(Echoes of the Orient p. 453-462)
Eastern School of Theosophy
Suggestions and Aids
Subsidiary Papers 453
Subsidiary Papers
No. B January 1895
Issued in the Western Division
The following persons have been appointed as my Advisory Council in the Eastern Division: Dr. A. Keightley, Dr. H. A. W. Coryn, Mrs. A. L. Cleather, James M. Pryse, of London, and Fred J. Dick, of Dublin, Ireland. The office of said Council, and my own address for Eastern Division business, is 62 Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square, London. American members visiting or transferring to the Eastern Division will report at above address. The said Council receives and transmits all regular papers of the School to Eastern Division members.
The Instructions and the Book of Rules enjoin daily meditation. No matter how busy a person is he can always get some time for distinct effort at meditation. If very busy then take a short time, if only five minutes, if less busy then longer. And be sure that you do not shorten the time merely for your personal comfort, but because obligatory duty compels you to. The various directions in the Rule Book will give much in this line of thought to those who carefully read them. In London there was issued since 1891 a paper entitled, “On Meditation,” which was circulated in Europe but not in America. That paper cannot be recommended for students now because its general tendency is misleading in too many particulars. A watch was by it suggested for consideration and concentration in the period of meditation. Many good things were in the paper, but I wish now to say that I cannot countenance it because its general effect is to draw the attention of students to personal psychic development. The dwelling upon the idea of a watch is also too small for those who really wish to gain spiritual power and light. Such petty and unworthy objects should not be selected: for
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the mind, if concentrated on these, will not go any farther than the range of the object. Hence by selecting a watch or other similar limited matter, the range of meditation is limited from the beginning. The widest range, the highest aim, should be taken for the mind’s use, even though we know beforehand that it cannot be fully reached. Therefore, for your set period of meditation, select from such subjects as Aum, the Self, Ātman, Masters, the Lodge, Unity, and come down, if you have time, to the School in general and the Theosophical movement. If the first above subjects are too difficult, then select some great and good person, which will be next as to ease of use. Do not select living persons because their failings may be too great. Next, in order of ease or limit, take Instructions received of a lofty nature, whether from another, from a book, or from a dream. Hold one or all of these in the mind as much as you can and at the end think of the School and its members, and desire benefit and progress for all. But all should try, if ever so little, to concentrate and meditate upon the Self as all in all, as being all, as being the person meditating. If circumstances really prevent your having a set time, then: (a) On going to bed, and before sleeping, try to have these ideas as your last waking thoughts.
(b) Try upon waking each day to make your thoughts dwell on the same ideas before rising or speaking to anyone. Do not let the first thoughts be of business; foolish, or troubled. Make a habit of having as first thoughts these high ones above mentioned. (c) Each night before sleep, and each morning after the few moments of high thought, forgive your enemies mentally and with your heart.
Those who can do so should follow this rule: When you have dressed, and before eating, take fifteen or twenty minutes for meditation. If you are hungry, all the better, for then it will be better discipline. If this can be done, then slowly but surely it will affect the whole nature. Do not do this after eating or when you have made all easy, but the first thing in the day.
The reason for doing this as a day’s beginning and before eating is that it thus disciplines the system gently. If you try to make all your surroundings and your stomach very comfortable and “just to the taste,” you give up nothing. If you fill your stomach first you become full of the fumes of food, which rise through the bottom of the brainpan at the root of the nose.
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The power of these meditations is not always to be seen fully in one life. One life is too short for the entire work, but these thoughts, vows, and practices surely affect the whole nature and last through the centuries. They bring us further and further along the road to the final perfection of this cycle and draw us to the time when we will have the power.
This age is known to the Adepts as that of transition. Everyone is affected by this, since the parts of a whole must be subject to the general law governing the whole. That law affects each one in his meditations.
MEDITATION, THE WORD, AND COLORS
Concentration must exist in meditation, but the latter is the true name for the bringing together or focusing of thought. The Upanishads, and the Master, say (in Master’s words): “A lifetime’s meditation is the sum-total of a lifetime’s thoughts, which constitute the subtle bond that binds us to rebirth. For meditation, both special as to hour, and general as to daily aspiration, the selection as to a high idea, person, or matter should be made.” The Word should be made the subject of our constant thought. We should see and hear the Word as in all. It is Aum, but that means nothing unless we assimilate the idea and see it as the Self, existing everywhere, sounding everywhere, creating, sustaining, and destroying all. It is true that H.P.B., in replying to a question as to what to concentrate upon, once said: “Oh, a watch or an ink-bottle.” But she was not then teaching the general subject: she was only illustrating the general idea of concentration per se. Similarly she once said, in 1875: “A talisman? Why, you can make a talisman of this paper-cutter.” That does not mean we are to take paper-cutters as talismans, but that with him who trains himself within, the meanest object may be of use. If we go the other way and begin by devoting ourselves to such little objects we will never get beyond them. And for the Western world this is especially true. We must select the Word, as containing all, for our constant meditation in our “life-time thoughts.”
Now refer to Instruction III, in the Appendix, [pp. 642-3]. It says: “The color and number of not only the planets but also the zodiacal constellations corresponding to every letter of the alphabet, are necessary to make any special syllable, and even letter, operative. Therefore if a student would make Buddhi operative, for instance, he would have 456 Echoes of the Orient to intone the first words of the Mantra on the note mi. But he would have still further to accentuate the mi, and produce mentally the yellow color, on every letter m [in ‘OṂ maṇi padme hūṃ’], because it is seventh and fourth, as Buddhi it is second; as Buddhi-Manas it is second and third combined.”
The same subject was also referred to in Instruction I, when speaking of the diagram. Illustration was made of the power of the yellow line produced from or by Buddhi to cure a pain. H.P.B. made these references with a purpose and intentionally omitted further “practical” details.
Among colors and sounds lie the keys to the objective results from the occult processes of thought. Not only is it by these that direct effects are produced, but also, by their use alone (either consciously or unconsciously) can the elemental powers of Nature be mastered and guided by the will. H.P.B. did not give out much on this because it is, in its detail, reserved for those who have so far progressed as to be trusted without danger to themselves and others. But she gave two broad hints of such a nature as to result, if used, in good alone. In Instruction No. 1 [pp. 527-28] she speaks, illustratively, of a line of yellow for the cure of a pain; and in the above quotation she shows you that yellow, as the color of Buddhi, may be used with the Word on the tone mi. This will tend in a degree, as your life and thoughts correspond, to make the connection with your sixth principle more close. Refer here to the message from K.H. given in paper A, last page, as to “centering in the sixth” (Buddhi). [See Echoes III:452.]
By using this color yellow with the Word, you will have benefit. But do not experiment with other colors. “Using this color” means to make it with your mental eye, as much as you can, seem to exist in what is called the imagination. I have some cases where red and green were used, experimentally and without due thought. The result was that the red and green aroused, through the power of the Word, the corresponding departments of the desires and egotism. This caused irritation in the person and his immediate fellows, bringing on disturbances for which there was no need. It probably will be that many on reading this will say they cannot make this yellow color, that is, cannot see it. But that makes no difference save in degree.
The color and its vibration will be aroused — seen or not — and will have some effect.
There is an immense quantity of practical information withheld on this subject — and very properly — because H.P.B. knew, as anyone can see by looking abroad in the T.S., that neither the School nor the T.S. is ready for such dangerous secrets, easily used for selfish purposes.
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And I wish to impress on the School the actual present need of using the Word, and meditation, with the color yellow, so that Buddhi may be more aroused. The contrary has been the case. Green of ambition and egotism with red of desire and passion have begun to grow, and have been fanned by dark powers behind the scenes. It is necessary that those in the School who really care for the true progress of all, should begin to try and arouse this color with its corresponding ideas to the end that the others may be counteracted.
The lower passional elements have been aroused too much because it is easier to excite the lower group than the higher. H.P.B. hoped the yellow would be tried. But it has been neglected because it is not so easy to satisfy oneself with the results, inasmuch as the action of this will at first be subtle and hard to see, but still it will operate. Let us then try to arouse and use this power of the Word, leaving the others alone. This is allowed and suggested because it cannot do harm even with the foolish, while the other colors can become a source of danger.
Beware at this time of psychic practices other than the above. The whole T.S. mirrors the state of the world. It is disturbed, and in many places — in spots — it is rotten. Psychic practices now will lead to grave dangers. Wait — until later, until the disturbed currents raging in the lower group of forces are calmed down. Beware of hypocrisy and self-righteousness. We stand in danger on these two points. In too many parts of our body are there those who, under the guise of proclaiming truth, are merely picking holes in the garments of others, their brothers and sisters. I am not striking at attacks aimed at me, for I do not mind these in fact, but those, while very public, are but the outer illustration of much of the same kind that is still not public. If one offends, if one is not what you think he or she should be, then turn to your work and your duty and leave all these things to time, for maybe — probably always actually — you, each one who reads this, are no better than the other whom you are turning to condemn. We shall — both as E.S.T. and T.S. — be a miserable and sorry failure if the scenes of the past year, full of accusations and much attempting to prove another at fault, are repeated or continued much longer. And I say, on Master’s word and from Him, that the actual inner condition of the E.S.T. and T.S. in regard to brotherly love, charity, and altruism is what has confined progress, has prevented more elaborate and more special teachings being promulgated save to the very few.
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Special aids may be adopted for assisting the mind about the color yellow. That is, for instance, a yellow strip on the wall, or a yellow space, or yellow ribbons might be taken out and looked at from time to time. But do not gaze at them over long, because a certain peculiar reaction will be thus brought on in the retina. If any bad reaction is thus aroused, then look at green grass or trees for a short time, or at the blue sky. Discard these aids as soon as you can. Observe that for some years (with H.P.B.’s direct consent) I have used yellow paper in all my E.S.T. correspondence. This was purposely done so as to some extent generally to arouse the subconscious impression about yellow. Caution is also needed here in this; do not run to the other extreme and begin using yellow on any and all occasions. If you do, you will begin to cling to outward appearances and wholly lose the inner spirit.
Some words are needed in respect to the statements printed in the Circular of November 3d, 1894, about the importance and destiny of the West. Several persons are attempting to show that the Circular is an effort to make a dissension between the two hemispheres. Members ought to obtain a firm and clear grasp of this matter because it has to do especially with the spiritual evolution of mankind. No effort was made to create any impression against India, however much the truth may result in placing East and West in their true relative positions. It is quite true that the East is the storehouse for the literature of the ancient times wherein are to be found the prominent and important doctrines needed by East and West alike. But the India of today is not the present vital spiritual center of evolution. It is degraded and held down. It cannot use the truths it possesses; it must be helped by the newer nations. It is quite true that the Master may be called a Hindu because of having incarnated there; but he does not live in India; nor does K.H. These facts are indisputable. K.H. himself wrote that having come to India to see H.P.B., he was driven off by the deleterious emanations of his own countrymen. He and the Master have said that when the corruptions upon Buddhism are cut off and the truth of it found we then have the Divine truth. Yet Buddhism was driven out of India by selfish Brahmans — not by true Brahmanism. Hence India — if by mistake — drove away what was true, and with it the Masters.
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Centuries of conquest and bigotry, with multiplicity of castes and a most subtle metaphysical orthodox system reduced India to the condition it was already in when the new home for ancient egos was being prepared in the West (Europe then, and America added later). The wave of cyclic progress rolled to the West, by law and not out of prejudice, and the Master then would, because possessed of true knowledge, transfer his energies to that West with definite purpose. That purpose was, and is, to use the crest of the wave — which is composed of human egos — for the gain and benefit of the World, and thus for India. Facts are above argument. The fact is that the Master worked for years with a Russian woman and later selected Americans. One Hindu — Damodar — was taken, and, after seven years, was called to Tibet.
If this does not point to a plan and purpose then nothing has any meaning. Another fact is that the Master did not begin this work in India simply because it would not succeed, the collateral fact being that India cannot compel the attention of the world. The next fact — stated too by the Master and published — is that India was being materialized by the West. Hence the West — for the sake of all — must be worked with so that, coming out of its materialism, it should see the value of the Āryan philosophy, assimilate it, put it — socially and politically — into practice and then, in its turn, reform India. The greatest fact is, however, that the new, coming race, is to be born in the West. Sages act by law and not by sentiment or fancy. Even if, formerly, the Master were a Hindu, prejudice will not cause him to accentuate India when for the present its useful and active hour has not struck. By not living in it he shows this; by working out of it this is further shown. Yet again, the Theosophical Movement started by the Masters has its success, energy and strength in the West — for in India it is, and for a long time will be, weak. These things are not matters for jealousy, but for patient and wise consideration.
It was absolutely necessary to stop the “Eastern craze” in the T.S. ranks, because that having invaded a member holding a world-wide influence the danger was that once more orthodox Brahmanism might succeed in driving matters back into the orthodox groove, which is altogether unsuitable for the West. It should also be remembered that the term “East” includes much more than India, as: China, Tibet, Japan, Persia, Arabia, for which India does nothing. It is incorrect to limit the East to India. William Q. Judge 460 Echoes of the Orient
E. S. T.
Subsidiary Papers
No. C October 1895
It is quite a long time since the last Subsidiary Paper was sent out. The delay has been caused by sickness brought on by long years of overwork, added to the unnecessary strain of the late fierce attack made upon my life and reputation. Had the latter not taken place the overwork would have been the cause of nothing more than fatigue. The attacks on my name and fame, and on those of H.P.B. at the same time, were on the outside, by living persons; that made upon my health directly and in addition to all natural effects of strain was made on and from the inside by those malignant and powerful entities which (and who) are always attracted to those who pursue, attack, or damage their fellowmen. And in this case, the interests involved being those of the Theosophical Movement, certain entities, implacable enemies of the human race, were attracted and joined in the attack. These are facts and not mere vaporings of the brain. Hence I had to use my forces in repelling deathly invasion and in trying to secure good health thereafter. This last I have not succeeded in yet, and so must ask all to be patient with me.
Further. The Society in America needed for a time, much more attention than did the E.S.T., because of the critical times brought on by the events referred to. And therefore our best and most sincere members have been compelled to devote much effort to the outer work. This was and is right.
Additional Subsidiary Papers will be issued. I am also preparing an additional main Instruction, which will of course go only to those thereto entitled and as they advance. It is not yet possible to give the date for that coming issue, but it is under way. Were I in better health it would be out very soon.
There are a great many members, in all countries, who indulge too much in merely intellectual study of the Instructions. This will not lead Subsidiary Papers 461 to valuable results, no matter how seductive and pleasing it may appear on paper, or how much it may make one seem to know in the estimation of others. You say that you must do it that way or you cannot comprehend at all. Well it is necessary to use the mind and brain, but those who err in the way mentioned are in the habit of using all their time and power in the mere intellectual field. The spiritual mind, the brooding faculty, the intuition should all be given an opportunity. Do not therefore be so much concerned about some missing links. If you had them you could not use them.
Many who let it be known, and many who conceal it, are striving to attain to intercourse consciously with the inner world and powers of occult nature. They desire greatly, and often think that will accomplish the end in view. I do not speak of the difficulties to be overcome which are overlooked or not appreciated, nor of the intense selfishness which would block all effort finally, nor of the most anciently known fact that but very few in any one century ever get beyond the elementary parts, but I now refer to the Age Limit. Just as there are natural barriers everywhere in life, so there are in the field of secret nature. It is hard to enter through the gate, and it is only accomplished after several lives of conscious, unselfish work, but in no life is it possible for the ordinary person — meaning thereby those who in fact have never gone very far, and now for the first or second time have seriously thought of the matter — to succeed in that life if they have begun after the age of forty-four. This is a natural barrier. And the success I refer to is that I mentioned above, not success in Theosophical work or daily duty. The latter any one can and ought to succeed in, thereby increasing for the next life the chances for going higher still.
Those who have wished so much to go to the point last referred to should examine themselves to see how they would stand or if they could endure that condition which they must come to on that road: the loss of all. All old ideas gone; all old consolations worthless; the extreme worthlessness of things in life evident; friends gone or become so mediocre as to be of no use; alone in space though living with hundreds. A new world not yet opened; new powers not conferred. What would you do? If you fancy that as you show your ability to climb, 462 Echoes of the Orient some Lodge will give you something to replace the old things and thoughts, you err. At that stage you must help yourself. It is the taking of Heaven, and only you can take it; it is one of the meanings of the words of the Christian Bible about taking up the cross and giving up all. It should be reflected on in time before you try to force yourself too far for your strength.
It has been said in the School that “the astral body is curled up in the spleen.” This is misleading. There being many sheets, laminae, or strata of astral body, some of which are known to be constantly active, it must follow that the saying speaks but partially. The astral shape which extends to the very finger-tips and to the ends of the hair, is certainly not in the spleen. But that astral body is not the center, the “archeus,” the heart, so to say, of all the rest. The saying refers to that phase of the ethereal body which is the knot or center of all, that part through which the connection is made between the gross astral on one side, and the higher chemical and occult parts of nature on the other; the physical case being attached to its mediator, the gross astral. Some confusion has arisen on this head; the above is intended to dispel it. The fact that with some mediums it has been observed that the cloudy astral form came out from the spleen side, does not prove the assertion that the ethereal form is curled up in the spleen. For the form has, in other cases, oozed out through the head, or by way of the solar plexus. All of Nature’s operations are carried on with proper agents and in degrees. The ethereal double of the body is not the proper agent or means for connecting with the subtler side save through some other and more subtle form. Itself attaching by one phase to the gross body it has to be reached from the higher side of nature by that which can in its turn reach yet higher or deeper. So, that which lies in the spleen is that which aids in keeping the whole series of lines open.
LUNAR PITṚIS — INSTRUCTIONS NO. III
A question has been asked on this in connection with The Secret Doctrine and a Commentary once issued in the School (and which never should have come out) from London without my consent and examination.
It is said in Instructions No. III, [608]:
As given out in The Secret Doctrine, the Egos or Kumāras, incarnating in man at the end of the Third Root-Race, are not human Egos of this
