Theos-Talk Archives (January 2000 Message tt00073)

Jan 30, 2000

	Re:  THE PATH


"Enter the Path!  There is no grief like Hate!
	No pains like passion, no deceit like sense!
Enter the path!  far hath he gone whose foot
	Treads down one fond offence.

Enter the Path!  There spring the healing streams
	Quenching all thirst!  there bloom th' immortal flowers
Carpeting all the way with joy!  there throng
	Swiftest and sweetest hours!

More is the treasure of the Law than gems;
	Sweeter than comb its sweetness;  its delights
Delightful past compare.  Thereby to live
	Hear the Five Rules aright:--

Kill not--for Pity's sake--and lest ye slay
	The meanest thing upon its upward way.

Give freely and receive, but take from none
	By greed, or force, or fraud, what is his own.

Bear not false witness, slander not, nor lie;
	Truth is the speech of inward purity.

Shun drugs and drink which work the wit abuse;
	Clear minds, clean bodies, need no Soma juice.

Touch not thy neighbor's wife, neither commit
	Sins of the flesh unlawful and unfit.

		Discourse of the Buddha  Book Eighth (pp. 153-4)
		THE LIGHT OF ASIA -- Sir Edwin Arnold


Over 2,500 years ago the great Buddha echoed again the teachings
of the perennial philosophy.

He spoke of a common Source, a common development and a common
past for all beings, saying:



"Om, Amitaya!  measure not with words
	Th' immeasurable;  nor sink the string of thought
Into the Fathomless.  Who asks doth err,
	Who answers errs.  Say nought!

The Books teach Darkness was at first of all,
	And Brahm, sole meditating in that Night;
Look not for Brahm and the Beginning there!
	Nor him, nor any light

Shall gazer see with mortal eyes,
	Or any searcher know by mortal mind;
Veil after veil will lift--but there must be
	Veil upon veil behind.

Stars sweep and question not. This is enough
	That life an death and joy and woe abide;
And cause and sequence, and the course of time,
	And being's ceaseless tide,

Which ever changing, runs like a river
	By ripples following ripples, fast or slow--
The same yet not the same--from far-off fountain
	to where waters flow into the seas....
					[ Idem. ]


I this way Gautama Buddha introduced the doctrine of Karma -- the
Law universal and immutable.  He therefore added :


Pray not !  the Darkness will not brighten !  Ask
	Nought from the Silence, for it cannot speak !
Vex not your mournful minds with pious pains ! ...

Within yourselves deliverance must be sought;
	Each man his prison makes. ...."
Each hath such lordship as the loftiest ones;...
	Act maketh joy and woe.

What hath been bringeth what shall be, and is,
	Worse--better--last for first and first for last;
The Angels in the Heavens of gladness reap
	Fruits of a holy past;...

Nothing endures;  fair virtues waste with time,
	Foul sins grow purged thereby....

Who toiled a slave may come anew a Prince
	For gentle worthiness and merit won;
Who ruled a King may wander earth in rags
	For things done and undone....
The end of many myriad lives is this;
	The end of myriads -- that.

Only while turns this wheel invisible,
	No pause, no peace, no staying-place can be;
Who mounts may fall, who falls will mount;  the spokes
	Go round unceasingly.

If ye lay bound upon the wheel of change,
	And no way were of breaking from the chain,
The Heart of boundless Being is a curse,
	The Soul of things fell Pain.

Ye are not bound !  the soul of Things is sweet,
	The heart of Being is celestial rest;
Stronger than woe is will;  that which was Good
	Doth pass to Better--Best. ...

Ho !  Ye who suffer !  know
	Ye suffer from yourselves. None else compels,
None other holds you that ye live and die,
	And whirl upon the Wheel, and hug and kiss
Its spokes of agony,

Its tire of tears, its nave of nothingness.
	Behold, I show you Truth !  Lower than hell,
Higher than Heaven, outside the utmost stars,
	Farther than Brahm doth dwell,

Before beginning and without an end,
	As space eternal and as surety sure,
Is fixed a Power divine which moves to good,
	Only its laws endure.
				[ Idem. ]

This is the doctrine of Karma.  It deals with the cause of the
Universe, of our world and of ourselves.

In these few verses one finds epitomized the whole of
Theosophical doctrine.


5,000 years ago Krishna, the Divine Avatar, said:

"Whosoever shall mediate upon the All-Wise which is without
beginning, the supreme Ruler, the smallest of the small, the
Supporter of all, whose form is incomprehensible, bright as the
sun beyond the darkness; with mind undeviating, united to
devotion...attains to that Supreme Spirit."		BHAGAVAD GITA, Ch.
8,  p. 59

One might ask how can anyone achieve an understanding of such
advice ?

Krishna answers:

"The man who hath spiritual knowledge and discernment, who
standeth upon the pinnacle [of Wisdom], and who hath subdued the
senses, to whom gold and stone are the same, is said to be
devoted.  And he is esteemed among all, who whether amongst his
friends and companions, in the midst of enemies or those who
stand aloof or remain neutral, with those who love and those who
hate, and in the company of sinners or the righteous, is of equal
mind."  [B. GITA   Ch 6, p. 45]


These evidences of ancient psychological and inspiring wisdom are
offered in the hope they will evoke questions and discussion.

Best wishes,

Dallas

dalval@nwc.net


-- THEOSOPHY WORLD -- Theosophical Talk -- theos-talk@theosophy.com

Letters to the Editor, and discussion of theosophical ideas and
teachings. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message consisting of
"subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to theos-talk-request@theosophy.com.