Theos-Talk Archives (January 2003 Message tt00530)

4

January 2003

Dear Friends:

As the subject of Occultism and Esotericism has been reanimated and as
there seems to be some confusion over them perhaps some of these brief
notes will be of help.

Best wishes,

Dallas

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4 CONVERSATIONS ON OCCULTISM

ELEMENTALS - KARMA


Student. - Permit me to ask you again, Are elementals beings?

Sage. - It is not easy to convey to you an idea of the constitution of
elementals; strictly speaking, they are not, because the word
elementals has been used in reference to a class of them that have no
being such as mortals have. It would be better to adopt the terms used
in Indian books, such as Gandharvas, Bhuts, Pisachas, Devas, and so
on. Many things well known about them cannot be put into ordinary
language.


Student. - Do you refer to their being able to act in the fourth
dimension of space?

Sage. - Yes, in a measure. Take the tying in an endless cord of many
knots - a thing often done at spiritist séances. That is possible to
him who knows more dimensions of space than three. No
three-dimensional being can do this; and as you understand "matter,"
it is impossible for you to conceive how such a knot can be tied or
how a solid ring can be passed through the matter of another solid
one. These things can be done by elementals.


Student. - Are they not all of one class?

Sage. - No. There are different classes for each plane, and division
of plane, of nature. Many can never be recognized by men. And those
pertaining to one plane do not act in another. You must remember, too,
that these "planes" of which we are speaking interpenetrate each
other.


Student. - Am I to understand that a clairvoyant or clairaudient has
to do with or is affected by a certain special class or classes of
elementals?

Sage. - Yes. A clairvoyant can only see the sights properly belonging
to the planes his development reaches to or has opened. And the
elementals in those planes show to the clairvoyant only such pictures
as belong to their plane. Other parts of the idea or thing pictured
may be retained in planes not yet open to the seer. For this reason
few clairvoyants know the whole truth.


Student. - Is there not some connection between the Karma of man and
elementals?

Sage. - A very important one. The elemental world has become a strong
factor in the Karma of the human race. Being unconscious, automatic,
and photographic, it assumes the complexion of the human family
itself. In the earlier ages, when we may postulate that man had not
yet begun to make bad Karma, the elemental world was more friendly to
man because it had not received unfriendly impressions. But so soon as
man began to become ignorant, unfriendly to himself and the rest of
creation, the elemental world began to take on exactly the same
complexion and return to humanity the exact pay, so to speak, due for
the actions of humanity. Or, like a donkey, which, when he is pushed
against, will push against you. Or, as a human being, when anger or
insult is offered, feels inclined to return the same. So the elemental
world, being unconscious force, returns or reacts upon humanity
exactly as humanity acted towards it, whether the actions of men were
done with the knowledge of these laws or not. So in these times it has
come to be that the elemental world has the complexion and action
which is the exact result of all the actions and thoughts and desires
of men from the earliest times. And, being unconscious and only acting
according to the natural laws of its being, the elemental world is a
powerful factor in the workings of Karma. And so long as mankind does
not cultivate brotherly feeling and charity towards the whole of
creation, just so long will the elementals be without the impulse to
act for our benefit. But so soon and wherever man or men begin to
cultivate brotherly feeling and love for the whole of creation, there
and then the elementals begin to take on the new condition.


Student. - How then about the doing of phenomena by adepts?

Sage. - The production of phenomena is not possible without either the
aid or disturbance of elementals. Each phenomenon entails the
expenditure of great force, and also brings on a correspondingly great
disturbance in the elemental world, which disturbance is beyond the
limit natural to ordinary human life. It then follows that, as soon as
the phenomenon is completed, the disturbance occasioned begins to be
compensated for. The elementals are in greatly excited motion, and
precipitate themselves in various directions. They are not able to
affect those who are protected. But they are able, or rather it is
possible for them, to enter into the sphere of unprotected persons,
and especially those persons who are engaged in the study of
occultism. And then they become agents in concentrating the karma of
those persons, producing troubles and disasters often, or other
difficulties which otherwise might have been so spread over a period
of time as to be not counted more than the ordinary vicissitudes of
life. This will go to explain the meaning of the statement that an
Adept will not do a phenomenon unless he sees the desire in the mind
of another lower or higher Adept or student; for then there is a
sympathetic relation established, and also a tacit acceptance of the
consequences which may ensue. It will also help to understand the
peculiar reluctance often of some persons, who can perform phenomena,
to produce them in cases where we may think their production would be
beneficial; and also why they are never done in order to compass
worldly ends, as is natural for worldly people to suppose might be
done, - such as procuring money, transferring objects, influencing
minds, and so on.


Student. - Accept my thanks for you instruction.

Sage. - May you reach the terrace of enlightenment!

PATH, June, 1888 (W Q Judge)

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6	MANTRAMS

January 2003

Dear Friends:

As the subject of Occultism and Esotericism has been reanimated, and
as there seems to be some confusion over them perhaps some of these
brief notes will be of help.

Best wishes,

Dallas

-----------------------


6	CONVERSATIONS ON OCCULTISM

MANTRAMS


Student. - You spoke of mantrams by which we could control elementals
on guard over hidden treasure. What is a mantram?

Sage. - A mantram is a collection of words which, when sounded in
speech, induce certain vibrations not only in the air, but also in the
finer ether, thereby producing certain effects.


Student. - Are the words taken at haphazard?

Sage. - Only by those who, knowing nothing of mantrams, yet use them.


Student. - May they, then, be used according to rule and also
irregularly? Can it be possible that people who know absolutely
nothing of their existence or field of operations should at the same
time make use of them? Or is it something like digestion, of which so
many people know nothing whatever, while they in fact are dependent
upon its proper use for their existence? I crave your indulgence
because I know nothing of the subject.

Sage. - The "common people" in almost every country make use of them
continually, but even in that case the principle at the bottom is the
same as in the other. In a new country where folk-lore has not yet had
time to spring up, the people do not have as many as in such a land as
India or in long settled parts of Europe. The aborigines, however, in
any country will be possessed of them.


Student. - You do not now infer that they are used by Europeans for
the controlling of elementals.

Sage. - No. I refer to their effect in ordinary intercourse between
human beings. And yet there are many men in Europe, as well as in
Asia, who can thus control animals, but those are nearly always
special cases. There are men in Germany, Austria, Italy, and Ireland
who can bring about extraordinary effects on horses, cattle, and the
like, by peculiar sounds uttered in a certain way. In those instances
the sound used is a mantram of only one member, and will act only on
the particular animal that the user knows it can rule.


Student. - Do these men know the rules governing the matter? Are they
able to convey it to another?

Sage. - Generally not. It is a gift self-found or inherited, and they
only know that it can be done by them, just as a mesmerizer knows he
can do a certain thing with a wave of his hand, but is totally
ignorant of the principle. They are as ignorant of the base of this
strange effect as your modern physiologists are of the function and
cause of such a common thing as yawning.


Student. - Under what head should we put this unconscious exercise of
power?

Sage. - Under the head of natural magic, that materialistic science
can never crush out. It is a touch with nature and her laws always
preserved by the masses, who, while they form the majority of the
population, are yet ignored by the "cultured classes." And so it will
be discovered by you that it is not in London or Paris or New York
drawing-rooms that you will find mantrams, whether regular or
irregular, used by the people. "Society," too cultured to be natural,
has adopted methods of speech intended to conceal and to deceive, so
that natural mantrams can not be studied within its borders.

Single, natural mantrams are such words as "wife." When it is spoken
it brings up in the mind all that is implied by the word. And if in
another language, the word would be that corresponding to the same
basic idea. And so with expressions of greater length, such as many
slang sentences; thus, "I want to see the color of his money." There
are also sentences applicable to certain individuals, the use of which
involves a knowledge of the character of those to whom we speak.

When these are used, a peculiar and lasting vibration is set up in the
mind of the person affected, leading to a realization in action of the
idea involved, or to a total change of life due to the appositeness of
the subjects brought up and to the peculiar mental antithesis induced
in the hearer. As soon as the effect begins to appear the mantram may
be forgotten, since the law of habit then has sway in the brain.

Again, bodies of men are acted on by expressions having the mantramic
quality; this is observed in great social or other disturbances. The
reason is the same as before. A dominant idea is aroused that touches
upon a want of the people or on an abuse which oppresses them, and the
change and interchange in their brains between the idea and the form
of words go on until the result is accomplished. To the occultist of
powerful sight this is seen to be a "ringing" of the words coupled
with the whole chain of feelings, interests, aspirations, and so
forth, that grows faster and deeper as the time for the relief or
change draws near. And the greater number of persons affected by the
idea involved, the larger, deeper, and wider the result. A mild
illustration may be found in Lord Beaconsfield of England. He knew
about mantrams, and continually invented phrases of that quality.
"Peace with honor" was one; "a scientific frontier" was another; and
his last, intended to have a wider reach, but which death prevented
his supplementing, was "Empress of India." King Henry of England also
tried it without himself knowing why, when he added to his titles,
"Defender of the Faith." With these hints numerous illustrations will
occur to you.


Student. - These mantrams have only to do with human beings as between
each other. They do not affect elementals, as I judge from what you
say. And they are not dependent upon the sound so much as upon words
bringing up ideas. Am I right in this; and is it the case that there
is a field in which certain vocalizations produce effects in the Akasa
by means of which men, animals, and elementals alike can be
influenced, without regard to their knowledge of any known language?

Sage. - You are right. We have only spoken of natural,
unconsciously-used mantrams. The scientific mantrams belong to the
class you last referred to. It is to be doubted whether they can be
found in modern Western languages - especially among English speaking
people who are continually changing and adding to their spoken words
to such an extent that the English of today could hardly be understood
by Chaucer's predecessors. It is in the ancient Sanscrit and the
language which preceded it that mantrams are hidden. The laws
governing their use are also to be found in those languages, and not
in any modern philological store.


Student. - Suppose, though, that one acquires a knowledge of ancient
and correct mantrams, could he affect a person speaking English, and
by the use of English words?

Sage. - He could; and all adepts have the power to translate a
strictly regular mantram into any form of language, so that a single
sentence thus uttered by them will have an immense effect on the
person addressed, whether it be by letter or word of mouth.


Student. - Is there no way in which we might, as it were, imitate
those adepts in this?

Sage. - Yes, you should study simple forms of mantramic quality, for
the purpose of thus reaching the hidden mind of all the people who
need spiritual help. You will find now and then some expression that
has resounded in the brain, at last producing such a result that he
who heard it turns his mind to spiritual things.


Student. - I thank you for your instruction.

Sage. - May the Brahmamantram guide you to the everlasting truth - OM.


PATH, August, 1888 (W Q Judge)

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