avehicle for the ancient wisdom tradition · michael gomes has presented this year’s blavatsky...

Volume IV, Number 3 Fall 2000

Re6ecomill9 GodS: The PeifectibiCity

of Man

AJoumey Tfiroll9fi the PassU9es of the Great

E9YPtian Pyramid

The DifficuCt Patfi of

James Mor9an Pryse

AVehicle for the Ancient Wisdom Tradition

ONE EARTH RADIO Association

One Earth Radio is the brainchild of Gary Hall, Founder and President, and Alaria Baes, ExecutiveDirector of Vancouver Canada. They have been working for some years now on creating a new mediaconcept designed to shape and move the conscious devolopment of people and their local communitiesin new directions. They are designing an interactive broadcast/netcast service focussed on successstories and model projects occurring in our own back yards. Much of the time has been spent in aligningthemselves with various groups and associations ranging in scope from Youth on Purpose Society andAgora Lifestyles on the one hand to The Institute for Noetic Sciences and The Foundation for ConsciousEvolution on the other. These groups will provide the content through their success stories and modelprojects and these will be shared with the community in an evolving interactive manner. The exactmanner will come about through trial and error with the experiences shared with other similar groupsin order to bring about a viable model more quickly. In addition to telling the stories of people andgroups, experiential educational opportunities will be provided. In cooperation with The Foundation forConscious Evolution, One Earth Radio will provide more direct educational services through the LivingUniversity curriculum. For a more detailed description of One Earth Radio see ETS Newsletter (Fall2000) or contact them directly:

One Earth RadioSuite 304, 620 West 8�� Avenue

Vancouver, B.C. V5Z 1X4www.oer.com or www.oneearthradio.com

(604) 331-1296 or [email protected] or [email protected]

The Blavatsky Lecture 2000

Michael Gomes has presented this year’s Blavatsky Lecture in Ripon, Yorkshire. This year’s lecturetitled, “Creating the New Age: Theosophy’s Origins in the British Isles,” gives an overview of the variousattempts to establish an occult network in Europe through recent centuries, and follows with a look atthe people and forces that shaped Theosophy, especially in Britain, at the end of the nineteenth andearly twentieth centuries. Mr. Gomes’ lecture is published by:

The Theosophical Publishing House50 Gloucester Place, London W1U 8EA, U.K.

Talbot Mundy

Seven of Talbot Mundy’s first novels are now available on CD:

- Rung Ho! (1914)- King of the Khyber Rifles (1916)- Winds of the World (1916)- Hira Singh (1918)- The Ivory Trail (1919)- The Eye of Zeitoon (1919)- Guns of the Gods (1921)

The CD contains verbatim full text of each novel and includes 20 pen and ink illustrations from originaleditions. The cost is $20.00 U.S. which includes Priority Mail shipping in the U.S. and first class mailelsewhere. (For a single title without illustrations on disk, send $5.00).

Send Check or Money order made out to:

Mark JaquaM-793 County Road 7Napoleon, Ohio 43545

USA

This magazine is an invitation for followers of all traditions to enter into adialogue whose goal is Truth and whose means is Universal Brotherhood.

FOHATA Quarterly Publication of Edmonton Theosophical Society

ContentsEditor

Robert Bruce MacDonald

Managing EditorJoAnne MacDonald

Assistant EditorsRogelle PelletierDolorese Brisson

PublisherEdmonton Theosophical

Society

The pages of Fohat are an openforum dedicated to the pursuit ofTruth, and consequently theviews and opinions expressedherein are those of the authorsand do not necessarily reflect theviews of the publisher unlessotherwise specifically stated.

Any articles or correspondencemay be sent to:

FOHATBox 4587

Edmonton, AlbertaCanada T6E 5G4

E-mail: [email protected]: (780) 438-1717

Subscription Rates:1 year (4 issues)

$15.00 Cdn in Canada$15.00 US in U.S.A.$20.00 US international

Become anAssociate of Edmonton TSand help support its efforts.

Additional $10.00Associates receive: ETS Newsletter

Cover Design: Donna Pinkard

ISSN 1205-9676

Volume IV, No. 3Fall 2000

Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

The Perfectibility of Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54by Dara Eklund

The Initiation Procedure Within the Great Pyramidof Giza, Egypt, Part I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57by Abhinyano

James Morgan Pryse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61by Robert Bruce MacDonald

Theosophical Friends Remembered . . . . . . . . . . 64

Musings From A Secret Doctrine Class . . . . . . . . 67by A Student

To be featured in coming issues:

Samkhya and the Wisdom-Religion;

The Morals and Ethics of Modern

Medicine;

AND MUCH MORE

.

Jnana Yoga and the Western TulkuThe Theosophical Society’s first object is “To form anucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity with-out distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color.” Onceit is understood that Humanity is a Brotherhood and itis further understood that racial characteristics, beliefsystems, gender, social status, or the color of one’s skinare meaningless qualities, then the causes of strife andseparateness vanish. Although it is easy to have anintellectual knowledge of this Object, it is much moredifficult to transform this intellectual knowledge into aheart wisdom. If you were to ask people in the West ifthey believed in the principles underlying the aboveObject they would probably answer “yes.” Yet, if you lookat the wars and the violence that exist in the world today,it is clear that these beliefs are empty. Our religions andinstitutions use separateness and fear in order to captureand maintain a following, and this in turn leads to angerand violence. “The chosen people” and “all roads lead toRome,” demonstrate the belief in a personal god thatbreeds separateness and undermines Brotherhood. Howdo we rid Humanity of this personal god that lifts onegroup of people above another because of some accidentof birth or because of a belief system?

From A Brief Dictionary of Hinduism we read from thedefinition of jnana yoga, “[b]y analyzing and then reject-ing all transitory phenomena, through the process ofelimination the spiritual aspirant finally comes to Brah-man and realizes his union with the impersonal aspectof the Godhead.” Humanity, especially in the West, isnow going through a cycle where the intellect is beingdeveloped at the expense of all else. It becomes themeans to the greatest good as well as the greatest evil. Itis this that Theosophists must understand and it is thereason why original Theosophy stresses jnana yoga asthe safest and best means for spiritual advancement.Many Theosophists seem to feel that raja yoga definedfrom the above source as “the path of formal meditation,a method of concentrating the mind one-pointedly on theultimate Reality until complete absorption is achieved” isas equally good a path if not better that jnana yoga.However, most Westerners lack the experiential wisdomto practice raja yoga successfully (and in these days, mostEasterners) and until they do some work in the area ofrejecting transitory phenomena, their efforts are going tobear less fruit than if they applied that effort elsewhere(jnana yoga). This is not to say that there are certainpeople who will not profit greatly from raja yoga, butcurrently that is the exception rather than the rule.Westerners at this time have a poor understanding ofkarma, a poor understanding of reincarnation, and apoor understanding of the transitory and the eternal. Onewonders then why the East spends so much time inteaching the West how to meditate.

It seems that this trend is turning. In Vicki MacKenzie’sbook Reborn in the West: The Reincarnation Masters ��

�� , there seems to be a shift ofemphasis with the Western Tulkus. Tibetan Tulkus tak-

ing on western bodies are placing less emphasis onmeditation and following more closely the traditionalTheosophical approach of education and self-culture.Tenzin Sherab, a Tulku living in Montreal, spent muchof his youth in a Tibetan Monastery in India, only to giveup that life at eighteen (with the Dalai Lama’s blessing)to continue his education at a Western institution. Hedescribes his leaving and current practices as follows:

Gone, too, is the ritual which he found so tediousin Sera, and the sitting in meditation, the readingof the scriptures and the other business of formalreligious life which occupied him for so long. Theoutward display of spiritual practice, he says, nolonger concerns him.

‘I rarely meditate now. I don’t feel I need to. If Ido, then I’ll meditate. I’m now integrating Ti-betan Buddhism into my lifestyle. The way Ithink, the way I act. Things I do or don’t do. SoI’m in practice every day, even though it doesn’tseem to be.’

When pressed, he expounds further: ‘I am con-stantly working on myself—clearing up my ownmuck! I like to watch my emotions. I’ll watch asituation as a third person, almost, and examineit—so I’m analysing both points of view. Thathelps a lot. I think that is one of the tulku’s gifts,being able to work with your own self and at thesame time help others.’ ��

This is just one example of Tulkus rejecting the ritualsand trappings of religious life. These rituals and trap-pings belong to a particular culture at a particular stageof development and are far removed from the experienceand needs of the West. What is being transported to theWest is the Spirit of Tibetan Buddhism, not the religionitself. A Western slant to education comes up again andagainCa moving away from formal meditation. The West-ern mind and lifestyle is much more open to jnana yoga.Spending thirty years in a Tibetan monastery is just notpossible in most instances.

In this issue, in the “Letters to the Editor” we see sepa-ratism in the West traced back to the expulsion of theChandallas from India by the Brahmans under theirinstitutionalised caste system. Theosophists must real-ize that the ideology of separateness is what they aretrying to overturn and they must learn to see it in all ofits forms. We see in “The Perfectibility of Man” and “TheInitiation Procedure Within the Great Pyramid”, the proc-ess of perfection. “James Morgan Pryse” speaks of thedangers of psychism when one is on the path; and finally“Musings” looks at how all true knowledge, whetherabstract or concrete, can be seen in terms of under-standing the Self, as both physical man and Nature arereflections of the Spiritual which we are trying to under-stand and give us the clues to knowing Self. Let go of thetransient, that which separates, and embrace the Uni-versal Brotherhood of Humanity and of all sentient life.

editorial

52 FOHAT

From the Heart

I must express my enjoyment of reading the Summer2000 issue of Fohat. The article on the Hopi Indians wasvery interesting and timely. I am sure many Theosophistscan learn from their wisdom and knowledge.

The article that captivated my interest most assuredlywas “The Head & the Heart of Tibetan Buddhism”. Usingthe analogy of the head, the heart and the body todescribe the events that transpired during the initialTheosophical period, was very enlightening.

It is becoming apparent to me that Fohat is comingstraight from the HEART. Keep up the good work!

��

Cycles: A Return to the 1930s.

How absurd are those European politicians who try to seeracism in Madame Blavatsky’s writings. (The same re-marks they complain of are in Sinnett’s Esoteric Bud-dhism, The Mahatma Letters, W.Q. Judge’s works, et albut all refer to the ancient historic records of spiritualand intellectual developments among peoples and racesas they progress to the higher life.)

It is particularly incorrect to call HPB a racist as she isone of the very first authors to start a society with theobject:

First - To form a nucleus of a Universal Brother-hood of Humanity without distinction of race,creed, sex, caste or colour. �� ! ��

�� "#� $%&� & ' �� (�� ) � � ��

Of course there are degrees of development of races; allanthropologists recognize that: i.e., stone age, etc.

This silly argument reminds one of the 1970’s insultsabout Plato, Shakespeare, Mark Twain and other famouswriters by persons who take quotations out of context.

What is the real object? Are they afraid of her manyproofs that man has a spiritual nature, for instance?

��

Indeed, the Nazi-government had prohibited the TS andhad confiscated all its books. They either burned thelatter or deposited them in the tunnels of old salt-mines.. . . In other words, the Nazi-Government hated the TSand its teachings! . . . Why then do we have today thecondemnation of H.P.B. and the prohibition of the teach-ings of The Secret Doctrine?

This is not being done by Nazis, who de facto do not existin Germany and Austria anymore, except in very smallnumbers and having no power at all?! Actually Nazismis dead in Germany! Who is running this new INQUISI-TION? This new PERSECUTION? According to the edi-torial, it originated in Austria by members of the SocialDemocratic Party, which is marxist, and this party is now

in power in Germany. . . . German correspondents tellthis writer that government agents have approachedleaders of theosophical groups and have demandedchanges in the teachings, especially those of H.P.B.,putting thus The SD upon the Index librorum prohibi-torum. . . .

The SD is indeed the world-work of the Esoteric. [For]more than 2000 years of history no book of such highesoteric information, even revelation, existed on the book-market. This information is “hated and dreaded, becausethrowing such a vivid light on the novel and intentionallyveiled interpretation of what is now known as the ‘NewDispensation’” �� *� #��.

[The writer goes on to describe how the “Heresy of Sepa-ratism” has crept into every major religion and institutionin the world today through the expulsion of a certain tribefrom India by the Brahmans. This tribe was banished forpracticing black magic and went on to intermarry with a5�� subrace people producing a hybrid people who havecarried their hatred for their Brahman persecutorsthrough time in the form of an ideological Separatism.This hybrid people have been used by Theosophy’s ene-mies to cause division and strife everywhere they go. Healludes to certain Indian histories as well as Isis II, 438;SD II, 210; and CW XII, 179 as sources to begin researchon this - Editor.]

Consequently they do everything in their power to dis-credit H.P.B. and The SD. It seems that the accusationof racism is merely a pretext for the prevention of dissemi-nating a knowledge and wisdom which is ‘hated anddreaded’ by powerful and rich world-dominating groups,by the Jesuits, by the religions of the Middle East, by theCommunists, by modern anthropologists, archaeolo-gists, paleontologists and Darwinists. . . . For the present5�� mankind there will be in the future a mental, spiritual,but also a physical separation of 1/3 of it, moving to anew realm of life within the Pacific area, where even todaya new continent is forming. The Theosophist shouldstudy carefully the prophetic paragraphs of the Mastersin SD II pp.463-465.

��

RBM’s article on the 7-fold ratio of cycles

Some years ago, while doodling with these figures, thereseemed a possible insight to the cause of inter-globalpralayas. Scientists estimated that around 65 or 68million years ago a planetary event (comet, volcanoes??)placed a thin layer of ash around much of the earth. Theythink this may have caused the death of the dino-saurs—not to mention everything else. If we take the 18million figure, which is the date of physical man’s appear-ance and add roughly 6 mil. more for the first 2 & 1/2non-physical RR we get 24 mil. Add 24 & 44 mil. (latter# is the length of the pralaya) and we get 68 mil.

I do not know if today the scientists have revised signifi-cantly their 60 plus mil. figure, but it does approximatethe beginning of the pralaya that followed the 3rd globe.

��

Letters to the Editor:

FALL 2000 53

The Perfectibility of Man[Based on a talk given in April 1999 at the Theosophical Society Pasadena.]

Dara Eklund

Let us consider here the ability of man to becomemore perfect; not the notion of perfection as a staticstate. Today we are inclined to think of man in termsof his progress rather than his perfectibility. Thatprogress, unfortunately, has more to do with moderntechnology, with tools rather than inner growth anddevelopment. As an idea to promulgate via platformlectures William Q. Judge urged a fellow-student toconsider the “Cause of Sublime Perfection”.� In acentury when man was being Darwinized into ananimal, he wrote several articles urging this pursuitand providing the foundation for such a destiny.Just a little over a year before he died, Mr. Judgestressed “Three Great Ideas” which must never belost sight of.�

The first great idea is that Unity is the “Cause ofSublime Perfection and Human Brotherhood”, be-cause it envelopes every plane of being and the wholehuman family on its upward march towards perfec-tion. Now, the same might be said by a Rosicrucian,by a Mason or any mystic, but Theosophy postulatestwo other great ideas which fortify the first. Thesecond idea is that man may be raised to the statureof a god, because he is Deity incarnate. Furthermorethis possibility is actualized by those great Men wecall adepts or Masters of Life, who have achieved thisstature. This Judge called the Third great idea, theevolutionary proof of that sublime perfection: Mas-ters as living facts, not cold or distant abstractions.These living men give hope for mankind, in contrastto the idea of man as a sinner. In her article “TheFall of Ideals” H.P. Blavatsky wrote:

Yes; there are still men, who, notwithstand-ing the present chaotic condition of the moralworld, and the sorry débris of the best humanideals, still persist in believing and teachingthat the now ideal human perfection is nodream, but a law of divine nature; and that,

had Mankind to wait even millions of years,still it must some day reach it and rebecomea race of gods.�

In his ever so basic and simple articles Judge pre-sented man not just as a three-fold being comprisedof body, soul and spirit, but with the seven-foldconstitution taught in Theosophy by HelenaPetrovna Blavatsky. Judge details in The Ocean ofTheosophy, a description of this seven-fold division.The word “fold” implies both an inward and outwardmode of motion, a dual evolutionary direction forSpirit and Matter. Can we see how a Universe un-folds from within, and must therefore have a patternlinking all this unrolling process? Each Principleunfurls the next.

How can we promote this linkage in daily living?

In Theosophy Man is recognized as a composite beingwhose lower mortal instruments are presided over bya trinity of Spirit (Atma), Discernment (Buddhi) andMind (Manas). This trinity forms the immortal beingwithin, which unfolds the lower quaternary to get intouch with nature in order to know itself. Thisquaternary is described as:

1. The Passions and Desires (Kamic principle)2. Life Principle (Prana or Jiva)3. Astral Body (Linga-%arFra)4. Physical Body (Sth la-%arFra)

Being composites, these lower modes of being aretransitory and subject to disintegration. Even thecell is an illusion. From observing a man in sleep, orat death, we can agree that the organs in themselvesare senseless. The real organs of sight, hearing,touch, taste or smell are in the Astral Body, “thosein the physical body being but the mechanical outer

u

54 FOHAT

instruments for making the coordination betweennature and the real organs inside.”�

All these organs can be perfected from within, andindeed have been going through a process of purifi-cation since they issued forth.

Let us examine Mr. Judge’s article on “The Sheathsof the Soul.”�

Although Judge speaks of the perfectibility of man

along the course of sublime perfection, he is includ-ing the refinement of all life. Patanj li emphasizesthat the Universe exists for the sake of the soul alone.This does not bar the evolution of the veils of the soulinto the realm of self-conscious life. These sheathswhich comprise the sevenfold principles of man allowthe soul to progress through various densities ofmanifested life to a higher state, while at the sametime compelling those lives to be drawn up, purged,refined and finally perfected. At some point theselives have “the potentiality of becoming Souls in theenormously distant future.” These lives comprise 49aspects for each plane, ranging from the very grossto the most ethereal. How to discover all the 49aspects on the varying planes of manifestation isfully known only by an Adept.

We can perceive some aspects of the lower sheaths.On the physical plane we perceive many densities,but usually they are a playground for other interven-ing less dense forces:

[T]he rate of vibrations (molecular motion) inmetals, woods, crystals, etc., alters under theeffect of heat, cold, etc. . . . Science tells usthat if a note be struck in unison with theratio of the vibrations of the heat molecules,the flame will respond immediately to thesound (or note struck), that it will dance andsing in rhythm with the sounds.�

In the astral, or “design” body, even more variationscan be discerned. It has qualities of immensestrength, elasticity, flexibility, plasticity and exten-sion. Judge writes that its matter is electrical andmagnetic, rather than raw, crude matter. “Havingbeen through a vast period of evolution and under-gone purifying processes . . . its nature has beenrefined to a degree far beyond the gross physicalelements we see and touch with the physical eye andhand.”�

In her article “Transmigration of the Life-Atoms,”H.P.B. states that the magnetic fluid which emanatesfrom man to man is even more powerful than forcesrecognized by Science such as molecular heat. Shewrites:

[T]he magnetic fluid projected by a livinghuman body is life itself. . . . Let any man giveway to any intense feeling, such as anger,grief, etc., under or near a tree, or in directcontact with a stone; and many thousands ofyears after that any tolerable Psychometerwill see the man and sense his feelings fromone single fragment of that tree or stone thathe had touched. Hold any object in yourhand, and it will become impregnated withyour life atoms, indrawn and outdrawn,changed and transferred in us at every in-stant of our lives.�

We are focused in the Mind principle at our presentstage of evolution. With discipline we could reason-ably hinder some of its modifications and tendenciesinfluenced by the Kamic nature with its lower im-pulses, passions and desires. These are beingthrown constantly upon the screen of the brain mind.A meditative factor in controlling the mental modifi-cations will be considered later on, leading the aspi-rant to a more perfect state of contemplation.

We might compare the process of impressing ormodifying the lower sheaths to lithography. A pic-ture or design is drawn on a porous surface such aslimestone, paper or zinc. The grain of the stone orplate allows a broad range of tones and textures, justas do our various sheaths of the soul. To make alithograph in more than one color the artist mustprepare a separate surface for each, with variouspigments overlapped to produce new colors. Not onlymust the artisan know the science of color, but thedesign must be drawn in correct registration fromplate to plate. The sensitive craftsman develops amental awareness of environmental conditions suchas changes of light or heat. The various inks appliedor superimposed to convey color to the image, mightbe compared to the quality of blood, which Judgesays is entwined with the astral blood. Applying theanalogy further to man, we see that his charac-teristics overlap, and the seer within can learn tobalance the habits of thought and action stemmingfrom those tendencies. Just as the lithographerapplies the media in various stages, whatever the“Soul initiates,” according to Judge, “it has to passalong through several sheaths, each reporting, as itwere, to the one next below it; and in like mannerthey report from below upward. . . .” In the earlystages of evolution it took immense time for the Soul,as an artisan of Life, to integrate the functions of allits vehicles for expressing the developing conscious-ness. Gradually the process of communicationwithin this vast system of man became instantane-ous. That involved the power of retaining memory ofthem. Even physiologists today recognize a certainform of cell memory which can be exhibited byvarious kingdoms of nature.

a

FALL 2000 55

What concept of perfection would be a fitting “Causeof human destiny”? The Pythagoreans felt that thegreatest honour to the Gods was for the Soul tobecome the Image of the Immortal Deity. Man mayoffer his own perfection as the greatest honour hecan render to the “Cause of all good things.”

In describing the Universal Symbology of the Crossand the Circle H.P.B. shows that “the ‘Central point’is not limited to one individual, however perfect,[and] . . . That the Principle (God) is in Humanity.”�

She also refers in her Secret Doctrine, and elsewhere,to the Hermetic formula which shows the world to bean “infinite sphere, whose centre is everywhere andwhose circumference is nowhere.”��

Patanjali distinguished between perfections of bodyor even superhuman powers which are temporary,and those grander “permanent perfections.” Judge’scommentary upon Aphorism I of Book IV, explains:

The sole cause of permanent perfections ismeditation performed in incarnations prior tothat in which the perfection appears. . . . Butas meditation reaches within, it affects eachincarnation.��

It would follow that the perfectibility of man proceedsfrom within until finally man reaches an exaltedstate, which would have also influenced all the liveshe has impressed towards a higher stage of self-con-scious existence. G. de Purucker writes that wemust visualize only the noble and true, meaning allthose qualities we esteem to be best.��

In Aphorism 2 of Book IV, Patanjali states:

The change of a man into another class ofbeing — such as that of a celestial being — iseffected by the transfusion of natures.

Judge explains this passage as alluding to the pos-sibility of becoming a Deva in the Hindu sense. Butis this the type of perfection which he himself refersto as “Sublime”? We think not. H.P.B. warned thatthe Deva realms are temporary heavens, sought byascetics who wish perfection as an escape from theworld. In the Commentaries of Hierocles on the Gold-en Verses of Pythagoras, the Oracle of Apollo stated:“I dwell with less pleasure in the resplendent Heav-ens than in the souls of pious men.”�� Granted allmen in time may be led to that “transfusion ofnatures” urged by Patanjali, whose practices clearaway obscurations of mind binding them to materiallife. Indeed towards the close of his treatise Patanjalistates that the modifications of mind are alwaysknown to the presiding spirit; that spiritual beingwho is “the witness and the spectator”, because themind “exists for the purpose of the soul’s emancipa-tion.” �� That emancipation takes

place as the mind becomes deflected toward perfectknowledge, or rather the discernment of its Buddhicnature. It becomes transfused with Buddhic light.

The Golden Verses of Pythagoras refer to Practical orHuman Virtues as well as Divine or Contemplativevirtues, which transform Good Men into Gods! Afterall the Immortal Gods are such because they neverforget their Divine Image or Essence.��

Judge’s commentary on Patanjali emphasizes whydesire for results is detrimental, for the disciple isstill in a state where he must penetrate beyond theultimate divisions of time.

As Aphorism 28 states:

If the ascetic is not desirous of the fruits, evenwhen perfect knowledge has been attained,and is not inactive, the meditation technicallycalled Dharma Megha — cloud of virtue —takes place from his absolutely perfect dis-criminative knowledge. ��

This form of liberation is equated by some Hindus,as well as Western scholars, to mean negation or“Isolation”, because the soul abides in its own na-ture, unaffected by the qualities. The contrary is thecase, according to Judge’s interpretation:

Until this state is reached, the soul . . . isunable to consciously partake universally ofthe great life of the universe. To do so, it muststand firmly “in its own nature”; and then itproceeds further . . . to bring about the aimof all other souls still struggling on the road.��

Gottfried de Purucker describes this larger view anda philosophical basis for the possibility of “SublimePerfection” in The Esoteric Tradition:

According to the beautiful Hindu picture orfigure or metaphor, man is a living tree ofconsciousness growing with its roots in thespirit above and its branches bending down-wards into the material world. Many souls,one spirit: that is the picture of the nature ofthe human constitution. For the undyingforce-point or Monadic Consciousness-Cen-ter from which the soul, itself a host of minorsouls, issues, and which gives to the soulindividuality, thus enabling it as an entity toissue forth as a ray: this inmost point isdeathless because it itself is one of the hostof consciousness-centers or Monads bornfrom within the bosom of the Mother-Spirit:it is a spirit-center, which has not yet becomemanifested in this sphere, in this world, onthis plane. This spirit-center is breakingthrough . . . on its evolutionary journey, new

. . . continued on page 68

56 FOHAT

The Initiation ProcedureWithin the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt:

Original Theosophy Challenges the Mausoleums-Dogma of the Egyptologists

Part I

Abhinyano

The old and worn out dogma of the technical andagnostic Egyptologists, namely that the Great

Pyramid was primarily built to be the tomb for themummy of a pharaoh, is being attacked today bymany researchers as just too simplistic and as beinga blind. Indeed, it was a blind when Herodotus, theFather of History, said in his Histories that the GreatPyramid was built by the pharaoh Cheops (Kufu), tobe his mausoleum. As we are going to see, thisPyramid was already very ancient when Cheops wasking in Egypt. Thus he could not have built it. H.P.Blavatsky offers the more esoteric explanation of thepurpose of the Great Pyramid in Isis Unveiled:

But, Herodotus did not tell all, although heknew that the real purpose of the pyramidwas very different from that which he assignsto it. [Herodotus was forbidden to say whathe knew, because he had given the SodalianOath of Silence]. . . . Internally, [the Pyramid]was a majestic fane, in whose sombre re-cesses were performed the Mysteries, andwhose walls had often witnessed the initia-tion-scenes of members of the royal family.The porphyry sarcophagus, which ProfessorPiazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal of Scotland,degrades into a corn-bin, was the baptismalfont, upon emerging from which, the neo-phyte [the man of Sorrow] was “born again,”and became an adept. ��

In case HPB is for some not an authority, we Theoso-phists would point to the beautiful work The Phoenixby Manly P. Hall, in which the initiation procedureis also described, and the famous book, Secrets of theGreat Pyramid by Peter Tompkins; he devotes chap-ter XX to the Egyptian Mysteries and their initiations.

Actually, our own Original Literature, which includesIsis Unveiled, The Secret Doctrine, especially VolumeIII, The Mahatma Letters, The Voice of the Silence andDr. Taimni’s The Science of Yoga, based upon theYoga Sutras of Patanjali, offer the one and only keyto the esoteric interpretation of the initiation- proce-dure, and also to the understanding of the famousBook of the Gates and the Book Am-Tuat with theirmysterious illustrations, in which, indeed, the Egyp-tian Secret Doctrines of the “Path of liberation from

the bonds of matter and the flesh” and the “sailingover the River of Samsara to the Other Shore” can befound.

The Book of the Gates has its equivalent in thePratyeka-Yana—the “Path of Liberation for onealone”—works describing the gaining of Buddhahoodfor self alone, as the Pratyeka Buddhas do. TheAm-Tuat book shows the path the Buddhas of Com-passion prefer. In The Voice of the Silence it is calledthe “Amrita Yana”, the “Secret Path”. The Bodhisatt-vas and Arhats follow this path of self-sacrifice byrenouncing Nirvana. They go back to the Living afterthey have reached the threshold of Nirvana becausethey wish to “contribute toward man’s salvation byinfluencing them to follow the Good Law, i.e., leadthem on the Path of Righteousness” ��

�� . We have a beautiful but extremely seri-ous example of such a self-sacrifice in the retreat ofMaster Kuthumi, which was actually his last trial ofthe Mysteries or Royal Yoga, taking place in an oldtower near an old Lamasery “within whose bosomhave gestated generations of Bodhisatwas” ��

� �� . After becoming himself a Bod-hisattva, he came back to the Living, and he said:

My Brother—I have been on a long journeyafter supreme knowledge, I took a long timeto rest. Then, upon coming back, I had togive all my time to duty, and all my thoughtsto the Great Problem [of enlightening andhelping mankind]. ��

This “last trial”, in an Egyptian setting, shall now beexplained in detail, as it was and is universal andinternational.

The illustrations of the Book of Gates and the Am-Tuat Book depict—in a very veiled way—the “travel”of a neophyte through the once famous initiation-schools of Abydos, Busiris, Denderah, Saqqara, Gizaand Sais, in which he was being trained by priestsin the discipline of Royal Yoga to achieve the follow-ing:

[The individuality of the neophyte, in order]to run successfully its seven-fold downwardand upward course has to assimilate to itselfthe eternal life-power residing but in the

FALL 2000 57

seventh [principle: Atma; in Egypt: Atmu orAsar-Osiris] and then blend the three (fourth[Kama], fifth [Manas], and seventh [Atma])into one—the sixth [Buddhi]. Those whosucceed in doing so become Buddhs[Buddhas], Dyan-Chohans [Dhyani Bud-dhas, Dharmakayas, Jivanmuktas, Nir-vanis; in Egypt: Khepe-Ras], etc. The chiefobject of our struggles and initiations is toachieve this union while yet on this earth.Those who will be successful have nothing tofear of during the fifth, sixth and seventhrounds. But this is a mystery. Our belovedK.H. [Kuthumi] is on his way to the goal—thehighest of all beyond as on this sphere.��

Thus after many years of preparation and many testsin those Mystery schools (which we would call today:space-centers), the last , but also the most dangeroustrial of the neophyte, called Afu-Ra, was about to takeplace within the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyra-mid. In The Secret Doctrine we read:

In Egypt . . . with much pomp, the candi-dates [for initiation] were escorted to theGreat Pyramid and passed thereinto out ofsight. . . . In Egypt, the entranced neophyte[being in the Yoga-state of Dhyana] wasplaced in an empty sarcophagus [of the King’sChamber] in the Pyramid, where the initia-tory rites took place. ��

But before this last trial occurred, let us follow firstthe path the neophyte had to take through thepassages and chambers of the Pyramid. After thedecision was made by the hierophants that the can-didate was ready to be initiated, he was led into thePyramid. Down the “Descending Passage”, he en-tered into the “Pit”, cut into solid rock deep underthis great temple of initiation. This “Pit” was in a verychaotic, uneven and unfinished state; it containedonly vermin, debris, dust and bats. Symbolically, the“Pit” stood for the “infernal region”, hell and Kama-dhatu (the physical world of this inferior planet ofimperfect bodies, only interested in sensuous grati-fication and lusts, fun, and excitement, controlled bythe Law of the Jungle, by selfishness, struggle forsurvival and eternal strife). As a result this hell wasfull of pain, suffering, misery, bestiality and death.It is the Karma of man to be incarnated into this “Pit”(or condition) many times, to go through the “circleof necessity” and this “Valley of Thorns and Tears”,but, unfortunately, he has only earned for himself avehicle, a very imperfect form, with an animal-sexualphysiology, a desire and lust-principle (Kama) and aselfish, quite often destructive and malicious mind,which if not checked will lead him onto the “Left-hand Path”, which often results in his own annihila-

tion as a moral, ethical, responsible, mental andspiritual being.

This condition of things will last till man’sspiritual [and mental] intuitions are fullyopened, and this will not be until we fairlycast off our thick coats of Matter; until webegin acting from within, instead of ever fol-lowing impulses from without, impulses pro-duced by our [imperfect and limited] physicalsenses and gross selfish body. ��

And the Buddha says:

“There exists . . . a ‘heroic effort’ (viryam) inman; there exists the possibility of a ‘success-ful exertion’ (utsaha) aimed at the disengag-ing of man from the [always painful] vortex ofrebirths—providing he strives wholeheart-edly for this end.” ��

And this is exactly what our neophyte, now in the“Pit” under the Pyramid, is trying to do.

First he must find the way out of this miserable stateof pain, suffering, craving, attachment to physicalthings and bodies, and of ignorance and greed. Hewas determined to escape from that universal mani-fold of transient enticement, lust, malice and illu-sion. He stepped out of the “Pit”, and his left handfound in the wall of the Descending Passage anopening to a very narrow tunnel, which the Egyptolo-gists have named the “Wellshaft”, but actually do notknow what it is for. Of course, they offer some vaguetheories. This “Wellshaft”—also cut through solidrock—has very smooth walls and was steep. Theneophyte must climb up and through this tunnel.He used his hands, knees, toes, elbows and hips tomove up, but his heavy body dragged him down againand again. Soon his body was bleeding and aching.The air in the narrow tunnel was low in oxygen, andhe breathed laboriously. This painful, agonizing as-cent through this narrow passage was the reasonthat the Original Christians and Gnostics—who stillknew about the initiation procedure within the Pyra-mid—formed the term “the suffering Chrestus”, the“Man of Sorrow”—and we see this terrible struggle ofthe neophyte in the cross-carrying Jesus when hewent through the via dolorosa (which is the equiva-lent of the “Wellshaft”) suffering, bleeding, sweating,falling down due to the heaviness of the cross (whichhas in this case a Phallic meaning). The neophytehad to take himself off this phallic cross, otherwisehe would not advance upon the “Path of Enlighten-ment” and towards the liberation from the bonds ofmatter and flesh. Thus the Golgotha story never tookplace in Jerusalem. Half way up the tunnel theascent ceases to be as difficult, because the “Well-shaft” becomes less steep, and the neophyte canmove ahead much faster. Finally, at the end of thetunnel, the passage was enclosed with rectangular

58 FOHAT

stones, and the grooves offered him a holdfor his fingers. At this point he saw a lightcoming from above. It was the torchlightof the hierophants trying to help him. Afew more strong efforts and the neophyteemerged from the tunnel at the lowestpoint of the Great Gallery.

If the neophyte had decided to be initiatedinto the “Lesser Mysteries”—he was takeninto the (so called) Queen’s Chamber (ac-tually a misnomer). HPB explains the dif-ference between the Lesser Mysteries andthe GREATER MYSTERIES in The SecretDoctrine:

These belonged to the Lesser Myster-ies, whose followers were called Mystai(the veiled), seeing that they were al-lowed to perceive things only through a mist,as it were “with the eyes closed”; while theInitiates or “Seers” of the Greater Mysterieswere called Epoptai (those who see thingsunveiled). ��

Elsewhere, HPB says more about the Lesser Myster-ies and gives an exoteric description of the ritual:

The coffin, or sarcophagus, of Osiris [Ausar,Asar, Asar-hapi, Serapis], killed [symboli-cally] by Typhon [Apap, Mara, Apophis,Devil], was brought in and placed in themiddle of the Hall of the Dead, with theInitiates all around it and the candidatenearby. The latter was asked whether he hadparticipated [symbolically] in the murder,and notwithstanding his denial, and aftersundry and very hard trials, the Initiatorfeigned to strike him on the head with ahatchet; he was thrown down, swathed inbandages like a mummy, and wept over.Then came lightning and thunder, the sup-posed corpse was surrounded with fire, andwas finally raised. ��

Let us follow now a candidate for the Greater Mys-teries on his way to achieve the state of a Khepe-Ra,Dharmakaya, Planetary Spirit, and a Divine Astro-naut. The candidate was either a member of theRoyal family, a priest of the inner circle of the Hiero-phants (pronounced: hee-erophants), or a neophyteof an occult brotherhood and ascetic order.

The initiators and the candidate were still standingat the exit of the “Wellshaft” (via dolorosa) out ofwhich the latter just had emerged. The way thecompany was taking now is entirely different. Theneophyte noticed that the hierophants were usingholes in the wall of the Great Gallery and grooves inthe wall directly in front of them. They climbed up

and over the wall and asked the candidate to do thesame. The company was now actually in the GreatGallery proper and moved up in the same way as toclimb a mountain. (Nota bene, the pyramid wasalways called a “mountain”, leading to the gods inheaven, vide the Mount of Olives, the Calvary moun-tain in the New Testament).

At the summit of the steep Great Gallery, thereexisted a very large stone, called the “Great Step”.The Initiator now asked the candidate to step uponthis stone, stay there for a few minutes and wait.Why? It was known that this “Great Step” possesseda very occult and magical significance in such a waythat a person who stood on it for a while was beingsubjected to some magic radiation, coming from anunknown direction. It has been documented thatmany sensitive tourists have felt these occult rays.When standing on this large stone to rest for a fewminutes after the steep climb, a feeling that the heartis about to burst is not uncommon, despite the factthat the individual may be very fit. Tremors in thehands and arms like in Parkinson’s disease have alsobeen observed. In the case of our candidate theserays had the task of showing him any physical, moraland spiritual weaknesses, if such tendencies werestill present in him. Only neophytes with iron nervesand high moral and spiritual qualities could succeedat this dangerous last trial.

One of the reasons for such secrecy may bethe undoubtedly serious difficulties andhardships of chelaship, and the dangers at-tending Initiation. The modern candidatehas, like his predecessor of old, to eitherconquer or die; when, which is still worse, hedoes not lose his reason. There is no dangerto him who is true and sincere, and, espe-cially, unselfish. For he is thus preparedbeforehand to meet any temptation.

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FALL 2000 59

“He, who fully recognised the power ofhis immortal spirit, and never doubtedfor one moment its omnipotent protec-tion, had naught to fear. But woe to thecandidate in whom the slightest physicalfear—sickly child of matter—made himlose sight and faith in his own invulner-ability. He who was not wholly confidentof his moral fitness to accept the burdenof these tremendous secrets was doomed[to suffer the grand mal of epilepsy].” —Isis Unveiled, ii, p.119. ��

The hierophants, knowing all this, waited patientlyuntil the candidate made up his mind to go forwardin the direction of the square opening into the ante-chamber and portcullis, leading to the King’s Cham-ber, or, if he should feel some fear or moral weaknessand wanted to turn back, then they would stoicallyaccept his decision and the entire company wouldleave the pyramid—the initiation of this neophytebeing over for the time being.

However, if the candidate felt strong enough to winthe battle, the victory giving him enlightenment andliberation from the bonds of matter and the body—sothat he could “successfully sail over the River ofSamsara to the Other Shore,” to the threshold of the“Watery Abyss,” the Ocean of Immortality, Nirvana,Kaivalya, Moksha, SPACE—then he would go for-ward and enter the quadrangular hole in front of him.The priests had already opened the portcullis bymeans only known to them. This ingenious portcul-lis consisted of four granite-plugs, sealing the en-trance to the King’s Chamber. Thus the entirecompany of initiators and neophyte entered the greatSanctum Sanctorum, the most mysterious, occult andholiest adytum of initiation into the Mysteries of theentire Middle East—with its sarcophagus, in whichthe deification of the neophyte would take place, ifhe would be successful in this last and very danger-ous trial.

First the candidate would be loosely bound to a Tau(or Ankh) cross. Why? Again it is The Secret Doc-trine, where the researcher can find the esotericmeaning:

Now, the primordial system, the double glyphthat underlies the idea of the cross, is not of“human invention,” for Cosmic Ideation andthe spiritual representation of the DivineEgo-man are at its basis. Later, it expandedinto the beautiful idea adopted by, and rep-resented in, the Mysteries, that of regener-ated man, the mortal, who, by crucifying theman of flesh and his [sexual] passions on theProcrustean bed of torture, became reborn asan Immortal [emphasis mine]. Leaving thebody, the animal-man, behind him, tied on

the Cross of Initiation like an empty chrysa-lis, the Ego-Soul [Manas per se and Buddhi-Manas] became as free as a butterfly. ��

��

This is the esoteric interpretation of the man nailedto the cross, where even the nails take on a phallicmeaning, the cross being an ancient symbol. The“crucifixion” in the Golgatha-story of the New Testa-ment had the same idea, as it was plagiarized fromthe Egyptian Mysteries (most of the teachings in theNew Testament being taken from these Mysteries asthe Alexandrian Library with its many exoteric andesoteric papyri existed close by, and thereby providedmaterial for the “think tank” of the Secret Service ofthe Zealots). After this symbolical, but importantprocedure, by which the neophyte had to take him-self off the cross, he was asked to step into the emptysarcophagus and lay down. Now the last trial properbegan.

The neophyte was a master of the discipline of RoyalYoga, which he had learned at the Mystery schoolsof Abydos, Busiris, and Saqqara, and he promptlywent into the state of Dhyana (contemplation). Whenhe was at the fourth division of the “Realm of theUnconscious” (the autonomic brain and nerve sys-tem or as the Theosophists call it: the “Astral plane”):

[T]he Egyptian Hierophant [the Initiator]evoked and guided Chemnu, the “lovely spec-tre,” the female Frankenstein-creation of old,raised for the torture and test of the soul-power of the candidate for initiation, simul-taneously with the last agonising cry of histerrestrial [sexual] nature. ��

Chemnu was tragically depicted as the sinister fe-male “Dweller of the Threshold” in the famous workof Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Zanoni, a book valuedhighly by learned Theosophists and Esotericists.Bulwer-Lytton “must have got the idea from someEastern Initiate” �� . This “Dweller” forcedthe failing neophyte Glyndon into the state of the“Grand Mal” (mal comes from the Latin word malum— evil, bad) of Epilepsy.

But our neophyte had been tested many times duringhis stay in the Mystery schools by the priests whohad ordered some lovely girls in their temple-serviceto try to tempt the candidate. Knowing that it wouldbe the end of the initiation-training if he would fallto temptation, he resisted their advances. Thus theneophyte in trance rejected the “lovely spectre”Chemnu by his will and strong Yoga-concentration,and Chemnu faded away from his realm of theUnconscious (Astral plane), disappearing for good.

Next the initiator created lovely scenes of a harmoni-ous family-life in front of the inner eye of the candi-


60 FOHAT

James Morgan PryseRobert Bruce MacDonald

From Theosophical Quarterly, E.T. Hargrove, oneof W.Q. Judge’s most trusted followers had the

following to say concerning James Morgan Pryse:

James Pryse was really devoted to Judge atthat time, winning all hearts that felt as hedid, my own included. He wrote in Judge’sdefence, and, later, in tribute to Judge’smemory, with a simple and beautiful elo-quence which is as moving to-day as when itflowed from the depths of his soul. . . . ��

��

Hargrove then included the following memoriam byPryse to Judge:

. . . In his recognition of the presence of theDivine in all things, and in his patient accep-tance of existing conditions, lay the strengthof William Q. Judge. Memories of the ancientglories of mankind were his, and visions stillmore glorious of man’s distant future; yet heworked contentedly with the homely materi-als at hand, told the old truths in a new wayadapted to the times, simply, unpreten-tiously, and neither offending against thespirit of the age nor making those truthsappear commonplace and ignoble. He knewthe workings of the human heart and mindapart from all the changing conditions ofcivilizations; and he reconciled the dreamymysticism of the East with the surging activ-ity of the West. Ignoring the external phasesof life, he strove, not to bring about a returnto the ancient order of things, but to restorethe essential principles of religion which hadbecome obscured in this age of transition, sothat out of the confused elements of themighty West a nobler system might beformed, and a loftier temple to Truth bebuilded, than ever Antiquity knew.

To this end he patiently toiled and taught,unweariedly. Against all the adverse condi-tions of this crude age of conflicting forces,against the treachery of friends, and againstthe opposition of the powers that war againstman’s spiritual progress, he finished thework that was given him to do, even thoughthe results of that work still lie in the distantfuture.

When the Gnosis is known once more amongmen; when the temple of the Mysteries isrestored; when, turning from all eidolons,

men become as of old, adorers of the Beauti-ful, the True, and find within themselves thatdivine nature which this dark age has hidden,then it will be recognized that the strong handof William Q. Judge prepared the ground andgathered the material for that mystic templefor which any building of marble or granitecan be no more than a symbol.

In his death he triumphed. As, in many anancient legend, the dead hero becomes a starin the heavens, so in the apotheosis of thishero let us see the star that foretells the Dawnof a new day of the Sacred Mysteries on thisthe newest and yet the oldest of earth’s con-tinents. ��

Although Pryse won the hearts of many Judge sup-porters with his courageous fight, Hargrove alsopointed out elsewhere that “James M. Pryse (thoughnow he belittles Judge and all others, except himself)at that time was pro-Judge. He was courageous, butunfortunately carried no weight whatever because ofhis advertized psychism and general crankiness” �� . It seems that Pryse came by his psychismhonestly.

James Morgan Pryse was born to a Welsh family. Hisfather—Rev. James Morgan Pryse—was a member ofthe Welsh Order of Druid Bards. He spent time as achild, in the Welsh community that he grew up in,listening to stories of fairies and other elementalbeings. From the Welsh, a mystical people, he wasfamiliar with the psychic world. This familiarity hascome to be associated with Pryse through some ofthe autobiographical accounts written by him overthe years. However, Pryse was far more than adabbler in the realms of the psychic; his life and worklend proof to an insightful soul.

In addition to his regular grammar school education,he studied Greek and Latin with his father. Laterwhen passing through High School he continued tostudy Greek and also began to read Law. Afterleaving school he leant his energy to many occupa-tions—he taught school, practiced photography andprinting, ran a newspaper, practiced law, worked atvarious jobs in the publishing business, ran anorchard, and wrote many articles and books. Duringthe years leading up to 1891, Pryse also becamefamiliar with Theosophy, studied Sanskrit, andworked closely with Judge and Blavatsky in gettingout Blavatsky’s E.S. Instructions, first in New York

FALL 2000 61

through the Aryan Press which he helped start, andlater in London through the founding of the H.P.B.Press. At about the time of the break in the Societyin 1894, Pryse began to write in earnest.

In addition to articles submitted to various journals,Pryse published such works as The Sermon on theMount, Reincarnation in the New Testament, TheMagical Message According to Iôannês, The Apoca-lypse Unsealed, The Restored New Testament,Prometheus Bound, and The Adorers of Dionysos.With his knowledge of Greek and his background inesoteric philosophy, Pryse was able in these worksto divine the inner meanings of the text and providethe reader with an understanding of the ancientmysteries that is not to be found elsewhere. Prysesomehow was able to cut through over 2000 years ofpriestly babble and nonsense and get to the heart ofthe works that he translated and commented on.These works show Pryse at the height of his intuitivepower and are perhaps his greatest legacy.

While modern usage of the term Dionysus has cometo centre around wine, drunkenness and lack ofrestraint, Pryse gives us a much different under-standing. Theosophically we understand that relig-ions degenerate as they get older, as anything, andwhile modern writers centre their comments aroundthe degenerated aspect of this god, Pryse looked atDionysus in his spiritual sense. From The Adorersof Dionysos, Pryse writes:

Dionysos (the Babylonian Di�unisi), “theGreat Judge of Man,” who first appears in thePromethean myth as Epaphos, “Touch,” theson of Io, conceived from the Breath of Zeus,and next as Herakles, the son of Zeus whoperforms the twelve great labors of initiationand delivers Prometheus, and then again in

the Kadmean myth as the son of Zeus andSemele, a daughter of Kadmos, isPrometheus himself, the Self of man that hasto undergo “woes infinite and toils incredible”before achieving final liberation from thebondage of physical existence. Dionysos is,in fact, Prometheus Freed. Yet, paradoxi-cally, the Divine Self is always “the Free,” andit is only through its lower self, the man ashe is on earth, that he is in bondage. There-fore that lower self, to gain liberation, mustbecome one with its “Free Father” who is inHeaven, the Spiritual World. That is why theworshippers of Dionysos are said to haveaspired to become one with him, thus differ-entiating him from all the other Gods. Hencethe follower of Dionysos who had achievedthis mystic union could truly say, “I and theFather are one.”

It is not by belief in, or worship of any of themany “Gods” sprung from human fancy, noteven when one of them comes to be regardedas the one and only God, that man gainsemancipation from earth-life. Nor does heupon the death of his physical body pass into“eternity,” or enter into an endless state ofheavenly bliss. Whatever religion he mayadhere to, and whatever dreams he may in-dulge in during the dream-state after death,he must of a certainty return to earth.Whether he “believes” in evolution or not, heis caught in its mighty current, with a longseries of earth-lives behind him and manyothers to come. Only two courses lie beforehim, and he may make his choice of them: hemay either move along slowly with the vastherd of humanity, who will reach the goal ofperfection only after ages of mundane exist-ence, or he may ascend by a short-cut, diffi-cult indeed to climb, by purifying his lowernature and putting forth all his intellectualand intuitive powers in the pursuit of spiri-tual wisdom, aspiring to attain the mysticunion with his “Free Father,” his own death-less Self.

In brief, the story of Kadmos is that of a manwho became weary of the petty earthly exist-ence to which the consciousness of the herdof mankind is limited, and resolved to devotehis whole soul to the quest for wisdom. Hemade himself morally pure, subduing all hislower propensities, and acquired four of thefive great virtues, including “righteousness.”The fifth virtue, “holiness,” would havebrought him under the direct guidance of hisSpiritual Self, and given him the key to thedivine wisdom. But he failed. His righteous-ness hardened into self-righteousness,

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62 FOHAT

whereupon he became a bigot, and his basernature, which he had placed under restraint,became rampant. Then followed his terribledownfall; and this it is that makes Euripedes’greatest drama, for all its beauty and themany touches of humour with which he hasskilfully brightened it, replete with horrors.But though Kadmos fails in the perfectivework, his spiritual Self, “the Judge of Man,”while calling him strictly to account, giveshim assurance that when, in future earth-lives, he has atoned for his bigotry, he shallfinally succeed and become a deathless initi-ate in the Divine Mysteries. �� )��

This failing by way of self-righteousness during theinitiation process is present in much of Pryse’s writ-ings as he writes extensively on this initiation theme.After the death of Blavatsky and in the ensuing years,this self-righteousness reared its ugly head againand again through many people, ultimately destroy-ing most of what Blavatsky had tried to accomplish.Despite rules of the esoteric section warning againstmembers drawing attention to psychic powers, Pryseon a number of occasions wrote about his ownpsychic experiences. One such experience talks ofthe breakdown of the Society after Blavatsky’s death.

Pryse recounts an episode he had with Blavatskywhere Blavatsky tried to reprove Pryse for thinkingthat Annie Besant was an unworthy successor toH.P.B. Pryse writes:

When I awoke next morning and sat up pre-paratory to jumping out of bed I saw a writtenpage in the air in front of me. I recognizedH.P.B.’s writing and guessed that she meantto reprove me for doubting Mrs. Besant’sfitness to become her successor; so I refusedto read the writing. At that she sent a pow-erful electric current up my spine to compelme to read the writing. Then, as I obstinatelyrefused to read it, she spoke to me audibly,saying that I was wrong in my estimate ofMrs. Besant, who was her “personal pupil”and would do great things for the Society. Iheld to my original opinion, but said nothing.Immediately after dressing I went to Mr.Mead’s office, and right afterward H.P.B.came in from an adjoining room. . . . She thenasked me why I had not been in the drawing-room for several evenings past, but when Istarted to explain that I had been doing nightwork on the Instructions, she threw out herarms and gazed fixedly into space. Her facetook on a look of horror and she uttered a

half-suppressed scream and cried, “No! no!”.She was seeing a vision, and standing besideher I saw it too, not visually, but as a seriesof vivid mental pictures. That vision fore-shadowed the fate of the T.S. after her death:the dismemberment of the Society, the de-plorable doings of its misguided members,and the fakery, falsification and folly of thevarious factions. �*+#��!"��!,� ��*

Pryse of course implies here that Besant was one ofthe misguided members of the vision, and thatBlavatsky was being shown that she was indeed nota worthy successor. This is not the only psychicincident that Pryse recounts in the above article. Hewrites of how closely “the psychic and the physicalworlds are conjoined” �*+#��!"��!,� �� and how as achild it was sometimes difficult for him to separatethe two. He speaks of becoming acquainted withJudge “in the astral” �*+#��!"��!,� ��. He becameconvinced that Paracelsus was once again incar-nated and when meditating on Paracelsus, discov-ered that Blavatsky was the reincarnation ofParacelsus, when he had his astral body drawn tothe presence of Blavatsky and the Master M. inLondon. He writes also of lending Blavatsky some ofhis vitality when she was gravely ill and almostcertain to die, despite being cautioned that it wasblack magic, and how later a re-embodied Blavatskypaid back that loan of vitality when Pryse was himselfin an exhausted condition. Although all of this talkabout psychic powers might be seen as a cause forcriticism by other Theosophists, it seems Pryse wasnot condemned, at least to his face. In an unpub-lished letter in Edmonton Theosophical Society’sarchives dated February 23, 1936, he writes:

I anticipated a storm of criticism over myMemorabilia of H. P. B., but instead I havereceived only commendation. The variousalleged reincarnations of H. P. B. all peteredout foolishly. She did not need to reincarnatewhen the Master and his Chelas found a newbody for her, as the Master hinted that hewould do in Mahatma Letters.†

I contributed to the Canadian Theosophistbecause Mr. Smythe is an old friend and theCanadians have kept to the Blavatsky tradi-tion.

Despite his devotion to Blavatsky and knowledge ofher warnings about the dangers of psychism, Prysestill felt drawn by the psychic world, and by his ownaccount dabbled in it.

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FALL 2000 63

Anita Atkins — Sylvia Cranston*

December 12, 1915 - June 20, 2000

To the world, she was known as Sylvia Cranston andto her theosophical friends and community world-wide she was our most humble Anita Atkins. Bornon December 12, 1915, Anita spent her early yearsliving off the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, NewYork. Her parents both attended meetings at TheUnited Lodge of Theosophists in New York City.Anita’s introduction into the philosophy of Theoso-phy came from her father’s reports of the meetingshe attended. Anita always stated that her “soulsoared” each and every time her father returned homefrom a theosophical meeting. Anita would ask herfather to tell her of every idea that had been presentedduring the lectures. Due to Anita’s extreme shyness,it took her many months before she could bringherself to attend her first public theosophical meet-ing, to which she was accompanied by her parents.After this first meeting, there was no turning Anitaaway. From that day on the young teenager, still inhigh school, attended every possible meeting.

During Anita Atkins’ lifetime, she wrote and publish-ed five wonderful books, introducing hundreds ofthousands of individuals worldwide to the ideas ofTheosophy through reincarnation. These works are:Reincarnation an East - West Anthology, Reincarna-tion in World Thought, Reincarnation: The Phoenix FireMystery, Reincarnation a New Horizon in Science,Religion & Society, and H.P.B., The Extraordinary Life& Influence of Helena Blavatsky, Founder of TheModern Theosophical Movement. The first three vol-umes have become known as the Head & CranstonAnthologies, while the last two were with the effortsof Carey Williams. It has been an established policythat all the royalties earned by these volumes only beused to purchase the books back and donate them tolibraries worldwide. The policy still being honored isthat not one penny shall ever be for personal use, butonly to promote the ideas of Theosophy through thesevolumes in order to aid suffering humanity.

Anita Atkins spent her whole working life at TheUnited Lodge of Theosophists - New York City, the5cents and 10cents Store, and Eastern News Dis-tributors. Never married, she chose to direct herefforts towards humanity through her lectures forvarious theosophical groups and organizations,teaching Theosophy School at ULT, as well as partici-pating in innumerable radio interviews and somemajor television interviews. To many researchers andacademics in the world, Sylvia Cranston has becomea respected authority in the field of Reincarnation.Today her books are still available in multiple lan-

guages throughout the world, remaining as a beaconlight for individuals searching for soul-knowledge ontheir chosen path of life.

Throughout Anita’s lifetime she read every word everwritten by HPB many times. One keynote struck outas a call for Anita to serve Theosophy. This was HPB’saddress to the fourth American Convention in 1890.HPB stated:

What I said last year remains true today, thatis, that the Ethics of Theosophy are moreimportant than any divulgement of psychiclaws and facts. The latter relate wholly to thematerial and evanescent part of the septenaryman, but the Ethics sink into and take holdof the real man—the reincarnating Ego. Weare outwardly creatures of but a day; withinwe are eternal. Learn, then, well the doctrinesof Karma and Reincarnation, and teach, prac-tice, promulgate that system of life andthought which alone can save the comingraces. Do not work merely for the Theosophi-cal Society [or ULT], but through it for Human-ity.

Anita’s heart was pierced by this proclamation, so atthe age of sixteen, she began compiling what greatthinkers, writers, artists, and composers had to sayon the subject of death and reincarnation throughouthistory. The idea came to Anita to compile an appen-dix to a friend’s book on the subject of reincarnationwhich she had volunteered to type. This appendixgrew into a volume of its own. Mrs. Grace Clough ofthe ULT - Los Angeles, advised Anita upon her visitthere to select a pen name and have her appendixpublished as a separate book. Grace Clough thenselected Sylvia Cranston as the nom-de-plume ofAnita Atkins. The first four Cranston anthologies onreincarnation, were published by Crown Publishers,and the fifth volume, H.P.B., The Extraordinary Life& Influence of Helena Blavatsky, was originally pub-lished by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, both of New York.Today these books are in print within various theo-sophical and non-theosophical publishing houses.

Anita Atkins is survived by her faithful brother,friend, and companion “Bob” (A. Edgar) Atkins. Hestood by Anita and was invaluable through both hismoral and financial support. At the age of seventy-nine he formed Path Publishing House along withCaren M. Elin to keep the HPB biography in print. Inthe future, this biography will appear online.

THEOSOPHICAL FRIENDS REMEMBERED

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64 FOHAT

The lifetime work of Anita Atkins shall continue to becarried on through the efforts of her faithful friend,companion, and co-author Carey Williams. The newand uncompleted sixth volume started by Cranstonand Williams shall be completed in the future.

Anita Atkins selected to depart this lifetime on theSummer Solstice, June 20, 2000, while residing inSanta Barbara, California. The last six years of herlife were spent advising Carey Williams regardingpublishing, and the contents of her lectures andarticles while enjoying the magnificent coastline andpanoramic views of the Santa Barbara area. It wasAnita’s undying wish that the ideas of Theosophy be

used to benefit Humanity through gentle acts ofservice, beginning with those who cross our pathdaily — family, friends, and co-workers. An addi-tional wish was for all of the Theosophical groups andindependent individuals to work symbiotically for theTheosophical Movement and through it to benefitHumanity.

Anita Atkins never wished any acknowledgements forher lifetime of selfless work, and now that she hasdeparted the scene, I believe many join me in sayingthank you Anita for a lifetime of selfless devotion tothe Theosophical Movement and to Humanity.

Caren M. Elin

A Few Memories of Anita Atkins

I first met Anita Atkins in New York, at the Centennialof the Theosophical Society on November 17, 1975.Boris de Zirkoff, a key speaker at the Convention,introduced Anita to me, along with Joseph Pope,co-author of her earlier books on Reincarnation.Under the pen names Joseph Head and S.L. (laterSylvia) Cranston, they collaborated on several titles.We met in the lounge, where I was struck by Anita’spoised and quiet dignity. A New York U.L.T. member,she never pushed herself forward, but in her ownnon-partisan way encouraged all genuine Theosophi-cal efforts. Boris had shared numerous resourceswith Anita in his process of compiling and editing theBlavatsky Collected Writings series; she likewiseshared her archival findings with him. In time, Anitawas instrumental in opening up an archive of H.P.B.’sLetters which she had the Harvard University An-dover Archivist send to me after Boris’ passing. Sherealized he would have wished it to become part ofthe Collected Letters series in the future.

As our correspondence grew over the years, Anitabecame very supportive of my efforts to compile achronological sequence of William Quan Judge’s writ-ings. She helped verify dates for introductory notesand even sent me several rare photographs of Judge,which appeared in the third volume of Echoes of theOrient �'��( -��! '%" � ��.

In the Spring of 1978, she stayed with us whilevisiting California for an interview about her bookson reincarnation with Tom Snyder of “The TomorrowShow”. I remember her delight on a road trip throughthe wildflowers and Joshua trees in the high desertareas north of Los Angeles. She and her assistant,Caren Elin, also had several visits with Boris deZirkoff, before he died on March 4��, 1981.

Originally Joy Mills and I had hoped Anita mightcooperate in completing the still unedited H.P.B.Letters which Boris de Zirkoff had willed to the T.S.of America (Wheaton) along with the remainder of his

unpublished H.P.B. manuscripts, and archives.However, failing health plus a commitment to focuson her H.P.B. biography, caused her to relinquishthe project. Later Joy, Anita and I responded to JohnCooper’s interest in taking on the work which heproceeded with until his unexpected death on May12, 1998 at the University of Sydney.

Our closest contact with Anita was during the proof-reading of The Extraordinary Life and Influence ofHelena Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophi-cal Movement, which came out in hardcover in 1993.Bob Atkins, Anita’s Brother, and Caren Elin (herfriend from New York U.L.T. days) began to assist inthe arrangements, due to Anita’s failing health.Caren also saw into press a 2 �, as well as a morerecent �� 3�� edition in paperback. Reincarnation:the Phoenix Fire Mystery came out in 1977 �.�/� ��0��;published subsequently in paperback by PasadenaT.S. press �&1'� in 1994. With joint author, CareyWilliams, Anita’s title Reincarnation: a New Horizonin Science, Religion, and Society came out in 1993�&#� ��2!� 1��3#� �(4 '�# � '! !5#�!� !��6��!�.

About this time Bob Atkins formed Path PublishingCompany to help keep Anita’s titles in print. BobAtkins also funded full-sized advertisements in theNew York Times on H.P.B. and Anita’s works. Anitahad developed Parkinson’s disease, although main-taining her clear thinking for a number of years.During these busy years of re-issues, Caren arrangedto have Anita transferred to a very lovely nursinghome in Santa Barbara, where she could help see toher proper care. During those last years we saw Anitathere several times before her passing on June 20,2000. She always seemed amiable and cheerful de-spite being in a wheelchair. Caren says she diedpeacefully, without much pain. A worthy soul towhom the world is indebted for the first full-scale,well-researched biography of Helena PetrovnaBlavatsky.

Dara Eklund

* * * * *

FALL 2000 65

Dorothy Armstrong

April 7, 1908 - June 26, 2000

Dorothy Armstrong passed awaypeacefully the night of June 26��,marking the end of a long, healthy,enjoyable and peaceful life.

Dorothy Alice Hope was born in Cal-gary, Alberta and grew up in theCapilano area of North Vancouver,BC where she taught school until

her marriage to Alex Armstrong in 1938. They livedin various cities and towns in western British Colum-bia. In every new community she founded Book Clubsand kindergartens, and was very generous in donat-ing her time and expertise by giving night classes inleatherwork and art. While teaching school in PortAlberni she pioneered classes for gifted children.

Dorothy came from a family of theosophists andpatterned her life on Theosophical teachings. In herearly years she studied with Mrs. Hannah Buchanan,a respected student of The Secret Doctrine and long-time president of Vancouver Lodge. After Dorothy andAlex moved to Victoria in 1968 Dorothy became anactive member of Victoria Lodge and served terms aslibrarian, treasurer, and president.

In April 1989 the members of Edmonton TS feltprivileged when Dorothy agreed to come for her firstvisit to Edmonton. She offered to deliver two lectures:Zen Art and Theosophy, and Flower Symbols. Dorothywas an avid photographer. The Flower Symbols pres-entation included slides of flowers which progressed

in complexity and number of petals. She describedthe corresponding symbolism of the numbers andshapes of each. Both presentations were videotapedand we are grateful to have them in our collection.Sadly, two weeks after her return home, Alex passedaway on April 22 �.

Dorothy had many talents. She also did watercolourpainting and china painting. Some of us were hon-oured to receive oriental motif watercolour piecesdone on rice paper. She continues to live on amongus in her art in our homes.

Dorothy was also an avid camper and one of her manyfriends, Marian Thompson, described it as “a joy tocamp with Dorothy on her property at Chesterman’sBeach near Tofino” (on the west side of VancouverIsland). These camping and hiking excursions, to-gether with several trips to Hawaii, one of her favoriteplaces to visit, presented numerous opportunities forDorothy to photograph the beautiful scenery andwildflowers she enjoyed so much.

Mrs. Thompson wrote that having thoroughly en-joyed Dorothy’s company in this lifetime, she is look-ing forward to spending more time with her in futureincarnations. Those of us privileged enough to haveknown Dorothy concur with this aspiration to getre-acquainted with her eventually.

Dorothy is survived by her daughters Merilynn andWendy and their families.

Rogelle Pelletier

Dorothy Abbenhouse

February 21, 1915 - June 10, 2000

During the summer of 1982 andagain in 1984, our family had thepleasure of spending some time atCamp Indralaya on Orcas Island,Washington. That is where we be-came acquainted with John andDorothy Abbenhouse. Much ofDorothy’s theosophical involvementhad its roots at this site.

Dorothy was a Canadian who came across Theosophyin Vancouver, British Columbia. While at Camp In-dralaya she met John, whom she married in 1941.Together they devoted their lives to theosophicalendeavors. They were both closely involved with Se-attle Lodge, doubling as part-time caretakers of theCamp until 1972 when they became resident manag-

ers. Shortly thereafter Dorothy also became involvedwith The Theosophical Society in America at thenational level, serving on the Board of Directors from1975-1981. She was elected to the position of vice-president in 1981 and 1984. In 1987 she was electedPresident, in which capacity she served for six yearsat TS in America headquarters in Wheaton, Illinois.At the end of her term, Dorothy and John returnedto Orcas Island.

Dorothy had a wonderful smile and appeared to bevery much in her element at Camp. We trust she willenjoy her devachanic Indralaya.

Rogelle Pelletier

7'�#! # �#6#� (� �� 8#(#�"#�)92(�"#� �� 6��

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66 FOHAT

Musings From

A Secret Doctrine Class

A Student

The ancient tradition places man currently some-where between the dark world of ignorance and the

world of spiritual wisdom. Although spiritual doubtand uncertainty dominates this age, mankind need notdespair. The dark and narrow valley that world civili-zations find themselves in is simply our present pathwhich will fall behind as we engage the next slope onour way to the next summit. H.P. Blavatsky’s SecretDoctrine reminds us of how far we have come. Shestates more than once that The Secret Doctrine containsnothing new but rather is a collection and organizationof the ancient wisdom. To the Western Mind, The SecretDoctrine contained material that had become over timelittle more than a distant and vague memory. For thosewho were open and persevered, however, The SecretDoctrine rang true. When Blavatsky sums up the firstseven Stanzas of Dzyan, we are given a thumbnailsketch of a vast and complex cosmogony.

Blavatsky first reminds us that the cosmogony of theancients’ Secret Doctrine has been tested and inde-pendently verified by Seer after Seer since the beginningof the Age that began with the Fifth Race. These WiseMen have been “learning, not teaching” and only afterdeveloping and perfecting “their physical, mental, psy-chic, and spiritual organisations to the utmost possibledegree” ��#"��. Wisdom cannot be taught. By readingand re-reading The Secret Doctrine, we can fill our brainswith all sorts of archaic facts and figures, but if we wantto really learn and then verify what we have read, wemust re-organize and perfect our very beings from thephysical to the spiritual. How do we do this?

To know Nature, we must become one with Nature.Blavatsky next writes on the fundamental Law of theUniverse. She writes that “the central point from whichall emerged, around and toward which all gravitates,and upon which is hung the philosophy of the rest, isthe One homogeneous divine S/"��01-P+2�02�31,the one radical cause” ��#"��. Further on she writes that“[i]ts impersonality is the fundamental conception of theSystem” ��#"�� and lies latent in every atom. This is ourclue. We must bring forth that latent impersonality sothat our actions benefit the Universal rather than thedesires of the particular, for every act that helps theparticular to realize the latent universal Reality withinis a compassionate act of and for Nature.

To bring forth the impersonal we must understand thatthe Universe “is the periodical manifestation of thisunknown Absolute Essence” (Substance-Principle)��#"��. However, to try and conceptualize this Sub-stance-Principle as an Essence is to do IT harm, for IT

cannot have any BEING for the human intellect. Wecan conceptualize Spirit and Matter, however IT isneither but rather both. The philosophy is non-dual,with REALITY being unconditioned and absolute. TheWise Man comes to understand that the dualism ofSpirit and Matter imply periodicity which implieschange and this is not the REAL.

The REAL is eternal and immutable. The Wise Manbegins to sense this unchanging center within andbecomes dissatisfied with “evanescent ever-changingforms” ��#"�� and begins to identify himself with theONE. The manifested Universe, playground and realityof all conscious beings, is no longer satisfying.

The Wise Man next senses that everything in the Uni-verse is endowed with its own kind of consciousnesswhether atom or god or anything in between. All mani-fested things are the projection of a kind of conscious-ness and move according to universal Laws inherentwithin it. The manifested being is but a momentaryprojection of the consciousness that guides it and con-sequently less real than that consciousness. The con-sciousness is the Universal within and is much moreappealing than the particular that lasts but a moment.

From this the Wise Man sees that the “Universe isworked and guided from within outwards” ��#"�� withman being in his composition a microcosm of the mac-rocosm. Understanding this relation between man andthe universe and witnessing that for man “every externalmotion, act, gesture, whether voluntary or mechanical,organic or mental, is produced and preceded by internalfeeling or emotion, will or volition, and thought or mind”��#"��, he knows it must likewise be so with the Uni-verse. This implies a hierarchy of sentient Beings givingrise to the manifested Universe through a consciousexpression of universal Law making these beings truly“the agents of Karmic and Cosmic Laws” ��#"��. Eachman also belongs to a hierarchy and if he would be aco-worker with Nature, he must do the work of thathierarchy. Each man must become “devoid of the feel-ing of personality and of the human emotional nature”��#"4� and the adept who is still limited by an earthlybody achieves this impersonal state by keeping “his twopersonalities—the spiritual and the physical—entirelyseparated” ��#"4�. This separation can only be achieved,as was pointed out, by perfecting the “physical, mental,psychic, and spiritual organizations to the utmost de-gree” ��#"��. The Secret Doctrine is not a collection ofarcane facts and figures, it is nothing less than an arrowpointing the way to the perfect man that lies latent ineach one of us.

FALL 2000 67

spheres and planes, and therefore it mani-fests on these lower planes at first but feeblyits latent transcendent powers. We must notmisunderstand the meaning of this to be thatthe Monad is something which is destined inthe future to become spirit, and now at thispresent stage of its evolutionary journey isnot yet a spirit. . . . It must be considered tobe a spirit-point, which, during the course ofits evolutionary journey in the realms of mat-ter, clothes itself in its own rays of light, andthese rays of light are what we call the ‘souls’in which it vestures itself. But as each suchsoul or ray is rooted in this spirit-center, thesoul or ray has in the core of its being the verynature of the mother-spirit.��

G. de P. then compares the thought of Heraclitus whodescribes this aggregate of Monads as a flowingstream of evolving entities. To this flow we mayattribute the urge to perfection we find in man. Whileaggregates of evolving beings do coalesce to formvarious races and nationalities because of similarkarmic unfoldment, this is not a static condition.The individual monads working through thosegroups evolve and change their consciousness. Theymay perfect these vehicles and even supersede them.

During a lecture in the temple of Peace at Point Loma,G. de P. was asked if man will eventually succeed inevolving an enduring civilization to withstand theravages of time. By way of reply G. de P. asked,“Would you want our civilization, as it now is, toendure forever? . . . What a prospect of crystalizedimmobility!” he added, pointing to Nature’s cyclicalprocesses, and emphasizing that “when anythinghas run its course, it vanishes away, leaving theground free for something better and higher.”��

Amidst all these states of consciousness expressedby the river of life, and all these streams which enterthe great Ocean of the manifest, how does one realizethe immovable, the incorruptible in everyday con-sciousness? In his article “Spiritual Gifts and theirAttainment”, Mr. Judge states that such endow-ments, including gifts of prophecy, performing mir-acles, or other transcendental powers are not thehighest form of human perfection. Strictly speakingthey are not “gifts”, but “fruits” of past labors, inher-ent as the birthright of all men, but achieved onlythrough individual effort, by taking destiny into ourown hands. We must start from where we now are.In the manifold nature of man are aspirations for amore noble, a purer life, and hunger for truth. Thesestem from the Divine within and promote the quali-ties an adept strives for. Few are fit, Judge states, toforce the process:

We must be content to wait and work; to growand develop; line upon line, precept uponprecept . . . till, ages hence perhaps, we cometo the full stature of the perfect man.�

Yet, he adds a very practical suggestion to engage innow:

Every impulse from above, every promptingof the Divine within, should meet at once witha hearty welcome and response. If you feelas if something urged you to visit some sickor afflicted neighbor or friend, obey the sug-gestion without delay. If the wish to turn overa new leaf comes into the lower conscious-ness, don’t wait till next New Year’s beforeactually turning it over; turn it now. . . . Inshort, put yourself at once in line with theDivine ways, in harmony with the Divinelaws.�

Judge has provided a detailed outline for the processof spiritual development in “An Epitome of Theoso-phy.”�� First, one must establish the supremacy ofthe highest spiritual element in our nature, thisbeing attained along four lines:

a. By eradicating all selfishness and cultiva-ting the good of others.

b. At the same time, by cultivating the innerman through meditation or communion withthe divine; described by Patanjali as “theincessant striving to an ideal end.”

c. By subordinating the lower material inter-ests and desires and,

d. By careful performance of every duty be-longing to one’s station in life and leavingresults for Divine Law.

Then Judge speaks of a higher course of training bywhich the internal faculties are aroused and thendeveloped, which eventually leads to Adeptship andexalted stages of Mahatmaship — Rishis, sages andeven Dhy ni-Chohans after many incarnations andinitiations.

He further postulates that this self-devised effortwhile governed by the individual, is not unaided.Even a mere intellectual acquaintance with Theoso-phy serves to fit one for the next step upward asoutlined by the four lines of spiritual culture. Allsteps lead to a point in evolution known as “a mo-ment of choice”, when the soul decides its futuredestiny between eternal life and death; that moment

being comprised of all moments.

In Chapter XII of the Bhagavad-Gita,�� Krishna de-clares that “the path which is not manifest is withdifficulty attained by corporeal beings.” Yet Krishna

a

. . . Perfect continued from page 56

.

68 FOHAT

shows Arjuna that if their thoughts are turned to thehighest they transcend the ocean of incarnation anddeath. He urges Arjuna to: “Place, then, thy heart onme, penetrate me with thy understanding, and thou

shalt without doubt hereafter dwell in me. . . . If afterconstant practice, thou art still unable, follow me byactions performed for me; for by doing works for methou shalt attain perfection.”

ENDNOTES

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date, but the latter was not interested. Then he wastempted—if he was a son of the Pharaoh—on whetherhe would be able to decline the offer of the King to bea Co-Regent and the field marshal of an army. Fur-thermore, he noticed that the most beautiful womenof Egypt desired to be his concubines. But by know-ing the fact that all too often power was being mis-used to the detriment of the people, he refused theproposition.

He was then given the chance to become the mainpriest of a temple. During his studies at the Mys-tery-schools, he had learned that some prieststurned to the Left Path and used black magic forselfish and evil purposes, i.e. for the acquisition ofmoney and influence. He knew about the black-magic blood cults of past civilizations (Atlantis),where priests as selfish and wicked “Initiates of the

Left Path” acquired unlawful knowledge of dealingwith the spiriti elementorum et terrae and had madean alliance, a “covenant” with them. Some of theseidols were the Priests’ own “thought-creations.” Butin order to maintain this “covenant,” these blackmagic-priests had to feed those idols with the bloodof humans and animals, which were ritually slaugh-tered in a very cruel way without stunning. Horror-stricken the neophyte declined this proposal and allthe other temptations which the initiator created infront of his “inner eye” on the Astral plane, in orderto test his attachment to physical life and things andsee if a “thirst for Life” (Tanha, Trishna, Abhinivesha)still existed in him.

These tests were relatively easy, and the candidatepassed them without much difficulty. But the worstand most dangerous test was still to come. The

. . . Pyramid continued from page 60

FALL 2000 69

initiator, as a hierophant of “WHITE MAGIC”, wouldnot do the following examination himself, but gavethis dirty work to some Nubian black-magician intheir service. Here is what Master Kuthumi saysabout this dangerous phase of the initiation-proce-dure:

[W]e—leave [the test] to our menials—thedugpas [Red Caps, Shammars] at our service,by giving them carte blanche for the timebeing, and with the sole object of drawing outthe whole inner nature of the chela, most ofthe nooks and corners of which, would re-main dark and concealed for ever, were notan opportunity afforded to test each of thesecorners in turn. Whether the chela wins orloses the prize—depends solely of himself.��

This terrible test has been described exoterically andveiled in many old scriptures, even here in America,where it can be found in the famous Popol Vuh, thesacred book of the Mayans. The Gilgamesh Epos hasit; it can be read intuitively in the New Testament.Here are some paragraphs of the probation of Gau-tama Buddha during the yogic state of Dhyana,taken from The Gospel of Buddha by Paul Carus:

The Holy One directed his steps to thatblessed Bodhi-tree beneath whose shade hewas to accomplish his search. [Bodhi: Bud-dhi or Bodhicitta; Gautama is about to prac-tice his daily Yoga-contemplation, going deepinto the divisions of the Realm of the Uncon-scious or Astral plane]. . . .

When he sat down the heavens resoundedwith joy and all living beings were filled withgood cheer.

Mara [Apap, Apophis, Devil] alone, lord of thefive desires, bringer of death and enemy oftruth, was grieved and rejoiced not. With histhree daughters, Tanha [thirst for life inphysical bodies, ignorance, craving for thingsand bodies and sensual contact with them,spiritual blindness], Raga [lust, desire, addic-tion, fun, excitement, clinging to a life offestivities, parties, desiring a political, mili-tary, business, science or church-career] andArati [hatred, revenge, vendetta, fanaticism,persecution of others, war, killing], thetempters, and with his host of evil demons,

he went to the place [in the Realm of theUnconscious, Astral plane], where the greatsamana sat. But Sakyamuni heeded himnot.

Mara uttered fear-inspiring threats. . . . Butthe Blessed One under the Bodhi-tree re-mained calm and feared not. The Enlight-ened One knew that no harm could befallhim.

The three daughters of Mara tempted theBodhisatta, but he paid no attention to them,and when Mara saw that he could kindle nodesire in the heart of the victorious samana,he ordered all the evil spirits at his commandto attack him and overawe the great muni.[Mara wanted to throw Gautama into thestate of the ‘Grand Mal of Epilepsy’].

But the Blessed One watched them as onewould watch the harmless games of children.All the fierce hatred of the evil spirits was ofno avail. The flames of hell became whole-some breezes of perfume, and the angrythunderbolts were changed into lotus-blos-soms.

When Mara saw this, he fled away with hisarmy from the Bodhi-tree. . . .

“As the rays of the sun drown the darknessof the world, so he who perseveres in hissearch will find the truth and the truth willenlighten him.” �� )��

One can see, that such a victory can only be achievedby mastering the discipline of Royal Yoga. The innerconcentration of the Higher Consciousness (Buddhi,Prajna, Bodhicitta, the Horus, Krishna and Christos-consciousness) in the state of Dhyana creates sucha powerful accumulation of solar energy (nuclearenergy, Fohat, Daiviprakriti, Phlogiston, Akasha)that it acts as an impenetrable fortress. Thus thearmy of Mara (Apap), the spectres, evil Khus, elemen-taries, buthas, and pisachas could not defeat Gau-tama, who then passed this terrible last trial andbecame a Buddha.

[Continued in next issue with a look at the ThreeVestures, the passing of the WORD, the EgyptianPhilosopher Kings, and the antiquity of the Pyramidsthemselves.]

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Again from The Adorers of Dionysos, Pryse writesabout the journey of the “seeker of wisdom” and howat one stage he must face the dangers of psychism:

The psychic world is now perceived by theman, and he succumbs to the glamour of thissecond world, the realm of Delusion. . . . Buthe is not now seeking the spiritual Mysteries;he is going forth to spy upon the psychicMysteries. Even in this venture he is guidedby his Divine Self; for there is in it a lesson oflife that he must learn. Now, however, hisdeluded mind holds a strangely distortedconception of that Self.

. . . He who out of mere curiosity, or havingno loftier motive than to satisfy the cravingfor knowledge and power to be selfishly em-ployed, seeks to explore the psychic realm ofconsciousness will either fail at the outset,merely beclouding his mind with “occult”puerilities, akin to imbecility, or he will be-come an obtruder in a world of unbalancedforces, whereby he will be subjected to dan-gerous delusions, akin to madness and oftenleading thereto. This course, thus followedin the pursuit of knowledge, apart from wis-dom, is the very reverse of that which leadsto the comprehension of the mysteries of life.Purity, unselfishness, serenity of soul,breadth of mind, and deep reverence for thedivine Powers in Nature that are ever makingfor holiness and perfection, must be acquiredby him who would pass through the portalsof the Mysteries.

. . . By rashly venturing to spy upon psychicmysteries, forcing himself into the realm ofdelusions, the man becomes the prey of hisown distraught psychic nature. His innerSelf has led him on, and seemingly betrayshim to the frenzied forces of his elementalself; for it is only by the most terrible experi-ences that the man can be purged from thepollution of his self-righteousness. His vi-cious egoism is thus destroyed by the veryelements from which it was developed.�� )��

Writers often write from their own experience. Wasthis Pryse’s experience? Was he a Kadmos battlingto purify his lower nature? Did he have a curiositywith the psychic Mysteries that he had to overcome?Did this battle play a role in changing his perceptionof Judge, exemplified by his written defences in the1890s and his belittling of Judge later in his life? DidPryse’s baser nature finally begin to assert itself?

James Morgan Pryse walked a difficult road. Bornwith psychic abilities and the inherent attraction tothat world and also his attraction to Theosophy andthe Truths outlined therein, he had to learn to temperhis psychic nature and to struggle closer to hisSpiritual Nature. How successfully he accomplishedthis, only he knows—however, we all know that thework that he did for the Society and individualTheosophists, and the writings he left behind are atestament of a truly remarkable man.

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. . . Pryse continued from page 63

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30hat is the Steed, 71wught is the 2?ider

,Jtis the "bridge" by which the ",Jdeas" existing in the "rnivine 71wught" are impressed on Cosmic substance as the "laws of ::Nature." 30hat is thus the dynamic eneroy of Cosmic ,Jdeation; or, regarded from the other side, it is the intelligent medium, the guiding power ofall mani~station. ... 7hus from Spirit, or Cosmic ,Jdeation, comes our consciousness; from Cosmic Substance the several vehicles in which that consciousness is individualized and attains to self - or r4f.ective - consciousness; while 30hat, in its various manifestations, is the mysterious link between ~ind and ~tter, the animating principle electrifying every atom into life. - Secret rnoctrine I, 16

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