ST U D I E S IN

B H A GA VA D G i T A:
By
f

T HE D REA M E R .

ct b i rb S e ri es .

T HE P AT H OF IN ITIATI ON .

LO N D ON
T i m T HE O S OPH XC A L P U BL I S H I N G S oc m r v '
.

e v Ac aw s

PE RCY L O N D . H u u m m xs Co .
, L111 ,

3. AME N CO RNE R E C , .

N E W YO R K : JOH N LA N E .

CH I C AGO T HE T H E OS O PH ICAL B oon CONCE RN

 FO R T H CO M I N G OF T H E CEN T RE S

T R I PL ICIT Y T H E CE NT R E S
'

OF

P RA V RI T T I MARGA

Q U A L IFICATIO N S FO R . D I SCI P L E S H I P

T H E R E AS O N S FO R T H E QU A L I FI CATIO N S

I NI T I Ar to Ns

T HE Y OGA OF WI S DOM

'
VII I
‘

. T HE D O CT R I N E OF A VA T ARA

D I V I N E M A N I F E STATI O N

T HE E ND O F O CC U LTI SM
 ST U D I ES IN T HE B H A G A VA D
'

Gi TA .

CHA PTER I .

T H E F O R T H CO MI N G OF TH E C E N T RE S .

EFORE we enter further in to the j t of the su b e c

qualifications for discipleship and the unification

of the c entres of consciousness in man we mus t ,

try to understand the nature an d potentialities of these

centres themselves the cen tres whic h as we have seen *
, , ,

uni fy harmoniously the experien ces of di fie re n t planes

and form therefore the condi tions of the ma nifesting life .

The three Logoi the three Pu r ushas as they are called

, ,

in the Hindu Sh astras are the manifestati ons of the One

,

S elf and They may be regarded psychologic ally in the

, ,

lan guage of metaphysics as successive modifications in

,

the One Life of the Self Esoterically vi ewed They

.
,

appeared as three distinct persons and are regarde d as ,

separate Let us try to consi d er Them from the stand

.

point of consciousness and see if thus viewed They

, , ,

supply us with an analogy to un derstan d the human

centres There are two ways of des cribing a thing one
.
,

from the standpoint of form and manifestation an d the ,

other from the standpoint of the i n ne r life and accord

ing as the one or the other view preponderates our ,

conception of things also changes It i s only when we .

look to the formal eleme nt in things a n d ign ore the

underlyi ng li fe that we are l a nded in differences .

Studi es i n the Bh ag ad Gi t a 2 d S eri es p 4

av . n . . 10 .
8 S T U DI E S I N T H E B H A G AVA D G I TA .

Turning to the S r i ma d Bha ga va d we read* Before-

the creation the Maya of the Self being indrawn this

, ,

manifested universe was then of the n a tur e of the

Self then there was n o on e to see nor a n ythi n g to be
,

see n The Self on ly was there but though the Seer

.

of things yet there being then nothing to se e It thought

, .

as if It e xisted n ot ; yet being conscious It could not ,

'

think that It existed n ot a bsolu tely The S a k tz .

of Ishvara having the qualities both of cause and e ff ect ,

and linking Ishvara the Seer to Hi s fie ld is called

, , ,

Maya . After thi s Maya is ac ted upon by

Kala ( time ) also the energy of Ishvara and made
, ,

obj ective unto Himself then there is a reflection from

,

Ishvara on it producing the Cosm ic pri nciple known as

M a ha t . This M a ha t bein g transformed by ,

the action of the Self evolves out of it A ha m kar a

, ,

which manifests and i s the substratum of the Actor the ,

Action and the Efie c t

, The Tamasic m odi fic a
.

tions of this Ah amkara produce succe ssively the Ta n

m a tr a s and the Bhu ta s from the R aj asic modi fications
of the same evolve the organs and from the Sattvic
, ,

come out the powers known as the Mind and the Intel
lect The above gives in an abridged form the stages
of the involution of the Self whereby through successive ,

limi tations and inhibitions of Its powers the prin ciples ,

in Man and Cosmos arise The state of consciousness .

,

viewing the whole problem from wi thi n rather than

from without manifested in the state described when
, ,

Maya was not because of the absence of the principle

,

of relation of the Self to Its field is what is known in ,

Theosophical literatur e as Pa r a b r a hm a n the Brahman ,

unrelated to anyt hing the Brahman outside manifesta

,

tion the Etern al Parent of the Sec ret Doctrine ”

, .

Cf" I II v
., . 24, a se q.
 T HE F O R TH C O M I N G OF T H E C E N T RE S .
9

I ndrawing Its life within Itself It exists the One Root , ,

less R oot the O ne Sat ( Reality ) yet called sometimes

, ,

the As at the N on exi st e nce because transcending all

,
-
,

finite limited existence Time there was not for

.
,

ever ything was indrawn in to the bo som of E ternal

”
Duration N aught was
. .

The next stage in manifestation is c haracteri sed by

the action of Time synthesising the residual traces of
th e Divine Memory the Divi ne Ideation an d holdi ng
, ,

th em up as it were before the Divi ne gaze So we read

, , .

”
in the Secret Doctrine how at the c lose of the Seven
,

Eternities in which the Self remai ned in the apparent

n o n being of inwardness an d non m anifestation the
- -
,

hour struck The seeds or residual traces of Divine

.

ideation and memory thus rendered objective as the

thi n veil of the abstract memo ry of the Divine mani ,

fest now as the field oi consciousness and ideation ,

known as the Chi tta Let u s take an an alogy o n the

.

lower plane consciousness to understand di mly what

takes place in the Cos mic plan es While we are in deep .

sleep the resistin g principle of consciousness being

,

indrawn by the Ego we feel as if we exist not and yet

, , ,

at the same time we cannot say we do not exist As a

,
.

matter of fact the Ego ex ists and is co nscious but there

, ,

being nothi ng to limit and measure its existence an d

consciousness to the concrete memory this state appears
,

as o ne of darkness and non being Let us conceive th at

-
.

we are suddenly roused from thi s state What takes .

place The Ego u nable by the very suddenn ess of

,

the shock whic h brings it down to the physical to adj ust ,

itself to the new state of thi ngs cann ot define itself ,

.

It may see the physical su rroun di ngs the panorama ,

of memory m a y flit before its eyes yet it is un able to ,

predicate any of these ch a nge s to itself and hence , ,

xo S T U D I E S I N T H E B HA GAVA D G I TA .

though fully conscious on its own plane though knowing ,

”
itself as the I it is incapable of further defini tion of
, ,

further li mitation It knows the memory pictures

. ,

it see s them with accuracy it exi sts in fact as their ,

su bstratum yet it is not defined and li mited by any

,

thi ng .In the Cosmic plane thi s state oi the Se lf is ,

techni cally known as the V asudeva principle of whi ch ,

the Gi t a speaks as * enveloping ever ythi n g and as being

everything In human evolution this stage corresponds
.
,

to the Monad i n the TAn u pada k a plan e all con scious in i t s ,

-

own nature but unconscious like a c hild as to its bearings

,
.

The ch aracteristic of consciousness at this stage i s

graphically described in the S ri m a d Bha ga v a d thus -

“
I Thi s Mahat contains in Itself the possibi li ty of
infinite manifestation of the universe and is constant , ,

being above the e fie c t s of La ya ( dissolution and nescience ) ,

and Vi kshepa (refraction a n d outwa rdness ) It is that .

whi c h mani fests in a subtle form the universe that is to

be and with Its own splendour dr ives away the non
,

being of P r alaya I n i t s materi al side as th e

.
,

field of abstract memory as the Chitta It has the quality , ,

”
of reflecting the image of the Self It is in short that .

stage of the I where It is not limited and indivi dual

ise d and i n which the re lics of consciousness and memory
,

are he ld together without de fining or circumscribi ng

,

the I notion-
It is the Self the Logos which th ough
.
, ,

enveloped and circumscribed by the thi n tenuous veil

of abstract memory is yet not limited by it It i s the
, .

S e lf whic h emerging from Its higher state of apparent

,

non be ing the P a r a b r ahmi c state man ifests the cir

-
, ,

c u msc r i b i n g c ircle within whic h a uni verse is goin g to

,

O p c i t VI I ..
v oluti o of c ons c i ousn ess —T heosop h c a l Rev i ew
. 19 .

1 Mr s B esa n t s E
’ ‘ i
. n ,

Vol X X X p g 5 34
. ., a e .

I St i me d B haga ad U L m u x5 to a t
- v , . , .
 T HE F O R T H CO MI N G O F THE C EN T RE S . xx

be evolved a uni verse as yet without Name and Form

,

and exi sting merely as Its ideatio n an d memory It is .

the ce ntre if It can at all be called a cen tre which holds

, ,

a n d sustai ns this archety al universe Its life i s to be

p .

the life of th e u n iver se an d Its concrete modifications

,

are the future i ndi viduals that will come into existence .

It is really the centre which is also the circu mf erence

, ,

and whi ch is equally reflected in every part of the circum

ference and yet not li mited to any Just as the concrete
, .

physical memory can re main i n the field of conscious

ne ss of the Yogi s who have realised the Hi gher Self
, ,

without limiting th eir con sciousness and yet su stained ,

by their life so in the Turiya Ishvara can remain in

, ,

abstract form the seeds of innumerable un iverses with ,

their rich potent ialit ies of c on er e te bein g and mani

fe st a ti on The memory is in Him but He i s n ot in it
.
, .

He the Self as Vas udeva sustains this potentiality of

, ,

infinite manifestation within a fragment of His infinite

Bei ng an d so the Git a says* I sustain this manifold
,
”
universe in on ly a portion of Myself .

The next manifestation of the Self is seen in the

pri nciple of Ah amk a ra—the mani festation known as the
first Lo gos the S a nka rsha n a principle of the Vaishnava
,

cosmogony It i s the sa me Self continuous with the

.
,

Vas udeva princ iple but tendi ng more towards deter

,

mi n ation This Self is c alled the K ar an a Ishvara the

. ,

Caus al Ish vara the Ish vara as the cause and therefore
,

contrasted off from the effect More defined an d con .

crete It is for the self same cause more limited—the

, ,
-
,

re al Centre from which proceed the cen tres of conscious

nesses of the lower planes It is an alogous to th e concrete
.

I notion of a plane the O ne Cen tre of all manifest a tions

-
, ,

the Ce ntre of the Circle which manifesting Itself , ,

Op. c it x .. 49 .
m S T U DI E S I N TH E B HA G AVA D G rT A .

manifests also the circumference Taki ng again the .

analogy of being su ddenly aroused from a deep u n c on

scious sleep the first stage of di m hazy and indet ermi nate
, ,

Self consciousness in whi ch the vague and abstract

-
,

memories of the physical plane life float m ist like as it ,

-

were wi thout definition or shape would correspond

, ,

to a certain extent to the Cosmic principle called Vasu

deva The conception of the sub liminal Self given in
.
-

Myers * Essay on Subliminal Consciousness Shows in

’

some measure the state of consciousness we are de alin g

,

with . E ach of us in reality is an abiding psychical

entity far more extensive than he kn ows—a n individual
ity which can never express itself through any corporeal
manifestation The self manifests through the organism
. ,

but there i s some part of the self un manifested and ,

always as it seems some power of organic expression

”
in abeyance or reserve And Myers as well as Dr
.
, .

J ames 1wonders how much of the content of thi s larger

‘

background is insignificant contain ing as it seems what , ,

is characterised as imperfect memories silly j ingles , ,

in hibitive timidi ties etc and yet how the perform

,
.
, ,

auces of gen ius seem also to have their origi n in it It .

is because the workers in the field of psyc hi ca l research

try to measure thi s consciousness with the standard of
the lower concrete but limited life it is because they ,

read into it things properly belongi n g to the lower

planes and the down ward arc that the background of ,

consciousness behind the physical I notion seems to be -

so composite in its constituents Just as a child wanting .

to interpret the working of consciousness in a sage or a

phi losopher naturally comes to the conclusion that
, ,

much of the workings of this larger consciousness is

8 9 P oc e edi g of P y hi
1 2 r l R es ear h Vol VI I p 3 5
n s s c ca c , . .. . 0 .

1 Var i ti es of Reli gi ous m p i c a d Ed i ti o p s

'
e u en e s, r n , . r a.
 T HE F O R T H COMI N G OF T H E C EN T RE S . I 3

silly because impracticable j ust as the ordinary man

, ,

trying to understand teleologically the un iverse around ,

sees much in it which appears to be absolutely foolish ,

because of hi s want of grasp so with the researches

of people dominated with the lower I consciousness -
.

’
But as to a doctor s penetrative consciousness the silly
, ,

performances of the raving maniac come to be regarded

not as silly things per se and j ust as these apparently ,

incongruous acts and thoughts properly analysed by a

medica l mi nd can lead to a correct di agnosis of the
,

disease so to a master mind these apparently imperfect

,

memories etc are not capricious and unmeaning

, .
,

factors but on the contrary fit in with the larger view

, , ,

and are really pregnant with deep and momentous

signi ficance Such memories are generally the residuum
.

of un ex pen ded Karma which remains unassimilated ,

by the concrete lower personality but whic h none the ,

less is sure to be assimi lated and proj ected in an organ

ised form in some other mode of the same lower per
,

son a li t y or it may be in another future personality

, .

Cosmi cally speaking the V asudeva principle is such

,

a backgroun d for the self conscious centre correspond -

ing to Ahamk ara In ou r an alogy of the sudden awakeni ng

.

we fin d that when the I in us seeking its natur al

, ,

determi n ation is not content with merely observing

,

the panorama of fleeting memory but looks more ,

atten tively in to the contents of consciousness then , ,

from out of the state of vague ideation there emerges ,

”
the notion of the identity of the I
,
It is only when .

thu s lookin g attenti vely into the apparently unorganised

contents of consciousness when seeking further de fin i ,

tion an d hence limi tation that we are suddenly roused ,

into a sense of our own self hood and individuali ty -

.

This fun ct ion of attention means the r e establishment -

I 4 ST U DI E S I N TH E B H A G AV A D G i r l .

of certain and definite relations betwee n the centre

of consciousness hitherto di mly felt and the circum ,

ference of memory Just as a number of circles sm a ller

. ,

and larger can be drawn round a particular fix ed point

, ,

and as the mere position of a point gives us the possi

bili t y of descr ibing round it an infin ite number of circles ,

so with the notion of the Self in the V asudeva state ,

the number of possible mani festations of possible ,

li mitations is actually infinite But if the poi nt is once

, .

related to any other point lying on the same sur face ,

then this infinite possibility of evolving a number of

ci rcles becomes det ermined The desire of ma ni fe sting
a universe showin g forth as attention —as S a n kalpa
.

at once marks ofi the circle of man ifestation in the field

of the Infinite Life and the Centre whi ch was hitherto
,

a centre ever ywhere with circumference nowhere receives ,

by thi s act of selective attention a fixed radius and in ,

consequence It bec omes Itself fixed i n space This

"
.

imposing of the radius of mani festation and therefore ,

the fixing of the point in position is due to the principle

of Ahamk ara the I making faculty The abstract
,
-
.

consciousness of sight in the Vas udeva pri n ci ple ,

deve lops itself into a consciousness of re lation and it

c ircumscrib e s the Self in a limited but yet determi n ate ,

field of manifestation The poi nt becomes the centre .

with its fixed radius with the lines of interaction b e

,

twee n itself and its memor y image The centre becomes -

.

”
the self the I an d in this very process of the b ec om
, ,

ing predi cates to itse lf a non self This princi ple of

,
-
.

pr edication of relat ion and c o ordination is the Aham

,
-

k ara prin ciple and i t is the chie f factor in mani festing a

,

Universe But as the radii c an ye t be i nfini te i n num

.

ber so the Ahamk ara is capable of infini te re lation

, .

The indeterminate infini ty of being passes into the

 T HE F O R T H COM I N G O F T HE C E N T RE S . 15

potentiality of infin ite relations of infinite determi n a ,

tion Therefore is the Sa fik a r sha n a principle the

.
,

Primeval Purusha thus pourtrayed in the celebrated

’

Pu ru sha 4 ukta of the Veda*

- -
The thousand headed
P urusha with thousand eyes with thousand feet The .

et ern ity of apparent non be i ng becomes the eternity of con

-

crete being and manifest ation and hence is the first Puru , ,

”
sha called the A n a n ta D eva literally the Etern al God , .

J ust as the mere t riangu larity characteristic of the ,

’
Monad in the An upédak a plane as gi ven in Mrs Besant s , .

”
Evolution of Consciousness 1above referred to i s the ,

human princi ple corresponding to V asudeva so ,

corresponding to th is princ iple of the Cosmic I is the

tri an gle havi ng merely three points—the second triangle ,

gi ven in the diagram which for the benefit of our readers

,

we reproduce below .

A n upa d a k a

B u ddhi

M an as

KAm a

S thula

Ri g V d Ma da !
e a- n .

1Th . R vi ew
e , Vol X X X
. Au gust N o ., 53 7.
I 6 ST U DI E S I N T H E B H AG A VA D G tT II .

It will be seen from a comparison of the two triangles

that while the first expresses merely the three aspects
,

of the Self by Its a bstr a c t triangu larity the second ,

triangle is really produced by each side of the former ,

”
limiting itself to a point The abstract I havin g .

merely the attributes of existence consciousness and ,

bliss passes in to and reproduces the Caus al Self with

concrete self hood—the triangle wi th defin i te p oi n ts
, ,

- .

E ach aspect of the Self in the former represented by ,

a line limits itself to concrete ne ss by becomi ng a point

,
.

As line the potentiality of manifesting itse lf in points

,

was infinite and the very reduction of the line to a point

,

shows the working of the principle of Ahamk ara But .

”
even here the I though knowin g itself as the I
, ,

as un ique and defini te in manifestation is sti ll so ,

ethereal as to be perfectly u seless in the lower planes of

Bhn Bha va and S e a of the physical the astr al and the
, , , ,

ment al Though each of the fixed points form in g the

.

triangle becomes attached in its form side to thr ee -

di stinct atoms of the At mi c t he Buddhic an d the , ,

Higher Ment al planes yet the I notion in the tri angle

-
, ,
-
,

as well as its expression s through the materi al atoms ,

remain still hazy and indefini te and hence it is incapable ,

of entering in to concrete relations Just as the wi sdom .

,

which is the expression of the indi vi dual life thr ough

the hi gher mental permanent atom is vague and i n ,

distinct compared wi th concrete particular k nowledge

, ,

so the life of the individual the re al man has to attain , ,

definition and concreteness by a process of further

limitation The existence aspect of the Self the aspect
.
,

of permanence an d stabili ty i n order to be concretely ,

realised requ ires more separative and individual

,

functions—the stabili ty i n essence in order to be fully ,

reali sed requires the st a bility in li mitations of space

,
 T HE F O R T HCO M I N G O F T H E C E N T RE S . I 7

and time Hence the Caus al man is further manifested

.

into the three separate centres of consciousness in each ,

of the three lower pl an es The Causal man unable to

.

Show fo r th his whole nature in the lower planes in one

single expression owing to the clumsy nature of the

,

materials divides into three centres of consciousness

, .

So that what cannot be fully manifested in a single

expression is realised through a di vi sion in its nature
, .

It is as it were an application of the principle of the

, ,

division of labour Just as we understand the meani ng

.

of Time its use and functions by creating artificial

, , ,

divi sions in it which when summed up yield us a

,

notion of the hi gher and more abstract time ; j ust as

we understand concretely the value of fA by resolving
it into a series having individual terms and yet held
, , ,

together by the unity of life a n d purpose so does the ,

Causal Self s eek the realisation of Its Divine nature ,

by proj ecting Itself into three centres of consciousness ,

corresponding to the three lower planes and capable ,

of infinite multiplication each in its own plane The

, .

abstract hi gher dimensional-

I thus realises itself ,

by creating successively centres of lower dimensions .

As the sphere is produced by the centre first of all

inscribing itself in a circle and then by revolving the
,

circle thus formed round its own diameter so does the ,

Causal Self realise itself in concrete terms by first of all ,

proj ecting the centres and then entering into relation

wi th everythi ng through these centres The Self has .

to remain the Self the Unity and has yet to evolve the
, ,

rich multipli city of concrete being embraced by its

life This is only possible by creating in its own field
.

of unity definite centres capable of infinite relations

, , ,

each representing in time and space a defin ite and

particular aspect of its being The Causal Man is one .
I 8 S T U DI E S I N TH E B H A G A VA D G I TA .

with the Self regarded as out of manifestation and it ,

has to r e be come the Self expressed in and throu gh

-

manifestation Hence we see how the centralised

.

consciousnesses in the Microcosm and the Causal

Ishvara in the Macrocosm proj ect and limi t themselves,
"

into three distinct individualised centres which can ,

manifest and unify the experiences of the lower plane s .

There is again another standpoint from which we can

regard these centres Being the proj ections of the
.

Caus al Self and the reflection of the Monad they express ,

principally the aspect of the Self as Existence as Sat , .

Yet to re become the full Self the trinity in un ity

,
-
, ,

they have to be harmonious with the mani festations

of th e other aspects The Self manifesting as the
.

Ta t wa s and the Ta n m a t r as is the Self in Tamas the ,

Self as reflected through dead resistance The I .

is the cause of matter as well as of form but in matter , ,

all its powers are inhibited so that the material atom ,

reflects only the concrete existence as pect Concrete .

ness and rigidity are the characteristics of matter To .

realise therefore the Self in matter the Self the Monad

, , , , ,

has to become concrete and centralised ; hence the

nece ssity for centres of consciousness with distinct
limitations varying with the condi tions of matter in
the plane in whi ch they function .

Thus from the Causal Self come out the limited pro
j e c t i on s called the centres the residual traces of the I
,

consciousness in its successive stages of limi tation and

concreteness So the Sr i ma d Bha ga v a d says
. The -

Ahamk ara man ifests itself into the three differen t .

modes of Va i khti r i c T a tj asa a n d Tama sa Ah amk ara

, ,

evolvi ng respectively the Mind the Senses an d the , ,

primary Bhu tas . Thi s Ahamk ara regarded as

Op . c i t K L , xx i v ., 3 4 , et seq.
 T H E F O R THC OM I N G O F T HE C EN T RE S . 19

the Agent evolves Beings known as Devas ; regarded

,

as the ins trument al cause it evolves the I n dri yas and , ,

regarded as the e flec t ( the stage in whi ch the cause

completely exh austs its e lf in defini tion ) it produces
”
Bhuta or matter The centre of consciousness of the
.

Sattvic aspect of Ahamk ara the centre manifesting as ,

pure Ah amk ara which like a piece of crystal reflects , ,

everyt hing is I n man the centre of consciousness in

, , ,

the mental plane the see d of P raj na the Adhyat m a

, ,

centre in man cor responding to the Hairan ya gar bha

,
-

ce ntre i n the Cosmos The Vai shnava philosophy .

speaks of this cosmic centre as the Ani ru dha the pre ,

siding Lo gos of pure Man as He is of an indigo blue .

-

colou r like the fresh blown blue lotus The centre of

,
-
.

co nsc iousness refle c ting T ai j asa Ah amk ara or Ahamkara

in action A hamk ara in relation is reflected in man as
, ,

the astro ment al centre connected with the functions

-
,

of the I n dri ya s Cosmically it corresponds to what is

.
,

called the Vi r i n c hi ( Brahm a ) Since there are two .

modes of relation the r elation through actio n which is

, ,

ou tgoing an d th e relation through knowledge whi ch i s

, ,

in drawing from this cosmic centre there manifest

the su b c en t r es of action and of relation—the ten
,

modifications th rough the D a i vi Sakti the Divine

, ,

Power correspondi ng to the fiv e fold planes of manife sta -

tions and the five states of matter They are the five . .

senses of knowledge the sensory sub centres through,

-

which th e corresponding aspects of the Self in the outer

world are extracted and i ndrawn and through which ,

the Self within gets its proper food from the Self involved
in matter The five Ka r m en dri yas or the centres of
.
,

activity the motor sub ce ntres are outgoing and relate

,
-
, ,

the Self within in action in proj ection with the Self

, ,

without Thr ough these the impre gna tio n of the outer
.
zo S T U DI E S I N T H E B H AG A VA D G tT A .

matter with the inner qualities of the S elf is e fie c te d .

The ce ntre in Raj a s is thus the paradigmatic man having ,

ten centres of activity It i s called also the A dhi da i v a

.

centre .

From the Tamasic Ahamk ara that is fr om Aha mk ara , ,

identifyi ng itself with the outer in perfec t deter min ati on

an d de fi nition evolve the T a n m at r as and Ta tw as an d
, ,

the planes of the fiv e fold uni verse evolved by Brahma

-
,

the five fold field of normal human evolution In the

-
,
.

huma n thi s centre corresponds to the concrete I notion

,
-

of the physical plane exis tence the analogue of the ,

permanent physi cal atom * It is the centre whi ch .

corresponds to the Adhi bhu t a centre in th e cosmos ,

the centre un derlying the Bhu t a s or concrete matter ,

and it is the centre where the maximum of definitio n o f ,

concreteness is attained The I notion here is stable

, .
-

even to crystallisation and the re latio ns subsisti ng ,

between this and the other centres around are seen in ,

terms of matter and material space In it the existence .

aspect of the Self is most manifested and the other

aspec ts are almost entirely inhibited .

The successive manifestations of these centres of

co nsciousness the gradual determination of the Causal
,

Self of man and the in hibition of its powers the su c

, ,

s si ve co ndi tio ning of the li fe from the pur e and

co

abstract I notion to complete defini tion and inhibition

-
, ,

are seen even in the ordinary phenome na of hyp notism .

If a person is hypnotised it does not gener ally happen ,

th at the personal ide ntity is enti rely lost so that John , ,

even in the mesmeric state remembe rs that he is the ,

same John of the physical plane life and if it i s forcibly

suggested to him that he i s mistaken in hi s iden tity ,

Mrs A B esa n t s
. .
’
Ev olu ti o of o n c nsc i ou sn e ss , Theosop hi c al R evi e w ,

Vol 3 x, . p .
57 , a seq.
 T HE F O R T H CO MI N G O F T HE C E NT RE S . 2:

and that he is not John but Mary then he cannot at ,

once accept thi s new name this new defi nition of his ,

bein g . The notion of s elf identi ty i s coloured by the

suggestio n but before the next centre of consciousness
,

is afie c t e d by it there mu st be complete readj ustmen t

,

i n the powers of the Ego So though he accepts the .

,

sugges tion in the highe r pla ne yet the adj ustment of ,

th e second centre of consciousness to thi s new name ,

to this new defini tion takes some time and some effort
,

to manife st The ment al powers of the second centre

.

o f consciousness habituated to respond to the concrete

,

physical centre as John refuse to adj ust themselves ,

roun d the suggested new cen t re and so we see the sub ,

j ec t is for some time perplexed by the force of this

suggestio n He feels he must be Mary and yet the
.

residual traces of the activities of hi s life of relation

through the senses as John all point the other way ,

and hence he is in doubt But when the activities .

of the second centre are inhibited further when the ,

life of the seco n d centre can harmoniously adj ust itself

round the new n ame then ther e i s a complete ac c e p
,

t an ce of the suggestion and the ve ry powers whic h stood

,

against the acceptance of the new li fe now len d them

selves to the idea and work out in relation the initial
suggestion Thu s we see that even if no furth er sug
.
,

gest io n be made the astral centre goes on evolving

, ,

under the influence of thi s sugges tion a world of its ,

o wn con taini n g appropriate relations an d adj ustments

, .

O f course th e workings wi ll be coloured by the physical

,

I notio n the notion of the

-
,
I as a di sc rete individual
where in the first place se lf co nsciousness is acquired
, ,
-
,

an d in and through which normally lies the evolution

of the hi gher centres Th us we have merely to ask
.
,

J ohn now transformed into Mary the name of her

, ,
22 S T U DI E S I N T H E B HA G A VA D G I TL .

hu sband the numbe r of her chi ldren the name of her

, ,

father and so forth and the answers are most ingeni ously
adapted to the new name —
, ,

inhi biting everyt hing that is

masculine shutting out all that i s incongruous to the
,
”
Mary idea There is a peculiar spontane ity in this
.

life of conscious adj ustment i n this adaptation of the ,

centre to the new mode and it cannot be explai ned ,

otherwise than by positing an astral centre with its ,

peculiar life of relation of adaptation and adj ustment ,

.

Then i n the next stage of physical action the life of

, ,

physical relations comes to conform to the new idea to

the suggestion made and John would actually fei gn ,

to suck le a toy baby handling it with infin i te matern a l ,

tenderness and feeling infin itely happy and sati sfied

,

in the act .

In the above instance though there is not a com ,

ple t e and therefore entirely separated man ifestation of

the higher centre though the idea of physicality of , ,

concrete being sti ll remains colouring the mode of

, ,

man ifestation of the astr al centre yet we see in it enough , ,

to raise the presumption as to the e xistence of these

centres In the celebrated case however of Leon ie there
.
, , ,

is a complete di v i si on i n the very centres of consci ousness ‘ ,

and though tinged still with the physical motion of

concreteness an d separation the successive ma nifesta ,

tion of Leoni e Léon t i n e and Leonore each succeeding

, ,

manifestation completely separated from the preceding ,

and viewing it as a separate person ality ( and with

distinct fie ld of memory ) a t on c e Show the possible exi st
ence of the three fold centres in man The researc hes
-
.

of Myers and others also go to prove the e xistence of a ,

sub liminal Self infinite ly grander th an the concrete

-
,

personality of the physical plane and v iewed by it as ,

Myer H um Pers o li ty Vol I p 3 3 pa g 3

‘
s an na , . . , . 2 0 , e 2 2.
 T H E FO R TH CO M I N G O F T H E C E N T RE S . 23

something higher more powerful and wiser as some

, ,

thing from which the saving experience comes * .

The functions of the permanent atoms formed by ,

the Causal Man attaching Itself to an atom from each

of the three lower planes as described by Mrs Besant in, .

“ ”
the T E volution of Consciousness will further throw ,

light on the question of the centres of consciousness .

These atoms are formed by the life of Vishnu the life ,

of organic unity in the Self flooding the Causal Man ,

with His life and thus inducing It as it were to proj ect

,

its Self consciousness into the lower planes Like the

-
.

baby learning to lisp and helped in this by the loving

,

pa ins taken by the m other caj oling and coaxing the ,

chi ld into spee c h and action the life of Vishnu acting ,

upon the Causal Man gradually makes him seek expres

,

sions in the lower planes by selecting from the lower ,

planes atoms which can form the vehicle for his life
“

manifestations in the corresponding planes These .

permanent atoms are the materi al bases which gather

the res u lts of evolution and which form subsequently
the li nk between the Causal Man the t e incarnating ,
-

Ego and the lower planes and act further as the nuclei
,

of the lower b odi e s i The results of all assimilated

physical experiences remain stored in the permanent
physical atom as powers of vibrating in a par ticular
way ; the results of all assimilated astral experiences
are similarly stored in the permanent astral atom and
of mental in the mental unit
,
When the time
.

comes for r e incarnation the mental unit acts as the

-

attracting centre for the new mental body—the astral

atom plays a similar part in the forming of the astral
D r J m es Th V i ti of R li gi o us El per i en p
'
. a e ar e es e c e, .

1 Th oso phi c a l R v i w Vol XXX I p ge 5 8

e e a
'
e . . ., .

t The osophi ca l R e vi ew Ev oluti on o f c onsc i ou n ess Ib i d

"
,
s , .
24 ST U DI E S IN T H E B H A G AVA D G I T A .

body an d the physical atom in the formi ng of the

physical . These permanent atoms are not however , ,

to be confounded with the centres of consc iousness .

They are not to be regarded per se as the c en tr es The ,

.

permanent atoms are the nuclei of the bodi es and are the
expressions of the centres of consciousne ss in their
organic life in their life of manifestation and re lation
,
.

They express the I not as it itself is but as it appears ,

in relation to the forces of the particu lar plan e not as ,

regards its contents but as regards its potential extent

,
.

The germi nal cell of Weismann as an infin itesimal cell , ,

out of mi llions at work in the formation of organisms ,

alone and unaided determines by constant segm entation

and multiplication the correct image of the future man
or a ni mal It is in short the physical permane nt
.
, ,

atom thus differentiated from the centre of co nsc ious

,

ness and is the physical cell which preserves the con

,

t i n ui ty of physical evolution It is the result of two .

distinct lines of forces first the influence of the Causal

, ,

Man whose physical life is to be expressed in and

,

through it and whose centre of physical consciousness

,

is to find in it harmonious expression an d secondly , , ,

the workings of the organi c life of Vishnu acting through

the agencies known as the physical Pitris and a lso the ,

concrete physical progenitors The astr al centre thus .

is the result of the Causal Man and the Higher Pitris

or Group Souls functioning in the astral plane the ex ,

pressions of the c o ordi nating and organi sing life of

-

Vishnu in this plane So also i n the ment al The

. .

permanent atom thus relates to the expression of the

life of the centre and not really to its inner nat u re
, .

The atoms have furth er cont ained i n them the poten ,

t i ali t y of the lif e of Brahm a the relics of Bra hm a s

’
,

consc iousness which is thei r i n ner bei ng The centres

, .
 T HE F O R TH CO M I N G OF TH E C E N TR E S .

are thus related in a triple way to the three Lo goi .

Th ro ugh th e permanent atoms they are co nnected

,

with th e Second and the Thir d Life Waves in the corre

spon di n g pl a nes while in their inn er natu re th ey are the
,

r esults of the gradual in crease of concreteness an d

defini ti on in the Fir st Life Wave .

26 ST U DI E S IN TH E B HAGAVAD G I TA .

CHAPTER II .

T HE TR I P L ICIT Y OF T H E C EN T RE S .

ET us try to underst an d more fully the n ature of

the centre s of co nsciousness in this triple relatio n .

Le t us go back to the stage when the First Lo gos ,

the Logos of Self Conscious Existence reflects Himself in

- -
,

the monads on the An u pada k a plane and returns into ,

darkness These proj ections dwell in this plane awai ting

.
,
”
the day of manife station of the Son s of Go d till by the ,

Li fe Waves of Brahm a and Vishnu the materials for ,

mani festation in the lower plan es have been evolved .

Though there is some influence of this self consc iousness -

i n the evolution of matter by Brahm a though the very

“

atoms themselves of the fiv e fold planes may be regarded -

as being due to the self imposition of limits in the con

-

sc i ousn ess of Brahm a an d there fore to the T ama sic

expression of the I consc iousness yet as the tren d of

-
, ,

such consciousness is merely outward the atoms thus ,

evolved cannot express fully the luminous self con -

sc i ousn e ss of the Monad the Sattvic life of the First

,

Logos The limit of self con sciousness in Bra hm a s life

.
-
’

wave is outward and the atoms are further too general

,
”
to serve as the vehicles of the pure I knowi n g itse lf ,

only and oblivious of the surroundi ngs The Mo nads

, .

are as the expression of the pure I consciousness natu

,
-
,

rally self centred and unrelated to anythi ng outside

-
.

The unity of li fe of the Monad in its own plane is di ffer

ent from the vague unity underlying the Thi rd Life
Wave as well as the organic unity un derlyi ng the
,

Second The unity of the Monad may be likened t o

.
 T HE T R IP LI CIT Y O F T H E C EN TRES . 27

the uni ty of the

'

I dimly manifesting through

di scriminatio n and reflection the unity mani festing ,

i n the Second Life Wave may be likened to that by

which the physical I expresses itself in every cell
of the physical body as well as through the general
fo r m It is rather the unity of mine ness—the mole
,

.
-

c u lar unity as agai nst the atomic unity of the true Self
, .

In Theosophical literature the uni ty of self consciou s ,

-

ness in man ifestation and outwardness is described as

t he Monadic li fe as the Monadic esse nce which is
, ,

atomic as against the e lemental essence which i s

, ,

molecular The elemental essence i s the expression of

.

the Seco nd Unity the Unity of the organism the un ity

, ,

of mine ness and as such the elemental essence in each

-
,

pl an e is the result of the impregn ation of matter by the

l i fe of the Mo nad as influenced by the actio n of Vishnu
, .

The life of Vishnu induces as it were in the atomic I ,

of the Mo nad the aspect of mi ne ness an d elemental

,
-
,

essence is formed by this down po u ring life floodi ng the ,

matter evolved by B r ahm a thereby connecting the ,

abstract I o f the centre wi th the concrete Tamasic ,

I involved in matter It gives to matter an organ .

isi ng power the power of responding to outer vibrations

,

on the one hand an d the inner vi brations o n the other

,
.

If we take as an ex ample the expression

then the life the unity of consciousness in
,

/A would represent the atomic consciousness in mani

testation ; the series taken as a whole as a unity and ,

expressing the valu e of i a would represent the ato mi c ,

cons ciousness influenced by the orga n i c consciousness

o f Vishnu holding together the discrete terms a b c
, , , ,

d e etc in an organ ic homogeneous unity

, , .
, So we
,
.

may characterise the co nsciousness working through

Brahm a as a co nsciousnes s of limit of Tamasic ,
28 S T U DI E S I N TH E B H A GAVA D G I TL
identification the cons c iousness of Vishnu would be the
consciousness of relation of organi c unity ; and the ,

consciousness of Shiva would stand as the pure monadic ,

self consciousness manifesting also through the centres

-
,
.

In matter as we see when we are absorbed in material

,

outside things the u nity is the u nity of in hibition In

,
.

form the unity is one of expression In the centres the

uni ty is that of a luminous se lf consciousness—but of
.
, ,

thi s more later .

We can see at once why the Monad has to wait in the

An u pada k a plane un til the fiv e fold u niverse has been -

evolved For if it were to act di rectly if over and above

.
, ,

the self consciousness mani fested in Tamasic i de n ti fic a

-

tion the Hi gher Self consciousness of the Monad were

,
-

further manifested then in that luminou s all resolving

, ,
-

Self consciou sness the limiting and inhibiting tendency

-
,

would di ssolve away like the veils of illusion before the ,

illumi ned eye of the Yogi and the evolution of matter , ,

as the limi tin g resisting surface to consciousness could

, ,

not be eff ected The fire of self consciousness would

.
-

bur n away the limits of memory and there would ,

be no mani fes tation But if there is a stable organi sm .

.

pli ant and receptive flexible and self adj usting capable,
-
,

of limiting itself to a point and also havi ng the power ,

of expandi n g itse lf so as to embrace and respond to

,

everything outside and inside too then with the he lp ,

of such a form the s elf conscious centre can mi x with - -

and reflect itself in concrete limitations without destroy

ing the very limitations by its touch Hence we read .
,

in the *Sri m a d Bhaga v a d how the Lord Ni la Lob ita

- -
,

the R udra the R oot Monad asked by Brahm a to create

, , ,

proj ected simi lar Bei ngs from out of His own li fe an d ,

how the inn u merable R udras thus produced began to

Op c i t . II I ., xi i I I , at seq.
 T HE T R I P L ICIT Y O F T H E C EN T RE S . 29

devour the fiv e fold universe till at last Brahm a entreated

-
,

Them to desist for some time (till the vehicles are evolved )
therefore the R udras the Monads in the An u pada k a
, ,

plane desisted from creation and went into the forest

,

to meditate .

We will consider now the evolution of the Ta twas and

the preparation of the five fold Field for the mani fe sta -

tion of the life of the Monads due to the successive ,

inhi bition of powers in the Tamasic Self consciousness -

of Brahm a We read in the St i m a d Bha gav a d that

.
-

When the Tamasic Ahamk ara the Ahamk ara seeking ,

self i de n t i fic a t i on in the outer became further differ

-
,

e n t i a t e d then from it evolved the Ta n m at ra of Soun d

,

from this T an m at r a Ak asha was evolved and this , ,

”
formed the body of the S e lf and so on Like the , .

consciousness of a mesmerised person identifying ,

itself wi th a suggestion created by the mesmeriser and

c lothing the idea thus suggested with re ality the con ,

sc i ou sn e ss of Brahma gets inhibited by His li fe being

voluntarily circumscribed in the pre cosmic Relics of -

Consciousness thus held out as it were before His eyes

,
.

These Reli cs of pre cosmic consciousness the Wisdom -

,

of a past Kalpa are referred to in the Upanishad as the

,

Veda which was manifested to Brahm a T He — “

”
Who first evolved Brahm a and gave Him the Vedas .

Thus by successive limitations are evolved the fiv e fold

,
-

planes each the result of a type of consci ousness

,
.

The characteristic of Prithivi as a T a t wa lies in the ,

Ta n m at r a of Smell in that modification of the conscious

,

ness where all other outer relations are inhibited The .

consciousness as mani festing through the senses as smell ,

taste etc can be classified according to the intellectual

, .
,

O p. c it III v ., 30 . et s eq.

f S h e t ASha ta ra U pa n i sh a t , V I ., x8.
30 ST U DI E S I N T H E B H AG AVA D G I TL .

qualities contained in them In purely sensuous i m .

pressions we have the working of two kinds or two modes

,

of consciousness The first lies in the pure sensuous

.

element in whic h the concrete thing is sensed simply

, ,

as a concrete thing and in the second we see the intel

,

lectual element the element which shows fo rth in the

,

powers of memory and di scrimi nation plus the purely ,

sensuous element The sense of smell thus viewed is

.
, ,

the most concrete in its presentments and the least

intellectual In order of time also it comes first and is
.
,

the sense which is most put u nder contri bution in the

animal world The plane of smell is therefore the plane
.
, ,

of concrete manifestation and we see why the physical ,

plane is connected with the sense of sme ll From the .

standpoint of matter the physic a l plane is the plane

,

in whi ch greatest definition has been attained an d ,

therefore the greatest rigidity The Sri m a d B ha ga v a d

, .
-

thus charac terises Bha n u or the physica l plane

'

As ,

that which concretely manifests the Brahman as that ,

which can exist indepen dently of the Higher T a t was ,

as that which qualifies and conditions the Sat the ,

Reality and lastly as that through which is man ifested

,
”
the inner qualities of all beings It is the substratum .

for all manifestations and of independent exi stence , ,

and so is called the plane of individualised activities !

The centre of consciousness manifesting i n the physical
is therefore the most indivi duali sed centre the cen tre
, , ,

which acts as the substratum of the Hi gher whic h ,

qualifies and condi tions the real inn er life and whic h ,

manifests fully the possibilities of the S e lf .

The next higher plane is that of Apas water with the , ,

correspon ding sense of taste It is as Mrs Bes ant calls .

, .

‘
J Op . c i t I I I ., xx i v .. 4 4 , et seq.

1 The osophi c a l R vi
e e w, Vol. XXX p ., . 540
.
1
 T H E T R IP LICIT Y O F T HE C E N T RE S .
31

it the plane of individualised sensation or desire The

, .

functions of water are thus given in the Sr i m a d Bhagav a d -

Humidi ty an d moisture the power combi ning and ,

moulding other Ta twas yield i ng satisfaction removing

, ,
”
thirst . It is the Ta t wa which has got as its
principle characteristic sentiency and thi rst for sensa
,

tion . The corresponding centre is characterized by

the power of imparting what in Light on the Path i s
called the moisture of lif e and zes t to the separated li fe .

It is that which furni shes as it were the Mould in whi ch

, ,

the physical i s built which synthesises the co ncrete

, ,

di sj ointed physical things into a higher compound .

The next Tatwe is that of Tej as and it is character ,

ised by the powers of Tdi si n t e gra ti n g things of extract ,

i n g th e e ssence un derlyi ng things of assimilation of ,

things thus disintegrated and of r e mani fes ting them -

on a higher basis The permanent atom in the mental

.

plane Showing forth the function of the Mind has thus

the qu alities of discrimination or disintegration and of
higher re construct ion and syn thesis It has the power .

of ex tracting the elements of conscious experience

from all concrete manifest ations The corresponding .

physical sense is sight .

The next higher Tafwa is that of Vayu havi ng the ,

charact eristic principle of touch It governs the work .

ings of all the other se nses and underlies the activities ,

of si ght taste and smell Th e corresponding triangle

, ,
.

in the Life side therefore has the characteristic prin

, ,

c i ple of unifying the three lower ce ntres an d it is the ,

'

m ot ive force which regulates the ma nifestations and

workings of the lower three Its facu lty is th e faculty .

of in tuition of direct touch o f immediac y The three

, ,
.

Op c i t. 39 . a seq
Sr lma d -Bha ga vad . 38.
32 S T U DI E S I N T H E B H A GAVA D G I TA .

lower centres corresponding to the three lowe r planes

, ,

though having the princi ple of touch underlyi ng them ,

contact on ly the vibrations emanating from a thi ng

rather than the thing itse lf—as i s done by intu ition
,

b y di rect touch .

The highest of the Ta t wa s is the Ak as ha with its ,

characteristic quality of envelopi ng everyt hing con ,

stant amidst their changes and unaffected by these .

Like the sound unifying and ma nifesting the Speaker

, ,

his meaning and purpose the correspon di ng triangle ,

in the Ak ashi c plane is characteri sed by its synthetic

life manifesting at one and the same time the Self as
, ,

the Actor as the Manifested Voice the S elf as the

, ,

prin ciple of relation or the Self underlyi n g mean ing and

,

purpose and the Self man ifesti ng as T an m at r a The

,
.

corresponding physical sense is hearing The Monadi c .

life of the Self thus embraces all the three fold -

potentialities of manifestation and it is the substratum ,

the field in which the lower modifications infin ite in ,

number can exist And so also does the Gi t a say*

, .

As the all enveloping Ak asha because of its extreme

tenuity is not aff ected (by anyt hing contained in it )
so the Self ( the Monad ) e xisting in ever y part of the
body is not affected (by the qua lities of the
The centre now exists not only as the centre but as it
, , ,

were in every part of the circumference and the field

, .

The evolution of the Ta t was furnishes the fiv e fold -

field in which the Eternal Man is to develop His inner

powers The Ta t wa s contain i n them potentialities
.

of consciousness which under suitable conditions are

, ,

to evolve the Monad by supplying It with proper food .

But as we have seen the Monad is still too divine to

,

0 p. c i t. X I II .. 33 .
 THE TR I P L ICIT Y OF T H E C EN T RE S .
33

come directly into contact with this field The re fle c .

tion of the self consciousness of the Logos which forms

-
,

the life of the Monad is too abstract to be able to con ,

tact the Ta t was with their outward trend Further .

,

as already said the very nature of the T a t was as the

,

R elics of the Ta m a sic consciousness of Bra hm a in its

outwardn ess and self i den t i fic a t i on can but vaguely -
,

reflect the self consci ousness of the Monad With the

-
.

help of the Life Wave of Vishn u the organising and ,

syn thesising life of the Seco nd Logos there is however , , ,

some possibility of re flecting the life of the Monad .

“
As in ordinary life it is easier to realise the I as a
,

relation i n manifestation than in its high abstract

nature so also the lumi nous self consciousness of the
,
-

Mon ad—which is u n consciousness to u s—can only find

f -

exp ression in the earlier stages through the help of an

organic unity But the organism the u pa dhi which
.
,

can reflect this absolute self consciousness must also be -

more or less of the nature of a uni t Thus taking the .

,

lowest a n a logy the physical body with its divers

,

qualities with its infinite potentialities can reflect in

, ,

some measure the life of the Monad because though ,

made up of the outer many it is at the same time an ,

organic u nity Hen ce is the necessity of the permanent

.

atom as the vehicle of the centre of consciousness of the

’
correspondi ng plane An atom or relic of Brahm a s con .

sc i ou sn e ss per se is too vague in its self conscious ness

, ,
-
,

in its contents and at the same time is too separative

,

in i ts intent to be of any use for the man i festation of

the higher life The higher di mensions of the monadic
.

consciousness or rather the consciousness with its infini te

,

powers if to m a nifest at all must manifest as we have

, ,

have seen in term s of a series having on the one hand an ,

organic un ity corresponding to the un it life of the -

_
 34 S T U DI E S IN TH E B HA GAVA D G I TA .

Mon ad and yet having an infin ity of terms to express

the infin ity of powers of the Monad and I ts proj ected
centres Hence we see how the li fe of Vishnu acting
.

as the Higher Pitr is floods the Cau sal Man an d for that
, ,

matter the Monad Itself and thereby causes the life

,

of the un it Monad to expand The Lif e Waves of

.
-

Vishnu are seven i n num ber The Life Wave mani .

-

festing through the Kumaras the Agni Sattva Pitri s ,

-

induces in the Monad the function of indi viduali ty the ,

bas is of the manife station of the individual In the .

’
form side the result of the interaction of Vishn u s li fe
-

thr ough the Kumaras with the life of the Monad is two
fold In the first place a permanent atom i s produced
.

in the Causal planes as the nucleus of the future causal

body and contains withi n itself the two fold potentiality
,
-

of permanence and stabili ty whic h is the expression in

the life of matter and form of the se lf consc ious life of -

the Monad and the potentiality of an organic expression

, ,

of manifesting as a series The pure life of the Monad

.

represe nted by A becomes un der the influe nce of the

Second Life Wave fit -
I t is the permanent atom a
.
,

uni t in one aspect and yet evolvin g out of it in its

,

organic life the seri e s each

term of whi c h also reflects the same consciousness
the co nsci ousness of A in i ts concrete an d self
limiting aspec t The monotonous self consc iousness of
.
-

A like the unit life of a si ngle note bec omes e x

presse d in an organi c uni ty—
,

A b e unity o f the melody ,

wi th resisting su rf aces of concrete notes .

The life of the Third Logos fix es the limi t within

which the atoms formed by Hi s involved c on sc rou sn ess
shall vibrate but the spi rillae of forces in the atom the
, ,

potentialities of manifesting the higher forces are due ,

to the in ductive life of the Monad for though as ye t

 T H E T R I P LICIT Y OF TH E C E N T RE S .
35

there is no proj ection of cen tres while the work of the

Third Logos is going on yet as the field thus being
, ,

prepared is to be the field of Monadic evolution and

ex pression there must be some connection between the
,

Monad and the fie ld * As in the Cosmic planes Prakriti

.

manifests only under the supervision of the Self so ,

a lso in the evolution of the spirilla in the atoms there

,
,

is a subtle influence of the Monad Then by the Life .

Wave of Vishnu the connection between the Monad

,

and the field is made more definite an d tangible and ,

an asp ec t of the Monadi c life is centred in each plane ,

through the correspondi ng permanent atom with its life

of expansion The Monad in eternity is thus drawn
.

down from its empyrean heights to become the Monad ,

i n Time and Space By the action of the Pitris the

.

monadi c expression is made sti ll further concrete while ,

at the same time it links the reflection of the Monad to

a field of possible experience and i n the mental the ,

astral as well as in the physical planes the centre of

, ,

monadic reflection through the permanent atom is

connected with and made to evolve from an infinite
variety of minor expressions By this process the Monad
.
, ,

without incarn ating di rectly in the lower types of life

be longing to these planes is connected with the various
,

k ingdoms of Nature In the Eleme ntal kin gdoms it

.
,

establishes connection with particular t ypes of Ele

men tal Esse n ce and evolves thereby th e power of
response to desire and ment ality through the permanent,

atom of eac h plan e In the physical plane too it

.
, ,

bec omes c onnected through the physic al atom with ,

speci al class es of the mi neral the vegeta ble and the

, ,

animal evolving by its contact the correspondi ng

,

qualities of these ki ngdoms Though li vi ng for ever in

.

c s . Bha ga v ad G m , Ix I o.
36 S T U DI E S I N TH E B H AG AVA D G I TA .

the An upada k a plane yet it contacts the lower plan es

,

through its reflection s like the fe tus gatherin g its food

,

unconsci ously in the umbi lical ves icle by means of ,

the allantois . Yet it may in some sense be regarded

as passing through all these forms in the various king
doms in its downward arc Thi s truth of the over
shadowi ng by the Monadic life—the evolution in the
.

lower kingdoms—lies at the basis of the doctrine of the

tra nsmigration of the soul and i ll u strates the mea ning
,

of the di ctum in the Sh as tras of Man passing through

,

in carnations in sub human forms ere -

,

attai ning to the human stage It also explains why

.

man has a peculiar va r n a or colour and why he is con ,

n e c t e d with particular things in the mi neral the y ege ,

table and the ani mal kingdoms

, It also expl a in s
.

why particular things are considered as necessary i n

particular forms of ceremon ia l magic .

We will con sider next the import a nt que stion of the

heredity of the centres of consciousness an d the pe r
manent atoms As can be seen this heredity is two fold
.
-
.

Through the heredity of the atoms the centre of con ,

sc i ou sn e ss is connected with the various Pitri s from the ,

concrete physical progenitors to the immort al Kumar as .

The permane nt atoms of the three lower plan es as well ,

as the permanent atoms which go to fix t he Ca usal

Tri a ngle the Caus al Man and define its being are the
, , ,

re sults of the life of Vishnu expressing itse lf through

these Pitris Thu s in physical heredi ty man is c on
.
,

n e c t e d directly wi th those physical progenitors and ,

through t hem with the whole humani ty The deve lop

, .

men t in power of the germ c ell of Wei sman n whi ch ,

forms the physical basis for the man ifestation of the

physical ce ntre of consciousness is thus the development
,

in the powers of c o ordination and c o relation the power

- -
,
 T HE T R I P LI CIT Y O F T H E C EN T RE S .
37

of s egmentatio n whereby it can evolve the composite

,

organism its periphery in space So als o with the

, .
,

other permanent atoms It is only when the se atoms .

have thus developed that the mere supervision of the

Causal Ma n ove r the formation of the permanent atom
gi ves place to the proj ection of its life to become the
correspon ding centres of consciousness In the pre .

natal human evolution we see the same forces at work .

The multiplication of the one cell underlying the

physical organism into the concrete body with defini te
,

parts t a kes place withi n the womb of the mother

, .

The work of imparting the characteristic quali ties to

the matter of the physical body the formation of the ,

tissues is due to the action of the organi si ng li fe of

,

Vishnu un der the supervi sion of the Ego that i s to b e

born This supervision is no doubt karmic and nor
.

mally un co nscious and is coloured by the resultant,

Karma of the past incarnations So it is said that .

,

before the seventh month of the pre natal existence wi thi n

the womb the Ego do e s not incarn ate in the physical
,

body that is being bui lt but being karmically attached ,

to it controls i ts formation by its i n ductive life Similar

, .

is the case in the cosmic plane s when the Monad is

se nt into incarnation The pre natal work in thi s case .
-

corresponds to the buil ding of the future vehicles of

man in the first three and a half R oun ds by means of
,
- - -
,

the successively proj ected centres .

We will next consider more in detail the action of the , ,

Second Life Wave The Li fe Wave of Vishnu as the

-
.
-
,

organising power co ntaining with in it evolved Beings

from the past the Devas and the Pitris floods the Monad
, ,

with its lovi ng life an d ind uc e s it to put forth a part of

its latent life One of the results of this activity i s
.

tha t th e centre of cons c iousness proj ect ed from the

38 S T U DI E S I N T H E B H A G A VA D G I TA .

Monad become s attached to an atom of the plane .

The next effect however of the floo ding by the Second

, ,

Life Wave is the evolution in the other atoms of the

-

plane of the power of response which connects the per,

manent atom with the non attached atoms by a subtle

-

con nection of life and which like the amniotic fluid

, ,

surroun di ng the embryo feeds and nourishes wi th its

,

characteristic food the centre of consciousness as yet

o nly overshadowing the permanent atom In the Third .

plane of Fire or Mentality the Monadi c Esse nce thus

,

formed by the flooding of the atoms of the plane with

the life of Vishnu while connecting the permanent
,

atom with its field on the one hand goes on th e other ,

hand to form the bodies of these Intelligence s the Beings ,

of the past Kalpa who havi ng already evolved the

, ,

atomic se lf consciousness together with the life of re la

-
,

tion become now the great Cosmic Devas

, Havi ng .

evolved self consciousness in the past an d yet knowing

-

the relations between the diff erent aspect s of the Self

a s the unit as the organism and as matter They form
, , ,

the bridge between the evolving self consc iousness and -

the organism on the one hand and between the organism

,

and the outer matter on the other in terms of mentality , .

Without Their activity the Man w thin can never e x

i

t ract from the outer world of experience the self con -

scious element underlyi ng organism and matter by which

he is to grow .

The combinations of these atoms now become Monadi c ,

Essence are c alled the Elemental Essence havi ng the

, ,

power of expressing abstract thoughts by concrete

combinations And Vishnu s life a s the organi sing
.
’

power in the Element al Essence of a plane goes to clothe ,

the minor Deve tas or Deva yo n is as they are ca lled

-
, .

The Monadic Essence expresses the life in terms of the

 T H E T R I P L IC IT Y O F T H E C E N T RE S .
39

I the atomic life The relation expressed through

, .

Elemental Essence is the relation of the molecular

mine ness as agai nst the atomic I ness Thus does the
- -
.

life of Vishnu place the centre in the conditions for nutri

tion and induce in it the powers of consciousness as a
powerful magnet in duces magnetism in a piece of soft
I ron .
40 S T U DI E S I N TH E B H A G A V AD G I TA .

CHAPTER III .

T H E P RAV RI T T I M AR GA .

E will now consider the relations subsisting

between the reflections of the Monad in the
successive planes in their two fold lif e as a
,
-
,

and as a series These can be depicted by means

.

diagram .

Pr oj e c ti ons .

It will be seen that we have distinguished between the

reflections of the Monad in the successive planes and
the centres of consciousness The first column r e pre
.

sents the mani festations of pure I consc iousness as a -

uni t and as unrelated to anything else It represents .

the modifications in the absolute I unconditioned by ,

anyt hing outside It is the pure N ama —the aspect of

.
 T HE P RAV RlT T l MA R GA .
41

consciousness and life of the Monad which is evolved ,

by Yoga and renun ciation Whereas the other the .

,

second column refers to the same I in its life of

,

relation as the centre of life expansio n in the corre

,

spon di n g plane The difference is not a merely fancifu l

.

one but is a fact in N ature If we take the ex am ple

, .

of the centre of consciousness in the Astral plane of the

ordinary developed man of the world and that of a ,

Yogi we shall see that though the I ma nifesti ng

,

thr ough the desire an d mentality is felt as an I by

the ordin ary man yet it i s felt more as a relation as
, , ,

the result of contrast and limitation than as an all ,

pervading essence Thus it mani fests only when there

.

is an outer something to relate itself to If there i s no .

relation if there is nothing which can draw out this I

,

of fun ction then the centre of consciousness i s also lost

,

in apparent nescience We are awake and respond to .

astral sensations only when there i s a backgroun d to

our I consciousne ss a background of relation The
-
, .

co nsciousness of the I in dr eam manife sts only when

th ere is somethi ng harmonious to express the life of
re lation but when through the absence of such suit
,

able obj ects there is no expansion and relation then

, ,

our co nsciousness di sa ppears into ta ya Very di ffere nt .

is the character of the centre of consc iousness of the

evolved Yogi He is awake in the Astral plane even
.
,

if there is nothing harmonious th ere to reflect his con

sc i ou sn e ss in to a series H i s I is not one of function
.

( of Vr ztti ) for he has by renun ciation and se lf control

’

detached hi s lif e from the phen omenal expressions of

the se ries an d so he is awake—e ven in that state which
is night for other beings * He is centred in the inner .

contents of the I notion as aga inst the outer exten t

-
, ,

Gi t a
, n ., 6 9.
42 S T U DI E S I N TH E B HAGAVAD G IT A .

and so when the outer drops he i s not lost i n un c on

, ,

sc i ousness
.
Pa t an j ali in hi s Yoga Sutras has defined
, ,

sleep to be the fun ction of the Self without a substratum" .

Sleep or unconsciousne ss results when the cons ciousne ss

, ,

is deprived of the power of exp andi ng itself in a se ries .

But the di sciple i s further as ked to lead the life of renun

c i a ti on an d to kill out attach me n t and it is o nly when , .

he is able to centralise himself upo n the pure I notion -

of a plane that he can detach this cons c iousness from

the outer expressions and yet keep his Self Co nsc iousness -

intact In the. I reflecte d merely as the Laya

Ce ntre (Nama ) li e s there fore the possibili ty of bridgi n g
, ,

the gulf between the plan e s an d of keeping the con

sc i ousn ess intact in the midst of di ssolution of t he plane ,

either through th e dai ly (N i t ya ) prala ya the d a ily ,

i ndrawal of the life in Sleep and S u shu pti or i n the ,

cosmic pralaya s So it is said that i n the Kali Yuga

.

salvation is possible only through the name ( Nama ) .

In the celebrated K arika or the commentary of Ca nda

pada to the Man dukya Upani shad we fin d also hints
, ,

as to the difference in the I notion between the ordin ary

-

man and the Yogi be tween the I of relatio n an d the I

,

in essen ce It i s no wonder then that the investigators

.
, ,

of the Psychi cal Researc h Society including Myers , ,

unable to di scover the real I have fix ed upon the Self,

in relation as the only Self Therefore we have styled

.

the manifestation of the pure I the pure Nama through

t he permanent atoms the function I —the pure Monad
.

, ,

, ,

conditioned by the Monadi c Essence an d seeking the

expression of itself in terms of a se rie s The one is a .

cen tre of co nsciousness per se condi tioned only by the ,

abst ract Ah a mka ra an d the other i s the ce ntre m a ni

,

festing as the permanent atom the centre of the m a ni ,

Yog Sut i a ra s, ., 10.

 T H E P RAV R I T I ‘ ‘
I MI R G A .
43

festing circ le The one is connected in heredity with

.

the pure Monad the Monad i n the A n u pada k a plane

, ,

whose expression it is ; the other is connected by heredi ty

to the Pit r is and is played upon by the Deva energies .

The evolution of the one depends upon its reduction

to its source the Monad and the evolution of the other
, ,

lies in the harmonious reduction of the life of expression

to the life of Ishvara ma nifesting in the cosmic side
, .

The latter we have seen forms truly the thesis of the

, ,

Karma Yoga the Yoga of Action It is the lateral

, .

harmony the union through development an d ex pansion

,

which Karma aims at The other process is the vertical

.

harmony the harmonising of the successive reflections

,

to their sources— the reduction of the purified centres

to th e source —the Monad .

Duri ng the downward arc the centre of consciousness ,

in its infantile state is conditioned by the life of Vishnu

acting through the permanent atoms The centre of .

consciousness c an attain definition only in the physical

plane the plane of concrete indivi duali ty The more
, .

evolved the permanent atom in the physical plane and

the richer it is i n its potentialities the greater the ,

growt h of the resultant I notion The de finition of life -

.

in the physical plane is also two fold The first li es -

.

in the definition of the concrete terms in the expandi ng

life
. This is the definition of the P r a v ri t t i M arga ,

the defin ition of expansion by which the life of relation ,

of the centre is expanded into a concrete series of

,

manifestations This is the first stage in the growth of

.

the I notion We have considered this before * The

-
. .

baby Ego can only realise its stable unit life by expanding
itself into a homogeneous series contain ing stable , ,

concrete and relatively permanent terms Thus the .

Studi i th Bh g a d Gtt a Yoga of Di i mi n ti o

es n e a av , sc r a n.
44 S T U DI E S I N T H E B H A GAVAD G I TA .

persistence of the physical body amidst the vicissitudes ,

of li fe an d changing envi ronments in duces in the Ego ,

the notion of its own stability and perma nence But .

even thi s is form a l The real concreteness of the

.

indi vidual centre would li e later on in the life of r e

n u n c i a t i on and non attachment whereby it di fie ren t i a t e s
-
,

itself from even its stable expressions The unity of

, .

the self centred consciousness and i ts stabi lity are thus

-

different in nature from the u nity and stability of the

centre in its life of relation The one depends upon
, .

and e xpresses itself through the outer forms whi le the ,

other is in dependent and is simply centralised upon

the inner I notion—the one is the concreteness of the
-

Pr a v ri t t i M a rga and expans ion the other the concreteness

, ,

of the N i v ri tti Marga and renunciation In order that .

the self may realise itself in its un iqueness as the one ,

without a second it has to attain self consciousnes s

,
-
,

first of all in the physical

, .

During the gradual evolution of humanity from the ,

pure spiritual men of the Satya Yuga or Golden Age to

our present day humanity with concrete material ,

I notion the trend of evolution has been towards the

-
,

attainment of definition through Pr a vr i t t i M arga the

, ,

expansion of life in terms of concrete proj ec tions In .

each of the Yugas one of the centres of consciousness

,

becomes the principal centre and the habitat of the ,

consciousness is on the corresponding plane Thus in .

the Satya Yuga the centre of consciousness was in the

Causal and man could directly sensate and respond
,

to the forces in the Cau sal plane But the definition

of the I —
.

consciousness then was rather a pa ssive de fin i

tion due to the external powers of the Devas helping
, ,

and guiding the i nfant humanity The permanent .

atoms of the lower planes were then in a vague and

 T H E P RA V R I T I ' ‘
I MA R G A .
45

ethereal state and wanting in concreteness So it is .

s a id in the Puranas that the p hysical body in those

ages was gigantic in its stature but changing with , ,

every thought and thus wanting in stabili ty and per

man en c e . It was almost a useless appendage for man
in his passive state was in a kind of dream land sensating -
,

and responding to the higher vibrations in a dreamy ,

passive way Then there was no sin—for the i n di vi

.

duality was vague and u ndefined and passive in its acti

vi t i e s
. In the ne xt Yuga the Tret a the mental un it ,

became the usual centre of activity In the D v apar a .

,

the astral unit was vitalised into prominence and man

could wield the powers of the astr a l plane but in the ,

same passive way In the Kali Yuga however the

.
, ,

physical centre is the one most strongly vitalised but ,

even now we fin d traces of the predominating activity

of the astral centre amongst the savages Like some .

of the anim als savages often now possess the powers of

astral sight and hearing The traces of psychic life
.

amongst savages collected by Mr Andrew Lang in his

,
.

Makin g of Show that amongst some

savage tribes the activities of the astral centre at
,

times preponderate over vague physical ones a n d ,

the centre of consciousness is still more or less in the , ,

astr al The physical body is very loosely connected

.

through the physic al centre to the Causal m an an d in ,

co nsequen ce physical pain and suffering are almost

,

di sregarded because less keenly fe lt American Indi ans .

have been known to fight even when the physical body

was gashed with wounds whi le to our delicately con
stituted c ivilised man such a thi ng would be absolutely
,

impossible During the downward a rc the Caus al man

.

successive ly takes the lower permanent atoms in hand ,

Cf V Cr y ta Vi i o
., S va g d Ci vi l i s d p 9
s s n s, a e an e , . 0.
46 S T U DI E S I N TH E B H A G A VA D G I TA .

and by centralising its life in these one after the other ,

evolve s them into suitable centres of expression In .

the physical the action of the real man ; through his

'

centre produces what is called the nervous sys tem

, ,

which helps hi m to translate physical things in terms

of the mind This impregnation of the physic al atom
.

becomes necessary because of the tendency towards

,

determination Seeking un iqueness in the P r a vri tti

.

M arga through forms man becomes identified with the

,

physical vesture and has to work i n and thr ou gh it

,
.

Thus cabined cribbed and confined by his own wi ll to

,

attain to in di vi duality an d yet cont ai ning within hi m

,

self the potentiality of the Divine and longi ng once more ,

to regain his lost position as the reflection of the Self ,

he pours out his latent powers in and through the

physical body and evolves out of the clumsy materi als
in hand instruments to express his higher nature in
,

a way su itable to the conditions of life i n the plane .

This impregnation of the life i s also two fold according -

to the state of evolution During the downward a re.

he is relatively unconscious for the reason that con ,

sc i ou sn e ss has not yet attained to defin ition an d ,

be cause the activities are done in a passive fashion The .

sym pathetic nervous system is a relic of this stage when ,

the unconscious physical man wooed out i nto activity ,

by the outside power s fecun dates the permanent atom

,

with hi s powers an d evolves un consc iously a nervous

system thro ugh which he is connected wi th the outer world
,

whether he wills it or not The psychic life of the savage

.

has if we an alyse it ca re fully t hi s e leme nt of passive

, ,

sensibility and automatic response in contradi stinction

to the active and wide awake fun ctio ning of the Yogi .

The open ing of the eyes in clairvoyance is done by the

savage without understan ding the modu s op era n di
, ,
 T H E P RA V RI T I ' ‘
I MA R G A .
47

by simply going through some magical and ritu alist ic

performances an d t hrough art ificial stimulati on Even .

now with the help of drugs man c an by paralysing

, , ,

his voluntary nervo us system ensure similar results ,

through the unconscious activity of the sympathetic

system Such phenomena in spiritualism as automatic
.

writing etc h ave also as their basis the unconsci ou s

, .
,

activity of thi s system But wi th the average man

.

of t he present day th e act ivity of the as tr al i s quite

,

hi dden and thrown into the bac kgroun d by the noon

day glare of the physical waking co nsciousness Rb is .

ma c haryya th e warri or sage of the Mahab harata taught

, ,

Yu dhi sthi ra that the co ns ciousness of th e veget a ble

kin gdom was i n S usu ptt of th e an imal ki ngdom i n
,

S va pn a an d of man in the j agr a ta or wakin g con

,

sc i ou sn e ss
. Similarly also we can say that the sub
’
stratum oi manifestation of man s consciousness in the
savage state was in the Astral while with us no rmally ,

it is i n the physical As centre after centre evolving

.
,

out of the Mona d i s developed and vit ali sed the

, ,

co nsciousness of th e Causal Man successi vely annex es

these as its outward limit Even if we scrutini se the
.

stages o f human co nsc ious ness in the infant we arrive

at the same truth In the first o r even in part of
.
,
’
th e se cond month o f the baby s ex istence o n eart h the ,

consciousness is in the ment al and af ter th at it desc ends

, ,

a step and is ce ntrali sed in the as tr al Th e physical .

movemen ts belong to the sympathetic ne rvous system

rath er th an the vol u ntary This nervous system is.

due to th e p assive and purely respon sive power of

conscio usne ss in its downward arc and belongs to the ,

past of the hum an race Th e gr owth of the centres

.
,

during the downward arc of even the petty hum an cycle

of a birth o r th e cosmic cycle ma y be cha racterise d
, ,
48 S r u m ns
'
i n T HE B HAG AVAD Gm .

in one wo rd as being a pa ssive exp ansi o n due to the

,
-
,

tute lage an d gui dance of the c osmic powers It is .

involun tary rather than voluntary and the automati sm ,

is the passive automatis m of foreign control .

It is only when man becos concrete and limi ted ,

when he att ains to even this limi ted self conscious ness -

of the physical that hi s growth in the higher planes

,

also becomes more active and i n depe n dent Le t us .

take a concrete case the case of the astral centre and

,

its development As man knows himself as a definite

. ,

concrete an d self con scious ent ity i n the physic al as he

strives to bri ng his astral nature into control—
-
,

e ven if

t his b e done only for the sake of be tter harmony of

life manife sting through the concrete physical con
sc i ou sn e ss—as he strives to regulate his emotions and
desires in harmony with the no tio ns of self conscious
,
‘

ness in the physical there is a r e arrangement in the

,
-

astral life with consequent c o ordi nation and de finiti on

,
-

of the as tral ce ntre I nstead of yielding himself to

.

emot ions however grand he tries to mould hi s emot ional

,

life to the c oncrete and well de fin e d li fe of the physical

-
,

an d t he as tral centre deve lops in stability an d d e fi nition .

The loss in expansi on is counter b alanced by the gain -

in preciseness an d definition The passive c haotic .

,

life of the a stra l centre in the down ward arc gives place
to a centralised li fe an d along with it the manifestation
,

of a di fferent kind of automatism Th e aut omat i sm of .

the downward arc means the control of the c entre of

consc iousnes s and its act ivitie s by the force s outside
man It is the automatism of t he slave under the whip
.

of the domin ating master It is p assive an d involun tary

. .

But the ki nd of automatism of the astral centre developed

through the action of self consciousness is qui te di ffere nt
-

in nature There is no outside co ntrol, but on the

.
 T m; P RAVRI T T I MA R G A .
49

contrary it is due to the training of the astr al life by

,

the downpouring life of the Ego As we have already .

seen * in the automatism of the u padhi s or vehicles of

,

consc iousness real automatism implies a two fold har

,
-

mony the harmony of the powers in the microcosm

with the powers of the macrocosm on the one hand ,

and the har mony of the inner consciousness wi th the

powers of the u padhi s on the other Without the .

former the cen tre can gai n the mastery over these
'

powers but at the same time it renders them mute

, ,

lifeless slaves and in consequence the centre cannot be

, ,

free The powers thus rendered entirely lifeless become

.
,

for that ve ry reason obstructions to the freedom of the

consciousness Unless the centre wi lls and pours out
.

its life they do not work and in consequence there is

, ,

a useless expenditure of energy in overcoming their

lifeless resistance with the result that the centre remains
,

attached to its field It is the forced inhibition practised

.

by the Asuras of the Black Path If o n the other h a nd .

, ,

the centre is entirely passive then the activities the , ,

manifestations of the powers do not really b e long to ,

the li fe of the centre and cannot re ally be nefit i t The .

automatic manifestations of powers in th e psychic

or the medi u m have this characteristic that the self
,

consciousness is rendered a passive and obedi ent slave .

The higher power manifesting is forced upon it and ,

though there be manifestations of such higher powers ,

the paralysed centre of self consciousness gai ns nothi ng

-

by it In most cases mediums do not even recollect

.
,

what takes place during the seance and even if they ,

recollect there is no expansion of their self consciousness -

.

To quote a fami liar though home ly Indian sayi ng

, , ,

the medium is like unto the bullock laden with sacks

Studi es “and S er i e s : Ch a p I
, . .
50 STU DIE S m TH E B HA G A VA D Gi r l .

of sugar an d though he he a r s the load yet he tastes

, ,

not of the sweet Though there is a manife station of

.

hi gher life yet there is no enrichment in self con

,
-

sc i ou sn e ss On the contrary it saps away the little

.
,

strength of will that he had Psychism is a re lic of the

.

past Like the canine tee th in man it shows only the

.
,

mi ssing link It i s a trace of t he passive life of the centre

.

during the downward arc and hence it is degenerative

,

rather than developmental in the present stage of

evolution Another curiou s fact with regard to the
.

passive development of the centre s during the down

ward arc deserves special mention The ex p ansion .

of life duri ng this stage be ing due to ext ernal control ,

there is no proper assimi lation of e xperience and wi sdom .

To assi milate even in the physic al we have to output ,

something of our own li fe ; but the ce ntre bei ng ,

entirely pas sive and without self knowledge there is -

no such output t ing an d hence the mass of say astral , , ,

vibrations affecting the centre in its downward process

is not reduced to homogeneity and un ity by the lif e
of the centre The outwardn ess of View at this stage
.

further hinders the assimilation and in consequence ,

these unassimi lated astral Vibration s are dimly sensed as

being outside the centre The finer of the astral vi bra
.

tions are held so to say in saturation in the passive

, ,
'

consciousness of the Tdmaszc centre while the coa rser

ones having directly only a physical momentum
, ,

show thems elves forth as physical activi ties The .

physical action s of the me di um are due to t hese strong

downward invasions of the astr al life but the finer and ,

subtler ones are held in solut on though unas similated

i

, .

’
A day s review of the workings of consciousness will at
once show how much of our activities desire s and ,

thinkings remai n thus unassimi lated though held in ,

 T H E P RAV R I T T ! MA R G A .
51

solution On ly a small fractio n of these unassimi lated

.

materi als naturally contradictory and conflicting in

,

their nature and u n u n i fie d by the life of self conscious

,
- -

ness can express themselves in our d a ily activities or

, ,

even in one earth life Thus these go on accumulating .

as outward and foreign things When the man having .

,

developed his self consciousness and dimly responding

-

to the Divi ne Life longs to harmonise hi s astral life , ,

this unassimilated stock of astral experiences of the R ace

in the past and of the man himself in the downward
,

arc become vi tali sed by the current of aspiration towards

,

the higher li fe and they appear to the aspirant as

,

hosti le outside powers threatening to submerge his life ,

of self consc iousness This is the veritable Dweller

-
.

”
on the Threshold so ably depicted in ! anoni , the ,

paralysing outward power whic h works the m i n of the

aspirant The life of aspiration precipitates these
.

un a ssimilated experiences and the aspir ant is washed ,

away by the ir terrible force The precipitation some .

times t a kes the form of an outside control against ,

whi ch no strength can prevail sometimes it takes the

shape of even the Teacher and thus subtly insinuates ,

thi ngs to delude the aspirant How true it is as H B F .

,
. . .

has said *
,Woe then to thee Disciple if there is one
, , , ,

single vice thou hast not left behind ; for then the
ladder will give way and overthrow thee His
’
sins will raise their voices like the j ackal s laugh and sob
after the sun goes down hi s thoughts become an army
”
and bear him off a captive slave It is the Sk a n dha of .

the Buddhi sts and its action too is automatic

,
The .

silly j ingles the inhibitive timi dities of Myers referred

, ,

t o above are due to this stock of unassimilated e xpe r i

ence—the result of S a fic hi t a Karma They belong not
,

.
,

Th Voi c e of th Si l en
e Fr gm en t I pp 5 6 e c e, a .. . 2 -
2 .
52 S T U DI E S I N TH E B H AGAVA D Gi r l .

to the life of the self conscious centre as Myers-

,

would have us beli eve but to the passive ,

life of expansion in the past They refer to the field .

of manifestation of the centre rather than the centre ,

itself and touch only the outermost fringe of its be ing

,
.

Occult Science kn ows them better and hence i nsists ,

upon the paramount necessity for the cultivation of the

six fold vir tue s a s the pre requisites of the hi gher life
- -

in the di sciple These have the e fiec t of strengt hening

.

the life of self consciousness in the centre in the fir st

-

place and of assimi lating the past Karma without

,
‘

being swept away by the violen ce of the eruptive forces .

That is why the moulding of the life by steady practice

of the attitude of surrender towards the Master and t he
U pashya ( the Ideal ) of questio n ings and intellec tual
,

control over the lower nature and actions done as sacri ,

fic e are all demanded of the di sciple .

Such are the three centres of consciousness in man ,

sometime s likened unto three knots in the string of self

conscious exi ste n c e the three Namas which cosmi cally
w
,

as well as in man synthesise all experi ence )“ And they

,

are called the proj ections of the Atma Sakti or the -

,

powers of the Self for even in their limitations they , ,

all refer to the Self Their voice i s the voice of the Self
.
,

the I the One without a second E ac h cont ai ns .

within i tself the potentiality of the Parent Self each

may be likened to the fiery nave of a burning wheel ,

the outer ri m of whi ch is the matter of the plane and ,

the spokes of which may be likened to the powers of

the senses whi ch connec t the outer with the i nner li fe
, .

Like the Flame each has the power of throwi ng out a

,

thousand sparks all around whic h under suitable con ,

di ti on s can aga in t e manifest into Itself

-
It is to t hese .

CL . S ri ma d -B ha ga v a d , ML , vi . , 9, d se q.
 T H E P RA V RI T T I MA R GA .
53

imperish able Laya Centres that the U pan i sha d" refers l

when it alludes to B rahman as co ntaining the Three

Imperish able (Ak sha r a ) Bases of manifestation Th ese .

Th ree taken with the Triangle which is their source

, ,

o r in other words the Immort al Monad h avi ng thus a

, , ,

six fold mani festation i s the S a ddn a n a th e Six headed

‘

- -
, ,

t he Kum ar a the Ka rtikeya the Comm an der of th e

, ,

Deva army We fin d i n the Pu ranas how the See d

.
'

fro m the First P urusha was cast into the Sacred Flam e
as the Womb an d how thi s Seed was fed and nourished
,
~

du ring its ge station period by all the Devas an d how , ,

th us nouri shed it developed into the war God Kartikeya

, ,

un der whom th e Devas fought agai nst and conq uered

th e Asura T araka It i s the Immortal Ma n thus .
,

developed into strength by harmony with the Cosmic

Powers who is destined to be the generalissimo of the
,

Deva army It is sign ificant to note in this connection

.

that Ka rtikeya is variously termed the Kum ara the

, ,

Bachelo r the Gu ha o r the Secret Life and the Ska n dha

, , , .

The ten centres of consciousness which the Sri mad

Bha ga v a d speaks of as bein g due to th e D ai vi Sakti of
t he Logos are th e ce ntr e s of re lation di vided int o th e
—
, ,

two classes five belo nging to the motor a ctivities and

th e oth er five to the sen sory Their funct ion is to relate .

the centres to th e Se lf inf olded in matter Ea ch is a .

relic of the modification of the Divine co nsciou sness

in I ts outw ar dness and life of rela tion Later on we .
,

sh all see h ow the se centres are u nified in cons cious ness

,

int o th e One Self which is their source .

Ci " S he t fisha ta ra Upa ni sh d

a , L, 7.
54 S T U DI E S I N TH E B HA G AVA D G I TA .

CHAPTER IV .

Q U AL I FICATI O N S FO R D I SCI P L E S HIP .

wi ll now resume the subj ect of the q u ali fic a

tions of di scipleship the qualifications whi ch
,

are necessary for transcendi ng the limi tation s

of form on the one hand and the limi tations of
N ama of the centres of consciousne ss regarded as
,

isolated and di sj ointed proj ections of the Self on ,

the other . Though we are in reality the Monad ,

yet identi fying ourselves wi th the physical centre ,

the physic al n ama we are subtly coloured by its

,
”
li mi tations The notion of the concrete separated I
.
, ,

the outcome of the physical centre so colours an d ,

domin at e s our thinking that even i n our aspirations

, ,

it exerts a subtle influence In meditation in religiou s

.
,

contemplation we fin d the physical notion of a separated

,

centre of consciousness domi nati ng our thi nking and ,

it makes our noblest endeavours in their conscious ,

e fie c t
,
converge towards this concrete physical self .

It is on ly when the centres are regarded as the proj e c

tions of the Divine when the subtle identification of
,

life with the contents of the I notion drops away when

-
,

the centres are seen merely as the conditions of ma ni

fe st a t i on of the life and not as the Life itself t hat the ,

unification of these centres is possible But so long as

.

the consciousness identifies itself with the condi tions

for man ifestation so long as we are attac hed to its
,

contents an d lose sight of the One Li fe so long the ,

unification of these centres must remain but an idle dream .

 Q U A L I FICATIO N S FO R D I SCI P L E SHI P .
55

We will therefore analyse the three fold require

, ,
-

men ts which must be fulfilled ere there can be any

expansion of consciousness cause d by the Life of Disciple
shi p The first of these lies as we have seen in su rr en der
.
, , .

Surrender implies the sacrifice by the centre of its

own li mits of Ahamk ara It means that the life man i
.

festing as the centre transcends its original limitations

,

through devotion and love towards one in whom it sees ,

as it were its future goal The principal requisite for

, .

the unification of the life centres through occultism-

and discipleship is as we have seen this mergence of

, ,

the Ahamk a ra The life which the candidate for

.

initiation had been aspiring after unconsci ously in the ,

previous stages the love and the unity which have been
,

drawing the man upwards and which have been develop

i n g i n hi m un consciously the li fe of the Higher now ,

manifest and strike the chord of li fe I n the harmony .

thus produced in the disciple in the exquisite symphony ,

of the di vine music falling upon the ears of the soul ,

the petty and limited I notion the life of the centres

-
, ,

tr a nscen ds itself and is transformed into the life of the

Higher The love of the Guru the illim itable life of
.
,

compa ssion breathed out by the Master takes up the ,

harp of life and smites on all the chords with might

and strikes the chord of self which trembling passes ,

in music out of sight Surely Love is the fulfilling of

.
,

the Law and this love is one solvent for transmuting

,

the lower centres into the Higher This love thi s .

,

surrender of the soul to the Divi nity manifesting as the

Master this devotion to something afar from the sphere
,

of our sorrow makes the heart like the Memphian lyre

, ,

out of whi ch the impinging rays of the rising sun evoke

di vi ne music and in that music the centre swan like
, ,
-
,

sings and di es and is regenerated It is this surrender .

56 ST U DI E S IN T H E B HA GAVA D Gi n .

of which the great Master of the West Speaks Sell

”
all that thou ha st an d follow Me It is thi s se lf .

dedication of which the Gi t a spea k s“ Forsaking all ‘‘

3

dhar mas come unto me alone for shelte r ; So rrow not

, ,

”
I will liberate thee from all si n s .

The nec e ssity of this sur re nder is apparent if we only

consider the fact that i n transcendi ng name as well a s
,

form the consciousness has first to re alise i ts hi gher

,

nature How can we drop the I notio n the very life

.
-
,

of Ab hi man a whi ch permeate s through an d through

,

our whole being in mani fe s tatio n The terms of the

expansion of life of the cen tres the c oncr et e phen o men a
, ,

of mani fested life are all strung together by the invisi ble
,

thread of mi ne ne ss running through the m It i s only

- .

when thi s Ahamk ara is puri fie d by doing everythi n g for ,

and surrendering every activity to the Divi ne that the

consciousness can dimly respond t o the hi gher un i fyi ng
li fe. When dimly sensing a higher I the soul longs
”
,

to pou r itself o ut in surre nder an d forgets once for all

its self rega rdi ng and self ce ntring attitude it becomes
- -
,

possible through love to get a glimpse of the higher

, ,

element in Vai r agya or di spassio n and whic h by lulling ,

i nto silen ce the outer soun ds makes it possi ble for the
longi ng soul to hear the voice of the S elf the Voice of ,

the Silence and the Unmanifest above N ame an d Form , .

So even i n Yoga practic es the Git a enj oins the disciple

at a certain stage to stop thinking an d s u rren de r the
,

upon the min d it is impossible for the life to renounce

,

the limi tations of n ame an d form or even the very ,

power of the attentio n of the mi n d The so ul attracted .

,

0p c i t x v m
. .
, 66.

7c a. o m . VI ., 3 3.
 Q U AL I FI CATI O N S FO R D I S CI P L E S HI P .
57

by the higher life manifesting through its Ideal centres ,

itself upon it and in that love the fetters of ignorance

,

and the sens e of be ing limited by a name drop away and ,

the c onsciousness i s se t free in the higher realms Lo vin g

the Master as the ideal—the heart recogni sing Him as
.

the One Substance gladly sacrifices unto Him every

,

other thing havi n g substantiality They are Thi ne

.
,

the di sci ple would say and i n that thought no t only is

, ,

the ex isten ce mani festing as the Master dimly realised ,

but along with it there is an expansion of co nsc i ousness

whi c h in cludes equally the I and the Not I The li mited -
.

life of the centre realises the exi stence manifesting

through the Guru as embrac ing everything an d as
i mparting to everything the no tions of reality an d sub
st an ce Even i n th e ordin ary ma nife station of human
.

love th e life of th e b eloved embraces everythi ng else

,

withi n its folds To the lovi ng wife her husband is the

.
,

centre an d through him she loves every one connected

,

with her husband yet this ex pansion i s caused by his

,

re latio n to others . His friends bec o me hers because

they are hi s his likes become hers bec ause they are his
,
.

The high an d the low the virtuous an d vicious the aged

, ,

and the young are all reduced t o the larger un ity as

, ,

hi s relati ons . Thus th ough th e re i s a c entre still yet ,

i n l o ve an d surren der th e cen tre i s reali sed as a c i r

,

c u mfer en c e in cludin g everyt hing So also an d i n much

.
,

greater degree does the devotee disciple enlarge his

, , ,

bei ng by surrenderi ng himself to One Whose li fe em

brace s everyt hi ng Thu s by love an d su rrender alone
.

does th e n otion o f the se parated in de pen dent ex ist en ce

of thi n gs bec o me transmuted int o th e n otion of the One ,

the U nique Who at the same time embraces everyt hing

,
.

Righ tly it is said th at love i s th e reduction of the

u niverse to a poin t an d the expansi on of th e p oint t o
,
58 S T U DI E S I N T HE B H A G AVA D Gi r l .

embrace the universe It is a recognition by the heart

.

of t he On e Divine Life Whose radi ance clothes every

,

thing with substantiality and existenc e the One

Reality through which accordi n g to the Sr i m a d,

Bha ga v a d * the reality of the phenomenal world of name

,

and form is seen as the reality .

The next condition of di scipleship is called Pari

pr a shn a O ften translated as questioni ngs
,
Thi s implies .

the development of intellectual facu lties to an extent

which has been descri bed in the S ankhya Yoga of the
Gi t asf It is possible only when the power of th e
intellect is keen and in ci sive so as to penetrate through
forms and modes of thought in order to arrive at the ,

underlying u nity But thi s ques tioning is di ff erent

.

from ordinary intellectua l thi n ld n g The question i ng .

demanded of the di sciple is the power of appli cation

in search for the uni ty of Life whic h he has di mly realised
through surrender Ordinary thi nking nay even
.
, ,

philosophical thought as now understood is concerned ,

wi th forms and modes rather than with the One Life .

Problems are taken up and thought over till somethi n g

of the truth un derlying appears But the aspects of .

truth s o discovered are of the world of description and ,

they have no bearing on the One Life which underlies

them all Thus we see that in spite of grand di scoverie s
‘

in science and phi losophy man makes comparative ly

little progress The truths thus discovered are un related
.

’
to man s real Self They are not see n nor understood
.
,

in relation to the One Life but remai n disj ointed frag ,

ments outside the real man We are no nearer our go al .

by such discoveries a s the X R ays or wireless tele -

graphy nor is the world sweeter because of the keen

,

CL , S r i m a d- B haga va d , I ., 7
.

T Bhaga va d ORA, Mrs Be . a ut s tran sla ti on p

'
, . 5 6.
 Q U A LI F I CAT I O N S FO R D I S CI P LE SHI P .
59

analysis of philosophers in psyc hology Indirectly .

,

however th e se di scoveries m ay Stimula te one bent upon

,

seei ng the Self but di rec tly and in the process of thi nk
ing these truths do not help us much Wh at the
, .

physica l brai n knows what the physi cal memory may

,

contai n an d what the physi cal consc iousness may

,

re flect are not per se helpful in leadi ng us t o the kn ow

,

ledge of the One Self They are the mere phenomenal

.

garbs which the One Consciousness appears in and if

our atten tion is fixed on th e pheno menal and transient
elements in these we may know so mething of the natu re
,

of the se forms but no thing of the inner life All ques .

ti on i ngs therefo re i n order to be of help t o the disciple

'

, ,

must be direct ed towards grasping the One Li fe as di stinc t

from the m a ny forms By missin g this i mportant point
. ,

by takin g the fo rms an d modes of life as independe nt

entities and overlo oki ng the unity of the Self the
, ,

philosophers of the materialistic sc ho ol mi ss even the

Ego in man Suc h thi n ki ng is a great obstacle to t he
.

one pointedn ess of intellect as we have a lready seen in

-
,

studying th e Sankhya Yoga an d hen ce th e Upani shad ,

s a ys They e nter into da rkn ess who worship

Avidya but to greater darkness go th ey who are given
, ,
”
to knowledge Intellect in order to be helpful must
.
, ,

also be directed t owards the O ne Self as contrasted

’
with the passi ng forms Thus the G t a saysi . r Thi nk -

ing on Th at th e Self believing i n That solely devoted

, , ,

to Tha t th ey go whe nce there is no ret ur n thei r sins

, ,

“
Also 1 O n Me fix thy Man as
”
dispelled by wisdom .

”
be devoted t o Me .

The first e ssen tial in this ques tio ning therefore is the , ,

recogni tio n of the Unity the Self wheth er manifesting , ,

as the Human Mon ad with its ce ntres o r as the Ishvara , ,

Rho Upani sha d

- 1c m v 7 . 3 Ib i d x
x 34 , .. . , , .
60 S T U D I E S I N TH E B H A G A VA D G I TA .

or even the Guru All thinking instead of be ing

. ,

directed towards the kn owledge of forms and their

potentialities Should converge round such points of
unity The world of forms is often compared to the
.

sand grains on the sea shore impossible for any mind to ,

calculate Above below whether in the regions

.
, ,

explored by the telescope or in the fields which the ,

microscope reveals to our vi ew there is an i nfinite ,

gradation of forms which staggers even the boldest

,

mi nd to contemplate There is an in finity of forms in

.

the un iverse evolved by the Infin ite The desire .

,

therefore to know these is sure to be b a fli e d Worlds

, ,
.

after worlds are di scovered and yet worlds after worlds ,

remain unexplored and who shall dare gauge the

,

Infinity Hence the man ifested uni verse is compared

to the Ashv a tha * tree with its root upward in the One
,

Existence while down wards stretch the inn umerable

,

branches with their thick foliage In num eri cal i nfinity .

therefore in the infinity of forms and appearance s we

, ,

are sure to be lost and it b a flle s all our que stionings

, .

The power of ques tion ing which the disciple is asked to

cultivate , is based upon the higher un ity the inner ,

infini ty rather than the uni ty of forms a n d the outer

,

infinity It i s the un ity of the centre evolving the

.

infin ity of forms an d stringing together the numerical

infinity of mani festations that should be the goa l of all ,

questionings The numerical value of w must always

.

be an approxi mation but the same ,can be realised 1r .

more accurately a s an abstract truth a s a re lation We .

can try to measure the life of the I in us in terms ,

of its phenomenal manifestations but such an estimate ,

will ever fall short of the i nfinite phases of the ever

varying personality B eing potentially in finite in
.

cc , o m , xv
..
 Q U AL I FICATI O N S FO R D I SC I P L E S HI P . 61

essence its proj ections are there fore numerically i nfini te

, .

So the di sciple is as ked not to look at its phenomenal

manifestations but to k now it in its essence through
,

what is called the non duality of thi nking Apart from -

.

the immensity the ver y n ature of forms as the ex

, ,

t e rn ali sa t i on of the life stands agai n st the re alisatio n

,

of unity whi c h must un derlie t r ue questioning How .

many of us though proudly conscious of ourse lves can

, ,

fin d out the I whi ch forms the substratum of all

varying phenomena P Engrossed in the forms we lose ,

the one pointedn ess of intellect which alone as we have

-
, ,

seen i n the S ankhya Yoga helps us in knowing our ,

selves Thus though there is knowledge there is no

.
, ,

self k n owledge
-
.

The three non dua lities the non duality of thinking

-
,
-
,

the non duality of action and the non duali ty of sub

-
,
-

stance and existence are defined by the Bha gav a d * , ,

as the means to be employed for unifying in one Self

con sc iousne ss the states of consciousn ess appertaini n g
,

to Jagrata Sv a pn a and Su shu pti The non duality

, .
-

of think in g is the result of the functio ning of the intellect

in search of the uni ty Of Life The separative tendency .

in t he intellect is utilised in discriminating between the

essential element in all sensations perceptions and ,

thoughts and the non essential— the self from the

,
-

not self It is only when man s intellect is thus di rected

-
.
’

to discri mi n ating the One Life from the phenomenal

appearances it assumes for manifestation that the one ,

pointed intellect referred to in the Gi t af arises But .

the one pointedn ess of thi nking whi ch the Sri m a d

“

Bha ga v a d refers to as one of the essential requi sites

,

for Moksha the non duality of thin king which is t e

,
-

quired for a di sciple is somethi ng more than separati ve

, .

St i me d -
Bha ga va d , VI L , 15- 6 2 . 1 one, I L . 4 x .
62 ST U DI E S IN T HE B H A G A VA D G I TA .

It does not simply posit the I agai nst the not I the -
,

Self against the non self but it reduces the non self-
,
-

into the Self or what is the same thing; it Gives the

, ,

Self to the non The disciple must develop that

kee n power of intellect which enables him to trace the
Self in its involution to follow the gradual process or
,

e xt e m ali sa t i on and mater ialisation by whi ch the One

Life and Conscious ness appears successively as the

Tan m a t r as the Ta t t v a s the Forms and the Centre s
, , .

The questioning therefore implies the reduction of the

, ,

powers of intellect into the service of the Self It .

consists in transmuting the nature of the intellect and

uti lising it in order to man i fest the unity underlyin g
all things . It is the dedication of the int ellect to the
Self As in surrender there is the recogni tion of the
.
,

unity of existence so in thi s questioni ng there is the

, ,

rec ognition of the unity of con sciousness In sur render .

to the Master there is an under current of the unity of

,
-

everythi ng having for the centre the Master Himself .

In surrendering everything to H i m there i s always the ,

latent k nowledge of everything be ing re lated to Him .

And in consequence instead of there be ing in the con

,

sc i ou sn e ss the notion of di ff erence between the pas sive

reli cs of sub conscious activity of the centre and the

-

self conscious nature of the centre itself a ll these are

-
,

reduce d into a homogeneou s whole and there is as the t e

sult the manifestation of a larger life of self con sciou s -

ness whi c h harmonises the past wi th the presen t in a

,

larger synthetic unity The outwardness and hostility .

of the sub conscious activities of the pa st and the

-
,

con sequent limitations of the cen tre of consciousness ,

gi ve place to the larger lif e even the power of sight ,

whic h sees the dog the Chandala the Br ahmana the

, , ,

Th Voi c o f th Silen
e p 18 e e c e, . .
 Q U A L I FI CATI O N S FO R D I S CIP L E S H I P . 63

cow and the elephant as the mani festations of the same

,

Self * It is the accentuation of the limited life of the

.

centre whi ch really causes the di sturbances in the

,

psychi c life by invasions from the sub consci ous self

,
-

”
of the past The life of the centre as the I is capable
.
,

of i nfinite c o relations ; thus in virtue and vice in

-
, ,

pleasure and sorrow the self same I can manifest

,
-

equally An d it is only when through the action of the

.
,

c e n t r e pi t a l tenden cy i n M ay a we limit ourselves an d ,

see k definition by inscribing the centre within the c ircle ,

that through the principle of antithesis the limi ting ,

circ les become so real to us Hence the tr u e question .

,

ing depends u pon the reduction o f the se two poles

of being into a larger life by tracing their genesis to ,

the same source They re sult from the life of the centre
.

being polarised and while under the control of the

,

central consciousness they may be utilised for the

,

resu scitation as it were of the knowledge of past lives

, , ,

yet wi thout this larger life mani festing intellectually

through questioning and in a hi gher way through
,

surrender they are the causes of the self consciousness

,
-

being lost in particular forms of the disi ntegration

of the personality so well described by Myers and others
,
.

Not on ly is the particular centre rendered stable and

harmoni ous by questioni ng but the genesis of the lower ,

centres from the higher may be successfully traced ,

with the re su lt that the concrete physical centre thus

uni fied with the astral sentient centre gains in the
larger li fe of the hi gher while the higher centre itself
,

develops in concreteness of the peculiar ki nd belongi ng

to its own pla ne The concreteness of separation in
.

the lower in duces in the centre of sentiency a concrete

ness of psychi c lif e in the higher The defin ition of the .

Gi te , v.. 18 .
64 S T U DI E S IN T H E B HAGAVA D G I TA .

physic al helps i n developing the de fini tion of the astro

mental centre so that in the place of the in coherent
,

sub liminal self pourtrayed by Myers and others

-
, ,

a coherent articulate self conscious centre is evolved

,
-
,

whic h in its larger and higher life can harmoniou sly

syn thesise the self of the down ward arc with the centre , ,

the self conscious unity of the upward arc

-
.

Thus does this non duality of thinkin g help in the -

realisation of the one consciousness by resolvi ng every

phenomenon of name and form of matter and energy , ,

into the One Consciousne ss which by li miting itse lf , ,

”
exter nalises itself as name and form Just as says , ,

the Bhagavata * a piece of cloth i s but the arrange

,

ment of the one thread multiplying itself so too the , ,

world of forms is but the appearance in Time an d Space

”
of the One Self multiplying Itse lf If we take a .

concrete example we shall understand it better 16 1: .

4

us concei ve of a burning poi nt If the point is moved .

rapidly backwards and forwards there will be produced

the appearance of a li ne of flame Moving the point .

rapidly in a circle a circle of flame will appear and if

, ,

we conceive the circ le revolvi ng rapidly round its

di ameter a sphere of light will be the result But in
, .

reality the line the c ircle and the sphere though

, , ,

appearing so real and tangible are unsubstantial as the ,

fabric of dreams The point the only reality is thus

.
, ,

made to appear in diverse ways as the reality which

underli es the phenomen al manifestations Yet to all .
,

appearances the point is lost in its manife stations

, .

So too the One Self the Rootless Root lies hidden

, , , ,

i n a bsc on di to and is lost in its phenomena l manifesta

,

tions in Time and Space in the Tan m atr a s Ta t t v a s , , ,

Centres an d so forth R ea l knowledge looks to this

,
.
.

‘
tfi ima d -B haga va d .
 Q U A L I FICATI O N S FO R D I SCI PL E S HI P . 65

ce ntre of all things and traces its unfoldment an d

manifestatio n Real quest ioni ngs have thus the One
.

Self as the central point and study fro m this st andpoin t,

the laws of the m a nifestation and re a bsorption of a ll

th ings , The disciple is not only t o re alise the uni ty of
substance but also the un ity of lm owle dge which
,

explains the evolution of the world of name and form

from the One Self Nothi ng is not se lf to him—no thing
.
-

is un real E veryt hi ng is but a modification of the One

.

Consciousness Forms an d the di versity of thi n gs do

.

not blin d hi m ; for he knows their genesi s in the On e

Life He does not si mply p osit the Self against the
.

n ot self but knows the not self to be the phenomenal

-
,
-

appearances of the One S e lf ; he redu ces the not self -

to the Self he knows the Self in the apparent not self -

.

This knowledge which alone can free the consciousn ess

,

from th e limitations proj ected by the apparent Non

self results only when he seeks to fin d out the un der
,

lying uni ty So the Bhagavata* says

. He who
th rough the help of the Guru k nows the One fun ctioning
through M ay a and hence appea ring as the Many he is ,
”
th e real knower of the T a tt v as .

We will now consider the third conditio n of disciple

ship an d in itiation viz S év a or Service It is h ere
,
.
,
.

th at we make egr egious mist ak es Content with th e .

feeli ng of unity with under stan di ng intellectually the

,

unity of the kn owle dge we are apt to regard the unity ,

of action s as being secondary True realisation of the .

oneness o f Life is however not a mere feeling nor an

, , ,

abstract knowledge but sh ows forth i ts n ature even in

,

ac t i on s.Karma as we have see n i s the la w govern ing

, ,

th e man ifestation of the powers of the Self High .

spiritual aspiratio n is useless unless by Karma the ,

S ri m a d- Bhaga va d , X L . 21-23 .
66 S T U D I E S I N TH E B HA G AVA D G I TA .

various powers of being in u s are manifested an d unified .

Spiritual knowledge of the un ity by itself does not help

much in harmonising the manifestations of our life .

The vagu e unity of selfhood—of which we are conscious

—is not su fli c i e n t in the face of those experiences whi ch ,

go to prove the duplicating power of the three fold -

centres The mere knowledge of the Self as the U nique

. ,

is too shadowy to be of any practical use Unless .

,

therefore the vari ous powers which cluster round the

,

centres of consciousness in man are also unified u nless ,

the unity of the Self is re alised in every act the know ,

ledge and bliss cannot become perm anent The .

difficulties which lie in the path of di sc ipleship the ,

temptations with which a disciple is beset are a ll ,

due to the untransmuted an d unh armoni sed powers

in him the relics of the unassimilated Karma of
,

the past and the sub conscious li fe of the centres

,
-
.

The unifi cation of the power of sight for example with , ,

the organ of sight and wi th external light does not help

us very much in this respect It may lead to the .

acqui sition of occult powers it may harmonise us with

,

the Powers of the external world but it does not he lp ,

us in killing out the separated activity the k ama , ,

or desire for separated existence whi c h even the Devas

have got The reduction of the inner T a t t v as into
.

harmony wi th the outer does not establi sh uni ty though ,

it may harmonise the di fferent parts of the i nn er man -

,

the microcosm with the corresponding powers of the

macrocosm Even the powers of the lower Siddhis
.
,

which man acqui res by such harmony are di sj ointed ,

powers unrelated and u m c o ordi n ated to the One Life

,
- -
.

Hence not only must the di fie re n t centres be developed

by Karma not only must they be harmoni sed with their
,

Cosmi c Sources and the various Siddhi s be a cquire d ,

,
 Q U A L I FICATI O N S FO R D I SCI P L E SH I P . 67

but these centres and powers are to be unified and t e

solved into the One Life If we turn to that master
.

book on Yoga the Sutras of P a t a n j ali we shall see how

, , ,

by harmonising ourselves with the various powers ,

various lokas may be attained but this does not bri n g

us nearer to the Self for the consciousness is identified
,

still with a part only of its being and hence though there ,

may be a loftier type of consciousness yet it remains ,

a limited consciousness and as such subj ect to the , ,

sway of Death Moreover the second di fli c ulty of

.
,

self kn owledge—the mergence of the consciousness in

-

passi ng the neutral barriers between di fferent planes

is not overcome by the acquisition of powers For .

these powers are the powers of the manifested and

separated self and the notion of the concrete and
,

separated self governs the acquisition of them So .

long as we strive to acquire powers so long are we ,

ru led by the separative notion The development of .

physic al powers by harmonising the body with the

physical laws does not necessarily make men see the
Self in everything and so also as regards other powers
, , .

So Light on the Path exhorts the di sciple to hunger

for such possessions as can be held by the pure Soul ,

that he may accumulate we alth for the United Spirit of

Life which is his true Self The true power of the Self
,
.

as seen in manifestatio n is the power of seeing the One

,

Li fe in the high and the low in the material atom as ,

well as in the highe st Deva All others belong to the .

separated life and are therefore subj ect to Maya .

Karma which leads to the externalisation of the

,

lif e an d the v i v i fic a t i on of the di fferent powers shou ld ,

now be utilised in evolving unity Though apparently .

a paradox yet it can be done The unity of kn owledge

,
.
,

the non duali ty of wisdom shows the way in which

-
,
68 S T U D I E S I N TH E B H A GAV A D G I TA .

Karma should be done by one aiming at unity of Life

and discipleship If we gra sp the fact that the various
.

powers have all emanated from the One Life and Con
sc i ou sn ess if we understand correctly the import and
,

significance of the occult truth that the senses and the

mind are but the modifications of the One Conscio u sness ,

the very senses which carr y us outwards can be utili sed

in re turni ng inwards and fixing ourselves on the Se lf .

The law of Karma may be put to contribution to make

manifest the Oneness of Life instead of its Manyn ess .

And this is done by non duality in action by doing -

,

everything wi th the full realisation of the One Li fe .

Thi s the Gi t a says is done by sacrifice by re a li sing ,

that Brahman the oblation Brahman the clarified ,

butter are ofle r e d to Brahman the fire by Bra hman ;

, ,

unto Brahman verily shall he go who in hi s action medi

” “
t a t e t h wholly upon Brah man So also : i He who .

a c t e th
, placing all actions in Brahman abandoni ng ,

attachment is unpolluted by sin as a lotus leaf by the

,
-

”
waters . Actions are to be done so long there is
mani fested e xistence but wise is he who c an change the
,

binding power of actions by changing hi s att itude Thus .

,

instead of vi vifyi ng the senses wi th his separated life ,

he does action in order to realise the exist e nce and

powers of the Self The eyes c an be made to mani fes t
.

the Self Bent upon seeing the un ity and wise ly ex e r

.
,

cising the powers of sight by dedicating them to the

Divine he sees the One Con sciousness which ma ni fes ts
,

vari ously as the Deva the Power and the fi m c ti on of , ,

seeing So the Vai shnavas of the much mi sunderstood

.

school of Sri Chai t anya say

-
If the desire of sight
remains long to see Hi m in every form if the desire
for heari ng rema ins seek to hear His name only if the
,
'

0
c m , x
v .. 3 4. I om , v .. 10.
 Q U A LI FICATI O N S FO R D I SCI P L E SH IP . 69

desire to act remai ns act always in His service

, As
through the uni ty of knowledge the activitie s of the
apparently hostile sub conscious self of the past lead
- -

to the manifestation of a higher wisdom which sees the ,

Self equally in the P r av ri t ti as well in the N i v ri t t i path

, ,

so also by reducing all activities belonging to the con

scious or to the unconscious Self to the One Life the ,

Life of the centre gradually adj usts itself to the working

of a Larger Life embraci ng the man ifested un iverse
, .

The inner desires if unwisely resisted are sure to over

throw the disciple by their subtle colourings but thus ,

reduced they cease to be our enemies The di si n t eg .

ration of the Self by the action of diff erent powers

the higher level and the mi ddle level centres of Myers
is only avoided if we by actions so modify and har
,

mouise the sub conscious self of the past as to be in

-

un ison with the supr a li minal and with the sti ll higher
self u nfolded to us in deep me di tation with the help of
the Guru Thus are the various activi ties reduced to
.

the One Life and Cons c iousness and so the Gi t a says ,

Whatsoever thou doest whatsoever thou eatest , ,

whatsoever thou offe re st whatsoever thou gi vest , ,

whatsoever thou doest of austerity O Ka u n t e ya ! do

”
thou a s an offering u nto Me .

By this uni ty and non duality in actions the harmony

-

between the sight its powers and its obj ects is estab
, ,

li she d
. Further the subtle tinge of egoism and k ama
,

which un derlie a ll sense activities—the egoism whi c h

’
in the Vyasa commentary on the Sutras of P a t a n j r
a li
is described a s the third stage of the sense activi ty—is
transmuted in to the fifth stage of life described as
”
The power of ex isting for the sake of the Purusha .

o m , xr .
, 2 7.

1 P a ta n j a li ,
'
Vy ase , Bh ashya , I II .
, 47 .
70 S T U DI E S IN TH E B HAGAVA D Gi r l .

The senses thus come to be known as the expressions of

the One Life for the purposes of lin ki ng Itself with the
reflection of Itself in man Action s thus done lead to .

the realis ation of the One Exi st e nce The imm edi a te .

e fiec t of such actio ns in cons ciousness is the feeli ng

of harmony and uni ty The temptations to whi ch a.

disc iple is subj ec t in the astral plane life the t e mpt a ,

tions whi ch originate from the separated un co ordi nated -

powers of the senses and their presiding Intelligences ,

are easily overcome N ay these temptations cease to be

.
,
.

It i s only when we want to dom inate over these powe rs ,

when we know them as separate from the centre in us ,

when we do not see the underlyi ng Self in the mi dst that

we endow them with a spirit of hostili ty .

We shall understand the unity of actions better if we

consider the various causes which lead to actions The se .

are as the Gi t a says

, The basis or the upadhi the ,

Actor the various organs the several en deavours in

, ,
”
various kin ds an d the ( presiding deities ) also the fifth
Eve ry action afiec ts us in a fiv e fold way—i t connec t s us
.
,

i n a fiv e fold di fie r en t ma nner There is first the basis of

—
-

the u padhi —which colours the nature of our

.

all actions

activi ti es All our activities are limited by the qualities

.

of the u padhi whi c h forms the base of all act ion with its
sub consci ous li fe Then comes the sense of egoism
the cen tre of activity—
- .
,

o n whose potenti ali ty depends

in a large meas ure the re sults of activities and which ,

subtly colours the sense activities with a tinge of sepa

rated life Next we must consider the i nstruments
.

the senses and the mi nd— whi ch tinge every action

with their Characteristic colourin gs Then we must .

consider also the impuls e s to act ion whi ch we ordi narily ,

trace to our des ire s but whic h if we probe dee per

, , ,

Gi t e , X V I I L. I 4.
 Q U A L I FI CATI O N S FO R D I SCI P L E S HIP .
71

have their ori gin in the N i dan a s—the very causes of

existence—i n the need for attaining to self conscious -

ness Lastly we have to take into consideration the

.
,

nature characte ristics and potentialities of the pre

,

siding Cosmic Intelligences Who are the expressions of ,

the Law of Manifestation in a given plane Now all .

actions springing from the interaction of these five

Kar a n a s or causes go to feed and develop these five
, ,

in return Hence comes the bondage of the soul in

‘

definite grooves of activity .

The manyness of the springs of acti on has therefore , ,

to be reduced into harmony into unity by the non , ,

duality of action Instead of regarding the five causes

.

as di st i nct and in dependent all actions must be done ,

as expressing the un ity This is possible if the various

.

causes are themselves reduced to the One Self the Ish ,

vara if in every act we regard these five as being the

,

fiv e fold manifestations of the same Self if we connect

-
,

their activities with the One Self With the unity and .

non duali ty of thinking the Self is known as all these

-
,

wi th the unity of substance with surrender a ll these , ,

are dedicated to the One Li fe whi le the non duality ,

-

in actions helps in reducing the many into the One and ,

in the realisation of the One Life in Its immediacy and

concreteness .

There is another aspect which we must also consider

i n this connection In Karma there is always a v i v i fic a
.

tion of the forms and powers of being In actions done .

with the sense of the I as the actor the Actor in us ,

is developed into manifestation So in every action .

there is always a realisation of Being—in di vidual or

otherwise By non duality in actions by connecting
.
-
,

every action wi th the Ishvara we realise the One ,

Existence so to say part by part by relating a ll things

, , , ,
72 S T U DI E S I N T H E B I-I ACAVA D G I TA .

all causes to the Unity By the recogn ition of the

, .

Unity as the source of the app a rent multiplicity by

, ,

doing action in an d red uc ing the causes thereo f to the

, ,

One Li fe we create in ourselve s the basi s in whi ch the

,

One Life can manifest with all I ts powers By r en oun .

cing the not ion of the substantiality of thi ngs and by

surrender we endow as it were the One Li fe Wi th
, , ,

subst a ntiali ty So by doin g actions i n Him by Him

. .

and thr ough Him we create the po ssibili ty of His

,

manifesti ng to us as the One Centre the One Ca use of ,

all causes the One Exi stence which embra ce

, s all living

things Verily unles s a man di e s as rega rds these

.

power s unless he sacri fi ce s these forms of being into

—
,

the One Source he doe s not re ally live he does not

,

attain to the One S elf .

 T H E R E AS O N S FO R T HE QU A L I FICATI O N S .
73

CHAPTER V .

T H E R E ASO N S FO R T H E Q U A L I FICATI O N S .

U CH are the conditions whic h un derlie true Disciple

ship—the inner attitude which leads one to the
Feet of the Guru We will now see Why these
.

quali ties are insisted on We shall first consider the be ar

.

ings of these on the consciousness of the centre in man .

By servi ce ever y power which the di sciple has developed

,

by lives of Karma Yoga in the past is c o ordinated to ,

-

the Life of the Guru—the obj ect of his worship It .

-

is the ded ication of every power of being and becoming

to the service of the Teacher In or di nary lif e these
.
,

powers are exercised for the sake of the I in us ,

and the Ego is ordi nari ly the centre of all activities .

But the notion of the Ego is separative and limi ting

in tendenc y and at the same time it is vague and
,

undefined on the one hand and full of contradictory

,

and even hostile things on the other It is a mere .

possibility of u nity rather than a unity itself It is the .

Actor rather than the changeless Spectator It is .

hedged in by the conditions of its manifestations .

By service and the dedication of all the powers of the

be ing there is a conscious re establishment of uni ty on
,
-

a higher plane than the centre itself Servi ce unifies .

t he various powers evolved by Karma by reducing ,

th em to the One Ide a l after whi ch the soul aspires .

The k ama which u nderlies all activities done with the

“
notion of the I as the Actor di es In that atmos , .

pha re of uni vers al thought in the idea of an all e mb r a c

,
-

ing Ideal this weed can not flower The desire to ser ve
,
.
,
74 S T U DI E S I N T HE B H AC AVA D G I TA .

the desire t o de di c a t e every part of our b e i n g i n the service

_

of the Ideal coupled with the knowledge that the Ideal

,

can embrace in Its larger Life even the pairs of opposites ,

loosens the bonds of k ama and separateness The .

renunciation which service implies is not a mere negation

or forced in hibition but is rather positive and cons cious
,

in its character It springs from the conscious re ali sa

tion of the Ideal as the source of all —
.

as the centre of all

activities Service is thus a factor in action it implies

.

the uti li sing of the very laws of Karma which ordi narily ,

bind the consc iousness in order to free it from the ,

fetters Service combines in it self the powers of ex

.

pa n si on of being and consciousness with the evolution

of a higher un ity Instead of i mpregnating everythi ng
.

wi th the life of the limited centre of consc iousness and

vitalising forms and energies with the qua lities of the
I of the plane and thereby accentuati ng the limi ted
,

I notion action is used i n order to kill out the notion

-
,

of the I as the Actor and yet at the same time to ,

place it in relation with other things for the purposes of

growth The series of manifestations the concrete
.
,

terms of phenomena which by re sisting the li mi ted ,

consciousness manifest it thus undergo a change It , .

is no longer the subtle element of mine ness whi ch arti -

,

fic i a lly adds up the series no longer are the concrete

phenomena of mani festations isolated and separated
facts but on the contrary they a ll poi nt to the Self
, , ,

as the Ide al though vaguely re a lised and they are thus

, ,

linked together by the life of that Self Every act of .

service thus causes a three fold action It energises -

.

the forms not with the life of the li mited I notion

,
-
,

but with the larger and more impersonal li fe of the Ideal .

It helps the centre in transcendi ng itse lf by expanding

into the higher Life of the Ideal It strikes asunder .
 T H E RE ASO N S FO R TH E Q U A LI FICATI O N S .
75

the electri c ch a in with whic h we are darkly bound and ,

without conscious strain we expand along with the Ideal .

It helps in synthesising the world of N ame and Form ,

and resolvi ng the heterogeneous elements into the

homogeneity of the Divi ne Life of the Guru Every .

act of sacrifice of servi ce means thus the loosening of a

, ,

fetter whic h limits the centre of consciousness It .

links eve r y power of the centre with the Ideal and in ,

the harmony thus produced the potentialities of hi gher

,

Life in the centre manifest into actuality and being .

It is the lisping and almost inarticul ate expression of

the voice of the Self in us By thus harmo n ising every
.

power we come further to know ourselves as separate

,

from them Just as by the attraction of a powerful

.

magnet the latent magnetism in a piece of soft iron

,

becomes polarised the attracting pole of the magnet

,

separating the opposite kind of electricity and thereby

setti ng free the sim ilar so by dedicating all actions by
, ,

harmoni sing all activities there is caused as it were

, , ,

a separation of polarity in our being The pole of the .

se lf in its life of relation thus harmoni sed with the

corresponding life in the Ideal the li fe which un derlies
a ll activi ties though separate from t he s%i S set free
,

By harmonising the various Springs of actions with the

life of the Ideal there is generated in us the sense of a
higher existence transcending activities and thoughts It .

is on ly when the j arri ng so u nds of the senses the mi nd , ,

and the in tellect are lulled into silence by dedicating

these for the sake of service and when the k ama ,

whi c h connects these with the centre is transmuted

by se rvice that the soul becomes as deaf to the roarings
,

as to whi spers and thus un ited with the Silent Speaker

, ,

it can hear and comprehend * Thus harmon ised the .

,

Th Voi of the Sil

e ce p s enc e , . r .
76 S T U DI E S I N T H E B HA G AVA D G rr A .

centre un consciously drops its limitations and transcends

I t s own nature .

Every power thus utilised serves as a vehi cle for the ,

manifestation of the Ideal By con necting the powers .

with the Ideal by r esolving the se into the Guru we

, ,

are creating links by means of which He can reach us

even in the lower planes In every plane of our be ing .
,

in sensation in perception in thought this law of

, , ,

mani festation holds good The character of the out .

going current always depends upon th e character of

the i n going We can only see when we are incapable
-
.

of tears when the power of Sight is made independent

,

of the accidents of forms It is only when the outer .

sounds di e that the i nner sound mani fests It is only

,
.

when we cease to hear the many that we may discern the

One By sa c r ific i n g the forms and powers of bein g in us
.
-
,

by connecti ng these wi th the Ideal we m a ke it possible ,

for the Ideal to reach us through these ve r y forms

a fact often proved in meditation .

By questionings along with service the centre expands ,

consciously It comes to rea lise the why and where fore

.

of thi ngs The separative faculty the intellect is thus

.
, ,

utilised in evolving a conscious unity by tracing the

workings of consciousness of the One Divine Life as It ,

involves itself in forms By surrender the last li nk is .

forged and the centre of consci ousness gladly and

,

j oyously sacrifices itself in love and devotion It o ff ers .

itself as a vehi cle for the mani festation of the Life .

By service the flesh is made passive by questio nin gs

the senses are merged into the One Sense —the tran
, ,

sc en de n t al power of apperception— whi le by surrender

the in ner sanctuary is prepared where in alone can the

Real the Eternal manifest
, , .

Thus unified thus full of faith which is assimilated

, ,
 T H E RE ASO N S FO R T H E QU AL I FICATIO N S .
77

knowledge and having obtained mastery over the

,

senses the man att ai ns to wisdom and after gaining

,

wisdom he soon reaches the supreme peace * Thus .

harmo nised working for unity within and without he

, ,

nears the gateways of Initiation The unity of con .

sc i ou sn e ss of feeling and of activities develops the

, , ,

u nity of the Self and the Centre the Image Man b e

, , ,

comes more and more of the nature of the self its One ,

source .

What then is an Initiation It is the expansion of

the Consciousness of a centre whic h enables it to function
consciously on the planes above without any lapse of ,

self consciousness and which unifies and integrates

-
,

in a homogeneous whole the multipli city of manifesting

,

exi stence in the plane below The lower centre ceases .

to be itself and the finer limitations of Ahamk ara drop

away Our notions of the Self depend upon the contents
.

of our I consciousness The limitations surroun d

-
.

”
ing the pure I the abstract Self make us identify
, ,

ourselves with a particular centre Each centre has .

its own laws of being which it cannot transcend without

,

losing itse lf and the conscious harmo nious linking of

, ,

the centres by the One Life is impossible unless ,

the lower centres are attuned wi th a higher life

in which th ey can merge The di ffi cult y of keeping .

th e co nsciousness intact while tra nsferring the I notio n

,
-

from a lower to a higher centre can be imagi ned if we , ,

co nsider the laya states which intervene between them ,

Such laya states intervene between the J agrata Sv a pn a ,

an d Sushu pt i states an d however much we may try

, ,

we can never retain our self consciousness whi le passing -

through these dark lines in our spectrum whi c h di vide

the colours of manifestation The physical man cann ot .

0L G i td I V 39 . , ., .
78 ST U D I E S I N T HE B H A C AVA D G I TA .

by himself let go the notion of I which forms the

centre of all his activities The notion of concrete and .

separated life of uniqueness through dis tinction and

,

difference characterises even the manifestations of

,

Sally Beauchamp and others recorded by Myers— the

stamp of the physical i s upon them all All e fior t s after .

self pu ri fic a t i on and self discipline are coloured by the

- -

notions of the physc i a l I in man and it is on ly when ,

the centre of consciousness in the physical man has been

unconsciously purified by deliberate actions done with
the idea of sacrifice un to One hi gher than itself (whether
internal or external ) and has so moulded itse lf as to
,

approach to some extent the con di tions of the li fe

manifesting in the higher centre and when over and , ,

above all there is a downpouring of the higher Li fe

,

from the Guru inducing in it for the time being a hi gher

,

polarity of being that it is possible for the lower centre

,

to be moulded unto the higher j ust as the clay i s moulded ,

to the form to which it is first un ited in the potter s ’

mind The lower centre has to die u nto itself in order

.

to rebecome and be one with its Father In the first .

place therefore there must be behind the human Ego

, ,

some hi gher Li fe within or without whic h by the powers

, ,

of love and wisdom so su fiu se s the lower Ego as to make

,

it forget itself in the lower plane Memory in every .

plane is the limit of obj ectivity of the Ego and the ,

physical memor y the qu intessence of physical e xpe ri

,

en c es is t hat in which is the guarantee of existence

,

of the physical Ego This memory however for most

.
, ,

of u s is but the record of the images of the physical

I cast on sensations perceptions and thoughts , .

It is at one and the same time the vehicle for the ex

pressio n of the Ego as well as its linking sphere The
, .

“
abstract I the pure reflection of the Self clothed
, ,
 T H E RE ASO N S FO R T H E Q U A L I FICATI O N S .
79

with the formi dable ring pass not of memory -

,

becomes the individualised centre This memor y is .

”
often denominated the flavour of existence and is ,
“
the field in whi ch the seed I develops its powers .

It is a part of the Cosmic Memory of the corresponding

plane and conditioned by similar laws The self as the .

I the discrete individual exists so long as this memory

, ,

exists Its di mensions its contents and lines of activity

.
,

are the wombs of growth within which the reflected ,

Self kn ows itself The diffi culty of overcoming the

.

trammels of memory of killing out the ver y thing which

,

gives us the guarantee of existence may be well imagined , .

Yet it has to be done in order that there may be an

expansion of consciousness In dreams and even in .

D e v a c ha n i c life the trammels of this memory do not

drop Only the finer seeds of the physical life con
.

t a i n e d in it germi nate there .

To transcend the life of the centre therefore we have ,

to kill out the concrete memor y apper tain ing to it .

Hence sm a m n a or the kee ping always in mind the

,

Gur u and the Ideal and relating every thought and act
,

to These is the fir st step towards the expansion

,

of the consciousness of the centre But it is only when .

by the di vine touch of the Guru the memory drops ,

and the man is uplifted for the time being into the
recognition of the hi gher centres in him that the fetters ,

of the lower centres cease to bind so strongly Hence .

the Great Mah a tmas are called in the Bhagavata the ,

B ridge the Path co nnecting the Life of the Divine

, ,

with the life of the phenomenal planes These Mi ghty .

Beings Who having attained to the Div ine Self keep

, ,

Themse lves withi n the range of the phenomenal worlds ,

these Lo rds of Compassion and Mercy are to us the ,

WAY an d the PATH It is o nly by purifying our life

.
,
80 S T U DI E S I N T H E B H A G AV A D G I TA .

our tiny cen tre s with the Mi ghty Strea ms of Their Life
, ,

whi ch is the Life of the Self that we can cons ciously

,

pass through the in di screet Brah man the laya con ,

sc i ou sn ess
, which intervene s between the concrete
centres of consc iousness As the Upani shad says :
.

That by which the interveni ng state s between

Sv a pn a and J agrata are seen i s that All pervadi ng Self -
,
”
by knowi ng whic h the wise do not grieve
, The Guru .

is the One Self conditio ning Himself by taking an outer

garb though the inner lif e i s free in order that by
, ,

ident ifyi ng himself with His (the Gu ru s ) Li fe the Chel a ’

,

may consciously be uplifted to the higher regions of

Being Only by mi ngling our li fe with the embodiment
.

of Brah man the Guru Who bei ng one with the Self
, , ,

shares in the Life of the Se lf can we keep our self

,

consciousness intact amidst the dissolution of laya .

h
Ka t a U pa n i sha t, IV .
, 4.
 I N ITIATIO N S . 81

CHAPTER VI .

I N ITIATIO N S .

H U S equipped trained in the life of giving by the

,

practice of the six fold vi rtues having developed

-
,

the powers of concentration perceiving dimly the ,

Unity of the Self an d animated bylov e for Humanity firm ,

in devotion to th e Guru as the embodiment of the Higher

Life which he is aspiring after the Chel a approaches
, ,

the gateway of Initiation which enables him to fun ction

,

consciously in the higher planes By surrender and .

servi ce he has prepared himself for the expansion of

,

life and consciousness Every act of service has helped

in connecting the higher impersonal life —the life
.

of the Ideal—with the life in the lower planes Links .

have been forged and c hannels of communication

established along which consciousness can function in
the pl anes above the person ality The lower life thus .
,

moulded into the likeness of the higher Ideal helps in ,

expressing the higher life in terms of the concrete con

sc i ou sn ess of the lower The personal life thus harmon
.

ised is lulled into quietude an d becomes un ified with

its higher source By questio ning the sense of pro
.

portion i n things and the consciousness of the unity

u nderlyi n g them are evolved and the separative intel
, ,

lect is utilised in brin ging about the perception of the

un ity Thus the varied powers of existence feeli ng
.
, ,

and consciousness developed through the out going

,
-

tendency are now turned inwards linking thereby the

, ,

conscious centre with the Ideal transmuting its life , ,

82 S T U DI E S I N T H E B HA C AV A D G I TA .

mould ing i ts character till it i s mad e perfe c tly harmoni

,

ous to its sourc e of which it is the image and reflection

, .

The greater the clearness and distinctne ss with which

the Ideal i s cognised the less the chance of any di s
,

si pa t i on of energy in transfe rring and tr a nsmuting the

life potentialities of the centre Like globes passing

-
.

into obscuration the lower centres transfer th e ir life

,

energies to the higher and the degree of such transfer,

ence depends upon the extent to which the lower ce ntre

is made harmonious to the higher * These centres are .
,

as we know characterised by a subtle difference in the

,

faculties and powers manif esting So Myer s sa ys’r .

They are di fferent in a way whi c h impli es facu lty

of which we have had no previ ous knowledge operating ,

i n an environment of which hitherto we have been

”
wholly unaware As in a hyp notised person the
.
,

manifestations of life exhibit reason emotion and ,

j udgm ent of a different degr ee and character from the

normal manifestations through the physical so the ,

higher life manifests conditions which are nowhere

found in the physical man There is thus a di fference .

between these in polarity nay further in the very , ,

notion of the self in the qualities of concreteness

, ,

sentiency etc The higher a lways contains the lower

,
.
,

and is something more ; as Mr Podmore says of the .

consciousness of the hypn oti c t with rare exceptions ,

it is more extensive it includes the worki ng con ,

sc i ou sn e ss as a larger includes smaller concentri c

—
circles itself not included in it ”
This makes possible .

the reduction of the lower i nto the hi gher Just as in .

Karma Yoga th e centres in m an are harmonised to

-
,

Sec r t Doc tr i n e Vol L p r 9 5

Cf ., e . . , . .

f Myer s Human Per son ali ty Vol L p

'
, . , . r s.

I Psyc hi m l R esm c h S oc i e ty s Proc ee di n gs Vol “L p

‘ ’
, .
, .
 I N ITIATIO N S . 83

their cos mi c types so the task now demanded of the

,

disciple is to reduce the lower centres into the higher ,

thereby bridging the gulf the abyss of ignorance which

,

intervenes between the states of consciousness The .

un ification required in occultism is the unification of the

lower with the higher by merging the purified and
,

harmonised lower li fe into the higher It is thus the .

unification in essence of these centres as against the ,

un ification and harmony of powers and energies in

man ifestation aimed at in Karma Yoga -
.

The task thus demanded of the aspirant lies in con

n e c t i n g the centres and u n ifyi ng them in the One Life

and making them automatic instruments for the working

out of the Divi ne purpose in manifestation The .

di sciple has to re late these centres to the One Life ,

and by un derstanding their nature and divine pote n t i a li

ties to reduce them into harmony and unison with the
,

Divine Life He has before this with pain and sacrifice

.
,

evolved these laya centres of being and by Karma ,

Yoga attun ed these proj ections of the One Self with the
,

Divi ne Life in manifestation he has thus by harmony

evolved the latent powers of adj ustment and adaptation
in these centres Now he has to know them to be
.

mere centres for the manifestation of the One Life

sparks cast out by the Parent Flame He has to .

re alise the true nature of the centres— not as before ,

as defin ite and concrete I —as diff erent centres of self

consciousness each with its characteristic activities
separated from each other as de finite individual entities ,

the separate proj ections of the Life of the Self for pur
poses of manifestation but as N ames which help the
,
”
manifestation of the One Li fe Ordinarily the. I ,

the zero point is thought of as a definite tangible

, ,

somethi ng on whi ch the whole superstructure of con

,
84 S T U DI E S I N TH E B HAGAVA D G I TA .

sc ious e xistenc e is b as ed ; it is seen as the one re ality ,

whose life of relation makes everything real the central ,

point to which all the forces of the particu lar plane

,

converge but as H P B says

, the worlds are built
. . .
,

neither u p on nor over nor i n the Laya Centres the ! ero ,

point bein g a condition not a mathematical ,

The pure I unconnected with forms or with powers ,

is the only thing by which we can conceive the zero

point of man i festation Bein g the reflection of the pure .

Self in its absolute u nrelatedness the I has got no ,

value in terms of the man ifested exi stence and rightly

it is ca lled the zero point It is the I whi ch is by .

”
itse lf the I and which therefore nothing extraneous
, , ,

can add to or subtract from and so is i ncapable of

, ,

predication through the qualitie s of the non se lf -

.

Through the p ast the present and the future it remai ns

, ,

the same so far as its essence is c on c e m e d—the One

,

Centre rou nd which are gathered the various e xpe ri

, ,

enc es . The pairs of opposites of pleasu re and pai n , ,

vi rtue and vi ce j oy and misery a fle c t not i t s central

, ,

life it is the on e substratu m for manifestation the one

, ,

synthesisin g life It is that whic h gi ves coherence to

.

everything that is related to it while itse lf remaining ,

unrelated Coupled with a fo r m it vit a lises the form

.
,

with its su btle life yet it rema in s u n a flec t ed Attac hed

, .

to a name and beli evi ng it through A bhi m an a or attach

, ,

ment to be a centre of consciousness it man ifests i ts ,

phenomenal powers of relation an d the mere name thus , ,

reflec ting its lif e becomes clothed with reality and de

,

v e lops by virtue of su c h attac hment i t s divine powers

, ,

of mani fest i ng things and at the same ti me of holdi ng

t hese manifestations together .

AS in the case of forms the ce ntres are thus to be ,

Sec r t D t i Vol L p 69 e oc r n e, .
, . 1 .
 IN ITIATIO N S . 85

vi talised into active existence and then made automatic

, .

They are to be harmonised with the manifested Life of

t he plane they are to be impregnated with the life
,

of the abstract Self and the powers of t he di vi ne con

-
,

sc i ou sn e ss are to be developed in them By Tamas .

,

the centres are made stable and hence Ahamk ara the
, ,

faculty of I reference is necessary at the earli er stages

-
, .

Harmony with the forces of the corresponding planes

exp ands the life of the centres and evolves the powers
of adj ustment latent in them while renunciation , ,

the realisation of the centre as being a mere phenomenal

proj ection of the Self helps the One Life ru nning through
,

them to transcend the limitations of the fields of memory .

The power of initiating activiti es depends upon the har

m oni ou s impregnation of the centres with the Divine
Life of the corresponding planes In essence it is the .
,

One Substan ce of which we have no other analogue

—
the u nique the se c on dle ss Se lf—whi ch ret ai ni ng Its
,

own nature yet passes into man ifestation—the one

,

stable point ever i n a bsc on dzto while manifesting the

'

, ,

world of phenomena But the power of automatism

.

would depend upon the extent to whi ch the centres are

made subservient to the One Life and harmonised
with It This automatism is not the mere automatism
.

of the sensory or motor centres nor is it the passive ,

control blind and un conscious of the psychi c The .

conditions may be summed up thus —First there

,

must be harmony between the different parts of the

m ani fested Divi ne Life of the same plane the reli cs ,

of the three Lif e Waves in man—the centre its field an d ,

its environment Secondly there must also be

.
,

harmony between these three and the one un changing ,

Divine Life regarded as the one substratum—the

,

h ar mo ny which comes only when the I i s sensed

86 S T U DI E S I N TH E B H A C A VAD G tr i .

as being above the life of relati on The one is harmony .

in man ifestation the other i s harmony in essence

,
.

The former requires active work the exercise of the ,

outgoing tendencies in a mann er consonant wi th the

cosmi c scheme while the latter requires that the Aham
,

kara pri nciple must be realised as m aryavi c and the Life ,

set free The positive conditions are of Karma and

.
,

lead to the expansion of the field of the centres of con

sc i ou sn e ss These tend towards enlargi ng the ranges of
.

bei ng and the establishment of harmony between the

,

several parts of the expanded life It is a harmony .

in expansion a harmony within the series which comes

, ,

when the concrete terms in the series are all related

to the Self and are seen as being sust a ined by It The .

harmony between the Self as the centre as the organ ,

ising life and as the limi t of consciousness follows actions

, ,

done under suitable condi tions The realisation of .

the inner life of the di fferent centres of being in m an ,

and its adj ustment to the field and the surroundi ngs ,

requi re the sacrifice of the life of the Ce ntres of the life ,

of relation Even the life of the Sfin khya n Purusha

.
,

as the disinterested Spectator of the Pra kri tic dra ma ,

is also a life of relation in which the outer many are

,

merely seen But thi s element of many ness i n the

.
-

field Shows that a higher unity sti ll remai n s to be a t

t ai n e d .The unity of the Pr akriti as the background
of these phenomena is the unity of the non I There -
.

is thus still antithesis The negative conditions how

.
,

ever consist in the realisation of the One Life regarded

,

as th e substratum Of both Name and Form and i n ,

overcoming the limitations of nescience The one is .

necessary to re a lise the Self in its breadth the S e lf i n ,

manifestation in relation and motion while the other

, , ,

leads to the knowledge of the Self as the un c hanging

 IN ITIATI O N S . 87

substance the Self in its essence an d immediacy

, .

Th ese two conditions are present in every Initiation

In the first I nitiation technically called the Re Birth ,
-
,

the Self as the c entre i n the s thula u padhi the physical -

,

man has to har moni se itself with the life of the cosmic
,

centre the divine nucleus called the A dhi bhu t a

,
It .

ha s to expand itself so as to embrace the whole

field of the divine manifestatio n and thus to ,

be really th e Son of the Father and one with Him , .

It h as to know itself as the term Adhi bhu t a indicates

as that Life which embrace s the world of being—the
, ,

life i n which all beings exist The phenomen al man or .

,

V ai kha ri V ak the harsh manifested Sou nd the N ame

-
, ,

subj ect to change has to know itself as the reflection

,

of the cosmic centre and further to realise the u nity

, , ,

of life of the concrete physical centre with its cosmic ,

source the life of the One Self the Absolute I It

, ,
-
.

has to know how the One Self ever transcendi ng N ame ,

and Form proj ects into being the separated centres

, ,

how the abstract uni ty manifests as the unity under

lying and interpenetrating the whole series of concrete
manifestatio ns i n their individuality as well as in their
,

totality It has to re a lise itself as a point of co nsciou s

.

ness in intimate relation wi th the Whole This life of

,
.

relation of mutul c o ordi nation be tween the discrete

,
-

centre an d the field of mutual interactio n between th e

I and the not I I s the characteristic h all mark of
-
,
-

the A dhi bhu t a aspect of the Self Both the Yogi at .

th is stage and the man of des ires are one in this res pect .

In both the life i s a life of concrete relation with other

,

forms of existence ; in both the S e lf manifests as a ,

relation B u t while the man of des ire li mi ted in

.

consciousness by the cen tre of Ahamk ara in him tries

to realise the life of re lation—the Adhi bhu t a Self—by
88 ST U DI E S IN TH E B H A GAVA D G I TA .

separating hims elf from others and then asserting hi s

existence on others uti lisin g them for the purposes of hi s
,

separated lif e the Yogi on the contrary realising the

, , ,

illusory nature of the centre as a mere condition of

man ifestation of the One Life seeks to establish the ,

homogene ity of the Life by e xp a nding himse lf so as ,

to be one with all that lives and moves While the one .

seeks an art ificial uni ty by accentuati ng the phenomenal

personality i n him and by forcibly reducing the mani
fe st a t i on s of the li fe to this evan es cent centre in hi m ,

the other sacrifices his limited being and expandi ng ,

the centre in him puts through the action of the buddhi c

,

li fe of unity and non separateness hi s own life in -

relation with the life of all—the World soul as Myers ,

says * with its fulness The one seeks uni ty by artifici al

,
.

reduction t he other evolves the oneness o f the Li fe

,

by voluntarily and gladly foregoi ng the limi tation of

the cen tre in hi m He sees the m ayavi c nature of the
.

centre and by assiduously puri fying it of its enveloping

,

tendency by harmon ising it with the Divine Li fe in the

,

cosmic planes he ex pands it to the stature of the Self

,

he contemplates He realises its nature and poten

.

t i a li t i e s an d though knowing it to be ph enomen al i n

,

nature as a figment of the One Life in Time an d Space

, ,

k n ows it still as the thing whi c h the Divine has created

for Its own use in the phenomen al planes He conquers .

the limitatio ns of memory which ma ke the centre appear

as real concrete and tangible and yet ret ai ns it as a
, ,

convenient instrument for the Divine work as the link ,

which conn ects him with hi s fellow bei ngs an d as a -

sacrifice un to them The concreteness of life which is

.
,

the hall mark of the centre is re a lised as be ing merely

-
,

a mode of mani festatio n of the One Li fe The One .

H uma n Person li t y Vol I p 4 9 a . . ., . .

 IN ITIATI O N S . 89

Self is seen not only as the unity but also as the uni que , ,

not the un iqueness of N ame but the un iqueness of ,

livi ng and movi ng in limited phenomenal things without ,

being in any way a fle c t e d by their limi tations It is .

not the uniqueness of di fie re n c e of separation but the , ,

uniqueness which is dimly manifested by the awaken ing

of the buddhic life Normally we regard ourselves
.
,

as the unique the individual because separated off

, ,

from the rest of the world The uniquen ess of the .

buddh ic life consists in the I dropping its limi ta

tions and iden tifying itself with the all It is seen
,
.

“ ”
as the I and yet at the same time everything
,

else is seen as contained in it It is concrete not because .

,

it is separate but because it remains the I while

,

embracing everyt hing Though it can contain every .

thi ng from the lowest to the high e st it is as it were

, , , ,

through a ch ange i n the power of the predi cation of the

Se lf whereby it c an relate itself to every other proj ectio n
,

of the Divi ne regarding these not as the other but as

, ,

the me The co nsciousness ex pa nds and embraces every

.

un it of the Divine Life and can respond to it The ,

.

arti ficial limitations due to Time and Place virtue

, ,

an d sin seem to drop ofl’ The artificial unity due to

,
.
,

the assertion of the separated self now gives place to ,

the real unity which is of a higher di mension than the

mere lateral unity due to Karma ,
.

The posi tive condition un derlying this expa nsion of

consciousness therefore consists i n re alising the o ne
, ,

ness of the Divine Li fe regarded as the origi n of the

b hu t a s and e lements as well as beings
,
It lies in mak
,
.

ing the individual centre conform to th e condi tions

of the manifesting life laterally an d vertically He .

must feel with all must suffer wi th all and yet k now
, ,

hi mself to be essen tially divin e Everythi ng persona l .

go S T U DI E S I N T H E B H A G AVA D G I TA .

must be sacrificed i n order that the oneness of life

may fully man ifest He is now called P a r i v r aj a k a the
. ,

Wa nderer for he has transcended the un ity ( as abstract

,

space can envelope everything ) brought about by space .

He has no fixed home of hi s own Our home i s the .

field of expansion of our separated I But with the

di sciple the inner artificial de sire s for expansion of the
lif e through the notions of space nationality religion
, , , ,

etc must drop—for even i n these we have the concrete

.
,

separated self at work

-
Eve r y form and centre are
.

to hi m equally import a nt as the ve hicle of the One ,

Life Compassionate and the friend of all creatures

.
, ,

not becau se of any external compu lsion of duty and

religion but because of the un ity of man i fested life his
, ,

life is an eternal sacrifice to the uni ty of the Self The .

negative condi tions consist in dropping the fetters of

nescience whi ch bind and obstruct the Life The first
, .

obstacle to the realisation of the u nity of t he Self i n

its life of expansion lies i n the person ality The notion
, .

of the physical man and the memory appertaining to

the physical life with its particular lin es of here di ty
, ,

of habits and character whic h go to stamp the Ego ,

with the mark of the concrete and separated physical

existence must be realised as a figment and an i llus ion
,
.

There is a paralysing e fie c t of thi s memory this limi t ,

of manifestation on the expansion of the S e lf We

,
.

often regard ourselves as limited things phenomenal ,

creatures in Time and Space and this I reference to ,

-

the separative personality and i ts lif e is the stumbling , ,

block in the way of the aspirant Even good and virtu ,

ous people are thus liable to this illusion of the fleeting

Self The tendency to impose our own views on others
.
,

the desire to see others tread the s ame path a long with
u s an d the narrowness which de i fie s individual an d
 IN ITIATI O N S .
9!

national lines of thinking ar e a ll illu strations of the

,

subtle life of relation of the separated centre Go odness .

thus is not of itself suf ficient vi rtues an d high i n t el ,

lectual capacity are of no u se in conquering this insidi ous

enemy For the very v irtues have in their origin a
.

separative life Essen tially t hey are lateral expansion s

.
,

coloured by the separative life of the centre The .

perso n ality must not be able to colour the thoughts ,

or limi t the expansion of the Li fe All reference .

”
to the con crete limited I all sep arative mine ness
, ,
-

must cease Fe a r whi ch is the ex pressio n of the law

.
,

of self preservation of the li mited centre must be

-
,

replaced by unshaken reliance Doubt the expression .

,

of limited an d therefore fragmen tar y knowledge must

, , ,

give way to intuitive faith and wisdom They are .

the progeny of the limited I reference and are the -

,

great obstacles which stand against the realisation of

the oneness of life In harmony with the One Life
.
,

the aspirant becomes harmonious to all His life is .

thus described in the Gi t a* He who har a sseth not

the world and whom the world also doth not harass
, ,

free from the h arassment of j oy anger and fear he is , ,

”
dear to Me He who i s alik e to foe and friend
. ,

and also in fame and ignomi ny b alanced in cold an d

”
heat pleasu res and pain
,
He longs for nothing for
.
,

longi ng is th e activity of the grasping limited self

neither does he grieve for he se es the One Life through
,

the illusion of forms Thus does t he centre the physi cal

.
,

man outgrow the thi n veil of Ah amk a ra whi ch make s

, ,

it mani fest as a centre and the life of relation in the

, ,

plane of co ncrete mani fe station is tran sce nded and the ,

consc iousness is set free Though foregoing the life.

o f fun ction it does not lose in concreteness in un ique

, ,

our, x rr .
, 15- 18.
92 S T U DI E S I N T H E B HAC AVA D G rT A .

ness On the contrary the very uniqueness mani fests

.
,

now as the mysterious power of re lating everyt hing to

the larger life whi le remaining itself u n a fle c t e d
, The .

uni queness of limitation of se p arative i ndividu ality

, ,

thing in the ce ntre and the ce n tre in everyt hi ng and

,

also in the One Self Growing in wis dom in love it

.
, ,

see s the causes which lie be hi nd physical exist ence and ,

thou gh itself free retai ns the memory of its elf as a c entr e

,

in order to reach suffering hu manity Such an aspirant .

has entered the Stream the Light of the Divine This

,
.

stage is described i n P at an j ali “ as the P ratha m a Ka lpi c -

—the stage of one who has j ust begun to lead the

”
higher life o ne who has entered the Stream .

In the second Initiation the sec ond centre of the ,

Self in the Shu kshm a U padhi the Astral Man is har

-
, ,

m oni se d with the Self and fin ally re alised as illusory

Thi s ce ntre in its li fe of relation—o i form—i s the r eflec
.

tion of the Adhi Daiva centre of the cosmos that whic h

-
,

i s the substratum of the cosmi c Energies and P owers

called the Devas ; who are as rega rds the inner life , ,

the sust ai ners of the li fe : Those unknown internal

”
stimuli , as Myers calls the m n‘ which are always givi ng
rise to inward vi sions the sour ce s of the unguessed
-

rese rve of faculty and recuperative en ergy in dreams .

It i s the ce ntre from which in its cosm ic aspect ema n ate

,

hierarchi e s of cosmic Intelli gence s It is al so ealle d

the Tai j asa—the re splen de nt c e n t re the one un ity
.

b
,

which syn thesises the Shi n i ng Ones the Deva s It is

the Ma dh ayam a Vak—the Middle Sound
.
,

-
In man .
,

thes e P owers are represen ted by the ast ral c ha k ramas .

E ach of these circles of livi n g fire repr ese nts mic r o ,

P a ta n j a li , I I I ., 5: o
(N t es ) .

f H uman P er sonali ty , Vol. I ., p . r e s.

 I N ITIATI O N S .
93

co smically a Power and a function o f i n telligenc e ,

while macrocosmically it corresponds to a mo de o f

,

Divin e Energy manifesting as a god Every Tan .

m atra or modificatio n of the Divine Conscio us ness

, ,

when viewed as separate represents a god an intelli gent , ,

P ower whose body goes to form a Tattva an d who se

, ,

acti vities are the sour ces of sens atio ns perce ptions and ,

tho ughts of a pa rticular ki nd In man these Intel .

,

li gen c es work through the various c hak r a mas which

connect him—the microcosm—with the spiritual force s
,

a cti ng i n matter on the macrocosmi c pl anes The .

presi di ng Intelligence the head of the hierarchy is

, ,

represented in the chakram as a secret mantra located , ,

in the centre while the secondary Powers are represented

,

by other mantras—the batters of the alphabet located

in the petals of these fiery lotuses These are generally
co nsonants —the vya n j a n a — varn a or that which
.

ex presses the central force in its various aspects i n ,

its various c o relations in consonance with the outer

-

manyness The order of manifestation an d the balance

.

among these secondar y Powers as well as the relation ,

wi th the central Power are expressed by the Y antras , ,

the Signs of P ower connected with the c ha k r a ms

, .

The evolution of the Astral Man depends o n the ,

vit alisation of these Powers and their ha rmo ny with

their Divine Source The Centre is first to evolve its
.

powers with the help of the Intelli gen ces within and
,

without a nd h armoni ously to these This h armony

,
.

i s arr ived at by syn thesising th em wi th the cosmic

centre from which they radiate and resolving the whole
, ,

into th e On e Life of the Self In the Left Han d Path .

,

however the procedure adopted is either to domi n ate

,

th ese P owers making them grovelling servants to the

,

a spiran t or to seek their favour by sacrificing the di vi nity

,
94 S T U DI E S I N T H E B H A GAV A D Gi r l .

within him In the first case the as pir ant is hurled

.
,

down by the desire for se lfish growth b y the res i stance ,

which it creates The accentuation of the Ahamk ara

.

principle which takes place when th e se Powers are forced

i nto subj u gation coupled with the outwardn ess of view
,

in regardi ng thes e Powers as of the non self goe s to -

,

generate obstruction In the other he remains inh et

.
,

ently weak (withi n ) and cannot function except with

,

the aid of these cosmic Powers (wit hout ) and cou se ,

quen tly is at the ir merc y with the re su lt th at the

, ,

higher unity of life is not re a lis ed In o ne case the .

,

reduction is to the arti fici al life of Ahamk ara and in the ,

other it leads to the sacrifice of the un ity of the centre

for the multiplicity of these Powers Real freedom .

lies in the adaptation of the i nn er powers to th e outer ,

by uni fyi ng these into a higher and a larger li fe whi le ,

the Self remains unaffected and the condi tions of ,

evolution here as in all other planes are always the

, ,

same These po wers must be connected with the centre

.
,

in order to be of use to it and yet they must be left ,

free to work in their own speci al grooves P rospero .

co nquered Ariel through hi s su pe m or m al po wers and ,

yet left him free dom enough to act in his own pl a ne .

The Devas therefore an d the ir reflec tions in man

, , ,

must be h armonised with the life of the centre The .

life must realise itself as compre hendi ng t hem all an d ,

yet as itself somethi ng larger and nobler Th e synthesis

is e flec t e d by the Fiery Serpen t Ku n da li ni —the Atma
.

Shakt i of the Divi ne —stringing these c hak r a ms together .

*
The Devas thus are to be reduced to the uni ty of
the Divine Life from whic h they spring the abstra ct
, ,

Divine Energy of which these Powers are but modi fic a

tions—th e Aditi—the mother of the gods This One .

Ci t , Ka th a U pan i Sh a t' W
'
e
. 70
 IN ITIATI O N S .
95

Energy is also called cos m ically Foha t whi ch digs , ,

through space Seven Holes .

It resolves these several independent centres of forces

into the one spiritual force The positive conditions
.

at this stage of discipleship consist in realising the one

ness of t he Divine Life of the Adhi Daiva Centre not -
,

only as a life of relation but also as the One Life in

,

which the inner centre and the outer Devas can merge
—the astral li fe whic h transcends t hese and which
,

un ifies them both All attachment all dependence on

.
,

these sub centres of forces must be ent irely killed out

-
, ,

and the higher unity realised The least tinge of per .

sonal life is dangerous So it is said that previo u s to

.
,

the awakening of the Kundalini man must be absolutely ,

sinless and free from the stains of personal life Hence .

we fin d at this stage that the di sciple is subj ected to

severe t r ials and temptations all of which are di rected ,

to test his se lfle ssn e ss independence and devotion He

,
.

is now in the Hall of Le arning the plane where senti ,

ency and the thirst after rasa (sensation ) are the ,

characteristic features So we find this stage described

.

in the Vyasa commentary on P a ta ma li s Yoga S u tra s*

'
’
-

as the M a di m Bhu mi —the stage of the honey oi

- -

subtle desires and sensations Further it is s a id that .

,

the Devas now welcome the di sciple and hold out pro
mises of pleasure and happiness If there be the least .

attac hment in the centre to the life of relation outside

the one Life then the powers which the re alisation of
,

the un ity of life evolves are utilised as means to drag

,

him down If there be any desire for personal stature

.
,

if he strives to force his growt h if he utili ses his develop ,

ing powers even to allevi ate hi s own sufferings ,

then he is lost The Lords of Karma pour upon hi m

.

P a ta nj li Yo ga Sutra II I 5
a ,
-
. ., 1.
96 S T U DI E S I N T HE B HA G AVA D G rr A .

vials of miseri es and the keener and more unifyi ng

,

sensibili ties become the sources of keen er an d more

poign a nt su fie ri n gs by the teari ng asunder of the
,

illusive veil with whi ch man clothes himself an d hi s

,

future He is surroun ded and pressed upon on all

.

sides by forces whi ch try to awaken and feed Ahamkara

,

by the subtle food of se nsation an d thought yet he , ,

must not even think of clear ing the ground by utilisi ng

the powers he has ga ined The li fe of the lower has now .

to gi ve place to a higher lif e of larger dimens ions i n , ,

which the I and the Non I are re lated by merging -

them into the One Life which stri ngs together the ,

centres The r elation thu s obt ai ned the adjustme nt

.
,

now e fle c te d is due to the reduction of the lowe r into the

,

higher The history of Arjun a as he was take n up

.
,

consciously to Svarga illustrates the working of these ,

forces upon the di sciple The subtle temptations .

,

wearin g the garb of v irtues beset hi m while he was ,

being trained by the gods The feeblest pulsations of .

desire thus become obj ective ; they take shape and

drag the di sciple down Eve ry weakness is brought .

out perchance to the un doing of the di sciple Even

, .

his thoughts become an army and bear him ofl a

captive
Through this Initiation of Water an d Spirit the ,

dis c iple has to pass He is then called a Ka ti Cha l m

.
-

one who has built his hut In it he has to realise the .

un ity of the Adhi Daiva centre of whic h the Devas are

-
,

but mani fe stations wi th the One Li fe ever unchan gi ng

,

and mani fest He must know these to be but pheno

.

men al and the only power that he sh all covet is that

, ,

which makes him appear as nothing in the eyes of

men He therefore builds hi s solitary hut an d live s
.
, , ,

Voi c o f the Silen c e p 3 e , . 1.

 I N ITIATI O N S .
97

there un a fie c t e d by the powers which develop within ,

him sn fieri n g in silen ce the tor tures of hell though

, ,

possessi ng powers almost Divi ne in nature The Hall .

of Learning is the H all of Sorrow where in are set ,

along the path of di re probations traps to ensnare the

Ego by the delusion called the great As in
the first Initiation the desire for concreteness and
,

uni queness of the life in the centre had to be controlled ,

and the higher type of concreteness evolved by the ,

mergence of the centre into the One Life so too here ,

the sentiency of the centre the thirst af ter rasa has ,

to be purged and purified from all separate indi vidual

tinges The senses instead of feeding the centre with
.
,

their subtle food of sensations have now to be utilised ,

in the realisation of the true Self The rasa of separa .

tive e xi stence must be changed into the rasa for the

Divine Life The power of the senses with their life
.
,

of relation can yi eld only a relative unity and per

,

m a n e n c e ; so that when passing through the laya

,

‘
plane the se ses r drop off and the Jiva too being
n , ,

attached to these passes into the illusive stage of dream

, ,

or into the apparent unconsciousness or death of ,

Su shu pt i So the aspirant has to develop the higher

.

uni ty the deeper and more abstract life whi ch because

, , ,

of its extreme te nuity can pass the neutral barrier safely .

Unless the disciple is free from the least taint of person al

Ka ma unless the desire to enj oy the fruits of his hard
,

earned experience is dead within him unless he sees ,

the higher unity frOm which proceed the centres in

,

hi m as well th e Devas he cannot cross the second

, ,

Hall safely Meek though t r iumphant ; realising

.
,

the n othingness of li fe in thi s plane though endowed ,

Voi of the Sil p 7 ce en c e , . 1 .

1Cf " S t Ad
' -
Bh aga va d, X L , m i ii e , 4s
98 S T U DI E S I N T H E B HA G AV A D G i n .

with superhuman powers ; he gets weapons from the

Devas and the higher Powers wherewith to fight the ,

last battle Each modi fication of the Divine Consc ious

.

ness thus reali sed becomes a power of the Self for the
, ,

helpi ng of the world E ach illusion transcended fits

.

him for work in helping Humanity He regards not .

these powers as separated things for his person al use ,

but he knows their genesis in the Self He uni fie s .

these in the One Power of the Self the power of t e ,

ma in ing ever unchanged amidst secondary modi fications

—the Power of transcending th e se powers and remai nin g ,

u n a fie c t e d by them—for he knows them to be the

product of the raj asic Ahamk ara of the Self He seeks .

the Real Life in its absoluteness and therefore i s ,

unattached to the Siddhis H i s keen sentiency is now

.

turned into the power of sensing the One u nma ni fested ,

Life and responding to it everywhere even whe n

, ,

limited for mani festation .

Thi s stage i s exemplified in the li fe of Sri Krishna by

the baptism of water of mi lk whi ch followed the
, ,

uplifti ng of the Gobardhan a Hills for the pu rpose of -

,

protect ing the Gopas from the deluge of rain poured

down by Indra the Chief of the gods Previous to t hat .
,

the Mighty Bei ng had successfully fought agai nst the

Asura Powers Now He proved the prowess of the
.
,

Unity of the Self agai nst the Deva s So it is sa id

, .

He was laved with the mi lk of Su r ab hi the Mother ,

of the gods and proclaimed the Sovere ign Ruler of

the Devas He became the Go vinda—the Sust a iner
,

of the Devas—
.

a n d the higher Spiritua l Powers typi fied ,

by the Devas became His servants obedie nt i n st ru

, ,

ments to work out His wi ll Thi s will of the di sciple

.

is free from even the ti nges of personal life of the ,

n am a or the c e ntre of c onsc iousness and is now

, ,
 IN ITIATIO N S .
99

virtually the will of Ishvara which manifests alike in

good an d evi l Hence the disciple at this stage sees no
.

di ff eren ce in the manifestation of the Divine power ,

ei ther in Heaven or in Hell He sees the same Divine .

force everywhere That is why the di sciple has now to

.

descend into Hell and realise the di vini ty of the frag

men ts manifesting there .

Then comes the third Great Ini tiation— the Trans

figuration or the Hamsa Stage The individual—the
, .

proj ection of the Divine Centre called Adhi Yaj na or the -

Self which un derlies all sac ri fic e —has now to know

,

himself as such as a fragment of the Divi ne ,

Li fe
. He has to evolve the higher powers of self
conscious adj ustment with the forces of the K arana
plane He has to realise the unity of life manifesting
.

through the indivi duality in him and through others .

Instead of regard ing himself as the separate individual ,

who grows with the sustenance of the lower forces ,

instead of being merely the passive store house of the -

fru itage of evolution he has now to realise the centre ,

in him as the reflection of the One Self for the purposes

, ,

of sacrifice The I in him must be connected with

.

the Self and must know itself as an outputting of the

,

Divi ne Life limi ting Itself within the bonds of Egoism

, ,

in order that the world can come into being Instead .

of growing by sacrifice by taking the qui ntessence of ,

all experiences the disciple has to repay the old debt

, ,

by pouring his life out as sacrifice During the down .

ward arc the Causal Man grows by the sacrifi cing li fe

,

of the lower ce ntres It proj ects these centres into the

.

lower planes and uti lises them as its food gatherers

,
.

The lower centres may err then they are to su fie r ,

.

The Causal Man is unaffected by such sn fie ri n g It .

merely ext racts the wisdom alike from si n and suff ering
I oo ST U D I E S m T H E B H AG AVA D G rm .

as from virtue and happiness It lives thus at the cost .

of the lower centres which it proj ects But now the .

, ,

man has to k now the centres a s a mere proj ection of the

One Life for grave experiment and experience for sus ,

tain ing the manifested worlds through sa crifice ,

.

He becomes the reflection of the Lo rd of Sacri fice

and Austerity the Mighty Ru ler of a ll the worlds “
, ,
.

The very thing which helps the evolution of the life

at an earlier stage of passive sub consci ous growth i ndi -
,

cates the li ne along which the centre is to transcend

itself With the change of the View point everyt hing
.

changes Thus by I reference the pers onality develops

.
-

the powers of correlation and adaptation an d thi s very ,

I reference is re m ov e d only when the reference is made

'

to a higher and a more impersonal centre So also .

,

in the evolution of the Shu k a m a centre the identity with ,

the Devas of the earlier stages is killed out by con ,

sc i ou sly and gladly serving the Devas and the ir source ,

the A dhi da i v a Centre in the Cosmos That which .

binds and limits the consciousness has the quality of ,

settin g free the centre by merely changi ng the character

,

of its relation by changi ng the polarity At the

, .

Hamsa stage the di sciple has to transmute by a change

-
, ,

of attitude the fetters which bin d He transce n ds the

, .

limitations of th e centre which i s ordinarily fed an d

,

nourished by the sacrifice of the lower bodi es and powers ,

only by using hi s evolved lif e as a sacrifice He has .

grown by r dga and dvésha by attraction and repulsion, ,

which help in specialising the life in hi m These are .

the cond itions of individual growth the desire for ,

harmony with harmonious things and ave rsion from ,

dish armonious things They are necessary in order

.
,

to evolve the centre in Name and Form an d they colour ,

Gi ta , v.. 2 9.
 I m r w r xon s . ro r

every activity of the separate self in man As reflected -

.

in the moral planes they wear the garb of dharma and

adharma virtue and vice In sensation they appear
, .
,

as pleasure and pain coloured by these Wisdom mani

, ,

fests as knowledge and ignorance They permeate .

thus the life of the in di vidual and are the necessary ,

condi tions of separated life Now the centre has to .

,

realise i t s nature as a mere phenomenal reflection of the

,

Self the One Li fe Attraction and repulsion must be

, .

recognised as the colourings of prakriti The uni ty of .

the i ndividual with other manifestations of the One

Self must take the place of the zest the relish of i n
, ,

dividual existence The Buddhic and the A t mi c li fe

.

must now annex the centre as their instrument He .

is now at the stage technically called by P a t a n j ali ,

the i
'

n a j yotz that is shining with the Light of

-
, ,

Wisdom the reflection of the Wis dom

, Hence he is .

to k now hi mself as the reflection of the Self of That ,

which manifests everyt hing Thus realising i ts nature

.
,

as the image of its Father in Heaven and thus taking

, ,

’
the Father s place in the sacrifices devoid of the least ,

tinge of individual ex i stence the centre drops its ,

li mitations an d the Life transcendi ng the condi tions of

its manifestations realises Its own unity The purified .

Indi vidual now becomes the sacrificial lamb , immolated ,

in order that i n sacri fice the opposite poles of r aga and

dv ésha and of vi r tue and sin may be synthesised
, .

Cru c i fie d in order that by its blood its life of divi ne

, , ,

sacrifice the world may be saved See ing divini ty .

equally in sin as well as i n vir tue the perfect ma n , ,

reali sing himself as the Son of God pours out his life ‘

in sacrifice in order that such larger life may change

,

the life of the phenomen al planes and in order that in ,

him an d his life the duali ties of manifestation may be

10 2 S T U DI E S in T H E B HA G AVA D G m .

syn thesised The indi vidu al no longer re fers itself to

.

the lower things but knows itself as a proj ection of the

,

One Self with its life of sacri fice

, .

Then comes the fourth stage— the stage of life

impersonal It is called the Param Hamsa Stage and
.
-
,

the di sciple has now to realise his uni ty wi th the Light

'

of the Logos whi ch he enters Before he can t e become .

-

the Light the illusions of M ay a and Moha the illusions

, ,

of Name of Li fe in Form and of Formless Life must

, ,

cease He must realise the illusory nature of Name

.
,

the mysterious Power which leads to the proj ection

and evolution of centres He has to pass through the
.

great neutral barri er the burning groun d in which

, ,

Names and Forms perish He must see the hollow .

ness of the hitherto concrete centres an d k now them

to be the creation of Ahamk ara He must re alise the .

mysterious Power of Rudra—the power of the Self to

ce ntralise Itself the power of the Parent Flame to
,

project sparks the laya centres on which the world

, ,

is bu ilt The glamour of Name mu st not blind him

.
,

and the last knot in the heart the knot of the I ,

makin g faculty is c u t asunder for he sees the Li fe

, ,

the same whether clothed in Name or wi thout it Lo ok .

ing for Beauty whic h is the manifestation of Love and

,

Harmony sustained by an ever growi ng love and

,
-

devotion he is no longer confin ed even to a N ame

,

of the Divi ne Love and Beauty and as Plato says of ,

Beauty * he may no longer be as the slave or bonds

,

man of one beauty or Law but setting s a il into the ocean

of Beauty drawing near to the end of
things lovable shall beheld a Bei ng marvellously fair
for Whose sake it i s that all the previous labours have
been undergone—One Who is from everlasting and
CL P l to S ymp osi um
, a
9 2
-
, 1 2- 0 2 .
 IN IT IATI O N S . 10 3

ne ither is born nor perisheth nor can wax nor wane

,
’

nor hath ch ange or tur ning or alteration of foul and

fair but Beauty only and alone and separate
and eternal which albeit a ll other fair things partake
thereof and grow and perish Itself without change or
”
increase or diminution endless for everlasting He
enters thus the one unmanifeste d Life —
.

the Self ,

which forms the one substratum wherein manifest ,

the worlds of N ame and Form—the One Life which ,

connects the centres human and cosmic the Vasudeva ,

Pri nciple which envelopes a ll * .

Cf Gi tfi, V I I ., 19 .
r o4 S T U DI E S I N r I-
In B HAG AVAD Gi r l .

CHAPTER VII .

T HE YO GA or W I SDOM .

ITH the realisation of thi s One Life the ,

centres of consc iousness which are so real

to man at the earlier stages are reali sed ,

now to be phenomenal as not things in themselves

, ,

but as mere conditions for mani festation The .

natu re of the centre as the reflect ion of Bra hman ,

and therefore illusory is very graphi cally describe d i n

,

the Sri m a d Bha gav a d Just as the reflec tion

of the Sun from the surface of a piece of water falls ,

into the interior wall of a room ( through an aperture ) ,

an d j ust as a man inside the room see s the reflection

of the Sun in the water through its image cast upon the
wall and as he see s again the Sun in the sky through
,

its re flection on the water so too the reflec tion of the

, ,

Self limited by the D éha (the physica l body ) the Ind

, ,

t iyas ( a str al U padhi ) and the Ma n as lead us to the

, ,

re flection of the B ra hman i n Ahamk ara (the Causal

The knowledge of the Self obt ained through
these reflections is more imme di ate tha n the knowledge
through the senses .The reflections of the sun thus ,

though m ayavi c have yet the light gi ving power of

,
-

the sun reflec ted through the media and even the ,

densest reflection on the wall se rves to dispe l the dark

ness of the room—the physical prison house The Self .

as the un ique has thus the power of endowing its m ayavi c

reflections wi th li ke potentiali ties of B e ing and Becoming .

Sr i mad -Bha ga va d. I I I xxvlL. 7-H .

 T m; YOGA or W IS DOM . 10 5

The path which lies along the centres is the short ,

straight and narrow way as compared with the path ,

lyi n g through manifestatio ns Hen ce it is th at the .

di sciple of the occult lore is told to know hi mse lf ;

for by knowing hi mself he ma y catch some glimpse of
,

the E ternal Glory of the Self Like the centre of the mass
.

of the physicist it is real only when regarded as the

,

hypothetical substratum for the manifestation of forces .

It is un re al when compared to the One Life In philo .

sophical parlance the centres are now realised as the

po tentialities of ac tivities—the permanen t possibi lities
,

of manifestatio n—i n the respective planes Very .

rightly are the centres termed in Hin du philosophy

the N ame Just as the name of a thi ng serves as a
.

centre as a pivot rou nd whi ch clusters the memory

, ,

and knowledge connected wi th the so called actual -

thi ng and j ust as the very pronouncing of the word

,

brings to our mind the whole host of as sociations con

n e c t e d wi th the thi ng as wel l as th ose connected with
,

the person who pr onounces it so too these N ames , , ,

these centres of divine manifestation serve to co nnect ,

the memory and experiences of phenomen al exi stence

in a given plane with the Self— the O ne Life—from which
they emanate A N ame is thus the condition through
.
,

whi ch the experiences of a plane are garnered and which ,

serves to connect the phenomenal memory with the

One Self its source Therefore is it c alled both sat and
,
.
,

a sat
,
real and un re al ; it is real i n that thro ugh it , ,

the One Self the One All comprehending Absolute I

,
- -
.

manifests Itse lf It is re al because it shares in the

Life of the Self th e only re ality—because like the
.

, ,

image o f the sun it represents the One R eality It i s

,
.

unre al in that it is merely the condition for memory

”
and knowledge to manifest the zero point round , ,
 10 6 STU DI E S I N T H E B H AG A VA D G I TA .

which the phenomen al memory of the universe the ,

avidya and its powers of producing manyness clu ster , .

Just as the reflection of a thing and t he ech o of a sound ,

though unreal in themselves produce in us the notion ,

of substantiality and reality so too the centre s m ayav i c , , ,

in their own nature help us to k now something of the

,

One Substance which is thei r source So the Bhagavata

,
.

“
says Know the appearance of these t hree centres ,

the Adhi Bhuta and others i n the Self to be the

-

from the etern al s tandpoint .

Thus to one who has att a ined to t he Self an d who has r

,

by the One Life transcended the condi tions of mani

fe st a t i on these centres ex ist a s potential germ s of
,

memory The N i r m an a kaya though unified with the

.
-
,

One Life though living in the li ght of the Logos r e

, ,

tains these centres of m emory i n order to manifes t ,

himself if nee d be in the lower pl an es Having con

, .

quered the limitations of memory and ahamk ara which ,

make the centres real stable in the consc iousness of

,

the One Life he can wi thout any lapse or break in

, ,

consciousness make these centres manifest in thei r

,

corresponding planes for the purposes of serving the

,

Divine The potential ger ms c an be made to remani fest

.

as concrete and even separate individuals by his mere

will He is not affec ted by the ir phenomen al activi ties
.
,

for these activi ties are not determi ned by egoism ,

but are on the cont rary the results of t he wish to ser ve

, ,

t he Lo rd The will vi talises these germs of memo r y

.
,

while the previous trai ning in the disciple stage having ,

attuned these centres with the cosmic powers on the

one hand and the Life of the One Self on the other
, ,

ensures their automatic activity The dedi cation of .

these centres to the servi ce of the Divi n e whi le i t free s ,

“

Sr i mad-B ha ga vad, x r ., xxvii i . a.

 T HE YO GA O F W I S DO M . 10 7

the adept from the trammels of memory enables the ,

centres to adj ust themselves automatica lly in working

out the Divine Will Hence real automatism can only
.

proceed when the One Life ma nifesting as Name and ,

Form is realised These centres are the three varnas

.
,

the padas of the Pranava—the A the U and the M , , .

They are as the Bhagavata says * the manifestations

, ,

of the un manifested Pranava as Fohat (Sphot ) which

takes different Name meani ng and extent (Artha ) and , ,

function or extent
, It is only when the V asudeva
.

principle is real i sed and man attains to wisdom that the

centres can be made to act automatically Hence .
,

the condi tions are thus summed up in the Git a

“
i Havi ng abandoned all attachment to the fr u i t of
action always content seeking refuge in none although
, ,
.
,

” “
doing actions he is not doing anythi ng
, 1 Free from .

desire hi s thoughts controlled by the Self having

, ,

abandoned all attachment performi ng action by the ,

”
body alone he doth not commi t sin
, Verily all .
,

actions cease in wisdom and sacrifice For only when .

the Yogi s acrifices these centres of be ing with their

memory to the One Self the One Li fe whic h i nter , ,

penetrates them all can he r etain hi s consciousness, ,

n ow c hanged from S elf consc ousnes s to All conscious

i

- -

ne ss ami dst the di sintegration of pralaya an d keep

, ,

it i ntact through the laya state s So the Bh agavata .

s ays — ( l J agra ta Sv a pn a and Sushu pt i are the activitie s

,

of Buddhi and the outcome of the Gunas The Jiva

,
.

is distinct from these as their Spectator ,

.

Know that the bondage of a hamk ara (whi ch produces

these centres ) is the cause of the evi l Therefore
,
.
,

being dispassionate and wise ( by knowi ng these centres

S ri ma d -B ha ga v a d , X I I 6- 3 8 1 Glta, I V
'
., . ., 2 0.

1 Ibi d IV II S ri ma d B ha ga v a d X L , xi ii ” 2 7-3 9.
-
.. a x. ,
10 8 S T U DI E S IN T H E B HA G A VA D G 1“ .

an d their potentialities ) remain fixed in Me—the ,

”
Turi ya . Knowing this Self as the One and u n m a ni
fe st e d the unique the attachment of the centres drops
, , ,

and the Life is made free These centres ce a se to bin d .

when aham k ara is dedicated to the Divin e The Self .

becomes the centre the Seer of the three states through

, ,

i ts relation with the limiting sphere w a ll of memory -

.

By memory and through catching the reflection of

,

the Self these three fold centres come into existe nce
,
-
.

So the Bhagavata thus describes the man who has ,

attained to unity In Him there is no manyness ,

whi ch is the Root of M ay a there is no deter mi nation

of consciousness nor the three fold J i v a s strung
,
-
,

together appearing as distin ct entities .

Thus harmonised with the One Life He lives while , ,

the perfected centres in the three fold planes of bei ng -

,

thus dedicated to the Divine may lead a sort of semi ,

independent life and consciousness as transparent ,

veils whic h show the Divine Life working through them .

These centres thus perfected serve a very i mportant

, ,

purpose i n Avat ara or the Descent of the Logos i n

, ,

the manifested planes a s we shall see later on Suffice , .

for the present to know that the hi ghest sacrifice

spoken of in the Gi t a i t he sacrifice of Wisdom consists
, ,

in thus sacri fic ing the evolved centres for the m a ni festa ,

“
tion of the Divine As H P B says i thi s is a re al
. . . .
, ,

genuine sacrifice the explanation of whic h pert ai n s to

,

the highest In itiation of gn a n a ( occult knowledge ) .

It is closely linked by a direct evolution of Spirit a n d

involution of Matter with the primeval an d great ,

sacrifice at the foundation of the mani fested Worlds

Cf St i me d Bha ga
-
v a d, X X L, 6 -30. f Cf ., Gi tfi, I V .,
33 .

t The Sec ret Doc tr i n e , Vol. I I I .. p . 3 8 3.

 T H E YOG A OF W IS DO M . 10
9

for gradual smothering and death of the spiritual in

”
the material .

Owi ng to the re alisation of the oneness of the Self ,

and the sacri fice of every tinge of separateness i n the

centres the Adept develops the power of multiplyi ng
,

the centres at wi ll and of transferring them from one

body to another To compare great thi ngs with sm all
.
,

the case of Anse l Bourne with the secondary person ,

ality of A J Brown as cited by Dr Hodgson * is an

. . .
,

instance of the cleavage in one or di nary person leadi ng ,

a life of distin ct personalities It shows at once the .

potentialities of even the physical centre to multiply

itself The Brown personality led its di ff erent and
.

separate life for six weeks without any one detecting ,

the truth The phenomenal personalities have all the

.

physical hall mark of concreteness But the case would

-
.

be different in a Yogi who has attai ned to the One ,

Life Realising the nature of the centre as a condition

.

for manifestation and harmonising it with the Life ,

Within and without he can in the first instance make , , ,

these centres act independently Thus by merely .

,

separating them he can at will appear and function

,

i n three di stinct pl a n es at the one and the same time .

In such a case the physical centre purified of limi ta

,

tions and responding to the Divine Life will manifest ,

as an almost divine physical form doing actions proper ,

and suitable to its nature while the Su k shm a and the ,

K arana centres may be si m ilarly acting in their r espe c

tive pl a nes independently of each other To take a
,
.

concrete case the stor y of San at Kum ara referred to

,
-

y r is an illustration to the poin t Such an

‘
p r e vi ousl ,
.

Adept may appear to be in a physical body for the

A Ca s of Doub l Co
e e n sc i ou sn ess, b y Dr . Hod g o s n, S P
. . R Vol . I L, p . 2 2 1.

1 S tudi es, Se c on d Ser i es p xxx.

’
.
,
I ro S T U DIE S in T H E B HAGAVA D G rT A .

purpose of par ticular physical work and may, at the ,

same time be with his disciple in the Sanctuary of the

,

Lodge while perhaps the Caus al Mans may be in deep

, ,

medi tation and worship * Truly Yoga is skill in action .

.

Knowi n g the po ssibilities of the centres the Yogi can ,

further multiply them in any plane and appear in ,

man ifold shapes The condi tion of such self multi.

-

pl i cation i s thus succinctly stated in the aphori sm of

Pat an j ali — “
i Through the modi fications of Asmi t a
”
( I ness ) phenomen al bodies are built
-
, Just as in .

o rdi nary men the mere concentration of wi ll or attention

,

on a particular thing serves to implant the image of the

,

thi nker on the thing i n question and j ust as a psycho ,

meter by merely touching the thing can find out the

nature potentiali t ies and character of the man who
,

touched it before so too the Adept by merely modi fyin g

, ,

the life of the centre with the help of the I notion con -

t a i n e d in it can create innumerable su b centres and

,
-

forms The memory of a centre or a part of it the lim it

.
,

of obj ectivity goes to form the objective physical shapes

, .

These may be likened to the concrete animal shapes

animated by the one Group Soul The instances cited .

by Myers of the disintegration of the personalities go ,

also to prove the possibility of su ch self multiplication -

of a develope d centre His consc iousness now trans .

,

c e n di n g the limitations of N ame can embrace and ,

vitalise all these obj ective incarnations of it self As .

“
the Pur ana says 1 The Yogi endowed with the
Divine Powers though really One can become through
, ,

his Sid dhis the Many and c an rebecome the O ne , .

Such a Lord of Yoga can create His body in di ver se

”
ways . He can with the help Of this knowledge multiply
, ,

Cf The Sec re t Doc tr i n e Vol , . III p 375

.
, . .
t P a ta n j a li , V . , 5.

t Quoted i S ha nk ar a
n , c om
men ta r y i n th e Veda n ta .
 T H E YO G A O F WI S D O M . 111

His centres and thus rapidly exhaust His k a rma .

He can utilise one body in enj oyi ng the pleasures of ,

the world if such enj oyment stands in the way of His

,

reaching the goal He can with another body perform.

,
.
,

at the same time the austerities of Yoga Verily . ,

this Supreme Knowledge is necessar y for t he realisat i on

of the Self and knowin g it the Yogi does not fall into
, ,

con fusion It is in this sense that the Git a says

.

Even if thou beest among all evil men the most ,

evil doing yet sh a lt thou escape from all si n by the r a ft

-
,

of wisdom For such a Yogi can voluntarily expiate

.

past sins by proj ecting a suitable body for suffering

and exhaust thereby the bad Karma It is only when .

the occu lt wisdom un derlying N ame and Form is gained

that the Yogi can act automatically in the sever a l
planes . For free from desire his thoughts controlled ,

by the Self performing actions by bodies and centres

,

thus realised as phenomenal he doth not commit sin i , .

Veri ly there is no pu rifier in this world of the same

,

worth as wi sdom I the occult kn owledge of the Self,

and Its powers .

Even in the lower stages as the disciple strives after ,

the Life as he deliberately moulds and purifies his

,

bo di es and centres and surrenders them to the Divine , ,

these a r e often utilised by Higher Forces When a .

man has thus built his centres harmoniously with the

Divine pu rpose these centres are Often controlled by
,

Higher Bei ngs Wh o by influencing the harmoni ous ,

centres reach other beings less developed—a phenomena

,

often seen in real Initiation The physica l In itia tor .

is ordi narily known as the physical Agent b ut to on e .

,

whose eyes are opened a little and who can discriminate ,

to some extent a marked change in the personality

,

Gi ta xv 36 1 Cf Gi ta xv
, .. 2 Ibi d I V 38
. ., , .. z x. , ., .
n z S T U DI E S IN T H E B HAGAV AD G tT A .

of the Initiator is seen to tak e pl ac e He repres ents for .

t he I t i me being the One I n itiator and the Divi ne lif e ,

flows thr ough the self consc ious li nks created by the
-

Masters i nto the physic al Ini tiator himself t r a n sfigu ri n g ,

and en noblin g the persona lity This must not be con .

fused with medi umship though the pri nc iple under lying
,

both is the same The dis c iple i s always self consc ious
.
-

while such accession of en ergy comes to hi m he knows

the why and wherefore ; though he volu ntarily dedi
cates hi s centre yet the memory remains his own
,
.

The medium on the contrary is an unconscious passive

, ,

t ool i n the han ds of powers which he knows an d remem

be rs not The one is an act of sacrifice while the othe r
.
,

i s forcible Obsession and disintegration Tru ly the .

,

myst e ries of Being are un fat homable and the Laws of ,

the Divine inscrutable .

Thus step by step i s the path trodde n and thus ,

gradually is the One Unmani fested Life reali sed by the

a rdent an d as piring soul Uni fying and re duc ing these
c e ntres to the Divine Life —
.

the Divine Man passe s into the

Life of Ishvara Whether He is one wit h the Logos
.
,

or whether He keeps a thin ve il between in order to ,

work out the Divine Will as its instrument He is , ,

really living in the Divi ne as a link connecti ng the wo rld

of mani festation wi th its U n m anifesti ng R oot—th e
,

Self . As a N i rm an a Kaya he be c ome s

-
A livi ng
,

Self con sc ious Centre i n the Li fe of God a Ce ntre able

-
,

to exist as such no lo nger bound by the limitations

,

of his earlier life expandi ng to Divin e cons ciousness

,
-
,

whi le keeping the identity of hi s life unshaken a living , ,

fiery Centre in the Divine Flame “ .

o
Es ter i c Chri sti ani ty . 9 . 2 73
 T H E D O CT R I N E OF A VATA R A . 113

CHAPTER VIII .

T HE D OCT R I NE OF AV ATA R A .

E will now consider the Doctrine of Avat a ra .

It is significant to note that in the whole

teachings of the Git a the Doctrine of ,

Avatara comes to be mentioned in connection with the

thesis of the fourth c hapter the chapter on occult ,

knowledge It behoves us therefore to find out the

.
, ,

connection of Avat ara with the perfected centres in

the Divine Man—which form as we have seen the , ,

principal thesis of this c hapter of the Gi t a .

Let us in the first place un derstand what is meant

, ,

by an Avat ara and the m odu s op e r a n di of the descent

of Divinity into the terrene planes An Avat ara it is .
,

admitted on all hands is the descent of the Deity the , ,

Self in a phenomen a l body It is the sacrifice of the

,
.

Divi ne Life for the purposes of evolution of worlds

, .

But here the identity of the teachings ceases Thus .

H P B speaks of the A v a t ar a " a s a descent of the

. . .
g

manifested Deity into an illusive form of indi viduality ,

an appearance which to men on this i llusive plane is ,

obj ective but is not so in sober fact That i llusive form

,
.

having neither pas t nor future because it had neither ,

previous in carnation nor will have subsequent rebirths ,

has naught to do with Karma which has therefore no ,

hold on it As against this fact and apparently in

.

contradiction of it we are taught that an Avat ara is

the result of e volu t i on ’r Then again we are further .
,

Th S ec r t Doc tr i e V l U L p 36 4
e e n , f Av tar s A i B esan t
o . , . . a e , nn e .
 S T U DI E S I N TH E B HA GA VA D GtT l .

taught* that an Avat ara means the overshadowing by

the Divine Life of a pure human soul fitted by its virtues , ,

by one pointed devotion and love for humanity to be

-

the proper vessel into which the Divine Life can be

,

poured In the face of these apparent contradi ct ion s

.
,

it is meet that we should enqu ire more in detail i nto

the subj ect .

Before we go on further i n tryi ng to understand a

theme so lofty it will be better if we take an analogy
,

the analogy of man The laws of the macrocosm are .

all reflected in man the mi crocosm and by studying , ,

man in the light of the teachings i n the Sh astras we ,

may find in him some reflection of the loftier verities

of life We wi ll therefore take for our typ e the perfect
.
, ,

man with the three fold centres well developed and - .

.

harmonised with the One Life with bodi e s stable and ,

yet pl a stic to his touch Such a man may be likened .

to the One Existence in mani fest a tion The thr ee .

centres now c o ordi nated to the One Life the Self may
-
, ,

be likened to the thr ee Logoi Bra hm a Vishnu and Shiva , , .

B e ing harmonised the bodies and the centres work ,

automatically adj u sting thems elves to their surroun d

,

ings without mergi ng the One Self the I conscio usness -

,
-
,

in their activities In suc h a man the type of the.

,

Divine the One Life is always u nmanifested a lways

, , ,

i n a bsc ondi to thr ough showing itself mediately through

,

the intervention of the separate centres The activities .

being automatic the central life has merely to keep

,

an eye of supervision to make the centres work But .

being itself infini te and unconditioned it has no relation ,

to the finite and the condi tioned an d hence it cannot ,

work Like the sun the source of light floodin g

.
, ,

everythi ng with effulgence and manifesting the world ,

Cf .
, Subb a R ow, D mc ourses
'

on th e Gttl .
 T H E D OCT R I N E O F A V A T AR/I . I 15

of forms whi le remai ning itself u n affected the One Life ,

merely overshadows the centres with Its light and ,

while they wo rk It is Itself ever in Its primal change

, ,

less a n d u ndi ffe rentiated state Every sheath every .

,

centre being ha rmon ised with the One Life develops

, ,

the power of initi ating activities In such a body the .

One Life manifests only when any e xtern al force

,

throws out of equi librium the automatic power of

adj ustment that has been developed When there .

is a di st u rbance with which the consciousness in the cells

of the b odi es or in the centres cannot cope when the ,

equi librium among the various powers of the body is

so di sturbed that it cannot by itse lf set right the state
,

of things then only there is a descent or manifestation

,

of the Higher Power to r e establish harmony In,

-
.

ordi nar y disturbances the reflex activities of the nerves

an d nerve centres -
along with the physical centre
, ,

bring about the adj ustment without troubling the ,

indwelling consciousness But when they are found .

insufficient the sensory nerves take in the current and

traversing the Etheric body hand over the vibrations
to the entities in the Desire body and so on and on t ill ,

the vi brations reach the Ego and thence the Atman .

The Self in its li fe of relation the Self in its aspect of,

the all embracing life is awakened into con creteness

-
,

by the individual element of the i n going current -

,

contributed by the ahamk ara pri nci ple From the -

.

Ego there comes a downpouring of its higher life traver

sing thetrack made by the i n going current till it reaches
-
,

the physical brain and stimulates it to act i n a part icular

way Thus there is a descent of the Ego and through
.

it of the Atman only i n cases when there is evil in a

,

particular body which the forces in the body cannot

successfu lly resist or overcome Then there must be an .
116 ST U DI E S I N T H E B H AG AV A D G tT A .

in going current whi ch transmuting the vi brations

-
,

into terms of the consciousness makes it possible for ,

these to reach the Ego Without thes e interme di ate

.

agencies the physical vi bration would have remai ned

,

always a physical vibration It is the function of the .

sym pathetic nervous system to transmi t the vibrations

inwards as it is of the volun tary system to convey
,

the will and mandate of the Ego outwards Further .

,

we should clearly note that the determination of the

absolute life of the Ego is dependent upon the nature
and character of the i n going current The quantity
-
.

of energy and its c haracter are thus condi tioned by the

,

nature of the i n going life We sho uld further note that

-
.

the out going current which carries the life of the Ego
-
,

traverses the same track and is coloured by the con

di t i on s governing the i n going life There is a lways a
-
.

balance and equ ilibrium betwee n these two ; there i s

always a fixed ratio which governs the absorption a n d
secretion of the life The Ego is roused into recogni tio n
.

and will by the i n going current ; there is always a

-

formulation of its own existence a de finition of its ,

absolute being in the act of receiving the impact from

without and in pouring out its life and the li fe
poured out is the life necessary for the preservation of
,

the organ ism In psychological phenomena this for m u

.

lation of the life is called A dhyci va sdya or I reference -

,
”
whereby the element of the I the Self cont ai ned in , ,

the outer vibrations en tering the life of the Ego causes

, ,

definition in the abstract Life In thi s formulation the .

abstract Ego comes to know an d refer itself as the image

produced by the outer This recogni tion causes the r e flec
.

tion which is projected by the abstract life in its outgoing

movement to be representative of the abstract life
, .

Without this recognition the abstract life cannot manifest .

 T H E D O CT R I N E O F A VATA R A . 1 17

In the analogy we find the followi ng points Fi rst .

,

there is a formulation of being a definition of life in , ,

the abstract Ego the abstract and unmanifested I in

,
-

us only when an impact from the external world

,

reaches the life The Ego as compared with the lower

.
,

lives forming the bodies may be considered as the one ,

fount of existence and omniscience as the one abstract ,

consciousness which apparently knows not itself

, .

It is infinite in its nature and all comprehending It -

.

can embrace the high and the low it manifests in plea

sures and pains in virtues and sins in knowledge and
,

ignorance In all these alike it is the same Ego the

.
,

abstract I which is the condition for manifestation

-
, .

It is to be regarded more as the substratum of ex istence ,

than as concretely existing In the field of its all .

comprehending consciousness existence and bliss there , ,

arise concrete notions of being concrete predications ,

of existence only when it is roused so to say from its

, , ,

unconsciousness and sleep by the impacts from the

outer world Just as in the ocean there arises through
.
,

the action of wi nd the phenomenon of mi lli ons of waves ,

each representing the same ocean in its life of relation

and response so too in the One Abstract Self Con
, ,
- -

sc i ou sn e ss there arises concrete defi nition of being

,
.

The absolute I the b e ness becomes the concrete I

,
-
,
-

and defined being on ly when the exigencies of its over

,

shadowing life in the outer world require it In its .

”
own nature it is the Life without M atra or ,

limitations the Fourth the Abstract and hence i n c a p

, , ,

able of entering into relation wi th things of N ame and

Form—The One Existence It is depicted as sleeping ,

because its consciousness being abstract and unrelated ,

to forms cannot fin d response in created thi ngs i n

,
-

man du kya U pan i sha t , rz.

118 S T U DI E S I N T H E B H A GAVA D G t T A .

limited in Spac e and Time

u padhi s S ec on d : We see .

that there must be a call a demand for the downpouring

,

of its life ere its abstract life can ma nifest It is only .

when there i s disturbance in the lower pl a ne s of its life

that there is such a definition and such mani festation
of its being Thi r d We see that the call or the i n going
.
-

current must be pure enough to reach the life of the

Ego It must be well di rected towards the Ego and
.
,

must be capable by reason of its purity and harmony

, ,

of merging in the One Abstract Life If it is not strong .

enough an d pure enough to reach the central li fe and ,

ret ai n itself while merging in that absoluteness of being ,

and if i t i s not one pointed t here is every ch a nce of

-
,

the cur rent losing itself dissi pating itself in the lives of
,

the vehi cles and the Laya states it has to traverse .

The in going current is absorbed by the lower ce ntres

-

of activi ty and there is an automatic activ ity set up

,

by the centres whic h are in harmony with th e One

Self Such activities are often seen in dreams and
.

somnambulistic phenomena The adj ustmen t of the body .

in dreams is due to the powers of c o re lation and ad apta -

tion developed i n the centres of the body throu gh the ,

impregnatio n of the higher life of the Ego They .

belong to the non Ego insomuc h as the cen tres which

-

ini tiate actions are outside an d external to the Ego .

They represent the Ego in so fa r as this life i s attuned

,

to the li fe of the Ego and eve n then only i n terms

, ,

of t he out e r man ifested life These activi ties may .

only b e regarded as th e activi ties of th e Ego so fa r as

'

they show forth the S ha kti the powers of the Ego whi c h
, , ,

these lower c en tre s have absorbed But i n another .

sense they may be regarded as the co ncrete m ani festa

,

ti on oi a p articular Sh a kt i or energy of the Ego acting

, , ,

through a particular centre or m ayavi c re flecti on .

 T H E D OCT R I NE OF AVATAR A . 119

Then again if the i n goi n g current is hostile to or not

,
q

in harmony wi th the life of the organ ism there is a danger ,

of the i n going life being absorbed by the organism

-
.

The di sharmony between it and the organism will either

neutrali se its m a nifestation and prevent its reaching
the centre or it will refract its direction It must be
, .

in harmony w i th a ll around in order that it may make ,

itself felt in consciousness If it is in peace wi th the

.

other lives which go to form the organism if its acti

, ,

vi t i e s do n ot create dis cord in these it is then only that ,

it is allowed free passage inwards without getting dis

si pa t e d in t he process .

Then aga n it must b e purified of t he lower tinges

i

and be simi lar in nature and substance with the central

life it seeks to enter Without this purity and similarity
.

of substance there wi ll not be the recogni tion by the

,

central life The Ego can only be roused into man i

.

f est a ti on when it recognises the i n going current as its -

own Re cognition un derlies v i vi fic a t i on and unless

.
,

the i n going current be of a substance whic h the central

-

li fe can assimi l at e i t cannot rouse the central li fe into

,

mani fe station and b eco mi ng Further it must be .

,

directed towards the central life in order that it may

reach it and m a ke it self felt The phenomena of atten .

tion as the essential factors in perception and cognition

, ,

e x pl ai n the work ings of this law All impacts do not .

r each the Ego b ecause of not bein g so di rected

, .

As to the formulation of the life of the Ego the ,

co ndi t ions are these the form of the out going current -

depends upon an d is intimately connected with the

, ,

fo r m of the i n goi ng current an d upon the forms through

-

whose privation the inner life is reached The form .

of the out going curren t

-
however is n ot nece ssarily
, ,

iden tical wi th the form of the i n goi n g Even in sensa a .

118 S T U D IE S I N T H E B H A G AVA D G rT L .

limited in Space and Time

u pa dhi s S e c on d : We see .

that there must be a call a demand for the downpouri n g

,

of its life ere i t s abstrac t life can mani fest It is only .

when there is disturbance in the lower plane s of its life

that there i s such a defin ition and such manifestation
of its being T hi r d We see that the call or the i n goi ng
.
-

current must be pure enough to reach the life of the

Ego It must be well di rected towards the Ego and
. ,

must be capable by reason of its puri ty and harmony

, ,

of mergi ng in the One Abstract Life If it is not strong .

e nough and pure enough to reac h the centr al life and ,

ret ai n itself whi le merging in that absolute ness of being ,

and if it i s not o n e poi nted there is every ch a nce of

-
,

the cur rent losi ng itself dissi pating itself in the lives of
,

the vehi cles and the Laya states it has to traverse .

The i n going current is absorbed by the lower ce ntre s

-

of act ivity and there is an automatic act ivity se t up

,

by the centres which are in harmony with the One

Self Such activities are often seen in drea ms and
.

somnambuli stic phenomena The adj ustment of the body .

in dreams is due to the powers of c o relation an d adapta -

tion developed i n the ce ntres of the body th rou gh the

.

impregn ation of the higher life of the Ego They .

belong to the n on Ego insomuc h as the centres whi ch

-

ini tiate actions are outside and external to the Ego .

They repres ent the Ego in so far as this life is a ttuned

,

t o the life of the Ego an d even t hen on ly in terms

, ,

of t he oute r ma nifested life These a ctivities may .

on ly b e regarded as the activi ties of th e Ego so fa r as

z
,

they show forth the S ha kti the powers of the Ego which
, , ,

these lower cen tres have absorbed But in a nother .

sense they may be regarded as the concrete m ani festa

,

ti on of a pa rticular Shakt i or energy of t he Ego acti ng

, , ,

through a particula r centre or m a ya vi c re flection .

 T H E D OCT R I NE OF AVATAR A . 12 1

of the li fe of the Ego comes from wi thout the organism

, ,

though it has somethi ng in it which con nects it with

th e limited life The down pouring life is thus not
.
-

exactly commensurate with the life sustain ing the

organism or the life manifesting as the concrete centre
, .

It transcends the life of adj ustment an d the life of the

,

centre It is a higher type of energy and were it not

.
,

so it could never restore equi librium to the limited

,

life of the cen tre and the life of the organism It is in .

,

other wo rds th e life of the su b li mi n a l Ego behind

, ,

the c on ére t e consciousness It is that life whic h

.

embraces the concrete Ego the organism and the

, ,

indiscreet life of the Self in the cells of the body which ,

runs through all these and from which these three fold
,
-

manifestation s and modes have sprung It is B e ness .

-
,

the potentiality of Being and Becomi ng rather than

i

definite be ng the One E ndless String (Sutra ) which

, , ,

runs through the Monad an d its reflections and the one ,

illimi table ocean of existence with its ripples of N ame

and Form .
12 2 S T U DI E S I N T HE B H A GAVA D G rT A .

CHAPTER IX .

D I V I N E M A N IF E STATIO N .

EA R IN G in mind the an alogy gi ven above let ,

us try to underst a nd the mysteri ous mani

of the Self known as A v a t ar as
fe st a t i on s .

The first point to understand is that the Avat ara is

connected with the organic life of the worlds called ,

the Life of Vishnu It is a manifestation through

.

the Second Aspect of the Trinity This fact has .

led to the belief that the Root of the Avat ara

is the Second Aspect of the manifested Logos of a
System . Just as the automatic adj ustment of the
physical body under stimu lation from without may be ,

regarded as bei ng due to the o rga nic lif e of the body ,

so also in the case of an Avat ara ; but j ust as the

power of adj ustment of the body is re a lly due to the
impregnation by the life of the Monad of the lower life
at an earlier stage of karma so thus viewed an Avat ara
, , ,

is the mani festation of the One Life which shows Itself ,

both as the life of the centre as well as the life over ,

“
shadowing the organism As H P B . There . . .

is a mysterious principle in nature called Maha Vishn u -

,

which is not the God of that N ame but the Principle ,

which contains the Bij a (the seed ) of A v a t ari sm or , ,

in other words is the pote ncy and cause of such Divine

,
”
Incarnations .All A v a t ar a s are connected wi th the
Abstract Life which pervades the centres and the bodies
—the One Substratum—o f all ma nifestations Just .

Th S e c t Do tri n Vol II I p 36
e re c e, . , . 2.
 D IVI N E M A N I F E STATI O N . 12 3

as the concrete definition in the abstract life of the I

in us is really the force at work even in the concrete ,

physical sen sations and per ce ptions so too the Seed , ,

o f Av a t ari sm lies in the ab stract u nconscious (bec ause

,

all co nscious ) Life of Maha Vishn u

- -
The imagery of .

the Kare n a Ishvara lying asleep on the bed of the body

of the Serpent An anta ( the Ete rni ty) in the homo
geneous ocean of Ka rana of Nar aya n a being thus
,

ro used from His dreamless sleep by the supplicating

Devas an d Rishis for the ma nifestation of an Avat ara ,

shows th at the root of Avat ara lie s in the U nmanifest .

Nar aya na in His sleep means the Caus al Ishvara funct ion
ing i n the Tu ryi a the unm ani feste d fourth stage an d
, ,

through Him is transmitted inwards the supplic ating

call of the Devas Though He is the apparent basi s
.

for ma nifestation of the Avat ara yet really the energy ,

that descends is the energy of the higher Abstract

Maha Vishnu Li fe —
-
the unmanifested and synthesising
Life Thi s Life is sometimes called S a ddski va
. .

Next we wi ll consider the condi tions u n der which the

,

One Life manifests itself in N ame and Form As the Gi t a .

says“ whenever there i s decay of Dharma O Bh arata , ,

and there is exaltation of Adharma then I proj ect my ,

self (i n N ame and Form ) The obj ect of an Avat ara

.

bei ng thus to t e e stablish order i n the manifested world

-
,

an Avat ara comes only when there is di scord When .

ther e is in the organi sm of the wor ld a co nflict between

, ,

the for ces which work for good for evolution an d those
, ,
i

wh ch work fo r evil and re sistance when su ch conflic t ,

transcends the power i n t he orga nism an d the centre

presi ding over it (the Brahm a of the Cosmos ) to adj ust
an d restore equilibrium t hen only come those special
,

manif estatio ns called A v a t ar as The Life of the Self

.

Glt a, I V ., 7 .
12 4 S T U DI E S I N T H E B H AGA VA D Gi r l .

is harmony and only when this harmony is disturbe d

,

does it happen that the Life whi ch is Aj a—Etern a l and

Unchanging—the One Self which neither waxes nor ,

wanes manifests Itself in concrete form

,
.

As to the m odu s op er a n di we find that when the con ,

fli c t i n g forces are focussed in two personage s each ,

representing the type of forces good and evi l when the , ,

earth groans under the load of sin and misery then there ,

is always a call upon the Divine to manifest Himself

for the purpose of establishi ng order and ha rmony .

The Devas and Rishis in consultation with Brahm a the ,

forces which work for spirituality and se lf sa c rific e -

,

as against the self assertion of the Asuras all combine

-
,
.

As esoterically put they go to the primeval Purusha

, ,

Nar ayana and rouse Him from His yoga slee p The .

esoteric meaning can be gras ped if we un derstand the ,

analogy of the body given before Two di sti nct sets Of .

nerves all ru nning into the brain centres connect the

, ,

physical body with the Man The out goi ng or the -

motor nerves may be likened to the Devas—the spiritual

.

Intelligences— who preside over and gu ide the evolution

Matter and Form These c osmoc r a t ors Vi shv a Shras t a
.
,
-
,

and those Rishi s li ke Daksha who preside over the e v olu,

tion of Form are connected with the out going e nergy

,
-

of Ishvara They belong to what is called the Pr a vri t t i

.

Marga the descen di ng Arc The Inte lli gences who

, .

guide and control the i n goin g process—the retur n -

Arc—are variously classed as Nirmana K aya and -

Dharma K aya Rishis the Seers of the secret ma ntra

-
, ,

the Lost Word The fir st named are the cus todi an s of

.

the secret lore and are the gr eat Teachers in ch arge

,

of the spiritual evolution of human ity They are .

“
called N i rv an ees with remains The Dharma K ayas .
-
,

or as they are called the Vi deh a Mu kt as or the N i rv an ees

, , ,
 D I V I N E MA N I F E STATI O N . 12 5

without remains perform a mysterious fun ctio n

, .

J ust as the N i r m an a K aya ma y be li kened to the -

senso ry nerves who convey an d manifest the Divine

,

Wisdom i n the lower planes so the Dharma Kayas ,

-

who do not keep th eir remai ns while mergi ng in the

One Life are th e basi s of the special Divine manife sta
,

tions we know as Avat ares Uni fied in the inner uh .

ma nife sted life of the Self with Ishvara and dedi cating , ,

their well developed purified an d spirituali sed centres

-

of manifestation t hey are the instru ment a l causes of

,

all Divi ne Incarnations R eferring t o them the late

.
,

Mr Subba Row Obse rved that there was an accessio n

.

of energy in the I fi gos when su ch a B eing merged

himself in the Divine .

When suc h a Be ing one poi nted in devotion to ,

-

Ishvara and love towards a ll beings as His images comes

, ,

to the S elf reli nquishi ng Name and Form and mergi ng ,

the One Life of the Monad into the All lif e then through -
, ,

such a puri fied centre there comes a downpouri ng of

the Divine Life Wh at is possible in the case of adept
.

ship is more possible in the case of a N i rvan ee As .

H P B observes
. . . In the case s of higher adeptship
,

when the body is entire ly at the command of the inner

man when the spiritual Ego i s completely reun ited
,

with its Seventh principle even during the li fe time of ,

the person ali ty and the a stral man or personal Ego

,

has become so purified that he has gradually assimilated

all the qualities and att ri butes of the middle nature
( Buddhi and Man as in their terres trial aspect ) that ,

personal Ego substitutes itself so to say for the spiritual ,

hi gher self an d i s thenceforth ca pab le of li ving an

,

in dependent life on earth The spiritual Ego

.

canno t return to reinc arn ate o n earth Bu t in such .

The Sec r e t Doc tri n e Vol I I I p 37 , . .. . 2.

12 6 S T U DI E S I N T H E B H A GA VA D G i n .

case s it is a fli rm e d that the personal Ego of even a

,

Dharma K aya can remain in our sphere as a whole and

-

”
return to incarnation on earth if n ee d be The two .

qualit es devotion to the Supreme and love of humanity

i

, ,

are necessary in order that the Dharma K aya N i rv an ee -

may connect man with God They are so to say the .

, ,

two poles of the life of the Self It is o nly when the .

various centres are reduced to the One Life stringi ng

them toge ther as their subst ratum that consci ousness
can transcend the neutral states So the Gi t a says“ .

De di cating thy c hi tta ( consciousness ) to Me through ,

My Grace sh alt thou transcend the obstacles ( the neutral

b a rriers So also the Bhagavata speaking ,

of the Ma n n Of thi s Humanity says— i Attached ,

to the Lord s name he c onquered the thre e fold states

’
,
-

of J agrata Sv apn a and Su shu pt i

, It is Brahman .

which links the st ates and It is the un changi ng seer

thereof and by dedi cating one s life and individuality
,
’

to It can one transcend the life of the centres and uni fy

,

the life Even in the lower pl a ne phenomena the mani

.

fe st a ti on of the sub limi nal life is possible only when the

-
,

supr a liminal is harmonised to it

-
.

Thus by devotion to the Supreme th e Yogi merges ,

hi s unified life into the All life The love for humanity
-
.

serves to fix the line of the desce nt of the Logos of the ,

Supreme Life By devotion a Yogi ma kes his indi vidual

.

life pure and perfect so that it ma y enter into an d be

,

one wi th the Supre me Life while his love of hu mani ty ,

helps in defini ng the li fe of relation the li ne of desce nt , .

Without either of these there can be no descent of the

Supreme an d they are the necessary condi tions of
,

lin king the man ifest to the u nmanifest the phenomen al ,

to the Eternal .

Gttfi XV II I 58
, f St i me d B ha ga d I I I 22 33
, .
- va , .
,
-
.
 D I V I N E M A N I F E STATI O N . 12 7

Wh at becomes then of the centres ! These con

, ,

di t i on s of man ifestation thus dedicated to the Divine ,

an d purified of every tinge of Ahamk a ra (which goes to

form the outer wall so to say of the centres ) become , ,

then the ab stract condi tions which govern the mani

fe st a t i on of the Divi ne Life A lower analogy will .

serve to expla in their functions The mysterious .

records of occultism contain examples special cases ,

in whi ch the u padhi s of a c h el a are utilised and v i v i fie d

by a Higher Life The centre corresponding to the
.

u padhi be ing harmonised to i t s environment and

,

also attun ed to the Higher Life may for higher ,

purposes of occultism be used by a Master , We .

have seen that a lower centre when harm onised ,

to its higher source and in unison with the surroun di ng

li fe c an lead a semi independent life automatically
,
-

responding to the outer stimuli an d in general acting ,

as a representative of the higher centre in the lower

planes So in the cas e of a disciple who has so pu r ified

.
, ,

his centres and their vehi cles so harmonised the m wi th,

the life of the Guru Deva that the li fe of the Guru Deva
,

c an utilise the centres for outward manifestati on .

In such cases the disciple surrenders the centres with

their fruitage and potenti a lities of evolution for the
hi gher li fe to man ifest and use them as its vehicles .

The memory the wisdom the kn owledge of the

, ,

ce ntres are all utilised by the i n coming Life while the -

,

man the disciple has stepped out so to say from the

, , ,

body Yet he shares in the exaltation of consciousness

. ,

caused by the downpouring of the Higher Life There .

is still a subtle conne c tion between the di sciple who ,

thus o ffer s hi s centres a n d the Life manifesti ng through

,

them He will be responsib le karmically for errors

. , ,

if any commi tted by the overshadowing Li fe

,
Th us .
12 8 S T U DI E S I N T H E B H AG AVA D G m .

the higher activities induced by the oversh adowing,

Life are hi s and yet not hi s the mani f e station i s his

, ,

and yet from another standpoint not hi s It is his

, ,
.

because the memory the k nowledge utili sed are hi s and

, , ,

because by earning the exception al favour of being

,

the rec ept a cle of the Divi ne Flame he must also bear ,

the respo nsibilities of such m an i festation Lik e the .

body of Jesus his body has oft e nti mes to pay the pen alty
,

of its ensouli ng by the Divine by un dergoing unutterable ,

suffering Yet it is not hi s for thes e sufferings touch

, ,

not his i nnermost soul a n d do not throw hi m karmi ca lly

,

back in evolution To compare smaller things with

.

greater such is also the case in Avat ara The N i rv an ee

, .

without remai ns the Dharma K aya Adept who goe s -

,

into Maha Vishnu as a representative as the call per

-
,

soni fie d of the groaning earth becomes the con necting ,

link between the child humanity an d the Supreme

Father The qualities whic h a n Adept must have in
.
,

o rder to earn for hi m this high privilege are thus laid ,

down in the Freed from passion ( att a chment

to indi vidual life ) devoid of fear and anger losi ng the
, ,

Se lf in Me taking refuge in Me purified in the Fi re

, ,

”
of Wisdom an d thus attaining to My n ature .

Suc h one pointed whole hearted love and devotion

-
,
-

are necessary t o merge t he Indi vidua l into the Self .

It is only whe n the one consciousnes s thus expa nds ,

and transce ndi ng the fine limitations of N a me sacri

, ,

fic e s even the fin es t colourings of the indi v iduali sed

life ; when over and above fulfilling the negative con
,

di t i on s which con sist in droppi ng the fetters ” the ,

positive element of love sacrifice and wisdom shi ne ,

forth from the Yogi then only can he be utilised by

the Divine Life Unless the N i rv ani c life is realised
.
,

Gi tfl, x
v .. xc .
 D IVI N E M A N I F E STATIO N . 12 9

it cannot reach the Self the Mah a Vishnu Principle ,

-
,

and rouse It into manifestation and being .

Such a high Adept full of love to humanity and ,

devotion to the Supreme his consciousness tran scend ,

ing even the Devas is necessary in order to reach the

,

indiscrete Self and so to say rouse It from Its state of

, , ,

apparent sleep The self sa c ri fic e the immolation of

.
-
,

such a centre is necessary in order to bring down the

,

Unman ifest into manifestation It is only when such .

,

a Mighty Being resplendent in His Divi nity gladly ,

and consciously sacrifi ces His Self tha t ther e i s c a u se d ,

a formu la ti on a defin i ti on
, of Being in the U nmanifest
,

and Unchangeable S e lf The Divine Life clothi n g .

Itself in N ame and Form then manifests But the .

condi tions for man ifestation are defined by the character

i sti c N ame and Form of the Self imm olating Adept -

His centres—now the mere abstract condi tions of the

.

mani festing Li fe in the di fferent planes—go to form

the vehicle of the Manifesting Life The potentialities .

of Li fe Memory Wisdom and even of the extern al

, ,

Form are garnered in these centres and these are

, ,

all uti li sed for manifestation and form the lines of least ,

resist an ce to the down coming Av a t ari c Life Thus -

.

viewed from the standpoint of man an Avat ara is the

, ,

result of evolution and can be termed the t e mani

,
-

fest a t i on of a Divi ne Centre which had previously merged

in the life of Ishvara The memory with which the .
,

manifesting Life is clothed is i n this sense the memory ,

of the Adept in his past evolution But viewed from .

above from the standpoin t of the Divine the One Life

, , ,

in which Names and Forms are but mere bubble s

evanescent and transitory—from the standpoint of
the Mah a Vishnu P rinciple—the centres are i llusory
-
,

bei ng mere names From this high poin t of view an

. ,
r 3o ST U D xE S I N T H E B H AG AVA D G rr t .

Avat ara i s a special ill us ion i n the midst of the illusory

ma nifested un iverse and the memory is t he sum total
of experienc e and evolution garne re d in abstract seed
form in the noumenal Life From this metaphysical .

vie w point the N i rvan ee no longer exists and the very

, ,

mergence in the Absolute means the mergen ce of all

individua l memory and hen ce too of all Name Suc h
, , ,
.

Avat ara fully mani festing the One Life through all
,

the three centre s and havi n g the memory of Mah a

,

Vishnu as their memory are ca lled the Pum a or Per ,

”
feet Av a t ar as The Ansa or part Avat a ra is due
.
, ,

t o the utilisation o f a less perfected Monad with i t s ,

centres For example when a m an thus dedicates

.
,

his astral centre to the Divi ne yet ret a ini ng his Monad , ,

the result i s a partial man if estatio n of the Divi ne

through that centre as I ts vehicle .

In the Avesha Av a t aras a pure vessel i s c hosen n ot ,

necessari ly a Mu kt a Yogi ( a liberated man) an d the ,

Divi ne Life utilises the Man thus qua lified for a limited ,

period and for a pa rticular purpose As in inspiration .

and ecstacy m an tem porarily transce nds the limitations

,

of memory of the centres of being and becomes coloured

by the Higher Life and so too i n a greater degree i n
, ,

Avesha Ava t ar as Ge nerally for a life time the Divine

.
, ,

Influence continues to shi ne through th e pu ri fied vessel

and to all appearance as in reality it is the human
, , ,

n ature of m an is su bmerged by the overflowi ng Divine

Life But a fter the influence has passed away after

.
, ,

the broodingLi fe of the Divi ne has ceased to ac t through

the h uman tabernac le the man continues to be man, ,

regaini n g hi s ori ginal memory and hi s own karma .

The source of such Av a t aras the overshadowing li fe , ,

need not necessarily be the Li fe of the Supreme an d ,

there are cases in which the influence of the Planetary

 D IVI N E MA N I F E STATI O N . r3 I

Logoi—nay every that of the Logos of the S oul—is

,

the agent .

The other and sti ll lower form of manifestation

, ,

con sists in induci ng in the lower ma n higher and more ,

spiritual en ergies In suc h cases there i s no act ual

.

transfe r of the centre of co nsciousnes s permanent or

temporary but an exaltation of the higher nature
,

and the ma ni festation of the higher energi es are i h

duc ti v ely caused by a Higher Life The original memory .
,

the field of manife stat ion of the cen tre is neither ,

trans muted into Divine Memory as in the case of full ,

Ava t ar as nor kept in abeya nc e as in Avesha

,
It .

continues to be the sphere or limi t of act ivity while ,

the higher spiritual power s mani fest These are called .

tec hnically the Sha k t ya A v a t ar as or the manifesta

-
,

tions of the Divine Powers The Av esha and t he .

Shak tya Av a t ar a s are sometimes termed the Ansh a

-

Ava t aras or the partial man ifestations while the full

, ,

or Purna Av a t ar a s can only come when the u nified

-
,

harmonised centres of a N i rv an e e are utilised for man i

fest ation Here as in the hum an body the o ut goi ng
.
, ,
-

current depends upon the n ature and cha ra ct er of the

i n going lif e
-
.
132 S T U DI E S I N TH E B H A G AVA D G rT x .

CH APTER X .

T HE E N D or O CC U L TI S M .

U CH are the high possibili ties of be i ng folded un

to us by occultism and such is the evolution of

,

the centres of life through which the candi date

passes Such i s the sacrifice of k nowledge by whi ch
.
,

all actions cease So the Git a says

. with attachment
dead the consciousness fixed i n wisdom with action
, ,
”
done as sacrifice all actions melt away
,
.

With this wisdom which comes through the sacrifice

,

of knowledge the l a st condi tion of perfect automatism

,

is fulfilled We have seen that the non dualities of

.
-

action of J fia n a and of substance are necess ary i n

, ,

order to free the consciousness from the limi t i t i on s

of the formal life of the ce ntres The non dualities of .
-

action and substance as reali sed by Karma Yoga an d

, ,

the non duality of thinking attained by a i khya Yoga

'
-

are not enough The reduction an d harmony of action

.

to the cosmi c powers has in it an e lement of manyness

, ,

while reduction of all knowledge to the Seer the S ankh ya

P urusha establish es only a partial harm ony—the
,

harmony of Ego with the modification of its fie ld of

con sciousness Hence true automatism can on ly come
.
,

if the manyn ess of the cos mic powers are resolve d

to the Supreme Unity of the Self and the li m ited har ,

mony of the Ego with its field is replaced by the harmony

of Wisdom—the harmony of the Unique Se lf Hence .
,

all actions which are due to the forces worki ng i n

Gttd, xv. . a s.
 T HE E N D or O CC U LTI S M 13
.
3
Pr akriti—the mani fold Intelligences who spring into
existence by the modifications of the consciousness of
the One Self—must be done having the central un ity ,

as obj ect Actions there must be so long as the man i

.
,

fe st a ti on of the S e lf contin ues Hence it is only when .

all actions are realised to be due to be powers of the

One Self in man ifestation when by resolving the se , ,

powers to the One Self the Unity of the Life underly

,

i n g these is realised and when by dedi cating a ll actions

, ,

to thi s Un ity and doing all actions as sacrifice unto the

Self that the real non duality of actions can arise
,
-
.

By havi ng the Self as its obj ect in all activities the ,

soul gains the k nowledge direct and immediate of the

One appearin g as the Many The power of Vi k shépa of
.
,

di ssipation and destru ctio n of May a which manifests

only where there is manyness instead of un ity is con , ,

quered by surrendering all activi ties to the One Next .

,

the non duality of thi nking comes with the unity of

-

consciousness with the realisation of the world of

,

Name and Form of centres and sheaths as being due

, ,

to Avi dy a Knowi ng thus the One Life to be pheno

m e n ally proj ected as the three fold centres—cosmic
.

and hu man knowing the gradual process of the i n v olu

-

tion of the One Consciousness producing Matter and ,

Form the Yogi is not attached to these and with the

, ,

resolution of the phenomenal forms to thei r One Nou

menon—the Self— all doubts consequent on the attach
ment to Li fe and Form are clove n asu nder The .

enveloping power of m ay a—its Av ar an a Shakti—which -

leads to the identification of Life with the fleeting forms

con stituting the series of m a nifestations can no longer ,

wield its in fluence or cast its glamours on the conscious

ness an d pin it to defin ite grooves of manif estation
,
.

The Yogi knows and perceives the u nity of co nscious

134 S T U DI E S xN TH E B H A G AV A D G I TA .

ness in m i dst of the phenome nal Fo r ms Next

t he .

comes the realisation of the One Self the ever nu mani ,

festing Substratum the one source of reality which, ,

everything else shares R ealising thi s One Substance .

,

the Self the un ique t he One without a second the

, , ,

Immutable though expan di ng into a se ries the Change

, ,

less though producing out of It a ll c hangi ng thi ngs and ,

thus becomi ng It t he Yogi transcends the li mi tations

,

of laya . He sees the Self as the One Substratum of ,

which Wisdom a n d Nesc i e n c e Dharma and Adharma , ,

Being and Non Being are but manifes tations and

-
,

temporary expressions Hence he retains the S e lf .

,

even when passing through the laya states of Non ,

Being for he sees the same Self in Its phenomenal

,

unity of the expanding life as well as the synthesis in g

unity of the Name and even higher as the Unmani fest
, ,

Noumenon Thus harmon ised re ali sin g the One Life i n

.
,

all its as pects su rrenderi n g the notions of i ndi viduality

,

and existenc e and fir m in his hold upon the One Life

, ,

he acts and yet is not boun d All acti ons then are not .

his but are merely the various ways in which the One
,

Self man ifests withi n and without So the Gi t a says“ .

By reducing a ll Karma to harm ony transcen ding ,

a ll attachment thr ough wisdom firm in the One S elf , ,

actions 0 Dhananj aya do not bind

, Thus sur .

rendering individual bei ng i n all its aspects and stable ,

in thi s Yoga the Supreme Wisdom comes and illu

mi n a t e s the S elf—the Wisdom than which there is
,

no other pu ri fie r i
Suc h wisdom is the self un foldme nt of the Divine -
.

Wh en the vehic les an d the centres of life are reduced

to a state of transparency and by Form the limiting and ,

enve loping tendency is conquered then only we see the ,

Gi t l , x
v .. 4 x. I 1CL, one, IV ., 38 .
 THE E ND O F O CC U LTI S M . 13 5

Self shining forth with all Its splendour and purifying

,

everything For the Light of the Self the essential

.
,

unre ality of Forms is s e en t hrough and all limitations ,

of virtue and sin knowledge and ignoran ce drop In

, .

this atmosphere of eternal thought the giant weed of ,

separateness cannot flower Action and inaction the .

,

pouri ng out of life and the ind rawal of li fe are all ,

resolved into the manifestation of the Self as the Whole , ,

the Uni que Thus harmonised with the mani festatio n

.

of the Self and seeing the true n ature of these mani

,

fe st e d forms an d centres the Yogi performs all actions

,

though he sees action in in action and inaction in action .

For it is only when we think ov rselves to be li mi ted

,

an d separated th at we see k for actio n or in action

, In .

action we seek to accentuate our selves in terms of the

,

non I and in inaction we long to realise artificially

-
, ,

the Etern al Nature of the Self in us by keeping it forcibly ,

unchangeable and nu m odi fie d by the surroundings

-
.

Just as the all enveloping Akash a ch anges not when

-
,

the things contain ed in it c h a nge j ust as it moves not , ,

though it is the field of all motio ns so too with the ,

realisation of the One Li fe all actions cease to affect us, .

There is no need then of forced isolati on in order

to attain to inact ion—
, ,

o n e with the E tern al U nchangin g

Self he acts not Harmo nised with all the manifesting

, .

centres though knowing them as phenomenal the Yogi ,

may be said to act when the centres act H s actions

i

.
,

are thus the automa tic adj ustments of the centres of

acti vity an d being with their cosmic types Thus
,
.

apparently acti ng doing all things in harmony With

,

the la w of th e man ife station of the Self act ing in every ,

plane with th e h a rmo nised centre of that plane he ,

Kn owi ng the Self in Its etern al n ature as well as in

136 S T U DI E S I N TH E B H A G AVA D G I TA .

Its manifestations knowing the One Life in the mi dst

,

of the many separated lives and realisin g the true ,

nature of Names and Forms as the m ayavi c proj ections

,

of the One Life he transcends the Moha—the i llusion

of separated exi stence with the desire s for sensation
and the hunger for growth—and he sees all beings with
out exception the vi rtuous and the vic iou s from the
, ,

first mani fe sted Bra hm a to the meanes t wee d on earth ,

as being the manifestations of the Self li vi ng and act i ng ,

with the life of the Self )“ Thus reduci ng everythi ng to

the Self and knowi ng the Self in everything as the basis
, ,

the instrumental cause of everythi n g hi s consciousne ss ,

transcends the Ring Pass Not the self imposed limita ,

-

tions of the memory of Ishvara the Root of the origin al ,

Avidy a which is the cause of all m an ifestation s and he ,

swiftly goeth to the Supreme Peace .

Seeing the Supreme Ishvara in destructible withi n ,

the destructible seated equa lly in the hearts of all

,

beings and yet not in these per vading like the omni ,

present Ak asha ever y manifested thing and yet not ,

soiled begi nni ngless without qua li ties the Supreme

, , ,

Self perceiving that the varied nature of be ings are

,

rooted in One and proceed from It he reacheth Brah

, ,

man to come out later consciously to t a ke the place

, ,

of the Great Teac hers in the ec onomy of the Cosmos ,

or it may be even un consc iously as the sacrifici al b asis

, , ,

of the Divine Mani festations .

CL, Gi ta . v . . 35.

T HE E N D or P A RT III .