H. P. Blavatsky - Studies in Occultism; A Series of Reprints from the Writings of H. P. Blavatsky
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H. P. Blavatsky >> Studies in Occultism; A Series of Reprints from the Writings of H. P. Blavatsky
But the interest of our readers will probably center on those who are
invincibly attracted towards the "Occult," yet who neither realize the
true nature of what they aspire towards, nor have they become
passion-proof, far less truly unselfish.
How about these unfortunates, we shall be asked, who are thus rent in
twain by conflicting forces? For it has been said too often to need
repetition, and the fact itself is patent to any observer, that when
once the desire for Occultism has really awakened in a man's heart,
there remains for him no hope of peace, no place of rest and comfort in
all the world. He is driven out into the wild and desolate spaces of
life by an ever-gnawing unrest he cannot quell. His heart is too full of
passion and selfish desire to permit him to pass the Golden Gate; he
cannot find rest or peace in ordinary life. Must he then inevitably fall
into sorcery and black magic, and through many incarnations heap up for
himself a terrible Karma? Is there no other road for him?
Indeed there is, we answer. Let him aspire to no higher than he feels
able to accomplish. Let him not take a burden upon himself too heavy for
him to carry. Without ever becoming a "Mahatma," a Buddha, or a Great
Saint, let him study the philosophy and the "Science of Soul," and he
can become one of the modest benefactors of humanity, without any
"superhuman" powers. _Siddhis_ (or the Arhat powers) are only for those
who are able to "lead the life," to comply with the terrible sacrifices
required for such a training, and to comply with them _to the very
letter_. Let them know at once and remember always, that _true Occultism
or Theosophy_ is the "Great Renunciation of SELF," unconditionally and
absolutely, in thought as in action. It is ALTRUISM, and it throws him
who practises it out of calculation of the ranks of the living
altogether. "Not for himself, but for the world, he lives," as soon as
he has pledged himself to the work. Much is forgiven during the first
years of probation. But, no sooner is he "accepted" than his
personality must disappear, and he has to become _a mere beneficent
force in Nature_. There are two poles for him after that, two paths, and
no midward place of rest. He has either to ascend laboriously, step by
step, often through numerous incarnations and _no Devachanic break_, the
golden ladder leading to Mahatmaship (the _Arhat_ or _Bodhisattva_
condition), or--he will let himself slide down the ladder at the first
false step, and roll down into _Dugpa-ship_....
All this is either unknown or left out of sight altogether. Indeed, one
who is able to follow the silent evolution of the preliminary
aspirations of the candidates, often finds strange ideas quietly taking
possession of their minds. There are those whose reasoning powers have
been so distorted by foreign influences that they imagine that animal
passions can be so sublimated and elevated that their fury, force, and
fire can, so to speak, be turned inwards; that they can be stored and
shut up in one's breast, until their energy is, not expanded, but
turned toward higher and more holy purposes; namely, _until their
collective and unexpanded strength enables their possessor to enter the
true Sanctuary of the Soul_ and stand therein in the presence of the
_Master_--the Higher Self! For this purpose they will not
struggle with their passions nor slay them. They will simply, by a
strong effort of will put down the fierce flames and keep them at bay
within their natures, allowing the fire to smolder under a thin layer of
ashes. They submit joyfully to the torture of the Spartan boy who
allowed the fox to devour his entrails rather than part with it. Oh,
poor, blind visionaries!
As well hope that a band of drunken chimney-sweeps, hot and greasy from
their work, may be shut up in a Sanctuary hung with pure white linen,
and that instead of soiling and turning it by their presence into a heap
of dirty shreds, they will become masters in and of the sacred recess,
and finally emerge from it as immaculate as that recess. Why not imagine
that a dozen of skunks imprisoned in the pure atmosphere of a _Dgon-pa_
(a monastery) can issue out of it impregnated with all the perfumes of
the incenses used?... Strange aberration of the human mind. Can it be
so? Let us argue.
The "Master" in the Sanctuary of our souls is "the Higher Self"--the
divine spirit whose consciousness is based upon and derived solely (at
any rate during the mortal life of the man in whom it is captive) from
the Mind, which we have agreed to call the _Human Soul_ (the "Spiritual
Soul" being the vehicle of the Spirit). In its turn the former (the
_personal_ or human soul) is a compound in its highest form, of
spiritual aspirations, volitions and divine love; and in its lower
aspect, of animal desires and terrestrial passions imparted to it by its
associations with its vehicle, the seat of all these. It thus stands as
a link and a medium between the animal nature of man which its higher
reason seeks to subdue, and his divine spiritual nature to which it
gravitates, whenever it has the upper hand in its struggle with the
_inner animal_. The latter is the instinctual "animal Soul" and is the
hotbed of those passions, which, as just shown, are lulled instead of
being killed, and locked up in their breasts by some imprudent
enthusiasts. Do they still hope to turn thereby the muddy stream of the
animal sewer into the crystalline waters of life? And where, on what
neutral ground can they be imprisoned so as not to affect man? The
fierce passions of love and lust are still alive and they are allowed to
still remain in the place of their birth--_that same animal soul_; for
both the higher and the lower portions of the "Human Soul" or Mind
reject such inmates, though they cannot avoid being tainted with them as
neighbors. The "Higher Self" or Spirit is as unable to assimilate such
feelings as water to get mixed with oil or unclean liquid tallow. It is
thus the mind alone--the sole link and medium between the man of earth
and the Higher Self--that is the only sufferer, and which is in the
incessant danger of being dragged down by those passions that may be
reawakened at any moment, and perish in the abyss of matter. And how
can it ever attune itself to the divine harmony of the highest
Principle, when that harmony is destroyed by the mere presence, within
the Sanctuary in preparation, of such animal passions? How can harmony
prevail and conquer, when the soul is stained and distracted with the
turmoil of passions and the terrestrial desires of the bodily senses, or
even of the "Astral man"?
For this "Astral"--the shadowy "double" (in the animal as in man)--is
not the companion of the _divine Ego_ but of the _earthly body_. It is
the link between the personal Self, the lower consciousness of
_Manas_ and the Body, and is the vehicle of _transitory_, _not
of immortal life_. Like the shadow projected by man, it follows his
movements and impulses slavishly and mechanically, and leans therefore
to matter without ever ascending to Spirit. It is only when the power of
the passions is dead altogether, and when they have been crushed and
annihilated in the retort of an unflinching will; when not only all the
lusts and longings of the flesh are dead, but also the recognition of
the personal Self is killed out and the "astral" has been reduced in
consequence to a cipher, that the Union with the "Higher Self" can take
place. Then when the "astral" reflects only the conquered man, the still
living, but no more the longing, selfish personality, then the brilliant
_Augoeides_, the divine Self, can vibrate in conscious harmony
with both the poles of the human Entity--the man of matter purified, and
the ever pure Spiritual Soul--and stand in the presence of the
Master Self, the Christos of the mystic Gnostics, blended,
merged into, and one with IT for ever.[D]
How then can it be thought possible for a man to enter the "strait gate"
of occultism when his daily and hourly thoughts are bound up with
worldly things, desires of possession and power, with lust, ambition
and duties, which, however honorable, are still of the earth earthy?
Even the love for wife and family--the purest as the most unselfish of
human affections--is a barrier to _real_ occultism. For whether we take
as an example the holy love of a mother for her child, or that of a
husband for his wife, even in these feelings, when analysed to the very
bottom, and thoroughly sifted, there is still _selfishness_ in the
first, and an _egoisme a deux_ in the second instance. What mother would
not sacrifice without a moment's hesitation hundreds and thousands of
lives for that of the child of her heart? and what lover or true husband
would not break the happiness of every other man and woman around him to
satisfy the desire of one whom he loves? This is but natural, we shall
be told. Quite so; in the light of the code of human affections; less
so, in that of divine universal love. For, while the heart is full of
thoughts for a little group of _selves_, near and dear to us, how shall
the rest of mankind fare in our souls? What percentage of love and care
will there remain to bestow on the "great orphan"? And how shall the
"still small voice" make itself heard in a soul entirely occupied with
its own privileged tenants? What room is there left for the needs of
Humanity _en bloc_ to impress themselves upon, or even receive a speedy
response? And yet, he who would profit by the wisdom of the universal
mind, has to reach it through _the whole of Humanity_ without
distinction of race, complexion, religion or social status. It is
_altruism_, not _ego-ism_ even in its most legal and noble conception,
that can lead the unit to merge its little Self in the Universal Selves.
It is to _these_ needs and to this work that the true disciple of true
Occultism has to devote himself, if he would obtain _theo_-sophy, divine
Wisdom and Knowledge.
The aspirant has to choose absolutely between the life of the world and
the life of Occultism. It is useless and vain to endeavor to unite the
two, for no one can serve two masters and satisfy both. No one can serve
his body and the higher Soul, and do his family duty and his universal
duty, without depriving either one or the other of its rights; for he
will either lend his ear to the "still small voice" and fail to hear the
cries of his little ones, or, he will listen but to the wants of the
latter and remain deaf to the voice of Humanity. It would be a
ceaseless, a maddening struggle for almost any married man, who would
pursue true practical Occultism, instead of its _theoretical_
philosophy. For he would find himself ever hesitating between the voice
of the impersonal divine love of Humanity, and that of the personal,
terrestrial love. And this could only lead him to fail in one or the
other, or perhaps in both his duties. Worse than this; for, _whoever
indulges, after having pledged himself to_ OCCULTISM, _in the
gratification of a terrestrial love or lust_, must feel an almost
immediate result; that of being irresistibly dragged from the impersonal
divine state down to the lower plane of matter. Sensual, or even mental
self-gratification, involves the immediate loss of the powers of
spiritual discernment; the voice of the MASTER can no longer
be distinguished from that of one's passions or _even that of a Dugpa_;
the right from wrong; sound morality from mere casuistry. The Dead Sea
fruit assumes the most glorious mystic appearance, only to turn to ashes
on the lips, and to gall in the heart, resulting in:--
Depth ever deepening, darkness darkening still;
Folly for wisdom, guilt for innocence;
Anguish for rapture, and for hope despair.
And once being mistaken and having acted on their mistakes, most men
shrink from realizing their error, and thus descend deeper and deeper
into the mire. And, although it is the intention that decides primarily
whether _white_ or _black_ magic is exercised, yet the results even of
involuntary, unconscious sorcery cannot fail to be productive of bad
Karma. Enough has been said to show that _sorcery is any kind of evil
influence exercised upon other persons, who suffer, or make other
persons suffer, in consequence_. Karma is a heavy stone splashed in the
quiet waters of Life; and it must produce ever widening circles of
ripples, carried wider and wider, almost _ad infinitum_. Such causes
produced have to call forth effects, and these are evidenced in the just
laws of Retribution.
Much of this may be avoided if people will only abstain from rushing
into practices neither the nature nor importance of which they
understand. No one is expected to carry a burden beyond his strength and
powers. There are "natural-born magicians"; Mystics and Occultists by
birth, and by right of direct inheritance from a series of incarnations
and aeons of suffering and failures. These are passion-proof, so to say.
No fires of earthly origin can fan into a flame any of their senses or
desires; no human voice can find response in their souls, except the
great cry of Humanity. These only may be certain of success. But they
can be met only far and wide, and they pass through the narrow gates of
Occultism because they carry no personal luggage of human transitory
sentiments along with them. They have got rid of the feeling of the
lower personality, paralysed thereby the "astral" animal, and the
golden, but narrow gate is thrown open before them. Not so with those
who have to carry yet for several incarnations the burden of sins
committed in previous lives, and even in their present existence. For
such, unless they proceed with great caution, the golden gate of Wisdom
may get transformed into the wide gate and the broad way "that leadeth
unto destruction," and therefore "many be they that enter in thereby."
This is the Gate of the Occult arts, practised for selfish motives and
in the absence of the restraining and beneficent influence of
Atma-Vidya. We are in the Kali Yuga and its fatal influence is
a thousand-fold more powerful in the West than it is in the East; hence
the easy preys made by the Powers of the Age of Darkness in this cyclic
struggle, and the many delusions under which the world is now laboring.
One of these is the relative facility with which men fancy they can get
at the "Gate" and cross the threshold of Occultism without any great
sacrifice. It is the dream of most Theosophists, one inspired by desire
for Power and personal selfishness, and it is not such feelings that
can ever lead them to the coveted goal. For, as well said by one
believed to have sacrificed himself for Humanity--"Strait is the gate
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life" eternal, and therefore
"few there be that find it." (_Matt._ vii, 14) So strait indeed, that at
the bare mention of some of the preliminary difficulties the affrighted
Western candidates turn back and retreat with a shudder....
Let them stop here and attempt no more in their great weakness. For if,
while turning their backs on the narrow gate, they are dragged by their
desire for the Occult one step in the direction of the broad and more
inviting gates of that golden mystery which glitters in the light of
illusion, woe to them! It can lead only to Dugpa-ship, and they will be
sure to find themselves very soon landed on that _Via Fatale_ of the
_Inferno_, over whose portal Dante read the words:--
_Per me si va nella citta dolente_
_Per me si va nell' eterno dolore_
_Per me si va tra la perduta gente...._
THE BLESSINGS OF PUBLICITY
A well-known public lecturer, a distinguished Egyptologist, said, in one
of his lectures against the teachings of Theosophy, a few suggestive
words, which are now quoted and must be answered:--
It is a delusion to suppose there is anything in the experience or
wisdom of the past, the ascertained results of which can only be
communicated from beneath the cloak and mask of mystery....
Explanation is the Soul of Science. They will tell you _we cannot
have their knowledge without living their life_.... Public
experimental research, the printing press, and a free-thought
platform, have abolished the need of mystery. It is no longer
necessary for science to take the veil, as she was forced to do for
security in times past....
This is a very mistaken view in one aspect. "Secrets of the purer and
profounder life" not only _may_ but _must_ be made universally known.
But _there are secrets that kill_ in the arcana of Occultism, and unless
a man _lives the life_ he cannot be entrusted with them.
The late Professor Faraday had very serious doubts whether it was quite
wise and reasonable to give out to the public at large certain
discoveries of modern science. Chemistry had led to the invention of too
terrible means of destruction in our century to allow it to fall into
the hands of the profane. What man of sense--in the face of such
fiendish applications of dynamite and other explosive substances as are
made by those incarnations of the Destroying Power, who glory in calling
themselves Anarchists and Socialists--would not agree with us in
saying:--Far better for mankind that it should never have blasted a rock
by modern perfected means, than that it should have shattered the limbs
of one per cent even of those who have been thus destroyed by the
pitiless hand of Russian Nihilists, Irish Fenians, and Anarchists. That
such discoveries, and chiefly their murderous application, ought to
have been withheld from public knowledge may be shown on the authority
of statistics and commissions appointed to investigate and record the
result of the evil done. The following information gathered from public
papers will give an insight into what may be in store for wretched
mankind.
England alone--the center of civilization--has 21,268 firms fabricating
and selling explosive substances.[E] But the centers of the dynamite
trade, of infernal machines, and other such results of modern
civilization, are chiefly at Philadelphia and New York. It is in the
former city of "Brotherly Love" that the now most famous manufacturer of
explosives flourishes. It is one of the well-known respectable
citizens--the inventor and manufacturer of the most murderous "dynamite
toys"--who, called before the Senate of the United States anxious to
adopt means for the repression of a _too free trade_ in such implements,
found an argument that ought to become immortalized for its cynical
sophistry--"My _machines_," that expert is reported to have said--"are
quite _harmless to look at_; as they may be manufactured in the shape of
oranges, hats, boats, and anything one likes.... Criminal is he who
murders people by means of such machines, not he who manufactures them.
The firm refuses to admit that were there no supply there would be no
incentive for demand on the market; but insists that every demand should
be satisfied by a supply ready at hand."
That "supply" is the fruit of civilization and of the publicity given to
the discovery of every murderous property in matter. What is it? As
found in the Report of the Commission appointed to investigate the
variety and character of the so-called "infernal machines," so far the
following implements of instantaneous human destruction are already on
hand. The most fashionable of all among the many varieties fabricated
by Mr. Holgate are the "Ticker," the "Eight Day Machine," the "Little
Exterminator," and the "Bottle Machines." The "Ticker" is in appearance
like a piece of lead, a foot long and four inches thick. It contains an
iron or steel tube full of a kind of gunpowder invented by Holgate
himself. That gunpowder, in appearance like any other common stuff of
that name, has, however, an explosive power two hundred times stronger
than common gunpowder; the "Ticker" containing thus a powder which
equals in force two hundred pounds of the common gunpowder. At one end
of the machine is fastened an invisible clock-work meant to regulate the
time of the explosion, which time may be fixed from one minute to
thirty-six hours. The spark is produced by means of a steel needle which
gives a spark at the touch-hole, and communicates thereby the fire to
the whole machine.
The "Eight Day Machine" is considered the most powerful, but at the same
time the most complicated, of all those invented. One must be familiar
with handling it before a full success can be secured. It is owing to
this difficulty that the terrible fate intended for London Bridge and
its neighborhood was turned aside by the instantaneous killing instead
of the two Fenian criminals. The size and appearance of that machine
changes, Proteus-like, according to the necessity of smuggling it in, in
one or another way, unperceived by the victims. It may be concealed in
bread, in a basket of oranges, in a liquid, and so on. The Commission of
Experts is said to have declared that its explosive power is such as to
reduce to atoms instantly the largest edifice in the world.
The "Little Exterminator" is an innocent-looking plain utensil having
the shape of a modest jug. It contains neither dynamite nor powder, but
secretes, nevertheless, a deadly gas, and has a hardly perceptible
clock-work attached to its edge, the needle of which points to the time
when that gas will effect its escape. In a shut-up room this new "vril"
of lethal kind will _smother to death, nearly instantaneously_, every
living being within a distance of a hundred feet radius of the murderous
jug. With these three "latest novelties" in the high season of Christian
civilization, the catalog of the dynamiters is closed; all the rest
belongs to the old "fashion" of the past years. It consists of hats,
_porte cigars_, bottles of ordinary kind, and even _ladies' smelling
bottles_, filled with dynamite, nitro-glycerin, etc., etc.--weapons,
some of which, following unconsciously Karmic law, killed many of the
dynamiters in the last Chicago _revolution_. Add to this the forthcoming
long-promised Keeley's vibratory force, capable of reducing in a few
seconds a dead bullock to a heap of ashes, and then ask yourself if the
_Inferno_ of Dante as a locality can ever rival earth in the production
of more hellish engines of destruction?
Thus, if purely material implements are capable of blowing up, from a
few corners, the greatest cities of the globe, provided the murderous
weapons are guided by expert hands--what terrible dangers might not
arise from magical _occult_ secrets being revealed, and allowed to fall
into the possession of ill-meaning persons! A thousand times more
dangerous and lethal are these, because neither the criminal hand, nor
the _immaterial_ invisible weapon used, can ever be detected.
The congenital _black_ magicians--those who, to an innate propensity
towards evil, unite highly-developed mediumistic natures--are but too
numerous in our age. It is nigh time then that the psychologists and
believers, at least, should cease advocating the beauties of publicity
and claiming knowledge of the secrets of nature for all. It is not in
our age of "suggestion" and "explosives" that Occultism can open wide
the doors of its laboratories except to those who _do_ live the life.
H.P.B.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] So holy is the connexion thus formed deemed in the Greek
Church, that a marriage between god-parents of the same child is
regarded as the worst kind of incest, is considered illegal, and is
dissolved by law; and this absolute prohibition extends even to the
children of one of the sponsors as regards those of the other.
[B] Be it remembered that _all_ "Chelas," even lay disciples,
are called Upasaka until after their first initiation, when they become
Lanoo-Upasaka. To that day, even those who belong to Lamaseries and are
_set apart_, are considered as "laymen."
[C] "The _Yajna_," say the Brahmans, "exists from eternity, for
it proceeded forth from the Supreme One ... in whom it lay dormant from
'_no_ beginning.' It is the key to the Traividya, the thrice
sacred science contained in the Rig verses, which teaches the Yajus or
sacrificial mysteries. 'The Yajna' exists as an invisible thing at all
times; it is like the latent power of electricity in an electrifying
machine, requiring only the operation of a suitable apparatus in order
to be elicited. It is supposed to extend from the _Ahavaniya_ or
sacrificial fire to the heavens, forming a bridge or ladder by means of
which the sacrificer can communicate with the world of gods and spirits,
and even ascend when alive to their abodes."--Martin Haug's _Aitareya
Brahmana_.
"This _Yajna_ is again one of the forms of the _Akasa_; and the
mystic word calling it into existence and pronounced mentally by the
initiated Priest is the Lost Word receiving impulse through WILL
POWER."--_Isis Unveiled_, Vol. I. Introduction. See _Aitareya
Brahmana_, Haug.
[D] Those who would feel inclined to see three _Egos_ in one
man will show themselves unable to perceive the metaphysical meaning.
Man is a trinity composed of Body, Soul and Spirit; but _man_ is
nevertheless _one_ and is surely not his body. It is the latter which is
the property, the transitory clothing of the man. The three "Egos" are
MAN in his three aspects on the astral, intellectual or
psychic, and the Spiritual planes, or states.