Theos-Talk Archives (February 2002 Message tt00818)

Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Re: SUN

Dear Friends:

Some questions concerning the nature of the CENTRAL SUN have
arisen. Theosophy states that our Sun is a focus for certain
life sustaining energies, and not a globe of fiery or exploding
atomic forces -- such as one might find in an "atomic bomb."

Let me offer some references: In The SECRET DOCTRINE one might
look at I 240-1 and II 272...

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Mr. Judge wrote some interesting articles a portion of which we
reproduce below:

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In the Upanishads we read the invocation: "Reveal, O Pushan, that
face of the True Sun which is now hidden by a golden lid."
Gayatri verse recited at sun-rise.]

This has reference to the belief of all genuine occultists, from
the earliest times to the present day, that there is a "true
sun," and that the sun we see is a secondary one; or, to put it
in plainer language, that there is an influence or power in the
sun which may be used, if obtained by the mystic, for beneficent
purposes, and which, if not guarded, hidden or obscured by a
cover, would work destruction to those who might succeed in
drawing it out.

This was well known in ancient Chaldea, and also to the old
Chinese astronomers: The latter had certain instruments which
they used for the purpose of concentrating particular rays of
sunlight as yet unknown to modern science and now forgotten by
the flowery land philosophers. So much for that sun we see, whose
probable death is calculated by some aspiring scientists who deal
in absurdities.

But there is the true centre of which the sun in heaven is a
symbol and partial reflection. This centre let us place for the
time with the Dhyan Chohans or planetary spirits. It is all
knowing, and so intensely powerful that, were a struggling
disciple to be suddenly introduced to its presence unprepared, he
would be consumed, both body and soul.

And this is the goal we are all striving after, and many of us
asking to see even at the opening of the race. But for our
protection a cover, or umbrella, has been placed beneath IT. The
ribs are the Rishees, or Adepts, or Mahatmas; the Elder Brothers
of the race. The handle is in every man's hand. And although each
man is, or is to be, connected with some particular one of those
Adepts, he can also receive the influence from the true centre
coming down through the handle.

The light, life, knowledge, and power falling upon this cover
permeate in innumerable streams the whole mass of men beneath,
whether they be students or not. As the disciple strives upward,
he begins to separate himself from the great mass of human
beings, and becomes in a more or less definite manner connected
with the ribs. Just as the streams of water flow down from the
points of the ribs of our umbrellas, so the spiritual influences
pour out from the adepts who form the frame of the protecting
cover, without which poor humanity would be destroyed by the
blaze from the spiritual world. -- William Brehon, PATH,
February, 1890 [ W Q J Articles II 121 ]

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Considering how little is known of the sun of this system, it is
not to be wondered at that still more is this the case respecting
the true sun.

Science laughs, of course, at the mystic's "true sun," for it
sees none other than the one shining in the heavens. This at
least they pretend to know, for it rises and sets each day and
can be to some extent observed during eclipses or when spots
appear on it, and with their usual audacity the 19th century
astronomers learnedly declare all that they do not know about the
mighty orb, relegating the ancient ideas on the subject to the
limbo of superstitious nonsense.

It is not to the modern schools that I would go for information
on this subject, because in my opinion, however presumptuous it
may seem, they really know but little about either Moon or Sun.

A dispute is still going on as to whether the sun throws out
heat.

(1) On one hand it is asserted that he does; on the other, that
the heat is produced by the combination of the forces from the
sun with the elements on and around this earth. The latter would
seem to the mystic to be true. Another difference of opinion
exists among modern astronomers as to the distance of the sun
from us, leaving the poor mystic to figure it out as he may. Even
on the subject of spots on our great luminary, everything
nowadays is mere conjecture. It is accepted hypothetically - and
no more - that there may be a connection between those spots and
electrical disturbances here.

(2) Some years ago Nasmyth discovered objects (or changes) on
the photosphere consisting of what he called "willow leaves,"
1000 miles long and 300 miles broad, that constantly moved and
appeared to be in shoals. But what are these? No one knows.
Science can do no more about informing us than any keen sighted
ordinary mortal using a fine telescope. And as to whether these
"willow leaves" have any connection with the spots or themselves
have relation to earthly disturbances, there is equal silence.

To sum it up, then, our scientific men know but little about the
visible sun. A few things they must some day find out, such as
other effects from sun spots than mere electrical disturbances;
the real meaning of sun spots; the meaning of the peculiar color
of the sun sometimes observed - such as that a few years ago
attributed to "cosmic dust," for the want of a better explanation
to veil ignorance; and a few other matters of interest.

But we say that this sun they have been examining is not the real
one, nor any sun at all, but is only an appearance, a mere
reflection to us of part of the true sun. And, indeed, we have
some support even from modern astronomers, for they have begun to
admit that our entire solar system is in motion around some far
off undetermined centre which is so powerful that it attracts our
solar orb and thus draws his entire system with him. But they
know not if this unknown centre be a sun. They conjecture that it
is, but will only assert that it is a centre of attraction for
us. Now it may be simply a larger body, or a stronger centre of
energy, than the sun, and in turn quite possibly it may be itself
revolving about a still more distant and more powerful centre.

In this matter the modern telescope and power of calculation are
quickly baffled, because they very soon arrive at a limit in the
starry field where, all being apparently stationary because of
immense distances, there are no means of arriving at a
conclusion. All these distant orbs may be in motion, and
therefore it cannot be said where the true centre is.

Your astronomer will admit that even the constellations in the
Zodiac, immovable during ages past, may in truth be moving, but
at such enormous and awful distances that for us they appear not
to move.

My object, however, is to draw your attention to the doctrine
that there is a true sun of which the visible one is a
reflection, and that in this true one there is spiritual energy
and help, just as our own beloved luminary contains the spring of
our physical life and motion. It is useless now to speculate on
which of the many stars in the heavens may be he real sun, for I
opine it is none of them, since, as I said before, a physical
centre of attraction for this system may only be a grade higher
than ours, and the servant of a centre still farther removed.

We must work in our several degrees, and it is not in our power
to overleap one step in the chain that leads to the highest. Our
own sun is, then, for us the symbol of the true one he reflects,
and by meditating on "the most excellent light of the true sun"
we can gain help in our struggle to assist humanity.

Our physical sun is for physics, not metaphysics, while that true
one shines down within us. The orb of day guards and sustains the
animal economy; the true sun shines into us through its medium
within our nature. We should then direct our thought to that true
sun and prepare the ground within for its influence, just as we
do the ground without for the vivifying rays of the King of Day.

-- MARTTANDA Path, February, 1890

(1) Among great scientists such as Newton, Secchi, Pouillet,
Spaeren, Rosetti, and others, there is a difference as to
estimated heat of the sun shown by their figures, for Pouillet
says 1,461° and Waterston 9,000,000° or a variation of 8,998,600
& #176!

(2) See Source of Heat in the Sun, R. Hunt, F.R.S. Pop. Sc. Rev.
Vol. IV, p. 148.


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3

In regard to the sun-rise hymn from the Vedas and Upanishads Mr.
Judge wrote the following comments:

Unveil, O Thou who givest sustenance to the Universe, from whom
all proceed, to whom all must return, that face of the True Sun
now hidden by a vase of golden light, that we may see the truth
and do our whole duty on our journey to thy sacred seat.
- The Gayatri

I have adopted a translation as above, which is excellent in its
giving of the meaning of this verse. What is the Gayatri? It is
the sacred verse of the Hindus and begins with Om, their sacred
word and letter. Its first words are: Om, Bhur, Bhuvah!

The first word contains in it a declaration of the three periods
of a Manvantara and the three powers of that great Being who
alone Is. Of a manvantara it is the beginning, the middle, and
the end, and the three powers are Creation (or manifesting),
Preservation (or carrying on), and Destruction. The three first
words, Om, bhur, bhurvah, draw attention to and designate the
three worlds. The whole verse is an aspiration in the highest
sense. Every Brahman at his initiation is further instructed in
this verse, but from giving that I am necessarily excused, as I
cannot give it in a way in which I have not received it.

Unveil is the cry of the man who is determined to know the truth
and who perceives that something hides it from him. It is hidden
by his own Karmic effects, which have put him now where the brain
and the desires are too strong for the higher self to pierce
through so long as he remains careless and ignorant. The cry is
not made to some man-made god with parts, passions, and
attributes, but to the Self above who seeth in secret and
bringeth out to light. It is directed to that on which the
Universe is built and standeth, - no other than the Self which is
in every man and which sitteth like a bird in a tree watching
while another eats the fruit.

>From this the whole Universe proceeds out into manifestation. The
ancients held that all things whatsoever existed in fact solely
in the idea, and therefore the practitioner of Yoga was taught -
and soon discovered - that sun, moon, and stars were in himself,
and until he learned this he could not proceed. This doctrine is
very old, but today is adopted by many modern reasoners. For they
perceive on reflection that no object enters the eye, and that
whether we perceive through sight or feeling or any other sense
whatever all objects are existing solely in idea. Of old this was
demonstrated in two ways.

First, by showing the disciple the actual interpenetration of one
world by another. As that while we live here among those things
called objective by us, other beings were likewise living in and
among us and our objects and therein actually carrying on their
avocations, perceiving the objects on their plane as objective,
and wholly untouched by and insensible to us and the objects we
think so material. This is no less true today than it was then.
And if it were not true, modern hypnotism, clairvoyance, or
clairaudience would be impossible.

This was shown by a second method precisely similar to mesmeric
and hypnotic experiments, only that to these was added the power
to make the subject step aside from himself and with a dual
consciousness note his own condition. For if a barrier of wood
were erected in the sight of the subject which he clearly
perceived and knew was wood, impervious to sight and an obstacle
to movement, yet when hypnotised he saw it not, yet could
perceive all objects behind it which were hidden in his normal
state, and when he pressed against it thinking it to be empty air
and feeling naught but force, he could not pass but wondered why
the empty air restrained his body. This is modern and ancient.
Clearly it demonstrates the illusionary nature of objectivity.
The objectivity is only real relatively, for the mind sees no
objects whatever but only their idea, and at present is
conditioned through its own evolution until it shall have
developed other powers and qualities.

The request made in the verse to unveil the face of the True Sun
is that the Higher Self may shine down into us and do its work of
illumination. This also spreads forth a natural fact unknown to
moderns, which is that the sun we see is not the true sun, and
signifies too that the light of intellect is not the true sun of
our moral being.

Our forefathers in the dim past knew how to draw forth through
the visible Sun the forces from the True one. We have temporarily
forgotten this because our evolution and descent into the hell of
matter, in order to save the whole, have interposed a screen.
They say in Christian lands that Jesus went into hell for three
days. This is correct, but not peculiar to Jesus. Humanity is
doing this for three days, which is merely the mystical way of
saying that we must descend into matter for three periods so
immense in time that the logarithm of one day is given to each
period. Logarithms were not first known to Napier, but were
taught in the pure form of the mysteries, because alone by their
use could certain vast calculations be made.

Which is now hidden by a vase of Golden Light. That is, the light
of the True Sun - the Higher Self - is hidden by the blood
contained in the vase of the mortal body. The blood has two
aspects - not here detailed - in one of which it is a helper to
perception, in the other a hindrance. But it signifies here the
passions and desires, Kama, the personal self, the thirst for
life. It is this that veils from us the true light. So long as
desire and the personality remain strong, just so long will the
light be blurred, so long will we mistake words for knowledge and
knowledge for the thing we wish to know and to realize.

The object of this prayer is that we may carry out our whole
duty, after becoming acquainted with the truth, while we are on
our journey to thy Sacred Seat. This is our pilgrimage, not of
one, not selfishly, not alone, but the whole of humanity. For the
sacred seat is not the Brahmanical heaven of Indra, nor the
Christian selfish heaven acquired without merit while the
meritorious suffer the pains of hell. It is that place where all
meet, where alone all are one. It is when and where the three
great sounds of the first word of the prayer merge into one
soundless sound. This is the only proper prayer, the sole saving
aspiration.

AN OBSCURE BRAHMAN
Path, January, 1893
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I found this commentary following what was said about the SUN
suggestive.
Best wishes,

Dallas