M. D’hosson in his celebrated work on the Ottoman empire traces the

origin of the Faquirs to the time of Mohammed in the following manner: In the first year of the Hegira, forty-five citizens of Mecca joined themselves to many others from Medina. They took an oath of fidelity to the doctrines of their Prophet, and formed a sect or fraternity, the object of which was to establish among themselves a community of property, and to perform every day certain religious practices in a spirit of penitence and mortification. To distinguish themselves from other Mohammedans, they took the name of Sufis. This name, which later was attributed to the most zealous partizans of Islam, is the same still in use to indicate any Muselman who retires from the world to study, to lead a life of pious contemplation, and to follow the most painful exercises of an exaggerated devotion. To the name of Sufi they added also that of Faquir, because their maxim was to renounce the goods of the earth, and to live in an entire abnegation of all worldly enjoyments, following thereby the words of the Prophet: “Poverty is my pride.” Following their example, _Abu Bakr and Ali_ established, even during the lifetime of the Prophet and under his own eyes, religious orders, over which each presided, with Zikrs or peculiar religious exercises, established by them separately, and a vow taken by each of the voluntary disciples forming them. On his decease, Abu Bakr made over his office of president to one _Salmann l-Farisi_, and Ali to _al-Hasann l-Basri_, and each of these charges were consecrated under the title of _Khalifah_, or successor. The two first successors followed the example of the Khalifahs of Islam, and transmitted it to their successors, and these in turn to others, the most aged and venerable of their fraternity. Some among them, led by the delirium of the imagination, wandered away from the primitive rules of their society, and converted, from time to time, these fraternities into a multitude of religious orders. * * * It was about A. H. 49 (A. D. 766) that the Shaikh Alwan, a mystic renowned for his religious fervor, founded the first regular order of the Faquirs, now known as the Alwaniyah. The Bastamiyah, the Nagshbandiyah, and the Bakhtashiyah descend from the original order established by Abu Bakr. All the others come from Ali. THE FAQUIRS OR DERVISHES. The Arabic word _Faqir_ signifies _poor_, poor in the sense of being in need of mercy, poor in the sight of God. The Persian equivalent _Darvish_ is derived from _dar_ “a door”—those who “beg from door to door.” The dervishes are, as stated before, the _practical_ expounders of Mohammedanism. They are divided into two great classes, the _ba Shara_ (with the law), or those who govern their conduct according to the principles of Islam: and the _be Shara_ (without the law), or those who do not rule their lives according to the formal principles of any religious creed, although they call themselves Muslims. To the latter, the Sufis principally belong. These Faquirs are called either _Azad_, the free, or _Majnub_, the absorbed. The former shave their beards, whiskers, eyebrows, etc., and live a life of celibacy. Every school and every brotherhood has its own distinctive teachings and technicalities, and its peculiar practices and observances, its saints and doctors, great men and founders. A student will also readily discover a different character in Arabic and Persian Sufism. The Arabic being nearer to Christianity takes up much from it, but moulds it in its peculiar way; the Persian being nearer the traditions of Zoroaster and in immediate contact with Manechaism, naturally borrows from thence. Thus the “pantheistic” tendencies, such as Divine absorption, universal manifestation of the Deity under the seeming appearances of limited forms, the final return of all things to the unity of God, a tendency to regard matter as evil, the reprobation of marriage, etc.—these were ideas that rose from Persian soil, while the ideas of a radiant Divinity mediating between the supreme fountain-head of Being and the created world; of an all-prevading Spirit of love; of detachment from the world; of poverty, humility, etc., were more akin to Christian belief. Still Saadis’ description applies to all: “The outward tokens of a dervish are a patched garment and a shaven head; and the inward signs, those of being alive in the spirit, and dead in the flesh:—‘not he who will sit apart from his fellow-creatures at the door of supplication with God; and, if he shall reject his prayer, will stand up in disobedience; or if a millstone come rolling down a mountain, he is not intelligent in the ways of providence, that would rise to avoid it.’ “The ritual of the Dervishes is gratitude and praise, worship and obedience, contentment and charity, and a belief in the unity and providence of God, having a reliance on and being resigned to his will, confident of his favour, and forbearant of all: whosoever is endowed with these qualifications is in truth a dervish, notwithstanding he be arrayed in gorgeous apparel: whereas, the irreligious and hypocritical vainboaster, sensualist, and whoremonger, who turn days into nights in his slavish indulgences, and converts nights into days in his dreams of forgetfulness; who eats whatever falls in his way, and speaks whatever comes uppermost, is a profligate, though clothed in the sackcloth of a saint.——” The dervishes differ, says A. Vambery,[120] from each other only by the manner in which they demonstrate their enthusiasm; still the more we penetrate towards the East, the greater is the purity with which they have been preserved. In Persia the dervishes play a much more important part than in Turkey, and in Central Asia, isolated as it has been from the rest of the world for centuries, this fraternity is still in full vigor, and exercises a great influence upon society. According to A. Vambery, the _Bektashi_, _Mevlevi_, and _Rufai_ orders are principally found in Turkey; the _Kadrie_ and _Djelali_ in Arabia; the _Oveisi_ and the _Nurbakhchi Nimetullahi_ in Persia; the _Khilali_ and _Zahibi_ in India, and the _Nakishbendi_ and _Sofi_ (a recent order) in Central Asia. According to Th. P. Hughes[121] the following are the chief orders of Faqirs met with in North India: (1) The _Naqshbandia_, the followers of Khwajah Pir Mohammed Naqshband, and are a very numerous sect; they usually perform the Zikr-i-Khafi[122] or the silent devotion. (2) The _Qadiria_ sprung from the celebrated Sayyid Abdul Qadir, surnamed Pir Dustagir, whose shrine is at Bagdad. They practice both forms of the Zikr. Most of the Sunni Moulavis of the north-west frontier of India are members of this order. In Egypt it is most popular among the fisherman. (3) The _Chishtia_ are followers of Banda Nawaz, whose shrine is at Calburgah; they are partial to vocal music, for the founder of the order remarked, that singing was the food and support of the soul. They perform the Zikr-i-Jali. (4) The _Jalalia_ founded by Sayyid Jalal-ud-din of Bokhara; they are met with in Central Asia. Religious mendicants are often of this order. (5) The _Sarwardia_ are popular in Afganistan and comprise many learned men. They are the followers of Hasan Bisri of Basra, near Bagdad. These five are all ba-Shara Faqirs. The be-Shara Faqirs are very numerous. The most popular order is that of the _Mudaria_, founded by Zinda Shah Murdar of Syria, whose shrine is at Mukanpur, in Oudh. From these have sprung the _Malang_ Faqirs who crowd the bazaars of India. They wear their hair matted or tied in a knot. The _Rafia_ order is also a numerous one in some parts of India. They practice the most severe discipline and mortify themselves by scourging. The secrets of the dervish orders cannot be learned. An initiation is described in Lane’s Society is the Middle Ages and the following is another. The following is the account of the admission of Tewekkul Bêg into the order of the Qadiriyahfaqirs, one of the four most prominent ones, by Moolla Shah, a Saint and poet of some celebrity, who died in the year of the Hegira 1072 (1661-62 of our era), at Lahore, where his shrine was reared by the Princess Fatima, daughter of Shah-Jihan. Tewekkul is himself the narrator: “Having been introduced, by means of Akhônd Mollâ Mohammed Say’d into the intimate circle of Mollâ Shah, my heart through frequent intercourse with the Sheikh was filled with a burning desire of reaching the sublime goal [of the mystical science], and I no longer found sleep by night nor rest by day * * I passed the whole of that night without being able to shut my eyes, and betook myself to reciting a hundred thousand times the one hundred and twelfth chapter of the Qoran. I accomplished this in several days. It is well known that in this chapter of the Qoran the great Name of God is contained, and that through the power of that Name, whoever recites it a hundred thousand times may obtain all that he desires. I conceived then the wish that the Master should bestow his affection upon me. And, in fact, I convinced myself of the efficacy of this means, for hardly had I finished the hundred thousandth recitation of this chapter of the book of God, when the heart of the Master was filled with sympathy for me, and he gave order to Senghin Mohammed, his vicar, to conduct me on the following night to his presence. During that whole night he concentrated his mind upon me, while I directed my meditation upon my own heart; but the knot of my heart was not unloosed. So passed three nights, during which he made me the object of his spiritual attention, without any result being manifested. On the fourth night Mollâ Shâh said, ‘This night Mollâ Senghin and Sâlih Bêg, who are both very susceptible to ecstatic emotions, will direct their whole mind upon the neophyte.’ They obeyed this order, while I remained seated the whole night, my face turned towards Mecca, at the same time concentrating all my mental faculties upon my own heart. Towards daybreak, a little light and brightness came into my heart, but I could distinguish neither form nor color. After morning prayer I presented myself, and the two persons I have just mentioned, before the Master who saluted me and asked them what they had done to me. They replied: ‘Ask him, himself.’ Then, addressing me, he told me to relate to him my impressions. I said that I had seen a brightness in my heart; whereupon the Sheikh became animated, and said to me: ‘Thy heart contains an infinity of colors, but it is become so dark that the looks of these two crocodiles of the infinite ocean [the mystic science] have not availed to bestow upon it either brightness or clearness; the moment is come when I myself will show thee how it is enlightened.’ With these words he made me sit in front of him, while my senses were, so to speak, inebriated, and ordered me to reproduce within me his appearance. Then, having blindfolded me, he bade me concentrate all my mental faculties upon my heart. I obeyed, and in an instant, by the divine favor and the spiritual assistance of the Sheikh, my heart was opened. I saw then within me something like a cup, turned upside down; and this object having been turned up again, a feeling of illimitable happiness filled my whole being. I said to the Master, ‘This cell, where I am sitting before you—I see a faithful reproduction of it within me, and it seems as if another Téwekkul Bêg were seated before another Mollâ Shâh.‘ He answered, ‘It is well; the first vision which presents itself to thy view is the figure of the Master.’ * * * He next bade me uncover my eyes, which I did, and I then saw him, by the material organ of vision, seated in front of me. Again he made me bandage them, and I perceived him by my spiritual vision, seated in front of me just the same. Full of wonder I cried out, ‘O my Master, whether I look with my bodily eyes or my spiritual vision, it is always you that I see.’ Meanwhile I saw advance towards me a dazzling figure, and upon my telling the Master of it, he bade me ask the apparition its name. In my spirit I put to it that question, and the figure answered me by the voice of the heart, ‘My name is Abd Alkâdir Glilâny.’ I heard this answer by my spiritual ear. The Master then advised me to pray the Saint to give me his spiritual help and succor. I made this petition; and the apparition said to me, ‘I had already granted to thee my spiritual assistance; hence it is that the knots of thy heart have been loosed.’ Full of deep gratitude, I imposed on myself the obligation of reciting every Friday night the whole Qoran in honor of this great Saint, and for two whole years I never neglected this practice. Mollâ Shâh then said, ‘The spiritual world has been shown to thee in all its beauty: remain there seated, effacing thyself completely in the marvels of this unknown world.’ “I obeyed strictly the directions of my Master, and, day by day, the spiritual world became more and more unveiled before me. The next day I saw the figures of the Prophet and his chief Companions, and legions of Saints and Angels passed before my inner vision. Three months passed in this manner, after which the sphere where all color is effaced opened before me, and then all the figures disappeared. During all this time the Master ceased not to explain to me the doctrine of the union with God and of mystical intuition. But, nevertheless, the Absolute Reality would not show itself to me. It was not until after a year that the knowledge of the Absolute Reality, in its relation with the conception of my own existence came to me. The following verses revealed themselves at that moment to my heart, whence they passed unbidden to my lips:— ‘That this corruptible frame was other than water and dust I knew not: the powers of the heart and the soul and the body I knew not, Woe is me! that so much of my life without Thee has for ever fled from me. Thou wert I; but dark was my heart: I knew not the secret transcendent.’ “I submitted to Mollâ Shâh this poetical inspiration, and he rejoiced that the idea of the union with God was at last manifested to my heart; and addressing his disciples, he said: ‘Tèwekkul Bêg has heard from my mouth the words of the doctrine of the union with God, and he will never betray the mystery. His inner eye is opened; the sphere of color and images is shown to him, and at last the sphere where all color is effaced has been revealed to him. Whoever after having passed through these phases of the union with God, has obtained the Absolute Reality, shall no more be led astray, whether by his own doubts or by those which sceptics may suggest to him.” (_To be continued._) MUSINGS ON THE TRUE THEOSOPHIST’S PATH. II. “Work as those work who are ambitious.—Respect life as those do who desire it.—Be happy as those are who live for happiness.”—_Light on the Path._ We are tried in wondrous ways, and in the seemingly unimportant affairs of life, there often lie the most dangerous of the temptations. Labor, at best, is frequently disagreeable owing either to mental or physical repugnance. When he who seeks the upward path, begins to find it, labor grows more burdensome, while at the time, he is, owing to his physical condition, not so well fitted to struggle with it. This is all true, but there must be no giving in to it. It must be forgotten. He _must work_, and if he cannot have the sort he desires or deems best suited to him, then must he take and perform that which presents itself. It is that which he most needs. It is not intended either, that he do it to have it done. It is intended that he work as if it was the object of his life, as if his whole heart was in it. Perhaps he may be wise enough to know that there is something else, or that the future holds better gifts for him, still this also must to all intents be forgotten, while he takes up his labor, as if there were no to-morrow. Remember that life is the outcome of the Ever-Living. If you have come to comprehend a little of the mystery of life, and can value its attractions according to their worth; these are no reasons why you should walk forth with solemn countenance to blight the enjoyments of other men. Life to them is as real, as the mystery is to you. Their time will come as yours has, so hasten it for them, if you can, by making life brighter, more joyous, better. If it be your time to fast, put on the best raiment you have, and go forth, not as one who fasts, but as one who lives for life. Do your sighing and crying within you. If you can not receive the small events of life and their meanings without crying them out to all the world, think you that you are fitted to be trusted with the mysteries? The doing away with one or certain articles of diet, _in itself_, will not open the sealed portals. If this contained the key, what wise beings must the beasts of the field be, and what a profound Mystic must Nebuchadnezar have been, after he was “turned out to grass!” There are some adherents of a faith, which has arisen in the land, who deem it wise to cast away all things that are distasteful to them; to cut asunder the ties of marriage because they deem it will interfere with their spiritual development, or because the other pilgrim is not progressed enough. Brothers, there lives not the man who is wise enough to sit as a judge upon the spiritual development of any living being. He is not only unwise but blasphemous who says to another: “Depart! you impede my exalted spiritual development.” The greatest of all truths lies frequently in plain sight, or veiled in contraries. The impression has gone abroad that the Adept or the Mystic of high degree, has only attained his station by forsaking the association of his fellow creatures or refusing the marriage tie. It is the belief of very wise Teachers that all men who had risen to the highest degrees of Initiation, have at some time passed through the married state. Many men, failing in the trials, have ascribed their failure to being wedded, precisely as that other coward, Adam, after being _the first transgressor_ cried out “It was Eve.” One of the most exalted of the Divine Mysteries lies hidden here—therefore, Oh Man, it is wise to cherish that which holds so much of God and seek to know its meaning; not by dissolution and cutting asunder, but by binding and strengthening the ties. Our most Ancient Masters knew of this and Paul also speaks of it. (Ephesians v. 32.) Be patient, kindly and wise, for perhaps in the next moment of life, the light will shine out upon thy companion, and you discover that you are but a blind man, claiming to see. Remember this, that you own not one thing in this world. Your wife is but a gift, your children are but loaned to you. All else you possess is given to you only while you use it wisely. Your body is not yours, for Nature claims it as her property. Do you not think, Oh Man, that it is the height of arrogance for you to sit in judgment upon any other created thing, while you, a beggar, are going about in a borrowed robe? If misery, want and sorrow are thy portion for a time, be happy that it is not death. If it is death be happy there is no more of life. You would have wealth, and tell of the good you would do with it. Truly will you lose your way under these conditions. It is quite probable, that you are as rich as you ever will be, therefore, desire to do good with what you have—and _do it_. If you have nothing, know that it is best and wisest for you. Just so surely as you murmur and complain just so surely will you find that “from him that hath not, shall be taken even that which he hath.” This sounds contradictory, but in reality is in most harmonious agreement. Work in life and the Occult are similar; all is the result of your own effort and will. You are not rash enough to believe that you will be lifted up into Heaven like the Prophet of old—but you really hope some one will come along and give you a good shove toward it. Know then, Disciples, that you only can lift yourselves by your own efforts. When this is done, you may have the knowledge that you will find many to accompany you on your heretofore lonely journey; but neither they or your Teacher will be permitted to push or pull you one step onward. This is all a very essential part of your preparation and trial for Initiation. You look and wait for some great and astounding occurrence, to show you that you are going to be permitted to enter behind the veil; that you are to be Initiated. It will never come. He only who studies all things and learns from them, as he finds them, will be permitted to enter, and for him there are no flashing lightnings or rolling thunder. He who enters the door, does so as gently and imperceptibly, as the tide rises in the night-time. Live well your life. Seek to realize the meaning of every event. Strive to find the Ever Living and wait for more light. The True Initiate does not fully realize what he is passing through, until his degree is received. If you are striving for light and Initiation, remember this, that your cares will increase, your trials thicken, your family make new demands upon you. He who can understand and pass through these patiently, wisely, placidly—may hope. AMERICAN MYSTIC. POETICAL OCCULTISM. SOME ROUGH STUDIES OF THE OCCULT LEANINGS OF THE POETS. I. In the _Bagavad-Gita_ and the _Upanishads_ it is held that: Ishwara, the Lord of all things, dwells in the heart of every mortal being, and from that place causes the illusions of the world to appear to man as reality. _Light on the Path_ dwells upon the necessity of understanding your own heart: It tells us to seek for the source of evil there, where it lives, as fruitfully in the heart of the devoted disciple as in that of the man of desire, and that your heart is the profoundest mystery of all the great obscurities. Longfellow felt this when, in _The Beleaguered City_, he sang:— I have read, in the marvelous heart of man, That strange and mystic scroll, That an army of phantoms vast and wan Beleaguer the human soul. This verse occurs to him in connection with the old story that the City of Prague was once beleaguered by a vast phantom army, which camped down on the opposite bank of the river, and he likens the human heart to Prague. Here, in the city dwells Ishwara, who, while thus imprisoned, is beleaguered by the vast army—the phantoms of all the acts and thoughts of the person in this and other lives. Occultism declares with the poet, that the heart is a mystic scroll; it is a veritable field also, in which are sown many seeds that may lie unnoticed, not only during one life, but often for many many incarnations, but sure to blossom forth one day under favoring circumstances. And as they begin to grow, they evoke the phantoms of the deeds that sowed them, and those ghostly hosts sweep round the soul in its prison house. In _Resignation_, Longfellow wrote: “There is no death! What seems so is transition.” This is one of the propositions of Occultism. The poet was writing upon the death of the physical body of a girl much beloved, and was considering the change which in common life is known as “death.” But the followers of the Wisdom Religion know that this terrible change is not really death, is not in any sense the moment of decease of even the physical man. The visible being is a congeries of energies or elements which are by no means all dead when the person breathes his last, nor when the body is consigned to the grave. It is only the transition, as Longfellow says, of the informing spirit, to another sphere of action. The same view is taken in the _Atharva Veda_, where it says, “Everything is transformed. Life and death are only modes of transformation, which rule the vital molecule from plant up to Brahma himself.” The occult philosophy considers as death, only that process, and period, of separation between _all_ the various elements of one’s lower human and animal nature; so that, in the case of suicides and other sudden and premature deaths, what occultists know as “death,” extends over a long period of time. The moment called death by the world, is only the time of separation between the body and the life principle, which the Hindus call _jiva_; this is the moment when the transition begins. Goethe was a profound student of occultism. Its influence is to be traced throughout his works, and a leading motive in many of his dramas is the dominance over the lives of men of that power which we call _Karma_. His masterpiece, _Faust_, upon which a library of commentaries has been written, can only be truly read in the light of Occultism. _Faust_ comes to an end with the following “Mystic Chorus” sung by the assembled Hosts of Heaven: All that’s impermanent Is but a likeness. The Unattainable Here findeth witness; The Indescribable, Here is it done; The Ever-womanly Leadeth us on. A wealth of occult meaning is packed into these eight closing lines of the grand drama, which is designed to depict the course of the soul from Heaven, through earth, back to Heaven. All that is impermanent, or of the earth, belonging to the realm of matter, is but a likeness, or symbol, designed for the instruction of man, who must learn to read the lesson if he is to progress. The Unattainable in the desires of those on and of the earth finds witness, or comes to pass, in the realization of all aspirations in the life beyond. The indescribable is done there, because man in the flesh has no senses adequate to comprehend those things pertaining to a higher plane of existence. The Ever-womanly is that which makes progress of the soul possible—the feminine principle which attracts the masculine, or pure spirit, to its opposite pole and thereby causes it to manifest itself. It is by these successive manifestations that the individual is carried forward, enriched by the experience which only thus, through the attraction of the Ever-womanly, or eternal feminine principle, is attained. So the Ever-womanly, or that whereby God the spirit is made manifest in matter, is the means to lead the soul of man on its course through the grandest possibilities of the Universe to the most exalted heights of the Indescribable. Wordsworth, in his _Ode on Immortality_, says: Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; The soul that rises with us, our life’s star, Had had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar. Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory, do we come From God, who is our home. Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing boy; But he beholds the light, and whence it flows— He sees it in his joy. The youth, who daily farther from the east Must travel, still is nature’s priest. And by the vision splendid Is on his way attended; At length the man perceives it die away, And fade into the light of common day. It is very clear here that Wordsworth is setting down the theory of “Reincarnation.” For he says the soul had elsewhere its setting; in order to set elsewhere, it must have had elsewhere an existence. He also refers, quite as curiously as do Whitman and Whittier, to a coming from the east, as if he had memories of a previous life in some oriental land where such ideas prevailed. Shelley in _Prometheus Unbound_, sings: Man, O not men! a chain of linked thought, Of love and might to be divided not, Compelling the elements with adamantine stress; As the sun rules, even with a tyrant’s gaze, The unquiet republic of the maze Of Planets, struggling fierce towards heaven’s free wilderness. Man, one harmonious soul of many a soul, Whose nature is its own divine control, Where all things flow to all, as rivers to the sea; Familiar acts are beautiful through love; Labor and pain and grief, in life’s green grove, Sport like tame beasts,—none knew how gentle they could be! In the foregoing verses, the doctrine of Brotherhood is enunciated. Shelly refers to humanity as one, composed of its many units,—the one-life running through all; and also, in the first two lines, to the fact admitted by occultism, but sneered at by science, and dogmatic theology, that this “chain of linked thought,” compels the elements, and actually affects the course and destiny of the world. That is, that the Karma of the physical world, indissolubly bound up in that of the individuals upon it, is moulded and concentrated by the force of men’s thoughts and lives. To carry this out in one direction, we say that esoteric theosophy teaches that the inclination of the earth’s axis is made greater or less by the influence of the wickedness or goodness of the people upon the earth, thus bringing down what the people call evils, such as glacial disturbances, cyclones, earthquakes and other vicissitudes of earthly life. However fanciful this theory may appear, it remains for us quite true; and as the scientific world has no reason to give for the inclination of the axis, or for the precession of the equinoxes, we are entitled to hold an opinion where they have none. For the devout Christian this theory ought to have merits, if he chooses to remember that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for their wickedness. They grew so horribly bad that fire was brought upon them either from heaven or beneath. If it ever happened, it must have been a cyclic disturbance. Science pooh-poohs it. Did it take place, then it was the culminating point for the dynamic power of the evil deeds and thoughts of the inhabitants. In many places in the Christian bible, reference is made to the crying out to the Lord of the blood of the slain. Now as blood has no power to cry out, we must try in some way to make sense of these expressions, and the only way is by giving to the thoughts which produce deeds of violence, a dynamic power. It would then be easy to attribute to the blood the ability to cry out for justice, instead of saying that the deeds of blood require compensation. But when blood is shed, elemental spirits pour in to the spot, drawn there by the emanations arising from it, and they become important factors in this supposed “calling out of the blood from the ground.” Being strengthened by the human exhalations, they are a new force composed not only of the thoughts of the murdered, but also of the despair, hate and revenge of the slain. Science of course of this knows nothing, and cares less. She cannot tell how long this new force, thus compounded of elementals, blood, and the thought of slayer and his victim, will last. But the God of the Christians knew all about this. In Genesis, Ch. iv, Verse 10, He says to Cain: “What hast thou done? _the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand._” The blood furnishes the _occasion_, the thoughts of each give it _force_, and the elementals give it a _voice_ to call on God. S. B. J. THE CORNER STONE. Tradition relates that in the building of King Solomon’s temple there was a stone of such peculiar shape that the workmen could find no place for it, though it was regularly cut and with great care, and contained the _sign_ of the Master. When the temple was near completion a place was found for the stone which the builders had through ignorance rejected. It was the _Keystone_ of the _Royal Arch_. Those who have opened the halls of learning to this generation have given a foundation stone, and repeatedly declared that no other foundation can endure, that the floods of time and the storms of passion will surely sweep with the besom of destruction every superstructure not founded on this rock. And yet there are those who wear the garb of fellow-crafts, and claim the wages of workmen, who not only reject this stone but ridicule it, and laugh it to scorn. The result is manifest in the confusion of the workmen, and it will presently become manifest that those who thus reject the corner-stone of Theosophy are brothers of the shadow literally, rather than Sons of Light; they will find no designs on the tracing-board, and they will be accused of murdering the “widow’s son.” The time for wages will surely come, and even they who have come in at the ninth hour and labored faithfully in the vineyard will receive due wages. The corner stone of Theosophy is distinctly stated to be _Universal Brotherhood_. A firm belief in this principle is required of every candidate for membership in the Theosophical Society. This is the sole requirement for affiliation, it is made plain, and no one can plead ignorance of this one requirement. To claim fellowship in the society, and ignore or repudiate its cardinal doctrine is not only the most pronounced hypocrisy, but works in every way to the injury of the individual and the society. Those therefore who are not ashamed to repudiate this cardinal principle ought in all fairness to retire from the society, and direct their energies into more congenial channels. But aside from explicit repudiation of this principle of Brotherhood there is too often a tacit disregard of its requirements. It has been charged against the Society, that in the enunciation of this simple doctrine, they have announced nothing new, and it may at once be answered that it is not claimed as a novelty, but an _actuality_. And yet it is too often the case, that the application of this principle of universal brotherhood reaches no further than to the admission to membership in the T. S. of persons of either sex, and of every creed, color, and nationality, while in the relations of members and the necessary work of the society, the principle of brotherhood is too often practically ignored. It may therefore be profitable to inquire into the reasons assigned by the Masters for giving out to the world at this time their priceless treasures, and the purpose for which the Theosophical Society was instituted, though these purposes have been time and again stated, in plain English, and are printed in the rules and by-laws of the society, as well as in every application for membership. The misinterpretation of these plain declarations leads to constant disappointment, and hinders the legitimate work of the Society. We have been repeatedly told that the Masters are no respecters of persons. They have on every occasion persistently and consistently refused to teach occultism to individuals. They have stated over and over again the terms on which anyone can gain their notice, or hope to advance in spiritual knowledge or power, viz: by working unselfishly and unceasingly for the advancement of the Brotherhood of man. This is the plan on which the masters work. Whatsoever they have given out has been designed for the elevation and well-being of the _whole human race_. They have chosen such agents or assistants as were available for the promulgation of their doctrines, and they have distinctly stated, that not for this generation alone, but more especially for the coming Yuga, do they labor, like wise husbandmen, sowing now the seed for future harvests. The meaning of Universal Brotherhood, and the mission of the Theosophical Society become thus perfectly plain, and we can misinterpret only at our peril. The masters have said, work with us, and become a part of us, and share with us. Creeds and sects are innately selfish, dividing mankind into selfish circles of conceited and selfish men. Creeds are crumbling; replace them with universal benevolence, toleration, charity, justice—in one word, BROTHERHOOD. He, therefore, who repudiates brotherhood, denies all. He who forgets charity, kindness, forbearance, forgiveness, has no right to call himself a Theosophist. We should have charity for everything but for uncharitableness. Let those who will in the face of all this, strive for occult power. Let them in spite of constant warning force, if they can, themselves into the astral plane, to be driven back in ever lasting terror by the “Demon of the Threshold,” or end their days in an Asylum for the Insane, but let them look for no assistance or protection from the Masters. Pure and undefiled Theosophy leads man only to higher planes of thought and life. It puts him in possession of the true philosopher’s stone, by enabling him to convert the energies of life, into higher uses, for the welfare and elevation of his race. It teaches him neglect of no common duty or obligation, and it nowhere holds out the inducement that a Mahatma can be evolved by some secret hocus-pocus out of a mountebank. The mountebanks will presently denounce Mahatmas and repudiate theosophy, but they will prove as powerless to stay the tide of truth as to achieve mahatmahood. They may deceive the foolish and unwary, and console themselves with the company of Coloumb, Hodgson & Co., but those who have accepted in deed and in truth the simple doctrine of universal brotherhood _with all that it implies_, will possess their souls in patience and perfect trust, for they have heard the music of BATH COL. J. D. BUCK. THE SOCIETY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS. A ROUGH SKETCH OF THEIR FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES. (_Communicated._) The following are in outline the fundamental doctrines of the Brothers of the Rosy Cross. He who fulfills the required conditions, may find all necessary information in the “Book of Initiation,” and they say that when he is ready he finds with ease, a guide who, through his _higher self_ instructs and directs him infallibly. It is understood that the Society desires to be truly spiritual and asks no fees, but it seeks as members only those who are practical workers in the cause of humanity. But it is a secret body, not from fear of enemies, but in order to spread the truth, unimpeded by the war of opinions. The truth being eternal, is not subject to opinion, but to those who are able to see, it stands revealed in its own light. 1. The _Universe_ as a whole is a _Unity_, having only _one_, eternal, universal and fundamental cause for its existence. All the multifarious forms, essences, powers or principles, are not originally self-existent, but are merely various manifestations of that one and universal cause. They are various modes of one original activity, and their shapes or organisms are the products of that activity, working upon different planes of existence and in various stages of evolution. 2. This cause, being eternal, unlimited and infinite, is beyond the power of the intellectual comprehension of any mortal and limited being. Its presence may be perceived everywhere, but in its highest aspect it can fully be known only to itself. Beings lower than itself, may intuitively feel its presence, but cannot intellectually know it, until they have risen up to its own level on the plane of existence. To avoid circumlocution, we call that eternal (spiritual) principle in its highest aspect “_God_” or “_Brahm_”; both words signifying originally “Good.”[123] 3. In this eternal and universal cause, the centre or fountain of _All_, is contained potentially everything existing in the Universe. It is itself, germinally or in a more or less developed state contained in everything that exists. It forms the (spiritual) centre of every living organism, and life itself is only a mode of manifestation of its own power. It is the cause and the architect of every form; it builds the form which it inhabits, from that centre, by the power of its own (consciously or unconsciously active) _will_ and _thought_, and by the means offered by eternal nature, the latter being itself a product of previous states of its own existence and eternal action. 4. The highest form of activity of this principle requires for its perfect expression, perfect means. The perfect cannot manifest its perfection in an imperfect organism. The place which a being occupies on the ladder of evolution, depends on the progress which that divine principle, acting in the centre of each being, has made in evolving an organism, adapted to its manifestation. 5. The most perfect organism for the manifestation of the divine and universal principle in its highest aspect, of which we know, is the (spiritual) organism of Man. In this organism, this divine principle, after having attained _sensation_ and _consciousness_ in the lower forms of nature, may acquire (spiritual) _self-consciousness_ and _self-knowledge_, evolving what is called the individual _mind_, with all its powers and faculties, for (spiritual) perception and _real knowledge_ or wisdom. 6. The (ordinarily) visible so called physical-body of man is not the _real_ Man, but merely a more or less imperfect representation of the real, or “inner man,” whose sphere of activity may extend as far as the sphere of his mind; in other words—as far as the power of his (spiritual) perception. The “inner man” is a reality, which after having attained—by the power of self differentiation—an individual existence, will retain its individuality, after the physical forms, which it has occupied for the purposes of evolution during its life upon a planet, have been disintegrated and changed into other forms. 7. Every being continues to exist in its essence after the (physical) form which expressed its essential character, has dissolved and disappeared; but as long as it has not acquired (spiritual) self-consciousness and self-knowledge, it is forced, after a time of rest, to reappear in a new form (mask or personality), to resume the process of its further development.[124] After the divine principle in man has attained individual (spiritual) self-consciousness and self-knowledge, it requires no more embodiments in (physical) forms, and may, harmoniously united with the _All_, continue to exist as a self-conscious intelligence. 8. The attainment of spiritual self-consciousness and self-knowledge and the necessarily resulting perfection, therefore involves the attainment of immortality, and the latter can only be acquired by acquiring the former. Only that which is perfect remains; the imperfect is continually subject to change. 9. Although the individual human monad, without (spiritual) self-consciousness and knowledge, may arrive at that state of perfection in the slow course of its evolution, extending perhaps over many millions of years, nevertheless there is no necessity to wait until nature may, perhaps slowly and unaided, accomplish her object, but she may be assisted by the individual will and effort of those who know how to proceed. 10. The _first_ necessary requirement for all who desire perfection, is therefore _to know_ the laws that rule in the visible and invisible universe, and the attainment of the knowledge involves a study of the constitution of the _Universe_ and of the constitution of (the soul of) _Man_. 11. From knowledge springs power, but those who possess knowledge, will be in the possession of something that will not benefit them, unless they desire to put it to some practical use. The _second_ requirement is therefore _to will_, and as an individual will, deviating from the direction of the will of universal good, or acting in opposition to the latter, is evil, and can only bring final destruction upon him that exercises it, consequently the will of the individual must act in accordance with the universal will of God. 12. To act evil is for the majority of men far easier than to do good. Good will and desires to become useful must be made to accomplish some work. To overcome the resistance of evil and to put good into practice requires energy, courage and effort, and the _third_ necessary requirement is therefore _to dare_ to practice the good which we know and desire. 13. But as a power, after it has once been obtained, may be employed for good or for evil purposes, and as it is not desirable that persons with evil inclinations and tendencies, should be taught the way to prolong their personal existence after the dissolution of their physical form, because their existence would cause the infliction of injury upon others, and expose themselves to a long, slow and painful final disintegration; therefore, the deepest secrets of the Rosicrucians, and the way to the practical application of the secret knowledge, should be taught only to those who are good and pure to a degree sufficient to warrant that the mysteries communicated and revealed to them, may not be misapplied. The _fourth_ necessary requirement for the Rosicrucian is, therefore, _to be silent_, in regard to that which it is not expedient to speak. [Illustration:] HINDU SYMBOLISM. I. The student of Hindu metaphysical religious philosophy, will find most of its important formulations, veiled under a mystical symbolism; to understand which, is a key to the hints in the Upanishads and other esoteric writings. We propose to give those interested, a series of illustrations from Hindu drawings with descriptions; in the latter, our study of the Kabbalah has been of great assistance. The figure is a symbolical representation of Brahman (neuter) intwined in Itself.[125] It is the highest deity of the Hindus, the principle of the universe; the representation is, of It, at the immediate instant of Its revealing Itself in the emanation of the universe, and before Its entrance into any kind of matter and before Its self renunciation. It symbolises the God-dawn between the pauses of emanative creation, its preservation, and the dissolution of created forms. Wrapped in Its cloak-sphere, Brahman conducts Its toe into Its mouth, perhaps to make, an eternal circle of Itself, perhaps to signify the union of the linga and yoni, perhaps to indicate the retrogression of Itself into Itself, or may be the eternity and unfathomableness of Its nature, plunged in the contemplation of Its own essence. Compare with this the great figure of Néith or Typhé, the Heaven goddess of the Egyptian Zodiac of Dendera. Brahman (neuter) or Para-brahma, _i. e._, the Great Brahma, as an unrevealed deity, has neither temple or image in India. It is in effect considered in Itself without form or figure, but exteriorly It manifests Itself in many figures and symbols. It is the unit and the multiplied in all, at the same instant, smaller than an atom, it is greater than the whole universe, which cannot contain It, and is ineffable and inexpressible in Its essence. The ancient Hindus say of it in the Vedas:—“Brahman is eternal, the being above all others, revealing Itself in felicity and joy. The universe is Its name, Its image, but that first existence, which contains all in Itself, is the soul really existing. All the phenomena have their cause in Brahman, It is not limited by time or space, is imperishable, is the soul of the world and of each particular existence.” * * * “That universe is Brahman, it comes from Brahman, exists in Brahman, and it will return to Brahman.” “Brahman, the Being existing in Itself, is the form of all wisdom and of all the worlds without end. All the worlds are made only one with It, because they are through Its Will. That eternal Will is innate in all things. It reveals Itself in the emanation (or creation), in the preservation, and in the destruction (which is also a re-creation), and in the movements and forms, of Time and Space.” The Atharva-Veda says:—“All the gods are in (Brahman) as cows in a cow-house. In the beginning Brahman was this (universe). It created gods. Having created gods, It placed them in these worlds, viz: Agni in this world, Vāyu in the atmosphere, and Surya in the sky.[126] And in the worlds which are yet higher, It placed the gods which are still higher. Then Brahman proceeded to the higher sphere.” This is explained by a commentator to be Satyaloka,[127] the most excellent limit of all the worlds. In the “Taitteriya Brāhmana” it is; “Brahman generated the gods, Brahman (generated or emanated) this entire world. Within It are all these worlds. Within It is the entire universe. It is Brahman who is the greatest of beings. Who can vie with It.” Brahman (neuter) is the only real eternal true essence; when It passes in to actual manifested existence It is called Brahma; when It develops Itself in the universe It is called Vishnu, and when It again dissolves Itself into simple being, It is called Siva; all the other deities are only symbols or manifestations of the eternal neuter Brahman.[128] The Vishnu Purana says: “Glory to Brahman, who is addressed by that mystic word AUM,[129] who is associated eternally with the triple universe (heaven, sky, earth), and who is one with the four Vedas. Glory to Brahman, who both in the destruction and renovation of the universe is called the great and mysterious cause of the intellectual principle, who is without limit in time or space, and exempt from diminution and decay, etc. To that supreme Brahman be for ever adoration.” In its highest development, the doctrine of the Vedas is a rational and philosophical pantheism, combined with the most ideal, pure, and absolute monotheism, that the mind can conceive. The doctrines as to Brahman (neuter) in their higher conceptions, are similar in many respects to the exalted ideas as to the Ain Soph or Non Ego, of the Kabbalah. Brahman, the Eternal, in Itself, Being, goes out of Its profundity in Its eternity, to emanate the universe of all the things, and undeniably establishes that great law of production, through the opposition and yet a harmonious blending, as to which, all nature offers everywhere a similitude, evidence, and image. Its first emanation is the creating energy, force or potentiality, which manifests Itself in Time, the mother and the matrix of the existences, that is the Sakti, Para Sakti or Maya, the first virgin and first female or plasticity, containing all in germ, symbolized by the Yoni. Its spouse, the spiritualizing, the man-type, is symbolized by the Lingam. ISAAC MEYER. LITERARY NOTES. BETTY’S VISIONS.—By Rhoda Broughton. (_Geo. Routledge & Sons, London._) The prominence which occultism is acquiring, despite the attacks of so called scientific bodies and the constant sneers of savants and their parrot-like followers, is shown in the fact that such a book as this is published by a firm like Routledge and written by Rhoda Broughton. It is one of the one and sixpenny English books, in cloth. The visions are five—through a long life—each preceding a death in the family. * * * * * ESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY, OR MENTAL THERAPEUTICS.—By Dr. W. F. Evans. (_Carter & Karrick, Boston._) Extra cloth, $1.00. This is designed to complete a series of books on the subject of the Mind Cure, commenced some fifteen years ago. It contains twelve lectures intended to instruct in the philosophy of the subject. “To aid the student of Christian Theosophy to explore the inner realm of truth into which his spirit opens is the object of this volume,” and he believes that the principles are “identical with the philosophy of the New Testament and with primitive Christianity.” The book is well written, and is full of excellent arguments, but it covers so much ground that it would be impossible to properly review it in the limits allowable here. We must disagree with him, however, in his statement: “That this system must ever be kept within the domain of a genuine Christianity,” to be successful. It is well known that hundreds of persons are practising mind cure, are helping many people, and none of these either believe in or talk of Christianity, genuine or otherwise. If mind cure have a real basis, no monopoly of it can be had by either Christian or dissenter. * * * * * BUDDHIST DIET BOOK.—A New York publishing house announces this book, prepared by Laura C. Holloway. It is a compilation of dishes used by Buddhists in Europe and the East, interspersed with explanations of the religious convictions of this great Sect regarding foods. The work will be of value to vegetarians—of whom there are many in this country. Mrs. Holloway writes with authority on this subject, having enjoyed in Europe and Prussia the advantages of an unmixed vegetarian diet in the homes of those who eat no meat. The book is a quaint brown-and-white conceit in parchment covers. Price 50 cents. Theosophists who desire to have this vegetarian cook book, can order it through THE PATH. * * * * * CAN MATTER THINK.—This number of Prof. Coues’ Biogen Series was noticed in the July PATH, and through a mistaken assumption of the proof reader it was stated that it was a reprint of an article which previously appeared in _The Theosophist_. Prof. Coues assures us that “Can Matter Think,” is a thoroughly original composition and has never been within 10,000 miles of India. The proof reader was thinking of the reprint of an English book under the title “Kuthumi,” in the same series, and also of the fact that the same subject was treated of in _The Theosophist_ some years ago. We hasten, therefore, to correct the statement made in July. THEOSOPHICAL ACTIVITIES. JOSHEE.—Bro. Gopal Vinayak Joshee and his wife Anandabai, who graduated in Medicine at Philadelphia, return to India in October. * * * * * RAMABAI.—Pandita Ramabai, who has been some time in America, accompanies Bro. Joshee and his wife to India. * * * * * PHILADELPHIA.—The charter for a new Branch here has been received and probably soon the organization will be complete. * * * * * SECRECY IN THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.—The question is frequently asked: “Is the Society a secret body; and how can a person enter it?” The reply can be found in the proceedings of the general Council last year, when it was resolved, that from thenceforth any person of good moral character, upon being recommended by two active members, and paying the usual fee, could become a member upon signing the application in which the declaration is made that the signer is in sympathy with the objects of the Society. The old obligation is retained merely for those Branches desiring to use it in giving the signs and passwords of the Society, which are the only points about which the new member is pledged to secrecy, it being left to his own discretion and sense of propriety, not to make public matters which do not concern the public. For that matter, however, there is nothing in the teachings or practices of the lower section of the Society requiring secrecy. * * * * * NEW YORK.—The New York Branch has issued its third number of the _Abridgements of Discussions_ on Theosophical subjects. The object of these leaflets is to increase interest among all Theosophists, and to strengthen the feeling of union. Col. H. S. Olcott, the President in India, has written to say, that he thinks the idea of the Abridgements is excellent. All Branches ought to co-operate in this movement, either by contributing questions and answers to New York, or by starting leaflets of their own and exchanging and distributing them. * * * * * CINCINNATI.—The Branch here has held its first fall meeting, and has arranged for a series of essays of an interesting character, and also for meetings, to which strangers are to be invited by members. * * * * * OLCOTT.—It may be interesting to Theosophists to know that a statue was offered to Col. Olcott in Ceylon some months ago, but was refused by him on the ground that his work was not yet done, and no one could say whether he would deserve a statue until his death. * * * * * There is a limit beyond which the sun, moon and the planets cannot rise, and when they reach their point of climax, they come down again. But the souls that have attained to perfection never come down again.—_Jain Precept._ OM! FOOTNOTES: [120] Intell. Obs. Vol. 7. [121] Notes on Mohammedanism. [122] The Zikrs will be described in next number of THE PATH. [123] Those words are continually giving rise to misunderstandings and misinterpretations, because nearly every one has a different opinion of what is “Good.” [124] See Bagavad-Gita, c. 6. [125] Taken from the Glauben, Wissen und Kunst der alten Hindus, etc., von Niklas Müller. Erster Band, Mainz, 1822. [126] Fire, Æther, Light. [127] _Satya-Loka_, the place, world, or region of Truth.—[ED.] [128] See Indian Wisdom by Monier Williams, p. 12. [129] This occurs at the beginning of prayers, etc., as our word AMeN occurs at the end. It is so sacred that none must hear it pronounced. Originally its three letters typified the three Vedas, afterwards it became a mystical symbol of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva in unity; see further as to AUM _supra_. AUM Sri Krishna is the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings; his unthinkable glory irradiates all that is manifest and all that is unmanifest. This infinite universe, its life and its beauty, and its joy, rest but on his foot, from which flows the sacred stream of the Ganges, whose mortal aspect alone is known on this earth. Krishna reveals his infinity of attributes to his beloved worshipper, and yet he is devoid of attributes. It is the crown of devotion to have these mysteries revealed to the inner gaze. May all his lovers reach that goal.—_Vaishnara Scriptures._ Inquire about him by prostration, by question, and by service, and the wise men who know the truth, will give you the knowledge.—_Bagavad-Gita._ THE PATH. VOL. I. NOVEMBER, 1886. NO. 8. _The Theosophical Society, as such, is not responsible for any opinion or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless contained in an official document._ Where any article, or statement, has the author’s name attached, he alone is responsible, and for those which are unsigned, the Editor will be accountable. THE COMMON SENSE OF THEOSOPHY. [REPRINTED FROM THE _Dublin University Review_, MAY, 1886, BY PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.] It is difficult to break down the Chinese wall of misconceptions with which all new movements of thought become more or less completely surrounded. The assimilation by the public mind of ideas which lie outside its mechanically-regulated every-day life is a slow process, which the vigour of the constitution does not justify. For all movements, which possess any vitality at all, always provoke to an unusual degree of activity the imaginative faculties of their opponents. More or less fantastic caricatures of the aims and methods of a struggling movement are generated by an unconscious process of invention, fathered upon the movement, and then knocked down with solemn pomposity. At the end of the achievement, when the invader of orthodox indolence and respectable indifference is found to gain ground in the midst of the dust-storm of misrepresentations, a wondering sneer is directed against personalities who have not had the decency and good sense to die at the command of their antagonists. The Theosophical movement has proved no exception to this general rule. Oppositions against it are generally but attempts to remove this disturber of established ease by finding some excuse for ignoring its existence. False issues are raised in every direction, and a candid examination of the truths that Theosophy embodies is evaded in the confusion. It is a profitless task to hunt the brood of Error which, like the giants of Norse folk-lore, sally forth at night to slay and devour, but melt into thin air when surprised by a ray of sunlight. Kicking at nothing is an exhausting process. Unmindful of this, many, in the words of the author of _Religio Medici_, have “rashly charged the troops of Error, and remained as trophies unto the enemies.” It is therefore proposed to set forth a “plain, unvarnished” statement of what Theosophy really is, and of the work in which the Theosophical Society is engaged, and leave the decision to the common sense of the reader. The transcendental metaphysics of Theosophy will be but slightly touched upon here. For fuller information the inquirer is referred to sources indicated by the publications of the Theosophical Society and the writings of the Theosophists of the day. What, then, is Theosophy? Numberless are the misconceptions to which the word has given rise. Etymology does not throw any great light on it. The interpretation of “God-wisdom” can be spread over a very large area. Without following the history of the word, it may be stated that the chief exponents of the present revival of Theosophy take it to mean Wisdom-religion. Their interpretation, while open to no great philological objection, is sufficiently precise for all literary purposes. Theosophy from this standpoint is synonymous with Truth—the Truth that has been clothed in various garbs of religion; it also implies that this Truth is attainable by a natural development of wisdom, without the intervention of supernatural means. Thus it will be seen that Theosophy does not attach infallibility to any particular system of revelation, but maintains that under suitable conditions Truth reveals itself to every individual. The sun shines equally on all; the crystal reflects it; the clod of earth does not. Yet Theosophy sets great value on all systems of revelation, looking upon them as finger-posts which indicate the direction in which Truth is to be sought, although it declines to accept them as invitations to surrender personal inquiry. This tenet of Theosophy is founded upon the consideration that Truth is the result of real experience, and does not consist in the transfer of intellectual symbols from one person to another. To speak about Truth is one thing, and to perceive it is quite another. It is a fact of common experience that the most accurate and elaborate description of, say, a flower is by no means an efficient substitute for a visual contact with it, although the description has an abundant value of its own. Hence individual consciousness is consistently upheld as the only criterion of Truth, but this consciousness derives material help in its development and expansion by the study of the experiences of others. Thus Theosophy teaches that _personal exertion is the only means by which progress can be achieved_. But in the effort for growth the ultimate unity of consciousness must not be ignored. Individuals are not distinct crystals, placed side by side, but the varied manifestations of one unchanging universal consciousness. As light from one single source produces the appearance of different lights by reflection from a number of surfaces, so this universal consciousness, remaining itself unchanged, produces endless individualities, which in the course of their evolution reach perfection by recognising this essential unity. According to Theosophical thinkers this doctrine forms the fundamental truth upon which all religions are based; it is the final consummation of all philosophical thought and the crowning experience of all practical mysticism. The search for this truth, and the practical realization of it are not considered as mere gratification of intellectual curiosity, but as the very _summum bonum_ of evolutionary progress. It is the Nirvâna of the Buddhists, the Moksha of the Brahmins, and not very different from the Beatific Vision of the Christians. When this condition, or rather want of condition, is realized in consciousness, pain is for ever extinguished. Nirvâna is by no means the annihilation of consciousness, but its rest in the infinite plenitude of being. Needless to discuss the Nihilist view of Buddhism which some scholars of ability have brought forward; suffice it to say, that the Theosophists on this point share the responsibility of their opinion with many names of great eminence. Nirvâna is the extinction of all pain because, being the ultimate unity of all being, it cannot be the playground of those contending forces which alone produce pain. Proceeding upon this basis, the essential features of Theosophy can be thrown into relief by determining its relations to Religion and Science. As the Science of Religion, it looks upon the different systems of faith as so many languages seeking to express the truth about man, his origin, nature, and destiny, as well as his relations to the surrounding world of objects. But, as a word or phrase is nothing but a sound in the absence of experience of the object connoted, so the proper comprehension of religious symbology can be acquired only by realizing the truths that underlie it. From the Theosophic standpoint the different systems of religion appear as the various forms evolved by the peculiarities of time, place, and other special causes, to embody the bodiless truth. It is necessary to guard against a misconception which may arise here. Theosophy is not eclecticism, which is a mosaic, while Wisdom-Religion is an organic whole. Theosophy is like an abstract mathematical formula of which each religion is a particular application. It does not select bits from all religions and piece them together according to some fanciful standard of symmetry. But being the inner truth itself, Theosophy regards religions as various descriptions of that truth. It will no more recognise antagonism between religions than the linguist will condemn the description of the same thing in different languages because of peculiarities of idiom and grammar. Theosophy is not hostile to any religion, but is bound, in the interest of truth, to oppose the tyranny of ecclesiastical forms on individuals. Humanity, in the course of its evolution, produces individuals who outstrip the generality in the realization of truth, and are thus enabled to perceive the capabilities of the truth to be manifested within a certain period of time. To help the masses struggling blindly for the light of truth, these teachers of mankind construct a symbology of words and emblems to represent the truth. But, as acquisition of wisdom is a change in the quality of the consciousness of the acquirer, and not merely a surface expansion of it, the symbology, though eminently useful, is not in itself spiritual knowledge, and can never be converted into it except when “inwardly digested.” The physical process of digestion supplies a striking analogy in this matter. Food, assimilated by different organisms, follows their original differences. Spiritual food, on assimilation, partakes of the peculiarities of the individual, and two individuals cannot be exactly identical, whether physically or otherwise. A contrary supposition would violate the _lex parsimoniæ_ in nature. Consequently, Theosophy is the uncompromising supporter of the freedom of individual conscience. On the other hand, it condemns a selfish desire for self-development as wrong, on account of its violation of the essential unity of being. One of the greatest Theosophists of the world, Gautama Buddha, declared, “Let the sins of the Kali Yuga[130] fall upon me, and let the world be redeemed.” This noble saying found an echo in the Christian Apostle, who would be anathema from Christ if he could save the world thereby. Nor has Theosophy any antagonism to the scientific spirit. Claiming to be the religion of Truth, it must show itself to be the most exact of all exact sciences. According to it truth cannot be dissociated from real experience; the mere intellectual form of it can never be the truth any more than the word man can be the human being. It opposes the dogmatisms of science which deny independent reality to facts of mental experience because of their eminently unscientific character. If there be no operation of thought matter itself will disappear. The contrary of this—existence of matter without relation to a conscious knower—has never been experienced. Therefore matter and consciousness are both eternal or neither. Further, it rejects the mechanical theory of the universe on account of its unreasonableness. If consciousness is derivable from unconsciousness, a fundamental law of reason becomes stultified. Unconsciousness is the negation of consciousness, and therefore an affirmation of the absence of all relations to consciousness is its essential property. How, then, can it be related to consciousness so as to produce it? If the atoms themselves are considered conscious the difficulty is not removed. For consciousness must be associated with the notion of I, and if this egoism is to be postulated for each atom it is inexplicable how a man, composed of myriads of atoms, possesses yet a single indivisible notion of I. It is clear therefore that there is in nature a principle of consciousness whose units are not atoms but individualities, and as the principle is eternal its units must also be so. For the ocean cannot be salt unless the quality of saltness inhered in every one of its drops. Theosophy for these, among other reasons, holds against materialism that the individuality in man is immortal. In this, however, it does not maintain that the present body, emotion or thought of a man will as such abide for ever, but that the unit of consciousness which is now manifested as the man, will never undergo any change in essence. For change, independent of consciousness, is unthinkable. It is in fact the unchangeableness of consciousness that by comparison renders the conception of change a reality. In ordinary language no doubt such phrases as the “growth and development of consciousness” are in use, but strictly speaking it is the basis in which the consciousness inheres that changes, the phrases in question being of the same character as those which ascribe motion to the sun in relation to the earth. Moreover, if one unit of consciousness were to change in essence, that is, become annihilated, the same liability must attach to all other units, and we shall be driven to hold that the principle of consciousness in nature is destructible, while matter which cannot exist in its absence is indestructible. From the indestructibility of individual consciousness, and its relations to matter, two important deductions follow. First, that this relation, which is perpetually changing, changes according to a definite law. The products of the change are bound each to each in a definite way. What is now is not wholly unrelated to what was before. This is a matter of experience, and in fact experience is based upon it. Without the law of causation experience would be impossible, on whatever plane we take experience—mental or physical. Thus by the application of the law of causation to our being, it follows that the experience of pleasure and pain in the present must be the necessary consequence of causes generated in the past. A contention may here be raised that it is a fact of experience that many sufferings and enjoyments come to us of which we are not conscious of having generated the causes. But it is without any real force. What connection is there between _our_ consciousness of a cause and its power to produce effect? If we receive in the system malarious germs, the disease is not prevented because we were unconscious of the reception. Whatever you sow the same you reap, whether you are conscious of the sowing or not. The law of causation, thus applied to personal experience of suffering and enjoyment, is called by the Brahmins and Buddhists the Law of Karma. The second deduction hinges on to the first and forms with it a harmonious whole. If the individual consciousness is immortal, and its experiences are governed by the Law of Karma, then it follows that so long as all causes, capable of producing effects on the present plane of life, are not exhausted, and the generation of similar causes is not stopped, the individual consciousness will remain connected with the experience of earthly existence. Thus the ego successively incarnates itself on this earth until it has collected all experiences that life on this planet can offer. The doctrine of reincarnation is taught by all religions of the world, Christianity not excepted. In the Gospel of St Matthew it is declared in no uncertain tone that John the Baptist was the incarnation of Elias (chap. xvii. 12, 13). It is not intended fully to discuss the scientific and metaphysical bases of the doctrine of reincarnation, as the subject has been adequately dealt with in a recent Theosophical publication.[131] But it will not be out of place to consider the ethical objection which is so frequently brought forward against the doctrine. Is it just that a person should experience pleasure or pain for acts done in a previous life of which no recollection is preserved? The argument thus implied is based upon the confusion of the two different meanings of the word justice as applied to the regulation of human affairs, and to the operation of natural laws. Human beings are admittedly imperfect in knowledge, and it is required for the well-being of society that all its members should feel confident that they are not liable to arbitrary punishment. For this reason it is necessary that before inflicting punishment the grounds for it should be disclosed. But justice, as affecting the operation of natural laws, is a totally different thing. The workings of nature being invariably governed by the law of Causation are not amenable to conditions which depend upon admitted inability to apply that law without failure. The moral amelioration, which it is fancied that a knowledge of the precise cause of our sufferings would produce, is more than compensated for by the numberless incentives to good, which gratitude and other similar motives supply. The teachings of Theosophy from the standpoint of common sense can be briefly summed up thus:— 1. That there is a principle of consciousness in man which is immortal. 2. That this principle is manifested in successive incarnations on earth. 3. That the experiences of the different incarnations are strictly governed by the law of causation. 4. That as each individual man is the result of a distinct causal necessity in nature, it is not wise for one man to dominate the life and action of another, no matter what their relative development may be. On the other hand it is of paramount importance that each individual should ceaselessly work for the attainment of the highest ideal that he is capable of conceiving. Otherwise, pain will arise from the opposition of the real and the ideal. Be as perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. 5. That for the above reasons it is wise and just to practise the most ungrudging toleration towards all our fellow-creatures. 6. That as absolute unity of all nature subsists for ever, all self-centred actions are bound to end in pain to the actor on account of their opposition to this fact. The foundation of morals must therefore lie in the feeling of Universal Brotherhood of Man. 7. That the harmony of the unit with the whole is the only condition which can remove all pain, and as each individual represents a distinct causal operation of nature, this harmony is attainable only through the individual’s own exertions. The Theosophical Society is an organization having for its object the study of truth upon the most unsectarian basis, and as a result of such study it believes that the truths enumerated above are, if generally accepted, calculated greatly to benefit the age. It is necessary, however, to add that there are many members in the Society, earnest in the pursuit of truth, who are not prepared to subscribe to all these doctrines without further thought and study; but all are agreed as to the ethical principles involved therein. The chief aim of the Theosophical Society is “to form the nucleus of a universal Brotherhood of mankind without distinction of race, color or creed.” The basis of brotherhood, which the Theosophical Society considers scientific has already been adverted to. The Theosophic brotherhood does not limit the freedom of individual development. It requires nothing from its members but a desire to recognise the unity of the human family as a natural fact which cannot be ignored with impunity, and a living conscious feeling of which is sure to lead to the highest development of the individual. The Theosophical Society is convinced that the most efficacious means for the study of truth is furnished by the ancient religious and philosophical systems of the world, as they are free from the disturbing influences by which contemporary forms are surrounded. The Society therefore earnestly labours to promote an appreciative study of Eastern philosophy, built up by generations of Theosophists, as affording easy access to the Wisdom-Religion of the world. Further, the Society seeks to combat materialism by the investigation of abnormal phenomena which afford a practical demonstration of the existence of a Psyche in man and to lead to a proper comprehension of the laws which underlie those phenomena. Theosophists do not believe in supernaturalism, and discard the notion of miracles as involving an unreasonable limitation of the possibilities of nature. The views of the leading Theosophists with regard to this subject are to be found very ably expounded in Madame Blavatsky’s _Isis Unveiled_, and Mr. Sinnett’s _Esoteric Buddhism_. All Theosophists, whether in perfect agreement with these views or not, look upon them as opening immense vistas of thought on subjects which are as important as they are neglected. In conclusion, it is to be clearly stated that the Theosophical Society is composed of a body of earnest students and inquirers, and not of dogmatic teachers. But naturally a large number of members hold convictions in common on many points. Yet in each case the final authority comes from no external source but from within. “There is no religion higher than Truth,” is the motto of the Society. MOHINI M. CHATTERJI. THEORIES: ABOUT REINCARNATION AND SPIRITS. BY H. P. BLAVATSKY. Over and over again the abstruse and mooted question of Rebirth or Reincarnation has crept out during the first ten years of the Theosophical Society’s existence. It has been alleged on _prima facie_ evidence, that a notable discrepancy was found between statements made in “_Isis Unveiled_” Vol. I, 351-2, and later teachings from the same pen and under the inspiration of the same master.[132] In _Isis_, it was held,—reincarnation is denied. An occasional return, only of “depraved spirits” is allowed. “Exclusive of that rare and doubtful possibility, ‘_Isis_’ allows only three cases—abortion, very early death, and idiocy—in which reincarnation on this earth occurs.” (“C. C. M.” in _Light_, 1882.) The charge was answered then and there as every one who will turn to the _Theosophist_ of August, 1882, can see for himself. Nevertheless, the answer either failed to satisfy some readers or passed unnoticed. Leaving aside the strangeness of the assertion that _reincarnation_—_i. e._, the serial and periodical rebirth of every individual _monad_ from _pralaya_ to _pralaya_[133] is denied in the face of the fact that the doctrine is part and parcel and one of the fundamental features of Hinduism and Buddhism, the charge amounted virtually to this: the writer of the present, a professed admirer and student of Hindu philosophy, and as professed a follower of Buddhism years before _Isis_ was written, by rejecting reincarnation must necessarily reject KARMA likewise! For the latter is the very _corner_-stone of Esoteric philosophy and Eastern religions; it is the grand and one pillar _on which hangs the whole philosophy of rebirths_, and once the latter is denied, the whole doctrine of Karma falls into meaningless verbiage. Nevertheless, the opponents without stopping to think of the evident “discrepancy” between charge and fact, accused a Buddhist by profession of faith of denying reincarnation hence also by implication—Karma. Adverse to wrangling with one who was a friend and undesirous at the time, to enter upon a defence of details and internal evidence—a loss of time indeed,—the writer answered merely with a few sentences. But it now becomes necessary to well define the doctrine. Other critics have taken the same line, and by misunderstanding the passages to that effect in _Isis_ they have reached the same rather extraordinary conclusions. To put an end to such useless controversies, it is proposed to explain the doctrine more clearly. Although, in view of the later more minute renderings of the esoteric doctrines, it is quite immaterial what may have been written in “_Isis_”—an encyclopedia of occult subjects in which each of these is _hardly sketched_—let it be known at once, that the writer maintains the correctness of every word given out upon the subject in my earlier volumes. What was said in the _Theosophist_ of August, 1882, may now be repeated here. The passage quoted from it may be, and is, most likely “incomplete, chaotic, vague, perhaps clumsy, as are many more passages in that work the first literary production of a foreigner who even now can hardly boast of her knowledge of the English language.” Nevertheless it is quite correct so far as that collateral feature of reincarnation is therein concerned. I will now give extracts from _Isis_ and proceed to explain every passage criticised, wherein it was said that “a few _fragments_ of this mysterious doctrine of reincarnation as _distinct from_ metempsychosis”—would be then presented. Sentences now explained are in italics. “Reincarnation _i. e._ the appearance of the same individual, _or rather of his astral monad, twice on the same planet_ is not a rule in nature, it is an exception, like the teratological phenomenon of a two-headed infant. It is preceded by a _violation of the laws of harmony of nature_, and happens only when the latter _seeking_ to _restore_ its _disturbed equilibrium, violently throws back into earth-life the astral monad which had been tossed out of the circle of necessity by crime or accident_. Thus in cases of abortion, of infants dying before a certain age, and of congenital and incurable idiocy, nature’s original design to produce a perfect human being, has been interrupted. Therefore, while the gross matter of each of these several entities is suffered to disperse itself at death, through the vast realm of being, _the immortal spirit and astral monad of the individual—the latter having been set apart_ to animate a frame and the former to shed its divine light on the corporeal organization—_must try a second time to carry out the purpose of the creative intelligence_.” (Vol. 1. p. 351.) Here the “astral monad” or body of the deceased personality—say of John or Thomas—is meant. It is that which, in the teachings of the Esoteric philosophy of Hinduism, is known under its name of _bhoot_; in the Greek philosophy is called the _simulacrum_ or _umbra_, and in all other philosophies worthy of the name is said, as taught in the former, to disappear after a certain period more or less prolonged in _Kama-loka_—the Limbus of the Roman Catholics, or _Hades_ of the the Greeks.[134] It is “a violation of the laws of harmony of nature,” though it be so decreed by those of _Karma_—every time that the astral monad, or the _simulacrum_ of the personality—of John or Thomas—instead of running down to the end of its natural period of time in a body—finds itself (a) violently thrown out of it by whether early death or accident; or (b) is compelled in consequence of its unfinished task to reappear, (_i. e. the same astral body wedded to the same immortal monad_) on earth again, in order to complete the unfinished task. Thus “it must try a second time to carry out the purpose of creative intelligence” or _law_. If reason has been so far developed as to become active and discriminative there is no[135] (_immediate_) _reincarnation_ on this earth, for the three parts of the triune man have been united together, and he is capable of running the race. But when the new being has not passed beyond the condition of Monad, or when, as in the idiot, the trinity has not been completed on earth and therefore cannot be so after death, the immortal spark which illuminates it, has to re-enter on the earthly plane as it was frustrated in its first attempt. Otherwise, the mortal or astral, and the immortal or divine souls, _could not progress in unison and pass onward to the sphere above_[136] (_Devachan_). Spirit follows a line parallel with that of matter; and the spiritual evolution goes hand in hand with the physical. The Occult Doctrine teaches that:— (1) There is no _immediate_ reincarnation on Earth for the Monad, as falsely taught by the Reincarnationists Spiritists; nor is there any second incarnation at all for the “_personal_” or _false_ Ego—the _perisprit_—save the exceptional cases mentioned. But that (_a_) there are rebirths, or periodical reincarnations for the immortal Ego—(“Ego” during the cycle of rebirths, and _non_-Ego, in Nirvana or Moksha when it becomes _impersonal_ and _absolute_); for that Ego is the root of every new incarnation, the string on which are threaded, one after the other, the false personalities or illusive bodies called men, in which the Monad-Ego incarnates itself during the cycle of births; and (_b_) that such reincarnations take place not before 1,500, 2,000, and even 3,000 years of Devachanic life. (2) That _Manas_—the seat of _Jiv_, that spark which runs the round of the cycle of birth and rebirths with the Monad, from the beginning to the end of a Manvantara,—is the real _Ego_. That (_a_) the _Jiv_ follows the divine monad that gives it spiritual life and immortality into Devachan,—that therefore, it can neither be reborn before its appointed period, nor reappear on Earth _visibly_ or _invisibly_ in the _interim_; and (_b_) that, unless the fruition, the spiritual aroma of the Manas—or all these highest aspirations and spiritual qualities and attributes that constitute the higher SELF of man become united to its monad, the latter becomes as _Non_ existent; since it is _in esse_ “impersonal” and _per se_ Ego-less, so to say, and gets its spiritual colouring or flavour of Egotism only from each _Manas_ during incarnation and after it is disembodied, and separated from all its lower principles. (3) That the remaining four principles, or rather the—2½—as they are composed of the terrestrial portion of _Manas_ of its Vehicle _Kama~Rupa_ and _Lingha Sarira_,—the body dissolving immediately, and _prana_ or the life principle along with it,—that these principles having belonged to the _false_ personality are unfit for Devachan. The latter is the state of Bliss, the reward for all the undeserved miseries of life,[137] and that which prompted man to sin, namely his terrestrial passionate nature can have no room in it. Therefore the reincarnating principles are left behind in _Kama-loka_, firstly as a material residue, then later on as a reflection on the mirror of Astral light. Endowed with _illusive_ action, to the day when having gradually faded out they disappear, what is it but the Greek _Eidolon_ and the _simulacrum_ of the Greek and Latin poets and classics? “What reward or punishment can there be in that sphere of disembodied human entities for a _fœtus_ or a human embryo which had not even time to breathe on this earth, still less an opportunity to exercise the divine faculties of its spirit? Or, for an irresponsible infant, whose senseless monad remaining dormant within the astral and physical casket, could as little prevent him from burning himself as any other person to death? Or again for one idiotic from birth, the number of whose cerebral circumvolutions is only from twenty to thirty per cent. of those of sane persons, and who therefore is irresponsible for either his disposition, acts, or for the imperfections of his vagrant, half-developed intellect.” (_Isis_, vol. 1, p. 352.) These are then, the “exceptions” spoken of in _Isis_, and the doctrine is maintained now as it was then. Moreover, there is no “discrepancy” but only _incompleteness_—hence, misconceptions arising from later teachings. Then again, there are several important mistakes in _Isis_ which, as the plates of the work had been _stereotyped_ were not corrected in subsequent editions. One of such is on page 346, and another in connection with it and as a sequence on page 347. The discrepancy between the first portion of the statement and the last, ought to have suggested the idea of an evident mistake. It is addressed to the spiritists, _reincarnationists_ who take the more than ambiguous words of Apuleius as a passage that corroborates their claims for their “spirits” and reincarnation. Let the reader judge[138] whether Apuleius does not justify rather _our_ assertions. We are charged with denying reincarnation and this is what we said there and then in _Isis_! “The _philosophy_ teaches that nature _never leaves her work unfinished; if baffled at the first attempt, she tries again_. When she evolves a human embryo, the intention is that a man shall be perfected—physically, intellectually, and spiritually. His body is to grow, mature, wear out, and die; his mind unfold, ripen, and be harmoniously balanced; his divine spirit illuminate and blend easily with the inner man. No human being completes its grand cycle, or the “circle of necessity,” until all these are accomplished. As the laggards in a race struggle and plod in their first quarter while the victor darts past the goal, so, in the race of immortality, some souls outspeed all the rest and reach the end, while their myriad competitors are toiling under the load of matter, close to the starting point. Some unfortunates fall out entirely and lose all chance of the prize; some retrace their steps and begin again.“ Clear enough this, one should say. Nature baffled _tries again_. No one can pass out of this world, (our earth) without becoming perfected ”_physically_, _morally_ and _spiritually_.” How can this be done, unless there _is a series of rebirths_ required for the necessary perfection in each department—to evolute in the “circle of necessity,” can surely never be found in one human life? and yet this sentence is followed without any break by the following parenthetical statement: “This is what the Hindu dreads above all things—_transmigration_ and _reincarnation_; only on other and inferior planets, never on this one!!!” The last “sentence” is a fatal mistake and one to which the writer pleads “_not guilty_.” It is evidently the blunder of some “reader” who had no idea of Hindu philosophy and who was led into a subsequent mistake on the next page, wherein the unfortunate word “planet” is put for _cycle_. “_Isis_” was hardly, if ever, looked into after its publication by its writer, who had other work to do; otherwise there would have been an apology and a page pointing to the _errata_ and the sentence made to run: “The Hindu dreads transmigration in other _inferior_ forms, on this planet.” This would have dove-tailed with the preceding sentence, and would show a fact, as the Hindu _exoteric_ views allow him to believe and fear the possibility of reincarnation—human and animal in turn by jumps, from man to beast and even a plant—and _vice versa_; whereas _esoteric_ philosophy teaches that nature never proceeding backward in her evolutionary progress, once that man has evoluted from every kind of lower forms—the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms—into the human form, he can never become an animal except morally, hence—_metaphorically_. Human incarnation is a cyclic necessity, and law; and no Hindu dreads it—however much he may deplore the necessity. And this law and the periodical recurrence of man’s rebirth is shown on the same page (346) and in the same unbroken paragraph, where it is closed by saying that: “But there is a way to avoid it. Buddha taught it in his doctrine of poverty, restriction of the senses, perfect indifference to the objects of this earthly vale of tears, freedom from passion, and frequent intercommunication with the Atma—soul-contemplation. _The cause of reincarnation is ignorance[139] of our senses, and the idea that there is any reality in the world, anything except abstract existence._ From the organs of sense comes the “hallucination” we call contact; “from contact, desire; from desire, sensation (which also is a deception of our body,) from sensation, the cleaving to existing bodies; from this cleaving, reproduction; and from reproduction, disease, decay, and death.” This ought to settle the question and show there must have been some carelessly unnoticed mistake and if this is not sufficient, there is something else to demonstrate it, for it is further on: “Thus, like the revolutions of a wheel, _there is a regular succession of death and birth_, the moral cause of which is the cleaving to existing objects, while the instrumental cause is _Karma_ (the power which controls the universe, prompting it to activity,) merit and demerit. It is therefore, the great desire of all beings who would be released _from the sorrows of successive birth_, to seek the destruction of the moral cause the cleaving to existing objects, or evil desire.” “They in whom evil desire is entirely destroyed are called _Arhats_. Freedom from evil desire insures the possession of a _miraculous_ power. At his death, the Arhat is never reincarnated; he invariably attains nirvana—a word, by the by, falsely interpreted by the Christian scholar and skeptical commentators. Nirvana is the world of _cause_, in which all deceptive effects or delusions of our senses disappear. Nirvana is the highest attainable sphere. The _pitris_ (the pre-Adamic spirits) are considered as reincarnated by the Buddhistic philosopher, though in a degree far superior to that of the man of earth. Do they not die in their turn? Do not their astral bodies suffer and rejoice, and feel the same curse of illusionary feelings as when embodied?” And just after this we are again made to say of Buddha and his Doctrine of “Merit and Demerit,” or Karma: “But this _former life_ believed in by the Buddhists, is not a life on _this planet_ for, more than any other people, the Buddhistical philosopher appreciated the great doctrine of cycles.” Correct “life on this planet” by “_life in the same cycle_,” and you will have the correct reading: for what would have appreciation of “the great doctrine of cycles” to do with Buddha’s philosophy, had the great sage believed but in one short life on this Earth and in the same cycle. But to return to the real theory of reincarnation as in the esoteric teaching and its unlucky rendering in _Isis_. Thus, what was really meant therein, was that, the principle which _does not reincarnate_—save the exceptions pointed out—is the _false_ personality, the illusive human Entity defined and individualized during this short life of ours, under some specific form and name; but that which _does_ and has to reincarnate _nolens volens_ under the unflinching, stern rule of Karmic law—is the real EGO. This confusing of the real immortal Ego in man, with the false and ephemeral _personalities_ it inhabits during its Manvantaric progress, lies at the root of every such misunderstanding. Now what is the one, and what is the other? The first group is— 1. The immortal Spirit—sexless, formless (arupa) an emanation from the One universal BREATH. 2. Its Vehicle—the _divine_ Soul—called the “Immortal Ego,” the “Divine monad,” etc. etc., which by accretions from _Manas_ in which burns the ever existing _Jiv_—the undying spark—adds to itself at the close of each incarnation the essence of that individuality _that was_, the aroma of the culled flower that is no more. What is the _false_ personality? It is that bundle of desires, aspirations, affection and hatred, in short of _action_, manifested by a human being on this earth during one incarnation and under the form of one personality.[140] Certainly it is not all _this_, which as a fact for us, the deluded, material, and and materially thinking lot—is Mr. So and So, or Mrs. somebody else—that remains immortal, or is ever reborn. All that bundle of _Egotism_ that apparent and evanescent “_I_” disappears after death, as the costume of the part he played disappears from the actor’s body, after he leaves the theatre and goes to bed. That actor re-becomes at once the same “John Smith” or Gray, he was from his birth and is no longer the Othello or Hamlet that he had represented for a few hours. Nothing remains now of that “bundle” to go to the next incarnation, except _the seed for future Karma_ that _Manas_ may have united to its immortal group, to form with it—the disembodied _Higher Self_ in “Devachan.” As to the four lower principles, that which becomes of them is found in most classics, from which we mean to quote at length for our defence. The doctrine of the _perisprit_ the “false personality,” or the remains of the deceased under their astral form—fading out to disappear in time, is terribly distasteful to the spiritualists, who insist upon confusing the temporary with the immortal EGO. Unfortunately for them and happily for us, it is not the modern Occultists who have invented the doctrine. They are on their defense. And they prove what they say, _i.e._, that no “_personality_” has ever yet been “reincarnated” “on the same planet” (_our earth_, this once there is _no_ mistake) save in the three exceptional cases above cited. Adding to these a fourth case, _which is the deliberate, conscious act of adeptship_; and that such an _astral_ body belongs _neither to the body nor the soul_ still less to the immortal spirit of man, the following is brought forward and proofs cited. Before one brings out on the strength of undeniable manifestations, theories as to _what_ produces them and claims at once on _prima facie_ evidence that it is the _spirits_ of the departed mortals that re-visit us, it behooves one to first study what antiquity has declared upon the subject. Ghosts and apparitions, materialized and semi-material “SPIRITS” have not originated with Allan Kardec, nor at Rochester. If those beings whose invariable habit it is to give themselves out for _souls_ and the phantoms of the dead, choose to do so and succeed, it is only because the cautious philosophy of old is now replaced by an _a priori_ conceit, and unproven assumptions. The first question is to be settled—“Have spirits any kind of substance to cloth themselves with?” _Answer_: That which is now called _perisprit_ in France, and a “materialized Form” in England and America, was called in days of old _peri-psyche_, and _peri-nous_, hence was well known to the old Greeks. Have they _a body_ whether gaseous, fluidic, etherial, material or semi-material? No; we say this on the authority of the occult teachings the world over. For with the Hindus _atma or spirit_ is _Arupa_ (bodiless,) and with the Greeks also. Even in the Roman Catholic Church the angels of Light as those of Darkness _are absolutely incorporeal_: “_meri spiritus, omnes corporis expertes_,” and in the words of the “SECRET DOCTRINE,” _primordial_. Emanations of the undifferentiated Principle, the Dhyan Chohans of the ONE (First) category or pure Spiritual Essence, are formed of the _Spirit of the one Element_; the second category of the second Emanation of the Soul of the Elements; the third have a “_mind_ body” to which they are not subject, but that they can assume and govern as a body, subject _to them_, pliant to their will in form and substance. Parting from this (third) category, they (the spirits, angels, Devas or Dhyan Chohans) have BODIES the first _rupa_ group of which is composed of one element _Ether_; the second, of two—ether and fire; the third, of three—Ether, fire and water; the fourth of four—Ether, air, fire and water. Then comes man, who, besides the four elements, has the fifth that predominates in him—Earth: therefore he suffers. Of the Angels, as said by St. Augustine and Peter Lombard, their bodies are made _to act_ not to suffer. It is earth and water, _humor et humus_, that gives an aptitude for suffering and passivity, _ad patientiam_, and _Ether_ and _Fire_ for action. The spirits or human _monads_, belonging to the first, or indifferentiated essence are thus incorporeal; but their third principle (or the human Fifth—_Manas_) can in conjunction with its vehicle become _Kama rupa_ and _Mayavi rupa_—body of desire or “illusion body.” After death, the best, noblest, purest qualities of _Manas_ or the _human_ soul ascending along with the divine Monad into Devachan whence no one emerges from or returns, except at the time of reincarnation—what is that then which appears under the double mask of the spiritual _Ego_ or soul of the departed individual? _The Kama rupa element with the help of elementals._ For we are taught that those spiritual beings that can assume a form at will and appear, _i.e._, make themselves objective and even tangible—are the angels alone (the Dhyan Chohans) and the _nirmanakaya_[141] of the adepts, whose spirits are clothed in sublime matter. The astral bodies—_the remnants_ and _dregs_ of a mortal being which has been disembodied, when they do appear, are not the individuals they claim to be, but only their simulachres. And such was the belief of the whole of antiquity, from Homer to Swedenborg; from the _third_ race down to our own day. More than one devoted spiritualist has hitherto quoted Paul as corroborating his claim that spirits do and can appear. “There is a natural and there is a spiritual body,” etc., etc., (1 Cor. xv, 44); but one has only to study closer the verses preceding and following the one quoted, to perceive that what St. Paul meant was quite different from the sense claimed for it. Surely there is a _spiritual_ body, but it is not identical with the _astral_ form contained in the “natural” man. The “spiritual” is formed only by our individuality _unclothed_ and _transformed after death_; for the apostle takes care to explain in Verses 51 and 52, “_Immut abimur sed non omnes_.” Behold, I tell you _a mystery_: we shall _not all sleep_ but we _shall all be changed_. This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. But this is no proof except for the Christians. Let us see what the old Egyptians and the Neo-Platonists—both “_theurgists_” _par excellence_, thought on the subject: They divided man into three principal groups subdivided into principles as we do: pure immortal spirit; the “Spectral Soul” (_a luminous phantom_) and the gross material body. Apart from the latter which was considered as the terrestrial shell, these groups were divided into six principles; (1) _Kha_ “vital body”; (2) _Khaba_ “astral form,” or shadow, (3) _Khou_ “animal soul” (4) _Akh_ “terrestrial intelligence;” (5) _Sa_ “the divine soul” (_or Buddhi_;) and (6) _Sah_ or mummy, the functions of which began after death. _Osiris_ was the highest uncreated spirit, for it was, in one sense a generic name, every man becoming after his translation _Osirified_, _i. e._, absorbed into _Osiris_—_Sun_ or into the glorious divine state. It was _Khou_, with the lower portions of _Akh_ or _Kama rupa_ with the addition of the dregs of _Manas_ remaining all behind in the astral light of our atmosphere—that formed the counterparts of the terrible and so much dreaded _bhoots_ of the Hindus (our “elementaries.”) This is seen in the rendering made of the so-called “Harris. Papyrus on magic.” (_papyrus magique_, translated by Chabas) who calls them _Kouey_ or _Khou_, and explains that according to the hieroglyphics they were called _Khou_ or the “revivified dead,” the “resurrected shadows.” When it was said of a person that he “_had a Khou_” it meant that he was possessed by a “Spirit.” There were two kinds of _Khous_—the justified ones,—who after living for a short time _a second life_ (_nam onh_) faded out, disappeared; and those _Khous_ who were condemned to wandering without rest in darkness _after dying for a second time_—_mut, em, nam_—and who were called the _H’ou-mêtr_ (“second time dead”) which did not prevent them from clinging to a vicarious life after the manner of Vampires. How dreaded they were is explained in our Appendices on Egyptian Magic and “Chinese Spirits” (_Secret Doctrine_.) They were exorcised by Egyptian priests as the evil spirit is exorcised by the Roman Catholic _curé_; or again the Chinese _houen_, identical with the _Khou_ and the “Elementary,” as also with the _lares_ or _larvæ_—a word derived from the former by _Festus_, the grammarian; who explains that they were “the shadows of the dead _who gave no rest in the house they were in_ either to the Masters or the servants.” These creatures when evoked during theurgic, and especially _necromantic_ rites, were regarded, and are so regarded still, in China—as neither the Spirit, Soul nor any thing belonging to the deceased personality they represented, but simply, as his reflection—_simmulacrum_. “The human soul,” says Apuleius, “is an _immortal God_” (Buddhi) which nevertheless has his beginning. When death rids it (the Soul), from its earthly corporeal organism, it is called _lemure_. There are among the latter not a few which are beneficent, and which become the gods or demons of the family, _i. e._, its domestic gods: in which case they are called _lares_. But they are vilified and spoken of as _larvae_ when sentenced by fate to wander about, they spread around them evil and plagues. (_Inane terriculamentum, celerum noxium malis_;) or if their real nature is doubtful they are referred to as simply _manes_ (_Apuleius_. see—_Du Dieu de Socrate_, pp. 143-145. Edit. Niz.) Listen to Yamblichus, Proclus, Porphyry, Psellus and to dozens of other writers on these mystic subjects. The Magi of Chaldea believed and _taught that the celestial or divine soul_ would participate in the bliss of eternal light, while the animal or _sensuous_ soul would, if good, rapidly dissolve, and if wicked, go on wandering about in the Earth’s sphere. In this case, “it (the soul) assumes at times the forms of various human phantoms and even those of animals.” The same was said of the _Eidôlon_ of the Greeks, and of their _Nephesh_ by the Rabbins: (See _Sciences Occultes_, Count de Resie. V. II) All the _Illuminati_ of the middle ages tell us of our _astral Soul_, the reflection of the dead or his _spectre_. At _Natal_ death (birth) the pure spirit remains attached to the _intermediate_ and _luminous_ body but as soon as its lower form (the physical body) is dead, the former ascends heavenward, and the latter descends into the nether worlds, or the _Kama loka_. Homer shows us the body of Patroclus—the true image of the terrestrial body lying killed by Hector—rising in its spiritual form, and Lucretius shows old Ennius representing Homer himself, shedding bitter tears, amidst the _shadows and the human simulachres_ on the shores of Acherusia “_where live neither our bodies nor our souls_, but only our images.” “* * * Esse _Acherusia_ templa, * * * Quo _neque_ permanent _animæ, neque corpora_ nostra, _Sed quædam simulacra_ * *” Virgil called it _imago_ “image” and in the Odyssey (I. XI) the author refers to it as the type, the model, and at the same time the copy of the body; since Telemachus will not recognize Ulyssus and seeks to drive him off by saying—“No thou are not my father; thou art a demon,—— trying to seduce me!” (_Odys._ I. XVI. _v._ 194.) “Latins do not lack significant proper names to designate the varieties of their demons; and thus they called them in turn, _lares_, _lemures_, _geni_ and _manes_.” Cicero, in translating Plato’s _Timaeus_ translates the word _daimones_ by _lares_; and Festus the grammarian, explains that the inferior or lower gods were the _souls_ of _men_, making a difference between the two as Homer did, and between _anima bruta_ and _anima divina_ (animal and divine souls). Plutarch (in _proble. Rom._) makes the lares preside and inhabit the (haunted) houses, and calls them, cruel, exacting, inquisitive, etc., etc. Festus thinks that there are good and bad ones among the lares. For he calls them at one time _præstites_ as they gave occasionally and watched over things carefully (_direct apports_,) and at another—_hostileos_.[142] “However it may be” says in his queer old French, Leloyer, “they are no better than our devils, who, if they do appear helping sometimes men, and presenting them with property, it is only to hurt them the better and the more later on. _Lemures_ are also devils and _larvæ_ for they appear at night in various human and animal forms, but still more frequently with features that THEY _borrow from dead men_.” (_Livre des Spectres_. V. IV p. 15 and 16). After this little honour rendered to his Christian preconceptions, that see Satan everywhere, Leloyer speaks like an Occultist, and a very erudite one too. “It is quite certain that the _genii_ and none other had mission to watch over every newly born man, and that they were called _genii_, as says Censorius, because they had in their charge our race, and not only they _presided_ over every mortal being but over whole generations and tribes, being the _genii of the people_.” The idea of guardian angels of men, races, localities, cities, and nations, was taken by the Roman Catholics from the prechristian occultists and pagans. Symmachus (Epistol, I. X) writes: “As souls are given to those who are born, so _genii_ are distributed to the nations. Every city had its protecting genius, to whom the people sacrificed.” There is more than one inscription found that reads: _Genio civitates_—“to the genius of the city.” Only the ancient profane, never seemed sure any more than the modern whether an apparition was the _eidolon_ of a relative or the genius of the locality. Enneus while celebrating the anniversary of the name of his father Anchises, seeing a serpent crawling on his tomb knew not whether that was the _genius_ of his father or the genius of the place (Virgil). “The _manes_[143] were numbered and divided between good and bad; those that were _sinister_, and that Virgil calls _numina larva_, were appeased by sacrifices that they should commit no mischief, such as sending bad dreams to those who despised them, etc:” Tibullus shows by his line:— _Ne tibi neglecti mittant insomnia manes._ (Eleg., 1. II.) “Pagans thought that the _lower Souls_ were transformed after death into _diabolical aerial_ spirits.” (Leloyer p. 22.) The term _Eteroprosopos_ when divided into its several compound words will yield a whole sentence, “an other than I under the features of my person.” It is to this terrestrial principle, the _eidolon_, the _larva_, the _bhoot_—call it by whatever name—that reincarnation was refused in _Isis_.[144] The doctrines of Theosophy are simply the faithful echoes of Antiquity. Man is a _Unity_ only at his origin and at his end. All the Spirits, all the Souls, gods and demons emanate from and have for their root-principle the SOUL OF THE UNIVERSE—says Porphyry (_De Sacrifice_). Not a philosopher of any notoriety who did not believe (1) in reincarnation (metempsychosis), (2) in the plurality of principles in man, or that man had _two_ Souls of separate and quite different natures; one perishable, the _Astral Soul_, the other incorruptible and immortal; and (3) that the former was not the man whom it represented—“neither his spirit nor his body, but his _reflection_, at best.” This was taught by Brahmins, Buddhists, Hebrews, Greeks, Egyptians, and Chaldeans; by the post-diluvian heirs of the prediluvian Wisdom, by Pythagoras and Socrates, Clemens Alexandrinus, Synesius, and Origen. the oldest Greek poets as much as the Gnostics, whom Gibbon shows as the most refined, learned and enlightened men of all ages (“See Decline and Fall,” etc.). But the rabble was the same in every age: superstitious, self-opinionated, materializing every most spiritual and noble idealistic conception and dragging it down to its own low level, and—ever adverse to philosophy. But all this does not interfere with that fact, that our “fifth Race” man, analyzed esoterically as a septenary creature, was ever _exoterically_ recognized as mundane, sub-mundane, terrestrial and supra mundane, Ovid graphically describing him as— “Bis duo sunt hominis; _manes_, _caro_, _spiritus_, _umbra_ Quatuor ista loca bis duo suscipiunt. Terra tegit carnem, tumulum circumvolat umbra, Orcus habet manes, spiritus astra petit.” OSTENDE, _Oct., 1886_. POETICAL OCCULTISM. SOME ROUGH STUDIES OF THE OCCULT LEANINGS OF THE POETS. II. Perhaps no passage in _Light on the Path_ is more forcible than that which warns the disciple against allowing the idea of separateness from any evil thing or person to grow up within him. He is bidden to, “be wary, lest too soon you fancy yourself a thing apart from the mass.” The Bagavad-Gita utters the same truth in other words by picturing man as led astray by the pride of self-sufficiency and the great danger underlying the desires and passions of the individual soul. Throughout life the student of occultism daily renews the struggle of soul against flesh, of faith against desire. This combat is finely pictured in Tennyson’s _Palace of Art_. It is truly an occult palace. Four courts are made, east, west, south and north, with a squared lawn in each, and four great fountains “stream in misty folds.” Here we are reminded of the Garden of Eden with its four rivers, of which Eliphas Levi says: “this description of the terrestrial paradise is resumed in the figure of a perfect pentacle. It is circular or square, since it is equally watered by four rivers disposed in a cross.” The square, answering to the number four was indeed the great kabbalistic figure, representing the Trinity in Unity. Nor is the mystic circle wanting in our occult palace, for there are “cool rows of circling cloisters” about the squares, and a gilded gallery that “lent broad verge to distant lands,” and “incense streaming from a golden cup,” another mystic symbol, representing the passive or negative side of nature. Full of sumptuousness was this palace, built for the soul that she might dwell in sensuous luxury, remote from the struggling world. Then the poet shows us further into the recesses of his sweet thought, and we see in the pictures with which the palace was hung, a portrayal of the various life experiences of the soul as it passes from phase to phase, from room to room of this great palace which is human life. “Full of great rooms and small the palace stood, All various, _each a perfect whole From living nature_, fit for every mood And change of my still soul.” From high estate to low the soul thus passes, from a “glimmering land” to “iron coast and angry wave;” from uplands of toil and harvest, to the “high bleak crags of sorrow,” from Greece and Sicily to India or the North, until “every landscape, as fit for every mood was there, not less than truth designed,” a rich panorama of reincarnations. Amongst all these the soul moves joyful and feasting, “Lord of the senses five,” communing with herself that all these are her own in the “God-like isolation which is hers.” “Then of the moral instinct would she prate, And of the rising from the dead, As hers by right of full-accomplished Fate, And at the last she said: I take possession of man’s mind and deed. I care not what the sects may brawl. I sit as God, holding no form of creed But contemplating all.” So three years she throve and prospered, but in the fourth year, (mark again the occult number of perfection,) a great dread came upon her, she was plagued in “the abyssmal deeps of personality” with a sore despair. The moment of choice, the turning point had come, that period of which Esoteric Buddhism speaks as occurring for the race in the fifth round but to which some exceptional personalities have forced themselves in this our fourth round. Many occultists will see their own experience mirrored in that of this tormented and lonely soul, contemplating her “palace of strength whereof the foundation stones were laid since her first memory,” only to see in its dark corners, “uncertain shapes, horrible nightmares, white-eyed phantasms and hollow shades enclosing hearts of flame.” Do we not seem to see all the elemental world, led on by the dread Dweller of the Threshold here confronting us? The struggle is even more powerfully depicted but the lesson is learned; the soul may retrieve herself by a lowly life; she throws aside her royal robes, and recognizing the need of mixing with her kind, begs for a “cottage in the vale.” The poet reserves for his last verse the final lesson that only when we lead others to the heights and share these with our kind, can we ourselves stand steadfast there: “Yet pull not down my palace towers, that are So lightly, beautifully built; Perchance I may return with others there When I have purged my guilt.” A footnote in the September PATH states:—“After all, the whole process of development is the process of _getting back the memory of the past_. And that too is the teaching found in pure Buddhism, etc.” Sometimes we are conscious of vague callings to do a certain thing, and critically regarding ourselves, we cannot see in this life any cause. It seems the bugle note of a past life blown almost in our face: it startles us; sometimes we are overthrown. These memories affect us like the shadows of passing clouds across our path, now tangible; then fading, only a cloud. Now they start before us like phantoms, or like a person behind you as you look at a mirror, it looks over the shoulder. If they are indeed reminiscences of other lives, although dead and past, they yet have a power. Hear what Lowell whispers in “_The Twilight_” of these mysterious moments: “Sometimes a breath floats by me, An odor from Dreamland sent, Which makes the ghost seem nigh me Of a something that came and went, Of a life lived somewhere, I know not In what diviner sphere: Of mem’ries that come not and go not; Like music once heard by an ear That cannot forget or reclaim it; A something so shy, it would shame it To make it a show. A something too vague, could I name it, For others to know: As though I had lived it and dreamed it, As though I had acted and schemed it Long ago. And yet, could I live it over, This Life which stirs in my brain; Could I be both maiden and lover, Moon and tide, bee and clover, As I seem to have been, once again. Could I but speak and show it. This pleasure more sharp than pain. Which baffles and lures me so! The world would not lack a poet, Such as it had In the ages glad, Long Ago.” Emerson, who saw further into the world of nature than any poet of our race, gives us this: “And as through dreams in watches of the night, So through all creatures in their form and ways, Some mystic hint accosts the vigilant, Not clearly voiced, but waking a new sense, Inviting to new knowledge, _one with old_.” The hermetic maxim, “As above so below,” sends us indeed to nature for initiation, and the Gita follows up this nail with a hammer by saying: “The man, O Arjoona, who, from what passeth in his own breast, whether it be pain or pleasure, beholdeth the same in others, is esteemed a supreme Yogi.” Analogy, Harmony, Unity, these are the words traced over and over for us, the shining rays of the one Law. These are the thoughts in which the poets delight. Emerson speaks again with still clearer voice: “Brother, sweeter is the Law Than all the grace Love ever saw, If the Law should thee forget. More enamored serve it yet. * * * * * * * I found this; That of goods I could not miss If I fell within the line; Once a member, all was mine: Houses, banquets, gardens, fountains, Fortune’s delectable mountains. But if I would walk alone Was neither cloak nor crumb my own.” The Biblical verse:—“It is more blessed to give than to receive,” is a great occult teaching. As we strengthen the muscles by exercise, so we enlarge the intelligence and the heart by constantly dispensing our means, whether these be golden thoughts, or time, or affections, all along the line of Brotherhood. Not because of a sentiment, but because Life is made up of vibrations which our scientists, cautious as they are, admit may affect the farthest stars. “Like warp and woof, all destinies Are woven fast, Linked in sympathy, like the keys Of an organ vast. Pluck but one thread, and the web ye mar; Break but one of a thousand keys, and the paining jar Through all will run.” This from Whittier reminds us of the lines on Karma in _Light on the Path_. “Remember that the threads are living,—are like electric wires, more, are like quivering nerves. How far, then, must the stain, the drag awry, be communicated.” Yes, the communion of saints is a living fact. We all commune, not alone with one another; with those above us and with those below, but essentially with our time. Not one of us can escape its influence: we oppose its conclusions, deny its powers, and meanwhile it speaks through us, without our knowledge, the passwords we do not yet understand. This “dark age” is still the birth-place of spiritual development, of an awakening belief in the supernatural, or that which overshadows nature. We have had no more safe, practical sober poet than Whittier, who sweetly sings the life of every day, when he is not stirred by the fret of the times, to Freedoms larger issues. Yet hear him describing the power of a “wizard:” “All the subtle spirits hiding Under earth or wave; abiding In the caverned rock, or riding Misty clouds, or morning breeze. Every dark intelligence, Secret soul, and influence Of all things, which outward sense Feels, or hears, or sees,— These the wizard’s skill confessed.—” Is not here an “outward sense” of Professor Denton’s discoveries of the “soul of things?” But hear further the poet’s confession of faith in the occult power of will: “Not untrue that tale of old! Now as then, the wise and bold All the powers of nature hold, Subject to their kingly will. * * * * * Still to such, life’s elements, With their sterner laws dispense, _And the chain of consequence_ _Broken in their pathway lies_. To his aid the strong reverses, Hidden powers and giant forces, And the high stars in their courses, Mingle in his strife.” The italicized lines are almost an echo of the words of an Adept when speaking of the possibility for the disciple, of an ultimate escape from the laws of Karma, which give him the right to demand the secrets of nature. “He obtains this right by having escaped from the limits of nature, and by having freed himself from the rules which govern human life.” So does Whittier’s initiate. For every one of us there looms a danger in our being prone to mistake desire for will. The paradox of Levi is sound and true: “The will obtains all that it does not desire.” Meditation in this direction will reveal some deep and useful truths to the practical occultist. But to return to our poets. There are many butterfly hints to be found fluttering through their lines. Time has spared us this one from Marvel: “At some fruit-tree’s mossy root, Casting the body’s vest aside My soul into the bows does glide; There, like a bird, it sits and sings.” And Matthew Arnold, turned dreamer for the nonce, has netted us one, more meaty than diaphanous, in which we find hints of periodic Devachanic sleep, between every period of earth struggle, of man’s threefold nature which serves to hide the memory of his other lives, and a touch of Karma as well: “The Guide of our dark steps a triple veil Betwixt our senses and our sorrow keeps; Hath sown with cloudless passages the tale Of grief, and eased us with a thousand sleeps.” It would sometimes seem, as in the above quotation, that the poet himself was scarcely conscious of the full bearing of what he wrote, as if that dim something from another life of which Lowell spoke, had brushed him with its wing unawares. Often the higher Self speaks out from a man’s work, to other men whose consciousness has a higher development than his own, while it has not as yet revealed itself to him. How many men tremble thus on the borders of the unseen. Let us beware whom we set down as remote from our communion, “for in an instant a veil may fall down from his spirit, and he will be far ahead of us all.” There is an occult verse from Goethe which has been quoted by Tyndall in one of those sad and baffled paragraphs which darkle through the works of our scientists, shadowy witnesses that these distinguished materialists and physicists are often nearer our path than they or we suspect. Through such they seem to call for deliverance. We give the verse in its setting, leaving Tyndall’s prose to point its poetic meaning. “As regards knowledge, physical science is polar. In one sense it knows, or is destined to know everything. In another sense it knows nothing. Science understands much of this intermediate phase of things that we call nature, of which it is the product; but science knows nothing of the origin or destiny of nature. Who or what made the sun, and gave his rays their alleged power? Who or what made and bestowed upon the ultimate particles of matter their wondrous power of varied interaction? Science does not know: the mystery, though pushed back, remains unaltered. To many of us who feel that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in the present philosophy of science, but who have been also taught by baffled efforts, how vain is the attempt to grapple with the Inscrutable, the ultimate frame of mind is that of Goethe:” “Who dares to name His name, Or belief in him proclaim, Veiled in mystery as He is, the All-enfolder? Gleams across the mind His light, Feels the lifted soul His might; Dare it then deny His reign, the All-upholder?” JULIUS. [Illustration:] HINDU SYMBOLISM. II. This figure represents Brahma-Maya or Mahat-Maya, Brahma Viraj, or the great Illusion. The androgene or male-female, the Great Appearance, the first revelation of the Being or Brahman (neuter), under the form of the double-sexed first emanation. The neuter, became male and female, by separation into the male, positive, forming the spiritual—the entities or the noumena, and his sakti or female, the negative, or plastic, matter, the illusionary or phenomenal existence. The sakti, is his developing energy, force or potentiality. This symbol, the divine type of the first male and female, which can be compared with the terrestrial Adam before the final separation of Eve, is really in consonance with this Adam’s perfect ideal, the Adam Kadmon or Heavenly Adam of the Kabbalah. The Brahma-half is on the right side, the good side, man’s, the Maya-half is on the left, the evil side, the woman’s. So according to the Hebrew sacred writings, through Eve the woman, evil was brought into the world. Compare with this the Greek myth of Pandora. Issuing from the linga-yoni is the pearl chain, or connected circle of the existences, looked upon as united atoms, and the symbol of all the existing. It is held up by the hand on the male side. Brahman (neuter), appears here as manifested in the male in union with the female sakti, of the preformatory imagination, as the ante creative monarch and Pearl King, richly decorated with the circles of the soul-monads and atoms. On his head is the world egg cap. The veil of the existences, upon which are woven the ideas or models of the to-be-emanated existences, flows from the linga-yoni to the highest part of the head and thence down the right side. He as the male, has a tendency to twist himself upon himself and his face bears the stamp of deep meditation. The aureole of fire is on the male side and from it scintillate sparks upon the veil of Maya. On the Maya side, the attitude is that of joy or dancing; the hand raised as if in play, holds up the veil, bells are hanging on her robe and singularly the Egyptian hieroglyphic for the water of life is shown; while the bust is developed. Portrayed upon the veil are the prototypes of the creatures. Compare the symbolism of the girdle of Aphrodite and that of Venus. As the double spouse of Brahman (neuter) considered apart and in opposition to It. The Brahma-Maya is the life in nature, of which, Brahman (neuter) is the soul. The Brahma-Maya is that blind energy and force, potential and powerful, and eternally fecund, which is incessantly producing under forms which are without cessation renewed; and which is adored in India to-day, as the Great Mother, the Universal Mother, in other words all nature deified. Maya is the mother of Love or Desire, the first principle or affinity of all affection, creation, matter. She is even matter itself, but the primitive subtile matter co-existing with God (Brahman, neuter) from all eternity, contained in It, and symbolized by the three colors, red, white, black; the three qualities or powers of creation, preservation and destruction, consequently the Trimurti, and also the three _gunas_ (qualities), Truth, Action, and Indifference, of the Bhagavadgitâ.[145] It is Maya, who through the attraction of her beauty, causes the Most High, from the bosom of Its ineffable profoundity, forgetting Itself, to unite Itself, in the intoxication of desire with that divine enchantress. The mysterious veil, which she had woven with her hands, received entirely from both, and the thought of the Eternal Almighty became fecundated, and fell into Time. The innumerable forms of the creatures, represent the perfect ideals woven upon the magic tissue, the woven warp and woof of all existence, with which veil Maya[146] envelops her spouse and causes the recurrence of the gift of life. ISAAC MYER. TEACHINGS OF THE MASTER. RECORDED BY ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF “MAN: FRAGMENTS OF FORGOTTEN HISTORY.” (_Copyrighted._) THE JOURNEY. The Master stood on a great ledge of rock extending far out over a precipice that seemed miles below. With his face lighted by the first rays of the coming day that shot across the peaks above him and with his hands clasped behind him he waited in silence for the coming of the pupil to whom he had signalled. A Brother lying on the grass not far removed from the natural platform upon which he stood, questioned kindly the possibility of so long a journey by so feeble a student—but the Master waited looking piercingly across the distance. His eyes gazed intently before him turning neither to the right nor to the left, and when in the far azure of the clouds he saw approaching the soul that had projected itself at his bidding, he impelled his thought to his Brother who instantly recognized the approaching visitant. The Soul gaining in velocity every moment was in the presence of the Master before the twinkling of an eye could be noted—and prostrate before him could only articulate: “Master! Master!” A touch of the purified hand pacified the terrible emotions of the new comer, who in suppliant attitude awaited the command of the Beloved Guru. “Rise my child,” came from the lips of the Teacher; who, when he was obeyed continued: “Your progress is clogged by your indifference to duty. There can be no relations between us unless you disembody your desires and spiritualize every thought. Imprison the latter when they wander, and live to teach the lessons so often inculcated in your higher mind. Help your fellow-beings to better comprehend the capabilities of the inner, living Self. “By the known laws of attraction and repulsion illustrate to them the impossibility of a higher life on earth for any but clean souls. There can be no mutuality of thought between clean and unclean natures—and the only hope of advancement is by casting off the latter and enveloping the real self in the shelter of noble thoughts. Teach that it is matter that is illusionary—life that is a transitory vision—earthly vanities that blind the eyes of the world. “Try to speak of these secret things to the lowly and the burdened who are often endowed with a wisdom not to be found among the other and opposite classes. Tell them that the Spirit does have a real existence here in matter—does exercise absolute philanthropy, divine goodness—supreme self sacrifice; does know the power it possesses. Return to your duty refreshed. Let the sunlight now breaking over the hills and the mountains of Himavat radiate through your transparent spirit. Drink of the dew of the morning and feed upon the honey of wisdom that flows in upon your hungry Soul. Thus will you be strengthened to meet the conflict in the plain of action wherein you are constrained by your weakness to work. Thus will you escape from it and find in the mountain the repose and intuition for which you are yearning.” The Brother whose form had lain in repose on the grass now approached and looking intently at the disciple entranced with delight and gratitude—said in stronger tones than the Beloved Master: “In the land where your body lies secure from an intrusion that would result in your absolute separation from it—the great conflict is about to be fought. All the preliminary preparations have been made. A people freed from many chains—fast sinking into a materialism only recognized absolutely when some momentary impulse to generosity moves them—is to rise or fall with this closing cycle. To such a Babe as you is revealed a fact not perceived by the best minds among them. Go back there to work! Obey the impulse to throw aside every barrier—to do away with subterfuges deemed best for the personality, and go the rugged way lone and alone. In the time of greatest need we will comfort you and send the comforter to those whose Karma leads them to do battle in the same field. To you the sustaining force of our Fraternity will be contributed so long as the battle is waged for the race: the conquered rescued from their low estate and the Light of the Logos offered to every one who walks in the night of earth-life without guide and compass.”—Then there was silence. The Beloved Master touching the speaker’s uplifted head said in softest accents: “Go now. If ye love me keep these commands.” THE LESSONS. The path of Wisdom is the path of duty. They are not separate roads as many erroneously conclude. Men fail to associate wisdom with duty—they consider them as apart. The disciple performs the action (duty), and in so doing finds wisdom. There is, in each incarnation, but one birth, one life, one death. It is folly to duplicate these by persistent regrets for the past—by present cowardice or fear of the future. There is no time—it is eternity’s Now that man mistakes for past, present and future. The forging of earthly chains is the occupation of the indifferent, the awful duty of unloosing them through the sorrows of the heart is also their occupation. Both are foolish sacrifices. As mortal conscience is within, so also is the evidence of the spirit’s omnipotence. The soul of man is a tangible proof to his _bodily_ senses that he is immortal. The existence of soul is not susceptible of proof on any but its own plane. Compromise in the service of the weak. The starving must have food suited to the limitations of the irritated system—but be thou firm in thine own place of duty. Liberate thyself from evil actions by good actions. The man accustomed to actions cannot at once become a Muni; he must work out his action-impelling qualities, and thus he transforms them into higher energies. Meditation is but a name to the bewildered; the word is not understood until it is translated by the hungry spirit. Fight the unknown force within you—it is evil. The good that is in you is written without, and is apparent. Inquire of the stranger the earthly road you seek, but ask your higher self for the torch that will light you on your way. In the silence of one’s own being, is lighted the candle of will and aspiration. No wind can put it out, no heat can melt it. The flame is of the spirit’s quality—pure and of even temperature. There is no vacillation in the mind of the initiated. Half-knowledge is the pitfall of the student. Do not run aimlessly about saying lo, here is the light—lo, there is the truth. The light that illuminates the Atma is kindled in the mountain heights. It is the symbol of divine truth. Wait in the morning for inspiration, at noon for guidance, and in the evening for a full understanding of the road thou hast travelled. Man’s higher nature is invisible or rather the Divine Principle is. The individual human soul is universal: a right comprehension of where there is difference and where identity between the _6th and 7th_ Principles in man will free the subject of much confusion and misapprehension. There is real affiliation as well as an occult connection existing between the seven principles in man and the seven classes of minerals under the earth. There are truths connected with the properties of the latter which man may find out by learning the constitution of his own sevenfold nature. The law of embodied principles is to follow magnets. Is this not also true of the higher nature? We draw to us the attention of the Mahatma by a purified heart and a right development of will. From his heights he sees the valleys below and reaches out to give to him who is straining every faculty to receive. Agitation that comes from mortal qualities affects the physical body alone: this deep unrest is not felt by the Atma, for the Atma is Spirit or pure bliss. But the ocean of matter, which includes the Soul, feels these waves of trouble and thus is the soul bewildered, ignorantly imagining that the spirit is affected. Learn to know the distinction and to realize that the spirit is eternally unaffected. Life is a compromise—hasten to acquit yourself of the debt contracted in a former life, and remove its oppressing influence in this sphere. When you re-enter the world of mortals again, let it be without the three disqualifications for enlightenment, fear, passion and selfishness: the sea of rebirths is half crossed already by the man who has overcome these three drawbacks. Meat for the thoughtless, wine for the weak, but devotion for him who has overcome the appetites. To be lord of self is to be selfless, a condition of perfect tranquility. Forget not this lesson—that every one is so placed in this world as to exhibit his worst qualities. The purpose of this life is to strengthen the weak places of the spiritual man. His external life is for this only, therefore, all are seen at a disadvantage. A lesson in meekness may be learned of the little child. It has come so recently from its previous field of life that it walks with the air of a stranger in a strange country and as one who must be led. The divine quality is charity. Whenever it has been attained, the remainder of the spirit’s work with the lower nature, is to acquire a contrite heart. (_To be continued._) * * * * * “Alas we reap what seed we sow; the hands that smite us are our own.” OM. FOOTNOTES: [130] _I. e._, the present age of spiritual blindness. [131] See “Transactions of the London Lodge of the Theosophical Society,” No. 5. [132] See charge and answer, in _Theosophist_, August, 1882. [133] The cycle of existence during the manvantara—period before and after the beginning and completion of which every such “monad” is absorbed and reabsorbed in the ONE soul, _anima mundi_. [134] Hades has surely never been meant for _Hell_. It was always the abode of the sorrowing _shadows_ of astral bodies of the dead personalities. Western readers should remember Kama-loka is not _Karma_-loka, for Kama means _desire_, and Karma does not. [135] Had this word “immediate” been put at the time of publishing _Isis_ between the two words “no” and “reincarnation” there would have been less room for dispute and controversy. [136] By “sphere above,” of course “Devachan” was meant. [137] The reader must bear in mind that the esoteric teaching maintains that save in cases of wickedness when man’s nature attains the acme of Evil, and human terrestrial sin reaches _Satanic_ universal character, so to say _as some Sorcerers_ do—there is no punishment for the majority of mankind after death. The law of retribution as _Karma_, waits man at the threshold of his new incarnation. Man is at best a wretched tool of evil, unceasingly forming new causes and circumstances. He is not always (if ever) responsible. Hence a period of rest and bliss in Devachan, with an utter temporary oblivion of all the miseries and sorrows of life. _Avitchi_ is a _spiritual_ state of the greatest misery and is only in store for those who have devoted _consciously_ their lives to doing injury to others and have thus reached its highest spirituality of EVIL. [138] Says Apuleius: “The soul is born in this world upon leaving the soul of the world (_anima mundi_) in which her existence precedes the one we all know (on earth). Thus, the Gods who consider her proceedings in all the phases of various existences and as a whole, punish her sometimes for sins committed during an _anterior_ life. _She dies_ when she separates herself from a body in which she crossed this life as in a frail bark. And this is, if I mistake not, the secret meaning of the tumulary inscription, so simple for the initiate: ”_To the Gods manes who lived._“ But this kind of death does not annihilate the soul, it only transforms (one portion of it) it into a _lemure_. ”_Lemures_“ are the _manes_, or ghosts, which we know under the name _tares_. When they keep away and _show us a beneficent protection_, we honour in them the protecting divinities of the family hearth; but if their crimes sentence them to err, we call them _larvæ_. They become a plague for the wicked, and the vain terror of the good.” (“Du Dieu de Socrate” Apul. class, pp., 143-145.) [139] “The cause of reincarnation is ignorance”—therefore there is “reincarnation” once the writer explained the causes of it. [140] A proof how our theosophical teachings have taken root in every class of Society and even in English literature may be seen by reading Mr. Norman Pearson’s article “Before Birth” in the “Nineteenth Century” for August, 1886. Therein, theosophical ideas and teachings are speculated upon without acknowledgment or the smallest reference to theosophy, and among others, we see with regard to the author’s theories on the _Ego_, the following: “How much of the _individual personality_ is supposed to go to heaven or hell? Does the whole of the mental equipment, good and bad, noble qualities and unholy passions, follow the soul to its hereafter? Surely not. But if not, and something has to be stripped off, how and when are we to draw the line? If, on the other hand, the Soul is something distinct from all our mental equipment, except the sense of self, are we not confronted by the incomprehensible notion of a personality without any attributes.” To this query the author answers as any true theosophist would: “The difficulties of the question really spring from a misconception of the true nature of these attributes. The components of our mental equipment—appetites, aversions, feelings, tastes and qualities generally—are not absolute but relative existences. Hunger and thirst for instance are states of consciousness which arise in response to the stimuli of physical necessities. They are not inherent elements of the soul and _will disappear_ or become modified, etc.,” (pp. 356 and 357). In other words the theosophical doctrine is adopted, Atma and Buddhi having culled off the _Manas_ the aroma of the personality or _human soul_—go into Devachan: while the lower principles the astral _simulacrum_ or false personality void of its Divine monad or spirit will remain in the _Kama-loka_—the “Summerland.” [141] _Nirmanakaya_ is the name given to the astral forms (_in their completeness_) of adepts, who have progressed too high on the path of _knowledge_ and absolute truth, to go into the state of Devachan; and have on the other hand, deliberately refused the bliss of nirvana, in order to help Humanity by invisibly guiding and helping on the same path of progress elect men. But these _astrals_ are not empty shells, but complete monads made up of the 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th principles. There is another order of _nirmanakaya_, however, of which much will be said in the _Secret Doctrine_.—H. P. B. Placing these parallel with the division in esoteric teaching we see that (1) _Osiris_ is Atma; (2) _Sa_ is Buddhi; (3) _Akh_ is Manas; (4) _Khou_ is Kama-rupa, the seat of terrestrial desires. (5) _Khaba_ is Lingha Sarira; (6) _Kha_ is Pranatma (vital principle) (7) _Sah_, is mummy or body. [142] Because they drove the enemies away. [143] From _manus_—“good,” an _antiphraris_, as Festus explains. [144] Page 12. Vol I. of “_Isis Unveiled_” belief in reincarnation is asserted from the very beginning, as forming part and parcel of universal beliefs. “Metempsychosis” (or transmigration of souls) and reincarnation being after all the same thing. [145] These three qualities are explained by Krishna in the _Bhagavadgitâ_, as _Satwa_ good or inactive being purely spiritual; _Rajas_ bad and active; and _Tamas_ inactive or indifferent and bad. They exist in every human mind and are mingled in greater or less proportions at all times, according to the individual and also according to his varying circumstances. His teaching in regard to the _Tamo guna_ is the same as that taught in the Christian Bible, for he says that for the indifferent man there is no salvation—he is as it were “ejected like a broken cloud;” and in I James v, 6, 7, the doubting man is declared incapable of obtaining anything, while in Rev. iii, 16, the Laodiceans are accused of being neither cold nor hot, that is of being indifferent, and they are condemned to be “spewed out of the mouth,” which is the same as the fate described as awaiting those in whom indifference predominates, Krishna declaring that they become more and more deluded at each succeeding generation until at last they reach the lowest round of the ladder in the shape of primordial matter. The difference between the two schools is, that Krishna’s allows the doctrines of Reincarnation and Karma, while the modern Christians, blind to their own Bible, reject these supremely important laws, or rather ignore them as yet. [ED.] [146] _Maya_ is the sanscrit for _illusion_. [ED.] AUM When there was neither day nor night, neither earth or sky, neither light nor darkness: when there was nothing that could be seen or felt by the physical senses or the faculties of the mind, there existed the One Great Being—God.—_Vishnu Purana._ Resignation: the action of rendering good for evil; temperance; probity; purity; repression of the senses; knowledge of holy books, and of the Supreme Soul; truthfulness, and abstaining from anger: such are the ten virtues in which consists duty. * * Those who study these ten precepts of duty, and after having studied them conform their lives thereto, will reach to the Supreme Condition.—_Manu, Book_ vi, _sloka_ 92. THE PATH. VOL. I. DECEMBER, 1886. NO. 9. _The Theosophical Society, as such, is not responsible for any opinion or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless contained in an official document._ Where any article, or statement, has the author’s name attached, he alone is responsible, and for those which are unsigned, the Editor will be accountable. “THE THEOSOPHICAL MAHATMAS.” It is with sincere and profound regret—though with no surprise, prepared as I am for years for such declarations—that I have read in the Rochester _Occult Word_, edited by Mrs. J. Cables, the devoted president of the T. S. of that place, her joint editorial with Mr. W. T. Brown. This sudden revulsion of feeling is perhaps quite natural in the lady, for she has never had the opportunities given her as Mr. Brown has; and her feeling when she writes that after “a great desire * * to be put into communication with the Theosophical Mahatmas we (they) have come to the conclusion that it is useless to strain the psychical eyes toward the Himalayas * *” is undeniably shared by many theosophists. Whether the complaints are justified, and also whether it is the “Mahatmas” or theosophists themselves who are to blame for it is a question that remains to be settled. It has been a pending case for several years and will have to be now decided, as the two complainants declare over their signatures that “we (they) need not run after Oriental Mystics, _who deny their ability to help us_.” The last sentence, in italics, has to be seriously examined. I ask the privilege to make a few remarks thereon. To begin with, the tone of the whole article is that of a true _manifesto_. Condensed and weeded of its exuberance of Biblical expressions it comes to this paraphrastical declaration: “We have knocked at their door, and they have not answered us; we have prayed for bread, they have denied us even a stone.” The charge is quite serious; nevertheless, that it is neither just nor fair—is what I propose to show. As I was the first in the United States to bring the existence of our Masters into publicity; and, having exposed the holy names of two members of a Brotherhood hitherto unknown to Europe and America, (save to a few mystics and Initiates of every age) yet sacred and revered throughout the East, and especially India, causing vulgar speculation and curiosity to grow around those blessed names, and finally leading to a public rebuke, I believe it my duty to contradict the fitness of the latter by explaining the whole situation, as I feel myself the chief culprit. It may do good to some, perchance, and will interest some others. Let no one think withal, that I come out as a champion or a defender of those who most assuredly need no defense. What I intend, is to present simple _facts_, and let after this the situation be judged on its own merits. To the plain statement of our brothers and sisters that they have been “living on husks,” “hunting after strange gods” without receiving admittance, I would ask in my turn, as plainly: “Are you sure of having knocked at the right door? Do you feel certain that you have not lost your way by _stopping so often on your journey at strange doors, behind which lie in wait the fiercest enemies of those you were searching for_?” Our MASTERS are not “a jealous god;” they are simply holy mortals, nevertheless, however, higher than any in this world, morally, intellectually and spiritually. However holy and advanced in the science of the Mysteries—they are still men, members of a Brotherhood, who are the first in it to show themselves subservient to its time-honored laws and rules. And one of the first rules in it demands that those who start on their journey _Eastward_, as candidates to the notice and favors of those who are the custodians of those Mysteries, should proceed by the straight road, without stopping on every sideway and path, seeking to join other “Masters” and professors often of the Left-Hand Science, that they should have confidence and show trust and patience, besides several other conditions to fulfill. Failing in all of this from first to last, what right has any man or woman to complain of the liability of the Masters to help them? Truly “‘The Dwellers of the threshold’ are within!” Once that a theosophist would become a candidate for either _chelaship_ or favours, he must be aware of the mutual pledge, tacitly, if not formally offered and accepted between the two parties, and, _that such a pledge is sacred_. It is a bond of _seven_ years of probation. If during that time, notwithstanding the many human shortcomings and mistakes of the candidate (save two which it is needless to specify in print) he remains throughout every temptation _true to the chosen Master_, or Masters, (in the case of _lay_ candidates), and as faithful to the Society founded at their wish and under their orders, then the theosophist will be initiated into—— thenceforward allowed to communicate with his _guru_ unreservedly, all his failings, save this one, as specified, may be overlooked: they belong to his future _Karma_, but are left for the present, to the discretion and judgment of the Master. He alone has the power of judging whether even during those long seven years the _chela_ will be favoured regardless of his mistakes and sins, with occasional communications with, and from the guru. The latter thoroughly posted as to the causes and motives that led the candidate into sins of omission and commission is the only one to judge of the advisability or inadvisability of bestowing encouragement; as he alone is entitled to it, seeing that he is himself under the inexorable law of Karma, which no one from the Zulu savage up to the highest archangel can avoid—and that he has to assume the great responsibility of the causes created by himself. Thus, the chief and the only indispensable condition required in the candidate or chela on probation, is simply unswerving fidelity to the chosen Master and his purposes. This is a condition _sine qua non_; not as I have said, on account of any jealous feeling, but simply because _the magnetic rapport between the two once broken, it becomes at each time doubly difficult to re-establish it again_; and that it is neither just nor fair, that the Masters should strain their powers for those whose future course and final desertion they very often can plainly foresee. Yet, how many of those, who, expecting as I would call it “favours by anticipation,” and being disappointed, instead of humbly repeating _mea culpa_, tax the Masters with selfishness and injustice. They will deliberately break the thread of connection ten times in one year, and yet expect each time to be taken back on the old lines! I know of one theosophist—let him be nameless though it is hoped he will recognize himself—a quiet, intelligent young gentleman, a mystic by nature, who, in his ill advised enthusiasm and impatience, changed _Masters_ and his ideas about half a dozen times in less than three years. First he offered himself, was accepted on probation and took the vow of chelaship; about a year later, he suddenly got the idea of getting married, though he had several proofs of the corporeal presence of his Master, and had several favours bestowed upon him. Projects of marriage failing, he sought “Masters” under other climes, and became an enthusiastic Rosicrucian; then he returned to theosophy as a Christian mystic; then again sought to enliven his austerities with a wife; then gave up the idea and turned a spiritualist. And now having applied once more “to be taken back as a chela” (I have his letter) and his Master remaining silent—he renounced him altogether, to seek in the words of the above manifesto—his old “Essenian Master and _to test the spirits_ in his name.” The able and respected editor of the “Occult Word” and her Secretary are right, and have chosen the only true path in which with a very small dose of blind faith, they are sure to encounter no deceptions or disappointments. “It is pleasant for some of us,” they say, “to obey the call of the ‘Man of Sorrows’ who will not turn any away, because they are unworthy or have not scored up a certain percentage of personal merit.” How _do_ they know? unless they accept the cynically awful and pernicious dogma of the Protestant Church, that teaches the forgiveness of the blackest crime, provided the murderer _believes sincerely_ that the blood of his “Redeemer” has saved him at the last hour—what is it but _blind_ unphilosophical faith? Emotionalism is _not_ philosophy; and Buddha devoted his long self sacrificing life to tear people away precisely from that _evil breeding_ superstition. Why speak of Buddha then, in the same breath? The doctrine of salvation by _personal_ merit, and _self_ forgetfulness is the corner-stone of the teaching of the Lord Buddha. Both the writers may have and very likely they did—“hunt after _strange_ gods;” but these _were not our_ MASTERS. They have “denied Him thrice” and now propose “with bleeding feet and prostrate spirit” to “pray that He (Jesus) may take us (them) once more under his wing,” etc. The “Nazarene Master” is sure to oblige them so far. Still they will be “living on _husks_” _plus_ “blind faith.” But in this they are the best judges, and no one has a right to meddle with their private beliefs in our Society; and heaven grant that they should not in their fresh disappointment turn our bitterest enemies one day. Yet, to those Theosophists, who are displeased with the Society in general, no one has ever made to you any rash promises; least of all, has either the Society or its founders ever offered their “Masters” as a _chromopremium_ to the best behaved. For years every new member has been told that _he was promised nothing_, but had everything to expect only from his own personal merit. The theosophist is left free and untrammeled in his actions. Whenever displeased—_alia tentanda via est_—no harm in trying elsewhere; unless, indeed one has offered himself and is decided to win the Masters’ favors. To such especially, I now address myself and ask: Have you fulfilled _your_ obligations and pledges? Have you, who would fain lay all the blame on the Society and the Masters—the latter the embodiment of charity, tolerance, justice and universal love—have you _led the life_ requisite, and the conditions required from one who becomes a candidate? Let him who feels in his heart and conscience that he has,—that he has never once failed seriously, never doubted his Master’s wisdom, never sought _other_ Master or Masters in his impatience to become an Occultist with powers; and that he has never betrayed his theosophical duty in thought or deed,—let him, I say, rise and _protest_. He can do so fearlessly; there is no penalty attached to it, and he will not even receive a reproach, let alone be excluded from the Society—the broadest and most liberal in its views, the most Catholic of all the Societies known or unknown. I am afraid my invitation will remain unanswered. During the eleven years of the existence of the Theosiphical Society I have known, out of the seventy-two regularly accepted chelas on probation and the hundreds of _lay_ candidates—only _three_ who have not hitherto failed, and _one only_ who had a full success. No one forces anyone into chelaship; no promises are uttered, none except the mutual pledge between Master and the would-be-chela. Verily, Verily, many are the called but few are chosen—or rather few who have the patience of going to the bitter end, if bitter we can call simple perseverance and singleness of purpose. And what about the Society, in general, outside of India. Who among the many thousands of members does _lead the life_? shall any one say because he is a strict vegetarian—_elephants and cows are that_—or happens to lead a celibate life, after a stormy youth in the opposite direction; or because he studies the _Bhagavat-Gita_ or the “Yoga philosophy” _upside down_, that he is a theosophist _according to the Master’s hearts_? As it is not the cowl that makes the monk, so, no long hair with a poetical vacancy on the brow are sufficient to make of one a faithful follower of _divine_ Wisdom. Look around you, and behold our UNIVERSAL Brotherhood so called! The Society founded to remedy the glaring evils of christianity, to shun bigotry and intolerance, cant and superstition and to cultivate real universal love extending even to the dumb brute, what has it become in Europe and America in these eleven years of trial? In one thing only we have succeeded to be considered higher than our Christian Brothers, who, according to Lawrence Oliphant’s graphic expression “Kill one another for Brotherhood’s sake and fight as devils for the love of God”—and this is that we have made away _with every dogma_ and are now justly and wisely trying to make away with the last vestige of even nominal authority. But in every other respect we are as bad as they are: backbiting, slander, uncharitableness, criticism, incessant war-cry and ding of mutual rebukes that Christian Hell itself might be proud of! And all this, I suppose is the Masters’ fault: THEY will not help those who help others on the way of salvation and liberation from selfishness—with kicks and scandals? Truly _we are_ an example to the world, and fit companions for the holy ascetics of the snowy Range! And now a few words more before I close. I will be asked: “And who are you to find fault with us? Are you, who claim nevertheless, communion with the Masters and receive daily favors from Them; Are you so holy, faultless, and so worthy?” To this I answer: I AM NOT. Imperfect and faulty is my nature; many and glaring are my shortcomings—and for this my Karma is heavier than that of any other Theosophist. _It is_—and must be so—since for so many years I stand set in the pillory, a target for my enemies and some friends also. Yet I accept the _trial_ cheerfully. Why? Because I know that I have, all my faults nothwithstanding, Master’s protection extended over me. And if I have it, the reason for it is simply this: for thirty-five years and more, ever since 1851 that I saw any Master _bodily_ and personally for the first time, _I have never once denied or even doubted Him_, not even in thought. Never a reproach or a murmur against Him has escaped my lips, or entered even my brain for one instant under the heaviest trials. From the first I knew what I had to expect, for I was told that, which I have never ceased repeating to others: as soon as one steps on the Path leading to the _Ashrum_ of the blessed Masters—the last and only custodians of primitive Wisdom and Truth—his Karma, instead of having to be distributed throughout his long life, falls upon him in a block and crushes him with its whole weight. He who believes in what he professes and in his Master, will stand it and come out of the trial victorious; he _who doubts_, the coward who fears to receive his just dues and tries to avoid justice being done—FAILS. He will not escape Karma just the same, but he will only lose that for which he has risked its untimely visits. This is why having been so constantly, so mercilessly slashed by my Karma using my enemies as unconscious weapons, that I have stood it all. I felt sure that Master would not permit that I should perish; that he would always appear at the _eleventh_ hour—_and so he did_. Three times I was saved from death by Him, the last time almost against my will; when I went again into the cold, wicked world out of love for Him, who has taught me what I know and made me what I am. Therefore, I do His work and bidding, and this is what has given me the lion’s strength to support shocks—physical and mental, one of which would have killed any theosophist who would go on doubting of the mighty protection. Unswerving devotion to Him who embodies the duty traced for me, and belief in the Wisdom—collectively, of that grand, mysterious, yet actual Brotherhood of holy men—is my only merit, and the cause of my success in Occult philosophy. And now repeating after the _Paraguru_—my Master’s MASTER—the words He had sent as a message to those who wanted to make of the Society a “miracle club” instead of a Brotherhood of Peace, Love and mutual assistance—“Perish rather, the Theosophical Society and its hapless Founders,” I say perish their twelve years’ labour and their very lives rather than that I should see what I do to-day: theosophists, outvying political “rings” in their search for personal power and authority; theosophists slandering and criticizing each other as two rival Christian sects might do; finally theosophists refusing to _lead the life_ and then criticizing and throwing slurs on the grandest and noblest of men, because tied by their wise laws—hoary with age and based on an experience of human nature milleniums old—those Masters refuse to interfere with Karma and to play second fiddle to every theosophist who calls upon Them and whether he deserves it or not. Unless radical reforms in our American and European Societies are speedily resorted to—I fear that before long there will remain but one centre of Theosophical Societies and Theosophy in the whole world—namely, in India; on that country I call all the blessings of my heart. All my love and aspirations belong to my beloved brothers, the Sons of old Aryavarta—the Motherland of my MASTER. H. P. BLAVATSKY. LINES FROM LOWER LEVELS. Many will turn from this heading. Whether they really live upon the upper levels or only imagine such to be their dwellings, these words are probably mute to them. A laggard in the great race, one who has only just rounded the starting buoy in stress of weather, here signals to his unseen companions amid heavy seas. If a score of blind men, turned loose to beat the city’s by-ways, should meet and compare mischances, some light would presently dawn among them. We are not isolated in spiritual experience. Though Falsehood wears myriad masks, when Truth looks in, she turns the same face on all. It is of the beginning of the Way that I speak. Confusions and perplexities beset us. Most of these are of our own conjuring. The insidious canker of Doubt is first, is worst of all. Better stop right where you are for a lifetime than advance with this moral leprosy unexterminated. It will spread through future existences until it has eaten the heart to the core. Now it is in our power. Wrestle boldly with every doubt until you have converted it to a certainty; thus you force it to bless you in departing, as Jacob did the Angel. Why should we doubt? The day on which I first heard of the Wisdom-Religion is for me set apart like a potent jewel in the crest of Time. My thought salutes its messengers with the grand old words,—“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth Peace.” The Peace of this religion is the proof absolute of its Wisdom. Our vitality is exhausted with the life struggle; it seems a dead pull against the current. Reason tells us we ought to be able to move with the stream. Man has a false idea of his own requirements; this is why possession satiates all. We are ignorant that the desire for Unity lies hidden in the deeps of every human heart. This is the Truth at the bottom of the well; it is the basic need of all mankind. Recognise it, and you may sweep unwearied along the resistless current of evolutionary progress. We begin to realize the inability of existing creeds to sound and explain our Being. Every one of us craves a belief which shall not be a formula, but Life itself, which shall develop and complete the constituency of lives. Our religions violate the golden rule of Architecture,—“Ornament construction; do not construct ornamentation.” Their slight framework is florid with theological detail, garlanded with the varying ideals of centuries. Not so does the Master Builder plan. Yet the keystone of each arch is the Truth manifest in the Past, that Truth which still bears witness to Divinity to the new Age. When men meet their belief in every department of life, when it assists them on every plane, so that they eat better, sleep better, love better, create better and die better by it, then will it be a vital law to them, not a garment to be laid aside on work days. Theosophy does all this. It informs every deed, makes of each fact a new revelation, and testifies to more religion in one chapter of Natural Philosophy, than in all the sermons of next Sunday. Study these grand similitudes and we find how single is Truth, so that the three great laws of Motion are also those of Emotion, and Newton spoke for my heart, as well as for the universe. All life is thus related; if you doubt the validity of theory or action, test them by this law of correspondence. Do I revolt from the rule of gentle procedure in the teeth of wrath or abuse. I recall the axiom of mechanics,—“Motion seeks the line of least resistance,”—and my moral force proves itself perpetual motion by its avoidances of friction. _Truth is the same in every part._ You shall pass every beam of thought through this prism; if it is a pure ray each component will have its distinct value on its own plane, and all will blend again to Light. Sometimes we are chilled as by a sense of isolation from the main body of our kind. This is imaginary; you shall not think we are few, or stand alone. Even now the thoughtful listener hears the soughing of the rising flood of Public Opinion. This was the mainstay of Science in her late tilt with the Church. The People, weary of barren Theology demanded in facts, in laws, the manifestation of the Divine. Now it begins to call Science to account for her limitations. Do we doubt the bubbling interest in Psychology? We should scan our newspapers, novels, magazines, boudoir gossip even, to feel the pulse of the general tide. Science yields so far to the pressure as to explain why she cannot or does not make thorough and sustained psychical investigations, and with a blunt,— “so much the worse for you,” the public turns expectantly to the broader or younger men who better gauge the tendency of our time. This tendency is to coöperation, to unification. Science and Religion are one, are Truth, and blindness is the portion of those who dismember her kingdom. A pertinent case is that of a physician well known to New York clinics who used his mesmeric power in putting patients to sleep in the presence of his students and maintaining their complete unconsciousness during painful operations, thus carried to successful conclusions without the dangerous drawback of anesthetics. Less gifted confreres frowned down the “irregularity.” This is a thinking Age, and men are losing confidence in the judgment of scientists whose biased attitude would bar them from jury service in the pettiest court of the land. Again there are those who are tried by the mistakes, the treachery, or the public misunderstanding of other adherents of Theosophy. What does it matter? The world swung on while Galileo recanted, and though a disciple betrayed his Master, the Christian world still kneels. Our noblest opponents are often unconscious Theosophists, judging them by their fervid search for Truth. When _their hour_ strikes, they will find her; meanwhile Wisdom needs no converts. Man passes; _Truth is_, and needs no concern of ours. Do nut think either that the Wisdom-Religion is only for the strong or the intellectual; it is for all. Food is meant to sustain life, and Love to develop it, but excess in either may kill. So those whose nature is morbid, exaggerate the aspect of Truth and go mad of their own phantasms. Every Science, every Art, every Religion has its list of these moral suicides and those who confront you with it are like the old nurses who scare children from the jam closet with “bogies.” I said that we breed our own perplexities. Take the first day of the new life, when with fledgling resolves aflutter we come glowing and resolute down the stairs. We had ordered a spartan meal which Love has spared us. Frowning, we order the dainties away and sit reflecting on the encumbrances of earthly affection; wounded, it leaves our side. Our plain food comes; it is ill cooked and the retarded servant has a scowl which we resent: the household jangles and jars. The meal has not refreshed us, and the lack of the soothing but condemned cigar brings our irritability to a head. We hasten to lock ourselves into the study for meditation; but a bird sings in at the window, and Love’s voice pleads at the door. We shut out the song and chide the syren. Why is our heart so heavy now when bent on eternal things? Knocking! We open with a martyr face. A friend is there, a dogged churchman; his salvation is in our hands! He chats of the weather, our club, state politics. We broach a higher theme, we denounce, cut and thrust, argue. Surprised he listens in courteous silence, and as he leaves us we remember too late that he too cherishes his religion, we curse the follies of the wretched day and call Theosophy for the nonce “impracticable.” Brothers! the man of creeds who can hear our dogmatism with self control is perhaps nearer the Essential than we are. He who plunges into restraints which unhinge and irritate him is no better than the man who loses his reason through drink. Both lack moderation, the result is the same, and we have only to do with results. Devote your thoughts to ascetic meals, and no Lucullus of the town is more prostrate before his viands than yourself. Moderation declares the sage. Accept all that comes with equal content, the thought held high above all. When the daily functions are fulfilled I have done nothing; the soul is no participant in these. Advance towards the Eternal and the Transient will imperceptibly drop away from you. No shirking of the duties of our position avails. _Comrades! The battle field is there where the long roll finds you standing._ Your past acts enlisted you under just that flag; fight it out there! The universal charge is carried through the vigor of individuals, each acting from his own headcentre and not from that of another. “The duties of a man’s own particular calling, although not free from faults, is far preferable to the duty of another, let it be ever so well pursued.”[147] On this plane we are a body militant; on the next plane we shall transform this activity, but as long as individuality exists, it would seem that each must move in an orbit of his own. There is as much egotism in snatching at the burden not meant for us, as in refusing that which is. Do all necessary acts promptly and with your best ability, abandoning at once all care for the result. Do you say this is not Theosophy? You mistake. True Theosophy is everything that elevates or aids mankind, were it but the singing of a ballad to lighten another’s toil. “It is not that you must rush madly or boldly out _to do, to do_. Do what you find to do. Desire ardently to do it, and even when you shall not have succeeded in carrying out anything but some small duties, some words of warning, your strong desire will strike like Vulcan upon other hearts in the world, and suddenly you will find that done which you had longed to be the doer of. Then rejoice, that another had been so fortunate as to make such a meritorious Karma. Thus like the rivers running into the unswelling passive ocean, will your desires enter into your heart.” Drop this concern for ephemera and forms; heed essentials only. Get to the centre of every vital fact and live there as at the heart of an opal, darting forth prismatic rays of Love and Faith upon all created things. If we set out upon a journey to lands unknown, we should observe the inhabitants, gathering the spirit of their laws from their manners, ourselves courteous yet cautious with all. So in this passage to the unseen, that which is essential is the spirit of things. What affair is it of mine if this man glows with gratified desire, or that woman shines in undue laces and coquetries? Do I know the principles of their constitution? Can I vouch that these errors are not the mere husk of habit, which dropping off may reveal a larger kernel of Virtue than I possess? Nor will I hastily become the spiritual bondsman of him who stands above me. He has not exhausted the sum of Truth; to-morrow I shall find a fraction of my own. All these finical distinctions are not of the Eternal. The substratum of all things is Wisdom. The twist of Failure has its strands of silver. The pratings of the fool dissuade men from folly. I have never done anything of myself: a clarion impulse commands my best deeds; high thoughts radiate to me from I know not what sphere. Ask yourself before friend or foe,—“How does the spirit manifest in him?” For above and below it manifests equally. The undeviating brute, true to its every principle, has a volume of teaching for us. We cannot read until we know the alphabet and Nature holds our primer daily before us. Do not hawk Truth about to the careless crowd. Not because you belittle it, (that is impossible,) nor yet yourself, (that is immaterial,) but because you must hold fast in silence to all that you possess to support you in the tests of the future. Nor is Truth a nostrum to be forced down the unready throat. Thereby you disgust a man with Truth; who covets that responsibility? Ah, gentle hearts and virile minds! Are you wounded by the wantonness of those you long to save? These errors are perhaps their appointed teachers in your stead. Error is not exempt from the law! Can Love check a cyclone in mid career, or does Reason outrun the whirlwind? Desire has a lustier voice than yours. Let these errant ones wisely alone. Presently when success is at an ebb, or the complacent Ego is stung by pride or pain, they will hear the low plaint of the soul. Then, their state related to yours, they will turn to you as the heliotrope to the sun. Trust to the law of spiritual affinity. He for whom you have a thought will be attracted to you for it; he will in some way ask it of you. Distrust the intellect in these replies. Only the dwellers of the upper levels draw their thought crystal pure from the Fountain-head of Mind. Below, sympathy is the universal solvent; its ardent fusion welds mankind. Speak to me in our common language; it is that of the heart. You cannot so much as tie up a straying rosetree without sympathy. Try it, and the tender shoots are nipped as by a frost. Do you say that it is hard that you should not help others? Perhaps you only want to help them in your own way. The difference between loving a man for himself, and loving him for myself, is the difference between “heaven” and “hell.” There is no hell but that which we create in our hearts, and selfishness is its yawning portal. Effort for Wisdom is help for all; he who thinks wisely does a deed of beneficence. Beneath generous yearnings lurks sometimes the wish that this “I,” shall become influential or admired, have clients and suitors in the anteroom. Lest I deceive myself I will mutely speed my good wishes to all. Only when we have learned how to preserve a wise silence, will the first stammerings of speech come to us. Speak then from your own knowledge, simply, without trying to adorn Truth. Many of our most valued writers are at times too transcendent, too erudite for us of the lower level. As the great orator or actor sees one face grow towards his from out the vast field of faces, and concentrating his burning purpose into that focus, sees streaming thence the homogeneous force which electrifies the throng,—so I would have each writer among you address his thought to some especial comrade within his mind, that you may drop this mantle of remoteness, and let us feel you tense and vibrant with helpfulness, pressing close to our side. The West needs a more ringing note than the mystic Orient mind. Let the spirit of your nation speak through your work and to your fellows every word will be an occult charm. Why are we so impatient that we do not receive the accolade of accepted duty from those Royal Souls who procede us on the Way? “They also serve who only stand and wait.”[148] He who cannot wait contentedly may be sure he cannot serve. We must master the diurnal before we can overcome the spiritual. Some say that a heroic deed is easier than submission to pinpricks. We may survive Niagara when a drop of water per second on the brain is madness. Friends; the struggle for the Eternal is not one daring deed nor yet hundreds of them. It is a calm unbroken forgetfulness of the lower self for all time. Begin it on your present plane. You have within you the same guide that the Masters possess. By obeying It, they have become what they are. Hark! A voice resounds within. “Know thy true Self; it is thy guide.” If the voice seems silent, it is perhaps because you ask with the mind only, which is a higher kind of curiosity. When a spiritual need cries out within you, the answer will come with a flash to the reverent listener. But in all the three worlds there is no power to save you but your own. When we have exhausted the possibilities of growth on our present plane, we rise naturally to a higher level. If here we find a Master, it is because we have come into the region where he dwells. Better than desiring to deserve is deserving to desire. Of this be sure. All that is rightfully yours will come to you. So reads the Law. As a mountain climber leans forward, treads zig-zag, counteracting gravity and the air’s resistance, so shall you walk with care. We do not know what moral resistance we arouse, what unseen evil lurks near, what stone our passage may loosen to fall on those below. We do not know the delicate adjustment of this aerial world. Keep eyes and mind fixed on the heights above, lest the yawning abyss from which you rose, attract you. Distrust your emotions, your thoughts above all. An insidious thought, like a traitor in the fortress, tends outward to the legions of evil and would deliver you up to them. Who knows where the ripples of a hasty thought may end? We are pledged by our theosophic vow to do naught that can dishonor our Society. What more dishonoring than unjust, angered or vagrant fancies which corrupt the atmosphere of others and may breed a moral pestilence. “He that hateth his brother is a murderer.”[149] Perhaps there are times when this is literally true. “If he does not love his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God, Whom he hath not seen?” Pass this word along the line;—“Eternal vigilance is the price of safety.” You who are inclined to dispute these thoughts, do better; ignore them. They are a life experience, not meant for you who have it not, nor are you once named herein. They are true from one standpoint and for those upon the same plane. Hereafter all must alchemize virtues and vices alike. Be not discouraged at these necessary transitions; they do not convict you of radical error. Give me an unknown seed; its potentiality is a secret from me, but in faith I plant and tend it. As it waxes to the budding glories of branch and flower, and thrills with the fecund boon of fruitage, I am no whit the loser, and hidden at the root of this larger heritage, the same seed remains life bestowing and true. Thus Knowledge is not final; it must expand and germinate or it is but a dead thing. “Veil upon veil shall lift, but there shall be veil upon veil behind.”[150] Does he who writes thus always follow his own teachings? _No!_ A hundred, a thousand times, no! Deluded, he climbs by devious paths and from the very brink of attainment, falls! “Jove strikes the Titans down. Not when they set about their mountain piling, but when one stone more would complete the work.”[151] Then with toil and pain he rises and cons the chart once more. Beloved Brothers!—and there is nowhere one so lost, so estranged, so low or so great whom this name does not call—he will have received these blows to a benign purpose, if their teachings shall roll away a single stone from your upward path. J——. POETICAL OCCULTISM. SOME ROUGH STUDIES OF THE OCCULT LEANINGS OF THE POETS. III. Many will find in Whitman, the fullest measure of mystic truths, plainly and significantly stated, to be met with in any modern poet. For instance, a recognition of the reality of Reincarnation, and of its necessity, constantly recurs in his poems. Passages like these attest it: “Believing I shall come again upon the earth after five thousand years.” Births have brought us richness and variety, and other births have brought us richness and variety. “And as to you Life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths, (no doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before.)” In contemplating an idiot he muses: “And I knew for my consolation what they knew not, I knew of the agents that emptied and broke my brother, The same wait to clear the rubbish from the fallen tenement, And I shall look again in a score or two of ages, And I shall meet the real landlord, perfect and unharmed, every inch as good as myself.” Are not the “agents,” mentioned above, the operations of Karmic law? Among the last lines of the closing poem of his volume are the following: “I receive now again of my many translations, from my avatars ascending, while others doubtless await me, An unknown sphere more real than I dream’d, more direct, darts awakening rays about me, _So long!_ Remember my words, _I may again return_.” Neither rhyme nor verse are essential to true poetry. Even words are but its vehicle, and not the poetry itself. Poetry is that manifestation of the mind which excites the imagination and arouses in responsive minds a sense of beauty. All that which does this is poetic in quality: that which does not, which awakens no response, leaving one cold and unimpressed, is prosaic. Poetry, therefore, possesses the rythmic quality, for beauty appeals to no sense, except through its power of producing rythmic action upon the brain through the nerves of sight, hearing, etc. Rythm is a product of harmonious vibration and produces the sensation of beauty by its play upon the nerves in a succession of reiterated, regular groups of impressions. All sensations of ugliness, etc., which are the causes of pain and disease, are due to the discordant impressions made by irregularity in the series of vibrations. Thus does strict mathematical law underlie all effects of beauty. All poetry is in some way rythmic, and arouses rythmic action. The highest poetry is truth made manifest in the guise of beauty. Poets have often expressed in verse their feeling of the total inadequacy of words to present to others the sublimity and beauty of the thoughts which at moments occur to them. The poetic temperament is one which enables an approach to that state which some exalted men attain in perfection, and which is the ultimate destiny of the entire human race. The poet perceives fragments of the Divine thought as embodied in natural materials; he reads pages of the great book of Creation and interprets more or less clearly the significance of the symbols that exist on every hand in growing things, in things inanimate, in the waters and the heavens, and in the thoughts, sentiments, passions and emotions of men. In assuming the mental state which may be called the _poetic attitude_, he throws himself into rapport with his Higher self, his _atma_, and thus obtains a glimpse of the eternal truth, so much of which his memory retains as accords with his personality and with the nature of his mood; of this he incorporates in poetic form that which his power of expression enables him to give. Walt Whitman characterizes this state in his lines: “I lie abstracted and hear beautiful tales of things and the reasons of things, They are so beautiful I nudge myself to listen, I cannot say to any person what I hear—I cannot say it to myself—it is very wonderful!” The more unconscious one becomes of physical surroundings the more clearly does his mind act; its operations are attended with less friction. By withdrawing his attention from bodily environment he enters upon the plane of the higher consciousness. This accounts for the greater ease with which mental work proceeds after one has been engaged in it for some little time; it absorbs his attention so that the surrounding objects and circumstances no longer distract it. In other words, the mental machinery settles down to smooth running, after overcoming the various hitches and obstructions attending the starting of the train of thought. Everyone knows how earnest devotion to any object makes him oblivious to all else. Under such conditions one, in reality, loses consciousness and is merged in the object. Self, the illusory Self, simply consists in a sense of the existence of the body and the relations borne to it by surrounding objects. Therefore, in concentration of the mind upon the object lies the true secret of power, and the man who best knows how to do this is the most powerful among his fellows. The best work is that done when one is least conscious of material environment. This accounts for remarkable examples of work done in a somnambulistic state when all consciousness of physical surroundings is lost, and the Self becomes so absorbed in the object that on returning to ordinary consciousness it cannot remember the process of its most perfect activity of thought. And yet people refuse to accept the truth of Reincarnation because they cannot remember, in this gross physical state, their former existences through the intervening _Devachanic_ periods when their consciousness was lifted to a plane above the thralldom of matter! Whoever knows anything of ceremonial magic, whether practically or theoretically, recognizes the necessity of rythmic action, or the institutions of a regularly recurring set of vibrations. Many will testify to the marvels wrought by the earnest repetitions of a rythmic formula. It seems likely that the transfer of consciousness and the performance of phenomenal feats by Adepts are wrought by their command of some formula or method which enables them instantly and perfectly to achieve the harmonious condition of mental vibration crudely acquired by novices only by elaborate processes. The logical inference may be drawn that the purpose of the rythmic form of poetry is not only to arouse harmonious thoughts in the minds of hearers or readers, but is due to the fact that the poet, by subjecting his mind to a rythmic flow of thought, opens it to the reception of impressions from the highest source of thought. In the words “I nudge myself to listen” the poet strikingly and graphically depicts the effort to maintain his concentration of mind as he lies abstracted when he feels his attention slipping away from the sublime mysteries which, in the greatness of their wonder, are beyond his power to realize in any thoughts he may frame. Poets are often unconscious of the full greatness of the truths they reveal after the moment of their receptive state has passed, but they, perhaps, awake to a sense of the true significance of their words years after. This concentration of mind is insisted on in the Hindu systems in many different ways. It is called by them Ekkragrata or _one-pointedness_. In the dialogues the expression is constantly used, and Krishna is said to say to Arjuna (in _Bagavad-Gita_). “Has thou listened to me with thy mind fixed on one point?” It is to bring about such a condition that practitioners of Hatha Yoga—which in English simply means any practice tending to develop psychical powers, such as mediumship and the like—prescribe that the Yogee shall sit with his sight concentrated upon the tip of his nose. And this practice, although scarcely commendable, has a scientific basis which shows that the much belittled Aryans had a wonderful fund of knowledge. The fixing of the eyes upon the tip of the nose puts the focus about three inches from the eyeball, and that produces first, concentration, because of the effort to remain fixed, and secondly, a hypnotic state in which trance results with psychic vision and the like. They prescribed it for another reason not likely to be admitted by our science; three inches from the eyes was said by them to be the clairvoyant point. Our poet Whitman, whether he was aware of it or not, constantly enunciated the doctrine of Karma. In “Assurances,” to be found in _Leaves of Grass_, he says: I need no assurances. I am a man who is pre-occupied of his own soul; I do not doubt that from under the feet and beside the hands and face I am cognizant of, are now looking faces I am not cognizant of, calm and actual faces. I do not doubt but the majesty and beauty of the world are latent in any iota of the world. I do not doubt I am limitless, and that the universes are limitless; in vain I try to think how limitless. I do not doubt that the orbs and the systems of orbs play their swift sports through the air on purpose, and that I shall one day be eligible to do as much as they, and more than they. I do not doubt that temporary affairs keep on and on millions of years. I do not doubt interiors have their interiors, and exteriors have their exteriors, and that the eyesight has another eyesight, and the hearing another hearing, and the voice another voice. I do not doubt that the passionately-wept deaths of young men are provided for, and that the deaths of young women and the deaths of little children are provided for. (Did you think life was so well provided for, and Death, the purport of all life, not well provided for?) I do not doubt that wrecks at sea, no matter what the horror of them, no matter whose wife, child, husband, father, lover, has gone down, are provided for to the minutest points. I do not doubt that whatever can possibly happen anywhere at any time, is provided for in the inherences of things. I do not think Life provides for all and for Time and Space, but I believe Heavenly Death provides for all. Here he dwells upon the belief that all things are provided for. It would be error to say that he was a fatalist, just as it is a mistake to hold that the Mohammedan doctrine of “Kismet” is pure fatalism. Edwin Arnold in “Pearls of the Faith,” enlarges on that pearl called _Al-Kadar_, in these words: “When ye say _Kismet_, say it wittingly, O, true believers! under Allah’s throne place is not left for those accursed three, ‘Destiny,’ ‘Fortune,‘ ‘Chance.’ Allah alone ruleth his children: _Kismet_ ye shall deem each man’s alloted portion * * *” And Whitman plainly states that the provision which is made for all the happenings is a provision existing “in the inherences of things,” and not a fatalistic decree by an irresponsible Almighty. He also says that he is limitless. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads. Everyone is limitless, for Ishwara, the Lord, dwells in the heart of every mortal being. Jesus also, said; “the kingdom of heaven is _within_ you.” Now the kingdom of heaven cannot be apart from God, so that the Nazarene herein says the same thing as the Upanishads. Again, in the lines, “I do not doubt that interiors have their interiors, and exteriors have their exteriors, and that the eyesight has another eyesight, and the hearing another hearing, and the voice another voice,” Whitman might be said to be taking the words from the mouths of those sages who in ancient India penned the Upanishads. In those it is incessantly insisted that these interiors really are the Universal Self which is “the eye of the eye and the hearing of the ear.” And a knowledge of that is the key to unlock the doors of glory and praise. As it is beautifully said in Brihadaranyaka-Upanishad:[152] “This Self is the footstep of everything, for through it one knows everything. And as one can find again by footsteps what was lost, thus he who knows this finds glory and praise.” And further, “Therefore, now, also, he who thus knows that he is Brahman (the Self) becomes all this, and even the Devas cannot prevent it, for he himself is their Self.” S. B. J. APOLLONIUS AND THE MAHATMAS. [READ BEFORE THE MALDEN BRANCH, T. S.] (_Concluded._) When Apollonius asked about the wise men whom Alexander the Great was said to have conquered and then held converse with, Phraotes said that they were the Oxydraks, a warlike people who claimed Wisdom though they knew nothing of consequence; the truly wise men dwelt between the Hyphasis and Ganges. Had Alexander gone thither he could not have conquered them, even with ten thousand Achilles and thirty thousand Ajaxes. “For they fight not in battle against advancing enemies, but being holy men, beloved by God, they repulse them through aerial apparitions and lightning flashes.” When Apollonius took his departure Phraotes gave him the following significant letter to the Brahmins: “The King Phraotes greets his teacher Iarchas and the Wise men with him. Apollonius, the wisest of men, regards you as wiser than himself, and comes to learn from you. Let him not depart without knowledge of all which you yourselves know. For thus nothing of your wisdom will be lost; since no one speaks better than he, or has a truer memory. Let him also behold the throne whereon I sat when thou, Father Iarchas, gavest me my kingdom. His attendants also deserve praise for their attachment to such a man. Be thou happy. Be happy all of you.” When they came near the hill where the wise men dwelt their guide was filled with fear, for the Indians stood more in awe of these men than of their own King, and the King who ruled the land where they lived was accustomed to consult them about everything he said or did. When near a village not a stadium from the hill, a youth approached them, blacker than any Indian, with a gleaming, moon-shaped mark between his eyebrows. He bore a golden anchor, which in India took the place of the Herald’s staff. He addressed Apollonius in Greek, which did not astonish him, since all the dwellers in the village [a lamasary?] spoke that tongue, but it did astonish the others to hear their master called by name; Apollonius, however, it filled with confidence as he remembered the purpose of his journey. “We have come to men truly wise,” he said to Damis, “for they have a fore-knowledge of things.” Asking the youth what was to be done, he was told: “Those with you remain _here_; thou, however, shalt come just as thou art, for so _They_ command.” In this _They_ Apollonius recognized Pythagorean language and he followed with joy. In one of his conversations with the Egyptian Gymnosophists, years afterwards, Apollonius thus characterized the wise men of India: “I saw the Indian Brahmins who dwell upon the earth and not upon the earth; in a strong fortress though unfortified; and, without possessions, possessing everything.” The deep, interior significance of this is evident to a Theosophist. Damis, in the matter-of-fact way often customary with him, also gives these words a literal interpretation, saying that they had their bed upon the earth and strewed the ground with herbs selected by themselves; he himself had seen them floating in the air two ells above the earth; not for hocus pocus—for they despised vain striving—but in order, by thus floating with the sun, to be near and pleasing unto the god. This was what was meant by “upon the earth and not upon the earth.” The strong fortress, unfortified, meant the air in which they dwelt, for although they appeared to live under the open heaven, they spread a shadow over themselves, were not wet by the rain, and were in the sunshine whenever they wished. And since they obtained everything the moment they wished it, Apollonius rightly said that they possessed what they did not possess. “They wear their hair long, they bind a white mitra around their heads, their feet are bare. The form of their clothing resembles that of a sleeveless under-garment; the material is a wool produced by the earth of itself, white like the Pamphylian, but softer, and so fat that oil flows from it. Of this they make their sacred garments, and when another than these men seeks to gather this wool the earth will not release it. By the power of the ring and the staff which they bear every thing can be done, but both are kept as a secret.” This personal description by Damis corresponds in certain particulars with what we are told of the Masters to-day. The account of the wool leads some commentators to believe that asbestos is meant. Iarchas welcomed Apollonius in Greek and asked him for the letter from Phraotes; when Apollonius wondered at his gift of prescience he remarked that a _delta_ was lacking in the letter, left out by mistake, and so it proved. After reading the letter Iarchas asked: “What dost thou think of us?” And Apollonius replied: “As no other person in the land whence I came, as my journey hither shows.” “What makest thou think that we know more than thou dost?” “I believe,” answered Apollonius, “that your knowledge is deeper and much more divine.” Iarchas hereupon said: “Others are accustomed to ask the new comer whence he comes and for what purpose; the first sign of our wisdom shall be this: that the stranger is not unknown to us. So then, test this:” Hereupon he told Apollonius his history from father and mother down, what he had done in Aegæ, how Damis had come to him, what things of importance had happened on the way, etc. As Apollonius asked in surprise whence came that knowledge, Iarchas answered: “Thou also camest gifted with this wisdom, but not yet with all of it.” “And wilt thou teach me all thy wisdom?” asked Apollonius. “By all means, and in ungrudging abundance, for this is wiser than miserly to conceal that which is worthy of knowing. Besides, Apollonius, I see thou hast been richly gifted by Mnemosyne, and she is the one among the gods whom we most love.” “Dost thou also behold,” asked Apollonius, “of what manner my nature is?” “We see all peculiarities of the soul, for we know them by thousandfold indications,” replied Iarchas. When mid-day came they rose in the air and did homage to the sun. The youth who bore the anchor was then told to go and provide for the companions of Apollonius. Swifter than the swiftest of birds he went and returned, saying: “I have provided for them.” He was then commanded to bring the throne of Phraotes, and when Apollonius had seated himself thereon they continued their conversation. Iarchas told him to ask what he wished, for he had come to men who knew all things. Apollonius asked if they knew themselves, for he believed that they, like the Greeks, held knowledge of self to be difficult. But Iarchus answered with an unexpected turning: “We know all things, because first of all we know ourselves; for no one of us can approach this wisdom without first attaining knowledge of self.” Apollonius asked further, what they held themselves to be? “Gods,” answered Iarchas. “And wherefore?” “Because we are good men.” Apollonius found so much wisdom in this saying that he made use of it in his speech of defence before the Emperor Domitian. They talked about the soul and reincarnation, and Iarchas told him that the truth was “as Pythagoras taught you, and as we taught the Egyptians.” They spoke about the previous incarnation of Apollonius as steersman of an Egyptian ship, in which capacity he had refrained from following the inducements held out by pirates to let his vessel come into their hands. Concerning this Iarchas said that refraining from unrighteousness did not constitute righteousness. The King came to visit the Brahmins and a wonderful feast was prepared for him; everything came of itself: Pythian tripods, and automatic attendants of black bronze, the earth spread out herbs softer than beds to recline on, delicate viands appeared in orderly succession, etc. The accounts of these phenomena occasioned great remark during the subsequent career of Apollonius, and people would persist in mixing them up with the teachings of the master just as to-day they inextricably confound Madame Blavatsky’s famous cup and saucer with Theosophy. But we are told that Apollonius did not concern himself with phenomena; when he saw these wonderful things he did not ask how they were done, nor to be taught to do them, but he contented himself with admiring them. And we are also told that the marvelous things he did were not accomplished through ceremonial magic, but through the perfection of his wisdom. Damis was subsequently allowed to come to the Brahmins and when he asked about the composition of the world and the four elements they replied that there were five—the fifth being ether, which was to be regarded as the primal source of the gods. “For everything that breathes the air is mortal; that which drinks the ether is immortal and divine,” said Iarchas. He also said that the world was to be regarded as a living being of both sexes, having a more ardent love for itself than that of one person to another, being united and bound to itself. Damis learnt much from his intercourse with the Brahmins, but he wrote that at the secret discourses Apollonius was alone with Iarchas, and from there originated the four books written by the former. Iarchas, said Damis, gave Apollonius seven rings bearing the names of the seven planets, and Apollonius wore them one after the other according to the name of the day of the week. The foregoing is an incomplete account of the remarkable journey and experience of Apollonius, as is necessitated by the limits of a brief article. Many passages of deep wisdom have had to be passed over, and many remarkable things are told, hard to understand, but which, there is reason to believe, have an occult significance. S. B. TEACHINGS OF THE MASTER. RECORDED BY ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF “MAN: FRAGMENTS OF FORGOTTEN HISTORY.” (_Copyrighted._) The master walked beside the river at evening-time. In the instant that his signal was recognized he walked no longer alone. By his side appeared one—as a little child clinging close to his garments. The master said—“When you have obtained mastery over the senses then you will no longer totter in your step or falter in your flight. Realize the divine atma within you. Realize it!” he repeated, and then raising his hand slowly upward the stature of the child lengthened until a man’s proportions were outlined. Only this form could hold the expanded soul. Disenthralled the soul perceived a world with every pulsation and in every faculty there was absolute harmony. This was divine. This is man’s rightful condition into which only the Mahatmas have fully come; but to which every one is heir. The Mahatma teaches with the thought unexpressed, but formulated in his own mind and sent with sudden power, into yours. It strikes with resounding force against the spirit’s prison house. In great agony the pupil cried out: “Master! Master! redeem me from this state with your great power.” The Master answering said: “Burst by concentration of spiritual energy the bonds that bind you.” No pen can describe the force of the Master’s thought. For the instant it seemed possible; a moment’s hesitation to make the effort through mortal fear, and the supreme moment was passed. The Master looked sadly upon his suffering disciple and then was alone again. The latter had gone back to try again through duty—if need be through death. THE LESSON. The pupil goes to the Master without conditions. He goes, but not to return. The illusions of matter are dispelled for him and thenceforth he is a stranger in the world of actions, even though he should be in it again. Fiery is the furnace of probation, and great is the danger when the neophyte has reached the “states of exaltation.” About each advance step wait the enemies of the spirit—to overthrow its sovereignty and hurl it back to the plane of matter. These enemies live in matter and are persuaded that their existence is confined to it—hence their determination to keep matter from a knowledge of spirit. In darkness and sin is their safety, for they are children of these conditions and will cease to exist when the lamp that is lighted from within is turned upon the world. Temptations are in the way of those who would _demand_ much without _deserving_ even a little. So soon as the student comes in contact with the occult he encounters on the threshold the demons who loiter by—the demons of worldliness, inconstancy, suspicion and faint-heartedness. The student should find in his own intuitions all the proof needed of the existence on this earth of the Wisdom teachers. Behind the screen of the senses reposes the soul of man—an unfathomable factor in the Universe—as unknown to its possessor as to its observers. Intuition is its only avenue of communication, and the language it speaks is known only to him who understands arcane knowledge or occultism. When the Master has initiated his pupil he puts the seal of the mysteries upon his lips and locks them even against the chance of weakness or indiscretion. It is the sense of personal isolation that brings on death; genuine philanthropy puts the individual _en rapport_ with the _Divine Spirit_ and thus gives him the eternal life. The Divine Spirit being all-pervading, those who put themselves _en rapport_ with it, necessarily put themselves _en rapport_ with all other entities in the same _rapport_. Hence, the Mahatmas are necessarily in constant magnetic relation with those who succeed in extricating themselves from the lower animal nature. It is by this means that the Mahatmas must first be known. 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. What is a Mahatma? Is it His physical body? No; for that must perish sooner or later—though it can be preserved through what is to us an endless age. A Mahatma is one who lives in His higher individuality, and to know Him truly, He must be known through the individuality in which He is centered. 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 a Initiate give of your store to him who hath not wherewithal to comfort him on his journey. A whisper of the divine mystery into the ear of a weary wayfarer frees you from the stain of many evil deeds done in your migrations through matter. Philosophy can never be learned through phenomena. Try to break through the desire for it. Occult students the world over have been warned by their teachers that it is a habit which grows with gratification. It is better to abandon the study than to risk the dangers of black magic. What is Self? Only a passing guest, whose concerns are all like a mirage of the great desert. Man is the victim of his surroundings while he lives in the atmosphere of society. The Mahatma may be willing to befriend such as he has an interest in, and yet be helpless to do so. The _will of the neophyte_, also, must be the magnet which alone can compel a Mahatma’s notice. He follows his attractions as the needle does the poles. Will and Purity—these are the qualities which open the arcane to the presence of an adept—mere enthusiastic regard has no effect. Feeble souls content themselves with wishes; great ones have _wills_. In every man lie concealed the germs of faculties that are never unfolded on earth, and which have no reference to this state of knowledge. No man can judge another, save by the measure of his own understanding: do not injure your own chance for growth by condemning in others the possession of faculties not known to yourself. Thought runs swifter than the electric fluid; every bright aspiration sparkles and attracts the attention of the distant, but ever-watchful Master. “Lay your burden upon the Lord”—that is, put your reliance in the Higher Self. Use the body as a means of strengthening the connection with the spirit and opening the road for its descents. Slay Ambition: it is a deadly and cowardly foe, whose power over you is augmented by the approbation of others. It is Karma that sends you into this world—to which you come alone—that leaves you alone in it and which takes you out of it alone. The law of Karma is the law of the conservation of energy on the moral and spiritual planes of nature. The body is the mind’s portrait. The artist seeing its inharmonies regrets his failure, but knows not how to improve upon it. This is the spirit’s work, which, accomplished, leaves the outward a reflection of the indwelling Soul. The manna that feeds the spirit is hidden from sight. The universal spirit supplies it. Duty is the River that flows through life. Its tide is silvery to those who are on it, but threatening to those who approach it seldom. Seek to recover your soul. It is the hidden treasure lost in the caverns of sense. Its recovery is redemption from many rebirths. The vain and the arrogant demand our pity—the weak and erring our forbearance—the indifferent our sympathy—and the wise, alone, our admiration. You have learned of Krishna that death is better than the performance of another’s duty. In persevering in the erroneous idea that we were put here to do the duties of others, woes have resulted that follow one through many lives. Your perception of the inner self is clearer than the vision of the natural eye. Earnestly regard the plane upon which you seek truth, do not expect to secure soul knowledge through the avenues of the senses. Karma is like the vine that gathers strength through uninterrupted years, and which fastens its tendrils so closely that it is as strong as the structure to which it adheres. There is no way to destroy its power except by the separation of the parts, these parts renew themselves in other forms of life, but the structure is freed when its root is destroyed. Evil thoughts corrode the character. Only the spirit has power over character to purify it. We carry the accumulated results of many lives from one to another. This is the clue to the perfect fairness of nature. The apparent injustice of all differences of well-being are explained by the fact that we have known former states of existence. Every spiritual effort now made will tell not only now, but in the next incarnation as well. The clue to many of the great mysteries of life is to be found in reincarnation; it is the only possible solution of the enigmas of existence. The rule of the Mahatma is to approach every one where there exists even only the slightest glimmer of the true Light within him. None are left to perish who desire to be succored. We write in every aspiration for truth, in thought and deed by day, and in soul-struggles by night, the story of our desire for spiritual development. Upon the pages of the Book of Karma are written the minutest particulars of individual efforts: when the feeble will is strong enough to prevent further births in this world, which is the spirit’s dream life, we shall find in Real existence all the chapters that we have written in all our transitions. Only then will we be able to read the whole book through and know the nature of the long journey out of spirit through matter and back again to the All. The conflict of intuition against intellect has covered mankind in the crumbling ruin of despair. Man will never surrender himself to be the permanent vehicle of any set of ideas unless it completely satisfies the whole of his nature; the union of intellect and intuition only will end the conflict. Take what you can of the teachings, and in developing devotion keep before you your example—THE TEACHER. THE HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY. [_Concluded from the July Number._] “The music of the spheres” is not a mere figure of speech, but an actuality. The Soul of the World has its central Sun whose life throbs pulsate throughout immensity. If we study the phenomena and conditions of either crystallization or organization we shall find that every atom in the vast universe is set to music. There is the pean of life, and the dirge of death, the major and the minor key. The rythm is the same whether in the ebb or flow of life, but the serried columns march in opposite directions. The Unity lies back of all phenomena in the infinite ocean, the universal solvent, as the crystal lies latent, potential, unmanifested, in the solution of salt. So all things exist potentially in the ether. The real form of everything is perfect, essential, divine. Only the effigy appears with ebb and flow; with swell and cadence like martial music. Only in the Garden of the Gods can the perfect flower and fruit appear. There is but one approximation to perfect form to be apprehended by mortals—the Sphere—and even this is ideal or geometrical, not actual. The dimensions of space pertain to objects: objects exist in time, and the essence of time is motion.[153] Imagine the intelligence of man posited in an ocean of Ether, a thinking principle, without form or extension, and the fallacy of space as generally conceived becomes manifest, and disappears. Matter, space, time, and motion, these pertain to outwardly manifested existence. Read backward the genesis of crystal, plant, animal or man, and one plan, one basis is discovered in all. “_Out from the shore of the great unknown_” come trooping these effigies of diviner being, these shapes of diviner forms. In the beginning was the Word, the Fiat has gone forth. Listen O! man to the music of Bath Col the voice of thine own soul. Adonai speaks. If thou art _conscious_, His voice is _conscience_. It is the memory of the voice of God in fields elysian, thy former divine abode. Thou mayest involve in thy life on earth thine Augoeides, “being of light,” a “gleaming brightness.” This is thy holy mission, the meaning of thy human shape, thy manly powers, thy subtle intellect, thy holy intuitions. These are but the seed of larger life, the bird of promise. The unfolded flower shall be thy highest aspiration, thy holiest wish, and its ripened fruit shall bear thee to the garden of the gods, with knowledge and power as thy servants. Ask but thine own soul, counsel with thy better self, and if thou findest not within the silence the answering voice, then return to thy wallowing in the mire, and the husks which the swine do eat, rather than to thy _father’s house_ which thou hast made, and will henceforth continue to make a den of thieves, at best, a whited sepulchre. Now let us read the Tablet of Hermes, bearing in mind the fact that man is an epitome of the universe, thus actually or potentially containing all that is, and if he knows how to read and to unfold his own nature, powers and possibilities, he may read thereby the universe, unfold its laws, comprehend its plan, and if he be master of himself, thus revealed to his understanding, his powers shall be co-extensive with knowledge. He shall possess the MASTERS’ WORD. This tablet is printed in full in September _Path_ at p. 167. The reader is referred to _Isis Unveiled_ for explanation of the Azoth to which, on the physical plane, the tablet refers,[154] and I might say in passing, that those who complain that the Brothers closely guard occult secrets, will do well, even at this late day, to _read Isis Unveiled_. There are several matters contained in those two volumes which the careless reader, and complaining “theosophist” has possibly overlooked. In fact there is less concealment in all occult matters than the ignorant and time-serving suppose. There can be no better safe-guards to Royal Secrets, than ignorance and defective vision, for which defects there is no surgery or remedy outside ourselves. “God saith, Let the man endued with a _mind_, mark, consider, and _know himself well_. * * And before they give up their bodies to the death of them, they hate their senses, knowing their works and operations. “Rather I, that am the mind itself, will not suffer the operations or works, which belong to the body, to be finished and brought to perfection in them, but being the _Porter_ and _Doorkeeper_ I will shut up the entrances of evil, and cut off the thoughtful desires of filthy works. “But to the foolish, and evil, and wicked, and envious, and covetous, and profane, I am far off, giving place to the revenging demon * * “For the sleep of the body is the sober watchfulness of the mind, and the shutting of my eyes, the true sight, and my _silence_ great with child; and full of good, and the pronouncing of my words the blossoms and fruits of good things.[155] “Wherefore we must be bold to say that _an earthly man is a mortal god, and that the heavenly God is an immortal Man_[156].” Compare with this the following from the writings of Plato: “He who has not even a knowledge of common things, is a brute among men; he who has an accurate knowledge of human concerns alone, is a man among brutes; but he who knows all that can be known by intelligent inquiry is a god among men.” In these brief and imperfect outlines enough has been given to show the thoughtful student, the agreement of the Hermetic doctrines with the teachings of Theosophy, indeed, any real progress in the comprehension of the one, may be taken as a key to the other. These, together with the teachings of the Kabala, are but different forms of the _Secret Doctrine_; none of them are to be fully apprehended by the intellect alone; but only when the mind is _illuminated_ by the light of understanding, and the process by which this illumination is to be achieved, through diligent inquiry, unselfish work, and repression of the senses, appetites and passion, has been often pointed out, and is found repeated and reiterated in all these writings. If any, therefore, are disposed to complain that they are left to grope in darkness, they have no one to blame but themselves. To the conscientious student, the constant wonder is at the richness of the feast spread out on every hand. Like a beautiful landscape to the blind, or music to the deaf, are the pages of wisdom to the ignorant and selfish. Eyes have they but they see not, ears have they but they hear not, and so long as they are joined to their idols they may as well be let alone. But to the earnest disciple, to the true seeker of _The Path_ these are the everlasting verities: let them run and not be weary, walk and not faint, seek, and they shall _surely find_, desire, and they shall attain, knock, and the door of knowledge shall open, obey, and they shall in turn command, labor, and they shall obtain rest. “Rest is not quitting The busy career, Rest is the fitting Of self to one’s sphere. ’Tis the brook’s motion, Clear, without strife, Fleeting to ocean After this life. ’Tis living and serving The highest and best, ’Tis _onward unswerving_, And this is true rest.” B. TEA TABLE TALK. THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE AND DREAMS. Have you ever noticed the swiftness of thought transference in cases where the thinker is not consciously projecting his thought to another mind? The writer had lately a notable instance of this. I was seated at the breakfast table, thinking over an order from THE PATH which had come the night before. It was an order for “1000 words on dreams, etc.” and not being such stuff as dreams are made of, I pondered intently albeit silently:—“Where the deuce am I to get any authentic dreams?” “_Mr. Julius, do you like dreams?_” So spoke a clear young voice at my elbow. It was the voice of Sue. I am not qualified to judge whether Sue is a child or a girl. She is, however, an embodiment of that young America who rules these United States from Atlantic coast to Pacific wave, and although a bachelor, I respect her accordingly. Sue represents my possible fate. “_Dreams!_” I stammered. “What do you know about dreams?” “Me? Why I have ‘em. Lots! But only the horrid kind, you know.” I venture to ask, most respectfully, what she calls “the horrid kind.” “The kind you can’t remember, so’s to tell ‘em and scare the girls. All mixed up, you see.” Here Sue snaps down the lid of the maple syrup cruet with an air which indicates that the subject is closed. But I venture on. I fear Sue a trifle less than I do my Editor and his demand for contracted copy. “What made you think of dreams just now, Sue. if you please?” “Oh! I don’t know. They just came spang into my head. Perhaps you were thinking about them.” “Why, my child! You do not mean to say that you believe in thought transference!” “What’s that? Some nonsense! What I mean is that when I’m thinkin’ ‘bout somethin’, an ‘I don’t want the other girls to talk about it, I put it out of my head, quick,—(another hot cake, please,) so they won’t get it into their heads too. They always do, unless. Understand?” I did indeed. “Verily out of the mouths of babes and sucklings proceed the words of wisdom.” This to myself of course. What I said aloud was merely, “I should like to hear a real good dream this minute, a true one.” Sue gives her head that capable toss. “Why didn’t you ask me? You people always think children don’t know anything. Guess you’ve changed your mind since you were a child. Anyhow, Mrs. D. was tellin’ it t’ Sister an’ some ladies, and it gives your blood a lovely curdle.” Here Sue settled herself in her chair and gave herself up with gusto to the joy of curdling my blood. Making careful inquiry afterward, I found true, in all its details, the dream which I now give to my readers. Mrs. D. was at her country place. She dreamed one night that she rose, and walking to her window looked out upon the familiar scene just then lit by the moon. To her surprise she noticed persons walking two by two across the lawn towards her; then more people, many of whom she knew. As she watched this procession, there came finally a hearse driven by a boy. He stopped the ghastly vehicle under her window, and raising a scarred face on which the moonbeams played, he called out; “_Are you ready?_” Mrs. D. shrieked and awoke, to find herself in bed and the sport of a dream, but telling it afterwards to her family she remarked; “If ever I were to see that boy, I should know him by the awful scars on his face.” Some time afterward this lady was standing in a hotel corridor, waiting for the lift. As it rose slowly into view, she was attracted by the head of the boy running it: “Where have I seen that head?” was her thought, and so puzzling, she delayed to step into the waiting lift. Just as she moved forward and entered, the boy turned his face towards her saying: “_Are you ready?_” and she saw again those great scars, and across her inner vision moved that slow funereal scene. Sickened, startled, she felt an impulse of escape, and profited by the stoppage of the lift at the next floor to get off, instead of continuing to a higher floor, as she had proposed. She paused a few moments to recover herself, and to reason with herself as well, when suddenly a horrible crash was heard; then a _dead silence_; afterward the murmur of excited voices. The machinery had broken, the lift had fallen to the ground floor, and every person in it had been killed. As I thought over this strange story, the decided young voice streamed on: “Do you know, Mr. Julius, they were discussing it at dinner, and I heard some quite stylish people say they believed it was God Himself warning her. Fancy! They weren’t church people of course.” Humanity is divided by Sue into two classes. Class 1. Members of The Protestant Episcopal Church. Class 2. Heathen. She finds this very convenient. So, I doubt not, do many older persons. “And what do you think it was, my child?” “Me? Oh, well! I just think it was her soul, somehow, Mr. Julius! Why do you stare at me like that? I do believe you know something about it! Nobody will ever tell me. Put down your coffee cup, its spilling all over your beard, and tell me straight off all you know about our souls.” But here the Skye terrier comes bouncing in, and offers himself for dissection instead. Nevertheless, I know a few people, (and I fancy THE PATH knows scores more) who expect you to tell between the roast and the relevé, all that is known about the soul. Go instead to the children, question their fresh instincts, their curious methods, their habitual impulses and freaks, above all, their _esprit de corps_, and what you learn about occultism from these still plastic minds will surprise you. It has me! JULIUS. * * * * * A REMARKABLE OCCURRENCE. This story was told me by my step-father about an uncle of his. The uncle was large, broad-shouldered, loved fun, and yet had strange pre-occupied ways. He was fond of playing strange tricks upon the little ones, and was known by them all as: “the—queer uncle.” Indeed he did not confine his experiments wholly to the small folks. One evening he came into the sitting-room where his sister was, his face pale, with great drops of perspiration upon it, and his whole body shaking as with ague. She asked him what the matter was, and then said she was glad if he who had been frightening other people all his life, was really frightened himself. It was sometime before he could speak. At last he said he would tell her what had happened as well as he could. He went into the woods and found a large tree (Beech, I think) standing alone. Having tied his handkerchief around it, he placed his back against the tree and took so many paces in a straight line away from it. Then without looking towards the tree he walked three times around it—keeping the circle as nearly as possible. The night was very calm with a beautiful full moon. After he had been round it once, there appeared to be no change. The second time the wind began to blow, and before he had completed the third circuit, the moon was overcast and the wind blew a gale. When he had reached the point, for the third time, from which he first started, he turned and faced the tree. Soon the wind ceased to blow, and the moon shone clear. Then, coming in an opposite direction, he saw a young lady approaching the tree. She walked directly to it, untied the handkerchief and brought it to him and then disappeared on the spot. Upon concluding his narrative he said if ever he should meet that girl he should know her. The moonlight fell upon her face so that each feature was distinctly visible. Six months later business called him to another town. While waiting in the parlor of the Hotel, before being called to dinner, the lady he had seen in the forest walked into the room. Sometime after he obtained an introduction, and eventually became engaged. One day while discussing different matters, he told her of his singular experience in the woods. “Why” said she “at that very time I had a most singular feeling, and fainted.” Her mother was appealed to and corroborated the fact. She said she was unconscious for such a length of time they thought her dead. The day of the month and the hour corresponded exactly with the time the lady untied the handkerchief and brought it to him in the forest. F. C. REVIEWS AND NOTES. THE THEOSOPHIST for October is a notably good number of that admirable magazine. Madame Blavatsky contributes the leading article, “Ancient Magic in Modern Science,” the reading of which makes us eager for the publication of her “Secret Doctrine,” the first volume of which, we learn, will soon be ready for publication. Mohini M. Chatterji contributes a short article on “Mother Ganga,” and his strong tale, “Sowing and Reaping,” is concluded. Maurice Fredal writes of Apollonius of Tyana, anent Mr. Tredwell’s valuable book on the Master. It is a “coincidence” that the October numbers of both _The Theosophist_ and THE PATH should contain articles on Apollonius, the two complementing each other. It has been said that the teachings of Apollonius will have much to do in the new religion which is destined to become the leading faith of the world. Col. Olcott has a highly interesting article on “Phantom Pictures in the Astral Light,” in which the various traditions of “The Flying Dutchman” are given prominence, and mention is made of a phantom ship seen from the man-of war which carried the two sons of the Prince of Wales on their voyage around the world. Two articles of this issue are contributed from Chicago—a thoughtful essay on “Theosophy and Theosophists” by M. M. Phelon, and “A World-Old Story Still Unlearned,” by M. L. Brainard, the Secretary of the Chicago Branch; an allegory that will take, and repay, much pains to discover its true significance. “Some Hypnotic Experiments” is a valuable scientific article, and Miss L. S. Cook’s ideas “On Prayer” will probably meet approval among all Theosophists, who object only to the common forms of prayer, such as those designed to be “heard of men” like the prayers offered up in churches, and also the requests of people for divine favors which they have done nothing to merit. The Unpublished Writings of Eliphas Levy, a mine of occult information, are continued, and an article on Raj Yoga will be appreciated by students of Indian philosophy. MADAME BLAVATSKY: INCIDENTS IN HER LIFE. Edited by A. P. Sinnett. (_London, 1886._) Price, $3.00. These memoirs are of absorbing interest, containing as they do authentic narratives written by the relatives and friends of Madame Blavatsky. They are divided into ten chapters, beginning with her childhood and ending with the present time when she rests in sickness in Germany, and bristle with stories of the most extraordinary character. Read in connection with the first article in the present number of this magazine, they become of greater interest. At page 257 Mr. Sinnett says she was not able to foresee the annoyances in the future. But we think she could see those quite clearly, and therein lay one of her constant trials: that she might see those troubles to come and yet refrain from trying to avert them. Inquirers can purchase the book through THE PATH. * * * * * ANNOUNCEMENT. _We beg to announce that with this date we sever our partnership._ THE PATH _henceforth will be the exclusive property and under the sole management of Mr. William Q. Judge_. WILLIAM Q. JUDGE, _New York, Dec. 1, 1886._ ARTHUR H. GEBHARD. * * * * * “There is a living creature in heaven which by day has “Truth” upon its forehead, by which the angels know it is day; but in the evening it has “Faith” on its forehead, whereby the angels know that night is near.”—_From the Kabbalistic book, Kitzur-Sh’lh, fol. 42, col. 2._ OM! FOOTNOTES: [147] Bagavad-Gita. [148] Milton. [149] Bible. [150] Light of Asia. [151] Browning. [152] _Bri-Up._ 1. Adh., 4 Brah., 7. [153] ‘We take no notice of time save by its loss’, _i. e._ its passage or motion. [154] _Isis Unveiled_, vol. I. p. 507, _et seq._ [155] Pymander, p. 33, _et seq._, edition of 1650. [156] IV Book, p. 60. AUM But there is another invisible eternal existence, higher, deeper, innermost; not like this life of sense, escaping sight, unchanging. This endures when all created things have passed away. This is the highest walk and very supreme abode.—_Bagavad-Gita_, ch. 8. Hear the secret of the wise. Be not anxious for subsistence; it is provided by the maker. When the child is born the mother’s breasts flow with milk. He who hath clothed the birds with their bright plumage will also feed thee.—_Hitapodesa._ THE PATH. VOL. I. JANUARY, 1887. NO. 10. _The Theosophical Society, as such, is not responsible for any opinion or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless contained in an official document._ Where any article, or statement, has the author’s name attached, he alone is responsible, and for those which are unsigned, the Editor will be accountable. THE ELEMENTALS, THE ELEMENTARY SPIRITS, AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEM AND HUMAN BEINGS. _A paper read before the Aryan Theosophical Society of New York, December 14th, 1886._ BY C. H. A. BJERREGAARD. The subject of my paper is “_The Elementals, the Elementary Spirits, and the relation between them and human beings_.” I will endeavor to give an outline of some of the teachings of the occult science relative to these beings, their relationship to the universal powers and to us, and our power over them. In the general statement I shall probably not be able to say anything new to students of the occult forces of nature, except it be in the illustrations I shall bring forth from what I consider new sources, from Leibnitz’s Monadology, namely: In Leibnitz’s Monads, I think we may see the very substance of the astral sphere, in which the elementary spirits “wrap themselves,” according to a statement in the Kabbala. We may even see more, we may even look upon them as the Elementals themselves. If Leibnitz’s Monads may be considered not only as Elementals, but also the very substance of the astral sphere, and if it be so, that according to the Zohar, “the spirits, when they come down clothe themselves with air, or wrap themselves in elements,” then it becomes a subject of the greatest importance to us how or by what means we may influence the astral sphere, or in other words, it becomes very important by _what kind of Monads_ we are surrounded. As a help to the proper consideration of this momentous question, I shall offer some information regarding the natural auras or objective spheres, that surround us, and also some historic facts regarding the use of aromatic vapors, odors, &c. Having come so far with my paper, I shall say a few words about our power over the elementals “clothed with air and wrapped in elements,” by defining the power of _Mind_ and by describing those—almost unknown—small nerve centres of the human hand, called _the Pacinian corpuscles_. I shall only stop to define these two tools, the _head_ and the _hand_, and leave out, for the present, the third of the human trinity, the _heart_. Having defined the power of mind and the hand, I shall come to a close with a few suggestions as to the use of these powers regarding the subject under consideration. * * * * * _Elementary Spirits_ are defined in “Isis Unveiled” to be “the disembodied _souls_. The depraved souls have at some time prior to death separated from themselves their divine spirits, and so lost their chance for immortality. Eliphas Levi and some other Kabbalists make little distinction between elementary spirits who have been men, and those beings which people the elements, and are the blind forces of nature.” The points to mark in this definition are these: (1) Elementary Spirits are disembodied _souls_; (2) they are disembodied souls of _the good_, and (3) of _the depraved_, _i. e._, of those, in whom the higher principles have never been developed, nor even born into light. They are the _shades_ of those who, by their sins and moral misery, have closed the most interior principles of the constitution of man, and having closed the door against them, have no part in life, but sooner or later become dissolved and disintegrated in the surrounding elements. In the manifestations common among Spiritualists, these Elementary Spirits play the most prominent parts. The Elementals do not. We shall concern ourselves mainly with the Elementals. _Elementals_ are defined in “Isis Unveiled” as “the creatures _evolved_ in the four kingdoms of earth, air, fire, and water, and called by the Kabbalists gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and undines. They may be termed the forces of nature, and will either operate effects as the servile agents of general law, or may be employed by the disembodied spirits—whether pure or impure—and by living adepts of magic and sorcery, to produce desired phenomenal results. _Such beings never become men._” They are in popular mythology and folktales called by a great many names, peris, fauns, elves, brownies, nixies, &c., &c. They are not disembodied human spirits, but distinct Creations. They have their homes in the astral sphere but are found commonly on earth. The definition already given from “Isis Unveiled” I will amplify by a few lines I have extracted and translated from the various works of Paracelsus: “All elements have a soul and are living. The inhabitants of the elements are named _Saganes_ (Saganae), _i. e._, elements. They are not inferior to men; they differ from men by having no immortal soul. They are the powers of Nature, _i. e._, _they are the ones who do that which is usually ascribed to Nature_. We may call them beings, but they are not of Adam’s kin. They eat and drink such substances as in their element serve for eating and drinking. They are clothed, they marry and multiply themselves. They can not be incarcerated, and die like the animals, having no soul.” “They know all that is going on, and do often reveal it to men, who are able to converse with them. But they are very unreliable, and some are very treacherous. They like children and simple minded persons the best. They avoid drunken and beastly men. They reveal more of their nature to the simple minded and innocent ones than to the learned and arrogant ones. They are rather simple minded themselves.” “There are more women among them than men, and a congregation of women is called a Venus-mount. The fable told about Tannhauser is no mere tale, it is true.” Thus far, we have, perhaps, no difficulty in following Paracelsus, but when we read further into his revelations, our common sense fails to comprehend the mysteries laid open. Yet, I will say for myself, that though I can not comprehend it, I can readily apprehend such a state of things as that described in the following words: “They can come to us and mix with our society. They can bear us children; but such children do not belong to them, _they belong to us_. We may bring these elemental wives to us by faith, pure thinking and our image-making powers. When they enter our sphere of existence and copulate with us, they appear, on account of their strange manners, like gods.” “Those that live in the water are called Nymphs or Undines, those in the air Sylphs, those of the earth Pygmies or Gnomes, those of the fire Salamanders. Nymphs or Undines look much like human beings, the others differ more or less.” “It is particularly the Undines or Nymphs that unite with men. When an Undine marries a man, both she and her child become souls.” From the Kabbala we can draw many statements corroborating the testimony of Paracelsus. In fact all the most valuable teachings we possess, relative to Elementals, as far _as they are printed and given to the public_, are derived from the Kabbala. According to it all activity, all events, in History and in Nature, are in the hands of spirits, either Elementals or Elementary. We find them as ministering everywhere, from the Zodiac down to the smallest worm. We find them mentioned by name, those of the sphere of the Shechina as well as those presiding over the four elements. In _Jalkut Chadash_ it is stated: “There is not a thing in the world, not the least herb, over which is not set a spirit.” The Kabbalistic work _Berith Menucha_ (by Abraham, a son of Isaac, a Jew from Granada), their names are given: The spirit that presides over fire is named _Jehuel_, and under him range seven other spirits. Prince _Michael_ is set over water, and under him rule seven other spirits. _Jechiel_ rules over the wild animals and these rule under him. _Anpiel_ rules over the birds and two princes rule beside him. _Hariel_ controls the cattle and besides him three spirits. _Samniel_ rules the creatures of earth and water and _Mesannahel_ the worms. _Deliel_ together with three princes command the fishes; _Ruchiel_ and three others, the winds; _Gabriel_, the thunder; _Nariel_, the hailstorm; _Maktuniel_, the rocks and _Alpiel_ the fruitful trees, while _Saroel_, the unfruitful. _Sandolfon_ governs men. These names are important, as you know, for they are the key to the respective powers of each of these spirits. As stated in “Isis Unveiled,” Eliphas Levi and other Kabbalists make no or very little distinction between Elementals and Elementary Spirits. This cannot be right by Levi to do. There are essential differences. The _Elementals never become men, nor were they ever men_. The Elementary spirits as defined by Levi resemble very much such spirits as those we are familiar with in ordinary spiritism. I shall in this paper only give them a passing notice and speak about the Elementals mainly. From the definition already given, it is evident that the Elementals exist in a great variety of forms, some are mere forces of nature, pure abstract beings; others have some kind of body, at least, when we speak of gnomes, sylphs, undines, &c., we represent them in figures more or less human. In the Kabbala and other Jewish secret books and traditions, the Elementals are represented as a middle race of beings, which, by a general name, the Jews called _Schedim_ (the male Ruchin and the female Lilin). They are really the lowest and the dregs of the spiritual orders. They are divided into four classes: (1) Those of Fire; these cannot be seen with the eye; they mean to do good, and often help men. They understand the Thora and have communion with the angelic world. They are masters of many of nature’s secrets. It was these beings which Solomon employed, according to Mohammedan traditions, in erecting the temple. We are told,[157] that “he obliged the male genii to erect various public buildings, among others also, the temple. The female genii he obliged to cook, to bake, to wash, to weave, to spin, to carry water, and to perform other domestic labors. The stuffs they produced Solomon distributed among the poor.” Much curious information can be had from these Mohammedan traditions. Solomon, we are told, once asked an Elemental, who appeared to him in the form of a fish, as to how many there were of that kind, and received the following reply: “There are of my species alone, seventy thousand kinds, the least of which is so large that thou would appear in its body like a grain of sand in the wilderness.” We are further told, that Solomon, by means of a certain stone, “had dominion over the kingdom of spirits, which is much greater than that of man and beasts, and fills up the whole space between the earth and heaven.” Part of these spirits believe in the only God, but others are unbelieving. Some adore the fire; others the sun; others, again, the different stars; and many of them even water. The first continually hover round the pious, to preserve them from evil and sin; but the latter seek in every possible manner to torment and to seduce them, which they do the more easily, since they render themselves invisible, or assume any form they please. Solomon desired to see the genii in their original form. An angel rushed like a column of fire through the air, and soon returned with a host of demons and genii, whose appalling appearance filled Solomon, spite of his dominion over them, with horror. He had no idea that there were such misshapen and frightful beings in the world. He saw human heads on the necks of horses, with asses’ feet; the wings of eagles on the dromedary’s back; and the horns of the gazelle on the head of the peacock. Astonished at this singular union, he prayed the angel to explain it to him: “This is the consequence,” replied the angel, “of their wicked lives and their shameless intercourse with men, beasts and birds; for their desires know no bounds; and the more they multiply, the more they degenerate.” (2) The second group consists of those of Fire and Air; they are lower in order than the former, those of Fire, but they are good and wise. They are also invisible. They inhabit, like the former, the upper regions. (3) The third group consists of those of Fire, Air and Water, they are sometimes visible to our senses. (4) The fourth class is also made of Fire, Air and Water, but have besides an element of Earth in their constitution. They may be fully seen by human eyes. This class and those of the third are of a wicked disposition and deceive men, and are glad to do us harm. They have no moral sense at all. Some of them live in the waters, some in the mountains and deserts, and some in filthy places. Some of them are hideous to look upon, and are said to be met with even in open daylight. The two first classes mentioned stand bodily next to men and are very dangerous. They possess extraordinary powers, standing, as they do, between the visible and the invisible worlds. They have some knowledge of the future and are particularly wise in regard to natural things. Some of these have in the time past been worshipped as gods and national deities. The Kabbala is quite emphatic in warnings against them, saying that they are untrustworthy because “their natural affinities are towards the lower realms of existence, rather than the higher.” All these elementals, whatever class they belong to are subject to dissolution. _Their lives are not centred on an eternal principle._ They die—and that is the end of them. It is also worthy of notice that there is a close parallel between the teachings of the Kabbala on this point with that of the _Vishnu Purana_ regarding the composition of the descending order of emanations. According to the Kabbala, as we have just heard, the Elementals of the first order were pure Fire, those of the next were Fire plus Air, those of the next Fire, Air, and Water, while those of the lowest order consisted of Fire, Air, Water plus Earth. Each of them as they live on a lower plane add a new element to their constitution. The same law is found in the groupings of the elements according to the Vishnu Purana. The purest one is Ether and has only one property, sound. The next is Air which to sound adds touch; the next is Fire, which to sound and touch adds colour; the next is Water, which to the three former adds a fourth, taste; the last is _Earth_, which to all the former adds smell, thus possessing five properties. The harmony in the teachings of these two authorities, resting as they do on so different a basis is an additional argument for the truths of their teachings on the main subject. Thus far I have been speaking of _Elementals_ in the commonly accepted sense. But, it appears to me that there is another order of beings which also may be called _Elementals_, though perhaps in another sense. I mean the ten _Sephiroth_. The Kabbala teaches that the _En-Soph_ (the One without end, the Boundless) is present in the _Sephiroth_ or “intelligences,” by means of which creation is effected. These Sephiroth, these “intelligences” or spheres, as they also have been called, these spiritual substances are emanations from the _En-Soph_ in which they existed from all eternity. They are emanations, not creations. A creation implies diminution of strength, but an emanation does not, hence the ten Sephiroth form among themselves, and with the En-Soph, a strict unity. They are in fact only differing from the En-Soph in the same way as light differs from its source, the fire. They are boundless on one side of their being, but finite manifestations on the other. They are both infinite and finite. It has been stated that the whole world is like a gigantic tree full of branches and leaves, the root of which is the spiritual world of the Sephiroth; or it is like an immense sea, which is constantly filled by a spring everlastingly gushing forth its streams. That which thus has been said about the world applies equally to the Sephiroth. They are like trees rooted in the En-Soph, but blossoming and bearing fruit in the world. They are open within but closed without. Though they partake of the divine nature, they are on the outer side the garments of the Most High. This _their outer side is their bodily form_, and it is with this _we_ may come in contact. It is almost blasphemy to call the outer side of the Sephiroth bodily—for body is to us something very low. Let us, therefore, beware of attaching anything low or mean to Body, when we speak of the Sephiroth. Let us bow down and revere, for we are in the presence of the Holy, even when we in thought rise to the bodily form of the Sephiroth. The Sephiroth, through the divine power immanent in them, uphold the World. _They are the Elemental Forces of the World._ Through them flows all Power and all Mercy. Yea, the En-Soph is revealed through the Sephiroth, and becomes incarnate in them. It is stated in the Kabbala that the En-Soph, through various Sephiroth, became incarnate in Abraham as love, in Isaac as power, in Jacob as beauty, in Moses as firmness, in Aaron as splendor, in Joseph as foundation, etc. The soul, notwithstanding its connection with the body, if it remain uncontaminated and pure, is able to ascend to the Kingdom of the Sephiroth and to “command them”. But great mysteries surround the secrets connected with this power, and but few have they been who have been pious enough and strong enough to be admitted. That the Sephiroth are powers, “Elementals,” and not individual beings is evident from their division into three groups, intelligence, animation and matter. Each of the three groups is again subdivided, the first into (1) the Crown or the inscrutable Height, (2) the creative Wisdom, (3) the conceiving Intellect. The result of the combination of the latter two: the creative Wisdom and the conceiving Intellect, is in the Kabbala called knowledge (= Logos), which certainly shows these three Sephiroph to be spiritual substances, rather than individualities according to the common acceptation of the term. But it is not enough that we escape the mistakes which we would fall into if we regarded the Sephiroth as individualities, we must also beware of regarding them as mere _abstractions_, which the terms wisdom and intellect might lead us into. We shall never arrive at the truth, much less the power of associating with these celestials, until we return to the simplicity and fearlessness of the primitive ages, when men mixed freely with the gods, and the gods descended among men and guided them in truth and holiness. The _first_ group of the Sephiroth rests in so sublime an atmosphere and so near the Deity, that we can know nothing of their nature or activity. The _second_ group of the Sephiroth exercises its power over the moral world, and consists of (1) infinite Grace, (2) divine Justice, and (3) Beauty, which is the connecting link between Grace and Justice. Here again we have to do neither with mere moral states nor with abstractions, but with embodiments of living and moving realities. Human eyes can, however, neither see them, nor can human hands touch them, for they are far removed from them, existing as they do on another plane of existence. Yet, he who _keeps his virtue_, and who knows the key to the chain of existences, can bring them out from their own realm and into his own and cause them to act. The _third_ group of the Sephiroth stands in relation to Matter in the same way as the other two stand to the Mind and the Heart, and may be called _Elementals par excellence_. They are called Firmness, Splendor, primary Foundation and Kingdom.— I now wish to engage your attention by describing to you Leibnitz’s Monads. His monads have all the characteristics of Elementals, at the same time, that they seem to be purely physical molecules. But this very duplicity is an argument for my theory, that Leibnitz’s monad is a faithful definition of an Elemental. If it should be proved that they are not Elementals, and I doubt that that can be proved, they will at least serve as _illustrations_ as to what an Elemental is. Leibnitz[158] formulates his conception of substance in direct opposition to Spinozism. To Spinoza substance is dead and inactive, but to Leibnitz’s penetrating powers of mind everything is living activity and active energy. In holding this view he comes infinitely nearer the Orient than any other thinker of his day or after him. His discovery that an _active energy forms the essence of substance_ is a principle that places him in direct relationship to the seers of the East. This fact, that the chief points of Leibnitz’s philosophy are derived from this conception of an active energy forming the essence of substance, places it at once in our confidence. From Leibnitz’s _Monadology_ I translate the following paragraphs: §1. “The Monad is a _simple substance_, entering into those which are compound; simple, that is to say, without parts.” §2. “Monads are the veritable Atoms of Nature, in one word, the elements of things.” When _Leibnitz_ speaks of atoms it must not be understood that he is a materialist. He is far from it. Indeed, his system has been called a spiritualistic _atomistic_. Atoms and Elements to him are SUBSTANCE not _Matter_. They are centres of force or better “spiritual beings, whose very nature it is to act.” These elementary particles are vital forces, not acting mechanically, but from an internal principle. They are incorporeal or spiritual units, inaccessible to all change from without, but only subject to internal movement. They are indestructible by any external force. Leibnitz’s monads differ from atoms in the following particulars, which are very important for us to remember, otherwise we shall not be able to see the difference between Elementals and mere matter. Atoms are not distinguished from each other, they are qualitatively alike, but one monad differs from every other monad, qualitatively; and every one is a peculiar world to itself. Not so with the atoms; they are absolutely alike quantitatively and qualitatively and possess no individuality of their own. Again, the atoms of materialistic philosophy can be considered as extended and divisible, while the monads are mere “metaphysical points” and indivisible. Finally, and this is a point where these monads of Leibnitz closely resemble the Elementals of mystic philosophy, these monads are representative beings. Every monad reflects every other. Every monad is a living mirror of the universe, within its own sphere. And mark this, for upon it depends the power possessed by these monads, and upon it depends the work they can do for us: in mirroring the world, the monads are not mere passive reflective agents, but _spontaneously self-active_; they produce the images spontaneously, as the soul does a dream. In every monad, therefore, the adept may read everything, even the future. Every monad—or elemental—is a looking-glass that can speak. The monads may from one point of view be called _force_, from another _matter_. To occult science _force_ and _matter_ are only two sides of the same substance. Such a doctrine is of course much objected to by people of the modern age, who pretend to possess very fine analytical powers, and yet are unable to conceive of matter under any other conditions than those cognizable by our coarse senses. Those who have _intellectual_ difficulties in seeing that Brahm is everything and everything is Brahm must take this doctrine _on faith_ for awhile. A little earnest practice will lead them to see that truth is not attained through reflection, but through immediate intuition. If we should desire to look upon these monads as matter, I know of no better comparison than with that which has been called Matter in a _Fourth_ state or condition, a condition as far removed from the state of gas as a gas is from a liquid. If we should desire to look upon these monads as _force_, I know of no better comparison than with that which Faraday called “Radiant Matter” and which by Crooke’s experiments has been shown to be so much like mere _force_, or matter completely divested of all the characteristics of bodies that its physical properties have been so modified that it has changed nature and appears under the _form_ of force. In §8 of the Monadology Leibnitz declares that “The Monads have _qualities_—otherwise they would not even be entities.” The qualities attributed to them make them appear very much like living rational beings. I am disposed to look upon them as upon those little beings represented by Raphael, as heads resting upon a pair of wings: pure intelligence, or spirits who have not yet attained to bodily life. If they have not a _thinking_ soul, they are at least forces that resemble life. Continuing, Leibnitz (§11) says: “We might give the name of _Perfection_ (Entelechies) to all monads inasmuch as there is in them a certain Completeness or Perfection. There is a sufficiency which makes them the sources of their own internal actions, and, as it were, incorporeal automata.” Says Leibnitz: (§19) “If we choose to give the name of soul to all that has perceptions and desires, in the general sense which I have just indicated, all simple substances or monads may be called souls.” You see these infinitesimal beings are regarded by the great philosopher very much like intelligent existences; and yet they are very far removed from our conceptions of soul-life and existence. They are like the Elementals of the Kabbala: they never become men. Continuing his definitions, he says (§60): “The monads are limited, not in the object, but in the mode of their knowledge of the object.” That is, the objective would have no power over them, but they themselves have only a limited knowledge of the objectivity, hence also a limited power. But that does not preclude the possibility of their being the means of the greatest influence upon the objective world—in the hands, namely, of an intelligent human being or spirit. “They all”, says Leibnitz, “tend (confusedly) to the infinite, to the whole; but they are limited and distinguished by the degrees of distinctness in their perception.” Now I quote (§62) a sentence that reëchoes the most beautiful philosophy of the Orient. Leibnitz has seen as distinctly as the old nature worshippers of the early Aryans, that “every monad represents the entire universe.” This short sentence is the key to all mystical philosophy and to all magic; it is only second to such sentences as these: “God dwells in all things in His fullness,” (Vemana verse), and “The world is the image of God,” (Sufi philosophy). It is a common mistake in the world to believe that God and his truth is only to be found in the Grand, in the Large, in the infinitely large. In opposition to this, much of our mystical and esoteric philosophy points to the infinitely _Small_, declaring, that if we can become humble enough to descend to nature’s workshop, we shall learn more from the “atoms in space” upon which God let fall a “beam of his glory,” than from all the magnificent systems of the learned. Hear what Leibnitz himself says, though he is not a mystic. He ought to have been, for his insight was truly remarkable. He declares: (§66) “There is a world of creatures, of living things, of animals, of Perfection of souls, in the minutest portion of matter.” (§67) “Every particle of matter may be conceived as a garden of plants, or as a pond full of fishes—all swarming with life!“ Keep this in mind, that I am not talking about _atoms of_ MATTER, but of _atoms of substance_, real unities, the first principles in the composition of things. _Leibnitz_ himself, besides calling these corpuscular units Monads, has also called them _Metaphysical points_, and _Scaliger_ called them _seeds of eternity_, and a Persian poet has put it very clearly before us, that an atom is not a unit, by saying, ”_Cleave an atom, and you will find in it a Sun_.” Here is the kernel of our subject, the substance of an atom in space is the storehouse of the immanent forces to which elementals, and elementary spirits to some extent, have access, and by means of which they work. This view is fully corroborated by a representative of modern science, Sir John F. W. Herschel, who has approached very near to the teachings of occult science by declaring the presence of mind in atoms. In the _Fortnightly Review_ of 1865, Sir John Herschel stated as follows: “All that has been predicated of Atoms, ‘the dear little creatures,’ as Hermione said, all their hates and loves, their attractions and repulsions, _according to the primary laws of their being_, only becomes intelligible when we assume the presence of MIND.” These various definitions of the Monads as given by Leibnitz, answer in many important points exactly to what we find in occult teachings about the Elementals, and I can see no good reason why we should not look upon Leibnitz’s Monadology as a work on Elementals. We are really done with him as far as our subject is concerned, but before dismissing him to turn to other wisdom, permit me to quote a few more passages, though they do not bear directly upon the subjects of monads. He says (§83-86): “Among other differences which distinguish spirits from ordinary souls, there is also this: ‘That souls in general are living mirrors, or images of the _universe of creatures_, but spirits are, furthermore, images of Divinity itself, or of the Author of Nature, capable of cognizing the system of the universe, and of imitating something of it by architectonic experiments, each spirit being, as it were, a little divinity in its own department.’—Hence spirits are able to enter into a kind of fellowship with God.—All spirits constitute the City of God—that is to say, the most perfect state possible under the most perfect of monarchs.—The City of God, this truly universal monarchy, is a moral world within the natural; and it is the most exalted and the most divine among the works of God.” (_To be continued._) WHAT IS THE “THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY”? The subjoined extracts from the writings and public utterances of some of the leading members of the Theosophical Society will it is believed throw considerable light on the issues raised in Dr. Hartmann’s article in the number for October entitled “What is the Theosophical Society”; not so much perhaps as testing the validity of his observations as expanding their scope, and throwing into relief the true character of the Theosophical Society. Anything done or said by anybody without exception, not in harmony with the spirit of these extracts is entirely without binding power on the Theosophical Society or any of its members. UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD THE MAIN OBJECT OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. In support of this assertion it may be noticed that in the April number of the Theosophist for the year 1880 in the extract of the rules of the Society as given in 1879, it is alternatively described as the Theosophical Society or Universal Brotherhood, and further stated that “The Theosophical Society is formed upon a basis of a Universal Brotherhood.” In March, 1880, in a speech by Ráo Báhádur Gopálráo Hurry Deshmuk, the Society is described in the following words: “This Society was established in America four years ago (_i.e._ in 1875) and its object is to inquire into the philosophies of the East, to announce the brotherhood of man, and to create the bonds of fellowship among nations and sects of different denominations.” In the June number of the _Theosophist_ for 1881, the name of the Society is again put forward as, “Universal Brotherhood” and its first object is stated to be—To form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity. The same sentiment is to be found enunciated by Mr. Sinnett in a speech made on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the Society. He says: “But even this philosophical search for truth is hardly the primary object of the Society. That object is promoted by the philosophical search for truth, as I hope directly to show, that object itself is that pressed in the foremost watchword of the Society, Universal Brotherhood.” (_Supplement Theosophist, January, 1883._) In the last edition of his lectures, published in 1885, Col. Olcott quotes a passage from Lange’s “History of Materialism” p. 361, in which it is stated:—“That the new epoch will not conquer unless it be under the banner of a great idea which sweeps away egoism, and sets human perfection in human fellowship as a new aim in the place of reckless toil, which looks only to personal gain.” Col. Olcott then proceeds: “It is to such an idea as this that the Theosophical Society seeks to give a formal if not already a quite practical expression,” p. 30. Further on in the same book, p. 117, he states “Our Society might have added to the name ‘Theosophical’ that of ‘Philadelphian’ as it was always meant to be a Society of Universal Brotherhood and for promoting brotherly love among all races.” In No. 8, Transactions of the London Lodge Theosophical Society, Mr. Mohini M. Chatterji, in a paper “On the Theosophical Society and its Work,” after enumerating the three objects of the Society, makes the following observation:—“Of these three the first (_i.e._ Universal Brotherhood) is to be looked upon as the crown and end, the other two are merely accessories and means. Every member of the Theosophical Society must be inspired by that end, but may or may not be interested in the other two objects.” A letter from Dewan Bahadoor Ragoonath Row published in the _Theosophist_ for March, 1884, and quoted in the same “Transaction,” still further accentuates this position. He says:—“Theosophy, as understood by me, is made up of three elements, viz, universal brotherhood, knowledge of truths discovered by science generally known to the ordinary scientist, and knowledge of truths still in store for them. It may be described in another way, viz, ‘universal religion and science reconciled.’ To be a Theosophist he must acknowledge and practice universal brotherhood. If he is not prepared to admit the principle, he cannot be a Theosophist. In addition to this, he should be a student of truths generally known, of course to the extent of his capacity. He should, besides, be a searcher of truths hitherto unknown. If he be all these three, he is undoubtedly a Theosophist. It is, however, possible that one may not be capable of knowing scientific truths, extant or prospective, and yet may be able to recognize and practice universal brotherhood; he is still a Theosophist. No one who does not admit and practice universal brotherhood, though he be a scientist of the first degree, can ever be a Theosophist.” In the last published report (1886) of the Rules of the Theosophical Society it will also be seen that the first object of the Society is again stated as the promotion of a “Universal Brotherhood of Humanity.” It is evident from these extracts, dating from the first formation of the Society to the present year, that Universal Brotherhood has been the one and only constant object of the Theosophical Society. The other objects which have at different times been added to this can only be looked upon as additions forming no part of the basic nature of the original, admissible only on the principle of toleration but in no sense binding on the Society. Whatever may be the statement put forward by individuals, from the President to the youngest member of the Society, or by any groups of individuals, such statements ought to be considered as representing individual opinion only and as having no authoritative legislation over the members of the Society. THE UNSECTARIAN CHARACTER OF THE SOCIETY. This point which is the logical outcome of the former position, is likewise as clearly enunciated in Theosophical literature. In October, 1879, in an article entitled “What are Theosophists,” which has since been acknowledged by Madame Blavatsky, it is stated: “With how much, then, of this nature-searching, God-seeking science of the ancient Aryan and Greek mystics, and of the powers of modern spiritual mediumship, does the Society agree? Our answer is:—with it all. But if asked what it believes in, the reply will be:—‘_as a body_—Nothing.’ The Society, as a body, has no creed, as creeds are but the shells around spiritual knowledge; and Theosophy in its fruition is spiritual knowledge itself—the very essence of philosophical and theistic enquiry. Visible representative of Universal Theosophy, it can be no more sectarian than a Geographical Society, which represents universal geographical exploration without caring whether the explorers be of one creed or another. The religion of the Society is an algebraical equation, in which so long as the sign = of equality is not omitted, each member is allowed to substitute quantities of his own, which better accord with climatic and other exigencies of his native land, with the idiosyncracies of his people, or even with his own. Having no accepted creed, our Society is very ready to give and take, to learn and teach, by practical experimentation, as opposed to mere passive and credulous acceptance of enforced dogma. It is willing to accept every result claimed by any of the foregoing schools or systems, that can be logically and experimentally demonstrated. Conversely it can take nothing on mere faith, no matter by whom the demand may be made. * * “Born in the United States of America, the Society was constituted on the model of its Mother Land. The latter, omitting the name of God from its constitution lest it should afford a pretext one day to make a state religion, gives absolute equality to all religions in its laws. All support and each is in turn protected by the state. The Society, modelled upon this constitution, may fairly be termed a ‘Republic of Conscience.’ “We have now, we think, made clear why our members, as individuals, are free to stay outside or inside any creed they please, provided they do not pretend that none but themselves shall enjoy the privilege of conscience, and try to force their opinions upon the others. In this respect the Rules of the Society are very strict. It tries to act upon the wisdom of the old Buddhistic axiom: ‘Honor thine own faith, and do not slander that of others;’ echoed back in our present century, in the ‘Declaration of Principles’ of the Brahmo Samaj, which so nobly states that: ‘no sect shall be vilified, ridiculed, or hated.’” * * * * * “In conclusion, we may state that, broader and far more universal in its views than any existing mere scientific Society, it has _plus_ science its belief in every possibility, and determined will to penetrate into those unknown spiritual regions which exact science pretends that its votaries have no business to explore. And, it has one quality more than any religion in that it makes no difference between Gentile, Jew or Christian. It is in this spirit that the Society has been established upon the footing of a Universal Brotherhood.” In the supplement of the _Theosophist_, January, 1886, in the Preamble or Statement of Principles, first put forth in 1875 are these words: “Whatever may be the private opinions of its members, the Society has no dogmas to enforce, no creed to disseminate. It is formed neither as a Spiritualistic schism, nor to serve as the foe or friend of any sectarian or philosophical body. Its only axiom is the omnipotence of truth, its only creed a profession of unqualified devotion to its discovery and propagation. In considering the qualification of applicants for membership, it knows neither race, sex, color, nor creed. In the rules of the Theosophical Society, published in 1886, it is also stated “That the Society represents no particular religious creed, is entirely unsectarian, and includes professors of all faiths.” In the paper before alluded to No. 8, Transactions of the London Lodge—Mr. Mohini M. Chatterji makes the following remark:—“All attempts to fasten the authority of the Society to any creed, philosophical or otherwise, which is not covered by these rules (viz, the printed objects of the Society) are void _ab initio_; not because of the merits of such creed or doctrine, or of their exponents, but simply for the reason that the Theosophical Society, by its constitution, is not capable of holding any creed or doctrine in its corporate character.” It is important that each individual member should clearly realize what the Theosophical Society is, what its fundamental principles and what is required of its members. It has been with the thought of giving further emphasis to the idea set forth by Dr. Hartmann in his concluding paragraph that these few extracts have been put together. A little attention to these statements will it is believed show the true character and purpose of the Theosophical Society and aid people to discern what is and what is _not_ consistent with that character and purpose. F. A. ROTATION-INDIVIDUAL EVOLUTION. [BY THE AUTHOR OF “LINES FROM LOWER LEVELS.”] The paper on “The Higher Life,”[159] and the remarks which it has called forth, have led me to further reflections upon the subject. That subject is in fact, Individual Evolution, and the warning expressed by Murdhna Joti, in that article about “impetuously rushing into the circle of ascetics,” opens up an important phase of the topic most vital to humanity. For this sentence is not a mere advisory caution; it points out the only available procedure, the one course conducive to successful evolution, or final perfection. This course may be briefly summed up in one word,—Rotation. Upon examination we shall find this fact proved by the laws governing Universal Brotherhood. To begin with, when we take into consideration the personalities of the real Founders of the Theosophical Society, we find ourselves safely concluding that the institution of this principle of Brotherhood as the basis of that Society, did not occur from any arbitrary selection, nor yet from ethical or even humanitarian considerations merely. We may say that it was not chosen; it presented itself as a central fact, one which correlates with all things, and is itself one of the aspects of the Great, the Mysterious Law. It must be moreover that level of the Law most nearly related to the human being, and by which alone he can raise himself from this “Slough of Despond” called matter. Upon no lesser precedent than this would the Masters, those supreme exponents of the Law, proceed. The outcome and teaching of that Law is Unity; the power of Unity is its exoteric expression. (Its hidden expression, Great Spirits alone can declare.) This power is conferred by the economic tendency of Nature, which uniformly moves along the line of least resistance and of larger currents of energy, which draw in turn all minor streams of being into their resistless tide. In order to bring home to all mankind the primary fact that only as a united body, only by living in and working with and for all, can unbroken advance to the Perfect Goal be achieved, this unitarian necessity had to be conveyed by a term which would appeal to the untrained, as well as to the cultured mind. No man or woman so grossly ignorant but can sense the advantages of “Universal Brotherhood,” while the more profound the thinker, the more he warms to the sublime comprehensiveness of this idea. Many readers will doubtless recall an italicised sentence in the “Diary of a Hindu,” also published in THE PATH. It ran as follows:—“_No Yogee will do a thing unless he sees the desire in another Yogee’s mind._” These were the words of a teacher, and those who may require it have here an authoritative recognition of the need of humanitarian unity. For man’s strength lies in his perfect equilibrium, and by man I now mean the whole, triune man. That this fact is also true on the physical plane alone, is evidenced by medical testimony to the effect that while perfect health is perfect balance, the more complete this balance, the more readily is it disturbed. Thus trained athletes are compelled to take dietetic and other precautions, which men of minor strength disregard with apparent impunity. I say “apparent,” because the result is of course visible in their inferior physical powers. Only when the triune man has attained equilibrium is he a moral force; then alone is he in complete harmony. Harmony with what? With the Law that works for perfection or reunion, faith in which and accordance with which, is the sum of the highest consciousness of the human being. Now remember that there is at all times a body, (be it numerically large or small,) of individuals cognizing and waiting upon this Law. They perceive its tendency, they only act with and through it, and the cumulative energy of this compact body, plus certain impersonal forces, is in itself a tremendous power, so vast in fact, that plus the energizing spirit again, it may be said to form the exoteric expression of the Law itself. Imagine some one member of this body attempting to act from his separate impulse, and not from the general instinct. By disengaging his unit of force from the sum total, he at once neutralizes its effect and limits its expansive ratio; hence it is that action from self, however disinterested, is enfeebling in its tendency. This man may join himself to the powers of evil and act in opposition to the Law: he has then the accruing benefit of that energetic total, but this must fail in the long run, because it is minus the creative spirit, which works for eventual harmony. So true is it that a given cause produces similar results on all the planes alike, that in the spiritual as in the physical world, there must be united action to produce large results. The inutility of weak, single effort was acknowledged by St. Paul when he said—“Because thou art neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth.” Unless the Yogee therefore, perceives an idea in other related minds, as the reflection of the Universal mind, he does not act. When the individual mind has freed itself from all desire for personal action and resting in the Universal Mind, acts passively with it alone, saying: “I rise with thy rising, with thee subside,”—then the individual has attained Nirvana. So that our present unit of power depends upon our greater or lesser assimilation with the highest aggregate of mind, and its continuance, upon our adherence to that manifested body of the Universal Mind which works for Good, with faith into the Perfect Law. This body in turn depends upon the individual efforts of its members, for the continuous elevation and expansion of its highest Ideal. Being thus interdependent, I think we may easily recognize that Universal Brotherhood is the starting point towards final success, and that its complete realization is the goal itself. Each may attain Omniscience, but only as one of a body, not as a separate part. “You shall enter the light, but you shall never touch the flame.”[160] So we may be part of the universal spirit, yet never that spirit itself. This Brotherhood then, in its harmonious equilibrium, implies subservience to the Law of Evolution. The course marked out by this Law is one of gradual progression through a series of interlinked processes, not one of which can be intermitted or dropped, any more than we can omit a link from a chain without break of continuity, which would in this case imply a break of individuality, either as applied to a member or to the whole body. We find this course substantiated by Nature, who is our great initiator. Murdhna Joti’s phrase about not rushing “into the circle of ascetics,” refers to the rotation prevalent in Nature, and may be used in a large general sense, and not merely applied to any especial circle, such as the Hindu, Mahomedan, Christian or other group of ascetics. He refers to the disadvantages consequent upon any violation of this rotatory course; these apply quite as much to the farmer who fails to rotate his crops, as to any thing or person rushing into any plane, before being in all respects fitted to go there. Each plane in itself constitutes a “circle of ascetics,” and must be entered in the proper manner. In every department of Life we meet with an acceptance of this fact. No man is admitted to the privileges of naturalization until he has resided in a country, and has had time to accustom himself to its manners and laws. It is ever held necessary to serve a certain apprenticeship before entering any profession or trade. The social usages even make “circles of ascetics” in this sense. A boor, a ploughman, or even unsuitably attired persons, are not desired or admitted in a parlor full of people in splendid array, and a natural instinct makes them shrink from entering there. When exceptions occur, there is an undercurrent of discord perceptible; all are alike ill at ease. So in Nature, minerals, plants and animals are limited to their proper sphere. Birds cannot swim nor fishes fly. I would say, as birds or as fish _per se_ they cannot do so, nor can the boor, as a boor, be at ease with elevated minds. But advancement is the common lot of all, provided it be made step by step in the natural series of succession. What then is this process in practical Life? It is, firstly, the identification of yourself with the highest consciousness accessible on your present plane, the engrafting upon your entire life of the best ideal attainable, so that you may act upon it in every thought and word. If you can do no more, select in your own mind the most unselfish and pure-hearted person in your horizon, and study the workings of such gracious aspirations and deeds. Noble ideals will soon spring up within you, and by this lodestone similar minds will swiftly be attracted, until you shall collectively form a nucleus of persons identical in aim and influence. If one receives a ray of Truth, he will speedily reflect it to all, and thus our attainment is largely regulated by that of our compeers. Largely, but not entirely. There are exceptional souls who progress with amazing velocity, far outstripping the comrades of their starting-level. But even these hearts of power reach up to the more perfect spirits above them, and to feel this attraction they must have prepared themselves for it, in the uniform, if rapid, rotation of previous existences. Each must trace out the prescribed circuit, but he may travel fast or slow. Let him not rashly conceive himself to be endowed with unusual spiritual momentum: time is better spent in caution than in failure. Murdhna Joti gives valid warning not to rush in until all is ready. The circle is prepared, but you may not be so. Again, your fitness may be assured and the circle for the moment closed. The course of physical nature will exemplify my meaning. The blood leaves the heart by the arteries and goes on to the capillary interchange with the venous system, even as man descends from Spirit into matter, and at the point of choice, turns, and reascends towards Spirit. The veins take up the function of returning the blood to the heart; in these are valves; they receive, hold and transmit the impulse from the central heart. All the blood between any two valves has to stay there until the next impulse comes from the heart; when this arrives, it passes on. The valves close behind each quantum of blood thus ejected through: it is not possible for the blood to recede; retrogression is impeded by the closed valve. Nor can it remain; progress is imperative when the next impulse drives it forward, and so it goes on to the heart In the same manner each person should stay in his appropriate place, not only until he is ready, but also until the great Heart of all is ready to give the next impulse. Then he will inevitably go on to the next place. Masters have said that for “chelas and adepts alike there is an abyss behind each step; a door closed. To stop or to go back is impossible.” That which is true for the Adept is true for the humblest disciple, each in his own manner and degree. It behooves us then to concentrate our attention upon the natural and fitting method of progression, and to assist those about us in maintaining a high average of ideality, that the entire body may progress evenly, steadily, and that nowhere may ignorance or undue haste clot or clog the way. In the end, the reward of patience is holy. In every effort you make to lighten the mind of another and open it to Truth, you help yourself. “Those pearls you find for another and give to him, you really retain for yourself in the act of benevolence. Never lose, then, that altitude of mind. Never, never desire to get knowledge or power for any other purpose than to give it on the altar, for thus alone can it be saved to you. When you open any door, beyond it you find others standing there who had passed you long ago, but now, unable to proceed, they are there waiting; others are there _waiting for you_! Then you come, and opening a door, those waiting disciples perhaps may pass on; thus on and on. What a privilege this, to reflect that we may perhaps be able to help those who seemed greater than ourselves.”[161] The consent of the Spirit has hallowed those thoughts. Another Messenger of Truth once said:—“The first shall be last and the last first; contain yourselves, therefore, in Peace.” JASPER NIEMAND, F. T. S. THOUGHTS IN SOLITUDE. I. Within the symbols and doctrines of the Christian Church may indeed lie hidden all the truths of the Occult Philosophy, and another and abler pen has already traced the correspondences, but it is necessary to realize differences as well as likenesses, and while Christianity, as a definite system, has embodied for the world many noble ideas, it seems to the writer to have been able to display only one fact of the divine jewel of Truth—to have been able to trace only a short line of the celestial circle of Wisdom. Putting aside all such unphilosophical dogmas, as a personal anthropomorphic God—atonement by the vicarious sacrifice of another—eternal damnation and such like, which may be regarded as the outworks of the Creed, and which indeed many of its own professors deny or minimize, and coming to the essential kernel of the system—the inner stronghold of the faith—that which would be regarded as such by all its truest sons throughout these nearly nineteen centuries of its existence, it would yet seem to be but a one-sided statement—a partial view—compared with the all-embracing Catholicity of the Occult Wisdom. Unfortunately the outworks and excrescences above referred to, have, during these many centuries, so warped the thoughts and feelings of the populations professing this religion that it is no longer the pure and exalted doctrine as preached by its founder, but something very different. There are, no doubt, here and there good and noble souls, who practice the higher virtues of Christianity, but they are in such a minority that they are quite unable to affect the popular standard. When one begins to analyse the stupendous outgrowth called Western Civilization, of which steam and electricity, in their practical uses, may be regarded as the types, and to ask how and by what means this vast fabric has arisen, we are informed by those who are able to see below the mere surface of things that the setting of men’s minds in a certain direction must have been the factor, and it is only logical that if a man’s highest religious duty is put before him as the saving of his own soul from perdition, a tendency of mind which may be characterized as the supremely selfish must naturally be set in motion. When the converging lines of heredity through many generations have so strengthened this tendency that it has become a potent factor, the development “_in excelsis_” of the purely intellectual faculties as dissociated from the moral will be seen to be the inevitable result, and from this has naturally evolved the Western Civilization which is spoken of with so much pride. But are not nations like trees to be known by their fruits? “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” What sins are dwelt on with more emphatic reprobation throughout the whole teachings of Christ than those of hypocrisy and cupidity? And where is hypocrisy deeper than within the Christian fold? So deep indeed, that it has become an integral part of the nature, and is no more recognized as a vice than it was by the Pharisees of old. And where is the worship of mammon more rampant than throughout the length and breadth of Christendom? The preachers of the Churches may utter faint-hearted protests, but the nations nevertheless remain prostrate before their idol, and as steam and electricity extend their sway, and new countries are laid open to modern progress, the more primitive races, to avoid extinction, join in the mad competition for wealth. But whether conspicuously shown in the acts of States lustful to conquer fresh territory, or hidden in the individual character, where it displays itself in the haste to grow rich by fair means or foul, it remains none the less a gnawing canker at the heart of Christendom. What a gulf there lies between the practice of modern Europe and the divine teachings of the Master. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon Earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” And again: “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.” There is probably no teaching more thoroughly altruistic in its character, and which, if it could be literally applied, would exercise so direct and beneficial an influence on the human race as the teaching of Christ, but to the impartial student there seems to be none, the spirit of whose revelation has been more perverted and degraded by his followers of all denominations, and following the spiritual law whose complement on the physical plane may be recognized in the axiom that action and reaction are equal, the moral light to which Christ’s teachings soared is the measure which decides the depth to which such teaching, when perverted, must inevitably fall, and Christendom may veritably be said to have become Anti-Christian.[162] All the religions of the world have more or less lost the divine afflatus by which they were originally vivified, but it has been reserved for Christianity to mould the life of the nations from the very blackness of the shadows cast by the “Light of the World.” When we ask to what goal or catastrophe this Western Civilization is hurrying, it is still more necessary to have the eyes of those who are able to read the signs of the times. The following is an extract from a letter to which many of the above ideas may be traced which was signed “a Turkish Effendi” (in the absence of any right to suggest the real and more authoritative name), and was published by his correspondent in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine of January, 1880: “The persistent violation for centuries of the great altruistic laws propounded and enjoined by the great founder of the Christian religion, must inevitably produce a corresponding catastrophe; and the day is not far distant when modern civilization will find, that in its great scientific discoveries and inventions, devised for the purpose of ministering to its own extravagant necessities, it has forged the weapons by which it will itself be destroyed. No better evidence of the truth of this can be found than in the fact that Anti-Christendom alone is menaced with the danger of a great class revolution: already in every so-called Christian country we hear the mutterings of the coming storm, when labor and capital will find themselves arrayed against each other—when rich and poor will meet in deadly antagonism, and the spoilers and the spoiled solve, by means of the most recently invented artillery, the economic problems of modern ‘progress.’ It is surely a remarkable fact that this struggle between rich and poor is specially reserved for those whose religion inculcates upon them as the highest law—the love of their neighbor—and most strongly denounces the love of money. No country which does not bear the name of Christian is thus threatened.” But to return from this long digression, take Christianity, I say, in its loftiest ideal, as taught and practiced by its founder—and it certainly is a very lofty one—altruism in its most sublimated form—self-sacrifice incarnate upon Earth—giving of its life-blood to raise the sons of men, and drawing all to Him by the sheer force of divine love, until the believer’s heart is set on flame, and nothing seems worthy in his eyes short of absolute union with this divine personality who is at once his Saviour, his brother and his God. Yet were you to analyse the thoughts and feelings of the most ecstatic saint, would they display more than an ardent soul, a devout mind and a holy life? Those of the Dualist Philosophy might indeed argue that such an one had his feet well planted on the narrow way—but the students of the wider Philosophy of Nature know well that everything on Earth—religion included—is under the governance of natural law. The attainment of perfection is not to be achieved by sentiment alone—_it is a scientific process_, and knowledge is the supreme enlightener. The devotion of Bhakti is indeed a necessary prelude to progress in the religious life, under the guidance of whichever special cult the neophyte may aspire, but it is as it were the outer court of the Temple, and the Holy of Holies cannot be reached by any save those who have attained knowledge. Without some previous study of occult writings, this word knowledge will entirely fail to carry home the idea which it is intended to express, and let alone the liability to misinterpretation from this cause, how can anyone pretend to describe it who has himself none of this knowledge, who has not yet trodden one step of the path that leads there, and who can only strain with vague imagination towards the sublime conception of the inmost workings of Nature through her manifold diversity laid bare before the intuitive vision? However, although it is an act of temerity on the writer’s part, these few words may convey some idea to those who are no further on the path than himself. When the lower states of consciousness have been so welded in the fire of supreme emotion that duty, though involving the most appalling sacrifice, is no longer a thing to strive after with pain and struggle, but is a natural outcome of the life—the absolute expression of unity with nature—when the higher faculties, emotional, ethical and intellectual, whose respective functions may be said to be the perceiving of the Beautiful, the Good, and the True, have been so merged in one that the Buddhi or divine spark which hitherto flickered, becomes a bright, steady, luminous flame—when the “Explosion,” as St. Martin called it, has taken place, “by which our natural will is forever dispersed and annihilated by contact with the divine,”—then and then only is one fit to begin to tread the path of knowledge. That it leads altogether beyond human experience, and entirely transcends what we can conceive is but too apparent. The 15th and 16th Rules in the second part of “_Light on the Path_” may help towards a vague apprehension of what this knowledge means. 15th. Inquire of the earth, the air and the water of the secrets they hold for you. The development of your inner senses will enable you to do this. 16th. Inquire of the holy ones of the earth of the secrets they hold for you. The conquering of the desires of the outer senses will give you the right to do this. And the final secret of all may be said to be wrapped up in the mystery of “self.” When the knowledge of the individualization of Being is reached, man has learned all that this world can teach him, and in the words “Know thyself” lie folded the ultimate possibilities of Humanity. Knowledge is indeed the supreme enlightener. “There is no purifier like thereto In all this world, and he who seeketh it Shall find it—being grown perfect—in himself.” Whether any intelligible idea as to the knowledge itself can be evolved from what is here written—it will at least be apparent that a goodness so exalted as to be scarcely imaginable as a human attribute is required as the necessary qualification for the commencement of the search. Well did Shelley write in his Prometheus: “The good want power but to weep barren tears The powerful goodness want—worse need for them. The wise want love; and those who love want wisdom. And all best things are thus confused to ill. Many are strong and rich, and would be just But live among their suffering fellow-men As if none felt: they know not what to do.” and the current Theologies of the world have not been able to remove the reproach. In the case of Christianity the failure may, to a great extent, be owing to its sentimentality and its failure to realize that to be supremely good it is necessary to be wise—though wise with a higher wisdom than that referred to in the above lines. But Christianity’s greatest fall has probably been its disregard of the facts of Reincarnation. Whatever interpretation may be put on the great Master’s utterance on this subject, and however the early church may have regarded it, it is notorious that Christianity, as interpreted by its mediæval and modern professors alike, has entirely ignored the evolution of the soul progressing through innumerable earthly existences, and has instead adopted the illogical and unphilosophic dogma of a human soul born into the world from nothingness and meriting by its 70 or 80 years of earth-life an Eternity of bliss or an Eternity of misery. But one does not expect of the child the reason-guided actions of mature manhood—its teachings must be given in the form of dogma, to which it must yield implicit obedience. Nor do we expect the infant school to provide the same training that the University does for the cultured intellect. Similarly the various Religions of the world have been the infant schools for growing Humanity until the complete stature of manhood should be reached. It has been remarked by some Christians who are much enamored of the self-devoted love exhibited by the Founder of their faith, and the strong feeling of personal love and attachment thereby called forth from them, that Theosophy is cold because it does not dwell exclusively on that side of the nature, but while each separate Religion that has existed in the world may be regarded as the analysis of one special characteristic of the mind, the occult philosophy gathers into one synthetical whole all its varied characteristics. The different religions accentuating as they do different truths may be regarded at the same time—according as one looks at them from the scientific or religious standpoint—and both views are equally tenable and mutually comprehensive—as natural evolutions of the peoples among whom they arose, and as revelations from the unseen universe of partial truths which have to be received and assimilated before mankind can be fitted to comprehend the Supreme Truth in its abstract purity. It will be seen from the foregoing that what we call Theosophy is the supreme expression of all Religion, as it is the final synthesis of all Science—for it is faith merged in Knowledge. When one looks abroad on the world and sees how few even among the Religious, the Cultured and the Intellectual are able to grasp the Truth by intuitive vision—while the masses of mankind are sunk in degradation and semi-barbarity, the mind is lost in the vistas of the future, during which the present Religions or those which may have taken their place will have to continue their work of teaching. Education is slow and Evolution is tardy, and the whole circle of wisdom is slow to trace; but the march of Nature has been as it was bound to be—for the best—and the line of Pope “One truth is clear, whatever is is right.” seems more and more to be borne in upon the mind as an Eternal verity. Destiny has guided us till now, and has made us what we are, but we who now realize the omnipotence of the divinely guided _Will_, have become potentially the makers—let us take it in our hands and shape our own career, for the sooner we rise to the heights of our Being, the sooner shall we be able to stretch down helping hands to the suffering Humanity of To-day. PILGRIM. TEA TABLE TALK. THE TENDENCY OF THE PRESENT CIVILIZATION.—AN ANCIENT HINDU STORY. Pretty much every subject comes up for discussion at our afternoon tea-table. Hence I was not surprised lately, walking in upon our five-o’clock callers, to find an argument on crime going the rounds with the bread and butter. “What is the worst thing you have seen in the papers lately?” This question imparted the flavor of caviare to the mild refreshment of the ladies. The Club Bachelor held a certain divorce case to be——; the mother drowned the rest in the peremptory rattle of her tea-cups and instanced cruelty to the child slave of an Italian padrone. Sue let off a pyrotechnic series of wrath-compelling wrongs to animals, whom she considers “miles above horrid humans.” The widow pilloried that brutal subject of recent press dispatches “who murdered his fifth wife at her tea-table. Fancy! What an invasion of the Sanctuary.” Pretty Polly was also heard battling _vi et armis_ with the Medical Student over a breach of promise case, and all were moderately heated over these comparative claims to condemnation when the professor entered. Tumultuously appealed to, he replied in his serious way that if he must discriminate between evils, he should give precedence to the matter of the Chicago Anarchists. First, because of the blood-shed and riot; second, because of recent manifestations of incipient public sympathy with the criminals. “For,” said he, “considering the infectious nature of the evil, a crime which strikes at principles as well as at humanity is a thousandfold crime.” A murmur of approbation showed that as usual, he had conveyed the ultimate sense of the tea-table,—minus a paltry minority. For the widow fixing her eyes on me where I had edged between Polly and the Student, remarked that Mr. Julius looked “as if he sympathised with incitors of riots rather than with their victims.” The prompt horror visible on Polly’s face nettled me into this reply. “Madam, your discrimination merits my homage, I am not totally devoid of all sympathy with the incitors of riots,”(gutturals of dismay from every throat,) “for those incitors,” here I bowed in a semi circle, “are yourselves.” The silent indignation of my peers was brought presently home to my recreant soul by the mother’s gentle—“Really, Mr. Julius, you will excuse me if I regret what you have just said.” “Excuse _me_, you who are Charity itself, and read my clumsy speech in the light of a declaration made by a Hindu theosophist—Mr. Mohini: “Whence springs the great diversity of conditions, the contemplation of which breeds Socialism? Is it not the direct outgrowth of the passion of acquisitiveness? The more a Western man gets, the more he wants, and while your world holds to this principle you can never be free from the danger and fear of socialism. The Brotherhood of Man which Jesus Christ believed in has become unthinkable to you, with your millionaires at one end of the scale and your tramps at the other.”[163] “Do I understand you to conclude that Society, being responsible for crime, should permit criminals to go unpunished?” “By no means, Professor, but if you will excuse another quotation,—‘Give moral restraint to moral maladies, and not impious chastisements. Do not travel in a bloody circle in punishing murder by murder, for so you sanction assassination in one sense and you perpetuate a war of cannibals.’ * * Remember the condemned man who said: ‘In assassinating I risked my head. You gain; I pay; we are quits.’ And in his heart he added: ‘we are equals.’” “Who said that?” queried the widow. “Eliphas Levi, at your service.” “Thanks. I’ve no use for _French morals_!” Under cover of this dart she retired. What I love most in woman is her way of retreating from the field of defeat with all the honors of war! “Seems to me,” said Sue, emerging from a monopoly of tea bun, “that things are just perfectly awful anyhow.” “My Dear! What can you know about it?” remonstrated the mother. Sue silently pointed a sticky and accusing finger towards those philanthropic journals which cheerfully fulfil their mission of household enlightenment] _ad nauseam_. “Things are as they always were,” said the Professor smoothing his philosophic beard. The old Lady ruffled up in her shady corner. “By no means. When I was young—” The mother looked deprecatingly at me. “Mr. Julius, have you never wondered why Life should be so dark? And yet there was once a Golden Age!” “The occultists say that every age has its own characteristics. This is Kali Yuga, the dark age. In the Satwa Yuga, cycle of causes or truth, the highest of the three conditions or states, known as Satwa Guna, prevailed.[164] Consequently in that age, men lived longer, happier and more spiritual lives. In Treta, the second age, prevailed Raja Guna the second condition, and the life period and happiness of men decreased. In the Dwarapa, (third age) there was less of Raja Guna. In the present Kali Yuga, there is more of Tamo Guna, and this is the worst of the cycles. “The characteristics of these grand cycles and the different minor cycles are elaborately described in the sacred literature of the Hindus. If it would not weary you I could tell a story which gives some idea of the nature of cyclic influence and how coming events cast their shadows before.” Popular opinion, led by Sue, clamored for the story. “This story is taken from a secret sanscrit book, called the Diary of the Pandavas. It gives a diurnal account of the 18 years forest life of five exiled princely brothers immediately previous to our dark age. This book contains 18 x 360 stories describing the cumulative tendency of sin, and it is said was used in the last yugas as the first book of morals for boys;[165] every story has its moral; the series reveals the genealogy of evil, or of the descent of spirit into matter. “The volume is secretly preserved for the training of occultists, and the entire order in which the stories are arranged is only revealed during initiations. An initiate who has passed three initiations and is preparing for the fourth, is only shown that series treating of such especial elements of his evil nature as he is then preparing to convert into higher energies. In this story, the five brothers are ideal kings. The eldest is regarded as an embodiment of Dharma, (the Law itself,) an incarnation of the God of Justice, yet so strong was the influence of the coming dark cycle, that one Adharma, (transgression of law, injustice) occurred daily within the palace. Late one evening the Maharaja, (elder brother) had retired and was chatting with his wife. The four younger brothers were as usual respectively guarding the four palace gates. Bhima, (the terrible) _wisest_ of the younger brothers was invariably at the chief gate during the first three hours. To him comes a poor injured Brahmin who asks to see the Maharaja immediately and knocks the “Bell of Complaint.” The Maharaja sends a servant to say that he is in bed and will hear the complaint next morning. The Brahmin saw that the shadow of Kali Yuga had come and smiling, turned away.[166] But Bhima would not let him go without knowing whether justice had been done him. The Brahmin refused to reply; he would not sit in judgment nor reveal the king’s faults. Bhima knew from the petitioner’s silence that no attention had been paid to his case, and ordered that a trumpet be sounded and a proclamation be thus issued: “Strange that our just brother the Monarch has relied upon to-morrow and sacrificed duty to pleasure.” The king heard the cry of the trumpeter and coming hastily on foot, he overtook the Brahmin, fell at his feet, heard and redressed his complaint, then walked sullenly back. Kali’s influence was thus doubly seen. First in the Monarch’s conduct and secondly, in that the younger brother should presume to judge and to teach the elder. If even in the palace of the five most law abiding persons, Kali played so powerful a part, we may imagine her influence in other circles of life, amongst the ignorant, or amongst us later mortals now when her momentum has full swing.” There was a brief silence. Then a shooting fire ray revealed a divine gem in the Mother’s eye and her soft voice said lowly; “After all, it seems that we _are_ our brother’s keeper.” And no one gainsayed her. JULIUS. * * * * * NOTE.—Any one desirous of having queries answered, or of relating authentic dreams, experiences, etc., is invited to communicate with “Julius, Care THE PATH, P. O. Box 2659.” No attention will be paid to anonymous letters. THEOSOPHICAL WORK IN AMERICA. BOSTON.—The Boston T. S. meets every Friday evening. Mr. Mohini M. Chatterji is stopping quietly with friends in Boston. He is not here on a public mission, feeling that a different instrument is needed for arousing general interest in Theosophy. He is always glad to see Theosophists, however, and has set apart Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons to receive them and other earnest inquirers. He has a small class in the _Bhagavat-Gita_ Tuesdays and Thursdays. Interest in occult subjects is largely increasing this winter. Some experiments by Mr. W. I. Bishop in “Thought Transference” have done their share in directing public interest that way. It is amusing to observe the crude theories to account for the phenomenon put forward by some of the members of the American Society for Psychical Research, which seems to have been organized for the special purpose of not finding out anything. One of the members, Rev. Minot J. Savage, however, comes out with the declaration that three things are proven beyond doubt; Thought Transference, Hypnotism, and Clairvoyance. There are rumors of a notable book by a strictly anonymous author, and of special interest to Theosophists, soon to be issued by a Boston publisher. On Tuesday evening, December 21, by invitation of a well known theosophist, the Boston and Malden Societies held a largely attended joint meeting, to listen to Mr. Mohini Chatterji, who spoke on various phases of Theosophy, and with his spiritual insight, eloquence and learning, afforded questioners much light in the course of the discussion that followed. In the field of psychical research much interest has been aroused by an able article by Mr. Charles Howard Montague, city editor of THE GLOBE, describing the results and nature of experiments by which, after a few days’ trial, he was enabled to accomplish all that was done by Mr. W. I. Bishop, in his so-called feats of mind-reading. Mr. Montague says that it is not “muscle-reading,” but “impulse reading,” or close attention to unconscious impulses given by the subject. As it is absurd to seek a psychical explanation for what proves to be physical phenomena, it is well for the public to know the truth and not be deluded by the claims of Mr. Bishop and other public performers. Mr. Montague does not pretend to account, by his solutions, for the well-known cases of genuine thought transference. * * * * * MALDEN.—A largely attended open meeting of the Malden Branch, T. S., held Monday evening, December 6, was addressed by Mohini M. Chatterji on the Theosophical Aspects of the Christian Religion, based on a study of the New Testament. The broad and tolerant attitude of the speaker made a deep impression. At one of the recent previous meetings a record of some religious conversations held by the three Zuñi Indians who have been spending the summer on the neighboring coast with Mr. Frank Hamilton Cushing, the Ethnologist, was read and discussed, with one of their beautiful folktales, both showing deep veins of pure Theosophy. * * * * * NEW YORK.—The Aryan Theosophical Society continues to hold bi-monthly meetings, which have been well attended. In November, Brother Mohini M. Chatterji and Col. Aymé addressed meetings. Col. Aymé gave an address on Theosophy and Mathematics, with illustrations on the blackboard. On the first meeting in December, Bro. C. H. A. Bjerregaard read a paper upon the Elementals, which was of great value and interest; the first part of it is printed in this number and will be finished in February. * * * * * CALIFORNIA.—The work here is being carried on by the Branches in Los Angeles and Oakland, and some new members are reported. * * * * * THE AMERICAN THEOSOPHICAL COUNCIL.—In October, a Convention was held at Cincinnati, O., at which all the active Branches were represented. The American section of the General Theosophical Council was then formed, to take the place of the Board of Control, which went out of existence. Dr. Buck acted as Chairman, and a General Secretary who is to act as the means of communication between Branches and Headquarters was elected. The choice fell upon Mr. William Q. Judge, of New York, to whom hereafter all application and official communications should be sent. Since this convention, new applications have been coming in and the work shows no signs of abatement. It is expected that another meeting of the Council will be held very soon for the purpose of carrying out some proposals for slight changes in the management of formal matters. The Council assumes no control of Branches who are left perfectly free so long as they act within the general rules of the Society. * * * * * CHICAGO.—At the annual election of this Branch, held December 4th, 1886, the following officers were elected: President, Stanley B. Sexton; Vice-President, Annie G. Ordway; Recording Secretary, Ursula N. Gestefeld; Corresponding Secretary, M. L. Brainard; Treasurer and Librarian, Mrs. A. V. Wakeman. Address all official correspondence to the Corresponding Secretary, 376 W. Adams St. REVIEWS AND NOTES. THE THEOSOPHIST.—The leading article in _The Theosophist_ for November is again by Madame Blavatsky—a notable contribution on animated images, in the course of which it is shown that some of the circumstances in that amusing travesty of Occultism, Anstey’s “Fallen Idol,” are based on true occult principles. By the way, every Theosophist should read Mr. Sinnett’s “_Incidents in the Life of Madame Blavatsky_,” for thereby a clearer conception of the character of that illustrious and heroic woman will be gained, with a better understanding of her nature and mission. Col. Olcott’s second and concluding article on “The Seeress of Prevorst,” is a careful and scholarly piece of work, throwing some light from Eastern sources on that remarkable case of occult development in an obscure German village. Dr. Hartman has a paper on “Occultism in Germany,” in which he gives an important hint concerning one of the methods of practically developing one’s higher nature. Srinivas Rao’s new story opens interestingly. The Eliphas Levy series continue, and a second article on Hypnotic Experiments is given. Several other interesting contributions must remain unnoticed. It is a valuable number. _The Theosophist_ deserves to increase its circulation with the increasing interest in Theosophy. NOTES AND QUERIES.—Brother Gould continues this useful and interesting publication. We are indebted to him for November and December numbers. Many of the replies are by our old friend, Prof. Alex. Wilder, who is learned in all that is curious in history, archæology and philology. The December number has 40 pages of extremely valuable matter. Address S. C. & L. M. Gould, Manchester, N. H.; price $1 a year. PSYCHOMETRY AND THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE, by N. C. F. T. S., with an introduction by H. S. Olcott, is one of the Adyar series. It has been compiled with a view of putting in a small compass the main facts available relating to these two subjects, with an outline of the occult explanation of the same. ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.—A new American edition of this book has been brought out by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., containing all the new matter and notes of the latest English edition, besides a special introduction; it is sold at a less price. Inquirers can order through THE PATH. THE PLATONIST is to be revived, and will shortly appear in a new shape—octavo, 56 pp.; $3 per year. Thos. M. Johnson, Osceola, St. Clair Co., Mo. CORRESPONDENCE. AN IMPORTANT CORRECTION. TO ALL THE READERS OF THE PATH. In the November number of Path in my article “_Theories about Reincarnation and Spirits_,” the entire batch of elaborate arguments is upset and made to fall flat owing to the mistake of either copyist or printer. On page 235, the last paragraph is made to begin with these words: “Therefore the _reincarnating_ principles are left behind in _Kama-loka_, etc.,” whereas it ought to read “Therefore the NON-_reincarnating_ principles (the false personality) are left behind in Kama-loka, etc.,” a statement fully corroborated by what follows, since it is stated that those principles fade out and _disappear_. There seems to be some fatality attending this question. The spiritualists will not fail to see in it the guiding hand of their dear departed ones from “Summerland;” and I am inclined to share that belief with them in so far that there must be some mischievous spook between me and the printing of my articles. Unless immediately corrected and attention drawn to it, this error is one which is sure to be quoted some day against me and called a _contradiction_. Yours truly, _November 20th, 1886._ H. P. BLAVATSKY. NOTE.—The MS. for the article referred to was written out by some one for Mme. Blavatsky and forwarded to us as it was printed, and it is quite evident that the error was the copyist’s, and not ours nor Madame’s; besides that, the remainder of the paragraph clearly shows a mistake. We did not feel justified in making such an important change on our own responsibility, but are now glad to have the author do it herself. Other minor errors probably also can be found in consequence of the peculiar writing of the amanuensis, but they are very trivial in their nature.—[ED.] * * * * * For thoughts alone cause the round of rebirths in this world; let a man strive to purify his thoughts. What a man thinks, that he is: this is the old secret.—_Maitrayana Brahmana Upanishad_, vi _Prap._, 34. OM. FOOTNOTES: [157] Dr. G. Weil: The Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud. [158] Leibnitz was born 1646 at Leipzig, and died 1716. According to Schwegler’s Hist. of Phil. he was, next to Aristotle, the most highly gifted scholar that ever lived, and according to F. Papillon (“Nature and Life”) modern students in various departments of science and philosophy have verified his ideas and endorsed then to a large extent. [159] See July and August PATH. [160] _Light on the Path._ [161] Letter from a friend. [162] It is an old declaration of the esoteric doctrine that “the counterfeit religion will last as long as the true one.”—[ED.] [163] See _N. Y. Tribune_, Nov. 28. 1886. [164] See _Bag.-Gita_, Ch. 14. [165] The numbers used here are significant. In _Bagavad-Gita_ are 18 chapters, and Krishna as there revealed has a special meaning under the No. 18. The five Pandavas are the same as those who are concerned in the _Gita_ story. If the product of 18 x 360 be added, the sum is 18. The correspondences in all the Hindu stories will repay study.—[ED.] [166] This injured Brahmin was a sage who assuming that disguise desired to make a test.—[ED.] AUM There is not anything amongst the hosts of heaven which is free from the influence of the three qualities which arise from the first principles of nature.—_Bagavad-Gita_, ch. xviii. Know that there is no enlightenment from without; the secret of things is revealed from within. From without cometh no Divine Revelation, but the spirit heareth within. Do not think I tell you that which you know not; for except you know it, it cannot be given you. To him that hath it is given, and he bath the more abundantly.—_Hermetic Philosophy._ THE PATH. VOL. I. FEBRUARY, 1887. NO. 11. _The Theosophical Society, as such, is not responsible for any opinion or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless contained in an official document._ Where any article, or statement, has the author’s name attached, he alone is responsible, and for those which are unsigned, the Editor will be accountable. THE ELEMENTALS, THE ELEMENTARY SPIRITS, AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEM AND HUMAN BEINGS. _A paper read before the Aryan Theosophical Society of New York, December 14th, 1886._ BY C. H. A. BJERREGAARD. (_Continued._) There are several designations for “angels” in the Bible, which clearly show that beings like the elementals of the Kabbala and the monads of Leibnitz, must be understood by that term rather than that which is commonly understood. They are called “morning stars,” (Job 38, 7); “flaming fires,” (Ps. 104, 4.); “the mighty ones,” (Ps. 103, 20) and St. Paul sees them in his cosmogonic vision (1 Col. 1, 16) as “principalities and powers.” Such names as these preclude the idea of personality, and we find ourselves compelled to think of them as impersonal existences, in the same way as we conceive the angel that troubled the waters of the pool of Bethesda, as an _influence_, a spiritual substance or _conscious_ force. I stated above that the Kabbala taught that all events in Nature and History were under the immediate superintendence of spirits, elementals and elementary. It was in harmony with such teachings, that the translators of the Septuagint translated Deuteronomy 32, 8-9, thus: “When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, he set the bounds of the Heathen according to the number of the spirits, but He Himself took His abode in Israel.” According to this translation, which differs radically[167] from the orthodox, spirits _i.e._ Elementals and Elementary Spirits, are the rulers, the principalities and powers, among the heathen, _i. e._ all people outside of Israel. Whatever we may think of the exclusiveness of this passage, and the work given the “chosen people” to perform, we can verify this passage historically. All people of the earth—so far as we know their religious and philosophical ideas—have drawn their spiritual life from sources very different from those whence the leaders of Israel derived _their_ inspiration. I say the leaders of Israel, for the Israelites as a people, never comprehended the mission imposed upon them, they constantly fell back into what has been called the “idolatry” of the nations around. The people, as a people, were true to their natural instincts, which led them to follow the guiding influence of natural _ideas_, (_i. e._ Elementals and Elementary Spirits). I need not tell you that the _Ideas_ now spoken of are not merely Conceptions, such as we, according to common usage, are wont to believe. Ideas to the antique world, were exactly the same thing as Leibnitz called monads, and the Kabbala Elements and Elementary Spirits. Plato, for instance, attributes to ideas an independent, singular existence and hypostative power. He calls them Gods (in the Timœus), and asserts that movement, life, animation, and reason belong to them, (in the Sophistes). The nations of the earth, all those not belonging to the chosen few, have indeed been—for good and for evil—guided by the Spirits, now called Elementals, now Ideas and now Gods. Therefore, if any one will study the history of mankind, he must begin with a knowledge of these occult powers. If any one will guide mankind’s history, he must follow the laws of these occult forces. If we recognize the translation of the Septuagint as given above, and find ourselves outside the pale of the chosen people, whose work is in “the plan of salvation,” we know where to look for the intermediate powers between ourselves and the Deity, we know that they are the Elementals, the powers of Nature, the silent, but invincible giants of the Elements. The importance to Theosophists of the modern school of clear conceptions on these points are evident. I need not point out to you why and wherefore. In the Zohar it is stated that, “when spirits come down, they clothe themselves with air or wrap themselves in Elements.” It is also stated that, “some spirits have a natural affinity for the air-(elements), others for fire-(elements), and when they come down to the earth, they envelop themselves either in air-(elements) or fire-(elements), according to their nature.” These statements, which can easily be supplemented with many more like them, are of the greatest importance, when the question is of spirit manifestations, for it becomes a matter of grave consequence by what kind of monads we are surrounded. But, before speaking of the atmosphere of monads that surround us, I must define the auras or emanations that proceed from all objects in nature. As an aromatic scent emanates from a flower, so all other bodies emit either colors or rays of “imponderable” matter. Copper and Arsenic send out auras of red matter; Lead and Sulphur emit a blue colored substance; Gold, Silver Antimony green, etc. In short, Science teaches that all matter is luminous, _i. e._ shines by its own light. Human beings, be they spiritual-minded or not, are also surrounded by their spheres. We all know this. We have all felt these sphere influences, and some of you have perhaps seen them. It it said that persons of a high and spiritual character have beautiful auras of white and blue, gold and green, in various tints; while low natures emit principally dark red emanations, which in brutal and vulgar persons darken almost to black. The impulse or motive power, the cause, if you choose, of these emanations is the soul of man, of course. According to the condition of the soul, these emanations are more or less powerful, more or less extensive, more or less clear. The stuff they are made of, what is it? It is of course physical, though they may not be measured and weighed by any scientific instrument known at this day. _These emanations are soul-rays and they become reflected upon those small_ MONADIC _bodies already described_. I can not prove this to you experimentally, but I can see these reflections as clearly as a physical experiment can demonstrate to you the light-reflection of the sun’s rays upon a raindrop. Swedenborg claimed to have _smelled_ the inner nature of certain spirits he met with in the spiritual world, and to have determined their moral value by these rays. In his work “Heaven and Hell,” he has recorded several such experiences. It is an innate power of the soul, that enables it to throw off these rays and it does it by necessity, for without going beyond itself, to express itself, the soul would never realize itself. The soul can, however, also be trained to emit these rays or auras, consciously. If we will believe the famous Norse traveller and explorer of Spiritland, already referred to, Em. Swedenborg, we may learn from his Arcana Celestia, that “the particular quality of a spirit is perceived immediately on his entrance into the other life, _from his sphere_,” that “the sphere is _the image_ of the spirit extended beyond him;” “indeed, it is the image of _all_ that is in him.” The cause of the spheres around spirits, the same author states to be from “the activity of things in the interior memory,” from “_the ruling love_.” Swedenborg further states, that “by the sphere which exhales from the spirit of man, even while he lives in the body, every deed, however secret, becomes manifest in clear light,” and that good or evil spirits recognize him by his sphere; and that good spirits can not be present with those who are in worldly and corporeal loves, however pious exteriorly, because they instantly perceive their sphere of evil as something filthy; and, on the other hand, that good spirits readily associate with those surrounded by pure and heavenly spheres. But it is not necessary to have recourse to the seers and those spiritually illuminated, most of us have some knowledge of these facts from daily life. Who has not perceived the low and filthy sphere that surrounds the sensual, or the intolerable atmosphere of a proud and haughty spirit, or been depressed in the surroundings of a melancholy and passionate man or woman? Indeed, we all have perceptions as to these things; some stronger, some less developed. It is, as I said, the very life of the soul to diffuse itself through all its surroundings. Without such an activity it would not be soul. An inactive, an inert soul has no existence. Next, the soul, while thus actualizing itself, takes its material from the monads, just described, and moulds them into such shapes and forms as are requisite for its own life and the influence it endeavors to exert. The Soul has the power to mould and shape them into any possible condition. (More about this later on.) This faculty is its image-making power or the form-making power of the soul. In order to understand this image-making power, let it first be remembered, that it is an axiom in all mystical and spiritual philosophy, that the spiritual degree in man (Atman) contains in its unity with the Universal soul, the patterns of all things and that these are reflected through the soul (Buddhi and Manas). This being so, _the soul (Buddhi and Manas) to understand the principle of creation has only to descend to its own deep, the spirit (Atman), there to find it reflected_. Having found and realized the idea of creation, the soul may take material from the ethereal world, called by the Orientals Akasa, and out of it build any form—image, I call it—it likes. Unless the soul gives such form and shape to the ideas and life, that dwells in its own inner deep, these will remain uncreated and the soul uneducated by not approving of its opportunities. This is what I call the image-making power of the soul. Upon it depends all Kardialogy or the science of the heart, and all Rationality. Upon it depends our attainment of psychic powers. It is not only an innate and natural tendency of the soul (Manas) to go beyond its body to find material with which to clothe the life that it wants to give expression to. The soul (Manas) can and must _be trained to do this_ CONSCIOUSLY. You can easily see that this power possessed _consciously_ will give its possessor the power to work magic. And this leads me directly to the subject of the use of aromas, odors, etc., wherewith to create a suitable atmosphere around us; an atmosphere congenial to the nature of spirits. You all remember the splendid scene in Bulwer’s Zanoni where Glyndon meets the Dweller of the Threshold. In that scene is described all the mystery of aromatic vapors, their effect upon the human mind, and the assistance they offer to spirit manifestations. In short, it is of the greatest importance that we produce the right environment by the right kind of emanations or auras, and atmospheres: “As we give, so we shall receive!” It would require a volume to relate the religious, political, economic, and gallant history of odors and perfumes. I shall mention a few instances only. From the highest antiquity we find that priests have employed odoriferous substances. The worshippers of light, the Zoroastrians, laid perfumes five times a day upon the sacred flame, that symbolized light and life. The Greeks were very profuse in the use of ambrosia, and believed that the gods always appeared in fragrant clouds. You all know the importance of smoke and perfumes in the rituals used at the Mysteries and around the sacred tripod on which rested the prophetesses at Delphi. The Romans almost carried the use of incense and odoriferous substances too far. From the classic people the custom was borrowed by the Christian Church. There was even a time, when the Romish Church owned large estates in the East, devoted exclusively to the cultivation of balms and essences to be used in the rites of worship. But it was not only in religious practices that these delicate media were used to facilitate the descent of spiritual beings. All through the Orient, even to this day, they are employed in the private life for the same purpose; not for mere luxury, as some people will have us believe. It was very appropriate indeed, that the Greeks should burn aromatic substances during their banquets, and who can estimate the soothing influence upon the wild and warlike Romans of their beautiful custom of perfuming their baths, their sleeping rooms and beds, and their drinks. It is not at all likely that the Romans should have been ignorant of the high spiritual significance of these practices. Why should they before battle anoint the Roman eagles with the richest perfumes, if they did not think it pleasing to the god of war and his followers, if they did not thereby expect to prepare a suitable atmosphere for their descent. I pass by the modern use of these things. Among the many abuses with which we are familiar, the strong human instinct asserts itself everywhere. We expect, for instance, that Youth and Beauty shall be surrounded by a sphere, sweet-smelling and elevating; and our instincts are true in this, for there is a close parallel between purity and aromatic odors. It is a truth well understood that Spirit does not act immediately upon Matter. There always is a medium between them. It seems rational that it should be so. Spirit and Matter being the two poles of one and the same substance need the intermediate middle as a point of conjunction and exchange of energy. _Applying this general law to the particulars before us, it seems most natural to conclude that the Elementals are the media by means of which all our spiritual efforts are exerted upon Nature, and that nothing can be done without their intervention._ But the question also arises: how do we make the Elementals perform this work for us? By what means do we influence them? Occult Science teaches that “the pure of heart,” those that, having travelled over “the Path,” have come to “freedom,” can, by a mere mental effort or by stretching out the hand, “do these things.” In view of this teaching, I shall state a few facts relative to the power of the Mind and the Hand. (1) The Word spoken consists of the thought or idea we want to convey to the person spoken to, and (2) this thought clothed in a form, a kind of vessel, by means of which we send the thought flying through space. These two elements are the main factors of the Word. Let us now look a little closer upon each of these two factors. When an animal in distress calls for another, we, human beings, understand that it throws its desire or animal life into the sounds which proceed from that throat, and the other animal answers _instinctively_, we say quite correctly, for we do not think that the animals _reason_ about their doings. This kind of “language,” if it can be so called, is not much different from the language of mankind at large. All language as used in ordinary daily life is but slightly higher in character, but not different in degree. _Language—the Word—is spoken when an Idea or Spiritual Life is communicated._ In the true sense, we only speak or pronounce the Word when the Highest finds a channel into the actual world by means of our vocal organs. That is the Word! Now, about its Form. Whence comes its material? For form is something substantial. It is not enough that an architect has a design to a building in his mind, he needs actual material with which to erect the house if it is to be realized on the actual side of existence. As surely as he procures stones and wood, etc., so do we also need material substances with which to construct our mental edifices. From what world do we draw these substances? From the astral or ethereal molecules! From the Monads! By a pre-established harmony, the suitable monads glomerate around the heavenly idea that proceeds to reveal itself upon our tongue when we speak the Word. Thus the thought gets its Form. Thus far I have spoken of the thought or idea descending to utter itself upon our tongue, we being the mere tools of the idea. And such is almost always the case. We neither originate thought nor its form. Thought or Spirit speaks through us as the passive agents. Yet we all know how we boast of our oracles, of our prophets and our seers, even because they act as passive agents. But there is a language still higher. It is possible for man to originate thought and to control the form to such thought. The adepts know this secret and they have arrived at that power by getting beyond the “ordinary” laws of life. They are not mere channels for the flux and reflux of thought; they originate and control thought. Heaven’s first law is order. As we know some of the laws according to which we formulate speech in a logical way, so that other sphere outside (or inside, if you like), which is full of the germs of life, has its laws. Hence the adepts, too, follow certain rules or laws, when they want to originate or control thought and its form. Vulgarly, the laws or methods are called spells or incantations. Before we consciously can work spells or control spirits and their energies, we must arrive at the state of the adept, where he is beyond the laws that govern, so to say, the surface of things. But we cannot come there on any highroads nor by any short cuts. We must travel the road of self-denial and that of illusion. As it is possible to enter into the sanctuary of a temple by sheer brutal force, so it is possible to get into possession of formulas and spells which work wonders, though we be neither pure of mind nor strong of heart. Would formulas and spells under such conditions be useful to us? They may! They may not! They may also work our destruction. We have been taught that they are more dangerous to us than a naked sword in the hands of a child. The child may accidentally do some useful work with its sharp instrument, but it may also destroy itself. From this we should learn that the true course to pursue in regard to the performing of wonders by means of Elementals or Elementary Spirits is to first to attain to the state of an adept: to learn to control life and thought. If we should happen to come in possession of spells or incantations without knowing the proper use of them—better not use them! But how do we attain to that state just described? I can not define the way nor teach anybody how to do so, but I think that the way must be very much like that travelled by the Lord Buddha and now followed by “the Adepts.” But, as it is not our immediate duty to prepare for the performance of miracles, we have been warned to abstain from such vain pursuits. Far better is it for us to follow the directions given for moral life: “Try to get as near to wisdom and goodness as you can in this life. Trouble not yourself about the gods. Disturb yourself not by curiosities or desires about any future existence. Seek only after the fruit of the noble path of self-culture and of self-control.” These are words from Buddhist Scriptures. It is not only by mind that we may control the Elementals and the Elementary spirits. The hand forms a most important element among the tools used in occult science. I shall not define the science of chiromancy, but describe the magnetic points of the fingers. Have you given any thought and attention to the hand? Generally we consider the head of a man and put our estimate upon him according to the size of his brain. But we neglect the hand. And yet the hand is as important a factor in the execution of spiritual acts as is the brain. The hand is the executive organ of the dynamico-mysterious actions of the Spirit of man. Through the hand its psychico-somatic operations take place, through it its whole spiritual-psychical energy flows out, when laid upon the sick, for instance. It may be readily enough understood that the spiritual activity of the spirit of man ultimates itself in acts, and that almost all of these are executed by the hand, but it is probably but little known that in healing, for instance, there is a peculiar physical basis in the hand, upon which the healing power is dependent, _the Pacinian corpuscles_, namely. It is now many years ago (it was in 1830 and 1840) that Pacini, a physician of Pistola, made his discovery; but with the exception of the literature to which it gave rise, and which is known only to a few learned men and a few librarians of larger libraries, little or nothing is known of his discovery. Pacini found in all the sensible nerves of the fingers many small elliptical, whitish corpuscles. He compared them to the electrical organs of the torpedo and described them as animal magneto-motors, as organs of animal magnetism. And so did Henle and Kólliker, two German anatomists, who have studied and described these corpuscles very minutely. In the human body they are found in great numbers in connection with the nerves of the hand, also in those of the foot. Why should they not be in the feet? Let us remember the rythmical structure of the human body, particularly the feet, and it becomes clear why they are there; the ecstatic dances of the enthusiasts and the not-sinking of somnambulists in water or their ability to use the soles of their feet as organs of perception and the ancient art of healing by the soles of the feet—all these facts explain the mystery. They are found sparingly on the spinal nerves, and on the plexuses of the sympathetic, but never on the nerves of motion. They are most numerous on the small twigs of nerves and generally placed parallel to them, though often at an acute angle. They are more or less oval, sometimes elongated and bent. They are nearly transparent, with a whitish line traversing their axis. The corpuscles of the human subject are from one-twentieth to one-tenth of an inch in length. They consist of a series of membranous capsules, from thirty to sixty or more in number, enclosed one within the other. Inside of these capsules there is a single nervous fibre of a tubular kind enclosed in the stalk, and advancing to the central capsule, which it traverses from end to end. Sometimes the capsules are connected by transverse bands. Anatomists are interested in these Pacinian corpuscles because of the novel aspect in which they present the constituent parts of the nerve-tube, placed in the heart of a system of concentric membranous capsules with intervening fluid, and divested of that layer which they (the anatomists) regard as an isolator and protector of the more potential central axis within. This apparatus—almost formed like a voltaic pile, is the instrument for that peculiar vital energy, known more or less to all students as Animal Magnetism. Since the cat is somewhat famous in all witchcraft, let me state, that in the mesentary of the cat, they can be seen in large numbers with the naked eye, as small oval shaped grains a little smaller than hempseeds. A few have been found in the ox (the symbol of the priestly office); but they are wanting in all birds, amphibia and fishes. Though his discovery was disputed it has since been verified and the theory strongly supported. These organs are the beneficent media through which the Spirit operates. From time immemorial the human hand has been regarded as the life-point of a mysterious magical power, but not until Pacini’s discovery do we know its seat. These corpuscles are its seat. Are they perhaps agglomerations of such monads as I have described and thus the media by means of which the highest spiritual powers perform their work? We find the Elementals under all forms of existence, as mere natural forces, totally, to our perceptions, destitute of any self-conscious life; we find them also attaining a form very near the human. There is no valid reason against supposing them to be the stuff out of which we form thoughts, much less against considering them to be the life-giving elements in the Pacinian corpuscles. Let us maintain the theory that there is no _such thing as a dead or inanimate force_ in the universe. _Every atom, itself a form of power, is alive with force._ Every atom in space _reflects the Universal Self_, who is: _The Soul of Things._ I shall now come to the end of my paper by a few words which contain the practical purpose of my lecture. (1) The monads, just described, whether they reflect the auras, that surround us consciously or unconsciously, whether they are used as mind-stuff or be located in the Pacinian corpuscles of the hand, are physical media of intercourse between the Elementaries and the adepts. Why not! If Eastern adepts and Western mediums are in possession of power to atomize “the body,” to make it become the smallest of the smallest, to enter into a diamond, for instance, if they have power to magnify “the body” to any dimensions; to change the polarity of the body, to make it become the lightest of the lightest as in the well known phenomena of levitation, why should the Elementaries, existing, as they do, under much more favorable circumstances, not be able to enter into matter, to enter into atoms which “contain a Sun” and there, for the time being direct its vital principle and its universal orbs, to such purposes as they choose, to make it serve the adept’s or magician’s will, who seeks aid or enlightenment? (2) I contend that they do! And I argue for the necessity of producing such surroundings of auras of monads as will facilitate and raise the standard of what is commonly called “Mediumship.” (3) I argue for a cultivation of the image-making power of the soul, that we may be able to direct and utilize consciously the intercourse with the Elementaries. (4) I wish to have a knowledge spread abroad about the Pacinian corpuscles, that we may lay our hands upon mankind and cure its ills. I feel personally convinced that there is both “Light and Life” to be found upon these lines of study and conduct. POETICAL OCCULTISM. SOME ROUGH STUDIES OF THE OCCULT LEANINGS OF THE POETS. IV. Whitman, in his short and remarkable poem, “To him that was Crucified,” perceives very clearly the verity of Mahatmahood; the existence of men who live upon a higher plane than that of ordinary mortals, and who are united in an order of spiritual brotherhood. The poem runs:[168] My spirit to yours, dear brother, Do not mind because many sounding your name do not understand you, I do not sound your name, but I understand you, I specify you with joy, O my comrade, to salute you, and to salute those who are with you, before and since, and those to come also, That we all labor together transmitting the same charge and succession, We few equals indifferent of lands, indifferent of times, We, enclosers of all continents, all castes, allowers of all theologies, Compassionaters, perceivers, rapport of men, We walk silent among disputes and assertions, but reject not the disputers nor anything that is asserted, We hear the bawling and din, we are reached at by divisions, jealousies, recriminations on every side, They close peremptorily upon us to surround us, my comrade, Yet we walk unheld, free, the whole earth over, journeying up and down till we make our ineffaceable mark upon time and the diverse eras, Till we saturate time and eras, that the men and woman of races, ages to come, may prove brethren and lovers as we are. These lines, sublime as they are, will probably be regarded as little short of blasphemous by many of our good friends who, _sounding his name, do not understand him_; who, worshipping him as the only Man-God, have lost sight of the God in man, the _Christ_, the potential development of which in all men was the great lesson which the Nazarene sought to convey. They little think that he whose name they sound may perhaps be walking the earth to-day, striving to bring men to the light, but despised and rejected by themselves because in an unrecognized and strange guise, while the same old truths are again trampled upon, since they lack the endorsement of established authority. The poet, however, shows that he, too broad to be limited by one name, truly understands the mission of Jesus; he, with his own grand teachings of universal brotherhood despised and misunderstood because of their unfamiliar form, is elevated by the sublimity of the truths that inspire himself to the level which gives him the right to address the founder of Christianity as a comrade. He sees, too, with a directness that probably has come to no other modern poet, that there is a band of “Equals” working for the same end, “transmitting the same charge and succession,” through all races, through all ages, and giving vitality to all religions. The free, uninfluenced attitude which he who would grow towards the light must maintain is expressed here with most effective simplicity, as is the end for which THEY are striving—so to saturate the world and all eras with their precepts as finally to lift all mankind into the unity of perfect Brotherhood. The true mental abnegation is here referred to, just as Krishna in the Bagavad-Gita tries to teach Arjuna. In speaking of the necessity for retiring to the forest so as to attain perfection untroubled by man, he says to Arjuna that the true philosopher will look with equal mind upon all classes of men, upon all systems of thought and all objects of sense, esteeming all alike, inasmuch as they are all one in the Supreme Spirit, and that spirit found in each, so that to retire to the forest is not a necessity. Thus Whitman says that he and all others of the same mind, are indifferent of lands, times, disputes or disputers, allowers of all theologies, because they well know—as occultism teaches—that each theology and each assertion is one facet of the great Truth. The result of this state of mind is beautifully set forth in the lines which say that amid the bawling and din, reached at by divisions and jealousies on every side that close peremptorily upon us to surround and fetter us, we walk free, unheld by all, because we are fixed upon the immutable rock of the True. This is the imperturbability sought by the ancient Chinese philosophers, who, themselves students of occultism, esteemed that equanimity above all else. There are various passages throughout Whitman’s poems that intimate a perception, perhaps intuitive, of the existences of the Masters. For instance, he says, “I see the serene company of philosophers,” and in “A Song of the Rolling Earth” are the lines: “The workmanship of souls is by those inaudible words of the earth, The masters know the earth’s words and use them more than audible words.” And again, towards the end of the same poem: “When the materials are all prepared and ready, the architects shall appear.” The thought here is identical with that in “_Light on the Path_” (note to Rule 21, First Section): “Therefore in the Hall of Learning, when he is capable of entering there, the disciple will always find his master.” And in the following note: “When the disciple is ready to learn, then he is accepted, acknowledged, recognized. It must be so; for he has lit his lamp, and it cannot be hidden.” The poem in question concludes with the following exalted lines which contain a significant statement of one of the great truths of Occultism: “I swear to you the architects shall appear without fail, I swear to you they will understand you and justify you, The greatest among them shall be he who best knows you, and encloses all and is faithful to all. He and the rest shall not forget you, they shall perceive that you are not an iota less than they, You shall be fully glorified in them.” It is hardly possible to say whether or not the poet means that these architects are in one sense the various, changeful mortal costumes the human monad had here and there, in many races and places, assumed while passing through the wheel of rebirths. When he says that the architects “will understand you and justify you,” we may easily picture the time when the regenerated man, now able to see all his illusionary entrances upon the stage of life under the costume of varied personalities, can understand that all these different incarnations were fully justified by the need for the particular experience found in each new life, and thus he himself is glorified and justified by these architects, who were really himself. Complete proof of Whitman’s belief in reincarnation is to be found in the following lines from “_Facing West from California’s Shores_:” Facing west from California’s shores, Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound, I a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, the land of migrations, look afar, Look off the shores of my Western sea, the circle almost circled; For starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere, From Asia, from the north, from the God, the sage, and the hero, From the south, from the flowery peninsulas and the spice islands, Long having wander’d since, round the earth having wander’d. Now I face home again, very pleas’d and joyous. (But where is what I started for so long ago? And why is it yet unfound?) This last query is answered in _Light on the Path_ (rule 12, § I.): “You will enter the light, but you will never touch the flame.” The Self is what we seek. It resides in the heart of every mortal creature “smaller than a grain of mustard seed;” the heart is in the Sun—and now we speak of the real heart and the real spiritual sun which is “now hidden by a vase of golden light”—(as the Upanishads say)—the Sun in the mouth of Brahman and Brahman is the All. S. B. J. [Illustration:] HINDU SYMBOLISM. III. This figure represents the Mystic Brahma espousals with Parasakti. The latter is the divine principle of intellectual emanative potentiality or energy, and the ideal of archi-typal womanhood. The Sakti is conceived of as the female part of the energy of Brahma’s intellectual, creative power and creative wisdom. Brahma is here the true Para-Brahma, and Para-Sakti a true Para-sarasvadi. The sexless in Brahman (neuter) is here transmuted into the male or energizing power, as the principal symbolic type of the divine emanative, yet immanent, creative power, as the masculine principle of the ideal or Great Androgynic Man or the Makrokosm; and the flaming Sun is here depicted as the flaming sun-face, representative of the male-active deity, also called Purusha. The Sakti or Para-Sakti, the fructifying energy and potentiality of Brahman’s wisdom, wears upon her head a bright fire-flaming crown or nimbus. The veil surrounding them, is the mystic veil produced by the ideation of the eternal thought of the eternal Mind. In the left hand of the sun-figure on the first finger, is carried a bird or perhaps a dove, which is intended to symbolize the flight of the ideal creation from the eternal Mind before the appearance of that which appears to us to be the real world. In the right hand he holds the end of the mystic veil. On the head of Maya—the woman—is the world-egg cap. Below, in the shadow of the spherical cloak of the God-dawn, is seen the world-egg surrounded by the spiritualizing Ananda the snake of eternity, which as if asleep and inactive, is suspended around the egg. In India the principal general symbols are fire and water, sun and moon, man and woman, bull and cow, the linga and yoni, the lotus and the sacred fig (_ficus indica_). The lotus is formed of red, white and blue colors; blue is considered the same as black. ISAAC MYER. “LIGHT ON THE PATH.” “The Soul of man is immortal and its future is the future of a thing whose growth and splendour has no limit.” It is with extreme diffidence that I venture to undertake a short commentary or analysis of the book whose title heads this article; not only because of the nature of the work itself, but also because it has already been twice commented upon, once by the author, and once by a very learned student of Eastern Literature. The author’s notes, however, were rather an extension of the original text than a commentary in the strict sense of the word; while the object of the second annotator was more an attempt to show the identity of the doctrines contained in _Light on the Path_ with those of ancient Brahamanical Philosophy, than to give the nature of those doctrines in themselves. The object of this paper on the contrary, is to attempt to analyze the scheme of Philosophy in accordance with which this little book has been written; in other words, to attempt to set forth the intellectual counterpart of the spiritual doctrines of _Light on the Path_. It is inevitable that, in thus changing the doctrine from the Spiritual to the intellectual plane, so to speak, the intellectual counterpart should be inferior to the Spiritual original. To counterbalance this loss, however, it is true on the other hand that the intellectual counterpart may render the spiritual original accessible to some, the conformation of whose minds renders them unable to appreciate it directly. It is in the hope that this may be so that the present paper has been attempted. To begin with, then, the work we are considering indicates a possible enlightenment of the Soul, and development of the higher part of our nature; and further states that these results cannot take place before a certain battle has been fought and won: we have, therefore, to discover what the soul is; what is the nature of the battle; what are the opposing forces; and what are the results of the struggle. The combatants are the higher nature, or Soul on the one side; and the lower nature or egotism on the other. The higher nature includes the intellectual, Spiritual, and æsthetical powers: that is to say, the powers which deal with the perception of truth, goodness, and beauty. The sense of truth is characteristically manifested in the conquest of some intricate mathematical problem, or in following successfully some difficult chain of reasoning. The sense of beauty is manifested in the joy with which we behold the splendor of a glorious sunset. The sense of goodness is manifested in the voice of an approving conscience, or in the reverence and admiration we feel for some godlike and noble character. It is undeniable that the intellect can discriminate between what is, and what is not, true, within its own domain, the æsthetical faculty also can pronounce with certainty as to the presence or absence of that quality which we call beauty. So can the moral nature decide without hesitation as to what is or what is not in accordance with Righteousness. These three powers of the higher nature are subject to development, that is to say, at different periods they will perceive the qualities of beauty, truth, and goodness in different objects, and in different degrees; but as to the reality of the three qualities their voice is ever the same. The three powers perceive three harmonies, each in its own domain; when the three are harmoniously developed the three harmonies are perceived to be one, and to this one great harmony are given the names of the Eternal and the Law of God. The seer of old feeling the sense of Rightousness’ within him exclaimed: “I will rejoice in the Eternal, and in him will I put my trust.” When the powers of the higher nature are developed, under all temporary disharmony and chaotic disturbance, are perceived a deeper order and more enduring harmony ever at work. Marcus Aurelius had perception of a deep Spiritual truth, when he wrote the concluding sentences of the following utterance. “Figs, when they are quite ripe, gape open: and in the ripe olives, the very circumstance of their being near to rottenness, adds a peculiar beauty to the fruit, and ears of corn bending down, and foam which flows from the mouth of wild boars, and many other things,—though they are far from being beautiful, in a certain sense,—still, because they come in the course of nature, have a beauty in them, and they please the mind; so that if a man should have a feeling and a deeper insight with respect to the things which are produced in the universe, there is hardly anything which comes in the course of nature, which will not seem to him to be, in a manner, disposed so as to give pleasure.” That is,—in all things, could we but perceive it, is the harmony of the Eternal. The first harmony, the harmony of truth, is perceived by the scientific materialist; that is to say, he is capable of perceiving the reign of Law in the physical universe. The artistic nature can perceive the harmony of beauty in nature and art. By the spiritually-minded is perceived the moral harmony. It is the distinctive mark of modern Civilization that the harmonies of truth and beauty, of Science and Art are perceived and openly recognized by all, while the harmony of Holiness is passed over, in silence and oblivion. It is the object of Theosophy, rightly understood, to arouse the world to a renewed sense of the harmony of Righteousness. So much for the higher nature. Confronting it stands the Egotism. For where the moral sense dictates peace and goodwill to all men, the Egotism raises a selfish claim for a monopoly of all good things, all pleasures, all enjoyments. The first enjoyment the Egotism demands is to surpass and dominate all other Egotisms which it seems to see pursuing the same pleasures as itself. Hence the command: “Kill out ambition.” Having once gained this domination the self cries out for enjoyments both sensual and sensuous, for all the pleasures of life. Hence the need for the command “Kill out the desire of life;” the self is also deterred by indolence from carrying out any good inspirations that may descend through the thick mist which surrounds it, from the higher nature: against indolence it is written “Kill out the desire of comfort.” But the moral sense condemns the existence of this self, this centre of force, which is not in accordance with its perception of Harmony. When once the moral nature comes to perceive the evil of egotism, the question inevitably arises for solution, “Shall this cause of disharmony cease or continue?” If the decision is for its continuance one of two things will happen. Either, before the moral nature has been completely paralysed and atrophied by neglect,—before the seared conscience is completely silenced,—the fact will be recognised, in the midst of pain and sorrow unspeakable, that “to work for self is to work for disappointment;” and in that case the moral nature may at last meet with its development and all may be well; “the weak must wait for its growth, its fruition, its death, and it is a plant that lives and increases through the ages.” It has been said also “the forging of earthly chains is the occupation of the indifferent, the awful duty of unloosing them through the sorrows of the heart is also their occupation” and truly “both are foolish sacrifices.” Either this takes place, or,—the moral nature at last becomes completely deadened, all the force and vital power which has been drawn away from it goes to strengthen the Egotism which becomes from henceforth a centre of evil, of destruction; an enemy of the eternal. It seems that individual existence means a certain amount of force, which may vitalise either the powers of the higher nature or those of the egotism; or those of both, in part. It seems also that the egotism is a group of centres, so to speak, from some or all of which the energic force of the individual may work; so that, for example, when this force works from one centre in the egotism sensuality arises; when from another centre, hate; from another, evil ambition, and so on. When the energic force is raised to the higher nature it may act from various centres; from one, as charity; from another, as holiness, and so on. Hence, “any good quality may become any other good quality”—if the conditions are favorable. It seems also that the Will can degrade the energic force from the soul to the egotism; or, conversely, can raise it from the egotism to the soul; so that, by the alchemical power of the will, so to speak, the baser metal becomes converted and, rising to the top of the still, becomes pure gold. Besides the higher and lower natures we have been considering there resides also, in the complete being, consciousness or sense of existence and will. When all the portions of energic force,—or the Satwaic sparks, as they are elsewhere called,—rise to the higher nature, the individual becomes one with the Eternal, and a part of the United Spirit of Life, and individual existence ceases, in a sense. When the question is asked “Shall the self cease or continue?” the moral nature answers decisively “It ought to cease.” If the truth of this mandate is recognised, at once a terrible struggle arises; self opposed rises with tenfold force and violence; again and again it craftily casts doubt on the truth of the moral nature; raises obstacles, temptations and hindrances; all the pleasures it has enjoyed are to be swept away forever; all the momentum and power that the egotism has gained, through long continued indulgence and unhindered growth, are brought to bear at once on the struggle; the whole nature is torn by the conflict, the will is tried to the uttermost; but under all this turmoil and strife lies the assured consciousness of final victory; it is felt that sooner or later the self must be destroyed, that it is built for time and not for eternity, that its days are numbered. During the struggle intervals of peace occur, and grow greater and longer as the end approaches; till at last, when the final victory is won this peace becomes habitual. But as the conflict goes on, the will at last gains strength to say, once for all “Henceforth, forever, will I serve self no more.” And immediately the first struggle is ended. The dominance of self is forever destroyed. In reply to the command “Seek in the heart the source of evil, and expunge it” the soul can say “this also have I done,” then comes “peace to the troubled spirit” peace deep and pure. The soul recognises that the self has been the cause of individual existence; when the self is removed the soul tends to harmonise itself with the great harmony, to become one with the eternal; but all the evil tendencies to selfishness and sin, must be gradually overcome, for though their cause and source has been destroyed, yet they still maintain a certain momentum. Not yet can it be said that the soul is perfectly at one with the United Spirit of Life. Much remains to be done, yet much has been done already, for during the struggle the energic force has become loosened from the centres of self, and has ascended to strengthen and vivify the soul, which becomes strong, fully awakened, and in harmony with the eternal; the flower of the soul is opening, the first step on the Path is taken. In the _Idyll of the White Lotus_ the same author has given the same history in another form. The New-Testament story is the same, and so is the scheme of Christian Theology for those who have eyes to see it; for that story is “the tragedy of the soul, it has been told in all ages and among every people.” “Enter the Path! there spring the healing streams Quenching all thirst! there bloom the immortal flowers Carpeting all the way with joy! there throng Swiftest and sweetest hours.” _Dublin, Ireland._ CHARLES JOHNSTON. MUSINGS ON THE TRUE THEOSOPHIST’S PATH. If you desire to labor for the good of the world, it will be unwise for you to strive to include it all at once in your efforts. If you can help elevate or teach but one soul—that is a good beginning, and more than is given to many. Fear nothing that is in Nature and visible. Dread no influence exerted by sect, faith, or society. Each and every one of them originated upon the same basis—Truth, or a portion of it at least. You may not assume that you have a greater share than they, it being needful only, that you find all the truth each one possesses. You are at war with none. It is peace you are seeking, therefore it is best that the good in everything is found. For this brings peace. It has been written that he who lives the Life shall know the doctrine. Few there be who realize the significance of The Life. It is not by intellectually philosophizing upon it, until reason ceases to solve the problem, nor by listening in ecstatic delight to the ravings of an _Elemental clothed_—whose hallucinations are but the offspring of the Astral—that the life is realized. Nor will it be realized by the accounts of the experiences of other students. For there be some who will not realize Divine Truth itself, when written, unless it be properly punctuated or expressed in flowery flowing words. Remember this: that as you live your life each day with an uplifted purpose and unselfish desire, each and every event will bear for you a deep significance—an occult meaning—and as you learn their import, so do you fit yourself for higher work. There are no rose-gardens upon the way in which to loiter about, nor fawning slaves to fan one with golden rods of Ostrich plumes. The Ineffable Light will not stream out upon you every time you may think you have turned up the wick, nor will you find yourself sailing about in an astral body, to the delight of yourself and the astonishment of the rest of the world, simply because you are making the effort to find wisdom. He who is bound in any way—he who is narrow in his thoughts—finds it doubly difficult to pass onward. You may equally as well gain wisdom and light in a church as by sitting upon a post while your nails grow through your hands. It is not by going to extremes or growing fanatical in any direction that the life will be realized. Be temperate in all things, most of all in the condemnation of other men. It is unwise to be intemperate or drunken with wine. It is equally unwise to be drunken with temperance. Men would gain the powers; or the way of working wonders. Do you know, O man, what the powers of the Mystic are? Do you know that for each gift of this kind he gives a part of himself? That it is only with mental anguish, earthly sorrow, and almost his heart’s blood, these gifts are gained? Is it true, think you, my brother, that he who truly possesses them desires to sell them at a dollar a peep, or any other price? He who would trade upon these things finds himself farther from his goal than when he was born. There _are_ gifts and powers. Not just such as you have created in your imagination, perhaps. Harken to one of these powers: He who has passed onward to a certain point, finds that the hearts of men lie spread before him as an open book, and from there onward the motives of men are clear. In other words he can read the hearts of men. But not selfishly; should he but once use this knowledge selfishly, the book is closed—and he reads no more. Think you, my brothers, he would permit himself to _sell_ a page out of this book? Time—that which does not exist outside the inner circle of this little world—seems of vast importance to the physical man. There comes to him at times, the thought that he is not making any progress, and that he is receiving nothing from some Mystic source. From the fact that he has the thought that no progress is being made the evidence is gained that he is working onward. Only the dead in living bodies need fear. That which men would receive from Mystic sources is frequently often repeated, and in such a quiet, unobtrusive voice, that he who is waiting to hear it shouted in his ear, is apt to pass on unheeding. Urge no man to see as yourself, as it is quite possible you may see differently when you awake in the morning. It is wiser to let the matter rest without argument. No man is absolutely convinced by that. It is but blowing your breath against the whirlwind. It was at one time written over the door: “Abandon Hope, all ye who enter here.” It has taken hundreds of years for a few to come to the realization that the wise men had not the slightest desire for the company of a lot of hopeless incurables in the mysteries. There is to be abandoned hope for the gratification of our passions, our curiosities, our ambition or desire for gain. There is also another Hope—the true; and he is a wise man who comes to the knowledge of it. Sister to Patience, they together are the Godmothers of Right Living, and two of the Ten who assist the Teacher. AMERICAN MYSTIC. THOUGHT EFFECTS. Some thirty years ago, I began a five years’ residence in a foreign land. Whilst there, I was conscious of a stern conflict going on within me to keep myself from falling into some of the ways and beliefs of the people of that land. So strong was the assault in one direction upon the Idol of Right which had been set up within me by a New England training, that for fear it should topple and fall, I was constrained to withdraw myself little by little from social relations, until finally I came to be pretty much alone, living on the pampas with flocks, herds, nature generally, and a few books for company. Even after this change the fight went on, though in a less active form and on a more desultory scale. After I went from there, reflection upon the subject brought me to this conclusion among others, viz.: that one of the most powerful forces emanating from distinct societies of mankind works by mental action upon man from the unseen atmosphere surrounding him. It is said advisingly, “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” It may be said, warningly: “When one enters upon living in Rome, he can scarce help _but_ do as the Romans do.” In these later days, investigation of Theosophy has shown me of what nature was the obstacle against which I had been contending so stoutly. It was of the Karma of that nation. It has shown me also the method of that unseen, unheard influence which “is in the air,” ever about us, ever ready to move us, to govern us. And this method of influence, unseen and unheard, is the action upon us of forces existing on the Astral Plane. Among these forces are the thoughts of men living upon the objective plane of Earth. After so much of preface, I come to a more particular consideration of some of the effects of those thoughts of man, which are unexpressed by speech or action, upon others and upon himself: 1st. How may we effectually resist the force of bad influence of locality operating on _us_ from the Astral Plane? 2nd. How may we do something, otherwise than by precept and example, towards overcoming the evil Karma of Locality which may be affecting _others_? 3rd. How may we in individual cases help some unfortunates with whose needs we are acquainted? An answer is—by Thoughts. In man’s advancement from darkness into light, in the “Human Soul’s” departure from lower materiality to entrance into right Spiritual living, among other means to be used to attain that end are right thought, right action, right speech and right meditation. Of these, _right thought_, is of primary importance, for it is the foundation from which only the others can spring into life. Actions in objectivity are illusions; they are shadows of our personality created by thoughts. Thoughts are nearer, more akin to our personality than actions are, for they are primary expressions from personality, always preceding conscious speech and action. Of all the indices to our personality of which we have knowledge thoughts are the clearest; we are as our thoughts are. In compliance with that grand mandate, “Know Thyself,” why scan life’s _page_ of speech and actions—shadows—when a vast _volume_ of thoughts—realities—expressions of our personality, lies open to us for finding knowledge of self? Though independent of speech and action, thoughts are realities. They are real, living, active forces, until their force is expended,—but the effects of right thoughts last forever. Space does not necessarily limit their reach. They are in the air, so to speak, everywhere, and can move with a rapidity that is instantaneous. They may not only be sent, but are received. It takes but the veriest morsel of time to send a thought to the Sun; at the Sun it takes as little time to receive a thought from the Earth. To the first question—“how may we effectually resist the force of bad influence of Locality operating on _us_ from the Astral Plane?”—one way is to search for Spiritual Truth. That truth is “in the air.” It is conveyed to us by Thoughts. But a thought “from the air” is as a seed. A mustard seed planted in ice will not fructify; a spiritual thought-seed falling upon a “Human Soul” which is bound and tied to Earth by its “Animal Soul” will not fructify. The mustard seed must fall into ground properly prepared for its reception, ere by culture it can sprout, grow, and bear fruit. And so, too, must the soil of the “Human Soul,” be made ready in order that it shall afford an appropriate bed upon which the ever-present Spiritual thought-seed shall alight. On such a prepared soil it will _surely_ fall; as surely as the magnetic needle points to its pole, and once there, by our own culture it may grow into “an everlasting tree of Holiness.” How is that bed prepared? How is it that we become ready to receive Spiritual Truth? By right thought, right action, right speech and right meditation. It lies within our _inner selves_ whether we shall advance in Spiritual knowledge and life, and nowhere else; it must be our purpose, our business. No dictum of the Schools can bring it about. No printed book on esoteric wisdom or on ethics, or on the multitudinous religions of man can give it to us;—belonging to the Theosophical Society does not necessarily lead us into Spiritual life. These, to the hungry “Human Soul,” may be of immense importance, but if the “Human Soul”—principle 5, be not first prepared, if we do not look upward and build upward, all these means,—Spiritual thoughts that are “in the air,” wise books, this society of yours—they are all to such a spiritually-desert soul, but as of old—“pearls before swine”—hidden light—a force shut out by ourselves from acting within us. _When we are engaged in right searching for Spiritual Truth, bad forces from the Astral Plane are inoperative upon us_: Thus may we effectually resist the force of bad influence of Locality operating on _ourselves_ from the Astral Plane. The second question we are considering is, “How may we do something, otherwise than by precept and example, towards overcoming the evil Karma which may be affecting _others_?” Surely, again, it is by right thought, and right action, speech and meditation. For, not only do they prepare the way for the reception of Spiritual Truths, but the ego, so thinking, acting, speaking and meditating, is, while so employed, disseminating Spiritual light on all sides through the Astral Plane. He is throwing out Spiritual truth-seed which is reaching far and near. Wherever a “Human Soul” is in need of it, and hungering for it, it _will surely fall_; for there the soil is ready for its reception. These right thoughts have gone into “the air,” and are certain to strike in somewhere for good. Thus by _right thought_ we may do something otherwise than by precept and example, towards obliterating the evil Karma of locality which is affecting _others_. Regarding the third question; it seems to me that we all know some particular individuals to whose high needs we can minister by direct intention through the power of thought. Who, that observes and reflects, cannot gather from his own experience the fact that thought can fly to a person at a distance? How common to say “I was thinking of one and he appeared.” It is not an uncommon experience for one to unexpectedly entertain serious, at any rate marked thoughts about another, and subsequently to find that the other was similarly occupied in mind with him at the same time. It is odd if there be not some among you who know that thought messages have been sent, received and acted on by the object-person when the receiver was in an abnormal condition to the sender. By these and other illustrations which doubtless will occur to you, we _know_ that it is within the province of cause and effect that thought has power to operate on others at a distance by direct intention of the sender, by mental action alone. Believing in the reality of thought—_knowing_ the reality of thought—in its power to shield us from evil; in its power to affect others unknown to us; in our power to project it to special individuals, what opportunities it affords us for conferring high good. But in order to do positive good to another by this direct thought unexpressed by speech or action, some certain conditions are necessary, which we may consider as milestones that shall indicate the progress of our own ascending path from materiality to spirituality. To be a power by thought influence,—(I do not refer now to thought sent by will power to a particular “sensitive” who is in subjective state to the sender—which condition is on a lower plane than that which we are now considering,) presupposes intensity of love born of and nurtured by Spirituality for those whose high good we thus seek to establish. There must first be born in us an enthusiasm for giving high and positive good to another unconciously enthusiasm, as is our enthusiasm, shall be the energy of our missive-thought; and according to the energy of that thought will be its effect upon the object to which it is sent,—the more powerfully intense the thought the deeper it will penetrate;—the longer its effects will endure. Right meditation will be required of us to determine what we really desired to effect. If we arrive at the position within ourselves necessary for obtaining power for affecting another for good by thought message, there will be engendered within us a portion of that grand principle on which this Society is founded, viz: Universal Brotherhood—unselfish love for others. In making thought message to others, on the basis of lifting them to a higher plane of action, a part of our daily life, by its reaction upon ourselves we shall surely be “laying up treasures in Heaven”—and full will be our material for Devachanic life. As in Devachan one shall live in the good he has done while in objective earth life—shall live in the true beauty he has learned to perceive—shall live in the effects of his good-life, his thoughts while here on earth can be made for the Devachanic period of his existence a vast storehouse of “good-life” of purest water. But it must be of thoughts untinged by selfish considerations. It must be of thoughts evolved through love of others for _their_ good. Right thought being the grand power it is: 1st. To resist within _ourselves_ the bad Karma of Locality. 2nd. By which to weaken and destroy the bad Karma of Locality, which is disastrously affecting _others_. 3rd. By which from a basis of spiritual love we may send light to a groping soul,—what heavy responsibility is ever over us that it shall be our purpose, our study to “think aright.”—To live much in thus right thinking—we shall ever be lifting some of the heavy Karma from off the world. It is thus, that we can “live in the Eternal, for right thought is of the Universal Mind, and Universal Mind is of the Eternal.” Reflect that persistent right thinking affects humanity constantly in the right direction, ever from the gross and material to the refined and Spiritual. It will ever be a constant force so long as evil exists. Let this idea sink into our consciousness. Let right thought be to us as the strong arm with which to do good to others. One need not long for wealth, for position or power that he may do good to others; the poorest in material wealth, the humblest in station, the most insignificant among men has within himself this ever open storehouse of power for conferring good on which he can draw without limit; a wealth he can scatter broadcast, or can give by direct selection of object with the surety that he is bestowing benefits broadly,—knowing that he is successfully contending against Spiritual poverty—which is the sum of evil. He who uses this wealth, can do so—_must_ do so only by sacrifice of thought of self. He must be interested only in combating evil by helping humanity at large; of offering special help to those whom he knows are desirous of help. As his life-love for the objects in view is the only foundation upon which he can do these works,—love of self can not be a power within him. To put it the other way. Begin the work of thought for the good of others by first forgetting self; as fast as possible get away from the dominion of materiality. Live in the love of doing _enduring_ good to others—these conditions _are_ the true and upward advancement of ourselves. The doing of these things _is the reward_;—it is the advancing into _God-life_. It is part of our real Eternal selves. It is living in the Eternal—the everlasting good; for the God-life—the good-life is the only eternally active one. By living thus, the gross and material now enchaining our entities will be broken down and will die and leave us—and die they must sooner or later or the “I am I” shall perish. H. N. H., F.T.S. Brooklyn, Oct 15, 1886. ENVIRONMENT. To the Western mind the doctrines of Karma and Reincarnation contain difficulties which while they seem imaginary to the Eastern student, are nevertheless for the Western man as real as any of the other numerous obstructions in the path of salvation. All difficulties are more or less imaginary, for the whole world and all its entanglements are said to be an illusion resulting from the notion of a separate I. But while we exist here in matter, and so long as there is a manifested universe, these illusions are real to that man who has not risen above them to the knowledge that they are but the masks behind which the reality is hidden. For nearly twenty centuries the Western nations have been building up the notion of a separate I—of _meum_ and _tuum_—and it is hard for them to accept any system which goes against those notions. As they progress in what is called material civilization with all its dazzling allurements and aids to luxury, their delusion is further increased because they appraise the value of their doctrine by the results which seem to flow from it, until at last they push so far what they call the reign of law, that it becomes a reign of terror. All duty to their fellows is excluded from it in practice, although the beautiful doctrines of Jesus are preached to the people daily by preachers who are paid to preach but not to enforce, and who cannot insist upon the practice which should logically follow the theory because the consequences would be a loss of position and livelihood. So when out of such a nation rises a mind that asks for help to find again the path that was lost, he is unconsciously much affected by the education not only of himself but also of his nation through all these centuries. He has inherited tendencies that are hard to be overcome. He battles with phantasms, real for him but mere dreams for the student who has been brought up under other influences. When, therefore, he is told to rise above the body, to conquer it, to subdue his passions, his vanity, anger and ambition, he asks, “what if borne down by this environment, which I was involuntarily born into, I shall fail.” Then when told that he must fight or die in the struggle, he may reply that the doctrine of Karma is cold and cruel because it holds him responsible for the consequences which appear to be the result of that unsought environment. It then becomes with him a question whether to fight and die, or to swim on with the current careless as to its conclusion but happy if perhaps it shall carry him into smooth water whose shores are elysian. Or perhaps he is a student of occultism whose ambition has been fired by the prospect of adeptship, of attaining powers over nature, or what not. Beginning the struggle he presently finds himself beset with difficulties which, not long after, he is convinced are solely the result of his environment. In his heart he says that Karma has unkindly put him where he must constantly work for a living for himself and a family: or he has a life long partner whose attitude is such that he is sure were he away from her he could progress: until at last he calls upon heaven to interpose and change the surroundings so opposed to his perfecting himself. This man has indeed erred worse than the first. He has wrongly supposed that his environment was a thing to be hated and spurned away. Without distinctly so saying to himself, he has nursed within the recesses of his being the idea that he like Buddha could in this one life triumph over all the implacable forces and powers that bar the way to Nirvana. We should remember that the Buddha does not come every day but is the efflorescence of ages, who when the time is ripe surely appears in one place and in one body, not to work _for his own_ advancement but for the _salvation of the world_. What then of environment and what of its power over us? Is environment Karma or is it Reincarnation? THE LAW is Karma, reincarnation is only an incident. It is one of the means which The Law uses to bring us at last to the true light. The wheel of rebirths is turned over and over again by us in obedience to this law, so that we may at last come to place our entire reliance upon Karma. Nor is our environment Karma itself, for Karma is the subtle power which works in that environment. There is nothing but the SELF—using the word as Max Müller does to designate the Supreme Soul—and its environment. The Aryans for the latter use the word _Kosams_ or sheaths. So that there is only this Self and the various sheaths by which it is clothed, beginning with the most intangible and coming down to the body, while outside of that and common to all is what is commonly known as environment, whereas the word should be held to include all that is not The Self. How unphilosophical therefore it is to quarrel with our surroundings, and to desire to escape them? We only escape one kind to immediately fall into another. And even did we come into the society of the wisest devotees we would still carry the environment of the Self in our own bodies, which will always be our enemy so long as we do not know what it is in all its smallest details. Coming down then to the particular person, it is plain that that part of the environment which consists in the circumstances of life and personal surroundings is only an incident, and that the real environment to be understood and cared about is that in which Karma itself inheres in us. Thus we see that it is a mistake to say—as we often hear it said—“If he only had a fair chance; if his surroundings were more favorable he would do better,” since he really _could not_ be in any other circumstances at that time, for if he were it would not be he but some one else. It must be necessary for him to pass through those identical trials and disadvantages to perfect the Self; and it is only because we see but an infinitesimal part of the long series that any apparent confusion or difficulty arises. So our strife will be, not to escape from anything, but to realize that these _Kosams_, or sheaths, are an integral portion of ourselves, which we must fully understand before we can change the abhorred surroundings. This is done by acknowledging the unity of spirit, by knowing that everything, good and bad alike, is the Supreme. We then come into harmony with the Supreme Soul, with the whole universe, and no environment is detrimental. The very first step is to rise from considering the mere outside delusive environment, knowing it to be the result of past lives, the fruition of Karma done, and say with Uddalaka in speaking to his son: “All this Universe has the Deity for its life. That Deity is the Truth. He is the Universal soul. He Thou art, O Svetaketu!”[169] HADJII ERINN. TEA TABLE TALK. Recently the tea-table was chatting about the Widow’s escape from the Romish fold. She was nearly converted by the urbane Monsignor Capel, but escaped at the critical moment, she said, “by reason of a sudden preoccupation.” This turned out to be the death of her worthy husband. The Widow is a pretty and amiable creature, approved even by the ladies who say “she is a good little soul and mourns most expensively.” Hence she never appears at the tea-table without an escort, and the most frequent of these is one Didymus, lawyer by profession, good humored, sceptic by nature, whose careless, semi-flippant manner makes it difficult to know him, though he and I frequent the same clubs and make our bows in the same drawing rooms. On the day in question the lady said that she brought him often because she “wanted him converted to Theosophy.” “But, my dear Madam,” said I, “you know we don’t believe in converts. Theosophy is simply an extension of previous beliefs and like Victor Hugo it says, ‘in the name of Religion, I protest against religions.’ People have to grow into it. When they are ready for it a crisis of some kind, now moral, now physical, seems to occur just before they accept the Light from the East as a man receives back something he has lost. It seems as if those elemental creatures, who attend man, foresaw his determination and strove to frighten him away from the initial moment of choice. Great momentum, even of misapplied energies, often indicates the nearness of radical change.” “Yes,” broke in Didymus quietly, “I believe that of the Elemental and the astral world. I’ve been there myself, don’t you know!” Imagine the feelings of Balaam upon a noted occasion! Unlike the excellent but misunderstood animal of scripture, Didymus was urged to continue. “No,” said he, “I can’t profess to explain my experiences, but I’ll tell them by way of illustrating Mr. Julius’ remark, as I find most people do go through a climax of some kind before they round the turning point of the Age.” The tea-table settled itself comfortably and Didymus proceeded. “I was in a good deal of trouble last winter, trouble of various kinds, and needless to specify, and I had foolishly taken to a pretty lively life. I don’t mind saying that one of the chief causes of my trouble was the fact that I couldn’t believe in anything that made life worth living; all my ideals were pretty well played out. One Sunday I awoke with an overwhelming sense of terrible calamity, I recalled the events of the previous day, but all was in due order from the matutinal cocktail to the vesper toddy, so I finally concluded that my depression was a hint that I had been living too hard and I resolved to stop it. This resolve, by the way, I carried out from that hour, nor have I ever touched liquor since. I passed the day otherwise as usual with various friends and dined out with a glorious appetite. Returning to my hotel, I was engaged in making notes of one of Herbert Spencer’s works, when my attention was attracted by voices in the adjoining room, and I was astounded to find that they were detailing with startling accuracy, certain of my affairs which I not unnaturally supposed were hidden from the world at large. Conquering my blank amazement I sprang into the corridor, when the voices as suddenly ceased and I found my neighbor’s door ajar and the room entirely empty. This rather took me down, and I concluded to turn in, and was just falling asleep, when I seemed to see two fellows in evening dress whom I somehow knew to be jugglers. They advanced, bowed, and thereupon began a series of the most fascinating and laughable tricks I ever saw. I looked on with interest for what appeared to me a long time but at last the rapidity and variety of the illusions produced a feeling of intense weariness, and I said, ‘Gentlemen, thanks for your interesting performance, but you will pardon my remarking that it is late, and I am very tired.’ They bowed, said nothing, and continued their performance which became even more ludicrous. I repeated my request; again the bows and tricks of increasing absurdity. Worn out I exclaimed angrily, ‘I consider this a beastly imposition, you know, and if you persist I shall be obliged—’ but I never finished the sentence, for the two distorted their faces into masks of indescribable comicality and were off while I laughed—and awoke. As I did so, I was amazed to see a broad patch of vivid scarlet light slide down the wall from ceiling to floor and before I could give a second thought to this phenomenon, a big white cat sprang from the foot of my bed and vanished in the darkness. “This aroused me thoroughly, for though I had never experienced the like before, I said to myself ‘Old Boy, you must have a touch of D. T. though why the devil you should have with your seasoned head, I can’t say.’ I got up and lit my gas; it was after midnight but I concluded to go out and get some medicine. The halls were quite dark save for a light in the front vestibule and I felt my way down by the balustrade. Turning the corner of the staircase I became aware of a shape—I cannot call it a form—which was distinguishable from the surrounding darkness only by being more intensely black. It seemed about seven feet high, the body was indistinct but in the sharply defined head two fiery eyes glowed with a malice and menace that were truly appalling. The shape stood directly before me and barred my way. I felt an icy chill down my back, and I’d wager that my hair stood up, but summoning all my courage I said,—‘Well; what do you want?’ The silent shape bowed mockingly and the eyes became more malignant and threatening. My temper, which is really hasty,” (cries of “Oh! no!” from the ladies,) “got the better of my fears, and advancing in furious anger I cried; ‘Stand aside and let me pass.’ The shape vanished and I reached the front door without further incident. “The cold night somewhat calmed me, but as I crossed Madison Square I imagined that some one was following me. I turned sharply about; the square was deserted. I resumed my walk; again the swift footsteps ever coming closer: again I turned; nothing! By this time I began to be alarmed. For visible foes a man cares little, but those ghastly footsteps,—they curdled my very blood, by Jove! I walked on and reaching Broadway, I was struck with the tumult of voices that filled the air though there were but few people about. The street cars seemed crowded with noisy men, laughing, swearing, telling more or less questionable stories, and from every cab and wagon came similar sounds: it was like the rumpus on the Stock Exchange on a field day. The invisible footsteps, at first drowned in the noise recommenced, and constantly turning, I found myself ever duped. By this time I began to think the whole thing an illusion, but presently I saw a man just ahead of me look out from a doorway. As I approached, he apparently drew back, but getting opposite the door I found it closed by barred iron shutters: this occurred over and over. Then as I would approach anyone, pedestrian or driver, he would shout at me, mockingly, jovially, profanely or inconsequently, yet I could see that his lips were closed and that he was only mechanically aware of my presence. “I now began to feel that there were two of me, so to speak. One recognized that this was all a delusion; the other self was alarmed and unstrung. I walked quietly but rapidly, attracting no attention. Looking at myself in a chance mirror I saw that in outward appearance I was the same as ever. Reaching the drug store by the Herald Office, I sat down completely unstrung, but my voice was steady as I asked for some Bromide of Potash, and the attendant gave me a dose in a glass of soda water at my request without remark. Having no excuse for remaining I reluctantly turned homeward, hoping that fatigue and the drug would dissipate my delusions. In vain! I no longer heard the dogging steps or saw the peeping men, but the voices were louder and more confusing in a perfect chorus of commonplace talk, intensified in volume. Arrived home, I took another dose of Bromide and threw myself on the bed. Instantly it seemed to sink under me and then rose violently. I rose, lit the gas and my cigar, but the voices began again in the next room. Though tired out, I sought the street again. By this time the sense of being ‘double’ was intensified, and I recognized with anger that my higher self was under the control of a lower portion which it ridiculed and reprobated. I walked up Broadway this time, and as I passed the hotels from doors and windows came invitations to drink, to dine, to play billiards and less innocent suggestions. A man and woman came towards me, and I was amazed at the breadth, or depth of their conversation, ranging over topics not whispered in general, much less proclaimed on the highway, yet as I met them I saw that their lips moved not; with heads bent slightly against the keen air of the winter morning they sped silently on their way. Jeers and mockeries saluted me from the cab stands, yet the cabbies dozed on their boxes. Hour after hour I walked thus, ready to drop with hunger and fatigue but unable to stop. At last in the cold grey of the morning I returned home, took a tub and a meal, and went to my Doctor, having heard the irrational tumult of voices all the while. The Doctor was vastly amused at some points of my narration; he thought my cat might be D. T. but could make nothing out of all the rest except a threatening of insanity, and giving me some beastly powders, advised me to live quietly, and keep out of doors as much as possible. I attended to my routine business, all the time hearing the voices, except when someone addressed me. Getting restless as the day wore on I walked down along the East River piers, went on board vessels, into holds and engine rooms, climbed over cargo and chatted with stevedores. No one saw anything unusual about me; friends asked me to wine and dine, yet still the hateful voices mingled with the real ones till I hardly knew them apart and feared I should commit some noticeable indiscretion. The day passed in misery; as I got to my bed at last, a red setter appeared by my side. An inmate owned a dog of this species, and at first I thought this was he, but my door was locked and as I turned to him he vanished, which upset my nerves again. Again I sought my Doctor’s aid, and taking a second worse prescription, passed another hideous night in desperate wandering, ever with the voices at my ear. It was useless to try to sleep or even to lie down; my bed heaved like a ship in a tempest. The next day I passed at my office again or with any acquaintances I could muster, talking as much as possible in the hope of a brief respite from the maddening sounds. At last the medicines did their work; the next day found me clear headed, the sights and sounds of the astral plane had vanished; I don’t want to experience them again, but I believe in them, you bet! Later I found out what they really were when my life had wholly changed, and I had joined the Theosophical Society.” The ladies turned on him with one voice. “_You!_ A Theosophist! and you never told us!” “Well,” said he humbly, “I tried hard, but—you never gave me a chance.” Pretty Polly says that under cover of the laughter the Widow whispered to Didymus that she had thought he was trying to tell her something else. But I don’t believe it, for Didymus is still a bachelor; some say he is a chela. * * * * * In answer to queries, I would say that all occurrences related in this department are strictly true, as is the above experience of an F. T. S. communicated since the published invitation to correspondents in our last number. All such will be hospitably received by the Tea-Table. I may add further that “Julius” is now the name of a department merely; though it has at times sheltered groups of personalities of both sexes, there has always been one fixed quantity directing these, and that’s he who now signs JULIUS. * * * * * “These sons belong to me; this wealth belongs to me:” with such thoughts is a fool tormented. He himself does not belong to himself, much less sons and wealth.—_Buddhaghosha Parables._ OM. FOOTNOTES: [167] The orthodox translation is “When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.” [168] From _Leaves of Grass_. [169] _Chandogya-Upanishad_, vi. AUM Let us adore the supremacy of that divine Sun, the Godhead who illuminates who recreates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return, whom we invoke: may he direct our understanding aright in our progress toward his holy seat.—_The Gayatri._ The spiritual mind which by study hath forsaken the fruit of works, and which by wisdom hath cut asunder the bond of doubt, cannot be brought back to mortal birth by reason of any human action.—_Bagavad-Gita_, ch. iv. THE PATH. VOL. I. MARCH, 1887. NO. 12. _The Theosophical Society, as such, is not responsible for any opinion or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless contained in an official document._ Where any article, or statement, has the author’s name attached, he alone is responsible, and for those which are unsigned, the Editor will be accountable. A YEAR ON THE PATH. The present issue of this Magazine closes the first year of its publication. It was not started because its projectors thought that they alone knew the true Path, but solely out of an intense longing to direct inquiring minds towards a way which had seemed to many persons who had tried it, to hold out the possibility of finding an answer to the burning questions that vex the human heart. The question is always naturally asked “What is the Path?” or “What is the Philosophy?” which is the same thing, for of course the following of any path whatever will depend upon the particular philosophy or doctrines believed in. The path we had in view is held by us to be the same one which in all ages has been sought by Heathen, Jew and Christian alike. By some called the path to Heaven, by others the path to Jesus, the path to Nirvana, and by the Theosophists the path to Truth. Jesus has defined it as a narrow, difficult and straight path. By the ancient Brahmins it has been called, “the small old path leading far away on which those sages walk who reach salvation;” and Buddha thought it was a noble fourfold path by which alone the miseries of existence can be truly surmounted. But of course mental diversities inevitably cause diversity in the understanding of any proposition. Thus it happens that Theosophists have many different views of how the path should be followed, but none of them disagree with the statement that there must be _one_ Truth, and that no religion can be called higher than Truth. We therefore have pursued, as far as possible, a course which is the result of the belief that the prevalence of similar doctrines in the writings and traditions of all peoples points to the fact that _the true religion is that one which will find the basic ideas common to all philosophies and religions_. We turned most readily and frequently to the simple declarations found in the ancient books of India, esteeming most highly that wonderful epic poem—the Bagavad-Gita. And in that is found a verse that seems to truly express in powerful words what philosophers have been blindly grasping after in many directions. “It is even a portion of myself (the Supreme) that in this material world is the universal spirit of all things. It draweth together the five organs and the mind, which is the sixth, in order that it may obtain a body, and that it may leave it again; and that portion of myself (Ishwar) having taken them under his charge, accompanieth them from his own abode as the breeze the fragrance from the flower.”[170] To catch the light which gleams through this verse, is not for mortal minds an easy task, and thus it becomes necessary to present as many views from all minds as can be obtained. But it seems plain that in every religion is found the belief that that part of man which is immortal must be a part of the Supreme Being, for there cannot be two immortalities at once, since that would give to each a beginning, and therefore the immortal portion of man must be derived from the true and only immortality. This immortal spark has manifested itself in many different classes of men, giving rise to all the varied religions, many of which have forever disappeared from view. Not any one of them could have been the whole Truth, but each must have presented one of the facettes of the great gem, and thus through the whole surely run ideas shared by all. These common ideas point to truth. They grow out of man’s inner nature and are not the result of revealed books. But some one people or another must have paid more attention to the deep things of life than another. The “Christian” nations have dazzled themselves with the baneful glitter of material progress. They are not the peoples who will furnish the clearest clues to the Path. A few short years and they will have abandoned the systems now held so dear, because their mad rush to the perfection of their civilization will give them control over now undreamed of forces. Then will come the moment when they must choose which of two kind of fruit they will take. In the meantime it is well to try and show a relation between their present system and the old, or at least to pick out what grains of truth are in the mass. In the year just passing we have been cheered by much encouragement from without and within. Theosophy has grown not only in ten years, but during the year past. A new age is not far away. The huge, unwieldy flower of the 19th century civilization, has almost fully bloomed, and preparation must be made for the wonderful new flower which is to rise from the old. We have not pinned our faith on Vedas nor Christian scriptures, nor desired any others to do so. All our devotion to Aryan literature and philosophy arises from a belief that the millions of minds who have trodden weary steps before ours, left a path which might be followed with profit, yet with discrimination. For we implicitly believe that in this curve of the cycle, the final authority is _the man himself_. In former times the disclosed Vedas, and later, the teachings of the great Buddha, were the right authority, in whose authoritative teachings and enjoined practices were found the necessary steps to raise Man to an upright position. But the grand clock of the Universe points to another hour, and now Man must seize the key in his hands and himself—as a whole—open the gate. Hitherto he has depended upon the great souls whose hands have stayed impending doom. Let us then together enter upon another year, fearing nothing, assured of strength in the Union of Brotherhood. For how can we fear death, or life, or any horror or evil, at any place or time, when we well know that even death itself is a part of the dream which we are weaving before our eyes. Our belief may be summed up in the motto of the Theosophical Society “There is no religion higher than Truth,” and our practice consists in a disregard of any authority in matters of religion and philosophy except such propositions as from their innate quality we feel to be true. WHAT IS TRUE “CHRISTIANITY”? “Christianity” is a _religion_; but the word “religion” has evidently three distinct meanings: 1. In the first place it signifies the practice of a certain kind of spiritual training, by which the higher principles in the constitution of man are developed and reunited (bound back) to the divine source to which they belong. In this sense it is the same as _yogism_ (from _yog_, to bind). 2. In the second aspect it implies the knowledge of the true relation existing between microcosmic man as a part of the All and the macrocosm of the spiritual and material universe. In this sense it is a science. 3. In the third and common acceptation of the term, “religion” means a certain system of forms, ceremonies and usages, by which some supposed eternal deity is worshipped or propitiated and his favor obtained, so that the sinner may escape the deserved punishment and evade the law. In this sense it is a superstition. To become a “Christian” of the third order, it is merely necessary to submit to a certain ceremony called baptism, whose mode of administration varies in the different sects; but it seems that to become a real Christian some other baptism is necessary, namely, the baptism of the _water of Truth_, the baptism of _Blood_, and the baptism of the _living Fire_ of the Spirit. The first baptism, with the _water of Truth_, means the attainment of spiritual knowledge, and corresponds to the first of the _four noble truths_ taught by Buddha: “_right doctrine_.” The second, or the baptism of _Blood_, is commonly supposed to mean a shedding of blood by martyrdom, in the defense of a belief in a historical Christ. But such a process would be a loss of blood and not a reception of it, and could not properly be called a “baptism.” The best way to obtain information in regard to this “baptism of blood,” will be to ask those who have received it or who are receiving it at present. There is a certain class of “practical occultists,” whose inner senses are opened to a great extent, and who have been taught by no one but the spirit within themselves and their own experience. They say that the “baptism of blood” means a penetration of the growing spiritual germ in man, through the flesh and blood and bones of the physical body, by which even the gross elements of the physical form are attenuated and purified,[171] and that this process produces pains and sufferings, typically represented by the suffering, crucifixion and death of the man Jesus of Nazareth. They say that no one can be a true follower of Christ, or a “real Christian,” who has not undergone this baptism of blood, and experienced the pains of crucifixion,[172] but that man having passed through that occult process becomes an Adept, when only the highest baptism (or the last initiation)—the baptism of _Fire_—will be necessary to enter the highest attainable state (Spiritual Power), and to become a _Son of Light_. But, it is asked, what has Jesus of Nazareth to do with that process? How does the latter come to be typified by his suffering, and what is the _rationale_ of it? It is claimed that at the beginning of certain historical periods, when old religious truths are about to be forgotten, and the idolatry of form assumes the place of true religion, some great spirit (planetary) appears upon the Earth, incarnated into a human form, and by his word and _example_ impresses the old truths forcibly upon a number of receptive minds, to communicate them to others, and thus lay the foundation of a new religious system, embodying old truths in a new form. It is believed that the man Jesus of Nazareth was the mortal form in which such a Spirit was embodied; the latter being no less than what I believe every planetary spirit to be—an emanation of the Universal _Logos_ or the _Word_.[173] But what is the _Logos_? or, to express it better, how can we form a conception of it? We can conceive of no other _God_ (or Supreme Good) but the one which lives within ourselves, and which is said to be the image of the Universal God reflected in the purified human soul, where it (He) may attain self-consciousness and the knowledge of self. The Universal God may be described as the incomprehensible centre from which proceed the elements of _Love_, _Life_ and _Light_ in the various modes of manifestation on the different planes. The whole of Nature is a product of the _Spirit of God_, being poured out throughout the _All_ by the power of _The Word_, which is the _Life_—or _thought_ rendered active by _will_. The same process which took place in the eternal Macrocosm of the Universe, takes place in the inner world belonging to the microcosm of man. “No one can come to the _Father_, but through the _Son_;” that is to say: No _God_ will take his seat in the interior temple of Man, except through the power of the _Word_—in other words; by the concentration of thought and good will upon the divine germ which rests in the innermost centre of every human being. If we concentrate our _Love_ upon that centre of _Good_, the divine germ will begin its active _Life_, and the interior world will gradually become illuminated by the _Light_ of the spirit. As this principle grows, it will penetrate the soul and through the soul all the lower principles, even the physical body, throwing off the impurities of soul and body, and the more such impurities are present, the greater will be the suffering, typically represented by Jesus, until finally the _baptism of blood_ is completed, the soul purified, the animal _ego_ dead and the man has become a “Christ” or an _Adept_,—that is to say one in whom the (6th) _Christ_ principle has taken form. It will readily be seen that this process is much more difficult to accomplish, than merely to go to church, pay the dues to the priests, attend to prayer-meetings and perform the prescribed ceremonies. To accomplish this process requires a constant meditation of the highest kind, and a continual employment of will power to keep away the disturbing elements of evil, which in a person who strives for _light_ are still more boisterous than in one who is indifferent, for as soon as the spiritual light kindled in the centre begins to radiate its life-giving rays throughout our interior world, the “_dwellers of the threshold_”—the evil _egos_, created by evil thoughts and selfish desires, floating at the periphery of the soul-sphere like clouds sailing through the atmosphere of our earth, begin to feel the destroying influence of the central sun and battle for their existence. Still this atmosphere of evil must be penetrated before we can reach the luminous centre and the tranquil heaven within, and this is done by clinging to the principle of Good and virtue whose rays radiate from the centre. This principle will at first only be felt intuitionally but as we feed it with good thoughts, it grows and the interior spiritual senses become opened, so that we may _see_ and _hear_ its voice distinctly and without any fear of misunderstanding its meaning. The “below” is always in exact correspondence to and related with the “above.” We are immersed in an all surrounding but invisible ocean of life, whose waves pervade our psychic organization, in the same sense as volumes of air enter our lungs, and as the latter stimulates the life of the body, likewise the former stimulates the growth of the elements of the spirit; which draw their substance from the lower-animal-principles. In the same way the caloric rays of the sun enter the bodies of plants and stimulate the assimilation of the elements which are drawn from earth, water and air. Those who have gone through that occult process, will require no proof of the truth of these assertions: because they know it to be true by experience; but the “exoteric Christian” and sceptic, having no such experience to assist his faith, may arrive at a certain degree of conviction by using his reasoning powers and logic in conjunction with the teachings of the _Bible_. Christ is reported in the _New Testament_ to have said: “Except Ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in You” (John vi, 53); and again: “I am the living bread, which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever” (John vi, 51.) Now this seems plain enough to every student of occultism, and if translated into the scientific language of modern occultists, it would mean: “Unless you absorb and assimilate within your psychic organization the sixth principle (The Christ), which is the only permanent and immortal principle in the constitution of Man, you will have no sixth principle developed within you, and consequently possess no immortal life—at least as far as Your personality is concerned (for the divine and now unconscious germ within you cannot die, but will reincarnate again). But if you absorb the principle or spiritual life and develop the spirit within you, so that it grows through your flesh and blood, then will you have drunk from the _Elixir of Life_ and received the _Baptism of Blood_ and become a _Christian_, an _Adept_; for ‘Christ’ will have taken form in your body, and being himself immortal you will be immortal through him.” These views are corroborated by the great Christian mystic _Jacob Boehme_, by _Jane Leade_, _Paracelsus_, the Rosicrucians, and I can find nothing in them which would in any way conflict with the _Esoteric Doctrine_, as taught by the Eastern Adepts. If any difference in opinion could arise, it could be only, in regard to the person of _Jesus of Nazareth_ or _Jehoshua_, and whether he lived exactly at the time claimed by modern Christians. This question I must leave to some one wiser than myself to settle; but it seems of no great importance to me; for the existence of the Christ-principle is disputed by none, and the man, Jesus—having died—can only be a Savior to us at present, if we study his character and imitate his example. F. HARTMANN, M. D. PAPYRUS—THE GEM. The roads were thronged with the people moving toward the great square, for it was a feast of the Goddess. The temples were crowded, while long lines of men and maidens in the robes of “The Sacred” wound in and out toward the river. Music and song rose and fell upon the evening breeze, like the pulse of a throbbing heart. Here and there could be seen the Scribes, and seated in an open space, the Tale-tellers. One of these, as I rested near him, told the tale of ONE WHO FOUND THE GEM. “In the land of the Wise-men, there dwelt a young man. Many years had he labored in a strange mine; the ‘Mine of the Priceless Gems;’—hopefully, bravely, but fruitlessly. He had long known that he who should find the Master Stone, would be free, be full of peace and dig no more, for nothing better could be found. He also knew that he who found the stone should seek to share it with all men. “Many small stones had he found, but they were laid aside to be used when the great stone was reached. “Silently and steadily he worked on, until one gloomy day when he had grown so weak that he could make but one more effort, that effort was rewarded, and before him lay the great gem. Weary, weak, but joyful, he gathered it into his bosom, and went forth to share it with others; for he who told not of his gem, or shared it not with all men, must lose the stone. “Far he wandered, telling his wonderful story, the _finding of the Priceless Stone_—the stone that made men greater, wiser, more loving than all things living; the stone that no man could keep unless he gave it away. “Far he wandered in his own country, seeking to tell his story and give of the Stone to each one he met. Silently they listened—gravely they meditated and gently they said to him: ‘This is Kali-yuga, the dark age. Come to us a hundred thousand years from now. Until then—the stone is not for us. It is Karma.’ “Far into another land he wandered, ever trying for the same end. Gravely they listened, quietly they spoke: ‘Peace be with you. When the Lotus ceases to bloom and our Sacred River runs dry, come to us. Until then we need not the stone.’ “Over the seas unto another land he went, for fully he believed that there they would hear and share with him. The many days of wandering and the long journey across the sea had made him thin and ragged. He had not thought of this, but as he told his story he was reminded of it and many other things, for here the people answered in many ways, and not always gently. “Some listened, for his story was new to them, but the gem was uncut, and they wished it polished. “Others paused and desired him to tell his story in their tents, for that would make them exalted and famous, but they wanted not the gem. As he did not belong to their tribe, it would bring discredit upon them to receive anything from him. “One paused to listen and desired some of the stone, but he desired to use it to elevate his own position and assist him in overreaching his fellows in bartering and bargaining. The Wanderer was unable to give any of the stone to such as this one. “Another listened, but inasmuch as the Wanderer refused to make the gem float in the air, he would none if it. “Another heard, but he already knew of a better stone, and was sure he would find it, because he ate nothing but star-light and moonbeams. “Another could not receive any of the stone or listen to the story, for the Wanderer was poor and ragged. Unless he was dressed in purple and fine linen and told his story in words of oil and honey, he could not be the possessor of the gem. “Still another heard, but he knew it was not the gem. As the Wanderer had been unsuccessful before, surely he could not have found the stone. Even had he found it, he could not have the proper judgment to divide it. So he wanted none of the stone. “Near and far went the Wanderer. Still ever the same. Some wanted it, but the stone was too hard, or not bright enough. He was not of their people, or was ignorant. He was too ragged and worn to suit their ideas, so they wanted none of the stone. “Saddened, aged and heart-sore, he wandered back to the land of the Wise men. To one of these he went, telling of his journeyings and that no man would share with him the magnificent stone, and also of his sorrow that he too must lose it. “‘Be not troubled, my son,’ said the Wise One, ‘the stone is for you, nor can you lose it. He who makes the effort to help his fellow man is the rightful owner and still possesses the entire stone, although he has shared it with all the world. To each and every one to whom you have spoken, although they knew it not, you have given one of the smaller stones which you first found. It is enough. When the Master Stone is cut and polished, then is the labor of the fortunate possessor ended. The long journeying and weary wandering, the sorrow-laden heart and tear-dimmed eyes, have cut and polished your gem. Behold, it is a white and a fair stone!’ “Drawing it from his bosom, the Wanderer gazed into the wonderful light of the stone while an expression of great peace stole over his face. Folding the gem close to his bosom his eyelids closed, and he fell asleep, a wanderer no more.” RAMESES. HERALDS FROM THE UNSEEN. “Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.”—I Cor. xv, 51. “I have found the small old path leading far away.”—UPANISHAD. To him who without murmuring, confident in the perfect justice of the law, waits and watches, there comes a herald from heights unseen. The just man follows him and attains; the unwise may surprise him and follow also. But when the fool has rushed unbidden in where angels fear to tread, he meets a mailed Truth with a drawn sword, on whose point he dies. Now there are two deaths. From the one he may rise, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, * * * for the dead shall be raised,”[174] and this by the vivifying power of truth, if so be he have one identical incorruptible atom in his spiritual make up, or else that rash being is dead forever, and the spirit monad creates another in the dream of three thousand years. The indivisible Truth in its entirety is incommunicable in the words of our plane. A clue may indeed be given; it is the herald to those who await him. It is useless to turn the page to see who this is that offers the clue. Of myself I know nothing, yet through me may much be made known. I am the trumpet; through it the herald may proclaim a mystery. It was in a night of silence that a Power bade me waken, and drew me to a dark cave wherein It passed. Not so I, for the entrance was narrow and I had encumbrances about me. Only many nights later, when I had parted with effort, hope and fear, did I stand within. All of me that was essential had entered; this was enough. Then a musical chord breathed low, the darkness dispersed, and I saw the Unknown Land. It was a circling land of streams, Light everywhere, flowing, flowing, flowing. The flow was cadenced and welled from a mysterious Centre of blackness at the edges of which spouted cataracts of flame. My thought shrank with awe of the Darkness, but an unknown grasp of Might expanded within me and drew me to that flaming verge. On the knees of the soul I fall and am not. I become one with the All, and consciously resting in Omniscience I know the whole. Yet _what_ forever dwells, wakeful and brooding with that dark pavillion, nor man nor angel may discover. Profounder than all Being, _It is_, girt about by unfathomed fires. “Ye shall enter the light, but ye shall never touch the flame.”[175] A stir was over that central Dark, a titanic breath, like the sighing of myriad seas, measured, omnipotent. Where its harmonious friction fretted the verges of space, the flames burst forth, and with fecund pulsations gave birth to heat, light, motion and sound. The Centre felt a boundless attraction for the circumference, pouring toward it with inexhaustible energy, for “the heart of it is Love.” This was the force centrifugal, which in a dazzle of starry scintillations thrusts the universal glooms apart with a song. Were this all, Discord and Division were the end. But the circumference trembled also with a vast yearning toward the Centre, so that it ever tended to return there, as the prodigal, enriched in experience, returns to the mystic house of the Father. This was the centripetal force, and these two caused the double vibration of the Astral Light, and they are all you shall know though you blend with the infinite forever. “Whatever there is, the whole world when gone forth trembles in His breath: that Brahman is a great terror, like a drawn sword. They who know it become immortal.”[176] Then a voice said—“The Absolute evolves thought from Himself, and the vibration of this thought in the passive wells of space generates Light and its correlated forces. The Thought is,—‘_Creation!_’ The singing breath is the Word; the Light is the Absolute made manifest, and the Universe begins.” At once I saw divergent lances of light pour their serried splendors into the void, and the point of each spear displaced the mist which curling backward from the centre of energy thus formed, communicated the movement to sister vapors in turn. Activities shoot, play back and forth, elongate, crystalize, and so great planets spring into the arena, feel the first instinct of separate Being, struggle to depart,—an estranged Self—in meteoric desolation, when the magnetic impulse of the Centre streams along the creative ray, meets the responsive principle, and lo! each chafing Orb, held in leash by Love, wheels into the circle of attraction and obeys the Law. The astral world has begun! Thence presently the Light spreads afresh, reflected and repeated from every facet of every star, till arrowy glories, vibrant with each vibration sped forth by the primary pencils of light, in turn create dull planetary masses in the luminous abyss; then ever renewed coruscations quicken their dust with whose initial tremor shining crystals sparkle out and glide together about a glistering ring whose centre is ever a darkness ruffled by the outreaching current from that first tinted Gloom. So new spheres form, these, repeating the parent movement, with wide spreading auras touch and arouse their neighbors, and interpenetrating, revolving, throwing off, taking on, converging, diverging, modifying and modified, a world of forms is evolved whose final expression of Being is Man. Thus further departing, the infinite variations end in individuality and the greater the individuality, the more it leans to the centrifugal force, and the lack of equilibrium in the forces draws man further from the Eternal and he forgets the Law. His aura, his rays are nerve currents centred in the personality, but linked by star-beam and moon-ray to the quivering Source of all light, so that each man vibrating, imparts to the Akasa about him his own specific rate of vibration, and all men, all things, suspended as it were in this fine ether which fills the universe, act and react each on each, every one striving to modify the others to his own vibratory ratio, while the Light in the same way attacks all, and the battle of the giants is here. So the final expression of “evil” is inertia, and the highest attribute of Spirit is the Thought which is Life. Once again the Voice spoke then saying: “What gives Life?” Someone answered: “Vibration.” And when It said, “Look back to the earth world,” I obeyed. I saw the modern sage reducing all the great forces, all the intoxicating play of colors and the bewildering tangle of harmonies to this one source,—Vibration. I saw wondering students bending over sensitive flames that danced or died at the mandate of sound. I saw a child playing with iron filings on glass, and as he drew a bow athwart the pane they marshalled into tiny mimicries of the primitive crystalline creation. I saw the Frost spirit, tracing his white wonders of tropical forests on vibrant surfaces, blazoning symbols of summer on the grim escutcheon of the snow. I saw Sound disintegrating granite and iron, taming wild beasts with a lure, transforming brothers into demons at the sibilant hiss of a scathing word.[177] I saw Light fecundating the soil, and the teeming battalions of the underworld issuing from the palpitating spark in their germs; the selective art of the flower, choosing the kindred color of her tribe from all the flashing scale, gave up to me its secret of the synchronous vibration of that hue with the astral soul within her fragrant form. Passion I saw also, flaming in two breasts that for one tumultuous moment became one, and knew it for an instant of similar vibration. Aye, and saw that Love was a steadfast quality of motion between loyal hearts, saw too that Anger and Hatred had their rise in the same source, and mounting upward I saw that Faith was a similitude of vibration with Truth itself. Again the Voice spoke; “Dost thou see aught but Vibration anywhere?” I answered: “Such all life is, and from such all proceeds. He who cons its secret laws and can institute its musical numbers at will, is a God! He can create and destroy.” “Go then, and by analogy learn what thou art,” said the Voice, and like the rebel fraction of a star I fell from Glory, and found myself alone in the Maya world again, with these words thrilling my brain. “But He, that Highest Person, who wakes in us while we sleep, shaping one lovely sight after another, He indeed is called the Light, He is called Brahman, He alone is called The Immortal. All worlds are founded on It and no one goes beyond. This is that.”[178] It is rarely that a man gets the whole of his thought; often others supply it. Analogy is the power of following a thought into all its correlations, and I shall ask you to do this in a measure with mine. These puny pages cannot contain the theme of cycles, and falling short, it scarce matters by how many pen strokes I fail. Consider this first; what are we? Look abroad over our Society, largely; we see each member working on his own particular line. So it must be with man for ages. When you shall have exhausted your special hobby, when through astral perception, or mesmeric control or mental acumen, you shall have attained high powers, the hour of your limitation will strike, as its awful knell can strike, even from the towers of Futurity, and you will know that you have not found that corner-stone on which alone the Eternal rests,—your indivisible Self. “Great ones fall back, even from the threshold, unable to sustain the weight of responsibility; unable to pass on.”[179] Follow from the start that solitary beacon which informs the ultimate goal: _Unity_. Make it your touchstone and your guide; other stars are reflected lights only. The doctrine of unselfishness is no sentiment, but of logical, practical utility. The individual way lies from limited Being, through Becoming, to unlimited Being, precisely as the universal way lies from sterile Unity, through Division to fecund Unity, or from the one Life through Death to the Life of the All. He who in final choice elects the path of Division, chooses Death eternal. You may indeed wend homeward through the devious tangle of reflected rays, but how long, how hard are such paths! I would see your souls with eagle swoop make straight for the Central Sun. Look then within you. Man! Woman! Are you what you seem? Till this thought daily; it will bear the harvest of Life. With analogy for our guide we observe that the first forms of life are crystalline and have two poles. You man, are also a magnetic sphere with physical and spiritual poles. On the physical side of the subject we find modern scientists telling us that man is matter in a state of low vibration, and thought, matter in a state of high vibration.[180] In this ascertained view, Spirit is a higher state of vibration than we at present cognize. “Does the fact look crass and material, threatening to degrade thy theory of Spirit? Resist it not; it goes to refine and raise thy theory of matter just as much.”[181] Nor do I say this is all. Trust your highest ideal to the unconditioned causation lying back of that primal vibration—Absolute Thought. The vibrant tension of fixed thought must in time heighten the vibratory ratio of the man, for tension excites increased pulsation. This rarefies the density of all bodies, and the friction of intensified chemical action establishes light, heat and odic force. The increased porosity of the physical body tends to disengage the atoms of the astral body, and the generation of a strong odic current forces it out to the astral world, (always attracting it) all the sooner because the intensified pulsation of thought-tension sends the auric emanations further into space, thus draughting a larger portion of the world-soul to the entity. All vibration being attended with sound (which may or may not escape the ear) we proceed to examine tones and find them varying from the lowest of eight vibrations per second, to the highest known to western science of 24,000 per second. Remember that the tones of anger, hatred, scorn are all deep notes, those of cheerfulness, love, hope are treble. Here we discover the apparently inexplicable effect of spoken words which raise or depress our vibrations to their own by means of the etheric medium. To resist the wildfire spread of passion or anger we have but to check the vibration by holding steadily to our own; this maintained, may raise that of others, precisely as the high musical note constantly sounded, raises all lower ones at all related, to its own pitch. Tyndall says: “Scientific education ought to teach us to see the invisible as well as the visible in nature; to picture with the vision of the mind those operations which entirely elude bodily vision; to look at the very atoms of matter in motion and at rest, and to follow them forth without once losing sight of them * * to see them integrating themselves in natural phenomena.” So I shall ask you to imagine a tone at a high rate of vibration, to see it striking the hearer’s brain at a certain focus, creating there a centre of energy, which tending to crystallization, fixes the thought in the mind. And the more permanent duration of pleasant (which are high) thoughts and tones is evident if we glance back over a long period of time and note how the joys stand out and the griefs disappear; so we always forget physical suffering. Moreover we may see this tone raising his vibratory ratio and glancing off at an angle of reflection equal to that of incidence, reacting upon the surrounding ether and upon all hearers. The magical success of eastern mantras depends upon the exact intonation, which governs the vibratory result, and the proper intonation of the sacred books, learned from the priests, doubtless increased their effect. Turning to colors, we find them varying in vibration from violet 1/60000 inch to red 1/38000 inch, and the violet has greater actinism; so it would seem to follow that the more extended the undulation the greater the chemical action and resultant odic force. Hence the tone of animals or man is not such a poor test of their nature as we might suppose, and a certain clue to character is given in a preferred color. The higher sounds thus create greater akasic disturbance through increased undulation. Deleuze in his work on magnetism says: “The word which indicates our will can often exert an action. * * The very tones of the magnetizer, being produced by the vital energy, act upon the organs of the patients.” Reichenbach proved that all chemical action is a source of odic force, and the transmertion of air being nothing less, additional witness is born to the occult power of a word. All mesmerizers are now agreed that motions and words are unnecessary; the will suffices; what is this but the tension of fixed thought. Everything in Nature has its own specific rate of vibration; if we know and can reproduce and heighten it we can call the thing into existence or pass ourselves within its consciousness. Hence the old saying that numbers are the names of things. The “lost word” itself is, doubt it not, a sound of the highest possible vibration, represented by the Aum, or sound of the eternal outpour of Light, the Logos of the Christians. The ordinary ear may not grasp this sound, but Tyndall tells us such are not dead because they have passed from our ken.[182] When we remember that this astral vibration can in time elevate that of all matter, we glimpse alike the great factor of Evolution and of the use of Aum. The thought being spiritually fixed, an unbroken vital current sets in between the man and the “One eternal Thinker, thinking non-eternal thoughts. He though one, fulfils the desire of many. The wise, who perceive Him within their Self, to them belong eternal joy, eternal peace!”[183] Here we perceive the force of the repeated injunction to be calm; how else can the harmonious medium act upon us? “The man who is not calm and subdued, or whose mind is not at rest, he can never obtain the Self, even by knowledge.”[184] Follow me now to the plane of soul. As all things from planet to molecule have their mystic centre, that of man is found in the heart, whose systole and diastole are regulated by the double movement of the Astral Light. There, hemmed about by the light of the semi-material soul, is the dusky centre, where the spirit may awaken and breathe. “The self is smaller than small, greater than great, hidden in the heart of the creature.” Air is breathed by the lungs; the soul breathes the astral light. As that spiritual monad who is your own Augoides, breathed first upon the plastic Akasa and drew together the principles of a man, so It must again breathe upon this silent centre to create the spiritual man. It does not inhabit him, It overshadows him. It is his “Father in Heaven” to whom Jesus bade him pray; his Creator. In each heart stands this shrouded altar to an unknown God. “Whom ye therefore ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.” He has created the physical man hundreds of times, for His mission is unfulfilled until through Evolution, He shall have made “one higher than the angels.” In that illimitable future which evades the mind, my soul sees ultimate beings in their glory, raise the swelling tide of Being higher still. So Divinity raises Itself by Itself and man expands God. Here is the adhesion of Jesus to the destiny latent in Humanity. “Be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is also perfect.” JASPER NIEMAND, F. T. S. (_Concluded in April._) THOUGHTS IN SOLITUDE. II. The votaries of Religions that preach salvation only through the acceptance of their dogmas must inevitably be more or less animated by the proselytising spirit, and the more pretentious the claims of power to save by the inculcation of orthodox opinion, the more urgent must appear the necessity to spread those opinions as widely as possible. Indeed it seems imperative on one who holds such a faith in his heart of hearts, that he should spend his life in trying to spread it. But when the true philosophic thought is attained and the law of Karma with its infinite ramifications realized as the all pervading power, how vain will seem all attempts to control or even deeply affect the destiny of others. Truly Occultism teaches the widest tolerance, and though its student will doubtless as formerly try to influence all who are brought into contact with him in his journey through life, and if possible instil into them the thoughts that actuate him and give his life a definite purpose, yet will he realize that over his own life alone has he paramount power. He may exercise his worldly wisdom as the sower of seed, may avoid what is most patently the rocky or the thorny ground, but he will gradually learn to cease to look for results from even the most promising, and will rise more and more on the wings of devotion to the true giver of the increase. While therefore it is a subject for satisfaction if the Theosophical Society should indeed prove to be the dawn of that better hope for mankind the nucleus of that Universal Brotherhood which shall overspread all lands, and which shall plant in the hearts of men the Science-Religion along whose lines will move the spiritual progress of all future Humanity, yet as a Society it can scarcely be expected to be free from the imperfections inherent in all organization, which being of the earth is necessarily earthly—and after all it is a matter of very small moment in what form truth is given to the world. This only is certain that truth must advance that no man can stay the wheel of evolution—that the Divine Wisdom which we believe animates us will one day be recognized by all mankind as the only solution of the problem of the Universe, and as the guide to Life Eternal. And Destiny will not be hurried—spite of our impatience—any more than she can be retarded. The evil Karma of the World must work itself out. The unclean man let him be unclean still, let him measure every depth of vice and taste of every spring of passion till the hour strikes for him also and his painful upward progress has to begin. So have the Rishis done who went before us, so have we done in past existences, indeed we may have but extricated ourselves from the slough, and the mire may still be clinging to our feet. For no man can transcend experience, and all earthly places, foul and clean alike, must be trodden by him. Nor when the words or acts of others come into direct antagonism with our own personality, any more than when the cruelty and injustice in the world at large are brought painfully before us, shall we continue to blame the actors, or allow the old prejudices “with their lurid colourings of passion” to dominate us any longer, for the true philosophic thought will have taught us to recognize that all acts are but the result of the “Three Qualities” blended in infinite combination—the great Karma of the World working itself out. The deeper one looks into this Western Civilization of ours, and the more one realizes in what degrading depths its masses are sunk, in what heartless frivolity so many of the more opulent spend their lives, and in what superstitious intolerance its so-called Religious World moves, it seems indeed a forlorn hope to attempt to carry conviction of the Occult Truth or expect a widespread acceptance of it. But though this age of Darkness may exhibit an appalling depth of materiality, yet in all ages of the world, the blind multitude are many and the lovers of Wisdom few. And indeed this love of Wisdom is no light attainment, but one for which the soul has been educated through life times of experience and paroxysms of pain, for while the gratification of any of the senses still continues to give supreme satisfaction, there is no room in the soul for Theosophic thought. Not until by the slow education of repeated experience it is realized that the senses can no longer satisfy, that even the higher joys of communion with ones kind—though culminating in the ideal union of two souls—are but steps in the ladder to the Supreme Thought, can any true idea of the Divine Wisdom have been formed. Indeed a time will come for the student when the gratification of the senses will actually cause pain. It may be ushered in for one through the sense of sight, when the most beautiful scenery of earth, and the most perfect combinations of mountain wood and water only accentuate by their faint reflex the passionate desire for that land which no eye hath seen, that land which no eye can see. Or the symphonies of earthly music which once enthralled the soul may raise the longing for the song of the celestial choir to that ecstatic point where it becomes unrecognisable from pain. And so the student is driven inward to find at last his refuge in pure Thought, and he begins to perceive that the Eternal World of ideas is the only real World, the only one in which pure Being is to be found, and that this phenomenal existence is indeed but the circling of the nets of delusion, the restless tossing of the false salt waves of sense which reward “with droughts that double thirst” the deluded souls that float on them. The more the student lives in this ideal world, the more will he find that the association with those whose interests are exclusively centred on earthly things becomes repugnant to him, and that even the calls of duty to descend from the tranquil heights of Thought, to the jarring discord of action in the world, are responded to with increasing pain, though duty in such cases is likely to be in process of changing her sphere of action. When the inner struggles of one still bound by ties of earth suggest such thoughts as these, surely the isolation from contact with the rude world of the most spiritual men, those who have achieved the sublime heights of Mahatmaship, is no longer a thing to wonder at, but becomes apparent as an absolute necessity. The desires above referred to of seeing the invisible, and realizing the divine, will probably if practised continuously enough, and with sufficient intensity, be the prelude to some partial lifting of the veil, when the ecstatic may reap in a moment of beatific vision more than he ever dreamed of, and receive accretion of strength for the coming years, though this is more likely to be the immediate reward of some supreme self-devotion whether in act or thought, and when the words of Krishna, “near to renunciation—very near—dwelleth eternal peace” will flash upon the soul as truth that requires no word of mortal man to give it authority. But woe to the man who unduly cultivates his spiritual faculties without being a complete master of his lower nature—the beast below will turn and rend him some day—the little bit of lust unconquered may be the means of his complete undoing. For as his astral consciousness develops his whole being intensifies, including the small unconquered part of his physical nature, which he will then have to fight upon the Astral plane, in far more terrible struggle than had he conquered on the physical. It becomes in fact what is symbolically known as the “Dweller on the threshold” that has to be fought and conquered before the neophyte can aspire to gain the first glimmering of vision on the true spiritual plane. For it must always be remembered that our nature is threefold, “body, soul and spirit” as the initiate St. Paul expressed it, and until the personality has transferred all its forces unto the soul plane, it cannot expect to attain to that of spirit. From this it will be evident how necessary it is to live more and more continuously in the Eternal Thought until all fleshly appetites and desires of sense die off by sheer inanition. The vague dreams with which life began, and which the child with memories fresh from “that imperial palace whence he came” pictured in a material way of a golden city with walls of jasper and with gates of pearl, and into which no unclean thing was permitted to enter, are lost for a while in the frenzied rush of youth and early manhood, but maturer years bring them back with an added pathos and a more spiritualized meaning. It is indeed the Golden city we all seek for—“the city that hath foundations whose builder and whose maker is God.” PILGRIM. [Illustration:] HINDU SYMBOLISM. IV. AUM symbolized as in unison with the attributes of the Trimurti, as the symbolic foundation of the elementary universe. This has a certain connection with figures Nos. 1 and 2 and 3. The idea is to represent the mystic body of Brahman (neuter) and the ideal type of the Trimurti. The representation is of a four-handed cloud picture. A wreath of clouds forms the outline of the head which is without any tiara. Two suns indicate the eyes without lids, always open. This symbolism is also found in the Hebrew books, _e. g._ the Zohar. The nose and eyebrows are formed by a palm tree divided on the top, in the centre. This tree was considered as androgynous. The mouth is merely an opening in the clouds; from it emanate, four principal rays, the four-worlds of the Kabbalah. AUM is winged, Brahman (neuter) is not, for the latter is also AUM—Prana, the breath of the highest life and mystic carrier of the Will of Brahman (neuter). AUM is the bird of the Brahman Desire or Wish. The four hands of AUM are holding the architypes of the four elements, fire, water, air, earth, in their height and depth. The lower are supporting the Himalayah Mountains, the mountains of the gods. From which comes the German Himmel _i. e._ Heaven. The linga yoni is shown as the symbol of all the creative and emanative powers which lie in the mystic cloud garment of AUM. In this figure are nearly all the principal symbols of the Brahmanical religious metaphysics. The bond which unites Prakriti to Brahman (neuter) is Prana, the subtile body of Brahman, the form of the Being, the divine breath, the principle of the organism, the respiration so to say, of the Deity; in Sanscrit it also means “breath of man,” more correctly it is AUM, the first form of the creator, the Sun engendered before Time, the first Word (the Logos) which went from Its mouth, the ‘Hokhmah or Wisdom of the Kabbalah, when It prepared Its work, the creative Word. Prana and AUM are confounded in Maya, and as it, they have formed the Cow. AUM is the son of Maya as he is the son of Brahman (neuter), because Maya is Brahman. AUM is the first born Word or Logos of the Deity, the Memrah of the Jews, the Honover of the Persians, the origin of the Vedas. It has revealed and manifested all the emanated things, the so-called creation. It appeared before all things, and contains all qualities, all the elements, and is the name and body of Brahman (neuter), and consequently as infinite as It. The Will, Desire, Word is the master architect and creator of all the things. Brahma meditating upon the divine Word, therein found the primitive water, the common bond of all the creatures, the primitive fire, and the Trimurti of the Vedas, also the worlds and universal harmony of all the things. The image of AUM is the Cow, which is also a symbol of the universe. The universe was concealed and at first was hidden under the waters, and the waters were in Atma. These waters are those without any shores, all that which exists is water, and the water and AUM make but one; these primitive waters are the sea of Maya, the celestial ocean of all existence. There are to be found further in this symbolical picture many other suggestions flowing from the Ancient Aryan or Hindu system. That system is believed to contain in germ all the others which have since arisen, as: the Hermetic, the Jewish, the Christian and others. Space, however, forbids a more extended explanation at present, and the student is recommended to study the four which have appeared in this magazine. ISAAC MYER. THROUGH THE GATES OF GOLD. The most notable book for guidance in Mysticism which has appeared since _Light on the Path_ was written has just been published under the significant title of “Through the Gates of Gold.”[185] Though the author’s name is withheld, the occult student will quickly discern that it must proceed from a very high source. In certain respects the book may be regarded as a commentary on _Light on the Path_. The reader would do well to bear this in mind. Many things in that book will be made clear by the reading of this one, and one will be constantly reminded of that work, which has already become a classic in our literature. Through the Gates of Gold is a work to be kept constantly at hand for reference and study. It will surely take rank as one of the standard books of Theosophy. The “Gates of Gold” represent the entrance to that realm of the soul unknowable through the physical perceptions, and the purpose of this work is to indicate some of the steps necessary to reach their threshold. Through its extraordinary beauty of style and the clearness of its statement it will appeal to a wider portion of the public than most works of a Theosophical character. It speaks to the Western World in its own language, and in this fact lies much of its value. Those of us who have been longing for some thing “practical” will find it here, while it will probably come into the hands of thousands who know little or nothing of Theosophy, and thus meet wants deeply felt though unexpressed. There are also doubtless many, we fancy, who will be carried far along in its pages by its resistless logic until they encounter something which will give a rude shock to some of their old conceptions, which they have imagined as firmly based as upon a rock—a shock which may cause them to draw back in alarm, but from which they will not find it so easy to recover, and which will be likely to set them thinking seriously. The titles of the five chapters of the book are, respectively, “The Search for Pleasure,” “The Mystery of Threshold,” “The Initial Effort,” “The Meaning of Pain,” and “The Secret of Strength.” Instead of speculating upon mysteries that lie at the very end of man’s destiny, and which cannot be approached by any manner of conjecture, the work very sensibly takes up that which lies next at hand, that which constitutes the first step to be taken if we are ever to take a second one, and teaches us its significance. At the outset we must cope with sensation and learn its nature and meaning. An important teaching of _Light on the Path_ has been misread by many. We are not enjoined to kill out sensation, but to “kill out _desire_ for sensation,” which is something quite different “Sensation, as we obtain it through the physical body, affords us all that induces us to live in that shape,” says this work. The problem is, to extract the meaning which it holds for us. That is what existence is for. “If men will but pause and consider what lessons they have learned from pleasure and pain, much might be guessed of that strange thing which causes these effects.” “The question concerning results seemingly unknowable, that concerning the life beyond the Gates,” is presented as one that has been asked throughout the ages, coming at the hour “when the flower of civilization had blown to its full, and when its petals are but slackly held together,” the period when man reaches the greatest physical development of his cycle. It is then that in the distance a great glittering is seen, before which many drop their eyes bewildered and dazzled, though now and then one is found brave enough to gaze fixedly on this glittering, and to decipher something of the shape within it. “Poets and philosophers, thinkers and teachers, all those who are the ‘elder brothers of the race’—have beheld this sight from time to time, and some among them have recognized in the bewildering glitter the outlines of the Gates of Gold.” Those Gates admit us to the sanctuary of man’s own nature, to the place whence his life-power comes, and where he is priest of the shrine of life. It needs but a strong hand to push them open, we are told. “The courage to enter them is the courage to search the recesses of one’s own nature without fear and without shame. In the fine part, the essence, the flavor of the man, is found the key which unlocks those great Gates.” The necessity of killing out the sense of separateness is profoundly emphasized as one of the most important factors in this process. We must divest ourselves of the illusions of the material life. “When we desire to speak with those who have tried the Golden Gates and pushed them open, then it is very necessary—in fact it is essential—to discriminate, and not bring into our life the confusions of our sleep. If we do, we are reckoned as madmen, and fall back into the darkness where there is no friend but chaos. This chaos has followed every effort of man that is written in history; after civilization has flowered, the flower falls and dies, and winter and darkness destroy it.” In this last sentence is indicated the purpose of civilization. It is the blossoming of a race, with the purpose of producing a certain spiritual fruit; this fruit having ripened, then the degeneration of the great residuum begins, to be worked over and over again in the grand fermenting processes of reincarnation. Our great civilization is now flowering and in this fact we may read the reason for the extraordinary efforts to sow the seed of the Mystic Teachings wherever the mind of man may be ready to receive it. In the “Mystery of Threshold,” we are told that “only a man who has the potentialities in him both of the voluptuary and the stoic has any chance of entering the Golden Gates. He must be capable of testing and valuing to its most delicate fraction every joy existence has to give; and he must be capable of denying himself all pleasure, and that without suffering from the denial.” The fact that the way is different for each individual is finely set forth in “The Initial Effort,” in the words that man “may burst the shell that holds him in darkness, tear the veil that hides him from the eternal, at any moment where it is easiest for him to do so; and most often this point will be where he least expects to find it.” By this we may see the uselessness of laying down arbitrary laws in the matter. The meaning of those important words, “All steps are necessary to make up the ladder,” finds a wealth of illustration here. These sentences are particularly pregnant: “Spirit is not a gas created by matter, and we cannot create our future by forcibly using one material agent and leaving out the rest. Spirit is the great life on which matter rests, as does the rocky world on the free and fluid ether; whenever we can break our limitations we find ourselves on that marvellous shore where Wordsworth once saw the gleam of the gold.” Virtue, being of the material life, man has not the power to carry it with him, “yet the aroma of his good deeds is a far sweeter sacrifice than the odor of crime and cruelty.” “To the one who has lifted the golden latch the spring of sweet waters, the fountain itself whence all softness arises, is opened and becomes part of his heritage. But before this can be reached a heavy weight has to be lifted from the heart, an iron bar which holds it down and prevents it from arising in its strength.” The author here wishes to show that there is sweetness and light in occultism, and not merely a wide dry level of dreadful Karma, such as some Theosophists are prone to dwell on. And this sweetness and light may be reached when we discover the iron bar and raising it shall permit the heart to be free. This iron bar is what the Hindus call “the knot of the heart!” In their scriptures they talk of unloosing this knot, and say that when that is accomplished freedom is near. But what is the iron bar and the knot? is the question we must answer. It is the astringent power of self—of egotism—of the idea of separateness. This idea has many strongholds. It hold its most secret court and deepest counsels near the far removed depths and centre of the heart. But it manifests itself first, in that place which is nearest to our ignorant preceptions, where we see it first after beginning the search. When we assault and conquer it there it disappears. It has only retreated to the next row of outworks where for a time it appears not to our sight, and we imagine it killed, while it is laughing at our imaginary conquests and security. Soon again we find it and conquer again, only to have it again retreat. So we must follow it up if we wish to grasp it at last in its final stand just near the “kernel of the heart”. There it has become an “iron bar that holds down the heart”, and there only can the fight be really won. That disciple is fortunate who is able to sink past all the pretended outer citadels and seize at once this _personal devil_ who holds the bar of iron, and there wage the battle. If won there, it is easy to return to the outermost places and take them by capitulation. This is very difficult, for many reasons. It is not a mere juggle of words to speak of this trial. It is a living tangible thing that can be met by any real student. The great difficulty of rushing at once to the centre lies in the unimaginable terrors which assault the soul on its short journey there. This being so it is better to begin the battle on the outside in just the way pointed out in this book and _Light on the Path_, by testing experience and learning from it. In the lines quoted the author attempts to direct the eyes of a very materialistic age to the fact which is an accepted one by all true students of occultism, that the true heart of a man-which is visibly represented by the muscular heart—is the focus point for spirit, for knowledge, for power; and that from that point the converged rays begin to spread out fan-like, until they embrace the Universe. So it is the Gate. And it is just at that neutral spot of concentration that the pillars and the doors are fixed. It is beyond it that the glorious golden light burns, and throws up a “burnished glow.” We find in this the same teachings as in the Upanishads. The latter speaks of “the ether which is within the heart,” and also says that we must pass across that ether. “The Meaning of Pain” is considered in a way which throws a great light on the existence of that which for ages has puzzled many learned men. “Pain arouses, softens, breaks, and destroys. Regarded from a sufficiently removed standpoint, it appears as a medicine, as a knife, as a weapon, as a poison, in turn. It is an implement, a thing which is used, evidently. What we desire to discover is, who is the user; what part of ourselves is it that demands the presence of this thing so hateful to the rest?” The task is, to rise above both pain and pleasure and unite them to our service. “Pain and pleasure stand apart and separate, as do the two sexes; and it is in the merging, the making the two into one, that joy and deep sensation and profound peace are obtained. Where there is neither male nor female, neither pain nor pleasure, there is the god in man dominant; and then is life real.” The following passage can hardly fail to startle many good people: “Destiny, the inevitable, does indeed exist for the race and for the individual; but who can ordain this save the man himself? There is no clew in heaven or earth to the existence of any ordainer other than the man who suffers or enjoys that which is ordained.” But can any earnest student of Theosophy deny, or object to this? Is it not a pure statement of the law of Karma? Does it not agree perfectly with the teaching of the Bhagavat-Gita? There is surely no power which sits apart like a judge in court, and fines us or rewards us for this misstep or that merit; it is we who shape, or ordain, our own future. God is not denied. The seeming paradox that a God exists within each man is made clear when we perceive that our separate existence is an illusion; the physical, which makes us separate individuals, must eventually fall away, leaving each man one with all men, and with God, who is the Infinite. And the passage which will surely be widely misunderstood is that in “The secret of strength.” “Religion holds a man back from the path, prevents his stepping forward, for various very plain reasons. First, it makes the vital mistake of distinguishing between good and evil. Nature knows no such distinctions.” Religion is always man-made. It cannot therefore be the whole truth. It is a good thing for the ordinary and outside man, but surely it will never bring him to the Gates of Gold. If religion be of God how is it that we find that same God in his own works and acts violating the precepts of religion? He kills each man once in life; every day the fierce elements and strange circumstances which he is said to be the author of, bring on famine, cold and innumerable untimely deaths; where then, in The True, can there be any room for such distinctions as right and wrong? The disciple, must as he walks on the path, abide by law and order, but if he pins his faith on any religion whatever he will stop at once, and it makes no matter whether he sets up Mahatmas, Gods, Krishna, Vedas or mysterious acts of grace, each of these will stop him and throw him into a rut from which even heavenly death will not release him. Religion can only teach morals and ethics. It cannot answer the question “what am I?” The Buddhist ascetic holds a fan before his eyes to keep away the sight of objects condemned by his religion. But he thereby gains no knowledge, for that part of him which is affected by the improper sights has to be known by the man himself, and it is by experience alone that the knowledge can be possessed and assimilated. The book closes gloriously, with some hints that have been much needed. Too many, even of the sincerest students of occultism, have sought to ignore that one-half of their nature, which is here taught to be necessary. Instead of crushing out the animal nature, we have here the high and wise teaching that we must learn to fully understand the animal and subordinate it to the spiritual. “The god in man, degraded, is a thing unspeakable in its infamous power of production. The animal in man, elevated, is a thing unimaginable in its great powers of service and of strength,” and we are told that our animal self is a great force, the secret of the old-world magicians, and of the coming race which Lord Lytton foreshadowed. “But this power can only be attained by giving the god the sovereignty. Make your animal ruler over your self, and he will never rule others.” This teaching will be seen to be identical with that of the closing words of “The Idyll of the White Lotus”: “He will learn how to expound spiritual truths, and to enter into the life of his highest self, and he can learn also to hold within him the glory of that higher self, and yet to retain life upon this planet so long as it shall last, if need be; to retain life in the vigor of manhood, till his entire work is completed, and he has taught the three truths to all who look for light.” There are three sentences in the book which ought to be imprinted in the reader’s mind, and we present them inversely: “Secreted and hidden in the heart of the world and the heart of man is the light which can illumine all life, the future and the past.” “On the mental steps of a million men Buddha passed through the Gates of Gold; and because a great crowd pressed about the threshold he was able to leave behind him words which prove that those gates will open.” “This is one of the most important factors in the development of man, the recognition—profound and complete recognition—of the law of universal unity and coherence.” CONSIDERATIONS ON MAGIC. We hear a good deal nowadays and are likely to hear still more of occult science. In this regard we may as well accept the inevitable. All things have their day, and all things revolve in cycles; they come and go, and come again, though never twice the same. Even our very thoughts conform to this universal law. The life, the teachings, and the fate of Pythagoras are involved in mystery, but the fate of the schools which he established and of the followers who succeeded him are matters of history. The slaughter of the Magi stands over against the abuses and abominations which were perpetrated in their name, and doubtless by many styling themselves Magicians. It is not the object of this brief paper to attempt to define magic, or elucidate occult Science as such, but rather to suggest a few considerations which are of vital import at the present time, equally important to those who utterly deny to magic any more than an imaginative basis, as to those who convinced of its existence as a science, are, or are to become investigators. In both the publications and conversations of the day, frequently occur the expressions “black magic,” and “white magic” and those who follow these studies are designated as followers of the “_left hand path_,” or the “_right hand path_“. It ought to be understood that up to a certain point all students of magic, or occultism, journey together. By and by is reached _a place where two roads meet_, or where the common path divides, and the _awful voice from the silence_, heard only in the recesses of the individual soul utters the stern command: ”_Choose ye this day whom ye will serve._” Instead of black and white magic, read, black and white _motive_. The student of occultism is rushing on his destiny, but up to a certain point that destiny is in his own hands, though he is constantly shaping his course, freeing his soul from the trammels of sense and self, or becoming entangled in the web, which, with warp and woof will presently clothe him as with a garment without a seam. If early in the race he finds it difficult to shake off his chains, let him remember that at every step they grow more and more tyrannical, and often before the goal is reached where the ways divide, the battle is lost or won, and the decision there is only a matter of form. That decision once made is irrevocable, or so nearly so that no exception need be made. Man lives at once in two worlds: the natural and the spiritual, and as in the natural plane he influences his associates, and is in turn influenced by them, so let him not imagine that in the spiritual plane he is alone. This will be a fatal mistake for the dabbler in magic, or the student in occultism. Throughout this vast universe, the good will seek the good, and the evil the evil, each will be unconsciously _drawn to its own kind_. But when man faces his destiny in full consciousness of the issues involved, as he must before the final decision is reached, he will be no longer unconscious of these influences, but will recognize his companions: companions, alas! no longer, _Masters_ now, inhuman, pitiless; and the same law of attraction which has led him along the tortuous path, unveils its face, and by affinity of evil, the slave stands in the presence of his master, and the fiends that have all along incited him to laugh at the miseries of his fellow men, and trample under his feet every kindly impulse, every tender sympathy, now make the measureless hells within his own soul resound with their laughter at him, the poor deluded fool whose selfish pride and ambition have stifled and at last obliterated his humanity. Blind indeed is he who cannot see why those who are in possession of arcane wisdom, hesitate in giving it out to the world, and when in the cycles of time its day has come, they put forth the only doctrine which has power to save and bless, UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD, with all that the term implies. There may be those who have already in this new era, entered the left-hand road. But now as of old, “by their works ye shall know them”. To labor with them is in vain. Selfishness, pride and lust for power are the signs by which we may know them. They may not at once cast off disguise, and they will never deceive the true Theosophist. They can nevertheless deceive to their ruin the ignorant, the curious, the unwary, and it is for such as these that these lines are penned, and the worst of it is, that these poor deluded souls, are led to believe that no such danger exists, and this belief is fortified by the so-called scientists, who are quoted as authority, and who ridicule everything but rank materialism. Yet notwithstanding all this, these simple souls flutter like moths around the flame till they are drawn within the vortex. It is better a million times, that the proud, the selfish and time-serving should eat, drink and be merry, and let occultism alone, for these propensities unless speedily eradicated, will bear fruit and ripen into quick harvests, and the wages thereof is death, literally the “_second death_”. The purpose of Theosophy is to eradicate these evil tendencies of man, so that whether on the ordinary planes of daily life, or in the higher occult realms, the Christ shall be lifted up, and draw all men unto him. “Man’s inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn.” The Christs of all the ages have preached this one doctrine: Charity and Brotherhood of Man. To deny the law of charity is to deny the Christ. The Theosophical Society is not responsible for unveiling to the present generation the occult nature of man. Modern Spiritualism had already done this; nor is the responsibility to be charged to the Spiritualists, for these unseen forces had revealed themselves in the fullness of time, and many millions had become convinced, many against their wills, of the reality of the unseen universe. These things _are here_, and neither crimination, or recrimination is of any use. The responsibility therefore, rests entirely with the individual, as to what use he makes of his opportunities, as to his purposes and aims, and as he advances in his course, involved in the circle of necessity, he influences whether he will or no, those whose spheres of life touch at any point his own. _As ye sow, so shall ye also reap._ By and by the cycle will close and both the evil and the good will return like bread cast upon the waters. This is a law of all life. Imagine not that they are weak and vacillating souls who enter the left-hand road: Lucifer was once a prince of light, admitted to the councils of the Most High. He fell through pride, and dragged downward in his fall all who worshiped the demon pride. This is no foolish fable, but a terrible tragedy, enacted at the gates of paradise, in the face of the assembled universe, and reënacted in the heart of man, the epitome of all. Only Infinite pity can measure the downfall of such an one, only Infinite love disarm by annihilation, and so put an end to unendurable woe, and that only when the cycle is complete, the measure of iniquity balanced by its measure of pain. Occultism and magic are not child’s-play, as many may learn to their sorrow, as many visitants of dark circles have already and long ago discovered. Better give dynamite to our children as a plaything, than Magic to the unprincipled, the thoughtless, the selfish and ignorant. Let all who have joined the Theosophical Society remember this, and search their hearts before taking the first step in any magical formulary. _The motive determines all._ Occult power brings with it unknown and unmeasured responsibility. If in the secret councils of the soul, where no eye can see, and no thought deceive that divine spark conscience, we are ready to forget self, to forego pride, and labor for the well-being of man, then may the upright man face his destiny, follow this guide and fear no evil. Otherwise it were far better that a millstone were hung about his neck, and he were cast into the depths of the sea. PYTHAGORAS. TEA TABLE TALK. The Tea Table has had a sensation! Do you remember the case of “Chalanka”? He was the “Fallen Idol,” in Anstey’s book of that name, and played the very deuce with people and bric-a-brac alike. There’s a deal of truth in that clever little satire, and the author shows up the elementals quite correctly without in the least suspecting it. The Chalanka of the Tea Table arrived very demurely one winter afternoon, per Adams Express, in a promising box which bore the mark of a great china firm and contained as well, securely moored in its harbor of cotton wool, a tea-pot which the Tea Table pronounced “Adorable” were it not smashed. Nothing else was near this brittle loveliness save and except Chalanka. To all appearances he was a pencil sketch of the head of a young Brahmin of high caste, folded in the typical turban. The drawing is powerful and the subtle sidelong glance of the eyes to the extreme left has one peculiarity, viz: if you come round from behind the picture on the extreme right, the eyes meet you equally, and so from any position. I cannot escape that dark and searching gaze. Still, one would say there was nothing dynamic about a sketch, and yet the tea-pot arrived literally crushed to pieces within its perfect casing, and the indignant ladies, with the acumen of their sex, soon spotted Chalanka and held him responsible. Presently I noticed that everyone had a more or less sidelong glance in return for his, towards where he glowered from an étagère on which we had put him, and in the course of the social hour I collected these remarks upon him. _The Professor_, sauntering up.—“H-m. Who have we here? The fellow has a beautiful face and—the devil’s in it!” _Sue._ “Goodness! who’s that? Makes me feel like when I step down in the dark.” _The Mother._ “That man’s face is not human.” _The Widow._ “I have it! I wondered what Chalanka made me think of. Don’t you know that thing in the Bible about ‘the serpent that listeneth not to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely?’” (The Widow was wiser than she knew.) _The Student._ “You ladies always go in for poetry. Now he looks to me as if he said,—‘Get me if you can, my boy; if you don’t, _I’ll get you_!’” Great sensation and nervous shivers from the ladies, followed by instant demands for the lamp. The maid who brings it being observed to fix a fascinated gaze on Chalanka, is asked what she thinks of him. After a little urgency she replies. “That gentlemaen’s so sad, ain’t he? I do’n’ know, he’s unnatr’al like. Seems like there’s somethin’ he can’t get over.” Flings her apron over her head suddenly, and breaks from the room. Apologizes later and says “nerves is in her family” but always thereafter calls Chalanka “that gentleman,” as for instance; “I couldn’t bring meself to dust that gentleman.” Or, “I knocked that gentleman down but he ain’t hurt.” Now the curious fact about the above remarks is this: A fellow F. T. S. felt impelled to draw one night. As he did so, a mist gathered near him, and gradually this Brahmin stood plainly before him, just as the sketch shows him, with his magnetic gaze which affects everyone who sees him. Many callers come into the room where the 5 by 8 drawing stands inconspicuously, surrounded by all the Heaven-only-knows-what, of modern decoration, but the Tea Table has yet to see the person who does not comment upon Chalanka with a baffled sense of mystery. The artist, a student well up in such matters and a man of unimpeachable veracity, knew his strange visitor for an elemental who assumed that shape to attract attention, the artist knowing many Hindus and thinking often of them. What do you suppose it is that tells the story of this silent, watchful face, even to the incurious? Does some odic fluid inhere in it, or does the clue rest with the akasic vibrations from it? In consequence of its arrival, conversation has turned to coincidences, and from this I have collected the following items of interest: A. “I dreamed the other night that I had a talk with a fellow student; next day he told me he dreamed same night—that I came and said: ‘I’m tired of your nonsense; you must get serious.’ That was just what I dreamed I had said to him myself. So when Father died; four times my Brother and I dreamed on the same night that we saw Father and talked with him on the same subject.”