THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON
THE KING
IV.
THE HERMIT
WITH the seventh stage in the Mystical Progress of Frater P. we arrive at a
sudden and definite turning-poinjt.
During the last two years he had grown strong in the Magic of the West.
After having studied a host of mystical systems he had entered the Order of
the Golden Dawn, and it had been a nursery to him. In it he had learnt to
play with the elements and the elemental forces; but now having arrived at
years of adolescence, he put away childish things, and stepped out into the
world to teach himself what no school could teach him, --- the Arcanum that
pupil and master are one!
He had become a 6ø = 5ø, and it now rested with him, and him alone, to
climb yet another ridge of the Great Mountain and become a 7ø = 4ø, an
Exempt Adept in the Second Order, Master over the Ruach and King over the
Seven Worlds.
By destroying those who had usurped control of the Order of the Golden
Dawn, he not only broke a link with the darkening past, but forged so might an
one with the gleaming future, that soon he was destined to weld it to the all
encircling chain of the Great Brotherhood.
The Golden Dawn was now but a deserted derelict, mastless, rudderless, with
a name of opprobrium painted across its battered stern. P. however did not
abandon it to to cast himself helpless into the boiling waters of discontent,
but instead, he leapt on board that storm-devouring Argosy of Adepts which was
destined to bear him far beyond the crimsoning rays of {43} this dying dawn to
the mystic land where stood the Great Tree upon the topmost branches of which
hung the Golden Fleece.
Long was he destined to travel, past Lemnos and Samothrace, and through
Colchis and the city of AEea. There, as a second Jason, in the Temple of
Hecate, in the grove of Diana, under the cold rays of the Moon, was he to seal
that fearful pact, that pledge of fidelity to Medea, Mistress of Enchantments.
There was he to tame the two Bulls, whose feet were of brass, whose horns were
as crescent moons in the night, and whose nostrils belched forth mingling
columns of flame and of smoke. There was he to harness them to that plough
which is made of one great adamantine stone; and with it was he determined to
plough the two acres of ground which had never before been tilled by the hand
of man, and sow the white dragons' teeth, and slay the armed multitude, that
black army of unbalanced forces which obscures the light of the sun. And
then, finally, was he destined to slay with the Sword of Flaming Light that
ever watchful Serpent which writhes in silent Wisdom about the trunk of that
Tree upon which the Christ hangs crucified.
All these great deeds did he do, as we shall see. he tamed the bulls with
ease, --- the White and the Black. He ploughed the double field, --- the East
and the West. He sowed the dragons' teeth, --- the Armies of Doubt; and among
them did he cast he stone of Zoroaster given to him by Medea, Queen of
Enchantments, so that immediately they turned their weapons one against the
other, and perished. And then lastly, on the mystic cup of Iacchus he lulled
to sleep the Dragon of the illusions of life, and taking down the Golden
Fleece accomplished the Great Work. Then once again did he set {44} sail, and
sped past Circe, through Scylla and Carybdis; beyond the singing sisters of
Sicily, back to the fair plains of Thessaly and the wooded slopes of Olympus.
And one day shall it come to pass that he will return to that far distant land
where hung that Fleece of Gold, the Fleece he brought to the Children of Men
so that they might weave from it a little garment of comfort; and there on
that Self-same Tree shall he hand himself, and others shall crucify him; so
that in that Winter which draweth nigh, he who is to come may find yet another
garment to cover the hideous nakedness of man, the Robe that hath no Seam.
And those who shall receive, though they cast lots for it, yet shall they not
rend it, for it is woven from the top throughout.
For unto you is paradise opened, the tree of life is planted, the time to
come is prepared, plenteousness is made ready, a city is bilded, the rest is
allowed, yea, perfect goodness and wisdom. The root of evil is sealed up from
you, weakness and the moth is hid from you, and corruption is fled unto hell
to be forgotten: sorrows are passed, and in the end is shewed the treasure of
immortality.1
Yea! the Treasure of Immortality. In his own words let us now describe
this sudden change.
IN NOMINE DEI
HB:Nun-final HB:Mem HB:Aleph
Insit Naturae Regina Isis.
_____
At the End of the Century:
At the End of the Year:
At the Hour of Midnight:
Did I complete and bring to perfection the Work of
L.I.L.2
{45}
In Mexico: even as I did receive it from him who is reincarnated in me: and
this work is to the best of my knowledge a synthesis of what the Gods have
given unto me, as far as is possible without violating my obligations unto the
Chiefs of the R. R. et A. C. Now did I deem it well that I should rest awhile
before resuming my labours in the Great Work, seeing that he, who sleepeth
never, shall fall by the wayside, and also remembering the twofold sign: the
Power of Horus: and the Power of Hoor-pa-Kraat.3
Now, the year being yet young, One D. A. came unto me, and spake.
1 ii Esdras, viii, 52-54.
2 Lamp of Invisible Light. L.I.L. The title of the first AEthyr
derived from the initial letters of the Three Mighty Names of
God. In all there are thirty of these AEthyrs, "whose dominion
extendedth in ever widening circles without and beyond the Watch
Towers of the Universe." In one sense rightly enough did P.
bring to completion the work L.I.L. at the end of the year 1900;
but, in another, it took him nine long years of toil before he
perfected it, for it was not until the last days of the year 1909
that the work of the Thirty AEthyrs was indeed brought to an end.
In 1900 verily was the work conceived, but not until the year
1909 was it brought forth a light unto the darkness, a little
spark cast into the Well of Time. (P. merely means that at this
time he established a secret Order of this name.)
3 The Signs are of Projection and Withdrawal of Force; necessary
complements.
And he spake not any more (as had been his wont) in guise of a skeptic and
indifferent man: but indeed with the very voice and power of a Great Guru, or
of one definitely sent from such a Brother of the Great White Lodge.
Yea! though he spake unto me words all of disapproval, did I give thanks
and grace to God that he had deemed my folly worthy to attract his wisdom.
And, after days, did my Guru not leave me in my state of humiliation, and,
as I may say, despair: but spake words of comfort saying: "Is it not written
that if thine Eye be single thy whole body shall be full of Light?" Adding:
"In thee is no power of mental concentration and control of thought: and
without this thou mayst achieve nothing."
Under his direction, therefore, I began to apply myself unto the practice
of Raja-yoga, at the same time avoiding all, even the smallest, consideration
of things occult, as also he bade me.
Thus, at the beginning, I did meditate twice daily, three mediations
morning and evening, upon such simple objects as --- a white triangle; a red
cross; Isis; the simple Tatwas; a wand; and the like. I remained after some
three weeks for 59 1/2 minutes at one time, wherein my thought wandered 25
times. Now I began also to consider more complex things: my little Rose
Cross;4 the {46} complex Tatwas; the Golden Dan Symbol, and so on. also I
began the exercise of the pendulum and other simple regular motions.
Wherefore to-day of Venus, the 22nd of February 1901, I being in the City of
Guadalajara, in the Hotel Cosmopolita, I do begin to set down all that I
accomplish in this work:
And may the Peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep my heart
and mind through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let my mind be open unto
the Higher:
Let my heart be the Centre
of Light:
Let my body be the
Temple
of the
ROSY CROSS.
Ex Deo Nascimur
In Jesu Morimur
Per Spiritum Sanctum Reviviscimus.
We must now digress in order to five some account of the Eastern theories
of the Universe and the mind. Their study will clarify our view of Frater P's
progress.
The reader is advised to study Chapter VII of Captain J. F. C. Fuller's
"Star in the West" in connection with this exposition.
{47}
4 Lost under dramatic circumstances at Frater P. A.'s house in
1909.
THE AGNOSTIC POSITION
DIRECT experience is the key to Yoga; direct experience of that Soul (Atman)
or Essence (Purusha) which acting upon Energy (Pr?na), and Substance (Ak?sa)
differentiates a plant from a stone, an animal from a plant, a man from an
animal, a man from a man, and man from God, yet which ultimately is the
underlying Equilibrium of all things; for as the Bhaga-vad-G?ta says:
"Equilibrium is called Yoga."
Chemically the various groups in the organic and inorganic worlds are
similar in structure and composition. One piece of limestone is very much
like another, and so also are the actual bodies of any two man, but not so
their minds. There-fore, should we wish to discover and understand that Power
which differentiates, and yet ultimately balances all appearances, which are
derived by the apparently unconscious object and received by the apparently
conscious subject, we must look for it in the workings of man's brain.5 {48}
This is but a theory, but a theory worth working upon until a better be
derived from truer facts. Adopting it, the transfigured-realist gazes at it
with wonder and then casts Theory overboard, and loads his ship with Law;
postulates that every cause has its effect; and,. when his ship begins to
sink, refuses to jettison his wretched cargo, or even to man the pumps of
Doubt, because the final result is declared by his philosophy to be
unknowable.
If any one cause be unknowable, be it first or last, then all causes are
unknowable. The will to create is denied, the will to annihilate is denied,
and finally the will to act is denied. Propositions perhaps true to the
Master, but certainly not so to the disciple. Because Titian was a great
artist and Rodin is a great sculptor, that is no reason why we should abolish
art schools and set an embargo on clay.
If the will to act is but a mirage of the mind, then equally so is the will
to differentiate or select. If this be true, and the chain of Cause and
Effect is eternal, how is it then that Cause A produces effect B, and Cause B
effect C, and Cause A + B + C effect X. Where originates this power of
production? It is said there is no change, the medium remaining alike
throughout. Burt we say there is a change --- a change of form,6 and not only
a change, but a distinct birth and a distinct death of form. What creates
5 Verworn in his "General Physiology" says: "It was found that the
sole reality that we are able to discover in the world is mind.
The idea of the physical world is only a product of the mind. ...
But this idea is not the whole of mind, for we have many mental
constituents, such as the simple sensations of pain and of
pleasure, that are not ideas of bodies ... every process of
knowledge, including scientific knowledge, is merely a psychical
event. ... This fact cannot be banished by the well-known method
of the ostrich" (pp. 39, 40).
"The real mystery of mysteries is the mind of man. Why, with a
pen or brush, one man sits down and makes a masterpiece, and yet
another, with the self-same instruments and opportunities, turns
out a daub or botch,is twenty times more curious than all the
musings of the mystics, works of the Rosicrucians, or the
mechanical contrivances which seem to-day so fine, and which our
children will disdain as clumsy" (R. B. Cumminghame Graham in
his preface to "The Canon").
6 Form here is synonymous with the Hindu M?y?, it is also the
chief power of the Buddhist devil, Mara, and even of that mighty
devil, Choronzon.
this form? Sense perception. what will destroy this form, and reveal to us
that which lies behind it? {49} Presumably cessation of sense perception.
How can we prove our theory? By cutting away every perception, every thought-
form as it is born, until nothing thinkable is left, not even the thought of
the unknowable.
The man of science will often say "I do not know, I really do not know
where these bricks came form, or how they were made, or who made them; but
here they are; let us build a house and live in it." Now this indeed is a
very sensible view to take, and the result is we have some very fine houses
built by these excellent bricklayers; but strange to say, this is the
fatalist's point of view, and a fatalistic science is indeed a cruel kind of
oxymoron. As a matter of fact he is nothing of the kind; for, when he has
exhausted his supply of bricks, he starts to look about for others, and when
others cannot be found, he takes one of the old ones and picking it to pieces
tries to discover of what it is made so that he may make more.
What is small-pox? Really, my friend, I do not know where it came from, or
what it is, or how it originated; when a man catches it he either dies or
recovers, please go away and don't ask me ridiculous questions! Now this
indeed would not be considered a very sensible view to adopt. And why?
Simply because small-pox no longer happens to be believed in as a malignant
devil, but is, at least partially, known an understood. Similarly, when we
have gained as much knowledge of the First Cause as we have of small-pox, we
shall no longer "believe" in a Benevolent God or otherwise, but shall, at least
partially, know and understand Him as He is or is-not. "I can't learn this!"
is the groan of a schoolboy and not the exclamation of a sage. No doctor who
is worth his salt will say: "I can't tackle this disease"; he says: "I "will"
tackle {50} this disease." So also with the Unknowable, God, "? priori," First
Cause, etc., etc., this metaphysical sickness can be cured. Not certainly in
the same manner as small-pox can be; for physicians have a scientific language
wherein to express their ideas and thoughts, whilst a mystic too often has
not; but by a series of exercises, or a system of symbolic teaching, which
will gradually lead the sufferer from the material to the spiritual, and not
leave him gazing and wondering at it, as he would at a star in the night.
A fourth dimensional being, outside a few mathematical symbols, would be
unable to explain to a third dimensional being a fourth dimensional world,
simply because he would be addressing him in a fourth dimensional language.
Likewise, in a less degree, would a doctor be unable to explain the theory of
inoculation to a savage, but it is quite conceivable that he might be able to
teach him how to vaccinate himself or another; which would be after all the
chief point gained.
Similarly the Yogi says: I have arrived at a state of Superconsciousness
(Sam?dhi) and you, my friend, are not only blind, deaf and dumb, and a savage,
but the son of a pig into the bargain. You are totally immersed in Darkness
(Tamas); a child of ignorance (Avidy?), and the offspring of illusion (M?y?);
as mad, insane and idiotic as those unfortunates you lock up in your asylums
to convince you, as one of you yourselves has very justly remarked, that you
are not all raving mad. For you consider not only one thing, which you insult
by calling God, but all things, to be real; and anything which has the
slightest odour of reality about it you pronounce an illusion. But, as my
brother the Magician has told you, "he {51} who denies anything asserts
something," now let me disclose to you this "Something," so hat you may find
behind the pairs of opposites what this something is in itself and not in its
appearance.
It has been pointed out in a past chapter how that in the West symbol has
been added to symbol, and how that in the East symbol has been subtracted from
symbol. How in the West the Magician has said: "As all came from God so must
all proceed to God," the motion being a forward one, and acceleration of the
one already existing. Now let us analyze what is meant by the worlds of the
yogi when he says: "As all came from god so must all return to God," the
motion being, as it will be at once seen, a backward one, a slowing down of
the one which already exists, until finally is reached that goal from which we
originally set out by a cessation of thinking, a weakening of the vibrations
of illusion until they cease to exist in Equilibrium.7 {52}
7 "The forces of the universe are only known to us, in reality,
but disturbances of equilibrium. The state of equilibrium
constitutes the limit beyond which we can no longer follow them"
(Gustave le Bon, "The Evolution of Matter," p. 94).
THE VEDANTA
BEFORE we enter upon the theory and practice of Yoga, it is essential that the
reader should possess some slight knowledge of the Ved?nta philosophy; and
though the following in no way pretends to be an exhaustive account of the
same, yet it is hoped that it will prove a sufficient guide to lead the seeker
from the Western realms of Magic and action to the Eastern lands of Yoga and
renunciation.
To begin with, the root-thought of all philosophy and religion, both
Eastern and Western, is that the universe is only an appearance, and not a
reality, or, as Deussen has it:
The entire external universe, with its infinite ramifications in space and
time, as also the involved and intricate sum of our inner perceptions, is all
merely the form under which the essential reality presents itself to a
consciousness such as ours, but is not the form in which it may subsist
outside of our consciousness and independent of it; that, in other words, the
sum total of external and internal experience always an only tells us how
things are constituted for us, and for our intellectual capacities, not how
they are in themselves and apart from intelligences such as ours.8
Here is the whole of the World's philosophy in a hundred words; the undying
question which has perplexed the mind of man from the dim twilight of the
Vedas to the sweltering noon-tide of present-day Scepticism, what is the "Ding
an sich"; what is the alpha upsilon tau omicron chi alpha theta alpha upsilon tau omicron ;
what is the Atman?
That the thing which we perceive and experience is not {53} the "thing in
itself" is very certain, for it is only what "WE see." Yet nevertheless we
renounce this as being absurd, or not renouncing it, at least do not live up
to our assertion; for, we name that which is a reality to a child, and a
deceit or illusion to a man, an apparition or a shadow. Thus, little by
little, we beget a new reality upon the old reality, a new falsehood upon the
old falsehood, namely, that the thing we see is "an illusion" and is not "a
reality," seldom considering that the true difference between the one and the
other is but the difference of name. Then after a little do we begin to
believe in "the illusion" as firmly and concretely as we once believed in "the
reality," seldom considering that all belief is illusionary, and that
knowledge is only true as long as it remains unknown.9
Now Knowledge is identification, not with the inner or outer of a thing,
but with that which cannot be explained by either, and which is the essence of
the thing in itself,10 and which the Upanishads name the Atman.
Identification with this Atman (Emerson's "Oversoul") is therefore the end of
Religion and Philosophy alike.
8 Deussen, "The Philosophy of the Upanishads," p. 40. See also
Berkeley's "Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous."
9 Once the unknown becomes known it becomes untrue, it loses its
Virginity, that mysterious power of attraction the Unknown always
possesses; it no longer represents our ideal, though it may form
an excellent foundation for the next ideal; and so on until
Knowledge and Nescience are out-stepped. General and popular
Knowledge is like a common prostitute, the toy of any man. To
maintain this purity, this virginity, are the mysteries kept
secret from the multitude.
10 And yet again this is a sheer deceit, as every conceit must be.
"Verily he who has seen, heard, comprehended and known the Atman, by him is
this entire universe known."11 Because there is but one Atman and not many
Atmans. {54}
The first veil against which we must warn the aspirant is the entanglement
of language, of words and of names. The merest tyro will answer, "of course
you need not explain to me that, if I call a thing 'A' or 'B,' it makes no
difference to that thing in itself." And yet not only the tyro, but many of
the astutest philosophers have fallen into this snare, and not only once but
an hundred times; the reason being that they have not remained silent12 about
that which can only be "known" and not "believed in," and that which can never
be names without begetting a duality (an untruth), and consequently a whole
world of illusions. It is the crucifixion of every world-be Saviour, this
teaching of a truth under the symbol of a lie, this would-be explanation to
the multitude of the unexplainable, this passing off on the "canaille" the
strumpet of language (the Consciously Known) in the place of the Virgin of the
World (the Consciously Unknown).13
No philosophy has ever grasped this terrible limitation so firmly as the
Ved?nta. "All experimental knowledge, the four Vedas and the whole series of
empirical science, as they are enumerated in Ch?ndogya, 7. 1. 2-3, are 'n?ma
eva,' 'mere name.'"14 As the Rig Veda says, "they call him Indra, Mitra,
Varuna, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutm?n. To what is one, sages
give many a title: they call it Agni, Tama, M?tirisvan."15 {55}
Thus we find that "duality" in the East is synonymous with "a mere matter
of words,"16 and further, that, when anything is (or can be) describe by a
word or a name, the knowledge concerning it is Avidy? "ignorance."
No sooner are the eyes of a man opened17 than he sees "good and evil," and
becomes a prey to the illusions he has set out to conquer. He gets something
apart from himself, and whether it be Religion, Science, or Philosophy it
matters not; for in the vacuum which he thereby creates, between him and it,
burns the fever that he will never subdue until he has annihilated both.18
God, Immortality, Freedom, are appearances and not realities, they are M?y?
and not Atman; Space, Time and Causality19 are appearances and not realities,
11 Brihad?ranjaka Upanishad, 2. 4. 5b.
12 The highest men are calm, silent and unknown. They are the men
who really know the power of thought; they are sure that, even if
they go into a cave and close the door and simply think five true
thoughts and then pass away, these five thoughts of theirs will
live through eternity. (Vivek?nanda, "Karma Yoga," Udbodhan
edition, pp. 164, 165.)
13 Or the Unconsciously Known.
14 Deussen, "ibid.", p. 76.
15 "Rigveda" (Griffiths), i. 164. 46. "You may call the Creator of
all things by different names: Liber, Hercules, Mercury, are but
different names of the same divine being" (Seneca, iv, 7. 8).
16 "Ch?ndogya Upanishad," 6. 1. 3. Also of "form."
17 That is to say, when he gains knowledge.
18 This is the meaning of "Nequaquam Vacuum."
19 Modern Materialism receives many a rude blow at the hands of
Gustave le Bon. This great Frenchman writes: "These fundamental
dogmas, the bases of modern science, the researches detailed in
this work tend to destroy. If the principle of the conservation
of energy --- which, but the by, is simply a bold generalization
of experiments made in very simple cases --- likewise succumbs to
the blows which are already attacking it, the conclusion must be
arrived at that nothing in the world is eternal." ("The
Evolution of Matter," p. 18.) In other words, all is full of
birth, growth, and decay, that is M?y?. Form to the Materialist,
Name to the Idealist, and Nothing to him who has risen above
both.
they also are M?y? and not Atman. All that is not Atman is M?y?, and M?y? is
ignorance, and ignorance is sin.
Now the philosophical fall of the Atman produces the Macrocosm and the
Microcosm, God and not-God --- the Universe, or the power which asserts a
separateness, an individuality, {56} a self-consciousness --- I am! This is
explained in Brihad?ranyaka, 1. 4. 1. as follows:
"In the beginning the Atman alone in the form of a man20 was this universe.
He gazed around; he saw nothing there but himself. Thereupon he cried out at
the beginning: 'It is I.' Thence originated the name I. Therefore to-day,
when anyone is summoned, he answers first 'It is I'; and then only he names
the other name which he bears."21
This Consciousness of "I" is the second veil which man meets on his upward
journey, and, unless he avoid it and escape from its hidden meshes, which are
a thousandfold more dangerous than the entanglements of the veil of words, he
will never arrive at that higher consciousness, that superconsciousness
(Sam?dhi), which will consume him back into the Atman from which he came.
As the fall of the Atman arises from the cry "It is I," so does the fall of
the Self-consciousness of the universe-man arise through that Self-
consciousness crying "I am it," thereby identifying the shadow with the
substance; from this fall arises the first veil we had occasion to mention,
the veil of duality, of words, of belief.
This duality we find even in the texts of the oldest Upanishads, such as in
Brihad?ranjaka, 3. 4. 1. "It is thy soul, {57} which is within all." And
also again in the same Upanishad (I. 4. 10.), "He who worships another
divinity (than the Atman), and says 'it is one and I am another' is not wise,
but he is like a house-dog of the gods." And house-dogs shall we remain so
long as we cling to a belief in a knowing subject and an known object, or in
the worship of anything, even of the Atman itself, as long as it remains apart
from ourselves. Such a delemma as this does not take long to induce one of
those periods of "spiritual dryness," one of those "dark nights of the soul"
so familiar to all mystics and even to mere students of mysticism. And such a
night seems to have closed around Y?j¤avalkhya when he exclaimed:
After death there is no consciousness. For where there is as it were a
duality, there one sees the other, smells, hears, addresses, comprehends, and
knows the other; but when everything has become to him his own self, how
should he smell, see, hear, address, understand, or know anyone at all? How
should he know him, through whom he knows all this, how should he know the
knower?22
Thus does the Supreme Atman become unknowable, on account of the individual
Atman23 remaining unknown; and further, will remain unknowable as long as
consciousness of a separate Supremacy exists in the heart of the individual.
20 "There are two persons of the Deity, one in heaven, and one
which descended upon earth in the form of man ("i.e.", Adam
Qadmon), and the Holly One, praised be It! unites them (in the
union of Sam?dhi, that is, of "Sam" (Greek sigma upsilon nu , "together"
"with"), and "Adhi," Hebrew "Adonai, the Lord"). There are three
Lights in the Upper Holy Divine united in One, and this is the
foundation of the doctrine of Every-Thing, this is the beginning
of the Faith, and Every-Thing is concentrated therein" ("Zohar
III," beginning of paragraph. "She'meneeh," fol. 36a.
21 It is fully realized that outside the vastness of the symbol
this "Fall of God" is as impertinent as it is unthinkable.
22 Brihad?ranjaka Upanishad, 2. 4. 12.
23 The illusion of thinking ourselves similar to the Unity and yet
separated from It.
Directly the seeker realizes this, a new reality is born, and the clouds of
night roll back and melt away before the light of a breaking dawn, brilliant
beyond all that have preceded it. Destroy this consciousness, and the
Unknowable may become the Known, or at least the Unknown, in the sense of the
undiscovered. Thus we find the old Vedantist presupposing an Atman and a
sigma upsilon mu beta omicron lambda omicron nu of it, so that he might better transmute
{58} the unknown individual soul into the known, and the unknowable Supreme
Soul into the unknown, and the, from the knowable through the known to the
knower, get back to the Atman and Equilibrium --- Zero.
All knowledge he asserts to be M?y?, and only by paradoxes is the Truth
revealed.
Only he who knows it not knows it,
Who knows it, he knows it not;
Unknown is it by the wise,
But by the ignorant known.24
These dark nights of Scepticism descent upon all systems just as they
descend upon all individuals, at no stated times, but as a reaction after much
hard work; and usually they are forerunners of a new and higher realization of
another unknown land to explore. Thus again and again do we find them rising
and dissolving like some strange mist over the realms of the Ved?nta. To
disperse them we must consume them in that same fire which has consumed all we
held dear; we must turn our engines of war about and destroy our sick and
wounded, so that those who are strong and whole may press on the faster to
victory.
As early as the days of the Rig Veda, before the beginning was, there was
"neither not-being nor yet being." This thought again and again rumbles
through the realms of philosophy, souring the milk of man's understanding with
its bitter scepticism.
Not-being was this in the beginning,
From it being arose.
Self-fashioned indeed out of itself ...
The being and the beyond {59}
Expressible and inexpressible,
Founded and foundationless,
Consciousness and unconsciousness,
Reality and unreality.25
All these are vain attempts to obscure the devotee's mind into believing in
that Origin he could in no way understand, by piling up symbols of extravagant
vastness. all, as with the Qabalists, was based on Zero, all, same one thing,
and this one thing saved the mind of man from the fearful palsy of doubt which
had shaken to ruin his brave certainties, his audacious hopes and his
invincible resolutions. Man, slowly through all his doubts, began to realize
that if indeed all were M?y?, a matter of words, he at least existed. "I am,"
he cried, no longer, "I am it."26
And with the Is? Upanishad he whispered:
Into dense darkness he enters
Who has conceived becoming to be naught,
Into yet denser he
Who has conceived becoming to be aught.
24 Kena Upanishad, 11.
25 Taittir?ya Br?hmana, 2. 7.
26 "I.e.", "Existence is" HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Heh HB:Aleph HB:Resh HB:Shin HB:Aleph
HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Heh HB:Aleph .
Abandoning this limbo of Causality, just as the Buddhist did at a later
date, he tackled the practical problem "What am I? To hell with God!"
The self is the basis for the validity of proof, and therefore is
constituted also before the validity of proof. And because it is thus formed
it is impossible to call it in question. For we many call a thing in question
which comes up to us from without, but not our own essential being. For if a
man calls it in question yet is it his own essential being.
An integral part is here revealed in each of us which is a reality, perhaps
the only reality it is given us to know, and {60} one we possess irrespective
our our not being able to understand it. We have a soul, a veritable living
Atman, irrespective of all codes, sciences, theories, sects and laws. What
then is this Atman, and how can we understand it, that is to say, see it
solely, or identify all with it?
The necessity of doing this is pointed out in Ch?ndogya, 8. 1. 6.
He who departs from this world without having known the soul or those true
desires, his part in all worlds is a life of constraint; but he who departs
from this world after having known the soul and those true desires, his part
in all worlds is a life of freedom.
In the Brihad?ranjaka,27 king Janaka asks Y?j¤avalkhya, "what serves man
for light?" That sage answers:
The sun serves him for light. When however the sun has set? --- the moon.
And when he also has set? --- fire. And when this also is extinguished? ---
the voice. And when this also is silenced? Then is he himself his own
light.28
This passage occurs again and again in the same form, and in paraphrase, as
we read through the Upanishads. In K?thaka 5. 15 we find:
There no sun shines, no moon, nor glimmering star,
Nor yonder lightning, the fire of earth is quenched; {61}
From him,29 who alone shines, all else borrows its
brightness.
The whole world bursts into splendour at his shining.
And again in Maitr?yana, 6. 24.
When the darkness is pierced through, then is reached that which is not
affected by darkness; and he who has thus pierced through that which is so
affected, he has beheld like a glittering circle of sparks Brahman bright as
the sun, endowed with all might, beyond the reach of darkness, that shines in
yonder sun as in the moon, the fire and the lightning.
27 Brihad?ranyaka Upanishad, 4. 3-4.
28 These refer to the mystic lights in man. Compare this with the
Diagram 2 "The Paths and Grades" in "The Neophyte." After the
Atman in the aspirant has been awakened by the trumpet of Israfel
(The Angel) he proceeds by the path of HB:Shin . The next path the
Aspirant must travel is that of HB:Resh --- the Sun; the next that
of HB:Qof --- the Moon; the next that of HB:Tzaddi --- the Star. This
path brings him to the Fire of Netzach. When this fire is
extinguished comes the Voice or Lightning, after which the Light
which guides the aspirant is Himself, his Holy Guardian Angel,
the Atman --- Adonai.
29 The Atman.
Thus the Atman little by little came to be known and no longer believed in;
yet at first it appears that those who realized it kept their methods to
themselves, and simply explained to their followers its greatness and
splendour by parable and fable, such as we find in Brihad?ranyaka, 2. 1. 19.
That is his real form, in which he is exalted above desire, and is free
from evil and fear. For just as one who dallies with a beloved wife has no
consciousness of outer or inner, so the spirit also dallying with the self,
whose essence is knowledge, has no consciousness of inner or outer. That is
his real form, wherein desire is quenched, and he is himself his own desire,
separate from desire and from distress. Then the father is no longer father,
the mother no longer mother, the worlds no longer worlds, the gods no longer
gods, the Vedas no longer Vedas. ... This is his supreme goal.
As theory alone cannot for ever satisfy man's mind in the solution of the
life-riddle, so also when once the seeker has become the seer, when once
actual living men have attained and become Adepts, their methods of attainment
cannot for long remain entirely hidden.30 And either from their teachings
directly, or from those of their disciples, we find in India {62} sprouting up
from the roots of the older Upanishads two great systems of practical
philosophy:
1. The attainment by Sanny?sa.
2. The attainment by Yoga.
The first seeks, by artificial means, to suppress desire. The second by
scientific experiments to annihilate the consciousness of plurality.
In the natural course of events the Sanny?sa precedes the Yoga, for it
consists in casting off from oneself home, possessions, family and all that
engenders and stimulates desire; whilst the Yoga consists in withdrawing the
organs of sense from the objects of sense, and by concentrating them on the
Inner Self, Higher Self, Augoeides, Atman, or Adonai, shake itself free from
the illusions of M?y? --- the world of plurality, and secure union with this
Inner Self or Atman. {63}
30 As the light of a lamp brought into a dark room is reflected by
all surfaces around it, so is the illumination of the Adept
reflected even by his unilluminated followers.
ATTAINMENT BY YOGA.
ACCORDING to the Shiva Sanhita there are two doctrines found in the Vedas: the
doctrines of "Karma K?nda" (sacrificial works, etc.) and of "Jana K?ndra"
(science and knowledge). "Karma K?ndra" is twofold --- good and evil, and
according to how we live "there are many enjoyments in heaven," and "in hell
there are many sufferings." Having once realized the truth of "Karma K?ndra"
the Yogi renounces the works of virtue and vice, and engages in "Jnana K?ndra"
--- knowledge.
In the Shiva Sanhita we read:31
In the proper season, various creatures are born to enjoy the consequences
of their karma.32 As though mistake mother-of-pearl is taken for silver, so
through the error of one's own karma man mistakes Brahma for the universe.
Being too much and deeply engaged in the manifested world, the delusion
arises about that which is manifested --- the subject. There is no other
cause (of this delusion). Verily, verily, I tell you the truth.
If the practiser of Yoga wishes to cross the ocean of the world, he should
renounce all the fruits of his works, having preformed all the duties of his
?shrama.33
"Jana K?nda" is the application of science to "Karma K?nda," the works of
good and evil, that is to say of Duality. {64} Little by little it eats away
the former, as strong acid would eat away a piece of steel, and ultimately
when the last atom has been destroyed it ceases to exist as a science, or as a
method, and becomes the Aim, "i.e.", Knowledge. This is most beautifully
described in the above-mentioned work as follows:
34. That Intelligence which incites the functions into the paths of virtue
and vice "am I." All this universe, moveable and immovable, is from me; all
things are seen through me; all are absorbed into me;34 because there exists
nothing but spirit, and "I am that spirit." There exists nothing else.
35. As in innumerable cups full of water, many reflections of the sun are
seen, but the substance is the same; similarly individuals, like cups, are
innumerable, but the vivifying spirit like the sun is one.
49. All this universe, moveable or immoveable, has come out of
Intelligence. Renouncing everything else, take shelter of it.
50. As space pervades a jar both in and out, similarly within and beyond
this ever-changing universe there exists one universal Spirit.
58. Since from knowledge of that Cause of the universe, ignorance is
destroyed, therefore the Spirit is Knowledge; and this Knowledge is
everlasting.
59. That Spirit from which this manifold universe existing in time takes
its origin is one, and unthinkable.
31 Shiva Sanhita, ii, 43, 45, 51.
32 Work and the effects of work.; The so-called law of Cause and
Effect in the moral and physical worlds.
33 The four ?shramas are (1) To live as a Brahmach?rin --- to spend
a portion of one's life with a Brahman teacher. (2) To live as a
Grihastha --- to rear a family and carry out the obligatory
sacrifices. (3) To live as a V?naprastha --- to withdraw into
solitude and meditate. (4) To live as a Sanny?sin --- to await
the spirit's release into the Supreme Spirit.
34 At the time of the Pralaya.
62. Having renounced all false desires and chains, the Sanny?si and Yogi
see certainly in their own spirit the universal Spirit.
63. Having seen the Spirit that brings forth happiness in their own spirit,
they forget this universe, and enjoy the ineffable bliss of Sam?dhi.35
As in the West there are various systems of Magic, so in the East are there
various systems of yoga, each of which purports to lead the aspirant from the
realm of M?y? to that of Truth in Sam?dhi. The most important of these are:
1. Gana Yoga. Union by Knowledge.
2. Raha Yoga. Union by Will
3. Bhakta Yoga. Union by Love. {65}
4. Hatha Yoga. Union by Courage.
5. Mantra Yoga. Union though Speech.
6. Karma Yoga. Union though Work.36
The two chief of these six methods according to the Bhagavad-G?ta are: Yoga
by S?¤khya (Raja Yoga), and Yoga by Action (Karma Yoga). But the difference
between these two is to be found in their form rather than in their substance;
for, as Krishna himself says:
Renunciation (Raja Yoga) and Yoga by action (Karma Yoga) both lead to the
highest bliss; of the two, Yoga by action is verily better than renunciation
by action ... Children, not Sages, speak of the S?¤khya and the Yoga as
different; he who is duly established in one obtaineth the fruits of both.
That place which is gained by the S?¤khyas is reached by the Yogis also. He
seeth, who seeth that the S?¤khya and the Yoga are one.37
Or, in other words, he who understand the equilibrium of action and
renunciation (of addition and subtraction) is as he who perceives that in
truth the circle is the line, the end the beginning.
To show how extraordinarily closely allied are the methods of Yoga to those
of Magic, we will quote the following three verses from the Bhagavid-G?ta,
which, with advantage, the reader may compare with the citations already made
from the works of Abramelin and Eliphas Levi.
When the mind, bewildered by the Scriptures (Shruti), shall stand
immovable, fixed in contemplation (Sam?dhi), then shalt thou attain to Yoga.38
Whatsoever thou doest, whatsoever thou eatest, whatsoever thou offerest,
{66} whatsoever thou givest, whatsoever thou dost of austerity, O Kaunteya, do
thou that as an offering unto Me.
On Me fix thy mind; be devoted to Me; sacrifice to Me; prostrate thyself
before Me; harmonized thus in the SELF (Atman), thou shalt come unto Me,
having Me as thy supreme goal.39
These last two verses are taken from "The Yoga of the Kingly Science and
the Kingly Secret"; and if put into slightly different language might easily
be mistaken for a passage out of "the Book of the Sacred Magic."
Not so, however, the first, which is taken from "The Yoga by the S?¤khya,"
and which is reminiscent of the Quietism of Molinos and Madam de Guyon rather
than of the operations of a ceremonial magician. And it was just this Quietism
35 "Shiva Sanhita," chap. 1.
36 Besides these, there are several lesser known Yogas, for the
most part variant of the above such as: Asht?nga, Laya, and
T?raka. See "Hatha-Yoga Pradipika," p. iii.
37 The "Bhagavad-G?ta." Fifth Discourse, 2-5.
38 "Ibid." Second Discourse, 53.
39 "Ibid." Ninth Discourse, 27, 34.
that P. as yet had never fully experienced; and he, realizing this, it came
about that when once the key of Yoga was proffered him, he preferred to open
the door of Renunciation and close that of Action, and to abandon the Western
methods by the means of which he had already advanced so far rather than to
continue in them. This in itself was the first great Sacrifice which he made
upon the path of Renunciation --- to abandon all that he had as yet attained
to, to cut himself off from the world, and like an Hermit in a desolate land
seek salvation by himself, through himself and of Himself. Ultimately, as we
shall see, he renounced even this disownment, for which he now sacrificed all,
and, by an unification of both, welded the East to the West, the two halves of
that perfect whole which had been lying apart since that night wherein the
breath of God moved upon the face of the waters and the limbs of a living
world struggled from out the Chaos of Ancient Night. {67}
THE YOGAS.
DIRECT experience is the end of Yoga. How can this direct experience be
gained? And the answer is: by Concentration or Will. Swami Vivek?nanda on
this point writes:
Those who really want to be Yogis must give up, once for all, this nibbling
at things. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life; dream of it;
think of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, the body, muscles, nerves,
every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea
alone. This is the way to success, and this is the way great spiritual giants
are produced. others are mere talking machines. ... To succeed, you must have
tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. "I will drink the ocean," says the
persevering soul. "At my will mountains will crumble up." Have that sort of
energy, that sort of will, work hard, and you will reach the goal.40
"O Keshara," cries Arjuna, "enjoin in me this terrible action!" This will
TO WILL.
To turn the mind inwards, as it were, ad stop it wandering outwardly, and
then to concentrate all its powers upon itself, are the methods adopted by the
Yogi in opening the closed Eye which sleeps in the hear to every one of us,
and to create this will TO WILL. By doing so he ultimately comes face to face
with something which is indestructible, on account of it being uncreatable,
and which knows no dissatisfaction. {68}
Every child is aware that the mind possesses a power known as the
reflective faculty. We hear ourselves talk; and we stand apart and see
ourselves work and think. we stand aside from ourselves and anxiously or
fearlessly watch and criticize our lives. There are two persons in us, ---
the thinker (or the worker) and the seer. The unwinding of the hoodwink from
the eyes of the seer, for in most men the seer in, like a mummy, wrapped in
the countless rags of thought, is what Yoga purposes to do: in other words to
accomplish no less a task than the mastering of the forces of the Universe,
the surrender of the gross vibrations of the external world to the finer
vibrations of the internal, and then to become one with the subtle Vibrator
--- the Seer Himself.
We have mentioned the six chief systems of yoga, and now before entering
upon what for us at present must be the two most important of them, ---
namely, Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga, we intend, as briefly as possible, to
explain the remaining four, and also the necessary conditions under which all
methods of Yoga should be practised.
GANA YOGA. Union through Knowledge.
Gana Yoga is that Yoga which commences with a study of the impermanent
wisdom of this world and ends with the knowledge of the permanent wisdom of
the Atman. Its first stage is Viveka, the discernment of the real from the
unreal. Its second Vair?gya, indifference to the knowledge of the world, its
sorrows and joys. Its third Mukti, release, and unity with the Atman.
In the fourth discourse of the Bhagavad G?ta we find Gana Yoga praised as
follows: {69}
40 Vivek?nanda, "Raja Yoga," Udbodhan edition, pp. 51, 52. "Every
valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be
brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough
ways shall be made smooth. ... Prepare ye the way of Adonai." ---
Luke, iii, 5, 4.
Better than the sacrifice of any objects is the sacrifice of wisdom, O
Paratapa. All actions in their entirety, O P?rtha, culminate in wisdom.
As the burning fire reduces fuel to ashes, O Arjuna, so doth the fire of
wisdom reduce all actions to ashes.
Verily there is nothing so pure in this world as wisdom; he that is
perfected in Yoga finds it in the Atman in due season.41
KARMA YOGA. Union through Work.
Very closely allied to Gana Yoga is Karma Yoga, Yoga through work, which
may seem only a means towards the former. But this is not so, for not only
must the aspirant commune with the Atman through the knowledge or wisdom he
attains, but also through the work which aids him to attain it.
A good example of Karma Yoga is quoted from Chuang-Tzu by Flagg in his work
on Yoga. It is as follows:
Prince Hui's cook was cutting up a bullock. Every blow of his hand, every
heave of his shoulders, every tread of his foot, every thrust of his knee,
every "whshh" of rent flesh, every "chhk" of the chopper, was in perfect harmony,
--- rhythmical like the dance of the mulberry grove, simultaneous like the
chords of Ching Shou." "Well done," cried the Prince; "yours is skill
indeed." "Sir," replied the cook, "I have always devoted myself to "Tao" (which
here means the same as Yoga). "It is better than skill." When I first began to
cut up bullocks I saw before me simply whole "bullocks." After three years'
practice I saw no more whole animals. And now I work with my mind and not
with my eye. when my senses bid me stop, but my mind urges me on, I fall
back upon eternal 70 principles. I follow such openings or cavities as there
may be, according to the natural constitution of the animal. A good cook
changes his chopper once a year, because he cuts. An ordinary cook once a
month --- because he hacks. But I have had this chopper nineteen years, and
although I have cut up many thousand bullocks, its edge is as if fresh from
the whetstone.42
MANTRA YOGA. Union through Speech.
This type of Yoga consists in repeating a name or a sentence or verse over
and over again until the speaker and the word spoken become one in perfect
concentration. Usually speaking it is used as an adjunct to some other
practice, under one or more of the other Yoga methods. Thus the devotee to
the God Shiva will repeat his name over and over again until at length the
great God opens his Eye and the world is destroyed.
Some of the most famous mantras are:
"Aum mani padme Hum."
"Aum Shivaya Vashi."
41 "The Bhagavad-G?ta," iv, 33, 37, 38. Compare with the above
"The Wisdom of Solomon," "e.g.": "For wisdom, which is the worker
of all things, taught me; for in her is an understanding spirit,
holy, one only, manifold, subtle, lively, clear, undefiled,
plain, not subject to hurt, loving the thing that is good, quick,
which cannot be letted, ready to do good. ... for wisdom is more
moving than any motion; she passeth and goeth through all things
by reason of her pureness. For she is the breath of the power of
God." (Chap. VII, 22, 24, 25.)
42 "Yoga or Transformation," p. 196. Control, or Restraint, is the
Key to Karma Yoga; weakness is its damnation. Of the Karma Yogi
Vivek?nanda writes: "He goes through the streets of a big city
with all their traffic, and his mind is as calm as if he were in
a cave, where not a sound could reach him; and he is intensely
working all the time." "Karma Yoga," p. 17.
"Aum Tat Sat Aum."
"Namo Shivaya namaha Aum."
The pranava AUM43 plays an important part throughout the whole of Indian
Yoga, and especially is it considered sacred by the Mantra-Yogi, who is
continually using it. To pronounce it properly the "A" is from the throat,
the "U" in the middle, and the "M" at the lips. This typifies the whole
course of breath. {71}
It is the best support, the bow off which the soul as the arrow flies to
Brahman, the arrow which is shot from the body as bow in order to pierce the
darkness, the upper fuel with which the body as the lower fuel is kindled by
the fire of the vision of God, the net with which the fish of Pr?na is drawn
out, and sacrificed in the fire of the Atman, the ship on which a man voyages
over the ether of the heart, the chariot which bears him to the world of
Brahman.44
At the end of the "Shiva Sanhita" there are some twenty verses dealing with
the Mantra. And as in so many other Hindu books, a considerable amount of
mystery is woven around these sacred utterances. We read:
190. In the four-petalled Muladhara lotus is the seed of speech, brilliant
as lightning.
191. In the heart is the seed of love, beautiful as the Bandhuk flower.
In the space between the two eyebrows is the seed of Shakti, brilliant as tens
of millions of moons. These three seeds should be kept secret.45
These three Mantras can only be learnt from a Guru, and are not given in
the above book. By repeating them a various number of times certain results
happen. Such as: after eighteen lacs, the body will rise from the ground and
remain suspended in the air; after an hundred lacs, "the great yogi is
absorbed in the Para-Brahman.46
BHAKTA YOGA. Union by love.
In Bhakta Yoga the aspirant usually devotes himself to some special deity,
every action of his life being done in honour and glory of this deity, and, as
Vivek?nanda tells us, "he has not to suppress any single one of his emotions,
he only strives to intensify them and direct them to god." Thus, if he
devoted himself to Shiva, he must reflect in his life to his utmost the life
of Shiva; if to Shakti the life of Shakti, unto the seer and the seen become
one in he mystic union of attainment. {72}
Of Bhakta Yoga the "N?rada S?tra" says:
58. Love (Bhakti) is easier than other methods.
59. Being self-evident it does not depend on other truths.
60. And from being of the nature of peace and supreme bliss.47
This exquisite little S?tra commences:
43 See Vivek?nanda's "Bhakti-Yoga," pp. 62-68.
44 Deussen. "The Upanishads," p. 390.
45 "Shiva Sanhita," chap. v. The seed in each case is the Mantra.
46 The Absolute.
47 N?rada S?tra. Translated by T. Sturdy. Also see the works of
Bhagavan Ramanuja, Bhagavan Vyasa, Prahlada, and more
particularly Vivek?nanda's "Bhakti Yoga." Bhakta Yoga is divided
into two main divisions. (1) The preparatory, known as "Gauni";
(2) The devotional, known as "Par ." Thus it very closely
resembles, even in detail, the Operation of Abramelin, in which
the aspirant, having thoroughly prepared himself, devotes himself
to the invocation of his Holy Guardian Angel.
1. will now explain Love.
2. Its nature is extreme devotion to some one.
3. Love is immortal.
4. Obtaining it man becomes perfect, becomes immortal, becomes satisfied.
5. And obtaining it he desires nothing, grieves not, hates not, does not
delight, makes no effort.
6. Knowing it he become intoxicated, transfixed, and rejoices in the Self
(Atman).
This is further explained at the end of Sw?tm?r?m Sw?mi's "Hatha-Yoga."
Bhakti really means the constant perception of the form of the Lord by the
Antahkarana. There are nine kinds of Bahktis enumerated. hearing his
histories and relating them, remembering him, worshipping his feet, offering
flowers to him, bowing to him (in soul), behaving as his servant, becoming his
companion and offering up one's Atman to him. ... Thus, Bhakti, in its most
transcendental aspect, is included in Sampradny?ta Sam?dhi.48 {73}
The Gana Yoga P., as the student, had already long prctised in his study of
the Holy Qabalah; so also had he Karma Yoga by his acts of service whilst a
Neophyte in the Order of the Golden Dawn; but now at the suggestion of D. A.
he betook himself to practice of Hatha and Raja Yoga.
Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga are so intimately connected, that instead of
forming two separate methods, they rather form the first half and second half
of one and the same.
Before discussing either the Hatha or Raja Yogas, it will be necessary to
explain the conditions under which Yoga should be performed. These conditions
being the conventional ones, each individual should by practice discover those
more particularly suited to himself.
i. "The Guru."
Before commencing any Yoga practice, according to every Hindu book upon
this subject, it is first necessary to find a Guru,49 to teacher, to whom the
disciple (Chela) must entirely devote himself: as the "Shiva Sanhita" says:
11. Only the knowledge imparted by a Guru is powerful and useful; otherwise
it becomes fruitless, weak and very painful.
12. He who attains knowledge by pleasing his Guru with every attention,
readily obtains success therein.
13. There is not the least doubt that Guru is father, Guru is mother, and
Guru is God even: and as such, he should be served by all, with their thought,
word and deed.50
ii. Place. "Solitude and Silence."
48 In Bhakta Yoga the disciple usually devotes himself to his Guru,
to whom he offers his devotion. The Guru being treated as the
God himself with which the Chela wishes to unite. Eventually "He
alone sees no distinctions! The mighty ocean of love has entered
unto him, and he sees not men, animals and plants or the sun,
moon and the stars, but beholds his Beloved everywhere and in
everything. Vivek?nanda, "Bhakti Yoga," Udbodham edition, p.
111. The Sufis were Bhakti Yogis, so was Christ. Buddha was a
Gnani Yogi.
49 A Guru is as necessary in Yoga as a Music master is in Music.
50 "Shiva Sanhita," chap. iii.
The place where Yoga is performed should be a beautiful and pleasant place,
according to the Shiva Sanhita.51 In the {74} Kshurik? Upanishad, 2. 21, it
states that "a noiseless place" should be chosen; and in S'vet?s'vatara, 2.
10:
Let the place be pure, and free also from boulders and sand,
Free from fire, smoke, and pools of water,
Here where nothing distracts the mind or offends the eye,
In a hollow protected from the wind a man should compose himself.
The dwelling of a Yogi is described as follows:
The practiser of Hathayoga should live alone in a small Matha or monastery
situated in a place free from rocks, water and fire; of the extent of a bow's
length, and in a fertile country ruled over by a virtuous king, where he will
not be disturbed.
The Mata should have a very small door, and should be without any windows;
it should be level and without any holes; it should be neither too high nor
too long. It should be very clean, being daily smeared over with cow-dung,
and should be free from all insects. Outside it should be a small corridor
with a raised seat and a well, and the whole should be surrounded by a wall.
...52
iii. "Time."
The hours in which Yoga should be performed vary with the instructions of
the Guru, but usually they should be four times a day, at sunrise, mid-day,
sunset and mid-night.
iv. "Food."
According to the "Hatha-Yoga Pradipika": "Moderate {75} diet is defined to
mean taking pleasant and sweet food, leaving one fourth of the stomach free,
and offering up the act to Shiva."53
things that have been once cooked and have since grown cold should be
avoided, also foods containing an excess of salt and sourness. Wheat, rice,
barley, butter, sugar, honey and beans may be eaten, and pure water and milk
drunk. The Yogi should partake of one meal a day, usually a little after
noon. "Yoga should not be practised immediately after a meal, nor when one is
51 "Ibid.", chap. v, 184, 185. The aspirant should firstly, join the
assembly of good men but talk little; secondly, should eat
little; thirdly, should renounce the company of men, the company
of women, all company. He should practise in secrecy in a
retired palace. "For the sake of appearances he should remain in
society, but should not have his heart in it. he should not
renounce the duties of his profession, caste or rank, but let him
perform these merely as an instrument without any thought of the
event. By thus doing there is no sin." This is sound
Rosicrucian doctrine, by the way.
52 "Hatha-Yoga Pradipika," pp. 5, 6. Note the similarity of these
conditions to those laid down in "The Book of the Sacred Magic."
Also see "Gheranda Sanhita," p. 33.
53 "Hatha-Yoga Pradipika," p. 22. On the question of food
Vivek?nanda in his "Bhakti Yoga," p. 90, says: "The cow does not
eat meat, nor does the sheep. Are they great Yogins? ... Any
fool may abstain from eating meat; surely that alone give him no
more distinction than to herbivorous animals." Also see
"Gheranda Sanhita," pp. 34-36.
very hungry; before beginning the practice, some milk and butter should be
taken."54
v. "Physical considerations."
The aspirant to Yoga should study his body as well as his mind, and should
cultivate regular habits. He should strictly adhere to the rules of health
and sanitation. He should rise an hour before sunrise, and bathe himself
twice daily, in the morning and thee evening, with cold water (if he can do so
without harm to his health). His dress should be warm so that he is not
distracted by the changes of weather.
vi. "Moral considerations."
The yogi should practise kindness to all creatures, he should abandon
enmity towards any person, "pride, duplicity, and crookedness" ... and the
"companionship of women."55 Further, in Chapter 5 of the "Shiva Sanhaita" the
hindrances {76} of Enjoyment, Religion and Knowledge are expounded at some
considerable length. Above all the Yogi "should work like a master and not
like a slave."56
HATHA YOGA. Union by Courage.
It matters not what attainment the aspirant seeks to gain, or what goal he
has in view, the one thing above all others which is necessary is a healthy
body, and a body which is under control. It is hopeless to attempt to obtain
stability of mind in one whose body is ever leaping from land to water like a
frog; with such, any sudden influx of illumination may bring with it not
enlightenment but mania; there fore it is that all the great masters have set
the task of courage before that of endeavour.57 He who "dares" to "will," will
"will" to know, and knowing will keep silence;58 for even to such as have
entered the Supreme Order, there is not way found whereby they may break the
stillness and communicate to those who have not ceased to hear.59 The
guardian of the Temple is Adonai, he alone holds the key of the Portal, seek
it of Him, for there is none other that can open for thee the door.
Now to dare much is to will a little, so it comes about that though Hatha
Yoga is the physical Yoga which teaches the aspirant how to control his body,
yet is it also Raja Yoga {77} which teach him how to control his mind. Little
by little, as the body comes under control, does the mind assert its sway over
the body; and little by little, as the mind asserts its sway, does it come
gradually, little by little under the rule of the Atman, until ultimately the
Atman, Augoeides, Higher Self or Adonai fills the Space which was once
occupied solely by the body and mind of the aspirant. Therefore though the
death of the body as it were is the resurrection of the Higher Self
accomplished, and the pinnacles of that Temple, whose foundations are laid
deep in the black earth, are lost among the starry Palaces of God.
In the "Hatha-Yoga Pradipika" we read that "there can be no Raja Yoga
without Hatha Yoga, and "vice versa," that to those who wander in the darkness
54 "Shiva Sanhita," iii, 37.
55 "Ibid.", iii, 33.
56 Vivek?nanda, "Karma-Yoga," p. 62.
57 As in the case of Jesus, the aspirant, for the joy that is set
before him, must "dare" to endure the cross, despising the shame;
if he would be "set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews, xii, 2.
58 "If there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church;
and let him speak to himself, and to God" (1 Corinthians, xiv,
28) has more than one meaning.
59 "And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in
heaven about the space of half and hour" (Rev. viii, 1).
of the conflicting Sects unable to obtain Raja Yoga, the most merciful
Sw?tm?r?ma Yogi offers the light of Hathavidya."60
In the practice of this mystic union which is brought about by the Hatha
Yoga and the Raja Yoga exercises the conditions necessary are:
1. "Yama:" Non-killing (Ahinsa); truthfulness (Satya); non-stealing (Asteya);
continence (Brahmacharya); and non-receiving of any gift (Aparigraha).
2. "Niyama:" Cleanliness (S'ancha); contentment (Santosha); mortification
(Papasaya); study and self surrender (Sw dhy ya); and the recognition of
the Supreme (I's'wara pranidh n ).
3. "A'sana:" Posture and the correct position of holding the body, and the
performance of the Mudras. {78}
4. "Pr?n?y?ma:" Control of the Pr?na, and the vital forces of the body.
5. "Praty?h?ra:" Making the mind introspective, turning it back upon itself.
6. "Dh?ran?:" Concentration, or the "will" to hold the mind to certain points.
7. "Dhy?na:" Meditation, or the outpouring of the mind on the object held by the
will.
8. "Sam?dhi:" Ecstasy, or Superconsciousness.
As regards the first two of the above stages we need not deal with them at
any length. Strictly speaking, they come under the heading of Karma and Gnana
Yoga, and as it were form the Evangelicism of Yoga --- the "Thou shalt" and
"Thou shalt not." They vary according to definition and sect.61 However, one
point must be explained, and this is, that it must be remembered that most
works on Yoga are written either by men like Patanjali, to whom continence,
truthfulness, etc., are simple illusions of mind; or by charlatans, who
imagine that, by displaying to the reader a mass of middle-class "virtues,"
their works will be given so exalted a flavour that they themselves will pass
as great ascetics who have out-soared the bestial passions of life, whilst in
fact they are running harems in Boulogne or making indecent proposals to
flower-girls in South Audley Street. These latter ones generally trade under
the exalted names of "The" Mahatmas; who, {79} coming straight from the Sh?m
Bazzaar, retail their wretched "b?k b?k" to their sheep-headed followers as the
eternal word of Brahman --- "The shower from the Highest!" And, not
infrequently, end in silent meditation within the illusive walls of Wormwood
Scrubbs.
The East like the West, has for long lain under the spell of that potent
but Middle-class Magician --- St. Shamefaced sex; and the whole of its
literature swings between the two extremes of Paederasty and Brahmach?rya.
Even the great science of Yoga has not remained unpolluted by his breath, so
that in many cases to avoid shipwreck upon Scylla the Yogi has lost his life
in the eddying whirlpools of Charybdis.
The Yogis claim that the energies of the human body are stored up in the
brain, and the highest of these energies they call "Ojas." they also claim
that that part of the human energy which is expressed in sexual passion, when
checked, easily becomes changed into Ojas; and so it is that they invariably
insist in their disciples gathering up the sexual energy and converting it
into Ojas. Thus we read:
It is only the chaste man and woman who can make the Ojas rise and become
stored in the brain, and this is why chastity has always been considered the
60 "Hatha-Yoga Pradipika," p. 2.
61 In all the Mysteries the partakers of them were always such as
had not committed crimes. It will be remembered that Nero did
not dare to present himself at the Eleusinian (Sueton. "vit. Nero,"
e. 3A). And Porphyry informs us that "in the Mysteries honour to
parents was enjoined, and not to injure animals" ("de
Abstinentia," iv, 22).
highest virtue. ... That is why in all the religious orders in the world that
have produced spiritual giants, you will always find this intense chastity
insisted upon. ...62 If people practise Raja-Yoga and at the same time lead
an impure life, how can they expect to become Yogis?63 {80}
This argument would appear at first sight to be self-contradictory, and
therefore fallacious, for, if to obtain Ojas is so important, how then can it
be right to destroy a healthy passion which is the chief means of supplying it
with the renewed energy necessary to maintain it? The Yogi's answer is simple
enough: Seeing that the extinction of the first would mean the ultimate death
of the second the various Mudra exercises wee introduced so that this healthy
passion might not only be preserved, but cultivated in the most rapid manner
possible, without loss of vitality resulting from the practices adopted.
Equilibrium is above all things necessary, and even in these early stages, the
mind of the aspirant should be entirely free from the obsession of either
ungratified or over-gratified appetites. Neither Lust nor Chastity should
solely occupy him; for as Krishna says:
Verily Yoga is not for him who eateth too much, nor who abstaineth to
excess, nor who is too much addicted to sleep, nor even to wakefulness, O
Arjuna.
Yoga killeth out all pain for him who is regulated in eating and amusement,
regulated in performing actions, regulated in sleeping and waking.64
This balancing of what is vulgarly known as Virtue and Vice,65 and which
the Yogi Philosophy does not always appreciate, is illustrated still more
forcibly in that illuminating work "Konx om Pax," in which Mr. Crowley writes:
As above so beneath! said Hermes the thrice greatest. The laws of the
physical world are precisely paralleled by those of the moral and intellectual
sphere. To the prostitute I prescribe a course of training by which she shall
{81} comprehend the holiness of sex. Chastity forms part of that training,
and I should hope to see her one day a happy wife and mother. To the prude
equally I prescribe a course of training by which she shall comprehend the
holiness of sex. Unchastity forms part of that training, and I should hope to
see her one day a happy wife and mother.
To the bigot I commend a course of Thomas Henry Huxley; to the infidel a
practical study of ceremonial magic. Then, when the bigot has knowledge of
the infidel faith, each may follow without prejudice his natural inclination;
for he will no longer plunge into his former excesses.
So also she who was a prostitute from native passion may indulge with
safety in the pleasure of love; and she who was by nature cold may enjoy a
virginity in no wise marred by her disciplinary course of unchastity. But the
one will understand and love the other.66
Once and for all do not forget that nothing in this world is permanently
good or evil; and, so long as it appears to be so, then remember that the
62 Certainly not in the case of the Mahometan Religion and its Sufi
Adepts, who drank the vintage of Bacchus as well as the wine of
Iacchus. The question of Chastity is again one of those which
rest on temperament and not on dogma. It is curious that the
astute Vivek?nanda should have fallen into this man-trap.
63 Swami Vivek?nanda, "Raja Yoga," p. 45.
64 The Bhagavad-G?ta, vi, 16, 17.
65 Or more correctly as the Buddhist puts its --- skilfulness and
unskilfulness.
66 "Konx om Pax," by A. Crowley, pp. 62, 63.
fault is the seer's and not in the thing seen, and that the seer is still in
an unbalanced state. Never forget Blake's words:
"Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be
restrained; and the restrainer or reason usurps its place and governs the
unwilling."67 Do not restrain your desires, but equilibrate them, for: "He
who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence."68 Verily: "Arise, and drink
your bliss, for everything that lives is holy."69
The six acts of purifying the body by Hatha-Yoga are Dhauti, Basti, Neti,
Trataka, Nauli and Kap?labh?ti,70 each of {82} which is described at length by
Sw?tm?r?n Swami. But the two most important exercise which all must undergo,
should success be desired, are those of A'sana and Pr?n?y?ma. The first
consists of physical exercises which will gain for him who practises them
control over the muscles of the body, and the second over the breath.
"The A'sanas," or Positions.
According to the "Pradipika" and the "Shiva Sanhita," there are 84 A'sanas;
but Goraksha says there are as many A'sana as there are varieties of beings,
and that Shiva has counted eighty-four lacs of them.71 The four most
important are: Siddh?sana, Padm?sana, Ugr?sana and Svastik?sana, which are
described in the Shiva Sanhita as follows:72
The "Siddh?sana." By "pressing with care by the (left) heel the yoni,73 the
other heel the Yogi should place on the lingam; he should fix his gaze upwards
on the space between the two eyebrows ... and restrain his senses."
The "Padm?sana." By crossing the legs "carefully place the feet on the
opposite thighs (the left on the right thing and "vic? vers?," cross both hands
and place them similarly on the thighs; fix the sight on the tip of the nose."
The "Ugr?sana." "Stretch out both the legs and keep them apart; firmly take
hold of the head by the hands, and place it on the knees."
The "Svastik?sana." "Place the soles of the feet completely under the
thighs, keep the body straight and at ease."
For the beginner that posture which continues for the {83} greatest length
of time comfortable is the correct one to adopt; but the head, neck and chest
should always be held erect, the aspirant should in fact adopt what the drill-
book calls "the first position of a soldier," and never allow the body in any
way to collapse. The "Bhagavad-G?ta" upon this point says:
In a pure place, established in a fixed seat of his own, neither very much
raised nor very low ... in a secret place by himself. ... There ... he should
67 The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
68 "Ibid."
69 Visions of the Daughters of Albion.
70 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," p. 30. Dhauti is of four kinds:
Antardhauti (internal washing); Dantdhauti (cleaning the teeth);
Hriddhauti (cleaning the heart); Mulashodhana (cleaning the
anus). Basti is of two kinds, Jala Basti (water Basti) and
Sukshma Basti (dry Basti) and consists chiefly in dilating and
contracting the sphincter muscle of the anus. Neti consists of
inserting a thread into the nostrils and pulling it out through
the mouth, Trataka in steadying the eyes, Nauli in moving the
intestines, and Kap?labh?ti, which is of three kinds, Vy?t-krama,
V?ma-krama, and Sit-krama, of drawing in wind or water through
the nostrils and expelling it by the mouth, and "vice vers?". Also
see "Gheranda Sanhita," pp. 2-10. This little book should be
read in conjunction with the "Hatha Yoga Pradipika."
71 The "Gheranda Sanhita" gives thirty-two postures.
72 The "Shiva Sanhita," pp. 25, 26.
73 The imaginary "triangle of flesh" near the perinaeum.
practise Yoga for the purification of the self. Holding the body, head and
neck erect, immovably steady, looking fixedly at the point of the nose and
unwandering gaze.
When these posture have been in some way mastered, the aspirant must
combine with them the exercises of Pr?n?y?ma, which will by degrees purify the
N?di or nerve-centres.
These N?dis, which are usually set down as numbering 72,000,74 ramify from
the heart outwards in the pericardium; the three chief are the Ida, Pingala
and Sushumn?,75 the last of which is called "the most highly beloved of the
Yogis."
Besides practising Pr?n?y?ma he should also perform one {84} or more of the
Mudras, as laid down in the "Hatha Yoga Pradipika" and the "Shiva Sanhita," so
that he may arouse the sleeping Kundalini, the great goddess, as she is
called, who sleeps coiled up at the mouth of the Sushumn?. But before we deal
with either of these exercises, it will be necessary to explain the Mystical
Constitution of the human organism and the six Chakkras which constitute the
six stages of the Hindu Tau of Life.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE HUMAN ORGANISM
Firstly, we have the Atman, the Self or Knower, whose being consists in a
trinity in unity of, Sat, Absolute Existence; Chit, Wisdom; Ananda, Bliss.
Secondly, the Anthak?rana or the internal instrument, which has five
attributes according to the five elements, thus:
ÚSpirit . Atma.
³Air . . Manas.76 The mind or thought faculty.
1. Spirit. ´Fire . . Buddhi. The discriminating faculty.
³Water . Chittam.77 The thought-stuff.
ÀEarth . Ahank?ra. Egoity.
2. Air. The five organs of knowledge. Gnanendriyam.
3. Fire. The five organs of Action. Karmendriyam.
4. Water. The five subtle airs or Pr?nas.
5. Earth. The five Tatwas.
74 Besides the 72,000 nerves or veins there are often 101 others
mentioned. These 101 chief veins each have 100 branch veins
which again each have 72,000 tributary veins. The total (101 +
101 x 100 x 100 x 72,000) equals 727,210,201. The 101st is the
Sushumn?. Yoga cuts through all these, except the 101st,
stripping away all consciousness until the Yogi "is merged in the
supreme, indescribable, ineffable Brahman." Also see "Gheranda
Sanhita," p./ 37. The N^adis are known to be purified by the
following signs: (1) A clear skin. (2) A beautiful voice. (3) A
calm appearance of the face. (4) Bright eyes. (5) Hearing
constantly the N?da.
75 The Sushumn? may in more than one way be compared to Prometheus,
or the hollow reed, who as the mediator between heaven and earth
transmitted the mystic fire from the moon. Again the Mahalingam
or omicron phi alpha lambda lambda omicron sigma . For further see "The
Canon," p. 119.
76 Manas and Chittam differ as the movement of the waters of a lake
differ from the water itself.
77 Manas and Chittam differ as the movement of the waters of a lake
differ from the water itself.
The Atma of Anthak?rana has 5 sheaths, called Kos'as.78 {85}
1. Anandam?y?kos'a, Body of Bliss, is innermost. It is still an illusion.
Atma, Buddhi and Manas at most participate.
2. Manom?y?kos'a. The illusionary thought-sheath including Manas, Buddhi,
Chittam, and Ahank?ra in union with one or more of the Gnanendriyams.
3. Vi¤¤anam?y?kos'a. The consciousness sheath, which consists of Anthak?rana
in union with an organ of action of of sense --- Gnan- and Karm-
endriyam.
4. Pr?n?m?y?kos'a. Consists of the five airs. Here we drop below
Anthak?rana.
5. Annam?y?kos'a. Body of Nourishment. The faculty which feeds on the five
Tatwas.
Besides these there are three bodies or Shariras.
1. Karana Sharira. The Causal body, which almost equals the protoplast.
2. Sukshma Sharira. The Subtle body, which consists of the vital airs, etc.
3. Sthula Shirara. The Gross body.
THE CHAKKRAS
According to the Yoga,79 there are two nerve-currents in {86} the spinal
column called respectively Pingala and Ida, and between these is placed the
Sushumn?, an imaginary tube, at the lower extremity of which is situated the
Kundalini (potential divine energy). Once the Kundalini is awakened it forces
its way up the Sunshumn?,80 and, as it does so, its progresses is marked by
wonderful visions and the acquisition of hitherto unknown powers.
The Sushumn? is, as it were, the central pillar of the Tree of Life, and
its six stages are known as the Six Chakkras.81 To these six is added a
78 H. P. Blavatsky in "Instruction No. 1" issued to members of the
first degree of her Eastern School of Theosophy (marked "Strictly
Private and Confidential!") deals with those Kos'as on p. 16.
But it is quite impossible here to attempt to extract from these
instructions the little sense they may contain on account of the
numerous Auric Eggs, Ak?sic envelopes, Karmic records, D?v?chanic
states, etc., etc. On p. 89 of "Instruction No. III" we are told
that the Sushumn? "is" the Brahmarandhra, and that there is "an
enormous difference between Hatha and Raja Yoga." Plate III of
Instructions No. II is quite Theosophical, and the third rule out
of the Probationers' pledge, "I pledge myself never to listen,
without protest, to any evil thing spoken falsely, or yet
unproven, of a brother Theosophist, and to abstain from
condemning others," seems to have been consistently acted upon
ever since.
79 Compare with the Kundalini the Serpent mentioned in paragraph 26
of "The Book of Concealed Mystery." Note too the lotus-leaf that
backs the throne of a God is also the hood of the Cobra. So too
the Egyptian gods have the serpent upon the brow.
80 Provided the other exits are duly stopped by Practice. The
danger of Yoga is this , that one may awaken the Magic Power
before all is balanced. A discharge takes place in some wrong
direction and obsession results.
81 The forcing of the Kundalini up the Sushumn? and through the six
Chakkras to the Sahasr?ra, is very similar to Rising on the
Planes through Malkuth, Yesod, the Path of HB:Peh , Tiphereth, the
Path of HB:Tet , and Da?th to Kether, by means of the Central
Pillar of the Tree of Life.
seventh; but this one, the Shasr?ra, lies altogether outside the human
organism.
These six Chakkras are:
1. "The M?l?dhara-Chakkra." This Chakkra is situated between the lingam and
the anus at the base of the Spinal Column. It is called the Adhar-Padma, or
fundamental lotus, and it has four petals. "In the pericarp of the Adhar
lotus there is the triangular beautiful yoni, hidden and kept secret in all
the Tantras." In this yoni dwells the goddess Kundalini; she surrounds all
the Nadis, and has three and a half coils. She catches her tail in her own
mouth, and rests in the entrance of the Sushumn?82 {87}
58. It sleeps there like a serpent, and is luminous by its own light ... it
is the Goddess of speech, and is called the vija (seed).
59. Full of energy, and like burning gold, know this Kundalini to be the
power (Shakti) of Vishnu; it is the mother of the three qualities --- Satwa
(good), Rajas (indifference), and Tamas (bad).
60. There, beautiful like the Bandhuk flower, is placed the seed of love;
it is brilliant like burnished gold, and is described in Yoga as eternal.
61. The Sushumn? also embraces it, and the beautiful seed is there; there
it rests shining brilliantly like the autumnal moon, with the luminosity of
millions of suns, and the coolness of millions of moons. O Goddess! These
three (fire, sun and moon) taken together or collectively are called the vija.
It is also called the great energy.83
In the M?l?dhara lotus there also dwells a sun between the four petals,
which continuously exudes a poison. This venom (the sun-fluid of mortality)
goes to the right nostril, as the moon-fluid of immortality goes to the left,
by means of the Pingala which rises from the left side of the Ajna lotus.84
The M?l?dhara is also the seat of the Ap?na.
2. "The Svadisth?na Chakkra." This Chakkra is situated at the base of the
sexual organ. It has six petals. The colour of this lotus is blood-red, its
presiding adept is called Balakhya and its goddess, Rakini.85
He who daily contemplates on this lotus becomes an object of love and
adoration to all beautiful goddesses. He fearlessly recites the various
Shastras {88} and sciences unknown to him before ... and moves throughout the
universe.86
This Chakkra is the seat of the Sam?na, region about the navel and of the
Apo Tatwa.
3. "The Manip?ra Chakkra." This Chakkra is situated near the navel, it is
of a golden colour and has ten petals (sometimes twelve), its adept is
Rudrakhya and its goddess Lakini. It is the "solar-plexus" or "city of gems,"
and is so called because it is very brilliant. This Chakkra is the seat of
the Agni Tatwa. Also in the abdomen burns the "fire of digestion of food"
82 The following Mystical Physiology is but a symbolic method of
expressing what is night inexpressible, and in phraseology is
akin to Western Alchemy, the physiological terms taking the place
of the chemical ones.
83 "Shiva Sanhita," chap. v.
84 "Ibid,", chap. v,107, 108, 109. This is probably wrong, as the
sun is usually placed in the Manip?ra Chakkra. In the body of a
man the Pingala is the solar current, the Ida the lunar. In a
woman these are reversed.
85 "Ibide.", chap. v, 75.
86 "Shiva Sanhita," chap. v, 76, 77. Compare this Chakkra to the
lunar and sexual Yesod of the Qabalah; also note that the power
here attained to is that of Skrying.
situated in the middle of the sphere of the sun, having ten Kalas (petals).
...87
He who enters this Chakkra
Can made gold, etc., see the adepts (clairvoyantly) discover medicines for
diseases, and see hidden treasures.88
4. "The Anahata Chakkra." This Chakkra is situated in the heart, it is of a
deep blood red colour, and has twelve petals. It is the seat of Pr?na and is
a very pleasant spot; its adept is Pinaki and its goddess is Kakini. This
Chakkra is also the seat of the V?yu Tatwa.
He who always contemplates on this lotus of the heart is eagerly desired by
the daughters of gods ... has clairaudience, clairvoyance, and can walk in the
air. ... He sees the adepts and the goddesses. ... 89
5. "The Vishuddha Chakkra." This Chakkra is situated in the throat directly
below the larynx, it is of a brilliant gold {89} colour and has sixteen
petals. It is the seat of the Udana and the Ak?sa Tatwa; its presiding adept
is Chhagalanda and its goddess Sakini.
6. "The Ajna Chakkra." This Chakkra is situated between the two eyebrows,
in the place of the pineal gland. It is the seat of the Mano Tatwa, and
consists of two petals. Within this lotus are sometimes placed the three
mystical principles of Vindu, Nadi and Shakti.90 "Its presiding adept is
called Sukla-Mahakala (the white great time; also Adhanari --- 'Adonai') its
presiding goddess is called Hakini."91
97. Within that petal, there is the eternal seed, brilliant as he autumnal
moon. The wise anchorite by knowing this is never destroyed.
98. This is the great light held secret in all the Tantras; by
contemplating on this, one obtains the greatest psychic powers, there is no
doubt in it.
99. I am the giver of salvation, I am the third linga in the turya (the
state of ecstasy, also the name of the thousand petalled lotus.92 By
contemplating on This the Yogi becomes certainly like me.93
{Illustration facing page 90 described:
"DIAGRAM 83. The Yogi (showing the Cakkras)."
This is a half tone of a black line vertical rectangle with a white or gray
interior. The lower 3/5's of the rectangle is occupied by a frontal nude man
87 "Ibid.", chap. ii, 32. This Chakkra corresponds to Tiphareth.
88 "Ibid.", chap. v, 82.
89 "Ibid.", chap. v, 85, 86, 87.
90 "Shiva Sanhita," chap. v, 110.
91 "Ibid.", chap. v, 49.
92 Though all Hindu works proclaim that the Sahasr?ra has but one
thousand petals, its true number is one thousand and one as
depicted in the diagram called the Yogi. 10001 = 91 xx 11
(HB:Nun-final HB:Mem HB:Aleph x HB:Yod HB:Nun HB:Dalet HB:Aleph ; 91 = HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod +
HB:Yod HB:Nun HB:Dalet HB:Aleph 11 = ABRAHADABRA = 418 (38 x 11) = Achad
Osher, or one and ten, = the Eleven Averse Sephiroth = Adonai.
Also 91 = 13 x 7 HB:Dalet HB:Chet HB:Aleph x ARARITA, etc., etc. 11 is the
Number of the Great Work, the Uniting of the Five and the Six,
and 91 = mystic number (1+2+3 ... + 13) of 13 = Achad = 1.
93 "Ibid.", chap. v, 50.
exactly as described in the Padmasana Asana described on page 83. He is bald.
The six chakras are depicted as abstract devices at the positions described in
the above text.
Muladhara is placed at the intersection of the crossed ankles, with a bit
of the left ankle showing above and the symbol extending below the ankles: A
dark disk with four petals created by the intersection of to vesicas, one
horizontal and the other vertical. The area of intersection is white, the
petals outside each have a radial rib which stops at the arc of the
intersection of the vesicas. There is an upright equilateral black triangle
in the center of the intersection, small circle with central dot inside that.
Svadisthana is placed at the lower pelvis, shown just above the crossed
ankles. It is not in a circle or disk, but is composed of three intersecting
vesicas forming a curved sided hexagonal shape with "points" to top and
bottom. The intersections of adjacent vesicas form white spaces of three
arcs. The combined intersection of all vesicas forms an area of distinct
color with a dark, vertical and linear hexagram. There is a small white
circle with center point in the midst of this.
Manipura is placed at the center of the abdomen. It is contained in a 20-
pointed white star, outline only and giving the appearance of a ring. Within
this is a black disk. Within the black disk is a figure constructed of five
intersecting vesicas, in a similar fashion to the description for the
Svadisthana but forming a curved sided decagonal shape with "points" to the
top and bottom. Where only two vesicas intersect, the space is dark. Where
three vessicas intersect, the space is light. Where four vesicas intersect,
the space is dark again. Where all five vesicas intersect, there is a
different shade used, and in the midst of this is a vertical ten-pointed star
of lines with a white circle and central dot in the midst.
Anahata is placed in the center of the thorax. It is not in a circle, but
is composed of six intersecting vesicas forming a curved sided duo-dacagonal
shale of twelve "petals" with points to top and bottom. The outer, mono-
vesical parts are gray, two vesicas intersect in white, three in gray. All
other intersections are in a common space to the center, defined by a circle
and a different shade of gray. Free-standing in the center of this is a ring
of twelve shapes, with radials going outward to cut the space into an inner
ring of twelve five curved-sided and inward pointed irregular pentagons. This
inner ring of twelve petals contains a 12 sided star with points at top and
bottom, defining the divisions of the irregular pentagons. The center is an
approximate white circle with point in center.
Vishuddha is placed at the base of the throat. It is composed of a star
ring of sixteen gray leaves with single radial ribs, one leaf to the top.
Within this is a ring of sixteen white petals with dots in the lower lobe,
petals to top and bottom. The center as for Anahata, but sixteenfold.
Ajna on forehead. This is a more western symbol, two upward curving wings
of seven primary feathers and a more complex array of secondaries, curving to
the outside and coming to two points just above the top of the head. These
join in two white featherlets a semicircular curve at the base, just above the
brows. There is a stylized descending gray dove in the midst, just above the
lower white featherlets. A white light seems to be seen through the backs of
the wings just above the dove. For the meaning of the symbolism of these
"closed" wings, see the footnote below, page {147} in the Equinox.
The upper 2/5's of the space contains a large circular device, representing
the Shasrara. This looks a bit like the head of a thistle and has 72
elongated spikes emanating outward in a circle to define the outer edge of the
next inward feature, a white ring. The spikes have rounded bottoms with a dot
in the center of each, and there are 72 lines drawn radiating outward between
them, one between each pair. Five of these spikes touch and pass behind the
head. Within the white ring are 13 concentric rings of petals, 11 in the
innermost and the number of petals increasing as the rings go outward. The
second petal ring from the center has 22, the next outward about 44. After
that the number of petals ceases doubling, but increases more slowly.
Theoretically there is a total of 1000 such petals in all, but I didn't count
them all. In the center there is a white circle with a crescent moon in gray
inside, horns upward --- this would be the 1,001st petal.}
The Sushumn? following the spinal cord on reaching the Brahmarandhra (the
hole of Brahman) the junction of the sutures of the skull, by a modification
goes to the right side of the Ajna lotus, whence it proceeds to the left
nostril, and is called the Varana, Ganges (northward flowing Ganges) or Ida.
By a similar modification in the opposite direction the {90} Sushumn? goes to
the left side of the Ajna lotus and proceeding to the right nostril is called
the Pingala. Jamuna or Asi. The space between these two, the Ida and
Pingala, is called Varanasi (Benares), the holy city of Shiva.
111. He who secretly always contemplates on the Ajna lotus, at once
destroys all the Karma of his past life, without any opposition.
121. Remaining in the place, when the Yogi meditates deeply, idols appear
to him as mere things imagination, "i.e.", he perceives the absurdity of
idolatry.94
The Sahasr?ra, or thousand-and-one-petaled lotus of the brain, is usually
described as being situated above the head, but sometimes in the opening of
the Brahmarandhra, or at the root of the palate. In its centre there is a
Yoni which has its face looking downwards. In the centre of this Yoni is
placed the mystical moon, which is continually exuding an elixir or dew95 ---
this moon fluid of immortality unceasingly flows through the Ida.
In the untrained, and all such as are not Yogis, "Every particle of this
nectar (the Satravi) that flows from the Ambrosial Moon is swallowed up by the
Sun (in the M?l?dhara Chakkra)96 and destroyed, this loss causes the body to
become old. If the aspirant can only prevent this flow of nectar by closing
the hole in the palate of his mouth (the Prahmarandra), he will be able to
utilize it to prevent the waste of his body. By (91) drinking it he will fill
his whole body with life, and "even though he is bitten by the serpent
Takshaka, the poison does not spread throughout his body."97
Further the "Hatha Yoga Pradipika" informs us that: "When one has closed
the hole at the root of the palate ... his seminal fluid is not emitted even
through he is embraced by a young and passionate woman."
NOw this gives us the Key to the whole of this lunar symbolism, and we find
that the Soma-juice of the Moon, dew, nectar, semen and vital force are but
various names for one and the same substance, and that if the vindu can be
retained in the body it may by certain practices which we will now discuss, be
utilized in not only strengthening but in prolonging this life to an
indefinite period.98 These practices are called the Mudras, they are to be
94 "Shiva Sanhita," chap. v. It does not follow that missionaries
are Yogis.
95 Compare. "From the Skull of the Ancient Being wells forth Dew,
and this Dew will wake up the dead to a new life." --- The Zohar,
" "Idra Rabba."
"I will be as a dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and
cast forth his roots as Lebanon." --- Hosea, xiv. 5.
96 This is according to the "Shiva Sanhita." "The Hatha Yoga
Pradipika" places the Sun in the Svadisth?na Chakkra. The
Manip?ra Chakkra is however probably the correct one.
97 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," p. 53.
98 Fabulous ages are attributed to many of the Yogis. See Flagg's
"Yoga," chap. xxviii; and "OM" by Sabhapaty Swami, p. vi.
found fully described in the Tantras, and are made us of as one of the methods
of awakening the sleeping Kundalini.99
There are many of these Mudras, the most important being the Yoni-Mudra,
Maha Mudra, Maha Bandha, Maha Vedha, Khechari, Uddiyana, Mula and Salandhara
Bandha, Viparitakarani, Vajroli and Shakti Chalana.
1. "The Yoni Mudra."
With a strong inspiration fix the mind in the Adhar lotus; then engage in
contracting the yoni (the space between the lingam and anus). After which
contemplate that the God of love resides in the Brahma-Yoni, and imagine that
an union takes place between Shiva and Shakti.
A full account of how to practise this Mudra is given in the "Shiva
Sanhita";100 but it is both complicated and difficult to carry out, and if
attempted should most certainly be performed under the instruction of a Guru.
2. "Maha Mudra."
Pressing the anus with the left heel and stretching out the right leg, take
hold of the toes with your hand. Then practise the Jalandhara Bandha101 and
draw the breath through the Sushumn?. Then the Kundalini become straight just
as a coiled snake when struck. ... Then the two other Nadis (the Ida and
Pingala) become dead, because the breath goes out of them. Then he should
breathe out very slowly and never quickly.102
"
"3. "Maha Bandha."
Pressing the anus with the left ankle place the right foot upon the left
thigh. Having drawn in the breath, place the chin firmly on the breast,
contract the anus and fix the mind on the Sushumn? Nadi. Having restrained
the breath as long as possible, he should then breathe out slowly. He should
practise first on the left side and then on the right.103
4. "Maha Vedha."
As a beautiful and graceful woman is of no value without a husband, so Maha
Mudra and Maha Bandha have no value without Maha Vedha.
The Yogi assuming the Maha Bandha posture, should draw in his breath {93}
with a concentrated mind and stop the upward and downward course of the Pr?n?
by Jalandhara Bandha. Resting his body upon his palms placed upon the ground,
he should strike the ground softly with his posteriors. By this the Pr?n?,
leaving Ida and Pingala, goes through the Sushumn?. ... The body assumes a
death-like aspect. Then he should breathe out.104
99 We believe this to be the exoteric explanation of this
symbolism, the esoteric one being that Shiva represents the Solar
or Spiritual Force, and Shakti the lunar or Bodily, the union of
these two cancels out the pairs of opposites and produces
Equilibrium.
100 "Shiva Sanhita," chap. iv, 1-11. Also see "Gheranda Sanhita,"
p. 23.
101 The Jalandhara Banda is performed by contracting the throat and
pressing the chin firmly against the breast.
102 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," pp. 45, 46. Also see "Shiva Sanhita,"
chap. iv, 11-20. The breath is always exhaled slowly so as not
to expend the Pr?na.
103 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," p. 47; "Shiva Sanhita," chap. iv, 21,
22.
104 "Hatha-Yoga Pradipika," p. 48; "Shiva Sanhita," vol. iv, 23-30.
5. "Khechari Mudra."
The Yogi sitting in the Vajr?sana (Siddh?sana) posture, should firmly fix
his gaze upon Ajna, and reversing the tongue backwards, fix it in the hollow
under the epiglottis, placing it with great care on the mouth of the well of
nectar.105
6. "Uddiyana Mudra."
The drawing up of the intestines above and below the navel (so that they
rest against the back of the body high up the thorax) is called Uddiyana
Bandha, and is the lion that kills the elephant Death.106
7. "Mula Mudra."
Pressing the Yoni with the ankle, contract the anus and draw the Ap?na
upwards. This is Mula Bandha.107
8. "Jalandhara Mudra."
Contract the throat and press the chin firmly against the breast (four
inches from the heart). This is Jalandhara Bandha. ...108
9. "Viparitakarani Mudra."
This consists in making the Sun and Moon assume exactly reverse positions.
The Sun which is below the navel and the Moon which is above the palate change
places. This Mudra {94} must be learnt from the Guru himself, and though, as
we are told in the "Pradipika," a theoretical study of crores of Shastras
cannot throw any light upon it, yet nevertheless in the "Shiva Sanhita" the
difficulty seems to be solved by standing on one's head.109
10. "Shakti Chalana Mudra."
Let the wise Yogi forcibly and firmly draw up the goddess Kundalini
sleeping in the Adhar lotus, by means of the Apana-V?yu. This is Shakti-
Chalan Mudra. ...110
the "Hatha Yoga Pradipika" is very obscure on this Mudra, it says:
As one forces open a door with a key, so the Yogi should force open the
door of Moksha (Deliverance) by the Kundalini.
105 "Shiva Sanhita," chap iv, 31. This is perhaps the most
important of the Mudras. The "Hatha Yoga Pradipika" gives a long
description of how the "fraenum linguae" is cut. See pp. 49-56.
106 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," p. 57; "Shiva Sanhita," chap. iv, 48-
52.
107 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," p. 58; "Shiva Sanhita," chap. iv, p.
41-44.
108 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," p. 60; "Shiva Sanhita," chap. iv, 38-
40.
109 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," p. 62; "Shiva Sanhita," chap. iv, 45-
47. Again this is the union of Shiva and Shakti, and that of the
solar and lunar Pingala and Ida by means of the Sushumn? --- the
path of the gods.
110 "Shiva Sanhita," chap. iv, 76-81.
Between the Ganges and the Jamuna there sits the young widow inspiring
pity. he should despoil her forcibly, for it leads one to the supreme seat of
Vishnu.
You should awake the sleeping serpent (Kundalini) by taking hold of its
tail. ...111
As a special form of Kumbhaka is mentioned, most probably this Mudra is but
one of the numerous Pr?n?y?ma practices, which we shall deal with shortly.
11. "The Vajroli-Mudra."
In the "Shiva Sanhita"112 there is a long account of this Mudra in which
the God says: "It is the most secret of all {95} the secrets that ever were or
shall be; therefore let the prudent Yogi keep it with the greatest secrecy
possible." It consists chiefly in uniting the linga and yoni, but in
restraining the vindu.113
If by chance the Vindu begins to move let him stop it by practice of the
Yoni Mudra. ... After a while let him continue again ... and by uttering the
sound "hoom," let him forcibly draw up through the contraction of the Apana V?yu
the germ cells. ...
Know Vindu to be moon-like, and the germ cells the emblem of the sun; let
the Yogi make their union in his own body with great care.114
I am the Vindu, Shakti is the germ fluid; when they both are combined, then
the Yogi reaches the state of success, and his body becomes brilliant and
divine.
Ejaculation of Vindu is death, preserving it within is life. ... Verily,
verily, men are born and die through Vindu. ... The Vindu causes the pleasure
and pain of all creatures living in this world, who are infatuated and subject
to death and decay.115
There are two modifications of the Vajroli Mudra; namely, Amarani and
Sahajoni. The first teaches how, if at the time of union there takes place a
union of the sun and moon, the lunar flux can be re-absorbed by the lingam.
And the second how this union may be frustrated by the practice of Yoni Mudra.
These practices of Hatha Yoga if zealously maintained bring forth in the
aspirant psychic powers known as the Siddhis,116 the most important of which
are (1) Anima (the {96} power of assimilating oneself with an atom). (2)
Mahima (the power of expanding oneself into space). (3) Laghima (the power of
reducing gravitation). (4) Garima (the power of increasing gravitation). (5)
Prapti (the power of instantaneous travelling). (6) Prakamya (the power of
111 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," pp. 63, 69.
112 "Shiva Sanhita," chap. iv, 53-75.
113 On the doctrines of this mudra many popular American semi-
occult works have been written, such as "Karezza," "Solar
Biology," and "The Goal of Life."
114 It is to be noted here that the union is again that of the
mystical Shakti and Shiva, but now within the man. All this
symbolism is akin to that made use of by the Sufis.
115 "Shiva Sanhita," chap. iv, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63.
116 "Any person if he actively practises Yoga becomes a Siddha; be
he young, old or even very old, sickly or weak. Siddhis are not
obtained by wearing the dress of a Yogi, or by talking about
them; untiring practice is the secret of success" ("Hatha Yoga
Pradipika," p. 25).
instantaneous realization). (7) Isatva (the power of creating). (8) Vastiva
(the power of commanding and of being obeyed).117
"The Pr?na."
We now come to the next great series of exercises, namely those which
control the Pr?na (breath); and it is with these exercises that we arrive at
that point where Hatha Yoga merges into Raja Yoga, and the complete control of
the physical forces gives place to that of the mental ones.
Besides being able by the means of Pr?n?y?ma to control the breath, the
Yogi maintains that he can also control the Omnipresent Manifesting Power out
of which all energies arise, whether appertaining to magnetism, electricity,
gravitation, nerve currents or thought vibrations, in fact the total forces of
the Universe physical and mental.
Pr?na, under one of its many forms118 may be in either a static, dynamic,
kinetic or potential state, but, notwithstanding the form it assumes, it
remains Pr?na, that is in common language the "will to work" within the Ak?sa,
from which it evolves the Universe which appeals to our senses.
The control of this World Soul, this "will to work" is {97} called
Pr?n?y?ma. And thus it is that we find the Yogi saying that he who can
control the Pr?na can control the Universe. To the perfect man there can be
nothing in nature that is not under his control.
If he orders the gods to come, they will come at his bidding. ... All the
forces of nature will obey him as his slaves, and when the ignorant see these
powers of the Yogi, they call them miracles.119
PRANAYAMA
The two nerve currents Pingala and Ida correspond to the sensory and motor
nerves, one is afferent and the other efferent. The one carries the
sensations to the brain, whilst the other carries them back from the brain to
the tissues of the body. The yogi well knows that this is the ordinary
process of consciousness, and from it he argues that, if only he can succeed
in making the two currents, which are moving in opposite directions, move in
one and the same direction, by means of guiding them through the Sushumn?, he
will thus be able to attain a state of consciousness as different from the
normal state as a fourth dimensional world would be from a third. Swami
Vivek?nanda explains this as follows:
Suppose this table moves, that the molecules which compose this table are
moving in different directions; if they are all made to move in the same
direction it will be electricity. electric motion is when the molecules all
move in the same direction. ... When all the motions of the body have become
perfectly rhythmical, the body has, as it were, become a gigantic battery of
will. This tremendous will is exactly what the Yogi wants.120
And the conquest of the will is the beginning and end of Pr?n?y?ma. {98}
117 For further powers see Flagg's "Transformation or Yoga," pp.
169, 181.
118 Such as: Apana, Samana, Udana, Vyana, Haga, Kurma, Vrikodara,
Devadatta, Dhanajaya, etc., etc.
119 Raja-Yoga, "Vivek?nanda," p. 23. See Eliphas Levi's "The Dogma
and Ritual of Magic," pp. 121, 158, 192, and Huxley's "Essay on
Hume," p. 155.
120 Raja-Yoga, "Vivek?nanda," pp. 36, 37.
Arjuna says: "For the mind is verily restless, O Krishna; it is impetuous,
strong and difficult to bend, I deem it as hard to curb as the wind."
To which Krishna answers; "Without doubt, O mighty-armed, the mind is hard
to curb and restless, but it may be curbed by constant practice and by
indifference."121
The Kundalini whilst it is yet coiled up in the M?l^adhara is said to be in
the Mah?k?sa, or in three dimensional space; when it enters the Sushumn? it
enters the Chitt?k?sa or mental Space, in which supersensuous objects are
perceived. But, when perception has become objectless, and the soul shines by
means of its own nature, it is said to have entered the Chid?k?sa or Knowledge
space, and when the Kundalini enters this space it arrives at thee end of its
journey and passes into the last Chakkra the Sahasr?ra. Vishnu is United to
Devaki or Shiva to Shakti, and symbolically, as the divine union takes place,
the powers of the Ojas rush forth and beget a Universe unimaginable by the
normally minded man.122 {99}
How to awake the Kundalini is therefore our next task.
We have seen how this can partially be done by the various Mudra exercises,
but it will be remembered that the Shakti Chalana mentioned the practice of
Kumbhaka or the retention of breath. Such an exercise therefore partially
falls under the heading of Pr?n?y?ma.
It is a well-known physiological fact that the respiratory system, more so
than any other, controls the motions of the body. Without food or drink we
can subsist many days, but stop a man's breathing but for a few minutes and
life becomes extinct.123 The air oxydises the blood, and it is the clean red
blood which supports in health the tissues, nerves, and brain. When we are
agitated our breath comes and goes in gasps, when we are at rest it becomes
regular and rhythmical.
In the "Hatha Yoga Pradipika" we read:
He who suspends (restrains) the breath, restrains also the working of the
mind. He who has controlled the mind, has also controlled the breath.
. . . . . . .
. .
If one is suspended, the other also is suspended. If one acts, the other
also does the same. If they are not stopped, all the Indriyas (the senses)
keep actively engaged in their respective work. If the mind and Pr?na are
stopped, the state of emancipation is attained.124
121 "Bhagavad-G?ta," vi, 34, 35.
122 The whole of this ancient symbolism is indeed in its very
simplicity of great beauty. The highest of physical emotions,
namely, love between man and woman, is taken as its foundation.
This love, if allowed its natural course, results in the creation
of images of ourselves, our children, who are better equipped to
fight their way that we on account of the experiences we have
gained. But, if this love is turned into a supernatural channel,
that is to say, if the joys and pleasures of this world are
renounced for some higher ideal still, an ideal super-worldly,
then will it become a divine emotion, a love which will awake the
human soul and urge it on through all obstructions to its
ultimate union with the Supreme soul. To teach this celestial
marriage to the Children of earth even the greatest masters must
make use of worldly symbols; thus it has come about that
corruption has cankered the sublimest of truths, until man's
eyes, no longer seeing the light, see but the flameless lantern,
because of the filth that has been cast about it.
123 Malay [pearl divers can remain from three to five minutes under
water.
124 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," p. 79.
There are three kings of Pr?n?y?ma: Rechaka Pr?n?y?ma (exhaling the
breath), Puraka Pr?n?y?ma (inhaling the breath), and Kumbhaka Pr?n?y?ma
(restraining the breath). The first kind consists in performing Rechaka
first; the second in doing Puraka first; and the third in suddenly stopping
the breath without Puraka and Rechaka.125 {100}
Kumbhaka is also of two kinds --- Sahita and Kevala. The Sahita is of two
sorts, the first resembling the first kind of Pr?n?y?ma, namely Rechaka
Kumbhaka Puraka; the second resembling the second kind of Pr?n?y?ma, namely
Puraka Kumbhaka Rechaka. The Sahita should be practised till the Pr?na enters
the Sushumn?, which is known by a peculiar sound126 being produced in the
Sushumn?; after which the Kevala Kumbhaka should be practised. This Kumbhaka
is described in the "Hatha-Yoga Pradipika" as follows:
When this Kumbhaka has been mastered without any Rechaka or Puraka, there
is nothing unattainable by him in the three worlds. He can restrain his
breath as long as he likes through this Kumbhaka.
He obtains the stage of Raja-Yoga. Through this Kumbhaka, the Kundalini is
roused, and when it is so roused the Sushumn? is free of all obstacles, and he
has attained perfection in Hatha-Yoga.127
Of the many Pr?n?y?ma exercises practised in the East the following are
given for sake of example.
1. Draw in the breath for four seconds, hold it for sixteen, and then
throw it out in eight. This makes one Pr?n?y?ma.
At the same time think of the triangle (The M?l?dhara Chakkra is
symbolically represented as a triangle of fire) and concentrate the mind on
that centre. At the first practice this four times in the morning and four
times in the evening, and as it becomes a pleasure to you to do so slowly
increase the number.
2. Assume the Padm?sana posture; draw in the Pr?na through the Ida (left
nostril), retain it until the body begins to perspire and shake, and then
exhale it through Pingala (right nostril) slowly and never fast. {101}
He should perform Kumbhakas four times a day --- in the early morning,
midday, evening, and midnight --- till he increases the number to eighty.128
This will make 320 Kumbhakas a day. In the early stages the Pr?na should
be restrained for 12 matras (secondes) increasing as progress is made to 24
and to 36.
In the first stage, the body perspires; in the second, a tremor is felt
throughout the body; and in the highest stage, the Pr?na goes to the
Brahmarandhra.129
this exercise may also be practised with an additional meditation on the
Pranava OM.
3. Close with the thumb of your right hand the right ear, and with that of
the left hand the left ear. Close with the two index fingers the two eyes,
125 Also see "The Yogasara-Sangraha," p. 54.
126 The Voice of the Nada.
127 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," p. 43.
128 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," p. 28; the "Svetasvatara Upanishad;"
and the "Shiva Sanhita," chap. iii, 25.
129 "Hatha Yoga Pradipika," p. 28.
place the two middle fingers upon the two nostrils, and let the remaining
fingers press upon the upper and the lower lips. Draw a deep breath, close
both the nostrils at once, and swallow the breath. ... Keep the breath inside
as long as you conveniently can; then expire it slowly.130 {102}
PRATYAHARA
The next step in Raja Yoga is called Praty?h?ra, or the making of the mind
introspective, by which the mind gains will to control the senses and to shut
out all but the one object it is concentrating upon.
He who has succeeded in attaching or detaching his mind to or from the
centres of will, has succeeded in Praty?h?ra, which means "gathering towards,"
checking the outgoing powers of the mind, freeing it from the thraldom of the
senses. When we can do this we shall really possess a character; then alone
we shall have made a long step towards freedom; before that we are mere
machines.131
The absorption of the mind in the ever-enlightened Brahman by resolving all
objects into Atman, should be known as Praty?h?ra.132
The mind in ordinary men is entirely the slave of their senses. should
there be a noise, man hears it; should there be an odour, man smell it; a
taste, man tastes it; by means of his eyes he sees what is passing on around
him, whether he likes it or not; and by means of his skin he feels sensations
pleasant or painful. But in none of these cases is he actually master over
his senses. The man who is, is able to accomodate his senses to his mind. To
him no longer are external things necessary, for he can stimulate mentally the
sensation desired. he can hear beautiful sounds without listening to
beautiful music, and see beautiful sights without gazing upon them; he in fact
becomes the creator of what he wills, he can exalt his imagination to such a
degree over his senses, that by a mere act of imagination he can make those
senses instantaneously respond to his appeal, for he is lord over the senses,
{103} and therefore over the universe as "it appears," though not as "it is."
The first lesson in Praty?h?ra is to sit still and let the mind run on,
until it is realized what the mind is doing, when it will be understood how to
130 "Shiva Sanhita," p. xlix. This in the "Hatha Yoga Pradipika,"
p. 91, is called the Shanmukhi Mudra. Enormous concentration is
needed in all these Pr?n?y?ma exercises, and, if the aspirant
wishes to succeed, he must inflame himself with a will to carry
them out to their utmost, just as in the Ceremonial Exercises of
Abramelin he inflamed himself to attain to the Holy Vision
through Prayer. The mere act of restraining the breath,
breathing it in and out in a given time, so occupies the mind
that it has "no time" to think of any external object. For this
reason the periods of Kumbhaka should always be increased in
length, so that, by making the exercise little by little more
difficult, greater concentration may be gained.
Fra. P. writes: "If Kumbhaka be properly performed, the body
and mind become suddenly 'frozen.' The will is for a moment
free, and can hurl itself toward Adonai perhaps with success,
before memory again draws back the attention to the second-hand
of the watch."
131 "Raja Yoga," Vivek?nanda, p. 48. It will be noticed that
Pr?n?y?ma itself naturally merges into Praty?h?ra as
concentration on the breath increase.
132 "The Unity of J?va and Brahman, Srimat S?nkar?ch?rya,"
paragraph 121.
control it. Then it will find that the thoughts which at first bubbled up,
one over the other, become less and less numerous; but in their place will
spring up the thoughts which are normally sub-conscious. As these arise the
Will of the aspirant should strangle them; thus, if a picture is seen, the
aspirant by means of his will should seize hold of it before it can escape
him, endow it with an objectivity, after which he should destroy it, as if it
were a living creature, and have done with it. After this mastership over the
senses has been attained to, the next practice namely that of Dh?ran? must be
begun.
DHARANA
Dh?ran? consists in concentrating he will on one definite object or point.
sometimes it is practised by concentrating on external objects such as a rose,
cross, triangle, winged-globe, etc. sometimes on a deity, Shiva, Isis, Christ
or Buddha; but usually in India by forcing the mind to feel certain parts of
the body to the exclusion of others, such as a point in the centre of the
heart, or a lotus of light in the brain.
"when the chitta, or mind stuff, is confined and limited to a certain
place, this is called Dh?ran?."
"The Steadiness of the mind arising from the recognition of Brahma,
wherever it travels or goes, is the real and great Dh?ran?."133 {104}
The six Chakkras are points often used by the Yogi when in contemplation.
Thus seated in the Padm?sana he will fix his attention in the Ajna lotus, and
by contemplating upon this light the "Shiva Sanhita"134 informs us "all sins
(unbalanced forces) are destroyed, and even the most wicked (unbalanced)
person obtains the highest end."
Those who would practise Dh?ran? successfully should live alone, and should
take care to distract the mind as little as possible. They should not speak
much or work much, and they should avoid all places, persons and food which
repel them.135 The first signs of success will be better health and
temperament, and a clearer voice. Those who practise zealously will towards
the final stages of Dh?ran? hear sounds as of the pealing of distant bells,136
and will see specks of light floating before them which will grow larger and
larger as the concentration proceeds. "Practice hard!" urges Swami
Vivek?nanda, "whether you live or die, it does not matter. You have to plunge
in and work, without thinking of the result. If you are brave enough, in six
months you will be a perfect Yogi."137
DHYANA.
After Dh?ran? we arrive at Dhy?na, or meditation upon the outpouring of the
mind on the object held by the will.138 {105} when once Dh?ran? or
133 "Unity of J?va and Brahman, Srimat S?nkar?ch?rya," paragraph
122.
134 See Chapter V, 43-51.
135 Compare the Abramelin instructions with these.
136 The Nada.
137 Compare Eliphas Levi, "Doctrine and Ritual of Magic," p. 195.
138 Imagine the objective world to be represented by a sheet of
paper covered with letters and the names of things, and our power
of concentration to be a magnifying glass: that power is of no
use, should we wish to burn that paper, until the rays of light
are "focussed." By moving the glass or paper with our hand we
obtain the right distance. In the above the Will takes the place
of the hand.
concentration has progressed so far as to train the mind to remain fixed on
one object then Dhy?na or meditation may be practised. And when this power of
Dhy?na becomes so intensified as to be able to pass beyond the external
perception and brood as it were upon the very centre or soul of the object
held by the will, it becomes known as Sam?dhi or Superconsciousness. The
three last stages Dh?ran?, Dhy?na and Sam?dhi, which are so intimately
associated, are classed under the one name of Samy?ma.139
Thus meditation should rise from the object to the objectless. Firstly the
external cause of sensations should be perceived, then their internal motions,
and lastly the reaction of the mind. By thus doing will the Yogi control the
waves of the mind, and the waters of the great Ocean will cease to be
disturbed by their rise and fall, and they will become still and full of rest,
so that like a mirror will they reflect the unimaginable glory of the Atman.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy
City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband.140 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and
they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for
the former things are passed away.141
{106}
Compare this with the following:
That which is the night of all beings, for the disciplined man is the time
of waking; when other beings are waking, then is it night for the Muni who
seeth.
He attaineth Peace, into whom all desires flow as rivers flow into the
ocean, which is filled with water but remaineth unmoved --- not he who
desireth desires.
He who, through the likeness of the Atman, O Arjuna, seeth identity in
everything, whether pleasant or painful, he is considered a perfect Yogi.142
Now that we have finished our long account of the Ved?nta Philosophy and
the theories of Yoga which directly evolved therefrom, we will leave theory
alone and pass on to practical fact, and see how Frater P. Turned the above
knowledge to account, proving what at present he could only believe.
The following is a condensed table of such of his meditation practices as
have been recorded between January and April 1901.
OBJECT MEDITATED UPON. TIME. REMARKS.
Winged-Globe.143 4 min. The entire meditation was bad.
Tejas Ak?sa.144 3 " There was no difficulty in getting
139 See also "The Yogasara-Sangraha," p. 74.
140 It is to be noted that the symbolism made use of here is almost
identical with that so often made use of in the Yoga Shastras and
in the Vedanta. The union of Kundalini (Shakti) and Shiva.
141 Revelation, xxi, 1-4.
142 "The Bhagavad-G?ta," ii, 69, 70; vi, 32. Cf. "Konx om Pax,"
pp. 73-77.
143 The ordinary Egyptian Winged-Globe is here meant, but as
visualized by the mind's eye; the meditation then takes place on
the image in the mind. so with the following practises.
144 Tejas-Ak?sa is the Element of Fire. It is symbolized by a red
triangle of fire with a black egg in the centre. See "777", col.
LXXV, p. 16. See Diagram 84.
the object clear; but the mind
wandered.
Apas-V?yu145 ? " Result not very good.
Winged-Globe and Flam- ? " Meditation on both of these was only
ing Sword.146 fair. {107}
Pendulum147 (E).148 ? " Good as regards plane kept by the
pendulum; but thoughts wandered.
Winged-Globe. ? " The result was pretty good.
Tejas-V?yu (E). ? " Fair.
Ankh149 (a green). ? " Not bad.
Pentagram (E). ? " Rather good.
The L. I. L.150 (E). ? " Burning till extinct. Rather good,
but oil level descended very irre-
gularly.151
Cross. ? " Result fair.
Cross. 10 m. 15 s. Three breaks.
Isis152 (E). 18 m. 30 s. Five breaks. A very difficult prac-
tice, as Isis behaved like a living
object.153
Winged-Globe. 29 m. Seven breaks. Result would have
been much better but for an epi-
cene enuch with an alleged flute.
My mind revolved various methods
of killing it.
Tejas-Ak?sa. 18 " Seven breaks.
R. R. et A. C.154 19 " Seven breaks.
Pendulum. ? " After 3 m. lost control and gave
up.
Winged-Globe. (E). 10 " Ten breaks.155 {108}
145 Apas-V?yu is the Element of Water and is symbolized by a black
egg of Spirit in the Silver Crescent of Water. See "777", col.
LXXV, p. 16. See Diagram 84.
146 The Golden Dawn symbol of the Flaming Sword. See Diagram 12.
147 By this is meant watching the swing of an imaginary pendulum.
The difficulty is to keep it in one plane, as it tries to swing
round; also to change its rate.
148 In these records "M" means morning and "E" evening.
149 The Egyptian Key of Life. See Diagram 61.
150 Lamp of the Invisible Light.
151 In the mind.
152 The visualized form of the goddess Isis.
153 That is to say she kept on moving out of the line of mental
sight.
154 See Diagram 80. A scarlet rose on a gold cross.
155 At this point P. made the following resolve: "I resolve to
increase my powers very greatly by the aid of the Most High,
until I can meditate for twenty-four hours on one object."
{Illustration facing page 108 partly approximated and partly described:
"DIAGRAM 84. The Five Tatwas, with their twenty-five sub-divisions."
É--------------Ñ--------------Ñ--------------Ñ--------------Ñ--------------»
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º {fat spindle ³ {circle in ³ {Crescent ³ {Square in ³ {Equilateral º
º outline w. ³ outline} ³ Moon in ³ outline} ³ triangle in º
º points vert.³ ³ outline w. ³ ³ outline w. º
º "egg"} ³ ³ horns up} ³ ³ point up} º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º Ak?sa ³ Vayu ³ Apas ³ Prithivi ³Tejas or Agni º
Ç______________Å______________Å______________Å______________Å______________¶
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º {Egg inside ³ {Circle in ³ {Crescent in ³ {Square in ³ {Triangle in º
º egg} ³ egg} ³ egg} ³ egg} ³ egg} º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º Ak?sa-Ak?sa ³ Ak?sa-Vayu ³ Ak?sa-Apas ³Ak?sa-Prithivi³ Ak?sa-Tejas º
Ç______________Å______________Å______________Å______________Å______________¶
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º {Egg inside ³ {Circle in ³ {Crescent ³ {Square in ³ {Triangle in º
º circle} ³ circle} ³ in circle} ³ circle} ³ circle} º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º Vayu-Ak?sa ³ Vayu-Vayu ³ Vayu-Apas ³Vayu-Prithivi ³ Vayu-Tejas º
Ç______________Å______________Å______________Å______________Å______________¶
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º {Egg in ³ {Circle in ³ {Crescent ³ {Square in ³ {Triangle in º
º crescent} ³ crescent} ³ in crescent}³ crescent} ³ crescent} º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º Apas-Ak?sa ³ Apas-Vayu ³ Apas-Apas ³Apas-Prithivi ³ Apas-Tejas º
Ç______________Å______________Å______________Å______________Å______________¶
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º {Egg in ³ {Circle in ³ {Crescent ³ {Square in ³ {Triangle in º
º square} ³ square} ³ in crescent}³ square} ³ square} º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º ³ ³ ³Prithivi- ³ º
ºPrithivi-Ak?sa³Prithivi-Vayu ³Prithivi-Apas ³ Prithivi ³Prithivi-Tejasº
Ç______________Å______________Å______________Å______________Å______________¶
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º {Egg in ³ {Circle in ³ {Crescent in ³ {Square in ³ {Triangle in º
º triangle} ³ triangle} ³ triangle} ³ triangle} ³ triangle} º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º ³ ³ ³ ³ º
º Tejas-Ak?sa ³ Tejas-Vayu ³ Tejas-Apas ³Tejas-Prithivi³ Tejas-Tejas º
È--------------Ï--------------Ï--------------Ï--------------Ï--------------¼
}
OBJECT MEDITATED UPON. TIME. REMARKS.
Black egg and white ray 10 " Five breaks.
between pillars156 (E).
Golden Dawn Symbol157 (E). ? " Very bad. Bad cold, dust, shaking,
etc., prevented concentration158
Golden Dawn Symbol (E). 10 " Four breaks.
R. R. et A. C. 23 " Nine breaks.
Against this particular practice P. wrote: "I think breaks are longer in
themselves than of old; for I find myself concentrating on them and forgetting
the primary altogether. But I have no means of telling how long it is before
the error is discovered."
Some very much more elaborate and difficult meditations were attempted by
P. at this time; in nature they are very similar to many of St. Loyola's. We
give the account in his own words:
I tried to imagine the sound of a waterfall. This was very difficult to
get at; and it makes one's ears sing for a long time afterwards. If I really
got it, it was however not strong enough to shut outer physical sounds. I
also tried to imagine the "puff-puff" of an engine. This resulted better than
the last, but it caused the skin of my head to commence vibrating. I then
tried to imagine the taste of chocolate; this proved extremely difficult; and
after this the ticking of a watch. This proved easier, and the result was
quite good; but there was a tendency to slow up with the right ear, which
however was easy to test by approaching a watch against the ear."159
During this whole period of rough travel, work is fatiguing, difficult and
uncertain. Regularity is impossible, as regards hours and even days, and the
{109} mind, being so full of other things, seems to refuse to compose itself.
Nearly always I was too tired to do two (let alone three) meditations; and the
weariness of the morrow was another hostile factor. Let me hope that my
return here (Mexico City) will work wonders.
Three days after this entry on a certain Wednesday evening we find a very
extraordinary mental experiment recorded in P.'s diary.
D. A. made to P. the following suggestion for a meditation practice.
1. Imagine that I am standing before you in my climbing clothes.
2. When you have visualized the figure, forbid it to move its limbs, etc.
3. Then allow the figure to change, "as a whole," its illumination, position
and appearance.
4. Carefully observe and remember any phenomenon in connection therewith.
All this P. attempted with the following result:
The figure of D.A.: leaning on an ice-axcw was clearly seen, but at first
it was a shade difficult to fix.
The figure at once went 35ø to my left, and stayed there; then I observed a
scarlet Tiphereth above the head and the blue path of HB:Gemel (gimel) going
upwards. Around the head was bluish light, and tiphereth was surrounded by
156 The Ak?sic egg of spirit set between the Pillars of Mercy and
Severity with a ray of light descending upon it from Kether.
157 There Golden Dawn Symbol here meditated upon consisted of a
white triangle surmounted by a red cross. See Diagram 4.
158 This meditation took place whilst P. was on a journey.
159 these meditations are called Objective Cognitions, by
concentrating on certain nerve centres super-physical sensations
are obtained.
rays as of a sun. I then noticed that the figure had the power to reduplicate
itself at various further distances; but the main figure was very steady.
Above and over the figure there towered a devil in the shape of some
antediluvian beast. How long I mentally watched the figure I cannot say, but
after a period it became obscure and difficult to see, and in order to prevent
it vanishing it had to be willed to stay. After a further time the
Plesiosaurus ("?") above the figure became a vast shadowy form including the
figure itself.
The experiment being at an end D. A. put the following question to P. "How
do you judge of distance of secondary replicas of me?"
P. answered: "By size only."
D. A. comments on the above were as follows:
1. That the test partially failed.
2. That he expected his figure to move more often.160{110}
3. the vast shadowy form was very satisfactory and promising.161
On the following day P. records first: Meditation upon Winged-Glob to
compose himself. He then imagined D. A. sitting forward with his arms around
his knees and his hands clasped. Around the figure was an aura of heaving
surfaces, and then a focussing movement which brought the surfaces very close
together. "The figure then started growing rapidly in all dimensions till it
reached a vast form, and as it grew it left behind it tiny emaciated withered
old men sitting in similar positions, but with changed features, so much so
that I should think it were due to other reasons besides emaciation."
{Illustration on page 111 described.
"DIAGRAM 85. Aura of Heaving Surfaces."
This is a depiction of three curved arrows about a central pattern of dots.
In the dot pattern there are five dots horizontal in the center, two arched
rows of three immediately above and below, then two dots above and below the
three and lastly one dot above center and one below. The whole dot pattern
gives the appearance of the intersection of three lines at equal angles,
composed of five dots each, the central dot common to all. The curved arrow
lines are positioned like a trefoil or a three-bladed ship's propeller. One
issues from just right of the base of the dots, curves clockwise outward and
inward to a height about that of the top dot in the central pattern, but a
distance equal to the diameter of the dot pattern from it horizontally. The
top curved arrow line extends from just above and outward from the left end of
the horizontal five row (extending the curve would intersect the left-most
dot. The last curved arrow line completes the set, all trilatterly symmetric,
with pointed buts, wide central thickness, then narrow to the curved chevron
of the arrow head. If the outer curves of the arrow lines were circumscribed
at tangents, the resulting circle would have a diameter five times that of a
circle passing through the most extended dots of the central pattern.}
D. A. considered this meditation very satisfactory, but that nevertheless
P. should attempt it again the next day.
This, however, was impossible; as on the next day, Friday, he was suffering
severely from headache and neuralgia; so instead, in order to compose himself,
he meditated upon a cross for an hour and a quarter.
The next living object meditation he attempted is described in the diary as
follows:
160 Normally in these experiments the figure does move more often.
161 Normally this is so.
To meditate upon the image of D. A. sitting with his hands on his knees
like a God.162 Spirals were seen moving up him to a great height, and then
descending till they expanded to a great size. Besides this no other change
took place.
D. A.'s comments on these remarkable experiments are as follows:
The hidden secret is that the the change of size and distance is not in
accordance with optical laws. No one has kept living objects "dead still."163
One of two things may occur:
("a") The figure remains in one spot, but alters in size.
("b") The figure remains same apparent size, but alters in distance.{111}
Further that the Yogi theories on this experiment were:
(1) That a living object is the reflection of the Actual, the living
object being purely unreal.
(2) That from this type of meditation can be discovered the character of
the person meditated upon.
"e.g." Q. Is A. pious?
A. If he grows large, yes he is very pious.
Q. Is B. a villain?
A. If he shrivels, he is a "small" villain, not a man to be afraid
of.
Also of ordinary occult things --- "e.g." change of face, expressions, etc.
There are also further theories regarding the disintegration of man. Theories
concerning the danger of this process to the meditator and meditatee alike.164
The next practice was to meditate upon the image of D. A. standing.
The figure remained in the same place, but altered much like a form
reflected in glasses of various curves. The general tendency was to increase
slightly, but the most fixed idea was of a figure about 9 feet high but of
normal breadth. Next, of normal height and of about double normal breadth.
D. A.'s comment on this meditation was that the result was not good.
This practice was attempted again on the following day: and resulted in
many superposed images of various sizes and at various distances. One of the
figures had moustaches like the horns of a buffalo. The expression of the
figures became bold and fierce; especially at four feet distance, where there
were two very real images, one small and one large respectively.
the commend of D. A. on this meditation was that it was most clear, and
represented complete success.
On the fifteenth of April 1901 we find P. writing in his diary:
"I agree to project my astral to Soror F.165 in Hong-Kong every Saturday
evening at nine o'clock, which should ready her at 4.6 p.m. on Sunday by Hong-
Kong time. She is to start at 10 a.m. Sunday by Hong-Kong time to reach me by
12.2 p.m. Saturday.
These spirit journeys were to commence on the 31st of {112} May; but this
date seems to have been anticipated, for two days later we read the following:
10 p.m. Enclosing myself in an egg of white light I travelled to Hong-
Kong. This city is white and on a rocky hill, the lower part is narrow and
dirty. I found F. in a room of white and pale green. She was dressed in a
white soft stuff with velvet lapels. We conversed awhile. I remember trying
162 In the position many of the Egyptian gods assume.
163 Qy.: Is this from habit of expecting living things to move? I
can, I think, succeed in keeping them still. --- "Note by P."
164 This danger is also experienced by such as carry out Black
Magical Operations. The current of will often returns and
injures the Magician who willed it.
165 Soror F. the same as Soror S.S.D.F.
to lift a cloisonn? vase from the shelf to a table, but cannot remember
whether I accomplished the act or not. I said "Ave Soror" aloud (and I think
audibly) and remained some time.166
This astral projection is an operation of Chokmah; for the Chiah must
vivify the Nephesch shell. After returning P. records that on his journey
back he saw "his Magical Mirror of the Universe very clearly in its colours."
Towards the end of April P. drew up for himself the following daily Task:
(1) To work through the first five of the seven mental operations.167
(2) The assumption of God forms.168
(3) To meditate on simple symbols with the idea of discovering their
meaning.
(4) Rising on planes.
(5) Astral Visions.169
(6) Adonai ha Aretz.170 {113}
166 This description of Hong-Kong is as correct as can be expected
from so short a visit. The conversation was subsequently
verified by letter, and also again when they met several years
later.
167 He resolved the HB:Shin of HB:Shin Operation into seven parts.
168 The HB:Shin of HB:Shin Operation, see also the Magical invocation of
the Higher Genius: chapter "The Sorcerer." And Liber O iii THE
EQUINOX, vol. i, No. 2.
169 See chapter, "The Seer," also Liber O v THE EQUINOX, vol. 1,
No. 2.
170 The invocation of the Guardian Angel under the form of a
talisman.
"How to draw it."
Draw the name HB:Yod HB:Nun HB:Dalet HB:Aleph as follows:
HB:Aleph = A winged crown radiating white brilliance.
HB:Dalet = The head and neck of a beautiful woman with a stern
and fixed expression, and hair long dark and waving. (Malkuth.)
HB:Nun = The arms and hands, which are bare and strong,
stretched out to the right and left at right angles to the body,
in
the left hand a gold cup and in right ears of ripe
corn. From her shoulders dark spreading wings.
HB:Yod = A deep yellow-green robe, upon the breast of which
is a square gold lamen decorated with four scarlet Greek crosses.
Round her waist is a broad gold belt upon which in
scarlet letters is written the name HB:Tzaddi HB:Resh HB:Aleph HB:Heh
HB:Yod HB:Nun HB:Dalet HB:Aleph in the
letters of the alphabet of Honorius. Her feet are
flesh coloured, and she wears golden sandals. Her long yellow-
green drapery is rayed with olive, and beneath her
feet roll black clouds lit with lurid patches of colour.
"How to perform it."
(1) Commence with lesser pentagram Banishing Ritual.
(2) Formulate rose-cross round room (First, top to bottom;
second left to right; third the rose as a circle dextro-
rotary).
(3) The LVX sings in 5ø = 6ø towards the four cardinal
points.
(4) Formulate before you in white flashing brilliance the
eight letters thus"
(5) Attach yourself to your Kether and imagine you see a
(7) Meditation practices on men and things171
(8) Elemental evocations.172
(9) Meditation to vivify telesmata173
(10) Astral projections174
PHYSICAL WORK.
(2) Careful drawings of the Gods in their colours.
(6) Figure of Adonai ha Aretz in colour. [See Illustration.] {114}
{Illustration facing page 114 described:
"DIAGRAM 86. The Flashing Figure of Adonai-ha-Aretz."
This is a black, gray and white illustration in a large vertical rectangle.
The field is black. Inside and at the bottom are these words in Hebrew
letters, the line of letters arched downward: HB:Tzaddi HB:Resh HB:Aleph HB:Heh
HB:Yod HB:Nun HB:Dalet HB:Aleph . The rest of the figure is as described in the last note on
page 113:
"A winged crown radiating white brilliance." --- three hollow triangles
visible with a pair of inverted wings coming up like antlers to either side.
The white brilliance is represented by 35 visible shaded beams radiating in
all directions from the center of the crown band, behind it and stopping only
at the clouds emanating from behind the knees.
"The head and neck of a beautiful woman with a stern and fixed expression, and
hair long dark and waving." --- as described, but crude features are depicted.
The hair comes down in two loose falls resembling braids to the waist on
either side of the torso.
"The arms and hands, which are bare and strong, stretched out to the right and
left at right angles to the body, in the left hand a gold cup and in right
ears of ripe corn." --- The hands are clenched about these objects, palmer to
the fore. The Cup is ornamented by vertical, narrow bulges about the bowl.
The corn is British corn or wheat.
"From her shoulders dark spreading wings." --- as described, feathers depicted
with primaries and secondaries.
HB:Aleph
white light there.
HB:Dalet
(6) Having thus formulated the letters, take a deep breath
HB:Tzaddi HB:Resh HB:Aleph HB:Heh HB:Nun HB:Yod HB:Nun HB:Dalet HB:Aleph
and pronounce the name slowly making the letters flash
HB:Yod
(7) Invoke the Telesmatic image. Let it fill the Universe.
HB:Heh
(8) Then whilst once again vibrating the Name absorb it
HB:Aleph
into yourself; and then will your aura radiate with
HB:Resh
whiteness.
HB:Tzaddi
You should obtain your Divine White Brilliance before
formulating the Image. There are two methods, the involving and
the expanding whorls respectively.
171 Similar to the D. A. Mediation Practices.
172 Similar to Fra. I. A.'s ritual of Jupiter.
173 This is done by making the telesmata flash by meditation.
174 This is done by projecting a physical image of the self in
front of one by meditation.
"A deep yellow-green robe, upon the breast of which is a square gold lamen
decorated with four scarlet Greek crosses." --- as described, the robe is very
loose and is parted to show the lamen on what appears to be the bare chest.
The Greek crosses look indented. There is a rim and a simple cross quartering
the lamen into four sub-panels for the Greek crosses.
"Round her waist is a broad gold belt upon which in scarlet letters is written
the name HB:Tzaddi HB:Resh HB:Aleph HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Nun HB:Dalet HB:Aleph in the letters of the
alphabet of Honorius." --- That is ztrahjnda, on
the drawing. This is written in the wrong direction for the alphabet of
Honorius.
"Her feet are flesh coloured, and she wears golden sandals." --- as
described, the sandals are open strap with two or three cross straps and a
single long strap.
"Her long yellow-green drapery is rayed with olive," --- looks like silk
harem pants.
"and beneath her feet roll black clouds lit with lurid patches of colour." ---
these are most oddly depicted. Starting at the area behind the knees, there
is a stretched out cloud with most of its bulk upwards to the center; it cuts
off the radiant beams from the crown. There are two patchy clouds to the left
on the illustration and three to the right below this large one. The figure
is walking on something that looks like a cross between a dried lotus seed pod
and a transected mud-daubber nest.}
(8) Completion of Watch-towers and instruments.175
(9) The making of simple talismans.
During each day this programme of work was to be divided as follows:
(1) In the Morning the HB:Shin of HB:Shin Operation, and Assumption of a God-
form.
(2) Before Tiffin. An Astral projection practice.
(3) After Tiffin. Rising on a plane, or Vision, or Adonai ha Aretz.
(4) In the Evening. A magical ceremony of same sort, or any of above
except astral projection.176
On March the 3rd we find P. wanderingamong the fastnesses of the Nevado de
Colima. Here he lived for a fortnight, returning to Mexico City on the 18th
only to leave it again two days later on an expedition to the Nevado de Touca.
On the 16th of April he journeyed to Amecameca, from which place he visited
Soror F., by projection, and thence up Popocatapetl, encamped on whose slopes
he resolved the HB:Shin of HB:Shin into seven Mental Operations:
1. Ray of Divine White Brilliance descending upon the Ak?sic Egg set
between the two pillars.
2. Aspire by the Serpent, and concentrate on Flashing Sword. Imagine the
stroke of the Sword upon the Da?th junction (nape of neck).
3. Make the Egg grow gray, by a threefold spiral of light.
4. Make the Egg grow nearly white. (Repeat spiral formula.)
5. Repeat 2. Above head. Triangle of Fire (red).
6. Invoke Light. Withdraw. See Golden Dawn Symbol.
7. Let all things vanish in the Illimitable Light.
On the 22nd of April P., having bidden farewell to D. A., who had been to
him both friend and master, left for San Francisco. {115}
175 The Elemental Tablets of Dr. Dee; see Diagrams in "The Vision
and the Voice."
176 Ideas for mental Concentration. Concentration on Scarlet
Sphere in Tiphereth. Let it slowly rise into Da?th and darken,
after which into Kether and be a white brilliance; thence fling
it flashing, or bring it down and keep it in Tiphereth.
At this city, on the first of May, he solemnly began anew the Operations of
the Great Work, and bought a steel rod for a wand, and tools to work it. On
the second he bought gold, silver, and a jewel wherewith to make a Crown; and
on the third set sail for Japan.
During the voyage the following practices have been recorded:
May 4th. Prithivi-Apas.177 45 m.
Also went on an Astral Journey to Japan. In which I found myself
crossing great quantities of Coral-pearl entangled with seaweed and
shells. After having journeyed for some time I came to a spot where
I saw the form of a King standing above that of Venus who was
surrounded by many mermaids; they all had the appearance of having
just been frozen. Above the nymphs bowing towards them were many
pale yellow angels chained together, and amongst them stood
Archangels of a pale silver which flashed forth rays of gold. Above
all was the Formless Light. The Archangels showed me curious types
of horned beings riding along a circle in different directions.
5th. Concentration on This resulted in many strange dreams.
Position 1.178
6th. Concentration on 32 m. Ten breaks. Better towards the end; but
Position 1. best after tenth break. Concentration
must have then lasted quite 6 or 7
minutes.
7th. Position 1. 15 m. Three breaks, but end very doubtful
having become very sleepy.
Position 1. 6 m. Three breaks. I seemed to collapse
suddenly.
Went to Devachan179 on Astral Journey. I found myself surrounded
{116} by a wonderful pearly lustre, and then among great trees
between the branches of which bright birds were flying. After this
I saw a captain on his ship and also a lover contemplating his
bride. The real inhabitants of this land to which I went were as of
flame, and the imaginary ones were depicted as we physical beings
are. Then the images of my vision sped past me rapidly. I saw a
mountaineer; my father preaching with me in his old home; my mother,
his mother; a man doing Rajayoga on white god-form. At last a wave
of pale light, or rather of a silky texture passed through and over
me; then one of the strange inhabitants passed through me
unconscious of me, and I returned.
Golden Dawn symbol. 14 m. Three breaks.
May 8th. Position 1. 22 m. Seven breaks.
Calvary Cross. 50 m. Did I go to sleep?
11th. Designed Abarahadabra
for a pantacle.180
12th. I performed a Magic Ceremonial at night, followed by attempt at
Astral Projection. I prefer the Esoteric Theosophist Society's
seven-fold division for these practical purposes. I think Physical
Astral Projection should be preceded by a (ceremonial) "loosening of
177 In all cases when the name alone is mentioned a mediation
practice is understood. Prithivi-Apas corresponds to water of
earth. It is symbolized by a silver crescent drawn within a
yellow square. See Diagram 84.
178 "I.e.", Self in Ak?sa between pillars with white ray descending.
179 Heaven
180 An Eleven pointed Star.
the girders of the soul."181 How to do it is the great problem. I
am inclined to believe in drugs --- if one only knew the right drug.
13th. Drew a pantacle.
16th. Painted wicked black-magic pantacle.
Held a magical ceremony in the evening.
Lesser banishing Ritual of Pentagram and Hexagram.
Invocation of Thoth and the Elements by Keys 1-6182 and G.'. D.'.
Opening Rituals.
Consecrated Lamen Crown and Abrahadabra Wand with great force.
16th. Did the seven HB:Shin of HB:Shin Operations.
Worked at a Z for 5 = 6 Ritual.183
17th. Position 1. 12 m. Not good.
Evening Invocation of Mercury, Chokmah and Thoth.
18th. Completed Z for 5 = 6 Ritual. {117}
May 19th. 1. Assumption of the god-form of Harpocrates: It lasted nine
minutes: the result was good, for I got a distinct aura around me.
2. Physical Astral Projection. I formed a sphere which took a
human shape but rather corpse-like. I then projected a gray184 ray
from the left side of my head; this was very tiring and there was no
result physically.
3. Concentrated on imaginary self for ten minutes, and then
projected self into it with fearful force. Chiah "nearly" passed.185
4. Red sphere "darkened" and glorified and return to lighten
Tiphereth. The result was good.
20th. 1. Tejas-Apas Meditation.
2. Meditation on living object with the usual two figure result.
3. Astral Vision.186 I found myself in a boiling sea with
geysers spouting around me. Suddenly monsters shaped like lions and
bulls and dragons rose from the deep, and about them sped many fiery
angels, and Titanic god-forms plunged and wheeled and rose amongst
the waters. Above all was built a white temple of marble through
which a rose-flame flickered. there stood Aphrodite with a torch in
one hand and a cup in the other,187 and above her hovered
Archangels. Then suddenly all was an immense void, and as I looked
into it I beheld the dawn of creation. Gusts of liquid fire flamed
and whirled through the darkness. Then nothing but the brilliance
of fire and water. I was away fifteen minutes.
4. Seven minutes breathing exercise fifteen seconds each way.
(Breathing in, withholding, and breathing out.)
5. White Lion on Gray. 5 m. Result bad.
21st. Position 1. 45 m. Fair.
Worked out a "double" formula for Physical Astral Projection.
First project with Enterer Sign; simulacrum answers with Harpocrates
sign.188 Then as soon as Enterer sign weakens change consciousness
as for Astral Visions. After which attack body from Simulacrum
181 P. at various times used the "Invocation of the Bornless one"
as given in "The Goetia"; also the Pentagram rituals in Liber O.
182 The first six Angelic Keys of Dr. Dee.
183 The explanation of the 5ø = 6ø Ritual. See Chapter "The
Adept."
184 The colour of Chokmah.
185 See Plate VI. "The Kabbalah Unveiled," S. L. Mathers.
186 It is to be noted that this Vision is of a fiery nature, and
that it was experienced shortly after meditating upon Tejas-Apas.
187 Very similar to the older form of "Temperance" in Taro.
188 See Liber O, THE EQUINOX, vol. i, No. 2; Plate, "Signs of the
Grades," i; and vol. i, No. 1; Plates the "Silent Watcher" and
"Blind Force."
{118} with sign of Enterer to draw force. This cycle repeat until
Simulacrum is at least capable of audible speech.
I tried this and started by invoking the forces of Chokmah and
Thoth, but omitted stating purpose of Operation in so many words.
Yet with three projections (each way) I obtained a shadowy grayness
somewhat human in shape. But found difficulty where least expected
--- in transferring consciousness to Simulacrum.
May 22nd. God-form Thoth. 16 m. Result fair.
Ak?sa-Ak?sa. During the meditation the following Vision was seen.
All things around me were surrounded by silver flashes or streaks.
But about the human corpse which I saw before me was a pyramid of
flashing light, and around me purple hangings. Five silver
candlesticks were brought in, and then I saw a throne with pentagram
in white brilliance above it. There was a rose of five by five
petals within; and above Qesheth the rainbow. Rising from the
ground were formless demons --- all faces! Even as X. A. R. P.189
etc., are evil. Above were the Gods of E. H. N. B.; and above them
svastika wheels whirling, and again above this the Light ineffable.
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