No. 22.1

T R A N S A C T I O N S

OK THE

Xonbon ICobgc

OF

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

THE CULTURE OF THE SOUL.

/••'J Mrs BBS ANT.

LONDON: KEG AX PAUL, TRENCH, TR0BNEK & CO., LIMITED

(GEOKGE REDWAY), PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD.

1884.

No. 22.] [June 1894.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE

Lon&on loDgc OF

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

An Address delivered by Mrs Besant on the 5 th of June, at a

Meeting of the London Lodge, on Indian Methods

of Spiritual Self Culture.

T R A N S A C T I O N S

OF THE

IpcmtioiTlColige of the^lteosoplucal^Socictg

THE CULTURE OF THE SOUL.

TnE first point that I will ask you to take into your minds to­night is the fact that in the East the culture of the soul is a definite science, and not simply a vague aspiration. Everywhere, all the world over, men's souls yearn after the spiritual life. Wherever a human being is found who is beginning to reach upwards, there you trill find what may be called aspiration—the vague desire for some­thing higher and nobler than itself. But in India not only does this aspiration exist, but the whole subject of the science of the soul hns been systematised. Men have been taught to understand their constitution. They have been taught to understand at least something of the inner self, and something of the methods by which that self may be reached. So that in trying to put before you to-night something of what is called yoga, I shall bo dealing with a subject by no means new in Eastern lands, and which may bo studied in Hindu literature as well as amongst the Hindu people. The word yoga explains itself. It is Union. And when we speak of yoga we imply the attempt to unite or unify man, that unity being really the development into activity of the spirit within him, and so the gradual appreciation of the fact that all that is not of the

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spirit is transient, and that only in the union with his deepest self can man gain immortality, becoming one with the Divine.

In order to take the subject reasonably, let us realise that in all great Indian teachings there is laid down the doctrine of the Unity of the Universe. It springs from one, and returns to one. It is the Atrna familiar in Tbeosophical literature, and in the Upanishads you will find it constantly spoken of as Brahman. This is the one object worthy of search, nnd is to bo sought in very definite ways. You will find it is said in one of the Scriptures that "in the heart there is a lotos chamber," that " in that chamber there is an ether-filled space," that in that ether is " something that should be en­quired after, yea, verily, it is worthy to be sought for." That which dwells in the ether of the heart is Brahman, and every effort at self or soul culture is an effort to find the AtmA, and in finding it to become one with it; then yoga or union is attained. But in order that the method of yoga may be understood, something must be realised of the life outgoing into manifestation. So that the first point on which stress is laid is the manifestation of Brahman—the outgoing energy of the One into the All; and this outgoing energy —the activity, as it were, of the one self—is that which makes a universe, and which in man makes his constitution ; for all that exists in man is primarily the self, and secondarily the sheaths. Think, then, of Atmft and of an outgoing energy therefrom. Try to realise that as this energy passes'outwards (I am obliged to use these words although they are insufficient), think of the energy as passing outwards, and in process of differentiation making for itself sheath after sheath. It sheathes itself in Buddhi and in Manas, and in Manas this energy becomes recognised as will. Passing downwards from Manas, it sheathes itsolf in the body of desire or Kfima, and there it manifests itself ns desire, always the same self and the same energy, and the only differences that are seen are differences that are seen from without and not from within —differences of the sheath and not of the self—differences of the form of manifestation and not of this outgoing energy. And so it is written that the body ultimately is the dwelling-place of the unem-bodied soul, and that the body is mortal, while the soul is immortal.

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And taking the body as its dwelling-place, it conies into contact with attractive and repulsive objects, and the Atmfi in the body comes thus into contact with the outer world, and receives from that contact, pleasure and pain. In this sheath of desire the Atm& comes into contact with those external objects, and, further, it makes for itself a physical clothing—the senses, or rather the sense organs, for what we call the senses are but the organs of the inner senses, having in themselves no power of sensation, but only receiving the vibrations from the outer universe, which are then transmitted to the body of desire, and which there are sensated by that sheath, or rather by the Atma, which is working within that sheath. And so again we come to tho warning that it is the Atma that willeth to inhale odours, and there is smell; it is the Atmft that willeth to hear sounds, and so there is hearing; and the mind, it is said, becomes the celestial eye, whereby the Atm& observes all external objects. Realising this of man's constitution—realising that the energy in these sheaths shows itself in different forms because of that in which it works, and not because of essential differences in the energy itself,—recognising that, we shall begin to understand that so long as desire remains for contact, the Atroft will pass from birth to birth, and that the Atmft in the sheath of Buddhi and of Manas will be carried away by the senses towards the external world, and whirled from one object to another. Hence, then, the wheel of births and of deaths; hence tho constant reincarnations of the soul; and whon yoga is followed —when union is sought—then the object is to put an end to these births and deaths, and by realising the one, and the unity of the embodied self with the unembodied, by the realisation of that unity to escape from this binding to the wheel.

Now clearly, with this view of the world and of man, the ob­stacles in the way of yoga—in tho way of this union—will be (a) the external world that attracts, (6) the senses, (c) the mind. The mind, impressed with images of the external world by way of the senses, is attracted to tho images which thus are formed. The man will next recognise that in the universe and in himself there are three planes especially on which the Atma works in the difforent sheaths in which it is enfolded. He will recognise the spiritual plane,

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in which A tin A, Buddhi, Manas work as one. Ho will recognise the psychic plane, on which Manas—sending down its energy, working in connection with Atma and desire, and working through the physical brain—exists as mind, and all the faculties familiar to us in the ordinary classification of the mind. And he will recognise the physical plane on which the sense organs are working. He will recognise that he must merge the physical in the psychical if true union is to be obtained, if variety is to disappear, and the one self is to be found. And he will realise that only in the spiritual region is there unity: that in the psychical region where the oil s work­ing, the images formed by the mind—thoughts, ideas, and so on— are his enemies; that on the physical plane the objects which attract the senses and the activity of the senses,—these are the obstacles that he has to overcome. So that, glancing over the array of his enemies, he will see on the physical plane senses and the objects that attract them; on the psychical plane images of the mind,—ideas, concepts, all that keeps the mind away from the spiritual; and he will realise that both these must be conquered. Methods of conquering both must be discovered if he is to attain the union that he seeks.

The methods employed in India in searching for this union are, broadly speaking, two,—Hatha yogn and Raj yoga. Speaking in the broadest sense hatha yoga works from below, upwards; the the other works from above, downwards. That is, the hatha yoga, starting either on the physical or psychic plane, seeks from those planes to attain the union of the spiritual sphere. The RAj yoga— or kingly yoga—starts from the spiritual region, and working down­wards, conquers both psychic and physical, unifying all from above, and bringing all into subjection to itself. I propose to take the hatha • "><ra first; that which is the easiest, which has by far the largest ber of adherents; for only here and there you will find the Raj yoga, while you may meet the hatha yogis by hundreds and thousands in India The two great characteristics, jierhaps, of these two forms of yoga which strike one most from without, for the moment, are the characteristics of struggle that belong to the hatha yoga, of jieace that belongs to the Raj yoga. Always in the

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physical and in the psychic regions there is struggle: always in the physical and psychic regions strenuous effort to overcome; but in the spiritual there is peace; strength which, because of its over­whelming strength, is serene and calm, which conquers as the sun­shine conquers merely by shining, and knows nothing of effort, becauso itself, being the all, it interpenetrates and subdues all without struggle or strife of any kind.

And in turning to the hatha yogis we shall find this characteristic of struggle impressed on the practices they follow. I will subdivide them it two, according as they try to conquer the physical by external means or by the power of the will; and in that latter case I should say they really work on the psychic plane, working down­wards to the material, and hoping to go upwards to the spiritual. Now, with regard to the control of the physical body, worked out by purely physical means (as we may say), we shall find here the yogis that attract most popular attention, and that in every jwrt of India may very easily be found. They establish a control which is simply marvellous over the physical functions of the body—a control so complete that everything which in the West is regarded as the outcome of involuntary action is there rendered voluntary and subject to the will. All the involuntary muscles, for instance, are brought under control; all those muscles which in the normal con­dition support life—the muscles, for instance, of the digestive apparatus, of the breathing apparatus ; those connected with all the vital functions of the body which go on without our knowledge, except when some disease, by throwing them out of order, attracts our attention,—these are brought under deliberate control. The yogi learns to control his breathing, so that he can breathe or not at will; the action of the heart, so that he can make it beat fast or slowly, or stop its action. He learns to control the action of the whole digestive apparatus—to reverse it at will, brin; it com­pletely under his control, and this to an extent which i. the West would seem incredible, and yet is done by man after man in this effort to subdue the body, and make it the obedient instrument of the soul. And there is no doubt that in this fashion trance is fairly easily produced. By the fixing of the eye, for instance, on a single

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point for a considerable time; by the suspension of the breath— the killing of the breath, as it is technically called—trance is fairly easily produced, and so there may be a passing out from the physical body, and the mind, clad in its astral garmenture, may be made to pass into the psychical region, and by paralysing the bodily func­tions the yogi will establish this mastery on the physical plane, and will learn to shake off his body, as a man might shake off his coat, and then penetrate into the astral regions, clad in the astral body.

The school which is somewhat above this in the fashion in which it works (what I have called the second division) is that which uses the will as its main engine in subjecting the body, but still turns this energy of the will to the control of the body by forcible and strenuous effort. The object to which the yogi sets himself is the withdrawing of the mind from the body. He begins by torturing the body, and by the infliction of severe physical pain attempts to get the mind balanced and indifferent by a tremendous effort of the will, prolonged for many many years, and at last succeeds in establishing entire indifference to physical anguish, so that the mind remains concentrated and balanced, no matter what may be the conditions of torture to which the body is exposed. Thus, in seeking to gain indifference to heat and cold, you will find a yogi in the season and part of India which are hottest light four fires and sit in the midst of them, with the sun blaz­ing down upon him as the fifth ; or in the winter he will seek as his bed some ice-cold stream in the HimAlayas. Then, again, you will find him taking other methods of torture, such as lying on a bed of iron spikes, or sitting for many hours on a single spike, or tying ropes round his body and hanging suspended, head down­wards, in the burning sun. I saw several of those forms of self-torture when at Allahabad, at the great festival which was held in February last. Now these practices, carried on for years, imply, you will notice, an enormous development of will-power. To be able to subject the body to agony until agony is of the past, to deliberately torture the delicate, sensitive apparatuses of the body until the mind can draw itself away from the senses, and l>ecause the mind is not present in the senses those senses no

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longer function—the man who has done that has at least proved, to his own satisfaction, that he has something in him other than the activities of the body, than the activities of the sense organs, than the power of fighting with the outer world. He has proved to himself that there exists within the body something which can master the body, something which, when withdrawn, takes away the power of feeling. He has proved to himself the words of one of his scriptures, that it Is the mind by which all is really felt, and that no sense organ can function save as the mind is present, and gives to the sense organ its vitality. He has realised to himself that the teaching is true which makes the vital and active energies only a form of manifestation of the soul, so that that which goes outward is only the activity of the Atma, and that being withdrawn from the sense organs, sensation is no longer there. He has developed also powers wonderful in their nature to those who know only the powers of the physical plane. He is able to read men's t houghts; able to see in their auras images impressed by events through which they have passod ; able to tell them something of the events they will meet in the future ; able to leave the body and travel elsewhere, thus gain­ing knowledge which otherwise could not be obtained ; able to do a hundred things which here would be thought impossible, or well-nigh miraculous. And yet all this is done, not by spiritual growth, not by spiritual development, but by this mighty power of the mil, concentrated from the psychic plane upon the material, and so domin­ating the material and also the physical world, and showing that even in that middle region man is something greater than he appears to be in the lower world. And of these powers he carries on some to his next birth. He will carry on this mighty power of will, this consecration of energy; and if it should so happen that in the midst of these struggles of his there has been some true spiritual aspira­tion, if in addition to this fierce outward-going energy there has been at some moments oaljr something of the indrawing energy which belongs to the spirit itself, then he will carry over into his next life, possibilities which this great power of developed will will enable him to utilize, so that the life of pain shall not have been wholly wasted. But there is another side to this hatha yoga: it

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stops true spiritual growth ; it tends to atrophy the very organs in the body and the mind, which are needed for true spiritual evolu­tion. Therefore tho greatest teachers are against it; therefore it is that they shut down tho psychical faculties, that they forbid this exertion of the will in the mutilation of the body, and they bid their disciples develope first in the spiritual, and then pass down serenely as conquerors, with the strength they have accumulated, into the psychic and physical planes.

And the Raj yogi goes along a different road. The very first step in it which tho disciple is bidden to take is the purification of the life and of the thought. Foremost in all the teaching of the Upanishads is it written, " Let a man cease from evil ways." That is the first condition. That is the gateway through which the as­pirant must pass ; for never shall the soul be safely found by him who has not ceased from evil ways. The soul that would find itself must realise also its duty. One of its first attempts is to realise intellectually the unity of all that is, and from that realisation there must spring the binding sense of duty which bids tho part conform itself to the whole, and develope only in order that the whole of which it is a jiart may grow onwards to a higher life. The second step which the would-be yogi must strive for is the domination of the senses by the concentration of the mind. Not by killing or para­lysing the senses, but by tho concentration of the mind on an image, on a thought; and thus to withdraw the soul from the senses and fix it on the second stage of the life that it is developing. Recall for a moment what I said at the beginning, that the outgoing soul passed outward into certain sheaths in which it dwelt, and these sheaths of the mind and of the body are tho things from which it has to withdraw. First, then, drawing inwards, as it were, it fixes itself in the mind, and thus, drawing away from tho senses, the wise man (it is written) " with inverted eye turned inward '' begins that process of growing inwards to the divine which is the comple­ment, and, we may say, the antithesis of the outWard-going which makes the manifestation of the universe. Therefore is concentration the second lesson. And by steadfast meditation, by the fixing of the mind on a single thought of lofty character, gradually he trains

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the mind to the one-pointedness which is necessary, and is able to hold it there, unshaken and motionless, no matter how the outside world may be turning around it, or the external objects may be trying to appeal to the senses, and to draw the soul outwards in­stead of inwards. And this deliberate effort at concentration is a daily, nay, an hourly work. Daily, in the sense that some time each day is given to this deliberate effort to render the mind one-pointed. Easily it goes away from the thought to which it would cling, wandering over the many images with which its house is stored. Then it has to be brought back over and over and over again, and fixed ever on the one, so that, as Shri Krishna taught, the incon­stant mind, whithersoever it goeth forth, must be " brought back and placed upon me." This practice daily followed is made more and more habitual by being carried out into the daily life—the life of the world and of man. For such a pupil will turn his whole atten­tion to the one thing he is doing, do it in one-pointed fashion, and drop it the moment that wor' is completed, so that he will use his daily life as a lesson-book. And the practice of the daily meditation will be carried out in this concentration on a single point in all the matters of life, so that the habit of the mind may be formed and there may be complete control to turn it in any direction that is desired. Thus, then, subdual of the senses is gained until such a pupil is able to remain concentrated within the mind, and is able to remain at home within the mind, no matter what disturbances may be going on outside. And remember only thus may desire be overcome. The desire cannot be overcome by leaving the object of desire. That is illusory : it is a mistake. It is only to delude oneself to imagine that one has gained because temptation is absent; for true renunciation does not consist in giving up the external object and passing into seclusion. It con­sists in renouncing everything while living amidst everything, and cutting out the roots of desire, no matter how many or how attrac­tive the objects which surround. And for this firmness of soul is needed,—firmness of strength. And therefore is it written that the soul will " never be found by a man without strength, nor by care­lessness, nor by devotion, nor by knowledge unalliod with devotion."

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But those two last phrases carry me on a step further, for the stage which lies before the seeker after the soul is something which is beyond the mind. He has learned to concentrate himself on an idea. He has learned to subdue the outer senses, and the mind is supreme master within the temple of the body. But now he has to learn another lesson—to merge the mind in that which is beyond the mind; not only to control the mind when it would wander, but to pass upward or inward from the mind itself, for the seeker does not seek the mind, he seeks the self. And that next stage brings in the devotion to which the just-quoted Upanishad alludes,—the devotion which draws the soul still further inward, and which has to leave the mind behind, and which has to pass from the brain to the heart. And it is this devotion which transmutes desire, which changes the desire that goes outward after objects to the aspiration which is directed inwards to the AtmS. Devotion which means the recog­nition of something beyond all physical and all intellectual gain, which means the recognition of something higher and nobler and sublimer, which draws the soul upwards by its own divine power of attraction, and so lends to the wings strength, when it would faint in this rarer air. And then the desires cease which go outward, for the soul has found something more desirable than the objects of the outer world or than the images of the mind. It has found some­thing that attracts it more than the things of the physical and psychic planes,—some attraction subtler and rarer, some attraction deeper and more lasting; and then begins that process of medita­tion which is no longer the concentration of the mind but the con­templation of the self, in which the intellect has no place—for the intellect has been left behind,—in which it is no longer intellectual knowledge that is striven for, but spiritual wisdom that is sought. And in seeking this there is realised the non-separateness of all in the spiritual sphere. So long as variety is recognised, it is certain that the soul passes from death to death. Only when unity is recognised is the possibility of liberation to be seen. So that wc need for this higher searching, purification of intellect and develop­ment of devotion. Therefore was it written that tho soul cannot be found by devotion, nor by knowledge unallicd with devotion." For

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knowledge and devotion together are the two wings by which man may raise himself to find the Self, and only as both are present is the ultimate goal to be secured. Strength, we have seen, is needed. Firm­ness, we have seen, is needed—concentration of the mind; and then this higher form of contemplation. But while thus has been train­ing the lower self, on the higher planes growth has been going on unseen and unknown. Not only the passing upward, but the reaching downward has been making part of the pupil's history. Although he knows not what passes on the spiritual sphere— although he remains ignorant of his spiritual strength, strength may be accumulating without recognition of it by the lower self. And it is devotion that opens the door of communication. Just as it w«ts said by Giordano Bruno, four centuries ago in Middle Age Europe, all that man had to do if he would find the spirit was to open the windows of the soul, for the spirit was shining ever in the universe, and we only needed to open the window in order that the light might enter.

Here comes in that element of worship which, because it has been so often linked with superstition, is sometimes left entirely on one side, as though by intellect alone the Self of our self might be found. But without reverence, without worship, no such ulti­mate finding is possible. And so you will find many a simile which speaks of this use of meditation, this spiritual meditation by means of which the Self is ultimately found, as fire which is hidden in the wood. As the Self is hidden within the body and the heart of man, and as you may take the wood and rub two pieces together and the fire shall burst forth, so man shall find the Self by meditation. Make, it is written, your body the lower piece of wood, and the sacred word the upper ; then by meditation tho fire of the spirit shall be seen. And so again it is taught that in this search, man must fix his soul by meditation on Brahman, and the end shall be gained by him whose attention does not swerve. For the sacred word, it is said, is the bow, and the soul is the arrow, and Brahman is the target. And as the arrow be­comes one with the target, so does the soul pierce Brahman and become one with it. But reaching this part of Yoga one comes

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to the realm of silence, and not to the region of words. At some period in the history of the disciple, at some moment in his silent meditation, there is a change. The senses are tranquil; the mind is still. And then comes the flash of spiritual illumination—and the soul, rising from the body in a body of light, which is itself, realises that at length it has passed into the spiritual world, and that the light that surrounds it streams from the lotus feet of its Lord. But, as again it is written, on this " dismiss all words ; Brahman is the bridge to Immortality."

But how should I speak of that which is unspeakable 1 How should I, with stammering tongue and lips unpurified, try to syllable for you that which no words may tell'? There are some of you that may have known it: to yor all words would bo an outrage and a desecration. There may bo some who as yet have known it not; but they may catch a whisper from silence which they will never catch from words.

TCiiMRULL HID siTjuis AnTUM, rmsmmon

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