The practical expounders and preachers of Sufism are the Dervishes,
the monks of Islam.
It must have become clear to our readers, that the sweet and peaceful
sentiments of the couplet of Katebi, placed as motto over our first
part, are the expressions of at least one side of the inner life of
Sufism. But, if we listen more closely, we shall hear the plaintive
note of the nightingale more distinct and perceive more readily the
gloom of the cypress; both of them, like the soul of man, bewail in
melancholy our disunion from Deity. That, too, is another side of
Sufism, which now has been illustrated, and we have given enough
quotations to show, that the highest aim of the Sufi is to attain
self-annihilation by losing his humanity in Deity.
So far the direct teachings as they lie on the surface of our
quotations. The grand undercurrents are the relations of The Universal
Self and The Individual Self. The expression “Self” has not been used,
but “God” and “Soul” because of the peculiarity of the exoteric forms
of current Mohammedan Theology, which the Sufi-Doctors find themselves
bound to observe.
We have yet to quote the Sufi poets Hafiz, Jami, Nizami, Attar and
others, but as their teachings are veiled under symbols, they naturally
find their place in this our second part, and shall be treated fully
toward the end. We will begin with the more ecstatic features of
practical Sufism, with the Dervishes, the Moslem saints, and thus
develop the _subjective_ forms of Sufism. We shall come to appreciate
the use of a ritualistic service and ascetic practices, when we see
these framed in close harmony with the laws of Nature and conductive to
Union with Self.
Where we use the phrase The Personal, our readers will understand it as
the _subjective_ equivalent for the objective “Self.”—
An historic study of the rise of Sufism out of original asceticism,
will afford us an excellent view of the evolution of Sufism itself as
well as of all other forms of Mysticism. Hence we must devote some
space to it.
It must undoubtedly be maintained that asceticism and monastic life are
entirely inconsistent with Mohammedanism, and in fact Mohammed himself
was far from anything like it, and constantly preached against it,
advocating an active life and an aggressive religion.
But neither Mohammed nor his followers could stem the tide of ascetic
influences from the East, from Buddhism; nor from the West, from
Christianity. These two religious systems had existed for centuries
and were both characterized by monastic institutions, and missionary
spirit. But, much deeper than these individual influences lies the
power of a new historic cycle beginning about a century after Mohammed,
just at the time we find the greatest number of Islam saints, with
a distinctive monastic cast. The era is characterized by a new
civilization in the West, and a consolidation of the Eastern conquests.
The Mohammedan power encircles Christendom and threatens to destroy
both Church and Christianity. In the East itself a terror of existence
befell the minds of men and has left the strongest impressions in the
writings of such men as Ata Salami and Hasan, &c.
Even in Mohammed’s lifetime an attempt was made to engraft the elements
of the contemplative life upon his doctrine. The facts are well known.
One evening, after some more vigorous declamations than usual on the
prophet’s part—he had taken for his theme the flames and tortures of
hell—several of his most zealous companions, among whom the names of
Omar, Ali, Abou-Dharr, and Abou-Horeirah are conspicuous, retired to
pass the night together in a neighbouring dwelling. Here they fell into
deep discourses on the terrors of divine justice, and the means to
appease or prevent its course. The conclusion they came to was nowise
unnatural. They agreed that to this end the surest way was to abandon
their wives, to pass their lives in continued fast and abstinence, to
wear hair-cloth, and practice other similar austerities: in a word,
they laid down for themselves a line of conduct truly ascetic, and
leading to whatever can follow in such a course. But they desired
first to secure the approbation of Mohammed. Accordingly, at break of
day, they presented themselves before him, to acquaint him with the
resolution of the night, as well as its motives and purport; but they
had reckoned without their host. The prophet rejected their proposition
with a sharp rebuke, and declared marriage and war to be far more
agreeable to the Divinity than any austereness of life or mortification
of the senses whatever, and the well known passage of the Quran: “O
true believers, do not abstain from the good things of the earth which
God permits you to enjoy,” revealed on this very occasion, remains a
lasting monument of Mohammed’s disgust at this premature outbreak of
ascetic feeling. This lesson and many others of a similar character,
for the time being, checked any and all appearance of declared forms of
asceticism, but could not prevent the ultimate triumph of the truer and
better parts of human nature. “Fate” would have it, that within his
own family, lie hidden the germs, destined in after ages, down to the
present day, and probably as long as Islam shall exist, to exert the
mightiest influence in the Mohammedan world.
_Ali_, Mohammed’s cousin, and Ali’s son _Hasan_, his grandson _Zein el
Abidin_, and after them _Djaufar es Sadik_, _Mousa el Kadhim_, _Ali er
Ridha_, and others of their race, were members of a family which became
the very backbone of asceticism. They were successively looked up to by
individual ascetics as the guides and instructors in word and deed of
self-denial and abnegation.
In the Menaqibu l Arafin (the Acts of the Adepts) it is related that
the Prophet one day recited to Ali in private the secrets and mysteries
of the “Brethren of Sincerity” enjoining him not to divulge them to
any of the uninitiated, so that they should not be betrayed; also, to
yield obedience to the rule of implicit submission. For forty days, Ali
kept the secret in his own sole breast, and bore therewith until he was
sick at heart. As his burden oppressed him and he could no more breathe
freely, he fled to the open wilderness, and there chanced upon a well.
He stooped, reached his head as far down into the well as he was able;
and then, one by one, he confided those mysteries to the bowels of
the earth. From the excess of his excitement, his mouth filled with
froth and foam. There he spat out into the water of the well, until he
had freed himself of the whole, and he felt relieved. After a certain
number of days, a single seed was observed to be growing in that
well. It waxed and shut up, until at length a youth, whose heart was
miraculously enlightened on the point, became aware of this growing
plant, cut it down, drilled holes in it, and began to play upon it
airs, similar to those now performed by the dervish lovers of God, as
he pastured his sheep in the neighbourhood. By degrees, the various
tribes of Arabs of the desert heard of this flute-playing of the
shepherd, and its fame spread abroad. The camels and the sheep of the
whole region would gather around him as he piped, ceasing to pasture
that they might listen. From all directions, the nomads flocked to hear
his strains, going into ecstasies with delight, weeping for joy and
pleasure, breaking forth in transports of gratification. The rumor at
length reached the ears of the Prophet, who gave orders for the piper
to be brought before him. When he began to play in the sacred presence,
all the holy disciples of God’s messenger were moved to tears and
transports, bursting forth with shouts and exclamations of pure bliss,
and losing all consciousness. The Prophet declared that the notes of
the shepherd’s flute were the inspiration of the holy mysteries he had
confided in private to Ali’s charge.
Thus it is that, until a man acquires the sincere devotion of the
linnet-voiced flute-reed, he cannot hear the mysteries of “The
Brethren of Sincerity” in its dulcet notes, or realize the delights
thereof; for “faith is altogether a yearning of the heart, and a
gratification of the spiritual sense.”
In regard to “The Brethren of Sincerity” mentioned above it can be said
that the Mohammedans in the East know perfectly well that there exists
on earth, among the initiated, a secret hierarchy which governs the
whole human race, infidels as well as believers, but that their power
is often exercised in such a manner that the subjects influenced by it
know not from what person or persons its effects proceed.
In this hierarchy the supreme dignity is vested in the _Khidr_. This is
a man indeed, but one far elevated above ordinary human nature by his
transcendent privileges. Admitted to the Divine Vision, and possessed
in consequence of a relative omnipotence and omniscience on earth;
visible and invisible at pleasure; freed from the bonds of space and
time; by his ubiquitous and immortal powers appearing in various forms
on earth to uphold the cause of truth; then concealed awhile from men;
known in various ages as Seth, as Enoch, as Elias, and yet to come at
the end of time as the Mahdi; this wonderful being is the centre, the
prop, the ruler, the mediator of men of ascetic habits and retirement,
and as such he is honoured with the name of _Kothb_, or axis, as being
the spiritual pole round which and on which all move or are upheld.
Under him are the _Aulia_, or intimate friends of God, seventy-two
in number (some say twenty-four), holy men living on earth, who are
admitted by the Kothb to his intimate familiarity, and who are to the
rest the sources of all doctrine, authority, and sanctity. Among these
again one, pre-eminent above the rest, is qualified by the vicarious
title of _Kothb-ez-zaman_, or axis of his age, and is regarded as the
visible depositary of the knowledge and power of the supreme Kothb—who
is often named, for distinction’s sake, _Kothb el-Akthab_, or axis
of the axes—and his constant representative amongst men. But as this
important election and consequent delegation of power is invisible
and hidden from the greater number even of the devotees themselves,
and neither the Kothb-ez-zaman nor the Aulia carry any outward or
distinctive sign of dignity and authority, it can only be manifested
by its effects, and thus known by degrees to the outer world, and even
then rather as a conjecture than as a positive certainty.
On the authority of the famous saint of Bagdad, Aboo-Bekr el Kettanée,
E. W. Lane[118] states that the orders under the rule of this chief are
called _Omud_ (or Owtad), _Akhyar_, _Abdal_, _Nujaba_, and _Nukaba_,
naming them according to their precedence, and remarks that perhaps
to these should be added an inferior order called _Ashab ed-Darak_,
that is “Watchmen” or “Overseers.” The Nukaba are three hundred and
reside in El-Gharb (Northern Africa to the West of Egypt); the Nujaba
are seventy and reside in Egypt; the Abdal are forty and are found in
Syria; the Akhyar are seven and travel about the earth; the Omud are
four and stand in the corners of the earth. The members are not known
as such to their inferior unenlightened fellow-creatures, and are often
invisible to them. This is most frequently the case with the Kothb,
who, though generally stationed at Mekka, on the roof of the Kaaba, is
never visible there, nor at any of his other favorite stations, yet his
voice is often heard at these places.
Let us add that their great power is supposed to be obtained by
self-denial, implicit reliance upon God, from good genii and by the
knowledge and utterance of “the most great name.”
_Eflaki_, the historian, has given us the links of a spiritual series,
through whom the mysteries of the dervish doctrines were handed down to
and in the line of Jelaludin er Rumi.
Ali communicated the mysteries to the Imam Hasan of Bara, who died
A. D. 728. Hasan taught them to Habib, the Persian († A. D. 724) who
confided them to Dawud of the tribe Tayyi († A. D. 781) who transmitted
them to Maruf of Kerkh († A. D. 818); he to Sirri († A. D. 867)
and he to the great Juneyd († A. D. 909). Juneyd’s spiritual pupil
Shibli († A. D. 945) taught Abu-Amr Muhammed, son of Ilahim Zajjaj
(† A. D. 959) and his pupil was Abu-Bekr, son of Abdu-llah of Tus,
who taught Abu-Ahmed Muhammed, son of Muhammed Al-Gazzali († A.D.
1111), and he committed those mysteries to Ahmed el-Khatibi, Jelal’s
great-grandfather, who consigned them to the Imam Sarakhsi († A. D.
1175). Sarakhsi was the spiritual teacher of Jelal’s father Baha
Veled, who taught the Sayyid Burhanu-d-Diu Termizi, the instructor of
Jelal.—We shall now proceed with the history.
(_To be continued._)
Please note the following correction of previous article: Footnote,
page 143, August No. of the PATH, should read “Free translation by J.
Freeman Clarke.”
RETICENCE OF MAHATMAS AND EVOLUTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL.
Members of the Theosophical Society and the general public have alike
manifested a wide divergence of opinion both as regards the fundamental
aim of the Society, and its adaptation to individual cases. To get
a right view of these points, it is first absolutely necessary that
the Society should be considered as a whole, and to remember that
like every movement in the physical or spiritual world, it must be
governed by the great law of Evolution. This is its primal Cause, and
the evolution of the individual its primary work. It is not, as its
history shows, an ephemeral institution, to last for a given period,
like a hospital, or a society to benefit animals, or poor children,
or fallen women. It is a spoke of the universal wheel of Evolution.
When the world contained a body of persons sufficiently developed
on the spiritual plane, they naturally formed a nucleus, from which
rays presently diverged to various parts of the globe. Stimulating
centres of energy which are constantly expanding through the individual
efforts of their members. What is true of the whole body is true also
of its component parts, and each individual, in mental capacity and
psychical conditions is precisely what his previous experience, or his
evolutionary ratio entitles him to be. Only by means of ever increasing
effort on his own part, can he invigorate these powers.
In founding the Theosophical Society, it was hoped that the united
labors of all for each and of each for all, might result in so much
enlightenment and expansion of individuals as the friction of many
minds, all directed to one issue, should through the correlation of
moral forces afford. Hence the Society was based upon the idea of
Universal Brotherhood.
There are at present two classes of persons who misinterpret this aim
of the Society. The first class is variously composed of,—(_A_) those
persons who suppose the Society to be solely devoted to a large phase
of the subject, such as the progressive development of the entire
body of the present race, or to the united interests of great masses
of people, leaving the individual altogether alone in the uphill path
of his own spiritual development. (_B_) Various persons in different
parts of the world who have seen fit, coincidently with giving in
their adherence to the idea of Universal Brotherhood, to ridicule it
as “a mere sham” or “a pure formula” or “an utopian impossibility:”
the wavering incredulity of every such person arises no doubt from
individual or constitutional peculiarity. (_C_) Such as suppose this
basic idea to be an elastic declaration which may always be used
as a shield to ward off the unpopular or chaffing accusation of an
interest in Mysticism. (_D_) Those who base their denial of universal
brotherhood upon the very sensible rule requiring applicants for
initiation to have endorsement from active fellows of the Society. “If
you make distinctions you are not universal,” is the cry of these last.
All the above persons will sooner or later discover that the Society
as a whole progresses through the spiritual advancement of individual
members. If the individual retrogrades, the common welfare is minus
so much; if he progresses, it is plus so much, and when many rise all
are presently lifted as by specific gravity, into a higher plane.
For this reason not only the exoteric and much slandered founders of
the Society, but also the hidden and real founders have always given
much of their time and thought to individuals. At the same time they
have unceasingly insisted upon the necessity for individual efforts,
that each member might develop himself. This is the true meaning of
Evolution. It is not the expansion of the man by means of an external
force acting upon inert tissue, but an impulse from within outward and
upward, enhanced by the cumulative effect of previous impulses, and
further assisted by such favoring environment as his condition may
permit him to assimilate.
It is in this final respect that the second class under consideration
have erred. They demand greater extraneous aid for the individual.
Such persons, having joined the Society and asserted their belief in
the existence of Mahatmas, or Adepts, or highly advanced human beings,
have after a time uttered complaints because they had no personal
communications from these Great Beings, while they feel such attentions
to be their due. These persons have said,—“We have declared our belief
in these wise and holy Men; we have joined the Society, but we have
not been favored with any proofs directly from them.” Such persons
require a letter under seal, projected in a phenomenal manner through
the air or otherwise. Nothing short of this will satisfy them, and if
they do not get it, they are likely to leave the fold of the Society,
as they themselves intimate. Their complaint, in general terms, is
that the Mahatmas are reticent, altogether too reticent to suit their
requirements. They say that it is declared that certain other persons
have received such evidence in the shape of letters, and they cite
Messrs. Sinnett, Olcott, Damodar, Hume, Madame Blavatsky and several
Hindus as the favored recipients. The complainants then state that
their aspirations, their need, their merit, equal that of these
persons, that they are, to put it roughly, “every bit as good.” Some
who do not say as much, think it, and a general outcry arises of,—“Why
do we not get such letters as proofs? Are we not justified in ascribing
undue reticence to the Mahatmas?” When in addition it is said that
some others have seen the Mahatmas, or heard their voices and received
gifts from them, the injured ones reiterate the complaint,—“Why are
the Mahatmas so reticent?” This attitude has finally become that of
the press and the public at large, so that the question presents
itself,—“Are the Mahatmas unduly reticent?”
The solution of this question is bound up in the subject of the
“Evolution of the Individual.” As regards the general evolution,
the Mahatmas cannot be thus accused, for had we their knowledge of
the whole, so as to be able to feel and know what all minerals,
plants, animals and men feel collectively, we should see that in this
department Mahatmas are never accused even in thought of withholding
either knowledge, favor or blessing. The whole moves by law (which law
includes the Mahatmas themselves), and as a whole recognises this law
and knows no possible departure from it.
As heretofore stated, the work of the Theosophical Society lies within
the department of individual evolution, and just as its sphere may
only be enlarged through the constant labors of its members, so every
individual follows the same law, _will he, nil he_. The Mahatmas are
not reticent. They can justly be no more than the favoring environment
to the individual soul. They give to each human well just the water it
can hold; to overflow it would be waste. It has been well said that
the human mind, like the atmosphere, has its saturation point. To
realise when we have reached this point is the first step on the path
of self-knowledge: to strive to expand our boundaries by incessant
study and observation, carries us leagues further on our way. Those
who journey thus have neither time nor desire for complaint. We enter
into this life through our parents, subject to law. From one mystery
we pass, ignorant of the future, into another mystery: lessons are
learned in each. So is the soul born into the higher life and becomes
by degrees acquainted with its mysteries. Through each order of life
runs the law of natural selection. “A man is a method, a progressive
arrangement, a selecting principle,” says Emerson. As the man chooses
the friends and the pursuits best adapted to him, so by the law of
spiritual dynamics is the soul attracted to just such food as it can
assimilate, to the influences necessary to its present development.
If the individual mind fails to grasp this idea and to see that we
ourselves, (and not the Mahatmas,) create our own possibilities, how
far less fitted is it to profit usefully by the very opportunities it
demands. The gratification of curiosity, the quickening of interest in
personalities or phenomena as such, are not growths of the soul, nor
can they advance the evolution of the individual. The Mahatmas do not
withhold us from Truth, but we ourselves. When we come to be a part of
it, we shall know it: when we come to live in its laws, who can shut us
away from it? The upright heart cries,—“Mine is mine, if the universe
deny me, and not all the Mahatmas combined can convey to me one truth
in which I am not ready to dwell. The Spirit communicates itself; the
Masters but interpret the vision, as soothsayers the dreams of Kings.
I am a king when the Spirit exalts me, made so by the super-royal act.
I will not covet borrowed robes, nor whine as a beggar for charities,
but wait until I am come into mine own estate. Then the Wise Ones will
teach me how to rule it.” The heart that chooses in truth this noble
part, has felt already the quickening touch of the Divine. Like Jove of
old, it bids the earth-bound waggoner abate his cries, and put first
his own shoulder to the wheel.
Let complainants therefore reflect how ignorant they are of their own
capacity to understand psychological data, and how necessary it is that
they should first develop themselves in that direction. A ray of light
may shoot by us unseen and unknown, to be lost in the further space,
for want of the timely interposition of a reflective surface. Or it may
stream directly into the eye, and even so may still be lost, should
the eye lack the power to receive the impression. Thus an attempt at
direct communication or illumination may be and often is frustrated for
lack of the perceptive eye and soul. Shall we expect to receive these
at other hands, as by a miracle, when we know well that we never fully
profit by any experience which we have not lived out for ourselves. Who
amongst us has not seen a child reject with impatience the teachings of
his elders, and presently return home brimful of wonder and dogmatism
over the very same fact which some companion had knocked into him? The
strong soul must be self delivered. Amongst our number there are indeed
those who have the spiritual eye in part, and the Mahatmas, desirous to
arouse it more fully, now and then project a beam of wisdom which the
eye fails to receive and it passes on to those who are better fitted to
absorb it. “No man can learn what he has not preparation for learning,
however near to his eye is the object. A chemist may tell his most
precious secrets to a carpenter, and he shall never be the wiser,—the
secret he would not utter to a chemist for an estate. God screens us
evermore from premature ideas. Our eyes are holden that we cannot see
things that stare us in the face, until the hour arrives when the mind
is ripened; then we behold them, and the time when we saw them not is
like a dream.”[119]
Let us then press forward to this harvest time, neither asking for
help, nor doubting that it is at hand though unseen, and remembering
above all that what we consider reticence, or silence on the part of
the Mahatmas, is often but a higher order of speech which we do not as
yet understand, and to whose golden accents untiring endeavor alone can
give the key.
JULIUS.
CORRESPONDENCE.
HARTFORD, Aug., 1886.
TO THE PATH,
DEAR FRIEND:—I like the PATH much. I have noted many articles that I am
anxious to get time to read at my leisure. They are full of the meat
that satisfieth the soul. How this on-coming wave from esoteric and
mystic sources has rushed upon us within the past few years! ‘Tis a
veritable ground-swell, and it seems to stretch out to all shores, and
its sources are from Infinity itself. Surely, that that we need, does
come to us at the right time. The demands of the soul imply that the
requisite supply is somewhere in existence. The glass of sparkling cold
water tendered by Emerson to Frederika Bremer at the crystal spring at
which they halted by the road-side, is symbolic of the wants of the
spiritual nature. Her comments upon it, are in the line of thought I
have touched upon:
“A glass of water! How much may be comprised in this gift! Why this
should become significant to me on this occasion, I cannot say; but
so it was. I have silently within myself combated with Emerson from
the first time that I became acquainted with him. I have questioned
in what consisted this power of the spirit over me, while I so much
disapproved of his mode of thinking. In what consisted his mysterious,
magical power,—that invigorating, refreshing influence which I always
experience in his writings, or in intercourse with him? This cordial
draught of clear water from the spring, given by his hand, I understood
it. It is precisely this crystal, pure, fresh cold water in his
individual character, in his writings, which has refreshed, and will
again and yet again refresh me. I have opposed Emerson in thought with
myself. * * * But in long years to come, and when I am far from here
in my own native land, and when I am old and gray,—yes, always, always
will moments recur when I shall yearn toward Waldo Emerson, and long to
receive from his hand that draught of fresh water.”
Emerson drew from invisible sources, and Miss Bremer’s fine tribute is
all the stronger because it comes in spite of orthodox prejudice. But
I have turned off into an unexpected “path,” and my time is up, and I
must end abruptly, as usual.
Yours fraternally,
F. E.
* * * * *
MARSEILLES, Aug., 1886.
EDITOR OF THE PATH,
DEAR SIR AND BROTHER:—It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the
receipt of your valuable magazine.
I cannot but admire the great abilities and learning of its
contributors, and I trust and hope that a complete success will repay
you for your endeavors after the improvement of our poor and misguided
humanity, and the glorification of the Truth.
Yours fraternally,
BARON J. SPEDALIERI, F. T. S.
REVIEWS AND NOTES.
THE OPTIMISM OF EMERSON.—By Wm. F. Dana. (_Cupples, Upham & Co.,
Boston, 1886._) Price 50 c. cloth. For sale by Brentano, Union Square,
New York.
The author seeks to account for the optimism of Emerson by his
“cheerful disposition,” and for his influence in literature by the
action of that cheerfulness upon “an age of intellectual gloom” due to
“England, France, Germany and Italy, having taken a despairing view
of life.” The cause of nineteenth century pessimism Mr. Dana sums up
thus: “The root of our difficulties is the fact that we have lost faith
in a revealed religion. We do not believe the Bible to be an inspired
book, hence, we have to form a religion by ourselves out of the
material within us and about us. It has seemed impossible to us, unless
we abandoned our reason, to believe, that what appear to us _good
and evil_ could be _all good_.” Mr. Dana, though evidently a sincere
admirer of Emerson, confesses that he gave the world no new revelation,
either in religion or philosophy, and he compares his influence to the
moonlight, rather than the sunlight. But if Emerson left the mystery of
life unsolved, he influenced men’s emotional nature for good by reason
of the cheerful, hopeful tone of his own mind, which, by setting up
sympathetic vibrations in the hearts of others, gave them a renewed
assurance that “the sun is shining behind the clouds,” and that
apparent evil is but real good in disguise.
* * * * *
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION.—A series of articles on the “Philosophy of
Religion from the Standpoint of the Mystics,” prepared by C. H. A.
Bjerregaard of the Astor Library, will be published forthwith, in the
_Religio Philosophical Journal_.
* * * * *
THE SONG CELESTIAL OR BAGAVAD-GITA, tr. from the Sanscrit by Edwin
Arnold, M. A. (_Roberts Brothers, Boston._) Cloth $1.00. This is a
poetical rendering by a master hand, of the greatest of books, and
by many will be more easily understood than the present extant prose
editions of Wilkins, Thomson, and others. But its power and beauty
depend upon the inherent qualities of the poem, and an indifferent
hand at the work could not spoil it: how much more it will be for its
readers, under the touch of Mr. Arnold, is easy to see, for he is a
scholar, a philosopher, and a true singer. So much exoterically.
But this is in every sense an esoteric poem, and as usual, an
interpreter who knows nothing of the secret doctrine, has not succeeded
in opening the lock of this great treasure box. Following all his
predecessors, Mr. Arnold opens with the old old error of ranging the
people of King Dhritirashtra upon the plain of Kurukshetra in battle
with the Pandavas, and utterly fails to translate this name of a
plain. Here is the key. This plain is the human body and is _not_
a field in the centre of India; and the king himself is material
existence possessing a _thirst_ for life. Proceeding with the details
of the generals and chiefs engaged, our poet simply gives their names
untranslated, whereas each name is a power, quality or manifestation of
the mental or spiritual man. Bhishma and Bhima of all, are untouched.
Ignorance as to the use and intention of these names is due very much
to the indifference of the Hindus who, while knowing well the errors
committed, have not raised a finger.
Mr. Arnold’s translation is very beautiful and inspiring, and is to our
knowledge, in the hands of many Theosophists.
* * * * *
THE SECRET OF DEATH, from the Sanscrit, and other poems, by Edwin
Arnold, M. A. (_Roberts Brothers, Boston._) Cloth $1.00. 45 pages
are taken up by the “Secret of Death,” and scattered through the 252
pages are, here and there, other short pieces from Sanscrit. The first
poem is a practical rendering of the episode in the Katha Upanishad
where Nachiketas is devoted to Yama, the god of death, and learns high
knowledge from him. The other Indian songs are: Rajah’s Ride, Bihari
Mill song, Funeral song, Serpent Charmer’s song, Flour Mill song and a
short discourse of Buddha held at Rajagriha, cast in the same mould as
“The Light of Asia.”
* * * * *
INDIA REVISITED.—By Edwin Arnold, M. A. C. S. I. (_Roberts Brothers,
Boston, 1886._) Cloth $2.00, illustrated. This is Mr. Arnold’s account
of his revisiting India after the lapse of some years. In prose he is
as clear as he is enchanting in poetry. The illustrations are from
photographs and lend a charm to the book. The reader’s interest is held
to the last chapter; and fair justice is done to “his India,” which is
not generally the method pursued by Englishmen who detail their travels
in the mysterious land. On returning, his adieu declares that lakhs of
true friends are left there among Hindus, and his heart roves from hut
to hut, whispering “he knows and loves.”
* * * * *
DOGMA AND RITUAL OF HIGH MAGISM.—By Eliphas Lévi, translated by a
fellow of the Theosophical Society, is now in hand for publication as
soon as may be convenient. It will be issued in two volumes, about 600
pages, and put at as low a price as possible, $5.00. THE PATH has taken
charge of the issuing of the book, and will receive subscriptions for
it. All the illustrations in the French edition will be reproduced.
* * * * *
A FALLEN IDOL.—By F. Anstey. This is a novel devoted to a plot in which
_Theosophy_, _Chelas_, _astral bodies_, _currents_, and what not,
figure on every page. It tells of the power and wanderings, the evil
deeds and influence of a strong bad man’s shell, attached to an eastern
idol. There is a German _Chela_ included, and also a fraudulent message.
THEOSOPHICAL ACTIVITIES.
THE AMERICAN THEOSOPHICAL COUNCIL.—In the July _Theosophist_, it
was announced that the General Council had resolved to organize
the American Branches upon a better and more permanent basis, than
previously existed, and that instructions to postpone the Board of
Control meeting had been sent.
The formal orders have arrived, and are in brief, that all the
Branches here are to be formed into the American Council, which is
to be the Western Section of the General Council, but subordinate to
it, whereupon the Board of Control goes out of existence; all Branch
presidents and the present members of the Board of Control are to
be _ex-officio_ members of this Council which the orders direct to
be formed on call of the Board of Control as soon as possible after
receipt of advices. Other members of the Council, to be selected from
the whole body of American Theosophists, may be elected, and the
Council is to meet in time to forward reports to the regular Council at
Adyar in December.
This action is eminently wise, as the term _Board of Control_ was
misleading, inasmuch as the very foundation of the Society is
democratic in its nature, and _control_ savored to much of form,
ceremonies, discipline, officers, secret reports and all the
paraphernalia of an established church.
In all other respects the routine is unchanged by the orders. With 14
Branches and others contemplated, these great United States ought to
stand in fair way of being soon theosophized.
* * * * *
MALDEN.—Members are working and studying. They enjoy advantages in
having a few who thoroughly understand the subject.
NEW YORK.—The ARYAN THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY meets regularly. Not many open
meetings have occurred in August or July, but frequent private ones
have been held, and the members are deeply in earnest. The library has
received several additions, and the books are regularly used by members.
* * * * *
RUMORS—are afloat that some very learned and distinguished theosophists
from abroad will be here in the fall. If so—and we think our
information is reliable—the whole host of newspapers, critics, and
Conways, may expect to hear a few more final “last words on Theosophy.”
Gentlemen of the opposition! the cycle runs its course, the terrible
wheel of Karma turns round resistlessly, and you cannot stop it,
astonishing as may seem to you to be the senility of people in running
after Theosophy.
* * * * *
ROSICRUCIANS.—The Society of the R. C. is being revived in Germany it
is said, and theosophists are in it. Next month we will give a resumé
of some of their ideas.
* * * * *
“A knot of ignorance binds all men’s hearts; this, action looses and
God’s grace imparts.”—_Hindi verse._
“Study all Scriptures written, near or far;
Worship all images and saints of earth; But if you do not study who
you are, All your best actions are nothing worth.”—_Sanscrit verse._
OM!
FOOTNOTES:
[111] The emerald table is from the collection commencing with Le
Miroirs d’ Alquimie de Jean de Mehun, philosophe, tres—excellent.
Traduict de Latin on François, A Paris, 1613, pp. 36-39, to which is
also attached, the Petit Commentaire de L’Hortulain, philosophe, dict
des Jardins maritimes, sur la Table d’ Esmerande d’ Hermes Trismegiste
pp. 42-64.
[112] An ancient Hindu book full of tales as well as doctrines.—[ED.]
[113] These _flashes_ of thought are not unknown even in the scientific
world, as, where in such a moment of lunacy, it was revealed to an
English scientist, that there must be iron in the sun; and Edison gets
his ideas thus.—[ED.]
[114] The careful student will remember that Jacob Bœhme speaks of
the “harsh and bitter anguish of nature which is the principle that
produces bones and all corporification.” So here the master, it
appears, tells the fortunate chela, that in the spiritual and mental
world, anxiety, harsh and bitter, raises a veil before us and prevents
us from using our memory. He refers, it would seem, to the other memory
above the ordinary. The correctness and value of what was said in this,
must be admitted when we reflect that, after all, the whole process of
development is the process of _getting back the memory of the past_.
And that too is the teaching found in pure Buddhism as well also as in
its corrupted form.—[ED.]
[115] The mystic syllable OM.—[ED.]
[116] There is some reference here apparently to the Upanishad, for
they contain a teacher’s directions to break through all shrines until
the last one is reached.—[ED.]
[117] See _Bagavad-Gita_ where the whole poem turns upon the
conflict in this battle field, which is called the “sacred plain of
_Kurukshetra_” meaning, the “body which is acquired by Karma.”—[ED.]
[118] Arabian Soc. in the Middle Age.—D’Ohsson describing the Turkish
Dervishes gives another account.
[119] Emerson.
AUM
Every period of soul is measured by time. The period of other
souls indeed is measured by a certain time; but that of the first
soul, since it is measured by time, is measured by the whole of
time.—_Proklos’ Elements of Theology._
Time, like a seven-wheeled, seven-naved car, moves on; His rolling
wheels are all the worlds. His axle is immortality.—_Atharva Veda._
The moving finger writes, and having writ,
Moves on, nor all your piety and wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.—_The Rubaiyat._
THE PATH.
VOL. I. OCTOBER, 1886. NO. 7.
_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.
WHAT IS THE “THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY”?
AN OPINION IN REGARD TO WHAT IT OUGHT TO BE.
[BY A MEMBER.]
I am often asked by strangers who have heard some accounts of the
doings of the Theosophists: What is the Theosophical Society, and
what is its purpose? Some believe it to be a sect, in which no
opinion is suffered to exist unless it is first sanctioned by certain
“Headquarters” or “Boards of Control”; others believe it to be a school
for occultism and witchcraft; others think that it is a new form of
Buddhism, coming under some disguise to overthrow Christianity, while
some of those who do not belong to the Christian church suspect it of
being an effort to spread Christian doctrines among them by clothing
them in some new and more acceptable form. Nearly everyone of such
inquirers sees in the T. S. only a bug-bear, and there are all sorts of
opinions except the right one prevailing about it.
To all such objections I can only answer by showing to them the printed
“Rules of the Theosophical Society,” where under the head “Objects of
the Society,” it says: “_The Society represents no particular religious
creed, interferes with no man’s caste, is entirely unsectarian and
includes professors of all faiths._” This sounds so beautifully, that
people who have been accustomed all their life to cling to creeds and
dogmas and “recognized authorities” are unable to believe that it can
be true. Moreover the objectors have heard of “Boards of Control,”
of “Presidential Orders,” of “Official Organs,” etc., and all these
things have such an air of sectarianism, that they seem to be hardly
compatible with the spirit of freedom, so loudly proclaimed by the
T. S. It is asked: What has a “Board of Control” to control? Who
enforces obedience to presidential orders? Does the official organ
promulgate the dogmas of the sect; and if not, what then is the use of
these things? It seems therefore time that we should once more consider
what the T. S. is, or what it ought to be.
It must be plain to every lover of truth, that, however great the
progress may be, which modern civilization has made in regard to the
material and temporal welfare of man, the world is still far from
having attained physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual perfection.
Disease and crime, suffering and death, poverty, tyranny and ignorance
are still in existence, and although there are many organized bodies,
whose purpose it is to do good and to cure the ills of humanity,
still the majority of such bodies are hampered to a certain extent
by old beliefs, usages, creeds and superstitions, their activity is
not sufficiently free, because their opinions are not free; they may
benefit a certain class of humanity, but not all mankind; they know
perhaps a part of the truth, but not all of it; their charity extends
over a small circle, but not over the whole world. The root of all evil
is ignorance, with its children, superstition, fear, crime and disease;
the only remedy against ignorance is to spread the knowledge of truth.
There have been at all times men and societies, willing to spread _that
which they believe to be the truth_, by all means which were at their
command, whether fair or foul; there have been people ready to force
their opinions in regard to the truth upon others, by the power of
the sword, the faggot, the rack and the fire; but the truth cannot be
spread in this manner. Real knowledge of the good, the beautiful and
the true can only be attained by obtaining the knowledge of self, and
the knowledge of self must grow in every individual in the course of
his development. It can no more be implanted by others or be forced
upon another, than a tree be made to grow by pulling its trunk. The
object of the true Theosophist is therefore to attain self-knowledge,
and to employ the knowledge which he possesses, for the purpose of
accomplishing the greatest good.
There is perhaps not a single country upon the face of the earth,
in which may not be found a number of persons, who desire to obtain
self-knowledge, to find the truth by means of a free and unrestricted
investigation, and to employ their knowledge for the benefit of
humanity. There are persons who desire to see true progress in the
place of stagnation, knowledge in the place of accepted but still
dubious opinions, wisdom in the place of sophistry, universal love and
benevolence in the place of selfishness. Such men and women may be
found here and there, and each one acts in the way he considers the
best. Some work by means of the school, others by means of the pulpit;
some teach science, others influence the sense of the beautiful and
true by their works of art, others speak the powerful language of
music; but the most advanced of these give an example to others by
their own Christlike conduct in the affairs of every-day life.
The great majority of such persons, interested in the welfare of
humanity, live isolated although they may be residing in crowded
cities; for they find few who share their mode of feeling and thought
and who have identical objects in view. They are often living
in communities where little more but selfishness, the greed for
money-making or perhaps bigotry and superstition are found. They are
isolated and without the support of those who sympathize with their
ideas; for although one universal principle unites all those who have
the same object in view; still their persons are unknown to each other
and they seldom find means for mutual intercourse and exchange of
thought.
Now let us suppose that in each country a centre of communication were
to be established, by means of which such persons could come into
contact with each other, and that at each such centre a journal or
newspaper were to be established, by means of which such persons could
exchange their thoughts;—not a centre from which supreme wisdom was
to be dispensed and from whence dogmas were to be doled out for the
unthinking believers; but a centre through which the thought of the
members of the society could freely flow; and we could then have an
ideal “Theosophical Society.” Such a centre would resemble a central
telephone station to which all the different wires extend, and it would
require a trustworthy servant at the office to connect the wires and
to attend to the _external_ affairs connected with the affairs of the
office; but if such a “telephone operator” would attempt to interfere
with the messages running over the wires, and to assume an authority to
say what kinds of opinions should be wired and what messages should be
suppressed; if he were to assume the role of a dictator and permit only
such messages to pass over the wires as would be in harmony with his
own ideas; then the object of the centre of communication would come to
nought; we would again have papal dictates and presidential orders in
the place of liberty of thought and speech, and there would be an end
of the object and purpose of the society.
But on the other hand, if every unripe mind were to be permitted to
have his effusions printed at the expense of the society, and to teach
things, which perhaps a few months afterwards, having learned to
know better, he would be sorry to think that they had ever seen the
light, such a proceeding would throw discredit upon the society and be
moreover altogether impracticable.
Our “telephone operator” should therefore be a man possessed of the
greatest circumspection and discrimination, and while he should never
interfere with the expression of any opinion, no matter how much
opposed the latter may be to his own opinion, he should at the same
time be permitted to cut down the messages sent over his wires to
certain limits and to present them, if necessary, in a more suitable
form.
As regards the liberty of speech, it would be an absurdity if such a
society were to attempt to prescribe to any of its members what kind
of opinions or dogmas he should express; because whatever opinions
he may pronounce, they could never be regarded as being the opinions
of the society as a whole; for the society as such _“represents no
particular creed” and “is entirely unsectarian.”_ If in spite of this
solemn assertion anyone chooses to believe that the opinions publicly
expressed by a member of the society represent the creed of the
society, such an unfortunate circumstance can only be deplored, but
will do no serious harm. On the other hand if a “president” or “board
of control” should attempt to preside over more important things than
merely over the meetings of the members, and if a “board of control”
would attempt to control the conscience and the opinions of the
members, instead of merely exercising its control over the external
affairs of the society; and if an “official organ” would attempt to
postulate what ought and what ought not to be believed by the members
of the society, such a proceeding would be in direct opposition
to the spirit, the object and the purpose of that society, and in
contradiction to the principles upon which it was founded; and while it
should be the object of every lover of truth to assist the growth of a
true “Theosophical Society,” and to maintain its purity of principle,
it should also be his aim to suffocate in the germ everything that is
opposed to liberty and freedom of speech.
I beg every member of the Theosophical Society to well consider these
points, for upon their consideration and decision, depends the solution
of the question, whether the Theosophical Society shall end in a farce,
or whether it shall be the great movement which it was intended to be.
F. HARTMANN.
_Kemplen (Bavaria), Aug. 23, 1886._
APOLLONIUS AND THE MAHATMAS.
[READ BEFORE THE MALDEN BRANCH, T. S.]
The journey to India made by the great adept, Apollonius of Tyana, has
a special interest for us modern students of occultism. The story of
this journey, related in the life of Apollonius by Philostratus, has
been held by many to be a fable, and Mr. Tredwell, in his laudable
work, omits any account of it. To an earnest Theosophist, however,
the internal evidence of the narration is too strong to be resisted,
although it is told at third hand probably with the adornments which an
accomplished Greek author thought needful for the requisite grace of
style.
Apollonius may perhaps be said to have been the Master whose mission
was to set the temples in order for the departure of the glorious
classic era. Born in the same century as Jesus of Nazareth, nowhere did
the teachings of the two, so far as it appears, come into open contact,
although the fame of the former spread far and wide in Europe, Asia and
Africa during his lifetime. It is said, however, that although no creed
bears his name, his work in the world was nevertheless immense and his
teachings have, in many unperceived ways, influenced millions of human
beings down to the present day.
Apollonius was still a young man when he went to India, but even then
he was famous for his wisdom. He had been sent, as a boy of fourteen
years, to school in Tarsus by his wealthy father, but he did not like
the ways of that city and he was allowed to remove to Aegæ, also in
Sicily, where he studied the great philosophers and was specially drawn
to the teachings of Pythagoras. At the age of sixteen he fully adopted
the Pythagorean life and held firmly to it ever after, letting his
hair grow long, eating no flesh, and drinking no wine, and wearing no
clothing made of animal products. He took up his abode in the temple
of Asclepius, and thousands were attracted thither by the wisdom of
the wonderfully beautiful youth. Grown to manhood, he made a vow of
silence and spoke not a word for five years. Then for a time he taught
in Antioch. When asked how the wise man should treat questions of
learning, he replied: “Like the law-giver. For the law-giver must make
that, of whose truth he has convinced himself, into commandments for
the multitude.”
He now conceived the idea of a journey to India to meet the wise men
known as Brahmins and Hyrkanians. He afterwards told the Egyptian
Gymnosophists that his thoughts were directed to them in his youth, but
his teacher pointed out to him that in India lived the men who stood
nearest the source of wisdom, and from whom the Egyptians themselves
derived their light.
His seven disciples in Antioch had not the courage to undertake the
journey with him, and he departed with two of his family servants, “one
for writing rapidly and the other finely,” according to Philostratus.
At Ninus he was joined by Damis the Ninivite. This young Assyrian was
thenceforth his devoted disciple, accompanying him on all his many
journeys throughout his long career. It is to Damis that we chiefly owe
the detailed accounts of the doings of the Master thenceforward. We are
thereby enabled to see Apollonius in his daily life; in his various
deeds and actions, his familiar sayings recorded as he talks with his
faithful companion about the common sights and occurrences around them.
The picture is therefore exceptionally intimate, and the man himself
is brought near to us as well as his divine teachings. When Damis was
reproached for writing down such trifles about his master, and compared
with a dog devouring the crumbs from a table, he replied: “When the
gods are feasting they doubtless have servants who take care that no
crumbs of ambrosia are lost.”
A year and eight months were spent in Babylon, where King Bardanus,
who was a friend of wisdom, received Apollonius with great honors.
Considerable intercourse was had with the Magi; he learnt something of
them and also taught them something. Damis was forbidden to accompany
him in his visits to them, but he said that Apollonius visited them
at noon and at midnight. Once Damis asked “What are the Magi?” and
was answered, “They are indeed wise, but not in everything.” The King
became ill, and Apollonius spoke so much and so divinely about the soul
that the monarch said to those around: “Apollonius not only relieves me
of concern for the Kingdom, but also for Death.”
Apollonius, in departing, refused all gifts, but the King provided him
with camels and all things needful for the journey. When the King asked
what he would bring him from India he replied. “A joyful gift, O King!
For if intercourse with the men there makes me wiser, I shall come back
to thee better than I now am.”
Upon this the King embraced him and said: “May’st thou but come; for
this gift is great.”
They crossed what they called the Caucasus mountains, separating India
and Medea. May it not be that from this ancient designation we get
the name of the Caucasian race, rather than from what is now known as
the Caucasus? This would make the place of origin identical with that
commonly ascribed to the Aryans.
Crossing the Indus they soon came to Taxila, which they called the
capital of India. It is difficult to trace out their exact course, the
present names of most geographical features being quite different from
the designations given by Damis. It would probably require a thorough
Occultist to tell just what places they did visit. King Phraotes
was the ruler at Taxila, and in him Apollonius found an initiate.
The latter was struck with the modest simplicity of the monarch’s
surroundings on entering the palace, and inferred that he must be a
philosopher. The King told Apollonius the course which a youth took
who proposed to dedicate himself to the pursuit of Wisdom. When he had
reached his 18th year he had to cross the Hyphasis river to those men
who had attracted Apollonius to India. Beforehand, however, he had to
make his intention publicly known, in order that he might be restrained
in case he was not pure. To be pure one had to be without blemish in
respect to father and mother, and moreover with an upright ancestry for
three generations. If without fault in this respect the youth himself
was then examined as to whether he had a good memory, whether he was
naturally inclined to uprightness or would only have it appear so,
whether given to drink or gluttony, of boastful habits, evil or foolish
ways, whether obedient to father, mother and instructors, and finally
if he had made no evil use of the bloom of his youth. “Since wisdom
stands in great esteem here,” said the King, “and is honored by the
Indians, it is of great moment that those who seek to devote themselves
unto it should be carefully examined and made to undergo thousandfold
tests.”
B.
(_Concluded in November._)
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.
(CONTINUED.)