Jelal is the greatest poet among the Sufis and is their Grand Master of

spiritual knowledge. His name means “Majesty of Faith.” He instituted

the order of the Mevlevi, the “dancing or whirling dervishes,” of which

we shall speak more later on. This order is a realization of Jelal’s

father’s prophecy about his son: “The day shall come, when this child

will kindle the fire of divine enthusiasm throughout the world.”

Jelal is truly the greatest Sufi saint, for marvelous were his powers.

In the _Menaqibu’l Afifin_ (the Acts of the Adepts) by _Shemsu-’d-din

Ahmed, el Eflaki_ the following _acts_ are recorded against his name.

“When five years old, he used at times to become extremely uneasy

and restless, so much so that his attendants used to take him into

the midst of themselves. The cause of these perturbations was that

spiritual forms and shapes of the absent (invisible world) would arise

before his sight, that is, angelic messengers, righteous Genii, and

saintly men—the concealed ones of the bowers of the True One (spiritual

spouses of God), used to appear to him in bodily shapes: * * * His

father used on these occasions to coax and soothe him by saying: “These

are the Occult Existences. They come to present themselves before you,

to offer unto you gifts and presents from the invisible world.” These

ecstasies and transports of his began to be publicly known and talked

about The honorific title of Khudavendgar[80] was conferred upon him

at this time by his father, who used to address him as “My Lord.”—“It

is related that when Jelal was six years old, he one Friday afternoon

was taking the air on the terraced roof of the house, and reciting the

Quran, when some other children of good families came in and joined him

there. After a time, one of these children proposed that they should

try and jump from thence on to a neighbouring terrace, and should lay

wagers on the result. Jelal smiled at this childish proposal, and

remarked: “My brethren, to jump from terrace to terrace is an act

well adapted for cats, dogs, and the like, to perform; but is it not

degrading to man, whose station is so superior. Come now, if you feel

disposed, let us spring up to the firmament, and visit the regions of

God’s realm.” As he yet spake, he vanished from their sight. Frightened

at Jelal’s sudden disappearance, the other children raised a shout of

dismay, that some one should come to their assistance, when lo, in

an instant, there he was again in their midst; but with an altered

expression of countenance and blanched cheeks. They all uncovered

before him, fell to the earth in humility, and all declared themselves

his disciples. He now told them that, as he was yet speaking to them, a

company of visible forms, clad in green raiment, had led him away from

them, and had conducted him about the various concentric orbs of the

spheres, and through the signs of the Zodiac, showing him the wonders

of the world of spirits, and bringing him back to them so soon as their

cries had reached his ears.

At that age, he was used not to break his fast more often than once in

three or four, and sometimes even seven, days.

When Jelal went to Damascus to study, he passed by Sis in Upper

Cilicia. There, in a cave, dwelt forty Christian monks, who had a

great reputation for sanctity, but in reality were mere jugglers. On

the approach of Jelal’s caravan to the cave, the monks caused a little

boy to ascend into the air, and there remain standing between heaven

and earth. Jelal noticed this exhibition, and fell into a reverie.

Hereupon, the child began to weep and wail, saying that the man in

the reverie was frightening him. The monks told him not to be afraid,

but to come down. “Oh!” cried the child, “I am as though nailed here,

unable to move hand or foot.” The monks became alarmed. They flocked

around Jelal, and begged him to release the child. After a time, he

seemed to hear and understand them. His answer was: “Only through the

acceptance of Islam[81] by yourselves, all of you, as well as by the

child, can he be saved.” In the end they all embraced Islam, and wished

to follow Jelal as his disciples, but he recommended them to remain in

their cave, as before, to cease from practising jugglery, and to serve

God in the spirit and in truth. So he proceeded on his journey.

To prove that man lives through God’s will alone, and not by

blood, Jelal one day, in the presence of a crowd of physicians and

philosophers, had the veins of both his arms opened and allowed them to

bleed until they ceased to flow. He then ordered incisions to be made

in various parts of his body; but not one drop of moisture was anywhere

obtainable. He now went to a hot bath, washed, performed an ablution,

and then commenced the exercise of the sacred dance.

(_To be continued._)

THE HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY.

[_Continued from June Number._]

The inscription said to have been found on the Smaragdine Tablet

and to which reference was made in a former article, and which Dr.

Everard refers to as containing the “_Elixir_ of the philosophers,” is

further explained by the author of Isis, where it is also said “It is

for the Hermetic student to watch its motions, to catch its subtile

currents, to guide and direct them with the help of the _Athanor_, the

Archimedean lever of the Alchemist.”[82] It is further stated in plain

words that this mysterious agent “is the universal magical agent, the

astral light, which in the correlation of its forces furnishes the

Alkahest, the philosophers’ stone, and the elixir of life.”[83] Now

one great advantage to the student who follows carefully these hints

is, that he soon discovers certain basic principles which reach far

and wide, and in Hermetic language enable him to ascend from Earth to

Heaven, and descend from Heaven to Earth, not in a vague, fanciful

way, but as applicable to physical phenomena as to philosophical

synthesis. These basic principles are not hypothesis, they are the

_first principles of Nature_, as manifested in the phenomenal universe,

a thread or clue to the labyrinth of phenomena.

There is a vast difference between modern and ancient science in regard

to the Ether: The former hypothecates it to bridge a gap in phenomena

and at once, as if ashamed of its weakness, turns its back upon it. Not

so our ancient Hermetic brethren. Modern speculation regarding a fourth

dimension of space apprehends the necessity for something beyond the

old conception, as does physical science. And yet the latter reaches

no solid ground, though the problem lies in the rubbish derived from

analytical science, and the necessity which has compelled it to pay

tribute. There is a logical, uniform, invariable antithesis in all

manifested nature, which at once suggests the unmanifested. Sometimes

the change of a letter or an accent in a word or its division into

syllables produces wonderful results, _e. g._, atonement, at-one-ment.

So here in the phenomenal universe, nothing and no-thing are not

synonymous. To say that the ether fills all space, penetrates the

densest matter, and gives rise by emanation to the whole phenomenal

universe, and yet that it is _nothing_ is nonsense, but that it is

no-thing is perfectly true. The ether is to the phenomenal universe

what the 0 is to the mathematician, nothing in itself and yet from

association, implication or involution, it enters into every form and

quantity. Oken has shown[84] that there are really two zeros, or that

zero exists as 0+ and 0-, and even here begins the science of symbolism

in the ancient _Mathesis_. It is in this shoreless ocean of ether that

suns and solar systems are suspended. It is the alkahest or universal

solvent from which all forms and qualities of matter and life proceeds,

and into which they return. It is luminous, and yet the abode of

darkness, the Unmoved Mover of Plato.

Take now the three dimensions of space, and we find the _idea_ of

length, breadth and thickness are associated with objects. Where there

is no object upon which the eye can rest, we have then no length, no

breadth, no thickness, _i. e._, Ether, the antithesis of objective

forms in which occur all phenomena. This ether is called the Mirror of

Isis, because in it are impressed or mirrored all forms. When these

forms are clothed upon then occurs, first, a _positing_; second,

motion; third, the “picture” in the ether is involved and the outer

material shape evolved. Nay, there is no first, second, third about it,

for all occurs coincidently. The last analysis of physics is matter,

force and motion; and these three, inseparable on the physical visual

plane, resolve back into the ocean of ether, which contains them all

_potentially_, and which sends them out as an indissoluble trinity.

Compared with matter then, the ether is transcendental, and yet we

cannot say it is nothing, as has already been pointed out. Now all

life, all matter, all forms, are in their essence cyclic. This is

readily seen in the colloidal forms incident to organic life, but even

in crystalline forms, though often overlooked, it is none the less

apparent.

In relation to objective manifestation, preserving the idea of cyclic

form, the ether is spoken of as the center which is everywhere, and the

circumference which is nowhere.

Proceeding now with the idea of center and circumference (as yet only

an idea) let us imagine a globule of protoplasm to spring instantly

into visual existence. The act of _positing_ was geometrical, _i. e._,

“position without extension.” Let this positing represent _force_, and

extension represent matter, typically, (in all directions) but this

tension and extension begets motion, all together; creation, from the

hitherto “_without form and void_” _i. e._, the ether.

What was the immediate coefficient of the positing? a picture, a Divine

idea, an essential form, projected in the ether. This idea is now

being clothed upon, or involved in matter, and coincidently the outer

material shape and structure is being evolved. Here is an equation

being solved, and from this on, it is easy to trace what occurs even

under a good microscope. We are, however, interested in principles

rather than processes, therefore we will preserve our typical sphere

with its center and circumference.

We shall presently come back to the Smaragdine inscription, and then be

able to see what a revelation it contains, and what a magical key it

affords to unlock the doors of knowledge.

B.

[_To be continued._]

LIVING THE HIGHER LIFE.

“I have no desire for any other line of life; but by the time I had

awakened to a knowledge of this life, I found myself involved by

circumstances against which I do not rebel, but out of and through

which, I am _determined_ to work, neglecting no known duty to

others.”—_Letter from a Friend._

The “Dweller of the Threshold” which stares even advanced occultists

in the face and often threatens to overwhelm them, and the ordeals of

Chelaship or of probation for Chelaship, differ from each other only in

degree. It may not be unprofitable to analyze this Dweller and those

ordeals. For our present purpose, it is enough to state, that they are

of a triune nature and depend upon these three relations: (1) To our

nationality; (2) to our family; and (3) to ourselves. And every one of

these three relations is due to the assertion of a portion of our own

past Karma, that is to say, to its effects.

Why should we be born in a particular nation and in a particular

family? Because of the effect of a particular set of our Karmic

attractions, which assert themselves in that manner. I mean that one

set of our past Karmas exhaust themselves in throwing us in our present

incarnation amidst a particular nation, another set introducing us

into a particular family; and a third set serving to differentiate

or individualize us from all the other members of the nation or of

the family. One of our Eastern proverbs says: “the five children of a

family differ like the five fingers of a hand.” Unless we look at this

difference from this standpoint, it must always appear to us a riddle,

a problem too difficult to solve, a mystery, in short, why children

born of one family, while they have some traits common to all, should

still appear to differ vastly from one another. What applies to the

family applies also to the nation, of which families are but units; and

also to mankind as a whole, of whom nations are but families or units.

The only way to decide the great question of the age, whether the laws

of nature are blind and material, or spiritual, intelligent and divine,

is, it seems to me, to point out in connection with every subject, the

absolutely intelligent and divine manner in which these laws act, and

how they force us to realize the economy of nature. This is the only

way by which we could become spiritual; and I would, once for all, call

upon my co-workers for the cause, to realize at every step of their

study, as far as possible, the Divine Intelligence thus manifesting

itself. Otherwise, how much soever you might believe or take it for

granted, that the forces that govern the universe are spiritual, the

belief, however deep rooted it might appear, would be of little use to

you when you have to pass through the ordeals of Chelaship; and then

you are sure to succumb and exclaim that the “Law is blind, unjust and

cruel,” especially when your selfishness and personality overwhelm

you. When once a practical occultist and a learned philosopher met

with, what seemed to him a “serious calamity and trial,” in spite of

himself he exclaimed to me frankly; “the law of Karma is surely blind,

there is no God; what better proofs are needed?” So deep-rooted in

human nature is infidelity and selfishness; no one need therefore to

be sure of his own spiritual nature. No amount of lip learning will

avail us in the hour of need. We have to study the law in all its

aspects and assimilate to our highest consciousness,—that which is

called by Du Prel super sensuous consciousness—all the data which go

to prove and convince us that the Power is spiritual. Look around and

see whether any two persons are absolutely identical, even for a time.

How intelligent must be the power that ever strives to keep each and

every one of us totally different _on the whole_, while, if analyzed,

we possess some traits in common, even with the Negro, with whom we are

remotely allied.

In this connection I shall refer you to a passage in the article on

“Chelas and Lay Chelas” (vide column 1, page 11 of “Supplement to the

Theosophist” for July, 1883);—“The Chela is not only called to face

all latent evil propensities of his nature, but in addition, the whole

volume of maleficent power accumulated by the community and nation

to which he belongs * * until the result is known.” I shall only ask

you to apply the same principle to your family relations affecting

your present incarnation. Thus seven things are found to secure us a

victory, or a sad, inglorious defeat in the mighty struggle known as

the Dweller of the threshold and the ordeals of Chelaship:—(1) The evil

propensities common to ourselves and to our family; (2) those common to

ourself and our nation; (3) those common to ourself and to mankind in

general, or better known as the weakness of human nature, the fruits

of Adam’s first transgression; (4 to 6) the noble qualities common to

us and to these three; (7) the peculiar way in which the 6 sets of our

past Karmas choose or are allowed to influence us now, or their effects

in producing in us the present tendency. The adept alone can take the

seventh or last mentioned item completely into his own hands; and

every mortal who would, as I have since recently begun to reiterate,

direct all his energies to the highest plane possible for him (“Desire

always to attain the unattainable”—says the author of “Light on the

Path”),—such a mortal too could more or less do the same thing as the

adept, in so far as he acts up to the rule. Every Chela, and also those

who have a desire to be Chelas even, as they suppose secretly, have to

do with the first six propensities or influences.

The world is inclined—at least in this Kali Yuga (the Dark Age)—always

to begin at the wrong end of anything and direct all its faculties to

the perception of effects and not of their causes. So the ideas of

“renunciation,” “asceticism” and of the “true feeling of universal

Brotherhood” (or “mercy,” as I call it, in accordance with South

Indian Ethics), all of which are compatible with Gnanis, or the most

exalted of Mahatmas, all these have come to be recognized by all our

Theosophists, in general, as _the means_ of progress for a beginner;

while the real means of progress for us mortals—duties to our own

families and to our own nation, or “kindness” and “patriotism” in

the highest and ethical sense of the terms—are discarded. True, from

the standpoint of a Jivanmukta, a true friend of humanity, these two

Sadhanas are really “selfishness”; still, until we attain that exalted

state, these two feelings should be made the ladders for raising

ourselves, the means of not only getting ourselves rid of our family

defects and natural idiosyncrasies, but also of strengthening in

ourselves the noble qualities of our families and of our nation. Until

we reach that ideal slate where the blessed soul has to make neither

good nor bad Karma, we must strive to be constantly doing “good” Karma,

in order that we might become Karma-less (nish Karmis).

Let it not be understood at all, that I mean by “family duties” and

“national duties,” false attachments to the family or to the nation.

Family duty consists not in sensuality or pleasure-hunting, but

in cultivating and in elevating the emotional nature (the fourth

principle), of ourselves and of our family; in being equally “kind”,

not only to the members of the family, but also to all creatures, and

in enjoying all such pleasures of the family life as are consistent

with the acquirement of “wealth” (all the means necessary for the

performance of Dharma or whole duty) according to the teachings

of Valluvar, and in utilizing such pleasures and means for the

performance of our duty to our nation. Patriotism consists similarly

in theosophising our own nation, in not only getting ourselves rid of

our national defects, as well as other members of the nation rid of

the same, but also in strengthening in ourselves and in our nation as

a whole, all the noble qualities which belong to our nation; in the

enjoyment of the privileges[85] of the nation and using them as a means

for the performance of _Dharma_. If family duties are taken due care

of, our duties to the nation and to humanity would, to a great extent,

take care of themselves unimpeded. Our national duties, if strictly

performed, serve to purify our fifth lower principle of its dross and

to establish and develop the better part of it, while the performance

of our duty to Humanity or the _realization of universal tolerance and

mercy_, purifies the lower (human) stuff in the fifth higher principle

and makes it divine, thus enabling us to free ourselves gradually from

the bonds of ignorance common to all human beings.

The above assertions, might, at first sight, seem rather bold and

untheosophical. But I should venture to state my conviction that the

whole edifice of Aryan religions and Aryan philosophy is based upon

these principles, and that, on a careful consideration of the subject,

the great importance attached to household life (Grihasta ashrama) in

that philosophy, would be fully borne out. To my mind no ascetics, no

teachers of mankind, however eminent and full of the highest knowledge,

are really such good and practical benefactors of humanity as Valluvar,

of ancient times, who incarnated on earth for the express purpose,

among others, of setting an example of an ideal household life to

mortals who were prematurely and madly rushing against the rocks of

renunciation, and of proving the possibility of leading such a life in

any age however degenerated; or as Ráma, who, even after having become

an _avatar-purusha_, came down amidst mortals and lead a household life.

It has often been contended that the world has not progressed on _the

path_, because _gnanis_, or Mahatmas, have dwindled in their number

and greatness, and because it is Kali-Yuga, or the dark age, now.

Such arguments are due to our mistaking the effects for their causes.

The only way to prepare the way for the advent of a favorable Yuga

and for the increase of the number and greatness of Mahatmas, is to

establish gradually the conditions for the leading of a true household

life. I should unhesitatingly state, that that is the duty of earnest

Theosophists and real philanthropists.

Is it not conceded by all philanthropists that unselfish labors for

humanity can alone relieve us from the ocean of Sainsara (Rebirth),

develop our highest potentialities and help us to alchemise our human

weakness? Applying the same principle to unselfish discharge of our

family and national duties, my position becomes tenable. A Mahatma has,

it appears, declared that He has still “patriotism.” But He has not

said nor would say, that He has still family “attachments.” This proves

that He has got out of the defects of the family to which He belongs,

while He is only striving to get out of national defects, some of which

at any rate cling to Him. A Buddha would say, that He has “mercy,” but

no “patriotism.”

The only effectual way to get out of family defects is to discharge

all our duty to our family before leaving it, as ascetics, or before

we die. Blessed is he[86] who, in each of his incarnations, _then and

there_, gets rid of the defects of the family into which he is ushered,

thereby converts those defects in his parents, brothers and sisters,

into noble qualities, thus strengthening and developing the good

qualities both of himself and of his family, then strives to be born in

the same family again and again, until he himself becomes a Buddha and

assists his family to become a family fit for a Buddha to be born into,

while he becomes the cream of all the noble qualities of the family

without being tainted with its idiosyncrasies. A Dugpa (Black Magician)

is frequently born in the same family and becomes the cream of all its

evil propensities. Here again is the operation of the sublime and

divinely intelligent law of universal and natural economy asserting

itself. This is beautifully allegorized in the story of a Jivanmukta

churning out of the ocean, the elixir of life and leaving the _visha_

(the poison, all the evil propensities) for the Dugpas. This is one

of the meanings of the allegory. Avoiding all personalities and

questionable facts, I shall rely solely upon our Puranas and scriptures

to prove that in every family where Adepts and Gnanis are (or choose to

be) frequently born, often Dugpas are also born, as a matter of course.

Krishna was the greatest of Gnanis and his uncle Kausa (for our present

purpose) was a terrible Dugpa. The five Pandavas had a hundred wicked

cousins, the Kauravas. Devas and the whole brood of wicked Asuras were

born of the same parent. _Vibhishana_ had for his brother, _Ravana_ the

prince of Dugpas; so had the good Sugriva a brother like Vali. Prahlada

had a monster for his father.

Take the case of one who has not done all his duty to his family,

before he dies, or before he takes the vows of renunciation and

becomes an ascetic. Such ascetics find themselves attracted by the

family defects and selfishness of themselves (which hitherto perhaps

lay more or less dormant and now become kindled and awakened by the

selfishness of the relatives) and are disturbed in the performance of

the duties of their new order or _Ashrama_, however unselfish their

relatives might have been “unconsciously” or unintentionally. In spite

of themselves these relatives arrest the progress of the ascetics

in whom the family defects become thus strengthened and developed.

Such is the mysterious law of attraction. This man must be born again

(1) either in the same family, with the family defects strengthened,

both in himself and in his family; (2) or in another family. In the

first case, the noble qualities of the family are not strengthened

and therefore gradually disappear both from him and from the family.

In the second case, he becomes an undutiful son, brother or husband,

in his new family, firstly because of the natural law of repetition,

which, with the terrible Karmic interest, strengthens the tendency

in him to disregard duty; secondly because of the “counter family

attractions” (or repulsions). Let not this unfortunate wanderer from

the post of his family duty console himself with the foolish idea that

this tendency would confine its havoc to family traits (good and evil)

and to family duties alone. It would extend itself in all directions,

wherever it can; it would make him disregard his duties to his nation

and to himself (or in other words, to humanity). He would suddenly be

surprised to find himself apathetic to his nation and to his highest

nature, or to mankind. Such are the mazes and unknown ramifications

of our evil or good propensities. Any evil or noble element of human

nature converts itself, under “favorable” conditions into any other

element however apparently remote. The conditions are there ready

wherever the element is strong; where there is a will there is a way.

Performance of family duties therefore develops patriotism and mercy.

I do not at all mean to say that the effects of Karma _always_ assert

themselves in the same shape or form; but they often might and do. Nor

do I mean that the affinities above stated, blossom and ripen in the

incarnation immediately succeeding; they might develop ten or even

one hundred incarnations after; but in such a case, the Karma only

accumulates enormous interest. The affinities might not develop _at the

same time_ in both him and her, who was once his wife; if they did at

the same time, the account could be easily settled,—otherwise, woe to

him and to her! Supposing that the attractions for him are developed

in her, while the attachments for her are not developed in him at the

same time; the result might be, that she pines and languishes for him,

sends her poisonous darts consciously or “unconsciously” against him;

if these arrows do not kindle the corresponding nature in him, for

the time being they frustrate his achievements in other directions.

Supposing by the time the affinities in him are developed, he becomes

an initiate and she becomes, (let us suppose) his pupil (male or

female). If at the time the pupil’s affinities have become converted

into devotion for the initiate, the latter becomes blinded in his

philanthropic work and noble duties of a sage, and commits, through the

infatuation of a love for the pupil, serious blunders, which result in

a catastrophe to both of them and to humanity: and both the pupil and

initiate fall down and have to mount their rugged pathway again with

increased difficulties in their way.

Once, in an age and in a country, when and where household life

continues to be ideal, one single wretch commits the first act of

transgression by impetuously rushing into the circle of ascetics, or

by dying before wholly discharging his duty to his family, the natural

result is that both himself, his family, and his nation, become thereby

seriously affected. The Akasa[87] becomes affected by the impulse to

transgress in this direction; this impulse forces itself gradually

(with accumulated interest, redoubled force) upon others; the ignoble

example becomes a precedent; other cases of a like nature follow in

quick succession. In course of time, (just when a sad descending cycle

begins, such is the divine intelligence of the law that economizes

energies and makes things fit it) the leading of the ideal family life

becomes almost impossible and very rare; the whole community is thus

ruined. Learned and great adepts retire to other spheres (where there

then is an ascending cycle) and leave the nation to be swallowed by a

cataclysm after ages of degradation and vice.

Let us now reverse this case, and suppose that in the most degenerate

nation, in the darkest of cycles, one philanthropist becomes unselfish

and intelligent enough to set a noble and intelligent example by

fulfilling all family duties; then, as naturally as in the preceding

case, the precedent gradually gains acceptance; the way is paved for

the advent of an ascending cycle; Gnanis bless the noble man and come

down from other unfavorable spheres, where descending cycles begin to

dawn.

Now it may be easy to understand why Chelas and lay Chelas (who have

not yet thrown off their family defects and thus become the cream of

their family’s good qualities) are told to be careful lest they become

Dugpas (Black Magicians).

I will ask you to apply the same kinds of arguments to the necessity

for performing (and the failure to perform) our duties to our nation

and to mankind. You can see that the phenomena of heresy, downfall

of religions, rise of new religions, the birth in Europe of a Max

Müller, who expatiates upon the greatness of the Vedic philosophy, and

of Bradlaughs and other infidel sons of Christian parents—all these

are due to the fact (and also to other causes), that the individuals

concerned had not in some one or other of their past incarnations, done

their duty to the nations (or religions), to which they respectively

belonged. A study of the times when and in the manner in which the

traits of these men are brought into play should be profitable in

several ways. Extending the analogy, it may be said that heartlessness,

murder, cannibalism, etc., are due to failure to discharge, in past

incarnations, one’s duty to humanity (that is to one’s self).

In conclusion it might be added that the most important element in the

“Dweller of the Threshold,” and in the ordeals of Chelaship, is family

defects, which ought to be _first_ “conquered;” then in order come

national defects and the “diseases of the flesh” in general. Though all

these three have to be got rid of simultaneously as far as possible,

and all the three kinds of duties performed, still beginners should pay

more attention to the first than to the second, and more to the second

than to the third, and none of these neglected.

In those happy Aryan ages, when Dharma was known and performed fully,

those men and women who did not marry, remained in the family for

performing their family duties and led a strictly ascetical and

Vedantic life as Brahmacharis and Kannikas (or virgins). Those alone

married, who were in every way qualified for leading a grihasta

(household) life. Marriage was in those days a sacred and religious

contract, and not at all a means of gratifying selfish desires and

animal passions. These marriages were of two kinds: (1) Those who

married for the express purpose of assisting each other (husband and

wife) in their determination to lead a higher life, in fulfilling their

family duties, in enjoying all pleasures enjoined for such a life

and thereby acquiring the means for attaining the qualifications for

higher ashrama of renunciation (Sannyása), and, above all, for giving

the world the benefit of children, who would become gnanis and work

for humanity. Such a husband and wife might be regarded as not having

in their previous incarnations been able enough to become ripe for

Chelaship. (2) Those who had, in their past incarnations already fitted

themselves completely for entering the sanctuary of Occultism and gnana

marga (path of wisdom). One of them, the Pati (the master or “husband”)

was the Guru who had advanced far higher than his Patni (co-worker or

pupil or “wife”). As soon as the alliance between them was made, these

retired into the forest to lead the life of celibacy and practical

Occultism. But, before so retiring, they had invariably promised to

their parents and other members of their family to assist and elevate

them even from a distance and offered to periodically adjust[88] the

inner life of all the relatives. I quote the language generally used in

making such promises:—“Whenever mother, father, sister and brothers,

any of you think of me in your hour of need, wherever or whatever I may

be, I solemnly promise to lend you a helping hand.”

MURDHNA JOTI.

[_To be continued._]

STUDIES IN THE UPANISHADS.

[BY A STUDENT.]

[_Continued from May number._]

Longfellow, in the lines last quoted, symbolized the Universe by an

immeasurable wheel forever turning in the stream of time. Allowing

for the western habit of studying effects and not causes, this is a

fair simile. Yet it is faulty in that it presupposes two co-existing

eternities; the wheel of the Universe, and the stream in which it

turns. There can be but one eternity.

Saunaka asks in this Upanishad a natural question, propounded by

nearly every thinking man, especially by students of occultism who

are continually seeking a royal road to the accomplishment of their

objects. He wishes to be told what may be the great solvent of all

knowledge. The reply of Angiras points out two great roads, which

include all the others. The lower road is the one of hard work for

countless births, during which we acquire knowledge slowly in all

directions, and, of course, when that is possessed, one rises to the

higher road.

This is the true initiation, nature, so to speak, acting as the

initiator. In replying to Saunaka, Angiras did not mean to be

understood, that a man could in one birth pass over the lower road,

but that the progress of a human monad toward perfection proceeded in

a certain fixed manner which included all experiences. Of course if we

say that we appear on the earth once only, and then disappear from it,

to the place called by the spiritualists of America, “the summer land,”

and by the christian, “heaven,” there is no need for one to acquire

the lower knowledge, for that might be obtained in the life after

death. But we regard it as true that the spirit, in order to acquire

complete knowledge, must inhabit a human form, and one term of tenancy

in such a form will not be enough for the testing of the countless

varieties of life, of temptation, of triumph, failure and success.

The sage Angiras in this Upanishad looks at man from the standpoint

of one who can see the great stream of life which flows through the

eternal plain, and therefore he could not have meant to apply his words

to one incarnation, but to the whole series through which man has to

pass until he reaches “immortal, blest nirvana.”

In the journey along this road we will encounter great differences

in the powers of our fellow travellers. Some go haltingly and others

quickly; some with eyes bent on the ground, a few with gaze fixed on

the great goal. Those who halt or look down will not reach the end,

because they refuse to take the assistance to be found in the constant

aspiration to the light. But we are not to blame them: they have not

yet been often enough initiated to understand their error. Nature is

kind and will wait for them much longer than their human fellows would

if they were permitted to be their judges. This ought to give us a

lesson in charity, in universal brotherhood. Very often we meet those

who show an utter inability to appreciate some spiritual ideas which

we quite understand. It is because they have not, so far, been able

to transmute into a part of themselves, that which we have been so

fortunate as to become possessed of, and so they seem devoted to things

that to us appear to be of small value.

The Bagavad-Gita says that there is no detriment or loss to one’s

efforts in any direction, be it good or bad; that is, in going through

these countless incarnations, all inquiry, every sort of investigation,

no matter even if it seems at the close of any one life that the life

was wasted, is so much energy and experience stored up. For although,

in the course of one existence, physical energy is expended, there is,

all the while, a storing up of spiritual energy which is again a power

in the next succeeding life.

In consequence of the modern, western system of education, we are

apt constantly to forget the existence of the great force and value

belonging to our super-sensuous consciousness. That consciousness is

the great register where we record the real results of our various

earthly experiences; in it we store up the spiritual energy, and once

stored there, it becomes immortal, our own eternal possession. The

question then will be asked: “How is one to store up such spiritual

energy: do we do it unconsciously, and how are we to know that any has

been stored up?” It is to be done by trying to know and to act truth;

by “living in the eternal,” as _Light on the Path_ directs. To live

thus in the eternal, does not mean that we shall abandon the cares

and struggles of life, for so surely as we do we must suffer, but that

we should try to make the real self direct its aspirations ever to the

eternal truth.

This series of births is absolutely necessary, so that the “lower

knowledge” can be acquired; and just so long as we do not acquire that,

we must be reborn. Here and there will occur exceptions to this rule,

in those great souls who, with “an astonishing violence,” leap beyond

and over all barriers, and by getting the higher knowledge, become at

the same time, possessors of the lower knowledge also.

In the Chaldean Oracles such souls are thus described: “More robust

souls perceive truth through themselves, and are of a more inventive

nature,” and by Proklus in I Alkibiad: “such a soul being saved,

according to the oracle, through its own strength.” But even this

rapid progress must be regarded as comparative, for even these “robust

souls,” had to go through certain incarnations in which they were

accumulating to themselves that very strength and ability to outstrip

their fellows which, later on, placed them in the front rank.

In consequence of our ignorance of what we really are, not knowing at

the time we begin the struggle in this present life whether the real

man inside has passed through incarnations full of this necessary

experience or not, we must not, because of the fancied importance we

give ourselves, neglect the _lower knowledge_. There are many pitfalls

besetting the road. Perchance we feel a certain degree of illumination,

or we are able to see or hear in the astral world, and at once the

temptation presents itself to claim to ourselves a spiritual greatness

not our own. The possession of such astral acuteness is not high

spirituality _per se_, for one might be able, as Buddha declares in

the Saddharma-Pundarika, to smell the extraordinary odors arising in

ten points of space which are not perceived by ordinary people, or to

hear the innumerable and strange voices, sounds, bells, discords and

harmonies produced by the whole host of unknown and unseen spirits

of the earth, air, water and fire, and still be altogether devoid of

spirituality. If we let ourselves then, be carried away by this, it is

only a form of pride that precedes a severe fall. Being carried away

with it, is at once a proof that we are not master, but are mastered by

what is merely a novel experience.

But if we wisely and carefully test all experience, being willing to

descend low enough to learn and study so that the instrument may be

tuned and perfected, we may avoid the pitfalls, or be able to cross

them should they be inevitable, whereas if we are deluded by supposed

self-illumination, and run after that to the exclusion of all study, we

will perhaps, enjoy a period of excitement and of self-satisfaction,

but it will end, and the end will be bitter. As Buddha says: “He

who ignores the rotation of mundane existences, has no perception of

blessed rest.”

The very fact that a man is in the world and has a continual fight

with his passions and inclinations, proves that he is not yet in any

condition to leave it. And of even the very far advanced, it was said

by those who were near the time of the Upanishads:

“The disciple who by his discrimination has escaped from the triple

world, thinks he has reached pure, blessed nirvana; but it is only by

knowing all the laws of the lower world, and the universal laws as

well, that the immortal, pure, blest nirvana is reached. There is no

real nirvana without all-knowingness; try to reach this.”

CORRESPONDENCE.

LONDON, June 17, 1886.

As No. 5 of “The Biogen Series,” Professor Coues has reprinted Robert

Dodsley’s “Œconomy of Human Life,” which he considers is based on

Theosophical Ethics. The history of this little treatise is rather

curious. It was originally published in 1750 and purported to be

by a Brahmin, but the authorship was generally ascribed to Lord

Chesterfield. The great celebrity which the book at one time attained,

was mainly due to this mistaken opinion. Dodsley, however, did not

long persist in his disguise. It went through numerous editions, found

many imitators, and has been translated into French, Italian, German

and Bengali. The moral maxims contained in this little volume are of

a character to admit of their attribution to Lord Chesterfield. Their

claim to an especial Eastern origin receives a striking comment from

the way in which the law of retribution, the nature of the soul, the

eternal paradise of God, and other similar topics are regarded. In the

treatment of these subjects, the author follows the theology of the

Christian church rather than Brahmanical philosophy. The association of

the name Kuthumi with the book, so perplexing to understand, is not a

biographical fact, as Prof. Coues explains in his “fore-word”(p. 10).

It only remains to state clearly what is implied in the fore-word that

the Theosophical Society has no special code of morals, ready made and

rigorously defined, for the acceptance of its members on admission.

Prof. Coues is deserving of praise for rescuing from oblivion a book,

in many ways calculated to do good.

Fraternally,

MOHINI M. CHATTERJI.

REVIEWS AND NOTES.

THE BIOGEN SERIES (_Estes & Lauriat, Boston, Mass._). This series of

publications is under the editorial management of Prof. Coues, the

well known Scientist and Theosophist. The series has just reached its

fifth number “_Kuthumi, or the Economy of Human Life_.” This is a

reprint of a little volume, originally issued in 1770, but under the

classical pen of Prof. Coues who has added an introduction, and the

faultless typography of Estes & Lauriat, the little book is a very

different affair from the earlier edition. Number four of the series

which is also only just out of press, bears the significant title,

“_Can Matter Think_,” and is reprint of an article which was written

in India and published some years ago in _The Theosophist_. By no

means the least important part of these publications are the notes and

editorial comments of Prof Coues. Number four of the series has both an

introduction and an appendix from the Professor’s pen. To give these

publications such extended notice as they deserve would occupy more

space and time than is at our command, while the exceedingly readable

form and low price at which they are issued, renders such review

unnecessary, as they are within reach of all.

These little books are in short, classics, and as such, substantial

additions to the literature of the age, while their bearing on the

great problems of Theosophy, can hardly be over estimated. Prof.

Coues’ familiarity with the whole field of modern research, his

exactness, which comes from scientific training, his remarkable command

of first-class English, and his insight into the complex problems

of psychology, place these books in the forefront of Theosophic

literature, and we cordially commend them to our readers.

J.D. BUCK.

THE SANSCRIT LANGUAGE.

Several letters have been written and inquiries propounded to the

Editor regarding Sanscrit, and in one or two instances the assertion

has been made that we were incorrect in saying that Sanscrit is not

really a dead language. In reply to those asking about the language, we

refer them to Perry’s _Sanscrit Primer_ (Ginn & Co., Boston), Lanman’s

_Sanscrit Reader_ and Whitney’s _Sanscrit Grammar_.

To the others, we quote from Perry’s _Primer_, § 21, p. 7: “The

Sanscrit is used in India to this day very much as Latin was used in

Europe in the previous century; it is a common medium of communication

between the learned, be their native tongues what they may, and it is

not the vernacular of any district whatever.” And in India, the Editor

was told by many Brahmins that it is in constant use in all religious

convocations and assemblies convened among people of learning who come

from widely separated parts of Hindustan.

* * * * *

THOUGHTS.—By Ivan Panin, (_Cupples, Upham & Co., Boston._) The author

says that he does not know why he writes, but the thoughts jotted down

are put forth as his own. Many of them are good and worth remembering.

The book is of size convenient for the pocket, and well bound; the

thoughts are topically arranged and numbered consecutively from 1 to

435; the first is, that to be never unhappy is the greatest misfortune;

and the last, that next to the pleasure of seeing beautiful things, is

to describe them. The best one is No. 205, that nature preaches many a

fine sermon on silence, as: the loud thunder hurts not, but the silent

lightning; silent gravity binds all worlds together; silent snow covers

the ground, but noisy rain makes puddles and then runs away. Another

good one is No. 188: “Always indeed, tell the truth, but do not always

speak it;” also No. 80: “Abhor his vice, but not the man; for he is

like thee a son of God.”

* * * * *

THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.—By a woman. (_Rockwell & Churchill,

Boston, 1885._) We are informed that the author is a Theosophist and

wrote this before joining the Society. It is divided into 3 parts. I,

Relates to Jesus; II, The Warfare of the Truth; III, The Letters and

Evidences. She adheres to the idea of the immaculate conception, while

not advocating the theological dogma of the Divinity; this seems to us

not to follow. We cannot help pointing out that Jesus, the subject of

this book, apparently violated filial duty when he refused to recognize

his mother at the time he was told that she waited without. Also on

page 10, the author surmizes that “probably not more than a score of

children perished” by the order of King Herod. There is no historical

record of the “slaughter of the Innocents,” but it is important and

ought not to be lightly passed over. A similar legend is told regarding

Krishna, the Hindu incarnation, thousands of years before Jesus, for

King Kausa his uncle, ordered the slaughter of all the male infants in

his kingdom, but Krishna escaped to another city under the protection

of the great God, (see the Mahabarata). Again Gaffarel and others say,

that really it referred to the persecution of the Kabalists and wise

men of Herod’s day, for they were called “innocents” and “babes.” Now

this tale has an occult signification, in common with the incident of

Jesus refusing to recognize his mother.

The book is an excellent one, and if christendom held the same views,

the millenium would advance. The author thinks that the spirit of the

work and words of Jesus, if lived up to by his followers, would raise

the western world to a higher plane, and in that we agree with her.

But we cannot agree that Jesus came to the whole world, or that St.

John’s revelation is for humanity. Both of them were only speaking to

the races they were born in, revealing again a part of the knowledge

and doctrine which anciently prevailed among all peoples, and which,

even in their own day, were fully known in the farther East. Each time

and people has its own prophet and sacred book, but it does not follow,

if the last be the best for the people to whom it is revealed, that

therefore it is the best of all.

At the beginning of each Manvantara (the remanifestation of a world and

man upon it), a planetary spirit appears among men, and implants the

great ideas afterwards held intuitionally. They are projected with a

spiritual force and power that carries them through all the ages of

that manvantara, now appearing and again apparently lost to sight. The

original impulse every now and then, receives additions, through beings

of a lower illumination than those who started them, as: Jesus, Buddha,

Confucius and others, who appear in intermediate periods.

Similarly, great events, such as the occurrences related as anterior to

Krishna’s, Buddha’s and Jesus’ birth, as well as the slaughter of the

innocents and the death of Osiris, have an inherent spiritual force,

wherever they really took place, that carries them down the stream of

time and causes them to reappear among all peoples as a part of the

biographies of different sacred personages.

This author has our approval, though worth but little, for she shows

a keen insight. Witness on p. 517: “Believe not those who exalt woman

above man, for they are equal powers. The use of the feminine pronoun

in describing the soul, the earth, the moon * * has no profound

scientific or philosophical foundation.

“Believe not those who claim to give final wisdom to the world; for

there must be many instruments of truth.”

And on p. 519: “Sufficient guides are in that development of seership

which is the necessary and natural sequence of the ripening of the

intellect and moral sense, and which must and will grow. To man’s own

conscience] and judgment is left the supreme utilization of these first

universal efforts at intercommunion between the material and spiritual

planes of existence.”

We regret that our limited space prohibits a more extended notice.

* * * * *

SINNETT.—Mr. A. P. Sinnett of London, author of Esoteric Buddhism,

has just brought out a new novel of a theosophical cast. We have not

received a copy as there has not been time, but hope to notice it in

the August number. Its title is “_Union_”.

THEOSOPHICAL ACTIVITIES.

THE AMERICAN BOARD OF CONTROL—will meet in Rochester July 4th. This

will be an important meeting, being the first one since the new

era of American Theosophical Activity. It is hoped that each year

hereafter will see conventions of the Society when each Branch will be

represented by a delegate.

* * * * *

JOSHEE.—Bro. Gopal Vinayak Joshee was in Boston May 28th, at the annual

meeting of the Free Religion Association, and delivered an address

before them upon “What is lacking in Christianity,” which was reported

in _The Index_, of June 10th, ult. It deserves perusal, and must have

seemed to its hearers like plain speaking.

* * * * *

ALABAMA.—A new Branch of the society is being organized here, the

provisional charter having been issued. We hope also soon to hear of

another in Texas, where a good Theosophist has settled.

* * * * *

MALDEN.—The theosophists here are in earnest and active. They

have heartily adopted the suggestion of the New York Branch about

discussions in condensed form being printed for circulation among

members.

* * * * *

CINCINNATI.—This Branch has been hard at work, and has had the benefit

of several addresses and thorough explanations of hermetic doctrines

from a well known and well versed theosophist.

* * * * *

ABRIDGEMENTS OF DISCUSSIONS.—The discussions and study of every member

of the Society and of each Branch should not be kept exclusively to

themselves, except when they may relate to necessarily secret matter,

but ought to be made known in some way to all other members. To that

end, the N. Y. Branch has issued the first of a series of leaflets

for private circulation, containing abstracts of these discussions.

They contain the ideas of many different people upon the subjects of

Karma, Reincarnation, and other doctrines of Hinduism, Buddhism and

Christianity.

All branches ought to contribute notes to this work, so that the

leaflets may appeal to as many minds in the society as possible. If a

central editor could be hit upon that would also be a good idea.

* * * * *

THE ARYAN THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK.—Regular meetings have been

held each week, since our last issue, two during this month being open

ones, at which addresses were delivered and discussions had. On the 8th

ult., the subject was that of evolution as laid down in theosophical

literature, and at one meeting, the lecture was illustrated by

reference to a famous carved temple roof in India, the blackboard being

used for rough outlines of the design.

During the last month, the following books have been donated to the

library of the Branch, by Bro. Edson D. Hammond: _Ancient Mysteries

Described_ (Hone, 1823); _The Obelisk and Freemasonry_ (Weisse, 1880);

_Psychological Review_ (London), _12 Nos. 1882; 2 of 1883_, when Review

stopped. The library has now increased to over 125 vols. and has been

considerably used by the members.

* * * * *

That subtle self is to be known by thought alone; for every thought of

men is interwoven with the senses, and when thought is purified, then

the self arises.—_Mundaka Upanishad._

OM.

FOOTNOTES:

[68] In the ancient Aztec civilization in Mexico, the Sacerdotal order

was very numerous. At the head of the whole establishment were two high

priests, elected from the order, solely for their qualifications, as

shown by their previous conduct in a subordinate station. They were

equal in dignity and inferior only to the sovereign, who rarely acted

without their advice in weighty matters of private concern. (Sahagun

_Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 2; lib. 3 cap. 9_—_Torq. Mon. Ind. lib. 8

cap. 20; lib. 9, cap. 3, 56_; cited by Prescott in _vol. 1, Conq. Mex.

p. 66_).—[ED.]

[69] King or Ruler.

[70] A low caste man, _e. g._, a sweeper. Such a building can now be

seen at Bijapur, India.—[ED.]

[71] An obsessing astral shell. The Hindus consider them to be the

reliquæ of deceased persons.—[ED.]

[72] Nature spirit or elemental.—[ED.]

[73] This sentence is of great importance. The Occidental mind delights

much more in effects, personalities and authority, than in seeking for

causes, just as many Theosophists have with persistency sought to know

when and where Madame Blavatsky did some feat in magic, rather than in

looking for causes or laws governing the production of phenomena. In

this italicized sentence is the clue to many things, for those who can

see.—[ED.]

[74] _Masonic Review_, July, 1885.

[75] The Cabbalah, its Doctrine, Development and Literature.

[76] _Farhad_ was the youthful lover of _Shirin_.

[77] _Her_ refers to the candle. The moth is the lover and the candle

the beloved.

[78] See note above.

[79] Mulla is the Persian form of the Arabic Maulawi, “a learned man,”

“a scholar.”

[80] Khudawand is a Persian word signifying “lord,” “prince,” “master.”

A professor: a man of authority. It is used as a title of the Deity

and by Christian missionaries in India it is generally employed as a

translation of the Greek Kyrios, “Lord.” (Hughes’ Dic.)

[81] _Islam_ means _the resigning or devoting one’s self entirely to

God_, and his service.

[82] Isis Unveiled, p. 507, vol I.

[83] Ibid.

[84] Physio-philosophy.

[85] I use this word “privilege” in its ethical sense; privileges are

to the patriot what the “pleasures” are to the family life.

[86] This is the man to be in the family and not of the family like the

water on the lotus leaf, making only the good traits of the family the

seat of his higher self.

[87] The Ether, the Astral Light.—[ED.]

[88] I use the word in the peculiar sense which I have already attached

to it.

AUM

In the beginning this was Self alone—undeveloped. It became developed

by form and name. The Self entered thither to the very tips of the

finger nails, as the fire in the fireplace. He cannot be seen: for, in

part only, when breathing, he is breath by name; when seeing, eye by

name; when hearing, ear; when thinking, mind, by name. All these are

but the names of his acts. And he who regards him as the one or the

other, does not know him, for he is apart from them. Let men worship

him as the Self, for in the Self, all these are one. 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

may find the Self.—_Brihadaranyaka-Upanishad, 1 Adh., 4 Brah., 7 v._

THE PATH.

VOL. I. AUGUST, 1886. NO. 5.

_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.

STAR COLORS AND ANIMAL MAGNETISM.

It is well known that yellow is the complementary of blue, and red

of green, color, and it struck me that, relating to this subject,

the remarks of Mr. Isaac Sharpless, who is an undoubted authority in

astronomical matters, are of some importance. Writing from Haverford

College Observatory, June 3d, instant, he says:

“The question of star colors has been receiving attention from the

hand of an English gentleman, W. S. Franks. He has examined carefully

the colors of a list of 1893 of the brightest stars, with especial

reference to the distribution in the heavens of the different colors.

He finds 962 white stars, 614 yellow, 168 orange, 10 red, 15 green, 59

blue, 58 purple and 7, for some reason, have no colors given. He finds

that the constellations which contain a large percentage of white

stars are in or near the Milky Way, and wherever stars are closely

associated together; while the yellow and orange stars are most

plentiful in large straggling constellations.

“It is well known that a certain kind of spectrum is connected with

certain star colors. The yellow stars belong to the class of our

sun and include such bright stars as Capella. The white stars, like

Vega, have a spectrum of a great number of fine lines, and the red

gives a banded spectrum. It has been a favorite theory that the

colors indicate the age of the stars, if not in years, at least in

development. That the white are the youngest: as they cool they become

yellow, then red, and, finally invisible, just as a piece of iron

would in cooling down from a white heat. There is much to commend this

idea, though, of course, as to the relative ages of the stars we know

very little, and some changes appear to be in the opposite direction.

Perhaps there are people to whom the idea of different colors in

stars is a novelty. They have a general idea that there are bright

points of light overhead, at night, and probably they have observed,

in a general way, that some are brighter than others. It will not

require a very close watch, however, to add to the knowledge of the

sky the additional fact that they are differently colored. Castor and

Pollux which now shine in the west in the evening, are very evidently

diverse, and a careful amateur can go over the heavens and notice

among the brighter stars quite a variety.

“But a telescope increases the capacities for this work immensely.

Nearly all the very red stars are too faint to be seen by the naked

eye, and many which show the strongest contrasts of color are double

stars, which require considerable magnifying power to separate them.

Blue and green stars are never solitary, but associated with a red

or a yellow star, which is nearly always brighter, so that color has

something to do with association. There are also sometimes clusters of

stars which show great variety of color. Sir John Herschel describes

one in the Southern Hemisphere which resembled a mass of colored gems.

There is probably a prolific field of discovery yet undeveloped in

connection with star colors.”

The experiments of Reichenbach and others have shown that from crystals

and human bodies emanate not only influences of a positive and negative

character—which are also referred to in the PATH at p. 86—but also that

certain colors are seen by sensitives to arise from the human head,

eyes, and hands. Now, as animal magnetism is slowly forcing recognition

from the scientific world, why are we not justified in giving some

credence to the views held by the old Hermetic philosophers, that the

human being derives its magnetism and vitality from the stars: that

is, that these colors seen by sensitives, are to be directly traced to

the sidereal influences and atmospheres. They gave to each color an

appropriate star, and we find curiously enough, that although it is

claimed against them that they were ignorant and had no appliances,

they, without apparatus, knew that the stars had colors, while to the

sun they ascribed life. Now in this century our astronomers tell us,

as above, of star colors of great variety and peculiar combination.

These are mere hints, however, which I would like more competent men to

enlarge upon.

ISAAC MYER.

[NOTE.—We are personally acquainted with several persons who can

see these magnetic colors, and they all agree in the main as to the

conditions of health or of temper which accompany them. Mere quick

thoughts they see as bright sparks; sensuality seems pink or reddish;

while life and wisdom, appear as blue. It is interesting to note also,

that in the Hindu system, when Krishna is represented as the life

giver, or as the principle of life, he is painted blue, which color

Reichenbach found proceeded from the _positive_ pole; while the passive

mendicant or ascetic of Hindustan, has to wear the yellow robe, which

stands for the _negative_ pole that emits the yellow ray. It is also

rather curious that the ancient Egyptians in their papyri painted

wisdom, which is cold, of a yellow color, and the son of life appears

in blue.—ED.]

A HINDU CHELA’S DIARY.[89]

(_Continued from July Number._)

“I have always felt and still feel strongly that I have already once

studied this sacred philosophy with Kunâla, and that I must have been,

in a previous life, his most obedient and humble disciple. This must

have been a fact, or else how to account for the feelings created in me

when I first met him, although no special or remarkable circumstances

were connected with that event. All my hopes and plans are centred in

him, and nothing in the world can shake my confidence in him especially

when several of my Brahmin acquaintances tell me the same things

without previous consultation. * * *

“I went to the great festival of Durga yesterday, and spent nearly

the whole day looking in the vast crowd of men, women, children and

mendicants for some of Kunâla’s friends, for he once told me to never

be sure that they were not near me, but I found none who seemed to

answer my ideas. As I stood by the ghaut at the river side thinking

that perhaps I was left alone to try my patience, an old and apparently

very decrepit Bairagee plucked my sleeve and said: ‘Never expect to see

any one, but always be ready to answer if they speak to you; it is not

wise to peer outside of yourself for the great followers of Vasudeva:

look rather within.’

“This amazed me, as I was expecting him to beg or to ask me for

information. Before my wits returned, he had with a few steps mingled

with a group of people, and in vain searched I for him: he had

disappeared. But the lesson is not lost.

“To-morrow I return to I——.

“Very wearying indeed in a bodily sense was the work of last week and

especially of last evening, and upon laying down on my mat last night

after continuing work far into the night I fell quickly sound asleep.

I had been sleeping some hour or two when with a start I awoke to find

myself in perfect solitude and only the horrid howling of the jackals

in the jungle to disturb me. The moon was brightly shining and I walked

over to the window of this European modeled house threw it open and

looked out. Finding that sleep had departed, I began again on those

palm leaves. Just after I had begun, a tap arrested my attention and

I opened the door. Overjoyed was I then to see Kunâla standing there,

once more unexpected.

“‘Put on your turban and come with me,’ he said and turned away.

“Thrusting my feet into my sandals, and catching up my turban, I

hurried after him, afraid that the master would get beyond me, and I

remain unfortunate at losing some golden opportunity.

“He walked out into the jungle and turned into an unfrequented path.

The jackals seemed to recede into the distance; now and then in the

mango trees overhead, the flying foxes rustled here and there, while I

could distinctly hear the singular creeping noise made by a startled

snake as it drew itself hurriedly away over the leaves. Fear was not

in my breast for master was in front. He at last came to a spot that

seemed bare of trees, and bending down, seemed to press his hand into

the grass. I then saw that a trap door or entrance to a stairway very

curiously contrived, was there. Stairs went down into the earth. He

went down and I could but follow. The door closed behind me, yet it was

not dark. Plenty of light was there, but where it came from I cared

not then nor can I now, tell. It reminded me of our old weird tales

told us in youth of pilgrims going down to the land of the Devas where,

although no sun was seen, there was plenty of light.

“At the bottom of the stairs was a passage. Here I saw people but they

did not speak to me and appeared not to even see me although their eyes

were directed at me. Kunâla said nothing but walked on to the end,

where there was a room in which were many men looking as grand as he

does but two more awful, one of whom sat at the extreme end.”

* * * * * * * *

[Here there is a confused mass of symbols and ciphers which I confess

I cannot decipher, and even if I had the ability to do so, I would

check myself, because I surmise that it is his own way of jotting

down for his own remembrance, what occurred in that room. Nor do I

think that even a plain reading of it would give the sense to any one

but the writer himself, for this reason, that it is quite evidently

fragmentary. For instance, I find among the rest, a sort of notation

of a division of states or planes: whether of consciousness, of

animated, or of elemental life, I cannot tell; and in each division

are hieroglyphs that might stand for animals, or denizens of the astral

world, or for anything else—even for ideas only, so I will proceed at

the place of his returning.]

“Once more I got out into the passage, but never to my knowledge went

up those steps, and in a moment more was I again at my door. It was as

I left it, and on the table I found the palm leaves as I dropped them,

except that beside them was a note in Kunâla’s hand, which read:

“‘Nilakant—strive not yet to think too deeply on those things you have

just seen. Let the lessons sink deep into your heart, and they will

have their own fruition. To-morrow I will see you.’ * * * *

“What a very great blessing is mine to have had Kunâla’s company for

so many days even as we went to——. Very rarely however he said a few

words of encouragement and good advice as to how I should go on. He

seems to leave me as to that to pick my own way. This is right, I

think, because otherwise one would never get any individual strength

or power of discrimination. Happy were those moments, when alone at

midnight, we then had conversation. How true I then found the words of

the Agroushada Parakshai to be:

“‘Listen while the Sudra sleeps like the dog under his hut, while

the Vaysa dreams of the treasures that he is hoarding up, while the

Rajah sleeps among his women. This is the moment when just men, who

are not under the dominion of their flesh, commence the study of the

sciences.’[90]

“The midnight hour must have powers of a peculiar nature. And I learned

yesterday from glancing into an Englishman’s book, that even those semi

barbarians speak of that time as ‘the witching hour,’ and it is told me

that among them ‘witching’ means to have magic power. * * * *

“We stopped at the Rest House in B—— yesterday evening, but found it

occupied and so we remained in the porch for the night. But once more I

was to be blessed by another visit with Kunâla to some of his friends

whom I revere and who will I hope bless me too.

“When every one had quieted down he told me to go with him to the

sea which was not far away. We walked for about three quarters of an

hour by the seashore, and then entered as if into the sea. At first a

slight fear came into me, but I saw that a path seemed to be there,

although water was all around us. He in front and I following, we went

for about seven minutes, when we came to a small island; on it was a

building and on top of that a triangular light. From the sea shore,

the island would seem like an isolated spot covered all over by green

bushes. There is only one entrance to go inside. And no one can find

it out unless the occupant wishes the seeker to find the way. On the

island we had to go round about for some space before we came in front

of the actual building. There is a little garden in front and there

was sitting another friend of Kunâla with the same expression of the

eyes as he has. I also recognized him as one of those who was in the

room underground. Kunâla seated himself and I stood before them. We

stayed an hour and saw a portion of the place. How very pleasant it

is! And inside he has a small room where he leaves his body when he

himself moves about in other places. What a charming spot, and what a

delightful smell of roses and various sorts of flowers! How I should

wish to visit that place often. But I cannot indulge in such idle

dreams, nor in that sort of covetousness. The master of the place put

his blessing hand upon my head, and we went away back to the Rest

House and to the morrow full of struggles and of encounters with men

who do not see the light, nor hear the great voice of the future; who

are bound up in sorrow because they are firmly attached to objects

of sense. But all are my brothers and I must go on trying to do the

master’s work which is only in fact the work of the Real Self which is

All and in All.”

NOTES ON THE CABBALAH OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

BY PERMISSION OF BRO. J. RALSTON SKINNER (McMillan Lodge, No. 141).

II.

Ginsburg and others tell us that Raymond Lully and John Picus de

Mirandola had acquired knowledge of the Hebrew and the Caballah.

Mirandola studied Hebrew and Cabbalistic theology under Jochanan

Aleman, who came to Italy from Constantinople, and—“found that there

is more Christianity in the Cabbalah than Judaism; he discovered in it

proof for the doctrine of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Divinity of

Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem, the fall of the angels, the order of

the angels,” and so on, and so on. “In 1486, when only 24 years old,

he published 900 _theses_, which were placarded in Rome, and which he

undertook to defend in the presence of all European scholars, whom

he invited to the Eternal City, promising to defray their traveling

expenses. Among the theses was the following: ‘No science yields

greater proof of the Divinity of Christ than magic and the Cabbalah.’”

Through Picus de Mirandola, Reuchlin became aware of this phase of

Hebrew philosophy or theosophy, as, by a school of the rabbins, a

recognized appurtenant to the Hebrew Scriptures. He not only examined

into the Cabbalah to satisfy his thirst for facts of literature, but,

on investigation, became a convert to the system,—“within two years

of beginning to learn the language, published (1494) his De Verbo

Mirifico, and afterwards (1516) with more matured learning, his De Arte

Cabbalistica.” And thus the joint efforts of Mirandola and Reuchlin

established a field of literature, of the Cabbalah, which has always

flourished, and will continue to flourish so long as our civilization

shall last.

It is interesting and useful to place this great fact, but it is a

matter of especially great weight and value that the knowledge of

the Cabbalah was sprung upon the world of letters, with, and _as an

essential part of_ the Reformation itself. Not that the philosophy

of the Cabbalah became engrafted into the study and development

of Hebrew (and consequently Christian) theosophy:—for, because of

lack of knowledge of what the Cabbalah really was, such could not

be the case,—but it was entitled so to be, and the assertion of its

existence as a real element of Scripture was, even then, so strongly

and enduringly made, that, though an unknown quantity except by name,

it has ever since stood firmly, and ready to have such claim made

good:—with a vitality that has outworn four hundred years of patient

waiting.

Of course there was a field of Jewish Cabbalistic literature,—not

open, but confined, for the most part, as a kind of sacred mystery,

within narrow and restricted limits, even among the Jews themselves.

It was of the same nature with what is called, to-day, The Speculative

Philosophy of Free Masonry, an ever seemingly substantive embodiment

out of surrounding shadowy mists and mental fogs, wherein a doubt

always exists whether after all there is in the nebulous matter of the

mist itself anything from whence substance may congeal; or, it may,

for illustration, be compared to the city of King Arthur, before whose

gate Gareth, standing, says: “But these my men—(your city moves so

weirdly in the mist),—doubt if the King be King at all, or come from

Fairy land: and whether this be built by magic, and by fairy kings and

queens, or whether there be any city at all, or all a vision.” It is

necessary to make a brief mention of this literature with its sources;

both that these may be known, and that a foundation may be laid for

what is stated as to the reality of Cabbalah, and its significance.

There is almost no teaching of the Cabbalah in the English language

except the Essay by Christian D. Ginsburg, LL. D., to which we have

referred. Dr. Ginsburg says: “It is a system of religious philosophy,

or more properly, of theosophy, which has not only exercised for

hundreds of years an extraordinary influence on the mental development

of so shrewd a people as the Jews, but has captivated the minds of

some of the greatest thinkers of Christendom in the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries, and which claims the greatest attention of both

the philosopher and theologian.”

It is faintly claimed that some statements applying to Cabbalah are to

be found in the Talmud; but apart from this we have:—(1) The Commentary

on the Ten Sephiroth, by R. Azariel ben Manachem (1160-1238), who was

a pupil of Isaac the Blind, and master of the celebrated R. Moses

Nachmanides, (2) The Book Sohar (Light), or Midrash, Let there be

Light, claimed to have been a revelation from God, communicated through

R. Simon ben Jochai, A. D. 70-110, to his select disciples. This book

has been pronounced by the ablest critics to have been a pseudograph

of the thirteenth century,—the composition of Moses de Leon, who lived

in Spain; who, by the admission of his wife and daughter after his

death, first published and sold it as the production of R. Simon ben

Jochai, and (3) The Book Jetzirah or Book of Creation,—of unknown age

and authorship, but mentioned as early as the eleventh century in the

Book Chazari, by R. Jehudah Ha Levi,—as the literary sources for the

entire system and scope thereof, so far as disclosed. It is from these

sources that the entire volume of Cabbalistic literature has had rise

and development.

From these sources, and the numberless treatises and expositions

thereon, the history of the subject matter and containment of Cabbalah

is laid down as follows: It was first taught by God himself to a select

company of angels. After the fall the angels taught it to Adam. From

Adam it passed to Noah, thence to Abram, the friend of God who carried

it to Egypt. Moses, who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, was

initiated into it from the land of his birth. He covertly laid down the

principles of its doctrines in the first four books of the Pentateuch,

but withheld them from Deuteronomy (“this constitutes the former the

‘_man_’ and the latter the ‘_woman_’”). Moses initiated the seventy

elders, and they again passed the sacred and secret doctrine down to

the heads (continually imparting the same) of the Church of Israel.

David and Solomon were adepts in it. No one dared to write it down till

the supposititious Simon ben Jochai, who really lived and taught, as

one of the most celebrated doctors, at the time of the destruction of

the second temple; and his teachings are claimed to constitute the Book

of Sohar, published, as already said, by Moses de Leon of Valladolid,

in Spain. But Ben Jochai, or whoever worked under his name, though

he wrote and published, as said, covered the true doctrine by veils,

so that no one but an initiate, or, as the saying runs, “by the gift

of God,” could penetrate behind them;—though the veils of the words

still plainly held the secret doctrine, to those who could see. The

Cabbalah, as an exposition to the Sacred Text of Holy Writ, was claimed

to contain the Wisdom of God in every branch and department of His

working,—and all terms and descriptions were exhausted to express the

ineffable reward to him who might be permitted to penetrate behind the

veil, either by initiation or “by the gift of God;” satiating every

function of enjoyment, and affording an indescribable bliss, in the

ultimate possessions of the Divine conceptions.

More definitely:—The exposition of the system treats of the impersonal

First Cause manifesting within the limits of the finite. “Before he

gave any shape to this world, before he produced any form, he was

alone, without a form and resemblance to anything else.[91] Who,

then, can comprehend him, how he was before the creation, since he

was formless? Hence, it is forbidden to represent him by any form,

similitude, or even by his sacred name, by a single letter or a single

point; and to this, the words, ‘Ye saw no manner of similitude on the

day the Lord spake unto you’ (Deut. iv. 15)—_i. e._, ye have nor seen

anything which you could represent by any form or likeness,—refer”

(Sohar 42 b, 43 a, Sec. AB):—And this shows clearly enough that the

supposed sacred names of Scripture do not have reference to the

Impersonal First Cause, as its essential designations, but rather to

its creations. * * Then—“The creation, or the universe, is simply the

garment of God _woven from the Deity’s own substance_ (The Impersonal

manifesting in the cosmos, in modes to be expressed by the sacred names

and otherwise). For although, to reveal himself to us, the Concealed of

all the Concealed, sent forth the _Ten Emanations_ (the Ten Sephiroth)

called the Form of God, Form of the _Heavenly-Man_, yet since even

this luminous form was too dazzling for our vision, it had to assume

another form, or had to put on another garment which consists of the

_universe_. The universe, therefore, or the visible world, is a further

expansion of the Divine Substance, and is called in the Cabbalah, ‘_the

Garment of God_.’” (Sohar i, 2 a)—“The whole universe, however, was

incomplete, and did not receive its finishing stroke till _man_ was

formed, who is the _acme of the creation_, and the macrocosm uniting

in himself the totality of beings,—‘the heavenly Adam,’ _i. e._, the

Ten Sephiroth, who emanated from the highest primordial obscurity

(The Impersonal First Cause), created the _earthly Adam_.” (Sohar

ii, 70 b). This is more definitely expressed in another place, where

it says:—“Jehovah (for which stands the letter _jod_, or _j or i_)

descended on Sinai _in fire_,” the word for which is _a-sh_ fire. Let

the _j, or i_, the signature for Jehovah, descend in the midst of

this word, and one will have _a i sh_, which is the Hebrew word for

_man_ man; thus _man_ became out of the _Divine fire_——“Man is both

the import and the highest degree of creation, for which reason he was

formed on the sixth day. As soon as man was created every thing was

complete, including the upper and nether world, for every thing _is

comprised in man_. He unites in himself all forms.” (Sohar iii, 48

a)—“But after he created the form of the Heavenly Man, he used it as a

chariot (Mercabah) (wheels, circles) wherein to descend, and wishes to

be called by this form, which is the sacred name Jehovah.” (Sohar i, 42

b, 43 a, section AB.)

It is to be observed especially, as to the ground work of the

Cabbalah, that the first manifestation was in the “_Ten Sephiroth_,”

or Emanations, so called, out of which came the “_Heavenly Man_”; and

the human or earth man represented these Ten Sephiroth in himself. “The

lower world is made after the pattern of the upper world; everything

which exists in the upper world is to be found as it were in a copy on

earth; still the whole is one.” (Sohar i, 20 a.)

Thus it is that the compass of the Cabbalah, by Sohar, is idealized in

the form of a _man_. This man represented the combination of the Ten

Sephiroth, or, as systematically called, _Emanations_, in which as a

unity the whole cosmos existed in its segregated detail; and through

which all knowledge thereof, physically, psychically and spiritually,

was to be had, in passiveness and in activities;—and through which

these activities, as of all potencies—as of angels and powers,—had

their special existences. These Emanations had names of qualities, as

Beauty, Strength, Wisdom, etc., etc., each name being located upon

one of nine parts marked out on the form of the man; each of which

was called a _Sephira_. The totality of the man being taken as _one_,

this added to the nine made ten; and as a number this was the letter

_jod_, already spoken of. The locations of these Sephiroth (shown as

circles) are united one with another, so that one Emanation may flow

into another; one into all, and all into one;—and the 22 letters of

the alphabet with the 10 vowel sounds, are found therein, or thereby;

and these are called the “_thirty-two ways or canals of Wisdom_”; and

as these letters stood also for numbers, there is in this containment

every possible mode of expression _by word and number_. The exposition

of the Old Testament, especially the Thora, in the secret or esoteric

way, is claimed under this statement;—that is, by numbering the letters

of words, and by their permutations and changes of positions; so that

this is one of the functions of the Emanations or Sephiroth; and a

mighty one for disclosing the Wisdom of God.

The Book Jetzirah deals especially with these letters and numbers: “_By

thirty-two paths of secret wisdom_, the Eternal, the Lord of Hosts, the

God of Israel, the living God, the King of the Universe, the Merciful

and Gracious, the High and Exalted God, He who inhabiteth eternity,

Glorious and Holy is His name, hath created the world by means of

numbers, phonetic language and writing.”

The Commentary on the Ten Sephiroth, by R. Azariel Ben Menachem, as its

name implies, is directly in consonance with the Sohar.

As to the Book Jetzirah, Dr. Ginsburg says: “The _Book Jetzirah_, which

the Cabbalists claim is their oldest document, has really nothing

in common with the cardinal doctrines of the Cabbalah. There is not

a word in it bearing on the En Soph (Impersonal First Cause), the

Archetypal Man,” and so on, and so on. But here the doctor is at fault

for this reason:—The word “_Sephiroth_” means “_Numbers_,” and the _Ten

Sephiroth_ means the Ten Numbers; and in the Cabbalistic way these are

composed out of a geometrical shape. The circle is the first _naught_,

but out of this naught develops a straight vertical line, viz: the

diameter of this circle. This is the first _One_; and having a first

one, from it comes 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 and 8 and 9,—the

circle or naught and its diameter one, the embracement of all together,

forming the comprehensive _Ten_, or Ten Numbers, Ten Sephiroth, Ten

Emanations, the Heavenly Man, the great Jah, of the ineffable name.

Hence the contents of the book Jetzirah are of the very essence of the

other two, and all are one.

SUFISM,

OR THEOSOPHY FROM THE STANDPOINT OF MOHAMMEDANISM.

_A Chapter from a MS. work designed as a text book for Students in

Mysticism._

BY C. H. A. BJERREGAARD, _Stud. Theos._

In Two Parts:—Part I, Texts; Part II, Symbols.

The spirit of Sufism is best expressed in the couplet of Katebi:

“Last night a nightingale sung his song, perched on a high cypress,

when the rose, on hearing his plaintive warbling, shed tears in the

garden, soft as the dews of heaven.”

(CONTINUED.)

NOTES ON _JELALUDDIN RUMI_—Continued:

—Space forbids us to dwell any longer upon the miracles of this

wonderful man of whom _Shems Tebreez_ once asserted, in Jelal’s

College, that “whosoever wished to see again the prophets, had only

to look on Jelal, who possessed all their qualifications; more

especially of those to whom revelations were made, whether by angelic

communications, or whether in visions; the chief of such qualities

being serenity of mind with perfect inward confidence and consciousness

of being one of God’s elect. Go and look upon Jelal, if thou wish to

comprehend the signification of that saying ‘_the learned are the heirs

of the prophets_,’ together with something beyond that, which I will

not here specify.”

We must add a few passages from Jelal’s lectures, &c. These were his

last instructions, “_the best of mankind is he who benefiteth men_”

and, “_the best of speech is that which is short and to the purpose_.”

Jelal once at a funeral spoke thus: “The ordinary reciters, by their

services, bear witness that the deceased lived a Muslim. My singers,

however, testify that he was a Muslim, a believer, and a lover of

God.” He added: “Besides that; when the human spirit, after years of

imprisonment in the cage and dungeon of the body, is at length set

free, and wings its flight to the source whence it came, is not this

an occasion for rejoicings, thanks, and dancings? The soul in ecstacy,

soars to the presence of the Eternal; and stirs up others to make

proof of courage and self sacrifice. If a prisoner be released from a

dungeon and be clothed with honour, who would doubt that rejoicings are

proper? So, too, the death of a saint is an exactly parallel case.”

Once, when requested to give a lecture to men of science, he answered:

“A tree laden with fruit, had its branches bowed down to the earth

therewith. At the time, doubts and gainsayings prevented the gardeners

from gathering and enjoying the fruit. The tree has now raised its head

to the skies, and beyond. Can they hope, then, to pluck and eat of its

fruit?”—

Jelal’s chief work, and the reference-book of Sufism, is the _Mesnevi_

(_Mathnawi_) usually known as the _Mesneviyi Sherif, or Holy Mesnevi_.

It is truly one of the most famous books of the East, studied and

commented upon wherever dogmatic religion has been abandoned for

esoteric truth.

From the preface we quote the following:

“This is the book of the Rhymed Couplets (Mathnawi, Mesnevi). It

contains the roots of the roots of the roots of the one (one true)

Religion (of Islam); and treats of the discovery of the mysteries of

reunion and sure knowledge. It is the Grand Jurisprudence of God, the

most glorious Law of the Deity, the most manifest Evidence of the

Divine Being. The refulgence thereof “is like that of a lantern in

which is a lamp”[92] that scatters beams more bright than the morn. It

is the paradise of the heart, with springs and foliage. One of these

springs is “the fount named Salsabil”[93] by the brethren of this

religious order;[94] but, by saints and those miraculously endowed, it

is called “the Good Station,”[95] and “the Best Resting place.”[96]

The just shall eat and drink therein, and the righteous shall rejoice

and be glad thereof. Like the Egyptian Nile, it is a beverage for the

patient, but a delusion to the people of Pharaoh and to blasphemers;

even as God, whose name be glorified, hath said: “He misleads therewith

many, and He guides therewith many; but He misleads not therewith

(any), save the wicked.”[97]

“It is a comfort to man’s breast, an expeller of cares. It is an

exposition of the Quran, an amplification of spiritual aliments, and

a dulcifier of the disposition; written “by the hands of honorable

scribes”[98] who inscribed theron the prohibition: “Let none touch it

save the purified.”[99] It is (a revelation) “sent down (from on high)

by the Lord of (all) the worlds,[100] which vanity approacheth not from

before, nor from behind,”[101] which God watches over and observes, He

being “the best of a Preserver,”[102] and “The Most Compassionate of

the merciful ones,”[103] unto whom pertain (many) titles, his utmost

title being God, whose name be exalted.”

Further on he says: “I have exerted myself to enlarge this book of

poetry in rhyming couplets, which contains strange and rare narratives,

beautiful sayings, and recondite indications, a path for the devout,

and a garden for the pious, short in its expressions, numerous in their

applications.”—

The Mesnevi is said to contain twenty-six thousand six hundred and

sixty couplets and a large part of them ought to be cited here, but

space forbids. We offer a few selections entirely at random.

The strength of strongest man can merely split a stone;

The Power that informs man’s soul can cleave the moon.

If man’s heart but untie the mouth of mystery’s sack,

His soul soon soars aloft beyond the starry track.

If heaven’s mystery divulged should, ‘haps become,

The whole world ‘twould burn up, as fire doth wood consume.—

Saints’ ecstacy springs from a glimpse of God, his pride.

His station’s that of intimate. He’s bridegroom; God is bride.

A bride’s veiled graces are not seen by groom alone;

Her unveiled charms solely to him in private shown.

In state she first appears before the people all;

Her veil removed, the groom alone is at her call.—

Who’s not received the gift of knowledge from above,

Will ne’er believe a stock could sigh and moan for love.

He may pretend to acquiesce; not from belief;

He says: “Tis so,” to scape a name much worse than thief.

All they who’re not convinced that God’s “Be” is enough,

Will turn away their face; this tale they’ll treat as “stuff.”

If he (man) from _esse_, reach not _posse’s_ state, he’s _nil_.—

(God) Himself He’s veiled in man, as sun behind a cloud.

This seek to comprehend. God knows what mysteries shroud.

The sun He is;—the sun of spirit, not of sky;

By light from Him man lives;—and angels eke, forby.—

The soul it is originates all vital force.—

The Prophet hath assureth us God’s the soul of all.—

The world’s renewed each moment, though we still remain

In ignorance that permanence can change sustain.

Life, like a river, ceaselessly, is still renewed.—

Each night Thou settest free the soul from trap of flesh,

To scan and learn the hidden records of Thy wish.

Each night the soul is like a bird from cage set free,

To wander. Judge and judgment, then, it does not see.

By night the pris’ner loses sense of bars, of chains;

By night the monarch knows no state, no pomp retains;

The merchant counts no more, in sleep, his gains and loss;

The prince and peasant, equal, on their couches toss.

The Gnostic is so e’en by day, when wide awake;

For God hath said: “Let quietude care of him take.”

Asleep to all the things of earth by night, by day,

As pen in writer’s hand he doth his guide obey.—

Of this, the Gnostic’s privilege, a trace’d suffice

To rob of sleep and reason vulgar souls of ice.

His spirit wanders in the groves of th’ absolute.

His soul is easy; body, still, calm, quiet, mute.—

In sleep thou bearest no burden; borne thou art, instead.

* * * * *

Know then, thy sleep’s a foretaste of what is to come,

From the rapt state of saints arriving at their home.

The saints were well prefigured by the “Sleeper’s Seven,”

“Their sleep,” “their stretchings,” “their awaking” lead to

heaven.—

Each night, in profound sleep our consciousness sinks,

Becomes non-existent;—waves on seashore’s brinks.—

The body’s a cage and a thorn to the soul.

Hence, seldom are body and soul wholly whole.—

Both men and fairies pris’ners are in earthly cage.—

If lifted could be from our souls the dark veil,

Each word of each soul would with miracles trail.—

The soul unto the flesh is joined, by God’s decree,

That it may be afflicted,—trials made to see.—

Th’ Infinites’ lovers finite’s worshippers are not

Who seek the finite lose th’ Infinite, as we wot,

When finite with the finite falls in love, perforce,

His loved one soon returns to her infinite source.—

In non-existence mirrored, being we may see;—

Annihilate thy darksome self,—thy being’s pall.

Let thy existence in God’s essence be enrolled,

As copper in alchemists’ bath is turned to gold.

Quit “I” and “We,” which o’er thy heart exert control.

’Tis egotism, estranged from God, that clogs thy soul.—

Discharge thyself of every particle of self;

So shalt thou see thyself pure, free from soil of pelf.

Within thy heart thou’lt see the wisdom of the saints,

Without a book, a teacher, or professor’s plaints.—

Thyself * * purge of self. Abstraction thou shalt gain.—

Both love and soul are occult, hidden and concealed.—

A lover’s whole life is but self-sacrifice;

He wins not a heart, save his own heart’s the price.—

When love for God is lighted in the human heart,

It fiercely burns; it suffers not effects’ dull smart;

—— love is love’s own sign, giv’n from the highest sphere.—

The heart’s with God,—the heart is God,—boundless, immense!

From all eternity, the figures of all things,

Unnumbered, multitudinous, gleam in hearts’ wings.

To all eternity each new-created form

In heart of saint reflected is, most multiform.—

Have patience, thou too, brother, with thy needle’s smart.

So shalt thou, ‘scape the sting of conscience in thy heart.

They who have conquered,—freed themselves from body’s thrall,

Are worshipped in the spheres, the sun, the moon, stars, all.

Whoever’s killed pride’s demon in his earthly frame,

The sun and clouds are slaves, to do his bidding, tame.

His heart can lessons give of flaming to the lamp;

The very sun not equals him in ardent vamp.—

The inward hymn that’s sung by all the hearts of saints

Commences: “O component parts of that thing _Not_.”

Now since they take their rise in this _Not_, negative,

They put aside the hollow phantom where we live.

Ideas and essences become “things” at His word.—

This world’s a negative; the positive seek thou.

All outward forms are cyphers; search, the sense to know.—

Mankind the songs of fairies never hear at all,

They are not versed in fairies’ ways, their voices small.—

“Allah, Allah!”[104] cried the sick man, racked with pain the long

night through;

Till with prayer his heart grew tender, till his lips like honey grew.

But at morning came the Tempter; said “Call louder, child of Pain!

See if Allah ever hear or answers ‘Here am I,’ again.”

Like a stab, the cruel cavil through his brain and pulses went;

To his heart an icy coldness, to his brain a darkness sent.

Then before him stands Elias; says, “My child, why thus dismayed?

Dost repent thy former fervor? Is thy soul of prayer afraid?”

“Ah!” he cried, “I’ve called so often; never heard the ‘Here am I;’

And I thought, God will not pity; will not turn on me his eye.”

Then the grave Elias answered, “God said, Rise, Elias, go

Speak to him, the sorely tempted; lift him from his gulf of woe.

Tell him that his very longing is itself an answering cry;

That his prayer, ‘Come, gracious Allah!’ is my answer ‘Here am I.’”

..When thy mind is dazed by colour’s magic round,

All colour’s lost in one bright light diffused around.

Those colours, too, all vanish from our view by night.

We learn from this, that colour’s only seen through light.

The sense of colour-seeing’s not from light distinct.

So, too, the sudden rainbow of our mind’s instinct.

From sunlight, and the like, all outer colours rise;

The inward tints that mark our minds, from God’s sunrise.

The light that lights the eye’s the light that’s in the heart.

Eye’s light is but derived from what illumes that part.

The light that lights the heart’s the light that comes of God,

Which lies beyond the reach of sense and reason, clod!

By night we have no light; no colour can we see.

Thus, light we learn by darkness, its converse. Agree!

A seeing of the light, perception is of tints;

And these distinguished are through darkness gloomy hints.

Our griefs and sorrows were by God first introduced,

That joy to sense apparent thence should be reduced

Occult things, thus, by converse, grow apparent, all.

Since God has no converse, apparent He can’t fall.

Sight first saw light, and then the colours saw,

From converse converse stands forth, as Frank from Negro.

By converse of the light, distinguish we the light;

A converse ‘tis that converse shows unto our sight.

The light of God no converse has in being’s bound;

By converse, then, man has not its distinction found.

Our eyes cannot distinguish God, decidedly;

Though He distinguish Moses and the Mount from thee.—

The doctrine, which Jelal was most emphatic about was the

extinguishment of Self, and his teachings are quite characteristic for

him, though the general doctrine is a common one among the Sufis. _He

argues for simplicity._ He tells us a story about a dispute between

Chinamen and Greeks before the Sultan, as to who is the more skilful of

the two nations, in the art of decoration. The Chinese ask for and get

thousands of colours and work hard, while the Greeks ask for no color;

they only polish their front,

“Effacing every hue with nicest care,”

and when the Sultan came to examine the relative merit of Chinese

gorgeousness and Greek simplicity,

“Down glides a sunbeam through the rifted clouds,

And, lo the colours of that rainbow house

Shine, all reflected on those glassy walls

That face them, rivalling: The sun hath painted

With lovelier blending, on that stony mirror

The colours spread by man so artfully.—

Know them, O friend! such Greeks the Sufis are,

Having one sole and simple task,—to make

Their hearts a stainless mirror for their God.—”

(_To be continued._)

THE SINGING SILENCES.

Theosophists may be interested in an experience which I have named

as above; “Singing”—because of a peculiar resonance which I then

hear; “Silences”—because this resonance only reaches me in moments of

retirement and silence.

Occurring throughout a lifetime, at infrequent and remote intervals,

they have, since I became a Theosophist, increased until they embrace

all isolated moments. They consist of a resonance difficult to

describe, but resembling the vibrant note of a distant locomotive,

resounding in the night atmosphere of a mountain gorge, and partaking

somewhat of that melodious wail caused by running the moistened finger

around the rim of a glass. Sometimes, though rarely, a low orchestral

harmony unites briefly with this monotone. Unable to find any word

which conveyed this cadence, I now discover that the word “_Aum_,”

(hitherto unknown to me,) does so exactly, the A sound being the

opening note, which prolongs itself into the M, or closing sound, when

the keynote is then struck over again. Thus the “Singing Silences”

mainly consist of innumerable repetitions of the word “Aum,” distinctly

and musically uttered, having a resonant or vibrant quality, and a

measured rise and fall, such as all sound assumes if one alternately

closes and uncloses the ear. If the analyst will alternately inhale air

with the mouth and expel it with the nostrils, he will gain a fair idea

of this sound minus its musical vibration.