Theos-Talk Archives (August 2005 Message tt00146)

8/17/2005 4:38 AM

Dear Mark and friends:

The following summary from H P B's

OCCULTISM VERSUS THE OCCULT ARTS  

may be found helpful, as it directs attention to the real occultism that
underlies all physical phenomena.

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

OCCULTISM VERSUS THE OCCULT ARTS by H. P. Blavatsky
H P B Articles II 100


P. 101	Occultism differs from Magic and other secret Sciences as the
glorious sun does from a rush-light, as the immutable and immortal Spirit of
Man reflection of the absolute, causeless and unknowable ALL--differs from
the mortal clay--the human body. 


P 102	There is 

(1) Yajna-Vidya, knowledge of the occult powers awakened in Nature by the
performance of certain religious ceremonies and rites. 

(2) Maha-vidya, the "great knowledge," the magic of the Kabalists and of the
Tantrika worship, often Sorcery of the worst description. 

(3) Guhya-Vidya, knowledge of the mystic powers residing in Sound (Ether),
hence in the Mantras (chanted prayers or incantations) and depending on the
rhythm and melody used; in other words a magical performance based on
Knowledge of the Forces of Nature and their correlation; and 


(4) ATMA-VIDYA, a term which is translated simply "knowledge of the Soul,"
true Wisdom …but which means far more. [see also S D I 168 - 9]


P. 102-3	This last [ATMA-VIDYA, a term which is translated simply
"knowledge of the Soul," true Wisdom] is the only kind of Occultism that
any theosophist…who would be wise and unselfish, ought to strive
after…Atma-Vidya… includes them all and may even use them occasionally,but
it does so after purifying them of their dross, for beneficent purposes, and
taking care to deprive them of every element of selfish motive. 


F. NOTE	"The Yajna," …exists from eternity, for it proceeded forth from the
Supreme One… in whom it lay dormant from 'no beginning.' It is the key to
TRAIVIDYA, the thrice sacred science contained in the Rig verses, which
teaches the Yagus or sacrificial mysteries. 'The Yajna' …is like the latent
power of electricity…requiring only the operation of a suitable apparatusin
order to be elicited. It is supposed to extend from the Ahavaniya or
sacrificial fire to the heavens, forming a bridge or ladder by means of
which the sacrificer can communicate with the world of gods and spirits, and
even ascend when alive to their abodes."--Martin Hauge's AITREYA BRAHMANA.
"This Yajna is again one of the forms of the Akasa; and the mystic word
calling it into existence and pronounced mentally by the initiated Priest is
the Lost Word receiving impulse through WILL-POWER." Isis Unveiled, Vol.
I, Intro.  


P. 104	[Other road ?] Let him aspire to no higher than he feels able
to accomplish. Let him not take a burden upon himself too heavy for him to
carry…and he can become one of the modest benefactors of humanity, without
any superhuman powers. [see p. 109 here]


P. 104	Siddhis (or the Arhat powers) are only for those who are able to
"lead the life," to comply with the terrible sacrifices required for such a
training, and to comply with them to the very letter…remember always, that
true Occultism or Theosophy is the "Great Renunciation of SELF,"
unconditionally and absolutely, in thought as in action. 


P. 104	It is ALTRUISM, and it throws him who practices it out of
calculation of the ranks of the living altogether. "Not for himself, but for
the world, he lives," as soon as he has pledged himself to the work. 


P. 104	Much is forgiven during the first years of probation. But, no
sooner is he "accepted" than his personality must disappear, and he has to
become a mere beneficent force in Nature…He has either to ascend
laboriously, step by step, often through numerous incarnations and no
Devachanic break, the golden ladder leading to Mahatmaship (the Arhat or
Bodhisatva condition), or--he will let himself slide down the ladder at the
first false step, and roll down into Dugpaship. . . . 


P. 104-5 …one who is able to follow the silent evolution of the
preliminary aspirations of the candidates, often finds strange ideas quietly
taking possession of their minds. There are those whose reasoning powers
have been so distorted by foreign influences that they imagine that animal
passions…by a strong effort of will [they can] put down the fierce flames
and keep them at bay within their natures, allowing the fire to smolder
under a thin layer of ashes. 


P. 105	The "Master" in the Sanctuary of our souls is "the Higher Self"-- 


P. 105 …the divine spirit whose consciousness is based upon and derived
solely (…during the mortal life of the man in whom it is captive) from the
Mind [Manas], which…the Human Soul (the "Spiritual Soul" [Buddhi-Manas]
being the vehicle of the Spirit). [Key: pp. 136, 175-6]


P. 105	In its turn…the personal or human soul [Kama-Manas] is   

1. a compound in its highest form, of spiritual aspirations, volition, and
divine love; and,  

2. in its lower aspect, [Kama]of animal desires and terrestrial passions
imparted to it by its associations with its vehicle, the seat of all these. 

It [the Mind - Manas] thus stands as a link and a medium between the animal
nature of man…and his divine spiritual nature to which it gravitates,
whenever it has the upper hand in its struggle with the inner animal. 

P. 105-6 …[the inner animal - Kama] is the instinctual "animal Soul"
[Kama-Manas] and is the hotbed of those passions 


P. 106	The "HIGHER SELF" or Spirit is as unable to assimilate such feelings
as water to get mixed with oil... It is thus the Mind alone, the sole link
and medium between the man of earth and the Higher Self--that is the only
sufferer, and which is in the incessant danger of being dragged down by
those passions that may be re-awakened,… and perish in the abyss of matter. 

P. 106	…how can it [Manas] ever attune itself to the divine harmony of the
highest Principle, when that harmony is destroyed by the mere presence,
within THE SANCTUARY IN PREPARATION, of such animal passions? How can
harmony prevail and conquer, when the soul is stained and distracted with
the turmoil of passions and the terrestrial desires of the bodily senses, or
even of the "Astral man"? [S D II 110]

P. 107 F-note	Those who would feel inclined to see three Egos in one
man will show themselves unable to perceive the metaphysical meaning. Man is
a trinity composed of Body, Soul and Spirit; but man is nevertheless one,
and is surely not his body. It is the latter which is the property, the
transitory clothing of the man. The three "Egos" are MAN in his three
aspects on the astral, intellectual or psychic, and the Spiritual planes, or
states.

P. 106	…this "Astral"--the shadowy "double" (in the animal as in man) is
not the companion of the divine Ego but of the earthly body. It is the link
between the personal SELF, the lower consciousness of Manas [Kama-Manas] and
the Body, and is the vehicle of transitory, not of immortal life. Like the
shadow,…it follows his …impulses slavishly and mechanically, and leans
therefore to matter without ever ascending to Spirit. 

P. 106	It is only when the power of the passions is dead altogether, and
when they have been crushed and annihilated in the retort of an unflinching
will; when not only all the lusts and longings of the flesh are dead, but
also the recognition of the personal Self is killed out and the "astral" has
been reduced in consequence to a cipher, that the UNION WITH THE "HIGHER
SELF" can take place. [ see Glos. pp 170-1 ]

P. 106	…when the "Astral" reflects only the conquered man, the still living
but no more the longing, selfish personality, then the brilliant Augoeides,
the divine SELF [ATMA], can vibrate in conscious harmony with both the poles
of the human Entity--the man of matter purified [Kamadeva ? ], and the ever
pure Spiritual Soul [Buddhi-Manas]--and stand in the presence of the MASTER
SELF [ATMAN], the Christos of the mystic Gnostic, blended, merged into, and
one with IT forever. [ see Glos. pp 170-1 ]

P. 107	…he who would profit by the wisdom of the Universal Mind, has to
reach it through the whole of Humanity without distinction of race,
complexion, religion or social status. 


P. 107	It is altruism, not ego-ism even in its most legal and noble
conception, that can lead the unit to merge its little Self in the Universal
Selves. It is to these needs and to this work that the true disciple of true
Occultism has to devote himself, if he would obtain theo-sophy, divine
Wisdom and Knowledge. 

P. 107 The aspirant has to choose absolutely between the life of the
world and the life of Occultism. 

P. 107-8	It is useless and vain to endeavour to unite the two, for no
one can serve two masters and satisfy both. No one can serve his body and
the higher Soul, and do his family duty and his universal duty, without
depriving either one or the other of its rights… 

P. 108	For, whoever indulges after having pledged himself to OCCULTISM in
the gratification of a terrestrial love or lust, must feel an almost
immediate result; that of being irresistibly dragged from the impersonal
divine state down to the lower plane of matter. Sensual, or even mental
self-gratification, involves the immediate loss of the powers of spiritual
discernment…

P. 108	…it is the intention that decides primarily whether white or black
magic is exercised

P. 108	…SORCERY is any kind of evil influence exercised upon other persons,
who suffer, or make other persons suffer, in consequence. 

P. 109	…the Gate of the Occult arts, practised for selfish motives and in
the absence of the restraining and beneficent influence of ATMA-VIDYA. We
are in the Kali Yuga and its fatal influence is a thousand-fold more
powerful in the West than it is in the East; hence the easy preys made by
the Powers of the Age of Darkness in this cyclic struggle, and the many
delusions under which the world is now labouring. 

P. 108	KARMA is a heavy stone splashed in the quiet waters of Life; and it
must produce ever widening circles of ripples, carried wider and wider,
almost ad infinitum. Such causes produced have to call forth effects, and
these are evidenced in the just laws of Retribution. 

P. 108	Much of this may be avoided if people will only abstain from rushing
into practices neither the nature nor importance of which they understand.
No one is expected to carry a burden beyond his strength and powers.

P. 108-9	There are "Natural-Born Magicians"; Mystics and Occultists
by birth, and by right of direct inheritance from a series of incarnations
and æons of suffering and failures. These are passion-proof, so to say. No
fires of earthly origin can fan into a flame any of their senses or desires;
no human voice can find response in their souls, except the great cry of
Humanity. These only may be certain of success…they pass through the narrow
gates of Occultism because they carry no personal luggage of human
transitory sentiments along with them. They have got rid of the feeling of
the lower personality, paralyzed thereby the "astral" animal… [H P B andW
Q J as examples]

P. 109	[Cause of failures] …the relative facility with which men fancy
they can get at the "Gate" and cross the threshold of Occultism without any
great sacrifice… one [dream] inspired by desire for Power and personal
selfishness, and it is not such feelings that can ever lead…to the coveted
goal. 

P. 109	…said by one [who] sacrificed himself for Humanity--"narrow is the
gate and straightened the way that leadeth unto life" eternal, and therefore
"few be they that find it." 

P. 109	So straight indeed, that at the…mention of …the preliminary
difficulties the affrighted Western candidates turn back. . . Let them stop
here and attempt no more in their great weakness. For if, while turning
their backs on the narrow gate, they are dragged by their desire for the
Occult one step in the direction of the broad and more inviting Gates of
that golden mystery which glitters in the light of illusion… It can lead
only to Dugpa-ship, and they will be sure to… land on that Via Fatale
[Fatal Path] of the Inferno, over whose portal Dante read the words:-- 

Per me si va nella citta dolente
Per me si va nell'eterno dolore 
Per me si va tra la perduta gente. . . . .

Rough translation:  

Through me pass the sorrowful, …those in eternal pain, -- all the “lost”
souls.

===========================
p. 106 X refrence
"...the human brain is simply the canal between two planes--the
psycho-spiritual and the material--through which every abstract and
metaphysical idea filters from the Manasic down to the lower human
consciousness. Therefore the ideas about the infinite and the absolute are
not, nor can they be, within our brain capacities. They can be faithfully
mirrored only by our Spiritual consciousness, thence to be more of less
faintly projected on to the tables of our perceptions on this plane. Thus
while the records of even important events are often obliterated from our
memory, not the most trifling action of our lives can disappear from the
"Soul's" memory, because it is no memory for it, but an ever-present reality
on the plane which lies outside our conceptions of space and time. "Man is
the measure of all things," said Aristotle; and surely he did not mean by
man, the form of flesh, bones and muscles ? ... As our world is mostly
formed of imperceptible beings which are the real constructors of its
continents, so likewise is man."

HPB--Memory in the Dying -- HPB Art. II 378-9


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

Dallas
 

-----Original Message-----
From: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com [mailto:theos-talk@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Mark Hamilton Jr.
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 2:45 PM
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Theos-World Modern movement of the Occult

> This material is well known and has been for some time.

Almost every study I see on the occult is news to me.

What struck me as strange is the woman in the book who was performing
Psychokinetics had severe physical repercussions afterwards. She ended
up losing 3 pounds or more during relatively short sessions, and went
temporarily blind at times (as well as having other problems, such as
partial paralysis and pains). It appeared to them as if she was
generating and directing electromagnetic fields by using her own
nervous system. This was later backed up by non-subjective sensory
data from a computer.

Instead of hotwiring her entire nervous system she could've just used
one of the other available techniques. I've ementioned this before,
but it's much better to use fine skill than brute strength.

-Mark H.

-- 
Mark Hamilton Jr.
waking.adept@gmail.com


 
Yahoo! Groups Links