Religious Philosophy

"During the course of this correspondence which extended over the years 1880 to 1884 Mr. Sinnett received many letters from The Mahatmas M. and K.H., the Teachers in question, and it is these original communications which are published in the present volume under the title of " The Mahatma Letters." The circumstances attending their receipt were fully dealt with by Mr. Sinnett in his Occult World and they need not therefore be restated here."

"One of your letters begins with a quotation from one of my own . . . Says Buddha " you have to get rid entirely of the subjects of impermanence composing the body that your body should become permanent. The permanent never merges with the impermanent although the two are one. But it is only when all outward appearances are gone that there is left that one principle of life which exists independently of all external phenomena. It is the fire that burns in the eternal light, when the fuel is expended and the flame is extinguished; for that fire is neither in the flame nor in the fuel, nor yet inside either of the two but above beneath and everywhere—(Darinirvana Sutra kwnen XXXIX)."

"The Masters are what they are; what they have written — they have written, and neither they nor their doctrines need the acclamation or apology of lesser minds. It is almost impossible to arrive at the facts, or even to form a trustworthy opinion upon a subject so far reaching, by studying an edited book of extracts. Therefore, that the members of the Theosophical Society and the world at large, should be enabled to study the truth for themselves concerning The Masters and their doctrines as set forth in these letters signed by their own hands, has been the aim of the compiler. To this end, the whole of the Mahatma Letters left by Mr. Sinnett have been transcribed verbatim from the originals and without omission."

"We will be at cross purposes in our correspondence until it has been made entirely plain that occult science has its own methods of research as fixed and arbitrary as the methods of its antithesis physical science are in their way. If the latter has its dicta so also has the former; and he who would cross the boundary of the unseen world can no more prescribe how he will proceed than the traveller who tries to penetrate to the inner subterranean recesses of L'Hassa—the blessed, could show the way to his guide."

"The mysteries never were, never can be, put within the reach of the general public, not, at least, until that longed for day when our religious philosophy becomes universal. At no time have more than a scarcely appreciable minority of men possessed nature's secret, though multitudes have witnessed the practical evidences of the possibility of their possession."

"Time, which is the sequence of the modifications of the mind, likewise terminates, giving place to the Eternal Now. (Sutra 33)"

"The Yoga Sutras are the basic teaching of the Trans Himalayan School to which many of the Masters of the Wisdom belong, and many students hold that the Essenes and other schools of mystical training and thought, closely connected with the founder of Christianity and the early Christians, are based upon the same system... the Sutras have been dictated and paraphrased by the Tibetan Brother and the commentary upon them has been written by myself, and subjected to revision and comment by the Tibetan."

"b. Union or at-one-ment."

"a. Meditation, and its stages"

"b. Twenty-three results of meditation"

"a. Consciousness and form."

"Raja Yoga, which Patanjali primarily deals with, includes the effects of all the others. It is only possible when the others have been worked with, but not in the sense of working with them in this life. Evolution has brought all the sons of men (who are ready to be chelas or disciples), through the various races, and whilst in the Lemurian race (or else on the preceding chain or greater cycle) they were all hatha and laya yogins. This resulted in the development and control of the dual physical body, dense and etheric."

"...the entire human family (with the exception of a percentage which entered the race too late to permit of the full flowering of the soul) will manifest as Sons of God with all the powers of the God unfolded and consciously used on the physical plane and in the physical body. Patanjali says that three things will bring this about, coupled with the following of certain methods and rules, and these three are:"

"Fiery aspiration is the sublimation of karma yoga. Devotion to Ishvara is the sublimation of bhakti yoga, whilst spiritual reading is the first step to Raja Yoga. "Devotion to Ishvara" is a large and general term covering the relation of the personal self to the higher self, the Ishvara or Christ principle in the heart."

"...if we divide the human torso into three departments it might be stated that:"

"Devotion involves certain factors which it is valuable for the devotee to realize. 1. A capacity to decentralize oneself, to change one's attitude from self-centredness and selfishness to one of outgoing to the loved one... 2. Obedience to the beloved object once that beloved is known. This has been called in some translations "complete obedience to the Master" and this is the true and accurate translation but in view of the fact that the word Master connotes (to the occult student) one of the adepts, we have chosen to translate the word as "Ishvara," the one God in the heart of man, the divine Jiva or "point of divine life" at the centre of man's being. This is the same in all men, whether savage or adept; the difference only lies in degree of manifestation and of control. Complete obedience to any guru or mahatma in the sense of complete subjugation of the will is never taught in the true science of yoga. Subjugation of the lower man to the will of the inner God is taught and all the methods and rules of yoga are to this specific end. This should be carefully borne in mind. "Spiritual reading" is the most significant and occult preliminary thereto."

"Karma Yoga has a specific relation to physical plane activity, and to the working out into objective manifestation of all the inner impulses. In its ancient and simplest form it was the yoga of the third or Lemurian root race and its two best known expressions are: a. Hatha Yoga, b. Laya Yoga. The former has specifically to do with the physical body, its conscious (not subconscious and automatic) functioning and all the various practices which give man control over the different organs and the entire mechanical apparatus of the physical body. The latter has to do with the etheric body, with the force centers or chakras found in that body..."

"9. Fancy rests upon images which have no real existence. This means that these images have no real existence in so far as they are conjured up by men themselves, constructed within their own mental auras, energized by their will or desire and are consequently dissipated when attention is directed elsewhere. "Energy follows thought" is a basic tenet of the Raja Yoga system and is true even where these images of fancy are concerned. These fancied images fall primarily into three groups, which the student would do well to consider. 1. Those thought forms which he constructs himself... 2. Those thought forms which are created by the race, the nation, the group or the organization. Group thought forms of any kind... form the sum total of the "great illusion." Herein lies a hint to the earnest aspirant... 3. That thought form created by a man since his first appearance in physical form, and called the "Dweller on the Threshold." Being created by the lower personal self and not by the soul, it is impermanent and is simply held together by the man's lower energy. When the man begins to function as the soul this "image" he has created, through his "fancy" or his reaction to delusion, is dissipated by a supreme exertion. It has no real existence once there is nothing in the aspirant to feed it, and the realization of this enables him to free himself from its thraldom."

"1. The Yoga of action, leading to union with the soul is fiery aspiration, spiritual reading and devotion to Ishvara. 2. The aim of these three is to bring about soul vision and to eliminate obstructions. 3. These are the difficulty producing hindrances: avidya (ignorance) the sense of personality, desire, hate and the sense of attachment. 4. Avidya (ignorance) is the cause of all the other obstructions whether they be latent, in process of elimination, overcome, or in full operation. 5. Avidya is the condition of confusing the permanent, pure, blissful and the Self with that which is impermanent, impure, painful and the not-self. 6. The sense of personality is due to the identification of the knower with the instruments of knowledge. 7. Desire is attachment to objects of pleasure. 8. Hate is aversion for any object of the senses. 9. Intense desire for sentient existence is attachment. This is inherent in every form, is self-perpetuating, and known even to the very wise. 10. These five hindrances, when subtly known, can be overcome by an opposing mental attitude. 11. Their activities are to be done away with, through the meditation process. 12. Karma itself has its root in these five hindrances and must come to fruition in this life or in some later life.... 22. In the case of the man who has achieved yoga (or union) the objective universe has ceased to be. Yet it existeth still for those who are not yet free. 23. The association of the soul with the mind and thus with that which the mind perceives, produces an understanding of the nature of that which is perceived and likewise of the Perceiver. 24. The cause of this association is ignorance or avidya. This has to be overcome. 25. When ignorance is brought to an end through non-association with the things perceived, this is the great liberation..... 30. Harmlessness, truth to all beings, abstention from theft, from incontinence and from avarice, constitute yama or the five commandments... 32. Internal and external purification, contentment, fiery aspiration, spiritual reading and devotion to Ishvara constitutes nijama (or the five rules)... 34. Thoughts contrary to yoga are harmfulness, falsehood, theft, incontinence, and avarice, whether committed personally, caused to be committed or approved of, whether arising from avarice, anger or delusion (ignorance); whether slight in the doing, middling or great. These result always in excessive pain and ignorance. For this reason, the contrary thoughts must be cultivated.... 38. By abstention from incontinence, energy is acquired. Incontinence is usually regarded as the dissipation of the vitality or the virility of the animal nature. The power to create upon the physical plane & to perpetuate the race is the highest physical act of which man is capable. The dissipation of the vital powers through loose living & incontinence is the great sin against the physical body. It involves the failure to recognize the importance of the procreative act, the inability to resist the lower desires & pleasures, & a loss of self control. The results of this failure are apparent throughout the human family at this time in the low health average, in the full hospitals, & the diseased, enfeebled & anemic men, women & children everywhere to be found. There is little conservation of energy, & the very words "dissipation" & dissipated men" carry a lesson. 41. Through purification comes also a quiet spirit, concentration, conquest of the organs, and ability to see the Self... 51. There is a fourth stage which transcends those dealing with the internal and external phases... 52. Through this, that which obscures the light is gradually removed... 53. And the mind is prepared for concentrated meditation... 55. As a result of these means there follows the complete subjugation of the sense organs."

"We must here bear in mind that we are beginning the book which outlines the practical part of the work, which gives the rules which must be followed if the aspirant hopes to achieve, and which indicates those methods which will bring about the realization of spiritual consciousness. The objective has been dealt with in Book I. The aspirant naturally says on concluding Book I, "how desirable and how right, but how shall this be? What must I do? Where shall I begin?" Patanjali starts at the very beginning and in this second book he indicates:"

"4. Up till now the inner man has identified himself with his forms and with their active modifications. These forms are the modifications mentioned in the various translations, conveying the subtle [12] truth concerning the infinite divisibility of the atom; these are the veiling sheaths and rapidly changing transformations which prevent the true nature of the soul becoming manifest. These are the externalities which hinder the light of the inner God from shining forth, and which are occultly spoken of as "casting a shadow before the face of the sun." The inherent nature of the lives which constitute these active versatile forms has hitherto proved too strong for the soul (the Christ within, as the Christian puts it) and the soul-powers have been prevented full expression. The instinctual powers of the "animal soul," or the capacities of the aggregate of lives which form the sheaths or bodies, imprison the real man and limit his powers... He becomes "enmeshed in their activities" and must free himself before he comes into his heritage of power and peace and bliss."

"1. AUM (or OM). The following instruction concerns the Science of Union. AUM is the Word of Glory; it signifies the Word made flesh and the manifestation upon the plane of matter of the second aspect of divinity. This blazing forth of the sons of righteousness before the world is achieved by following the rules herein contained. When all the sons of men have demonstrated that they are also Sons of God, the cosmic Son of God will likewise shine forth with increased intensity of glory. The great initiate, Paul, had a vision of this when he said that "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain . . . waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God." (Rom. VIII.)"

"2. This Union (or Yoga) is achieved through the subjugation of the psychic nature and the restraint of the chitta (or mind). The follower after union has two things to do: 1. To gain control of the "versatile psychic nature, 2. To prevent the mind from assuming the many forms it so easily does."

"It might be of value here if we dealt with the various "yogas" so as to give to the student a clear concept as to their distinctions and thus cultivate his discrimination. The principal yogas are three in number, the various other so-called "yogas" finding their place in one of these three groups:"

"3. When this has been accomplished, the Yogi knows himself as he is in reality. This might be described in the following way: The man who knows the conditions and has fulfilled them as indicated in the preceding sutra, 1. Sees the self, 2. Realises the true nature of the soul, 3. Identifies himself with the inner Reality, and no longer with the concealing forms..."

"The man is no longer what his physical body makes him, when identified with it, the victim of the world. He walks free, with shining face (I. Cor. 3) and the light of his countenance is shed abroad upon all he meets. No longer do his desires swing the flesh into activity, and no longer does his astral body subjugate him and overcome him."

"Patanjali was a compiler of teaching which, up to the time of his advent, had been given orally for many centuries... The Yoga Sutras are the basic teaching of the Trans Himalayan School to which many of the Masters of the Wisdom belong, and many students hold that the Essenes and other schools of mystical training and thought, closely connected with the founder of Christianity and the early Christians, are based upon the same system... the Sutras have been dictated and paraphrased by the Tibetan Brother and the commentary upon them has been written by myself, and subjected to revision and comment by the Tibetan."

"The translation is not literal, and is not an exact definition of each original Sanskrit term. It is an attempt to put into clear and understandable English the exact meaning, insofar as it is possible to do so through the medium of that non-elastic and unimaginative tongue."

"How does man, the victim of his desires and lower nature become man, the victor, triumph over the world, the flesh and the devil? It is brought about when the physical brain of the incarnated man becomes aware of the self, the soul, and this conscious awareness only becomes possible when the true self can "reflect itself in the mind-stuff.""

"1. AUM (or OM). The following instruction concerneth the Science of Union. 2. This Union (or Yoga) is achieved through the subjugation of the psychic nature, and the restraint of the chitta (or mind). 3. When this has been accomplished, the Yogi knows himself as he is in reality. 4. Up till now the inner man has identified himself with his forms and with their active modifications. 5.The mind states are five, and are subject to pleasure or pain; they are painful or not painful. 6. These modifications (activities) are correct knowledge, incorrect knowledge, fancy, passivity (sleep) and memory. 7. The basis of correct knowledge is correct perception, correct deduction, and correct witness (or accurate evidence). 8. Incorrect knowledge is based upon perception of the form and not upon the state of being. 9. Fancy rests upon images which have no real existence. 10. Passivity (sleep) is based upon the quiescent state of the vrittis (or upon the non-perception of the senses.) 11. Memory is the holding on to that which has been known. 12. The control of these modifications of the internal organ, the mind, is to be brought about through tireless endeavour and through non-attachment.... 27. The Word of Ishvara is AUM (or OM). This is the Pranava. 28. Through the sounding of the Word and through reflection upon its meaning, the Way is found. 29. From this comes the realisation of the Self (the soul) and the removal of all obstacles. 30. The obstacles to soul cognition are bodily disability, mental inertia, wrong questioning, carelessness, laziness, lack of dispassion, erroneous perception, inability to achieve concentration, failure to hold the meditative attitude when achieved. 33. The peace of the chitta (or mind stuff) can be brought about through the practice of sympathy, tenderness, steadiness of purpose, and dispassion in regard to pleasure or pain, or towards all forms of good or evil. 34. The peace of the chitta is also brought about by the regulation of the prana or life breath. 35. The mind can be trained to steadiness through those forms of concentration which have relation to the sense perceptions. 36. By meditation upon Light and upon Radiance, knowledge of the Spirit can be reached and thus peace can be achieved. 37. The chitta is stabilized and rendered free from illusion as the lower nature is purified and no longer indulged.... 51. When this state of perception is itself also restrained (or superseded), then is pure Samadhi achieved."

"All the various Yogas have had their place in the unfoldment of the human being. In the first purely physical race, which is called the Lemurian, the Yoga at that time imposed upon infant humanity was Hatha Yoga, the Yoga of the physical body, that Yoga which brings into conscious use and manipulation the various organs, muscles and parts of the physical frame. The problem before the adepts of that time was to teach human beings, who were then little more than animals, the purpose, significance and use of their various organs, so that they could consciously control them..."

"Raja Yoga stands by itself and is the king science of them all; it is the summation of all the others, it is the climax and that which completes the work of development in the human kingdom. It is the science of the mind and of the purposeful will, and brings the higher of man's sheaths in the three worlds under the subjection of the Inner Ruler. This science coordinates the entire lower threefold man, forcing him into a position where he is nothing but the vehicle for the soul, or God within. It includes the other yogas and profits by their achievements. It synthesises the work of evolution and crowns man as king."

"In Atlantean days, the progress of the sons of men was procured through the imposition of two Yogas....Laya Yoga, the Yoga of the centres... Later on, Bhakti Yoga, growing out of the development of the emotional or astral body... Now... the subjugation of the mental body and the control of the mind is brought about through the practice of Raja Yoga, and the fifth initiation, that of adept, is the goal for evolving humanity. Thus, all the Yogas have had their place and served a useful purpose and it will become apparent that any return to Hatha Yoga practices or those practices which deal specifically with the development of the centres, brought about through various types of meditation practices and breathing exercises, is, from a certain aspect, a retrogression."

"10. These hindrances, when they have become subtle, are to be removed by a countercurrent. The darkness of unwisdom is to be removed by the light of wisdom, pursued through fervour, spiritual reading of holy teachings and of life itself, and by obedience to the Master. Lust is to be removed by pure aspiration of spiritual life, which, bringing true strength and stability, takes away the void of weakness which we try to fill by the stimulus of sensations... Hate is to be overcome by love. The fear that arises through the sense of separate, warring selves is to be stilled by the realization of the One Self, the one soul in all. This realization is the perfect love that casts out fear."

"1. The binding of the perceiving consciousness to a certain region is attention (dharana). Emerson quotes Sir Isaac Newton as saying that he made his great discoveries by intending his mind on them. That is what is meant here.... It is the power to focus the consciousness on a given spot, and hold it there Attention is the first and indispensable step in all knowledge. Attention to spiritual things is the first step to spiritual knowledge."

""Before the soul can see, the harmony within must be attained, and fleshly eyes be rendered blind to all illusion....” From The Voice of the Silence"

"9. Attachment is the desire toward life, even in the wise, carried forward by its own energy. The life here desired is the psychic life, the intensely vibrating life of the psychical self. This prevails even in those who have attained much wisdom, so long as it falls short of the wisdom of complete renunciation, complete obedience to each least behest of the spiritual man, and of the Master who guards and aids the spiritual man..."

"6. Self-assertion comes from thinking of the Seer and the instrument of vision as forming one self. ... To translate this into our terms, we may say that the Seer is the spiritual man; the instrument of vision is the psychical man, through which the spiritual man gains experience of the outer world."

"7. Lust is the resting in the sense of enjoyment... Sensation, as, for example, the sense of taste, is meant to be the guide to action; in this case, the choice of wholesome food, and the avoidance of poisonous and hurtful things. But if we rest in the sense of taste, as a pleasure in itself; rest, that is, in the psychical side of taste, we fall into gluttony, and live to eat, instead of eating to live. So with the other great organic power, the power of reproduction. This lust comes into being, through resting in the sensation, and looking for pleasure from that..."

"The Science of Raja Yoga, or the "Kingly Science of the Soul," as laid down by its main exponent, Patanjali, will eventually find its greatest demonstration in the West... exemplified in the right use of the mind and its utilisation by the soul for the achievement of group objectives and the development of group consciousness upon the physical plane."

"8. Hate is the resting in the sense of pain. Pain comes, for the most part, from the strife of personalities, the jarring discords between psychic selves, each of which deems itself supreme. A dwelling on this pain breeds hate, which tears the warring selves yet further asunder, and puts new enmity between them, thus hindering the harmony of the Real, the reconciliation through the Soul..."

"2. Their aim is, to bring soul-vision, and to wear away hindrances. The aim of fervour, spiritual reading and obedience to the Master, is, to bring soul vision, and to wear away hindrances. Or, to use the phrase we have already adopted, the aim of these practices is, to help the spiritual man to open his eyes; to help him also to throw aside the veils and disguises, the enmeshing psychic nets which surround him, tying his hands, as it were, and bandaging his eyes. And this, as all teachers testify, is a long and arduous task, a steady up-hill fight, demanding fine courage and persistent toil..."

"3. These are the hindrances: the darkness of unwisdom, self-assertion, lust, hate, attachment. Let us try to translate this into terms of the psychical and spiritual man. The darkness of unwisdom is, primarily, the self-absorption of the psychical man, his complete preoccupation with his own hopes and fears, plans and purposes, sensations and desires; so that he fails to see, or refuses to see, that there is a spiritual man; and so doggedly resists all efforts of the spiritual man to cast off his psychic tyrant and set himself free."

"4. The darkness of unwisdom is the field of the others. These hindrances may be dormant, or worn thin, or suspended, or expanded. Here we have really two Sutras in one. The first has been explained already: in the darkness of unwisdom grow the parasites, hate, lust, attachment. They are all outgrowths of the self-absorption of the psychical self... they must be fought and conquered, or, as Patanjali quaintly says, they must be worn thin,-as a veil might, or the links of manacles."

"Hitherto the mind has either been prostituted to material ends or has been deified. Through the science of Raja Yoga, the mind will be known as the instrument of the soul and the means whereby the brain of the aspirant becomes illuminated and knowledge gained of those matters which concern the realm of the soul."

"Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of the heart; it is the bringing into submission of all the feelings, desires and emotions, to the one beloved, seen and known in the heart. It is the sublimation of all the lower loves and the bringing captive of all longings and desire, to the one longing to know the God of love and the love of God. It was the "kingly" or crowning science of the last rootrace, the Atlantean, just as the science of Raja Yoga is the great science of our Aryan civilization. Bhakti Yoga made its exponent an arhat or led him to the fourth initiation. Raja Yoga makes him an adept and leads him to the portal of the fifth initiation. Both lead to liberation, for the arhat is released from the cycle of rebirth but Raja Yoga liberates him to complete service and freedom to work as a White Magician. Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of the heart, of the astral body."

"5. The darkness of ignorance is: holding that which is unenduring, impure, full of pain, not the Soul, to be eternal, pure, full of joy, the Soul."

"The purpose of life, therefore, is the realizing of that prophecy; the unveiling of the immortal man; the birth of the spiritual from the psychical, whereby we enter our divine inheritance and come to inhabit Eternity. This is, indeed, salvation, the purpose of all true religion, in all times."

"1. OM: Here follows Instruction in Union. Union, here as always in the Scriptures of India, means union of the individual soul with the Oversoul; of the personal consciousness with the Divine Consciousness, whereby the mortal becomes immortal, and enters the Eternal. Therefore, salvation is, first, freedom from sin and the sorrow which comes from sin, and then a divine and eternal well-being, wherein the soul partakes of the being, the wisdom and glory of God."

"2. Union, spiritual consciousness, is gained through control of the versatile psychic nature. The goal is the full consciousness of the spiritual man, illumined by the Divine Light. Nothing except the obdurate resistance of the psychic nature keeps us back from the goal. The psychical powers are spiritual powers run wild, perverted, drawn from their proper channel. Therefore our first task is, to regain control of this perverted nature, to chasten, purify and restore the misplaced powers."