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Transcriber’s Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation and ligatures have been standardised but all other
spelling and punctuation remains unchanged. In particular * are used
frequently throughout in various quantities and spacings. These have
been reproduced as nearly as possible.

Rythm is spelled thus throughout and has not been corrected

Italics are represented thus _italic_.

Footnotes are presented at the end of each volume.

                               THE PATH.

                          A MAGAZINE DEVOTED

                                  TO

               THE BROTHERHOOD OF HUMANITY, THEOSOPHY IN

                   AMERICA, AND THE STUDY OF OCCULT

                       SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY, AND

                           ARYAN LITERATURE.

                           VOL. I.—1886-’7.

                   PUBLISHED AND EDITED AT NEW YORK
                         BY WILLIAM Q. JUDGE.
                                 1887.

                          Copyright 1887, by
                           WILLIAM Q. JUDGE.

                               THE PATH.

                          VOL. I, 1886-1887.

                                INDEX.

  A

                                                                    PAGE
  A Year on the Path                                                 353

  Activities in Theosophy              30, 32, 62, 64, 95, 96, 127, 158,
                                                                191, 223
  Animal Magnetism and Star Colors                                   129

  Announcement                                                       288

  Apollonius and Mahatmas                                       197, 274

  AUM                                                                  4

  B

  Biogen Series                                                      124

  Body, Polarity of                                                   84

  Boehme, Jacob, on Soul of Man                                      149

  Buddha’s Religion, Nature and Office of                             24

  C

  Caballah of Old Testament                                  8, 103, 134

  Chela’s Diary, Hindu                                  65, 97, 131, 169

  Christianity, What is True                                         355

  Common Sense of Theosophy                                          225

  Corner Stone, The                                                  215

  Correspondence                               59, 93, 95, 124, 188, 320

  D

  Diary of Hindu Chela                                  65, 97, 131, 169

  E

  Effects of Thought                                                 341

  Elementals and Elementary Spirits                             289, 321

  Environment                                                        346

  Evolution of Individual and Reticence of Mahatmas                  184

  Evolution and Rotation                                             304

  G

  Gates of Gold, Through the                                         372

  H

  Heralds from the Unseen                                            361

  Hermes Trismegistus                                                167

  Hermetic Philosophy                                       87, 112, 281

  Higher Life, Living the                                       114, 152

  Hindu Chela’s Diary                                   65, 97, 131, 169

  Hindu Symbolism                                     220, 251, 334, 371

  Human Body, Polarity of                                             84

  Individual Evolution                                          184, 304

  Inworld and Outworld                                                56

  K

  Kaballah                                                   8, 103, 134

  Karma                                                              175

  L

  Light on the Path                                                  335

  Lines from Lower Levels                                            263

  Literary Notes            28, 55, 89, 92, 124, 156, 189, 222, 287, 319

  Living the Higher Life                                        114, 152

  M

  Magic, Considerations on                                           377

  Mahatmas and Apollonius                                       197, 274
    „  Reticence of                                                  184
    „  Theosophical                                                  257

  Man, Soul of                                                       149

  Master, Teachings of, The                                     253, 278

  Mohammedanism or Sufism                     41, 68, 108, 139, 180, 199

  Morals, Theosophic                                            161, 165

  Musings on True Theosophist’s Path                       155, 208, 339

  Mystery of Numbers                                                  37

  N

  Nature and Office of Buddha’s Religion                              24

  Numbers, Mystery of                                                 37

  O

  Occultism, Poetical                            211, 245, 270, 331, 383

  Old Testament Caballah                                     8, 103, 134

  P

  Papyrus                                                            359

  Path, A Year on the                                                353
    „   Light on the                                                 335
    „   The                                                     188, 189

  Plato                                                              102

  Poetry                                                         56, 384

  Poetical Occultism                             211, 245, 270, 331, 383

  Polarity of Human Body                                              84

  Prophecy, Theosophical                                          27, 57

  R

  Reincarnation and Spirits                                     232, 320

  Religion of Buddha                                                  24

  Reticence of Mahatmas                                              184

  Reviews                   28, 55, 89, 92, 124, 156, 189, 222, 287, 319

  Rosicrucians, Society of                                           217

  Rotation and Individual Evolution                                  304

  S

  Salutatory                                                           1

  Sanscrit Pronunciation                                              95

  Seership                                                            14

  Singing Silences                                                   144

  Society of the Rosicrucians                                        217

  Solitude, Thoughts in                                              308

  Soul of Man                                                        149

  Spirits and Reincarnation, Theories About                     232, 320

  Studies in the Upanishads                                      33, 121

  Sufism                                      41, 68, 108, 139, 180, 199

  Symbolism, Hindu                                    220, 251, 334, 370
      „      Theosophical                                             51

  T

  Tea Table Talk                                      284, 314, 348, 380

  Teachings of The Master                                       253, 278

  Theories About Reincarnation and Spirits                      232, 320

  Theosophic Morals                                             161, 165

  Theosophical Activities              30, 32, 62, 64, 95, 96, 127, 158,
                                                           191, 222, 317
  Theosophical Mahatmas                                              257

  Theosophical Society, What is the                             193, 300

  Theosophical Symbolism                                              51

  Theosophist’s Path, Musings on the True                  155, 208, 339

  Theosophy, Common Sense of                                         225

  Thought Effects                                                    341

  Thoughts in Solitude                                          308, 367

  Through the Gates of Gold                                          372

  True Christianity, What is                                         355

  U

  Udgitha, What is the                                                61

  Universal Unity                                                    384

  Unwritten Message Becomes Visible                                   93

  Upanishads, Studies in the                                     33, 121

  W

  What is the Theosophical Society?                             193, 300

  What is True Christianity?                                         355

                                  AUM

 Unveil, O Thou who givest sustenance to the world, that face of the
 true sun, which is now hidden by a vase of golden light! so that we
 may see the truth, and know our whole duty.

 In him who knows that all spiritual beings are the same in kind
 with the Supreme Spirit, what room can there be for delusion of
 mind, and what room for sorrow, when he reflects on the identity of
 spirit.—_Yajur Veda._

                               THE PATH.

  VOL. I.      APRIL, 1886.      NO. 1.

 _The Theosophical Society, as such, is not responsible for any opinion
 or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless
 contained in an official document._

 Where any article, or statement, has the author’s name attached, he
 alone is responsible, and for those which are unsigned, the Editor
 will be accountable.

This magazine is not intended either to replace or to rival in America
_The Theosophist_, nor any other journal now published in the interest
of Theosophy.

Whether we are right in starting it the future alone will determine. To
us it appears that there is a field and a need for it in this country.
No cultivating of this field is necessary, for it is already ripe.

_The Theosophist_ is the organ of the Theosophical Society, now
spread all over the civilized world, its readers and subscribers are
everywhere, and yet there are many persons who will not subscribe for
it although they are aware of its existence; and furthermore, being an
Indian publication, it necessarily follows, because of certain peculiar
circumstances, that it cannot be brought to the attention of a large
class of persons whom this journal will endeavor to reach.

But while the founders of THE PATH are Theosophists, they do not speak
authoritatively for the Theosophical Society. It is true that had they
never heard of Theosophy, or were they not members of the Society, they
would not have thought of bringing out this magazine, the impulse for
which arose directly from Theosophical teachings and literature.

It is because they are men, and therefore interested in anything
concerning the human race, that they have resolved to try on the one
hand to point out to their fellows a Path in which they have found hope
for man, and on the other to investigate all systems of ethics and
philosophy claiming to lead directly to such a path, regardless of the
possibility that the highway may, after all, be in another direction
from the one in which they are looking. From their present standpoint
it appears to them that the true path lies in the way pointed out by
our Aryan forefathers, philosophers and sages, whose light is still
shining brightly, albeit that this is now Kali Yuga, or the age of
darkness.

The solution of the problem, “What and Where is the Path to Happiness,”
has been discovered by those of old time. They thought it was in the
pursuit of Raja Yoga, which is the highest science and the highest
religion—a union of both. In elaborating this, they wrote much more
than we can hope to master in the lifetime of this journal, and they
have had many kinds of followers, many devotees, who, while earnestly
desiring to arrive at truth, have erred in favor of the letter of the
teachings. Such are some of the mendicants of Hindoostan who insist
upon the verbal repetition of OM for thousands of times, or upon the
practice of postures and breathing alone, forgetting that over all
stands the real man, at once the spectator of and sufferer by these
mistakes. _This is not the path._

At the same time we do not intend to slight the results arrived at by
others who lived within our own era. They shall receive attention,
for it may be that the mind of the race has changed so as to make it
necessary now to present truths in a garb which in former times was of
no utility. Whatever the outer veil, the truth remains ever the same.

The study of what is now called “practical occultism” has some interest
for us, and will receive the attention it may merit, but is not _the_
object of this journal. We regard it as incidental to the journey
along the path. The traveller, in going from one city to another, has,
perhaps, to cross several rivers; may be his conveyance fails him and
he is obliged to swim, or he must, in order to pass a great mountain,
know engineering in order to tunnel through it, or is compelled to
exercise the art of locating his exact position by observation of the
sun; but all that is only incidental to his main object of reaching
his destination. We admit the existence of hidden, powerful forces in
nature, and believe that every day greater progress is made toward an
understanding of them. Astral body formation, clairvoyance, looking
into the astral light, and controlling elementals, is all possible, but
not all profitable. The electrical current, which when resisted in the
carbon, produces intense light, may be brought into existence by any
ignoramus, who has the key to the engine room and can turn the crank
that starts the dynamo, but is unable to prevent his fellow man or
himself from being instantly killed, should that current accidentally
be diverted through his body. The control of these hidden forces is not
easily obtained, nor can phenomena be produced without danger, and in
our view the attainment of true wisdom is not by means of phenomena,
but through the development which begins within. Besides that, mankind
in the mass are not able to reach to phenomena, while every one can
understand right thought, right speech, and right action.

True occultism is clearly set forth in the _Bhagavat-Gita_, and _Light
on the Path_, where sufficient stress is laid upon practical occultism,
but after all, Krishna says, the kingly science and the kingly mystery
is devotion to and study of the light which comes from within. The very
first step in true mysticism and true occultism is to try to apprehend
the meaning of Universal Brotherhood, without which the very highest
progress in the practice of magic turns to ashes in the mouth.

We appeal, therefore, to all who wish to raise themselves and
their fellow creatures—man and beast—out of the thoughtless jog
trot of selfish every-day life. It is not thought that Utopia can
be established in a day; but through the spreading of the idea of
Universal Brotherhood, the truth in all things may be discovered.
Certainly, if we all say that it is useless, that such highly strung,
sentimental notions cannot obtain currency, nothing will ever be done.
A beginning must be made, and has been by the Theosophical Society.
Although philanthropic institutions and schemes are constantly being
brought forward by good and noble men and women, vice, selfishness,
brutality and the resulting misery, seem to grow no less. Riches are
accumulating in the hands of the few, while the poor are ground harder
every day as they increase in number. Prisons, asylums for the outcast
and the magdalen, can be filled much faster than it is possible to
erect them. All this points unerringly to the existence of a vital
error somewhere. It shows that merely healing the outside by hanging a
murderer or providing asylums and prisons, will never reduce the number
of criminals nor the hordes of children born and growing up in hot-beds
of vice. What is wanted is true knowledge of the spiritual condition of
man, his aim and destiny. This is offered to a reasonable certainty in
the Aryan literature, and those who must begin the reform, are those
who are so fortunate as to be placed in the world where they can see
and think out the problems all are endeavoring to solve, even if they
know that the great day may not come until after their death. Such a
study leads us to accept the utterance of Prajapati to his sons: “Be
restrained, be liberal, be merciful;” it is the death of selfishness.

                                 AUM!

The most sacred mystic syllable of the Vedas, is Aum. It is the first
letter of the Sanscrit alphabet, and by some it is thought to be the
sound made by a new born child when the breath is first drawn into the
lungs. The daily prayers of the Hindu Brahmin are begun and ended with
it, and the ancient sacred books say that with that syllable the gods
themselves address the most Holy One.

In the Chandogya Upanishad its praises are sung in these words:[1]

 Let a man meditate on the syllable OM called the udgitha,[2] * * it is
 the best of all essences, the highest, deserving the highest place,
 the eighth.

It is then commanded to meditate on this syllable as the breath, of two
kinds, in the body—the vital breath and the mere breath in the mouth
or lungs, for by this meditation come knowledge and proper performance
of sacrifice. In verse 10 is found: “Now, therefore, it would seem to
follow that both he who knows the true meaning of OM, and he who does
not, perform the same sacrifice. But this is not so, for knowledge
and ignorance are different. The sacrifice which a man performs with
knowledge, faith and the Upanishad is more powerful.”

Outwardly the same sacrifice is performed by both, but that performed
by him who has knowledge, and has meditated on the secret meaning of
OM partakes of the qualities inhering in OM, which need just that
knowledge and faith as the medium through which they may become visible
and active. If a jeweler and a mere ploughman sell a precious stone,
the knowledge of the former bears better fruit than the ignorance of
the latter.

Shankaracharya in his _Sharir Bhashya_, dwells largely on OM, and in
the _Vayu Purana_, a whole chapter is devoted to it. Now as Vayu is
air, we can see in what direction the minds of those who were concerned
with that purana were tending. They were analyzing sound, which will
lead to discoveries of interest regarding the human spiritual and
physical constitution. In sound is tone, and tone is one of the most
important and deep reaching of all natural things. By tone, the natural
man, and the child, express the feelings, just as animals in their
tones make known their nature. The tone of the voice of the tiger is
quite different from that of the dove, as different as their natures
are from each other, and if the sights, sounds and objects in the
natural world mean anything, or point the way to any laws underlying
these differences, then there is nothing puerile in considering the
meaning of tone.

The Padma Purana says that: “The syllable OM is the leader of all
prayers; let it therefore be employed in the beginning of all prayers,”
and Manu, in his laws, ordains: “A Brahmin, at the beginning and end
of a lesson on the Vedas, must always pronounce the syllable OM, for
unless OM precede, his learning will slip away from him, and unless it
follows, nothing will be long retained.”

The celebrated Hindoo Raja, Ramohun Roy, in a treatise on this letter,
says:

“OM, when considered as one letter, uttered by the help of one
articulation, is the symbol of the Supreme Spirit. ‘One letter (OM) is
the emblem of the Most High, Manu II, 83.’ But when considered as a
triliteral word consisting of अ (a), उ (u), म (m), it implies the three
_Vedas_, the three _states_ of human nature, the three _divisions_ of
the universe, and the three _deities_—Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, agents
in the _creation_, _preservation_ and _destruction_ of this world; or,
properly speaking, the three principal attributes of the Supreme Being
personified in those three deities. In this sense it implies in fact
the universe controlled by the Supreme Spirit.”

Now we may consider that there is pervading the whole universe a single
homogeneous resonance, sound, or tone, which acts, so to speak, as the
awakener or vivifying power, stirring all the molecules into action.
This is what is represented in all languages by the vowel _a_, which
takes precedence of all others. This is the word, the _verbum_, the
_Logos_ of St. John of the Christians, who says: “In the beginning was
the Word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.”[3] This
is creation, for without this resonance or motion among the quiescent
particles, there would be no visible universe. That is to say, upon
sound, or as the Aryans called it, _Nada Brahma_ (divine resonance),
depends the evolution of the visible from the invisible.

But this sound _a_, being produced, at once alters itself into _au_,
so that the second sound _u_, is that one made by the first in
continuing its existence. The vowel _u_, which in itself is a compound
one, therefore represents preservation. And the idea of preservation
is contained also in creation, or evolution, for there could not be
anything to preserve, unless it had first come into existence.

If these two sounds, so compounded into one, were to proceed
indefinitely, there would be of course no destruction of them. But it
is not possible to continue the utterance further than the breath, and
whether the lips are compressed, or the tongue pressed against the
roof of the mouth, or the organs behind that used, there will be in
the finishing of the utterance the closure or _m_ sound, which among
the Aryans had the meaning of _stoppage_. In this last letter there
is found the destruction of the whole word or letter. To reproduce it
a slight experiment will show that by no possibility can it be begun
with _m_, but that _au_ invariably commences even the utterance of _m_
itself. Without fear of successful contradiction, it can be asserted
that all speech begins with _au_, and the ending, or destruction of
speech, is in _m_.

The word “tone” is derived from the Latin and Greek words meaning
sound and tone. In the Greek the word “tonos” means a “stretching”
or “straining.” As to the character of the sound, the word “tone” is
used to express all varieties, such as high, low, grave, acute, sweet
and harsh sounds. In music it gives the peculiar quality of the sound
produced, and also distinguishes one instrument from another; as rich
tone, reedy tone, and so on. In medicine, it designates the state of
the body, but is there used more in the signification of strength, and
refers to strength or tension. It is not difficult to connect the use
of the word in medicine with the divine resonance of which we spoke,
because we may consider tension to be the vibration, or quantity
of vibration, by which sound is apprehended by the ear, and if the
whole system gradually goes down so that its tone is lowered without
stoppage, the result will at last be dissolution for that collection of
molecules. In painting, the tone also shows the general drift of the
picture, just as it indicates the same thing in morals and manners. We
say, “a low tone of morals, an elevated tone of sentiment, a courtly
tone of manners,” so that tone has a signification which is applied
universally to either good or bad, high or low. And the only letter
which we can use to express it, or symbolize it, is the _a_ sound, in
its various changes, long, short and medium. And just as the _tone_ of
manners, of morals, of painting, of music, means the real character of
each, in the same way the tones of the various creatures, including man
himself, mean or express the real character; and all together joined
in the deep murmur of nature, go to swell the _Nada Brahma_, or Divine
resonance, which at last is heard as the music of the spheres.

Meditation on tone, as expressed in this Sanscrit word OM, will lead
us to a knowledge of the secret Doctrine. We find expressed in the
merely mortal music the seven divisions of the divine essence, for as
the microcosm is the little copy of the macrocosm, even the halting
measures of man contain the little copy of the whole, in the seven
tones of the octave. From that we are led to the seven colors, and so
forward and upward to the Divine radiance which is the Aum. For the
Divine Resonance, spoken of above, is not the Divine Light itself. The
Resonance is only the outbreathing of the first sound of the entire
Aum. This goes on during what the Hindoos call a Day of Brahma, which,
according to them, lasts a thousand ages.[4] It manifests itself not
only as the power which stirs up and animates the particles of the
Universe, but also in the evolution and dissolution of man, of the
animal and mineral kingdom, and of solar systems. Among the Aryans
it was represented in the planetary system by Mercury, who has always
been said to govern the intellectual faculties, and to be the universal
stimulator. Some old writers have said that it is shown through
Mercury, amongst mankind, by the universal talking of women.

And wherever this Divine Resonance is closed or stopped by death or
other change, the Aum has been uttered there. These utterances of Aum
are only the numerous microcosmic enunciations of the Word, which is
uttered or completely ended, to use the Hermetic or mystical style of
language, only when the great Brahm stops the outbreathing, closes
the vocalization, by the _m_ sound, and thus causes the universal
dissolution. This universal dissolution is known in the Sanscrit and
in the secret Doctrine, as the _Maha Pralaya_; _Maha_ being “the
great,” and _Pralaya_ “dissolution.” And so, after thus arguing, the
ancient Rishees of India said: “Nothing is begun or ended; everything
is changed, and that which we call death is only a transformation.”
In thus speaking they wished to be understood as referring to the
manifested universe, the so-called death of a sentient creature being
only a transformation of energy, or a change of the mode and place of
manifestation of the Divine Resonance. Thus early in the history of the
race the doctrine of conservation of energy was known and applied. The
Divine Resonance, or the _au_ sound, is the universal energy, which
is conserved during each Day of Brahma, and at the coming on of the
great Night is absorbed again into the whole. Continually appearing
and disappearing it transforms itself again and again, covered from
time to time by a veil of matter called its visible manifestation, and
never lost, but always changing itself from one form to another. And
herein can be seen the use and beauty of the Sanscrit. Nada Brahma is
Divine Resonance; that is, after saying _Nada_, if we stopped with
Brahm, logically we must infer that the _m_ sound at the end of Brahm
signified the Pralaya, thus confuting the position that the Divine
Resonance existed, for if it had stopped it could not be resounding.
So they added an _a_ at the end of the Brahm, making it possible to
understand that as _Brahma_ the sound was still manifesting itself.
But time would not suffice to go into this subject as it deserves, and
these remarks are only intended as a feeble attempt to point out the
real meaning and purpose of Aum.

For the above reasons, and out of the great respect we entertain for
the wisdom of the Aryans, was the symbol adopted and placed upon the
cover of this magazine and at the head of the text. With us OM has a
signification. It represents the constant undercurrent of meditation,
which ought to be carried on by every man, even while engaged in the
necessary duties of this life. There is for every conditioned being a
target at which the aim is constantly directed. Even the very animal
kingdom we do not except, for it, below us, awaits its evolution into a
higher state; it unconsciously perhaps, but nevertheless actually, aims
at the same target.

“Having taken the bow, the great weapon, let him place on it the arrow,
sharpened by devotion. Then, having drawn it with a thought directed
to that which is, hit the mark, O friend—the Indestructible. OM is the
bow, the Self is the arrow, Brahman is called its aim. It is to be hit
by a man who is not thoughtless; and then as the arrow becomes one
with the target, he will become one with Brahman. Know him alone as
the Self, and leave off other words. He is the bridge of the Immortal.
Meditate on the Self as OM. Hail to you that you may cross beyond the
sea of darkness.”[5]
                                                           HADJI-ERINN.
                                 AUM!

                               KABBALAH.

The Kabbalah was formerly a tradition, as the word implies, and is
generally supposed to have originated with the Jewish Rabbins. The word
is of Hebrew origin, but the esoteric science it represents did not
originate with the Jews; they merely recorded what had previously been
traditional.

The Kabbalah is a system of philosophy and theosophy, that was obtained
at a very remote period of time by the wise men of the east, through
the unfoldment of the intuitive perceptions.

Self consciousness forms the basis of mind, and knowledge is acquired
through the reception of activities from without, which are recorded
in consciousness; there are two sources through which knowledge is
received—one subjective, the other objective. The former gives us
a knowledge of the causal side of the cosmos, and the latter, the
objective or material side, which is the world of effects, on account
of being evolved from the former.

    “The outward doth from the inward roll,
    And the inward dwells in the inmost soul.”

If this be true, the great first cause—God, has evolved out of
Himself the esoteric or subjective world, in which He is to be found
manifested. Out of the subjective, by change of energy and substance
through law, He evolved the objective world. Therefore, the antecedents
of the objective are to be found in the unseen or invisible portion of
the universe. In a work we are preparing for the press, which has been
a study for over thirty years, we will show what spirit is, that it is
self-generating and self-sustaining, and from it, through volition, the
cosmos was evolved.

Do not understand by the above remark that spirit becomes matter,
through evolution, and that the universe is a huge _Divine
Personality_. We have too high a conception and reverence for Deity,
to suppose for an instant, that He became a material being through
the evolution of the universe. He is not in any manner _personally
associated_ with _either_ the esoteric or exoteric cosmos. _Spirit
is distinct from matter but not from energy; energy is the source of
matter. It is therefore through energy and law that God is associated
with the universe. The law is His Providence, and His will the
executive._ A miracle is an impossibility, for it requires a suspension
of the law upon which the universe is reared. To suspend this law
for one moment, would disarrange the harmony of the entire universe.
Therefore, the suspension of this unique law, which controls energy
in the production of substance and matter, would immediately suspend
evolution, and the entire universe and all that is associated with it,
would at once become disintegrated.

The Providential law, being one of harmony, applies to everything
outside of the spirit of God, and therefore cannot be violated with
impunity. The beauties of nature result from its harmony, and when it
is violated, discord ensues. We see this in nationalities, society,
individuals, and in fact in all departments of nature. If the violation
goes beyond certain limits, revolution is the result, and if it is not
corrected, destruction naturally follows. The greater the violation
the more difficult it is to overcome the discordancy. Dissipation is
sure to be rewarded with sickness, and if carried too far, with death.
Luxury and licentiousness, if persisted in, will destroy society
as well as nationalities. History affords us ample proof of this.
This law, no matter how slightly violated, brings its comparative
punishment, and when obeyed, its corresponding reward.

After these preliminary remarks, we turn to our subject, the Kabbalah,
and show how it has been preserved and transmitted or handed down from
one generation to another. The study of external nature alone affords
us no evidence of a future life—on the contrary, it tends to disprove
it, which accounts for the agnostic belief, which has become so
prevalent of late years. In the investigation of external phenomena, we
recognize matter, energy and life; the latter we are told is the result
of protoplasmic cell action—the same of mind. The _continuity_ observed
through all the departments of nature, implies that there is a law
controlling energy in the production of forms. If energy had nothing
to guide it, its movements would be erratic, and nature would become
a conglomerate discordant mass. Now, the existence of a law implies a
law giver, for it is not self-creating or self-sustaining, therefore
we logically conclude that there is something back of material nature
that is not recognized by the external senses. What proof have we of
the existence of an external world, except through consciousness?
An unborn child, if it possessed reasoning faculties, would deny the
existence of its own mother. A person born blind can have no conception
of the beauties of nature, and if the sense of touch be suspended
with that of sight, we could form no conception of solidity. If born
deaf, of the harmony and discord of sound or of music. _We therefore
perceive that we can have no conception of the existence of an external
world, except through neural activities recorded in consciousness_,
and without the unfoldment of the inner consciousness, we can form no
opinion of a future life. In fact, logically speaking, we have the same
grounds for denying its existence as we would have of the external
world, providing objective consciousness was closed.

This accounts for the doubt, uncertainty, and fear respecting the
future, which is intensified by the present system of religious
teachings. The spiritual world is as much a reality as this, in fact
more so, for it undergoes no change, as this one does.

The study of Theosophy has demonstrated to the writer that there
is another source of knowledge which can only be acquired through
the cultivation of a plane of consciousness, which is not reached
by objective neural activities, but can be by unfoldment of inner
consciousness.

It is the development of this state of consciousness that brings us
_en rapport_ with the esoteric world. The question now arises, how are
we to develop this much desired condition? It can only be accomplished
through the harmony of the moral attributes of the spirit. Harmony
is the only passport to Heaven, and the absence of harmony, which
is discord, is the only passport to what christianity terms Hell.
Therefore, heaven and hell are only conditions of the spirit, which are
beautifully illustrated in the 20th chapter of the Apocalypse, where
it describes the angel descending from heaven, having the key of the
bottomless pit, and a chain. With the key he unlocked hell, and with
the chain he bound the devil for a thousand years. The angel is the
representative of holiness and purity, which is only attained through
the harmony of the spirit; the key is a symbol of light, and the chain
that of truth; hell is supposed to be the abode of darkness, and the
devil a spirit of falsehood and error. We will now ask the question,
is there anything to banish darkness, but light? Anything to disperse
falsehood and error, but truth?

Christ was an Essene, and this secret order was a branch of the
Kabbalah. St. John was his favorite disciple, whom he fully initiated
into the mysteries. During this disciple’s exile on the Isle of Patmos
or Patmo, he wrote the Apocalypse, which is a profound Kabbalistic
production, describing the unity, duality, ternary and septenary of
the Kabbalah. The ancient adepts found from experience, that in order
to develop the interior or subjective consciousness, it was necessary
(allegorically speaking) to “wear the cloak of Apollonius;” that is,
to withdraw from the outer world, practice to the fullest extent,
self-denial, and spend their wakeful moments in esoteric meditation.
In order to isolate themselves from society, they established secret
sanctuaries, in which they met for mutual communion and religious
exercises.

As they advanced in spiritual knowledge they found that there were
various grades of harmony in the subjective or spiritual world, and
each individual on leaving this life gravitated, as it were, to the
sphere with which he was in harmony. They divided their sanctuaries
into seven degrees to correspond with the harmonies in esoteric nature,
and to each degree there were three years of spiritual probation.
As harmony results from the analogy of contraries, there were as
many degrees of discord as there were of harmonies. The former they
designated hell. The material cosmos, that is what we call the external
world, was, as it were, middle ground between the two, which they
called Hades, into which the soul passed at death, and the spirit was
made cognizant of its record while on earth. Physical death, they
claimed was merely a change from a physical to a spiritual condition;
the soul or spiritual body being formed at the same time that the
physical was, but in a very different manner. After death, the soul
either ascended or descended, depending not upon gravity, but upon
harmony.

It will thus be perceived that each degree in the sanctuary required
a separate or distinct initiation for each one, which was intended to
represent a higher state of moral and intellectual advancement. The
last or seventh degree was the one of perfection which brought about
illumination, when the subjective world was as much a reality to the
inward or subjective consciousness as the outward world is to the
objective. When this condition of moral and intellectual unfoldment
was obtained, all interest in this life was gone and the spirit
longed for separation from its physical casket. The neophyte seeking
spiritual knowledge could only attain to the wisdom of the different
degrees by advancing morally, so as to be in harmony with the degrees.
The knowledge thus obtained was never recorded, but communicated
verbally in symbolic language. By this means it was kept a profound
secret, and handed down traditionally. The first record we have of
the Kabbalah was made by Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Simeon Ben Jochai; the
former compiled _The Sepher Jetzirah_, “Book of Creation,” and the
latter, _The Sepherhaz Sohar_, “Book of Light.” The first is regarded
by the Kabbalist at the key of the second. The Sohar has never been
translated, and as a late Bishop of the Church of England justly
states, never will be by a Christian. This is owing to its symbolic
character, which can only be interpreted by a Kabbalist. It is in three
volumes, in unpointed Hebrew, and consists of a mixture of Armenic
and Semetic languages. The Sepher Jetzirah may be procured in three
languages, the Hebrew, Latin and German.

[Illustration: FIG. A. and FIG. B.]

We now come to the most interesting part of our subject. The key to
the Kabbalah is the “_Word_,” consisting of four Hebrew letters, which
may be arranged in a cross inclosed in a circle, Fig. A. The Christian
Kabbalist inserted the Hebrew letter Sin, as a representative of Christ
in the ineffable name, Fig. B. The four-lettered name was the one given
to Moses on the Mount, with the understanding that it represented his
(Jehovah) verbalization in the universe. The Word was held in profound
reverence by all, Kabbalists as well as the Jews, and all ancient
secret orders, and was never spoken audibly, in fact never mentioned,
except in the last initiation, when it was whispered in the initiate’s
ear by the Grand Master of Ceremonies. The knowledge and power the Word
confers upon the recipient of its meaning is given in a fragment of
a clavicle of Solomon: “I, Solomon, King of Israel and Palmyra, have
sought and obtained in part, the Holy Chocmah, which is the wisdom
of Adonai. I have become King of the spirit of heaven and of earth,
master of the inhabitants of the air, and the souls of the sea, because
I procured the key of the occult gate of light. I have accomplished
great things by the virtue of _Schema Hamphorasch_, and by the
thirty-two paths of the _Sepher Jetzirah_. Number, weight and measure
determine the form of all things, substance is one, and God created
it eternally. Happy is he who knows the letters and numbers; numbers
are ideas, and ideas are forces, and forces Elohim. The synthesis of
Elohim is Schema. Schema is one, and its pillars are two, its power is
three, its form four. Its reflection gives eight, and eight multiplied
by three, gives the twenty-four thrones of wisdom. On each throne
rests a crown of three jewels, each jewel bears a name, each name an
absolute idea. There are seventy-two names on the twenty-four crowns
of Schema. Thou shalt write these names on thirty-six talismans, two
on each talisman—one on each side. Thou shalt divide these talismans
into four series of nine each, according to the number of the letters
of the Schema. On the first series engrave the letter Jod, figure of
the blooming rod of Aaron; on the second series the letter He, figure
of the cup of Joseph; on the third series the letter Vau, the figure
of the source of David, my Father; on the fourth series the letter He,
the figure of the Jewish shekel. The thirty-six talismans will be a
book that will contain all the secrets of nature, and by their divers
combinations, thou wilt make the Genii and Angels speak.”

The Schema represents the four-lettered name; when mathematically
constructed into seventy-two different forms, it is called
Schema-hamphorasch, and represents seventy-two paths of wisdom, which
constitute the keys of universal science.

The history of the Kabbalah is yet to be written, which can only be
accomplished by one versed in its secrets. Historians have not done
it justice, they have debased it by associating it with necromancy or
the black art, which is to the Kabbalah what false religion is to pure
Christianity. The kernel lies hidden in the rubbish of the past, where
it has been preserved for future generations. When it is disrobed of
its vile and obnoxious covering it will be found to have lost none of
its beauty and brilliancy. The light of the Orient has been preserved
by the wise men of the east, in symbols and allegorical language, and
when the time arrives, which is not far distant, someone possessing the
key, which is the _Word_, will unlock its mysteries and bring it forth
in its divine purity, to enlighten the present and future generations.

The cycle of Tritheme, which commenced in 1878, will prepare someone
to bring it forth from its oblivion, and through its teachings a new
train of thought will be instituted and an impetus given to the moral
and emotional development which will be the harbinger of a bright
future. Science will take new strides, religion will throw aside her
thread-bare garment and assume a new dress, which will accord with
the teachings and example of Christ. When this occurs, the conflict
between religion and science will cease and harmony be established.
The two then will be like brother and sister, aiding each other in the
development of the intellectual and moral attributes of the spirit. It
is no fault of science that a difference between them has occurred, it
has advanced while religion has been carrying on a warfare about creeds
and dogmas, which has retarded her progress.

Christianity of to-day is as different from what it was in the first
and second centuries of the Christian era, as modern masonry is
different from what it was in ancient times. Religion has attempted to
control humanity through fear, having created a devil to keep man in
subjection, and force the belief that God, who is the quintessence of
purity and holiness, is a vindictive and angry being, who takes delight
in chastising those who through ignorance violate the Divine Law.
While this religious conflict has been progressing, christianity has
gradually lost its hold on the public mind. At the same time humanity
longs to know something of the future which science cannot give.

How is this emotional or moral want to be supplied? for humanity
cannot progress intellectually beyond objective knowledge, without the
development of the moral attributes. We venture the assertion that if
the same advancement had been made in the development of the emotional
attributes of the spirit, as has been in the intellectual, there would
have been no agnosticism, and science would be far in advance of what
it is. Science has about reached the limit of objective knowledge
and cannot advance until it acquires a knowledge of this world’s
antecedents, which will enable it to correct numerous errors and give
an impetus to further development. This cannot be done so long as they
ignore the existence of a subjective consciousness.

The Kabbalah embodies both philosophy and theosophy. The former
gives us a knowledge of the universe, and the latter teaches man
how to know himself and his God. It will also elevate masonry and
all secret organizations having their rise from it, by showing that
ancient masonry was not merely a social and beneficial order like
modern masonry, but an organization for the unfolding of the moral and
intellectual attributes.

The Kabbalah has shown its fruits in philosophy through such minds as
Thales, Solon, Plato, Pythagoras, Göethe, and many others. In religion
through Zoroaster, Confucius, Christ, Old and New Testament, and the
Early Christians, and later through the United Brethren, to which Jacob
Behmen belonged, and other theosophic sects. If the views we have
advanced be correct, that it is through the development of the inner
consciousness that man attains to a knowledge of the subjective or
causal world, and that the knowledge of the Kabbalah will enable us to
unfold these faculties, how urgent we all should be to have its secrets
revealed.
                                                         SETH PANCOAST.

                               SEERSHIP.

The following remarks are not intended to be a critique upon the
literary merits or demerits of the poem which is taken as the subject
of criticism. In 1882, _The Theosophist_[6] published a review of “The
Seer, a Prophetic Poem,” by Mr. H. G. Hellon, and as clairvoyance is
much talked of in the West, it seemed advisable to use the verses
of this poet for the purpose of inquiring, to some extent, into the
western views of Seership, and of laying before my fellow seekers the
views of one brought up in a totally different school.

I have not yet been able to understand with the slightest degree
of distinctness, what state is known as “Seership” in the language
of western mysticism. After trying to analyze the states of many
a “seer,” I am as far as ever from any probability of becoming
wiser on the subject, as understood here, because it appears to me
that no classification whatever exists of the different states as
exhibited on this side of the globe, but all the different states are
heterogeneously mixed. We see the state of merely catching glimpses in
the astral light, denominated _seership_, at the same time that the
very highest illustrations of that state are called _trances_.

As far as I have yet been able to discover, “Seership,” as thus
understood here, does not come up to the level of _Sushupti_,
which is the dreamless state in which the mystic’s highest
consciousness—composed of his highest intellectual and ethical
faculties—hunts for and seizes any knowledge he may be in need of. In
this state the mystic’s lower nature is at rest (paralyzed): only his
highest nature roams into the ideal world in quest of food. By _lower
nature_, I mean his physical, astral or psychic, lower emotional and
intellectual principles, including the lower fifth.[7] Yet even the
knowledge obtained during the Sushupti state must be regarded, from
this plane, as theoretical and liable to be mixed upon resuming the
application of the body, with falsehood and with the preconception of
the mystic’s ordinary waking state, as compared with the true knowledge
acquired during the several initiations. There is no guarantee held out
for any mystic that any experience, researches or knowledge that may
come within his reach in any other state whatever, is accurate, except
in the mysteries of initiation.

But all these different states are necessary to growth. _Yagrata_—our
waking state, in which all our physical and vital organs, senses and
faculties find their necessary exercise and development, is needed
to prevent the physical organization from collapsing. _Swapna_—dream
state, in which are included all the various states of consciousness
between Yagrata and Sushupti, such as somnambulism, trance, dreams,
visions, &c.—is necessary for the physical faculties to enjoy rest,
and for the lower emotional and astral faculties to live, become
active, and develop; and _Sushupti_ state, comes about in order that
the consciousnesses of both Yagrata and Swapna states may enjoy rest,
and for the fifth principle, which is the one active in Sushupti, to
develop itself by appropriate exercise. In the equilibrium of these
three states lies true progress.

The knowledge acquired during Sushupti state, might or might not be
brought back to one’s physical consciousness; all depends upon his
desires, and according as his lower consciousnesses are or are not
prepared to receive and retain that knowledge.

The avenues of the ideal world are carefully guarded by elementals from
the trespass of the profane.

Lytton makes Mejnour say:[8] “We place our tests in ordeals
that purify the passions and elevate the desires. And nature in
this controls and assists us, for it places awful guardians and
unsurmountable barriers between the ambitions of vice and the heaven of
loftier science.”

The desire for physical enjoyment, if rightly directed, becomes
elevated, as a desire for something higher, gradually becoming
converted into a desire to do good to others, and thus ascending,
ceases to be a desire, and is transformed into an element of the sixth
principle.

The control by nature to which Mejnour refers, in found in the natural
maximum and minimum limits; there cannot be too much ascension, nor can
the descent be too quick or too low. The assistance of nature is found
in the Turya state, in which the adept takes one step and nature helps
for another.

In the Sushupti state, one might or might not find the object of his
earnest search, and as soon as it is found, the moment the desire to
bring it back to normal consciousness arises; that moment Sushupti
state is at an end for the time being. But one might often find himself
in an awkward position, when he has left that state. The doors for
the descent of the truth into the lower nature are closed. Then his
position is beautifully described in an Indian proverb: “The bran in
the mouth and the fire are both lost.” This is an allusion to a poor
girl who is eating bran, and at the same time wants to kindle the fire
just going out before her. She blows it with the bran in her mouth; the
bran falls on the dying ashes, extinguishing them completely; she is
thus a double loser. In the Sushupti state, the anxiety which is felt
to bring back the experience to consciousness, acts as the bran with
the fire. Anxiety to have or to do, instead of being a help as some
imagine, is a direct injury, and if permitted to grow in our waking
moments, will act with all the greater force on the plane of Sushupti.
The result of these failures is clearly set forth by Patanjali.[9]

Even where the doors to the lower consciousness are open, the knowledge
brought back from Sushupti state, might, owing to the distractions and
difficulties of the direct and indirect routes of ascent and descent,
be lost on the way either partially or wholly, or become mixed up with
misconceptions and falsehood.

But in this search for knowledge in Sushupti, there must not remain
a spark of indifference or idle inquisitiveness in the higher
consciousness. Not even a jot of lurking hesitation about entering
into the state, nor doubt about its desirability, nor about the
usefulness or accuracy of the knowledge gleaned on former occasions,
or to be presently gleaned. If there is any such doubt or hesitancy,
his progress is retarded. Nor can there be any cheating or hypocrisy,
nor any laughing in the sleeve. In our normal wakeful state it always
happens that when we believe we are earnestly aspiring, some one or
more of the elements of one or more of our lower consciousnesses
belie us, make us feel deluded and laugh at us, for such is the
self-inconsistent nature of desire.

In this state, which we are considering there are subjective and
objective states, or classes of knowledge and experience, even as
there are the same in Yagrata. So, therefore, great care should be
taken to make your aims and aspirations _as high as possible_ while in
your normal condition. Woe to him who would dare to trifle with the
means placed at his disposal in the shape of Sushupti. One of the most
effectual ways in which western mystics could trifle with this, is to
seek for the missing links of evolution, so as to bring that knowledge
to the normal consciousness, and then with it to extend the domain of
“scientific” knowledge. Of course, from the moment such a desire is
entertained, the one who has it is shut out from Sushupti.[10]

The mystic might be interested in analyzing the real nature of the
objective world, or in soaring up to the feet of _Manus_,[11] to the
spheres where Manava intellect is busy shaping the mould for a future
religion, or had been shaping that of a past religion. But here the
maximum and minimum limits by which nature controls, are again to be
taken account of. One essential feature of Sushupti is, as far as can
now be understood, that the mystic must get at all truths through but
one source, or path, viz: through the divine world pertaining to his
own lodge (or teacher), and through this path he might soar as high as
he can, though how much knowledge he can get is an open question.

Let us now inquire what state is the seership of the author of our
poem “The Seer,” and try to discover the “hare’s horns” in it. Later on
we may try to peep into the states of Swedenborg, P. B. Randolph, and a
few of the “trained, untrained, natural born, self-taught, crystal, and
magic mirror seers.”

I look at this poem solely to point out mistakes so as to obtain
materials for our study. There are beauties and truths in it which all
can enjoy.

In ancient days it was all very well for mystics to write figuratively
so as to keep sacred things from the profane. Then symbolism was rife
in the air with mysticism, and all the allegories were understood at
once by those for whom they were intended. But times have changed. In
this materialistic age it is known that the wildest misconceptions
exist in the minds of many who are mystically and spiritually
inclined. The generality of mystics and their followers are not
free from the superstitions and prejudices which have in church and
science their counterpart. Therefore in my humble opinion there can
be no justification for writing allegorically on mysticism, and by
publication, placing such writings within reach of all. To do so is
positively mischievous. If allegorical writings, and misleading novels
are intended to popularize mysticism by removing existing prejudices,
then the writers ought to express their motives. It is an open question
whether the benefit resulting from such popularization is not more
than counterbalanced by the injury worked to helpless votaries of
mysticism, who are misled. And there is less justification for our
present allegorical writers than there was for those of Lytton’s time.
Moreover, in the present quarter of our century, veils are thrown by
symbolical or misleading utterances, over much that can be safely given
out in plain words. With these general remarks let us turn to “The
Seer.”

In the Invocation, addressed evidently to the Seer’s guru,[12] we find
these words:

    “When in delicious dreams I leave this life,
    And in sweet trance unveil its mysteries;
    Give me thy light, thy love, thy truth divine!”

_Trance_ here means only one of the various states known as cataleptic
or somnambulic, but certainly neither Turya nor Sushupti. In such a
trance state very few of the mysteries of “this life,” or even of
the state of trance itself, could be unveiled. The so-called Seer
can “enjoy” as harmlessly and as uselessly as a boy who idly swims
in the lagoon, where he gains no knowledge and may end his sport
in death. Even so is the one who swims, cuts capers, in the astral
light, and becomes lost in something strange which surpasses all his
comprehension. The difference between such a Seer and the ordinary
sensualist, is, that the first indulges both his astral and physical
senses to excess, while the latter his physical senses only. These
occultists fancy that they have removed their interest from _self_,
when in reality they have only enlarged the limits of experience and
desire, and transferred their interest to the things which concern
their larger span of life.[13]

Invoking a Guru’s blessings on your own higher nature for the purpose
of sustaining you in this trance state, is as blasphemous and
reprehensible an act of assisting descent, and conversion of higher
into lower energies, as to invoke your Guru to help you in excessive
wine drinking; for the astral world is also material. To be able to
solve the mysteries of any consciousness whatever, even of the lowest
physical, while in trance, is as vain a boast of the hunters for such
a state, as that of physiologists or mesmerists. While you are in
trance state, if you are not ethical enough in your nature, you will be
tempted and forced, by your powerful lower elements, to pry into the
secrets of your neighbors, and then, on returning to your normal state,
to slander them. The surest way to draw down your higher nature into
the miry abyss of your physical and astral world, and thus to animalize
yourself, is to go into trance or to aspire for clairvoyance.

    “And thou, (Guru) left me looking upward through the veil,
    To gaze into thy goal and follow thee!”

These lines are highly presumptuous. It is impossible, even for a very
high Hierophant, in _any of his states whatever_, to gaze into his
Guru’s goal;[14] his subjective consciousness can but _barely_ come up
to the level of the normal or objective consciousness of his Guru. It
is only during the initiation that the initiated sees not only his own
immediate goal, but also Nirvana, which of course includes his Guru’s
goal also; but after the ceremony is over he recollects only his own
immediate goal for his next “class,” but nothing beyond that.[15] This
is what is meant by the God Jehovah saying to Moses: “And I will take
away mine hand and Thou shalt see my back, but my face shall not be
seen.” And in the Rig Veda it is said:[16] “Dark is the path of Thee,
who art bright; the light is before Thee.”

Mr. Hellon opens his poem with a quotation from _Zanoni_: “Man’s first
initiation is in trance; in dreams commence all human knowledge, in
dreams he hovers over measureless space, the first faint bridge between
spirit and spirit—this world and the world beyond.”

As this is a passage often quoted approvingly, and recognized as
containing no misconceptions, I may be permitted to pass a few remarks,
first, upon its intrinsic merits, and secondly, on Lytton himself and
his Zanoni. I shall not speak of the rage which prevails among mystical
writers, for quoting without understanding what they quote.

In _Swapna_ state man gets human, unreliable knowledge, while divine
knowledge begins to come in Sushupti state. Lytton has here thrown
a gilded globule of erroneous ideas to mislead the unworthy and
inquisitive mysticism hunters, who unconsciously price the globule. It
is not too much to say that such statements in these days, instead of
aiding us to discover the true path, but give rise to numberless patent
remedies for the evils of life, remedies which can never accomplish a
cure. Man-made edifices called true Raja Yoga,[17] evolved in trance,
arise confronting each other, conflicting with each other, and out of
harmony in themselves. Then not only endless disputation arises, but
also bigotry, while the devoted and innocent seekers after truth are
misled, and scientific, intelligent, competent men, are scared away
from any attempt to examine the claims of the true science. As soon as
some one sided objective truth is discovered by a Mesmer, a defender
of ancient Yoga Vidya,[18] blows a trumpet crying out, “Yoga is self
mesmerization, mesmerism is _the key_ to it, and animal magnetism
develops spirituality and is itself spirit, God, Atman,” deluding
himself with the idea that he is assisting humanity and the cause of
truth, unconscious of the fact that he is thus only degrading Yoga
Vidya. The ignorant medium contends that her “control” is divine.
There seems to be little difference between the claims of these two
classes of dupes, and the materialist who sets up a protoplasm in the
place of God. Among the innumerable hosts of desecrated terms are
_Trance_, _Yoga_, _Turya_, _initiation_, &c. It is therefore no wonder
that Lytton, in a novel, has desecrated it and misapplied it to a mere
semi-cataleptic state. I, for one prefer, always to limit the term
_Initiation_ to its true sense, viz., those sacred ceremonies in which
alone “Isis is unveiled.”

Man’s first initiation is _not_ in trance, as Lytton means. Trance is
an artificial, waking, somnambulistic state, in which one can learn
nothing at all about the real nature of the elements of our physical
consciousness, and much less any of any other. None of Lytton’s
admirers seems to have thought that he was chaffing at occultism,
although he believed in it, and was not anxious to throw pearls before
swine. Such a hierophant as Mejnour—not Lytton himself—could not have
mistaken the tomfoolery of somnambulism for even the first steps in
Raja Yoga. This can be seen from the way in which Lytton gives out
absolutely erroneous ideas about occultism, while at the same time
he shows a knowledge which he could not have, did he believe himself
in his own chaffing. It is pretty well recognized that he at last
failed, after some progress in occultism as a high accepted disciple.
His Glyndon might be Lytton, and Glyndon’s sister Lady Lytton. The
hieroglyphics of a book given him to decipher, and which he brought out
as Zanoni, must be allegorical. The book is really the master’s ideas
which the pupil’s highest consciousness endeavors to read. But they
were only the mere commonplaces of the master’s mind. The profane and
the cowardly always say that the master descends to the plane of the
pupil. Such can never happen. And precipitation of messages from the
master is only possible when the pupil’s highest ethical and intuitive
faculties reach the level of the master’s normal and objective state.
In Zanoni, this is veiled by the assertion that he had to _read_ the
hieroglyphics—they did not _speak_ to him. And he confesses in the
preface that he is by no means sure that he has correctly deciphered
them. “Enthusiasm,” he says, “is when that part of the soul which
is above intellect, soars up to the Gods, and there derives the
inspiration.” Errors will therefore be due to wilful misstatements or
to his difficulty in reading the cipher.

    “In dreams I see a world so fair,
    That life would love to linger there;
    And pass from this to that bright sphere.
    In dreams ecstatic, pure and free,
    Strange forms my inward senses see,
    While hands mysterious welcome me.”

Such indefinite descriptions are worse than useless. The inward senses
are psychic senses, and their perceiving strange forms and mere
appearances in the astral world is not useful or instructive. Forms
and appearances in the astral light are legion, and take their shape
not only from the seer’s mind unknown to himself, but are also in many
cases, reflections for other people’s minds.

    “Oh, why should mine be ever less
    And light ineffable bless
    Thee, in thy starry loneliness,”

seems to be utterly unethical. Here the seer is in the first place
jealous of the light possessed by his guru, or he is grasping in the
dark, ignorant even of the _rationale_ of himself being in lower states
than his guru. However, Mr. Hellon has not erred about the existence
of such a feeling. It does and should exist in the trance and dreaming
state. In our ordinary waking state, attachments, desires, &c., are the
very life of our physical senses, and in the same way the emotional
energies manifest themselves on the astral plane in order to feed and
fatten the seer’s astral senses, sustaining them during his trance
state. Unless thus animated, his astral nature would come to rest.

No proof is therefore needed for the proposition that any state which
is sustained by desires and passions cannot be regarded as anything
more than as a means for developing one part of the animal nature. Van
Helmont is of the same opinion as Mr. Hellon.[19] We cannot, therefore,
for a moment believe that in such a state the “I” of that state is
_Atman_.[20] It is only the false “I”; the vehicle for the real one.
It is _Ahankára_—lower self, or individuality of the waking state, for
even in trance state, the lower sixth principle plays no greater part
and develops no more than in the wakeful state. The change is only
in the field of action: from the waking one to the astral plane, the
physical one remaining more or less at rest. Were it otherwise, we
would find somnambules day by day exhibiting increase of intellect,
whereas this does not occur.

Suppose that we induce the trance state in an illiterate man. He can
then read from the astral counterpart of Herbert Spencer or Patanjali’s
books as many pages as we desire, or even the unpublished ideas of
Spencer; but he can never make a comparison between the two systems,
unless that has already been done by some other mind in no matter what
language. Nor can any somnambule analyze and describe the complicated
machinery of the astral faculties, much less of the emotional ones, or
of the fifth principle. For in order to be analyzed they must be at
rest so that the higher self may carry on the analysis. So when Mr.
Hellon says:

  “A trance steals o’er my spirit now,”

he is undoubtedly wrong, as Atman, or spirit, cannot go into a trance.
When a lower plane energy ascends to a higher plane it becomes silent
there for a while until by contact with the denizens of its new home
its powers are animated. The somnambulic state has two conditions, (a)
waking, which is psycho-physiological or astro-physical; (b) sleeping,
which is psychical. In these two the trance steals partly or completely
only over the physical consciousness and senses.

  “And from my forehead peers the sight,” etc.

This, with much that follows, is pure imagination or misconception. As
for instance, “floating from sphere to sphere.” In this state the seer
is confined to but one sphere—the astral or psycho-physiological—no
higher one can he even comprehend.

Speaking of the period when the sixth sense shall be developed, he says:

    “No mystery then her sons shall find,
    Within the compass of mankind;
    The one shall read the other’s mind.”

In this the seer shows even a want of theoretical knowledge of the
period spoken of. He has madly rushed into the astral world without a
knowledge of the philosophy of the mystics. Even though the twelfth
sense were developed—let alone the physical sixth—it shall ever remain
as difficult as it is now, for people to read one another’s mind.
Such is the mystery of Manas.[21] He is evidently deluded by seeing
the apparent triumphs during a transitional period of a race’s mental
development, of those minds abnormally developed which are able to look
into the minds of others; and yet they do that only partially. If one
with a highly developed sixth principle were to indulge for only six
times in reading other’s minds, he would surely drain that development
down to fatten the mind and desires. Moreover, Mr. Hellon’s seer seems
to be totally unaware of the fact that the object of developing higher
faculties is not to peer into the minds of others, and that the economy
of the occult world gives an important privilege to the mystic, in
that the pages of his life and _manas_ shall be carefully locked up
against inquisitive prowlers, the key safely deposited with his guru,
who never lends it to any one else. If with the occult world the laws
of nature are so strict, how much more should they be with people
in general. Otherwise, nothing would be safe. The sixth sense would
then be as delusive and a curse to the ignorant as sight and learning
are now. Nor shall this sixth sense man be “perfect.” Truth for him
shall be as difficult to attain through his “sense,” as it is now. The
horizon shall have only widened, and what we are now acquiring as truth
will have passed into history, into literature, into axiom. “Sense”
is always nothing else than a channel for desire to flow through and
torment ourselves and others.

The whole poem is misleading, especially such expressions as: “His
spirit views the world’s turmoil; behold his body feed the soil.—A
sixth sense race borne ages since, to God’s own zone.” Our higher
self—Atman—can never “view the world’s turmoil,” nor behold the body.
For supposing that it did view the body or the world’s turmoil, it
would be attracted to them, descending to the physical plane, where it
would be converted more or less into physical nature. And the elevation
of a sixth sense race unphilosophically supposes the raising up of that
sense, which certainly has only to do with our physical nature, at most
our astro-physical nature, to the sphere of God or Atman.

By merely training the psychical powers true progress is not gained,
but only the enjoyment of those powers; a sort of alcohol on the astral
plane, which results in unfavorable Karma. The true path to divine
wisdom is in performing our duty unselfishly in the station in which we
are placed, for thereby we convert lower nature into higher, following
Dharma—our whole duty.
                                                          MURDHNA JOTI.

              THE NATURE AND OFFICE OF BUDDHA’S RELIGION.

_From a dissertation by the Rt. Rev. H. Sumangala, High Priest of
Adam’s Peak, Ceylon._[22]

What must a religion chiefly reveal? A religion, as such, must for the
most part propound what is not generally seen and felt in the nature of
sentient beings. It must also proclaim “the ways and means” by which
the good of the world is attained. These _teachings_ are essential to
a religion or it would, at best, become only a system of philosophy or
a science of nature. We find these two essentials fully treated in the
religion of Buddha.

Buddha says:[23] “The world has mounted on the passions and is
suspended therefrom—that is, the thoughts of men are hanging down from
the lusts and other evils. The whole world is encompassed by decay;
and Death overwhelms us all, (consumption and decay ever slowly but
steadily creep in and eat into each and everything in existence, and
it is here likened to something like land encircled by sea). Nature
has subjected us to birth, decay and death, _and the deeds of our past
lives are covered by the terrors of death from our view_, although
the time of their action is not very far removed from our present
state of existence. Hence it is that we do not view the scenes of our
past births. Human life before it arrives at its final destiny, is
ever inseparable from Jâti, Jarâ, Marana, etc., (birth, infirmities,
death, etc.). As we are at present we are in sorrow and pain, and we
have not yet obtained the highest object of our being. It behooves us,
therefore, to exert ourselves everytime and by all means to attain to
our _summum ultimum_, and we have to use and practice ‘the ways and
means’ shown in religion in earnestness and integrity.”

Now what are they as set forth in Buddhism? “The man who is ever fully
in the observance of the precepts of morality; who sees and understands
things well and truly; who has perfect and serene command over his
thoughts; and who has his mind fixed well in proper contemplation. I
say, that such a man alone will safely pass over the dreadful torrent
of metempsychosis, which is indeed hard to be gone over safely and
without meeting with great obstacles and difficulties.”

The way to holiness of being, to destruction of sorrows, pain and
sufferings, and to the path to Nirvana and to its attainment, is, the
starting of memory, on the body, on sensation, on mind and on the true
doctrines, largely discoursed on by the Lord Gautama Buddha. “Men are
sanctified by their deeds, their learning, their religious behavior,
their morals, and by leading a holy life; _they do not become holy by
race or wealth_.”[24]

Buddha has opened up to us a supreme path for sanctification; described
in detail in many verses of His _Dharmá_.[25] He says: “Oh Bhikkus!
what is the holy path which ought to be walked over to destroy pain
and sorrows? It is the _ariya_ path, consisting of eight members or
component parts, which are: Right Seeing or correct belief; right
Thinking; right Words; right Actions; right Living; right Exertions;
right Recollecting; and right Composing of Mind—_the practice of Yoga_.”

Of all the paths this, the eight membered one, is the Supremest; of the
Truths, the fourfold one is the highest; of all classes of knowledge,
that of Nirvana is the most excellent, and of all bipeds Buddha is the
highest and most supremely exalted and enlightened.

I. Right seeing is the correct and full comprehension of the four
facts or divisions, which are: Sorrows, the origin of sorrows, the
destruction of sorrows, and the ways and means to be used for that
destruction. Now this Right seeing may be viewed in two ways, (1)
_worldly_, (2) _over-worldly_, or above the worldly way. The first is
understanding, while still we have not overcome our lusts, passions and
desires, the effects of good and bad actions, and that such acts alone
brought about the effects; the second is brought about by destroying
lust, anger, &c., and rightly comprehending what are known as the “four
supreme verities.”

II. Right Thinking includes, pondering on the abandoning of all
merely worldly happiness, bad desires, anger, &c., and the cherishing
of thoughts to live separated from them all; loathing to take life,
and the continued mental exercise of the determination not to hurt a
sentient being.

III. Right Speech avoids lying, slandering, uttering rough or vulgar
words, and vain babbling or empty talk.

IV. Right Actions is, sanctifying the body by refraining from killing,
stealing, enjoying unlawful sexual intercourse, &c.

V. Right Living is, obtaining a livelihood by being worthily employed,
supporting one’s self.

VI. Right Exertion is, to labor willingly and earnestly to prevent
evil thoughts _from arising in the mind_, nipping even the buds of
such thoughts already sprung, and by nourishing good thoughts and by
creating morally virtuous ideas when heart and mind are vacant and
empty of them.

VII. The seventh is the four above mentioned—in possession.

VIII. The last member includes the four _dhyánas_. _Sammá Samádhi_, or
Right Meditation, is the last member of the Supreme Path. In religion
_Samádhis_ are of various natures, but now we will confine ourselves to
one particular _Samádhi_.

It is that state of mind in which dispersed thoughts are brought
together and concentrated on one particular object. The chief
feature is composure of the mind, and its essential characteristic
is the restriction of thoughts from dispersion. Stability aids its
sustentation and undisturbed happiness is its natural result.

The primary stage of this state of mind is known as Upachára
Samádhi,[26] the second, or advanced stage, as Uppaná Samádhi.[27]

It is also divided into two classes. _Lokiya_[28] which any one may
enter into; and _Lokuttara_,[29] which can be entered into only by
those who are free from worldly desires. The first is a preliminary
step to the attainment of the second. For the first, the devotee must
give himself up to devotion in the manner prescribed in 3d, 4th and
5th angas of the _Arya_ astangikamarga chatuparisuddhi silas, and
then free himself from the ten worldly troubles, which arise: from
building houses; connections with family; excessive gains; the duties
of a teacher; from manual work; journeys for another or for one’s own
gain; sickness of teacher, pupils and parents; bodily sufferings;
constant study, and worldly power and its loss. Being free from these
he must then be acquainted with the systematic process of meditation,
instructed by a friend or an eminent preceptor.

Meditation is of two classes. First, that wherein the devotee exercises
universal love of mankind, reflects that death is close at hand, and
that the human body being liable to decay is not to be regarded with
consideration. The second is that which applies to a man according to
his moral nature.[30] These are forty in number. Taking one let us see
how meditation should be practised.

Man’s moral nature is divided into six classes: Sensuous, irascible,
ignorant, faithful, discreet, reflective. The first three are evil,
and the last three good qualities. If in any man’s nature an evil
and virtue combine, that which predominates will influence his moral
character. The process of meditation, then, is to be decided by the
preceptor according to the tendency of the moral character as thus
influenced.[31] The devotee then seeks retirement resigned to Buddha.

                      A PROPHECY ABOUT THEOSOPHY.

There are alleged to exist in India certain Sibylline books called
_Nadigrandhams_. As the name indicates, they are compilations of
astrological statements or predictions, and are supposed to contain
actual prophecies fitting into the lives of inquirers as well as into
the history of a village. They resemble the Sibylline books of Rome,
which prophesied, it is said, for over two hundred years, all the
important events in the affairs of the Eternal City.

In May, 1885, Col. H. S. Olcott, President of the Theosophical Society,
hearing of some of these books in Madras, had an interview at the
headquarters with the astrologer who possessed them, in the presence of
two witnesses.

In reporting the predictions in the May article[32] he left certain
blanks saying that he would speak regarding it in twelve months, and
that the unpublished portion concerned the welfare of the society. The
prophecy was:

 “The society is now, April 3, 1885, passing through a dark cycle,
 which began August 24, 1884; it will last nine months and sixteen
 days more, making seventeen months for the whole period. By the end
 of fourteen months next following the seventeen dark months, the
 society will have increased threefold in power and strength, and
 some who have joined it and worked for its advancement, shall attain
 gnyanam.[33] The society will live and survive its founders for many
 years, becoming a lasting power for good; it will survive the fall of
 governments. And you (H. S. O.) will live from this hour, twenty-eight
 years, five months, six days, fourteen hours, and on your death the
 society will have 156 principal branches, not counting minor ones,
 with 50,000 enrolled members; before that, many branches will rise and
 expire, and many members come and go.”

At the time the society was founded in 1875, the editor of this journal
was present in New York when the proposed name was discussed, and it
was prophesied after the selection had been made, that the organization
was destined to accomplish a great work, far beyond the ideas of those
present. Since then many members have followed the example of Buddha’s
proud disciples and deserted the cause—others have remained.

In Paris, in 1884, the Coulomb scandal had not exploded, but warnings
of it were heard. One night in the Rue Notre Dame des Champs, an
astrologer consulted a _nadigrandham_ for a reply to queries as to what
was brewing. The reply was:[34] “A conspiracy; but all will be suddenly
discovered, and will come to nothing.” Such was the result as to the
discovery and for the balance of the later prophecy let time disclose.

“The desire of the pious shall be accomplished.”

                          REVIEWS AND NOTES.

APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.[35]—This volume is the result of a gage thrown
down by a well known Brooklyn clergyman, who some few years ago said
that he “challenged any one to produce anything which rises to the
sublimity of the miracles of ‘the Blessed Redeemer,’ or the simplicity
of his life, or to produce from the dust of eighteen centuries, a
record of the life, sayings and doings of any personage so well
attested, and by so many reputable witnesses, as is that of our Savior
in the account of Matthew.” When we reflect upon the well known fact
that the writings of the alleged time of Jesus, contain no reference
to him, and that every precept of morality ascribed to him, can be
found abundantly through the well attested and written sayings of his
predecessors, and upon the grave doubts clustering about the same
Matthew gospel, we are not surprised to find that Mr. Tredwell has
succeeded in fully meeting the challenge. But no one ever suspected the
“Brooklyn clergyman” of being in earnest or of expecting any reply.
The book before us is replete with information, and especially in its
bibliographical references. Our only regret is that the author has
altogether put aside the so-called miracles of Apollonius. We would
like to see, in treating the subject, those occurrences taken account
of, not as miracles, but as actual incidents, the result of natural
forces, and not subject to chance, nor being a proof of claims to
divinity. In the preface he well says, that error courts investigation
and is nearly always the prelude to the discovery of truth, but,
“Falsehood seeks exemption from every scientific régime, and recoils
from the light and scrutiny of investigation, and postulates its
own canon, setting up a claim to miraculous interposition; such is
revelation.” And further on he quotes the celebrated Moody, who said:
“It is not only every man’s privilege, but every man’s duty to make
_honest_ inquiry into the truth of the gospel; but should we conclude
that it is not true, _then we will surely be damned_.” This book, and
that of John Henry Newman, D. D., on the same subject, with Rev. Edward
Berwick’s translation of the great philosopher’s life by Philostrates,
should be in the library of every student, for comparison, if for
nothing else.[36] A great deal of time and careful study have been
devoted to the preparation of this book, from a love of the subject,
which increased so fast as the author proceeded, and grew so strong,
that he says he entirely forgot the clergyman who stirred him up to the
task. We are sorry that lack of space prevents us from going further
into this valuable work.

THE SECRET DOCTRINE.—Madame H. P. Blavatsky is now engaged upon
this work, in Germany, where she went last year for her health. The
subject is interesting, and the result of the author’s endeavors will
mark an era. It will not only be an amplification and explanation of
_Isis Unveiled_, but will contain mines of further information. There
will be in it verbatim passages from the Book of Dgyan and Limri of
Tsong-ka-po, and old commentaries, to which hitherto, access has not
been possible, and great attention will be paid to the doctrine of
Human Evolution, to Divine or White Magic, and Human or Black Magic.
The portion in which the subject of the Divine Hermaphrodite is
considered, should be of absorbing interest. It will be divided in four
parts: Archaic, Ancient, Mediæval and Modern, presenting the complete
sequences of the development of Occultism and Magic in their religious
and anti-religious aspects.

BIBLE MYTHS, AND THEIR PARALLELS IN OTHER RELIGIONS.—J. W. Bouton, New
York; Royal 8vo., 600 pages.—This book should be in the hands of all
students. It is clearly the result of years of patient and plodding
research made over a vast field of reading. By an overwhelming amount
of evidence, the author proves that that which is miraculous, found
in the New Testament, cannot be of Christian origin, nor can anything
of the same kind found in the Old Testament be of Hebrew origin, the
conclusion being irresistible, that if the Christian Bibles are of
Divine origin, so must also be all the other and older books which
contain these parallels. Orthodoxy has passed this work over in
silence, leaving the people still in their ignorance. One clerical
paper said that those whose theological opinions or faith was not
settled should avoid the book. Truth-seekers, however, cannot afford to
avoid it.

WHAT IS THEOSOPHY?—By a fellow of the Theosophical Society. Cupples,
Upham & Co., Boston, 1886.—This little book has just come out of the
press, and is very attractively dressed. The sheets, all loose, have
been merely placed between covers, which are tightly bound with cords
of the same color as the covers. It is dedicated by the author to a
son whose inquiring mind daily asked his father and mother, “What is
Theosophy?” The result is good, and we are sure that this unpretentious
little waif will do much toward aiding the cause; for when mothers
and fathers all over the land see that there are families in which
Theosophy is preached and practised, as this book evidences, they will
feel attracted to it. The author rightly says, that “Theosophy means
God’s wisdom.” The principal Aryan doctrines of use to the west, are
adverted to, such as Karma, Reincarnation, Devachan, and Nirvana. One
of the exalted beings referred to by the author has said, “that it is
quite probable that the sons of Theosophists will become Theosophists.”
Such is undoubtedly the case, and if the parents of other children
will follow the example to be found in the family of our author, by
inquiring into and trying to practise real Theosophy, teaching it to
their children, instead of sneering at phenomena which never were
claimed to be Theosophy, the great Day will soon dawn when our race
may prepare to take a higher place. This book is written in an easy,
pleasant style. On page 17 we find: “In a small apple seed there lies
the harvest of many summers, and in the human soul there lie the
possibilities of hundreds of lives.” True, and more true, that there
may be tens of thousands of lives in the human soul. Natural arguments
thus addressed to children produce great effects in their minds and
life, and as from children grow the men, we ought to see to it that our
own theories are right before we permit the youthful ones to drift with
a prevailing current, and when we are really convinced of our own it
should be inculcated.

                       THEOSOPHICAL ACTIVITIES.

THE ROCHESTER BRANCH.—This is the elder brother in America. It was
formed in 1882, by Mr. W. B. Shelley and Mrs. J. W. Cables, who had
been engaged with several friends, before that, in studying the
problems presented to thinking minds in life and death. The coincidence
is rather curious between the first Theosophical Branch starting
in Rochester and the first sounding there so many years ago of the
spiritualistic rappings.

A great deal has been done by this Branch. They have constantly studied
_The Theosophist_, and many people have, so to say, made pilgrimages
there to become members of the Society.

Here was started the first distinctively American Theosophical paper.
It is called _The Occult Word_, and appears monthly.

We believe the Branch meets in Mrs. Cables’ house, at 40 Ambrose
street, where inquirers in that section should address her, as she
is willing to answer all. We would also suggest that correspondents
enclose return postage, which is in the majority of cases ignored or
forgotten.

THE ARYAN THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK.—This Branch was formed with
the idea of cementing together the New York members taken into the
Parent Society while Col. Olcott and Madame Blavatsky were here, but
it was found that a good many had merely joined under the impression
that it was a new kind of spiritualism, and then had retired. But some
staunch ones remaining, the Branch has grown gradually. Every now and
then it holds meetings, to which a great many are admitted who are not
members.

Bro. Gopal Vinayak Joshee, of Bombay, now travelling here, delivered an
address on Theosophy in India and America, and on the same evening Bro.
Judge explained the object, drift and method of Theosophy, and also
read a paper on Jacob Böhme.

In March, Bro. A. Gebhard delivered a short lecture on “The Ideals
of Richard Wagner, as they bear on Theosophy.” Several visitors from
Boston attended, and a general discussion on ancient myths in the light
of Theosophical ideas was held.

On March 25th, Mr. C. H. A. Bjerregaard, of the Astor Library, gave an
address on Historic Cycles, but we then were so near going to press
that we cannot give its substance.

The Branch is actively engaged in spreading Theosophical literature,
and now has requests for books from all parts of the U. S. It has
reprinted Mrs. Sinnett’s “Purpose of Theosophy” very cheap in form, but
well done, and has other reprints in mind. At present, meetings are
held in a private house of a member, but other permanent quarters will
soon be obtained. All inquiries should be addressed to the Secretary,
box 2,659, New York City.

THE PIONEER THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF ST. LOUIS, was formed in 1884, by
the efforts of Brother Elliott B. Page, who is also Secretary of the
American Board of Control. It is pursuing its way quietly and surely,
and has sent out some members to other parts of the United States,
whose influence will further spread the cause of Universal Brotherhood.
Brother Page’s address is 301 South Main Street, St. Louis, Mo.

CINCINNATI.—A branch is ready here, and no doubt will be very active.

THE CHICAGO BRANCH was founded the 27th of November, 1885, Stanley
B. Sexton, President, No. 2 Park Row, Dr. W. Phelon, Corresponding
Secretary, 629 W. Fulton.

Meetings are held every Sunday at 2 P. M. All the fellows except the
President are a little over a year old in Theosophy. The President
became an F. T. S. in 1879. One of the members is Rev. Mr. Hoisington,
the blind lecturer on Egypt, who is one of our most earnest workers,
and has been a Theosophist for many years.

We are all working with heart and soul for the spread of Theosophy.

THE BRANCH IN MALDEN, Massachusetts, originated in the spring of
1885, with a few persons who casually discovered that they had
mutually had an interest in Theosophy. Informal meetings were held
to discuss Theosophical subjects, and were conducted in this way
without organization until December 27, when a formal organization was
affected under the customary provisional charter from the American
Board of Control. The name chosen was the Malden Branch, Theosophical
Society. At the organization valuable assistance was rendered by
Brothers Arthur H. Gebhard of New York, and Hollis B. Page and Charles
R. Kendall of Boston. Two open meetings were held the past winter, at
which addresses were made by Brothers William Q. Judge and Arthur H.
Gebhard, respectively, and considerable outside interest was awakened.
The members have devoted themselves chiefly to the spiritual, moral and
philosophical aspects of the subject, and have laid little stress upon
the phenomenal, and have discouraged marvel-seekers from membership.
The President is Sylvester Baxter, and Frank S. Collins is Secretary.

THE SOCIETY’S EXTENT may be understood by the number and ramification
of its branches, of which in India there are 106; in Europe, 7; in the
United States, 9; in Australia, 1; and the West Indies, 1.

BOSTON has a Branch of the Society also. In various intellectual
circles in the city there is much discussion of Theosophical
literature, and in general, of the subject. Notwithstanding recent
malicious attacks on our harmless and studious Brotherhood, the current
of truth flowing through the Society’s channels makes itself felt in
Boston.

THE AMERICAN BOARD OF CONTROL.—The general and routine work of the
Society in America, is under the jurisdiction of the _Board of
Control_, of which the President is Prof. Elliott Coues, Washington,
D. C., and the Secretary, Elliott B. Page, 301 South Main Street, St.
Louis, Mo.

A resolution has been passed by this Board, which is binding on all
members, that no publication shall be issued as a Theosophical one,
without previous consent obtained from the officers of the Board.
This is wise, as it will tend to prevent unauthorized declarations of
so-called Theosophical doctrine from being laid at the door of the
Society. All members, therefore, intending to make publication, should
address the Secretary of the Board.

The Word and the verses at the head of this text, contain the verbal
exposition of the symbol on the cover, which is, in one aspect, the
radiating of the Great All. He who knows this is fortunate and will
learn to pronounce the syllable

                                 AUM!

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Khandogya Upanishad, 1st Khanda. See Vol. 1, _Sacred Books of the
East_. Müller.

[2] Hymn of Praise to Brahm.

[3] St. John. C. I, v. 1.

[4] See _Bagavad-Gita_.

[5] _Mundaka Upanishad_, II, Kh. 2. (Müller’s Tr.)

[6] See _Theosophist_, Vol. III, p. 177.

[7] See _Esoteric Buddhism_ for the sevenfold classification adopted by
many Theosophists.

[8] _Zanoni_, Book IV, Chapter 2.

[9] _Patanjali’s Yoga Aphorisms_, 30 & 31, Part I.

[10] The following from the _Kaushitaki Upanishad_, (see Max Muller’s
translation, and also that published in the Bibliotheka Indica,
with Sankaracharya’s commentary—Cowell’s tran.) may be of interest
to students. “Agatasatru to him: Bàlàki, where did this person here
sleep? Where was he? Whence did he come back? Bàlàki did not know. And
Agatasatru said to him: ‘Where this person here slept, where he was,
whence he thus came back, is this: The arteries of the heart called
Hita extend from the heart of the person towards the surrounding body.
Small as a hair divided a thousand times, they stand, full of a thin
fluid of various colors, white, black, yellow, red. In these the person
is when sleeping, he sees no dream (Sushupti). Then he becomes one with
that prâna (breath) alone.’” (Elsewhere the number of these arteries is
said to be 101.) “And as a razor might be fitted in a razor case, or as
fire in the fire place, even thus this conscious self enters into the
self of the body, to the very hair and nails; he is the master of all,
and eats with and enjoys with them. So long as Indra did not understand
that self, the Asuras (lower principles in man) conquered him. When he
understood it, he conquered the Asuras, and obtained the pre-eminence
among all gods. And thus also he who knows this obtains pre-eminence,
sovereignty, supremacy.” And in the _Khandogya Upanishad_, VI Prap. 8,
Kh. 1: “When the man sleeps here, my dear son, he becomes united with
the True—in Sushupti sleep—he is gone to his own self. Therefore they
say, he sleeps (Swapita), because he is gone (apita) to his own (sva).”
And in _Prasna Up_ II, 1, “There are 101 arteries from the heart; one
of them penetrates the crown of the head; moving upwards by it man
reaches the immortal; the others serve for departing in different
directions.” [ED.]

[11] This opens up an intensely interesting and highly important
subject, which cannot be here treated of, but which will be in future
papers. Meanwhile, Theosophists can exercise their intuition in respect
to it. |ED.

[12] _Guru_, a spiritual teacher.

[13] Vide _Light on the Path_, Rule 1, note, part 1.

[14] There is one exceptional case where the Guru’s goal is seen, and
then the Guru has to die, for there can be no two _equals_.

[15] There is no contradiction between this and the preceding paragraph
where it is said “To see the Guru’s goal is impossible.” During the
initiation ceremony, there is no separateness between those engaged in
it. They all become one whole, and therefore, even the High Hierophant,
while engaged in an initiation, is no more his separate self, but is
only a part of the whole, of which the candidate is also a part, and
then, for the time being, having as much power and knowledge as the
very highest present. [ED.]

[16] Rig Veda, IV, VII, 9.

[17] Divine science.

[18] “The knowledge of Yoga, which is, joining with your higher self.”

[19] See _Zanoni_, Book IV, c. iii.

[20] Highest soul.

[21] Fifth principle.

[22] See Vol. 1, _Theosophist_.

[23] Taubaya uddito lókó; jaráya pari vârato: Maccuna pihito loko;
Dukkhe Loko patitthito.

[24] Kammam vijjà dhammóca; Silam jivita muttamam; Etena maccá
sujjhanti: Na-gottêna dhanenavá.

[25] Code of laws.

[26] Restraining thoughts from being dispersed.

[27] Effecting complete reconciliation and composure of mind.

[28] Worldly.

[29] Superhuman.

[30] This means the particular kind which each man, because of
heredity, education and class, exercises. It is also known as using
the path pertaining to the Lodge or Ray, to which the one meditating,
belongs.—[ED.]

[31] See Bagavad-Gita, c. 14.—[ED.]

[32] See No. 68 (May, 1886) _Theosophist_.

[33] _Gnyanam_ is translated “higher knowledge,” which does not merely
mean acquirement of greater so-called mortal or ordinary knowledge,
but that kind of knowledge which is only attained by rising to higher
spiritual planes, and which transcends the highest of ordinary
knowledge of the greatest literati or scientist.

[34] This was written then to various persons in Paris, London, New
York, and India.

[35] By D. M. Tredwell. Published by Fred Tredwell, 78 Nassau St., New
York, 1886.

[36] _The Life of Apollonius_, &c., Hist. of Chr. Church, Vol. I, p.
348. _The Life of Apollonius, of Tyana_, by Philostrates, tr. by Rev.
Edward Berwick, Ireland (1809).

                                  AUM

 The departure of the soul atom from the bosom of Divinity, is a
 radiation from the life of the great All, who expends his strength
 in order that he may grow again and live by its return. God thereby
 acquires a new vital force provided by all the transformations that
 the soul atom has undergone. Its return is the final reward. Such is
 the secret of the evolution of the great Being and of the Supreme
 Soul.—_Book of Pitris._

 The soul is the assemblage of the Gods. The universe rests in the
 Supreme Soul. It is the soul that accomplishes the series of acts
 emanating from animate beings. So the man who recognizes the Supreme
 Soul as present in his own soul, understands that it is his duty to
 be kind and true to all, and the most fortunate destiny that he could
 have desired is that of being finally absorbed in Brahma.—_Manu._, V.
 12.

                               THE PATH.

  VOL. I.      MAY, 1886.      NO. 2.

_The Theosophical Society, as such, is not responsible for any opinion
or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless
contained in an official document._

Where any article, or statement, has the author’s name attached, he
alone is responsible, and for those which are unsigned, the Editor will
be accountable.

                      STUDIES IN THE UPANISHADS.

                            [BY A STUDENT.]

Many American theosophists are asking, “What are the Upanishads?”
They are a portion of the ancient Aryan literature which this journal
has set itself to help lay before theosophists of America, to the end
that whatever in them is good and true may be brought out. As Max
Muller says, hitherto the Upanishads have not received at the hands of
Sanskrit and oriental scholars, that treatment which in the eyes of
philosophers and theologians they seem so fully to deserve. He also
calls them “ancient theosophic treatises” and declares that his real
love for Sanskrit literature was first kindled by them.[37] They have
received no treatment at all in the United States, because they are
almost absolutely unknown in the original tongue in this country, and
in translations, have been but little studied here. Europe and America
differ in this, that while in England and Germany nearly all such study
is confined to the book-worm or the theologian, here there is such a
general diffusion of pretty fair education in the people, that the
study of these books, as translated, may be made popular, a thing which
in Europe is perhaps impossible.

Muller returned to the study of the Upanishads after a period of thirty
years, during which he had devoted himself to the hymns and Brahmanas
of the Vedas, and found his interest in them undiminished. As for the
period of these treatises, he says that has been fixed _provisionally_,
at about 800 B. C.

The word means “secret charm,” “philosophical doctrine;” and more
strictly, “to sit down near.” Hindu theologians say the Upanishads
belong to revealed religion in opposition to that which is traditional.
In the opinion of our friend Muller, to whom all western students must
ever remain grateful no matter how much they may disagree with his
views as to the Vedas being the lispings of baby man, “the earliest
of these philosophical treatises will always maintain a place in the
literature of the world, among the most astounding productions of the
human mind in any age and in any country.”[38]

Professor Weber placed the number of Upanishads at 235[39]; in 1865
Muller put them at 149, and others added to that number, so that even
to-day the actual figures are not known. Indeed it is held by several
Orientalists, that before they assumed their present form, a large mass
of traditional Upanishads must have existed.

The meaning of the word which ought to be borne most in mind is,
“secret knowledge, or true knowledge” although there may be a Upanishad
or secret knowledge, which is false.

In the Chandogya Upanishad (I, 1,) after describing the deeper
meaning of OM, it is said that the sacrifice which a man performs
with knowledge, with faith, and with the Upanishad, _i. e._ with
an understanding of the secret charm, or underlying principles and
effects, is more powerful than when with faith, the only knowledge
possessed is of the rites themselves, their origin and regularity. The
sacrifice referred to is, not alone the one offered on the altar in the
temple, but that daily sacrifice which every breath and every thought,
brings about in ourselves.

                        THE MUNDAKA UPANISHAD.

This is in the _Atharva Veda_. Although it has the form of a mantra,
it is not to be used in the sacrifices, as its sole object is to teach
the highest knowledge, the knowledge of Brahman, which cannot be
obtained by either worship or sacrifices. Offerings to the Gods, in
no matter what mode or church, restraining of the breath, penances, or
cultivation of the psychic senses, will not lead to the true knowledge.
Yet some works have to be performed, and many persons require works,
sacrifices and penances as stepping stones to a higher life. In the
progress of these works and sacrificial performances, errors are
gradually discovered by the individual himself. He can then remove
them. So the Hindu commentators have explained the title of this
Upanishad as the “shaving” one. That is, it cuts off the errors of the
mind like a razor. It is said by European scholars that the title has
not yet been explained. This may be quite correct for them, but it is
very certain the Hindu explanation appears to the Hindu mind to be a
very good one. Let us proceed.

                            FIRST MUNDAKA.

This means, first shaving, or beginning of the process for removing
error. It may be considered as a division equivalent to “first title,”
after which follow the lesser divisions, as: _First Khanda_.

 “1. Brahma was the first of the Devas, the maker of the universe,
 the preserver of the world. He told the knowledge of Brahman, the
 foundation of all knowledge, to his eldest son Atharva.”

Here at once should be noted, that although in Hindu theology we find
Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, as the creator, preserver and destroyer,
forming the Trinity, the Upanishad now before us—for cutting away
error—has not such a division. It says Brahma is first, also the maker
and the preserver. Even knowledge that is true for certain stages of
development becomes error when we rise up into the higher planes and
desire to know the true. Similarly we find Buddha in his congregation
teaching his disciples by means of the “three vehicles,” but when
he had raised them to the higher plane, he informed them that these
vehicles might be discarded and _sat_ or truth be approached through
one vehicle.

The knowledge here spoken of is Brahman knowledge which is the supreme
vehicle.

 “2. Whatever Brahma told Atharvan that knowledge Atharvan told to
 Angir, he told it to Satyavaha Bharadvaga, and he in succession told
 it to Angiras.

 “3. Saunaka, the great householder, approached Angiras respectfully
 and asked ‘Sir, what is that through which if it is known, everything
 else becomes known?’

 “4. He said to him: ‘Two kinds of knowledge must be known, this is
 what all who know Brahman tell us, the higher and the lower knowledge.

 “5. ‘The lower knowledge is the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda,
 Atharva-Veda Phonetics, Ceremonial, Grammar, Etymology, Metre
 and Astronomy; but the higher knowledge is that by which the
 Indestructible (Brahma) is apprehended.

 “6. ‘That which cannot be seen nor seized, which has no origin and is
 without qualities, no eyes nor ears, no hands nor feet, the eternal,
 the all pervading, infinitesimal, that which is imperishable, that is
 what is regarded by the wise as the source of all beings.

 “7. ‘As the spider sends forth and draws in its thread, as plants grow
 on the earth, as from every man hairs spring forth on the head and the
 body, thus does everything arise here from the Indestructible.

 “8. ‘The Brahman swells by means of meditation; hence is produced
 matter; from matter mind, breath and intellect, the seven worlds, and
 from the works performed by men in the worlds, the eternal effects,
 rewards and punishment of works.

 “9. ‘From Him who perceives all and who knows all, whose meditation
 consists of knowledge, from that highest Brahman is born that other
 Hiranyagarbha—name, form, and matter.’”

This Khanda unfolds broadly the whole philosophy. The following ones
go into particulars. It is very easy here to see that the imperishable
doctrine could not be communicated directly by the Great Brahma to
man, but it has to be filtered down through various channels. The
communicator of it to mortals, however, would be regarded by his finite
auditors as a god. The same method is observable in the _Bagavad-Gita_
(ch. IV) where Krishna says to Arjuna that “this never failing doctrine
I formerly taught unto Vivaswat and he to Manu, who told it to Ikswaku,
succeeding whom came the Rajarshis who studied it.” Manu is regarded as
of a wholly Divine nature although not the Great Brahm.

Now, when Angiras, as detailed in the Upanishad, had received this
higher knowledge, he was approached by a great householder, by name
Saunaka. This has reference to an ancient mode of life in India when
Saunaka would be called a grihastha, or one who was performing all his
duties to his family, his tribe, and his nation while still in the
world. All the while, however, he studied the knowledge of Brahman,
so that when the proper time came for him to give up those duties of
life, he could either die or retire to solitude. It was not considered
then to be a virtue for one to violently sever all ties and assume the
garb and life of a mendicant devoted to religious contemplation, but
the better way was thought to be that one which resulted in our, so to
speak, consuming all the Karma of our family in ourselves. Otherwise
it would inevitably result that if he retired with many duties
unfulfilled, they waited, figuratively speaking, for him, sure to
attach to him in a succeeding incarnation and to work him either injury
or obstruction. So it was thought better to work out all such results
in the present life as far as possible.

We find here also a foreshadowing of some ideas held by the Greek
philosophers. In the third verse, the question is asked: “What is that
through which when it is known, the knower thereof knows everything
else.” Some of the Greeks said that we must first ascend to the
general, from which descent to the particular is easy. Such, however,
is directly opposite to the modern method, which delights in going from
particulars to generals, from effects to causes. The true knowledge
proceeds as shown in the Upanishad. By endeavoring to attain to the
Universal Soul of all, the knowledge of the particular parts may be
gained. This is not easy, but it is easy to try. At the same time do
not forsake modern methods altogether, which correspond to the lower
knowledge spoken of in Verse 5. Therefore Angiras says: Two kinds of
knowledge, the lower and the higher, must be known.

Here and there are persons who seem not to need the lower knowledge,
who pay no attention to it, and who apprehend the higher flights
impossible for others. This is what is known as the result of past
births. In previous incarnations these persons studied upon all the
lower planes so that their spiritual perceptions do not now need that
help and training which the lower knowledge gives to others. They are
approaching that state which is beautifully described by Longfellow in
his “Rain in Summer,” in these words:—

    “Thus the seer,
    With vision clear,
    Sees forms appear and disappear,
    In the perpetual round of strange,
    Mysterious change
    From birth to death, from death to birth;
    From earth to heaven, from heaven to earth;
    ’Till glimpses more sublime,
    Of things unseen before,
    Unto his wondering eyes reveal
    The Universe, as an immeasurable wheel
    Turning forevermore
    In the rapid and rushing river of Time.”

                         (_To be continued._)

                        THE MYSTERY OF NUMBERS.

In a previous article on the Kabbalah, we spoke of it as being
a tradition embodying a noble philosophy, which is but slightly
understood, owing to its symbolical representations.

There were three forms of symbols introduced by the Ancient
Theosophists to express their thoughts and convey their ideas from one
to another. The object of the symbolic language was for the purpose
of preventing their esoteric knowledge from becoming public property
and to obviate persecution from those who were in authority and held
different views. These three forms were: hieroglyphics, numbers and
allegories.

It is the Kabbalistic science of numbers of which we purpose to
speak. Deity in constructing the universe, employed but few means to
accomplish a great purpose. They consisted of _energy_ and _law_. The
former is under control of the latter. The first act was the positing
of energy, which formed substance. In this manner He converted chaos,
which was a motionless, dark abyss, into activity and light. Light
is not energy, but primarily resulted from the activity of atomic
substance.

God creates all things by number, weight and measure, and with an
arithmetical and geometrical precision. The universal _continuity_
observed in nature is owing to the law that controls energy. Any
interference with this law throws energy out of harmony, producing
discord, and consequently a varying of continuity.

Every seed has within it an individual life energy which gives to it
when developed into a plant or tree its type and form. Any external
interference induces a struggle for life in the forces in maintaining
their ancestral types and forms. Heredity may produce the same by
interfering with the law controlling development.

The Kabbalists never intended to convey the idea that numbers possessed
special virtues. They merely represent them; for example 3 represents
a life entity; without this ternary combination it would be impossible
for life to exist. The self-existing Deity is a Triune Entity; so
is every individual life form. Whether it be a _Monera_, the lowest
structureless life organism, or _Man_, the highest in the scale of
living beings. Number three is therefore called the generating number.

Again, 7 is the harmonic numeral, there being seven primary grades
of harmony, and in order to extend it, the scale of seven must be
repeated, and every repetition lessens the harmony and tends to discord.

The _Sepher Jetzirah_, which is recognized by the Kabbalist as the
key of the Sohar, is a wonderful and obscure work. Its wisdom is
represented in ten numbers and twenty-two letters. From the numbers
“are drawn or cut” the twenty-two letters which are divided into
three mothers, seven double and twelve single letters. According to
the Sepher there were three acts of creation; 1st, _Conception or
Idea_; 2nd, _The Word_; 3rd, _The Writings_. For example, _first_,
God conceived in His own mind, the archetype of the universe which
constituted the _design_; _second_, the Word represents the law and the
energy it controls and directs in carrying out the design; _third_, the
product arising from the second constitute the writings.

The Sepher Jetzirah teaches that the hidden ways of wisdom are in the
ten _sephiroth_, which are usually termed spheres. The Hebrews use the
word “ways,” which with us mean degrees, forms or species. These hidden
ways are the workings of the forces producing differentiation of forms,
which represents the twenty-two letters, which are expressed as one in
three, and three in seven, and seven in twelve, making twenty-two.

The ten sephiroth interest us the most for they represent the unity
and synthesis of numbers and the manifestations of Deity in nature.
The first sefir is called the Crown on account of its being the
abode of the _En Soph_[40] the unmanifested infinite Being; but
the first form by which he became known was the _Memra_ or “word,”
which is represented by the first three sephiroth, namely, _Kether_,
“the Crown,” _Chochma_, “wisdom,” _Binah_, “understanding.”[41] To
express it more clearly, the first three sephiroth comprise a Triune
Entity, the verbalized spirit of God consisting of self-consciousness,
wisdom and love which embodied the _Word_, “the heavenly man,” “the
man on high,” (Ezekiel I, 26), the Adam Kadmon of the Kabbalist, the
Paradisical Adam of Genesis, the Christ of the Christians and the
Buddha of the Buddhists.

In order to be understood, we will state that the Triune spirit of the
world contains the word, and is therefore the source of energy and life
in both the subjective and objective worlds, and in fact is the source
of all that exists outside of spirit. It is under the direction of
spirit in developing forms and giving them activity and life. We thus
perceive how a knowledge of the word gives us an insight into the work
of God in creation.

Jacob Behmen was a mystic, and acquainted with the meaning of the
word which he obtained through illumination or the unfolding of inner
consciousness. What he called the _Signatura Rerum_—the signature of
all things—is the word. He describes it as coming from a triune entity,
which he locates in the super-celestial world. It is first manifested
in the subjective or esoteric world, and afterwards in the objective.
He also alludes to the septenary which he applies to the external
world; he could not have understood the laws of harmony or he would not
have made this application, for it applies to both the subjective and
objective worlds.

We will now explain the _Tetractys_ of Pythagoras; before doing so,
however, we have a few remarks to make regarding his Kabbalistic
knowledge. He is said to have been initiated into the secrets of
nature by Daniel and Ezekiel, and subsequently admitted into the
Egyptian Sanctuaries upon a personal recommendation by King Amosis.
His tetractys proves that he was thoroughly familiar with theosophical
science, which enabled him to study nature and arrive at correct
conclusions. It is a noted fact that he was familiar with the movements
of the heavenly bodies; which science did not reveal until centuries
after his death. If he mistook some of its details, his substantial
correctness was none the less wonderful. He was the founder of the
renowned school of Crotona, about five hundred years before Christ.
He maintained that the Sun is the centre of a system around which all
the planets revolve, and that the fixed stars were each the centre of
a system. He also believed that the planets were inhabited and that
they and our earth are ever revolving in harmonious order—“keeping
up a grand celestial concert, inaudible to man, but as a music of the
spheres audible to God.” He was not permitted to declare publicly all
that he knew, but taught it privately to a few chosen friends. He
was also familiar with the laws of attraction and repulsion, which
constituted one of the most important duties of the sanctuaries. Newton
was led to the discovery of these forces through the study of the
Kabbalah.

Speaking of Pythagoras calls to mind the Kabbalistic enigma written by
Plato and sent to Dionysius: “all things surround our King, (God) He is
the cause of all things: seconds for seconds and thirds for thirds.”
This expresses the division of the Sephiroth. Plato was an earnest and
most intelligent Kabbalist.

We will now explain for the first time the Tetractys of Pythagoras,
which reveals the numerical meaning of the word. We remark, however,
before doing so, that there is a greater enigma attached to it than is
expressed by the numbers, which we cannot give for several reasons. One
is, the name has never been imparted; when obtained, it was through
self illumination; another is, it would open the doors of masonry, and
reveal the secrets of the order. It is the key to mysticism—to religion
and universal science.

In the Tetractys the four letters composing the name, are arranged in
a triangular form, enclosed with a double circle.[42] The numerical
division he has made applies to the _super-celestial_, _celestial_ and
_material_ worlds:

[Illustration: _The Tetractys of Pythagoras._]

_Super Celestial._—The first series of numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 of the
tetractys refers to the super-celestial world.

1 is the unity of God represented thus: ① God in nothing.

2 is the duality of God.

3 is the spirit of a triune entity.

4 is Divine volition, capable of determining choice and forming a
purpose, and manifesting activity.

_Celestial._—The above numerals are combined in the following
order:—1+2=3—the manifestation of the word, in the celestial world.

2+3=5—substance or quintescent matter, produced by the activity of the
word.

3+4=7—the law of harmony—the providence of God in Nature. The celestial
world is called by the Kabbalist the world of harmony, which none can
occupy save the pure in spirit. Harmony is the only passport to Heaven.

_Material._—The numeral 1, which represents the unity of God, is not
represented in this world—we only have the following numerals:

2+3+4=9—humanity with the word unmanifested in the spirit. Yet it
exists and can be made manifest through harmony of the spirit. It not
being manifested debars humanity from the pleasure of enjoying the
light of the celestial world. It is for this reason the Kabbalist
called it the world of darkness or Hades. It is also called the world
of discord. There are as many grades of discord here as there are
harmonies in the world above. When man throws off the material covering
of his soul, his consciousness reveals to him his moral standard and he
gravitates to the sphere with which he is in accord. If harmonious he
ascends, if discordant he descends.

10 is the synthesis of numbers. In the beginning before Deity
manifested himself, it stood thus ①; in the consummation of creation it
became reversed, thus 10.
                                                         SETH PANCOAST.

                                SUFISM,

          OR THEOSOPHY FROM THE STANDPOINT OF MOHAMMEDANISM.

 _A Chapter from a MS. work designed as a text book for Students in
 Mysticism._

                BY C. H. A. BJERREGAARD, _Stud. Theos._

            In Two Parts:—Part I, Texts; Part II, Symbols.

 The spirit of Sufism is best expressed in the couplet of Katebi:

 “Last night a nightingale sung his song, perched on a high cypress,
 when the rose, on hearing his plaintive warbling, shed tears in the
 garden, soft as the dews of heaven.”

                             INTRODUCTION.

Sufism has not yet received fair treatment in any publication that has
appeared in Western literature.

The reason is that no Western writer upon the subject has endeavored
to understand it, either because of an intellectual bias or from
willful perversion. Most treatises are written under strong dogmatic
prejudices, or by persons intellectually and morally incapable of
rising to the A B C of a spiritual philosophy.

The present attempt to represent the doctrines and practices of Sufism
has been made in the hope of overcoming the effect of these evils. We
have studied patiently Sufism from Sufi works and claim to be in full
sympathy with our subject.

That which we here present to the judgment of the candid reader is a
part of a larger work we have been engaged on for many years; a work
designed as a text book for students in Mysticism. This fact, the
intention of making a text book for reference on all mystic questions,
will account for the unusual method adopted in this series of articles.

In the first part we shall give a resumé of Sufi doctrine with copious
quotations from Sufi works. In the second we shall give a full
exposition of Sufi practices and symbols.

The following is a partial list of works consulted and quoted without
further reference:

Tholuck, Sufismus, sive theosophia persarum—Tholuck, Blüthensammlung
der morgenl. Mystik—Malcolm, Hist. of Persia—Trans. of the lit. soc.
of Bombay, vol. I, art. by Capt. Graham—J. von Hammer, Geschichte der
Schönen Redekünste Persiens, mit einer Blüthenlese—Garcin de Tassy, la
poesie phil. et rel. chez les Persans, in Rev. cont. 1856—Fleischer,
uber die farbigen Lichterscheinungen der Sufis, in Zeitsh. f.
morgl. Geselsch. vol. 16—G. P. Brown, The Dervishes, or Oriental
Spiritualism—Journal of Am. Orient. Soc., vol. 8—The Dabistan, or
school of sects—E. H. Palmer, Oriental Mysticism—Persian Poetry by S.
Robinson—Th. P. Hughes, Dict. of Islam—Ousely, Biographical notices of
Persian poets—Omar Khayyam, see ed. illust. by Vedder—Al Gazzali, la
perle precieuse, par L. Gautier—Allegories recits poetiques traduit
de l’arabe, du persan &c., par Garcin de Tassy—Al Gazzali, Alchemy of
Happiness tr. by H. A. Homes—Hammer-Purgstall, Literatur-Geschichte
der Araber—The works of Nizami, Saadi, Attar, Jellalladin Rumi,
Hafiz, Jami, Hatifi, &c., in English, French, German and Latin
translations—Lane’s transl. of the Quran—&c., &c.

                            PART I.—TEXTS.

                           ORIGIN OF SUFISM.

It is generally conceded among the Sufis that one of the great founders
of their system, as found in Islam, was the adopted son and son-in-law
of the Prophet, Ali-ibn-Abi-Talib. But it is also admitted that their
religious system has always existed in the world, prior to Mohammed. It
is known that a tribe, Sufah, from whom possibly the name is derived,
in “the time of ignorance” separated themselves from the world and
devoted themselves to spiritual exercises like those of the present
Sufis.

Sufism in its best known forms must thus be considered to be the
philosophy of Mohammedanism and to represent the protest of the human
soul against the formalism and barrenness of the letter of the Quran.
Still there is much in favor of Schmölder’s assertion (Essai sur les
ecoles philos. chez les Arabes) that Sufism is neither a philosophical
system nor the creed of a religious sect, but simply a way of living.

Perhaps the simplest statement is this: _Sufism is theosophy from the
standpoint of Mohammedanism_.

Said-Abul-Chair (about A. D. 820) is often called the author of Sufism.
Abu Hashem (A. D. 767) has been called the first Sufi.

The _Dabistan_ maintains the identity of the pure Sufis and that of
Platonism and it has popularly been supposed that Sufism has borrowed
very much from the Vedanta and from Plato and Aristotle; it has even
been confidently asserted that the similarity is so striking to the
student, that it is a most easy matter to find identical statements
in either of them. We must confess that our study does not prove the
assertion. The similarity is to be accounted for by the universality of
truth.

                              ETYMOLOGY.

The root of the word implies wisdom, the Greek Sophia, purity,
spirituality, etc. Some have connected it with sûf, wool, on account of
the woolen garment worn by the devotees.

Graham[43] maintains that “any person or a person of any religion or
sect, may be a Sûfi. The mystery lies in this: a total disengagement
of the mind from all temporal concerns and worldly pursuits; an entire
throwing off not only of every superstition, doubt, or the like, but
of the practical mode of worship, ceremonies, etc., laid down in
every religion, which the Mohammedans term _Sheriat_, being the law,
or canonical law; and entertaining solely mental abstraction, and
contemplation of the soul and Deity, their affinity, etc.” In short,
Sufism may be termed the religion of the heart, as opposed to formalism
and ritualism.

“Traces of the Sufi doctrine exist in some shape or other in every
region of the world. It is to be found in the most splendid theogonies
of the ancient school of Greece and of the modern philosophers of
Europe. It is the dream of the most ignorant and the most learned,
and is seen at one time indulging in the shade of ease, at another
traversing the pathless desert.” (Malcolm Hist. of Persia.)

_Abu-Said-Abul-Chair_, the accredited founder of Sufism, when asked
what Sufism was, answered: “What you have in the head, give it up;
what you have in the hand, throw it away; whatever may meet you, depart
not from it.”

_Dschuneid_, a Sufi Shaikh, thus defined Sufism: “To liberate the mind
from the violence of the passions, to put off nature’s claims, to
extirpate human nature, to repress the sensual instinct, to acquire
spiritual qualities, to be elevated through an understanding of wisdom,
and to practice that which is good—that is the aim of Sufism.”

_Abul Hussein Nuri_ thus expressed himself: “Sufism is neither precept
nor doctrine, but something _inborn_. If it were a precept, it could
be followed; if it were a doctrine, it could be learned; it is rather