IT is now over one year since I sent in Part I to the
Editor of the PATH. Since then I have heard that some students expressed
a desire to read Part II, forgetting to observe, perhaps, that the first
paper was complete in itself, and, if studied, with earnest practice to
follow, would have led to beneficial results. It has not been necessary
before to write No. II; and to the various students who so soon after reading
the first have asked for the second I plainly say that you have been led
away because a sequel was indicated and you cannot have studied the first;
furthermore I much doubt if you will be benefited by this any more than
by the other.
Success in the culture of concentration is not for him who sporadically
attempts it. It is a thing that flows from "a firm position assumed
with regard to the end in view, and unremittingly kept up." Nineteenth
Century students are too apt to think that success in occultism can be reached
as one attains success in school or college, by reading and learning printed
words. A complete knowledge of all that was ever written upon concentration
will confer no power in the practice of that about which I treat. Mere book
knowledge is derided in this school as much as it is by the clodhopper;
not that I think book knowledge is to be avoided, but that sort of acquisition
without the concentration is as useless as faith without works. It is called
in some places, I believe, "mere eye-knowledge." Such indeed it
is; and such is the sort of culture most respected in these degenerate times.
In starting these papers the true practice was called Raj Yoga. It discards
those physical motions, postures, and recipes relating solely to the present
personality, and directs the student to virtue and altruism as the bases
from which to start. This is more often rejected than accepted. So much
has been said during the last 1800 years about Rosicrucians, Egyptian Adepts,
Secret Masters, Kaballah, and wonderful magical books, that students without
a guide, attracted to these subjects, ask for information and seek in vain
for the entrance to the temple of the learning they crave, because they
say that virtue's rules are meant for babes and Sunday-schools, but not
for them. And, in consequence, we find hundreds of books in all the languages
of Europe dealing with rites, ceremonies, invocations, and other obscurities
that will lead to nothing but loss of time and money. But few of these authors
had anything save "mere eye-knowledge." 'Tis true they have sometimes
a reputation, but it is only that accorded to an ignoramus by those who
are more ignorant. The so-called great man, knowing how fatal to reputation
it would be to tell how really small is his practical knowledge, prates
about "projections and elementals," "philosopher's stone
and elixir," but discreetly keeps from his readers the paucity of his
acquirements and the insecurity of his own mental state. Let the seeker
know, once for all, that the virtues cannot be discarded nor ignored; they
must be made a part of our life, and their philosophical basis must be understood.
But it may be asked, if in the culture of concentration we will succeed
alone by the practice of virtue. The answer is No, not in this life, but
perhaps one day in a later life. The life of virtue accumulates much merit;
that merit will at some time cause one to be born in a wise family where
the real practice of concentration may perchance begin; or it may cause
one to be born in a family of devotees or those far advanced on the Path,
as said in Bhagavad-Gita. But such a birth as
this, says Krishna, is difficult to obtain; hence the virtues alone will
not always lead in short space to our object.
We must make up our minds to a life of constant work upon this line. The
lazy ones or they who ask for pleasure may as well give it up at the threshold
and be content with the pleasant paths marked out for those who "fear
God and honor the King." Immense fields of investigation and experiment
have to be traversed; dangers unthought of and forces unknown are to be
met; and all must be overcome, for in this battle there is no quarter
asked or given. Great stores of knowledge must be found and seized.
The kingdom of heaven is not to be had for the asking; it must be taken
by violence. And the only way in which we can gain the will and the power
to thus seize and hold is by acquiring the virtues on the one hand, and
minutely understanding ourselves on the other. Some day we will begin to
see why not one passing thought may be ignored, not one flitting impression
missed. This we can perceive is no simple task. It is a gigantic work. Did
you ever reflect that the mere passing sight of a picture, or a single word
instantly lost in the rush of the world, may be basis for a dream that will
poison the night and react upon the brain next day. Each one must be examined.
If you have not noticed it, then when you awake next day you have to go
back in memory over every word and circumstance of the preceding day, seeking,
like the astronomer through space, for the lost one. And, similarly, without
such a special reason, you must learn to be able to go thus backward into
your days so as to go over carefully and in detail all that happened, all
that you permitted to pass through the brain. Is this an easy matter?
But let us for a moment return to the sham adepts, the reputed Masters,
whether they were well-intentioned or the reverse. Take Eliphas Levi, who
wrote so many good things, and whose books contain such masses of mysterious
hints. Out of his own mouth he convicts himself. With great show he tells
of the raising of the shade of Apollonius. Weeks beforehand all sorts of
preparations had to be made, and on the momentous night absurd necromantic
performances were gone through. What was the result? Why only that the so-called
shade appeared for a few moments, and Levi says they never attempted it
again. Any good medium of these days could call up the shade of Apollonius
without preparation, and if Levi were an Adept he could have seen the dead
quite as easily as he turned to his picture in a book. By these sporadic
attempts and outside preparations, nothing is really gained but harm to
those who thus indulge. And the foolish dabbling by American theosophists
with practices of the Yogis of India that are not one-eighth understood
and which in themselves are inadequate, will lead to much worse results
than the apochryphal attempt recorded by Eliphas Levi.
As we have to deal with the Western mind now ours, all unused as it is to
these things and over-burdened with false training and falser logic, we
must begin where we are, we must examine our present possessions and grow
to know our own present powers and mental machinery. This done, we may proceed
to see ourselves in the way that shall bring about the best result.
RAMATIRTHA
Path, February, 1890
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