Zirkoff B. - EI. Instruction No.2: Difference between revisions

Enough has been said to show that while for the Orientalists and profane masses the sentence, Om Mani Padme Hûm, means simply “O, the Jewel in the Lotus,” esoterically it signifies “O, my God within me.” Yes; there is a God in each human being, for man was and will re-become God. The sentence points to the indissoluble union between Man and the Universe. For the Lotus is the universal symbol of Kosmos as the absolute totality, and the Jewel is Spiritual man or God.

In the preceding Instruction, the correspondences between Colors, Sounds and “Principles” were given; and those who have read the second volume of The Secret Doctrine will remember that these seven principles are derived from the seven great Hierarchies of Angels or Dhyâni-Chohans, which are, in their turn, associated with Colors and Sounds, and form collectively the Manifested Logos.

We may illustrate these correspondences by showing the relation of color and sound to the geometrical figures which, as explained in The Secret Doctrine,<ref>Vol. I, pp. 4 et seq.; Vol II, pp. 36 et seq.</ref> express the progressive stages in the manifestation of Kosmos.

But the student will certainly be liable to confusion, if, in studying the Diagrams, he does not remember two things: (1) That, our plane being a plane of reflection, and therefore illusionary, the various notations are reversed and must be counted from below upwards. The musical scale begins from below upwards, commencing with the deep {{Page aside|562}}Do and ending with the far more acute Si. (2) That Kâma-Rûpa (corresponding to Do in the musical scale), containing as it does all potentialities of matter, is necessarily the starting-point on our plane. Further, it commences the notation on every plane, as corresponding to the “matter” of that plane. Again, the student must also remember that these notes have to be arranged in a circle, thus showing how Fa is the middle note of Nature. In short, musical notes, or Sounds, Colors and Numbers proceed from one to seven, and not from seven to one as erroneously shown in the spectrum of the prismatic colors, in which red is counted first: a fact which necessitated my putting the principles and the days of the week at random in Diagram II. The musical scale and Colors, according to the scale of vibrations, proceed from the world of gross matter to that of spirit thus:

Here again the student is asked to dismiss from his mind any correspondence between “principles” and numbers, for reasons already given. The esoteric enumeration cannot be made to correspond with the conventional exoteric. The one is the reality, the other classified according to illusive appearances. The human principles, as given in Esoteric Buddhism, were tabulated for beginners, so as not to confuse their minds. It was half a blind.

The above is on the manifested plane; after which we get the seven and the Manifested Prism, or Man on Earth. With the latter, the Black Magician alone is concerned.

In Kosmos, the gradations and correlations of Colors and Sounds and therefore of Numbers, are infinite. This is suspected even in Physics {{Page aside|563}}for it is ascertained that there exist slower vibrations than those of the Red, the slowest perceptible to us, and far more rapid vibrations than those of the Violet, the most rapid that our senses can perceive. But on Earth in our physical world, the range of perceptible vibrations is limited. Our physical senses cannot take cognizance of vibrations above and below the septenary and limited gradations of the prismatic colors, for such vibrations are incapable of causing in us the sensation of color or sound. It will always be the graduated septenary and no more, unless we learn to paralyze our Quaternary and discern both the superior and inferior vibrations with our spiritual senses seated in the upper Triangle.⁴

A faint violet, mist-like form represents the Astral Man with an oviform bluish circle, over which radiate in ceaseless vibrations the prismatic colors. That color is predominant, of which the corresponding principle is the most active generally, or at the particular moment when the clairvoyant perceives it. Such man appears during his waking states; and it is by the predominance of this or that color, and by the intensity of its vibrations, that a clairvoyant, if he is acquainted with correspondences, can judge of the inner state or character of a person, for the latter is an open book to every practical Occultist.

In the trance state the Aura changes entirely, the seven prismatic colors being no longer discernible. In sleep also they are not all “at home.” For those which belong to the spiritual elements in the man, viz.: Yellow, Buddhi; Indigo, Higher Manas; and the Blue of the Auric Envelope will be either hardly discernible, or altogether missing. The Spiritual Man is free during sleep, and though his physical memory may not become aware of it, lives, robed in his highest essence, in realms on other planes, in realms which are the land of reality, called dreams on our plane of illusion.

A good clairvoyant moreover, if he had an opportunity of seeing a Yogi in the trance state and a mesmerized subject, side by side, would learn an important lesson in Occultism. He would learn to know the difference between self-induced trance and a hypnotic state resulting from extraneous influence. In the Yogi, the “principles” of the lower Quaternary disappear entirely. Neither Red, Green, Red-Violet nor the Auric Blue of the Body are to be seen; nothing but hardly perceptible vibrations of the golden-hued Prâna principle and a violet flame streaked with gold rushing upwards from the head, in the region where the Third Eye rests, and culminating in a point. If the student remembers that the true Violet, or the extreme end of the spectrum, is no compound color of Red and Blue, but a homogeneous color with {{Page aside|566}}vibrations seven times more rapid than those of the extreme Red,<ref> COLORS WAVE-LENGTHS IN MICRONS (ì) NUMBER OF VIBRATIONS IN TRILLIONS<br>

Violet extreme----------------- 400 ----------------- 759<br>

Violet---------------------------- 423 ----------------- 709<br>

Violet-Indigo------------------- 439 ----------------- 683<br>

Indigo--------------------------- 449 ----------------- 668<br>

Indigo-Blue--------------------- 459 ----------------- 654<br>

Blue------------------------------ 479 ----------------- 631<br>

Blue-Green--------------------- 492 ----------------- 610<br>

Green---------------------------- 512 ----------------- 586<br>

Green-Yellow------------------ 532 ----------------- 564<br>

Yellow-------------------------- 551 ----------------- 544<br>

Yellow-Orange----------------- 571 ----------------- 525<br>

Orange-------------------------- 583 ----------------- 514<br>

Orange-Red--------------------- 596 ----------------- 503<br>

Red------------------------------ 620 ----------------- 484<br>

Red extreme-------------------- 645 ----------------- 465</ref> and that the golden hue is the essence of the three yellow hues from Orange-Red to Yellow-Orange and Yellow, he will understand the reason why: he lives in his own Auric Body, now become the vehicle of Buddhi-Manas. On the other hand, in a subject in an artificially produced hypnotic or mesmeric trance, an effect of unconscious when not of conscious Black Magic, unless produced by a high Adept, the whole set of the principles will be present, with the Higher Manas paralysed, Buddhi severed from it through that paralysis, and the red-violet Astral Body entirely subjected to the Lower Manas and Kâma-Rûpa (the green and red animal monsters in us).

One who comprehends well the above explanations will readily see how important it is for every student, whether he is striving for practical occult powers or only for the purely psychic and spiritual gifts of clairvoyance and metaphysical knowledge, to master thoroughly the right correspondences between the human or nature principles, and those of Kosmos. It is ignorance which leads materialistic science to deny the inner man and his divine powers; knowledge and personal experience that allow the Occultist to affirm that such powers are as natural to man as swimming to fishes. It is like a Laplander, in all sincerity, denying the possibility of the catgut, strung loosely on the sounding-board of a violin, producing comprehensive sounds or melody. Our principles are the Seven Stringed Lyre of Apollo, truly. In this our age, when oblivion has shrouded ancient knowledge, man’s faculties are no better than the loose strings of the violin to the Laplander. But the Occultist who knows how to tighten them and tune his violin in harmony with the vibrations of color and sound, will extract divine harmony from them. The combination of these powers and the attuning {{Page aside|567}}of the [[File:Hpb_cw_12_567_1.jpg|x50px]] Macrocosm and the [[File:Hpb_cw_12_567_2.jpg|x50px]] Microcosm, will when combined give [[File:Hpb_cw_12_567_3.jpg|x50px]] the geometrical equivalent of the invocation “Om Mani Padme Hûm.”

 

<center><big>'''THE ROOTS OF COLOR AND SOUND'''</big></center>

 

<center><big>'''PLATE III'''</big></center>

These Hierarchies can only be symbolized as concentric circles of prismatic colors; each Hierarchy being represented by a series of seven concentric circles, each circle representing one of the prismatic colors in their natural order. But in each of these “wheels” one circle will be brighter and more vivid in color than the rest and the wheel will have a surrounding Aura (a fringe, as the physicists call it) of that color. This color will be the characteristic color of that Hierarchy as a whole. Each of these Hierarchies furnishes the essence (the soul) and is the “Builder” of one of the seven kingdoms of Nature, which are the three elemental kingdoms, the mineral, the vegetable, the animal, and the kingdom of spiritual man.<ref>See Five Years of Theosophy (1885), pp. 273-78: “About the Mineral Monad” [Collected Writings, Vol. V, pp. 171-75].</ref> Moreover, each Hierarchy furnishes the Aura of one of the seven principles in man with its specific color. Further, as each of these Hierarchies is the Ruler of one of the Sacred Planets, it will easily be understood how Astrology came into existence, and that real Astrology has a strictly scientific basis.

<center><big>'''DIAGRAM III'''</big></center>

<center><big>'''THE UNITY OF DEITY'''</big></center>

Esotericism, pure and simple, speaks of no personal God; therefore are we considered as Atheists. But, in reality, Occult Philosophy, as a whole, is based absolutely on the ubiquitous presence of God, the Absolute Deity; and if It itself is not speculated upon, as being too sacred and yet incomprehensible as a Unit to the finite intellect, yet the entire philosophy is based upon Its divine Powers as being the source of all that breathes and lives and has its existence. In every ancient religion the One was demonstrated by the many. In Egypt and India, in Chaldea and Phoenicia, and finally in Greece, the ideas about Deity were expressed by multiples of three, five, and seven; and also of eight, nine and twelve great Gods which symbolized the powers and properties of the One and Only Deity. This was related to that infinite subdivision by irregular and odd numbers to which the metaphysics of these nations subjected their ONE DIVINITY. Thus constituted, the cycle of the Gods had all the qualities and attributes of the ONE SUPREME AND UNKNOWABLE; for in this collection of divine personalities, or rather of symbols personified, dwells the ONE GOD, the GOD ONE, that God which, in India, is said to have no Second: “Oh God {{Page aside|570}}Ani (the Spiritual Sun), thou residest in the agglomeration of thy divine personages.”<ref>Apud Grébaut Papyrus Orbiney, p. 101.</ref>

The Pleroma of Valentinus is absolutely the Space of Occult Philosophy; for Pleroma means the “Fullness,” the superior regions. It is the sum total of all the divine manifestations and emanations expressing the plenum or totality of the rays proceeding from the ONE, differentiating on all the planes, and transforming themselves into divine Powers, called Angels and Planetary Spirits in the philosophy of every nation. The Gnostic Aeons and Powers of the Pleroma are made to speak as the Devas and Sddhus of the Purânas. The Epinoia, the first female manifestation of God, the “Principle” of Simon Magus and Saturninus,5 holds the same language as the Logos of Basilides;6 and each of these is traced to the purely esoteric Aletheia, the TRUTH of the Mysteries. All of them, we are taught, repeat at different times and in different languages the magnificent hymn of the Egyptian papyrus, thousands of years old: “The Gods adore thee, they greet thee, O the One Dark Truth”; and addressing R, they add: “The Gods bow before thy Majesty, by exalting the Souls of that which produces them . . . and say to thee, Peace to all emanations from the Unconscious Father of the Conscious Fathers of the Gods. . . . Thou producer of beings, we adore the Souls which emanate from thee. Thou begettest us, O thou Unknown, and we greet thee in worshipping each God-Soul which descendeth from thee and liveth in us.” (Hymn to Amon-Râ. This is the source of the assertion, “Know ye not that ye are Gods and the temple of God.” This is shown in the “Roots of Ritualism in Church and Masonry,” Lucifer for March 1889.<ref>[Collected Writings, Vol. XI.]</ref> Truly then, as said seventeen centuries ago, “Man cannot possess Truth (Aletheia) except he participate in the Gnosis.” So we may say now: No man can know the Truth unless he studies the secrets of the Plerôma of Occultism; and these secrets are all in the Theogony of the ancient Wisdom-Religion, which is the Aletheia of Occult Science.

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I. THE SIMON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT:

Acts (viii, 9-24). Author and date unknown, but commonly supposed to be “by the author of the third gospel, traditionally known as Luke” (Wm. Smith, A Dictionary of the Bible, 1863 & 1893, s.v. “Acts of the Apostles.”).

II. THE SIMON OF THE CHURCH FATHERS:

Justin Martyr (Justinius Flavius, 100?-165 A.D.). First Apologia (I, 26.56), the probable date of which is A.D. 141. The single MS. preserved is cod. Paris, 450, A.D. 1364. Text: J.C.T. Eques de Otto, Justini philosophi et martyris opera quae feruntur omnia, 3rd ed. in 5 vols., Jena, 1876-81. English transl. by John Kaye, Edinburgh: John Grant, 1912. Also in the Oxford Library of the Fathers and the Ante Nicene Christian Library.––Second Apologia (II, 15), the probable date of which is uncertain. As above.––Dialogus cum Tryphone (120) the probable date of which is A.D. 142-148. As above.

Irenaeus, Greek Bishop of Lyons (97-147?––202-203 A.D.). Chief literary activity in the last decennium of the second century. Contra Haereses (I, xxiii, 1-4). MSS. probably of the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries. Text: Opera, ed. by Adolph Stieren, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1848-53. English transl. in Ante-Nicene Christian Library. Pertinent passages in G. R. S. Mead, Simon Magus, London, Theosophical Publishing Society, 1892, pp. 8-10. Originally published in Lucifer, London, Vols. X-XI, June––December, 1892.

Clemens Alexandrinus (Titus Flavius Clemens, 150? ––220 A.D.) Head of the Cathechetical School. Greatest literary activity about 190-203 A.D. Stromateis or Stromata (ii, 11; vii, 17), meaning Miscellanies. Preserved in one MS. only of the 11th century: Cod. Flor. (Laur. v. 3) (L). Greek and Latin edition of John Potter, Bishop of Oxford and later Archbishop of Canterbury, Oxford, 1715 and 1757, fol. 2 vols. Standard ed. of collected works by O. Stählin, Leipzig, 1905. English transl. of the Stromata in the Ante-Nicene Christian Library.

Tertullianus (Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, ca. 155––ca. 220-240). De Prescriptionibus adversus Haereticos (46), ca. 199 A.D. Text: Liber de Praes., etc., ed. by H. Hurter, S. J. Oeniponti, 1870. Also in J. P. Migne, Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina, Paris, 1879. English transl. in Ante-Nicene Christian Library.––De Anima (34, 36), ca. 208-09 A.D. Text: Bibliothec. Patr. Eccles. Select. {{Page aside|572}}of Dr. G. B. Linder, Fasc. iv, Leipzig, 1859. English transl. in Ante-Nicene Christian Library, and pertinent passage in Mead, op. cit., p. 11.

Hippolytus Romanus (d. ca. 230 A.D.), Philosophumena (vi, 7-20). See below.

Origen (Origenes Adamantius, 185-86––254-55 A.D.). Contra Celsum (i, 57; v, 62, vi, 11). Principal apologetic work of the writer, written at Caesarea in the time of Philip the Arabian. Contains nearly the whole of the famous work of Celsus, Logos Alethes, against Christianity. The work shows a close affinity between Origen’s own views and those of Celsus on many subjects. MS. of 14th century. Greek text in J. P. Migne, Patrol. Gr., Vols. XI-XVII. English translation: by F. Crombie & W. H. Cairns in Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vols. X & XXIII (Edinburgh, 1869-72); and by Henry Chadwick, with Introd. and Notes (Cambridge, Univ. Press, 1953; xl, 531 pp.), as well as copious Index and Bibliography. Pertinent passages in Mead, op. cit., pp. 22-23.