H. P. Blavatsky's, “The Key to Theosophy”
GA 41b
H. P. Blavatsky
[adapted from the online text provided by the Theosophical Society, Pasadena
THe Voice Of The Silence (First half of Fragment 1)
These instructions are for those ignorant of the dangers of the lower IDDHI.1Pali word Iddhi, is the synonym of the Sanskrit Siddhis, or psychic faculties, the abnormal powers in man. There are two kinds of Siddhis. One group which embraces the lower, coarse, psychic and mental energies; the other is one which exacts the highest training of Spiritual powers. Says Krishna in Śrîmad Bhâgavatam: —
"He who is engaged in the performance of yoga, who has subdued his senses and who has concentrated his mind in me (Krishna), such yogis all the Siddhis stand ready to serve."
He who would hear the voice of Nâda,2The "Soundless Voice," or the "Voice of the Silence." Literally perhaps this would read "Voice in the Spiritual Sound," as Nâda is the equivalent word in Sanskrit, for the Sen-sar term. "the Soundless Sound," and comprehend it, he has to learn the nature of Dhâranâ.3Dhâranâ, is the intense and perfect concentration of the mind upon some one interior object, accompanied by complete abstraction from everything pertaining to the external Universe, or the world of the senses.
Having become indifferent to objects of perception, the pupil must seek out the râja of the senses, the Thought-Producer, he who awakes illusion.
The Mind is the great Slayer of the Real.
Let the Disciple slay the Slayer.
For: —
When to himself his form appears unreal, as do on waking all the forms he sees in dreams;
When he has ceased to hear the many, he may discern the ONE — the inner sound which kills the outer.
Then only, not till then, shall he forsake the region of Asat, the false, to come unto the realm of Sat, the true.
Before the soul can see, the Harmony within must be attained, and fleshly eyes be rendered blind to all illusion.
Before the Soul can hear, the image (man) has to become as deaf to roarings as to whispers, to cries of bellowing elephants as to the silvery buzzing of the golden fire-fly.
Before the soul can comprehend and may remember, she must unto the Silent Speaker be united just as the form to which the clay is modelled, is first united with the potter's mind.
For then the soul will hear, and will remember.
And then to the inner ear will speak —
THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE
And say: —
If thy soul smiles while bathing in the Sunlight of thy Life; if thy soul sings within her chrysalis of flesh and matter; if thy soul weeps inside her castle of illusion; if thy soul struggles to break the silver thread that binds her to the MASTER; 4The "great Master" is the term used by lanoos or chelas to indicate one's "Higher Self." It is the equivalent of Avalokiteśvara, and the same as Âdi-Budha with the Buddhist Occultists, Âtman the "Self" (the Higher Self) with the Brahmins, and Christos with the ancient Gnostics. know, O Disciple, thy Soul is of the earth.
When to the World's turmoil thy budding soul 5Soul is used here for the Human Ego or Manas, that which is referred to in our Occult Septenary division as the "Human Soul" (Vide the Secret Doctrine) in contradistinction to the Spiritual and Animal Souls. lends ear; when to the roaring voice of the great illusion thy Soul responds; 6Mahâ Mâyâ "Great Illusion," the objective Universe. when frightened at the sight of the hot tears of pain, when deafened by the cries of distress, thy soul withdraws like the shy turtle within the carapace of SELFHOOD, learn, O Disciple, of her Silent "God," thy Soul is an unworthy shrine.
When waxing stronger, thy Soul glides forth from her secure retreat: and breaking loose from the protecting shrine, extends her silver thread and rushes onward; when beholding her image on the waves of Space she whispers, "This is I," — declare, O Disciple, that thy soul is caught in the webs of delusion.7Sakkâyaditthi "delusion" of personality.
This Earth, Disciple, is the Hall of Sorrow, wherein are set along the Path of dire probations, traps to ensnare thy EGO by the delusion called "Great Heresy".8Attavâda, the heresy of the belief in Soul or rather in the separateness of Soul or Self from the One Universal, infinite Self.
This earth, O ignorant Disciple, is but the dismal entrance leading to the twilight that precedes the valley of true light — that light which no wind can extinguish, that light which burns without a wick or fuel.
Saith the Great Law: — "In order to become the knower of ALL SELF 9The Tattvajñânin is the "knower" or discriminator of the principles in nature and in man; and Âtmajñânin is the knower of Âtman or the Universal, One Self. thou hast first of self to be the knower." To reach the knowledge of that self, thou hast to give up Self to Non-Self, Being to Non-Being, and then thou canst repose between the wings of the GREAT BIRD. Aye, sweet is rest between the wings of that which is not born, nor dies, but is the AUM 10Kala Hamsa, the "Bird" or Swan (Vide No. 11). Says the Nâda-Bindu Upanishad (Rig Veda) translated by the Kumbakonam Theos. Society — "The syllable a is considered to be its (the bird Hamsa's) right wing, u, its left, m, its tail, and the Ardha-mâtra (half metre) is said to be its head." throughout eternal ages.11Eternity with the Orientals has quite another signification than it has with us. It stands generally for the 100 years or "age" of Brahmâ, the duration of a Kalpa or a period of 4,320,000,000 years.
Bestride the Bird of Life, if thou would'st know.12Says the same Nâda-Bindu, "A Yogi who bestrides the Hamsa (thus contemplates on Aum) is not affected by Karmic influences or crores of sins."
Give up thy life, if thou would'st live.13Give up the life of physical personality if you would live in spirit.
Three Halls, O weary pilgrim, lead to the end of toils. Three Halls, O conqueror of Mâra, will bring thee through three states 14The three states of consciousness, which are Jâgrat, the waking; Svapna, the dreaming; and Sushupti, the deep sleeping state. These three Yogi conditions, lead to the fourth, or — into the fourth 15The Turîya, that beyond the dreamless state, the one above all, a state of high spiritual consciousness. and thence into the seven worlds,16Some Sanskrit mystics locate seven planes of being, the seven spiritual lokas or worlds within the body of Kala Hamsa, the Swan out of Time and Space, convertible into the Swan in Time, when it becomes Brahmâ instead of Brahma (neuter). the worlds of Rest Eternal.
If thou would'st learn their names, then hearken, and remember.
The name of the first Hall is IGNORANCE — Avidyâ.
It is the Hall in which thou saw'st the light, in which thou livest and shalt die.17The phenomenal World of Senses and of terrestrial consciousness — only.
The name of Hall the second is the Hall of Learning.* In it thy Soul will find the blossoms of life, but under every flower a serpent coiled.18The astral region, the Psychic World of super-sensuous perceptions and of deceptive sights — the world of Mediums. It is the great "Astral Serpent" of Éliphas Lévi. No blossom plucked in those regions has ever yet been brought down on earth without its serpent coiled around the stem. It is the world of the Great Illusion.
[*The Hall of Probationary Learning.]
The name of the third Hall is Wisdom, beyond which stretch the shoreless waters of AKSHARA, the indestructible Fount of Omniscience.19The region of the full Spiritual Consciousness beyond which there is no longer danger for him who has reached it.
If thou would'st cross the first Hall safely, let not thy mind mistake the fires of lust that burn therein for the Sunlight of life.
If thou would'st cross the second safely, stop not the fragrance of its stupefying blossoms to inhale. If freed thou would'st be from the Karmic chains, seek not for thy Guru in those Mâyâvic regions.
The WISE ONES tarry not in pleasure-grounds of senses.
The WISE ONES heed not the sweet-tongued voices of illusion.
Seek for him who is to give thee birth,20The Initiate who leads the disciple through the Knowledge given to him to his spiritual, or second, birth is called the Father guru or Master. in the Hall of Wisdom, the Hall which lies beyond, wherein all shadows are unknown, and where the light of truth shines with unfading glory.
That which is uncreate abides in thee, Disciple, as it abides in that Hall. If thou would'st reach it and blend the two, thou must divest thyself of thy dark garments of illusion. Stifle the voice of flesh, allow no image of the senses to get between its light and thine that thus the twain may blend in one. And having learnt thine own Ajñâna,21Ajñâna is ignorance or non-wisdom the opposite of "Knowledge," jñâna. flee from the Hall of Learning. This Hall is dangerous in its perfidious beauty, is needed but for thy probation. Beware, Lanoo, lest dazzled by illusive radiance thy Soul should linger and be caught in its deceptive light.
This light shines from the jewel of the Great Ensnarer, (Mâra).22Mâra is in exoteric religions a demon, an Asura, but in esoteric philosophy it is personified temptation through men's vices, and translated literally means "that which kills" the Soul. It is represented as a King (of the Mâras) with a crown in which shines a jewel of such lustre that it blinds those who look at it, this lustre referring of course to the fascination exercised by vice upon certain natures. The senses it bewitches, blinds the mind, and leaves the unwary an abandoned wreck.
The moth attracted to the dazzling flame of thy night-lamp is doomed to perish in the viscid oil. The unwary Soul that fails to grapple with the mocking demon of illusion, will return to earth the slave of Mâra.
Behold the Hosts of Souls. Watch how they hover o'er the stormy sea of human life, and how exhausted, bleeding, broken-winged, they drop one after other on the swelling waves. Tossed by the fierce winds, chased by the gale, they drift into the eddies and disappear within the first great vortex.
If through the Hall of Wisdom, thou would'st reach the Vale of Bliss, Disciple, close fast thy senses against the great dire heresy of separateness that weans thee from the rest.
Let not thy "Heaven-born," merged in the sea of Mâyâ, break from the Universal Parent (SOUL), but let the fiery power retire into the inmost chamber, the chamber of the Heart 23The inner chamber of the Heart, called in Sanskrit Brahmapura. The "fiery power" is Kundalinî. and the abode of the World's Mother.24The "Power" and the "World-mother" are names given to Kundalinî — one of the mystic "Yogi powers." It is Buddhi considered as an active instead of a passive principle (which it is generally, when regarded only as the vehicle, or casket of the Supreme Spirit Âtma). It is an electro-spiritual force, a creative power which when aroused into action can as easily kill as it can create.
Then from the heart that Power shall rise into the sixth, the middle region, the place between thine eyes, when it becomes the breath of the ONE-SOUL, the voice which filleth all, thy Master's voice.
'Tis only then thou canst become a "Walker of the Sky" 25Khechara or "sky-walker" or "goer." As explained in the 6th Adhyâya of that king of mystic works the Jñâneśvari — the body of the Yogi becomes as one formed of the wind; as "a cloud from which limbs have sprouted out," after which — "he (the Yogi) beholds the things beyond the seas and stars; he hears the language of the Devas and comprehends it, and perceives what is passing in the mind of the ant." who treads the winds above the waves, whose step touches not the waters.
Before thou set'st thy foot upon the ladder's upper rung, the ladder of the mystic sounds, thou hast to hear the voice of thy inner GOD* in seven manners.
[*The Higher SELF.]
The first is like the nightingale's sweet voice chanting a song of parting to its mate.
The second comes as the sound of a silver cymbal of the Dhyânis, awakening the twinkling stars.
The next is as the plaint melodious of the ocean-sprite imprisoned in its shell.
And this is followed by the chant of Vînâ.26Vînâ is an Indian stringed instrument like a lute.
The fifth like sound of bamboo-flute shrills in thine ear.
It changes next into a trumpet-blast.
The last vibrates like the dull rumbling of a thunder-cloud.
The seventh swallows all the other sounds. They die, and then are heard no more.
When the six 27The six principles; meaning when the lower personality is destroyed and the inner individuality is merged into and lost in the Seventh or Spirit. are slain and at the Master's feet are laid, then is the pupil merged into the ONE, 28The disciple is one with Brahmâ or the Âtman. becomes that ONE and lives therein.
Before that path is entered, thou must destroy thy lunar body,29The astral form produced by the Kâmic principle, the Kâma rûpa or body of desire. cleanse thy mind-body 30Mânasa rûpa. The first refers to the astral or personal Self; the second to the individuality or the reincarnating Ego whose consciousness on our plane or the lower Manas — has to be paralyzed. and make clean thy heart.
Eternal life's pure waters, clear and crystal, with the monsoon tempest's muddy torrents cannot mingle.
Heaven's dew-drop glittering in the morn's first sun-beam within the bosom of the lotus, when dropped on earth becomes a piece of clay; behold, the pearl is now a speck of mire.
Strive with thy thoughts unclean before they overpower thee. Use them as they will thee, for if thou sparest them and they take root and grow, know well, these thoughts will overpower and kill thee. Beware, Disciple, suffer not, e'en though it be their shadow, to approach. For it will grow, increase in size and power, and then this thing of darkness will absorb thy being before thou hast well realized the black foul monster's presence.
Before the "mystic Power" (Kundalinî, the "Serpent Power" or mystic fire.) 31Kundalinî is called the "Serpentine" or the annular power on account of its spiral-like working or progress in the body of the ascetic developing the power in himself. It is an electric fiery occult or Fohatic power, the great pristine force, which underlies all organic and inorganic matter. can make of thee a god, Lanoo, thou must have gained the faculty to slay thy lunar form at will.
The Self of matter and the SELF of Spirit can never meet. One of the twain must disappear; there is no place for both.
Ere thy Soul's mind can understand, the bud of personality must be crushed out, the worm of sense destroyed past resurrection.
Thou canst not travel on the Path before thou hast become that Path itself.32This "Path" is mentioned in all the Mystic Works. As Krishna says in the Jñâneśvari: "When this Path is beheld . . . whether one sets out to the bloom of the east or to the chambers of the west, without moving, O holder of the bow, is the travelling in this road. In this path, to whatever place one would go, that place one's own self becomes." "Thou art the Path" is said to the adept guru and by the latter to the disciple, after initiation. "I am the way and the Path" says another Master.
Let thy Soul lend its ear to every cry of pain like as the lotus bares its heart to drink the morning sun.
Let not the fierce Sun dry one tear of pain before thyself hast wiped it from the sufferer's eye.
But let each burning human tear drop on thy heart and there remain, nor ever brush it off, until the pain that caused it is removed.
These tears, O thou of heart most merciful, these are the streams that irrigate the fields of charity immortal. 'Tis on such soil that grows the midnight blossom of Buddha 33 more difficult to find, more rare to view than is the flower of the Vogay tree. It is the seed of freedom from rebirth. It isolates the Arhat both from strife and lust, it leads him through the fields of Being unto the peace and bliss known only in the land of Silence and Non-Being.
Die Stimme der Stille (Teilübertragung)
Dieser Unterricht ist für diejenigen, welche die Gefahren nicht kennen, die dem Menschen aus seinen niederen Seelenkräften erwachsen.
Wer die Stimme des Geistes außer sich vernehmen will, der muss das Wesen seines eigenen Geistes erst verstehen.
Wenn der Lernende die äußere Wahrnehmungswelt nicht mehr als die Hauptsache betrachtet, so muss er den Erzeuger dieser Wahrnehmungen suchen, den Hervorbringer der Gedanken, den, welcher die Sinnenwelt zur Scheinwelt macht.
Durch denkendes Vertiefen in sich wird der Schein des Wirklichen durchschaut in seiner Nichtigkeit.
So soll der Lernende den Schein von sich streifen.
Denn:
Wenn er den Schein als Eigenschaft des Wirklichen erkannt hat, dann wird er erkennen, was an ihm selbst Schein ist, sowie man erkennt, dass Traum Traum ist, und nicht Wirklichkeit, sobald man erwacht.
Wenn er nicht mehr die vielen Wesenheiten des Scheins als solche vernimmt, dann wird sein Blick auf das Eine Wahre gerichtet.
Nur dann, erst dann, wird sich sein Gefühl verschließen dem Reich des Falschen und öffnen dem Reich des Wahren.
Bevor die Seele sehen kann, muss der innere Friede erlangt sein, und die fleischlichen Augen müssen schweigsam geworden sein mit ihren Aussagen.
Bevor die Seele hören kann, muss des Menschen Scheinbild taub geworden sein für das Laute und das Leise, für das gellende Gebrüll der Hunde, wie für das Summen der Fliege.
Bevor die Seele den Geist schauen und sich an seine Taten erinnern kann, muss sie geeint sein mit dem, was geistig spricht und sinnlich schweigt, sowie der Thon des Töpfers ablassen muss von den Kräften, die ihm von Natur eignen, und wenn er zum Gebilde werden soll, sich einen muss dem Geiste des Töpfers.
Dann wird die Seele hören und begreifen:
Die Stimme der Stille
und sagen:
Wenn Deine Seele lächelt, während sie sich bewegt im Sonnenlichte des Lebens — wenn deine Seele singt in ihrem Hause von Fleisch und Stoff — wenn deine Seele weint in ihrer Schale von Schein — wenn deine Seele abgerissen hat den silbernen Faden, der sie bindet an den schaffenden Geist, dann, o Lernender, gehört sie der Erde.
Wenn deine Seele auf den Lärm des Tages hinhorcht, — wenn deine Seele sich erfüllt mit dem Brausen der großen Scheinwelt, — wenn deine Seele beim Schreien des Jammers in sich selbst flieht gleich der Schildkröte, die sich furchtsam dem Eindruck von außen entzieht, dann ist deine Seele ein unwürdiges Haus des Geistes.
Wenn aber, stärker geworden, deine Seele der stofflichen Behausung sich entwindet, und diese verlassend, den silbernen Faden weiter bildet, aber nur sich selbst, ihren eigenen Schein an ihn bindet, dann ist sie im schlimmsten Scheine befangen.
Die Stoffwelt, o Lernender, ist die Stätte der Verführung; sie führt dich auf einen Weg schwerer Prüfungen; sie verlockt dich zum Glauben, dass dein Schein-Ich dein wahres Ich sei.
Diese Stoffwelt, o Lernender, ist nur ein Eingang zum Lichte, eine Vorbereitung zur Stätte des wahren Lichtes, zu jenem Lichte, dessen Schein kein Sturm verlöscht und das leuchtet ohne Docht und Öl.
Die hohe Stimme des Geistes spricht:
Willst du das Selbst der Welt leuchtend schauen: du musst erst das glimmende, gleißende Lichtlein deines eigenen Selbstes schauen. Um diese Erkenntnis zu erlangen, musst du das Schein-Selbst als Nicht-Selbst durchschauen, dann kannst du ruhen in den Armen des Allwesens. In diesen Armen wartet deiner ein Licht, das nicht auf Geburt und Tod seinen Schein wirft, sondern auf das, was durch Ewigkeiten lebt: Aum.
Ergebe dich in die Arme des Allwesens, wenn du wissend werden willst.
Stirb und werde. Drei Hallen, o scheinbedrückter Wanderer, führen dich an das Ende deiner Bedrücktheit. Drei Hallen, o du Überwinder der Scheinwelt, werden dich durch drei Zustände in einen vierten heben, und dann in die sieben Welten, in die ewige Stätte der Gottseligkeit.
Wenn du ihre Namen wissen willst, so merke:
Der Name der ersten Halle ist Unwissenheit. Das ist die Halle, in der du geboren bist, in der du lebst und sterben wirst.
Der Name der zweiten Halle ist der des Lernens. In ihr wird deine Seele des Lebens Blüten kennen lernen; aber in jeder Blüte lauert eine Schlange der Verführung.
Der Name der dritten Halle ist Weisheit; hinter ihr breitet sich das grenzenlose Leben des Allgeistes, der Quelle des Allwissens.
Willst du die erste Halle sicher durchschreiten, so lasse deine Seele nicht dadurch täuschen, dass du das Feuer der Lust und Begierde, das in ihr brennt, zum Sonnenlichte deines Lebens machst.
Willst du die zweite Halle sicher durchschreiten, so bleibe nicht stehen um der Selbstsucht Wohlgerüche zu atmen. Willst du frei sein von den Ketten, welche dich der Welt einschmieden, suche nicht in der Scheinwelt des niederen Selbst deinen Führer.
Die Weisen entziehen sich den Lockungen der Sinnenwelt. Die Weisen horchen nicht auf die verführenden Stimmen der Scheinwelt.
Nur wenn du in der Halle der Weisheit deine Wiedergeburt suchst, findest du das Licht, das kein Schatten trübt, und das in nie abnehmender Stärke leuchtet durch die Ewigkeiten.
Suche da, was unerschaffen in dir lebt; du findest es in dieser Halle. Wenn du es in rechtem Lichte schauen willst und eins mit ihm werden willst, so musst du den Trug des Scheins durchschauen. Dämpfe, was die im Fleisch wohnenden Sinne sprechen, gestatte keinem Bilde, das dir die Sinne formen, sich hinzustellen zwischen dich und dies Licht; dann nur kannst du eins mit ihm werden. Und wenn du den Trug deines Sinnenschauens erkannt hast, gehe hinweg da, wo nur gelernt wird. Die Halle des Lernens ist voller Gefahren in ihrer lockenden Schönheit; sie ist die Stätte deiner Prüfungen.
Hüte dich, indem du an der Stätte des Schein- und Wahn-Ich zögerst, festgehalten zu werden in der Blendung.
Dieses Licht des Wahn-Ich leuchtet aus dem Wesen des Verführers. Er hält dich in der Sinnenwelt befangen; er lügt deinem Verstande den Sinnenwahn als Wahrheit auf, und in den Wahn wird der Verführte wesenlos geschleudert.
Der Schmetterling wird hingezogen zu der leuchtenden Flamme deiner Nachtlampe und stirbt am unreinen Öl. Die verführte Seele, die im Schein verschlungen bleibt, muss zurückkehren zum Stoffe, den der große Verführer vom Wahn zur Wahrheit umtäuscht.
Blicke hin auf die Menge der Seelen. Erkenne wie sie schweben über der stürmischen See der menschlichen Lebenswoge, und wie sie, scheinverfallen, lichtgeblendet, kraftverloren, eine nach der andern hineinsinken in die stürmende Flut. Hin- und hergeworfen von den sinnerschaffenden Winden, erregt von den begehrlichen Stürmen wilder Triebe, fallen sie in die wesenlosen Wellen, und werden von dem nichtigen Wirbel verschlungen.
Willst du durch die Halle der Weisheit in das Thal der Seligkeit dich versetzen, o Schüler, schließe deine Sinne, die dir den trügenden Schein vieler Dinge vorhalten, und dich sondern von den Dingen, in welchen der Allgeist wohnt wie in dir selbst, und dir in deiner Absonderung die Ruhe nimmt.
Lass nicht den himmlisch Geborenen in dir versinken in die Fluten des Scheins und sich abkehren von seinen ewigen Vorfahren, sondern lass die feurige Gewalt still werden durch Einkehr in die innerste Kammer, die Herzenskammer, die Wohnung der Weltenmutter.
Dann wird aus dem Herzen jene Kraft in das sechste, das mittlere Reich, ziehen, in den Raum zwischen deinen Augen. Da wird dann ausfließen der Allseele Kraft, die das All durchklingende Stimme, die Stimme des schaffenden Geistes.
Dann kannst du werden Einer, der über der Sinnesweltenwoge hingleitet, und dessen Sohlen nicht die Wasser des Scheins benetzen.
Bevor du deinen Fuß auf die obersten Leiterstufen setzen kannst, auf die Leiter der mystischen Töne, musst du des inneren Gottes Stimme siebenfältig ertönen hören.
Die erste Stimme klingt wie süßer Nachtigallenklang, einen milden Abschied singend den Scheingefährten deiner frühern Welt.
Die zweite Stimme spricht gleich den Tönen einer silbernen Zimbel von den Harmonien der weltlenkenden Wesen.
Die dritte ist ein melodischer Klagegesang, dumpf wie der gefangene Ton in der Meeresmuschel.
Wie der Laute Ton, ernst und würdig, klingt die vierte Stimme.
Die fünfte schmettert wie der Klang der Pfeifen aus Bambusrohr, bis zum Trompetengetose steigert sie sich.
Wie tobender Donner in der Felsenschlucht durchstürmt dich die sechste Stimme.
Im siebenten Ton ersterben alle andern Töne. Unvernehmbar sind sie in sein Wesen erflossen.
Wenn die sechs Stimmen also erstorben sind, und sich hingeworfen haben zu des Meisters Füßen; dann erst ist der Schüler eins geworden mit dem Einen; er lebt in ihm und es in ihm.
Bevor du diesen Weg betreten kannst, musst du erlöschen alle Glut deiner Triebe; die begehrlichen Gedanken musst du reinigen, und dein Herz musst du in Keuschheit tauchen.
Die reinen Flutwellen des ewigen Lebens, die durchsichtig sind wie Kristall, dulden keine Vermengung mit dem trübsinnlichen Gewoge der niederen Welt.
Der Tau des Himmels im Busen der Lotosblume, erglänzend im ersten Morgensonnenstrahl, wird zur Erde fallend selbst ein Stück Erdenstaub; ein schmutziges Tröpfchen ist die edle Perle geworden.
Lösche deine begierdeschweren Gedanken, damit der Begierde Druck dich in deinen Gedanken nicht unterliegen lässt. Gebare du mit ihnen begierdelos, wie sie triebbegabt mit dir gebaren würden; denn wenn du sie ungelöscht brennen lässt, so wisse, dass sie dich selbst in Begierde entzünden und dein Ich töten. Lasse der triebträchtigen Gedanken Spiegelbild auch nicht an dich herankommen. Denn diese Schatten werden wachsen; Größe und Kraft gewinnend, werden sie dein Wesen in ihre Fangnetze schlingen, bevor du das volle Bewusstsein erlangt hast von ihrer widerwärtigen Gegenwart.
Bevor die mystische Kraft den Gott in dir wecken kann, musst du vermögen, das Begierdefeuer in dir zu löschen.
Des Stoffes Selbst und des Geistes Selbst können sich niemals treffen. Wenn der eine in dir leuchten soll, muss der andere in der Finsternis stehen; nicht für beide hast du Raum.
Bevor deiner Seele Geisteskraft das innere Licht vernehmen kann, muss der Wahn der Persönlichkeit getilgt sein, der Wurm des Sinnenscheins auf immer getötet sein.
Ehe du dich nicht zum Pfade hinopferst, kannst du den Pfad nicht wandeln. Wie der Lotuskelch sein Herz der leuchtenden Morgensonne öffnet, so lasse du deine Seele offen sein, wenn der Allgeist aus der leidenden Kreatur dich ruft.
Lass von dem Sonnenfeuer nicht eine einzige Träne trocknen, ehe du sie genommen hast von der leidenden Kreatur.
Lasse der Geschöpfe Leiden an dein eigenes Herz fallen, und gib ihnen eine Stätte der Ruhe; tilge kein Mitleid in deinem Herzen, bis der Schmerz gelöscht ist, der es geboren hat.
Diese Tränen, o du, dessen Herz ist voll von Opferwilligkeit, sind die Fluten, welche die ewige Liebe leben. Auf diesem Boden wächst der ewigen Liebe Mitternachtsblume, schwerer zu finden und seltener zu sehen, als die Blume des Vogay-Baumes. Hast du sie gefunden, du hast den Ausblick gewonnen in das Reich, das nicht im Sinnenschein gefangen ist. Sie entledigt den mystisch liebenden Seher von Sinnenkampf und Sinnenlust; sie trägt ihn empor über die Gefilde des menschlich schwachen Daseins zur Stätte des Friedens, wo dir göttlich starke Selbstlosigkeit blüht.
Automated Retranslation
The Voice of Silence (Part transmission)
These lessons are for those who do not know the dangers that arise for man from his lower soul forces.
He who wants to hear the voice of the spirit outside himself must first understand the nature of his own spirit.
When the student no longer regards the external world of perception as the main thing, he must seek the creator of these perceptions, the originator of thoughts, the one who makes the world of the senses an illusory one.
By thinking deeply within himself, the appearance of the real is seen through in its vanity.
Thus the learner should strip away the appearance.
Because:
Once he has recognized appearance as a property of the real, he will recognize what is appearance about himself as soon as one recognizes that a dream is a dream and not reality, as soon as one awakens.
When he no longer perceives the many entities of appearance as such, then his gaze is directed towards the One True Thing.
Only then, only then, will his feeling close to the realm of falsehood and open to the realm of truth.
Before the soul can see, inner peace must be attained, and the fleshly eyes must have become silent with their statements.
Before the soul can hear, man's appearance must have become deaf to the loud and the soft, to the shrill roar of dogs, as well as to the buzzing of flies.
Before the soul can see the spirit and remember its deeds, it must be united with what speaks spiritually and is silent to the senses, just as the potter's clay must lose the powers that are inherent in it by nature and, if it is to become a form, must unite with the potter's spirit.
Then the soul will hear and understand:
The voice of silence
and say:
When your soul smiles as it moves in the sunlight of life – when your soul sings in its house of flesh and matter – when your soul weeps in its shell of illusion – when your soul has torn away the silver thread that binds it to the creative spirit, then, O learner, it belongs to the earth.
If your soul listens to the noise of the day, if your soul is filled with the roar of the great world of appearances, if your soul, at the cry of misery, flees into itself like the turtle that fearfully withdraws from the impression from outside, then your soul is an unworthy house of the spirit.
But when, having grown stronger, your soul frees itself from the material dwelling, and, leaving it, continues to form the silver thread, but attaches only itself, its own appearance, to it, then it is caught up in the worst appearance.
The material world, O learner, is the place of seduction; it leads you on a path of difficult trials; it tempts you to believe that your apparent self is your true self.
This material world, O learner, is only an entrance to the light, a preparation for the place of the true light, for that light whose glow no storm extinguishes and that shines without wick or oil.
The high voice of the spirit speaks:
If you want to see the self of the world shining, you must first see the glowing, glistening little light of your own self. To attain this knowledge, you must see through the illusory self as non-self, then you can rest in the arms of the All-Being. In these arms, a light awaits you that does not cast its glow on birth and death, but on that which lives through eternities: Aum.
Surrender yourself to the arms of the All-Being if you want to become knowing.
Die and become. Three halls, O seemingly oppressed wanderer, will lead you to the end of your oppression. Three halls, O you who have overcome the world of appearances, will lift you through three states into a fourth, and then into the seven worlds, into the eternal abode of bliss.
If you wish to know their names, then remember:
The name of the first hall is ignorance. This is the hall in which you are born, in which you live and will die.
The name of the second hall is learning. In it, your soul will get to know the blossoms of life; but in every blossom lurks a snake of seduction.
The name of the third hall is wisdom; behind it lies the boundless life of the All-Spirit, the source of omniscience.
If you want to pass through the first hall safely, do not let your soul be deceived by making the fire of lust and desire that burns in it the sunlight of your life.
If you want to walk safely through the second hall, do not stop to breathe the fragrances of selfishness. If you want to be free from the chains that the world forges for you, do not seek your guide in the illusory world of the lower self.
The wise withdraw from the temptations of the sensual world. The wise do not listen to the seductive voices of the illusory world.
Only when you seek your rebirth in the Hall of Wisdom will you find the light that no shadow dims, and that shines with never-diminishing strength through the eternities.
Seek there what lives uncreated in you; you will find it in this hall. If you want to see it in the right light and become one with it, you must see through the deception of appearances. Quench what the senses dwelling in the flesh speak, do not allow any image that your senses form to stand between you and this light; only then can you become one with it. And when you have recognized the deception of your sensory vision, go away from where only learning takes place. The hall of learning is full of dangers in its enticing beauty; it is the place of your trials.
Beware of being held fast in the glare at the place of the appearance and delusion-I.
This light of the Delusion-I shines forth from the being of the tempter. He keeps you caught in the world of sense; he imposes on your intellect the delusion of sense as truth, and into this delusion the tempted one is hurled, becoming insubstantial.
The moth is attracted to the glowing flame of your night lamp and dies of the impure oil. The seduced soul, which remains engulfed in the glow, must return to the substance that the great seducer deceives from delusion to truth.
Look upon the multitude of souls. See how they float upon the stormy sea of the human billow of life, and how they, deceived by appearances, blinded by light, and deprived of strength, sink one after the other into the raging flood. Tossed to and fro by the winds of the senses, stirred by the covetous storms of wild desires, they fall into the formless waves and are swallowed up by the vain vortex.
If you want to transport yourself through the Hall of Wisdom into the Valley of Bliss, O disciple, close your senses, which present you with the deceptive appearance of many things, and separate you from the things in which the All-Spirit dwells as in yourself, and deprive you of your solitude.
Do not let the heavenly-born in you sink into the floods of illusion and turn away from its eternal ancestors, but let the fiery power become still by entering into the innermost chamber, the chamber of the heart, the dwelling of the World Mother.
Then the power from the heart will move into the sixth, the middle realm, into the space between your eyes. There the power of the All-Soul will flow out, the voice that resounds through the universe, the voice of the creative spirit.
Then you can become one who glides above the wave of the sensory world, and whose soles do not wet the waters of appearances.
Before you can set foot on the uppermost steps of the ladder, on the ladder of mystical tones, you must hear the voice of the inner God resounding sevenfold.
The first voice sounds like the sweet song of a nightingale, singing a gentle farewell to the illusory companions of your former world.
The second voice speaks of the harmonies of the world-ruling beings, like the tones of a silver cymbal.
The third is a melodious lament, dull as the captured sound in the abalone shell.
The fourth voice sounds solemn and dignified, like the sound of the lute.
The fifth blares like the sound of bamboo pipes, increasing to a trumpet roar.
Like raging thunder in a rocky gorge, the sixth voice storms through you.
In the seventh tone, all other tones die away. They have merged into his being, unintelligible.
When the six voices have thus died away and thrown themselves at the master's feet, only then has the disciple become one with the One; he lives in him and he in him.
Before you can enter this path, you must extinguish all the embers of your desires; you must purify your covetous thoughts and immerse your heart in chastity.
The pure tides of eternal life, transparent as crystal, do not tolerate any mingling with the murky waves of the lower world.
The dew of heaven in the bosom of the lotus flower, shining in the first ray of the morning sun, falling to the earth itself becomes a piece of earth dust; the noble pearl has become a dirty droplet.
Quench your thoughts heavy with desire, so that the pressure of desire does not make you succumb in your thoughts. Deal with them without desire, as they would deal with you if you were driven; for if you let them burn unquenched, know that they will ignite you with desire and kill your ego. Do not let the mirror image of their desires approach you either. For these shadows will grow; gaining size and strength, they will ensnare your being in their web before you have fully realized their repulsive presence.
Before mystical power can awaken the god in you, you must be able to extinguish the fire of desire within you.
The Matter Itself and the Spirit Itself can never meet. If one of them is to shine in you, the other must stand in darkness; you have no room for both.
Before your soul's spiritual power can perceive the inner light, the delusion of personality must be eradicated, the worm of apparent meaning must be killed forever.
Until you sacrifice yourself to the path, you cannot walk the path. As the lotus calyx opens its heart to the shining morning sun, so let your soul be open when the All-Spirit calls you from the suffering creature.
Let not a single teardrop be dried by the sun-fire before thou hast taken it from the suffering creature.
Let the creatures' suffering fall upon thy own heart, and give them a resting-place; quench not a compassion in thy heart until the pain that gave birth to it is quenched.
These tears, O thou whose heart is full of devotion, are the floods that eternal love lives. On this soil grows the midnight flower of eternal love, harder to find and rarer to see than the flower of the Vogay tree. If you have found it, you have gained a view into the realm that is not caught in the shine of the mind. It frees the mystically loving seer from the struggle of the senses and sensuality; it carries him up above the realms of humanly weak existence to the place of peace, where divinely strong selflessness blossoms.