Five Years of Theosophy Part 30

After Ganesha (Siva's son) was born, all the Devas (G.o.ds) came to congratulate the family and bless the child. Sani or Saturn, was the last to come, and even then he came after he had been several times inquired after. When he went to see the infant, it appeared headless!

This at once created a sensation, and all the Devas were at their wits'

end. At last Saturn himself approached Mahadeva with folded hands and reminded him that it was due to his presence, and the child having been kept in a bed with its head to the north. For such was the law. Then the Devas consulted together and sent out messengers to find out who else was sleeping with the head to the north. At last they discovered an elephant in that position. Its head was immediately cut off and placed on the shoulders of Ganesha. It need not be said that Ganesha became afterwards so learned and wise that if he had not had an elephant's head, a human head would never have been sufficient to hold all he knew. This advantage he owed to the circ.u.mstance of his sleeping with head to the north, and the blessing of the Devas. To the elephant, the same position but minus the blessing of the Devas proved absolute death.

--n.o.bin K. Bannerji

Reading Mr. Seeta Nath Ghose's paper on "Medical Magnetism" and having studied long ago Baron von Reichenbach's "Researches in Magnetism," I am sorely puzzled, inasmuch as these two authorities appear to clash with each other most completely--the one a.s.serting "head to north never, under no circ.u.mstances," the other "head to north ever and under all circ.u.mstances." I have pursued the advice of the latter, not knowing of the former for many years, but have not found the effect on my health which I had hoped for, and what is of more importance, I have not found a law of certain application to humanity and bringing health to all. It seems to me on carefully reading this article that a most important point has been omitted or pa.s.sed over--i.e., the position of the sleeper, whether on his face or on his back? This is most important, for a correct answer may go far to reconcile the two theories, which, be it remembered, claim both to be supported by experiment and by observation.

I cannot conceive that a one-sided position is a natural one for man, and thus leave two alternatives. Is the proper position in sleep lying on the back or on the stomach? Not one word has been said as to the position in which experiments were tried on either side.

Now the one thing which seems clear in all this is, that positive should be toward negative and negative toward positive. Let us then draw a diagram and these positions will follow with these results--taking the north as positive and south as negative, east as negative and west as positive.

Position I.--Lying on the Back.

A. Head to East ............ Accord in all B. Head to North .......... Discord--Head and feet Accord--Hands.

C. Head to South ........... Accord--Head and feet.

Discord--Hands.

D. Head to West ............ Discord in all.

---529

[[Diagram here]]

Position II.--Lying on Stomach

A'. Head to East ........ Accord--in Head and feet Discord--in Hands B'. Head to North ....... Discord in all C'. Head to South ....... Accord in all D'. Head to West ........ Discord--Head and feet Accord--Hands

Now, from this will come some light, I think on the apparently contradictory theories, if we could ascertain: (1) Which position did the renowned Garga and Markandeya contemplate as the proper position for men to sleep in? (2) In which position did those on whom Baron von Reichenbach experimented lie?

This is a most important question for all who value the gift of health, as well as for those who would be wise. In my sojourn in southern countries I have noticed that the natives of the lower cla.s.ses at least always sleep on their stomachs, with their back turned to the sun, and all animals do the same, while sleeping on the back is most dangerous, at least in the sun. Is not this a guide or hint as to the true position?

Transmigration of the Life-Atoms

It is said that "for three thousand years at least the 'mummy,' not withstanding all the chemical preparations, goes on throwing off to the last invisible atoms, which, from the hour of death, reentering the various vortices of being, go indeed through every variety of organized life-forms. But it is not the soul, the fifth, least of all the sixth principle, but the life-atoms of the Jiva, the second principle. At the end of the 3,000 years, sometimes more, and sometimes less, after endless transmigrations, all these atoms are once more drawn together, and are made to form the new outer clothing or the body of the same monad (the real soul) which they had already clothed two or three thousand years before. Even in the worst case, that of the annihilation of the conscious personal principle, the monad or individual soul is ever the same, as are also the atoms of the lower principles, which, regenerated and renewed in this ever-flowing river of being, are magnetically drawn together owing to their affinity, and are once more reincarnated together."

This little pa.s.sage is a new instalment of occult teaching given to the public, and opens up a vast field for thought. It suggests, in the first instance, that the exoteric doctrine of the transmigration of the soul through lower forms of existence--so generally believed in by the Hindus, though incorrect as regards the soul (fifth principle)--has some basis of truth when referred to the lower principles.

It is stated further that the mummy goes on throwing off invisible atoms, which go through every variety of organized life-forms, and further on it is stated that it is the life-atoms of the Jiva, the second principle, that go through these transmigrations.

According to the esoteric teaching, the Jiva "is a form of force indestructible, and, when disconnected with one set of atoms, becoming attracted immediately by others."

What, then, is meant by the life-atoms, and their going through endless transmigrations?

The invisible atoms of the mummy would mean the imperceptibly decaying atoms of the physical body, and the life-atoms of the Jiva would be quite distinct from the atoms of the mummy. Is it meant to imply that both the invisible atoms of the physical body, as well as the atoms of the Jiva, after going through various life-forms, return again to re-form the physical body, and the Jiva of the ent.i.ty that has reached the end of its Devachanic state and is ready to be reincarnated again?

It is taught, again, that even in the worst case (the annihilation of the Personal Ego) the atoms of the lower principles are the same as in the previous birth. Here, does the term "lower principles" include the Kama rupa also, or only the lower triad of body, Jiva, and Lingasarira?

It seems the Kama rupa in that particular case cannot be included, for in the instance of the annihilation of the personal soul, the Kama rupa would be in the eighth sphere.

Another question also suggests itself. The fourth principle (Kama rupa) and the lower portion of the fifth, which cannot be a.s.similated by the sixth, wander about as sh.e.l.ls, and in time disperse into the elements of which they are made. Do the atoms of these principles also reunite, after going through various transmigrations, to const.i.tute over again the fourth and the lower fifth of the next incarnation?

--N.D.K.

Note

We would, to begin with, draw attention to the closing sentence of the pa.s.sage quoted above: "Such was the true occult theory of the Egyptians," the word "true" being used there in the sense of its being the doctrine they really believed in, as distinct from both the tenets fathered upon them by some Orientalists, and that which the modern occultists may be now teaching. It does not stand to reason that, outside those occult truths that were known to, and revealed by, the great Hierophants during the final initiation, we should accept all that either the Egyptians or any other people may have regarded as true. The Priests of Isis were the only true initiates, and their occult teachings were still more veiled than those of the Chaldeans. There was the true doctrine of the Hierophants of the inner Temple; then the half-veiled Hieratic tenets of the Priest of the outer Temple; and, finally, the vulgar popular religion of the great body of the ignorant, who were allowed to reverence animals as divine. As shown correctly by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, the initiated priests taught that "dissolution is only the cause of reproduction .... nothing perishes which has once existed, but things which appear to be destroyed only change their natures and pa.s.s into another form." To the present case, however, the Egyptian doctrine of atoms coincides with our own occult teachings. In the above remarks the words, "The life-atoms of the Jiva," are taken in a strictly literal sense. Without any doubt Jiva or Prana is quite distinct from the atoms it animates. The latter belong to the lowest or grossest state of matter--the objectively conditioned; the former, to a higher state--that state which the uninitiated, ignorant of its nature, would call the "objectively finite," but which, to avoid any future misunderstanding, we may, perhaps, be permitted to call the subjectively eternal, though, at the same time and in one sense, the subsistent existence, however paradoxical and unscientific the term may appear.*

Life, the occultist says, is the eternal uncreated energy, and it alone represents in the infinite universe, that which the physicists have agreed to name the principle, or the law of continuity, though they apply it only to the endless development of the conditioned.

But since modern science admits, through her most learned professors, that "energy has as much claim to be regarded as an objective reality as matter itself"** and as life, according to the occult doctrine, is the one energy acting, Proteus-like, under the most varied forms, the occultists have a certain right to use such phraseology. Life is ever present in the atom or matter, whether organic or inorganic--a difference that the occultists do not accept. Their doctrine is that life is as much present in the inorganic as in the organic matter: when life-energy is active in the atom, that atom is organic; when dormant or latent, then the atom is inorganic.

-------- * Though there is a distinct term for it in the language of the adepts, how can one translate it into a European language? What name can be given to that which is objective yet immaterial in its finite manifestations, subjective yet substantive (though not in our sense of substance) in its eternal existence? Having explained it the best we can, we leave the task of finding a more appropriate term for it to our learned English occultists.

** "Unseen Universe."

Therefore, the expression "life-atom," though apt in one sense to mislead the reader, is not incorrect after all, since occultists do not recognize that anything in Nature can be inorganic, and know of no "dead atoms," whatever meaning science may give to the adjective. The law of biogenesis, as ordinarily understood, is the result of the ignorance of the man of science of occult physics. It is accepted because the man of science is unable to find the necessary means to awaken into activity the dormant life inherent in what he terms an inorganic atom; hence the fallacy that a living thing can only be produced from a living thing, as though there ever was such a thing as dead matter in Nature! At this rate, and to be consistent, a mule ought to be also cla.s.sed with inorganic matter, since it is unable to reproduce itself and generate life. We dwell so much upon the above as it meets at once all future opposition to the idea that a mummy, several thousand years old, can be throwing off atoms. Nevertheless, the sentence would perhaps have gained in clearness if we had said, instead of the "life-atoms of jiva,"

the atoms "animated by dormant Jiva or life-energy." Again, the definition of Jiva quoted above, though quite correct on the whole, might be more fully, if not more clearly, expressed. The "jiva," or life, principle, which animates man, beast, plant, and even a mineral, certainly is "a form of force indestructible," since this force is the one life, or anima mundi, the universal living soul, and that the various modes in which objective things appear to us in Nature in their atomic aggregations, such as minerals, plants, animals, &c., are all the different forms or states in which this force manifests itself. Were it to become--we will not say absent, for this is impossible, since it is omnipresent--but for one single instant inactive, say in a stone, the particles of the latter would lose instantly their cohesive property, and disintegrate as suddenly, though the force would still remain in each of its particles, but in a dormant state. Then the continuation of the definition, which states that when this indestructible force is "disconnected with one set of atoms, it becomes attracted immediately by others," does not imply that it abandons entirely the first set, but only that it transfers its vis viva, or living power--the energy of motion--to another set. But because it manifests itself in the next set as what is called kinetic energy, it does not follow that the first set is deprived of it altogether; for it is still in it, as potential energy, or life latent.* This is a cardinal and basic truth of occultism, on the perfect knowledge of which depends the production of every phenomenon. Unless we admit this point, we should have to give up all the other truths of occultism. Thus what is "meant by the life-atom going through endless transmigration" is simply this: we regard and call, in our occult phraseology, those atoms that are moved by kinetic energy as "life-atoms," while those that are for the time being pa.s.sive, containing but imperceptible potential energy, we call "sleeping atoms;"

regarding, at the same time, these two forms of energy as produced by one and the same force or life.

------- * We feel constrained to make use of terms that have become technical in modern science--though they do not always fully express the idea to be conveyed--for want of better words. It is useless to hope that the occult doctrine may be ever thoroughly understood, even the few tenets that can be safely given to the world at large, unless a glossary of such words is edited; and, what is of a still greater importance, until the full and correct meaning of the terms therein taught is thoroughly mastered.

Now to the Hindu doctrine of Metempsychosis. It has a basis of truth; and, in fact, it is an axiomatic truth, but only in reference to human atoms and emanations, and that not only after a man's death, but during the whole period of his life. The esoteric meaning of the Laws of Manu (sec. XII. 3, and XII. 54 and ), of the verses a.s.serting that "every act, either mental, verbal or corporeal, bears good or evil fruit (Karma)," that "the various transmigrations of men (not souls) through the highest, middle and lowest stages, are produced by their actions,"

and again that "a Brahman-killer enters the body of a dog, bear, a.s.s, camel, goat, sheep, bird, &c.," bears no reference to the human Ego, but only to the atoms of his body, his lower triad and his fluidic emanations. It is all very well for the Brahmans to distort, in their own interest, the real meaning contained in these laws, but the words as quoted never meant what they were made to yield later on. The Brahmans applied them selfishly to themselves, whereas by "Brahman," man's seventh principle, his immortal monad and the essence of the personal Ego were allegorically meant. He who kills or extinguishes in himself the light of Parabrahm--i.e., severs his personal Ego from the Atman, and thus kills the future Devachanee, becomes a "Brahman killer."

Instead of facilitating, through a virtuous life and spiritual aspirations, the union of the Buddhi and the Manas, he condemns, by his own evil acts, every atom of his lower principles to become attracted and drawn in virtue of the magnetic affinity, thus created by his pa.s.sions, into the bodies of lower animals. This is the real meaning of the doctrine of Metempsychosis. It is not that such amalgamation of human particles with animal or even vegetable atoms can carry in it any idea of personal punishment per se, for of course it does not. But it is a cause, the effects of which may manifest themselves throughout succeeding re-births, unless the personality is annihilated. Otherwise, from cause to effect, every effect becoming in its turn a cause, they will run along the cycle of re-births, the once given impulse expending itself only at the threshold of Pralaya. But of this anon.

Notwithstanding their esoteric meaning, even the words of the grandest and n.o.blest of all the adepts, Gautama Buddha, are misunderstood, distorted and ridiculed in the same way. The Hina-yana, the lowest form of transmigration of the Buddhist, is as little comprehended as the Maha-yana, its highest form; and, because Sakya Muni is shown to have once remarked to his Bhikkhus, while pointing out to them a broom, that "it had formerly been a novice who neglected to sweep out" the Council-room, hence was re-born as a broom (!), therefore, the wisest of all the world's sages stands accused of idiotic superst.i.tion. Why not try and find out, before condemning, the true meaning of the figurative statement? Why should we scoff before we understand? Is or is not that which is called magnetic effluvium a something, a stuff, or a substance, invisible, and imponderable though it be? If the learned authors of "The Unseen Universe" object to light, heat and electricity being regarded merely as imponderables, and show that each of these phenomena has as much claim to be recognized as an objective reality as matter itself, our right to regard the mesmeric or magnetic fluid which emanates from man to man, or even from man to what is termed an inanimate object, is far greater. It is not enough to say that this fluid is a species of molecular energy like heat, for instance, though of much greater potency. Heat is produced when ever kinetic energy is transformed into molecular energy, we are told, and it may be thrown out by any material composed of sleeping atoms, or inorganic matter as it is called; whereas the magnetic fluid projected by a living human body is life itself. Indeed it is "life-atoms" that a man in a blind pa.s.sion throws off unconsciously, though he does it quite as effectively as a mesmeriser who transfers them from himself to any object consciously and under the guidance of his will. Let any man give way to any intense feeling, such as anger, grief, &c., under or near a tree, or in direct contact with a stone, and after many thousands of years any tolerable psychometer will see the man, and perceive his feelings from one single fragment of that tree or stone that he had touched. Hold any object in your hand, and it will become impregnated with your life-atoms, indrawn and outdrawn, changed and transferred in us at every instant of our lives. Animal heat is but so many life atoms in molecular motion. It requires no adept knowledge, but simply the natural gift of a good clairvoyant subject to see them pa.s.sing to and fro, from man to objects and vice versa like a bluish lambent flame. Why, then, should not a broom, made of a shrub, which grew most likely in the vicinity of the building where the lazy novice lived, a shrub, perhaps, repeatedly touched by him while in a state of anger provoked by his laziness and distaste for his duty--why should not a quant.i.ty of his life-atoms have pa.s.sed into the materials of the future besom, and therein have been recognized by Buddha, owing to his superhuman (not supernatural) powers?

The processes of Nature are acts of incessant borrowing and giving back.

The materialistic sceptic, however, will not take anything in any other way than in a literal, dead-letter sense.

To conclude our too long answer, the "lower principles" mentioned before are the first, second and the third. They cannot include the Kama rupa, for this "rupa" belongs to the middle, not the lower principles. And, to our correspondent's further query, "Do the atoms of these (the fourth and the fifth) also re-form, after going through various transmigrations, to const.i.tute over again the fourth and the lower fifth of the next incarnation?" we answer, "They do." The reason why we have tried to explain the doctrine of the "life-atoms" at such length, is precisely in connection with this last question, and with the object of throwing out one more fertile hint. We do not feel at liberty at present, however, to give any further details.

--H.P. Blavatsky

"OM," And Its Practical Significance

I shall begin with a definition of Om, as given by the late Professor Theodore Goldstucker:--

"Om is a Sanskrit word which, on account of the mystical notions that even at an early date of Hindu civilization were connected with it, acquired much importance in the development of Hindu religion. Its original sense is that of emphatic or solemn affirmation or a.s.sent.

Thus, when in the White Yajur Veda the sacrificer invites the G.o.ds to rejoice in his sacrifice, the G.o.ddess Savitri a.s.sents to his summons by saying, 'Om' (i.e., be it so); proceed!"

Or, when in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Praj.a.pati, the father of G.o.ds, men and demons, asks the G.o.ds whether they have understood his instructions, he expresses his satisfaction with their affirmative reply in these words, "Om, you have fully comprehended it;" and in the same Upanishad, Pravahana answers the question of Swetaketu, as to whether his father has instructed him, by uttering the word "Om"--i.e., "forsooth (I am)."

A portion of the Rig Veda called the Aitareya Brahmana, where, describing a religious ceremony at which verses from the Rig Veda, as well as songs called Gathas, were recited by the priest called Hotri, and responses given by another priest, the Adhwaryu, says: Om is the response of the Adhwaryu to the Rig Veda verses (recited by the Hotri), and likewise tatha (i.e., thus) his response to the Gathas, for Om is (the term of a.s.sent) used by the G.o.ds, whereas tatha is (the term of a.s.sent) used by men (the Rig Veda verses being, to the orthodox Hindu, of divine and the Gathas of human authors.h.i.+p).