T. Subba Row

“ It is an unopened bud in the ordinary mortal, and just as a lotus opens its petals, and expand in all its bloom and beauty when the sun rises above the horizon and sheds his rays on the flower, so does the Sahasravam of the neophyte open and expand when the Logos begins to pour its light into its centre. ”

“ We cannot say it comes into existence at any particular time, it seems latent in the one life throughout but at its appearance as an active energy, it is the first germ of consciousness in the whole universe. ”

“ In fact the function of the adept hierarchy is to provide religious teachers for the stumbling masses of mankind.
But this path is eminently dangerous to those who do not hold the talisman which ensures safety; this talisman is a perfectly unselfish, self-forgetting, self annihilating devotion to the religious good of mankind, a self-abnegation, which is not temporal, but must have no end for ever, and the object of which is the religious enlightenment of the human race. ”

“ At first it is the simple beauty of nature that engrosses the attention of Sensa. But his mind soon leads him to the dark goddess of the shrine. Avidya has its real seat in mind, and it is impossible to resist its influence so long as the mind of man is not restrained in its action. When once the soul gets under the influence of this dark goddess, the high priests of the temple begin to utilize its powers for their own benefit and gratification. ”

“ To expect a Brahmin, a Vedantin (whether an occultist or otherwise) to accept in their dead-letter the tenets of Buddhist (even if Aryan) adepts, is like expecting a Western Kabbalist, an Israelite by birth and views, to adhere to our Lord Buddha instead of to Moses. To charge me on such grounds with dogmatism and a desire to evolve "an orthodox creed" out of tenets I have tried to explain to those who are interested in Buddhistic occultism, is rather hard. ”

“ Let me at the outset, however, explain, that I am not here seeking to defend the Theosophist or yourself, you are quite able to defend yourself, and I am in no way empowdered or competent to express your views or those of the Himalayan Brotherhood whose representative you are, as to the nature of the First Cause—nor do I desire to enter into any controversy with any man; I desire to live in peace and brotherly love with all men; I have my own views, which satisfy my head and heart, in which I firmly believe, and which I hope all other men will respect in me ”

“ Now to turn to the evolution of conscious existence. If it is maintained that the great first cause—Parabrahman—is unconscious, in the sense that it is the negation of all consciousness—it is a great fallacy. If, on the other hand, it is imagined to be conscious in our sense of consciousness—it is equally fallacious. If words are to have any meaning, conscious existence involves three elements—the Knower, the Knowledge and the Known. ”

“ Sinnett comes assuredly from the highest sources of esoteric knowledge known to us in the East—he has deserved, on the contrary, the best thanks, for even the little he has done. His book forms part of a complete system of Esoteric Science and philosophy which is neither Hindu nor Buddhist in its origion, but which is identical with the ancient Wisdom-Religion itself, and which forms the basis or foundation of every system of religion conceived by the human mind since the time when the first Dhyan Chohan appeared on this planet to plant the germ of Esoteric Wisdom. ”

“ Without a guide, a teacher and enlightener, mankind developed tendencies which if left unchecked would lead to a still lower level of existence. Confusion and discord reigned supreme. Even the very elements could not bear the presence of man. Loud were the complaints made by the whole of nature against the moral and spiritual chaos that prevailed. It was found that if left to himself man would be unable to liberate his soul from the trammels of matter and attain to salvation. ”

“ Just as a tree leaves its seed to develop into a similar tree, even if it should perish completely, so does every great religion seem to leave its life and energy in one or more great adepts destined to preserve its wisdom and revive its growth at some future time when the cycle of evolution tends in the course of its revolution, to bring about the desired result. ”

“ Even admitting that the moon was a symbol of Isis, how does it follow from it that Isis was considered by the Egyptian as "the occult power of increase and decrease, good and evil?", The description itself conveys no definite idea, and there is no evidence to show that the Egyptians attached any such significance to the moon in their writings. Even supposing that the chain of inference is so far sound and that this influence called Isis rejoices and afflicts the soul, how is it shown thereby that Isis is not the Cosmic soul or the 6th principle of the Universe? ”

“ THE SWAMI OF ALMORA TO HIS OPPONENTS.
"we do not wage war of words, but simply speak and seek truth."
We are sorry to see that we have been the cause of something like irritation to you by our last letter, which perhaps was not suitable to the modesty of a hermit. Therefore, we beg your pardon, if there was in it anything oftensive to you, and, at the same time, beg liberty to speak the truth. We are always friendly to every one, but particularly to the foreigners, who have come to India for knowledge. ”

“ It is, no doubt, expected that, after carefully inquiring into the doctrines of every such existing system, the Society will be able to "reconstruct religion on a scientific, and science on a religious, basis, and elaborate a perfect system of thought and rule of life;" just as a body of jurists may construct a perfectly scientific system of jurisprudence after investigating and comparing the various codes of law which are in force in all the civilized countries of this world. ”

“ Hindus were degraded for the same reason that life and spirit have gone out of Christianity. The increase of wealth-bred sensuality, quenched spiritual aspiration and intuition, plugged the ears that once listened and shut the eyes that once saw the teachers. ”

“ The only inference that can fairly be drawn from it is, that in all probability there are seven principles which enter into the composition of a human being. But this inference can by no means establish the correctness of the particular classification under consideration. Otherwise the truth of any seven-fold classification we may choose to adopt can be equally proved by this process of reasoning. Any person can name any seven principles in the complex structure of man and claim the sanction of nature for his classification, as is now done by my critic. ”

“ And what is pure, absolute spirit but the "void" of the ancient Greek philosophers? Well, says Lucretius, "there can be no third thing besides body and void; for if it be to the smallest extent tangible—it is body; if not,—it is void." And let it not be urged, on the strength of this quotation, that because we quote the words of a great "Atheist," a materialist, as an authority, we are therefore a materialist and an atheist (in the usual sense of both terms) ourself. ”

“ Whatever may be the merits or demerits of the system in question, it is very hard to see how any system can be condemned as "unscientific" merely because of its mathematical precision. If everything in the universe is subject to a rigorous chain of causation, then, it cannot be denied that all natural facts are capable of being represented "with the mathematical precision of a clockwork arrangement," although the official science of the day may not acquire the capacity of so representing them. ”

“ But no one, I venture to affirm, who is acquainted with Eastern adepts and the powers possessed by them, will be willing to admit that an adept like Vyasa would ever be under the necessity of learning spiritual truths from an angel or a Deva. The only infallible source of inspiration with respect to the highest spiritual truths, recognized and respected by an Eastern adept, is the eternal and infinite monad—his own Atma, in fact. He may make use of the assistance of the elementals and the semi-intelligent powers of nature whenever he is pleased to do so. ”

“ Isis occupies in the cosmos or macrocosm the same position which the soul that has fallen into the clutches of matter occupies in the microcosm. Isis is the mother of the Logos manifested in the Cosmos, as the soul is the Virgin mother of the regenerated spirit; Isis is mother of Adonais, while the incarnated soul is the mother of Christ: but the former alone is entitled to be called the Cosmic Virgin, and not the latter. In our humble opinion the Cosmic Virgin is not the Virgin manifested in the Cosmos, but the Virgin mother of the Cosmos. ”

“ This concentration of thought, Chagrata or one pointedness as the Hindus called it, is something to us almost unknown,—our minds are like kaleidoscopes of thoughts in constant motion: and to shut our mental eyes to everything else, while dwelling on one thought only, has become to most of us almost as impossible as to apprehend one musical note without harmonies. ”

“ A monad may remain for perhaps millions of years, till the Pralaya comes, this time can be almost called infinity, but it is as nothing in comparison to the existence of the Logos itself.
Is the ego ever really wiped out or effaced?
The monad is never killed though the man may be. Yon call the monad by a particular name so long as it retains the owner's subjective experiences, but when the monad is made quite clean, you can say the experiences are wiped out. A monad is only a centre of energy. ”

“ I will send you an efflux of myself, a pure being who shall investigate all actions, who shall be the dreadful and incorruptible judge of the living: and sovereign justice shall extend its reign even into the shades beneath the earth. ”

“ The Arya says, "By personal we understand the attribute of being an individual—the essence of personality is consciousness—the knowledge of the fact that I am." But this, if the writer will pardon my so saying, is really not a tenable position. Persona, or a mask, refers only to the mask of flesh and blood and bones and the associated powers that conceal, the spirit, soul or whatever it please? men to call that portion of the human entity which survives the dissolutions of the physical body. ”

“ The fourth principle, however, by its contact with the third in physical life, has gathered round itself some of its essence. But this essence is like the smell of a rose, which lingers only for a time after the rose has been destroyed. Hence it is that the so-called astral body is seen at a distance by the friends or relatives of a dying man. The concentrated thought, an intense desire to see a friend, &c., clothes itself in the fourth principle, which, by the essence of the third gathered around itself, makes itself objective to the distant friend. ”

“ If I have the idea of a circle, the figure of a circle is formed in the sensitive's odic aura. All mental ideas have their pictures in astral light which are almost similar to the images that afterwards rise in the brain, but the intermediate link between the two, the nerve current in the brain, does not actually describe the picture in the mind. If there were in space no medium to serve as a means of communication between one human being and another, all thought-transference would be impossible, it is impossible so conceive of communication without a medium. ”

“ The Trithayati says:—'I make salutation to that Kaci by whose favour I am Siva,' and I know Siva to be the spirit of all that is. Kaci is pragna, Buddhi, Sakti or Maya, the different names of the divine power which dominates throughout the universe; in fact, it is one aspect of the One Soul. The above quoted mystic states farther:—'This Kaci is the power of Siva, the supreme consciousness, but not different from him. Know Kaci to be the same as Siva and the supreme bliss... Kaci is that by which the supreme reality of the spirit is manifested or in which it is so manifested. ”

“ Is not this better than being confined to partake of a descending stream of wisdom which silts up its outlets with the stands of ages,—leaving a portion of its strength and power at every stage of its descent, until, at length, it is lost in the desert waste, where so many famish; and who cannot reach the purer water higher up the stream? ”