Theosophy : religion and occult science

1. Theosophy : religion and occult science

Theosophy : religion and occult science

Olcott, Henry Steel, 1832-1907

This book was produced in EPUB format by the Internet Archive.

The book pages were scanned and converted to EPUB format automatically. This process relies on optical character recognition, and is somewhat susceptible to errors. The book may not offer the correct reading sequence, and there may be weird characters, non-words, and incorrect guesses at structure. Some page numbers and headers or footers may remain from the scanned page. The process which identifies images might have found stray marks on the page which are not actually images from the book. The hidden page numbering which may be available to your ereader corresponds to the numbered pages in the print edition, but is not an exact match; page numbers will increment at the same rate as the corresponding print edition, but we may have started numbering before the print book's visible page numbers. The Internet Archive is working to improve the scanning process and resulting books, but in the meantime, we hope that this book will be useful to you.

The Internet Archive was founded in 1996 to build an Internet library and to promote universal access to all knowledge. The Archive's purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format. The Internet Archive includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages, and provides specialized services for information access for the blind and other persons with disabilities.

Created with abbyy2epub (v.1.6.1)

^ ——— o.^

^ MOV 13 1339

■4.

^^\\

A'^^

BP 520 .05 1885a

Olcott, Henry Steel, 1832-

1907.Theosophy

\

A/

t*

(.

*/

LECTURES AND ADDRESSES

ON THEOSOPHY

^0 the ^Icmarji ofProf. WILLIAM GREGORY, M.D., F.R.S.E.

IN GRATITUDE FOR THE CLUE TO PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

FURNISHED TO THE AUTHOR IN HIS WRITINGS

THIS BOOK IS REVERENTLY DEDICATED

CONTENTS

Forewords ... .,,

Theosophy or Materialism—which?

England's Welcome ...

The Theosophical Society and its AimsThe Common Foundation of all ReligionsTheosophy : the Scientific Basis of ReligionTheosophy : its Friends and Enemies

The Occult Sciences

Spiritualism and TheosophyIndia : Past, Present, and Future ..The Civilization that India needsThe Spirit of the Zoroastrian ReligionThe Life of Buddha and its Lessons

PAGE

9

498i

ii6

166

198

216

257284

301349

In complying with the demand for a LondonEdition of my collected Asiatic Lectures andAddresses, upon Theosophlcal subjects, a fewwords of explanation will suffice. At the be-ginning of last year the original edition wasissued at Madras, in a semi-private form for theinstruction of members of the TheosophlcalSociety, by an officer of the Madras Branch ;but every page of the present edition haspassed through my hands, has been carefullyedited, and a large amount of original matterhas been added. A number of the lectures havebeen translated into the vernacular languagesby native scholars, and circulated at their ownexpense; among them, the discourse uponthe Zoroastrlan religion, of which the ParsIcommunity of Bombay circulated—If mymemory serves me—twenty thousand copiesin Encrlish and Guzeratl. I recall two In-cidents in connection with that lecture which

give it a special interest : it led to theorganization of a Parsi Archceological Societyat Bombay, and was one of the final causesof the rupture of friendly relations betweenthe eminent Aryan reformer, the late SwamiDayanand Saraswati, and the Founders ofthe Theosophical Society. That lamentedand illustrious man had been upon the mostintim.ate terms with us, and his great IndianSociety, the Arya Samaj, was regarded as thesister to our own ororanization. But theSwami was a very intolerant, not to saybigoted Aryan, and had no mercy for thosewho professed another religion than the Vedic.My lecture upon the faith of the Parsis wasrepresented to him as a proof of my havingembraced Zoroastrianism, and was made apretext to break off our previously reciprocalconnection. Like many other strict secta-rians, he could not understand the Theoso-phical spirit of conceding to the people ofall creeds the right of enjoying their religiousconvictions unmolested, nor the duty restingupon us to help them to discover and live upto the highest ideal that their respective re-ligions contain. We are fully convinced that

all religions are but branches of one soleTruth ; and the aim of our public teachingsand private discourses has always been toforce this fact upon the attention of ourauditors. In short, we are not " all thingsto all men," as has ungenerously been said,but the same thing to all men—viz., Theoso-phlsts, who believe in the essential Identityof all men, race, caste, and creed, to the con-trary notwithstanding.

In the several hundred discourses I have de-livered In India and Ceylon, during the lastsix years, nothing more than a popular pre-sentation of elementary facts has been aimedat. There are metaphysicians enough to en-lighten, and confuse, the higher readingpublic ; but to one who can follow themthrough their demonstrations there are fiftywho lack time, ability, or both. This,primarily, is my public ; and I shall bedelighted to be the means of awakeningin some of these the desire for profounderstudy of problems so absorbing.

I have ever been most deeply interested Inthe future of the young, who are just now be-ginning their responsible career. With reli-

xn FOREWORDS,

gious feeling stifled by our modern system ofeducation, they are too often avowed agnos-tics, if not crass materialists. This is lament-able, the more so, since it is unnecessary.Materialism is unscientific—utterly, absurdlyso : one need not go far in psychological re-search to discover so much. But the sciolistswin not admit it, nor take the least pains toget at the truth. They arouse the righteousanger of every student of any branch of arch-aic psychology, by their unworthy behaviourtowards this greatest of sciences. They vio-late their own canons, by limiting the range ofinquiry to the field of the physical senses,against the protest of those who have dis-covered facts lying beyond it, and senses bywhich they may be observed. The existenceof those senses is the necessary corollary ofthe theory of Evolution, and the Esoteric Phil-osophy at once proves its validity, and showshow they may be fully developed. Fromexperimental Physics we pass to axiomaticMetaphysics, through the experimental chan-nel of transcendental Physics. Unless weadmit the unthinkable proposition that thereis a fixed limit to Evolution, it follows that

FOREWORDS. xiii

Western Science in its full development willultimately reach the same conclusion at whichAryan Philosophy arrived ages ago. HenceTheosophy is the complement both of scienceand of philosophy, and as such is entitled tothe respectful examination of the savant andthe theologian.

As it appears that many of the most com-mon of Oriental terms are unknown here inthe West, except to " old Indians," I have byrequest added a copious Glossary, the wordsfor interpretation having been selected out ofthe present volume by that excellent Englishscholar, Mr. Richard Heme Shepherd, whohas also prepared, with care, the excellentindex, which adds largely to the value of thebook.

To avoid delay, persons wishing to corres-pond with the author upon any of the sub-jects treated upon in these discourses shouldaddress him at the headquarters of the Theo-sophlcal Society, Adyar, Madras, India.

H. S. O.

Lonhon, October^ 1S84.

THEOSOPHY OR MATERIALISM—

WHICH ?-^-

Sixty-six years ago Schopenhauer declared hisopinion that the greatest advantage of the nine-teenth century over previous eras lay in its accessto the Vedas through the Upanishads, and pre-dicted for the study of Sanskrit literature aninfluence upon intellectual development not in-ferior to that of the revival of Greek in the fifteenthcentury.t He spoke of " the sacred, primitiveIndian wisdom " as the best preparation for hisown philosophy. And it is worthy of remark thatthe reputation of this great thinker is culminatingat a time when his anticipation, which at the dateof publication must have seemed strange or ex-travagant to all but a few far-seeing scholars,is in course of scarcely doubtful fulfilment. Aparallel similar to that suggested by Schopenhauerhas been drawn by Max Miiller, who has alsotestified to the already pervading influence of the

* The author thankfully acknowledges the valuable aid givenhim in the collation of materials for this chapter, by an Englishfriend, whose modesty forbids the mention of his name.

t Preface to "The World as Will and Representation'' (Ilal-dane and Kemp's translation).

new studies. In his Address to the Conoress ofOrientalists in 1874, he said: "We know what itwas for the Northern nations, the old barbariansof Europe, to be brought into spiritual contactwith Greece and Rome, and to learn that beyondthe small, poor world in which they had moved,there was an older, richer, brighter world, theancient world of Rome and Athens, with its artsand laws, its poetry and philosophy, all of whichthey might call their own, and make their own, byclaiming the heritage of the past. We know how,from that time, the Classical and Teutonic spiritsmingled together, and formed that stream ofmodern thought on whose shores we ourselves liveand move. A new stream is now being broughtinto the same bed, the stream of Oriental thought,and already the colours of the old stream showvery clearly the influence of that new tributary.Look at any of the important works publishedduring the last twenty years, not only on language,but on literature, mythology, law, religion, andphilosophy, and you will see on every page theworking of a new spirit.'*' *

Recognizing the fact of this influence, we canonly estimate its probable development in anydirection by looking at the intellectual conditionsprepared for it. The first and most indispensableof these, in relation to religious ideas, is a relaxa-tion of dogmatic faith in the recipient community.So long as spiritual intelligence is restrained in the* Chips from a German Workshop, vol. iv. p. 342.

hard capsule of any of its formal systems, therecan be no assimilation, and, therefore, no trueinfluence. It is only at that period of ideal de-velopment, when the rind of an historical ortraditional religion has served its purpose ofgrowth and preservation, and permits the libera-tion of its vital spirit, that the latter can find itselfin the general atmosphere of thought. Nor is thisnatural process always recognized for what it is.Just as in sensuous apprehension the body standsfor the man, so the same principle in religion clingsto its external and familiar form, and sees in thedisintegrating action of intellectual progress only anegative side and an infidel tendency. But wemay leave out of account a conservatism which isbeing visibly submerged beneath the rising levelof intelligence, and ask what essentially it is thatthis intelligence demands for the support of itsreligious life?

Now, in the first place, it requires that this shallrepose upon an order of ideas not exposed todestructive invasion. Beliefs are needed whichshall not find their origin and home in ignorance,to be dislodged from their positions with everyadvance of knowledge. Nor must there be anydependence upon historical evidences, or risk fromtheir critical examination. Further, the founda-tions of religion must be such as cannot be im-paired by the comparative methods of study whichdiscovery and scholarship have brought into vogue.The dogmatic fabric of Christianity, so far as its

basis must be conceived as historical, is already ina ruinous, or highly-precarious condition. Anyone who questions this must, at least, admitit to be the opinion of many who represent theprogressive thought and Intelligence of the com-munity, the classes upon which the influence ofscience and inquiry is most apparent. Nor is thisdisposition at all confined to those whose specialstudies or mode of life may be thought to promoteindifference to religious problems. The wide cir-culation of such works as " Ecce Homo,"^' Natural Religion," and others of recent years, Issufficient indication of public sympathy with thescepticism of thoroughly reverent minds. Andwithout quoting from the Innumerable testimoniesafforded by current literature, it will suffice to advertto the perfectly open and unrestrained manner inwhich these questions are now publicly discussed,in contrast to the cautious, veiled, and tentativetreatment they received from the sceptical side lessthan a generation ago. Our intellectual leaders,indeed, have ceased to regard dogmatic Christianityas any longer an open question for modern thought.There is a general assumption among them thatthis, as much as any other special system of religion,exhibits merely an historical phase of mentaldevelopment, and from that point of view aloneretains an Interest for the philosophic mind. Andturning from free-thinkers to the Church itself,we see much that Is significant of the same generaltendency. Not to insist on a few notorious, and

many other less ostentatious retreats from positionsfelt to be untenable, the most influential of theclergy are seeking to spiritualize the Christian doc-trine, without openly offending the popular andorthodox apprehension of it. Few of them, pro-bably, are explicitly aware that every advance inthis direction, while it extracts the essential andinterior truth which Christianity possesses In com-mon with every religion worthy of the name,is a suppression of Its distinctive character. Thiscan only be apparent to those who have made aprofound and sympathetic study of other systems ;a study for which the exclusive pretensions ofChristianity have allowed little encouragement toits official professors. The practical problem of allreligion being to ascertain the conditions of spiritualdevelopment, in proportion as our conceptions arefreed from the formal, historical, and accidentalelements peculiar to each system, will the substan-tial identity of all the radical solutions be discover-able. Thus purified and understood, they will bebeyond the reach of the disproof from positiveknowledge which is sooner or later reserved for alltheir temporal and external investiture. Neverthe-less, they will still involve metaphysical and trans-cendental assumptions ; though not contrary toscience, they will still be non-scientific; and, in short,there will be little to distinguish them from the ethicalforms of a hypothetical philosophy. That brings us tothe further demand which modern intelligence makesupon its future religion, if it is to have one at al).

If Mr. Herbert Spencer is right, true religion isnot the solution of a problem, but the statementand elevation of the problem itself as inscrutable.*And herein he finds the reconciliation of scienceand religion. Science and philosophy proclaim therelativity of all positive knowledge ; but Iw thatvery statement they affirm the existence of theAbsolute, and concede to religion divested of allparticularity and definiteness an appropriate andinexpugnable sphere. Although we can say no-thing of the Reality transcending phenomenal exist-ence, save only that it is, yet "in this assertion of areality utterly inscrutable in nature, Religion findsan assertion essentially coinciding with her own.And this consciousness of an Incomprehen-sible Power, called Omnipresent from inabilityto assign its limits, is just that consciousness onwhich religion dwells." f

The result at which this distinguished philoso-pher has arrived, as regards the intellectual possi-bilities of religion, may thus be expressed in asingle sentence. The foundation is sound, but anysuperstructure that can conceivably be reared uponit must be wholly without warrant. To none canbe conceded even a provisional validity, for theultimate good of religious thought is not a developedconsciousness of the unseen, but the recognition ofa perfectly abstract mystery." + For human in-

* First Principles—Part I. : " The Unknowable."t Op. cil.^ p. 45.

X " Through all its successive phases the disappearance of thosepositive dogmas by which the mystery was made unmysterious,

telUgence, therefore, religion does not, and cannot,exist, since it is essentially the consciousness of thelimits of that intelligence itself. The momentousquestions in which Philosophy and Religion concurare here pronounced to be illegitimate—the hopeless,resultless beating of thought against its ownbarriers; prompted, indeed, by a consciousness, buta consciousness which can never be defined ; testi-fying to a truth, but a truth which can never beknown.

Regarding Mr. Herbert Spencer as the plenipo-tentiary of Science in its negotiation with Religion,it is certain that peace can never be concluded onthe terms he offers. If he has rightly defined theissue, the conflict must go on till the race iseducated into Agnosticism, or relapses into super-stition.

But is the issue rightly defined ? Can we acceptMr. Spencer's statement of the terms of the pro-blem? Or is it not rather in the inadequate limits heassigns to, or assumes for, Science itself in the firstplace ; and, secondly, in a similarly wrong limita-tion of the true objects of religious thought; and,thirdly, in a consequently fallacious distinctionwhere there is no essential difference, that we findthe sources of insufficiency and error in his result ?

Within the space of this essay, only a succinct

has formed the essential change delineated in religious history.And so Religion has ever been approximating towards that coni'plete recognition of this mystery" (the Absolute) "which is ilsgoal " (p. 100).

explanation can be given of these suggestions,which introduce us to the whole subject of Easternreligious philosophy in its most important, yetleast understood relation to the question hereraised. For that question is essentially this :whether there can be a science of those problems—a science resting, as all science must rest, uponexperience for its verification—an experience underconditions possible to all, since they have beenactually realized by some. The reader is here, atthe outset, requested not to make any assumptionsconcerning the nature and evidence of the ex-perience referred to, not to confound it with avague and eccentric mysticism, or wdth conditionsof which psychological pathology can give account.Nor must it be supposed that an appeal is madeto the phenomenal so-called " Spiritualism " ofrecent years, whatever claims this may have, inanother relation of the subject, to more attentiveconsideration than it has hitherto received. Theexperience here spoken of is not the alleged seeingand conversing with " spirits," but satisfies thescientific conception of experience in general. Inother words, the conditions of this experience aredefined. To say that these conditions requiremuch preparation and training for their attain-ment is only to admit what must be asserted in aless degree of every physical experiment whichdemands a scientific education. And, what isimportant to observe, these conditions are just suchas religion has always striven to affirm, but re-

cUiced to exact and Intelligible statement, anddivested of the pietistic language of an immatureand mysterious consciousness. This involves aconclusion the very re vers'", of Mr. HerbertSpencer's. The true goal of religion is not mys-tery, but science—a science dealing with a strictlyverifiable order of facts, though an order trans-cending that with which physical science, whoseprofessors wrongfully limit the generic term, isconcerned.

What are the suppositions of Religion with whichit is assumed that " Science" can never deal ?That there is a world or objective state beyondthe cognizance of our physical senses ; that man isa subject who, in addition to his physical organism,has faculties—it may be undeveloped at the presentstage of human evolution, or it may be only dor-mant—fitted to relate him by immediate conscious-ness and perception with that other world ; * andthat physical disintegration affects only the mode,and not the existence, of individual consciousness.Lastly and chiefly, though in connexion with theforegoing propositions. Religion carries her accountof man yet higher, asserting his relation to aPrinciple which is the source and inspiration of hismoral consciousness, and which manifests itself inhim as the perpetual tendency to realise anUniversal Will and Nature, and to subordinate theindividual limitation. These are the fundamental

'■ " There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body " (iCor. XV. 44).

postulates of Religion, upon which have been builtall the doctrinal fabrics of particular and perish-able creeds. These are the propositions whichreligious intelligence never can dispense with,which physical science has not refuted, and whichtranscendental science affirms.

That this transcendentalism does not pretend toa cognition of the Absolute, and is thus perfectlyconsistent with the doctrine of the phenomenalityand relativity of knowledge, should be alreadyapparent. What it is opposed to is not Science,not Philosophy, but Materialism ; and even toMaterialism only in the crude and popular sense ofthat term. For that we Western tyros knownothing of " Matter " that entitles us to say it canhave no other manifestation than in the modewe call physical—the object of our present senses—will be granted by every philosophical man ofscience. The most that can be said is that wehave no evidence of its existence in any othermode. " After all," says Professor Huxley, " whatdo we know of this terrible ' matter,' except as aname for the unknown and hypothetical cause ofstates of our own consciousness ? "* The material-ism, if such it can be called, of our really instructedthinkers, thus amounts only to the proposition thatthe world of our present perception, the world asknown to physical science, is the result of a particu-lar mode of action of an unknown cause. Thatmode of action is objectively manifested in the

* " Lay Sermons," p. 142.

organism, or, as it is called, the physical basis ofconsciousness. The possibility of a transcendentalscience is just the possibility of other modes ofaction of this unknown cause, resulting in otherconditions, and therefore in another world, of con-sciousness. The constant misuse of the word'' supernatural," by which it is made to signify notonly what is altogether beyond the range of pheno-menal existence, but also every possible mode ofsuch existence which is not related to our presentorganic conditions, ought to receive no countenancefrom men of science. " Nature " is co-extensivewith existence, and to meet every reference tomodes of existence, other than under conditionsknown to us, with the term " supernaturalism,"is simply to betray confusion and inaccuracy of mind.Yet, for this confusion, the absence of anydefinite ideas concerning the conditions of post-mortem existence is largely responsible. On thegreat question of individual immortality—of sur-viving consciousness—Christianity has long ceasedto offer any conceptions by which it is thinkable tothe modern intellect. Some hypothesis, at least, isrequired by which this truth may be intelligiblyapprehended. It is probable that a single book bytwo eminent men of science has done more to arrestthe growing discredit into which this belief wasfalling than all the works of past or contemporarythcolosrians.*

* ((

The Unseen Universe, or Physical Speculations on a Fuf.ureState," by Professors Balfour Stewart and P. G. Tait. The public

Doubtless, Religion proposes higher aims thanthe mere demonstration of conscious perpetuation.But this is an indispensable pre-supposition, and isan essential part of that transcendental sciencewhich is absolutely wanting in the West, and whichthe East can supply.

The foregoing considerations are intended onlyto clear the ground of negative assumptions andmisconceptions which are constantly put forward inthe name of science. Until it has been concededthat physical science has nothing to object to thepossibility of transcendental science, no way can bemade in describing the methods of the latter, or inshowing that it fulfils the conditions, and offers theresults, demanded by human intelligence at thepresent age for a developed conception of religion.

The whole purpose of Religion may be succinctlydefined as the verification in individual human con-sciousness of metaphysical and transcendentaltruth. It presupposes that the faculties of verifica-tion are undeveloped. It is of necessity a doctrineof evolution. This truth, which should come hometo the Western understanding at the present time,is at the foundation of religious philosophy in theEast. But it is not there the abstract or ill-definedstatement which it remains still in Christianity ; itis a theoretical and practical system for all whowill study and pursue it. So far is it from being

interest in the application of scientific thought to this subject is evi-denced by the fact that this book, first published in 1877, hadalready reached its tenth edition in iSSi.

7'HEOSOPHY OK MATERIALISM—WHICH? 27

true that the East is the land of metaphor anddream, and the West the seat of practical intelli-gence, that in all that concerns transcendentalreality or religion, the very reverse is the case.The right statement, however, is, that the practicaland scientific intelligence of the East has its homein the higher realities, that of the West in the lowerones. And if the religious spirit in the West findsitself in a doubtful or opposed relation to what isthere alone recognized as science, that is due to thefact that its own sense of the higher realities hasnot attained to definite conceptions, but is still inthe undeveloped state of abstract affirmation, or inthe nebulous state of mysticism. Herein consiststhe supreme importance of the influence of Easternideas upon the West at the present time. It is areaction and an exchange. We are giving to Indiathe knowledge and advantage of many practicalthings relating to our lower needs and nature. Inreturn she offers us the wisdom acquired bythought and experience on a higher plane. A fewyears ago, before our own dogmatic preconceptionshad yielded to the action of intellectual solvents,the opportunity would have been premature. Thebelief that it is so no longer is the rationale andjustification of the Theosophical Society, thecharacter and aims of which will be partly apparentfrom the following Lectures.

The secret which the East has to impart is thedoctrine and conditions of evolution of the higheras yet undeveloped faculties in man. But are there

such faculties, such possibihties ? The answer to thisquestion appeals to that rudimentary consciousnessof them from which religion arises. This witnessof a consciousness not yet raised to knowledge isFaith, which is indeed " the substance of thingshoped for, and the evidence of things not seen."To those who may think they have it not, or thatit can be explained away, no other conviction canbe brought. Upon the recognition of it dependsthe claim to attention of any system professing toexpound the principles of Nature in its entirety.Such a system is now in course of publication forthe first time. The preparation for it is in the in-creasing interest of Western culture in Easternideas. Through the labours of Western Oriental-ists, the abstract doctrines of these religious philo-sophies are already more or less clearly appre-hended. But the developed doctrines are notaccessible to the ordinary reader, who, moreover,finds in the sacred writings as translated for himmuch which can be interpreted by no conceptionsprovided by Western thought and education. TheUpanishads, for instance, abound with allusionswhich require an undiscovered key for their eluci-dation. And so of the Buddhist writings. Theexistence of living schools which are the reposi-tories of a more intimate knowledge had not beensuspected till recently, and is not yet admitted byour Orientalists. The Theosophical Society is incommunication with these, and is actively employedin collecting the information they will impart. Its

THE OS 0 PHY OR 3fA TERIALISM— WHICH? 29

organ, The Theosophist, is chiefly devoted to theseteachings. The well-known book by Mr. A. P.Sinnett, " Esoteric Buddhism," is perhaps the bestgeneral representation of them, so far as alreadyunderstood, which could be given to the Englishpublic. Other books are preparing, and a literatureof Theosophy, or the Esoteric Philosophy of theages, is steadily growing. An attempt even to sum-marize the doctrines in question would be beyondthe scope of this work. Nor must it be supposedthat the Theosophical Society, to which the readeris introduced in these Lectures, requires subscriptionto any creed. Its Fellows are students, not co-religionists in any sectarian sense. They are, how-ever, associated by a principle, an idea—Fraternity—of which, since it may either be misconceived, orbe regarded as quite impracticable, somethingshould here be added.

In the closing chapter of Lange's " History ofMaterialism," it is well said:

*' One thing, however, is certain : if the New isto come into existence, and the Old is to disappear,two great things must combine—a world-kindlingethical idea and a social influence which is powerfulenough to lift the depressed masses a great step

forward The victory over disintegrating

esfoism and the deadly chilliness of the heart willonly be won by a great ideal, which appears amidstthe wondering peoples as a ' stranger from anotherworld/ and by demanding the impossible un-hinges the reality" (vol. iii., p. 355).

And again :

" Often already has an epoch of Materialismbeen but the stillness before the storm, whichwas to burst forth from unknown gulfs, and to givea new shape to the world. We lay aside the penof criticism at a moment when the social questionstirs all Europe—a question on whose wide domainall the revolutionary elements of science, of re-ligion, and of politics, seem to have found thebattle-ground for a great and decisive contest.Whether this battle remains a bloodless conflict ofminds, or whether, like an earthquake, it throwsdown the ruins of a past epoch with thunder intothe dust, and buries millions beneath its wreck,certain it is that the new epoch will not conquerunless it be under the banner of a great ideawhich sweeps away egoism, and sets human per-fection in human fellowship as a new aim in theplace of reckless toil, which looks only to the per-sonal gain " ( ibid.^ p. 361).

It is to such an idea as this that the Theoso-phical Society seeks to give a formal, if not alreadya quite practical expression. It is no new dis-covery, certainly, this reassertion of the essentialr.nlty of the race, of Brotherhood as a principle tobe elevated above all accidental or historical dis-tinctions. It is, on the contrary, the one vitalethical result out of religious thought. Is it there-fore a truism too barren or abstract to form thebasis of practical association ? Is it nothing to ex-tricate It from the diversities of dogma in which its

significance is buried, to renew it in the hearts ofmen and women of all sects and creeds as the vowand obligation of their lives? Is it an objectionthat the Society does not come before the worldwith a single, well-devised application of the prin-ciple? Those who.would offer this as an objectioncannot have realized how much more than abstractassent is implied in the recognition and study ofthe principle itself The conquest of selfishnessand prejudice in all their forms, national, socialsectarian, political, private, is the aim whichgrows in every individual mind out of a livingsense of human fraternity. Its applications on thewider scale of law and co-operation must be self-developed. They are not to be the fanatical im-pulses of half-educated " world-betterers." Theywill emerge spontaneously and surely from theunity of spirit and habit acting upon an intelli-gent and well-informed apprehension of the pro-blems, and from the subordination of self-interest.

Many practical problems which seem insolubleto individual thinkers can only find their solvent inan altered disposition of mankind. All religionsseek to effect this change of disposition in the in-dividual consciousness. But nearly all religioussystems have preferred their specific and distinctivetenets to their true universal basis and inherenttendency, and have thus become the most dis-cordant of influences in the world they would re-o-enerate. Therefore it is that the TheosophicalSociety has no room for propagandists of any

exclusive creed. Its principle indeed requires thatnone of its members should even mentally assertthe exclusive sanctity of his own religious denomina-tion. In India, the Society has been opposed anddenounced at every turn by Christian mission-aries ; and if on its side it has seemed to evincehostility to Christianity, that is because its represen-tatives identify it with those arrogant pretensionsv/hich make peace, charity, and fraternity impossible.If we point out to the natives of India that the formof Christianity taught by these zealots is becomingmore and more discredited among the best religiousthinkers of the West itself, our doing so belongsrather to our duty as educated Europeans than toany polemical disposition. The fact that we numberin our ranks, not only many avowed Christians,but also some conspicuous members of the Chris-tian clergy, may be referred to in relation to a mis-understanding from which even some of our ownFellows in England have not been free.

We have spoken of the advocacy of the principleof Universal Brotherhood, or, to avoid the chargeof Utopianism, of a kindly reciprocity and mutualtolerance between men and races, as a primaryobject of the Theosophical Society. We can"happily point to the rapid extension of thatorganization to various countries, and the actualgathering together into the same of many personsof the most incongruous sects, and hitherto anti-pathetic nationalities, as substantial proof of itspracticability. But this is only one out of the three

THEOSOFHY OR MA TERIALISM— WHICH ? 33

declared objects of the Society, as the followingpages show. Its second object is the promotionof the study of Aryan and other Eastern literature,religions, and sciences. Schopenhauer wrote evenmore wisely than he knew when making his pro-phetic utterances in 1818. For, not only are theUplianishads inestimably rich repositories of philo-sophical and spiritual thought, but also in the greatbody of Sanskrit, Pali and Zend literature is an in-exhaustible mine of noble and inspiriting thought.We might despair of ever making any importantcontributions to this department of knowledge, werewe dependent wholly upon our own labours ; forthe proper work of the Founders of the Society israther that of organization than research. Having,however, the active aid of many of the most learnednative scholars of Asia, and through them access tothe rest, we feel confident that the movement weare directing will result in substantial gain to thescholar, the moralist and the philosopher. TheSociety's third declared object relates to the investi-gation of the unfamiliar laws of Nature and thefaculties latent in man. An inordinate prominencehas been given to the psychic phenomena producedby Madame Blavatsky, which, however striking inthemselves, are nevertheless but a small part ofTheosophy as a great whole. To a very limited ex-tent these questions are considered in the followingLectures ; but for full details the reader must be re-ferred to the literature of the Occult sciences, nowbeing constantly enriched by new publications.

34 THKOSOPHY OR MATERIALISM—WHICH?

No amount of reading, however, will suffice for aknowledge of the subject; at best, it gives but asmattering of information as a basis of beHef. Norcan a teacher develop the psychic powers in a wayto make them docile and trustworthy to thestudent's will. Psychic growth is the fruit of self-mastery ; the Initiate is, more than any one else," a self-made man !" The Theosophical Societydocs not make adepts : it but hints at their exist-ence and points to the path.

Mr. Chairman,—On behalf of the GeneralCouncil of the Theosophical Society, on MadameBlavatsky's behalf, and on my own, I thank you andthis assemblage of colleagues and well-wishers foryour cordial welcome. That a company so brilliantand distinguished should have gathered here for thiskindly purpose, is to us most gratifying and, Imay add, surprising. We have not been accus-tomed to such treatment at the hands of the peopleof our race, but rather to its opposite. Beforeleaving India, with the recollection still vivid ofthe abuse and obloquy we had to endure inthat country, we should not have dared toanticipate it. I take this to mark a new era and aturning-point in our Society's history. All wehave ever asked is that we might be heard withpatience by the cultured classes of Europe ; andhere I see many representatives of British Science,Art, and Literature, of Diplomacy and of Society,assembled to hear what we have to say. There mustbe a substantial power in Theosophy, since it has

* An Address delivered at Prince's Hall, Piccadilly, London,July 21, 1S84, in response to a greeting to the Founders of theTheosophical Society by the Pondon members, through the Pre-sident of the local Lodge.

become so widespread a social movement Invarious countries ; without the adventitious helpof august patronage, of great capital, or of fanaticalsupport. It has become a theme for discussion athundreds of British hearths, and, spreading fromthe most thoughtful to the most frivolous circles, isnow actually noticed by " Society " journals as thefashionable talk of the day at the tea-tables ofBelgravia and in the Holy Land of the West End !These " fashion-writers " speak of it as a whim of themoment, to be forgotten, like the sun-flower andcrutch, for to-morrow's caprice. But it vrill not—mark me, it will not—be forgotten. The day's folly ofthe drawing-room Is ephemeral as Its pleasure; butthe ideas provoked by Theosophy eat Into the mind,and cannot be dislodged. For they pertain to thesecret causes of joy and sorrow, of our future,of our very existence Itself, and these cannot bedismissed at will. Let the jesters jest on, withtheir squibs, lampoons, and comic poems: theyare but turning the mill-stonns of Destiny,which grind the grist of the nation's thought.

My gifted countryman, Mr. Moncure Conway,said the other day that every idea must finally cometo this metropolis to be tested and receive its mint-mark. He was right; and we are now bringingyou the golden ore of Theosophy, dug from thelong-closed Intellectual mines of our Asiatic pro-genitors. We ourselves put it into the melting-potsof Western criticism, and ask that it may be tested,amalgamated with the purest silver of Western

thought, and then thrown into circulation. Wehave come to the bar of British public opinion toplead the cause of humanity, which sorely suffersthrough ignorance of the laws of spirit, soul, andmind, as well as those of the body. We do notpretend to leadership ; but we demand a seat in theCouncil which is deliberating on the master pro-blems of Religion and Science. The Materialis':,Positivist, Agnostic, and Secularist, are alreadythere, in conspicuous places, jostling the Ecclesi-astic; crushing religious sentiment, underminingspiritual aspirations, blackening the sky of sunnyIntuition, robbing this reading and inquiringage of the last vestige of belief in the existence ofman after the death of the body, and uncoveringthe black and yawning abyss of oblivion and ex-tinction into which they would have us leap. TheChurch has anathematised in vain ; the sharpestblades of theological dogmatism have broken likeweak reeds upon the steely helms of the Biologistand Evolutionist. The party of Religion havebeen forced from their stronghold in the humanheart, and the party of Materialistic science haveusurped the conquered ground. It has come atlast to such a point that well-read men can hardly beinduced to discuss whether the creed of Christendomis in extremis or not ; regarding it as a waste oftime, since none but the illiterate doubt the fact.That Rubicon, they aver, was crossed long ago.The victorious cohorts of Freethought are gatheringto the trumpet-call of Darw^in, Huxley, Haeckel. of

Mill, Clifford, Lewes and Greg. They are buildingtemples to their new god, Protoplasm, out of thedebris of the world's old faiths, as the early Chris-tians utilized the shrines of the Pagan deities tobuild churches. It is the old, old story ofevolution, change and growth ; the story that canbe read in every sociological evolution in the historyof our race. Whether by voice, or book, or swordthe change is brought about, come it alwaysmust. The seed-germ of the next race, or civiliza-tion or creed, can only germinate as the dry huskdecays, within which its potentiality was secretly de-veloped. The friends of Materialism hope that itmay be the outcome of the destruction of Spiritu-ality. Shall it ? That is the question put by theTheosophical Society to you, thinking men andwomen of Europe. For the choice is narrowed tothis : either materialistic Atheism* and Nihilism—the conception of a short life between two blanks—or Theosophy. Say what }'ou may, laugh as you

* The use of the expression " materialistic Atheism " in this con-nexion has been made the pretext by seme not very friendly criticsto charge me with a belief in a personal God. It will be impossiblefor any one to point to a single sentence ever spoken or written byme which would give colour to such a charge. Upon a hundredpublic occasions I have defined the " God " of the Founders of ourSociety to be identical with the Universal Principle—formless,changeless, devoid of the attributes of personality and of limitation—which is postulated by the highest metaphysicians of Asia. This ismade very plain even in the few Lectures that have been preservedout of several hundreds delivered in India and Ceylon to constitute thepresent volume. And it is equally clear that, whatever may be mypersonal views or those of INIadame Blavatsky, no one in ourSociety is responsible for them, save ourselves

ENGLAND'S WELCOME. 39

will, mock as you choose—that is the issue of to-day. Religion has but one foundation—Theosophy;a Church built upon any other is as a house builtin the air. Let not the Christian tell me that theBible offers its " scheme of salvation and its blessedpromises;" nor the Jew that the inspired scrollsof the Law bear the divine messages of Sinai andthe Prophets ; nor the Hindu that the sacred Veda,if read with faith and understanding, reveals all trutlithat man is fit to receive, and that the Upanishadsare full of the glory of spiritual life. Let all this begranted to each ; yet these books have nomeaning to the spiritually blind eye of our scepticalgeneration, nor the words of their most authoritativeexpositors any sound to the faith-dulled ear of theyouth whose University has taught him to believenothing he sees or hears until it is experimentallyproven. It is absolutely a waste of time toappeal to a sentiment of loyal faith in ecclesias-tical authority long since practically extinct. Theonly chance of dislodging Materialism from itsfortress is to prove it unscientific^ and Esoteric Philo-sophy scientific. It is with the hammer of sciencethat its idols, if they are to be broken at all, mustbe demolished. We, Founders of the TheosophicalSociety, planted it upon that basic general proposi-tion, as upon a rock that can buffet the storms ofcriticism. And the experience of nine yearssince come and gone has convinced us that wewere right. Our work has extended to America,Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia—in all which

continents we have now established branches of theparent Society; we have met and discussed withmany superior minds of different nationahties ;and our conclusion is that if we had the work offounding our Society to do over again, we couldnot choose a broader, surer, safer basis ofactivity than that which you will find sketched outin its three avowed or declared objects. Thosethree foundations - stones are : to promote afeeling of brotherhood among men, regardless ofrace, creed, or colour ; to promote the study of theAryan and other religions, philosophies, andsciences; and to promote experimental researchinto the hidden laws of Nature and the latentcapabilities of man. The canons of modern Scienceare equally the canons of ancient Oriental philo-sophy. If the one rests upon fact so does theother. Our Western college professors teach us totake nothing upon faith; our masters of theEastern school do the like. The motto written onthe title-page of your well-known journal, i\^(f?//^;'^, is:

'* To the solid groundOf Nature trusts the mind Avhich builds for aye."

Wordsworth.

The legend that heads our Society's journal, theT/icosophist/\s'. "There is no religion higher thanTruth." The Lord Buddha, revered as the greatestamong adepts of the Occult science, when asked bythe Kalama people how they might know whichreligion was the truest, answered that theyshould believe nothing written or spoken, by any

teacher of any epoch, upon mere authority, butonly when the teaching harmonized with reason,and would stand the test of examination. Thatis the attitude which we likewise adopt. Ifthe Theosophical Society had come forwardwith a claim of infallibility for its ideas or itsteachers, discouraging criticism and shirkinginquiry, it would have been turned out of court onits first appearance. But since it has spread fromcity to city and from land to land, until it can nowcount over a hundred branches, it is clearly inaccordance with the spirit of the age, and meets areal want of humanity. It has an unmistakeablevitality, and has attained a development that pre-sages a great future for the movement. Monthafter month fresh branches spring up, and new linesof usefulness open out. Four days ago I organized,in the very stronghold of Presbyterian intolerance,the " Scottish Theosophical Society," and after aLecture at Edinburgh one of the leading clergymenof the city took my hand in brotherly kindness,declaring that the sentiments I had just expressedto my audience were identical with those hewas wont to preach from his pulpit. So, too,the freethinking journalists of Paris have de-clared our Society's cardinal idea of fraternalconcert between the best thinkers and truestmen of all races for research after the funda-mental facts of human existence, to be in strictharmony^with the principles of French republican-ism ; while, at the same time, the reactionary

Ultramontanes of the Royalist party have, in theirorgan, Le Defcnseiir, bidden us a hearty welcomeas to those who may save France from the moraldecay brought about by crass materialism. Pass-ing on to the Orient, you have only to consult thefiles of the native press of India and of Ceylon, todiscover how enthusiastically the masses of thoseancient countries speak of our Society and itswork. In these Western communities most peopleregard us as innovators, trying to " float" a newdelusion; but throughout the East it is accounted thechief merit of Theosophy that its teachings arebut the uncoloured recapitulation of the grand philo-sophy taught to Egypt and Greece by their holysages, and embalmed in their ancestral literature.Seven years ago scarcely a Hindu college graduatedared to confess a feeling of respect for the nationalreligious philosophy ; now the imported Westernscepticism is going out of fashion, and Indian andSinhalese youth are joining our Society, andbeginning to emulate the piety, temperance,honesty and truthfulness of their noble forefathers.Within the past twelvemonth these cherished youngcolleagues have founded, under our auspices, twenty-seven schools and colleges for Sanskrit teaching,have published books, have founded Theosophicaljournals,and have organized religious classes or Sun-day schools in various parts of the Indian Peninsulaand of Ceylon. The movement has spreadto the United States, despite the absence of itsFounders, since 1878, in the East. Within the

past year, new branches have been formed, a Theo-sophicaljournalhas been started,other charters havebeen appHed for, a central governing Committee orBoard has been organized,and two delegates of note—one,an author and journalist attached to the editorialstaff of an influential New York paper, the other, aman of scientific repute, and a college professor—have come across the Atlantic to meet the Foundersand to arrange for future Theosophical work inAmerica. Within the next two days, I go to Germanyto hold a conference of certain of the ablest philoso-phical writers of the day, and to launch the barkof Theosophy upon the deep sea of German thought.The seed planted by Mme. Blavatsky and my-self at New York in 1875, when we organizedthe Society, is fast growing into a banyan tree, whoseroots are striking dow^n into the subsoil of humannature, and whose shade will one day be broad ancidense enough to shelter a multitude of students ofthe Problem of Life. And let me here candidlyand gratefully confess how much of our success inEnglish-speaking countries is due to the world-wide circulation attained by The Occtdt World andEsoteric Bitddhisin, those tw^o profoundly interestingand valuable books of our eminent colleague, Mr.A. P. Sinnett. Here, in the land and city of hisbirth, I thank that loyal friend and true-heartedEnglishman, whose courageous and unselfish advo-cacy of a discovered truth is—well, w4iat one alwaysexpects from an Englishman of that sort!

As mine is the task of giving you a historical re-

trospect, I must briefly note what the TheosophicalSociety has accomplished under each of the threeheads of work it sets itself First, as to the questionof forming the nucleus of a Brotherhood ofHumanity. We have effected much in this direc-tion ; much of a visible and practical character.Upon our rolls are inscribed the names of somethousands of men and women who representmany races and most of the great creeds. OurRules positively prohibit the discussion, at ourmeetings, of questions likely to stir up strifeabout religion, caste, race, and politics. All suchdiscordant issues are left outside our threshold.We meet as friends, whose declared and only pur-pose is to exchange ideas and to help each other toget at the truth. The wisest are our Theosophicalaristocracy. The rich man is not esteemed in ourSociety for his wealth, nor the poor man despisedfor his poverty. The tie of a common interiornature makes us see and know each otheras brethren in Theosophy. The antagonismof sex is unknown among us : we are notconcerned as to the relative supremacy of man orwoman, the test of excellence is the capacity oftheir respective minds ; the brightest is themost respected, and the highest place in ouresteem is occupied by the one most devotedto the cause of Theosophy, and who best illus-trates in daily conduct its lofty ideal. It wasa sight to behold with joy when, at the celebrationof the Society's eighth anniversary, at Madras in

December last, more than one hundred delegates—Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Mussulmansand Agnostics—were gathered together from thefour quarters of the globe to report the progress ofthe movement in their several countries, and to bringthe vows of fealty from their various branches.The possibility of a practical confraternity uponthe basis of mutual reciprocity and kindly tolerancewas then and there triumphantly proved.

We then saw that, while it is impossible, save inUtopia, to hope for a real brotherly union betweennations or communities upon the external side ofhuman nature, yet this may be effected quite easilyupon the plane of the inner and nobler self

Secondly, as to the study of the ancient philoso-phies and religions. Here, too, great results havebeen achieved. It would be vain to search the mysti-cal writings of modern times for so great a body otvaluable practical teaching upon these questions asthe still meagre and budding Theosophical literaturealready offers. I venture to say, for example, thatthere can be found in no Western author so manylucid expositions of occult philosophy and meta-physics as have been given recently in the Theo-sophical circles of London and Paris by ourgifted and beloved young Brahman colleague, Mr.Mohini, who sits beside me on this platform. Thislineal descendant of the Raja Rammohun Roy hasshown himself worthy of that grandsire whoselearning and elevated spirituality of character areremembered in England, as well as in India, to this

day, with deep affection. Besides the exegeticalworks of Mr. Sinnett, there is Madame Blavatsky'sencyclopaedic Isis Unveiled, now in its seventhedition, which traverses a vast domain of scienceand rehgion, and there are various pamphlets bydifferent authors, all relating to the Asiatic side ofthe subject. On the side of Esoteric Christianityand the Hermetic Doctrine, the eloquent work ofDr. Anna Kingsford and Mr. Edward Maitland,The Pcj'fect Waj', will be reckoned among the greatbooks of the century. The TJieosopJiist, a monthlymagazine, issued at the Society's headquarters atMadras,* and now in its fifth volume, has amongits contributors some of the ablest educated Hindusliving, who during the past five years have beenexpounding their national Sanskrit literature.

Thirdly, and lastly, as to researches into theoccult side of Nature and of Man. What themystical writers of Greece and Rome, of Germany,France, Italy, and England, had hinted at in thisdirection ; what was figured in the pictographs ofEgypt, in the sculptures of Nineveh and of Centraland South America, in the cylinders, bricks, andstones of Babylonia and of other countries; whatwas embalmed though masked in folk-lore,legend, saga, and national customs, has beenverified and corroborated by the individual re-searches of certain of our members. While theChristians are sitting almost speechless, unable

* Mr. George Redway, the publisher of the present vokime, is theLondon agent.

ENGLAND'S WELCOME. 47

to confute the dogmatic assertion of the infidelbiologist, that human consciousness isimpossibleout-side the physical organism, and that man is extinctwhen it is dissolved, we Theosophists have experi-mentally proved its utter falsity. We have provedit by projecting ourselves out of the body, with theretention of full consciousness and volition, aclingand observing as readily as any of us can do in hisfleshy encasement. We liave proved that thereis an inner range of percipient faculties, more acute,and mAich more unerring, than " the five gateways "of the outer body. We have verified the exist-ence of two sublimer states of matter than the formwe are told about by our fashionable scientificauthorities. The " Unseen Universe," or subjectiveworld, of Professors Balfour Stewart and Tait hasceased to have for us the aspect of a hypothesis,for this terra incognita, this Polar circle of officialscience, has been explored by us, with the adeptsof the East as our guides and teachers. Some ofmy colleagues in the Theosophical Society so reverethe characters of these living Masters as to thinkit almost a crime that I should profane their secretby naming them to a mixed audience. But Iam imbued with the American, rather than withthe Oriental feeling as to such matters. I knowas a fact that these grand men are not to be movedas to their inner selves by anything, good or ill,that may be said of them: the reviler's abuse butrecoils upon himself, as, in the Eastern proverb, thedust blows back into the eyes of the fool who throws

48 ENGLAND'S WELCOME.

it against the wind. And, as an old student ofPsychology, I feel the enormous vitality the subjectderives from the fact that these Masters live as reallyfor us as their predecessors did for Apollonius,Plato, and Pythagoras ; that they can be seen, andconversed with, as they have been seen and con-versed with by many among us ; and that theyfurnish in their own persons a tangible, actual idealof a hitherto unsuspected human perfectibility.And so realising, I shall, until they command me tokeep silence, continue to bear testimony to theirexistence, to their benevolent philanthropy, to theirangelic qualities, mental and moral. To them,through their agent, Madame Blavatsky, I owe thefirst glimpse of the true light. By thenri I wastaught to detect its Sflow under the exoteric masksof the world's various faiths, and to know it fortheir silvery psychic spark. They taught me to seethat the colour of my brother man, his dress, hisformal creed, his social prejudices, were but theresults of his external environment, and but tinted,without obstructing the inner shining of the im-mortal Ego: as the cathedral panes give for thewatcher outside their glowing hues to the light thatburns in the chancel and along the aisles. To themmy life-long fealty is pledged. My earnest hope -isthat I may not fail in my duty ; my chief desirethat, through the extension of the TheosophicalSociety, I may succeed in causing hundreds ashungry as myself after spiritual truth to know oftheir existence and partake of their teaching.

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETYAND ITS AIMS.^

When a new Society asks a hearing of the worldit is sure to be challenged. The public has thatvested right, and none but fools will object to itsexercise. Infallibility is out of fashion, notwith-standing the Roman conclave of July 13th, 1870,where, as the Syllabus of the Vatican Council tellsus, the Holy Ghost sat with the Bishops and judgedwith them. Men now-a-days take nothing on faith ;the era of inquiry and proof has come.

The Theosophical Society expects no exemptionfrom the rule ; has asked none ; and my presencebefore this great audience, so soon after the arrivalin India of our Committee, shows our readiness togive a reason for its existence. We believe it was anecessary outgrowth of the century. I hope toshow you that the hour demanded its coming, andthat it was not born before its appointed time.

Our society points to four years of activity asone proof that there was room for it in the world.And this activity, please observe, was not in the

* An Address delivered at the Framji Cowasji Hall, Bombay,

23id March, 1879.D

midst of friendly environments, with no one toquestion or oppose, but in the enemy's country, withfoes all about, public sentiment hostile, the pressscornful and relentless, traitors working with honestopponents to break up our organization and neutra-lize our labours. Occupying, as most of us did,positions of some influence, we have had to suffer, inways that will suggest themselves to each of you,for the privilege of free speech. While the presshas lampooned us, in writing and pictorial carica-tures, by the clergy we have been denounced as thechildren of Satan, doomed to eternal damnationalong with the wretched " Heathen."

We throve on opposition. The more we wereabused, the greater interest was created to knowwhat the Theosophical Society really was, howstrong, and what were its aims? These questions,which have been put to us in every possible varia-tion since our arrival here, we answered, withoutconcealment or equivocation, face to face, eye toeye. We had nothing to be ashamed of, whetherin doctrine, motive, or deed, and so we spoke—andnow speak—with the boldness of one who loves thetruth and hates a lie.

All this discussion, carried on for months, evenyears, in journals of world-wide circulation, drew tous large nun^bers of sympathizers. Scatteredthroughout America and Europe were men andwomen of intelligence, influence, courage, who hadlong been interested in the topics to which weapplied ourselves, and who needed only such a ral-

lying-point as our society offered, to combine theirstrength. So they joined us, cheering us by theiractivity of deed no less than by their friendlinessof word. A branch society sprang up in England,under the presidency of a barrister of the highestcapabilities, and the conjoint direction of a Univer-sity professor, and of medical and other professionalmen. Other branches were formed in Russia,France, Greece, and elsewhere. One is now form-ing in Ceylon. Our membership increased to thou-sands. We received as brothers, with equalcordiality, Hindus, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists, Jews,and free-thinking Christians. At different timesthe press has described us as specially represent-ing each of those sects ; a proof, certainly, of ourstrict impartiality and the general resemblance allthese great religions have to each other at theirroots. There was room for all upon our platform,and none need jostle his neighbour. What thatplatform is, will be made clear before I have donespeaking.

Believing it good generalship to force the fight-ing when one feels sure of his supports, we not onlystruck blow for blow at our antagonists, but con-trived more than once to put them on the defen-sive. Often without obtruding ourselves uponpublic notice, we aroused an interest in everythingrelated to the East. Oriental science, literature,chronology, tradition, superstitions, magic andspiritualism, afforded themes for our allies to speakand write upon, throughout the two parts of

Christendom. Those who have seen the Westernjournal and periodical literature during the pastfour or five years, must have been struck with theapparently sudden growth of a deep interest insuch matters. They will also have noticed the in-creased number of books published on Oriental sub-jects. How much of that activityis traceable directlyand indirectly to the Theosophical Society, we, only,know who have been in the thick of the fighting.

We have been asked, scores of times, why ourSociety has established as yet no periodical, norissued any volumes of Reports. Our answer is that awider activity could be achieved by utilizing pressesalready established. We have thus reached mil-lions of readers, where, through any special organof our own, we might only have caught the eye andprovoked the thought of a few thousands. Howmany in India, think you, have read about the visitof our Committee and its objects ? and how manywould have done so if we had depended upon ajournal of our own ? Papers in English and theseveral vernacular tongues have been sent us, andletters from the extreme North and the extremeSouth have come to us, from those wdio have aninterest in our work. It has been remarked at theWest that no Society has, w^ithin so short a time,been talked about in so many different countriesas ours. We gratefully accept the fact as proofthat we are welcomed to a standing-room in thearena of the century.

And now what is the Theosophical Society, and

what are its aims ? How much appears upon thesurface, and how much is concealed ? What is theplan of work ? How is the public to be benefitedby the Society, and is mutual co-operation practic-able ? What attitude do we assume towards re-ligious beliefs, and what ideas, if any, does theSociety hold about God and his government ? Dowe believe in the immortality of the human soul,and, if so, on what grounds ? What importancedo we attach to the study of the occult sciences, socalled? What use has been made, by many or fewof our Fellows, of any knowledge of those sciences?To what highest good do we aspire, here or here-after ? What are our ideas of the next world ?These questions j^// have come here to ask, / toanswer. I have copied them from written docu-ments, handed to me since this address was an-nounced by the native committee. And here areothers propounded by one who wishes to join us:—On one's becoming a member, is any course pre-scribed for him to follow with a view to his con-tinual progression and the acquisition of masteryover his baser nature ? What constitutes the differ-ence between the degrees in the Society ? Willinstruction be imparted to individual membersor groups, on what subjects, and how often ?Webster defines Theosophy as " a direct asdistinguished from a revealed knowledge of God,supposed to be attained by extraordinary illum-ination, especially a direct insight into the pro-cesses of the Divine mind and the interior rela-

tions of the Divine nature." How far doesthis agree with the doctrines of the TheosophicalSociety ? Is a member of the Arya, Brahmo, orPrarthana Samaj debarred from joining it, or willhis joining affect his position in relation to thesocial rules and duties of his caste ? How muchtime would be required to become proficient in adegree ? Will any library be established and ac-cessible to the Fellows ? Will there be socialgatherings to discuss Oriental philosophy andkindred subjects ?

We have here seventeen inquiries, coveringground enough for thirty-four lectures, but I willattempt to cursorily glance at all in the hourat my disposal. All, except those of a strictlypersonal character, have been treated at great lengthand with signal ability by Mme. H. P. Blavatsky,Corresponding Secretary of our Society, in her " IsisUnveiled," a work which a well-known London jour-nal. Public Opinion, styled " a stupendous monu-ment of human industry," and which the NeivYoi'k Herald considered, " one of the great achieve-ments of our century." Those who care to reallysound this question of the relative supremacy ofancient and modern science and religion can easilydo so, as the work is to be had of our booksellers.

But, to begin with our answers, I affirm thenthat everything essential, as regards principles,recommendations and ideas, appears upon the sur-face of our'Society, and nothing is concealed thatsJionld be made known. We do not say one thing

and mean another. We have no mental reserva-tions—we resort to no equivocations. What webelieve, we say—always and everywhere. If wehave survived all the battles through which we havepassed; if, after a four years' struggle againstobstacles, in the very heart and stronghold ofChristendom, we are a strong, compact, successfulSociety, daily increasing in influence, having dailyaccessions of able coadjutors ; if, at this juncture,our outposts are entrenched in the most widelyseparated countries, and garrisoned by men of themost diverse speech, complexion, and ancestry ; ifhere, upon the threshold of Aryavarta, we find ourhands clasped with fraternal warmth by the Hindu,the Parsi, the Jain, and the Buddhist ; it is becausewe have not feared to speak the truth at any cost.

When our Society was organised—at New Yorkin 1875—the very first section of the bye-lawsadopted, after fixing upon our corporate title,affirmed that the object of the Society was toobtain knowledge of all the laws of nature. Thiscovers the whole range of natural phenomena, andeverything that concerns mankind and his environ-ments. The inaugural address of the President wasdelivered, November 17th, 1875, and in it, afterattempting a comparison of our Society with theneoplatonists and theurgists of ancient Alexandria,the fire-philosophers of the middle ages, and theancient and modern spiritualists, and finding noexact parallel, I said : " We are neither of these,but simply investigators of earnest purpose and

unbiassed mind, who study all things, prove allthings, and hold fast to that which is good. Weseek, inquire, reject nothing without cause, acceptnothing without proof: we are students, notteachers." Does not this utterance of 1875 answermost of the questions of 1879 ?

The Society has its secrets, nevertheless; but theyharm no one. Composed, as we are, of people wholive at the two extremities of the earth, and whospeak different tongues, we have the same necessityas Freemasons for some means of mutual identi-fication, in special cases. These are afforded bycertain signs and tokens which, of course, arewithheld from strangers, and are changed as required.Again, operating, as we do, mainly in Christiancountries, in some of which (as in France, Spain,and Russia, for instance) religious intolerance pre-vails, the corporate perpetuity of our brancheswould be imperilled by allowing our membership tobe known, and our plans for religious and scientificagitation might be baffled by exposing them. Ourexistence threatens no Government, feeds nopolitical cabal, attacks no pillar of social order.We do not concern ourselves in the least withaffairs of State, nor lay impious hands upon theconjugal, filial, or parental relation. We wouldnot admit man or woman who was in rebellionagainst the existing laws or government of his orher country, or engaged in plots and conspiraciesagainst the public peace and safety. In New Yorkwe expelled one of our most active charter officers.

an Englishman—one of the founders of the Society,in fact—because he allowed himself to be mixed upwith a gang of French Communist refugees in theirwicked conspiracies. Judge for yourselves, there-fore, how malicious and unfounded are the libels thathave been circulated in this country as to our beingpolitical spies, and, most ridiculous of all, Russianspies! The only Russian in our party became acitizen of the United States of America last July,an act unprecedented among Russian women,and her book, " Isis Unveiled," already referredto, is not allowed to cross the frontiers. Norwould we admit into our fellowship any onewho taught irreverence to parents or immoralityto husbands or wives. Nor have we any roomfor the drunkard or the debauchee. If Theo-sophy did not make men better, purer, wiser,more useful to themselves and to society,then this organisation of ours had better neverbeen born. That it lives, and Is respectedeven by those who cannot sympathise withits Ideas, is evidence of its beneficent character.This answers one of the above questions, andI have also shown you that our plan of workis to employ existing agencies to create aninterest in Eastern philosophies and religions,and make the Press our helper, even whenit fancies it is killing us off with its fine sarcasm orabuse.

And now, we are asked, what attitude do wehold to religious beliefs, and what do we believe as

to God and his government? The Society, I havealready told you, is no Propaganda, formed to dis-seminate fixed dogmas ; therefore, as a society, ithas no creed to offer for the world's acceptance.It recognises the great philosophical principle thatwhile there is but one Absolute Truth, the differ-ences among men only mark their respective appre-hensions of that Truth. It is not for me to say toyou what this Absolute Truth is. If I were cap-able of doing so, then (for the first time since theworld began) there would have appeared an infal-lible, omniscient human mind upon earth. Thereis no educated sectarian so bigoted that when youcalmly discuss with him the bases of his faith, hewill not admit that its Founder was not equal tohis one Supreme God in omniscience and otherattributes. The Parsi will not claim it for Zoroas-ter, the Buddhist for Sakya-Muni, the Jain forParasnatha, the Jew for Moses, the Mohammedanfor the Prophet of Islam, nor the Hindu for any ofthe Rishis, who

"Above all fleshly, worldly feelings soared."

Revere his spiritual intermediator and teacher aseither of these may, he will only claim that, in hisopinion, more of this Absolute Truth flowed fromHeaven to Earth through this particular channel,this minor god, if you will, than through any other.And to settle these disputes, all the spilt blood ofreligious wars has been shed. Then why shouldwe accord to these Christian missionaries whohave so maligned us to you, that which we refuse to

59

other people ? Why should we, as a society, acceptJesus rather than Vasishta, Gautama or Zoroaster?Far be it from me to scoff at the simple faith ofthose thousands of Christians who have pictured tothemselves a Deity all love and beneficence, andwho exemplify in their lives and conversation allthat is beautiful in human nature. The recollectionof my nearest and dearest ones, and of those otherswhom I have known from boyhood up, in differentlands and various social conditions, would stop mymouth were I so unjust and cruel. I myself comefrom a line of ancestors who have left behind themhistorical records of their unselfish and courageousdevotion to Christianity. Just as I have left myhome and business and friends, to come to Indiato search after the Parabrahma of primitive religions,so, in 1635, one of my ancestors left his home inEngland, to seek in the savage wilderness of Americathat freedom to worship the Jewish Jehovah whichhe could not have in England under the Restoration.But, as the author of "Isis" remarks, these peoplewould have been equally good in any other religioussect; they are better than their creed : goodness,virtue, equity, are congenital with them.

But when we have shown in what we do not be-lieve, we have to say what is our faith. We do be-lieve in the immortality of the human spirit *—the" we " meaning all the representative Theosophistswhose minds have been opened to me. In truth,there is not much attraction in our Society for these* The seventh principle in man—the Atma of the Hindus,

who persistently deny this assumption, for whatadvantage is there in studying all those primitive,sublime utterances of the Vedas, the Zend Avesta,the Tripitikas, about the " soul" and future life, if aman is incapable of realizing the idea of a spiritualself or an Universal Principle at all ? Let such anone take his balances and weigh and count overand christen the motes of Nature's dust-heap, andget ribbons for catching a new bug, and titles forimpaling a new beetle. He will die happy in thethought that his name, though Latinized or Hellen-ized past recognition, will be transmitted to pos-terity in connexion with the solar refrangibility ofthe cucumber, or some other discovery of equallymomentous importance.

The study of occult science has a twofold value.First, that of teaching us that there is a teemingworld of Force within this teeming visible worldof Phenomena ; and, second, in stimulating thestudent to acquire, by self-discipline and education,a knowledge of his psychic powers and the abilityto employ them. How appropriate is the term' occult science," when applied to the careful ob-servation of the phenomena of force, is apparentwhen we read the confessions of scientific leadersas to the limitation of their positive knowledge." We have not succeeded," says Professor BalfourStewart, " in solving the problem as to the natureof life, but have only driven the difficulty into aborderland of thick darkness, into which the lightof knowledge (Western knowledge, he should say)

has not yet been able to penetrate."* Says LeConte, " Creation or destruction of matter, increaseor diminution of matter, lies beyond the domain ofscience."f And even Huxley,J the High Pontiff

regnant of materialism, confesses " it is also, in

strictness, true that we know nothing about the.composition of any body whatever, as it is."

Did time permit, I might cite to you manysimilar utterances from the mouths of the mostworshipped biologists and philosophers who happenat the moment to have the stage of notoriety tothemselves. You cannot open a book on chemis-try, physiology, or hygiene, without stumbling uponadmissions that there are fathomless abysses in allmodern science. Pere Felix, the great Catholicorator of France, taunted the Academy by sayingthat they found an abyss even in a grain of sand.Who, then, can tell us of the nature of life, thecause of its phenomena, the qualities of the innerman? Who guards the keys of the secret chamber,and where do they hang ? What dragons lie inthe path ? America cannot tell us, Europe cannot—for we have questioned both. But in the Westernlibraries we found old books which tell us that inolden times there was a class of men, who had dis-

* '* The Conservation of Energy," by Balfour Stewart, LL.D.,F.R.S., Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Owens' College,Manchester (p. 163).

t "Correlation of Vital with Chemical and Physical Forces,"revised for Dr. Stewart's book, stipra (see page 171).

X ••On the Physical Basis of Life." By Thomas H. Huxley,LL.D., F.R.S.

covered these secrets, had interrogated nature be-hind her veil. These men lived in the lands nowcalled Tibet, India, Persia, Chaldea, Egypt, andGreece. We find traces of them even in the frae-mentary remains of the sacred literature of Mexicoand Peru. And we have been told that this sacredscience is not extinct, but still survives, and ispractised by men who carefully guard their know-ledge from profane hands. Some of us have evenhad the inestimable good fortune to meet with suchwonder-workers and tosee their experiments. So wehave come in quest of the places and opportunityto learn for our own benefit and that of humanity,what occult law of nature can be brought out of Dr.Stewart's "borderland of darkness " into the lightedand odoriferous class-rooms of Western Science.

To what highest good do we aspire ? What isthe highest good, but to know something of manand his powers, to discover the best means tobenefit humanity—physically, morally, spiritually ?To this we aspire: can our interrogator conceive ofa nobler ambition ? In common with all thinkinsrpeople we have, of course, our individual specula-tions about that infinite and awful something whichAnglo-Saxons call God ; but, as a Society, we say,with Pope—

" Know, then, thyself; presume not God to scan ;The proper study of mankind is Man."

As to our ideas of the next world, the aid ofmetaphysics would have to be invoked to answerthe question. Suffice it that we do not fancy the

other world to be gross like this ; lighted by thesame solar vibrations, filled with such houses, suchFramji Cowasji Halls, as ours ! Most men are aptto brutalize the next world in trying to constructa tangible idea for the mind to rest upon. TheHeaven of Milton, which, as Professor Huxley ob-serves, is the one believed in by Christians and notat all that of any Biblical authority—is a place ofshining stairs, golden pavements, and bejewelledthrones, on which, without an inch of cushion tomitigate their metallic hardness, the redeemed saintssit for ever and ever singing hymns to the accom-paniment of the harp. So the Moslem Paradiseteems with physical delights, and even the "SummerLand" of our Western Spiritualists has beensketched, mapped out and described by all the re-cent authorities, from Andrew Jackson Davisdownward.

Is it not enough to conceive of a future state ofexistence corresponding with the new necessitiesof the monad that has passed through and out of thecycle of objective matter and become a subjectiveentity? Can we not realise a life apart from the use ofpots and ladles, easy chairs and mosquito curtains?Even the Jivan-Mukta, or soul emancipated, whileliving in this world, loses all sense of relationshipto it and its grossness. How much more perfectthe contrast, then, between our narrow physical lifeand the Mukiatma, or soul universalized—the soulhaving sympathies with the Universal Good, True,Ji:st, and being absorbed in Universal Love ! Let

us not drown ourselves in oceans of vague meta-physical speculation, in trying to drag the nextsphere down to this, but rather strive to elevateour present plane of matter, so that one end of itmay climb to some sort of proximity to the higherrealm of spirit.

What an important question is this which headsthe second series that I read to you ! How can onebe helped to acquire mastery over his baser nature?Mighty problem I—how change the brute into theangel ? Why ask for the obvious answer to sosimple a question ? Does my friend imagine thereis more than one way in which it can be done ?Can any other but one's own self effect this purifi-cation, this splendid conquest, in comparison withwhose glory all the greatest victories of war sinkinto contemptible insignificance? There must be,first, the belief that this conquest is possible ; then,knowledge of the method ; then, practice. Menonly passively animal, become brutal from ignor-ance of the consequences of the first downwardstep. So, too, they fail to become god-like becauseof their ignorance of the potentiality of effort.Certainly one can never improve himself who issatisfied with his present circumstances. The re-former is of necessity a discontented man—discon-tented with w^hat pleases common souls ; strivingafter something better. Self-reform exacts thesame temperament. A man who thinks w^ell of hisvices, his prejudices, his superstitions, his habits,his physical, mental, moral state, is in no mood to

begin to climb the high ladder that reaches fromthe world of his littleness to a broader one. Hehad better roll over in his mire, and dismiss Theo-sophy with signs of impatience.

Great results are achieved by achieving littleones in turn ; great armies may be beaten in detailby an inferior force; constant dripping of littlewater-drops wears away the hardest rock. Youand I are so many aggregations of good and badqualities. If we wish to better our characters, in-crease our capabilities, strengthen our will-power,we must begin with small things and pass to greaterones. Friend, do you want to control the hiddenforces of Nature and rule in her domain as a kin<7-consort ? Then begin with the first pettiness, thesmallest flaw you can find in yourself, and removethat. It may be a mean vanity, a jealousy of someone's success, a strong predilection or a strongantipathy for some one thing, person, caste ; or asupercilious self-sufficiency that prevents your form-ing a fair judgment of other men's countries, food,dress, customs, or ideas ; or an inordinate fondnessfor something you eat, drink, or amuse yourselfwith. It matters not; if it is a blemish, if it standsin the way of your perfect and absolute enfran-chisement from the rule of this sensuous world," pluck it out and cast it from thee." This done,you may pass on.

You understand now, do you not, the meaningof the various sections and degrees of our Theoso-phical curriculum ? We welcome most heartily

£

across our threshold every man or woman, of ascer-tained respectable character and professed sincerityof purpose, who wishes to study the ancient philo-sophies. They are on probation. If true The-osophists at bottom, they will show it by deeds notwords. If not, they will soon go back to theirold friends and surroundings, apologizing for hav-ino-even thouMit of doing different from themselves.And as one who brings peace-offerings in his hand,they will try to do some meanness to us, who onlytook them at their word and thought them betterthan they proved to be. I know this is true, forwe have had experience—even in India.

I must here clear up one point which some pro-fess to be in doubt about after reading a certaincircular issued by our Society. That circular statesthat for a Fellow to reach the highest degree ofour highest section, he must have become " freedfrom all exacting obligations to country, society,and family," he must adopt a life of strict chastity.I have been asked whether no one could become athorough Theosophist without relinquishing themarriage relation. Now our circular makes nosuch assertion. A man may be a most zealous,useful, and respected Fellow, and yet be a patriot,a public official, and a husband. Our highestsection is composed of men who have retired fromactive life to spend their remaining days in seclu-sion, study, and spiritual perfection. You haveyour married priests, and your sanyasis and yogis.So we have our visible, active men, seen in the

world, mixed np In its concerns, and a part of it;and we have our unseen, but none the less active,adepts—proficients in science, physical and occult—masters of philosophy and metaphysics—whobenefit mankind without their hand being ever somuch as suspected. Though I am ostensibly Pre-sident of the whole Theosophical Society, yet I amless than the least of these Emancipated Ones,and not yet worthy to enter this highest section.

It is evident from the foregoing that there isroom in our Society for all earnest, unbigotedpersons and groups of such persons now workingdisunitedly. Divided, they are comparativelypowerless to do much ; united^ they would make astrength to be felt by the reactionists. Rememberthe Roman/^j'j'r^i', my friends, and put that emblemup over the door of every temple. My own country,the Great Republic of the West, has this motto :E Pliiribus Unuin—one out of many, one countryout of many smaller States. Just so it might beone National Samaj of Aryavarta, out of a shoal oflocal societies. That is the plan of our Theosophi-cal Society; we have various branches, but one cen-tral guiding authority, and surely there are nogreater differences between you here than thereare between the red, brown, black, yellow andwhite men who call themselves Theosophists, thew^orld over.

The relations of a man to his country and hiscaste are, it appears to me, quite distinct fromhis relations to the study of natural law, of philology,

of philosophy, and of esoteric science. Your brownfaces and Oriental costumes show me, even withoutthe fact that this audience understands the languageI speak, the authors I cite, and the thoughts Iutter, that education has no caste, colour, creed, ornativity. Why, then, ask if one must adopt acertain dress or put himself in a certain chair, orbefore a certain dish of food, to study your fore-fathers' philosophy ? Here am I, with a white skin,an European dress, and a life-experience colouredand shaped after the notions of the section, society,and class in which my parents brought me up.When I began to ponder over this magnificentEastern philosophy, I was not told that I mustdress in this way or that, or refrain from doing this,that or the other thing, not vitally injurious,—such asthe drinking of liquors and indulgence in sensuality.I w^as simply shown the path, my way was pointedout, and I was left to my own choice. Well, like allmen of the world, I had certain' bad habits, badways of thinking, foolish ways of living. I put aninordinate value upon things really worthless,and undervalued things really important. I waslooking at things through bad spectacles. After awhile, I discovered this myself, and, as I was indead earnest and determined to succeed or die inthe attempt, I began to reform myself I had beena moderate drinker of wines after the Westernfashion; I gave them up. I had been a frequenterof clubs, theatres, social parties, race-courses, andother places, wherein men of the world vainly seek

contentment and pleasure. I gave them all up ;not grudgingly, not looking back at them withregret, but as one flings from him some worthlessplaything when its worthlessness becomes knownto him. You will, perhaps, pardon the employmentof my personal experience as the illustration of themoment, in view of the fact that it is the only onewhich, without breach of confidence, I can use toanswer the interrogatory that has been put to me.

If India is to be regenerated, it must be byHindus, who can rise above their castes and everyother reactionary influence, and give good exampleas well as good advice. Useless to gather intoSamajes, and talk prettily of reform, and printtranslations and commentaries, if the Samajists areto relapse into customs they abhor in their hearts,and observe ceremonies that to them are but super-stitions, and throw all their enlightenment to thedogs. Useless for native gentlemen to sit at thetables of Europeans, in apparent cordial equality,if they have not the moral courage to break breadwith them in their own houses. Not of such stuffare the saviours of nations made.

But we will pass on to the next question. Notime can be specified for the progress of a Thco-sophist from one stage to another. Some would takeyears, where others would only require days, to reacha given result. We are asked if any library will beestablished by us ? I hope and trust so. A nucleusalready exists; which of you will help to build it up?What rich native loves his countr)ancn more than

money? Or is it 3'our notion that the Indiansshould do nothing, and the strangers all ? We arewilling to give even our lives, if need be, to thiscause ; what more will any of you give ?

Yes, there will be social gatherings to discuss ourcongenial themes. In point of fact, there are suchalready, for every Wednesday and Sunday evening,since our arrival at Bombay, we have held a sort ofdttrbar^ or reception, at our bungalow. There weshall be happy to see all—even spies—who care tosee us, and those who live out of the city can alwayscommunicate with us by letter. Being people whotry to take a practical view of things, and dis-posed to work rather than talk, we have set ourminds to accomplish two things. We want to per-suade the most learned native scholars—such men,for instance, as the distinguished Sanskrit Professorof Elphinstone College, who occupies the chair ofthis meeting, and the equally distinguished Presi-dent of the Pali and Sanskrit College of Ceylon,and the eminent Parsi scholar, Mr. Cama, who alsohonours us with his presence—to translate intoEnglish the most valuable portions of their respec-tive religious and scientific literatures, so that wemay help to circulate them in Western countries.At the same time we wish to aid, as best we can,in the extension of non-sectarian education fornative girls and married women, which we regardas the corner-stone of national greatness, and in theintroduction of cheap and simple machines that canbe worked by hand labour and that will increase

the comfort and prosperity of our adopted country.We have chosen this land for our home, and feel adesire to help it and its people in any way practic-able, however humble, without meddling withits politics, into which, as American citizens,we have, as I have remarked, neither the right norinclination to intrude.

Let me, before leaving this part of our subject,make one point very clear. The TheosophicalSociety is no money-making body, nor has it any-thing to do, as such, with financial affairs. Its fieldis religion, philosophy, and science,—not politics ortrade. No one connected with its managementreceives a penny for his services.

And now, having answered, seriatim, the ques-tions embraced in the list, I will pass on to someobvious deductions that suggest themselves, andthen conclude.

The Indian press have remarked it as a \(tcYstrange thing that Western people should havecome here to learn instead of to' teach—as thoughthere were nothing in India worth the learning.This conveys a sad impression to my mind. Itmakes me realize how completely modern Indiaignores the achievements of ancient Aryavarta.It shows how complete is the eclipse of Aryanvv^isdom when people from the other side of the globecould know more of the essence of Vedic philosophythan most of the direct descendants of the Rishisthemselves. Since we landed on your shores wehave met hundreds of educated Hindus, Parsis,

and men of other sects. They have thronged ourparlours, filled our compound, and gathered aboutus day after day. Out of all these we have foundfew—so few that we might almost reckon themupon the fingers—who really know what Aryan,Zend, Jain, and Buddhistic philosophies teach.There have been scores able to recite slokas, andwhole puranas and chapters, with accurate accentand rhythm; but they merely repeated words withoutunderstanding: they had not the key to themysteries. I have met those who had seen themarvellous phenomena performed by ascetics, andamply corroborated all the stories we had heardand circulated through the Western press. Butscarcely one who, having known and seen suchthinQs, had set himself to work with determinationto learn the science and explore the adytum ofnature. In this throng of visitors there was no endof students of Mill, of Darwin, of Spencer, ofHuxley, Tyndall, Bain, Schlegel, Renan, Burnouf.Their minds were,'in some instances, whole arsenalsof propositions in logic, metaphysics, mathematics,and sophistry—all the weapons which reason usesagainst intuition. They could out-wrangle a Cam-bridge double-first, and

*' make the worse appear the better reason."

They had persuaded themselves into error againsttheir own inner consciousness. We have noted,and I repeat it, that a larger cluster of acute in-tellects we never encountered than this of Bombay.Part had become thorough materialists. To them,

as to Balfour Stewart, the Universe seemed "a vast

physical machine composed of atoms, with

some sort of medium between them as the machine."The apprehension of any sort of a God had diedout, the feeling of having in them a soul had beensmothered. With polite incredulity they havelistened to our tales of phenomena witnessed byus, similar to those described in the biography ofSankara Acharya and Sakya Muni, sometimesunable to repress a smile. They seemed to cometo us more to observe the lengths and depths towhich Western credulity can go, than to gathercorroboration of the narratives contained in theirown sacred literature. And, I am sorry to say,some few, when out of earshot, have made them-selves merry over our testimony to the truth of theprimitive philosophies.

Another class we have met, with minds full ofmisty speculations which prevented their havingany clear and defined views of either of the greatquestions of universal human interest. Drawnhither by the reveries of Swedenborg and Davis, orthither by those of Boehmen and St. Martin, theyhad found no sure ground upon which to planttheir feet.

To us strangers, this has been a most instructivestudy, and we have tried to discover the best meansto combine all this intellectual vis^our, this learning-,this mental agitation, upon one objective point.We see in this state of things the promise of futuregood results. Here is material for a new school of

Aryan philosophy which only waits the mouldinghand of a master. We cannot yet hear his ap-proaching footsteps, but he will come ; as the manalways does come when the hour of destiny strikes.He will come, not as a disturber of the peace, butas the expounder of principles, the instructor inphilosophy. He will encourage study, not inflamepassion. He will scatter blessings, not sorrow. SoZoroaster came, so Goutama, so Confucius. O fora Hindu great enough in soul, wise enough inmind, sublime enough in courage, to prepare theway for the coming of this needed Regenerator ! Ofor one Indian of so grand a mould that his appealsto his countrymen would fire every heart with anoble emulation to revive the glories of that by-gone time, when India poured out her people intothe empty lap of the West, and gave the arts andsciences, and even language itself, to the outsideworld ! Are her sons all sunken in selfishness andthe soft ooze of little things? Has their scramblefor meagre patronage deadened the noble pride ofrace, and replaced it with an obsequious humilitytinged with unreasonable hate ? Can they not for-give their fellow-countrymen for wearing a differentstyle of turban and having a different line of an-cestors? Is the love of caste so passionate anddeep as to make an object of righteous hatredevery one not in their own social circle ? Ah,young men of promise, beloved brothers and com-panions, objects of our solicitude and hopes, to seeand dwell among whom wc have crossed three

AND ITS AIMS. 75

oceans and threaded two seas, be Indians/"/'j-^, andcaste men afterwards if you will. Is there not oneof you to send the electric spark through this inertmass and make it quiver with emotion ? Here liesa mighty nation, like a giant benumbed with sloth,and no one to arouse its potential energies. Herelavish Nature has provided exhaustless resources,that combined talent and applied knowledge wouldturn into fabulous national wealth. Here richmines, a fat soil, navigable waters, forests of valu-able timber, a multiplicity of natural products thatmight be manufactured at home into portable andprofitable articles of commerce. All that is lackingis a share of that energy and foresight which, intwo centuries and a half, have transformed theUnited States from a howling wilderness into ascene of busy prosperity. In vain the efforts ofstatesmanship to spread the blessings of educationand promote the industrial arts, if they are notseconded by the patriotic endeavours of enlightenedYoung India. Are these great Colleges andUniversities founded for the sole purpose of turn-ing out placemen and dreamers? Have schoolsbeen opened only to help to hatch debating societiesand metaphysical training-clubs, where minds thatshould be directing great economical enterprisesare engaged in splitting hairs, and voting whether-love is an essence and man a molecule ? I haveobserved with deep regret that there is among theyouth of Bombay an eager desire for the emptyhonours of University degrees, and no disposition

to fit themselves for the management of practicalaffairs. There are far too many native barristersand doctors, and far too few qualified superinten-dents of mills and manufactories, geologists, metal-lurgists and engineers. There are LL.B.'s inplenty, but of educated carpenters, millers, sugar-makers, and paper-manufacturers, none, or next tonone. The great and crying want of modern Indiato-day is a scientific school attached to everyCollege, such as we have in America, and in eachgreat centre of population a school of Technology,with appropriate machinery, where the most im-proved methods of the principal handicrafts couldbe taught to intelligent lads.

Do not imagine that I have the idle notion thatIndia can be reformed in a day. This once enlight-ened, monotheistic and active people have de-scended, step by step, in the course of many cen-turies, from the level of Aryan activity to that ofidolatrous lethargy and fatalism. It will be thework not of years but of generations to re-ascendthe steps of national greatness. But there must bea beginning. Those sons of Hindustan who aredisposed to act rather than preach cannot commencea day too soon. This /loiir the country needs yourhelp. Leave your molecules to themselves ; putaway for a time your speculations upon the descentof species, cease vain endeavours to count thenumber of times an atom may be split in halves,and go to work in earnest to help yourselves andyour Motherland. The atoms in space will evolve

Ah'D ITS ALMS. 77

new worlds without you ; your cotuitry is growingweaker and poorer every day, and wants you.

But you lack capital, you say. Then unite intoclubs and committees to find out where capital canbe profitably employed, and spread the facts beforethe Western nations. In London alone there islying, in bank vaults, idle capital enough toset every possible Indian industry on its feet.Those acute and daring English merchants andcapitalists ransack the world in search of oppor-tunities to earn interest on their surplus incomes.Turkish bonds, Peruvian railways, Egyptian consols,Bohemian glassworks, American schemes, are alltried in this hope of profit. What does Europe orAmerica know—really know—of Indian resources,trade, customs, business opportunities ? A merehandful of bankers and traders have only such factsas lie upon the surface of this unworked nationalmine. A few military officers and civil servantsmay have published the records of their casual ob-servations. But, in comparison with what ought tobe known, and might be made known under a propersystem of general and sub-committees, this is as amere drop in the bucket. As to my own country,which would gladly exchange commodities withIndia as with any other nation, I can speak by thebook. For my people, this land is but a geogra-phical abstraction, whose capes, rivers, and chief citiesare known by name to the schoolboy, and straight-way forgotten, for lack of subsequent reminders.And yet I hear my native brothers complain of

poverty. I hear of thousands of stahvart labourersdying of hunger for want of employment at threepice per day. I see Indian gums, fibres, seeds andgrains, going abroad in the raw state, and comingback manufactured, to be sold to natives at largeprofit. I see men,as well-educated,as strong-minded,as capable to succeed in independent business, as anyyoung men in New York, or London, or Berlin, de-meaning themselves to throng the ante-rooms ofpublic officials in search of employment, and readyto fall upon each other's faces for the sake of miser-able little clerkships. This is what we behold, ateven a first glance, in the country of our adoption.

I will make no apology for my plain speech, forI come from a practical country, where we have learntthat smooth speeches and culture and true friendshipdo not always go together. There is too much talkhere and too little enterprise; too much suavity andnot enough available perseverance. There is unmea-sured ability to suffer and endure, but not the masterspirit which laughs at trouble, and rushes to meetadversity with the joy of the athlete who hails thecoming of his adversary as the opportunity, longsought, to show his prowess.

Cast your eye over the Western world and seewhat an intense activity pervades the whole scene.Let the picture unroll like a great panorama beforeyou. Behold the struggles of all those nations notonly to extend commerce, but also to settle theweightier problem of religious truth. See Christi-anity in America broken up into innumerable sects,

AND ITS AIMS. 79

and Science leading the public far away from theChurch into the dry pastures of Materialism andNihilism. See the clergy being stripped of thelast shreds of their influence and the free secularpress attaining predominant sway. Look at GreatBritain agitating the question of disestablishment,the Catholics emancipated from the incubus of theIrish National Church, and Bradlaugh preachingbold atheism in London, Sunday after Sunday. InFrance, behold the revolution in politics that haspassed the reins of power Into Republican hands,and flung out the Jesuits from their cosy nest behindMacMahon's chair. In Germany, open rupture w^Iththe Pope, and the abolishment of Ecclesiastical privi-leges. In Russia, the red spectre of the NihilistParty, menacing both Church and State. Every-where, as it were, the boiling and seething of a vastcauldron—the conflict between Theology andScience.

This conflict, so eloquently described by ProfessorJohn William Draper, began with the discovery ofthe printer's art, and its progress has been markedby a thousand victories for science. Born out ofthe womb of the Reformation, she has proved thebenefactress of humanity by facilitating interna-tional intercourse, developing national resources,surrounding mankind with a multitude of comfortsand refinements, and bringing education within thereach of the humblest labourer. Like other greatOriental countries, India has not hitherto availeditself of these material advantages. The fault

So THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

does not lie with the masses, for they knownothing of all that has been going on inthe busy world. It lies at the door of the edu-cated class I have heretofore described. And yonare the very men ! Yon have run through the cur-ricula of science and literature, and made no practicalapplication of your acquired knowledge. The sen-tries of this sleeping nation neglect their duty.

But as the unrestful ocean has its flux and reflux,so all throughout Nature the law of periodicity as-serts itself Nations come and go, slumber and re-awaken. Inactivity is of necessity limited. Thesoul of Aryavarta keeps vigil within the dormantbody. Again will her splendour shine. Herprosperity will be restored. Her primitive philo-sophy will once more be interpreted, and it will teachboth religion and science to an eager world. Herancient literature, though now hidden away from thequest of an unsympathetic West, is not buried be-yond revival. The hoof of Time, which has stampedinto dust the vestiges of many a nation, has notobliterated those treasures of human thought andhuman inspiration. The youth of India will shakeoff their sloth, and be worthy of their sires. Fromevery ruined temple, from every sculptured corri-dor cut in the heart of the mountains, from everysecret viJiara where the custodians of the SacredScience keep alive the torch of primitive wisdom,comes a whispering voice which says : "Children,your Mother is not dead, but only sleepeth ! "

THE COMMON FOUNDATION OFALL RELIGIONS.*

Religion, according to Mr. Herbert Spencer, is" a great (I should say the greatest) reahty and agreat truth—nothing less than an essential andindestructible element of human nature." Heholds that the religious institutions of the worldrepresent a genuine and universal feeling in therace, just as really as any other institutions. Theaccessory superstitions which have overgrown andperverted the religious sentiment must not be con-founded with the religious sentiment itself. Thatthis should be done is a mischievous mistake, alike ofreligionists and anti-religionists. Science, in clear-ing away these excrescences, brings us alwaysnearer the underlying truth, and is therefore thehandmaid and friend of true religion. The sub-stratum of truth is the one broad plateau of rockupon which the world's theological superstructuresare reared. It is—as the title of our lecture putsit—" the common foundation of all religions."And now what is it ? What is this rock ? It is

* A Lecture delivered at the Patchiappah's Hall, Madras,

26th April, 1882.F

AL conglomerate, having more than one element In itscomposition. In the first place, of necessity, there isthe idea of a part of man's nature which is non-physical; next, the idea of a post-mortem continua-tion of this non-physical part; third, that of the ex-istence of an Infinite Principle underlying all phe-nomena; fourth, a certain relationship between thisInfinite Principle and the Individual man.

The evolution of the grander from the lowerIntellectual conception in this graded sequence isnow conceded, alike by the scientist and the theo-logian. This evolution is accompanied by anelimination ; for in religion, as In all other depart-ments of thought, the light cannot be seen until theclouds are cleared away. Primitive truth is thelight, theologies are the clouds; and they are cloudsstill, though they glitter with all the hues of thespectrum. Fetish worship, animal worship, heroworship, ancestor worship, nature worship, bookworship ; polytheism, monotheism, theism, deism,atheism, materialism (which includes positivism),agnosticism ; the blind adoration of the Idol, theblind adoration of the crucible—these are thealpha and omega of human religious thought, themeasure of relative spiritual blindness.

All these conceptions have passed through adistorting prism—the human mind ; and that Is whythey are so Imperfect, so incongruous, so human. Aman can never see the whole light by looking frominside his body outward, any more than one cansee the clear daylight through a dust-soiled window-

glass, or the stars through a smeared reflecting lens.Why? Because the physical senses are adapted onlyto the things of a physical world, and religion is atranscendentalism. Religious truth is not a thingfor physical observation, but one for psychicalintuition. One who has not developed thispsychical power can never kno7.v religion as afact ; he can only accept it as a creed, or paint itto himself as an emotional sentimentality. Bigotryis the brand to put upon one; Dilettantism that forthe other. Behind both, and equally challengingboth, stands Scepticism.

Man's religion, like himself, has its ages. First,proclamation, propagandism, martyrdom ; second,conquest, faith ; tJiird, neglect, stagnation ; fourth,decadence, tenacious formalism ; fifth, hypocrisy;sixtJi, compromise; seventh, decay and extinction.And, like the human race, no religion passes as awhole through these stages seriatim. At this veryday, we see the Australian sunk in the depths ofanimalism, the American Red Indian just emergingfrom the Stone Age, the European in the full flushof high material civilization. And so, a glance atreligious history shows us the cropping up of highlyheretical schools and sects in every great religion, ofwhich each represents some special departure fromprimitive orthodoxy, some separate advance alongthe road towards the final p:oal that we havesketched out. And I also note, as the physicianobserves the symptoms of his patient, that historyconstantly affords, in the bitter mutual hatreds of

thcse-cliques and sects for each other, the clearestproof that our conckision is correct, when we say—aswe said just now—that Rehgion can never be reallyknown by the physical brain of the physical man.All these hatreds, bitternesses, and cruel reprisals ofsect for sect, and world's faith for world's faith,show that men mistake non-essentials for essen-tials, illusions for realities.

We can test this statement very easily. Lookaway from this war of theologians to the class ofmen who have developed their psychical powers, andwhat do you see ? In place of strife, peace, agree-ment, mutual tolerance, brotherly concord as tothe fundamentals of religion. Whatever theirexoteric creed, they are greater than and far aboveit, and their innate holiness and gentleness ofnature give life and strength to the church theyrepresent; they are the flowers of the human tree,the brothers of all mankind ; for they know whatis the lid^t that shines behind the clouds ; under thefoundations of all the churches they sec the samerock. I ask those of you who wish to be con-\ inced of this fact to read the Dabistan, or School ofManners, by Mohsan Fani, who records in it his ob-servations of the sadhus of twelve different religions,two centuries ago. "Granting all the premises," themodern sceptic will say, "can you prove to methat science has not swept away all your religioushypotheses along with the myths, legends, super-stitions, and other lumber ?" Well, I answer, " yes."It is exactly on that datum line that the Theoso-

phical Society Is building Itself up. Some peoplethink us opponents of science, but, on the contrary,we are its warmest advocates—until it begins todogmatize from incomplete known data upon newfacts. When it reaches that point we challenge itand oppose it with all our strength, such as It may be,just as we fight the dogmatism of theology. For,to our mind, it matters not whether you blindlyworship a fetish, a man, a book, or a crucible,—It isblind idolatry all the same ; and science can be,and has been, as cruel and remorseless in her wayas the Church ever was in hers.

The first step Is to have an agreement as to whatthe word " science" means. I take it to be thecollection and arrangement of observed facts aboutNature. If that is correct, then I protest againsthalf measures; I want those observations to becomplete, to cover all Nature, not the half of it.What sort of an ontology would that be which, whilepretending to Investigate the laws of our being,took note only of our anatomy, physiology, andwhatever relates to the physical frame of man,leaving out all that concerns his mental function ?Absurd ! you would say; but I ask you whether itis any more absurd to study man In his body with-out the mind, than to study him In body and mindwhile ignoring the trans-corporeal manifestationsof his middle nature ? You want me to define whatI mean by this " middle nature " and by its " trans-cor.poreal manifestations." I will do so. I start,then, with the proposition that there is more of a

man than can be burnt with fire, eaten by tigers,drowned by water, chopped to pieces with knives,or rotted in the ground. The materiahst will denythis, but it matters not; the proposition can beproved as easily as that he is a man. They havein Europe a science which they call psychology—a misnomer ; for it is another kind of ology;—but wewill not quarrel about words. Well, when you cometo analyse the Western idea that underlies thisterm of psychology, you will discover that itrelates only to the normal and abnormal intellectualmanifestations of the brain. One class of scientists—especially among the alienists, or students ofinsanity—maintain that mind is a function of thegrey vesicles of the lobes of the brain ; injure thebrain by any one of a dozen accidents, and sensationis cut off, thought ceases, mind is destroyed, thethinking, hence responsible, entity is extinguished.All that is left is carrion, and out of this carrion,before the accident, sprang by magneto-electricenergy that which distinguishes man from the lowestanimal, as the lotos springs from slimy mud. Theopposed party affirm that the brain is the organ of themind, the machine of its manifestation, and that thethinking something in man thinks still, and still ex-ists, even though the brain be shattered, even thoughthe man die. The one reflects the tone of material-ist science, the other the tone of the ChristianChurches and of the two crores * of so-called modernspiritualists. The materialists regard man as an

* An Indian numeral—ten millions.

unity, a thinking machine ; the others regard himas a duahty, a compound of body and soul. Thereis no ground for a " middle nature" in either ofthese schools. True, here and there, you will findsome casual allusion to a third and higher principle—the "spirit,"—as, for instance, in the ChristianNew Testament (i Thessalonians, v. 23), wherePaul says, " I pray God your whole spirit and souland body be preserved blameless unto the comingof our Lord Jesus Christ,"—an expression which,however sound as theology, is extremely loose andheterodox as science. But the whole drift ofChristian teaching, and of teaching through or bymediums, favours the duality theory; the body dead,second principle enters on a new career of its own,until it attains to a postulated sjunmiun bonitin orsumnimn maluni state. Now, experienced observersof the phenomena of mediums have seen manyanimated figures, or more or less substantialapparitions of deceased persons, and these theyregard as returning souls revisiting the land ofthe living. They have no idea of this middlenature. But the Hindu philosophers make a fardeeper analysis of man. Instead of a single part,or a duality, they affirm that there are no fewerthan seven well-defined principles or groups whichgo to make up a human being. These are:—

(i.) The Material body—Sthulasarira ;

(2.) The Life Principle—Jiva ;

(3.) The Astral body—Lingasarira ;

(4.) The Kaviantpa (will, desire), resulting asthe " Double "—Alayavintpa ;

(5.) The Physical Intelligence (or Animal Soul)—Manas ;

(6.) The Spiritual Intelligence—Biiddhi ;

(7.) The Divine Spirit—Atnia.

And so minute is their analysis, each of these prin-ciples Is subdivided into seven sub-groups. Generall}^speaking, the first, fourth, and seventh principlesmark the boundaries of the tripartite or trinitarianman. And the fourth, which just comes mid-way be-tween the gross body {Sthuiasanra) and t\\(iAt7na,o\-divine and eternal principle, Is this middle natureof which we have been In search. Now the next ques-tion to be asked us is whetherthis fourth principle, re-sulting as JMayavirupa^ or the human " double," IsIntelligent or non-intelligent, matter orspirit; and thenext, whether Its existence can be scientifically ac-counted for and proved. We will take them in order.In itself the living man's double is either a vapour, amist, or a solid form, according to Its relative stateof condensation. Given outside the body one set ofatmospheric, electric, magnetic, telluric, and otherconditions, this form may be invisible, yet capableof making sounds, or manifesting other signsof its presence; given another set of conditions,It may be visible, but as a misty vapour ; givena third set, it may be condensed into per-fect visibility, and even tangibility. Volumesupon volumes might be filled with bare para-

OF ALL RELIGIONS. ■ 89

graph extracts of recorded instances of theseapparitional visits. Sometimes the form manifestsinteUigence, it speaks ; sometimes it can only showitself. I am now speaking of the apparitions ofdead persons. I have myself seen more thanfive hundred such apparitions in America, wherehundreds more saw them, and have recorded my ex-periences in the form of a book, which was gener-ously praised by some of the scientists of Europe as acareful record of scientifically accurate observations.*I only mention it to satisfy you that this is noquestion of hallucination or unsupported statements.Well, then, we have here the middle nature of manacting outside of and after the death of the plwsicalbody ; though for my part—being a believer inAsiatic psychology—I do not believe that thesepost~inortein apparitions are the very man himself—the thinking, responsible Ego. They are, I con-ceive, but the vapoury image of the deceased—matter energized by a residuum of the vital forcewhich is still entangled in the lingering molecules.Some call them " elementaries ; " others, " shells."They are the undispersed phantasms of the dead,the apparitional forms of human beings in transitbetween the states of full objectivity and full sub-jectivity—2>., between life in this world and lifein " Devachan." But to prove our propositionwe must first show that this middle principle,this Mayavintpa or double, can be separatedfrom the living body at will, projected to a"* " People from the Olhev World." New York, 1S75.

distance, and animated by the full consciousnessof the man. We have two means of provingthis—(i) in the concurrent testimony of eye-wit-nesses as recorded in the Hterature of differentraces ; and (2) in the evidence of Hving witnesses.In the Hindu rehgious and philosophical worksthere are many such testimonies. Not to men-tion others, we may cite the famous case ofSankaracharya, who entranced his body, left it inthe custody of his disciples, entered the body of aRajah just deceased, and lived in it for a numberof weeks ; and that of Agastya, who appeared inthe heat of the battle between Rama and Ravana,while his body was entranced in the Neilgherries.This story is given in the Raviayana. In Patan-jali's Yoga Sutras this phenomenon is affirmed tobe within the power of every Siddha who perfectshimself in Yoga. As to living witnesses, I am onemyself, for I have seen the doubles of several menacting intelligently at great distances from theirbodies, and in this pamphlet that I hold in my hand,"^will be found the certificates of no less than ninereputable persons—five Hindus and four Euro-peans—that they have seen such appearances, onvarious occasions, within the past two years. Andthen we have scores of similar attestations fromcredible persons living in different parts of theworld, which are to be read in many Europeanbooks treating upon these subjects. I do not pre-tend to say that a sceptical public can be expecte

* " Hints on Esoteric Theosophy." By a Member of the Theosophical Society.

d

V

OF ALL RELIGIONS. 91

to take this mass of evidence, conclusive as It ma}/be, without reserve ; the alleged phenomenon sosurpasses ordinary human experience that to believeits reality each one must see for himself I, how-ever, do affirm that we have here 2. prima facia caseof probable verity made out; for, under the strictestcanons of scientific orthodoxy, we cannot suspecta conspiracy to exist among so many individualwitnesses, who never saw or heard of each other,who, in fact, did not even live In the same generation,but whose testimonies are yet mutually corrobora-tive.

But if we have a case of probable truth, the manof science will ask us what we next demand of him.Do we allege a natural and scientific, or a super-natural, hence unscientific, explanation for the pro-jection of the double of the living, and the appari-tion of that of the deceased man ? I answer, mostassuredly, the former. I am devotee enough ofscience to deny, with all the emphasis I can giveto words, the fact that a miraculous phenomenonever took place, in this or any age. Whateverhas occurred must have taken place within theoperation of natural law. To suppose otherwisewould be equivalent to saying that there is nopermanency in the laws of the universe, thatthey can be set aside and played with at the capriceof an irresponsible and meddlesome Power. Weshould be in a universe going by jerks, started andstopped like a clock that a child is playing withThis supernaturalism is the curse of all creeds, it

hangs like an Incubus around the neck of the re-ligious, and hatches the satire of the sceptic : it isthe dry-rot that eats out the heart of any faith thatbuilds upon it. This it is which, carried in thebody of a church, foredooms it to ultimate destruc-tion, as surely as the hidden cancer carried in thehuman system will one day kill it. And of allepochs this nineteenth century is the worst in whichto come before the public as the champions of super-natural religions. They are going down in everyland, melting before the laboratory fires like waxenimages. No, when I stand forth as the defenderof Hinduism, Buddhism or Zoroastrianism, I wishit to be understood that I do not claim any respector tolerance for them outside the limits of naturallaw. I believe—nay I kiiozu—that their foundationis a scientific one, and on those conditions theyinust stand or fall, so far as I am concerned. I donot say they are in equally close reconciliation withscience, but I do say that whatever foundation theyhave, whether broad or narrow, long or short, isand must be a scientific one. And so, too, when Iask you to cease from making yourselves ridiculousby denying the existence of this middle nature inman, it is because I am persuaded, as the result ofmuch reading and a good deal of personal experi-ence, that the double, or Mayavirupa, is a scientificfact.

Well, then, to return—is it matter or something-else ? I say familiar matter plus something else.And here stop a moment to think what matter is.

Loose thinkers—among whom we must class rawlads fresh from college, with whatever number ofdegrees—are too apt to associate the idea of matterwith the properties of density, visibility, and tangi-bility. But this is very inexcusable. The air webreathe is invisible, yet matter,—its equivalents ofoxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and carbonic acidare each atomic, ponderable, demonstrable, byanalysis. Electricity cannot, except under preparedconditions, be seen ; yet it is matter. The universalether of science no one ever saw; yet it is matterin a state of extreme tenuity. Take the familiarexample of forms of water, and see how theyrapidly run up the scale of tenuity until they eludethe clutch of science : stone-hard ice, melted ice,condensed steam, superheated and invisible steam,electricity, and—it is gone out of the world of effectsinto the ^vorld of causes !

Well, then, with this warning before you, mycerebrally superheated young friend of MadrasUniversity, pray do not contradict me when I saythat the Hindu philosophy of man fits in with thelines of modern science much more snugly than thatof either the supernaturalism of the Christian or thematerialism of the man of science. As we have seenthe successive forms of water running up into the in-visible world, so, here, esoteric Hindu philosophygives us a graduated series of molecular arrange-ments in the human economy, at one end of whichis the concrete mass of the Sthulasarira^ at theother that last sublimation called Atnid^ or spirit.

94 TFIE COMMON FOUNDATION

" But how can all these exist together in one com-bination ? is a man like a nest of boxes or basketsfitted into each other, or do you mean to advancethe scientific absurdity that two things can simulta-neously occupy the same space ? " This is a sidequestion provoked by the main one, but we mustdispose of it first I will say, then, that, as thething has been explained to me, each of theseseveral sets of atoms which compose the sevenparts of man, occupy the interstitial spaces betweenthe next coarser set of atoms. The more etherealelements in man are focalized as to their severalenergies in what the Hindus call the Shadachak-rams, or the six centres of vital force, crownedby Sahasralam, in which is located the higherconsciousness. This supreme point is in the crownof the head : the others are located at the spleen,the umbilicus, the heart, the root of the throat,and the centre of the frontal sinus. The atomsof the BiiddJii would then pervade the intersticesof the lianas ; those of the Manas those of theKaviarupa ; those of the latter those of ^\^ Jiva ;and those of the Jiva hose of the StJnilasariraAnd, as each coarser principle contains the particlesof all the finer principles therefore the StJiulasariramay be called the gross casket within which theseveral parts of the composite man are contained.Pervading and energizing all is the Atma, or thatincomprehensible final energy which cannot becomprehended by the physical senses, and which isdescribed to himself by the Brahman, in the Man-

95

diikyo Upanishad hy saying: ''Thou art not this,nor that, nor the third, nor anything- which themind can grasp with the help of the physical per-ceptions." Your popular Telugu poet beautifullyand allegorically depicts this idea, in his poemSitardmd anjaniyani (Cosmic Matter), where Sita—who is herself the personification of Prakriti—isasked by the daughters and wives of the Rishis topoint out her husband, but, through modesty, re-frains. The ladies then, pointing successively to anumber of different men, ask each time, " Is thisthy husband ? " She answers in the negative, butwhen they point to Rama she is silent, for she can-not even speak of her heart's lord before strangers.So, the poet would have us understand, while wemay freely say what Atma is not, when we are re-quired to say what it is we must be silent, forwords are powerless to express the sublime idea.

We have now prepared the ground to answerboth of the questions put by our imaginary critic.The Mayavirupa, when intelligently projected be-yond the physical body by the developed energyof an initiate of Occult Science, contains in it allhis Manas and Buddhi (including the Chittam andAhankaram—SQnsQ of individuality), i.e., his Physi-cal Intelligence and Spiritual Intelligence. The In-itiate quits his earthly casket (in which are left theJiva and Lingasarira), and for the moment lives,thinks and acts in this Double of himself Its atomiccondition being less dense than that of the corporealbody, it has enhanced powers of locomotion and per-

ception. Barriers that would stop the body—for ex-ample, the walls of a room—cannot stop it, for itsparticles may pass through the interstices of thevibrating gross matter composing the wall. It is inthe subjective world, and may traverse space likethought, which is itself a form of energy. Or,if he likes, the Initiate may simply project a non-intelligent image of himself and make it appearat the spot at which he may have focalized histhought''' It depends upon him whether the imageshall be but an illusionary form, or his own self; itmay be mere matter, or matter plus himself Asto our accounting for the middle nature of manscientifically, I have already shown that we may dothis by the collection of testimonies, and by per-sonal observation. We may add that further proofis obtainable by the best and surest of all methods—that of going oneself through the necessary courseof self-training, and projecting one's own double.For this is no exclusive science reserved for afavoured few: it is a true science based uponnatural law, and within the reach of every one whohas the requisite qualifications. The humblestlabourer, if psychically competent, may lift the veilof mystery as well as the proudest sovereign or thehaughtiest priest.

But, it is constantly asked why are not thesesecrets thrown open to the world as freely as the

* I have in my possession a small group in silver, given me by aBuddhist priest in Ceylon, and representing the debate betweenLord Buddha and his projected " Double," upon his Dhamma (Law),in the presence of the devas, as described in Buddhistic Legend.

details of chemistiy or any other branch of know-ledge ? It is a natural question for a superficialreasoner to put; but it is not a sound one. Thedifference between Psychic and Physical sciencesis that the former can only be learned by the self-evolution of psychical powers. No college pro-fessor can evolve them for you, nor any friend,fellow-student or relative : you must evolve themfor yourself Can another man learn music, orSanskrit, or the art of painting or sculpture foryou ? Can another eat, sleep, feel warm or cold,digest or breathe, for you ? Then why should youexpect him to learn Psychology for you? Anyhowhe cannot do it, however much you expect it; andthat is the final answer to all such questioners. Noris it absolutely certain that, even though you shouldtry ever so much, you could evolve these powers in3/ourself Has every man the capacity for Lan-guages, or Music, or Poetry, or Science, or Philo-sophy ? You know that each of these requirecertain clear aptitudes, and if you have them notyou can never become musician, poet, scientist, orphilosopher. The branches of physical science aredifficult to master even when you have the naturalcapacity; but psychical science is more difficult thanany of them—I might almost say than all com-bined. That is why the Mahatma has been de-scribed as " the rare efflorescence of a generationof inquirers" (Sinnett's Occult World, p. 101),and in all generations the true Sadhu has beenreverenced as almost a superhuman being. The

G

term applies to him only in the sense of his beingabove the weaknesses, the prejudice and the ignor-ance of his fellow-men. With the most absurdblindness to the experience of the race, we. Foundersof the Theosophical Society, are constantly being-asked to turn its members into adepts. We mustshow them the short cut to the Himavat, the privatepassages to the Asramas in the Neilgherries !They are not willing to work and suffer for thegetting of knowledge, as all have done who have gotit heretofore; they must be put into a first-classcarriage, and taken straight behind the Veil of Isis !They fancy our Society an improved sort of MiracleClub, or School of Magic, wherein, for ten rupees, aman can become a Mahatma between the morningbath and the evening meal! Such people entirelyoverlook the two chief avowed objects of theSociety—the formation of a nucleus of an UniversalBrotherhood for the research after truth and thepromotion of kind feelings between man and man;and the pursuit of the study of ancient religions,philosophies, and sciences. They do not appreciatethis purely unselfish part of the Society's work,nor seem to think it a noble and most meritoriousthing to labour for the enlightenment and happinessof mankind. They have an insatiable curiosity tobehold wonders, seeing which they would not, inmany instances, be stimulated to search after thehidden springs of wisdom, but only sit with openmouth and pendulous tongue, to wonder how thetrick was done, and what would be the next one !

OF ALL RELIGLONS. 99

Such minds can get no profit by joining the Theo-sophical Society, and I advise them to stay outside.We want no such selfish triflers. Ours is a serious,hard-working, self-denying society, and we wantonly men worthy to be called men, and worthy ofour respect. We want men whose first questionwill not be "what good can I get by joining ? " but"what good can I do by joining? " Our work re-quires the services of men who can be satisfied tolabour for the next generation, and the succeedingones; men who, seeing the lamentable religiousstate of the world—seeing noble faiths debased,temples, chifrchcs, and holy shrines, thronged byhypocrites and mockers^burn with a desire to re-kindle the fires of spirituality and morality uponthe polluted altars, and to bring the knowledge ofthe Rishis within the reach of a sin-burdened world.We want Hindus who can love India with so purean affection that they will count it a joy and anhonour beyond price to work, and to suffer even,for her sake. Men we want, who will be able toput aside for the moment their puerile hatreds ofrace, and creed, and caste, as they put away a soiledcloth or a worn-out garment ; and, with a lovingheart and clean conscience, be ready to join withevery other man—be he black or white, red oryellow, bond or freeman — whose heart beatswith love for India and her wide-scattered childrenof many races throughout the world. We welcomemost those who are ready to trample under foottheir selfishness when it comes in conflict with the

general good. We welcome the intelligent studentof science, who has such broad conceptions of hissubject that he considers it quite as important tosolve the mystery of Force as to know the atomiccombinations of Matter; and feeling so, is notafraid or ashamed to take for his teacher any onewho is competent, whatever be the colour of hisskin.

Now to take our scientific argument one stepfurther. Granted that the existence of the Doublehas been proven, and also its projectibility, how isit projected ? By an expenditure of energy, ofcourse. That energy is the vital force set in motionby the will. The power of concentrating the willfor this purpose is one that may be natural or ac-quired. There are some persons who have itnaturally so strong in them that they often sendtheir doubles to distant places, and make themvisible, though they may never have given a day'sstudy to the science of Psychology : I have knownboth men and women of this sort. But it is anuncommon power, and can never be exercised atall times except by the true proficient in psycho-logical science. The operations of the brain inmechanically evolving the current of will-force havebeen more or less carefully expounded by Bain andMaudeseley, while Professors Tait and BalfourStewart have, in their Unseen Universe, traced forus the dynamic effect of thought-evolution into theEther, or, as Hindus have called it these thousandsof }^ears, the Akasa. They go so far as to say that

it Is not an unthinkable proposition that theevolution of thought In a single human brain maydynamically affect a distant planet. In otherwords, when a thought Is evolved a vibration ofetheric particles is set up, and this motion mustcontinue on indefinitely. Now the Yogi evolvessuch a current, and turns It in upon himself as aconcentrated force; continuing the process untilthe power is sufficient to force his Double out of itscorporeal encasement, and to project it to whatso-ever locality he desires. We have thus shown thefact of the Mayavlrupa, its capability to exist out-side the body, and the energy which causes Its pro-jection. I cannot go Into details to elaborate theargument, for I can only detain you an hour in thistropical heat. But I trust at least to have shown3^ou that I rely only upon scientific principles, andclaim no Indulgence like the advocates of super-naturalism.

And now is this Double—which is nothingbut what is commonly called the " Soul"—im-mortal ? No, it Is not. So much of it as is matterin aggregation must ultimately obey the law ofdispersion which, in time, breaks up and forces outof the objective universe whatever is material. Itis equally the law of planetary as of lesser forms.As all that is material In a star was primarily con-densed from the loose atoms in space, so all that ismaterial in the human body, however coarse orhowever fine, was primarily condensed from thechaotic atoms In the Akasa. And to that dis-

A ■«

102 THE COMMON FOUNDATION

persed condition it must return whenever thecentripetal force that attracted it into the humannucleus ceases to resist the centrifugal force, orattraction of the atoms of space. This brings usright upon the problem of a continuity of existencebeyond the physical death. Here is the dividingline between the world's religions. The dualistsaffirm that this soul goes to heavenly or infernalplaces to be for ever blest or punished, according tothe deeds done in the body. Though they do notuse the very word, yet it is the doctrine of - Meritthey teach. For even those extremely unscientifictheologians who affirm that a punishing and reward-ing Deity has from all time pre-ordained some tobe saved and some to be damned, tell us that themerit of faith In a certain system of morals and dis-cipline, and a share in the vicarious merit of another,are pre-requisites to future bliss. We may assumetherefore, that merit, or KARMA, is the corner-stoneof Religion. This is both a logical and scientific pro-position, for the thoughts, words and deeds of aman are so many causes which must work out cor-responding effects ; the good ones can only pro-duce good effects, the bad ones only bad,—unlessopposed and neutralized by stronger ones thatare good. I need not go into the metaphysicalanalysis of what is bad and what good. Wemay pass it over with the simple postulate thatwhatever has either a debasing tendency upon theindividual, or promotes injustice, misery, sufferingignorance and animalism in society, is essentially

bad, and that what tends to the contrary is good. Ishould call that a bad religion which taught that itis meritorious to do evil that good may come ; forgood can never come out of evil ; the evil tree pro-duces not good fruit. A religion that can only bepropagated at the point of the sword, or upon themartyr's pile, or under instruments of torture, orby devastating countries and enslaving their popu-lations, or by cunning stratagems seducing ignorantchildren or adults away from their families andcastes and ancestral creeds—is a vile and devilishreligion, the enemy of truth, the destroyer of socialhappiness. If a religion is not based upon a lie,the fact can be proved, and it can stand unshaken,as the rocky mountain, against all the assaults ofsceptics. A true religion is not one that runs toholes and corners, like a naked leper to hide hissores, when a bold critic casts his searching eye uponit and asks for its credentials. If I stand here todefend what is good in Hinduism, it is because ofmy full conviction that that good exists, and thathowever fantastic, and even childish, some maythink its tangled overgrowth of customs, legendsand superstitions, there is the rock of truth, ofscientific truth, below them all. On that rock itis destined to stand throuc^h countless comincfgenerations, as it has already stood through the count-less generations which have professed that hoaryFaith, since the Rishis shot from their Himalayanheights the blazing light of spiritual truth over adark and ignorant world.

It is most reasonable that you should ask mewhat those of you are to do who are not giftedwith the power to get outside the illusion-breedingscreen of the body and to acquire an intimate actualperception of " Divine " truth through the developedpsychical senses. As we have ourselves shownthat all men cannot be adepts, what comfort do wehold out to the rest ? This involves a momentaryglance at the theory of re-births. If this little spanof human life we are now enjoying be the entiresum of human existence, if you and I never livedbefore and will never live' again, then there wouldbe no ray of hope to offer to any mind that wasnot capable of the intellectual suicide of blind faith.The doctrine of a vicarious atonement for sin is notmerely unthinkable, it is positively repulsive to onewho can take a larger and more scientific view ofman's origin and destiny than that of the dualists.One whose religious perceptions rest upon the in-tuition that cause and effect are equal: that thereis a perfect and correspondential reign of Lawthroughout the universe : that under any reason-able conception of eternity, there must always havebeen at work the same forces as are now active—must scout the assertion that this brief instant ofsentient life is our only one. Science has tracedus back through an inconceivably long sequence ofexistences—in the human, the animal, the vege-table, and the mineral kingdoms—to the cradle offuture sentient life, the Ether of space. Would aman of science, then, make bold to affirm that you

and I, who represent a relatively high stage ofevolution, came to be what we are without previousdevelopment In other births, whether on this earthor other planets ? And If he would not, he must,In conformity with his own canons of the conserva-tion and correlation of energy, deduce from thewhole analogy of nature that there Is another lifefor us beyond this life. The force which evolvedus cannot be expended, It must run on In Its vibra-tory line until Its limit Is reached. And that limitthe Hindu and the Buddhist, the Jain and theZoroastrian adept, all define as that abstract statewhich lies beyond the phenomenal one of Illusionsand pain. Whatever they may call It—whetherMuktl, or Nirvana, or Light,—It Is all the same Idea :It Is the outcome of the eternal Principle of energyafter passing around a cycle of correlations withmatter. That final limit the " Middle Nature," as awhole, never reaches, for It Is material as to Its form,size, colour and atomic relations: if we call It the" Soul," therefore, we may say that the " soul" isnot Immortal ; for that which Is material tendsalways to resume Its primitive atomic condition.And the Hindu Philosopher, arguing from thispremiss, teaches that what does escape out ofthe phenomenal world is Atmd, the SPIRIT.Thus, while from the Hindu standpoint it Iscorrect to say the " soul" Is not immortal, itmust also be added that the " spirit," Is; for,unlike the Soul, or Middle Nature, Atmd con-tains no mortal and perishable ingredients,

but Is of its essence both unchangeable andeternal.

The confusion of the words " Soul " and " Spirit,"so common now, is perplexing and mischievous tothe last degree.

It Is no argument to bring against the Asiatictheory of Palingenesis, that we have no remem-brance of former existences. We have forgottennineteen-twentieths of the incidents of our presentlife. Memory plays us the most prankish tricks.Every one of us can recollect some one triflingincident out of a whole day's, month's, year's, inci-dents of our earliest years, and one that was in noway important, nor apparently more calculatedthan the others to impress Itself indelibly upon thememory. Howls this? And If this utter forget-fulness of the majority of our life-Incidents Is noproof that we did not exist consciously at thosetimes, then our oblivion of the entire experiencesIn previous births is no argument against the factof such previous births. Nor, let me hasten to add,are the alleged remembrances of previous births,affirmed by the modern school of Relncarnationists,valid proofs of such births : they may be—I do notsay they arc—mere tricks of the Imagination, cere-bral pictures suggested by chance external In-fluences. The only question with us Is whetherIn science and logic It Is necessary for us to postu-late for ourselves a series of births, somewhere, atvarious times. And this I think must be answeredin the afflrmatlve."^

* I have explained in my Buddhist Catechism the Buddhist

OF ALL P^ELIGIONS. 107

So, then, conceding the plurality of births emdcoming back to our argument, we see that eventhough any one of us may not have the capacityfor acquiring adeptship in this birth, it is stilla possibility to acquire it in a succeeding one.If we make the beginning we create a cause whichwill, in due time, and in proportion to its originalenergy, sooner or later give us adeptship, and withit the knowledge of the hidden laws of being, andof the way to break the shackles of matter andobtain Mukti—Emancipation. And the first stepin this beginning is to cleanse ourselves from viciousdesires and habits, to do away with unreasoningprejudices, dogmatism and intolerance, to try todiscover what is essentially fundamental, and whatis non-essential, in the religion one professes, and tolive up to the highest ideal of goodness, intelligence,and spiritual-mindedness that one can extract fromthat religion and from the intuitions of one's ownnature. I regard that man as a mad iconoclastwho would strike down any religion—especiallyone of the world's ancient religions—withoutexamining it and giving it credit for its intrinsictruth. I call him a vain enthusiast who wouldpatch up a new faith out of the ancient faiths,merely to have his name in the mouths of men. Icall him a foolish zealot who would expect to make

theory of the non-transfer of memory from birth to birtli.Briefly, a memory of each birth is evolved within that birth, andwhen a person can attain to the " fourth stage of Dhyana," or in-terior evolution, he can psychically recall all the series of memoriesbelonging to his consecutive births.

all men see truth as he sees it, shice no two mencan even see alike a simple tree or shrub, far lessgrasp metaphysical propositions with the sameclearness. As for those who go about the worldto propagate their peculiar religious belief, withoutthe ability to show its superiority to other beliefswhich they would supplant, or to answer withoutequivocation the fair questions of critics—they areeither well-meaning visionaries or presumptuousfools. But mad, or vain, or stupid, as either ofthese may be, if sincere they are personallyentitled to the respect that sincerity always com-mands. Unless the whole world is ready to acceptone infallible chief, and blindly adopt one creed asthe wisest, the only rule must ever be to tolerate inour fellow-men that infirmity of judgment to whichwe are ourselves always liable, and from which we arenever wholly free. And that is the declared policyand platform of the Theosophical Society—as youmay see by reading the pamphlet containing its Rulesand Bye-Laws. It is the broad platform of mutualtolerance and universal brotherhood.

There must be elementary stages leading up to-wards adeptship, you will say. There are, and mod-ern science has laid out some of them. I told youthat Psychology is the most difficult of sciences toget to the bottom of, but still Western research hascleared many obstacles from the path. Mesmerismis by far the most necessary branch of study to takeup first. It gives you (i) proof of the separabilityof mind from conscious physical existence; a mes-

mcrized subject may show an active intellectual con-sciousness and discrimination while his body is notonly asleep but buried in so profound a trance asto more resemble a livid corpse than a living man ;(2) it gives you proof of the actual transmissibilityof thought from one mind to another : the mesmericoperator can, without uttering a word or giving aperceptible signal, transmit to his subject thethought in his own mind ; (3) it easily proves thereality of a power to hear sounds and see thingsoccurring at great distances, to communicate withthe thought of distant persons, to look through walls,down into the bowels of the earth, into the depthsof the ocean, and through all other obstructions tocorporeal vision ; (4) as also of a power to look intothe human body, detect the seat and causes ofdisease and prescribe suitable remedies, and toimpart health and restore physical and mentalvigour by the laying on of the mesmerist's hands, orby his imparting his robust vital force to a glass ofwater for the patient to drink, or to his wearingapparel; (5) of a power to see the past and even toprognosticate the future. These and many morethings Mesmeric Science enables a person, not anadept of the higher Asiatic Psychology, to prove com-pletely to himself and to others. I say this on theauthority of a Committee of the Academy of France.And then, besides Mesmerism, there are the highlyimportant branches of Psychometry and Me-diumism,and others that to barely mention would bebeyond the scope of my present lecture. Each and

all help the inquirer towards the acquisition of* Divine' wisdom, towards an intelligent and scien-tific conception of the laws of that " Eternal Some-thing," as Mr. Herbert Spencer calls it, which you maycall God, or by any other name you like. Whatevername you may choose for it, the knowledge of it isthe highest goal for human thought, and to be in astate of harmony with it the noblest, first and mostnecessary aspiration of an intelligent man. Thepursuit of this knowledge is, in one word, Theo-SOPHY, and the proper methods of research consti-tute Theosophical Science.

And thus in a single sentence I have answered athousand questions as to what Theosophy is, andwhat the object of theosophical research. Most ofyou, like the great mass of Hindus, have, until thismoment, been imagining to yourselves that we werecome to preach some new religion, to propagatesome new conceit, to set up some new " New Dis-pensation." You see now how far you have beenfrom the mark, and what popular injustice has beendone to us. Instead of preaching a new religion,we are preaching the superior claims of the oldestreligions in the world to the confidence of the pre-sent generation. It is not our poor Ignorant selvesthat we offer to you as guides and gurus, but thevenerable Rishis of the archaic ages. It is not anAmerican or a Russian, but a hoary Hindu philoso-phy that we claim your allegiance for. We comenot to pull down and destroy, but to rebuild, the

OF ALL RELIGIONS. 111

strong fabric of Asiatic religion. We ask you tohelp us to set it up again, not on the shifting andtreacherous sands of blind faith, but upon the rockybase of truth, and to cement its separate stonestogether with the strong cement of Modern Science.Hinduism proper has nothing zvhatever to fear fromthe researches of Science. Whatever of falsehoodmay have come down to you from previous genera-tions we may well dispense with, and when the timecomes for us to see through our present viaya(illusions), we will cheerfully do so. " The worldwas not made in a day; " and we are not suchignorant enthusiasts as to dream that in a day, ora year, or a generation, long established errors canbe detected and done away with. Let us butalways desire to know the truth, and hold ourselvesready to speak for it, act for it, die for it, if necessary,when we may discover it. People ask us what isour religion, and how it is possible for us to be onequal terms of friendliness with people of such an-tagonistic faiths. I answer that what may be ourpersonal preference among the world's religionshas nothing to do with the general question ofTheosophy. We are advocating Theosophy, as theonly method by which one may discover thatEternal Something, not asking people of anothercreed than ours to take our creed and throw asidetheir own. We two Founders profess a religion oftolerance, charity, kindness, altruism, or love of one'sfellows ; a religion that does not try to discover allthat is bad in our neighbour's creed, but all that is

112 THE COMMON FO UN DA TION

good, and to make him live up to the best code ofmorals and piety he can find in it. We profess, ina word, the religion that is embodied in the goldenrule of Confucius, of Gautama, and of the foundersof nearly all the great religions, and that is preservedfor the admiration and reverence of posterity, in theedicts of the good King Asoka, on the monolithsand rocks of Hindustan. Following this simplecreed, we find no difficulty whatever in living uponterms of perfect peace with the adherent of anycreed who will meet us in a reciprocal spirit. If wehave been at war with the pretended Christians, itis because they have belied the teachings of himwhom they call their Master, and by every vileand unworthy subterfuge have tried to oppose thegrowth of our influence. It is they who war uponus, for defending Hinduism and the other Asiaticreligions, not we who war upon them. If they wouldpractise their own precepts we would never use voiceor pen against them ; for then they would respect thereligious feelings of the Hindu, the Parsi, the Jain,the Jew, the Buddhist and the Mussulman, and de-serve our respect in return. But they began withcalumny instead of argument, and calumny, I fear, willbe their favourite weapon to the very end. In com-parison with the unmanly conduct of my countryman(Rev. Mr. Cook) who lectured here the other day, de-nouncing the Vedas as filthy abomination and theTheosophlsts as disreputable adventurers, how sweetand noble was the behaviour of that Mohammedanlawyer who defended Raymond Lully, when a

OF ALL kEUGiONS. 113

Mussulman tribunal was disposed to punish himfor trying to propagate his religion in their city."If you think it a meritorious act, O Moslems !for a Mussulman to try to preach Islam among theheretics, why should we be uncharitable to thisChristian, whose motive is identical ? " I cannot re-member the exact words, but that is the sense.The tender voice of Charity spoke by that lawyer'slips, and his words were the echo of the spirit ofTruth.

Come then, old men and young men of Madras,if you call yourselves lovers of India, and would makeyourselves worthy of the blessings of the Rishis,join hands and hearts with us to carry on this greatwork. We ask you for no honours, no worldlybenefits or rewards, for ourselves. We do not seekyou for followers; choose your proper leaders fromamong your wisest and purest men, and we willfollow them. We do not offer ourselves as yourteachers, for all we can teach is what we have learntfrom this Asia ; the Gospel we circulate is derivedfrom the recluses of the Indian mountains, not fromthe professors of the West. It is for India we plead,for the restoration of her ancient religion, for thevindication of her ancient glory, for the maintenanceof her greatness in science, in the arts, in philosophy.If any selfish consideration of sect or caste, or localprejudice, bar the way, put it aside, at least until youhave done something for the land of your birth, forthe renown of your noble race. In this great crowd Isee painted upon your foreheads the vertical sect-

H

114 THE COMMON 2^0 UND ATI ON.

marks of the Dwaitis and the Visishtadvaitis, andthe horizontal stripes of the Sivaites. These are thesurface indications of reh'gious differences thathave often burst out in bitter words and bitterdeeds. But, with another sense than the eye of thebody, I see another set of sect-marks, indicative offar greater peril to Indian nationality and Indianspirituality than those. These marks are brandeddeep upon the brains and hearts of some—though,happily, not all—of your most promising youngmen, the choicest children of the sorrowino: MotherIndia, and they are eating away the sense of pridethat they belong to this race and have inheritedthis noble religion. These are the B.A., B.L., andM.A. brands that the University over yonder hasmarked you with. After three years of intercoursewith the Hindu nation and of identification with itsthought, I almost feel a shudder when some noble-browcd youth is presented to me as a titled gradu-ate. Not that I undervalue the importance ofcollege culture, nor the honourable distinction oneearns by acquiring University degrees ; but I saythat, if sucJi distinctions can only be had at the cost ofones national honour and of ones spiritual intuitions^they are a curse to the graduate and a calamity tohis country. I would rather see a dirty Bairagee,who has his ancestors' intuitive belief in man'sspiritual capabilities, than the most brilliant gradu-ate ever turned out of the University, who has lostthat belief. Let me keep company with the nakedhermit of the jungle rather than with a graduate

OF ALL RELLGIONS. 115

who, though loaded with degrees, has, by a courseof false history and false science, been made to loseall faith in anything greater in the universe than aHaeckel or a Comte, or In any powers in himselfhigher than those of procreation, thought or diges-tion. Call me a Conservative, if you will ; I amconservative to this extent that, until our modernprofessors can show me a philosophy that is un-assailable ; a science that Is self-demonstrative, thatIs, axiomatic ; a psychology that takes in all psychicphenomena; a new religion that is all truth and with-out a flaw, I shall proclaim that which I feel, whichI know to be the fact,—viz., that the Rishis knew thesecrets of Nature and of Man, that there Is but onecommon platform of all religions, and that upon itever stood and now stand, in fraternal concord andamity, the hierophants and esoteric initiates of theworld's great faiths. That platform is Theosophy.May the blessing of its ancient Masters be uponour poor stricken India !

THEOSOPHY, THE SCIENTIFICBASIS OF RELIGION.*

Notwithstanding the very complimentary termskindly employed by my honoured friend, theChairman, in bespeaking your attention to theremarks I shall make, I feel most keenly myincapacity to deal with our subject as it deserves.When I face this vast audience, and recollect thatit represents the highest culture of Bengal ; when Ithink that we are met under the very shadow olCalcutta University; when I reflect that thesewalls have resounded to the voices of nativeorators, whose eloquence can hardly be surpassedby the most eminent senators in Western Parlia-ments and Congresses, and that, from the very spotwhere I stand, you have been addressed upon themost burning questions in religion and politics byKally Churn Banner]i, Lalmohun Ghose, KeshubChunder Sen, Surendra Nath Bannerji, Kristo DasPal, Sivanath Sastri, and Protap Chunder Mozum-dar,—a sense of personal inferiority to those greatmasters of rhetoric and logic oppresses and warnsme. But I have a message to deliver—a messageof reproach in part, but also one of encouragement.I may not soothe your ears with the melody of

* A LecLiue Delivered at the Town Hall, Cakutta, llh Aprils 1S82.

your own gifted speakers; but I must deliver it,though all of them were here; ay, though allthe great dead of the past generations, who gaverenown to the name of Bengal, were to clusterabout this platform. I would they might do so ;indeed, I should feel more sure of ^he moralregeneration of India, if those glorious ancestors ofyours could but confront you for one short hour.If you could but hear what they would say of theways in which you are maintaining their honourand sustaining their dignity, I think I should notthen need to utter a single word : one look at the ex-pression of their faces, as their glance, of mingledreproach and displeasure shot through to the verymarrow of your being, would be quite enough. Ifyou want to estimate modern Bengal, with itsforeign clothes and foreign vices, at its propervaluation, put it beside ancient Bengal. Call outyour pertest Babu, who has fed on Spencer andMill until he fancies himself able to build a newreligion, or even a new planet ; clothe him with allhis academic honours ; stuff his hands full of hisdiplomas; gather around him all the paraphernalia ofWestern culture, including the spirituous aids to re-flection. If we were toask this B.A.—this Bad Aryan—to give to the present audience his candid opinionof himself, he would probably tell you that he wasthe type and the bemc ideal of Hindu development—a fair representative of what young India mightbecome under the fertilising sprinkles of the collegewatering-pot. But if we had the power to evoke

the shades of the great Menu, of Kapila, Gautama,Patanjali, Kanada, and Veda Vyasa ; of Jaimini,Narada, Marichi, Vasishta, and other really greatHindus, and could place them before you on thisplatform, how would our trousered B.A. appearthen ? That is the gist of the whole question. Anation which has had representatives such as thoseI have named, need not go to any foreign teachersfor an imprimatur o\ culture. When they can match•the Aryan Rishis, then it will be time enough tolook up to them as the gods of the academicBraJimaloka. And that is part of my message toyoung Bengal.

I know that the first question which arises in theminds of my audience is, what motive I have intalking thus. You listen in surprise to hear a whiteman speak, as, hitherto, you have only heard yourorthodox Hindus speak. And as you have alwaysobserved that a motive underlies all human action,you must be asking yourselves what is my motive ?I must therefore preface my discourse with somepersonal explanations.

Elsewhere in India it is pretty well known howwe Theosophists came here, and why. For threeyears—that is, since February, 1879,—we have beenliving under the public eye at Bombay, and every-body knows what sort of people we are, how welive, and what we do. We have lived down serioussuspicions and calumnies. I could not give you abetter proof of this than by referring you to theaction of the Hindu and Parsi educated public the

71.iSIS OF RELIGION. 119

other day when a ranting missionary from my owncountry Indulged In false and insulting remarksabout us, In one of his public lectures. The re-sponse the natives made showed most unmistakeablythat his slanders had Increased rather than dimin-ished their friendliness for their theosophist friends.It will be so here. Though this Is my first visit toCalcutta, It will not, I trust, be the last. I expecthenceforth to spend at least two or three months ofeach year in Bengal, and you will thus have ampleopportunity to become acquainted with me. Weare not birds of passage ; we have not come toIndia, as Sinbad did to the Valley of Diamonds, topick up what we can, and after a time flit away. Wehave not the least intention of returning to our owncountries to reside. India is our chosen home, theland of our adoption; and the Hindus are our dearestfriends, If not our brothers. We were not driven outof our Western homes. If we had chosen to stopthere, we should now be enjoying all comforts andpleasures. In my native land, where the highestoffices of State are open to all aspirants, I mighteven now, if I should return, hold, as I havefor manyyears before held, posts of honour and importance.One of our most influential New York journals, ajournal which circulates a lac and a quarter ofcopies every week-day, and of its Sunday edition167,000 copies, asked, the other day, why I shouldexpatriate myself, and why I did not return to myown people to teach them about Asiatic philosophy?Nor did I leave America to better my fortunes. A

sorry way it v\'ould be of improving one's prospectsto give up an income of thousands of rupees, anddevote every moment of one's time to the interestsof a philanthropic society, for whose support Imust pay thousands annually out of my privatemeans. There are the Treasurer's accounts,audited and certificated by the Council of theSociety, which show that I am stating the barefact. They show that since we began at New Yorkour preparations to depart for India, MadameBlavatsky and I have given towards the expensesof our Society more than Rs. 25,000. And sincewe came we have not asked a Hindu, a Parsi, aBuddhist, or any one else, to give us one solitaryrupee for our private benefit. Well, admitting allthis to be true, the question will all the more presshome upon you—what is our motive, why shouldwe take up this life of public drudgery, move overAsia like uneasy ghosts, expose ourselves to thedarts of slander and the stings of suspicion ? Ishall tell you ; the answer is simple enough. Wefollow an idea ; and for it we face obstacles, dis-comfort, and danger, incur expense and trouble,resign as worthless what men usually prize, andrelinquishing family and home, country and friends,make a new home in Asia, and seek friends andbrethren among her ancient races. We arecovetous; yes, but it is for knowledge. We areambitious ; yes, but only for a place among thosewho have loved humanit}-, irrespective of caste,race and creed. We are conspirators \ )'es, but

BA SIS OF J^ RL TGI ON. 121

only with the good and true souls who have deepreligious aspirations, and who, deploring thedarkened spiritual state of mankind, would pointback to the beacons of hope that the Ris/iis of oldlit on the mountain peaks of Aryan philosophy.When you come to know us, you will recall mypresent words, and be ready to testify that I toldyou only the truth.

But how comes about this w^onder that weforeigners should feel so deep a reverence forHindu philosophy, and why even then should wehave left our country to come here ?

In the year 1874, Madame Blavatsky and I met.I had been a student of practical psychology fornearly a quarter of a century. From boyhood noproblem had interested me so much as the mysteryof man, and I had been seeking for light upon itwherever it could be found. To understand thephysical man, I had read something of anatom}-,physiology and chemistry. To get an insight intothe nature of mind and thought, I had read thevarious authorities of orthodox science, and practi-cally investigated the heterodox branches ofphrenology, physiognomy, mesmerism and psycho-metry. To understand mesmerism one must haveread Von Reichenbach's " Researches on Magnet-ism, Electricity, &c., &c., in their relations to theVital Force," and I venture to say that no one canpossibly comprehend the rationale of the astound-ing phenomena of modern spiritualism, who hasnot prepared himself by a glance at all the subjects

above enumerated. So, then, this had been mybent of mind since boyhood, and although I ahvaystook an active part in all that concerned mycountry and fellow-countrymen, and an especiallyactive one during our late Civil War, yet my heartwas not set on worldly affairs. In the year abovementioned (1874), I was investigating a most start-ling case of mediumship, that of William Eddy, anuneducated farmer, in whose house were nightlyappearing, and often talking, the alleged spirits ofdead persons. I will not go into particulars justnow, for I have other things to speak about;perhaps I may make it the subject of some futurediscourse. Suffice it that with my own eyes I saw,within the space of about three months, some fivehundred of these apparitions, under circumstanceswhich, to my mind, excluded the possibility oftrickery or fraud. My observations were com-municated to a New York daily journal during thewhole period, and the facts excited the greatestwonder. Madame Blavatsky and I met at thisfarm-house, and the similarity of our tastes formystical research led to an intimate acquaintance.She soon proved to me that, in comparison witheven the chela of an Indian Ma/mtnia, the authori-ties I had been accustomed to look up to knewabsolutely nothing. Little by little she openedout to me as much of the truth as my experienceshad fitted me to grasp. Step by step-1 wasforced to relinquish illusory beliefs, cherishedfor twenty years. And as the light gradually

dawned on my mind, my reverence for the unseenteachers who had instructed her grew apace. Atthe same time, a deep and insatiable yearning-possessed me to seek their society, or, atleast, to take up my residence in a landwhich their presence glorified, and incorporatemyself with a people whom their greatness en-nobled. The time came when I was blessed witha visit from one of these MaJiatinas in my ownroom at New York—a visit from him, not in thephysical body, but in the " double," or Mayavi-rupa. When I asked him to leave me sometangible evidence that I had not been the dupe ofa vision, but that he had indeed been there, heremoved from his head the puggri he wore, andgiving it to me, vanished from my sight. Thatcloth I have still, and in one corner is marked inthread the cipher or signature he always attachesto the notes he writes to myself and others. Thisvisit and his conversation sent my heart at oneleap around the globe, across oceans and continents,over sea and land, to India, and from that momentI had a motive to live for, an end to strive after.That motive was to gain the Aryan wisdom ; thatend to work for its dissemination. Thenceforth Ibegan to count the years, the months, the days, asthey passed, for they were bringing me ever nearerthe time when I should drag my body after the eagerthought that had so long preceded it. In Novem-ber, 1875, we founded the Theosophical Society asa nucleus around which might gather all those of

every race and land, who were in sympathy withour mode of research ; and as no such body couldhave any permanence unless we should eliminatethe ever obvious causes of disagreement amongmen—religious bigotry and social intolerance—weorganised it on the basis of universal brotherhood.The idea must have been a good one, since it has suc-ceeded. I doubt if any society of a cognate characterhas ever so rapidly increased as ours. We alreadyhave branches in most parts of the world, and arefast overspreading India with our organizations.The branch I shall tomorrow form at Calcuttawill be the twenty-fifth in this country establishedsince February, 1879, and by the time I reachBombay there will be twenty-eight. But I amgetting ahead of my subject: let me turn. Duringthe three years w^ien I Avas waiting to come toIndia, I had other visits from the LlaJiatnias^ andthey were not all Hindus or Cashmeris. I knowsome fifteen in all, and among them Copts,Tibetans, Chinese, Japanese, Siamese, a Hun-garian, and a Cypriote. But, whatever they are,however much they may differ externally as torace, religion and caste, they are in perfect agree-ment as to the fundamentals of .occult science andthe scientific basis of religion.

The long-wished-for time came at last; ourprivate affairs were settled, the New York Societywas placed in competent hands ; and my colleagueand I embarked. Many friends accompanied us tothe vessel to say good-bye, and their waving hand-

kerchiefs, which we watched as long as we could seethem, were a testimony to the exiles that they wereleaving loving hearts behind. How thoroughly, not-withstanding, I had transferred my love to the coun-try of my adoption, you may imagine when I tell youtliat as our steamer passed out of the harbour to theocean, I cast no " longing, lingering look behind."Though I was leaving the native land I had loved sodearly, and had even risked my life for, and neverexpected to behold it again, I did not even give itthe tribute of a sigh; but, descending to my cabin,opened the map of India, and sent my thought tomy Land of Promise. But when, after buffeting thestorms of various waters, we neared Bombay, thenfar into the night, alone I paced the forecastle tocatch the first glimpse of the beacon-light thatwaited to welcome me home. The passengers werefast asleep, and only the watch on deck and myselfwere there to see the stars of the Indian sky, and thefire-seething waves of the Indian sea. The midnightbells were struck, but still the lighthouse could notbe made out. At last, at one in the morning, theofficer on duty, who knew my anxiety, relieved itby pointing to a faintly luminous speck at thewater's edge, and telling me that that was Bombaylight. My heart gave a throb, as perhaps throbsthe heart of an old Hindu who has been long awayin foreign countries ; and a feeling of joy andpleasure came across me to think that my journeywas ended, and my real life about to begin. I hadpictured to myself a Hindu nation homogeneous,

at least, as regards spirituality and love of theirancestors—one great family, rejoicing in the Aryanname, and with a religious faith built upon theassurance, if not the knowledge, of theosophicaltruth. Though I knew there w^ere religious sectsand cliques, I thought that these barriers werenot high enough to keep Hindus apart. I hadwritten to Keshub Babu to ask him to join in ourwork, and I was ready to serve in any subordinatecapacity, under and with anybody, no matterwhom, in the interest of India and Indians. I onlyasked some little corner, however small, w^here Imight incorporate myself with their national lifeand thought ; and as I asked nothing but theprivilege to learn and work, I hoped tobe taken at myword and tobe viewed as a friend. But I was not:the back of the hand, not the palm, was offered me.Dogged by the Government Police as suspects,my colleague and I were not happy enough to finda sure refuge in Indian hearts. Our char-acters were traduced by the enemies ofIndian religion without a protest from itsfollowers ; it seemed, in fact, as though we weredoomed to see every hope crushed—every one wehad an affection for turn his back upon us. Thusunder a black sky of trouble, we went on for wearymonths together, keeping up our courage by re-membering what goal we had in view, and bydegrees learning to pluck success from the verythorn bush of disaster. We founded our BombayBranch, then another and another; we established

our magazine, the TJicosopJdst^ and made it a suc-cess ; we went to Ceylon, and were greeted withenthusiasm ; and though some who mistook us forsectarians have broken with us, the third year ofour Indian work now opens up, bright and full ofpromise. The worst, we think, is over; and everymonth, as I remarked in a recent lecture, we arebeing drawn nearer and nearer to the Indian heart.I venture to take thevastnessof the present audienceas a proof of this fact, for I cannot believe it is onlyidle curiosity that has brought all of you to-gether. Our appeals to you to remember theglories of Aryavarta and strive to revive them,have not fallen upon deaf ears ; the dry bones arestirring with the flutter of a higher and noblerspiritual life; the echoes of sympathy are comingtowards us from North and South, from Eastand West. Bombay has spoken, the North-West has spoken. Madras has spoken, and therehave even been whispers from Bengal, though wehave never, until now, spoken to Bengali audiences.Away with despondency and dejection ! The mornis breaking, and if we wait but a little longer, wemay see the perfect day.

No one feels more sensibly than I do the anomalythat a white man should be appealing to you tostudy your religion. This is work for your learnedPundits. But they are silent ; and what is to bedone ? I met the greatest Pundits of India atBenares, and, after showing to them the effects ofWestern culture upon the religious thought of

Young India, implored them to rise to the occasion,and to do their duty. As though the voice of theRishis were speaking by my Hps, I arraigned themat the bar of their country, and said that historywould not hold them guiltless, if the entire body ofour youth should fall into materialist scepticism.I begged that they would at least compile tractsand catechisms, which should embody the greatprinciples of morality and religion, the broad out-lines of philosophy and spiritual science laiddown in the Sastras, so that it might be seenthat a Hindu need look nowhere outside his ownliterature for inspiration to noble deeds and nobleliving. The Pundits listened, applauded, signedarticles of union between their Sabha and ourSociety, and then—did nothing more. I am wait-ing on and hoping almost against hope that fromamong the greatest of your living scholars willstep forth a moral regenerator to lead youback from your desultory wanderings to thesolid ground of Hindu philosophy. Must Indiacall in vain ? Must the empty voice give back thehollow echoes of her appeal ? Is there not, even inBengal, one Aryan heart that can be touched withthe fire from the sacred altars of religion ? Whereis the Brahmin who is able, like his pure and holyforefather, to perform the AgniJiotra in the trueway, and draw from the ambient sky the fire ofAgni upon his kusa grass ? Where is the Brahminwho has the same fire in the hollow of his hand ?Alas ! no answer comes. There are thousands

BASIS OF RELIGION. 129

of Brahmins, but no adept AgniJiotris. Amongthese swarming millions, and amid this teeminglife, the aspirant lor spiritual instruction findsscarcely a single Guru who can practically teachthe Yoga science. Hundreds of bright young menare suffering from spiritual starvation. Can wehelp them ? Is there no hope to offer the youthswho have learnt to regard modern science as thesole authority in questions of a religious andscientific nature ? For that is the ordeal that theadvocates of Aryan philosophy must pass. It isuseless to try and cover it up, or evade the alterna-tive : either we must prove Hinduism to standupon the ground of science, or leave it to itsfate. I think we can hold out this hope, and cangive this assurance. I believe that modern researchhas arrived at certain facts which help us to under-stand our subject if we collate and adjust them toeach other. And this brings us to consider thesecond part of our discourse—an explanation ofthe word Theosophy, and its application to theYoga Vidya.

Properly speaking, Theosophy may be defined asthe knowledge of " Divine" wisdom. If therewere a Western science of Psychology, worthy ofthe name, this would be its crowning glory ; theseeker after knowledge of the " soul " would end bybecoming a Theosophist. For one can gain whatis called Divine wisdom only in one way—throughthe development of the psychic powers. Religionis most strictly a personal affair: every man makes

his own religion and his own God : that is to say,if he has any idea at all about religion or God, theymust be his own, not somebody's else ideas.Another man can no more think for you in thesematters, so as to do you any good, than he can eator sleep for you. You may think some man verygreat, and be ready to wash and garland and swinghim like an idol, and eat the dust of his feet, andall that sort of thing; and you may fancy that hiscommonest utterances are divinely inspired. Youmay call j'ourself a Tantrika, a Sivaite, a Vaish-nava, a Buddhist, or whatever you please. But, afterall, when it comes to your actual religious experi-ence, it will be your experience, measured andlimited hy your own personal, psychical and theoso-phical capacity. It is simply tyranny to try andforce a particular religion upon any man. So, as Isaid before, religion is something personal ■; and itis also something sacred, something not to berudely interfered with and pried into. The truemoralist will exert his influence to make his fellow-men live up to the best features of their respectivefaiths ; it is the most audacious of experiments totry and glue together bits of a number of good re-ligions into a new mosaic.

I shall not enter here into any discussion as towhat is meant by the word " Soul." I have myideas, and they may conflict with yours. Call itwhat you please, the only radical point to reach is thefact that in the nature of man there is this depart-ment which is called psychical, and which is not to

be included in the most objective, or physical andmechanical part of the self. The orthodox psycho-logist will not concede you this point. He will meetyou at the very threshold of the inquiry, and affirmthat there is no more of man than is embraced inthe ingenious mechanism of his body. The Englishpoet, Pope, coined an expression to signify hisscorn of a man who was devoid of great qualities—one who was

** Fix'd, like a plant, to its peculiar spot,To draw nutrition, propagate and rot."

But if you add to this the intellectual capacity asthe result of cerebral function, have we not here thetype of the " man " of modern Psychology ? Whatdoes that science make of the human being but adigestive, locomotive, procreating, and thinkingmechanism ? Can you find anything better thanthis in the philosophy of Herbert Spencer and theentire a posteriori school ? I will ^\mq you a yearto pore over Mr. Spencer's Principles of PsycJiology^or over The Emotions and the Will, and The Sensesand the Intellect, of Professor Bain (whomsome of the greatest critics of our day consider asthe master psychologist of the age), and then defyyou to find the secret of true psychology ;or, if you choose, you may con the works ofJames Mill, Cousin, Locke, Kant, Hobbes, Hegel,Fichte, Huxley, Haeckel, John Stuart Mill,Comte, and all the learned writers of the kind.You will see a good deal of protoplasm, and pro-togen, and monads; but you will not discover the

nature of " soul " in any of them. After wading

through their heavy volumes, you will arrive at the

conclusion that they are little better than obscura-

tionists—intellectual clouds between you and the

sun of spiritual truth. You will find some of them

light, fleecy clouds, some so thin and vapoury as to

let through a good deal of light ; others black and

murky clouds, bursting with suppressed lightnings.

If you go on far enough, you will see that these

heavier intellectual masses, like the prototypes in

Nature with which we are comparing them, will

discharge their thunders at each other as they come

into opposition, and then there is a great noise and

heavy discharge of critical artillery. But the net

result, after all is over, and you digest your notes

and collect your confused thoughts, will be what I

said—you will have puzzled your brain with a

multitude of words and got no clear idea of

Psychology. For they confuse the intellectual

experiences of the human brain with the other and

totally different experiences of the real Psyche !

And though they wrote ten times as many books,

since they would all be written upon this false

hypothesis, they would be no nearer the mark.

These Western psychologists have, we may say,

chopped man into minute shreds. There is not an

atom of him (and by him I mean their " him," not

the complete man), not a bone, muscle, nerve,

cell, or ganglion, that they have not dissected,

and fumbled over, and analysed. He has not a

feeling, an emotion, a cognition—not a single or

BASIS OF RELIGION. 133

complex intellectual process—that they have notpulled about, weighed in the scales of logic, testedwith the resolvents of reason, ticketed, and laidaway in the psychological herbaria. But I defythe whole of them, from Locke to Bastian, andtheir whole army of followers, to show you onesingle discovery that explains the psychic pheno-mena whose occurrence has been observed in Indiafrom the remotest ages, and the laws of whosecausation are explained in the Aryan Sastras.The earnest seeker after Divine wisdom — thetrue Theosophist—will turn away from western" authorities " with a sense of weariness and de-spair. To express it truthfully in one word, I mustcall the soul-science of the Aristotelians of the nowdominant European school,subcuticular—skin-deep—Psychology, the psychology of what lies insidethe human skin ! Their battles are all foiigJit tinderthe epidermis; they understand the psychologicaleffect of external objects and phenomena upon thehuman mind ; but a transcuticular man is to thema scientific absurdity. Their man is acted uponcentripetally by Nature, but does not react centri-fugally upon it. Asiatic philosophers recognizeman as comprising three groups or divisions of self-hoodf Thtrc \s, first, Sthul Sharira—the physical—the grosser, more material, objective and per-ceptible ; second, Mayavi Rupa—the psychical, orless perceptible, though still material; tJiird, theAtnia—the spiritual, or imperceptible and trans-cendental. With a minuteness of analysis that

matches that of the European ps}xhologists, theyhave again sub-divided these three groups intosub-sections. But there is this inestimable advan-tage on their side, that they prove their proposi-tions experimentally. When they talk of a" double," or Mayavi Riipa, or Stiks/una S/iarira,they produce the thing itself: they sliozu tJiemsclvcsto yoH ill their doubles. They will leave theirphysical bodies {StJinl Sharira) in saiiiadJu, a stateof lethargy, at some distant place, force the" double " out through its pores, and to that trans-ferring their consciousness, with all its train of in-tellectual and intuitional cognitions and feelings,visit and make themselves visible to you. FancyProfessor Bain, or Mr. Mill, or I\Ir. Spencer, under-taking to argue on Psychology with a man in theJllayavi Riipa ! \Miere would be then all their" quips and quilibets," their hard Greek and Latinterms, their speculative h}-potheses ? Until thatmoment, they would have thought themselvesauthorities, but now the spectres of their bookswould rise before them only in reproach. Theirantecedent mental state, as contrasted with theirpresent one, might be likened to that of a philo-sopher who had speculated upon the possibility ofaerolites, but of a sudden had been hit hard by afragment of one tumbling on him from the sky.Or we may take an example even more extreme.Let us suppose that great man and thinker, Mr.Spencer, sitting in his arm-chair at dusk in his library.He has been writing the seventeenth chapter of

BASIS OF religion: 135

the second volume of his Principles of Psychology,and has worked out the problem of the " CompletedDifferentiation of Subject and Object" to his per-fect satisfaction. He has satisfied himself that thephase of emotion is stimulated by memories of pastexperiences ; his hand has just traced thesewords :—" Such components of consciousness,pleasurable and painful, divisible into classes andsub-classes, differ greatly from the componentsthus far described ; being extremely vague, beingunlocalizable in space, and being but indefinitelylocalizable in time" (op. cit. p. 467). He has de-scribed to us the effect produced upon his state ofquiescence by hearing at his back a voice which herecognizes as the voice of a friend: and, as he tellsus, " a wave of pleasurable feeling" upsets certainantecedent sets of " vivid states," known to him asthe parts of his body, a feeling of muscular tensionis excited, " the emotion felt goes on presently toinitiate other muscular tensions, and after themspecial sounds "—he speaks. And now, his chapterfinished and his pen thrown aside, he muses. Awonderful phenomenon occurs—one that has hap-pened to and been recorded by other greatscholars. Out of the reasoning, analysing, digestivemachine that the world, by visual, auditive, andtactual observations, recognize, as I\Ir. Spencer,oozes a whitish vapour which at first a cloud, con-denses into a man. It is not only a man but thatvery man, I\Ir. Spencer, his actual counterpart or" double," his Mayavi-nipa. At last it is fully

formed, and in the same degree as the Hght of in-telligence comes into its eyes, the same lightdiminishes in the eyes of the musing philosopher.The synthetic man, who but just now was buildingair-castles with walls and foundations of words, hasdivided into two parts, and the supreme intellectualactivity, as well as the supreme consciousness ofselfhood, is transferred to that part which is nowoutside the skin that was the philosopher's tiltimatJmle but just now. Can we not imagine what thisnew-born self would say to the heavier body beforeit ? Let it speak—" Here I am, and there you are,O man ! I am ego—self; you a machine. Youwere my prison and jailer ; but see, I have escaped.Henceforth I leave you, I enter you, at will. Youcannot detain me, you cannot ignore me, you sJiallnot silence me. I am the conscious entity, you avegetating mechanism of bones, and flesh andnerves. How now about your emotions and will,your grey-matter vesicles and your white-fibretelegraph lines? Come, philosopher, rouse your-self and debate with me. I would have you teachme psychology. You write learnedly about sub-ject and object. You have cleverly told yourreaders that you cannot frame any psychologicalconception without looking at internal co-existencesand sequences in their adjustments to external co-existences and sequences {pp. cit., i. p. 133) : nowhere we are—you there with your thinking machi-nery inside, and I here, with my intellectual powersoutside, the physical ]\Ir. Spencer. Come, since

you are fond of sequences, follow me^ if you can, tothe high plateau of the Himavat. There we shallfind men who hiozv Psychology instead of dreamingabout it; men who are the successors of a thousandgenerations of Aryan and Hindu sages, who, allthis time, have known what man is, and what hispowers are. Your school of metaphysics, not yet acentury old, is a thing of yesterday as comparedwith the hoary science of the Rishis, the Arahats,and the Medean Magi. In the pride of your re-cently enfranchised intellects, you Western biolo-gists and psychologists are trying to climb the skyof occult science, wherein alone can be found thetruth about man and nature. Dull clod of earth,component of ashes and gases and water, it was Iwho illumined and inspired you ; I who gave yousuch intuitions of Divine wisdom as you had, de-spite the incubus of your vaunted reason ! I amiJie Spencer, you but my covering. You are of theground ; I of the infinite and eternal essence ofNature !" What can you answer—M.A. of theUniversity of Calcutta—though you glitter withmedals, and are clothed in honours as with a gar-ment ? Theory is one' thing, fact another. Doyou cling to the theory of Germany or of Edinburgh,when you can learn the fact at the asrainanis ofthe Neilgherries and the Himalayas ?

Mr. John Stuart Mill {Dissertations and Discus-sions^ iii. 97) makes a bold assertion. He says:—" The sceptre of Psychology has decidedly returned

to this island " (Great Britain). Sceptre, indeed !He talks as though it were some royal bauble, likethe Koh-i-noor, that could be looted and sent homeby a P. and O. Steamer ! The sceptre of Psycho-logy is wielded on the Himavat, and no modernempiric can clutch that rod of power, that staff ofauthority. The mesmerist knows something aboutPsychology, the modern spiritualist knows some-thing, and so does the student of Psychometry.Their knowledge is based upon experimental re-searcli. They may not be learned anatomists,morphologists, or biologists; but, perhaps, theyhave a better idea of the whole nature of man thanany of these. They have seen one from whom the.conscious Ego had stepped out, and left the bod}^not a dead thing, but living, W\^ Jiv-Atma, or life-principle, being in it. The dull eye of the body, inwhich no intelligence shines; the listless apathyand muscular relaxation ; the reduced temperatureof flesh ; the stopped or fluttering heart—all thesehave convinced them that it is not the bodily me-chanism that is the real man; and this convictionbecomes a certainty when one has seen a body thusinert, and, at the same time, seen the double of theman moving about, with full consciousness, doingintelligently the acts of a responsible being, and inevery way showing that the physical body is but ahabitable mechanism, of itself unspiritual, if notaltogether irresponsible. In the ordinary experi-ments of Mesmerism, when the patient is throwninto the state of ecstasis, one usually observes that

the body has passed into a state whose physicalappearances closly resemble death. I have stoodby a person in this death-like lethargy, and foundthere was neither pulse, animal heat, nor breathywhile, at the same time, the inner self of the ecstaticwas apparently soaring in the supernal spheres,keenly alive to its rapturous experiences. In abook of mine {People from the Other World), whichrecords my researches on the Eddy mediumisticphenomena, I have described the case of aMrs. Compton, whom I saw in such a dead-alive condition, after one of the most marvellousseances on record. Well, this something that comesout of the human body is, in the judgment ofoccultists, the soul-principle—the responsible en-tity, the part of a man which, whether inside oroutside the body, is that which acquires thecertainty of Divine wisdom. It is this that be-comes the true Theosophist. And, as this is notrestricted by the hard limits of creed, race, pre-judice, caste, and other external relations, whichhedge about the material or physical man, youwill observe that when this self is thoroughly freedfrom the restrictive environments of society, it mustbe free from our prejudices, hatreds and antipathies,of one sort or another. This is the part of a man thatbecomes an adept, and the very name of MaJiatnia(great soul), that you have called it by for countlessgenerations, shows how well this has been under-stood in India. When the Yogi practises dharana,dhyan, and samadhi';^ it is for the purpose of getting

*■ Three stages of self-induced ecstasy and trance.

himself—that is his real self—disentans^led fromthe illusions of the bodily senses, which continuallycheat us as to what is real and what unreal. Hestrives to evolve this astral self, and to purify that tothe nearest possible approximation of absolutespirit. There are four stages of Yoga. In the first,the Yogi begins to learn the first forms of Yoga^and to fight his battle with the animal nature. Inthe next, having learnt the forms, he advancestowards perfect knowledge. In the third, theadvance continues, and he overcomes all theprimary and subtle forces—that is to say, he van-quishes the nature spirits, or elementals, resident inthe four kingdoms of nature ; and neither fire canburn, water drown, earth crush, nor poisonous airsuffocate, his bodily frame. He is no longerdependent upon the limited powers of the fivesenses for knowledge of surrounding Nature ; hehas developed a spiritual hearing that makes themost distant and most hidden sounds audible,a sight that sweeps the area of the wholesolar system, and penetrates the most solid bodiesalong with the hypothetical ether of modern science;he can make himself as buoyant as a thistle-down,or as heavy as the giant rock ; he can subsist with-out food for inconceivably long periods, and, if hechooses, can arrest the ordinary course of nature, andescape bodily death to an inconceivably protractedage. Having learnt the laws of natural forces, thecauses of phenomena, and the sovereign capabilitiesof the human will, he may make " miracles " his

playthings, and do wonders that would take the con-ceit out of even a modern philosopher. He can walkupon water, without even wetting the soles of hisfeet; or, sitting in dhyan, can, by inward concentra-tion, so change the magnetic polarity of his bodythat it will rise from the ground and be self-sus-pended in the air. Or, if he throws himself intothe fourth and deepest state of abstraction, hewill then have so withdrawn the life-principle fromthe outer to the inner surfaces of the body, thatyou may tie him in a sack and bury him under-ground for weeks together, and when dug up andrubbed and handled in a certain way, he willrevive to perfect consciousness. Your distin-guished and honoured countryman. Dr. Rajend-ralala Mittra, tells me that when a boy, hesaw the Sadhu (ascetic), whom some wood-choppersfound in the Sunderbunds jungle, and brought upto Calcutta. He was found sitting, like a stiffenedcorpse, with his legs twisted through the roots of atree. At Calcutta he unhappily fell into the handsof two fools, whose tipsy folly—as I am told, thoughI speak under correction^made them practicallyhis murderers. Not able to arouse him by shout-ing, pushing, and beating, they put fire into hishand, and plunged him into deep water in theGanges with a rope about his neck, as though hewere a ship's anchor, and twice kept him thereall night. They pried his tetanous jaws apart,put beef into his mouth, and poured brandydown his throat. Finally to prove their own

shamelessness, and to make their memory hateful forever, this Hindu Rajah and this Enghshman setupon the poor saint whose emaciated body hadbeen left by him, as he thought, in the safe solitudeof the jungle, where tigers and serpents would notharm him, while his soul went out in search ofDivine truth, these cruel, impious beasts setupon him an abandoned creature of the othersex to pollute him with her unholy touch ! Oh Ishame upon such specimens of humanity! Bytheir cruel violence they finally awoke theSadhu from his lethargy, and his first utterancewas, not a curse upon his tormentors, not a burstof indignant invective, but a plaintive and reproach-ful cry, " O why, sirs, did you disturb me; I haddone you no harm ? " Shortly after he died fromthe effects of the food-poison they had forced intohim.

This happened some forty years ago. But do yousuppose Calcutta is any better now, or a safer placefor a real Sadhu to trust himself in ? I think not ;and, in my opinion, if any one of }'ou should wantto find any better type of Yogi than the paintedimpostors who perambulate your streets, you willhave to go far away from the city gates in search ofhim.

At Lahore I met the son of a native gentleman,still residing in a neighbouring place, who was aneye-witness to the burial of a Sad/m, in the presenceof Maharajah Runjit Singh—a case that has be-come historical. The particulars are given by Sir

Claude Wade, the Political Resident, in his Campand Court of Riinjit Singh, and by Dr. MacGregor,then Residency Surgeon, in his History of the SikhWar. This Sadhn was buried alive for forty days, aperpetual guard being kept, night and day, over thespot. The English officials saw him buried andalso exhumed, and Dr. MacGregor gives a profes-sional diagnosis of the case. When uncovered, theman's body was shrunken and dried like a stick ofwood ; the tongue, which at the burial had beenturned back into the throat, had become like apiece of horn; and eyes, ears, and every otherorifice of the body, had been stopped with plugs ofghee (clarified butter). Upon returning to hisexternal consciousness, the Sadhn told them thathe had been enjoying the blissful society of Yogisand saints, and that if the Maharajah wished it, hewas quite ready to be buried over again.

There is—to say nothing of the Aryan and post-Aryan Sastras, which, as you know, are full of suchthings—a whole literature of Mysticism among theEuropean nations, and the annals of the ChristianChurch teem with testimonies of ecstatics andvisionaries who, escaping from the body while alive,have penetrated the inner world and seen divinethings. No one can read the mystical literature ofthe Christian and other churches without beinorstruck with the idea that the visions of an uninitiatedseer are invariably mixed up with his own indivi-duality. His subjective prejudices and preconcep-tions give objective colour and shape to the objects

he encounters in his supra-physical life. TheChristian sees the Heaven of his Apocalypse, or hisMilton ; the Parsi, the Chinvat Bridge of Soulsguarded by the dread Maiden and her dogs ; theMussulman, the Gardens of the Blessed, with theirhouris and never-ending delights. Swedenborg,the Swedish seer, who developed his clairvoyancewhen past the middle age, and after he haddevoted many years to scientific pursuits andreligious thought, saw a system of correspondenceswhich explained and illuminated, as he imagined,the dead-letter of the Bible, of whose divineauthority he was already convinced. The visionsof my almost life-long friend, Andrew JacksonDavis, have a similarly subjective character.

In all these cases, the seer has not passed out ofthe circle of illusion, he has not yet come into thefourth stage of Yoga, as defined by Patanjali. Inthis fourth stage " the Yogi, loses all personalityand all consciousness of separate existence ; all theoperations of intellect become extinct, and spiritalone remains." The Moksha of the Hindu is thispure transcendental state indefinitely prolonged—an existence in which all the causes of sorrow beineabsent, there can be no sorrow; and the causes ofillusions being left behind, there can be no illusionbut the absolute truth is known in its unveiledsplendour. The Theosophist is a man who, what-ever be his race, creed, or condition, aspires toreach this height of wisdom and beatitude by self-development ; and, therefore, you will see that in a

Theosophlcal Society like that we have founded—and which we hope many of you will join—to haveone creed for our members to subscribe to, or oneform of prayer for them to adopt, or an}^ rules thatwould interfere with their individual relations tocaste, or any other social and external environmentnot actually antipathetic to Theosophical research,would be impossible. You will also infer that, de-spite the false statements or ignorant misconceptionsof many of our critics, we are not preaching a newreligion, or founding a new sect, or a new schoolof philosophy or occult science. The HinduSastras, the Buddhist Gathas, and the ZoroastrianDesatir, contain every essential idea that we haveever propounded, and our constant theme, thesepast seven years, has been that of my present dis-course, to wit, that Theosophy is the scientific andthe only firm basis of religion. We deny thatthere is the slisj-htest conflict between true reliG^ionand true science. We deny that any religion canbe true that does not rest upon scientific lines, andwe affirm that the outcome of scientific researchwill be to set religion upon such an eternal founda-tion, by breaking down the thick mystery of matterand tracing force up into that everlasting and im-mutable principle, called Motion by some. Spiritby some, and Farabrahnta by the Vedantists.Theosophical research, therefore, is the propand stay both of religion and science ; and byignoring all those causes which keep men apart,and arm brother against brother, it is a promoter of

peace and harmony among men—in short, of Uni-versal Brotherhood.

A great noise has ahvays been made aboutcertain striking phenomena which have occurred,not only in the presence of the mystics and saintsof different religious sects above mentioned, butalso in connexion with the Thcosophical Society.Minds, empty of healthy philosophical thought,hanker after the marvellous. Many such havejoined our Society in the hope of seeing wonders,and even of obtaining siddhis (powers), withoutthe usual training. Such are always, of neces-sity, foredoomed to disappointment. There isno royal road to Geometry. The Occult Sciencemay be learnt by different methods, and by anyone who can find a teacher, provided he has thenecessary psycho-physiological qualifications in him-self. For this department of research does exactvery peculiar aptitudes. Can you learn law,medicine, theology, chemistry, astronomy, or anyother science embraced in the college curriciiliLni,without the special mental capacities that eachdemands ? You know that to be impossible;and that even where the mental capacity isnot wanting, it takes time, patience and closethought and application, to master your sub-ject. There is not a professor, however emi-nent, who does not continue a student of hisspecialty to the very day of his death. Come,then, foolish man, do you imagine that Theo-sophy, this science of sciences, which unlocks for

you the corridors of nature and ushers you Intothe blazing splendour of absolute Truth, is lessdifficult than any of these pettier branches ofknowledge? Do you think that in a few weeks, ormonths or years, you can pierce the veils of themysteries, while you are keeping on in your roundof worldly occupations, indulging your animal plea-sures,cow^eringbeforeyoursocIal prejudices,and wrap-ping your nobler self in the tainted body of Ignobledesires ? The mere seeing of phenomena does nogood except to a mind which has already obtaineda thorough understanding of philosophy. This theYogi knows so well that he does not allow himselfto be diverted by them, even when produced byhimself, from his ultimate object of reaching thefourth stage of Yoga. Patanjali says that even inthe third stage the Yogi Is liable to be overcome ;and even in the last, which is sub-divided into sevenstages, he is not wholly safe from the " local gods,"nor will be so till he has advanced beyond the fifthof these seven. In the course of training, adoptedamong certain mystics of Tibet, there are sevenstages of an ascending series, and each of these issub-divided into nine sub-stages. But whateverthe training, there Is the same object—emancipationfrom Illusion and attainment of Theosophical know-ledge. The untrained seers and religious ecstaticswe have noticed above, as having visions of apartially subjective character, are all beneath thefourth stage of Yoga. Their delusions result fromtheir lack of training. They see a spiritual light

but through a smoky glass: Patanjali's methodshaving been unknown to them, they have not de-veloped their psychic powers by dharana and d/iyan,that is, by " restraint of the mind," and " spiritualmeditation." Hence, their actual psychic percep-tions are mixed up with their intellectual pre-con-ceptions ; as the Scripure has it—they " see througha glass darkly."

So we arrive at this point at last. If Psychologyis a science,—and Psychology includes the learningof divine wisdom—then this search after religioustruth is the scientific basis of religion. Theosophy,therefore, is the scientific basis of religion, for thisresearch is Theosophy. I think this is plain enough,and I cannot see how any reasonable man, of what-ever creed or sect, could put himself in antagonism tous. If his sect or his bigotry is more precious to himthan the learning of the truth, of course we neednot areue with him. He could not understand us,or, if he could, he would not admit it. Perhaps, inhis petulant dissatisfaction, he might even accuseus of falsehood. One of these sect-leaders said,the other day, in a Calcutta paper, that the studyof occultism and spiritualism only pandered to" vain curiosity ;" that " men will not believe inGod and immortality, but they will believe in anyamount of spirit-rapping and occultism." I couldnot offer you a better example of the spirit justdescribed—a spirit which would have us put asidescience and investigation of natural law, andblindly take on faith what any would-be leader

BASJS OF RELIGION. 149

chooses to tell us. '' The more "—says this gentle-man, himself an avowed religious teacher,—" a manis found to disbelieve in the natural and legitimateobjects of faith, the more inclined he is to put histrust in all manner of magic, witchcraft, andspiritualism." What is the use of arguing with amind like that ? The little world of illusion inwhich it lives is quite enough to satisfy its everydesire ; if it thinks it can find emancipation in it, letit try. Of one thing such people are most certainlyignorant, and that is of the spirit of the nineteentJicentury. The day of blind faith has gone by,never, I hope, to return. If we are to have any re-ligion—and every man of moral feeling longs forsome religious convictions—it must be one that isin reconciliation with science and natural law. Weare no longer inclined to catch up our religions,as though they were made of glass, and runfor shelter behind the rampart of " faith," everytime a Darwin or a Spencer throws a stone atthem. The men who desire to prohibit our look-ing into the mysterious operations of Nature, arethe lineal descendants of the theological doctors ofGalileo's time. Some of these professors of Pisaand Padua behaved so absurdly about this theoryof the heliocentric system that he has held themup to an immortality of ridicule in a letter toKepler. " Oh ! my dear Kepler," he writes, " howI wish we could have a hearty laugh together.Here at Padua, is the principal professor ofphilosophy, whom I have repeatedly and urgently

invited to look at the moon and planets throughmy glass, which he pertinaciously refuses to do.Why are you not here ? What shouts of laughterwe should have at this glorious folly, and to hearthe philosopher at Pisa labouring before the GrandDuke with logical arguments as if, with magic in-cantations, to draw the new planets out of thesky ! " Dr. James Esdaile, from the Preface towhose work on Natural and Mesmeric Clairvoyance,I copy this quotation, is the Residency Surgeon,who (under the patronage of Lord Dalhousie, thenGovernor-General of India), established a MesmericHospital here at Calcutta, in 1846, at whichwere performed painlessly some hundreds of sur-gical operations upon mesmerised patients. Hisnoble devotion to truth and purely philanthropiclabours provoked the enmity and spite of his profes-sional colleagues. They behaved towards him withthe same vindictive malice as some editors,preachers, and laymen have shown to the Theoso-phical Society. But he kept on with his work, despiteall obstacles, until the use of mesmeric anesthesia wassuperseded by the application of chloroform tosurgery. Dr. Esdaile lived down opposition, andwas enabled to say in 1852, as the result of per-sonal experience, that " like the camomile plant.Mesmerism only flourishes the more for beingtrodden upon." Theosophy seems to enjoy thesame vital elasticity, for we have just seen thatthe unceasing ardent opposition of the missionariesfrom my own'countr\%instead of crushing it (as their

party hoped), has done it a world of good. AChristian himself, and without a trace of infidelityin his opinions, Dr. Esdaile scouts the idea of thestudy of Mesmerism promoting atJicisni; and,though he gives no sign of knowing the connexionof his idea with Vedantism or Yoga, he saysthat by this research the life of man '' will pro-bably be found to be only a modification of thevital agent which pervades the Universe." Thence,he says, we may "come to understand the astound-ing sympathies and affinities sometimes developedbetween the organic and inorganic world, and beled to suspect the possibility of the finite mind ofman passing for a time into relation with the in-finite, and thereby receiving impressions otherwisethan by the senses which regulate and circumscribeour knowledge of surrounding nature in ournormal state of existence." These arc the wisewords of a true philosopher, and I may add, a trueChristian, in the better sense of the word. Mes-merism—a modern European discovery of an oldAsiatic science—is the key to the mystical phenomena,of the Hindu Sastras. Young gentleman of theUniversity, remember this, and withhold }'our flip-pant scepticism about your ancestral faith until atleast you have mastered this subject. Yes, inMesmerism is balm for the heart of the searcherafter the hidden truth of Aryan philosophy.

Look, if you please, at this engraving. It is froma little work published two years ago at Lahore bvSabhapathy Swami. It represents the system of

152 THEOSOPHY, THE SCIENTIFIC

psychic development, by Raj Yoga. Here is traceda series of lines and circles upon the naked body ofa man sitting in the posture of Padmdsan^ andpractising Yoga. The triple line passes down thefront of the head and body, making the circles atcertain points—viz.^ over the vomer, or nasal cavity,the mouth, the root of the throat, the heart, theumbilicus and the spleen. The artist, to bringthe whole system into one view, traces for us theparts of the line and circles that would be out ofsight, such as that over the lower end of the spinalcolumn, the line up the spine, and over the cere-bellum and cerebrum, until it unites with the frontline. This is the line travelled by the will ofthe Yogi in his process of psychic development.He, as it were, visits each of the centres of vitalforce in turn, and subjugates them to dependenceupon the will. The circles are the ckakras, or cen-tres of forces, and when he has traversed the en-tire circuit of his corporeal kingdom, he will haveperfectly evolved his inner self—disengaged itfrom its natural state of commixture with theouter shell, or physical self His next step is toproject this "double" outside the body, trans-ferring to it his complete consciousness, and then,having passed the threshold of his carnal prison-house, into the world of psychic freedom, hispowers of sight, hearing, and other senses areindefinitely increased, and his movements nolonger trammelled by the obstacles which impedethose of the external man. Do not understand

I

or

BASIS OF RELIGIOy.

155

Hindu Gods, Siva and Krishna, with their Parvatis,Radhas, and Gopis. Around the head of each isthe same aureole. These are not sketched after theconceptions of some modern artist ; they representthe popular idea of hundreds and thousands ofyears ago. And now I show you a similar picture,by a Christian artist, of a Christian saint—where thesame glory, and of a transcendent brightness, is de-picted. In Buddhist temples the image of the recum-bent Buddha lying in the divine ecstasis,has a flam-ing aureole of this kind about the head and body ;the lines of colour not standing out like spikes, butwavy, like the coruscating splendours of the aurorasof the North and South Poles. In the Bactrianrock-cut image of Zoroaster, which is assumed togive, perhaps, the nearest idea of a personal like-ness of that splendid seer, the same idea of a gloryabout the head is carried out.*

Now whence did the Hindu, the Buddhist, theParsi, and the Christian, get this impression that thehead of a spiritual leader must radiate lights ?Shall I surprise you when I say that we may findthe answer in this book of Reichenbach ? Lookat this illustration. This figure B represents theactual luminous appearance of the human head, asseen by one of a class of persons of acute nervoussensitiveness with whose help the author made his

* Later a Buddhist monk presented me with a ve/y curious smallsilver figure of Lord Buddha in the erect position, with the aureole re-presented as surrounding him from head to foot. And with it is,moreover, an identical duplicate, which represents the projectedDouble or Phantasm of that creat teacher.

* H

%

•' ' ' • • \; 1 '^ u '^ A 4 rf * *i -k 4 ''' « *^* -* *• * .•' ^ .* '-' li

154 THEOSOPin, THE SClENflFIC

seen examples of some of those psycho-physiologi-cal phenomena. Not to dwell upon othrrs,* I willmention but a single case—that of an American girlof ten years old, the daughter of a friend of mine.This charming little child would, in her waking state,read any book,print or writing,! heldagainst thebackof her head. The faculty, which she accidentallydiscovered, left her after a couple of years, withoutapparent cause. Now, if Nature thus spontaneouslyoffers us examples of the higher mesmeric andother psychic phenomena, their possibility is byNature herself proven. The only remaining questionis whether the Yogi or other mystic can, by intenseconcentration of his will upon a certain centre of"vital activity, voluntarily excite an identical condi-tion. And that he can, I know to a certainty.

I have spoken of Baron von Reichenbach's mas-terly work: here it is. I affirm that this record offive years' experiments of an Austrian chemist ofthe first eminence contains in itself a master-keyto Aryan psychological phenomena. That Reich-enbach probably never read a single Sastra, oro-ave himself one moment's concern about Patan-jali, does not in the least detract from the value ofhis researches. You see the silvery nimbus or .£loud about the head of the Yogi in SabhapathySwami's book, and here I show you pictures of the

* A year later, upon revisiting Calcutta, I had the good fortuneto witness a striking case of the kind. A young Hindu marriedlady, suffering from hysteria, was able to read books and distinguishcolours when held to her finger-tips, the little toe and the elbow, andto hear at the umbilicus.

Hindu Gods, Siva and Krishna, with their Parvatis,Radhas, and Gopis. Around the head of each isthe same aureole. These are not sketched after theconceptions of some modern artist ; they representthe popular idea of hundreds and thousands ofyears ago. And now I show you a similar picture,by a Christian artist, of a Christian saint—where thesame glory, and of a transcendent brightness, is de-picted. In Buddhist temples the image of the recum-bent Buddha lying in the divine ecstasisjias a flam-ing aureole of this kind about the head and body ;the lines of colour not standing out like spikes, butwavy, like the coruscating splendours of the aurorasof the North and South Poles. In the Bactrianrock-cut image of Zoroaster, which is assumed togive, perhaps, the nearest idea of a personal like-ness of that splendid seer, the same idea of a gloryabout the head is carried out.^"

Now whence did the Hindu, the Buddhist, theParsi, and the Christian, get this impression that thehead of a spiritual leader must radiate lights ?Shall I surprise you vvhen I say that we may findtlie answer in this book of Reichcnbach ? Lookat this illustration. This figure B represents theactual luminous appearance of the human head, asseen by one of a class of persons of acute nervoussensitiveness with whose help the author made his

* Later a Buddhist monk presented me with a vejy curious smallsilver figure of Lord Buddha in the erect position, with the aureole re-presented as surrounding him from head to foot. And with it is,moreover, an identical duplicate, which represents the projectedDouble or Phantasm of that trreat teacher.

researches. Repeated experiments with over fiftysuch subjects demonstrated that the human system,in common with every animate and inanimatenatural object, and with the whole starry heavens,is pervaded with a subtle aura, or, if you please,imponderable fluid, wdiich resembles magnetismand electricity in certain respects, and yet is analo-cfous wath neither. He called it Od, or Odyle.This aura, while radiating in a faint mist from allparts of the body, is peculiarly bright about thehead. These two spots of light are the eyes, andthis third one is the mouth. Now this picturerepresents the aura of a young married lady ; andwe have only to imagine to ourselves—as we mayfrom all the analogies of nature—how this aurawould be intensified by enormous concentration ofthe wall, to comprehend readily the intuition whichfirst suggested the artistic conception of the aureole.In fact, we find that Reichenbach was anticipatedby the Aryans in the knowledge of the Odic aura."^But all the same, it should be remembered that wemieht never have understood what the nimbus aboutKrishna means, but for this Vienna chemist.

I must not pass on towai'ds my conclusionbefore showing you that we can get some instruc-tion from Reichenbach upon certain Brahminicalcustoms prescribed by the Sastras, but which Ihave not yet found even one Brahmin to explain.

* In the Atharva Veda, a work of enormous antiquity, mention ismade of the existence of a sensitive aura, of a span's widtli, aboutthe human body.

You have had two kinds of Brahminlcal customshanded down, one primitive and essential, the othersecondary and non-essential; customs and practicesno doubt invented by cunning priests to save pro-fitable vested rights, when the" caste had begun tolose its original spirituality. When Brahmins sitto eat, every man is isolated from his neighboursat the feast. He sits in the centre of a squaretraced upon the floor, grandsire, father and son,brother and uncle, avoiding contact with each otherquite as scrupulously as though they were ofdifferent castes. If I should handle a Brahmin'sbrass platter, his lotah or other vessel for food ordrink, neither he nor any of his caste would touchit, miuch less eat or drink from it, until it had beenpassed through fire: if the utensil were of clay, itmust be broken. Why is this ? That no affrontis meant by avoidance of contact is shown in thecareful isolation of members of the same familyfrom each other. The explanation, I submit, isthat every Brahmin was supposed to be an indi-vidual evolution of psychic force, apart from allconsideration of fam.ily relationship ; if one touchedthe other at this particular time, when the vitalforce was actively centred upon the process ofdigestion, the psychic force was liable to be drawnoff, as a Leyden jar charged with electricity is dis-charged by touching it with your hand. TheBrahmin of old was an initiate, and his evolvedpsychic power was employed in the agnihotra andother ceremonies. The case of the touching of the

eating or drinking vessel, or the mat or clothingof a Brahmin by one of another caste, of inferiorpsychic development, or the stepping of such aperson upon the ground, within a certain prescribeddistance from the sacrificial spot, bear upon thisquestion. In this same plate of Reichen-bach's, the figure F represents the aura, streamingfrom the points of the human hand. Everyhuman being has such an aura, and the aurais peculiar to himself or herself, as to qualityand volume. Now the aura of a Brahmin of theancient times was purified and intensified by apeculiar course of religious training—let us saypsychic training; and if it should be mixed withthe aura of a less pure, less spiritualized person, itsstrength would of necessity be lessened, its qualityadulterated. Reichenbach tells us that the Odicemanation is conductible by metals, more slowlythan electricity, but more rapidly than heat, and thatpottery and other clay vessels absorb and retain itfor a long while. Heat he found to enormouslyincrease quantitatively the flow of Odyle through ametal conductor. The Brahmin, then, in submit-ting his odylically-tainted metallic vessel to the fire,is but experimentally carrying out the theoryof Reichenbach. I will not, however, enlargeupon a branch of my subject which might well bemade the theme of a series of lectures. Thegathering obscurity of the twilight warns me to beas brief as thebreadthof our theme and its novelty toyou permit, as also does the fear that I may have

already overtaxed your patience. I iiiiist availmyself of the few remaining minutes at my dis-posal to say something more specific about theTheosophical Society.

The Society has no endowment, its currentexpenses being met, as far as practicable, out of anInitiation Fee often rupees. The deficiency is madegood by Madame Blavatsky and myself, out of ourprivate resources. Our printed rules define theobjects of our organization to be :—

I.—To form the nucleus of a UniversalBrotherhood of Humanity, without distinction ofrace, creed, or colour.

2.—To promote the study of Aryan andother Eastern literature, religions, and sciences, andvindicate its importance.

3.—To investigate the hidden mysteries ofnature and the psychical powers in man.

I have touched upon these sufficiently, I hope, tomade it clear that our Society has not one featureof sectarianism in it; that it regards religion as apersonal matter; that its founders do not believethat any actual knowledge can be obtained ofDivine things except through psychical develop-ment ; that it has not a shadow of political char-acter ; that it is neither a propaganda nor a specialantagonist of any particular faith ; that its influencemust be in the direction of piety, personal purifica-tion, unselfishness, and patriotism, in the noblestsense of that much abused word. Finally, youmust infer that instead of undervaluing Western

culture and scientific research, we have a thoroughappreciation of the importance of both.

The question between you and myself at thispresent moment is whether you will take an activepractical interest in our work, and help us to makeBengal what it ought to be, in virtue of its tradi-tions and its world-wide reputation for intellectual,metaphysical, and scientific capacity, the centre ofa Theosophic revival that shall thrill all Indiawith the promise of a new spiritual era. I am notasking you to draw the rusty sword of LuxmanSen from its scabbard and deluge your land inblood. It is not war that India wants, but peace,—■peace todevelop her prostrate industries; peace to im-prove her agriculture, and to re-adjust her populationto her territory, drawing away the surplus where itis overcrowding the land, and settling it in districtswhere labour can find vacant land and employment;peace to remove all obstructive barriers, and knitthe races of the Peninsula into a brotherly andreciprocally profitable union ; peace to foster thelove of art, which was once so high that the landis filled with monuments which excite the world'swonder; peace to found Sanskrit schools whereverthey flourished in the olden time, so that once morethe treasures of Indian literature may be known,and this present foul reproach of ignorance of ourSastras may be removed ; and peace, that theremay be born a generation of unselfish patriots, inplace of the present one, which I need not describe :a generation which will esteem it the highest

happiness, as well as the highest honour, to forgetself, and to work for the public good. Ay, " peacehath its victories as well as war." I have not comehere to ask you to give us money, or to erect greattemples of Theosophy, to stand as laughing-stocksof human vanity for the warning of future genera-tions. I am not asking you to overturn the altars ofyour faith to make room for the hybrid erections ofignorant iconoclasts. I do not ask you to trampleunder the feet of pert criticism the sacred literatureof your forefathers, and to substitute for the majesticrhythm and profound thought of its slokas, thecrude rhapsodies of modern ideologists. I am notasking the educated among you to put aside thescience your masters of the College have taughtyou, nor to tear up the diplomas which are the certi-ficates of your industry and culture. I am not cometo tear down the purdahs behind which the lustfulviolence of your conquerors obliged you to hideyour beloved mothers and sisters, wives anddaughters. I am quite content to leave time to workits own changes, and to the increasing good senseof the Hindus the cure of all evils and the extirpa-tion of all abuses.

But I stand here as the unworthy mouthpiece ofancient India, to speak a word of appeal on herbehalf into the ears of the present generation.Since science has proved that your race and mineboast a common parentage, and that the streams ofAryan and European civilization flowed from asingle fount, I speak by right of heritage for the

claims of Aryan philosophy. If you will it, wemay together work in fraternal concord, and to-gether snatch from the oblivion of neglect thescience of Divine Truth, the Wisdom-Religion ofarchaic times. We care not what may be the nameof your Samaj ; if you are working for India, wewill work with you.

The Mahimnastava, a hymn to Siva, dailychanted by the Brahmins (for an English transla-tion of which I am indebted to my venerable friend,Babu Rajnarain Bose), expresses a sentiment whichI should like every modern Hindu to take to heart.It mirrors the spirit of our Society, and is asfollows:—

" As the Ocean is the goal of all rivers, so Thou art the ultimategoal of different paths, straight or devious, which men follow,according to their different tastes and inclinations."

I am asked how we shall set about this task,how to learn Occultism without teachers, andwithout text-books that we can read. For justsuch emergencies as these men always arise: wemust create the teachers and compile the books.Meanwhile we must turn to a quarter where weneed never seek in vain. There is a teacher withinus who waits for us to unlock his prison-doors andset him free. That teacher is our veritable Ego,our Inner Self We can reach him by holy lives,abstract meditations, and the evolution of thepowers of will. More than one road will lead us tothe Adytum wherein he dwells ; for adeptship is ofno one creed, and is the life of all faiths. Look at

the prescribed methods of training under differentsystems, and you will find that while they differ as toformulas, they resemble each other in essentials.First, the man must be pure—in body, mind andaspiration. Second, the place chosen must be pure—in atmosphere and surroundings. It must also bequiet and safe. Third, the diet must be simple,digestible, and taken in as moderate quantities asthe preservation of bodily health permits. Thewould-be adept must have physical stamina, forconcentration makes a great drain upon vital forceAnd the experience of mediums shows thatmediumship, except in the highest form of mentalimpressibility, is usually concomitant with a scrofu-lous or phthisical taint in the blood. Fourth, themotive must be a noble and unselfish desire forDivine wisdom; and, lastly, the practice must begradual and cumulative. Given these, and onemay be sure of attaining his end—that of develop-ing into an adept Theosophist.

My task is finished, my word spoken. It remainswith you to crown our effort with practical success,or to suffer my voice to pass profitlessly, in widen-ing ripples of sound, out into the ocean of air.Remember only that what can be done to-daymay be impossible tomorrow. Neglect hasbrought Hinduism to its present pass. Neglecthas reduced the Brahmin Pundits already to a con-dition little better than that of half-starvation orgenteel beggary. If they would not expose them-selves to the rude rebuffs of the bazaar, and jostle

i64 THEOSOFHY, THE SCIENTIFIC

with a crowd of painted impostors, who masqueradeas Sadhtis to cheat the charitable, and secretly giveloose rein to their bestial natures—they must seekGovernment employment, and convert themselvesinto clerical automata. Their once famous schoolsare now only a memory, and their once grand debateson philosophy at the courts of kings survive onlyin legendary story. A wave of practicalism issweeping away the last vestiges of Hindu origin-ality, engulfing the fairest relics of Aryan greatness,as the muddy overflow from the crater Kilaueaswallows up the trees and villages upon its slopes.Nesflect and sottish laziness have done all this. Afew years—or perhaps a few generations more—andthe foreign boot will be on every Hindu foot, theforeign brandy-bottle in every Hindu hand,and whatis a thousand times worse, the foreign heart will bebeating in every Hindu body, for love of countryand religion will have all died out. Are you pre-pared to face this doom ? Does there yet burn inany corner of your breast a spark of that noble prideand self-respect that made the Aryan man ennobleby his personal virtues the Aryan name? If youwould arrest the tide of national demoralizationthat is rushing through the brandy-shop and theopium-den, you must set up again the old moralstandards, and teach your children to live up tothem. You can save your nationality and regain yourspiritual-mindedness, or you can impiously see themswept, by the torrent of pretended " Progress," intothe Kala Pani of commercial expediency. Some

BASIS OF RELIGION. 165

of your best men thought India had alreadyreached that stage, for they wrote me, two yearsago, from Bengal, that we Theosophists had cometoo late. India was dead, and hope extinguished.But I said No, and I say so now ; a nation is neverdead while one single patriot son survives. For healone, by an extraordinary moral grandeur andspiritual insight, may re-infuse the vanished lifeinto the decrepit frame, and laying his holy handupon his mother's heart, cause it to beat again.No, Aryavarta, queen-mother of nations, is notdead. Her altar-fires burn feebler every year, andthe recollection of her spiritual triumphs has becomea tradition of a by-gone time. Yet it is not toolate for her children to labour for her, and sacrificethemselves for her dear sake.

The sacrifice will not be profitless, the labour notin vain. Remember and take heart from what anEnglish poet has written :—

*' Dejected India, lift thy downcast eyes,

And mark the hour whose steadfast steps for theeFrom Time's press'd ranks brings on the Jubilee."

THEOSOPHY: ITS FRIENDS AND

ENEMIES.*

Complying with the good custom of all societiesthat are really working for the general good, thoughthe latter merit is denied us by some, we now,a third time, come before the Bombay publicto give an official account of ourselves. Ouranniversary meeting should have been held lastNovember, and would, but that we were then faraway in the Punjab, and did not return to Bombayuntil the last day of the old year. Having thusunavoidably missed the usual time, we thoughtit best to wait until we could celebrate the anniver-sary of the arrival of our party in India. Thatevent, so important to us—I wish I could add,possibly to the country, as regards its future results—occurred on Sunday, February i6th, 1879, and Iam here to tell you how it has fared with us duringthe two years that have since passed. I will do mybest to ... .

" nothing extenuate, nor aught set down in malice."

We only ask that those who love and those whohate us, will alike be governed by the same feelingof moderation. For, to tell you the plain truth, we

* A Lecture delivered at the Framji Cowasji Institute, Bombay,

27th February, iS8i.

have suffered quite as much, if not more, from theextravagant expectations and ideas of our friends,as from the maUce and falsehood of our enemies.The former have rushed to as great extremes in onedirection, as the latter have in another. We havebeen kept quite as busy in recovering ground we oughtnever to have lost, and should never have lost ifour sympathisers had been reasonable, as in defend-ing ourselves and our cause from the plots andassaults of those who wished for our defeat. I havetried, in many public addresses, to define our exactresponsibility to the Indian nation. I have donemy best to show exactly what it had, and what ithad not, a right to demand of us. I have ex-plained over and over again, what the Hindus hadthemselves to do, if they really cared to snatchtheir nationality from the gulf of perdition intowhich it has been plunging headlong, these manycenturies. I have tried to make Young India seethat there can be no real moral reform that doesnot come from their own united effort; and that noforeigner, though he love the conntry ever so muchand be ready to sacrifice ever so much for it, canrelieve her own sons of the smallest portion of thatduty. Many whom I see around me in this audienceheard my first address to the country, from this sameplatform, on 23rd March, 1879. I ask theseto remember how earnestly I tried on that occasionto impress this solemn conviction upon the nativemind. Among other things I said :—" If India isto be regenerated, it must be by Hindus, who can

i6S THEOSOPHY,

rise above their castes and every other reactionaryinfluence, and give good example as well as goodadvice. Useless to gather into Samajes, and talkprettily of reform. Not of such stuff are thesaviours of nations made." Did you hear me puttingourselves up as the would-be leaders of Hindu re-generation, as exemplars of virtue or patternsof v/isdom ? No, a thousand times no : I saidour chief and sole desire was to help India and herpeople, " in any way practicable, however humble,*without meddling with politics, into which, asforeigners, we "had neither the right nor inclina-tion to intrude." With the cry of one who seesdanger hovering over those he sympathiseswith, and would have them make an effort tosave themselves, I said:—" Here is material for anew school of Aryan philosophy which only waitsthe moulding hand of a master. We cannot yethear his approaching footsteps, but he will come ; asthe man always does come when the hour of destinystrikes. He will come, not as a disturber of thepeace, but as the expounder of principles, the in-structor in philosophy. He will encourage study,not inflame passion. He will scatter blessings, notsorrow. So Zoroaster came, so Gautama, so Con-fucius. O for a Hindu, great enough in soul, wiseenough in mind, sublime enough in courage, to pre-pare the way for the coming of this needed Re-generator ! O for one Indian of so grand a mouldthat his appeals to his countrymen would fire everyheart with a noble emulation to revive the glories

of that by-gone time when India poured out herpeople into the empty lap of the West, and gavethe arts and sciences, and even language itself, tothe outside world ! " And that I foresaw that thework, even if begun at once, must take long to yieldthe desired results, is shown in these further re-marks :—" Do not imagine that I have the idlenotion that India can be reformed in a day. Thisonce enlightened, monotheistic and active peoplehave descended step by step, in the course of manycenturies, from the level of Aryan activity to thatof idolatrous lethargy and fatalism. It will be thework not of years but of generations to re-ascendthe steps of national greatness. But there must bea beginning. Those sons of Hindustan who aredisposed to act rather than preach, cannot com-mence a day too soon. This hour the countryneeds your help."

So, too, I may refer you to the address I de-livered, on November 29th, at the celebration ofour fourth anniversary, when I again recurred to thesubject. "We do not ask you to be our followers,"I said, "but our allies. Our ambition is not to beconsidered leaders, or teachers; not to make money,or power or fame. Choose any man here, of eitherof the old races represented, and show us that heis the right man to lead in either branch of thisreformatory movement, and I will most gladly en-list as a common soldier under him." But this ideaof the necessity for personal effort does not seem tohave as yet impressed itself upon the public mind.

170 THEOSOPH\,

Some would force us to accept without remonstrancethe imputation that we want to push ourselves intothe attitude of leaders, to ape the state of Alex-ander, who—Dryden tells us, in St. Cecilia s Day—

"Assumes to nod,Affects the god,And seems to shake the spheres."

—and that if we do not at least attempt to lead, orto exhibit all the qualities, intellectual and moral,of the ideal leader, we must confess that we havenot made good our claims. But again, for thetwentieth time, I protest, and, in the presence ofthis multitude, declare that the moral Regeneratorof Aryavarta will be no European, but must be ason of the soil, and no one else ! It is only tooevident I say, too sadly so, that a vague notion hasgained wide currency that we, Theosophists, muststraightway bind up all the gaping wounds in thebody of this hapless India, while the Hindus lookpassively on, or consent to be taken as derelict induty. " What efforts," asks a correspondent of theeditor of a Bombay native paper, " have until nowbeen made by this Society to alleviate the sufferingsof the Aryans, and how have they succeeded ? "Does our questioner know the meaning of words ?Did he, before penning those lines, ponder wellwhat relief of the sufferings of the Aryans involves,and what our poor efforts could reasonably be ex-pected to accomplish in that direction ? No, butlike every other man who has sat down to hale usbefore the public, he dashed off the first smart

ITS FJ^IENDS AND ENEMIES. 171

phrase that came Into his mind, as one shuts hiseyes and fires his musket point-blank into a crowd.I can say one thing in reply to this gentlemanwhich can be proved even upon European testi-mony, let alone the abundant evidence natives canfurnish, and that is that we have made everyeffort in the power of mortal men to interest theparamount race in behalf of the Hindus, and to makethem respect Aryan philosophy and science. Toeffect this result we have spared neither time,trouble, nor the inconveniences and costs of travel.We have also excited respect for Indian achieve-ments and sympathy with Indian thought, in themost distant countries. In ample proof of this, Ipoint you to the articles which have appeared inthose countries, many of which are preserved by usin our scrap-books at Head Quarters.

But all this is nothing in the eyes of thesedrowsy patriots ! " Here we are," substantially saythey who, perhaps, never sacrificed one pan-sitparifor India, *' and here are the Aryans, twenty-fourcrores strong. Here is Aryavarta, stripped to thelast rag, and in the last extremes of starvation.Here are one-fifth of the people lying down hungryevery night, and rising hungry every morning.Here are fifty millions of wretched human beingsfighting famine on a half acre of land each. Hereis ignorance holding a nation in chains, and super-stition gnawing out the last remnants of hope intheir hearts. Here are hungry fathers breedingchildren by lakhs only to starve ; farmers eating

172 THE OS 0 PHY,

the best of their seed grain and saving the worst ;giving their land no fallow time for recuperation ;burning their manure, because the wood is all cutaway; here are taxes multiplying, poverty increasing,and an educated class thinking of Government aloneas their employer ; here are five hundred strugglingapplicants for ten vacant places, at from Rs. 40 to60 per month, advertised by the Bombay TelegraphDepartment; and here are liquor-shops, springingup like mushrooms in every large town. Come,Theosophists, banish our sufferings and we will notcall you impostors or adventurers any more." Thisis no exaggeration, but the exact tone of nine-tenthsof the criticisms upon us with which the native presshas teemed, and of the public expectation. Do wenot know it ? Who should know it better than w^ewho get almost every day letters to this very effectfrom the four corners of India? And yet how can weutter one angry word in protest, when we know thatthe cause of all this is in the wretchedness of apeople, enwrapped in such a blackness of despair thatthey clutch at even the faintest promise of relief Intheir awful dejection they have tried to cheat theirhearts into the belief that, perhaps, the hoped-for Re-generator had come or was just coming from acrossthe ocean. Ay, and just after my first address wasmade, a native paper said as much. But it is notso, it is not so, I tell you. We can only sorrow atour helplessness to give the succour so muchneeded, and try to spur to a sense of their dutythose who alone could do something, if they only

would. And in parenthesis let me remark that itwould be a good beginning if those who have saidthe sharpest things about what the Theosophistshave not done, would, when next writing to thepapers, prove that they had themselves set us thatpattern of unselfish patriotism they would have usimitate ! Talk is cheap, gentlemen, and the com-modity is not scarce in India. If words could becoined into rupees, our young reformers would longago have restored the splendour of the Aryan epoch,and lodged every ryot in a marble bungalow. Yetwords are useful too, and very necessary to Indiaat this particular juncture. Words of warning, ofappeal, of encouragement; glowing words thatshall burn through the thick crust of selfishness andreach the very core of every patriot's heart. Haveyou read the history of the world and not learntthe mighty power of the right word spoken at theright moment? Speak then, every man of you,but also act ; speak and tell your countrymen thatthe time for dreaming is past, the hour for actionhas come. Let a great shout go up, like the voiceof thunder, until the Himalayas echo to the cryfrom Cape Comorin, that if the nation is to besaved, every one who can give the slightest helpmust nozu give it. Even the British themselves,with all their might and power, will be unableto save the Indian people from starvation, per-haps annihilation, unless India herself awakento activity and reform, and help them to saveher. You have gained knowledge, scatter it every-

where ; for it Is Ignorance that has cursed Arya-varta, and this is the demon that has buried hisfangs in her fair throat. You remove your shoesand reverently worship when you enter your templesand, I tell you, you ought to do the same at everyschool-house door. For, if India may be rescued,it is only by the spread of education in the Templesof Knowledge. When one shall see in your coun-try what you can see in America and England—aschool open wherever there are children to be taught—then, ay, then indeed, will the sufferings of theAryans be " alleviated," and India be prosperousand happy once more. Do not trouble yourselvesabout the Theosophists ; don't waste your time incomplaining that they have not accomplished themiracles you expected of them : they will do whatlittle they can—you may count upon that; andthey will never do any thing dishonourable, or thathas to be covered up. Set your own houses inorder ; live in private up to your public professions,—that is all we, or any one else, could ask : be whatyou pretend to be. If you are idol-haters in publicmeetings, be so when your own family and castefellows are by too ; if you are orthodox at heart,be manly enough to say so to the face of the wholeworld. If you think Christianity the best religion,and your reason is convinced, boldly proclaim it,and take the consequences ; and if you think it theworst, say so like men. If you expect yourneighbour to give in charity, or work for thecountry's good, set him the example. We have

had enough of masks and hypocrisies, and a moralcoward every honest soul loathes. Cannot everyman in this assemblage put his hand upon one ofthese two-faced talkers ? Are they not in theorthodox sects, in the Arya Samaj, the PrarthanaSamaj, and the Theosophical Society—yes, evenin that, and not only hypocrites but traitors ? Doyou not, even while I speak, recall to mind howthe man with two faces pretends to be a reformer,but is not; to favour child widows' remarriage, andyet casts the first stone at the one who puts intopractice his very sentiments, nay, will himself, if awidower, marry a wife young enough to be hisgrand-daughter's daughter ? Have you not heardhim abhor child-marriage, and yet know that hehad had no sound sleep until his own baby daughterwas pledged and bound to a boy husband; or worseyet, to a man older than himself; seen him frownupon the costly ceremonials of investiture with thethread, marriage, first pregnancy, &c., and yetbeggar himself and his relatives in trying to viewith his acquaintance in empty display? Theseare the men of mere words, whose counsel noone respects or wants, because they are hypo-crites and poltroons. But he who preaches self-denial and practises it; he who proves by his acts thathe means all he says, ah ! he is a man to listen to,let his advice be ever so fanciful and impracticable.For we feel that he at least is a conscientious manand is acting up to his best light, even thoughstrength often fail him and he occasionally may

176 THEOSOPFIY,

fall out of the straight path. These are the kindof men we try to draw into our TheosophicalSociety. We never ask them what their creed is,we do not care: they may worship the god theysee in fire or the sun ; or the divinity that for theminfuses the substance of a Sivaic Lingam and ani-mates its ultimate atoms ; they may search for hisglory at Mecca or Jerusalem ; in the kabah or fire-temple ; at Benares or L'hassa ; or in the oceandepths or the morning dawn. Though they washtheir sins away in the Ganges or the Jordan: thoughthey pray standing or kneeling, with forms ofwords or the soundless aspirations of the inmostheart—we care not. They are sincere, and we hailthem as our brothers. They are searchers aftertruth, and, in the degree of their spiritualmindedness, Theosophists. What then is Theoso-phy? you will ask. I reply that TJicosophia—" God-like wisdom "—for us means "search after divineknowledge," the term divine applying, as we see it,to the divine nature of the abstract principle, notto the quality of a Personal God. Many may evenbe rejecting God as a being, be piicca atheists infact, and yet if they accept the existence of divineor absolute wisdom and truth, and are honestly andsincerely trying to find it out and live up to thatstandard, they are philo-theosophs, lovers of God-like or divine Wisdom and Truth; the two wordsbeing synonymous, for there can be no absoluteTruth without Wisdom, and absolute Wisdom isabsolute Truth. Our Society might have added to

the name " Thcosophical " that of " Philadelphian "(from the two words pJiilos, loving, and adelphos,brother), as it was always meant to be a society ofuniversal brotherhood and for promoting brotherlylove among all races—but there were several re-ligious societies of that name already, as the Christ-adelphians and the Philadelphians. Knowing butof one really divine manifestation on earth—Humanity as taken collectively, Humanity with itsgod-like intellect, its latent promises and spiritualhopes, hidden away under a thick crust of material-ism and selfishness—we know of no better form ofworship, no higher cultus to the divine principle,than that whose oblations are laid on the altar ofHumanity. With our hands upon that altar wemust all strive to call out these divine, deep, hiddenintuitions of mutual Help, Tolerance and Love.By "divine " then I mean that which the commonintuition of mankind conceives to be the oppositeof all that is animal, material, brutish. The know-ledge one gains by the help of the physical sensesis physical science. It is the orderly classificationof the objective phenomena of the visible world.Theosophy, on the contrary, is the discovery of thelaw and order of the inner world of force or spirit,by the aid of another set of faculties that lie withinthe human being. What creed the spiritual searcherm.ay outwardly held to, matters as little as thecolour or shape of his turban or scarf; providedonly that he does not let the acid of his creed eatout the precious substance of his nobler nature.

178 TIIEOSOPHY,

There have been true theosophists in every creed;true seers who have Hfted the secret veils of Natureand penetrated her mysteries. It may astonishyou to hear me say that the most materiahstscientists are theosophists—ay, Professors Huxleyand Tyndall, for instance, who have devoted theirwhole lives to the search of truth in hidden principles,in physical nature, and served humanity faithfullyand sincerely. This alone would make good myproposition, even did we not know that mankindare substantially the same the world over. Haveyou ever read the Dabistan—that most instructivereport by Mohsan Fani, the learned Persian of theseventeenth century, of his observations of thevarious holy men who were his contemporaries ?If not, do so, and you will find quoted the exultantlanguage of Jellal-Eddin Rumi, in which he de-scribes the extinction of all human prejudices andpassions that occurs when the mystic has attainedemancipation. " O IMoslems ! what is to be done ?I do not know myself; I am neither Jew, norChristian, nor Gheber, nor Moslem; I am not fromthe East nor from the West; nor from land norsea; neither from the region of nature nor fromthat of heaven ; not from Hind nor China ; notfrom Bulgaria nor Irak ; nor from the towns of

Khorassan I know but him, Yahu! What

is the intent of this speech ? Say it, O ShamsTabrizi! The intended meaning is ; / am the soulof the world!' The Mobed Peshkar of Patna, weare told, " attained the knowledge of God and him-

self, and he became eminently divested of prejudiceand exempted from human Infirmities: being totallyunfettered by the bonds or chains of any sect what-ever, and studiously shunning the polemic domainsof prejudice; in short, the eulogium of one creedand the abhorrence of another, entered not intohis system." The Shaikh Bahu-ud-din MuhammedAmall, enchanted by the noble sentiments ofKaiviin, a Zoroastrlan sage, became his follower,and nobly exclaims: " As the splendour of theAlmighty is in every place, knock thou either atthe door of the kabah or the portals of the fire-temple."

The editors of the Dabistan say: " There Isscarcely a tenet to be found In any other creedwhich does not, at least in its germ, exist in theHindu religion." And yet while thus showing anappreciation of a profound truth, they also say thatthe common state of a Yogi " is that of completeimpasslveness or torpor;" thereby indicating thatthe Hindu search, through Yoga, after the veryspiritual light and powers exemplified in the joyouscry of the Sufi Jellal-Eddin, was a thing they didnot appreciate. And yet they affirm this great truththat "in all times and places, the religion of the ' En-lightened' was distinguished from that of the 'Vul-gar ;' the first as Interior, being the product of uni-versal reason, was everywhere nearly uniform ; thesecond, as exterior, being composed of particularand arbitrary rites and ceremonies, varied accord-ing to the influence of the climate, and the char-

I So THEOSOPHY,

acter, history, and civilization of a people. But, inthe course of time, no religion remained entirelythe same, either in principle or form." The coreand heart of all was a like aspiration after spiritualtruth. This spiritual aspiration for absolute know-ledge is true Theosophy, and the word that ourSociety brought to the Western world was that theacquirement of this knowledge was possible byself-discipline and purification and development.We first proclaim then the universal brotherhood ofman and the duty of all to join in what will pro-mote the welfare of the human race, especially thosewho are weakest and most need help. We do notclaim this as any new doctrine; it has been oftenenunciated by other societies. But we are tryingto make those who accept it in theory, show it inpractice. Our plan has been to interest groups ofmen of different races and religions to co-operatewith each other in this direction. We have suc-ceeded to a certain extent—to an extent which mightsurprise some who have imagined that we were do-ing nothing. I hear we are accused of greatly ex-aeeeratinsf our numbers. We have members in thetwo Americas, in Australia and the West Indies, inSiam and Burmah, in Java, Holland, Austria,Russia, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Ger-many, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Cyprus, Ceylon,Spain, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Greece, Mexico, Japan,and, here, in India.

Thus, in ever widening circles, like the waveletscaused by a stone that drops in water, runs on the

ITS FRIENDS AND ENEMIES. i8i

impulse given to contemporaneous thought by theTheosophical Society. That impulse is now somarked, and has gone so far beyond any blundersin judgment we may make—so far beyond thereach of anything we, Founders of the Society,could do to check it, did we even wish to doso—that the established and inexorable law of thediffusion of human thought would carry it downthe century were we to die tomorrow. I have herethe photograph of a group of some three hundredboys who are regularly attending the schoolrecently opened by our branch Society at Galle, Cey-lon—one of the five schools that have sprung up inthat island as the result of our recent visit.* Everyboy is the son of Buddhist parents, and nearly allwere until now being educated in missionary schools,where their minds were being turned away from thereligion of their forefathers. The teachers you seehere are Buddhist members of our Society, and ournoble colleagues pay the school's entire expensesout of their private means. That no such schoolshave been founded by Theosophists in India maybe accounted for, partly because Government isdoing so much for non-sectarian education, butmainly because we have not yet received into our

* The attendance increased to five hundred, and this so alarmed themissionaries that they opened their principal school as a free school,offering to give a first-class education gratis. The Buddhists are sopoor that they availed themselves of the chance, and our numberslargely declined. When some generous friend shall help them tofunds, ours will be made a free school, and then we shall have all out-boys back again with a rush.

Society men with the liberality of JamsetjiJeejibhoy, Jaggernath Sunkerseth, Gokuldas Tejpal,or Cowasji Jehangir, though we have one memberworth fifteen lakhs. And so long as the schoolsare but founded, it matters little that we shouldhave the mere credit of their establishment. Ourhighest hope is to arouse others to noble deeds, andto cause the seeds of a great and permanent reformto be scattered. From the first we have beenfortunate in attracting into our membership manyauthors, journalists and others who address thepublic or have a hand in the work of education.This will explain to you why our theosophical ideasshould have so rapidly gained a world-wide circula-tion. Theosophy, properly understood, has not onefeature calculated to excite the hostility of reason-able men of any school of science or religion. I willlay down two cardinal propositions—(i.) That,psychically, all men are brothers, all equally entitledto know divine truth, and, without distinction of na-tionality or faith, should join for the general good ofhumanity ; bound by a common tie and commonsympathies. For united effort not only mitigatesthe hardness of the task, but produces tenfoldp-reater results in the same time. One ant cancarry but a grain of dust at once, but a colony ofants labouring together can remove the largesthouse in time. So one man, unless endowed withextraordinary advantages, can accomplish compara-tively little ; but with co-operation every thing ispossible. This help we ask, this we have the right

ns FRIEA'DS AND ENEMIES. 183

to expect ; and, as I have shown you, we have hadit from thousands of well-wishers whose faces wehave never seen and never may see. (2.) Mysecond proposition is that every human being haswithin his own nature, in a greater or less degree,certain sublime faculties which, when fullydeveloped, will give him divine knowledge. Thetheory upon which almost all formalized religionsrest is that only a certain favoured class of menhave these spiritual capacities, and alone can bepermitted to exercise them. But, as I said before,there have been " emancipated " or "illuminated "ones under all the various religions, and the testi-mony they have brought back to us from theirsoul-flights into the inner world has essentiallyagreed. We have seen that when a certain pointof this interior development is reached, the seerloses all sense of his nationality, his theology, evenof his personality. His pettiness becomes infinitelyexpanded, and, from the consciousness of being amicroscopic point as compared to the whole, hefeels that he is in all, bounds all, is all. The bodyhe so cherished and lavished so much care andthought upon is now felt to be a clog and impedi-ment—if, indeed, he can cramp himself down to arealisation that it exists. How beautiful, howsuggestive, the verse of the poet Hafiz, where, in acharming allegory, he describes the ease with whichthe absolute truth may be attained when the barriersof flesh arc once surmounted :—

" The perfect beauty of my beloved is not concealed by an inter-posing veil;O Hafiz, iJioii ai't the curtain of the road; remove away."

There are no secrets of nature impenetrable, hewould say; the only obstacle to our gaining fullknowledge is SELF. This is the coward, thetraitor, the despot, the bigot, the swinish sensualist,the lump of egotism. This Self is the serpentcoiled beneath the flowers of life. This is thatwhich stifles all good and noble aspirations, andwhich makes the Rights of Man as a whole ruth-lessly sacrificed to the base greed of the individualman. Ah! the dream of Universal Brotherhoodof Man, when nations will cease to enslave nations,and the only strife will be who can best live up tothe ideal of human perfectibility! The brightvision mocks us even as we gaze upon its splendour,yet happy he who has even been so blessed as tosee it in his dreams. Theosophy is the enchantressthat alone can conjure it up ; and though hard bethe task and disheartening the delay in gaining thedivine wisdom, when once gained, the sacrifices ofa life seem no adequate price to pay for its acquisi-tion.

Who are the friends of this Theosophy—v.'ho itsenemies ? I utter no paradox in saying that in thecause of Theosophy, as of every other cause, thoseesteemed its friends are sometimes its worstenemies, and its would-be enemies often its bestfriends. For the zeal of the former is ofteninordinate, and the poisoned darts of the latter

often recoil from the polished shield of truth andwound the one who hurled them. If I franklyinclude myself in the former category, I should beacquitted of egotism, and so I do. My Cause isfar greater than my ability to serve it effectively,and none knows so well as I how much and oftenthis sacred cause may have been injured by theerrors I have myself committed. It is not a ques-tion to be considered whether my motives havebeen good ; for results are the current coin in theexchequer of moral justice. The Christian hell, theproverb says, is paved with good intentions; aChristian sect has adopted the motto Finis coronatopus—the end justifies the means—and made it thepretext for nameless and numberless crimes againsthumanity. As regards the moral accountability ofthe individual, the question is whether he has doneall he could with the means at his disposal torealize a worthy ideal. If Theosophy has sufferedfrom my blunders, who profess to be among itsmost earnest advocates, its mouth-piece, so has theprogress of our Society suffered through the inex-cusable heedlessness of our associated fellows andmembers in holding such extravagant views of theFounders, and expecting them to be above theweaknesses of mortality. This I have touched uponalready, but I revert to it from a desire to presshome the thought that a would-be friend may con-vert himself into a dangerous enemy by setting upthe illusions of his own fancy, and then growingindifferent, if not hostile, when the glamour passes

awa}^ " Are these Theosophlsts," asks a certainMr. Ganpatrao of the editor of the Indu Prakash,"in conduct like ordinary people of the world, orlike Tukaram, and other SadJuis of ancient times ? "Now, if the false report had not spread that wewere like Sadhns, our friend would never havethought of asking such a question. If the gentle-man is within the sound of my voice, let me answerthat we are nothing but ordinary people, and neverpretended to be anything else. We never askedpeople to look upon us as gurus, or follow our per-sonal example; though we have tried, as far asour natural infirmities permitted, to make thatexample a good one. What we have said to theHindus is, " Follow the example of your Tukaramsand your Harischandras, of your Rishis and yourYogis ; follow them as models, and not anyforeigner, even though he may think your ancestorsfools, and not know he is one himself in saying, oreven thinking, so. And we have tried to make thedignity, the virtue, and the learning of thoseancestors of yours appreciated by you, and respectedby the whole v/orld."

" Have they conquered the six passions of Lust,Anger, Greediness, Vanity, Avarice, and Envy ?"he asks. Now it is for those who are best acquaintedwith our daily lives and conversation to answer thisquestion. I leave it to them to answer ; not alto-gether now, but after we are dead and gone, whenthe truth shall shine out through the clouds ofpartiality, on the one side, and of prejudice, on the

Other. Some of these vices we may, I think, justlyclaim to be exonerated from having even now.For no one in India, even our worst enemy, woulddare accuse us of either lust, greediness, avarice, orenvy. If I were to tell you we are perfectly free ofvanity it would perhaps be taken as the best proofthat we are not, or remain for ever an open question ,as nothing is so difficult as to prove whether it ispersonal Vanity in man or a justifiable Pride whichis his secret motor. From anger we certainly arenot exempt; we have not yet reached the stage whereone can suffer in silence and with smiles the cruelstripes of slander, the base return of treachery andingratitude, the wilful perversion of our motives, thecowardly assaults on character by masked assassins.No, not perfect yet—alas 1 not yet. But even sup-posing that we are not to be ranked among the" emancipated ones," though striving hard, does ourquestioner therefore give us to understand that he isnot bound to listen to our advice to put aside his ownvices and take examplefromthe virtues of Tukaram?That is the gist of the whole question ; and thisinterrogatory reflects the now universally prevalenttone of public thought—viz., that to find some holyor supposed holy person, and nominally enroll one-self as his admirer, follower, ©r pupil, will confermerit and secure vioksha without self-sacrifice orthe conquest over evil passions. Not only by wordof mouth in private conversations, but from manypublic platforms, and through our journal, theTheosophist, we have tried to compel the public

to think of the great problem of Theosophy, andpointed all who would learn to the ancient Aryansources of information.

Mr. Gunpatrao's next question is, " How far dothe Theosophists keep up to the standard of Brother-hood ?" I will tell him that he may search ■ thewhole history of our Society, and he will find thatwe have always been on the side of the weak againstthe strong. We have, as you have seen in whathas been shown you respecting the spread of ourfellowship to all the quarters of the world, linkedmany, of many nations and creeds, together withthe tie of mutual reciprocity and tolerance. " Thisnew Gospel," says a writer in a London journal," appears to be now in the ascendancy amongspiritualists. Its immense value in behalf of thewell-being of mankind cannot be over-estimated.We rejoice to see the Theosophists in Hindustan. . really labouring towards this goal." " Thatgreatproject of human fraternity," writesM. Fauvety,President of the Paris Psychological Society, "whichyou propose to realise by means peculiar to your-selves. . . constitutes the grandest and noblesttentative that has been essayed on the road touniversal conciliation." " Such a society as yours,"says the venerable French metaphysician Cahagnet,in accepting our diploma of Fellow, " has been thedream of my wdiole life." Says the Pioneer ofAllahabad—a paper which before we came to Indiaand promulgated our views, was certainly nevercharged with any specially weak tolerance of Hin-

duism—"We have no hesitation in recognising theTheosophical Society as a beneficent agency inpromoting good feeling between the two races inthis country, not merely on account of the ardentresponse it awakens from the Native community,but also because of the way in which it certainlydoes tend to give Europeans in India a better kindof interest in the country than they had before.""No man," remarks the Colombo (Ceylon) Ex-iwiiner, " who has a firm faith in what he believesis the truth, and the excellence of his own systemof faith, can quarrel with the Theosophists. . . .They tell us they have a conscientious mission toperform, and we see them labouring earnestly inthe discharge of their self-imposed duties. . . . thespirit of research they are striving to infuse intothe torpid minds of our countrymen cannot fail tolead to good results." " Let us," says the noblePresident of the Ionian Theosophical Society, ofCorfu (Greece), in his Inaugural Address, " let usplace the brotherhood of nations as the first of ourwishes, and let us hasten the coming of that blessedmoment when the whole of mankind will be gatheredin one fold and will have but one shepherd." TheAmriia Bazar Patrika, that fearless champion ofIndian interests, speaking of our journal, says"Since the Theosophist carefully abstains frompolitics, and its plan is one of Universal Brother-hood, it should be welcomed by every sect andpeople throughout the world. And as it recognisesthe Aryans as the fathers of all religions and

sciences, Hindus owe it their enthusiastic sup-port."

Omitting personal matters, what remains is todispose of the question of occult phenomena. TheIndiL PrakasJCs correspondent wishes to knowwhether Madame Blavatsky has produced realphenomena; whether she will do so again ; andwhether the correspondent himself may have aspecial chance to see them ? Now, as far as humanevidence will go, the proof is apparently overwhelm-ing that at Simla, Benares, and elsewhere, strangethings of this nature did occur, and that they werereal and not mere deceptions. Tricks, gentlemen,are played only by tricksters—persons who have nocharacter to lose, and who have an interestedmotive in making their dupes believe their lies.You will get no Court in any civilized country inthe world to withhold from an accused person of pre-vious good character the benefit of the doubt. Andnow tell me, if you please, what was Madame Bla-vatsky's interested motive in this case? She is nothere, and I may speak freely what I have to sayabout her. What was the motive? Money? Shenever asked or received one anna's value for anyphenomenon she ever produced either in India orelsewhere. And, mind you, these phenomena haveattended her for many years, all over the world, asshe has journeyed to study occult science. If it wereat all worth the trouble I could occupy hours in read-ing to you reports of the strange feats of this kindshe did in America alone, in the presence of all

manner of people. I might give you the names andaddresses of enough credible witnesses—sceptics—to prove her possession of these powers to the satis-faction of any fair-minded man. And her vindi-cation might be made with the greatest ease bycollecting the testimony of eye-witnesses in India,who would certify to facts more reraarkable thanany that have been reported in the papers. Well,then, if money was not her object, was it fame ?A sorry reward, indeed, this sort of fame, whichmakes her the subject of the scurvy jests and pus-illanimous jeers of the ignorant and prejudiced !Her fame is already secured in the authorship ofhis Unveiled, one of the most masterly reviews ofancient and modern Science and Theology everwritten: a book which one of the best of our con-temporaneous critics pronounces " one of the re-markable productions of the century." Only herein India has the book had the honour of beingabused by certain petty editors. I say "honour,"for it is an honour to be abused, as it is a disgrace tobe praised, by such weathercocks. Well, if neithermoney nor fame forced her to invite such criticisms,what then ? Come, you who rake the gutters ofhuman nature for bits of garbage to fling in decentpeople's faces, what is left for you to insinuate ?She is a woman ; strike her in the good woman'smost sensitive moral part—her motive. Ah, shameon slanderers ! See this great, generous-heartedsoul, filled with love for humanity; longing to throwlif^ht into the darkened minds of those who still

believe in miracles, and still clank the chains ofsuperstition; devoting her life, sacrificing the sweetsof home, and family and ease, and a high socialposition, to go about the world in search of truth,and spreading it so that all may partake. Thosewho know her best appreciate her abnegation andperfect disinterestedness ; and though some whodo- not understand her motives may think—nayeven take upon themselves to proclaim her accord-ing to their worldly understanding a hallucinatedlunatic—no one had better venture to call her animpostor, unless, indeed, he is prepared to be him-self called by some of the most renowned menliving a vile slanderer ! Here stand I, her witnessand friend, I whom she took out of the ditch ofworldly selfishness and put on the path to divinetruth and happiness. I am here to tell you that Ishould deserve to have my tongue cleave to theroof of my mouth were I to keep silence when hermotives are thus called in question.

She has shown her phenomena from what I con-ceive to be the mistaken idea that when there was noreasonable ground for suspicion of their genuinenessthey would be acknowledged, and the public wouldtry to learn as she had learned, and then, whethermaterialists or religious bigots, become wiser andhappier. Noticing the impending visit to India ofProfessor Solavief, the " Herbert Spencer of Russia,"the Pioneer editorially remarks :—

" He (Prof. Solavief) has been impressed with a sense of the im-portance of Hindu thought in connexion with pure speculation, by

the light thrown on this subject by the Theosophical Society andits stupidly maligned, and so far ill-appreciated founder, MadameBlavatsky. The fact is, that while we (Englishmen) in India havebeen in contact with the remains of old native culture for a hundredyears without having detected its significance, it has been reservedfor the indomitable old lady just mentioned to put an entirely newface on Oriental philosophy. ... It will probably surprisesome heedless jokers in the press to hear that already some of theforemost European metaphysicians in India have acknowledgedthis. . . ."

Bitter experience has taught her the truth thathuman nature is too base to be honest. Were I inher place I would never again—at least not in India—thus fling myself as a victim to be mangled bythe hounds. There are many who would regard theTheosophical Society as a miracle club, by joiningwhich, whether deserving or not, they ought to gettheir fill of wonders. Some, devoid of patriotismand the instinct of race pride, caring nothing forthe vindication in modern eyes of their ancestralfame and glories, but only eager for their senses tobe astonished by phenomena, have felt themselvesaggrieved because they have seen none. MadameBlavatsky has been reviled by them and throughthem, because of their disappointment. The pub-lished testimony of those who have witnessed themost wonderful things, has caused her to be pouncedupon by a host of newspaper critics, as though shewere not a private individual who never showed any-thing but to a limited circle of friends, but a sort ofprofessional juggler who had cheated them out oftheir money. But even though they sawten thousandphenomena, yet neither studied nor put forth indi-

N

vidual efforts, they would never reap the slightestbenefit. They would never learn the great truth,that while occult phenomena are possible, a miracleis an impossibility in nature. Spiritualism has for thepast thirty-two years been surfeiting the public withphenomena of the most startling description : theknown laws of force have been upset, matter hasdisplayed qualities never suspected before, and eventhe figures, or rather portrait-statues of the deadhave stalked in our presence, and revealed thesecrets of the shadow world. Has religion orphilosophy been the gainer by all this ? No.Have the mass of investigators been stimulated tonobler lives ? No. Those that were moral beforeare for the most part moral still, and the bad con-tinue bad. We are gorged with phenomena, weneed philosophy and a sure path to release us fromour pain and suffering. Where is this knowledgeto be sought for? Here, in India; and if you willquestion either one of the hundreds of Europeanvisitors with whom Madame Blavatsky has talkedin different countries, you will find that her con-stant vehement assertion has ever been that whatshe knows she learned in India and Tibet, and thatfor what they taught her she gives her love and herlife, If necessary, to promote the happiness of theirpeople.

" But is not your Society established for the solepurpose of giving these experimental proofs ofpsychic power ?" some will ask. I answer, no ;more phenomena have been shown to outsiders than

to members, because every man who joins us tostudy occultism, tacitly pledges himself to try todevelop his own latent psychic powers. If he doesthis he is helped, if not he is left to wait until hecan decide to rouse himself to exertion. Adeptshipimplies the highest success in self-evolution, andthe lavish display of phenomena to beginners is asdemoralising as overdoses of opium or brandy. Iteither kills effort, or excites a frenzy of supersti-tious adulation. Do you know what we mighthave done in India by this time as easily as I canlift this paper ? We might have formed a newsect that would now count its tens of thousands ofdevotees. If we had been vain and unprincipledenough to have given ourselves out as two Sadhusbearing a divine commission and preaching underinspiration ; and if Madame Blavatsky had publiclydone one-fourth of the phenomena I have seen herdo in America, or even in India, in private, and theoccurrence of which is perfectly attested, youwould have seen thousands prostrating themselvesbefore the flag of the Theosophical Society, andtrampling one another to come and embrace ourfeet. Do you doubt it ? You would not if youstopped to read our correspondence, and note theextravagant lengths to which the imagination ofour friends has carried them. I can show any ofyou, if you choose, a bundle of requests for themiraculous cure of physical and mental ailments,the recovery of lost property, and other favours.And, lest my English auditors might be disposed

196 IHEOSOPHY,

to laugh in their sleeves at Hindu credulity, let mewarn them tha't some of the most preposterous ofthese requests have come from their own com-munity ; some from persons so highly placedthat they have asked that their names may bewithheld at all hazards. All this is a saddeningproof of the unspirituality and rankling superstitionof the present age. Adepts do not show them-selves or their phenomena because there is nopublic to appreciate them. It is known that wehave affirmed that some of these maJiatnias are inrelations with our Society, and take an interest inits welfare. I reaffirm the statement, and at thesame time protest against the daring suppositionthat for that reason they are responsible for all orany of the mistakes in its management. Thosefaults are all my own and count against me. Ihave realised, too late, that the public who could sobasely treat a woman who was but their disciple*could not understand anything that might be saidabout them. So, henceforth, I shall try to abstainfrom even speaking of them, except to such as areprepared and anxious for the truth. An age thatis satisfied with church miracles, mediumist phe-nomena, or the most rank materialism, withoutseeking further for the hidden causes, may as wellbe left to play with its toys. The thoughtful manneed ask for no more wondrous phenomenon than hisown existence, no greater miracle than the displayof his own splendid powers. He is surrounded bya world of phenomena scarcely one of which has

ITS FRIENDS AiVD ENEMIES. 197

he traced to its ultimate source. The steps ofscience are near the threshold of the sanctuary; herhand held out to feel the lintels of the door whichwith her bandaged eyes she cannot see. Mysteryon mystery of the outer world has been unearthed,until it almost seems as though there were but littleleft to learn. This blinded goddess of MaterialistScience has but just begun to dream that a universeof vast extent may lie behind the curtain at thedoor. She stands without, uncertain, groping; andacross the threshold waits Theosophy—sweetest ofall the devis into which poetic fancy ever made athought personified—and holding out her ownstrong hand says, " Sister Science, come! Thefield is boundless, let us search together."

In the tenth chapter of his famous work, entitledAll Enquiry concerning Human Understanding,Hume attempts to define the limits of philoso-phical inquiry. So pleased was the author withhis work that he has placed it on record that withthe " wise and learned "—a most necessary separa-tion, since a man may be wise without being at alllearned, while modern science has introduced to usmany of her most famous men who, through burst-ing, like Jack Bunsby, with learning, were far, veryfar from wise—this postulate of his must be " aneverlasting check to all kinds of superstitious de-lusions." For many years this oracular utterancewas unquestioned, and Hume's apothegm was laid,like a handkerchief steeped in chloroform, over themouth of every man who attempted to discuss thephenomena of the invisible world. But a braveEnglishman and man of science, to-wit, Mr. AlfredRussell Wallace, F.R.S., has of late called Hume'sinfallibility in question. He finds two grave de-fects in that writer's proposition that " a miracle is aviolation of the laws of Nature ;" since it assumes,firstly, that we know all the laws of Nature ; andsecondly, that an unusual phenomenon is a miracle.

* A Lecture deliveretl at Colombo, Ceylon, 15th June, 1880.

Speaking deferentially, is it not after all a piece ofpreposterous egotism for any living man to saywhat is, or rather what is not^ a law of Nature ? Ihave enjoyed the acquaintance of scientists whocould actually repeat the names of the severalparts of a cockroach, and even of a flea. Upon thisrare accomplishment they plumed themselves nota little, and took on the airs of men of science.I talked with them about the laws of Nature,and found they thought they knew enough ofthem to dogmatize to me about the Knowable andUnknowable. I know doctors of medicine, evenprofessors, adepts in physiology and able to dosetheir patients without exceeding the conventionalaverage of casualities good-naturedly permitted tothe profession. They have dogmatized to meabout science and the laws of Nature, although notone of them could tell me anything positive aboutthe life of man, whether in the state of ovum, ofembryo, of infant, of adult, or of corpse. The mostcandid medical authorities have always franklyconfessed that the human being is a puzzle asyet unsolved and medicine "scientific guess-work." Has ever yet a surgeon, as he stood besidea subject on the dissecting table of the amphi-theatre, dared to tell his class that he knew whatlife is, or that his scalpel could cut away any in-tegumental veil so as to lay bare the myster}' ?Did any modern botanist ever venture to explainthat tremendous secret law which makes everyseed produce the plant or tree of its own kind ?

2CO THE OCCULT SCIENCES,

Mr. Huxley and his fellow-biologists have shownus protoplasm—the gelatinous substance whichforms the physical basis of life—and told us thatit is substantially identical in composition inplant and animal. But they can go no farther thanthe microscope and spectroscope will carry them.Do you doubt me ? Then hear the mortifying con-fession of Professor Huxley himself. " In perfectstrictness," he says, " it is true that we knownothing about the composition of any body what-ever, as it is ! " And yet what scientist is therewho has dogmatized more about the limitations ofscientific inquiry ? Do you think that, because thechemists can dissolve for you the human body intoits elementary gases and ashes, until what was oncea tall man can be put into an empty cigar-box anda large bottle, they can help you any better tounderstand what that living man really was ? Askthem—I am willing to let the case rest upon theirown unchallenged evidence.

Science ? Pshaw! What is there worthy tobear that imperial name so long as its most noisyrepresentatives cannot tell us the least part of themystery of man or of the nature which environshim ? Let science explain to us how the smallestblade of grass grows, or bridge over the " abyss "which Father Felix, the great French Catholicorator, tauntingly told the Academy, existed forit in a grain of sand, and then dogmatize as muchas it likes about the laivs of Nature ! In commonwith all heretics, I hate this presumptuous pre-

201

»-l.

p*.-

tcnce; and as one who, having studied psychologynearly thirty years, has some right to be heard, Iprotest against, and utterly repudiate, the leastclaim of our modern science to know all the laws ofNature, and to say what is, or what is not, possible.As for the opinions of non-scientific critics, whonever informed themselves practically about evenone law of Nature, they are not worth even listen-ing to. And yet what a clamour they make, to besure ; how the public ear has been assailed by thedin of these Ignorant and conceited criticasters! Itis like being among a crowd of stock-brokers on theExchange. Every one of the authorities is dogma-tizing in his most vociferous and impressive manner.One would think to read and hear what all thesepriests, editors, authors, deacons, elders, civil andmilitary servants, lawyers, merchants, vestrymen,and old women, and their followers, admirers, andechoing toadies have to say—that the laws ofNature were as familiar to them as the alphabet,and that every one carried in his pocket the com-bination key to the Chubb lock of the Universe ! Ifthese people only realized how foolish they really

are in rushing In

where angels fear to tread,"

they might somewhat abate their pretences. Andif common sense were as plentiful as conceit, alecture upon the Occult Sciences would be listenedto with a more humble spirit than, I am afraid, canbe counted upon in our days.

\

H.>*\

I have tried, by simply calling your attention tothe confessed ignorance of our modern scientists ofthe nature of life, to show you that in fact all visiblephenomena are occult or hidden from the averageinquirer. The term ocailt has been given to thesciences relating to the mystical side of nature—thedepartment of force or spirit. Open any book onscieflce, or listen to any lecture or address by amodern authority, and you will see that modernscience limits its inquiry to the visible material orphysical universe. The combinations and correla-tions of matter, under the impulse of hidden forces,are what it studies. To facilitate this line ofinquiry, mechanical ingenuity has lent the mostmarvellous assistance. The microscope has nowbeen perfected so as to reveal the tiniest object inthe tiny world of a drop of dew; the telescopebrings into its field and focus glittering constella-tions that, as Moore poetically says—

" stand

Like winking sentinels upon the voidBeyond which Chaos dwells ; "

the chemist's balances will weigh matter to the ten-thousandth part of a grain ; by the spectroscopethe composition of all things on earth and sunsand stars is claimed to be demonstrable in the linesthey make across the spectrum; substances hithertosupposed to be elements are now proved to be com-pounds, and what we had imagined to be compoundsare found to be elements. Inch by inch, step bystep, physical science has marched, from its old

prison In the dungeon of the Church towards Itsdesired goal—the verge of physical nature. Itwould not be too much to admit that the verge hasbeen almost reached, but that Edison's recent dis-coveries of the telephone, the phonograph, and theelectric light, and Crookes's of the existence andproperties of radiant matter, seem to have pushed far-ther away the chasm that separates the confessedlyknowable from the fancied unknowable. The recentadvances of physical science tend to mitigate somiC-what the pride of our scientists. It is as thoughwhole domains, previously undreamt of, weresuddenly exposed to view as each new eminenceof knowledge is gained; just as the traveller seeslone reaches of country to be traversed upon climb-inp- to the crest of the mountain that had beenshuttlne him in within a narrow horizon. The factis that whether regarded from her physical ordynamical side, Nature is a book with an endlessvariety of subjects to be studied and mysteriesto be unravelled. And, as regards science, there isa thousand times more that is occult than familiarand easy to understand.

The realization of this fact, both as the result ofpersonal inquiry and of conversation with thelearned, was one chief cause of the foundation ofthe Theosophlcal Society.

Now, it must be agreed that while the firstnecessity for the candid student Is to discover thedepth and immensity of his own ignorance, thenext is to find out where and how that ignorance

may be dispelled. We must first fit ourselves tobecome pupils and then look about for a teacher.Where, in what part of the world, can there befound men capable of teaching us a part of themystery hidden behind the mask of the worldof matter? Who holds the secret of life? Whoknows what force is, and what causes it to bringaround its countless, eternal correlations with themolecules of matter? What adept can unriddlefor us the problem how worlds are built and why ?Can any one tell us whence man came, whither hegoes, what he is ? What is the secret of birth, ofsleep, of thought, of memory, of death ? What isthat eternal, self-existent principle by commonconsent believed to be the source of everythingvisible and invisible, and with which man claimskinship ? We little modern people have beengoing about in search after this teacher, with ourtoy lanterns in our hands, as though it were nightinstead of bright day. The light of truth shinesall the while, but we, being blind, cannot see it.Does a new authority proclaim himself, we run fromall sides, but only see a common man with ban-daged eyes, holding a pretty banner and blowinghis own trumpet. " Come," he cries, " come, goodpeople, and listen to one who knows the laws ofNature. Follow my lead, join my school, enter mychurch, buy my nostrum, and you will be wise inthis world, and happy hereafter ! " How many ofthese pretenders there have been, how they haveimposed for a while upon the world, what mean-

nesses and cruelties their devotees have done intheir behalf, and how their shams and humbugs haveultimately been exposed, the pages of history show.There is but one truth, and that is to be sought forin the mystical world of man's interior nature;theosophically, and by the help of the " OccultSciences."

If history has preserved for us the record ofmultitudinous failures of materialists to read thesecret laws of Nature, it has also kept for ourinstruction the stories of many successes gained byTheosophists in this direction. There is no im-penetrable mystery in Nature to the student whoknows how to interrogate her. If physical facts canbe observed by the eye of the body, so can spirituallaws be discovered by that interior perception ofours which we call the eye of the spirit. This per-ceptive power inheres in the nature of man ; it isthe godlike quality which makes him superior tobrutes. What we call seers and prophets, what theBuddhists know as arahats and the Aryans as truesanyasis, are only men who have emancipated theirinterior selves from physical bondage by meditationin secluded spots where the foulness of averagehumanity could not taint them, and where theywere nearest to the threshold of Nature's temple ;and by the gradual and persistent conquest ofbrutal desire after desire, taste after taste, weaknessafter weakness, sense after sense, have movedforward to the ultimate victory of spirit. Jesus issaid to have gone thus apart to be tempted ; so did

Mahomet, who spent one day in every month alonein a mountain cave ; so did Zoroaster, who emergedfrom the sechision of his mountain retreat only atthe age of forty ; so did Buddha, whose knowledgeof the cause of pain, and discovery of the path toNirvana^ was obtained by solitary self-struggles indesert places. Turn over the leaves of the book ofrecords, and you will find that every man whoreally did penetrate the mysteries of life and deathgot the truth in solitude and in a mighty travail ofbody and spirit. These were all Theosophists—that is, original searchers after spiritual know-ledge. What they did, what they achieved, anyother man of equal qualities may attain to. Andthis is the lesson taught by the TheosophicalSociety. As they wrested her secrets from thebosom of Nature, so would we. Buddha said weshould believe nothing upon authority, not evenhis own ; but because our reason told us theassertion was true. He began by striding overeven the sacred Vedas because they were used toprevent original theosophical research; castes hebrushed aside as selfish monopolies. His desirewas to fling wide open every door to the sanctuary ofTruth. We organized our Society—as the very firstsection of our original bye-laws expresses it—" forthe discovery of all the laws of Nature and the dis-semination of the knowledge of the same." Theknown laws of Nature why should we busy our-selves with ? The unknown or occult ones were tobe our special province of research. No one in

America, none in Europe, now living, could help us,except in special branches, such as magnetism,crystal-reading, psychometry, and those moststriking phenomena of so - called mediumship,grouped together under the generic name ofmodern spiritualism. Though the Vedas, thePuranas, the Zend Avesta, the Koran, and theBible, teemed with allusions to the sayings anddoings of wonder-working Theosophists, we weretold by every one that the power had long sincedied out, and the adepts vanished from the sight ofmen. At the mere mention of occult science, themodern biologist curled his lip In fine scorn, andthe lay fool gave way to senseless witticisms.

It was a discouraging prospect, certainly; but inthis, as in every other instance, the difficulties weremore imaginary than real. We had a clue givenus to the right road by one who had spent a longlifetime in travel, who had found the science to bestill extant, with its proficients and masters stillpractising it as in ancient days. The tidings weremost encouraging, as are those of help or succour toa party of castaways on an unfriendly shore. Welearnt to recognize the supreme value of the dis-coveries of Paracelsus, of Mesmer, and of Baron vonReichenbach, as the stepping-stones to the higherbranches of occultism. We turned again to studythem, and the more we studied the clearer insightdid we get into the meaning of Asiatic myth andfable, and the real object and methods of theascetic Theosophists of all ages. The words "body,"

" soul/' " spirit," Moksha and Nirvana, acquiredeach a definite and comprehensible meaning. Wecould understand what the Yogi wished to expressby his uniting himself with Brahma, and becomingBrahma ; why the biographer of Jesus made himsay, " I and the Father are one ;" how Sankara-charya and others could display such phenomenallearning without having studied It In books ; whenceZaratusht acquired his profound spiritual illumina-tion ; and how the Lord Sakya Muni, though buta man "born in the purple," might neverthelessbecome all-wise and all-powerful. Would anyhearer learn this secret? Let him study mes-merism, and master its methods until he can plungehis subject Into so deep a sleep that the body ismade to seem dead, and the freed soul can be sentwhithersoever he wills, about the earth or among thestars. Then he will see the separate reality of thebody and its dweller. Or, let him read ProfessorDenton's " Soul of Things," and test the boundlessresources of psychometry; a strange yet simplescience which enables us to trace back through agesthe history of any substance held in the sensitivepsychometer's hand. Thus a fragment of stonefrom Cicero's house, or from the Egyptian pyramids;a bit of cloth from a mummy's shroud ; or a fadedparchment, letter, or painting ; or some garmentor other article worn by a historic personage; or afragment of an aerolite—give to the psychometer Im-pressions, sometimes amounting to visions sur-passingly vivid, of the building, monument, mummy,

writer or painter, of the long-dead personage, or ofthe meteoric orbit from which the last-named objectfell. This splendid science, for whose discovery,in 1840, the world is indebted to ProfessorJoseph R. Buchanan, now a Fellow of our Society,has but just begun to show its capabilities. Butalready it has shown us that in the Ahtsa, or Etherof science, are preserved the records of every humanexperience, deed and word. No matter how longforgotten and gone by, they are still a record, and,according to Buchanan's estimate, about four out ofevery ten persons have in greater or less degreethe psychometrical power which can read those im-perishable pages of the Book of Life. Taken byitself, either mesmerism, or psychometry, or BaronReichenbach's theory of Odyle, or Odic force, issufficiently wonderful. In mesmerism a sensitivesubject is put by magnetism into the magneticsleep, during which the body is insensible topain, noise, or any other disturbing influence.The psychometer, on the contrary, does not sleep,but only sits or lies passively, holds the letter, frag-ment of stone or other object, in the hand oragainst the centre of the forehead, and, withoutknowing at all what it is or whence it came,describes what he or she feels or sees. Of the twomethods of looking into the invisible world, psycho-metry is preferable, for it is not attended with thoserisks of the magnetic slumber, which may arise frominexperience in the operator, or from low physicalvitality in the somnambule. Baron Dupotet, M,

Cahagnet, Professor William Gregory, and otherauthorities, tell us of instances of the latter sort, inwhich the sleeper was with difficulty brought back toearthly consciousness, so transcendently beautifulwere the scenes that broke upon his spiritual vision.Reichenbach's discovery—the result of severalyears' experimental research, with the most expen-sive apparatus and a great variety of subjects, by oneof the most eminent chemists and physicists ofmodern times—was this. A hitherto unsuspectedforce exists in Nature, having, like electricity andmagnetism, its positive and negative poles. It per-vades everything in the mineral, vegetable, andanimal kingdoms. Our earth is charged with it ;it is in the stars ; and there is a close interchangeof polar influences between us and all the heavenlybodies. Here I hold in my hand a specimen ofquartz crystal, sent me from the Gastein Moun-tains, by the Baroness von Vay. Before Reich-enbach's discovery of the Odic force—as he terms

it this would have had no special interest to the

geologist, except as a curious example of imperfectcrystallization. But now it has a definite value be-yond this. If I pass the apex, or positive pole, overthe wrist and palm of a sensitive person—thus—he will feel a sensation of warmth or cold, or theblowing of a thin, very thin pencil of air over theskin. Some feel one thing, some another, accord-ing to the Odic condition of their own bodies.Speaking of this latter phenomenon—viz., thatthe Odic polaric condition of our bodies is peculiar

to ourselves, different from the bodies of eachother, different in the right and left sides, anddifferent at night and morning in the same body—let me ask you whether a phenomenon long noticed,supposed by the ignorant to be miraculous, andyet constantly denied by those who never saw it,may not be classed as a purely Odic one. I referto the levitation of ascetics and saints, the risincrinto the air of their bodies, at moments when theywere deeply entranced. Baron Reichenbach foundthat the Odic sensibility of his best patients greatlyvaried in health and disease. Professor Perty ofGeneva, and Dr. Justinus Korner tell us that thebodies of certain hysterical patients rose into theair without visible cause, and floated as light as afeather. During the Salem witchcraft horrors, oneof the subjects, Margaret Rule, was similarly levi-tated. Mr. William Crookes recently published alist of no less than forty Catholic ecstatics whoselevitation is regarded as proof of their peculiarsanctity. Now, I myself, in common with manyother modern observers of psychological pheno-mena, have seen a person in the full enjoyment ofconsciousness raised into the air by a mereexercise of the will. This person was an Asiaticby birth, had studied occult sciences in Asia,and explains the remarkable phenomena as asimple example of change of corporeal polarity.You all know the electrical law that oppositelyelectrified bodies attract, and similarly electrifiedones repel each other. We say that we stand upon

the earth because of the force of gravitation, with-out stopping to think how much of the explanationis a mere patter of words conveying no accurateidea to the mind. Suppose we say that we cHng tothe earth's surface, because the polarity of our bodyis opposed to the polarity of the spot of earth uponwhich we stand. That would be scientificallycorrect. But how, if our polarity is reversed,whether by disease, or the mesmeric passes of apowerful magnetiser, or the constant effort of atrained self-will ? To classify, let one imagine one-self either a hysteric patient, an ecstatic, a somnam-bule, or an adept in Asiatic occult science. In eithercase, if the polarity of the body should be changedto its opposite polarity, and so our electrical,magnetic, or Odic state be made identical with thatof the ground beneath us, the long-known electro-polaric law would assert itself, and our body wouldrise into the air. It would float as long as thesemutual polaric differences continued, and rise to aheight exactly proportionate to their intensity. Somuch of light is let into the old domain of Church" miracles " by mesmerism and the Od discovery.

But our mountain crystal has another and farmore striking peculiarity than mere Odic polarity.It is nothing apparently but a poor lump of glass,and yet in its heart can be seen strange mysteries.There are doubtless a score of persons in this greataudience who, if they would sit in an easy postureand a quiet place, and gaze into my crystal for afew minutes, would see and describe to me pictures

of people, scenes and places in different countries, aswell as their own beautiful Ceylon. I gave thecrystal into the hand of a lady who is a naturalclairvoyant, just after I had received it fromHungary. " I see," she said, " a large, handsomeroom in what appears to be a castle. Throughan open window can be seen a small park, withsmooth, broad walks, trimmed lawns, and trees. Anoble-looking lady stands at a marble-topped tabledoing up something into a parcel. A man-servant inrich livery stands as though waiting for his mistress'sorders. It is this crystal that she is doing up, andshe puts it into a brown box, something like asmall musical-box." The clairvoyant knew nothingabout the crystal, but she had given an accuratedescription of the sender, of her residence, and ofthe box in which the crystal came to me.

Reichenbach's careful investigations prove thatminerals have each their own peculiar Odic polarity,and this lets us into an understanding of much thatthe Asiatic people have said about the magicalproperties of gems. You have all heard of theregard in which the sapphire has ever been heldfor its supposed magical property to assist somnam-bulic vision. " The sapphire," according to aBuddhist writer, "will open barred doors anddwellings (for the spirit of man); it produces adesire for prayer, and brings with it more peacethan any other gem ; but he who would wear itmust lead a pure and holy life."

Now, a series of investigations by Amoretti into

214 THE OCCULT SCIENCES.

the electrical polarity of precious stones (which wefind reported in Kieser's Archia, vol. iv., p. 62)resulted in proving that the diamond, the garnet,the amethyst, are — E., while the sapphire is + E.Orpheus tells how by means of a load-stone a wholeaudience may be affected. Pythagoras, whoseknowledge was derived from India, pays a par-ticular attention to the colour and nature ofprecious stones ; and Apollonius of Tyana, one ofthe purest and grandest men who ever lived,accurately taught his disciples the various occultproperties of gems.

Thus does scientific inquiry, agreeing with theresearches of the greatest philosophers, the experi-ences of religious ecstatics, continually—though, asa rule, unintentionally—give us a solid basis forstudying occultism. The more of physical pheno-mena we observe and classify, the more is thestudent of occult sciences and of the ancientAsiatic sciences, philosophies and religions helped.We modern Europeans have been so blinded bythe fumes of our own conceit that we have notbeen able to look beyond our noses. We havebeen boasting of our glorious enlightenment, ofour scientific discoveries, of our civilization, ofour superiority to everybody wdth a dark skin,and to every nation east of the Volga and theRed Sea, or south of the Mediterranean, untilwe have come almost to believe that the worldwas built for the Anglo-Saxon race, and the starshung in the firmament to make our bit of sky

THE OCCULT SCIENCES. 215

pretty. We have even manufactured, out ofAsiatic materials, a religion to suit ourselves, andthink it better than any religion ever heard ofbefore. It is time this childish vanity weredone away with. It is time that we shouldtry to discover the sources of modern ideas, andcompare what we think we know of the laws ofNature with what the Asiatic people really didknow thousands of years before Europe was in-habited by our barbarian ancestors, or an Europeanfoot was set upon the American continent. Thecrucibles of science are heated red-hot, and we aremelting in them everything out of which we thinkwe can get a fact. Suppose that, for a change, weapproach the Eastern people in a less presumptuousspirit, and honestly confessing that v/e knownothing at all of the beginning or end of naturallaw, ask them to help us to find out what their fore-fathers knew. This has been the policy of theTheosophical Society, and it has yielded valuableresults already. Depend upon it there are still" wise men in the East," and the occult sciences arebetter worth studying than has hitherto beenpopularly supposed.

TilIRTEEN years ago, one of the most eminentof modern American jurists — Cliief JusticeEdmonds, of the Supreme Court of New York—declared in a London magazine that there werethen at least ten millions of Spiritualists in theUnited States. No man was so well qualifiedat that time to express an opinion upon thissubject, for not only was he in correspondencewith persons in all parts of the country, butthe noble virtue of the man, as well as hislearning, his judicial impartiality and conservatism,made him a most competent and convincingwitness. And another authority, a publicist ofequally unblemished private and public reputation—the Hon. Robert Dale Owen—while endorsingJudge Edmonds's estimate, adds "f that there are atleast an equal number in the rest of Christendom.To avoid chance of exaggeration, he, however,deducts one-fourth from both calculations, and (in1874) writes the sum-total of so-called Spirit-ualists at fifteen millions. But whatever the aggre-

* A Lecture delivered at the Rooms of the United Service Institu-tion of India, Simla, 7th October, 18S0.

t The Debatable Land belivecn this World and the Next, London,1874, p. 174.

/

gate of believers in the alleged present open inter-course between the worlds of substance andshadow, it is a known fact that the numberembraces some of the most acute intellects of ourday. It is no question now of the self-deceptionsof boors and of hysterical chambermaids that wehave to deal with. Those who would deny thereality of these contemporary phenomena mustconfront a multitude of our most capable men ofscience, who have exhausted the resources of theirprofession to determine the nature of the force atwork, and been baffled at seeking any other ex-planation than the one of trans-sepulchral agencyof some kind or other. Beginning with RobertHare, the inventor of the oxy-hydrogen blow-pipeand the Nestor of American Chemistry, and endingwdth Herr Zollner, Professor of Physical Astronomyin Leipzig University, the list of these convertedexperimentalists includes a succession of adepts ofphysical science of the highest professional rank.Each of them—except, perhaps, Zollner, whowished to verify his theory of a fourth dimensionof space—began the task of investigation with theavowed purpose of exposing the alleged fraud, inthe interests of public morals ; and each was trans-formed by the irresistible logic of facts into anavowed believer in the reality of mediumistphenomena.

The apparatuses devised by these men of scienceto test the mediumist power have been in thehighest degree ingenious. They have been of four

different kinds—[a) machines to determine whetherelectrical or magnetic currents were operating ; {p)whether the movement of heavy articles, such astables touched by the medium, was caused byeither conscious or unconscious muscular contrac-tion ; ic) whether intelligent communications maybe received by a sitter under circumstances pre-cluding any possible trickery by the medium ; andid) what are the conditions for the manifestationof this new form of energy and the extreme limita-tions of its action? Of course, in an hour's lecture,I could not describe a tenth part of these machines,but I may take two as illustrating two of theabove-named branches of research. The firstwill be found described in Professor Hare's work.The medium and inquirer sit facing each other,the medium's hands resting upon a bit of board sohung and adjusted that whether he presses on theboard or not, he merely moves that and nothingelse. In front of the visitor is a dial, like a clock-face, around which are arranged the letters of thealphabet, the ten numerals, the words " Yes," " No,"" Doubtful," and perhaps others. A pointer orhand connected with a lever, the other end ofwhich is so placed as to receive any currentflowing through the medium's system, but not to beaffected by any mechanical pressure he may exertupon the hand-rest, travels around the dial andindicates the letters or words the communicatingintelligence wishes to be noted down. The back ofthe dial being towards the medium, the latter, of

course, cannot see what the pointer is doing, andif the inquirer conceals the paper on which heis noting down the communication, cannot haveeven a suspicion of what is being said.

The other contrivance is described and illustratedin the mono9;raph entitled, Researches in tJie PJicno-vicna oj Spiritualising by Mr. William Crookes,RR.S., editor of the Quarterly Jottrnal of Science,and one of the most successful experimentalchemists of our day. A mahogany board, 36inches long by 9<J inches wide, and one inch thick,rests at one end upon a table, upon a strip cutto a knife edge ; at the other end it is suspendedby a spring-balance, fitted with an automaticregistering apparatus, and hung from a firmtripod. On the table end of the board, anddirectly over the fulcrum, is placed a large vesselfilled with water. In this water dips, to the depthof li inches from the surface, a copper vessel, withbottom perforated so as to let the water enter it;which copper vessel is supported by a fixed ironring, attached to an iron stand that rests onthe floor. The medium is to dip his hands inthe water in the copper vessel, and as this issolidly supported by its own stand and ring,and nowhere touches the glass vessel holding thewater, you see that, should there occur anydepression of the pointer on the spring-balance atthe extreme end of the board, it unmistakeablyindicates that a current of force weighable in footpounds is passing through the medium's body.

Well, both Dr. Hare with his apparatus, and ]\Ir.Crookes with his, obtained the desired proof thatcertain phenomena of mediumship do occur with-out the interference, either honest or dishonest, ofthe medium. To the power thus manifested,Mr. Crookes, upon the suggestion of the lateSerjeant Cox, gave the appropriate name ofPsychic Force, and as such it will hereafter bedesignated in this lecture.

I mention these two mechanical contrivancesm.erely to show those who, perhaps, have neverinquired into the matter, but have neverthelessfallen into the common error of thinking the pheno-mena to be all deceptions, that the utmost painshave been taken by the cleverest scientists to guardagainst the possibility of fraud in the course of theirexperiments. If ever there was a fact of scienceproved, it is that a new and most mysterious forceof some kind has been manifesting itself sinceMarch, 1848, when this mighty modern epiphanywas ushered in, with a shower of raps, at an obscurehamlet in New York State. Beginning with thesepercussive sounds, it has since displayed its energyin a hundred different phenomena, each inexpli-cable upon any known hypothesis of science, andin almost, if not quite, every country of the globe.To advocate its study, expound its laws, and dis-seminate its intelligent manifestations, hundreds ofjournals and books have from time to time beenpublished in different languages ; the movementhas its schools and churches or meeting-halls, its

preachers and teachers ; and a body of men andwomen, numbering thousands at the least, aredevoting their whole time and vital strength tothe profession of medlumshlp. These sensitives,or " psychics," are to be found in every walk oflife, in the palaces of royalty as well as thelabourer's cottage, and their psychical or medium-ist gifts are as various as their individualities.

What has caused this world-wide expansion ofthe new movement, and reconciled the public tosuch a vast sacrifice of comfort, time, money andsocial consequence ? What has spurred on somany of the most intelligent people of all lands,sects and races, to continue investigating ? Whathas kept the faith alive in so many millions,despite a multitude of sickening exposures of therascality of mediums, of the demoralizing tendencyof ill - regulated mediumship, and the averagepuerility and frequent mendaclousness of the com-munications received ? This: that a hope hassprung up in the human breast that at last manmay have experimental proof of his survival afterbodily death, and a glimpse. If not a full revelation,of his future destiny. All these millions cling, likethe drowning man to his plank, to the one hopethat the old, old questions of the what? thewhence ? the whither ? will now be solved, onceand for all. Glance through the literature ofSpiritualism and you will see what joy, what con-solation, what perfect rest and courage, theseweird, often exasperating phenomena of the seance-

room have imparted. Tears have ceased to flowfrom myriad eyes when the dead are laid away outof sight, and broken ties of love and friendship areno longer regarded by these believers as snappedfor ever. The tempest no longer affrights as itdid, and the terrors of battle and pestilence havelost their greatest power for the modern Spiritualist.The supposed intercourse with the dead and theirmessages have sapped the infallible authority ofdogmatic theology. The Spiritualist, with the eyeof his new faith, now sees the dim outlines of asummer land where we live and are occupied muchas upon earth. The tomb, instead of seeming themouth of a void of darkness, has come to lookmerely like a sombre gateway to a country of sun-light brightness and never-ending progressiontowards the crowning state of perfectibility. Nay,so definite have become the fancy pictures of thissummer land, one constantly reads of baby-children,growing in spirit life to be adults ; of colleges andacademies for mortal guidance, presided over bythe world's departed sages ; and even of nuptialunions between living men or women and thedenizens of the spirit world ! A case in point isthat of the Rev. Thomas Lake Harris, founder ofthe socialist community on Lake Erie, who de-clares himself duly married to a female spirit,and that a child has blessed their union! Anothercase is that of the marriage of two spirits in pres-ence of mortal witnesses, by a living clergyman,which was reported last year in the Spiritualist

papers. A Mr. Pierce, son of an ex-President ofthe United States and long since dead, is said tohave " materialized "—that is, made for himself avisible, tangible body, at the house of a certainAmerican medium, and been married by a ministersummoned for the occasion, to a lady spirit whodied at the very tender age of seven months, andwho, now grown into a blooming psychic lass, wasalso materialized for the ceremony ! The vows ex-changed and the blessings given, the happy couplesat at table with invited friends, and, after drinkinga toast or two, vanished—dress-coat, white gloves,satin, lace and all—into thin air ! This you willcall the tomfoolery of Spiritualism, and you will beright ; but, nevertheless, it serves to show hov/clear and definite, not to say brutally materialist,are the views of the other world order which havereplaced the old, vague dread that weighed usdown with gloomy doubts. Up to a certain point,this state of mind is a decided gain, but I am sorryto say Spiritualists have passed that and becomedogmatists. Little by little a body of enthusiastsis forming, who would throw a halo of sanctityaround the medium, and, by doing away with testconditions, invite to the perpetration of gross frauds.Mediums actually caught red-handed in trickery,with their paraphernalia of traps, false panels,wigs and puppets about them, have been able tomake their dupes regard them as martyrs to therage of sceptics, and the damning proofs of theirguilt as having been secretly supplied by the un-

believers themselves to strike a blow at their holycause ! The voracious credulity of a large body ofSpiritualists has begotten nine-tenths of the dis-honest tricks of mediums. As Mr. Crookes trulyobserved, in his preliminary article in the QuarterlyJournal of Science, " In the countless number ofrecorded observations I have read, there appear tobe few instances of meetings held for the expresspurpose of getting the phenomena under test con-ditions." Still, though this is true, it is also mostcertain that within the past thirty-two years in-quirers into the phenomena have been vouchsafedthousands upon thousands of proofs that they occurunder conditions quite independent of the physicalagency of the persons present, and that intelligence,sometimes of a striking character, is displayed inthe control of the occult force or forces producingthe phenomena. It is this great reserve of test factupon which rests, like a rock upon its base, the in-vincible faith of the millions of Spiritualists. Thisbody of individual experiences is the rampartbehind which they entrench themselves wheneverthe outside world of sceptics looks to see the whole" delusion " crumble under the assault of some newhnna critic, or the shame of the latest exposure offalse mediumship or tricking mediums. It oughtby this time to have been discovered that it isworse than useless to try to ridicule away theactual evidence of one's senses, or to make a manwho has seen a heavy weight self-lifted and sus-pended in air, or writing done without contact, or

a human form melt before his eyes, believe anytheory that all mediumist phenomena are dueto " muscular contraction," " expectant attention,"or " unconscious cerebration." It is because oftheir attempts to do this that men of science, as abody, are regarded with such compassionate scornby the experienced psychologist. Mr. Wallacetells us that, after making careful inquiry, he hasnever found one man who, after having acquired agood personal knowledge of the chief phases of thephenomena, has afterwards come to disbelieve intheir reality. And this is my own experience also.Some have ceased to be " Spiritualists " and turnedCatholics, but they have never doubted the realityof the phenomena. It will be a happy day, a dayto be hailed with joy by every lover of true science,when our modern professors shall rid themselves ofthe conceited idea that knowledge was born in ourdays, and question in a humble spirit the records ofarchaic science.

We have seen that the existence of a force-current has been proved by the experiments of Dr.Hare and Mr. Crookes ; so we need trouble our-selves no further with the many crude conjecturesabout table-moving, chair-lifting, and the raps, beingthe result of the muscular energy of the medium orthe visitor, but pass on to notice some of the forms inwhich this force has displayed its dynamic energies.These may be separated into phenomena indicatingintelligence and conveying information, and purelyphysical manifestations of energy. Of the former

class the one demanding first place is the so-called" spirit-rap." By these simple signals the wholemodern movement called Spiritualism was usheredin. These audible concussions vary in degree fromthe sound of a pin-head ticking to that of blows bya hammer or bludgeon powerful enough to shattera mahogany table. The current of psychic forceproducing them seems to depend upon the state ofthe medium's system, in combination with theelectric and hygrometric condition of the atmo-sphere. Should either of these be unpropitious, theraps, if heard at all, are faint; with both in harmony,they are loudest and most persistent. Of themselvesthese rapping phenomena are sufficiently wonderful;but they become a hundred-fold more so when wefind that through them communications can beobtained from intelligences claiming to be our deadfriends ; communications which often disclosesecrets known to no other person present exceptthe inquirer; and even, in rare cases, giving outfacts which no one then in the room was aware of,and which had to be verified later by consultingold records or distant witnesses. A more beautifulform of the rap is the sound of music, as of a cut-glassvessel struck, or a silver bell, heard either under themedium's hand or in the air. Such a phenomenonhas been often noticed by the Rev. Stainton Moses,of University College, London, in his own house;and Mr. Alfred R. Wallace describes-it as occurringin the presence of Miss Nichol, now Mrs. Volck-mann, at Mr. Wallace's own house. An empty

wine-glass was put upon a table and held by MissNichol and a Mr. Humphrey, to prevent any vibra-tion. Mr. Wallace tells us that, " after a shortinterval of silence an exquisitely delicate sound, asof tapping a glass, was heard, which increased toclear silvery notes like the tinkling of a glass bell.These continued in varying degrees for someminutes," &c. Again, Mr. Wallace says that whena German lady sang some of her national songs,"most delicate music, like a fairy music-box,accompanied her throughout. . . . This was inthe dark, but hands were joined all the time."Several persons in the present audience havebeen permitted by Madame Blavatsky to hearthese dulcet fairy-bells tinkle since she came toSimla. But they have heard them in full light,without any joining of hands, and in whatsoeverplace she chose to order them. The phenomenonis the same as that of Miss Nichol, but the con-ditions are very different; and of that I shallhave something to say further on.

Mr. Crookes found the force-current extremelyvariable in the same medium on different days,and on the same day, from minute to minute,its flow was highly erratic. In his book he givesa number of cuts to illustrate these variations, aswell as of the ingenious apparatus he employed todetect them.

Among many thousands of communications fromthe alleged spirits that have been given to the public,and for the most part containing only trivial

messages about family or other personal affairs, thedetails of which were at least known to the in-quirers, and which might be attributed to thought-reading, we occasionally come across some thatneed other explanation. I refer to those in whichthe particulars mentioned are unknown to any onepresent at the sitting. Mr. Stainton Moses recordsone such—a case in which a message was givenin London, purporting to come from an old manwho had been a soldier in America, in the warof 1812, and to have died there. No one inLondon had ever heard of such a person; butupon causing a search to be made in the recordsof the American War Department at Washington,the man's name was found, and full corroborativeproofs of the London message were obtained.Not having access to books here, I am obliged toquote from memory, but I think you will findmy facts essentially correct. In another case,vouched for by Mr. J. M. Peebles, that gentle-man received, either in America or at leastfar away from England, a message from analleged spirit who said he lived and died atYork, and that if Mr. Peebles would search therecords of that ancient city, the spirit's statementswould be found strictly true. In process of timehe did visit York and searched old birth and burialregisters, and there, sure enough, he found just thedata he had been promised.

Besides communicating by the raps, the allegedspirits have employed many other devices to

impart intelligence to the living. Such, amongothers, is the independent writing of messagesupon paper laid on the floor under a table or in aclosed drawer, between the leaves of a closed book,or on the ceiling or walls, or one's linen ; therebeing in none of these cases any human hand near.All these phenomena I have seen in full light, andunder circumstances where trickery or deceptionwas impossible. I have also had satisfactory ex-perience of the rare mediumist powers of Dr.Henry Slade, who, you recollect, was arrested on atrumped-up charge of dishonesty in London, butafterwards gave Zollner and his brother savants ofLeipzig, Aksakof, Boutlerof and Wagner, of St.Petersburg, and the Grand Duke Constantine, aseries of most complete tests. It was MadameBlavatsky and myself who sent Dr. Slade fromAmerica to Europe in 1876. A very high personagehaving ordered a scientific investigation of Spiritual-ism, the Professors of the Imperial University of St.Petersburg organized an experimental Committee,and we two were specially requested by this Com-mittee to select, out of the best American mediums,one whom we could recommend for the test.After much investigation we chose Dr. Slade, andthe necessary funds for his expenses having beenremitted to me, he was in due time sent abroad.Before I would recommend him I exacted the con-dition that he should place himself in the hands ofa Committee of the Theosophical Society for test-ing. I purposely selected as members of that Com-

230 SPIRITUALISM AND THEOSOPHY. '

mittee men Avho were either pronounced sceptics orquite unacquainted with spirituaHst phenomena.Slade was tested thoroughly for several weeks,and when the Committee's report * was finallymade, the following facts were certified as havingoccurred. Messages were written inside doubleslates, sometimes tied and sealed together, whilethey either lay upon the table in full view of all,or were laid upon the heads of members of theCommittee, or held fiat against the under surfaceof the table-top, or in a Committee-man's hand,without the medium touching it. We also sawdetached hands—that is, hands that floated ordarted through the air, and had no arm or bodyattached to them. These hands would clutch atour watch-chains, grasp our limbs, touch ourhands, take the slates or other objects from usunder the table, remove our handkerchiefs from ourcoat-pockets, &c. And all this, remember, in thelight, where every movement of the medium couldbe as plainly seen as one that any present hearermight make now.

Another form of signalling is the compulsorywriting of messages by a medium whose arm andhand are controlled against his volition by someinvisible power. Not only thousands, but lakhs ofpages have been written in this way ; some of the

* A minority report was made by a sint^Ie person ; but his pre-tended explanations were so transparently absurd and unfair that hefailed to convince any of his colleagues—even an intimate friend, amaterialist.

subject-matter occasionally worth keeping, but themost part valueless. Another method Is the im-pression, by the unseen intelligence upon the sensi-tive brain of a medium, of Ideas and words outsidehis own knowledge, such as foreign languages,names of deceased persons, the circumstancesof their death, requests as to the disposal of pro-perty, directions for the recovery of lost docu-ments or valuables, information about murders ordistant tragedies, of which they were the victims,diagnoses of hidden diseases and suggestions forremedies, &c. You will find many examples ofeach of these groups of phenomena on record andwell attested.

A very interesting anecdote is related in Mr.Dale Owen's Debatable Landy about the identifica-tion of an old spinet, purchased at a Paris bric-a-brac shop, by the grandson of the famous com-poser. Bach. The details are very curious, and youwill do well to read them, though lack of time pre-vents my entering more at length Into the subjectat present.

But, of all forms of Intelligent communicationfrom the other world to ours, none is to be com-pared for startling realism with that of the audiblevoice. I have heard these voices of every volume,from the faintest whisper close to the ear, sound-ing like the sigh of a zephyr through the trees, tothe stentorian roar that would well-nigh shakethe room and might have been heard far awayfrom the house. I have heard them speak to

me through paper tubes, through metal trumpets,through empty space. And in the case of theworld-famous medium, William Eddy, the voicesspoke in four languages, of which the medium knewnot a word. Of the Eddy phenomena, however, Ishall have more to say presently.

One of the prettiest—I should say the mostcharming of all, but for the recollection of thefairy-like music—of mediumist phenomena is thebringing of fresh, dew-begemmed flowers, plants andvines, and of living creatures such as birds, gold-fish and butterflies, into closed rooms while themedium was in no state to bring them herself. Ihave myself, in friends' houses, held the hands of amedium, whom I had first put into a bag that wasfastened about her neck with a sealed drawing-string, and with no confederate in the house, havehad the whole table covered with flowers and plants,and birds came fluttering into my lap, goodnessknows whence. And this with every door andwindow fastened, and sealed with strips of paperso that no one could enter from the outside. Thesephenomena happened mostly in the dark, but onceI saw a tree-branch brought in the day light. Iwas present once at a seance in America when agentleman asked that the "spirits " might bring hima heather-plant from the Scottish moors, and sud-denly a heather-plant, pulled up by the roots andwith the fresh soil clinging to them, was droppedon the table directly in front of him.

A highly interesting example of the non-intelli-

gent class of phenomena came under my notice inthe course of our search after a medium to sendto Russia. A lady medium, a Mrs. Youngs, hada reputation for causing a pianoforte to rise fromthe floor and sway in time to her inlaying upon theinstrument. Madame Blavatsky and myself wentone evening to see her, and what happened wasreported in the New York papers of the followingday. As she .sat at the piano playing, it certainlydid tilt on the two outer legs—those farthest fromher—and, with the other two raised six or eightinches from the ground, move in time to the music.Mrs. Youngs then went to one end of the piano, and,laying a single finger against the under side of thecase, lifted the tremendous weight w^ith the greatestease. If any of you care to compute the volume ofpsychic force exerted, try to lift one end of a 7Joctave piano six inches from the floor. To test thereality of this phenomenon I had brought with mea raw Qgg, which I held in the palm of my hand andpressed it lightly against the under side of the pianocase at one end. I then caused the medium to laythe palm of one of her hands against the back ofmine that held the egg, and told her to commandthe piano to rise. A moment's pause only ensued,when, to my surprise," our end of the piano didrise without so much pressure upon the egg as tobreak the shell. I think that this, as a test of theactuality of a psychic force, was almost as conclu-sive an experiment as the water-basin and spring-balance of Mr. Crookes. At least it was so to me;

for I can affirm that the medium did not press somuch as an ounce weight against the back of myhand, and it is quite certain that but very fewounces of pressure would have broken the thinshell of the Q.gg.

One of the most undeniable manifestations of in-dependent force is the raising and rhoving of aheavy weight, without human contact. This, I, incommon with many other investigators, have wit-nessed. Sitting at a table in the centre of myown lighted drawing-room, I have seen the pianoraised and moved a foot away from the wall, and aheavy leathern arm-chair run from a distant cornertowards and touch us, when no one was withina dozen feet of either. On another occasionmy late friend and chemical teacher. ProfessorMapes, a very corpulent person, and two othermen, equally stout, were requested to seat them-selves on a mahogany dining-table, and all wereraised from the ground, the medium merely lay-ing one hand on the top of the table. At Mrs.Youngs' house, on the evening before noticed, asmany persons as could sit on the top of the pianowere raised with the instrument while she was play-ing a waltz. The records are full of instances whererooms, or even whole houses, were caused by theoccult force to shake and tremble as though a hur-ricane were blowing, though the air was quite still.And we have the testimony of Lords Lindsay,Adare, Dunraven, and other unimpeachable wit-nesses, to the fact of a medium's body having

floated around the room and sailed out of a window,seventy feet from the ground, and into anotherwindow. This was in an obscure light; but I haveseen in the twilight a person raised out of herchair until her head was as high as the globes ofthe chandelier, and then gently lowered downagain.

You see I am telling you stories so wonderfulthat it is impossible for any one to fully credit themwithout the corroboration of personal experience.Believe me, I would not tell them at all—for no man desires to have his word doubted—unless I knew perfectly well that such phenomenahave been seen hundreds of times in nearly everyland under the sun, and can be seen by anyonewho will give time to the investigation. Despitemy disclaimer, you may think I am taking itfor granted that you are quite as well satisfied asmyself of the reality of the mediumist phenomena ;but I assure you that is not the case. I am alw ayskeeping in mind, that, no matter what respect anauditor may have for my integrity and my intellig-ence, no matter how plainly he may see that I canhave no ulterior motive to deceive him—yet hecannot believe without having himself had thesame demonstrative evidences. He will—becausehe must—reflect that such things as these areoutside the usual experience of men; and that,as Hume puts it, it is more reasonable to believeany man a liar than that the even course of naturallaw should be disturbed. True, that assumes the

absurd premiss that the average man knows whatare the Hmitatlons of natural law; but we never con-sider our own opinions absurd^ no matter howothers may regard them. So knowing, as I havejust remarked, that what I describe has been seenby thousands, and may be seen by thousands moreat any time, I proceed with my narrative as one whotells the truth and fears no impeachment. It is agreat wonder that which we are having shown us inour days, and, apart from the solemn interest whichattaches to the problem whether or not the deadare communing with us, the scientific importanceof these facts cannot be undervalued. From thefirst—that is to say, throughout my twenty-eightyears of observations—I have pursued my inquiryin this spirit, believing it to be of prime impor-tance to mankind to ascertain all that can belearnt about man's powers and the forces of natureabout him.

I shall now relate briefly my adventures atthe Eddy homestead, in Vermont. For someyears previous to 1874, I had taken no active in-terest in mediumist phenomena. Nothing sur-passingly novel had been reported as occur-ring, and the intelligence communicated throughmediums was not usually instructive enough to in-duce one to leave his books and the company oftheir great authors. But in that year it wasrumoured that at a remote village, in the valley ofthe Green Mountains, an illiterate farmer and hisequally ignorant brother were being visited daily

by the " materialized " souls of the departed, whocould be seen, heard, and, in cases, touched by anyvisitor. This tempting novelty I determined towitness; for it certainly transcended In Interestand Importance anything ever heard of In anyage. Accordingly, In August of that year, I pro-ceeded to Chittenden, the village In question, and,with a single brief Intermission of ten days, re-mained there until the latter part of October. Ihope you will believe that I adopted every possibleprecaution against being befooled by village trick-ery. The room of the ghosts was a large chamberoccupying the whole upper floor of a two-storeywing of the house. It was perhaps twenty feetwide by forty long—I speak from memory. Belowwere two rooms, a kitchen and a pantry. Thekitchen chimney was In the gable end, of course,and passed through the seance room to the roofIt projected Into the room two feet, and at theright, between It and the side of the house, was aplastered closet, with a door next to the chimney. Awindow, two feet square, had been cut In the outerwall of the closet, to admit air. Running acrossthis end of the large room was a narrow platform,raised about eighteen inches from the floor, witha step to mount by at the extreme left, and a hand-rail or baluster, along the front edge of the platform.Every evening, after the last meal, William Eddy,a stout-built, square-shouldered, hard-handed far-mer, would go upstairs, hang a thick woollen shawlacross the doorway, enter the closet and seat him-

self on a low chair that stood at the extreme end.The visitors, who sometimes numbered forty of anevening, were accommodated on benches placedwithin a few feet of the platform. Horatio Eddysat on a chair in front, discoursed doleful musicon a fiddle, and led the singing—if such it might becalled, without causing Mozart to turn in his grave ;a feeble light was given by a kerosene lamp, placedon the floor at the end of the room farthest fromthe platform, in an old drum from which both headshad been removed. Though the light was certainlyvery dim, yet it sufficed to enable us to see if any-one left his seat, and to distinguish through thegloom the height and costumes of the visitors fromthe other world. At a first sitting this was difficult,but practice soon accustomed one's eyes to the con-ditions.

After an interval of singing and fiddle-scraping,sometimes of five, sometimes of twenty or thirtyminutes, we would see the shawl stirred ; it wouldbe pushed aside, and out upon the platform wouldstep some figure. It might be a man, woman, orchild, a decrepit veteran, or a babe carried in awoman's arms. The figure would have nothing atall of the supernatural or ghostly about it. Astranger entering at the other end of the room wouldsimply fancy that a living mortal was standing there,ready to address an audience. Its dress would bethe one it wore in life, its face, hands, feet, gestures,perfectly natural. Sometimes it would call thename of the living friend it had come to meet. If

SPIRITUALISM AND 7HE0S0PHY. 239

it were strong, the voice would be of the naturaltone ; if weak, the words came in faint whispers ;if still more feeble, there was no voice at all, butthe figure would stand leaning against the chimneyor hand-rail while the audience asked in turn—'' Isit for me ? " and it either bowed its head or causedraps to sound in the wall when the right one askedthe question. Then the anxious visitor would leanforward and scan the figure's appearance in the dimlight, and often we would hear the joyful cry, " Oh Imother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter," orwhat not, '' I know you." Then the weird visitorwould be seen to bow, or stretch out its hands, andthen, seeming to gather the last strength that re-mained to it in its evanescent frame, glide into thecloset again, and drop the shawl before the hungrygaze of the eyes that watched it. But sometimesthe form would last much longer. Several times Isaw come out of the closet an aged lady clad inthe Quaker costume, with lawn cap and kerchiefpinned across her bosom, grey dress and long house-wifely apron, and calling her son to the platformseat herself in a chair beside him, and, after kissinghim fondly, talk for some minutes with him in lowtones about family matters. All the while shewould be absently folding the hem of her aproninto tucks and smoothing them out again, and socontinuing the thing over and over just as—her sontold me—she was in the habit of doing while alive.More than once, just as she was ready to disappear,this gentleman would take her arm in his, come to

the baluster, and say that he was requested by hisold mother whom we saw there, although she hadbeen dead many years, to certify that it was indeedshe herself and no deception, and bid them realizethat man lives beyond the grave, and so live hereas to ensure their happiness then.

I will not attempt to give you, in these fewminutes of our lecture,'even the bare outline of myobservations during those eventful weeks. Suffice itto say that I saw as many as seventeen of theserevenants in a single evening, and that from first tolast I saw about five hundred. There were acertain few figures that seemed especially attachedto the medium's sphere or influence; but the restwere the appearances of friends of the strangerswho daily flocked to the place from the most distantlocalities—some as far away as 2,000 miles. Therewere Americans and Europeans, Africans andAsiatics, Red Indians of our prairies and whitepeople, each wearing his familiar dress, and someeven carrying their familiar weapons. One eveningthe figure of a Kurd, a man whom Madame Blavat-sky had known in Kurdistan, stepped from thecloset, clad in his tall cap, high boots, and pictur-esque clothes. In the shawl twisted about his waistwere thrust a curved sword and other small arms.His hands were empty, but, after salaaming myfriend in the native fashion, lo! his right hand helda twelve foot spear which bore below the steel heada tuft of feathers. Now, supposing this farmermedium to have been ever so much a cheat, whence

in that secluded hamlet did he procure this Kurdishdress, the belt, the arms and the spear at a moment'snotice? Madame Blavatsky had just arrived atChittenden, and neither I nor any one else knewwho she was, nor whence she came. All myexperiences there were described by me, first in aseries of letters to a New York journal, and after-wards in book form,* and I must refer the curiousto that record for details, both as to what was seenand what precautions I took against deception.Two suspicions have doubtless occurred to yourminds while I have been speaking—[a) that someconfederate or confederates got access to themedium through the closet-window, or dresses anddolls were passed up to him from below through atrap or sliding panel. Of course they would occurto any one with the least ingenuity of thought.They occurred to me; and this is what I did. Iprocured a ladder, and on the outside of the housetacked a piece of mosquito-net over the entirewindow, sash, frame, and all, sealing the tack-headswith wax, and stamping each with my signet ring.This effectually prevented any nonsense from thatquarter. And then calling to my help an architectand a clever Yankee Inventor and mechanician,with those gentlemen I made a minute practicalexamination of the chimney, the floor, the platform,the rooms below, and the lumberloft overhead. Wewere all perfectly satisfied that if there was anytrickery in the case it was done by William Eddy

* People fro7)i the Other World,Q

himself without confederacy, and that if he usedtheatrical dresses or properties, he must carry themin with him. In the little narrow hole of a closetthere was neither candle, mirror, brush, wig,clothes, water-basin, towel, cosmetic, nor any otherof the actor's paraphernalia; nor, to speak the truth,had the poor farmer the money to buy such.He took no fee for his seances, and visitors werecharged only a very small sum for their board andlodging. I have sat smoking with him in his kitchenuntil it was time for the seance to begin, gone withhim to the upper chamber, examined the closetbefore he entered it, searched his person, and thenseen the selfsame wonderful figures come out asusual in their various dresses. I think I may claimto have proceeded cautiously; for Mr. A. R. Wallace,F.R.S., quoted and eulogised my book in his recentcontroversy with Professor W. B. Carpenter. Car-penter himself sent to America to inquire into mycharacter for veracity, and publicly admitted it tobe unimpeachable. Professor Wagner of St. Peters-burg reviewed the work in a special pamphlet, inwhich he affirms that I fulfilled every requirementof scientific research, and three European Psycho-logical Societies elected me Honorary Member. Itshould also be noted that four years of very re-sponsible and intricate examinations on behalf ofthe War Department—during our late AmericanWar, the proofs of which service have been shownby me to the Indi-an authorities—qualified me toconduct this inquiry with at least a tolerable

certainty that I should not be imposed upon. Hav-ing then seen all that has now been outlined to youwill you wonder that I should have been thoroughlyconvinced of the reality of a large group of psychicphenomena, for which science helplessly tries to offersome explanation ? And can you be surprisedthat whatever man of science has,since i848,seriouslyand patiently investigated modern Spiritualism,has become a convert, no matter what his religiousbelief or professional bias ?

The mention of religion leads me to notice acertain fact. While the Protestant Church has inour time ever resolutely denied the reality of suchmanifestations of occult agencies, the Church ofRome has always admitted them to be true. Inher rubrics there are special forms of exorcism,and Miss Laura Edmonds—the gifted daughter ofthe honoured American jurist above-mentioned,and one of the most remarkable mediums of thismodern movement, united herself with the CatholicChurch—her confessor, a Paulist Brother of NewYork, driving out her obsessing " devils " in dueform after—as he told me—a terrific strucfGfle.Mediumship was anathematized by the late Popehimself as a dangerous device of the Evil One, andthe faithful were warned against the familiars of thecircle, as his agents for the ruin of souls. There hasappeared in France, within the past few years, aseries of books by the Chevalier des Mousseaux,highly applauded by the Catholic prelates, especiallydesigned to collate the most striking proofs of the

demoniac ^.^^wcy in the phenomena. They are allvaluable repositories of psychic facts, one especially,Les Moejirs et Pratiques des Demons, which everystudent of Occultism should read. The industriousauthor, of course, convinces no one but Catholics asto his premisses, but his facts are most welcome andsuggestive. Though there is not a grain of religiousorthodoxy in me, and though I do not in the leastsympathize with the demoniacal theory, yet I find,after learning what I have learnt of Asiatic psycho-logical science, that the Catholics are much nearerright in recognizing and warning against the dangersof mediumship, than the Protestants in blindly deny-ing the reality of the phenomena. Mediumship isa peril indeed, and the last thing I should wish wouldbe to see one in whom I was interested become amedium. The Hindus—who have known thesephenomena from time immemorial—give the mostappropriate name of bJiuta dak, or demons' post, tothese unfortunates. I do sincerely hope that sooneror later the experience of India in this matter will bestudied, and that if mediumship is to be encouragedat all, it will be under such protective restrictionas the ancient Sybils enjoyed in the temples,under the watchful care of initiated priests. Thisis not the language of a Spiritualist, nor am I one.In the reality of the phenomena, and the existenceof the psychic force, I do most unreservedly believe;but here my concurrence wath the Spiritualists ends.For more than twenty years I was of their opinion,and shared, with Mr. Owen and Mr. Wallace, the

conviction that the phenomena could not be attri-buted to any other agency than that of the departedones. I could not understand how the intelligencebehind the manifestations could be otherwise ac-counted for, especially that shown in such cases asI have mentioned, where the facts related were un-known to any one at the seance, and only verifiedlong afterwards in distant countries. But untilmeeting Madame Blavatsky at the Eddys', I had noteven heard of Asiatic Occultism as a science. Thetales of travellers and the stories of the ArabianNights I set down to fanciful exaggeration, and allthat was printed about Indian jugglers, and thepowers of ascetics, seemed but accounts of success-ful prestidigitations. I now look back to thatmeeting as the most fortunate event of my life ; forit made light shine in all the dark places, and sentme out on a mission to help to revive Aryan Occultscience, which grows more absorbingly interestingevery day. It is my happiness to not only help toenlarge the boundaries of Western science by show-ing where the secrets of nature and of man may beexperimentally studied, and to give Anglo-Indiansa greater respect for the subject nation they ruleover, but also to aid in kindling in the bosoms ofIndian youths a due reverence for their gloriousancestry, and a desire to imitate them in their nobleachievements in science and philosophy. This, myfriends, is the sole cause of our coming to India ;this explains our affectionate relations with thepeople, our respect for their real Yogis. Each of

you looks forward to the day when you will returnto your English home: our honrie is here, and herewe mean to end our days.

The handbills announce me as the President ofthe Theosophical Society; and you arc gathered hereto learn what Theosophy is. and what are itsrelations with Spiritualism.

Let me say, then, that in the sense given to it bythose who first used it, the word means divinewisdom, or the knowledge of divine things. Thelexicographers handicap the idea with the suggestionthat it meant the knowledge of God, the deitybefore their minds being a personal one ; but suchwas not the intention of the early Theosophists.Essentially, a Theosophical Society is one whichfavours man's original acquisition of knowledgeabout the hidden things of the universe, by theeducation and perfecting of his own latent powers.Theosophy differs as widely from philosophy as itdoes from theology. It has been truly said that, ininvestigating tlie divine nature and attributes,philosophy proceeds entirely by the dialecticm.ethod, employing as the basis of its investigationthe ideas derived from natural reason; theology,still employing the same method, superadds to theprinciples of natural reason those derived fromauthority and revelation. Theosophy, on the con-trary, professes to exclude all dialectical process,and to derive its whole knowledge of God fromdirect intuition and contemplation. This Theo-sophy dates from the highest antiquity of v/hich any

records are preserved, and every original founderof a religion was a seeker after divine wisdomby the theosophic process of self-illumination.Where do we find in our day the facilities forpursuing this glorious study ? Where are thetraining schools worthy to be successors of thoseof the Neo-Platonists of Alexandria, the Hiero-phants of Egypt, the Theodidaktoi of Greece, or—more especially—the Rishis of Aryavarta, noblestof all initiates, save only the stainless, the illumin-ated Gautama Buddha ?

Think for a moment what this theosophicalstudy exacts of a man who would really penetratethe mysteries and become a true ilhnninatus. Thelusts of the flesh, the pride of life, the prejudices ofbirth, race, creed (so far as it creates dogmatism),must all be put aside. The body must be madethe convenience, instead of the despot, of thehigher self. The prison-bars of sense that incar-cerate the man of matter must be unlocked, andwhile living In and being a factor In the outervv'orld, the Theosophist must be able to look into,enter, act in, and return from, the innerworld, fraughtwith divine truth. Are there—were there ever—such men, such demigods rather let us say ? Therewere; there are. The legends of the past mayseem to us tinged with error, wild and fantasticeven ; but, nevertheless, such men as these existedand displayed their powers, in many countries, atvarious epochs. And nowhere more than in India,this blessed land of the Sun—now so poor,

248 SPIRITUALISM AND THEOSOPIIY.

Spiritless, famished and degraded. This was thehome of ancient Theosophy; here—upon thesevery Himalayan mountains that tower so highyonder—lived and taught the men who won theprize of divine knowledge; whose wisdom—afertilizing stream—flowed through Grecian andEgyptian channels towards the West. Believe meor not, as you will, I am fully persuaded that therestill linger among these fastnesses, out of thepoisoned moral atmosphere of this nineteenth-century social life, safe from the blight and perse-cution of bigotry and intolerant modern supersti-tion, safe from the cruel malice of scepticism,—thosewho are true Theosophists.. Neither pessimist noroptimist, I am not satisfied that our race is doomedto destruction, present or future, nor that the moralsense of society can be kept undiminished withoutconstant refreshment from the parent fount. Thatfount I conceive to be Theosophical study and per-sonal illumination, and I regard him as a bene-factor to his kind who points out to the sceptical,the despairing, the world-weary, the heart-hungry,that the vanities of the world do not satisfy thesoul's aspirations, and that true happiness can onlybe acquired by interior self-development, purifica-tion and enlightenment. It is not in accordancewith the abstract principles of justice that the worldshould be left entirely without such exemplars ofspiritual wisdom. I do not believe it ever was, orever will be.

To him who takes up this course of effort, the

phenomena of medlumshlp are transcendently Im-portant, for they usher him into the realm of theUnseen, and show him some of the weirdest secretsof our human nature. Along with mediumship hestudies vital magnetism, its laws and phenomena,and the Odyle of Baron Reichenbach, which to-gether show us the real nature and polarities of thisforce, and the fact that it seems to be akin to theone great force pervading all Nature. Furtherproof he draws from Buchanan's psychometry, andfrom experiments with those whom he finds to beendowed with the psychometrical faculty. If thereare any here to whom the word is new, let me ex-plain that psychometry is a name given by themodern discoverer to a certain power, possessed byabout one person in four, to receive intuitive im-pressions of the character of the writer of a letter,or the painter of a picture, by direct contact withthe manuscript or painting. We are all of us con-stantly leaving the impress of our character uponeverything we touch, as the loadstone imparts someof its properties to every needle it is rubbed against.A subtle something—magnetism, or vital fluid, orpsychic force—constantly exudes from us. Weleave it on the ground, and our dog finds us ; on ourclothing, and the slaver's blood-hound sniffs thescent and tracks the poor runaway to his hiding-place. We saturate with it the walls of our houses,and a sensitive psychometer, upon entering ourdrawing-room, can unerringly tell, before seeing thefamily, whether that is a happy home or one of strife.

We are surrounded by it as a sensitive vapour, andwhen we meet each other we silently take in ourimpression of our mutual congeniality or antipathy.Women have this sense more than men, and manyare the instances where a wife's prophetic intuition,unheeded and ridiculed by the husband in the caseof some new acquaintance, has afterwards beenrecalled, with regret that it should have been dis-regarded. Good psychometers can even take fromany fragment of inanimate matter, such as a bit ofan old building, or a shred of an old garment, avivid impression of all the scenes of its history.In its highest manifestation psychometry becomestrue clairvoyance, and, when that soul sight isindeed opened, the eye within us that never growslustreless shows us the arcana of the unseenuniverse.

Theosophy shows the student that evolution is afact, but that it has not been partial and incomplete,as Darwin's theory makes it. As there has been anevolution in physical nature, the crown and flowerof which is physical man, so there has been aparallel evolution in the realm of spirit. The out-come of this is the psychic or inner man ; and, justas in this visible nature about us we see myriads offorms lower than ourselves, so the Theosophistfinds in the te?'ra incognita of the physicist—therealm of the " unknowable"—countless minorpsychical types, with man at the top of the ascend-ing series. Physicists know of the elements onlyin their chemical or dynamiic relations and proper-

ties ; but he who has mastered the Occult Sciencesfinds, dweUing in fire, air, earth and water, a sub-human order of beings, some inimical, some favour-able to man. He not only comes to a knowledgeof them, but also to the power of controlling them.The folk-lore of the world has embalmed manytruths about this power, which is none the less afact because the modern biologist rejects and ridi-cules it. You who come from Ireland or the Scot-tish Highlands know that these things exist. I donot surmise this; I knozv it. I speak thus calmly andboldly about the subject, because I have met theseproficients of Asiatic Occultism and seen themexercise their power. This is why I ceased to callmyself a Spiritualist in 1874, and why, in 1875, Iunited with others to found a Theosophical Society,to promote the study of these natural phenomena.The most wonderful facts of mediumship I haveseen produced at will, and in full daylight, by onewho had learnt the secret sciences in India andEg3'pt. Under such circumstances, I have seenshowers of roses made to fall in a room ; letters frompeople in far countries to drop from space intomy lap ; heard sweet music, coming from afar uponthe air, grow louder and louder until it was in theroom, and then die away again, out in the stillatmosphere, until it was no more. I have seenwriting made to appear upon paper and slates laidupon the floor, drawings upon the ceiling beyondany one's reach, pictures upon paper without theemployment of pencil or colour, articles duplicated

before my very eyes, a living person instantly dis-appear out of my sight, jet black hair cut from afair-haired person's head. I have had absent friendsand distant scenes shown me in a crystal ; and, inAmerica, more than a hundred times, upon openingletters upon various subjects comJng to me by thecommon post, from correspondents in all partsof the world, have found inside, written in their ownfamiliar hand, messages to me from men in Indiawho possess the Theosophical knowledge of naturallaw. Nay, upon one occasion, I even saw sum-moned before me as perfectly " materialized" afigure as any that ever stalked out of WilliamEddy's cabinet of marvels. If it is not strange thatthe Spiritualist, who sees mediumist phenomena,but know^s nothing of Occult science, should believein the intervention of spirits of the dead, is it anystranger that I, after receiving so many proofs ofwhat the trained human will can accomplish, shouldbe a Theosophist and no longer a Spiritualist ? Ihave not even half exhausted the catalogue ofproofs vouchsafed to me during the last five yearsas to the reality of Asiatic psychological science.But I hope I have enumerated enough to show youthat there are mysteries in India worth seeking, andmen here who are far more acquainted with Nature'sOccult forces than either of those much-initialedgentlemen who set themselves up for professorsand biologists.

It will be asked what evidence I offer that theintelligent phenomena of the mediums are not to

be ascribed to our departed friends. In reply, Iask what uninipeachable evidence there is thatthey are. If it can be shown that the soul of theliving medium can, unconsciously to his physicalself, ooze out, and, by its elastic and protean nature,take on the appearance of any deceased personwhose image it sees in a visitor's memory ; if allthe phenomena can be produced at will by aneducated psychologist ; if, in the ether of science—the Akasa of the Hindus, the Anima Mundi of theTheosophists, the Astral Light of the Kabalists—the images of all persons and events, and the vibra-tions of every sound, are eternally preserved—asthese Occultists affirm and experimentally prove—if all this be true, then why is it necessary to call inthe spirits of the dead to explain what may bedone by the living ? So long as no alternativetheory was accessible, the Spiritualists held im-pregnable ground against materialist science;theirs was the only possible way to account forwhat they saw. But, given the alternative, and •shown the resources of psychology and the nature ofthe unseen universe, you see the Spiritualists areat once thrown upon the defensive, without theability to silence their critics. The casual observerwould say it is impossible, for instance, for thataged Quaker lady's figure to be anything but herown returning soul—that her son could not havebeen mistaken, and that, if there were any doubt,otherwise, her familiar knowledge of their familymatters, and even her old habit of alternately plait-

ing and smoothing out her lawn apron, identify heramply. But the figure did nothing and said no-thing that was not fixed in the son's memory,—indelibly stamped there, however long the dormantpictures might have been obscured by fresherimages. And the medium's body being entrancedand his active vitality transferred to his inner self,or "double," that double could make itself appearunder the guise of the dead lady, and catch andcomment UDon the familiar incidents it found inthe son's magnetic atmosphere. This will be hardfor you to comprehend; for our Western scientificdiscoveries have not as yet crossed the threshold ofthis hidden world of force. But progress is the lawof human thought, and we are now so near theverge of the chasm that divides physical fromspiritual science, that it will not be long before weshall bridge it. Let this stand as a prophecy; if youbide patiently you will see it fulfilled. This, then,is the present attitude of parties. The promulga-tion of our views, and of many reports by eye-witnesses of things done by members of theTheosophical Society, has been causing great talkall over the world. A large number of the mostintelligent Spiritualists have joined us, and aregiving their countenance to work. Groups of oursympathizers have organized themselves intobranches in many different countries. Even here,in Simla, there has sprung up the nucleus of whatwill be an Anglo-Indian branch. No country inthe world affords so wide a field as India for

SPIRITUALISM AND THE 0 SO PHY. 255

psychological study. What we Europeans callanimal magnetism has been known here, and prac-tised in its highest perfection, for countless centuries.The Hindus know equally well the life-principle inman, animal and plant. All over India, if searchwere but made, you would find in the possession ofthe natives many facts that it is most important forEurope and America to know. And you, gentle-men of the civil and military branches of the publicservice, are the proper persons to undertake thework, with Hindu help. Be just and kind to themand they will tell you a thousand things which theynow keep as profound secrets. Our policy is oneof general conciliation and co-operation for thediscovery of truth. Some tale-bearer has startedthe report that our Society is preaching a newreligion. This is false. The Society has no morea religion of its own than the Asiatic, the Geogra-phical, or the Astronomical Society. As thoseSocieties have their separate sections, each devotedto some speciality of research, so have we. Wetake in persons of all religions and of every race,and treat all with equal respect and impartiality.We have royal, noble, and plebeian blood amongus. Edison is a member of ours, and Crookes, andWallace, and Camille Flammarion, and Lord Lind-say, and Lane-Fox, and Baron du Potet, and theoctogenarian Cahagnet, and scores of men ofsimilar intellectual calibre. We have but onepassionate and consuming ambition—that of learn-ing what man is, what nature is. Are there any

256 SPIRITUALISM AND THEOSOPHY.

here who sympathize with these aspirations, anywho feel within their hearts the glow of true man-hood—any who put a higher value upon divinewisdom than upon the honours and rewards of thelower life ? Come then, brother dreamers, and letus combine our efforts and our good-will. Let ussee if we cannot win happiness for ourselves instriving to benefit others. Let us do what we canto rescue from the oblivion of centuries that price-less knowledge of divine things which we callTliEOSOrHY.

INDIA: PAST, PRESENT, AND

FUTURE.*

THE PAST.

When we look over the accounts that have beenwritten within our own modern historical periodabout the migrations of peoples, the rise and fall ofempires, the characters of great men, the relativeprogress of science, of the arts, of literature, of phil-osophy, and religion; and when we see how thepositive assertions of one writer are denied point-blank by another, and then the facts of both provedfalse by a third who comes after them, is it too muchto say that history is, for the most part, a system ofbold lying and ignorant mis-statement? I think not.And I am quite sure that out of all the historianswho have appeared during this epoch that I havementioned, hardly one can be acquitted, or will beacquitted by posterity, of Incompetence or of some-thing worse. Of all the untrustworthy historians,the worst Is he who writes In the Interest of someone religion against the religions of others. Itwould seem as though, no matter what his creed,he considered it a pious duty to lie as much "as

* A Lecture delivered at Amritsar, 29th October, iSSo.

R

258 INDIA : PAS T, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

possible for the glory of his particular God. Asimilar blight is seen resting upon the consciencesof political historians, though not so fatally; for iftheir party interests are but cared for, they canafford to be, in a measure, fair in other directions.It seems impossible, therefore, to gather any ideaof either Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Assyrian,European, or American history without reading allthe historians together and extracting the truth outof the clash and conflict of error.

It will not be required that I should give, in thevery short time for which I shall detain you,either a list of the historians or specimen extractsfrom their works, upon which I have based anopinion shared by many of the ablest com-mentators. Suffice it to say that the Europeanhistoriographers have never had until within a veryrecent period—hardly more than a century—any materials for writing even the most meagreoutline of Aryan history. Until Sir WilliamJones and his compeers, and the FrenchmanBurnouf, led the way into the splendid garden ofSanskrit literature; until the astonished eyesof the West saw its glorious flowers of poesy,its fruits of metaphysics and of philosophy, itscrystalline rivulets of science, its magnificentstructures of philology; no one dreamed thatthe world had had any history worth speaking ofbefore the times of the Greek and Roman civil-izations. Western ideas of Egyptian, Persian,Babylonian, Chinese, and Indian achievements—

physical, Intellectual, and moral—were as hazyas a fog. Like the wayfarer who tries, with thehelp of the street gas-lamps and the lanterns ofhis servants, to pick his way through Londonstreets, when one of those dense fogs of theirs turnsnoon into dark night, the historians were gropingafter facts through the mists of their own ignor-ance and religious prejudice. You may lookthrough any great library you please, and you willfind there whole shelves of authors who have triedtheir best to prove that everything has happenedwithin the last 6,000 years. You will see some notashamed or afraid to say that Asia derived her re-ligious ideas, her industries, and her very language,from the Jews or early Christians; you can find bookswhich try to prove that Sanskrit is a derivative fromthe Hebrew. You can also read arguments fromChristian writers to show that the parental resem-blance of Hindu mythology to Biblical stories is dueto the fact that St. Thomas, one of the alleged dis-ciples of Jesus, came to India and preached his re-ligion here! The theory that Aryavarta was thecradle of European civilization, the Aryans the pro-genitors of the Western peoples, and their literaturethe source and spring of all Western religions andphilosophies, is comparatively a thing of yesterday.Professor Max Miiller and a few other Sanskritists ofour generation have been bringing about this changein Western ideas. Let us hope that before manymore years roll by, we may know the wholetruth about Aryan civihzation, and that your

26o INDIA'. PAS 7 PRESENT, AND FUTURE,

ancestors (and ours) will be honoured according totheir deserts. The pride of the modern world mayreceive a shock ; but the ancients will be vindicated,and the cause of truth advanced.

The fact will then appear, far more distinctlythan even now, that long before the first page ofthe Bible was written, generations before the Jewshad a nationality to boast of, before the foundationsof Babylon were laid, or the first stone of theEgyptian pyramids had been hewn — which,according to Bunsen and Boeckh, must havebeen more than 5,700 years B.C.—the Aryanswere enjoying a splendid civilization, and had per-fected a grammar and language with which noneother can compare. If asked to prove my words,I may do so by propounding a question. To whatage of the world's history must the beginnings ofthe Egyptian State, the monarchy of Mena, thefounder of Egypt, be carried back ? Those mostinterested in the solution of this problem hesitateeven as to the duration of IManetho's dynasties—from Mena to the last Pharaoh—the most eminentmodern Egyptologists not daring to assign it amore recent period than between 5,000 and 6,000years B.C. And what do they find on the verythreshold of Egyptian history, further back thanwhich Western history cannot penetrate? They finda State of the most marvellous civilization, a Statealready so advanced that in contemplating it onehas to repeat with Renan, " one feels giddy at thevery idea {on estpris de vertlge),'' and with Brugsch,

*' there are no ages of stone, bronze and iron inEgypt. . . . We must openly acknowledgethe fact that, up to this time at least, Egypt throwsscorn upon these assumed periods." And now,Egyptian history and civilization being the mostancient we have, and this history picturing to us,nearly 8,000 years ago, a people already highlycivilized, not in the material sense alone, as Brugschtells us, but in social and political order, moralityand religion, the next question would be why weshould say that India and not Egypt is the older?My reason may seem at first sight paradoxical;yet, nevertheless, I answer—because nothing isknoivn of India, 8,000 years ago. When I saynothing is known, I mean known by its, the Westernnations, for the Brahmins have their own chronology,and no one has the means of proving that theircalculations are exaggerated. But we Europeansknow nothing, or at least have known nothingof it until now ; but have good reason to morethan suspect that India, 8,000 years ago, senta colony of emigrants who carried their arts andhigh civilization into what is now known to us asEgypt. This is what Brugsch Bey, the mostmodern as well as the most trusted Egyptologistand antiquarian, says on the origin of the oldEgyptians. Regarding these as a branch of theCaucasian family, having close affinity with theIndo-Germanic races, he insists that they "migratedfrom Asia, long before historic memory, and crossedthat bridge of nations, the Isthmus of Suez, to find

a new fatherland on the Banks of the Nile. . . ."The Egyptians came, according to their own records,from a mysterious land (now shown to lie on theshore of the Indian Ocean), the sacred Punt; theoriginal home of their gods—who followed thenceafter their people, who had abandoned them, to thevalley of the Nile, led by Amon, Hor, and Hathor.This region was the Egyptian " Land of the Gods "—Pa-NUTER, in old Egyptian—or Holy-land, andnow proved beyond any doubt to have been quitea different place than the " Holy Land " of Sinai.By pictorial and hieroglyphic inscriptions found(and interpreted) on the walls of the temple of theQueen Hashtop, at Der-el-bahri, we see that thisPuiit can be no other than India. For many agesthe Egyptians traded with their old homes, andthe reference here made by them to the names ofthe Princes, of Punt and its fauna and flora, especi-ally the nomenclature of various precious woods tobe found only in India, leave us scarcely room forthe smallest doubt that the old civilization of Egpytis the direct outcome of that of the still older India,most probably of the Isle of Ceylon, which was inprehistoric days part and parcel of the greatContinent, as geologists tell us.

So then we see that thousands of years before asingle spark of civilization had appeared in Europe,before the doors of a school had been opened,those great Aryan progenitors of ours were learned,polite, philosophical, and nationally as well as in-dividually great. The people were not, as now,

irrevocably walled in by castes; they were free torise to the highest social dignities, or sink to thelowest positions, according to the inherent qualitiesthey might possess.

If there were great philosophers in those days, soalso were there great philologists, physicians,musical composers, sculptors, poets, statesmen,warriors, architects, manufacturers, merchants. Inthe Chatusashthikala Nirnaya, of Vatsayana, arementioned sixty-four different professions that werefollowed in the Vedic period, a fact which shows thatnot only the actual comforts, but also the luxuriesand amusements, of a civilized community werethen common. We have the enforced testimonyof many Christian authors, whom certainly no onewill suspect of partiality for India, that neither inwhat the West calls ancient, nor in modern times,have there been produced such triumphs of thehuman intellect as by the Aryans. I might fill aseparate book with extracts of this kind, but it is un-necessary just now. I will cite only one witness—Mr. Ward, a Baptist missionary of Serampur, andauthor of a well-known work on " Indian History,Literature, and Mythology." " The grammars," hesays, " are very numerous, and reflect the highestcredit on the ingenuity of their authors. Indeed,in philology, the Hindus have perhaps excelledboth the ancients (meaning, no doubt, the Greeksand Romans) and the moderns. Their dictionaries,"according to him, " also do the highest credit tothe Hindu learned men, and prove how highly the

Sanskrit was cultivated in former periods." TheHindu sages "did not permit even the miUtaryart to remain unexamined .... it is very-certain that the Hindu kings led their own armies 'to the combat, and that they were prepared for thisimportant employment by a military education ;nor is it less certain that many of these monarchswere distinguished for the highest valour and mili-tary skill." After recounting many important facts,Mr. Ward says : " From the perusal of the preced-ing pages it will appear evident that the Hinduphilosophers were, unquestionably, men of deeperudition, and that they attracted universalhomage and applause ; some of them had morethan a thousand disciples or scholars." And, inconcluding the fourth volume of his work, hepays your ancestors this merited tribute: " Noreasonable person will deny to the Hindus offormer times the praise of very extensive learning.The variety of subjects upon which they wroteproves that almost every science was cultivatedamonc: them. The manner also in which thevtreated these subjects proves that the Hindulearned men yielded the palm of learning toscarcely any other of the ancients. The moretheir philosophical works and law books arestudied, the more will the inquirer be convincedof the depth of wisdom possessed by the authors."

Now, I have been often asked by those whoaffirm the superiority in scientific discovery ofmodern nations, whether the Ar}'ans or their con-

temporaries could show anything so splendid asthe electric telegraph and the steam-engine. Myanswer is that the properties of steam are believedto have been known in those ancient days ; thatprinting was used at a period of most remoteantiquityin China; that the Aryans had, as certain oftheir descendants now have, a system of telegraphythat enables conversation to be carried on at any dis-tance, and requires neither poles, wires, nor pots ofchemicals. You wish to know what that is ? I willtell you, and tell it to the very beards of thoseignorant, half-educated people who make fun ofsacred things, and are not ashamed to revile theirforefathers upon the strength of some superficialsmattering of English education they have managedto pick up. Your ancient Yogis could, and all whohave acquired a certain proficiency in occult sciencecan even now, thus talk with each other. Some ofyou may honestly doubt it, still it is true ; as anyauthor who has written on Yoga, and every onewho has practised it, from the ancient Rishis downto some living Yogis of your day, will tell you.

And then the Aryans—if we may believe thatgood man, the late Bramachari Bawa—knew abranch of science about which the West is nowspeculating much, but has I'earnt next to nothing.They could navigate the air, and not only navigatebut fight battles in it, like so many war-eaglescombating for the dominion of the clouds. To beso perfect in aeronautics, as he justly says, theymust have known all the arts and sciences related

to that science, including the strata and currents ofthe atmosphere,their relative temperature, humidity,and density, and the specific gravity of the variousgases. At the Mayasabha,described in the Bharata,he tells us, were microscopes, telescopes, clocks,watches, mechanical singing-birds, and articulatingand speaking animals. The "Ashta Vidya"—ascience of which our modern professors have noteven an inkling—enabled its proficients to com-pletely destroy an invading army by enveloping itin an atmosphere of poisonous gases, filled withawe-striking, shadowy shapes, and with awfulsounds.

The modern school of Comparative Philologytraces the migration of Aryan civilization intoEurope by a study of modern languages in com-parison with the Sanskrit. And we have anequally, if not still more striking means ofshowing the outflow of Aryan thought towardsthe West, in the philosophies and religions ofBabylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and NorthernEurope. One has only to put side by side theteachings of Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle,Homer, Zeno, Hesiod, Cicero, Scaevola, Varro andVirgil, with those of Veda Vydsa, Kapila, Goutama,Patanjali, Kanada, Jaimini, Narada, Panini, Marichi,and many others we might mention, to be astonishedat the identity of their conceptions—an identity thatupon any other theory than that of a derivation ofthe younger philosophical schools of the West fromUie elder ones of the East would be simply miracu-

lous. The human mind is certainly capable of evolv-ing like ideas in different ages, just as humanityproduces for itself in each generation the teachers,rulers, warriors and artisans it needs. But that theviews of the Aryan sages should be so identical withthose of the later Greek and Roman philosophers asto make it seem that the latter were to the formerlike the reflection of an object in a mirror to theobject itself, without an actual, physical transmis-sion of teachers or books from the East to theWest, is opposed to common sense. And thisagain corroborates our convictions that the oldEgyptians were emigrants from India. Nearly allthe famous ancient philosophers had been to Egyptto learn her wisdom^ from Jewish Moses to GreekPlato.

And now that we have seen—however imper-fectly, for the theme is inexhaustible—what Indiawas in the olden time, and what sort of peopleshe held, let us move the panorama forward andbestow a glance on the India of our own day.

THE PRESENT.

If one who loves the memory of the blessedAryavarta would not have his heart filled withsorrow, he must not permit himself to dwell toolong on the past. For, as the long procession ofgreat men passes before his inner vision, ashe sees them surrounded with the golden light oftheir majestic epochs, if he then turn to view thespectacle presented by the India of to-day, it

it will be hard, though he were the most courageousof souls, to escape a sense of crushing despair.Where are the sages, the warriors, the giantintellects of yore ? Where the happiness, the inde-pendence of spirit, the self-respecting dignity, thatmade an Aryan feel himself fit to rule the world,nay, to meet the very gods on equal terms ?Where are the cunning artificers whose taste andskill, as exemplified in the meagre specimens thatremain, were unrivalled ? Whither are departedthe Brahmins in whose custody were all the trea-sures of Asiatic knowledge ? Gone—all gone. Likevisions of the night, they have departed intothe mist of time. A new nation is being fabricatedout of the old material, in combination ivith innchalloy. The India of old is a figment of the imagina-tion, a faded picture of the memory; the India ofto-day is a stern reality that confronts and supplicatesus. The soil is here, but its fatness is diminished ;the people remain, but, alas! how hungry anddegenerate ! India, stripped of her once limitlessforests, that gave constant crops and abundantfertility by regulating the rainfall, lies baking inthe blistering heat, like a naked valetudinarian toohelpless to move. The population has multipliedwithout any corresponding increase of food supply ;until starvation, once the exception, has becomealmost habitual. The difference between so-calledgood and so-called bad years, to at least forty millionsof toilers, is now only that in the former they are alittle less near starvation than in the latter. Crushed

in heart, deprived of all hope, denied the chances ofmuch bettering his condition, the poor ryot, clad inone little strip of cloth, lives on from hand tomouth in humble, pious expectation of what to himwill be the happiest of all'hours—the one that shallusher him into the other world. The union of theolden days is replaced by disunion, province isarrayed against province, race against race, sectagainst sect, brother against brother. Once thenames of Arya and Aryavarta were talismans thatmoved the heart of an Indian youth to its depths,that sent the flush of blood into his cheek, thatcaused his eye to glitter. Now, the demon of selfish-ness sits athwart all noble impulse ; the struggle forlife has made men sycophants, cowards, traitors.The brow of a once proud nation is laid in thedust, and shame causes those who revere hermemory to avert their gaze from the sickeningspectacle of her fallen greatness. Mighty cities,once homes and hives of population, centresof luxury, hallowed repositories of religion andscience, have crumbled into dust; and either thefilthy beast and carrion bird inhabit their desolateruins, or the very recollection of their sites is lost.Now and then the delving archaeologist exhumessome fragment which serves to verify the ancientAryan records; but even then he mostly tries totwisttheir evidence into a corroboration of some petthcoi-y that denies a greater antiquity than ahandful of centuries to Indian civilization.

It is not my province to deal with the political

interests involved in the full consideration of oursubject. Were I in the least competent tohandle it—which I certainly am not, after themere glimpse I have had of the situation, andwith the tastes and habits of a life opposed todabbling at all in politics—I should neverthelessabstain. My interest in India is in her litera-ture, her philosophy, her religion, and her science ;it was to study these I came hither. And it is uponglancing at these that I am constrained to expressmy sorrow at finding things as they are. TheBrahmins I find engaged as clerks to Governmentand to merchants, and even occupied in menialcapacities. Here and there a learned man is to befound ; but the majority, receiving no encourage-ment to devote their lives to abstract science or tophilosophy, have given up the custom of their fore-fathers, and their glory is departed. Some stilllinger about the temples, and repeat their slokasand sastras in a parrot-like way ; take what stint ofdole a parsimonious and impoverished public mayfling to them, and waylay the European visitor without-stretched palm and the droning cry oibaksheesh!But in their temples there are no longer any sacredmysteries, for there are few priests who have be-come initiated, few who even believe that thereare secrets of Nature that the ascetic can discover.The very successors of Patanjali, Sankara, andKanada doubt if man has a soul, or any latentpsychic powers that can be developed. And thisfashionable scepticism taints the minds of all young

India. The flower of Aryan youth are turningmaterialists under the influence of European educa-tion. Hope—the bright angel that gives joy andcourage to the human intellect—is dying out; theyhave no longer hope in the hereafter, nor in thesplendid possibilities of the present. And with-out hope, how can there be that cheerful resigna-tion under evils that begets perseverance andpluck ? We have the authority of Sir RichardTemple, late Governor of Bombay, for sayingthat " modern education is shaking the Hindufaith to its very foundation." These are thevery words he uttered not long ago, in a speech atthe University of Oxford, the pamphlet report ofwhich I now hold in my hand. And he mentionsas chief among the effects of that change, the for-mation of the three great " religious sects " of theBrahmo Samaj, the Prarthana Sam.aj, and—mostabsurdly—the Theosophical Society, which neverwas, or pretended to be, a sect ! The AryaSamaj he does not so much as mention, thoughthe President of the Bombay branch—Rao Ba-hadur Gopalrao Hurree Deshmiukh—is a memberof the Bombay Governor's Council, and the fortyor fifty branch Samajes, already founded by Daya-nand Swami, include, perhaps, as many registeredor affiliated members as the other three societiestogether. Sir Richard Temple tells the Englishpeople that now is the time for them to send outmore missionaries, as young India is ready to turnChristian as it were in a mass ! Now I believe this

to be a perfectly erroneous supposition. As I see it,the young Hindus, outside the reformatorySamajes, are losing their old religious belief, with-out gaining, or being ready to embrace, any other.They are becoming exactly like the great massof educated youth in Europe and America. In-fluenced by the same causes, they require the sametreatment. It is Science which undermined thefoundations of Religion ; it is Science which shouldbe compelled to erect the new edifice. As an incom-plete study of Nature has led to materialistic Athe-ism,"^ so a complete one will lead the eager studentback to faith in his inner and nobler self, and in hisspiritual destiny. For there is a circle of scienceas of all other things, and the whole truth canonly be learnt by going all the way round. This,I think, is the strongest corner of the edifice ofTheosophy that we are trying to raise. Otheragitators come to the young generation claimingauthority for some book, some religious observances,or some man as a religious guide and teacher. Wesay, " We interfere with no man's creed or caste ;we preach no dogma; we offer no article of faith. Wepoint to Nature as the most infallible of all divinerevelations, and to Science as the most competentteacher of her mysteries." But the science we havein mind is a far wider, higher, nobler science thanthat of modern sciolists. Our view extendsover the visible and invisible, the familiar and un-

* Atheism, in the sense of disbelief of even the UniversalPrinciple.

familiar, the patent and occult sides of Nature.In short, ours is the Aryan conception of whatscience can and should be, and we point to theAryas of antiquity as its masters and proficients.Young India is a blind creature whose eyes are notyet open ; and the nursing mother of its thoughtis a bedizened goddess, herself blind of one eye,whose name is Modern Science. There is an oldproverb that "in a company of blind men, the one-eyed man is a king," and here we see it practi-cally exemplified. Our Western instructors knowjust enough to spoil our spirituality, but not enoughto prove to us what man really is. They can drawyoung India away from her old religion, butonly to plunge her into the swamp of doubt.They can show us the ingenious mechanism of ourvital machinery, the composition of our digestingfluids, the proportion of fluids and solids in ourframe. But Atina is an unscientific postulate, andPsychology a species of poetry, in their eyes. Shallv/e then say that modern education is an unmixedblessing to India ? Look at our Indian youth andanswer. Sir Richard Temple is right in saying thatthe foundations of their faith are .shaken. Shaken,indeed, they are ; but he does not seem to perceivethe proper remedy. It is not theological Chris-tianity, which itself is tottering before the mercilessassaults of the liberal minds within its own house-hold. It is pre-eminently uncongenial to theHindu mind. No imported faith will furnish

a panacea for the spiritual disease spreading

s

on all sides. What is needed is that the Vedasshall be once more restored to their ancient holdupon the Indian mind. Not that they should beaccepted as a mere dead letter. Not that theyshould inspire a merely tacit reverence, but an in-telligent appreciation of their intrinsic merits. Itmust be proven, not simply asserted, that the Vedasare the fountain and source of all religions, that theycontain the indications of a science that embracesand explains all sciences. To whom shall we lookfor this vindication of their majesty? To whombut to those who unite in themselves at once theadvantages of modern critical culture and famili-arity with the Sanskrit literature; and, most im-portant of all, the knowledge of the hidden mean-ing of the Vedic allegory and symbolism ? Forthe inspired Vedas are often hidden under thevisible writing, and nestle between the lines ; atleast so I have been told by those who professto know the truth. It is ignorance of this fact,and the taking of the Vedas in their dead-lettersense, that has driven thousands of the brightestintellects into infidelity. Comparative philologywill not supply us with our interpretation ; it canonly show the dead-letter meaning of the dead-lettertext. An esteemed Fellow of our Society —Shankar Pandurang Pandit—is doing this literaltranslation work at Bombay, while many othersare busily tracing the several streams of Westernideas back to their parent spring in the Vedas.But modern India needs to be instructed in the

vieaning of the Vedic authors; so that this agemay acquire for itself the perfect certitude that inthose far distant as^es science was so well under-stood as to leave no necessity for us to cast asideas rubbish that Book of Books, at the behest ofmodern self-styled "authorities" in science. AnIndian civilization resting upon the Vedas, andother old national works, is like a strong castlebuilt upon rocks: an Indian civilization restingupon Western religious ideas—patched with im-ported ideas fitted only to the local traditions andenvironments of their respective birthplaces—is buta rickety house of cards that the first blast ofstern experience may cause to topple over. Wecertainly cannot expect to see, under the totallydifferent conditions of modern times, an exactreproduction of Aryan development; but we cancount upon the new development having a strictlynational character. Whoever is a true friend ofIndia will make himself recognized by his desire tonationalize her modern progress ; her enemy is hewho advocates the denationalization of her arts,industries, lines of thought, and aspirations. Thereare men of both sorts among the class who havereceived the priceless blessing of education—and, Iam sorry to say, there are hundreds, if not thousands,who are setting the pernicious example of apingWestern ways that are good only for Western people,and of imitating Western vices that are good for nopeople, among which is the excessive use of spiritu-ous liquors. I see also everywhere a set of rich syco-

phants who humbly bow the knee to everyEuropean they meet in the hope of rcco^^nitionand reward. These poor fools do not realize thata people intensely manly, independent and self-respecting like the English, can only feel contemptfor those who cast aside their own dignity and self-respect. Nor are they so dull as not to detect,under all this mask of servile politeness, the con-cealed scowl of hatred, and, under this fawning andcringing, the mean lust after titles and decorations.An Englishman honours a brave foe, and scorns asneaking hypocrite. Before India can hope tomake the first recuperative step up the long slopedown which she has been for many centuriesdescending, her youth must learn the lesson thattrue manhood is based upon self-respect. Andthey must learn once more to speak the truth.There was a time when a Hindu's word pledged toanother man, no matter whether Hindu or stranger,was sacredly kept. English gentlemen have toldme more than once that thirty years ago one mJghthave left a lakh of rupees, uncounted, with a nativebanker without taking a receipt, and be sure of notbeing wronged out of a single pie. Could that bedone safely now ? Friends of mine—native gentle-men connected with the judicial establishment—have told me, some with moistening eyes, thatlying and perjury had of late grown so commonthat magistrates could scarcely believe a word ofthe testimony offered by either side unless corro-borated. The moral tone of the legal profession

has been perceptibly raised, but the mendacity ofthe general public has reached a low level. Doyou think a national resuscitation can be evendreamt of with such a bottomless depth of moralrottenness to lay its foundations upon ? Many ofthe best friends of Aryavarta have confessed allthese things to me, and in accents of despair fore-told the speedy ruin of everything. Some, theother day, went so far as to say that in all theNorth-West and Punjab—to say nothing of otherprovinces—six men of the true patriot-hero mouldcould not be found. This is not my opinion.Some of you may recall that in all my addresses tothe Indian public I have taken a hopeful view of thesituation. I do not wish to deceive myself, or to• deceive others ; for I hope to live and die in this landand amiong this people. I rest my judgment ofIndian evolution upon the whole course of Aryanevolution, not upon a fragmentary particle of it.The new environment is evolving a new Indiawhich, in three chief respects, is the completeantithesis of the older one. Old India—and, infact, even modern India, that, let us say, of theeighteenth century—was (i) Asiatic to the core;(2) it had more land than cultivators ; and (3) itssoil was unexhausted. But the brand-new Indiaof to-day, suckling of Manchester, Birmingham,and Sheffield, and hunting-ground of the shikarriand the missionary, is putting on European clothes,and thinking along European lines ; its land isovercrowded ; its soil deteriorating at a rapid rate

towards actual sterility. It needs no prophet to fore-cast what all this involves. If " fertile France," asDr. Hunter calls it,* is crowded, with i8o peopleto the square mile; and fair, green Ireland soover-populated, with 169 persons to the squaremile, that she pours her emigrants into America by-millions ; if the people of England when they exceed200 to the square mile, gain their food only byemploying themselves in manufactures, mines, andcity industries—what must we think of haplessIndia's lot ? Throughout British India the aver-age population is 243 persons to the square mile,and there are portions—as, for instance, in thirteendistricts of Northern India, equal in size toIreland—where the land has to support an averageof 680 persons to the square mile, or more than oneperson to each acre ! The Famine Commissionersreport that in Bengal twenty-four millions of humanbeings are trying to live on the produce of fifteenmillion acres, or little more than half an acre apiece." The Indian soil," as Dr. Hunter says, " cannotsupport that struggle." And what then — is itasked ? Well, death to crores : that is the grinningskull behind the gold cloth and glitter of thesepageants ; such are the terrible words traced in theinvisible ink of Fate between the lines of thesecollege diplomas. This state of things is the resultof definite causes, and in their turn these effectsbecome causes of fresh results far ahead. From

* England's Work In India. By W. W. Hunter, CLE., LL.D.,London, 1881.

the experience of the past we may always prognos-ticate what is Hkely to come. And this brings usto the third and last branch of the subject.

THE FUTURE.

Who shall raise the curtain that now hangs inblack heavy folds before the TO-BE ? Only theeye of the perfect seer can penetrate the secrets ofthe coming ages. The true Yogi of old could fore-tell events because he had acquired the power topass at will into the spiritual universe, and inthat condition Past and Future are merged intoone conscious Present; as to an observer whostands at the centre of a circle, every point inthe circumference is equi-distant. But the trueYogis are now few, and if any are to be met amongus, they are hiding themselves, more and morecarefully every day, from the sight of men. Wemust then proceed by the deductive, since we maynot by the intuitive, process. And as we arehelped by comparative philology to theorize uponthe origin and destiny of language, so, by the studyof comparative history, we may at least get someidea of the probable outcome of the social forceswe see at work in the India of to-day. Throughthis glass, then, I see the country, after havingreached the predestined lowest level of adversity—predestined, I mean, by the universal cyclic lawwhich controls the destinies of nations, as the lawof gravitation controls the orbits of the planets—I

see her rising again. Action and reaction—thesway of the pendulum of human events—follow eachother. Nations, however splendid and powerful,are stamped out, under the iron heel of reactivedestiny, if their inherent vitality be weak. Butwhen it is strong, then, indeed, may we behold themajestic spectacle of a nation reviving from its veryashes, and starting afresh on the road to greatness.To which category shall we assign India ? I knownot what others may think, but for my part I domost firmly believe in her future. If she had beenweak of vitality she would have been obliteratedby various causes ; nay, if she had not had an in-herent giant strength, her own vices would havedestroyed her before now. She has survivedeverything, and she will live to renew her strength.Her best sons are afforded not only oppor-tunities for education, but also of training, inhundreds of offices, in practical statesmanship,under the greatest nation of administrators ofmodern times — not even America excepted.European education is creating a new caste which isto guide the nation up the hill. And as the Aryanof former times was the very prince of philosophers,so it is in the order of nature that his descendantshould become in time one of the ablest of states-men. Already broader and higher spheres of use-fulness are opening before him, partly as the resultof his own importunities, partly because of thegreater economy of administration that his admis-sion to the higher preferments seems likely to

offer. We are, perhaps, at the threshold of a newera of Indian clvihzation, an era of enormousdevelopment The bad crisis may be postponed,perhaps almost averted, by the aid of liberalscience. If the present peaceful and stable orderof things should continue—and surely such shouldbe the sincere prayer of every one who wisheswell to India, for change would mean a plungeback into chaos—we shall see the barriers graduallymelt away that have kept the peoples apart.Gradually they are realizing that, however distantthe Punjab may be from Travancore, or Cutchfrom Bengal, the people are yet brothers, childrenof the same mother. When this conviction shallonce possess the whole body of these twenty-four crores, then will the renascence of thisnation have indeed arrived. And then, with allthe modern improvements in arts, sciences, andmanufactures, superadded to abundant labour ;schools thronged with eager students ; the know-ledge of the Aryans unearthed from the dustof ages ; the Vedas reverenced and appreciatedby the whole educated class, who are now co-quetting with Infidelity, with Atheism, withsciolistic Science—with everything that is cal-culated to despiritualize and denationalize them ;with Sanskrit teachers well supported and honouredas in former days ; with the most distant districtsbound together by a network of railways and otherpublic works ; with the mineral and agriculturalresources of the country fully developed ; with the

282 INDIA : PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

pressure of population adjusted to the capacitiesof the several districts ; with the last chains ofsuperstition broken, and the eyes unbandaged thathave been so long withheld from seeing the truth,—the day of Aryan regeneration will have fullydawned. Then once more shall Aryavarta givebirth to sons so good as to provoke the admiringhomage of the world. When shall we see thisglorious day ? When shall India take the proudplace she might assume in the family of nations ?Ah ! when ? The oracle is silent; the book ofdestiny none have read. It may be only after acentury or centuries ; it cannot be soon, for thependulum swings slowly, and on the dial of Fatethe hours are marked by cycles and epochs, not byhours or single generations. Enough for us thepresent hour ; for out of the present comes thefuture, and the things we do and those we leaveundone weave the warp and wind the woof of ourdestinies. We are masters of causes, but slavesof their results. Take this truth to heart,and remember that whatever your faith — Ifyou have any faith at all In man's survival afterdeath—whether, as Hindus, you believe in Karma,or, as Buddhists, you believe in Prishna, you can-not escape the responsibility of your acts. Whatyou do that is good or bad, and what you mightdo but leave undone, will equally be placed to youraccount by the Law of Compensation. The lessonof the hour is that every Indian mother shouldrecall to the child at her knee the glories of the

INDIA : PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 2S

o

past, that every son of the soil should keep greenthe memory of his ancestors, and that each shoulddo what he can, in every way and always,to deserve and to dignify the name of anAryan.

THE CIVILIZATION THAT INDIA

NEEDS.*

In reflecting upon a choice of subjects upon whichto address you, it seems to me that our time wouldbe most profitably spent in examining the moderndogma, that " the true test of the civilization of anation must be measured by its progress in science."I shall consider it in its relation to Asiatic, especiallyIndian, needs and standards. My discourse willnot be exhaustive, not even approximately so. Iam not going to attempt an oration or an exegesis.I shall only say a few words upon a subject so pro-found and exhaustless that one would scarcely beable to consider its lengths and breadths withoutwriting a volume, or perhaps a score of volumes. For,to know what progress really is, and what are theabsolute canons of civilization, one must trace backthe intellectual achievements of mankind to theremotest past; and that, too, with a clue that onlythe Asiatic people can place in our possession. IfEurope really wishes to estimate the rush of civiliza-tion, she must not take her datum line from themental, spiritual, and moral degradation of her own

*A Lecture delivered at Tuticoiin, 22nd Cctober^ iSSi.

Middle Ages, but from the epochs of Indian andMongoh'an greatness. The advancement Europehas experienced in popular intelligence, in religiousenfranchisement, and in the multiplication of aidsto physical comfort; and the phenomenal leapmade by my own country of America, within onecentury, to the topmost rank of national power—these are well calculated to make her accept theabove-stated scientific dogma without a thought ofprotest. The quoted words are those of Sir JohnLubbock, and I take them from the report inNature (No. 618, vol. 24) of his presidential addressto the members of the British Association for theAdvancement of Science, on the 31st of August,1881—an address that will figure in history. Theoccasion was the fiftieth anniversary meeting of theAssociation, and the President properly, and mostably and lucidly, reviewed the progress of scienceduring this wonderful half-century. How vast hasbeen the increase of knowledge about physicalnature, and what vistas it opens out, I need notparticularize before so intelligent a Hindu audienceas the present. You, who have had the benefit ofa modern education, know that most branchesof physical science have been revolutionized, andmany positively created, within the past half-century. Biology, the science of living organiza-tions ; Surgery ; Archaeology ; ComparativePhilology; Anthropology; Geology; Palaeontology;Geography; Astronomy; Optics; Physics, includingthe Kinetic theory of gases; the properties of

matter and the conservation of energy; Photo-graphy ; Electricity and Magnetism, and theircorrelations ; Mathematics, as applied to scientificproblems; Chemistry; Mechanical Science, includ-ing the processes for utilizing metals ; EconomicScience and Statistics ;—the development of theseis the splendid triumph of the intellectual activityof the Western world, since the year 1830, SirJohn Lubbock counts it all up in the followingwords: " Summing up the principal results whichhave been attained in the last half-century, we maymention (over and above the accumulation of facts)the theory of evolution, the antiquity of man, andthe far greater antiquity of the world itself; thecorrelation of physical forces, and the conservationof energy; spectrum analysis and its application tocelestial physics; the higher algebra and the moderngeometry; lastly, the innumerable applications ofscience to practical life—as, for instance, in photo-graphy, the locomotive engine, the electric telegraph,the spectroscope, and most recently, the electriclight and the telephone." Truly, if we compare theEurope and America of to-day with what they werefive centuries, or even one century ago, we see goodreason for the shout of exultation v\dth which theprogress of the Western nations is celebrated.And we can quite understand why the learned andrespected President of the British Associationshould have laid down the dogma already noted inmy opening remarks. An educated Hindu wouldbe the last to dissent from his position that there

are no probable limits to the power of the humanmind, to solve all the ultimate problems of naturallaw. When, by the help of the spectroscope, wehave been enabled to discover the very compositionof the stars of heaven, who shall dare to fix a limitto the capacity of man to unravel the mysteries ofthe universe around him ?

But you must remember that we have beenspeaking of the progress of physical science; andthat after that has done its best, after its proficientshave pushed their researches to the very verge ofobjective nature, though not one secret of thephenomenal world is left uncovered, there is anotherand a far more important domain of knowledge stillleft to explore. At that outermost verge yawns anabyss that separates it from the Unknown, and, asscientific men call it, the Unknowable. Why dothey not enter this boundless department ofNature ? Why, in all this hurry-skurry of thebiologists after knowledge, have they not solvedthe old problem of the why, the whence, thewhither of Man ? Is it not because their methodsare faulty, and their canons of science too narrow ?Firstly, they have been overshadowed throughouttheir investigations by the dark and menacinginfluence of a Christian theology ignorant of Christ;and secondly, they have been hampered by theirignorant disdain for the claims of Asiatic Occult-ism, whose adepts alone can tell them how theymay learn the secret laws of Nature and of man.Read the summary of scientific progress made by

Professor Draper, in that splendid work of his, en-titled "The Conflict between Religion and Science,"if you would see how Theology has fought thatprogress inch by inch. O, the black and bloodyrecord ! Bow your heads in reverence, friends ofhuman progress, to the martyrs of science whohave battled for the truth. And - when you gothrough so-called Christian countries, as I havegone, and see how that once haughty and all-powerful Church Is crumbling, let your heartsthrob with gratitude for the long array of daringscientists who have dissected her pretensions,unmasked her false doctrines, shivered the bloodysword of her authority, and left her what she nowis, a dying superstition, the last vestiges of whoseauthority are passing away. Do you think I amspeaking in prejudice or passion ? Alas ! no, myfriends and brothers ; I am but giving voice to thefacts of history, and every unprejudiced man amongyou may verify them If he chooses. ProfessorHuxley, who, without the least apparent sympathyfor Asiatic thought, or knowledge of its ancientoccult science, is yet unconsciously one of thegreatest allies of both, in doing what he can toadvance science in spite of theology, says :—" Themyths of Paganism are dead as Osiris or Zeus, andthe man who should revive them, iji opposition tothe knozvledge of our time, would be justly laughed toscorn ; but the coeval imaginations current amongthe rude inhabitants of Palestine, recorded bywriters whose very name and age are admitted by

every scholar to be unknown, have unfortunatelynot yet shared their fate; but, even at this day, areregarded by nine-tenths of the civilized world as theauthoritative standard of fact and the criterion ofthe justice of scientific conclusions, in all thatrelates to the origin of things, and among them, ofspecies. In this nineteenth century, as at the dawnof modern physical science, the cosmogony of thesemi-barbarous Hebrew is the inaibns of the pJiiloso-pher and the opprobrmm of the orthodox. Who shallnumber the patient and earnest seekers after truth,from the days of Galileo until now, whose liveshave been embittered and their good name blastedby the mistaken zeal of Bibliolaters ? Who shallcount the host of w^eaker men whose sense of truthhas been destroyed in the effort to harmonize im-possibilities—whose life has been wasted in theattempt to force the generous new wine of scienceinto the old bottles of Judaism, compelled by theoutcry of the stronger party ? " Hail ! Huxley,man of the Iron Age !

And how w^ell he says again :—" It is true that ifphilosophers have suffered, their cause has beenamply avenged. Extinguished theologians lieabout the cradle of every science. (Christian)orthodoxy is the Bourbon of the world of thought.It learns not, neither can it forget; and, though atpresent bewildered and afraid to move, it is aswilling as ever to insist that the first chapter ofGenesis contains the beginning and the end ofsound science ; and to visit, with such petty

T

thunderbolts as its half-paralyzed hands can hurl,those who refuse to degrade nature to the level ofprimitive Judaism." These are the brave utter-ances of one of the most respected amongEuropean scientists; and he expresses the opinionof an overwhelming majority of his colleagues.None know better than we, humble founders of theTheosophical Society, tQ what depths of meannessand to what extremes of malice Christian bigotscan go, to impede the progress of free-thought. Forthe last six years we have been pursued with theircalumnies against our good names. All the news-papers in India and Ceylon that could be controlledor influenced by these enemies of truth, have beentrying their best to embitter o?ir lives. Wherefalsehood has failed and slander recoiled uponthem, they have employed the stinging whips ofridicule: and what has been our offence ? Simplythat we have preached universal religious tolerance,that we have stood up for the dignity and majestyof ancient Asiatic science and philosophy, and haveimplored the degenerate sons of a glorious ancestryto be ^vorthy of the great names they bear. It isthese insatiate enemies that have set police spies totrack our footsteps throughout India ; that havecharged us with being adventurers; that have circu-lated numberless lies about us; that have forgedletters we never wrote. Clergymen, from their pul-pits ; editors, from their desks; catechists, at the streetcorners ; even bishops and other high dignitaries ofthe Church, have tried to weaken our influence and

to stop our mouths. But as we have stood for thetruth, so has the truth stood by us ; and day by dayour vindication has been growing more perfect. Anhonest life is its own best shield. It has served usin India and Ceylon; and not only have theGovernment of India called off their detectives, butat Simla, the summer capital of India, we have justorganized a Branch—the Simla Eclectic Theoso-phical Society—almost entirely composed of Anglo-Indians. As for Ceylon, the Colonial Secretary hasrefused all applications to the Government tomolest us, and has opened the prison-doors for meto lecture to the Buddhist convicts.

So, as you see, my first proposition — thatscientific inquiry has been impeded by thebigots of Christian theology—is made out. Wewill now consider the second. The disdainfelt for the ancient occultists is well ex-pressed by Professor Huxley in the passage abovequoted. He who would dare to revive the oldpagan myths must expect to be " laughed to scorn."Physical science has dissected them, found no" Kinetic energy" in that " gas," could not testthem by the spectroscope, and so they must havebeen sheer nonsense ! But we say they were not >and, having not only studied those myths underteachers who could interpret them, but having alsolearnt from those who could experimentally de-monstrate the truth of their assertions, what theancient myth-makers of India knew of science, we" laugh to scorn " the whole school of modern

scientists, who know so much in one direction andso httle in another. Sir John Lubbock quotes ap-provingly in his address the opinion of Bagehot thatthe ancients " had no conception of progress ; theydid not so much as reject the idea: they did noteven entertain it." This is the very key to my pre-sent discourse. I want you to reahze what shouldbe called real " progress," and why the ancients—your forefathers—" did not even entertain " the ideaof what the modern scientists regard as progress.And to comprehend this question, we must firstunderstand what man is, and what the highest pointof progress or improvement to which he may attain.If you will run your eye over the list of sciencesnoted by the President of the British Association,you will see that nearly all of them bear upon thematerial comfort, or educational development, ofthe physical man, and his understanding of thephysical facts of the world he lives in. Thousandsof the most startling of modern inventions are toaid the Western populations against rigour ofclimate and infertility of soil, to facilitate thetransport of passengers and merchandize and thetransmission of intelligence, and to gratify theappetites and passions of our baser nature. It hasbeen one mad struggle of physical man withnatural obstacles ; the chief objects, the multiplica-tion of wealth, of power, of means of physical grati-fication. Some people call this "progress;" butwhat sort of progress is it that arms the loweragainst the higher part of man's self? The Christian

Bible puts it thus :—'' What shall it profit a manif he shall gain the whole world, and lose his ownsoul ?" [Mark viii. 36.] The words are not likemine, but the idea is the same. There is a kind of" progress" that leads to moral debasement andspiritual death. I put it to you, Hindus, whetheryou have not become familiar with it since you tookto wearing European shoes, and to drinking thatstrong stuff that comes in corked bottles, and isdrunk with soda-water out of a big tumbler?

What has become of Religion in this half-centuryof turmoil? How fares it with man's better nature?is it purer, nobler, than it was when your ancestorswere satisfied with their myths, and not troublingthemselves about progress ? The moderns havegrown wise indeed, if the acme of wisdom be toknow why birds, and bugs, and animals are striped,or spotted, are of this colour or shape, or of theother; why the sky is blue, water will not run uphill, stars wheel around their centres of attraction,and electricity leaps from cloud to cloud. But if, asthe ancients held, the highest wisdom be to knowthe secret causes for all objective phenomena, andthe extent to which all our human faculties can bedeveloped, then these scientists are but busy ants,living within a microscopic hillock of great Nature.Their boasted progress is, from this ancient pointof view, but the beginning of true knowledge, atthe wrong end, and all their troublesome activitybut vanity and vexation of spirit. Is Civilizationmeasured by the progress of Science ? What is

Civilization ? Is it the perfecting of deadlyweapons for the better killing of man by man ?Is it the wholesale debasement of a people by en-couraging the consumption of opium and strongdrinks ? Is it the falsification of articles of foodand clothing to cheat the unwary ? Is it the lower-ing of the standard of truthfulness to the pointwhere perjury is at a premium, and man hasalmost lost all confidence in his fellow-man ? Isit the extinction of the intuitive faculties, andthe stifling of the religious sentiment? Are thesethe marks of Civilization ? Then, indeed, do theyabound, and marvellously has the world progressed,within the last half-century. But the true moralist,I opine, would call these the proufs of retrogression.If he were candid, and could be brought to readwhat the ancient Hindus had reall}' discovered, andwhat was their lofty standard of enlightenment, hewould have to confess that we moderns make but asorry show in comparison with them. They maynot have had railways and spectroscopes, but theyhad grand notions of what constitutes an ideal man,and the vestiges of their civil polity that remainto us show that society was well organized, thatprivate rights were protected, and the domesticvirtues cultivated. I am not speaking of the epochsintermediate between their time and our own, butabout the real ancients, the progenitors alike of themodern Hindu and the modern European. Thebiologist of our day is using his lenses and scalpel—for what purpose ? To discover the secret laws of

life, is It not? Well, the ancient philosopher knewthese, thousands of years ago ; so where is the pro-gress we are wont to boast of? The modernengineer builds bridges and railways, and greatships, to carry us from countrj^ to country. But theancient mystic could, as quick as thought, projecthis inner self to any place he pleased, however dis-tant, and see and be seen there. Which is thegreater proof of " progress "—to have one's bodycarried In a wooden carriage, over iron rails, at therate of sixty miles an hour, or by the force of aniron will, aided by a profound knowledge of theforces of Nature, to go In one's Double around theearth, through the pathless Akasa, in the twinklingof an eye? Or take chemistry as an example.We will say nothing about the science having beenentirely recreated since 1830, when the radicaltheory of Berzelius was In vogue : let that pass.We will take the science as it stands now; andwhat is its characteristic ? Uncertainty, assuredly.Great discoveries have been made, but the lacimce,or gaps, between the chemist and a full knowledgeof the laws of Nature, are still confessedly as greatas ever; for each new discovery is but anothereminence from which the experimentalist sees thehorizon ever receding. Chemistry can expel lifeand disintegrate atoms; it can by synthesis rebuildinert matter. But it cannot recall the parted lifethat is once gone. It can separate the rose-leafinto atoms, but It cannot mould them again into arose-leaf, nor restore its vanished perfume. And

yet, by the creative power of their trained will,the ancient occultists could make roses fall inshowers, from out of the empty air, upon the headsof sceptics, or fill the room with waves of any per-fume they might ask for. Nay, those who havestudied their science have done the like in our owndays, and before our own eyes. Can any memberof the British Association, with his imperfectmethods, show us any one of the phenomena of theSiddJiis, described in the Shrimad Bhagavata:—AimuLh, Mahiind, Laghimd, Prapii, Prakdshyama,Ishiia, Vashiidy and the eighth which enables oneto attain his every wish ? Can he display anyknowledge of the Buddhist Iddhiwiddhindnascience, by producing the wonders of either theLmikika or Lokothra ? When he can do any ofthese things, and vie w^ith either the Indian Rishior the Buddhist Arhdt, then let him dogmatize tous about " progress," and indulge in his witticismsagainst the "ancients." Until then we will returnhim laughter for laughter, scorn for scorn.

Progress, you will perceive, is a relative term.What may be wonderful advancement to onepeople, may be quite the opposite to another. Andas for civilization, I consider we are only justifiedin applying the name to that state of society inwhich intellectual enlightenment is attended bythe highest moral development, and where therights of the individual, and the welfare of thepeople as a whole, are equally and fully realized.I cannot call any country civilized which, like

England or America, spends five times as muchfor spirituous drink as for religious and seculareducation. I call that a barbarous, not a civilizedpower which derives a large proportion of its in-come from the encouragement of opium-smokingand of arrack and whiskey-drinking. I give thesame name to a nation which, in spite of the teach-ings of Economic Science and the dictates of reli-gion and morality, plunges into wars of conquest,that it may make new markets, among weakerpeoples, for its wares and merchandise. That adifferent theory of civilization prevails serves butto show the utter perversion of the moral sensewhich " modern progress " has brought about.

But may we not even ask Sir John Lubbock andhis colleagues how they have discovered what theancients did or did not know of even physicalscience ? In another lecture {India : Past, Present,and Fntnre) I noted the fact that there were ex-hibited at the ]\lahasabha, described in the BJiarata,certain wonderful specimens of mechanical in-genuity and technical skill. The fourteenth chapterof the first volume of Madame Blavatsky's IsisUnveiled, abounds with illustrations of the profoundknowledge possessed by ancient Egypt, Phoenicia,Cambodia, India and other countries, of the artsand sciences. If occasion required, I might showyou, by chapter and verse, that some of the verylatest discoveries of modern science are but re-discoveries of things known to the ancients, butlong lost to mankind. The more I study, the more

is the truth of the arxlent doctrnie of cycles madeclear to my mind. As the stars of heaven move intheir orbits around their central suns, so does hu-manity seem ever circling about the Sun of Truth ;now illuminated, now in eclipse ; in one epoch re-splendent with light and civilization, in anotherunder the shadow of ignorance and in the night ofmoral and spiritual degradation. Four times havethe islands now forming the Kingdom of GreatBritain and Ireland dipped beneath the ocean, and,after intervals to be calculated only by the arith-methic of geological time, been raised again andrepeopled * There was a time when the Himalayas,as well as the Pyrenees, the Alps and the Andes,were under water, and the ocean rolled where theynow rear their towering crests. How vain is it,then, for people to pretend to say what the ancientsdid not know, and what is " new under the sun ! "You do not find the Hindus or Chinese making sucha mistake ; their records, on the contrary, showthat their ancestors possessed far more wisdom thantheir descendants, and the Chinese reverence forthem is so strong as to take the form of religiousworship. I should not need to go, as I am going,all over India and Ceylon, to implore you, Asiaticmen of to-day, not to dishonour yourselves bysneering at your " ignorant ancestors," if you hadever studied the literature they left behind them.It is your blind ignorance that makes you guilty ofthis sacrilege. Your education has been prescribed

* Huxley : Lay Sermons, p. 215,

7HE CIVILIZATION THAT INDIA NEEDS, 299

by the men of " progress." They have taught youa Httle Latin, less Greek, some patches of whatthey call History, such Logic and Philosophy asthey have scraped out of the dry bones of theancient philosophers, and a terrible amount of mis-leading physical science. And, with your headscrammed with such poor stuff, you assume airs and" laugh to scorn " the benighted beings who foundedthe six schools of Indian Philosophy, and the Rishisand Yogis who were able to range unfetteredthrough all Cosmos ! Ay, and to divest your-selves of the least tinge of suspicion that such ad-vanced minds as yours could sympathise with the" degrading superstitions " of your nation, you viewith each other in efforts to lay your pride of race,your intellectual manhood, your self-respect, inthe dirt, for the hob-nailed shoes of " progress " tostamp upon. Shame on such Asiatics !

What the best friends of India and Ceylon mostardently desire is to see their young men cling toall that is good of the olden times, while grasping allthat is useful of the modern epoch. That is thecivilization which India needs. There are certainabstract moral doctrines, never new and never old,that are the property of our race. The bestmaxims that Jesus taught were' taught by others,ages before his time—if he had ever a time, whichsome declare a doubtful question. So we must notmeasure civilization by the evolution of moral codes,but by the national living up to them. Christen-dom has as fine a moral code as could be wished for :

3CO THE CIVILIZA 7ION THA T INDIA NEEDS.

but she shows her real principles in her Krupp andArmstrong guns and whiskey distilleries, in heropium ships, sophisticated merchandise, prurientamusements, licentiousness and political dishonesty.Christendom we may almost say, is morally rottenand spiritually paralysed. If interested mission-aries tell you otherwise, do not believe them uponassertion: go through Christian countries and see foryourselves. Or, if you will not or cannot go, thenget the proper books and read. And when you haveseen, or read, and the horrid truth bursts upon you ;when you have lifted the pretty mask of this smil-ing goddess of Progress, and seen the spiritualrottenness behind it, then, O, young men of sacredIndia, heirs of great renown, turn to the history ofyour own land. Read, and be satisfied that it isbetter to be good than learned ; to be pure-mindedand spiritual than rich ; to be ignorant as a ryot,with his virtue, than intelligent as a Parisian de-bauchee, with his vices ; to be a heathen Hindupractising the moralities of the Rishis than a pro-gressed and civilized European trampling underfoot all the laws that conduce to human happinessand to true progress.

THE SPIRIT OF THEZOROASTRIAN RELIGION.*

With great diffidence I have accepted your in-vitation to address the Parsis upon the theme ofthe present discourse. The subject is so noble, itsHterature is so rich, its ramifications are so numerous,that no Hving man could possibly do it full justicein a single lecture. Happy, indeed, shall I be, if Isucceed in communicating to one or two of thelearned Parsi scholars who honour me with theirpresence, some of the deep interest which I havehad for years in the esoteric meaning of theMazdiaznian faith. My hope is to attract your at-tention to the only line of research which can leadyou towards the truth. That line was traced byZoroaster, and followed by the Magi, the Mobedsand the Dasturs of old. Those great men havetransmitted their thoughts to posterity under thesafe cover of an external ritual. They havemasked them under a symbolism and ceremonies,that guard their mighty secrets from the pryingcuriosity of the vulgar crowd, but that hide nothing

* A Lecture delivered at the To\\'n Hall, Bombay, I4tli February,1S82.

from those who deserve to know all. Do not mis-understand me. I am not pretending that / knowall, or nearly all : at best I have had but aglimpse of the reality. But even that little Is quiteenough to convince me that, within the husk ofyour modern religion, there Is the shining soul ofthe old faith that came to Zaratusht In his Persianhome, and once Illuminated the whole trans-Himalayan world. Children of Iran, heirs ofthe Chaldean lore; you who so loved your re-ligion that neither the sword of Omar, nor the de-lights ot home, nor the yearning of our commonhumanity to live among the memories of ourancestors, could make you deny It ; youwho, for the sake of conscience, fled fromyour native land and erected an altar forthe symbolical Sacred Fire in foreign coun-tries, more hospitable than yours had become;you, men of intelligence, of an ancient characterfor probity, of enterprise In all good works—youare the only ones to lift the dark veil of thismodern ParsIIsm, and let the " Hidden Splendour "again blaze forth. Mine Is but the office of thefriendly wayfarer who points you to the mouth ofthe private road that leads through your owndomain. I am not, if you please, a man, but onlya voice. I need not even appeal to you to stripaway the foreign excrescences that, during twelvecenturies of residence among strangers, havefastened themselves upon primitive Zoroastrianismnor recite to you its simple yet ail-sufficient code

ZOROASTRIAN RELIGWA^. 303

of morality, and ask you to live up to It moreclosely. This work has already been undertaken byIntelligent and public-spirited members of yourown community. But I am to show you that yourreligion Is In agreement with the most recent dis-coveries of modern science, and that the freshestgraduate from Elphlnstone College has no cause toblush for the " Ignorance " of Zaratusht! And Iam to prove to you that your faith rests upon therock of truth, the living rock of Occult Science,upon which the initiated progenitors of mankindbuilt every one of the religions that have sinceswayed the thoughts and stimulated the aspirationsof a hundred generations of worshippers. Letothers trace back the history of Zoroastrlanism toand beyond the time of the Bactrian King VIs-tasp ; and reconcile the quarrels of Aristotle,Hermippus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Polyhlstor,and other ancient as well as modern critics, asto when Zaratusht lived, and where was his birth-place : these are non-essentials. It is of far lessmoment to know where and of what parentage areligious reformer was born, than to be sure ofwhat he taught and whether his teaching Is calcu-lated to bless mankind. Plotlnus, the philo-sopher, so well knew this that he would not tell,even to Porphyry, his pupil and literary bio-grapher, what was his native country, what his realname, or his parentage. As regards Zaratusht onething is affirmed, viz., that about six centuriesB.C. one man of that name lived—whether or not

several others preceded him, as some respectableauthorities affirm—and that the religion hepreached, whether new or old, was of so noble acharacter, that it indelibly stamped its impressupon the then chief school of Western philosophy,that of Greece.* It is also, as I believe, certain

* In the oldest Iranian book called the "Desatir"—a collectionof the teachings of the fourteen oldest Iranian prophets (to make thenumber fifteen and include, among them, Sirakendesh, or*' Secander," is a grave error, as may be proved on the authority ofZaratusht himself in that book)—Zaratusht stands thirteenth in thelist. The fact is significant. Respecting the period of Zoroasterthe First, or his personality, there is no trustworthy informationgiven by Western scholars; their authorities conflict in themost perplexing manner. Indeed among the many discor-dant notices I find the earliest Greek classic writers, who tell usthat Zaratusht lived from 6oo to 5,000 years before the Trojan war,or 6,000 years before Plato. Again it is declared by Berosus, theChaldean priest, that Zoroaster was the founderof an Indian dynasty inBabylon 2200 B.C. ; while the later native traditions inform us thathe was the son of Purushaspa, and a contemporary of Gustaspa, thefather of Darius, which would bring him within 600 B.C. Lastly,it is asserted by Bunsen that he was born at Bactria before theemigration of the Bactrians to the Indus, which took place, as thelearned Egyptologist shows us, 3784 B.C. Among this host ofcontradictions, what conclusion can one come to ? Evidently, thereis but one hypothesis left : and that is that they are all wrong, thereason for it beins: the one I find in the secret traditions of theesoteric doctrine—namely, that there were several teachers of thatname. Neither Plato nor Aristotle, so accurate in their statements,is likely to have transformed 200 years into 6,000. As to thegenerally accepted native tradition, which makes the great propheta contemporary of Darius' father, it is absurd on the veryface of it. Though the error is too palpable to need any elaborateconfutation, I may say a few words in regard to it. The latest researches show that the Persian inscriptions point to Vistasp as thelast of the line of Kaianian princes who ruled in Bactria, while theAssyrian conquest of that countiy took place in 1200 B.C. Nowthis alone would prove that Zoroaster lived twelve or thirteen hun-

that this man was an initiate in the sacredMysteries, or to put it differently—that he had, bya certain course of mystical study, penetrated allthe hidden mysteries of man's nature and of theworld about him. Zoroaster is bv the Greekwriters often called the Assyrian " Nazaret."This term comes from the word Nazar or Nazir—set apart, separated. The Nazars were a veryancient sect of adepts, existing ages before Christ.They are described as " physicians, healers of thesick by the imposition of the hands," and asinitiated into the Mysteries (see treatise Nazir inthe Talmud). The Jews returning from the

dred years B.C., instead of the 600 assigned to him ; and thus thathe could not have been a contemporary of Darius Hystaspes, whosefather was so carelessly and for such a length of time confounded inthis connexion Vv'ith the Vistasp who flourished six centuries earlier.If we add to this the historical discrepancy between the statement ofAmniianus Marcelinus—which makes Darius crush the Magi andintroduce the worship of Ahurmazda—and the inscription on thetomb of that king which states that he was " teacher and hierophantof Magianism ; " and that other no less significant and very impor-tant fact that the Zoroastrian Avesta shows no signs of the knowledgeof its writer or writers of either the Medes, the Persians, or theAssyrians, the ancient books of the Parsis remaining silent upon andshowing no acquaintance with any of the nations that areknown to have dwelt in or near the Western parts of Iran—the date,600 B.C.—accepted as the period in which the prophet is allegedto have flourished, becomes absolutely impossible.

It is therefore safe to come to the following conclusions :—(i.)That there were several (in all seve^t, say the Secret Records,) AJnirti-asiers, or spiritual teachers, of Ahurmazda, an office corrupted laterinto Gtirii-asters and Ziirii-asters from " Zera-Ishtar," the title ofthe Chaldean or Magian priests ; and (2) that the last of them wasZaratusht of the Desaiir^ the thirteenth of the prophets, and theseventh of that name. It was he who was the contemporary of

U

Babylonian captivity were thoroughly imbued v/ithZoroastrian and Magian ideas ; their forefathershad agreed with the Sabeans in the Bactric wor-ship, the adoration of the Sun, Moon, and FivePlanets, the Sabaoth and realms of light. InBabylon they had learned to worship the Seven-Rayed God. And so we find running all through-out the Christian as well as the Jewish Scriptures,the septenary system, which culminates in theBook of Revelation (the final pamphlet of the Bible)in the Heptaktis, and a prophecy of the coming ofthe Persian Sosiosh, under the figure of the Chris-tian Messiah, riding, like the former, upon a white

Vislasp, the last of the Kaianian princes, and the compiler ofVendldad, the Commentaries upon which are lost, there remainingnow but the dead letter. Some of the facts given in the SecretRecords, though to the exact scholar merely traditional, are veryinteresting. They are to the effect that there exists a certain hollowrock, full of tablets, in a gigantic cave bearing the name of theZaratushta, under his Magian appellation, and that the tablets mayyet be rescued some day. This cave, with its rock and tablets andits many inscriptions on the walls, is situated at the summit of one ofthe peaks of the Thian Shan mountains far beyond their junctionwith the Belor Tagh, somewhere along their Eastern course. Oneof the half-pictorial and half-written prophecies and teachings at-tributed to Zaratusht himself, relates to that deluge which has trans-formed an inland sea into the dreary desert called Shamo or GobiDesert. The esoteric key to the mysterious creeds flippantly called,at one time, the Sabian or Planetary Religion, at another, theSolar or Fire \Yorship, " hangs in that cave," says the legend. Init the great Prophet is represented with a golden star on his heartand as belonging to that race of Ante-diluvian giants mentioned inthe sacred books of both the Chaldeans and the Jews. It matterslittle whether this hypothesis be accepted or rejected. Since therejection of it would not make the otlicr more trustworthy, it wasas well to mention it,

horse. By the Jewish sect of the Pharisees, whosegreat teacher was Hillel, the whole angelology andsymbolism of the Zoroastrians were accepted, andinfused into Jewish thought ; and their HebrewKabala, or secret book of Occult Wisdom, was theoffspring of the Chaldean Kabala. This deathlesswork is the receptacle of all the ancient lore ofChaldea, Persia, Media, Bactria, and the pre-Iran-ian period. The name by wdilch its students inthe secret lodges of the Jewish Pharisees (or Phat-sis) were known was Kabirini—from Kabeiri, theMystery Gods of Assyria. Zoroastrianism andMagianism proper were, then, the chief source bothof esoteric Judaism and of esoteric Christianity.But not only has this subtle spirit left the latter re-ligion, under the pressure of worldllness and scepti-cal inquiry : it also long ago left Judaism. Themodern Hebrews are not Kabalists but Talmudlsts,holding to the later interpretations of the Mosaiccanon : only here and there can we now find areal Kabalist, who knows what is the true religionof his people and whence it was derived.

The real history of Zoroaster and his religion hasnever been w^rltten. The Parsis have lost the key,as the Jews and Christians have lost that of theirrespective faiths, and as I find the Southern Bud-dhists have lost that of theirs. Not to the livingpandits or priests of either of those religions canthe laity look for light. They can only quote theopinions of ancient Greek and Roman, or modernGerman, French or English wTiters. This very day

nearly all that your most enlightened scholarsknow about your religion is what they have col-lated from European sources, and that is almostexclusively about its literature and external forms.And see what ridiculous mistakes some of thoseauthorities make at times! Prideaux, treatingof the Sad-der, says that Zaratusht preachedincest ; that " nothing of this nature is unlawful, aman may not only marry his sister or his daughter^but even his motherT {Ancient Universal History,iv. 296). He quotes no Zend authority, nothingwritten by a Parsi, but only Jewish and Christianauthorities, such as Philo, Tertullian, and ClemensAlexandrinus. Eutychius, a priest and archimand-rite at Constantinople, writes, in the fifth century,on Zoroastrianism as follows : " Nimrod beheld afire rising out of the earth and he worshipped it,and from that time forth the Magi worshipped fire.And he appointed a man named Ardeshan to bethe priest and servant of the Fire. The Devilshortly after that spoke out of the midst of the fire(as did Jehovah to Moses?) saying ' No man canserve the Fire or learn Truth in my Religion, un-less first he shall commit incest with his mother,sister, and daughter ! He did as Jie zvas eomnianded;and fromthattimethe priests of theMagianspractisedincest; but Ardeshan was the first inventor of thatdoctrine." I quote this as a sample of the wretchedstuff that has always been written against the Zor-oastrian religion by its enemies. The above wordsare simply the dead letter mistranslation of the

ZOROASTRIAN RELIGION. 309

secret doctrine, of which portions are to be foundin certain rare old MSS. possessed by the Armen-ians at Etchmiadzine, the oldest monastery inRussian Caucasus. They are known as the Mes-robian MSS. Should the Bombay Parsis show anyreal general interest in the rehabilitation of theirreligion, I think I may promise them the gratu-itous furtherance and assistance of MadameBlavatsky, whose friend of thirty-seven years' stand-ing. Prince Dondoukoff Korsakoff, has just noti-fied her of his appointment by the Czar as Viceroyof the Caucasus.

In one of these old MSS., then, it is said of theInitiate, or Magus, " He who would penetrate thesecrets of (sacred) Fire, and unite with it [as theYogi ' unites himself with the Universal Soul ']must first unite himself soul and body to theEarth, his mother^ to Humanity, his sister^ and toScience, his daugJiterr Quite a different thing,you perceive, from the abhorrent precept ascribedto the Founder of your Mazdiasnian faith.

A curious and sad thing, indeed, it is to seehow completely the old life has gone out ofZoroastrianism. Originally a highly spiritualfaith—I know of none more so—and representedby sages and adepts of the highest rank among in-itiates, it has shrunk into a purely exoteric creed ;full of ritualist practices not understood, taughtby a numerous body of priests as a rule ignorantof the first elements of spiritual philosophy ; re-presented in prayers of which not one word has a

meaning to those who recite them daily : the shriv-elled shell that once held a radiant soul. Yet allthat Zoroastrianism ever was it might be madeagain. The light still shines, though in darkness,enclosed in the clay vessel of materialism. Whoseshall be the holy hand to break the jar of clay andlet the hidden glory be seen ? Where is theMobed * who shall -in our day and generation riseto the ancient dignity of his profession, and redeemit from a degradation so deep as to compeleven a Parsi author (Dosabhoy Framjee, inhis able work on The Parsees, 8ic., p. 277) to say they" recite parrot-like all the chapters requiring to berepeated on occasions of religious ceremonies. . . .Ignorant and unlearned as these priests are, theydo not and cannot command the respect of thelaity." ..." The position of the so-called spiritualguides has fallen into contempt;" and to addthat some priests have " given up a professionwhich has ceased to be honourable and .... be-come contractors for constructing railroads in theBombay Presidency." Some of the present Das-turs " are intelligent and well-informed men, pos-sessing a considerable knowledge of their religion ;

* Not before he learns the true meaning of his own name, andstrives once more to become worthy of it. How many among themodern priests know that their title of Mobed or '' A/oghed," comeifrom Mao^, a word used by the prophet Jeremiah to designate aBabylonian Initiate, which, in its turn, is an abbreviation of Mag-insiah—the great and wise? " Maghistom " was once the title ofZoroaster's highest disciples, and the synonym of wisdom. Speak-ing of them Cicero says : Sapioitiuni et doctoru/?i genus magorunihabebattir in Pcrsis.

ZOROASTRTAN' RELIGION: 311

but the mass of the priesthood are profoundlyignorant of its first principles." {^Ibid. p. 279.)

I ask you, men of practical sense, what is thecertain fate of a religion that has descended so lowthat its priests are regarded by the Behedin as fitonly to be employed in menial services, such asbringing things to you from the bazaar, and doinghousehold jobs of work ? Do you suppose that sucha dried corpse will be left long above ground by thefresh and critical minds you are educating at college?Nay, do you not see how they are already treating it;how they abstain from visiting your temples; howsullenly they " make kusti," and go through theirother daily ceremonies ; how they avoid as muchas possible every attention to the prescribed ordi-nances ; how they are gathering in clubs to drink" pegs," and play cards; how they are defilingthemselves by evil associations, smoking in secret,*and some even openly, and prating glibly the mostsceptical sophistries they have read in Europeanbooks, written by deluded modern theorists ? Yes,—the cloud gathers over the fire altar, the oncefragrant wood of Truth is wet with the deadlydews of doubt, a pestilential vapour fills the AtashBehnim, and unless some Regenerator be raised upamong you, the name of Zaratusht may, beforemany generations, be known only as that of theFounder of an extinct faith.

In his Preface to the translation of the Vcndidad

* No true Parsi smokes, as it is regarded as a profanation of thesacred symbol Fire,

Tvol. iv. of The Sacred Books of the East, edited byProfessor Max Miiller), the learned Dr. Darme-steter says : " The key to the Avesta is not thePahlavi, but the Vedas. The Avesta and theVedas are two echoes of one and the same voice,the reflex of one and the same thought: the Vedas,therefore, are both the best lexicon and the bestcommentary to the Avesta " (p. xxvi.). This he de-fines as the extreme view of the Vedic scholars,and while personally he does not subscribe to thementirely, he yet holds that we cannot perfectly com-prehend the Avesta without utilising the discover-ies of the Vedic pandits. But neither Darmeste-ter, nor Anquetil Duperron, nor Haug, nor Spiegel,nor Sir William Jones, nor Rapp (whose work hasbeen so perfectly translated into English by theeminent Parsi scholar, K. R. Cama), nor Roth, nor anyphilological critic whose works I have come acrosshas named the true key to Zaratushta's doctrine.For it, we must not search among the dry bones ofwords. No, it hangs within the door of the Kabala—the Chaldean secret volume, where under themask of symbols and misleading phrases, it is keptfor the use of the pure searcher after arcane know-ledge. The entire system of ceremonial purifica-tions, which in itself is so perfect that a modernParsi—a friend of mine—has remarked that Zoro-aster was the best of Health Officers, is, as it seemsto me, typical of the moral purification required ofhim who would either, while living, attain theMagian's knowledge of the hidden laws of Nature

and his power to wield them for good purposes, or,after a well-ordered life, attain by degrees to thestate of spiritual beatitude, called Moksha by theHindus and Nirvana by the Buddhists. The de-filements by touch of various objects that you arcwarned against, are not visible defilements, like thatof the person by contact with filth, but psychic de-filements, through the influence of their bad mag-netic aura—a subtle influence proceeding fromcertain living organisms and inert substances—which is antipathetic to development as an adept.If you will compare your books with the YogaSutras of the Hindus, and the Tripitikas of theBuddhists, you will see that each exact for thestudent and practitioner of Occult Science, a place,an atmosphere, and surroundings that are perfectlypure. Thus the Magus (or Yozdathraigur), theYogi and the Arahat, all retire, either to the inner-most or topmost chambers of a temple, where nostranger is permitted to enter (bringing his impuremagnetism with him), to the heart of a forest, asecluded cave, or a mountain height. In the tower ofBelus at Babylon, virgin seeresses gazed into mag-ical mirrors and aerolites, to see their propheticvisions ; the Yogi retires to his subterranean gup/ia,or to the jungle fastnesses ; and the Chinese bookstell us that the " Great Teachers" of the sacreddoctrine dwell in the " Snowy Range of the Hima-vat" The books alleged to have been inspired byGod, or by him or his angels delivered to man,have always, I believe, been delivered on moun-

tains. Zaratusht got the Avesta on Ushidarinna,a mountain by the river Daraga (Vendidad xHx.) ;Moses received the tables of the Law on MountSinai (Exodus xxxiv.); the Koran was givento Mahommed on Mount Hara ; and theHindu Rishis lived in the Himalayas. SakyaMuni left no inspired books; but, althoughhe received the illumination of the Buddhaship inthe plains, under a Bo-tree, he had prepared him-self by years of austerities in the mountains nearRajagriha. The obstructive power of foul human,animal, vegetable, and even mineral auras or mag-netisms, has always been understood by occultstudents, from the remotest times. This is the truereason why none but initiated and consecratedpriests have ever been allowed to step within theprecincts of the holiest places. The custom is notat all the offspring of any feeling of selfish exclu-siveness, but based upon known psycho-physiologi-cal laws. Even the modern spiritualists and mes-merists know this; and the latter, at least, care-fully avoid " mixing magnetisms," which alwayshurts a sensitive subject. All Nature is a compoundof conflicting, and therefore of counterbalancing andequilibrating forces. Without this there could be nosuch thing as stability. Is it not the contest of thecentrifugal and centripetal attractions that keepscur earth, and every other orb of heaven, re-volving in its orbit ? The law of the Universe is adistinct Dualism while the creative energy is atwork, and of a compound Unism when at rest.

And the personification of these opposing powersby Zaratusht was but the perfectly scientific andphilosophical statement of a profound truth. Thesecret laws of this war of forces are taught in theChaldean Kabala. Every neophyte who sets him-self to study for initiation is taught these secrets,'and he is made to prove them by his own experi-ments, step by step, as his powers and knowledgeincrease. Zoroastrianism has two sides—the open,or patent, and the concealed, or secret. Born outof the mind of a Bactrian seer, it partakes of thenature of the primitive Iranian national religion andof the clear spirituality that was poured into it,from the source of all truth, through the superblens of Zoroaster's mind.

The Parsis have been charged with being wor-shippers of the visible fire. This is wholly false.They face the fire, as also they do the sun and thesea, because in these they picture to themselves theHidden Light of Lights, source of all Life, to whichthey give the name of Hormazd. How well andhow beautifully is this expressed in the writings ofRobert Fludd, an English mystic of the seventeenthcentury (see ]\Ir. Hargrave Jennings's Rosicj^ucians^p. 69 et seq) : " Regard Fire, then, with other eyesthan with those soul-less, incurious ones with whichthou hast looked upon it as the most ordinarything. Thou hast forgotten what it is—or ratherthou hast never known. Chemists are silent aboutit. Philosophers talk of it as anatomists dis-course of the constitution (or the parts) of the

human body. It is made for man and thisworld, and it is greatly like him—that is, meanthey would add. But is this all ? Is this thesum of that casketed lamp of the human body ?—thine own body, thou unthinking world's machine—thou man ! Or, in the fabric of this clay lamp[what a beautiful simile!] burnetii there not aLight ? Describe that, ye Doctors of Physics !Note the goings of the Fire. Think that thisthing is bound up in matter chains. Thinkthat He is outside of all things, and deep in the in-side of all things ; and that thou and thy world areonly the tiling between ; and that outside and insideare both identical, couldst thou understand thesupernatural truths ! Reverence Fire (for its mean-ing) and tremble at it. Avert the face fromit, as the Magi turned, dreading, and (as theSymbol) bowed askance. Wonder no longerthen, if, rejected so long as an idolatry, theancient Persians, and their Masters, the Magi—con-cluding that they saw ' All' in this supernaturallymagnificent element—fell down and worshipped it;making of it the visible representation of the verytruest, but yet, in man's speculation, and in his phil-osophies—nay, in his commonest reason—impos-sible God."

And, mind you, this is the language, not of aParsi or one of your faith, but of an English scholarwho followed the shining path marked out by theChaldean Magi, and obtained, like them, the truemeaning of your Mysteries. Occult Science is the

vindication of Zoroastrianisni, and there is noneother. Modern physical Science is herself blind tospiritual laws and spiritual phenomena. She can-not guide, being herself in need of a helping hand—the hand of the Occultist and the HierophantChaldean sage.

Have you thought zvhy the Fire is kept everburning on your altars ? Why may not thepriest suffer it to go out and re-kindle it againeach morning ? Ah ! there is a great secret hidden.And why must the flames of one thousand differentfires be collected—from the smithy, the burning-kiln, the funeral pyre, the goldsmith's furnace, andevery other imaginable source ? Because thisspiritual element of Fire pervades all nature, isits life and soul, is the cause of the motion of itsmolecules which produces the phenomenon ofphysical heat. And the fires from all these thou-sand hearths are collected, like so many fragmentsof the universal life, into one sacrificial blaze whichshall be as perfectly as possible the complete andcollective type of the light of Hormazd. Observethe precautions taken to gather only the spirit orcjuintessence, as it were, of these separate flames.The priest takes not the crude coals from the var-ious hearths and furnaces and pits; but at eachflame he lights a bit of sulphur, a ball of cotton, orsome other inflammable substance ; from this sec-ondary blaze he ignites a second quantity of fuel ;from this a third ; from the third a fourth, and soon : taking in some cases a ninth, in others a twcn-

tieth flame, until the first grossness of the defile-ment of the fire in the base use to which it was puthas been purged, and only the purest essence re-mains. Then only, is it fit to be placed upon thealtar of Hormazd. And even then the flame is notready to be the type of that Eternal Brightness ; itis as yet but a body of earthly flame, a body whichlacks its noblest soul. When your forefathersgathered at Sanjan to light the fire for the Indianexiles, the great Dastur Darab, who had come withthem from Persia, gathered his people and thestrangers of the country about him in the jungle.Upon a stone block the dried sandal-wood was laid.Four priests stood at the four cardinal points. TheGathas are intoned, the priests bow their faces inreverential awe. The Dastur raises his eyes to hea-ven, he recites the mystical words of power ; lo !the fire from the upper world of space descends,and with its silvery tongues laps round the fragrantwood, which bursts into a blaze. This is the mis-sing spirit evoked by the adept Prometheus. WhentJiis is added to the thousand other dancing flamesthe Symbol is perfected, and the face of Hormazdshines before his worshippers. Lighted thus atSanjan, that historic fire has been kept alive formore than seven hundred years, and until anotherDarab appears among you to draw the flame of theambient ether upon your altar, let it be fed con-tinuously.

This ancient art of drawing" fire from heaven wastaught in the Samothracian and Kabeiric mysteries.

Numa who Introduced the Vestal mysteries IntoRome, thus kindled a fire Vv^hlch was under the careof consecrated Vestal Virgins, whose duty It was,under penalty of death for neglect, constantly tomaintain It. It was, as Schwelgger shows, theHermes fire, the Elmes fire of the ancient Germans,the lightning of Cybele ; the torch of Apollo; thefire of Pan's altar ; the fire-flame of Pluto's helm ;the Inextinguishable fire In the temple of the Gre-cian Athene, on the Acropolis of Athens, and themystical fires of many different worships and sym-bols. The Occult Science, of which I spoke, wasshared by the Initiates of the Sacred Science allover the ancient world. The knowledge was firstgained In Chaldea, and was thence spread througliGreece to more Western and Northern countries.Even to-day the P'lre-Cult survives among the rudeIndian tribes of Arizona—a far Western portionof America. Major Calhoun, of the U. S. Army,who commanded a surveying party sent out byour Government, told me, that In that remotecorner of the world, and among those rude people,he found them keeping alight their Sacred P'Ire Intheir teocalis^ or holy enclosures. Every morningtheir priests go out, dressed in the sacerdotal robesof their forefathers, to salute the rising sun. In thehope that Montezuma, their promised Redeemerand Liberator, will appear. The time of his com-ing is not foretold, but from generation to genera-tion they wait, and pray, and hope.

In her his Unveiled, Madame Blavatsky has

shown US that this heavenly fire, however and when-ever manifested, is a correlation of the Akasa, andthat the art of the Magician and the Priest enablesone to develop and attract it down. But to dothis you must be absolutely pure—in body, inthought, in deed. And these are the three pillarsupon which Zaratusht erected the stately edifice ofhis religion. I have always considered it as a greattest of the merit of any religion that its essence canbe compressed into a few words that a child canunderstand. Buddhism, with its noble comprehen-siveness, was distilled by its Founder into sevenwords ; Zoroastrianism is reduced to three—Hoin-7ite, Hukhate, Viirushte.^

A Parsi gentleman, with whom I was conversingthe other day, explained the fact of your having nowonder-working priests at present, by saying thatnone living was pure enough. He was right, anduntil you can find such a pure celebrant, your re-.ligion will never be again reanimated. An impureman who attempts the magical ceremonies is liableto be made mad or destroyed. This is a scientificnecessity. The law of nature is, you know, thataction and reaction are equal. If, therefore, theoperator in the M)'steries propels from himself acurrent of will-power directed against a certain ob-ject, and—either because of feebleness of will, ordeviation caused by impure motives—he misses hismark, his current rebounds from the whole body ofthe Akasa (as the ball rebounds from the wall against

* Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds,

which It is thrown to the thrower's hand) and reactsupon himself. We are told that they who did notknow how to manage the miraculous fire in theVestal and Kabeiric mysteries " were destroyed byit, and were punished by the Gods " (Ennemoser.Hist, of Magic, ii. 32). Pliny relates {Histor. Nat.xxviii., 2) that Tullus Hostilius had sought fromthe books of Numa " Jovem devocare a coelo ;" butas he did not correctly follow the rules of Numa,he was struck by the lightning. This same ruleapplies equally to the attempt to use the BlackArt unskilfully. The old English proverb says," Curses, like fowls, come home to roost." He whowould use the powers of Sorcery, or Black Magic,is sure to be destroyed by them first or last. Theold fables about sorcerers being carried off by themocking " devils " whom, for a time, they had em-ployed to gratify their unlawful desires, are allbased upon fact. And, in Zoroastrianism, the Parsiis as carefully taught to eschew and fight againstthe powers of Ahriman, or the Evil Spirits of Dark-ness, as to cultivate intimacy with and win the pro-tecting favour of the Ameshaspentas and Yazatas—the personified good principles of Nature. Youwill not find any of your European authoritiesspeaking of these personifications with decent re-spect, any more than of the nature-gods of theAryans. To their minds these are but the childishfancies of a florid Persian or Aryan imagination,begotten in the infancy of our race. Eor a goodreason too; not one of these spectacled pandits has

the least practical reason to believe that there aresuch good and evil powers warring about us. ButI am not afraid to say to them all in my individual,not official, capacity, that I do believe in them ;nay, that I actually know they exist. And this iswhy you hear me, a Western man taught in aWestern University and nursed on the traditions ofmodern civilization, say that Zaratushta knew moreabout nature than Tyndall does, more about thelaws of Force than Balfour Stewart, more about theorigin of species than Darwin or Haeckel, moreabout the human mind and its potentialities thanMaudesley or Bain. And so did Buddha, and someother ancient proficients in Occult Science. Pshaw !Young man of Bombay University, when youhave taken your degree, and learnt all your pro-fessors can teach you, go to the hermit and the re-cluse of the jungle and ask Jiim to prove to youwhere to begin your real study of the world intowhich you have been born ! Your professors canmake you learned but not wise, can teach you aboutthe shell of Nature, but those silent and despisedunravellers of the tangled web of existence canevoke for you the soul that lurks within that sheath.Three centuries before Christ the united kingdomof Persia and Media exercised a dominion extend-ing over an area of three or four millions of squaremiles, and had a population of several hundredmillions of people. And do you mean to tell methat the Zoroastrian religion could have dominatedthe minds of this enormous mass of people—nearly

twice the present population of India—and couldhave also swayed the religious thought of the cul-tured Greeks and Romans, if it had not had aspiritual life in it that its poor remnant of to-daycompletely lacks ? I tell you that if you could putthat ancient life back into it, and if you had yourDarabs and your Abads to show this ignorant agethe proof of the reality of the old Chaldean wisdom,you would spread your religion all over the world.For the age is spiritually dying for want of somereligion that can show just such signs, and for lackof them two crores of intelligent Western peoplehave become Spiritualists and are following thelead of mediums. And not only your religion issoulless : Hinduism is so, Southern Buddhism isso, Judaism and Christianity are so likewise. Wesee following the missionaries none of the " signs "that Jesus said should follow those who were reallyhis disciples : they neither raise the dead, nor healthe sick, nor give sight to the blind, nor cast outdevils, nor dare they drink any deadly thing in thefaith that it will not harm them. There are a few^true wonder-workers in our time, but they areamong the Lamaists of Tibet, the Copts of Egypt,the Sufis and Dervishes of Arabia and other Mahom-medan countries. The great body of the people,in all countries, are become so sensual, so avaricious,so materialistic and faithless, that their moral at-mosphere is like a pestilential wind to the Yozda-thraigur (those adepts whom we have made knownto India under the name of Mahatmas).

It

The meaning of your Haoma you doubtlessknow. In the ninth Yaqna of the Avesta, Haomais spoken of both as a god—a Yazata—and theplant, or the juice of the plant, which is under hisespecial protection, and so is the Soma of the"Aitareya Brdviana''

" At the time of the morning-dawn came

1. Haoma to Zarathustra.

2. As he was purifying the fire and reciting

the Gathas.

3. Zarathustra asked him: Who, O man, art

thou ?

4. Thou, who appearest to me as the most

beautiful in the whole corporeal world,endued with thine own life, majestic andimmortal ?

5. Then answered me Haoma, the pure, who

is far from death.

6. Ask me, thou pure one, make me ready for

food."

Thus, in the same line, Is Haoma spoken of inhis personified form and as a plant to be preparedfor food.

Further on he is described as

52. "Victorious, golden, with moist stalks."

This Is the sacred Soma of the Aryans—by themalso elevated into a deity. This is that wondrousjuice which lifted the mind of him who quaffed itto the splendours of the higher heavens, and made

ZOROAS TRIAN RELIGION. 325

him commune with the gods. It was not stupify-ing hke opium, nor maddening like the Indianhemp, but exhilarating, illuminating, the begetterof divine visions. It was given to the candidate inthe ]\Iysteries, and drunk with solemn ceremonyby the Hierophant. Its ancient use is still kept inyour memories by the Mobed's drinking, in theYaQna ceremony, a decoction of dried Haoma stalks,that have been pounded with bits of pomegranateroot in a mortar, and afterwards had water thricepoured over them.

The Baresma twigs—among you represented bya bunch of brass wires !—are a reminiscence of thedivining-rods anciently used by all practitioners ofceremonial magic. The rod or staff was also givento the fabled gods of Mythology. In the fifth bookof the Odyssey, Jupiter, in the council of the gods,bids Hermes go upon a certain mission, and theverse says—

" Forth sped he,

Then taking his staff, with which he the eye-lids of mortals

Closes at will, and the sleeper at will, re-awakens."

The rod of Hermes w^as a magic staff; so wasthat of ^sculapaios, the healing wand that hadpower over disease. The Bible has many referencesto the magic rod, notably, in the story of the con-test of Moses with the Egyptian Magicians in thepresence of Pharaoh, in that of the magical budding

of Aaron's rod, the laying of Elisha's staff on theface of the dead Shunamlte boy, &c. The Hindugossein of our day carries with him a bamboo rodhaving seven knots or joints, that has been givento him by his Guru and contains the concentratedmagnetic will-power of the Guru. All magic-rodsshould be hollow, that the magnetic power may bestored in them. In the Yagna II., note that thePriest, holding the Baresma rods in his hand, re-peats constantly the words " I wish "—properly, I^vill—so and so. By the ceremony of consecration ofthe sacred twigs a magical power had been impartedto them, and with the help of this to fortify his ownwill-force, the celebrant seeks the attainment of hisseveral good desires, the heavenly Fire, the goodspirits, all good influences throughout the severalKingdoms of Nature, and the law or Word. Inthe middle ages of Europe, divining-rods were ingeneral use, not only to discover subterraneanwaters and springs, and veins of metal, but alsofuo-itive thieves and murderers. I could devote an

o

entire lecture to this subject and prove to you thatthis phenomenon is a strictly scientific one. In Mr.Baring Gould's Curious Myths of the Middle Ageswill be found highly interesting accounts of thesetrials of the mystical power of the rods, which timeforbids my quoting. At this day the rods are em-ployed to discover springs, and the Cornish minerscarry sprigs of hazel or other wood in their caps.The author of the above work, while ascribing thestrange results he is obliged to record principally

ZOROAS'IKIAN RELIGION. 327

to the imagination, is }'et constrained to add that" the powers of Nature are so mysterious and in-scrutable that we must be cautious in hmiting them,under abnormal conditions, to the ordinary laws ofexperience." And in this he is supported by theexperience of many generations of witnesses, inmany different countries.

We have mentioned the invocation of the divineWord or Name in the Yaqna. All the ancientauthorities affirm that there is a certain Word ofPower by pronouncing which the adept subjugatesall the forces of Nature to his will. It is men-tioned by many writers. One of the latest is theauthor of a book called Rabbi JesJiua, who, speakingof Jesus, says, " He had perhaps endeavoured toemploy magic arts, and to bewitch the council byinvocation of the Name through which all incanta-tions were rendered effective" (p. 143). Amongthe Aryans the Agnihotra priest used to preparethe sacrificial wood and, upon reciting the appro-priate Mantra, the heavenly fire of Agni woulddescend and kindle it. In the Avesta, Zaratushtsmites the fiends with the spiritual power of theWord (Darmesteter, Ixxvii.). It represents him asa saint-militant, repelling force by force. In Far-gard XL, Zarathustra asks Ahura Mazda how heshall purge the house, the fire, the water, the earth,the cow, the tree, the faithful man and woman,the stars, the moon, the sun, the boundlesslight, and all good things ? Ahura Mazdaanswers :—

" Thus shalt thou chant the cleansing words andthe house shall be clean, clean shall be thefire, &c., &c.

" So thou shalt say these fiend-smiting andmost-healing words, thou shalt chant theAhura Vairya five times, &c.'^

Then are given various words to employ foidifferent acts of cleansing. But tJie WORD, theone most potent—the name which, so says Proclusin his treatise upon the Chaldean Oracles —" rushesinto the infinite worlds," is not written there.* Norcan it be written, nor is it ever pronounced abovethe breath, nor, indeed, is its nature known exceptto the highest initiates. The efficacy of all wordsused as charms and spells lies in what the Aryanscall the Vach, a certain latent power resident inAkasa. Physically, we may describe it as thepower to set up certain measured vibrations, notin the grosser atmospheric particles whose undula-tions beget light, sound, heat and electricity, butin the latent spiritual principle or Force—aboutthe nature of which modern Science knows scarcetyanything. No words whatever have the slightestefficacy unless uttered by one who is perfectly freefrom all weakening doubt or hesitancy, who is for themoment wholly absorbed in the thought of utter-ing them, and who has a cultivated power of will whichmakes him send out from himself a conquering

* Though properly the WORD or the NAME is neither a word nora name, in the sense in which we use either expression.

impulse. Spoken prayer is, in fact, an incantation,and when spoken by the " heart," as well as by thelips, has a power to attract good and repel badinfluences. But to patter off prayers so manytimes a day while your thoughts are roving overyour landed estates, fumbling your money-bags,or straying away among any other worldlythings, is mere waste of breath. The Scrip-ture says, "the prayer of the righteous availethmuch." There is the case of George Miiller,of Bath, who for thirty years has supported theentire expenses of his Orphanage — now a verylarge institution of charity—by the voluntary giftsof unknown passers-by at the door, who drop intohis charity-boxes tJie exact sum he prays for \.o meetthe day's necessities. History does not contain amore curious or striking example than this. Thisman prays with such faith and fervency, his motivesare so pure, his labours so beneficent, that he at-tracts to him all the good influences of Nature,although he knows neither the " Ahura Vairyal'nor the Aryan Mantras^ nor the Buddhist Pirit.Use what words you may, if the heart be clean,the thought intense, the will concentrated,and the powers of Nature will come at yourbidding and be your slaves. Says the Dabistan(p. 2) :—

" Having the heart in the body full of thy re-membrance, the novice, as well as theadept, in conteviplation

" Becomes a supreme king of beatitude, andthe throne of the kingdom of gladness.

" Whatever road I took, it joined the streetwhich leads to Thee ;

" The desire to know thy being is also the lifeof the meditators ;

" He who found that there Is nothing butThee, has found Thee, has found \X\^ finalknowledge ;

'•' The Mobed is the teacher of thy truth, andthe world a school."

But this Mobed was not a mere errand-runner,or perfunctory droner of Gathas, understandingno word he was saying, but a real Mobed.So high an ideal of human perfectibility had he tolive up to, that Cambyses is said to have commandedthe execution of a priest who had allowed himselfto be bribed, and had his skin stretched over thechair in which his son and successor sat in hisjudicial capacity {Hist, Magic, i., 2). "Mobed" Isderived from Mogbed—from the Persian Mog, andmeans a true priest. Ennemoser truly says thatthe renowned wisdom of the Magi in Persia, Media,and the neighbouring countries, " contained alsothe secret teachings of philosophy and the sciences,which were only comaiunicated to priests, whowere regarded as mediators between God and man,and as such, and on account of their knozvledge, werehighly respected" {Ibid). The priests OF A

PEOPLE ARE EXACTLY WHAT THE PEOPLE RE-QUIRE THEM TO 13E. Remember that, friends, andblame yourselves only for the state of religionamong you. You have just what you are entitled to.If you yourselves were purer, more spiritually-minded, more religious, your priesthood would beso too. You are merchants, not idolators, but—asProf. Monier Williams pithily remarks in theNineteenth Century (March, 1881)—worshippers ofthe solid rupee. The genuine Parsi, he says," turns with disgust from the hideous idolatrypractised by his Hindu fellow-subjects. He offersno homage to blocks of wood and stone, to mon-strous many-headed images, grotesque symbols ofgood luck, or four-armed deities of fortune. Buthe bows down before the silver image whichVictoria, the Empress of India, has set up in herIndian dominions."

And this, according to Zoroastrianism, is a crimeas great. In his ecstatic vision of the symbolicalscenes shown him by the angel Seroshizad, for thewarning and encouragement of his people, ArdaiViraf, the purest of Magian priests at the court ofArdeshir Babagan, saw the pitiable state to whichthe soul of a covetous money-hoarder is reducedafter death. The poor wretch—penniless, since hecould take not a dlrein with him—his heart buriedwith his savagely-loved treasures, his once purenature corrupted and deformed, moved the seer toprofoundest pity. " I saw it," says he, " creepalong in fear and trembling, and presently a wind

came sweeping along, laden with the most pesti-lential vapours, even as it were from the boundariesof hell. In the midst of this wind ap-peared a form of the most demoniacal appear-ance." The terrified soul attempts to escape,but in vain ; the awful, vengeful shape by voiceand power roots him to the spot. He inquires intrembling accents whom it may be, and is an-swered, " I am your genius [that is, his spiritualcounterpart and now his mastering destiny], andhave become thus deformed by your crimes (whilstyou were innocent, I was handsome). Youhave laid in no provisions for this long journey ;you were rich, but did no good with yourriches ; and not only did no good yourself,but prevented, by your evil example, those whoseinclinations led them to do good; and you haveoften mentally said, ' When is the day of judgment ?To me it will never arrive'" {Ardai Viraf NaineJi^by Capt. J. A. Pope, p. 56). Say it is a vision, ifyou will; nevertheless it mirrors an awful truth.The w^orship of the silver image of Victoria on therupee is even more degrading than the Hindu'sworship of Ganesha or Hari; for he, at least, isanimated by a pious thought, whereas the greedymoney-getter is but defiling himself with the filthof selfishness.

The Parsi community is already half-way alongthe road to apostasy. The fiery enthusiasm is gonethat made your forefathers abandon everything theyprized rather than repudiate their faith ; that sup-

ZOROASTRlAiY RELIGION. 333

ported them during a whole century in the sterilemountains of Khorasan or the out-lying deserts ;that comforted them in their exile at Sanjan, andgave them hope after the battle with their here-ditary enemy Aluf Khan. Formerly, it was Re-ligion first and the Rupee last; now it is the Rupeefirst, and everything else after. See, I, a stranger,point wath one finger to your palatial bungalows,your gorgeous equipages, your ostentatiousannual squandering of twelve lakhs of money atfestivals ; with the other to your comparativelypaltry subscriptions for the study and resuscitationof your religion. The proverb says, " Figurescannot lie," and in this instance they do not. If Iwanted the best test to apply to your real religiouszeal, I should look at the sum of your expenditurefor vain show and sensual enjoyment, as comparedwith what you do for the maintenance of your re-ligion in its purity, and at the sort of conduct youtolerate in your priests. That is the mirror whichimpartial justice holds up before you ; behold yourown image, and converse with conscience in yourprivate moments. What but conscience is personi-fied in the " maid, of divine beauty or fiendishugliness," according as the soul that approachesthe Chinvad bridge was good or bad in life ?( YasJit. xxii.)

She, " the well-shapen, strong, and tall-formedmaid, with the dogs at her sides, one whocan distinguish, and is of high 7in-derstandijig^' {Avesta, Fargard xix.)?

You have asked me to tell you about the spiritof 3"our religion. I have only the truth to tell—the exact truth, without fear or favour. And Irepeat, you have already set money in the niche offaith ; it only remains for you to throw the latterout of doors. For hypocrisy will not last for ever.Men weary of paying even lip-service to a religionthey no longer respect. You may deceive your-selves ; you cannot deceive that maiden at thebridge. Let three or four more generations ofsceptics be passed through the educational mint ofthe College ; let the teaching of your religion benep^lected as it now is ; and the time will havecome when it will be only the occasional braveheart that will dare call himself a Mazdiasnian.Let that stand as a prophecy if you choose ; asa prophecy based upon the experience of thehuman race. A black page will it be indeed, inthe record of events, when the last vestigeof the once splendid faith of Zarathushta shall beblotted from it, the last spark of the heavenly firethat shone from the Chaldean watch-towers of thesages be extinguished. And the more so, ifthat last extinction shall be caused, not by thesword of tyranny, nor by the crafty scheming ofcivil administrators, but by the soulless worldlinessof its own hereditary custodians ; those to whomthe licfhted torch had been handed down throuc^hthe ages, and who dropped it into the quenchingblack waters of materialism.

Time fails me to enter into detailed explanation

of the Zoroastrian symbols, as perhaps I might ;though I certainly am not able to do the subjectfull justice. The siidra and ktisti^ with which youinvest your children at the age of six years andthree months have, of course, a magical signifi-cance. They pass through the hands of theDastur, who, as we have seen, was formerly aninitiate, and he imparted to them magnetic pro-perties which converted them into talismans againstevil influences. After that a set formula of prayersand incantations is regularly prescribed for thewhole life. The wearers' thoughts are directedtowards the talismanic objects constantly, andwhen faith is present, their will-power, ormagnetic aura, is at such times infused into them.This is the secret of all talismans ; the object worn,whatever it may be, need have no innate pro-tective property; for that can be given to any rag,stone, or scrap of paper, by an adept. Those ofyou who have read the Christian Bible will remem-ber that from the body of Paul, the Apostle,"were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs oraprons, and the diseases departed from them, andtJie evil spirits ivent ottt of them'' (Acts xix. 12).In the Ormazd-Yasht of the KJiordaJi-Avesta (25),it is written " by day and night, standing or sitting,girt with the Aiwyaonhana {kiLsti) or drawing offthe Aiwyfionhana,

* A gauzy muslin shirt, and a peculiar holy thread, made of finewool woven by the wives of Parsi priests with certain invocatorycharms.

" Going forwards out of the house, going forwardsout of the confederacy, going forwards outof the region, coming into a region,

" Such a man the points of the Drukhs-souled,proceeding from Aeshma, will not injure inthat day or that night, not the slings, notthe arrows, not knives, not clubs; the mis-siles will not penetrate (and) he be in-jured" (Hang's Avesta^ p. 24, KJiordah-Avesta, Eng. ed. of 1864).

Similar protective talismans are given by everyadept to each new pupil.

The use oi Nirang^ for libations and ablutions isa survival of very ancient—probably pre-Iranian—mythic conceptions. There is nothing in the fluiditself of a disinfectant or purificatory character, buta magical property is given to it by ceremonialmagical formulas, as a glass of common water maybe converted into a valuable medicine by a mes-merizer holding it in the left hand and mak-ing circular passes over it with the right. Thesubject is treated in Darmesteter s Introduction tothe Vcndidad (Ixxxviii.) " The storm floods thatcleanse the sky of the dark flends in it weredescribed in a class of myths as the urine of aeisrantic animal in the heavens. As the floodsfrom the bull above drive away the fiend from thegod, so they do from man here below^, they makehim ' free fi'om the death-demon' {frdnasit), and the

* Pvuified urine of the- cow.

death-fiend flees away hellwards, pursued by thefiend - smiting spell : ' Perish thou, O Dru^!never more to give over to Death the Hving worldof the good spirit! '" It may be that there is amore valid reason for the use of Nirang, but Ihave not yet discovered it. That an occult pro-perty is imparted to the fluid by the ceremonial isclear ; since, if it be exposed to certain influencesnot in themselves putrefactive, it will speedily be-come putrid ; while, on the other hand, it may bekept for years in a fresh condition without theadmixture of antiseptic substances, and notwith-standing its occasional exposure to the air, ifcertain ceremonial rules be followed. (Of courseI have this from Parsi friends, and not from myown observation: I would not express an un-qualified opinion before investigating the subject.)I recommend some Parsi chemist to analyse speci-mens of different ages, especially to determine therelative qualities of nitrogenous constituents.

When Professor Monier Williams vents hisOxonian scorn upon the ceremonies of the Parsis, heonly provokes the smile of such as havelooked deeper than he into the meaning of ancientsymbolism. " Here and there," says he, " loftyconceptions of the Deity, deep philosophicalthoughts, and a pure morality, are discoverable inthe Avesta, like green spots in the desert; but theyare more than netitralised by the silly puerilities anddegrading superstitioiLS ideas which crop up asplentifully in its pages as thorns and thistles in a

wilderness of sand." {^Nineteenth Century^ January,1881, p. 176.) Mr. Joseph Cook, the other day in thishall, said something to the same effect. The goodportions of the Vedas were so few as comparedwith the trashy residuum, that he likened them tothe fabled jewel -in the head of a filthy toad ! It isreally very condescending of these white pandits toadmit that there is anything whatever exceptrottenness and puerility in the old religions !

In w^iat has been said I have, you must remem-ber, been speaking from the standpoint of a Parsi.I have tried to sink my personality and my per-sonal religious preferences for the moment, and toput myself in your place. That is the cardinal policyof the Theosophical Society. It has itself nosectarian basis, but its motto is the UniversalBrotherhood of man. It was organized to bringto light the long-buried truths of not one, but allthe world's archaic religions. Its members are of allrespectable castes, all faiths and races. Many in-telligent Parsis are amonq- them. For their sakeand for that of their co-religionists, this lecture hasbeen given. I have tried most earnestly to induceone of them, or some other Parsi, to come forwardand show you that no religion has profounderspiritual truths concealed under its familiarmask than yours. That I am the incom-petent though willing spokesman for the ancientYozdathraigurs is your fault, not mine. If I havespoken truth, if I have suggested new thoughts,if I have given any encouragement to the

pious, or pleasure to the learned, my reward isample.

" ZatJui aJiu Sahyo :—The riches of Vohumanoshall be given to him who works in this world forMazda," is the promise of the Avesta (Fargardxxi.). Bear it in mind, ye Mazdiasnians,and remember the maiden and her dogs by theChinvat Bridge. I say this especially to my Parsibrothers in our Society; for I have the right tospeak to them as an elder to a junior. As Parsisthey have a paramount duty to their co-religionists,who are retrograding morally for want of the purelight. As Theosophists, their interest embracesall their fellow-men of whatever creed. For weread in one of the most valuable of all books for thethoughtful Parsi—the Dabistan, or School ofMaimers:

" The world is a book full of knowledge and of

justice,The binder of which book is Destiny, and the

binding the beginning and the end ;The future of it is the law, and the leaves are the

religious persuasions. * * "

For three years we have been preaching this ideaof mutual toleration and Universal Brotherhoodhere in Bombay. Some have listened, but morehave turned a deaf ear. Nay, they have doneworse—they have spread lies and calumnies aboutus, until we were made to appear to you in falselight. But the tide is turning at last, and public

sympathy is slowly setting-in in our favour. It hasbeen a dark night for us ; it is now sunrise. If youcan see a good motive behind us, an honestpurpose to do good by spreading truth, will you notjoin us as you have joined other societies, and help tomake us strong ? We can perhaps be of service inaiding you to learn something more than you knowabout the spirit of Zoroastrianism. As I saidbefore, there are many important secrets to be ex-tracted from ancient MSS. in Armenia. Perhapsthey may be got at if you will join together andsend some thoroughly competent Parsi scholars tomake the search, in co-operation with the TiflisArchaeological Society. See how the Christianshave organised a Palestine Exploration Society, tosearch for anything in the shape of proof that canbe found to corroborate their Bible. For yearsthey have kept engineers and archaeologists atwork. Is your religion less important to you ? Ordo you mean to sit on your guineas until the last oldMS. has been burned to kindle Armenian fires, ortorn to wrap medicines and sweets in, as I have oftenseen Bibles utilised in India and Ceylon by heathenborahs ? One of our members (see TheosopJiist forJuly, 1881) wxnt over the most important ground afew months ago. At the monastery of SoorbOvanness in Armenia there were in 1877 threesuperannuated priests; of these but one now remains.The " library of books and old manuscripts heapedup as waste paper in every corner of the pillar-cells,tempting no Kurd, are scattered over the rooms."

And he adds that "for the consideration of adagger and a few silver abazes, I got several pre-cious manuscripts from him,"—the old priest.Now does not this suggest to you that throughthe friendly intermediation of our Society, and thehelp of Madame Blavatsky, you may be able tosecure exceptional advantages in the matter ofarchaeological and philological research connectedwith Zoroastrianism ? We do not ask you to joinus for our benefit, but for your own. I havethrown out the idea; act upon it or not as youchoose.* Beaten with Parsi children's shoes ouehtthat Parsi to be who next gives a gaudy nautch orwedding tainasha, unless he has previously sub-scribed as liberally as his means allow towards afund for the promotion of his religion.

At the fifth annual meeting (in September last)of the Archaeological Society of Tiflis, Caucasus, avery valuable report was made by Count Ouvarof,the Nestor of Russian archaeologists and Founderof the Society, upon recent explorations anddiscoveries in the districts formerly inhabited bythe Mazdiasnians. This Caucasian Viceroyaltywas once the heart of ancient Parsiism. It includesArmenia, Derbent, Osetya, and the land of theKhabardines, besides other countries that shouldbe explored by your agents. Among the curious

* The suggestion was taken up, and shortly after a Parsi Archaeo-logical Society was organized at Bombay. But the wealthy classhave not as yet subscribed funds, and nothing practical has hithertobeen accomplished.

facts brought to light, it was discovered that the oldMazdiasnians had two kinds of burial structures—onefor use in hot weather,the other for the winter season.They found proofs that your faith was not less than11,000 years old: which bears rather hard upon thoseauthors (among them your own countryman, Dosab-hoy Framjee) who date its birth from the time ofthe appearance, in the sixth century B.C., of a certainZarathushta at the court of Darius Hystaspes !The learned Count Ouvarof says that the Ossetines,a warlike mountain tribe of half ChristianizedMahommedans, formerly Mazdiasnians, to this daybring a dog to look at the corpse before sepulture.In Tibet, too, towards the Northern border, thecorpse is exposed to the view of a dog and a djak—a bird of prey, perhaps of the vulture species.Throughout Tibet the corpses of all but Lamas ofthe higher grades are given to be eaten by a breedof sacred dogs bred for the purpose. The Lamasabove referred to are either burned, or embalmedand entombed in a sitting posture. I have beenunable to learn from any Parsi, even fromthe most intelligent I have consulted, the ex-planation of this ancient custom of exposing thecorpse to inspection by dogs. Upon inquiry inanother direction, however, I am told that its orig-inal purpose was to show the dog that here wasfood for him, and that immediately after seeing it,the animal would rush off to its fellows and bringa whole pack to share in the repast. His instinct(or should we rather say his mesmeric sensitive-

ness?) told him when life had actually quitted the ca-daver. This seems to me a very clear and sensibleexplanation of a long-veiled practice. Moreover,I read in Mr. K. R. Cama's translation of Prof.Duncker's GeschicJite des Altertnuts, that in thetime of Agathias, the Persians carried their deadoutside the gates of a town and exposed them tobe eaten by dogs and birds; regarding it as aclear proof that the deceased had led an impurelife if the corpse were not directly consumed. Whatmore likely, then, than that the relatives showedthe corpse to the one or two dogs at the house, sothat by the time the procession should reach theplace of exposure, the pack would be there readyto complete their work ? As for the theory thatthe glance of a dog frightens away the Drukhs-NaQU, it appears to be a mere hypothesis. In theSecret Doctrine it is taught that the most lethalcurrent in the ether of space {Akasd) sets in fromthe North. This is the current of terrestrial mag-netism. Experience has also warned mesmericpractitioners to make their subject sit with the backto the North and the feet towards the South. TheHindus lay their dead in the same direction.Baron Reichenbach also discovered that his odylicsensitives could not sleep East and West, but wouldinstinctively turn North and South, even whentheir beds had been purposely placed in the trans-verse way. In occult Science the North is thehabitat of the worst " elemental spirits " (a veryclumsy name for the occult forces of nature), and

in Eliphas Levi's books {Dogj?ie et Ritjiel de laHajite Magie, and others) are given instructions toguard against their irruption. If a corpse be tra-versed by this boreal current, the latter takes upcertain psychically bad influences, which, if ab-sorbed by the living who are sensitive to them, havea very evil effect. The Drukhs-Na^u is this borealcurrent, and contains in itself a number of varietiesof malignant influences. This, I am told, is theSecret Doctrine.

In commencing, I reminded you that this subject ofthe spirit of Zoroastrianism is limitless. In con-sulting my authorities I have been perplexed tochoose from the abundance of material, rather thantroubled by any lack of it. There are a few morefacts that I should like to mention before closing.

Abul Pharaj, in the Book of Dynasties (p. 54),states that Zarathusht taught the Persians themanifestation of the Wisdom (the Lord's AnointedSon, or Logos, the Persian " Honover.") This isthe living manifested word of Deific Wisdom. Hepredicted that a Virgin should conceive immacul-ately, and that at the birth of that future messengera six-pointed star would appear, and shine at noon-day. In its centre would appear the figure of aVirgin. This six-pointed star you see engravedon the seal of the Theosophical Society. In theKabala the Virgin is the Astral Light or Akasa,and the six-pointed star the emblem of the Macro-cosm. The Logos, or Sosiosh, to be born, meansthe secret knowledge or science which reveals the

" Wisdom of God." Into the hand of the prophetmessenger Zarathusht were deUvered many gifts.When filling the censer with fire from the sacredaltar, as the Mobed did in ancient days, the actwas symbolical of imparting to tJie w ors J uppers theknowledge of divine truth. In the ' Gital Krishnainforms Arjuna that God is in the fire of the altar.*' I am the Fire; I am the Victim." The Flamens,or Etruscan priests, were so called because theywere supposed to be illuminated by the tongues ofFire (Holy Ghost) and the Christians took the hint(^Acts ii.) The scarlet robe of the Roman Catholiccardinal symbolises the heavenly Fire. In anancient Irish MS. Zarathusht is called Airgiod-Lamk, or he of the Golden Hand,*—the hand whichreceived and scattered celestial Fire (Ousley'sOriental Collections, i., 303). He is also calledMogh Nuadhat, the Magus of the New Ordinance,or dispensation. Zarathusht was one of the firstreformers who taught to the people a portion ofthat which he had learned at his initiation, viz., thesix periods, or Gdkambdrs, in the successive evolu-tion of the world. The first is Alidyiizeram, thatin which the heavenly canopy was formed; thesecond Mid-yirshCin, in which the collected moistureformed the steamy clouds from which the waterswere finally precipitated ; the third, Piti-shahim,

* I have a copy of an excellent chromolithograph, recently pub-lislied at Bombay, representing Zoroaster as standing upon a doublestar, his head encircled with starry rays, his hand holding a seven-ipinted bamboo and fire coming from his hand.

346 THE SPIRIT OF THE

when the earths became consolidated out of primevalcosmic atoms; the fourth, lyaseram, in which earthgave birth to vegetation; the fifth, Midiyarim, whenthe latter slowly evoluted,into animal life; the sixth,Haniespiia-inidan, when the lower animals cul-minated in man. The seventh period—to comeat the end of a certain cycle—is prefigured inthe promised coming of the Persian Messiah,seated on a horse ; i.e. the sun of our solar systemwill be extinguished and the " Pralaya," will begin.In the Christian Apocalypse of St. John you willfind the Persian symbolical prophecy closely copied;and the Aryan Hindu awaits the coming of hisKalki Avatar when the celestial White Horse willcome in the heavens, bestridden by Vishnu. Thehorses of the sun figure in all other religions.

There exists among the Persian Parsis a volumeolder than the present Zoroastrian writings. Itstitle is Gjavidan Chrad, or Eternal Wisdom. It isa work on the practical philosophy of Magic, withnatural explanations. Hyde mentions it in hispreface to the Religio Vetenun Fersannn. Thefour Zoroastrian Ages are the four races of men—the Black, the Russet, the Yellow, the White. Thefour castes of Manu are alleged to have typifiedthis, and the Chinese show the same idea in theirfour orders of priests clothed in black, red, yellow,and white robes. St. John sees these same coloursin the symbolic horses of his Revelation. Speakingof Zoroaster, whom he admits to have possessedall sciences and philosophy then known to the

ZOROASTKIAN RELIGION, 347

world, Mr, Oliver gives an account of the cavetemple of which so m^uch is said in Zoroastrianliterature. "Zoroaster," he writes, "retired to ach'adar cave or grotto in the mountains of Bokharawhich he ornamented with a profusion of symbolicaland astronomical decorations, consecrating it toMethr-Az. Here the sun was represented bya splendid gem, in a conspicuous part of theroof; and the four ages of the world wererepresented by so many globes of gold, silver,brass and iron." {History of Initiation^ p. 9.)

And now I ask you, as a final word, if the crisishas not arrived when every man of you is calledupon, by all he holds sacred, to be up and doing.Shall the voice of the Chaldean Fathers, whichwhispers to you across the ages, be heard in vain ?Shall the example of Zarathusht and Mathan beforgotten ? Must the memory of your hero fore-fathers be dishonoured ? Shall there never morearise among you a Darab Dastur, to draw down thecelestial flame from the azure vault upon yourtemple altar? Is the favour of Ahura-Mazda nolonger a boon precious enough to strive for anddeserve? The Hindu pilgrims to the temple-shrineof Jotir Math at Badrinath, affirm that some, morefavoured than the rest, have sometimes seen farup amid the snow and ice of Mount Dhavalagiri—a Himalayan peak—the venerable figures of Ma-hatmas—perhaps of Rishis—who keep their watchand ward over the slumbering Aryan faith, and awaitthe hour of its resuscitation. So too—our travelling

348 SPIRIT OF THE ZOROASTRIAN REIIGION.

brother in Armenia writes—there is a cave up nearthe crest of Allah-Dag, where at each setting ofthe sun, appears at the cave's mouth a stately figure,holding a book of records in his hand. The peoplesay that this is Mathan, last of the great Magianpriests, whose body died some sixteen centuriesago. His anxious shade watches from thence thefate of Zoroaster's faith. And shall he stand invain ? Is he to see that faith die out for want ofspiritual refreshment ? Ye sons of Sohrab and ofRustam, rouse yourselves ! Awake before it be toolate ! The Hour is here : where are the MEN ?

THE LIFE OF BUDDHA AND ITS

LESSONS/'^

The thoughtful student, in scanning the rehgioushistory of the human race, has one fact continuallyforced upon his notice, viz., that there is an invari-able tendency to deify whomsoever shows himselfsuperior to the weakness of our common humanity.Look where we will, we find the saint-like manexalted into a divine personage and worshippedas a god. Though perhaps misunderstood, re-viled and even persecuted while living, the apothe-osis is almost sure to come after death ; and thevictim of yesterday's mob, raised to the state of anintercessor in heaven, is besought with prayers andtears, and placatory penances, to mediate with Godfor the pardon of human sin. This is a mean andvile trait of human nature,—the proof of ignorance,selfishness, brutal cowardice and superstitiousmaterialism. It shows the base instinct to putdown and destroy whatever or whoever makes menfeel their own imperfections ; with the alternativeof ignoring and denying these very imperfections

* A Lecture delivered at the Kandy Town Hall, Ceylon, nthJune, 1880.

by turning into gods men who have merely spirit-ualized their natures, so that it may be supposedthey were heavenly incarnations and not mortallike other men.

This process of eitheinerization^ as it is called, orthe making of men into gods and gods into men,sometimes, though more rarely, begins during thelife of a hero, but usually after death. The truehistory of his life is gradually amplified and de-corated with fanciful incidents, to fit it to the newcharacter posthumously accorded to him. Omensand portents are now made to attend hisearthly avatar ; his precocity is described as super-human ; as a babe or lisping child he silences thewisest logicians by his divine knowledge ; miracleshe produces, as other boys do soap-bubbles; theterrible energies of nature are his playthings ; thegods, angels and demons are his habitual attend-ants ; the sun, moon, and all the starry host wheelaround his cradle in joyful measures, the earththrills with joy at having borne such a prodigy ;and at his last hour of mortal life the whole uni-verse shakes with conflicting emotions.

Why need I use the few minutes at my dis-posal to marshal before you the various personagesof whom these fables have been written ? Let itsuffice to recall the interesting fact to your notice,and invite you to compare the respective biogra-phies of the Brahminical Krishna, the PersianZoroaster, the Egyptian Hermes, the Indian Gaut-ama, and the canonical, especially the apocryphal,

Jesus. Taking Krishna or Zoroaster, as you pleaseas the most ancient, and coming down the chrono-logical line of descent, you will find them all madeafter the same pattern. The real personage is allcovered up and concealed under the embroideredveils of the romancer and the enthusiastic historio-grapher. What is surprising to me is that thistendency to exaggeration and hyperbole is notmore commonly allowed for by those who in ourday attempt to discuss and to compare religions.We are constantly and painfully reminded that theprejudice of inimical critics, on the one hand, andthe furious bigotry of devotees, on the other, blindmen to fact and probability, and lead to gross in-justice. Let me take as ^n example the mythicalbiographies of Jesus. At the time when the Coun-cil of Nice was convened for settling the quarrels ofcertain bishops and for the purpose of examininginto the canonicity of the 300 more or less apocry-phal gospels, that were being read in the Christianchurches as inspired writings, the history of the lifeof Christ had reached the height of absurd myth.We may see some specimens in the extant booksof the apocryphal New Testament; but most ofthem are now lost. What have been retained inthe present canon may doubtless be regarded as theleast objectionable. And yet, we must not hastilyadopt even this conclusion ; for, * you know thatSabina, Bishop of Heraclea, himself speaking ofthe Council of Nice, affirms that " except Constan-tine and Sabinus, Bishop of Pamphilus, these

bishops were a set of illiterate, simple creaturesthat understood nothing ; " which is as though hehad said they were a pack of fools. And Pappus,in his Syiiodicon to that Council of Nice, lets us intothe secret that the canon was not decided by acareful comparison of the several gospels beforethem, but by a lottery. Having, he tells us, " pro-^miscuously put all the books that were referred tothe Council for determination under a communion-table in a church, they (the bishops) besought theLord that the inspired writings might get up onthe table, while the spurious writings remained un-derneath, and it happened accordingly^ But lettingall this pass as possibly spurious history, andlooking only to what is contained in thepresent canon, we see the same tendency tocompel all nature to attest the divinity of thewriter's hero. At the nativity a star leaves its orbitand leads the Persian astrologers to the divinebabe, and angels come and converse with shepherds,and a whole train of like celestial phenomenaoccur at various stages of his earthly career; whichcloses am.id earthquakes, a pall of darkness over thewhole scene, a supernatural war of the elements,the opening of graves and walking about of theirtenants, and other appalling wonders. Now, ifthe candid Buddhist concedes that the real historyof Gautama is embellished by like absurd exagger-ations, and if we can find their duplicates in thebiographies of Zoroaster, Sankaracharya and otherreal personages of antiquity, have we not the right

to conclude that the true history of the Founder ofChristianity, if at this late day it were possible towrite it, would be very different from the narrativesthat pass current ? We must not forget that Jeru-salem was at that time a Roman, just as Ceylon isnow a British dependency, and that the silence ofcontemporary Roman historians about any suchviolent disturbances of the equilibrium of nature isdeeply significant

I have cited this example for the sole and simplepurpose of bringing home to the non-Buddhisticportion of my audience the conviction that,in considering the life of Sakya Muni and thelessons it teaches, they must not make his followersof to-day responsible for any extravagant exuber-ance of past biographers. The doctrine of Buddhaand its effects are to be judged quite apart fromthe man, just as the doctrine ascribed to Jesus andits effects are to be considered quite irrespectivelyof his personal history. And—as I trust to haveshown—the actual doings and sayings of everyfounder of a faith or school of philosophy, mustbe sought for under a heap of tinsel and rubbishcontributed by successive generations of followers.

Approaching the question of the hour in thisspirit of precaution, what do we find are the pro-babilities respecting the life of Sakya Muni? Whowas he ? When and how did he live ?What did he teach ? A most careful comparisonof authorities and analysis of evidence establishes,

I think, the following data :

z

1. He was the son of a king.

2. He lived between six and seven centuriesbefore Christ.

3. He resigned his royal state and went tolive in the jungle, and among the lowest andmost unhappy classes, so as to learn thesecret of human pain and misery by per-sonal experience ; tested every known aus-terity of the Hindu ascetics and excelledthem all in his power of endurance ; soundedevery depth of woe in search of the meansto alleviate it ; and at last came out vic-torious, and showed the world the way tosalvation.

4. What he taught may be summed up in afew words, as the perfume of many rosesmay be distilled into a few drops of attar.Everything in the world of matter is unreal:the only reality is the world of spirit. Eman-cipate yourself from the tyranny of theformer; strive to attain the latter. TheRev. Samuel Beal, in his Cantena of BuddhistScriptures front the Chinese, puts it differ-ently. '' The idea underlying the Buddhistreligious system is," he says, " simply this :* All is vanity,' Earth is a show, and Heavenis a vain reward." Primitive Buddhismwas engrossed, absorbed,by one thought—thevanity of finite existence, the priceless valueof the one condition of Eternal Rest.

If I have the temerity to prefer my own defini-

tion of the spirit of Buddha's doctrine, it is becauseit appears to me all the misconceptions of it havearisen from failure to understand his idea of what isreal and what unreal, what worth longing andstriving for, and what not. From this misconcep-tion have arisen all the unfounded charges thatBuddhism is an " atheistical "—that is to say, agrossly materialistic, nihilistic, negative, vice-breeding religion. Buddhism denies the existenceof a personal God—true ; denies the immortalityof the soul,*—true ; holds out no promise of afuture, unbroken existence in heaven—true ; there-fore—well, therefore, and notwithstanding all this,its teaching is neither what may be properlycalled atheistical, nihilistic, negative, nor provo-cative to vice. I will try to make my meaningplain, and the advancement of modern scientificresearch helps me in this direction. Sciencedivides the universe for us into two elements—matter and force ; accounting for every pheno-menon by their combinations, and making botheternal and obedient to eternal immutable law.The speculations of men of science have carriedthem to the outermost verge of the physicaluniverse. Behind them lie not only a thousandbrilliant triumphs by which a part of Nature'ssecrets have been wrung from her, but also morethousands of failures to fathom her deep mysteries,They have proved thought material, since it is theevolution of the gray tissue of the brain, and a* The Astral Man—not the seventh principle in man.

recent German experimentalist, Professor Dr. Jager,claims to have proved that man's soul Is " a volatileodoriferous principle, capable of solution In glycer-ine." Psychogen is the name he gives to it, and hisexperiments show that it is present not merely inthe body as a whole, but in every Individual cell, inthe ovum, and even in the ultimate elements ofprotoplasm. I need hardly say to so intelligent anaudience as this that these highly interesting ex-periments of Dr. Jiiger are corroborated by manyfacts, both physiological and psychological, thathave been always noticed among all nations—factswhich are woven into popular proverbs, legends,folk-lore, fables, mythologies and theologies, theworld over. Now if thought is matter and soul ismatter, then Buddha, in recognizing the imperma-nence of sensual enjoyment or experience of anykind, and the instability of every material form, thehuman soul* included, uttered a profound andscientific truth. And, since the very Idea of grati-fication or suftering is inseparable from that ofmaterial being—absolute SPIRIT alone being re-garded by common consent as perfect, changeless,and Eternal—therefore, in teaching the doctrinethat conquest of the material self, with all its lusts,desires, loves, hopes, ambitions and hates, frees onefrom pain, and leads to Nirvana, the state of PerfectRest, he preached the rest of an untlnged, untaintedexistence in the Spirit. Though the soul be com-posed of the finest conceivable substance, yet if* The Astral Man ; not the seventh principle in man.

substance at all—as Dr. Jiiger seems able to prove,and as ages of human intercourse, with the weirdphantoms of the shadow-world imply—it must intime perish. What remains is that changeless partof man which most philosophers call Spirit, andNirvana is its necessary condition of existence.The only dispute between Buddhist authorities iswhether this Nirvanic existence is attended withindividual consciousness, or whether the individualis merged into the whole, as the extinguishedflame is lost in the ocean of air. But there arethose who say that the flame has not been anni-hilated by extinction. It has only passedout of the visible world of matter into the invisibleworld of spirit, where it still exists, and will everexist, as a bright reality. Such thinkers can under-stand Buddha's doctrine, and, while agreeing withhim that the soul is not immortal, would spurn thecharge of materialistic nihilism if brought againsteither that sublime teacher or against themselves.

The history of Sakya Muni's life is the strongestbulwark of his religion. As long as the humanheart is capable of being touched by tales of heroicself-sacrifice, accompanied by purity and celestialbenevolence of motive, it will cherish his memory.Why go into the particulars of that noblelife ? You all remember that he was the son of theking of Kapilavastu—a mighty sovereign whoseopulence enabled him to give the heir of his houseevery luxury a voluptuous imagination coulddesire—and that the future Buddha was not allowed

even to know, much less to observe, the miseries ofordinary existence. How beautifully Mr. EdwinArnold has depicted, in his *' Light of Asia," theluxury and languor of that Indian court,

" Where love was gaoler and delights its bars."We are told that

" The king commanded that within those walls

No mention should be made of death or age,Sorrow or pain or sickness.

And every dawn the dying rose was pluck'd,The dead leaves hid, all evil sights removed :

For said the king, ' If he shall pass his youthFar from such things as move to wistfulness

And brooding on the empty eggs of thought,The shadow of this fate, too vast for man,

May fade, bee-like, and I shall see him growTo that great stature of fair sovereignty.

When he shall rule all lands—if he will tulc—The king of kings and glory of his time."

You know how vain were all the precautionstaken by the father to prevent the fulfilment of theprophecy that his beloved son would be the comingBuddha. Though all suggestions of death werebanished from the royal palace, though the citywas bedecked with flowers and gay flags, and everypainful object removed from sight when the youngPrince Siddartha visited the city, yet the decrees ofdestiny were not to be baffled : the " voices of thespirits," the " wandering winds," and the Devaswhispered the truth of human sorrows into hislistening ear, and, when the appointed hour arrived,the Suddha Devas threw the spell of slumber overthe household, steeped the sentinels in pro-

found lethargy (as the angel did the gaolersin Peter's prison), rolled back the triple gatesof bronze, strewed the red mohra flowersthickly beneath his horse's feet to muffle everysound, and he was free. Free? Yes, to resign everyearthly comfort, every sensuous enjoyment, thesweets of royal power, the homage of a court, thedelights of domestic life ; gems, the glitter of gold :rich stuffs, rich foods, soft beds; the songs oftrained musicians, and of birds kept prisoners ingay cages ; the murmur of perfumed waters plash-ing in marble basins ; the delicious shade of treesin gardens where art had contrived to make natureeven lovelier than herself He leaps from hissaddle when at a safe distance from the palace,flings the jewelled rein to his faithful groom,Channa, cuts off his flowing locks, gives his richcostume to a hunter in exchange for his own,plunges into the jungle, and is free !

" To tread its paths with patient, stainless feet,

Making its dusty bed, its loneliest wastes,My dwelling, and its meanest things my mates :

Clad in no prouder garb than outcasts wear,Fed with no meals save what the charitable

Give of their will, shelter'd by no more pompThan the dim cave lends or the jungle-bush.

This will I do because the woful cryOf life and all flesh living cometh up

Into my ears, and all my soul is fullOf pity for the sickness of this world ;

Which I will heal, if healing may be foundBy uttermost renouncing and strong strife."

Thus masterfully does Mr. Arnold depict the setin

ment which provoked this great renunciator. Thetestimony of thousands of millions who, duringthe last twenty-five centuries, have professed theBuddhist religion, proves that the secret of humanmisery was at last solved by this divine self-sacrifice, and the true path to Nirvana opened.

The joy that he brought to the hearts of othersBuddha first tasted himself. He found that thepleasures of the eye, the ear, the taste, touch andsmell, are fleeting and deceptive ; that he who givesvalue to them brings only disappointment andbitter sorrow upon himself The social differencebetween men, he found, was equally arbitrary andillusory: caste bred hatred and selfishness ; richesstrife, envy and malice. So, in founding his faith,he laid the bottom of its foundation-stones upon allthis worldly dirt, and its dome in the clear serenityof the world of spirit. He who can mount to aclear conception of Nirvana will find his thoughtfar away above the common joys and sorrows ofpetty men. As to one who ascends to the top ofthe Chimborazo, or the Himalayan crags, andsees men on the earth's surface crawling toand fro like ants, so small do bigots andsectarians appear to him. The mountain climberhas under his feet the very clouds from whose sun-painted shapes the poet has figured to himself thegolden streets and glittering domes of the materi-alist heaven of a personal God. Below him areall the various objects out of which the world'spantheons have been manufactured; around, above,

—immensity. And so also, far down the ascend-ing plane of thought that leads from earthtowards the Infinite, the philosophic Buddhistdescries, at different plateaux, the heavens andhells, the gods and demons, of the materialistcreed-builders.

What are the lessons to be derived from the Hfeand teachings of this heroic prince of Kapilavastu ?Lessons of gratitude and benevolence ; lessons oftolerance for the clashing opinions of men who live,move, and have their being, think and aspire, onlyin a material world. Lessons of a commontie of brotherhood among all men ; lessons ofmanly self-reliance, of an equanimous breasting ofwhatsoever of good or ill may happen. Lessons ofthe meanness of the rewards, the pettiness of themisfortunes, of a shifting world of illusions. Lessonsof the necessity for avoiding every species of evilthought, word, and deed, of doing, speaking,and thinking everything that is good; and ofbringing the mind into subjection, so that thesemay be accomplished without selfish motive orvanity. Lessons of self-purification and com-munion, by which the illusoriness of externals andthe value of internals are understood.

Well might St. Hilaire burst into the panegyricthat Buddha " is the perfect model of all the virtueshe preaches : his life has not a stain uponit." Well might the sober critic, Max Miiller, pro-nounce his moral code " one of the most perfectwhich the world has ever known." No wonder

362 THE LIFE OF BUDDHA AND ITS LESSONS.

that, in contemplating that gentle life, Mr. EdwinArnold should have found his personality "thehighest, gentlest, holiest, and most beneficentin the history of thought," and been moved to writehis splendid verses. It is twenty-five hundredyears since humanity put forth such a "flower;" whoknows when such an one appeared before ?

Gautama Buddha Sakya Muni has ennobled thewhole human race. His fame is our common in-heritance. His Law is the law of Justice, providingfor every good thought, word, and deed its fairreward; for every evil one its proper punishmentHis Law is in harmony with the voices of nature,and the evident equilibrium of the universe. Ityields nothing to importunities or threats, can beneither coaxed nor bribed by offerings to abate oralter one jot or tittle of its inexorable course. AmI told that Buddhist laymen are leading lives the re-verse of Baddistic ; that they display vanity in theirworship and ostentation in their alms-giving ; thatthey are fostering sects as bitterly as Hindus ? Somuch the worse for the laymen ; there is the ex-ample of Buddha and his Law. Am I told thatBuddhist priests are ignorant, idle fosterers of super-stitions grafted on their religion by foreign kings ?So much the worse for the priests : the life oftheir Divine Master shames them, and shows theirunworthiness to wear his yellow robe or carryhis beggar-bowl. There is the Law immutable,menacing ; it will find out and punish them.

But what shall we say to those of another

THE LIFE OF BUDDHA AND ITS LESSONS. 363

cast of character—the humble-minded, charitable,tolerant, religiously aspiring hearts among the laity,and the unselfish, pure, c.nd learned of the priestswho know the precepts and keep them ? The Lawwill find them out also; and when the book ofeach life is written up and the balance struck, everygood thought or deed will be found entered in itsproper place. Not one blessing that ever followedthem from grateful lips throughout their earthlypilgrimage will have been lost ; each will help toease their way as they move from stage to stage ofbeing

**Unto Nirvana where the Silence h'ves,"

FINIS.

By particular request, the following interpretations of Eastern words, usedthroughout the foregoing Lectures, are given. I should have thought that manyof them were already familiar enough to the ordinary reader to obviate thenecessity for their insertion here. But it seems not.

Abiil Pharaj. A Persian,author of the " Book of Dynas-ties."

Agastya. An ancient sage olSouthern India, much reveredthroughout tlie country.

Apii. Fire, and its personifiedprinciple, in Hindu mythology.

Agnihotra. A mystic cere-monial, performed by the VedicBrahmans, with the object ofdeveloping the mystic fire latentin Akasd.

Agnihotri. One who performsthe ceremony of Agnihotra.

Ahankaram. Personality;

egoism.

Ahriman. The Evil Principleof the Universe.

Ahura Vairya. The funda-mental Parsee prayer, or confes-sion of faith.

Ahzirmazihi, or Ahnra Mazda.The Good Principle of the Uni-verse (see also Hormazd).

AJmruasters. An ancientPersian word, meaning "spirit-ual teachers."

Ah'giod Lamh (literally, he ofthe golden hand). The name bywhich Zoroaster is referred to inan Irish MS.

AitareyaBrdhviana. A sacred

book ot the Brahmans, dealingwith their rituals.

Aiwydonhana. A waist-bandworn by Zoroastrians.

Akdsa. The subtle supersensu-ous matter pervading all space.In one aspect it is identical withthe ^ther of Science.

Alexandria, Neo-Platonists of.See N'eo-Platonist'i.

Allah-Dag. A mountain inCentral Asia.

Aluf Khan. The Moham-medan Chief who signally de-feated the Parsis and disjicrsedthem from their home in Persia.

A jneshaspenfas. The first sevenangels.

Af/irita Bazar Patrika. ACalcutta native journal.

Aniritsar. The sacred city ofthe Sikhs, in the Punjab.

A nima. The power:; f psychicsof increasing their weight.

Arahats (literally, the worthyones). The initiated holy men ofthe Buddhist and Jain faiths.

Ardai Viraf. The purest ofMagian priests at the Court ofKing Ardeshir Babaganof Persia.

Ardai Viraf Naineh. A Per-sian book containing an accountof Ardai Viraf.

\6b

GLOSSARY.

Ardeshan. According to Euty-chius, the first priest of theSacred Fire, appointed byNimrod.

Ardeshir Bahagan. The firstprince of the Sassanian dynasty.

^r/?a/(literally "theworthy").A Buddhist or Jain sage (seealso Arahais).

Arjiin. One of the fivebrothers, called Pandavas, theheroes of the celebrated epicMahahharat.

Aryan, Pertaining to theAryas, or ancient Brahmanicalinvaders of India,

Aryan Occult Science. Theancient Aryans appear to havehad a complete science of thesubjective side of nature, as wellas an esoteric philosophy basedupon it.

Aryaii Philosophy. The an-cient Aryas not only evolved theSanskrit language—the most per-fect known—but also developedsix major schools of Philosophy,and many minor ones.

Aryas. The higher castesamong the Hindus.

Arya Samaj. A societyfounded, ten years ago, by thelate Dayanand Saraswati, forthe restoration of the Vedicdoctrines and ceremonials.

Ajyavarla. Theancientnameof Northern India, where theBrahmanical invaders firstsettled.

Ashfa Vidya. The eightbranches of study.

Asiatic Occnliistn. {SeeAryanOccult Science.)

Asoha, King. A celebratedconqueror, monarch of a largeportion of India, who is called"the Constantine of Buddhism."Temp, circa 250 B.C.

Asrama, or Asra/nam. Thehermitage of Indian recluses.

Atash Bchrdm. The Zoroas-trian " fire-temple," or place ofworship.

Atharva Veda. One of thefour most ancient and reveredbooks of the Aryas. It is sup-posed by some Western Orien-talists to be mere '* theologicaltwaddle," but is in fact a mostvaluable key to Esoteric phi-losophy.

Atma. The spirit, the Aug ?eides.

Attar. A perfume, otto ofroses.

Avatar. The incarnation of agod, so called among theHindus.

Avesta. The sacred books ofthe Zoroastrians.

Babu. A title or prefix ofhonour current in Bengal ; theequivalent of "Master," Mon-sieur^ Iderr, etc.

Bactric Worship. Nature wor-ship practised in Central Asia.

Badrinath. A Hindu god.

Bairagee. A member of a cer-tain order of religious mendicantsin India.

Baksheesh. A gratuUy or alms;sometimes a bribe.

Bamboo. A kind of Indiancane.

Bares ma Twigs ^ or Rods.Parsi divining rods.

Behedin. A layman, one not ahereditary priest.

Belor Tagh. A mountain inCentral India.

Benares. The most renownedand sacred city of India, situ-ate on the banks of the riverGanges. It contains a greatnumber of splendid ancienttemples and palaces.

Berosus. A Chaldean Priest.

Bharat, Bharata. A name forIndia.

367

Bhuia ddk (literally '' Demon'sPost "). The equivalent o( whatwe call a " Spiiitual Medium."

Bokhara. An important cityin Tartary.

Borahs. A small Moham-medan sect, a sub-section of theShiahs, well-known for their com-mercial shrewdness.

Bo-tree. The Indian banyantree {Fiais Religiosa). 'I'he his-torical tree under which Buddhaattained spiritual knowledge.

Brahma. The Hindu Deitywhich personifies the activecosmic evolutionary energy.

Brahmaloka. The highestsphere of existence where formsobtain.

Brahman, or Brahmin. Thehighest caste in India. (Theformer spelling more nearly re-presents the sound of the wordin Sanskrit.)

Brahminical Customs. Socialand religious observances pre-scribed for the caste of Brahmans.

Brahmo Samaj. A HinduTheistic Society, founded aboutfifty years since by the late RajaRam Mohun Roy; whose ob-ject was to restore the pristinepurity of the Hindu religion.

Bramachari Bazoa. A Brah-man ascetic of Central India.

Buddha. The founder ofBuddhism. He was a royalprince, by name Siddharlha,son of Suddhorana, king ofthe Sakyas, an Aryan tribe.

Buddhaship. The state ^ofbeing a Buddha, or spirituallyenlightened.

Biiddhi. The spiritual ego.Buddhism. The moral philo-sophy taught by Buddha.

Buddhist. One who acceptsthe moral philosophy of Buddha.Btingalozu. The com mon namein India for a dwelling-house.

Cambodia. One of the coun-tries forming the EasternPeninsula, between China andIndia.

Cambyses. A Median King.

Cashmiris. Inhabitants ofCashmere.

Castes. Social divisions, orgroups, among the Hindus.The four principal or primitiveones are those of priests,soldiers (including nobility),merchants and labourers.

Chakras. Centres. In thebody, centres of psychic energy.

Channa. The servant ofBuddha, who brought back tothe king his father the news ofhis great Renunciation.

Chatusashthikala Nirnaya. Atreatise descriptive of the sixty-four arts known in ancientIndia.

Cheia. A pupil of an adept inOccultism.

Chi?nborazo. A volcano iuSouth America.

Chinvat or Chinvad bridge ofsouls. The bridge which leadssouls from this to the otherworld {Arabic).

Chittaui. The mind.

Cojijucius. A Chinese philo-sopher.

Crore. Ten millions.Cutch. A province of West-ern India.

''Dabistan,'' or Schoolcf Man-ners. A Persian work of theseventeenth century by MohsanFani. (An English translation isprocurable.)

Darab. A priest, one of themost distinguished of the IndianPiirsis (see Dastur Larab).

Daraga. A river in ancientPersia.

Darius. A king of ancientPersia.

i68

GZ0SSy1/^V.

Dtviiis llyslaspcs. A Persianmonarch, supposed to be thecontemporary of Zoroaster.

Dastiir. A high priest of theZoroastrians.

Dasttir Darab. One of themost distinguished of the IndianParsi priests (see Darab).

Derbent. A province in theCaucasian Viceroyalty of Russia.Dervishes of Arabia. A sect ofMohammedan ascetics and mys-tics,

Desatir. An ancient mysticalscripture of the Parsi religion.

DevacJian (pronounced Deva-khdn). The conscious after-life.Devas. Gods.

Devis. From the Sanskrit wordDiv, to shine : the Bright Ones—Elemental Spirits, Fairies,Sylphs, Dryads, &c.

Dhmnvia. Religious law{Pali).

Dharana. Holding a subjectin mind steadfastly.

Dhavalagiri, Mount. One ofthe important peaks of the Hima-layas.

Dhydna, or Dhyan. Abstractcontemplation.

Driikhs-Naai. The personifi-cation in Zoroastrianism of a ma-lignant current of boreal mag-netism.

Durbar. The state reception or" drawing-room " of an IndianPrince or magnate.

Dzvaitas. Dualists; those whobelieve in the distinctness of thehuman spirit and the universalspirit.

Eutychius. A priest and archi-mandrite at Constantinople, whowrote on Zoroastrianism.

Fargard. A ch apter of a book.Fetish. An object of supersti-tious adoration ; as, for instance,

an ugly image, or stock, amongignorant African tribes.

Framji Gowasji Hall. One ofthe largest public buildings inBombay.

Franasti. Thedemon of death,mentioned in the Vemiidad, asacred book of the Parsis.

Gdharnhdrs. The five days atthe end of the Parsi year, alsoother days of feasting in differentseasons.

Ganesha. The Hindu god oflearning.

Ganges. The most sacred riverof India.

Gathas. Portions of the Budd-hist Scriptures.

Gautama Buddha. One of thenames by which the Founder ofBuddhism is known.Ghee. Clarified butter." Gita,^^oxBhagavadgit-a. Anepisode of the Mahabharata^ asacred book of the Brahmans.

Gjaviddn Chrad (literally,eternal wisdom). Name of abook of that description.

Gobi, Dese?t of. The same asShatno, q.v.

Gopis. Milk maids, with whomthe god Krishna is representedin the Hindu mythology to havebeen in love. The fable is in-terpreted to mean the correla-tion of force (spirit) and matter.Gossain. A Vaishnava priest.Goutaj?ia, or Gautama, (SeeGaiitama Buddha.)

Gupha. A cave or subter-ranean resort of a Yogi, for medi-tation and psychic development.Gurti. Spiritual preceptor.Guru-asters (vide Zu7'u-asters).Gustaspa. Supposed to beidentical with Darius Hystaspes.

Hafiz. The greatest amongthe mystical poets of Persia.

369

Haines pi la - in Ida n. A m on gthe Parsis, the period duringwhich the lower animals began toevolve into men.

Haonia. Among the Parsis, agod, and also a plant.

Hara, Mount, Where Mo-hammed is said to have receivedthe Koran.

Hari. A name of Krishna orVishnu.

Harischandra. An Indianking mentioned in the Rama-yana.

Heplaktis. A seven-rayed godof the Pythagoreans and Kaba-lists; a concrete symbolizationof the solar spcclriiin.

Hermes. The greatest of theEgyptian teachers of the Eso-teric doctrine.

Himalayas. The Himala-yan Mountains, which sep-arate India from Tibet, arenot only the highest in theworld, but also most connectedwith the earliest histories of ourrace. Exoterically, their highestpeaks were represented as inconnection with the heavens ofAryan mythology.

Hi?navdt. Another name forthe Himalayas.

Hindu. Black ; a name saidto have been contemptuouslyapplied to the natives of India Iby their Mohammedan con- [querors. j

Hinduism. Used here in the ,sense of any orthodox school ofHindu religion.

Hindu I hilosopJiy. There aresix principal ancient schools ofphilosophy in India, with num-erous derived ones. For par-ticulars, see Encylopcedia Bri-fannica, or the Morks of Pro-fessor Max Midler, MonierWilliams and others.

Hindustan, The country [siati)

2 A

of the Hindus ; the Indian pen-insula.

Hoinute. " Good thoughts ; "one of the three fundamentalZoroastrian commandments.

^^Honover." The fundamentalZoroastrian Confession of Faithand Prayer.

Hormazd. The Eternal Prin-ciple of Good (see also Ahiir-uiazda).

Hickhate. ** Good words."

Iddhizoiddhindna. The scienceof spiritual development.

IndianHeuip. An intoxicatingsmoking mixture prepared fromthe stalk of Canabis Indiea.

Indian Jugglers. In India theseform a separate and one of thelowest castes. Some of theirfeats are astounding for dexterity,others inexplicable, except uponthe theory of some knowledgeof the elements of Occult Science.

Indu Prakash. A Bombaynative journal.

Indus. The principal river inthe Punjab.

Iran. Persia.

Iranian. Persian. [faith.

Islam. The Mohammedan

lyaseram. The period of theevolution of the vegetable king-dom on earth, so called amongParsis.

Jaimini. Expounder of thewhole system of Brahmanicalrituals.

Jain. A religioussectinIndia,closely related to the Buddhists.They affu-m that Buddha wasapupil of one of their sages.

Jiva. Life ; a living being.

Jivan-Mukta. The realizationduring life of the complete unionof one's spirit (Sanskrit: atma)with the Universal Spirit.

Ji7'-Atm.a. The human spirit.

Jotir Math (literally, the tern-

370

GLOSSARY.

pie of light). A celebrated shrinein ihe Himalayas.Jiuigle. An Indian forest.

Kdbah. The black cubicalstone of Mohammed at Mecca.

Kahalists. Jewish doctors oradepts, who interpret the hiddenmeaning of the Scriptures withthe help of the symbolical Ka-bala (unwritten tradition), andexplain the real, or non-symboli-cal one by these means. TheTanaim (B.C. 3 cent.) were thefirst Jewish Kabalists so far asrecorded. But the Jewish Ka-bala was derived from the muchearlier and more perfect Chal-dean one. Both contain, underpuzzling symbols, the Esotericdoctrine recently revived by theTheosophical Society.

Kabciric. Pertaining to themystery gods, symbolizing theinitiations among the Samothra-cians, Assyrians, (S:c.

Kabirim. The name given tothe students of Kabala in thesecret lodges of the Pharisees.

Kaianian. The second greatroyal dynasty of ancient Persia.

KalaPani. Black waters; thesea. Brahmans are forbidden bytheir religion to cross the ocean.

Kalki Avatar. The Messiah ofthe Hindus ; the last incarnationo^ Vishnu, to appear at the endof the present cycle.

Kajuarnpa. The principle ofwill in man.

Kanada. The Founder of the(Indian) system of Atomic Philo-sophy, Vaisesikha, similar to theHeraclitan Philosophy of Greece.

Kapila. The founder of one ofthe six principal systems of In-dian philosophy, viz., the San-khya.

Kapilavastu^ Prince of, Gau-tama Buddha.

Karma. The law of ethicalcausation : "whatsoever a mansoweth, that shall he alsoreap."

Khabardincs. A tribe ofCaucasians.

KJwrasan, Mountains of. InPersia.

Khordah - Avesta (literally,"the small Avesta"). One of theSacred Books of the Parsis.

Kilauea. An enormous vol-cano in the Hawaian Islands.

Koran. The Mohammedanbook of faith, said to have beendictated to Mahommed by theangel Gabriel.

Krishna. A Hindu god, per-sonifying the spirit.

Ktirdistan. The country of theKurds.

Kiii-ds. WarliketribesofEast-ern Turkey and Persia ; nomin-ally, Mohammedans of the sectof Omar, but holding to ritesand doctrines almost entirelyMagian. Some tribes practisemysterious nocturnal rites oflunar worship, and in each tribeis at least one old man, or "holybeing," who is said to know thepast and to read the future.

Kiisa. A kind of Indian grassused in religious ceremonies.

Kusti. The sacred thread wornby the Parsis.

Laghimd. The psychic powerof lessening the weight of thebody at will.

Lakh, or lac. One hundredthousand.

Laniaists of Tibet. The Budd-hists of Tibet.

Lamas. Buddhist monks ofTibet.

Laukiha. Psycho-physiologi-cal powers developed by the useof drugs and other physiologicalmeans.

371

Lirigasarira. The double orastral body.

Lokothra. Psycliic powers ac-companying spiritual develop-ment.

LotaJi. A brass gol)let.

Lux?/ian Sen. The last Hinduking of Bengal.

Mag. A word used by the pro-])het JereiTjjjah to designate aBabylonian Initiate.

Maghistom. Once the title ofZoroaster's highest disciple,synonym of wisdom.

Magi. Fire - worshippers ;really the great magicians orwisdom-philosophers of old.

Magian. Pertaining to theMagi or Adepts of ancient India.

Magianism. '' Fire-worship;"really wisdom-religion.

Magus. A sage, so-called inancient Persia.

Maharajah. The great king ;also a title of honour.

Alahatma (literally, " a greatsoul "). An adept in Occultism.

Mahimnastava, A hymn ofpraise.

Mahojnet, or Mohammed. Thefounder of Islam.

Manas. The mind, the person-ality, the intellect.

Alandickyo Upanishad. One ofthe ten principal Upanishads^ orprose supplements of the metricalVedas, the most sacred book ofthe Brahmans.

Mane/ho, dynasties of. His-tory of Egyptian kings accordingto Manetho, high priest ofIleliopolis.

Mantra. Incantation.

Manu. The great Hindu law-giver (see Mcmi).

Marichi. One of the sevengreat sages of India.

Mathatn. Temple.

Mdya. Illusion which pro-

duces the diverse manifestationsof the one Reality.

Maya Sabha. The palace ofthe Pandavas, built by Maya.

Mayaviriipa. The " Double,"*' doppelganger '—" perisprit."

Alazdiaznian. Zoroastrian ;literally, worshipping God.

Medean Magi. Tlie adepts ofOccult Science among the anci-ent Medes. They were ac-quainted with the secret doctrinetaught in the Kabala.

Media. Greek name for a partof Persia.

Me7i2i. The great Indian legis-lator ; the alleged author of thenational code of laws (see Manu).

IMidiyariin. The period dur-ing which animal life was evol-ved ; so-called in Zoroastrianism.

Mid])iizcram. In the sacredbooks of the Parsis a periodof evolution, during which theheavenly canopy is said to havebeen formed.

Mid-yirshan. In the Parsireligion the period of evolutionduring which clouds were formed.

Mobed. TheZoroastrian priest.

Mog. A Persian word, fromwhich Magus, a true priest, isderived.

Mogbed. A high priest of theParsis, or fire-worshippers.

Mogh Nnadhat. A name forZoroaster in an Irish MS.

Mohsan Fani. T h e a u t h or of aPersian work called "Dabistan,"written about two centuriesago.

A/oksha. Emancipation fromconditioned existence.

Moslem. Poetical abbreviatedform of Mussulman ; a followerof Mohammed.

Muktdima (literally, a liberatedspirit). Theindivicfualityinman,when it has escaped from thebonds of illusion,

372

GLOSSARY.

Mitld'i. Salvation, z'.^., releasefrom conditioned existence.Mussulman. (See Moslem.)

Narada. A great Indian sage.

Natitch. An Indian dance, per-formed by professional femaledancers.

Nazar, or Nazir. Set apart,separated.

Nazars. A very ancient sect ofadepts, existing ages beforeChrist.

Nazaret. Assyrian Greekname for Zoroaster.

Neilrherries. or Nil^iris. The" Blue INIountains." A range ofhills in the INIadras Presidencywith which many traditions ofancient sages and wonder-workersare connected.

Neo-Platonists of Alexandria.Followers of a school of philo-sophy founded by AmmoniusSaccas, which was highly altruis-tic and catholic. It recognizedthe existence of some portion ofdivine or spiritual truth in everyform of religion, and left a deepimpress upon early Christianity.

Niraug. The liquid with whichthe Parsis wash their faces everymorning.

Nirvana. Beatitude, vioksha{q.v.). The state of abstract,spiritual existence.

Nii~i'anic. Pertaining to Nir-vana, the Buddhist name for thefinal beatitude.

Omar. The-second Khali fell ofthe Mohammedans.

Ormazd- Yacht. A part of theKhordeh-Avesia ; a prayer.

Osetya. A province in theCaucasian Viceroyalty of Russia.

Osiris. The Egyptian sun -god.

Padmdsan. A posture practisedby some Indian mystics. Itconsists in sitting, with the legs

crossed one over the other, andtl]e body straight.

Pahlavi. An ancient languageof the Zoroastrians.

Pali. The language in whichthe principal scriptures of theBuddhists are written.

Palingenesis. Thebeginningofthe period of Cosmic activity;also re-birth.

Pandit. A learned Brahman.

Pdnini. The greatest of San-skrit grammarians.

Parabrahvia. The supremeprinciple in Nature.

Parasnatha. One of the greatteachers of the Jain sects.

Parsiism. The religion of theParsis, Zoroastrianism.

Parsis. Followers of theancient Persian faith ; fire-wor-shippers.

Parvad. In Hindu mythologythe goddess represeniing CosmicEnergy.

Patanjali. The author ofYoga Philosophy.

Pice. A small Indian coppercoin, worth a little over anEnglish farthing.

Piti-shahim. According to theParsis, the period during whichthe earth became consolidatedout of primeval cosmic atoms.

Prakriti. Nature, Cosmicmatter.

Pralaya. Theperiod of Cosmicrest.

Prarthana SamaJ. A TheisticSociety of Bombay.

Prc-Iranian. Anterior to theIranians or Persians.

Piicca. Ripe, permanent. Apucca house is one built of goodbricks and mortar, or other per»manent material.

Puggri. A turban.

Pundit. A Brahman learned inSanskrit.

Ptoijah. The northernmost

373

province of British India, and in-habited by the most \varhl<e races.

fjiranas (literally, the oldwritings). A collection of Brah-manical writings, mostly of amythical character, the leastauthoritative of all.

Purdahs. Screens or curtainshanging before the entrance tothe women's apartments.

Pttrushas'pa. The father ofZoroaster, according to thenative traditions.

Radha. The queen among theGopis, who are said to havebeen in love with Krishna.

Rajagriha. An ancient city inBehar, where Buddha preached.

Rajah, King ; also a title ofnobility.

Rama. The celebrated King ofancient India, the hero of thegreat epic, named Ramayan.

Ramayana. A magnificentIndian epic poem.

Ravana. King of Ceylon, andslain by Rama.

Rislii (literally, a revealer). Aholy sage.

Rupee. An Indian silver coin,equivalent to about is. 8d. ofEnglish money.

Riistani. A hero of the ancientParsis, immortalised by Firdusiin the Shdh-Ndjiieh.

Ryot. A peasant cultivator, ortiller of the soil.

Sahaoih. Victory {HebreTo).

Sa/'eans. Worshippers of theheavenly bodies.

Sabha. A Society.

Sabian, or Planetary Religion.The worship of the heavenlybodies.

Sad-der. Literally, a hundreddoors.

Sadhxi. A holy man.

Sahcysradalci'ii, One of the six

centres of psychic energy in thehuman body.

Sakya Mitni. The HolyTeacher of the Aryan tribe ofthe Sakyas. One of the appella-tions of Gautama Buddha.

Samadki. Ecstatic trance.

Saviaj. A Society.

Sa?)iajist. A member of theArya Samaj.

Saviothracian. Pertaining toSamothrace.

Sanjdn. The place where thefugitive Persians, persecuted byOmar, found shelter in India.

Sankara Acharya, oxSankara-charya. The author of the Ved-anta School of Philosophy, thatwhich denies the personality of theDivine Principle, and affirms itsunity with the spirit of man.

Sanskrit (literally, \k\Qpolisheddialect). The classical languageof the ancient Aryans ; the mostcopious, noble and scientificallyconstructed language in theworld. Its literary treasures areincalculably precious.

Sanyasis, A Sansla-it word,meaning a class of Hindu asceticswhose minds are steadfastly fixedupon the Supreme Truth.

Sastras. The sacred writings ofthe Hindus.

Sec an der. Alexander theGreat.

Sera}}iptir. A city in Bengal onthe.banks of the Ganges.

Serosliizad. An angel in theZoroastrian hierarchy supposedto correspond to Gabriel.

Shadachakranis. The six cen-tres of force in the humanbody.

Shauio, desert of. In Tibet.

Shi karri. A hunter.

ShriniadBhagavata. The prin-cipal religious book of theVaishnava.

Siddha. One who has obtained

374

GLOSSARY.

psychic powers by proficiency inthe Occult vScience.

Siddhis. Extraordinary powersobtained by spiritual develop-ment.

Sikh War. The war for the con-quest of the Kingdom of RunjitSingh, the powerful monarch ofthe Sikhs, popularly styled "TheLion of the Punjab." The Koh-i-noor diamond belonged to him.

Simla. A Sanatorium and hill-station in the foot-hills of theHimalayas ; the official summerresidence of the Viceroy ofIndia.

Sita. The wife of Rama inHindu Mythology, and the per-sonification of Cosmic Matter.As Rama personifies Spirit, theirloving relationship typifies thecorrelation of Force and Matter.

Siva. One of the Hindu gods;with Brahma and Vishnu heforms the Tritmcrti, or Trinity.

Sivaic Lingam. The* phallicrepresentation of the Hindu god,Siva.

Sivaite. A worshipper of Siva.

Skandha. The impermanentelements which constitute a man.

Slokas. vStanzas.

Sohrab. Son of Rustam, thegreat Persian hero (see Rtis-tavi).

Solar or Fire Worship. Thereligion of the Parsis, popularlyso-called.

Soma. A mystic drink, men-tioned in the Vedas.

Soorb Ovanness. A monasteryin Armenia.

Sosiosh. The coming Messiahof the Zoroastrians.

Sthulasarira, or SthitlSharij-a.The gross physical body.

Stiddha Devas. The highest orpurest gods.

Siidra. The lowest caste amongthe Hindus,

Stijis. A practically Pantheisticsect of the jNIohammedans, be-lieving in the ultimate " one-ness " with God.

Suksh?na Sharira. The subtilebody ; the double.

Sutras. Aphorisms.

Talisj?ian. A charm.

Talmud. Jewish commentarieson the Bible.

Talmudists. Students of theTalmud, or Rabbinical com-mentaries on the Jewish Scrip-tures.

Tamasha. Show, display.

Tantrika. Worshippers of theIndian goddess Sakti, who typi-fies Force.

Telugu. Alanguage spoken inSouthern India.

Teocalis. Holy enclosures ofthe Arizona Indians.

Theodidaktoi of Greece. TheGod-taught philosophers ; aschool which sought a know-ledge of divine things by theself-development of the latentspiritual faculties.

Thian Shan mountains. InCentral Asia.

Tibet, mystics of. A class ofadepts of Esoteric Science amongthe highest grade of Buddhistascetics. They are identicalwith the Hindu Mahatmas.

Tiflis. The capital of Georgia.

Travancore. A province inSouthern India.

Tripitikas. The sacred booksof the Buddhists.

Tukaram. A religious poetwho flourished in the BombayPresidency, and attained greatpopularity.

Turban. A cloth wrappedabout the head as a covering, in-stead of a hat or cap.

Tiiticorin. The most SouthernIndian sea-port.

GLOSSARY,

375

Ushidannna. The mountainon which Zoroaster is said tohave obtained his sacred Scrip-tures.

Vach. The Logos, the mysticword.

Vaishnava. Worshippers ofVishnu.

Vasishta. Agreat Indian sage.

Vatsavana, A sage of ancientIndia.

Vedaiitists, Followers of theVedanta, a system of Indianideahstic philosophy.

Vedas. The most authoritativeof the Hindu Scriptures.

Veda Vyasa. The celebratedRishiwho collected and arrangedthe Vedas in their present form.

Vedic. Pertaining to the Veda,or four oldest sacred books ofthe Aryans, viz., Rig, Yajur,Sama, and Atharva. They areconsidered as having been di-rectly revealed to the Rishis, orAryan sages, by Brahma.

Vendidad. One of the Zoroas-trian sacred books.

Vihara. A Buddhist monas-tery.

Vishnu. The second memberof the Hindu Trinity—the prin-ciple of preservation.

Visishtadvaitis. An Indian re-ligious sect who believe in salva-tion by grace.

Vistdsp. A Bactrian King.Vomer. The nasal cavity.Vurushte. '' Good deeds;" thethird great commandment ofZoroaster.

Yapia. A sacred ZoroastrianBook.

Yasht. A part of the Parsi

Prayer - book — the KhordehAvesta. There are several ofthem.

YathCi aim Yahy6. The funda-mental Zoroastrian prayer andconfession of faith.

Yazata. The angels inferior tothe Amshaspanos.

Yazaias. The personified goodprinciples of Nature.

Yoga. The science and art ofspiritual development.

Yoga Sulras. The parts of theYoga Philosophy.

Yoga Vidya. The science ofYoga ; the practical method ofuniting one's own spirit with theUniversal Spirit or Principle.

Yogi. Amystic who is develop-ing himself spiritually accordingto the system laid down inPatanjali's Yoga Philosophy.

Yozdathraigur. The same asMagus, an adept of ancientPersia.

ZaratiisJii, or ZaratJmstra. APersian form of the name Zoro-aster.

Zend. The sacred language ofancient Persia.

Zend Avesta. Thesacred Scrip-ture of the Parsis, or fire-wor-shippers.

''Zera-Lshtar." The title of theChaldean or Magian priests.

Zoroaster. The Prophet of theParsis.

Zoroastrian. Pertaining to thereligion of Zoroaster.

Zoroastrianism. The religionof the Parsis, commonly calledFire-worshippers.

Ziirii-aste> s. The prophets ofthe Parsis.

Absolute Truth, 58

Abul Pharaj, his Book of Dynas-ties, quoted, 344

Adepts, 139, 163, 212

Aeronautics, perfection of theAryans in, 265

Agni, fire of, T28

Agnihotra, the, 128, 157

Ahankaram, 95

Akasa, the, 100, loi, 209, 295

Alexandria, Neo-platonists andTheurgists of, 55

Amoretti, investigations by, 213

Amrita Bazar Pairika, the fear-less champion of Indian in-terests, 189

Apparitions, 89, 122

Apollonius of Tyana, on theoccult properties of gems, 214

Arabian Nights, the, 245

Arnold, Edwin, his Light ofAsia, quoted, 35S, 359, 362,

Aryan philosophy, xiii., 74, 129,

151, 162, 168, 171Aryan wisdom, 71, 123Arya Samaj, x., 54, 175, 271Aryavarta, 55, 67, 71, 80, 127,

165, 170, 171, 267"Ashta Vidya," 266Asoka, King, edicts of, 112Asramas, private passages to, 98Astral self, 140Atharva Veda, 156Atheism, 272Atma, 59, '^'S>, 93, 94, 95, 105,

I33> 273Aura, the, 156, 313, 314

Bach, the composer, 231

' Bagehot, Walter, on the ancients

and "progress," 292Bain, Professor, 100, 131Bairagee, dirty, 114Beal, Rev. Samuel, his Catena

of Buddhist Scriptures, quoted,

354.

Berzelius, theory of, 295

Bible, the, 325

Biology, 285

]>lack Art, the, 321

Blavatsky, Madame, psychicphenomena produced by, -^t^',355 385 43 ; her J sis Unveiled^46, 48, 54, 57; becomes anAmerican citizen, 57; quoted,59 : munificence of, 120 ; theauthor's first meeting witli,121, 122, 159, 190-195, 227.229, 233, 240, 241, 245, 297,

309> 319, 341Boeckh, 260

Boehmen, Jacob, 73

Bombay, addresses delivered at,

49

Bombay, approach to, 125

Bombay, youth of, 75

Bradlaugh, Mr., 79

Brahmaloka, 118

Brahminical customs, 156-157

Brahmo Samaj, 54, 271

Bramachari Bawa, 265

Brugsch Bey, on the origin ofthe old Egyptians, 261

Buchanan, Professor, his discov-ery of the psychometer, 209,249

Buddha, Lord, his answer to theKalama people, 40; debatebetween and jiis projected

78

INDEX.

"Double," 96; recumbentimage of, 155 ; his retirementto desert places, 206 ; his lifeand its lessons, 349-363

Buddhi, '^%^ 94, 95

Budd/iisl Catechism, 106

Buddhist, the, 58

Bunsen, 260

Burnouf, 258

Cahagnet, the French meta-physician, his tribute to theTheosophical Society, 18S;210, 255

Calcutta, first visit to, 119

Calhoun, Major, on the survivalof the Fire-Cult among theIndian tribes of Arizona, 319

Cama, K. R., the eminent Parsischolar, 70, 343

Camomile plant, the, 150

Carpenter, Professor W. B., 242

Caste, 74-75

Ceylon, 213, 262

Ceylon, Branch Society at, 51

Charms and spells, 328

" Chatusashthikala Nirnaya,"263

Chemistry, limitations of, 295

Chela, 122

Chinvat Bridge of Souls, 144,

339

Chittam, 95

Chittenden, a village in Ver-mont, the scene of the Eddy]:)henomena, 237, 241

Christadelphians, the, 177

Christianity, dogmatic fabric of,17-19

Christianity, in America, 78

Chubb lock of the Universe, 201

Cicero, house of, 208

Civilisation, measure and marksof, 293-294

Clairvoyance, 144, 213, 250

Communist refugees, conspir-acies of, 57

Comparative philology, 266,274

Compton, Mrs., case of, 139

Comte, 115

Confucius, 74, 112, 168

Conway, Mr. Moncure D., sayingof, 36

Cook, Mr. Joseph, unmanlyconduct of, 112, 338

Cosmogony, Hebrew, 289

Cox, Serjeant, his phrase of ^" Psycliic Force," 220

Crookes, Mr. William, discover-ies of, 203, 211; his Researchesin the Phenomena ofSpirit7ial-ism, 219, 220, 224, 225, 227 ;a member of the TheosophicalSociety, 255

Crystal-reading, 207, 210, 212-213, 252

D'abistAN, or School of Man-ners, 84, 178, 179; one of themost valuable of books for thethoughtful Parsi, 339

Dalhousie, Lord, Governor-General of India, 150

Darmesteter, Dr., his Introduc-tion to the Vendidad, quoted,312, 327; 336

Darwin, his theory of evolution,250

P)astur Darab, 318

Davis, Andrew Jackson, 63, 73,144

Defenseiir, Le, Parisian organof the Ultramontane party, itsfriendly attitude towards theTheosophical Society, 42

Demoniac agency, 244

Denton, Professor, his Sozil ofIhings, 208

Dervishes, 323

Desatir, the, 145, 304

Desmousseaux, Chevalier, seriesof books by, 243

Devachan, 89

Devils, 321

Dharana, 139, 148

Dhyana, fourth stage of, 107,139, 141, 148

Dickens, Charles, his JackBtmsby, 198

179

Disestablishment, 79Divining-rods, 325, 329Dondoukoff Korsakoff', Prince,Viceroy of the Caucasus,

309Dosabhoy Framjee, his work on

The Par sees, quoted, 310, 342"Double," the, 92, 95, 96, 100,

loi, 123, 135, 152, 254, 295Draper, Professor, 79, his Con-Jiict between Religion and

Science, 288Dryden, quoted, 170Dualists, their belief regarding

the soul, 87, 102, T04Duncker, Prof, his Geschichtedes

AlterthiDHs, 343Dupotet, Baron, 209, 255Dwaitas, the, 114

Eastern philosophy, 68Ecce Homo, 18Ecstatics, 212, 214Eddy, Horatio, 238Eddy, William, the famousmedium, 122, 139, 232, 236-242Edinburgh, 41

Edison, discoveries of, 203; amember of the TheosophicalSociety, 255Edmonds, Chief Justice, on thenumber of American spiritual-ists, 216Edmonds, Miss Laura, 243Ego, the, 48, 89, 136, 138, 162Egypt, antiquity of, 260-261Egypt, Hierophants of, 247Egyptian pyramids, the, 208, 260Electric light, 203Electricity, 93

Elphinstone College, 70, 303Ennemoser's History of Magic^

quoted, 321, 330Esdaile, Dr. James, his Naturaland Mesmeric Clairvoyance,quoted, 149, 150, 151Esoteric Buddhism, 29, 43Etchmiadzine, monastery of,

309

Ether, 100Euhemerization, 350Eutychius, on Zoroastrianism,

308Exorcism, special forms of, 243

Fasces, Roman, 67

Fauvety, M., on human frater-nity, 188

F61ix P6re, his taunt to theAcademic, 61, 200

Finis coronal opus, 1S5

Fire-philosophers, 55

Fire-worship, 308, 315

Flammarion, Camille, 255

Fludd, Robert, on Fire, 315-316

Folk-lore, 251

Force, 60, 100

Framji Cowasji Hall, Bombay

49'63 , . r o

France, 79 ; population ot, 27b

Freemasons, their means ofmutual identification, 56

French Communist refugees,conspiracies of, 57

Galileo, 149, 289Ganpatrao, Mr., editor of the

hidti Prakash, his asperations

of the Theosophists, 186, 188Gathas, the, 145Gautama, 59, 74, 112, 168, 247Gems, 214Geometry, 146Germany, rupture of wi^h the

Pope, 79God, 38, 62, 73, noGould, Baring, his Cniious

Myths of the ^Middle Ages, 326.Gray, quoted, 125Gregory, Professor William, 210

Haeckel, 115Hafiz, quoted, 183-184Haldane and Kemp's translation

of Schopenhauer, 15Hare, Robert, the Nestor of

American Chemistry, 217,

218, 220

INDEX.

Harris, Rev. Thon^as Lake, ex- \

periences of, 222Hashtop, Queen, temple of, 262Hebrew Cosmogony, 289Hermes, rod of, 325Hermetic doctrine, the, 46Hierophants of Egypt, 247Himavat, short cut to, 98'Hindu, 58

Hinduism, what is good in, 103Hints oil Esoteric 1 heosophy^ 90Hume, David, his Enquijy con-cerning Htiman Understand-ing, 198; argument of, 235Hunter, Dr., his England's Work

in India, quoted, 278Huxley, Professor, his LaySermons, quoted, 24 ; hisPhysical Basis of Lifequoted, 61, ^t^, 200; quoted,288, 2S9, 291 ; his Lay Ser-mons, quoted, 298

Illumination, 247, 314

Illusion, 153

Immortality, individual, 25, 59

Incantation, 329, 335

India, 49 ; industry and re-sources of, 77; products of, 78

India,'Past, Present, and Future,257-283

Indian Press, its attitude towardsthe Theosophical Society, 71

Infallibility, out of fashion, 49

Initiate, the, 96, 157

Ireland, over-populated, 27S

Irish National Church, disestab-lishment of, 79

Isis Unveiled, 54, 57, 59, 191,

297, 319Islam, 58

J ACER, Dr., experiments of,

35<J-357Jain, the, 58

Jennings, Mr. Hargrave, his j

Kosicrucidns, quoted, 315 I

Jesuits, expulsion of from France, '

79 '

esus, 59; temptation of, 205, |

20S; his best maxims taughtby others, 299; suspected ofemploying magic arts, 327 ;mythical biographies of, 351,

353

Jews, 58

Jiva, %-], 94, 95

Jivan-Miikta, or soul emanci-pated, 63

Jiv-Atma, or life principle, the,138

Jones, Sir William, 258, 312.

Kabala, the Chaldean sacred^volume, 312, 315

Kabeiric mysteries, 318, 321

Kaiviin, aZoroastrian sage, 179

Kamarupa, 88, 94

Karma, or merit, the corner-stone of Religion, 102

Kepler, 149

Keshub Babu Chunder Sen, 116,126

Kilauea, crater of, 164

Kinetic theory of gases, 285,291

Kingsford, Anna, The PerfectWay, 46

Koh-i-noor diamond, the, 138,

374Koran, the, 207Korner, Dr. Justinus, 211Krishna, 156, 350, 351Kurd, appearance of a, 240-241

Lane-Fox, Mr., 255

Lange's History of Material'

ism, quoted, 29, 30Le Conte, quoted, 61Levi, Eliphas, his Dogme et

Rituel de la Hatite Magie, &c.,

344Levitation, 211

Leyden jar, how discharged,

.^57Life-principle, the, 138Lindsay, Lord, 234, 255Lingasarira, 87, 95Loadstone, powos of, 214London, idle capital in, 77

581

Lubbock, Sir John, his addressto the British Association,285, 286, 292, 297

LuUy, Raymond, 112-I13

Luxman Sen, 160

MacGreCxOR, Dr., his Historyof the Sikh War, 143

MacMahon, Marshal, 79

Magianism, 312

Magic, 149, 325

Magnetism, 207

Mahatmas, description of 97,98 ; the author receives visitsfrom, 123, 124, 139, 196

Mahiijinastava, The, quoted,162

Mahomet, 206

Maitland, Edward, The PerfectWay, 46

Man, 132, 133

Manas, 88, 94, 95

Mandiikyo Upanishad, 95

Manetho, dynasties of, 260

Mapes, Professor, 234

Materiahsm, unscientific, xii.

Matter, our Western ignoranceof, 24

Maudsley, Henry, 100

Mayavirupa, %'^, 89, 92,95, lOl,123, 133, 134, 135

Mediumism, 109

Mediumship, peril of, 244

Mena, monarchy of, 260

Merit, or Karma, the corner-stone of Religion, 102

Mesmer, 207

Mesmerism, a necessary branchof study, 108 ; ordinary ex-periments, 138, 150-151

Mexico and Peru, sacred litera-ture of, 62

Mill, John Stuart, his Disserta-tions and Discussions, quoted,

137-138Milton, the Heaven of, 63, 144Miracles, Hume on, 198Miraculous phenomena, im-possibility of, 91Missionaries, Christian, 58

Mohini, Mr., 45

Mohsan Fani, 84, 178

Moksha, 144, 187, 313

Montezuma, 319

Moore, Thomas, quoted, 202

Moses, 58, 267, 308

Moses, Rev. Stninton, 226, 22S

Moslem Paradise, 63

Mozart, 238

Muktatma, or soul universalized,

Mukti, or emancipation, T05,

107Milller, George, "the Lord's

Dealings with," 329Milller, Max, 15 ; his Chips from

a German Workshop, quoted,

16, 259, 312 ; on the Buddhist

moral code, 361Mysticism, literature of, 143

"Nature," motto of the journalso-called, 40; report of anaddress taken from, 285

Nazars, the, 305

Neilgherries, the, 98

Neo-Platonists of Alexandria,

55. 247Nihilist party in Russia, 79

Nirvana, 105, 206, 313, 356,

357, 3<JO, 363Numa, 319, 321

Occult Sciences, the, 60, 198Od, or Odyle, 156, 158, 209-

212, 249Odic aura, 156Oliver, Rev. George, his History

of Initiation, quoted, 347Omar, sword of, 302Ontology, 85Oriental philosophy, 54Orpheus, on the loadstone, 214Ossetines, the, their curious

custom of sepulture, 342Ouvarof, Count, the Nestor of

Russian archaeologists, 341,

342Owen, Robert Dale, 216, 231

382

INDEX.

Palestine Exploration Society,

340

Palingene:-iis, Asiatic theory of,106

Parabrahma, 59, 145

Paracelsus, 207

Parasnatha, 58, 331

Parsi Archeeological Society atPjombay, x.

Parsi, the, 58, 331.

Patanjaii, his Yoga Sjilras, 90,144, 147, 148, 153, 154

Peebles, Mr. J. M., his researchesat York, 228

People from the other Woi'ld, 89,139, 241, 242

Perty, Professor, 211

Philadelphian, a name that mighthave been adopted by theTheosophical Society, 177

Phonograph, the, 203

Pierce, Mr., 223

Pius IX., Pope, anathematizesmediumship, 243

Plato, 267

Pliny, quoted, 321

Plotinus, the philosopher, whyhe refused to reveal his birth-place and parentage, 303

Pope, Alexander, quoted, 62,131, 201

Porphyi'y, the pupil and liter-ary biographer of Plotinus,

Prarthana Samaj, 54, 175, 271Prayer, efficacy of, 329Precious stones, 214Prideaux, his Ancient Universal

History^ quoted, 308Printing, discovery of, 79Prognostication, power of, 109Progress, real and false, 292-297 ;

a relative term, 296 ; mask of

removed, 300Psychic phenomena, 146, 147Psychology, 48, 86, loS, 129 ;

sceptre of, 137, 148, 273Psychometry, 109, 138, 208,

209, 249pundits, the, attitudeof, 127, 128

Puranas, the, 207Pythagoras, on precious stones,214

Raja Rammohun Roy, 45Rajendralala Mittra, Dr., his

story of a Sadhu, 141Raniayana, story in the, 90Rammohun Roy, 45Raymond Lully, 112-113Reformation, the, 79Reichenbach, Baron von, his Re •

searches on Magnetism, 121,

154, 155^158, 207 ; -209, 210,

211, 213, 249, 343Reincarnationists, modern school

of, 106Religion, 81

Renan, Ernest, quoted^ 260Rishis, the, 58, 71, 99, 103,

no, 113, 115, 118, 121, 128,

247,265

Roman/rzjr^j, 67Rule, Margaret, levitationof, 211Runjit Singh, 142, 143Russia, 56, 57, 79.

Saehapathy Swami, work

published by, 151, 154Sadhu, story of a, 141 ; burial

of a, 142-143; pretended, 164Sahasradalam,^94Sakya-Muni, 58, 73,208, 314,353Salem witchcraft horrors, 211Samadhi, 139

Sankara Acharya, 73, 90, 208Sanskrit literature, study of, 15,

258, 274Sapphire, the, supposed magical

property of, 213Sastras, the, 128, 133, 143, 145,

151, 156, 160Schopenhauer, Arthur, on the

Vedas and Upanishads, 15,33Schweigger, quoted, 319Science, 79Stances, 139Self, the serpent coiled beneath

the flowers of life, 184.Sensuality, 68

INDEX.

-^.8

j"j

Shadadiakrams, 94

Shakespeare, quoted, 166

Shankar Pandurang Pandit, histranslation of the Vedas, 274

Simla, 291

Sinbad, in the Valley of Dia-monds, 119

Sinnett, Mr. Alfred Percy, hisEsoteric Biiddhisui, 29 ; andOccult World, 43, 46, 97

** Sitarama Anjaniyam (Cosmicmatter)," 95

Slade, Dr. Henry, his raremediumist powers, 229; falselycharged with dishonesty, 229-230

Solavief, Professor, the " Her-bert Spencer of Russia," 192

Somnambules, 212

Sorcery, 321

"Soul," meaning of the word,130

Soul-principle, the, 139

Spencer, Herbert, on Religion,20, 21, 23, 81, iro, 131, 134,

Spirit-rapping, 148, 220,225,226

Spiritualism, 22; literature of,

221

Spiritualists, ancient and modern,

55Stewart, Professor Balfour, his

Unseen Universe, 25, 47, 100;

his Conservation of Energy^

quoted, 60-61, 62, 73

Sthulasarira, 87, 88, 93, 94, 133,

134

Supernaturalism, the curse of all

creeds, 91Swami Dayanand Saraswati,

the eminent Aryan reformer, xSwedenborg, 73, 144Syllabus of the Vatican Council,

49

Table-moving, 225Tait, Peter Guthrie, his Un-seen Universe, 25, 47, 100Talismans, secret of, 335Talmud, the, 305

Technology, schools of, 76Telephone, the, 203Temple, Sir Richard, on thedecay of the Hindu faith, 271,

273.

Theodidaktoi of Greece, 247

Theosophical Society, 27-29 ; aprimary object of, 32, 41 ;its raison d'etre, 49 ; its aims,50; progress of, 51-52; itsplatform, plans, and prospects,53-56 ; arcana of, 56; itsorganisation and constitution,55-57 ; its attitude towardsreligious belief?, 57-59; recep-tious at Bombay, 70; not amoney-making body, 71; itsattitufle towards science, 85,98-99 ; declared policy and.platform of, 108 ; foundationof, 123, 145, 146 : rules andregulations of, 159, 175, 181 ;not a miracle club, 193, 195,203, 215, 338

Theosophist, The, 29 ; motto of,40, 46, 126-127, 187, 189-190,340

Theosophy, defined by Webster,53 ; purposes to make menbetter, 57 ; proper definitionof, 129, 148, 176, 177, 180,184, 185, 197, 256

Theurgists, 55

Thought-reading, 228

Thought, transmissibility of,109

Tibet, mystics of, 147

Training in Occult Science, 146,

I47» i<^3Trance, 90, 109Tripitikas, the, 60Truth, absolute, 58Tukaram, 186, 187

United States of America, 67,

75, 7^, nUnity, 67

Universal Brotherhood, 146,18^]^

189University degrees, 75

3§4

INDEX.

Upanishads, the, 15, 28, 33, 39

Vasishta, 59

Vatican Council, syllabus of, 49

Vatsavana, 263

Vedantism, 151

Vedantists, the, 145

Vedas, the, 39 ; sublime utter-ances of, 60, 112, 206, 274

Vcdic philosophy, 71

Vedic religion, x

Vestal mysteries, Roman, 319,321

Visishtadvaitis, 114

Vital force, imparted by themesmerist, 109

Von Vay, Baroness, 210

Wade, Sir Claude, his Campand Court of Ruiijil SiiKjh,

143

V>\igncr, Professor, of St. Peters-burg, his review of Peoplefrovi the other JVorld^ 10^2.

Wallace, Alfred Russell, onHume's theory of miracles,198; on spiritualist pheno-mena, 225-227, 242 ; a mem-ber of the TheosophicalSociety, 255

Ward, Mr., his work on Indian

History, Literature, and My-thology, quoted, 263-264

Webster, his definition of'' Theo-sophy." 53

Williams, Prof. Monier, articlein the N'inctcenth Centuryquoted, 331, 337-33S

Witchcraft, 149

Wordsworth, quoted, 40

Yoga, 90; science of, 129 ; fourstages of, 140, 147, 151,

153, 179, 265Yoga Vidya, 129Yogi, the, loi, 139, 147,

154, 179, 265, 279Youngs, Mrs., raises a piano-forte from the floor, 233, 234

152,

152,

Zaratusht, 20S, 302, 303,304

Zcndavesla, 60, 207

ZoUner, Fr., 217, 229

Zoroaster, 58, 59, 74 ; Bactrianrock-cut image of, 155, 168,206, 301 ; real history of neverwritten, 307, et sapius seqq,

Zoroastrian Religion, spirit of the,301-348 _

Zoroastrianisin, x., 302,the old life gone out of, 309

iPZ',

S. COWAN & CO.. STRATU.MORE PRINTING WOK.KS, 1 ERTK,

15 York Street, Covent Garden,London, December 1888.

Mr Redway's Publications

New and Forthcoming Works

hi Crozvit Svo, Cloth^ ^s. 6d.

Practical Heraldry;

Or, an Epitome of English Armory.

SHOWING

How, AND BY Whom Arms may be Borne or Acquired,

How Pedigrees may be Traced, or Family

Histories Ascertained.

By CHARLES WORTHY, Esq.,

Formerly of H.M. 82nd Regiment, and sometime Principal Assistant to the

late Somerset Herald ; Author of "Devonshire Parishes," &c., &c.

With 124 Illustrations from Designs by the Author.

Introductory.—Science of Heraldry, Coats of Arms, Varieties of Arms, Partition Lines,Tinctures, Furs, Ordinaries, &c., &c.—Common Charges, Lions and other Beasts, HeraldicMonsters, &c., &c.—Miscellaneous Objects Alphabetically arranged.—Technical Termsused in Heraldry.—The Rules of Blazon.—The Marshalling of Arms, Hatchments, &c., &c.—Crests, Mottoes, Helmets, Mantlings, Supporters, and Coronets.—The Rules of Preced-ence.—Peers, Baronets, Knights, Esquires, Gentlemen.—Advice to Pedigree Hunters, Howto Trace a Pedigree, Parochial Registers, Public Documents, Probate Court, Fees, &c.,&c.—The College of Arms, Officers of Arms, Heraldic Records, Heraldic Fees, Grants ofArms, Change of Name.—Liveries, with some Remarks upon Cockades, and those who areentitled to use them.—General Remarks, Drawing and Illuminating, Taxes in respect ofArms.

2 Vols. Demy Sz'o, Cloth, 25^-.

Philosophy of Mysticism

{PHILOSOPHIE DER MYSTJK).

By DR carl DU PREL.

Translated from the German by C. C. Massey.

i2?)io, Cloth^ \s.

The Grammar of Palmistry.

By KATHARINE ST. HILL.With Eighteen Illustrations.

Contents :—On the Outline and Mounts—On the Lines—On the Palm of the Hand andLesser Lines—On Signs of Illness, Temper, and on Special Qualities—On Reading theHands {Examples)—T\i& Hands of Distinguished Persons—Glossary of Terms.

In demy Zvo, Cloth^ \os. 6d.

The Indian Religions;

Or, Results of the Mysterious Buddhism.

Concerning that also which is to be understood in the

Divinity of Fire.

By HARGRAVE JENNINGS,

AUTHOR OF THE " ROSICRUCIANS, THEIR RITES AND MYSTERIES," ETC.

Demy Svo, Cloth extra, *js. dd.

Bacon, Shakespeare, and the

Rosicrucians.

By W. F. C. wigs ton.

With Two Plates.

Contents :—Chapter I.—John Heydon—The Rosicrucian Apologist—His Family—AndCharacter—Identity of Bacon's " New Atlantis " with Heydon's "Land of the Rosicrucians"—Bacon's Hand to be traced in the famous Rosicrucian Manifestoes—Discovery of hisInitials among the Members of the Fraternity—Proofs that the antedating of the Origins ofthe Rosicrucian Brotherhood was a Splendid Fraud. Chapter II.—The Prophecy of Para-celsus—A Stage Player one of the greatest impostors of his age, probably Shakespeare—Description of the Rosicrucian Manifestoes—Lord Bacon as Chancellor of Parnassus—Meeting of the Rosicrucians in 1646 at Warrington, at a Lodge, in order to carryout Lord Bacon's Ideas—Adoption of his Two Pillars—Origins of Modern Masonryin England, as modified Rosicrucianism — Bacon's oral Method of Transmission —His Familiarity with the Mysteries. Chapter III.— The Tempest—Islands of Souls orSpirits—Avalon—" The green grass Island of Apples "—Identified with Prospero's Island—Avalon identified with Atlantis—Virgil's Mysteries refound in The Tempest—Sirens andthe Sea—Meaning of the word Tempest, as allied to Creation. Chapter IV.— Vcmis^ andAdojiis—Key or Myth Centre of the Rosicrucian Emblem the Crucified Rose—Meaning ofthe Adonis Myth—Its Solar Origin—The Rose Emblem for Adonis—The Hermetic Crystaland Rosewater—The Crucified Truth—Light, Life, and Logos—As the Crucified Rose—The Secret of Immortality derived from the Conservation of Energy—The Phoenix and thePalm Tree—The Rose Cross the last Degree in Masonry—The Paradise of Dante—TheRose Dante's Divine Word or Logos. Chapter V.—Freemasonry—St Albans, the Home ofLord Bacon, and the Origins of Freemasonry in England—Allusions to St Albans in the Plays—Arms of St Albans, a St Andrew's Cross—Johann Valentin Andreas—His Arms also, a StAndrew's Cross—Curious Facts connected with the Publication of the Rosicrucian Manifestoes—Andreas, the supposed Author of the " Fama," denies all connection with the Fraternity—Antiquity of Masonic Records in Architecture. ChapterVI.—Hermetic and Masonic Originsin the Plays—The Phoenicians, the Transmitters of the Hermetic and_ Masonic Gnosis—Reference to Carthage, Dido, and ^neas in The Tempest—The Phoenicians and Tyriansalluded to by Bacon in the " New Atlantis"—Pericles laid at Tyre and Ephesus—Rosalind,the Great Diana, or Nature Goddess of the Ephesians, etc., etc.

Problems of the Hidden Life.

Being Essays on the Ethics of Spiritual Evolution.

By pilgrim.

Price IS.

A Hancibook of Cartomancy,

Fortune-Telling, and Occult Divination.

Founded on the Traditions of Magical Seership andON THE Doctrines of Superior Influence.

With the Addition of Cagliostro's Mystic Alphabet of

the Magi and the Revolutions of the

Golden Wheel.

By grand orient.

Sapiens doininahitiir astris.

About 500//., Dejuy Svo, C/of/i, price \^s.

Marriage and Kinship amongPrimitive Peoples.

A Study of Sexual Morality.

By C. STAN I land WAKE,

author of "serpent worship," etc.

Contents :—Preface. Introduction—Sexual Morality. Chapter I. Primeval Man.II. Suppo.sed Promiscuity. III. Primitive Law of Marriage. IV. Group Marriage. V.Polyandry. VI. Polygyny. VII. Monandry. VIII. The Rule of Descent. IX. Kin-ship through Females. X. Kinship through Males. XL Marriage by Capture. XII.Monogamy.

Demy Zvo^ pp. 315, Cloth, \os. 6d,

Lives of

Alchemystical Philosophers.

Based on Materials Collected in 1815, and Supplemented

BY Recent Researches.

With a Philosophical Demonstration of the True Principles ofTHE Magnum Opus, or Great Work of Alchemical Re-Cox-

STRUCTION, AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE SPIRITUAL CHEMISTRY.

By ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE.

To WHICH IS ADDED A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF AlCHEMY AND

Hermetic Philosophy.

Lives of the Alchemists :—Geber—Rhasis—Alfarabi—Avicenna—Morien—AlbertusMagnus—Thomas Aquinas—Roger Bacon—Alain of Lisle—Raymond Lully—Arnold DeVillanova—Jean De Meung—The Monk Ferarius—Pope John XXII.—Nicholas Flamel—Peter Bono—Johannes De Rupecissa—Basil Valentine—Isaac of Holland—BernardTrevisan—John Fontaine—Thomas Norton—Thomas Dalton—Sir George Ripley—PicusDe Mirandola—Paracelsus—Denis Zachaire—Berigard of Pisa—Thomas Charnock—Giovanni Braccesco—Leonardi Fioravanti—John Dee—Henry Khunrath—Michael Maier—Jacob Bohme—J. B. Van Helmoiit—Butler—jean D'Espagnet—Alexander Sethon—Michael Sendivogius — Gustenhover—Busardier—Anonymous Adept — Albert Belin—Eirenaeus Philalethes—Pierre Jean Fabre—John Frederick Helvetius—Guiseppe FrancescoBorri—John Heydon—Lascaris—Delisle—John Hermann Obereit—Travels, Adventures,and Imprisonments of Joseph Balsamo.

2 Vols. Demy Zvo, pp. 791, ClotJi, price 2is.

The White King ;

Or, Charles the First,

AND THE

Men and Women, Life and Manners, Literature and ArtOF England in the First Half of the 17TH Century.

By W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS.

Contents of Vol. I.:—Personal History of Charles I.—Some of the Royal Children :Princess Elizabeth, Duke of Gloucester, Princess Mary, and Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans—The Court of Charles I.: Philip, Earl of Pembroke, The Countess of Carlisle, SirKenelm Digby—A King's Favourite: George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham—Notes—A Moderate Statesman : Lucius Cary, Lord Falkland—An Absolute Statesman : TheEarl of Strafford—A Philosopher of the Reign of Charles I.: Edward, Lord Herbert ofCherbury—Glimpses of Life and Manners : The Strafford Letters—Appendix—Notes andCorrections—Index to Vol. I. Contents of Vol. II. :—Three Noble Ladies : Margaret,Duchess of Newcastle, Lady Anne Fanshawe, Mrs Hutchinson—The Arts in Englandduring the Reign of Charles I.: i. Music; 2. The Drama; 3. Painting and Architecture-Literature in the Reign of Charles I.: i. The Courtly Poets ; 2. The Serious Poets—Menof Letters in the Reign of Charles I.—Appendix—Notes and Corrections—Index to Vol. II.

Second Edition. Crotvn %vo, Cloth^ price 6j.

Dreams and Dream-Stories.

By anna bonus KINGSFORD,

m.d. of paris; president of the hermetic society; author of"the perfect way in diet," etc., etc. ; and part author

OF "the perfect WAY; OR, THE FINDING OF CHRIST."

Edited by Edward Maitland.

Demy Zvo^ about 500//., 2>s. 6d.

Christian Science Healing,

Its Principles and Practice, with full Explanations

for Home Students.

By FRANCES LORD,

co-translator OF FROBEL's "mother's SONGS, GAMES AND STORIES."

Contents:—The Twelve Lectures which usually constitute "A Course of Instruction inChristian Science"—A Simple Plan for Treatment (also arranged for use during six days)—General Directions on Healing—The Healer's Self-Training—Teaching—Books—OughtChristian Science Work ever to be paid for?—Home-Healing (Character and Conduct)—Circumstances—Children and Education—A simple Account of the Doctrine of Karma orRe-incarnation—A short Abstract of the Bhagavad Gita.

Demy %vo^ pp. xi. mid 272, Cloth., 'js. 6d.

Gilds,

Their Origin, Constitution, Objects, and Later

History.

By THE Late CORNELIUS WALFORD, F.LA., F.S.S.,F.R.H.S., Barrister-AT-Law.

Contains a Geographical Survey of the Gilds of Berks, Cambridge, Derby, Devon,Gloucester, Hants, Hereford, Kent, Lancashire, Lincoln, IMiddlesex, Norfolk, Northum-berland, Oxford, Salop, Somerset, Warwick, Yorks.

Cro7vn 'ivo, Cloth^ ^s.

The Influence of the Stars.

A Treatise on Astrology, Chiromancy, and

Physiognomy.

By ROSA BAUGHAN.

to which is added a treatise on the astrologicalSignificance of Moles on the Human Body.

Illustrated with a Facsimile of the Mystical Wheel of

Pythagoras.

REDWAY'S ESOTERIC SERIES. VOL I.

Small ^t^o^ White Cloth, \os. 6d.

The Magical Writings ofThomas Vaughan.

{EUGENIUS PHILALETHES.)

A Verbatim Reprint of his First Four Treatises :

Anthroposophia Theomagica, Anima Magica

Abscondita, Magia Adamica, The

True Ccelum Terr^.

With the Latin Passages Translated into English, and with a

Biographical Preface and Essay on the Esoteric

Literature of Western ChristendOxM.

By ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE.

Crown 4^0, Cloth^ Leather Back, Gilt Top, 2$s.THE ORIGINAL WORK ON PRACTICAL MAGIC.

The Key of Solomon the King.

{CLAVICULA SALOMONIS)

Now FIRST Translated and Edited from Ancient MSS.

IN THE British Museum,

By S. LIDDELL MACGREGOR MATHERS.

AUTHOR OF "THE KABBALAH UNVEILED," "THE TAROT," ETC.

This celebrated Ancient Magical work, the foundation and fountain head ofmuch of the Ceremonial :\Iagic of the Mediaeval Occultists, has never beforebeen printed in English, nor yet, in its present form, in any other langtiage,but has remained buried and inaccessible to the general public for centuries.It is true that in the seventeenth century, a very curtailed and incompletecopy was printed in France, but that was far from being a reliable reproduc-tion, owing to the paucity of the matter therein contained, the erroneousdrawing of the Fentacles and Talismans, and the difficulty experienced atthat time in obtaining reliable MSS. wherewith to collate it. There is asmall work published in Italy bearing the title of the "Clavicola dl SalomoneRidotta," but it is a very different book to this, and is little better than acollection of superstitious charms and receipts of Black Magic, besides bearinga suspicious resemblance both to the " Grimorium Verum," and the "Grim-

oire of Honorius." , , ^, . . • •■ ..t-

Among other authors both Eliphas L6vi and Christian mention the Keyof Solomon " as a work of high authority, and the former especially refers to

it repeatedly. , , /- ^ r-

The Key of Solomon gives full, clear, and concise instructions for latis-manic and Ceremonial Magic, as zuell as for perfortning various Evocations ;and it is therefore invaluable to any student who zvishes to make himselfacqua inted with the practical part of Occultism.

Besides Seals, Sigils, and Magical Diagrams, nearly 50 Fentacles or Talis-mans are given in the Plates.

LONDON: GEORGE RED WAY.

15 York Street, Covent Garden,London, December 1888.

Mr Redway's Publications

Recent Works

Croivn 2)V0, pp. viii. and 446, Cloth extra^ 'js. 6d.

The Real History of theRosicrucians.

Founded on their Own Manifestoes, and on FactsAND Documents Collected from the Writ-ings of Initiated Brethren.

By ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE.With Illustrations.

Contents:—Mystical Philosophy_ in Germany—The Universal Reformation—Fan-aFraternitatis—Confession of Rosicrucian Fraternitj'—Marriage of Christian Rosencreutz—Rosicrucianism, Alchemy, and Magic—The Case of Johann Valentin Andreas—Progress ofRosicrucianism in Germany—Rosicrucian Apologists: Michael Maier, Robert Fludd,Thomas Vaughan, John Heydon—Rosicrucianism in France—Rosicrucians and Freemasons—Modern Rosicrucian Societies, &c.

"We desire to speak of Mr Waite's work with the greatest respect on thepoints of honesty, impartiaUty, and sound scholarship. Mr Waite has given,for the first time, the documents with which Rosicrucianism has been con-nected in extenso."—Literary World.

"There is something mysterious and fascinating about the history of theVirgin Fraternity of the Rose."—Saturday Review.

"A curious and interesting story of the doings of a mysterious associationin times when people were more ready to believe in supernatural phenomenathan the highly-educated, matter-of-fact people of to-day."—Morning Post.

"... The work not only of a refined scholar, but of A man who knowsWHAT HE IS writing ABOUT, and that is a great deal more than can besaid for other books on the same topic. . . . Much that he has to tell ushas the double merit of being not only true, but n^-w.^^John Bull.

" Mr Waite's book on ' Rosicrucianism' is a perfect contrast to the onewhich we noticed a month or two back. The latter is a farrago of ill-digestedlearning and groundless fancies, while the former is, at all events, an honestattempt to discover the truth about the Society of the Rosy Cross. . . . Thestudy of ' Occultism' is so popular just now that all books bearing on suchtopics are eagerly read ; and it is a comfort to find one writer who is notashamed to confess his ignorance after telling us all he can discover."—West-7ninster Review.

"Mr Waite is A great authority on esoteric science and its literature.Those who have read his extremely interesting work upon the writings ofEliphas Levi, the modern magician, will expect in his ' History of theRosicrucians' a treatise of more than ephemeral importance, and they willnot be disappointed. . , ."—Morning Post.

" Some of the most interesting chapters in the book are devoted to anaccount of the four great apologists for Rosicrucianism : Robert Fludd,Michael Maier, Thomas Vaughan, and John Heydon. Each of these

chapters contains much curious matter, very metaphysical and very transcen-dental, but worth being studied by those who appreciate the influence whichthe many forms of occultism have exercised upon civilisation."—St James'sGazette.

" To many readers the most fascinating pages in ' The Real History of theRosicrucians' will be those in which the author reprints Foxcroft's 1690translation of The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosencreittz, which hadoriginally appeared in German in 1616. This strange romance is fullOF WONDERFUL THINGS."—Saturday Review.

"We would recommend Mr Waite's very painstaking volume to all whomay be desirous to get to the back of the Rosicrucian mystery. ... Somuch nonsense has been talked and written about this imaginary order thatit is quite refreshing to find a writer competent and willing to reduce ^thelegend to its true proportions, and show how and when it had its origin."—Kno7vledge,

" We have rarely seen a work of this description that was so free from allattempts at the distortion of facts to dovetail with a preconceived .... Hisstyle is perspicuous. . . . The most interesting portions of the book are thosewhere the author is wilUng to speak himself. ... To those students ofoccultism, whose palates, undebauched by the intellectual hashish of therhapsodies of mysticism and the jargon of the Kabala, can still appreciate aplain historical statement of facts, we gladly commend the \iooV.''—Nature.

" ' The Real History of the Rosicrucians' is a very learned book that willbe read with deep interest by every one who has the slightest knowledge ofthe subject."—Cou7't Journal.

"Mr Waite's painstaking and well written book is one to beTHANKFUL FOR. . . . The subjcct has too long (and never more than at thepresent) been the property of pseudo-learned mystery-mongers. . . . Butscant justice can be done to a book like Mr Waite's in a short notice suchas this, and therefore all that remains possible is to draw the attention ofall interested in such literature to the careful chapters on the English mystics—Fludd, Vaughan, and Heydon—and to emphasise the estimate with whichwe commenced."—Majichester Examiner.

"There was need of a clear and reliable book on the subject. This needMr Waite has supplied. He is a cultured writer, and has mastered theentire literature of his subject, the most of which is in the German language.His 'Real History' cannot fail to interest any curious reader. . . . Theauthor is not a Freemason, and speaks slightingly of our fraternity; but hehas undoubtedly produced the most reliable book which has yet appearedin the English language on Rosicrucianism, and it will deservedly attractthe attention of all scholars and curious readers who are interested in thesubject."—Keystone (New York).

" Mr Waite has done an excellent service in reprinting in this handsomevolume translations of the chief documents bearing on the secrets of the RosyCross."—Literary f^^rA/(Boston).

" Mr Waite is not a trader upon the ignorance and curiosity of readers.... His own book is simply the result of conscientious researches, wherebyhe succeeded in discovering several unknown tracts and manuscripts in thelibrary of the British Museum; and these, with other important and avail-able facts and documents, ... he now publishes, summarised or in extenso,according to their value, and thus offers for the first time in the literature ofthe subject, the Rosicrucians represented by themselves."—iV/z/a-delphia Press.

B

3 vols. Crown %vo, Cloth, 6s. per vol,, sold separately.

Dreamland and Ghostland;

An Original Collection of Tales and Warningsfrom the Borderland of Substance and Shadow.

Embracing Remarkable Dreams, Presentiments, and Coin-cidences, Records of Singular Personal ExperienceBY VARIOUS Writers, Startling Stories from IndividualAND P'amily History, Mysterious Hints from the LipsOF Living Narrators, and Psychological Studies,Grave and Gay.

" It is a remarkable fact that men and women do like ghost stories. Theyenjoy being thrilled, and many of them read with avidity tales which dealwith things out of the ordinary physical ken. In THESE three volumes

THEY may sup FULL OF THESE DELIGHTS."—Scotsman.

"There is plenty of amusing reading of this sort to be found in thesevolumes, both for believers and disbelievers in the supernatural."—CourtJournal.

" Volumes which will test the credulity of the reader to the utmost, andthe commencement of one of the stories might very well have served for themotto for the whole collection : ' It is almost useless to tell you the story,because I know you will not believe it.' We do not say for a moment thatwe disbelieve all the stories told here."—Court Circnlar.

" The psychological student would be wise to exercise a certain amount ofcaution. The general reader who likes ghost-stories and dream-stories fortheir own sake, in the straightforward old fashion, will find plenty of enter-tainment in these three volumes, and, thanks to the variety of sources fromwhich the contents are drawn, no sort of monotony."—Graphic.

"The great novelty of the work is that the author has so arranged andtrimmed the chain of narratives as to make them read like a three volumenovel. ... In truth, it is a novel in which the characters tell their ownstories in their own way, and in their own language. "• —C/^r/j'/zizw Union." Should be specially relished these winter nights."—The World." Stories of the weird and eerie complexion which so many like to cultivateof a winter's night."—Globe.

"There is nothing that is in any way unhealthy in character. Those,therefore, who have a taste for the mysterious and the curious will find in' Dreamland and Ghostland ' A real treat. The narratives are at onceboth grave and gay, with touches of strangeness as to miraculous incidentsand supernatural occurrences. But from first to last there is a rationalism aswell as a piquancy in the records that make them instructive reading. Indeed,we believe that there is not a better work of its kind, so varied, soenchanting, and so well edited ; or one that may be read with such profit."—Christian Union.

Large Crozvn 8vo, the Cover emblazoned and floriated 7vith Stars andSerpents and Sunflowers, and the Arms of France and of Navarre.

Gilt top, \os. 6d.

The Fortunate Lovers.

Twenty-seven Novels of the Queen of Navarre.

Translated From the Original French byARTHUR MACHEN.

Edited and selected from the " Heptameron," with

Notes, Pedigrees, and an Introduction, by

A. MARY F. ROBINSON.

With Original Etching by G. P. Jacomb Hood.

" After Boccaccio's, these stories are perhaps the best of their kind."—

Scotsman.

" Miss Robinson's notes, and more especially her ably written introduction,which is practically a biography of Margaret of Angouleme, will enablereaders to appreciate the 'personalities' in the stories more keenly thanwould otherwise be possible."—Scotsmait.

"These tales of old-world gallantry cruelly depict certain phases of thelife of an age as brilliant as it was corrupt, and must ever prove attractive tothe antiquarian and the scholar. Mr Machen well preserves the incisive andquaint tone of the original text."—Morning Post.

"A REALLY charming WORK OF ART AND OF LITERATURE."—^///^W^W?/^.

"Super-realistic as the love-stories now and then are, according to ournotions of modesty, they have, one and all, a wholesome moral, and go farto throw light on an interesting period in the history of France. Handsomelybound and 'got up,' and furnished with a charming etching by Mr JacombHood as frontispiece, the volume may well be recommended to all readers,and particularly to all students of history."—Pall Mall Gazette.

"The ' Heptameron' is itself, and independent of externals, an exceedinglypretty book, ... a book of interesting and rather puzzling authorship, andlastly, one which strikes the key-note of a certain time better almost than anyother single work."—Athemeum.

"No reader can resist the charm of these old-world stories. . . . MissRobinson has exercised a sound and judicious discretion . . . without sacri-ficing too much of the large utterance and the rich aroma of the originals."—Daily News.

"The book may be recommended to all who wish to understand thatsingular mixture of piety and voluptuousness which distinguishes the FrenchRenaissance."—AthencBtwi.

" The book is not quite one for indiscriminate presentation, but it is exceed-ingly well done, and is beautifully printed and bound."—Glasgotv Herald.

" We owe her [Miss Robinson] thanks for having put in a worthy form

before a new public a w ork to a great extent forgotten, and most assuredlynot deserving forgetfulness."—Athenaiim.

"Nothing can be better than the introductory chapter, and the notes andgenealogical tables show that care for minute accuracy which is the fashionof the present day, and a very good fashion too."—Westminster Review.

" A book that people who like to saunter along the by-paths of historywill revel in. As, at the present time, there are thousands of people whoonly care to read the gossip and scandal in 'society journals,' so there arereaders of history who chiefly delight in the gossip and scandal of bygonedays. From such people ' The Fortunate Lovers' is certain to meet with ahearty welcome, while even the more serious students of history will ri>efrom its perusal with a fuller and better knowledge of the times it dealswith."—Literary World.

"Many of the stories are not particularly edifying. . . . Has a distinctvalue as a contribution to historical literature."—Court Circtdar.

Crown Sz'^, pp. viii. and 260, Cloth gilt, 6s.

Charles Dickens and the

Stage.

A Record of his Connection with the Drama as

Playwright and Critic.

By T. EDGAR PEMBERTON.

With New Portraits, in Character, of Miss Jennie Lee,Mr Irving, and Mr Toole.

Contents :—The Stage in his Novels—Dickens as a Dramatist—Dickens as an Actor—Adaptations and Impersonations—The Stage in his Speeches—The Stage in his Letter^—Dickens as a Dramatic Critic.

"The book is readable, as anything about Dickens is sure to be."—Scots fnan.

"A charming v.'ORK. Mr Pemberton has spared no pains to look up allsorts of details, and has added a full and excellent index."—Birmingliam

Post.

" He has done his work so completely that he has left little or nothing foranyone who should desire to follow in his steps."—Literary World.

" Brimful of anecdote and reminiscences of a generation now passingaway, the book is stimulating as well as useful."—Publisher's Circular.

" An example of book-making that will not be viewed with disfavour bylovers of Dickens. . . . The book shows diligent research in manydirections."—Saturday Review.

Croivn Zvo, pp. xiv. and 360, Cloth, Js. 6it.

Posthumous Humanity;

A Study of Phantoms.

By ADOLPHE D'ASSIER,member of the bordeaux academy of science.

Translated and Annotated by Henry S. Olcott, PresidentOF the Theosophical Society.

Contents :—Facts Establishing the Existence of the Posthumous Personality in Man-Its V^arious Modes of Manifestation—Facts Establishing the Existence of a SecondPersonality in the Living Man—Its Various Modes of Manifestation—Facts Establishing-the Existence of the Personality in Animals, and concerning a Posthumous Animalitj'—Fluidic Form of Vegetables—Fluidic Form of Gross Bodies—Character of the PosthumousBeing—Its Physical Constitution—Its Aversion to Light—Its Reservoir of Living Force—Its Ballistic—The Nervous Fluid—Electric Animals—Electric Persons—Electric Plants—The Mesmeric Ether and the Personality which it Engenders—The Somnambule—TheSleep-talker—The Seer—The Turning-table—The Talking-table—The Medium—IMiraclesof the Ecstatics—Prodigy of Magic—The Incubus—The Obsessing Spirit—Causes of theRarity of the Living Phantom—Causes of the Rarity of the Trans-sepulchral Phantom-Resemblance of the Spiritistic Phenomena to the Phenomena of the Posthumous Order^Lycanthropy—Glance at the Fauna of the Shades—Their Pre-occupations—How thej-Prolong their Existence—The Posthumous Vampire.

Truth says :—"If you care for Gi-iosT stories, duly accredited, ex-cellently told, and scientifically explained, you should read thetranslation by Colonel Olcott of M. Adolphe d'Assier's 'PosthumousHumanity,' a study of phantoms. There is no dogmatism so dogged andoffensive as that of the professed sceptic—of the scientific sceptic especially—who ex vi termini ought to keep the doors of his mind hospitably open ; andit is refreshing, therefore, to find such scientists as Wallace, Crookes, and M.d'Assier, who is a Positivist, in the ranks of the Psychical Research host.For my own part, though I have attended the seance of a celebrated Londonmedium, and there convinced myself beyond all doubt of his imposture, I nomore think that the detection of a medium fraud disposes of the wholequestion of ghosts, &c., than that the detection of an atheist priest disposesof the whole question of Christianity. Whatever view you take of this con-troversy, however, I can promise you that you will find the book interestingat least if not convincing."

"This collection of hopeless trash . . . Col. Olcott's notes are beneathcontempt ... a more piteous literary exhibition than the entire volume hasrarely come under our notice."—Knowledge [?J.

" An interesting and suggestive volume."—Nezv York Tribune.

"The book is written with evident sincerity."—Litei'ary World.

" There is no end to the wonderful stories in this book."—Court Circular.

"The book may be recommended to the attention of the marines."

Scotsman.

" A book which will be found very fascinating by all except those person^

who have neither interest nor belief for anything but what they can under-stand .''—Manchester Exatimier.

" The subject is treated brilliantly, entertainingly, and scientifi-cally."—New York Com. Advertiser,

" Though this is a good deal to say, Mr George Red way has hardlypublished a more curious book."—Glasgow Herald.

*'The ghostly will find much comfort in the book."—Saturday Review,

*' The book has an interest as evidence of that study of the occult which isagain becoming in a certain degree fashionable."—Manchester Guardian.

Demy %vo, pp. xiv. and 307, Cloth, 'js. 6d.

The Life, Times, and Writingsof Thomas Cranmer, D.D.,

The First Reforming Archbishop of Canterbury.

. By CHARLES HASTINGS COLLETTE.Dedicated to Edward White, 93RD Archbishop of Canterbury.

Contents :—Cranmer at the University of Cambridge—Cranmer's Participation in theProceedings of the Divorce of Henry VIII. from Catherine—His Second Marriage as aPriest—His Oaths on Consecration as an Archbishop—The Fate of Anne Boleyn : Henry'sMarriages with Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves. Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr,and Cranmer's alleged Participation in these Acts—Henry VIII.'s Political and SocialReforms under Cranmer's alleged Guidance—Persecutions, and Cranmer's alleged Par-ticipation in them—The Progress of the Reformation under Henry VIII. and Edward VL—Cranmer's Fall and Martyrdom—His alleged Recantations—His Writings—John Fox,the Martyrologist—The Beatification of Bishop Fisher, the Chancellor More, and others,as Martyrs.

"Mr Collette brings to his task both breadth and depth of knowledge,and a desire to be scrupulously free from prejudice."—Globe. " He isanimated by an anti-Papal spirit. . . . nevertheless, his book is readable."—Scotsman. "No future student can afford to neglect his work."—Britishand Colonial Printer. "His book deserves to be read, and his pleadingsshould be well considered."—Anglican Church Alagazine. " He has statedHIS evidence with a fulness and fairness beyond CAVIL."—DailyNews. " Mr Collette avoids bitterness in his defence, and does not scrupleto blame Cranmer when he thinks blame is deserved."—Glasgow Herald."On the whole, we think that we have in this book a just and impartialcharacter of Cranmer."—Record. "This book is a valuable contribution tothe literature concerning a period which to the lover of religious liberty isof the deepest interest. ... it is a work of research of learning, of soundand generally of impartial judgment,"—Rock.

Post 8vo, -cuitJi Plates^ pp. viii. and 359, Cloth gilt, 10s. 6d.KABBALA DENUDATA,

The Kabbalah Unveiled.

Containing the Following Books of the Zohar :—

1. The Book of Concealed Mystery.

2. The Greater Holy Assembly.

3. The Lesser Holy Assembly.

Translated into English from the Latin Version of

Knorr Von Rosenroth, and Collated with the

Original Chaldee and Hebrew Text,

By S. L. MACGREGOR MATHERS.

The Bible, which has been probably more misconstrued than any otherbook ever written, contains numberless obscure and mysterious passageswhich are utterly unintelligible without some key wherewith to unlock theirmeaning. That key is given in the Kabbala.

"A translation which leaves nothing to be desired."—SaturdayReview.

*' Mr Mathers has done his work with critical closeness and care, and haspresented us with a book which will probably be welcomed by many students.In printing and binding the volume is all that could be desired, and thediagrams are very carefully drawn, and are calculated to be very useful to allwho are interested in the subject."—Nonconfoi'inist.

"We may add that it is worthy of perusal by all who, as students ofpsychology, care to trace the struggles of the human mind, and to note itspassage from animalism through mysticism to the clearness of logical light."—Knozoledge.

" Mr Mathers is certainly a great Kabbalist, if not the greatest of ourtime."—AtheiKTuni.

The Kabbalah is described by Dr Ginsburg as " a system of religiousphilosophy, or more properly of theosophy, which has not only exercised forhundreds of years an extraordinary influence on the mental development ofso shrewd a people as the Jews, but has captivated the minds of some of thegreatest thinkers in Christendom in the 16th and 17th centuries." He addsthat "it claims the greatest attention of both the philosopher

AND theologian."

Crotvn ^to, wrapper, \s.JOURNAL OF THE WAGNER SOCIETY.

The Meister.

Edited by W. ASHTON ELLIS.

Contains translations from the literary works of Richard Wagner; extracts fromletters that have passed between the Poet-Composer and other men who have left theirmark upon the art life of the day; original articles and essays explanatory of the innermeaning of Wagners dramas; articles upon kindred topics of aesthetics, metaphysics, orsocial questions—in this category, reference to the works of Liszt and Schopenhauer willnaturally take a prominent position; notes upon the course of events in Europe andAmerica bearing upon Wagner's dramas, &c., &c.

In Crown Svo, pp. 2S6, Cloth extra, 5^.

A SouPs Comedy.

By ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE.

A tragedy in its ancient and legitimate sense, depicts the triumph of destinyover man; the comedy, or story with a happy ending, represents the triumphof man over destiny. It is in this sense that the spiritual history of JasperCartwright is called a Soul's Comedy.

The Literary World says :—"Mr Waite is possessed of genuine inspira-tion that lifts his work above the mass of wares sent forth every year to theworld as poetry. The presence of an over subtle mysticism, and even of anoccasional tinge of almost Rosicrucian darkness, will not prevent lovers ofpoetry from enjoying the many passages in his play as remarkable for powerof thought as for beauty of expression. Mr Waite's sympathy with Nature,and his descriptive powers are likewise of a high order."

The Graphic says :—" Some time has elapsed since we paid a sincere tri-bute to the many beauties of ' Israfel,' and we are not sorry to meet withanother work from the same pen in'A Soul's Comedy.' .... It may sufficeto say in general that the poem, cast in a quasi-dramatic form, is a very nobleone, though painful to a degree. The main idea of Jasper's origin is sohorrible in its pathetic tragedy as to raise reminiscences of Ford's masterpiece,and the after-episode of Mary Blake is little less distressing ; but out of theseseemingly unpromising materials Mr Waite has evolved a tale of human sor-row, struggle, and final triumph, such as must appeal to the heart of everytrue man. . . . The poetry rises at times to unusual heights, as, forinstance, in the description of Mary's death (p. 31), the benediction in themonastery chapel, Austin Blake's prologue to the third part, or, best of all,

the scene where Jasper resigns Gertrude to his friend Jasper's prose

fairy tale is delightful, though not, it may be, suited to all comprehensions.. . . Taken altogether, this is a true and worthy poem."

^to, pp. 27i Cloth extra,1$. 6d. The woodcuts coloiired by hand, 55.Issue limited to 400 copies plain and 60 coloured.

The Dance of Death,

In Painting and in Print,

By T. TYNDALL WILDRIDGE.

With Woodcuts.

Probably few subjects have excited more conjecture or given rise to moremistakes than the " Dance of Death." The earliest painting of the Dance issaid to be that at Basel in 1431. The first printed edition was published about1485. The blocks illustrating Mr Wildridge's work are a series found in anorthern printing office many years ago. They seem to be of considerableage, and are somewhat close copies of Holbein's designs so far as they go,but in which of the hundred editions they originally appeared has not to thepresent been ascertained.

Fcap. Svo, pp. 40, Cloth limp, \s. 6d.

Light on the Path.

A Treatise written for the Personal Use of Those who

ARE Ignorant of the Eastern Wisdom, and who

Desire to Enter within its Influence.

Written down bv^ M. C,fellow of the theosophical society.

" So far as we can gather from the mystic language in which it is couched,' Light on the Path ' is intended to guide the footsteps of those who have dis-carded the forms of religion while retaining the moral principle to its fullestextent. It is in harmony with much that was said by Socrates and Plato,although the author does not use the phraseology of those philosophers, butrather the language of Buddhism, easily understood by esoteric Buddhists,but difficult to grasp by those without the pale. ' Light on the Path ' may, wethink, be said to be the only attempt in this language and in thisCENTURY to PUT PRACTICAL OCCULTISM INTO WORDS ; and it may be added,by way of further explanation, that the character of Gautama Buddha, asshown in Sir Edwin Arnolds' ' Light of Asia,' is the perfect type of the be-ing who has reached the threshold of Divinity by this road. That it hasreached a third edition speaks favourably for this mtiltiim in parvo of thescience of occultism ; and ' M. C may be expected to gather fresh laurels infuture."—Saturday Revietv.

2)2?)io, pp. Co, Cloth gilt, \s, 6d.; %uith pack of']% Tarot Cards, ^s.FORTUNE TELLING CARDS.

The Tarot;

Its Occult Signification, Use in Fortune Telling,and Method of Play, &c.

By S. L. MACGREGOR MATHERS.

"The designs of the twenty-one trump cards are extremely singular ; inorder to give some idea of the manner in which Mr Mather uses them infortune-telling it is necessary to mention them in detail, together with thegeneral significance which he attaches to each of them. The would-be carto-mancer may then draw his own particular conclusions, and he will find con-siderable latitude for framing them in accordance with his predilections. Itshould further be mentioned that each of the cards when reversed conveysa meaning the contrary of its primary signification. No. I is the Bateleur orJuggler. The Juggler symbolizes Will. 2. The High Priestess, or femalePope, represents Science, Wisdom, or Knowledge. 3. The Empress, is thesymbol of Action or Initiative. 4. The Emperor, represents Realization orDevelopment. 5. The Heirophant or Pope, is the symbol of Mercy andBeneficence. 6. The Lovers, signify Wise Disposition and Trials sur-mounted. 7. The Chariot, represents Triumph, Victory over Obstacles. 8.Themis or Justice, symbolizes Equilibrium and Justice. 9. The Hermit,denotes Prudence. 10. The Wheel of Fortune, represents Fortune, good orbad. II. Fortitude, symbolizes Power or Might. 12. The Hanged Man—a man suspended head downwards by one leg—means Devotion, Self-Sacrifice. 13. Death, signifies Transformation or Change, 14. Temper-ance, typifies Combination. 15. The Devil, is the image of Fate or Fatality.16. The Lightning-stnick Tower, called also Maison-Dieu, shows Ruin, Dis-ruption. 17. The Star, is the emblem of Hope. 18. The Moon, symbolizesTwilight, Deception and Error. 19. The Sun, signifies Earthly Happiness.20. The Last Judgment, means Renewal, Determination of a matter. 21.The Universe, represents Completion and Reward, o. The Foolish Man,signifies Expiating or Wavering. Separate meanings, with their respectiveconverses, are also attached to each of the other cards in the pack, so thatwhen they have been dealt out and arranged in any of the combinationsrecommended by the author for purposes of divination, THE INQUIRER HAS

ONLY TO USE THIS LITTLE VOLUME AS A DICTIONARY IN ORDER TO READ

HIS FATE."—Sattirday Reviezv.

Third Edition, revised and enlarged.Crozvn SvOf etched Frontispiece and Woodcuts, pp. 324, Cloth gilt, "js. 6d.

Magic, White and Black;

Or, The Science of Finite and Infinite Life.

Containing Practical Hints for Students of Occultism.By FRANZ HARTMANN, M.D.

Contents :—The Ideal—The Real and the Unreal—Form—Life—Harmony—Illusion—Consciousness—Unconsciousness—Transformations—Creation—Light, &c.

The Saturday Review says:—"In its closely-printed pages students ofoccultism will find hints, ' practical' and otherwise, likely to be of greatservice to them in the pursuit of their studies and researches. ... A bookwhich may properly have the title of Magic, for if the readers succeed inpractically following its teaching, they will be able to perform the greatest ofall magical feats, the spiritual regeneration of Man. Dr Hartmann's bookhas also gone into a third edition, and has developed from an insignificantpamphlet, ' written originally for the purpose of demonstrating to a fewinexperienced inquirers that the study of the occult side of nature was notidentical with the vile practices of sorcery,' into a compendious volume, com-prising, we are willing to believe, the entire philosophic system ofOCCULTISM. There are abundant evidences that the science of theosophyhas made vast strides in public estimation of late years, and that thosedesirous of experimenting in this particular, and in many respects fascinating,branch of ethics, have leaders whose teaching they can follow with satisfactionto themselves."

The Scotsman says :—"Any one who studies the work so as to be able tounderstand it, may become as familiar with the hidden mysteries of nature asany occult philosopher ever was."

Crown %vo, pp. 265, Cloth extra, 6s,

Lotus:

A Psychological Romance.

By the Author of " A New Marguerite."

"Mystical, peculiar, engaging . . . the book has originality . . .it is a graceful story of the sort which is said to make people—some people—think, and will be read with mixed feelings by most."—Athenccum.

" A fierce and passionate book, which illustrates once more the hold thatour subject has on the popular imagination. To be read."—Light.

Crown ?>vo, pp. iv. and 2^6, Cloth {Cheap Edition), 6s.

A Professor of Alchemy

{DENIS ZACHAIRE).By PERCY ROSS,

AUTHOR OF "A COMEDY WITHOUT LAUGHTER."

"A clever story. . . . The hero is an alchemist who actually succeeds inmanufacturing pure gold."—Coiu't Journal.

" Shadowy and dream-like."—Athenceuni.

"An interesting and pathetic picture."—Literary World,

"The story is utterly tragical, and is powerfully told."—WestminsterRevieiv.

'' A vivid picture of those bad old times."—Knoivledge.

" Sure of a special circle of readers with congenial tastes."—Graphic.

" This is a story of love—of deep, un(Jying, refining love—not without sug-gestions of Faust. The figure of Berengaria, his wife, is a noble and touch-ing one, and her purity and sweetness stand out in beautiful relief from thegloom of the alchemist's laboratory and the horrors of the terrible Inquisitioninto whose hands she falls. The romance of the crucible, however, is not allpermeated by sulphurous vapours and tinged with tartarean smoke. There isoften a highly dramatic element."—Glasgozo He7-ald.

Fcap. 'S>vo, pp. 56, Cloth limp, \s.

The Shakespeare ClassicalDictionary ;

Or, Mythological Allusions in the Plays ofShakespeare Explained.

For the Use of Schools and Shakespeare Reading

Societies.

By H. M. SELBY.

" A handy little work of reference for readers and students of Shakespeare."-School Board Chronicle.

"The book presents a great deal of information in a very small compass."-School Newspaper.

"Will be found extremely useful by non-classical students of Shakespeare,, . . and even to the classical student it will convey much useful information."—Educational Times.

" Will be greatly appreciated in the class-room."—GlasgozvHerald.

"Carefully compiled from more authoritative books of reference."—Scots-man.

"The unlearned reader is thus enabled to increase very greatly his enjoy-ment of Shakespeare."—Literary World.

" We have tested the book by looking for several of the obscurestmythological names mentioned by Shakespeare ; in each case we found thename inserted and followed by a satisfactory explanation."—TheScJwolmaster.

Demy Svo, pp. iv. and 299, Cloth gilt, 10s. 6d.

Serpent Worship,

And other Essays, with a Chapter on Totemism=

By C. STANILAND WAKE.

Contents:—Rivers of Life—Phallism in Ancient Religions—Origin of Serpent Worship—The Adamites—The Descendants of Cain—Sacred Prostitution—Marriage among PrimitivePeoples—Marriage by Capture—Development of the "'Family"—The Social Position ofWoman as affected by "Civilization"—Spiritism and Modern Spiritualism—Totems andTotemism—Man and the Ape.

*' The most important of the thirteen essays discusses the origin of SerpentWorship. Like other papers which accompany it, it discusses its subject froma wide knowledge of the literature of earlv religions and the allied themes ofanthropology and primitive marriage. . . . The remaining essays are written

WITH MUCH LEARNING AND IN A CAREFUL SPIRIT OF INQUIRY, happily

free from the crude mysticism with which the discussion of these subjects hasoften been mixed up. They may be recommended to the attention of allinterested in anthropology and the history of religion as interesting laboursin this field of research and speculation."—Scotsman, October 31.

" So obscure and complex are these subjects that any contribution, how-ever slight, to their elucidation, may be welcomed. Mr Wake's criticism ofthe systems of others is frequently acute. . . . Mr Wake is opposed to thosewho hold that kinship through females and the matriarchate preceded paternalkinship and the patriarchal family, and who connect the phenomena ofexogamy and of totemism with the matriarchal stage of society, and withbelief in a definite kinship of man with the remainder of the sensible universe.He looks upon female kinship as having existed concurrently with a quasi-patriarchal system."—Athenceum.

"Able, and REMARKAHLY INTERESTING."—Glasgo%v Herald. -

Wrapper, price is.

Journal of the Bacon Society.

Published Periodically.Vol. I. [Parts i. tovi.),pp. x. and 2'j'&, 8vo, cloth, ds.

The main objects for which this Society has been established are :—{a) Tostudy the works of Francis Baccn, as Philosopher, Lawyer, Statesman, andPoet, also his character, genius, and life, his influence on his own and suc-ceeding times, and the tendencies and results of his writings ; {h) Toinvestigate Bacon's supposed authorship of certain works unacknowledged byhim, including the Shakespearian dramas and poems.

Fcap. 8vo, pp. viii. and 120, Cloth, y. 6d.

A Wayfarer's Wallet.

Dominus Redivivus.

By henry G. HEWLETT,

AUTHOR OF "a SHEAF OF VERSES."

"The title * Dominus Redivivus' indicates the aim of the poem. . . . Theauthor wishes to tell the stoiy of the actual Jesus, and to contrast his teachingwith that of the Churches professing to be Christian. . . . He belongs tothe great Church to be, which will some day include not only the real Jesusas one of its worshippers, but Gautama and Socrates, and Plato and ' everyholy name which blessed the past.' The work of this Church is to breakdown caste, to help the poor, to sweeten all the life of man. This issufficient, we trust, to guide some readers to a book interesting in itself, andprobably destined to set many a wavering mind on a path at once definiteand right in regard to Christianity."—The hiqtiirer.

"A collection of verses on various subjects and in various styles. . . .Not one but is worth reading : all have the melodiousness and fluency ofspontaneity, the ring of poetry. . . . ' Dominus Redivivus,' by far thelargest poem in the book, is a plea for the Christianity of Christ, in whichthere is a wealth both of poetry and thought."—Liverpool Daily Post.

" Mr Henry G. Hewlett's new volume of verse . . . has many fresh andattractive pieces, and not a dull one among its contents. . . . The balladswill prove most widely attractive. . . . The sonnets . . . show MrHewlett's power of pithy, forcible expression at its best. The volume, as awhole, will be read with pleasure from first to last by lovers of poetry."—Scotsman.

Crown 2>i'o, pp. viii. and 632, Cloih gilt, los. be'.

In Praise of Ale;

Or, Songs, Ballads, Epigrams, and Anecdotes

relating to Beer, Malt, and Hops.

With some curious particulars concerning Ale-wivesAND Brewers, Drinking-Clubs and Customs.

Collected and Arranged by W. T. MARCH ANT.

Contents :—Introductory—History—Carols and Wassail Songs—Church Ales andObservances—Whitsun Ales—Political—Harvest Songs—General Songs—Barley andMalt—Hops—Scotch Ale Songs—Local and Dialect Songs—Trade Songs—Oxford Songs—Ale Wives—Brewers—Drinking Clubs and Customs—Royal and Noble Drinkers—BlackBeer—Drinking Vessels—Warm Ale—Facts, Scraps, and Ana.

"Mr Marchant has collected a vast amount of odd, amusing, and (to himthat hath the sentiment of beer) suggestive and interesting matter. Hisvolume (we refuse to call it a book) is A volume to have. If only as amanual of quotations, if only as a collection of songs, it is a volume toHAVE. We confess to having read in it, for the first time in our lives, theright and authentic text of ' A Cobbler there was' and ' Why, Soldiers,why ;' and to have remarked, as regards the first, that our ancestors werevery easily amused, and, as regards the second, that it has a curious at?' defamille with the triolet. These are very far from being Mr Marchant's onlyfinds; but that is all the more reason why we should linger upon them."—Saturday Review.

"A kind of scrap-book, crowded with prose and verse which is alwayscurious AND VERY OFTEN ENTERTAINING, and it may be read at random—beginning at the end, or in the middle, or at any page you like, and readingeither back or forwards—almost as easily as the ' Varieties' column in apopular weekly print."—Saturday Review.

"While, on the one hand, the book is, as nearly as possible, a completecollection of lyrics written about the national beverage, ... it abounds, onthe other hand, in particulars as to the place which ale has held in thecelebration of popular holidays and customs. It discourses of barley-maltand hops, brewers, drinkers, drinking clubs, drinking vessels, and the like ;and, in fact, approaches the subject from all sides, bringing together, in thespace of 600 pages, A host of curious and amusing details."—Globe^April 9.

"Mr Marchant is a staunch believer in the merits of good ale. In thecourse of his reading he has selected the materials for a Bacchanalian antho-logy which MAY ALWAYS BE READ WITH AMUSEMENT AND PLEASURE. His

materials he has set in a framework of gossiping dissertation. Much curiousinformation is supplied in the various chapters on carols and wassail songs,church ales and observances, Whitsun ales, harvest songs, drinking clubs andcustoms, and other similar matters. At snug country inns at which thetraveller may be called upon to stop there should be, in case of a rainy hourin the day, or an empty smoke-room at night, a copy of a book which singsso loudly the praises of mine host and his wares."—A'otes and Queries,

" The memory of John Barleycorn is in no danger of passing away for lackof a devoted prophet. The many songs, poems, and pieces of prose writtenIn Praise of Ale form a fine garden for the anthologist to choose a bouquetfrom. . . . It is plainly AN ORIGINAL collection, made with diligenceand good taste in selection. . . . Mr Marchant's anthology may be recom-mended to the curious as an interesting and carefully compiled collectionof poetical and satirical pieces about beer in all its brews."—Scotsman.

" The author has gone to ancient and modern sources for his facts, andhas not contented himself with merely recording them, but has woven theminto a readable history with much skill and wit."—American Bookseller.

"Although its chief aim is to be amusing, it is sometimes instructive aswell. . . . His stories may at times be a little long, but they are neverbroad."—Glasgotv Herald.

" What teetotallers would call A tippler's text-book . . . a collectionof songs and ballads, epigrams and anecdotes, which may be called uniqiceJ'^—Pall Mall Gazette.

" Beer, however, in conjunction with mighty roast beef, according to MrMarchant, has made England what it is, and accordingly he writes his bookto show how the English have ever loved good ale, and how much betterthat is for them than cheap and necessarily inferior spirits or doctored wines.Be that as it may, we have here a collection of occasional verse—satires,epigrams, humorous narratives, trivial ditties, and ballads—VALUABLE ASillustrations of manners."—Literary World.

Crown Sz'i?, //. xlii. aiid 302, cloth, ']s. 6d.

Spirit Revealed.

The Book for the Age.

The Nature of the First Great Cause, and the Coming Christ

or Messiah ; The Approaching End of the World, or

the Consummation of the Age ; Life, Death, and

Regeneration ; The Religious, Political,

and Social Principles of the Future.

A REVELATION OF THE LATTER DAYS,

By WM. C. ELDON SERJEANT.

This " revelation of the latter days," by a New Dispensationist treats of" The nature of the First Great Cause and the Coming Christ or Messiah" ;" The Approaching End of the World or the Consummation of the Age " ;" Life, Death, and Regeneration"; " The Religious, Political, and SocialPrinciples of the Future"; and proposes the formation of "an universalassociation for the establishment and support of the Divine rights to whichall are entitled."

(,6 pa\;es, lar:;-e Sw, Ctoih ^ilt, price 6s.

Lectures on Diseases of the Eye.

By CHARLES BELL TAYLOR, F.R.C.S. & M.D. Edin.,

fellow of the medical society of london ; late president of the

parisian medical society ; consulting ophthalmic surgeon to

the nottingham union hospital; consulting ophthalmic

surgeon to the midland institution for the blind ;

honorary surgeon to the nottingham and

midland eye infirmary, etc., etc.

Illustrated with Photographs and Numerous Woodcuts.

Contents :—Lectures on Cataract—Squint—Glaucoma—Optico-Ciliary Neurotomy—Tlie Use and Abuse of Mydriatics—Eye Troubles in General Practice.

" The descriptions of the diseases mentioned are well given, and may veryadvantageously be read by the general practitioner."—Lancet.

" To those who wish to perfect themselves in ophthalmic surgery, the bookwill be found a really valuable help."—Hospital Gazette.

"A valuable course of Lectures calling for something more than passingnotice, an opinion which all who read the discourses will heartily endorse."—Asclepiad.

Crown ?iVo, pp. xii. atid 666, Cloth, los. 6d.

Myths, Scenes, and Worthies

of Somerset.

By Mrs E. BOGER.

Contents :—Bladud, King of Britain ; or, The Legend of Bath—Joseph of Arimatheaand the Legend of Glastonbury—Watchet, The Legend of St Decuman—Porlock and StDubritius—King Arthur in Somerset—St Keyna the Virgin, of Keynsham—GildasBadonicus, called Gildas the Wise, also Gildas the Querulous—St Brithwald, Archbishopof Canterbury—King Ina in Somerset, Ina and Aldhelm—St Cougar and Congresbury—Hun, the Leader of the Sumorsaetas, at the Battle of Ellandune—King Alfred m Somerset,and the Legend of St Neot—St Athelm. Archbishop of Canterbury—Wulfhelm, Archbishopof Canterbury—The Landing of the Danes at Watchet—The 1 imes of St Dunstan; His

Life and Legends—Muchelney Abbey—Ethelgar, Archbishop of Canterbury—Sigeric orSiricius, Archbishop of Canterbury—Elfeah, Elph^ge, or Alphege, Archbishop of Canter-bury—Ethelnoth, or Agelnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury—Montacute and the Legend ofWaitham Cross—Porlock, and Harold son of Godwin—Glastonbury after the Conquest,Bishop Thurstan—William of Malmesbury, called also " Somersetanus"—The Philo-sophers of Somerset in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries—The Rose of Cannington ;Joan Clifford, commonly called "Fair Rosamond"—John de Courcy—St Ulric theRecluse, or St Wulfric the Hermit—Sir William de Briwere—Woodspring Priory, and theMurderers of Thomas a Becket—Richard of Ilchester, or Richard Tocklive or More—Halswell House, near Bridgewater—The Legend of the House of Tynte—Witham Prioryand St Hugh of Avalon (in Burgundy)—William of Wrotham—Joceline Trotman, of Wells—Hugh Trotman, of Wells—Roger Bacon—Sir Henry Bracton, Lord Chief Justice in theReign of Henry IIL—William Briwere (Briewere, Bruere, or Brewer)—Dunster Castle,Sir Reginald de Mohun, Lady Mohun—Fulke of Samford—Sir John Hautville and SirJohn St Loe—Sir Simon de Montacute—The Evil Wedding, Chew Magna and StantonDrew—Robert Burnel—Somerton, King John of France—Stoke-under-Ham, SirMatthew Gournay—Bristol (St Mary Redcliffe), The Canyges ; Chatterton—Thomas deBeckyngton—The Legend of Sir Richard Whittington—The Legend of the Abbot ofMuchelney—Sebastian Cabot—Taunton and its Story—Giles Lord Daubeney and theCornish Rebellion, King Ina's Palace and South Petherton—John Hooper, The MarianPersecution—The Paulets, Pawlets, or Pouletts, of Hinton St George—Richard Edwardes—Lord Chief Justice Popham—The Last Days of Glastonbury—William Barlow and theTimes of Edward VL—Robert Parsons, or Persons—Henry Cuff—Sir John Harrington—The Wadhams, Wadham College, Oxford ; Ilminster, Merrifield, Ilton—Samuel Daniel—Dr John Bull—Thomas Coryate, of Odcombe, in Somerset—John Pym—Sir Amias Preston—Admiral Blake—William Prynne—Sir Ralph, Lord Hopton—Ralph Cudworth—OnWitches, Mrs Leakey, of Mynehead, Somerset—John Locke—Thomas Ken, D.D., some-time Bishop of Bath and Wells—Trent House, Charles IL and Colonel Wyndham—TheDuke of Monmouth in Somerset—Prince George of Denmark and John Duddlestonof Bristol—Beau Nash, with some Account of the Early History of the City of Bath—Wokey or Ockey Hole, near Wells—Captain St Loe—The State of the Church in theEighteenth Century, Mrs Hannah and Mrs Patty More and Cheddar—Dr ThomasYoung—Edward Hawkins, Provost of Oriel and Canon of Rochester—Charles FugeLowder—A Tale of Watchet, The Death of Jane Capes—Captain John Hanning Speke—Cheddar Cheese, West Pennard's Wedding Present to the Queen, 1839—In Memoriam,1811-1833.

"Mrs Boger is to be praised for her enthusiasm and zeal. She is ofSomerset, and she naturally thinks it the wonder of England, if not of theworld,"—Literary World.

" Every addition to the local collections of the myths and legends of ourcountry districts is to be welcomed when it is as carefully made as MrsBoger's laboriously compiled work, which teems WITH QUAINT STORIES,SOME OF WHICH ARE EVEN BEAUTIFUL."—Westminster RevieziK

"This is the kind of book, we imagine, in which Thomas Fuller wouldhave expatiated with delight. Less topographical than his ' Worthies,' itdoes what that delectable book did not profess to do ; it gives not only anaccount of the illustrious natives, but the legends, traditions, historicalepisodes, and general memorahilia which pertain to one famous county. MrsBoger's book ranges from Bladud, King of Britain, B.C. 900, to ArthurIlallum, who died in 1833."—Notes and Qite?-ies.

"Mrs Boger writes with such ability and enthusiasm. The work is onewhich will have an influence in limits far wider than the borders of Somerset,

for FEW CAN READ IT WITHOUT PLEASURE, AND NONE WITHOUT PROFIT.

... To read her book carefully is to master the hagiology of the county."—Morning- Post.

STANDARD WORKS

PUBLISHED BY

GEORGE REDWAY.

Crown 8vo, pp. 375, Cloth^ 'js. dd.

Theosophy, Religion, andOccult Science.

By henry S. OLCOTT,president of the theosophical society.

With Glossary of Eastern Woiios.

Contents:—Theosophy or Materialism—Which?—The Theosophical Society and itsAims—The Common Foundation of all Religions—Thesophy: the Scientific Basis ofReligion—Theosophy : its Friends and Enemies—The Occult Sciences—Spiritualism andI'heosophy—India : Past, Present, and Future—The Civilisation that India needs—TheSpirit of the Zoroastrian Religion—the Life of Buddha and its Lessons, &c.

The Manchester Examiner describes these lectures as " rich in interestAND suggestiveness," and says that "the theosophy expounded in thisvolume is at once a theology, a metaphysic, and a sociology," and concludesa lengthy notice by stating that " Colonel Olcott's volume deserves, and willrepay, the study of all readers for whom the byways of speculation have anirresistible charm."

Demy 8z'o, pp. xii. and 324, Cloth^ \os. 6d.

Incidents in the Life of Madame

Blavatsky.

Compiled from Information supplied by HerRelatives and Friends,

And Edited by A. P. SINNETT.

With a Portrait Reproduced from an Original Painting bv

Hermann Schmiechen.

Contents :—Childhood—Marriage and Travel—At Home in Russia, 1858—Mme. deJelihowskj''s Narrative—From Apprenticeship to Duty—Residence in America—Estab-lished in India—A Visit to Europe, &c.

Truth says :—"For any credulous friend who revels in such stories I canrecommend 'Incidents in the Life of Madame Blavatsky.' I read everyline of the book with much interest."

Theosophists will find both edification and interest in the book.

Post 8vo, pp. viii. and 350, C/oth £z/t, ys. 6d.

The Blood Covenant, aPrimitive Rite,

And its Bearings on Scripture.

By H. clay TRUMBULL, D.D.

Contents :—The Prhnitive Rite Itself.—{i) Sources of Bible Study—(2) An AncientSemitic Rite—(3) The Primitive Rite in Africa—(4) Traces of the Rite in Europe—(5) World-wide Sweep of the Rite,—(6) Light from the Classics—(7) The Bond of theCovenant,—(8) The Rite and its Token in Egypt—(9) Other Gleams of the Rite.Suggestions and Perversions of tlte Rite.—(i) Sacredness of Blood and of the Heart—(2) Vivifying Power of Blood—(3) A new Nature through new Blood—(4) Life fromany Blood, and by a Touch—(5) Inspiration through Blood—(6) Inter-communion throughBlood—(7) Symbolic Substitutes for Blood—(8) Blood Covenant Involvings. Indicationsof the Rite in the Bibie.—if) Limitations of Inquiry—(2) Primitive Teachings of Blood—

(3) The Blood Covenant in Circumcision—(41 The Blood Covenant Tested—(5) The BloodCovenant and its Tokens in the Passover—(6) The Blood Covenant at Sinai—(7) iheBlood Covenant in the Mosaic Ritual—(8) The Primitive Rite Illustrated—(9) Ihe BloodCovenant in the Gospels—(10) The Blood Covenant applied. Importance of this Kitestrangely undervalued—Life in the Blood, in the Heart, in the Liver—Transmigrationof Souls—The Blood-rite in Burmah—Blood-stained Tree of the Covenant—Blood-drinking—Covenant Cutting—Blood-bathing—Blood-ransoming—The Covenant-reminder—Hints of Blood Union—Topical Index—Scriptural Index.

"An admirable .study of a primitive belief and custom—one of the utmostimportance in considering the growth of civilisation. ... In thedetails ofthe work will be found much to attract the attention of the curious. Itsfundamental and essential value, however, is for the student of religions ; andall such will be grateful to Dr Trumbull for this solid, instructive, and

ENLIGHTENING WORK."—Scotstuau.

Post Svo, pp. xiii. and 220, Cloth, \os. dd.

The Life

OF

Philippus Theophrastus, Bombast of Hohenheim,

KNOWN BY THE NAME OF

Paracelsus.

And the Substance of his Teachings concerning

Cosmology, Anthropology, Pneumatology, Magic

AND Sorcery, Medicine, Alchemy and

Astrology, Philosophy

AND ThEOSOPHY.

Extracted and Translated from his Rare and ExtensiveWorks, and from some Unpublished Manuscripts,

By FRANZ HARTMANN, M.D.

Contents:—The Life of Paracelsus—Explanation of Terms—Cosmologj'—Anthropology— Pneumatology—Magic and Sorcery— Medicine—Alchemy and Astrology-—Philosophyand Theosophy—Appendix.

St James's Gazette describes this as "a book which will have some per-manent value to the student of the occult," and says that "Studentsshould be grateful for this book, despite its setting of Theosophical

nonsense."

Crown 8vo, pp. x. and 124, Parchment, ds.

The Raven.

By EDGAR ALLAN POE.With Literary and Historical Commentary by John H. Ingram.

Contents:—Genesis—The Raven, with Variorum Readings—History—Isadore—Translations : French— German — Hungarian — Latin—Fabrications—Parodies—Biblio-g raphy— Index.

"An interesting monograph on Poe's famous poem."—Spectator.

" There is no more reliable authority on the subject than MrJohn H. Ingram. Much curious information is collected in his essay.The volume is well printed and tastefully bound in spotless vellum."—Publishers Cii'Ctdar.

Crown 8vo., pp. viii. and 184, Cloth, 2s. 6d.

Burma as it was, as it is, and

as it will be.

By JAMES GEORGE SCOTT.{Shway Voe.)

Contents:—I. The History—Burma according to Native Theories—Origin of the Bur-mese—Early History—First appearance of Europeans in Burma—Worrying our Repre-sentatives—War with Burma—The Inevitable End. II. The Country—Lower Burma—Upper Burma—The Irrawaddy to Mandalay—Mandalay—The Irrawaddyabove Mandalay.III. The People—Burmese Kings—Burmese Officials—The Hloat-daw—The Officers ofthe Household—Method of Appointment and Payment—The People—Their Faults—Excellence as Buddhists—Doctrine of Good Works—Superstitions—Lucky and UnluckyDays—The most Sociable of Men—Freedom of the Women—A Nation of Smokers—Contented with British Rule—Ascendency of the Chinaman Trade—Hill-tribes—TheirReligion—Hope for the Nomads—The Kachyens.

The Saturday Review says :—" Before going to help to govern them,Mr Scott has once more written on the Burmese . . . Mr Scott claimsto have covered the whole ground, and as there is nobody competent tocriticise him except himself, we shall not presume to say how far he hassucceeded. What, however, may be asserted with absolute confidence is,that he has written A bright, readable, and useful book."

Croivn Svo, pp. xxviii. and 184, Cloth^ 5^.

The History of Tithes,

From Abraham to Queen Victoria.

By henry W. CLARKE.

Contents :—The History of Tithes before the Christian Era—From the Christian Erato A.D. 400—From a.d. 400 to a.d. 787—From a.d. 787 to a.d. iooo—From a.d. loaoto a.d.T215—From a.d. 1215 to the Dissolution of Monasteries—Monasteries—Infeudations—Exemption from Paying Tithes—The Dissolution of Monasteries—The Commutation Actof 1836, 6 and 7 Will. IV., c. 71—Tithes in the City and Liberties of London—Redemptionof Tithe Rent Charge—Some Remarks on "A Defence of the Church of England againstDisestablishment," by the Earl of Selborne.

"An impartial and valuable array of facts and figures, which should be readby all who ai"e interested in the solution of the tithe problem."—Athemcum.

*'The best book of moderate size yet published for the purpose ofenabling an ordinary reader to thoroughly understand the origin and historyof this ancient impost."—Literary World.

Crown SvOj pp. xl. and 395, Cloth extra, ']s. 6d.

Essays in the Study ofFolk-Songs.

By the Countess EVELYN MARTINENGO-CESARESCO.

Contents :—The Inspiration of Death in Folk-Poetry—Nature in Folk-Songs—ArmenianFolk-Songs—Venetian Folk-Songs—Sicilian Folk-Songs—Greek Songs of Calabria—Folk-Songs of Provence—The White Paternoster—The Diffusion of Ballads—Songs for the Riteof May—The Idea of Fate in Southern Traditions—Folk-Lullabies—Folk Dirges, &c.

The Saturday Review, concluding a page-notice of this book, sums it up as"an admirable volume, a volume remarkable for knowledge, sympathy, andgood taste."

"This is a very delightful book, full of information andTHOUGHTFUL SUGGESTIONS."—Standard.

"The Countess is, or should be, a well-known authority among specialstudents of this branch of literature."—Daily News.

Large Paper Edition, Royal ^vo, pp. xvi. and 60, 7^-. dd.

An Essay on the Genius ofGeorge Cruikshank.

By WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY.

Reprinted Verbatim from " The Westminster Reviewy

Edited with a Prefatory Note on Thackeray as anArtist and Art Critic, by W. E. Church.

With Upwards of Forty Illustrations, including all theOriginal Woodcuts, and a new Portrait of Cruikshank

ETCHED BY F. W. PaILTHORPE.

As the original copy of the Westminster is now excessively rare, thisre-issue will no doubt be welcomed by collectors. The new portrait ofCruikshank by F. W. Pailthorpe is a clear firm etching.

Pp. 102, Cloth y 2s. 6d.

Pope Joan

(THE FEMALE POPE);

A Historical Study.

Translated from the Greek of Emmanuel Rhoidis,

with Preface by

CHARLES HASTINGS COLLETTE.

Frontispiece taken from the ancient MS. NurembergChronicle, preserved at Cologne.

*' The subject of Pope Joan will always have its attractions for the lovers ofthe curiosities of history. Rhoidis discusses the topic with much learning andingenuity, and Mr Collette's Introduction is full of information."'—Globe.

Crown Svo, pp. 40, printed on hand-made paper, Vellwn Gilt, 6s.

The Bibliography of Swinburne;

A Bibliographical List, Arranged in Chronological

Order, of the Published Writings, in Verse and

Prose, of Algernon Charles Swinburne

(1857-1887).

Only 250 copies printed. The compiler, writing on April 5, 1887, says:—*'Born on April 5, 1837, in the year of Queen Victoria's Accession, of whichthe whole nation is now celebrating the Jubilee, Algernon Charles Swinburneto-day attains the jubilee or 50th year of his own life, and may therefore beclaimed as an essentially and exclusively Victorian poet."

Indispensable to Swinburne Collectors.

Demj' Sz>o, pp. xxiv. and 104, Clot/i extra, Js. 6d.

The Astrologer's Guide

(ANIMA ASTROLOGI^);

Or, A Guide for Astrologers.

BEING

The One Hundred and Forty-Six Considerations ofTHE Famous Astrologer, Guido Bonatus, Trans-lated FROM THE Latin by Henry Coley,

TOGETHER WITH

The Choicest Aphorisms of the Seven Segments

of Jerome Cardan of Milan, Edited by

William Lilly (1675).

Now FIRST Republished from a Unique Copy of theOriginal Edition, with Notes and a Preface, by

WM. C. ELDON SERJEANT,fellow of the theosophical society.

" Mr Serjeant deserves the thanks of all who are interested in astrology forrescuing this important work from obUvion. . . . The growing interest inmystical science will lead to a revival of astrological study, and advancedstudents will find this book an indispensable addition to theirlibraries. The book is well got up and printed."—Theosophist.

idmo^ pp. xvi. and 148, Cloth extra^ 2s.

Tobacco Talk and Smokers'

Gossip.

An Amusing Miscellany of Fact and Anecdote Relating

TO THE " Great Plant " in all its Forms and

Uses, Including a Selection from

Nicotian Literature.

Contents :—A Tobacco Parliament—Napoleon's First Pipe—A Dutch Poet andNapoleon's Snuff-Box—Frederick the Great as an Ass—Too Small for Two—A SmokingEmpress—The Smoking Princesses—An Incident on the G.W.R—Raleigh's Tobacco Box—Bismarck's Last Cigar—Bismarck's Cigar Story—Moltke's Pound of Snuff^Lord Broughamas a Smoker—Mazzini's Sang-froid as a Smoker—Lord Clarendon as a Smoker—Politicsand Snuff-Boxes—Penn and Tobacco—Tobacco and the Papacy—The Snuff-MuU in theScotch Kirk—Whateley as a Snuff-Taker—The First Bishop who Smoked—Pigs andSmokers—Jesuits' Snuff—Kemble Pipes—An Ingenious Smoker—Anecdote of DeanAldrich—Smoking to the Glory of God—Professor Huxley on Smoking—Blucher's Pipe-Master—Shakespeare and Tobacco—Ben Jonson on Tobacco—Lord Byron on Tobacco—Decamps and Horace Vernet—Milton's Pipe—Anecdote of Sir Isaac Newton—Emerson andCarlyle—Paley and his Pipe—Jules Sandeau on the Cigar—The Pickwick of Fleet Street—The Obsequio of Havana—The Social Pipe (Thackerayy—Tx'wiva^h. of Tobacco over Sackand Ale—The Smoking Philosopher—Sam Slick on the Virtues of a Pipe—Smoking in 1610—Bulwer-Lytton on Tobacco-Smoking—Professor Sedgwick—St Pierre on the Effect ofTobacco—Ode to Tobacco (C. 6". Calverley)—Meat and Drink {CJuirles Kingsley)—TheMeerschaum {O. W. Holmes)—Charles Kingsley at Eversley—Robert Bums's Snuff-Box—Robinson Crusoe's Tobacco—Guizot—Victor Hugo—Mr Buckle as a Smoker—Carlyle onTobacco—A Poet's Pipe {Baudelaire)—A Pipe of Tobacco—The Headsman's Snuff-box—The Pipe and Snuff-box {jCmvper)—Anecdote of Charles Lamb—Gibbon as a Snuff-Taker—Charles Lamb as a Smoker—Farewell to Tobacco {CJias. Latnb)—The Power of Smoke{Thackeray)—Thackeray as a Smoker—Dickens as a Smoker—Chewing and Spitting inAmerica—Tennyson as a Smoker—A Smoker's Opinion of Venice—Coleridge's First Pipe—Richard Porson—Cruikshank and Tobacco—Mr James Payn—Mr Swinburne onRaleigh—The Anti-Tobacco Party—"This Indian Weed"—Dr Abernethy on Snuff-Taking—Abernethy and a Smoking Patient—Tobacco and the Plague—"The Greatest TobaccoStopper in all England "—Dr Richardson on Tobacco—Advice to Smokers—Some StrangeSmokers—The Etymology of Tobacco—The Snuff called "Irish Blackguard"—A Snuff-Maker's Sign—Mr Sala's Cigar-Shop—Death of the "Yard of Clay"—A ProdigiousSmoker—A Professor of Smoking—Tobacco in Time of War—Ages attained by GreatSmokers—A Maiden's Wish—" Those Dreadful Cigars "—How to take a Pinch of SnuffsThe Tobacco Plant—Fate of an Early Smoker—Adding Insult to Injury—Tom Brown onSmoking—The Snuff-Taker—Tobacco in North America—National Characteristics—Smoking at School—Carlyle on " The Veracities "—Children's Pipes—The Uses of CigarAsh—An Inveterate Smoker—A Tough Yarn—Some French Smokers—Riddles for Smokers—Cigar Manufacturing in Havana.

" One of the best books of gossip we have met for some time. ... Itis literally crammed full from beginning to end of its 148 pages with well-selected anecdotes, poems, and excerpts from tobacco literature and history."—Graphic.

" The smoker should be grateful to the compilers of this pretty littlevolume. . . . No smoker should be without it, and anti-tobacconistshave only to turn over its leaves to be converted."—Fa// Mall Gazette.

"Something to please smokers; and non-smokers may be interested intracing the effect of tobacco—the fatal, fragrant herb—on our literature."—Literaty World.

Demy Svo, pp. xliii. and 349, tvith Illustrations, Cloth extra, lOs. 6d.

The Mysteries of Magic;

A Digest of the Writings of Eliphas Levi.

With Biographical and Critical EssayBy ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE.

Contents:—Initiatory Exercises and Preparations—Religious and Philoso-I'HiCAL Problems and Hypotheses—The Hermetic Axiom, Faith—The True God—'1 heChrist of God—Mysteries of the Logos—The True Religion—The Reason of Prodigies, orthe Devil before Science—Scientific and Magical Theorems—On Numbers and theirVirtues—Theory of Will Power—The Translucid—The great Magic Agent, or theMysteries of the Astral Light—Magic Equilibrium—The Magic Chain—The great MagicArcanum—The Doctrine of Spiritual Essences, or Kabbalistic Pneumatics ; withthe Mysteries of Evocation, Necromancy, and Black Magic—Immortality—TheAstral Body—Unity and Solidarity of Spirits—The great Arcanum of Death, or SpiritualTransition, Hierarchy, and Classification of Spirits—Fluidic Phantoms and their Mysteries—Elementary Spirits and the Ritual of their Conjuration—Necromancy—Mysteries of thePentagram and other Pantacles—Magical Ceremonial and Consecration of Talismans—Black Magic and the Secrets of the Witches—Sabbath—Witchcraft and Spells—The Keyof Mesmerism—Modern Spiritualism—The great Practical Secrets or Realisationsof Magical Science—The " Magnum Opus"—The Universal Medicine—Renewed Youth—Transformations—Divination—Astrology—The Tarot, the Book of Hermes, or of Koth—Eternal Life, or Profound Peace—Epilogue—Supplement—The Kabbalah—Thaumatur-gical Experiences of Eliphas Levi—Evocation of Apollonius of Tyana—Ghosts in Paris—The Magician and the Medium—Eliphas Levi and the Sect of Eugene Vintras—TheMagician and the Sorcerer—Secret History of the Assassination of the Archbishop of Paris—Notes.

" Of the many remarkable men who have gained notoriety by their profici-ency, real or imaginary, in the Black Arts, probably none presents a morestrange and irreconcileable character than the French magician Alphonse LouisConstant. . . . Better known under the Jewish pseudonym of EliphasLevi Zahed, this enthusiastic student of forbidden art made some stir inFrance, and even in London. . . . His WORKS ON MAGIC ARE THOSE OFAN UNDOUBTED GENIUS, and divulge a philosophy beautiful in conception, if

totally opposed to common sense principles There is so great a fund

of learning and of attractive reasoning in these writings, that Mr ArthurEdward Waite has published a digest of them for the benefit of Englishreaders. This gentleman has not attempted a literal translation in everycase, but has arranged a volume which, while reproducing with sufficientaccuracy a great portion of the more interesting works, affords an excellentidea of the scope of the entire literary remains of an enthusiast for whom heentertains a profound admiration. . . . The reader may with profit perusecarefully the learned dissertations penned by M. Constant upon the Hermeticart treated as a religion, a philosophy, and a natural science. ... In viewof the remarkable exhibitions of mesmeric influence and thought readingwhich have been recently given, it is not improbable that the thoughtfulreader may find a clue in the writings of this cultured and amiable magicianto the secret of many of the manifestations of witchcraft that formerly struck

wonder and terror into the hearts of simple folks. . . ."—The MorningPost.

"The present single volume is a digest of half-a-dozen books enumeratedby the present author in a 'biographical and critical essay' with whichhe prefaces his undertaking. These are the Dogme et Ritual de la HauteMagie, the Histoire de la Magie, the Clef des Grands Afysteres, theSorcier de Mendon^ the Philosophie Occulte, and the Science des Esprits.To attack the whole series—which, indeed, it might be difficult to obtainnow in a complete form—would be a bold undertaking, but Mr Waitehas endeavoured to give his readers the essence of the whole six books in arelatively compact compass. . . . The book before us is encyclopedicIN ITS RANGE, and it would be difficult to find a single volume which is bettercalculated to supply modern inquiries with a general conception of the scopeand purpose of the occult sciences at large. It freely handles, amongstothers, the ghastly topics of witchcraft and black magic, but certainlyit would be difficult to imagine any reader tempted to enter those pathwaysof experiment by the picture of their character and purpose that Eliphas Levisupplies. In this way the intrepid old Kabbalist, though never troubling hisreaders with sublime exhortations in the interests of virtue, writes under theinspiration of an uncompromising devotion to the loftiest ideals, and all hisphilosophy ' makes for righteousness.' "—Mr A. P. Sinnett in Light.

"We are grateful to Mr Waite for translating the account of how L^vi, ina lone chamber in London, called up the spirit of Apollonius of Tyana,This very creepy composition is written in quite the finest manner of the lateLord Lytton when he was discoursing upon the occult."—The SaturdayReview.

Demy iSmo, pp. vi. and 132, ivith Woodctits, Fancy Cloth, \s.

John Leech, Artist andHumourist.

A Biographical Sketch.

By FRED. F. KITTON.

New Edition, Revised.

" In the absence of a fuller biography we cordially welcome Mr Kitton'sinteresting little sketch."—Notes atid Queries.

"The multitudinous admirers of the famous artist will find this touchingmonograph well worth careful reading and preservation."—Daily Chronicle.

"The very model of what such a memoir should be."—Graphic.

4^0, zvith Frontispiece, pp. xxx. and 154, ParcJvnejit, los. 6d.

THE HERMETIC WORKS.

The Virgin of the World

OF

Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus.

Now FIRST Rendered into English, with Essay,Introductions, and Notes,

By DR anna KINGSFORD and EDWARD MAITLAND,

AUTHORS OF "THE PERFECT WAY."

Published under the auspices of the Hermetic Society. Essays on "TheHermetic Books," by E. M., and on "The Hermetic System and theSignificance of its Present Revival," by A. K. " The Virgin of the World "is followed by " Asclepios on Initiation," the " Definitions of Asclepios,"and the " Fragments of Hermes."

It will be a most interesting study for eveiy occultist to compare thedoctrines of the ancient Hermetic philosophy with the teaching of theVedantic and Buddhist systems of religious thought. The famous booksOF Hermes seem to occupy, with reference to the Egyptian religion, thesame position which the Upanishads occupy in Aryan religious literature."—Theosophist, November, 1SS5.

Imperial 16/no, pp. 16, zurappei', printed on Whatman''s hand-made paper.250 copies only, each ntwibered. ^s.

A Word for the Navy.

By ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.

"Mr Swinburne's new patriotic song, ' A Word for the Navy,' is as fieryin its denunciation of those he believes to be antagonistic to the welfare of thecountry as was his lyric with which he startled the readers of the Times onemornins:." —Athemeiim.

The publisher of this poem is also the sole proprietor of the copyright; it cajinottherefore be ittcluded in Mr Siuinburne^s collected ivorks.

4^0, pp. 121, Illustrated zvith a number of beautiful Symbolical Figures,

Parchment gilt, price los. 6d.

ASTROLOGY THEOLOGIZED.

The Spiritual Hermeneutics ofAstrology and Holy Writ.

Being a Treatise upon the Influence of the Stars

ON Man and on the Art of Ruling Them by

the Law of Grace.

{Reprintedfrom the original of 1649.)

With a Prefatory Essay ox the True Method ofInterpreting Holy Scripture,

By anna bonus KINGSFORD.

Illustrated with Engravings on Wood.

Contents:—What Astrology is, and what Theology; and how they have referenceone to another — Concerning the Subject of Astrology—Of the three parts of Man;Spirit, Soul, and Body, from whence every one is taken, and how one is in the other—Of the Composition of the Microcosm, that is Man, from the Macrocosm, the great World—That all kind of Sciences, Studies, Actions, and Lives, flourishing amongst Men on theEarth and Sea, do testify that all Astrology, that is, Natural Wisdom, with all its Species,is and is to be really found in every Man. And so all things, whatsoever Men act onEarth, are produced, moved, governed, and acted from the Inward Heaven. And whatare the Stars which a Wise Man ought to rule. Touching a double Firmament and Starin every Man; and that by the Benefit of Regeneration in the Exercise of the Sabbath, aMan may be transposed from a worse nature into a better—Touching the Distribution ofall Astrology into the Seven Governors of the World, and their Operations and Offices, aswell in the Macrocosm as in the Microcosm—Touching the Astrology of Saturn, of whatkind it is, and how it ought to be Theologized—A Specifical Declaration, how the Astrologyof Saturn in Man ought to be and may be Theologized.

The Stjaf?ies^s Gazette says : — " It is well for Dr Anna Kingsford that shewas not born into the sidereal world four hundred years ago. Had that beenher sorry fate, she would assuredly have been burned at the stake for herpreface to ' Astrology Theologized.' It is a very long preface—more thanhalf the length of the treatise it introduces ; it contains some of theFINEST FLOWERS OF THEOSOPHICAL PHILOSOPHY, and of course makesvery short work of Christianity."

Cro7vnS>vo, pp. ^6, printed on Whatman''s Handmade Paper, Velhtm Gilt, (a.

Hints to Collectors

Of Original Editions of the Works ofCharles Dickens.

By CHARLES PLUMPTRE JOHNSON.

Including Books, Plays, and Portraits, there are 167 items fully described.

" This is a sister volume to the * Hints to Collectors of First Editions ofThackeray,' which we noticed a month or two ago. As we are unableto detect any slips in his work, we must content ourselves with thankinghim for the correctness of his annotations. It is unnecessary to repeat ourpraise of the Q!i^gzxii format of these books."—Academy.

Cro7vn Zvo^ pp. 48, printed on Whatman''s Handmade Paper, Velhim Gilt, bs.

Hints to Collectors

Of Original Editions of the Works of William

Makepeace Thackeray.

By CHARLES PLUMPTRE JOHNSON.

" . . . .A guide to those who are great admirers of Thackeray, and arecollecting first editions of his works. The dainty little volume, boundin parchment and printed on hand-made paper, is very concise and convenientin form ; on each page is an exact copy of the title-page of the workmentioned thereon, a collation of pages and illustrations, useful hints on thedifferences in editions, with other matters indispensable to collectors.. . . Altogether it represents a large amount of labour and experience."—Spectator.

LaTge Crown %vo^ pp. xxxii. and 324, Cloth extra. Gilt Top, los. 6d.

Sea Song and River Rhyme,

From Chaucer to Tennyson.

SELECTED AND EDITED BY

ESTELLE DAVENPORT ADAMS.

With a New Poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne.

With Twelve Etchings.

In general, the Songs and Poetical Extracts are limited to those whichdeal with the Sea and Rivers as natural objects, and are either descriptive orreflective. The Etchings are printed in different colours ; the headpieces arealso original.

"The book is, on the whole, otie of the best of its kind ever published.''''—Glasgozu Herald.

"The editor has made the selection with praiseworthy judgment."—Morning Post.

" Twelve really exquisite and delicately executed etchings of sea and river-side accompany and complete THIS BEAUTIFUL VOLUME."—Morning Post.

"A special anthology, delightful in itself, and possessing the added gracesof elegant printing and dainty illustrations."—Scotsman.

"The volume is got up in the handsomest style, and includes a dozenetchings of sea and river scenes, some of which are exquisite."—LiteraryIVorld.

Croivji Svo, pp. xl. and 420, Cloth extra, \os. 6d.

The History of the Forty Vezirs;

Or, The Story of the Forty Morns and Eves.

Written in Turkish by SHEYKH-ZADA ;Done into English by E. J. W. GIBB, M.R.A.S.

The celebrated Turkish romance, translated from a printed but undatedtext procured a few years ago in Constantinople.

"A delightful addition to the wealth of Oriental stories available toEnglish readers. . . . Mr Gibb has considerately done everything to helpthe reader to an intelligent appreciation of this charming book."—Saturday Review.

Sir Richard F. Burton says :—" In my opinion, the version is definiteand final. The style is light and pleasant, with the absolutely necessaryflavour of quaintness ; and the notes, though short and few, are sufficient andsatisfactory."

■ne,

zirs;

itvO>

'♦ ♦ ♦ * •♦ 4 ».t f f ■♦ .1 ■*'^"? iT ."f !f ■•^' f\ ''T', J ,'T »i«f.' «• ■. 1B -

* J. '.» ^ * •« « >* •.< .4 ^^ ' ' • * <& ^ .V -^ M

Complete in 12 ?Wj-. ;^3, i6j-. 6(/. /zf/A

The Antiquarian Magazine and

Bibliographer.

Edited byEDWARD WALFORD, MA. AND G. W. REDWAY, F.R.H.S.

This illustrated periodical, highly esteemed by students of Englishantiquities, biography, folk-lore, bibliography, numismatics, genealogy,&c., was founded in 1882 by Mr Edward Walford, and completed in1887 under the editorship of Mr G. W. Red way. Only some thirtyCOMPLETE SETS REMAIN, and they are offered at a very moderate price.

Contents of Vols. XI, and XII.:—Domesday Book — Frostiana — Some KentishProverbs—The Literature of Almanacks—"Madcap Harry" and Sir John Popham—Tom Coryate and his Crudities—Notes on John Wilkes and Boswell's Life of Johnson—The Likeness of Christ—The Life, Times, and Writings of Thomas Fuller—Society in theElizabethan Age—Chapters from Family Chests—Collection of Parodies—Rarities inthe Locker-Lampson Collection—A Day with the late Mr Edward Solly—The Defenceof England in the i6th Century—The Ordinary from Mr Thomas Jenyn's Bookeof Armes—A Forgotten Cromwellian Tomb—Visitation of the Monasteries in the Reignof Henry the Eighth—The Rosicrucians—The Seilliere Library—A Lost Work—Romancesof Chivalry—Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland—The Art ofthe Old English Potter—The Story of the Spanish Armada—Books for a Reference Library—Myth-Land—Sir Bevis of Hampton—Cromwell and the Saddle Letter of Charles I.—Recent Discoveries at Rome—Folk-Lore of British Birds—An old Political Broadside—Notes for Coin Collectors—Higham Priory—By-Ways of Periodical Literature—Memoirof Captain Dalton—A History of the Parish of Mortlake, in the County of Surrey—Historic Towns—Exeter—Traits and Stories of Ye 01 de Cheshire Cheese—The Pre-History of the North—The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman—TheCuriosities of Ale—The Books and Bookmen of Reading—How to trace a Pedigree—The Language of the Law—Words, Idioms, &c„ of the Vulgar—The Romans inCumbria—The Study of Coins—An Un-bowdlerised Boccaccio—The Kabbalah—TheHouse of Aldus—Bookselling in Little Britain—Copper-plates and Woodcuts by theBewicks—Excavations at Ostia—Sir Sages of Somerset—The Good Queen Bertha—Thepopular Drama of the Pa't—Relics of Astrologic Idioms—A Leaf from an Old AccountBook—The Romance of a Gibbet—General Pardons—Thorscross or Thurscross( Yorkshire)—The Genesis of " In Memoriam "—The Influence of Italian upon English Literature—The Trade Signs of Essex—The Ancient Cities of the New World—The LegendaryHistory of the Cross—History of Runcorn—The Rosicrucians ; their Rites and Mysteries—Old Glasgow Families—The House of Aldus—Merlin, the Prophet of the Celts—Afacetious Advertisement—Funeral Garlands—Bookselling on London Bridge—MillomCumberland—A forgotten Children's Book of Charles Dickens—The Rothschilds; aTrilogy of the Life to come—The Beer of the Bible—Story of the Drama in Exeter—By-Ways of Periodical Literature—Reading Anecdotes—Tennysonian and ThackerayanRarities—The Origin and History of Change Ringing—More Vulgar Words and Phrases—The popular Drama of the past—Some Poems attributed to Byron—The Marriage ofCupid and Psyche—Sketches of Life in Japan—The first nine years of the Bank ofEngland—The Brunswick Accession—History of the Bassandyne Bible—Peculiar Courts—Vulgar Etymologies—Nuremburg—Metal Pan-making in England—The Pews of thePast—Octocentenary of the Death of William the Conqueror—A Black Magician—TheAllegorical Signification of the Tinctures in Heraldry—The Purpose of the Ages—The

< ♦

■k-i'

i- 'k -A '* '-i 'k '-^ '4 4 > '^ *ii^ % % i-i. ^ A tti- n U 4- \*- y^ ":« ^^ '* ;* ^f :t :f .

. \ Ir <« *• f ' •« •!

Sieges of Pontefract Castle—A Life of John Colet—The History of Sport in Cheshire—Tom Coryat and his Crudities—The Tarot: an Antique Method of Divination—LawFrench—The Pews of the Past—Shropshire Folk-Lore—The Printed Book—St MaryOveries Priory Church, Southwark—Some curious passages from Baker's Chronicle—Theresting-place of Cromwell—A Library of Rarities—Europe in the reign of James theSixth—Myths, Scenes, and Worthies of Somerset—Herefordshire Words and Phrases—Chronicles of an Old Inn—Epitaphs—The Gnostics and their Remains—Collectanea—Meetings of Learned Societies—News and Notes—Obituary Memoirs—Correspondence—Vos Valete et Plaudite.

Large Demy Svo, pp. xx. and 268, Cloth, \os. 6d.

Sultan Stork;

And other Stories and Sketches.

By WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY.

(1829-1844.)

Now First Collected.

To WHICH IS ADDED THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ThACKERAY, REVISED

AND Considerably Enlarged.

Contains two unpublished letters of A.'C. Swinburne, Thackeray's contributions to "TheNational Standard," ''The Snob," also " Dickens in France," " Letters on the Fine Arts,"" Elizabeth Brownrigge : A Tale,"" &c.

" Thackeray collectors, however, have only to be told that none of the

PIECES NOW PRINTED APPEAR IN THE TWO VOLUMES RECENTLY ISSUED by

Messrs Smith, Elder, & Co., in order to make them desire their possession.They will also welcome the revision of the Bibliography, since it nowpresents a complete list, arranged in chronological order, of Thackeray'spublished writings in prose and verse, and also of his sketches and drawings."—Daily Chronicle.

" ' Sultan Stork' .... is undoubtedly the work of Mr Thackeray, andis quite pretty and funny enough to have found a place in his collectedmiscellanies. ' Dickens in France' is as good in its way as Mr Thackeray'sanalysis of Alexander Dumas' ' Kean' in the ' Paris Sketch-Book.' . . .There are other slight sketches in this volume which are evidently by MrThackeray, and several of his obiter dicta in them are worth preserving. . . .We do not assume to fix Mr Thackeray's rank or to appraise his merits as anart critic. We only know that, in our opinion, few of his minor writings areso pleasant to read as his shrewd and genial comments on modern paintersand paintings."—Saturday Revie^v.

"Admirers of Thackeray may be grateful for a Reprint of* SuLTAN Stork.'"—Athencstwi.

Detiiy 8^'<?, pp. viii. and 6S, Parchmeni, ']$. 6</.

Primitive Symbolism asIllustrated in Phallic Worship;

Or, The Reproductive Principle.

By HODDER M. WESTROPP.With an Introduction by General Forlong.

" This work is a viulhim in parvo of the growth and spread of Phallicism,as we commonly call the worship of nature or fertilizing powers. I felt, whensolicited to enlarge and illustrate it on the sudden death of the lamentedauthor, that it would be desecration to touch so complete a compendiumby one of the most competent and soundest thinkers who haveWRITTEN ON THIS WORLD-WIDE FAITH. None knew better or saw moreclearly than Mr Westropp that in this oldest symbolism and worship lay thefoundations of all the goodly systems we call Religions."—^J. G. R. Forlong.

"A well-selected repertory of facts illustrating this subject, which shouldbe read by all who are interested in the study of the growth of religions."—Westmhister Review.

Fcap. Svo, 80 pp., Vellum, \os. 6d.

Beauty and the Beast;

Or, a Rough Outside with a Gentle Heart.

A Poem.By CHARLES LAMB.

Now FIRST Reprinted from the Original Edition of 181 i,WITH Preface and Notes by Richard Herne Shepherd.

For three quarters of a century this charming fragment of Lamb's geniuslay buried ; even the author seems to have forgotten its existence, sincewe find no reference, either direct or indirect, to the little tale in Lamb'spublished correspondence, or in any of the Lamb books. The credit of adiscovery highly interesting to all lovers of Charles Lamb is due to theindustry and sagacity of Mr John Pearson, formerly of 15 York Street,Covent Garden.

The publisher has now endeavoured to place the booklet beyond futurechance of loss by reproducing one hundred copies for the use of librariesand collectors.

\^mo, pp. xxvi. and I'j^, Cloth extj-a, 2s.

Wellerisms,

From " Pickwick " and " Master Humphrey's

Clock."

Selected by CHARLES F. RIDEAL,And Edited, with an Introduction, by CHARLES KENT.

Among the Contents are :—Sam Weller's Introduction—Old Weller at Doctor's Commons—Sam on a Legal Case—Self-acting Ink—Out with It—Sam's Old White Hat—IndependentVoters—Proud o' the Title—The Weller Philosophy—The Twopenny Rope—Job Trotter'sTears—Sam's INIisgivings as to Mr Pickwick—Clear the Way for the Wheelbarrow—Unpack-ing the Lunch Hamper—Battledore and Shuttlecock—A True Londoner—Spoiling the Beadle—Old Weller's Remedy for the Gout—Sam on Cabs—Poverty and Oysters—Old Weller onPikes—Sam's Power of Suction—Veller and Gammon—Sam as Master of the Ceremonies—Sam before Mr Nupkins—Sam's Introduction to Mary and the Cook—Something behind theDoor—Sam and Master Bardell—Good Wishes to Messrs Dodson & Fogg—Sam and hisMother-in-Law—The Shepherd's Water Rates—Stiggins as an Arithmetician—Sam and theFat Boy—Compact and Comfortable—Apologue of the Fat Man's Watch—Medical Students—Sam Subpoenaed—Disappearance of the " Sausage " Maker—Sam Weller's Valentine—OldWeller's Plot—Tea Drinking at Brick Lane—The Soldier's Evidence Inadmissible—Sam's" Wision" Limited—A Friendly " Swarry"—The Killebeate—Sam and the Surly Groom—Mr Pickwick's Dark Lantern—The Little Dirty-faced Man—Old'Weller Inexorable—Awaywith Melancholy—Post Boys and Donkeys—A Vessel—Old Weller's Threat—Sam's Dis-missal of the Fat Boy—Is she a " Widder"?—Bill Blinder's Request—The Watch-boxBoy.

*'.... The best sayings of the immortal Sam and his sportive parentare collected here. The book may be taken up for a few minutes with thecertainty of affording amusement, and it can be carried away in the pocket.'^—Literary World.

" It was a very good idea . . . the extracts are very numerous , . . herenothing is missed.''—Glasgoiv Herald.

Demy ^vo, pp. 99, zuith Protractor and 16 plates, coloured and plain.

Cloth gilt, Js. 6d.

Geometrical Psychology;

Or, The Science of Representation.

An Abstract of the Theories and Diagrams of

B. W. Betts.

By LOUISA S. COOK.

"His attempt seems to have taken a similar direction to that of GeorgeBoole in logic, with the difference that, whereas Boole's expression of theLaws of Thought is algebraic, Betts' expresses mind-growth geometrically;

that is to Eay, his growth-formulae are expressed in numerical series, of whicheach can be pictured to the eye in a corresponding curve. When the seriesare thus represented, they are found to resemble the forms of leaves andflowers."—Alary Boole, in " Symbolic Methods of Study ^

The Pall Mall Gazette, in a characteristic article entitled, " Very Methodi-cal Madness," allows that " Like Rosicrucianism, esoteric Buddhism, andother forms of the mystically incomprehensible, it seems to exercise amagnetic influence upon many minds by no means as foolish as its originalinventor's."

" This work is the result of more than twenty years' application to the dis-covery of a method of representing human consciousness in its various stages ofdevelopment by means of geometrical figures — it is, in fact, THE APPLICATIONOF MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLOGY TO METAPHYSICS. This idea will be newto many of our readers ; indeed, so far as we know, Mr Betts is the onlyman who has tried to work out a coherent system of this kind, though hiswork unfortunately remains imperfect."—Theosophist, June 1887.

%vo, pp. 32, Wrapper^ \s.

On Mesmerism.

By a. p. SINNETT.

Issued as a Transaction of the London Lodge of the Theosophical Society,of which Mr Sinnett is President, this pamphlet forms AN admirableINTRODUCTION to the Study of Mesmerism.

LONDON: GEORGE REDWAY.

\J

1Date Due i

W ^^ ''

2

j

1

—4

f)