but by regarding closely the identity of Nature's processes, rather than the processes; the purposiveness and law underlying and uniting all of nature however infinite her artifices and modes and varieties; and the corresponding and analogous identity of aim, purpose and teaching of those who bring us the keys to Nature's mysteries, and the fate that befalls them. In other words: by the consideration that we may know the Messenger by the Message, and the Message by its light upon ourselves and upon all nature. On the scene of Bruno's martyrdom there was erected in 1889, three centuries later, a monument to this brave, devoted and loyal friend "of that great orphan-Humanity." And to the lasting honor of Robert G. Ingersoll, iconoclast and foe of religious bigotry and superstition, and ceaseless warrior for the liberty of thought and conscience for all men, be it remembered that he aided mightily in America, both in the procuring of funds for 'runo's monument and in arousing a world-opinion that overcame the fierce opposition of Romanism to this mark of belated recognition. But a better, truer, and nobler monument is the recognition in our hearts that had it not been for the deathless and death-defying devotion of Giordano Bruno and others like him, we of to-day could not have nor hold that freedom of thought, opinion and expression which is ours to enjoy, to use or abuse, according as we have or have not absorbed the "mind, intellect, love," for which Bruno lived and for which he gave his life. SECRET DOCTRINE EXTRACTS* The star under which a human Entity is born, says the Occult teaching, will remain for ever its star, throughout the whole cycle of its incarnations in one Manvantara. But this is not his astrological star. The latter is concerned and connected with the personality, the former with the INDIVIDUALITY. The "Angel" of that Star, or the Dhyani-Buddha will be either the guiding or simply the presiding "Angel," so to say, in every new rebirth of the monad, which is part of his own essence, though his vehicle, man, may remain for ever ignorant of this fact. The adepts have each their Dhyani-Buddha, their elder "twin Soul," and they know it, calling it "Father-Soul," and "Father-Fire." It is only at the last and supreme initiation, however, that they learn it when placed face to face with the bright "Image." How much has Bulwer Lytton known of this mystic fact when describing, in one of his highest inspirational moods, Zanoni face to face with his Augoeides? From the Original Edition Vol. I, pp. 572 573; see Vol. I, p. 626 Third Edition. CONVERSATIONS ON OCCULTISM*1 TUDENT. What is Occultism? STUD Sage. It is that branch of knowledge which shows the universe in the form of an egg. The cell of science is a little copy of the egg of the universe. The laws which govern the whole govern also every part of it. As man is a little copy of the universe -is the microcosm-he is governed by the same laws which rule the greater. Occultism teaches therefore of the secret laws and forces of the universe and man, those forces playing in the outer world and known in part only by the men of the day who admit no invisible real nature behind which is the model of the visible. Student. What does Occultism teach in regard to man, broadly speaking? Sage. That he is the highest product of evolution, and hence has in him a centre or focus corresponding to each centre of force or power in the universe. He therefore has as many centres or foci for force, power, and knowledge as there are such in the greater world about and within. Student. Do you mean to include also the ordinary run of men, or is it the exceptions you refer to? Sage. I include every human being, and that will reach from the lowest to the very highest, both those we know and those beyond us who are suspected as being in existence. Although we are accustomed to confine the term "human" to this earth, it is not correct to confine that sort of being to this plane or globe, because other planets have beings the same as ours in essential power and nature and possibility. Student. Please explain a little more particularly what you mean by our having centres or foci in us. Sage. Electricity is a most powerful force not fully known to modern science, yet used very much. The nervous, physical, and mental systems of man acting together are able to produce the same force exactly, and in a finer as well as subtler way and to as great a degree as the most powerful dynamo, so that the force might be used to kill, to alter, to move, or otherwise change any object or condition. This is the "vril" described by Bulwer Lytton in his Coming Race. Nature exhibits to our eyes the power of drawing into one place with fixed limits any amount of material so as to produce the smallest natural object or the very largest. Out of the air she takes what is already there, and by compressing it into the limits of tree or animal form makes it visible to our material eyes. This is the power of condensing into what may be known as the ideal limits, that is, into the limits of the form which is ideal. Man has this *This article was first printed in The Path by Wm. Q. Judge, October, 1894. 1 See Path v. 3, pp. 17, 54, 94, 125, 164, .187, 219, for former articles under this title. [Reprinted in THEOSOPHY, Vol. 1, pp. 374, 406, 476, 515; Vol. 2, pp. 41, 78, 135.-Editors THEOSOPHY.] same power, and can, when he knows the laws and the proper centres of force in himself, do precisely what Nature does. He can thus make visible and material what was before ideal and invisible by filling the ideal form with the matter condensed from the air. In his case the only difference from Nature is that he does quickly what she brings about slowly. Among natural phenomena there is no present illustration of telepathy good for our use. Among the birds and the beasts, however, there is telepathy instinctually performed. But telepathy, as it is now called, is the communicating of thought or idea from mind to mind. This is a natural power, and being well-understood may be used by one mind to convey to another, no matter how far away or what be the intervening obstacle, any idea or thought. In natural things we can take for that the vibration of the chord which can cause all other chords of the same length to vibrate similarly. This is a branch of Occultism, a part of which is known to the modern investigator. But it is also one of the most useful and one of the greatest powers we have. To make it of service many things have to combine. While it is used every day in common life in the average way-for men are each moment telepathically communicating with each other-to do it in perfection, that is, against obstacle and distance, is perfection of occult art. Yet it will be known one day even to the common world. Student. Is there any object had in view by Nature which man should also hold before him? Sage. Nature ever works to turn the inorganic or the lifeless or the non-intelligent and non-conscious into the organic, the intelligent, the conscious; and this should be the aim of man also. In her great movements Nature seems to cause destruction, but that is only for the purpose of construction. The rocks are dissolved into earth, elements combine to bring on change, but there is the ever onward march of progress in evolution. Nature is not destructive of either thing or time, she is constructive. Man should be the same. And as a free moral agent he should work to that end, and not to procuring gratification merely nor for waste in any depart ment. Student. Is Occultism of truth or of falsehood; is it selfish or unselfish; or is it part one and part the other? Sage. Occultism is colorless, and only when used by man for the one side or the other is it good or bad. Bad Occultism, or that which is used for selfish ends, is not false, for it is the same as that which is for good ends. Nature is two-sided, negative and positive. good and bad, light and dark, hot and cold, spirit and matter. The Black magician is as powerful in the matter of phenomena as the White, but in the end all the trend of Nature will go to destroy the black and save the white. But what you should understand is that the false man and the true can both be occultists. The words of the Christian teacher Jesus will give the rule for judgment: "By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" Occultism is the general, all-inclusive term, the differentiating terms are White and Black; the same forces are used by both, and similar laws, for there are no special laws in this universe for any special set of workers in Nature's secrets. But the path of the untruthful and the wicked, while seemingly easy at first, is hard at last, for the black workers are the friends of no one, they are each against the other as soon as interest demands, and that may be anytime. It is said that final annihilation of the personal soul awaits those who deal in the destructive side of Nature's hall of experience. Student. Where should I look for the help I need in the right life, the right study? Sage. Within yourself is the light that lighteth every man who cometh here. The light of the Higher Self and of the Mahatma are not different from each other. Unless you find your Self, how can you understand Nature? F DO THE RISHIS EXIST?* NOLLOWING the example of the Parsi Gentleman whose letter you published in the Theosophist of January 1882, I am induced to enquire if there are Hindu Mahatmas among the Himalayan BROTHERS. By the term Hindu, I mean a believer in Vedas and the Gods they describe. If there are none, will any Brother of the 1st Section' be so kind as to enlighten the Hindu Community in general and the Hindu Theosophists in particular whether any Hindu Rishis of old still exist in flesh and blood? The adept Himalayan BROTHERS having explored the unseen universe must necessarily know the Rishis if they exist now. Tradition says that particularly the following seven are immortal, at least for the present kalpa. Ashwathama, Bali, Vyasa, Hanuman, Vibhisana, Kripa, Para- suram. Editor's Note:-In reply to the first question we are happy to inform our correspondent that there are Mahatmas among the Himalayan Brothers who are Hindus-i. e., born of Hindu and Brahmin parents and who recognize the esoteric meaning of the Vedas and the Upanishads. They agree with Krishna, Buddha, Vyasa, Suka, Goudapatha and Sankaracharya in considering that the Karma kanda of the Vedas is of no importance whatsoever so far as man's spiritual progress is concerned. Our questioner will do well to remember in this connection Krishna's celebrated advice to Arjuna. "The subject matter of the Vedas is related to the three Gunas; oh Arjuna, divest thyself of these gunas". Sankaracharya's uncompromising attitude towards Purwamimansa is too well known to require any special mention here. This article was first printed by H. P. Blavatsky in The Theosophist for March, 1883. 1 No chela need answer this, except the editor. A. H. T. Although the Himalayan Brothers admit the esoteric meaning of the Vedas and the Upanishads, they refuse to recognize as Gods, the powers and other spiritual entities mentioned in the Vedas. The language used in the Vedas is allegorical and this fact has been fully recognized by some of the greatest Indian Philosophers. Our correspondent will have to prove that the Vedas really "describe Gods" as they exist, before he can fairly ask us to declare whether our Masters believe in such gods. We very much doubt if our correspondent is really prepared to contend seriously, that Agni has four horns, three legs, two heads, five hands and seven tongues as he is stated to possess in the Vedas; or that Indra committed adultery with Goutama's wife. We beg to refer our learned correspondent to Kulluka Bhatta's explanation of the latter myth (and) it is a mere myth in his opinion) and Patanjali's remarks on the profound esoteric significance of the four horns of Agni, in support of our assertion that the Vedas do not in reality describe any gods as our questioner has supposed. In reply to the second question we are not prepared to say that "any Hindu Rishis of old still exist in flesh and blood" although we have our own reasons to believe that some of the great Hindu Adepts of ancient times have been and are reincarnating themselves occasionally in Tibet and Tartary; nor is it at all easy for us to understand how it can ever reasonably be expected that our Himalayan Brothers should discover Hindu Rishis "in flesh and blood" in their explorations in the "Unseen Universe," since "astral" bodies are not usually made up of those earthly materials. The tradition alluded to by our correspondent is not literally true; then, what connection is there between the seven personages named and the Hindu Rishis? Though we are not called upon to give an explanation of the tradition in question from our own standpoint, we shall give a few hints which may enable our readers to ascertain its real significance from what is contained in Ramayana and Maha Charata. Asvathama has gained an imortality of infamy. Parasurama's cruelty made him immortal but he is not supposed to live in flesh and blood now; he is generally stated to have some sort of existence in fire though not necessarily in what a Christian would call "hell.” Bali is not an individual properly speaking. The principle denoted by the name will be known when the esoteric meaning of Thrivikrama Avatar is better comprehended. Vyasa is immortal in his incarnations. Let our respected Brother count how many Vyasas there have been from first to last. Hanuman was neither a human being nor a monkey: it is one of the powers of the 7th principle of man (Rama). Vibhisana. Not a Rakshasa really but the personification of Satwaguna which is immortal. Kripa's association with Aswathama will explain the nature of his immortality. |