BOOK "PRACTICAL OCCULTISM" (ATTRIBUTED TO BLAVATSKY)

 

It is a small book that was produced by the publishing company of the Theosophical Society Adyar and has been reprinted multiple times. I am not clear when its first publication was. The oldest publication I have discovered was in 1939 with the title "Practical Occultism and Occultism versus the Occult Arts."

 

 

And from 1948 the title was reduced to "Practical Occultism."

 

 

 

The Society Adyar presents Blavatsky as the author of this book, but that is not entirely true.

 

The first two sections were written by her, since they correspond to two articles that she wrote in her Lucifer magazine and which are:

 

·        "Practical Occultism" (Vol. II, No. 8, April 1888, p.150-154)

·        "Occultism versus the Occult Arts" (Vol. II, No. 9, May 1888, p.173-181)

 

And that explains the title of this book.

 

But instead the third section was not prepared by Blavatsky, but despite this, 80 years later, Adyar is still affirming that this third section was made by Blavatsky, since in its bookstore wrote the following:

 

« This book consists of three essays of which the first two were articles published in Lucifer, a journal edited by H.P.Blavatsky, in 1888.

 

'Practical Occultism' describes the essential difference between theoretical Occultism (Theosophy) and Practical Occultism (Occult Science), and the nature of the difficulties involved in the study of the latter.

 

'Occultism versus the Occult Arts' dispels the widely held misconception that the two are same and akin to magic or sorcery, and clearly spells out what exactly the theosophist ought to strive after.

 

The last essay, a set of compilations by Blavatsky, consists of practical ideas, quotations and insights to meditate on daily, as pointers to self-knowledge and ultimately self-realization. »

(https://adyarbooks.com/node/642)

 

 

But this latter affirmation is false, because it does not make any sense that Blavatsky compiled texts that are opposite to what she taught, since for example, that compilation begins by saying that every morning we have to get up early to pray fervently for the spiritual regeneration of the humanity.

 

While on the other hand, Blavatsky vigorously in her book "The Key to Theosophy" disapproves the activity of praying, because she considers that it weakens people's capacity for action.

 

In addition, the researcher Carlos Cardoso Aveline points out that this third text has been analyzed by highly reputable Theosophists such as Ernest Pelletier, Ted Davy, and Dallas TenBroeck, and they have concluded that this compilation is very poorly done, because it includes ideas that are not found present in the original texts, and in several places the sentences are distorted so that they do not even serve as transcriptions. And Dallas TenBroeck after examining many of the paragraphs in the text, concluded that its content is frequently erroneous from a theosophical point of view.

 

(You can read Aveline's full article here.)

 

So what the Society Adyar had really to have put in its review is:

 

« And the last essay is a set of pieces of texts that a member of our organization took from the writings of theosophical literature and other works, and put them together to create a compilation, but who often distorted its content and added his own ideas, which are on several occasions contrary to what Theosophy teaches. »

 

 

 

 

 

WHO ELABORATED THIS BOOK?

 

The way this book was edited reminds me to Annie Besant, because she had done something similar before. To sell more books, Besant elaborated a third false volume of the Secret Doctrine, and to do that she gathered all the articles that Blavatsky had left on her desk before she died, but since all that material only formed a very thin volume, she stuffed it so she could publish it as a book.

 

And here we see the same procedure, because the subject of the occultism is very attractive to people, but since the two Blavatsky’s articles were not enough; the editor added that compilation to be able to sell them as a book.

 

But Besant died in 1933, so if that book was first published in 1939, then it was probably some Adyar publisher who adopted that bad behavior as well.

 

And I agree that this compilation is very poorly done, since it lacks continuity, has no consistency, and often distorts the content of the original texts.

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

It is very unethical that the Theosophical Society Adyar put this long third text that occupies 40% of the book and make its readers believe that it was prepared by Blavatsky (when I have just shown you above that this is false) and continue with that lie.

 

 

 

 

 

INTERNET

 

You can find different download options in this link.

 

And below I put a better transcription online:

 

 

 

 

 

CONTENTS

 

 

PRACTICAL OCCULTISM

 

IMPORTANT TO STUDENTS

 

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 neighbour 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 onself 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 under take to teach the rudiments of the Sacred Science to their disciples — those Western Hierophants being often them selves ignorant of the danger they incur — one and all of those "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*. 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.

 

(* 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.)

 

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 "Divina 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 colours 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 colours" are the prismatic hues arranged in a certain way, as these colours are very magnetic. By "malignant influences" are meant any disturbances through strifes, 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. Otherwise 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. "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 ringers 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 for ever 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 him self. 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 individualise 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 exoteric 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 Lhamaym (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, the observation of moral duties, gentle thoughts, good deeds and kind words, as goodwill 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 12 extracts are taken from among some 73 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*.

 

(* 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.")

 

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 Western 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 Westerns 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 realise 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. . . .

 

 

 

 

 

OCCULTISM VERSUS THE OCCULT ARTS

 

  "I oft have heard, but ne’er believed till now.

   There are, who can by potent magic spells

   Bend to their crooked purpose Nature’s laws."

     MILTON.

 

IN this month’s "Correspondence" several letters testify to the strong impression produced on some minds by our last month s article, Practical Occultism. Such letters go far to prove and strengthen two logical conclusions.

 

a)   There are more well-educated and thoughtful men who believe in the existence of Occultism and Magic (the two differing vastly) than the modern materialist dreams of; and —

b)   That most of the believers (comprising many theosophists) have no definite idea of the nature of Occultism and confuse it with the Occult sciences in general, the “Black art” included.

 

Their representations of the powers it confers upon man, and of the means to be used to acquire them are as varied as they are fanciful. Some imagine that a master in the art, to show the way, is all that is needed to become a Zanoni. Others, that one has but to cross the Canal of Suez and go to India to bloom forth as a Roger Bacon or even a Count de St.-Germain.

 

Many take for their ideal, Margrave with his ever-renewing youth, and care little for the soul as the price paid for it. Not a few, mistaking "Witch-of-Endorism," pure and simple, for Occultism — "through the yawning Earth from Stygian gloom, call up the meagre ghosts to walks of light," and want, on the strength of this feat, to be regarded as full-blown Adepts. "Ceremonial Magic," according to the rules mockingly laid down by Eliphas Levi, is another imagined alter ego of the philosophy of the Arhats of old. In short, the prisms through which Occultism appears, to those innocent of the philosophy, are as multicoloured and varied as human fancy can make them.

 

Will these candidates to Wisdom and Power feel very indignant if told the plain truth?

 

 

It is not only useful, but it has now become necessary to disabuse most of them and before it is too late. This truth may be said in a few words: There are not in the West half-a-dozen among the fervent hundreds who call themselves "Occultists," who have even an approximately correct ideal of the nature of the Science they seek to master. With a few exceptions, they are all on the highway to Sorcery. Let them restore some order in the chaos that reigns in their minds, before they protest against this statement. Let them first learn the true relation in which the Occult Sciences stand to Occultism, and the difference between the two, and then feel wrathful if they still think themselves right. Meanwhile, let them learn that Occultism differs from Magic and other secret Sciences as the glorious sun does from a rush-light, as the immutable and immortal Spirit of Man — the reflection of the absolute, causeless and unknowable ALL — differs from the mortal clay — the human body.

 

In our highly civilized West, where modern languages have been formed, and words coined, in the wake of ideas and thoughts — as happened with every tongue — the more the latter became materialized in the cold atmosphere of Western selfishness and its incessant chase after the goods of this world, the less was there any need felt for the production of new terms to express that which was tacitly regarded as absolute and exploded "superstition." Such words could answer only to ideas which a cultured man was scarcely supposed to harbour in his mind.

 

"Magic," a synonym for jugglery; "Sorcery," an equivalent for crass ignorance; and "Occultism," the sorry relic of crack-brained, mediaeval Fire-philosophers, of the Jacob Böhmes and the Saint-Martins, are expressions believed more than amply sufficient to cover the whole field of "thimble-rigging." They are terms of contempt, and used generally only in reference to the dross and residues of the dark ages and its preceding aeons of paganism. Therefore have we no terms in the English tongue to define and shade the difference between such abnormal powers, or the sciences that lead to the acquisition of them, with the nicety possible in the Eastern languages — pre-eminently the Sanskrit. What do the words "miracle" and "enchantment" (words identical in meaning after all, as both express the idea of producing wonderful things by breaking the laws of nature (!!) as explained by the accepted authorities) convey to the minds of those who hear, or who pronounce them?

 

A Christian — breaking "of the laws of nature," notwithstanding — while believing firmly in the miracles, because said to have been produced by God through Moses, will either scout the enchantments performed by Pharaoh’s magicians, or attribute them to the devil. It is the latter whom our pious enemies connect with Occultism, while their impious foes, the infidels, laugh at Moses, Magicians, and Occultists, and would blush to give one serious thought to such "superstitions." This, because there is no term in existence to show the difference; no words to express the lights and shadows and draw the line of demarcation between the sublime and the true, the absurd and the ridiculous. The latter are the theological interpretations which teach the "breaking of the laws of Nature" by man, God, or devil; the former — the scientific "miracles” and enchantments of Moses and the Magicians in accordance with natural laws, both having been learned in all the Wisdom of the Sanctuaries, which were the "Royal Societies" of those days — and in true OCCULTISM. This last word is certainly misleading, translated as it stands from the compound word Gupta-Vidya, "Secret Knowledge."

 

But the knowledge of what?

 

Some of the Sanskrit terms may help us. There are four (out of the many other) names of the various kinds of Esoteric Knowledge or Sciences given, even in the exoteric Puranas. There is:

 

(1) Yajna-Vidya*, knowledge of the occult powers awakened in nature by the performance of certain religious ceremonies and rites.

 

(* "The Yajna," say the Brahmans, "exists from eternity, for it proceeded forth from the Supreme One ... in whom it lay dormant from ‘no beginning.’ It is the key to the TRAIVIDYA, the thrice sacred science contained in the Rig verses, which teaches the Yagus or sacrificial mysteries. ‘The Yajna’ exists as an invisible thing at all times; it is like the latent power of electricity in an electrifying machine, requiring only the operation of a suitable apparatus in order to be elicited. It is supposed to extend from the Ahavaniya or sacrificial fire to the heavens, forming a bridge or ladder by means of which the sacrificer can communicate with the world of gods and spirits, and even ascend when alive to their abodes." — Martin Haug’s Aitareya Brahmana.

 

"This Yajna is again one of the forms of the Akasa; and the mystic word calling it into existence and pronounced mentally by the initiated Priest is the Lost Word receiving impulse through WILL POWER." — Isis Unveiled, vol. i, Intr.

See Aitareya Brahmana, Haug.)

 

 

(2) Mahavidya, the "great knowledge," the magic of the Kabalists and of the Tantrika worship, often Sorcery of the worst description.

 

(3) Guhya-Vidya, knowledge of the mystic powers residing in Sound (Ether), hence in the Mantras (chanted prayers or incantations), and depending on the rhythm and melody used; in other words, a magical performance based on knowledge of the Forces of Nature and their correlation; and

 

(4) ATMA-VIDYA, a term which is translated simply "Knowledge of the Soul," true Wisdom by the Orientalists, but which means far more.

 

This last is the only kind of Occultism that any Theosophist who admires "Light on the Path" and who would be wise and unselfish, ought to strive after. All the rest is some branch of the "Occult Sciences," i.e., arts based on the knowledge of the ultimate essence of all things in the Kingdoms of Nature — such as minerals, plants and animals — hence of things pertaining to the realm of material nature, how ever invisible that essence may be, and howsoever much it has hitherto eluded the grasp of Science. Alchemy, Astrology, Occult Physiology, Chiromancy, exist in Nature, and the exact Sciences — perhaps so called, because they are found in this age of paradoxical philosophies the reverse — have already discovered not a few of the above arts. But clairvoyance, symbolised in India as the. "Eye of Siva," called in Japan, "Infinite Vision," is not Hypnotism, the illegitimate son of Mesmerism, and is not to be acquired by such arts. All the others may be mastered and results obtained, whether good, bad, or indifferent; but Atma-Vidya sets small value on them. It includes them all and may even use them occasionally, but it does so after purifying them of their dross, for beneficent purposes, and taking care to deprive them of every element of selfish motive. Let us explain: Any man or woman can set himself or herself to study one or all of the above specified "Occult Arts" without any great previous preparation, and even without adopting any too restraining mode of life. One could even dispense with any lofty standard of morality. In the last case, of course, ten to one the student would blossom into a very decent kind of sorcerer, and tumble down headlong into black magic.

 

But what can this matter?

 

The Voodoos and the Dugpas eat, drink, and are merry over hecatombs of victims of their infernal arts. And so do the amiable gentlemen vivisectionists and the diploma-ed "Hypnotisers" of the Faculties of Medicine; the only difference between the two classes being that the Voodoos and Dugpas are conscious, and the Charcot-Richet crew unconscious, Sorcerers. Thus, since both have to reap the fruits of their labours and achievements in the black art, the Western practitioners should not have the punishment and reputation without the profits and enjoyments they may get therefrom. For we say it again, hypnotism and vivisection as practised in such Schools, are Sorcery pure and simple, minus a knowledge that the Voodoos and Dugpas en joy, and which no Charcot-Richet can procure for himself in fifty years of hard study and experimental observation. Let, then, those who will dabble in magic, whether they understand its nature or not, but who find the rules imposed upon students too hard, and who, therefore, lay Atma-Vidya or Occultism aside — go without it. Let them become magicians by all means, even though they do become Voodoos and Dugpas for the next ten incarnations.

 

But the interest of our readers will probably centre on those who are invincibly attracted towards the "Occult," yet who neither realise the true nature of what they aspire towards, nor have they become, passion-proof, far less, truly unselfish.

 

How about these unfortunates, we shall be asked, who are thus rent in twain by conflicting forces?

 

For it has been said too often to need repetition, and the fact itself is patent to any observer, that when once the desire for Occultism has really .awakened in a man’s heart, there remains for him no hope of peace, no place of rest and comfort in all the world. He is driven out into the wild and desolate spaces of life by an ever-gnawing unrest he cannot quell. His heart is too full of passion and selfish desire to permit him to pass the Golden Gate; he cannot find rest or peace in ordinary life. Must he then inevitably fall into sorcery and black magic, and through many incarnations heap up for himself a terrible Karma?

 

Is there no other road for him?

 

Indeed there is, we answer. Let him aspire to no higher than he feels able to accomplish. Let him not take a burden upon himself too heavy for him to carry. Without ever becoming a "Mahatma," a Buddha or a Great Saint, let him study the philosophy and the "Science of Soul" and he can be come one of the modest benefactors of humanity, without any "superhuman" powers. Siddhis (or the Arhat powers) are only for those who are able to "lead the life, to comply with the terrible sacrifices required for such a training, and to comply with them to the very letter. Let them know at once and remember always, that true Occultism or Theosophy is the "Great Renunciation of SELF," unconditionally and absolutely, in thought as in action.

 

It is ALTRUISM, and it throws him who practises it out of calculation of the ranks of the living altogether. "Not for himself, but for the world, he lives," as soon as he has pledged himself to the work. Much is forgiven during the first years of probation. But no sooner is he "accepted" than his personality must disappear, and he has to become a mere beneficent force in Nature.

 

There are two poles for him after that, two paths, and no mid ward place of rest. He has either to ascend laboriously, step by step, often through numerous incarnations and no Devachanic break, the golden ladder leading to Mahatmaship (the Arhat or Bodhisattva condition), or — he will let himself slide down the ladder at the first false step, and roll down into Dugpaship. . . .

 

All this is either unknown or left out of sight altogether. Indeed, one who is able to follow the silent evolution of the preliminary aspirations of the candidates often finds strange ideas quietly taking possession of their minds. There are those whose reasoning powers have been so distorted by foreign influences that they imagine that animal passions can be so sublimated and elevated that their fury, force, and fire can, so to speak, be turned inwards; that they can be stored and shut up in one’s breast, until their energy is, not expanded, but turned toward higher and more holy purposes: namely, until their collective and unexpanded strength enables their possessor to enter the true Sanctuary of the Soul and stand therein in the presence of the Master — the HIGHER SELF. For this purpose they will not struggle with their passions nor slay them. They will simply, by a strong effort of will, put down the fierce flames and keep them at bay within their natures, allowing the fire to smoulder under a thin layer of ashes. They submit joyfully to the torture of the Spartan boy who allowed the fox to devour his entrails rather than part with it. Oh, poor blind visionaries!

 

As well hope that a band of drunken chimney-sweeps, hot and greasy from their work, may be shut up in a Sanctuary hung with pure white linen, and that instead of soiling and turning it by their presence into a heap of dirty shreds, they will become masters in and of the sacred recess, and finally emerge from it as immaculate as that recess.

 

Why not imagine that a dozen of skunks imprisoned in the pure atmosphere of a Dgon-pa (a monastery) can issue out of it impregnated with all the perfumes of the incenses used? . . .

 

Strange aberration of the human mind!

 

Can it be so?

 

Let us argue.

 

The "Master" in the Sanctuary of our souls is "the Higher Self" — the divine spirit whose consciousness is based upon and derived solely (at any rate during the mortal life of the man in whom it is captive) from the Mind, which we have agreed to call the Human Soul (the "Spiritual Soul " being the vehicle of the Spirit). In its turn the former (the personal or human soul) is a compound, in its highest form, of spiritual aspirations, volitions, and divine love; and in its lower aspect, of animal desires and terrestrial passions imparted to it by its associations with its vehicle, the seat of all these. It thus stands as a link and a medium between the animal nature of man which its higher reason seeks to subdue, and his divine spiritual nature to which it gravitates, whenever it has the upper hand in its struggle with the inner animal. The latter is the instinctual "animal Soul," and is the hotbed of those passions which, as just shown, are lulled instead of being killed, and locked up in their breasts by some imprudent enthusiasts.

 

Do they still hope to turn thereby the muddy stream of the animal sewer into the crystalline waters of life? And where, on what neutral ground, can they be imprisoned so as not to affect man?

 

The fierce passions of love and lust are still alive, and they are allowed to still remain in the place of their birth — that same animal soul; for both the higher and the lower portions of the "Human Soul" or Mind reject such inmates, though they cannot avoid being tainted with them as neighbours. The "Higher Self" or Spirit is as unable to Assimilate such feelings as water to get mixed with oil or unclean liquid tallow. It is thus the mind alone — the sole link and medium between the man of earth and the Higher Self — that is the only sufferer, and which is in incessant danger of being dragged down by those passions that may be reawakened at any moment, and perish in the abyss of matter. And how can it ever attune itself to the divine harmony of the highest Principle, when that harmony is destroyed by the mere presence, within the Sanctuary in preparation, of such animal passions?

 

How can harmony prevail and conquer, when the soul is stained and distracted with the turmoil of passions and the terrestrial desires of the bodily senses, or even of the "Astral man"?

 

 

For this "Astral" — the shadowy "double" (in the animal as in man) is not the companion of the divine Ego but of the earthly body. It is the link between the personal SELF, the lower consciousness of Manas and the Body, and is the vehicle of transitory, not of immortal life. Like the shadow projected by man, it follows his movements and impulses slavishly and mechanically, and leans therefore to matter without ever ascending to Spirit. It is only when the power of the passions is dead altogether, and when they have been crushed and annihilated in the retort of an unflinching will; when not only all the lusts and longings of the flesh are dead, but also the recognition of the personal Self is killed out and the "Astral" has been reduced in consequence to a cipher, that the Union with the "Higher Self" can take place.

 

Then when the "Astral" reflects only the conquered man, the still living but no more the longing, selfish personality, then the brilliant Augoeides, the divine SELF, can vibrate in conscious harmony with both the poles of the human Entity — the man of matter purified, and the ever pure Spiritual Soul — and stand in the presence of the MASTER SELF, the Christos of the mystic Gnostic, blended, merged into, and one with IT for ever*.

 

(* Those who would feel inclined to see three Egos in one man will show themselves unable to perceive the metaphysical meaning. Man is a trinity composed of Body, Soul, and Spirit; but man is nevertheless one, and is surely not his body. It is the latter which is the property, the transitory clothing of the man. The three "Egos" are MAN in his three aspects on the astral, intellectual or psychic, and the Spiritual planes o states.)

 

 

How, then, can it be thought possible for a man to enter the "strait gate" of occultism when his daily and hourly thoughts are bound up with worldly things, desires of possession and power, with lust, ambition, and duties which, however honourable, are still of the earth earthy?

 

Even the love for wife and family — the purest as the most unselfish of human affections — is a barrier to real occultism. For whether we take as an example the holy love of a mother for her child, or that of a husband for his wife, even in these feelings, when analysed to the very bottom, and thoroughly sifted, there is still selfishness in the first, and an egoisme a deux in the second instance. What mother would not sacrifice without a moment s hesitation hundreds and thousands of lives for that of the child of her heart? And what lover or true husband would not break the happiness of every other man and woman around him to satisfy the desire of one whom he loves?

 

This is but natural, we shall be told. Quite so, in the light of the code of human affections; less so, in that of divine universal love. For, while the heart is full of thoughts for a little group of selves, near and dear to us, how shall the rest of mankind fare in our souls? What percentage of love and care will there remain to bestow on the "great orphan"? And how shall the "still small voice" make itself heard in a soul entirely occupied with its own privileged tenants? What room is there left for the needs of Humanity en bloc to impress themselves upon, or even receive a speedy response? And yet, he who would profit by the wisdom of the universal mind, has to reach it through the whole of Humanity without distinction of race, complexion, religion, or social status.

 

It is altruism, not ego-ism even in its most legal and noble conception, that can lead the unit to merge its little Self in the Universal Selves. It is to these needs and to this work that the true disciple of true Occultism has to devote himself if he would obtain theo-sophy, divine Wisdom and Knowledge.

 

The aspirant has to choose absolutely between the life of the world and the life of occultism. It is useless and vain to endeavour to unite the two, for no one can serve two masters and satisfy both. No one can serve his body and the higher Soul, and do his family duty and his universal duty, without depriving either one or the other of its rights; for he will either lend his ear to the "still small voice" and fail to hear the cries of his little ones, or, he will listen but to the wants of the latter and remain deaf to the voice of Humanity. It would be a ceaseless, a maddening struggle for almost any married man, who would pursue true practical Occultism, instead of its theoretical philosophy. For he would find himself ever hesitating between the voice of the impersonal divine love of Humanity, and that of the personal, terrestrial love. And this could only lead him to fail in one or the other, or perhaps in both his duties. Worse than this. For, whoever indulges, after having pledged himself to OCCULTISM, in the gratification of a terrestrial love or lust, must feel an almost immediate result — that of being irresistibly dragged from the impersonal divine state down to the lower plane of matter. Sensual, or even mental, self-gratification involves the immediate loss of the powers of spiritual discernment; the voice of the MASTER can no longer be distinguished from that of one s passions, or even that of a Dugpa; the right from wrong; sound morality from mere casuistry. The Dead Sea fruit assumes the most glorious mystic appearance, only to turn to ashes on the lips, and to gall in the heart, resulting in:

 

    "Depth ever deepening, darkness darkening still;

     Folly for wisdom, guilt for innocence;

     Anguish for rapture, and for hope despair."

 

And once being mistaken and having acted on their mistakes, most men shrink from realising their error, and thus descend deeper and deeper into the mire. And, although it is the intention that decides primarily whether white or black magic is exercised, yet the results even of involuntary, unconscious sorcery cannot fail to be productive of bad Karma. Enough has been said to show that sorcery is any kind of evil influence exercised upon other persons, who suffer, or make other persons suffer, in consequence. Karma is a heavy stone splashed in the quiet waters of Life; and it must produce ever widening circles of ripples, carried wider and wider, almost ad infinitum. Such causes produced have to call forth effects and these are evidenced in the just laws of Retribution.

 

Much of this may be avoided if people will only abstain from rushing into practices neither the nature nor importance of which they understand. No one is expected to carry a burden beyond his strength and powers. There are "natural born magicians"; Mystics and Occultists by birth, and by right of direct inheritance from a series of in carnations and aeons of suffering and failures. These are passion-proof, so to say. No fires of earthly origin can fan into a flame any of their senses or desires; no human voice can find response in their souls, except the great cry of Humanity. These only may be certain of success. But they can be met only far and wide, and they pass through the narrow gates of Occultism because they carry no personal luggage of human transitory sentiments along with them. They have got rid of the feeling of the lower personality, paralysed thereby the "astral" animal, and the golden, but narrow gate is thrown open before them. Not so with those who have to carry yet for several incarnations the burden of sins committed in previous lives, and even in their present existence. For such, unless they proceed with great caution, the golden gate of Wisdom may get transformed into the wide gate and the broad way "that leadeth unto destruction," and therefore "many be they that enter in thereby."

 

This is the Gate of the Occult arts, practised for selfish motives and, in the absence of the restraining and beneficent influence of ATMA-VIDYA. We are in the Kali Yuga and its fatal influence is a thousand fold more powerful in the West than it is in the East; hence the easy preys made by the Powers of the Age of Darkness in this cyclic struggle, and the many delusions under which the world is now labouring. One of these is the relative facility with which men fancy they can get at the "Gate" and cross the thresh old of Occultism without any great sacrifice. It is the dream of most Theosophists, one inspired by desire for power and personal selfishness, and it is not such feelings that can ever lead them to the coveted goal. For, as well said by one believed to have sacrificed himself for Humanity "narrow is the gate and straitened the way that leadeth unto life" eternal, and therefore "few be they that find it." So strait indeed, that at the bare mention of some of the preliminary difficulties the affrighted Western candidates turn back and retreat with a shudder. . . .

 

Let them stop here and attempt no more in their great weakness. For if while turning their backs on the narrow gate, they are dragged by their desire for the Occult one step in the direction of the broad and more inviting Gates of that golden mystery which glitters in the light of illusion, woe to them! It can lead only to Dugpaship, and they will be sure to find themselves very soon landed on that Via Fatah of the Inferno, over whose portal Dante read the words:

 

    "Per tne si va nella citta dolente

     Per me si va neW eterno dolore

     Per me si va tra la perduta genie. . ."

 

 

 

 

 

SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR DAILY LIFE

 

PREFACE

 

THE quotations of which the following article is composed were not originally extracted with a view to publication, and may therefore appear somewhat disjointed.

 

They were first published as a Theosophical Sifting, in the hope that readers might take the hint, and make daily books of extracts for themselves, thus preserving a lasting record of the books read, and rendering their reading of practical value. By following this plan, the reader would concentrate in a brief space whatever has appealed to him as being the essence of the book.

 

The plan of reading a set of quotations each morning, trying to live up to them during the day, and meditating upon them in leisure moments, is also suggested as helpful to the earnest student.

 

 

I

 

RISE early, as soon as you are awake, without lying idly in bed, half-waking and half-dreaming. Then earnestly pray that all mankind may be spiritually regenerated, that those who are struggling on the path of truth may be encouraged by your prayers and work more earnestly and successfully, and that you may be strengthened and not yield to the seductions of the senses. Picture before your mind the form of your Master as engaged in Samadhi, Fix it before you, fill in all the details, think of him with reverence, and pray that all mistakes of omission and commission may be for given. This will greatly facilitate concentration, purify your heart, and do much more. Or reflect upon the defects of your character: thoroughly realise their evils and the transient pleasures they give you, and firmly will that you shall try your best not to yield to them the next time. This self-analysis and bringing yourself before the bar of your own conscience facilitates, in a degree hitherto undreamt of, your spiritual progress. When you bathe, exercise during the whole time your will, that your moral impurities should be washed away with those of your body. In your relations with others observe the following rules.

 

1. Never do anything which you are not bound to do as your duty; that is, any unnecessary thing. Before you do a thing, think whether it is your duty to do it.

 

2. Never speak an unnecessary word. Think of the effects your words might produce before you give utterance to them. Never allow yourself to violate your principles by the force of your company.

 

3. Never allow any unnecessary or vain thought to occupy your mind. This is more easily said than done. You cannot make your mind a blank all at once. So in the beginning try to prevent evil or idle thoughts by occupying your mind with the analysis of your own faults, or the contemplation of the Perfect Ones.

 

4. During meals exercise your will, that your food should be properly digested and build for you a body in harmony with your spiritual aspirations, and not create evil passion and wicked thoughts. Eat only when you are hungry and drink when you are thirsty, and never otherwise. If some particular preparation attracts your palate, do not allow yourself to be seduced into taking it simply to gratify that craving. Remember that the pleasure you derive from it had no existence some seconds be fore, and that it will cease to exist some seconds afterwards; that it is a transient pleasure? that that which is a pleasure now will turn into pain if you take it in large quantities; that it gives pleasure only to the tongue; that if you are put to a great trouble to get that thing, and if you allow yourself to be seduced by it, you will not be ashamed at any thing to get it; that while there is another object that can give you eternal bliss, this centering your affections on a transient thing is sheer folly; that you are neither the body nor the sense, and therefore the pleasure and the pains which these endure can never affect you really, and so on.

 

Practise the same train of reasoning in the case of every other temptation, and, though you will often fail, yet you will achieve a surer success. Do not read much. If a you read for ten minutes, reflect for as many hours. Habituate yourself to solitude, and to remaining alone with your thoughts.

 

Accustom yourself to the thought that no one beside yourself can assist you, and wean away your affections from all things gradually. Before you sleep, pray as you did in the morning. Review the actions of the day, and see wherein you have failed, and resolve that you will not fail in them to-morrow.

(Theosophist, August 1889, p. 647)

 

 

 

II

 

THE right motive for seeking self-knowledge is that which pertains to knowledge and not to self. Self-knowledge is worth seeking by virtue of its being knowledge, and not by virtue of its pertaining to self. The main requisite for acquiring self-know ledge is pure love. Seek knowledge for pure love, and self-knowledge eventually crowns the effort. The fact of a student growing impatient is proof positive that he works for reward, and not for love, and that, in its turn proves that he does not deserve the great victory in store for those who really work for pure love.

(Theosophist, August 1889, p. 663)

 

The "God" in us — that is to say, the Spirit of Love and Truth, Justice and Wisdom, Goodness and Power — should be our only true and permanent Love, our only reliance in everything, our only Faith, which, standing firm as a rock, can for ever be trusted; our only Hope, which will never fail us if all other things perish; and the only object which we must seek to obtain, by our Patience, waiting contentedly until our evil Karma has been exhausted and the divine Redeemer will reveal to us his presence within our soul. The door through which he enters is called Contentment; for he who is discontented with himself is discontented with the law that made him such as he is; and as God is Himself the Law, God will not come to those that are discontented with Him.

(Theosophical Siftings, No. 8, vol. ii, p. 9, Hartmann)

 

If we admit that we are in the stream of evolution, then each circumstance must be to us quite right. And in our failure to perform set acts should be our greatest help, for we can in no other way learn that calmness which Krishna insists upon. If all our plans succeeded, then no contrasts would appear to us. Also those plans we make may all be made ignorantly, and thus wrongly, and kind Nature will not permit us to carry them out. We get no blame for the plan, but we may acquire karmic demerit by not accepting the impossibility of achieving. If you are at all cast down, then by just that much are your thoughts lessened in power. One could be confined in a prison and yet be a worker for the cause. So I pray you to remove from your mind any distaste for present circumstances. If you can succeed in looking at it all as just what you in fact desired*, then it will act not only as a strengthener of your thoughts, but will act reflexly on your body and make it stronger.

(Path, August 1889, p. 131)

 

(* "You" meaning the Higher Self. We are as we make ourselves.)

 

To act and act wisely when the time for action comes, to wait and wait patiently when it is time for repose, put man in accord with the rising and falling tides, so that, with nature and law at his back and truth and beneficence as his beacon light, he may accomplish wonders. If these principles are true in the field of action and in the world at large, they are equally true in the life of man and in all private affairs. Ignorance of this law results in periods of unreasoning enthusiasm on the one hand, and depression and even despair on the other. Man thus becomes the victim of the tides, when he should be their master.

(Path, July 1889, p. 107)

 

Have patience, Candidate, as one who fears no failure, courts no success.

(Voice of the Silence, p. 31)

 

The accumulated energy cannot be annihilated, it must be transferred to others forms, or be transformed into others modes of motion; it cannot remain for ever inactive and yet continue to exist. It is useless to attempt to resist a passion which we cannot control. If its accumulating energy is not led into other channels, it will grow until it becomes stronger than will, and stronger than reason. To control it, you must lead it into another and higher channel. Thus a love for some thing vulgar may be changed by turning it into a love for something high, and vice may be changed into virtue by changing its aim. Passion is blind, it goes where it is led, and reason is a safer guide for it than the instinct. Stored up anger (or love) will find some object upon which to spend its fury, else it may produce an explosion destructive to its possessor; tranquility follows a storm. The ancients said that nature suffers no vacuum. We cannot destroy or annihilate a passion. If it is driven away, another elemental influence will take its place. We should therefore not attempt to destroy the low without putting something in its place, but we should displace the low by the high; vice by virtue, and superstition by knowledge.

(Magic, p. 126, Hartmann)

 

 

 

Ill

 

LEARN that there is no cure for desire, no cure for the love of reward, no cure for the misery of longing, save in the fixing of the sight and hearing on that which is invisible and soundless.

(Light on the Path, karma, p. 35)

 

A man must believe in his innate power of progress. A man must refuse to be terrified by his greater nature, and must not be drawn back by his lesser or material self.

(Light on the Path, comments)

 

All the past shows us that difficulty is no excuse for dejection, much less for despair, else the world would have been without the many wonders of civilization.

(Through the Gates of Gold, p. 69)

 

Strength to step forward is the primary need of him who has chosen his path. Where is this to be found? Looking round, it is not hard to see where other men find their strength. Its source is profound conviction.

(Op. cit. p. 87)

 

Abstain because it is right to abstain, not that yourself shall be kept clean.

(Light on the Path)

 

The man who wars against himself and wins the battle can do it only when he knows that in that war he is doing the one thing which is worth doing.

(Through the Gates of Gold, p. 118)

 

"Resist not evil," that is, do not complain of or feel anger against the inevitable disagreeables of life. Forget yourself (in working for others). If men revile, persecute, or wrong one, why resist? In the resistance we create greater evils.

(Path, August 1887, p. 151)

 

The immediate work, whatever it may be, has the abstract claim of duty, and its relative importance or non-importance is not to be considered at all.

(Lucifer, February 1888, p. 478)

 

The best remedy for evil is not the suppression, but the elimination of desire, and this can best be accomplished by keeping the mind constantly steeped in things divine. The know ledge of the Higher Self is snatched away by engaging the mind in brooding over or contemplating with pleasure the objects which correspond to the unruly sense.

(Bhagavad Gita, p. 60, all quotations are taken from Mohini’s translation.)

 

Our own nature is so base, proud, ambitious, and so full of its own appetites, judgments, and opinions, that if temptations restrained it not, it would be undone without remedy; therefore are we tempted to the end that we may know ourselves and be humble. Know that the greatest temptation is to be without temptation, wherefore be glad when it assaults thee, and with resignation, peace, and constancy resist it.

(Molinos, Spiritual Guide)

 

Feel that you have nothing to do for yourself, but that certain charges are laid upon you by the Deity, which you must fulfill. Desire God, and not any thing that he can give.

(Bhagavad Gita, p. 182)

 

Whatever there is to do, has to be done, but not for the sake of enjoying the fruit of action.

(Bhagavad Gita, introduction)

 

If all one’s acts are performed with the full conviction that they are of no value to the actor, but are to be done simply because they have to be done in other words, because it is in our nature to act then the personality of egotism in us will grow weaker and weaker until it comes to rest, permitting the knowledge revealing the True Self to shine out in all its splendour.

 

One must not allow joy or pain to shake one from one s fixed purpose.

(Light on the Path, comments)

 

Until the master chooses you to come to him, be with humanity, and unselfishly work for its progress and advancement. This alone can bring true satisfaction.

(Path, December 1886, p. 279)

 

Knowledge increases in proportion to its use that is, the more we teach the more we learn. Therefore, Seeker after Truth, with the faith of a little child and the will of an Initiate, give of your store to him who hath not wherewithal to comfort him on his journey.

(The source is unreadable)

 

A disciple must fully recognise in the very thought of individual rights only the outcome of the venom quality of the snake of Self. He never regards another man as a person who can be criticised or condemned, nor may he raise his voice in defence or excuse.

(Lucifer, January 1888. p. 382)

 

No man is your enemy: no man is your friend. All alike are your teachers.

(Light on the Path. p. 25)

 

One must no longer work for the attachment of any benefit, temporal or spiritual, but to fulfill the law of being which the righteous will of God is.

(Bhagavad Gita, Introduction)

 

 

 

IV

 

LIVE neither in the present nor the future, but in the eternal. The giant weed (of evil) cannot flower there; this blot upon existence is wiped out by the very atmosphere of eternal thought.

(Light on the Path, rule 4)

 

Purity of heart is a necessary condition for the attainment of "Knowledge of the Spirit." There are two principal means by which this purification may be attained. First, drive away persistently every bad thought; secondly, preserve an even mind under all conditions, never be agitated or irritated at anything. It will be found that these two means of purification are best promoted by devotion and charity. We must not sit idle and make no attempt to advance because we do not feel our selves pure. Let everyone aspire, and let them work in right earnest, but they must work in the right way, and the first step of that way is to purify the heart.

(Theosophist, October 1888, p. 44)

 

The mind requires purification when ever anger is felt or a falsehood is told, or the faults of another needlessly disclosed; whenever anything is said or done for the purpose of flattery, or any one is deceived by the insincerity of a speech or an act.

(Bhagavad Gita, p. 325)

 

Those who wish for salvation ought to avoid lust, anger and greed, and cultivate courageous obedience to the Scriptures, study of Spiritual philosophy, and perseverance in its practical realisation.

(Bhagavad Gita, p. 240)

 

He who is led by selfish considerations cannot enter a heaven where personal considerations do not exist. He who does not care for Heaven, but is contented where he is, is already in Heaven, while the discontented will in vain clamour for it. To be without personal desires is to be free and happy, and "Heaven" can mean nothing else but a state in which freedom and happiness exist. The man who performs beneficial acts induced by a hope of reward is not happy unless the reward is obtained, and if his reward is obtained his happiness ends. There can be no permanent rest and happiness as long as there is some work to be done, and not accomplished, and the fulfillment of duties brings its own reward.

(Magic, intro., p. 34, Hartmann)

 

He who thinks himself holier than another, he who has any pride in his own exemption from vice or folly, he who believes himself wise, or in any way superior to his fellow-men, is in capable of discipleship. A man must become as a little child before he can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Virtue and wisdom are sublime things, but if they create pride and a consciousness of separateness from the rest of humanity, they are only the snakes of self reappearing in a finer form. The sacrifice or surrender of the heart of man and its emotions is the first of the rules; it involves "the attaining of an equilibrium which cannot be shaken by personal emotion." Put, without delay, your good intentions into practice, never leaving a single one to remain only an intention. Our only true course is to let the motive for action be in the action itself, never in its reward; not to be in cited to action by the hope of the result, nor yet indulge a propensity to inertness.

 

Through faith* the heart is purified from passion and folly; from that comes mastery over the body, and, last of all, subjugation of the senses.

(Bhagavad Gita, p. 95)

 

(* i.e., knowledge, and this comes by the practice or unselfishness and kindness.)

 

The characteristics of the illuminated sage are, 1st, he is free from all desires*, and knows that the true Ego or Supreme, Spirit alone is bliss, all else is pain. 2nd, that he is free from attachment and repulsion towards whatever may befall him, and that he acts with out determination. Lastly comes the subjugation of the senses, which is useless, and frequently injurious as breeding hypocrisy and spiritual pride, without the second, and that again is not of much use without the first.

(Bhagavad Gita, p. 61)

 

(* This can best be accomplished by keeping the mind constantly steeped in things divine.)

 

He who does not practise altruism, he who is not prepared to share his last morsel* with a weaker or poorer than himself, he who neglects to help his brother man, of whatever race, nation, or creed, wherever and whenever he meets suffering, and who turns a deaf ear to the cry of human misery; he who hears an innocent person slandered, and does not undertake his defence as he would undertake his own, is no Theosophist.

 

(* This must be taken in its widest sense also, i.e., spiritual knowledge, etc.)

 

 

 

V

 

No man does right who gives up the unmistakable duties of life, resting on Divine command. He who performs duties, thinking that if they are not performed some evil will come to him, or that their performance will remove difficulties from his path, works for result. Duties should simply be done because commanded by God, who may at any time command their abandonment. So long as the restlessness of our nature is not reduced to tranquility we must work, consecrating to the Deity all fruit of our action, and attribute to Him the power to perform works rightly. The true life of man is rest in identity with the Supreme Spirit.

 

This life is not brought into existence by any act of ours, it is a reality, "the truth," and is altogether independent of us. The realisation of the non-existence of all that seems opposed to this truth is a new consciousness and not an act. Man’s liberation is in no way related to his acts. In so far as acts promote the realisation of our utter inability to emancipate ourselves from conditioned existence, they are of use; after this stage is realised acts become obstacles rather than helps. Those who work in obedience to Divine commands, knowing that the power thus to work is a gift of God, and no part of man’s self-conscious nature, attain to freedom from the need of action. Then the pure heart is filled by the truth, and identity with the Deity is perceived. A man must first get rid of the idea that he himself really does anything, knowing that all actions take place in the "three natural qualities" (i.e., the three gunas) and not in the soul at all.

 

Then he must place all his actions on devotion. That is, sacrifice all his actions to the Supreme and not to himself. He must either set himself up as the God to whom he sacrifices, or the other real God — Ishvara; and all his acts and aspirations are done either for himself or for the All. Here comes in the importance of motive. For if he performs great deeds of valour, or of benefit to man, or acquires knowledge so as to assist man, and is moved to that merely because he thus thinks he will attain salvation, he is only acting for his own benefit, and is therefore sacrificing to himself.

 

Therefore he must be devoted inwardly to the All; knowing that he is not the doer of the actions, but the mere witness of them. As he is in a mortal body he is affected by doubts which will spring up. When they do arise, it is because he is ignorant about something. He should therefore be able to disperse doubt "by the sword of knowledge." For if he has a ready answer to some doubt he disperses that much. All doubts come from the lower nature, and never in any case from the higher nature. Therefore as he becomes more and more devoted he is able to know more and more clearly the knowledge residing in his Sattva (goodness) nature.

 

For it says: "A man who is perfected in devotion (or who persists in its cultivation) finds spiritual knowledge spontaneously in himself in progress of time." Also, "A man of doubtful mind enjoys neither this world nor the other (the Deva world), nor final beatitude."

 

The last sentence is to destroy the idea that if there is in us this Higher Self it will, even if we are indolent and doubtful, triumph over the necessity for knowledge and lead us to final beatitude in common with the whole stream of mankind.

(Path, July 1889, p. 109)

 

True prayer is the contemplation of all sacred things, of their application to ourselves, our daily life and actions, accompanied by the most heartfelt and intense desire to make their influence stronger and our lives better and nobler, that some knowledge of them may be vouchsafed to us. All such thoughts must be closely interwoven with a consciousness of the Supreme and Divine Essence from which all things have sprung.

(Path, August 1889, p. 159)

 

Spiritual culture is attained through concentration. It must be continued daily and every moment to be of use. Meditation has been defined as "the cessation of active external thought." Concentration is the entire life-tendency to a given end. For example, a devoted mother is one who consults the interests of her children and all branches of their interests in and before all things; not one who sits down to think fixedly about one branch of their interests all the day. Thought has a self-reproductive power, and when the mind is held steadily to one idea it becomes coloured by it, and, as we may say, all the correlates of that thought arise within the mind. Hence the mystic obtains know ledge about any object of which he thinks constantly in fixed contemplation.

 

Here is the rationale of Krishna’s words. "Think constantly of me; depend on me alone, and thou shalt surely come to me" Life is the great teacher: it is the great manifestation of Soul, and Soul manifests the Supreme. Hence all methods are good, and all are but parts of the great aim, which is Devotion. "Devotion is success in actions," says the Bhagavad Gita. The psychic powers, as they come, must also be used, for they reveal laws. But their value must not be exaggerated, nor must their danger be ignored. He who relies on them is like a man who gives way to pride and triumph because he has reached the first wayside station on the peaks he has set out to climb.

(Path, July 1889, p. 111)

 

 

 

VI

 

IT is an eternal law that man cannot be redeemed by a power external to him self. Had this been possible, an angel might long ago have visited the earth, uttered heavenly truths, and, by manifesting the faculties of a spiritual nature, proved a hundred facts to the consciousness of man of which he is ignorant.

(Spirit of the New Testament, p. 508)

 

Crime is committed in the Spirit as truly as in the deeds of the body. He who for any cause hates another, who loves revenge, and will not forgive an injury, is full of the spirit of murder, though none may know it. He who bows before false creeds, and crushes his conscience at the bidding of any institution, blasphemes his own divine soul, and therefore "takes the name of God in vain" though he never utters an oath. He who desires and is in sympathy with the mere pleasures of sense, either in or out of the married relation, is the real adulterer. He who deprives any of his fellows of the light, the good, the help, the assistance he can wisely give them, and lives for the accumulation of material things, for his own personal gratification, is the real robber; and he who steals from his fellows the precious possession of character by slander, and any sort of misrepresentation, is no less a thief, and one of the most guilty kind.

(Spirit of the New Testament, p. 513)

 

If men were only honest with them selves and kindly disposed towards others, a tremendous change would take place in their estimate of the value of life, and of the things of this life.

(Theosophist, July 1889, p. 590)

 

 

DEVELOP THOUGHT. Strive, by concentrating the whole force of your soul, to shut the door of your mind to all stray thoughts, allowing none to enter but those calculated to reveal to you the unreality of sense-life, and the Peace of the Inner World. Ponder day and night over the unreality of all your surroundings and of yourself. The springing up of evil thoughts is less injurious than that of idle and in different ones. Because as to evil thoughts you are always on your guard, and, having determined to fight and conquer them, this determination helps to develop the will power. Indifferent thoughts, however, serve merely to distract the attention and waste energy. The first great basic delusion you have to get over is the identification of your self with the physical body. Begin to think of this body as nothing better than the house you have to live in for a time, and then you will never yield to its temptations. Try also with consistent attempts to conquer the prominent weaknesses of your nature by developing thought in the direction that will kill each particular passion. After your first efforts you will begin to feel an indescribable vacuum and blankness in your heart; fear not, but regard this as the soft twilight heralding the rise of the sun of Spiritual bliss. Sadness is not an evil. Complain not; what seem to be sufferings and obstacles are often in reality the mysterious efforts of nature to help you in your work if you can manage them properly. Look upon all circumstances with the gratitude of a pupil.

(Theosophical Siftings, No. 3, vol. 2, 1889)

 

All complaint is a rebellion against the law of progress. That which is to be shunned is pain not yet come. The past cannot be changed or amended; that which belongs to the experiences of the present cannot and should not be shunned; but alike to be shunned are disturbing anticipations or fears of the future, and every act or impulse that may cause present or future pain to ourselves or others.

(Patanjali’s Yoga Aphorisms.)

 

 

 

VII

 

THERE is no more valuable thing possessed by any individual than an exalted ideal towards which he continually aspires, and after which he moulds his thoughts and feelings, and forms, as best he may, his life. If he thus strives to become rather than to seem, he can not fail to continually approach nearer his aim. He will not, however, reach this point without a struggle, nor will the real progress that he is conscious of making fill him with conceit or self-righteousness.; for if his ideal be high, and his progress towards it real, he will be the rather humiliated than puffed up. The possibilities of further advancement, and the conception of still higher planes of being that open before him, will not dampen his ardour, though they will surely kill his conceit. It is just this conception of the vast possibilities of human life that is needed to kill out ennui, and to convert apathy into zest. Life thus becomes worth living for its own sake when its mission becomes plain, and its splendid opportunities are once appreciated.

 

The most direct and certain way of reaching this higher plane is the cultivation of the principle of altruism, both in thought and life. Narrow indeed is the sweep of vision that is limited to self, and that measures all .things by the principle of self-interest, for while the soul is thus self limited it is impossible for it to conceive of any high ideal, or to approach any higher plane of life. The conditions of such advancement lie within rather than without, and are fortunately made independent of circumstances and condition in life. The opportunity therefore is offered to everyone of advancing from height to height of being, and of thus working with nature in the accomplishment of the evident purpose of life.

(Man, J. Buck, p. 106)

 

If we believe that the object of life is simply to render our material self satisfied, and to keep it in comfort, and that material comfort confers the highest state of possible happiness, we mistake the low for the high, and an illusion for the truth. Our material mode of life is a consequence of the material constitution of our bodies. We are "worms of the earth" because we cling with all our aspirations to earth. If we can enter upon a path of evolution, by which we become less material and more ethereal, a very different order of civilisation would be established. Things which now appear indispensable and necessary would cease to be useful; if we could transfer our consciousness with the velocity of thought from one part of the globe to another, the present modes of communication would be no longer required. The deeper we sink into matter, the more material means for comfort will be needed; the essential and powerful god in man is not material, and independent of the restrictions laid upon matter.

 

What are the real necessities of life?

 

The answer to this question depends entirely on what we imagine to be necessary. Railways, steamers, etc., are now a necessity to us, and yet millions of people have lived long and happily, knowing nothing about them. To one man a dozen palaces may appear to be an indispensable necessity, to another a carriage, another a pipe, and so on. But all such necessities are only such as man himself has created. They make the state in which man now is agreeable to him, and tempt him to remain in that state, and to desire nothing higher. They may even hinder his development instead of advancing it. Everything material must cease to become a necessity if we would really advance spiritually. It is the craving and the wasting of thought for the augmentation of the pleasures of the lower life which prevent man entering the higher one.

(Hartmann, Magic, p. 61)

 

 

Printed by C. Subbarayudu at the Vasanta Press, Adyar, Madras.