IMPORTANT TO STUDENTS
As some of the letters in the correspondence
of this month show, there are many people who are looking for practical
instruction in Occultism. It becomes necessary, therefore, to state once for all:
a)
The essential difference between theoretical and
practical Occultism; or what is generally known as Theosophy on the one hand,
and Occult science on the other, and:
b)
The nature of the difficulties involved in the study
of the latter.
It is easy to become a Theosophist.
Any person of average intellectual capacities, and a leaning toward the
metaphysical; of pure, unselfish life, who finds more joy in helping his
neighbor than in receiving help himself; one who is ever ready to sacrifice his
own pleasures for the sake of other people; and who loves Truth, Goodness and
Wisdom for their own sake, not for the benefit they may confer — is a
Theosophist.
But it is quite another matter to
put oneself upon the path which leads to the knowledge of what is good to do,
as to the right discrimination of good from evil; a path which also leads a man
to that power through which he can do the good he desires, often without even
apparently lifting a finger.
Moreover, there is one important
fact with which the student should be made acquainted. Namely, the enormous,
almost limitless, responsibility assumed by the teacher for the sake of the
pupil. From the Gurus of the East who teach openly or secretly, down to the few
Kabalists in Western lands who undertake to teach the rudiments of the Sacred
Science to their disciples (those western Hierophants being often themselves
ignorant of the danger they incur) one and all of these "Teachers"
are subject to the same inviolable law.
From the moment they begin really
to teach, from the instant they confer any power — whether psychic,
mental or physical — on their pupils, they take upon themselves all the
sins of that pupil, in connection with the Occult Sciences, whether of omission
or commission, until the moment when initiation makes the pupil a Master and
responsible in his turn.
There is a weird and mystic
religious law, greatly reverenced and acted upon in the Greek, half-forgotten
in the Roman Catholic, and absolutely extinct in the Protestant Church. It
dates from the earliest days of Christianity and has its basis in the law just
stated, of which it was a symbol and an expression. This is the dogma of the
absolute sacredness of the relation between the god-parents who stand sponsors
for a child.[1]
These tacitly take upon themselves
all the sins of the newly baptized child — (anointed, as at the initiation, a
mystery truly!) — until the day when the child becomes a responsible unit,
knowing good and evil. Thus it is clear why the "Teachers" are so
reticent, and why "Chelas" are required to serve a seven years
probation to prove their fitness, and develop the qualities necessary to the
security of both Master and pupil.
Occultism is not magic. It is comparatively
easy to learn the trick of spells and the methods of using the subtler, but
still material, forces of physical nature; the powers of the animal soul in man
are soon awakened; the forces which his love, his hate, his passion, can call
into operation, are readily developed. But this is Black Magic — Sorcery.
For it is the motive, and the
motive alone, which makes any exercise of power become black, malignant, or
white, beneficent Magic. It is impossible to employ spiritual forces if
there is the slightest tinge of selfishness remaining in the operator. For,
unless the intention is entirely unalloyed, the spiritual will transform itself
into the psychic, act on the astral plane, and dire results may be produced by
it.
The powers and forces of animal
nature can equally be used by the selfish and revengeful, as by the unselfish
and the all-forgiving; the powers and forces of spirit lend themselves only to
the perfectly pure in heart — and this is DIVINE MAGIC.
What are then the conditions
required to become a student of the "Divine Sapientia"?
For let it be known that no such
instruction can possibly be given unless these certain conditions are complied
with, and rigorously carried out during the years of study. This is a sine
qua non. No man can swim unless he enters deep water. No bird can fly
unless its wings are grown, and it has space before it and courage to trust
itself to the air. A man who will wield a two edged sword, must be a thorough
master of the blunt weapon, if he would not injure himself — or what is worse —
others, at the first attempt.
To give an approximate idea of the
conditions under which alone the study of Divine Wisdom can be pursued with
safety, that is without danger that Divine will give place to Black Magic, a
page is given from the "private rules," with which every instructor
in the East is furnished. The few passages which follow are chosen from a great
number and explained in brackets.
~ * ~
1. The place selected for receiving instruction must be a spot
calculated not to distract the mind, and filled with
"influence-evolving" (magnetic) objects. The five sacred colors
gathered in a circle must be there among other things. The place must be free
from any malignant influences hanging about in the air.
[The place must be set apart, and used for no other purpose. The five
"sacred colors" are the prismatic hues arranged in a certain way, as
these colors are very magnetic. By "malignant influences" are meant
any disturbances through strife, quarrels, bad feelings, etc., as these are
said to impress themselves immediately on the astral light, i.e., in the
atmosphere of the place, and to hang "about in the air." This first
condition seems easy enough to accomplish, yet — on further consideration, it
is one of the most difficult ones to obtain.]
2. Before the disciple shall be permitted to study "face to
face," he has to acquire preliminary understanding in a select company of
other lay upasaka (disciples), the number of whom must be odd.
["Face to face," means in this instance a study independent or
apart from others, when the disciple gets his instruction face to face
either with himself (his higher, Divine Self) or — his guru. It is then only
that each receives his due of information, according to the use he has
made of his knowledge. This can happen only toward the end of the cycle of
instruction.]
3. Before thou (the teacher) shalt impart to thy Lanoo (disciple)
the good (holy) words of LAMRIN, or shall permit him "to make ready"
for Dubjed, thou shalt take care that his mind is thoroughly purified
and at peace with all, especially with his other Selves. Other wise the
words of Wisdom and of the good Law, shall scatter and be picked up by the
winds.
["Lamrin" is a work of practical instructions, by Tson-kha-pa,
in two portions, one for ecclesiastical and exoteric purposes, the other for
esoteric use.[2] "To make ready" for Dubjed,
is to prepare the vessels used for seership, such as mirrors and crystals. The
"other selves," refers to the fellow students. Unless the greatest
harmony reigns among the learners, no success is possible. It is the teacher
who makes the selections according to the magnetic and electric natures of the
students, bringing together and adjusting most carefully the positive and the
negative elements.]
4. The upasaka while studying must take care to be united as the
fingers on one hand. Thou shalt impress upon their minds that whatever hurts
one should hurt the others, and if the rejoicing of one finds no echo in the
breasts of the others, then the required conditions are absent, and it is
useless to proceed.
[This can hardly happen if the preliminary choice made was consistent
with the magnetic requirements. It is known that chelas otherwise promising and
fit for the reception of truth, had to wait for years on account of their
temper and the impossibility they felt to put themselves in tune with
their companions. For —]
5. The co-disciples must be tuned by the guru as the strings of a lute (vina),
each different from the others, yet each emitting sounds in harmony with all.
Collectively they must form a key-board answering in all its parts to thy
lightest touch (the touch of the Master). Thus their minds shall open for the
harmonies of Wisdom, to vibrate as knowledge through each and all, resulting in
effects pleasing to the presiding gods (tutelary or patron-angels) and useful
to the Lanoo. So shall Wisdom be impressed forever on their hearts and the
harmony of the law shall never be broken.
6. Those who desire to acquire the knowledge leading to the Siddhis
(occult powers) have to renounce all the vanities of life and of the world
(here follows enumeration of the Siddhis).
7. None can feel the difference between himself and his fellow-students,
such as "I am the wisest," "I am more holy and pleasing to the
teacher, or in my community, than my brother," etc., — and remain an
upasaka. His thoughts must be predominantly fixed upon his heart, chasing there
from every hostile thought to any living being. It (the heart) must be full of
the feeling of its non-separateness from the rest of beings as from all in
Nature; otherwise no success can follow.
8. A Lanoo (disciple) has to dread external living influence
alone (magnetic emanations from living creatures). For this reason while at one
with all, in his inner nature, he must take care to separate his outer
(external) body from every foreign influence: none must drink out of, or eat in
his cup but himself. He must avoid bodily contact (i.e., being touched or
touch) with human, as with animal being.
[No pet animals are permitted and it is forbidden even to touch certain trees
and plants. A disciple has to live, so to say, in his own atmosphere in order
to individualize it for occult purposes.]
9. The mind must remain blunt to all but the universal truths in nature,
lest the "Doctrine of the Heart" should become only the
"Doctrine of the Eye," (i.e., empty esoteric ritualism).
10. No animal food of whatever kind, nothing that has life in it, should
be taken by the disciple. No wine, no spirits, or opium should be used: for
these are like the Lhamayin (evil spirits), who fasten upon the unwary,
they devour the understanding.
[Wine and Spirits are supposed to contain and preserve the bad magnetism
of all the men who helped in their fabrication; the meat of each animal, to
preserve the psychic characteristics of its kind.]
11. Meditation, abstinence in all, the observation of moral duties,
gentle thoughts, good deeds and kind words, as good will to all and entire
oblivion of Self, are the most efficacious means of obtaining knowledge and
preparing for the reception of higher wisdom.
12. It is only by virtue of a strict observance of the foregoing rules
that a Lanoo can hope to acquire in good time the Siddhis of the Arhats, the
growth which makes him become gradually One with the UNIVERSAL ALL.
_ _ _ _ _
These twelve extracts are taken from amongst some seventy-three rules,
to enumerate which would be useless, as they would be meaningless in Europe.
But even these few are enough to show the immensity of the difficulties which
beset the path of the would-be "Upasaka," who has been born and bred
in Western lands.[3]
All Western, and especially English, education is instinct with the
principle of emulation and strife; each boy is urged to learn more quickly, to
outstrip his companions, and to surpass them in every possible way. What is
miscalled "friendly rivalry" is assiduously cultivated, and the same
spirit is fostered and strengthened in every detail of life.
With such ideas "educated into" him from his childhood, how
can a Westerner bring himself to feel towards his co-students "as the
fingers on one hand"?
Those co-students, too, are not of his own selection, or chosen
by himself from personal sympathy and appreciation. They are chosen by his
teacher on far other grounds, and he who would be a student must first
be strong enough to kill out in his heart all feelings of dislike and antipathy
to others.
How many Westerners are ready even
to attempt this in earnest?
And then the details of daily life, the command not to touch even the
hand of one's nearest and dearest. How contrary to Western notions of affection
and good feeling! How cold and hard it seems.
Egotistical too, people would say, to abstain from giving pleasure to
others for the sake of one's own development. Well, let those who think so
defer, till another lifetime, the attempt to enter the path in real earnest.
But let them not glory in their own fancied unselfishness. For, in reality, it
is only the seeming appearances which they allow to deceive them, the
conventional notions, based on emotionalism and gush, or so-called courtesy,
things of the unreal life, not the dictates of Truth.
But even putting aside these difficulties, which may be considered
"external," though their importance is none the less great, how are
students in the West to "attune themselves" to harmony as here
required of them?
So strong has personality grown in Europe and America, that there is no
school of artists even whose members do not hate and are not jealous of each
other. "Professional" hatred and envy have become proverbial; men
seek each to benefit himself at all costs, and even the so-called courtesies of
life are but a hollow mask covering these demons of hatred and jealousy.
In the East the spirit of "non-separateness" is inculcated as
steadily from childhood up, as in the West the spirit of rivalry. Personal
ambition, personal feelings and desires, are not encouraged to grow so rampant
there. When the soil is naturally good, it is cultivated in the right way, and
the child grows into a man in whom the habit of subordination of one's lower to
one's higher Self is strong and powerful.
In the West men think that their own likes and dislikes of other men and
things are guiding principles for them to act upon, even when they do not make
of them the law of their lives and seek to impose them upon others.
_ _ _
Let those who complain that they have learned little in the Theosophical
Society lay to heart the words written in an article in the Path for
last February:
- "The
key in each degree is the aspirant himself."
It is not "the fear of God" which is "the beginning of
Wisdom," but the knowledge of SELF which is WISDOM ITSELF.
How grand and true appears, thus, to the student of Occultism who has
commenced to realize some of the foregoing truths, the answer given by the
Delphic Oracle to all who came seeking after Occult Wisdom — words repeated and
enforced again and again by the wise Socrates:
MAN KNOW THYSELF
FOOTNOTES
1) So holy is
the connection thus formed deemed in the Greek Church, that a marriage between
god-parents of the same child is regarded as the worst kind of incest, is
considered illegal and is dissolved by law; and this absolute prohibition
extends even to the children of one of the sponsors as regards those of the
other.
2) Tson-kha-pa
(1357-1419) was the founder of the Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism, and the
complete title of his work is "Skyes bu gsum
gyi ñams su blanbahi rim pa thams cad tsham bar ston pahi byan chub lam gyi rim
pa".
See Alex Wayman's paper "Introduction to the Lam rim chen no of
Tson-kha-pa" in the Phi theta Annual: "Papers of the Oriental
Languages Honor Society", University of California, 1952, Vol. 3 [Boris de
Zirkoff's note].
3) Be it
remembered that all "Chelas," even lay disciples, are called
Upasaka until after their first initiation, when they become lanoo-Upasaka. To
that day, even those who belong to Lamaseries and are set apart, are
considered as "laymen."
(Lucifer, April, 1888, p.150-154;
Collected Writings IX, p.155-162)
ANNEX
About this article a person wrote
the following comment:
In a very interesting article in
last month’s number entitled “Practical
Occultism” it is stated that from the moment a “Master” begins to teach a
“chela” he takes on himself all the sins of that chela in connection with the
occult sciences until the moment when initiation makes the chela a master and
responsible in his turn.
For the Western mind, steeped as
it has been for generations in “Individualism,” it is very difficult to recognize
the justice and consequently the truth of this statement, and it is very much
to be desired that some further explanation should be given for a fact which
some few may feel intuitively but for which they are quite unable to give any
logical reason.
S. E.
And the Blavatsky’s answer was:
The best logical reason for it is
the fact that even in common daily life, parents, nurses, tutors and
instructors are generally held responsible for the habits and future ethics of
a child. The little unfortunate wretch who is trained by his parents to pick
pockets in the streets is not responsible for the sin, but the effects of it
fall heavily on those who have impressed on his mind that it was the right
thing to do.
Let us hope that the Western
Mind, although being “steeped in Individualism,” has not become so dulled
thereby as not to perceive that there would be neither logic nor justice were
it otherwise. And if the molders of the plastic mind of the yet unreasoning
child must be held responsible, in this world of effects for his sins of
omission and commission during his childhood and for effects produced by their
early training in after-life, how much more the “Spiritual Guru”?
The latter taking the student by
the hand leads him into, and introduces him to a world entirely unknown to the
pupil For this world is that of the invisible but ever-potent CAUSALITY, the
subtle, yet never-breaking thread that is the action, agent and power of Karma,
and Karma itself in the field of divine mind.
Once acquainted with this no
adept can any longer plead ignorance in the event of even an action, good and
meritorious in its motive, producing evil as its result; since acquaintance
with this mysterious realm gives the means to the Occultist of foreseeing the
two paths opening before every premeditated as unpremeditated action, and thus
puts him in a position to know with certainty what will be the results in one
or the other case.
So long then, as the pupil acts
upon this principle, but is too ignorant to be sure of his vision and powers of
discrimination, is it not natural that it is the guide who should be
responsible for the sins of him whom he has led into those dangerous regions?
(Lucifer, May, 1888, p.257-258;
CW IX, p.285-286)
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