{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_14378/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_14378","id":"gutenberg_14378","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14378","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Racism","Theosophy"],"text":"FIVE YEARS OF THEOSOPHY\n\nMystical, Philosophical, Theosophical, Historical and Scientific Essays\nSelected from \"The Theosophist\"\n\nEdited by George Robert Snow Mead\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nMystical\n\nThe \"Elixir of Life\"\nIs the Desire to \"Live\" Selfish?\nContemplation\nChelas and Lay Chelas\nAncient Opinions upon Psychic Bodies\nThe Nilgiri Sannyasis\nWitchcraft on the Nilgiris\nShamanism and Witchcraft Amongst the Kolarian Tribes\nMahatmas and Chelas\nThe Brahmanical Thread\nReading in a Sealed Envelope\nThe Twelve Signs of the Zodiac\nThe Sishal and Bhukailas Yogis\n\nPhilosophical\n\nTrue and False Personality\nChastity\nZorastrianism on the Septenary Constitution of Man\nBrahmanism on the Sevenfold Principle in Man\nThe Septenary Principle in Esotericism\nPersonal and Impersonal God\nPrakriti and Parusha\nMorality and Pantheism\nOccult Study\nSome Inquiries Suggested by Mr. Sinnett's \"Esoteric Buddhism\"\nSakya Muni's Place in History\nInscriptions Discovered by General A. Cunningham\nDiscrimination of Spirit and Not-Spirit\nWas Writing Known Before Panini?\n\nTheosophical\n\nWhat is Theosophy?\nHow a \"Chela\" Found His \"Guru\"\nThe Sages of the Himavat\nThe Himalayan Brothers--Do They Exist?\nInterview With a Mahatma\nThe Secret Doctrine\n\nHistorical\n\nThe Puranas on the Dynasty of the Moryas and on Koothoomi\nThe Theory of Cycles\n\nScientific\n\nOdorigen and Jiva\nIntroversion of Mental Vision\n\"Precipitation\"\n\"How Shall We Sleep?\"\nTransmigration of the Life Atoms\n\"OM\" and its Practical Significance\n\n\n\n\n\nFIVE YEARS OF THEOSOPHY\n\n\nMystical\n\n\n\nThe \"Elixir of Life\"\n       From a Chela's* Diary.  By G---M---, F.T.S.\n\n\"And Enoch walked with the Elohim, and the Elohim took him.\"\n--Genesis\n\nIntroduction\n\n[The curious information-for whatsoever else the world may think of it,\nit will doubtless be acknowledged to be that--contained in the article\nthat follows, merits a few words of introduction. The details given in\nit on the subject of what has always been considered as one of the\ndarkest and most strictly guarded of the mysteries of the initiation\ninto occultism--from the days of the Rishis until those of the\nTheosophical Society--came to the knowledge of the author in a way that\nwould seem to the ordinary run of Europeans strange and supernatural.\nHe himself, however, we may assure the reader, is a most thorough\ndisbeliever in the Supernatural, though he has learned too much to limit\nthe capabilities of the natural as some do.  Further, he has to make the\nfollowing confession of his own belief.  It will be apparent, from a\ncareful perusal of the facts, that if the matter be really as stated\ntherein, the author cannot himself be an adept of high grade, as the\narticle in such a case would never have been written.  Nor does he\npretend to be one.  He is, or rather was, for a few years an humble\nChela. Hence, the converse must consequently be also true, that as\nregards the higher stages of the mystery he can have no personal\nexperience, but speaks of it only as a close observer left to his own\nsurmises--and no more.  He may, therefore, boldly state that during, and\nnotwithstanding, his unfortunately rather too short stay with some\nadepts, he has by actual experiment and observation verified some of the\nless transcendental or incipient parts of the \"Course.\"  And, though it\nwill be impossible for him to give positive testimony as to what lies\nbeyond, he may yet mention that all his own course of study, training\nand experience, long, severe and dangerous as it has often been, leads\nhim to the conviction that everything is really as stated, save some\ndetails purposely veiled.  For causes which cannot be explained to the\npublic, he himself may he unable or unwilling to use the secret he has\ngained access to.  Still he is permitted by one to whom all his\nreverential affection and gratitude are due--his last guru--to divulge\nfor the benefit of Science and Man, and specially for the good of those\nwho are courageous enough to personally make the experiment, the\nfollowing astounding particulars of the occult methods for prolonging\nlife to a period far beyond the common.--G.M.]\n\n---------\n* A. Chela is the pupil and disciple of an initiated Guru or\nMaster.--Ed.\n---------\n\n\nProbably one of the first considerations which move the worldly-minded\nat present to solicit initiation into Theosophy is the belief, or hope,\nthat, immediately on joining, some extraordinary advantage over the rest\nof mankind will be conferred upon the candidate.  Some even think that\nthe ultimate result of their initiation will perhaps be exemption from\nthat dissolution which is called the common lot of mankind.  The\ntraditions of the \"Elixir of Life,\" said to be in the possession of\nKabalists and Alchemists, are still cherished by students of Medieval\nOccultism--in Europe.  The allegory of the Ab-e Hyat or Water of Life,\nis still credited as a fact by the degraded remnants of the Asiatic\nesoteric sects ignorant of the real GREAT SECRET. The \"pungent and fiery\nEssence,\" by which Zanoni renewed his existence, still fires the\nimagination of modern visionaries as a possible scientific discovery of\nthe future.\n\nTheosophically, though the fact is distinctly declared to be true, the\nabove-named conceptions of the mode of procedure leading to the\nrealization of the fact, are known to be false. The reader may or may\nnot believe it;  but as a matter of fact, Theosophical Occultists claim\nto have communication with (living) Intelligences possessing an\ninfinitely wider range of observation than is contemplated even by the\nloftiest aspirations of modern science, all the present \"Adepts\" of\nEurope and America--dabblers in the Kabala--notwithstanding.  But far\neven as those superior Intelligences have investigated (or, if\npreferred, are alleged to have investigated), and remotely as they may\nhave searched by the help of inference and analogy, even They have\nfailed to discover in the Infinity anything permanent but--SPACE.  ALL\nIS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.  Reflection, therefore, will easily suggest to the\nreader the further logical inference that in a Universe which is\nessentially impermanent in its conditions, nothing can confer\npermanency.  Therefore, no possible substance, even if drawn from the\ndepths of Infinity;  no imaginable combination of drugs, whether of our\nearth or any other, though compounded by even the Highest Intelligence;\nno system of life or discipline though directed by the sternest\ndetermination and skill, could possibly produce Immutability.  For in\nthe universe of solar systems, wherever and however investigated,\nImmutability necessitates \"Non-Being\" in the physical sense given it by\nthe Theists-Non-Being which is nothing in the narrow conceptions of\nWestern Religionists--a reductio ad absurdum.  This is a gratuitous\ninsult even when applied to the pseudo-Christian or ecclesiastical\nJehovite idea of God.\n\nConsequently, it will be seen that the common ideal conception of\n\"Immortality\" is not only essentially wrong, but a physical and\nmetaphysical impossibility. The idea, whether cherished by Theosophists\nor non-Theosophists, by Christians or Spiritualists, by Materialists or\nIdealists, is a chimerical illusion.  But the actual prolongation of\nhuman life is possible for a time so long as to appear miraculous and\nincredible to those who regard our span of existence as necessarily\nlimited to at most a couple of hundred years.  We may break, as it were,\nthe shock of Death, and instead of dying, change a sudden plunge into\ndarkness to a transition into a brighter light.  And this may be made so\ngradual that the passage from one state of existence to another shall\nhave its friction minimized, so as to be practically imperceptible.\nThis is a very different matter, and quite within the reach of Occult\nScience.  In this, as in all other cases, means properly directed will\ngain their ends, and causes produce effects. Of course, the only\nquestion is, what are these causes, and how, in their turn, are they to\nbe produced.  To lift, as far as may be allowed, the veil from this\naspect of Occultism, is the object of the present paper.\n\nWe must premise by reminding the reader of two Theosophic doctrines,\nconstantly inculcated in \"Isis\" and in other mystic works--namely, (a)\nthat ultimately the Kosmos is One--one under infinite variations and\nmanifestations, and (b) that the so-called man is a \"compound being\"--\ncomposite not only in the exoteric scientific sense of being a congeries\nof living so-called material Units, but also in the esoteric sense of\nbeing a succession of seven forms or parts of itself, interblended with\neach other.  To put it more clearly we might say that the more ethereal\nforms are but duplicates of the same aspect,--each finer one lying\nwithin the inter-atomic spaces of the next grosser.  We would have the\nreader understand that these are no subtleties, no \"spiritualities\" at\nall in the Christo-Spiritualistic sense.  In the actual man reflected in\nyour mirror are really several men, or several parts of one composite\nman;  each the exact counterpart of the other, but the \"atomic\nconditions\" (for want of a better word) of each of which are so arranged\nthat its atoms interpenetrate those of the next \"grosser\" form.  It does\nnot, for our present purpose, matter how the Theosophists,\nSpiritualists, Buddhists, Kabalists, or Vedantists, count, separate,\nclassify, arrange or name these, as that war of terms may be postponed\nto another occasion.  Neither does it matter what relation each of these\nmen has to the various \"elements\" of the Kosmos of which he forms a\npart. This knowledge, though of vital importance in other respects, need\nnot be explained or discussed now.  Nor does it much more concern us\nthat the Scientists deny the existence of such an arrangement, because\ntheir instruments are inadequate to make their senses perceive it.  We\nwill simply reply--\"get better instruments and keener senses, and\neventually you will.\"\n\nAll we have to say is that if you are anxious to drink of the \"Elixir of\nLife,\" and live a thousand years or so, you must take our word for the\nmatter at present, and proceed on the assumption.  For esoteric science\ndoes not give the faintest possible hope that the desired end will ever\nbe attained by any other way;  while modern, or so-called exact\nscience--laughs at it.\n\nSo, then, we have arrived at the point where we have determined--\nliterally, not metaphorically--to crack the outer shell known as the\nmortal coil or body, and hatch out of it, clothed in our next.  This\n\"next\" is not spiritual, but only a more ethereal form.  Having by a\nlong training and preparation adapted it for a life in this atmosphere,\nduring which time we have gradually made the outward shell to die off\nthrough a certain process (hints of which will be found further on) we\nhave to prepare for this physiological transformation.\n\nHow are we to do it?  In the first place we have the actual, visible,\nmaterial body--Man, so called;  though, in fact, but his outer shell--to\ndeal with. Let us bear in mind that science teaches us that in about\nevery seven years we change skin as effectually as any serpent;  and\nthis so gradually and imperceptibly that, had not science after years of\nunremitting study and observation assured us of it, no one would have\nhad the slightest suspicion of the fact.\n\nWe see, moreover, that in process of time any cut or lesion upon the\nbody, however deep, has a tendency to repair the loss and reunite;  a\npiece of lost skin is very soon replaced by another. Hence, if a man,\npartially flayed alive, may sometimes survive and be covered with a new\nskin, so our astral, vital body--the fourth of the seven (having\nattracted and assimilated to itself the second) and which is so much\nmore ethereal than the physical one--may be made to harden its particles\nto the atmospheric changes.  The whole secret is to succeed in evolving\nit out, and separating it from the visible;  and while its generally\ninvisible atoms proceed to concrete themselves into a compact mass, to\ngradually get rid of the old particles of our visible frame so as to\nmake them die and disappear before the new set has had time to evolve\nand replace them.  We can say no more.  The Magdalene is not the only\none who could be accused of having \"seven spirits\" in her, though men\nwho have a lesser number of spirits (what a misnomer that word!) in\nthem, are not few or exceptional;  they are the frequent failures of\nnature--the incomplete men and women.*\n\n-----------\n* This is not to be taken as meaning that such persons are thoroughly\ndestitute of some one or several of the seven principles--a man born\nwithout an arm has still its ethereal counterpart;  but that they are so\nlatent that they cannot be developed, and consequently are to be\nconsidered as non-existing.--Ed. Theos.\n----------\n\nEach of these has in turn to survive the preceding and more dense one,\nand then die.  The exception is the sixth when absorbed into and blended\nwith the seventh.  The \"Phatu\" * of the old Hindu physiologist had a\ndual meaning, the esoteric side of which corresponds with the Tibetan\n\"Zung\" (seven principles of the body).\n\nWe Asiatics, have a proverb, probably handed down to us, and by the\nHindus repeated ignorantly as to its esoteric meaning.  It has been\nknown ever since the old Rishis mingled familiarly with the simple and\nnoble people they taught and led on.  The Devas had whispered into every\nman's ear--Thou only--if thou wilt--art \"immortal.\"  Combine with this\nthe saying of a Western author that if any man could just realize for an\ninstant, that he had to die some day, he would die that instant.  The\nIlluminated will perceive that between these two sayings, rightly\nunderstood, stands revealed the whole secret of Longevity.  We only die\nwhen our will ceases to be strong enough to make us live.  In the\nmajority of cases, death comes when the torture and vital exhaustion\naccompanying a rapid change in our physical conditions becomes so\nintense as to weaken, for one single instant, our \"clutch on life,\" or\nthe tenacity of the will to exist.  Till then, however severe may be the\ndisease, however sharp the pang, we are only sick or wounded, as the\ncase may be.\n\n-----------\n* Dhatu--the seven principal substances of the human body--chyle, flesh,\nblood, fat, bones, marrow, semen.\n-----------\n\nThis explains the cases of sudden deaths from joy, fright, pain, grief\nor such other causes.  The sense of a life-task consummated, of the\nworthlessness of one's existence, if strongly realized, produced death\nas surely as poison or a rifle-bullet. On the other hand, a stern\ndetermination to continue to live, has, in fact, carried many through\nthe crises of the most severe diseases, in perfect safety.\n\nFirst, then, must be the determination--the Will--the conviction of\ncertainty, to survive and continue.*  Without that, all else is useless.\nAnd to be efficient for the purpose, it must be, not only a passing\nresolution of the moment, a single fierce desire of short duration, but\na settled and continued strain, as nearly as can be continued and\nconcentrated without one single moment's relaxation.  In a word, the\nwould-be \"Immortal\" must be on his watch night and day, guarding self\nagainst-himself.  To live--to live--to live--must be his unswerving\nresolve.  He must as little as possible allow himself to be turned aside\nfrom it.  It may be said that this is the most concentrated form of\nselfishness,--that it is utterly opposed to our Theosophic professions\nof benevolence, and disinterestedness, and regard for the good of\nhumanity.  Well, viewed in a short-sighted way, it is so.  But to do\ngood, as in everything else, a man must have time and materials to work\nwith, and this is a necessary means to the acquirement of powers by\nwhich infinitely more good can be done than without them.\n\n----------\n* Col. Olcott has epigrammatically explained the creative or rather the\nre-creative power of the Will, in his \"Buddhist Catechism.\"  He there\nshows--of course, speaking on behalf of the Southern Buddhists--that\nthis Will to live, if not extinguished in the present life, leaps over\nthe chasm of bodily death, and recombines the Skandhas, or groups of\nqualities that made up the individual into a new personality.  Man is,\ntherefore, reborn as the result of his own unsatisfied yearning for\nobjective existence.  Col. Olcott puts it in this way:\n\nQ.  123.  What is that, in man, which gives him the impression of\nhaving a permanent individuality?\n\nA.  Tanha, or the unsatisfied desire for existence.  The being having\ndone that for which he must be rewarded or punished in future, and\nhaving Tanha, will have a rebirth through the influence of Karma.\n\nQ.  124.  ....What is it that is reborn?\n\nA.  A new aggregation of Skandhas, or individuality, caused by the last\nyearning of the dying person.\n\nQ.  128. To what cause must we attribute the differences in the\ncombination of the Five Skandhas has which makes every individual\ndifferent from every other individual?\n\nA.  To the Karma of the individual in the next preceding birth.\n\nQ.  129.  What is the force or energy that is at work, under the\nguidance of Karma, to produce the new being?\n\nA.  Tanha--the \"Will to Live.\"\n----------\n\nWhen these are once mastered, the opportunities to use them will arrive,\nfor there comes a moment when further watch and exertion are no longer\nneeded:--the moment when the turning-point is safely passed.  For the\npresent as we deal with aspirants and not with advanced chelas, in the\nfirst stage a determined, dogged resolution, and an enlightened\nconcentration of self on self, are all that is absolutely necessary.  It\nmust not, however, be considered that the candidate is required to be\nunhuman or brutal in his negligence of others.  Such a recklessly\nselfish course would be as injurious to him as the contrary one of\nexpending his vital energy on the gratification of his physical desires.\nAll that is required from him is a purely negative attitude.  Until the\nturning-point is reached, he must not \"lay out\" his energy in lavish or\nfiery devotion to any cause, however noble, however \"good,\" however\nelevated.*  Such, we can solemnly assure the reader, would bring its\nreward in many ways--perhaps in another life, perhaps in this world, but\nit would tend to shorten the existence it is desired to preserve, as\nsurely as self-indulgence and profligacy.  That is why very few of the\ntruly great men of the world (of course, the unprincipled adventurers\nwho have applied great powers to bad uses are out of the question)--the\nmartyrs, the heroes, the founders of religions, the liberators of\nnations, the leaders of reforms--ever became members of the long-lived\n\"Brotherhood of Adepts\" who were by some and for long years accused of\nselfishness.  (And that is also why the Yogis, and the Fakirs of modern\nIndia--most of whom are acting now but on the dead-letter tradition, are\nrequired if they would be considered living up to the principles of\ntheir profession--to appear entirely dead to every inward feeling or\nemotion.) Notwithstanding the purity of their hearts, the greatness of\ntheir aspirations, the disinterestedness of their self-sacrifice, they\ncould not live for they had missed the hour.\n\n--------\n* On page 151 of Mr. Sinnett's \"Occult World,\" the author's much abused,\nand still more doubted correspondent assures him that none yet of his\n\"degree are like the stern hero of Bulwer's\" Zanoni.... \"the heartless\nmorally dried up mummies some would fancy us to be\" and adds that few of\nthem \"would care to play the part in life of a desiccated pansy between\nthe leaves of a volume of solemn poetry.\"  But our adept omits saying\nthat one or two degrees higher, and he will have to submit for a period\nof years to such a mummifying process unless, indeed, he would\nvoluntarily give up a life-long labour and--Die.--Ed.\n----------\n\nThey may at times have exercised powers which the world called\nmiraculous;  they may have electrified man and subdued Nature by fiery\nand self-devoted Will;  they may have been possessed of a so-called\nsuperhuman intelligence;  they may have even had knowledge of, and\ncommunion with, members of our own occult Brotherhood;  but, having\ndeliberately resolved to devote their vital energy to the welfare of\nothers, rather than to themselves, they have surrendered life;  and,\nwhen perishing on the cross or the scaffold, or falling, sword in hand,\nupon the battle-field, or sinking exhausted after a successful\nconsummation of the life-object, on death-beds in their chambers, they\nhave all alike had to cry out at last:  \"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!\"\n\nSo far so good.  But, given the will to live, however powerful, we have\nseen that, in the ordinary course of mundane life, the throes of\ndissolution cannot be checked.  The desperate, and again and again\nrenewed struggle of the Kosmic elements to proceed with a career of\nchange despite the will that is checking them, like a pair of runaway\nhorses struggling against the determined driver holding them in, are so\ncumulatively powerful, that the utmost efforts of the untrained human\nwill acting within an unprepared body become ultimately useless.  The\nhighest intrepidity of the bravest soldier;  the interest desire of the\nyearning lover;  the hungry greed of the unsatisfied miser;  the most\nundoubting faith of the sternest fanatic;  the practiced insensibility\nto pain of the hardiest red Indian brave or half-trained Hindu Yogi;\nthe most deliberate philosophy of the calmest thinker--all alike fail at\nlast.  Indeed, sceptics will allege in opposition to the verities of\nthis article that, as a matter of experience, it is often observed that\nthe mildest and most irresolute of minds and the weakest of physical\nframes are often seen to resist \"Death\" longer than the powerful will of\nthe high-spirited and obstinately-egotistic man, and the iron frame of\nthe labourer, the warrior and the athlete.  In reality, however, the key\nto the secret of these apparently contradictory phenomena is the true\nconception of the very thing we have already said.  If the physical\ndevelopment of the gross \"outer shell\" proceeds on parallel lines and at\nan equal rate with that of the will, it stands to reason that no\nadvantage for the purpose of overcoming it, is attained by the latter.\nThe acquisition of improved breechloaders by one modern army confers no\nabsolute superiority if the enemy also becomes possessed of them.\nConsequently it will be at once apparent, to those who think on the\nsubject, that much of the training by which what is known as \"a powerful\nand determined nature,\" perfects itself for its own purpose on the stage\nof the visible world, necessitating and being useless without a parallel\ndevelopment of the \"gross\" and so-called animal frame, is, in short,\nneutralized, for the purpose at present treated of, by the fact that its\nown action has armed the enemy with weapons equal to its own.  The force\nof the impulse to dissolution is rendered equal to the will to oppose\nit;  and being cumulative, subdues the will-power and triumphs at last.\nOn the other hand, it may happen that an apparently weak and vacillating\nwill-power residing in a weak and undeveloped physical frame, may be so\nreinforced by some unsatisfied desire--the Ichcha (wish)--as it is\ncalled by the Indian Occultists (for instance, a mother's heart-yearning\nto remain and support her fatherless children)--as to keep down and\nvanquish, for a short time, the physical throes of a body to which it\nhas become temporarily superior.\n\nThe whole rationale then, of the first condition of continued existence\nin this world, is (a) the development of a Will so powerful as to\novercome the hereditary (in a Darwinian sense) tendencies of the atoms\ncomposing the \"gross\" and palpable animal frame, to hurry on at a\nparticular period in a certain course of Kosmic change;  and (b) to so\nweaken the concrete action of that animal frame as to make it more\namenable to the power of the Will.  To defeat an army, you must\ndemoralize and throw it into disorder.\n\nTo do this then, is the real object of all the rites, ceremonies, fasts,\n\"prayers,\" meditations, initiations and procedures of self-discipline\nenjoined by various esoteric Eastern sects, from that course of pure and\nelevated aspiration which leads to the higher phases of Adeptism Real,\ndown to the fearful and disgusting ordeals which the adherent of the\n\"Left-hand-Road\" has to pass through, all the time maintaining his\nequilibrium.  The procedures have their merits and their demerits, their\nseparate uses and abuses, their essential and non-essential parts, their\nvarious veils, mummeries, and labyrinths.  But in all, the result aimed\nat is reached, if by different processes.  The Will is strengthened,\nencouraged and directed, and the elements opposing its action are\ndemoralized.  Now, to any one who has thought out and connected the\nvarious evolution theories, as taken, not from any occult source, but\nfrom the ordinary scientific manual accessible to all--from the\nhypothesis of the latest variation in the habits of species--say, the\nacquisition of carnivorous habits by the New Zealand parrot, for\ninstance--to the farthest glimpses backwards into Space and Eternity\nafforded by the \"Fire Mist\" doctrine, it will be apparent that they all\nrest on one basis. That basis is, that the impulse once given to a\nhypothetical Unit has a tendency to continue;  and consequently, that\nanything \"done\" by something at a certain time and certain place tends\nto repeat itself at other times and places.\n\nSuch is the admitted rationale of heredity and atavism.  That the same\nthings apply to our ordinary conduct is apparent from the notorious ease\nwith which \"habits,\"--bad or good, as the case may be--are acquired, and\nit will not be questioned that this applies, as a rule, as much to the\nmoral and intellectual, as to the physical world.\n\nFurthermore, History and Science teach us plainly that certain physical\nhabits conduce to certain moral and intellectual results.  There never\nyet was a conquering nation of vegetarians. Even in the old Aryan times,\nwe do not learn that the very Rishis, from whose lore and practice we\ngain the knowledge of Occultism, ever interdicted the Kshetriya\n(military) caste from hunting or a carnivorous diet.  Filling, as they\ndid, a certain place in the body politic in the actual condition of the\nworld, the Rishis as little thought of interfering with them, as of\nrestraining the tigers of the jungle from their habits.  That did not\naffect what the Rishis did themselves.\n\nThe aspirant to longevity then must be on his guard against two dangers.\nHe must beware especially of impure and animal* thoughts. For Science\nshows that thought is dynamic, and the thought-force evolved by nervous\naction expanding outwardly, must affect the molecular relations of the\nphysical man.  The inner men,** however sublimated their organism may\nbe, are still composed of actual, not hypothetical, particles, and are\nstill subject to the law that an \"action\" has a tendency to repeat\nitself;  a tendency to set up analogous action in the grosser \"shell\"\nthey are in contact with, and concealed within.\n\n----------\n* In other words, the thought tends to provoke the deed.--G.M.\n\n** We use the word in the plural, reminding the reader that, according\nto our doctrine, man is septenary.--G.M.\n----------\n\nAnd, on the other hand, certain actions have a tendency to produce\nactual physical conditions unfavourable to pure thoughts, hence to the\nstate required for developing the supremacy of the inner man.\n\nTo return to the practical process.  A normally healthy mind, in a\nnormally healthy body, is a good starting-point.  Though exceptionally\npowerful and self-devoted natures may sometimes recover the ground lost\nby mental degradation or physical misuse, by employing proper means,\nunder the direction of unswerving resolution, yet often things may have\ngone so far that there is no longer stamina enough to sustain the\nconflict sufficiently long to perpetuate this life;  though what in\nEastern parlance is called the \"merit\" of the effort will help to\nameliorate conditions and improve matters in another.\n\nHowever this may be, the prescribed course of self-discipline commences\nhere.  It may be stated briefly that its essence is a course of moral,\nmental, and physical development, carried on in parallel lines--one\nbeing useless without the other.  The physical man must be rendered more\nethereal and sensitive;  the mental man more penetrating and profound;\nthe moral man more self-denying and philosophical.  And it may be\nmentioned that all sense of restraint--even if self-imposed--is useless.\nNot only is all \"goodness\" that results from the compulsion of physical\nforce, threats, or bribes (whether of a physical or so-called\n\"spiritual\" nature) absolutely useless to the person who exhibits it,\nits hypocrisy tending to poison the moral atmosphere of the world, but\nthe desire to be \"good\" or \"pure,\" to be efficacious must be\nspontaneous.  It must be a self-impulse from within, a real preference\nfor something higher, not an abstention from vice because of fear of the\nlaw:  not a chastity enforced by the dread of Public Opinion;  not a\nbenevolence exercised through love of praise or dread of consequences in\na hypothetical Future Life.*\n\n----------\n* Col. Olcott clearly and succinctly explains the Buddhist doctrine of\nMerit or Karma, in his \"Buddhist Catechism.\"\n(Question 83).--G.M.\n----------\n\nIt will be seen now in connection with the doctrine of the tendency\nto the renewal of action, before discussed, that the course of\nself-discipline recommended as the only road to Longevity by Occultism\nis not a \"visionary\" theory dealing with vague \"ideas,\" but actually a\nscientifically devised system of drill.  It is a system by which each\nparticle of the several men composing the septenary individual receives\nan impulse, and a habit of doing what is necessary for certain purposes\nof its own free-will and with \"pleasure.\"  Every one must be practiced\nand perfect in a thing to do it with pleasure.  This rule especially\napplies to the case of the development of Man.  \"Virtue\" may be very\ngood in its way--it may lead to the grandest results. But to become\nefficacious it has to be practiced cheerfully not with reluctance or\npain.  As a consequence of the above consideration the candidate for\nLongevity at the commencement of his career must begin to eschew his\nphysical desires, not from any sentimental theory of right or wrong, but\nfor the following good reason.  As, according to a well-known and now\nestablished scientific theory, his visible material frame is always\nrenewing its particles;  he will, while abstaining from the\ngratification of his desires, reach the end of a certain period during\nwhich those particles which composed the man of vice, and which were\ngiven a bad predisposition, will have departed.  At the same time, the\ndisuse of such functions will tend to obstruct the entry, in place of\nthe old particles, of new particles having a tendency to repeat the said\nacts.  And while this is the particular result as regards certain\n\"vices,\" the general result of an abstention from \"gross\" acts will be\n(by a modification of the well-known Darwinian law of atrophy by\nnon-usage) to diminish what we may call the \"relative\" density and\ncoherence of the outer shell (as a result of its less-used molecules);\nwhile the diminution in the quantity of its actual constituents will he\n\"made up\" (if tried by scales and weights) by the increased admission of\nmore ethereal particles.\n\nWhat physical desires are to be abandoned and in what order? First and\nforemost, he must give up alcohol in all forms;  for while it supplies\nno nourishment, nor any direct pleasure (beyond such sweetness or\nfragrance as may be gained in the taste of wine, &c., to which alcohol,\nin itself, is non-essential) to even the grossest elements of the\n\"physical\" frame, it induces a violence of action, a rush so to speak,\nof life, the stress of which can only be sustained by very dull, gross,\nand dense elements, and which, by the operation of the well-known law of\nRe-action (in commercial phrase, \"supply and demand\") tends to summon\nthem from the surrounding universe, and therefore directly counteracts\nthe object we have in view.\n\nNext comes meat-eating, and for the very same reason, in a minor degree.\nIt increases the rapidity of life, the energy of action, the violence of\npassions.  It may be good for a hero who has to fight and die, but not\nfor a would-be sage who has to exist and....\n\nNext in order come the sexual desires;  for these, in addition to the\ngreat diversion of energy (vital force) into other channels, in many\ndifferent ways, beyond the primary one (as, for instance, the waste of\nenergy in expectation, jealousy, &c.), are direct attractions to a\ncertain gross quality of the original matter of the Universe, simply\nbecause the most pleasurable physical sensations are only possible at\nthat stage of density.  Alongside with and extending beyond all these\nand other gratifications of the senses (which include not only those\nthings usually known as \"vicious,\" but all those which, though\nordinarily regarded as \"innocent,\" have yet the disqualification of\nministering to the pleasures of the body--the most harmless to others\nand the least \"gross\" being the criterion for those to be last abandoned\nin each case)--must be carried on the moral purification.\n\nNor must it be imagined that \"austerities\" as commonly understood can,\nin the majority of cases, avail much to hasten the \"etherealizing\"\nprocess.  That is the rock on which many of the Eastern esoteric sects\nhave foundered, and the reason why they have degenerated into degrading\nsuperstitions.  The Western monks and the Eastern Yogees, who think they\nwill reach the apex of powers by concentrating their thought on their\nnavel, or by standing on one leg, are practicing exercises which serve\nno other purpose than to strengthen the willpower, which is sometimes\napplied to the basest purposes.  These are examples of this one-sided\nand dwarf development.  It is no use to fast as long as you require\nfood.  The ceasing of desire for food without impairment of health is\nthe sign which indicates that it should be taken in lesser and ever\ndecreasing quantities until the extreme limit compatible with life is\nreached.  A stage will be finally attained where only water will be\nrequired.\n\nNor is it of any use for this particular purpose of longevity to abstain\nfrom immorality so long as you are craving for it in your heart;  and so\non with all other unsatisfied inward cravings.  To get rid of the inward\ndesire is the essential thing, and to mimic the real thing without it is\nbarefaced hypocrisy and useless slavery.\n\nSo it must be with the moral purification of the heart.  The \"basest\"\ninclinations must go first--then the others.  First avarice, then fear,\nthen envy, worldly pride, uncharitableness, hatred;  last of all\nambition and curiosity must be abandoned successively.  The\nstrengthening of the more ethereal and so-called \"spiritual\" parts of\nthe man must go on at the same time. Reasoning from the known to the\nunknown, meditation must be practiced and encouraged.  Meditation is the\ninexpressible yearning of the inner Man to \"go out towards the\ninfinite,\" which in the olden time was the real meaning of adoration,\nbut which has now no synonym in the European languages, because the\nthing no longer exists in the West, and its name has been vulgarized to\nthe make-believe shams known as prayer, glorification, and repentance.\nThrough all stages of training the equilibrium of the consciousness--the\nassurance that all must be right in the Kosmos, and therefore with you a\nportion of it--must be retained. The process of life must not be hurried\nbut retarded, if possible;  to do otherwise may do good to others--\nperhaps even to yourself in other spheres, but it will hasten your\ndissolution in this.\n\nNor must the externals be neglected in this first stage. Remember that\nan adept, though \"existing\" so as to convey to ordinary minds the idea\nof his being immortal, is not also invulnerable to agencies from\nwithout.  The training to prolong life does not, in itself, secure one\nfrom accidents.  As far as any physical preparation goes, the sword may\nstill cut, the disease enter, the poison disarrange.  This case is very\nclearly and beautifully put in \"Zanoni,\" and it is correctly put and\nmust be so, unless all \"adeptism\" is a baseless lie.  The adept may be\nmore secure from ordinary dangers than the common mortal, but he is so\nby virtue of the superior knowledge, calmness, coolness and penetration\nwhich his lengthened existence and its necessary concomitants have\nenabled him to acquire;  not by virtue of any preservative power in the\nprocess itself.  He is secure as a man armed with a rifle is more secure\nthan a naked baboon;  not secure in the sense in which the deva (god)\nwas supposed to be securer than a man.\n\nIf this is so in the case of the high adept, how much more necessary is\nit that the neophyte should be not only protected but that he himself\nshould use all possible means to ensure for himself the necessary\nduration of life to complete the process of mastering the phenomena we\ncall death!  It may be said, why do not the higher adepts protect him?\nPerhaps they do to some extent, but the child must learn to walk alone;\nto make him independent of his own efforts in respect to safety, would\nbe destroying one element necessary to his development--the sense of\nresponsibility.  What courage or conduct would be called for in a man\nsent to fight when armed with irresistible weapons and clothed in\nimpenetrable armour?  Hence the neophyte should endeavour, as far as\npossible, to fulfill every true canon of sanitary law as laid down by\nmodern scientists.  Pure air, pure water, pure food, gentle exercise,\nregular hours, pleasant occupations and surroundings, are all, if not\nindispensable, at least serviceable to his progress.  It is to secure\nthese, at least as much as silence and solitude, that the Gods, Sages,\nOccultists of all ages have retired as much as possible to the quiet of\nthe country, the cool cave, the depths of the forest, the expanse of the\ndesert, or the heights of the mountains.  Is it not suggestive that the\nGods have always loved the \"high places\";  and that in the present day\nthe highest section of the Occult Brotherhood on earth inhabits the\nhighest mountain plateaux of the earth?*\n\n---------\n* The stern prohibition to the Jews to serve \"their gods upon the high\nmountains and upon the hills\" is traced back to the unwillingness of\ntheir ancient elders to allow people in most cases unfit for adeptship\nto choose a life of celibacy and asceticism, or in other words, to\npursue adeptship.  This prohibition had an esoteric meaning before it\nbecame the prohibition, incomprehensible in its dead-letter sense:  for\nit is not India alone whose sons accorded divine honours to the Wise\nOnes, but all nations regarded their adepts and initiates as divine.--\nG.M.\n---------\n\nNor must the beginner disdain the assistance of medicine and good\nmedical regimen.  He is still an ordinary mortal, and he requires the\naid of an ordinary mortal.\n\n\"Suppose, however, all the conditions required, or which will be\nunderstood as required (for the details and varieties of treatment\nrequisite, are too numerous to be detailed here), are fulfilled, what is\nthe next step?\" the reader will ask.  Well if there have been no\nbackslidings or remissness in the procedure indicated, the following\nphysical results will follow:--\n\nFirst the neophyte will take more pleasure in things spiritual and pure.\nGradually gross and material occupations will become not only uncraved\nfor or forbidden, but simply and literally repulsive to him.  He will\ntake more pleasure in the simple sensations of Nature--the sort of\nfeeling one can remember to have experienced as a child.  He will feel\nmore light-hearted, confident, happy.  Let him take care the sensation\nof renewed youth does not mislead, or he will yet risk a fall into his\nold baser life and even lower depths.  \"Action and Re-action are equal.\"\n\nNow the desire for food will begin to cease.  Let it be left off\ngradually--no fasting is required.  Take what you feel you require.  The\nfood craved for will be the most innocent and simple.  Fruit and milk\nwill usually be the best.  Then as till now, you have been simplifying\nthe quality of your food, gradually--very gradually--as you feel capable\nof it diminish the quantity.  You will ask:  \"Can a man exist without\nfood?\"  No, but before you mock, consider the character of the process\nalluded to.  It is a notorious fact that many of the lowest and simplest\norganisms have no excretions.  The common guinea-worm is a very good\ninstance.  It has rather a complicated organism, but it has no\nejaculatory duct.  All it consumes--the poorest essences of the human\nbody--is applied to its growth and propagation.  Living as it does in\nhuman tissue, it passes no digested food away.  The human neophyte, at a\ncertain stage of his development, is in a somewhat analogous condition,\nwith this difference or differences, that he does excrete, but it is\nthrough the pores of his skin, and by those too enter other etherealized\nparticles of matter to contribute towards his support.*  Otherwise, all\nthe food and drink is sufficient only to keep in equilibrium those\n\"gross\" parts of his physical body which still remain to repair their\ncuticle-waste through the medium of the blood.  Later on, the process of\ncell-development in his frame will undergo a change;  a change for the\nbetter, the opposite of that in disease for the worse--he will become\nall living and sensitive, and will derive nourishment from the Ether\n(Akas).  But that epoch for our neophyte is yet far distant.\n\n---------\n* He is in a state similar to the physical state of a fetus\nbefore birth into the world.--G.M.\n---------\n\nProbably, long before that period has arrived, other results, no less\nsurprising than incredible to the uninitiated will have ensued to give\nour neophyte courage and consolation in his difficult task.  It would be\nbut a truism to repeat what has been again alleged (in ignorance of its\nreal rationale) by hundreds and hundreds of writers as to the happiness\nand content conferred by a life of innocence and purity.  But often at\nthe very commencement of the process some real physical result,\nunexpected and unthought of by the neophyte, occurs.  Some lingering\ndisease, hitherto deemed hopeless, may take a favourable turn; or he may\ndevelop healing mesmeric powers himself;  or some hitherto unknown\nsharpening of his senses may delight him.  The rationale of these things\nis, as we have said, neither miraculous nor difficult of comprehension.\nIn the first place, the sudden change in the direction of the vital\nenergy (which, whatever view we take of it and its origin, is\nacknowledged by all schools of philosophy as most recondite, and as the\nmotive power) must produce results of some kind.  In the second,\nTheosophy shows, as we said before, that a man consists of several men\npervading each other, and on this view (although it is very difficult to\nexpress the idea in language) it is but natural that the progressive\netherealization of the densest and most gross of all should leave the\nothers literally more at liberty.  A troop of horses may be blocked by a\nmob and have much difficulty in fighting its way through;  but if every\none of the mob could be changed suddenly into a ghost, there would be\nlittle to retard it.  And as each interior entity is more rare, active,\nand volatile than the outer and as each has relation with different\nelements, spaces, and properties of the Kosmos which are treated of in\nother articles on Occultism, the mind of the reader may conceive--though\nthe pen of the writer could not express it in a dozen volumes--the\nmagnificent possibilities gradually unfolded to the neophyte.\n\nMany of the opportunities thus suggested may be taken advantage of by\nthe neophyte for his own safety, amusement, and the good of those around\nhim;  but the way in which he does this is one adapted to his fitness--a\npart of the ordeal he has to pass through, and misuse of these powers\nwill certainly entail the loss of them as a natural result.  The Itchcha\n(or desire) evoked anew by the vistas they open up will retard or throw\nback his progress.\n\nBut there is another portion of the Great Secret to which we must\nallude, and which is now, for the first, in a long series of ages,\nallowed to be given out to the world, as the hour for it is come.\n\nThe educated reader need not be reminded again that one of the great\ndiscoveries which has immortalized the name of Darwin is the law that an\norganism has always a tendency to repeat, at an analogous period in its\nlife, the action of its progenitors, the more surely and completely in\nproportion to their proximity in the scale of life.  One result of this\nis, that, in general, organized beings usually die at a period (on an\naverage) the same as that of their progenitors.  It is true that there\nis a great difference between the actual ages at which individuals of\nany species die.  Disease, accidents and famine are the main agents in\ncausing this.  But there is, in each species, a well-known limit within\nwhich the Race-life lies, and none are known to survive beyond it.  This\napplies to the human species as well as any other.  Now, supposing that\nevery possible sanitary condition had been complied with, and every\naccident and disease avoided by a man of ordinary frame, in some\nparticular case there would still, as is known to medical men, come a\ntime when the particles of the body would feel the hereditary tendency\nto do that which leads inevitably to dissolution, and would obey it.  It\nmust be obvious to any reflecting man that, if by any procedure this\ncritical climacteric could be once thoroughly passed over, the\nsubsequent danger of \"Death\" would be proportionally less as the years\nprogressed.  Now this, which no ordinary and unprepared mind and body\ncan do, is possible sometimes for the will and the frame of one who has\nbeen specially prepared.  There are fewer of the grosser particles\npresent to feel the hereditary bias--there is the assistance of the\nreinforced \"interior men\" (whose normal duration is always greater even\nin natural death) to the visible outer shell, and there is the drilled\nand indomitable Will to direct and wield the whole.*\n\n-----------\n* In this connection we may as well show what modern science, and\nespecially physiology has to say as to the power of the human will.\n\"The force of will is a potent element in determining longevity.  This\nsingle point must be granted without argument, that of two men every way\nalike and similarly circumstanced, the one who has the greater courage\nand grit will be longer-lived. One does not need to practice medicine\nlong to learn that men die who might just as well live if they resolved\nto live, and that myriads who are invalids could become strong if they\nhad the native or acquired will to vow they would do so.  Those who have\nno other quality favourable to life, whose bodily organs are nearly\nall diseased, to whom each day is a day of pain, who are beset by\nlife-shortening influences, yet do live by will alone.\"\n--Dr. George M. Beard.\n-------------\n\nFrom that time forward the course of the aspirant is clearer.  He has\nconquered \"the Dweller of the Threshold\"--the hereditary enemy of his\nrace, and, though still exposed to ever-new dangers in his progress\ntowards Nirvana, he is flushed with victory, and with new confidence and\nnew powers to second it, can press onwards to perfection.\n\nFor, it must be remembered, that nature everywhere acts by Law, and that\nthe process of purification we have been describing in the visible\nmaterial body, also takes place in those which are interior, and not\nvisible to the scientist by modifications of the same process.  All is\non the change, and the metamorphoses of the more ethereal bodies\nimitate, though in successively multiplied duration, the career of the\ngrosser, gaining an increasing wider range of relations with the\nsurrounding kosmos, till in Nirvana the most rarefied Individuality is\nmerged at last into the INFINITE TOTALITY.\n\nFrom the above description of the process, it will be inferred why it is\nthat \"Adepts\" are so seldom seen in ordinary life; for, pari passu, with\nthe etherealization of their bodies and the development of their power,\ngrows an increasing distaste, and a so-to-speak, \"contempt\" for the\nthings of our ordinary mundane existence.  Like the fugitive who\nsuccessively casts away in his flight those articles which incommode his\nprogress, beginning with the heaviest, so the aspirant eluding \"Death\"\nabandons all on which the latter can take hold.  In the progress of\nNegation everything got rid of is a help.  As we said before, the adept\ndoes not become \"immortal\" as the word is ordinarily understood. By or\nabout the time when the Death-limit of his race is passed he is actually\ndead, in the ordinary sense, that is to say, he has relieved himself of\nall or nearly all such material particles as would have necessitated in\ndisruption the agony of dying.  He has been dying gradually during the\nwhole period of his Initiation.  The catastrophe cannot happen twice\nover.  He has only spread over a number of years the mild process of\ndissolution which others endure from a brief moment to a few hours.  The\nhighest Adept is, in fact, dead to, and absolutely unconscious of, the\nworld;  he is oblivious of its pleasures, careless of its miseries, in\nso far as sentimentalism goes, for the stern sense of DUTY never leaves\nhim blind to its very existence.  For the new ethereal senses opening to\nwider spheres are to ours much in the relation of ours to the Infinitely\nLittle.  New desires and enjoyments, new dangers and new hindrances\narise, with new sensations and new perceptions;  and far away down in\nthe mist--both literally and metaphorically--is our dirty little earth\nleft below by those who have virtually \"gone to join the gods.\"\n\nAnd from this account too, it will be perceptible how foolish it is for\npeople to ask the Theosophist to \"procure for them communication with\nthe highest Adepts.\"  It is with the utmost difficulty that one or two\ncan be induced, even by the throes of a world, to injure their own\nprogress by meddling with mundane affairs.  The ordinary reader will\nsay:  \"This is not god-like. This is the acme of selfishness.\" .... But\nlet him realize that a very high Adept, undertaking to reform the world,\nwould necessarily have to once more submit to Incarnation.  And is the\nresult of all that have gone before in that line sufficiently\nencouraging to prompt a renewal of the attempt?\n\nA deep consideration of all that we have written, will also give the\nTheosophists an idea of what they demand when they ask to be put in the\nway of gaining practically \"higher powers.\"  Well, there, as plainly as\nwords can put it, is the PATH .... can they tread it?\n\nNor must it be disguised that what to the ordinary mortal are unexpected\ndangers, temptations and enemies also beset the way of the neophyte.\nAnd that for no fanciful cause, but the simple reason that he is, in\nfact, acquiring new senses, has yet no practice in their use, and has\nnever before seen the things he sees.  A man born blind suddenly endowed\nwith vision would not at once master the meaning of perspective, but\nwould, like a baby, imagine in one case, the moon to be within his\nreach, and, in the other, grasp a live coal with the most reckless\nconfidence.\n\nAnd what, it may be asked, is to recompense this abnegation of all the\npleasures of life, this cold surrender of all mundane interests, this\nstretching forward to an unknown goal which seems ever more\nunattainable?  For, unlike some of the anthropomorphic creeds, Occultism\noffers to its votaries no eternally permanent heaven of material\npleasure, to be gained at once by one quick dash through the grave.  As\nhas, in fact, often been the case many would be prepared willingly to\ndie now for the sake of the paradise hereafter.  But Occultism gives no\nsuch prospect of cheaply and immediately gained infinitude of pleasure,\nwisdom and existence.  It only promises extensions of these, stretching\nin successive arches obscured by successive veils, in an unbroken series\nup the long vista which leads to NIRVANA.  And this too, qualified by\nthe necessity that new powers entail new responsibilities, and that the\ncapacity of increased pleasure entails the capacity of increased\nsensibility to pain.  To this, the only answer that can be given is\ntwo-fold:  (1st) the consciousness of Power is itself the most exquisite\nof pleasures, and is unceasingly gratified in the progress onwards with\nnew means for its exercise and (2ndly) as has been already said--THIS is\nthe only road by which there is the faintest scientific likelihood that\n\"Death\" can be avoided, perpetual memory secured, infinite wisdom\nattained, and hence an immense helping of mankind made possible, once\nthat the adept has safely crossed the turning-point.  Physical as well\nas metaphysical logic requires and endorses the fact that only by\ngradual absorption into infinity can the Part become acquainted with the\nWhole, and that that which is now something can only feel, know, and\nenjoy EVERYTHING when lost in Absolute Totality in the vortex of that\nUnalterable Circle wherein our Knowledge becomes Ignorance, and the\nEverything itself is identified with the NOTHING.\n\n\n\n\nIs the Desire to \"Live\" Selfish?\n\n\nThe passage \"to live, to live, to live must be the unswerving resolve,\"\noccurring in the article on the Elixir of Life, is often quoted by\nsuperficial and unsympathetic readers as an argument that the teachings\nof occultism are the most concentrated form of selfishness.  In order to\ndetermine whether the critics are right or wrong, the meaning of the\nword \"selfishness\" must first be ascertained.\n\nAccording to an established authority, selfishness is that \"exclusive\nregard to one's own interest or happiness;  that supreme self-love or\nself-preference which leads a person to direct his purposes to the\nadvancement of his own interest, power, or happiness, without regarding\nthose of others.\"\n\nIn short, an absolutely selfish individual is one who cares for himself\nand none else, or, in other words, one who is so strongly imbued with a\nsense of the importance of his own personality that to him it is the\ncrown of all thoughts, desires, and aspirations, and beyond which lies\nthe perfect blank.  Now, can an occultist be then said to be \"selfish\"\nwhen he desires to live in the sense in which that word is used by the\nwriter of the article on the Elixir of Life?  It has been said over and\nover again that the ultimate end of every aspirant after occult\nknowledge is Nirvana or Mukti, when the individual, freed from all\nMayavic Upadhi, becomes one with Paramatma, or the Son identifies\nhimself with the Father in Christian phraseology.  For that purpose,\nevery veil of illusion which creates a sense of personal isolation, a\nfeeling of separateness from THE ALL, must be torn asunder, or, in other\nwords, the aspirant must gradually discard all sense of selfishness with\nwhich we are all more or less affected.  A study of the Law of Kosmic\nEvolution teaches us that the higher the evolution, the more does it\ntend towards Unity.  In fact, Unity is the ultimate possibility of\nNature, and those who through vanity and selfishness go against her\npurposes, cannot but incur the punishment of annihilation.  The\noccultist thus recognizes that unselfishness and a feeling of universal\nphilanthropy are the inherent laws of our being, and all he does is to\nattempt to destroy the chains of selfishness forged upon us all by Maya.\nThe struggle then between Good and Evil, God and Satan, Suras and\nAsuras, Devas and Daityas, which is mentioned in the sacred books of all\nthe nations and races, symbolizes the battle between unselfish and\nselfish impulses, which takes place in a man, who tries to follow the\nhigher purposes of Nature, until the lower animal tendencies, created by\nselfishness, are completely conquered, and the enemy thoroughly routed\nand annihilated.  It has also been often put forth in various\nTheosophical and other occult writings that the only difference between\nan ordinary man who works along with Nature during the course of Kosmic\nevolution and an occultist, is that the latter, by his superior\nknowledge, adopts such methods of training and discipline as will hurry\non that process of evolution, and he thus reaches in a comparatively\nshort time the apex which the ordinary individual will take perhaps\nbillions of years to reach.  In short, in a few thousand years he\napproaches that type of evolution which ordinary humanity attains in the\nsixth or seventh Round of the Manvantara, i.e., cyclic progression.  It\nis evident that an average man cannot become a MAHATMA in one life, or\nrather in one incarnation.  Now those, who have studied the occult\nteachings concerning Devachan and our after-states, will remember that\nbetween two incarnations there is a considerable period of subjective\nexistence.  The greater the number of such Devachanic periods, the\ngreater is the number of years over which this evolution is extended.\nThe chief aim of the occultist is therefore to so control himself as to\nbe able to regulate his future states, and thereby gradually shorten the\nduration of his Devachanic existence between two incarnations.  In the\ncourse of his progress, there comes a time when, between one physical\ndeath and his next rebirth, there is no Devachan but a kind of spiritual\nsleep, the shock of death, having, so to say, stunned him into a state\nof unconsciousness from which he gradually recovers to find himself\nreborn, to continue his purpose.  The period of this sleep may vary from\ntwenty-five to two hundred years, depending upon the degree of his\nadvancement.  But even this period may be said to be a waste of time,\nand hence all his exertions are directed to shorten its duration so as\nto gradually come to a point when the passage from one state of\nexistence into another is almost imperceptible.  This is his last\nincarnation, as it were, for the shock of death no more stuns him.  This\nis the idea the writer of the article on the Elixir of Life means to\nconvey when he says:\n\nBy or about the time when the Death-limit of his race is passed he is\nactually dead, in the ordinary sense, that is to say, he has relieved\nhimself of all or nearly all such material particles as would have\nnecessitated in disruption the agony of dying.  He has been dying\ngradually during the whole period of his Initiation.  The catastrophe\ncannot happen twice over, he has only spread over a number of years the\nmild process of dissolution which others endure from a brief moment to a\nfew hours.  The highest Adept is, in fact, dead to, and absolutely\nunconscious of, the World;  he is oblivious of its pleasures, careless\nof its miseries, in so far as sentimentalism goes, for the stern sense\nof Duty never leaves him blind to its very existence....\n\nThe process of the emission and attraction of atoms, which the occultist\ncontrols, has been discussed at length in that article and in other\nwritings.  It is by these means that he gets rid gradually of all the\nold gross particles of his body, substituting for them finer and more\nethereal ones, till at last the former sthula sarira is completely dead\nand disintegrated, and he lives in a body entirely of his own creation,\nsuited to his work.  That body is essential to his purposes;  as the\nElixir of Life says:--\n\nTo do good, as in every thing else, a man most have time and materials\nto Work with, and this is a necessary means to the acquirement of powers\nby which infinitely more good can be done than without them.  When these\nare once mastered, the opportunities to use them will arrive....\n\nGiving the practical instructions for that purpose, the same paper\ncontinues:--\n\nThe physical man must be rendered more ethereal and sensitive; the\nmental man more penetrating and profound;  the moral man more\nself-denying and philosophical.\n\nLosing sight of the above important considerations, the following\npassage is entirely misunderstood:--\n\nAnd from this account too, it will be perceptible how foolish it is for\npeople to ask the Theosophist \"to procure for them communication with\nthe highest Adepts.\"  It is with the utmost difficulty that one or two\ncan be induced, even by the throes of a world, to injure their own\nprogress by meddling with mundane affairs.  The ordinary reader will\nsay:  \"This is not god-like. This is the acme of selfishness.\" ....But\nlet him realize that a very high Adept, undertaking to reform the world,\nwould necessarily have to once more submit to Incarnation.  And is the\nresult of all that have gone before in that line sufficiently\nencouraging to prompt a renewal of the attempt?\n\nNow, in condemning the above passage as inculcating selfishness,\nsuperficial critics neglect many profound truths.  In the first place,\nthey forget the other extracts already quoted which impose self-denial\nas a necessary condition of success, and which say that, with progress,\nnew senses and new powers are acquired with which infinitely more good\ncan be done than without them.  The more spiritual the Adept becomes the\nless can he meddle with mundane gross affairs and the more he has to\nconfine himself to spiritual work.  It has been repeated, times out of\nnumber, that the work on the spiritual plane is as superior to the work\non the intellectual plane as the latter is superior to that on the\nphysical plane.  The very high Adepts, therefore, do help humanity, but\nonly spiritually:  they are constitutionally incapable of meddling with\nworldly affairs.  But this applies only to very high Adepts.  There are\nvarious degrees of Adept-ship, and those of each degree work for\nhumanity on the planes to which they may have risen.  It is only the\nchelas that can live in the world, until they rise to a certain degree.\nAnd it is because the Adepts do care for the world that they make their\nchelas live in and work for it, as many of those who study the subject\nare aware.  Each cycle produces its own occultists capable of working\nfor the humanity of the time on all the different planes;  but when the\nAdepts foresee that at a particular period humanity will he incapable of\nproducing occultists for work on particular planes, for such occasions\nthey do provide by either voluntarily giving up their further progress\nand waiting until humanity reaches that period, or by refusing to enter\ninto Nirvana and submitting to re-incarnation so as to be ready for work\nwhen the time comes.  And although the world may not be aware of the\nfact, yet there are even now certain Adepts who have preferred to remain\nin statu quo and refuse to take the higher degrees, for the benefit of\nthe future generations of humanity.  In short, as the Adepts work\nharmoniously, since unity is the fundamental law of their being, they\nhave, as it were, made a division of labour, according to which each\nworks on the plane appropriate to himself for the spiritual elevation of\nus all--and the process of longevity mentioned in the Elixir of Life is\nonly the means to the end which, far from being selfish, is the most\nunselfish purpose for which a human being can labour.\n\n(--H.P. Blavatsky)\n\n\n\n\nContemplation\n\n\nA general misconception on this subject seems to prevail.  One confines\noneself for some time in a room, and passively gazes at one's nose, a\nspot on the wall, or, perhaps, a crystal, under the impression that such\nis the true form of contemplation enjoined by Raj Yoga.  Many fail to\nrealize that true occultism requires a physical, mental, moral and\nspiritual development to run on parallel lines, and injure themselves,\nphysically and spiritually, by practice of what they falsely believe to\nbe Dhyan.  A few instances may be mentioned here with advantage, as a\nwarning to over-zealous students.\n\nAt Bareilly the writer met a member of the Theosophical Society from\nFarrukhabad, who narrated his experiences and shed bitter tears of\nrepentance for his past follies--as he termed them.  It appears from his\naccount that fifteen or twenty years ago having read about contemplation\nin the Bhagavad Gita, he undertook the practice of it, without a proper\ncomprehension of its esoteric meaning and carried it on for several\nyears.  At first he experienced a sense of pleasure, but simultaneously\nhe found he was gradually losing self-control;  until after a few years\nhe discovered, to his great bewilderment and sorrow, that he was no\nlonger his own master.  He felt his heart actually growing heavy, as\nthough a load had been placed on it.  He had no control over his\nsensations the communication between the brain and the heart had become\nas though interrupted.  As matters grew worse, in disgust he\ndiscontinued his \"contemplation.\"  This happened as long as seven years\nago;  and, although since then he has not felt worse, yet he could never\nregain his original healthy state of mind and body.\n\nAnother case came under the writer's observation at Jubbulpore. The\ngentleman concerned, after reading Patanjali and such other works, began\nto sit for \"contemplation.\"  After a short time he commenced seeing\nabnormal sights and hearing musical bells, but neither over these\nphenomena nor over his own sensations could he exercise any control.  He\ncould not produce these results at will, nor could he stop them when\nthey were occurring.  Numerous such examples may be cited.  While\npenning these lines, the writer has on his table two letters upon this\nsubject, one from Moradabad and the other from Trichinopoly.  In short,\nall this mischief is due to a misunderstanding of the significance of\ncontemplation as enjoined upon students by all the schools of Occult\nPhilosophy.  With a view to afford a glimpse of the Reality through the\ndense veil that enshrouds the mysteries of this Science of Sciences, an\narticle, the Elixir of Life, was written.  Unfortunately, in too many\ninstances, the seed seems to have fallen upon barren ground.  Some of\nits readers pin their faith to the following clause in that paper:--\nReasoning from the known to the unknown meditation must be practiced and\nencouraged.\n\nBut, alas! their preconceptions have prevented them from comprehending\nwhat is meant by meditation.  They forget that the meditation spoken of\n\"is the inexpressible yearning of the inner Man to 'go out towards the\ninfinite,' which in the olden time was the real meaning of adoration\"--\nas the next sentence shows.  A good deal of light would be thrown upon\nthis subject if the reader were to turn to an earlier part of the same\npaper, and peruse attentively the following paragraphs:--\n\nSo, then, we have arrived at the point where we have determined--\nliterally, not metaphorically--to crack the outer shell known as the\nmortal coil or body, and hatch out of it, clothed in our next.  This\n'next' is not a spiritual, but only a more ethereal form.  Having by a\nlong training and preparation adapted it for a life in the atmosphere,\nduring which time we have gradually made the outward shell to die off\nthrough a certain process .... we have to prepare for this physiological\ntransformation.\n\nHow are we to do it?  In the first place we have the actual, visible,\nmaterial body--Man, so called, though, in fact, but his outer shell--to\ndeal with.  Let us bear in mind that Science teaches us that in about\nevery seven years we change skin as effectually as any serpent;  and\nthis so gradually and imperceptibly that, had not science after years of\nunremitting study and observation assured us of it, no one would have\nhad the slightest suspicion of the fact.... Hence, if a man, partially\nflayed alive, may sometimes survive and be covered with a new skin, so\nour astral, vital body .... may be made to harden its particles to the\natmospheric changes.  The whole secret is to succeed in evolving it out,\nand separating it from the visible; and while its generally invisible\natoms proceed to concrete themselves into a compact mass, to gradually\nget rid of the old particles of our visible frame so as to make them die\nand disappear before the new set has had time to evolve and replace\nthem.... We can say no more.\n\nA correct comprehension of the above scientific process will give a clue\nto the esoteric meaning of meditation or contemplation.  Science teaches\nus that man changes his physical body continually, and this change is so\ngradual that it is almost imperceptible.  Why then should the case be\notherwise with the inner man?  The latter too is developing and changing\natoms at every moment.  And the attraction of these new sets of atoms\ndepends upon the Law of Affinity--the desires of the man drawing to his\nbodily tenement only such particles as are necessary to give them\nexpression.\n\nFor Science shows that thought is dynamic, and the thought-force evolved\nby nervous action expanding itself outwardly, must affect the molecular\nrelations of the physical man.  The inner men, however sublimated their\norganism may be, are still composed of actual, not hypothetical,\nparticles, and are still subject to the law that an \"action\" has a\ntendency to repeat itself;  a tendency to set up analogous action in the\ngrosser \"shell\" they are in contact with, and concealed within.--\"The\nElixir of Life\"\n\nWhat is it the aspirant of Yog Vidya strives after if not to gain Mukti\nby transferring himself gradually from the grosser to the next less\ngross body, until all the veils of Maya being successively removed his\nAtma becomes one with Paramatma?  Does he suppose that this grand result\ncan be achieved by a two or four hours' contemplation?  For the\nremaining twenty or twenty-two hours that the devotee does not shut\nhimself up in his room for meditation is the process of the emission of\natoms and their replacement by others stopped?  If not, then how does he\nmean to attract all this time only those suited to his end? From the\nabove remarks it is evident that just as the physical body requires\nincessant attention to prevent the entrance of a disease, so also the\ninner man requires an unremitting watch, so that no conscious or\nunconscious thought may attract atoms unsuited to its progress.  This is\nthe real meaning of contemplation.  The prime factor in the guidance of\nthe thought is Will.\n\nWithout that, all else is useless.  And, to be efficient for the\npurpose, it must be, not only a passing resolution of the moment, a\nsingle fierce desire of short duration, but a settled and continued\nstrain, as nearly as can be continued and concentrated without one\nsingle moment's remission.\n\nThe student would do well to take note of the italicized clause in the\nabove quotation.  He should also have it indelibly impressed upon his\nmind that:\n\nIt is no use to fast as long as one requires food.... To get rid of the\ninward desire is the essential thing, and to mimic the real thing\nwithout it is barefaced hypocrisy and useless slavery.\n\nWithout realizing the significance of this most important fact, any one\nwho for a moment finds cause of disagreement with any one of his family,\nor has his vanity wounded, or for a sentimental flash of the moment, or\nfor a selfish desire to utilize  the Divine power for gross purposes--at\nonce rushes into contemplation and dashes himself to pieces on the rock\ndividing the known from the unknown.  Wallowing in the mire of\nexotericism, he knows not what it is to live in the world and yet be not\nof the world;  in other words, to guard self against self is an almost\nincomprehensible axiom for the profane.  The Hindu ought to know better\nfrom the life of Janaka, who, although a reigning monarch, was yet\nstyled Rajarshi and is said to have attained Nirvana. Hearing of his\nwidespread fame, a few sectarian bigots went to his court to test his\nYoga-power.  As soon as they entered the court-room, the king having\nread their thoughts--a power which every chela attains at a certain\nstage--gave secret instructions to his officials to have a particular\nstreet in the city lined on both sides by dancing girls singing the must\nvoluptuous songs.  He then had some gharas (pots) filled with water up\nto the brim so that the least shake would be likely to spill their\ncontents.  The wiseacres, each with a full ghara (pot) on his head, were\nordered to pass along the street, surrounded by soldiers with drawn\nswords to be used against them if even so much as a drop of water were\nallowed to run over.  The poor fellows having returned to the palace\nafter successfully passing the test, were asked by the King-Adept what\nthey had met with in the street they were made to go through.  With\ngreat indignation they replied that the threat of being cut to pieces\nhad so much worked upon their minds that they thought of nothing but the\nwater on their heads, and the intensity of their attention did not\npermit them to take cognizance of what was going on around them.  Then\nJanaka told them that on the same principle they could easily understand\nthat, although being outwardly engaged in managing the affairs of his\nState, he could, at the same time, be an Occultist.  He too, while in\nthe world, was not of the world.  In other words, his inward aspirations\nhad been leading him on continually to the goal in which his whole inner\nself was concentrated.\n\nRaj Yoga encourages no sham, requires no physical postures.  It has to\ndeal with the inner man whose sphere lies in the world of thought.  To\nhave the highest ideal placed before oneself and strive incessantly to\nrise up to it, is the only true concentration recognized by Esoteric\nPhilosophy which deals with the inner world of noumena, not the outer\nshell of phenomena.\n\nThe first requisite for it is thorough purity of heart.  Well might the\nstudent of Occultism say with Zoroaster, that purity of thought, purity\nof word, and purity of deed,--these are the essentials of one who would\nrise above the ordinary level and join the \"gods.\"  A cultivation of the\nfeeling of unselfish philanthropy is the path which has to be traversed\nfor that purpose.  For it is that alone which will lead to Universal\nLove, the realization of which constitutes the progress towards\ndeliverance from the chains forged by Maya (illusion) around the Ego.\nNo student will attain this at once, but as our Venerated Mahatma says\nin the \"Occult World\":--\n\nThe greater the progress towards deliverance, the less this will be the\ncase, until, to crown all, human and purely individual personal\nfeelings, blood-ties and friendship, patriotism and race predilection,\nwill all give way to become blended into one universal feeling, the only\ntrue and holy, the only unselfish and eternal one, Love, an Immense Love\nfor Humanity as a whole.\n\nIn short, the individual is blended with the ALL.\n\nOf course, contemplation, as usually understood, is not without its\nminor advantages.  It develops one set of physical faculties as\ngymnastics does the muscles.  For the purposes of physical mesmerism it\nis good enough;  but it can in no way help the development of the\npsychological faculties, as the thoughtful reader will perceive.  At the\nsame time, even for ordinary purposes, the practice can never be too\nwell guarded.  If, as some suppose, they have to be entirely passive and\nlose themselves in the object before them, they should remember that, by\nthus encouraging passivity, they, in fact, allow the development of\nmediumistic faculties in themselves.  As was repeatedly stated--the\nAdept and the Medium are the two Poles: while the former is intensely\nactive and thus able to control the elemental forces, the latter is\nintensely passive and thus incurs the risk of falling a prey to the\ncaprice and malice of mischievous embryos of human beings, and the\nelementaries.\n\nIt will be evident from the above that true meditation consists in the\n\"reasoning from the known to the unknown.\"  The \"known\" is the\nphenomenal world, cognizable by our five senses.  And all that we see in\nthis manifested world are the effects, the causes of which are to be\nsought after in the noumenal, the unmanifested, the \"unknown world:\"\nthis is to be accomplished by meditation, i.e., continued attention to\nthe subject.  Occultism does not depend upon one method, but employs\nboth the deductive and the inductive.  The student must first learn the\ngeneral axioms, which have sufficiently been laid down in the Elixir of\nLife and other occult writings.  What the student has first to do is to\ncomprehend these axioms and, by employing the deductive method, to\nproceed from universals to particulars.  He has then to reason from the\n\"known to the unknown,\" and see if the inductive method of proceeding\nfrom particulars to universals supports those axioms.  This process\nforms the primary stage of true contemplation.  The student must first\ngrasp the subject intellectually before he can hope to realize his\naspirations. When this is accomplished, then comes the next stage of\nmeditation, which is \"the inexpressible yearning of the inner man to 'go\nout towards the infinite.'\"  Before any such yearning can be properly\ndirected, the goal must first be determined.  The higher stage, in fact,\nconsists in practically realizing what the first steps have placed\nwithin one's comprehension.  In short, contemplation, in its true sense,\nis to recognize the truth of Eliphas Levi's saying:--\n\nTo believe without knowing is weakness;  to believe, because one knows,\nis power.\n\nThe Elixir of Life not only gives the preliminary steps in the ladder of\ncontemplation but also tells the reader how to realize the higher\nstages.  It traces, by the process of contemplation as it were, the\nrelation of man, \"the known,\" the manifested, the phenomenon, to \"the\nunknown,\" the unmanifested, the noumenon. It shows the student what\nideal to contemplate and how to rise up to it.  It places before him the\nnature of the inner capacities of man and how to develop them.  To a\nsuperficial reader, this may, perhaps, appear as the acme of\nselfishness.  Reflection will, however, show the contrary to be the\ncase.  For it teaches the student that to comprehend the noumenal, he\nmust identify himself with Nature.  Instead of looking upon himself as\nan isolated being, he must learn to look upon himself as a part of the\nIntegral Whole.  For, in the unmanifested world, it can be clearly\nperceived that all is controlled by the \"Law of Affinity,\" the\nattraction of the one for the other.  There, all is Infinite Love,\nunderstood in its true sense.\n\nIt may now not be out of place to recapitulate what has already been\nsaid.  The first thing to be done is to study the axioms of Occultism\nand work upon them by the deductive and the inductive methods, which is\nreal contemplation.  To turn this to a useful purpose, what is\ntheoretically comprehended must be practically realized.\n\n--Damodar K. Mavalaukar\n\n\n\n\n\nChelas and Lay Chelas\n\n\nA \"chela\" is a person who has offered himself to a master as a pupil to\nlearn practically the \"hidden mysteries of Nature and the psychical\npowers latent in man.\"  The master who accepts him is called in India a\nGuru;  and the real Guru is always an adept in the Occult Science.  A\nman of profound knowledge, exoteric and esoteric, especially the latter;\nand one who has brought his carnal nature under the subjection of the\nWILL;  who has developed in himself both the power (Siddhi) to control\nthe forces of Nature, and the capacity to probe her secrets by the help\nof the formerly latent but now active powers of his being--this is the\nreal Guru.  To offer oneself as a candidate for Chelaship is easy\nenough, to develop into an adept the most difficult task any man could\npossibly undertake.  There are scores of \"natural-born\" poets,\nmathematicians, mechanics, statesmen, &c.  But a natural-born adept is\nsomething practically impossible.  For, though we do hear at very rare\nintervals of one who has an extraordinary innate capacity for the\nacquisition of occult knowledge and power, yet even he has to pass the\nself-same tests and probations, and go through the self-same training as\nany less endowed fellow aspirant.  In this matter it is most true that\nthere is no royal road by which favourites may travel.\n\nFor centuries the selection of Chelas--outside the hereditary group\nwithin the gon-pa (temple)--has been made by the Himalayan Mahatmas\nthemselves from among the class--in Tibet, a considerable one as to\nnumber--of natural mystics.  The only exceptions have been in the cases\nof Western men like Fludd, Thomas Vaughan, Paracelsus, Pico di\nMirandolo, Count St. Germain, &c., whose temperament affinity to this\ncelestial science, more or less forced the distant Adepts to come into\npersonal relations with them, and enabled them to get such small (or\nlarge) proportion of the whole truth as was possible under their social\nsurroundings.  From Book IV. of Kui-te, Chapter on \"The Laws of\nUpasanas,\" we learn that the qualifications expected in a Chela were:--\n\n1. Perfect physical health;\n\n2. Absolute mental and physical purity;\n\n3. Unselfishness of purpose;  universal charity;  pity for all\nanimate beings;\n\n4. Truthfulness and unswerving faith in the law of Karma, independent of\nthe intervention of any power in Nature:  a law whose course is not to\nbe obstructed by any agency, not to be caused to deviate by prayer or\npropitiatory exoteric ceremonies;\n\n5. A courage undaunted in every emergency, even by peril to life;\n\n6. An intuitional perception of one's being the vehicle of the\nmanifested Avalokiteswara or Divine Atma (Spirit);\n\n7. Calm indifference for, but a just appreciation of, everything that\nconstitutes the objective and transitory world, in its relation with,\nand to, the invisible regions.\n\nSuch, at the least, must have been the recommendations of one aspiring\nto perfect Chelaship.  With the sole exception of the first, which in\nrare and exceptional cases might have been modified, each one of these\npoints has been invariably insisted upon, and all must have been more or\nless developed in the inner nature by the Chela's unhelped exertions,\nbefore he could be actually \"put to the test.\"\n\nWhen the self-evolving ascetic--whether in, or outside the active\nworld--has placed himself, according to his natural capacity, above,\nhence made himself master of his (1) Sarira--body;  (2) Indriya--senses;\n(3) Dosha--faults;  (4) Dukkha--pain;  and is ready to become one with\nhis Manas--mind;  Buddhi--intellection, or spiritual intelligence;  and\nAtma--highest soul, i.e., spirit; when he is ready for this, and,\nfurther, to recognize in Atma the highest ruler in the world of\nperceptions, and in the will, the highest executive energy (power), then\nmay he, under the time-honoured rules, be taken in hand by one of the\nInitiates.  He may then be shown the mysterious path at whose farther\nend is obtained the unerring discernment of Phala, or the fruits of\ncauses produced, and given the means of reaching Apavarga--emancipation\nfrom the misery of repeated births, pretya-bhava, in whose determination\nthe ignorant has no hand.\n\nBut since the advent of the Theosophical Society, one of whose arduous\ntasks it is to re-awaken in the Aryan mind the dormant memory of the\nexistence of this science and of those transcendent human capabilities,\nthe rules of Chela selection have become slightly relaxed in one\nrespect.  Many members of the Society who would not have been otherwise\ncalled to Chelaship became convinced by practical proof of the above\npoints, and rightly enough thinking that if other men had hitherto\nreached the goal, they too, if inherently fitted, might reach it by\nfollowing the same path, importunately pressed to be taken as\ncandidates.  And as it would be an interference with Karma to deny them\nthe chance of at least beginning, they were given it.  The results have\nbeen far from encouraging so far, and it is to show them the cause of\ntheir failure as much as to warn others against rushing heedlessly upon\na similar fate, that the writing of the present article has been\nordered.  The candidates in question, though plainly warned against it\nin advance, began wrong by selfishly looking to the future and losing\nsight of the past.  They forgot that they had done nothing to deserve\nthe rare honour of selection, nothing which warranted their expecting\nsuch a privilege;  that they could boast of none of the above enumerated\nmerits.  As men of the selfish, sensual world, whether married or\nsingle, merchants, civilian or military employees, or members of the\nlearned professions, they had been to a school most calculated to\nassimilate them to the animal nature, least so to develop their\nspiritual potentialities.  Yet each and all had vanity enough to suppose\nthat their case would be made an exception to the law of countless\ncenturies, as though, indeed, in their person had been born to the world\na new Avatar!  All expected to have hidden things taught, extraordinary\npowers given them, because--well, because they had joined the\nTheosophical Society.  Some had sincerely resolved to amend their lives,\nand give up their evil courses:  we must do them that justice, at all\nevents.\n\nAll were refused at first, Col. Olcott the President himself, to begin\nwith:  and he was not formally accepted as a Chela until he had proved\nby more than a year's devoted labours and by a determination which\nbrooked no denial, that he might safely be tested.  Then from all sides\ncame complaints--from Hindus, who ought to have known better, as well as\nfrom Europeans who, of course, were not in a condition to know anything\nat all about the rules.  The cry was that unless at least a few\nTheosophists were given the chance to try, the Society could not endure.\nEvery other noble and unselfish feature of our programme was ignored--a\nman's duty to his neighbour, to his country, his duty to help,\nenlighten, encourage and elevate those weaker and less favoured than he;\nall were trampled out of sight in the insane rush for adeptship.  The\ncall for phenomena, phenomena, phenomena, resounded in every quarter,\nand the Founders were impeded in their real work and teased\nimportunately to intercede with the Mahatmas, against whom the real\ngrievance lay, though their poor agents had to take all the buffets.  At\nlast, the word came from the higher authorities that a few of the most\nurgent candidates should be taken at their word.  The result of the\nexperiment would perhaps show better than any amount of preaching what\nChelaship meant, and what are the consequences of selfishness and\ntemerity.  Each candidate was warned that be must wait for year in any\nevent, before his fitness could be established, and that he must pass\nthrough a series of tests that would bring out all there was in him,\nwhether bad or good.  They were nearly all married men, and hence were\ndesignated \"Lay Chelas\"--a term new in English, but having long had its\nequivalent in Asiatic tongues.  A Lay Chela is but a man of the world\nwho affirms his desire to become wise in spiritual things.  Virtually,\nevery member of the Theosophical Society who subscribes to the second of\nour three \"Declared Objects\" is such;  for though not of the number of\ntrue Chelas, he has yet the possibility of becoming one, for he has\nstepped across the boundary-line which separated him from the Mahatmas,\nand has brought himself, as it were, under their notice.  In joining the\nSociety and binding himself to help along its work, he has pledged\nhimself to act in some degree in concert with those Mahatmas, at whose\nbehest the Society was organized, and under whose conditional protection\nit remains. The joining is then, the introduction;  all the rest depends\nentirely upon the member himself, and he need never expect the most\ndistant approach to the \"favour\" of one of our Mahatmas or any other\nMahatmas in the world--should the latter consent to become known--that\nhas not been fully earned by personal merit. The Mahatmas are the\nservants, not the arbiters of the Law of Karma.\n\nLay-Chelaship confers no privilege upon any one except that of working\nfor merit under the observation of a Master.  And whether that Master be\nor be not seen by the Chela makes no difference whatever as to the\nresult:  his good thought, words and deeds will bear their fruits, his\nevil ones, theirs.  To boast of Lay Chelaship or make a parade of it, is\nthe surest way to reduce the relationship with the Guru to a mere empty\nname, for it would be prima facie evidence of vanity and unfitness for\nfarther progress.  And for years we have been teaching everywhere the\nmaxim \"First deserve, then desire\" intimacy with the Mahatmas.\n\nNow there is a terrible law operative in Nature, one which cannot be\naltered, and whose operation clears up the apparent mystery of the\nselection of certain \"Chelas\" who have turned out sorry specimens of\nmorality, these few years past.  Does the reader recall the old proverb,\n\"Let sleeping dogs lie?\"  There is a world of occult meaning in it.  No\nman or woman knows his or her moral strength until it is tried.\nThousands go through life very respectably, because they were never put\nto the test.  This is a truism doubtless, but it is most pertinent to\nthe present case. One who undertakes to try for Chelaship by that very\nact rouses and lashes to desperation every sleeping passion of his\nanimal nature.  For this is the commencement of a struggle for mastery\nin which quarter is neither to be given nor taken.  It is, once for all,\n\"To be, or Not to be;\"  to conquer, means Adept-ship: to fail, an\nignoble Martyrdom;  for to fall victim to lust, pride, avarice, vanity,\nselfishness, cowardice, or any other of the lower propensities, is\nindeed ignoble, if measured by the standard of true manhood.  The Chela\nis not only called to face all the latent evil propensities of his\nnature, but, in addition, the momentum of maleficent forces accumulated\nby the community and nation to which he belongs.  For he is an integral\npart of those aggregates, and what affects either the individual man or\nthe group (town or nation), reacts the one upon the other.  And in this\ninstance his struggle for goodness jars upon the whole body of badness\nin his environment, and draws its fury upon him. If he is content to go\nalong with his neighbours and be almost as they are--perhaps a little\nbetter or somewhat worse than the average--no one may give him a\nthought.  But let it be known that he has been able to detect the hollow\nmockery of social life, its hypocrisy, selfishness, sensuality, cupidity\nand other bad features, and has determined to lift himself up to a\nhigher level, at once he is hated, and every bad, bigotted, or malicious\nnature sends at him a current of opposing will-power.  If he is innately\nstrong he shakes it off, as the powerful swimmer dashes through the\ncurrent that would bear a weaker one away.  But in this moral battle, if\nthe Chela has one single hidden blemish--do what he may, it shall and\nwill be brought to light.  The varnish of conventionalities which\n\"civilization\" overlays us all with must come off to the last coat, and\nthe inner self, naked and without the slightest veil to conceal its\nreality, is exposed. The habits of society which hold men to a certain\ndegree under moral restraint, and compel them to pay tribute to virtue\nby seeming to be good whether they are so or not--these habits are apt\nto be all forgotten, these restraints to be all broken through under the\nstrain of Chelaship.  He is now in an atmosphere of illusions--Maya.\nVice puts on its most alluring face, and the tempting passions attract\nthe inexperienced aspirant to the depths of psychic debasement.  This is\nnot a case like that depicted by a great artist, where Satan is seen\nplaying a game of chess with a man upon the stake of his soul, while the\nlatter's good angel stands beside him to counsel and assist.  For the\nstrife is in this instance between the Chela's will and his carnal\nnature, and Karma forbids that any angel or Guru should interfere until\nthe result is known.  With the vividness of poetic fancy Bulwer Lytton\nhas idealized it for us in his \"Zanoni,\" a work which will ever be\nprized by the occultist while in his \"Strange Story\" he has with equal\npower shown the black side of occult research and its deadly perils.\nChelaship was defined, the other day, by a Mahatma as a \"psychic\nresolvent, which eats away all dross and leaves only the pure gold\nbehind.\" If the candidate has the latent lust for money, or political\nchicanery, or materialistic scepticism, or vain display, or false\nspeaking, or cruelty, or sensual gratification of any kind the germ is\nalmost sure to sprout;  and so, on the other hand, as regards the noble\nqualities of human nature.  The real man comes out.  Is it not the\nheight of folly, then, for any one to leave the smooth path of\ncommonplace life to scale the crags of Chelaship without some reasonable\nfeeling of certainty that he has the right stuff in him?  Well says the\nBible:  \"Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall\"--a text that\nwould-be Chelas should consider well before they rush headlong into the\nfray!  It would have been well for some of our Lay Chelas if they had\nthought twice before defying the tests.  We call to mind several sad\nfailures within a twelve-month.  One went wrong in the head, recanted\nnoble sentiments uttered but a few weeks previously, and became a member\nof a religion he had just scornfully and unanswerably proven false.  A\nsecond became a defaulter and absconded with his employer's money--the\nlatter also a Theosophist.  A third gave himself up to gross debauchery,\nand confessed it, with ineffectual sobs and tears, to his chosen Guru.\nA fourth got entangled with a person of the other sex and fell out with\nhis dearest and truest friends.  A fifth showed signs of mental\naberration and was brought into Court upon charges of discreditable\nconduct.  A sixth shot himself to escape the consequences of\ncriminality, on the verge of detection!  And so we might go on and on.\nAll these were apparently sincere searchers after truth, and passed in\nthe world for respectable persons.  Externally, they were fairly\neligible as candidates for Chelaship, as appearances go;  but \"within\nall was rottenness and dead men's bones.\"  The world's varnish was so\nthick as to hide the absence of the true gold underneath;  and the\n\"resolvent\" doing its work, the candidate proved in each instance but a\ngilded figure of moral dross, from circumference to core.\n\nIn what precedes we have, of course, dealt but with the failures among\nLay Chelas;  there have been partial successes too, and these are\npassing gradually through the first stages of their probation.  Some are\nmaking themselves useful to the Society and to the world in general by\ngood example and precept.  If they persist, well for them, well for us\nall:  the odds are fearfully against them, but still \"there is no\nimpossibility to him who Wills.\"  The difficulties in Chelaship will\nnever be less until human nature changes and a new order is evolved.\nSt. Paul (Rom. vii. 18,19) might have had a Chela in mind when he said\n\"to will is present with me;  but how to perform that which is good I\nfind not.  For the good I would I do not;  but the evil which I would\nnot, that I do.\"  And in the wise Kiratarjuniyam of Bharavi it is\nwritten:--\n\n     The enemies which rise within the body,\n     Hard to be overcome--the evil passions--\n     Should manfully be fought; who conquers these\n     Is equal to the conqueror of worlds. (XI. 32.)\n\n(--H.P. Blavatsky)\n\n\n\n\nAncient Opinions Upon Psychic Bodies\n\n\nIt must be confessed that modern Spiritualism falls very short of the\nideas formerly suggested by the sublime designation which it has\nassumed.  Chiefly intent upon recognizing and putting forward the\nphenomenal proofs of a future existence, it concerns itself little with\nspeculations on the distinction between matter and spirit, and rather\nprides itself on having demolished Materialism without the aid of\nmetaphysics.  Perhaps a Platonist might say that the recognition of a\nfuture existence is consistent with a very practical and even dogmatic\nmaterialism, but it is rather to be feared that such a materialism as\nthis would not greatly disturb the spiritual or intellectual repose of\nour modern phenomenalists.*  Given the consciousness with its\nsensibilities safely housed in the psychic body which demonstrably\nsurvives the physical carcase, and we are like men saved from shipwreck,\nwho are for the moment thankful and content, not giving thought whether\nthey are landed on a hospitable shore, or on a barren rock, or on an\nisland of cannibals.  It is not of course intended that this \"hand to\nmouth\" immortality is sufficient for the many thoughtful minds whose\nactivity gives life and progress to the movement, but that it affords\nthe relief which most people feel when in an age of doubt they make the\ndiscovery that they are undoubtedly to live again.  To the question \"how\nare the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?\" modern\nSpiritualism, with its empirical methods, is not adequate to reply.  Yet\nlong before Paul suggested it, it had the attention of the most\ncelebrated schools of philosophy, whose speculations on the subject,\nhowever little they may seem to be verified, ought not to be without\ninterest to us, who, after all, are still in the infancy of a\nspiritualist revival.\n\n---------\n* \"I am afraid,\" says Thomas Taylor in his Introduction to the Phaedo,\n\"there are scarcely any at the present day who know that it is one thing\nfor the soul to be separated from the body, and another for the body to\nbe separated from the soul, and that the former is by no means a\nnecessary consequence of the latter.\"\n-----------\n\nIt would not be necessary to premise, but for the frequency with which\nthe phrase occurs, that the \"spiritual body\" is a contradiction in\nterms.  The office of body is to relate spirit to an objective world.\nBy Platonic writers it is usually termed okhema--\"vehicle.\"  It is the\nmedium of action, and also of sensibility.  In this philosophy the\nconception of Soul was not simply, as with us, the immaterial subject of\nconsciousness.  How warily the interpreter has to tread here, every one\nknows who has dipped, even superficially, into the controversies among\nPlatonists themselves.  All admit the distinction between the rational\nand the irrational part or principle, the latter including, first, the\nsensibility, and secondly, the Plastic, or that lower which in obedience\nto its sympathies enables the soul to attach itself to, and to organize\ninto a suitable body those substances of the universe to which it is\nmost congruous.  It is more difficult to determine whether Plato or his\nprincipal followers, recognized in the rational soul or nous a distinct\nand separable entity, that which is sometimes discriminated as \"the\nSpirit.\"  Dr. Henry More, no mean authority, repudiates this\ninterpretation.  \"There can be nothing more monstrous,\" he says, \"than\nto make two souls in man, the one sensitive, the other rational, really\ndistinct from one another, and to give the name of Astral spirit to the\nformer, when there is in man no Astral spirit beside the Plastic of the\nsoul itself, which is always inseparable from that which is rational.\nNor upon any other account can it be called Astral, but as it is liable\nto that corporeal temperament which proceeds from the stars, or rather\nfrom any material causes in general, as not being yet sufficiently\nunited with the divine body--that vehicle of divine virtue or power.\"\nSo he maintains that the Kabalistic three souls--Nephesh, Ruach,\nNeschamah--originate in a misunderstanding of the true Platonic\ndoctrine, which is that of a threefold \"vital congruity.\"  These\ncorrespond to the three degrees of bodily existence, or to the three\n\"vehicles,\" the terrestrial, the aerial, and the ethereal.  The latter\nis the augoeides--the luciform vehicle of the purified soul whose\nirrational part has been brought under complete subjection to the\nrational.  The aerial is that in which the great majority of mankind\nfind themselves at the dissolution of the terrestrial body, and in which\nthe incomplete process of purification has to be undergone during long\nages of preparation for the soul's return to its primitive, ethereal\nstate.  For it must be remembered that the preexistence of souls is a\ndistinguishing tenet of this philosophy as of the Kabala.  The soul has\n\"sunk into matter.\" From its highest original state the revolt of its\nirrational nature has awakened and developed successively its \"vital\ncongruities\" with the regions below, passing, by means of its \"Plastic,\"\nfirst into the aerial and afterwards into the terrestrial condition.\nEach of these regions teems also with an appropriate population which\nnever passes, like the human soul, from one to the other--\"gods,\"\n\"demons,\" and animals.*  As to duration, \"the shortest of all is that of\nthe terrestrial vehicle.  In the aerial, the soul may inhabit, as they\ndefine, many ages, and in the ethereal, for ever.\"\n\n---------\n* The allusion here is to those beings of the several kingdoms of the\nelements which we Theosophists, following after the Kabalists, have\ncalled the \"Elementals.\"  They never become men.\n--Ed. Theos.\n---------\n\nSpeaking of the second body, Henry More says \"the soul's astral vehicle\nis of that tenuity that itself can as easily pass the smallest pores of\nthe body as the light does glass, or the lightning the scabbard of a\nsword without tearing or scorching of it.\"  And again, \"I shall make\nbold to assert that the soul may live in an aerial vehicle as well as in\nthe ethereal, and that there are very few that arrive to that high\nhappiness as to acquire a celestial vehicle immediately upon their\nquitting the terrestrial one;  that heavenly chariot necessarily\ncarrying us in triumph to the greatest happiness the soul of man is\ncapable of, which would arrive to all men indifferently, good or bad, if\nthe parting with this earthly body would suddenly mount us into the\nheavenly.  When by a just Nemesis the souls of men that are not\nheroically virtuous will find themselves restrained within the compass\nof this caliginous air, as both Reason itself suggests, and the\nPlatonists have unanimously determined.\" Thus also the most\nthorough-going, and probably the most deeply versed in the doctrines of\nthe master among modern Platonists, Thomas Taylor (Introduction.\nPhaedo):--\"After this our divine philosopher informs that the pure soul\nwill after death return to pure and eternal natures;  but that the\nimpure soul, in consequence of being imbued with terrene affections,\nwill be drawn down to a kindred nature, and be invested with a gross\nvehicle capable of being seen by the corporeal eye.*  For while a\npropensity to body remains in the soul, it causes her to attract a\ncertain vehicle to herself;  either of an aerial nature, or composed\nfrom the spirit and vapours of her terrestrial body, or which is\nrecently collected from surrounding air;  for according to the arcana of\nthe Platonic philosophy, between an ethereal body, which is simple and\nimmaterial and is the eternal connate vehicle of the soul, and a terrene\nbody, which is material and composite, and of short duration, there is\nan aerial body, which is material indeed, but simple and of a more\nextended duration; and in this body the unpurified soul dwells for a\nlong time after its exit from hence, till this pneumatic vehicle being\ndissolved, it is again invested with a composite body;  while on the\ncontrary the purified soul immediately ascends into the celestial\nregions with its ethereal vehicle alone.\"\n\n----------\n* This is the Hindu theory of nearly every one of the Aryan\nphilosophies.--Ed. Theos.\n----------\n\nAlways it is the disposition of the soul that determines the quality of\nits body.  \"However the soul be in itself affected,\" says Porphyry\n(translated by Cudworth), \"so does it always find a body suitable and\nagreeable to its present disposition, and therefore to the purged soul\ndoes naturally accrue a body that comes next to immateriality, that is,\nan ethereal one.\"  And the same author, \"The soul is never quite naked\nof all body, but hath always some body or other joined with it, suitable\nand agreeable to its present disposition (either a purer or impurer\none).  But that at its first quitting this gross earthly body, the\nspirituous body which accompanieth it (as its vehicle) must needs go\naway fouled and incrassated with the vapours and steams thereof, till\nthe soul afterwards by degrees purging itself, this becometh at length a\ndry splendour, which hath no misty obscurity nor casteth any shadow.\"\nHere it will be seen, we lose sight of the specific difference of the\ntwo future vehicles--the ethereal is regarded as a sublimation of the\naerial.  This, however, is opposed to the general consensus of Plato's\ncommentators. Sometimes the ethereal body, or augoeides, is appropriated\nto the rational soul, or spirit, which must then be considered as a\ndistinct entity, separable from the lower soul.  Philoponus, a Christian\nwriter, says, \"that the Rational Soul, as to its energie, is separable\nfrom all body, but the irrational part or life thereof is separable only\nfrom this gross body, and not from all body whatsoever, but hath after\ndeath a spirituous or airy body, in which it acteth--this I say is a\ntrue opinion which shall afterwards be proved by us.... The irrational\nlife of the soul hath not all its being in this gross earthly body, but\nremaineth after the soul's departure out of it, having for its vehicle\nand subject the spirituous body, which itself is also compounded out of\nthe four elements, but receiveth its denomination from the predominant\npart, to wit, Air, as this gross body of ours is called earthy from what\nis most predominant therein.\"--Cudworth, \"Intell. Syst.\"  From the same\nsource we extract the following:  \"Wherefore these ancients say that\nimpure souls after their departure out of this body wander here up and\ndown for a certain space in their spirituous vaporous and airy body,\nappearing about sepulchres and haunting their former habitation.  For\nwhich cause there is great reason that we should take care of living\nwell, as also of abstaining from a fouler and grosser diet;  these\nAncients telling us likewise that this spirituous body of ours being\nfouled and incrassated by evil diet, is apt to render the soul in this\nlife also more obnoxious to the disturbances of passions.  They further\nadd that there is something of the Plantal or Plastic life, also\nexercised by the soul, in those spirituous or airy bodies after death;\nthey being nourished too, though not after the same manner, as those\ngross earthy bodies of ours are here, but by vapours, and that not by\nparts or organs, but throughout the whole of them (as sponges), they\nimbibing everywhere those vapours. For which cause they who are wise\nwill in this life also take care of using a thinner and dryer diet, that\nso that spirituous body (which we have also at this present time within\nour proper body) may not be clogged and incrassed, but attenuated.  Over\nand above which, those Ancients made use of catharms, or purgations to\nthe same end and purpose also.  For as this earthy body is washed by\nwater so is that spirituous body cleansed by cathartic vapours--some of\nthese vapours being nutritive, others purgative.  Moreover, these\nAncients further declared concerning this spirituous body that it was\nnot organized, but did the whole of it in every part throughout exercise\nall functions of sense, the soul hearing, seeing and perceiving all\nsensibles by it everywhere.  For which cause Aristotle himself affirmeth\nin his Metaphysics that there is properly but one sense and one Sensory.\nHe by this one sensory meaneth the spirit, or subtle airy body, in which\nthe sensitive power doth all of it through the whole immediately\napprehend all variety of sensibles.  And if it be demanded to how it\ncomes to pass that this spirit becomes organized in sepulchres, and most\ncommonly of human form, but sometimes in the forms of other animals, to\nthis those Ancients replied that their appearing so frequently in human\nform proceeded from their being incrassated with evil diet, and then, as\nit were, stamped upon with the form of this exterior ambient body in\nwhich they are, as crystal is formed and coloured like to those things\nwhich it is fastened in, or reflects the image of them.  And that their\nhaving sometimes other different forms proceedeth from the phantastic\npower of the soul itself, which can at pleasure transform the spirituous\nbody into any shape.  For being airy, when it is condensed and fixed, it\nbecometh visible, and again invisible and vanishing out of sight when it\nis expanded and rarified.\"  Proem in Arist. de Anima.  And Cudworth\nsays, \"Though spirits or ghosts had certain supple bodies which they\ncould so far condense as to make them sometimes visible to men, yet is\nit reasonable enough to think that they could not constipate or fix them\ninto such a firmness, grossness and solidity, as that of flesh and bone\nis to continue therein, or at least not without such difficulty and pain\nas would hinder them from attempting the same.  Notwithstanding which it\nis not denied that they may possibly sometimes make use of other solid\nbodies, moving and acting them, as in that famous story of Phlegons when\nthe body vanished not as other ghosts use to do, but was left a dead\ncarcase behind.\"\n\nIn all these speculations the Anima Mundi plays a conspicuous part.  It\nis the source and principle of all animal souls, including the\nirrational soul of man.  But in man, who would otherwise be merely\nanalogous to other terrestrial animals--this soul participates in a\nhigher principle, which tends to raise and convert it to itself.  To\ncomprehend the nature of this union or hypostasis it would be necessary\nto have mastered the whole of Plato's philosophy as comprised in the\nParmenides and the Timaeus;  and he would dogmatize rashly who without\nthis arduous preparation should claim Plato as the champion of an\nunconditional immortality.  Certainly in the Phaedo the dialogue\npopularly supposed to contain all Plato's teaching on the subject--the\nimmortality allotted to the impure soul is of a very questionable\ncharacter, and we should rather infer from the account there given that\nthe human personality, at all events, is lost by successive immersions\ninto \"matter.\"  The following passage from Plutarch (quoted by Madame\nBlavatsky, \"Isis Unveiled,\" vol. ii. p. 284) will at least demonstrate\nthe antiquity of notions which have recently been mistaken for fanciful\nnovelties.  \"Every soul hath some portion of nous, reason, a man cannot\nbe a man without it;  but as much of each soul as is mixed with flesh\nand appetite is changed, and through pain and pleasure becomes\nirrational.  Every soul doth not mix herself after one sort;  some\nplunge themselves into the body, and so in this life their whole frame\nis corrupted by appetite and passion;  others are mixed as to some part,\nbut the purer part still remains without the body.  It is not drawn down\ninto the body, but it swims above, and touches the extremest part of the\nman's head;  it is like a cord to hold up and direct the subsiding part\nof the soul, as long as it proves obedient and is not overcome by the\nappetites of the flesh.  The part that is plunged into the body is\ncalled soul.  But the incorruptible part is called the nous, and the\nvulgar think it is within them, as they likewise imagine the image\nreflected from a glass to be in that glass.  But the more intelligent,\nwho know it to be without, call it a Daemon.\"  And in the same learned\nwork (\"Isis Unveiled \") we have two Christian authorities, Irenaeus and\nOrigen, cited for like distinction between spirit and soul in such a\nmanner as to show that the former must necessarily be regarded as\nseparable from the latter.  In the distinction itself there is of course\nno novelty for the most moderately well-informed.  It is insisted upon\nin many modern works, among which may be mentioned Heard's \"Trichotomy\nof Man\" and Green's \"Spiritual Philosophy\";  the latter being an\nexposition of Coleridge's opinion on this and cognate subjects.  But the\ndifficulty of regarding the two principles as separable in fact as well\nas in logic arises from the senses, if it is not the illusion of\npersonal identity.  That we are particle, and that one part only is\nimmortal, the non-metaphysical mind rejects with the indignation which\nis always encountered by a proposition that is at once distasteful and\nunintelligible.  Yet perhaps it is not a greater difficulty (if, indeed,\nit is not the very same) than that hard saying which troubled Nicodemus,\nand which has been the key-note of the mystical religious consciousness\never since.  This, however, is too extensive and deep a question to be\ntreated in this paper, which has for its object chiefly to call\nattention to the distinctions introduced by ancient thought into the\nconception of body as the instrument or \"vehicle\" of soul.  That there\nis a correspondence between the spiritual condition of man and the\nmedium of his objective activity every spiritualist will admit to be\nprobable, and it may well be that some light is thrown on future states\nby the possibility or the manner of spirit communication with this one.\n\n--C. C. Massey\n\n\n\n\nThe Nilgiri Sannyasis\n\n\nI was told that Sannyasis were sometimes met with on a mountain called\nVelly Mallai Hills, in the Coimbatore District, and trying to meet with\none, I determined to ascend this mountain.  I traveled up its steep\nsides and arrived at an opening, narrow and low, into which I crept on\nall fours.  Going up some twenty yards I reached a cave, into the\nopening of which I thrust my head and shoulders.  I could see into it\nclearly, but felt a cold wind on my face, as if there was some opening\nor crevice--so I looked carefully, but could see nothing.  The room was\nabout twelve feet square.  I did not go into it.  I saw arranged round\nits sides stones one cubit long, all placed upright.  I was much\ndisappointed at there being no Sannyasi, and came back as I went,\npushing myself backwards as there was no room to turn.  I was then told\nSannyasis had been met with in the dense sholas (thickets), and as my\nwork lay often in such places, I determined to prosecute my search, and\ndid so diligently, without, however, any success.\n\nOne day I contemplated a journey to Coimbatore on my own affairs, and\nwas walking up the road trying to make a bargain with a handy man whom I\ndesired to engage to carry me there;  but as we could not come to terms,\nI parted with him and turned into the Lovedale Road at 6 P.M.  I had not\ngone far when I met a man dressed like a Sannyasi, who stopped and spoke\nto me.  He observed a ring on my finger and asked me to give it to him.\nI said he was welcome to it, but inquired what he would give me in\nreturn, he said, \"I don't care particularly about it;  I would rather\nhave that flour and sugar in the bundle on your back.\"  \"I will give you\nthat with pleasure,\" I said, and took down my bundle and gave it to him.\n\"Half is enough for me,\" he said;  but subsequently changing his mind\nadded, \"now let me see what is in your bundle,\" pointing to my other\nparcel.  \"I can't give you that.\"  He said, \"Why cannot you give me your\nswami (family idol)?\"  I said, \"It is my swami, I will not part with it;\nrather take my life.\"  On this he pressed me no more, but said, \"Now you\nhad better go home.\"  I said, \"I will not leave you.\"  \"Oh you must,\" he\nsaid, \"you will die here of hunger.\"  \"Never mind,\" I said, \"I can but\ndie once.\"  \"You have no clothes to protect you from the wind and rain;\nyou may meet with tigers,\" he said.  \"I don't care,\" I replied.  \"It is\ngiven to man once to die.  What does it signify how he dies?\"  When I\nsaid this he took my hand and embraced me, and immediately I became\nunconscious.  When I returned to consciousness, I found myself with the\nSannyasi in a place new to me on a hill, near a large rock and with a\nbig shola near.  I saw in the shola right in front of us, that there was\na pillar of fire, like a tree almost.  I asked the Sannyasi what was\nthat like a high fire.  \"Oh,\" he said, \"most likely a tree ignited by\nsome careless wood-cutters.\"\n\n\"No,\" I said, \"it is not like any common fire--there is no smoke, nor\nare there flames--and it's not lurid and red.  I want to go and see it.\"\n\"No, you must not do so, you cannot go near that fire and escape alive.\"\n\"Come with me then,\" I begged.  \"No--I cannot,\" he said, \"if you wish to\napproach it, you must go alone and at your own risk;  that tree is the\ntree of knowledge and from it flows the milk of life:  whoever drinks\nthis never hungers again.\"  Thereupon I regarded the tree with awe.\n\nI next observed five Sannyasis approaching.  They came up and joined the\none with me, entered into talk, and finally pulled out a hookah and\nbegan to smoke.  They asked me if I could smoke.  I said no.  One of\nthem said to me, let us see the swami in your bundle (here gives a\ndescription of the same).  I said, \"I cannot, I am not clean enough to\ndo so.\"  \"Why not perform your ablutions in yonder stream?\" they said.\n\"If you sprinkle water on your forehead that will suffice.\"  I went to\nwash my hands and feet, and laved my head, and showed it to them.  Next\nthey disappeared.  \"As it is very late, it is time you returned home,\"\nsaid my first friend.  \"No,\" I said, \"now I have found you I will not\nleave you.\"  \"No, no,\" he said, \"you must go home.  You cannot leave the\nworld yet;  you are a father and a husband, and you must not neglect\nyour worldly duties.  Follow the footsteps of your late respected uncle;\nhe did not neglect his worldly affairs, though he cared for the\ninterests of his soul;  you must go, but I will meet you again when you\nget your fortnightly holiday.\"  On this he embraced me, and I again\nbecame unconscious. When I returned to myself, I found myself at the\nbottom of Col. Jones' Coffee Plantation above Coonor on a path.  Here\nthe Sannyasi wished me farewell, and pointing to the high road below, he\nsaid, \"Now you will know your way home;\"  but I would not part from him.\nI said, \"All this will appear a dream to me unless you will fix a day\nand promise to meet me here again.\"  \"I promise,\" he said.  \"No, promise\nme by an oath on the head of my idol.\"  Again he promised, and touched\nthe head of my idol.  \"Be here,\" he said, \"this day fortnight.\"  When\nthe day came I anxiously kept my engagement and went and sat on the\nstone on the path.  I waited a long time in vain.  At last I said to\nmyself, \"I am deceived, he is not coming, he has broken his oath\"--and\nwith grief I made a poojah.  Hardly had these thoughts passed my mind,\nthan lo! he stood beside me.  \"Ah, you doubt me,\" he said;  \"why this\ngrief.\"  I fell at his feet and confessed I had doubted him and begged\nhis forgiveness.  He forgave and comforted me, and told me to keep in my\ngood ways and he would always help me;  and he told me and advised me\nabout all my private affairs without my telling him one word, and he\nalso gave me some medicines for a sick friend which I had promised to\nask for but had forgotten.  This medicine was given to my friend and he\nis perfectly well now.\n\nA verbatim translation of a Settlement Officer's statement to\n\n--E.H. Morgan\n\n\n\n\nWitchcraft on the Nilgiris\n\n\nHaving lived many years (30) on the Nilgiris, employing the various\ntribes of the Hills on my estates, and speaking their languages, I have\nhad many opportunities of observing their manners and customs and the\nfrequent practice of Demonology and Witchcraft among them.  On the\nslopes of the Nilgiris live several semi-wild people:  1st, the\n\"Curumbers,\" who frequently hire themselves out to neighbouring estates,\nand are first-rate fellers of forest;  2nd, the \"Tain\" (\"Honey\nCurumbers\"), who collect and live largely on honey and roots, and who do\nnot come into civilized parts;  3rd, the \"Mulu\" Curumbers, who are rare\non the slopes of the hills, but common in Wynaad lower down the plateau.\nThese use bows and arrows, are fond of hunting, and have frequently been\nknown to kill tigers, rushing in a body on their game and discharging\ntheir arrows at a short distance.  In their eagerness they frequently\nfall victims to this animal;  but they are supposed to possess a\ncontrolling power over all wild animals, especially elephants and\ntigers;  and the natives declare they have the power of assuming the\nforms of various beasts.  Their aid is constantly invoked both by the\nCurumbers first named, and by the natives generally, when wishing to be\nrevenged on an enemy.\n\nBesides these varieties of Curumbers there are various other wild tribes\nI do not now mention, as they are not concerned in what I have to\nrelate.\n\nI had on my estate near Ootacamund a gang of young Badagas, some 30\nyoung men, whom I had had in my service since they were children, and\nwho had become most useful handy fellows.  From week to week I missed\none or another of them, and on inquiry was told they had been sick and\nwere dead!\n\nOne market-day I met the Moneghar of the village to which my gang\nbelonged and some of his men, returning home laden with their purchases.\nThe moment he saw me he stopped, and coming up to me, said, \"Mother, I\nam in great sorrow and trouble, tell me what I can do!\"  \"Why, what is\nwrong?\" I asked.  \"All my young men are dying, and I cannot help them,\nnor prevent it;  they are under a spell of the wicked Curumbers who are\nkilling them, and I am powerless.\"  \"Pray explain,\" I said;  \"why do the\nCurumbers behave in this way, and what do they do to your people?\"  \"Oh,\nMadam, they are vile extortioners, always asking for money;  we have\ngiven and given till we have no more to give.  I told them we had no\nmore money and then they said,--All right--as you please;  we shall see.\nSurely as they say this, we know what will follow--at night when we are\nall asleep, we wake up suddenly and see a Curumber standing in our\nmidst, in the middle of the room occupied by the young men.\"  \"Why do\nyou not close and bolt your doors securely?\" I interrupted.  \"What is\nthe use of bolts and bars to them? they come through stone walls.... Our\ndoors were secure, but nothing can keep out a Curumber.  He points his\nfinger at Mada, at Kurira, at Jogie--he utters no word, and as we look\nat him he vanishes!  In a few days these three young men sicken, a low\nfever consumes them, their stomachs swell, they die.  Eighteen young\nmen, the flower of my village, have died thus this year.  These effects\nalways follow the visit of a Curumber at night.\"  \"Why not complain to\nthe Government?\" I said.  \"Ah, no use, who will catch them?\"  \"Then give\nthem the 200 rupees they ask this once on a solemn promise that they\nexact no more\"  \"I suppose we must find the money somewhere,\" he said,\nturning sorrowfully away.\n\nA Mr. K---is the owner of a coffee estate near this, and like many\nother planters employs Burghers.  On one occasion he went down the\nslopes of the hills after bison and other large game, taking some seven\nor eight Burghers with him as gun carriers (besides other things\nnecessary in jungle-walking--axes to clear the way, knives and ropes,\n&c.).  He found and severely wounded a fine elephant with tusks.\nWishing to secure these, he proposed following up his quarry, but could\nnot induce his Burghers to go deeper and further into the forests;  they\nfeared to meet the \"Mula Curumbers\" who lived thereabouts.  For long he\nargued in vain, at last by dint of threats and promises he induced them\nto proceed, and as they met no one, their fears were allayed and they\ngrew bolder, when suddenly coming on the elephant lying dead (oh, horror\nto them!), the beast was surrounded by a party of Mulu Curumbers busily\nengaged in cutting out the tusks, one of which they had already\ndisengaged!  The affrighted Burghers fell back, and nothing Mr. K---\ncould do or say would induce them to approach the elephant, which the\nCurumbers stoutly declared was theirs.  They had killed him they said.\nThey had very likely met him staggering under his wound and had finished\nhim off.  Mr. K---was not likely to give up his game in this fashion.\nSo walking threateningly to the Curumbers he compelled them to retire,\nand called to his Burghers at the same time.  The Curumbers only said,\n\"Just you DARE to touch that elephant,\" and retired.  Mr. K---thereupon\ncut out the remaining tusk himself, and slinging both on a pole with no\nlittle trouble, made his men carry them. He took all the blame on\nhimself, showed them that they did not touch them, and finally declared\nhe would stay there all night rather than lose the tusks.  The idea of a\nnight near the Mulu Curumbers was too much for the fears of the\nBurghers, and they finally took up the pole and tusks and walked home.\nFrom that day those men, all but one who probably carried the gun,\nsickened, walked about like spectres, doomed, pale and ghastly, and\nbefore the month was out all were dead men, with the one exception!\n\nA few months ago, at the village of Ebanaud, a few miles from this, a\nfearful tragedy was enacted.  The Moneghar or headman's child was sick\nunto death.  This, following on several recent deaths, was attributed to\nthe evil influences of a village of Curumbers hard by.  The Burghers\ndetermined on the destruction of every soul of them.  They procured the\nassistance of a Toda, as they invariably do on such occasions, as\nwithout one the Curumbers are supposed to be invulnerable.  They\nproceeded to the Curumber village at night and set their huts on fire,\nand as the miserable inmates attempted to escape, flung them back into\nthe flames or knocked them down with clubs.  In the confusion one old\nwoman escaped unobserved into the adjacent bushes.  Next morning she\ngave notice to the authorities, and identified seven Burghers, among\nwhom was the Moneghar or headman, and one Toda. As the murderers of her\npeople they were all brought to trial in the Courts here,--except the\nheadman, who died before he could be brought in--and were all sentenced\nand duly executed, that is, three Burghers and the Toda, who were proved\nprincipals in the murders.\n\nTwo years ago an almost identical occurrence took place at Kotaghery,\nwith exactly similar results, but without the punishment entailed having\nany deterrent effect.  They pleaded \"justification,\" as witchcraft had\nbeen practiced on them.  But our Government ignores all occult dealings\nand will not believe in the dread power in the land.  They deal very\ndifferently with these matters in Russia, where, in a recent trial of a\nsimilar nature, the witchcraft was admitted as an extenuating\ncircumstance and the culprits who had burnt a witch were all acquitted.\nAll natives of whatever caste are well aware of these terrible powers\nand too often do they avail themselves of them--much oftener than any\none has an idea of.  One day as I was riding along I came upon a strange\nand ghastly object--a basket containing the bloody head of a black\nsheep, a cocoanut, 10 rupees in money, some rice and flowers.  These\nsmaller items I did not see, not caring to examine any closer;  but I\nwas told by some natives that those articles were to be found in the\nbasket. The basket was placed at the apex of a triangle formed by three\nfine threads tied to three small sticks, so placed that any one\napproaching from the roads on either side had to stumble over the\nthreads and receive the full effects of the deadly \"Soonium\" as the\nnatives call it.  On inquiry I learnt that it was usual to prepare such\na \"Soonium\" when one lay sick unto death;  as throwing it on another was\nthe only means of rescuing the sick one, and woe to the unfortunate who\nbroke a thread by stumbling over it!\n\n--E.H. Morgan\n\n\n\n\nShamanism and Witchcraft Amongst the Kolarian Tribes\n\n\nHaving resided for some years amongst the Mimdas and Hos of Singbhoom,\nand Chutia Nagpur, my attention was drawn at times to customs differing\na good deal in some ways, but having an evident affinity to those\nrelated of the Nilghiri \"Curumbers\" in Mrs. Morgan's article.  I do not\nmean to say that the practices I am about to mention are confined simply\nto the Kolarian tribes, as I am aware both Oraons (a Dravidian tribe),\nand the different Hindu castes living side by side with the Kols, count\nmany noted wizards among their number;  but what little I have come to\nknow of these curious customs, I have learnt among the Mimdas and Hos,\nsome of the most celebrated practitioners among them being Christian\nconverts.  The people themselves say, that these practices are peculiar\nto their race, and not learnt from the Hindu invaders of their plateau;\nbut I am inclined to think that some, at least, of the operations have a\nstrong savour of the Tantric black magic about them, though practiced by\npeople who are often entirely ignorant of any Hindu language.\n\nThese remarks must he supplemented by a short sketch of Kol ideas of\nworship.  They have nothing that I have either seen or heard of in the\nshape of an image, but their periodical offerings are made to a number\nof elemental spirits, and they assign a genie to every rock or tree in\nthe country, whom they do not consider altogether malignant, but who, if\nnot duly \"fed\" or propitiated, may become so.\n\nThe Singbonga (lit., sun or light spirit) is the chief;  Buru Bonga\n(spirit of the hills), and the Ikhir Bonga (spirit of the deep), come\nnext.  After these come the Darha, of which each family has its own, and\nthey may be considered in the same light as Lares and Penates.  But\nevery threshing, flour and oil mill, has its spirit, who must be duly\nfed, else evil result may be expected.  Their great festival (the Karam)\nis in honour of Singbonga and his assistants;  the opening words of the\npriests' speech on that occasion, sufficiently indicate that they\nconsider Singbonga, the creator of men and things.  Munure Singbonga\nmanokoa luekidkoa (In the beginning Singbonga made men).\n\nEach village has its Sarna or sacred grove, where the hereditary priest\nfrom time to time performs sacrifices, to keep things prosperous;  but\nthis only relates to spirits actually connected with the village, the\nthree greater spirits mentioned, being considered general, are only fed\nat intervals of three or more years, and always on a public road or\nother public place, and once every ten years a human being was (and as\nsome will tell you is sacrificed to keep the whole community of spirits\nin good train.)  The Pahans, or village priests, are regular servants of\nthe spirits, and the najo, deona and bhagats are people who in some way\nare supposed to obtain an influence or command over them.  The first and\nlowest grade of these adepts, called najos (which may be translated as\npractitioners of witchcraft pure and simple), are frequently women.\nThey are accused, like the \"Mula Curumbers,\" of demanding quantities of\ngrain or loans of money, &c., from people, and when these demands are\nrefused, they go away with a remark to the effect, \"that you have lots\nof cattle and grain just now, but we'll see what they are like after a\nmonth or two.\"  Then probably the cattle of the bewitched person will\nget some disease, and several of them die, or some person of his family\nwill become ill or get hurt in some unaccountable way. Till at last,\nthoroughly frightened, the afflicted person takes a little uncooked rice\nand goes to a deona or mati (as he is called in the different\nvernaculars of the province)--the grade immediately above najo in\nknowledge--and promising him a reward if he will assist him, requests\nhis aid;  if the deona accedes to the request, the proceedings are as\nfollows.  The deona taking the oil brought, lights a small lamp and\nseats himself beside it with the rice in a surpa (winnower) in his\nhands.  After looking intently at the lamp flame for a few minutes, he\nbegins to sing a sort of chant of invocation in which all the spirits\nare named, and at the name of each spirit a few grains of rice are\nthrown into the lamp.  When the flame at any particular name gives a\njump and flares up high, the spirit concerned in the mischief is\nindicated.  Then the deona takes a small portion of the rice wrapped up\nin a sal (Shorea robusta) leaf and proceeds to the nearest new white-ant\nnest from which he cuts the top off and lays the little bundle, half in\nand half out of the cavity. Having retired, he returns in about an hour\nto see if the rice is consumed, and according to the rapidity with which\nit is eaten he predicts the sacrifice which will appease the spirit.\nThis ranges from a fowl to a buffalo, but whatever it may include, the\npouring out of blood is an essential.  It must be noted, however, that\nthe mati never tells who the najo is who has excited the malignity of\nthe spirit.\n\nBut the most important and lucrative part of a deona's business is the\ncasting out of evil spirits, which operation is known variously as ashab\nand langhan.  The sign of obsession is generally some mental alienation\naccompanied (in bad cases) by a combined trembling and restlessness of\nlimbs, or an unaccountable swelling up of the body.  Whatever the\nsymptoms may be the mode of cure appears to be much the same.  On such\nsymptoms declaring themselves, the deona is brought to the house and is\nin the presence of the sick man and his friends provided with some rice\nin a surpa, some oil, a little vermilion, and the deona produces from\nhis own person a little powdered sulphur and an iron tube about four\ninches long and two tikli.*  Before the proceedings begin all the things\nmentioned are touched with vermilion, a small quantity of which is also\nmixed with the rice.  Three or four grains of rice and one of the tikli\nbeing put into the tube, a lamp is then lighted beside the sick man and\nthe deona begins his chant, throwing grains of rice at each name, and\nwhen the flame flares up, a little of the powdered sulphur is thrown\ninto the lamp and a little on the sick man, who thereupon becomes\nconvulsed, is shaken all over and talks deliriously, the deona's chant\ngrowing louder all the while.  Suddenly the convulsions and the chant\ncease, and the deona carefully takes up a little of the sulphur off the\nman's body and puts into the tube, which he then seals with the second\ntikli.  The deona and one of the man's friends then leave the hut,\ntaking the iron tube and rice with them, the spirit being now supposed\nout of the man and bottled up in the iron tube.  They hurry across\ncountry until they leave the hut some miles behind.  Then they go to the\nedge of some tank or river, to some place they know to be frequented by\npeople for the purposes of bathing, &c., where, after some further\nceremony, the iron is stuck into the ground and left there.  This is\ndone with the benevolent intention that the spirit may transfer its\nattentions to the unfortunate person who may happen to touch it while\nbathing.  I am told the spirit in this case usually chooses a young and\nhealthy person.  Should the deona think the spirit has not been able to\nsuit itself with a new receptacle, he repairs to where a bazaar is\ntaking place and there (after some ceremony) he mixes with the crowd,\nand taking a grain of the reddened rice jerks it with his forefinger and\nthumb in such a way that without attracting attention it falls on the\nperson or clothes of some.  This is done several times to make certain.\nThen the deona declares he has done his work, and is usually treated to\nthe best dinner the sick man's friends can afford.  It is said that the\nperson to whom the spirit by either of these methods is transferred may\nnot be affected for weeks or even months.  But some fine day while he is\nat his work, he will suddenly stop, wheel round two or three times on\nhis heels and fall down more or less convulsed, from that time forward\nhe will begin to be troubled in the same way as his dis-obsessed\npredecessor was.\n\n--------\n* Tikli is a circular piece of gilt paper which is stuck on between the\neyebrows of the women of the Province as ornament.\n--------\n\nHaving thus given some account of the deona, we now come to the bhagat,\ncalled by the Hindus sokha and sivnath.  This is the highest grade of\nall, and, as I ought to have mentioned before, the 'ilm (knowledge) of\nboth the deona and bhagat grades is only to be learned by becoming a\nregular chela of a practitioner;  but I am given to understand that the\nfinal initiation is much hastened by a seasonable liberality on the part\nof the chela. During the initiation of the sokha certain ceremonies are\nperformed at night by aid of a human corpse, this is one of the things\nwhich has led me to think that this part at least of these practices is\nconnected with Tantric black magic.\n\nThe bhagat performs two distinct functions:  (1st), a kind of divination\ncalled bhao (the same in Hindi), and (2nd), a kind of Shamanism called\ndarasta in Hindi, and bharotan in Horokaji, which, however, is resorted\nto only on very grave occasions--as, for instance, when several families\nthink they are bewitched at one time and by the same najo.\n\nThe bhao is performed as follows:--The person having some query to\npropound, makes a small dish out of a sal leaf and puts in it a little\nuncooked rice and a few pice;  he then proceeds to the bhagat and lays\nbefore him the leaf and its contents, propounding at the same time his\nquery.  The bhagat then directs him to go out and gather two golaichi\n(varieties of Posinia) flowers (such practitioners usually having a\ngolaichi tree close to their abodes);  after the flowers are brought the\nbhagat seats himself with the rice close to the inquirer, and after some\nconsideration selects one of the flowers, and holding it by the stalk at\nabout a foot from his eyes in his left hand twirls it between his thumb\nand fingers, occasionally with his right hand dropping on it a grain or\ntwo of rice.*  In a few minutes his eyes close and he begins to talk--\nusually about things having nothing to do with the question in hand, but\nafter a few minutes of this, he suddenly yells out an answer to the\nquestion, and without another word retires.  The inquirer takes his\nmeaning as he can from the answer, which, I believe, is always\nambiguous.\n\n---------\n* This is the process by which the bhagat mesmerizes himself.\n---------\n\nThe bharotan as I have above remarked is only resorted to when a matter\nof grave import has to be inquired about;  the bhagat makes a high\ncharge for a seance of this description.  We will fancy that three or\nfour families in a village consider themselves bewitched by a najo, and\nthey resolve to have recourse to a bhagat to find out who the witch is;\nwith this view a day is fixed on, and two delegates are procured from\neach of five neighbouring villages, who accompany the afflicted people\nto the house of the bhagat, taking with them a dali or offering,\nconsisting of vegetables, which on arrival is formally presented to him.\nTwo delegates are posted at each of the four points of the compass, and\nthe other two sent themselves with the afflicted parties to the right of\nthe bhagat, who occupies the centre of the apartment with four or five\nchelas, a clear space being reserved on the left.  One chela then brings\na small earthenware-pot full of lighted charcoal, which is set before\nthe bhagat with a pile of mango wood chips and a ball composed of dhunia\n(resin of Shorea robusta), gur (treacle), and ghee (clarified butter),\nand possibly other ingredients.  The bhagat's sole attire consists of a\nscanty lenguti (waist-cloth), a necklace of the large wooden beads such\nas are usually worn by fakeers, and several garlands of golaichi flowers\nround his neck, his hair being unusually long and matted.  Beside him\nstuck in the ground is his staff.  One chela stands over the firepot\nwith a bamboo-mat fan in his hand, another takes charge of the pile of\nchips, and a third of the ball of composition, and one or two others\nseat themselves behind the bhagat, with drums and other musical\ninstruments in their hands.  All being in readiness, the afflicted ones\nare requested to state their grievance.  This they do, and pray the\nbhagat to call before him the najo, who has stirred up the spirits to\nafflict them, in order that he may be punished.  The bhagat then gives a\nsign to his chelas, those behind him raise a furious din with their\ninstruments, the fire is fed with chips, and a bit of the composition is\nput on it from time to time, producing a volume of thick greyish-blue\nsmoke; this is carefully fanned over, and towards the bhagat, who, when\nwell wrapped in smoke, closes his eyes and quietly swaying his body\nbegins a low chant.  The chant gradually becomes louder and the sway of\nhis body more pronounced, until he works himself into a state of\ncomplete frenzy.  Then with his body actually quivering, and his head\nrapidly working about from side to side, he sings in a loud voice how a\ncertain najo (whom he names) had asked money of those people and was\nrefused, and how he stirred up certain spirits (whom he also names) to\nhurt them, how they killed so and so's bullocks, some one else's sheep,\nand caused another's child to fall ill.  Then he begins to call on the\nnajo to come and answer for his doings, and in doing so rises to his\nfeet--still commanding the najo to appear;  meanwhile he reels about;\nthen falls on the ground and is quite still except for an occasional\nwhine, and a muttered, \"I see him!\"  \"He is coming!\" This state may last\nfor an hour or more till at last the bhagat sits up and announces the\nnajo has come;  as he says so, a man, apparently mad with drink, rushes\nin and falls with his head towards the bhagat moaning and making a sort\nof snorting as if half stifled.  In this person the bewitched parties\noften recognize a neighbour and sometimes even a relation, but whoever\nhe may be they have bound themselves to punish him.  The bhagat then\nspeaks to him and tells him to confess, at the same time threatening\nhim, in case of refusal, with his staff.  He then confesses in a\nhalf-stupefied manner, and his confession tallies with what the bhagat\nhas told in his frenzy.  The najo is then dismissed and runs out of the\nhouse in the same hurry as he came in.  The delegates then hold a\ncouncil at which the najo usually is sentenced to a fine--often heavy\nenough to ruin him--and expelled from his village.  Before the British\nrule the convicted najo seldom escaped with his life, and during the\nmutiny time, when no Englishmen were about, the Singbhoom Hos paid off a\nlarge number of old scores of this sort.  For record of which, see\n\"Statistical Account of Bengal,\" vol. xvii. p. 52.\n\nIn conclusion I have merely to add that I have derived this information\nfrom people who have been actually concerned in these occurrences, and\namong others a man belonging to a village of my own, who was convicted\nand expelled from the village with the loss of all his movable property,\nand one of his victims, a relation of his, sat by me when the above was\nbeing written.\n\n--E.D. Ewen\n\n\n\n\nMahatmas and Chelas\n\n\nA Mahatma is an individual who, by special training and education, has\nevolved those higher faculties, and has attained that spiritual\nknowledge, which ordinary humanity will acquire after passing through\nnumberless series of re-incarnations during the process of cosmic\nevolution, provided, of course, that they do not go, in the meanwhile,\nagainst the purposes of Nature and thus bring on their own annihilation.\nThis process of the self-evolution of the MAHATMA extends over a number\nof \"incarnations,\" although, comparatively speaking, they are very few.\nNow, what is it that incarnates?  The occult doctrine, so far as it is\ngiven out, shows that the first three principles die more or less with\nwhat is called the physical death.  The fourth principle, together with\nthe lower portions of the fifth, in which reside the animal\npropensities, has Kama Loka for its abode, where it suffers the throes\nof disintegration in proportion to the intensity of those lower desires;\nwhile it is the higher Manas, the pure man, which is associated with the\nsixth and seventh principles, that goes into Devachan to enjoy there the\neffects of its good Karma, and then to be reincarnated as a higher\npersonality.  Now an entity that is passing through the occult training\nin its successive births, gradually has less and less (in each\nincarnation) of that lower Manas until there arrives a time when its\nwhole Manas, being of an entirely elevated character, is centred in the\nindividuality, when such a person may be said to have become a MAHATMA.\nAt the time of his physical death, all the lower four principles perish\nwithout any suffering, for these are, in fact, to him like a piece of\nwearing apparel which he puts on and off at will.  The real MAHATMA is\nthen not his physical body but that higher Manas which is inseparably\nlinked to the Atma and its vehicle (the sixth principle)--a union\neffected by him in a comparatively very short period by passing through\nthe process of self-evolution laid down by Occult Philosophy.  When\ntherefore, people express a desire to \"see a MAHATMA,\" they really do\nnot seem to understand what it is they ask for.  How can they, with\ntheir physical eyes, hope to see that which transcends that sight?  Is\nit the body--a mere shell or mask--they crave or hunt after?  And\nsupposing they see the body of a MAHATMA, how can they know that behind\nthat mask is concealed an exalted entity?  By what standard are they to\njudge whether the Maya before them reflects the image of a true MAHATMA\nor not?  And who will say that the physical is not a Maya? Higher things\ncan be perceived only by a sense pertaining to those higher things;\nwhoever therefore wants to see the real MAHATMA, must use his\nintellectual sight.  He must so elevate his Manas that its perception\nwill be clear and all mists created by Maya be dispelled.  His vision\nwill then be bright and he will see the MAHATMA wherever he may be, for,\nbeing merged into the sixth and the seventh principles, which know no\ndistance, the MAHATMA may be said to be everywhere.  But, at the same\ntime, just as we may be standing on a mountain top and have within our\nsight the whole plain, and yet not be cognizant of any particular tree\nor spot, because from that elevated position all below is nearly\nidentical, and as our attention may be drawn to something which may be\ndissimilar to its surroundings--in the same manner, although the whole\nof humanity is within the mental vision of the MAHATMA, he cannot be\nexpected to take special note of every human being, unless that being by\nhis special acts draws particular attention to himself.  The highest\ninterest of humanity, as a whole, is the MAHATMA's special concern, for\nhe has identified himself with that Universal Soul which runs through\nHumanity;  and to draw his attention one must do so through that Soul.\nThis perception of the Manas may be called \"faith\" which should not be\nconfounded with blind belief.  \"Blind faith\" is an expression sometimes\nused to indicate belief without perception or understanding;  while the\ntrue perception of the Manas is that enlightened belief which is the\nreal meaning of the word \"faith.\"  This belief should at the same time\nbe accompanied by knowledge, i.e., experience, for \"true knowledge\nbrings with it faith.\"  Faith is the perception of the Manas (the fifth\nprinciple), while knowledge, in the true sense of the term, is the\ncapacity of the Intellect, i.e., it is spiritual perception. In short,\nthe individuality of man, composed of his higher Manas, the sixth and\nthe seventh principle, should work as a unity, and then only can it\nobtain \"divine wisdom,\" for divine things can be sensed only by divine\nfaculties.  Thus a chela should be actuated solely by a desire to\nunderstand the operations of the Law of Cosmic Evolution, so as to be\nable to work in conscious and harmonious accord with Nature.\n\n--Anon.\n\n\n\n\nThe Brahmanical Thread\n\n\nI.  The general term for the investiture of this thread is Upanayana;\nand the invested is called Upanita, which signifies brought or drawn\nnear (to one's Guru), i.e., the thread is the symbol of the wearer's\ncondition.\n\nII.  One of the names of this thread is Yajna-Sutra.  Yajna means\nBrahma, or the Supreme Spirit, and Sutra the thread, or tie.\nCollectively, the compound word signifies that which ties a man to his\nspirit or god.  It consists of three yarns twisted into one thread, and\nthree of such threads formed and knotted into a circle.  Every\nTheosophist knows what a circle signifies and it need not be repeated\nhere.  He will easily understand the rest and the relation they have to\nmystic initiation.  The yarns signify the great principle of \"three in\none, and one in three,\" thus:--The first trinity consists of Atma which\ncomprises the three attributes of Manas, Buddhi, and Ahankara (the mind,\nthe intelligence, and the egotism).  The Manas again, has the three\nqualities of Satva, Raja, and Tama (goodness, foulness, and darkness).\nBuddhi has the three attributes of Pratyaksha, Upamiti and Anumiti\n(perception, analogy, and inference). Ahankara also has three\nattributes, viz., Jnata, Jneya, and Jnan (the knower, the known, and the\nknowledge).\n\nIII.  Another name of the sacred thread is Tri-dandi.  Tri means three,\nand Danda, chastisement, correction, or conquest.  This reminds the\nholder of the three great \"corrections\" or conquests he has to\naccomplish.  These are:--(1) the Vakya Sanyama;*  (2) the Manas Sanyama;\nand (3) the Indriya (or Deha) Sanyama. Vakya is speech, Manas, mind, and\nDeha (literally, body) or Indriya, is the senses.  The three conquests\ntherefore mean the control over one's speech, thought, and action.\n\n--------\n* Danda and Sanyama are synonymous terms.--A.S.\n---------\n\nThis thread is also the reminder to the man of his secular duties,\nand its material varies, in consequence, according to the occupation\nof the wearer.  Thus, while the thread of the Brahmans is made of\npure cotton, that of the Kshatriyas (the warriors) is composed of\nflax--the bow-string material;  and that of Vaishyas (the traders and\ncattle-breeders), of wool.  From this it is not to be inferred that caste\nwas originally meant to be hereditary. In the ancient times, it depended\non the qualities of the man. Irrespective of the caste of his parents, a\nman could, according to his merit or otherwise, raise or lower himself\nfrom one caste to another;  and instances are not wanting in which a man\nhas elevated himself to the position of the highest Brahman (such as\nVishvamitra Rishi, Parasara, Vyasa, Satyakam, and others) from the very\nlowest of the four castes.  The sayings of Yudhishthira on this subject,\nin reply to the questions of the great serpent, in the Arannya Parva of\nthe Maha-Bharata, and of Manu, on the same point, are well known and\nneed nothing more than bare reference.  Both Manu and Maha-Bharata--the\nfulcrums of Hinduism--distinctly affirm that a man can translate\nhimself from one caste to another by his merit, irrespective of his\nparentage.\n\nThe day is fast approaching when the so-called Brahmans will have to\nshow cause, before the tribunal of the Aryan Rishis, why they should not\nbe divested of the thread which they do not at all deserve, but are\ndegrading by misuse.  Then alone will the people appreciate the\nprivilege of wearing it.\n\nThere are many examples of the highest distinctive insignia being worn\nby the unworthy.  The aristocracies of Europe and Asia teem with such.\n\n--A. Sarman\n\n\n\n\nReading in a Sealed Envelope\n\n\nSome years ago, a Brahman astrologer named Vencata Narasimla Josi, a\nnative of the village of Periasamudram in the Mysore Provinces, came to\nthe little town in the Bellary District where I was then employed.  He\nwas a good Sanskrit, Telugu and Canarese poet, and an excellent master\nof Vedic rituals;  knew the Hindu system of astronomy, and professed to\nbe an astrologer.  Besides all this, he possessed the power of reading\nwhat was contained in any sealed envelope.  The process adopted for this\npurpose was simply this:--We wrote whatever we chose on a piece of\npaper; enclosed it in one, two or three envelopes, each properly gummed\nand sealed, and handed the cover to the astrologer.  He asked us to name\na figure between 1 and 9, and on its being named, he retired with the\nenvelope to some secluded place for some time; and then he returned with\na paper full of figures, and another paper containing a copy of what was\non the sealed paper--exactly, letter for letter and word for word.  I\ntried him often and many others did the same;  and we were all satisfied\nthat he was invariably accurate, and that there was no deception\nwhatsoever in the matter.\n\nAbout this time, one Mr. Theyagaraja Mudalyar, a supervisor in the\nPublic Works Department, an English scholar and a good Sanskrit and\nTelugu poet, arrived at our place on his periodical tour of inspection.\nHaving heard about the aforesaid astrologer, he wanted to test him in a\nmanner, most satisfactory to himself. One morning handing to the\nastrologer a very indifferently gummed envelope, he said, \"Here, Sir,\ntake this letter home with you and come back to me with your copy in the\nafternoon.\"  This loose way of closing the envelope, and the permission\ngiven to the astrologer to take it home for several hours, surprised the\nBrahman, who said, \"I don't want to go home.  Seal the cover better, and\ngive me the use of some room here.  I shall be ready with my copy very\nsoon.\"  \"No,\" said the Mudalyar, \"take it as it is, and come back\nwhenever you like.  I have the means of finding out the deception, if\nany be practiced.\"\n\nSo then the astrologer went with the envelope;  and returned to the\nMudalyar's place in the afternoon.  Myself and about twenty others were\npresent there by appointment.  The astrologer then carefully handed the\ncover to the Mudalyar, desiring him to see if it was all right.  \"Don't\nmind that,\" the Mudalyar answered; \"I can find out the trick, if there\nbe any.  Produce your copy.\" The astrologer thereupon presented to the\nMudalyar a paper on which four lines were written and stated that this\nwas a copy of the paper enclosed in the Mudalyar's envelope.  Those four\nlines formed a portion of an antiquated poem.\n\nThe Mudalyar read the paper once, then read it over again. Extreme\nsatisfaction beamed over his countenance, and he sat mute for some\nseconds seemingly in utter astonishment.  But soon after, the expression\nof his face changing, he opened the envelope and threw the enclosure\ndown, jocularly saying to the astrologer, \"Here, Sir, is the original of\nwhich you have produced the copy.\"\n\nThe paper lay upon the carpet, and was quite blank! not a word, nor a\nletter on its clean surface.\n\nThis was a sad disappointment to all his admirers;  but to the\nastrologer himself, it was a real thunderbolt.  He picked up the paper\npensively, examined it on both sides, then dashed it on the ground in a\nfury;  and suddenly arising, exclaimed, \"My Vidya* is a delusion, and I\nam a liar!\"\n\n---------\n* Secret knowledge, magic.\n---------\n\nThe subsequent behaviour of the poor man made us fear lest this great\ndisappointment should drive him to commit some desperate act.  In fact\nhe seemed determined to drown himself in the well, saying that he was\ndishonoured.  While we were trying to console him, the Mudalyar came\nforward, caught hold of his hands, and besought him to sit down and\ncalmly listen to his explanation, assuring him that he was not a liar,\nand that his copy was perfectly accurate.  But the astrologer would not\nbe satisfied; he supposed that all this was said simply to console him;\nand cursed himself and his fate most horribly.  However, in a few\nminutes he became calmer and listened to the Mudalyar's explanation,\nwhich was in substance as follows The only way for the sceptic to\naccount for this phenomenon, is to suppose that the astrologer opened\nthe covers dexterously and read their contents.  \"So,\" he said, \"I wrote\nfour lines of old poetry on the paper with nitrate of silver, which\nwould be invisible until exposed to the light;  and this would have\ndisclosed the astrologer's fraud, if he had tried to find out the\ncontents of the enclosed paper, by opening the cover, however\ningeniously. For, if he opened it and looked at the paper, he would have\nseen that it was blank, resealed the cover, and declared that the paper\nenveloped therein bore no writing whatever;  or if he had, by design or\naccident, exposed the paper to light, the writing would have become\nblack;  and he would have produced a copy of it as if it were the result\nof his own Vidya;  but in either case and the writing remaining, his\ndeception would have been clear, and it would have been patent to all\nthat he did open the envelope.  But in the present case, the result\nproved conclusively that the cover was not opened at all.\"\n\n--P. Sreeneevas Row\n\n\n\n\nThe Twelve Signs of the Zodiac\n\n\nThe division of the Zodiac into different signs dates from immemorial\nantiquity.  It has acquired a world-wide celebrity and is to be found in\nthe astrological systems of several nations. The invention of the Zodiac\nand its signs has been assigned to different nations by different\nantiquarians.  It is stated by some that, at first, there were only ten\nsigns, that one of these signs was subsequently split up into two\nseparate signs, and that a new sign was added to the number to render\nthe esoteric significance of the division more profound, and at the same\ntime to conceal it more perfectly from the uninitiated public.  It is\nvery probable that the real philosophical conception of the division\nowes its origin to some particular nation, and the names given to the\nvarious signs might have been translated into the languages of other\nnations.  The principal object of this article, however, is not to\ndecide which nation had the honour of inventing the signs in question,\nbut to indicate to some extent the real philosophical meaning involved\ntherein, and the way to discover the rest of the meaning which yet\nremains undisclosed. But from what is herein stated, an inference may\nfairly be drawn that, like so many other philosophical myths and\nallegories, the invention of the Zodiac and its signs owes its origin to\nancient India.\n\nWhat then is its real origin, what is the philosophical conception which\nthe Zodiac and its signs are intended to represent?  Do the various\nsigns merely indicate the shape or configuration of the different\nconstellations included in the divisions, or, are they simply masks\ndesigned to veil some hidden meaning?  The former supposition is\naltogether untenable for two reasons, viz.:--\n\nI.  The Hindus were acquainted with the precession of the equinoxes, as\nmay he easily seen from their work on Astronomy, and from the almanacs\npublished by Hindu astronomers.  Consequently they were fully aware of\nthe fact that the constellations in the various Zodiacal divisions were\nnot fixed.  They could not, therefore, have assigned particular shapes\nto these shifting groups of fixed stars with reference to the divisions\nof the Zodiac.  But the names indicating the Zodiacal signs have all\nalong remained unaltered.  It is to be inferred, therefore, that the\nnames given to the various signs have no connection whatever with the\nconfigurations of the constellations included in them.\n\nII. The names assigned to these signs by the ancient Sanskrit writers\nand their exoteric or literal meanings are as follows:--\n\nThe Names of the Signs ....... Their Exoteric or Literal Meanings\n\n1. Mesha ........................... Ram, or Aries.\n2. Rishabha .......................Bull, or Taurus.\n3. Mithunam ................... Twins, or Gemini (male and female).\n4. Karkataka ...................... Crab, or Cancer.\n5. Simha .............................. Lion, or Leo.\n6. Kanya ............................. Virgin or Virgo.*\n7. Tula .......................... Balance, or Libra.\n8. Vrischika ..................... Scorpion, or Scorpio.\n9. Dhanus ....................... Archer, or Sagittarius.\n10. Makara ........... The Goat, or Capricornus (Crocodile, in Sanskrit).\n11. Kumbha .................. Water-bearer, or Aquarius.\n12. Meenam ................. Fishes, or Pisces.\n\nThe figures of the constellations included in the signs at the time the\ndivision was first made do not at all resemble the shapes of the\nanimals, reptiles and other objects denoted by the names given them.\nThe truth of this assertion can be ascertained by examining the\nconfigurations of the various constellations. Unless the shape of the\ncrocodile** or the crab is called up by the observer's imagination,\nthere is very little chance of the stars themselves suggesting to his\nidea that figure, upon the blue canopy of the starry firmament.\n\n--------\n* Virgo-Scorpio, when none but the initiates knew there were twelve\nsigns.  Virgo-Scorpio was then followed for the profane by Sagittarius.\nAt the middle or junction-point where now stands Libra and at the sign\nnow called Virgo, two mystical signs were inserted which remained\nunintelligible to the profane.--Ed. Theos.\n\n** This constellation was never called Crocodile by the ancient Western\nastronomers, who described it as a horned goat and called it so--\nCapricornus.--Ed. Theos.\n--------\n\nIf, then, the constellations have nothing to do with the origin of the\nnames by which the Zodiacal divisions are indicated, we have to seek for\nsome other source which might have given rise to these appellations.  It\nbecomes my object to unravel a portion of the mystery connected with\nthese Zodiacal signs, as also to disclose a portion of the sublime\nconception of the ancient Hindu philosophy which gave rise to them.  The\nsigns of the Zodiac have more than one meaning.  From one point of view\nthey represent the different stages of evolution up to the time the\npresent material universe with the five elements came into phenomenal\nexistence. As the author of \"Isis Unveiled\" has stated in the second\nvolume of her admirable work, \"The key should be turned seven times\" to\nunderstand the whole philosophy underlying these signs.  But I shall\nwind it only once and give the contents of the first chapter of the\nHistory of Evolution.  It is very fortunate that the Sanskrit names\nassigned to the various divisions by Aryan philosophers contain within\nthemselves the key to the solution of the problem.  Those of my readers\nwho have studied to some extent the ancient \"Mantra\" and the \"Tantra\nSastras\" * of India, would have seen that very often Sanskrit words are\nmade to convey a certain hidden meaning by means of well-known\npre-arranged methods and a tacit convention, while their literal\nsignificance is something quite different from the implied meaning.\n\n---------\n* Works on Incantation and Magic.\n---------\n\nThe following are some of the rules which may help an inquirer in\nferreting out the deep significance of ancient Sanskrit nomenclature to\nbe found in the old Aryan myths and allegories:\n\n1. Find out the synonyms of the word used which have other meanings.\n\n2. Find out the numerical value of the letters composing the word\naccording to the methods given in ancient Tantrika works.\n\n3. Examine the ancient myths or allegories, if there are any, which have\nany special connection with the word in question.\n\n4. Permute the different syllables composing the word and examine the\nnew combinations that will thus be formed and their meanings, &c. &c.\n\nI shall now apply some of the above given rules to the names of the\ntwelve signs of the Zodiac.\n\nI. Mesha.--One of the synonyms of this word is Aja.  Now, Aja literally\nmeans that which has no birth, and is applied to the Eternal Brahma in\ncertain portions of the Upanishads. So,  the first sign is intended to\nrepresent Parabrahma, the self-existent, eternal, self-sufficient cause\nof all.\n\nII. Rishabham.--This word is used in several places in the Upanishads\nand the Veda to mean Pranava (Aum).  Sankaracharya has so interpreted it\nin several portions of his commentary.*\n\n--------\n* Example, \"Rishabhasya--Chandasam Rishabhasya Pradhanasya\nPranavasya.\"\n--------\n\nIII. Mithuna.--As the word plainly indicates, this sign is intended to\nrepresent the first androgyne, the Ardhanareeswara, the bisexual\nSephira--Adam Kadmon.\n\nIV. Karkataka.--When the syllables are converted into the corresponding\nnumbers, according to the general mode of transmutation so often alluded\nto in Mantra Shastra, the word in question will be represented by ////.\nThis sign then is evidently intended to represent the sacred Tetragram;\nthe Parabrahmadharaka;  the Pranava resolved into four separate entities\ncorresponding to its four Matras;  the four Avasthas indicated by\nJagrata (waking) Avastha, Swapna (dreaming) Avastha, Sushupti (deep\nsleep) Avastha, and Turiya (the last stage, i.e., Nirvana) Avastha (as\nyet in potentiality);  the four states of Brahma called Vaiswanara,\nTaijasa (or Hiranyagarbha), Pragna, and Iswara, and represented by\nBrahma, Vishna, Maheswara, and Sadasiva;  the four aspects of\nParabrahma, as Sthula (gross), Sukshma (subtle), Vija (seed), and Sakshi\n(witness);  the four stages or conditions of the Sacred Word, named\nPara, Pasyanti, Madhyama and Vaikhari;  Nadam, Bindu, Sakti and Kala.\nThis sign completes the first quaternary.\n\nV. Simha.--This word contains a world of occult meaning within itself;\nand it may not be prudent on my part to disclose the whole of its\nmeaning now.  It will be sufficient for the present purpose to give a\ngeneral indication of its significance.\n\nTwo of its synonymous terms are Panchasyam and Hari, and its number in\nthe order of the Zodiacal divisions (being the fifth sign) points\nclearly to the former synonym.  This synonym--Panchasyam--shows that\nthe sign is intended to represent the five Brahmas--viz., Isanam,\nAghoram, Tatpurusham, Vamadevam, and Sadyojatam:--the five Buddhas.  The\nsecond synonym shows it to be Narayana, the Jivatma or Pratyagatma.  The\nSukarahasy Upanishad will show that the ancient Aryan philosophers\nlooked upon Narayana as the Jivatma.* The Vaishnavites may not admit it.\nBut as an Advaiti, I look upon Jivatma as identical with Paramatma in\nits real essence when stripped of its illusory attributes created by\nAgnanam or Avidya--ignorance.\n\n---------\n* In its lowest or most material state, as the life-principle which\nanimates the material bodies of the animal and vegetable worlds, &c.\n--Ed. Theos.\n---------\n\nThe Jivatma is correctly placed in the fifth sign counting from Mesham,\nas the fifth sign is the putrasthanam or the son's house according to\nthe rules of Hindu Astrology.  The sign in question represents Jivatma--\nthe son of Paramatma as it were.  (I may also add that it represents the\nreal Christ, the anointed pure spirit, though many Christians may frown\nat this interpretation.)*  I will only add here that unless the nature\nof this sign is fully comprehended it will be impossible to understand\nthe real order of the next three signs and their full significance.  The\nelements or entities that have merely a potential existence in this sign\nbecome distinct separate entities in the next three signs.  Their union\ninto a single entity leads to the destruction of the phenomenal\nuniverse, and the recognition of the pure Spirit and their separation\nhas the contrary effect.  It leads to material earth-bound existence and\nbrings into view the picture gallery of Avidya (Ignorance) or Maya\n(Illusion).  If the real orthography of the name by which the sign in\nquestion is indicated is properly understood, it will readily be seen\nthat the next three signs are not what they ought to be.\n\n--------\n* Nevertheless it is a true one.  The Jiv-atma in the Microcosm (man) is\nthe same spiritual essence which animates the Macrocosm (universe), the\ndifferentiation, or specific difference between the two Jivatmas\npresenting itself but in the two states or conditions of the same and\none Force.  Hence, \"this son of Paramatma\" is an eternal correlation of\nthe Father-Cause. Purusha manifesting himself as Brahma of the \"golden\negg\" and becoming Viradja--the universe.  We are \"all born of Aditi from\nthe water\" (Hymns of the Maruts, X. 63, 2), and \"Being was born from\nnot-being\" (Rig-Veda, Mandala I, Sukta 166).--Ed. Theos.\n-----------\n\nKanya or Virgo and Vrischika or Scorpio should form one single sign, and\nThula must follow the said sign if it is at all necessary to have a\nseparate sign of that name.  But a separation between Kanya and\nVrischika was effected by interposing the sign Tula between the two.\nThe object of this separation will be understood on examining the\nmeaning of the three signs.\n\nVI. Kanya.--Means a virgin and represents Sakti or Mahamaya.  The sign\nin question is the sixth Rasi or division, and indicates that there are\nsix primary forces in Nature.  These forces have different sets of names\nin Sanskrit philosophy.  According to one system of nomenclature, they\nare called by the following names*:--(1) Parasakty;  (2) Gnanasakti;\n(3) Itchasakti (will-power); (4) Kriytisakti;  (5) Kundalinisakti;  and\n(6) Matrikasakti.  The six forces are in their unity represented by the\nAstral Light.**\n\n---------\n* Parasakti:--Literally the great or supreme force or power. It means\nand includes the powers of light and heat.\n\nGnanasakti:--Literally the power of intellect or the power of real\nwisdom or knowledge.  It has two aspects.\n\nI. The following are some of its manifestations when placed under the\ninfluence or control of material conditions.\n\n(a) The power of the mind in interpreting our sensations;  (b) Its power\nin recalling past ideas (memory) and raising future expectation;  (c)\nIts power as exhibited in what are called by modern psychologists \"the\nlaws of association,\" which enables it to form persisting connections\nbetween various groups of sensations and possibilities of sensations,\nand thus generate the notion or idea of an external object;  (d) Its\npower in connecting our ideas together by the mysterious link of memory,\nand thus generating the notion of self or individuality.\n\nII. The following are some of its manifestations when liberated from the\nbonds of matter:--\n\n(a) Clairvoyance.  (b) Pyschometry.\n\nItchasakti:--Literally the power of the will.  Its most ordinary\nmanifestation is the generation of certain nerve currents which set in\nmotion such muscles as are required for the accomplishment of the\ndesired object.\n\nKriyasakti:--The mysterious power of thought which enables it to produce\nexternal, perceptible, phenomenal results by its own inherent energy.\nThe ancients held that any idea will manifest itself externally if one's\nattention is deeply concentrated upon it.  Similarly an intense volition\nwill be followed by the desired result.\n\nA Yogi generally performs his wonders by means of Itchasakti and\nKriyasakti.\n\nKundalinisakti:--Literally the power or force which moves in a\nserpentine or curved path.  It is the universal life-principle which\neverywhere manifests itself in Nature.  This force includes in itself\nthe two great forces of attraction and repulsion. Electricity and\nmagnetism are but manifestations of it.  This is the power or force\nwhich brings about that \"continuous adjustment of internal relations to\nexternal relations\" which is the essence of life according to Herbert\nSpencer, and that \"continuous adjustment of external relations to\ninternal relations\" which is the basis of transmigration of souls or\npunarjanmam (re-birth) according to the doctrines of the ancient Hindu\nphilosophers.\n\nA Yogi must thoroughly subjugate this power or force before he can\nattain moksham.  This force is, in fact, the great serpent of the Bible.\n\nMatrikasakti:--Literally the force or power of letters or speech or\nmusic.  The whole of the ancient Mantra Shastra has this force or power\nin all its manifestations for its subject-matter.  The power of The Word\nwhich Jesus Christ speaks of is a manifestation of this Sakti.  The\ninfluence of its music is one of its ordinary manifestations.  The power\nof the mirific ineffable name is the crown of this Sakti.\n\nModern science has but partly investigated the first, second and fifth\nof the forces or powers above named, but it is altogether in the dark as\nregards the remaining powers.\n\n** Even the very name of Kanya (Virgin) shows how all the ancient\nesoteric systems agreed in all their fundamental doctrines.  The\nKabalists and the Hermetic philosophers call the Astral Light the\n\"heavenly or celestial Virgin.\"  The Astral Light in its unity is the\n7th.  Hence the seven principles diffused in every unity or the 6 and\none--two triangles and a crown.--Ed. Theos.\n-----------\n\nVII. Tula.--When represented by numbers according to the method above\nalluded to, this word will be converted into 36.  This sign, therefore,\nis evidently intended to represent the 36 Tatwams.  (The number of\nTatwams is different according to the views of different philosophers\nbut by Sakteyas generally and by several of the ancient Rishis, such as\nAgastya, Dvrasa and Parasurama, &c., the number of Tatwams has been\nstated to be 36). Jivatma differs from Paramatma, or to state the same\nthing in other words, \"Baddha\" differs from \"Mukta\" * in being encased\nas it were within these 36 Tatwams, while the other is free.  This sign\nprepares the way to earthly Adam to Nara.  As the emblem of Nara it is\nproperly placed as the seventh sign.\n\n---------\n* As the Infinite differs from the Finite and the Unconditioned\nfrom the Conditioned.--Ed. Theos.\n---------\n\nVIII. Vrischika.--It is stated by ancient philosophers that the sun when\nlocated in this Rasi or sign is called by the name of Vishnu (see the\n12th Skandha of Bhagavata).  This sign is intended to represent Vishnu.\nVishnu literally means that which is expanded--expanded as Viswam or\nUniverse.  Properly speaking, Viswam itself is Vishnu (see\nSankaracharya's commentary on Vishnusahasranamam).  I have already\nintimated that Vishnu represents the Swapnavastha or the Dreaming State.\nThe sign in question properly signifies the universe in thought or the\nuniverse in the divine conception.\n\nIt is properly placed as the sign opposite to Rishabham or Pranava.\nAnalysis from Pranava downwards leads to the Universe of Thought, and\nsynthesis from the latter upwards leads to Pranava (Aum).  We have now\narrived at the ideal state of the universe previous to its coming into\nmaterial existence.  The expansion of the Vija or primitive germ into\nthe universe is only possible when the 36 \"Tatwams\" * are interposed\nbetween the Maya and Jivatma.  The dreaming state is induced through the\ninstrumentality of these \"Tatwams.\"  It is the existence of these\nTatwams that brings Hamsa into existence.  The elimination of these\nTatwams marks the beginning of the synthesis towards Pranava and Brahmam\nand converts Hamsa into Soham.  As it is intended to represent the\ndifferent stages of evolution from Brahmam downwards to the material\nuniverse, the three signs Kanya, Tula, and Vrischika are placed in the\norder in which they now stand as three separate signs.\n\nIX. Dhanus (Sagittarius).--When represented in numbers the name is\nequivalent to 9, and the division in question is the 9th division\ncounting from Mesha.  The sign, therefore, clearly indicates the 9\nBrahmas--the 9 Parajapatis who assisted the Demiurgus in constructing\nthe material universe.\n\nX. Makara.--There is some difficulty in interpreting this word;\nnevertheless it contains within itself the clue to its correct\ninterpretation.  The letter Ma is equivalent to number 5, and Kara means\nhand.  Now in Sanskrit Thribhujam means a triangle, bhujam or karam\n(both are synonymous) being understood to mean a side.  So, Makaram or\nPanchakaram means a Pentagon.**\n\n----------\n* 36 is three times 12, or 9 Tetraktis, or 12 Triads, the most sacred\nnumber in the Kabalistic and Pythagorean numerals.--Ed. Theos.\n\n** The five-pointed star or pentagram represented the five limbs of\nman.--Ed. Theos.\n----------\n\nNow, Makaram is the tenth sign, and the term \"Dasadisa\" is generally\nused by Sanskrit writers to denote the faces or sides of the universe.\nThe sign in question is intended to represent the faces of the universe,\nand indicates that the figure of the universe is bounded by Pentagons.\nIf we take the pentagons as regular pentagons (on the presumption or\nsupposition that the universe is symmetrically constructed) the figure\nof the material universe will, of course, be a Dodecahedron, the\ngeometrical model imitated by the Demiurgus in constructing the material\nuniverse.  If Tula was subsequently invented, and if instead of the\nthree signs \"Kanya,\" \"Tula,\" and \"Vrischikam,\" there had existed\nformerly only one sign combining in itself Kanya and Vrischika, the sign\nnow under consideration was the eighth sign under the old system, and it\nis a significant fact that Sanskrit writers generally speak also of\n\"Ashtadisa\" or eight faces bounding space.  It is quite possible that\nthe number of disa might have been altered from 8 to 10 when the\nformerly existing Virgo-Scorpio was split up into three separate signs.\n\nAgain, Kara may be taken to represent the projecting triangles of the\nfive-pointed star.  This figure may also be called a kind of regular\npentagon (see Todhunter's \"Spherical Trigonometry,\" p. 143).  If this\ninterpretation is accepted, the Rasi or sign in question represents the\n\"microcosm.\"  But the \"microcosm\" or the world of thought is really\nrepresented by Vrischika.  From an objective point of view the\n\"microcosm\" is represented by the human body. Makaram may be taken to\nrepresent simultaneously both the microcosm and the macrocosm, as\nexternal objects of perception.\n\nIn connection with this sign I shall state a few important facts which I\nbeg to submit for the consideration of those who are interested in\nexamining the ancient occult sciences of India.  It is generally held by\nthe ancient philosophers that the macrocosm is similar to the microcosm\nin having a Sthula Sariram and a Suksma Sariram.   The visible universe\nis the Sthula Sariram of Viswam;  the ancient philosophers held that as\na substratum for this visible universe, there is another universe--\nperhaps we may call it the universe of Astral Light--the real universe\nof Noumena, the soul as it were of this visible universe.  It is darkly\nhinted in certain passages of the Veda and the Upanishads that this\nhidden universe of Astral Light is to be represented by an Icosahedron.\nThe connection between an Icosahedron and a Dodecahedron is something\nvery peculiar and interesting, though the figures seem to be so very\ndissimilar to each other.  The connection may be understood by the\nunder-mentioned geometrical construction.  Describe a Sphere about an\nIcosahedron;  let perpendiculars be drawn from the centre of the Sphere\non its faces and produced to meet the surface of the Sphere.  Now, if\nthe points of intersection be joined, a Dodecahedron is formed within\nthe Sphere.  By a similar process an Icosahedron may be constructed from\na Dodecahedron.  (See Todhunter's \"Spherical Trigonometry,\" p. 141, art.\n193).  The figure constructed as above described will represent the\nuniverse of matter and the universe of Astral Light as they actually\nexist.  I shall not now, however, proceed to show how the universe of\nAstral Light may be considered under the symbol of an Icosahedron.  I\nshall only state that this conception of the Aryan philosophers is not\nto be looked upon as mere \"theological twaddle\" or as the outcome of\nwild fancy.  The real significance of the conception in question can, I\nbelieve, be explained by reference to the psychology and the physical\nscience of the ancients.  But I must stop here and proceed to consider\nthe meaning of the remaining two signs.\n\nXI. Kumbha (or Aquarius).--When represented by numbers, the word is\nequivalent to 14.  It can be easily perceived then that the division in\nquestion is intended to represent the \"Chaturdasa Bhuvanam,\" or the 14\nlokas spoken of in Sanskrit writings.\n\nXII. Mina (or Pisces).--This word again is represented by 5 when written\nin numbers, and is evidently intended to convey the idea of\nPanchamahabhutams or the 5 elements.  The sign also suggests that water\n(not the ordinary water, but the universal solvent of the ancient\nalchemists) is the most important amongst the said elements.\n\nI have now finished the task which I have set to myself in this article.\nMy purpose is not to explain the ancient theory of evolution itself, but\nto show the connection between that theory and the Zodiacal divisions.\nI have herein brought to light but a very small portion of the\nphilosophy imbedded in these signs. The veil that was dexterously thrown\nover certain portions of the mystery connected with these signs by the\nancient philosophers will never be lifted up for the amusement or\nedification of the uninitiated public.\n\nNow to summarize the facts stated in this article, the contents of the\nfirst chapter of the history of this universe are as follows:\n\n1.  The self-existent, eternal Brahmam.\n\n2.  Pranava (Aum).\n\n3.  The androgyne Brahma, or the bisexual Sephira-Adam Kadmon.\n\n4.  The Sacred Tetragram--the four matras of Pranava--the four\n    avasthas--the four states of Brahma--the Sacred Dharaka.\n\n5.  The five Brahmas--the five Buddhas representing in their totality\n    the Jivatma.\n\n6.  The Astral Light--the holy Virgin--the six forces in Nature.\n\n7.  The thirty-six Tatwams born of Avidya.\n\n8.  The universe in thought--the Swapna Avastha--the microcosm looked at\n    from a subjective point of view.\n\n9.  The nine Prajapatis--the assistants of the Demiurgus.*\n\n10.  The shape of the material universe in the mind of the Demiurgus--\n     the DODECAHEDRON.\n\n11.  The fourteen lokas.\n\n12.  The five elements.\n\n--------\n* The nine Kabalistic Sephiroths emanated from Sephira the 10th and the\nhead Sephiroth are identical.  Three trinities or triads with their\nemanative principle form the Pythagorean mystic Decad, the sum of all\nwhich represents the whole Kosmos.--Ed. Theos.\n--------\n\nThe history of creation and of this world from its beginning up to the\npresent time is composed of seven chapters.  The seventh chapter is not\nyet completed.\n\n--T. Subba Row\nTriplicane, Madras, September 14, 1881\n\n\n\n\nThe Sishal and Bhukailas Yogis\n\nWe are indebted to the kindness of the learned President of the Adi\nBrahmo Samaji for the following accounts of two Yogis, of whom one\nperformed the extraordinary feats of raising his body by will power, and\nkeeping it suspended in the air without visible support.  The Yoga\nposture for meditation or concentration of the mind upon spiritual\nthings is called Asana.  There are various of these modes of sitting,\nsuch as Padmasan, &c. &c.  Babu Rajnarain Bose translated this narrative\nfrom a very old number of the Tatwabodhini Patrika, the Calcutta organ\nof the Brahmo Samaj. The writer was Babu Akkhaya Kumar Dalta, then\neditor of the Patrika, of whom Babu Rajnarain speaks in the following\nhigh terms--\"A very truth-loving and painstaking man;  very fond of\nobserving strict accuracy in the details of a description.\"\n\nSishal Yogi\n\nA few years ago, a Deccan Yogi, named Sishal, was seen at Madras, by\nmany Hindus and Englishmen, to raise his Asana, or seat, up into the\nair.  The picture of the Yogi, showing his mode of seating, and other\nparticulars connected with him, may be found in the Saturday Magazine on\npage 28.\n\nHis whole body seated in air, only his right hand lightly touched a deer\nskin, rolled up in the form of a tube, and attached to a brazen rod\nwhich was firmly stuck into a wooden board resting on four legs.  In\nthis position the Yogi used to perform his japa (mystical meditation),\nwith his eyes half shut.  At the time of his ascending to his aerial\nseat, and also when he descended from it, his disciples used to cover\nhim with a blanket.  The Tatwabodhini Patrika, Chaitra, 1768 Sakabda,\ncorresponding to March 1847.\n\n\nThe Bhukailas Yogi\n\nThe extraordinary character of the holy man who was brought to\nBhukailas, in Kidderpore, about 14 years ago, may still be remembered by\nmany.  In the month of Asar, 1754 Sakabda (1834 A.C.), he was brought to\nBhukailas from Shirpur, where he was under the charge of Hari Singh, the\ndurwan (porter) of Mr. Jones. He kept his eyes closed, and went without\nfood and drink, for three consecutive days, after which a small quantity\nof milk was forcibly poured down his throat.  He never took any food\nthat was not forced upon him.  He seemed always without external\nconsciousness.  To remove this condition Dr. Graham applied ammonia to\nhis nostrils;  but it only produced tremblings in the body, and did not\nbreak his Yoga state.  Three days passed before he could be made to\nspeak.  He said that his name was Dulla Nabab, and when annoyed, he\nuttered a single word, from which it was inferred that he was a Punjabi.\nWhen he was laid up with gout Dr. Graham attended him, but he refused to\ntake medicine, either in the form of powder or mixture.  He was cured of\nthe disease only by the application of ointments and liniments\nprescribed by the doctor.  He died in the month of Chaitra 1755 Sakabda,\nof a choleric affection.*--The Tatwabodhini Patrika, Chaitra, 1768\nSakabda, corresponding to March, 1847 A.C.\n\n--------\n* The above particulars of this holy man have been obtained on\nunexceptionable testimony.--Ed. T.B.P.\n--------------------\n\n\nPHILOSOPHICAL\n\n\n\nTrue and False Personality\n\n\nThe title prefixed to the following observations may well have suggested\na more metaphysical treatment of the subject than can be attempted on\nthe present occasion.  The doctrine of the trinity, or trichotomy of\nman, which distinguishes soul from spirit, comes to us with such\nweighty, venerable, and even sacred authority, that we may well be\ncontent, for the moment, with confirmations that should be intelligible\nto all, forbearing the abstruser questions which have divided minds of\nthe highest philosophical capacity.  We will not now inquire whether the\ndifference is one of states or of entities;  whether the phenomenal or\nmind consciousness is merely the external condition of one indivisible\nEgo, or has its origin and nature in an altogether different principle;\nthe Spirit, or immortal part of us, being of Divine birth, while the\nsenses and understanding, with the consciousness--Ahankara--thereto\nappertaining, are from an Anima Mundi, or what in the Sankhya philosophy\nis called Prakriti.  My utmost expectations will have been exceeded if\nit should happen that any considerations here offered should throw even\na faint suggestive light upon the bearings of this great problem.  It\nmay be that the mere irreconcilability of all that is characteristic of\nthe temporal Ego with the conditions of the superior life--if that can\nbe made apparent--will incline you to regard the latter rather as the\nRedeemer, that has indeed to be born within us for our salvation and our\nimmortality, than as the inmost, central, and inseparable principle of\nour phenomenal life.  It may be that by the light of such reflections\nthe sense of identity will present no insuperable difficulty to the\nconception of its contingency, or to the recognition that the mere\nconsciousness which fails to attach itself to a higher principle is no\nguarantee of an eternal individuality.\n\nIt is only by a survey of individuality, regarded as the source of all\nour affections, thoughts, and actions, that we can realize its intrinsic\nworthlessness;  and only when we have brought ourselves to a real and\nfelt acknowledgment of that fact, can we accept with full understanding\nthose \"hard sayings\" of sacred authority which bid us \"die to\nourselves,\" and which proclaim the necessity of a veritable new birth.\nThis mystic death and birth is the key-note of all profound religious\nteaching;  and that which distinguishes the ordinary religious mind from\nspiritual insight is just the tendency to interpret these expressions as\nmerely figurative, or, indeed, to overlook them altogether.\n\nOf all the reproaches which modern Spiritualism, with the prospect it is\nthought to hold out of an individual temporal immortality, has had to\nencounter, there is none that we can less afford to neglect than that\nwhich represents it as an ideal essentially egotistical and borne.  True\nit is that our critics do us injustice through ignorance of the enlarged\nviews as to the progress of the soul in which the speculations of\nindividual Spiritualists coincide with many remarkable spirit teachings.\nThese are, undoubtedly, a great advance upon popular theological\nopinions, while some of them go far to satisfy the claim of Spiritualism\nto be regarded as a religion.  Nevertheless, that slight estimate of\nindividuality, as we know it, which in one view too easily allies itself\nto materialism, is also the attitude of spiritual idealism, and is\nseemingly at variance with the excessive value placed by Spiritualists\non the discovery of our mere psychic survival.  The idealist may\nrecognise this survival;  but, whether he does so or not, he occupies a\npost of vantage when he tells us that it is of no ultimate importance.\nFor he, like the Spiritualist who proclaims his \"proof palpable of\nimmortality,\" is thinking of the mere temporal, self-regarding\nconsciousness--its sensibilities, desires, gratifications, and\naffections--which are unimportant absolutely, that is to say, their\nimportance is relative solely to the individual.  There is, indeed, no\nmore characteristic outbirth of materialism than that which makes a\nteleological centre of the individual.  Ideas have become mere\nabstractions;  the only reality is the infinitely little.  Thus\nutilitarianism can see in the State only a collection of individuals\nwhose \"greatest happiness,\" mutually limited by nice adjustment to the\nrequirements of \"the greatest numbers,\" becomes the supreme end of\ngovernment and law.  And it cannot, I think, be pretended that\nSpiritualists in general have advanced beyond this substitution of a\nrelative for an absolute standard.  Their \"glad tidings of great joy\"\nare not truly religious.  They have regard to the perpetuation in time\nof that lower consciousness whose manifestations, delights, and activity\nare in time, and of time alone.  Their glorious message is not\nessentially different from that which we can conceive as brought to us\nby some great alchemist, who had discovered the secret of conferring\nupon us and upon our friends a mundane perpetuity of youth and health.\nIts highest religious claim is that it enlarges the horizon of our\nopportunities.  As such, then, let us hail it with gratitude and relief;\nbut, on peril of our salvation, if I may not say of our immortality, let\nus not repose upon a prospect which is, at best, one of renewed labours,\nand trials, and efforts to be free even of that very life whose only\nvalue is opportunity.\n\nTo estimate the value of individuality, we cannot do better than regard\nman in his several mundane relations, supposing that either of these\nmight become the central, actuating focus of his being--his \"ruling\nlove,\" as Swedenborg would call it--displacing his mere egoism, or\nself-love, thrusting that more to the circumference, and identifying\nhim, so to speak, with that circle of interests to which all his\nenergies and affections relate. Outside this substituted Ego we are to\nsuppose that he has no conscience, no desire, no will.  Just as the\nentirely selfish man views the whole of life, so far as it can really\ninterest him solely in relation to his individual well-being, so our\nsupposed man of a family, of a society, of a Church, or a State, has no\neye for any truth or any interest more abstract or more individual than\nthat of which he may be rightly termed the incarnation.  History shows\napproximations to this ideal man. Such a one, for instance, I conceive\nto have been Loyola;  such another, possibly, is Bismarck.  Now these\nmen have ceased to be individuals in their own eyes, so far as concerns\nany value attaching to their own special individualities.  They are\ndevotees.  A certain \"conversion\" has been effected, by which from mere\nindividuals they have become \"representative\" men.  And we--the\nindividuals--esteem them precisely in proportion to the remoteness from\nindividualism of the spirit that actuates them. As the circle of\ninterests to which they are \"devoted\" enlarges--that is to say, as the\ndross of individualism is purged away--we accord them indulgence,\nrespect, admiration and love. From self to the family, from the family\nto the sect or society, from the sect or society to the Church (in no\ndenominational sense) and State, there is the ascending scale and\nwidening circle, the successive transitions which make the worth of an\nindividual depend on the more or less complete subversion of his\nindividuality by a more comprehensive soul or spirit.  The very modesty\nwhich suppresses, as far as possible, the personal pronoun in our\naddresses to others, testifies to our sense that we are hiding away some\nutterly insignificant and unworthy thing; a thing that has no business\neven to be, except in that utter privacy which is rather a sleep and a\nrest than living.  Well, but in the above instances, even those most\nremote from sordid individuality, we have fallen far short of that ideal\nin which the very conception of the partial, the atomic, is lost in the\nabstraction of universal being, transfigured in the glory of a Divine\npersonality.  You are familiar with Swedenborg's distinction between\ndiscrete and continuous degrees. Hitherto we have seen how man--the\nindividual--may rise continuously by throwing himself heart and soul\ninto the living interests of the world, and lose his own limitations by\nadoption of a larger mundane spirit. But still he has but ascended\nnearer to his own mundane source, that soul of the world, or Prakriti,\nto which, if I must not too literally insist on it, I may still resort\nas a convenient figure.  To transcend it, he must advance by the\ndiscrete degree.  No simple \"bettering\" of the ordinary self, which\nleaves it alive, as the focus--the French word \"foyer\" is the more\nexpressive--of his thoughts and actions;  not even that identification\nwith higher interests in the world's plane just spoken of, is, or can\nprogressively become, in the least adequate to the realization of his\nDivine ideal.  This \"bettering\" of our present nature, it alone being\nrecognized as essential, albeit capable of \"improvement,\" is a\ncommonplace, and to use a now familiar term a \"Philistine,\" conception.\nIt is the substitution of the continuous for the discrete degree.  It is\na compromise with our dear old familiar selves.  \"And Saul and the\npeople spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of\nthe fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not\nutterly destroy them;  but everything that was vile and refuse, that\nthey destroyed utterly.\"  We know how little acceptable that compromise\nwas to the God of Israel;  and no illustration can be more apt than this\nnarrative, which we may well, as we would fain, believe to be rather\ntypical than historical.  Typical of that indiscriminate and radical\nsacrifice, or \"vastation,\" of our lower nature, which is insisted upon\nas the one thing needful by all, or nearly all,* the great religions of\nthe world.  No language could seem more purposely chosen to indicate\nthat it is the individual nature itself, and not merely its accidental\nevils, that has to be abandoned and annihilated.  It is not denied that\nwhat was spared was good;  there is no suggestion of a universal\ninfection of physical or moral evil;  it is simply that what is good and\nuseful relatively to a lower state of being must perish with it if the\nlatter is to make way for something better.  And the illustration is the\nmore suitable in that the purpose of this paper is not ethical, but\npoints to a metaphysical conclusion, though without any attempt at\nmetaphysical exposition.  There is no question here of moral\ndistinctions; they are neither denied nor affirmed.  According to the\nhighest moral standard, 'A' may be a most virtuous and estimable person.\nAccording to the lowest, 'B' may be exactly the reverse.  The moral\ninterval between the two is within what I have called, following\nSwedenborg, the \"continuous degree.\"  And perhaps the distinction can be\nstill better expressed by another reference to that Book which we\ntheosophical students do not less regard, because we are disposed to\nprotest against all exclusive pretensions of religious systems.\n\n--------\n* Of the higher religious teachings of Mohammedanism I know next to\nnothing, and therefore cannot say if it should be excepted from the\nstatement.\n--------\n\nThe good man who has, however, not yet attained his \"son-ship of God\" is\n\"under the law\"--that moral law which is educational and preparatory,\n\"the schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ,\" our own Divine spirit, or\nhigher personality.  To conceive the difference between these two states\nis to apprehend exactly what is here meant by the false, temporal, and\nthe true, eternal personality, and the sense in which the word\npersonality is here intended to be understood.  We do not know whether,\nwhen that great change has come over us, when that great work* of our\nlives has been accomplished--here or hereafter--we shall or shall not\nretain a sense of identity with our past, and forever discarded selves.\nIn philosophical parlance, the \"matter\" will have gone, and the very\n\"form\" will have been changed.  Our transcendental identity with the 'A'\nor 'B' that now is** must depend on that question, already disclaimed in\nthis paper, whether the Divine spirit is our originally central\nessential being, or is an hypostasis. Now, being \"under the law\" implies\nthat we do not act directly from our own will, but indirectly, that is,\nin willing obedience to another will.\n\n--------\n* The \"great work,\" so often mentioned by the hermetic philosophers, and\nwhich is exactly typified by the operation of alchemy, the conversion of\nthe base metals to gold, is now well understood to refer to the\nanalogous spiritual conversion.  There is also good reason to believe\nthat the material process was a real one.\n\n** \"A person may have won his immortal life, and remained the same inner\nself he was on earth, through eternity;  but this does not imply\nnecessarily that he must either remain the Mr. Smith or Brown he was on\nearth, or lose his individuality.\"--Isis Unveiled, vol. 1. p. 316.\n----------\n\nThe will from which we should naturally act--our own will--is of course\nto be understood not as mere volition, but as our nature--our \"ruling\nlove,\" which makes such and such things agreeable to us, and others the\nreverse.  As \"under the law,\" this nature is kept in suspension, and\nbecause it is suspended only as to its activity and manifestation, and\nby no means abrogated, is the law--the substitution of a foreign will--\nnecessary for us.  Our own will or nature is still central;  that which\nwe obey by effort and resistance to ourselves is more circumferential or\nhypostatic.  Constancy in this obedience and resistance tends to draw\nthe circumferential will more and more to the centre, till there ensues\nthat \"explosion,\" as St. Martin called it, by which our natural will is\nfor ever dispersed and annihilated by contact with the divine, and the\nlatter henceforth becomes our very own. Thus has \"the schoolmaster\"\nbrought us unto \"Christ,\" and if by \"Christ\" we understand no\nhistorically divine individual, but the logos, word, or manifestation of\nGod in us--then we have, I believe, the essential truth that was taught\nin the Vedanta, by Kapila, by Buddha, by Confucius, by Plato, and by\nJesus.  There is another presentation of possibly the same truth, for a\nreference to which I am indebted to our brother J.W. Farquhar. It is\nfrom Swedenborg, in the \"Apocalypse Explained,\" No. 57:--\"Every man has\nan inferior or exterior mind, and a mind superior or interior.  These\ntwo minds are altogether distinct.  By the inferior mind man is in the\nnatural world together with men there;  but by the superior mind he is\nin the spiritual world with the angels there.  These two minds are so\ndistinct that man so long as he lives in the world does not know what is\nperforming within himself in his superior mind;  but when he becomes a\nspirit, which is immediately after death, he does not know what is\nperforming in his mind.\"  The consciousness of the \"superior mind,\" as\nthe result of mere separation from the earthly body, certainly does not\nsuggest that sublime condition which implies separation from so much\nmore than the outer garment of flesh, but otherwise the distinction\nbetween the two lives, or minds, seems to correspond with that now under\nconsideration.\n\nWhat is it that strikes us especially about this substitution of the\ndivine-human for the human-natural personality?  Is it not the loss of\nindividualism?  (Individualism, pray observe, not individuality.)  There\nare certain sayings of Jesus which have probably offended many in their\nhearts, though they may not have dared to acknowledge such a feeling to\nthemselves:  \"Woman, what have I to do with thee?\" and those other\ndisclaimers of special ties and relationships which mar the perfect\nsympathy of our reverence.  There is something awful and\nincomprehensible to us in this repudiation of individualism, even in its\nmost amiable relations.  But it is in the Aryan philosophies that we see\nthis negation of all that we associate with individual life most\nemphatically and explicitly insisted on.  It is, indeed, the\nimpossibility of otherwise than thus negatively characterizing the soul\nthat has attained Moksha (deliverance from bonds) which has caused the\nHindu consummation to be regarded as the loss of individuality and\nconscious existence.  It is just because we cannot easily dissociate\nindividuality from individualism that we turn from the sublime\nconception of primitive philosophy as from what concerns us as little as\nthe ceaseless activity and germination in other brains of thought once\nthrown off and severed from the thinking source, which is the\nimmortality promised by Mr. Frederick Harrison to the select specimens\nof humanity whose thoughts have any reproductive power.  It is not a\nmere preference of nothingness, or unconscious absorption, to limitation\nthat inspires the intense yearning of the Hindu mind for Nirvana.  Even\nin the Upanishads there are many evidences of a contrary belief, while\nin the Sankhya the aphorisms of Kapila unmistakably vindicate the\nindividuality of soul (spirit). Individual consciousness is maintained,\nperhaps infinitely intensified, but its \"matter\" is no longer personal.\nOnly try to realize what \"freedom from desire,\" the favourite phrase in\nwhich individualism is negated in these systems, implies.  Even in that\nform of devotion which consists in action, the soul is warned in the\nBhagavad-Gita that it must be indifferent to results.\n\nModern Spiritualism itself testifies to something of the same sort.\nThus we are told by one of its most gifted and experienced champions,\n\"Sometimes the evidence will come from an impersonal source, from some\ninstructor who has passed through the plane on which individuality is\ndemonstrable.\" (M.A. (Oxon.), \"Spirit Identity,\" p. 7.)  Again, \"And if\nhe\" (the investigator) \"penetrates far enough, he will find himself in a\nregion for which his present embodied state unfits him:  a region in\nwhich the very individuality is merged, and the highest and subtlest\ntruths are not locked within one breast, but emanate from representative\ncompanies whose spheres of life are interblended.\" (Id., p. 15.)  By\nthis \"interblending\" is of course meant only a perfect sympathy and\ncommunity of thought;  and I should doubtless misrepresent the author\nquoted were I to claim an entire identity of the idea he wishes to\nconvey, and that now under consideration.  Yet what, after all, is\nsympathy but the loosening of that hard \"astringent\" quality (to use\nBohme's phrase) wherein individualism consists?  And just as in true\nsympathy, the partial suppression of individualism and of what is\ndistinctive, we experience a superior delight and intensity of being, so\nit may be that in parting with all that shuts us up in the spiritual\npenthouse of an Ego--all, without exception or reserve--we may for the\nfirst time know what true life is, and what are its ineffable\nprivileges.  Yet it is not on this ground that acceptance can be hoped\nfor the conception of immortality here crudely and vaguely presented ill\ncontrast to that bourgeois eternity of individualism and the family\naffections, which is probably the great charm of Spiritualism to the\nmajority of its proselytes.  It is doubtful whether the things that \"eye\nhath not seen, nor ear heard,\" have ever taken stronghold of the\nimagination, or reconciled it to the loss of all that is definitely\nassociated with the Joy and movement of living.  Not as consummate bliss\ncan the dweller on the lower plane presume to command that transcendent\nlife.  At the utmost he can but echo the revelation that came to the\ntroubled mind in \"Sartor Resartus,\" \"A man may do without happiness, and\ninstead thereof find blessedness.\"  It is no sublimation of hope, but\nthe necessities of thought that compel us to seek the condition of true\nbeing and immortality elsewhere than in the satisfactions of\nindividualism.  True personality can only subsist in consciousness by\nparticipation of that of which we can only say that it is the very\nnegation of individuality in any sense in which individuality can be\nconceived by us.  What is the content or \"matter\" of consciousness we\ncannot define, save by vaguely calling it ideal.  But we can say that in\nthat region individual interests and concerns will find no place.  Nay,\nmore, we can affirm that only then has the influx of the new life a free\nchannel when the obstructions of individualism are already removed.\nHence the necessity of the mystic death, which is as truly a death as\nthat which restores our physical body to the elements.  \"Neither I am,\nnor is aught mine, nor do I exist,\" a passage which has been well\nexplained by a Hindu Theosophist (Peary Chand Mittra), as meaning \"that\nwhen the spiritual state is arrived at, I and mine, which belong to the\nfinite mind, cease, and the soul, living in the universum and\nparticipating in infinity with God, manifests its infinite state.\"  I\ncannot refrain from quoting the following passage from the same\ninstructive writer:--\n\nEvery human being has a soul which, while not separable from the brain\nor nerves, is mind or jivatma, or sentient soul, but when regenerated or\nspiritualized by yoga, it is free from bondage and manifests the divine\nessence.  It rises above all phenomenal states--joy, sorrow, grief,\nfear, hope, and in fact all states resulting in pain or pleasure, and\nbecomes blissful, realizing immortality, infinitude and felicity of\nwisdom within itself. The sentient soul is nervous, sensational,\nemotional, phenomenal, and impressional.  It constitutes the natural\nlife and is finite. The soul and the non-soul are thus the two\nlandmarks.  What is non-soul is prakriti, or created.  It is not the lot\nof every one to know what soul is, and therefore millions live and die\npossessing minds cultivated in intellect and feeling, but not raised to\nthe soul state.  In proportion as one's soul is emancipated from\nprakriti or sensuous bondage, in that proportion his approximation to\nthe soul state is attained;  and it is this that constitutes disparities\nin the intellectual, moral, and religious culture of human beings and\ntheir consequent approximation to God.--Spiritual Stray Leaves,\nCalcutta, 1879.\n\nHe also cites some words of Fichte, which prove that the like conclusion\nis reached in the philosophy of Western idealism: \"The real spirit which\ncomes to itself in human consciousness is to be regarded as an\nimpersonal pneuma--universal reason, nay, as the spirit of God Himself;\nand the good of man's whole development, therefore, can be no other than\nto substitute the universal for the individual consciousness.\"\n\nThat there may be, and are affirmed to be, intermediate stages, states,\nor discrete degrees, will, of course, be understood.  The aim of this\npaper has been to call attention to the abstract condition of the\nimmortalized consciousness;  negatively it is true, but it is on this\nvery account more suggestive of practical applications.  The connection\nof the Theosophical Society with the Spiritualist movement is so\nintimately sympathetic, that I hope one of these may he pointed out\nwithout offence.  It is that immortality cannot be phenomenally\ndemonstrated.  What I have called psychic survival can be, and probably\nis.  But immortality is the attainment of a state, and that state the\nvery negation of phenomenal existence.  Another consequence refers to\nthe direction our culture should take.  We have to compose ourselves to\ndeath.  Nothing less.  We are each of us a complex of desires, passions,\ninterests, modes of thinking and feeling, opinions, prejudices, judgment\nof others, likings and dislikings, affections, aims public and private.\nThese things, and whatever else constitutes, the recognizable content of\nour present temporal individuality, are all in derogation of our ideal\nof impersonal being--saving consciousness, the manifestation of being.\nIn some minute, imperfect, relative, and almost worthless sense we may\ndo right in many of our judgments, and be amiable in many of our\nsympathies and affections.  We cannot be sure even of this.  Only people\nunhabituated to introspection and self-analysis are quite sure of it.\nThese are ever those who are loudest in their censures, and most\ndogmatic in their opinionative utterances.  In some coarse, rude fashion\nthey are useful, it may be indispensable, to the world's work, which is\nnot ours, save in a transcendental sense and operation.  We have to\nstrip ourselves of all that, and to seek perfect passionless\ntranquillity.  Then we may hope to die.  Meditation, if it be deep, and\nlong, and frequent enough, will teach even our practical Western mind to\nunderstand the Hindu mind in its yearning for Nirvana.  One\ninfinitesimal atom of the great conglomerate of humanity, who enjoys the\ntemporal, sensual life, with its gratifications and excitements, as much\nas most, will testify with unaffected sincerity that he would rather be\nannihilated altogether than remain for ever what he knows himself to be,\nor even recognizably like it.  And he is a very average moral specimen.\nI have heard it said, \"The world's life and business would come to an\nend, there would be an end to all its healthy activity, an end of\ncommerce, arts, manufactures, social intercourse, government, law, and\nscience, if we were all to devote ourselves to the practice of Yoga,\nwhich is pretty much what your ideal comes to.\"  And the criticism is\nperfectly just and true.  Only I believe it does not go quite far\nenough.  Not only the activities of the world, but the phenomenal world\nitself, which is upheld in consciousness, would disappear or take new,\nmore interior, more living, and more significant forms, at least for\nhumanity, if the consciousness of humanity was itself raised to a\nsuperior state.  Readers of St. Martin, and of that impressive book of\nthe late James Hinton, \"Man and his Dwelling-place,\" especially if they\nhave also by chance been students of the idealistic philosophies, will\nnot think this suggestion extravagant.  If all the world were Yogis, the\nworld would have no need of those special activities, the ultimate end\nand purpose of which, by-the-by, our critic would find it not easy to\ndefine. And if only a few withdraw, the world can spare them.  Enough of\nthat.\n\nOnly let us not talk of this ideal of impersonal, universal being in\nindividual consciousness as an unverified dream.  Our sense and\nimpatience of limitations are the guarantees that they are not final and\ninsuperable.  Whence is this power of standing outside myself, of\nrecognizing the worthlessness of the pseudo--judgments, of the\nprejudices with their lurid colouring of passion, of the temporal\ninterests, of the ephemeral appetites, of all the sensibilities of\negoism, to which I nevertheless surrender myself so that they indeed\nseem myself?  Through and above this troubled atmosphere I see a being,\npure, passionless, rightly measuring the proportions and relations of\nthings, for whom there is, properly speaking, no present, with its\nphantasms, falsities, and half-truths;  who has nothing personal in the\nsense of being opposed to the whole of related personalities: who sees\nthe truth rather than struggles logically towards it, and truth of which\nI can at present form no conception;  whose activities are unimpeded by\nintellectual doubt, un-perverted by moral depravity, and who is\nindifferent to results, because he has not to guide his conduct by\ncalculation of them, or by any estimate of their value.  I look up to\nhim with awe, because in being passionless he sometimes seems to me to\nbe without love. Yet I know that this is not so;  only that his love is\ndiffused by its range, and elevated in abstraction beyond my gaze and\ncomprehension. And I see in this being my ideal, my higher, my only\ntrue, in a word, my immortal self.\n\n--C.C. Massey\n\n\n\n\nChastity\n\n\nIdeal woman is the most beautiful work of the evolution of forms (in our\ndays she is very often only a beautiful work of art).  A beautiful woman\nis the most attractive, charming, and lovely being that a man can\nimagine.  I never saw a male being who could lay any claims to manly\nvigour, strength or courage, who was not an admirer of woman.  Only a\nprofligate, a coward or a sneak would hate women;  a hero and a man\nadmires woman, and is admired by her.\n\nWomen's love belongs to a complete man.  Then she smiles on him his\nhuman nature becomes aroused, his animal desires like little children\nbegin to clamour for bread, they do not want to be starved, they want to\nsatisfy their hunger.  His whole soul flies towards the lovely being,\nwhich attracts him with almost irresistible force, and if his higher\nprinciples, his divine spirit, is not powerful enough to restrain him,\nhis soul follows the temptations of his physical body.  Once again the\nanimal nature has subdued the divine.  Woman rejoices in her victory,\nand man is ashamed of his weakness;  and instead of being a\nrepresentation of strength, he becomes an object of pity.\n\nTo be truly powerful a man must retain his power and never for a moment\nlose it.  To lose it is to surrender his divine nature to his animal\nnature;  to restrain his desires and retain his power, is to assert his\ndivine right, and to become more than a man--a god.\n\nEliphas Levi says:  \"To be an object of attraction for all women, you\nmust desire none;\"  and every one who has had a little experience of his\nown must know that he is right.  Woman wants what she cannot get, and\nwhat she can get she does not want. Perhaps it is to the man endowed\nwith spiritual power, that the Bible refers, when it says:  \"To him who\nhas much, more shall be given, and from him who has little, that little\nshall be taken away.\"\n\nTo become perfect it is not required that we should be born without any\nanimal desires.  Such a person would not be much above an idiot;  he\nwould be rightly despised and laughed at by every true man and woman;\nbut we must obtain the power to control our desires, instead of being\ncontrolled by them;  and here lies the true philosophy of temptation.\n\nIf a man has no higher aim in life than to eat and drink and propagate\nhis species;  if all his aspirations and desires are centred in a wish\nof living a happy life in the bosom of his family;  there can be no\nwrong if he follows the dictates of his nature and is satisfied with his\nlot.  When he dies, his family will mourn, his friends will say he was a\ngood fellow;  they will give him a first-class funeral, and they will\nperhaps write on his tombstone something like what I once saw in a\ncertain churchyard:\n\n     Here is the grave of John McBride,\n     He lived, got married, and died.\n\nAnd that will be the end of Mr. John McBride, until in another\nincarnation he will wake up again perhaps as Mr. John Smith, or\nRamchandra Row, or Patrick O'Flannegan, to find himself on much the same\nlevel as he was before.\n\nBut if a man has higher aims and objects in life, if he wants to avoid\nan endless cycle of re-incarnations, if he wants to become a master of\nhis destiny, then must he first become a master of himself.  How can he\nexpect to be able to control the external forces of Nature, if he cannot\ncontrol the few little natural forces that reside within his own\ninsignificant body?\n\nTo do this, it is not necessary that a man should run away from his wife\nand family, and leave them uncared for.  Such a man would commence his\nspiritual career with an act of injustice,--an act that like Banquo's\nghost would always haunt him and hinder him in his further progress.  If\na man has taken upon himself responsibilities, he is bound to fulfill\nthem, and an act of cowardice would be a bad beginning for a work that\nrequires courage.\n\nA celibate, who has no temptation and who has no one to care for but\nhimself, has undoubtedly superior advantages for meditation and study.\nBeing away from all irritating influences, he can lead what may be\ncalled a selfish life;  because he looks out only for his own spiritual\ninterest;  but he has little opportunity to develop his will-power by\nresisting temptations of every kind.  But the man who is surrounded by\nthe latter, and is every day and every hour under the necessity of\nexercising his will-power to resist their surging violence, will, if he\nrightly uses these powers, become strong;  he may not have as much\nopportunity for study as the celibate, being more engrossed in material\ncares;  but when he rises up to a higher state in his next incarnation,\nhis will-power will be more developed, and he will be in the possession\nof the password, which is CONTINENCE.\n\nA slave cannot become a commander, until after he becomes free. A man\nwho is subject to his own animal desires, cannot command the animal\nnature of others.  A muscle becomes developed by its use, an instinct or\nhabit is strengthened in proportion as it is permitted to rule, a mental\npower becomes developed by practice, and the principle of will grows\nstrong by exercise;  and this is the use of temptations.  To have strong\npassions and to overcome them, makes man a hero.  The sexual instinct is\nthe strongest of all, and he who vanquishes it, becomes a god.\n\nThe human soul admires a beautiful form, and is therefore an idolater.\n\nThe human spirit adores a principle, and is the true worshiper.\n\nMarriage is the union of the male spirit with the female soul for the\npurpose of propagating the species;  but if in its place there is only a\nunion of a male and a female body, then marriage becomes merely a brutal\nact, which lowers man and woman, not to the level of animals but below\nthem;  because animals are restricted to certain seasons for the\nexercise of their procreative powers;  while man, being a reasonable\nbeing, has it in his power to use or abuse them at all times.\n\nBut how many marriages do we find that are really spiritual and not\nbased on beauty of form or other considerations?  How soon after the\nwedding-day do they become disgusted with each other? What is the cause\nof this?  A man and a woman may marry and their characters may differ\nwidely.  They may have different tastes, different opinions and\ndifferent inclinations.  All those differences may disappear, and will\nprobably disappear;  because by living together they become accustomed\nto each other, and become equalized in time.  Each influences the other,\nand as a man may grow fond of a pet snake, whose presence at first\nhorrified him, so a man may put up with a disagreeable partner and\nbecome fond of her in course of time.\n\nBut if the man allows full liberty to his animal passions, and exercises\nhis \"legal rights\" without restraint, these animal cravings which first\ncalled so piteously for gratification, will soon be gorged, and flying\naway laugh at the poor fool who nursed them in his breast.  The wife\nwill come to know that her husband is a coward, because she sees him\nsquirm under the lash of his animal passions;  and as woman loves\nstrength and power, so in proportion as he loses his love, will she lose\nher confidence. He will look upon her as a burden, and she will look\nupon him in disgust as a brute.  Conjugal happiness will have departed,\nand misery, divorce or death will be the end.\n\nThe remedy for all these evils is continence, and it has been our object\nto show its necessity, for it was the object of this article.\n\n--F. Hartmann\n\n\n\n\nZoroastrianism on the Septenary Constitution of Man\n\n\nMany of the esoteric doctrines given out through the Theosophical\nSociety reveal a spirit akin to that of the older religions of the East,\nespecially the Vedic and the Zendic.  Leaving aside the former, I\npropose to point out by a few instances the close resemblance which the\ndoctrines of the old Zendic Scriptures, as far as they are now\npreserved, bear to these recent teachings.\n\nAny ordinary Parsi, while reciting his daily Niyashes, Gehs and Yashts,\nprovided he yields to the curiosity of looking into the meanings of what\nhe recites, will, with a little exertion, perceive how the same ideas,\nonly clothed in a more intelligible and comprehensive garb, are\nreflected in these teachings.  The description of the septenary\nconstitution of man found in the 54th chapter of the Yasna, one of the\nmost authoritative books of the Mazdiasnian religion, shows the identity\nof the doctrines of Avesta and the esoteric philosophy.  Indeed, as a\nMazdiasnian, I felt quite ashamed that, having such undeniable and\nunmistakable evidence before their eyes, the Zoroastrians of the present\nday should not avail themselves of the opportunity offered of throwing\nlight upon their now entirely misunderstood and misinterpreted\nScriptures by the assistance and under the guidance of the Theosophical\nSociety.  If Zend scholars and students of Avesta would only care to\nstudy and search for themselves, they would, perhaps, find to assist\nthem, men who are in possession of the right and only key to the true\nesoteric wisdom;  men, who would be willing to guide and help them to\nreach the true and hidden meaning, and to supply them with the missing\nlinks that have resulted in such painful gaps as to leave the meaning\nmeaningless, and to create in the mind of the perplexed student doubts\nthat finally culminate in a thorough unbelief in his own religion.  Who\nknows but they may find some of their own co-religionists, who, aloof\nfrom the world, have to this day preserved the glorious truths of their\nonce mighty religion, and who, hidden in the recesses of solitary\nmountains and unknown silent caves, are still in possession of;  and\nexercising, mighty powers, the heirloom of the ancient Magi.  Our\nScriptures say that ancient Mobeds were Yogis, who had the power of\nmaking themselves simultaneously visible at different places, even\nthough hundreds of miles apart, and also that they could heal the sick\nand work that which would now appear to us miraculous.  All this was\nconsidered facts but two or three centuries back, as no reader of old\nbooks (mostly Persian) is unacquainted with, or will disbelieve a priori\nunless his mind is irretrievably biassed by modern secular education.\nThe story about the Mobed and Emperor Akbar and of the latter's\nconversion, is a well-known historical fact, requiring no proof.\n\nI will first of all quote side by side the two passages referring to the\nseptenary nature of man as I find them in our Scriptures and the\nTHEOSOPHIST--\n\nSub-divisions of septenary        Sub-divisions of septenary\nman according to the              man according to Yasna\nOccultists.                       (chap.54, para. I).\n\n1. The Physical body, com-        1. Tanwas-i.e., body(the\nposed wholly of matter in its       self ) that consists of bones\ngrossest and most tangible         -grossest form of matter.\nform.\n\n2. The Vital principle-(or Jiva)-  2. Ushtanas-Vital heat\na form of force indestructible,        (or force).\nand when disconnected with\none set of atoms, becoming\nattracted immediately by others.\n\n3. The Astral body (Linga-       3. Keherpas Aerial form,\nsharira) composed of highly          the airy mould, (Per. Kaleb).\netherealized matter; in its\nhabitual passive state, the\nperfect but very shadowy\nduplicate of the body; its\nactivity, consolidation and\nform depending entirely on\nthe Kama-rupa.\n\n4. The Astral shape (Kama-        4. Tevishis-Will, or where\nrupa or body of desire, a             sentient consciousness is\nprinciple defining the con-          formed, also fore-knowledge.\nfiguration of--\n\n5. The animal or Physical          5. Baodhas (in Sanskrit,\nintelligence or Conscious-           Buddhi)-Body of physical\nness or Ego, analogous to,            consciousness, perception by\nthough proportionally higher          the senses or animal soul.\nin the senses or the animal\ndegree than the reason,\ninstinct, memory, imagination\n&c., existing in the higher\nanimals.\n\n6. The Higher or Spiritual          6. Urawanem (Per. Rawan)\nintelligence or consciousness,        -Soul, that which gets its\nspiritual Ego, in which                or reward or punishment\nmainly resides the sense of            after death.\nconsciousness in the perfect\nman, though the lower dimmer\nanimal consciousness co-exists\nin No. 5.\n\n7. The Spirit-an emanation from       7. Frawashem or Farohar-\nthe ABSOLUTE uncreated; eternal;      Spirit (the guiding energy\na state rather than a being.          which is with every man,\n                                      is absolutely independent,\n                                      and, without mixing with\n                                      any worldly object, leads\n                                      man to good. The spark\n                                      of divinity in every being).\n\n\nThe above is given in the Avesta as follows:--\n\n\"We declare and positively make known this (that) we offer (our) entire\nproperty (which is) the body (the self consisting of) bones (tanwas),\nvital heat (ushtanas), aerial form (keherpas), knowledge (tevishis),\nconsciousness (baodhas), soul (urwanem), and spirit (frawashem), to the\nprosperous, truth-coherent (and) pure Gathas (prayers).\"\n\nThe ordinary Gujarathi translation differs from Spiegel's, and this\nlatter differs very slightly from what is here given.  Yet in the\npresent translation there has been made no addition to, or omission\nfrom, the original wording of the Zend text.  The grammatical\nconstruction also has been preserved intact.  The only difference,\ntherefore, between the current translations and the one here given is\nthat ours is in accordance with the modern corrections of philological\nresearch which make it more intelligible, and the idea perfectly clear\nto the reader.\n\nThe word translated \"aerial form\" has come down to us without undergoing\nany change in the meaning.  It is the modern Persian word kaleb, which\nmeans a mould, a shape into which a thing is cast, to take a certain\nform and features.  The next word is one about which there is a great\ndifference of opinion.  It is by some called strength, durability, i.e.,\nthat power which gives tenacity to and sustains the nerves.  Others\nexplain it as that quality in a man of rank and position which makes him\nperceive the result of certain events (causes), and thus helps him in\nbeing prepared to meet them.  This meaning is suggestive, though we\ntranslate it as knowledge, or foreknowledge rather, with the greatest\ndiffidence.  The eighth word is quite clear.  That inward feeling which\ntells a man that he knows this or that, that he has or can do certain\nthings--is perception and consciousness. It is the inner conviction,\nknowledge and its possession.  The ninth word is again one which has\nretained its meaning and has been in use up to the present day.  The\nreader will at once recognize that it is the origin of the modern word\nRawan.  It is (metaphorically) the king, the conscious motor or agent in\nman. It is that something which depends upon and is benefited or injured\nby the foregoing attributes.  We say depends upon, because its progress\nentirely consists in the development of those attributes.  If they are\nneglected, it becomes weak and degenerated, and disappears.  If they\nascend on the moral and spiritual scale, it gains strength and vigour\nand becomes more blended than ever to the Divine essence--the seventh\nprinciple. But how does it become attracted toward its monad?  The tenth\nword answers the question.  This is the Divine essence in man. But this\nis only the irresponsible minister (this completes the metaphor).  The\nreal master is the king, the spiritual soul.  It must have the\nwillingness and power to see and follow the course pointed out by the\npure spirit.  The vizir's business is only to represent a point of\nattraction, towards which the king should turn.  It is for the king to\nsee and act accordingly for the glory of his own self.  The minister or\nspirit can neither compel nor constrain.  It inspires and electrifies\ninto action;  but to benefit by the inspiration, to take advantage of\nit, is left to the option of the spiritual soul.\n\nIf, then, the Avesta contains such a passage, it must fairly be admitted\nthat its writers knew the whole doctrine concerning spiritual man.  We\ncannot suppose that the ancient Mazdiasnians, the Magi, wrote this short\npassage, without inferring from it, at the same time, that they were\nthoroughly conversant with the whole of the occult theory about man.\nAnd it looks very strange indeed, that modern Theosophists should now\npreach to us the very same doctrines that must have been known and\ntaught thousands of years ago by the Mazdiasnians,--the passage is\nquoted from one of their oldest writings.  And since they propound the\nvery same ideas, the meaning of which has well-nigh been lost even to\nour most learned Mobeds, they ought to be credited at least with some\npossession of a knowledge, the key to which has been revealed to them,\nand lost to us, and which opens the door to the meaning of those\nhitherto inexplicable sentences and doctrines in our old writings, about\nwhich we are still, and will go on, groping in the dark, unless we\nlisten to what they have to tell us about them.\n\nTo show that the above is not a solitary instance, but that the Avesta\ncontains this idea in many other places, I will give another paragraph\nwhich contains the same doctrine, though in a more condensed form than\nthe one just given.  Let the Parsi reader turn to Yasna, chapter 26, and\nread the sixth paragraph, which runs as follows:--\n\nWe praise the life (ahum), knowledge (daenam), consciousness (baodhas),\nsoul (urwanem), and spirit (frawashem) of the first in religion, the\nfirst teachers and hearers (learners), the holy men and holy women who\nwere the protectors of purity here (in this world).\n\nHere the whole man is spoken of as composed of five parts, as under:--\n\n                                      1. The Physical Body.\n1. Ahum-Existence, Life.              2. The Vital Principle.\nIt includes:                          3. The Astral Body.\n\n2. Daenam-Knowledge.                  4. The Astral shape or\n                                         body of desire.\n\n3. Baodhas-Consciousness.             5. The Animal or physical\n                                         intelligence or\n                                         consciousness or Ego.\n\n4. Urwanem-Soul.                      6. The Higher or Spiritual\n                                         intelligence or\n                                         consciousness, or\n                                         Spiritual Ego.\n\n5. Frawashem-Spirit.                  7. The Spirit.\n\n\nIn this description the first triple group--viz., the bones (or the\ngross matter), the vital force which keeps them together, and the\nethereal body, are included in one and called Existence, Life.  The\nsecond part stands for the fourth principle of the septenary man, as\ndenoting the configuration of his knowledge or desires.*  Then the\nthree, consciousness (or animal soul), (spiritual) soul, and the pure\nSpirit are the same as in the first quoted passage.  Why are these four\nmentioned as distinct from each other and not consolidated like the\nfirst part?  The sacred writings explain this by saying that on death\nthe first of these five parts disappears and perishes sooner or later in\nthe earth's atmosphere.  The gross elementary matter (the shell) has to\nrun within the earth's attraction;  so the ahum separates from the\nhigher portions and is lost.\n\n---------\n* Modern science also teaches that certain characteristics of features\nindicate the possession of certain qualities in a man. The whole science\nof physiognomy is founded on it.  One can predict the disposition of a\nman from his features,--i.e., the features develop in accordance with\nthe idiosyncrasies, qualities and vices, knowledge or the ignorance of\nman.\n---------\n\nThe second (i.e., the fourth of the septenary group) remains, but not\nwith the spiritual soul.  It continues to hold its place in the vast\nstorehouse of the universe.  And it is this second daenam which stands\nbefore the (spiritual) soul in the form of a beautiful maiden or an ugly\nhag.  That which brings this daenam within the sight of the (spiritual)\nsoul is the third part (i.e., the fifth of the septenary group), the\nbaodhas.  Or in other words, the (spiritual) soul has with it, or in it,\nthe true consciousness by which it can view the experiences of its\nphysical career.  So this consciousness, this power or faculty which\nbrings the recollection, is always with, in other words, is a part and\nparcel of, the soul itself;  hence, its not mixing with any other part,\nand hence its existence after the physical death of man.*\n\n--A Parsi F.T.S.\n\n---------\n* Our Brother has but to look into the oldest sacred hooks of China--\nnamely, the YI KING. or Book of Changes (translated by James Legge)\nwritten 1,200 B.C., to find that same Septenary division of man\nmentioned in that system of Divination.  Zhing, which is translated\ncorrectly enough \"essence,\" is the more subtle and pure part of matter--\nthe grosser form of the elementary ether;  Khi, or \"spirit,\" is the\nbreath, still material but purer than the zhing, and is made of the\nfiner and more active form of ether.  In the hwun, or soul (animus) the\nKhi predominates and the zhing (or zing) in the pho or animal soul. At\ndeath the hwun (Or spiritual soul) wanders away, ascending, and the pho\n(the root of the Tibetan word Pho-hat) descends and is changed into a\nghostly shade (the shell).  Dr. Medhurst thinks that \"the Kwei Shans\"\n(see \"Theology of the Chinese,\" pp. 10-12) are \"the expanding and\ncontracting principles of human life!\" \"The Kwei Shans\" are brought\nabout by the dissolution of the human frame--and consist of the\nexpanding and ascending Shan which rambles about in space, and of the\ncontracted and shrivelled Kwei, which reverts to earth and nonentity.\nTherefore, the Kwei is the physical body;  the Shan is the vital\nprinciple the Kwei Shan  the linga-sariram, or the vital soul;  Zhing\nthe fourth principle or Kama Rupa, the essence of will;  pho, the animal\nsoul;  Khi, the spiritual soul;  and Hwun the pure spirit--the seven\nprinciples of our occult doctrine!--Ed. Theos.\n---------\n\n\n\n\nBrahmanism on the Sevenfold Principle in Man\n\n\nIt is now very difficult to say what was the real ancient Aryan\ndoctrine.  If an inquirer were to attempt to answer it by an analysis\nand comparison of all the various systems of esotericism prevailing in\nIndia, he will soon be lost in a maze of obscurity and uncertainty.  No\ncomparison between our real Brahmanical and the Tibetan esoteric\ndoctrines will be possible unless one ascertains the teachings of that\nso-called \"Aryan doctrine,\" and fully comprehends the whole range of the\nancient Aryan philosophy.  Kapila's \"Sankhya,\" Patanjali's \"Yog\nphilosophy,\" the different systems of \"Saktaya\" philosophy, the various\nAgamas and Tantras are but branches of it.  There is a doctrine, though,\nwhich is their real foundation, and which is sufficient to explain the\nsecrets of these various systems of philosophy and harmonize their\nteachings.  It probably existed long before the Vedas were compiled, and\nit was studied by our ancient Rishis in connection with the Hindu\nscriptures.  It is attributed to one mysterious personage called\nMaha.*.....\n\n----------\n* The very title of the present chief of the esoteric Himalayan\nBrotherhood.--Ed. Theos.\n----------\n\nThe Upanishads and such portions of the Vedas as are not chiefly devoted\nto the public ceremonials of the ancient Aryans are hardly intelligible\nwithout some knowledge of that doctrine. Even the real significance of\nthe grand ceremonials referred to in the Vedas will not be perfectly\napprehended without its light being throw  upon them.  The Vedas were\nperhaps compiled mainly for the use of the priests assisting at public\nceremonies, but the grandest conclusions of our real secret doctrine are\ntherein mentioned.  I am informed by persons competent to judge of the\nmatter, that the Vedas have a distinct dual meaning--one expressed by\nthe literal sense of the words, the other indicated by the metre and the\nswara (intonation), which are, as it were the life of the Vedas.\nLearned Pundits and philologists of course deny that swara has anything\nto do with philosophy or ancient esoteric doctrines;  but the mysterious\nconnection between swara and light is one of its most profound secrets.\n\nNow, it is extremely difficult to show whether the Tibetans derived\ntheir doctrine from the ancient Rishis of India, or the ancient\nBrahrnans learned their occult science from the adepts of Tibet;  or,\nagain, whether the adepts of both countries professed originally the\nsame doctrine and derived it from a common source.*  If you were to go\nto the Sramana Balagula, and question some of the Jain Pundits there\nabout the authorship of the Vedas and the origin of the Brahmanical\nesoteric doctrine, they would probably tell you that the Vedas were\ncomposed by Rakshasas** or Daityas, and that the Brahmans had derived\ntheir secret knowledge from them.***\n\n---------\n* See Appendix, Note I.\n\n** A kind of demons-devil.\n\n*** And so would the Christian padris.  But they would never admit that\ntheir \"fallen angels\" were borrowed from the Rakshasas;  that their\n\"devil\" is the illegitimate son of Dewel, the Sinhalese female demon;\nor that the \"war in heaven\" of the Apocalypse--the foundation of the\nChristian dogma of the \"Fallen Angels\" was copied from the Hindu story\nabout Siva hurling the Tarakasura who rebelled against the gods into\nAndhahkara, the abode of Darkness, according to Brahmanical Shastras.\n---------\n\nDo these assertions mean that the Vedas and the Brahmanical esoteric\nteachings had their origin in the lost Atlantis--the continent that once\noccupied a considerable portion of the expanse of the Southern and the\nPacific oceans?  The assertion in \"Isis Unveiled,\" that Sanskrit was the\nlanguage of the inhabitants of the said continent, may induce one to\nsuppose that the Vedas had probably their origin there, wherever else\nmight be the birthplace of the Aryan esotericism.*  But the real\nesoteric doctrine, as well as the mystic allegorical philosophy of the\nVedas, were derived from another source again, whatever that may be--\nperchance from the divine inhabitants (gods) of the sacred island which\nonce existed in the sea that covered in days of old the sandy tract now\ncalled Gobi Desert.  However that may be, the knowledge of the occult\npowers of Nature possessed by the inhabitants of the lost Atlantis was\nlearnt by the ancient adepts of India, and was appended by them to the\nesoteric doctrine taught by the residents of the sacred island.**  The\nTibetan adepts, however, have not accepted this addition to their\nesoteric doctrine;  and it is in this respect that one should expect to\nfind a difference between the two doctrines.***\n\n----------\n* Not necessarily. (See Appendix, Note II.) It is generally held by\nOccultists that Sanskrit has been spoken in Java and adjacent islands\nfrom remote antiquity.--Ed. Theos.\n\n** A locality which is spoken of to this day by the Tibetans, and called\nby them \"Scham-bha-la,\" the Happy Land. (See Appendix, Note III.)\n\n*** To comprehend this passage fully, the reader must turn to vol. I.\npp. 589-594 of  \"Isis Unveiled.\"\n--------\n\nThe Brahmanical occult doctrine probably contains everything that was\ntaught about the powers of Nature and their laws, either in the\nmysterious island of the North or in the equally mysterious continent of\nthe South.  And if you mean to compare the Aryan and the Tibetan\ndoctrines as regards their teachings about the occult powers of Nature,\nyou must beforehand examine all the classifications of these powers,\ntheir laws and manifestations, and the real connotations of the various\nnames assigned to them in the Aryan doctrine.  Here are some of the\nclassifications contained in the Brahmanical system:\n\n   I. As appertaining to Parabrahmam and existing in the MACROCOSM.\n\n  II. As appertaining to man and existing in the MICROCOSM.\n\n III. For the purposes of d Taraka Yog or Pranava Yog.\n\n  IV. For the purposes of Sankhya Yog (where they are, as it were,\n      the inherent attributes of Prakriti).\n\n   V. For the purposes of Hata Yog.\n\n  VI. For the purposes of Koula Agama.\n\n VII. For the purposes of Sakta Agama.\n\nVIII. For the purposes of Siva Aqama.\n\n  IX. For the purposes of Sreechakram (the Sreechakram referred\n      to in \"Isis Unveiled\" is not the real esoteric Sreechakram\n      of the ancient adepts of Aryavarta).*\n\n--------\n* Very true. But who would be allowed to give out the \"real\" esoteric\none?--Ed. Theos.\n--------\n\n   X. In Atharvena Veda, &c.\n\nIn all these classifications subdivisions have been multiplied\nindefinitely by conceiving new combinations of the Primary Powers in\ndifferent proportions.  But I must now drop this subject, and proceed to\nconsider the \"Fragments of Occult Truth\" (since embodied in \"Esoteric\nBuddhism\").\n\nI have carefully examined it, and find that the results arrived at (in\nthe Buddhist doctrine) do not differ much from the conclusions of our\nAryan philosophy, though our mode of stating the arguments may differ in\nform.  I shall now discuss the question from my own standpoint, though,\nfollowing, for facility of comparison and convenience of discussion, the\nsequence of classification of the sevenfold entities or principles\nconstituting man which is adopted in the \"Fragments.\"  The questions\nraised for discussion are (1) whether the disembodied spirits of human\nbeings (as they are called by Spiritualists) appear in the seance-rooms\nand elsewhere;  and (2) whether the manifestations taking place are\nproduced wholly or partly through their agency.\n\nIt is hardly possible to answer these two questions satisfactorily\nunless the meaning intended to be conveyed by the expression\n\"disembodied spirits of human beings\" be accurately defined. The words\nspiritualism and spirit are very misleading.  Unless English writers in\ngeneral, and Spiritualists in particular, first ascertain clearly the\nconnotation they mean to assign to the word spirit, there will be no end\nof confusion, and the real nature of these so-called spiritualistic\nphenomena and their modus occurrendi can never be clearly defined.\nChristian writers generally speak of only two entities in man--the body,\nand the soul or spirit (both seeming to mean the same thing to them).\nEuropean philosophers generally speak of body and mind, and argue that\nsoul or spirit cannot be anything else than mind. They are of opinion\nthat any belief in lingasariram* is entirely unphilosophical.  These\nviews are certainly incorrect, and are based on unwarranted assumptions\nas to the possibilities of Nature, and on an imperfect understanding of\nits laws.  I shall now examine (from the standpoint of the Brahmanical\nesoteric doctrine) the spiritual constitution of man, the various\nentities or principles existing in him, and ascertain whether either of\nthose entities entering into his composition can appear on earth after\nhis death, and if so, what it is that so appears.\n\n--------\n* The astral body, so called.\n--------\n\nProfessor Tyndall in his excellent papers on what he calls the \"Germ\nTheory,\" comes to the following conclusions as the result of a series of\nwell-planned experiments:--Even in a very small volume of space there\nare myriads of protoplasmic germs floating in ether.  If, for instance,\nsay water (clear water) is exposed to them, and if they fall into it,\nsome form of life or other will be evolved out of them.  Now, what are\nthe agencies for the bringing of this life into existence?  Evidently--\n\nI. The water, which is the field, so to say, for the growth\nof life.\n\nII. The protoplasmic germ, out of which life or a living organism\nis to be evolved or developed. And lastly--\n\nIII. The power, energy, force, or tendency which springs into activity\nat the touch or combination of the protoplasmic germ and the water, and\nwhich evolves or develops life and its natural attributes.\n\nSimilarly, there are three primary causes which bring the human being\ninto existence.  I shall call them, for the purpose of discussion, by\nthe following names\n\n(1) Parabrahmam, the Universal Spirit.\n\n(2) Sakti, the crown of the astral light, combining in itself all the\npowers of Nature.\n\n(3) Prakriti, which in its original or primary shape is represented by\nAkasa.  (Really every form of matter is finally reducible to Akasa.)*\n\nIt is ordinarily stated that Prakriti or Akasa is the Kshetram, or the\nbasis which corresponds to water in the example we have taken Brahmam\nthe germ, and Sakti, the power or energy that comes into existence at\ntheir union or contact.**\n\n--------\n* The Tibetan esoteric Buddhist doctrine teaches that Prakriti is cosmic\nmatter, out of which all visible forms are produced;  and Akasa, that\nsame cosmic matter, but still more subjective--its spirit, as it were.\nPrakriti being the body or substance, and Akasa Sakti its soul or\nenergy.\n\n** Or, in other words, \"Prakriti, Swabhavat, or Akasa, is SPACE, as the\nTibetans have it;  Space filled with whatsoever substance or no\nsubstance at all--i.e., with substance so imperceptible as to be only\nmetaphysically conceivable.  Brahman, then, would be the germ thrown\ninto the soil of that field, and Sakti, that mysterious energy or force\nwhich develops it, and which is called by the Buddhist Arahat of Tibet,\nFOHAT.  That which we call form (rupa) is not different from that which\nwe call space (sunyata)....  Space is not different from form.  Form is\nthe same as space;  space is the same as form.  And so with the other\nskandhas, whether vedana, or sanjna, or sanskara, or vijnana, they are\neach the same as their opposite.\" .... (Book of Sin-king, or the \"Heart\nSutra.\" Chinese translation of the \"Maha-Prajna-Paramita-Hridaya-Sutra,\"\nchapter on the \"Avalokiteshwara,\" or the manifested Buddha.)  So that\nthe Aryan and Tibetan or Arhat doctrines agree perfectly in substance,\ndiffering but in names given and the way of putting it.\n---------\n\nBut this is not the view which the Upanishads take of the question.\nAccording to them, Brahamam* is the Kshetram or basis, Akasa or\nPrakriti, the germ or seed, and Sakti, the power evolved by their union\nor contact.  And this is the real scientific, philosophical mode of\nstating the case.\n\n--------\n* See Appendix, Note IV.\n--------\n\nNow, according to the adepts of ancient Aryavarta, seven principles are\nevolved out of these three primary entities. Algebra teaches us that the\nnumber of combinations of n things, taken one at a time, two at a time,\nthree at a time, and so forth = 2(n)-1.\n\nApplying this formula to the present case, the number of entities\nevolved from different combinations of these three primary causes\namounts to 2(3)-1 = 8-1 = 7.\n\nAs a general rule, whenever seven entities are mentioned in the ancient\noccult science of India, in any connection whatsoever, you must suppose\nthat those seven entities came into existence from three primary\nentities;  and that these three entities, again, are evolved out of a\nsingle entity or MONAD.  To take a familiar example, the seven coloured\nrays in the solar ray are evolved out of three primary coloured rays;\nand the three primary colours coexist with the four secondary colours in\nthe solar rays.  Similarly, the three primary entities which brought man\ninto existence co-exist in him with the four secondary entities which\narose from different combinations of the three primary entities.\n\nNow these seven entities, which in their totality constitute man, are as\nfollows.  I shall enumerate them in the order adopted in the\n\"Fragments,\" as far as the two orders (the Brahmanical and the Tibetan)\ncoincide:--\n\n                                 Corresponding names in\n                                  Esoteric Buddhism.\n\nI. Prakriti.                      Sthulasariram\n(Physical Body).\n\nII. The entity evolved\nout of the combination            Sukshmasariram or Lingasariram\nof Prakriti and Sakti.             (Astral Body).\n\nIII. Sakti.                       Kamarupa (the Perispirit).\n\nIV. The entity evolved out\nof the combination of             Jiva (Life-Soul).\nBrahmam, Sakti and\nPrakriti.\n\nV. The entity evolved out\nof the combination of             Physical Intelligence (or\nBrahmam and Prakriti.              animal soul).\n\n\n\nVI. The entity evolved\nout of the combination of         Spiritual Intelligence (or Soul).\nBrahmam and Sakti.\n\nVII. Brahmam.                     The emanation from the ABSOLUTE,\n                                   &c. (or pure spirit.)\n\nBefore proceeding to examine these nature of these seven entities, a few\ngeneral explanations are indispensably necessary.\n\nI. The secondary principles arising out of the combination of primary\nprinciples are quite different in their nature from the entities out of\nwhose combination they came into existence.  The combinations in\nquestion are not of the nature of mere mechanical juxtapositions, as it\nwere.  They do not even correspond to chemical combinations.\nConsequently no valid inferences as regards the nature of the\ncombinations in question can be drawn by analogy from the nature\n[variety?] of these combinations.\n\nII. The general proposition, that when once a cause is removed its\neffect vanishes, is not universally applicable.  Take, for instance, the\nfollowing example:--If you once communicate a certain amount of momentum\nto a ball, velocity of a particular degree in a particular direction is\nthe result.  Now, the cause of this motion ceases to exist when the\ninstantaneous sudden impact or blow which conveyed the momentum is\ncompleted;  but according to Newton's first law of motion, the ball will\ncontinue to move on for ever and ever, with undiminished velocity in the\nsame direction, unless the said motion is altered, diminished,\nneutralized, or counteracted by extraneous causes.  Thus, if the ball\nstop, it will not be on account of the absence of the cause of its\nmotion, but in consequence of the existence of extraneous causes which\nproduce the said result.\n\nAgain, take the instance of subjective phenomena.\n\nNow the presence of this ink-bottle before me is producing in me, or in\nmy mind, a mental representation of its form, volume, colour and so\nforth.\n\nThe bottle in question may be removed, but still its mental picture may\ncontinue to exist.  Here, again, you see, the effect survives the cause.\nMoreover, the effect may at any subsequent time be called into conscious\nexistence, whether the original cause be present or not.\n\nNow, in the ease of the filth principle above mentioned-the entity that\ncame into existence by the combination of Brahmam and Prakriti--if the\ngeneral proposition (in the \"Fragments of Occult Truth\") is correct,\nthis principle, which corresponds to the physical intelligence, must\ncease to exist whenever the Brahmam or the seventh Principle should\ncease to exist for the particular individual;  but the fact is certainly\notherwise.  The general proposition under consideration is adduced in\nthe \"Fragments\" in support of the assertion that whenever the seventh\nprinciple ceases to exist for any particular individual, the sixth\nprinciple also ceases to exist for him.  The assertion is undoubtedly\ntrue, though the mode of stating it and the reasons assigned for it, are\nto my mind objectionable.\n\nIt is said that in cases where tendencies of a man's mind are entirely\nmaterial, and all spiritual aspirations and thoughts were altogether\nabsent from his mind, the seventh principle leaves him either before or\nat the time of death, and the sixth principle disappears with it.  Here,\nthe very proposition that the tendencies of the particular individual's\nmind are entirely material, involves the assertion that there is no\nspiritual intelligence or spiritual Ego in him, it should then have been\nsaid that, whenever spiritual intelligence ceases to exist in any\nparticular individual, the seventh principle ceases to exist for that\nparticular individual for all purposes.  Of course, it does not fly off\nanywhere.  There can never be any thing like a change of position in the\ncase of Brahmam.*  The assertion merely means that when there is no\nrecognition whatever of Brahmam, or spirit, or spiritual life, or\nspiritual consciousness, the seventh principle has ceased to exercise\nany influence or control over the individual's destinies.\n\n--------\n* True--from the standpoint of Aryan Exotericism and the Upanishads, not\nquite so in the case of the Arahat or Tibetan esoteric doctrine;  and it\nis only on this one solitary point that the two teachings disagree, as\nfar as we know.  The difference is very trifling, though, resting as it\ndoes solely upon the two various methods of viewing the one and the same\nthing from two different aspects.  (See Appendix, Note IV.)\n--------\n\nI shall now state what is meant (in the Aryan doctrine) by the seven\nprinciples above enumerated.\n\nI. Prakriti.  This is the basis of Sthulasariram, and represents it in\nthe above-mentioned classification.\n\nII. Prakriti and Sakti.  This is the Lingasariram, or astral body.\n\nIII. Sukti.  This principle corresponds to your Kamarupa. This power or\nforce is placed by ancient occultists in the Nabhichakram.  This power\ncan gather akasa or prakriti, and mould it into any desired shape.  It\nhas very great sympathy with the fifth principle, and can be made to act\nby its influence or control.\n\nIV. Brahmam and Sakti, and Prakriti.  This again corresponds to your\nsecond principle, Jiva.\n\nThis power represents the universal life-principle which exists in\nNature.  Its seat is the Anahatachakram (heart).  It is a force or power\nwhich constitutes what is called Jiva, or life. It is, as you say,\nindestructible, and its activity is merely transferred at the time of\ndeath to another set of atoms, to form another organism.\n\nV. Brahma and Prakriti.  This, in our Aryan philosophy, corresponds to\nyour fifth principle, called the physical intelligence.  According to\nour philosophers, this is the entity in which what is called mind has\nits seat or basis.  This is the most difficult principle of all to\nexplain, and the present discussion entirely turns upon the view we take\nof it.\n\nNow, what is mind?  It is a mysterious something, which is considered to\nbe the seat of consciousness--of sensations, emotions, volitions, and\nthoughts.  Psychological analysis shows it to be apparently a congeries\nof mental states, and possibilities of mental states, connected by what\nis called memory, and considered to have a distinct existence apart from\nany of its particular states or ideas.  Now in what entity has this\nmysterious something its potential or actual existence? Memory and\nexpectation, which form, as it were, the real foundation of what is\ncalled individuality, or Ahankaram, must have their seat of existence\nsomewhere.  Modern psychologists of Europe generally say that the\nmaterial substance of brain is the seat of mind;  and that past\nsubjective experiences, which can he recalled by memory, and which in\ntheir totality constitute what is called individuality, exist therein in\nthe shape of certain unintelligible mysterious impressions and changes\nin the nerves and nerve-centres of the cerebral hemispheres.\nConsequently, they say, the mind--the individual mind--is destroyed when\nthe body is destroyed;  so there is no possible existence after death.\n\nBut there are a few facts among those admitted by these philosophers\nwhich are sufficient for us to demolish their theory.  In every portion\nof the human body a constant change goes on without intermission.  Every\ntissue, every muscular fibre and nerve-tube, and every ganglionic centre\nin the brain, is undergoing an incessant change.  In the course of a\nman's lifetime there may be a series of complete tranformations of the\nsubstance of his brain.  Nevertheless, the memory of his past mental\nstates remains unaltered.  There may be additions of new subjective\nexperiences and some mental states may be altogether forgotten, but no\nindividual mental state is altered.  The person's sense of personal\nidentity remains the same throughout these constant alterations in the\nbrain substance.*  It is able to survive all these changes, and it can\nsurvive also the complete destruction of the material substance of the\nbrain.\n\n--------\n* This is also sound Buddhist philosophy, the transformation in\nquestion being known as the change of the skandhas.--Ed. Theos.\n--------\n\nThis individuality arising from mental consciousness has its seat of\nexistence, according to our philosophers, in an occult power or force,\nwhich keeps a registry, as it were, of all our mental impressions.  The\npower itself is indestructible, though by the operation of certain\nantagonistic causes its impressions may in course of time be effaced, in\npart or wholly.\n\nI may mention in this connection that our philosophers have\nassociated seven occult powers with the seven principles or entities\nabove-mentioned.  These seven occult powers in the microcosm correspond\nwith, or are the counterparts of, the occult powers in the macrocosm.\nThe mental and spiritual consciousness of the individual becomes the\ngeneral consciousness of Brahmam, when the barrier of individuality is\nwholly removed, and when the seven powers in the microcosm are placed\nen rapport with the seven powers in the macrocosm.\n\nThere is nothing very strange in a power, or force, or sakti, carrying\nwith it impressions of sensations, ideas, thoughts, or other subjective\nexperiences.  It is now a well-known fact, that an electric or magnetic\ncurrent can convey in some mysterious manner impressions of sound or\nspeech, with all their individual peculiarities;  similarly, I can\nconvey my thoughts to you by a transmission of energy or power.\n\nNow, this fifth principle represents in our philosophy the mind, or, to\nspeak more correctly, the power or force above described, the\nimpressions of the mental states therein, and the notion of\nself-identity or Ahankaram generated by their collective operation.\nThis principle is called merely physical intelligence in the\n\"Fragments.\"  I do not know what is really meant by this expression.  It\nmay be taken to mean that intelligence which exists in a very low state\nof development in the lower animals. Mind may exist in different stages\nof development, from the very lowest forms of organic life, where the\nsigns of its existence or operation can hardly be distinctly realized,\nup to man, in whom it reaches its highest state of development.\n\nIn fact, from the first appearance of life* up to Tureeya Avastha, or\nthe state of Nirvana, the progress is, as it were, continuous.\n\n--------\n* In the Aryan doctrine, which blends Brahmam, Sakti, and Prakriti in\none, it is the fourth principle then, in the Buddhist esotericisms the\nsecond in combination with the first.\n--------\n\nWe ascend from that principle up to the seventh by almost imperceptible\ngradations.  But four stages are recognized in the progress where the\nchange is of a peculiar kind, and is such as to arrest an observer's\nattention.  These four stages are as follows:--\n\n(1) Where life (fourth principle) makes its appearance.\n\n(2) Where the existence of mind becomes perceptible in conjunction with\nlife.\n\n(3) Where the highest state of mental abstraction ends, and spiritual\nconsciousness commences.\n\n(4) Where spiritual consciousness disappears, leaving the seventh\nprinciple in a complete state of Nirvana, or nakedness.\n\nAccording to our philosophers, the fifth principle under consideration\nis intended to represent the mind in every possible state of\ndevelopment, from the second stage up to the third stage.\n\nIV. Brahmam and Sakti.  This principle corresponds to your \"spiritual\nintelligence.\"  It is, in fact, Buddhi (I use the word Buddhi not in the\nordinary sense, but in the sense in which it is used by our ancient\nphilosophers);  in other words, it is the seat of Bodha or Atmabodha.\nOne who has Atmabodha in its completeness is a Buddha.  Buddhists know\nvery well what this term signifies.  This principle is described in the\n\"Fragments\" as  an entity coming into existence by the combination of\nBrahmam and Prakriti.   I do not again know in what particular sense the\nword Prakriti is used in this connection.  According to our philosophers\nit is an entity arising from the union of Brahmam and Sakti.  I have\nalready explained the connotation attached by our philosophers to the\nwords Prakriti and Sakti.\n\nI stated that Prakriti in its primary state is Akasa.*\n\nIf Akasa be considered to be Sakti or power** then my statement as\nregards the ultimate state of Prakriti is likely to give rise to\nconfusion and misapprehension unless I explain the distinction between\nAkasa and Sakti.  Akasa is not, properly speaking, the crown of the\nastral light, nor does it by itself constitute any of the six primary\nforces.  But, generally speaking, whenever any phenomenal result is\nproduced, Sakti acts in conjunction with Akasa.  And, moreover, Akasa\nserves as a basis or Adhishthanum for the transmission of force currents\nand for the formation or generation of force or power correlations.***\n\n--------\n* According to the Buddhists, in Akasa lies that eternal, potential\nenergy whose function it is to evolve all visible things out of\nitself.--Ed. Theos.\n\n** It was never so considered, as we have shown it.  But as the\n\"Fragments\" are written in English, a language lacking such an abundance\nof metaphysical terms to express ever minute change of form, substance\nand state as are found in the Sanskrit, it was deemed useless to confuse\nthe Western reader, untrained in the methods of Eastern expression, more\nthan is necessary, with a too nice distinctions of proper technical\nterms.  As \"Prakriti in its primary state is Akasa,\" and Sakti \"is an\nattribute AKASA,\" it becomes evident that for the uninitiated it is all\none.  Indeed, to speak of the \"union of Brahmam and Prakriti\" instead of\n\"Brahmam and Sakti\" is no worse than for a theist to write that \"That\nman has come into existence by the combination of spirit and matter,\"\nwhereas, his word, framed in an orthodox shape, ought to read \"man is a\nliving soul was created by the power (or breath) of God over matter.\"\n\n*** That is to say, the Aryan Akasa is another word for Buddhist SPACE\n(in its metaphysical meaning).--Ed. Theos.\n---------\n\nIn Mantrasastra the letter Ha represents Akasa, and you will find that\nthis syllable enters into most of the sacred formula intended to be used\nin producing phenomenal results.  But by itself it does not represent\nany Sakti.  You may, if you please, call Sakti an attribute of Akasa.\n\nI do not think that, as regards the nature of this principle, there can\nin reality exist any difference of opinion between the Buddhist and\nBrahmanical philosophers.\n\nBuddhist and Brahmanical initiates know very well that mysterious\ncircular mirror composed of two hemispheres which reflects as it were\nthe rays emanating from the \"burning bush\" and the blazing star--the\nspiritual sun Shining in CHIDAKASAM.\n\nThe spiritual impressions constituting this principle have their\nexistence in an occult power associated with the entity in question.\nThe successive incarnations of Buddha, in fact, mean the successive\ntransfers of this mysterious power, or the impressions thereof.  The\ntransfer is only possible when the Mahatma* who transfers it has\ncompletely identified himself with his seventh principle, has\nannihilated his Ahankaram, and reduced it to ashes in CHIDAGNIKUNDUM,\nand has succeeded in making his thoughts correspond with the eternal\nlaws of Nature and in becoming a co-worker with Nature.  Or, to put the\nsame thing in other words, when he has attained the state of Nirvana,\nthe condition of final negation, negation of individual, or separate\nexistence.**\n\n---------\n* The highest adept.\n\n* In the words of Agatha in the \"Maha-pari-Nirvana Sutra,\"\n     \"We reach a condition of rest\n     Beyond the limit of any human knowledge\"\n--Ed. Theos.\n---------\n\nVII. Atma.--The emanation from the absolute, corresponding to the\nseventh principle.  As regards this entity there exists positively no\nreal difference of opinion between the Tibetan Buddhist adepts and our\nancient Rishis.\n\nWe must now consider which of these entities can appear after the\nindividual's death in seance-rooms and produce the so-called\nspiritualistic phenomena.\n\nNow, the assertion of the Spiritualists, that the \"disembodied spirits\"\nof particular human beings appear in seance-rooms, necessarily implies\nthat the entity that so appears bears the stamp of some particular\npersonality.\n\nSo, we have to ascertain beforehand in what entity or entities\npersonality has its seat of existence.  Apparently it exists in the\nperson's particular formation of body, and in his subjective experiences\n(called his mind in their totality).  On the death of the individual his\nbody is destroyed;  his lingasariram being decomposed, the power\nassociated with it becomes mingled in the current of the corresponding\npower in the macrocosm. Similarly, the third and fourth principles are\nmingled with their corresponding powers.  These entities may again enter\ninto the composition of other organisms.  As these entities bear no\nimpression of personality, the Spiritualists have no right to say that\nthe disembodied spirit of the human being has appeared in the\nseance-room whenever any of these entities may appear there. In fact,\nthey have no means of ascertaining that they belonged to any particular\nindividual.\n\nTherefore, we must only consider whether any of the last three entities\nappear in seance-rooms to amuse or to instruct Spiritualists.  Let us\ntake three particular examples of individuals, and see what becomes of\nthese three principles after death.\n\nI. One in whom spiritual attachments have greater force than terrestrial\nattachments.\n\nII. One in whom spiritual aspirations do exist, but are merely of\nsecondary importance to him, his terrestrial interests occupying the\ngreater share of his attention.\n\nIII. One in whom there exists no spiritual aspirations whatsoever, one\nwhose spiritual Ego is dead or non-existent to his apprehension.\n\nWe need not consider the case of a complete adept in this connection.\nIn the first two cases, according to our supposition, spiritual and\nmental experiences exist together;  when spiritual consciousness exists,\nthe existence of the seventh principle being recognized, it maintains\nits connection with the fifth and sixth principles.  But the existence\nof terrestrial attachments creates the necessity of Punarjanmam\n(re-birth), the latter signifying the evolution of a new set of\nobjective and subjective experiences, constituting a new combination of\nsurrounding circumstances, or, in other words, a new world.  The period\nbetween death and the next subsequent birth is occupied with the\npreparation required for the evolution of these new experiences.  During\nthe period of incubation, as you call it, the spirit will never of its\nown accord appear in this world, nor can it so appear.\n\nThere is a great law in this universe which consists in the reduction of\nsubjective experiences to objective phenomena, and the evolution of the\nformer from the latter.  This is otherwise called \"cyclic necessity.\"\nMan is subjected to this law if he do not check and counterbalance the\nusual destiny or fate, and he can only escape its control by subduing\nall his terrestrial attachments completely.  The new combination of\ncircumstances under which he will then be placed may be better or worse\nthan the terrestrial conditions under which he lived;  but in his\nprogress to a new world, you may be sure he will never turn around to\nhave a look at his spiritualistic friends.\n\nIn the third of the above three cases there is, by our supposition, no\nrecognition of spiritual consciousness or of spirits;  so they are\nnon-existing so far as he is concerned.  The case is similar to that of\nan organ or faculty which remains unused for a long time.  It then\npractically ceases to exist.\n\nThese entities, as it were, remain his, or in his possession, when they\nare stamped with the stamp of recognition.  When such is not the case,\nthe whole of his individuality is centred in his fifth principle.  And\nafter death this fifth principle is the only representative of the\nindividual in question.\n\nBy itself it cannot evolve for itself a new set of objective\nexperiences, or, to say the same thing in other words, it has no\npunarjanmam.  It is such an entity that can appear in seance-rooms;  but\nit is absurd to call it a disembodied spirit.* It is merely a power or\nforce retaining the impressions of the thoughts or ideas of the\nindividual into whose composition it originally entered.  It sometimes\nsummons to its aid the Kamarupa power, and creates for itself some\nparticular ethereal form (not necessarily human).\n\n--------\n* It is especially on this point that the Aryan and Arahat doctrines\nquite agree.  The teaching and argument that follow are in every respect\nthose of the Buddhist Himalayan Brotherhood.--Ed. Theos.\n--------\n\nIts tendencies of action will be similar to those of the individual's\nmind when he was living.  This entity maintains its existence so long as\nthe impressions on the power associated with the fifth principle remain\nintact.  In course of time they are effaced, and the power in question\nis then mixed up in the current of its corresponding power in the\nMACROCOSM, as the river loses itself in the sea.  Entities like these\nmay afford signs of there having been considerable intellectual power in\nthe individuals to which they belonged;  because very high intellectual\npower may co-exist with utter absence of spiritual consciousness.  But\nfrom this circumstance it cannot be argued that either the spirits or\nthe spiritual Egos of deceased individuals appear in seance-rooms.\n\nThere are some people in India who have thoroughly studied the nature of\nsuch entities (called Pisacham).  I do not know much about them\nexperimentally, as I have never meddled with this disgusting,\nprofitless, and dangerous branch of investigation.\n\nThe Spiritualists do not know what they are really doing.  Their\ninvestigations are likely to result in course of time either in wicked\nsorcery or in the utter spiritual ruin of thousands of men and women.*\n\n--------\n* We share entirely in this idea.--Ed. Theos.\n--------\n\nThe views I have herein expressed have been often illustrated by our\nancient writers by comparing the course of a man's life or existence to\nthe orbital motion of a planet round the sun. Centripetal force is\nspiritual attraction, and centrifugal terrestrial attraction.  As the\ncentripetal force increases in magnitude in comparison with the\ncentrifugal force, the planet approaches the sun--the individual reaches\na higher plane of existence.  If, on the other hand, the centrifugal\nforce becomes greater than the centripetal force, the planet is removed\nto a greater distance from the sun, and moves in a new orbit at that\ndistance--the individual comes to a lower level of existence. These are\nillustrated in the first two instances I have noticed above.\n\nWe have only to consider the two extreme cases.\n\nWhen the planet in its approach to the sun passes over the line where\nthe centripetal and centrifugal force completely neutralize each other,\nand is only acted on by the centripetal force, it rushes towards the sun\nwith a gradually increasing velocity, and is finally mixed up with the\nmass of the sun's body. This is the case of a complete adept.\n\nAgain, when the planet in its retreat from the sun reaches a point where\nthe centrifugal force becomes all-powerful, it flies off in a tangential\ndirection from its orbit, and goes into the depths of void space.  When\nit ceases to be under the control of the sun, it gradually gives up its\ngenerative heat, and the creative energy that it originally derived from\nthe sun, and remains a cold mass of material particles wandering through\nspace until the mass is completely decomposed into atoms.  This cold\nmass is compared to the fifth principle under the conditions above\nnoticed, and the heat, light, and energy that left it are compared to\nthe sixth and seventh principles.\n\nEither after assuming a new orbit or in its course of deviation from the\nold orbit to the new, the planet can never go back to any point in its\nold orbit, as the various orbits lying in different planes never\nintersect each other.\n\nThis figurative representation correctly explains the ancient\nBrahmanical theory on the subject.  It is merely a branch of what is\ncalled the Great Law of the Universe by the ancient mystics.\n\n--T. Subba Row\n\n\n\nAppendix\n\n\nNote I.\n\nIn this connection it will be well to draw the reader's attention to the\nfact that the country called \"Si-dzang\" by the Chinese, and Tibet by\nWestern geographers, is mentioned in the oldest books preserved in the\nprovince of Fo-kien (the headquarters of the aborigines of China) as the\ngreat seat of occult learning in the archaic ages.  According to these\nrecords, it was inhabited by the \"Teachers of Light,\" the \"Sons of\nWisdom\" and the \"Brothers of the Sun.\"  The Emperor Yu the \"Great\" (2207\nB.C.), a pious mystic, is credited with having obtained his occult\nwisdom and the system of theocracy established by him--for he was the\nfirst one to unite in China ecclesiastical power with temporal\nauthority--from Si-dzang.  That system was the same as with the old\nEgyptians and the Chaldees;  that which we know to have existed in the\nBrahmanical period in India, and to exist now in Tibet--namely, all the\nlearning, power, the temporal as well as the secret wisdom were\nconcentrated within the hierarchy of the priests and limited to their\ncaste.  Who were the aborigines of Tibet is a question which no\nethnographer is able to answer correctly at present.  They practice the\nBhon religion, their sect is a pre-and anti-Buddhistic one, and they\nare to be found mostly in the province of Kam.  That is all that is\nknown of them.  But even that would justify the supposition that they\nare the greatly degenerated descendants of mighty and wise forefathers.\nTheir ethnical type shows that they are not pure Turanians, and their\nrites--now those of sorcery, incantations, and Nature-worship--remind\none far more of the popular rites of the Babylonians, as found in the\nrecords preserved on the excavated cylinders, than of the religious\npractices of the Chinese sect of Tao-sse (a religion based upon pure\nreason and spirituality), as alleged by some.  Generally, little or no\ndifference is made, even by the Kyelang missionaries, who mix greatly\nwith these people on the borders of British Lahoul and ought to know\nbetter, between the Bhons and the two rival Buddhist sects, the Yellow\nCaps and the Red Caps.  The latter of these have opposed the reform of\nTzong-ka-pa from the first, and have always adhered to old Buddhism, so\ngreatly mixed up now with the practices of the Bhons.  Were our\nOrientalists to know more of them, and compare the ancient Babylonian\nBel or Baal worship with the rites of the Bhons, they would find an\nundeniable connection between the two.  To begin an argument here,\nproving the origin of the aborigines of Tibet as connected with one of\nthe three great races which superseded each other in Babylonia, whether\nwe call them the Akkadians (a name invented by F. Lenormant), or the\nprimitive Turanians, Chaldees, and Assyrians, is out of the question.\nBe it as it may, there is reason to call the trans-Himalayan esoteric\ndoctrine Chaldeo-Tibetan.  And when we remember that the Vedas came,\nagreeably to all traditions, from the Mansarawara Lake in Tibet, and the\nBrahmins themselves from the far North, we are justified in looking on\nthe esoteric doctrines of every people who once had or still has it, as\nhaving proceeded from one and the same source;  and to thus call it the\n\"Aryan-Chaldeo-Tibetan\" doctrine, or Universal Wisdom-Religion. \"Seek\nfor the Lost Word among the hierophants of Tartary, China, and Tibet,\"\nwas the advice of Swedenborg the seer.\n\nNote II.\n\nNot necessarily, we say.  The Vedas, Brahmanism, and along with these,\nSanskrit, were importations into what we now regard as India.  They were\nnever indigenous to its soil.  There was a time when the ancient nations\nof the West included under the generic name of India many of the\ncountries of Asia now classified under other names.  There was an Upper,\na Lower, and a Western India, even during the comparatively late period\nof Alexander;  and Persia (Iran) is called Western India in some ancient\nclassics. The countries now named Tibet, Mongolia, and Great Tartary\nwere considered by them as forming part of India.  When we say,\ntherefore, that India has civilized the world, and was the Alma Mater of\nthe civilizations, arts, and sciences of all other nations (Babylonia,\nand perhaps even Egypt, included), we mean archaic, pre-historic India,\nIndia of the time when the great Gobi was a sea, and the lost \"Atlantis\"\nformed part of an unbroken continent which began at the Himalayas and\nran down over Southern India, Ceylon, and Java, to far-away Tasmania.\n\nNote III.\n\nTo ascertain such disputed questions, one has to look into and study\nwell the Chinese sacred and historical records--a people whose era\nbegins nearly 4,600 years back (2697 B.C.).  A people so accurate, and\nby whom some of the most important inventions of modern Europe and its\nso much boasted modern science were anticipated--such as the compass,\ngunpowder, porcelain, paper, printing, &c.--known and practiced\nthousands of years before these were rediscovered by the Europeans,\nought to receive some trust for their records.  And from Lao-tze down to\nHiouen-Thsang their literature is filled with allusions and references\nto that island and the wisdom of the Himalayan adepts.  In the \"Catena\nof Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese,\" by the Rev. Samuel Beal, there\nis a chapter \"On the TIAN-TA'I School of Buddhism\" (pp. 244-258) which\nour opponents ought to read.  Translating the rules of that most\ncelebrated and holy school and sect in China founded by Chin-che-K'hae,\ncalled Che-chay (the Wise One), in the year 575 of our era, when coming\nto the sentence which reads \"That which relates to the one garment\n(seamless) worn by the GREAT TEACHERS OF THE SNOWY MOUNTAINS, the school\nof the Haimavatas\" (p. 256), the European translator places after the\nlast sentence a sign of interrogation, as well he may.  The statistics\nof the school of the \"Haimavatas,\" or of our Himalayan Brotherhood, are\nnot to be found in the general census records of India.  Further, Mr.\nBeal translates a rule relating to \"the great professors of the higher\norder who live in mountain depths remote from men,\" the Aranyakas, or\nhermits.\n\nSo, with respect to the traditions concerning this island, and apart\nfrom the (to them) historical records of this preserved in the Chinese\nand Tibetan sacred books, the legend is alive to this day among the\npeople of Tibet.  The fair island is no more, but the country where it\nonce bloomed remains there still, and the spot is well known to some of\nthe \"great teachers of the Snowy Mountains,\" however much convulsed and\nchanged its topography by the awful cataclysm.  Every seventh year these\nteachers are believed to assemble in SCHAM-BHA-LA, the \"Happy Land.\"\nAccording to the general belief it is situated in the north-west of\nTibet.  Some place it within the unexplored central regions,\ninaccessible even to the fearless nomadic tribes;  others hem it in\nbetween the range of the Gangdisri Mountains and the northern edge of\nthe Gobi desert, south and north, and the more populated regions of\nKhoondooz and Kashmir, of the Gya-Pheling (British India), and China,\nwest and east, which affords to the curious mind a pretty large latitude\nto locate it in.  Others still place it between Namur Nur and the\nKuen-Lun Mountains, but one and all firmly believe in Scham-bha-la, and\nspeak of it as a fertile fairy-like land once an island, now an oasis of\nincomparable beauty, the place of meeting of the inheritors of the\nesoteric wisdom of the god-like inhabitants of the legendary island.\n\nIn connection with the archaic legend of the Asian Sea and the Atlantic\nContinent, is it not profitable to note a fact known to all modern\ngeologists-that the Himalayan slopes afford geological proof that the\nsubstance of those lofty peaks was once a part of an ocean floor?\n\nNote IV.\n\nWe have already pointed out that, in our opinion, the whole difference\nbetween Buddhistic and Vedantic philosophies was that the former was a\nkind of Rationalistic Vedantism, while the latter might be regarded as\ntranscendental Buddhism.  If the Aryan esotericism applies the term\njivatma to the seventh principle--the pure and per se unconscious\nspirit--it is because the Vedanta, postulating three kinds of\nexistence--(1) the paramarthika (the true, the only real one), (2) the\nvyavaharika (the practical), and (3) the pratibhasika (the apparent or\nillusory life)--makes the first life or jiva, the only truly existent\none.  Brahma, or the ONE'S SELF, is its only representative in the\nuniverse, as it is the universal Life in toto, while the other two are\nbut its \"phenomenal appearances,\" imagined and created by ignorance, and\ncomplete illusions suggested to us by our blind senses.  The Buddhists,\non the other hand, deny either subjective or objective reality even to\nthat one Self-Existence.  Buddha declares that there is neither Creator\nnor an Absolute Being.  Buddhist rationalism was ever too alive to the\ninsuperable difficulty of admitting one absolute consciousness, as in\nthe words of Flint, \"wherever there is consciousness there is relation,\nand wherever there is relation there is dualism.\"  The ONE LIFE is\neither \"MUKTA\" (absolute and unconditioned), and can have no relation to\nanything nor to any one;  or it is \"BADDHA\" (bound and conditioned), and\nthen it cannot be called the absolute;  the limitation, moreover,\nnecessitating another deity as powerful as the first to account for all\nthe evil in this world.  Hence, the Arahat secret doctrine on cosmogony\nadmits but of one absolute, indestructible, eternal, and uncreated\nUNCONSCIOUSNESS (so to translate) of an element (the word being used for\nwant of a better term) absolutely independent of everything else in the\nuniverse;  a something ever present or ubiquitous, a Presence which ever\nwas, is, and will be, whether there is a God, gods, or none, whether\nthere is a universe, or no universe, existing during the eternal cycles\nof Maha Yugs, during the Pralayas as during the periods of Manvantara,\nand this is SPACE, the field for the operation of the eternal Forces and\nnatural Law, the basis (as Mr. Subba Row rightly calls it) upon which\ntake place the eternal intercorrelations of Akasa-Prakriti;  guided by\nthe unconscious regular pulsations of Sakti, the breath or power of a\nconscious deity, the theists would say;  the eternal energy of an\neternal, unconscious Law, say the Buddhists.  Space, then, or \"Fan,\nBar-nang\" (Maha Sunyata) or, as it is called by Lao-tze, the \"Emptiness,\"\nis the nature of the Buddhist Absolute.  (See Confucius' \"Praise of the\nAbyss.\")  The word jiva, then, could never be applied by the Arahats to\nthe Seventh Principle, since it is only through its correlation or\ncontact with matter that Fo-hat (the Buddhist active energy) can\ndevelop active conscious life;  and that to the question \"how can\nunconsciousness generate consciousness?\" the answer would be:  \"Was the\nseed which generated a Bacon or a Newton self-conscious?\"\n\nNote V.\n\nTo our European readers, deceived by the phonetic similarity, it must\nnot be thought that the name \"Brahman\" is identical in this connection\nwith Brahma or Iswara, the personal God.  The Upanishads--the Vedanta\nScriptures--mention no such God, and one would vainly seek in them any\nallusions to a conscious deity. The Brahman, or Parabrahm, the absolute\nof the Vedantins, is neuter and unconscious, and has no connection with\nthe masculine Brahma of the Hindu Triad, or Trimurti.  Some Orientalists\nrightly believe the name derived from the verb \"Brih,\" to grow or\nincrease, and to be in this sense the universal expansive force of\nNature, the vivifying and spiritual principle or power spread throughout\nthe universe, and which, in its collectivity, is the one Absoluteness,\nthe one Life and the only Reality.\n\n--H.P. Blavatsky\n\n\n\n\nSeptenary Division in Different Indian Systems\n\n\nWe give below in a tabular form the classifications, adopted by\nBuddhist and by Vedantic teachers, of the principles in man:--\n\nClassification in      Vedantic         Classification in\nEsoteric Buddhism    Classification      Taraka Raja Yoga\n\n(1.) Sthula sarira      Annamaya kosa       Sthulopadhi\n\n(2.) Prana\n                        Pranamaya kosa\n(3.)The Vehicle\n       of Prana\n\n(4.) Kama rupa\n   (a) Volitions        Manomaya kosa\n(5.) Mind/& feelings &c.                    Sukshmopadhi\n   (b) Vignanam         Vignanamayakosa\n\n(6.) Spiritual Soul     Anandamayakosa      Karanopadhi\n\n(7.) Atma               Atma                Atma\n\nFrom the foregoing table it will be seen that the third principle in the\nBuddhist classification is not separately mentioned in the Vedantic\ndivision as it is merely the vehicle of prana.  It will also be seen\nthat the fourth principle is included in the third kosa (sheath), as the\nsaid principle is but the vehicle of will-power, which is but an energy\nof the mind.  It must also be noticed that the Vignanamayakosa is\nconsidered to be distinct from the Manomayakosa, as a division is made\nafter death between the lower part of the mind, as it were, which has a\ncloser affinity with the fourth principle than with the sixth and its\nhigher part, which attaches itself to the latter, and which is, in fact,\nthe basis for the higher spiritual individuality of man.\n\nWe may also here point out to our readers that the classification\nmentioned in the last column is for all practical purposes connected\nwith Raja Yoga, the best and simplest.  Though there are seven\nprinciples in man, there are but three distinct Upadhis (bases), in each\nof which his Atma may work independently of the rest.  These three\nUpadhis can be separated by an adept without killing himself.  He cannot\nseparate the seven principles from each other without destroying his\nconstitution.\n\n--T.S.\n\n\n\n\nThe Septenary Principle in Esotericism\n\n\nSince the exposition of the Arhat esoteric doctrine was begun, many who\nhad not acquainted themselves with the occult basis of Hindu philosophy\nhave imagined that the two were in conflict. Some of the more bigoted\nhave openly charged the Occultists of the Theosophical Society with\npropagating rank Buddhistic heresy; and have even gone to the length of\naffirming that the whole Theosophic movement was but a masked Buddhistic\npropaganda.  We were taunted by ignorant Brahmins and learned Europeans\nthat our septenary divisions of Nature and everything in it, including\nman, are arbitrary and not endorsed by the oldest religious systems of\nthe East.  It is now proposed to throw a cursory glance at the Vedas,\nthe Upanishads, the Law-Books of Manu, and especially the Vedanta, and\nshow that they too support our position.  Even in their crude\nexotericism their affirmation of the sevenfold division is apparent.\nPassage after passage may be cited in proof.  And not only can the\nmysterious number be found traced on every page of the oldest Aryan\nSacred Scriptures, but in the oldest books of Zoroastrianism as well;\nin the rescued cylindrical tile records of old Babylonia and Chaldea, in\nthe \"Book of the Dead\" and the Ritualism of ancient Egypt, and even in\nthe Mosaic books--without mentioning the secret Jewish works, such as\nthe Kabala.\n\nThe limited space at command forces us to allow a few brief quotations\nto stand as landmarks and not even attempt long explanations.  It is no\nexaggeration to say that upon each of the few hints now given in the\ncited Slokas a thick volume might be written.\n\nFrom the well-known hymn To Time, in the Atharva-Veda (xix. 53):\n\n     \"Time, like a brilliant steed with seven rays,\n     Full of fecundity, bears all things onward.\n\n     \"Time, like a seven-wheeled, seven-naved car moves on,\n     His rolling wheels are all the worlds, his axle\n     Is immortality....\"\n\n--down to Manu, \"the first and the seventh man,\" the Vedas, the\nUpanishads, and all the later systems of philosophy teem with allusions\nto this number.  Who was Manu, the son of Swayambhuva? The secret\ndoctrine tells us that this Manu was no man, but the representation of\nthe first human races evolved with the help of the Dhyan-Chohans (Devas)\nat the beginning of the first Round. But we are told in his Laws (Book\nI. 80) that there are fourteen Manus for every Kalpa or \"interval from\ncreation to creation\" (read interval from one minor \"Pralaya\" to\nanother) and that \"in the present divine age there have been as yet\nseven Manus.\" Those who know that there are seven Rounds, of which we\nhave passed three, and are now in the fourth;  and who are taught that\nthere are seven dawns and seven twilights, or fourteen Manvantaras;\nthat at the beginning of every Round and at the end, and on and between\nthe planets, there is \"an awakening to illusive life,\" and \"an awakening\nto real life,\" and that, moreover, there are \"root-Manus,\" and what we\nhave to clumsily translate as the \"seed-Manus\"--the seeds for the human\nraces of the forthcoming Round (a mystery divulged but to those who have\npassed the 3rd degree in initiation);  those who have learned all that,\nwill be better prepared to understand the meaning of the following.  We\nare told in the Sacred Hindu Scriptures that \"the first Manu produced\nsix other Manus (seven primary Manus in all), and these produced in\ntheir turn each seven other Manus\" (Bhrigu I. 61-63),* the production of\nthe latter standing in the occult treatises as 7 x 7.  Thus it becomes\nclear that Manu--the last one, the progenitor of our Fourth Round\nHumanity--must be the seventh, since we are on our fourth Round, and\nthat there is a root-Manu on globe A and a seed-Manu on globe G.  Just\nas each planetary Round commences with the appearance of a \"Root-Manu\"\n(Dhyan-Chohan) and closes with a \"Seed-Manu,\" so a root-and a seed-Manu\nappear respectively at the beginning and the termination of the human\nperiod on any particular planet.\n\n-------\n* The fact that Manu himself is made to declare that he was created by\nViraj and then produced the ten Prajapatis, who again produced seven\nMenus, who in their turn gave birth to seven other Manus (Manu, I.\n33-36), relates to other still earlier mysteries, and is at the same\ntime a blind with regard to the doctrine of the Septenary chain.\n---------\n\nIt will be easily seen from the foregoing statement that a Manu-antaric\nperiod means, as the term implies, the time between the appearance of\ntwo Manus or Dhyan-Chohans:  and hence a minor Manu-antara is the\nduration of the seven races on any particular planet, and a major\nManu-antara is the period of one human round along the planetary chain.\nMoreover, that, as it is said that each of the seven Manus creates 7 x 7\nManus, and that there are 49 root-races on the seven planets during each\nRound, then every root-race has its Manu.  The present seventh Manu is\ncalled \"Vaivasvata,\" and stands in the exoteric texts for that Manu who\nrepresents in India the Babylonian Xisusthrus and the Jewish Noah.  But\nin the esoteric books we are told that Manu Vaivasvata, the progenitor\nof our fifth race--who saved it from the flood that nearly exterminated\nthe fourth (Atlantean)--is not the seventh Manu, mentioned in the\nnomenclature of the Root, or primitive Manus, but one of the 49\n\"emanated from this 'root'--Manu.\"\n\nFor clearer comprehension we here give the names of the 14 Manus in\ntheir respective order and relation to each Round:--\n\n1st      1st (Root) Manu on Planet      A.-Swayambhuva\nRound.   1st (Seed) Manu on Planet      G.-Swarochi\n                                           (or)Swarotisha\n\n2nd      2nd (R.)     M.    on Planet   A.-Uttama\nRound    2nd (S.)     M.     \"    \"     G.-Thamasa\n\n3rd      3rd (R.)     M.     \"    \"     A.-Raivata\nRound    3rd (S.)     M.     \"    \"     G.-Chackchuska\n\n4th      4th (R.)     M.     \"    \"     A.-Vaivasvata (our progenitor)\nRound    4th (S.)     M.     \"    \"     G.-Savarni\n\n5th      5th (R.)     M.     \"    \"     A.-Daksha Savarni\nRound    5th (S.)     M.     \"    \"     G.-Brahma Savarni\n\n6th      6th (R.)     M.  on    Planet  A.-Dharma Savarni\nRound    6th  (S.)    M.  \"      \"      G.-Rudra Savarni\n\n7th      7th  (R.)    M.  \"      \"      A.-Rouchya\nRound    7th  (S.)    M.  \"      \"      G.-Bhoutya\n\nVaivasvata thus, though seventh in the order given, is the primitive\nRoot-Manu of our fourth Human Wave (the reader must always remember that\nManu is not a man but collective humanity), while our Vaivasvata was but\none of the seven Minor Manus who are made to preside over the seven\nraces of this our planet.  Each of these has to become the witness of\none of the periodical and ever-recurring cataclysms (by fire and water\nin turn) that close the cycle of every root-race.  And it is this\nVaivasvata--the Hindu ideal embodiment called respectively Xisusthrus,\nDeukalion, Noah, and by other names--who is the allegorical man who\nrescued our race when nearly the whole population of one hemisphere\nperished by water, while the other hemisphere was awakening from its\ntemporary obscuration.\n\nThe number seven stands prominently conspicuous in even a cursory\ncomparison of the 11th Tablet of the Izdhubar Legends of the Chaldean\naccount of the Deluge and the so-called Mosaic books. In both the number\nseven plays a most prominent part.  The clean beasts are taken by\nsevens, the fowls by sevens also;  in seven days, it is promised Noah,\nto rain upon the earth;  thus he stays \"yet other seven days,\" and again\nseven days;  while in the Chaldean. account of the Deluge, on the\nseventh day the rain abated.  On the seventh day the dove is sent out;\nby sevens, Xisusthrus takes \"jugs of wine\" for the altar, &c.  Why such\ncoincidence?  And yet we are told by, and bound to believe in, the\nEuropean Orientalists, when passing judgment alike upon the Babylonian\nand Aryan chronology they call them \"extravagant and fanciful!\"\nNevertheless, while they give us no explanation of, nor have they ever\nnoticed, as far as we know, the strange identity in the totals of the\nSemitic, Chaldean, and Aryan Hindu chronology, the students of Occult\nPhilosophy find the following fact extremely suggestive.  While the\nperiod of the reign of the 10 Babylonian antediluvian kings is given as\n432,000 years,* the duration of the postdiluvian Kali-yug is also given\nas 432,000, while the four ages or the divine Maha-yug, yield in their\ntotality 4,320,000 years.  Why should they, if fanciful and\n\"extravagant,\" give the identical figures, when neither the Aryans nor\nthe Babylonians have surely borrowed anything from each other!  We\ninvite the attention of our occultists to the three figures given--4\nstanding for the perfect square, 3 for the triad (the seven universal\nand the seven individual principles), and 2 the symbol of our\nillusionary world, a figure ignored and rejected by Pythagoras.\n\n--------\n* See \"Babylonia,\" by George Smith, p. 36.  Here again, as with the\nManus and 10 Prajapatis and the 10 Sephiroths in the Book of Numbers--\nthey dwindle down to seven!\n--------\n\nIt is in the Upanishads and the Vedanta though, that we have to look for\nthe best corroborations of the occult teachings.  In the mystical\ndoctrine the Rahasya, or the Upanishads--\"the only Veda of all\nthoughtful Hindus in the present day,\" as Monier Williams is made to\nconfess, every word, as its very name implies,* has a secret meaning\nunderlying it.  This meaning can be fully realized only by him who has a\nfull knowledge of Prana, the ONE LIFE, \"the nave to which are attached\nthe seven spokes of the Universal Wheel.\" (Hymn to Prana, Atharva-Veda,\nXI. 4.)\n\nEven European Orientalists agree that all the systems in India assign to\nthe human body:  (a) an exterior or gross body (sthula-sarira);  (b) an\ninner or shadowy body (sukshma), or linga-sarira (the vehicle), the two\ncemented with--(c), life (jiv or Karana sarira, \"causal body\").**  These\nthe occult system or esotericism divides into seven, farther adding to\nthese--kama, manas, buddhi and atman.  The Nyaya philosophy when\ntreating of Prameyas (by which the objects and subjects of Praman are to\nbe correctly understood) includes among the 12 the seven \"root\nprinciples\" (see IXth Sutra), which are 1, soul (atman), and 2 its\nsuperior spirit Jivatman;  3, body (sarira);  4, senses (indriya);  5,\nactivity or will (pravritti);  6, mind (manas);  7, Intellection\n(Buddhi).  The seven Padarthas (inquiries or predicates of existing\nthings) of Kanada in the Vaiseshikas, refer in the occult doctrine to\nthe seven qualities or attributes of the seven principles.  Thus:  1,\nsubstance (dravya) refers to body or sthula-sarira;  2, quality or\nproperty (guna) to the life principle, jiv;  3, action or act (karman)\nto the Linga, sarira; 4, Community or commingling of properties\n(Samanya) to Kamarupa; 5, personality or conscious individuality\n(Visesha) to Manas;  6, co-inherence or perpetual intimate relation\n(Samuvuya) to Buddhi, the inseparable vehicle of Atman;  7,\nnon-existence or non-being in the sense of, and as separate from,\nobjectivity or substance (abhava)--to the highest monad or Atman.\n\n-------\n* Upa-ni-shad means, according to Brahminical authority, \"to conquer\nignorance by revealing the secret spiritual knowledge.\" According to\nMonier Williams, the title is derived from the root sad with the\nprepositions upa and ni, and implies \"something mystical that underlies\nor is beneath the surface.\"\n\n** This Karana-sarira is often mistaken by the uninitiated for\nLinga-sarira, and since it is described as the inner rudimentary or\nlatent embryo of the body, confounded with it.  But the Occultists\nregard it as the life (body) or Jiv, which disappears at death;  is\nwithdrawn--leaving the 1st and 3rd principles to disintegrate and\nreturn to their elements.\n----------\n\nThus, whether we view the ONE as the Vedic Purusha or Brahman (neuter)\nthe \"all-expanding essence;\"  or as the universal spirit, the \"light of\nlights\" (jyotisham jyotih) the TOTAL independent of all relation, of the\nUpanishads;  or as the Paramatman of the Vedanta;  or again as Kanada's\nAdrishta, \"the unseen Force,\" or divine atom;  or as Prakriti, the\n\"eternally existing essence,\" of Kapila--we find in all these impersonal\nuniversal Principles the latent capability of evolving out of themselves\n\"six rays\" (the evolver being the seventh).  The third aphorism of the\nSankhya-Karika, which says of Prakriti that it is the \"root and\nsubstance of all things,\" and no production, but itself a producer of\n\"seven things, which produced by it, become also producers,\" has a\npurely occult meaning.\n\nWhat are the \"producers\" evoluted from this universal root-principle,\nMula-prakriti or undifferentiated primeval cosmic matter, which evolves\nout of itself consciousness and mind, and is generally called \"Prakriti\"\nand amulam mulam, \"the rootless root,\" and Aryakta, the \"unevolved\nevolver,\" &c.?  This primordial tattwa or \"eternally existing 'that,'\"\nthe unknown essence, is said to produce as a first producer, 1, Buddhi--\n\"intellect\"--whether we apply the latter to the 6th macrocosmic or\nmicrocosmic principle.  This first produced produces in its turn (or is\nthe source of) Ahankara, \"self-consciousness\" and manas \"mind.\"  The\nreader will please always remember that the Mahat or great source of\nthese two internal faculties, \"Buddhi\" per se, can have neither\nself-consciousness nor mind;  viz., the 6th principle in man can preserve\nan essence of personal self-consciousness or \"personal individuality\" only\nby absorbing within itself its own waters, which have run through that\nfinite faculty;  for Ahankara, that is the perception of \"I,\" or the\nsense of one's personal individuality, justly represented by the term\n\"Ego-ism,\" belongs to the second, or rather the third, production out of\nthe seven, viz., to the 5th principle, or Manas.  It is the latter which\ndraws \"as the web issues from the spider\" along the thread of Prakriti,\nthe \"root principle,\" the four following subtle elementary principles or\nparticles--Tanmatras, out of which \"third class,\" the Mahabhutas or the\ngross elementary principles, or rather sarira and rupas, are evolved--\nthe kama, linga, Jiva and sthula-sarira.  The three gunas of\n\"Prakriti\"--the Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas (purity, passionate activity,\nand ignorance or darkness)--spun into a triple-stranded cord or \"rope,\"\npass through the seven, or rather six, human principles.\n\nIt depends on the 5th--Manas or Ahankara, the \"I\"--to thin the guna,\n\"rope,\" into one thread--the sattwa;  and thus by becoming one with the\n\"unevolved evolver,\" win immortality or eternal conscious existence.\nOtherwise it will be again resolved into its Mahabhautic essence;  so\nlong as the triple-stranded rope is left unstranded, the spirit (the\ndivine monad) is bound by the presence of the gunas in the principles\n\"like an animal\" (purusha pasu).  The spirit, atman or jivatman (the 7th\nand 6th principles), whether of the macro-or microcosm, though bound by\nthese gunas during the objective manifestation of universe or man, is\nyet nirguna--i.e., entirely free from them.  Out of the three producers\nor evolvers, Prakriti, Buddhi and Ahankara, it is but the latter that\ncan be caught (when man is concerned) and destroyed when personal.  The\n\"divine monad\" is aguna (devoid of qualities), while Prakriti, once that\nfrom passive Mula-prakriti it has become avyakta (an active evolver) is\ngunavat--endowed with qualities.  With the latter, Purusha or Atman can\nhave nought to do (of course being unable to perceive it in its\ngunuvatic state);  with the former--or Mula-prakriti or undifferentiated\ncosmic essence--it has, since it is one with it and identical.\n\nThe Atma Bodha, or \"knowledge of soul,\" a tract written by the great\nSankaracharya, speaks distinctly of the seven principles in man (see\n14th verse).  They are called therein the five sheaths (panchakosa) in\nwhich is enclosed the divine monad--the Atman, and Buddhi, the 7th and\n6th principles, or the individuated soul when made distinct (through\navidya, maya and the gunas) from the supreme soul--Parabrahm.  The 1st\nsheath, called Ananda-maya--the \"illusion of supreme bliss\"--is the\nmanas or fifth principle of the occultists, when united with Buddhi;\nthe 2nd sheath is Vjnana-maya-kosa, the case or \"envelope of\nself-delusion,\" the manas when self-deluded into the belief of the\npersonal \"I,\" or ego, with its vehicle.  The 3rd, the Mano-maya sheath,\ncomposed of \"illusionary mind\" associated with the organs of action and\nwill, is the Kamarupa and Linga-sarira combined, producing an illusive\n\"I\" or Mayavi-rupa.  The 4th sheath is called Prana-maya, \"illusionary\nlife,\" our second life principle or jiv, wherein resides life, the\n\"breathing\" sheath.  The 5th kosa is called Anna-maya, or the sheath\nsupported by food--our gross material body.  All these sheaths produce\nother smaller sheaths, or six attributes or qualities each, the seventh\nbeing always the root sheath;  and the Atman or spirit passing through\nall these subtle ethereal bodies like a thread, is called the\n\"thread-soul\" or sutratman.\n\nWe may conclude with the above demonstration.  Verily the Esoteric\ndoctrine may well be called in its turn the \"thread-doctrine,\" since,\nlike Sutratman or Pranatman, it passes through and strings together all\nthe ancient philosophical religious systems, and, what is more,\nreconciles and explains them.  For though seeming so unlike externally,\nthey have but one foundation, and of that the extent, depth, breadth and\nnature are known to those who have become, like the \"Wise Men of the\nEast,\" adepts in Occult Science.\n\n--H.P. Blavatsky\n\n\n\n\nPersonal and Impersonal God\n\n\nAt the outset I shall request my readers (such of them at least as are\nnot acquainted with the Cosmological theories of the Idealistic thinkers\nof Europe) to examine John Stuart Mill's Cosmological speculations as\ncontained in his examination of Sir William Hamilton's philosophy,\nbefore attempting to understand the Adwaita doctrine;  and I beg to\ninform them beforehand that in explaining the main principles of the\nsaid doctrine, I am going to use, as far as it is convenient to do so,\nthe phraseology adopted by English psychologists of the Idealistic\nschool of thought.  In dealing with the phenomena of our present plane\nof existence John Stuart Mill ultimately came to the conclusion that\nmatter, or the so-called external phenomena, are but the creation of our\nmind;  they are the mere appearances of a particular phase of our\nsubjective self, and of our thoughts, volitions, sensations and emotions\nwhich in their totality constitute the basis of that Ego.  Matter then\nis the permanent possibility of sensations, and the so-called Laws of\nmatter are, properly speaking, the Laws which govern the succession and\ncoexistence of our states of consciousness.  Mill further holds that\nproperly speaking there is no noumenal Ego.  The very idea of a mind\nexisting separately as an entity, distinct from the states of\nconsciousness which are supposed to inhere in it, is in his opinion\nillusory, as the idea of an external object, which is supposed to be\nperceived by our senses.\n\nThus the ideas of mind and matter, of subject and object, of the Ego and\nexternal world, are really evolved from the aggregation of our mental\nstates which are the only realities so far as we are concerned.\n\nThe chain of our mental states or states of consciousness is \"a\ndouble-headed monster,\" according to Professor Bain, which has two\ndistinct aspects, one objective and the other subjective. Mr. Mill has\npaused here, confessing that psychological analysis did not go any\nfurther; the mysterious link which connects together the train of our\nstates of consciousness and gives rise to our Ahankaram in this\ncondition of existence, still remains an incomprehensible mystery to\nWestern psychologists, though its existence is but dimly perceived in\nthe subjective phenomena of memory and expectation.\n\nOn the other hand, the great physicists of Europe are gradually coming\nto the conclusion* that mind is the product of matter, or that it is one\nof the attributes of matter in some of its conditions.  It would appear,\ntherefore, from the speculations of Western psychologists that matter is\nevolved from mind and that mind is evolved from matter.  These two\npropositions are apparently irreconcilable.\n\n--------\n* See Tyndall's Belfast Address.--S.R.\n--------\n\nMill and Tyndall have admitted that Western science is yet unable to go\ndeeper into the question.  Nor is it likely to solve the mystery\nhereafter, unless it calls Eastern occult science to its aid and takes a\nmore comprehensive view of the capabilities of the real subjective self\nof man and the various aspects of the great objective universe.  The\ngreat Adwaitee philosophers of ancient Aryavarta have examined the\nrelationship between subject and object in every condition of existence\nin this solar system in which this differentiation is presented.  Just\nas a human being is composed of seven principles, differentiated matter\nin the solar system exists in seven different conditions.  These\ndifferent states of matter do not all come within the range of our\npresent objective consciousness.  But they can be objectively perceived\nby the spiritual Ego in man.  To the liberated spiritual monad of man,\nor to the Dhyan Chohans, every thing that is material in every condition\nof matter is an object of perception.  Further, Pragna or the capacity\nof perception exists in seven different aspects corresponding to the\nseven conditions of matter.  Strictly speaking, there are but six states\nof matter, the so-called seventh state being the aspect of cosmic matter\nin its original undifferentiated condition.  Similarly there are six\nstates of differentiated Pragna, the seventh state being a condition of\nperfect unconsciousness.  By differentiated Pragna, I mean the condition\nin which Pragna is split up into various states of consciousness.  Thus\nwe have six states of consciousness, either objective or subjective for\nthe time being, as the case may be, and a perfect state of\nunconsciousness, which is the beginning and the end of all conceivable\nstates of consciousness, corresponding to the states of differentiated\nmatter and its original undifferentiated basis which is the beginning\nand the end of all cosmic evolutions.  It will be easily seen that the\nexistence of consciousness is necessary for the differentiation between\nsubject and object.  Hence these two phases are presented in six\ndifferent conditions, and in the last state there being no consciousness\nas above stated, the differentiation in question ceases to exist.  The\nnumber of these various conditions is different in different systems of\nphilosophy.  But whatever may be the number of divisions, they all lie\nbetween perfect unconsciousness at one end of the line and our present\nstate of consciousness or Bahipragna at the other end.  To understand\nthe real nature of these different states of consciousness, I shall\nrequest my readers to compare the consciousness of the ordinary man with\nthe consciousness of the astral man, and again compare the latter with\nthe consciousness of the spiritual Ego in man.  In these three\nconditions the objective universe is not the same.  But the difference\nbetween the Ego and the non-Ego is common to all these conditions.\nConsequently, admitting the correctness of Mill's reasoning as regards\nthe subject and object of our present plane of consciousness, the great\nAdwaitee thinkers of India have extended the same reasoning to other\nstates of consciousness, and came to the conclusion that the various\nconditions of the Ego and the non-Ego were but the appearances of one\nand the same entity--the ultimate state of unconsciousness.  This entity\nis neither matter nor spirit;  it is neither Ego nor non-Ego;  and it is\nneither object nor subject.  In the language of Hindu philosophers it is\nthe original and eternal combination of Purusha and Prakriti.  As the\nAdwaitees hold that an external object is merely the product of our\nmental states, Prakriti is nothing more than illusion, and Purush is the\nonly reality;  it is the one existence which remains eternal in this\nuniverse of Ideas.  This entity then is the Parabrahmam of the\nAdwaitees.  Even if there were to be a personal God with anything like a\nmaterial Upadhi (physical basis of whatever form), from the standpoint\nof an Adwaitee there will be as much reason to doubt his noumenal\nexistence as there would be in the case of any other object.  In their\nopinion, a conscious God cannot be the origin of the universe, as his\nEgo would be the effect of a previous cause, if the word conscious\nconveys but its ordinary meaning.  They cannot admit that the grand\ntotal of all the states of consciousness in the universe is their deity,\nas these states are constantly changing and as cosmic idealism ceases\nduring Pralaya.  There is only one permanent condition in the universe\nwhich is the state of perfect unconsciousness, bare Chidakasam (field of\nconsciousness) in fact.\n\nWhen my readers once realize the fact that this grand universe is in\nreality but a huge aggregation of various states of consciousness, they\nwill not be surprised to find that the ultimate state of unconsciousness\nis considered as Parabrahmam by the Adwaitees.\n\nThe idea of a God, Deity, Iswar, or an impersonal God (if consciousness\nis one of his attributes) involves the idea of Ego or non-Ego in some\nshape or other, and as every conceivable Ego or non-Ego is evolved from\nthis primitive element (I use this word for want of a better one) the\nexistence of an extra-cosmic god possessing such attributes prior to\nthis condition is absolutely inconceivable.  Though I have been speaking\nof this element as the condition of unconsciousness, it is, properly\nspeaking, the Chidakasam or Chinmatra of the Hindu philosophers which\ncontains within itself the potentiality of every condition of \"Pragna,\"\nand which results as consciousness on the one hand and the objective\nuniverse on the other, by the operation of its latent Chichakti (the\npower which generates thought).\n\nBefore proceeding to discuss the nature of Parabrahmam.  It is to be\nstated that in the opinion of Adwaitees, the Upanishads and the\nBrahmasutras fully support their views on the subject. It is distinctly\naffirmed in the Upanishads that Parabrahmam, which is but the bare\npotentiality of Pragna,* is not an aspect of Pragna or Ego in any shape,\nand that it has neither life nor consciousness.  The reader will be able\nto ascertain that such is really the case on examining the Mundaka and\nMandukya Upanishads.  The language used here and there in the Upanishads\nis apt to mislead one into the belief that such language points to the\nexistence of a conscious Iswar.  But the necessity for such language\nwill perhaps be rendered clear from the following considerations.\n\n--------\n* The power or the capacity that gives rise to perception.\n--------\n\nFrom a close examination of Mill's cosmological theory the difficulty\nwill be clearly seen referred to above, of satisfactorily accounting for\nthe generation of conscious states in any human being from the\nstandpoint of the said theory.  It is generally stated that sensations\narise in us from the action of the external objects around us:  they are\nthe effects of impressions made on our senses by the objective world in\nwhich we exist.  This is simple enough to an ordinary mind, however\ndifficult it may be to account for the transformation of a cerebral\nnerve-current into a state of consciousness.\n\nBut from the standpoint of Mill's theory we have no proof of the\nexistence of any external object;  even the objective existence of our\nown senses is not a matter of certainty to us.  How, then, are we to\naccount for and explain the origin of our mental states, if they are the\nonly entities existing in this world?  No explanation is really given by\nsaying that one mental state gives rise to another mental state, to a\ncertain extent at all events, under the operation of the so-called\npsychological \"Laws of Association.\"  Western psychology honestly admits\nthat its analysis has not gone any further.  It may be inferred,\nhowever, from the said theory that there would be no reason for saying\nthat a material Upadhi (basis) is necessary for the existence of mind or\nstates of consciousness.\n\nAs is already indicated, the Aryan psychologists have traced this\ncurrent of mental states to its source--the eternal Chinmatra existing\neverywhere.  When the time for evolution comes this germ of Pragna\nunfolds itself and results ultimately as Cosmic ideation.  Cosmic ideas\nare the conceptions of all the conditions of existence in the Cosmos\nexisting in what may be called the universal mind (the demiurgic mind of\nthe Western Kabalists).\n\nThis Chinmatra exists as it were at every geometrical point of the\ninfinite Chidakasam.  This principle then has two general aspects.\nConsidered as something objective it is the eternal Asath--Mulaprakriti\nor Undifferentiated Cosmic matter.  From a subjective point of view it\nmay be looked upon in two ways.  It is Chidakasam when considered as the\nfield of Cosmic ideation; and it is Chinmatra when considered as the\ngerm of Cosmic ideation.  These three aspects constitute the highest\nTrinity of the Aryan Adwaitee philosophers.  It will be readily seen\nthat the last-mentioned aspect of the principle in question is far more\nimportant to us than the other two aspects;  for, when looked upon in\nthis aspect the principle under consideration seems to embody within\nitself the great Law of Cosmic Evolution. And therefore the Adwaitee\nphilosophers have chiefly considered it in this light, and explained\ntheir cosmogony from a subjective point of view.  In doing so, however,\nthey cannot avoid the necessity of speaking of a universal mind (and\nthis is Brahma, the Creator) and its ideation.  But it ought not to be\ninferred therefrom that this universal mind necessarily belongs to an\nOmnipresent living conscious Creator, simply because in ordinary\nparlance a mind is always spoken of in connection with a particular\nliving being.  It cannot be contended that a material Uphadi is\nindispensable for the existence of mind or mental states when the\nobjective universe itself is, so far as we are concerned, the result of\nour states of consciousness. Expressions implying the existence of a\nconscious Iswar which are to be found here and there in the Upanishads\nshould not therefore be literally construed.\n\nIt now remains to be seen how Adwaitees account for the origin of mental\nstates in a particular individual.  Apparently the mind of a particular\nhuman being is not the universal mind.  Nevertheless Cosmic ideation is\nthe real source of the states of consciousness in every individual.\nCosmic ideation exists everywhere;  but when placed under restrictions\nby a material Upadhi it results as the consciousness of the individual\ninhering in such Upadhi. Strictly speaking, an Adwaitee will not admit\nthe objective existence of this material Upadhi.  From his standpoint it\nis Maya or illusion which exists as a necessary condition of Pragna. But\nto avoid confusion, I shall use the ordinary language;  and to enable my\nreaders to grasp my meaning clearly the following simile may be adopted.\nSuppose a bright light is placed in the centre with a curtain around it.\nThe nature of the light that penetrates through the curtain and becomes\nvisible to a person standing outside depends upon the nature of the\ncurtain.  If several such curtains are thus successively placed around\nthe light, it will have to penetrate through all of them;  and a person\nstanding outside will only perceive as much light as is not intercepted\nby all the curtains.  The central light becomes dimmer and dimmer as\ncurtain after curtain is placed before the observer;  and as curtain\nafter curtain is removed the light becomes brighter and brighter until\nit reaches its natural brilliancy.  Similarly, universal mind or Cosmic\nideation becomes more and more limited and modified by the various\nUpadhis of which a human being is composed;  and when the action or\ninfluence of these various Upadhis is successively controlled, the mind\nof the individual human being is placed en rapport with the universal\nmind and his ideation is lost in Cosmic ideation.\n\nAs I have already said, these Upadhis are strictly speaking the\nconditions of the gradual development or evolution of Bahipragna--or\nconsciousness in the present plane of our existence--from the original\nand eternal Chinmatra, which is the seventh principle in man, and the\nParabrahmam of the Adwaitees.\n\nThis then is the purport of the Adwaitee philosophy on the subject under\nconsideration, and it is, in my humble opinion, in harmony with the\nArhat doctrine relating to the same subject. The latter doctrine\npostulates the existence of Cosmic matter in an undifferentiated\ncondition throughout the infinite expanse of space.  Space and time are\nbut its aspects, and Purush, the seventh principle of the universe, has\nits latent life in this ocean of Cosmic matter.  The doctrine in\nquestion explains Cosmogony from an objective point of view.\n\nWhen the period of activity arrives, portions of the whole differentiate\naccording to the latent law.  When this differentiation has commenced,\nthe concealed wisdom or latent Chichakti acts in the universal mind, and\nCosmic energy or Fohat forms the manifested universe in accordance with\nthe conceptions generated in the universal mind out of the\ndifferentiated principles of Cosmic matter.  This manifested universe\nconstitutes a solar system. When the period of Pralaya comes, the\nprocess of differentiation stops and Cosmic ideation ceases to exist;\nand at the time of Brahmapralaya or Mahapralaya the particles of matter\nlose all differentiation, and the matter that exists in the solar system\nreturns to its original undifferentiated condition. The latent design\nexists in the one unborn eternal atom, the centre which exists\neverywhere and nowhere;  and this is the one life that exists\neverywhere.  Now, it will be easily seen that the undifferentiated\nCosmic matter, Purush, and the ONE LIFE of the Arhat philosophers, are\nthe Mulaprakriti, Chidakasam, and Chinmatra of the Adwaitee\nphilosophers.  As regards Cosmogony, the Arhat standpoint is objective,\nand the Adwaitee standpoint is subjective.  The Arhat Cosmogony accounts\nfor the evolution of the manifested solar system from undifferentiated\nCosmic matter, and Adwaitee Cosmogony accounts for the evolution of\nBahipragna from the original Chinmatra.  As the different conditions of\ndifferentiated C osmic matter are but the different aspects of the\nvarious conditions of Pragna, the Adwaitee Cosmogony is but the\ncomplement of the Arhat Cosmogony.  The eternal principle is precisely\nthe same in both the systems, and they agree in denying the existence of\nan extra-Cosmic God.\n\nThe Arhats call themselves Atheists, and they are justified in doing so\nif theism inculcates the existence of a conscious God governing the\nuniverse by his will-power.  Under such circumstance the Adwaitee will\ncome under the same denomination. Atheism and theism are words of\ndoubtful import, and until their meaning is definitely ascertained it\nwould be better not to use them in connection with any system of\nphilosophy.\n\n--T. Subba Row\n\n\n\n\nPrakriti and Parusha\n\n\nPrakriti may be looked upon either as Maya when considered as the Upadhi\nof Parabrahmam or as Avidya when considered as the Upadhi of Jivatma\n(7th principle in man).*  Avidya is ignorance or illusion arising from\nMaya. The term Maya, though sometimes used as a synonym for Avidya, is,\nproperly speaking, applicable to Prakriti only.  There is no difference\nbetween Prakriti, Maya and Sakti;  and the ancient Hindu philosophers\nmade no distinction whatsoever between Matter and Force.  In support of\nthese assertions I may refer the learned hermit to \"Swetaswatara\nUpanishad\" and its commentary by Sankaracharya.  In case we adopt the\nfourfold division of the Adwaitee philosophers, it will be clearly seen\nthat Jagrata,* Swapna* and Sushupti Avasthas* are the results of Avidya,\nand that Vyswanara,* Hiranyagarbha* and Sutratma* are the manifestations\nof Parabrahmam in Maya or Prakriti.  In drawing a distinction between\nAvidya and Prakriti, I am merely following the authority of all the\ngreat Adwaitee philosophers of Aryavarta.  It will be sufficient for me\nto refer to the first chapter of the celebrated Vidantic treatise, the\nPanchadasi.\n\n----------\n* Upadhi--vehicle.\n\nJagrata--waking state, or a condition of external perception.\n\nSwapna--dreamy state, or a condition of clairvoyance in the astral\nplane.\n\nSushupti--a state of extasis;  and Avastas--states or conditions of\nPragna.\n\nVyswanara--the magnetic fire that pervades the manifested solar system--\nthe root objective aspect of the ONE LIFE.\n\nHiranyagarbha--the one life as manifested in the plane of astral Light.\n\nSutratma--the Eternal germ of the manifested universe existing in the\nfield of Mulaprakriti.\n---------\n\nIn truth, Prakriti and Purusha are but the two aspects of the same ONE\nREALITY.  As our great Sankaracharya truly observes at the close of his\ncommentary on the 23rd Sutra of the first chapter of the Brahma sutras,\n\"Parabrahmam is Karta (Purush), as there is no other Adhishtatha,* and\nParabrahmam is Prakriti, there being no other Upadanam.\"  This sentence\nclearly indicates the relation between \"the One Life\" and \"the One\nElement\" of the Arha-philosophers.  This will elucidate the meaning of\nthe statement so often quoted by Adwaitees--\"Sarvam Khalvitham Brahma\"\n** and also of what is meant by saying that Brahmam is the Upadanakarnam\n(material cause) of the Universe.\n\n--T Subba Row\n\n---------\n* Adishtatha--that which inheres in another principle--the active agent\nworking in Prakriti.\n\n** Everything in the universe is Brahma.\n---------\n\n\n\n\nMorality and Pantheism\n\n\nQuestions have been raised in several quarters as to the inefficiency of\nPantheism (which term is intended to include Esoteric Buddhism, Adwaitee\nVedantism, and other similar religious systems) to supply a sound basis\nof morality.\n\nThe philosophical assimilation of meum and teum, it is urged, must of\nnecessity be followed by their practical confusion, resulting in the\nsanction of cruelty, robbery, &c.  This line of argument points,\nhowever, most unmistakably to the co-existence of the objection with an\nall but utter ignorance of the systems objected to, in the critic's\nmind, as we shall show by-and-by. The ultimate sanction of morality, as\nis well known, is derived from a desire for the attainment of happiness\nand escape from misery.  But schools differ in their estimate of\nhappiness. Exoteric religions base their morality on the hope of reward\nand fear of punishment at the hands of an Omnipotent Ruler of the\nUniverse by following the rules he has at his pleasure laid down for the\nobedience of his helpless subjects;  in some cases, however, religions\nof later growth have made morality to depend on the sentiment of\ngratitude to that Ruler for benefits received.  The worthlessness, not\nto speak of the mischievousness, of such systems of morality is almost\nself-evident.  As a type of morality founded on hope and fear, we shall\ntake an instance from the Christian Bible:  \"He that giveth to the poor\nlendeth to the Lord.\"  The duty of supporting the poor is here made to\ndepend upon prudential motives of laying by for a time when the \"giver\nto the poor\" will be incapable of taking care of himself.  But the\nMahabharata says that \"He that desireth a return for his good deeds\nloseth all merit;  he is like a merchant bartering his goods.\"  The true\nsprings of morality lose their elasticity under the pressure of such\ncriminal selfishness;  all pure and unselfish natures will fly away from\nit in disgust.\n\nTo avoid such consequences attempts have been made by some recent\nreformers of religion to establish morality upon the sentiment of\ngratitude to the Lord.  But it requires no deep consideration to find\nthat, in their endeavours to shift the basis of morality, these\nreformers have rendered morality entirely baseless.  A man has to do\nwhat is represented to be a thing \"dear unto the Lord\" out of gratitude\nfor the many blessings He has heaped upon him. But as a matter of fact\nhe finds that the Lord has heaped upon him curses as well as blessings.\nA helpless orphan is expected to be grateful to him for having removed\nthe props of his life, his parents, because he is told in consolation\nthat such a calamity is but apparently an evil, but in reality the\nAll-Merciful has underneath it hidden the greatest possible good. With\nequal reason might a preacher of the Avenging Ahriman exhort men to\nbelieve that under the apparent blessings of the \"Merciful\" Father there\nlurks the serpent of evil.\n\nThe modern Utilitarians, though the range of their vision is so narrow,\nhave sterner logic in their teachings.  That which tends to a man's\nhappiness is good, and must be followed, and the contrary shunned as\nevil.  So far so good.  But the practical application of the doctrine is\nfraught with mischief.  Cribbed, cabined, and confined, by rank\nMaterialism, within the short space between birth and death, the\nUtilitarians' scheme of happiness is merely a deformed torso, which\ncannot certainly be considered as the fair goddess of our devotion.\n\nThe only scientific basis of morality is to be sought for in the\nsoul-consoling doctrines of Lord Buddha or Sri Sankaracharya. The\nstarting-point of the \"pantheistic\" (we use the word for want of a better\none) system of morality is a clear perception of the unity of the one\nenergy operating in the manifested Cosmos, the grand result which it is\nincessantly striving to produce, and the affinity of the immortal human\nspirit and its latent powers with that energy, and its capacity to\ncooperate with the one life in achieving its mighty object.\n\nNow knowledge or jnanam is divided into two classes by Adwaitee\nphilosophers--Paroksha and Aparoksha.  The former kind of knowledge\nconsists in intellectual assent to a stated proposition, the latter in\nthe actual realization of it.  The object which a Buddhist or Adwaitee\nYogi sets before himself is the realization of the oneness of existence,\nand the practice of morality is the most powerful means to that end, as\nwe proceed to show.  The principal obstacle to the realization of this\noneness is the inborn habit of man of always placing himself at the\ncentre of the Universe.  Whatever a man might act, think, or feel, the\nirrepressible personality is sure to be the central figure.  This, as\nwill appear on reflection, is that which prevents every individual from\nfilling his proper sphere in existence, where he only is exactly in\nplace and no other individual is.  The realization of this harmony is\nthe practical or objective aspect of the GRAND PROBLEM.  And the\npractice of morality is the effort to find out this sphere;  morality,\nindeed, is the Ariadne's clue in the Cretan labyrinth in which man is\nplaced.  From the study of the sacred philosophy preached by Lord Buddha\nor Sri Sankara, paroksha knowledge (or shall we say belief?), in the\nunity of existence is derived, but without the practice of morality that\nknowledge cannot be converted into the highest kind of knowledge, or\naproksha jnanam, and thus lead to the attainment of mukti.  It availeth\nnaught to intellectually grasp the notion of your being everything and\nBrahma, if it is not realized in practical acts of life.  To confuse\nmeum and teum in the vulgar sense is but to destroy the harmony of\nexistence by a false assertion of \"I,\" and is as foolish as the anxiety\nto nourish the legs at the expense of the arms.  You cannot be one with\nall, unless all your acts, thoughts, and feelings synchronize with the\nonward march of Nature.  What is meant by the Brahmajnani being beyond\nthe reach of Karma, can be fully realized only by a man who has found\nout his exact position in harmony with the One Life in Nature;  that man\nsees how a Brahmajnani can act only in unison with Nature, and never in\ndiscord with it:  to use the phraseology of ancient writers on\nOccultism, a Brahmajnani is a real \"co-worker with Nature.\"  Not only\nEuropean Sanskritists, but also exoteric Yogis, fall into the grievous\nmistake of supposing that, in the opinion of our sacred writers, a human\nbeing can escape the operation of the law of Karma by adopting a\ncondition of masterly inactivity, entirely losing sight of the fact that\neven a rigid abstinence from physical acts does not produce inactivity\non the higher astral and spiritual planes.  Sri Sankara has very\nconclusively proved, in his commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita, that such\na supposition is nothing short of a delusion.  The great teacher shows\nthere that forcibly repressing the physical body from working does not\nfree one from vasana or vritti--the inherent inclination of the mind to\nwork.  There is a tendency, in every department of Nature, for an act to\nrepeat itself;  the Karma acquired in the last preceding birth is always\ntrying to forge fresh links in the chain, and thereby lead to continued\nmaterial existence;--and this tendency can only be counteracted by\nunselfishly performing all the duties appertaining to the sphere in\nwhich a person is born;  such a course alone can produce chitta suddhi,\n(purification of the mind), without which the capacity of perceiving\nspiritual truths can never be acquired.\n\nA few words must here be said about the physical inactivity of the Yogi\nor the Mahatma.  Inactivity of the physical body (sthula sarira) does\nnot indicate a condition of inactivity either on the astral or the\nspiritual plane of action.  The human spirit is in its highest state of\nactivity in samadhi, (highest trance) and not, as is generally supposed,\nin a dormant, quiescent condition. And, moreover, it will be easily\nseen, by any one who examines the nature of occult dynamics, that a\ngiven amount of energy expended on the spiritual or astral plane is\nproductive of far greater results than the same amount expended on the\nphysical objective plane of existence.  When an Adept has placed himself\nen rapport with the universal mind he becomes a real power in Nature.\nEven on the objective plane of existence the difference between brain\nand muscular energy, in their capacity of producing widespread and\nfar-reaching results, can he very easily perceived.  The amount of\nphysical energy expended by the discoverer of the steam-engine might not\nhave been more than that expended by a hardworking day-labourer.  But\nthe practical results of the labourer's work can never be compared with\nthe results achieved by the discovery of the steam-engine. Similarly,\nthe ultimate effects of spiritual energy are infinitely greater than\nthose of intellectual energy.\n\nFrom the above considerations it is abundantly clear that the initiatory\ntraining of a true Vedantin Raj Yogi must be the nourishing of a\nsleepless and ardent desire of doing all in his power for the good of\nmankind on the ordinary physical plane, his activity being transferred,\nhowever, to the higher astral and spiritual planes as his development\nproceeds.  In course of time, as the Truth becomes realized, the\nsituation is rendered quite clear to the Yogi, and he is placed beyond\nthe criticism of any ordinary man.  The Mahanirvan Tantra says:--\n\n     Charanti trigunatite ko vidhir ko ishedhava.\n\n\"For one, walking beyond the three gunas--Satva (feeling of\ngratification), Rajas (passional activity) and Tamas (inertness)--what\ninjunction or what restriction is there?\"--in the consideration of men,\nwalled in on all sides by the objective plane of existence.  This does\nnot mean that a Mahatma can or will ever neglect the laws of morality,\nbut that he, having unified his individual nature with Great Nature\nherself, is constitutionally incapable of violating any one of the laws\nof nature, and no man can constitute himself a judge of the conduct of\nthe Great one without knowing the laws of all the planes of Nature's\nactivity.  (As honest men are  honest without the least consideration of\nthe) criminal law, so a Mahatma is moral without reference to the laws\nof morality.\n\nThese are, however, sublime topics:  we shall before conclusion notice\nsome other considerations which lead the ordinary \"pantheist\" to the\ntrue foundation of morality.  Happiness has been defined by John Stuart\nMill as the state of absence of opposition.  Manu gives the definition\nin more forcible terms:\n\n     Sarvam paravasam duhkham\n     Sarva matmavasam sukham\n     Idam jnayo samasena\n     Lakshanam sukhaduhkhayo.\n\n\"Every kind of subjugation to another is pain, and subjugation to one's\nself is happiness:  in brief, this is to be known as the characteristic\nmarks of the two.\"  Now, it is universally admitted that the whole\nsystem of Nature is moving in a particular direction, and this\ndirection, we are taught, is determined by the composition of two\nforces--namely, the one acting from that pole of existence ordinarily\ncalled \"matter\" towards the other pole called \"spirit,\" and the other in\nthe opposite direction.  The very fact that Nature is moving shows that\nthese two forces are not equal in magnitude.  The plane on which the\nactivity of the first force predominates is called in occult treatises\nthe \"ascending arc,\" and the corresponding plane of the activity of the\nother force is styled the \"descending arc.\"  A little reflection will\nshow that the work of evolution begins on the descending arc and works\nits way upwards through the ascending arc.  From this it follows that\nthe force directed towards spirit is the one which must, though not\nwithout hard struggle, ultimately prevail.  This is the great directing\nenergy of Nature, and, although disturbed by the operation of the\nantagonistic force, it is this that gives the law to her;  the other is\nmerely its negative aspect, for convenience regarded as a separate\nagent.  If an individual attempts to move in a direction other than that\nin which Nature is moving, that individual is sure to be crushed, sooner\nor later, by the enormous pressure of the opposing force.  We need not\nsay that such a result would be the very reverse of pleasurable.  The\nonly way, therefore, in which happiness might be attained is by merging\none's nature in great Mother Nature, and following the direction in\nwhich she herself is moving:  this again can only be accomplished by\nassimilating men's individual conduct with the triumphant force of\nNature, the other force being always overcome with terrific\ncatastrophes.  The effort to assimilate the individual with the\nuniversal law is popularly known as the practice of morality.  Obedience\nto this universal law, after ascertaining it, is true religion, which\nhas been defined by Lord Buddha \"as the realization of the True.\"\n\nAn example will serve to illustrate the position.  Can a practical\npantheist, or, in other words, an occultist, utter a falsehood?  Now, it\nwill be readily admitted that life manifests itself by the power of\nacquiring sensation, temporary dormancy of that power being suspended\nanimation.  If a man receives a particular series of sensations and\npretends they are other than they really are, the result is that he\nexercises his will-power in opposition to a law of Nature on which, as\nwe have shown, life depends, and thereby becomes suicide on a minor\nscale.  Space prevents further discussion, but all the ten deadly sins\nmentioned by Manu and Buddha can be satisfactorily dealt with in the\nlight sought to be focused here.\n\n--Mohini M. Chatterji\n\n\n\n\nOccult Study\n\n\nThe practical bearing of occult teaching on ordinary life is very\nvariously interpreted by different students of the subject.  For many\nWestern readers of recent books on the esoteric doctrine, it even seems\ndoubtful whether the teaching has any bearing on practical life at all.\nThe proposal which it is supposed sometimes to convey, that all earnest\ninquirers should put themselves under the severe ascetic regimen\nfollowed by its regular Oriental disciples, is felt to embody a strain\non the habits of modern civilization which only a few enthusiasts will\nbe prepared to encounter.  The mere intellectual charm of an intricate\nphilosophy may indeed be enough to recommend the study to some minds,\nbut a scheme of teaching that offers itself as a substitute for\nreligious faith of the usual kind will be expected to yield some\ntangible results in regard to the future spiritual well-being of those\nwho adopt it.  Has occult philosophy nothing to give except to those who\nare in a position and willing to make a sacrifice in its behalf of all\nother objects in life?  In that case it would indeed be useless to bring\nit out into the world. In reality the esoteric doctrine affords an\nalmost infinite variety of opportunities for spiritual development, and\nno greater mistake could be made in connection with the present movement\nthan to suppose the teaching of the Adepts merely addressed to persons\ncapable of heroic self-devotion.  Assuredly it does not discourage\nefforts in the direction of the highest achievement of occult progress,\nif any Western occultists may feel disposed to make them;  but it is\nimportant for us all to keep clearly in view the lower range of\npossibilities connected with humbler aspirations.\n\nI believe it to be absolutely true that even the slightest attention\nseriously paid to the instructions now emanating from the Indian Adepts\nwill generate results within the spiritual principles of those who\nrender it--causes capable of producing appreciable consequences in a\nfuture state of existence.  Any one who has sufficiently examined the\ndoctrine of Devachan will readily follow the idea, for the nature of the\nspiritual existence which in the ordinary course of things must succeed\neach physical life, provides for the very considerable expansion of any\naspirations towards real knowledge that may be set going on earth.  I\nwill recur to this point directly, when I have made clearer the general\ndrift of the argument I am trying to unfold. At the one end of the scale\nof possibilities connected with occult study lies the supreme\ndevelopment of Adeptship;  an achievement which means that the person\nreaching it has so violently stimulated his spiritual growth within a\nshort period, as to have anticipated processes on which Nature, in her\nown deliberate way, would have spent a great procession of ages.  At the\nother end of the scale lies the small result to which I have just\nalluded--a result which may rather be said to establish a tendency in\nthe direction of spiritual achievement than to embody such achievement.\nBut between these two widely different results there is no hard and fast\nline that can be drawn at any place to make a distinct separation in the\ncharacter of the consequences ensuing from devotion to occult pursuits.\nAs the darkness of blackest night gives way by imperceptible degrees to\nthe illumination of the brightest sunrise, so the spiritual consequences\nof emerging from the apathy either of pure materialism or of dull\nacquiescence in unreasonable dogmas, brighten by imperceptible degrees\nfrom the faintest traces of Devachanic improvement into the full blaze\nof the highest perfection human nature can attain.  Without assuming\nthat the course of Nature which prescribes for each human Ego successive\nphysical lives and successive periods of spiritual refreshment--without\nsupposing that this course is altered by such moderate devotion to\noccult study as is compatible with the ordinary conditions of European\nlife, it will nevertheless be seen how vast the consequences may\nultimately be of impressing on that career of evolution a distinct\ntendency in the direction of supreme enlightenment, of that result which\nis described as the union of the individual soul with universal spirit.\n\nThe explanations of the esoteric doctrine which have been publicly\ngiven, have shown that humanity in the mass has now attained a stage in\nthe great evolutionary cycle from which it has the opportunity of\ngrowing upward towards final perfection. In the mass it is, of course,\nunlikely that it will travel that road:  final perfection is not a gift\nto be bestowed upon all, but to be worked for by those who desire it.\nIt may be put within the theoretical reach of all;  there may be no\nhuman creature living at this moment, of whom it can be said that the\nhighest possibilities of Nature are impossible of attainment, but it\ndoes not follow by any means that every individual will attain the\nhighest possibilities.  Regarding each individual as one of the seeds of\na great flower which throws out thousands of seeds, it is manifest that\nonly a few, relatively to the great number, will become fully developed\nflowers in their turn.  No unjust neglect awaits the majority.  For each\nand every one the consequences of the remote future will be precisely\nproportioned to the aptitudes he develops, but only those can reach the\ngoal who, with persistent effort carried out through a long series of\nlives, differentiate themselves in a marked degree from the general\nmultitude.  Now, that persistent effort must have a beginning, and\ngranted the beginning, the persistence is not improbable.  Within our\nown observation of ordinary life, good habits, even though they may not\nbe so readily formed as bad ones, are not difficult to maintain in\nproportion to the difficulty of their commencement.  For a moment it may\nbe asked how this may be applied to a succession of lives separate from\neach other by a total oblivion of their details;  but it really applies\nas directly to the succession of lives as to the succession of days\nwithin one life, which are separated from each other by as many nights.\nThe certain operation of those affinities in the individual Ego which\nare collectively described in the esoteric doctrine by the word Karma,\nmust operate to pick up the old habits of character and thought, as life\nafter life comes round, with the same certainty that the thread of\nmemory in a living brain recovers, day after day, the impressions of\nthose that have gone before.  Whether a moral habit is thus deliberately\nengendered by an occult student in order that it may propagate itself\nthrough future ages, or whether it merely arises from unintelligent\naspirations towards good, which happily for mankind are more widely\nspread than occult study as yet, the way it works in each case is the\nsame.  The unintelligent aspiration towards goodness propagates itself\nand leads to good lives in the future;  the intelligent aspiration\npropagates itself in the same way plus the propagation of intelligence;\nand this distinction shows the gulf of difference which may exist\nbetween the growth of a human soul which merely drifts along the stream\nof time, and that of one which is consciously steered by an intelligent\npurpose throughout.  The human Ego which acquires the habit of seeking\nfor knowledge becomes invested, life after life, with the qualifications\nwhich ensure the success of such a search, until the final success,\nachieved at some critical period of its existence, carries it right up\ninto the company of those perfected Egos which are the fully developed\nflowers only expected, according to our first metaphor, from a few of\nthe thousand seeds.  Now, it is clear that a slight impulse in a given\ndirection, even on the physical plane does not produce the same effect\nas a stronger one;  so, exactly in this matter of engendering habits\nrequired to persist in their operation through a succession of lives, it\nis quite obvious that the strong impulse of a very ardent aspiration\ntowards knowledge will be more likely than a weaker one to triumph over\nthe so called accidents of Nature.\n\nThis consideration brings us to the question of those habits in life\nwhich are more immediately associated in the popular views of the matter\nwith the pursuit of occult science.  It will be quite plain that the\ngeneration within his own nature by an occult student of affinities in\nthe direction of spiritual progress, is a matter which has little if\nanything to do with the outer circumstances of his daily life.  It\ncannot be dissociated from what may be called the outer circumstances of\nhis moral life, for an occult student, whose moral nature is consciously\nignoble, and who combines the pursuit of knowledge with the practice of\nwrong, becomes by that condition of things a student of sorcery rather\nthan of true occultism--a candidate for satanic evolution instead of\nperfection.  But at the same time the physical habits of life may be\nquite the reverse of ascetic, while all the while the thinking processes\nof the intellectual life are developing affinities which cannot fail in\nthe results just seen to produce large ulterior consequences.  Some\nmisconception is very apt to arise here from the way in which frequent\nreference is made to the ascetic habits of those who purpose to become\nthe regular chelas of Oriental Adepts.  It is supposed that what is\npracticed by the Master is necessarily recommended for all his pupils.\nNow this is far from being the case as regards the miscellaneous pupils\nwho are gathering round the occult teachers lately become known to\npublic report. Certainly even in reference to their miscellaneous pupils\nthe Adepts would not discountenance asceticism.  As we saw just now,\nthere is no hard line drawn across the scale on which are defined the\nvarying consequences of occult study in all its varying degrees of\nintensity--so with ascetic practice, from the slightest habits of\nself-denial, which may engender a preference for spiritual over material\ngratification, up to the very largest developments of asceticism\nrequired as a passport to chelaship, no such practices can be quite\nwithout their consequences in the all-embracing records of Karma.  But,\nbroadly speaking, asceticism belongs to that species of effort which\naims at personal chelaship, and that which contemplates the patient\ndevelopment of spiritual growth along the slow track of natural\nevolution claims no more, broadly speaking, than intellectual\napplication.  All that is asserted in regard to the opening now offered\nto those who have taken notice of the present opportunity, is, that they\nmay now give their own evolution an impulse which they may not again\nhave an opportunity of giving it with the same advantage to themselves\nif the present opportunity is thrown aside.  True, it is most unlikely\nthat any one advancing through Nature, life after life, under the\ndirection of a fairly creditable Karma, will go on always without\nmeeting sooner or later with the ideas that occult study implants.  So\nthat the occultist does not threaten those who turn aside from his\nteachings with any consequences that must necessarily be disastrous.\n\nHe only says that those who listen to them must necessarily derive\nadvantage from so doing in exact proportion to the zeal with which they\nundertake the study and the purity of motive with which they promote it\nin others.\n\nNor must it be supposed that those which have here been described as the\nlower range of possibilities in connection with occult study, are a mere\nfringe upon the higher possibilities, to be regarded as a relatively\npoor compensation accorded to those who do not feel equal to offering\nthemselves for probation as regular chelas.  It would be a grave\nmisconception of the purpose with which the present stream of occult\nteaching has been poured into the world, if we were to think it a\nuniversal incitement to that course of action.  It may be hazardous for\nany of us who are not initiates to speak with entire confidence of the\nintention of the Adepts, but all the external facts concerned with the\ngrowth and development of the Theosophical Society, show its purpose to\nbe more directly related to the cultivation of spiritual aspirations\nover a wide area, than to the excitement of these with supreme intensity\nin individuals.  There are considerations, indeed, which may almost be\nsaid to debar the Adepts from ever doing anything to encourage persons\nin whom this supreme intensity of excitement is possible, to take the\nvery serious step of offering themselves as chelas.  Directly that by\ndoing this a man renders himself a candidate for something more than the\nmaximum advantages that can flow to him through the operation of natural\nlaws--directly that in this way he claims to anticipate the most\nfavourable course of Nature and to approach high perfection by violent\nand artificial processes, he at once puts himself in presence of many\ndangers which would never beset him if he contented himself with a\nfavourable natural growth.  It appears to be always a matter of grave\nconsideration with the Adepts whether they will take the responsibility\nof encouraging any person who may not have it in him to succeed, to\nexpose himself to these dangers.  For any one who is determined to face\nthem and is permitted to do so, the considerations put forward above in\nregard to the optional character of personal physical training fall to\nthe ground.  Those ascetic practices which a candidate for nothing more\nthan the best natural evolution may undertake if he chooses, with the\nview of emphasizing his spiritual Karma to the utmost, become a sine qua\nnon in regard to the very first step of his progress.  But with such\nprogress the present explanation is not specially concerned.  Its\npurpose has been to show the beneficial effects which may flow to\nordinary people living ordinary lives, from even that moderate devotion\nto occult philosophy which is compatible with such ordinary lives, and\nto guard against the very erroneous belief that occult science is a\npursuit in which it is not worth while to engage, unless Adeptship is\nheld out to the student as its ultimate result.\n\n--Lay Chela\n\n\n\n\nSome Inquiries Suggested by Mr. Sinnett's \"Esoteric Buddhism\"\n\n\nThe object of the following paper is to submit certain questions which\nhave occurred to some English readers of \"Esoteric Buddhism.\"  We have\nhad the great advantage of hearing Mr. Sinnett himself explain many\npoints which perplexed us;  and it is with his sanction that we now\nventure to ask that such light as is permissible may be thrown upon some\ndifficulties which, so far as we can discover, remain as yet unsolved.\nWe have refrained from asking questions on subjects on which we\nunderstand that the Adepts forbid inquiry, and we respectfully hope\nthat, as we approach the subject with a genuine wish to arrive at all\nthe truth possible to us, our perplexities may be thought worthy of an\nauthorized solution.\n\nWe begin, then, with some obvious scientific difficulties.\n\n1.  Is the Nebular Theory, as generally held, denied by the Adepts?  It\nseems hard to conceive of the alternate evolution from the sun's central\nmass of planets, some of them visible and heavy, others invisible,--and\napparently without weight, as they have no influence on the movements of\nthe visible planets.\n\n2.  And, further, the time necessary for the manvantara even of one\nplanetary chain, much more of all seven, seems largely to exceed the\nprobable time during which the sun can retain heat, if it is merely a\ncooling mass, which derives no important accession of heat from without.\nIs some other view as regards the maintenance of the sun's heat held by\nthe Adepts?\n\n3.  The different races which succeed each other on the earth are said\nto be separated by catastrophes, among which continental subsidences\noccupy a prominent place.  Is it meant that these subsidences are so\nsudden and unforeseen as to sweep away great nations in an hour?  Or, if\nnot, how is it that no appreciable trace is left of such high\ncivilizations as are described in the past?  Is it supposed that our\npresent European civilization, with its offshoots all over the globe,\ncan be destroyed by any inundation or conflagration which leaves life\nstill existing on the earth?  Are our existing arts and languages doomed\nto perish? or was it only the earlier races who were thus profoundly\ndisjoined from one another?\n\n4.  The moon is said to be the scene of a life even more immersed in\nmatter than the life on earth.  Are there then material organizations\nliving there?  If so, how do they dispense with air and water, and how\nis it that our telescopes discern no trace of their works?  We should\nmuch like a fuller account of the Adepts' view of the moon, as so much\nis already known of her material conditions that further knowledge could\nbe more easily adjusted than in the case (for instance) of planets\nwholly invisible.\n\n5.  Is the expression \"a mineral monad\" authorized by the Adepts? If so,\nwhat relation does the monad bear to the atom, or the molecule, of\nordinary scientific hypothesis?  And does each mineral monad eventually\nbecome a vegetable monad, and then at last a human being?  Turning now\nto some historical difficulties, we would ask as follows:--\n\n6. Is there not some confusion in the letter quoted on p. 62 of\n\"Esoteric Buddhism,\" where \"the old Greeks and Romans\" are said to have\nbeen Atlanteans?  The Greeks and Romans were surely Aryans, like the\nAdepts and ourselves:  their language being, as one may say,\nintermediate between Sanscrit and modern European dialects.\n\n7.  Buddha's birth is placed (on p. 141) in the year 643 B.C.. Is this\ndate given by the Adepts as undoubtedly correct?  Have they any view as\nto the new inscriptions of Asoka (as given by General A. Cunningham,\n\"Corpus Inscriptionum Indicanum,\" vol. I. pp. 20-23), on the strength of\nwhich Buddha's Nirvana is placed by Barth (\"Religions of India,\" p.\n106), &c., about 476 B.C., and his birth therefore at about 556 B.C.?\nIt would be exceedingly interesting if the Adepts would give a sketch\nhowever brief of the history of India in those centuries with authentic\ndates.\n\n8. Sankaracharya's date is variously given by Orientalists, but always\nafter Christ.  Barth, for instance, places him about 788 A.D.  In\n\"Esoteric Buddhism\" he is made to succeed Buddha almost immediately (p.\n149).  Can this discrepancy be explained?  Has not Sankaracharya been\nusually classed as Vishnuite in his teaching?  And similarly has not\nGaudapada been accounted a Sivite?  and placed much later than \"Esoteric\nBuddhism\" (p.147) places him?  We would willingly pursue this line of\ninquiry, but think it best to wait and see to what extent the Adepts may\nbe willing to clear up some of the problems in Indian religious history\non which, as it would seem, they must surely possess knowledge which\nmight be communicated to lay students without indiscretion.\n\nWe pass on to some points beyond the ordinary range of science or\nhistory on which we should be very glad to hear more, if possible.\n\n9. We should like to understand more clearly the nature of the\nsubjective intercourse with beloved souls enjoyed in Devachan. Say, for\ninstance, that I die and leave on earth some young children.  Are these\nchildren present to my consciousness in Devachan still as children?  Do\nI imagine that they have died when I died? or do I merely imagine them\nas adult without knowing their life-history? or do I miss them from\nDevachan until they do actually die, and then hear from them their\nlife-history as it has proceeded between my death and theirs?\n\n10.  We do not quite understand the amount of reminiscence attained at\nvarious points in the soul's progress.  Do the Adepts, who, we presume,\nare equivalent to sixth rounders, recollect their previous incarnations?\nDo all souls which live on into the sixth round attain this power of\nremembrance? or does the Devachan, at the end of each round bring a\nrecollection of all the Devachans, or of all the incarnations, which\nhave formed a part of that particular round?  And does reminiscence\ncarry with it the power of so arranging future incarnations as still to\nremain in company with some chosen soul or group of souls?\n\nWe have many more questions to ask, but we scruple to intrude further.\nAnd I will conclude here by repeating the remark with which we are most\noften met when we speak of the Adepts to English friends.  We find that\nour friends do not often ask for so-called miracles or marvels to prove\nthe genuineness of the Adepts' powers.  But they ask why the Adepts will\nnot give some proof--not necessarily that they are far beyond us, but\nthat their knowledge does at least equal our own in the familiar and\ndefinite tracks which Western science has worn for itself.  A few\npregnant remarks on Chemistry,--the announcement of a new electrical\nlaw, capable of experimental verification--some such communication as\nthis (our interlocutors say), would arrest attention, command respect,\nand give a weight and prestige to the higher teaching which, so long as\nit remains in a region wholly unverifiable, it can scarcely acquire.\n\nWe gratefully recognize the very acceptable choice which the Adepts have\nmade in selecting Mr. Sinnett as the intermediary between us and them.\nThey could hardly have chosen any one more congenial to our Western\nminds:--whether we consider the clearness of his written style, the\nurbanity of his verbal expositions, or the earnest sincerity of his\nconvictions.  Since they have thus far met our peculiar needs with such\nconsiderate judgment, we cannot but hope that they may find themselves\nable yet further to adapt their modes of teaching to the requirements of\nOccidental thought.\n\n--An English F.T.S.\nLondon, July 1883.\n\n\n\nReply to an English F.T.S\n\n\nAnswers\n\nIt was not in contemplation, at the outset of the work begun in\nFragments, to deal as fully with the scientific problems of cosmic\nevolution as now seems expected.  A distinct promise was made, as Mr.\nSinnett is well aware, to acquaint the readers with the outlines of\nEsoteric doctrines and--no more.  A good deal would be given, much more\nkept back.\n\nThis seeming unwillingness to share with the world some of Nature's\nsecrets that may have come into the possession of the few, arises from\ncauses quite different from the one generally assigned.  It is not\nSELFISHNESS erecting a Chinese wall between occult science and those who\nwould know more of it, without making any distinction between the simply\ncurious profane, and the earnest, ardent seeker after truth.  Wrong and\nunjust are those who think so;  who attribute to indifference for other\npeople's welfare a policy necessitated, on the contrary, by a far-seeing\nuniversal philanthropy;  who accuse the custodians of lofty physical and\nspiritual though long rejected truths, of holding them high above the\npeople's heads.  In truth, the inability to reach them lies entirely\nwith the seekers.  Indeed, the chief reason among many others for such a\nreticence, at any rate, with regard to secrets pertaining to physical\nsciences--is to be sought elsewhere.*  It rests entirely on the\nimpossibility of imparting that the nature of which is at the present\nstage of the world's development, beyond the comprehension of the\nwould-be learners, however intellectual and however scientifically\ntrained may be the latter.  This tremendous difficulty is now explained\nto the few, who, besides having read \"Esoteric Buddhism,\" have studied\nand understood the several occult axioms approached in it.  It is safe\nto say that it will not be even vaguely realized by the general reader,\nbut will offer the pretext for sheer abuse.  Nay, it has already.\n\n-------\n* Needless to remind AN ENGLISH F.T.S. that what is said here, applies\nonly to secrets the nature of which when revealed will not be turned\ninto a weapon against humanity in general, or its units--men.  Secrets\nof such class could not be given to any one but a regular chela of many\nyears' standing and during his successive initiations;  mankind as a\nwhole has first to come of age, to reach its majority, which will happen\nbut toward the beginning of its sixth race--before such mysteries can be\nsafely revealed to it.  The vril is not altogether a fiction, as some\nchelas and even \"lay\" chelas know.\n---------\n\nIt is simply that the gradual development of man's seven principles and\nphysical senses has to be coincident and on parallel lines with Rounds\nand Root-races.  Our fifth race has so far developed but its five\nsenses.  Now, if the Kama or Will-principle of the \"Fourth-rounders\" has\nalready reached that stage of its evolution when the automatic acts, the\nunmotivated instincts and impulses of its childhood and youth, instead\nof following external stimuli, will have become acts of will framed\nconstantly in conjunction with the mind (Manas), thus making of every\nman on earth of that race a free agent, a fully responsible being--the\nKama of our hardly adult fifth race is only slowly approaching it.  As\nto the sixth sense of this, our race, it has hardly sprouted above the\nsoil of its materiality.  It is highly unreasonable, therefore, to\nexpect for the men of the fifth to sense the nature and essence of that\nwhich will be fully sensed and perceived but by the sixth--let alone the\nseventh race--i.e., to enjoy the legitimate outgrowth of the evolution\nand endowments of the future races with only the help of our present\nlimited senses.  The exceptions to this quasi-universal rule have been\nhitherto found only in some rare cases of constitutional, abnormally\nprecocious individual evolutions;  or, in such, where by early training\nand special methods, reaching the stage of the fifth rounders, some men\nin addition to the natural gift of the latter have fully developed (by\ncertain occult methods) their sixth, and in still rarer cases their\nseventh, sense.  As an instance of the former class may be cited the\nSeeress of Prevorst;  a creature born out of time, a rare precocious\ngrowth, ill adapted to the uncongenial atmosphere that surrounded her,\nhence a martyr ever ailing and sickly.  As an example of the other, the\nCount St. Germain may be mentioned.  Apace with the anthropological and\nphysiological development of man runs his spiritual evolution.  To the\nlatter, purely intellectual growth is often more an impediment than a\nhelp.  An instance:  radiant stuff--\"the fourth state of matter\"--has\nbeen hardly discovered, and no one--the eminent discoverer himself not\nexcepted--has yet any idea of its full importance, its possibilities,\nits connection with physical phenomena, or even its bearing upon the\nmost puzzling scientific problems.  How then can any \"Adept\" attempt to\nprove the fallacy of much that is predicated in the nebular and solar\ntheories when the only means by which he could successfully prove his\nposition is an appeal to, and the exhibition of, that sixth sense--\nconsciousness which the physicist cannot postulate?  Is not this plain?\n\nThus, the obstacle is not that the \"Adepts\" would \"forbid inquiry,\" but\nrather the personal, present limitations of the senses of the average,\nand even of the scientific man.  To undertake the explanation of that\nwhich at the outset would be rejected as a physical impossibility, the\noutcome of hallucination, is unwise and even harmful, because premature.\nIt is in consequence of such difficulties that the psychic production of\nphysical phenomena--save in exceptional cases--is strictly forbidden.\n\nAnd now, \"Adepts\" are asked to meddle with astronomy--a science which,\nof all the branches of human knowledge has yielded the most accurate\ninformation, afforded the most mathematically correct data, and of the\nachievements in which the men of science feel the most justly proud!  It\nis true that on the whole astronomy has achieved triumphs more brilliant\nthan those of most other sciences.  But if it has done much in the\ndirection of satisfying man's straining and thirsting mind and his\nnoble aspirations for knowledge, physical as to its most important\nparticulars, it has ever laughed at man's puny efforts to wrest the\ngreat secrets of Infinitude by the help of only mechanical apparatus.\nWhile the spectroscope has shown the probable similarity of terrestrial\nand sidereal substance, the chemical actions peculiar to the variously\nprogressed orbs of space have not been detected, nor proven to be\nidentical with those observed on our own planet.  In this particular,\nEsoteric Psychology may be useful.  But who of the men of science would\nconsent to confront it with their own handiwork? Who of them would\nrecognise the superiority and greater trustworthiness of the Adept's\nknowledge over their own hypotheses, since in their case they can claim\nthe mathematical correctness of their deductive reasonings based on the\nalleged unerring precision of the modern instruments;  while the Adepts\ncan claim but their knowledge of the ultimate nature of the materials\nthey have worked with for ages, resulting in the phenomena produced.\nHowever much it may he urged that a deductive argument, besides being an\nincomplete syllogistic form, may often be in conflict with fact;  that\ntheir major propositions may not always be correct, although the\npredicates of their conclusions seem correctly drawn--spectrum analysis\nwill not be acknowledged as inferior to purely spiritual research.  Nor,\nbefore developing his sixth sense, will the man of science concede the\nerror of his theories as to the solar spectrum, unless he abjure, to\nsome degree at least, his marked weakness for conditional and\ndisjunctive syllogisms ending in eternal dilemmas.  At present the\n\"Adepts\" do not see any help for it.  Were these invisible and unknown\nprofanes to interfere with--not to say openly contradict--the dicta of\nthe Royal Society, contempt and ridicule, followed by charges of crass\nignorance of the first elementary principles of modern science would be\ntheir only reward;  while those who would lend an ear to their\n\"vagaries,\" would be characterized immediately as types of the \"mild\nlunatics\" of the age.  Unless, indeed, the whole of that August body\nshould be initiated into the great Mysteries at once, and without any\nfurther ado or the preliminary and usual preparations or training, the\nF.R.S.'s could be miraculously endowed with the required sixth sense,\nthe Adepts fear the task would be profitless.  The latter have given\nquite enough, little though it may seem, for the purposes of a first\ntrial.  The sequence of martyrs to the great universal truths has never\nbeen once broken;  and the long list of known and unknown sufferers,\nheaded with the name of Galileo, now closes with that of Zollner. Is the\nworld of science aware of the real cause of Zollner's premature death?\nWhen the fourth dimension of space becomes a scientific reality like the\nfourth state of matter, he may have a statue raised to him by grateful\nposterity.  But this will neither recall him to life, nor will it\nobliterate the days and months of mental agony that harassed the soul of\nthis intuitional, far-seeing, modest genius, made even after his death\nto receive the donkey's kick of misrepresentation and to be publicly\ncharged with lunacy.\n\nHitherto, astronomy could grope between light and darkness only with the\nhelp of the uncertain guidance offered it by analogy. It has reduced to\nfact and mathematical precision the physical motion and the paths of the\nheavenly bodies, and--no more.  So far, it has been unable to discover\nwith any approach to certainty the physical constitution of either sun,\nstars, or even cometary matter.  Of the latter, it seems to know no more\nthan was taught 5,000 years ago by the official astronomers of old\nChaldea and Egypt--namely, that it is vaporous, since it transmits the\nrays of stars and planets without any sensible obstruction.  But let the\nmodern chemist be asked to tell one whether this matter is in any way\nconnected with, or akin to, that of any of the gases he is acquainted\nwith;  or again, to any of the solid elements of his chemistry.  The\nprobable answer received will be very little calculated to solve the\nworld's perplexity;  since, all hypotheses to the contrary\nnotwithstanding, cometary matter does not appear to possess even the\ncommon law of adhesion or of chemical affinity.  The reason for it is\nvery simple.  And the truth ought long ago to have dawned upon the\nexperimentalists, since our little world (though so repeatedly visited\nby the hairy and bearded travelers, enveloped in the evanescent veil of\ntheir tails, and otherwise brought in contact with that matter) has\nneither been smothered by an addition of nitrogen gas, nor deluged by an\nexcess of hydrogen, nor yet perceptibly affected by a surplus of oxygen.\nThe essence of cometary matter must be--and the \"Adepts\" say is--totally\ndifferent from any of the chemical or physical characteristics with\nwhich the greatest chemists and physicists of the earth are familiar--\nall recent hypotheses to the contrary notwithstanding.  It is to be\nfeared that before the real nature of the elder progeny of Mula Prakriti\nis detected, Mr. Crookes will have to discover matter of the fifth or\nextra radiant state;  et seq.\n\nThus, while the astronomer has achieved marvels in the elucidation of\nthe visible relations of the orbs of space, he has learnt nothing of\ntheir inner constitution.  His science has led him no farther towards a\nreading of that inner mystery than has that of the geologist, who can\ntell us only of the earth's superficial layers, and that of the\nphysiologist, who has until now been able to deal only with man's outer\nshell, or Sthula Sarira.  Occultists have asserted, and go on asserting\ndaily, the fallacy of judging the essence by its outward manifestations,\nthe ultimate nature of the life-principle by the circulation of the\nblood, mind by the gray matter of the brain, and the physical\nconstitution of sun, stars and comets by our terrestrial chemistry and\nthe matter of our own planet.  Verily and indeed, no microscopes,\nspectroscopes, telescopes, photometers, or other physical apparatuses\ncan ever be focused on either the macro-or micro-cosmical highest\nprinciples, nor will the mayavirupa of either yield its mystery to\nphysical inquiry.  The methods of spiritual research and psychological\nobservation are the only efficient agencies to employ.  We have to\nproceed by analogy in everything to be sure.  Yet the candid men of\nscience must very soon find out that it is not sufficient to examine a\nfew stars--a handful of sand, as it were, from the margin of the\nshoreless, cosmic ocean--to conclude that these stars are the same as\nall other stars--our earth included;  that, because they have attained a\ncertain very great telescopic power, and gauged an area enclosed in the\nsmallest of spaces when compared with what remains, they have,\ntherefore, concurrently perfected the survey of all that exists within\neven that limited space.  For, in truth, they have done nothing of the\nkind.  They have had only a superficial glance at that which is made\nvisible to them under the present conditions, with the limited power of\ntheir vision.  And even though it were helped by telescopes of a\nhundred-fold stronger power than that of Lord Rosse, or the new Lick\nObservatory, the case would not alter.  No physical instrument will ever\nhelp astronomy to scan distances of the immensity of which that of\nSirius, situated at the trifle of 130,125,000,000,000 miles away from\nthe outer boundary of the spherical area, or even that of (a) Capella,\nwith its extra trifle of 295,355,000,000,000* miles still farther away,\ncan give them, as they themselves are well aware, the faintest idea.\nFor, though an Adept is unable to cross bodily (i.e., in his astral\nshape) the limits of the solar system,  yet he knows that, far\nstretching beyond the telescopic power of detection, there are systems\nupon systems, the smallest of which would, when compared with the system\nof Sirius, make the latter seem like an atom of dust imbedded in the\ngreat Shamo desert.  The eye of the astronomer, who thinks he also knows\nof the existence of such systems, has never rested upon them, has never\ncaught of them, even that spectral glimpse, fanciful and hazy as the\nincoherent vision in a slumbering mind that he has occasionally had of\nother systems, and yet he verily believes he has gauged INFINITUDE! And\nyet these immeasurably distant worlds are brought as clear and near to\nthe spiritual eye of the astral astronomer as a neighbouring bed of\ndaisies may be to the eye of the botanist.\n\n--------\n* The figures are given from the mathematical calculations of exoteric\nWestern astronomy.  Esoteric astronomy may prove them false some day.\n--------\n\nThus, the \"Adepts\" of the present generation, though unable to help the\nprofane astronomer by explaining the ultimate essence, or even the\nmaterial constitution, of star and planet, since European science,\nknowing nothing as yet of the existence of such substances, or more\nproperly of their various states or conditions, has neither proper terms\nfor, nor can form any adequate idea of them by any description, they\nmay, perchance, be able to prove what this matter is not--and this is\nmore than sufficient for all present purposes.  The next best thing to\nlearning what is true is to ascertain what is not true.\n\nHaving thus anticipated a few general objections, and traced a limit to\nexpectations, since there is no need of drawing any veil of mystery\nbefore \"An English F.T.S.,\" his few questions may be partially answered.\nThe negative character of the replies draws a sufficiently strong line\nof demarcation between the views of the Adepts and those of Western\nscience to afford some useful hints at least.\n\nQuestion 1.--Do the Adepts deny the Nebular Theory?\n\nAnswer:--No;  they do not deny its general propositions, nor the\napproximative truths of the scientific hypotheses.  They only deny the\ncompleteness of the present, as well as the entire error of the many\nso-called \"exploded\" old theories, which, during the last century, have\nfollowed each other in such rapid succession. For instance:  while\ndenying, with Laplace, Herschel and others, that the variable patches of\nlight perceived on the nebulous background of the galaxy ever belonged\nto remote worlds in the process of formation;  and agreeing with modern\nscience that they proceed from no aggregation of formless matter, but\nbelong simply to clusters of \"stars\" already formed;  they yet add that\nmany of such clusters, that pass in the opinion of the astro-physicists\nfor stars and worlds already evoluted, are in fact but collections of\nthe various materials made ready for future worlds.  Like bricks already\nbaked, of various qualities, shapes and colour, that are no longer\nformless clay but have become fit units of a future wall, each of them\nhaving a fixed and distinctly assigned space to occupy in some\nforthcoming building, are these seemingly adult worlds.  The astronomer\nhas no means of recognizing their relative adolescence, except perhaps\nby making a distinction between the star clusters with the usual orbital\nmotion and mutual gravitation, and those termed, we believe, irregular\nstar-clusters of very capricious and changeful appearances.  Thrown\ntogether as though at random, and seemingly in utter violation of the\nlaw of symmetry, they defy observation: such, for instance, are 5 M.\nLyrae, 5 2 M. Cephei, Dumb-Bell, and some others.  Before an emphatic\ncontradiction of what precedes is attempted, and ridicule offered\nperchance, it would not be amiss to ascertain the nature and character\nof those other so-called \"temporary\" stars, whose periodicity, though\nnever actually proven, is yet allowed to pass unquestioned.  What are\nthese stars which, appearing suddenly in matchless magnificence and\nsplendour, disappear as mysteriously as unexpectedly, without leaving a\nsingle trace behind?  Whence do they appear?  Whither are they engulfed?\nIn the great cosmic deep--we say.  The bright \"brick\" is caught by the\nhand of the mason--directed by that Universal Architect which destroys\nbut to rebuild.  It has found its place in the cosmic structure and will\nperform its mission to its last Manvantaric hour.\n\nAnother point most emphatically denied by the \"Adepts\" is, that there\nexist in the whole range of visible heavens any spaces void of starry\nworlds.  There are stars, worlds and systems within as without the\nsystems made visible to man, and even within our own atmosphere, for all\nthe physicist knows.  The \"Adept\" affirms in this connection that\northodox, or so-called official science, uses very often the word\n\"infinitude\" without attaching to it any adequate importance;  rather as\na flower of speech than a term implying an awful, a most mysterious\nReality.  When an astronomer is found in his Reports \"gauging\ninfinitude,\" even the most intuitional of his class is but too often apt\nto forget that he is gauging only the superficies of a small area and\nits visible depths, and to speak of these as though they were merely the\ncubic contents of some known quantity.  This is the direct result of the\npresent conception of a three-dimensional space.  The turn of a\nfour-dimensional world is near, but the puzzle of science will ever\ncontinue until their concepts reach the natural dimensions of visible\nand invisible space--in its septenary completeness.  \"The Infinite and\nthe Absolute are only the names for two counter-imbecilities of the\nhuman (uninitiated) mind;\" and to regard them as the transmuted\n\"properties of the nature of things--of two subjective negatives\nconverted into objective affirmatives,\" as Sir W. Hamilton puts it, is\nto know nothing of the infinite operations of human liberated spirit, or\nof its attributes, the first of which is its ability to pass beyond the\nregion of our terrestrial experience of matter and space.  As an\nabsolute vacuum is an impossibility below, so is it a like impossibility\nabove. But our molecules, the infinitesimals of the vacuum \"below,\" are\nreplaced by the giant-atom of the Infinitude \"above.\"  When\ndemonstrated, the four-dimensional conception of space may lead to the\ninvention of new instruments to explore the extremely dense matter that\nsurrounds us as a ball of pitch might surround--say, a fly, but which,\nin our extreme ignorance of all its properties save those we find it\nexercising on our earth, we yet call the clear, the serene, and the\ntransparent atmosphere.  This is no psychology, but simply occult\nphysics, which can never confound \"substance\" with \"centres of Force,\"\nto use the terminology of a Western science which is ignorant of Maya.\nIn less than a century, besides telescopes, microscopes, micrographs and\ntelephones, the Royal Society will have to offer a premium for such an\netheroscope.\n\nIt is also necessary in connection with the question under reply that\n\"An English F.T.S.\" should know that the \"Adepts\" of the Good Law reject\ngravity as at present explained.  They deny that the so-called \"impact\ntheory\" is the only one that is tenable in the gravitation hypothesis.\nThey say, that if all efforts made by the physicists to connect it with\nether, in order to explain electric and magnetic distance-action have\nhitherto proved complete failures, it is again due to the race ignorance\nof the ultimate states of matter in Nature, and, foremost of all, of the\nreal nature of the solar stuff.  Believing but in the law of mutual\nmagneto-electric attraction and repulsion, they agree with those who\nhave come to the conclusion that \"Universal gravitation is a weak\nforce,\" utterly incapable of accounting for even one small portion of\nthe phenomena of motion.  In the same connection they are forced to\nsuggest that science may he wrong in her indiscriminate postulation of\ncentrifugal force, which is neither a universal nor a consistent law.\nTo cite but one instance this force is powerless to account for the\nspheroidal oblateness of certain planets.  For if the bulge of planetary\nequators and the shortening of their polar axes is to be attributed to\ncentrifugal force, instead of being simply the result of the powerful\ninfluence of solar electro-magnetic attraction, \"balanced by concentric\nrectification of each planet's own gravitation achieved by rotation on\nits axis,\" to use an astronomer's phraseology (neither very clear nor\ncorrect, yet serving our purpose to show the many flaws in the system),\nwhy should there be such difficulty in answering the objection that the\ndifferences in the equatorial rotation and density of various planets\nare directly in opposition to this theory?  How long shall we see even\ngreat mathematicians bolstering up fallacies to supply an evident\nhiatus!  The \"Adepts\" have never claimed superior or any knowledge of\nWestern astronomy and other sciences.  Yet turning even to the most\nelementary textbooks used in the schools of India, they find that the\ncentrifugal theory of Western birth is unable to cover all the ground.\nThat, unaided, it can neither account for every spheroid oblate, nor\nexplain away such evident difficulties as are presented by the relative\ndensity of some planets.  How indeed can any calculation of centrifugal\nforce explain to us, for instance, why Mercury, whose rotation is, we\nare told, only \"about one-third that of the Earth, and its density only\nabout one-fourth greater than the Earth,\" should have a polar\ncompression more than ten times greater than the latter?  And again, why\nJupiter, whose equatorial rotation is said to be \"twenty-seven times\ngreater, and its density only about one-fifth that of the Earth,\" should\nhave its polar compression seventeen times greater than that of the\nEarth?  Or, why Saturn, with an equatorial velocity fifty-five times\ngreater than Mercury for centrifugal force to contend with, should have\nits polar compression only three times greater than Mercury's?  To crown\nthe above contradictions, we are asked to believe in the Central Forces\nas taught by modern science, even when told that the equatorial matter\nof the sun, with more than four times the centrifugal velocity of the\nearth's equatorial surface and only about one-fourth part of the\ngravitation of the equatorial matter, has not manifested any tendency to\nbulge out at the solar equator, nor shown the least flattening at the\npoles of the solar axis.  In other and clearer words, the sun, with only\none-fourth of our earth's density for the centrifugal force to work\nupon, has no polar compression at all!  We find this objection made by\nmore than one astronomer, yet never explained away satisfactorily so far\nas the \"Adepts\" are aware.\n\nTherefore do they say that the great men of science of the West, knowing\nnothing or next to nothing either about cometary matter, centrifugal and\ncentripetal forces, the nature of the nebulae, or the physical\nconstitution of the sun, stars, or even the moon, are imprudent to speak\nso confidently as they do about the \"central mass of the sun\" whirling\nout into space planets, comets, and whatnot.  Our humble opinion being\nwanted, we maintain:  that it evolutes out, but the life principle, the\nsoul of these bodies, giving and receiving it back in our little solar\nsystem, as the \"Universal Life-giver,\" the ONE LIFE gives and receives\nit in the Infinitude and Eternity;  that the Solar System is as much the\nMicrocosm of the One Macrocosm, as man is the former when compared with\nhis own little solar cosmos.\n\nWhat are the proofs of science?  The solar spots (a misnomer, like much\nof the rest)?  But these do not prove the solidity of the \"central\nmass,\" any more than the storm-clouds prove the solid mass of the\natmosphere behind them.  Is it the non-coextensiveness of the sun's\nbody with its apparent luminous dimensions, the said \"body\" appearing\n\"a solid mass, a dark sphere of matter confined within a fiery\nprison-house, a robe of fiercest flames?\"  We say that there is indeed a\n\"prisoner\" behind, but that having never yet been seen by any physical,\nmortal eye, what he allows to be seen of him is merely a gigantic\nreflection, an illusive phantasma of \"solar appendages of some sort,\" as\nMr. Proctor honestly calls it.  Before saying anything further, we will\nconsider the next interrogatory.\n\n\n\nQuestion II.--Is the Sun merely a cooling mass?\n\nSuch is the accepted theory of modern science:  it is not what the\n\"Adepts\" teach.  The former says--the sun \"derives no important\naccession of heat from without:\"--the latter answer--\"the sun needs it\nnot.\"  He is quite as self dependent as he is self-luminous;  and for\nthe maintenance of his heat requires no help, no foreign accession of\nvital energy;  for he is the heart of his system, a heart that will not\ncease its throbbing until its hour of rest shall come.  Were the sun \"a\ncooling mass,\" our great life-giver would have indeed grown dim with age\nby this time, and found some trouble to keep his watch-fires burning for\nthe future races to accomplish their cycles, and the planetary chains to\nachieve their rounds.  There would remain no hope for evoluting\nhumanity;  except perhaps in what passes for science in the astronomical\ntextbooks of Missionary Schools--namely, that \"the sun has an orbital\njourney of a hundred millions of years before him, and the system yet\nbut seven thousand years old!\" (Prize Book, \"Astronomy for General\nReaders.\")\n\nThe \"Adepts,\" who are thus forced to demolish before they can\nreconstruct, deny most emphatically (a) that the sun is in combustion,\nin any ordinary sense of the word;  or (b) that he is incandescent, or\neven burning, though he is glowing;  or (c) that his luminosity has\nalready begun to weaken and his power of combustion may be exhausted\nwithin a given and conceivable time; or even (d) that his chemical and\nphysical constitution contains any of the elements of terrestrial\nchemistry in any of the states that either chemist or physicist is\nacquainted with.  With reference to the latter, they add that, properly\nspeaking, though the body of the sun--a body that was never yet\nreflected by telescope or spectroscope that man invented--cannot be said\nto be constituted of those terrestrial elements with the state of which\nthe chemist is familiar, yet that these elements are all present in the\nsun's outward robes, and a host more of elements unknown so far to\nscience.  There seems little need, indeed, to have waited so long for\nthe lines belonging to these respective elements to correspond with dark\nlines of the solar spectrum to know that no element present on our earth\ncould ever be possibly found wanting in the sun;  although, on the other\nhand, there are many others in the sun which have either not reached or\nnot as yet been discovered on our globe.  Some may be missing in certain\nstars and heavenly bodies still in the process of formation;  or,\nproperly speaking, though present in them, these elements on account of\ntheir undeveloped state may not respond as yet to the usual scientific\ntests.  But how can the earth possess that which the sun has never had?\nThe \"Adepts\" affirm as a fact that the true Sun--an invisible orb of\nwhich the known one is the shell, mask, or clothing--has in him the\nspirit of every element that exists in the solar system;  and his\n\"Chromosphere,\" as Mr. Lockyer named it, has the same, only in a far\nmore developed condition, though still in a state unknown on earth;  our\nplanet having to await its further growth and development before any of\nits elements can be reduced to the condition they are in within that\nchromosphere.  Nor can the substance producing the coloured light in the\nlatter be properly called solid, liquid, or even \"gaseous,\" as now\nsupposed, for it is neither.  Thousands of years before Leverrier and\nPadri Secchi, the old Aryans sung of Surya .... \"hiding behind his\nYogi,* robes his head that no one could see;\"  the ascetic's dress\nbeing, as all know, dyed expressly into a red-yellow hue, a colouring\nmatter with pinkish patches on it, rudely representing the vital\nprinciple in man's blood--the symbol of the vital principle in the sun,\nor what is now called chromosphere.  The \"rose-coloured region!\"  How\nlittle astronomers will ever know of its real nature, even though\nhundreds of eclipses furnish them with the indisputable evidence of its\npresence.  The sun is so thickly surrounded by a shell of this \"red\nmatter,\" that it is useless for them to speculate with only the help of\ntheir physical instruments, upon the nature of that which they can never\nsee or detect with mortal eye behind that brilliant, radiant zone of\nmatter.\n\n---------\n* There is an interesting story in the Puranas relating to this subject.\nThe Devas, it would appear, asked the great Rishi Vasishta to bring the\nsun into Satya Loka.  The Rishi requested the Sun-god to do so.  The\nSun-god replied that all the worlds would be destroyed if he were to\nleave his place.  The Rishi then offered to place his red-coloured cloth\n(Kashay Vastram) in the place of the sun's disk, and did so.  The\nvisible body of the sun is this robe of Vasishta, it would seem.\n---------\n\nIf the \"Adepts\" are asked:  \"What then, in your views, is the nature of\nour sun and what is there beyond that cosmic veil?\"--they answer:\nbeyond rotates and beats the heart and head of our system; externally is\nspread its robe, the nature of which is not matter, whether solid,\nliquid, or gaseous, such as you are acquainted with, but vital\nelectricity, condensed and made visible.*\n\n---------\n* If the \"English F.T.S.\" would take the trouble of consulting p. 11 of\nthe \"Magia Adamica\" of Eugenius Philalethes, his learned compatriot, he\nwould find therein the difference between a visible and an invisible\nplanet is clearly hinted at as it was safe to do at a time when the iron\nclaw of orthodoxy had the power as well as disposition to tear the flesh\nfrom heretic bones.  \"The earth is invisible,\" says he, .... \"and which\nis more, the eye of man never saw the earth, nor can it be seen\nwithout art.  To make this element visible is the greatest secret in\nmagic .... As for this feculent, gross body upon which we walk, it is\na compost, and no earth but it hath earth in it .... in a word, all the\nelements are visible but one, namely, the earth:  and when thou hast\nattained to so much perfection as to know why God hath placed the earth\nin abscondito, thou hast an excellent figure whereby to know God\nhimself, and how he is visible, how invisible,\"  The italics are the\nauthor's, it being the custom of the Alchemists to emphasize those words\nwhich had a double meaning in their code.  Here \"God himself\" visible\nand invisible, relates to their lapis philosophorum--Nature's seventh\nprinciple.\n----------\n\nAnd if the statement is objected to on the grounds that were the\nluminosity of the sun due to any other cause than combustion and flame,\nno physical law of which Western science has any knowledge could account\nfor the existence of such intensely high temperature of the sun without\ncombustion;  that such a temperature, besides burning with its light and\nflame every visible thing in our universe, would show its luminosity of\na homogeneous and uniform intensity throughout, which it does not; that\nundulations and disturbances in the photosphere, the growing of the\n\"protuberances,\" and a fierce raging of elements in combustion have been\nobserved in the sun, with their tongues of fire and spots exhibiting\nevery appearance of cyclonic motion, and \"solar storms,\" &c. &c.;  to\nthis the only answer that can be given is the following:  the\nappearances are all there, yet it is not combustion.  Undoubtedly were\nthe \"robes,\" the dazzling drapery which now envelopes the whole of the\nsun's globe, withdrawn, or even \"the shining atmosphere which permits us\nto see the sun\" (as Sir William Herschel thought) removed so as to allow\none trifling rent, our whole universe would be reduced to ashes.\nJupiter Fulminator revealing himself to his beloved would incinerate her\ninstantly.  But it can never be.  The protecting shell is of a thickness\nand at a distance from the universal HEART that call hardly be ever\ncalculated by your mathematicians. And how can they hope to see the\nsun's inner body once that the existence of that \"chromosphere\" is\nascertained, though its actual density may be still unknown, when one of\nthe greatest, if not the greatest, of their authorities--Sir W.\nHerschel--says the following:  \"The sun, also, has its atmosphere, and\nif some of the fluids which enter into its composition should be of a\nshining brilliancy, while others are merely transparent, any temporary\ncause which may remove the lucid fluid will permit us to see the body of\nthe sun through the transparent ones.\"  The underlined words, written\nnearly eighty years ago, embody the wrong hypothesis that the body of\nthe sun might be seen under such circumstances, whereas it is only the\nfar-away layers of \"the lucid fluid\" that would be perceived.  And what\nthe great astronomer adds invalidates entirely the first portion of his\nassumption:  \"If an observer were placed on the moon, he would see the\nsolid body of our earth only in those places where the transparent\nfluids of the atmosphere would permit him.  In others, the opaque\nvapours would reflect the light of the sun without permitting his view\nto penetrate to the surface of our globe.\"  Thus, if the atmosphere of\nour earth, which in its relation to the \"atmosphere\" (?) of the sun is\nlike the tenderest skin of a fruit compared with the thickest husk of a\ncocoa-nut, would prevent the eye of an observer standing on the moon\nfrom penetrating everywhere \"to the surface of our globe,\" how can an\nastronomer ever expect his sight to penetrate to the sun's surface, from\nour earth and at a distance of from 85 to 95 million miles,* whereas,\nthe moon, we are told, is only about 238,000 miles!\n\n--------\n* Verily, \"absolute accuracy in the solution of this problem (of\ndistances between the heavenly bodies and the earth) is simply out of\nthe question.\"\n----------\n\nThe proportionately larger size of the sun does not bring it any the\nmore within the scope of our physical vision.  Truly remarks Sir W.\nHerschel that the sun \"has been called a globe of fire, perhaps\nmetaphorically!\"  It has been supposed that the dark spots were solid\nbodies revolving near the sun's surface.  \"They have been conjectured to\nbe the smoke of volcanoes the scum floating upon an ocean of fluid\nmatter.... They have been taken for clouds .... explained to be opaque\nmasses swimming in the fluid matter of the sun....\"  When all his\nanthropomorphic conceptions are put aside, Sir John Herschel, whose\nintuition was still greater than his great learning, alone of all\nastronomers comes near the truth--far nearer than any of those modern\nastronomers who, while admiring his gigantic learning, smile at his\n\"imaginative and fanciful theories.\"  His only mistake, now shared by\nmost astronomers, was that he regarded the \"opaque body\" occasionally\nobserved through the curtain of the \"luminous envelope\" as the sun\nitself.  When saying in the course of his speculations upon the Nasmyth\nwillow-leaf theory--\"the definite shape of these objects, their exact\nsimilarity one to another.... all these characters seem quite repugnant\nto the notion of their being of a vaporous, a cloudy, or a fluid\nnature\"--his spiritual intuition served him better than his remarkable\nknowledge of physical science.  When he adds:  \"Nothing remains but to\nconsider them as separate and independent sheets, flakes.... having some\nsort of solidity.... Be they what they may, they are evidently the\nimmediate sources of the solar light and heat\"--he utters a grander\nphysical truth than was ever uttered by any living astronomer.  And\nwhen, furthermore, we find him postulating--\"looked at in this point of\nview, we cannot refuse to regard them as organisms of some peculiar and\namazing kind; and though it would be too daring to speak of such\norganization as partaking of the nature of life, yet we do know that\nvital action is competent to develop at once heat, and light, and\nelectricity,\" Sir John Herschel gives out a theory approximating an\noccult truth more than any of the profane ever did with regard to solar\nphysics.  These \"wonderful objects\" are not, as a modern astronomer\ninterprets Sir J. Herschel's words, \"solar inhabitants, whose fiery\nconstitution enables them to illuminate, warm and electricize the whole\nsolar system,\" but simply the reservoirs of solar vital energy, the\nvital electricity that feeds the whole system in which it lives, and\nbreathes, and has its being.  The sun is, as we say, the storehouse of\nour little cosmos, self-generating its vital fluid, and ever receiving a\nmuch as it gives out.  Were the astronomers to be asked--what definite\nand positive fact exists at the root of their solar theory--what\nknowledge they have of solar combustion and atmosphere--they might,\nperchance, feel embarrassed when confronted with all their present\ntheories.  For it is sufficient to make a resume of what the solar\nphysicists do not know, to gain conviction that they are as far as ever\nfrom a definite knowledge of the constitution and ultimate nature of the\nheavenly bodies.  We may, perhaps, be permitted to enumerate:--\n\nBeginning with, as Mr. Proctor wisely calls it, \"the wildest assumption\npossible,\" that there is, in accordance with the law of analogy, some\ngeneral resemblance between the materials in, and the processes at work\nupon, the sun, and those materials with which terrestrial chemistry and\nphysics are familiar, what is that sum of results achieved by\nspectroscopic and other analyses of the surface and the inner\nconstitution of the sun, which warrants any one in establishing the\naxiom of the sun's combustion and gradual extinction?  They have no\nmeans, as they themselves daily confess, of experimenting upon, hence of\ndetermining, the sun's physical condition;  for (a) they are ignorant of\nthe atmospheric limits;  (b) even though it were proved that matter,\nsuch as they know of, is continuously falling upon the sun, being\nignorant of its real velocity and the nature of the material it falls\nupon, they are unable \"to discuss of the effect of motions wholly\nsurpassing in velocity .... enormously exceeding even the inconceivable\nvelocity of many meteors;\"  (c) confessedly--they \"have no means of\nlearning whence that part of the light comes which gives the continuous\nspectrum\".... hence no means of determining how great a depth of the\nsolar substance is concerned in sending out that light.  This light \"may\ncome from the surface layers only;\"  and, \"it may be but a shell\" ....\n(truly!);  and finally, (d) they have yet to learn \"how far combustion,\nproperly so-called, can take place within the sun's mass;\"  and \"whether\nthese processes, which we (they) recognize as combustion, are the only\nprocesses of combustion which can actually take place there.\"\nTherefore, Mr. Proctor for one comes to the happy and prudent idea after\nall \"that what had been supposed the most marked characteristic of\nincandescent solid and liquid bodies, is thus shown to be a possible\ncharacteristic of the light of the glowing gas.\"  Thus, the whole basis\nof their reasoning having been shaken (by Frankland's objection), they,\nthe astronomers, may yet arrive at accepting the occult theory, viz.,\nthat they have to look to the 6th state of matter, for divulging to them\nthe true nature of their photospheres, chromospheres, appendages,\nprominences, projections and horns. Indeed, when one finds one of the\nauthorities of the age in physical science--Professor Tyndall--saying\nthat \"no earthly substance with which we are acquainted, no\nsubstance which the fall of meteors has landed on the earth--would\nbe at all competent to maintain the sun's combustion;\"  and\nagain:--\".... multiplying all our powers by millions of millions, we do\nnot reach the sun's expenditure.  And still, notwithstanding this\nenormous drain in the lapse of human history, we are unable to detect a\ndiminution of his store ....\"--after reading this, to see the men of\nscience still maintaining their theory of \"a hot globe cooling,\" one may\nbe excused for feeling surprised at such inconsistency.  Verily is that\ngreat physicist right in viewing the sun itself as \"a speck in infinite\nextension--a mere drop in the Universal sea;\"  and saying that, \"to\nNature nothing can be added;  from Nature nothing can be taken away; the\nsum of her energy is constant, and the utmost man can do in the pursuit\nof physical truth, or in the applications of physical knowledge, is to\nshift the constituents of the never-varying total.  The law of\nconservation rigidly excludes both creation and annihilation .... the\nflux of power is eternally the same.\"  Mr. Tyndall speaks here as\nthough he were an Occultist.  Yet, the memento mori--\"the sun is\ncooling .... it is dying!\" of the Western Trappists of Science resounds\nas loud as it ever did.\n\nNo, we say;  no, while there is one man left on the globe, the sun will\nnot be extinguished.  Before the hour of the \"Solar Pralaya\" strikes on\nthe watch-tower of Eternity, all the other worlds of our system will be\ngliding in their spectral shells along the silent paths of Infinite\nSpace.  Before it strikes, Atlas, the mighty Titan, the son of Asia and\nthe nursling of Aether, will have dropped his heavy manvantaric burden\nand--died; the Pleiades, the bright seven Sisters, will have upon\nawakening hiding Sterope to grieve with them--to die themselves for\ntheir father's loss.  And, Hercules, moving off his left leg, will have\nto shift his place in heavens and erect his own funeral pile. Then only,\nsurrounded by the fiery element breaking through the thickening gloom of\nthe Pralayan twilight, will Hercules, expiring amidst a general\nconflagration, bring on likewise the death of our sun:  he will have\nunveiled by moving off the \"CENTRAL SUN\"--the mysterious, the\never-hidden centre of attraction of our sun and system.  Fables?  Mere\npoetical fiction?  Yet, when one knows that the most exact sciences, the\ngreatest mathematical and astronomical truths went forth into the world\namong the hoi polloi from the circle of initiated priests, the\nHierophants of the sanctum sanctorum of the old temples, under the guise\nof religious fables, it may not be amiss to search for universal truths\neven under the patches of fiction's harlequinade.  This fable about the\nPleiades, the seven Sisters, Atlas, and Hercules exists identical in\nsubject, though under other names, in the sacred Hindu books, and has\nlikewise the same occult meaning.  But then like the Ramayana \"borrowed\nfrom the Greek Iliad\" and the Bhagavat-Gita and Krishna plagiarized from\nthe Gospel--in the opinion of the great Sanskritist, Prof. Weber, the\nAryans may have also borrowed the Pleiades and their Hercules from the\nsame source!  When the Brahmins can be shown by the Christian\nOrientalists to be the direct descendants of the Teutonic Crusaders,\nthen only, perchance, will the cycle of proofs be completed, and the\nhistorical truths of the West vindicated!\n\n\n\nQuestion III.--Are the great nations to be swept away in an hour?\n\n\nNo such absurdity was ever postulated.  The cataclysm that annihilated\nthe choicest sub-races of the Fourth race, or the Atlanteans, was slowly\npreparing its work for ages;  as any one can read in \"Esoteric Buddhism\"\n(page 54).  \"Poseidonis,\" so called, belongs to historical times, though\nits fate begins to be realized and suspected only now.  What was said is\nstill asserted:  every root-race is separated by a catastrophe, a\ncataclysm--the basis and historical foundation of the fables woven later\non into the religious fabric of every people, whether civilized or\nsavage, under the names of \"deluges,\" \"showers of fire,\" and such like.\n\nThat no \"appreciable trace is left of such high civilization\" is due to\nseveral reasons.  One of these may be traced chiefly to the inability,\nand partially to the unwillingness (or shall we say congenital spiritual\nblindness of this our age!) of the modern archeologist to distinguish\nbetween excavations and ruins 50,000 and 4,000 years old, and to assign\nto many a grand archaic ruin its proper age and place in prehistoric\ntimes.  For the latter the archeologist is not responsible--for what\ncriterion, what sign has he to lead him to infer the true date of an\nexcavated building bearing no inscription;  and what warrant has the\npublic that the antiquary and specialist has not made an error of some\n20,000 years?  A fair proof of this we have in the scientific and\nhistoric labeling of the Cyclopean architecture. Traditional archeology\nbearing directly upon the monumental is rejected.  Oral literature,\npopular legends, ballads and rites, are all stifled in one word--\nsuperstition;  and popular antiquities have become \"fables\" and\n\"folk-lore.\"  The ruder style of Cyclopean masonry, the walls of Tyrius,\nmentioned by Homer, are placed at the farthest end--the dawn of\npre-Roman history;  the walls of Epirus and Mycenae--at the nearest.  The\nlatter are commonly believed the work of the Pelasgi and probably of\nabout 1,000 years before the Western era.  As to the former, they were\nhedged in and driven forward by the Noachian deluge till very lately--\nArchbishop Usher's learned scheme, computing that earth and man \"were\ncreated 4,004 B.C.,\" having been not only popular but actually forced\nupon the educated classes until Mr. Darwin's triumphs.  Had it not been\nfor the efforts of a few Alexandrian and other mystics, Platonists, and\nheathen philosophers, Europe would have never laid her hands even on\nthose few Greek and Roman classics she now possesses.  And, as among the\nfew that escaped the dire fate not all by any means were trustworthy--\nhence, perhaps, the secret of their preservation--Western scholars got\nearly into the habit of rejecting all heathen testimony, whenever truth\nclashed with the dicta of their churches.  Then, again, the modern\nArcheologists, Orientalists and Historians, are all Europeans;  and they\nare all Christians, whether nominally or otherwise.  However it may be,\nmost of them seem to dislike to allow any relic of archaism to antedate\nthe supposed antiquity of the Jewish records.  This is a ditch into\nwhich most have slipped.\n\nThe traces of ancient civilizations exist, and they are many. Yet, it is\nhumbly suggested, that so long as there are reverend gentlemen mixed up\nunchecked in archaeological and Asiatic societies;  and Christian\nbishops to write the supposed histories and religions of non-Christian\nnations, and to preside over the meetings of Orientalists--so long will\nArchaism and its remains be made subservient in every branch to ancient\nJudaism and modern Christianity.\n\nSo far, archeology knows nothing of the sites of other and far older\ncivilizations, except the few it has stumbled upon, and to which it has\nassigned their respective ages, mostly under the guidance of biblical\nchronology.  Whether the West had any right to impose upon Universal\nHistory the untrustworthy chronology of a small and unknown Jewish tribe\nand reject, at the same time, every datum as every other tradition\nfurnished by the classical writers of non-Jewish and non-Christian\nnations, is questionable. At any rate, had it accepted as willingly data\ncoming from other sources, it might have assured itself by this time,\nthat not only in Italy and other parts of Europe, but even on sites not\nvery far from those it is accustomed to regard as the hotbed of ancient\nrelics--Babylonia and Assyria--there are other sites where it could\nprofitably excavate.  The immense \"Salt Valley\" of Dasht-Beyad by\nKhorasson covers the most ancient civilizations of the world;  while the\nShamo desert has had time to change from sea to land, and from fertile\nland to a dead desert, since the day when the first civilization of the\nFifth Race left its now invisible, and perhaps for ever hidden, \"traces\"\nunder its beds of sand.\n\nTimes have changed, are changing.  Proofs of the old civilizations and\nthe archaic wisdom are accumulating.  Though soldier-bigots and priestly\nschemers have burnt books and converted old libraries to base uses;\nthough the dry rot and the insect have destroyed inestimably precious\nrecords;  though within the historic period the Spanish brigands made\nbonfires of the works of the refined archaic American races, which, if\nspared, would have solved many a riddle of history;  though Omar lit the\nfires of the Alexandrian baths for months with the literary treasures of\nthe Serapeum;  though the Sybilline and other mystical books of Rome and\nGreece were destroyed in war; though the South Indian invaders of Ceylon\n\"heaped into piles as high as the tops of the cocoanut trees\" the ollas\nof the Buddhists, and set them ablaze to light their victory--thus\nobliterating from the world's knowledge early Buddhist annals and\ntreatises of great importance:  though this hateful and senseless\nVandalism has disgraced the career of most fighting nations--still,\ndespite everything, there are extant abundant proofs of the history of\nmankind, and bits and scraps come to light from time to time by what\nscience has often called \"most curious coincidences.\"  Europe has no\nvery trustworthy history of her own vicissitudes and mutations, her\nsuccessive races and their doings.  What with their savage wars, the\nbarbaric habits of the historic Goths, Huns, Franks, and other warrior\nnations, and the interested literary Vandalism of the shaveling priests\nwho for centuries sat upon its intellectual life like a nightmare, an\nantiquity could not exist for Europe.  And, having no Past to record\nthemselves, the European critics, historians and archeologists have not\nscrupled to deny one to others--whenever the concession excited a\nsacrifice of biblical prestige.\n\nNo \"traces of old civilizations\" we are told!  And what about the\nPelasgi--the direct forefathers of the Hellenes, according to Herodotus?\nWhat about the Etruscans--the race mysterious and wonderful, if any, for\nthe historian, and whose origin is the most insoluble of problems?  That\nwhich is known of them only shows that could something more be known, a\nwhole series of prehistoric civilizations might be discovered.  A people\ndescribed as are the Pelasgi--a highly intellectual, receptive, active\npeople, chiefly occupied with agriculture, warlike when necessary,\nthough preferring peace;  a people who built canals as no one else,\nsubterranean water-works, dams, walls, and Cyclopean buildings of the\nmost astounding strength;  who are even suspected of having been the\ninventors of the so-called Cadmean or Phoenician writing characters from\nwhich all European alphabets are derived--who were they?  Could they be\nshown by any possible means as the descendants of the biblical Peleg\n(Gen. x. 25) their high civilization would have been thereby\ndemonstrated, though their antiquity would still have to be dwarfed to\n2247 \"B.C..\"  And who were the Etruscans?\n\nShall the Easterns like the Westerns be made to believe that between the\nhigh civilizations of the pre-Roman (and we say--prehistoric) Tursenoi\nof the Greeks, with their twelve great cities known to history;  their\nCyclopean buildings, their plastic and pictorial arts, and the time when\nthey were a nomadic tribe \"first descended into Italy from their\nnorthern latitudes\"--only a few centuries elapsed?  Shall it be still\nurged that the Phoenicians with their Tyre 2750 \"B.C.\" (a chronology,\naccepted by Western history), their commerce, fleet, learning, arts, and\ncivilization, were only a few centuries before the building of Tyre but\n\"a small tribe of Semitic fishermen\"?  Or, that the Trojan war could not\nhave been earlier than 1184 B.C., and thus Magna Graecia must be fixed\nsomewhere between the eighth and the ninth Century \"B.C.,\" and by no\nmeans thousands of years before, as was claimed by Plato and Aristotle,\nHomer and the Cyclic Poems, derived from, and based upon, other records\nmillenniums older?  If the Christian historian, hampered by his\nchronology, and the freethinker by lack of necessary data, feel bound to\nstigmatize every non-Christian or non-Western chronology as \"obviously\nfanciful,\" \"purely mythical,\" and \"not worthy of a moment's\nconsideration,\" how shall one, wholly dependent upon Western guides get\nat the truth?  And if these incompetent builders of Universal History\ncan persuade their public to accept as authoritative their chronological\nand ethnological reveries, why should the Eastern student, who has\naccess to quite different--and we make bold to say, more trustworthy--\nmaterials, be expected to join in the blind belief of those who defend\nWestern historical infallibility?  He believes--on the strength of the\ndocumentary evidence, left by Yavanacharya (Pythagoras) 607 \"B.C.\" in\nIndia, and that of his own national \"temple records,\" that instead of\ngiving hundreds we may safely give thousands of years to the foundation\nof Cumaea and Magna Graecia, of which it was the pioneer settlement.\nThat the civilization of the latter had already become effete when\nPythagoras, the great pupil of Aryan Masters went to Crotone.  And,\nhaving no biblical bias to overcome, he feels persuaded that, if it took\nthe Celtic and Gaelic tribes Britannicae Insulae, with the ready-made\ncivilizations of Rome before their eyes, and acquaintance with that of\nthe Phoenicians whose trade with them began a thousand years before the\nChristian era;  and to crown all with the definite help later of the\nNormans and Saxons--two thousand years before they could build their\nmedieval cities, not even remotely comparable with those of the Romans;\nand it took them two thousand five hundred years to get half as\ncivilized;  then, that instead of that hypothetical period, benevolently\nstyled the childhood of the race, being within easy reach of the\nApostles and the early Fathers, it must be relegated to an enormously\nearlier time.  Surely if it took the barbarians of Western Europe so\nmany centuries to develop a language and create empires, then the\nnomadic tribes of the \"mythical\" periods ought in common fairness--since\nthey never came under the fructifying energy of that Christian influence\nto which we are asked to ascribe all the scientific enlightenment of\nthis age--about ten thousand years to build their Tyres and their Veii,\ntheir Sidons and Carthagenes. As other Troys lie under the surface of\nthe topmost one in the Troad;  and other and higher civilizations were\nexhumed by Mariette Bey under the stratum of sand from which the\narcheological collections of Lepsius, Abbott, and the British Museum\nwere taken;  and six Hindu \"Delhis,\" superposed and hidden away out of\nsight, formed the pedestal upon which the Mogul conqueror built the\ngorgeous capital whose ruins still attest the splendour of his Delhi;\nso when the fury of critical bigotry has quite subsided, and Western men\nare prepared to write history in the interest of truth alone, will the\nproofs be found of the cyclic law of civilization.  Modern Florence\nlifts her beautiful form above the tomb of Etruscan Florentia, which in\nher turn rose upon the hidden vestiges of anterior towns.  And so also\nArezzo, Perugia, Lucca, and many other European sites now occupied by\nmodern towns and cities, are based upon the relics of archaic\ncivilizations whose period covers ages incomputable, and whose names\nEcho has forgotten to even whisper through \"the corridors of Time.\"\n\nWhen the Western historian has finally and Unanswerably proven who were\nthe Pelasgi, at least, and who the Etruscans, and the as mysterious\nIapygians, who seem also to have had an earlier acquaintance with\nwriting--as proved by their inscriptions--than the Phoenicians, then\nonly may he menace the Asiatic into acceptance of his own arbitrary data\nand dogmas.  Then also may he tauntingly ask \"how it is that no\nappreciable trace is left of such high civilizations as are described in\nthe Past?\"\n\n\"Is it supposed that the present European civilization with its\noffshoots .... can be destroyed by any inundation or conflagration?\"\nMore easily than was many another civilization. Europe has neither the\ntitanic and Cyclopean masonry of the ancients, nor even its parchments,\nto preserve the records of its \"existing arts and languages.\"  Its\ncivilization is too recent, too rapidly growing, to leave any positively\nindestructible relics of either its architecture, arts or sciences.\nWhat is there in the whole Europe that could be regarded as even\napproximately indestructible, without mentioning the debacle of the\ngeological upheaval that follows generally such cataclysms? Is it its\nephemeral Crystal Palaces, its theatres, railways, modern fragile\nfurniture:  or its electric telegraphs, phonographs, telephones, and\nmicrographs?  While each of the former is at the mercy of fire and\ncyclone, the last enumerated marvels of modern science can be destroyed\nby a child breaking them to atoms.  When we know of the destruction of\nthe \"Seven World's Wonders,\" of Thebes, Tyre, the Labyrinth, and the\nEgyptian pyramids and temples and giant palaces, as we now see slowly\ncrumbling into the dust of the deserts, being reduced to atoms by the\nhand of Time--lighter and far more merciful than any cataclysm--the\nquestion seems to us rather the outcome of modern pride than of stern\nreasoning.  Is it your daily newspapers and periodicals, rags of a few\ndays;  your fragile books bearing the records of all your grand\ncivilization, withal liable to become annihilated after a few meals are\nmade on them by the white ants, that are regarded as invulnerable?  And\nwhy should European civilization escape the common lot?  It is from the\nlower classes, the units of the great masses who form the majorities in\nnations, that survivors will escape in greater numbers;  and these know\nnothing of the arts, sciences, or languages except their own, and those\nvery imperfectly.  The arts and sciences are like the phoenix of old:\nthey die but to revive.  And when the question found on page 58 of\n\"Esoteric Buddhism\" concerning \"the curious rush of human progress\nwithin the last two thousand years,\" was first propounded, Mr. Sinnett's\ncorrespondent might have made his answer more complete by saying:  \"This\nrush, this progress, and the abnormal rapidity with which one discovery\nfollows the other, ought to be a sign to human intuition that what you\nlook upon in the light of 'discoveries' are merely rediscoveries, which,\nfollowing the law of gradual progress, you make more perfect, yet in\nenunciating, you are not the first to explain them.\"  We learn more\neasily that which we have heard about, or learnt in childhood.  If, as\naverred, the Western nations have separated themselves from the great\nAryan stock, it becomes evident that the races that first peopled Europe\nwere inferior to the root-race which had the Vedas and the pre-historic\nRishis.  That which your far-distant forefathers had heard in the\nsecrecy of the temples was not lost. It reached their posterity, which\nis now simply improving upon details.\n\n\n\nQuestion IV.--Is the Moon immersed in matter?\n\n\nNo \"Adept,\" so far as the writers know, has ever given to \"Lay Chela\"\nhis \"views of the moon,\" for publication.  With Selenography, modern\nscience is far better acquainted than any humble Asiatic ascetic may\never hope to become.  It is to be feared the speculations on pp. 104 and\n105 of \"Esoteric Buddhism,\" besides being hazy, are somewhat premature.\nTherefore, it may be as well to pass on to--\n\n\n\nQuestion V.--About the mineral monad.\n\n\nAny English expression that correctly translates the idea given is\n\"authorized by the Adepts.\"  Why not?  The term \"monad\" applies to the\nlatent life in the mineral as much as it does to the life in the\nvegetable and the animal.  The monogenist may take exception to the term\nand especially to the idea while the polygenist, unless he be a\ncorporealist, may not.  As to the other class of scientists, they would\ntake objection to the idea even of a human monad, and call it\n\"unscientific.\"  What relation does the monad bear to the atom?  None\nwhatever to the atom or molecule as in the scientific conception at\npresent.  It can neither be compared with the microscopic organism\nclassed once among polygastric infusoria, and now regarded as vegetable\nand ranked among algae;  nor is it quite the monas of the Peripatetics.\nPhysically or constitutionally the mineral monad differs, of course,\nfrom that of the human monad, which is neither physical, nor can its\nconstitution be rendered by chemical symbols and elements.  In short,\nthe mineral monad is one--the higher animal and human monads are\ncountless. Otherwise, how could one account for and explain\nmathematically the evolutionary and spiral progress of the four\nkingdoms?  The \"monad\" is the combination of the last two Principles in\nman, the 6th and the 7th, and, properly speaking, the term \"human monad\"\napplies only to the Spiritual Soul, not to its highest spiritual\nvivifying Principle.  But since divorced from the latter the Spiritual\nSoul could have no existence, no being, it has thus been called.  The\ncomposition (if such a word, which would shock an Asiatic, seems\nnecessary to help European conception) of Buddhi or the 6th principle is\nmade up of the essence of what you would call matter (or perchance a\ncentre of Spiritual Force) in its 6th and 7th condition or state;  the\nanimating ATMAN being part of the ONE LIFE or Parabrahm.  Now the\nMonadic Essence (if such a term be permitted) in the mineral, vegetable\nand animal, though the same throughout the series of cycles from the\nlowest elemental up to the Deva kingdom, yet differs in the scale of\nprogression.\n\nIt would be very misleading to imagine a monad as a separate entity\ntrailing its slow way in a distinct path through the lower kingdoms, and\nafter an incalculable series of transmigrations flowering into a human\nbeing;  in short, that the monad of a Humboldt dates back to the monad\nof an atom of hornblende. Instead of saying a mineral monad, the\ncorrecter phraseology in physical science which differentiates every\natom, would of course have been to call it the Monad manifesting in that\nform of Prakriti called the mineral kingdom.  Each atom or molecule of\nordinary scientific hypotheses is not a particle of something, animated\nby a psychic something, destined to blossom as a man after aeons.  But\nit is a concrete manifestation of the Universal Energy which itself has\nnot yet become individualized:  a sequential manifestation of the one\nUniversal Monas.  The ocean does not divide into its potential and\nconstituent drops until the sweep of the life-impulse reaches the\nevolutionary stage of man-birth.  The tendency towards segregation into\nindividual monads is gradual, and in the higher animals comes almost to\nthe point.  The Peripatetics applied the word Monas to the whole Cosmos,\nin the pantheistic sense;  and the Occultists while accepting this\nthought for convenience' sake, distinguish the progressive stages of the\nevolution of the Concrete from the Abstract by terms of which the\n\"Mineral Monad\" is one.  The term merely means that the tidal wave of\nspiritual evolution is passing through that arc of its circuit.  The\n\"Monadic Essence\" begins to imperceptibly differentiate in the vegetable\nkingdom. As the monads are uncompounded things, as correctly defined by\nLeibnitz, it is the spiritual essence which vivifies them in their\ndegrees of differentiation which constitutes properly the monad--not the\natomic aggregation which is only the vehicle and the substance through\nwhich thrill the lower and higher degrees of intelligence.\n\nAnd though, as shown by those plants that are known as sensitives, there\nare a few among them that may be regarded as possessing that conscious\nperception which is called by Leibnitz apperception, while the rest are\nendowed but with that internal activity which may be called vegetable\nnerve-sensation (to call it perception would be wrong), yet even the\nvegetable monad is still the Monad in its second degree of awakening\nsensation. Leibnitz came several times very near the truth, but defined\nthe monadic evolution incorrectly and often greatly blundered.  There\nare seven kingdoms.  The first group comprises three degrees of\nelementals, or nascent centres of forces--from the first stage of the\ndifferentiation of Mulaprakriti to its third degree--i.e., from full\nunconsciousness to semi-perception;  the second or higher group embraces\nthe kingdoms from vegetable to man;  the mineral kingdom thus forming\nthe central or turning-point in the degrees of the \"Monadic Essence\"--\nconsidered as an Evoluting Energy.  Three stages in the elemental side;\nthe mineral kingdom;  three stages in the objective physical side--these\nare the seven links of the evolutionary chain.  A descent of spirit into\nmatter, equivalent to an ascent in physical evolution;  a re-ascent from\nthe deepest depths of materiality (the mineral) towards its status quo\nante, with a corresponding dissipation of concrete organisms up to\nNirvana--the vanishing point of differentiated matter.  Perhaps a simple\ndiagram will aid us:--\n\n[[Diagram here]]\n\nThe line A D represents the gradual obscuration of spirit as it passes\ninto concrete matter;  the point D indicates the evolutionary position\nof the mineral kingdom from its incipient (d) to its ultimate concretion\n(a);  c, b, a, on the left-hand side of the figure, are the three stages\nof elemental evolution; i.e., the three successive stages passed by the\nspiritual impulse (through the elementals--of which little is permitted\nto be said) before they are imprisoned in the most concrete form of\nmatter; and a, b, c, on the right-hand side, are the three stages of\norganic life, vegetable, animal, human.  What is total obscuration of\nspirit is complete perfection of its polar antithesis--matter;  and this\nidea is conveyed in the lines A D and D A.  The arrows show the line of\ntravel of the evolutionary impulse in entering its vortex and expanding\nagain into the subjectivity of the ABSOLUTE. The central thickest line,\nd d, is the Mineral Kingdom.\n\nThe monogenists have had their day.  Even believers in a personal god,\nlike Professor Agassiz, teach now that, \"There is a manifest progress in\nthe succession of beings on the surface of the earth. The progress\nconsists in an increasing similarity of the living fauna, and among the\nvertebrates especially, in the increasing resemblance to man.  Man is\nthe end towards which all the animal creation has tended from the first\nappearance of the first Palaeozoic fishes\" (\"Principles of Zoology,\" pp.\n205-6).  The mineral \"monad\" is not an individuality latent, but an\nall-pervading Force which has for its Present vehicle matter in its\nlowest and most concrete terrestrial state;  in man the monad is fully\ndeveloped, potential, and either passive or absolutely active, according\nto its vehicle, the five lower and more physical human principles.  In\nthe Deva kingdom it is fully liberated and in its highest state--but one\ndegree lower than the ONE Universal Life.*\n\n----------\n* The above diagram represents a logical section of the scheme of\nevolution, and not the evolutionary history of a unit of consciousness.\n----------\n\n\n\nQuestion VIII.--Sri Sankaracharya's Date\n\n\nIt is always difficult to determine with precision the date of any\nparticular event in the ancient history of India;  and this difficulty\nis considerably enhanced by the speculations of European Orientalists,\nwhose labours in this direction have but tended to thicken the confusion\nalready existing in popular legends and traditions, which were often\naltered or modified to suit the necessities of sectarian controversy.\nThe causes that have produced this result will be fully ascertained on\nexamining the assumptions on which these speculations are based.  The\nwritings of many of these Orientalists are often characterized by an\nimperfect knowledge of Indian literature, philosophy and religion, and\nof Hindu traditions, and a contemptuous disregard for the opinions of\nHindu writers and pundits.  Very often, facts and dates are taken by\nthese writers from the writings of their predecessors or contemporaries\non the assumption that they are correct without any further\ninvestigation by themselves.  Even when a writer gives a date with an\nexpression of doubt as to its accuracy, his follower frequently quotes\nthe same date as if it were absolutely correct.  One wrong date is made\nto depend upon another wrong date, and one bad inference is often\ndeduced from another inference equally unwarranted and illogical.  And\nconsequently, if the correctness of any particular date given by these\nwriters is to be ascertained, the whole structure of Indian Chronology\nconstructed by them will have to be carefully examined.  It will be\nconvenient to enumerate some of the assumptions above referred to before\nproceeding to examine their opinions concerning the date of\nSankaracharya.\n\nI. Many of these writers are not altogether free from the prejudices\nengendered by the pernicious doctrine, deduced from the Bible, whether\nrightly or wrongly, that this world is only six thousand years old.  We\ndo not mean to say that any one of these writers would now seriously\nthink of defending the said doctrine.  Nevertheless, it had exercised a\nconsiderable influence on the minds of Christian writers when they began\nto investigate the claims of Asiatic Chronology.  If an antiquity of\nfive or six thousand years is assigned to any particular event connected\nwith the ancient history of Egypt, India or China, it is certain to be\nrejected at once by these writers without any inquiry whatever regarding\nthe truth of the statement.\n\nII. They are extremely unwilling to admit that any portion of the Veda\ncan be traced to a period anterior to the date of the Pentateuch, even\nwhen the arguments brought forward to establish the priority of the\nVedas are such as would be convincing to the mind of an impartial\ninvestigator untainted by Christian prejudices.  The maximum limit of\nIndian antiquity is, therefore, fixed for them by the Old Testament;\nand it is virtually assumed by them that a period between the date of\nthe Old Testament on the one side, and the present time on the other,\nshould necessarily be assigned to every book in the whole range of Vedic\nand Sanskrit literature, and to almost every event of Indian history.\n\nIII. It is often assumed without reason that every passage in the Vedas\ncontaining philosophical or metaphysical ideas must be looked upon as a\nsubsequent interpolation, and that every book treating of a\nphilosophical subject must be considered as having been written after\nthe time of Buddha or after the commencement of the Christian era.\nCivilization, philosophy and scientific investigation had their origin,\nin the opinion of these writers, within the six or seven centuries\npreceding the Christian era, and mankind slowly emerged, for the first\ntime, from \"the depths of animal brutality\" within the last four or five\nthousand years.\n\nIV. It is also assumed that Buddhism was brought into existence by\nGautama Buddha.  The previous existence of Buddhism, Jainism and Arhat\nphilosophy is rejected as an absurd and ridiculous invention of the\nBuddhists and others, who attempted thereby to assign a very high\nantiquity to their own religion.  In consequence of this erroneous\nimpression every Hindu book referring to the doctrines of Buddhists is\ndeclared to have been written subsequent to the time of Gautama Buddha.\nFor instance, Mr. Weber is of opinion that Vyasa, the author of the\nBrahma Sutras, wrote them in the fifth century after Christ.  This is\nindeed a startling revelation to the majority of Hindus.\n\nV. Whenever several works treating of various subjects are attributed to\none and the same author by Hindu writings or traditions, it is often\nassumed, and apparently without any reason whatever in the majority of\ncases, that the said works should be considered as the productions of\ndifferent writers.  By this process of reasoning they have discovered\ntwo Badarayanas (Vyasas), two Patanjalis, and three Vararuchis.  We do\nnot mean to say that in every case identity of name is equivalent to\nidentity of personality.  But we cannot but protest against such\nassumptions when they are made without any evidence to support them,\nmerely for the purpose of supporting a foregone conclusion or\nestablishing a favourite hypothesis.\n\nVI. An attempt is often made by these writers to establish the\nchronological order of the events of ancient Indian history by means of\nthe various stages in the growth or development of the Sanskrit language\nand Indian literature.  The time required for this growth is often\nestimated in the same manner in which a geologist endeavours to fix the\ntime required for the gradual development of the various strata\ncomposing the earth's crust. But we fail to perceive anything like a\nproper method in making these calculations.  It will be wrong to assume\nthat the growth of one language will require the same time as that of\nanother within the same limits.  The peculiar characteristics of the\nnation to whom the language belongs must be carefully taken into\nconsideration in attempting to make any such calculation.  The history\nof the said nation is equally important.  Any one who examines Max\nMuller's estimate of the so-called Sutra, Brahmana, Mantra and Khanda\nperiods, will be able to perceive that no attention has been paid to\nthese considerations.  The time allotted to the growth of these four\n\"strata\" of Vedic literature is purely arbitrary.\n\nWe have enumerated these defects in the writings of European\nOrientalists for the purpose of showing to our readers that it is not\nalways safe to rely upon the conclusions arrived at by these writers\nregarding the dates of ancient Indian history.\n\nIn examining the various quotations and traditions selected by European\nOrientalists for the purpose of fixing Sankaracharya's date, special\ncare must be taken to see whether the person referred to was the very\nfirst Sankaracharya who established the Adwaitee doctrine, or one of his\nfollowers who became the Adhipathis (heads) of the various Mathams\n(temples) established by him and his successors.  Many of the Adwaitee\nMathadhipatis who succeeded him (especially of the Sringeri Matham) were\nmen of considerable renown and were well known throughout India during\ntheir time.  They are often referred to under the general name of\nSankaracharya.  Consequently, any reference made to any one of these\nMathadhipatis is apt to be mistaken for a reference to the first\nSankaracharya himself.\n\nMr. Barth, whose opinion regarding Sankara's date is quoted by \"An\nEnglish F.T.S.\" against the date assigned to that teacher in Mr.\nSinnett's book on Esoteric Buddhism, does not appear to have carefully\nexamined the subject himself.  He assigns no reasons for the date given,\nand does not even allude to the existence of other authorities and\ntraditions which conflict with the date adopted by him.  The date which\nhe assigns to Sankara appears in an unimportant foot-note on page 89 of\nhis book on \"The Religions of India,\" which reads thus:  \"Sankaracharya\nis generally placed in the eighth century;  perhaps we must accept the\nninth rather. The best accredited tradition represents him as born on\nthe 10th of the month 'Madhava' in 788 A.D.  Other traditions, it is\ntrue, place him in the second and fifth centuries.  The author of the\nDabistan, on the other hand, brings him as far down as the commencement\nof the fourteenth.\"  Mr. Barth is clearly wrong in saying that Sankara\nis generally placed in the eight century. There are as many traditions\nfor placing him in some century before the Christian era as for placing\nhim in some century after the said era, and it will also be seen from\nwhat follows that in fact evidence preponderates in favour of the former\nstatement. It cannot be contended that the generality of Orientalists\nhave any definite opinions of their own on the subject under\nconsideration.  Max Muller does not appear to have ever directed his\nattention to this subject.  Monier Williams merely copies the date given\nby Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Weber seems to rely upon the same authority\nwithout troubling himself with any further inquiry about the matter.\nMr. Wilson is probably the only Orientalist who investigated the subject\nwith some care and attention;  and he frankly confesses that the exact\nperiod at which \"he (Sankara) flourished can by no means be determined\"\n(p. 201 of vol. I. of his \"Essays on the Religion of the Hindoos\").\nUnder such circumstances the foot-note above quoted is certainly very\nmisleading.  Mr. Barth does not inform his readers where he obtained the\ntradition referred to, and what reasons he has for supposing that it\nrefers to the first Sankaracharya, and that it is \"the best accredited\ntradition.\"  When the matter is still open to discussion, Mr. Barth\nshould not have adopted any particular date if he is not prepared to\nsupport it and establish it by proper arguments.  The other traditions\nalluded to are not intended, of course, to strengthen the authority of\nthe tradition relied upon.  But the wording of the foot-note in question\nseems to show that all the authorities and traditions relating to the\nsubject are comprised therein, when in fact the most important of them\nare left out of consideration, as will be shown hereafter. No arguments\nare to be found in support of the date assigned to Sankara in the other\nportions of Mr. Barth's book, but there are a few isolated passages\nwhich may be taken either as inferences from the statement in question\nor arguments in its support, which it will be necessary to examine in\nthis connection.\n\nMr. Barth has discovered some connection between the appearance of\nSankara in India and the commencement of the persecution of the\nBuddhists, which he seems to place in the seventh and eighth centuries.\nIn page 89 of his book he speaks of \"the great reaction on the offensive\nagainst Buddhism which was begun in the Deccan in the seventh and eighth\ncenturies by the schools of Kumarila and Sankara;\"  and in page 135 he\nstates that the \"disciples of Kumarila and Sankara, organized into\nmilitary bands, constituted themselves the rabid defenders of\northodoxy.\" The force of these statements is, however, considerably\nweakened by the author's observations on pages 89 and 134, regarding the\nabsence of any traces of Buddhist persecution by Sankara in the\nauthentic documents hitherto examined, and the absurdity of legends\nwhich represent him as exterminating Buddhists from the Himalaya to Cape\nComorin.\n\nThe association of Sankara with Kumarila in the passages above cited is\nhighly ridiculous.  It is well known to almost every Hindu that the\nfollowers of Purva Mimamsa (Kumarila commented on the Sutras) were the\ngreatest and the bitterest opponents of Sankara and his doctrine, and\nMr. Barth seems to be altogether ignorant of the nature of Kumarila's\nviews and Purva Mimamsa, and the scope and aim of Sankara's Vedantic\nphilosophy.  It is impossible to say what evidence the author has for\nasserting that the great reaction against the Buddhists commenced in the\nseventh and eighth centuries, and that Sankara was instrumental in\noriginating it.  There are some passages in his book which tend to show\nthat this date cannot be considered as quite correct.  In page 135 he\nsays that Buddhist persecution began even in the time of Asoka.\n\nSuch being the case, it is indeed very surprising that the orthodox\nHindus should have kept quiet for nearly ten centuries without\nretaliating on their enemies.  The political ascendency gained by the\nBuddhists during the reign of Asoka did not last very long;  and the\nHindus had the support of very powerful kings before and after the\ncommencement of the Christian era. Moreover, the author says, in p. 132\nof his book, that Buddhism was in a state of decay in the seventh\ncentury.  It is hardly to be expected that the reaction against the\nBuddhists would commence when their religion was already in a state of\ndecay.  No great religious teacher or reformer would waste his time and\nenergy in demolishing a religion already in ruins.  But what evidence is\nthere to show that Sankara was ever engaged in this task?  If the main\nobject of his preaching was to evoke a reaction against Buddhism, he\nwould no doubt have left us some writings specially intended to\ncriticize its doctrines and expose its defects.  On the other hand, he\ndoes not even allude to Buddhism in his independent works.\n\nThough he was a voluminous writer, with the exception of a few remarks\non the theory advocated by some Buddhists regarding the nature of\nperception, contained in his Commentary on the Brahma-Sutras, there is\nnot a single passage in the whole range of his writings regarding the\nBuddhists or their doctrines;  and the insertion of even these few\nremarks in his Commentary was rendered necessary by the allusions\ncontained in the Sutras which he was interpreting.  As, in our humble\nopinion, these Brahma-Sutras were composed by Vyasa himself (and not by\nan imaginary Vyasa of the fifth century after Christ, evolved by Mr.\nWeber's fancy), the allusions therein contained relate to the Buddhism\nwhich existed to the date of Gautama Buddha.  From these few remarks it\nwill be clear to our readers that Sankaracharya had nothing to do with\nBuddhist persecution.  We may here quote a few passages from Mr.\nWilson's Preface to the first edition of his Sanskrit Dictionary in\nsupport of our remarks.  He writes as follows regarding Sankara's\nconnection with the persecution of the Buddhists:--\"Although the popular\nbelief attributes the origin of the Bauddha persecution to\nSankaracharya, yet in this case we have some reason to distrust its\naccuracy.  Opposed to it we have the mild character of the reformer, who\nis described as uniformly gentle and tolerant;  and, speaking from my\nown limited reading in Vedanta works, and the more satisfactory\ntestimony of Ram Mohun Roy, which he permits me to adduce, it does not\nappear that any traces of his being instrumental to any persecution are\nto be found in his own writings, all which are extant, and the object of\nwhich is by no means the correction of the Bauddha or any other schism,\nbut the refutation of all other doctrines besides his own, and the\nreformation or re-establishment of the fourth religious order.\"  Further\non he observes that \"it is a popular error to ascribe to him the work of\npersecution;  he does not appear at all occupied in that odious task,\nnor is he engaged in particular controversy with any of the Bauddhas.\"\n\nFrom the foregoing observations it will be seen that Sankara's date\ncannot be determined by the time of the commencement of the Buddhist\npersecution, even if it were possible to ascertain the said period.\n\nMr. Barth seems to have discovered some connection between the\nphilosophical systems of Sankara, Ramanuja and Anandathirtha, and the\nArabian merchants who came to India in the first centuries of the\nHejira, and he is no doubt fully entitled to any credit that may be\ngiven him for the originality of his discovery.  This mysterious and\noccult connection between Adwaita philosophy and Arabian commerce is\npointed out in p. 212 of his book, and it may have some bearing on the\npresent question, if it is anything more than a figment of his fancy.\nThe only reason given by him in support of his theory is, however, in my\nhumble opinion, worthless.  The Hindus had a Prominent example of a\ngrand religious movement under the guidance of a single teacher in the\nlife of Buddha, and it was not necessary for them to imitate the\nadventures of the Arabian prophet.  There is but one other passage in\nMr. Barth's book which has some reference to Sankara's date.  In page\n207 he writes as follows:--\"The Siva, for instance, who is invoked at\nthe commencement of the drama of Sakuntala, who is at once God, priest\nand offering, and whose body is the universe, is a Vedantic idea.  This\ntestimony appears to be forgotten when it is maintained, as is sometimes\ndone, that the whole sectarian Vedantism commences with Sankara.\"  But\nthis testimony appears to be equally forgotten when it is maintained, as\nis sometimes done by Orientalists like Mr. Barth, that Sankara lived in\nsome century after the author of Sakuntala.\n\nFrom the foregoing remarks it will be apparent that Mr. Barth's opinion\nregarding Sankara's date is very unsatisfactory.  As Mr. Wilson seems to\nhave examined the subject with some care and attention, we must now\nadvert to his opinion and see how far it is based on proper evidence.\nIn attempting to fix Amara Sinha's date (which attempt ultimately ended\nin a miserable failure), he had to ascertain the period when Sankara\nlived.  Consequently his remarks concerning the said period appear in\nhis preface to the first edition of his Sanskrit Dictionary.  We shall\nnow reproduce here such passages from this preface as are connected with\nthe subject under consideration and comment upon them.  Mr. Wilson\nwrites as follows:--\n\n\"The birth of Sankara presents the same discordance as every other\nremarkable incident amongst the Hindus.  The Kadali (it ought to be\nKoodali) Brahmins, who form an establishment following and teaching his\nsystem, assert his appearance about 2,000 years since;  some accounts\nplace him about the beginning of the Christian era, others in the third\nor fourth century after;  a manuscript history of the kings of Konga, in\nColonel Mackenzie's Collection, makes him contemporary with Tiru Vikrama\nDeva Chakravarti, sovereign of Skandapura in the Dekkan, AD. 178; at\nSringeri, on the edge of the Western Ghauts, and now in the Mysore\nTerritory, at which place he is said to have founded a College that\nstill exists, and assumes the supreme control of the Smarta Brahmins of\nthe Peninsula, an antiquity of 1,600 years is attributed to him, and\ncommon tradition makes him about 1,200 years old.  The Bhoja Prabandha\nenumerates Sankara among its worthies, and as contemporary with that\nprince;  his antiquity will then be between eight and nine centuries.\nThe followers of Madhwacharya in Tuluva seem to have attempted to\nreconcile these contradictory accounts by supposing him to have been\nborn three times;  first at Sivuli in Tuluva about 1,500 years ago,\nagain in Malabar some centuries later, and finally at Padukachaytra in\nTuluva, no more than 600 years since;  the latter assertion being\nintended evidently to do honour to their own founder, whose date that\nwas, by enabling him to triumph over Sankara in a supposititious\ncontroversy.  The Vaishnava Brahmins of Madura say that Sankara appeared\nin the ninth century of Salivahana, or tenth of our era.  Dr. Taylor\nthinks that, if we allow him about 900 years, we shall not be far from\nthe truth, and Mr. Colebroke is inclined to give him an antiquity of\nabout 1,000 years.  This last is the age which my friend Ram Mohun Roy,\na diligent student of Sankara's works, and philosophical teacher of his\ndoctrines, is disposed to concur in, and he infers that 'from a\ncalculation of the spiritual generations of the followers of Sankara\nSwami from his time up to this date, he seems to have lived between the\nseventh and eighth centuries of the Christian era,' a distance of time\nagreeing with the statements made to Dr. Buchanan in his journey through\nSankara's native country, Malabar, and in union with the assertion of\nthe Kerala Utpatti, a work giving art historical and statistical account\nof the same province, and which, according to Mr. Duncan's citation of\nit, mentions the regulations of the castes of Malabar by this\nphilosopher to have been effected about 1,000 years before 1798.  At the\nsame time, it must be observed, that a manuscript translation of the\nsame work in Colonel Mackenzie's possession, states Sankaracharya to\nhave been born about the middle of the fifth century, or between\nthirteen or fourteen hundred years ago, differing in this respect from\nMr. Duncan's statement--a difference of the less importance, as the\nmanuscript in question, either from defects in the original or\ntranslation, presents many palpable errors, and cannot consequently be\ndepended upon.  The weight of authority therefore is altogether in\nfavour of an antiquity of about ten centuries, and I am disposed to\nadopt this estimate of Sankara's date, and to place him in the end of\nthe eighth and beginning of the ninth century of the Christian era.\"\n\nWe will add a few more authorities to Mr. Wilson's list before\nproceeding to comment on the foregoing passage.\n\nIn a work called \"The Biographical Sketches of Eminent Hindu Authors,\"\npublished at Bombay in 1860 by Janardan Ramchenderjee, it is stated that\nSankara lived 2,500 years ago, and that, in the opinion of some people,\n2,200 years ago.  The records of the Combaconum Matham give a list of\nnearly 66 Mathadhipatis from Sankara down to the present time, and show\nthat he lived more than 2,000 years ago.\n\nThe Kudali Matham referred to by Mr. Wilson, which is a branch of the\nSringeri Matham, gives the same date as the latter Matham, their\ntraditions being identical.  Their calculation can safely be relied upon\nas far as it is supported by the dates given on the places of Samadhi\n(something like a tomb) of the successive Gurus of the Sringeri Matham;\nand it leads us to the commencement of the Christian era.\n\nNo definite information is given by Mr. Wilson regarding the nature,\norigin, or reliability of the accounts which place Sankara in the third\nor fourth century of the Christian era or at its commencement;  nor does\nit clearly appear that the history of the kings of Konga referred to\nunmistakably alludes to the very first Sancharacharya.  These traditions\nare evidently opposed to the conclusion arrived at by Mr. Wilson, and it\ndoes not appear on what grounds their testimony is discredited by him.\nMr. Wilson is clearly wrong in stating that an antiquity of 1,600 years\nis attributed to Sankara by the Sringeri Matham.  We have already\nreferred to the account of the Sringeri Matham, and it is precisely\nsimilar to the account given by the Kudali Brahmins. We have ascertained\nthat it is so from the agent of the Sringeri Matham at Madras, who has\nrecently published the list of teachers preserved at the said Matham\nwith the dates assigned to them. And further, we are unable to see which\n\"common tradition\" makes Sankara \"about 1,200 years old.\"  As far as our\nknowledge goes there is no such common tradition in India.  The majority\nof people in Southern India have, up to this time, been relying on the\nSringeri account, and in Northern India there seems to be no common\ntradition.  We have but a mass of contradictory accounts.\n\nIt is indeed surprising that an Orientalist of Mr. Wilson's pretensions\nshould confound the poet named Sankara and mentioned in Bhoja Prabandha\nwith the great Adwaitee teacher.  No Hindu would ever commit such a\nridiculous mistake.  We are astonished to find some of these European\nOrientalists quoting now and then some of the statements contained in\nsuch books as Bhoja Prabandha, Katha Sarit Sagara, Raja-tarangini and\nPanchatantra, as if they were historical works.  In some other part of\nhis preface Mr. Wilson himself says that this Bhoja Prabandha is\naltogether untrustworthy, as some of the statements contained therein\ndid not harmonize with his theory about Amarasimha's date;  but now he\nmisquotes its statements for the purpose of supporting his conclusion\nregarding Sankara's date.  Surely, consistency is not one of the\nprominent characteristics of the writings of the majority of European\nOrientalists.  The person mentioned in Bhoja Prabandha is always spoken\nof under the name of Sankara Kavi (poet), and he is nowhere called\nSankaracharya (teacher), and the Adwaitee teacher is never mentioned in\nany Hindu work under the appellation of Sankara Kavi.\n\nIt is unnecessary for us to say anything about the Madhwa traditions or\nthe opinion of the Vaishnava Brahmins of Madurah regarding Sankara's\ndate.  It is, in our humble opinion, hopeless to expect anything but\nfalsehood regarding Sankara's history and his philosophy from the\nMadhwas and the Vaishnavas.  They are always very anxious to show to the\nworld at large that their doctrines existed before the time of Sankara,\nand that the Adwaitee doctrine was a deviation from their preexisting\northodox Hinduism.  And consequently they have assigned to him an\nantiquity of less than 1,500 years.\n\nIt does not appear why Dr. Taylor thinks that he can allow Sankara about\n900 years, or on what grounds Mr. Colebrooke is inclined to give him an\nantiquity of about 1,000 years.  No reliance can be placed on such\nstatements before the reasons assigned therefore are thoroughly sifted.\n\nFortunately, Mr. Wilson gives us the reason for Ram Mohun Roy's opinion.\nWe are inclined to believe that Ram Mohun Roy's calculation was made\nwith reference to the Sringeri list of Teachers or Gurus, as that was\nthe only list published up to this time;  and as no other Matham, except\nperhaps the Cumbaconum Matham, has a list of Gurus coming up to the\npresent time in uninterrupted succession.  There is no necessity for\ndepending upon his calculation (which from its very nature cannot be\nanything more than mere guesswork) when the old list preserved at\nSringeri contains the dates assigned to the various teachers.  As these\ndates have not been published up to the present time, and as Ram Mohun\nRoy had merely a string of names before him, he was obliged to ascertain\nSankara's date by assigning a certain number of years on the average to\nevery teacher.  Consequently, his opinion is of no importance whatever\nwhen we have the statement of the Sringeri Matham which, as we have\nalready said, places Sankara some centuries before the Christian era.\nThe same remarks will apply to the calculation in question even if it\nwere made on the basis of the number of teachers contained in the list\npreserved in the Cumbaconum Matham.\n\nVery little importance can be attached to the oral evidence adduced by\nsome unknown persons before Dr. Buchanan in his travels through Malabar;\nand we have only to consider the inferences that may be drawn from the\naccounts contained in Kerala Utpatti.  The various manuscript copies of\nthis work seem to differ in the date they assign to Sankaracharya;  even\nif the ease were otherwise, we cannot place any reliance upon this work,\nfor the following among other reasons:--\n\nI. It is a well-known fact that the customs of Malabar are very\npeculiar.  Their defenders have been, consequently, pointing to some\ngreat Rishi or some great philosopher of ancient India as their\nlegislator.  Some of them affirm (probably the majority) that Parasurama\nbrought into existence some of these customs and left a special Smriti\nfor the guidance of the people of Malabar; others say that it was\nSankaracharya who sanctioned these peculiar customs.  It is not very\ndifficult to perceive why these two persons were selected by them.\nAccording to the Hindu Puranas, Parasurama lived in Malabar for some\ntime, and according to Hindu traditions Sankara was born in that\ncountry.  But it is extremely doubtful whether either of them had\nanything to do with the peculiar customs of the said country.  There is\nno allusion whatever to any of these customs in Sankara's works.  He\nseems to have devoted his whole attention to religious reform, and it is\nvery improbable that he should have ever directed his attention to the\nlocal customs of Malabar.  While attempting to revive the philosophy of\nthe ancient Rishis, it is not likely that he should have sanctioned the\ncustoms of Malabar, which are at variance with the rules laid down in\nthe Smritis of those very Rishis; and as far as our knowledge goes, he\nleft no written regulations regarding to the castes of Malabar.\n\nII. The statements contained in Kerala Utpatti are opposed to the\naccount of Sankara's life given in almost all the Sankara Vijayams\n(Biographies of Sankara) examined up to this time--viz., Vidyaranya's\nSankara Vijayam, Chitsukhachary's Sankara Vijayavilasam, Brihat Sankara\nVijayam, &c.  According to the account contained in these works, Sankara\nleft Malabar in his eighth year, and returned to his native village when\nhis mother was on her death-bed, and on that occasion he remained there\nonly for a few days.  It is difficult to see at what period of his\nlifetime he was engaged in making regulations for the castes of Malabar.\n\nIII. The work under consideration represents Malabar as the seat of\nBhattapada's triumphs over the Buddhists, and says that this teacher\nestablished himself in Malabar and expelled the Buddhists from that\ncountry.  This statement alone will be sufficient to show to our readers\nthe fictitious character of the account contained in this book.\nAccording to every other Hindu work, this great teacher of Purva Mimamsa\nwas born in Northern India; almost all his famous disciples and\nfollowers were living in that part of the country, and according to\nVidyaranya's account he died at Allahabad.\n\nFor the foregoing reasons we cannot place any reliance upon this account\nof Malabar.\n\nFrom an examination of the traditions and other accounts referred to\nabove, Mr. Wilson comes to the conclusion that Sankaracharya lived in\nthe end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth century of the\nChristian era.  The accounts of the Sringeri, Kudali and Cumbaconum\nMathams, and the traditions current in the Bombay Presidency, as shown\nin the biographical sketches published at Bombay, place Sankara in some\ncentury before the Christian era.  On the other hand, Kerala Utpatti,\nthe information obtained by Dr. Buchanan in his travels through Malabar,\nand the opinions expressed by Dr. Taylor and Mr. Colebrooke, concur in\nassigning to him an antiquity of about 1,000 years.  The remaining\ntraditions referred to by Mr. Wilson are as much opposed to his opinion\nas to the conclusion that Sankara lived before Christ.  We shall now\nleave it to our readers to say whether, under such circumstances, Mr.\nWilson is justified in asserting that \"the weight of authority is\naltogether in favour\" of his theory.\n\nWe have already referred to the writings of almost all the European\nOrientalists who expressed an opinion upon the subject under discussion;\nand we need hardly say that Sankara's date is yet to be ascertained.\n\nWe are obliged to comment at length on the opinions of European\nOrientalists regarding Sankara's date, as there will be no probability\nof any attention being paid to the opinion of Indian and Tibetan\ninitiates when it is generally believed that the question has been\nfinally settled by European Sanskritists.  The Adepts referred to by \"An\nEnglish F.T.S.\" are certainly in a position to clear up some of the\nproblems in Indian religious history.  But there is very little chance\nof their opinions being accepted by the general public under present\ncircumstances, unless they are supported by such evidence as is within\nthe reach of the outside world.  As it is not always possible to procure\nsuch evidence, there is very little use in publishing the information\nwhich is in their possession until the public are willing to recognize\nand admit the antiquity and trustworthiness of their traditions, the\nextent of their powers, and the vastness of their knowledge.  In the\nabsence of such proof as is above indicated, there is every likelihood\nof their opinions being rejected as absurd and untenable;  their motives\nwill no doubt be questioned, and some people may be tempted to deny even\nthe fact of their existence.  It is often asked by Hindus as well as by\nEnglish men why these Adepts are so very unwilling to publish some\nportion at least of the information they possess regarding the truths of\nphysical science.  But, in doing so, they do not seem to perceive the\ndifference between the method by which they obtain their knowledge and\nthe process of modern scientific investigation by which the facts of\nNature are ascertained and its laws are discovered.  Unless an Adept can\nprove his conclusions by the same kind of reasoning as is adopted by the\nmodern scientist they remain undemonstrated to the outside world. It is\nof course impossible for him to develop in a considerable number of\nhuman beings such faculties as would enable them to perceive their\ntruth;  and it is not always practicable to establish them by the\nordinary scientific method unless all the facts and laws on which his\ndemonstration is to be based have already been ascertained by modern\nscience.  No Adept can be expected to anticipate the discoveries of the\nnext four or five centuries, and prove some grand scientific truth to\nthe entire satisfaction of the educated public after having discovered\nevery fact and law of Nature required for the said purpose by such\nprocess of reasoning as would be accepted by them.  They have to\nencounter similar difficulties in giving any information regarding the\nevents of the ancient history of India.\n\nHowever, before giving the exact date assigned to Sankaracharya by the\nIndian and Tibetan initiates, we shall indicate a few circumstances by\nwhich his date may be approximately determined. It is our humble opinion\nthat the Sankara Vijayams hitherto published can be relied upon as far\nas they are consistent with each other regarding the general outlines of\nSankara's life.  We cannot, however, place any reliance whatever upon\nAnandagiri's Sankara Vijaya published at Calcutta.  The Calcutta edition\nnot only differs in some very material points from the manuscript copies\nof the same work found in Southern India, but is opposed to every other\nSankara Vijayam hitherto examined.  It is quite clear from its style and\nsome of the statements contained therein, that it was not the production\nof Anandagiri, one of the four chief disciples of Sankara and the\ncommentator on his Upanishad Bhashyam.  For instance, it represents\nSankara as the author of a certain verse which is to be found in\nVidyaranya's Adhikaranaratnamala, written in the fourteenth century.  It\nrepresents Sankara as giving orders to two of his disciples to preach\nthe Visishtadwaitee and the Dwaitee doctrines, which are directly\nopposed to his own doctrine.  The book under consideration says that\nSankara went to conquer Mandanamisra in debate, followed by\nSureswaracharya, though Mandanamisra assumed the latter name at the time\nof initiation.  It is unnecessary for us here to point out all the\nblunders and absurdities of this book.  It will be sufficient to say\nthat in our opinion it was not written by Anandagiri, and that it was\nthe introduction of an unknown author who does not appear to have been\neven tolerably well acquainted with the history of the Adwaitee\ndoctrine. Vidyaranya's (otherwise Sayanachary, the great commentator of\nthe Vedas) Sankara Vijaya is decidedly the most reliable source of\ninformation as regards the main features of Sankara's biography. Its\nauthorship has been universally accepted, and the information contained\ntherein was derived by its author, as may be seen from his own\nstatements, from certain old biographies of Sankara existing at the time\nof its composition.  Taking into consideration the author's vast\nknowledge and information, and the opportunities he had for collecting\nmaterials for his work when he was the head of the Sringeri Matham,\nthere is every reason to believe that he had embodied in his work the\nmost reliable information he could obtain.  Mr. Wilson, however, says\nthat the book in question is \"much too poetical and legendary\" to be\nacknowledged as a great authority.  We admit that the style is highly\npoetical, but we deny that the work is legendary.  Mr. Wilson is not\njustified in characterizing it as such on account of its description of\nsome of the wonderful phenomena shown by Sankara.  Probably the learned\nOrientalist would not be inclined to consider the Biblical account of\nChrist in the same light.  It is not the peculiar privilege of\nChristianity to have a miracle-worker for its first propagator.  In the\nfollowing observations we shall take such facts as are required from\nthis work.\n\nIt is generally believed that a person named Govinda Yogi was Sankara's\nGuru, but it is not generally known that this Yogi was in fact\nPatanjali--the great author of the Mahabhashya and the Yoga Sutras--\nunder a new name.  A tradition current in Southern India represents him\nas one of the Chelas of Patanjali;  but it is very doubtful if this\ntradition has anything like a proper foundation.  But it is quite clear\nfrom the 94th, 95th, 96th, and 97th verses of the 5th chapter of\nVidyaranya's Sankara Vijayam that Govinda Yogi and Patanjali were\nidentical.  According to the immemorial custom observed amongst\ninitiates, Patanjali assumed the name of Govinda Yogi at the time of his\ninitiation by Goudapada.  It cannot be contended that Vidyaranya\nrepresented Patanjali as Sankara's Guru merely for the purpose of\nassigning some importance to Sankara and his teaching.  Sankara is\nlooked upon as a far greater man than Patanjali by the Adwaitees, and\nnothing can be added to Sankara's reputation by Vidyaranya's assertion.\nMoreover, Patanjali's views are not altogether identical with Sankara's\nviews;  it may be seen from Sankara's writings that he attached no\nimportance whatever to the practices of Hatha Yog regarding which\nPatanjali composed his Yoga Sutras. Under such circumstances, if\nVidyaranya had the option of selecting a Guru for Sankara, he would no\ndoubt have represented Vyasa himself (who is supposed to be still\nliving) as his Guru. We see no reason therefore to doubt the correctness\nof the statement under examination.  Therefore, as Sankara was\nPatanjali's Chela, and as Goudapada was his Guru, his date will enable\nus to fix the dates of Sankara and Goudapada.  We may here point out to\nour readers a mistake that appears in p. 148 of Mr. Sinnett's book on\nEsoteric Buddhism as regards the latter personage.  He is there\nrepresented as Sankara's Guru;  Mr. Sinnett was informed, we believe,\nthat he was Sankara's Paramaguru, and not having properly understood the\nmeaning of this expression, Mr. Sinnett wrote that he was Sankara's\nGuru.\n\nIt is generally admitted by Orientalists that Patanjali lived before the\ncommencement of the Christian era.  Mr. Barth places him in the second\ncentury before the Christian era, accepting Goldstucker's opinion, and\nMonier Williams does the same thing. Weber, who seems to have carefully\nexamined the opinions of all the other Orientalists who have written\nupon the subject, comes to the conclusion that \"we must for the present\nrest satisfied with placing the date of the composition of the Bhashya\nbetween B.C. 140 and A.D. 60, a result which considering the wretched\nstate of the chronology of Indian Liturgy generally is, despite its\nindefiniteness, of no mean importance.\"  And yet even this date rests\nupon inferences drawn from one or two unimportant expressions contained\nin Patanjali's Mahabhashya.  It is always dangerous to draw such\ninferences, and especially so when it is known that, according to the\ntradition current amongst Hindu grammarians, some portions of\nMahabhashya were lost, the gaps being filled up by subsequent writers.\nEven supposing that we should consider the expression quoted as written\nby Patanjali himself, there is nothing in those expressions which would\nenable us to fix the writer's date.  For instance, the connection\nbetween the expression \"Arunad Yavanah Saketam\" and the expedition of\nMenander against Ayodhya between B.C. 144 and 120, relied upon by\nGoldstucker is merely imaginary.  There is nothing in the expression to\nshow that the allusion contained therein points necessarily to\nMenander's expedition.  We believe that Patanjali is referring to the\nexpedition of Yavanas against Ayodhya during the lifetime of Sagara's\nfather described in Harivamsa.  This expedition occurred long before\nRama's time, and there is nothing to connect it with Menander.\nGoldstucker's inference is based upon the assumption that there was no\nother Yavana expedition against Ayodhya known to Patanjali, and it will\nbe easily seen from Harivamsa (written by Vyasa) that the said\nassumption is unwarranted.  Consequently the whole theory constructed by\nGoldstucker on this weak foundation falls to the ground.  No valid\ninferences can be drawn from the mere names of kings contained in\nMahabhashya, even if they are traced to Patanjali himself, as there\nwould be several kings in the same dynasty bearing the same name.  From\nthe foregoing remarks it will be clear that we cannot fix, as Weber has\ndone, B.C. 140 as the maximum limit of antiquity that can be assigned to\nPatanjali. It is now necessary to see whether any other such limit has\nbeen ascertained by Orientalists.  As Panini's date still remains\nundetermined, the limit cannot be fixed with reference to his date.  But\nit is assumed by some Orientalists that Panini must have lived at some\ntime subsequent to Alexander's invasion, from the fact that Panini\nexplains in his Grammar the formation of the word Yavanani.  We are very\nsorry that European Orientalists have taken the pains to construct\ntheories upon this basis without ascertaining the meaning assigned to\nthe word Yavana, and the time when the Hindus first became acquainted\nwith the Greeks.  It is unreasonable to assume without proof that this\nacquaintance commenced at the time of Alexander's invasion.  On the\nother hand, there are very good reasons for believing that the Greeks\nwere known to the Hindus long before this event.  Pythagoras visited\nIndia, according to the traditions current amongst Indian initiates, and\nhe is alluded to in Indian astrological works under the name of\nYavanacharya.  Moreover, it is not quite certain that the word Yavana\nwas strictly confined to the Greeks by the ancient Hindu writers.\nProbably it was originally applied to the Egyptians and the Ethiopians;\nit was probably extended first to the Alexandrian Greeks, and\nsubsequently to the Greeks, Persians, and Arabians.  Besides the Yavana\ninvasion of Ayodhya described in Harivamsa, there was another subsequent\nexpedition to India by Kala Yavana (Black Yavana) during Krishna's\nlifetime described in the same work.  This expedition was probably\nundertaken by the Ethiopians.  Anyhow, there are no reasons whatever, as\nfar as we can see, for asserting that Hindu writers began to use the\nword Yavana after Alexander's invasion.  We can attach no importance\nwhatever to any inferences that may be drawn regarding the dates of\nPanini and Katyayana (both of them lived before Patanjali) from the\nstatements contained in Katha Sarit Sayara, which is nothing more than a\nmere collection of fables. It is now seen by Orientalists that no proper\nconclusions can be drawn regarding the dates of Panini and Katyayana\nfrom the statements made by Hiuan Thsang, and we need not therefore say\nanything here regarding the said statements.  Consequently the dates of\nPanini and Katyayana still remain undetermined by European Orientalists.\nGoldstucker is probably correct in his conclusion that Panini lived\nbefore Buddha, and the Buddhists' accounts agree with the traditions of\nthe initiates in asserting that Katyayana was a contemporary of Buddha.\nFrom the fact that Patanjali must have composed his Mahabhashyam after\nthe composition of Panini's Sutras and Katyayana's Vartika, we can only\ninfer that it was written after Buddha's birth.  But there are a few\nconsiderations which may help us in coming to the conclusion that\nPatanjali must have lived about the year 500 B.C.;  Max Muller fixed the\nSutra period between 500 B.C. and 600 B.C.  We agree with him in\nsupposing that the period probably ended with B.C. 500, though it is\nuncertain how far it extended into the depths of Indian antiquity.\nPatanjali was the author of the Yoga Sutras, and this fact has not been\ndoubted by any Hindu writer up to this time.  Mr. Weber thinks, however,\nthat the author of the Yoga Sutras might be a different man from the\nauthor of the Mahabhashya, though he does not venture to assign any\nreason for his supposition.  We very much doubt if any European\nOrientalist can ever find out the connection between the first Anhika of\nthe Mahabhashya and the real secrets of Hatha Yoga contained in the Yoga\nSutras.  No one but an initiate can understand the full significance of\nthe said Anhika;  and the \"eternity of the Logos\" or Sabda is one of the\nprincipal doctrines of the Gymnosophists of India, who were generally\nHatha Yogis.  In the opinion of Hindu writers and pundits Patanjali was\nthe author of three works, viz., Mahabhashya, Yoga Sutras, and a book on\nMedicine and Anatomy;  and there is not the slightest reason for\nquestioning the correctness of this opinion.  We must, therefore, place\nPatanjali in the Sutra period, and this conclusion is confirmed by the\ntraditions of the Indian initiates.  As Sankaracharya was a contemporary\nof Patanjali (being his Chela) he must have lived about the same time.\nWe have thus shown that there are no reasons for placing Sankara in the\neighth or ninth century after Christ, as some of the European\nOrientalists have done.  We have further shown that Sankara was\nPatanjali's Chela, and that his date should be ascertained with\nreference to Patanjali's date.  We have also shown that neither the year\nB.C. 140 nor the date of Alexander's invasion can be accepted as the\nmaximum limit of antiquity that can be assigned to him, and we have\nlastly pointed out a few circumstances which will justify us in\nexpressing an opinion that Patanjali and his Chela Sankara belonged to\nthe Sutra period.  We may, perhaps, now venture to place before the\npublic the exact date assigned to Sankaracharya by Tibetan and Indian\ninitiates.  According to the historical information in their possession\nhe was born in the year B.C. 510 (fifty-one years and two months after\nthe date of Buddha's Nirvana), and we believe that satisfactory evidence\nin support of this date can be obtained in India if the inscriptions at\nConjeveram, Sringeri, Jaggurnath, Benares, Cashmere, and various other\nplaces visited by Sankara, are properly deciphered. Sankara built\nConjeveram, which is considered as one of the most ancient towns in\nSouthern India;  and it may be possible to ascertain the time of its\nconstruction if proper inquiries are made.  But even the evidence now\nbrought before the public supports the opinion of the Initiates above\nindicated.  As Goudapada was Sankaracharya's Guru's guru, his date\nentirely depends on Sankara's date;  and there is every reason to\nsuppose that he lived before Buddha.\n\n\n\nQuestion VI.--\"Historical Difficulty\"--Why?\n\n\nIt is asked whether there may not be \"some confusion\" in the letter\nquoted on p. 62 of \"Esoteric Buddhism\" regarding \"old Greeks and Romans\nsaid to have been Atlanteans.\"  The answer is--None whatever.  The word\n\"Atlantean\" was a generic name.  The objection to have it applied to the\nold Greeks and Romans on the ground that they were Aryans, \"their\nlanguage being intermediate between Sanskrit and modern European\ndialects,\" is worthless. With equal reason might a future 6th Race\nscholar, who had never heard of the (possible) submergence of a portion\nof European Turkey, object to Turks from the Bosphorus being referred to\nas a remnant of the Europeans.  \"The Turks are surely Semites,\" he might\nsay 12,000 years hence, and \"their language is intermediate between\nArabic and our modern 6th Race dialects.\" *\n\n--------\n* This is not to be construed to mean that 12,000 years hence there will\nbe yet any man of the 6th Race, or that the 5th will be submerged.  The\nfigures are given simply for the sake of a better comparison with the\npresent objection in the case of the Greeks and Atlantis.\n---------\n\nThe \"historical difficulty\" arises from a certain authoritative\nstatement made by Orientalists on philological grounds. Professor Max\nMuller has brilliantly demonstrated that Sanskrit was the \"elder\nsister\"--by no means the mother--of all the modern languages.  As to\nthat \"mother,\" it is conjectured by himself and colleagues to be a \"now\nextinct tongue, spoken probably by the nascent Aryan race.\"  When asked\nwhat was this language, the Western voice answers: \"Who can tell?\"\nWhen, \"during what geological periods did this nascent race flourish?\"\nthe same impressive voice replies:  \"In prehistoric ages, the duration\nof which no one can now determine.\"  Yet it must have been Sanskrit,\nhowever barbarous and unpolished, since \"the ancestors of the Greeks,\nthe Italians, Slavonians, Germans and Kelts\" were living within \"the\nsame precincts\" with that nascent race, and the testimony borne by\nlanguage has enabled the philologist to trace the \"language of the gods\"\nin the speech of every Aryan nation. Meanwhile it is affirmed by these\nsame Orientalists that classical Sanskrit has its origin at the very\nthreshold of the Christian era;  while Vedic Sanskrit is allowed an\nantiquity of hardly 3,000 years (if so much) before that time.\n\nNow, Atlantis, on the statement of the \"Adepts,\" sank over 9,000 years\nbefore the Christian era.*  How then can one maintain that the \"old\nGreeks and Romans\" were Atlanteans?  How can that be, since both nations\nare Aryans, and the genesis of their languages is Sanskrit?  Moreover,\nthe Western scholars know that the Greek and Latin languages were formed\nwithin historical periods, the Greeks and Latins themselves having no\nexistence as nations 11,000 B.C..  Surely they who advance such a\nproposition do not realize how very unscientific is their statement!\n\n----------\n* The position recently taken up by Mr. Gerald Massey in Light that the\nstory of Atlantis is not a geological event but an ancient astronomical\nmyth, is rather imprudent.  Mr. Massey, notwithstanding his rare\nintuitional faculties and great learning, is one of those writers in\nwhom the intensity of research bent into one direction has biased his\notherwise clear understanding.  Because Hercules is now a constellation\nit does not follow that there never was a hero of this name.  Because\nthe Noachian Universal Deluge is now proved a fiction based upon\ngeological and geographical ignorance, it does not, therefore, appear\nthat there were not many local deluges in prehistoric ages.  The\nancients connected every terrestrial event with the celestial bodies.\nThey traced the history of their great deified heroes and memorialized\nit in stellar configurations as often as they personified pure myths,\nanthropomorphizing objects in Nature.  One has to learn the difference\nbetween the two modes before attempting to classify them under one\nnomenclature.  An earthquake has just engulfed over 80,000 people\n(87,903) in Sunda Straits.  These were mostly Malays, savages with whom\nbut few had relations, and the dire event will be soon forgotten.  Had a\nportion of Great Britain been thus swept away instead, the whole world\nwould have been in commotion, and yet, a few thousand years hence, even\nsuch an event would have passed out of man's memory; and a future Gerald\nMassey might be found speculating upon the astronomical character and\nsignification of the Isles of Wight, Jersey, or Man, arguing, perhaps,\nthat this latter island had not contained a real living race of men but\n\"belonged to astronomical mythology,\" was a \"Man submerged in celestial\nwaters.\"  If the legend of the lost Atlantis is only \"like those of\nAiryana-Vaejo and Jambu-dvipa,\" it is terrestrial enough, and therefore\n\"the mythological origin of the Deluge legend\" is so far an open\nquestion.  We claim that it is not \"indubitably demonstrated,\" however\nclever the theoretical demonstration.\n---------\n\nSuch are the criticisms passed, such the \"historical difficulty.\" The\nculprits arraigned are fully alive to their perilous situation;\nnevertheless, they maintain the statement.  The only thing which may\nperhaps here be objected to is, that the names of the two nations are\nincorrectly used.  It may be argued that to refer to the remote\nancestors and their descendants equally as \"Greeks and Romans,\" is an\nanachronism as marked as would be the calling of the ancient Keltic\nGauls, or the Insubres, Frenchmen. As a matter of fact this is true.\nBut, besides the very plausible excuse that the names used were embodied\nin a private letter, written as usual in great haste, and which was\nhardly worthy of the honour of being quoted verbatim with all its\nimperfections, there may perhaps exist still weightier objections to\ncalling the said people by any other name.  One misnomer is as good as\nanother;  and to refer to old Greeks and Romans in a private letter as\nthe old Hellenes from Hellas or Magna Graecia, and the Latins as from\nLatium, would have been, besides looking pedantic, just as incorrect as\nthe use of the appellation noted, though it may have sounded, perchance,\nmore \"historical.\"  The truth is that, like the ancestors of nearly all\nthe Indo-Europeans (or shall we say Indo-Germanic Japhetidae?), the\nGreek and Roman sub-races mentioned have to be traced much farther back.\nTheir origin must be carried far into the mists of that \"prehistoric\"\nperiod, that mythical age which inspires the modern historian with such\na feeling of squeamishness that anything creeping out of its abysmal\ndepths is sure to be instantly dismissed as a deceptive phantom, the\nmythos of an idle tale, or a later fable unworthy of serious notice.\nThe Atlantean \"old Greeks\" could not be designated even as the\nAutochthones--a convenient term used to dispose of the origin of any\npeople whose ancestry cannot be traced, and which, at any rate with the\nHellenes, meant certainly more than simply \"soil-born,\" or primitive\naborigines;  and yet the so-called fable of Deukalion and Pyrrha is\nsurely no more incredible or marvelous than that of Adam and Eve--a\nfable that hardly a hundred years ago no one would have dared or even\nthought to question.  And in its esoteric significance the Greek\ntradition is possibly more truly historical than many a so-called\nhistorical event during the period of the Olympiades, though both Hesiod\nand Homer may have failed to record the former in their epics.  Nor\ncould the Romans be referred to as the Umbro-Sabbellians, nor even as\nthe Itali. Peradventure, had the historians learnt something more than\nthey have of the Italian \"Autochthones\"--the Iapygians--one might have\ngiven the \"old Romans\" the latter name.  But then there would be again\nthat other difficulty:  history knows that the Latin invaders drove\nbefore them, and finally cooped up, this mysterious and miserable race\namong the clefts of the Calabrian rocks, thus showing the absence of any\nrace affinity between the two.  Moreover, Western archeologists keep to\ntheir own counsel, and will accept of no other but their own\nconjectures.  And since they have failed to make anything out of the\nundecipherable inscriptions in an unknown tongue and mysterious\ncharacters on the Iapygian monuments, and so for years have pronounced\nthem unguessable, he who would presume to meddle where the doctors\nmuddle would be likely to be reminded of the Arab proverb about\nproffered advice.  Thus, it seems hardly possible to designate \"the old\nGreeks and Romans\" by their legitimate, true name, so as to at once\nsatisfy the \"historians\" and keep on the fair side of truth and fact.\nHowever, since in the Replies that precede Science had to be repeatedly\nshocked by most unscientific propositions, and that before this series\nis closed many a difficulty, philological and archeological as well as\nhistorical, will have to be unavoidably created--it may be just as wise\nto uncover the occult batteries at once and have it over with.\n\nWell, then, the \"Adepts\" deny most emphatically to Western science any\nknowledge whatever of the growth and development of the Indo-Aryan race\nwhich, \"at the very dawn of history,\" they have espied in its\n\"patriarchal simplicity\" on the banks of the Oxus.  Before our\nproposition concerning \"the old Greeks and Romans\" can be repudiated or\neven controverted, Western Orientalists will have to know more than they\ndo about the antiquity of that race and the Aryan language;  and they\nwill have to account for those numberless gaps in history which no\nhypotheses of theirs seem able to fill up.  Notwithstanding their\npresent profound ignorance with regard to the early ancestry of the\nIndo-European nations, and though no historian has yet ventured to\nassign even a remotely approximate date to the separation of the Aryan\nnations and the origins of the Sanskrit language, they hardly show the\nmodesty that might, under these circumstances, be expected from them.\nPlacing as they do that great separation of the races at the first \"dawn\nof traditional history,\" with the Vedic age as \"the background of the\nwhole Indian world\" (of which confessedly they know nothing), they will,\nnevertheless, calmly assign a modern date to any of the Rik-vedic oldest\nsongs, on its \"internal evidence;\"  and in doing this, they show as\nlittle hesitation as Mr. Fergusson when ascribing a post-Christian age\nto the most ancient rockcut temple in India, merely on its \"external\nform.\"  As for their unseemly quarrels, mutual recriminations, and\npersonalities over questions of scholarship, the less said the better.\n\n\"The evidence of language is irrefragable,\" as the great Oxford\nSanskritist says.  To which he is answered--\"provided it does not clash\nwith historical facts and ethnology.\"  It may be--no doubt it is, as far\nas his knowledge goes--\"the only evidence worth listening to with regard\nto ante-historical periods;\"  but when something of these alleged\n\"prehistorical periods\" comes to be known, and when what we think we\nknow of certain supposed prehistoric nations is found diametrically\nopposed to his \"evidence of language,\" the \"Adepts\" may be, perhaps,\npermitted to keep to their own views and opinions, even though they\ndiffer with those of the greatest living philologist.  The study of\nlanguage is but a part--though, we admit, a fundamental part--of true\nphilology.  To be complete, the latter has, as correctly argued by\nBockt, to be almost synonymous with history.  We gladly concede the\nright to the Western philologist, who has to work in the total absence\nof any historical data, to rely upon comparative grammar, and take the\nidentification of roots lying at the foundation of words of those\nlanguages he is familiar with, or may know of, and put it forward as the\nresult of his study, and the only available evidence.  But we would like\nto see the same right conceded by him to the student of other races;\neven though these be inferior to the European races, in the opinion of\nthe paramount West:  for it is barely possible that, proceeding on other\nlines, and having reduced his knowledge to a system which precludes\nhypothesis and simple affirmation, the Eastern student has preserved a\nperfectly authentic record (for him) of those periods which his opponent\nregards as ante-historical.  The bare fact that, while Western men of\nscience are referred to as \"scholars\" and scholiasts--native\nSanskritists and archeologists are often spoken of as \"Calcutta\" and\n\"Indian sciolists\"--affords no proof of their real inferiority, but\nrather of the wisdom of the Chinese proverb that \"self-conceit is rarely\ncompanion to politeness.\"\n\nThe \"Adept\" therefore has little, if anything, to do with difficulties\npresented by Western history.  To his knowledge--based on documentary\nrecords from which, as said, hypothesis is excluded, and as regards\nwhich even psychology is called to play a very secondary part--the\nhistory of his and other nations extends immeasurably beyond that hardly\ndiscernible point that stands on the far-away horizon of the Western\nworld as a landmark of the commencement of its history.  Records made\nthroughout a series of ages, based on astronomical chronology and\nzodiacal calculations, cannot err.  (This new \"difficulty\"--\npalaeographical, t his time--that may be possibly suggested by the\nmention of the Zodiac in India and Central Asia before the Christian\nera, is disposed of in a subsequent article.)\n\nHence, the main question at issue is to decide which--the Orientalist or\nthe \"Oriental\"--is most likely to err.  The \"English F.T.S.\" has choice\nof two sources of information, two groups of teachers.  One group is\ncomposed of Western historians with their suite of learned Ethnologists,\nPhilologists, Anthropologists, Archeologists and Orientalists in\ngeneral.  The other consists of unknown Asiatics belonging to a race\nwhich, notwithstanding Mr. Max Muller's assertion that the same \"blood\nis running in the veins (of the English soldier) and in the veins of the\ndark Bengalese,\" is generally regarded by many a cultured Western as\n\"inferior.\"  A handful of men can hardly hope to be listened to,\nspecially when their history, religion, language, origin and sciences,\nhaving been seized upon by the conqueror, are now disfigured and\nmutilated beyond recognition, and who have lived to see the Western\nscholar claim a monopoly beyond appeal or protest of deciding the\ncorrect meaning, chronological date, and historical value of the\nmonumental and palaeographic relics of his motherland.  It has little,\nif ever, entered the mind of the Western public that their scholars\nhave, until very lately, worked in a narrow pathway obstructed with the\nruins of an ecclesiastical, dogmatic Past;  that they have been cramped\non all sides by limitations of \"revealed\" events coming from God, \"with\nwhom a thousand years are but as one day,\" and who have thus felt bound\nto cram millenniums into centuries and hundreds into units, giving at\nthe utmost an age of 1,000 to what is 10,000 years old.  All this to\nsave the threatened authority of their religion and their own\nrespectability and good name in cultured society.  And even that, when\nfree themselves from preconceptions, they have had to protect the honour\nof the Jewish divine chronology assailed by stubborn facts;  and thus\nhave become (often unconsciously) the slaves of an artificial history\nmade to fit into the narrow frame of a dogmatic religion.  No proper\nthought has been given to this purely psychological but very significant\ntrifle.  Yet we all know how, rather than admit any relation between\nSanskrit and the Gothic, Keltic, Greek, Latin and old Persian, facts\nhave been tampered with, old texts purloined from libraries, and\nphilological discoveries vehemently denied.  And we have also heard from\nour retreats, how Dugald Stewart and his colleagues, upon seeing that\nthe discovery would also involve ethnological affinities, and damage the\nprestige of those sires of the world races--Shem, Ham and Japhet--denied\nin the face of fact that \"Sanskrit had ever been a living, spoken\nlanguage,\" supporting the theory that \"it was an invention of the\nBrahmins, who had constructed their Sanskrit on the model of the Greek\nand Latin.\"  And again we know, holding the proof of the same, how the\nmajority of Orientalists are prone to go out of their way to prevent any\nIndian antiquity (whether MSS. or inscribed monument, whether art or\nscience) from being declared pre-Christian.  As the origin and history\nof the Gentile world is made to move in the narrow circuit of a few\ncenturies \"B.C.,\" within that fecund epoch when mother earth,\nrecuperated from her arduous labours of the Stone age, begat, it seems\nwithout transition, so many highly civilized nations and false\npretenses, so the enchanted circle of Indian archeology lies between the\n(to them unknown) year of the Samvat era, and the tenth century of the\nWestern chronology.\n\nHaving to dispose of an \"historical difficulty\" of such a serious\ncharacter, the defendants charged with it can but repeat what they have\nalready stated;  all depends upon the past history and antiquity allowed\nto the Indo-Aryan nation.  The first step to take is to ascertain how\nmuch History herself knows of that almost prehistoric period when the\nsoil of Europe had not been trodden yet by the primitive Aryan tribes.\nFrom the latest Encyclopedia down to Professor Max Muller and other\nOrientalists, we gather what follows;  they acknowledge that at some\nimmensely remote period, before the Aryan nations got divided from the\nparent stock (with the germs of Indo-Germanic languages in them); and\nbefore they rushed asunder to scatter over Europe and Asia in search of\nnew homes, there stood a \"single barbaric (?) people as physical and\npolitical representative of the nascent Aryan race.\" This people spoke\n\"a now extinct Aryan language,\" from which by a series of modifications\n(surely requiring more thousands of years than our difficulty-makers are\nwilling to concede) there arose gradually all the subsequent languages\nnow spoken by the Caucasian races.\n\nThat is about all Western history knows of its genesis.  Like Ravana's\nbrother, Kumbhakarna,--the Hindu Rip van Winkle--it slept for a long\nseries of ages a dreamless, heavy sleep.  And when at last it awoke to\nconsciousness, it was but to find the \"nascent Aryan race\" grown into\nscores of nations, peoples and races, most of them effete and crippled\nwith age, many irretrievably extinct, while the true origin of the\nyounger ones it was utterly unable to account for.  So much for the\n\"youngest brother.\"  As for \"the eldest brother, the Hindu,\" who,\nProfessor Max Muller tells us, \"was the last to leave the central home\nof the Aryan family,\" and whose history this eminent philologist has now\nkindly undertaken to impart to him,--he, the Hindu, claims that while\nhis Indo-European relative was soundly sleeping under the protecting\nshadow of Noah's ark, he kept watch and did not miss seeing one event\nfrom his high Himalayan fastnesses;  and that he has recorded the\nhistory thereof, in a language which, though as incomprehensible as the\nIapygian inscriptions to the Indo-European immigrant, is quite clear to\nthe writers.  For this crime he now stands condemned as a falsifier of\nthe records of his forefathers.  A place has been hitherto purposely\nleft open for India \"to be filled up when the pure metal of history\nshould have been extracted from the ore of Brahmanic exaggeration and\nsuperstition.\"  Unable, however, to meet this programme, the Orientalist\nhas since persuaded himself that there was nothing in that \"ore\" but\ndross.  He did more.  He applied himself to contrast Brahmanic\n\"superstition\" and \"exaggeration\" with Mosaic revelation and its\nchronology.  The Veda was confronted with Genesis.  Its absurd claims to\nantiquity were forthwith dwarfed to their proper dimensions by the 4,004\nyears B.C. measure of the world's age;  and the Brahmanic \"superstition\nand fables\" about the longevity of the Aryan Rishis, were belittled and\nexposed by the sober historical evidence furnished in \"The genealogy and\nage of the Patriarchs from Adam to Noah,\" whose respective days were 930\nand 950 years;  without mentioning Methuselah, who died at the premature\nage of nine hundred and sixty-nine.\n\nIn view of such experience, the Hindu has a certain right to decline the\noffers made to correct his annals by Western history and chronology.  On\nthe contrary, he would respectfully advise the Western scholar, before\nhe denies point-blank any statement made by the Asiatics with reference\nto what is prehistoric ages to Europeans, to show that the latter have\nthemselves anything like trustworthy data as regards their own racial\nhistory.  And that settled, he may have the leisure and capacity to help\nhis ethnic neighbours to prune their genealogical trees.  Our Rajputs,\namong others, have perfectly trustworthy family records of an unbroken\nlineal descent through 2,000 years \"B.C.\" and more, as proved by Colonel\nTod;  records which are accepted by the British Government in its\nofficial dealings with them.  It is not enough to have studied stray\nfragments of Sanskrit literature--even though their number should amount\nto 10,000 texts, as boasted of--allowed to fall into foreign hands, to\nspeak so confidently of the \"Aryan first settlers in India,\" and assert\nthat, \"left to themselves, in a world of their own, without a past and\nwithout a future (!) before them, they had nothing but themselves to\nponder upon,\" and therefore could know absolutely nothing of other\nnations.  To comprehend correctly and make out the inner meaning of most\nof them, one has to read these texts with the help of the esoteric\nlight, and after having mastered the language of the Brahmanic Secret\nCode--branded generally as \"theological twaddle.\"  Nor is it\nsufficient--if one would judge correctly of what the archaic Aryans did\nor did not know;  whether or not they cultivated the social and\npolitical virtues;  cared or not for history--to claim proficiency in\nboth Vedic and classical Sanskrit, as well as in Prakrit and Arya\nBhasha.  To comprehend the esoteric meaning of ancient Brahmanical\nliterature, one has, as just remarked, to be in possession of the key to\nthe Brahmanical Code.  To master the conventional terms used in the\nPuranas, the Aranyakas and Upanishads is a science in itself, and one\nfar more difficult than even the study of the 3,996 aphoristical rules\nof Panini, or his algebraical symbols.  Very true, most of the Brahmans\nthemselves have now forgotten the correct interpretations of their\nsacred texts.  Yet they know enough of the dual meaning in their\nscriptures to be justified in feeling amused at the strenuous efforts of\nthe European Orientalist to protect the supremacy of his own national\nrecords and the dignity of his science by interpreting the Hindu\nhieratic text after a peremptory fashion quite unique.  Disrespectful\nthough it may seem, we call on the philologist to prove in some more\nconvincing manner than usual, that he is better qualified than even the\naverage Hindu Sanskrit pundit to judge of the antiquity of the \"language\nof the gods;\"  that he has been really in a position to trace unerringly\nalong the lines of countless generations the course of the \"now extinct\nAryan tongue\" in its many and various transformations in the West, and\nits primitive evolution into first the Vedic, and then the classical\nSanskrit in the East, and that from the moment when the mother-stream\nbegan deviating into its new ethnographical beds, he has followed it up.\nFinally that, while he, the Orientalist, can, owing to speculative\ninterpretations of what he thinks he has learnt from fragments of\nSanskrit literature, judge of the nature of all that he knows nothing\nabout--i.e., to speculate upon the past history of a great nation he has\nlost sight of from its \"nascent state,\" and caught up again but at the\nperiod of its last degeneration--the native student never knew, nor can\never know, anything of that history.  Until the Orientalist has proved\nall this, he can be accorded but small justification for assuming that\nair of authority and supreme contempt which is found in almost every\nwork upon India and its Past.  Having no knowledge himself whatever of\nthose incalculable ages that lie between the Aryan Brahman in Central\nAsia, and the Brahman at the threshold of Buddhism, he has no right to\nmaintain that the initiated Indo-Aryan can never know as much of them\nas the foreigner.  Those periods being an utter blank to him, he is\nlittle qualified to declare that the Aryan, having had no political\nhistory \"of his own....\" his only sphere was \"religion and\nphilosophy.... in solitude and contemplation.\"  A happy thought\nsuggested, no doubt, by the active life, incessant wars, triumphs, and\ndefeats portrayed in the oldest songs of the Rik-Veda.  Nor can he with\nthe smallest show of logic affirm that \"India had no place in the\npolitical history of the world,\" or that \"there are no synchronisms\nbetween the history of the Brahmans and that of other nations before the\ndate of the origin of Buddhism in India;\"  for he knows no more of the\nprehistoric history of those \"other nations\" than of that of the\nBrahman.  All his inferences, conjectures and systematic arrangements of\nhypotheses begin very little earlier than 200 \"B.C.,\" if even so much,\non anything like really historical grounds.  He has to prove all this\nbefore he can command our attention.  Otherwise, however \"irrefragable\nthe evidence of language,\" the presence of Sanskrit roots in all the\nEuropean languages will be insufficient to prove, either that (a) before\nthe Aryan invaders descended toward the seven rivers they had never left\ntheir northern regions;  or (b) why the \"eldest brother, the Hindu,\"\nshould have been \"the last to leave the central home of the Aryan\nfamily.\"  To the philologist such a supposition may seem \"quite\nnatural.\"  Yet the Brahman is no less justified in his ever-growing\nsuspicion that there may be at the bottom some occult reason for such a\nprogramme.  That in the interest of his theory the Orientalist was\nforced to make \"the eldest brother\" tarry so suspiciously long on the\nOxus, or wherever \"the youngest\" may have placed him in his \"nascent\nstate\" after the latter \"saw his brothers all depart towards the setting\nsun.\"  We find reasons to believe that the chief motive for alleging\nsuch a procrastination is the necessity to bring the race closer to the\nChristian era.  To show the \"brother\" inactive and unconcerned, \"with\nnothing but himself to ponder on,\" lest his antiquity and \"fables of\nempty idolatry,\" and perhaps his traditions of other people's doings,\nshould interfere with the chronology by which it is determined to try\nhim.  The suspicion is strengthened when one finds in the book from\nwhich we have been so largely quoting--a work of a purely scientific and\nphilological character--such frequent remarks and even prophecies as:\n\"History seems to teach that the whole human race required a gradual\neducation before, in the fulness of time, it could be admitted to the\ntruths of Christianity.\"  Or, again \"The ancient religions of the world\nwere but the milk of Nature, which was in due time to be succeeded by\nthe bread of life;\"  and such broad sentiments expressed as that \"there\nis some truth in Buddhism, as there is in every one of the false\nreligions of the world, but....\" *\n\n-----------\n* Max Muller's \"History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature.\"\n-----------\n\nThe atmosphere of Cambridge and Oxford seems decidedly unpropitious to\nthe recognition of either Indian antiquity, or the merit of the\nphilosophies sprung from its soil!*\n\n---------\n* And how one-sided and biased most of the Western Orientalists are may\nbe seen by reading carefully \"The History of Indian Literature,\" by\nAlbrecht Weber--a Sanskrit scholiast classed with the highest\nauthorities.  The incessant harping upon the one special string of\nChristianity, and the ill-concealed efforts to pass it off as the\nkeynote of all other religions, is painfully pre-eminent in his work.\nChristian influences are shown to have affected not only the growth of\nBuddhism and Krishna worship, but even that of the Siva-cult and its\nlegends;  it is openly stated that \"it is not at all a far-fetched\nhypothesis that they have reference to scattered Christian\nmissionaries!\"  The eminent Orientalist evidently forgets that,\nnotwithstanding his efforts, none of the Vedic, Sutra or Buddhist\nperiods can be possibly crammed into this Christian period--their\nuniversal tank of all ancient creeds, and of which some Orientalists\nwould fain make a poor-house for all decayed archaic religions and\nphilosophy. Even Tibet, in his opinion, has not escaped \"Western\ninfluence.\" Let us hope to the contrary.  It can be proved that Buddhist\nmissionaries were as numerous in Palestine, Alexandria, Persia, and even\nGreece, two centuries before the Christian era, as the Padris are now in\nAsia.  That the Gnostic doctrines (as he is obliged to confess) are\npermeated with Buddhism.  Basilides, Valentinian, Bardesanes, and\nespecially Manes were simply heretical Buddhists, \"the formula of\nabjuration of these doctrines in the case of the latter, specifying\nexpressly Buddha (Bodda) by name.\"\n----------\n\n\n\nLeaflets from Esoteric History\n\n\nThe foregoing--a long, yet necessary digression--will show that the\nAsiatic scholar is justified in generally withholding what he may know.\nThat it is not merely on historical facts that hangs the \"historical\ndifficulty\" at issue;  but rather on its degree of interference with\ntime-honoured, long-established conjectures, often raised to the\neminence of an unapproachable historical axiom.  That no statement\ncoming from our quarters can ever hope to be given consideration so long\nas it has to be supported on the ruins of reigning hobbies, whether of\nan alleged historical or religious character.  Yet pleasant it is, after\nthe brainless assaults to which occult sciences have hitherto been\nsubjected--assaults in which abuse has been substituted for argument,\nand flat denial for calm inquiry--to find that there remain in the West\nsome men who will come into the field like philosophers, and soberly and\nfairly discuss the claims of our hoary doctrines to the respect due to a\ntruth and the dignity demanded for a science.  Those alone whose sole\ndesire is to ascertain the truth, not to maintain foregone conclusions,\nhave a right to expect undisguised facts.  Reverting to our subject, so\nfar as allowable, we will now, for the sake of that minority, give them.\n\nThe records of the Occultists make no difference between the \"Atlantean\"\nancestors of the old Greeks and Romans.  Partially corroborated and in\nturn contradicted by licensed or recognized history, their records teach\nthat of the ancient Latini of classic legend called Itali;  of that\npeople, in short, which, crossing the Apennines (as their Judo-Aryan\nbrothers--let this be known--had crossed before them the Hindoo-Koosh)\nentered from the north the peninsula--there survived at a period long\nbefore the days of Romulus but the name, and a nascent language.\nProfane history informs us that the Latins of the \"mythical era\" got so\nHellenized amidst the rich colonies of Magna Grecia that there remained\nnothing in them of their primitive Latin nationality. It is the Latins\nproper, it says, those pre-Roman Italians who by settling in Latium had\nfrom the first kept themselves free from the Greek influence, who were\nthe ancestors of the Romans. Contradicting exoteric history, the Occult\nrecords affirm that if, owing to circumstances too long and complicated\nto be related here, the settlers of Latium preserved their primitive\nnationality a little longer than their brothers who had first entered\nthe peninsula with them after leaving the East (which was not their\noriginal home), they lost it very soon, for other reasons.  Free from\nthe Samnites during the first period, they did not remain free from\nother invaders.  While the Western historian puts together the\nmutilated, incomplete records of various nations and people, and makes\nthem into a clever mosaic according to the best and most probable plan\nand rejects entirely traditional fables, the Occultist pays not the\nslightest attention to the vain self-glorification of alleged conquerors\nor their lithic inscriptions.  Nor does he follow the stray bits of\nso-called historical information, often concocted by interested parties\nand found scattered hither and thither in the fragments of classical\nwriters, whose original texts themselves have not seldom been tampered\nwith.  The Occultist follows the ethnological affinities and their\ndivergences in the various nationalities, races and sub-races, in a more\neasy way;  and he is guided in this as surely as the student who\nexamines a geographical map.  As the latter can easily trace by their\ndifferently coloured outlines the boundaries of the many countries and\ntheir possessions;  their geographical superficies and their separations\nby seas, rivers and mountains;  so the Occultist can by following the\n(to him) well distinguishable and defined auric shades and gradations of\ncolour in the inner-man unerringly pronounce to which of the several\ndistinct human families, as also to what special group, and even small\nsub-group of the latter, belongs any particular people, tribe, or man.\nThis will appear hazy and incomprehensible to the many who know nothing\nof ethnic varieties of nerve-aura, and disbelieve in any \"inner-man\"\ntheory, scientific but to the few.  The whole question hangs upon the\nreality or unreality of the existence of this inner-man whom\nclairvoyance has discovered, and whose odyle or nerve-emanations Von\nReichenbach proves.  If one admits such a presence and realizes\nintuitionally that being closer related to the one invisible Reality,\nthe inner type must be still more pronounced than the outer physical\ntype, then it will be a matter of little, if any, difficulty to conceive\nour meaning.  For, indeed, if even the respective physical\nidiosyncrasies and special characteristics of any given person make his\nnationality usually distinguishable by the physical eye of the ordinary\nobserver--let alone the experienced ethnologist:  the Englishman being\ncommonly recognizable at a glance from the Frenchman, the German from\nthe Italian, not to speak of the typical differences between human\nroot-families* in their anthropological division--there seems little\ndifficulty in conceiving that the same, though far more pronounced,\ndifference of type and characteristics should exist between the inner\nraces that inhabit these \"fleshly tabernacles.\"  Besides this easily\ndiscernible psychological and astral differences, there are the\ndocumentary records in their unbroken series of chronological tables and\nthe history of the gradual branching off of races and sub-races from the\nthree geological primeval Races, the work of the Initiates of all the\narchaic and ancient temples up to date, collected in our \"Book of\nNumbers,\" and other volumes.\n\n---------\n* Properly speaking, these ought to be called \"Geological Races,\" so as\nto be easily distinguished from their subsequent evolutions--the\nroot-races.  The Occult doctrine has nothing to do with the Biblical\ndivision of Shem, Ham and Japhet, and admires, without accepting it, the\nlatest Huxleyan physiological division of the human races into their\nquintuple groups of Australioids, Negroids, Mongoloids, Xanthechroics,\nand the fifth variety of Melanochroics.  Yet it says that the triple\ndivision of the blundering Jews is closer to the truth, it knows but of\nthree entirely distinct primeval races whose evolution, formation and\ndevelopment went pari passu and on parallel lines with the evolution,\nformation, and development of three geological strata; namely, the\nBLACK, the RED-YELLOW, and the BROWN-WHITE RACES.\n---------\n\nHence, and on this double testimony (which the Westerns are quite\nwelcome to reject if so pleased) it is affirmed that, owing to the great\namalgamation of various sub-races, such as the Iapygian, Etruscan,\nPelasgic, and later--the strong admixture of the Hellenic and\nKelto-Gaulic element in the veins of the primitive Itali of\nLatium--there remained in the tribes gathered by Romulus on the banks of\nthe Tiber about as much Latinism as there is now in the Romanic people\nof Wallachia.  Of course if the historical foundation of the fable of\nthe twins of the Vestal Silvia is entirely rejected, together with that\nof the foundation of Alba Longa by the son of Aeneas, then it stands to\nreason that the whole of the statements made must be likewise a modern\ninvention built upon the utterly worthless fables of the \"legendary\nmythical age.\"  For those who now give these statements, however, there\nis more of actual truth in such fables than there is in the alleged\nhistorical Regal period of the earliest Romans.  It is to be deplored\nthat the present statement should clash with the authoritative\nconclusion of Mommsen and others.  Yet, stating but that which to the\n\"Adepts\" is fact, it must be understood at once that all (but the\nfanciful chronological date for the foundation of Rome-April, 753\n\"B.C.\") that is given in old traditions in relation to the Paemerium,\nand the triple alliance of the Ramnians, Luceres and Tities, of the\nso-called Romuleian legend, is indeed far nearer truth than what\nexternal history accepts as facts during the Punic and Macedonian wars\nup to, through, and down the Roman Empire to its fall.  The founders of\nRome were decidedly a mongrel people, made up of various scraps and\nremnants of the many primitive tribes;  only a few really Latin\nfamilies, the descendants of the distinct sub-race that came along with\nthe Umbro-Sabellians from the East remaining.  And, while the latter\npreserved their distinct colour down to the Middle Ages through the\nSabine element, left unmixed in its mountainous regions, the blood of\nthe true Roman was Hellenic blood from its beginning.  The famous Latin\nleague is no fable, but history.  The succession of kings descended from\nthe Trojan Aeneas is a fact;  and the idea that Romulus is to be\nregarded as simply the symbolical representative of a people, as Aeolus,\nDorius, and Ion were once, instead of a living man, is as unwarranted as\nit is arbitrary.  It could only have been entertained by a class of\nhistoriographers bent upon condoning their sin in supporting the dogma\nthat Shem, Ham and Japhet were the historical once living ancestors of\nmankind, by making a burnt-offering of every really historical but\nnon-Jewish tradition, legend, or record which might presume to a place\non the same level with these three privileged archaic mariners, instead\nof humbly groveling at their feet as \"absurd myths\" and old wives' tales\nand superstitions.\n\nIt will thus appear that the objectionable statements on pp. 56 and 62\nof \"Esoteric Buddhism,\" which are alleged to create an \"historical\ndifficulty,\" were not made by Mr. Sinnett's correspondent to bolster a\nwestern theory, but in loyalty to historical facts.  Whether they can or\ncannot be accepted in those particular localities where criticism seems\nbased upon mere conjecture (though honoured with the name of scientific\nhypothesis), is something which concerns the present writers as little\nas any casual traveler's unfavourable comments upon the time-scarred\nvisage of the Sphinx can affect the designer of that sublime symbol.\nThe sentences, \"the Greeks and Romans were small sub-races of our own\nCaucasian stock\" (p. 6), and they were \"the remnants of the Atlanteans\n(the modern belong to the fifth race)\" (p. 62), show the real meaning on\ntheir face.  By the old Greeks, \"remnants of the Atlanteans\" the\neponymous ancestors (as they are called by Europeans) of the Aeolians,\nDorians and Ionians, are meant.  By the connection together of the old\nGreeks and Romans without distinction, was meant that the primitive\nLatins were swallowed by Magna Graecia.  And by \"the modern\" belonging\n\"to the fifth race\"--both these small branchlets from whose veins had\nbeen strained out the last drop of the Atlantean blood--it was implied\nthat the Mongoloid 4th race blood had already been eliminated.\nOccultists make a distinction between the races intermediate between any\ntwo root-races:  the Westerns do not. The \"old Romans\" were Hellenes in\na new ethnological disguise; and the still older Greeks the real blood\nancestors of the future Romans.  In direct relation to this, attention\nis drawn to the following fact--one of the many in close historical\nbearing upon the \"mythical\" age to which Atlantis belongs.  It is a\nfable and may be charged to the account of historical difficulties.  It\nis well calculated, however, to throw all the old ethnological and\ngenealogical divisions into confusion.\n\nAsking the reader to bear in mind that Atlantis, like modern Europe,\ncomprised many nations and many dialects (issues from the three primeval\nroot-languages of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Races), we may return to\nPoseidonis, its last surviving remnant of 12,000 years ago.  As the\nchief element in the languages of the 5th race is the Aryan-Sanskrit of\nthe \"Brown-white\" geological stock or race, so the predominating element\nin Atlantis was a language which has now survived but in the dialects of\nsome American Red-Indian tribes, and in the Chinese speech of the\ninland Chinamen, the mountainous tribes of Kivang-ze--a language which\nwas an admixture of the agglutinate and the monosyllabic, as it would be\ncalled by modern philologists.  It was, in short, the language of the\n\"Red-yellow\" second or middle geological stock (we maintain the term\n\"geological\").  A strong percentage of the Mongoloid or 4th Root-race\nwas, of course, to be found in the Aryans of the 5th.  But this did not\nprevent in the least the presence at the same time of unalloyed, pure\nAryan races in it.  A number of small islands scattered around\nPoseidonis had been vacated, in consequence of earthquakes, long before\nthe final catastrophe, which has alone remained in the memory of men--\nthanks to some written records.  Tradition says that one of the small\ntribes (the Aeolians) who had become islanders after emigrating from far\nnorthern countries, had to leave their home again for fear of a deluge.\nIf, in spite of the Orientalists and the conjecture of M.F. Lenormant--\nwho invented a name for a people whose shadowy outline he dimly\nperceived in the faraway Past as preceding the Babylonians--we say that\nthis Aryan race that came from Central Asia, the cradle of the 5th race\nHumanity, belonged to the \"Akkadian\" tribes, there will be a new\nhistorico-ethnological difficulty created.  Yet it is maintained that\nthese \"Akkads\" were no more a \"Turanian\" race than any of the modern\nBritish people are the mythical ten tribes of Israel, so conspicuously\npresent in the Bible, and absent from history.  With such remarkable\npacta conventa between modern exact (?) and ancient Occult sciences, we\nmay proceed with the fable.  Belonging virtually, through their original\nconnection with the Aryan, Central Asian stock, to the 5th race, the old\nAeolians yet were Atlanteans, not only in virtue of their long residence\nin the now submerged continent, covering some thousands of years, but by\nthe free intermingling of blood, by intermarriage with them.  Perhaps in\nthis connection Mr. Huxley's disposition to account for his Melanochroi\n(the Greeks being included under this classification or type)--as\nthemselves \"the result of crossing between the Xanthochroi and the\nAustralioids,\" among whom he places the Southern India lower classes and\nthe Egyptians to some extent--is not far off from fact.  Anyhow the\nAeolians of Atlantis were Aryans on the whole, as much as the Basques--\nDr. Pritchard's Allophylians--are now southern Europeans, although\noriginally belonging to the South Indian Dravidian stock (their\nprogenitors having never been the aborigines of Europe prior to the\nfirst Aryan emigration, as supposed).  Frightened by the frequent\nearthquakes and the visible approach of the cataclysm, this tribe is\nsaid to have filled a flotilla of arks, to have sailed from beyond the\nPillars of Hercules, and, sailing along the coasts, after several years\nof travel to have landed on the shores of the Aegean Sea in the land of\nPyrrha (now Thessaly), to which they gave the name of Aeolia.  Thence\nthey proceeded on business with the gods to Mount Olympus.  It may be\nstated here, at the risk of creating a \"geographical difficulty,\" that\nin that mythical age Greece, Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, and many other\nislands of the Mediterranean, were simply the far-away possessions, or\ncolonies, of Atlantis.  Hence, the \"fable\" proceeds to state that all\nalong the coasts of Spain, France, and Italy the Aeolians often halted,\nand the memory of their \"magical feats\" still survives among the\ndescendants of the old Massilians, of the tribes of the later\nCarthago-Nova, and the seaports of Etruria and Syracuse.  And here\nagain it would not be a bad idea, perchance, even at this late hour, for\nthe archeologists to trace, with the permission of the anthropological\nsocieties, the origin of the various autochthones through their\nfolk-lore and fables, as they may prove both more suggestive and\nreliable than their \"undecipherable\" monuments.  History catches a misty\nglimpse of these particular autochthones thousands of years only after\nthey had been settled in old Greece--namely, at the moment when the\nEpireans cross the Pindus bent on expelling the black magicians from\ntheir home to Boeotia.  But history never listened to the popular\nlegends which speak of the \"accursed sorcerers\" who departed, leaving as\nan inheritance behind them more than one secret of their infernal arts,\nthe fame of which crossing the ages has now passed into history--or,\nclassical Greek and Roman fable, if so preferred.  To this day a popular\ntradition narrates how the ancient forefathers of the Thessalonians, so\nrenowned for their magicians, had come from behind the Pillars, asking\nfor help and refuge from the great Zeus, and imploring the father of the\ngods to save them from the deluge.  But the \"Father\" expelled them from\nthe Olympus, allowing their tribe to settle only at the foot of the\nmountain, in the valleys, and by the shores of the Aegean Sea.\n\nSuch is the oldest fable of the ancient Thessalonians.  And now, what\nwas the language spoken by the Atlantean Aeolians?  History cannot\nanswer us.  Nevertheless, the reader has only to be reminded of some of\nthe accepted and a few of the as yet unknown facts, to cause the light\nto enter any intuitional brain.  It is now proved that man was\nuniversally conceived in antiquity as born of the earth.  Such is now\nthe profane explanation of the term autochthones.  In nearly every\nvulgarized popular fable, from the Sanskrit Arya \"born of the earth,\" or\nLord of the Soil in one sense;  the Erechtheus of the archaic Greeks,\nworshiped in the earliest days of the Akropolis and shown by Homer as\n\"he whom the earth bore\" ( Il. ii. 548);  down to Adam fashioned of \"red\nearth,\" the genetical story has a deep occult meaning, and an indirect\nconnection with the origin of man and of the subsequent races.  Thus,\nthe fables of Helen, the son of Pyrrha the red--the oldest name of\nThessaly;  and of Mannus, the reputed ancestor of the Germans, himself\nthe son of Tuisco, \"the red son of the earth,\" have not only a direct\nbearing upon our Atlantis fable, but they explain moreover the division\nof mankind into geological groups as made by the Occultists.  It is only\nthis, their division, that is able to explain to Western teachers the\napparently strange, if not absurd, coincidence of the Semitic Adam--a\ndivinely revealed personage--being connected with red earth, in company\nwith the Aryan Pyrrha, Tuisco, &c.--the mythical heroes of \"foolish\"\nfables.  Nor will that division made by the Eastern Occultists, who call\nthe 5th race people \"the Brown-white,\" and the 4th race the\n\"Red-yellow,\" Root-races--connecting them with geological strata--appear\nat all fantastic to those who understood verse iii. 34-9 of the Veda and\nits occult meaning, and another verse in which the Dasyus are called\n\"Yellow.\"  Hatvi Dasyun pra aryam varanam avat is said of Indra who, by\nkilling the Dasyus, protected the colour of the Aryans; and again, Indra\n\"unveiled the light for the Aryas and the Dasyus was left on the left\nhand\" (ii. III 18).  Let the student of Occultism bear in mind that the\nGreek Noah, Deukalion, the husband of Pyrrha, was the reputed son of\nPrometheus who robbed Heaven of its fire (i.e., of secret Wisdom \"of the\nright hand,\" or occult knowledge);  that Prometheus is the brother of\nAtlas; that he is also the son of Asia and of the Titan Iapetus--the\nantetype from which the Jews borrowed their Japhet for the exigencies of\ntheir own popular legend to mask its kabalistic, Chaldean meaning;  and\nthat he is also the antetype of Deukalion. Prometheus is the creator of\nman out of earth and water,* who after stealing fire from Olympus--a\nmountain in Greece--is chained on a mount in the far-off Caucasus.  From\nOlympus to Mount Kazbek there is a considerable distance.  The\nOccultists say that while the 4th race was generated and developed on\nthe Atlantean continent--our Antipodes in a certain sense--the 5th was\ngenerated and developed in Asia.  (The ancient Greek geographer Strabo,\nfor one, calls by the name of Ariana, the land of the Aryas, the whole\ncountry between the Indian Ocean in the south, the Hindu Kush and\nParapamisis in the north, the Indus on the east, and the Caspian Gates,\nKaramania and the mouth of the Persian Gulf, on the west.)  The fable of\nPrometheus relates to the extinction of the civilized portions of the\n4th race, whom Zeus, in order to create a new race, would destroy\nentirely, and Prometheus (who had the sacred fire of knowledge) saved\npartially \"for future seed.\"  But the origin of the fable antecedes the\ndestruction of Poseidonis by more than seventy thousand years, however\nincredible it may seem.  The seven great continents of the world, spoken\nof in the Vishnu Purana (B. II., cap. 2) include Atlantis, though, of\ncourse, under another name.  Ila and Ira are synonymous Sanskrit terms\n(see Amarakosha), and both mean earth or native soil;  and Ilavrita is a\nportion of Ila, the central point of India (Jambudvipa), the latter\nbeing itself the centre of the seven great continents before the\nsubmersion of the great continent of Atlantis, of which Poseidonis was\nbut an insignificant remnant.  And now, while every Brahmin will\nunderstand the meaning, we may help the Europeans with a few more\nexplanations.\n\n--------\n* Behold Moses saying that it requires earth and water to make a living\nman.\n--------\n\nIf, in that generally tabooed work, \"Isis Unveiled,\" the \"English\nF.T.S.\" turns to page 589, vol. I., he may find therein narrated another\nold Eastern legend.  An island .... (where now the Gobi desert lies) was\ninhabited by the last remnants of the race that preceded ours:  a\nhandful of  \"Adepts\"--the \"Sons of God,\" now referred to as the Brahman\nPitris;  called by another yet synonymous name in the Chaldean Kabala.\n\"Isis Unveiled\" may appear very puzzling and contradictory to those who\nknow nothing of Occult Sciences.  To the Occultist it is correct, and\nwhile perhaps left purposely sinning (for it was the first cautious\nattempt to let into the West a faint streak of Eastern esoteric light),\nit reveals more facts than were ever given before its appearance.  Let\nany one read these pages and he may comprehend. The \"six such races\" in\nManu refer to the sub-races of the fourth race (p. 590).  In addition to\nthis the reader must turn to the paper on \"The Septenary Principle in\nEsotericism\" (p. 187 ante), study the list of the \"Manus\" of our fourth\nRound (p. 254), and between this and \"Isis\" light may, perchance, be\nfocused.  On pages 590-6 of the work mentioned above, he will find that\nAtlantis is mentioned in the \"Secret Books of the East\" (as yet virgin\nof Western spoliating hand) under another name in the sacred hieratic or\nsacerdotal language.  And then it will be shown to him that Atlantis was\nnot merely the name of one island but that of a whole continent, of\nwhose isles and islets many have to this day survived.  The remotest\nancestors of some of the inhabitants of the now miserable fisherman's\nhovel \"Aclo\" (once Atlan), near the gulf of Uraha, were allied at one\ntime as closely with the old Greeks and Romans as they were with the\n\"true inland China-man,\" mentioned on p. 57 Of \"Esoteric Buddhism.\"\nUntil the appearance of a map, published at Basle in 1522, wherein the\nname of America appears for the first time, the latter was believed to\nbe part of India;  and strange to him who does not follow the mysterious\nworking of the human mind and its unconscious approximations to hidden\ntruths--even the aborigines of the new continent, the Red-skinned\ntribes, the \"Mongoloids\" of Mr. Huxley, were named Indians.  Names now\nattributed to chance: elastic word that!  Strange coincidence, indeed,\nto him who does not know--science refusing yet to sanction the wild\nhypothesis--that there was a time when the Indian peninsula was at one\nend of the line, and South America at the other, connected by a belt of\nislands and continents.  The India of the prehistoric ages was not only\nwithin the region at the sources of the Oxus and Jaxartes, but there was\neven in the days of history, and within its memory, an upper, a lower,\nand a western India:  and still earlier it was doubly connected with the\ntwo Americas.  The lands of the ancestors of those whom Ammianus\nMarcellinus calls the \"Brahmans of Upper India\" stretched from Kashmir\nfar into the (now) deserts of Schamo.  A pedestrian from the north might\nthen have reached--hardly wetting his feet--the Alaskan Peninsula,\nthrough Manchooria, across the future Gulf of Tartary, the Kurile and\nAleutian Islands;  while another traveler, furnished with a canoe and\nstarting from the south, could have walked over from Siam, crossed the\nPolynesian Islands and trudged into any part of the continent of South\nAmerica.  On pp. 592-3 of \"Isis,\" vol. I., the Thevetatas--the evil,\nmischievous gods that have survived in the Etruscan Pantheon--are\nmentioned, along with the \"sons of God\" or Brahman Pitris.  The\nInvolute, the hidden or shrouded gods, the Consentes, Complices, and\nNovensiles, are all disguised relics of the Atlanteans;  while the\nEtruscan arts of soothsaying their Disciplina revealed by Tages comes\ndirect and in undisguised form from the Atlantean king Thevetat, the\n\"invisible\" Dragon, whose name survives to this day among the Siamese\nand Burmese, as also, in the Jataka allegorical stories of the Buddhists\nas the opposing power under the name of Devadat. And Tages was the son\nof Thevetat, before he became the grandson of the Etruscan\nJupiter-Tinia.  Have the Western Orientalists tried to find out the\nconnection between all these Dragons and Serpents;  between the \"powers\nof Evil\" in the cycles of epic legends, the Persian and the Indian, the\nGreek and the Jewish; between the contests of Indra and the giant;  the\nAryan Nagas and the Iranian Aji Dahaka;  the Guatemalian Dragon and the\nSerpent of Genesis--&c. &c. &c.?  Professor Max Muller discredits the\nconnection.  So be it.  But the fourth race of men, \"men\" whose sight\nwas unlimited and who knew all things at once, the hidden as the\nunrevealed, is mentioned in the Popol-Vuh, the sacred books of the\nGuatemalians;  and the Babylonian Xisuthrus, the far later Jewish Noah,\nthe Hindu Vaivaswata, and the Greek Deukalion, are all identical with\nthe great Father of the Thlinkithians, of Popol-Vuh who, like the rest\nof these allegorical (not mythical) Patriarchs, escaped in his turn and\nin his days, in a large boat at the time of the last great Deluge--the\nsubmersion of Atlantis.\n\nTo have been an Indo-Aryan, Vaivaswata had not, of necessity, to meet\nwith his Saviour (Vishnu, under the form of a fish) within the precincts\nof the present India, or even anywhere on the Asian continent;  nor is\nit necessary to concede that he was the seventh great Manu himself (see\ncatalogue of the Manus, in the paper on \"The Septenary Principle in\nEsotericism\" cited above), but simply that the Hindu Noah belonged to\nthe clan of Vaivaswata and typifies the fifth race.  Now the last of the\nAtlantean islands perished some 11,000 years ago;  and the fifth race\nheaded by the Aryans began its evolution, to the certain knowledge of\nthe \"Adepts\" nearer one million than 900,000 years ago.  But the\nhistorian and the anthropologist with their utmost stretch of liberality\nare unable to give more than from twenty to one hundred thousand years\nfor all our human evolution.  Hence we put it to them as a fair\nquestion:  at what point during their own conjectural lakh of years do\nthey fix the root-germ of the ancestral line of the \"old Greeks and\nRomans?\"  Who were they? What is known or even \"conjectured\" about their\nterritorial habitat after the division of the Aryan nations?  And where\nwere the ancestors of the Semitic and Turanian races?  It is not enough\nfor purposes of refutation of other peoples' statements to say that the\nlatter lived separate from the former, and then come to a full stop--a\nfresh hiatus in the ethnological history of mankind.  Since Asia is\nsometimes called the Cradle of Humanity, and it is an ascertained fact\nthat Central Asia was likewise the cradle of the Semitic and Turanian\nraces (for thus it is taught in Genesis), and we find the Turans\nagreeably to the theory evolved by the Assyriologists preceding the\nBabylonian Semitists, where, at what spot of the globe, did these\nSemito-Turanian nations break away from the parent stock, and what has\nbecome of the latter?  It cannot be the small Jewish tribe of\nPatriarchs; and unless it can be shown that the garden of Eden was also\non the Oxus or the Euphrates, fenced off from the soil inhabited by the\nchildren of Cain, philologists who undertake to fill in the gaps in\nUniversal History with their made-up conjectures, may be regarded as\nignorant of this detail as those they would enlighten.\n\nLogically, if the ancestors of these various groups had been at that\nremote period massed together, then the self-same roots of a parent\ncommon stock would have been equally traceable in their perfected\nlanguages as they are in those of the Judo-Europeans.  And so, since\nwhichever way one turns, one is met with the same troubled sea of\nspeculation, margined by the treacherous quicksands of hypothesis, and\nevery horizon bounded by inferential landmarks inscribed with imaginary\ndates.  Again, the \"Adepts\" ask why should any one be awed into\naccepting as final criterion that which passes for science of high\nauthority in Europe?  For all this is known to the Asiatic scholar--in\nevery case save the purely mathematical and physical sciences--as little\nbetter than a secret league for mutual support, and, perhaps,\nadmiration.  He bows with profound respect before the Royal Societies of\nPhysicists, Chemists, and, to a degree, even of Naturalists.  He refuses\nto pay the slightest attention to the merely speculative and conjectural\nso-called \"sciences\" of the modern Physiologist, Ethnologist,\nPhilologist, &c., and the mob of self-styling Oedipuses to whom it is\nnot given to unriddle the Sphynx of Nature, and who therefore throttle\nher.\n\nWith an eye to the above, as also with a certain prevision of the\nfuture, the defendants in the cases under examination believe that the\n\"historical difficulty\" with reference to the non-historical statement,\nnecessitated more than a simple reaffirmation of the fact.  They knew\nthat with no better claims to a hearing than may be accorded by the\nconfidence of a few, and in view of the decided antagonism of the many,\nit would never do for them to say \"we maintain\" while Western professors\nmaintained to the contrary.  For a body of, so to say, unlicensed\npreachers and students of unauthorized and unrecognized sciences to\noffer to fight an August body of universally recognized oracles, would\nbe an unprecedented piece of impertinence.  Hence their respective\nclaims had to be examined on however small a scale to begin with (in\nthis as in all other cases) on other than psychological grounds.  The\n\"Adepts\" in Occult Arts had better keep silence when confronted with the\n\"A.C.S.'s\"--Adepts in Conjectural Sciences--unless they could show,\npartially at least, how weak is the authority of the latter and on what\nfoundations of shifting sands their scientific dicta are often built.\nThey may thus make it a thinkable conjecture that the former may be\nright after all.  Absolute silence, moreover, as at present advised,\nwould have been fatal.  Besides risking to be construed into inability\nto answer, it might have given rise to new complaints among the faithful\nfew, and lead to fresh charges of selfishness against the writers.\nTherefore have the \"Adepts\" agreed to smooth in part at least a few of\nthe most glaring difficulties and showing a highway to avoid them in\nfuture by studying the non-historical but actual, instead of the\nhistorical but mythical, portions of Universal History.  And this they\nhave achieved, they believe (at any rate with a few of their querists),\nby simply showing, or rather reminding them, that since no historical\nfact can stand as such against the \"assumption\" of the \"Adepts\"--\nhistorians being confessedly ignorant of pre-Roman and Greek origins\nbeyond the ghostly shadows of the Etruscans and Pelasgians--no real\nhistorical difficulty can be possibly involved in their statement.  From\nobjectors outside the Society, the writers neither demand nor do they\nexpect mercy. The \"Adept\" has no favours to ask at the hands of\nconjectural science, nor does he exact from any member of the \"London\nLodge\" blind faith:  it being his cardinal maxim that faith should only\nfollow inquiry.  The \"Adept\" is more than content to be allowed to\nremain silent, keeping what he may know to himself, unless worthy\nseekers wish to share it.  He has so done for ages, and can do so for a\nlittle longer.  Moreover, he would rather not \"arrest attention\" or\n\"command respect\" at present.  Thus he leaves his audience to first\nverify his statements in every case by the brilliant though rather\nwavering light of modern science:  after which his facts may be either\naccepted or rejected, at the option of the willing student.  In short,\nthe \"Adept\"--if one indeed--has to remain utterly unconcerned with, and\nunmoved by, the issue.  He imparts that which it is lawful for him to\ngive out, and deals but with facts.\n\nThe philological and archeological \"difficulties\" next demand attention.\n\n\n\n\nPhilological and Archeological \"Difficulties\"\n\n\nTwo questions are blended into one.  Having shown the reasons why the\nAsiatic student is prompted to decline the guidance of Western History,\nit remains to explain his contumacious obstinacy in the same direction\nwith regard to philology and archeology. While expressing the sincerest\nadmiration for the clever modern methods of reading the past histories\nof nations now mostly extinct, and following the progress and evolution\nof their respective languages, now dead, the student of Eastern\noccultism, and even the profane Hindu scholar acquainted with his\nnational literature, can hardly be made to share the confidence felt by\nWestern philologists in these conglutinative methods, when practically\napplied to his own country and Sanskrit literature. Three facts, at\nleast, out of many are well calculated to undermine his faith in these\nWestern methods:--\n\n1. Of some dozens of eminent Orientalists, no two agree, even in their\nverbatim translation of Sanskrit texts.  Nor is there more harmony shown\nin their interpretation of the possible meaning of doubtful passages.\n\n2. Though Numismatics is a less conjectural branch of science, and when\nstarting from well-established basic dates, so to say, an exact one\n(since it can hardly fail to yield correct chronological data, in our\ncase, namely, Indian antiquities); archeologists have hitherto failed to\nobtain any such position. On their own confession, they are hardly\njustified in accepting the Samvat and Salivahana eras as their guiding\nlights, the real initial points of both being beyond the power of the\nEuropean Orientalists to verify;  yet all the same, the respective dates\n\"of 57 B.C. and 78 A.D.\" are accepted implicitly, and fanciful ages\nthereupon ascribed to archeological remains.\n\n3. The greatest authorities upon Indian archeology and architecture--\nGeneral Cunningham and Mr. Fergusson--represent in their conclusions the\ntwo opposite poles.  The province of archeology is to provide\ntrustworthy canons of criticism, and not, it should seem, to perplex or\npuzzle.  The Western critic is invited to point to one single relic of\nthe past in India, whether written record or inscribed or uninscribed\nmonument, the age of which is not disputed.  No sooner has one\narcheologist determined a date--say the first century--than another\ntries to pull it forward to the 10th or perhaps the 14th century of the\nChristian era.  While General Cunningham ascribes the construction of\nthe present Buddha Gaya temple to the 1st century after Christ--the\nopinion of Mr. Fergusson is that its external form belongs to the 14th\ncentury;  and so the unfortunate outsider is as wise as ever.  Noticing\nthis discrepancy in a \"Report on the Archeological Survey of India\"\n(vol. viii. p. 60), the conscientious and capable Buddha-Gaya Chief\nEngineer, Mr. J.D. Beglar, observes that \"notwithstanding his\n(Fergusson's) high authority, this opinion must be unhesitatingly set\naside,\" and forthwith assigns the building under notice to the 6th\ncentury.  While the conjectures of one archeologist are termed by\nanother \"hopelessly wrong,\" the identifications of Buddhist relics by\nthis other are in their turn denounced as \"quite untenable.\"  And so in\nthe case of every relic of whatever age.\n\nWhen the \"recognized\" authorities agree--among themselves at least--then\nwill it be time to show them collectively in the wrong.  Until then,\nsince their respective conjectures can lay no claim to the character of\nhistory, the \"Adepts\" have neither the leisure nor the disposition to\nleave weightier business to combat empty speculations, in number as many\nas there are pretended authorities.  Let the blind lead the blind, if\nthey will not accept the light.*\n\n--------\n* However, it will be shown elsewhere that General Cunningham's latest\nconclusions about the date of Buddha's death are not all supported by\nthe inscriptions newly discovered.--T. Subba Row.\n---------\n\nAs in the \"historical,\" so in this new \"archeological difficulty,\"\nnamely, the apparent anachronism as to the date of our Lord's birth, the\npoint at issue is again concerned with the \"old Greeks and Romans.\"\nLess ancient than our Atlantean friends, they seem more dangerous\ninasmuch as they have become the direct allies of philologists in our\ndispute over Buddhist annals.  We are notified by Prof. Max Muller, by\nsympathy the most fair of Sanskritists as well as the most learned--and\nwith whom, for a wonder, most of his rivals are found siding in this\nparticular question--that \"everything in Indian chronology depends on\nthe date of Chandragupta,\"--the Greek Sandracottus. \"Either of these\ndates (in the Chinese and Ceylonese chronology) is impossible, because\nit does not agree with the chronology of Greece.\" (\"Hist. of the Sans.\nLit.,\" p. 275.)  It is then by the clear light of this new Alexandrian\nPharos shed, upon a few synchronisms casually furnished by the Greek and\nRoman classical writers, that the \"extraordinary\" statements of the\n\"Adepts\" have now to be cautiously examined.  For Western Orientalists\nthe historical existence of Buddhism begins with Asoka, though, even\nwith the help of Greek spectacles, they are unable to see beyond\nChandragupta.  Therefore, \"before that time Buddhist chronology is\ntraditional and full of absurdities.\"  Furthermore, nothing is said in\nthe Brahmanas of the Bauddhas--ergo, there were none before\n\"Sandracottus,\" nor have the Buddhists or Brahmans any right to a\nhistory of their own, save the one evoluted by the Western mind.  As\nthough the Muse of History had turned her back while events were gliding\nby, the \"historian\" confesses his inability to close the immense lacunae\nbetween the Indo-Aryan supposed immigration en masse across the Hindoo\nKush, and the reign of Asoka.  Having nothing more solid, he uses\ncontradictory inferences and speculations.  But the Asiatic occultists,\nwhose forefathers had her tablets in their keeping, and even some\nlearned native Pundits--believe they can.  The claim, however, is\npronounced unworthy of attention.  Of the late Smriti (traditional\nhistory) which, for those who know how to interpret its allegories, is\nfull of unimpeachable historical records, an Ariadne's thread through\nthe tortuous labyrinth of the Past--has come to be unanimously regarded\nas a tissue of exaggerations, monstrous fables, \"clumsy forgeries of the\nfirst centuries A.D.\" It is now openly declared as worthless not only\nfor exact chronological but even for general historical purposes.  Thus\nby dint of arbitrary condemnations, based on absurd interpretations (too\noften the direct outcome of sectarian prejudice), the Orientalist has\nraised himself to the eminence of a philological mantic.  His learned\nvagaries are fast superseding, even in the minds of many a Europeanized\nHindu, the important historical facts that lie concealed under the\nexoteric phraseology of the Puranas and other Smritic literature.  At\nthe outset, therefore, the Eastern Initiate declares the evidence of\nthose Orientalists who, abusing their unmerited authority, play ducks\nand drakes with his most sacred relics, ruled out of court;  and before\ngiving his facts he would suggest to the learned European Sanskritist\nand archeologist that, in the matter of chronology, the difference in\nthe sum of their series of conjectural historical events, proves them to\nbe mistaken from A to Z.  They know that one single wrong figure in an\narithmetical progression will always throw the whole calculation into\ninextricable confusion:  the multiplication yielding, generally, in such\na case, instead of the correct sum something entirely unexpected. A fair\nproof of this may, perhaps, be found in something already alluded to--\nnamely, the adoption of the dates of certain Hindu eras as the basis of\ntheir chronological assumptions.  In assigning a date to text or\nmonument they have, of course, to be guided by one of the pre-Christian\nIndian eras, whether inferentially, or otherwise.  And yet--in one case,\nat least--they complain repeatedly that they are utterly ignorant as to\nthe correct starting-point of the most important of these.  The positive\ndate of Vikramaditya, for instance, whose reign forms the starting point\nof the Samvat era, is in reality unknown to them.  With some,\nVikramaditya flourished \"B.C.\" 56;  with others, 86;  with others again,\nin the 6th century of the Christian era;  while Mr. Fergusson will not\nallow the Samvat era any beginning before the \"10th century A.D.\"  In\nshort, and in the words of Dr. Weber,* they \"have absolutely no\nauthentic evidence to show whether the era of Vikramaditya dates from\nthe year of his birth, from some achievement, or from the year of his\ndeath, or whether, in fine, it may not have been simply introduced by\nhim for astronomical reasons.\"  There were several Vikramadityas and\nVikramas in Indian history, for it is not a name, but an honorary title,\nas the Orientalists have now come to learn.  How then can any\nchronological deduction from such a shifting premise be anything but\nuntrustworthy, especially when, as in the instance of the Samvat, the\nbasic date is made to travel along, at the personal fancy of\nOrientalists, between the 1st and the 10th century?\n\n-----------\n* \"The History of Indian Literature,\" Trubner's Series, 1882, p. 202.\n-----------\n\nThus it appears to be pretty well proved that in ascribing chronological\ndates to Indian antiquities, Anglo-Indian as well as European\narcheologists are often guilty of the most ridiculous anachronisms.\nThat, in fine, they have been hitherto furnishing History with an\narithmetical mean, while ignorant, in nearly every case, of its first\nterm!  Nevertheless, the Asiatic student is invited to verify and\ncorrect his dates by the flickering light of this chronological\nwill-o-the-wisp.  Nay, nay.  Surely \"An English F.T.S.\" would never\nexpect us in matters demanding the minutest exactness to trust to such\nWestern beacons!  And he will, perhaps, permit us to hold to our own\nviews, since we know that our dates are neither conjectural nor liable\nto modifications.  Where even such veteran archeologists as General\nCunningham do not seem above suspicion, and are openly denounced by\ntheir colleagues, palaeography seems to hardly deserve the name of exact\nscience.  This busy antiquarian has been repeatedly denounced by Prof.\nWeber and others for his indiscriminate acceptance of that Samvat era.\nNor have the other Orientalists been more lenient;  especially those\nwho, perchance under the inspiration of early sympathies for biblical\nchronology, prefer in matters connected with Indian dates to give head\nto their own emotional but unscientific intuitions.  Some would have us\nbelieve that the Samvat era \"is not demonstrable for times anteceding\nthe Christian era at all.\"  Kern makes efforts to prove that the Indian\nastronomers began to employ this era \"only after the year of grace\n1000.\"  Prof. Weber, referring sarcastically to General Cunningham,\nobserves that \"others, on the contrary, have no hesitation in at once\nreferring, wherever possible, every Samvat or Samvatsare-dated\ninscription to the Samvat era.\"  Thus, e.g., Cunningham (in his \"Arch.\nSurvey of India,\" iii. 31, 39) directly assigns an inscription dated\nSamvat 5 to the year \"B.C. 52,\" &c., and winds up the statement with the\nfollowing plaint:  \"For the present, therefore, unfortunately, where\nthere is nothing else (but that unknown era) to guide us, it must\ngenerally remain an open question, which era we have to do with in a\nparticular inscription, and what date consequently the inscription\nbears.\" *\n\n--------\n* Op. cit., p. 203.\n--------\n\nThe confession is significant.  It is pleasant to find such a ring of\nsincerity in a European Orientalist, though it does seem quite ominous\nfor Indian archeology.  The initiated Brahmans know the positive dates\nof their eras and remain therefore unconcerned.  What the \"Adepts\" have\nonce said, they maintain; and no new discoveries or modified conjectures\nof accepted authorities can exert any pressure upon their data.  Even if\nWestern archeologists or numismatists took it into their heads to change\nthe date of our Lord and Glorified Deliverer from the 7th century \"B.C.\"\nto the 7th century \"A.D.,\" we would but the more admire such a\nremarkable gift for knocking about dates and eras, as though they were\nso many lawn-tennis balls.\n\nMeanwhile, to all sincere and inquiring Theosophists, we will say\nplainly, it is useless for any one to speculate about the date of our\nLord Sanggyas's birth, while rejecting a priori all the Brahmanical,\nCeylonese, Chinese, and Tibetan dates.  The pretext that these do not\nagree with the chronology of a handful of Greeks who visited the country\n300 years after the event in question, is too fallacious and bold.\nGreece was never concerned with Buddhism, and besides the fact that the\nclassics furnish their few synchronistic dates simply upon the hearsay\nof their respective authors--a few Greeks, who themselves lived\ncenturies before the writers quoted--their chronology is itself too\ndefective, and their historical records, when it was a question of\nnational triumphs, too bombastic and often too diametrically opposed to\nfact, to inspire with confidence any one less prejudiced than the\naverage European Orientalist.  To seek to establish the true dates in\nIndian history by connecting its events with the mythical \"invasion,\"\nwhile confessing that \"one would look in vain in the literature of the\nBrahmans or Buddhists for any allusion to Alexander's conquest, and\nalthough it is impossible to identify any of the historical events\nrelated by Alexander's companions with the historical tradition of\nIndia,\" amounts to something more than a mere exhibition of incompetence\nin this direction:  were not Prof. Max Muller the party concerned--we\nmight say that it appears almost like predetermined dishonesty.\n\nThese are harsh words to say, and calculated no doubt to shock many a\nEuropean mind trained to look up to what is termed \"scientific\nauthority\" with a feeling akin to that of the savage for his family\nfetich.  They are well deserved, nevertheless, as a few examples will\nshow.  To such intellects as Prof. Weber's--whom we take as the leader\nof the German Orientalists of the type of Christophiles--certainly the\nword \"obtuseness\" cannot be applied.  Upon seeing how chronology is\ndeliberately and maliciously perverted in favour of \"Greek influence,\"\nChristian interests and his own predetermined theories--another, and\neven a stronger term should be applied.  What expression is too severe\nto signify one's feelings upon reading such an unwitting confession of\ndisingenuous scholarship as Weber repeatedly makes (\"Hist. Ind. Lit.\")\nwhen urging the necessity of admitting that a passage \"has been touched\nup by later interpellation,\" or forcing fanciful chronological places\nfor texts admittedly very ancient--\"as otherwise the dates would be\nbrought down too far or too near!\"  And this is the keynote of his\nentire policy:  fiat hypothesis, ruat caelum!  On the other hand Prof.\nMax Muller, enthusiastic Indophile as he seems, crams centuries into his\nchronological thimble without the smallest apparent compunction....\n\nThese two Orientalists are instances, because they are accepted beacons\nof philology and Indian paleography.  Our national monuments are dated\nand our ancestral history perverted to suit their opinions;  the\npernicious evil has ensued, that as a result History is now recording\nfor the misguidance of posterity the false annals and distorted facts\nwhich, upon their evidence, will be accepted without appeal as the\noutcome of the fairest and ablest critical analysis.  While Prof. Max\nMuller will hear of no other than a Greek criterion for Indian\nchronology, Prof. Weber (op. cit.) finds Greek influence--his universal\nsolvent--in the development of India's religion, philosophy, literature,\nastronomy, medicine, architecture, &c.  To support this fallacy the most\ntortuous sophistry, the most absurd etymological deductions are resorted\nto.  If one fact more than another has been set at rest by comparative\nmythology, it is that their fundamental religious ideas, and most of\ntheir gods, were derived by the Greeks from religions flourishing in the\nnorth-west of India, the cradle of the main Hellenic stock.  This is now\nentirely disregarded, because a disturbing element in the harmony of the\ncritical spheres.  And though nothing is more reasonable than the\ninference that the Grecian astronomical terms were inherited equally\nfrom the parent stock, Prof. Weber would have us believe that \"it was\nGreek influence that just infused a real life into Indian astronomy\" (p.\n251).  In fine, the hoary ancestors of the Hindus borrowed their\nastronomical terminology and learnt the art of star gazing and even\ntheir zodiac from the Hellenic infant!  This proof engenders another:\nthe relative antiquity of the astronomical texts shall be henceforth\ndetermined upon the presence or absence in them of asterisms and\nzodiacal signs, the former being undisguisedly Greek in their names, the\nlatter are \"designated by their Sanskrit names which are translated from\nthe Greek\" (p. 255).  Thus \"Manu's law being unacquainted with the\nplanets,\" is considered as more ancient than Yajnavalkya's Code, which\n\"inculcates their worship,\" and so on.  But there is still another and a\nbetter test found out by the Sanskritists for determining with\n\"infallible accuracy\" the age of the texts, apart from asterisms and\nzodiacal signs any casual mention in them of the name \"Yavana,\" taken in\nevery instance to designate the \"Greeks.\"  This, apart \"from an internal\nchronology based on the character of the works themselves, and on the\nquotations, &c., therein contained, is the only one possible,\" we are\ntold.  As a result the absurd statement that \"the Indian astronomers\nregularly speak of the Yavanas as their teachers\" (p. 252).  Ergo, their\nteachers were Greeks.  For with Weber and others \"Yavana\" and \"Greek\"\nare convertible terms.\n\nBut it so happens that Yavanacharya was the Indian title of a single\nGreek--Pythagoras;  as Sankaracharya was the title of a single Hindu\nphilosopher;  and the ancient Aryan astronomical writers cited his\nopinions to criticize and compare them with the teachings of their own\nastronomical science, long before him perfected and derived from their\nancestors.  The honorific title of Acharya (master) was applied to him\nas to every other learned astronomer or mystic;  and it certainly did\nnot mean that Pythagoras or any other Greek \"Master\" was necessarily the\nmaster of the Brahmans.  The word \"Yavana\" was a generic term employed\nages before the \"Greeks of Alexander\" projected \"their influence\" upon\nJambudvipa, to designate people of a younger race, the word meaning\nYuvan \"young,\" or younger.  They knew of Yavanas of the north, west,\nsouth and east;  and the Greek strangers received this appellation as\nthe Persians, Indo-Scythians and others had before them.  An exact\nparallel is afforded in our present day. To the Tibetans every foreigner\nwhatsoever is known as a Peling; the Chinese designate Europeans as\n\"red-haired devils;\"  and the Mussalmans call every one outside of Islam\na Kuffir.  The Webers of the future, following the example now set them,\nmay perhaps, after 10,000 years, affirm, upon the authority of scraps of\nMoslem literature then extant, that the Bible was written, and the\nEnglish, French, Russians and Germans who possessed and translated or\n\"invented\" it, lived in Kaffiristan shortly before their era under\n\"Moslem influence.\"  Because the Yuga Purana of the Gargi Sanhita speaks\nof an expedition of the Yavanas \"as far as Pataliputra,\" therefore,\neither the Macedonians or the Seleuciae had conquered all India!  But\nour Western critic is ignorant, of course, of the fact that Ayodhya or\nSaketa of Rama was for two millenniums repelling inroads of various\nMongolian and other Turanian tribes, besides the Indo-Scythians, from\nbeyond Nepaul and the Himalayas.  Prof. Weber seems finally himself\nfrightened at the Yavana spectre he has raised, for he\nqueries:--\"Whether by the Yavanas it is really the Greeks who are meant\nor possibly merely their Indo-Scythian or other successors, to whom the\nname was afterwards transferred.\"  This wholesome doubt ought to have\nmodified his dogmatic tone in many other such cases.\n\nBut, drive out prejudice with a pitch fork it will ever return. The\neminent scholar, though staggered by his own glimpse of the truth,\nreturns to the charge with new vigour.  We are startled by the fresh\ndiscovery that Asuramaya:*  the earliest astronomer, mentioned\nrepeatedly in the Indian epics, \"is identical with 'Ptolemaios' of the\nGreeks.\"  The reason for it given is, that \"this latter name, as we see\nfrom the inscriptions of Piyadasi, became in Indian 'Turamaya,' out of\nwhich the name 'Asuramaya' might very easily grow;  and since, by the\nlater tradition, this 'Maya' is distinctly assigned to Romaka-pura in\nthe West.\"  Had the \"Piyadasi inscription\" been found on the site of\nancient Babylonia, one might suspect the word \"Turamaya\" as derived from\n\"Turanomaya,\" or rather mania.  Since, however, the Piyadasi\ninscriptions belong distinctly to India, and the title was borne but by\ntwo kings--Chandragupta and Dharmasoka--what has \"'Ptolemaios' of the\nGreeks\" to do with \"Turamaya\" or the latter with \"Asuramaya,\" except,\nindeed, to use it as a fresh pretext to drag the Indian astronomer under\nthe stupefying \"Greek influence\" of the Upas Tree of Western Philology?\nThen we learn that, because \"Panini once mentions the Yavanas, i.e.,\n.... Greeks, and explains the formation of the word 'Yavanani,' to\nwhich, according to the Varttika, the word lipi, 'writing,' must be\nsupplied,\" therefore the word signifies \"the writing of the Yavanas\" of\nthe Greeks and none other.  Would the German philologists (who have so\nlong and so fruitlessly attempted to explain this word) be very much\nsurprised if told that they are yet as far as possible from the truth?\nThat--Yavanani does not mean \"Greek writing\" at all, but any foreign\nwriting whatsoever? That the absence of the word \"writing\" in the old\ntexts, except in connection with the names of foreigners, does not in\nthe least imply that none but Greek writing was known to them, or that\nthey had none of their own, being ignorant of the art of reading and\nwriting until the days of Panini? (theory of Prof. Max Muller). For\nDevanagari is as old as the Vedas, and held so sacred that the Brahmans,\nfirst under penalty of death, and later on of eternal ostracism, were\nnot even allowed to mention it to profane ears, much less to make known\nthe existence of their secret temple libraries.  So that by the word\nYavanani, \"to which, according to the Varttika, the word lipi,\n'writing,' must he supplied,\" the writing of foreigners in general,\nwhether Phoenician, Roman, or Greek, is always meant.  As to the\npreposterous hypothesis of Prof. Max Muller that writing \"was not used\nfor literary purposes in India\" before Panini's time (again upon Greek\nauthority) that matter has been disposed of elsewhere.\n\n---------\n* Dr. Weber is not probably aware of the fact that this distinguished\nastronomer's name was simply Maya;  the prefix \"Asura\" was often added\nto it by ancient Hindu writers to show that he was a Rakshasa.  In the\nopinion of the Brahmans he was an \"Atlantean\" and one of the greatest\nastronomers and occultists of the lost Atlantis.\n---------\n\nEqually unknown are those certain other and most important facts, fable\nthough they seem.  First, that the Aryan \"Great War,\" the Mahabharata,\nand the Trojan War of Homer--both mythical as to personal biographies\nand fabulous supernumeraries, yet perfectly historical in the main--\nbelong to the same cycle of events.  For the occurrences of many\ncenturies, among them the separation of sundry peoples and races,\nerroneously traced to Central Asia alone, were in these immortal epics\ncompressed within the scope of single dramas made to occupy but a few\nyears.  Secondly, that in this immense antiquity the forefathers of the\nAryan Greeks and the Aryan Brahmans were as closely united and\nintermixed as are now the Aryans and the so-called Dravidians.  Thirdly,\nthat before the days of the historical Rama, from whom in unbroken\ngenealogical descent the Oodeypore sovereigns trace their lineage,\nRajpootana was as full of direct post-Atlantean \"Greeks,\" as the\npost-Trojan, subjacent Cumaea and other settlements of pre-Magna Graecia\nwere of the fast Hellenizing sires of the modern Rajpoot.  One\nacquainted with the real meaning of the ancient epics cannot refrain\nfrom asking himself whether these intuitional Orientalists prefer being\ncalled deceivers or deceived, and in charity give them the benefit of\nthe doubt.*\n\n---------\n* Further on, Prof. Weber indulges in the following piece of\nchronological sleight of hand.  In his arduous endeavour \"to determine\naccurately\" the place in history of \"the Romantic Legend of Sakya\nBuddha\" (translation by Beale), he thinks \"the special points of\nrelation here found to Christian legends are very striking.  The\nquestion which party was the borrower Deals properly leaves\nundetermined.  Yet in all likelihood (!!) we have here simply a similar\ncase to that of the appropriation of Christian legend by this worshipers\nof Krishna\" (p. 300).  Now it is this that every Hindu and Buddhist has\nthe right to brand as \"dishonesty,\" whether conscious or unconscious.\nLegends originate earlier than history and die out upon being sifted.\nNeither of the fabulous events in connection with Buddha's birth, taken\nexoterically, necessitated a great genius to narrate them, nor was the\nintellectual capacity of the Hindus ever proved so inferior to that of\nthe Jewish and Greek mob that they should borrow from them even fables\ninspired by religion.  How their fables, evolved between the second and\nthird centuries after Buddha's death, when the fever of proselytism and\nthe adoration of his memory were at their height, could be borrowed and\nthen appropriated from the Christian legends written during the first\ncentury of the Western era, can only be explained by a German\nOrientalist.  Mr. T.W. Rhys Davids (Jataka Book) shows the contrary to\nhave been true.  It may be remarked in this connection that, while the\nfirst \"miracles\" of both Krishna and Christ are said to have happened at\na Mathura, the latter city exists to this day in India--the antiquity of\nits name being fully proved--while the Mathura, or Matures in Egypt, of\nthe \"Gospel of Infancy,\" where Jesus is alleged to have produced his\nfirst miracle, was sought to be identified, centuries ago, by the stump\nof an old tree in thee desert, and is represented by an empty spot!\n----------\n\nWhat can be thought of Prof. Weber's endeavour when, \"to determine more\naccurately the position of Ramayana (called by him the 'artificial\nepic') in literary history,\" he ends with an assumption that \"it rests\nupon an acquaintance with the Trojan cycle of legend .... the conclusion\nthere arrived at is that the date of its composition is to be placed at\nthe commencement of the Christian era in an epoch when the operation of\nthe Greek influence upon India had already set in!\" (p. 194.)  The case\nis hopeless.  If the \"internal chronology\" and external fitness of\nthings, we may add presented in the triple Indian epic, did not open the\neyes of the hypercritical professors to the many historical facts\nenshrined in their striking allegories;  if the significant mention of\n\"black Yavanas,\" and \"white Yavanas,\" indicating totally different\npeoples, could so completely escape their notice;*  and the enumeration\nof a host of tribes, nations, races, clans, under their separate\nSanskrit designations in the Mahbharata, had not stimulated them to try\nto trace their ethnic evolution and identify them with their now living\nEuropean descendants, there is little to hope from their scholarship\nexcept a mosaic of learned guesswork.  The latter scientific mode of\ncritical analysis may yet end some day in a consensus of opinion that\nBuddhism is due wholesale to the \"Life of Barlaam and Josaphat,\" written\nby St. John of Damascus;  or that our religion was plagiarized from that\nfamous Roman Catholic legend of the eighth century in which our Lord\nGautama is made to figure as a Christian Saint, better still, that the\nVedas were written at Athens under the auspices of St. George, the\ntutelary successor of Theseus.\n\n---------\n* See Twelfth Book of Mahabharata, Krishnas fight with Kalayavana.\n---------\n\nFor fear that anything might be lacking to prove the complete obsession\nof Jambudvipa by the demon of  \"Greek influence,\" Dr. Weber vindictively\ncasts a last insult into the face of India by remarking that if\n\"European Western steeples owe their origin to an imitation of the\nBuddhist topes* .... on the other hand in the most ancient Hindu\nedifices the presence of Greek influence is unmistakable\" (p. 274).\nWell may Dr. Rajendralala Mitra \"hold out particularly against the idea\nof any Greek influence whatever on the development of Indian\narchitecture.\"  If his ancestral literature must be attributed to \"Greek\ninfluence,\" the temples, at least, might have been spared.  One can\nunderstand how the Egyptian Hall in London reflects the influence of the\nruined temples on the Nile;  but it is a more difficult feat, even for a\nGerman professor, to prove the archaic structure of old Aryavarta a\nforeshadowing of the genius of the late lamented Sir Christopher Wren!\nThe outcome of this paleographic spoliation is that there is not a\ntittle left for India to call her own. Even medicine is due to the same\nHellenic influence.  We are told--this once by Roth--that \"only a\ncomparison of the principles of Indian with those of Greek medicine can\nenable us to judge of the origin, age and value of the former;\" .... and\n\"a propos of Charaka's injunctions as to the duties of the physician to\nhis patient,\" adds Dr. Weber, \"he cites some remarkably coincident\nexpressions from the Oath of the Asklepiads.\"  It is then settled.\nIndia is Hellenized from head to foot, and even had no physic until the\nGreek doctors came.\n\n----------\n* Of Hindu Lingams, rather.\n----------\n\n\n\n\nSakya Muni's Place in History\n\n\nNo Orientalist, save perhaps, the same wise, not to say deep, Prof.\nWeber, opposes more vehemently than Prof. Max Muller Hindu and Buddhist\nchronology.  Evidently if an Indophile he is not a Buddhophile, and\nGeneral Cunningham, however independent otherwise in his archeological\nresearches, agrees with him more than would seem strictly prudent in\nview of possible future discoveries.*  We have then to refute in our\nturn this great Oxford professor's speculations.\n\n---------\n* Notwithstanding Prof. M. Muller's regrettable efforts to invalidate\nevery Buddhist evidence, he seems to have ill-succeeded in proving his\ncase, if we can judge from the openly expressed opinion of his own\nGerman confreres.  In the portion headed \"Tradition as to Buddha's Age\"\n(pp. 283-288) in his \"Hist. of Ind. Lit.,\" Prof. Weber very aptly\nremarks, \"Nothing like positive certainty, therefore, is for the present\nattainable. Nor have the subsequent discussions of this topic by Max\nMuller (1859) ('Hist. A.S.L.' p. 264 ff), by Westergaard (1860), 'Ueber\nBuddha's Todesjahr,' and by 'Kern Over de Jaartelling der Zuidel\nBuddhisten' so far yielded any definite results.\"  Nor are they likely\nto.\n---------\n\nTo the evidence furnished by the Puranas and Mahavansa, which he also\nfinds hopelessly entangled and contradictory (though the perfect\naccuracy of that Sinhalese history is most warmly acknowledged by Sir\nEmerson Tennant, the historian), he opposes the Greek classics and their\nchronology.  With him, it is always \"Alexander's invasion\" and\n\"Conquest,\" and \"the ambassador of Seleucus Nicator-Megasthenes,\" while\neven the faintest record of such \"conquest\" is conspicuously absent from\nBrahmanic record; and although in an inscription of Piyadasi are\nmentioned the names of Antiochus, Ptolemy, Magus, Antigonus, and even of\nthe great Alexander himself, as vassals of the king Piyadasi, the\nMacedonian is yet called the \"Conqueror of India.\"  In other words,\nwhile any casual mention of Indian affairs by a Greek writer of no great\nnote must be accepted unchallenged, no record of the Indians, literary\nor monumental, is entitled to the smallest consideration.  Until rubbed\nagainst the touch-stone of Hellenic infallibility it must be set down,\nin the words of Professor Weber, as \"of course mere empty boasting.\"\nOh, rare Western sense of justice! *\n\n----------\n* No Philaryan would pretend for a moment on the strength of the\nPiyadasi inscriptions that Alexander of Macedonia, or either of the\nother sovereigns mentioned, was claimed as an actual \"vassal\" of\nChandragupta.  They did not even pay tribute, but only a kind of\nquit-rent annually for lands ceded in the north:  as the grant-tablets\ncould show.  But the inscription, however misinterpreted, shows most\nclearly that Alexander was never the conqueror of India.\n---------\n\nOccult records show differently.  They say--challenging proof to the\ncontrary--that Alexander never penetrated into India farther than\nTaxila;  which is not even quite the modern Attock.  The murmuring of\nthe Macedonian's troops began at the same place, and not as given out,\non the banks of the Hyphasis.  For having never gone to the Hydaspes or\nJhelum, he could not have been on the Sutlej.  Nor did Alexander ever\nfound satrapies or plant any Greek colonies in the Punjab.  The only\ncolonies he left behind him that the Brahmans ever knew of, amounted to\na few dozens of disabled soldiers, scattered hither and thither on the\nfrontiers; who with their native raped wives settled around the deserts\nof Karmania and Drangaria--the then natural boundaries of India. And\nunless history regards as colonists the many thousands of dead men and\nthose who settled for ever under the hot sands of Gedrosia, there were\nno other, save in the fertile imagination of the Greek historians.  The\nboasted \"invasion of India\" was confined to the regions between Karmania\nand Attock, east and west;  and Beloochistan and the Hindu Kush, south\nand north: countries which were all India for the Greek of those days.\nHis building a fleet on the Hydaspes is a fiction;  and his \"victorious\nmarch through the fighting armies of India,\" another. However, it is not\nwith the \"world conqueror\" that we have now to deal, but rather with the\nsupposed accuracy and even casual veracity of his captains and\ncountrymen, whose hazy reminiscences on the testimony of the classical\nwriters have now been raised to unimpeachable evidence in everything\nthat may affect the chronology of early Buddhism and India.\n\nForemost among the evidence of classical writers, that of Flavius\nArrianus is brought forward against the Buddhist and Chinese\nchronologies.  No one should impeach the personal testimony of this\nconscientious author had he been himself an eye-witness instead of\nMegasthenes.  But when a man comes to know that he wrote his accounts\nupon the now lost works of Aristobulus and Ptolemy;  and that the latter\ndescribed their data from texts prepared by authors who had never set\ntheir eyes upon one line written by either Megasthenes or Nearchus\nhimself;  and that knowing so much one is informed by Western historians\nthat among the works of Arrian, Book VII. of the \"Anabasis of\nAlexander,\" is \"the chief authority on the subject of the Indian\ninvasion--a book unfortunately with a gap in its twelfth chapter\"--one\nmay well conceive upon what a broken reed Western authority leans for\nits Indian chronology.  Arrian lived over 600 years after Buddha's\ndeath;  Strabo, 500 (55 \"B.C.\");  Diodorus Siculus--quite a trustworthy\ncompiler!--about the first century; Plutarch over 700 anno Buddhae, and\nQuintus Curtius over 1,000 years!  And when, to crown this army of\nwitnesses against the Buddhist annals, the reader is informed by our\nOlympian critics that the works of the last-named author--than whom no\nmore blundering (geographically, chronologically, and historically)\nwriter ever lived--form along with the Greek history of Arrian the most\nvaluable source of information respecting the military career of\nAlexander the Great--then the only wonder is that the great conqueror\nwas not made by his biographers to have--Leonidas-like--defended the\nThermopylean passes in the Hindu Kush against the invasion of the first\nVedic Brahmins \"from the Oxus.\" Withal the Buddhist dates are either\nrejected or only accepted pro tempore.  Well may the Hindu resent the\npreference shown to the testimony of Greeks--of whom some, at least, are\nbetter remembered in Indian history as the importers into Jambudvipa of\nevery Greek and Roman vice known and unknown to their day--against his\nown national records and history.  \"Greek influence\" was felt, indeed,\nin India, in this, and only in this, one particular.  Greek damsels\nmentioned as an article of great traffic for India--Persian and Greek\nYavanis--were the fore-mothers of the modern nautch-girls, who had till\nthen remained pure virgins of the inner temples.  Alliances with the\nAutiochuses and the Seleucus Nicators bore no better fruit than the\nrotten apple of Sodom.  Pataliputra, as prophesied by Gautama Buddha,\nfound its fate in the waters of the Ganges, having been twice before\nnearly destroyed, again like Sodom, by the fire of heaven.\n\nReverting to the main subject, the \"contradictions\" between the\nCeylonese and Chino-Tibetan chronologies actually prove nothing. If the\nChinese annalists of Saul in accepting the prophecy of our Lord that \"a\nthousand years after He had reached Nirvana, His doctrines would reach\nthe north\" fell into the mistake of applying it to China, whereas Tibet\nwas meant, the error was corrected after the eleventh century of the\nTzina era in most of the temple chronologies.  Besides which, it may now\nrefer to other events relating to Buddhism, of which Europe knows\nnothing, China or Tzina dates its present name only from the year 296 of\nthe Buddhist era* (vulgar chronology having assumed it from the first\nHoang of the Tzin dynasty):  therefore the Tathagata could not have\nindicated it by this name in his well-known prophecy. If misunderstood\neven by several of the Buddhist commentators, it is yet preserved in its\ntrue sense by his own immediate Arhats. The Glorified One meant the\ncountry that stretches far off from the Lake Mansorowara;  far beyond\nthat region of the Himavat, where dwelt from time immemorial the great\n\"teachers of the Snowy Range.\"  These were the great Sraman-acharyas who\npreceded Him, and were His teachers, their humble successors trying to\nthis day to perpetuate their and His doctrines.  The prophecy came out\ntrue to the very day, and it is corroborated both by the mathematical\nand historical chronology of Tibet--quite as accurate as that of the\nChinese.  Arhat Kasyapa, of the dynasty of Moryas, founded by one of the\nChandraguptas near Ptaliputra, left the convent of Panch-Kukkutarama, in\nconsequence of a vision of our Lord, for missionary purpose in the year\n683 of the Tzin era (436 Western era) and had reached the great Lake of\nBod-Yul in the same year.  It is at that period that expired the\nmillennium prophesied.\n\n--------\n* The reference to Chinahunah (Chinese and Huns) in the Vishma\nParva of the Mahabharata is evidently a later interpolation, as\nit does not occur in the old MSS. existing in Southern India.\n--------\n\nThe Arhat carrying with him the fifth statue of Sakya Muni out of the\nseven gold statues made after his bodily death by order of the first\nCouncil, planted it in the soil on that very spot where seven years\nlater was built the first GUNPA (monastery), where the earliest Buddhist\nlamas dwelt.  And though the conversion of the whole country did not\ntake place before the beginning of the seventh century (Western era),\nthe good law had, nevertheless, reached the North at the time\nprophesied, and no earlier.  For, the first of the golden statues had\nbeen plundered from Bhikshu Sali Suka by the Hiong-un robbers and\nmelted, during the days of Dharmasoka, who had sent missionaries beyond\nNepaul.  The second had a like fate, at Ghar-zha, even before it had\nreached the boundaries of Bod-Yul.  The third was rescued from a\nbarbarous tribe of Bhons by a Chinese military chief who had pursued\nthem into the deserts of Schamo about 423 Buddhist era (120 \"B.C.\") The\nfourth was sunk in the third century of the Christian era, together\nwith the ship that carried it from Magadha toward the hills of\nGhangs-chhen-dzo-nga (Chitagong).  The fifth arriving in the nick of\ntime reached its destination with Arhat Kasyapa.  So did the last two.*\n\n---------\n* No doubt, since the history of these seven statues is not in the hands\nof the Orientalists, it will be treated as a \"groundless fable.\"\nNevertheless such is their origin and history.  They date from the first\nSynod, that of Rajagriha, held in the season of war following the death\nof Buddha, i.e., one year after his death.  Were this Rajagriha Council\nheld 100 years after, as maintained by some, it could not have been\npresided over by Mahakasyapa, the friend and brother Arhat of Sakyamuni,\nas he would have been 200 years old.  The second Council or Synod, that\nof Vaisali, was held 120, not 100 or 110 years as some would have it,\nafter the Nirvana, for the latter took place at a time a little over 20\nyears before the physical death of Tathagata.  It was held at the great\nSaptapana cave (Mahavansa's Sattapanni), near the Mount Baibhar (the\nWebhara of the Pali Manuscripts), that was in Rajagriha, the old capital\nof Magadha. Memoirs exist, containing the record of his daily life, made\nby the nephew of king Ajatasatru, a favourite Bikshu of the Mahacharya.\nThese texts have ever been in the possession of the superiors of the\nfirst Lamasery built by Arhat Kasyapa in Bod-Yul, most of whose Chohans\nwere the descendants of the dynasty of the Moryas, there being up to\nthis day three of the members of this once royal family living in India.\nThe old text in question is a document written in Anudruta Magadha\ncharacters.  (We deny that these or any other characters--whether\nDevanagari, Pali, or Dravidian--ever used in India, are variations of,\nor derivatives from, the Phoenician.)  To revert to the texts it is\ntherein stated that the Sattapanni cave, then called \"Sarasvati\" and\n\"Bamboo-cave,\" got its latter name in this wise.  When our Lord first\nsat in it for Dhyana, it was a large six-chambered natural cave, 50 to\n60 feet wide by 33 deep.   One day, while teaching the mendicants\noutside, our Lord compared man to a Saptaparna (seven-leaved) plant,\nshowing them how after the loss of its first leaf every other could be\neasily detached, but the seventh leaf--directly connected with the stem.\n\"Mendicants,\" he said, \"there are seven Buddhas in every Buddha, and\nthere are six Bikshus and but one Buddha in each mendicant.  What are\nthe seven?  The seven branches of complete knowledge.  What are the six?\nThe six organs of sense.  What are the five?  The five elements of\nillusive being.  And the ONE which is also ten?  He is a true Buddha who\ndevelops in him the ten forms of holiness and subjects them all to the\none--'the silent voice' (meaning Avolokiteswara).  After that, causing\nthe rock to be moved at His command, the Tathagata made it divide itself\ninto a seventh additional chamber, remarking that a rock too was\nseptenary, and had seven stages of development.  From that time it was\ncalled the Sattapanni or the Saptaparna cave.  After the first Synod was\nheld, seven gold statues of the Bhagavat were cast by order of the king,\nand each of them was placed in one of the seven compartments.\"  These in\nafter times, when the good law had to make room to more congenial\nbecause more sensual creeds, were taken in charge by various Viharas and\nthen disposed of as explained.  Thus when Mr. Turnour states on the\nauthority of the sacred traditions of Southern Buddhists that the cave\nreceived its name from the Sattapanni plant, he states what is correct.\nIn the \"Archeological Survey of India,\" we find that Gen. Cunningham\nidentifies this cave with one not far away from it and in the same\nBaihbar range, but which is most decidedly not our Saptaparna cave.  At\nthe same time the Chief Engineer of Buddha Gaya, Mr. Beglar, describing\nthe Chetu cave, mentioned by Fa-hian, thinks it is the Saptaparna cave,\nand he is right.  For that, as well as the Pippal and the other caves\nmentioned in our texts, are too sacred in their associations--both\nhaving been used for centuries by generations of Bhikkhus, unto the very\ntime of their leaving India--to have their sites so easily forgotten.\n---------\n\nOn the other hand, the Southern Buddhists, headed by the Ceylonese, open\ntheir annals with the following event:--\n\nThey claim according to their native chronology that Vijaya, the son of\nSinhabahu, the sovereign of Lala, a small kingdom or Raj on the Gandaki\nriver in Magadha, was exiled by his father for acts of turbulence and\nimmorality.  Sent adrift on the ocean with his companions after having\ntheir heads shaved, Buddhist-Bhikshu fashion, as a sign of penitence, he\nwas carried to the shores of Lanka.  Once landed, he and his companions\nconquered and easily took possession of an island inhabited by\nuncivilized tribes, generically called the Yakshas.  This--at whatever\nepoch and year it may have happened--is an historical fact, and the\nCeylonese records, independent of Buddhist chronology, give it out as\nhaving taken place 382 years before Dushtagamani (i.e., in 543 before\nthe Christian era).  Now, the Buddhist Sacred Annals record certain\nwords of our Lord pronounced by Him shortly before His death.  In\nMahavansa He is made to have addressed them to Sakra, in the midst of a\ngreat assembly of Devatas (Dhyan Chohans), and while already \"in the\nexalted unchangeable Nirvana, seated on the throne on which Nirvana is\nachieved.\"  In our texts Tathagata addresses them to his assembled\nArhats and Bhikkhuts a few days before his final liberation:--\"One\nVijaya, the son of Sinhabahu, king of the land of Lala, together with\n700 attendants, has just landed on Lanka.  Lord of Dhyan Buddhas\n(Devas)! my doctrine will be established on Lanka.  Protect him and\nLanka!\"  This is the sentence pronounced which, as proved later, was a\nprophecy.  The now familiar phenomenon of clairvoyant prevision, amply\nfurnishing a natural explanation of the prophetic utterance without any\nunscientific theory of miracle, the laugh of certain Orientalists seems\nuncalled for. Such parallels of poetico-religious embellishments as\nfound in Mahavansa exist in the written records of every religion--as\nmuch in Christianity as anywhere else.  An unbiased mind would first\nendeavour to reach the correct and very superficially hidden meaning\nbefore throwing ridicule and contemptuous discredit upon them.\nMoreover, the Tibetans possess a more sober record of this prophecy in\nthe Notes, already alluded to, reverentially taken down by King\nAjatasatru's nephew.  They are, as said above, in the possession of the\nLamas of the convent built by Arhat Kasyapa--the Moryas and their\ndescendants being of a more direct descent than the Rajput Gautamas, the\nChiefs of Nagara--the village identified with Kapilavastu--are the best\nentitled of all to their possession.  And we know they are historical to\na word. For the Esoteric Buddhist they yet vibrate in space;  and these\nprophetic words, together with the true picture of the Sugata who\npronounced them, are present in the aura of every atom of His relics.\nThis, we hasten to say, is no proof but for the psychologist.  But there\nis other and historical evidence: the cumulative testimony of our\nreligious chronicles.  The philologist has not seen these;  but this is\nno proof of their non-existence.\n\nThe mistake of the Southern Buddhists lies in dating the Nirvana of\nSanggyas Pan-chhen from the actual day of his death, whereas, as above\nstated, He had reached it over twenty years previous to his\ndisincarnation.  Chronologically, the Southerners are right, both in\ndating His death in 543 \"B.C.,\" and one of the great Councils at 100\nyears after the latter event.  But the Tibetan Chohans, who possess all\nthe documents relating to the last twenty-four years of His external and\ninternal life--of which no philologist knows anything--can show that\nthere is no real discrepancy between the Tibetan and the Ceylonese\nchronologies as stated by the Western Orientalists.*  For the profane,\nthe Exalted One was born in the sixty-eighth year of the Burmese\nEeatzana era, established by Eeatzana (Anjana), King of Dewaha; for the\ninitiated--in the forty-eighth year of that era, on a Friday of the\nwaxing moon, of May.  And it was in 563 before the Christian chronology\nthat Tathagata reached his full Nirvana, dying, as correctly stated by\nMahavana--in 543, on the very day when Vijaya landed with his companions\nin Ceylon--as prophesied by Loka-ratha, our Buddha.\n\n---------\n* Bishop Bigandet, after examining all the Burmese authorities\naccessible to him, frankly confesses that \"the history of Buddha offers\nan almost complete blank as to what regards his doings and preachings\nduring a period of nearly twenty-three years.\" (Vol. I. p. 260.)\n---------\n\nProfessor Max Muller seems to greatly scoff at this prophecy. In his\nchapter (\"Hist. S. L.\") upon Buddhism (the \"false\" religion), the\neminent scholar speaks as though he resented such an unprecedented\nclaim.  \"We are asked to believe\"--he writes--\"that the Ceylonese\nhistorians placed the founder of the Vijyan dynasty of Ceylon in the\nyear 543 in accordance with their sacred chronology!\" (i.e., Buddha's\nprophecy), \"while we (the philologists) are not told, however, through\nwhat channel the Ceylonese could have received their information as to\nthe exact date of Buddha's death.\"  Two points may be noticed in these\nsarcastic phrases:  (a) the implication of a false prophecy by our Lord;\nand (b) a dishonest tampering with chronological records, reminding one\nof those of Eusebius, the famous Bishop of Caesarea, who stands accused\nin history of \"perverting every Egyptian chronological table for the\nsake of synchronisms.\"  With reference to charge one, he may be asked\nwhy our Sakyasinha's prophecies should not be as much entitled to his\nrespect as those of his Saviour would be to ours--were we to ever write\nthe true history of the \"Galilean\" Arhat.  With regard to charge two,\nthe distinguished philologist is reminded of the glass house he and all\nChristian chronologists are themselves living in.  Their inability to\nvindicate the adoption of December 25 as the actual day of the Nativity,\nand hence to determine the age and the year of their Avatar's death--\neven before their own people--is far greater than is ours to demonstrate\nthe year of Buddha to other nations.  Their utter failure to establish\non any other but traditional evidence the, to them, historically\nunproved, if probable, fact of his existence at all--ought to engender a\nfairer spirit.  When Christian historians can, upon undeniable\nhistorical authority, justify biblical and ecclesiastical chronology,\nthen, perchance, they may be better equipped than at present for the\ncongenial work of rending heathen chronologies into shreds.\n\nThe \"channel\" the Ceylonese received their information through, was two\nBikshus who had left Magadha to follow their disgraced brethren into\nexile.  The capacity of Siddhartha Buddha's Arhats for transmitting\nintelligence by psychic currents may, perhaps, be conceded without any\ngreat stretch of imagination to have been equal to, if not greater than,\nthat of the prophet Elijah, who is credited with the power of having\nknown from any distance all that happened in the king's bed chamber.  No\nOrientalist has the right to reject the testimony of other people's\nScriptures, while professing belief in the far more contradictory and\nentangled evidence of his own upon the self-same theory of proof.  If\nProfessor Muller is a sceptic at heart, then let him fearlessly declare\nhimself;  only a sceptic who impartially acts the iconoclast has the\nright to assume such a tone of contempt towards any non-Christian\nreligion.  And for the instruction of the impartial inquirer only, shall\nit be thought worth while to collate the evidence afforded by\nhistorical--not psychological--data.  Meanwhile, by analyzing some\nobjections and exposing the dangerous logic of our critic, we may give\nthe theosophists a few more facts connected with the subject under\ndiscussion.\n\nNow that we have seen Professor Max Muller's opinions in general about\nthis, so to say, the Prologue to the Buddhist Drama with Vijaya as the\nhero--what has he to say as to the details of its plot?  What weapon\ndoes he use to weaken this foundation-stone of a chronology upon which\nare built and on which depend all other Buddhist dates?  What is the\nfulcrum for the critical lever he uses against the Asiatic records?\nThree of his main points may be stated seriatim with answers appended.\nHe begins by premising that--\n\n1st.--\"If the starting-point of the Northern Buddhist chronology turns\nout to be merely hypothetical, based as it is on a prophecy of Buddha,\nit will be difficult to avoid the same conclusion with regard to the\ndate assigned to Buddha's death by the Buddhists of Ceylon and of\nBurmah\" (p. 266).  \"The Mahavansa begins with relating three miraculous\nvisits which Buddha paid to Ceylon.\" Vijaya, the name of the founder of\nthe first dynasty (in Ceylon), means conquest, \"and, therefore, such a\nperson most likely never existed\" (p. 268).  This he believes\ninvalidates the whole Buddhist chronology.\n\nTo which the following pendant may be offered:--\n\nWilliam I., King of England, is commonly called the Conqueror; he was,\nmoreover, the illegitimate son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, surnamed le\nDiable.  An opera, we hear, was invented on this subject, and full of\nmiraculous events, called \"Robert the Devil,\" showing its traditional\ncharacter.  Therefore shall we be also justified in saying that Edward\nthe Confessor, Saxons and all, up to the time of the union of the houses\nof York and Lancaster under Henry VII.--the new historical period in\nEnglish history--are all \"fabulous tradition\" and \"such a person as\nWilliam the Conqueror most likely never existed?\"\n\n2nd.--In the Chinese chronology--continues the dissecting critic\n--\"the list of the thirty-three Buddhist patriarchs .... is of a\ndoubtful character.  For Western history the exact Ceylonese\nchronology begins with 161 B.C.\"  Extending beyond that date there\nexists but \"a traditional native chronology.  Therefore .... what goes\nbefore .... is but fabulous tradition.\"\n\nThe chronology of the Apostles and their existence has never been proved\nhistorically.  The history of the Papacy is confessedly \"obscure.\"\nEnnodius of Pavia (fifth century) was the first one to address the Roman\nBishop (Symmochus), who comes fifty-first in the Apostolic succession,\nas \"Pope.\"  Thus, if we were to write the history of Christianity, and\nindulge in remarks upon its chronology, we might say that since there\nwere no antecedent Popes, and since the Apostolic line began with\nSymmochus (498 A.D.), all Christian records beginning with the Nativity\nand up to the sixth century are therefore \"fabulous traditions,\" and all\nChristian chronology is \"purely hypothetical.\"\n\n3rd.--Two discrepant dates in Buddhist chronology are scornfully pointed\nout by the Oxford Professor.  If the landing of Vijaya, in Lanka--he\nsays--on the same day that Buddha reached Nirvana (died) is in\nfulfilment of Buddha's prophecy, then \"if Buddha was a true prophet, the\nCeylonese argue quite rightly that he must have died in the year of the\nconquest, or 543 B.C.\" (p. 270).  On the other hand, the Chinese have a\nBuddhist chronology of their own;  and it does not agree with the\nCeylonese.  \"The lifetime of Buddha from 1029 to 950 rests on his own\nprophecy that a millennium would elapse from his death to the conversion\nof China.  If, therefore, Buddha was a true prophet, he must have lived\nabout 1000 B.C.\" (p. 266).  But the date does not agree with the\nCeylonese chronology--ergo, Buddha was a false prophet. As to that other\n\"the first and most important link\" in the Ceylonese as well as in the\nChinese chronology, \"it is extremely weak.\" .... In the Ceylonese \"a\nmiraculous genealogy had to be provided for Vijaya,\" and, \"a prophecy\nwas therefore invented\" (p. 269).\n\nOn these same lines of argument it may be argued that:\n\nSince no genealogy of Jesus, \"exact or inexact,\" is found in any of the\nworld's records save those entitled the Gospels of SS. Mathew (I--1-17),\nand Luke (iii. 23--38);  and, since these radically disagree--although\nthis personage is the most conspicuous in Western history, and the\nnicest accuracy might have been expected in his case;  therefore,\nagreeably with Professor Max Muller's sarcastic logic, if Jesus \"was a\ntrue prophet,\" he must have descended from David through Joseph\n(Matthew's Gospel);  and \"if he was a true prophet,\" again, then the\nChristians \"argue quite rightly that he must have\" descended from David\nthrough Mary (Luke's Gospel).  Furthermore, since the two genealogies\nare obviously discrepant and prophecies were, in this instance, truly\n\"invented\" by the post-apostolic theologians [or, if preferred, old\nprophecies of Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets, irrelevant to\nJesus, were adapted to suit his case--as recent English commentators (in\nHoly Orders), the Bible revisers, now concede];  and since, moreover--\nalways following the Professor's argument, in the cases of Buddhist and\nBrahmanical chronologies--Biblical chronology and genealogy are found to\nbe \"traditional and full of absurdities .... every attempt to bring them\ninto harmony having proved a failure.\" (p. 266):  have we or have we not\na certain right to retort, that if Gautama Buddha is shown on these\nlines a false prophet, then Jesus must be likewise \"a false prophet?\"\nAnd if Jesus was a true prophet despite existing confusion of\nauthorities, why on the same lines may not Buddha have been one?\nDiscredit the Buddhist prophecies and the Christian ones must go along\nwith them.\n\nThe utterances of the ancient pythoness now but provoke the scientific\nsmile:  but no tripod ever mounted by the prophetess of old was so shaky\nas the chronological trinity of points upon which this Orientalist\nstands to deliver his oracles.  Moreover, his arguments are\ndouble-edged, as shown.  If the citadel of Buddhism can be undermined\nby Professor Max Muller's critical engineering, then pari passu that of\nChristianity must crumble in the same ruins.  Or have the Christians\nalone the monopoly of absurd religious \"inventions\" and the right of\nbeing jealous of any infringement of their patent rights?\n\nTo conclude, we say, that the year of Buddha's death is correctly stated\nby Mr. Sinnett, \"Esoteric Buddhism\" having to give its chronological\ndates according to esoteric reckoning.  And this reckoning would alone,\nif explained, make away with every objection urged, from Professor Max\nMuller's \"Sanskrit Literature\" down to the latest \"evidence\"--the proofs\nin the \"Reports of the Archeological Survey of India.\"  The Ceylonese\nera, as given in Mahavansa, is correct in everything, withholding but\nthe above given fact of Nirvana, the great mystery of Samma-Sambuddha\nand Abhidina remaining to this day unknown to the outsider;  and though\ncertainly known to Bikshu Mahanama--King Dhatusena's uncle--it could not\nbe explained in a work like the Mahavansa.  Moreover, the Singhalese\nchronology agrees in every particular with the Burmese chronology.\nIndependent of the religious era dating from Buddha's death, called\n\"Nirvanic Era,\" there existed, as now shown by Bishop Bigandet (\"Life of\nGuadama\"), two historical eras.  One lasted 1362 years, its last year\ncorresponding with 1156 of the Christian era:  the other, broken in two\nsmall eras, the last, succeeding immediately the other, exists to the\npresent day.  The beginning of the first, which lasted 562 years,\ncoincides with the year 79 A.D. and the Indian Saka era.  Consequently,\nthe learned Bishop, who surely can never be suspected of partiality to\nBuddhism, accepts the year 543 of Buddha's Nirvana.  So do Mr. Tumour,\nProfessor Lassen, and others.\n\nThe alleged discrepancies between the fourteen various dates of Nirvana\ncollected by Csoma Corosi, do not relate to the Nyr-Nyang in the least.\nThey are calculations concerning the Nirvana of the precursors, the\nBoddhisatwas and previous incarnations of Sanggyas that the Hungarian\nfound in various works and wrongly applied to the last Buddha.\nEuropeans must not forget that this enthusiast acted under protest of\nthe Lamas during the time of his stay with them:  and that, moreover, he\nhad learned more about the doctrines of the heretical Dugpas than of the\northodox Gelugpas.  The statement of this \"great authority (!) on\nTibetan Buddhism,\" as he is called, to the effect that Gautama had three\nwives whom he names--and then contradicts himself by showing (\"Tibetan\nGrammar,\" p. 162, see note) that the first two wives \"are one and the\nsame,\" shows how little he can be regarded as an \"authority.\"  He had\nnot even learned that \"Gopa, Yasodhara and Utpala Varna\" are the three\nnames for three mystical powers.  So with the \"discrepancies\" of the\ndates.  Out of the sixty-four mentioned by him but two relate to Sakya\nMuni--namely, the years 576 and 546--and these two err in their\ntranscription;  for when corrected they must stand 564 and 543.  As for\nthe rest they concern the seven ku-sum, or triple form of the Nirvanic\nstate and their respective duration, and relate to doctrines of which\nOrientalists know absolutely nothing.\n\nConsequently from the Northern Buddhists, who, as confessed by Professor\nWeber, \"alone possess these (Buddhist) Scriptures complete,\" and have\n\"preserved more authentic information regarding the circumstances of\ntheir redaction\"--the Orientalists have up to this time learned next to\nnothing.  The Tibetans say that Tathagata became a full Buddha--i.e.,\nreached absolute Nirvana--in 2544 of the Kali era (according to\nSouramana), and thus lived indeed but eighty years, as no Nirvanee of\nthe seventh degree can be reckoned among the living (i.e., existing)\nmen.  It is no better than loose conjecture to argue that it would have\nentered as little into the thoughts of the Brahmans to note the day of\nBuddha's birth \"as the Romans or even the Jews (would have) thought of\npreserving the date of the birth of Jesus before he had become the\nfounder of a religion.\" (Max Muller's \"Hist. S. L.\")  For, while the\nJews had been from the first rejecting the claim of Messiah-ship set up\nby the Chelas of the Jewish prophet and were not expecting their Messiah\nat that time, the Brahmans (the initiates, at any rate) knew of the\ncoming of him whom they regarded as an incarnation of Divine wisdom, and\ntherefore were well aware of the astrological date of his birth.  If, in\nafter times, in their impotent rage they destroyed every accessible\nvestige of the birth, life and death of Him, who in his boundless mercy\nto all creatures had revealed their carefully concealed mysteries and\ndoctrines in order to check the ecclesiastical torrent of ever-growing\nsuperstitions, yet there had been a time when he was met by them as an\nAvatar. And, though they destroyed, others preserved.\n\nThe thousand and one speculations and the torturing of exoteric texts by\nArcheologist or Paleographer will ill repay the time lost in their\nstudy.\n\nThe Indian annals specify King Ajatasatru as a contemporary of Buddha,\nand another Ajatasatru helped to prepare the council 100 years after his\ndeath.  These princes were sovereigns of Magadha and have naught to do\nwith Ajatasatru of the Brihad-Aranyaka and the Kaushitaki-Upanishad, who\nwas a sovereign of the Kasis; though Bhadrasena, \"the son of Ajatasatru\"\ncursed by Aruni, may have more to do with his namesake the \"heir of\nChandragupta\" than is generally known, Professor Max Miller objects to\ntwo Asokas. He rejects Kalasoka and accepts but Dharmasoka--in\naccordance with \"Greek\" and in utter conflict with Buddhist chronology.\nHe knows not--or perhaps prefers to ignore--that besides the two Asokas\nthere were several personages named Chandragupta and Chandramasa.\nPlutarch is set aside as conflicting with the more welcome theory, and\nthe evidence of Justin alone is accepted. There was Kalasoka, called by\nsome Chandramasa and by others Chandragupta, whose son Nanda was\nsucceeded by his cousin the Chandragupta of Seleucus, and under whom the\nCouncil of Vaisali took place \"supported by King Nanda\" as correctly\nstated by Taranatha.  (None of them were Sudras, and this is a pure\ninvention of the Brahmans.)  Then there was the last of the\nChandraguptas who assumed the name of Vikrama;  he commenced the new era\ncalled the Vikramaditya or Samvat and began the new dynasty at\nPataliputra, 318 (B.C.)--according to some European \"authorities;\" after\nhim his son Bindusara or Bhadrasena--also Chandragupta, who was followed\nby Dharmasoka Chandragupta.  And there were two Piyadasis--the\n\"Sandracottus\" Chandragupta and Asoka.  And if controverted, the\nOrientalists will have to account for this strange inconsistency.  If\nAsoka was the only \"Piyadasi\" and the builder of the monuments, and\nmaker of the rock-inscriptions of this name;  and if his inauguration\noccurred as conjectured by Professor Max Muller about 259 B.C., in other\nwords, if he reigned sixty or seventy years later than any of the Greek\nkings named on the Piyadasian monuments, what had he to do with their\nvassalage or non-vassalage, or how was he concerned with them at all?\nTheir dealings had been with his grandfather some seventy years\nearlier--if he became a Buddhist only after ten years occupancy of the\nthrone.  And finally, three well-known Bhadrasenas can be proved, whose\nnames spelt loosely and phonetically, according to each writer's dialect\nand nationality, now yield a variety of names, from Bindusara,\nBimbisara, and Vindusara, down to Bhadrasena and Bhadrasara, as he is\ncalled in the Vayu Purana.  These are all synonymous.  However easy, at\nfirst sight, it may seem to be to brush out of history a real personage,\nit becomes more difficult to prove the non-existence of Kalasoka by\ncalling him \"false,\" while the second Asoka is termed \"the real,\" in the\nface of the evidence of the Puranas, written by the bitterest enemies of\nthe Buddhists, the Brahmans of the period.  The Vayu and Matsya Puranas\nmention both in their lists of their reigning sovereigns of the Nanda\nand the Morya dynasties.  And, though they connect Chandragupta with a\nSudra Nanda, they do not deny existence to Kalasoka, for the sake of\ninvalidating Buddhist chronology.  However falsified the now extant\ntexts of both the Vaya and Matsya Puranas, even accepted as they at\npresent stand \"in their true meaning,\" which Professor Max Muller\n(notwithstanding his confidence) fails to seize, they are not \"at\nvariance with Buddhist chronology before Chandragupta.\"  Not, at any\nrate, when the real Chandragupta instead of the false Sandrocottus of\nthe Greeks is recognized and introduced.  Quite independently of the\nBuddhist version, there exists the historical fact recorded in the\nBrahmanical as well as in the Burmese and Tibetan versions, that in the\nyear 63 of Buddha, Susinago of Benares was chosen king by the people of\nPataliputra, who made away with Ajatasatru's dynasty.  Susinago removed\nthe capital of Magadha from Rajagriha to Vaisali, while his successor\nKalasoka removed it in his turn to Pataliputra.  It was during the reign\nof the latter that the prophecy of Buddha concerning Patalibat or\nPataliputra--a small village during His time--was realized.  (See\nMahaparinibbana Sutta).\n\nIt will be easy enough, when the time comes, to answer all denying\nOrientalists and face them with proof and document in hand.  They speak\nof the extravagant, wild exaggerations of the Buddhists and Brahmans.\nThe latter answer:  \"The wildest theorists of all are they who, to evade\na self-evident fact, assume moral, anti-national impossibilities,\nentirely opposed to the most conspicuous traits of the Brahmanical\nIndian character--namely, borrowing from, or imitating in anything,\nother nations. From their comments on Rig Veda, down to the annals of\nCeylon, from Panini to Matouan-lin, every page of their learned scholia\nappears, to one acquainted with the subject, like a monstrous jumble of\nunwarranted and insane speculations.  Therefore, notwithstanding Greek\nchronology and Chandragupta--whose date is represented as 'the\nsheet-anchor of Indian chronology' that 'nothing will ever shake'--it is\nto be feared that as regards India, the chronological ship of the\nSanskritists has already broken from her moorings and gone adrift with\nall her precious freight of conjectures and hypotheses.  She is drifting\ninto danger.  We are at the end of a cycle--geological and other--and at\nthe beginning of another.  Cataclysm is to follow cataclysm. The pent-up\nforces are bursting out in many quarters;  and not only will men be\nswallowed up or slain by thousands, 'new' land appear and 'old' subside,\nvolcanic eruptions and tidal waves appal;  but secrets of an unsuspected\npast will be uncovered to the dismay of Western theorists and the\nhumiliation of an imperious science.  This drifting ship, if watched,\nmay be seen to ground upon the upheaved vestiges of ancient\ncivilizations, and fall to pieces.  We are not emulous of the prophet's\nhonours: but still, let this stand as a prophecy.\"\n\n\n\n\nInscriptions Discovered by General A. Cunningham\n\n\nWe have carefully examined the new inscription discovered by General A.\nCunningham on the strength of which the date assigned to Buddha's death\nby Buddhist writers has been declared to be incorrect;  and we are of\nopinion that the said inscription confirms the truth of the Buddhist\ntraditions instead of proving them to be erroneous.  The above-mentioned\narcheologist writes as follows regarding the inscription under\nconsideration in the first volume of his reports:--\"The most interesting\ninscription (at Gaya) is a long and perfect one dated in the era of the\nNirvana or death of Buddha.  I read the date as follows:--Bhagavati\nParinirvritte Samvat 1819 Karttike badi I Budhi--that is, 'in the year\n1819 of the Emancipation of Bhagavata on Wednesday, the first day of the\nwaning moon of Kartik.'  If the era here used is the same as that of the\nBuddhists of Ceylon and Burmah, which began in 543 B.C., the date of\nthis inscription will be 1819--543 = A.D. 1276.  The style of the\nletters is in keeping with this date, but is quite incompatible with\nthat derivable from the Chinese date of the era.  The Chinese place the\ndeath of Buddha upwards of 1000 years before Christ, so that according\nto them the date of this inscription would be about A.D. 800, a period\nmuch too early for the style of character used in the inscription.  But\nas the day of the week is here fortunately added, the date can be\nverified by calculation. According to my calculation, the date of the\ninscription corresponds with Wednesday, the 17th of September, AD. 1342.\nThis would place the Nirvana of Buddha in 477 B.C., which is the very\nyear that was first proposed by myself as the most probable date of that\nevent.  This corrected date has since been adopted by Professor Max\nMuller.\"\n\nThe reasons assigned by some Orientalists for considering this so-called\n\"corrected date\" as the real date of Buddha's death have already been\nnoticed and criticized in the preceding paper; and now we have only to\nconsider whether the inscription in question disproves the old date.\n\nMajor-General Cunningham evidently seems to take it for granted, as far\nas his present calculation is concerned, that the number of days in a\nyear is counted in the Magadha country and by Buddhist writers in\ngeneral on the same basis on which the number of days in a current\nEnglish year is counted;  and this wrong assumption has vitiated his\ncalculation and led him to a wrong conclusion.  Three different methods\nof calculation were in use in India at the time when Buddha lived, and\nthey are still in use in different parts of the country.  These methods\nare known as Souramanam, Chandrarmanam and Barhaspatyamanam.  According\nto the Hindu works on astronomy a Souramanam year consists of 365 days\n15 ghadias and 31 vighadias;  a Chandramanam year has 360 days, and a\nyear on the basis of Barhaspatyamanam has 361 days and 11 ghadias\nnearly.  Such being the case, General Cunningham ought to have taken the\ntrouble of ascertaining before he made his calculation the particular\nmanam (measure) employed by the writers of Magadha and Ceylon in giving\nthe date of Buddha's death and the manam used in calculating the years\nof the Buddhist era mentioned in the inscription above quoted.  Instead\nof placing himself in the position of the writer of the said inscription\nand making the required calculation from that standpoint, he made the\ncalculation on the same basis of which an English gentleman of the\nnineteenth century would calculate time according to his own calendar.\n\nIf the calculation were correctly made, it would have shown him that the\ninscription in question is perfectly consistent with the statement that\nBuddha died in the year 543 B.C. according to Barhaspatyamanam (the only\nmanam used in Magadha and by Pali writers in general).  The correctness\nof this assertion will be clearly seen on examining the following\ncalculation.\n\n543 years according to Barhaspatyamanam are equivalent to 536 years and\n8 months (nearly) according to Souramanam.\n\nSimilarly, 1819 years according to the former manam are equivalent to\n1798 years (nearly) according to the latter manarn.\n\nAs the Christian era commenced on the 3102nd year of Kaliyuga (according\nto Souramanam), Buddha died in the year 2565 of Kaliyuga and the\ninscription was written in the year 4362 of Kaliyuga (according to\nSouramanam).  And now the question is whether according to the Hindu\nalmanack, the first day of the waning moon of Kartik coincided with a\nWednesday.\n\nAccording to Suryasiddhanta the number of days from the beginning of\nKaliyuga up to midnight on the 15th day of increasing moon of Aswina is\n1,593,072, the number of Adhikamasansas (extra months) during the\ninterval being 1608 and the number of Kshayathithis 25,323.\n\nIf we divide this number by 7 the remainder would be 5.  As Kaliyuga\ncommenced with Friday, the period of time above defined closed with\nTuesday, as according to Suryasiddhanta a weekday is counted from\nmidnight to midnight.\n\nIt is to be noticed that in places where Barhaspatyamanam is in use\nKrishnapaksham (or the fortnight of waning moon) commences first and is\nfollowed by Suklapaksham (period of waxing moon).\n\nConsequently, the next day after the 15th day of the waxing moon of\nAswina will be the 1st day of the waning moon of Kartika to those who\nare guided by the Barhaspatyamanam calendar.  And therefore the latter\ndate, which is the date mentioned in the inscription, was Wednesday in\nthe year 4362 of Kaliyuga.\n\nThe geocentric longitude of the sun at the time of his meridian passage\non the said date being 174 deg. 20' 16\" and the moon's longitude being\n70 deg 51' 42\" (according to Suryasiddhanta) it can be easily seen that\nat Gaya there was Padyamitithi (first day of waning moon) for nearly 7\nghadias and 50 vighadias from the time of sunrise.\n\nIt is clear from the foregoing calculation that \"Kartik I Badi\"\ncoincided with Wednesday in the year 4362 of Kaliyuga or the year 1261\nof the Christian era, and that from the standpoint of the person who\nwrote the inscription the said year was the 1819th year of the Buddhist\nera.  And consequently this new inscription confirms the correctness of\nthe date assigned to Buddha's death by Buddhist writers.  It would have\nbeen better if Major-General Cunningham had carefully examined the basis\nof his calculation before proclaiming to the world at large that the\nBuddhist accounts were untrustworthy.\n\n\n\n\nDiscrimination of Spirit and Not Spirit\n\n(Translated from the original Sanskrit of Sankara Acharya.)\n\nby Mohini M. Chatterji\n\n\n[An apology is scarcely needed for undertaking a translation of Sankara\nAcharya's celebrated Synopsis of Vedantism entitled \"Atmanatma Vivekah.\"\nThis little treatise, within a small compass, fully sets forth the scope\nand purpose of the Vedanta philosophy.  It has been a matter of no\nlittle wonder, considering the authorship of this pamphlet and its own\nintrinsic merits, that a translation of it has not already been executed\nby some competent scholar.  The present translation, though pretending\nto no scholarship, is dutifully literal, excepting, however, the\nomission of a few lines relating to the etymology of the words Sarira\nand Deha, and one or two other things which, though interesting in\nthemselves, have no direct bearing on the main subject of treatment.\n--T.R.]\n\nNothing is Spirit which can be the object of consciousness.  To one\npossessed of right discrimination, the Spirit is the subject of\nknowledge.  This right discrimination of Spirit and Not-spirit is set\nforth in millions of treatises.\n\nThis discrimination of Spirit and Not-spirit is given below:\n\nQ.  Whence comes pain to the Spirit?\n\nA.  By reason of its taking a body. It is said in the Sruti: * \"Not in\nthis (state of existence) is there cessation of pleasure and pain of a\nliving thing possessed of a body.\"\n\nQ.  By what is produced this taking of a body?\n\nA.  By Karma.**\n\nQ.  Why does it become so by Karma?\n\nA.  By desire and the rest (i.e., the passions).\n\nQ.  By what are desire and the rest produced?\n\nA.  By egotism.\n\nQ.  By what again is egotism produced?\n\nA.  By want of right discrimination.\n\nQ.  By what is this want of right discrimination produced?\n\nA.  By ignorance.\n\nQ.  Is ignorance produced by anything?\n\nA.  No, by nothing.  Ignorance is without beginning and ineffable by\nreason of its being the intermingling of the real (sat) and the unreal\n(asat.)***  It is a something embodying the three qualities**** and is\nsaid to be opposed to Wisdom, inasmuch as it produces the concept \"I am\nignorant.\"  The Sruti says, \"(Ignorance) is the power of the Deity and\nis enshrouded by its own qualities.\" *****\n\n----------\n* Chandogya Upanishad.\n\n** This word it is impossible to translate.  It means the doing of a\nthing for the attainment of an object of worldly desire.\n\n*** This word, as used in Vedantic works, is generally misunderstood. It\ndoes not mean the negation of everything;  it means \"that which does not\nexhibit the truth,\" the \"illusory.\"\n\n**** Satva (goodness), Rajas (foulness), and Tamas (darkness) are the\nthree qualities;  pleasure, pain and indifference considered as\nobjective principles.\n\n***** Chandogya Upanishad.\n--------\n\nThe origin of pain can thus be traced to ignorance and it will not cease\nuntil ignorance is entirely dispelled, which will be only when the\nidentity of the Self with Brahma (the Universal Spirit) is fully\nrealized.*  Anticipating the contention that the eternal acts (i.e.,\nthose enjoined by the Vedas) are proper, and would therefore lead to the\ndestruction of ignorance, it is said that ignorance cannot be dispelled\nby Karma (religious exercises).\n\n--------\n* This portion has been condensed from the original.\n--------\n\nQ.  Why is it so?\n\nA.  By reason of the absence of logical opposition between ignorance and\nact.  Therefore it is clear that Ignorance can only be removed by\nWisdom.\n\nQ.  How can this Wisdom be acquired?\n\nA.  By discussion--by discussing the nature of Spirit and Non-Spirit.\n\nQ.  Who are worthy of engaging in such discussion?\n\nA.  Those who have acquired the four qualifications.\n\nQ.  What are the four qualifications?\n\nA.  (1) True discrimination of permanent and impermanent things. (2)\nIndifference to the enjoyment of the fruits of one's actions both here\nand hereafter.  (3) Possession of Sama and the other five qualities.\n(4) An intense desire of becoming liberated (from conditional\nexistence).\n\n(1.)  Q.  What is the right discrimination of permanent and impermanent\nthings?\n\nA.  Certainty as to the Material Universe being false and illusive, and\nBrahman being the only reality.\n\n(2.)  Indifference to the enjoyment of the fruits of one's actions in\nthis world is to have the same amount of disinclination for the\nenjoyment of worldly objects of desire (such as garland of flowers,\nsandal-wood paste, women and the like) beyond those absolutely necessary\nfor the preservation of life, as one has for vomited food, &c.  The same\namount of disinclination to enjoyment in the society of  Rambha, Urvasi,\nand other celestial nymphs in the higher spheres of life beginning with\nSvarga loka and ending with Brahma loka.*\n\n--------\n* These include the whole range of Rupa loka (the world of forms)\nin Buddhistic esoteric philosophy.\n--------\n\n(3)  Q.  What are the six qualities beginning with Sama?\n\nA.  Sama, dama, uparati, titiksha, samadhana and sraddha.\n\nSama is the repression of the inward sense called Manas--i.e., not\nallowing it to engage in any other thing but Sravana (listening to what\nthe sages say about the Spirit), Manana (reflecting on it), Nididhyasana\n(meditating on the same).  Dama is the repression of the external\nsenses.\n\nQ.  What are the external senses?\n\nA.  The five organs of perception and the five bodily organs for the\nperformance of external acts.  Restraining these from all other things\nbut sravana and the rest, is dama.\n\nUparati is the abstaining on principle from engaging in any of the acts\nand ceremonies enjoined by the shastras.  Otherwise, it is the state of\nthe mind which is always engaged in Sravana and the rest, without ever\ndiverging from them.\n\nTitiksha (literally the desire to leave) is the bearing with\nindifference all opposites (such as pleasure and pain, heat and cold,\n&c.)  Otherwise, it is the showing of forbearance to a person one is\ncapable of punishing.\n\nWhenever a mind, engaged in Sravana and the rest, wanders to any worldly\nobject of desire, and, finding it worthless, returns to the performance\nof the three exercises--such returning is called samadhana.\n\nSraddha is an intensely strong faith in the utterances of one's guru and\nof the Vedanta philosophy.\n\n(4.)  An intense desire for liberation is called mumukshatva.\n\nThose who possess these four qualifications, are worthy of engaging in\ndiscussions as to the nature of Spirit and Not-Spirit, and, like\nBrahmacharins, they have no other duty (but such discussion).  It is\nnot, however, at all improper for householders to engage in such\ndiscussions;  but, on the contrary, such a course is highly meritorious.\nFor it is said--Whoever, with due reverence, engages in the discussion\nof subjects treated of in Vedanta philosophy and does proper service to\nhis guru, reaps happy fruits.  Discussion as to the nature of Spirit and\nNot-Spirit is therefore a duty.\n\nQ.  What is Spirit?\n\nA.  It is that principle which enters into the composition of man and is\nnot included in the three bodies, and which is distinct from the five\nsheaths (Koshas), being sat (existence),* chit (consciousness),** and\nananda (bliss),*** and witness of the three states.\n\n--------\n* This stands for Purusha.\n\n** This stands for Prakriti, cosmic matter, irrespective of the state we\nperceive it to be in.\n\n*** Bliss is Maya or Sakti, it is the creative energy producing changes\nof state in Prakriti. Says the Sruti (Taittiriya Upanishad):  \"Verily\nfrom Bliss are all these bhutas (elements) born, and being born by it\nthey live, and they return and enter into Bliss.\"\n--------\n\nQ.  What are the three bodies?\n\nA.  The gross (sthula), the subtile (sukshma), and the causal (karana).\n\nQ.  What is the gross body?\n\nA.  That which is the effect of the Mahabhutas (primordial subtile\nelements) differentiated into the five gross ones (Panchikrita),* is\nborn of Karma and subject to the six changes beginning with birth.**  It\nis said:--\n\nWhat is produced by the (subtile) elements differentiated into the five\ngross ones, is acquired by Karma, and is the measure of pleasure and\npain, is called the body (sarira) par excellence.\n\nQ.  What is the subtile body?\n\nA.  It is the effect of the elements not differentiated into five and\nhaving seventeen characteristic marks (lingas).\n\nQ.  What are the seventeen?\n\nA.  The five channels of knowledge (Jnanendriyas), the five organs of\naction, the five vital airs, beginning with prana, and manas and buddhi.\n\n-------\n* The five subtile elements thus produce the gross ones--each of\nthe five is divided into eight parts, four of those parts and one\npart of each of the others enter into combination, and the result\nis the gross element corresponding with the subtile element,\nwhose parts predominate in the composition.\n\n** These six changes are--birth, death, existence in time, growth,\ndecay, and undergoing change of substance (parinam) as milk is changed\ninto whey.\n--------\n\nQ.  What are the Jnandendriyas?\n\nA.  [Spiritual] Ear, skin, eye, tongue and nose.\n\nQ.  What is the ear?\n\nA.  That channel of knowledge which transcends the [physical] ear, is\nlimited by the auricular orifice, on which the akas depends, and which\nis capable of taking cognisance of sound.\n\nQ.  The skin?\n\nA.  That which transcends the skin, on which the skin depends, and which\nextends from head to foot, and has the power of perceiving heat and\ncold.\n\nQ.  The eye?\n\nA.  That which transcends the ocular orb, on which the orb depends,\nwhich is situated to the front of the black iris and has the power of\ncognising forms.\n\nQ.  The tongue?\n\nA.  That which transcends the tongue, and can perceive taste.\n\nQ.  The nose?\n\nA.  That which transcends the nose, and has the power of smelling.\n\nQ.  What are the organs of action?\n\nA.  The organ of speech (vach), hands, feet, &c.\n\nQ.  What is vach?\n\nA.  That which transcends speech, in which speech resides, and which is\nlocated in eight different centres* and has the power of speech.\n\n--------\n* The secret commentaries say seven;  for it does not separate the lips\ninto the \"upper\" and \"nether\" lips.  And, it adds to the seven centres\nthe seven passages in the head connected with, and affected by, vach--\nnamely, the mouth, the two eyes, the two nostrils and the two ears.\n\"The left ear, eye and nostril being the messengers of the right side of\nthe head;  the right ear, eye and nostril, those of the left side.\"  Now\nthis is purely scientific.  The latest discoveries and conclusions of\nmodern physiology have shown that the power or the faculty of human\nspeech is located in the third frontal cavity of the left hemisphere of\nthe brain.  On the other hand, it is a well known fact that the nerve\ntissues inter-cross each other (decussate) in the brain in such a way\nthat the motions of our left extremities are governed by the right\nhemisphere, while the motions of our right limbs are subject to the left\nhemisphere of the brain.\n---------\n\nQ.  What are the eight centres?\n\nA.  Breast, throat, head, upper and nether lips, palate ligature\n(fraenum), binding the tongue to the lower jaw and tongue.\n\nQ.  What is the organ of the hands?\n\nA.  That which transcends the hands, on which the palms depend, and\nwhich has the power of giving and taking.... (The other organs are\nsimilarly described.)\n\nQ.  What is the antahkarana? *\n\nA.  Manas, buddhi, chitta and ahankara form it.  The seat of the manas\nis the root of the throat, of buddhi the face, of chitta the umbilicus,\nand of ahankara the breast.  The functions of these four components of\nantahkarana are respectively doubt, certainty, retention and egotism.\n\nQ.  How are the five vital airs,** beginning with prana, named?\n\n--------\n* A flood of light will be thrown on the text by the note of a learned\noccultist, who says:--\"Antahkarana is the path of communication between\nsoul and body, entirely disconnected with the former, existing with,\nbelonging to, and dying with the body.\" This path is well traced in the\ntext.\n\n** These vitals airs and sub-airs are forces which harmonize the\ninterior man with his surroundings, by adjusting the relations of the\nbody to external objects.  They are the five allotropic modifications of\nlife.\n-------\n\nA.  Prana, apana, vyana, udana and samana. Their locations are said to\nbe:--of prana the breast, of apana the fundamentum, of samana the\numbilicus, of udana the throat, and vyana is spread all over the body.\nFunctions of these are:--prana goes out, apana descends, udana ascends,\nsamana reduces the food eaten into an undistinguishable state, and vyana\ncirculates all over the body.  Of these five vital airs there are five\nsub-airs--namely, naga, kurma, krikara, devadatta and dhananjaya.\nFunctions of these are:--eructations produced by naga, kurma opens the\neye, dhananjaya assimilates food, devadatta causes yawning, and krikara\nproduces appetite--this is said by those versed in Yoga.\n\nThe presiding powers (or macrocosmic analogues) of the five channels of\nknowledge and the others are dik (akas) and the rest. Dik, vata (air),\narka (sun), pracheta (water), Aswini, bahni (fire), Indra, Upendra,\nMrityu (death), Chandra (moon), Brahma, Rudra, and Kshetrajnesvara,*\nwhich is the great Creator and cause of everything.  These are the\npresiding powers of ear, and the others in the order in which they\noccur.\n\nAll these taken together form the linga sarira.**  It is also said in\nthe Shastras:--\n\nThe five vital airs, manas, buddhi, and the ten organs form the subtile\nbody, which arises from the subtile elements, undifferentiated into the\nfive gross ones, and which is the means of the perception of pleasure\nand pain.\n\nQ.  What is the Karana sarira?\n\n---------\n* The principle of intellect (Buddhi) in the macrocosm.  For further\nexplanation of this term, see Sankara's commentaries on the Brahma\nSutras.\n\n** Linga means that which conveys meaning, characteristic mark.\n--------\n\nA.  It is ignorance [of different monads] (avidya), which is the cause\nof the other two bodies, and which is without beginning [in the present\nmanvantara],* ineffable, reflection [of Brahma] and productive of the\nconcept of non-identity between self and Brahma.  It is also said:--\n\n\"Without a beginning, ineffable avidya is called the upadhi (vehicle)--\nkarana (cause).  Know the Spirit to be truly different from the three\nupadhis--i.e., bodies.\"\n\nQ.  What is Not-Spirit?\n\nA.  It is the three bodies [described above], which are impermanent,\ninanimate (jada), essentially painful and subject to congregation and\nsegregation.\n\n--------\n* It must not be supposed that avidya is here confounded with prakriti.\nWhat is meant by avidya being without beginning, is that it forms no\nlink in the Karmic chain leading to succession of births and deaths, it\nis evolved by a law embodied in prakriti itself.  Avidya is ignorance or\nmatter as related to distinct monads, whereas the ignorance mentioned\nbefore is cosmic ignorance, or maya-Avidya begins and ends with this\nmanvantara. Maya is eternal.  The Vedanta philosophy of the school of\nSankara regards the universe as consisting of one substance, Brahman\n(the one ego, the highest abstraction of subjectivity from our\nstandpoint), having an infinity of attributes, or modes of manifestation\nfrom which it is only logically separable.  These attributes or modes in\ntheir collectivity form Prakriti (the abstract objectivity).  It is\nevident that Brahman per se does not admit of any description other than\n\"I am that I am.\"  Whereas Prakriti is composed of an infinite number of\ndifferentiations of itself.  In the universe, therefore, the only\nprinciple which is indifferentiable is this \"I am that I am\" and the\nmanifold modes of manifestation can only exist in reference to it.  The\neternal ignorance consists in this, that as there is but one\nsubstantive, but numberless adjectives, each adjective is capable of\ndesignating the All.  Viewed in time the most permanent object or mood\nof the great knower at any moment represents the knower, and in a sense\nbinds it with limitations. In fact, time itself is one of these infinite\nmoods, and so is space.  The only progress in Nature is the realization\nof moods unrealized before.\n--------\n\nQ.  What is impermanent?\n\nA.  That which does not exist in one and the same state in the three\ndivisions of time [namely, present, past and future.]\n\nQ.  What is inanimate (jada)?\n\nA.  That which cannot distinguish between the objects of its own\ncognition and the objects of the cognition of others....\n\nQ.  What are the three states (mentioned above as those of which the\nSpirit is witness)?\n\nA.  Wakefulness (jagrata), dreaming (svapna), and the state of dreamless\nslumber (sushupti).\n\nQ.  What is the state of wakefulness?\n\nA.  That in which objects are known through the avenue of [physical]\nsenses.\n\nQ.  Of  dreaming?\n\nA.  That in which objects are perceived by reason of desires resulting\nfrom impressions produced during wakefulness.\n\nQ.  What is the state of dreamless slumber?\n\nA.  That in which there is an utter absence of the perception of\nobjects.\n\nThe indwelling of the notion of \"I\" in the gross body during wakefulness\nis visva (world of objects),* in subtile body during dreaming is taijas\n(magnetic fire), and in the causal body during dreamless slumber is\nprajna (One Life).\n\nQ.  What are the five sheaths?\n\nA.  Annamaya, Pranamaya, Manomaya, Vjjnanamaya, and Anandamaya.\n\nAnnamaya is related to anna** (food), Pranamaya of prana (life),\nManomaya of manas, Vijnanamaya of vijnana (finite perception),\nAnandamaya of ananda (illusive bliss).\n\n-------\n* That is to say, by mistaking the gross body for self, the\nconsciousness of external objects is produced.\n\n** This word also means the earth in Sanskrit.\n-------\n\nQ.  What is the Annamaya sheath?\n\nA.  The gross body.\n\nQ.  Why?\n\nA.  The food eaten by father and mother is transformed into semen and\nblood, the combination of which is transformed into the shape of a body.\nIt wraps up like a sheath and hence so called.  It is the transformation\nof food and wraps up the spirit like a sheath--it shows the spirit\nwhich is infinite as finite, which is without the six changes, beginning\nwith birth as subject to those changes, which is without the three kinds\nof pain* as liable to them.  It conceals the spirit as the sheath\nconceals the sword, the husk the grain, or the womb the fetus.\n\nQ.  What is the next sheath?\n\nA.  The combination of the five organs of action, and the five vital\nairs form the Pranamaya sheath.\n\nBy the manifestation of prana, the spirit which is speechless appears as\nthe speaker, which is never the giver as the giver, which never moves as\nin motion, which is devoid of hunger and thirst as hungry and thirsty.\n\nQ.  What is the third sheath?\n\nA.  It is the five (subtile) organs of sense (jnanendriya) and manas.\n\n--------\n* The three kinds of pain are:--\n\nAdhibhautika, i.e., from external objects, e.g., from thieves,\nwild animals, &c.\n\nAdhidaivika, i.e., from elements, e.g., thunder, &c.\n\nAdhyatmika, i.e., from within one's self, e.g., head-ache, &c.\nSee Sankhya Karika, Gaudapada's commentary on the opening Sloka.\n-------\n\nBy the manifestation of this sheath (vikara) the spirit which is devoid\nof doubt appears as doubting, devoid of grief and delusion as grieved\nand deluded, devoid of sight as seeing.\n\nQ.  What is the Vijnanamaya sheath?\n\nA.  [The essence of] the five organs of sense form this sheath in\ncombination with buddhi.\n\nQ.  Why is this sheath called the jiva (personal ego), which by reason\nof its thinking itself the actor, enjoyer, &c., goes to the other loka\nand comes back to this?*\n\nA.  It wraps up and shows the spirit which never acts as the actor,\nwhich never cognises as conscious, which has no concept of certainty as\nbeing certain, which is never evil or inanimate as being both.\n\nQ.  What is the Anandamaya sheath?\n\nA.  It is the antahkarana, wherein ignorance predominates, and which\nproduces gratification, enjoyment, &c.  It wraps up and shows the\nspirit, which is void of desire, enjoyment and fruition, as having them,\nwhich has no conditioned happiness as being possessed thereof.\n\nQ.  Why is the spirit said to be different from the three bodies?\n\nA.  That which is truth cannot be untruth, knowledge ignorance, bliss\nmisery, or vice versa.\n\nQ.  Why is it called the witness of the three states?\n\nA.  Being the master of the three states, it is the knowledge of the\nthree states, as existing in the present, past and future.**\n\n-------\n* That is to say, flits from birth to birth.\n\n** It is the stable basis upon which the three states arise and\ndisappear.\n-------\n\n\nQ.  How is the spirit different from the five sheaths?\n\nA.  This is being illustrated by an example:--\"This is my cow,\" \"this is\nmy calf,\" \"this is my son or daughter,\" \"this is my wife,\" \"this is my\nanandamaya sheath,\" and so on*--the spirit can never be connected with\nthese concepts;  it is different from and witness of them all.  For it\nis said in the Upanishad--[The spirit is] \"naught of sound, of touch, of\nform, or colour, of taste, or of smell;  it is everlasting, having no\nbeginning or end, superior [in order of subjectivity] to Prakriti\n(differentiated matter);  whoever correctly understands it as such\nattains mukti (liberation).\"  The spirit has also been called (above)\nsat, chit, and ananda.\n\nQ.  What is meant by its being sat (presence)?\n\nA.  Existing unchanged in the three divisions of time and uninfluenced\nby anything else.\n\nQ.  What by being chit (consciousness)?\n\nA.  Manifesting itself without depending upon anything else, and\ncontaining the germ of everything in itself.\n\nQ.  What by being ananda (bliss)?\n\nA.  The ne plus ultra of bliss.\n\nWhoever knows without doubt and apprehension of its being otherwise, the\nself as being one with Brahma or spirit, which is eternal, non-dual and\nunconditioned, attains moksha (liberation from conditioned existence.)\n\n--------\n* The \"heresy of individuality,\" or attavada of the Buddhists.\n--------\n\n\n\n\nWas Writing Known Before Panini?\n\n\nI am entrusted with the task of putting together some facts which would\nsupport the view that the art of writing was known in India before the\ntime of our grammarian--the Siva-taught Panini. Professor Max Muller has\nmaintained the contrary opinion ever since 1856, and has the approbation\nof other illustrious Western scholars.  Stated briefly, their position\nis that the entire absence of any mention of \"writing, reading, paper,\nor pen\" in the Vedas, or during the whole of the Brahmana period, and\nthe almost, if not quite, as complete silence as to them throughout the\nSutra period, \"lead us to suppose that even then [the Sutra period],\nthough the art of writing began to be known, the whole literature of\nIndia was preserved by oral tradition only.\" (\"Hist. Sans. Lit.,\" p.\n501.)  To support this theory, he expands the mnemonic faculty of our\nrespected ancestors to such a phenomenal degree that, like the bull's\nhide of Queen Dido, it is made to embrace the whole ground needed for\nthe proposed city of refuge, to which discomfited savants may flee when\nhard pressed. Considering that Professor Weber--a gentleman who, we\nobserve, likes to distil the essence of Aryan aeons down into an attar\nof no greater volume than the capacity of the Biblical period--admits\nthat Europe now possesses 10,000 of our Sanscrit texts; and considering\nthat we have, or have had, many other tens of thousands which the\nparsimony of Karma has hitherto withheld from the museums and libraries\nof Europe, what a memory must have been theirs!\n\nUnder correction, I venture to assume that Panini, who was ranked among\nthe Rishis, was the greatest known grammarian in India, than whom there\nis no higher in history, whether ancient or modern;  further, that\ncontemporary scholars agree that the Sanskrit is the most perfect of\nlanguages.  Therefore, when Prof. Muller affirms that \"there is not a\nsingle word in Panini's terminology which presupposes the existence of\nwriting\" (op. cit. 507), we become a little shaken in our loyal\ndeference to Western opinion.  For it is very hard to conceive how one\nso pre-eminently great as Panini should have been incapable of inventing\ncharacters to preserve his grammatical system--supposing that none had\npreviously existed--if his genius was equal to the invention of\nclassical Sanskrit.  The mention of the word Grantha, the equivalent for\na written or bound book in the later literature of India--though applied\nby Panini (in B. I. 3, 75) to the Veda;  (in B. iv. 3, 87) to any work;\n(in B. iv. 3, 116) to the work of any individual author;  and (in B. iv.\n3, 79) to any work that is studied, do not stagger Prof. Muller at all.\nGrantha he takes to mean simply a composition, and this may be handed\ndown to posterity by oral communication.  Hence, we must believe that\nPanini was illiterate;  but yet composed the most elaborate and\nscientific system of grammar ever known;  recorded its 3,996 rules only\nupon the molecular quicksands of his \"cerebral cineritious matter,\" and\nhanded them over to his disciples by atmospheric vibration, i.e., oral\nteaching!  Of course, nothing could be clearer;  it commends itself to\nthe simplest intellect as a thing most probable!  And in the presence of\nsuch a perfect hypothesis, it seems a pity that its author should (op.\ncit. 523) confess that \"it is possible\" that he \"may have overlooked\nsome words in the Brahmanas and Sutras, which would prove the existence\nof written books previous to Panini.\" That looks like the military\nstrategy of our old warriors, who delivered their attack boldly, but\nnevertheless tried to keep their rear open for retreat if compelled.\nThe precaution was necessary:  written books did exist many centuries\nbefore the age in which this radiant sun of Aryan thought rose to shine\nupon his age.  They existed, but the Orientalist may search in vain for\nthe proof amid the exoteric words in our earlier literature.  As the\nEgyptian hierophants had their private code of hieratic symbols, and\neven the founder of Christianity spoke to the vulgar in parables whose\nmystical meaning was known only to the chosen few, so the Brahmans had\nfrom the first (and still have) a mystical terminology couched behind\nordinary expressions, arranged in certain sequences and mutual\nrelations, which none but the initiate would observe.  That few living\nBrahmans possess this key but proves that, as in other archaic religious\nand philosophical systems, the soul of Hinduism has fled (to its primal\nimparters--the initiates), and only the decrepit body remains with a\nspiritually degenerate posterity.*\n\n-------\n* Not only are the Upanishads a secret doctrine, but in dozens of other\nworks as, for instance, in the Aitareya Aranyaka, it is plainly\nexpressed that they contain secret doctrines, that are not to be\nimparted to any one but a Dwija (twice-born, initiated) Brahman.\n--------\n\nI fully perceive the difficulty of satisfying European philologists of a\nfact which, upon my own statement, they are debarred from verifying.  We\nknow that from the present mental condition of our Brahmans.  But I hope\nto be able to group together a few admitted circumstances which will\naid, at least, to show the Western theory untenable, if not to make a\nbase upon which to rest our claim for the antiquity of Sanskrit writing.\nThree good reasons may be adduced in support of the claim--though they\nwill be regarded as circumstantial evidence by our opponents.\n\nI.--It can be shown that writing was known in Phoenicia from the date of\nthe acquaintance of Western history with her first settlements;  and\nthis may be dated, according to European figures, 2760 B.C., the age of\nthe Tyrian settlement.\n\nII.--Our opponents confess to ignorance of the source whence the\nPhoenicians themselves got their alphabet.\n\nIII.--It can be proved that before the final division and classification\nof languages, there existed two languages in every nation:  (a) the\nprofane or popular language of the masses;  (b) the sacerdotal or secret\nlanguage of the initiates of the temples and mysteries--the latter being\none and universal.  Or, in other, words, every great people had, like\nthe Egyptians, its Demotic and its Hieratic writing and language, which\nhad resulted first in a pictorial writing or the hieroglyphics, and\nlater on in a phonetic alphabet.  Now it requires a stretch of\nprejudice, indeed, to assert upon no evidence whatever that the Brahman\nAryans--mystics and metaphysicians above everything--were the only ones\nwho had never had any knowledge of either the sacerdotal language or the\ncharacters in which it was recorded. To contradict this gratuitous\nassumption, we can furnish a whole array of proofs.  It can be\ndemonstrated that the Aryans no more borrowed their writing from the\nHellenes, or from the Phoenicians, than they were indebted to the\ninfluence of the former for all their arts and sciences.  (Even if we\naccept Mr. Cunningham's \"Indo-Grecian Period,\" for it lasted only from\n250-57 B.C., as he states it.)  The direct progenitor of the Vedic\nSanskrit was the sacerdotal language (which has a distinct name among\nthe initiates).  The Vach--its alter ego or the \"mystic self,\" the\nsacerdotal speech of the initiated Brahman--became in time the mystery\nlanguage of the inner temple, studied by the initiates of Egypt and\nChaldea;  of the Phoenicians and the Etruscans;  of the Pelasgi and\nPalanquans;  in short, of the whole globe.  The appellation DEVANAGARI\nis the synonym of, and identical with, the Hermetic and Hieratic\nNETER-KHARI (divine speech) of the Egyptians.\n\nAs the discussion divides naturally into two parts as to treatment--\nthough a general synthesis must be the final result--we will proceed to\nexamine the first part--namely, the charge that the Sanskrit alphabet is\nderived from the Phoenicians.  When a Western philologer asserts that\nwriting did not exist before a certain period, we assume that he has\nsome approximate certitude as to its real invention.  But so far is this\nfrom the truth, that admittedly no one knows whence the Phoenicians\nlearned the characters, now alleged (by Gesenius first) to be the source\nfrom which modern alphabets were directly derived.  De Rouge's\ninvestigations make it extremely probable that \"they were borrowed, or\nrather adapted from certain archaic hieroglyphics of Egypt:\"  a theory\nwhich the Prisse Papyrus, \"the oldest in existence,\" strongly supports\nby its \"striking similarities with the Phoenician characters.\"  But the\nsame authority traces it back one step farther.  He says that the\nascription (by the myth-makers) of the art of writing to Thoth, or to\nKadmos, \"only denotes their belief in its being brought from the East\n(Kedem), or being perhaps primeval.\"  There is not even a certainty\nwhether, primevally or archaically, \"there were several original\nalphabetical systems, or whether one is to be assumed as having given\nrise to the various modes of writing in use.\"  So, if conjecture has the\nfield, it is no great disloyalty to declare one's rebellion against the\neminent Western gentlemen who are learnedly guessing at the origin of\nthings.  Some affirm that the Phoenicians derived their so-called\nKadmean or Phoenician writing-characters from the Pelasgians, held also\nto have been the inventors, or at least the improvers, of the so-called\nKadmean characters.  But, at the same time, this is not proven, they\nconfess, and they only know that the latter were in possession of the\nart of writing \"before the dawn of history.\" Let us see what is known of\nboth Phoenicians and Pelasgians.\n\nIf we inquire who were the Phoenicians, we learn as follows:--From\nhaving been regarded as Hamites on Bible testimony, they suddenly became\nSemites--on geographical and philological evidence(?).  Their origin\nbegins, it is said, on the shores of the Erythrian Sea;  and that sea\nextended from the eastern shores of Egypt to the western shores of\nIndia.  The Phoenicians were the most maritime nation in the world.\nThat they knew perfectly the art of writing no one would deny.  The\nhistorical period of Sidon begins 1500 B.C.  And it is well ascertained\nthat in 1250 Sanchoniathon had already compiled from annals and State\ndocuments, which filled the archives of every Phoenician city, the full\nrecords of their religion.  Sanchoniathon wrote in the Phoenician\nlanguage, and was mis-translated later on into Greek by Philo of Byblus,\nand annihilated bodily--as to his works--except one small fragment\npreserved by Eusebius, the literary Siva, the Destroyer of nearly all\nheathen documents that fell in his way.  To see the direct bearing of\nthe alleged superior knowledge of the Phoenicians upon the alleged\nignorance of the Aryan Brahmans, one has but to turn to \"European\nUniversal History,\" meagre though its details and possible knowledge,\nyet I suppose no one would contradict the historical facts given.  Some\nfragments of Dius, the Phoenician who wrote the history of Tyre, are\npreserved in Josephus;  and Tyre's activity begins 1100 B.C., in the\nearlier part of the third period of Phoenician history, so called.  And\nin that period, as we are told, they had already reached the height of\ntheir power;  their ships covered all seas, their commerce embraced the\nwhole earth, and their colonies flourished far and near.  Even on\nBiblical testimony they are known to have come to the Indies by the Red\nSea, while trading on Solomon's account about a millennium before the\nWestern era. These data no man of science can deny.  Leaving entirely\naside the thousand-and-one documentary proofs that could be given on the\nevidence of our most ancient texts on Occult Sciences, of inscribed\ntablets, &c., those historical events that are accepted by the Western\nworld are alone here given.  Turning to the Mahabharata, the date of\nwhich--on the sole authority of the fancy lore drawn from the inner\nconsciousness of German scholars, who perceive in the great epic poem\nproofs of its modern fabrication in the words \"Yavana\" and others--has\nbeen changed from 3300 years to the first centuries after Christ (!!),\nwe find:  (1) ample evidence that the ancient Hindus had navigated\n(before the establishment of the caste system) the open seas to the\nregions of the Arctic Ocean and held communication with Europe;  and (2)\nthat the Pandus had acquired universal dominion and taught the\nsacrificial mysteries to other races (see Mahabharata, book xiv,).  With\nsuch proofs of international communication, and more than proved\nrelations between the Indian Aryans and the Phoenicians, Egyptians and\nother literate people, it is rather startling to be told that our\nforefathers of the Brahmanic period knew nothing of writing.\n\nAdmitting, for the argument only, that the Phoenician were the sole\ncustodians of the glorious art of writing, and that as merchants they\ntraded with India, what commodity, I ask, could they have offered to a\npeople led by the Brahmans so precious and marketable as this art of\narts, by whose help the priceless lore of the Rishis might be preserved\nagainst the accidents of imperfect oral transmission?  And even if the\nAryans learned from Phoenicians how to write--to every educated Hindu an\nabsurdity--they must have possessed the art 2,000 or at least 1,000\nyears earlier than the period supposed by Western critics.  Negative\nproof, perhaps?  Granted:  yet no more so than their own, and most\nsuggestive.\n\nAnd now we may turn to the Pelasgians.  Notwithstanding the rebuke of\nNiebuhr, who, speaking of the historian in general, shows him as hating\n\"the spurious philology, out of which the pretences to knowledge on the\nsubject of such extinct people arise,\" the origin of the Pelasgians is\nconjectured to have been from--(a) swarthy Asiatics (Pellasici) or from\nsome (b) mariners--from the Greek Pelagos, the sea;  or again to be\nsought for in the (c) Biblical Peleg!  The only divinity of their\nPantheon well known to Western history is Orpheus, also the \"swarthy,\"\nthe \"dark-skinned;\"  represented for the Pelasgians by Xoanon, their\n\"Divine Image.\"  Now if the Pelasgians were Asiatics, they must have\nbeen Turanians, Semites or Aryans.  That they could not have been either\nof the two first, and must have been the last named, is shown on\nHerodotus' testimony, who declared them the forefathers of the Greeks--\nthough they spoke, as he says, \"a most barbarous language.\"  Further,\nunerring philology shows that the vast number of roots common both to\nGreek and Latin, are easily explained by the assumption of a common\nPelasgic linguistic and ethnical stock in both nationalities.  But then\nhow about the Sanskrit roots traced in the Greek and Latin languages?\nThe same roots must have been present in the Pelasgian tongues?  We who\nplace the origin of the Pelasgian far beyond the Biblical ditch of\nhistoric chronology, have reasons to believe that the \"barbarous\nlanguage\" mentioned by Herodotus was simply \"the primitive and now\nextinct Aryan tongue\" that preceded the Vedic Sanskrit.  Who could they\nbe, these Pelasgians?  They are described generally on the meagre data\nin hand as a highly intellectual, receptive, active and simple people,\nchiefly occupied with agriculture;  warlike when necessary, though\npreferring peace.  We are told that they built canals, subterranean\nwater-works, dams, and walls of astounding strength and most excellent\nconstruction.  And their religion and worship originally consisted in a\nmystic service of those natural powers--the sun, wind, water, and air\n(our Surya, Maruts, Varuna, and Vayu), whose influence is visible in the\ngrowth of the fruits of the earth;  moreover, some of their tribes were\nruled by priests, while others stood under the patriarchal rule of the\nhead of the clan or family.  All this reminds one of the nomads, the\nBrahmanic Aryas of old under the sway of their Rishis, to whom were\nsubject every distinct family or clan.  While the Pelasgians were\nacquainted with the art of writing, and had thus \"a vast element of\nculture in their possession before the dawn of history,\" we are told (by\nthe same philologists) that our ancestors knew of no writing until the\ndawn of Christianity!\n\nThus the Pelasgianic language, that \"most barbarous language\" spoken by\nthis mysterious people, what was it but Aryan;  or rather, which of the\nAryan languages could it have been? Certainly it must have been a\nlanguage with the same and even stronger Sanskrit roots in it than the\nGreek.  Let us bear in mind that the Aeolic was neither the language of\nAeschylus, nor the Attic, nor even the old speech of Homer.  As the\nOscan of the \"barbarous\" Sabines was not quite the Italian of Dante nor\neven the Latin of Virgil.  Or has the Indo-Aryan to come to the sad\nconclusion that the average Western Orientalist will rather incur the\nblame of ignorance when detected than admit the antiquity of the Vedic\nSanskrit and the immense period which separated this comparatively rough\nand unpolished language, compared with the classical Sanskrit, and the\npalmy days of the \"extinct Aryan tongue?\"  The Latium Antiquum of Pliny\nand the Aeolic of the Autochthones of Greece present the closest\nkinship, we are told. They had a common ancestor--the Pelasgian.  What,\nthen, was the parent tongue of the latter unless it was the language\n\"spoken at one time by all the nations of Europe--before their\nseparation?\" In the absence of all proofs, it is unreasonable that the\nRik-Brahmanas, the Mahabharata and every Nirukti should be treated as\nflippantly as they now are.  It is admitted that, however inferior to\nthe classical Sanskrit of Panini, the language of the oldest portions of\nRig Veda, notwithstanding the antiquity of its grammatical forms, is the\nsame as that of the latest texts. Every one sees--cannot fail to see and\nto know--that for a language so old and so perfect as the Sanskrit to\nhave survived alone, among all languages, it must have had its cycles of\nperfection and its cycles of degeneration.  And, if one had any\nintuition, he might have seen that what they call a \"dead language\"\nbeing an anomaly, a useless thing in Nature, it would not have survived,\neven as a \"dead\" tongue, had it not its special purpose in the reign of\nimmutable cyclic laws;  and that Sanskrit, which came to be nearly lost\nto the world, is now slowly spreading in Europe, and will one day have\nthe extension it had thousands upon thousands of years back--that of a\nuniversal language.  The same as to the Greek and the Latin: there will\nbe a time when the Greek of Aeschylus (and more perfect still in its\nfuture form) will be spoken by all in Southern Europe, while Sanskrit\nwill be resting in its periodical pralaya;  and the Attic will be\nfollowed later by the Latin of Virgil.  Something ought to have\nwhispered to us that there was also a time--before the original Aryan\nsettlers among the Dravidian and other aborigines, admitted within the\nfold of Brahmanical initiation, marred the purity of the sacred\nSanskrita Bhasha--when Sanskrit was spoken in all its unalloyed\nsubsequent purity, and therefore must have had more than once its rise\nand fall.  The reason for it is simply this:  classical Sanskrit was\nonly restored, if in some things perfected, by Panini.  Panini,\nKatyayana or Patanjali did not create it;  it has existed throughout\ncycles, and will pass through other cycles still.\n\nProfessor Max Miller is willing to admit that a tribe of Semitic\nnomads--fourteen centuries before the year 1 of the Westerns--knew well\nthe art of writing, and had their historically and scientifically proven\n\"book of the covenant and the tables 'with the writing of God upon\nthem.'\"  Yet the same authority tells us that the Aryans could neither\nread nor write until the very close of the Brahmanic period.  \"No trace\nof writing can be discovered (by the philologists) in the Brahmanical\nliterature before the days of Panini.\"  Very well, and now what was the\nperiod during which this Siva-taught sage is allowed to have flourished?\nOne Orientalist (Bohtlingk) refers us to 350 B.C., while less lenient\nones, like Professor Weber, land the grammarian right in the middle of\nthe second century of the Christian era!  Only, after fixing Panini's\nperiod with such a remarkable agreement of chronology (other\ncalculations ranging variously between 400 B.C. and 460 A.D.), the\nOrientalists place themselves inextricably between the horns of a\ndilemma.  For whether Panini flourished 350 B.C. or 180 A.D., he could\nnot have been illiterate;  for firstly, in the Lalita Vistara, a\ncanonical book recognized by the Sanskritists, attributed by Max Muller\nto the third Buddhist council (and translated into Tibetan), our Lord\nBuddha is shown as studying, besides Devanagari, sixty-three other\nalphabets specified in it as being used in various parts of India;  and\nsecondly, though Megasthenes and Nearchus do say that in their time the\nlaws of Manu were not (popularly) reduced to writing (Strabo, xv. 66 and\n73) yet Nearchus describes the Indian art of making paper from cotton.\nHe adds that the Indians wrote letters on cotton twisted together\n(Strabo, xv. 53 and 67).  This would be late in the Sutra period, no\ndoubt, according to Professor Miller's reasoning.  Can the learned\ngentleman cite any record within that comparatively recent period\nshowing the name of the inventor of that cotton-paper, and the date of\nhis discovery? Surely so important a fact as that, a novelty so\ntranscendently memorable, would not have passed without remark.  One\nwould seem compelled, in the absence of any such chronicle, to accept\nthe alternative theory--known to us Aryan students as a fact--that\nwriting and writing materials were, as above remarked, known to the\nBrahmans in an antiquity inconceivably remote--many centuries before the\nepoch made illustrious by Panini.\n\nAttention has been asked above to the interesting fact that the god\nOrpheus, of \"Thracia\" (?) is called the \"dark-skinned.\"  Has it escaped\nnotice that he is \"supposed to be the Vedic Ribhu or Abrhu, an epithet\nboth of Indra and the Sun.\"*  And if he was \"the inventor of letters,\"\nand is \"placed anterior to both Homer and Hesiod,\" then what follows?\nThat Indra taught writing to the Thracian Pelasgians under the guise of\nOrpheus,** but left his own spokesmen and vehicles, the Brahmans,\nilliterate until \"the dawn of Christianity?\"  Or, that the gentlemen of\nthe West are better at intuitional chronology than conspicuous for\nimpartial research?\n\n-------\n* \"Chamber's Encyclopedia,\" vii. 127.\n\n** According to Herodotus the Mysteries were actually brought from India\nby Orpheus.\n-------\n\nOrpheus was--in Greece--the son of Apollo or Helios, the sun-god,\naccording to corrected mythology, and from him received the phorminx or\nlyre of seven strings, i.e.--according to occult phraseology--the\nsevenfold mystery of the Initiation.  Now Indra is the ruler of the\nbright firmament, the disperser of clouds, \"the restorer of the sun to\nthe sky.\"  He is identified with Arjuna in the Samhita Satapatha\nBrahmana (although Prof. Weber denies the existence of any such person\nas Arjuna, yet there was indeed one), and Arjuna was the Chief of the\nPandavas;*  and though Pandu the white passes for his father, he is yet\nconsidered the son of Indra.  As throughout India all ancient cyclopean\nstructures are even now attributed to the Pandavas, so all similar\nstructures in the West were anciently ascribed to the Pelasgians.\nMoreover, as shown well by Pococke--laughed at because too intuitional\nand too fair though, perchance less, philologically learned--the\nPandavas were in Greece, where many traces of them can be shown.\n\n-------\n* Another proof of the fact that the Pandavas were, though Aryans, not\nBrahmans, and belonged to an Indian tribe that preceded the Brahmans,\nand were later on Brahmanized, and then out-casted and called Mlechhas,\nYavanas (i.e., foreign to the Brahmans), is afforded in the following:\nPandu has two wives; and \"it is not Kunti, his lawful wife, but Madri,\nhis most beloved wife,\" who is burnt with the old King when dead, as\nwell remarked by Prof Max Muller, who seems astonished at it without\ncomprehending the true reason.  As stated by Herodotus (v. 5), it was a\ncustom amongst the Thracians to allow the most beloved of a man's wives\nto be sacrificed upon his tomb;  and Herodotus (iv. 17) asserts a\nsimilar fact of the Scythians, and Pausanias (iv. 2) of the Greeks.\n(\"Hist. Sans. Lit.\" p. 48).  The Pandavas and the Kauravas are called\nesoterically cousins in the Epic poem because they were two distinct yet\nAryan tribes, and represent two peoples, not simply two families.\n--------\n\nIn the Mahabharata, Arjuna is taught the occult philosophy by Krishna\n(personification of the universal Divine Principle);  and the less\nmythological view of Orpheus presents him to us as \"a divine bard or\npriest in the service of Zagreus .... founder of the Mysteries .... the\ninventor of everything, in fact, that was supposed to have contributed\nto the civilization and initiation into a more humane worship of the\ndeity.\"  Are not these striking parallels;  and is it not significant\nthat, in the cases of both Arjuna and Orpheus, the sublimer aspects of\nreligion should have been imparted along with the occult methods of\nattaining it by masters of the mysteries?  Real Devanagari--non-phonetic\ncharacters--meant formerly the outward symbols, so to say, the signs\nused in the intercommunication between gods and initiated mortals.\nHence their great sacredness and the silence maintained throughout the\nVedic and the Brahmanical periods about any object concerned with, or\nreferring to, reading and writing.  It was the language of the gods.  If\nour Western critics can only understand what the Ancient Hindu writers\nmeant by Rhutaliai, so often mentioned in their mystical writings, they\nwill be in a position to ascertain the source from which the Hindus\nfirst derived their knowledge of writing.\n\nA secret language, common to all schools of occult science once\nprevailed throughout the world.  Hence Orpheus learnt \"letters\" in the\ncourse of his initiation.  He is identified with Indra; according to\nHerodotus he brought the art of writing from India; his complexion\nswarthier than that of the Thracians points to his Indo-Aryan\nnationality--supposing him to have been \"a bard and priest,\" and not a\ngod;  the Pelasgians are said to have been born in Thracia;  they are\nbelieved (in the West) to have first possessed the art of writing, and\ntaught the Phoenicians;  from the latter all modern alphabets proceed.\nI submit, then, with all these coincidences and sequences, whether the\nbalance of proof is on the side of the theory that the Aryans\ntransmitted the art of writing to the people of the West;  or on the\nside which maintains that they, with their caste of scholarly Brahmans,\ntheir noble sacerdotal tongue, dating from high antiquity, their\nredundant and splendid literature, their acquaintance with the most\nwonderful and recondite potentialities of the human spirit, were\nilliterate until the era of Panini, the grammarian and last of the\nRishis.  When the famous theorists of the Western colleges can show us a\nriver running from its mouth back to its source in the feeble mountain\nspring, then may we be asked to believe in their theory of Aryan\nilliteracy.  The history of human intellectual development shows that\nhumanity always passes through the stage of ideography or pictography\nbefore attaining that of cursive writing.  It therefore remains with the\nWestern critics who oppose the antiquity of Aryan Scriptures to show us\nthe pictographic proofs which support their position.  As these are\nnotoriously absent, it appears they would have us believe that our\nancestors passed immediately from illiteracy to the Devanagari\ncharacters of Panini's time.\n\nLet the Orientalists bear in mind the conclusions drawn from a careful\nstudy of the Mahabharata by Muir in his \"Sanskrit Texts\" (vol. I. pp.\n390,480 and 482).  It may be conclusively proven on the authority of the\nMahabharata that the Yavanas (of whom India, as alleged, knew nothing\nbefore the days of Alexander!) belong to those tribes of Kshatriyas who,\nin consequence of their non-communication with, and in some cases\nrejection by, the Brahmins, had become from twice-born, \"Vrishalas,\"--\ni.e., outcasts (Mahabharata Anusasanaparvam, vv. 2103 F.):  \"Sakah\nYavana-Kambojas tastah kshattriya jatayah Vrishalatvam parigatah\nBrahmananam adarsana.  Dravidas cha Kalindas cha Pulindas chapy Usinarah\nKalisarpa Mahishakas tastah kshattriya jatayah,\" &c. &c. The same\nreference may be found in verses 2158-9.  The Mahabharata shows the\nYavanas descended from Turvasu--once upon a time Kshatriya, subsequently\ndegraded into Vrishala.  Harivamsa shows when and how the Yavanas were\nexcommunicated.  It may be inferred from the account therein contained\nof the expedition against Ayodhya by the Yavanas, and the subsequent\nproceedings of Sagara, that the Yavanas were, previous to the date of\nthe expedition, Kshatriyas subject to the government of the powerful\nmonarchs who reigned at Ayodhya.  But on account of their having\nrebelled against their sovereign, and attacked his capital, they were\nexcommunicated by Sagara who successfully drove them out of Ayodhya, at\nthe suggestion of Vasishtha who was the chief minister and guru of\nSagara's father.  The only trouble in connecting the Pelasgians with,\nand tracing their origin to, the Kshatriyas of Rajputana, is created by\nthe Orientalist who constructs a fanciful chronology, based on no proof,\nand showing only unfamiliarity with the world's real history, and with\nIndian history even within historical periods.\n\nThe value of that chronology--which places virtually the \"primitive\nIndo-Germanic-period\" before the ancient Vedic period (!)--may, in\nconclusion, be illustrated by an example.  Rough as may be the\ncalculations offered, it is impossible to go deeper into any subject of\nthis class within the narrow limits prescribed, and without recourse to\ndata not generally accessible.  In the words of Prof. Max Muller:--\"The\nCode of Manu is almost the only work in Sanskrit literature which, as\nyet, has not been assailed by those who doubt the antiquity of\neverything Indian.  No historian has disputed its claim to that early\ndate which had from the first been assigned to it by Sir William Jones\"\n(\"Hist. Sans, Lit.\" p. 61).  And now, pray, what is this extremely\n\"early date?\"  \"From 880 to 1200 B.C.,\" we are told. We will then, for\nthe present purpose, accept this authoritative conclusion.  Several\nfacts, easily verifiable, have to be first of all noticed:--(1) Manu in\nhis many enumerations of Indian races, kingdoms and places, never once\nmentions Bengal;  the Aryan Brahmans had not yet reached, in the days\nwhen his Code was compiled, the banks of the Ganges nor the plains of\nBengal.  It was Arjuna who went first to Banga (Bengal) with his\nsacrificial horse.  [Yavanas are mentioned in Rajdharma Anasasanika\nParva as part of the tribes peopling it.]  (2) In the Ayun a list of the\nHindu kings of Bengal is given.  Though the date of the first king who\nreigned over Banga cannot be ascertained, owing to the great gaps\nbetween the various dynasties;  it is yet known that Bengal ceased to be\nan independent Hindu kingdom from 1203 after Christ.  Now if,\ndisregarding these gaps, which are wide and many, we make up the sum of\nonly those chronological periods of the reign of the several dynasties\nthat are preserved by history, we find the following:--\n\n24 Kshatriya families of kings reigned for a period of 2,418 years\n9 Kaista kings    \"        \"       \"         \"           250   \"\n11 Of the Adisur families \"        \"          \"          714   \"\n10 Of the Bhopal family   \"        \"          \"          689   \"\n10 Of the Pala dynasty (from 855 to 1040 A.D.) \"   \"    185    \"\n10 The Vaidya Rajahs reigned for a period of   \"   \"    137    \"\n                                                   --------\n                                         Years . . . . 4,393   \"\n\nIf we deduct from this sum 1,203, we have 3,190 years B.C. of successive\nreigns.  If it can be shown on the unimpeachable evidence of the\nSanskrit texts that some of the reigns happened simultaneously, and the\nline cannot therefore be shown as successive (as was already tried),\nwell and good.  Against an arbitrary chronology set up with a\npredetermined purpose and theory in view, there will remain but little\nto be said.  But if this attempt at reconciliation of figures and the\nsurrounding circumstances are maintained simply upon \"critical, internal\nevidence,\" then, in the presence of these 3,190 years of an unbroken\nline of powerful and mighty Hindu kings, the Orientalists will have to\nshow a very good reason why the authors of the Code of Manu seem\nentirely ignorant even of the existence of Bengal--if its date has to be\naccepted as not earlier than 1280 B.C.!  A scientific rule which is good\nenough to apply to the case of Panini ought to be valid in other\nchronological speculations. Or, perhaps, this is one of those poor rules\nwhich will not \"work both ways?\"\n\n--A Chela\n\n\n\n\nTHEOSOPHICAL\n\n\nWhat is Theosophy?\n\n\nAccording to lexicographers, the term theosophia is composed of two\nGreek words--theos \"god,\" and sophas \"wise.\"  So far, correct.  But the\nexplanations that follow are far from giving a clear idea of Theosophy.\nWebster defines it most originally as \"a supposed intercourse with\nGod and superior spirits, and consequent attainment of superhuman\nknowledge by physical processes, as by the theurgic operations of some\nancient Platonists, or by the chemical processes of the German\nfire-philosophers.\"\n\nThis, to say the least, is a poor and flippant explanation.  To\nattribute such ideas to men like Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus, Jamblichus,\nPorphyry, Proclus, shows either intentional misrepresentation, or\nignorance of the philosophy and motives of the greatest geniuses of the\nlater Alexandrian School.  To impute to those, whom their contemporaries\nas well as posterity styled \"theodidaktoi,\" god-taught, a purpose to\ndevelop their psychological, spiritual perceptions by \"physical\nprocesses,\" is to describe them as materialists.  As to the concluding\nfling at the fire-philosophers, it rebounds from them upon some of the\nmost eminent leaders of modern science;  those in whose mouths the Rev.\nJames Martineau places the following boast:  \"Matter is all we want;\ngive us atoms alone, and we will explain the universe.\"\n\nVaughan offers a far better, more philosophical definition.  \"A\nTheosophist,\" he says, \"is one who gives you a theory of God or the\nworks of God, which has not revelation, but inspiration of his own for\nits basis.\"  In this view every great thinker and philosopher,\nespecially every founder of a new religion, school of philosophy, or\nsect, is necessarily a Theosophist.  Hence, Theosophy and Theosophists\nhave existed ever since the first glimmering of nascent thought made man\nseek instinctively for the means of expressing his own independent\nopinions.\n\nThere were Theosophists before the Christian era, notwithstanding that\nthe Christian writers ascribe the development of the Eclectic\nTheosophical system to the early part of the third century of their era.\nDiogenes Laertius traces Theosophy to an epoch antedating the dynasty of\nthe Ptolemies;  and names as its founder an Egyptian Hierophant called\nPot-Amun, the name being Coptic, and signifying a priest consecrated to\nAmun, the god of Wisdom.  But history shows its revival by Ammonius\nSaccas, the founder of the Neo-Platonic School.  He and his disciples\ncalled themselves \"Philaletheians\"--lovers of the truth;  while others\ntermed them the \"Analogists,\" on account of their method of interpreting\nall sacred legends, symbolical myths, and mysteries, by a rule of\nanalogy or correspondence so that events which had occurred in the\nexternal world were regarded as expressing operations and experiences of\nthe human soul.  It was the aim and purpose of Ammonius to reconcile all\nsects, peoples, and nations under one common faith--a belief in one\nSupreme, Eternal, Unknown, and Unnamed Power, governing the universe by\nimmutable and eternal laws.  His object was to prove a primitive system\nof Theosophy, which, at the beginning, was essentially alike in all\ncountries:  to induce all men to lay aside their strifes and quarrels,\nand unite in purpose and thought as the children of one common mother;\nto purify the ancient religions, by degrees corrupted and obscured, from\nall dross of human element, by uniting and expounding them upon pure\nphilosophical principles. Hence, the Buddhistic, Vedantic and Magian, or\nZoroastrian systems were taught in the Eclectic Theosophical School\nalong with all the philosophies of Greece.  Hence also, that\npre-eminently Buddhistic and Indian feature among the ancient\nTheosophists of Alexandria, of due reverence for parents and aged\npersons, a fraternal affection for the whole human race, and a\ncompassionate feeling for even the dumb animals.  While seeking to\nestablish a system of moral discipline which enforced upon people the\nduty to live according to the laws of their respective countries, to\nexalt their minds by the research and contemplation of the one Absolute\nTruth;  his chief object, in order, as he believed, to achieve all\nothers, was to extract from the various religious teachings, as from a\nmany-chorded instrument, one full and harmonious melody, which would\nfind response in every truth-loving heart.\n\nTheosophy is, then, the archaic Wisdom-Religion, the esoteric doctrine\nonce known in every ancient country having claims to civilization.  This\n\"Wisdom\" all the old writings show us as an emanation of the Divine\nPrinciple;  and the clear comprehension of it is typified in such names\nas the Indian Buddh, the Babylonian Nebo, the Thoth of Memphis, the\nHermes of Greece;  in the appellations, also, of some goddesses--Metis,\nNeitha, Athena, the Gnostic Sophia;  and, finally, the Vedas, from the\nword \"to know.\"  Under this designation, all the ancient philosophers of\nthe East and West, the Hierophants of old Egypt, the Rishis of Aryavart,\nthe Theodidaktoi of Greece, included all knowledge of things occult and\nessentially divine.  The Mercavah of the Hebrew Rabbis, the secular and\npopular series, were thus designated as only the vehicle, the outward\nshell, which contained the higher esoteric knowledges.  The Magi of\nZoroaster received instruction and were initiated in the caves and\nsecret lodges of Bactria; the Egyptian and Grecian hierophants had their\napporiheta, or secret discourses, during which the Mysta became an\nEpopta--a Seer.\n\nThe central idea of the Eclectic Theosophy was that of a single Supreme\nEssence, Unknown and Unknowable;  for \"how could one know the knower?\"\nas inquires Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.  Their system was characterized by\nthree distinct features, the theory of the above-named Essence:  the\ndoctrine of the human soul;  an emanation from the latter, hence of the\nsame nature;  and its theurgy.  It is this last science which has led\nthe Neo-Platonists to be so misrepresented in our era of materialistic\nscience.  Theurgy being essentially the art of applying the divine\npowers of man to the subordination of the blind forces of Nature, its\nvotaries were first decisively termed magicians--a corruption of the\nword \"Magh,\" signifying a wise or learned man. Sceptics of a century ago\nwould have been as wide of the mark if they had laughed at the idea of a\nphonograph or telegraph.  The ridiculed and the \"infidels\" of one\ngeneration generally become the wise men and saints of the next.\n\nAs regards the Divine Essence and the nature of the soul and spirit,\nmodern Theosophy believes now as ancient Theosophy did. The popular Dev\nof the Aryan nations was identical with the Iao of the Chaldeans, and\neven with the Jupiter of the less learned and philosophical among the\nRomans;  and it was just as identical with the Jahve of the Samaritans,\nthe Tiu or \"Tiusco\" of the Northmen, the Duw of the Britons, and the\nZeus of the Thracians. As to the Absolute Essence, the One and All,\nwhether we accept the Greek Pythagorean, the Chaldean Kabalistic, or the\nAryan philosophy in regard to it, it will all lead to one and the same\nresult.  The Primeval Monad of the Pythagorean system, which retires\ninto darkness and is itself Darkness (for human intellect), was made the\nbasis of all things;  and we can find the idea in all its integrity in\nthe philosophical systems of Leibnitz and Spinoza.  Therefore, whether a\nTheosophist agrees with the Kabala which, speaking of En-Soph, propounds\nthe query; \"Who, then, can comprehend It, since It is formless, and\nnon-existent?\" or, remembering that magnificent hymn from the Rig Veda\n(Hymn 129, Book x.), inquires:\n\n     \"Who knows from whence this great creation sprang? Whether his will\n     created or was mute. He knows it--or perchance even He knows not.\"\n\nOr, again, he accepts the Vedantic conception of Brahma, who, in the\nUpanishads, is represented as \"without life, without mind, pure,\"\nunconscious, for Brahma is \"Absolute Consciousness.\"  Or, even finally,\nsiding with the Svabhavikas of Nepaul, maintains that nothing exists but\n\"Svabhavat\" (substance or nature) which exists by itself without any\ncreator--he is the true follower of pure and absolute Theosophy.  That\nTheosophy which prompted such men as Hegel, Fichte and Spinoza to take\nup the labours of the old Grecian philosophers and speculate upon the\nOne Substance--the Deity, the Divine All proceeding from the Divine\nWisdom--incomprehensible, unknown and unnamed by any ancient or modern\nreligious philosophy, with the exception of Judaism, including\nChristianity and Mohammedanism.  Every Theosophist, then, holding to a\ntheory of the Deity \"which has not revelation but an inspiration of his\nown for its basis,\" may accept any of the above definitions or belong to\nany of these religions, and yet remain strictly within the boundaries of\nTheosophy.  For the latter is belief in the Deity as the ALL, the source\nof all existence, the infinite that cannot be either comprehended or\nknown, the universe alone revealing It, or, as some prefer it, Him, thus\ngiving a sex to that, to anthropomorphize which is blasphemy.  True\nTheosophy shrinks from brutal materialization; it prefers believing\nthat, from eternity retired within itself, the Spirit of the Deity\nneither wills nor creates;  but from the infinite effulgence everywhere\ngoing forth from the Great Centre, that which produces all visible and\ninvisible things is but a ray containing in itself the generative and\nconceptive power, which, in its turn, produces that which the Greeks\ncalled Macrocosm, the Kabalists Tikkun or Adam Kadmon, the archetypal\nman, and the Aryans Purusha, the manifested Brahm, or the Divine Male.\nTheosophy believes also in the Anastasis, or continued existence, and in\ntransmigration (evolution) or a series of changes of the personal ego,\nwhich can be defended and explained on strict philosophical principles\nby making a distinction between Paramatma (transcendental, supreme\nspirit) and Jivatma (individual spirit) of the Vedantins.\n\nTo fully define Theosophy, we must consider it under all its aspects.\nThe interior world has not been hidden from all by impenetrable\ndarkness.  By that higher intuition acquired by Theosophia, or\nGod-knowledge, which carries the mind from the world of form into that of\nformless spirit, man has been sometimes enabled, in every age and every\ncountry, to perceive things in the interior or invisible world.  Hence,\nthe \"Samadhi,\" or Dhyan Yog Samadhi, of the Hindu ascetics;  the\n\"Daimonlonphoti,\" or spiritual illumination of the Neo-Platonists;\nthe \"sidereal confabulation of soul,\" of the Rosicrucians or\nFire-philosophers; and, even the ecstatic trance of mystics and of the\nmodern mesmerists and spiritualists, are identical in nature, though\nvarious as to manifestation.  The search after man's diviner \"self,\" so\noften and so erroneously interpreted as individual communion with a\npersonal God, was the object of every mystic; and belief in its\npossibility seems to have been coeval with the genesis of humanity, each\npeople giving it another name. Thus Plato and Plotinus call \"Noetic\nwork\" that which the Yogi and the Shrotriya term Vidya.  \"By reflection,\nself-knowledge and intellectual discipline, the soul can be raised to\nthe vision of eternal truth, goodness, and beauty--that is, to the\nVision of God.  This is the epopteia,\" said the Greeks. \"To unite one's\nsoul to the Universal Soul,\" says Porphyry, \"requires but a perfectly\npure mind.  Through self contemplation, perfect chastity, and purity of\nbody, we may approach nearer to It, and receive, in that state, true\nknowledge and wonderful insight.\"  And Swami Dayanund Saraswati, who has\nread neither Porphyry nor other Greek authors, but who is a thorough\nVedic scholar, says in his \"Veda Bhashya\" (opasna prakaru ank. 9)--\"To\nobtain Diksha (highest initiation) and Yog, one has to practise\naccording to the rules..... The soul in the human body can perform the\ngreatest wonders by knowing the Universal Spirit (or God) and\nacquainting itself with the properties and qualities (occult) of all the\nthings in the universe.  A human being (a Dikshit or initiate) can thus\nacquire a power of seeing and hearing at great distances.\"  Finally,\nAlfred R. Wallace, F.R.S., a spiritualist and yet a confessedly great\nnaturalist, says, with brave candour:  \"It is spirit that alone feels,\nand perceives, and thinks, that acquires knowledge, and reasons and\naspires..... There not unfrequently occur individuals so constituted\nthat the spirit can perceive independently of the corporeal organs of\nsense, or can, perhaps, wholly or partially quit the body for a time and\nreturn to it again;  the spirit communicates with spirit easier than\nwith matter.\"  We can now see how, after thousands of years have\nintervened between the age of the Gymnosophists* and our own highly\ncivilized era, notwithstanding, or, perhaps, just because of such an\nenlightenment which pours its radiant light upon the psychological as\nwell as upon the physical realms of Nature, over twenty millions of\npeople today believe, under different form, in those same spiritual\npowers that were believed in by the Yogis and the Pythagoreans, nearly\n3,000 years ago.\n\n--------\n* The reality of the Yog-power was affirmed by many Greek and Roman\nwriters, who call the Yogis Indian Gymnosophists--by Strabo, Lucan,\nPlutarch, Cicero (Tusculum), Pliny (vii. 2), &c.\n--------\n\nThus, while the Aryan mystic claimed for himself the power of solving\nall the problems of life and death, when he had once obtained the power\nof acting independently of his body, through the Atman, \"self,\" or\n\"soul;\"  and the old Greeks went in search of Atmu, the Hidden one, or\nthe God-Soul of man, with the symbolical mirror of the Thesmophorian\nmysteries;  so the spiritualists of today believe in the capacity of the\nspirits, or the souls of the disembodied persons, to communicate visibly\nand tangibly with those they loved on earth.  And all these, Aryan\nYogis, Greek philosophers, and modern spiritualists, affirm that\npossibility on the ground that the embodied soul and its never embodied\nspirit--the real self--are not separated from either the Universal Soul\nor other spirits by space, but merely by the differentiation of their\nqualities, as in the boundless expanse of the universe there can be no\nlimitation.  And that when this difference is once removed--according to\nthe Greeks and Aryans by abstract contemplation, producing the temporary\nliberation of the imprisoned soul, and according to spiritualists,\nthrough mediumship--such a union between embodied and disembodied\nspirits becomes possible.  Thus was it that Patanjali's Yogis, and,\nfollowing in their steps, Plotinus, Porphyry and other Neo-Platonists,\nmaintained that in their hours of ecstasy, they had been united to, or\nrather become as one with, God several times during the course of their\nlives.  This idea, erroneous as it may seem in its application to the\nUniversal Spirit, was, and is, claimed by too many great philosophers to\nbe put aside as entirely chimerical.  In the case of the Theodidaktoi,\nthe only controvertible point, the dark spot on this philosophy of\nextreme mysticism, was its claim to include that which is simply\necstatic illumination, under the head of sensuous perception.  In the\ncase of the Yogis, who maintained their ability to see Iswara \"face to\nface,\" this claim was successfully overthrown by the stern logic of the\nfollowers of Kapila, the founder of the Sankhya philosophy.  As to the\nsimilar assumption made for their Greek followers, for a long array of\nChristian ecstatics, and, finally, for the last two claimants to\n\"God-seeing\" within these last hundred years--Jacob Bohme and\nSwedenborg--this pretension would and should have been philosophically\nand logically questioned, if a few of our great men of science, who are\nspiritualists, had had more interest in the philosophy than in the mere\nphenomenalism of spiritualism.\n\nThe Alexandrian Theosophists were divided into neophytes, initiates and\nmasters, or hierophants;  and their rules were copied from the ancient\nMysteries of Orpheus, who, according to Herodotus, brought them from\nIndia.  Ammonius obligated his disciples by oath not to divulge his\nhigher doctrines, except to those who were proved thoroughly worthy and\ninitiated, and who had learned to regard the gods, the angels, and the\ndemons of other peoples, according to the esoteric hyponia, or\nunder-meaning.  \"The gods exist, but they are not what the hoi polloi,\nthe uneducated multitude, suppose them to be,\" says Epicurus.  \"He is\nnot an atheist who denies the existence of the gods, whom the multitude\nworship, but he is such who fastens on these gods the opinions of the\nmultitude.\"  In his turn, Aristotle declares that of the \"Divine Essence\npervading the whole world of Nature, what are styled the gods are simply\nthe first principles.\"\n\nPlotinus, the pupil of the \"God-taught\" Ammonius, tells us that the\nsecret gnosis or the knowledge of Theosophy, has three degrees-opinion,\nscience, and illumination.  \"The means or instrument of the first is\nsense, or perception;  of the second, dialectics;  of the third,\nintuition.  To the last, reason is subordinate;  it is absolute\nknowledge, founded on the identification of the mind with the object\nknown.\"  Theosophy is the exact science of psychology, so to say;  it\nstands in relation to natural, uncultivated mediumship, as the knowledge\nof a Tyndall stands to that of a school-boy in physics.  It develops in\nman a direct beholding;  that which Schelling denominates \"a realization\nof the identity of subject and object in the individual;\"  so that under\nthe influence and knowledge of hyponia man thinks divine thoughts, views\nall things as they really are, and, finally, \"becomes recipient of the\nSoul of the World,\" to use one of the finest expressions of Emerson.\n\"I, the imperfect, adore my own Perfect,\" he says in his superb \"Essay\non the Oversoul.\"  Besides this psychological, or soul state, Theosophy\ncultivated every branch of sciences and arts.  It was thoroughly\nfamiliar with what is now commonly known as mesmerism. Practical theurgy\nor \"ceremonial magic,\" so often resorted to in their exorcisms by the\nRoman Catholic clergy, was discarded by the Theosophists.  It is but\nJamblichus alone who, transcending the other Eclectics, added to\nTheosophy the doctrine of Theurgy. When ignorant of the true meaning of\nthe esoteric divine symbols of Nature, man is apt to miscalculate the\npowers of his soul, and, instead of communing spiritually and mentally\nwith the higher celestial beings, the good spirits (the gods of the\ntheurgists of the Platonic school), he will unconsciously call forth the\nevil, dark powers which lurk around humanity, the undying, grim\ncreations of human crimes and vices, and thus fall from theurgia (white\nmagic) into goetia (or black magic, sorcery).  Yet, neither white nor\nblack magic are what popular superstition understands by the terms.  The\npossibility of \"raising spirits,\" according to the key of Solomon, is\nthe height of superstition and ignorance.  Purity of deed and thought\ncan alone raise us to an intercourse \"with the gods\" and attain for us\nthe goal we desire.  Alchemy, believed by so many to have been a\nspiritual philosophy as well as a physical science, belonged to the\nteachings of the Theosophical School.\n\nIt is a noticeable fact that neither Zoroaster, Buddha, Orpheus,\nPythagoras, Confucius, Socrates, nor Ammonius Saccas, committed anything\nto writing.  The reason for it is obvious.  Theosophy is a double-edged\nweapon and unfit for the ignorant or the selfish. Like every ancient\nphilosophy it has its votaries among the moderns;  but, until late in\nour own days, its disciples were few in numbers, and of the most various\nsects and opinions. \"Entirely speculative, and founding no schools, they\nhave still exercised a silent influence upon philosophy;  and no doubt,\nwhen the time arrives, many ideas thus silently propounded may yet give\nnew directions to human thought,\" remarks Mr. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie,\nhimself a mystic and a Theosophist, in his large and valuable work, \"The\nRoyal Masonic Cyclopaedia\" (articles \"Theosophical Society of New York,\"\nand \"Theosophy,\" p. 731).* Since the days of the fire-philosophers, they\nhad never formed themselves into societies, for, tracked like wild\nbeasts by the Christian clergy, to be known as a Theosophist often\namounted, hardly a century ago, to a death-warrant.\n\n----------\n* \"The Royal Masonic Cycloptedia of History, Rites, Symbolism, and\nBiography.\" Edited by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie IX. (Cryptonymus) Hon.\nMember of the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge, No. 2, Scotland. New York J.\nW. Bouton, 706, Broadway. 1877.\n--------\n\nThe statistics show that, during a period of 150 years, no less than\n90,000 men and women were burned in Europe for alleged witchcraft.  In\nGreat Britain only, from A.D. 1640 to 1660, but twenty years, 3,000\npersons were put to death for compact with the \"Devil.\"  It was but late\nin the present century--in 1875--that some progressed mystics and\nspiritualists, unsatisfied with the theories and explanations of\nSpiritualism started by its votaries, and finding that they were far\nfrom covering the whole ground of the wide range of phenomena, formed at\nNew York, America, an association which is now widely known as the\nTheosophical Society.\n\n(--H.P. Blavatsky)\n\n\n\n\nHow a \"Chela\" Found his \"Guru\"\n\n[Being Extracts from a private letter to Damodar K. Mavalankar, Joint\nRecording Secretary of the Theosophical Society.]\n\n....When we met last at Bombay I told you what had happened to me at\nTinnevelly.  My health having been disturbed by official work and worry,\nI applied for leave on medical certificate and it was duly granted.  One\nday in September last, while I was reading in my room, I was ordered by\nthe audible voice of my blessed Guru, M---Maharsi, to leave all and\nproceed immediately to Bombay, whence I was to go in search of Madame\nBlavatsky wherever I could find her and follow her wherever she went.\nWithout losing a moment, I closed up all my affairs and left the\nstation.  For the tones of that voice are to me the divinest sound in\nNature, its commands imperative.  I traveled in my ascetic robes.\nArrived at Bombay, I found Madame Blavatsky gone, and learned through\nyou that she had left a few days before;  that she was very ill;  and\nthat, beyond the fact that she had left the place very suddenly with a\nChela, you knew nothing of her whereabouts.  And now, I must tell you\nwhat happened to me after I had left you.\n\nReally not knowing whither I had best go, I took a through ticket to\nCalcutta;  but, on reaching Allahabad, I heard the same well-known\nvoice directing me to go to Berhampore.  At Azimgunge, in the train, I\nmet, most providentially I may say, with some Bengali gentlemen (I did\nnot then know they were also Theosophists, since I had never seen any of\nthem), who were also in search of Madame Blavatsky.  Some had traced her\nto Dinapore, but lost her track and went back to Berhampore.  They knew,\nthey said, she was going to Tibet and wanted to throw themselves at the\nfeet of the Mahatmas to permit them to accompany her.  At last, as I was\ntold, they received from her a note, permitting them to come if they so\ndesired it, but saying that she herself was prohibited from going to\nTibet just now.  She was to remain, she said, in the vicinity of\nDarjiling and would see the Mahatma on the Sikkhim Territory, where they\nwould not be allowed to follow her .... Brother Nobin K. Bannerji, the\nPresident of the Adhi Bhoutic Bhratru Theosophical Society, would not\ntell me where Madame Blavatsky was, or perhaps did not then know\nhimself. Yet he and others had risked all in the hope of seeing the\nMahatmas.  On the 23rd, at last he brought me from Calcutta to\nChandernagore, where I found Madame Blavatsky, ready to start by train\nin five minutes.  A tall, dark-looking hairy Chela (not Chunder Cusho),\nbut a Tibetan I suppose by his dress, whom I met after I had crossed the\nriver Hugli with her in a boat, told me that I had come too late, that\nMadame Blavatsky had already seen the Mahatmas and that he had brought\nher back.  He would not listen to my supplications to take me with him,\nsaying he had no other orders than what he had already executed--namely,\nto take her about twenty-five miles beyond a certain place he named to\nme, and that he was now going to see her safe to the station and return.\nThe Bengali brother Theosophists had also traced and followed her,\narriving at the station half an hour later.  They crossed the river from\nChandernagore to a small railway station on the opposite side.  When the\ntrain arrived, she got into the carriage, upon entering which I found\nthe Chela!  And, before even her own things could be placed in the van,\nthe train, against all regulations and before the bell was rung, started\noff, leaving the Bengali gentlemen and her servant behind, only one of\nthem and the wife and daughter of another--all Theosophists and\ncandidates for Chelaship--having had time to get in.  I myself had\nbarely the time to jump into the last carriage. All her things, with the\nexception of her box containing Theosophical correspondence, were left\nbehind with her servant. Yet, even the persons that went by the same\ntrain with her did not reach Darjiling.  Babu Nobin Banerjee, with the\nservant, arrived five days later;  and those who had time to take their\nseats, were left five or six stations behind, owing to another\nunforeseen accident (?), reaching Darjiling also a few days later.  It\nrequired no great stretch of imagination to conclude that Madame\nBlavatsky was, perhaps, being again taken to the Mahatmas, who, for some\ngood reasons best known to them, did not want us to be following and\nwatching her.  Two of the Mahatmas, I had learned for a certainty, were\nin the neighbourhood of British territory;  and one of them was seen and\nrecognized, by a person I need not name here, as a high Chutukla of\nTibet.\n\nThe first days of her arrival Madame Blavatsky was living at the house\nof a Bengali gentleman, a Theosophist, refusing to see any one, and\npreparing, as I thought, to go again somewhere on the borders of Tibet.\nTo all our importunities we could get only this answer from her:  that\nwe had no business to stick to and follow her, that she did not want us,\nand that she had no right to disturb the Mahatmas with all sorts of\nquestions that concerned only the questioners, for they knew their own\nbusiness best.  In despair, I determined, come what might, to cross the\nfrontier, which is about a dozen miles from here, and find the Mahatmas\nor--DIE.  I never stopped to think that what I was going to undertake\nwould be regarded as the rash act of a lunatic.  I had no permission, no\n\"pass\" from the Sikkhim Rajah, and was yet decided to penetrate into the\nheart of a semi-independent State where, if anything happened, the\nAnglo-Indian officials would not--if even they could--protect me, since\nI should have crossed over without their permission.  But I never even\ngave that a thought, but was bent upon one engrossing idea--to find and\nsee my Guru.  Without breathing a word of my intentions to any one, one\nmorning, namely, October 5, I set out in search of the Mahatma.  I had\nan umbrella and a pilgrim's staff for sole weapons, with a few rupees in\nmy purse.  I wore the yellow garb and cap.  Whenever I was tired on the\nroad, my costume easily procured for me for a small sum a pony to ride.\nThe same afternoon I reached the banks of the Rungit River, which forms\nthe boundary between British and Sikkhimese territories.  I tried to\ncross it by the aerial suspension bridge constructed of canes, but it\nswayed to and fro to such an extent that I, who have never known in my\nlife what hardship was, could not stand it.  I crossed the river by the\nferry-boat, and this even not without much danger and difficulty.  That\nwhole afternoon I traveled on foot, penetrating further and further into\nthe heart of Sikkhim, along a narrow footpath.  I cannot now say how\nmany miles I traveled before dusk, but I am sure it was not less than\ntwenty or twenty-five miles.  Throughout, I saw nothing but impenetrable\njungles and forests on all sides of me, relieved at very long intervals\nby solitary huts belonging to the mountain population. At dusk I began\nto search around me for a place to rest in at night.  I met on the road,\nin the afternoon, a leopard and a wild cat;  and I am astonished now to\nthink how I should have felt no fear then nor tried to run away.\nThroughout, some secret influence supported me.  Fear or anxiety never\nonce entered my mind.  Perhaps in my heart there was room for no other\nfeeling but an intense anxiety to find my Guru.  When it was just\ngetting dark, I espied a solitary hut a few yards from the roadside.  To\nit I directed my steps in the hope of finding a lodging.  The rude door\nwas locked.  The cabin was untenanted at the time.  I examined it on all\nsides and found an aperture on the western side.  It was small indeed,\nbut sufficient for me to jump through.  It had a small shutter and a\nwooden bolt.  By a strange coincidence of circumstances the hillman had\nforgotten to fasten it on the inside when he locked the door.  Of\ncourse, after what has subsequently transpired, I now, through the eye\nof faith, see the protecting hand of my Guru everywhere around me.  Upon\ngetting inside I found the room communicated, by a small doorway, with\nanother apartment, the two occupying the whole space of this sylvan\nmansion.  I laid down, concentrating every thought upon my Guru as\nusual, and soon fell into a profound sleep.  Before I went to rest, I\nhad secured the door of the other room and the single window.  It may\nhave been between ten and eleven, or perhaps a little later, that I\nawoke and heard sounds of footsteps in the adjoining room.  I could\nplainly distinguish two or three people talking together in a dialect\nunknown to me. Now, I cannot recall the same without a shudder.  At any\nmoment they might have entered from the other room and murdered me for\nmy money.  Had they mistaken me for a burglar the same fate awaited me.\nThese and similar thoughts crowded into my brain in an inconceivably\nshort period.  But my heart did not palpitate with fear, nor did I for\none moment think of the possibly tragical chances of the moment.  I know\nnot what secret influence held me fast, but nothing could put me out or\nmake me fear;  I was perfectly calm.  Although I lay awake staring into\nthe darkness for upwards of two hours, and even paced the room softly\nand slowly without making any noise, to see if I could make my escape,\nin case of need, back to the forest by the same way I had effected my\nentrance into the hut--no fear, I repeat, or any such feeling ever\nentered my heart.  I recomposed myself to rest. After a sound sleep,\nundisturbed by any dream, I awoke at daybreak.  Then I hastily put on my\nboots, and cautiously got out of the hut through the same window.  I\ncould hear the snoring of the owners of the hut in the other room.  But\nI lost no time, and gained the path to Sikkhim (the city) and held on my\nway with unflagging zeal.  From the inmost recesses of my heart I\nthanked my revered Guru for the protection he had vouchsafed me during\nthe night.  What prevented the owners of the hut from penetrating to the\nsecond room?  What kept me in the same serene and calm spirit, as if I\nwere in a room of my own house?  What could possibly make me sleep so\nsoundly under such circumstances,--enormous, dark forests on all sides\nabounding in wild beasts, and a party of cut-throats--as most of the\nSikkhimese are said to be--in the next room, with an easy and rude door\nbetween them and me?\n\nWhen it became quite light, I wended my way on through hills and dales.\nRiding or walking, the journey was not a pleasant one for any man not as\ndeeply engrossed in thought as I was then myself, and quite oblivious to\nanything affecting the body.  I have cultivated the power of mental\nconcentration to such a degree of late that, on many an occasion, I have\nbeen able to make myself quite unconscious of anything around me when my\nmind was wholly bent upon the one object of my life, as several of my\nfriends will testify;  but never to such an extent as in this instance.\n\nIt was, I think, between eight and nine A.M.  I was following the road\nto the town of Sikkhim, whence, I was assured by the people I met on the\nroad, I could cross over to Tibet easily in my pilgrim's garb, when I\nsuddenly saw a solitary horseman galloping towards me from the opposite\ndirection.  From his tall stature and skill in horsemanship, I thought\nhe was some military officer of the Sikkhim Rajah.  Now, I thought, I am\ncaught!  He will ask me for my pass and what business I have in the\nindependent territory of Sikkhim, and, perhaps, have me arrested and\nsent back, if not worse.  But, as he approached me, he reined up.  I\nlooked at and recognized him instantly.... I was in the awful presence\nof him, of the same Mahatma, my own revered Guru, whom I had seen before\nin his astral body on the balcony of the Theosophical Headquarters.  It\nwas he, the \"Himalayan Brother\" of the ever-memorable night of December\nlast, who had so kindly dropped a letter in answer to one I had given\nbut an hour or so before in a sealed envelope to Madame Blavatsky, whom\nI had never lost sight of for one moment during the interval.  The very\nsame instant saw me prostrated on the ground at his feet.  I arose at\nhis command, and, leisurely looking into his face, forgot myself\nentirely in the contemplation of the image I knew so well, having seen\nhis portrait (the one in Colonel Olcott's possession) times out of\nnumber.  I knew not what to say:  joy and reverence tied my tongue.  The\nmajesty of his countenance, which seemed to me to be the impersonation\nof power and thought, held me rapt in awe. I was at last face to face\nwith \"the Mahatma of the Himavat,\" and he was no myth, no \"creation of\nthe imagination of a medium,\" as some sceptics had suggested.  It was no\ndream of the night;  it was between nine and ten o'clock of the\nforenoon.  There was the sun shining and silently witnessing the scene\nfrom above.  I see him before me in flesh and blood, and he speaks to me\nin accents of kindness and gentleness.  What more could I want?  My\nexcess of happiness made me dumb.  Nor was it until some time had\nelapsed that I was able to utter a few words, encouraged by his gentle\ntone and speech.  His complexion is not as fair as that of Mahatma\nKoothoomi;  but never have I seen a countenance so handsome, a stature\nso tall and so majestic.  As in his portrait, he wears a short black\nbeard, and long black hair hanging down to his breast;  only his dress\nwas different:  Instead of a white, loose robe he wore a yellow mantle\nlined with fur, and on his head, instead of the turban, a yellow Tibetan\nfelt cap, as I have seen some Bhootanese wear in this country.  When the\nfirst moments of rapture and surprise were over, and I calmly\ncomprehended the situation, I had a long talk with him.  He told me to\ngo no further, for I should come to grief.  He said I should wait\npatiently if I wanted to become an accepted Chela; that many were those\nwho offered themselves as candidates, but that only a very few were\nfound worthy;  none were rejected, but all of them tried, and most found\nto fail signally, as for example---and---.  Some, instead of being\naccepted and pledged this year, were now thrown off for a year.  The\nMahatma, I found, speaks very little English--or at least it so seemed\nto me--and spoke to me in my mother-tongue--Tamil.  He told me that if\nthe Chohan permitted Madame Blavatsky to visit Parijong next year, then\nI could come with her.  The Bengali Theosophists who followed the\n\"Upasika\" (Madame Blavatsky) would see that she was right in trying to\ndissuade them from following her now.  I asked the blessed Mahatma\nwhether I could tell what I saw and heard to others.  He replied in the\naffirmative, and that moreover I would do well to write to you and\ndescribe all.\n\nI must impress upon your mind the whole situation, and ask you to keep\nwell in view that what I saw was not the mere \"appearance\" only, the\nastral body of the Mahatma, as we saw him at Bombay, but the living man,\nin his own physical body.  He was pleased to say when I offered my\nfarewell namaskarams (prostration) that he approached the British\nterritory to see the Upasika.  Before he left me, two more men came on\nhorseback, his attendants I suppose, probably Chelas, for they were\ndressed like lama-gylungs, and both, like himself, with long hair\nstreaming down their backs.  They followed the Mahatma, when he left, at\na gentle trot.  For over an hour I stood gazing at the place that he had\njust quitted, and then I slowly retraced my steps.  Now it was that I\nfound for the first time that my long boots had pinched my leg in\nseveral places, that I had eaten nothing since the day before, and that\nI was too weak to walk further.  My whole body was aching in every limb.\nAt a little distance I saw petty traders with country ponies, carrying\nburdens.  I hired one of these animals.  In the afternoon I came to the\nRungit River and crossed it.  A bath in its cool waters revived me.  I\npurchased some fruit in the only bazaar there and ate heartily. I took\nanother horse immediately and reached Darjiling late in the evening.  I\ncould neither eat, nor sit, nor stand.  Every part of my body was\naching.  My absence had seemingly alarmed Madame Blavatsky.  She scolded\nme for my rash and mad attempt to try to go to Tibet after that fashion.\nWhen I entered the house I found with Madame Blavatsky, Bahu Parbati\nChurn Roy, Deputy Collector of Settlements and Superintendent of Dearah\nSurvey, and his assistant, Babu Kanty Bhushan Sen, both members of our\nSociety.  At their prayer and Madame Blavatsky's command, I recounted\nall that had happened to me, reserving of course my private conversation\nwith the Mahatma.  They were all, to say the least, astounded.  After\nall, she will not go this year to Tibet; for which I am sure she does\nnot care, since she has seen our Masters and thus gained her only\nobject.  But we, unfortunate people! we lose our only chance of going\nand offering our worship to the \"Himalayan Brothers,\" who, I know, will\nnot soon cross over to British territory, if ever, again.\n\nAnd now that I have seen the Mahatma in the flesh, and heard his living\nvoice, let no one dare say to me that the Brothers do not exist.  Come\nnow whatever will, death has no fear for me, nor the vengeance of\nenemies;  for what I know, I know!\n\n--S. Ramaswamier, F.T.S.\n\n\n\n\nThe Sages of the Himavat\n\n\nWhile on my tour with Col. Olcott several phenomena occurred, in his\npresence as well as in his absence, such as immediate answers to\nquestions in my Master's handwriting, and over his signature, put by a\nnumber of our Fellows.  These occurrences took place before we reached\nLahore, where we expected to meet in the body my Master.  There I was\nvisited by him in the body, for three nights consecutively, for about\nthree hours every time, while I myself retained full consciousness, and,\nin one case, even went to meet him outside the house.  To my knowledge\nthere is no case on the Spiritualist records of a medium remaining\nperfectly conscious, and meeting, by previous arrangement, his\nspirit-visitor in the compound, re-entering the house with him, offering\nhim a seat, and then holding a long converse with the \"disembodied\nspirit\" in a way to give him the impression that he is in personal\ncontact with an embodied entity.  Moreover, him whom I saw in person at\nLahore was the same I had seen in astral form at the Headquarters of the\nTheosophical Society, and again, the same whom I had seen in visions and\ntrances at his house, thousands of miles off, which I reached in my\nastral Ego by his direct help and protection.  In those instances, with\nmy psychic powers hardly yet developed, I had always seen him as a rather\nhazy form, although his features were perfectly distinct and their\nremembrance was profoundly graven on my soul's eye and memory, while now\nat Lahore, Jummoo, and elsewhere, the impression was utterly different.\nIn the former cases, when making Pranam (salutation) my hands passed\nthrough his form, while on the latter occasions they met solid garments\nand flesh. Here I saw a living man before me, the original of the\nportraits in Madame Blavatsky's possession and in Mr. Sinnett's, though\nfar more imposing in his general appearance and bearing.  I shall not\nhere dwell upon the fact of his having been corporeally seen by both\nCol. Olcott and Mr. Brown separately for two nights at Lahore, as they\ncan do so better, each for himself, if they so choose.  At Jummoo again,\nwhere we proceeded from Lahore, Mr. Brown saw him on the evening of the\nthird day of our arrival there, and from him received a letter in his\nfamiliar handwriting, not to speak of his visits to me almost every day.\nAnd what happened the next morning almost every one in Jummoo is aware\nof.  The fact is, that I had the good fortune of being sent for, and\npermitted to visit a sacred Ashrum, where I remained for a few days in\nthe blessed company of several of the Mahatmas of Himavat and their\ndisciples.  There I met not only my beloved Gurudeva and Col. Olcott's\nmaster, but several others of the fraternity, including one of the\nhighest.  I regret the extremely personal nature of my visit to those\nthrice blessed regions prevents my saying more about it.  Suffice it\nthat the place I was permitted to visit is in the Himalayas, not in any\nfanciful Summer Land, and that I saw him in my own sthula sarira\n(physical body) and found my Master identical with the form I had seen\nin the earlier days of my Chelaship.  Thus, I saw my beloved Guru not\nonly as a living man, but actually as a young one in comparison with\nsome other Sadhus of the blessed company, only far kinder, and not above\na merry remark and conversation at times.  Thus on the second day of my\narrival, after the meal hour, I was permitted to hold an intercourse for\nover an hour with my Master.  Asked by him smilingly what it was that\nmade me look at him so perplexed, I asked in my turn:--\"How is it,\nMaster, that some of the members of our Society have taken into their\nheads a notion that you were 'an elderly man,' and that they have even\nseen you clairvoyantly looking an old man past sixty?\"  To which he\npleasantly smiled and said that this latest misconception was due to the\nreports of a certain Brahmachari, a pupil of a Vedantic Swami in the\nPunjab,* who had met last year in Tibet the chief of a sect, an elderly\nLama, who was his (my Master's) traveling companion at that time.  The\nsaid Brahmachari, having spoken of the encounter in India, had led\nseveral persons to mistake the Lama for himself.  As to his being\nperceived clairvoyantly as an \"elderly man,\" that could never be, he\nadded, as real clairvoyance could lead no one into such mistaken\nnotions;  and then he kindly reprimanded me for giving any importance to\nthe age of a Guru, adding that appearances were often false, &c., and\nexplaining other points.\n\n--------\n* See infra. Rajani Kanta Brahmachai's  \"Interview with a Mahatma.\"\n--------\n\nThese are all stern facts, and no third course is open to the reader.\nWhat I assert is either true or false.  In the former case, no\nSpiritualistic hypothesis can hold good, and it will have to be admitted\nthat the Himalayan Brothers are living men, and neither disembodied\nspirits nor creations of the over-heated imagination of fanatics.  Of\ncourse I am fully aware that many will discredit my account;  but I\nwrite only for the benefit of those few who know me well enough to see\nin me neither a hallucinated medium, nor attribute to me any bad motive,\nand who have ever been true and loyal to their convictions and to the\ncause they have so nobly espoused.  As for the majority who laugh at and\nridicule what they have neither the inclination nor the capacity to\nunderstand, I hold them in very small account.  If these few lines will\nhelp to stimulate even one of my brother-Fellows in the Society, or one\nright-thinking man outside of it, to promote the cause of Truth and\nHumanity, I shall consider that I have properly performed my duty.\n\n--Damodar K. Mavalankar\n\n\n\n\nThe Himalayan Brothers--Do They Exist?\n\n\n\"Ask and it shall be given unto you;  knock and it shall be opened,\"\nthis is an accurate representation of the position of the earnest\ninquirer as to the existence of the Mahatmas.  I know of none who took\nup this inquiry in right earnest and were not rewarded for their labours\nwith knowledge, certainty.  In spite of all this there are plenty of\npeople who carp and cavil but will not take the trouble of proving the\nthing for themselves. Both by Europeans and a section of our own\ncountrymen--the too Europeanized graduates of Universities--the\nexistence of the Mahatmas is looked upon with incredulity and distrust,\nto give it no harder name.  The position of the Europeans is easily\nintelligible, for these things are so far removed from their\nintellectual horizon, and their self-sufficiency is so great, that they\nare almost impervious to these new ideas.  But it is much more difficult\nto conceive why the people of India, who are born and brought up in an\natmosphere redolent with the traditions of these things, should affect\nsuch scepticism.  It would have been more natural for them, on the other\nhand, to hail such proofs as those I am now laying before the public\nwith the same satisfaction as an astronomer feels when a new star, whose\nelements he has calculated, swims within his ken.  I myself was a\nthorough-going disbeliever only two years back.  In the first place I\nhad never witnessed any occult phenomena myself, nor did I find any one\nwho had done so in that small ring of our countrymen for whom only I was\ntaught to have any respect--the \"educated classes.\"  It was only in the\nmonth of October, 1882, that I really devoted any time and attention to\nthis matter, and the result is that I have as little doubt with respect\nto the existence of the Mahatmas as of mine own.  I now know that they\nexist.  But for a long time the proofs that I had received were not all\nof an objective character.  Many things which are very satisfactory\nproofs to me would not be so to the reader.  On the other hand, I have\nno right to speak of the unimpeachable evidence I now possess.\nTherefore I must do the best I can with the little I am permitted to\ngive.  In the present paper I have brought forward such evidence as\nwould be perfectly satisfactory to all capable of measuring its\nprobative force.\n\nThe evidence now laid before the public was collected by me during the\nmonths of October and November, 1882, and was at the time placed before\nsome of the leading members of the Theosophical Society, Mr. Sinnett\namong others.  The account of Bro. Ramaswamier's interview with his Guru\nin Sikkhim being then ready for publication, there was no necessity, in\ntheir opinion, for the present paper being brought to light.  But since\nan attempt has been made in some quarters to minimize the effect of Mr.\nRamaswamier's evidence by calling it most absurdly \"the hallucinations\nof a half-frozen strolling Registrar,\" I think something might be gained\nby the publication of perfectly independent testimony of, perhaps,\nequal, if not greater, value, though of quite a different character.\nWith these words of explanation as to the delay in its publication, I\nresign this paper to the criticism of our sceptical friends.  Let them\ncalmly consider and pronounce upon the evidence of the Tibetan pedlar at\nDarjiling, supported and strengthened by the independent testimony of\nthe young Brahmachari at Dehradun.  Those who were present when the\nstatements of these persons were taken, all occupy very respectable\npositions in life--some in fact belonging to the front ranks of Hindu\nSociety, and several in no way connected with the Theosophical movement,\nbut, on the contrary, quite unfriendly to it.  In those days I again say\nI was rather sceptical myself.  It is only since I collected the\nfollowing evidence and received more than one proof of the actual\nexistence of my venerated master, Mahatma Koothoomi, whose presence--\nquite independently of Madame Blavatsky, Colonel Olcott or any \"alleged\"\nChela--was made evident to me in a variety of ways, that I have given up\nthe folly of doubting any longer.  Now I believe no more--I KNOW;  and\nknowing, I would help others to obtain the same knowledge.\n\nDuring my visit to Darjiling I lived in the same house with several\nTheosophists, all as ardent aspirants for the higher life, and most of\nthem as doubtful with regard to the Himalayan Mahatmas as I was myself\nat that time.  I met at Darjiling persons who claimed to be Chelas of\nthe Himalayan Brothers and to have seen and lived with them for years.\nThey laughed at our perplexity.  One of them showed us an admirably\nexecuted portrait of a man who appeared to be an eminently holy person,\nand who, I was told, was the Mahatma Koothoomi (now my revered master),\nto whom Mr. Sinnett's \"Occult World\" is dedicated.  A few days after my\narrival, a Tibetan pedlar of the name of Sundook accidentally came to\nour house to sell his things.  Sundook was for years well-known in\nDarjiling and the neighbourhood as an itinerant trader in Tibetan\nknick-knacks, who visited the country every year in the exercise of his\nprofession.  He came to the house several times during our stay there,\nand seemed to us, from his simplicity, dignity of bearing and pleasant\nmanners, to be one of Nature's own gentlemen.  No man could discover in\nhim any trait of character even remotely allied to the uncivilized\nsavages, as the Tibetans are held in the estimation of Europeans.  He\nmight very well have passed for a trained courtier, only that he was too\ngood to be one.  He came to the house while I was there.  On the first\noccasion he was accompanied by a Goorkha youth, named Sundar Lall, an\nemployee in the Darjiling News office, who acted as interpreter.  But we\nsoon found out that the peculiar dialect of Hindi which he spoke was\nintelligible to some of us without any interpreter, and so there was\nnone needed on subsequent occasions.  On the first day we put him some\ngeneral questions about Tibet and the Gelugpa sect, to which he said he\nbelonged, and his answers corroborated the statements of Bogle, Turnour\nand other travelers.  On the second day we asked him if he had heard of\nany persons in Tibet who possessed extraordinary powers besides the\ngreat lamas.  He said there were such men;  that they were not regular\nlamas, but far higher than they, and generally lived in the mountains\nbeyond Tchigatze and also near the city of Lhassa.  These men, he said,\nproduce many and very wonderful phenomena or \"miracles,\" and some of\ntheir Chelas, or Lotoos, as they are called in Tibet, cure the sick by\ngiving them to eat the rice which they crush out of the paddy with their\nhands, &c. Then one of us had a glorious idea.  Without saying one word,\nthe above-mentioned portrait of the Mahatma Koothoomi was shown to him.\nHe looked at it for a few seconds, and then, as though suddenly\nrecognizing it, he made a profound reverence to the portrait, and said\nit was the likeness of a Chohan (Mahatma) whom he had seen.  Then he\nbegan rapidly to describe the Mahatma's dress and naked arms;  then\nsuiting the action to the word, he took off his outer cloak, and baring\nhis arms to the shoulder, made the nearest approach to the figure in the\nportrait, in the adjustment of his dress.\n\nHe said he had seen the Mahatma in question accompanied by a numerous\nbody of Gylungs, about that time of the previous year (beginning of\nOctober 1881) at a place called Giansi, two days' journey southward of\nTchigatze, whither the narrator dad gone to make purchases for his\ntrade.  On being asked the name of the Mahatma, he said to our unbounded\nsurprise, \"They are called Koothum-pa.\"  Being cross-examined and asked\nwhat he meant by \"they,\" and whether he was naming one man or many, he\nreplied that the Koothum-pas were many, but there was only one man or\nchief over them of that name;  the disciples being always called after\nthe names of their guru.  Hence the name of the latter being Koot-hum,\nthat of his disciples was \"Koot-hum-pa.\"  Light was shed upon this\nexplanation by a Tibetan dictionary, where we found that the word \"pa\"\nmeans \"man;\"  \"Bod-pa\" is a \"man of Bod or Thibet,\" &c.  Similarly\nKoothum-pa means man or disciple of Koothoom or Koothoomi.  At Giansi,\nthe pedlar said, the richest merchant of the place went to the Mahatma,\nwho had stopped to rest in the midst of an extensive field, and asked\nhim to bless him by coming to his house.  The Mahatma replied, he was\nbetter where he was, as he had to bless the whole world, and not any\nparticular man.  The people, and among them our friend Sundook, took\ntheir offerings to the Mahatma, but he ordered them to be distributed\namong the poor.  Sundook was exhorted by the Mahatma to pursue his trade\nin such a way as to injure no one, and warned that such was the only\nright way to prosperity.  On being told that people in India refused to\nbelieve that there were such men as the Brothers in Tibet, Sundook\noffered to take any voluntary witness to that country, and convince us,\nthrough him, as to the genuineness of their existence, and remarked that\nif there were no such men in Tibet, he would like to know where they\nwere to be found.  It being suggested to him that some people refused to\nbelieve that such men existed at all, he got very angry.  Tucking up the\nsleeve of his coat and shirt, and disclosing a strong muscular arm, he\ndeclared that he would fight any man who would suggest that he had said\nanything but the truth.\n\nOn being shown a peculiar rosary of beads belonging to Madame Blavatsky,\nthe pedlar said that such things could only be got by those to whom the\nTesshu Lama presented them, as they could be got for no amount of money\nelsewhere.  When the Chela who was with us put on his sleeveless coat\nand asked him whether he recognized the latter's profession by his\ndress, the pedlar answered that he was a Gylung and then bowing down to\nhim took the whole thing as a matter of course.  The witnesses in this\ncase were Babu Nobin Krishna Bannerji, deputy magistrate, Berhampore,\nM.R. Ry. Ramaswamiyer Avergal, district registrar, Madura (Madras), the\nGoorkha gentleman spoken of before, all the family of the first-named\ngentleman, and the writer.\n\nNow for the other piece of corroborative evidence.  This time it came\nmost accidentally into my possession.  A young Bengali Brahmachari, who\nhad only a short time previous to our meeting returned from Tibet and\nwho was residing then at Dehradun, in the North-Western Provinces of\nIndia, at the house of my grandfather-in-law, the venerable Babu\nDevendra Nath Tagore of the Brahmo Samaj, gave most unexpectedly, in the\npresence of a number of respectable witnesses, the following account:--\n\nOn the 15th of the Bengali month of Asar last (1882). being the 12th day\nof the waxing moon, he met some Tibetans, called the Koothoompas, and\ntheir guru in a field near Taklakhar, a place about a day's journey from\nthe Lake of Manasarawara.  The guru and most of his disciples, who were\ncalled gylungs, wore sleeveless coats over under-garments of red.  The\ncomplexion of the guru was very fair, and his hair, which was not parted\nbut combed back, streamed down his shoulders.  When the Brahmachani\nfirst saw the Mahatma he was reading in a book, which the Brahmachari\nwas informed by one of the gylungs was the Rig Veda.\n\nThe guru saluted him, and asked him where he was coming from.  On\nfinding the latter had not had anything to eat, the guru commanded that\nhe should be given some ground gram (Sattoo) and tea.  As the\nBrahmachari could not get any fire to cook food with, the guru asked\nfor, and kindled a cake of dry cow-dung--the fuel used in that country\nas well as in this--by simply blowing upon it, and gave it to our\nBrahmachari.  The latter assured us that he had often witnessed the same\nphenomenon, produced by another guru or chohan, as they are called in\nTibet, at Gauri, a place about a day's journey from the cave of Tarchin,\non the northern side of Mount Kailas.  The keeper of a flock, who was\nsuffering from rheumatic fever came to the guru, who gave him a few\ngrains of rice, crushed out of paddy, which the guru had in his hand,\nand the sick man was cured then and there.\n\nBefore he parted company with the Koothumpas and their guru, the\nBrahmachari found that they were going to attend a festival held on the\nbanks of the Lake of Manasarawara, and that thence they intended to\nproceed to the Kailas mountains.\n\nThe above statement was on several occasions repeated by the Brahmachari\nin the presence (among others) of Babu Dwijender Nath Tagore of\nJorasanko, Calcutta;  Babu Cally Mohan Ghose of the Trigonometrical\nSurcey of India, Dehradun;  Babu Cally Cumar Chatterij of the same\nplace;  Babu Gopi Mohan Ghosh of Dacca; Babu Priya Nath Sastri, clerk to\nBabu Devender Nath Tagore, and the writer.  Comments would here seem\nalmost superfluous, and the facts might very well have been left to\nspeak for themselves to a fair and intelligent jury.  But the averseness\nof people to enlarge their field of experience and the wilful\nmisrepresentation of designing persons know no bounds.  The nature of\nthe evidence here adduced is of an unexceptional character.  Both\nwitnesses were met quite accidentally.  Even if it be granted, which we\ncertainly do not for a moment grant, that the Tibetan pedlar, Sundook,\nhad been interviewed by some interested person, and induced to tell an\nuntruth, what can be conceived to have been the motive of the\nBrahmachari, one belonging to a religious body noted for their\ntruthfulness, and having no idea as to the interest the writer took in\nsuch things, in inventing a romance, and how could he make it fit\nexactly with the statements of the Tibetan pedlar at the other end of\nthe country?  Uneducated persons are no doubt liable to deceive\nthemselves in many matters, but these statements dealt only with such\ndisunited facts as fell within the range of the narrator's eyes and\nears, and had nothing to do with his judgment or opinion.  Thus, when\nthe pedlar's statement is coupled with that of the Dehradun Brahmachari,\nthere is, indeed, no room left for any doubt as to the truthfulness of\neither.  It may here be mentioned that the statement of the Brahmachari\nwas not the result of a series of leading questions, but formed part of\nthe account he voluntarily gave of his travels during the year, and that\nhe is almost entirely ignorant of the English language, and had, to the\nbest of my knowledge, information and belief, never even so much as\nheard of the name of Theosophy.  Now, if any one refuses to accept the\nmutually corroborative but independent testimonies of the Tibetan pedlar\nof Darjiling and the Brahmachari of Dehradun on the ground that they\nsupport the genuineness of facts not ordinarily falling within the\ndomain of one's experience, all I can say is that it is the very miracle\nof folly.  It is, on the other hand, most unshakably established upon\nthe evidence of several of his Chelas, that the Mahatma Koothoomi is a\nliving person like any of us, and that moreover he was seen by two\npersons on two different occasions.  This will, it is to be hoped,\nsettle for ever the doubts of those who believe in the genuineness of\noccult phenomena, but put them down to the agency of \"spirits.\"  Mark\none circumstance.  It may be argued that during the pedlar's stay at\nDarjiling, Madame Blavatsky was also there, and, who knows, she might\nhave bribed him (!!) into saying what he said.  But no such thing can be\nurged in the case of the Dehradun Brahmachari.  He knew neither the\npedlar nor Madame Blavatsky, had never heard of Colonel Olcott, having\njust returned from his prolonged journey, and had no idea that I was a\nFellow of the Society.  His testimony was entirely voluntary.  Some\nothers, who admit that Mahatmas exist, but that there is no proof of\ntheir connection with the Theosophical Society, will be pleased to see\nthat there is no a priori impossibility in those great souls taking an\ninterest in such a benevolent Society as ours.  Consequently it is a\ngratuitous insult to a number of self-sacrificing men and women to\nreject their testimony without a fair hearing.\n\nI purposely leave aside all proofs which are already before the public.\nEach set of proofs is conclusive in itself, and the cumulative effect of\nall is simply irresistible.\n\n--Mohini M. Chatterji\n\n\n\n\nInterview with a Mahatma\n\n\nAt the time I left home for the Himalayas in search of the Supreme\nBeing, having adopted Brahmacharyashrama (religious mendicancy), I was\nquite ignorant of the fact that there was any such philosophical sect as\nthe Theosophists existing in India, who believed in the existence of the\nMahatmas or \"superior persons.\"  This and other facts connected with my\njourney are perfectly correct as already published, and so need not be\nrepeated or contradicted.  Now I beg to give a fuller account of my\ninterview with the Mahatmas.\n\nBefore and after I met the so-called Mahatma Koothum-pa, I had the good\nfortune of seeing in person several other Mahatmas of note, a detailed\naccount of whom, I hope, should time allow, to write to you by-and-by.\nHere I wish to say something about Koothum-pa only.\n\nWhen I was on my way to Almora from Mansarowar and Kailas, one day I had\nnothing with me to eat.  I was quite at a loss how to get on without\nfood.  There being no human habitation in that part of the country, I\ncould expect no help, but pray to God, and take my way patiently on.\nBetween Mansarowar and Taklakhal, by the side of a road, I observed a\ntent pitched and several Sadhus (holy men), called Chohans, sitting\noutside it who numbered about seventeen in all.  As to their dress, &c.,\nwhat Babu M.M. Chatterji says is quite correct.  When I went to them\nthey entertained me very kindly, and saluted me by uttering, \"Ram Ram.\"\nReturning their salutations, I sat down with them, and they entered upon\nconversation with me on different subjects, asking me first the place I\nwas coming from and whither I was going.  There was a chief of them\nsitting inside the tent, and engaged in reading a book.  I inquired\nabout his name and the book he was reading from, one of his Chelas, who\nanswered me in rather a serious tone, saying that his name was Guru\nKoothum-pa, and the book he was reading was Rig Veda.  Long before, I\nhad been told by some Pundits of Bengal that the Tibetan Lamas were\nwell-acquainted with the Rig Veda.  This proved what they had told me.\nAfter a short time, when his reading was over, he called me in by one of\nhis Chelas, and I went to him.  He, also bidding me \"Ram Ram,\" received\nme very gently and courteously, and began to talk with me mildly in pure\nHindi.  He addressed me in words such as follows:--\"You should remain\nhere for some time and see the fair at Mansarowar, which is to come off\nshortly. Here you will have plenty of time and suitable retreats for\nmeditation, &c.  I will help you in whatever I can.\"  He spoke as above\nfor some time, and I replied that what he said was right, and that I\nwould gladly have stayed, but there was some reason which prevented me.\nHe understood my object immediately, and then, having given me some\nprivate advice as to my spiritual progress, bade me farewell.  Before\nthis he had come to know that I was hungry, and so wished me to take\nsome food.  He ordered one of his Chelas to supply me with food, which\nhe did immediately. In order to get hot water ready for my ablutions, he\nprepared fire by blowing into a cow-dung cake, which burst into flames\nat once.  This is a common practice among the Himalayan Lamas. It is\nalso fully explained by M.M. Chatterji, and so need not be repeated.\n\nAs long as I was there with the said Lama, he never persuaded me to\naccept Buddhism or any other religion, but only said, \"Hinduism is the\nbest religion;  you should believe in the Lord Mahadeva--he will do good\nto you.  You are still quite a young man--do not be enticed away by the\nnecromancy of anybody.\" Having had a conversation with the Mahatma as\ndescribed above for about three hours, I at last took leave and resumed\nmy journey.\n\nI am neither a Theosophist nor a sectarian, but am the worshipper of the\nonly Om.  As regards the Mahatma I personally saw, I dare say that he is\na great Mahatma.  By the fulfilment of certain of his prophecies, I am\nquite convinced of his excellence.  Of all the Himalayan Mahatmas with\nwhom I had an interview, I never met a better Hindi speaker than he.  As\nto his birth-place and the place of his residence, I did not ask him any\nquestion.  Neither can I say if he is the Mahatma of the Theosophists.\nAs to the age of the Mahatma Koothum-pa, as I told Babu M. M. Chatterji\nand others, he was an elderly looking man.\n\n--Rajani Kant Brahmachari\n\n\n\n\nThe Secret Doctrine\n\n\nFew experiences lying about the threshhold of occult studies are more\nperplexing and tormenting than those which have to do with the policy of\nthe Brothers as to what shall, and what shall not, be revealed to the\nouter world.  In fact, it is only by students at the same time tenacious\nand patient--continuously anxious to get at the truths of occult\nphilosophy, but cool enough to bide their time when obstacles come in\nthe way--that what looks, at first sight, like a grudging and miserly\npolicy in this matter on the part of our illustrious teachers can be\nendured.  Most men persist in judging all situations by the light of\ntheir own knowledge and conceptions, and certainly by reference to\nstandards of right and wrong with which modern civilization is familiar\na pungent indictment may be framed against the holders of philosophical\ntruth.  They are regarded by their critics as keeping guard over their\nintellectual possessions, declaring, \"We have won this knowledge with\nstrenuous effort and at the cost of sacrifice and suffering;  we will\nnot make a present of it to luxurious idlers who have done nothing to\ndeserve it.\"  Most critics of the Theosophical Society and its\npublications have fastened on this obvious idea, and have denounced the\npolicy of the Brothers as \"selfish\" and \"unreasonable.\"\n\nIt has been argued that, as regards occult powers, the necessity for\nkeeping back all secrets which would enable unconscientious people to do\nmischief, might be granted, but that no corresponding motives could\ndictate the reservation of occult philosophical truth.\n\nI have lately come to perceive certain considerations on this subject\nwhich have generally been overlooked;  and it seems desirable to put\nthem forward at once;  especially as a very considerable body of occult\nphilosophical teaching is now before the world, and as those who\nappreciate its value best, will sometimes be inclined to protest all the\nmore emphatically against the tardiness with which it has been served\nout, and the curious precautions with which its further development is\neven now surrounded.\n\nIn a nutshell, the explanation of the timid policy displayed is that the\nBrothers are fully assured that the disclosure of that actual truth\n(which constitutes the secret doctrine) about the origin of the World\nand of Humanity--of the laws which govern their existence, and the\ndestinies to which they are moving on--is calculated to have a very\nmomentous effect on the welfare of mankind.  Great results ensue from\nsmall beginnings, and the seeds of knowledge now being sown in the world\nmay ultimately bear prodigious harvest.  We, who are present merely at\nthe sowing, may not realize the magnitude and importance of the impulse\nwe are concerned in giving, but that impulse will roll on, and a few\ngenerations hence will be productive of tremendous consequences one way\nor the other.\n\nFor occult philosophy is no shadowy system of speculation like any of\nthe hundred philosophies with which the minds of men have been\noverwhelmed;  it is the positive Truth, and by the time enough of it is\nlet out, it will be seen to be so by thousands of the greatest men who\nmay then be living in the world.  What will be the consequence?  The\nfirst effect on the minds of all who come to understand it, is terribly\niconoclastic.  It drives out before it everything else in the shape of\nreligious belief.  It leaves no room for any conceptions belonging even\nto the groundwork or foundation of ordinary religious faith.  And what\nbecomes then of all rules of right and wrong, of all sanctions for\nmorality?  Most assuredly there are rules of right and wrong thrilling\nthrough every fibre of occult philosophy really higher than any which\ncommonplace theologies can teach;  far more cogent sanctions for\nmorality than can be derived at second-hand from the distorted doctrines\nof exoteric religions;  but a complete transfer of the sanction will be\na process involving the greatest possible danger for mankind at the\ntime.  Bigots of all denominations will laugh at the idea of such a\ntransfer being seriously considered.  The orthodox Christian--confident\nin the thousand of churches overshadowing all western lands, of the\nenormous force engaged in the maintenance and propagation of the faith,\nwith the Pope and the Protestant hierarchy in alliance for this broad\npurpose, with the countless clergy of all sects, and the fiery Salvation\nArmy bringing up the rear--will think that the earth itself is more\nlikely to crumble into ruin than the irresistible authority of Religion\nto be driven back.  They are all counting, however, without the progress\nof enlightenment. The most absurd religions die hard;  but when the\nintellectual classes definitively reject them, they die, with throes of\nterrible agony, may be, and, perhaps, like Samson in the Temple, but\nthey cannot permanently outlive a conviction that they are false in the\nleading minds of the age.  Just what has been said of Christianity may\nbe said of Mahomedanism and Brahminism. Little or no risk is run while\noccult literature aims merely at putting a reasonable construction on\nperverted tenets--in showing people that truth may lurk behind even the\nstrangest theologic fictions.  And the lover of orthodoxy, in either of\nthe cases instanced, may welcome the explanation with complacency.  For\nhim also, as for the Christian, the faith which he professes--\nsanctioned by what looks like a considerable antiquity to the very\nlimited vision of uninitiated historians, and supported by the\nattachment of millions grown old in its service and careful to educate\ntheir children in the convictions that have served their turn--is\nfounded on a rock which has its base in the foundations of the world.\nFragmentary teachings of occult philosophy seem at first to be no more\nthan annotations on the canonical doctrine.  They may even embellish it\nwith graceful interpretations of its symbolism, parts of which may have\nseemed to require apology, when ignorantly taken at the foot of the\nletter.  But this is merely the beginning of the attack.  If occult\nphilosophy gets before the world with anything resembling completeness,\nit will so command the assent of earnest students that for them nothing\nelse of that nature will remain standing. And the earnest students in\nsuch eases must multiply. They are multiplying now even, merely on the\nstrength of the little that has been revealed.  True, as yet--for some\ntime to come--the study will be, as it were, the whim of a few;  but\n\"those who know,\" know among other things that, give it fair-play, and\nit must become the subject of enthusiasm with all advanced thinkers. And\nwhat is to happen when the world is divided into two camps--the whole\nforces of intellectuality and culture on the one side, those of\nignorance and superstitious fanaticism on the other? With such a war as\nthat impending, the adepts, who will be conscious that they prepared the\nlists and armed the combatants, will require some better justification\nfor their policy before their own consciences than the reflection that,\nin the beginning, people accused them of selfishness, and of keeping a\nmiserly guard over their knowledge, and so goaded them with this taunt\nthat they were induced to set the ball rolling.\n\nThere is no question, be it understood, as to the relative merits of the\nmoral sanctions that are afforded by occult philosophy and those which\nare distilled from the worn-out materials of existing creeds.  If the\nworld could conceivably be shunted at one coup from the one code of\nmorals to the other, the world would be greatly the better for the\nchange.  But the change cannot be made all at once, and the transition\nis most dangerous.  On the other hand, it is no less dangerous to take\nno steps in the direction of that transition.  For though existing\nreligions may be a great power--the Pope ruling still over millions of\nconsciences if not over towns and States, the name of the Prophet being\nstill a word to conjure with in war, the forces of Brahmanical custom\nholding countless millions in willing subjection--in spite of all this,\nthe old religions are sapped and past their prime.  They are in process\nof decay, for they are losing their hold on the educated minority;  it\nis still the case that in all countries the camps of orthodoxy include\nlarge numbers of men distinguished by intellect and culture, but one by\none their numbers are diminishing.  Five-and-twenty years only, in\nEurope, have made a prodigious change.  Books are written now that pass\nalmost as matters of course which would have been impossible no further\nback than that.  No further back, books thrilled society with surprise\nand excitement, which the intellectual world would now ignore as\nembodying the feeblest commonplaces.  The old creeds, in fact, are\nslowly losing their hold upon mankind--more slowly in the more\ndeliberately moving East than Europe, but even here by degrees also--and\na time will come, whether occult philosophy is given out to take their\nplace or not, when they will no longer afford even such faulty sanctions\nfor moral conduct and right as they have supplied in times gone by.\nTherefore it is plain that something must be given out to take their\nplace, and hence the determinations of which this movement in which we\nare engaged is one of the undulations--these very words some of the\nforemost froth upon the advancing wave.\n\nBut surely, when something which must be done is yet very dangerous in\nthe doing, the persons who control the operations in progress may be\nexcused for exercising the utmost caution. Readers of Theosophical\nliterature will be aware how bitterly our adept Brothers have been\ncriticized for choosing to take their own time and methods in the task\nof partially communicating their knowledge to the world.  Here in India\nthese criticisms have been indignantly resented by the passionate\nloyalty to the Mahatmas that is so widely spread among Hindus--resented\nmore by instinct than reason in some cases perhaps, though in others, no\ndoubt, as a consequence of a full appreciation of all that is being now\nexplained, and of other considerations beside.  But in Europe such\ncriticisms will have seemed hard to answer.  The answer is really\nembodied, however imperfectly, in the views of the situation now set\nforth.  We ordinary mortals in the world work as men traveling by the\nlight of a lantern in an unknown country. We see but a little way to the\nright and left, only a little way behind even.  But the adepts work as\nmen traveling by daylight, with the further advantage of being able at\nwill to get up in a balloon and survey vast expanses of lake and plain\nand forest.\n\nThe choice of time and methods for communicating occult knowledge to the\nworld necessarily includes the choice of intermediary agent.  Hence the\ndouble set of misconceptions in India and Europe, each adapted to the\nland of its origin.  In India, where knowledge of the Brothers'\nexistence and reverence for their attributes is widely diffused, it is\nnatural that persons who may be chosen for their serviceability rather\nthan for their merits, as the recipients of their direct teaching,\nshould be regarded with a feeling resembling jealousy.  In Europe, the\ndifficulty of getting into any sort of relations with the fountain-head\nof Eastern philosophy is regarded as due to an exasperating\nexclusiveness on the part of the adepts in that philosophy, which\nrenders it practically worth no man's while to devote himself to the\ntask of soliciting their instruction.  But neither feeling is reasonable\nwhen considered in the light of the explanations now put forward.  The\nBrothers can consider none but public interests, in the largest sense of\nthe words, in throwing out the first experimental flashes of occult\nrevelation into the world. They can only employ agents on whom they can\nrely for doing the work as they may wish it done--or, at all events, in\nno manner which may be widely otherwise.  Or they can only protect the\ntask on which they are concerned in another way.  They may consent\nsometimes to a very much more direct mode of instruction than that\nprovided through intermediary agents for the world at large, in the\ncases of organized societies solemnly pledged to secrecy, for the time\nbeing at all events, in regard to the teaching to be conveyed to them.\nIn reference to such societies, the Brothers need not be on the watch to\nsee that the teaching is not worked up for the service of the world in a\nway they would consider, for any reasons of their own, likely to be\ninjurious to final results or dangerous.  Different men will assimilate\nthe philosophy to be unfolded in different ways:  for some it will be\ntoo iconoclastic altogether, and its further pursuit, after a certain\npoint is reached, unwelcome.  Such persons, entering too hastily on the\npath of exploration, will be able to drop off from the undertaking\nwhenever they like, if thoroughly pledged to secrecy in the first\ninstance, without being a source of embarrassment afterwards, as regards\nthe steady prosecution of the work in hand by other more resolute, or\nless sensitive, labourers.  It may be that in some such societies, if\nany should be formed in which occult philosophy may be secretly studied,\nsome of the members will be as well fitted as, or better than, any other\npersons employed elsewhere to put the teachings in shape for\npublication, but in that case it is to be presumed that special\nqualifications will eventually make themselves apparent.  The meaning\nand good sense of the restrictions, provisionally imposed meanwhile,\nwill be plain enough to any impartial person on reflection, even though\ntheir novelty and strangeness may be a little resented at the first\nglance.\n\n--Lay Chela\n\n\n\n\nHISTORICAL\n\n\nThe Puranas on the Dynasty of the Moryas and on Koothoomi\n\n\nIt is stated in Matsya Puran, chapter cclxxii., that ten Moryas would\nreign over India, and would be succeeded by the Shoongas, and that Shata\nDhanva will be the first of these ten Maureyas (or Moryas).\n\nIn Vishnu Purana (Book IV. chapter iv.) it is stated that there was in\nthe Soorya dynasty a king called Moru, who through the power of devotion\n(Yoga) is said to be still living in the village called Katapa, in the\nHimalayas (vide vol. iii. p. 197, by Wilson), and who, in a future age,\nwill be the restorer of the Kshatriya race, in the Solar dynasty, that\nis, many thousands of years hence.  In another part of the same Purana\n(Book IV. chapter xxiv.) it is stated that, \"upon the cessation of the\nrace of Nanda, the Moryas* will possess the earth, for Kautilya will\nplace Chandragupta on the throne.\"  Col. Tod considers Morya, or Maurya,\na corruption of Mori, the name of a Rajput tribe.\n\n-------\n* The particulars of this legend are recorded in the Atthata katha of\nthe Uttaraviharo priests.\n-------\n\nThe Commentary on the Mahavanso thinks that the princes of the town Mori\nwere thence called Mauryas.  Vachaspattya, a Sanskrit Encyclopaedia,\nplaces the village of Katapa on the northern side of the Himalayas--\nhence in Tibet.  The same is stated in chapter xii. (Skanda) of\nBhagavat, vol. iii. p. 325.  The Vayu Purana seems to declare that Moru\nwill re-establish the Kshatriyas in the nineteenth coming Yuga.  In\nchapter vi. Book III. of Vishnu Purana, a Rishi called Koothoomi is\nmentioned.  Will any of our Brothers tell us how our Mahatmas stand to\nthese revered personages?\n\n--R. Ragoonath Row\n\n\n\nEditor's Note\n\nIn the Buddhist Mahavanso, Chandagatto, or Chandragupta, Asoka's\ngrandfather, is called a prince of the Moryan dynasty as he certainly\nwas--or rather as they were, for there were several Chandraguptas.  This\ndynasty, as said in the same book, began with certain Kshatriyas\n(warriors) of the Sakya line closely related to Gautama Buddha, who\ncrossing the Himavanto (Himalayas) \"discovered a delightful location,\nwell watered, and situated in the midst of a forest of lofty bo and\nother trees.  There they founded a town, which was called by its Sakya\nlords, Morya-Nagara.\"  Prof. Max Muller would see in this legend a\nmade-up story for two reasons:  (1) A desire on the part of Buddhists to\nconnect their king Asoka, \"the beloved of gods,\" with Buddha, and thus\nnullify the slanders set up by the Brahmanical opponents of Buddhism to\nthe effect that Asoka and Chandragupta were Sudras; and (2) because this\ndocument does not dovetail with his own theories and chronology based on\nthe fanciful stories of the Greek-Megasthenes and others.  It was not\nthe princes of Morya-Nagara who received their name from the Rajput\ntribe of Mori, but the latter that became so well known as being\ncomposed of the descendants of the Moryan sovereign of Morya-Nagara.\nSome light is thrown on the subsequent destiny of that dynasty in\n\"Replies to an English F.T.S.\" (See ante.)  The name of Rishi Koothoomi\nis mentioned in more than one Purana, and his Code is among the eighteen\nCodes written by various Rishis, and preserved at Calcutta in the\nlibrary of the Asiatic Society.  But we have not been told whether there\nis any connection between our Mahatma of that name and the Rishi, and we\ndo not feel justified in speculating upon the subject.  All we know is,\nthat both are Northern Brahmans, while the Moryas are Kshatriyas.  If\nany of our Brothers know more, or can discover anything relating to the\nsubject in the Sacred Books, we shall hear of it with pleasure. The\nwords:  \"The Moryas will possess the earth, for Kautilya will place\nChandragupta on the throne,\" have in our occult philosophy a dual\nmeaning.  In one sense they relate to the days of early Buddhism, when a\nChandragupta (Morya) was the king \"of all the earth,\" i.e., of Brahmans,\nwho believed themselves the highest and only representatives of humanity\nfor whom earth was evolved. The second meaning is purely esoteric.\nEvery adept or genuine Mahatma is said to \"possess the earth,\" by the\npower of his occult knowledge.  Hence, a series of ten Moryas, all\ninitiated adepts, would be regarded by the occultists, and referred to\nas \"possessing all the earth,\" or all its knowledge.  The names of\n\"Chandragupta\" and \"Kautilya\" have also an esoteric significance. Let\nour Brother ponder over their Sanskrit meaning, and he will perhaps see\nwhat bearing the phrase--\"for Kautilya will place Chandragupta upon the\nthrone\"--has upon the Moryas possessing the earth.  We would also remind\nour Brother that the word Itihasa, ordinarily translated as \"history,\"\nis defined by Sanskrit authorities to be the narrative of the lives of\nsome August personages, conveying at the same time meanings of the\nhighest moral and occult importance.\n\n\n\n\nThe Theory of Cycles\n\n\nIt is now some time since this theory--which was first propounded in the\noldest religion of the world, Vedaism--has been gradually coming into\nprominence again.  It was taught by various Greek philosophers, and\nafterwards defended by the Theosophists of the Middle Ages, but came to\nbe flatly denied by the wise men of the West, the world of negations.\nContrary to the rule, it is the men of science themselves who have\nrevived this theory. Statistics of events of the most varied nature are\nfast being collected and collated with the seriousness demanded by\nimportant scientific questions.  Statistics of wars and of the periods\n(or cycles) of the appearance of great men--at least those who have been\nrecognized as such by their contemporaries;  statistics of the periods\nof development and progress of large commercial centres;  of the rise\nand fall of arts and sciences;  of cataclysms, such as earthquakes,\nepidemics;  periods of extraordinary cold and heat;  cycles of\nrevolutions, and of the rise and fall of empires, &c.:  all these are\nsubjected in turn to the analysis of the minutest mathematical\ncalculations. Finally, even the occult significance of numbers in names\nof persons and cities, in events, and like matters, receives unwonted\nattention.  If, on the one hand, a great portion of the educated public\nis running into atheism and scepticism, on the other hand, we find an\nevident current of mysticism forcing its way into science.  It is the\nsign of an irrepressible need in humanity to assure itself that there is\na power paramount over matter;  an occult and mysterious law which\ngoverns the world, and which we should rather study and closely watch,\ntrying to adapt ourselves to it, than blindly deny, and dash ourselves\nvainly against the rock of destiny.  More than one thoughtful mind,\nwhile studying the fortunes and reverses of nations and great empires,\nhas been struck by one identical feature in their history--namely, the\ninevitable recurrence of similar events, and after equal periods of\ntime.  This relation between events is found to be substantially\nconstant, though differences in the outward form of details no doubt\noccur.  Thus the belief of the ancients in their astrologers,\nsoothsayers and prophets might have been warranted by the verification\nof many of their most important predictions, without these\nprognostications of future events implying of necessity anything very\nmiraculous.  The soothsayers and augurs having occupied in days of the\nold civilizations the very same position now occupied by our historians,\nastronomers and meteorologists, there was nothing more wonderful in the\nfact of the former predicting the downfall of an empire or the loss of a\nbattle, than in the latter predicting the return of a comet, a change of\ntemperature, or perhaps the final conquest of Afghanistan.  Both studied\nexact sciences;  for, if the astronomer of today draws his observations\nfrom mathematical calculations, the astrologer of old also based his\nprognostication upon no less acute and mathematically correct\nobservations of the ever-recurring cycles.  And, because the secret of\nthis ancient science is now being lost, does that give any warrant for\nsaying that it never existed, or that to believe in it, one must be\nready to swallow \"magic,\" \"miracles\" and the like?  \"If, in view of the\neminence to which modern science has reached, the claim to prophesy\nfuture events must be regarded as either child's play or a deliberate\ndeception,\" says a writer in the Novoye Vremja, \"then we can point at\nscience which, in its turn, has now taken up and placed on record the\nquestion, whether there is or is not in the constant repetition of\nevents a certain periodicity;  in other words, whether these events\nrecur after a fixed and determined period of years with every nation;\nand if a periodicity there be, whether this periodicity is due to blind\nchance, or depends on the same natural laws which govern the phenomena\nof human life.\"  Undoubtedly the latter.  And the writer has the best\nmathematical proof of it in the timely appearance of such works as that\nof Dr. E. Zasse, and others. Several learned works treating upon this\nmystical subject have appeared of late, and to some of these works and\ncalculations we shall presently refer.  A very suggestive work by a\nwell-known German scientist, E. Zasse, appears in the Prussian Journal\nof Statistics, powerfully corroborating the ancient theory of cycles.\nThese periods which bring around ever-recurring events, begin from the\ninfinitesimally small--say of ten years--rotation, and reach to cycles\nwhich require 250, 500, 700, and 1000 years to effect their revolutions\naround themselves, and within one another.  All are contained within the\nMaha-Yug, the \"Great Age\" or Cycle of Manu's calculation, which itself\nrevolves between two eternities--the \"Pralayas\" or Nights of Brahma.\nAs, in the objective world of matter, or the system of effects, the\nminor constellations and planets gravitate each and all around the sun,\nso in the world of the subjective, or the system of causes, these\ninnumerable cycles all gravitate between that which the finite intellect\nof the ordinary mortal regards as eternity, and the still finite, but\nmore profound, intuition of the sage and philosopher views as but an\neternity within THE ETERNITY.  \"As above, so it is below,\" runs the old\nHermetic maxim.  As an experiment in this direction, Dr. Zasse selected\nthe statistical investigations of all the wars recorded in history, as a\nsubject which lends itself more easily to scientific verification than\nany other.  To illustrate his subject in the simplest and most easily\ncomprehensible manner, Dr. Zasse represents the periods of war and the\nperiods of peace in the shape of small and large wave-lines running over\nthe area of the Old World.  The idea is not a new one, for the image was\nused for similar illustrations by more than one ancient and medieval\nmystic, whether in words or pictures--by Henry Kunrath, for example.\nBut it serves well its purpose, and gives us the facts we now want.\nBefore he treats, however, of the cycles of wars, the author brings in\nthe record of the rise and fall of the world's great empires, and shows\nthe degree of activity they have played in the Universal History.  He\npoints out the fact that if we divide the map of the Old World into six\nparts--into Eastern, Central, and Western Asia, Eastern and Western\nEurope, and Egypt--then we shall easily perceive that every 250 years an\nenormous wave passes over these areas, bringing to each in its turn the\nevents it has brought to the one next preceding.  This wave we may call\n\"the historical wave\" of the 250 years' cycle.\n\nThe first of these waves began in China 2000 years B.C., in the \"golden\nage\" of this empire, the age of philosophy, of discoveries, of reforms.\n\"In 1750 B.C. the Mongolians of Central Asia establish a powerful\nempire.  In 1500, Egypt rises from its temporary degradation and extends\nits sway over many parts of Europe and Asia;  and about 1250, the\nhistorical wave reaches and crosses over to Eastern Europe, filling it\nwith the spirit of the Argonautic Expedition, and dies out in 1000 B.C.\nat the Siege of Troy.\"\n\nThe second historical wave appears about that time in Central Asia.\n\"The Scythians leave her steppes, and inundate towards the year 750 B.C.\nthe adjoining countries, directing themselves towards the south and\nwest;  about the year 500, in Western Asia begins an epoch of splendour\nfor ancient Persia;  and the wave moves on to the east of Europe, where,\nabout 250 B.C., Greece reaches her highest state of culture and\ncivilization--and further on to the west, where, at the birth of Christ,\nthe Roman Empire finds itself at its apogee of power and greatness.\"\n\nAgain, at this period we find the rising of a third historical wave at\nthe far East.  After prolonged revolutions, about this time, China forms\nonce more a powerful empire, and its arts, sciences and commerce\nflourish again.  Then 250 years later, we find the Huns appearing from\nthe depths of Central Asia;  in the year 500 A.D., a new and powerful\nPersian kingdom is formed;  in 750--in Eastern Europe--the Byzantine\nempire;  and in the year 1000--on its western side--springs up the\nsecond Roman Power, the Empire of the Papacy, which soon reaches an\nextraordinary development of wealth and brilliancy.\n\nAt the same time the fourth wave approaches from the Orient. China is\nagain flourishing;  in 1250, the Mongolian wave from Central Asia has\noverflowed and covered an enormous area of land, including Russia.\nAbout 1500, in Western Asia the Ottoman Empire rises in all its might,\nand conquers the Balkan peninsula;  but at the same time, in Eastern\nEurope, Russia throws off the Tartar yoke;  and about 1750, during the\nreign of Empress Catherine, rises to an unexpected grandeur, and covers\nitself with glory. The wave ceaselessly moves further on to the West;\nand beginning with the middle of the past century, Europe is living over\nan epoch of revolutions and reforms, and, according to the author, \"if\nit is permissible to prophesy, then about the year 2000, Western Europe\nwill have lived through one of those periods of culture and progress so\nrare in history.\"  The Russian press taking the cue believes, that\n\"towards those days the Eastern Question will be finally settled, the\nnational dissensions of the European peoples will come to an end, and\nthe dawn of the new millennium will witness the abolition of armies and\nan alliance between all the European empires.\" The signs of regeneration\nare also fast multiplying in Japan and China, as if pointing to the rise\nof a new historical wave in the extreme East.\n\nIf from the cycle of two-and-a-half centuries we descend to that which\nleaves its impress every century, and, grouping together the events of\nancient history, mark the development and rise of empires, then we shall\nfind that, beginning from the year 700 B.C., the centennial wave pushes\nforward, bringing into prominence the following nations, each in its\nturn--the Assyrians, the Medes, the Babylonians, the Persians, the\nGreeks, the Macedonians, the Carthagenians, the Romans, and the Teutons.\n\nThe striking periodicity of the wars in Europe is also noticed by Dr. E.\nZasse.  Beginning with 1700 A.D., every ten years have been signalized\nby either a war or a revolution.  The periods of the strengthening and\nweakening of the warlike excitement of the European nations represent a\nwave strikingly regular in its periodicity, flowing incessantly, as if\npropelled onward by some fixed inscrutable law.  This same mysterious\nlaw seems also to connect these events with the astronomical wave or\ncycle, which governs the periodicity of solar spots.  The periods when\nthe European powers have shown the most destructive energy are marked by\na cycle of fifty years' duration.  It would be too long and tedious to\nenumerate them from the beginning of history.  We may, therefore, limit\nour study to the cycle beginning with the year 1712, when all the\nEuropean nations were fighting each other in the Northern, and the\nTurkish wars, and the war for the throne of Spain.  About 1761, the\n\"Seven Years' War\";  in 1810, the wars of Napoleon I.  Towards 1861, the\nwave has been a little deflected from its regular course;  but, as if to\ncompensate for it, or propelled, perhaps, with unusual force, the years\ndirectly preceding, as well as those which followed it, left in history\nthe records of the most fierce and bloody wars--the Crimean War in the\nformer, and the American Civil War in the latter period. The periodicity\nin the wars between Russia and Turkey appears peculiarly striking, and\nrepresents a very characteristic wave. At first the intervals between\nthe cycles of thirty years' duration--1710, 1740, 1770 then these\nintervals diminish, and we have a cycle of twenty years--1790, 1810,\n1829-30;  then the intervals widen again--1853 and 1878.  But if we take\nnote of the whole duration of the in-flowing tide of the war-like cycle,\nthen we shall have at the centre of it--from 1768 to 1812--three wars of\nseven years' duration each, and at both ends, wars of two years.\n\nFinally, the author comes to the conclusion that, in view of facts, it\nbecomes thoroughly impossible to deny the presence of a regular\nperiodicity in the excitement of both mental and physical forces in the\nnations of the world.  He proves that in the history of all the peoples\nand empires of the Old World, the cycles marking the millenniums, the\ncentennials as well as the minor ones of fifty and ten years' duration,\nare the most important, inasmuch as neither of them has ever yet failed\nto bring in its train some more or less marked event in the history of\nthe nation swept over by these historical waves.\n\nThe history of India is one which, of all histories, is the most vague\nand least satisfactory.  Yet were its consecutive great events noted\ndown, and its annals well searched, the law of cycles would be found to\nhave asserted itself here as plainly as in every other country in\nrespect of its wars, famines, political exigencies, and other matters.\n\nIn France, a meteorologist of Paris went to the trouble of compiling the\nstatistics of the coldest seasons, and discovered that those years which\nhad the figure 9 in them had been marked by the severest winters.  His\nfigures run thus:--in 859 A.D., the northern part of the Adriatic Sea\nwas frozen, and was covered for three months with ice.  In 1179, In the\nmost moderate zones, the earth was covered with several feet of snow.\nIn 1209, in France the depth of snow and the bitter cold caused such a\nscarcity of fodder that most of the cattle perished in that country.  In\n1249, the Baltic Sea between Russia, Norway and Sweden remained frozen\nfor many months, and communication was kept up by sleighs. In 1339,\nthere was such a terrific winter in England, that vast numbers of people\ndied of starvation and exposure.  In 1409, the river Danube was frozen\nfrom its sources to its mouth in the Black Sea.\n\nIn 1469, all the vineyards and orchards perished in consequence of the\nfrost.  In 1609, in France, Switzerland and Upper Italy, people had to\nthaw their bread and provisions before they could use them.  In 1639,\nthe Harbour of Marseilles was covered with ice to a great distance.  In\n1659, all the rivers in Italy were frozen.  In 1699, the winter in\nFrance and Italy proved the severest and longest of all.  The prices for\narticles of food were so much raised that half of the population died of\nstarvation.  In 1709, the winter was no less terrible.  The ground was\nfrozen in France, Italy and Switzerland to the depth of several feet;\nand the sea, south as well as north, was covered with one compact and\nthick crust of ice, many feet deep, and for a considerable distance in\nthe usually open sea.  Numbers of wild beasts, driven out by the cold\nfrom their dens in the forests, sought refuge in villages and even\ncities;  and the birds fell dead to the ground by hundreds.  In 1729,\n1749 and 1769 (cycles of twenty years' duration), all the rivers and\nstreams were ice-bound all over France for many weeks, and all the fruit\ntrees perished.  In 1789, France was again visited by a very severe\nwinter.  In Paris, the thermometer stood at nineteen degrees of frost.\nBut the severest of all winters proved that of 1829.  For fifty-four\nconsecutive days all the roads in France were covered, with snow several\nfeet deep, and all the rivers were frozen.  Famine and misery reached\ntheir climax in the country in that year.  In 1839, there was again in\nFrance a most terrific and trying cold season.  And the winter of 1879\nhas asserted its statistical rights, and proved true to the fatal\ninfluence of the figure 9.  The meteorologists of other countries are\ninvited to follow suit, and make their investigations likewise, for the\nsubject is certainly most fascinating as well as most instructive.\n\nEnough has been shown, however, to prove that neither the ideas of\nPythagoras on the mysterious influence of numbers, nor the theories of\nthe ancient world-religions and philosophies are as shallow and\nmeaningless as some too forward thinkers would have had the world to\nbelieve.\n\n--H.P.B.\n\n\n\n\nSCIENTIFIC\n\n\nOdorigen and Jiva\n\n\nProfessor Yaeger of Stuttgart has made a very interesting study of the\nsense of smell.  He starts from the fact well known in medical\njurisprudence, that the blood of an animal when treated by sulphuric, or\nindeed by any other decomposing acid, smells like the animal itself to\nwhich it belongs.  This holds good even after the blood has been long\ndried.\n\nLet us state before all what is to be understood by the smell of a\ncertain animal.  There is the pure, specific smell of the animal,\ninherent in its flesh, or, as we shall see hereafter, in certain\nportions of its flesh.  This smell is best perceived when the flesh is\ngently boiling in water.  The broth thereby obtained contains the\nspecific taste and smell of the animal--I call it specific, because\nevery species, nay every variety of species, has its own peculiar taste\nand smell.  Think of mutton broth, chicken broth, fish broth, &c. &c.  I\nshall call this smell, the specific scent of the animal.  I need not say\nthat the scent of an animal is quite different from all such odours as\nare generated within its organism, along with its various secretions and\nexcretions:  bile, gastric juice, sweat, &c.  These odours are again\ndifferent in the different species and varieties of animals.  The\ncutaneous exhalation of the goat, the sheep, the donkey, widely differ\nfrom each other;  and a similar difference prevails with regard to all\nthe other effluvia of these animals. In fact, as far as olfactory\nexperience goes, we may say that the odour of each secretion and\nexcretion of a certain species of animals is peculiar to itself, and\ncharacteristically different in the similar products of another species.\n\nBy altering the food of an animal we may considerably alter all the\nabove-mentioned odours, scents, as well as smells;  yet essentially they\nwill always retain their specific odoriferous type.  All this is matter\nof strict experience.\n\nStrongly diffusive as all these odorous substances are, they permeate\nthe whole organism, and each of them contributes its share to what in\nthe aggregate constitutes the smell of the living animal.  It is\naltogether an excrementitious smell tempered by the scent of the animal.\nThat excrementitious smell we shall henceforth simply call the smell, in\ncontradistinction to the scent of the animal.\n\nTo return after this not very pleasant, but nevertheless necessary\ndigression, to our subject.  Professor Yaeger found that blood, treated\nby an acid, may emit the scent or the smell of the animal, according as\nthe acid is weak or strong.  A strong acid, rapidly disintegrating the\nblood, brings out the animal's smell; a weak acid, the animal's scent.\n\nWe see, then, that in every drop of blood of a certain species of\nanimal, and we may as well say, in each of its blood corpuscles, and in\nthe last instance, in each of its molecules, the respective animal\nspecies is fully represented, as to its odorant speciality, under both\naspects of scent and smell.\n\nWe have, then, on the one side, the fact before us that wherever we meet\nin the animal kingdom with difference of shape, form, and construction,\nso different as to constitute a class, a genus, or a family of its own,\nthere we meet at the same time with a distinct and specific scent and\nsmell.  On the other hand, we know that these specific odours are\ninvariably interblended with the very life-blood of the animal.  And\nlastly, we know that these specific odours cannot be accounted for by\nany agents taken up in the shape of food from the outer world.  We are,\nthen, driven to the conclusion that they are properties of the inner\nanimal;  that they, in other words, pertain to the specific protoplasm\nof the animal concerned.\n\nAnd thus our conclusion attains almost certainty, when we remember that\nit stands the crucial test of experiment--that we need only decompose\nthe blood in order to find there what we contend to be an essential\ningredient of it.\n\nI must now say a few words in explanation of the term protoplasm.\nProtoplasm is a soft, gelatinous substance, transparent and homogeneous,\neasily seen in large plant-cells;  it may be compared to the white of an\negg.  When at rest all sorts of vibratory, quivering and trembling\nmovements can be observed within its mass.  It forms the living material\nin all vegetable and animal cells;  in fact, it is that component of the\nbody which really does the vital work.  It is the formative agent of all\nliving tissues.  Vital activity, in the broadest sense of the term,\nmanifests itself in the development of the germ into the complete\norganism, repeating the type of its parents, and in the subsequent\nmaintenance of that organism in its integrity and both these functions\nare exclusively carried on by the protoplasm.  Of course, there is a\ngood deal of chemical and mechanical work done in the organism, but\nprotoplasm is the formative agent of all the tissues and structures.\n\nOf tissues and structures already formed, we may fairly say that they\nhave passed out of the realms of vitality, as they are destined to\ngradual disintegration and decay in the course of life;  it is they that\nare on the way of being cast out of the organism, when they have once\nrun through the scale of retrograde metamorphosis;  and it is they that\ngive rise to what we have called the smell of the animal.  What lives in\nthem is the protoplasm.\n\nIn the shape of food the outer world supplies the organism with all the\nmaterials necessary for the building up of the constantly wasting\norganic structures;  and, in the shape of heat, there comes from the\nouter world that other element necessary for structural changes,\ndevelopment and growth--the element of force. But the task of directing\nall the outward materials to the development and maintenance of the\norganism--in other words, the task of the director-general of the\norganic economy falls to the protoplasm.\n\nNow this wonderful substance, chemically and physically the same in the\nhighest animal and in the lowest plant, has been all along the puzzle of\nthe biologist.  How is it that in man protoplasm works out human\nstructure;  in fowl, fowl structure, &c. &c., while the protoplasm\nitself appears to be everywhere the same? To Professor Yaeger belongs\nthe great merit of having shown us that the protoplasms of the various\nspecies of plants and animals are not the same;  that each of them\ncontains, moreover, imbedded in its molecules, odorant substances\npeculiar to the one species and not to the other.\n\nThat, on the other hand, those odorous substances are by no means\ninactive bodies, may be inferred from their great volatility, known as\nit is in physical science that volatility is owing to a state of atomic\nactivity.  Prevost has described two phenomena that are presented by\nodorous substances.  One is that, when placed on water, they begin to\nmove;  and the other is, that a thin layer of water, extended on a\nperfectly clean glass plate, retracts when such an odorous substance as\ncamphor is placed upon it.  Monsieur Ligeois has further shown that the\nparticles of an odorous body, placed on water, undergo a rapid division,\nand that the movements of camphor, or of benzoic acid, are inhibited, or\naltogether arrested, if an odorous substance be brought into contact\nwith the water in which they are moving.\n\nSeeing, then, that odorous substances, when coming in contact with\nliquid bodies, assume a peculiar motion, and impart at the same time\nmotion to the liquid body, we may fairly conclude that the specific\nformative capacity of the protoplasm is owing, not to the protoplasm\nitself, since it is everywhere alike, but to the inherent, specific,\nodoriferous substances.\n\nI shall only add that Professor Yaeger's theory may be carried farther\nyet.  Each metal has also a certain taste and odour peculiar to itself;\nin other words, they are also endowed with odoriferous substances.  And\nthis may help us to explain the fact that each metal, when crystallizing\nout of a liquid solution, invariably assumes a distinct geometrical\nform, by which it may be distinguished from any other.  Common salt, for\ninstance, invariably crystallizes in cubes, alum in octohedra, and so\non.\n\nProfessor Yaeger's theory explains further to us that other great\nmystery of Nature--the transmission from parent to offspring of the\nmorphological speciality.  This is another puzzle of the biologist.\nWhat is there in the embryonal germ that evolves out of the materials\nstored up therein a frame similar to the parents?  In other words, what\nis there that presides over the preservation of the species, working out\nthe miniature duplicate of the parents' configuration and character?  It\nis the protoplasm, no doubt;  and the female ovum contains protoplasm in\nabundance.  But neither the physicist nor the chemist can detect any\ndifference between the primordial germ, say of the fowl, and that of a\nfemale of the human race.\n\nIn answer to this question--a question before which science stands\nperplexed--we need only remember what has been said before about the\nprotoplasmic scent.  We have spoken before of the specific scent of the\nanimal as a whole.  We know, however, that every organ and tissue in a\ngiven animal has again its peculiar scent and taste.  The scent and\ntaste of the liver, spleen, brain, &c., are quite different in the same\nanimal.\n\nAnd if our theory is correct, then it could not be otherwise. Each of\nthese organs is differently constructed, and as variety of organic\nstructure is supposed to be dependent upon variety of scent, there must\nnecessarily be a specific cerebral scent, a specific splenetic scent, a\nspecific hepatic scent, &c. &c.  What we call, then, the specific scent\nof the living animal must, therefore, be considered as the aggregate of\nall the different scents of its organs.\n\nWhen we see that a weak solution of sulphuric acid is capable of\ndisengaging from the blood the scent of the animal, we shall then bear\nin mind that this odorous emanation contains particles of all the scents\npeculiar to each tissue and organ of the animal.  When we further say\nthat each organ in a living animal draws by selective affinity from the\nblood those materials which are necessary for its sustenance, we must\nnot forget that each organ draws at the same time by a similar selective\naffinity the specific odorous substances requisite for its constructive\nrequirements.\n\nWe have now only to suppose that the embryonal germ contains, like the\nblood itself, all the odorous substances pertaining to the various\ntissues and organs of the parent, and we shall understand which is the\nmoving principle in the germ that evolves an offspring, shaped in the\nimage and after the likeness of the parents.\n\nIn plants it is the blossom which is entrusted with the function of\nreproduction, and the odorous emanations accompanying that process are\nwell known.  There is strong reason to believe that something similar\nprevails in the case of animals, as may be seen from an examination of\nwhat embryologists call the aura seminalis.\n\nLet us now inquire what the effects are of odours generated in the outer\nworld on animals.  The odorous impressions produced may be pleasant or\nunpleasant, pleasant to one and unpleasant to another animal.  What is\nit that constitutes this sensation of pleasure or displeasure?\nProfessor Yaeger answers, It is harmony or disharmony which makes all\nthe difference.  The olfactory organs of each animal are impregnated by\nits own specific scent. Whenever the odorous waves of a substance\nharmonize in their vibration with the odorous waves emanating from the\nanimal;  in other words, whenever they fall in and agree with each\nother, an agreeable sensation is produced;  whenever the reverse takes\nplaces, the sensation is disagreeable.  In this way it is that the odour\nregulates the choice of the food on the part of the animal.  In a\nsimilar way the sympathies and antipathies between the various animals\nare regulated.  For every individual has not only its specific but also\nits individual scent.  The selection between the sexes, or what, in the\ncase of the human race, is called love, has its mainspring in the\nodorous harmony subsisting in the two individuals concerned.\n\nThis individual scent--a variation of the specific odorous type--alters\n(within the limits of its speciality) with age, with the particular mode\nof occupation, with the sex, with certain physiological conditions and\nfunctions during life, with the state of health, and last, but not\nleast, with the state of our mind.\n\nIt is to be remembered that every time protoplasm undergoes\ndisintegration, specific odours are set free.  We have seen how\nsulphuric acid, or heat, when boiling or roasting meat, brings out the\nspecific animal odour.  But it is an established fact in science, that\nevery physical or mental operation is accompanied by disintegration of\ntissue;  consequently we are entitled to say that with every emotion\nodours are being disengaged.  It can be shown that the quality of those\nodours differ with the nature of the emotion.  The prescribed limits\nprevent further pursuit of the subject;  I shall, therefore, content\nmyself by drawing some conclusions from Professor Yaeger's theory in the\nlight of the Esoteric Doctrine.\n\nThe phenomena of mesmeric cures find their full explanation in the\ntheory just enunciated.  For since the construction and preservation of\nthe organism, and of every organ in particular, is owing to specific\nscents, we may fairly look upon disease in general as a disturbance of\nthe specific scent of the organism, and upon disease of a particular\norgan of the body, as a disturbance of the specific scent pertaining to\nthat particular organ.  We have been hitherto in the habit of holding\nthe protoplasm responsible for all phenomena of disease.  We have now\ncome to learn that what acts in the protoplasm are the scents; we shall,\ntherefore, have to look to them as the ultimate cause of morbid\nphenomena.  I have mentioned before the experiment of Mons. Ligeois,\nshowing that odoriferous substances, when brought in contact with water,\nmove;  and that the motion of one odoriferous substance may be\ninhibited, or arrested altogether, by the presence of another\nodoriferous substance.  Epidemic diseases, and the zymotic diseases in\nparticular, have, then, most likely their origin in some local odours\nwhich inhibit the action of our specific organic odours.  In the case of\nhereditary diseases, it is most likely the transmission of morbid\nspecific odours from parent to offspring that is the cause of the evil,\nknowing, as we do, that in disease the natural specific odour is\naltered, and must, therefore, have been altered in the diseased parent.\n\nNow comes the mesmeriser.  He approaches the sick with the strong\ndetermination to cure him.  This determination, or effort of the will,\nis absolutely necessary, according to the agreement of all mesmerisers,\nfor his curative success.  Now an effort of the will is a mental\noperation, and is, therefore, accompanied by tissue disintegration.  The\neffort being purely mental, we may say it is accompanied by\ndisintegration of cerebral and nervous tissue. But disintegration of\norganic tissue means, as we have seen before, disengagement of specific\nscents;  the mesmeriser emits, then, during his operation, scents from\nhis own body.  And as the patient's sufferings are supposed to originate\nfrom a deficiency or alteration of his own specific scent, we can well\nsee how the mesmeriser, by his mesmeric or odoriferous emanations, may\neffect a cure.  He may supply the want of certain odoriferous substances\nin the patient, or he may correct others by his own emanations, knowing,\nas we do, from the experiment of Mons. Ligeois, that odorant matter does\nact on odorant matter.\n\nOne remark more and I have done.  By the Esoteric Doctrine we are told\nthat the living body is divided into two parts:\n\n1. The physical body, composed wholly of matter in its grossest and most\ntangible form.\n\n2. The vital principle (or Jiva), a form of force indestructible, and,\nwhen disconnected with one set of atoms, becoming attracted immediately\nby others.\n\nNow this division, generally speaking, fully agrees with the teachings\nof science.  I need only remind you of what I have said before with\nregard to the formed tissues and structures of the body and its\nformative agent the protoplasm.  Formed structure is considered as\nmaterial which has already passed out of the realms of life;  what lives\nin it is the protoplasm.  So far the esoteric conception fully agrees\nwith the result of the latest investigations of modern science.\n\nBut when we are told by the Esoteric Doctrine that the vital principle\nis indestructible, we feel we move on occult, incomprehensible ground,\nfor we know that protoplasm is, after all, as destructible as the body\nitself.  It lives as long as life lasts, and, it may be said, it is the\nonly material in the body that does live as long as life lasts.  But it\ndies with the cessation of life.  It is true it is capable of a sort of\nresuscitation.  For that very dead protoplasm, be it animal or\nvegetable, serves again as our food, and as the food of all the animal\nworld, and thus helps to repair our constantly wasting economy.  But for\nall that it could hardly be said to be indestructible;  it is\nassimilable--that is to say, capable of re-entering the domain of life,\nthrough its being taken up by a living body.  But such an eventual\nchance does by no means confer upon it the attribute of\nindestructibility;  for we need only leave the dead animal or plant\ncontaining the protoplasm alone, and it will rot and decay--organs,\ntissues, and protoplasm altogether.\n\nTo our further perplexity the Esoteric Doctrine tells us that the vital\nprinciple is not only indestructible, but it is a form of force, which,\nwhen disconnected with one set of atoms, becomes attracted immediately\nby others.  The vital principle to the Esoteric Doctrine would then\nappear to be a sort of abstract force, not a force inherent in the\nliving protoplasm--this is the scientific conception--but a force per\nse, independent altogether of the material with which it is connected.\n\nNow I must confess this is a doctrine which puzzles one greatly,\nalthough one may have no difficulty in accepting the spirit of man as an\nentity, for the phenomena of ratiocination are altogether so widely\ndifferent from all physical phenomena that they can hardly be explained\nby any of the physical forces known to us.  The materialist, who tells\nus that consciousness, sensation, thought, and the spontaneous power of\nthe will, so peculiar to man and to the higher animals, are altogether\nso many outcomes of certain conditions of matter and nothing else, makes\nat best merely a subjective statement.  He cannot help acknowledging\nthat spontaneity is not a quality of matter.  He is then driven to the\ncontention that what we believe to be spontaneous in us, is, after all,\nan unconscious result of external impulses only.  His contention rests\nthen on the basis of his own inner experience, or what he believes to be\nsuch. This contention of his is, however, disputed by many, who no less\nappeal to their own inner experience, or what they believe to be their\nexperience.  It is then a question of inner experience of the one party\nversus inner experience of the other.  And such being the case, the\nscientific materialist is driven to admit that his theory, however\ncorrect it may be, rests, after all, on subjective experience, and can,\nas such, not claim the rank of positive knowledge.  There is then no\ndifficulty in accepting the entity of the spirit in man, the\nmaterialistic assertion to the contrary notwithstanding.  But the vital\nforce is exclusively concerned with the construction of matter.  Here we\nhave a right to expect that physical and chemical forces should hold the\nwhole ground of an explanation, if an explanation is possible at all.\nNow, physical and chemical forces are no entities;  they are invariably\nconnected with matter.  In fact, they are so intimately connected with\nmatter that they can never be dissevered from it altogether.  The energy\nof matter may be latent or patent, and, when patent, it may manifest\nitself in one form or the other, according to the condition of its\nsurroundings;  it may manifest itself in the shape of light, heat,\nelectricity, magnetism, or vitality;  but in one form or the other\nenergy constantly inheres in matter.  The correlation of forces is now a\nwell-established, scientific fact, and it is more than plausible that\nwhat is called the vital principle, or the vital force, forms a link in\nthe chain of the other known physical forces, and is, therefore,\ntransmutable into any of them;  granted even that there is such a thing\nas a distinct vital force.  The tendency of modern Biology is then to\ndiscard the notion of a vital entity altogether.  If vital force is to\nbe indestructible, then so are also indestructible heat, light,\nelectricity, &c.;  they are indestructible in this sense, that whenever\ntheir respective manifestation is suspended or arrested, they make their\nappearance in some other form of force;  and in this very same sense\nvital force may be looked upon as indestructible:  whenever vital\nmanifestation is arrested, what had been acting as vital force is\ntransformed into chemical, electrical forces, &c., taking its place.\n\nBut the Esoteric Doctrine appears to teach something quite different\nfrom what I have just explained, and what is, as far as I understand, a\nfair representation of the scientific conception of the subject.  The\nEsoteric Doctrine tells us that the vital principle is indestructible,\nand, when disconnected with one set of atoms, becomes attracted by\nothers.  He then evidently holds that, what constitutes the vital\nprinciple is a principle or form of force per se, a form of force which\ncan leave one set of atoms and go over as such to another set, without\nleaving any substitute force behind.  This, it must be said, is simply\nirreconcileable with the scientific view on the subject as hitherto\nunderstood.\n\nBy the and of Professor Yaeger's theory this difficulty can be\nexplained, I am happy to say, in a most satisfactory way.\n\nThe seat of the vital principle, according to Professor Yaeger's theory,\nis not the protoplasm, but the odorant matter imbedded in it.  And such\nbeing the case, the vital principle, as far as it can be reached by the\nbreaking up of its animated protoplasm, is really indestructible.  You\ndestroy the protoplasm by burning it, by treating it with sulphuric\nacid, or any other decomposing agent--the odoriferous substances, far\nfrom being destroyed, become only so much the more manifest;  they\nescape the moment protoplasmic destruction or decomposition begins,\ncarrying along with them the vital principle, or what has been acting as\nsuch in the protoplasm.  And as they are volatile, they must soon meet\nwith other protoplasms congenial to their nature, and set up there the\nsame kind of vital activity as they have done in their former habitat.\nThey are, as the Esoteric Doctrine rightly teaches, indestructible, and\nwhen disconnected with one set of atoms, they immediately become\nattracted by others.\n\n--L. Salzer, M.D.\n\n\n\n\n\nOdorigen and Jiva (II.)\n\n\nThere is a well-known Sanskrit treatise, where most of the deductions of\nDr. Yaeger are anticipated and practically applied to sexual selection\nin the human species.  The subject of aura seminalis finds a pretty full\ntreatment there.  The connection between what Dr. Yaeger calls\n\"odorigen\" and jiva or prana, as it is differently called in different\nsystems of Indian philosophy, has been well traced.  But his remarks on\nthis subject, able as they no doubt are, call for a few observations\nfrom the point of view of occult philosophy.  Jiva has been described by\na trustworthy authority as a \"form of force indestructible, and, when\ndisconnected with one set of atoms, is immediately attracted by another\nset.\"  Dr. Salzer concludes from this that occult philosophy looks upon\nit as an abstract force or force per se. But surely this is bending too\nmuch to the Procrustean phraseology of modern science, and if not\nproperly guarded will lead to some misapprehension.  Matter in occult\nphilosophy means existence in the widest sense of that word.  However\nmuch the various forms of existence, such as physical, vital, mental,\nspiritual, &c., differ from each other, they are mutually related as\nbeing parts of the ONE UNIVERSAL EXISTENCE, the Parabrahma of the\nVedantist.  Force is the inherent power or capacity of Parabrahma, or\nthe \"matter\" of occultism, to assume different forms.  This power or\ncapacity is not a separate entity, but is the thing itself in which it\ninheres, just as the three-angled character of a triangle is nothing\nseparate from the triangle itself.  From this it will be abundantly\nclear that, accepting the nomenclature of occult science, one cannot\nspeak of an abstract force without being guilty of a palpable absurdity.\nWhat is meant by Jiva being a \"form of force,\" &c., is that it is matter\nin a state in which it exhibits certain phenomena, not produced by it in\nits sensuous state;  or, in other words, it is a property of matter in a\nparticular state, corresponding with properties called, under ordinary\ncircumstances, heat, electricity, &c., by modern science, but at the\nsame time without any correlation to them.  It might here be objected\nthat if Jiva was not a force per se, in the sense which modern science\nwould attach to the phrase, then how can it survive unchanged the grand\nchange called death, which the protoplasms it inheres in undergo? and\neven granting that Jiva is matter in a particular state, in what part of\nthe body shall we locate it, in the teeth of the fact that the most\ncareful examination has not been successful in detecting it?  Jiva, as\nhas already been stated, is subtle supersensuous matter, permeating the\nentire physical structure of the living being, and when it is separated\nfrom such structure life is said to become extinct.  It is not\nreasonable therefore to expect it to be subject to detection by the\nsurgeon's knife. A particular set of conditions is necessary for its\nconnection with an animal structure, and when those conditions are\ndisturbed, it is attracted by other bodies, presenting suitable\nconditions.  Dr. Yaegar's \"odorigen\" is not Jiva itself, but is one of\nthe links which connects it with the physical body;  it seems to be\nmatter standing between Sthula Sarira (gross body) and Jiva.\n\n--Dharanidar Kauthumi\n\n\n\n\nIntroversion of Mental Vision\n\n\nSome interesting experiments have recently been tried by Mr. F.W.H.\nMyers and his colleagues of the Psychic Research Society of London,\nwhich, if properly examined, are capable of yielding highly important\nresults.  With the details of these we are not at present concerned:  it\nwill suffice for our purpose to state, for the benefit of readers\nunacquainted with the experiments, that in a very large majority of\ncases, too numerous to be the result of mere chance, it was found that\nthe thought-reading sensitive obtained but an inverted mental picture of\nthe object given him to read.  A piece of paper, containing the\nrepresentation of an arrow, was held before a carefully blindfolded\nthought-reader, who was requested to mentally see the arrow as it was\nturned round.  In these circumstances it was found that when the\narrow-head pointed to the right, it was read off as pointing to the\nleft, and so on.  This led some to imagine that there was a mirage in\nthe inner as well as on the outer plane of optical sensation.  But the\nreal explanation of the phenomenon lies deeper.\n\nIt is well known that an object as seen by us and its image on the\nretina of the eye, are not exactly the same in position, but quite the\nreverse.  How the image of an object on the retina is inverted in\nsensation, is a mystery which physical science is admittedly incapable\nof solving.  Western metaphysics, too, with regard to this point, hardly\nfares any better;  there are as many theories as there are\nmetaphysicians.  The only philosopher who has obtained a glimpse of the\ntruth is the idealist Berkeley, who says that a child does really see a\nthing inverted from our standpoint;  to touch its head it stretches out\nits hands in the same direction of its body as we do of ours to reach\nour feet. Repeated failures give experience and lead to the correction\nof the notions born of one sense by those derived through another; the\nsensations of distance and solidity are produced in the same way.\n\nThe application of this knowledge to the above mentioned experiments of\nthe Psychic Research Society will lead to very suggestive results.  If\nthe trained adept is a person who has developed all his interior\nfaculties, and is on the psychic plane in the full possession of his\nsenses, the individual, who accidentally, that is, without occult\ntraining, gains the inner sight, is in the position of a helpless\nchild--a sport of the freaks of one isolated inner sense.  Such was the\ncase with the sensitives with whom Mr. Myers and his colleagues\nexperimented. There are instances, however, when the correction of one\nsense by another takes place involuntarily and accurate results are\nbrought out.  When the sensitive reads the thoughts in a man's mind,\nthis correction is not required, for the will of the thinker shoots the\nthoughts, as it were, straight into the mind of the sensitive.  The\nintroversion under notice will, moreover, be found to take place only in\nthe instance of such images which cannot be corrected by the already\nacquired sense-experience of the sensitive.  A difficulty may here\nsuggest itself with regard to the names of persons or the words thought\nof for the sensitive's reading.  But allowance must in such cases be\nmade for the operation of the thinker's will, which forces the thought\ninto the sensitive's mind, and thereby obviates introversion.  It is\nabundantly clear from this that the best way of studying these phenomena\nis when only one set of inner faculties, that of the sensitive, is in\nplay.  This takes place always when the object the sensitive has to\nabnormally perceive is independent of the will of any other person, as\nin the case of its being represented on paper.\n\nApplying the same law to dreams, we can find the rationale of the\npopular superstition that facts are generally inverted in dreams. To\ndream of something good is generally taken to be the precursor of\nsomething evil.  In the exceptional cases in which dreams have been\nfound to be prophetic, the dreamer was either affected by another's will\nor under the operation of some disturbing forces, which cannot be\ncalculated except for each particular case.\n\nIn this connection another very important psychic phenomenon may be\nnoticed.  Instances are too numerous and too well authenticated to be\namenable to dispute, in which an occurrence at a distance--for instance,\nthe death of a person--has pictured itself to the mental vision of one\ninterested in the occurrence. In such cases the double of the dying man\nappears even at a great distance, and becomes visible usually to his\nfriend only, but instances are not rare when the double is seen by a\nnumber of persons.  The former case comes within the class of cases\nunder consideration, as the concentrated thought of the dying man is\nclairvoyantly seen by the friend, and the incidents correctly reproduced\nby the operation of the dying man's will-energy, while the latter is the\nappearance of the genuine mayavirupa, and therefore not governed by the\nlaw under discussion.\n\n--Mohini M. Chatterji\n\n\n\n\n\"Precipitation\"\n\n\nOr all phenomena produced by occult agency in connection with our\nSociety, none have been witnessed by a more extended circle of\nspectators, or more widely known and commented on through recent\nTheosophical publications, than the mysterious production of letters.\nThe phenomenon itself has been so well described in the \"Occult World\"\nand elsewhere, that it would be useless to repeat the description here.\nOur present purpose is more connected with the process than the\nphenomenon of the mysterious formation of letters.  Mr. Sinnett sought\nfor an explanation of the process, and elicited the following reply from\nthe revered Mahatma, who corresponds with him:--\"....Bear in mind these\nletters are not written, but impressed, or precipitated, and then all\nmistakes corrected .... I have to think it over, to photograph every\nword and sentence carefully in my brain, before it can be repeated by\nprecipitation.  As the fixing on chemically-prepared surfaces of the\nimages formed by the camera requires a previous arrangement within the\nfocus of the object to be represented, for, otherwise--as often found\nin bad photographs--the legs of the sitter might appear out of all\nproportion with the head, and so on--so we here to first arrange our\nsentences, and impress every letter to appear on paper in our minds,\nbefore it becomes fit to be read. For the present, it is all I can tell\nyou.\"\n\nSince the above was written, the Masters have been pleased to permit the\nveil to be drawn aside a little more, and the modus operandi can thus be\nexplained now more fully to the outsider.\n\nThose having even a superficial knowledge of the science of mesmerism\nknow how the thoughts of the mesmeriser, though silently formulated in\nhis mind, are instantly transferred to that of the subject.  It is not\nnecessary for the operator, if he is sufficiently powerful, to be\npresent near the subject to produce the above result.  Some celebrated\npractitioners in this science are known to have been able to put their\nsubjects to sleep even from a distance of several days' journey.  This\nknown fact will serve us as a guide in comprehending the comparatively\nunknown subject now under discussion.  The work of writing the letters\nin question is carried on by a sort of psychic telegraphy;  the\nMahatmas very rarely write their letters in the ordinary way.  An\nelectro-magnetic connection, so to say, exists on the psychic plane\nbetween a Mahatma and his chelas, one of whom acts as his amanuensis.\nWhen the Master wants a letter to be written in this way, he very often\ndraws the attention of the chela, whom he selects for the task, by\ncausing an astral bell (heard by so many of our Fellows and others) to\nbe rung near him, just as the despatching telegraph office signals to\nthe receiving office before wiring the message.  The thoughts arising in\nthe mind of the Mahatma are then clothed in words, pronounced mentally,\nand forced along currents in the astral light impinge on the brain of\nthe pupil. Thence they are borne by the nerve-currents to the palms of\nhis hands and the tips of his fingers, which rest on a piece of\nmagnetically-prepared paper.  As the thought waves are thus impressed on\nthe tissue, materials are drawn to it from the ocean of akas (permeating\nevery atom of the sensuous universe) by an occult process, out of place\nhere to describe, and permanent marks are left.\n\nFrom this it is abundantly clear that the success of such writing, as\nabove described, depends chiefly upon two conditions:--(1) The force\nand clearness with which the thoughts are propelled;  and (2) the\nfreedom of the receiving brain from disturbance of every description.\nThe case with the ordinary electric telegraph is exactly the same.  If,\nfor some reason or other, the battery supplying the electric power falls\nbelow the requisite strength on any telegraph line, or there is some\nderangement in the receiving apparatus, the message transmitted becomes\neither mutilated or otherwise imperfectly legible. Inaccuracies, in\nfact, do very often arise, as may be gathered from what the Mahatma says\nin the above extract.  \"Bear in mind,\" says he, \"that these letters are\nnot written, but impressed, or precipitated, and then all mistakes\ncorrected.\"  To turn to the sources of error in the precipitation.\nRemembering the circumstances under which blunders arise in telegrams,\nwe see that if a Mahatma somehow becomes exhausted, or allows his\nthoughts to wander during the process, or fails to command the requisite\nintensity in the astral currents along which his thoughts are projected,\nor the distracted attention of the pupil produces disturbances in his\nbrain and nerve-centres, the success of the process is very much\ninterfered with.\n\nIt is to be regretted that illustrations of the above general principles\nare not permitted to be published.  Enough, however, has been disclosed\nto give the public a clue to many apparent mysteries in regard to\nprecipitated letters, and to draw all earnest and sincere inquirers\nstrongly to the path of spiritual progress, which alone can lead to the\ncomprehension of occult phenomena.\n\n--Anon.\n\n\n\n\n\"How Shall We Sleep?\"\n\n\nIt appears that the opinion of Mr. Seeta Nath Ghose and of Baron Von\nReichenbach are in direct conflict on the subject of this paper, the\nlatter recommending the head of the sleeper to be northward, the former\nentirely condemning that position.\n\nIt is my humble opinion that both writers are right, each from his own\nstandpoint, as I shall try to show.  What is the reason that our\nposition in sleep should be of any consequence?  Because our body must\nbe in a position at harmony with the main magnetic currents of the\nearth;  but as these currents are not the same in all parts of the world\nthe positions of the sleeper must, therefore, vary.\n\nThere are three main magnetic currents on our earth--viz., in the\nnorthern hemisphere, from north pole towards the equator;  in the\nsouthern hemisphere, from south pole towards the equator;  these two\ncurrents meeting in the torrid zone continue their combined course from\neast to west.  So the position of the sleeper must vary according as he\nfinds himself to the north or south of the torrid zone or within it.\n\nIn the north frigid or temperate zone, he has to lie with his head\nnorthward;  in the southern, southward;  in the torrid zone, eastward--\nin order that the magnetic current may pass through him from head to\nfoot without disturbance, as this is the natural position for\nmagnetization.\n\nThe following diagram may give a clearer view of the case, and thus help\nus to answer the second part of the question, whether and when we ought\nto lie on the right or the left side, on the stomach or on the back:--\n\n[[Diagram here]]\n\nThe able writer of  \"How Shall we Sleep?\" shows, in his cross diagram,\nthat he thinks the head to be entirely positive and both feet negative.\nI think that this is not the case, but that the right side of the head\nand the left foot are positive, and the left side of the head and the\nright foot negative, and similarly the right hand is negative and the\nleft hand is positive.\n\nAs the north pole is positive and the left side of the head negative,\nthe natural position in sleep for those living within the northern zones\nwould be on the right side, head northward; and it is obvious that in\nthe southern zones the position must be exactly the reverse.  As to\nthose who live under the tropics, lying on the stomach seems to me to be\nthe most natural position, since the left, or negative side of the head,\nis turned to the north or positive current, and vice versa.\n\nFor many years I and my family have been sleeping with our heads either\nto the north or the west (the right position in our hemisphere, in my\nopinion), and we had no occasion to regret it; for from that time\nforward the physician has become a rare visitor in our house.\n\nMr. Seeta Nath Ghose says, in his interesting paper on \"Medical\nMagnetism,\" that Mandulies (metallic cells) are worn to great advantage\nin India on diseased parts of the body.  The curative properties of\nthese cells I have seen verified in authentic instances.  When, years\nago (I believe about 1852), cholera was devastating some parts of\nEurope, it was remarked at Munich (Bavaria) that among the thousands of\nits victims there was not a single coppersmith.  Hence, it was\nrecommended by the medical authorities of that town to wear disks of\nthin copperplate (of about 2 1/2 inch diameter) on a string, on the pit\nof the stomach, and they proved to be a powerful preventive of cholera.\nAgain, in 1867, cholera visited Odessa.\n\nI and my whole family wore these copper disks;  and while all around\nthere were numerous cases of cholera and dysentery, not one of us was\nattacked.  I propose that serious experiments should be made in this\ndirection, and specially in those countries which are periodically\ndevastated by that disease:  as India, for instance.  It is my\nconviction that one disk of copper on the stomach, and another of zinc\non the spine, opposite the former, will be of still better service, the\nmore so if the disks are joined by a thin copper chain.\n\n--Gustave Zorn\n\n\nIn the first place it is necessary to say that the rules laid down by\nGarga, Markandeya and others on the above subject, refer to the\ninhabitants of the plains only, and not to dwellers on mountains.  The\nrule is that on retiring a man should first lie on his right side for\nthe period of sixteen breathings, then turn on his left for double that\ntime, and after that he can sleep in any position.  Further, that a man\nmust not sleep on the ground, on silken or woollen cloth, under a\nsolitary tree, where cross-roads meet, on mountains, or on the sky\n(whatever that may mean). Nor is he to sleep with damp clothes, wet\nfeet, or in a naked state;  and, unless an initiate, should not sleep on\nKusha grass or its varieties.  There are many more such rules.  I may\nhere notice that in Sanskrit the right hand or side and south are\nsignified by the same term.  So also the front and north have one and\nthe same name.  The sun is the great and chief source of life and\nmagnetism in the solar system.\n\nHence to the world the east is positive as the source of light and\nmagnetism.  For the same reason, to the northern hemisphere the south\n(the equator and not the north) is positive.  Under the laws of dynamics\nthe resultant of these two forces will be a current in the directed from\nS.E. to N.W.  This, I think, is one of the real causes of the prevailing\nsouth-east wind.  At any rate, I do not think the north pole to be\npositive, as there would be no snow there in such a case.  The aurora\ncannot take place at the source of the currents, but at their close.\nHence the source must be towards the equator or south.  The course of\nlife, civilization, light, and almost everything seems to be from E. to\nW. or S.E. to N.W.  The penalty for sleeping with the head to the west\nis said to be anxiety of mind, while sleeping with the head to the north\nis considered fatal.  I beg to invite the attention of the Hindus to a\nsimilar penalty of death incurred by any but an initiate (Brahman)\npronouncing the sacred Pranava (Om).  This does not prove that Pranava\nis really a mischievous bad word, but that, with incompetent men, it is\nfraught with danger.  So also, in the case of ordinary men of the\nplains, there may be unknown dangers which it would not be prudent for\nthem to risk so long as they do not know how to meet them, or so long as\nthey are not under the guidance of men who can protect them.  In short,\nordinary men should move on in their beaten course, and these rules are\nfor them only.\n\nAs an instance of the infringement of the rule the following anecdote is\ngiven:--\n\nAfter Ganesha (Siva's son) was born, all the Devas (gods) came to\ncongratulate the family and bless the child.  Sani or Saturn, was the\nlast to come, and even then he came after he had been several times\ninquired after.  When he went to see the infant, it appeared headless!\nThis at once created a sensation, and all the Devas were at their wits'\nend.  At last Saturn himself approached Mahadeva with folded hands and\nreminded him that it was due to his presence, and the child having been\nkept in a bed with its head to the north.  For such was the law.  Then\nthe Devas consulted together and sent out messengers to find out who\nelse was sleeping with the head to the north.  At last they discovered\nan elephant in that position.  Its head was immediately cut off and\nplaced on the shoulders of Ganesha.  It need not be said that Ganesha\nbecame afterwards so learned and wise that if he had not had an\nelephant's head, a human head would never have been sufficient to hold\nall he knew.  This advantage he owed to the circumstance of his sleeping\nwith head to the north, and the blessing of the Devas.  To the elephant,\nthe same position but minus the blessing of the Devas proved absolute\ndeath.\n\n--Nobin K. Bannerji\n\n\n\nReading Mr. Seeta Nath Ghose's paper on \"Medical Magnetism\" and having\nstudied long ago Baron von Reichenbach's \"Researches in Magnetism,\" I am\nsorely puzzled, inasmuch as these two authorities appear to clash with\neach other most completely--the one asserting \"head to north never,\nunder no circumstances,\" the other \"head to north ever and under all\ncircumstances.\"  I have pursued the advice of the latter, not knowing of\nthe former for many years, but have not found the effect on my health\nwhich I had hoped for, and what is of more importance, I have not found\na law of certain application to humanity and bringing health to all.  It\nseems to me on carefully reading this article that a most important\npoint has been omitted or passed over--i.e., the position of the\nsleeper, whether on his face or on his back? This is most important, for\na correct answer may go far to reconcile the two theories, which, be it\nremembered, claim both to be supported by experiment and by observation.\nI cannot conceive that a one-sided position is a natural one for man,\nand thus leave two alternatives.  Is the proper position in sleep lying\non the back or on the stomach?  Not one word has been said as to the\nposition in which experiments were tried on either side.\n\nNow the one thing which seems clear in all this is, that positive should\nbe toward negative and negative toward positive.  Let us then draw a\ndiagram and these positions will follow with these results--taking the\nnorth as positive and south as negative, east as negative and west as\npositive.\n\nPosition I.--Lying on the Back.\n\nA. Head to East ............ Accord in all\nB. Head to North ..........  Discord--Head and feet\n                             Accord--Hands.\nC. Head to South ........... Accord--Head and feet.\n                             Discord--Hands.\nD. Head to West ............ Discord in all.\n\n---529\n\n\n[[Diagram here]]\n\n\nPosition II.--Lying on Stomach\n\nA'. Head to East ........ Accord--in Head and feet\n                          Discord--in Hands\nB'. Head to North ....... Discord in all\nC'. Head to South ....... Accord in all\nD'. Head to West ........ Discord--Head and feet\n                          Accord--Hands\n\nNow, from this will come some light, I think on the apparently\ncontradictory theories, if we could ascertain:  (1) Which position did\nthe renowned Garga and Markandeya contemplate as the proper position for\nmen to sleep in?  (2) In which position did those on whom Baron von\nReichenbach experimented lie?\n\nThis is a most important question for all who value the gift of health,\nas well as for those who would be wise.  In my sojourn in southern\ncountries I have noticed that the natives of the lower classes at least\nalways sleep on their stomachs, with their back turned to the sun, and\nall animals do the same, while sleeping on the back is most dangerous,\nat least in the sun.  Is not this a guide or hint as to the true\nposition?\n\nTransmigration of the Life-Atoms\n\nIt is said that \"for three thousand years at least the 'mummy,' not\nwithstanding all the chemical preparations, goes on throwing off to the\nlast invisible atoms, which, from the hour of death, reentering the\nvarious vortices of being, go indeed through every variety of organized\nlife-forms.  But it is not the soul, the fifth, least of all the sixth\nprinciple, but the life-atoms of the Jiva, the second principle.  At the\nend of the 3,000 years, sometimes more, and sometimes less, after\nendless transmigrations, all these atoms are once more drawn together,\nand are made to form the new outer clothing or the body of the same\nmonad (the real soul) which they had already clothed two or three\nthousand years before.  Even in the worst case, that of the annihilation\nof the conscious personal principle, the monad or individual soul is\never the same, as are also the atoms of the lower principles, which,\nregenerated and renewed in this ever-flowing river of being, are\nmagnetically drawn together owing to their affinity, and are once more\nreincarnated together.\"\n\nThis little passage is a new instalment of occult teaching given to the\npublic, and opens up a vast field for thought.  It suggests, in the\nfirst instance, that the exoteric doctrine of the transmigration of the\nsoul through lower forms of existence--so generally believed in by the\nHindus, though incorrect as regards the soul (fifth principle)--has some\nbasis of truth when referred to the lower principles.\n\nIt is stated further that the mummy goes on throwing off invisible\natoms, which go through every variety of organized life-forms, and\nfurther on it is stated that it is the life-atoms of the Jiva, the\nsecond principle, that go through these transmigrations.\n\nAccording to the esoteric teaching, the Jiva \"is a form of force\nindestructible, and, when disconnected with one set of atoms, becoming\nattracted immediately by others.\"\n\nWhat, then, is meant by the life-atoms, and their going through endless\ntransmigrations?\n\nThe invisible atoms of the mummy would mean the imperceptibly decaying\natoms of the physical body, and the life-atoms of the Jiva would be\nquite distinct from the atoms of the mummy.  Is it meant to imply that\nboth the invisible atoms of the physical body, as well as the atoms of\nthe Jiva, after going through various life-forms, return again to\nre-form the physical body, and the Jiva of the entity that has reached\nthe end of its Devachanic state and is ready to be reincarnated again?\n\nIt is taught, again, that even in the worst case (the annihilation of\nthe Personal Ego) the atoms of the lower principles are the same as in\nthe previous birth.  Here, does the term \"lower principles\" include the\nKama rupa also, or only the lower triad of body, Jiva, and Lingasarira?\nIt seems the Kama rupa in that particular case cannot be included, for\nin the instance of the annihilation of the personal soul, the Kama rupa\nwould be in the eighth sphere.\n\nAnother question also suggests itself.  The fourth principle (Kama rupa)\nand the lower portion of the fifth, which cannot be assimilated by the\nsixth, wander about as shells, and in time disperse into the elements of\nwhich they are made.  Do the atoms of these principles also reunite,\nafter going through various transmigrations, to constitute over again\nthe fourth and the lower fifth of the next incarnation?\n\n--N.D.K.\n\nNote\n\nWe would, to begin with, draw attention to the closing sentence of the\npassage quoted above:  \"Such was the true occult theory of the\nEgyptians,\" the word \"true\" being used there in the sense of its being\nthe doctrine they really believed in, as distinct from both the tenets\nfathered upon them by some Orientalists, and that which the modern\noccultists may be now teaching.  It does not stand to reason that,\noutside those occult truths that were known to, and revealed by, the\ngreat Hierophants during the final initiation, we should accept all that\neither the Egyptians or any other people may have regarded as true.  The\nPriests of Isis were the only true initiates, and their occult teachings\nwere still more veiled than those of the Chaldeans.  There was the true\ndoctrine of the Hierophants of the inner Temple;  then the half-veiled\nHieratic tenets of the Priest of the outer Temple;  and, finally, the\nvulgar popular religion of the great body of the ignorant, who were\nallowed to reverence animals as divine.  As shown correctly by Sir\nGardner Wilkinson, the initiated priests taught that \"dissolution is\nonly the cause of reproduction .... nothing perishes which has once\nexisted, but things which appear to be destroyed only change their\nnatures and pass into another form.\"  To the present case, however, the\nEgyptian doctrine of atoms coincides with our own occult teachings.  In\nthe above remarks the words, \"The life-atoms of the Jiva,\" are taken in\na strictly literal sense.  Without any doubt Jiva or Prana is quite\ndistinct from the atoms it animates.  The latter belong to the lowest or\ngrossest state of matter--the objectively conditioned; the former, to a\nhigher state--that state which the uninitiated, ignorant of its nature,\nwould call the \"objectively finite,\" but which, to avoid any future\nmisunderstanding, we may, perhaps, be permitted to call the subjectively\neternal, though, at the same time and in one sense, the subsistent\nexistence, however paradoxical and unscientific the term may appear.*\nLife, the occultist says, is the eternal uncreated energy, and it alone\nrepresents in the infinite universe, that which the physicists have\nagreed to name the principle, or the law of continuity, though they\napply it only to the endless development of the conditioned.\n\nBut since modern science admits, through her most learned professors,\nthat \"energy has as much claim to be regarded as an objective reality as\nmatter itself\"** and as life, according to the occult doctrine, is the\none energy acting, Proteus-like, under the most varied forms, the\noccultists have a certain right to use such phraseology.  Life is ever\npresent in the atom or matter, whether organic or inorganic--a\ndifference that the occultists do not accept.  Their doctrine is that\nlife is as much present in the inorganic as in the organic matter:  when\nlife-energy is active in the atom, that atom is organic;  when dormant\nor latent, then the atom is inorganic.\n\n--------\n* Though there is a distinct term for it in the language of the adepts,\nhow can one translate it into a European language?  What name can be\ngiven to that which is objective yet immaterial in its finite\nmanifestations, subjective yet substantive (though not in our sense of\nsubstance) in its eternal existence?  Having explained it the best we\ncan, we leave the task of finding a more appropriate term for it to our\nlearned English occultists.\n\n** \"Unseen Universe.\"\n----------\n\nTherefore, the expression \"life-atom,\" though apt in one sense to\nmislead the reader, is not incorrect after all, since occultists do not\nrecognize that anything in Nature can be inorganic, and know of no \"dead\natoms,\" whatever meaning science may give to the adjective.  The law of\nbiogenesis, as ordinarily understood, is the result of the ignorance of\nthe man of science of occult physics.  It is accepted because the man of\nscience is unable to find the necessary means to awaken into activity\nthe dormant life inherent in what he terms an inorganic atom;  hence the\nfallacy that a living thing can only be produced from a living thing, as\nthough there ever was such a thing as dead matter in Nature!  At this\nrate, and to be consistent, a mule ought to be also classed with\ninorganic matter, since it is unable to reproduce itself and generate\nlife.  We dwell so much upon the above as it meets at once all future\nopposition to the idea that a mummy, several thousand years old, can be\nthrowing off atoms.  Nevertheless, the sentence would perhaps have\ngained in clearness if we had said, instead of the \"life-atoms of jiva,\"\nthe atoms \"animated by dormant Jiva or life-energy.\"  Again, the\ndefinition of Jiva quoted above, though quite correct on the whole,\nmight be more fully, if not more clearly, expressed.  The \"jiva,\" or\nlife, principle, which animates man, beast, plant, and even a mineral,\ncertainly is \"a form of force indestructible,\" since this force is the\none life, or anima mundi, the universal living soul, and that the\nvarious modes in which objective things appear to us in Nature in their\natomic aggregations, such as minerals, plants, animals, &c., are all the\ndifferent forms or states in which this force manifests itself.  Were it\nto become--we will not say absent, for this is impossible, since it is\nomnipresent--but for one single instant inactive, say in a stone, the\nparticles of the latter would lose instantly their cohesive property,\nand disintegrate as suddenly, though the force would still remain in\neach of its particles, but in a dormant state.  Then the continuation of\nthe definition, which states that when this indestructible force is\n\"disconnected with one set of atoms, it becomes attracted immediately by\nothers,\" does not imply that it abandons entirely the first set, but\nonly that it transfers its vis viva, or living power--the energy of\nmotion--to another set. But because it manifests itself in the next set\nas what is called kinetic energy, it does not follow that the first set\nis deprived of it altogether;  for it is still in it, as potential\nenergy, or life latent.*  This is a cardinal and basic truth of\noccultism, on the perfect knowledge of which depends the production of\nevery phenomenon.  Unless we admit this point, we should have to give up\nall the other truths of occultism.  Thus what is \"meant by the life-atom\ngoing through endless transmigration\" is simply this: we regard and\ncall, in our occult phraseology, those atoms that are moved by kinetic\nenergy as \"life-atoms,\" while those that are for the time being passive,\ncontaining but imperceptible potential energy, we call \"sleeping atoms;\"\nregarding, at the same time, these two forms of energy as produced by\none and the same force or life.\n\n-------\n* We feel constrained to make use of terms that have become technical in\nmodern science--though they do not always fully express the idea to be\nconveyed--for want of better words.  It is useless to hope that the\noccult doctrine may be ever thoroughly understood, even the few tenets\nthat can be safely given to the world at large, unless a glossary of\nsuch words is edited;  and, what is of a still greater importance, until\nthe full and correct meaning of the terms therein taught is thoroughly\nmastered.\n---------\n\nNow to the Hindu doctrine of Metempsychosis.  It has a basis of truth;\nand, in fact, it is an axiomatic truth, but only in reference to human\natoms and emanations, and that not only after a man's death, but during\nthe whole period of his life.  The esoteric meaning of the Laws of Manu\n(sec. XII. 3, and XII. 54 and ), of the verses asserting that \"every\nact, either mental, verbal or corporeal, bears good or evil fruit\n(Karma),\" that \"the various transmigrations of men (not souls) through\nthe highest, middle and lowest stages, are produced by their actions,\"\nand again that \"a Brahman-killer enters the body of a dog, bear, ass,\ncamel, goat, sheep, bird, &c.,\" bears no reference to the human Ego, but\nonly to the atoms of his body, his lower triad and his fluidic\nemanations. It is all very well for the Brahmans to distort, in their\nown interest, the real meaning contained in these laws, but the words as\nquoted never meant what they were made to yield later on.  The Brahmans\napplied them selfishly to themselves, whereas by \"Brahman,\" man's\nseventh principle, his immortal monad and the essence of the personal\nEgo were allegorically meant.  He who kills or extinguishes in himself\nthe light of Parabrahm--i.e., severs his personal Ego from the Atman,\nand thus kills the future Devachanee, becomes a \"Brahman killer.\"\nInstead of facilitating, through a virtuous life and spiritual\naspirations, the union of the Buddhi and the Manas, he condemns, by his\nown evil acts, every atom of his lower principles to become attracted\nand drawn in virtue of the magnetic affinity, thus created by his\npassions, into the bodies of lower animals. This is the real meaning of\nthe doctrine of Metempsychosis.  It is not that such amalgamation of\nhuman particles with animal or even vegetable atoms can carry in it any\nidea of personal punishment per se, for of course it does not.  But it\nis a cause, the effects of which may manifest themselves throughout\nsucceeding re-births, unless the personality is annihilated. Otherwise,\nfrom cause to effect, every effect becoming in its turn a cause, they\nwill run along the cycle of re-births, the once given impulse expending\nitself only at the threshold of Pralaya.  But of this anon.\nNotwithstanding their esoteric meaning, even the words of the grandest\nand noblest of all the adepts, Gautama Buddha, are misunderstood,\ndistorted and ridiculed in the same way.  The Hina-yana, the lowest form\nof transmigration of the Buddhist, is as little comprehended as the\nMaha-yana, its highest form;  and, because Sakya Muni is shown to have\nonce remarked to his Bhikkhus, while pointing out to them a broom, that\n\"it had formerly been a novice who neglected to sweep out\" the\nCouncil-room, hence was re-born as a broom (!), therefore, the wisest of\nall the world's sages stands accused of idiotic superstition.  Why not\ntry and find out, before condemning, the true meaning of the figurative\nstatement?  Why should we scoff before we understand?  Is or is not that\nwhich is called magnetic effluvium a something, a stuff, or a substance,\ninvisible, and imponderable though it be?  If the learned authors of\n\"The Unseen Universe\" object to light, heat and electricity being\nregarded merely as imponderables, and show that each of these phenomena\nhas as much claim to be recognized as an objective reality as matter\nitself, our right to regard the mesmeric or magnetic fluid which\nemanates from man to man, or even from man to what is termed an\ninanimate object, is far greater.  It is not enough to say that this\nfluid is a species of molecular energy like heat, for instance, though\nof much greater potency.  Heat is produced when ever kinetic energy is\ntransformed into molecular energy, we are told, and it may be thrown out\nby any material composed of sleeping atoms, or inorganic matter as it is\ncalled;  whereas the magnetic fluid projected by a living human body is\nlife itself.   Indeed it is \"life-atoms\" that a man in a blind passion\nthrows off unconsciously, though he does it quite as effectively as a\nmesmeriser who transfers them from himself to any object consciously and\nunder the guidance of his will.  Let any man give way to any intense\nfeeling, such as anger, grief, &c., under or near a tree, or in direct\ncontact with a stone, and after many thousands of years any tolerable\npsychometer will see the man, and perceive his feelings from one single\nfragment of that tree or stone that he had touched.  Hold any object in\nyour hand, and it will become impregnated with your life-atoms, indrawn\nand outdrawn, changed and transferred in us at every instant of our\nlives.  Animal heat is but so many life atoms in molecular motion.  It\nrequires no adept knowledge, but simply the natural gift of a good\nclairvoyant subject to see them passing to and fro, from man to objects\nand vice versa like a bluish lambent flame.  Why, then, should not a\nbroom, made of a shrub, which grew most likely in the vicinity of the\nbuilding where the lazy novice lived, a shrub, perhaps, repeatedly\ntouched by him while in a state of anger provoked by his laziness and\ndistaste for his duty--why should not a quantity of his life-atoms have\npassed into the materials of the future besom, and therein have been\nrecognized by Buddha, owing to his superhuman (not supernatural) powers?\nThe processes of Nature are acts of incessant borrowing and giving back.\nThe materialistic sceptic, however, will not take anything in any other\nway than in a literal, dead-letter sense.\n\nTo conclude our too long answer, the \"lower principles\" mentioned before\nare the first, second and the third.  They cannot include the Kama rupa,\nfor this \"rupa\" belongs to the middle, not the lower principles.  And,\nto our correspondent's further query, \"Do the atoms of these (the fourth\nand the fifth) also re-form, after going through various\ntransmigrations, to constitute over again the fourth and the lower fifth\nof the next incarnation?\" we answer, \"They do.\"  The reason why we have\ntried to explain the doctrine of the \"life-atoms\" at such length, is\nprecisely in connection with this last question, and with the object of\nthrowing out one more fertile hint.  We do not feel at liberty at\npresent, however, to give any further details.\n\n--H.P. Blavatsky\n\n\n\n\n\"OM,\" And Its Practical Significance\n\n\nI shall begin with a definition of Om, as given by the late Professor\nTheodore Goldstucker:--\n\n\"Om is a Sanskrit word which, on account of the mystical notions that\neven at an early date of Hindu civilization were connected with it,\nacquired much importance in the development of Hindu religion.  Its\noriginal sense is that of emphatic or solemn affirmation or assent.\nThus, when in the White Yajur Veda the sacrificer invites the gods to\nrejoice in his sacrifice, the goddess Savitri assents to his summons by\nsaying, 'Om' (i.e., be it so);  proceed!\"\n\nOr, when in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Prajapati, the father of gods,\nmen and demons, asks the gods whether they have understood his\ninstructions, he expresses his satisfaction with their affirmative reply\nin these words, \"Om, you have fully comprehended it;\"  and in the same\nUpanishad, Pravahana answers the question of Swetaketu, as to whether\nhis father has instructed him, by uttering the word \"Om\"--i.e.,\n\"forsooth (I am).\"\n\nA portion of the Rig Veda called the Aitareya Brahmana, where,\ndescribing a religious ceremony at which verses from the Rig Veda, as\nwell as songs called Gathas, were recited by the priest called Hotri,\nand responses given by another priest, the Adhwaryu, says:  Om is the\nresponse of the Adhwaryu to the Rig Veda verses (recited by the Hotri),\nand likewise tatha (i.e., thus) his response to the Gathas, for Om is\n(the term of assent) used by the gods, whereas tatha is (the term of\nassent) used by men (the Rig Veda verses being, to the orthodox Hindu,\nof divine and the Gathas of human authorship).\n\nIn this, the original sense of the word, it is little doubtful that Om\nis but an older and contracted form of the common Sanskrit word evam\n(\"thus\"), which, coming from the pronominal base \"a,\" in some\nderivations changed to \"e,\" may have at one time occurred in the form\navam, when, by the elision of the vowel following a, for which there are\nnumerous analogies in Sanskrit, vum would become aum, and hence,\naccording to the ordinary phonetic laws of the language, Om.  This\netymology of the word, however, seems to have been lost even at an early\nperiod of Sanskrit literature;  for another is met with in the ancient\ngrammarians, enabling us to account for the mysticism which many\nreligious and theological works of ancient and medieval India suppose to\ninhere in it.  According to this latter etymology, Om would come from a\nradical av;  by means of an affix man, when Om would be a curtailed form\nof avman or oman, and as av implies the notion of \"protect, preserve,\nsave,\" Om would be a term implying \"protection or salvation,\" its\nmystical properties and its sanctity being inferred from its occurrence\nin the Vedic writings and in connection with sacrificial acts, such as\nare alluded to before.\n\nHence Om became the auspicious word with which the spiritual teacher had\nto begin and the pupil to end each lesson of his reading of the Veda.\n\n\"Let this syllable,\" the existing Prati-sakhya, or a grammar of the Rig\nVeda, enjoins, \"be the head of the reading of the Veda; for alike to the\nteacher and the pupil it is the supreme Brahman, the gate of heaven.\"\nAnd Manu ordains:  \"A Brahman at the beginning and end (of a lesson on\nthe Veda) must always pronounce the syllable Om;  for unless Om precede,\nhis learning will slip away from him;  and unless it follows, nothing\nwill be long retained.\"\n\nAt the time when another class of writings (the Puranas) were added to\nthe inspired code of Hinduism, for a similar reason Om is their\nintroductory word.\n\nThat the mysterious power which, as the foregoing quotation from the\nlaw-book of Manu shows, was attributed to this word must have been the\nsubject of early speculation, is obvious enough.  A reason assigned for\nit is given by Manu himself.  \"Brahma,\" he says, \"extracted from the\nthree Vedas the letter a, the letter u, and the letter m (which combined\nresult in Om), together with the (mysterious) words Bhuh (earth), Bhuva\n(sky), and Swah (heaven);\" and in another verse:  \"These three great\nimmutable words, preceded by the syllable Om, and (the sacred Rig Veda\nverse called) Gayatri, consisting of three lines, must be considered as\nthe mouth (or entrance) of Brahman (the Veda),\" or, as the commentators\nobserve, the means of attaining final emancipation; and \"The syllable Om\nis the supreme Brahman.  (Three) regulated breathings, accompanied with\nthe mental recitation of Om, the three mysterious words Bhuh, Bhuvah,\nSwah and the Gayatri, are the highest devotion.\"\n\n\"All rites ordained in the Veda, such as burnt and other sacrifices,\npass away, but the syllable Om must be considered as imperishable;  for\nit is (a symbol of) Brahman (the supreme spirit) himself, the Lord of\nCreation.\"  In these speculations Manu bears out, and is borne out by,\nseveral Upanishads.  In the Katha-Upanishad for instance, Yama, the god\nof death, in replying to a question of Nachiketas, says:  \"The word\nwhich all the Vedas record, which all the modes of penance proclaim,\ndesirous of which religious students perform their duties, this word I\nwill briefly tell thee--it is Om.  This syllable means the (inferior)\nBrahman and the supreme (Brahman).  Whoever knows this syllable obtains\nwhatever he wishes.\"  And in the Pras'na-Upanishad the saint Pippalada\nsays to Satyakama:  \"The supreme and the inferior Brahman are both the\nword Om;  hence the wise follow by this support the one or the other of\nthe two.  If he meditates upon its one letter (a) only, he is quickly\nborn on the earth;  is carried by the verses of the Rig Veda to the\nworld of man;  and, if he is devoted there to austerity, the duties of a\nreligious student and faith, he enjoys greatness.  But if he meditates\nin his mind on its two letters (a and u), he is elevated by the verses\nof the Yajur Veda to the intermediate region;  comes to the world of the\nmoon and, having enjoyed there power, returns again (to the world of\nman).  If, however, he meditates on the supreme spirit by means of its\nthree letters (a, u, and m) he is produced in light in the sun;  as the\nsnake is liberated from its skin, so is he liberated from sin.\"\nAccording to the Mandukya-Upanishad the nature of the soul is\nsummarized in the three letters a, u, and m in their isolated and\ncombined form--a being Vaiswanara, or that form of Brahman which\nrepresents the soul in its waking condition;  a, Taijasa, or that form\nof Brahman which represents it in its dreaming state;  and m, Piajna, or\nthat form of Brahman which represents it in its state of profound sleep\n(or that state in which it is temporarily united with the supreme\nspirit);  while a, u, m combined (i.e., Om), represent the fourth or\nhighest condition of Brahman, \"which is unaccountable, in which all\nmanifestations have ceased, which is blissful and without duality.  Om\ntherefore, is soul, and by this soul, he who knows it, enters into (the\nsupreme) soul.\"  Passages like these may be considered as the key to the\nmore enigmatic expressions used;  for instance, by the author of the\nYoga philosophy where, in three short sentences, he says his (the\nsupreme lord's) name is Pranava (i.e., Om);  its muttering (should be\nmade) and reflection on its signification;  thence comes the knowledge\nof the transcendental spirit and the absence of the obstacles (such as\nsickness, languor, doubt, &c., which obstruct the mind of an ascetic).\nBut they indicate, at the same time, the further course which\nsuperstition took in enlarging upon the mysticism of the doctrine of the\nUpanishads.  For, as soon as every letter of which the word Om consists\nwas fancied to embody a separate idea, it is intelligible that other\nsectarian explanations were grafted on them to serve special purposes.\nThus, while Sankara, the great theologian and commentator on the\nUpanishads, is still contented with an etymological punning by means of\nwhich he transforms a into an abbreviation of apti (pervading), since\nspeech is pervaded by Vaiswanara;  u into an abbreviation of utkartha\n(superiority), since Taijasa is superior to Vaiswanara; and m into an\nabbreviation of miti (destruction), Vaiswanara and Taijasa, at the\ndestruction and regeneration of the world, being, as it were, absorbed\ninto Prajna--the Puranas make of a, a name of Vishnu;  of u, a name of\nhis consort \"Sri;\"  and of m, a designation of their joint worshipper;\nor they see in a, u, m, the Triad--Brahm, Vishnu, and Siva;  the first\nbeing represented by a, the second by u, and the third by m--each sect,\nof course, identifying the combination of these letters, or Om with\ntheir supreme deity.  Thus, also, in the Bhagavadgita, which is devoted\nto the worship of Vishnu in his incarnation as Krishna, though it is\nessentially a poem of philosophical tendencies based on the doctrine of\nthe Yoga, Krishna in one passage says of himself that he is Om;  while\nin another passage he qualifies the latter as the supreme spirit.  A\ncommon designation of the word Om--for instance, in the last-named\npassages of the Bhagavadgita is the word Pranava, which comes from a\nso-called radical nu, \"praise,\" with the prefix pra amongst other\nmeanings implying emphasis, and, therefore, literally means \"eulogium,\nemphatic praise.\" Although Om, in its original sense as a word of solemn\nor emphatic assent, is, properly speaking, restricted to the Vedic\nliterature, it deserves notice that it is now-a-days often used by the\nnatives of India in the sense of \"yes,\" without, of course, any allusion\nto the mystic properties which are ascribed to it in the religious\nworks.  Monier Williams gives the following account of the mystic\nsyllable Om:  \"When by means of repeating the syllable Om, which\noriginally seems to have meant 'that' or 'yes,' they had arrived at a\ncertain degree of mental tranquillity, the question arose what was meant\nby this Om, and to this various answers were given according as the mind\nwas to be led up to higher and higher objects.  Thus, in one passage, we\nare told at first that Om is the beginning of the Veda, or as we have to\ndeal with an Upanishad of the Shama Veda, the beginning of the Shama\nVeda;  so that he who meditates on Om may be supposed to be meditating\non the whole of the Shama Veda.\n\n\"Om is the essence of the Shama Veda which, being almost entirely taken\nfrom the Rig Veda, may itself be called the essence of the Rig Veda. The\nRig Veda stands for all speech, the Shama Veda for all breath or life;\nso that Om may be conceived again as the symbol of all speech and all\nlife.  Om thus becomes the name not only of all our mental and physical\npowers, but is especially that of the living principle of the pran or\nspirit.  This is explained by the parable in the second chapter, while\nin the third chapter that spirit within us is identified with the spirit\nin the sun.\n\n\"He, therefore, who meditates on Om, meditates on the spirit in man as\nidentical with the spirit in Nature or in the sun, and thus the lesson\nthat is meant to be taught in the beginning of the Khandogya Upanishad\nis really this that none of the Vedas, with their sacrifices and\nceremonies, could ever secure the salvation of the worshipers.  That is,\nthe sacred works performed, according to the rules of the Vedas, are of\nno avail in the end, but meditation on Om, or that knowledge of what is\nmeant by Om, alone can procure true salvation or true immortality.\n\n\"Thus the pupil is led on step by step to what is the highest object of\nthe Upanishads--namely, the recognition of the self in man as identical\nof the highest soul.\n\n\"The lessons which are to lead up to that highest conception of the\nuniverse, both subjective and objective, are, no doubt, mixed up with\nmuch that is superstitious and absurd.  Still the main object is never\nlost sight of.  Thus, when we come to the eighth chapter, the\ndiscussion, though it begins with Om ends with the question of the\norigin of the world, and the final answer--namely, that Om means Akasa,\nether, and that ether is the origin of all things.\"\n\nDr. Lake considers electricity as the akas, or the fifth element of the\nHindus.\n\nI shall now give my own opinion on the mystic syllable Om.\n\nBreath consists of an inspiration termed puraka, an interval termed\nkumbhaka, and an expiration called rechaka.  When the respiration is\ncarried on by the right nostril, it is called the pingala;  when it is\ncarried on by the two nostrils, it is named the susumna;  and when it is\ncarried on by the left nostril, it is called ida.\n\nThe right respiration is called the solar respiration, from its heating\nnature;  while the left respiration is termed the lunar respiration,\nfrom its cooling character.  The susumna respiration is called the\nshambhu-nadi.  During the intermediate respiration the human mind should\nbe engaged in the contemplation of the supreme soul.\n\nThe breath takes its origin from the \"indiscreet\" or unreflecting form,\nand the mind from the breath.  The organs of sense and action are under\nthe control of the mind.  The Yogis restrain their mind by the\nsuspension of breath.  Breath is the origin of all speech.  The word\nsoham is pronounced by a deep inspiration followed by expiration carried\non by the nostrils.... This word means, \"God is in us.\"  There is\nanother word called hangsha. This is pronounced by a deep expiration\nfollowed by inspiration. Its meaning is \"I am in God.\"\n\nThe inspiration is sakti, or strength.  The expiration is siva, or\ndeath.  The internal or Kumbhaka is a promoter of longevity. When the\nexpiration is not followed by inspiration death ensues. A forcible\nexpiration is always the sure and certain sign of approaching\ndissolution or death.  Both these words soham and hanysha cause the\nwaste of the animal economy, as they permit the oxygen of the inspired\nair to enter the lungs where the pulmonary changes of the blood occur.\n\nAccording to Lavoissier, an adult Frenchman inhales daily 15,661 grains\nof oxygen from the atmosphere, at the rate of 10.87 grains nearly per\nminute.\n\nThe word Om is pronounced by the inspiration of air through the mouth\nand the expiration of the same by the nostrils.\n\nWhen a man inspires through the mouth and expires through the nostrils,\nthe oxygen of the inspired air does not enter the lungs where the\npulmonary changes of the blood take place.  The monosyllable Om thus\nacts as a substitute for the suspension of the breath.\n\nThe waste of the body is proportionate to the quantity of oxygen taken\ninto the system by the respiration.  The waste of a man who breathes\nquickly is greater than that of one who breathes slowly. While\ntranquillity of mind produces slow breathing, and causes the retardation\nof the bodily waste, the tranquil respiration has a tendency to produce\ncalmness of mind.  The Yogis attain to Nirvana by suspending or holding\nthe breath.  The Vedantists obtain moksha, or emancipation of the soul,\nby holding the mind (mental abstraction).  Thus Om is the process of\nseparating the soul from the body.  It is the product of the gasping\nbreath which precedes the dissolution of our body.  The ancient Hindus\nutilized the gasping breath of the dying man by discovering the syllable\nOm.\n\nThe syllable Om protects man from premature decay and death, preserves\nhim from worldly temptations, and saves him from re-birth.  It causes\nthe union of the human soul to the supreme soul.  Om has the property of\nshortening the length of respiration.\n\nSiva is made to say in a work on \"Sharodaya\" (an excellent treatise on\nrespiration) that the normal length of the expiration is 9 inches.\nDuring meals and speaking the length of the expiration becomes 13.5\ninches.  In ordinary walking the expiration is lengthened to 18 inches.\nRunning lengthens the expiration to 25.5 inches.\n\nIn sexual intercourse the extent of respiration becomes 48.75 inches.\nDuring sleep the respiration becomes 75 inches long. As sleep causes a\ngreat waste of the body and invites disease, premature decay and death,\nthe Yogi tries to abstain from it. He lives upon the following\ndietary:--rice, 6 ounces troy; milk, 12 ounces troy.  He consumes daily:\ncarbon, 156.2 grains; nitrogen, 63.8 grains.\n\nUnder this diet he is ever watchful, and spends his time in the\ncontemplation of Om.  From the small quantity of nitrogen contained in\nhis diet he is free from anger.  The Yogi next subdues his carnal desire\nor sexual appetite.  He diminishes day by day his food until it reaches\nthe minimum quantity on which existence is maintained.  He passes his\nlife in prayer and meditation.  He seeks retirement.  He lives in his\nlittle cell; his couch is the skin of tiger or stag;  he regards gold,\nsilver, and all precious stones as rubbish.  He abstains from flesh,\nfish, and wine.  He never touches salt, and lives entirely on fruits and\nroots.  I saw a female mendicant who lived upon a seer of potatoes and a\nsmall quantity of tamarind pulp daily.  This woman reduced herself to a\nskeleton.  She led a pure, chaste life, and spent her time in the mental\nrecitation of Om.  One seer of potatoes contains 3,600 grains of solid\nresidue, which is exactly 7 1/2 ounces troy.\n\nThe solid residue of one seer of potatoes consists of the following\nultimate ingredients:--\n\nCarbon .............. 1587.6 grains\nHydrogen ............  208.8    \"\nNitrogen .............  43.2    \"\nOxygen .............. 1580.4    \"\nSalts .................180.0    \"\n                        --------\n                      3600.0    \"\n\nI saw a Brahman (Brahmachari) who consumed daily one seer of milk, and\ntook no other food.\n\nAnalysis of One Seer of Cow's Milk by Boussingault.\n\nWater ....................... 12,539.520 grains\nCarbon ......................  1,005.408     \"\nHydrogen ......................  164.736     \"\nNitrogen .......................  74.880     \"\nOxygen ......................... 525.456     \"\nSalts ........................... 90.000     \"\n                                  -----------\n                              14,400.000     \"\n\nNow, one seer of cow's milk requires for combustion within the animal\neconomy 3278.88 grains of oxygen.  The Brahmachari inhaled 2.27 grains\nof oxygen per minute.  This Brahmachari spent his life in the\ncontemplation of Om, and led a life of continence. The French adult, who\nis a fair specimen of well-developed sensuality, inhaled from the\natmosphere 10.87 grains of oxygen every minute of his existence.\n\nA retired, abstemious, and austere life is essentially necessary for the\npronunciation of Om, which promotes the love of rigid virtue and a\ncontempt of impermanent sensuality.  Siva says \"He who is free from\nlust, anger, covetousness and ignorance is qualified to obtain\nsalvation, or moksha,\" or the Nirvana of the Buddhists.  The solid\nresidue of one seer of cow's milk is 1860.48 grains.  \"In 1784 a student\nof physic at Edinburgh confined himself for a long space of time to a\npint of milk and half a pound of white bread.\"\n\nThe diet of this student contained 1487.5 grains of carbon and 80.1875\ngrains of nitrogen.  This food required 4,305 grains of oxygen for the\ncomplete combustion of its elements.  He inspired 2.92 grains of oxygen\nper minute.  In this instance the intense mental culture diminished the\nquantity of oxygen inspired from the atmosphere.  The early Christian\nhermits, with a view to extinguish carnal desire and overcome sleep,\nlived upon a daily allowance of 12 ounces of bread and water.  They\ndaily consumed 4063.084 grains of oxygen.  They inhaled oxygen at the\nrate of 2.8215 grains per minute.\n\nAccording to M. Andral, the great French physiologist, a French boy 10\nyears old, before the sexual appetite is developed, exhales 1852.8\ngrains of carbon in the twenty-four hours.  He who wishes to curb his\nlust should consume 1852.8 grains of carbon in his daily diet.\n\nNow, 6,500 grains of household bread contain 1852 grains of carbon,\naccording to Dr. Edward Smith.  This quantity of bread is equal to 14\nounces avoirdupois and 375 grains, but the early Christian hermits who\nlived upon 12 oz. of bread (avoirdupois) consumed daily 1496.25 grains\nof carbon.  This quantity of carbon was less than that which the French\nboy consumed daily by 356.55 grains.  The French boy consumed 1852.8\ngrains of carbon in his diet, but the Hindu female mendicant, who led a\nlife of continence, consumed in her daily ration of potatoes 1587.6\ngrains of carbon.  Hence it is evident that the French boy consumed\n265.2 grains of carbon more than what was consumed by the female Hindu\nYogi.  There lived in Brindavana a Sannyasi, who died at the age of 109\nyears, and who subsisted for forty years upon the daily diet of four\nchuttacks of penda and four chuttacks of milk.  His diet contained 1,980\ngrains of carbon and 90.72 grains of nitrogen.  Abstemiousness shortens\nthe length of respiration, diminishes the waste of the body, promotes\nlongevity, and engenders purity of heart.  Abstemiousness cures vertigo,\ncephalalgia, tendency to apoplexy, dyspnoea, gout, old ulcers, impetigo,\nscrofula, herpes, and various other maladies.\n\nCornaro, an Italian nobleman, who was given up by all his physicians,\nregained health by living upon 12 ounces of bread and 15 ounces of\nwater, and lived to a great age.\n\nHe consumed less than an ounce of flesh-formers in his diet. According\nto Edward Smith 5401.2 grains of bread contain 1 ounce of flesh-formers.\n\nHe who wishes to lead a life of chastity, honesty, meekness, and mercy,\nshould consume daily one ounce of flesh-formers in his diet.  As an\nounce of nitrogenous matter contains 70 grains of nitrogen, one should\ntake such food as yields only 70 grains of azote.\n\nMurder, theft, robbery, cruelty, covetousness, lust, slander, anger,\nvoluptuousness, revenge, lying, prostitution, and envy are sins which\narise from a consumption of a large quantity of aliments containing a\nhigher percentage of azote.\n\nHe who intends to be free from every earthly thought, desire and passion\nshould abstain from fish, flesh, woman, and wine, and live upon the most\ninnocent food.\n\nThe following table shows approximately the quantities of various\naliments furnishing 70 grains of nitrogen:\n\nWheat dried in vacuo ............ 3181.81 grains\nOats ............................ 3181.81    \"\nBarley .......................... 3465.34    \"\nIndian corn ..................... 3500       \"\nRye dried ........................4117.64    \"\nRice dried .......................5036       \"\nMilk dried .......................1750       \"\nPeas dried .......................1666.6     \"\nWhite haricots dried ..... .......1627.67    \"\nHorse beans dried ................1272.72    \"\nCabbage dried ....................1891.89    \"\nCarrots dried ....................2916.66    \"\nJerusalem artichokes .............4375       \"\nTurnips dried ....................3181.81    \"\nBread ............................5401.2     \"\nLocust beans .....................6110       \"\nFigs .............................7172.13    \"\nCow's milk fresh .................1346.2     \"\n\nAbstemiousness begets suspension of breath.  From the suspension of\nbreath originates tranquillity of mind, which engenders supersensuous\nknowledge.  From supersensuous knowledge originates ecstasy which is the\nSamadhi of the ancient Hindu sages.\n\nInstead of walking and running, which lengthen the respiration, the\ndevotees of Om should practice the two tranquil postures termed the\npadmasana and siddhasana, described in my mystic tract called \"The Yoga\nPhilosophy.\"  According to Siva the normal length of expiration is 9\ninches.  He says that one can subdue his lust and desire by shortening\nhis expiration to 8.25 inches, whether by the inaudible pronunciation of\nOm or by the suspension of breath (Pranayama);  that one can enjoy\necstasy by diminishing the length of his expiration to 7.50 inches.\n\nOne acquires the power of writing poetry by reducing his expiration to\n6.75 inches.\n\nWhen one can reduce his expiration to 6 inches long he acquires the\npower of foretelling future events.  When one reduces the length of his\nexpiration to 5.25 inches he is blessed with the divine eye.  He sees\nwhat is occurring in the distant worlds.\n\nWhen the inaudible pronunciation of Om reduces the length of the\nexpiration to 4.50 inches it enables its votary to travel to aerial\nregions.  When the length of expiration becomes 3.75 inches, the votary\nof Om travels in the twinkling of an eye through the whole world.\n\nWhen by the inaudible muttering of Om a man reduces his expiration to 3\ninches, he acquires ashta Siddhis or consummations (or superhuman\npowers).  When the expiration is reduced to 2.25 inches, the votary of\nOm can acquire the nine precious jewels of the world (Nava nidhi). Such\na man can attract the wealth of the world to him.*\n\n--------\n* Supposing he had any care or use for it--Ed. Theos.\n--------\n\nWhen the expiration becomes 1.50 inches long from the above practice, he\nsees the celestial sphere where the Supreme Soul resides.  When the\ninaudible pronunciation of Om reduces the length of expiration to .75\ninch, the votary becomes deified and casts no shadow.\n\n     \"Om Amitaya! measure not with words\n     The immeasurable;  nor sink the string of thought\n     Into the Fathomless! Who asks doth err;\n     Who answers errs. Say nought!\"\n\n     \"Om mani padma hum. Om the jewel in the lotus.\"\n\nBy the muttering of the above formula the Great Buddha freed himself\nfrom selfishness, false faith, doubt, hatred, lust, self-praise, error,\npride, and attained to Nirvana.\n\n     \"And how man hath no fate except past deeds,\n     No Hell but what he makes, no Heaven too high\n     For those to reach whose passions sleeps subdued.\"\n\nAccording to Siva a man acquires Nirvana when his breathing becomes\ninternal and does not come out of the nostrils.  When the breathing\nbecomes internal--that is, when it is contained within the nostrils, the\nYogi is free from fainting, hunger, thirst, languor, disease and death.\nHe becomes a divine being, he feels not when he is brought into contact\nwith fire;  no air can dry him, no water can putrefy him, no poisonous\nserpent can inflict a mortal wound.  His body exhales fragrant odours,\nand can bear the abstinence from air, food, and drink.\n\nWhen the breathing becomes internal, the Yogi is incapable of committing\nany sin in deed, thought, and speech, and thereby inherits the Kingdom\nof Heaven, which is open to sinless souls.\n\n--N.C. Paul\n\n\n-------------------\n\nGlossary\n\n\n     Ab-e-Hyat, Water of Life, supposed to give eternal youth.\n     Abhava, negation or non-being of individual objects; the\nsubstance, the abstract objectivity.\n     Adam Kadmon, the bi-sexual Sephira of the Kabalists.\n     Adept, one who, through the development of his spirit, has\nattained to transcendental knowledge and powers.\n     Adhibhautika, arising from external objects.\n     Adhidaivika, arising from the gods, or accidents.\n     Adhikamasansas, extra months.\n     Adhishthanum, basis a principle in which some other\nprinciple inheres.\n     Adhyatmika, arising out of the inner-self.\n     Advaiti, a follower of the school of Philosophy established\nby Sankaracharya.\n     Ahankara, personality;  egoism;  self identity;  the fifth\nprinciple.\n     Ahriman, the Evil Principle of the Universe;  so called by\nthe Zoroastrians.\n     Ahum, the first three principles of septenary human\nconstitution;  the gross living body of man according to the\nAvesta.\n     A'kasa, the subtle supersensuous matter which pervades all\nspace.\n     Amulam Mulam (lit. \"the rootless root\");  Prakriti;  the\nmaterial of the universe.\n     Anahatachakram, the heart, the seat of life.\n     A'nanda, bliss.\n     A'nanda-maya-kosha, the blissful;  the fifth sheath of the\nsoul in the Vedantic system;  the sixth principle.\n     Anastasis, the continued existence of the soul.\n     Anima Mundi, the soul of the world.\n     Annamaya Kosha, the gross body;  the first sheath of the\ndivine monad (Vedantic).\n     Antahkarana, the internal instrument, the soul, formed by\nthe thinking principle and egoism.\n     Anumiti, inference.\n     Aparoksha, direct perception.\n     Apavarya, emancipation from repeated births.\n     Apporrheta, secret discourses in Egyptian and Grecian\nmysteries.\n     Arahats (lit.\"the worthy ones\"), the initiated holy men of\nthe Buddhist and Jain faiths.\n     Aranyakas, holy sages dwelling in forests.\n     Ardhanariswara, (lit. \"the bisexual Lord\");  the unpolarized\nstate of cosmic energy;  the bi-sexual Sephira, Adam Kadmon.\n     Arka, sun.\n     Aryavarta, the ancient name of Northern India where the\nBrahmanical invaders first settled.\n     A'sana, the third stage of Hatha Yoga;  the posture for\nmeditation.\n     Asat, the unreal, Prakriti.\n     A'shab and Laughan, ceremonies for casting out evil spirits,\nso called among the Kolarian tribes.\n     Ashta Siddhis, the eight consummations of Hatha Yoga.\n     Asoka (King), a celebrated conqueror, monarch of a large\nportion of India, who is called \"the Constantine of Buddhism,\"\ntemp. circa 250 B.C.\n     Astral Light, subtle form of existence forming the basis of\nour material universe.\n     Asuramaya, an Atlantean astronomer, well known in Sanskrit\nwritings.\n     Asuras, a class of elementals considered maleficent;\ndemons.\n     Aswini, the divine charioteers mystically they correspond to\nHermes, who is looked upon as his equal.  They represent the\ninternal organ by which knowledge is conveyed from the soul to\nthe body.\n     Atharva Veda, one of the four most ancient and revered books\nof the ancient Brahmans.\n     Atlantis, the continent that was submerged in the Southern\nand Pacific Oceans.\n     Atmabodha (lit. \"self-knowledge\"), the title of a Vedantic\ntreatise by Sankaracharya.\n     Atman, &c Atma.\n     A'tma, the spirit;  the divine monad;  the seventh principle\nof the septenary human constitution.\n     A'ttavada, the sin of personality (Pali).\n     Aum, the sacred syllable in Sanskrit representing the\nTrinity\n     Avalokitesvara, manifested wisdom, or the Divine Spirit in\nman.\n     Avasthas, states, conditions, positions.\n     Avatar, the incarnation of an exalted being, so called among\nthe Hindus.\n     Avesta, the sacred books of the Zoroastrians.\n     Avyakta, the unrevealed cause.\n\n     Baddha, bound or conditioned;  the state of an ordinary\nhuman being who has not attained Nirvana.\n     Bahihpragna, the present state of consciousness.\n     Baodhas, consciousness;  the fifth principle of man.\n     Barhaspatyamanam, a method of calculating time prevalent\nduring the later Hindu period in North-eastern India.\n     Bhadrasena, a Buddhist king of Magadha.\n     Bhagats (or called Sokha and Sivnath by the Hindus), one who\nexorcises an evil spirit.\n     Bhagavad Gita (lit, the \"Lord's Song\"), an episode of the\nMaha-Bharata, the great epic poem of India.  It contains a\ndialogue between Krishna and Arjuna on Spiritual Philosophy.\n     Bhao, ceremony of divination among the Kolarian tribes of\nCentral India.\n     Bhashya, commentary.\n     Bhon, religion of the aborigines of Tibet.\n     Bikshu, a religious mendicant and ascetic who suppresses all\ndesire and is constantly occupied in devotion;  a Buddhist monk.\n     Boddhisatwas, Egos evolving towards Buddhahood.\n     Brahma, the Hindu Deity which personifies the active cosmic\nenergy.\n     Brahmachari, a Bushman ascetic.\n     Brahmagnani, one possessed of complete illumination.\n     Brahman, the highest caste in India;  Brahman, the absolute\nof the Vedantins.\n     Brahmana period, one of the four periods into which the\nVedic literature has been divided.\n     Brihadranyaka Upanishad, one of the sacred books of the\nBrahmins;  an Aranyaka is a treatise appended to the Vedas, and\nconsidered the subject of special study by those who have retired\nto the forest for purposes of religious meditation.\n     Buddha, the founder of Buddhism;  he was a royal prince, by\nname Siddhartha, son of Suddhodhana, king of the Sakyas, an Aryan\ntribe.\n     Buddhi, the spiritual Ego.\n     Buru Bonga, spirit of the hills worshiped by the Kolarian\ntribes of Central India.\n\n     Canarese, one of the Dravidian tongues, spoken in Southern\nIndia.\n     Chandragupta, one of the kings of Magadha, an ancient\nprovince of India.\n     Chandramanam, the method of calculating time by the\nmovements of the moon.\n     Charaka, the most celebrated writer on medicine among the\nHindus.\n     Chaturdasa Bhuvanam, the fourteen lokas or states.\n     Chela, a pupil of an adept in occultism;  a disciple.\n     Chichakti, the power which generates thought.\n     Chidagnikundum (lit. \"the fireplace in the heart\"), the seat\nof the force which extinguishes all individual desires.\n     Chidakasam, the field of consciousness.\n     Chinmatra, the germ of consciousness, abstract\nconsciousness.\n     Chit, the abstract consciousness.\n  Chitta suddhi (Chitta, mind, and Suddi, purification),\npurification of the mind.\n     Chutuktu, the five chief Lamas of Tibet.\n\n     Daemon, the incorruptible part of man;  nous;  rational\nsoul.\n     Daenam (lit. \"knowledge\"), the fourth principle in man,\naccording to the Avesta.\n     Daimonlouphote, spiritual illumination.\n     Daityas, demons, Titans.\n     Dama, restraint of the senses.\n     Darasta, ceremonial magic practised among the Kolarian\ntribes of Central India.\n     Darha, ancestral spirits of the Kolarian tribes of Central\nIndia.\n     Deona or Mati, one who exercises evil spirits (Kolarian).\n     Deva, God;  beings of the subjective side of Nature.\n     Devachan, a blissful condition in the after-life;  heavenly\nexistence.\n     Devanagari, the current Sanskrit alphabet.\n     Dharmasoka, one of the kings of Magadha.\n     Dhatu, the seven principal substances of the human body\n--chyle, flesh, blood, fat, bones, marrow, semen.\n     Dhyan, contemplation.  There are six stages of Dhyan,\nvarying in the degrees of abstraction of the Ego from sensuous\nlife.\n     Dhyan Chohans, Devas or Gods planetary spirits.\n     Dik, space.\n     Diksha, initiation.\n     Dosha, fault.\n     Dravidians, a group of tribes inhabiting Southern India.\n     Dravya, substance.\n     Dugpas, the \"Red Caps,\" evil magicians, belonging to the\nleft-hand path of occultism, so called in Tibet.\n     Dukkhu, pain.\n     Dwija Brahman, twice born;  the investiture with the sacred\nthread constitutes the second birth.\n\n     Elementals, generic name for all subjective beings other\nthan disembodied human creatures.\n     Epopta, Greek for seer.\n\n     Fakir, a Mahomedan recluse or Yogi.\n     Fan, Bar-nang, space, eternal law.\n     Fohat, Tibetan for Sakti;  cosmic force or energizing power\nof the universe.\n     Fravashem, absolute spirit.\n\n     Gaudapada, a celebrated Brahmanical teacher, the author of\ncommentaries on the Sankhya Karika, Mundukya Upanishad, &c.\n     Gayatri, the holiest verse of the Vedas.\n     Gehs, Parsi prayers.\n     Gelugpas, \"Yellow Caps,\" the true Magi and their school, so\ncalled in Tibet.\n     Gnansaki, the power of true knowledge, one of the six\nforces.\n     Gujarathi, the vernacular dialect of Gujrat, a province of\nWestern India.\n     Gunas, qualities, properties.\n     Gunava, endowed with qualities.\n     Guru, spiritual preceptor.\n\n     Ha, a magic syllable used in sacred formula;  represents the\npower of Akasa Sakti.\n     Hangsa, a mystic syllable standing for evolution, it\nliterally means \"I am he.\"\n     Hatha Yog, a system of physical training to obtain psychic\npowers, the chief feature of this system being the regulation of\nbreath.\n     Hierophants, the High Priests.\n     Hina-yana, lowest form of transmigration of the Buddhist.\n     Hiong-Thsang, the celebrated chinese traveler whose writings\ncontain the most interesting account of India of the period.\n     Hwun, spirit;  the seventh principle in man (Chinese).\n\n     Ikhir Bongo, spirit of the deep of the Kolarian tribes.\n     Indriya, or Deha Sanyama, control over the senses.\n     \"Isis\" (\"Isis Unveiled\"), book written by Madame Blavatsky\non the Esoteric Doctrine.\n     Iswara, Personal God, Lord, the Spirit in man, the Divine\nprinciple in its active nature or condition, one of the four\nstates of Brahma.\n     Itchasakti, will power;  force of desire;  one of the six\nforces of Nature.\n     Itchcha, will.\n     Ivabhavat, the one substance.\n\n     Jagrata, waking.\n     Jagrata Avasta, the waking state;  one of the four aspects\nof Pranava.\n     Jains, a religious sect in India closely related to the\nBuddhists.\n     Jambudvipa, one of the main divisions of the world,\nincluding India, according to the ancient Brahminical system.\n     Janaka, King of Videha, a celebrated character in the Indian\nepic of Ramayana.  He was a great royal sage.\n     Janwas, gross form of matter.\n     Japa, mystical practice of the Yogi, consisting of the\nrepetition of certain formula.\n     Jevishis, will;  Karma Rupa;  fourth principle.\n     Jiva or Karana Sarira, the second principle of man;  life.\n     Jivatma, the human spirit, seventh principle in the\nMicrocosm.\n     Jnanam, knowledge.\n     Jnanendrayas, the five channels of knowledge.\n     Jyotisham Jyotih, the light of lights, the supreme spirit,\nso called in the Upanishads.\n\n     Kabala, ancient mystical Jewish books.\n     Kaliyuga, the last of the four ages in which the\nevolutionary period of man is divided.  It began 3,000 years B.C.\n     Kalpa, the period of cosmic activity;  a day of Brahma,\n4,320 million years.\n     Kama Loka, abode of desire, the first condition through\nwhich a human entity passes in its passage, after death, to\nDevachan.  It corresponds to purgatory.\n     Kama, lust, desire, volition;  the Hindu Cupid.\n     Kamarupa, the principle of desire in man;  the fourth\nprinciple.\n     Kapila, the founder of one of the six principal systems of\nIndian philosophy--viz., the Sankhya.\n     Karans, great festival of the Kolarian tribes in honour of\nthe sun spirit.\n     Karana Sarira, the causal body;  Avidya;  ignorance;  that\nwhich is the cause of the evolution of a human ego.\n     Karma, the law of ethical causation;  the effect of an act\nfor the attainment of an object of personal desire, merit and\ndemerit.\n     Karman, action;  attributes of Linga Sarira.\n     Kartika, the Indian god of war, son or Siva and Parvati;  he\nis also the personification of the power of the Logos.\n     Kasi, another name for the sacred city of Benares.\n     Keherpas, aerial form;  third principle.\n     Khanda period, a period of Vedic literature.\n     Khi (lit, breath);  the spiritual ego;  the sixth principle\nin man (Chinese).\n     Kiratarjuniya of Bkaravi, a Sanskrit epic, celebrating the\nencounters of Arjuna, one of this heroes of the Maha-bharata with\nthe god Siva, disguised as a forester.\n     Kols, one of the tribes in Central India.\n     Kriyasakti, the power of thought;  one of the six forces in\nNature.\n     Kshatriya, the second of the four castes into which the\nHindu nation was originally divided.\n     Kshetrajnesvara, embodied spirit, the conscious ego in its\nhighest manifestation.\n     Kshetram, the great abyss of the Kabbala;  chaos;  Yoni,\nPrakriti;  space.\n     Kumbhaka, retention of breath, regulated according to the\nsystem of Hatha Yoga.\n     Kundalinisakti, the power of life;  one of the six forces of\nNature.\n     Kwer Shans, Chinese for third principle;  the astral body.\n\n     Lama-gylongs, pupils of Lamas.\n     Lao-teze, a Chinese reformer.\n\n     Macrocosm, universe.\n     Magi, fire worshippers;  the great magicians or wisdom-\nphilosophers of old.\n     Maha-Bharata, the celebrated Indian epic poem.\n     Mahabhashya, a commentary on the Grammar of Panini by\nPatanjali.\n     Mahabhautic, belonging to the macrocosmic principles.\n     Mahabhutas, gross elementary principles.\n     Mahaparinibbana Sutta, one of the most authoritative of the\nBuddhist sacred writings.\n     Maha Sunyata, space or eternal law;  the great emptiness.\n     Mahat, Buddhi;  the first product of root-nature and\nproducer of Ahankara (egotism), and manas (thinking principle).\n     Mahatma, a great soul;  an adept in occultism of the highest\norder.\n     Mahavanso, a Buddhist historical work written by the Bhikshu\nMohanama, the uncle of King Dhatusma.\n     Maha-Yug, the aggregate of four Yugas, or ages--4,320,000\nyears--in the Brahmanical system.\n     Manas, the mind, the thinking principle;  the fifth\nprinciple in the septenary division.\n     Manas Sanyama, perfect concentration of the mind;  control\nover the mind.\n     Manomaya Kosha, third sheath of the divine monad, Vedantic\nequivalent for fourth and fifth principles.\n     Mantra period, one of the four periods into which Vedic\nliterature has been divided.\n     Mantra Sastra, Brahmanical writings on the occult science of\nincantations.\n     Mantra Tantra Shastras, works on incantation and Magic.\n     Manu, the great Indian legislator.\n     Manvantara, the outbreathing of the creative principle;  the\nperiod of cosmic activity between two pralayas.\n     Maruts, the wind gods.\n     Mathadhipatis, heads of different religious institutions in\nIndia.\n     Matras, the quantity of a Sanskrit syllable.\n     Matrikasakti, the power of speech, one of six forces in\nNature.\n     Matsya Puranas, one of the Puranas.\n     Maya, illusion, is the cosmic power which renders phenomenal\nexistence possible.\n     Mayavic Upadhi, the covering of illusion, phenomenal\nappearance.\n     Mayavirupa, the \"double;\"  \"doppelganger;\"  \"perisprit.\"\n     Mazdiasnian, Zoroastrian (lit. \"worshiping God\").\n     Microcosm, man.\n     Mobeds, Zoroastrian priests.\n     Monad, the spiritual soul, that which endures through all\nchanges of objective existence.\n     Moneghar, the headman of a village.\n     Morya, one of time royal houses of Magadha;  also the name\nof a Rajpoot tribe.\n     Mukta, liberated;  released from conditional existence.\n     Mukti. See Mukta.\n     Mula-prakriti, undifferentiated cosmic matter;  the\nunmanifested cause and substance of all being.\n     Mumukshatwa, desire for liberation.\n\n     Nabhichakram, the seat of the principle of desire, near the\numbilicus.\n     Najo, witch.\n     Nanda (King), one of the kings of Magadha.\n     Narayana, in mystic symbology it stands for the life\nprinciple.\n     Nava nidhi, the nine jewels, or consummation of spiritual\ndevelopment.\n     Neophyte, a candidate for initiation into the mysteries of\nadeptship.\n     Nephesh, one of the three souls, according to the Kabala;\nfirst three principles in the human septenary.\n     Neschamah, one of the three souls, according to the Kabala;\nseventh principle in the human septenary.\n     Nirguna, unbound;  without gunas or attributes;  the soul in\nits state of essential purity is so called.\n     Nirvana, beautitude, abstract spiritual existence,\nabsorption into all.\n     Niyashes, Parsi prayers.\n     Noumena, the true essential nature of being, as\ndistinguished from the illusive objects of sense.\n     Nous, spirit, mind;  Platonic term, reason.\n     Nyaya Philosophy, a system of Hindu logic founded by\nGautuma.\n\n     Occultism, the study of the mysteries of Nature and the\ndevelopment of the psychic powers latent in man.\n     Okhema, vehicle;  Platonic term for body.\n\n     Padarthas, predicates of existing things, so called in the\n\"Vaiseshikha,\" or atomic system of philosophy, founded by Kanad\n(Sanskrit).\n     Padma sana, a posture practised by some Indian mystics it\nconsists in sitting with the legs crossed one over the other and\nthe body straight.\n     Pahans, village priests.\n     Panchakosha, the five sheaths in which is enclosed the\ndivine monad.\n     Panchikrita, developed into the five gross elements.\n     Parabrahm, the supreme principle in Nature;  the universal\nspirit.\n     Paramarthika, one of the three states of existence according\nto Vedanta;  the true, the only real one.\n     Paramatma, time Supreme Spirit, one of the six forces of\nNature;  the great force.\n     Parasakti, intellectual apprehension of a truth.\n     Pataliputra, the ancient capital of the kingdom Magadha, in\nEastern India, a city identified with the modern Patna.\n     Patanjali, the author of \"Yoga Philosophy,\" one of the six\northodox systems of India and of the Mahabhashya.\n     Peling, the name given to Europeans in Tibet.\n     Phala, retribution;  fruit or results of causes.\n     Pho, animal soul.\n     Pisacham, fading remnants of human beings in the state of\nKama Loka;  shells or elementaries.\n     Piyadasi, another name for Asoka (q.v.)\n     Plaster or Plantal,  Platonic term for the power which\nmoulds the substances of the universe into suitable forms.\n     Popol-Vuh, the sacred book of the Guatemalans.\n     Poseidonis, the last island submerged of the continent of\nAtlantis.\n     Pracheta, the principle of water.\n     Pragna, consciousness.\n     Prajapatis, the constructors of the material universe.\n     Prakriti, undifferentiated matter;  the supreme principle\nregarded as the substance of the universe.\n     Pralaya, the period of cosmic rest.\n     Prameyas, things to be proved, objects of Pramana or proof.\n     Prana, the one life.\n     Pranamaya Kosha, the principle of life and its vehicle;  the\nsecond sheath of the Divine monad (Vedantic).\n     Pranatman, the eternal or germ thread on which are strung,\nlike beads, the personal lives.  The same as Sutratma.\n     Pratibhasika, the apparent or illusory life.\n     Pratyaksha, perception.\n     Pretya-bhava, the state of an ego under the necessity of\nrepeated births.\n     Punarjanmam, power of evolving objective manifestation;\nrebirth.\n     Puraka, in-breathing, regulated according to the system of\nHatha Yoga.\n     Puranas (lit. \"old writings\").  A collection of symbolical\nBrahmanical writings.  They are eighteen in number, and are\nsupposed to have been composed by Vyasa, the author of the\nMahabharata.\n     Purusha, spirit.\n     Rajas, the quality of foulness;  passionate activity.\n     Rajarshi, a king-adept.\n     Raj Yoga, the true science of the development of psychic\npowers and union with the Supreme Spirit.\n     Rakshasas, evil spirits;  literally, raw-eaters.\n     Ramayana, an epic poem describing the life of Rama, a\ndeified Indian hero.\n     Ram Mohun Roy, the well-known Indian Reformer, died 1833.\n     Rechaka, out-breathing, regulated according to the system of\nHatha Yoga.\n     Rig Veda, the first of the Vedas.\n     Rishabham, the Zodiacal sign Taurus, the sacred syllable\nAum.\n     Rishis (lit. \"revealers\"), holy sages.\n     Ruach, one of the souls, according to the Kabala;  second\nthree principles in the human septenary.\n\n     Sabda, the Logos or Word.\n     Saketa, the capital of the ancient Indian kingdom of\nAyodhya.\n     Sukshma sariram, the subtile body.\n     Sakti, the crown of the astral light;  the power of Nature.\n     Sakuntala, a Sanskrit drama by Kalidasa.\n     Samadhana, incapacity to diverge from the path of spiritual\nprogress.\n     Sama, repression of mental perturbations.\n     Samadhi, state of ecstatic trance.\n     Samanya, community or commingling of qualities.\n     Samma-Sambuddha, perfect illumination.\n     Samvat, an Indian era which, is usually supposed to have\ncommenced 57 B.C.\n     Sankaracharya, the great expositor of the monistic Vedanta\nPhilosophy, which denies the personality of the Divine Principle,\nand affirms its unity with the spirit of man.\n     Sankhya Karika, a treatise containing the aphorisms of\nKapila, the founder of the Sankhya system, one of the six schools\nof Hindu philosophy.\n     Sankhya Yog, the system of Yog as set forth by Sankhya\nphilosophers.\n     Sannyasi, a Hindu, ascetic whose mind is steadfastly fixed\nupon the Supreme Truth.\n     Sarira, body.\n     Sat, the real, Purusha.\n     Sattwa, purity.\n     Satva, goodness.\n     Satya Loka, the abode of Truth, one of the subjective\nspheres in our solar system.\n     Shamanism, spirit worship;  the oldest religion of Mongolia.\n     Siddhasana, one of the postures enjoined by the system of\nHatha Yoga.\n     Siddhi, abnormal power obtained by spiritual development.\n     Sing Bonga, sun spirit of the Kolarian tribes.\n     Siva, one of the Hindu gods, with Brahma and Vishnu, forming\nthe Trimurti or Trinity;  the principle of destruction.\n     Sivite, a worshipper of Siva, the name of a sect among the\nHindus.\n     Skandhas, the impermanent elements which constitute a man.\n     Slokas, stanzas (Sanskrit).\n     Smriti, legal and ceremonial writings of the Hindus.\n     Soham, mystic syllable representing involution;  lit. \"that\nam I.\"\n     Soonium, a magical ceremony for the purpose of removing a\nsickness from one person to another.\n     Soorya, the sun.\n     Souramanam, a method of calculating time.\n     Space, Akasa;  Swabhavat (q.v.)\n  Sraddha, faith.\n     Sravana, receptivity, listening.\n     Sthula-Sariram, the gross physical body.\n     Sukshmopadhi,  fourth and fifth principles (Raja Yoga.)\n     Sunyata, space;  nothingness.\n     Suras, elementals of a beneficent order;  gods.\n     Surpa, winnower.\n     Suryasiddhanta, a Sanskrit treatise on astronomy.\n     Sushupti Avastha, deep sleep;  one of the four aspects of\nPranava.\n     Sutra period, one of the periods into which Vedic literature\nhas been divided.\n     Sutratman, (lit. \"the thread spirit,\") the immortal\nindividuality upon which are strung our countless personalities.\n     Svabhavat, Akasa; undifferentiated primary matter;\nPrakriti.\n     Svapna, dreamy condition, clairvoyance.\n     Swami (lit. \"a master\"), the family idol.\n     Swapna Avastha, dreaming state;  one of the four aspects of\nPranava.\n\n     Tama, indifference, dullness.\n     Tamas, ignorance, or darkness.\n     Tanha, thirst;  desire for life, that which produces re-birth.\n     Tanmatras, the subtile elements, the abstract counterpart of\nthe five elements, earth, water, fire, air and ether, consisting\nof smell, taste, feeling, sight and sound.\n     Tantras, works on Magic.\n     Tantrika, ceremonies connected with the worship of the\ngoddess Sakti, who typifies Force.\n     Taraka Yog, one of the Brahmanical systems for the\ndevelopment of psychic powers and attainment of spiritual\nknowledge.\n     Tatwa, eternally existing \"that;\"  the different principles\nin Nature.\n     Tatwams, the abstract principles of existence or categories,\nphysical and metaphysical.\n     Telugu, a language spoken in Southern India.\n     Tesshu Lama, the head of the Tibetan Church.\n     The Laws of Upasanas, chapter in the Book iv. of Kui-te on\nthe rules for aspirants for chelaship.\n     Theodidaktos (lit. \"God taught \"), a school of philosophers\nin Egypt.\n     Theosophy, the Wisdom-Religion taught in all ages by the\nsages of the world.\n     Tikkun, Adam Kadmon, the ray from the Great Centre.\n     Titiksha, renunciation.\n     Toda, a mysterious tribe in India that practise black magic.\n     Tridandi, (tri, \"three,\" danda, \"chastisement\"), name of\nBrahmanicaI thread.\n     Trimurti, the Indian Trinity--Brahma, Vishnu and Siva,\nCreator, Preserver and Destroyer.\n     Turiya Avastha, the state of Nirvana.\n     Tzong-ka-pa, celebrated Buddhist reformer of Tibet, who\ninstituted the order of Gelugpa Lamas.\n\n     Universal Monas, the universal spirit.\n     Upadana Karnam, the material cause of an effect.\n     Upadhis, bases.\n     Upamiti, analogy.\n     Upanayana, investiture with the Brahmanical thread.\n     Upanishads, Brahmanical Scriptures appended to the Vedas,\ncontaining the esoteric doctrine of the Brahmans.\n     Upanita, one who is invested with the Brahmanical thread\n(lit. \"brought to a spiritual teacher\").\n     Uparati, absence of out-going desires.\n     Urvanem, spiritual ego;  sixth principle.\n     Ushtanas, vital force;  second principle.\n\n     Vach, speech;  the Logos;  the mystic Word.\n     Vaishyas,  cattle breeders artisans;  the third caste among\nthe Hindus.\n     Vakya Sanyama, control over speech.\n     Varuna or Pracheta, the Neptune of India.\n     Vasishta, a great Indian sage, one of those to whom the Rig\nVeda was revealed in part.\n     Vata, air.\n     Vayu, the wind.\n     Vayu  Puranas, one of the Puranas.\n     Vedantists, followers of the Vedanta School of Philosophy,\nwhich is divided into two branches, monists and dualists.\n     Vedas, the most authoritative of the Hindu Scriptures.  The\nfour oldest sacred books--Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva--revealed\nto the Rishis by Brahma.\n     Vedic, pertaining to the Vedas.\n     Vidya, secret knowledge.\n     Vija, the primitive germ which expands into the universe.\n     Vijnana-maya-kosha, the sheath of knowledge;  the fourth\nsheath of the divine monad;  the fifth principle in man\n(Vedanta).\n     Viraj, the material universe.\n     Vishnu, the second member of the Hindu trinity;  the\nprinciple of preservation.\n     Vishnuite or Vishuvite, a worshiper of Vishnu, the name of a\nsect among the Hindus.\n     Vrishalas, Outcasts.\n     Vyasa, the celebrated Rishi, who collected and arranged the\nVedas in their present form.\n     Vyavaharika, objective existence;  practical.\n\n     Yajna Sutra, the name of the Brahmanical thread.\n     Yama, law, the god of death.\n     Yashts, the Parsi prayer-books.\n     Yasna, religious book of the Parsis.\n     Yasodhara, the wife of Buddha.\n     Yavanacharya, the name given to Pythagoras in the Indian\nbooks.\n     Yavanas, the generic name given by the Brahmanas to younger\npeoples.\n     Yoga Sutras, a treatise on Yoga philosophy by Patanjali.\n     Yog Vidya, the science of Yoga;  the practical method of\nuniting one's own spirit with the universal spirit.\n     Yogis, mystics, who develop themselves according to the\nsystem of Patanjali's \"Yoga Philosophy.\"\n     Yudhishthira, the eldest of the five brothers, called\nPandavas, whose exploits are celebrated in the great Sanskrit\nepic \"Mahabharata.\"\n\n     Zend, the sacred language of ancient Persia.\n     Zhing, subtle matter;  Kama Rupa, or fourth principle\n(Chinese).\n     Zoroaster, the prophet of the Parsis.","title":"Five Years of Theosophy","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":147420}