Theosophical Enquirer
 
 

No 15 : October 2001

"We may not have all the answers, but at least we can start asking the questions."

 
 * * * * * * * 

Theosophical Enquirer wishes to express its deepest sympathies to all affected by the terrible events in the United States of America on 11th September 2001

"For countless generations hath the adept builded a fane of imperishable rocks, a giant's Tower of INFINITE THOUGHT, wherein the Titan dwelt, and will yet, if need be, dwell alone, emerging from it but at the end of every cycle, to invite the elect of mankind to co-operate with him and help in his turn enlighten superstitious man.  And we will go on in that periodical work of ours; we will not allow ourselves to be baffled in our philanthropic attempts until that day when the foundations of a new continent of thought are so firmly built that no amount of opposition and ignorant malice guided by the Brethren of the Shadow will be found to prevail." KH.

* * * * * * *

Theosophical Enquirer is distributed on a quarterly basis, via electronic mail, to anyone interested in receiving a copy. Copies can also be viewed on the world wide web at:

http://members.aol.com/Theos357/TE.htm

Theosophical Enquirer is an independent publication. Its focus is the study/promulgation of Theosophy as taught/recorded by H P Blavatsky and her Teachers. The use of original/facsimile copies of H P Blavatsky's works is strongly recommended.

Comments, contributions and suggested improvements are most welcome.  Please email: Theosophical Enquirer .  Thank you.
 

* * * * * * *

THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

 

We continue a study of The Key To Theosophy by H P Blavatsky.  Text from the book is highlighted in bold typeface.

Pages: 71 - 74

PRAYER KILLS SELF-RELIANCE.

Prayer kills self-reliance.  It (literally) "kills" it, opening oneself up to all manner of dependency/subjugation/suggestion.  What is the "SELF" of self-reliance?  Three/four lines above the sub-heading we find " . . . Atma-Buddhi-Manas, the "SELF,"".  Does this mean that prayer kills communion with the immortal/imperishable Upper Triad (Atma-Buddhi-Manas)?  The lower (manas) is nothing without the Higher (Manas); berift of the latter personality (Lower Quaternary) is all but dead wood, prey (or is it pray?) to mindless (mind-less) kama and the animal instincts. 

ENQ. But did not Christ himself pray and recommend prayer?

THEO. It is so recorded, but those "prayers" are precisely of that kind of communion just mentioned with one's "Father in secret." Otherwise, and if we identify Jesus with the universal deity, there would be something too absurdly illogical in the inevitable conclusion that he, the "very God himself" prayed to himself, and separated the will of that God from his own!

ENQ. One argument more; an argument, moreover, much used by some Christians. They say, "I feel that I am not able to conquer any passions and weaknesses in my own strength. But when I pray to Jesus Christ I feel that he gives me strength and that in His power I am able to conquer."

THEO. No wonder. If "Christ Jesus" is God, and one independent and separate from him who prays, of course everything is, and must be possible to "a mighty God." But, then, where's the merit, or justice either, of such a conquest? Why should the pseudo-conqueror be rewarded for something done which has cost him only prayers? Would you, even a simple mortal man, pay your labourer a full day's wage if you did most of his work for him, he sitting under an apple tree, and praying to you to do so, all the while? This idea of passing one's whole life in moral idleness, and having one's hardest work and duty done by another - whether God or man - is most revolting to us, as it is most degrading to human dignity.

HPB puts praying for one's livelihood on par with moral idleness.  What is moral idleness?  Physical idleness might be the actual sitting under the apple tree itself; it is, per se, the external/phenomenal effect of inner moral idleness. It is with good reason that HPB describes this as revolting and most degrading to human dignity.  It is through self-reliance (self-devised and self-induced efforts) that Humanity progresses:  ". . . . . no purely spiritual Buddhi (divine Soul) can have an independent (conscious) existence before the spark which issued from the pure Essence of the Universal Sixth principle,—or the OVER-SOUL,—has (a) passed through every elemental form of the phenomenal world of that Manvantara, and (b) acquired individuality, first by natural impulse, and then by self-induced and self-devised efforts (checked by its Karma), thus ascending through all the degrees of intelligence, from the lowest to the highest Manas, from mineral and plant, up to the holiest archangel (Dhyani-Buddha). The pivotal doctrine of the Esoteric philosophy admits no privileges or special gifts in man, save those won by his own Ego through personal effort and merit throughout a long series of metempsychoses and reincarnations." (SD, I, 17).  Inaction is not for Deva-Ego's (see "The Voice of the Silence").

It is curious that HPB uses the analogy of a labourer sitting under an apple tree praying for his work to be done for him as an example of moral idleness. The allegorical Adam and Eve in the Bible were also, it seems, content to swan about in the Garden of Eden (moral idleness?) until the apple was eaten ( awakening/incarnation of Mind/Manas?) and responsibility dawned  -  the responsibility for both action and inaction.  "The ONE LIFE is closely related to the one law which governs the World of Being—KARMA. Exoterically, this is simply and literally “action,” or rather an “effect-producing cause.” Esoterically it is quite a different thing in its far-fetching moral effects. It is the unerring LAW OF RETRIBUTION." (SD, I, 634).  Please note: esoterically (in reality); far-fetching (crossing lives/Rounds/Manvantaras); moral (inner/deeper) effects.

ENQ. Perhaps so, yet it is the idea of trusting in a personal Saviour to help and strengthen in the battle of life, which is the fundamental idea of modern Christianity. And there is no doubt that, subjectively, such belief is efficacious; i. e., that those who believe do feel themselves helped and strengthened.

THEO. Nor is there any more doubt, that some patients of "Christian" and "Mental Scientists" - the great "Deniers"* - are also sometimes cured; nor that hypnotism, and suggestion, psychology, and even mediumship, will produce such results, as often, if not oftener. You take into consideration, and string on the thread of your argument, successes alone. And how about ten times the number of failures? Surely you will not presume to say that failure is unknown even with a sufficiency of blind faith, among fanatical Christians?

*  The new sect of healers, who, by disavowing the existence of anything but spirit, which spirit can neither suffer nor be ill, claim to cure all and every disease, provided the patient has faith that what he denies can have no existence. A new form of self-hypnotism.

HPB gives examples of pseudo healing/healers.  In general these seem to amount to nothing more than the 'patient' sticking his/her head in the sand in the hope that pain or suffering - be it physical or psychological -  will miraculously disappear by either denying the pain's very existence under influence of sufficient "faith" or belief that the denial itself will work the cure or by some other sort of psychological illusion/influence whereby the (lower) mind is fooled/influenced/hypnotised into believing that a cure or relief has taken place.  Today we have no end of (so-called) 'spiritual healers' who perform similar sleights of hand and who's failure to effect any real or genuine 'cure' can best be discerned by the number of repeat visits the 'patient' is required to make.

There are doctors and scientists who can 'heal' the 'pain' of a childless couple.  There are therapists and councellors who can 'heal' the 'pain' of trauma and accident.  What are they really doing to the 'patient'?  To themselves?  Do they ever take into account karma and self-reliance?  "No deed, not even a sinful thought, will go unpunished; the latter more severely even than the former, as a thought is far more potential in creating evil results than even a deed*.  We believe in an unerring law of Retribution, called KARMA, which asserts itself in a natural concatenation of causes and their unavoidable results." ('Key', pg. 140).   "It is the individuality who suffers through his "personality".  And it is this, and this alone, that can account for the terrible, still only apparent, injustice in the distribution of lots in life to man." (pg. 142). 

  *"Verily, I say unto you, that whosoever looketh at a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matt. v., 28).  

ENQ. But how can you explain those cases which are followed by full success? Where does a Theosophist look to for power to subdue his passions and selfishness?

THEO. To his Higher Self, the divine spirit, or the God in him, and to his Karma. How long shall we have to repeat over and over again that the tree is known by its fruit, the nature of the cause by its effects? You speak of subduing passions, and becoming good through and with the help of God or Christ. We ask, where do you find more virtuous, guiltless people, abstaining from sin and crime, in Christendom or Buddhism - in Christian countries or in heathen lands? Statistics are there to give the answer and corroborate our claims. According to the last census in Ceylon and India, in the comparative table of crimes committed by Christians, Mussulmen, Hindoos, Eurasians, Buddhists, etc., etc., on two millions of population taken at random from each, and covering the misdemeanours of several years, the proportion of crimes committed by the Christian stands as 15 to 4 as against those committed by the Buddhist population. (Vide Lucifer for April, 1888, p. 147, Art. Christian lecturers on Buddhism.) No Orientalist, no historian of any note, or traveller in Buddhist lands, from Bishop Bigandet and Abbe Huc, to Sir William Hunter and every fair-minded official, will fail to give the palm of virtue to Buddhists before Christians. Yet the former (not the true Buddhist Siamese sect, at all events) do not believe in either God or a future reward, outside of this earth. They do not pray, neither priests nor laymen. "Pray!" they would exclaim in wonder, "to whom, or what?"

A Theosophist looks to his "Higher Self, the divine spirit, or the God in him, and to his Karma" for subduing the passions and selfishness.  He looks within; to (Universal) Atma (the  "Higher Self") and to (his) karma.  Atma is elsewhere described as "the highest aspect of Karma, its working agent of ITSELF in one aspect".  It - Atma - is impersonal, "neither your Spirit nor mine, but like sunlight shines on all.  It is the universally diffused 'divine principle,' and is inseparable from its one and absolute Meta-Spirit, as the sunbeam is inseparable from sunlight".  It suggests that - where a Theosophist is concerned - there is absolutely nil/zero focus on the personality for "power" in subduing passions and selfishness.  Is this not the truly selfless approach?

ENQ. Then they are truly Atheists.

THEO. Most undeniably, but they are also the most virtue-loving and virtue-keeping men in the whole world. Buddhism says: Respect the religions of other men and remain true to your own; but Church Christianity, denouncing all the gods of other nations as devils, would doom every non-Christian to eternal perdition.

ENQ. Does not the Buddhist priesthood do the same?

THEO. Never. They hold too much to the wise precept found in the DAMMAPADA to do so, for they know that, "If any man, whether he be learned or not, consider himself so great as to despise other men, he is like a blind man holding a candle - blind himself, he illumines others."

Please do send us your comments on any of the above, and/or the next sub-section.  Thank you.

* * * * * * *

THE SECRET DOCTRINE

We continue our attempt at a study of The Secret Doctrine by H P Blavatsky.  Text from the book is highlighted in bold typeface.

Stanza 1, sloka 3:

STANZA I. - Continued.

3. . . . UNIVERSAL MIND WAS NOT, FOR THERE WERE NO AH-HI 

 (a) Mind is a name given to the sum of the states of Consciousness grouped under Thought, Will, and Feeling. During deep sleep, ideation ceases on the physical plane, and memory is in abeyance; thus for the time-being “Mind is not,” because the organ, through which the Ego manifests ideation and memory on the material plane, has temporarily ceased to function. A noumenon can become a phenomenon on any plane of existence only by manifesting on that plane through an appropriate basis or vehicle; and during the long night of rest called Pralaya, when all the existences are dissolved, the “UNIVERSAL MIND” remains as a permanent possibility of mental action, or as that abstract absolute thought, of which mind is the concrete relative manifestation. The AH-HI (Dhyan-Chohans) are the collective hosts of spiritual beings—the Angelic Hosts of Christianity, the Elohim and “Messengers” of the Jews—who are the vehicle for the manifestation of the divine or universal thought and will. They are the Intelligent Forces that give to and enact in Nature her “laws,” while themselves acting according to laws imposed upon them in a similar manner by still higher Powers; but they are not “the personifications” of the powers of Nature, as erroneously thought. This hierarchy of spiritual Beings, through which the Universal Mind comes into action, is like an army—a “Host,” truly—by means of which the fighting power of a nation manifests itself, and which is composed of army corps, divisions, brigades, regiments, and so forth, each with its separate individuality or life, and its limited freedom of action and limited responsibilities; each contained in a larger individuality, to which its own interests are subservient, and each containing lesser individualities in itself.

"Mind is a name given to the sum of the states of Consciousness grouped under Thought, Will, and Feeling .".   How accurate is a name given?  How can we "name" Mind?

"In the Sanskrit, as also in the Hebrew and all other alphabets, every letter has its occult meaning and its rationale; it is a cause and an effect of a preceding cause and a combination of these very often produces the most magical effect. The vowels, especially, contain the most occult and formidable potencies. The Mantras (esoterically, magical rather than religious) are chanted by the Brahmins and so are the Vedas and other Scriptures." (SD, Vol  I, 94).  "The attempt to render in a European tongue the grand panorama of the ever periodically recurring Law—impressed upon the plastic minds of the first races endowed with Consciousness by those who reflected the same from the Universal Mind—is daring, for no human language, save the Sanskrit—which is that of the Gods—can do so with any degree of adequacy." (SD, Vol  I, 269).

In (the) Sanskrit (Sanskrit spelt with a "k") "Mind" is named MANAS.

M of Matter/Mother; W 'reversed' (Waters of Space); "both feminine and masculine, or androgyne", etc. etc..

MA of Makara (ma = 5; kara = "hand"); Man; Mahatma, etc. etc..

MAN of Manvantara; Mantra, Manu, etc. etc..

MANA,  ambrosia/food of the Gods.

MANAS, five letters/Fifth Principle; Manasaputras; Manas (the is/esse of man), etc. etc..

One viewpoint could be that personal lower/concrete mind is the upadhi/basis/vehicle of impersonal/noumenal Higher Mind/Manas and that Higher Mind/Manas is the upadhi/vehicle of the AH-HI and that the AH-HI are the upadhi/vehicle of UNIVERSAL MIND.  Oneness IS.  "Apart from Cosmic Substance, Cosmic Ideation could not manifest as individual consciousness, since it is only through a vehicle^† of matter that consciousness wells up as “I am I,” a physical basis being necessary to focus a ray of the Universal Mind at a certain stage of complexity. Again, apart from Cosmic Ideation, Cosmic Substance would remain an empty abstraction, and no emergence of consciousness could ensue." (SD, Vol  I, 15).  At Rounds 3 and one half (i.e. during the 4th Round) a physical basis is sufficiently complex "to focus a ray".  At the densest/lowest point in the cycle MA-gic (in the form of the Manasaputras) appears on the horizon.  Darkest day (e.g. densest point in the cycle) before the dawn.  See, for example, symbols SD, Vol  I, page 5.  

† Called in Sanskrit: "Upadhi."

The commentary states that "mind is the concrete relative manifestation" of "abstract absolute thought".  And further: "The AH-HI (Dhyan-Chohans) are the collective hosts of spiritual beings—the Angelic Hosts of Christianity, the Elohim and “Messengers” of the Jews—who are the vehicle for the manifestation of the divine or universal thought and will."  It is as if the relative group named "Thought, Will and Feeling" are the manifested effect(s) 'focussed' in/by Man - as the upadhi/vehicle -  of noumenal Hosts (named) "Thought", "Will" and "Feeling" (a triple 'group' of Dhyan-Chohans?).  "Man, as shown in Book II., being a compound of the essences of all those celestial Hierarchies may succeed in making himself, as such, superior, in one sense, to any hierarchy or class, or even combination of them." (SD, Vol  I, 276).  Such is the Awesome potential of Humanity.

Please send us any comments on the above and/or sloka 4.  Thank you.

* * * * * * *

NARADA/PESH-HUN

 “Pesh-Hun” is a general not a special Hindu possession.  He is the mysterious guiding intelligent power, which gives the impulse to, and regulates the impetus of cycles, Kalpas and universal events.* He is Karma’s visible adjuster on a general scale; the inspirer and the leader of the greatest heroes of this Manvantara. In the exoteric works he is referred to by some very uncomplimentary names; such as “Kali-Kâraka,” strife-maker “Kapi-vaktra,” monkey-faced, and even “Pisuna,” the spy, though elsewhere he is called Deva-Brahmâ. Even Sir W. Jones was strongly impressed with this mysterious character from what he gathered in his Sanskrit Studies. He compares him to Hermes and Mercury, and calls him “the eloquent messenger of the gods” (see Asiat. Res. I. p. 264). All this led the late Dr. Kenealy ( “Book of God”), on the ground that the Hindus believe him to be a great Rishi, "who is for ever wandering about the earth, giving good counsel,” to see in him one of his twelve Messiahs. He was, perhaps, not so far off the real track as some imagine.

What Narada really is, cannot be explained in print; nor would the modern generations of the profane gather much from the information. But it may be remarked, that if there is in the Hindu Pantheon a deity which resembles Jehovah, in tempting by “suggestion” of thoughts and “hardening” of the hearts of those whom he would make his tools and victims, it is Narada. Only with the latter it is no desire to obtain a pretext for “plaguing,” and thus showing that “I am the Lord God.”  Nor is it through any ambitious or selfish motive; but, verily, to serve and guide universal progress and evolution.

Narada is one of the few prominent characters, save some gods, in the Purânas, who visits the so-called nether or infernal regions, Pâtâla. Whether or not it was from his intercourse with the thousand-headed Sesha, the serpent who bears the seven Pâtâlas and the entire world like a diadem upon his heads, and who is the great teacher of astronomy,** that Narada learned all that he knew, certain it is that he surpasses Garga’s Guru in his knowledge of cyclic intricacies. It is he who has charge of our progress and national weal or woe. It is he who brings on wars and puts an end to them. In the old Stanzas Pesh-Hun is credited with having calculated and recorded all the astronomical and cosmic cycles to come, and with having taught the Science to the first gazers at the starry vault. And it is Asuramâya, who is said to have based all his astronomical works upon those records, to have determined the duration of all the past geological and cosmical periods, and the length of the all the cycles to come, till the end of this life-cycle, or the end of the seventh Race.

* This is perhaps the reason why, in the Bhagavad Gita, we are told that Brahmâ had communicated to Narada in the beginning that all men whatsoever, even Mlechchhas, outcasts and barbarians, might know the true nature of Vasudeva and learn to have faith in that deity.

** Sesha, who is also Ananta, the infinite, and the "Cycle of Eternity" in esotericism, is credited with having given his astronomical knowledge to Garga, the oldest astronomer of India, who propitiated him, and forthwith knew all about the planets and how to read omens".

(The Secret Doctrine, Vol II, pg. 48 - 49)

* * * * * * *

A CURIOUS NUMERICAL COMBINATION

Two students have e-mailed comments in respect of the above-named article (reproduced in Theosophical Enquirer No 14) :

Comment 1

"No doubt everyone has noticed what is missing from those nos. the 3 6 9 - which has its own eccentricity. . . . . [name] used to say the 36 or 63 appeared always to serve as a positive action and the 74, the negative - which appears in the 142875 until the x 7 when the 9's occur - likewise with the 3 + 6 or whatever - as if there is or are points when they result together - I'm thinking of the caduceus. There is a word used to describe the 3 x 6 action whereby it can always be reduced to its basic ... ? . . . from [a] TV program on the stone circles - one circle in particular in the north where every 18 years the moon dances across the tops of the stones before gradually rising again.  Is there a connection I wonder between lunar nos. here and solar in nature ...?"

Comment 2

Perhaps you, too, have comments/observations to share with others?

* * * * * * *

The following article is reproduced from Viewpoint Aquarius magazine Number 102 (April 1981):

ENORMOUS POWERS

LATENT

WITHIN US ALL

    We earthlings have a tremendous future, if we WILL; far far more real, more potent, more thrilling than the mere functioning of technology, as epitomised by orbiting missiles or convenience foods.  When we develop onwards from our 5-only senses, we unfold Powers of Mind that we are all destined to operate as we attain Space Mind/Full Mind/Manas; regular readers are already familiar with them, Occultists are on the way to earning some of them, why don't you now focus on them:

    1) Shrinking into a minute bulk to which everything is pervious

    Not only do we have control over the body, as advocated in Yoga, so that animalistic functions are suspended as we cease to breathe in OR out, but stay in the Meditative Awareness at All breath/No breath; so that hunger, elimination, heat, cold no longer apply and no longer restrict the movement of our Consciousness, our ability to function on other planes;

    but we can even change our body.  including its size.  Reducing it to a microscopic speck, if willed, and in any shape.

    Yet: this microscopic speck still remains pervious to EVERYTHING, still in contact with Oneness, still aware of All, over the 7 planes, far far beyond time or space.  A state of Knowingness that is breath-less to contemplate.

    Flying Saucers repeatedly demonstrate this Power, this Siddhi, as they reduce size to vanishing point, without diminishing their Conscious Contact with us, our emotions, our unuttered thoughts.  Dense materialists merely exclaim that the Flying Saucer vanished, or explain-away by assuming that it went into the distance/behind a cloud.

    The more receptive among us wonder; and, hence, develop - a little deeper; realising that Space Mind/Full Mind/Manas can make a body at will, small or not/dense-physical or not/in any shape, or not.

    And how is this done?  By merging the four; separative; elements of fire, air, water, earth into the "fifth element" of "permeability".  Interested aspirants are referred to the great H. P. Blavatsky's "Secret Doctrine" e.g. Vol. I page 12: "....Occult Science recognises Seven Cosmical Elements, four entirely physical, and the fifth (Ether-Permeability) semi-material, as it will become visible in the air towards the end of our Fourth Round" (technical term for our current Aeon of Time) "and will reign supreme over the others during the whole of the Fifth" (aeon, where we earthlings will flower our sixth/seventh senses).

    Let's note that many a Flying Saucer Contactee has spoken wonderingly of this fifth element when they have had a ride in a Flying Saucer.  Of course, Materialists merely scoffed (as they also malign H. P. Blavatsky) but let's examine further:

    the quotation above refers to the visible quality in the air of permeability; amplified on page 633 when the Visibility/Vibrations/Permeability Element-Grouping is described by "Seers - who can see the motion of the interstellar shoals, and follow them in their evolution clairvoyantly  - they are dazzling, like specks of virgin snow in radient sunlight. Their velocity is swifter than thought, quicker than any mortal physical eye could follow, and, as well as can be judged from the tremendous rapidity of their course, the motion is circular - - - Standing on an open plain, or on a mountain summit especially, and, gazing into the vast vault above and the spacial infinitude around, the whole atmosphere seems ablaze with them, the air soaked through with these dazzling coruscations."

    Flying Saucer Contactees, riding aboard in a Flying Saucer also try to describe this:

    George Adamski: "billions upon billions of fireflies were flickering everywhere, moving in all directions, as fireflies do.  However they were of many colours, a gigantic celestial firework display that was beautiful to the point of being awesome."

    Howard Menger: "the field of vision (from the Saucer) was filled with various blobs of light of different colours."

    Materialists please remember that both contactees had published the above in their books, before Sputnik, before man's first orbit.

    Col. Glenn in 1962 was the first astronaut in space and he described: "thousands upon thousands of multi-coloured specks as far as his eyes could see" (and he was 300 miles up).

    Many another astronaut/cosmonaut, and many another contactee aboard a Flying Saucer has also described the Visible-in-the-air/Fifth Element e.g. Dino Kraspedon (of Brazil): "the photo-chemical display" (out in space).

    Interested readers can find further quotations on the Fifth Element in "The Secret Doctrine" e.g. Vol. I page 251 or 335; Vol II page 135.  A Materialist will be quite uninterested in the page numbers; Concentric Key Students will marvel at the stupendous breadth of Mind, Timeless, that can "arrange by coincidence" for the ultimate pagination (via hand-written manuscripts, done over some 24 months, shuffled/arranged by helping-earthlings, locked-into book page by orthodox printers) that yet come out with an inner rhythm of esoteric numerology that reads:

    Vol. I 12, 251, 335, 633;

    Vol. II 135; and more.

    Continuing our examination of the Powers of Mind,

    2) enlarging to a giganic body

    Do not Flying Saucers also ram home this lesson to us dense earthlings as they "pulsate," "grow larger-smaller", "vanish-appear", register on radar - or not, etc.

    All of us earthlings can do likewise, if we fulfil our destiny; if we WILL.

    Have you noticed how Space Ships often take gigantic size? Like the one over Kuwait on June 20 1980, which kept station at 15,000 feet with Flight KU-542 (from Cairo) at 320 knots, in fine visibility, and which the Captain and Co-Pilot confirmed by a second aircraft, Flight KU 708, which was then 90 miles away, and which asked, and got, yet further confirmation from Kuwait (Air) Centre.  The whole fantastic accounts were filed 21.6.80 to Captain H. Shamlan, Operations Director General Kuwait Aircraft Corporation.

    It was not reported in Britain, of course, but was front-paged by the influential Arab Times twice; 8.7.80 and 10.7.80.

    Or the gigantic Flying Saucer, so vast that it was SIMULTANEOUSLY visible on June 14 1980 in 40 cities in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, (then over the Andes mountain range), Paraguay, and Uraguay.

    It was not reported in Britain, of course, but in our October 1980 VA [Viewpoint Aquarius] 96 we gave more full documentation on both the above gigantic Saucers; including photographs simultaneously taken 400 miles apart; and scores of pilots, air controllers over various airfields; and their ground/airborne sightings.

    Why make the body gigantic/microscopic? To master/demonstrate/activate control over "that" which we earthlings call "matter"; which we "separate" from "spirit" and so stay stuck in our dense physical plane to such a degree that our undeveloped minds can't even do telepathy - in full.  Let alone the other powers/siddhis about to be detailed below.

    It's an early lesson for us to learn. Is that WHY the Flying Saucers so often, so repeatedly, for so long, over so many countries, in so many conditions of day/night, cloud/sun, tropic/arctic keep changing shape, keep pulsating, keep appearing-disappearing

    so patiently; like a loving parent urging on a small child. An ungrateful child?  An unresponsive child?

    Or one that will improve. develop. grow. As ever, the choice is ours; individually.  Never, but Never!, do the Space Peoples force us; strictly within the Law of Karma we are allowed full freedom to progress, or not; at the speed we ourselves select.  We are even allowed full freedom to scoff, to try and prevent/hinder others from progressing.

    3) assuming levity(rising along a sunbeam to the solar orb)

    As usual in Occultism, there are many planes of understanding.  Even a materialist is familiar with levitation (though he falls so far short of being able to do it, that he tends to deny its reality),

    but an aspirant would look deeper into this Siddhi, which could have more to do with Raja Yoga than Hatha (Body) Yoga.

    Which is the solar orb?  The visible sun, or the (invisible) Central Spiritual Sun?  So to give a "height" to the vertical arm of the cross worthy of a genuine initiate Master of the Timeless SVasTiKa; (as he rises "along a sunbeam to the solar orb"), ranging his Consciousness over 7 full planes so that easily he can span Life-Death, Time-Space, Matter-Spirit and not be in the least inhibited by the dualities that hedge-in us male-female earthlings.

    Oneness IS; deeper yet.

    A serious student might well pause at this point - the third stage - to reflect that the Siddhis are NOT being enumerated by the great H. P. Blavatsky (from whose "Isis Unveiled" Vol. II pages 587 onwards these Powers are being listed) in flat linear order; we earthlings are so accustomed to reading left-to-right/top-to-bottom in a flat way that we may overlook the Reality of Life which is anything but that; certainly Life is inter-linked, entwined, concentric and spiral; thus, too, must be the Siddhis, so that an enumeration from 1 to 8 symbolically needs under-standing.

    The greater and the lesser are linked, and cross-threaded.  Pulsating Flying Saucers that grow bright-dim, large-small, have more than one layer of Truth to impart to those who have eyes to see. Alpha-Omega. First shall be last. OM - AUM.

4) possessing an unlimited reach of organs, as touching the moon with the tip of the finger

    What is a finger?  Just that bit of visible flesh? or has it, too, got 7 planes as has the total of you.  According to Timeless Truth you have, as does your little finger, 7 bodies: dense physical, etheric (or health), emotions, mind; these lower four are the visible, the transient part, that dies at the end of one life; but "using" these lower 4 are the "permanent" inner/triple unit of HIGHER mind, of Discriminating Knowingness (Buddhi being the technical term) and of Truth (Atma, as it's named).

    So, touching the moon with the tip of your finger - an "extension" of your dense physical hand - also can mean extending the full 7 planes of your consciousness to "touch" as far as the moon e.g. we can all think of being on the moon, but are not able to "operate" there with our present undeveloped mind - but an Occultist could.  Could "use" all 7 senses there, fully; once the Occult State of Full Mind/Space Mind/Manas has been reached.  Enormous is this power; vast is its range.

    Let's go deeper yet:

    What is moon?  Just the orb out there, or symbolic of the lower nature of man?  We should not forget that the vertical arm of the cross also extends downwards (to Hades) to include all there; anyone can love the lovable, a mark of the True Initiate is also love for all - the cockroach, the poison germ, the sinner - all.

    And this is the crucial point, it's our blockage that prevents full access to these inner Powers: we're selfish, not selfless; we do not seem over-eager to go into the depths of Hades to save OTHERS, preferring the brighter regions of the rising arm of the vertical cross.

    Yet: Oneness IS.  And sooner or later, in one life or another we have got to manifest that Truth, so as to be able - safely - to develop these enormous Powers/Siddhis.

    There is nothing to prevent us starting/doing more, NOW.  Do not the Flying Saucers keep coming DOWN to our level, and rising again?  Urging us with their example.

    Let's take one more step deeper yet: Why an unlimited reach (singular) of organs (plural)?  It is a hidden reference to the Third Eye of Mythology because to attain this plane of Awareness the aspirant has to "merge into one sense the senses; that sense alone that lies concealed in the hollow of the brain" i.e.

    the aspirant has to unite, not merely join, his separate senses as thoroughly as oxygen and hydrogen unite-utterly to form a drop of water, H₂O.  A staggering transformation for 3 little bits of gas to achieve - and a living example to us all.  Let's note too that a drop of water (and the "hollow in the brain") is spherical i.e. balanced perfectly, all its radii being of equal length as spirit-matter, life-form, above-below, self-not self, ALL are in unison, in balance, in harmony.  Is this why Flying Saucers so often take a round shape?  They can take any shape/size the earthlings want, fear or expect (consciously or unconsciously), yet the Saucers repeatedly emphasise "roundness" i.e. balance i.e. harmony.

    Let us congratulate the Materialist who has persevered in reading thus far, and let us plead that the effort continues. We ALL; together; can and should progress to Space Mind/Full Mind/Manas.

5) irresistible will (for instance, sinking into the earth as easily as in water)

    Perceptive readers will remember the clue already given under the first Power, the merging of the 4 separated elements of fire, air, water, earth into the fifth element of Permeability,

    so making it easy to sink into earth.

    Of course, to do that, the aspirant has to be at-one/in Oneness/in Unity/in Harmony with all four elements i.e.

    in balance with all four arms of the cross, so that they can be gathered together from the 4 corners, be operated, be made to move, be transformed into the svastika.  If there is one arm of the cross still blocked, still undeveloped, still atrophied,

    for instance, selfishness,

    then permeability is not/the Siddhi is not.

    This Power is far more potent than suggested by first appearance or superficial reading: its use would allow the aspirant "to live underground" - not merely to be at ease in the hollow of the earth but to resonate the magnetic fields on a solar-system scale, based on the earth-pole in the earth-centre-core, and the "other poles" out in space.

    The fact that we earthlings have so far invented only North-South poles, or positive-negative electricity, or inbreathe-outbreathe does not mean that Space Mind/Full Mind/Manas does not understand the mid-point,

    the All-Breath, where perpetual motion IS, where other poles ARE.  Perhaps 7 of them.  Giving control over natural forces like gravity, magnetism, electricity.  Do not Flying Saucers repeatedly ram home this lesson too?  Way back in the early days, Materialists used to deny that Saucers existed, or were real, because their fantastic manoeuvres would have caused pulls of gravity "impossible" for life-forms to sustain!  Remember?

    We don't hear that silly argument now, because repeated demonstrations by the (patient) Space Peoples have hammered home the fact that

    they CAN control gravity/magnetism/electricity, and that we earthlings are cordially invited to do likewise.

    Just recently our nuts and bolts scientists were staggered to discover from the pictures relayed back to earth by Voyager II as it orbited Saturn,

    that there were many rings round Saturn

    in many layers, intertwined, and not at all conforming to our primitive ideas of only 2 poles (North-South) or only 2 types of electricity (positive-negative)

    Remember?

    Perhaps intertwining is the key.

  6) dominion over all things, animate or inanimate

    Control of destiny, even of whole Root Races of Man on earth, as well as "other" forms/life "elsewhere".

    Space Mind/Full Mind/Manas has such control; so do the Buddhas of our world.  Neither "die", except in an outer form, a new one being assumed at WILL if necessary;

    and neither could possibly reach us except in Oneness:

    Oneness with ALL - even us dense pugnaceous earthlings.  Let's be grateful for that.

    7) faculty of changing the course of nature

    The stories of the global floods, of the lost continents of Lemuria, of Atlantis; of the arctic regions that turned tropical, and the reverse; of the shifts in the earth's axis/wobble/orbit;

    do Materialists really think that all that was chance!  Or Occult Law.  Under conscious control; benign control, with a "mind to embrace the universe" (technical term) that spans aeons in the Timeless, and has a seven-plane penetrating gaze into the innermost/deepest/full workings of Karma,

    to help us dense clots to help ourselves to improve by our own efforts, on our own two flat feet, at our own speed;

    or, pay the price of failure.

    Have you seen a Flying Saucer?

    When did you last ACTIVELY look?

    With WHAT did you look?  The Mind?

    8) ability to accomplish every desire

    including spiritual.

Obvious footnote

    The nearer we approach to "Power Number 8", the less there is to be "said"/the more to be of "Inner Know-ingness".  For instance, in esoteric numerology the 8 often depicts the real-white-all-inclusive - BOTH handed magic of the Caduceus which an aspirant could find on page 550 of Vol. I of "The Secret Doctrine".

    WHY on that page?  and WHY on the right hand half of that page? and WHY on the top half of that page?  A materialist might not even think of asking such questions, but without them is possible only superficial reading of the left-to-right/top-to-bottom type.  An aspirant might notice that the page is 5 (the "number" of mind), plus another 5 (to denote the twice-born HIGHER mind), plus the circle/the nought/the laya centre (as is discussed immediately below).  This esoteric "proportion" of numerology is significant in the extreme for the aspirant who has eyes to see.

    The "8" in esotericism often, too, is the Keynote of the Buddha; not merely the noble eight-fold path, but the symbolic linkage of 2 spheres, 2 noughts, 2 laya-centres i.e. the critical "centres" through which transformation takes place - in the example of Power Number 4, above, when 3 little bits of gas utterly unite/transform to become ONE drop of water H₂O.  Such are true-linkage of Occultism, of above-below and its 7 plane crossthreads; as seen by the Third Eye.  And by you, if you WILL.

* * * * * * * 

THE MAHATMA LETTERS

In each issue we hope to reproduce one (or more) of the letters from The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett from the Mahatmas M. and K.H. (Second Edition, Rider & Company) as transcribed and compiled by A. T. Barker. We continue with Letter XVI:

LETTER No. XVI^I

 

I. Mr. Sinnett's queries to which K.H. replies in this letter are printed in bold type.- ED.

(1) The remarks appended to a letter in the last Theosophist, page 226, Col. 1, strike me as very important and as qualifying - I do not say contradicting - a good deal of what we have hitherto been told in re Spiritualism.

We had heard already of a spiritual condition of life in which the redeveloped Ego enjoyed a conscious existence for a time before reincarnation in another world; but that branch of the subject has hitherto been slurred over. Now some explicit statements are made about it; and these suggest further enquiries.

In the Deva Chan (I have lent my Theosophist to a friend; and have not got it at hand to refer to but that if I remember rightly is the name given to the state of spiritual beatitude described) the new Ego retains complete recollection of his life on earth apparently. Is that so or is there any misunderstanding on that point on my part?

(1) The Deva-Chan, or land of "Sukhavati," is allegorically described by our Lord Buddha himself. What he said may be found in the Shan-Mun-yi-Tung. Says Tathagata: -

"Many thousand myriads of systems of worlds beyond this (ours) there is a region of Bliss called Sukhavati . . . . This region is encircled with seven rows of railings, seven rows of vast curtains, seven rows of waving trees; this holy abode of Arahats is governed by the Tathagatas (Dhyan Chohans) and is possessed by the Bodhisatwas. It hath seven precious lakes, in the midst of which flow crystaline waters having 'seven and one' properties, or distinctive qualities (the 7 principles emanating from the ONE). This, O, Sariputra is the 'Deva Chan.' Its divine Udarnbara flower casts a root in the shadow of every earth, and blossoms for all those who reach it. Those born in the blessed region are truly felicitous, there are no more griefs or sorrows in that cycle for them. . . . Myriads of Spirits (Lha) resort there for rest and then return to their own regions. ¹ Again, O, Sariputra, in that land of joy many who are born in it are Avaivartyas . . ." ² etc., etc.

^{1 Those who have not ended their earth rings.}

^{2 Literally - those who will never return - the seventh round men, etc.}

(2) Now except in the fact that the duration of existence in the Deva Chan is limited, there is a very close resemblance between that condition and the Heaven of ordinary religion (omitting anthropomorphic ideas of God).

(2) Certainly the new Ego once that it is reborn, retains for a certain time - proportionate to its Earth-life, a "complete recollection of his life on earth." ³  (See your preceding query.) But it can never return on earth, from the Deva Chan, nor has the latter - even omitting all "anthropomorphic ideas of God" - any resemblance to the paradise or heaven of any religion, and it is H.P.B.'s literary fancy that suggested to her the wonderful comparison.

^{3. See back - (I) of your questions.}

(3) Now the question of importance - is who goes to Heaven - or Deva Chan? Is this condition only attained by the few who are very good, or by the many who are not very bad, - after the lapse in their case of a longer unconscious incubation or gestation.

(3) "Who goes to Deva Chan?" The personal Ego of course, but beatified, purified, holy. Every Ego - the combination of the sixth and seventh principles - which, after the period of unconscious gestation is reborn into the Deva-Chan, is of necessity as innocent and pure as a new-born babe. The fact of his being reborn at all, shows the preponderance of good over evil in his old personality. And while the Karma (of evil) steps aside for the time being to follow him in his future earth-reincamation, he brings along with him but the Karma of his good deeds, words, and thoughts into this Deva-Chan. "Bad" is a relative term for us - as you were told more than once before, - and the Law of Retribution is the only law that never errs. Hence all those who have not slipped down into the mire of unredeemable sin and bestiality - go to the Deva Chan. They will have to pay for their sins, voluntary and involuntary, later on. Meanwhile, they are rewarded; receive the effects of the causes produced by them.

Of course it is a state, one, so to say, of intense selfishness, during which an Ego reaps the reward of his unselfishness on earth. He is completely engrossed in the bliss of all his personal earthly affections, preferences and thoughts, and gathers in the fruit of his meritorious actions. No pain, no grief nor even the shadow of a sorrow comes to darken the bright horizon of his unalloyed happiness: for, it is a state of perpetual "Maya" . . . Since the conscious perception of one's personality on earth is but an evanescent dream that sense will be equally that of a dream in the Deva-Chan - only a hundred fold intensified. So much so, indeed, that the happy Ego is unable to see through the veil, the evils, sorrows and woes to which those it loved on earth may be subjected to. It lives in that sweet dream with its loved ones - whether gone before, or yet remaining on earth; it has them near itself, as happy, as blissful and as innocent as the disembodied dreamer himself; and yet, apart from rare visions, the denizens of our gross planet feel it not. It is in this, during such a condition of complete Maya that the Souls or astral Egos of pure, loving sensitives, labouring under the same illusion, think their loved ones come down to them on earth, while it is their own Spirits that are raised towards those in the Deva-Chan. Many of the subjective spiritual communications - most of them when the sensitives are pure minded - are real; but it is most difficult for the uninitiated medium to fix in his mind the true and correct pictures of what he sees and hears. Some of the phenomena called psychography (though more rarely) are also real. The spirit of the sensitive getting odylised, so to say, by the aura of the Spirit in the Deva-Chan, becomes for a few minutes that departed personality, and writes in the hand writing of the latter, in his language and in his thoughts, as they were during his life time. The two spirits become blended in one; and, the preponderance of one over the other during such phenomena determines the preponderance of personality in the characteristics exhibited in such writings, and "trance speaking." What you call "rapport" is in plain fact an identity of molecular vibration between the astral part of the incarnate medium and the astral part of the disincarnate personality. I have just noticed an article on smell by some English Professor (which I will cause to be reviewed in the Theosophist and say a few words), and find in it something that applies to our case. As, in music, two different sounds may be in accord and separately distinguishable, and this harmony or discord depends upon the synchronous vibrations and complementary periods; so there is rapport between medium and "control" when their astral molecules move in accord. And the question whether the communication shall reflect more of the one personal idiosyncracy, or the other, is determined by the relative intensity of the two sets of vibrations in the compound wave of Akasa. The less identical the vibratory impulses the more mediumistic and less spiritual will be the message. So then, measure your medium's moral state by that of the alleged "controlling" Intelligence, and your tests of genuineness leave nothing to be desired.

(4) Or are there great varieties of condition within the limits, so to speak, of Deva Chan, so that an appropriate state is dropped into by all, from which they will be born into lower and higher conditions in the next world of causes. It is no use multiplying hypotheses. We want some information to go upon.

(4) Yes; there are great varieties in the Deva-Chan states, and, it is all as you say. As many varieties of bliss, as on earth there are shades of perception and of capability to appreciate such reward. It is an ideated paradise, in each case of the Ego's own making, and by him filled with the scenery, crowded with the incidents, and thronged with the people he would expect to find in such a sphere of compensative bliss. And it is that variety which guides the temporary personal Ego into the current which will lead him to be reborn in a lower or higher condition in the next world of causes. Everything is so harmoniously adjusted in nature - especially in the subjective world, that no mistake can be ever committed by the Tathagatas - or Dhyan Chohans - who guide the impulses.

(5) On the face of the idea, a purely spiritual state would only be enjoyable to the entities highly spiritualized in this life. But there are myriads of very good people (morally) who are not spiritualized at all. How can they be fitted to pass, with their recollections of this life from a material to a spiritual condition of existence.

(5) It is "a spiritual condition" only as contrasted with our own grossly "material condition," and, as already stated - it is such degrees of spirituality that constitute and determine the great "varieties" of conditions within the limits of Deva-Chan. A mother from a savage tribe is not less happy than a mother from a regal palace, with her lost child in her arms; and although as actual Egos, children prematurely dying before the perfection of their septenary Entity do not find their way to Deva-Chan, yet all the same the mother's loving fancy finds her children there, without one missing that her heart yearns for. Say - it is but a dream, but after all what is objective life itself but a panorama of vivid unrealities? The pleasures realized by a Red Indian in his "happy hunting grounds" in that Land of Dreams is not less intense than the ecstasy felt by a connoisseur who passes aeons in the wrapt delight of listening to divine Symphonies by imaginary angelic choirs and orchestras. As it is no fault of the former, if born a "savage" with an instinct to kill - though it caused the death of many an innocent animal - why, if with it all, he was a loving father, son, husband, why should he not also enjoy his share of reward? The case would be quite different if the same cruel acts had been done by an educated and civilized person, from a mere love of sport. The savage in being reborn would simply take a low place in the scale, by reason of his imperfect moral development; while the Karma of the other would be tainted with moral delinquency. . . .

Every one but that ego which, attracted by its gross magnetism, falls into the current that will draw it into the "planet of Death" - the mental as well as physical satellite of our earth - is fitted to pass into a relative "spiritual" condition adjusted to his previous condition in life and mode of thought. To my knowledge and recollection H.P.B. explained to Mr. Hume that man's sixth principle, as something purely spiritual could not exist, or have conscious being in the Deva-Chan, unless it assimilated some of the more abstract and pure of the mental attributes of the fifth principle or animal Soul: its manas (mind) and memory. When man dies his second and third principles die with him; the lower triad disappears, and the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh principles form the surviving Quaternary. (Read again page 6 in Fragments of O.T.) ¹ Thenceforth it is a "death" struggle between the Upper and Lower dualities. If the upper wins, the sixth, having attracted to itself the quintessence of Good from the fifth - its nobler affections, its saintly (though they be earthly) aspirations, and the most Spiritualised portions of its mind - follows its divine elder (the 7th) into the "Gestation" State; and the fifth and fourth remain in association as an empty shell - (the expression is quite correct) - to roam in the earth's atmosphere, with half the personal memory gone, and the more brutal instincts fully alive for a certain period - an "Elementary" in short. This is the "angel guide" of the average medium. If, on the other hand, it is the Upper Duality which is defeated, there, it is the fifth principle that assimilates all that there may be left of personal recollection and perceptions of its personal individuality in the sixth. But, with all this additional stock, it will not remain in Kama-Loka -- "the world of Desire" or our Earth's atmosphere. In a very short time like a straw floating within the attraction of the vortices and pits of the Maelstrom, it is caught up and drawn into the great whirlpool of human Egos; while the sixth and seventh - now a purely Spiritual, individual MONAD, with nothing left in it of the late personality, having no regular "gestation" period to pass through: (since there is no purified personal Ego to be reborn), after a more or less prolonged period of unconscious Rest in the boundless Space - will find itself reborn in another personality on the next planet. When arrives the period of "Full Individual Consciousness" - which precedes that of Absolute Consciousness in the Pari-Nirvana - this lost personal life becomes as a torn out page in the great Book of Lives, without even a disconnected word left to mark its absence. The purified monad will neither perceive nor remember it in the series of its past rebirths - which it would had it gone to the "World of Forms" (rupa-loka) - and its retrospective glance will not perceive even the slightest sign to indicate that it had been. The light of Samma-Sambuddh -

". . . that light which shines beyond our mortal ken

The line of all the lives in all the worlds " -

throws no ray upon that personal life in the series of lives foregone.

To the credit of mankind, I must say, that such an utter obliteration of an existence from the tablets of Universal Being does not occur often enough to make a great percentage. In fact, like the much mentioned "congenital idiot" such a thing is a lusus naturae - an exception, not the rule.

1.  O.T. stands for Occult Truth. - ED.

(6) And how is a spiritual existence in which everything has merged into the sixth principle, compatible with that consciousness of individual and personal material life which must be attributed to the Ego in Deva-Chan if he retains his earthly consciousness as stated in the Theosophist Note.

(6) The question is now sufficiently explained, I believe: the sixth and seventh principles apart from the rest constitute the eternal imperishable, but also unconscious "Monad." To awaken in it to life the latent consciousness, especially that of personal individuality, requires the monad plus the highest attributes of the fifth - the "animal Soul"; and it is that which makes the ethereal Ego that lives and enjoys bliss in the Deva-Chan. Spirit, or the unalloyed emanations of the ONE - the latter forming with the seventh and sixth principles the highest triad - neither of the two emanations are capable of assimilating but that which is good, pure and holy; hence, no sensual, material or unholy recollection can follow the purified memory of the Ego to the region of Bliss. The Karma for these recollections of evil deeds and thought will reach the Ego when it changes its personality in the following world of causes. The Monad, or the "Spiritual Individuality," remains untainted in all cases. "No sorrow or Pain for those born there (in the Rupa-Loka of Deva-Chan); for this is the Pure-land. All the regions in Space possess such lands (Sakwala), but this land of Bliss is the most pure." In the Djnana Prasthana Shaster, it is said: "by personal purity and earnest meditation, we overleap the limits of the World of Desire, and enter in the World of Forms."

(7) The period of gestation between Death and Deva-Chan has hitherto been conceived by me at all events as very long. Now it is said to be in some cases only a few days, in no cases (it is implied) more than a few years. This seems plainly stated, but I ask if it can be explicitly confirmed because it is a point on which so much turns.

(7) Another fine example of the habitual disorder in which Mrs. H.P.B.'s mental furniture is kept. She talks of "Bardo" and does not even say to her readers what it means! As in her writing room confusion is ten times confounded, so in her mind are crowded ideas piled in such a chaos that when she wants to express them the tail peeps out before the head. "Bardo" has nothing to do with the duration of time in the case you are referring to. "Bardo" is the period between death and rebirth - and may last from a few years to a kalpa. It is divided into three sub-periods (1) when the Ego delivered of its mortal coil enters into Kama-Loka ¹ (the abode of Elementaries); (2) when it enters into its "Gestation State"; (3) when it is reborn in the Rupa-Loka of Deva-Chan. Sub-period (1) may last from a few minutes to a number of years - the phrase "a few years" becoming puzzling and utterly worthless without a more complete explanation; Sub-period (2) is "very long"; as you say, longer sometimes than you may even imagine, yet proportionate to the Ego's spiritual stamina; Sub-period (3) lasts in proportion to the good KARMA, after which the monad is again reincarnated. TheAgama Sutra saying: - "in all these Rupa-Lokas, the Devas (Spirits) are equally subjected to birth, decay, old age, and death," means only that an Ego is borne thither then begins fading out and finally "dies," i.e., falls into that unconscious condition which precedes rebirth; and ends the Sloka with these words - "As the devas emerge from these heavens, they enter the lower world again:" i.e, they leave a world of bliss to be reborn in a world of causes.

1. Tibetan : Yuh-Kai.

(8) In that case, and assuming that Deva-Chan is not solely the heritage of adepts and persons almost as elevated, there is a condition of existence tantamount to Heaven actually going on, from which the life of Earth may be watched by an immense number of those who have gone before! (9) And for how long? Does this state of spiritual beatitude endure for years? for decades? for centuries?

(8) Most emphatically "the Deva-Chan is not solely the heritage of adepts," and most decidedly there is a "heaven" - if you must use this astro-geographical Christian term - for "an immense number of those who have gone before." But "the life of Earth" can be watched by none of these, for reasons of the Law of Bliss plus Maya, already given.

(9) For years, decades, centuries and milleniums, oftentimes - multiplied by something more. It all depends upon the duration of Karma. Fill with oil Den's little cup, and a city Reservoir of water, and lighting both see which burns the longer. The Ego is the wick and Karma the oil: the difference in the quantity of the latter (in the cup and the reservoir) suggesting to you the great difference in the duration of various Karmas. Every effect must be proportionate to the cause. And, as man's terms of incarnate existence bear but a small proportion to his periods of inter-natal existence in the manvantaric cycle, so the good thoughts, words, and deeds of any one of these "lives" on a globe are causative of effects, the working out of which requires far more time than the evolution of the causes occupied. Therefore, when you read in the Jats and other fabulous stories of the Buddhist Scriptures that this or the other good action was rewarded by Kalpas of several figures of bliss, do not smile at the absurd exaggeration, but bear in mind what I have said. From a small seed, you know, sprung a tree whose life endures now for 22 centuries; I mean the Anuradha-pura Bo tree. Nor must you laugh, if ever you come across Pindha-Dhana or any other Buddhist Sutra and read: "Between the Kama-Loka and the Rupa-Loka there is a locality, the dwelling of 'Mara' (Death). This Mara filled with passion and lust, destroys all virtuous principles, as a stone grinds corn. ¹  His palace is 7000 yojanas square, and is surrounded by a seven-fold wall," for you will feel now more prepared to understand the allegory. Also, when Beal, or Burnouf, or Rhys Davids in the innocence of their Christian and materialistic souls indulge in such translations as they generally do, we do not bear them malice for their commentaries, since they cannot know any better. But what can the following mean: - "The names of the Heavens" (a mistranslation; lokas are not heavens but localities or abodes) of Desire, Kama-Loka - so called, because the beings who occupy them are subject to desires of eating, drinking, sleeping and love. They are otherwise called the abodes of the five (?) orders of sentient creatures - Devas, men, asuras, beasts, demons" (Lantan Sutra, trans. by S. Beal). They mean simply that, had the reverend translator been acquainted with the true doctrine a little better - he would have (1) divided the Devas into two classes - and called them the "Rupa-devas" and the "Arupa-devas" (the "form" - or objective, and the "formless" or subjective Dhyan Chohans; and (2) - would have done the same for his class of "men," since there are shells, and "Mara-rupas" - i.e. bodies doomed to annihilation. All these are:

(1) "Rupa-devas" - Dhyan Chohans ² having forms;

(2) "Arupa-devas"[- Dhyan Chohans] having no forms

{[(1) and (2) above are] Ex-men.

(3) "Pisachas" - (two-principled) ghosts.

(4) "Mara-rupa" - Doomed to death (3 principled).

(5) Asuras - Elementals - having human form

(6) Beasts - [Elementals] 2nd class - animal Elementals

{[(5) and (6) above are] Future men.

(7) Rakshasas (Demons) Souls or Astral Forms of sorcerers; men who have reached the apex of knowledge in the forbidden art. Dead or alive they have, so to say cheated nature; but it is only temporary - until our planet goes into obscuration, after which they have nolens volens to be annihilated.

1. This Mara, as you may well think, is the allegorical image of the sphere called "Planet of Death" - the whirlpool whither disappear the lives doomed to destruction.  It is between Kama and Rupa-Lokas that the struggle takes place.

2. The Planetary Spirits of our Earth are not of the highest, as you may well imagine - since, as Subba Row says in his criticism upon Oxley's work that no Eastern Adept would like to be compared with an angel or a Dêva.  See May Theosophist.

It is these seven groups that form the principal divisions of the Dwellers of the subjective world around us. It is in stock No. 1, that are the intelligent Rulers of this world of Matter, and who, with all this intelligence are but the blindly obedient instruments of the ONE; the active agents of a Passive Principle.

And thus are misinterpreted and mistranslated nearly all our Sutras; yet even under that confused jumble of doctrines and words, for one who knows even superficially the true doctrine, there is firm ground to stand upon. Thus, for instance in enumerating the seven lokas of the "Kama-Loka" the Avatamsaka Sutra, gives as the seventh, the "Territory of Doubt." I will ask you to remember the name as we will have to speak of it hereafter. Every such "world" within the Sphere of Effects has a Tathagata, or "Dhyan Chohan" - to protect and watch over, not to interfere with it. Of course, of all men, spiritualists will be the first to reject and throw off our doctrines to "the limbo of exploded superstitions." Were we to assure them that every one of their "Summerlands" had seven boarding houses in it, with the same number of "Spirit Guides" to "boss" in them, and call these "angels," Saint Peters, Johns, and St. Ernests, they would welcome us with open arms. But whoever heard of Tathagats and Dhyan Chohans, Asuras and Elementals? Preposterous! Still, we are happily allowed - by our friends (Mr. Eglinton, at least) - to be possessed "of a certain knowledge of Occult Sciences" (Vide "Light"). And thus, even this mite of "Knowledge" is at your service, and is now helping me to answer your following question:

Is there any intermediate condition between the spiritual beatitude of Deva-Chan, and the forlorn shadow life of the only half conscious elementary reliquiaeof human beings who have lost their sixth principle. Because if so that might give a locus standi in imagination to the Earnests and Joeys of the spiritual mediums - the better sort of controlling "spirits." If so surely that must be a very populous world? from which any amount of "spiritual" communications might come.

Alas, no; my friend; not that I know of. From "Sukhavati" down to the "Territory of Doubt" there is a variety of Spiritual States; but I am not aware of any such "intermediate condition." I have told you of the Sakwalas (though I cannot be enumerating them since it would be useless); and even of Avitchi - the "Hell" from which there is no return ¹, and I have no more to tell about. "The forlorn shadow" has to do the best it can. As soon as it has stepped outside the Kama-Loka, and crossed the "Golden Bridge" leading to the "Seven Golden Mountains" the Ego can confabulate no more, with easy-going mediums. No "Earnest" or "Joey" has ever returned from the Rupa Loka - let alone the Arupa-Loka - to hold sweet intercourse with mortals.

1. In Abidharma Shastra (Metaphysics) we read: - "Buddha taught that on the outskirts of all the Sakwalas, there is a black interval, without Sun or moonlight for him who falls into it.  There is no re-birth from it.  It is the cold Hell, the great Naraka."  This is Avitchi.

Of course there is a "better sort" of reliquiae; and the "shells" or the "earth-walkers" as they are here called, are not necessarily all bad. But even those that are good, are made bad for the time being by mediums. The "shells" may well not care, since they have nothing to lose, anyhow. But there is another kind of "Spirits," we have lost sight of: the suicides and those killed by accident. Both kinds can communicate, and both have to pay dearly for such visits. And now I have again to explain what I mean. Well, this class is the one that the French Spiritists call - "les Esprits Souffrants." They are an exception to the rule, as they have to remain within the earth's attraction, and in its atmosphere - the Kama-Loka - till the very last moment of what would have been the natural duration of their lives. In other words, that particular wave of life-evolution must run on to its shore. But it is a sin and cruelty to revive their memory and intensify their suffering by giving them a chance of living an artificial life; a chance to overload their Karma, by tempting them into opened doors, viz., mediums and sensitives, for they will have to pay roundly for every such pleasure. I will explain. The suicides, who, foolishly hoping to escape life, found themselves still alive, - have suffering enough in store for them from that very life. Their punishment is in the intensity of the latter. Having lost by the rash act their seventh and sixth principles, though not for ever, as they can regain both - instead of accepting their punishment, and taking their chances of redemption, they are often made to regret life and tempted to regain a hold upon it by sinful means. In the Kama-Loka, the land of intense desires, they can gratify their earthly yearnings but through a living proxy; and by so doing, at the expiration of the natural term, they generally lose their monad for ever. As to the victims of accident - these fare still worse. Unless they were so good and pure, as to be drawn immediately within the Akasic Samadhi, i.e. to fall into a state of quiet slumber, a sleep full of rosy dreams, during which, they have no recollection of the accident, but move and live among their familiar friends and scenes, until their natural life-term is finished, when they find themselves born in the Deva-Chan - a gloomy fate is theirs. Unhappy shades, if sinful and sensual they wander about - (not shells, for their connection with their two higher principles is not quite broken) - until their death-hour comes. Cut off in the full flush of earthly passions which bind them to familiar scenes, they are enticed by the opportunities which mediums afford, to gratify them vicariously. They are the Pisachas, the Incubi, and Succubi of mediaeval times. The demons of thirst, gluttony, lust and avarice, - elementaries of intensified craft, wickedness and cruelty; provoking their victims to horrid crimes, and revelling in their commission! They not only ruin their victims, but these psychic vampires, borne along by the torrent of their hellish impulses, at last, at the fixed close of their natural period of life - they are carried out of the earth's aura into regions where for ages they endure exquisite suffering and end with entire destruction.

But if the victim of accident or violence, be neither very good, nor very bad - an average person - then this may happen to him. A medium who attracts him, will create for him the most undesirable of things: a new combination of Skandhas and a new and evil Karma. But let me give you a clearer idea of what I mean by Karma in this case.

In connection with this, let me tell you before, that since you seem so interested with the subject, you can do nothing better than to study the two doctrines - of Karma and Nirvana - as profoundly as you can. Unless you are thoroughly well acquainted with the two tenets - the double key to the metaphysics of Abidharma - you will always find yourself at sea in trying to comprehend the rest. We have several sorts of Karma and Nirvana in their various applications - to the Universe, the world, Devas, Buddhas, Bodhisatwas, men and animals - the second including its seven kingdoms. Karma and Nirvana are but two of the seven great MYSTERIES of Buddhist metaphysics; and but four of the seven are known to the best orientalists, and that very imperfectly.

If you ask a learned Buddhist priest what is Karma? - he will tell you that Karma is what a Christian might call Providence (in a certain sense only) and a Mahomedan - Kismet, fate or destiny (again in one sense). That it is that cardinal tenet which teaches that, as soon as any conscious or sentient being, whether man, deva, or animal dies, a new being is produced and he or it reappears in another birth, on the same or another planet, under conditions of his or its own antecedent making. Or, in other words that Karma is the guiding power, and Trishna (in Pali Tanha) the thirst or desire to sentiently live - the proximate force or energy, the resultant of human (or animal) action, which, out of the old Skandhas  produce the new group that form the new being and control the nature of the birth itself. Or to make it still clearer, the new being, is rewarded and punished for the meritorious acts and misdeeds of the old one; Karma representing an Entry Book, in which all the acts of man, good, bad, or indifferent, are carefully recorded to his debit and credit - by himself, so to say, or rather by these very actions of his. There, where Christian poetical fiction created, and sees a "Recording" Guardian Angel, stern and realistic Buddhist logic, perceiving the necessity that every cause should have its effect - shows its real presence. The opponents of Buddhism have laid great stress upon the alleged injustice that the doer should escape and an innocent victim be made to suffer, - since the doer and the sufferer are different beings. The fact is, that while in one sense they may be so considered, yet in another they are identical. The "old being" is the sole parent - father and mother at once - of the "new being." It is the former who is the creator and fashioner, of the latter, in reality; and far more so in plain truth, than any father in flesh. And once that you have well mastered the meaning of Skandhas ¹ you will see what I mean.

1.  I remark that in the second as well as in the first edition of your Occult World the same misprint appears, and that the word Skandha is spelt Shandba - on page 130.  As it now stands I am made to express myself in a very original way for a supposed Adept.

It is the group of Skandhas, that form and constitute the physical and mental individuality we call man (or any being). This group consists (in the exoteric teaching) of five Skandhas, namely: Rupa - the material properties or attributes; Vedana - sensations; Sanna - abstract ideas; Sankhara - tendencies both physical and mental; and Vinnana - mental powers, an amplification of the fourth - meaning the mental, physical and moral predispositions. We add to them two more, the nature and names of which you may learn hereafter. Suffice for the present to let you know that they are connected with, and productive of Sakkayaditthi, the "heresy or delusion of individuality" and of Attavada "the doctrine of Self," both of which (in the case of the fifth principle the soul) lead to the maya of heresy and belief in the efficacy of vain rites and ceremonies; in prayers and intercession.

Now, returning to the question of identity between the old and the new "Ego." I may remind you once more, that even your Science has accepted the old, very old fact distinctly taught by our Lord ¹, viz. - that a man of any given age, while sentiently the same, is yet physically not the same as he was a few years earlier (we say seven years and are prepared to maintain and prove it): buddhistically speaking, his Skandhas have changed. At the same time they are ever and ceaselessly at work in preparing the abstract mould, the "privation" of the future new being. Well then, if it is just that a man of 40 should enjoy or suffer for the actions of the man of 20, so it is equally just that the being of the new birth, who is essentially identical with the previous being - since he is its outcome and creation - should feel the consequences of that begetting Self or personality. Your Western law which punishes the innocent son of a guilty father by depriving him of his parent, rights and property; your civilized Society which brands with infamy the guileless daughter of an immoral, criminal mother; your Christian Church and Scriptures which teach that the "Lord God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation" are not all these far more unjust and cruel than anything done by Karma? Instead of punishing the innocent together with the culprit, the Karma avenges and rewards the former, which neither of your three western potentates above mentioned ever thought of doing. But perhaps, to our physiological remark the objectors may reply that it is only the body that changes, there is only a molecular transformation, which has nothing to do with the mental evolution; and that the Skandhas represent not only a material but also a set of mental and moral qualities. But is there, I ask, either a sensation, an abstract idea, a tendency of mind, or a mental power, that one could call an absolutely non-molecular phenomenon? Can even a sensation or the most abstractive thoughts which is something, come out of nothing, or be nothing?

1.  See the Abhidharma Kosha Vyakhya, the Sutta Pitaka, any Northern Buddhist book, all of which show Gautama Buddha saying that none of these Skandhas is the soul; since the body is constantly changing, and that neither man, animal, or plant is ever the same for two consecutive days or even minutes.  "Mendicants! remember that there is no abiding principle whatever, and that only the learned disciple who acquires wisdom, in saying 'I am' - knows what he is saying."

Now, the causes producing the "new being" and determining the nature of Karma are, as already said - Trishna (or "Tanha") - thirst, desire for sentient existence and Upadana - which is the realization or consummation of Trishna or that desire. And both of these the medium helps to awaken and to develop nec plus ultra in an Elementary, be he a suicide or a victim. ¹  The rule is, that a person who dies a natural death, will remain from "a few hours to several short years," within the earth's attraction, i.e., in the Kama-Loka. But exceptions are, in the case of suicides and those who die a violent death in general. Hence, one of such Egos, for instance, who was destined to live - say 80 or 90 years, but who either killed himself or was killed by some accident, let us suppose at the age of 20 - would have to pass in the Kama Loka not "a few years," but in his case 60 or 70 years, as an Elementary, or rather an "earth-walker"; since he is not, unfortunately for him, even a "shell." Happy, thrice happy, in comparison, are those disembodied entities, who sleep their long slumber and live in dream in the bosom of Space! And woe to those whose Trishna will attract them to mediums, and woe to the latter, who tempt them with such an easy Upadana. For in grasping them, and satisfying their thirst for life, the medium helps to develop in them - is in fact the cause of - a new set of Skandhas, a new body, with far worse tendencies and passions than was the one they lost. All the future of this new body will be determined thus, not only by the Karma of demerit of the previous set or group but also by that of the new set of the future being. Were the mediums and Spiritualists but to know, as I said, that with every new "angel guide" they welcome with rapture, they entice the latter into an Upadana which will be productive of a series of untold evils for the new Ego that will be born under its nefarious shadow, and that with every seance - especially for materialization - they multiply the causes for misery, causes that will make the unfortunate Ego fail in his spiritual birth, or be reborn into a worse existence than ever - they would, perhaps, be less lavishing their hospitality.

1.  Alone the Shells and the Elementals are left unhurt, though the morality of the sensitives can by no means be improved by the intercourse.

And now, you may understand why we oppose so strongly Spiritualism and mediumship. And, you will also see, why, to satisfy Mr. Hume, - at least in one direction, - I got myself into a scrape with the Chohan, and mirabile dictu! - with both the sahibs, "the young men by the name of" - Scott and Banon. To amuse you I will ask H.P.B. to send you with this a page of the "Banon papyrus," an article of his that he winds up with a severe literary thrashing of my humble self. Shadows of the Asuras, in what a passion she flew upon reading this rather disrespectful criticism! I am sorry she does not print it, upon considerations of "family honour" as the "Disinherited" expressed it. As to the Chohan, the matter is more serious; and, he was far from satisfied that I should have allowed Eglinton to believe it was myself. He had permitted this proof of the power in living man to be given to the Spiritualists through a medium of theirs, but had left the programme and its details to ourselves; hence his displeasure at some trifling consequences. I tell you, my dear friend, that I am far less free to do as I like than you are in the matter of the Pioneer. None of us but the highest Chutuktus are their full masters. But I digress.

And now that you have been told much and had explained a good deal, you may as well read this letter to our irrepressible friend - Mrs. Gordon. The reasons given may throw some cold water on her Spiritualistic zeal, though I have my reasons to doubt it. Anyhow it may show her that it is not against true Spiritualism that we set ourselves, but only against indiscriminate mediumship and - physical manifestations, - materializations and trance-possessions especially. Could the Spiritualists be only made to understand the difference between individuality and personality, between individual and personal immortality and some other truths, they would be more easily persuaded that Occultists may be fully convinced of the monad's immortality, and yet deny that of the soul - the vehicle of the personal Ego; that they can firmly believe in, and themselves practice spiritual communications and intercourse with the disembodied Egos of the Rupa-Loka, and yet laugh at the insane idea of "shaking hands" with a "Spirit"!; that finally, that as the matter stands, it is the Occultists and the Theosophists who are true Spiritualists, while the modern sect of that name is composed simply of materialistic phenomenalists.

And once that we are discussing "individuality" and "personality," it is curious that H.P.B. when subjecting poor Mr. Hume's brain to torture with her muddled explanations, never thought - until receiving the explanation from himself, of the difference that exists between individuality and personality - that it was the very same doctrine she had been taught: that of Paccika-Yana, and of Amita-Yana. The two terms as above given by him are the correct and literal translation of the Pali, Sanskrit, and even of the Chino-Tibetan technical names for the many personal entities blended in one Individuality - the long string of lives emanating from the same Immortal MONAD. You will have to remember them: -

(I) The Paccika Yana - (in Sanskrit "Pratyeka") means literally - the "personal vehicle" or personal Ego, a combination of the five lower principles. While -

(2) The Amita-Yana - (in Sanskrit "Amrita") is translated: "The immortal vehicle," or the Individuality, the Spiritual Soul, or the Immortal monad - a combination of the fifth, sixth and seventh. ¹ 

^{1.  To avoid fresh surprise and confusion at the news of the fifth keeping company with the sixth and seventh, please turn to page 3, et sec. p. 103. - ED.}

It appears to me that one of our great difficulties in trying to understand the progress of affairs turns on our ignorance so far of the divisions of the seven principles. Each has in turn its seven elements we are told: can we be told something more concerning the seven-fold constitution of the fourth and fifth principles especially. It is evidently in the divisibility of these that the secret of the future and of many psychic phenomena here during life, resides.

Quite right. But I must be permitted to doubt whether with the desired explanations the difficulty will be removed, and you will become able to penetrate "the secret of psychic phenomena." You, my good friend, whom I had once or twice the pleasure of hearing playing on your piano in the quiet intervals between dress-coating and a beef-and-claret dinner - tell me, could you favour me as readily, as with one of your easy waltzes - with one of Beethoven's Grand Sonatas? Pray, pray have patience! Yet, I would not refuse you by any means. You will find the fourth and the fifth principles, divided into roots and Branches on a fly-sheet herein enclosed, if I find time. ¹ And now, how long do you propose to abstain from interrogation marks?

1.  I did not find time.  Will send it a day or two later.

K. H.

P.S. - I hope I have now removed all cause for reproaches - my delay in answering your queries notwithstanding, - and that my character is re-established. Yourself and Mr. Hume have received now more information about the A.E. Philosophy than was ever given out to non-initiates within my knowledge. Your sagacity, my kind friend, will have suggested long ago, that it is not so much because of your combined personal virtues - though Mr. Hume I must confess, has run up a large claim since his conversion - or my personal preferences for either of you, as for other and very apparent reasons. Of all our semi-chelas you two are the most likely to utilise for the general good the facts given you. You must regard them received in trust for the benefit of the whole Society; to be turned over, and employed and re-employed in many ways and in all ways that are good. If you (Mr. Sinnett) would give pleasure to your trans-Himalayan friend, do not suffer any month to pass without writing a Fragment, long or short for the magazine, and then, issuing it as a pamphlet - since you so call it. You may sign them as "A Lay-Chela of K.H.," or in any way you choose. I dare not ask the same favour of Mr. Hume, who has already done more than his share in another direction.

I will not answer your query about your Pioneer connection just now: something may be said on both sides. But at least take no rash decision. We are at the end of the cycle, and you are connected with the T.S.

Under favour of my Karma - I mean to answer to-morrow Mr. Hume's long and kind personal letter. The abundance of MSS. from me of late shows that I have found a little leisure, their blotched, patchy and mended appearance also proves that my leisure has come by snatches, with constant interruptions, and that my writing has been done in odd places here and there, with such materials as I could pick up. But for the RULE that forbids our using one minim of power until every ordinary means has been tried and failed, I might, of course, have given you a lovely "precipitation" as regards chirography and composition. I console myself for the miserable appearance of my letters with the thought that perhaps, you may not value them the less, for these marks of my personal subjection to the way-side annoyances which you English so ingeniously reduce to a minimum with your appliances of sorts. As your lady once kindly remarked, they take away most effectually the flavour of miracle, and make us as human beings, more thinkable entities, - a wise reflection for which I thank her.

H.P.B. is in despair: the Chohan refused permission to M. to let her come this year further than the Black Rock, and M. very coolly made her unpack her trunks. Try to console her, if you can. Besides, she is really wanted more at Bombay than Penlor. Olcott is on his way to Lanka and Damodar packed up to Poona for a month, his foolish austerities and hard work having broken down his physical constitution. I will have to look after him, and perhaps, to take him away, if it comes to the worst.

Just now I am able to give you a bit of information, which bears upon the so often discussed question of our allowing phenomena. The Egyptian operations of your blessed countrymen involve such local consequences to the body of Occultists still remaining there and to what they are guarding, that two of our adepts are already there, having joined some Druze brethren and three more on their way. I was offered the agreeable privilege of becoming an eye-witness to the human butchery, but - declined with thanks. For such great emergency is our Force stored up, and hence - we dare not waste it on fashionable tamasha.

In about a week - new religious ceremonies, new glittering bubbles to amuse the babes with, and once more I will be busy night and day, morning, noon, and evening. At times I feel a passing regret that the Chohans should not evolute the happy idea of allowing us also a "sumptuary allowance" in the shape of a little spare time. Oh, for the final Rest! for that Nirvana where - "to be one with Life, yet - to live not." Alas, alas! having personally realized that: -

". . . the Soul of Things is sweet,

The Heart of Being is celestial Rest,"

one does long for - eternal REST!

Yours,

K. H.

 

* * * * * * *

STRAWS IN THE WIND ?

Astonishing new formation blows away sceptics and 'believers' alike.

"Quite the most impressive formation for many years has appeared at Milk Hill, Wiltshire [UK], recalling a classic theme in a new and stunning way. Everyone staggers, boundaries crumble, belief envelopes tear.

On August 13th, a new crop design was discovered which has shaken many people to the core. Using a fractal style first pioneered at Stonehenge and then Windmill Hill in 1996, this six-armed spiral design is one of the largest and most elaborate glyphs ever to have appeared.

There are around 400 circles making up the design, covering a huge area ranging from 800' to 1500' depending on which report you read (exact measurements still awaited). Basically, it's very, very big and aeroplanes and helicopters had to fly higher than usual for aerial photographers to take it all in. On the ground, its configuration is almost impossible to discern and appears simply as a maze of many-sized circles connected to each other with just a thin standing curtain of stems between, but from the air its true beauty and mind-blowing accuracy is revealed.

After a summer where some have felt the patterns rather subdued and the croppie world to be full of confusion and deliberately spread hoax paranoia, this appears to be a last-minute gift which will test even the most devout sceptic and perhaps pull back from the brink waverers who may have fallen victim to recent debunking propaganda and had brows furrowed by all sorts of man-made experiment-movie-demonstration efforts. It's interesting how it almost knowingly picks up on visual themes still very popular with circle enthusiasts and which remain unclaimed by the Johnny Stomper-Rollers of the world to this day.

Even crop-cruncher John Lundberg, in the latest general e-mail from the 'Circlemakers' web site, is highly impressed, stating: "If this formation was man-made, allowing for time to get into and out of the field under cover of darkness the construction time left should be around four hours. Given that there are over 400 circles, some of which span approx 70ft in diameter, that would mean that one of those circles would need to be created every 30 seconds and that's not even allowing any time for the surveying, purely flattening, this formation pushes the envelope and that's a MASSIVE understatement... my brain hurts!"

So far the best that has been offered from more vociferous debunk-camps has been that there have been "rumours" about the new formation, which is as good as saying that they haven't got a bloody clue what made it either, though doubtless some nonsense will be cranked up as soon as they can think of something to make themselves feel better.

The fractal design lies at the top of Milk Hill, on the downs themselves, rather than below, so there's no place where it can really be appreciated from at a distance. One to fly or be hypnotised in by walking around it instead.

It's hard to imagine something more impressive arriving before the season's over, but there's still a couple of weeks left before harvest...

ANDY THOMAS"

"SwirledNews", 17/8/01 (http://www.swirlednews.com)

 

We are cooking our own planet, driving thousands of species to extinction and filling our skies and rivers with poison. Right? Not according to Bjorn Lomborg.

Extracts from a series published in The Guardian newspaper during August 2001:

"We are not running out of energy or natural resources. There is ever more food, and fewer people are starving. In 1900, we lived for an average of 30 years; today we live for 67. According to the UN, we have reduced poverty more in the last 50 years than we did in the preceding 500, and it has been reduced in practically every country."

" . . . according to the UN, agricultural production in the developing world has increased by 52% per person. The daily food intake in developing countries has increased from 1,932 calories in 1961 - barely enough for survival - to 2,650 calories in 1998, and is expected to rise to 3,020 by 2030. Likewise, the proportion of people going hungry in these countries has dropped from 45% in 1949 to 18% today, and is expected to fall even further, to 12% in 2010 and 6% in 2030. Food, in other words, is becoming not scarcer but ever more abundant. This is reflected in its price. Since 1800, food prices have decreased by more than 90%, and in 2000, according to the World Bank, prices were lower than ever before."

"Knowing the real state of the world is important because fear of largely imaginary environmental problems can divert political energy from dealing with real ones."

" . . . despite increasing traffic, particulate emissions in the UK are expected to decrease over the next 10 years by 30%. Smoke and particles are probably by far the most dangerous pollutant, and London's air has not been so free of them since the middle ages."

"Today, oil is the most important and most valuable commodity of international trade, and its value to our civilisation is underlined by the recurrent worry that we are running out of it. In 1914, the US Bureau of Mines estimated that supplies would last only 10 more years. In 1939, the US department of the interior predicted that oil would last only 13 more years. In 1951, it made the same projection: oil had only 13 more years. As Professor Frank Notestein of Princeton said in his later years: "We've been running out of oil ever since I was a boy."

"Since 1973, the average US car has improved its mpg by 60%. Home heating in Europe and the US has improved by 24-43%. Many appliances have become much more efficient - dishwashers and washing machines have cut energy use by about 50%."

"Since 1880, the UK has almost tripled its production per energy use; worldwide, the amount of wealth produced per energy unit doubled between 1971 and 1992."

" . . . today, a car contains only half as much metal as a car produced in 1970. Super-thin optical fibres carry the same number of telephone calls as 625 copper wires did 20 years ago. Newspapers are printed on ever-thinner paper, because paper production has been improved. Bridges contain less steel, because steel has become stronger and because we can calculate specifications more accurately. Moreover, information technology has changed our consumption - we buy fewer things and more bits. Programs worth several hundred dollars will fit on a CD-rom made from two cents' worth of plastic."

"The Skeptical Environmentalist" by Bjorn Lomborg (Cambridge University Press).

 

Monkey attends lecture, flips through Ramayana

A monkey who attended an Economics lecture and flipped through the Ramayana has become the hot topic of discussion in Bhubaneswar.

Lecturers and students of Madanpur Mahabir College firmly believe that the monkey is an incarnate of Lord Hanuman.

Classes were going on as usual in the college when the four-feet tall monkey made an entry around 12 o' clock. Students say he went straight into the class where economics was being taught, occupied a vacant bench and listened to the lecture, seemingly with all attention.

When the class was over, he followed the lecturer to the staff common room and entered the library adjacent to it.

There he went to an almirah and looked at the epic Ramayana. When a lecturer handed over the book to him, he flipped through it for a while.

He then went before a statue of Lord Hanuman in the college premises. He sat there for a few minutes and quietly walked away, as stunned lecturers and students followed him up to the college gate.

"It was astounding. He was so calm and dignified. He did not grimace or harm anyone and the way he located the Ramayana it became almost certain that it was Hanuman himself or one of his devotees," says a lecturer.

Siffy News, 11 August 2001

* * * * * * *

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE

To subscribe/unsubscribe to the distribution list, please email mailto:(TheosEnq@plaything.co.uk with the words SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject line.

Details of subscriber's electronic mail address will be used solely for purposes of maintaining the distribution list.

Copies of Theosophical Enquirer may be distributed freely providing the content of each Issue remains unaltered.

Thank you.