Hello All. I will present
letter no. 59, which is a slightly longer one. It consists of first half, which deals with a bit more on the historical side of things and the problems within the TS (as many of these letters do). The second half, however, gets a little bit more abstract and concerns the significance of the double triangle, i.e. the hexagram, and its meaning to the aspirant.
The first part, to me personally, is quite uninteresting. I will point out a few quotes, however, which I see relevant to the present discussion we've been having in our "society".
KH wrote:"The culture of Society more often inclines to lawn-tennis philosophy than to that of the banned "adepts," whose wider game has worlds for balls, and etheric space for its shaven lawn...this second one is a dish of cold philosophy, and in your "large section of London Society" you will scarcely find enough of the wine of sympathy to wash it down...the theosophist's duty is like that of the husbandman; to turn his furrows and sow his grains as best he can: the issue is with nature, and she, the slave of Law."
These passages I find rather witty as they apply to many things in our present day lives, especially to happenings which include people
en masse.
After this KH talks of an important matter of both responsibility and self-knowledge in pursuit of spiritual development. He is referring to a person (?) who did not heed to these rules and became:
KH wrote:"..an animated poison bag, full of mental, moral, and physical corruption."
He (KH) adds, though:
KH wrote:"I have only given you a glimpse into the hell of this lost soul, to show you what disaster may come upon the "lay-chela" who snatches at forbidden power before his moral nature is developed to the point of fitness for its exercise."
I think this passage holds an important lesson, or advice, for us all.
Then follows some more critique to Western science. KH presents this in a simple manner, but I believe the truth behind these sentences is a lot more complex. I think I know what this is about, but maybe Nefastos can explain this in a more "sensible" way? What do these sentences mean, exactly? How can buddhi become galvanized by manas? Is this something that happens naturally, or is it merely a stage consciously taken on the Path?
KH wrote:"He may be a Bacon or an Aristotle in knowledge, and still not even make his current felt a feather's weight by us, if his power is confined to the manas. The supreme energy resides in the Buddhi; latent — when wedded to Atman alone, active and irresistible when galvanized by the essence of "manas" and when none of the dross of the latter commingles with that pure essence to weigh it down by its finite nature. Manas pure and simple is of a lower degree, and of the earth earthly: and so your greatest men count but as nonentities in the arena where greatness is measured by the standard of spiritual development."
There is some talk of the importance of the Will (connected to buddhi?) in one's work. I thought Will was connected more to Atma of the principles, rather than to buddhi (as Fosforos states)?
KH wrote:"..the measure of its actual help to the psychopathist will be in ratio with the degree of will-power he excites in himself, and the degree of psychic purity in his motive. The talisman and his Buddhi are in sympathy."
After this we get to the philosophical, of more metaphysical, part of the letter. KH discusses the meaning of the name Avalokitesvara(
Wiki ) and how this name has been misinterpreted by such persons as Thomas Rhys Davids and Arthur Lillie. He states that their interpretation of the name as "the Lord who looks down from on high" is erreneous. He continues:
KH wrote:"Avalokita Isvar literally interpreted means "the Lord that is seen...It is, when correctly interpreted, in one sense "the divine Self perceived or seen by Self," the Atman or seventh principle ridded of its mayavic distinction from its universal Source — which becomes the object of perception for, and by the individuality centred in Buddhi, the sixth principle, — something that happens only in the highest state of Samadhi."
And
(it is)
KH wrote:"..but the Omnipresent Universal Spirit in the temple of nature — in one case; and the seventh Principle — the Atman in the temple — man — in the other."
As a short comment, having just re-watched the matrix movies, this made me think a lot! =D
This metaphysical narrative continues as:
KH wrote:""Speech or Vach was regarded as the Son or the manifestation of the Eternal Self, and was adored under the name of Avalokitesvara, the manifested god." This shows as clearly as can be — that Avalokitesvara is both the unmanifested Father and the manifested Son, the latter proceeding from, and identical with, the other; — namely, the Parabrahm and Jivatman, the Universal and the individualized seventh Principle, — the Passive and the Active, the latter the Word, Logos, the Verb."
This could be seen as a sort of prologue to the hexagram explanation, which is further due. Modestly it is stated that:
KH wrote:"The double triangle..a geometrical synthesis of the whole occult doctrine...They contain the "squaring of the circle," the "philosophical stone," the great problems of Life and Death, and — the Mystery of Evil."
Further:
KH wrote:"The interlaced triangles — the upper pointing one — is Wisdom concealed, and the downward pointing one — Wisdom revealed (in the phenomenal world). The circle indicates the bounding, circumscribing quality of the All, the universal Principle which, from any given point expands so as to embrace all things, while embodying the potentiality of every action in the Cosmos."
I remind you that this is but my personal logic and memory speaking, but isn't this:
KH wrote:"Parabrahm or "Adi-Buddha" while acting through that germ point outwardly as an active force, reacts from the circumference inwardly as the Supreme but latent Potency."
describing the same action as Nefastos is describing in his text Fohat with this image:
ympyra.jpg
???
The text continues a bit with historical connotations, but I'll leave my analysis here. I think it will suffice. The thought process that took me this far is almost surpassing my capacity to handle it.