CHAKRAS AND KUNDALINI EXPLAINED BY JAMES MORGAN PRYSE

James Morgan Pryse was a disciple of Blavatsky, and in 1910 he published a book entitled: "The Unveiled Apocalypse" where he detailed about the chakras and the kundalini.

And what he wrote I transcribe below adding my comments in purple:

« There are two nervous structures:

-      the cerebro-spinal, consisting of the brain and the spinal cord;

-      and the sympathetic or ganglionic system.

These two structures are virtually distinct yet intimately associated in their ramifications.

The sympathetic system consists of a series of distinct nerve-centres, or ganglia — small masses of vascular neurine — extending on each side of the spinal column from the head to the coccyx.

Some knowledge of these ganglia and the forces associated with them is indispensable in an examination into the esotericism.

THE CHAKRAS

Their occult nature is more fully elucidated in the Upanishads than in any other available ancient works, the teaching therein contained will here be referred to, and their Sanskrit terms employed.

The ganglia are called chakras, "discs," and forty-nine of them are counted, of which the seven principal ones are the following:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

CONARIUM CAVERNOUS PNARYNGEAL CARDIAC EPIGASTRIC PROSTATIC SACRAL

SAHASRARA AJNA VISHUDDHI ANAHATA MANIPURAKA ADHISHTHANA MULADHARA

Of these only the seventh, the conarium or pineal body, need be considered here with particularity.

It is a small conical, dark- grey body situated in the brain immediately behind the extremity of the third ventricle, in a groove between the nates, and above a cavity filled with sabulous matter composed of phosphate and of carbonate of lime.

It is supposed by modem anatomists to be the vestige of an atrophied eye, and hence is termed by them "the unpaired eye."

Though atrophied physically, it is still the organ of spiritual vision when its higher function is restored by the vivifying force of the speirema or paraklete (kundalini), and it is therefore called esoterically "the third eye," the eye of the seer.

When through the action of man's spiritual will, whether by his conscious effort or unconsciously so far as his phrenic mind is concerned, the latent kundalini (speirema), which in the Upanishads is poetically said to lie coiled up like a slumbering serpent, is aroused to activity, it displaces the slow-moving nervous force or neuricity and becomes the agent of the telestic or perfecting work.

As it passes from one ganglion to another its voltage is raised, the ganglia being like so many electric cells coupled for intensity; and moreover in each ganglion, or chakra, it liberates and partakes of the quality peculiar to that centre, and it is then said to "conquer" the chakra. In Sanskrit mystical literature very great stress is laid upon this "conquering of the chakras."

The currents of the kundalini, as also the channels they pursue, are called nadis, "pipes" or "tubes," and the three principal ones are:

• SUSHUMNA — which passes from the terminus of the spinal cord to the top of the cranium, at a point termed the brahmarandra, or "door of Brahma" (in early Christian mysticism, thura lesou, "door of Jesus")

• PINGALA — which corresponds to the right sympathetic; and

• IDA — which corresponds to the left sympathetic.

The force, as specialized in the ganglionic system, becomes the seven tattvas, which in the Apocalypse are called the seven pneumata, "breaths," since they are differentiations of the Great Breath, the "World-Mother," symbolized by the moon.

Concurrent with these seven lunar forces are five solar forces pertaining to the cerebro-spinal system, called the five pranas, "vital airs," or "life-winds," which in the Apocalypse are termed "winds" (anemoi).

The Apocalypse represents these twelve forces, the seven "breaths" and the five "winds," as corresponding to the twelve signs of the zodiac, of which, therefore, a brief description will here be appropriate.

The zodiac is a belt of the celestial sphere, about seventeen degrees in breadth, containing the twelve constellations which the sun traverses during the year in passing around the ecliptic. Within this zone are confined the apparent motions of the moon and major planets.

The zodiacal circle was divided by the ancients into twelve equal portions called signs, which were designated by the names of the constellations then adjacent to them in the following order:

Aries, the Ram; Taurus, the Bull; Gemini, the Twins; Cancer, the Crab; Leo, the Lion; Virgo, the Virgin; Libra, the Balance; Scorpio, the Scorpion; Sagittarius, the Bowman; Capricornus, the Goat; Aquarius, the Water-bearer; and Pisces, the Fishes.

Owing to the precession of the equinoxes, the signs of the ecliptic are now about one place ahead of the corresponding zodiacal constellations, which constitute the fixed zodiac.

Aside from its astronomical utility, the scheme of the zodiac was employed to symbolize the relations between the macrocosm and the microcosm, each of the twelve signs being made to correspond to one of the twelve greater gods of the ancient pantheon and assigned as the "house" of one of the seven sacred planets.

Each sign, moreover, being said to govern a particular portion of the human body, as shown in the familiar exoteric chart here reproduced.

KUNDALINI

A further explanation will now be given of the action of the "serpent force" (kundalini) in the telestic or perfective work.

This work has to be preceded by the most rigid purificatory discipline, which includes strict celibacy and abstemiousness, and it is possible only for the man or woman who has attained a very high state of mental and physical purity.

To the man who is gross and sensual, or whose mind is sullied by evil thoughts or constricted by bigotry, the holy paraklete (kundalini) does not come; the unpurified person who rashly attempts to invade the adytum of his inner God can arouse only the lower psychic forces of his animal nature, forces which are cruelly destructive and never regenerative.

The neophyte who has acquired the "purifying virtues" before entering upon the systematic course of introspective meditation by which the spiritual forces are awakened, must also as a necessary preliminary gain almost complete mastery of his thoughts, with the ability to focus his mind undeviatingly upon a single detached idea or abstract concept, excluding from the mental field all associated ideas and irrelevant notions.

If successful in this mystic meditation, he eventually obtains the power of arousing the speirema, or paraklete (kundalini), and can thereby at will enter into the state of manteia, the sacred trance of seership.

The four mantic states are not psychic trances or somnambulic conditions; they pertain to the noetic, spiritual nature; and in every stage of the manteia complete consciousness and self-command are retained, whereas the psychic trances rarely transcend the animalistic phrenic nature, and are usually accompanied by unconsciousness or semi-consciousness.

Proficiency in the noetic contemplation, with the arousing of the speirema (kundalini) and the conquest of the life-centres (chakras), leads to knowledge of spiritual realities (the science of which constitutes the Gnosis), and the acquirement of certain mystic powers, and it culminates in emancipation from physical existence through the "birth from above" when the deathless solar body has been fully formed.

This telestic work requires the unremitting effort of many years, not in one life only but carried on through a series of incarnations until the final result is achieved.

But almost in its initial stages the consciousness of the aspirant becomes disengaged from the mortal phrenic mind and centred in the immortal noetic mind, so that from incarnation to incarnation his memory carries over, more or less clearly according to the degree he has attained, the knowledge acquired; and with this unbroken memory and certainty of knowledge he is in truth immortal even before his final liberation from the cycle of reincarnation (Samsara).

In arousing the kundalini by conscious effort in meditation, the sushumna, though it is the all-important force, is ignored, and the mind is concentrated upon the two side-currents; for the sushumna can not be energized alone, and it does not start into activity until the ida and the pingala have preceded it, forming a positive and a negative current along the spinal cord.

These two currents, on reaching the sixth chakra, situated back of -the nasal passages, radiate to the right and left, along the line of the eyebrows; then the sushumna, starting at the base of the spinal cord, proceeds along the spinal marrow, its passage through each section thereof corresponding to a sympathetic ganglion being accompanied by a violent shock, or rushing sensation, due to the accession of force — increased “voltage” — until it reaches the conarium, and thence passes outward through the brahmarandra, the three currents thus forming a cross in the brain.

In the initial stage the seven psychic colors are seen, and when the sushumna impinges upon the brain there follows the lofty consciousness of the seer, whose mystic "third eye" now becomes, as it has been poetically expressed, "a window into space." In the next stage, as the brain-centres are successively "raised from the dead" by the serpent-force (kundalini), the seven "spiritual sounds" are heard in the tense and vibrant aura of the seer.

In the succeeding stage, sight and hearing become blended into a single sense, by which colors are heard, and sounds are seen — or, to word it differently, color and sound become one, and are perceived by a sense that is neither sight nor hearing but both.

Similarly, the psychic senses of taste and smell become unified; and next the two senses thus reduced from the four are merged in the interior, intimate sense of touch, which in turn vanishes into the epistemonic faculty, the gnostic power of the seer — exalted above all sense-perception — to cognize eternal realities.

This is the sacred trance called in Sanskrit Samadhi, and in Greek manteia; and in the ancient literature of both these languages four such trances are spoken of.

These stages of seership, however, are but the beginning of the telestic labor, the culmination of which is, as already explained, rebirth in the imperishable solar body. As the Apocalypse has for its sole theme this spiritual rebirth, it should now be apparent why that book has ever been unintelligible to the conventional theologian, and has never yielded its secrets to the mere man of letters.

The light of the Logos, which in energizing becomes what may be described as living, conscious electricity, of incredible voltage and hardly comparable to the form of electricity known to the physicist.

(This "living and conscious electricity" is what in esotericism is known as "Cosmic Kundalini" or "Electric Fire", and which the manifestation to a much smaller degree is the kundalini that humans handle.)

This is the "good serpent" of ancient symbology; and, taken with the pneumatic ovum, it was also represented in the familiar symbol of the egg and the serpent.

It is called in the Sanskrit writings kundalini, the annular or ring-form force, and in the Greek speirema, the serpent-coil.

It is this force which, in the telestic work, or cycle of initiation, weaves from the primal substance of the auric ovum, upon the ideal form or archetype it contains, and conforming thereto, the immortal Augoeides, or solar body {soma heliakon) , so called because in its visible appearance it is self-luminous like the sun, and has a golden radiance. Its aureola displays a filmy opalescence. This solar body is of atomic, non-molecular substance.

(I suspect that the solar body must be the "body of light" that the great initiates create when they are liberated from the cycle of reincarnations, and this body of light they form it from matter, transforming his physical body into "conscious energy." And from what James Pryse mentions, kundalini is required to achieve that transformation.)

The psychic, or lunar, body, through which the Nous acts in the psychic world, is molecular in structure, but of far finer substance than the elements composing the gross physical form, to whose organism it closely corresponds, having organs of sight, hearing, and the rest. »

(Chapter 2 - The path of power)

OBSERVATIONS

There are two details in which I do not agree with James Pryse:

1. The first is that Blavatsky said that we have 56 chakras (7 in the head and 49 in the body).
2. And the second is that the Third Eye is related with Ajna, not with Sahasrara.

But outside of that, I am impressed by the great knowledge that James Pryse possessed, and more considering that he wrote his book in 1910, when there was practically still no information about the chakras and kundalini in the West.

MYSTERIOUS PLACE OF MASTERS LOCATED IN TIBET

TESTIMONY OF MASTER MORYA

The first to speak about this mysterious place was Master Morya, who in a letter he wrote to Mr. Sinnett in October 1881, pointed out the following:

« At a certain spot not to be mentioned to outsiders, there is a chasm spanned by a frail bridge of woven grasses and with a raging torrent beneath.

The bravest member of your Alpine clubs would scarcely dare to venture the passage, for it hangs like a spider's web and seems to be rotten and impassable. Yet it is not; and he who dares the trial and succeeds — as he will if it is right that he should be permitted — comes into a gorge of surpassing beauty of scenery — to one of our places and to some of our people, of which and whom there is no note or minute among European geographers.

At a stone's throw from the old Lamasery stands the old tower, within whose bosom have gestated generations of Bodhisatwas. It is there, where now rests your lifeless friend [Master Kuthumi]. »

(Mahatma Letter 29, p.219)

TESTIMONY OF BLAVATSKY

Helena Blavatsky, in a letter she wrote to Mrs. Mary Hollis Billings, dated October 2, 1881, gave more details about that mysterious place:

« Kuthumi is now gone to sleep for three months to prepare during this Sumadhi or continuous trance state for his initiation, the last but one, when he will become one of the highest adepts.

Poor Kuthumi, his body is now lying cold and stiff in a separate square building of stone with no windows or doors in it, the entrance to which is effected through an underground passage from a door in Toong-ting (reliquary, a room situated in every Thaten (temple) or Lamisery; and his Spirit is quite free.  An adept might lie so for years, when his body was carefully prepared for it beforehand by mesmeric passes etc.

It is a beautiful spot where he is now in the square tower.  The Himalayas on the right and a lovely lake near the lamisery.  His Chohan (spiritual instructor, master, and the Chief of a Tibetan Monastery) takes care of his body.  Morya also goes occasionally to visit him.  It is an awful mystery that state of cataleptic sleep for such a length of time. »

(The Theosophical Forum, May 1936, p.345)

TESTIMONY OF C. RAMIAH

Although the physical access to that place is reserved only for the Adepts and their disciples, there were also members of the Theosophical Society who visited him through his astral body, and one of them was C. Ramiah who narrated his experience in two letters which were published in the Theosophist magazine:

« My age is 51 years; and this circumstance I mention to show that I have not the enthusiasm of youth, nor its inseparable flights of imagination. I note down the incidents in the order of their occurrence to me, and the reader is at liberty to draw what conclusion he pleases.

I am a Brahmin of the orthodox faith, and I have been brought up by my parents in the belief of the existence of one great Personal God, and of numerous other minor gods whose powers over nature and elements are extensive, and who have gradually worked up their ways by a knowledge of occult philosophy.

In the year 1860 or 1861, I had occasion to visit the town of Trivellum in North Arcot District and halted in the chuttrum near the Pagoda. I liked the place much; and something about the aspect of the place struck me that it must have been sanctified by the presence of a Mahatma in its neighborhood. If time had allowed, I would have stayed there much longer, but my business required me to leave it the same evening.

In the year 1864 I was working in another district when one night in a dream I saw a Mahatma seated high in the air with a very brilliant star for his ring, and he pointed me out to his Chela standing near, and beyond this, nothing further occurred.

In the year 1873 my father died and in his last moments he told me that "he had in his mind one or two particular things to communicate, but which he was powerless to do at that moment, and, if the Mahatmas wished, they would communicate with me in the course of time."

About the year 1880, one night, I was carried in my dream to a rural village at the foot of a great chain of mountains; and there I saw a Mahatma dressed in a Buddhist’s gown and hood, with bare feet. I at once prostrated myself at his feet, when he bade me rise, placed his two hands on my head, and directed me to persevere in the mode of life I have been following. A few months rolled away and nothing particular occurred.

In the year 1881, the newly established Theosophical Society attracted the attention of all people; and hearing that a Mahatma was favorably disposed to its successful working, I prayed that I may be favored with faith. I repeated this prayer every night; and it so happened that one night, in my dream, I was carried to the same chain of mountains, when I perceived the same Mahatma (who already appeared to me in the Buddhist’s gown) standing on an isolated rock; and there was a deep chasm between him and me.

Not being able to go nearer, I prostrated on the ground, when I was ordered to rise and was asked what I wanted. I repeated the prayer that I wanted to know more of faith, when, to my surprise, a large volume of brilliant fire burst forth from his breast with several forked tongues, and a few particles of fire flew in my direction and they were absorbed in my person. The Mahatma disappeared after this, and here ended my second dream.

As time rolled on, I became less and less selfish, am disposed to look upon the whole humanity, animals and men, as part of myself, and am more and more anxious to learn and become useful to the world at large within my limited means and knowledge, of which there is not much.

In the middle part of the year 1883, one night, I was carried in my dream to a great chain of mountains when some one led me into their recesses. There I found a great rock temple in the form of a hall of oblong size, and I perceived the same Mahatma, who had shown himself to me on the two previous occasions, seated on a low stool with a shrine opposite to him, and there were two rows of Mahatmas, one on each side, all dressed in Buddhist’s gown except the Chief.

I prostrated as usual and was ordered to rise. I was then told to go round the shrine, and some one led me round, and there I found two or three ladies in deep devotion.

On the shrine I observed a very brilliant substance resembling phosphorus, in a dark place irregularly coiled like a serpent, and I expressed a wish to know what it was; and one of the ladies then opening her eyes told me that the shrine is earth, to which state all our physical bodies must be brought down sooner or later, and the brilliant substance is the spirit, or essence, or "Jyoti" which moves all universe. I came back to the Chief, and after prostrating before him once more, I left the place which was said to be "Harthayery", by one of the Mahatmas standing ⁽¹⁾.

I have had no dreams since then, but I perceive a change coming over me as if my inward man is trying to fly upwards; and I have now a very sincere desire to proceed to the Tibetan mountains in search of the Mahatmas.

I was thinking over these dreams, and at last my mind became so heavy with these thoughts that I prayed to the Mahatmas for relief. In my dream again about two months ago, I was told to go to Mr. T. Subba Row, the worthy President of the Madras Branch of the Theosophical Society, and to him I went after the voice repeated itself a second time. To him I explained my whole experience, and he kindly asked me to call at the Head-Quarters of the Theosophical Society in order to see if I could recognize the features of the Mahatma who appeared to me in my dream.

I went thither the same evening, and at about 4 p.m., the "Shrine" doors were opened, and to my surprise I identified in the photo of the Illustrious Mahatma K. H. the exact features of the Mahatma of my dreams. With my hands joined in a state of supplication, and with the words "O Mighty God" on my lips, I went down on my knees, and in an hour afterwards I became a fellow of the Theosophical Society.

C. RAMIAH.

MADRAS

11th August, 1884.

After identifying the Mahatma of my dreams with the Mahatma K. H., whose picture graces the shrine at Adyar Head-quarters (as mentioned in the September number of the Theosophist), I resolved to call to my mind the form of the Mahatma, and after a few determined trials I succeeded in impressing my mind with his exact features, not omitting even the Buddhist’s gown and bare feet.

I willed this often, and each time the features became more and more clearly defined. At one time the Mahatma appeared seated, oftentimes standing, and on a few occasions he appeared standing on an elevated place; and in my efforts to approach him from the low land, in which I then fancied I was, he extended his hand as if to help me in climbing up. All the above were visions in open day time during my hours of prayer, and they were not dreams.

As time rolled on I observed the features of the Mahatma to wear an expression of sorrow, and this I thought was due to my sinful life. A change, however, came over me soon, and to my extreme regret I perceived that mental clouds intervened between the Mahatma and me, hiding him altogether from my view; and they followed each other in rapid succession.

When they were dispersed by an effort of the will, the internal light which enabled me to see the Mahatma with my mind’s eye became so intense and displayed such variegated colors, that I was not able to see any thing. On other occasions this same internal light became so unsteady that an effort to see him pained the mind’s eye.

I felt very sorry for the above interruption, when one day, while in prayers, I perceived a ray of light of golden hue shine within me, and as I followed it, it grew in intensity, and the golden hue was diffused all over in me. It did not however stop here, and it extended itself to the whole earth, and even went beyond it, lighting up as far as the mind’s eye can reach or comprehend. In this light I perceived worlds moving and all sorts of matter and human and other forms moving in this ocean of light.

The vision was splendid to behold, and after a lapse of about five minutes the light gradually contracted itself to the original single ray, and in the light which it diffused, I perceived the sublime and glorious form of the Mahatma. I must, however, add here that so long as this ray of light of golden hue was seen by me, neither the clouds, nor the intensely strong light with variegated colors, nor unsteadiness of light, disturbed the vision.

I have no control over this splendid ray of light as it appears when I am unaware, and does not appear when I want it to appear. Its duration is also not fixed nor its intensity either.

I mentioned all this to my esteemed friend Mr. Subba Row, and he advised me to see well and distinguish what objects I saw in that glorious light, and I did not waste the advice.

One day while at prayers the golden ray of light appeared, and in seeing through it I perceived the figure of the Mahatma; and as I found my mind’s eye upon him he receded. I followed him, and steadily he walked over an ascent, and then I perceived that a mountainous country was at hand. He went up mountains and down again, now turning to the right and then to the left, until at last he came upon a broad river and then disappeared.

Instinctively I walked alongside of the bank of the river in the hope of finding a ford, and came to its narrowest part. There was a rude bridge of reeds here spanning the river, and trusting myself to the protecting care of the Mahatma, who brought me so far, I made a venture, and before I was aware of my dangerous position, I found myself on the other side.

Here was up and down hill work again, and when I perceived that I was much exhausted, a large lake was disclosed to my view, the margin of which was graced with clusters of beautiful trees, with a sprinkling of rudely built houses on the shore; and on my nearer approach I perceived they were inhabited ⁽²⁾.

Thirsty and hungry, I ventured into the house nearest to me, and with one voice all the inmates greeted me and made me participate in their meals. After this, they clothed me in a gown and hood of pale yellow color, and after similarly clothing themselves, they took me to the rock temple in "Husthagerry" (described in the September number of the Theosophist) where to my surprise and infinite joy I found the Mahatma K. H. seated before the altar on the same low stool as before. We all prostrated before him, and thus ended this interesting vision.

About the latter part of last August I was in prayers as usual when the golden ray of light having appeared the Mahatma stood in it in all his glory. He receded again, and I followed him close, and after traversing the same path over mountains as before, he disappeared at the lake. There were no persons living on the borders of the lake and the houses were all empty. Without knowing the why or the wherefore I tried to reach the rock temple, but I missed my way.

After traversing many mountains and dangerous valleys, I came upon a broad tableland and at some distance I perceived a cluster of fine tall trees beneath the shadow of which there stood a neat house facing eastward. Thither I went, and at its entrance I saw Mahatma K. H. seated alone, and my mind told me it was his own house. I mentioned this curious vision to Mr. Damodar K. Mavalankar, and he told me that I must try and see what more I can; and this resolve I at once made ⁽³⁾.

Three or four days after this interview, the same vision appeared to me, and facing the house of the Mahatma K. H. there appeared another cluster of trees with a house under, with a distance of about a mile or two between the houses; and there was also a small temple with a circular dome half way between them. This other or second house I learnt by intuition belonged to another Mahatma ⁽⁴⁾.

There was no exchange of words between the Mahatma and myself in any one of the visions.

I am sorry I am not an artist or I would have sent you a sketch of the scenery of the two houses with the picturesque temple half way between the houses.

C. RAMIAH

MADRAS,

4th September, 1884.

»

The editor (Blavatsky) added the followings endnotes:

1. The correspondent probably means an altar and not a shrine. But the details he gives of the Jyoti (flame) seem to correspond to what is alleged to exist in a certain temple in Thibet. The flame symbolises what the Hindu philosophers know as paramjyoti, which is sometimes represented by the Buddhists as the "yellow Sun in the lotus."
2. The correspondent could not have described the place more accurately, if he had seen it physically. If he had persevered a little and gone further, only a short distance, he might have seen a certain place allowed to be visited only by initiates. Perhaps to prevent his approaching it his course might have been diverted on the way.
3. This is a correct description, as far as it goes, of the house of the Mahatma.
4. This description corresponds to that of the house of the other Mahatma, known to Theosophists.

(Ramiah’s testimony was published in Supplement to The Theosophist, September, 1884, p.125-126, and October, 1884, p.138-139)

TESTIMONY OF FRANZ HARTMANN

Another member of the Theosophical Society who also reported having visited this place was the writer Franz Hartmann who wrote the following:

« In the year 1886, after my return from India, I made, accidentally, the acquaintance of the wife of a German laborer. This woman was without any better education that than of her class, but in possession of extraordinary occult powers.

She could cure diseases at a distance, could heal wounds, ulcers, and sores, and could stop bleeding without seeing the patient, merely by “sympathetic” remedies, for instance by putting a blood-stained rag, coming from the patient, into a pot which contained sulphate of iron, after which the bleeding would cease.

This woman had never heard of what is called “psychometry,” so I concluded to try an experiment. I gave her a letter which I had received in a mysterious manner in India. It was a so-called “occult” letter, supposed to come from a Mahatma in Tibet, and was received through H.P. Blavatsky.

I asked the woman to hold the letter to her forehead and tell me what she saw. She did so and gave me a description of a Buddhist temple with a gilded roof, inscriptions, etc., and also of people whose dress she described. All this was afterwards published in the Theo sophist and verified by Blavatsky.

The event seemed very inexplicable to me, especially as I at that time had some cause to doubt the genuineness of at least some of the “occult letters” received by me at Adyar. I remembered afterwards, that, some months before, I had seen myself during a “dream” in a Buddhist temple in Tibet, and this vision was so vivid, that on the moment of awakening I still seemed to hear the voices of the white-robed persons with whom I had spoken in that place. »

(Occult Review, May 1907, p.280-281)