forward to the year 2,000, and "looking backward" on this age, it puts in strong contrast the life of that time with the sad conditions of to-day. It is more than a novel; it depicts in the guise of fiction, a practical and desirable working basis for society. It is the realization to a great extent of theosophical ideas upon the ordinary plane of life. Only under such conditions as it depicts, could our principles receive universal acceptance. Says Dr. Leete, of the 20th century, to Mr. West, the young man who has awakened out of the 19th: "If I were to give you in one sentence, a key to what may seem the mysteries of our civilization as compared with that of your age, I should say that it is the fact that the solidarity of the race and the brotherhood of man, which to you were but fine phrases, are, to our thinking and feeling, ties as real and as vital as physical fraternity." One of the chapters is devoted to a notable sermon, in which the great change wrought in society is reviewed and accounted for as the reaction of a changed environment upon human nature. "It means merely that a form of society which was founded on the pseudo self-interest of selfishness, and appealed solely to the anti-social and brutal side of human nature, has been replaced by institutions based on the true self-interest of a rational unselfishness, and appealing to the social and generous instincts of men. My friends, if you would see men again the378beasts of prey they seemed in the nineteenth century, all you have to do is to restore the old social and industrial system, which taught them to view their natural prey in their fellow-men, and find their gain in the loss of others." The significance of the following passage will surely not be lost to Theosophists: "The enfranchisement of humanity in the last century, from mental and physical absorption in working and scheming for the mere bodily necessities, may be regarded as a species of second birth of the race, without which its first birth to all existence that was but a burden would forever have remained unjustified, but whereby it is now abundantly vindicated. Since then humanity has entered on a new phase of spiritual development, an evolution of higher faculties, the very existence of which in human nature our ancestors scarcely suspected." A passage like the foregoing, as well as the whole noble tone of the work, stamps Mr. Bellamy as a natural Theosophist. The occultism of the other stories which he has written has been alluded to in previous issues of The Path. It is a favorable omen that the pioneer Nationalist Club has been organized in Boston, the birthplace of the American Nation, and also of the movement that resulted in the abolition of negro slavery. When industrial slavery is abolished human freedom will first be realized. It is also significant that several earnest Theosophists should have been drawn to the movement at the start, and there encountered others theosophically inclined. The change may be nearer than many think. The end of a cycle is at hand. The wheel of evolution is revolving rapidly now. It may be observed that the end of the Kali Yuga, and the dawning of the age whose conditions shall evolve the Sixth Race upon our continent, have not been predicted for the distant future. Changes for which scores of centuries have slowly been preparing, may be accomplished in a few swift-flying years when the conditions are once ripe. Sylvanus. Letters That Have Helped Me W. Q. Judge (signed "Z.", with a closing note by "J. N."), pp. 378-381 (Part IV) 381 Occultism for Barter. Esoteric Colleges and False Prophets. When Jesus of Nazareth went to the Temple in Jerusalem he, it is said, drove money changers out of the courts; and later he said that many false prophets should arise. For the Christian that temple symbolized the Palace of God, and the occultist knows that the story really means the driving out from the heart of all materialistic thought. Jesus, with a prophet's eye, saw what has so often come to pass since then,—false prophets arising on every side, both in and out of the Church that bears his name. In the present days no country can boast as ours of having so many false prophets, who, taking advantage of the popular leaning to mysticism hang out signs of various kinds, but one and all offering for sale the things of the spirit. 382 It is not to magazines or books dealing with these subjects that we refer, for printing and paper must be paid for when one wants to lay his ideas before the people. But it is quite a different thing when men or women offer to sell to the buyer, for money, the knowledge of self or any mystery in nature pertaining to spiritual things. In one place we have a man pretending that he is a reincarnation of Jesus Christ, and in another, one deliberately stating that he is Gautama Buddha come again in order to correct errors in his promulgated doctrines. Again, we find astrologers and diviners, mediums and seers, opening shops wherein they dispense oracles to the willing, gullible people. One is quite as pernicious as the other, for the taint of money will corrupt anything. And those who have means are somewhat to blame, in that they imagine that their money can procure them knowledge of the deep, spiritual things of Nature. The latest thing in this line is that which began in Boston soon after the starting there of a magazine called the Esoteric. With that journal we had no concern, for its founders had a right to use it to promulgate just as much of truth as they had hold of in the same way that the Path gives out its ideas of nature and of man. But in the beginning, the managers of that magazine let it be understood that they were, or one of them—to wit, Mr. Hiram Butler—was a theosophist, or member of the Theosophical Society. An examination of the records just made shows that he never was a383member of that body. Not very long ago a bulky book was circulated by this prophet, in which mysterious statements were made that one Vidya Nyaka desired to found a College in the U. S. to teach the stockholders (!) and students all the mysteries, and among others, the power of acquiring vast wealth, and it was said that after the college was organized unlimited means would be at its disposal, drawn from the funds at command of adepts; but, as a preliminary merely, the faithful must disburse. And disburse they did. We grieve to say that many theosophists sent in money to this scheme which, on its very face, boldly showed that it was founded as a means of giving its stockholders wealth. The first note was sounded in an alleged "Letter to a Seeker" published by the Esoteric. This was a fraud which took in theosophists who do not get acquainted with what is written in out-of-the-way places. It was a hit at the Theosophical Society and at the Adepts, pretending that They were cold and dead and selfish, and that only the Solar Biologists were fitted to help Americans. It exhibited ignorance when it left the domain of plagiarism. What it plagiarized from is a book called "The Wisdom of the Adepts," by Rev. Thomas Lake Harris, in which he attempted to show that Buddhist Adepts are systematically trying to subvert Christianity in America, and this "Letter to a Seeker" took as sub-title, "The Wisdom of the Wise." Fragments are taken, word for word, from pages 8, 9, 319, 149, 371, 248, 249, of Harris's book, and used to construct this letter in the Esoteric and signed Nemo. If Rev. Harris did not write it, then it was stolen from him; or, if he did, then the Esoteric is a secret organ for a Christian sect which is anti-theosophical, while it outwardly professes theosophy. Either of these alternatives is equally damaging. The second note was a loud one on a brass bugle heralding the founding of the Esoteric College, as the direct outcome of the efforts of the magazine, with Mr. Butler at the head of it, and Vidya Nyaka in the mysterious distance with a medley of nonsensical letters at the end of his name. The real name of Vidya N. is Ohmart, and he is known to many men in Boston who experienced his wiles before Butler joined hands with him. Before384that, Ohmart was satisfied to deal with men on pure business principles, but when he combined with Butler he played upon the credulity of the mystically inclined people who sincerely desired to know the things of the spirit and foolishly thought that the great pretensions of this pair hid great knowledge and wisdom. It all speedily ended with a frightful exposé in the N. Y. World, Boston Globe and Herald, and Philadelphia Inquirer. The worst of it was that the press mixed the Theosophical Society in it, entirely without cause but wholly because of Butler's theosophic claims, and to-day hundreds of people think that exposure was an exposure of humbug on our part. Such are the facts; hear now of the Karma: Mr. Butler and all his confederates have to some slight extent injured the Theosophical Society, and the nemesis provided by the immutable law of Karma will follow him until the full consequence is felt and compensation made. We do not need sworn zealots to wreak a vengeance. That will follow, whatever it be, because behind the Theosophical Society is a mighty power that works by law and by will, and not by money. No wealth can buy its favor nor avert its care for its members and for the enemies of the Society. Already material damages and great annoyance have come to these men who dared to sell and buy in the Temple of God. And the same nemesis, but perhaps with lesser fury, will pursue all those members of the Theosophical Society who have in their hearts said, "Lo, here is one who offers at a price that which the Adepts of the Theosophical Society say can only be obtained through toil and unselfish effort; let us go buy of him." We are sorry for both, but surely lessons must be learned, and we had thought that the lesson was taught when the mysterious H. B. of L. invaded our ranks seeking recruits and getting those who would not try the right way. The end is not yet, the hour has not struck, but it will arrive. Let us then rely upon Karma and do our duty. 384 Theosophical Aspects of Contemporary Thought and Literature. It is not long since it was said that the stories had all been told; that authors now could do no more than retell them in variations, merely clothed in new garments, according to the various aspects of individual points of view. The new realm for imaginative creation to be opened up to literary activity by Occultism, was then scarcely suspected, but now it is seen that an apparently boundless field is spread out for the exploration of those who can appreciate the conditions upon which it can be entered. To the thoughtful student there is much instruction to be gained from the way in which these new means are availed of, and it is exceedingly interesting to follow its development in current literature. Scarcely a month passes in which some magazine does not testify to the fertility of the new soil by a story founded upon some phase of Occultism. There are two ways in which authors appear to cultivate this ground. One is that of the average constructor of stories, who simply regards Occultism as an interesting mine for intellectual exploitation, and, without any true comprehension, merely seizes upon the external aspects of the subject, and arbitrarily invents all sorts of phenomenal occurrences, usually out of all accord with psychic or occult laws. The second way is that of those writers who have the organization of the true poet; the faculty to look upon that which is invisible; it appears as if such were unconsciously guided by some unseen influence that directs their work into thorough harmony with the great truths; their minds seem illuminated by the white light that now shines upon men's souls as never before in the history of the present race. So unerringly does what they say tally with the subtler meanings, that it seems as if no writer who "reads up" on the subject merely for the sake of intellectual diversion, and to obtain some novel material with which to please his readers, could thus achieve truth to occult facts. It requires a finer texture of the mind, pervaded by the solvent of true spiritual sympathy, to reach these higher results. These latter writers appear to be one form of the many and diverse instrumentalities chosen to lift the souls of the race on to higher levels of thought, fitting them for the reception of more truth. In Harper's for February of this year gives a remarkable story of this character. It is called "To Whom this may Come," by Edward Bellamy, the strikingly theosophical nature of whose stories has several times been alluded to in this department of The Path. The present story surpasses its predecessors in this respect, and is characterized by thought high and385noble in its spirituality. It is, in reality, a chapter of pure Occultism in the guise of a story. It seems like a prophecy of the condition that humanity shall attain in some of the more exalted races to be evolved upon our planet at some time in the far distant future. Mr. Bellamy has a remarkable faculty—which is that of the scientific thinker in the highest sense; the man who beholds things in the light of imagination held in control by law—of supposing a certain condition of existence, either physical, psychical or spiritual, and then depicting life as it must necessarily be under such conditions. This he does with rare consistency and power of versimilitude. This story of his is that of a race of mind-readers, descended from Persian Magi, exiled something like 2,000 years ago, and shipwrecked with their families, upon a group of inaccessible islands in the Indian ocean, the faculty of mind-reading, being hereditary, is cultivated and perfected, according to the laws of evolution, until they have no need for the imperfect method of communication by speech, and have therefore voluntarily lost the power of so doing, the loss being considered by them a gain. The narrative is ostensibly that of one of our own race shipwrecked on their shores. It will be perceived that one of the chief attributes of perfected human brotherhood must be the faculty of sharing the thoughts of others as if they were our own. Therein lies that extension of the individuality which makes all men one with each other, which makes our brother really ourself. This faculty is to-day possessed by the Masters, who thus realize in themselves the brotherhood and oneness of humanity, and its occasional, though imperfect manifestation in ourselves shows that it is rudimentary in the race, and can be developed by the proper training. Therefore, in this tale, Mr. Bellamy has simply allegorized a great truth. Here is a fine picture of the feeling of one who first comes among such a race: "I imagine that the very unpleasant sensations which followed the realization that I was among people who, while inscrutable to me, knew my every thought, was very much what anyone would have experienced in the same case. They were very comparable to the panic which accidental nudity causes a person among races whose custom it is to conceal the figure with drapery. I wanted to run away and hide myself. If I analyzed my feeling, it did not seem to arise so much from the consciousness of any particularly heinous secrets as from the knowledge of a swarm of fatuous, ill-natured, and unseemly thoughts and half-thoughts concerning those around me and concerning myself, which it was insufferable that any person should peruse in however benevolent a spirit. But while my chagrin and distress on this account were at first intense, they were also very short-lived, for almost immediately I discovered that the very knowl386edge that my mind was over-looked by others, operated to check thoughts that might be painful to them, and that, too, without more effort of the will than a kindly person exerts to check the utterance of disagreeable remarks." And here the consequence: "How shall I describe the moral health and cleanness, the breezy oxygenated mental condition, which resulted from the consciousness that I had absolutely nothing concealed! Truly I may say that I enjoyed myself. I think surely that no one needs to have had any marvellous experience to sympathize with this portion of it. Are we not all ready to agree that this having a curtained chamber where we may go to grovel, out of sight of our fellows, troubled only by a vague apprehension that God may look over the top, is the most demoralizing incident in the human condition? "It is the existence within the soul of this secure refuge of lies which has always been the despair of the saint and the exultation of the knave. It is the foul cellar which taints the whole house above, be it never so fine. What stronger testimony could there be to the instinctive consciousness that concealment is debauching, and openness our only cure, than the world-old conviction of the virtue of confession for the soul, and that the uttermost exposing of one's worst and foulest is the first step toward moral health? The wickedest man, if he could but somehow attain to writhe himself inside out as to his soul, so that its full sickness could be seen, would feel ready for a new life. Nevertheless, owing to the utter impotence of words to convey mental conditions in their totality, or to give other than mere distortions of them, confession is, we must needs admit, but a mockery of that longing for self-revelation to which it testifies. But think what health and soundness there must be for souls among a people who see in every face a conscience which, unlike their own, they cannot sophisticate, who confess one another with a glance, and shrive with a smile! Ah friends, let me now predict, though ages may elapse before the slow event shall justify me, that in no way will the mutual vision of minds, when at last it shall be perfected, so enhance the blessedness of mankind as by rending the veil of self, and leaving no spot of darkness for lies to hide in. Then shall the soul no longer be a coal smoking among ashes, but a star set in a crystal sphere." It is to be remarked that in the foregoing there is in the literary style a notable similarity to that of the writer of "Light on the Path." There is the same exquisite imagery, the same beauteous, graceful garb befitting lofty thought, and it seems as if behind them both there might be the same guiding Master hand, even if to the writer unknown. Here is another glorious passage: "Self-knowledge means to the mind-reader ..... nothing less, indeed, than a shifting of the identity.387When a man sees himself in a mirror, he is compelled to distinguish between the bodily self he sees, and his real self, the mental and moral self, which is within and unseen. When in turn the mind-reader comes to see the mental and moral self reflected in other minds as in mirrors, the same thing happens. He is compelled to distinguish between this mental and moral self which has been made objective to him, and can be contemplated by him as impartially as if it were another's, from the inner ego, which still remains subjective, unseen, and indefinable. In this inner ego the mind-readers recognize the essential identity and being, the Noumenal self, the core of the soul, and the true hiding of its eternal life, to which the mind as well as the body is but the garment of a day." The statement that "this race which makes so little account of physical beauty is itself a singularly handsome one," recalls the words in "Through the Gates of Gold:" "In due proportion to the completeness of his indifference to it is the strength and beauty of his personal self." We shall surely be privileged to hear more from the mind that has given us this noble story, and the message intended by it. "To Whom this May Come," will undoubtedly be received by many glad hearts. Tea Table Talk Julia Keightley (signed "Julius"), pp. 387-391 391 Literary Notes. Patanjali's Yoga Philosophy.—This valuable book has hitherto been an annoyance to students, since the Indian edition, the only one available, has baffled readers by reason of the intolerable brackets and obscure notes with which it is interlarded. Yet in the face of these defects many copies have been purchased. The Path will issue an American edition just as soon as the printer and binder can get it out. This is really an interpretation of the great Sage and is cast in plain English. It will be printed on good paper and sold at $1.25 postage free. Intending purchasers can order it at once. We have no hesitation in recommending it to students. Louis Lambert, with an Introduction by George Frederic Parsons, to the English translation by Katherine F. Wormerly. (1889, Roberts Bros., Boston, 12mo, 258 pp.) This excellent translation of Honoré de Balzac's work is enriched and illuminated by Mr. Parsons' introduction, which not only thoroughly acquaints the reader with the purpose of the story but shows the writer to be a theosophist like Balzac himself. The great Frenchman was thoroughly infused with mystical ideas and in his youth met comrades whose thoughts were all bent upon spiritual things. We like the 155 pages of introduction quite as much as the story. Mr. Parsons arraigns in telling words dogmatic science which scouts the use of all imagination in the Hindu, the spiritualist, or the theosophist while itself indulging in the wildest and most unprovable hypotheses imaginable. How true this: "Every theory of the392universe advanced by science demands the acceptance of postulates which are in most instances figments of the imagination, and some of which go counter to one of the primal laws of all scientific research, in positing conditions wholly foreign to experience. Of such is the atomic theory—which assumes the existence, as the base of matter, of a body possessing properties the like of which no body known to human percipience is endowed with. The atom of science is absolutely solid and absolutely impenetrable, yet so far as is known there are no absolutely solid and absolutely impenetrable bodies in nature." The habit of accepting whatever comes to us with the endorsement of science causes men to think they comprehend such statements, whereas in truth no story of a miracle can possibly be harder to grasp by the reason alone. Science not only employs the imagination freely, but requires from its votaries a constant exercise of faith," and also, "Whatever is is natural, and supernaturalism . . . is a delusion. . . . Of the material world beneath and around us we know that we are able to cognize but a small percentage of existing phenomena; . . . a question of a few vibrations of the ether, more or less, makes for us all the difference between perception and non-perception." This introduction is valuable to all theosophists. We cannot possibly do it justice in our small space. It shows a true theosophist's spirit and a real appreciation of the old time glory and power of the Indian sages. Illuminated Buddhism or the True Nirvana.—We have received this Pamphlet from Kansas City where it is published. It pretends to be written by Gautama Buddha for the purpose of correcting errors in his system. We thoroughly believe in the old prophecy that "many false prophets will arise," and do not believe that this alleged Buddha is Gautama's reincarnation. This pamphlet is too full of historical, philological and philosophical errors to be worth consideration, but for fear some poorly read theosophists might be misled we refer to it. It declares that Buddha is a mythological Hindu character, that the Indian metaphysics devote no space to the nature of the soul and other glaring as well as ridiculous statements wholly without basis, and to crown all, a picture of Buddha with a long beard (!) is given as frontispiece. We hardly think that this new Siddhartha will reach even as high as the great Sankaracharya who was born after Buddha, and we would advise him to study a little more what others have written. 393 Theosophical Activities. EUROPE. The Dublin Lodge has been very active since the visit made by Dr. Keightley and Mr. William Q. Judge, in December last. The remarks made by the various persons at that meeting have been printed, and the Lodge has started the Dublin Theosophical Journal. New members are reported as joining, and interest is rapidly increasing. The members are divided into sections of three or four in each, and on January 3d and 17th papers were presented by some of the sections respectively upon "Light on the Path" and "Karma," followed by profitable discussion. Every alternate Wednesday an open meeting is held. Altogether the prospects for theosophical work in Ireland are brightening. Bro. Fred. J. Dick, of the Dublin Lodge, visited the Blavatsky Lodge in January during the holidays. INDIA. It is suggested to those who desire to do a good deed, that the various important magazines published in America are of great use to the editor of The Theosophist, and any well disposed member can subscribe in behalf of the editors, for such as Harper's, Scribner's, Lippincott's, Atlantic Monthly, Century, Popular Science Monthly, North American Review, The Forum, and others. The address to be used is: "Editor Theosophist, Adyar, Madras, India." Col. H. S. Olcott has by this time reached Japan, where he will speak in various temples and public places upon Theosophy and Buddhism. It is expected that the formation of new Branches will follow his progress. Inasmuch as the Indian section of the Society has abolished compulsory fees there and now depends upon voluntary contributions for defraying expenses, Col. Olcott during his tour will place boxes at the doors of the places where he will speak, for the reception of the offerings of those who have an interest in the work. The American Section will continue to send to India, as heretofore, a proportion of its receipts from dues and fees. The General Convention at Adyar. The attendance at the Convention was not as large this year as formerly, owing to a National Political Congress held at Allahabad. The meetings continued for three days, and an important feature was an address by the Japanese delegate, Mr. Zenshiro Noguchi, upon religion in Japan. This address was delivered in a public hall in Madras, which was filled to overflowing, thousands being turned away. 394 In the President's address to the Convention he said that the increase in Branches for the last year was mainly confined to the United States. His statistics of growth are interesting. The total number of live Branches reported was 173, distributed thus: Bengal, 26; Behar, 8; N. W. P., Oude and Punjab, 23; Cent. Prov., 4; Bombay, 7; Kathiawar, 2; Madras, 46; Ceylon, 10; Burmah, 3; England, 4; Scotland, 2; Ireland, 1; France, 2; Austria, 1; Greece, 2; Holland, 1; Russia, 1; West India, 2; Africa, 1; Australasia, 2; Japan, 1; United States, 25, (now 26). The African T. S. is at Queenstown, Cape Colony, and that in Japan, at Kioto. The office of Vice-President has been revived, and that of Corresponding Secretary confirmed in H. P. Blavatsky, and a rule passed that at her death no one shall be elected to the vacancy. The object of having a Vice President is to provide for the contingency of Col. Olcott's death. In that case the Vice-President acts while collecting votes for a new President. The officers elected are as follows: President.—Col. H. S. Olcott. Corresponding Secretary.—H. P. Blavatsky. Vice-President.—William Q. Judge. Secretaries.—C. W. Leadbeater, Archibald Keightley, William Q. Judge, Richard Harte. Recording Secretary.—T. Vijiaraghava Charlu. Treasurer.—C. Ramiah. Assistant Treasurer.—T. Vijiaraghava Charlu. AMERICA. The General Convention will be held in Chicago, April 28, 1889. The place of meeting is in the Palmer House Assembly Rooms. A large attendance is expected, and very interesting papers will be read by prominent members. Bro. Alexander Fullerton, who has been doing such valuable work for the past two years in the Path office and for the T. S., left New York for London, February 16th, on important business for H. P. Blavatsky. The Path staff is thus reduced, and subscribers as well as correspondents must be satisfied with the briefest replies to inquiries until Bro. Fullerton's place is in some way filled—a rather difficult problem. 395 The New York T. S. Headquarters will be moved on March 1st to 21 Park Row, Room 47, from 117 Nassau street. The new rooms are larger and in a better building. We shall now be able to turn round, and the numerous interesting pictures and other things will be better appreciated. All the best theosophical books will be kept on hand for members and visitors to read. Aryan T. S., N. Y.—The meetings of this Branch have been well attended. Interesting discussions on Universal Brotherhood, Culture of Concentration, and other topics have been held. A paper showing why Adept Gurus, or Teachers, are not yet needed by the general run of theosophists, was read not long ago and will soon be printed in the Path. Boston T. S.—At the last election Bro. J. Ransom Bridge was made President, and Bro. E. I. K. Noyes, Cor. Sec'y. Los Angeles, Cal.—The Satwa Branch T. S. is a new one just organized here. Its charter is dated February 18, 1889; President, Samuel Calhoun; Secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth Hughes, No. 247 So. Spring Street, Los Angeles, California. An earnest Theosophist has begun to write suggestions for Discussions by Branches, and will furnish some for each month, to begin with the April issue of the Path. We hope that all Branches will take them up and send us abstracts of each discussion, which we will gladly print. Every man contains within himself the potentiality of eternal death and the potentiality of Immortality, equilibrated by the power of choice. He who lives in one color of the rainbow is blind to the rest. Live in the light diffused through the entire arc, and you will know it all. Every time the Hindu pronounces the word Om, he renews his allegiance to the divine potentiality enshrined within the soul. People talk of the devil. For my part I have seen him; he was in my own heart. The Higher Self knows that highest home of Brahman, in which all is contained and shines brightly. The wise who, without desiring happiness, worship that Person, are not born again. The eternal spirit is everywhere. Its hands, feet, eyes, head and ears are everywhere; it stands encompassing all in the world. —Upanishads. OM. American Branches: Theosophical Society. (A table of the 26 chartered Branches then active in the United States, giving for each the place, the Branch's name, the date of its charter, and the name and address of its President and Secretary, closes the volume. It is not reproduced here in tabular form; the Branches listed, with their dates of charter, are: St. Louis, Arjuna T. S. (1882); New York, Aryan T. S. (1883); Chicago, Chicago T. S. (1884); Washington, Gnostic T. S. (1884); San Francisco, Golden Gate Lodge (1885); Los Angeles, Los Angeles T. S. (1885); Malden, Malden T. S. (1885); Boston, Boston T. S. (1886); Cincinnati, Cincinnati T. S. (1886); Chicago, Ramayana T. S. (1887); Minneapolis, Ishwara T. S. (1887); Philadelphia, Krishna T. S. (1887); St. Louis, Pranava T. S. (1887); Santa Cruz, Purana T. S. (1887); Omaha, Vedanta T. S. (1888); Grand Island, Nirvana T. S. (1888); San Diego, Point Loma Lodge (1888); St. Louis, Esh Maoun T. S. (1888, private); Muskegon, Lotus Lodge (1888, private); Bridgeport, Varuna T. S. (1888); Cleveland, Dharma T. S. (1888); Decorah, Isis Lodge (1888); Milwaukee, Brahmana T. S. (1888); Los Angeles, Satwa Lodge (1889).) Footnotes